According to Osho, our commune can and will succeed because it is not a religion but a living religiousness: a free, non-dogmatic buddhafield where individuals drop ideologies, rely on their own inner hunch, and support one another as fellow travelers. Without commandments or saviors, its meditative energy multiplies, awakening individuals—thus achieving what dead religions, rooted in belief and miracles, could not.
Yes—because it’s a free, friendly space that helps you trust yourself and meditate, so you grow awake without rules or a savior.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, is it possible that where the old religions failed, our commune can succeed?
It is not only possible, it is absolutely certain, because our commune is not a religion. Our commune is a very liquid religiousness. It is not an organization; it is just a meeting place of people who have dropped all conditions, all religions, all ideologies, and who are ready to become seekers on their own, individuals on their own, who are no longer searching for a prophet and a savior, who have decided that all the saviors have failed -- now the only way is to save yourself. And because the search is the same, there is a loving atmosphere, a togetherness -- not of any ideology, not of any belief system, but only of a friendship of fellow travelers. The commune is a totally different phenomenon from religion. Religions are dead; the commune is a living phenomenon. And each individual has absolute freedom to be himself. There are no…
Osho, our commune is not like any of the traditional ashrams or monasteries. Would you talk to us more about the function of your commune?
IT is necessary first to understand the traditional structure of an ashrama, and also of a monastery. It will give you the background to understand the meaning of my commune. The ashrama is an Eastern concept based on renouncing society, its comforts, conveniences. An ashrama is a group of people living together in austerity, self-imposed poverty, starvation in the name of fasting; torturing the body in order to have control over the physical by the spiritual; doing all kinds of exercises so that they become able to concentrate on the idea of God if they are Hindus, or on the idea of the ultimate growth of human consciousness if they are Buddhists and Jainas. But the goal is far away for all the three -- you can call it God, you can call it the Buddha, you can call it the Jina. They are different words signifying nothing, but pointing…
Beloved Osho, rajneeshpuram was a rare experiment in the history of human consciousness where for the first time seekers of truth from the whole world gathered around a master. It was an international commune for the most intense and the fastest growth of human consciousness. The rajneeshpuram commune could not survive because of orthodox religions and international politics. Is there any hope of such a rare experiment happening again around you? Or is there any alternative experiment possible on an individual scale in the present situation? Or is it destined that such a rare opportunity for h
The commune in America was only a beginning; a beginning of many communes around the world. They will go on spreading -- because it is not only a question of orthodox religions and dirty politics, it is also a question of the future of humanity. And the future is always more important than the past. The past is heavy and long. The future is light, unknown. But the past is dead, and life belongs to the future -- and death cannot win over life. One commune can be destroyed. Thousands of other communes will arise. Of course my way of functioning will be different because the experiment in Rajneeshpuram needed me to be there, it was the first commune.... Every step had to be taken carefully. And within five years, so much was done that is not possible to do even in fifty years. But now the basic rules are…
Beloved Osho, we have experimented with communes in both the east and the west that did not last. Buddha and other enlightened masters created communes that did last. What is the difference?
Gautam Buddha and other masters never created communes the way we have created them. Buddha had followers, but not staying in one place... moving continuously. Mahavira had followers, but not staying in one place... moving continuously. So nobody has created the way we created communes. Five thousand people living together is a totally different experience than five thousand Buddhist monks moving from one place to another place, only staying three days at one place. And even in that, man's cunningness comes in. Jaina monks have to move continuously, except during the rainy seasons. In India, before atomic experiments started, the seasons used to be very fixed. Even dates and days were fixed -- on what day the rains will begin and on what day the rains will stop -- and there were three clear-cut seasons, four months each. So for four months in the rainy season they had to stop.…
Osho, you have been speaking about the importance of being oneself. Could you talk about the paradox of being an individual and melting into the commune?
But the pseudo-religions have done just the opposite. They are against love. You can understand now, why they are against love: because love will destroy the personality, and the pseudo-religion depends on your personality. The pseudo-religions have made a great effort -- all these churches and priests and sermons -- and what are they doing? Their whole work is to create the personality. They manufacture personality -- of course, different kinds of personality: a Hindu personality, a Christian personality, a Mohammedan personality. These are different models of personalities. All these religions are just like factories creating different models of cars, but the function is the same. The pseudo-religions are all afraid of love. They talk about love, and they teach you marriage. They talk about love and they say marriages are made in heaven. It is not something that you have to find out; God has already found the person…