Tantra is based on life; tantra is the art of life, of love. Tantra is the method to encounter your sexuality, your sensuousness, your sensate being. And you are afraid of it because you have been taught that there is something wrong in your sensuousness. You are afraid to encounter your sensate being, your physical being. You are afraid to encounter your body and others' bodies, and you are afraid, deep down, that if sex reaches to a climax, then you will have to face the ultimate terror of death. It is better to avoid the peaks and walk on level ground - no peaks, no valleys. Live a mediocre life of no peaks and no valleys. Live an unintelligent life, stupid, boring, dull, drab, placid.

But one thing is good about it - that you will not encounter two things: the ecstasies of the peaks and the agonies of the valleys. But you will not grow either.

Growth happens only when one moves from peaks to valleys and valleys to peaks. Growth happens only in that constant pilgrimage between darkness and light and from light to darkness. When one rises on the waves of the ocean and falls back, and again rises and falls back and slowly, slowly attains a certain balance, in that balance one transcends peaks and valleys both, becomes a witness. That witnessing is meditation.

-Rajneesh

Awareness happens only in contrast. That's why in the night you can see the stars in the sky, not in the day. In the day there is no contrast; the sunlight is so much, you cannot see the stars in the day. But in the night, when the sun is gone and all is dark, stars start appearing. What happens? The contrast of darkness is needed for them to appear, just as you write with white chalk on a blackboard.

If you move deeply into life, love, sex, suddenly you will become aware of death surrounding you from everywhere. That's why man became afraid of sex and religions became repressive of sex. It is not just an invention of some theologians; there is some deep psychological reason for it. Man became aware of one thing: that whenever you move to the peak of love, suddenly you become aware of the deep, deep, abysmal valley surrounding it. And fear takes grip of you, you start feeling nauseous, shaky; trembling arises in you. How to avoid this trembling? The only way that was found was to avoid the peak, so that you never come across the valley - avoid sex, so you never become aware of death.

You will be surprised to know that it is really death that has made people afraid of sex. And all the people who are afraid of sex are cowards, naturally. It has to be so. It is because of the fear of death that they have become inhibitive of sex; hence they are cowards.

-Rajneesh

When you move into some inner work, your old certainties will disappear because the old mind will start losing its hold on you and you will become more uncertain.

And what actually happens when people come to seek truth? They have come really to seek certainty, not truth. They want to be absolutely certain so they can be secure and safe. But when you start searching, your old certainties will go, because old certainties are based on lies. And before new certainties come the old will have to go and there will be a transitory period when you will be almost in a chaos, when you will be almost not knowing at all what is going to happen and what is happening.

-Rajneesh

The author who has written the article against me says that I teach people to live an earthly life. Our real saints have never taught that; they have always taught people to renounce the earthly life.

That I know. That's why you are suffering. That's why you are poor - because you have forgotten how to live on this earth! Nobody has taught you how to live on this earth, how to love this earth.

They have all taught you that this earth is ugly, that it is a punishment that you have been sent here, that you are not supposed to enjoy. If you enjoy, you will be sent again. You are supposed to be very sad, detached. You have to renounce all the joys of the earth so next time you don't have to be born, and then you will enjoy heavenly pleasures.

Because these people have been talking too much about the "other world", they have destroyed this world. I teach you this earth.

This very earth, the paradise. This very body the Buddha.

-Rajneesh

To change your actions without changing your being is very hard, because actions arise out of your being. That is the problem. It is not your actions that are really the problem, the problem is somewhere in your being...

Whatsoever comes on the surface comes from the roots. If you want to destroy a tree, don't go on pruning the leaves; that is not going to help. Leaves are actions. And that's what people go on doing: their being is violent and they try to become non-violent. Then on the surface, just on the surface, they manage a veneer, a facade of non-violence. Deep down they remain the same violent people, because no action can change the being.

It is like, you can paint your face, but by painting the face your real face is not changed. But if your real face changes, certainly beauty will arise on its own accord.

Remember, there is no way to change the within by changing the without, because the circumference cannot change the center. The circumference is impotent against the center, but the center can change the circumference. The circumference is nothing but the reflection of the center, so change the center.

-Rajneesh