Greed

A friend has asked: “Is there greed even in the attempt to obtain, in ever-greater measure, that which is worth attaining?”

What, in truth, is worth attaining? That which is truly worth attaining is already found within. You cannot be greedy for it. And whatever we take to be “worth attaining” is in fact not worth attaining. Greed arrives first; that is why something starts appearing desirable. Understand this a little clearly. We say: “If something is worth attaining, what’s wrong in desiring it?” But something appears “worth attaining” precisely because greed has seized it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t appear worth attaining. What you find desirable may not appear desirable to your neighbor. His greed is elsewhere; yours is elsewhere. That’s the only difference. Nothing is desirable in and of itself. The moment your greed gets attached to something, it starts looking worth attaining. Before greed was attached, it wasn’t desirable. “Desirable” simply means greed has latched onto it. Then a vicious circle arises: greed gets there first, so the thing looks…

What is greed?

GREED is an effort to stuff yourself with something -- it may be sex, it may be food, it may be money, it may be power. Greed is the fear of inner emptiness. One is afraid of being empty and one wants somehow to possess more and more things. One wants to go on stuffing things inside so one can forget one's emptiness. But to forget one's emptiness is to forget one's real self. To forget one's emptiness is to forget the way to God. To forget one's emptiness is the most stupid act in the world that a man is capable of. But why do people want to forget? We are carrying an idea given to us by others that emptiness is death. It is not! It is a false notion perpetuated by the society. Society has a deep investment in the idea, because if people are not greedy…

Osho, what is greed?

Sahajo, MAN FEELS MEANINGLESS, empty, hollow within, and wants to fill it, stuff it. The effort to fill it somehow is greed. That effort is bound to fail for the simple reason because whatsoever you accumulate remains on the outside; it cannot reach within you. And the problem is within and the solution you are seeking is without. For example, you are feeling meaningless inside you and you are trying to fill it by money. It is a stupid effort, unconscious effort, not seeing a simple point: that money can be gathered, accumulated, but it will pile up around you. You can have mountains of money around you... there have been people with mountains of money. One of the greatest rich men in the world was Andrew Carnegia. He left inestimable treasures, but when he was dying his biographer asked him, "Are you dying contented?" He opened his eyes and…

Osho, the path of sannyas is unfamiliar and I am afraid. What should I do?

But this is everyone’s belief—that love arises from fear. So the husband frightens the wife as much as he can, thinking otherwise there will be no love. And the wife frightens the husband as much as she can, thinking the same. Parents frighten the children; and the children, for their part, do not hold back—they frighten the parents too; they have their own ways, their recipes. All devotees of Baba Tulsidas! Everyone is frightening everyone. Teachers are frightening students; students are frightening teachers. Fear pervades everywhere. Our notion of God is as if he were a policeman. We imagine he watches you twenty-four hours a day; he won’t even leave you alone in the bathroom—sitting there, peeping through the keyhole. I have heard: a Christian nun used to bathe with her clothes on. At last her companions became concerned. They said, “What sort of madness is this? Why don’t you…