https://oshofriends.com/talks_on_meditation/49763
Don't try to be special
All the nonsense that goes on in the name of religion and spirituality is nothing but ego decoration. A really religious man is bound to be very ordinary. [....]
Don't try to be special -- because the only way to be special is to run counter to the ordinary man. If the ordinary man is interested in sex, you be interested in celibacy -- run counter. If the ordinary man is interested in eating and drinking and merrying, you drop all those. If the ordinary man is interested in small things, you simply remain interested in great things -- God, nirvana, moksha, truth. If the ordinary man lives in the marketplace, you go to a monastery.
Just do the REVERSE, that is the only way to be special. If the ordinary man simply stands on his feet, you stand on your head, do SIRSHASANA. If the ordinary man feels good to lie down in a comfortable bed, you make a bed of thorns. If the ordinary man wants his body to be beautiful, you make your body ugly, you destroy its grace. If the ordinary man is doing something, then just to be counter to it, just to be against it, is your religion. And that's what religion is not feasting but fasting. That's what religion has become.
But this is not the true religion -- not the religion of the Buddhas, of those who know. [....]
What is the Law of Men and the Law of Buddha? What is Tao, what is Dhamma? To be just natural, easy. To be that which you are, with no hankering to be somebody else. Just see the point: great joy arises then. Of course nobody will know you, nobody will know that you are a great historical person. Nobody will know that you are of those few people who make or mar history. Nobody may ever know about you -- not even your wife may know, or your husband or your children -- because you will be simple and you will be living your life naturally.
Who knows about a rosebush that blooms? Nobody takes note of it in history. Nobody will take note of you either, but there is no need. History is the concern of the foolish people, fame is the concern of the foolish people, name is the concern of the foolish people.
The really wise person is not interested in fame, name, etcetera. He simply lives the moment: Sometimes he becomes famous, but that is another matter. Buddha became famous but he was not trying to; there was no desire. If he becomes, it is okay; if he does not become, it is okay. It is all okay, it is ALWAYS okay. His flavour is that of okayness, everything is okay.
Enjoy your food, enjoy your bath, enjoy the sun, enjoy the wind and the rains, and enjoy everything that is available to you. And just remain whosoever you are -- true to yourself, creating no hypocrisy, creating no pretension, creating no facade, no face. And utter joy will be yours, God will be yours. God comes only to those who are in an utter relaxation with their being. And the person who longs for something cannot be relaxed, because that longing creates tension. [....]
Just see the ordinary people. But it is very difficult to find ordinary people, very difficult, because everybody has become extraordinary. It is very difficult to find a sane person, because everybody has become insane. Centuries of priests, mahatmas and saints have driven everybody out of his soul, out of his home.
There are only neurotic people on the earth. Friedrich Nietzsche is reported to have said that everybody is neurotic -- and if you think you are not, then that must be another kind of neurosis. But everybody is neurotic. What is neurosis? Not being happy with yourself is neurosis, not being contented with yourself is neurosis. And then you get into turmoil and trouble. Then you lose all peace of mind, all joy of life. Then you exist in anguish, then you create hell for yourself.
Become ordinary. That's my teaching too, if it can be called a teaching -- because up to now, teachings have been to drive you towards some extraordinary goal. But if you ask the awakened, they have always been saying: Just be ordinary. Don't strive. Live effortlessly, live in a let-go. And then nature takes possession of you. Your life becomes spontaneous, you live moment-to-moment -- with no ideology to follow, with no conclusions. You live without conclusions; each moment brings its own reality and you respond to it. And you respond out of your total being -- every cell of your body and mind and soul is involved in it.
Then you never repent -- because how can you repent? You responded totally, so whatsoever happens is okay, because nothing else was possible. You had done ALL -- you responded totally, you took the challenge. You can't repent if you live spontaneously.
-Osho, "Take It Easy, Vol 2, #3"
