Quotessence
Home / Authors / Rajneesh
Rajneesh

Rajneesh Quotes

Guru

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsMeditationMindWholePeopleKnowsMenMomentsWorldWayMeanEgoPersonsDisappearGoes OnLifeNeedsLove IsWantGiving

Famous Rajneesh Quotes

“Our whole attitude about life is money-oriented. And money is one of the most uncreative things one can become interested in. Our whole approach is power-oriented and power is destructive, not creative. A man who is after money will become destructive, because money has to be robbed, exploited; it has to be taken away from many people, only then can you have it. Power simply means you have to make many people impotent, you have to destroy them - only then will you be powerful, can you be powerful.”

PeopleMenMeanWholeLife IsMoneyPowerfulAttitudeCreativeTakenApproachDestructive
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“There are many kinds of richness, and the man who is rich because of money is the lowest as far as the categories of richness are concerned. Let me say it in this way: the man of wealth is the poorest rich man. Looked at from the side of the poor, he is the richest poor man. Looked at from the side of a creative artist, of a dancer, of a musician, of a scientist, he is the poorest rich man. And as far as the world of ultimate awakening is concerned he cannot even be called rich.”

MenWorldWayKindArtistSidesWealthPoorMoneyCreativeRichHe ManMusicianConcernedUltimateScientistLet MeAwakeningDancerCategoriesLowestRichnessPoorestRich ManPoor ManCreative ArtCreative Artists
Book:The World Beyond Time
Create image

“The word religion comes from an origin which means "coming together." But priesthood has been doing just the opposite, it has created splits in man, not oneness. Religion means creating in man an organic unity; it has nothing to do with God, it has something to do with you. It has nothing to do with worship, it has something to do with a transformation of your own consciousness.”

MenMeanHas BeensTogetherSpiritualityBeliefConsciousnessCreatingWorshipOppositesTransformationUnityOnenessManifestationSplitsPriesthoodComing Together
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Laughter is spiritual health. And laughter is very unburdening. While you laugh, you can put your mind aside very easily. For a man who cannot laugh the doors of the buddha are closed. To me, laughter is one of the greatest values. No religion has ever thought about it. They have always been insisting on seriousness, and because of their insistence the whole world is psychologically sick.”

MenWorldMindWholeSpiritualValuesLaughingDoorsLaughterSickWhole WorldSeriousnessInsistenceInsistingSpiritual Health
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Existence loves laughter. You may have observed, or not, that man is the only animal in the whole of existence who is capable of laughing. Laughter is the only distinguishing mark that you are not a buffalo, you are not a donkey; you are a human being. Laughter defines your humanity and your evolution. And the greatest laugh is at your own ridiculous things.”

MenHumansMayWholeHumanityHuman BeingsAnimalExistenceLaughingEvolutionCapableLaughterMarkRidiculousDonkeyBuffaloRidiculous ThingsLove Laughter
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The whole art of allowing the truth to take possession of you is of being vulnerable, of being open, of being in a let-go. Or in other words, the whole art consists of one word, "surrender". And that's what sannyas is, that's my definition of a sannyasin: a man who is surrendered to existence so totally that he never thinks in terms of achievement any more, because he is no more. Who is there to achieve? - he has disappeared totally, he has not left even a trace behind. In that very moment, when you are just a pure nothingness, truth arrives. It is a gift of God.”

ThinkingMenArtWholeMomentsLeftTermBehindsExistenceAchievePureLetting GoAchievementDefinitionsPossessionSurrenderVulnerableAllowingNothingnessOne WordGift From God
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Without love a man is just a body, an empty temple without the deity. With love the deity arrives, the temple is no more empty. That's why love gives such fullness, such deep contentment, such tremendously overflowing joy. Remain in love and let love be the door to the divine.”

MenLoveGivingBodyJoyLove IsDoorsDivineEmptyContentmentTemplesDivine LoveDeitiesFullnessWithout Love
Book:You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet: Initiation Talks Between Master and Disciple
Create image

“The science of meditation: it brings you to the present, it brings you to this moment. The past is a thought; it disappears when thoughts disappear. The future is also a thought; it disappears when you drop thinking. When you are in a state of no-thought - there is no past, no future, there is only the present - in that state of no-thought you are ONE, in tune with God. And suddenly the flood is there: you are flooded with light, with love, with grace. You are no more a man, you are divine. You have surpassed humanity. Humanity is in a state of deep sleep.”

ThinkingMenStatesMomentsLightPastHumanitySleepGraceMeditationDivineDisappearTunesPresent MomentFloodDeep Sleep
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Religion is a valid inquiry; whether society accepts it or rejects it, it doesn't matter. Man is a religious animal and is going to remain that way. Religion is something natural. To ask from where you come is relevant; to ask, 'Who am I?' is going to remain relevant always. But the modern mind has created a climate of atheism so you cannot ask such questions. If you ask, people laugh. If you talk about such things, people feel bored If you start inquiring in these ways, people think you are slipping out of your sanity. Religion is no longer a welcome inquiry.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenWayFeelsMindMatterReligionAsksNaturalReligiousAnimalAcceptingLaughingAtheismModernClimateWelcomeBoredRejectsSanityRelevantInquirySlippingWhere You ComeInquiring
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Life consists of sadness too. And sadness is also beautiful; it has its own depth, its own delicacy, its own deliciousness, its own taste. A man is poorer if he has not known sadness; he is impoverished, very much impoverished. His laughter will be shallow, his laughter will not have depth, because depth comes only through sadness. A man who knows sadness, if he laughs, his laughter will have depth. His laughter will have something of his sadness too, his laughter will be more colorful.”

IfsKnowsMenBeautifulKnownLaughingSadnessTasteLaughterDepthShallowColorfulDelicacy
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Sadness, seriousness are parts of a psychologically sick man - they need causes. So when you are feeling happy, don't start asking, "Why am I happy?" When you are feeling sad ask why you are sad. But strangely, it has become conventional to our minds that when we are sad we accept it as if it is our nature. And when we are joyous even we are surprised; deep inside we even start worrying: "What is happening to me?"”

IfsMenNeedsMindFeelingsAsksCausesAcceptingWorrySadnessHappeningsSickAskingConventionalSeriousnessJoyousDeep InsideFeeling HappyFeeling SadSick ManAsking Why
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Man is afraid, the world is a strange world, and man wants to be secure, safe. In childhood the father protects, the mother protects. But there are many people, millions of them, who never grow beyond their childhoods. They remain stuck somewhere, and they still need a father and a mother. Hence God is called the Father or the Mother. They need a divine Father to protect them; they are not mature enough to be on their own. They need some security.”

PeopleMenWorldWantNeedsStillsEnoughMotherFatherGrowsMillionsChildhoodSecurityDivineStrangeProtectSafeStuckSecureMatureStrange World
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“A man of knowing attains to a sense of humour. Let this always be remembered. If you see someone who has no sense of humour, know well that that man has not known at all. If you come across a serious man, then you can be certain that he is a pretender. Knowing brings sincerity but all seriousness disappears. Knowing brings a playfulness; knowing brings a sense of humour. The sense of humour is a must.”

IfsKnowsMenWellsCertainKnownKnowingHumourSeriousDisappearRememberedSinceritySeriousnessPlayfulnessPretenderSerious Man
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Learn to laugh. Seriousness is a sin, and it is a disease. Laughter has tremendous beauty, a lightness. It will bring lightness to you, and it will give you wings to fly. And life is so full of opportunities. You just need the sensitivity. And create chances for other people to laugh. Laughter should be one of the most valued, cherished qualities of human beings - because only man can laugh, no animals are capable of it. Because it is human, it must be of the highest order. To repress it is to destroy a human quality.”

PeopleMenNeedsGivingShouldHumansLife IsOrderOpportunityChanceHuman BeingsSinAnimalQualityLaughingDiseaseHighestCapableLaughterWingsSensitivitySeriousnessLightnessHuman QualitiesWings To Fly
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“I cannot say to you what is right or wrong. I can say only one thing to you: be conscious - that is right. Don't be unconscious because that is wrong. And then whatsoever you do in consciousness is right. But people are living in unconsciousness. And let me tell you: in unconsciousness you may think you are doing something right, but it can't be right. Out of unconsciousness, virtue cannot flower; it may appear virtuous but it can't be. Deep down it will still be something wrong. If you are unconscious and you give money to a poor man, watch: your ego is strengthened. This is sin.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenGivingMayStillsI CanSinPoorConsciousnessWatchesVirtueOne ThingFlowerEgoConsciousLet MeUnconsciousVirtuousDeep DownPoor ManUnconsciousness
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Man ordinarily is a robot. He lives apparently awake, but not really. He walks, he talks, he acts, but it is all as if in sleep - not conscious of what he is doing, not conscious of what he is saying, not conscious of all that surrounds him. He moves surrounded in a dark cloud of unawareness. According to Gautama the Buddha, this is the original sin: to live unconsciously, to act out of unconsciousness. In fact, the word 'sin' comes from a root which means forgetfulness. Sin simply means that we are not conscious, aware, alert, that we don't have any inner light to guide us.”

IfsMenMeanFactsLightMovingDarkSleepSinWalksConsciousRootsOriginalsCloudsGuidesAwakeSurroundRobotsForgetfulnessOriginal SinUnconsciousnessInner LightDark CloudsUnawareness
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“I call a man a sannyasin who breaks out of these institutions and lives spontaneously. To be a sannyasin is the most courageous act possible. To be a sannyasin means to live without the mind, and the moment you live without mind you live without society. The mind has created society, and society has created the mind; they are interdependent. To be a sannyasin means to renounce all that is false but not to renounce the world, to renounce all that is unauthentic, to renounce all the answers, to be responsive, spontaneously responsive, and not to think about the reasons, but to be real.”

ThinkingMenWorldMindMeanRealReasonMomentsAnswersBreakSocietyInstitutionsCourageousBeing RealRenounceBreak Out
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“We are afraid of love because Love is a small death. Love requires that we should surrender, and we don't want to surrender at all. We would like the OTHER to surrender, we would like the other to be a slave. But the same is the desire from the other side: man wants the woman to be a slave; and of course the woman also wants the same, the SAME desire is there. Their methods of enslaving each other may be different, but the desire is the same.”

MenWantShouldMayDifferentDesireCoursesSidesLove IsMethodSlaveSurrenderBe A SlaveAfraid To Love
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“You will have to go deep into man. From where comes this violence? From where comes this exploitation? From where come all these ego-trips? From where? They all come from unconsciousness. Man lives asleep, man lives mechanically. That mechanism has to be broken, man has to be re-done. That is the religious revolution that has not been tried.”

MenDoneReligiousViolenceBrokenRevolutionEgoMechanismExploitationUnconsciousnessEgo TripBroken Man
Book:From R to Z
Create image

“Everything that is of authentic value in life has arisen out of meditation. There is no other way. Meditation is the mother of art, music, poetry, dance, sculpture. All that is creative, all that is life-affirmative, is born out of meditation. All that is life-negative - hate, anger, jealousy, violence, war - is born out of the mind. Man has two possibilities: mind and meditation.”

MenWayMindArtTwoWarMotherValuesHateBornCreativeMeditationViolencePossibilityNegativeSculptureAffirmativeValue Of LifeArt Music
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Small children smoking, and the mother is not aware that it is because the breast has been taken away. In all primitive communities a seven-year-old child, or even an eight or nine-year-old child, will continue breast-feeding. Then there is a satisfaction and smoking will not be so necessary. That's why in primitive communities men are not so much interested in women's breasts; there is no problem that somebody will attack them. Nobody looks at the breasts.”

MenYearsLooksChildrenHas BeensProblemMotherCommunityTakenSevenSatisfactionEightNineSmokingBreastsPrimitiveFeedingNo ProblemSeven YearsNine YearsSmall Child
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Whenever you drop something by fight, it is never dropped. You can drop smoking by fighting, and then you will start doing something else which will become a substitute. You may start chewing gum, it is the same; You may start chewing pan, it is the same, there is no difference. You need something to do with your mouth - smoking, chewing, anything. When your mouth goes on working, you feel at ease because through the mouth tensions are released. So whenever a man feels tense he starts smoking.”

MenNeedsFeelsMayFightingDifferencesGoes OnMouthsEaseTensionSmokingSubstitutesTenseGumChewingChewing Gum
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Go deep into meditation. And by meditation I mean awareness, watchfulness, witnessing. It is only through meditation that the inner light begins. Otherwise man lives in darkness. Meditation enkindles something that is latent in all of us, but needs to be provoked. We are looking outwards. Our backs are at our inner source; hence it is being neglected, ignored. and to ignore one's inner being is the only ignorance. To know it is the only knowledge. All other knowledge is worthless. It may help you in the world but it can't help you in eternity.”

KnowsMenWorldNeedsMayMeanHelpingLightDarknessMeditationAwarenessIgnoranceSourceEternityIgnoredWorthlessNeglectedLatentProvokedInner LightWatchfulness
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Meditation means undoing what the society has done to you. It has reduced you to a machine; you have to de-automatise yourself, you have to become a man again. You have to come out of this state of unconsciousness, of mechanicalness. You have to come out of this sleep. It is possible only through meditation. There is no other way, there has never been, there will never be. The only way to reduce a man to a machine is take away his consciousness force him to function unconsciously. And just the opposite is the way of meditation: give him back his consciousness.”

MenWayGivingMeanStatesDoneForceSleepConsciousnessMeditationMachinesOppositesFunctionUnconsciousnessUndoing
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“And you can put your total energy for the inner eye. The outside eyes are wasting eighty percent of energy - it is the major part. Man has five senses, eighty per cent is taken away by the eyes and only twenty per cent is left for the other four senses. They are very poor people, those four. Eyes are very rich, they have monopolised the whole thing; hence it is good - eighty per cent energy is saved - and that can be immediately used for witnessing, for seeing your inner world. hence in the East we call a person who is blind 'pragyanshakshu' - this word is untranslatable.”

PeopleMenWorldPersonsWholeEyeUsedEnergyLeftPoorRichTakenFiveFourMeditationSeeingMajorsPercentTwentiesBlindEastSavedSensesCentsPoor PeopleEightyInner WorldFive Senses
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“One man has discovered that by running there is no need to meditate, just by running meditation happens. He must be absolutely body oriented. Nobody has ever thought that by running meditation is possible - but I know, I used to love running myself. It happens. If you go on running, if you run fast, thinking stops, because thinking cannot possibly continue when you are running very fast. For thinking an easy chair is needed, that's why we call thinkers armchair philosophers; they sit and relax in a chair, the body completely relaxed, then the whole energy moves into the mind.”

IfsThinkingKnowsMenNeedsMindWholeBodyHappensRunningMovingUsedEnergyEasyMeditationGoes OnNeededPhilosopherRelaxChairsOne ManThinkerRelaxedUsed To LoveArmchairs
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The man of meditation becomes the man of understanding because his energy accumulates. He is not wasting it. He is not interested in trivia; he does not put any energy at all into petty things. So whenever the time arises to give, he has to give. Energy is understanding. Be conscious of it and use your energy very consciously, and use your energy in such a way that you don't simply go on wasting it.”

MenWayGivingDoeUseEnergyUnderstandingMeditationHe ManGoes OnConsciousAriseNot InterestedPettyTrivia
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“A Jesus had to be crucified because he was an alive man. He must have called in his childhood, "Jesus, don't be befooled by others." And he was not befooled, so others had to crucify him, because he was not part of the game. Socrates had to be poisoned and killed, Mansoor had to be murdered. These are people who have escaped from the prison, and whatsoever you say you cannot persuade them to come back. They will not come into the prison. They have known the freedom of the open sky.”

PeopleMenGamesJesusChristKnownAliveSkyChildhoodJesus ChristPrison
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The rabbis, the Jewish religious people, the priests of the temple of Jerusalem, they were learned fools. They could not tolerate Jesus. The learned fools are always disturbed by the blessed fools. They had to murder him because his very presence was uncomfortable; his very presence was such a pinnacle of peace, love, compassion and light, that all the learned fools became aware that their whole being was at stake. If this man lived then they were fools, and the only way to get rid of this man was to destroy him so they could. again become the learned people of the race.”

PeopleIfsMenWayWholeLightJesusChristReligiousRaceCompassionFoolJesus ChristMurderBlessedUncomfortableTemplesPriestsStakesTolerateDisturbedJerusalemRabbiPinnaclePeace Love
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“All Jesus' pictures are falsifications; they cannot be about the real Jesus. This real man must have been totally different, because we know he enjoyed drinking - it is impossible to think of a person who enjoys drinking and not laughing. He enjoyed women - it is difficult to think of a man who enjoys women and not laughing. He was friendly, almost in love, with a prostitute, Mary Magdalene. It is difficult to move with a prostitute - he was not moving with a Catholic monk, not with a priest, not with the Pope... with a prostitute! These were the condemnations against him.”

ThinkingKnowsMenPersonsHas BeensDifferentRealMovingJesusEnjoyDifficultChristLaughingImpossibleJesus ChristCatholicDrinkingEnjoyedFriendlyPriestsMaryPopeMonkCondemnationReal MenMary MagdaleneFalsification
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“When ambition enters, creativity disappears - because an ambitious man cannot be creative, because an ambitious man cannot love any activity for its own sake. While he is painting he is looking ahead; he is thinking, 'When am I going to get a Nobel Prize?' When he is writing a novel, he is looking ahead. He is always in the future - and a creative person is always in the present.”

ThinkingMenWritingPersonsCreativityNovelCreativePaintingActivityAmbitionSakeDisappearPrizeAmbitiousBe CreativeNobelNobel PrizeCreative PersonLooking AheadAmbitious Man
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“All political power, all power as such, is stupid. Don't rush after it, don't be ambitious, because all ambition collects dust and only dust. If you are not disillusioned by dust, you will not be able to know what truth is. A man obsessed with ambition is not capable of knowing truth at all. Eyes full of ambition never see what is; they only see what they want to see. The ambitious mind is the wrong mind; the non-ambitious mind is the right mind.”

IfsKnowsMenWantMindEyeAblePoliticalKnowingStupidTruth IsAmbitionCapableDustObsessedAmbitiousPolitical PowerDisillusioned
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“CREATIVITY is when you are not, because creativity is the fragrance of the creator. It is the presence of God in you. Creativity belongs to the creator, not to you. No man can ever be creative. Yes, man can compose, construct, but can never be a creator. When man disappears, when man becomes utterly absent, a new kind of presence enters his being - the presence of God. Then there is creativity. When God is inside you His light that starts falling around you is creativity. The climate that arises around you because of the presence of God within you is creativity.”

MenKindLightFallCreativityCreativeClimateCreatorDisappearAriseWithin YouBe CreativeConstructsFragranceAbsentPresence Of God
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“This is a very fundamental reason why man cannot become meditative - or why very few men have dared to become meditative. Our training is of the mind. Our education is for the mind. Our ambitions, our desires, can only be fulfilled by the mind. You can become president of a country, prime minister, not by being meditative but by cultivating a very cunning mind. The whole education is geared by your parents, by your society, so that you can fulfill your desires, your ambitions. You want to become somebody. Meditation can only make you a nobody.”

MenWantMindCountryReasonWholeDesireParentPresidentMeditationAmbitionTrainingFundamentalsMinistersReason WhyPrimeFulfilledPrime MinisterCunningBeing MeCultivating
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Once you are afraid of death you are bound to be afraid of life. That`s why I am talking about this Hasidic approach. The whole approach consists of methods, ways and means of how to die - the art of dying is the art of living also. Dying as an ego is being born as a non `ego; dying as a part is being born as a whole; dying as man is a basic step towards being born as a God.”

MenWayMeanArtWholeDiesBornTalkingStepsDyingEgoApproachArt IsMethodBoundsArt Of LivingAfraid Of DeathAfraid Of Life
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The fear that things may change tomorrow... Somebody may die, you may go bankrupt, your job may be taken away. There are a thousand and one things which may change. You are burdened with fears and fears, and none of them are valid - because yesterday also you were full of all these fears, unnecessarily. Things may have changed, but you are still alive. And man has an immense capacity to adjust himself in any situation.”

MenMayStillsJobsDiesFearSituationTakenAliveOne ThingChangedTomorrowThousandCapacityYesterdayImmense
Author:Rajneesh
Create image