Osho on Ego - Wisdom is only possible in the absence of the ego

Osho - Wisdom is only possible in the absence of the ego. Ego is the hiding place of all kinds of ignorance. It is a shelter for ignorance. It prevents you from bringing light into your being. It is afraid of the light because the moment light comes it will have to go, it will have to leave.

A sannyasin has to be very clear about it: either the ego can exist or wisdom. Ordinarily we all choose
the ego and we sacrifice everything for the ego. And the ego never gives you anything. It promises but it never delivers the goods. It is a great politician, always promising, and whatsoever you ask it immediately promises that it will give it to you.

If you look back, it has never fulfilled any promise -- it cannot, it is impotent. But it is a braggart, it goes on bragging. And it always finds excuses for why you failed last time; this time you are not going to fail, just take a few more precautions. And each time you fail it will find some rationalization, some excuse, and again will convince you to go on along the same route.

People waste their whole life hoping against all hope that something will materialize. Nothing ever
materializes out of the ego. It is like a desert, nothing grows in it. A sannyasin has to decide to drop the ego with all its ambitions, dreams, projections.

Once you drop the ego you will be surprised, amazed at what was being prevented by the ego: the whole kingdom of god. It is like a rock preventing all the flow of your life energies. Once the rock is removed you become a beautiful stream and you start moving towards the ocean. And then the meeting with the ocean is not far away. Once the movement has started you will reach the ocean. Every small stream manages to reach it.

This is what is happening here. All these sannyasins are small streams; now they are becoming a big
river, joining together. That's why communes have existed -- for the simple reason that a single individual is such a small stream that he may be lost somewhere, he may not be able to reach the ocean. But if even a small dewdrop becomes part of the river and then the river becomes part of a bigger river, then there is no fear: it is absolutely guaranteed that the dewdrop will reach the ocean.

So small streams of sannyasins are gathering together -- it is becoming a big, wide river. And then god
is not far away and everybody is going to find him. But the first and the most important thing is to drop the ego. Here, be as egoless as possible. Taste egolessness and you have already taken the greatest step towards god and towards wisdom, realization, nirvana, liberation. These are all different names for the same reality, the same truth.

Source - Osho Book "I Am Not As Thunk As You Drink I Am"