Is it necessary to sell bliss?

Sadhana

It is an old religious conditioning that expects to get meditation for free.In fact spirituality is the ultimate luxury, one should be ready to pay the highest price for it. Particularly in this age when everything has a price tag, why can't meditation have it too? Pay in cash or in kind, but you must pay.

A journalist once asked Osho:: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT, OR WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO SELL BLISS, WHY CAN'T YOU GIVE IT AWAY?

Osho says : Because anything that is just given away is never taken by anybody. The higher the cost, the better people will keep it, save it in their treasuries. Give it free, and it has no value, because people don't understand value unless it has a price. They understand price, they don't understand value ...

Everything in this world has to be achieved. You have to pay a price for it, and the bigger the price you pay for it, the higher is your estimate of it. If bliss, ecstasy, joy, were all available, like water, free -- nobody will be able to appreciate their value.

You don't know the real value of water unless you have been thirsty in a desert. While he was in India, Alexander was asked by a great Master, "If you are in a desert and thirsty and I have a full bottle of water, how much will you be ready to pay for it?" Alexander said, "I will pay half my empire in such a situation." But the Master said, "I will not sell until you pay me the full empire. Why should I sell? If you are willing to pay half, that is indication enough that if I just wait a little more, the customer is going to feel more thirsty and is going to pay the full empire."

And Alexander agreed that perhaps he would give the whole empire. And the Master laughed. He said, "Then what are you doing? Wasting your whole life for a bottle of water? Are you stupid or something?"

The world understands things in its own way. Otherwise, my bliss is freely available to anybody who can appreciate it, who is vulnerable to it, who is open to receive it. There is no price tag on it. But those who cannot understand anything unless they pay for it -- for those poor people, we have to put a price on everything. It is out of compassion.

The Last Testament, Vol. 1 Chapter 21