Can God exist without the devotee?

Question: The last question: Osho, can God exist without the devotee? Kishori Lal! Neither can the devotee be without God, nor can God be without the devotee. God and the devotee are two aspects of the same coin. If there is a devotee, there is God; if there is God, there is a devotee. These two happenings occur together, not separately. It is not that God sits apart and the devotee stands elsewhere. It is in the very moment of devotion that God manifests. Let me remind you again: God is not a person; God is an experience. Better that we drop the word “God” and use “godliness”; then it becomes simpler. One face of godliness is the devotee, the other face is God. In the final hour the devotee disappears, God disappears; what remains is godliness, the ocean of godliness.

Osho, when a devotee meets God he experiences a thrill and bliss. Does God also, in that moment, experience the same thrill and bliss?

Therefore my teaching is of joy. I do not want to make you gloomy—closing your eyes, meditating, sitting sad and corpse-like with a long face—as if you were doing some great work, as if you were conferring a favor upon God, as if you were being very gracious by sitting for an hour with a rosary in hand like a stone. No. There are plenty of stones. There is no need for you to become another stone. Dance. People come to me and say, “What kind of meditations are these of yours? We always thought meditation meant closing the eyes, fixing oneself in lotus posture, and sitting quietly. Dance! Music! What kind of meditation is that?” I tell them: have you ever seen God sitting like that, gloomy? Look all around—birds are singing, the wind is dancing, and what to say of the thrill of the trees! A celebration is…

Question: The last question: Osho, can a devotee live only by the support of belief? Belief is a hollow thing, a false thing. A devotee lives by love, not by belief. Belief is needed by those in whose lives love is absent. In a devotee, love wells up on seeing existence. Seeing green trees, the desire to embrace them arises. Hearing music, there is a longing to become musical. Seeing the stars, one feels like dancing with them. In a devotee, love toward existence has awakened. A devotee has no need of belief. In a devotee, trust has arisen. And there is a great difference between trust and belief. Belief belongs to the head, trust belongs to the heart. Belief is of doctrine. If you are born in a Hindu home, your beliefs are Hindu; that does not make you a devotee.

Osho, what is god?

GOD is not a person. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings, and it has prevailed so long that it has become almost a fact. Even if a lie is repeated continuously for centuries it is bound to appear as if it is a truth. God is a presence, not a person. Hence all worshipping is sheer stupidity. Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence -- like beauty, like joy. God simply means godliness. It is because of this fact that Buddha denied the existence of God. He wanted to emphasize that God is a quality, an experience -- like love. You cannot talk to love, you can live it. You need not create temples of love, you need…

Osho, you spoke of the devotee and God, and you called Krishna God. That reminded me to ask: Was Krishna a devotee? If yes, whose devotee was he? If not, then why did he sing the glory of devotion so much?

A small point has gone amiss here, and because we don’t catch it, the question keeps returning in another form. If you remember what I said about prayer, it will become clear. As I said: not prayer, but prayerfulness. Likewise, devotion does not mean devotion to someone; devotion means a devotional attitude. Devotion means the heart of a devotee. For that, it is not necessary that there be a God. Devotion can be without God. In truth, God is nowhere first; he is born out of devotion. It is not that devotion exists because of God; rather, God begins to appear because of devotion. For those whose hearts are filled with devotion, this world becomes divine. Those whose hearts are not filled with devotion will ask, “Where is God?” And they will keep asking. You cannot show it to them, because that is a world seen through the heart of…