According to Osho, sannyas is an inner, experiential plunge—like love—that cannot be understood beforehand; understanding comes only by entering it. He gives sannyas widely because he sees everyone as a potential Buddha and offers the symbolic key to their inexhaustible inner treasure. Out of respect and love, he hastens their growth, discouraging postponement, inviting a courageous gamble into the unknown where participation itself births insight.
You learn it by doing—like jumping into a pool—so I give you the key now because you can swim inside, and only then will you understand.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
The Wisdom Of The Sands Vol 2 · Discourse 5
1978-03-06 · Buddha Hall · English
Why do you give sannyas to anybody, even to those who don't understand the meaning?
The question is from Klaus Freitag. There are a few things in life which can only be known from the inside. If you decide that you will fall in love only when you have understood the meaning of love, never before it, then;you will never fall in love. There is no way to know about love. There is no way to know love unless you fall in it. You can go to the libraries and you can find thousands of books written on love and you can go through them and you can write a PH.D. thesis about love, but you will still not know anything about love. Love is a taste on the tongue; you have to experience it. That's why I go on giving sannyas to anybody and everybody, because that is the only way to have an experience of it. It is not a philosophy that I…Read the full discourse →
I Am The Gate · Discourse 2
1971-04-16 · Bombay, India · English
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…Read the full discourse →
Come Come Yet Again Come · Discourse 4
1980-10-30 · Buddha Hall · English
Beloved Osho, what is sannyas?
Sannyas is rebellion against all slavery; it is living life in absolute freedom. To live life in absolute freedom, without traditions, without conventions, without religions, without philosophies, without ideologies -- political, social, and others -- to live unburdened is sannyas. But it will look crazy to the whole world. Freedom looks crazy because everybody is living an imprisoned life. To prisoners, the person who escapes from the prison looks crazy, because for them prison is comfortable, convenient, secure, safe. A Hungarian secret police colonel was inspecting a strip of the border. "Too many people have been slipping across at this point," he informed the guards. "I have been ordered to test your security precautions." After deploying the guards at strategic points, the colonel began creeping on all fours toward the barbed wire. "Can you see me now?" he called out. When they cried back "Yes," he started again. On the…Read the full discourse →
To me, sannyas is not something very serious. Life itself is not very serious, and one who is serious is always dead. Life is just an overflowing energy without any purpose, so to me, sannyas is to lead life purposelessly. Live life as a play and not as a work. If you can take this whole life just as a play, you are a sannyasin; then you have renounced. Renunciation is not leaving the world, but changing the attitude. That is why I can initiate anyone into sannyas. To me, initiation itself is a play. And I will not ask for any qualifications -- whether you are qualified or not -- because qualifications are asked when something serious is done.Read the full discourse →
Prem Panth Aiso Kathin · Discourse 12
1979-04-07 · Pune · Hindi · English translation
Osho, sannyas was born in this land; it was granted the dignity of Gaurishankar (Everest). But today its honor has become merely superficial. Inside, the individual and society alike are afraid of it. Why have sannyas and the sannyasin lost their meaning? Please explain.
In my sannyas there is no prohibition—no “leave this, run from that.” Awakening is enough. Cowards run. Those who awaken remain where they are and are free there. My sannyas does not want to give you knowledge; it wants to give you meditation. Meditation means emptiness; it means: I do not know. Life is such an ultimate mystery that nothing definitive can be known about it. And I want to give sannyas a new posture—creativity. I will call him a sannyasin who sings a new song; who strikes a new music from the veena; who dances a new dance; who makes this world a little more beautiful, brings a little more blessedness to the earth. Then sannyas can regain its dignity. And I would have the sannyasin not imitate. Listen, understand, contemplate—but live from your own individuality. Therefore I give my sannyasins no codes of conduct—only processes to awaken the…Read the full discourse →