... destroyed. Right now I can see that your energy is ready. So move into love, move into relationship... and unafraid, because life is only for those who are unafraid. It is not for cowards. It is only for brave people. God believes only in courageous people. So go with my blessings, but continue meditating, mm? [Another sannyasin who is leaving said he had no plans, but was concerned about money and...

... security: But I've been feeling that I really need to do something about my love... that I need to be rooted in that too.] That's the real need. If you are rooted in love, you are rooted. There is no other way to be rooted. You can have money, you can have a house, you can have security, you can have a bank balance; that will not give you rootedness. That is just a substitute, a poor substitute for love...

.... It may increase your anxiety even more because once you have physical securities, money, a social status, you become more and more afraid that these things may be taken from you, or you become more and more worried about having more and more of these things, because discontent knows no limit, and your basic need was of being rooted. Love is the earth where one needs to be rooted. Just as trees are...

... rooted in the earth, man is rooted in love. Man's roots are invisible, so anything visible is not going to help. Money is very visible, a house is very visible, social status is very visible. Man's roots are invisible. Man is a tree with invisible roots. You will have to find some invisible earth - call it love, call it God, prayer - but it is going to be something like that... invisible, intangible...

..., elusive, mysterious. You cannot catch hold of it. On the contrary, you will have to allow it to catch hold of you. You cannot have any grip on it. On money you can have your grip; you can catch it in your hands - but then it cannot become your earth. That which you can possess will never become your earth. Only that which possesses you can become your earth. Love possesses you. That is the attraction...

.... So if women are the way to hell, then hell must be full of only men. It will be just a male-chauvinist club. Woman is not the way to hell, but once your mind is conditioned in that way, you are going to project the woman into something else; you need an object for your love. Money can become your object of love. Why is there so much greed? Why are people clinging to money like crazy? It is their...

... love object. Somehow they have managed to move their whole life energy towards money. Now you want them even to drop money; again they will be in trouble. Politics becomes their love object. Rising higher and higher in the political bureaucracy becomes their love object. The politician looks towards the presidentship, the prime ministership, with the same lust as a lover looks to his or her beloved...

... was no energy available to go after money, to go after politics, to go after God. No, they danced, they sang; they had a small but beautiful architecture - huts, but made beautifully. They lived a very clean life; there was no crime because there was no energy for crime. And now you have to understand how the things are related. When there is no crime what is the need of a judge, what is the need of...

... rich, very scientific, but at what cost? They died, they are no longer alive. My problem is, I want you to be alive and yet as rich in every dimension as possible. I am not ready to choose between these two, either/or. I would not like you to be aboriginals. I would not like you to become very civilized, cultured, running after money and power and prestige. I would not like you to become politicians...

... wise man, "What should I do? How should I decide who should inherit?" The old wise man gave him a certain method. The old man went home, he gave one thousand silver pieces to each son and told them, "Go to the market, purchase seeds of flowers." They went, they purchased seeds. Carts and carts came, full of seeds, because one thousand silver pieces in ancient days was big money...

... inherit my whole property, so be careful." He went on the pilgrimage. The first son thought, "This is a strange test. If he comes after three years ... these seeds will simply die, and he will ask for the living seeds. So the best way is to sell them in the market, keep the money, and when he comes back purchase new seeds again - fresh, young." Very economical, mathematical - he did that...

... its very roots, and it starts disappearing. The basic thing is learning not to judge, because the moment you judge, your observation is clouded. Then you can never see clearly; you have already concluded. You have not been scientific, you have been already carrying a belief. In my childhood I asked my father - that was my way - "You have to give me money because now I am going to smoke."...

...; He said, "This is strange. No boy of your age can have the courage to ask his own father for money, and that too for smoking." I said, "It is up to you; otherwise I will steal, and it will be your money. You will be forcing me to commit two crimes - smoking and stealing. And then I will have to commit a third crime, lying, because whenever you ask, I will say, 'No, I don't smoke...

....' "I am making things simple. Just give me the money. I want to smoke just to see why people are smoking and what they find in it, because I see people all around smoking against the warning of teachers, parents, doctors, priests - everybody. There must be something if they don't listen to anybody and still go on. "And they are paying for it, for their sickness, for their death to come earlier...

..., to have tuberculosis, or cancer of the lungs. I cannot make any judgment before I experiment. Now it is up to you. You want me to do three wrong things or just one?" He looked at me and said, "You are just impossible! Now I cannot even prevent you from smoking. You are asking money from me... but you are right, you would have to do three wrong things, so take the money." And I said...

..., "I am going to smoke in the house, not hiding somewhere behind the house. I am going to smoke in my own house." He said, "Don't do that! Because my father is still alive; your uncles are there, your aunts are there" - it was a joint family of fifty people. "They will all condemn me - they won't say anything to you - they will say that you gave him money for smoking and he is...

... dollars, ten million dollars. No, no amount of money. The United States government is not ready to give him bail. And we will prolong the case as much as we can - five years, seven years, ten years. So in those ten years he will be harassed, in those ten years his work will suffer, in those ten years his commune will suffer, in those ten years millions of his people around the world will suffer. Of...

.... And, you have missed three targets already." "SIR," said Nasrudin, "I AM SHOOTING FOR THAT TEN SPOT OF YOURS, AND I AM CALLING MY SHOT AS PROMISED." 9. A rich widow had lost all her money in a business deal and was flat broke. She told her lover, Mulla Nasrudin, about it and asked, "Dear, in spite of the fact that I am not rich any more will you still love me?"...

... LOSING MY HAIR," said Nasrudin. 50. "You sure look depressed," a fellow said to Mulla Nasrudin. "What's the trouble?" "Well," said the Mulla, "you remember my aunt who just died. I was the one who had her confined to the mental hospital for the last five years of her life. When she died, she left me all her money. NOW I HAVE GOT TO PROVE THAT SHE WAS OF SOUND...

... with me," said the dentist. "I have heard that you mountain people are strong and tough. All I can say is that you are a brave man." "IT ISN'T ME THAT'S HAVING MY TOOTH PULLED," said Nasrudin. "IT'S MY WIFE." 55. The professional money raiser called upon Mulla Nasrudin. "I am seeking contributions for a worthy charity," he said. "Our goal is...

... NIGHT YOU LIKED BAKED BEANS, TUESDAY NIGHT YOU LIKED BAKED BEANS, WEDNESDAY NIGHT YOU LIKED BAKED BEANS AND NOW, ALL OF A SUDDEN, ON THURSDAY NIGHT, YOU SAY YOU HATE BAKED BEANS." 58. The prosecutor began his cross-examination of the witness, Mulla Nasrudin. "Do you know this man?" "How should I know him?" "Did he borrow money from you?" "Why should he borrow...

... money from me?" Annoyed, the judge asked the Mulla "Why do you persist in answering every question with another question?" "WHY NOT?" said Mulla Nasrudin 59. Mulla Nasrudin had taken one too many when he walked upto the police sargeant's desk. "Officer you'd better lock me up," he said. "I just hit my wife on the head with a beer bottle." "Did you kill...

... a prison waiting room, turned on him and said: "I am fed up with you. Look at your record: attempted robbery, attempted robbery, attempted burglary, attempted murder. WHAT A FAILURE YOU HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE; YOU CAN'T SUCCEED IN ANYTHING YOU TRY." 109. Mulla Nasrudin and some of his friends pooled their money and bought a tavern. They immediately closed it and began to paint and fix it...

... THE WAR." 137. A barber was surprised to get a tip from Mulla Nasrudin, a customer, before he even climbed into the chair. "You are the first customer, Mulla," he said, "ever to give me a tip before I cut the hair." "THAT'S NOT A TIP," said Nasrudin. "THAT'S HUSH MONEY. 138. "Thankful! What do I have to be thankful for? I can't pay my bills," said...

... BACK AND SEE WHERE HE CAME FROM." 142. Mulla Nasrudin and a friend were chatting at a bar. "Do you have the same trouble with your wife that I have with mine?" asked the Mulla. "What trouble?" "Why, money trouble. She keeps nagging me for money, money, money, and then more money," said the Mulla. "What does she want with all the money you give her? What does...

... sitting up every night until two and three o'clock in the morning and I can't break her of it." Sympathetic friend: "Why does she sit up that late?" Nasrudin: "WAITING FOR ME TO COME HOME." 145. "Mulla, did your father leave much money when he died?" "NO," said Mulla Nasrudin, "NOT A CENT. IT WAS THIS WAY. HE LOST HIS HEALTH GETTING WEALTHY, THEN HE LOST...

... 5?Notme, "saidtheMulla. "Well give me whatever you have, and get out," said the doctor. "Doctor, I have nothing," said the Mulla. By this time the doctor was in a rage and said, "If you have no money you have some nerve to call on a specialist of my standing and my fees." Mulla Nasrudin, too, now got mad and shouted back at the doctor: "LET ME TELL YOU...

... the psychiatrist "But it will take a long time and quite a lot of money." "OH, MONEY IS NO PROBLEM," said Nasrudin. "SHE HAS WON SO MANY HORSE RACES." 156. The caravan was marching through the desert. It was hot and dry with not a drop of water anywhere. Mulla Nasrudin fell to the ground and moaned. "What's the matter with him?" asked the leader of the caravan...

... appeared and ordered them to halt. "Your money or your life," boomed the leader of the bandits. 'Just a moment please," said Mulla Nasrudin. "I owe my friend here 500, andIwouldliketopayhimfirst. "YOSEL," said Nasrudin, "HERE IS YOUR DEBT. REMEMBER, WE ARE SQUARE NOW." 170. In asking Mulla Nasrudin for a loan of 10, awomansaidtohim,"IfIdon...

... 100, then?"saidNasrudin. "Why I hardly know you, and you are asking me to lend you 100!" "I can't understand it," said Nasrudin. "IN THE OLD COUNTRY PEOPLE WOULD NOT LEND ME MONEY BECAUSE THEY KNEW ME, AND HERE I CAN'T GET A LOAN BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW ME." 171. "I have found the road to success no easy matter," said Mulla Nasrudin. "I started at...

... another? And are you certain that you are saved? Your face, your eyes do not give any proof of it; you look angry. Even a nice man like Jesus was an angry man. Who gave him the authority to beat the money-changers in the temple of Jerusalem and throw them out? Self-appointed judges.... Jesus wanted to save the world - he could not even save himself. And he has left an ugly heritage which goes on growing...

... the money of the world, still you will be running after money. You may have all the knowledge, and still you will be running after more knowledge. In every dimension there is infinite space to run. I have heard.... A man and his wife were flying in a plane; the man was piloting. The plane was going full speed, and the wife asked, "Where are we going?" The man said, "Don't bother where...

.... There is not much space for all of them to coexist. When you think of progress... it starts with your lovemaking - a mad race - and where do you end? You end with a woman. Great, just great! And then your whole life it is the same, the same story. People are running after power, people are running after money, people are running after respectability. People are running after everything you can imagine...

... supported by Jewish money. And it was in the hands of America, because American forces were there in Israel to hand over the country to anybody - either to Christians or to Mohammedans or to Jews. It was a Mohammedan country and it would have been right to give it back to them. But Christians are against Mohammedans for a very simple thing - that's why I say this whole world needs to be finished - a very...

... one, there is no need of different colors on the map. If the world dissolves the nations, whom are you going to fight? And if the world becomes a little more intelligent and drops all religious nonsense, whom are you going to fight? And if you are not going to fight, there will be no Ethiopia, there will be no poor India - because all your energy, all your money, all your resources that are going...

... Ethiopia. All has disappeared, it never reached Ethiopia. The same has happened before; Ethiopia has been in trouble for four years. In the name of humanity, service, these missionaries collect the money and swallow it. Last year when the fifteen million dollars simply disappeared, it was enquired what had happened. The Christian missionaries said they did not want to send the money to the Ethiopian...

... government, so they found a French agency to distribute the money, food, clothes, to the starving Ethiopians. When the French agency was asked, they could not believe it; they had never heard about these missionaries. Ethiopia will be there, more Ethiopians will be there tomorrow. Small efforts won't help. I don't believe in throwing a spoonful of sugar into the ocean to make it sweet. I am not retarded...

... wife seems to be just a model of a machine; whenever he has money he purchases a new wife - fifty rupees, sixty rupees, at the most a hundred rupees - and sells his old wife. He has used the old wife for one year, that's enough. We are taught in the schools and universities that this is a great civilization - and women are being sold like cattle! The survey in these two districts has revealed that...

... destructive weapons; every year new weapons are available. What are you going to do with the old weapons which you have piled up for years? Now they have become absolutely useless and you have wasted so much money. Almost seventy percent of every large nation's money goes into creating armies, destructive weapons, nuclear weapons. They need the small nations to go on fighting, because they purchase the old...

... world. It seems to be unbelievable, but since the second world war there have been nearabout three hundred wars. They have been small wars, because big nations need them. Wars are their market; otherwise all the money is lost which they have invested in arms which have become out of date. It became a strange situation when America a few days ago attacked Iran. It was not only foolish, it was also...

... cannot say no." I said, "But do you consider humanity at all?" He said, "Money is the god; people don't say it clearly, but I say it clearly. I will make every opportunity yield as much money as possible. It is just like milking the cow; I go on milking as long as even a drop of milk remains." I said to him, "You have been educated in the West, in the most prominent...

... medical institutions, but that does not mean that you have to forget completely the Eastern attitude that man is the ultimate value." He said, "On that point I cannot agree with you. I agree with you on all points, but about money don't say anything to me." And I know that it is not only him, but almost everybody has fallen so low that nothing matters in life except money. You can...

... purchase anybody - prime ministers are purchased, presidents of countries are purchased. You can purchase anybody, you just have to give the right amount of money. These stories are of the time when man was dignified and was in search of his inner source. AFTER THAT, HE HAD NO DESIRE TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE - once you have found your master, the desire to go anywhere else disappears - SO HE CHANGED HIS ROBE...

... - Indian sannyasins, I mean - belong to the first category, the best people. Nine percent belong to the second category: the ugly people, the fools. They have not come here for me. Some have come because there are so many beautiful women around, some have come to cheat, to borrow money, to steal. We are trying to throw them out, but still a few somehow manage to get in. They even meditate to show that...

... was so poor while he was alive that he would only eat three days a week. He used to get enough money from his brother to eat the cheapest food for the whole week, but he had to save some money for canvases and paints and colours and brushes, so he had to starve for four days to save a little money. He committed suicide when he was only thirty-three, just because it was so difficult to survive...

.... Nobody would accept his paintings; there was no question of anybody purchasing them. People even refused to accept his paintings for hanging in their houses. He would present his paintings free to people and they threw them in the basement or somewhere else. His brother, thinking that he was feeling so sad because he had not sold a single painting in his life, sent one man with some money to go and...

... purchase one painting. The man went. Van Gogh could not believe his ears that there should be one man in the whole world who was ready to purchase his paintings, so he showed them with great interest. But the man was not interested in the paintings at all. He said, "Any painting will do. You keep this money and give me the painting." Immediately he understood what the matter was. He said, "...

...;Forget about purchasing the painting! It seems my brother has sent you, so take this money back. It is better to die without selling a painting!" And the same day he committed suicide - it was enough. He painted nearabout one thousand paintings; eight hundred paintings have been lost because people never cared about them. When his paintings started becoming famous after his death, people started...

... searching for his paintings. They were found in all kinds of places - people's basements, bathrooms. And they were easily purchased; people were very willing to give them away for a little money or even for no money. Now each single painting is valued at one million dollars. That's how people have always functioned, so there is nothing unnatural about it. People have their own understanding... Two kids...

.... [Another sannyasin said she too was having difficulties in her relationship. Her boyfriend felt less and less like making love and this made her upset and frustrated, and she then became aggressive towards him. She said they were also at variance over how they used their money, as she wanted to be thrifty so they could stay in Poona longer, while he spent money easily and seemingly with no thought for...

... everything more ugly and it will do just the opposite of what you want. Money is not important... and it may be just a trick to control. [Osho said that they could either be here for longer, both in conflict, unhappy, or stay a shorter time more happily.] Just see the point. It is a question of quality, not of quantity. How many days you are here is irrelevant. You may be here for only one day, but if you...

... are really with me and happy and celebrat- ing, that's enough. That will change your whole life. And this is how things go. If you are too miserly, he will spend too much because that will become just an act of being free. He will show you that you cannot control him. If you don't control him, he himself may understand that he is unnecessarily wasting money. But let him see! Women are very money...

...-minded; more interested in the material part of life, and they miss many things. That's why you don't see great women poets, great women painters, great women saints. They are more interested in ordinary things. Anything that has a qualitative dimension seems meaningless to them. Money will be more meaningful than music. They miss much. They think that they are very practical; they are not. This is the...

.... Now they desire God, they desire paradise, they desire heaven, they desire Nirvana, enlightenment. But they go on desiring! And desire is the problem, not what you desire. The object is irrelevant. Desire can live with any object. It can live with money, it can live with power, prestige, respectability; it can live with God, it can live with enlightenment. Any object will do. IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND...

..., Ramas, Krishnas. The West is very much puzzled why we have not been interested in history. We have been writing real history - because the real history consists of the evolution of human consciousness. The real history has nothing to do with money, the real history has nothing to do with power-politics. The real history has only to do with one thing: that is who comes in the world with light...

..., because sometimes the situa-tion may be such that your whole mind will interpret it in a wrong way. The king knows only money and money and money. He understands only one language - the language of money. Now, certainly, this man is cheating. He can see only some device: "The begging bowl is a trick. It cannot be filled and he will empty my whole treasure. And he has caught me - he has provoked me...

... and now he is cheating." "TO YOU," SAID THE DERVISH, "I AM EMPTYING YOUR TREASURY..." "... because you cannot see beyond that. Your eyes are focussed on money. You can only think of money. All is always translated by you in terms of money - as if money is all. Life is much more: money is nothing." "TO YOU I AM EMPTYING YOUR TREASURY," SAID THE DERVISH...

... substitutes in life too, so that our sleep in life itself is not disturbed. If you are to know God, your sleep will be disturbed; it will come to an end. And we have a great vested interest in our sleep, because for lives upon lives we have treasured and cultivated only sleep, that is our only creation. And up to this very day our family, wife, friends, children, money and prestige are all part of our...

... world. Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Sikhs, Jainas... we add these religious differences to our worldly turbulence - as if there is not already enough trouble, enough politics; as if there is not already enough warfare, we add religious warfare, we fight in the name of religion. As it is, there is more than enough competition - in the name of nations, for money, for prestige; but to these we add...

... essence of the life experience of such uneducated people. The statement is direct, the words present no difficulty: there is no shelter other than Rama; there is no other shade, no other refuge than Rama. Under what conditions does such an understanding dawn? We seek refuge and shelter in wealth. The language of the people all around me is that of money, they measure people by their money. How much you...

... much status, how big a position, how much power! You are what you have - this is our criterion. This criterion is utterly wrong. Because of this criterion, if someone asks us of our inner experience, "There is no other refuge but money" will be the essence of our answer. We even weigh the mystics in monetary terms. Had Mahavira been born in a poor family, Jainas were not going to recognize...

... of our calculations about renunciation. If one who possesses nothing says he has renounced, we will not accept his statement. We will say, "You had nothing, so what have you renounced?" Renunciation has no relation to what you had, it is an existential state of being. But how to measure that state? Money is our only standard measure, so renunciation is also measured by what one had. It is...

... curious that we measure renunciation and indulgence in the same monetary terms. Money is our measure. Money is our only refuge! As long as money is our refuge, Rama cannot be our refuge. From what state of mind will arise: "Rama is the only refuge"? This only arises when the illusion of money disappears, when one discovers that money is worthless and that nothing is gained through gaining any...