How do you recognize the appearance of God?

Many people have asked this. Among the atheists’ questions there is this one: When God appears, how do you recognize that it is God?

Mulla said, now listen! If we leave Allah out of it, how many days will it take? This Allah is the nuisance. Speak straight, man to man. You keep bringing Allah in between; Allah is in no hurry about time, He has eternity. We will get killed for nothing. One who swears oaths is seeking supports for a lie. A truthful man does not swear. Why should he? What is the use of an oath? A truthful man does not gather witnesses either. Only liars gather witnesses. The law has little to do with truth; it is more concerned with witnesses. A case was once brought against Mulla. And when the opposing lawyer asked, “When this murder was committed, you say you are an eyewitness, you saw with your own eyes; how far were you standing?” Mulla said, “Seventeen feet and three and a half inches.” The lawyer was a…

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…

Osho, if one meets the Satguru—how does the seeker recognize him?

If you are a seeker, it won’t take even a moment. If you are not a seeker, there is no way to recognize. If you are thirsty and you find water—do you need to go ask someone about it? The very thirst becomes the recognition. The cooling of the throat is the proof. But if there is no thirst—if a lake is brimming and your throat has never known thirst—you will not recognize water. Water is known through thirst, not through definitions written in scriptures. If someone is a seeker—what does “seeker” mean? It means one who is searching, aspiring, filled with longing; one who is thirsty for truth. Out of a hundred, ninety-nine are not seekers, yet they descend into the world of sadhana. From this the whole confusion arises. You have never felt thirst, but someone who has known the pangs of thirst and the satisfaction of drinking…

Osho, God does not appear to me anywhere. What should I do?

Anand! Open your eyes. You are trying to see with your eyes shut, trying to hear with your ears closed, with the doors of the heart barred—then it is impossible to see God. When the eye is open, there is light. The very opening of the eye is light. Keep the eye closed and even if not one but a thousand suns were to rise, there will still be darkness, a moonless night. But this is not only your mistake; it is almost everyone’s. When God does not appear, people conclude: perhaps there is no God—hence He is not seen. Rarely does someone wonder: perhaps my eyes are closed—hence I do not see. Those rare ones, sooner or later, become able to see the Divine. So the first and the last sutra is this: drop the search for God; learn the alchemy of opening your eyes. Eyes open in two…

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…