What is the role of a witness in the initiation of sannyas?

Osho, you have said that initiation into sannyas is a direct matter between the individual and the divine. But then the question arises: if, in initiation, we place you in between as a witness, wouldn’t that amount to distrust of sannyas?

You are absolutely right that it is a matter between you and the divine; if that much is understood, there is no need at all for me to be a witness. But you have come here because a direct relationship between you and the divine is not happening. Otherwise, why would you wander around here? Why would you be troubled? We feel joy here; that is why we come. Then I will be the witness! In that condition I will be the witness. Won’t a sect form around you then? You ask whether a sect will form. No, a sect will not form. It won’t, because certain requirements are indispensable for forming a sect: first, a guru; a scripture; a doctrine; a label. And not only that—there must also be the insistence that whatever is different, other, or contrary is absolutely wrong, and this alone is absolutely right. Now, I…

Questioner: you said that sannyas is a blissful phenomenon; it is not renunciation. In my view, the first shankaracharya was a sannyasin of bliss, and in that sense he can be taken for your sannyasin. Please explain. Also explain why you lay so much stress on play-acting. And can a businessman, who takes to your sannyas, play-act as a black marketeer? And lastly, why don't you use the ochre color for your clothes when you prescribe it for your sannyasins?

You ask, "It is okay if a sannyasin play-acts as a businessman, but can he play-act in the same way as a black marketeer? If he does, it would not be that harmful. He would have indulged in black marketing if he were not a sannyasin, so it would not be that harmful if he also play-acts as a black marketeer. But I think that a person who has the courage to take sannyas, and who is going to make a great experiment in his life, and who is ready to play act as a businessman, will not play-act as a black marketeer. Because to indulge in black marketing one will have to be a doer; play-acting is not enough. The more evil you want to indulge in, the more of a doer you have to be, because evil is painful. To go into it, you will need to be…

No, you are doing something wrong then. It is not a question of witnessing others -- you have to witness your own self. Witnessing others can be just a beginner's step -- to know what witnessing is. You stand by the side of the road and you watch people passing by. It is easier to watch people who are passing outside, but this is just a training device. Once you have learned how to watch without judgement.... If some beautiful woman passes by and if a judgement arises that she is beautiful and a certain lust arises that you would like to possess her or to have her -- then the witnessing is lost. Or an ugly person may pass by -- you don't condemn, you are not repulsed, and you don't appreciate. It is just a beginner's training.

A friend has asked: Osho, in the night samadhi practice I feel I am dying, or have died. If I am the witness, how can the witness die? What does it mean to cultivate this feeling?

That chick did not run after the hen; it ran after the balloon. It tried to sleep next to the balloon, as it would have tried to sleep next to its mother. Many efforts were made to make it understand, “This is not your mother,” but for it the balloon had become the mother. The chick died, because it could never again understand who its mother was. There is a moment of exposure—an instant when our consciousness opens and catches something. From childhood our consciousness keeps opening and catching. The total of these memories becomes the name “I.” If all your memory could be taken away, to whom would you say, “I am”? It would become difficult to say who you are. The “I” is not a reality; the “I” is an album of memories, an aggregate. And as long as this aggregate appears to us as the greatest truth,…

Osho, you have said that adopting personalities and faces from the outside is a subtle theft and gives birth to hypocrisy and irreligion. But it is being seen that these days many new sannyasins are gathering around you, and without any special preparation or maturity you are recognizing their sannyas. Are you not thereby causing great harm to religion? Please explain.

First thing: if someone tries to become like me, I will stop him; I will tell him that trying to be like me is self-destruction. But if someone sets out on the journey of trying to become himself, I have no hesitation in giving him my blessings. Those sannyasins who want me to be a witness to their journey toward God—to be a witness on their path—I have no objection to becoming their witness. But I am no one’s guru. I have no disciples. I am only a witness. If someone wants to take a resolve in my presence that he is setting out on the journey of sannyas, I have no objection to becoming a witness. But if someone comes to become my disciple, I have a grave objection. I cannot make anyone a disciple, because I am not a guru. If someone comes to walk behind me, I…