According to Osho, renaming a sannyasin symbolically breaks the old identity and marks an inner rebirth, beginning a new journey. The mala is a living reminder: its 108 beads signify the many meditation methods, while the single pendant bead points to the One where all paths meet. These rituals aren’t compulsory, but they skillfully aid remembrance, loosen conditioning, and prevent sectarian narrowness.
Changing your name and wearing the mala help you feel new and remember there are many ways to the same truth.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Questioner: is there a special significance in changing one's name and wearing a mala given by you?
Yes, it has significance, great significance. The change of name has great significance for a sannyasin. It is an index, a symbol. Everything in our life is symbolic. You have a name; you are identified with this name. This name has become your symbol; it is identified with your individuality. Your name has an association with everything that you have been before yesterday. Changing the name of a sannyasin means we disconnect him from his old identity, from his old associations. We say to him, now you are not the same as you were before yesterday. Now you are starting on a new journey with a new name, a new identity. Since ancient times they have had a small ceremony at the time of one's initiation into sannyas. It is a kind of cremation ceremony. Exactly as we bathe a dead body and shave its head before putting it on…
Osho, do the mala and the renaming have any special significance?
Yes, they do; there is great meaning. Changing a sannyasin’s name has deep significance. It is symbolic. And in our lives, everything is symbolic. You have lived with one name; your identity is tied to it. A name has been your symbol. Your personality has become connected with it. Your name is associated with all that you were till yesterday; it is linked to that. The meaning of changing a sannyasin’s name is that we break him from his old identity. We say: now you are not who you were till yesterday. Now you set out on a new journey, carrying a new identity. In the old days, when initiation was given, they performed a small experiment. It was like this: just as we bathe a corpse before placing it on the bier, so they would bathe him. Just as we shave a corpse’s hair, shave the head, so they…
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…
Deva means divine or godly, and kalyani means one who brings blessings. The full name will mean: one who brings divine blessings... and each of us has the power to become a blessing to the world. The same energy can become destructive and a curse. The energy is the same; whether it becomes destruction or creation depends on one's choice. The energy in itself is neutral -- you can use it this way or that. Millions of people have decided to be destructive because they think that if they are destructive to others they are not going to be destructive to themselves. They think that to protect themselves, to be safe, to be secure, the only way is to be destructive to the world, to others. But their whole logic is against nature; it doesn't happen, it can't happen.
Question: OSHO, HOW DO YOU ALWAYS FIND NEW NAMES TO GIVE TO YOUR SANNYASINS? Hence I change the name -- to give you a break, to give you the idea that name is just a given thing. Your old name disappears, a new name becomes your reality, but now you will not get so much identified because you are now more mature. The first name was given when you were a small child; you were not aware. Now you are a little bit aware. And by becoming a sannyasin you are becoming committed to more and more awareness, to a life of witnessing in which all identities have to be dropped. A man is absolutely free only when there is no identity left.