My sannyasin represents togetherness of action and meditation He is in the world and yet not of it. He is like a lotus flower coming out of dirty mud, but transforming the mud into the beauty of a lotus, living in a lake yet untouched by the water, absolutely untouched.
A true sannyasin should be in the world, in action, and deeply rooted in meditation. Your roots should be in meditation, your branches should be in action. You should be like a tree: its branches go high in the sky, they are longings for the stars; it goes on rising high.
But remember, a tree goes high only if its roots go deep, in the same proportion: deeper the roots, higher the branches; higher the branches, deeper the roots. They balance each other. Roots have to be in meditation and branches in the world — in the full sunlight, dancing in the wind, whispering with the clouds — and deep inside you, in the inner world, growing roots into meditation. Then you will be a full tree.
Up to now two types of people have existed: a few have existed without roots — of course, without roots a tree is bound to be false — and few people have existed just as roots without trees, and just roots are ugly. Have you seen beautiful roots? Flowers are beautiful, but flowers need foliage, branches, the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, the wind — they need the whole world — then those colorful flowers… these both have to be together; only then you will be an integrated, whole being.
The worldly has only branches but no roots, hence he is dull, juiceless, dry, dead, a corpse, just somehow dragging, out of old habit. And your monks, your nuns — Catholic Hindu, Jain, whatsoever their denomination — they are just roots, ugly, not worth looking at. No question of respect, not even worth looking once — the question of twice does not arise — and without any flowers.
My sannyasin has to be both: with roots in the interior world and with flowers in the exterior world. My sannyasin has to be both: capable of intellect and also capable of intuition. There is no need to choose: whatsoever God has given has to be used to its fullest.
Source – Osho Book “I am That”