According to Osho, Neo-Sannyas exists to end the pendulum of worldly versus renunciate extremes by refusing any reactive 'choice.' It is a deep, flowing acceptance—living in the world without being against it—so that, through understanding, one transcends both attachment and renunciation. Its purpose is not withdrawal but inner transcendence, preventing new opposites and healing a society trapped in reaction.
Don’t pick sides; live with accepting awareness so you naturally go beyond being worldly or a renouncer.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, in neo-sannyas international, what are you doing -- balancing the present irreligious state of the world or are you creating another opposite pole?
No opposite pole is to be created because Neo-Sannyas is not a choice. It is not against the world. If sannyas is against the world, it is a choice. Therefore, if sannyas is against the world, we will create a very worldly society. We have done this in India. These 5,000 years in India were a conscious choice for sannyas -- renunciation. Renunciation was the goal, and look at the Indian mind: the most worldly in the whole world! Why? We have tried to create an absolutely unattached society, but look at the Indian mind: the greediest! We have been saying that "Wealth means nothing -- it is simply nothing," and look at our society: wealth is everything! Why has this happened? This was a conscious choice. We were against the world. Through that conscious choice, we moved to the other extreme. So now we go on talking against the…
What is neo-sannyas all about?
Neo-sannyas is an effort to introduce the concept of 'sannyas without any renunciation of the world'. To me, India has given only one thing to the world, to human consciousness, and that is the concept of sannyas the concept of renunciation. But this renouncing can be one of two things. It can be of the world. Then it becomes negative: it becomes life-denying; it goes against life. To me that negative, life-denying aspect of sannyas is a disease. And because of that life-denying aspect, sannyas, religion, has suffered much. It couldn't become a major part of life, it couldn't become a part of human consciousness. The main current of it is life-denying. Neo-sannyas is a total yes to everything in life -- including everything that gives you higher consciousness, including everything that gives you a nearness to the divine, including everything that has been denied only because it was life-affirming.…
(On 26 September 1970 in Manali, Osho inaugurated “Neo‑Sannyas.” Some sixteen people received initiation into Neo‑Sannyas from him. On the night of 28 September 1970, in an additional meeting, Osho gave this special talk on Neo‑Sannyas.) For me, sannyas is not renunciation but rejoicing. Sannyas is not a prohibition, it is an attainment. Yet until now the earth has seen sannyas only in a negative sense—about giving up, about leaving, not about receiving. I see sannyas as receiving. Certainly, when someone finds diamonds and jewels they drop the pebbles. But dropping the pebbles simply means making room for the diamonds. We do not “renounce” pebbles; we renounce only what we value greatly. Pebbles are thrown out the way we throw trash out of the house—we don’t keep accounts of how much trash we have renounced. Up to now sannyas has kept accounts of what is dropped.
September 28, 1970 was a memorable day. At Manali in the Himalayas, Osho initiated His first group of sannyasins. This event was followed by this special evening discourse, on the significance of Neo Sannyas. To me, sannyas does not mean renunciation; it means a journey to joy bliss. To me, sannyas is not any kind of negation; it is a positive attainment. But up to now, the world over, sannyas has been seen in a very negative sense, in the sense of giving up, of renouncing. I, for one, see sannyas as something positive and affirmative, something to be achieved, to be treasured. It is true that when someone carrying base stones as his treasure comes upon a set of precious stones, he immediately drops the baser ones from his hands. He drops the baser stones only to make room for the newfound precious stones. It is not renunciation.
To me, sannyas is not something very serious. Life itself is not very serious, and one who is serious is always dead. Life is just an overflowing energy without any purpose, so to me, sannyas is to lead life purposelessly. Live life as a play and not as a work. If you can take this whole life just as a play, you are a sannyasin; then you have renounced. Renunciation is not leaving the world, but changing the attitude. That is why I can initiate anyone into sannyas. To me, initiation itself is a play. And I will not ask for any qualifications -- whether you are qualified or not -- because qualifications are asked when something serious is done.