What is the nature of persistent desires in old age?

Beloved master, I am sixty years old, but yet the same desires persist. What is the matter with me?

Intelligent people don't renounce the world. They live in the world, but they live intelligently, without desiring. Whatsoever comes on their way they enjoy, but they don't hanker for anything. Their sleep remains undisturbed; they don't dream for anything. They don't project for the future, they live in the present. Yes, Narayandas, you are becoming old, but don't hope that just by becoming old you will become wise enough and desires will disappear on their own accord. She lay in bed, blissfully happy on this, the first morning of her long-dreamed-of honeymoon. "Darling," she called as she heard him puttering around in the bathroom, "did you brush your teeth yet?" "Yes," he cooed, "and while I was at it, I brushed yours too." Yes, old you can become, but just by becoming old nothing is achieved. Real growth happens inwards. It is a transformation of your interiority. And now that…

Why is there such an expression as "the dirty old man"? I am getting on and I suspect people are beginning to think about me in exactly those words.

Once every three seconds sex somehow flashes in the mind. The young man is possessed by such great natural forces that he cannot be free. Ambition is there, and time is running fast, and he has to do something and he has to be something. All those hopes and desires and fantasies of childhood have to be fulfilled; he is in a great rush, in a hurry. The old man knows that those childish desires were really childish. The old man knows that all those days of youth and turmoil are gone. The old man is in the same state as when the storm has gone and silence prevails. That silence can be of tremendous beauty, depth, richness. If the old man is really mature, which is very rarely the case, then he will be beautiful. But people only grow in age, they don't grow up. Hence the problem. Grow…

Osho, Only when life ended did the art of living arrive. When the lamp went out, the gathering filled with color. In old age the body is unwell, yet the mind is sound. I am far from the desire for heaven, moksha, nirvana. But then why—and for what—is there such a strong desire to see here on this earth the Shri Rajneesh Ashram, a picture of heaven, this festival-play?

This is exactly what I want, this is precisely my message. Let there be no desire for heaven and no desire for liberation. Heaven is attained only by those who have no desire for heaven. Eligible for liberation are only those who have no longing for liberation. Because as long as there is desire, there is the world. Desire’s other name is the world. What you desired makes no difference. You desired wealth—world. You desired status—world. You desired liberation—world. You desired samadhi, nirvana—world. In desire is the seed of the world. Desire and world are synonyms. Therefore liberation cannot be desired. When all desire becomes futile and drops, like leaves fall from a tree in autumn—when, in the maturity of a life’s experience, in ripeness, all the leaves of desire fall, in that moment when there is no desire in the mind, samadhi happens. In that moment you are free.…

Osho, when I was a child, one kind of desires stirred in my mind. When I became young, other kinds of desires were born. Now I have grown old, and the desire to attain God has arisen. Is this too not just a play of time? What is the difference between this desire and other desires?

Now you think, death will come; this body will go; I will have to stand before God—what answer will I give? I never took the name of Ram, never turned a rosary, never went to a temple—I never had the time! And whenever there was time, there were cards to play, the club to attend, dances to watch. I never turned my attention toward Ram. Now when I stand before him, how will I raise my eyes? With what face will I stand? And who knows—he may actually exist! If he does not, fine, the bother is over. But who knows? It’s not certain. He might. Then to stand empty-handed will look very bad. So let me fill my hands a little—collect a few coins of merit. Give some charity, perform a pilgrimage, bathe at the Kumbh, massage the feet of sadhus, give some donations, get a Satyanarayan story read…

Osho, there is a story in the life of paramahansa ramakrishna, and we have heard it from you more than once, about his lust for the palate which sharada devi told about. Doesn't it indicate that desire is intrinsically related to living, to life itself?

One way is through something else. I give you a message, then you give it to somebody else, then he to somebody else. Then it reaches to whomever it was to be given -- to whom it may concern. Then it reaches -- and it has changed. Every time it is given to someone, it is changed. With our eyes we don't see alike. We cannot see alike because in a subtle way every instrument is different. So when I see light I feel it in a different way. When you see light you feel it in a different way. When a Van Gogh sees the sun, certainly he sees it in a different way, because he will become just mad, begin to dance, cry, scream. He will just be mad when he sees the sun. For one year Van Gogh continuously painted only sun pictures. He would not sleep:…