What is the reason for wanting to marry?

Why does one want to marry?

I don't know exactly. Because I never wanted to, so I am utterly inexperienced. You should not ask me such difficult questions. But I guess -- these are just guesses -- I guess because people like to live in institutions, in prisons. People don't want to live an open life, they want to live a closed life. That's why they want to get married. I guess people don't love, that's why they want to get married. The love is not enough, so the law is needed to help. If love is enough there is no point in getting married. If you trust your love, that's enough; no other thing is needed to keep you together. Marriage is finding ways to keep you together. Because you cannot trust that your love is enough to keep you together. People who don't love, they want to get married. Although people are very cunning…

Why are you against marriage?

The wife suddenly said, 'Nasrudin look at the dog and the cat and how peacefully they live together. Why can't we do that?' Nasrudin said. Why can't we do that? Tie them together and see what happens.' Once two persons are tied together freedom is lost and anger arises. When freedom is lost everything becomes ugly. Love means that freedom remains intact: marriage means that freedom has been dropped. You have bargained for permanence, for security, and you have paid for it with freedom. Marriage is going to disappear, should disappear. And now the point is coming in the history of humanity where it becomes possible that marriage can disappear. It is already an outmoded phenomenon, it has lived too long and it has created nothing but misery. Marriage should disappear and love should flower again. One should live with insecurity and freedom. That I call intelligence. To seek for…

Osho, what is the secret of remaining happy and married?

One day Sattva said, "I don't have any money." Then he said "You can ask me!" And he brought five rupees from somewhere and gave it to Sattva! "Why don't you ask me? I have so many friends, I can bring as much money as you want!" Now, this child will be a totally different child! He has lived with Jews and with Christians and with Hindus. He will not be conditioned by anything, he will not have any conditioning. He will have a vast territory of being available to him. That's my idea how all children should grow. then there will be no ugly religious conflicts, wars, bloodshed, no ugly fanaticism, no fascist ideologies in the world. These are all byproducts of the family, and the family depends on marriage. In fact, if the family disappears, nations will have to disappear, religions will disappear, states will disappear, churches will…

Why do you appear to put down marriage and yet tell people to get married?

But why do I tell people to get married? When I see that they are after security, when I see that they are after social sanction, when I see they are afraid, when I see that they cannot move into love if marriage is not there, then I tell them to go into it -- but I will go on helping them to go beyond it. I will go on helping them to transcend it. Marriage should be transcended; only then real marriage happens. Marriage should be forgotten completely. In fact the other person you have been in love with should always remain a stranger and never should be taken for granted. When two persons live as strangers, there is a beauty to it, a very simple, innocent beauty to it. And when you live with somebody as a stranger.... And everybody is a stranger. You cannot know a person.…

Question: OSHO, WHAT IS WRONG WITH MARRIAGE? WHY DO YOU SPEAK ALWAYS AGAINST IT? Learn something from marriage. Marriage represents the whole world in a miniature form: it teaches you many things. It is only the mediocre ones who learn nothing. Otherwise it will teach you that you don't know what love is, that you don't know how to relate, that you don't know how to communicate, that you don't know how to commune, that you don't know how to live with another. It is a mirror: it shows your face to you in all its different aspects. And it is all needed for your maturity. But a person who remains clinging to it forever remains immature. One has to go beyond it too. Marriage basically means that you are not able yet to be alone; you need the other.