Why is there a need to remove the ego if it is born of nature?

A friend has asked: Osho, since the ego too is born of nature, why is there any need to remove it?

Lao Tzu does not say, “Remove it.” Nor does Lao Tzu say that the ego is not born of nature. All illnesses are born of nature. Whatever is born is born of nature. Lao Tzu only says: if you cling to the disease of ego, you will suffer. If you want suffering, cling to it by all means. But man is strange. He clings to the ego and wants to attain bliss. Then Lao Tzu says, you are speaking wrongly. If a man wants to die, let him drink poison; poison too is born of nature. But if he says, “Poison is natural, so I will drink it; but I don’t want to die,” then he will be in difficulty. Lao Tzu says: if you want to die, drink the poison cheerfully and die. If you do not want to die, then don’t drink the poison. Death is natural, and…

One friend has asked, "ego is also created by nature then why should it be removed?"

Lao Tzu does not tell us to remove the ego, nor does he deny the fact that it is given to us by nature. All illnesses also, are born out of nature. Whatever is in creation, is born out of nature. Lao Tzu only says this: that if you cling to the malady that is ego, you will suffer. If you want to suffer then go ahead and cling to it! But man is strange! He clings to the ego and craves for bliss! Then, Lao Tzu says, you are doing wrong. If a man wants to die, he can take poison. Poison also is created by nature; but if the man is willing to take poison because it is nature's creation and is yet unwilling to die, then it is difficult. Lao Tzu says that if you want to die, take the poison and die. If you do not…

Before it comes into existence one lives moment to moment. Who cares to remember the past? So the child up to the third or fourth year remains spontaneous, wild, natural, outside society, on the fringe. It is a cultivated phenomenon, hence it can be dropped. If it were natural there would be no way to drop it. Because it is put together by society it can be easily dismantled. And that's what sannyas is all about, dismantling the ego. The process is painful because you have to become too attached to it. But once you understand that the ego is the root cause of all your misery, you are ready to go through the surgery. It is better to be finished with it in one stroke rather than to go on being miserable for your whole life.

Osho, ego is the greatest obstacle to taking sannyas. How can it be removed? The ego-sense does not go.

Ego has no reality. Then how to define it? Understand ego in this way: when you look outward, there is ego; when you look inward, ego departs. Enter meditation; drop the very worry of fighting with ego. Fighting the ego is like someone fighting darkness—pushing at it, trying to throw it out. No, I say, light a lamp. Enter meditation, enter prayer; light the lamp—turn within. Close your eyes and begin to look inside—what is there? You will discover one thing: you will never find the ego. And where there is no ego, there is the Divine. The Divine is your true nature; ego is your delusion. As someone sees a rope and takes it for a snake—or sees a snake in a rope—so is ego: a mis-seeing. To see what is, as it is—that is God-experience. And certainly, ego is the greatest obstacle to taking sannyas. But sannyas is…

Osho, there is no reason for the ego to be, and yet why is there ego?

Chuang Tzu was passing by a cemetery. It was evening; darkness was falling. His foot struck a skull lying there. He immediately knelt and folded his hands. His disciples were startled. Chuang Tzu was an enlightened man. What is he doing—has he gone mad? But the disciples stood silently, watching. He offered a long prayer. He said to the skull, Forgive me! You are not an ordinary skull, because I know for certain this is a cemetery of the great. Here only kings, high priests, mahatmas are buried. You must be the skull of some great saint or king. It is sheer coincidence that today you have no skin on the outside and the drum of ego is not beating within; otherwise I would have been in trouble. It is sheer coincidence that I have been spared. Life saved and a fortune made… If the drum of ego were beating…