According to Osho, surrender means dying to the ego—the urge to save, possess, and control—while attachment is precisely that clutching. They are mutually exclusive: as long as you cling, you remain in fear and bondage; when you drop yourself utterly, attachment collapses, fear vanishes, and life’s energy is released into freedom, celebration, and effortless dance—liberation arises as your “not-being.”
You can’t be free while gripping “me and mine”; let go of trying to save yourself and fear and pain let go of you.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you ask us to surrender and at the same time you say, “Don’t cling to me.” And looking at our present state, it seems that in the name of surrender we have indeed clung to you. Now it feels as if without you we would simply die! What is the reason for this? What should we do in such a situation?
Then die! That is precisely the meaning of surrender. Do not try to save yourself. There is nothing wrong in dying; all the wrong lies in trying to be saved. And what is there to save for which we are so frantically busy—“Save me! save me! save me!”? What is there to save? If you look attentively even for a single moment, sit quietly and reflect, you will see there is nothing in your possession worth saving. And once you see that there is nothing to save, the fear of death will vanish instantly. For who is going to die? If there is nothing to save, what is there to lose? This fear that something may be lost stands upon the illusion that I have something. And you never open the door of your house to see whether anything is there; perhaps you don’t look precisely out of the fear…
Osho, what is surrender? I used to think I knew. Now it is a mystery.
THE FALSE KNOWLEDGE de-mystifies existence; the true knowledge re-mystifies it. Knowing, if authentic, makes life more of a mystery than it has ever been before. Knowledge certainly covers your eyes with dark clouds, creates a wall of thick smoke, and you start feeling you know. In fact, you are going deeper into ignorance. To be knowledgeable is to be more ignorant than even the ignorant ones. The Upanishads have a tremendously significant statement. They say: The ignorant man is lost in darkness, but the knowledgeable is lost in deeper darkness than the ignorant -- because the knowledgeable lives in an "as if" world. He thinks he knows, but he knows not. He only believes; he has not seen. He believes in God, he believes in love, he believes in surrender, but belief is always a cover-up. Your wound is covered, but it is not healed that way. In fact, the…
Osho, attachment arises from the illusion called ego; please clarify more clearly the origin of ego.
The weak pray; they look religious. The truly religious has such trust—but for that trust, great strength is needed. “Fine, it is in His hand; He knows. If the sword is His, and if He must cut my neck, let Him—it must be for some good.” Only the strong surrender; the egoist is always weak. You will say, “Wrong—egoists look strong.” A psychological truth: Adler found that the more inferior a man feels, the more egoistic he becomes. One who has real power has no need of ego; his power shows—no announcement required. The sun does not announce its coming; it comes and all know—flowers open, birds sing, people wake, trees stir, winds blow, waves rise. A fake sun would bring a band to announce itself because its mere presence would announce nothing. Our ego hides inner weakness; it arranges externals. It knows it is weak; in itself, nothing will…
Osho, what does surrender mean?
Resolve means: I. Surrender means: not-I. Resolve means: the sense of doership. Surrender means: the sense of non-doership. Resolve means: only through what I do can anything happen; without my doing, nothing will happen—effort is everything. Surrender means: grace is everything. What will happen through my doing? If the Beloved does, it happens. I am only a hollow reed of bamboo; if He plays, I become a flute. His song is everything. I should give Him passage, not become an obstruction. I should step aside from the path. A tiny bud walked along the riverbank and reached—then stepped down into the stream! The lover, bound for tryst, descended from steps to the waves. On the faces of the stars a shimmer came. So much is joined. When even a tiny bud steps into a ripple, in the eyes of stars at immeasurable distances a sparkle appears. Over the whole current…
Beloved Osho, you tell us to surrender and at the same time ask us not to cling onto you. The way we are now, it seems in the name of surrender we are clinging to you. Now it seems we will die without you. What is the reason for this to be so? What should we do in such a condition?
You should die! That is the very meaning of surrender. One should not make efforts to survive. There is nothing wrong in dying, the entire wrong is in surviving. And what is there to be saved, for which we are always making attempts to save, save and save? What is there to be saved? If you look attentively, think calmly even for a moment, what have you got to be saved? And when you see that you have nothing to be saved, the fear of dying will immediately disappear -- because who will die then? When there is nothing to be saved, then what is there to lose? The fear that something maybe lost is based in the illusion that you have something. And you never even open the door and look in your house to see if there is something there. Perhaps it is because of this fear that…