Osho – Man has completely forgotten the inner dimension, he has become obsessed with the outer. He goes on and on changing toys, more money, more power, more prestige. These are all toys. You can play with them but meanwhile you are wasting precious time. They can keep you occupied but they will also keep you in deep anguish, in tension, in anxiety, for the simple reason that the world outside is a world of competition, it is struggle. You are not alone there; millions and millions of people are searching for the same things.
All are after money, so everybody is at each other’s throat. It is a violent struggle, a war — sometimes in the open, sometimes underground. Life on the outside remains feverish; it is a kind of delirium, an insanity. There is no rest, no peace, no bliss, no relaxation, unless one enters inside, then one enters a totally different world. There you are alone. There is no question of conflict, there is nobody to fight anybody, no question of competition. There is nothing to achieve, nothing to lose, nothing to gain; a great calmness descends upon you. That is the meaning of Sauro; Sauro means in the shade. To be outside yourself is to be under the hot sun, it is to be continuously under fire. To be in is to be in the shade — cool, calm, collected.
My sannyasins have to learn the whole art of being available to both worlds. I am not against the outside world, I am only against its insanity; and that insanity can be balanced by inner sanity, then there is no problem. If you can keep cool under the hot sun there is no problem. If you can keep cool in the tumult and noise of life there is no problem. If you can remain relaxed in the marketplace there is no need to go anywhere. So you have to learn the art of moving in and out easily, just as you move outside and inside your house — there is no problem in it.
But for centuries we have been told that you can either be an extrovert or an introvert — and not only the old traditions say so; even one of the most important psychologists of this age, Carl Gustav Jung repeats the same thing — either-or, either you are an extrovert or you are an introvert. Nobody has recognized even the possibility of being flexible. When there is time to go out, go out, when there is time to come in, come in, and let them balance each other. This balancing is my sannyas.
My sannyas cannot be categorized by Carl Gustav Jung, my sannyasin will defy his categorization. Jung cannot call him introvert because he loves, relates, creates — he is in the thick of the world. He enjoys both worlds. When you can have both worlds why choose one? That is foolish! But for centuries man has chosen one.
There was a reason: to choose one is simple, you avoid complexity. But complexity has its own beauty. It is simple to grow only roses in your garden, you will become a great expert in growing roses, but your garden will not look like a garden. It needs all the colors, all the flowers, all the fragrances. Your roses cannot replace the nightqueen — there is no way, no rose can do that. Your roses cannot become the sunflowers — they cannot move with the sun, they are not sun-worshippers. Your roses are beautiful but they are beautiful only in the whole orchestra of the garden, otherwise they are boring. Even the most beautiful thing can become boring, and it is simple; you simply learn one art. To know all the flowers, their seasons, their seeds, the manure they need creates complexity.
Hence for centuries man has chosen only one world: either being an introvert then moving into a monastery, becoming a monk or a nun and living the life of a closed existence — no windows, no doors to the outside world… Yes, it will be a very simple existence but there will be no song in it. It will be dull and flat. It will be like a person continuously playing a single note on the guitar.
I have heard: Mulla Nasruddin was learning the guitar. He would just go on playing a single note again and again, day in, day out. He was driving his family and the neighborhood crazy. Finally they all decided something had to be done. They all approached him and said, “Mulla, you are a man of great wisdom, but you are driving us crazy! We have seen many players, many musicians, but this is strange — just one note? You never change, you simply go on playing the same again and again. It has become so much that even when you stop we go on hearing it! So please,” they requested “learn a few more notes.”
Mulla Nasruddin said “That is not possible. The others play other notes because they have not yet found their note. I have found mine, there is no need for me to search, I have already arrived. This is my note, this is my whole life. And why should I practise unnecessary things which are not mine…? I am doing my thing and I am enjoying it. If you cannot enjoy it that is your problem.”
It is easy to play one note, very easy — no practise is needed, any fool can do it. And that’s what man has done in the past: a few people chose to be introverts. They were silent but they were without song — flat, boring, dull, almost dead. You have called them saints. And the others chose the outside world: very excited, always on the go, in a great hurry, not knowing where they were going, just running round and round in circles, in a state of delirium, shouting, fighting. There was great hustle and bustle but no silence. Both attitudes are wrong.
My sannyasin has to prove a new man in the world. He has to prove that there is no need to divide, that there is no question of either-or; I teach both and not either-or. And the moment both are together there is something more than both, because the meeting of two polarities is not just the sum total; the total is more than the sum total of the parts. That is beauty and that is ecstasy and that is god — a phenomenon which is more than the sum total of the parts.
Source – Osho Book “Going All the Way”