Chapter #1 Silent Period #1
Discourse Overview
Main Teaching: Osho rejects theomatic theism, saying 'Bhagwan' simply means 'The Blessed One' and that the idea of a separable God is non-democratic — either everything is divine or nothing is. He sharply distinguishes faith from religion, calling faith a cover for ignorance and exploitation while presenting true religion as direct, experiential knowing. Enlightenment is presented as a non-intellectual taste of existence's mystery, like chocolate: immediate, binary, and beyond conceptual knowing. The truly enlightened have no intent to influence masses; influence may happen, but manipulation is foreign to their state. On God: asked 'Are you God?', he answers that the question is misplaced because the whole theistic frame misunderstands the intimate blessedness he points to. On faith: replying to the James-Holmes remark, he argues faith is credulity useful to exploit, whereas real religion transcends belief into lived knowing. On enlightenment: it is an experiential realization that there is nothing to know intellectually — a sweet, unmistakable tasting of existence. On leaders and influence: he judges Rabbi Ba'al Shemtov enlightened, calls Pope John Paul and Hitler unenlightened and Martin Luther King a good man but not enlightened, emphasizing that enlightenment eschews mass manipulation.
More languages:
Checking…
Osho's Commentary
ED BRADLEY OF THE 60 MINUTES TEAM VISITED RANCHO RAJNEESH IN MAY TO GET FOOTAGE FOR LAST SUNDAY'S PROGRAM. SINCE IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO INTERVIEW OSHO DIRECTLY, HE SENT OSHO A LETTER CONTAINING FOUR QUESTIONS. OSHO GAVE HIS REPLIES TO THE QUESTIONS THROUGH MA ANAND SHEELA AND THEY WERE FORWARDED TO BRADLEY.
Q: ARE YOU GOD?
Osho: There is not God, hence the question does not arise. "Bhagwan" does not mean God, it simply means "The Blessed One." The very idea of God is non-democratic. Either everything is God or nothing is God.
Q: IN A LETTER TO WILLIAM JAMES, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES WROTE: "THE GREAT ACT OF FAITH IS WHEN A MAN DECIDES THAT HE IS NOT GOD." PLEASE COMMENT.
Osho: Faith has nothing to do with religion. Faith is rooted in believing in something you know nothing of. It is a way of covering your ignorance. Religion is not belief or faith but knowing. The whole of human history has been ninety-nine-point-nine percent just stupid -- because of faith. But all the so-called religions preach it, because that is the easiest way to exploit.
Neither William James knows anything about religion, nor Wendell Holmes.
Q: WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? YOU ONCE SAID IT WAS LIKE CHOCOLATE. TRUE? WHAT WILL IT DO FOR THE WORLD?
Osho: Enlightenment is coming to know that there is nothing to know. In other words, existence is a mystery and there is no way to demystify it. To know it and to live it is not intellectual; it is a taste -- hence I have called it like chocolate. Either you have tasted it or you have not tasted it. There is no position in between.
Q: ALL OF THE FOLLOWING, LIKE YOU, WERE OR ARE ABLE TO STRONGLY INFLUENCE THE MASSES. WERE OR ARE ANY OF THEM ENLIGHTENED? -- POPE JOHN PAUL, RABBI BA'AL SHEMTOV (THE 'MASTER OF THE GOOD NAME' WHO TAUGHT THAT MAN REACHES GOD THROUGH JOY RATHER THAN SORROW), MARTIN LUTHER KING, HITLER.
Osho: Religion is absolutely an individual and private experience, like love. In fact, there is no way to know whether Hitler knew any experience of love or not. At the most through their words and acts we can infer:
-- Pope John Paul certainly is not enlightened.
-- and Rabbi Ba'al Shemtov is certainly enlightened.
-- Martin Luther King is a good man, but not enlightened.
-- and, of course, Hitler is not and cannot be enlightened.
The really enlightened person has no desire to influence the masses. If they are influenced, that is another matter: "The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflections; the water has no mind to receive their image."