Chapter #3 Silent Period #3
Discourse Overview
PART 1 — Main Teaching: Rajneeshism is not a dogma but a 'religionless religion,' a quality of love, silence, meditation and prayerfulness that transcends creed and will absorb past religions; it is timeless because it expresses the whole rather than a fragment. Osho asserts he has travelled all paths and seen the truth from all windows, so nothing essential can be added to his synthesis. He uses the image of rivers flowing into the ocean to show other faiths merging into this essential religiousness, and recalls Buddha's limited prophecy about his own teaching to contrast partial revelations with his claim of wholeness. The urgency for this teaching is practical as well as spiritual: nuclear weapons force humanity to choose between suicide and a quantum leap in consciousness. PART 2 — Key Questions: On progress in human understanding: he insists a revolution in consciousness is inevitable and necessary, a survival impulse that will mirror the evolutionary leap from monkeys to humans. On survival of Rajneeshees in a nuclear holocaust: he predicts that those who make the leap—Rajneeshees—will survive, while the rest will perish or remain 'monkeys.' On the nature of the movement: it is not centered on personality or dogma but on cultivating inner silence, love and meditation as living experience rather than belief.
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Osho's Commentary
INTERVIEW WITH KIRK BRAUN
Q: WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF RAJNEESHISM?
Osho: Rajneeshism is not a religion like Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, etc. The name should not be misunderstood. It simply shows a poverty of language -- to be exactly true, Rajneeshism is a religionless religion.
In other words it is a kind of religiousness, not a dogma, cult or creed but only a quality of love, silence, meditation and prayerfulness. Hence it can never end.
It is not beginning with me. It has always existed and it will always exist. It is the very essence of human evolution, of culture consciousness.
Buddha, Jesus or Krishna are nothing but expressions of this spirit, but it was not possible in those days for religion to be manifested as well as it can be now. Because Jesus did not know about Buddha, Buddha did not know about Lao Tzu, and Krishna was also unaware of Lao Tzu, etc.
I have traveled all the paths and have looked at the truth from all the windows. What I am saying is going to last forever because nothing more could be added to it.
Buddha was not so sure of his religion. He said that his religion would last for 5,000 years, and that too only if he didn't allow women to join his commune. And when women entered his commune he said, "Now the religion will only last 500 years".
All of these people have talked about some aspect fo truth and their disciples have understood it as the whole truth. I am talking about the whole truth so the future of my religion is infinite. All other religions will disappear into it as all the rivers disappear into the ocean.
Q: WILL THE WORLD MAKE ANY PROGRESS IN THE AREA OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING?
Osho: Certainly. In fact the time in which we are living is of tremendous importance. A revolution in human consciousness is no more a luxury, it has become an absolute need as there are only two alternatives -- suicide or a quantum leap in consciousness, which Nietzsche called superman.
And I absolutely believe that nobody wants to choose suicide. Up to now man has been surviving without transformation because there was no urgency for change. Nuclear weapons have brought a great urgency for a choice of now or never.
There is a simple law that life wants to survive, so in my vision humanity is going to take the same significant change that the monkeys made when monkeys became human.
Q: DO YOU THINK RAJNEESHEES WILL SURVIVE THE PREDICTED NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST AND IF SO, HOW?
Osho: As I said earlier monkeys took a jump and became human beings, but not all monkeys did. The remaining ones are still monkeys so let me put your question in a different way.
I will not say that Rajneeshees will survive the holocaust but I can say with an absolute guarantee that those who will survive will be the Rajneeshees and the remaining will be monkeys or commit suicide. In fact the remaining don't matter.