Do you believe in God as a supreme power governing the world?

Osho, can't one believe in god without seeing him?

Surendra Mohan, WHO IS TELLING YOU TO BELIEVE IN GOD? I am against all belief. You must be a very new comer here. Belief is irreligious, as much as disbelief is. Belief means you don't know yet you have accepted something. It is cowardly -- you have not inquired. You are pretending, you are a hypocrite. All believers are hypocrites -- Catholic and communist, Jainas and Jews -- all. Believers are hypocrites. They don't know and yet they pretend AS IF they know. What is belief? It is playing the game of "as if." And the same is true about disbelief. The communist knows NOT that there is no God, just as the Hindu knows not that there is a God. The Hindu believes there is a God, the communist believes there is no God. Disbelief is also a kind of belief -- a negative kind of belief. And that's…

Question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD? WHO IS GOD? No, religion need not be based on belief. Religion has to be based on experience -- not on fear but on love; not on negation of life but on affirmation of life. Religion has not to be a belief -- it has to be a knowing, an experiencing. That's why I say 'belief' is a dirty word here. 'Knowing', 'loving', 'being' -- these are real words. And, belief hinders them: you cannot know if you believe, you cannot love if you believe, you cannot see if you believe. And remember: I am not saying that you have to disbelieve, because disbelief is again belief. The atheist and the theist are not different -- they are in the same boat, they are fellow-travellers.

Question: Second question: Osho, is abhipsa enough for the Lord? I am not a partisan of belief. I do not tell you to believe in God. The God of belief is false. A Hindu’s, a Muslim’s, a Christian’s—false. I say: know God, do not believe. Why believe in what can be known? Only those choose belief who want to avoid the bother of knowing. As I see it, your so-called theists are not theists at all; they are concealed atheists. The atheist is at least honest; your theist is dishonest. The atheist at least says, “I don’t know, how can I accept it? I find no proof—how can I accept it? Give me evidence and I will accept.” At least he shows this much honesty. But the theist is thoroughly dishonest.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD? I do not believe in believing. That has to be understood first. Nobody asks me, "Do you believe in the sun? Do you believe in the moon?" Nobody asks me that question. Millions of people I have met, and for thirty years continuously I have answered thousands of questions. Nobody asks me, "Do you believe in the roseflower?" There is no need. You can see: the roseflower is there or it is not there. Only fictions, not facts, have to be believed. God is the greatest fiction that man has created. Hence you have to believe in him. And why does man have to create this fiction of God? There must be some inner necessity. I don't have that necessity so there is no question. But let me explain to you why people have believed in God.

Osho, there is a saying, “If you believe, it is a god; otherwise, it’s a stone.” Is it all just a matter of believing?

I tell you: do not believe in God. There is no need to believe. If you believe in God, then what will you know? To believe in God means you have declared defeat in knowing—you are tired, you have thrown down your arms. You have said, “The search is over; there is nothing to know, so let us believe.” You don’t believe in the sun or the moon; you know them. You don’t believe in this world; you know it. And you believe in God? If your believed God is repeatedly defeated before your known world, it is no surprise. God should also be known. The day God is known, this world becomes insipid—maya, a dream. Experience is wealth; empty beliefs are not. So I make a small change in the saying: “Know, and it is God; otherwise, it’s a stone.” But to know, a great journey is required. To…