Osho on Asceticism, Osho on ascetic attitude as a spiritual path, Asceticism is pathology

Question - Why are you so much against Asceticism? Isn't Asceticism a valid path to god?

Osho - Path? It is a pathology. To be an ascetic simply shows that you are masochistic, that you are suicidal, that you enjoy torturing yourself. And by torturing yourself you can create a certain character, but the character will be only on the surface. It will not transform you, it will only be a pretension. It will be only a face, a facade, a camouflage.

Ascetics have existed in the world because there are suicidal people. And there is a death instinct in man -- Sigmund Freud has called it "thanatos." Sigmund Freud's contribution to human growth is immense. In his early life he discovered the life-instinct -- sex, eros. And then in his later life, when he was getting old, he discovered another thing -- thanatos, against eros.

There are two basic instincts in man: one is to live, another is to die. Both are there. If the instinct to live is not supported, the other instinct becomes powerful. If the instinct to live is supported, if life is affirmed, then the other instinct disappears. It is the same energy -- either it will flow through eros, or it will flow through thanatos. It depends on you.

The religions of the world up to now have been death-oriented. And remember, when I say "religions" I don't include Buddhas. I don't include Bahauddin, Sanai, Attar, Mahavira, Jesus, Mohammed, no. But I include Mohammedanism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism. All the organized religions of the world have been death-oriented. And this is something unbelievable: all the original beings were life-oriented. Buddha is utterly life-oriented, but Buddhism is death-oriented. Mohammed is life-oriented, but Mohammedanism is death-oriented. How does it happen?

Just the other day, I was saying that truth transferred from one to another becomes a lie; it goes upside down. When Buddha says something, he means something totally different than that which is understood by the blind and unconscious people. Everything goes topsy-turvy. His life-affirmation becomes death-affirmation in the disciples. This has been a constant problem. Up to now it has not been possible to transfer truth, and I don't think it will ever be possible to transfer it. Because the Buddha speaks from the peak of the Himalayas and you listen in the dark valley. By the time it reaches to you, by the time you have interpreted it, it has already gone sour, bitter; it is no more the same truth. So all the original religious founders were life-affirmative. And all the religions that were born out of their teachings became death-oriented.

Osho on Asceticism

Asceticism is falling in love with death. It is a pathology, it is not a path. But people respect it, because the ascetic seems so different from you. You love food, he hates food. you love a good bath, he hates to take a bath. Jaina monks don't take baths -- not only that, they don't clean their teeth either. They are against the body. You love comforts, the ascetic loves discomfort. He is not at ease with comfort, he is at ease only when he is uncomfortable. You call it a path? It is a pathology. The man who is standing on his head, and feels comfortable only when he stands on his head, is ill, is abnormal. All the animals laugh about it. Whenever animals see a yogi standing on his head, they laugh. They cannot believe what has happened to this man. People go on torturing their bodies, twisting their bodies.
I have heard:

Reggie owned an elephant, but the cost of feeding it was getting out of hand. Then he go an idea. He had seen elephants lift one leg, and even two legs. Once in a circus he'd even seen an elephant lift three legs in the air and stand on just one.
So Reggie announced to the world that he'd pay ten thousand dollars to anyone who could make his elephant stand in the air on no legs. However, each person who wanted to try would have to pay a hundred dollars.
People came from near and far. They tried everything from coaxing to hypnotism, but no one could make the elephant rise up in the air.

Then one day a blue convertible drove up and a little man got out and addressed Reggie: "Is it true that you'll pay ten thousand dollars if I make your elephant get off all four legs?"
"Yes," Reggie said. "But you've got to pay one hundred dollars to try."
The little man handed Reggie a hundred-dollar bill. Then he went back to the car and took out a metal club. He walked up to the elephant and looked him in the eye. Then he walked behind the elephant and swung hard, hitting the elephant smack on the balls. The elephant let out a roar and flew up into the air.

After the little man had collected his ten thousand dollars, Reggie was very depressed. He'd only taken in eight thousand dollars and now he'd not only lost a couple of grand but still had the problem of feeding and housing the elephant.

Suddenly Reggie got another inspiration. He knew that elephants could move their heads up and down, but he had never seen one move from side to side. So he announced that he would pay ten thousand dollars to anyone who could make his elephant move his head from side to side. However, each person who wanted to try would have to pay one hundred dollars.

People came from near and far. They paid their hundred and they tried, but of course none succeeded.
Then just when things were going well, a familiar blue convertible drove up and the little man came out. He addressed Reggie: "Is it true that you'll pay me ten thousand dollars if I can make your elephant move his head from side to side?"
"Yes," said Reggie. "But you've got to pay a hundred dollars to try."
The little man handed Reggie the hundred dollars. Then he returned to his car and took out his metal club. He walked up to the elephant.
"Do you remember me?" he asked.
The elephant nodded by shaking his head up and down.
"Do you want me to do it again?"
The elephant quickly shook his head -- no.

Even elephants understand it -- but man is such a fool. Asceticism a path? It is a pathology. Life has to be lived in its totality. Your energies have to flow through eros: eros is life, love is life. And whenever your energy is flowing against love, against life, beware: you are falling astray, you are going away from God. God is life, God is eros. Now see the point: all the ascetic people and all the ascetic schools are against love, against sex, against life, against food -- against living a healthy life of rejoicing.

That's why they are so much against me -- because I would like you to live fully, totally, wholly. I would like you to accept life without denying yourself anything, without feeling in any way guilty. All guilt is a cunning strategy of the priests to divert your energy from life towards death.

Why have people done it? There are reasons. The politician wants people not to love life too much -- because if people love life too much then people cannot be forced to go to wars. Who wants to die? There would be no army left in the world. People have to be forced against eros, they have to be forced against life, they have to be taught to love death, respect death and feel death as sacred -- only then can there be armies. And great armies are needed. The politician is against love, against life, because he needs soldiers for death, to die and to kill.

The priest also wants people not to love life. If they love life they will not bother about the temples and the churches and the mosques. And if they really love life they will find God through life -- the priest will not be needed. The priest is needed only when people have gone astray from life -- only then can he become the guide and can he tell them, "Now I will lead you to the right path." First they have to be helped to go astray, then the guides come.

First people have to be made ill, then you can sell medicine. Otherwise you cannot sell medicine. If everybody is healthy, who will go to the physician and who will go to the druggist? And who will be able to sell medicine to people? It will be impossible. People have to be ill, only then can factories and factories of medicine go on manufacturing new drugs.

The priest needs people to go away from life. The moment they go away from life, they go away from God. Then there is a need for the priest and the temple and the church and the organization and the organized religion. The people would like to be Christians and Hindus and Mohammedans. Otherwise life is so tremendously satisfying -- who bothers? Who cares?

Reverend Jones was able to kill nine hundred people, innocent people, for a simple reason: he was training them for death. You will be surprised to know that in Jonestown, lovemaking among the members of the sect was not allowed. Celibacy was enforced. There were hard strict rules: the people were not allowed to go outside the commune, no contact with outsiders was allowed. They were living in isolation, they were all ascetics.

And it is because of this asceticism that they were ready to commit suicide. Now people are searching for the causes. Somebody thinks that he hypnotized people, somebody thinks something else -- a thousand and one reasons are being found. The simple reason is, he diverted their eros -- that's all. And eros can be diverted very easily.

Down the ages, religious people have been doing the same. He did it to the logical end. Ordinarily monks die slowly; they commit a slow suicide. He went fast and quickly. But there was a tendency, an atmosphere of death. They were practising death almost every month. Every month he would call the commune together and order them to die. And they were ready. They had said yes so many times that when it was really asked they could not say no. It had become an inbuilt program. And their life was so ugly, that's why they were ready to die.

I have always loved a certain story. An English diplomat went to see Adolf Hitler before the second world war. They were standing on the terrace of a three-storey building, talking. Just to show his power to the English diplomat, Hitler ordered one soldier to jump. The soldier immediately jumped, fell on the road and died.

The English diplomat was very much shaken. And Adolf Hitler laughed and said, "My whole country is ready to follow my orders in this way." To emphasize it more, he ordered another soldier to jump. And before the English diplomat could prevent him, he also jumped. To make the thing absolutely clear, he ordered a third soldier -- but before he could jump, the English diplomat caught hold of him and said, "Are you mad? What are you doing? Why are you so ready to leave your life?"
And the man said, "Leave me alone! You call this life?"

To be with Adolf Hitler is far worse -- it is better to die. These people who committed suicide must have been living a worse life than death itself. This is the simple logic of it. And the ascetic attitude makes your life so ugly, so intolerable, that one starts thinking of death as a deliverance.

I am against ascetic attitudes, because they are ill attitudes, unhealthy, unwholesome. I am all for eros, I am all for life -- because life is the temple of God, the only temple. And eros is the only way God is expressed in the world. If you move totally into eros, into love of life, into life-affirmation, into rejoicing, you will find, deep down hidden in life, God himself. Life is his manifestation; he is the hidden source of it. Don't go away from life -- going away is going away from God. Hence my sannyasins are not to renounce but to rejoice.

Now people have asked me a few questions: "Can the same thing happen here as happened in Reverend Jones' commune?" This will be the last place in the world where it could happen, because I teach you love, I teach you life. My whole effort is to make your energy move through life totally -- nothing is left. And if you move totally through life, death disappears. Even when you die, you will not see that death is happening to you -- you will see only that you are changing your abode, you are changing your garments. You are on an eternal pilgrimage.

I teach you life, I teach you abundant life. This cannot happen here -- I am not teaching you suicide. It can happen in any ascetic society, in any ascetic commune. But my commune is not ascetic at all. That's why Christians are against it, and Hindus are against it, and Jainas are against it, and Mohammedans are against it, and everybody is against it -- because they are all death-oriented. And my love is unconditionally for life.

I teach you to love and to live. Death is impossible here -- what to say of suicide? Even death is impossible here. If you die the way I am teaching you, if you live the way I am teaching you, you will never know death. Even dying, you will know that the flame goes on burning forever.

Source - Osho Book "Unio Mystica, Vol 2"

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