According to Osho, the fundamental purpose of his religion is to revive authentic sannyas: a life-affirming, celebrative path that engages the “battle of life” rather than escaping it. By saying yes to both thorns and flowers—descending into valleys and climbing peaks—we transmute experience into awareness; in this very fire the soul is born. His way sanctifies dance, music, and play as vehicles of awakening.
Don’t run from life—dance with it, learn from every joy and pain, and your real self wakes up.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Osho, what is the name of your religion? Who is the deity of your religion? What is worship? What is the goal of your religion? What is the purpose of the organization that the thousands around you are creating? Please also tell us when and how the welfare of this sad humanity will happen.
My religion is rejoicing, celebration. Does celebration have a goal? Joy is its own goal. Ask someone, “What is the goal of your love?” He will tell you. Here in our country, anyone will tell you the goal of love: to get a scooter. Someone else wants something else in dowry. What all things people demand! The goal of love! If love is true, its goal is itself; it has no other goal. Love is its own joy—supreme joy. Joy has no goal. Religiosity is another name for joy. We sing love’s song to the instrument of ecstasy. With the heat of our sorrow we melt stone. Once we awaken, even on the gallows sleep does not come. If the time demands, we sleep on burning coals. Who could love life more than we do? And if it comes to dying—then we die. Even buried in the dust we cannot…
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Question: First question: Osho, what message do you want to give to the world? All past religions taught man conflict: drop this, cling to that. Wherever conflict is taught, man is split. To split man is to prepare him for madness. Ask the psychologists: humanity is insane. We have turned the earth into a vast madhouse. Some are a little mad, some very mad. The more mad are in the asylum; the less mad are outside it. But there is no fundamental difference—no qualitative difference. Go to the asylum or go to parliament—what difference will you find? The same type of people, the same type of derangement. Derangement has become the norm. Here, health itself is an offense. Here, the healthy man is not liked. So Mansoor is hanged, Socrates is given poison, stones rain upon Buddha.