There is a very old Egyptian saying: Even the right thing becomes wrong in wrong hands. And the contrary is also true; Even the wrong thing becomes right in right hands. Ultimately things are decided by the quality of your being- not what you do but what you are; that has to be remembered.
Homosexuality is not such a big problem, it is not a problem at all, in fact. It is part of human freedom. There is nothing wrong if two persons choose a certain style of sexual relationship; it should be nobody's business. But the priests and the politicians are poking their noses into everything! They create guilt in you -- absolutely unnecessary. If two men are in love, what is wrong in it? What harm are they doing to anybody? In fact, they look happier than the heterosexuals; that's why they are called "gay".... Homosexuals become more feminine and they start having a certain beauty, a certain "richness" about them, a certain roundness, a grace... Why make much out of a simple thing? If you are enjoying a relationship with a man, enjoy it! The Christian God himself seems to be homosexual -- the whole trinity consists of three men. How they are managing it nobody knows -- not a single woman! Only the Holy Ghost is a little suspect -- maybe the Holy Ghost is bisexual? Ghosts can do any kind of thing! Otherwise the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost -- what kind of trinity is this? It is very homosexual! They have not allowed a single woman to be in it, just to keep out of trouble. One woman would have destroyed the whole trinity; it would have become a real triangle! So homosexuality is not a problem. We should start looking at real problems and should not be concerned about unreal problems. There are real problems to be solved. And this is a trick of the human mind: to create unreal problems so that you become occupied with them while real problems go on growing. And this is an old strategy: politicians, priests, so-called religious leaders go on giving you pseudo-problems to solve so that you become occupied with the pseudo. The problem in itself is meaningless, the problem is not a problem at all, but how much fuss has gone on down the ages about homosexuality! There are countries where people are still killed for homosexual acts, murdered, sentenced to jail for their whole lives. Strange world! This is a 20th Century world? Homosexuality is not a problem at all; there are thousands of real problems to be solved. But man has to be kept engaged with toys. My effort is to withdraw all your attention from toys so that you can focus on the real problems of life; and if you focus on the real problems of life, they can be solved. Now, I don't see how homosexuality becomes a problem. How does it become a problem? Why should it be of concern to anybody? A love affair is two individuals' private concern; it is their intimacy, it is not a social phenomenon. And, in fact, it will help the world population if more people turned homosexual. It will be good, very good for the world: less people will be born, the earth will be less burdened, there will be less poverty. Of course, less orphans and less Mother Teresa’s! There will be less need for contraceptives, birth control methods, sterilization, and of course the whole business of the Polack Pope will go out of his hands. That is his whole business! For one year continuously, he has been talking against contraceptives, against birth control, sterilization, abortion. Homosexuality can solve all these problems simply! So I don't see there is much problem in it.... Don't make unnecessary problems for yourself, so that your whole energy can become focused on the essential problem. And the essential problem is only one: Know thyself!
It is possible that some day in the future psychoanalysts will say that in the past people had fixations -- somebody was a homosexual, fixed; somebody was a heterosexual, fixed -- now people are more free. That will become the normal, healthy consciousness -- freedom. That to is a freedom. Always look at things so that you can find something good to be happy about. Life is short, and happiness is very difficult, so don't miss any opportunity to be happy. Ordinarily we go on doing the opposite: we don't miss any opportunity to be unhappy -- everything makes us unhappy! Heterosexual are not happy and homosexuals are not happy. The homosexual is worried: how to get out of it? And do you think that heterosexual are very happy? They don't seem to be happy at all. They are burdened with a thousand and one problems. People who are bachelors are unhappy, they feel they are lonely. And people who are married are unhappy -- they think why did they get tied in the first place? Everybody is unhappy here; and my whole approach is to make you happy. Now there are two ways: either I should tell you' Do this, then you will be happy.’ Then you will never be happy -- this is what has been done to humanity. There have been people who have been saying’ You can be happy, but do this first. First be heterosexual then you will be happy.' Now they have created unhappiness for you. For the heterosexual they say' Become celibate, then you will be happy.’ They always have clues for people.’ Whatsoever you are not' they go on saying' be that and you will be happy.’ And you cannot be that, so you are never happy. And you never see the trick of it, that this is the whole process of making you unhappy. I want you to be happy right now, so I cannot say' Be that.’ I can simply say’ Whatsoever you are, be happy in it‘! If out of happiness it changes, good; if it doesn't change, very good. Relax!
OSHO:How are you?
Remember: each human being, maybe the human being is Alexander the Great or just a beggar on the roadside, each human being is as fragile as anybody else. Deep down he is the same-the same consciousness, the same fear,the same death, the same lust, the same love: all exists the same.Accept yourself, allow your unconscious to be revealed to you. This is how each human being is. By knowing it, you become a different kind of human being. By accepting it, cherishing it, you bring a revolution to your life. And when you look at others with that understanding, you will not find strangers; you will find all are friends.Nervousness disappears; what is there to be nervous about? We are all in the same boat."
Your problem is that you don't have any problems-you create them. You have got into the habit of creating them-and you enjoy them. This is the problem: If one starts enjoying problems, it is very difficult to get out because you have much investment in them. Otherwise you can get out right this moment. Not for a single moment you need to wait, because they are your created problems.There are people who have real problems, there are people whohave imaginary problems. Your problems are imagination. There is nothing wrong in their being imaginative. You are an imaginative person, a creative person. You not only write novels,you have created a novel around you. It is just a fiction,all your problems are just fictitious, because I can see that your energy is absolutely pure; there is no problem at all. So in a way it is very simple to get out of them; in a way it is very difficult. If there is a problem, something can be done. But there is no problem so nothing can be done. You will have to get out of it. 
What happens is that the mind gets into a double bind.For example if a person is negative, she suffers. But by being negative, she enjoys a few things that a positive person cannot enjoy. For example a negative person will be thought to be very intelligent. A positive person will not be thought to be very intelligent because the positive person will not criticize anybody.The positive person will look shallow, and the negative person will look very deep.So if you become negative, you suffer,but there is some pay-off, and that is that people think you're very critical, very intelligent, very logical, this and that,and all nonsense! You suffer inside, but you cannot lose this profit that comes out of negativity.All critical people suffer, but they become great leaders, they
Just watch your mind for a few days and see what is the thing that takes most of your energy: jealousy? Lust for power? Ego? Just watch whatever takes most of your energy, and you will find what is your chief characteristic, and that is your number one enemy; and you have always thought that that is your number one friend....Gurdjieff had his own ways to find it. He will force his disciples to drink as much wine as possible. He will go enforcing them. And by midnight every body was flat on the floor, and then he will go listen to what each is saying.And this will continue for days, and then he will figure it out, what is the chief characteristic of that man, because in his unconscious that chief characteristic will surface...With me things are easier....My method is so simple. Just put down in your diary for seven days, noting everyday what it is that takes most of youre time, what it is that becomes your fantasy most of the time, where your energy always moves readily. And just watching for seven days,noting in your notebook, you can find your chief characteristic. In this finding is half the victory. It gives you a great strength,that you know the enemy.And then the second part is very simple: now be aware of it. When the enemy attacks, don't react. When it comes,you just remain cool. Just watch it, as if something is passing on the screen, and you have nothing to do with it.If you can remain detached, unaffected, suddenly a great energy will be released which was contained in your enemy,which you were putting into that enemy every day.You were watering it, you were caring about it. If anybody pointed at it, you were very angry; you protected it in every possible way. You have all kinds of rationalizations. Now you are simply watching. All the energy is simply released. You will feel revitalized. Your whole being suddenly becomes new.And then go looking for the enemy number two, then enemy number three, because you have to finish all the enemies.The day you don't have any enemy left in your mind,you have a grace, beauty, and a great energy that blossoms in thousands of flowers.
It is one of the greatest crimes to claim enlightenment when you are not-because this is the greatest deception you can give to humanity. It is the ugliest phenomenon. You can be a con man, cheat people out of their money, their belongings, their houses, their wives, their husbands, anything; that is immaterial that does not matter much. But a con man as far as enlightenment is concerned is cheating you about your consciousness, about your very being. He is doing some kind of violence, which is invisible, but which is the worst that can be done by any criminal..... All kinds of cheats, thieves can be forgiven, but the people who are playing with your consciousness, with your being, cannot be forgiven... Any claim about inner realization that is false is the greatest crime in the world.
Remember, you're so-called saints have tried to be humble before God, but just in order to be higher in the eyes of people. But my idea of a religious man is that he does not even claim ordinariness-he claims not. He is simply ordinary, whatsoever he is. A Zen Master, Rinzai, was asked, "What did you do before you were enlightened?" He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well." And the man asked, "Now, now that you are enlightened, what do you do?" He said, "The same thing-chopping wood and carrying water from the well." The man was puzzled. He said, "I cannot understand. Then what is the difference? Then what is the point of becoming enlightened? Before you used to chop wood and carry water, now you continue the same thing. Then what is the difference?" And Rinzai laughed. He said, "The difference is: before I was doing it because I had to do it, it was a duty. Now it is a joy. The quality has changed the work is the same." The small things of life have to be transformed by your inner transformation. This I call the religious quality; everything becomes sacred. Taking a bath, making love, eating food, going to sleep,everything becomes sacred.
It is easy to suppress: it is easy to express. We do both. We express if the situation allows, and if it is convenient and not dangerous for you. If you can harm the other, and the other cannot harm you, you will express the anger. If it is dangerous, if the other can harm you more, if your boss or whoever you are angry at is more strong, you will suppress it. Expression and suppression are easy, witnessing is difficult. Witnessing is neither; it is not suppressing, it is not expressing. It is not expressing because you are not expressing it to the object of anger. It is not being suppressed either. You are allowing it to be expressed-expressed in a vacuum. You are meditating on it. Stand before a mirror and express your anger and be a witness to it. You are alone, so you can meditate on it. Do whatsoever you want to do, but in a vacuum. If you want to beat someone, beat the empty sky. If you want to be angry, be angry: if you want to scream, scream. But do it alone, and remember your self as a point which is seeing all this-this drama. Then it becomes a psychodrama, and you can laugh at it and it will be a deep catharsis for you. Afterwards you will feel relieved of it and not only relieved of it, you will have gained something through it. You will have matured; a growth will have come to you. And now you will know that even while you were in anger, there was a centre within you which was undisturbed. Now try to uncover this centre more and more, and it is easy to uncover it in desire.
You are all full of wounds, and they all need to be exposed to the sun, to the open sky. Unless you allow yourself to be exposed completely, you cannot get rid of those wounds. The normal way in the world is to hide the wounds so that nobody knows about them-go on hiding them deeper and deeper in the unconscious so even you forget them. But to work on the consciousness, cleaning it from all the wounds, is absolutely necessary. Those wounds have to be brought into the open.
So you are feeling yourself an outsider. This is good. This is the transitory period. Now you have to be alert not to fill yourself with pain and misery. Now that God is no longer there, who is going to console you? You don't need any consolation. Humanity has come of age. Be a man, be a woman, and stand on your own feet... The only way to be connected with existence is to go inwards, because there at the centre you are still connected. You have been disconnected physically from your mother. That disconnection was absolutely necessary to make you an individual in your own right. But you are not disconnected from the universe. Your connection with the universe is of consciousness. You cannot see it, so you have to go deep down with great awareness, watchfulness, witnessing, and you will find the connection. The Buddha is the connection!
Why do people want power? Because whatever they are doing is not respected. A shoemaker is not respected like the president of a country. In reality, he may be better as a shoemaker than the president is as a president. The quality should be praised,if a shoemaker is a better shoemaker, then he need not be interested in being a president. His own art, his own craft, will bring him dignity and the respect of people.
It actually happened-because Lincolns father was a shoemaker, and Lincoln became the president. The whole American aristocracy was very much shocked that they had to live under a shoemaker's presidency. In the Senate they were all aristocrats, super-rich people. The first speech that Lincoln delivered on the inauguration of his first term was interrupted right at the beginning. A man, very arrogant and egoistic, stood up and showing his shoes said, "Mr. Lincoln, by accident you have become the president. But never forget that your father was a shoemaker. In fact, in my family your father used to come to make shoes for everybody. The shoes I am showing you were made by your father." The whole Senate laughed; they thought they had humiliated Lincoln. But it is difficult to humiliate people like Lincoln. There were tears in his eyes and he said, "I am immensely grateful to you for reminding me of my father. He was a perfect shoemaker, and I know I cannot be that perfect a president. I cannot beat him. But I will try my best to at least reach close to his greatness." "As for your family and the shoes my father has made, I can inform the whole Senate that there may be other aristocratic families that my father used to make shoes for. He has taught me a little bit of the art of shoemaking too. If the shoes are not working well,if they pinch you, if they are too tight, or to loose,I can always mend them. I am my own father's son. Never feel embarrassed,just inform me. I can come and do my best. Of course, it will not be the same as my father, but he is dead." There was great silence... the senators could not believe it,what mettle is this man Lincoln made of? You cannot insult him. He can turn your insult into great respect. And he is so humble, how can you humiliate him? Only arrogant people can be humiliated.
Meditation is a science, not a superstition. Meditation says you experiment with your mind-it is to full of thoughts; thoughts can be disbursed, the clouds can be disbursed, and you can attain to an empty sky of your inner being. And it needs no trust-just a little courage, a little effort, a little daring, a little persistence and perseverance. A little patience, yes, but no trust. You don't believe in God? That is not a hindrance to meditation. You don't believe in the soul? That is not a hindrance. You don't believe at all? That is not an obstacle. You can meditate, because meditation simply says how to go with inward. We don't make any condition that you have to believe. We say only that you have to experiment. Just try. Then it is not something like a dogma; it is not a creed, it is an experience-self evident..
The moment you understand that you are a lunatic, you go beyond it; the first step toward sanity has been taken. People never realize that they are mad, and because they don’t, they remain mad. Not only do they not realize it, but if you say it to them they will defend themselves. They will argue and try to tell you it is you who is mad, not they. Once you realize that you are a lunatic, sanity has started; it is already on the wing. By the very realization that you are insane, you have dropped your madness." Everyday OSHO.
It is not a question of giving everything. On the contrary, it is a question of recognizing the fact that you have nothing. This idea of how to give everything is egoistic. What have you got to give? You are beggars-everybody is. You have nothing to give, and you ask how to give everything. Every evening people come to ask me how to share. And my problem is that I don't see anything that they are going to share. There is nothing. When you don't have anything, this question arises: "How to share?” This question keeps you happy that you have something to share but you don't know how to share. This keeps you unaware of the fact that you don't have anything to share. When you have it happens spontaneously; you cannot resist it, it is inevitable." 
Buddha says:
When you approach a person with the deliberate desire to get love from him, he shrinks back. He is afraid of your exploitation; he does not want to be trapped, he does not want to be exploited in any way whatever. So he starts shrinking and the more he withdraws, the more you jump, because you see that you are losing your victim. The more after the person you are, the more he will escape. When you go to give love, a totally different response arises. The person feels loving toward you because you have not come to exploit. You have come to share, to give, and you will feel thankful if he accepts. And if he does not accept, you will not feel rejected, because that is his freedom-to accept or not to accept. Up to now this has been your problem: you are hankering to get love from people and you are afraid of people because they will reject. If you are hankering for love, how to get it? You are going to be rejected; you are creating rejection yourself. Change this! Go and give and forget about getting anything in return. It comes, a thousand fold it comes, and then it's coming is beautiful because you were not even expecting it. Then it is a great joy, a surprise. Once you have learned the art of the giving, you will be getting so much love that you cannot contain it.
Sex for pleasure is sin. Sex is right only for reproductive purposes. --That is the religious idea. If you reproduce children, then sex is right. If you are just having fun, then you are committing a crime against God. Because sex is sacred, and fun is not sacred. Now, who has decided that fun is not sacred? I say to you: FUN IS MORE SACRED THAN REPRODUCING IN AN OVERCROWDED WORLD. But these popes and these priests are all for reproduction. And then they want to save the dignity of the poor -- THEY CREATE POVERTY!
Ideals are imaginary-there is no way to fulfil them. Whatsoever you do, you will always fall short because you can always imagine better, that is the problem. Imagination has no limitation and action is limited. This is one of the basic problems of the human mind: imagination unlimited, action limited. Imagination gives you ideals-how things should be-and action is so limited that you can never fulfil that imagination, those ideals.
Society is afraid that when you drop into yourself you drop out of its grasp; that’s why it is against meditation. In this vast world, out of millions of people, only very rarely does somebody become interested in meditation. It is not an ordinary pursuit, it is extraordinary. That it happens at all is a miracle because in fact all the vested interests are against it. Society does not want you to meditate because a meditator starts falling out of society. Because a meditator becomes capable of seeing all the stupidities, all the superstitions of the society, he cannot be any more part of its nonsense. The meditator knows no distinction between black and white. All that seems to be so childish; deciding by the color of the skin is so foolish. An intelligent person can not do that. Hence politicians will be against meditation, the state will be against meditation because a meditator becomes very strong in his soul; it is impossible to enslave him. He becomes an individual and he asserts his individuality.
It always happens that when you start new work, you are very creative, you are deeply involved, your whole being is in it. Then by and by, as you become acquainted with the territory, rather than being inventive and creative you start being repetitive. This is natural, because the more skilled you become in any work, the more repetitive you become. Skill is repetitive. So all great discoveries are made by amateurs, because a skilled person has too much at stake. If something new happens, what will happen to the old skill? The person has learned for years and now has become an expert. So experts never discover anything; they never go beyond the limit of their expertise. On the one hand, they become more and more skilful, and on the other hand they become more and more dull and the work seems to be a drag. Now there is nothing new that can be a thrill to them-they already know what is going to happen, they know what they are going to do; there is no surprise in it. So here is the lesson; It is good to attain to skill, but it is not good to settle with it forever. Whenever the feeling arises in you that now the thing is looking stale, change it. Invent something, add something new, delete something old. Again be free from the pattern-that means be free from the skill-again become an amateur. It needs courage and guts, to become an amateur again, but that's how life becomes beautiful.
If you don't feel superior, you can't feel inferior. They both come together, they both go together. If you drop one, you cannot save the other. If you don't feel superior to anybody, how can you feel inferior to anybody? You simply feel yourself." "As far as existence is concerned, everybody has all the beauty of the world, of the universe; all the ecstasy and dance of the universe. Yes, in different ways it will express itself. There is no need to think that somebody who is expressing it through dance is better than the one who is expressing it through a song or one who is expressing it through his silence. What is being expressed is exactly the same ecstasy. And you will find it only when you have entered your world of aloneness where there is nobody else.
Just now it is raining. You will be going back home. You can take it in an Aikido way, or you can take it in the ordinary way. The ordinary way is that you see that your clothes will become wet, or you may get cold, or this may happen, or that may happen. And you will be against the rains. You will be running towards home in a bad mood, antagonistic. This has happened many times. Now you try Aikido. You relax; you enjoy the falling drops of water on your face. It is tremendously beautiful. It is so soothing, so cleansing, so refreshing. What is wrong in your clothes getting wet? Why be so worried about it? They can be dried. But why miss this opportunity? The heaven is meeting the Earth. Why miss this opportunity? Why not dance it? Don't rush and don't run. Slow down,enjoy.Close your eyes and feel the drops falling on your eyelids, moving on your face. Feel the touch of it. Accept it.... a gift from heaven. And suddenly you will see it is beautiful, and you have never looked at it that way. Try it in ordinary life experiences."
Homosexuality is not such a big problem, it is not a problem at all, in fact. It is part of human freedom. There is nothing wrong if two persons choose a certain style of sexual relationship; it should be nobody's business. But the priests and the politicians are poking their noses into everything! They create guilt in you -- absolutely unnecessary. If two men are in love, what is wrong in it? What harm are they doing to anybody? In fact, they look happier than the heterosexuals; that's why they are called "gay".... Homosexuals become more feminine and they start having a certain beauty, a certain "richness" about them, a certain roundness, a grace.... Why make much out of a simple thing? If you are enjoying a relationship with a man, enjoy it! The Christian God himself seems to be homosexual -- the whole trinity consists of three men. How they are managing it nobody knows -- not a single woman! Only the Holy Ghost is a little suspect -- maybe the Holy Ghost is bisexual? Ghosts can do any kind of thing! Otherwise the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost -- what kind of trinity is this? It is very homosexual! They have not allowed a single woman to be in it, just to keep out of trouble. One woman would have destroyed the whole trinity; it would have become a real triangle! So homosexuality is not a problem. We should start looking at real problems and should not be concerned about unreal problems. There are real problems to be solved. And this is a trick of the human mind: to create unreal problems so that you become occupied with them while real problems go on growing. And this is an old strategy: politicians, priests, so-called religious leaders go on giving you pseudo-problems to solve so that you become occupied with the pseudo. The problem in itself is meaningless, the problem is not a problem at all, but how much fuss has gone on down the ages about homosexuality! There are countries where people are still killed for homosexual acts, murdered, sentenced to jail for their whole lives. Strange world! This is a 20th Century world? Homosexuality is not a problem at all; there are thousands of real problems to be solved. But man has to be kept engaged with toys. My effort is to withdraw all your attention from toys so that you can focus on the real problems of life; and if you focus on the real problems of life, they can be solved. Now, I don't see how homosexuality becomes a problem. How does it become a problem? Why should it be of concern to anybody? A love affair is two individuals' private concern; it is their intimacy, it is not a social phenomenon. And, in fact, it will help the world population if more people turned homosexual. It will be good, very good for the world: less people will be born, the earth will be less burdened, there will be less poverty. Of course, less orphans and less Mother Teresa’s! There will be less need for contraceptives, birth control methods, sterilization, and of course the whole business of the Polack Pope will go out of his hands. That is his whole business! For one year continuously, he has been talking against contraceptives, against birth control, sterilization, abortion. Homosexuality can solve all these problems simply! So I don't see there is much problem in it.... Don't make unnecessary problems for yourself, so that your whole energy can become focused on the essential problem. And the essential problem is only one: Know thyself!
The world needs the disobedient ones now. That does not mean that disobedience becomes your character, no. Just because one is ordered one doesn't necessarily have to obey, because the order may be wrong, the woman or man who is ordering may be wrong.
Whatever I am saying to one person, everybody has to look within himself to see whether that is applicable to him also. I cannot talk to each of you differently; it is an impossibility. Every person to me is symbolic. What I said about Anando is just symbolic-you all have to ponder over it. Perhaps the same tendencies, the same unconscious feelings, jealousies, greed, ambitions may be hiding in you. Most probably they are. Before Enlightenment you all have this barbarous mind. Anando is not an exception, nor are you an exception, Maneesha-and it is perfectly okay. What is needed is an awareness that these things are within you. Nothing has to be done. Just watch them and they will wash out.
The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the target-you have missed. Because things are not the target, you, your innermost being, is the target-not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you: not much money, but a rich you; not many things, but an open being, available to millions of things.
OSHO:When will you becoming back?
If you suffer from jealousy, just watch how it arises in you, how it grabs you, how it surrounds you, clouds you, how it tries to manipulate you, how it drags you into paths where you never wanted to go in the first place, how finally it creates great frustration in you, how it destroys your energy, dissipates your energy and leaves you very negatively depressed, frustrated. Just watch the whole thing. And remember not to condemn, because if you condemn you have started thinking. I am not saying condemn it. Just see the facticity of it, without condemnation, without appreciation, without any judgment for or against. Just watch, aloof, distant, as if you have nothing to do with it. Be very scientific in watching.
If you suffer from jealousy, just watch how it arises in you, how it grabs you, how it surrounds you, clouds you, how it tries to manipulate you, how it drags you into paths where you never wanted to go in the first place, how finally it creates great frustration in you, how it destroys your energy, dissipates your energy and leaves you very negatively depressed, frustrated. Just watch the whole thing. And remember not to condemn, because if you condemn you have started thinking. I am not saying condemn it. Just see the facticity of it, without condemnation, without appreciation, without any judgment for or against. Just watch, aloof, distant, as if you have nothing to do with it. Be very scientific in watching.
There is an old Tibetan technique called "The Lions Roar." If you are angry, sexual, filled with hatred, jealousy, then the Tibetan master will give you this technique, "The Lions Roar." You have to sit before a mirror and you are to imagine that you are a lion, not a man. You have to make your face like a lion, you have to put your tongue out, and you have roar. And you have to practice it so that the imagination becomes so true that you forget that you are a man daydreaming that he is a lion. And when the point comes when you have really fallen prey to your own imagination, and you have become the lion, and a real roar comes out of you, suddenly you are transformed. In that roar, all hatred, anger, sex, disappears, and you will fall into a deep silence such as you have not known before. In old Tibetan monastery's they have a special room with many mirrors. Whenever someone is suffering from something like anger, hatred, or jealousy, he is to be sent to that mirrored room and he has to remain their until he comes to a climax. And when he comes to the climax, the whole monastery will know, because a real lion will be roaring there. To us, he has gone mad. The whole monastery will gather and welcomed the man, and he will come out a totally different man, It may take three days, it may take seven days. Food will be supplied to him, but he is not allowed to come out. He has to persist in imagining that he is a lion, until from the very roots of the unconscious the roar comes. The whole body is involved, every cell of it; every cell in it roars, and in that roar everything is thrown out. It is the deepest catharsis possible. And you will never see that man angry again because now the poison is not there. For the first time the face will become human.
The spiritual search is as illusory as any other search. The search itself is illusory because it has taken one thing for granted: that something is missing. And nothing is missing! Once you take it for granted that something is missing you start looking for it; then you go on looking for it in all directions. And the more you search the more you will miss it, because the more you search the more dust-covered the mirror becomes. The more you travel to seek it, the farther and farther you go in search of it, the more and more frustrated you become. Slowly, slowly you start thinking that it is so far away... "That's why I am not reaching it." The reality is just the opposite: you are not reaching it because you are it. It is not far away, it is so close by that even to call it "close" is not right, because even closeness is a kind of distance. It is not distant at all, it breathes in you. It is not there, it is here. It is not then, it is now. It has always been with you. From the very beginning everyone is a Buddha, everyone is a mirror capable of reflecting.
Comparison brings inferiority, superiority. When you don't compare, all inferiority, all superiority, disappear. Then you are, you are simply there. A small bush or a big high tree-it doesn't matter; you are yourself. You are needed. A grass leaf is needed as much as the biggest star. Without the grass leaf God will be less than he is. This sound of the cuckoo is needed as much as any Buddha; the world will be less, will be less rich if this cuckoo disappears. Just look around. All is needed, and everything fits together. It is an organic unity: nobody is higher, and nobody is lower, nobody superior, nobody inferior. Everybody is incomparably unique.
When I say that there is no commitment to my sannyas, I mean that there is nothing to be done, nothing to be imitated. There are no rules to follow. You are totally free. I throw you into an openness. That is what is meant by initiation. It is not narrowing you down; it is giving you an open sky. It is pushing you so that you can fly in an open sky. Of course, there are no routes and no road maps; there cannot be. There cannot be any path through the sky, you have to fly alone, you have to depend on yourself alone. Your own existence will be your sole company, the only company. Life is just like the open sky. It is not like a path on the earth; you cannot follow it. Following is impossible; you have to go alone. Initiation means that now I push you into the aloneness. Now you are totally alone, not depending on anyone, not even me. It requires courage. To imitate is easy; to follow is easy; to depend on someone is easy. But to be totally alone -- with no map, no discipline, no system -- requires the greatest courage. A sannyasin means one who is courageous. This courage is not something that can be imitated; it has to be developed through living. You will err, you will go astray -- that is implied in it. But by erring you will learn, and by going astray you will come to what is right. There is no other way. You have to pass through many difficulties. This walking alone, this flying alone -- one has to pass through this austerity.
A tree is more alive than any temple, than any church; a river is more alive than any mosque. The stone idols in your temples are dead; a tree is more alive. You may be superstitious, but the person who is worshiping a tree is not. He may not be aware of what he is doing, a deep reverence for life in all its forms is there, a deep respect. Wherever you feel that life is growing, celebrate it, love it, welcome it, and a great transformation will happen to you. If life is revered in all its forms, you become more alive.
but each difficulty is a challenge and has to be accepted. And nothing is more valuable than this, a second childhood. Everything can be sacrificed for it but it can't be sacrificed for anything else. Just enjoy It, enjoy It unashamedly; don't be afraid of what people will say. Never be afraid of peoples opinions. That is the greatest bondage in the world. Once you are not afraid of peoples opinions, you are free. That is the subtle bondage: one is continuously considering others. Gurdjieff used to say "Don't consider!"... and he is right. What others say is their business and their problem, it has nothing to do with you. Just look into your own nature and whatsoever is joyous, go with it. That is your responsibility. You are not answerable to anybody.
If you decide before hand that you cannot do something, you will not be able to. Your decision will affect your life. It will become an auto suggestion. It will become a seed. It will sabotage your whole life. Even you cannot decide what you can and cannot do-you have to do it, you have to see for yourself. Only life decides. So it is simply foolish, childish, to decide beforehand-but many childish things continue. The tape keeps playing itself, and if you play it too much, it becomes habitual. It is a trick of the mind to avoid. Once you decide that you cannot make it, then why bother? Why struggle? Why so much conflict, effort? You know already that you cannot make it. It is the mind finding a rationalization so that you can avoid struggle. And of course, if you avoid effort, you will not make it, so you fall back on your decision. You say it was right, it was always right; you knew it beforehand. These are self-perpetuating things in the mind. They fulfil themselves, and the circle goes on moving, the wheel goes on moving. Take twenty-four hours and write down everything that you can remember of how you have been sabotaging-everything in detail. Look at them from every angle, and then don't repeat them. It will become a meditation.
Life is a moment to celebrate, to enjoy. Make it fun, a celebration, and then you will enter the temple. The temple is not for the long-faced, it has never been for them. Look at life-do you see sadness anywhere? Have you ever seen a tree depressed? Have you seen a bird anxiety-wridden? Have you seen an animal neurotic? No, life is not like that, not at all. Only man has gone wrong somewhere, and he has gone wrong somewhere because he thinks himself to be very wise, very clever. Your cleverness is your disease. Don't be too wise. Always remember to stop; don't go to the extreme. A little foolishness and a little wisdom is good, and the right combination makes you a Buddha.
First meditate, be blissful then much love will happen of its own accord. Then being with others is beautiful and being alone is also beautiful. Then it is simple, too. You don't depend on others and you don't make others dependent on you. Then it is always a friendship, a friendliness. It never becomes a relationship, it is always a relatedness. You relate, but you don't create a marriage. Marriage is out of fear, relatedness is out of love. You relate; as long as things are moving beautifully, you share. And if you see that the moment has come to depart because your paths separate at this Cross Road, you say goodbye with great gratitude for all the other has been to you, for all the joys and all the pleasures and all the beautiful moments that you have shared with the other. With no misery, with no pain, you simply separate.
So I teach you to be egoists so that you can become ego less. I teach you to be perfect egoists. Don't hide it, otherwise hypocrisy will be born. And don't struggle with the unripe phenomenon. Let it ripen and help it. Bring it to a peak.. Nothing unripe can be thrown-unripe fruit clings to the tree and the tree clings to the unripe fruit. And if you force it to separate a wound is left behind. And the scar will continue, The wound will always remain green, and you will always feel hurt. Remember, every thing has a time to grow, to be ripe, to fall down into the earth and dissolve. Your ego also has a time. It needs maturity... So to me, ego is part of natural growth. But that doesn't mean you have to remain with it forever. It is a natural growth, and then there is a second step when it has to be dropped. That too is natural. But the second step can be taken only when the first has come to its crescendo, its climax, when the first has reached its peak. So I teach both-I teach "ego ness" and I teach egolessnes. First be egoists, perfect egoists, absolute egoists, as if the whole existence exists for you and you are the centre; all the stars revolve round you and the sun rises for you; and everything exists for you, just to help you be here. Be the centres and don't be afraid because if you are afraid you will never be ripe. Accept it! It is a part of growth. And enjoy it and bring it to a peak. When it comes to a peak, suddenly you will become aware that you are not the centre. This has been a fallacy, this has been a childish attitude. But you were a child, so nothing is wrong in it. Now you have to become mature, and now you can see you are not the centre. Really, when you see that you are not the centre, you also see there is no centre in existence-or everywhere is the centre. 
Always affirm happiness, never affirm any negative thought. Millions of thoughts are crossing your mind. Only that thought which you choose becomes real. Scientists say that fifty thousand thoughts pass through an ordinary, average man's mind in one day. But only a few will become real and those will be the thoughts which you choose. Once you have chosen, you are trapped, and then it becomes difficult because it creates a vicious circle. If you have chosen misery it becomes easier for you to choose misery again; it becomes a practice. You get more and more deeply into misery. You start descending into hells and each hell takes you into a deeper hell. Once you start choosing happiness, you start rising upwards and each happiness makes you more confident to claim more, to choose something even better.
