According to Osho, sati is the widow-burning rite—a symptom of a low, conditioned consciousness—that is wrong from both sides: those who burn and the woman consenting are both acting out collective samskaras. Events occur because consciousness permits them, but true justice demands transforming individual and social awareness so no one desires to burn or be burned.
Sati is when a widow is burned after her husband dies; Osho says it’s wrong for everyone involved and only happens because of bad conditioning, so we must change our hearts and society so nobody wants or allows it.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Sati? Yes, yes, it used to be done by pushing—by coercion. But even the one who was pushed into it had, within, the full inner disposition to be pushed; otherwise it could not happen—it would be impossible. That is, I am saying that whenever an event occurs it has two aspects, and we hold only one aspect responsible—that is our mistake; the other aspect is equally responsible.
For example, we say the English came and enslaved us—that is only half the story. We were prepared to be slaves—that is the other half, which does not occur to us. And as long as we were prepared to be enslaved, we remained slaves. Whether it was the English, the Huns, or the French—that was secondary; enslavement would have happened, because we were prepared for it. But this does not mean I am saying the practice of sati should continue. I am saying the practice is wrong. It is wrong because the one who burns is doing wrong, and the one who allows herself to be burned is also doing wrong. Both are in the wrong. The world should be such that no one is eager to burn, and no one is eager to be burned. Such a good world we should create. But what is happening is justified. It…
Osho, what is the fundamental anguish of human life?
There is only one anguish: that a human being cannot become what he was born to be. There is only one anguish: that the seed remains a seed and does not bloom like a flower; that it cannot scatter its fragrance to the infinite winds; cannot converse with the moon and stars; cannot offer its colors to the sky; cannot be expressed. If the poem within the poet cannot be revealed—anguish. If the painter cannot paint—anguish. If the dancer cannot dance—if chains lie on his feet—anguish. Anguish means only this: that what we are meant to be—our innate nature and destiny—does not come to fruition, and we are forced to be something else. Then anguish is born. Then melancholy gathers over life. And all those countless people you see burdened with sorrow, living in a kind of hell—the reason is only this: each has come carrying the seed of becoming…
Man is such that even the noblest, falling into his hands, sooner or later becomes soiled. Give him what is purest—it soon gathers dust. Man is such that even gold he touches turns to dirt. Thus the highest insights, when they fall into human hands, become chains, become perversions. Merit turns into sin; ethics into non-ethics; religion into irreligion. Such is the grime of man. The vision of sati is most rare. Sati means: having loved one, then not letting that love flow elsewhere. To drown it wholly in the One. Having loved One, to forget the many. And if the many drop away, then in the one alone the vision of God begins. For the One is God. Understand this: The One is God; the many is the world.
Osho, seeing and hearing you speak, one thing continues to strike me: from your earliest childhood, up until the latest split second, you have always had so much self-respect and so much self-delight. Are we all capable of so much?
Each fragment may not give you the idea because it is out of context, but if you put it in the whole context.... I was being expelled from one college, another college, but I was enjoying it -- and that's what was shocking to them. When I was expelled from one college, my first college, it was this same principal who had to expel me. He felt very sorry, because it was not right to expel me; and by and by he had come to have a certain liking for me, for my absolute determination to be myself whatsoever the cost. He had grown, by and by, a certain respect: "This man can sacrifice anything even for buttons, just for the cap." He tried to persuade me, "If you wear the cap I guarantee you that you will get the first class first in the intermediate examination, because it is…
Sati means the one who has desired the One alone; who has surrendered everything to the One. In the disciple there is the spirit of sati. Sati comes from sat—the one who has given all to truth. The bond with the Satguru is of love, of affection. It is the marriage of the soul with the Soul of the soul. If one be a sati, why consider omens… Then there is no need to look for auspicious times—to ask, when should I see the Guru, when not. All that is false—auspicious timings, omens. No need. Keep no concealment before the Guru, no secret—open all. Before a physician you go and reveal your whole illness—do you hide? Otherwise what can he do? Once Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor. The doctor asked, What is the trouble? Mulla said, You tell me. Are you the doctor or am I?