According to Osho, melancholy visits every life until self-realization—the finding of the Divine. Don’t analyze sadness; that’s psychology’s route. Religion’s remedy is direct: meditate. As with darkness, you don’t study it—you light a lamp. Withdraw energy from the mind and gather it in meditation; when the inner lamp is lit, the aching sense of separation dissolves, wholeness returns, and bliss naturally flowers.
Feeling sad is normal until you find your true self; instead of figuring out why it’s dark inside, just turn on the light by sitting quietly and meditating.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why is there so much melancholy in my life?
Anil Bharti! In whose life is there no melancholy? Until there is self-realization, there will be melancholy. Until the Divine is found, there will be melancholy. It is natural. So don’t get into analyzing melancholy. Put that energy into meditation. This is the difference between psychology and religion. Psychology analyzes why melancholy is there, what its causes are; religion doesn’t bother about why or what the causes are—it directly suggests meditation. Consider: there is darkness in your house. Should you first figure out why it’s dark, what the cause is—or light a lamp? I say, even if you want to understand darkness, how will you do it without lighting a lamp? First light the lamp, then try to find where the darkness is—you won’t find it. Don’t ask for an analysis of melancholy. Light the lamp. Melancholy is like darkness. When, in your separation, we panic, we bang our heads…
Osho, why am I extremely sad when there is no reason at all to be sad?
Perhaps for that very reason. When there is a reason for sadness, one can at least understand: well, there is a cause; at least there is a cause, so I am sad. There is a pretext. No one will call you mad. You can say: my wife died, my son went to jail, my shop collapsed, I went bankrupt. Then there is logic to your sadness. With logic, you feel safe. You can say it is perfectly natural to be sad. What else can I do? If your wife died, you too would be sad. If your business went bankrupt, you too would cry. So it isn’t only me who weeps. You can give reasons for your tears. The greatest sadness is when there is no reason at all. Then it becomes absurd. You cannot even say why you are sad. You cannot defend your sadness. You cannot gather arguments…
Osho, why am I sad? I seem to have everything—comforts and conveniences—yet the sadness does not diminish; it only keeps growing. Is it my fate to end like this, in vain?
Such is the human mind. Wherever he is not, there he wants to be. You say you have comforts—but you are not in them. You keep thinking that fakirs, sannyasins, saints are the ones enjoying. So jealousy burns within. And jealousy brings sadness. Wherever you are, you can be at ease. As you are—there is a way to live life. You are missing the art of living. And you say, “This sadness keeps growing; it doesn’t lessen.” It will grow. As age advances, you will feel more defeated: so many days gone, so few left. Evening is coming, the sun is setting. Death has begun to knock. Hands and feet tremble; old age approaches; nothing has been gained. Panic will increase, and sadness will grow. But do not think, “Is my destiny to end uselessly like this?” No—no one’s destiny is to end in vain. Destiny is to become sat-chit-ananda:…
Osho, why is there so much secrecy in the ashram?
The ashram is not a marketplace; it is not open to the crowd. Here I am available to those few who genuinely want to be transformed. Sightseers, passersby—there is no purpose in their coming here. The invitation is only for those who have truly come close to transformation, for that small number. Therefore there is privacy in every respect. And the privacy will increase. Because as I see that more of the unnecessary can be sifted out, I will sift them out—since they themselves gain nothing, and by their presence they do not let others gain either. I have remained open to all for a long time and have seen what happens. I found that the crowd of the pointless becomes so thick that the meaningful person gets no chance at all. The merely curious surround so much that the true inquirer is left standing at the back. The mumukshu—the…
Someone has asked, “Is only a long chain of melancholy written in my destiny?”
Love is not free; it requires worthiness. But sympathy is free; it needs no qualification. If you want a beautiful husband, you must be worthy. But to become a widow—does that require any qualification? To get a divorce—does that require any qualification? But if your husband divorces you, everyone will come to offer sympathy. No one will ask whether sympathy is called for. A divorced woman—anyone offers sympathy. If you are ill, people will show sympathy. Does illness ask whether sympathy should be given? But if you are healthy, only then will someone speak a word in praise of your health, sing a song, hum when they see you. Only when supreme health blossoms within you will a tune arise in someone’s heart. To attain love, worthiness is needed—creativity is needed. Sympathy comes free; you need do nothing to get it. You must have heard an old story. A woman…