According to Osho, being immersed in lust is simply being surrounded by a mode of the Divine—energy moving through body and mind. If you identify, you become unconscious; if you fight, you repress. Stand in the middle as a witness: neither libertine nor controller. Then desire is seen as a passing bodily wave, its allure wanes naturally as meditation deepens, and true brahmacharya flowers.
Lust is just God’s energy in you—notice it calmly without getting lost in it or trying to crush it, and it passes.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, by your grace I can see the sky; I also have experiences of light, and I can become one with the inner flow. But when lust seizes me, I want to be as immersed in that as in meditation. Please tell me, what is this state of mine?
First thing: be a witness to lust as well. Do not become its controller. Do not try to bring it under control by force; remain a witness to it too. Just as you are a witness to everything else, be a witness to lust as well. It is difficult, because for centuries you have been taught that lust is sin. That notion of sin has settled in the mind. In this world there is no sin at all—only the Divine. Drop that notion. In this world the One alone is, pervading all forms—that One is the Divine. In the smallest of the small, the same; in the vastest of the vast, the same! In the low, the same; in the high, the same! In lust, the same; and in samadhi, the same. Here there is nothing that is “sin.” This does not mean I am saying you should remain stuck…
In this same context, someone has asked: Osho, what is your view regarding lust?
Lust is energy, and whoever fights with the energy of lust will be destroyed. Lust is to be transformed, not fought with. Sex, when transformed, becomes brahmacharya. Sex is not the opposite of brahmacharya. Brahmacharya is the transformed state of sex itself. In this world no energies are destroyed—only transformation happens. In this world nothing is destroyed; only transformation happens. Energies are never annihilated. The very energy of hatred, when transformed, becomes love. The very energy of cruelty, when transformed, becomes kindness and compassion. What you are calling lust—those very urges, when transformed, become forces that move life toward truth. After all, you must have seen: just now, on my way here, I passed a place where flowers were blooming. You must have seen a garbage heap where filth lies piled up. From that filth a stench arises, a bad odor spreads; anyone passing by holds his nose. But if…
Brahmacharya is not the renunciation of lust; it is the release of the love hidden within lust. Don’t murder lust; that’s like crushing the seed—then sit and wait: no fragrance will come. The seed too would not have yielded fragrance while it remained intact. It must break—in the soil—so that the seed perishes but the fragrance concealed within is set free. Then a long journey: seed to tree, tree to flower, flower to fragrance. But if you take a stone and smash the seed, as many so-called sadhus and renunciates do—killing lust out of fear of violence—you’ll wait forever for the scent of brahmacharya. You will find their lives hanging in mid-air, like Trishanku—neither of this world nor the other. The plight of such ascetics is worse than yours. At least you have the seed; you may be stuck at the seed, but the possibility remains to sow it.
A friend has asked, Osho, in bhakti-yoga you have given love a fundamental place. I don’t know whether we ordinary people are familiar with love or only with lust! What is the difference between the two? And can lust become love?
It is worth asking, and worth understanding. Because we take lust to be love. And lust is not love; it can become love. In lust there is the possibility of love. But lust itself is not love; it is only a seed. If rightly used, it can sprout—but a seed is not a tree. So the one who becomes satisfied with lust, or concludes, “This is the end,” will never even come to know what love is. Lust can become love. Lust means attraction between two bodies—between bodies. Love means attraction between two minds. And devotion means attraction between two souls. They are all attractions, but on three planes. When one body is drawn to another body, that is kama, sex. When one mind is drawn to another mind, that is prem, love. And when one soul is drawn to another soul, that is bhakti, devotion. We live on the…
A friend has asked: Osho, yesterday you said that to know anger completely, one must experience it in its totality. Then how is one to know lust completely? Because the experienced say that lust is never satisfied; the more you indulge it, the more it grows. So how can one go beyond lust?
Surely there is an inherent purpose. And it is this: even these saints could not have been born without lust. They too went beyond only by passing through the experience. They too entered it and found it to be futile. That realization of futility is precious—and it comes only when it happens in your own experience. So do not be in a hurry. Do not rely on borrowed experience. That does not mean you tell the experienced, “You are wrong.” You should simply say, “We do not yet know. We wish to enter and know for ourselves what this lust is. We will know it fully. If it turns out to be wrong, that very knowing will bring liberation. And if it turns out to be right, then there is no need for liberation.” One thing is certain: whoever has known rightly has become free. And another thing is also…