[A sannyasin, leaving for three months to earn money, says he feels sad to leave.]
Osho : So don’t be worried — three months is not a problem, not a problem. Sometimes it is good to be away from here, sometimes very very good and essential for your growth. Otherwise one starts taking me for granted and becomes oblivious.
There are many people here who have forgotten me just because they are here and I am available; whenever they want, they can come. So they have become occupied in a thousand other things. I am here, available, so there is no question about it. Why not do other things first ?
If they go away, suddenly they will feel that they are missing me. Then everything else will become insignificant and their whole mind will start turning towards me. And that’s what is needed. It is very natural, nothing is wrong in it; it is very natural. Mm ? just the fish in the ocean forgets the ocean; take the fish out and then it knows. This is an energy field — that’s what I am; it is a kind of invisible ocean.
You tend to forget me. You become much more concerned about other things. You find a girlfriend and then you are much concerned about the girlfriend. There are a thousand and one trips one can go on, and I am always there, so slowly slowly you tend not to see me.
We see only the new, the novel. We see only the changing; the constant is forgotten. You come in your room and everything is in its place — you will not see anything. But if something is not in its place, you will immediately see it. The table has been removed, the clock is not there, the picture on the wall is missing. You have not looked at that picture for ten years — it has been there and there and there; you knew it was there.
There are people who have not seen their wife’s face for years. If they will look they will be surprised at how much the woman has changed, because they have the idea of the woman that they used to know ten years ago when they had fallen in love. Then they were looking at her face; they were thrilled by her face. They are still carrying that old picture and they still think she is that woman. She is not! Much water has flown down the Ganges; ten years is a long time — she is getting old. If they look at their own wife’s face they will be surprised — who is this woman? They don’t seem to recognise her. This is natural. That’s how the mind functions: one takes things for granted.
When they are there, they are there; then the mind takes no note of it. Sometimes it is very good to go far away from me. Then you will know the significance of being close to me, the value of my presence and the value of your relationship to me. Otherwise I am constantly watching people: they come for me and then they get trapped in something else. Somebody falls in love, somebody else starts some business and somebody starts doing something else. They become so obsessed by it that their whole energy starts turning away from me… and they came for me!
But people are accidental. They don’t know what they are doing — they are not very conscious of what is happening. And when they go away, suddenly they become aware, because then only will they miss me. Here, even if you are not consciously relating with me, I am showering on you. Even if it is one-way, it continues… and more often it is one-way. But I go on hoping that some day you will respond, that some day you will realise….
So these three months will be of great help, of immense help, of great clarity. And the relationship that you are in, this disciplehood, will take a new shape, a new form. Don’t be worried. Go, and you will be enriched by it, and when you come back you will find yourself coming closer to me, more consciously. I would like now that it becomes a two-way exchange. It rarely becomes one, but when it does, only then do things start happening. Otherwise I go on giving to you and you go on absorbing it too, your growth continues, but it could have been a thousandfold if you had responded consciously. So take it as an opportunity, as a device from me. Go, be there for three months, work hard and come back!
Source : Osho Book “The 99 Names of Nothingness”