Smoking

Osho, I cannot drop the habit of chain-smoking. I have tried hard but I have failed always. Is it a sin to smoke?

Gurucharan, DON'T MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL! Religious people are very skillful in doing that. Now, what are you really doing when you are smoking? Just taking some smoke inside your lungs and letting it out. It is a kind of PRANAYAMA -- filthy, dirty, but still a PRANAYAMA! You are doing yoga, in a stupid way. It is not sin. It may be foolish but it is not a sin, certainly. There is only one sin and that is unawareness, and only one virtue and that is awareness. Do whatsoever you are doing, but remain a witness to it, and immediately the quality of your doing is transformed. I will not tell you not to smoke; that you have tried. You must have been told by many so-called saints not to smoke: "Because if you smoke you will fall into hell." God is not so stupid as…

Osho, gurdjieff had a beautiful waterpipe and did not hate cigarettes either. All his life baal shem had a clay pipe in his mouth. Does smoking really have to drop? And if so, how come the only temple in the ashram is the smoking temple?

Anando, MY WHOLE EFFORT HERE is to transform the mundane into the sacred. It is an alchemical school: we change base metals into gold. That's why the smoking place is called a temple; that is the only temple we have. I am not against smoking. I don't smoke myself because now there is so much smoke in the air that one need not bother carrying a clay pipe or a waterpipe in one's hand; just ordinary air is enough -- it is so polluted. In fact, ecologists say that it is a wonder how man is surviving because just fifty years ago scientists used to think that if air became as polluted as it has become today in New York, in Bombay, in Calcutta, in London, then people will die. But man has a tremendous capacity to adjust to any situation. Where so many cars are moving and trains are…

Question: BELOVED MASTER, I WANT TO GIVE UP SMOKING. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT IT? For example, it may be that your mother's breast was taken away from you earlier than you wanted and it is just a substitute. To many people I have suggested -- and it has been of help to smokers -- I say, "If you really want to stop smoking, then start sucking your thumb." They say, "But that will look very stupid!" That is true... smoking looks as if you are doing something great! You are doing the same thing, in fact a little more harmful. Just sucking on your thumb is not harmful at all, but smoking IS harmful. But because everybody is smoking and it is an accepted thing and it seems to be a very grown-up thing....

Why is it that the habits I judge bad for me -- smoking, overeating etc, are the most persistent?

That will be. If you judge them bad they will be persistent because you are creating a relationship with them. To call anything bad is to create a relationship with it. And whenever you call a thing bad, why do you call it bad? You call it bad because it defeats you. It is powerful. You call it bad because you are impotent before it; and by name-calling nobody is helped. So the first thing to do is: stop judging! If you want to smoke -- smoke! Smoke meditatively, forget what others say about it. Smoking can be such a beautiful meditation. Don't fight with it, smoke meditatively, create perfect rings, and enjoy the whole thing. And suddenly one day you will find the need has disappeared. The whole thing looks so foolish. Not that you judge, because when you judge then it is either good or bad. When you…