Will surrender happen only when I am ready to die for you?

Osho, will surrender happen only when I am ready to die for you?

By this time the diplomat was alert. He jumped immediately, took hold of the arm of the third man and said, "Are you mad or what? Why are you jumping? Why are you so eager to die? Don't you want to live?" The man looked at him with anger and said, "Do you call this life? Is it life? Is it worth living? Death is far better! Life is so miserable -- death is a relief. Let go of my hand and let me jump!" Since life is so miserable -- and Adolf Hitler had made life miserable -- everybody was ready to die. First make people's lives miserable, don't let them enjoy life, destroy all the roots of enjoyment, teach them all kinds of inhibitions, tell them that sex is sin, love is sin, teach them that to drink, to eat, to be merry -- these are the goals…

Osho, you ask us to surrender and at the same time you say, “Don’t cling to me.” And looking at our present state, it seems that in the name of surrender we have indeed clung to you. Now it feels as if without you we would simply die! What is the reason for this? What should we do in such a situation?

Then die! That is precisely the meaning of surrender. Do not try to save yourself. There is nothing wrong in dying; all the wrong lies in trying to be saved. And what is there to save for which we are so frantically busy—“Save me! save me! save me!”? What is there to save? If you look attentively even for a single moment, sit quietly and reflect, you will see there is nothing in your possession worth saving. And once you see that there is nothing to save, the fear of death will vanish instantly. For who is going to die? If there is nothing to save, what is there to lose? This fear that something may be lost stands upon the illusion that I have something. And you never open the door of your house to see whether anything is there; perhaps you don’t look precisely out of the fear…

Osho, please talk about surrender and obedience.

And because from the very beginning your father, your mother, your parents, your teachers, your priests are all teaching you, "Do this, don't do that," they all create a certain obedience in you. You become addicted to obedience; it is a drug. So when you come to me you would like.... People go on asking me -- I never answer their questions -- they go on asking me, "Give us detailed instructions what we should do and what we should not. We want clear instructions from you." I give you clarity not clear instructions, because my instructions may be right today and tomorrow they may not be right. My instructions may be a hindrance to your growth tomorrow because nobody knows about tomorrow -- it is unpredictable. So I give you clarity so that you can find your own way of life today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.…

Beloved Osho, you tell us to surrender and at the same time ask us not to cling onto you. The way we are now, it seems in the name of surrender we are clinging to you. Now it seems we will die without you. What is the reason for this to be so? What should we do in such a condition?

You should die! That is the very meaning of surrender. One should not make efforts to survive. There is nothing wrong in dying, the entire wrong is in surviving. And what is there to be saved, for which we are always making attempts to save, save and save? What is there to be saved? If you look attentively, think calmly even for a moment, what have you got to be saved? And when you see that you have nothing to be saved, the fear of dying will immediately disappear -- because who will die then? When there is nothing to be saved, then what is there to lose? The fear that something maybe lost is based in the illusion that you have something. And you never even open the door and look in your house to see if there is something there. Perhaps it is because of this fear that…

Osho, what does surrender mean?

Resolve means: I. Surrender means: not-I. Resolve means: the sense of doership. Surrender means: the sense of non-doership. Resolve means: only through what I do can anything happen; without my doing, nothing will happen—effort is everything. Surrender means: grace is everything. What will happen through my doing? If the Beloved does, it happens. I am only a hollow reed of bamboo; if He plays, I become a flute. His song is everything. I should give Him passage, not become an obstruction. I should step aside from the path. A tiny bud walked along the riverbank and reached—then stepped down into the stream! The lover, bound for tryst, descended from steps to the waves. On the faces of the stars a shimmer came. So much is joined. When even a tiny bud steps into a ripple, in the eyes of stars at immeasurable distances a sparkle appears. Over the whole current…