Are religion and humanity separate?

Osho, there is a famous saying of Karl Marx—religion is an illusory sun that revolves around man so long as man does not revolve around humanity. Are religion and humanity separate?

Religion is the science of going beyond man. Religion is the art of transcendence. Without religion, man will remain merely man. And man’s remaining man is itself the sorrow, the pain, the anguish. Because man is incomplete; in incompleteness there is pain. No one can be fulfilled merely by being human. In being human itself, non-fulfillment is hidden. Man is like a bud. As long as the bud has not become a flower, it will be restless. Only when the bud becomes a flower will it open and bloom. Only when it becomes a flower will it attain joy. The bud is only on the way—on the way to becoming a flower. The bud is not the end, not the destination. Such is man. This is both man’s misery and man’s dignity. The misery is that man is not complete. Animals and birds are complete. By complete I mean: they…

Osho, what is the first experience of samadhi like?

You will know only when it happens. It cannot be said; at most a few hints can be given. It is as if, in the dark, a lamp is suddenly lit. Or as if a dying patient, right at the edge of death, suddenly finds a medicine that works; life’s wave, life’s thrill spreads again—so it is. As if a corpse becomes alive—such is the first experience of samadhi. It is the taste of nectar. The experience of the ultimate music. But it will be only when it happens; and only then will you understand. You will not understand by my saying it. It is as with love. How can anyone explain it? To someone who has never loved, never known love, no matter how many explanations you offer—he will hear it all and still ask, “I haven’t understood; please explain a little more.” It is like explaining light to…

Osho, are you partial to different creeds and doctrines? Can we not abolish sects—the Buddhists of Buddha, the Jains of Mahavira, the Christians of Jesus, and so on—and establish a single religion of humanity?

I have not the slightest partiality toward creeds and sects. There are no Jains, no Buddhists, no Hindus, no Christians, no Muslims. In the world there are only two kinds of people: the religious and the irreligious. And one who is religious can be a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Krishna, a Christ; but he cannot be a Hindu, a Jain, a Muslim, a Christian. The religious person reaches the source; once one has reached the source, there remains no reason to be sectarian. Two kinds of people, I said: religious and irreligious. The religious person becomes what Buddha or Mahavira became. The irreligious person cannot become a Buddha or a Mahavira, so he becomes a Jain or a Buddhist! Sects belong to irreligious people; the religious person has no sect. You can even put it this way: religion has no sects; all sects belong to irreligion. The irreligious person cannot…

Osho, what is the definition of God?

Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…

Beloved Osho, what is religion?

In anger one day the archbishop took a motorboat and went to those three people who were sitting under a tree. He looked at them and he could not believe it: what kind of saints are these? In the very beginning he introduced himself and declared, "I am the archbishop." The three saints all touched his feet. Now he felt relaxed, "These are fools... and things are not yet gone so far that they cannot be controlled." He asked them, "Are you saints?" They looked at each other, and they said, "We have never heard the word. We are uneducated, uncultured. Don't talk Greek to us; just simply say what you mean." "My God," said the archbishop, "you don't know what a saint means? Do you know the Christian prayer?" Again they looked at each other, and nudged each other as if to say, "You tell him." The archbishop now…