Does the idea that God is within everyone create an ideal?

And another friend has asked: Doesn’t this create an ideal when you say that God is within everyone?

It does not create an ideal. I am not asking you to believe that God is within everyone. If I asked you to believe that, then an ideal would be created. I am saying that God is within everyone. This is not my belief—it is how it seems to me, it is my knowing. How can I deny what I know? I can only say what I see; I cannot say otherwise. For me, “God is in everyone” is not an ideal; it is a fact. Someone asked Sri Aurobindo, “Do you believe in God?” Aurobindo said, “No.” The man said, “I’ve come all the way from Germany thinking you are a great knower, that you have found God. You don’t believe in God?” Aurobindo said, “No.” The man said, “Then my whole journey has been wasted. Do you completely deny God?” Aurobindo said, “Where did I deny? I only…

A friend has asked: the method I have indicated for realizing truth or God is to negate all and know oneself. Could it not be the other way—that we try to know God in everything and everyone? Should we cultivate the feeling that the same One is in all?

Have you seen someone take a torch in hand and whirl it rapidly? A circle of fire appears. It seems there is a ring of flame. In fact there is no circle—only a torch moving fast. If you go close and look carefully, the circle disappears; only the torch remains. Because of the rapid movement, the torch appears as a circle. From afar it looks like a ring of fire. It is nowhere, but it appears. Come near and you recognize: it is a swiftly moving torch. The circle is false, the fiery ring is false. In the same way, if we go near and look within, we find the ‘I’ is utterly false. The rapid whirling of consciousness creates the illusion of the ‘I,’ as the swiftly spinning torch creates the illusion of a circle. This is a scientific fact worth understanding. Perhaps you do not realize that all…

Osho, do you believe it is in everyone? I do not believe. There is no need to believe. It is in all; it needs to be seen—there is no need to believe.

One last thing. Let me give you a sutra: whoever accepts on belief that it is in everyone will never come to know. Belief will become a barrier; belief has no meaning. Why believe at all? If it is seen, fine; if it is not seen, fine. At least we should declare the truth: that I do not see it. There was a fakir, Sarmad. In Islam it is uttered like a sacred mantra: There is only one Allah, and there is no Allah other than Him. There is only one God, and there is no God other than Him. But Sarmad would say only half. He would not say the whole. He would say: There is no God. The first part is: There is only one God; other than Him there is no God. Sarmad would utter only the last fragment. He would say: There is no God. Aurangzeb…

Beloved Osho, it has always been the observation of seekers that the realization of godliness is a very arduous phenomenon. But enlightened ones like you always emphasize that it can happen right here, right now. Is saying this again and again a provocation? And a method or device to arouse thirst in us?

Don't laugh, because most people are just like Chinmaya. Don't think that your laughing proves that you are different than Chinmaya. Chinmaya at least got up the courage to ask -- you didn't even ask. This is the only difference. You are just like him. If you haven't become God by the time the Ashtavakra Gita discourses are over, then know: there is no difference, you are just like him. But if while listening you wake up and become God, then just the shadow of the whip has worked. "It has always been the observation of seekers that the realization of God is a very arduous phenomenon." The seeker is off track from the very beginning. The very meaning of seeker assumes that God has to be sought, that he has lost God somewhere. The seeker accepts that he has lost the divine somewhere. What a strange idea. He has…

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…