According to Osho, people desire to be rich because wealth lets them avoid the effort of being intelligent; it offers the 'relief' of permissible stupidity. Chasing money as a goal breeds a vegetative, unlived life. Real richness is intelligence and aliveness; if wealth arises from that, it becomes a doorway to music, art, science, and deeper living.
People want money to avoid thinking and growing, but true wealth is being alive and intelligent, with money serving that life if it comes.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Why do people want to be rich?
WHEN ONE IS RICH, one does not have to be smart. And that's a big relief. That's why people want to be rich. Nobody wants to be intelligent; richness can afford to be stupid. You can see the faces of rich people -- you will always find a kind of subtle stupidity. The more rich a person is, the more you will find that he does not live, he vegetates. You will not find the sign of life in his eyes. People want to be rich so they can afford to be stupid -- it is a great relief. If you really want to be intelligent, who cares about being rich? If richness comes as a consequence of being intelligent, that's another matter -- but who bothers about it? It is not a direct goal. And the difference is great. Intelligent people also become rich. Intelligence is REAL richness --…
Beloved Osho, can you talk about money? What are all these feelings which are around money? What makes it so powerful that people sacrifice their lives for it?
Just by reading it you are not aware. Now, when I was talking to you about Sodom... in this new Bible they have made pictures of men making love to animals, women making love to animals. There is adultery, there is homosexuality, there is sodomy, there is rape. You name it and it is in the Bible! I have said that we should immediately order it. My people should start reading the real Bible! And order it immediately, because there is every possibility it will be prohibited. Never in the world has any book been so pornographic as this Bible. And they are not doing anything which is not in the Bible -- they are just making pictures of it. You can understand pictures better. Just reading the word `rape' is nothing, but when you see a series of rapes pictured, then you become suddenly aware -- this is a…
My greed for money, to have money and to see that I am able to make money, what does it mean?
Solomon and Irving were both partners in the dress business. They had the worst season of their careers, and were at a complete loss as to what to make that would sell. There was not a dress to be cut in their cutting-room. They both decided: the only way out to leave their families any money was to agree to a suicide pact. They drew straws and Solomon was to jump first. Solomon jumped out of the thirtieth-floor window, and as he was falling he noticed that every cutting-room on every floor he passed was busy. He yelled back to Irving, "Don't jump! Cut velvet!" Even to the very end -- you can be dying -- but the business, the business of greed continues. Once you are on the trip, it is very difficult to get out of it. One gets more and more involved. And on the path of…
Osho, I want to be rich, I want a high position, and I want a beautiful woman too. What should I do?
A man once placed an advertisement—meant for people like you: “Send two rupees and learn the formula to become a millionaire overnight.” Now who wouldn’t want to become a millionaire for two rupees! Almost a hundred thousand people sent their money. A week later, everyone who had sent the two rupees received the reply: “Do exactly what I did.” He had indeed become a millionaire overnight! One lakh people sent two rupees each—two lakhs landed in his lap. This is how you’re being duped—through gambling, matka. And it’s not only people who run these scams; governments do it too. Governments that claim to be Gandhian run lotteries! A lottery is gambling—a cheat dressed up nicely. But the greedy get hooked: “Just one rupee for a chance at lakhs. If it comes once, that’s enough…!” But what will you do after getting lakhs? There’s a famous story by Tolstoy: A tailor…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, SHOULD ONE TRY TO BE RICH OR NOT? Asango, meditate on Murphy's maxim: Don't care if you are rich or not as long as you can live comfortably and have everything you want. That's exactly what I have been doing and that's exactly what I would like you to do. Why bother whether you are rich or not? In fact, people go into unnecessary worries. Whatsoever you have, enjoy it -- it is already too much. You cannot look at it because your mind is constantly occupied with doing this, becoming that. And all that existence goes on giving you, you go on neglecting. You never even thank existence for it; you don't have any gratitude. Otherwise, even if you don't possess anything, you can live a very rich life. A rich life is something inner.