Are you converting people to your own religion?

Question: BELOVED MASTER, ARE YOU CONVERTING PEOPLE TO YOUR OWN RELIGION? Christina, I don't have any religion at all: a certain kind of religiousness, but no religion in particular. That's why it is so easy for me to absorb Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra, Moses, Mohammed, Mahavira. If I had a religion, then it would not be possible for me to be so universal. To have a religion means to become limited. To have a religion means you have defined life, you have made a dogma out of life, you have demystified it. It is no longer infinite; it is no longer unknown, unknowable. You have reduced it to a system of thought. My whole effort here is to melt all systems of thought, to melt your minds which have become ice-cold, frozen into prejudices, so that a new kind of warmth surrounds the earth.

Rajneeshism allows everyone into its fold, states Osho

Our religion should not be categorized with any other religion of the world because it has not tradition or dogma and it allows everybody without any discrimination into its religious fold. Rajneeshism does not ask anyone to renounce their religion and does not have any conflict with Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Lao Tzu, etc. Basically Rajneeshism has the essential core of all religiousness. The other religions are against each other's traditions and attitudes. In fact, these other religions are fanatic and each believes and fights that theirs is the true religion and others are false. This is not the case with me or Rajneeshism. A Christian can become a Rajneeshee and he is not asked to drop his love for Jesus, in fact he finds Jesus in me. The same is true for a Buddhist or a Mohammedan. Our commune consists of people from all religions who have found their religion's…

Osho, I was born a christian but became convinced that hinduism is the right religion, so I became a hindu. I was initiated into hinduism by the founder of krishna consciousness movement himself and given a new name. But listening to you I have become very much confused. Please guide me as to what should I do now.

Now finally the Polacks have decided to change the underwear, but now they are changing amongst themselves, so what kind of change is this? It was far better to keep your own underwear -- at least it had your own dirt! Now you will be carrying somebody else's dirt. Gopaldas, are you a Polack? A Polish man walks into a doctor's office with third degree burns on both sides of his face. The doctor, in amazement and concern, asks what happened. The Polack explains that he was at home ironing clothes when the telephone rang. Without thinking he put the iron to his ear instead of the phone. "But how did the other side of your face get burned?" asked the doctor. The Polack answered, "He called me back!" It was enough that you were a Christian -- only one side of the face was burned -- now what kind…

Beloved Osho, people of almost all the religions try to convince other people to follow their respective religions. But I have met many of your followers and they always discourage me from adopting the way you are preaching. Why so?

But Jesus could not prove anything on the cross, where the real test was, when one hundred thousand people had gathered to see the miracle. And he had been doing all these small miracles, but only in front of his disciples, and they were not many. He had only twelve apostles and they were all villagers, uneducated -- fishermen, woodcutters, carpenters, farmers, gardeners -- simple people. He walked on water in front of these people; he raised the dead in front of these people; he cured the blind in front of these people. And when one hundred thousand people had gathered, the most educated and sophisticated of all the rabbis and all the scholars and all the professors in Jerusalem, he could not do anything. Jesus was thirsty on the cross, and he could not even produce a cup of water for himself. And he had done miracles like transforming…

Beloved Osho, are you trying to destroy all of our previous ideas about religion?

That has been my trouble. My whole life I have been attacking. Unless I attack your belief system, your ideology, I cannot be of any help to you; I cannot share myself with you. There is a wall, a thick wall. I can go on shouting; you will not hear me. I have to hit the wall continuously, hammer it, at least make a hole in it, so I can see you, you can see me -- face to face. And I can revive what has been taken away from you. I can give you back your innocent childhood, and only from there a real inquiry into truth begins. Only from there religion is possible; otherwise you can only talk about religion. So, Sheela, it is true. I absolutely want you to become completely free of all jargon that has been given to you by others. And I am not…