Why is initiation into sannyas not given to the unworthy?

Osho, I have heard that initiation into sannyas is not given to the unworthy. Why is that? Are the unworthy not deserving of the satguru’s compassion?

The unworthy is just the opposite. If the divine comes, he thinks, “All right, he came—as was my due. He had to come; if he hadn’t, I would have shown him.” “He has to come; it is my right; it is my entitlement.” If he does not come, the unworthy becomes upset: “This is great injustice. There is injustice in the world—some get it, some don’t; there is partiality, favoritism, nepotism.” The unworthy has his own language. The worthy too has a language. When the divine comes, the worthy says—“Prasad.” “I had no qualifications at all, and yet you came!” This is the language of the worthy—understand it; it is a very paradoxical language. The worthy says, “I was unworthy, and you came! I had no merit to even ask; there was no basis from which to demand—only your compassion, your love, your mercy. You are Rahim, you are Rahman,…

Beloved Osho, why do you give sannyas to almost anybody who comes to see you? What is your concept of sannyas? What obligation does it involve?

But once you know a greater phenomenon -- a greater bliss, a greater happiness -- then you are not renouncing things. They just drop away, just like dry leaves from the tree. No one knows and no one hears, the dry leaves just drop. The tree remains oblivious to it and there is no wound left behind. So, to me, everything has a moment to happen, a moment of ripeness -- ripeness is all. One must ripen; otherwise one will be wandering unnecessarily and harassing himself unnecessarily and destroying himself unnecessarily. One should ripen, then the opportunity comes by itself. So renunciation is through positive growth. That is what I mean by my sannyas -- renunciation through positive growth. There is no negativity at all, no denial, no suppression. I accept the human being as he is. Of course, now much is potential, but as he is, he is not…

Osho, even in your Hindi discourses seventy to eighty percent are Western sannyasins who do not know Hindi at all. It is surprising that you still speak with the same alertness, ease, and depth, as if the whole assembly understands the language. Does this not create any difficulty for you? Please be gracious and explain how this is possible.

Chinmaya! It is not a matter of language here; it is a matter of feeling. And those who understand the language—do they really understand? Mere comprehension of words does not make you understand. What is being said may be expressed through language, but it is not confined to language. It is communicated by means of words, but it is not of the words. Only when you connect through the heart, through feeling, will you understand. Many must wonder: those who do not understand Hindi—how could they be understanding? They may not grasp what I am saying, but they do understand what I am. And that is what is valuable. Not what is said, but where it is said from. My silence is the valuable thing. From that silence the words arise. Words are like ripples on a lake. Ripples are not the whole of the lake. The lake can be…

Osho, I want to take sannyas. Am I worthy, and has the auspicious moment arrived?

And because I don’t tell you to leave your home, there is an added difficulty. Mahavira did not give his people as much trouble as I am giving you. Buddha did not give as much trouble. I am putting you in a very paradoxical arrangement: making you a sannyasin and not separating you from the home. You will sit at your shop in ochre robes—it will be a great awkwardness. In ochre you can sit in the forest—there is no trouble then. At a shop you do not sit in ochre—there is no trouble then. I am creating a contradiction in your life. I am saying: live in water and be like a lotus. The rose has no such difficulty; it doesn’t live in water. The lotus has the difficulty—to be in water and untouched by water. To be in the marketplace and untouched by the market. To be in…

Beloved master, what does it mean to be initiated into the spiritual life? What is the deeper occult and esoteric significance of initiation? What sort of initiation are you giving to the non-sannyasins and to the sannyasins? Please tell us about them in detail.

If you are in a hurry, then I will give initiation in your running state of affairs, because otherwise there will be no initiation. So I cannot ask you to wait as a precondition. I must initiate you first and then prolong your waiting in so many ways. Through so many devices I will persuade you to wait, because without waiting there is no maturity. So when you will be ready there will be a second initiation, which would have been the first in the old days. It cannot now be the first. Sometimes people are bewildered. Sometimes someone comes to me; he has not even heard me, he has not even known me, and I initiate him into sannyas. This is absurd, not understandable at all. But I know. And whatsoever I am doing, I am doing very considerately. This is just the beginning, this initiation, because only through…