[A sannyasin says she has been working as a prostitute in the West. Returning there now to earn money to return here, she wonders whether to return to prostitution or not. A voice inside her says no – on the other hand it is a quick way to make money…. ]
Osho – Then do something else, mm? do something else… because prostitution is a betrayal of the body. There is nothing morally wrong in it but spiritually much is wrong in it. You are allowing your body to be used like a thing – that’s a great insult to the body.
When the other so-called religious leaders say they are against prostitution their reasons are different. When I say that it is not good my reasons are totally different. My first reason is that one needs to be in deep reverence with one’s own body, one needs to be in love with the body, so how can one allow somebody to use it as a thing? It is a sacred thing! Yes, you can share when you love a person, but for money it is ugly. It is one of god’s gifts to you – you can give it as a gift, but don’t sell it. You have not purchased it, so you have no right to sell it!
Mm? – it is a gift: we should be grateful to god that he has given us such a beautiful body. It is a temple. So when I say not to go into prostitution, my reasons are just the opposite to those other religious people will give. They are against sex, they are against joy. They are against anything that makes people delighted – that is their reason. They are sex-repressive people: they want everybody to be very limited in their sexual relationships.
And a prostitute brings a freedom, that’s why they are against them. They want a very rigid monogamy in the world: man possessing woman, woman possessing man, one-to-one. They are all for man being used as property and woman being used as property. To me, that too is prostitution. What they call marriage, to me is nothing but a permanent prostitution.
Yes, you prostitute yourself to the same man again and again, that’s all. You don’t change the man, but it is prostitution because it is based on money – it is a permanent license. To me the so-called marriage is nothing but a sort of prostitution. I am all for love and I am completely against marriage. Because I am against marriage, I am against prostitution too. Try to understand me: to me prostitution is just a by-product of marriage. The day marriage disappears from the earth, prostitution will also disappear.
Where will you find a woman or a man to share his body with you because of money? It will be impossible. People will love and respect their body so much that will it be impossible. Yes, they can share their love energy with you but only when they love. . .there will be no other kind of relationship. Right now the marriage is a prostitution; there is no love. The wife goes on yielding to the husband because she has to, and the husband can force sex – legally! He can threaten that he will throw her out of the house, that he will not take any financial responsibility; then she will be on the streets.
To avoid the streets she chooses this permanent kind of prostitution, otherwise she will be with many people. And one man is so ugly – how much more ugly will it be with so many men? So it is better; it is the lesser evil. Never treat your body as a thing. It is divine, it is divine energy. Yes, if you love a man give your total heart, give your total body, being, all that you have. But when the love disappears, or if the love is not there, then there is no other way. The body can be shared only in love: don’t share even with your husband if the love is not there.
If today you find that you are not in a love mood with your husband, say simply that it will be prostitution! When love is there, love makes everything beautiful. When love is not there, everything becomes a nightmare, ugly. So it may take a little longer for you to work, but that’s good. Go, do something else – be respectful about your body. It is a god’s gift, and you are responsible! God will ask you finally what you did with your body. So go, mm? and go with tremendous trust – there is no problem in it. It will take a little longer to come back, but that’s not a problem. Avoid the old trap. It will be easier for you to fall into the trap because easy money always can have an appeal, but that is dangerous. And you are strong enough now – nothing to be worried about.
Source: from Osho Book “This is it”
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Ruth
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This is an eye-opener for all Indian women who don’t know that ‘honour’ of women linked to her sexuality is a patriarchal construct to control women and is the reason for her backwardness even in this age.Female foeticide,dowry,dowry deaths,prostitution all are inter-related.A widow is made to feel dirty as well as insulted if” she on her own” says that ‘i want to remarry.’ She still has to look for support of even her family members otherwise she would be accused of being shameless and ‘characterless’.But if a man does so,his wish is readily accepted by this great Indian society.Is this fair?if you want to throw a woman into prostitution,simply crush her honour by raping/mms etc and put it online.So many honourable Indian families cant bear this and throw their women out of the house.Where do such women land then?Prostitution.Even if family is mature they have to live theif whole life with grief with no one willing to marry the defamed woman because now she is dirty (has been used,simply).But the criminal man is let free.He is even allowed to become a civil servant here!And the women are always ready to accept the used and reused man.Why?The same patriarchal constructs are always at work in the form of ideologies to control women.The statement that for the first time women are really acquiring ‘character’by taking to the challenges of life and violating the ‘honour construct’ is really a moral booster.Thanks Beloved Osho.
i get osho like teacher. he is very true
My mother was treated like a prostitute by my sinful father…She is no more but his lust is still alive and must be even more strong now…I hate him for he just used her all her life…day time she was his maid..night his prostitute… She chose to go through hell because she was concerned for her daughters, their education , their needs etc… He doesnt care for us … He was only doing till our mom was alive and when she was gone he conveniently decided to wash his hands of all responsibilities… I hate him !