According to Osho, both agree tomorrow is uncertain, but their aims diverge: hedonists use it to justify sensory indulgence, while the awakened use it to meditate, "drink the Divine," and realize now. Today's acts seed tomorrow—indulgence breeds slavery; meditation flowers. Therefore live each day in gratitude, humility, and awareness—don't postpone.
Don’t party because tomorrow is unsure; use that uncertainty to turn inward now, because what you do today becomes your tomorrow.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you say there is no certainty about tomorrow. But that is exactly what those who live by “eat, drink and be merry” also say. What is the difference between you and them?
Real wealth is that which, once found, is forever yours. When such wine exists, why do you drink the paltry when the vast is present! That is why the Sufi fakirs named God “wine.” Read the Sufis—do not misunderstand. Read Umar Khayyam—do not mistake him. Wherever he speaks of wine, he is speaking of samadhi. Umar Khayyam is a Sufi fakir, an accomplished saint, a siddha. Where he speaks of the tavern, he means the temple of God. Where he speaks of the wine-maid, he speaks of the Divine—God pouring, like a wine-maid, decanter upon decanter; and this whole world is His tavern. From everywhere the wine is being poured—from flowers, from birds, from the moon and the stars—on all sides His fragrance, His sweet breath, His sap is dripping. Drink this sap. Drink it and you will be truly fulfilled. Jesus once came to a well—tired and dusty from…
Are there different levels of hedonism? I suspect 'eat, drink and be merry' means different things to different people.
Because the first hedonist lives in the body, there are people who are against the first hedonist and they think they are spiritual. They are not. That's a logical fallacy. Because the first goes on living in the body, there are people who Logically think 'We have to go against the body, then only can we enter into the second realm of our being, then only can we attain to happiness, to heaven, to bliss. Because the first is missing -- and the first is missing because he is too much obsessed with the body -- the second, this so-called spiritualist, becomes obsessed AGAINST the body. This is not a real spiritualist. The real spiritualist is a hedonist. Let me repeat it: He is not against the body, he is for the soul. So now there are three kinds of people: the ordinary hedonist who lives in the body, the…
Osho, “Eat, drink, and make merry”—this is the well-known world-formula of the Charvakas. “Dance, sing, and celebrate”—this is your sannyas-formula. Kindly explain to us the difference between the world-formula and the sannyas-formula.
I want to build such a temple in which the world and its materiality form the foundation, and sannyas and the majesty of God form the sanctum. I want to give you a vision that opposes nothing and embraces everything. And I want to give you an art, an alchemy of transformation, in which we succeed in finding God’s image even in stone, and in turning poison into nectar. This is possible. And until it happens, there will be only two kinds of people on earth: the honest will be Charvakas; the dishonest will be theists, the religious. These are not good options—that the honest must be Charvakas and the religious must be dishonest. Not good options. We have not given the world a proper path to choose. I speak of the third alternative. I say: one can be religious without being dishonest. But then Charvaka must be accepted. You…
Osho, on the one hand Doolandas sings of life’s transience, and on the other, after drinking the nectar of love he plunges into carefree ecstasy where time becomes infinite! Please explain this paradox to us.
Narendra! A moment too is a fragment of the eternal—just as the drop belongs to the ocean, the atom to the vast. In a single small leaf the sap of the whole tree is flowing. In a tiny flower the entire existence has poured its beauty, its color, its fragrance—its all. The great poet Tennyson has said: if we could fully understand even a single flower, we would understand the whole of existence. For what appears small from the outside is, by unending pathways, joined to the whole. This flower would have no fragrance if it were not of the earth. It would have no colors if it were not linked with the sun. It would have no life if the breath of air did not move through it. The deeper you inquire, the more you will find the flower has already disappeared; little by little, the whole cosmos has…
Osho, I also want to get married. After your discourse yesterday I too have wavered. What should I do?
Pramod! Being an Indian, you get shaken so quickly! Aren’t you ashamed? Never! Let our flag always fly high! Whatever happens, stick to your stand. People will say all kinds of things—why listen at all? Sit as if deaf. And when such dangerous things are being said, put your fingers in your ears. Wavered! That is no sign of ours. This is not the mark of the Sanatan-dharmis. We haven’t wavered for centuries. We sit where we sit; we don’t budge an inch. Let the world shift, let it go wherever—it’s none of our concern. What we have grabbed, we keep. We are not cheats or traitors. Once we’ve got hold of something, then even if intelligence says it’s wrong, we’ll never listen to intelligence. Whatever discrimination says, ignore it. You are going to undertake such a great act—marriage! And if you listen to discrimination you’ll get into trouble. Discrimination…