Why is there so much sadness and despair in life?

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…

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, is it only disappointment that one finds in the world? Is it utterly futile to keep hope?

A little boy asks his old granny, “Granny, can you croak?” She says, “Yes, son, why not?” The boy says, “Then croak, please! Because mom was saying: ‘When that old woman croaks we’ll get lots of money.’” But the child can be forgiven; he understood as much as he could. He thinks it’s only a matter of saying “croak”—say it and we’ll get money. He doesn’t know what lies behind death. But even grown-ups behave the same way. Neither do you understand what is said to you, nor do you understand what you see. As long as mind is there, you deform everything. Only free of mind does truth begin to appear. Then this world is wondrous. Then it is not maya. Your mind has made it appear as maya. Your mind has cast the net of illusion upon it. Bhartrihari left palace and home for the forest to meditate.…

Beloved Osho, when I took sannyas two years ago, I felt an ecstasy and joy that I had never imagined possible for me. But lately I feel much negativity, fear, resistance and "no" to everything, and my life is a constant chaos. I cannot go back and I cannot go forwards. Does that mean that the honeymoon is over now?

It does not matter whether the Catholic pope sucks your blood and you are a Catholic, or the Hindu shankaracharya sucks your blood and you are a Hindu. The real thing is: Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jew -- whoever you are, somebody is sucking your blood. And the way to suck your blood is to deprive you of your nature, to make you perverted, to divert your potentiality into directions where you will never reach the goal. That brings despair. You go on and on, and it is just desert and desert; as far as you can see it is desert. All your yesterdays were a desert, your today is a desert, the future seems to be just the same. This is despair. You are not arriving at any oasis. You are thirsty, you are hungry.... Who has done this immense criminal act? All the religions have been teaching people to…