Vanity

Osho, today I would like to invite your views on the issue of vanity and fear. To me, sir, this issue also seems valuable to analyze. As I have understood it: immaturity brings vanity; vanity brings pride; pride brings prejudices; prejudices ultimately result in comparison; comparison results in divisions and ends in destruction. Sir, this vicious circle appears very decisive and destructive to humanity at large. Many scholars have said that this culture of mankind is very ancient. Would you please enlighten us on this aspect of life?

Fear is certainly man’s deepest and most fundamental problem. Nothing is more important than fear, because our whole culture, civilization, religion, education—the entire arrangement of our life—has been made to avoid fear. And a precious formula of life is: whatever we try to escape, we never escape. We hoard wealth to avoid fear; we gather friends to avoid fear. We marry, we build families. We form societies and nations to avoid fear. But fear does not end through these; rather, new fears arise. There is prayer in the temple, namaz in the mosque, and a call to God in the church—behind all of it, our fear is working. Wealth is from fear, and religion too is from fear. One becomes a householder out of fear; and if one becomes a renunciate, that too is out of fear. One commits sin from fear—that if he does not, he will fail, he…

Osho, today I would like to invite your views on the issue of vanity and fear. To me, sir, this issue also seems valuable to analyze. As I have understood it: immaturity brings vanity; vanity brings pride; pride brings prejudices; prejudices ultimately result in comparison; comparison results in divisions and ends in destruction. Sir, this vicious circle appears very decisive and destructive to humanity at large. Many scholars have said that this culture of mankind is very ancient. Would you please enlighten us on this aspect of life?

Fear is certainly man’s deepest and most fundamental problem. Nothing is more important than fear, because our whole culture, civilization, religion, education—the entire arrangement of our life—has been made to avoid fear. And a precious formula of life is: whatever we try to escape, we never escape. We hoard wealth to avoid fear; we gather friends to avoid fear. We marry, we build families. We form societies and nations to avoid fear. But fear does not end through these; rather, new fears arise. There is prayer in the temple, namaz in the mosque, and a call to God in the church—behind all of it, our fear is working. Wealth is from fear, and religion too is from fear. One becomes a householder out of fear; and if one becomes a renunciate, that too is out of fear. One commits sin from fear—that if he does not, he will fail, he…

Osho, what is fear made of? It is always there behind a corner, but when I turn to face it, it is only a shadow. If it is non-substantial, how does it manage to have such a power over me?

Fear is the shadow of 'I', and because the 'I' is always alert somewhere deep down that "I will have to disappear in death".... The basic fear is of death; all other fears only reflect the basic one. And the beauty is that death is as nonexistential as ego, and between these two non-existentials -- the ego and death -- the bridge is fear. Fear is very impotent, it has no power. You say, "If IT IS NON-SUBSTANTIAL, THEN HOW DOES IT MANAGE TO HAVE SUCH A POWER OVER ME?" YOU want to believe in it -- that's its power. You are not ready to take a plunge into your inner depth and to face your inner emptiness -- that is its power. Otherwise it is impotent, utterly impotent. Nothing is ever born out of fear. Love gives birth, love is creative; fear is impotent. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were…

Osho, how can I take sannyas? I cannot get jealousy, ego, anger—anything at all—out of my mind. And you keep appearing before me day and night in dreams! What should I do?

Why does jealousy arise? Because someone seems to be getting ahead of you. Someone has bought a better sari, more beautiful jewelry, built a new house, gathered more money in a safe. Jealousy is born because your ego is bruised. A fire flares up inside, smoke begins to rise. You climb onto your own funeral pyre. Anxiety is born inside you. Anger means someone blocks your ego. You set out on a journey of conquest and someone stands in your way, a stone falls in your path because of someone, someone shoves you aside—someone becomes an obstacle. Anger erupts. Anger and jealousy are not very different—two sides of the same coin. Anger is a bit crude; jealousy a bit more civilized. I have heard a Rajasthani tale. A proud Rajput, full of swagger, would twirl his moustache all day long. His arrogance was such that he never allowed anyone else…