According to Osho, his ever-present napkin is a deliberate, illogical symbol of ‘uselessness’—a reminder that life’s true beauty lies beyond utility, logic, and purpose. Like a flower or a temple, it has no function, yet points to intrinsic value and playful leela. Carrying it proclaims devotion to poetry of being over marketplace efficiency, inviting ecstasy over commodities, heart over factory-minded purpose.
He carries a napkin to show that not everything must be useful—life is for play and beauty, not just work.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Why do you always carry a napkin with you, even when there is no use for it?
It is symbolic: that I am useless like my napkin. I don't believe in utility. Utility belongs to the world, to the marketplace. I believe in nonutilitarian things: a flower. What is the utility of a flower? What is the use? It is absolutely useless; and hence beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Life to me is not purposive; there is no purpose in it. If there was purpose life could not be so beautiful. Purpose always creates ugliness. Purpose gives you commodities, not ecstasies. Purpose gives you factories, not temples. Life is not a factory; it is a temple. What is the use of a temple? In the East, every village has a temple, at least one. More, then it is too good; otherwise one. Even a very, very poor village. When Westerners came for the first time to the East they could not believe the phenomenon, because the villages are so…
Nonmemory is convention's truth and mind which has become no-mind (is ultimate truth).
THIS IS FULFILLMENT, THIS IS THE HIGHEST GOOD. FRIENDS, OF THIS HIGHEST GOOD, BECOME AWARE. IN NONMEMORY IS MIND ABSORBED; JUST THIS IS EMOTIONALITY PERFECT AND PURE. IT IS UNPOLLUTED BY THE GOOD OR BAD OF WORLDLINESS LIKE A LOTUS UNAFFECTED BY THE MUD FROM WHICH IT GROWS. YET WITH CERTAINTY MUST ALL THINGS BE VIEWED AS IF THEY WERE A MAGIC SPELL..... IF WITHOUT DISTINCTION YOU CAN ACCEPT OR REJECT SAMSARA OR NIRVANA, STEADFAST IS YOUR MIND, FREE FROM THE SHROUD OF DARKNESS. IN YOU WILL BE SELF-BEING, BEYOND THOUGHT AND SELF-ORIGINATED. THIS WORLD OF APPEARANCE HAS FROM ITS RADIANT BEGINNING NEVER COME TO BE; UNPATTERNED, IT HAS DISCARDED PATTERNING. AS SUCH IT IS CONTINUOUS AND UNIQUE MEDITATION; IT IS NONMENTATION, STAINLESS CONTEMPLATION, AND NO-MIND. This is a very small beginning, but small beginnings can end in big things. When the Ganges comes out of the Himalayas, it is…
Osho, you have said that sannyas is the realization of truth. Then are ochre robes and the mala also essential for sannyas? And can a person not walk on your path without initiation? Kindly guide.
The day before yesterday a friend asked—he has taken sannyas, a simple-hearted man—he asked, “What is the scientific reason for this mala?” How can a mala possibly have a scientific reason? Its reason is religious, inward—not scientific. I told him, “If you want something ‘scientific,’ ask Laxmi.” A scientific reason? Does love ever have a scientific reason? A young man fell in love with Mulla Nasruddin’s daughter. He came and said, “I am in love with your daughter; please permit me to marry her.” Mulla said, “First prove it—what is the cause of your love?” The young man replied, “There is no cause, sir! Love has happened. Where there is a cause, can there be love? Where there is a cause, there is business, a bargain. Love is causeless.” Your love has happened with me; mine with you. Now some symbol becomes necessary. Think of this mala as the seven…
Hui tzu said to chuang tzu: "all your teaching is centered on what has no use."
CHUANG TZU REPLIED: "IF YOU HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HAS NO USE YOU CANNOT BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT WHAT CAN BE USED. THE EARTH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS BROAD AND VAST, BUT OF ALL THIS EXPANSE A MAN USES ONLY A FEW INCHES UPON WHICH HE HAPPENS TO BE STANDING AT THE TIME. "NOW SUPPOSE YOU SUDDENLY TAKE AWAY ALL THAT HE IS NOT ACTUALLY USING, SO THAT ALL AROUND HIS FEET A GULF YAWNS, AND HE STANDS IN THE VOID WITH NOWHERE SOLID EXCEPT UNDER EACH FOOT, HOW LONG WILL HE BE ABLE TO USE WHAT HE IS USING?" HUI TZU SAID: "IT WOULD CEASE TO SERVE ANY PURPOSE." CHUANG TZU CONCLUDED: "THIS SHOWS THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE NO USE." Life is dialectical, that is why it is not logical. Logic means that the opposite is really opposite, and life always implies the opposite…
Question: Osho, Saint Ryokan lived in a hut at the foot of a mountain. His life was utterly simple. One evening a thief entered his hut, but he saw there was nothing in it. Meanwhile the saint returned to the hut and saw the thief leaving. He said to the thief, “You have come a long way to see me, so it would not be right for you to go back empty-handed. Please, as a gift, take my robe.” The thief was utterly astonished. Embarrassed, he took the clothes and slipped away without a word. Ryokan was now naked. Sitting there, he kept gazing at the moon in the sky. And then he said to himself: “If only I could give that poor fellow this beautiful moon as well!” Osho, what is the essence of this beautiful Zen parable? Once I was in a university, sitting with the vice-chancellor.