They aim for the same freedom: one says “avoid the fire,” the other says “learn to cook with it safely.”
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa kept constantly warning his renunciates to stay away from kamini and kanchan. You tell your sannyasins to live the world intensely. What is the reason for this difference?
So I speak the language of Tantra—but the result is the same. Ramakrishna says: stay away from woman and gold. I say: you will become free of woman and gold—by entering the world rightly. The words differ; only the manner of saying is different. The truth is one. It happened that two men were fighting by the roadside. One had a big stick, the other a long knife. Both were ready to kill, and many people were trying to pacify them: “Brother, don’t fight. What’s the use? You have children; he has a wife and home; you have old parents. What are you doing? If someone dies, then what?” A big crowd tried to explain, but the more they explained, the more the fighters’ fury rose. In fact, if the crowd did not interfere, the fury might subside. But when a crowd comes to persuade, the fury never subsides. If…
Osho, Shankaracharya emphasizes cultivating dispassion toward the male and female body, but here in the ashram you seem to support the free companionship of young men and women. Please say something about this.
Precisely so—so that you can ripen. I don’t want to break you away from the world; I want to free you from it—not break you. Breaking and being free are very different things. Breaking is like plucking an unripe fruit; freedom is like a ripe fruit falling of its own accord. From the outside both events look the same—the fruit separates from the tree. But there is a fundamental difference. When you pluck an unripe fruit, a sting remains in the fruit and a wound in the tree. A ripe fruit needs no plucking—it falls by itself, effortlessly. There is no sting, and there is no backward glance at the tree as if to say, “If only I could have stayed a little longer.” Ripeness completes the matter: the tree’s work is done. Nor does the tree feel any hurt. The ripe fruit forgets the tree completely and never looks…
Beloved Osho, shankaracharya emphasizes the sense of indifference, nonattachment towards the bodies of man and woman. But in this ashram you approve of free mixing of men and women. Please say something on this.
So that you may become ripe, mature... I do not want to break you off from the world. I want to make you free of this world. To break off and to be free are two different things. Breaking off is like plucking the raw fruit and to be free is like the falling of the ripe fruit. Outwardly these look alike because in both of them the fruit separates from the tree, but there is a basic difference between them. When a raw fruit is plucked, the pain of being plucked remains in the fruit and a wound is left in the tree also. There is no need to pluck the ripe fruit; the ripe fruit falls down by itself without any pain, without any yearning to be with the tree for a little more time. When the fruit ripens the work of the tree is complete so there…
Osho, in the classical tradition the sannyasin turns away from māyā and sensual enjoyment and orients himself toward God-realization; yoga and bhoga are known to be mutually opposed. But in your sannyas there is no emphasis on dispassion from enjoyment. Therefore, kindly clarify your conception of sannyas!
So first thing: religion is not tradition. Religion is ever ancient and ever new. It is a paradox. It has always been—and yet each time it must be discovered anew. When the sun of religion rises, it is private, personal, not collective. It does not become society’s property or legacy. If you do not trust Buddha, Buddha has no way to make you trust. Have you thought about this? If you say, “We doubt you: you claim God-experience, but how are we to believe it?” Buddha will shrug his shoulders: “What can be done? What happened is private, personal. There is no way to spread it out on the table before you. It happened within; there is no device to bring it out. It happened so deep that it cannot be exhibited for all to see.” That is why there have been so many perfectly awakened ones, yet atheism has…