What is the significance of staying in a single love relationship versus multiple relationships?

In the east, it has been stressed that one should stay with a person, one person, in a love relationship. In the west, now people float from one relationship to another. Which are you in favor of?

By meeting the woman outside, by really meeting, loving her, committing yourself to her being, dissolving into her, melting into her, you will, by and by, start meeting the woman that is within you; you will start meeting the man that is within you. The outer woman is just a path to the inner woman; and the outer man is also just a path to the inner man. The real orgasm happens inside you when your inner man and woman meet. That is the meaning of the Hindu symbolism of ardhanarishwar. You must have seen Shiva: half man, half woman. Each man is half man, half woman; each woman is half woman, half man. It has to be so, because half of your being comes from your father and half of your being comes from your mother. You are both. An inner orgasm, an inner meeting, an inner union is…

[The first sannyasin Osho addressed had sent him a letter earlier saying that she was in a deep loving relationship with her husband, but at the same time she felt attracted to someone else.] Two things to remember. The first: love grows only in deep intimacy and trust. If you change persons, from A to B, from B to C, it is as if you are transplanting your being from one place to another. You will never grow roots. And the tree will grow fragile and weak. To gain strength, deep roots are needed; and to gain roots, time is needed. And for love even eternity is not enough. Even eternity is not enough, remember, because love can grow and grow and grow -- and there is no end to it. There is a beginning, but there is no end. So don't take love as a superficial thing.

Osho, in today's lecture you said there are three stages -- sex, love and prayer. But if one keeps on changing the partners how can one go into depth? How can one reach the highest stage at all?

Love is the goal. So if it is not happening with this person, let it happen with somebody else, but LET IT HAPPEN! Allow it a continuity. That continuity, that flow of love constantly happening, will take you deeper into it, will bring depth, will bring new dimensions, will bring new realisations. So remember, if it is going good with one person... and by 'good' I don't mean what is ordinarily meant when somebody says 'They are a good couple' or 'Very nice'. I don't mean that; those words just hide facts. A 'nice family' means no conflict, no problem, things are going smoothly, the wheels of the mechanism are moving smoothly, that's all. But a really beautiful relationship is not just nice; it IS FAR OUT! Never settle for less. Only a far out relationship can bring depth. If it is not happening, be courageous enough to say good-bye…

It will be, it will be a trouble . . . it will be a trouble. One woman is enough trouble! If you are attracted to too many women, you invite trouble. Then accept it, and enjoy it. You are inviting it. My feeling is this, that if you can stay with one woman for a little longer period, it will be more helpful. Otherwise the chaos will be too much and you may not be able to manage it. I'm not saying to be with one woman for your whole life -- I'm not saying that. If it happens, good. If it doesn't happen, there is no need to feel any guilt. But to be moving with many women at one time is bound to create much trouble. And it is useless.

[Osho said that many people keep changing their partners but time and again they choose a similar type of person, because they have certain criterions of beauty and what is attractive and they look for them in each potential lover. The West is caught up in the illusion that if the external is changed, so will be the problem, hence the changing of partners, cars, houses.] The second thing: when you are feeling bored, don't relate to him, because that is destructive. When one is feeling bored, one should drop out of all relationship, otherwise those moments are going to be destructive. When you are feeling bored, just close your room, sit silently, meditate. Use those moments with yourself. If you are feeling bored, then feel bored with yourself; that is your right.