How many religions exist in India?

How many religions are there in india?

It is difficult to say. There are as many religions in India as there are Indians. Everybody has his own religion here. The religion is basically individual, it is not organisational. So when you talk about Christianity, it is one thing. When you talk about Hinduism, it is quite another. Christianity is a church, an organised religion. Hinduism is a chaos. It has nothing like the Vatican Pope, it has nothing like an authority. It is very chaotic, it is freedom. People are allowed to live their own ways, people are allowed to worship in their own ways. There is nobody to dominate it is a democracy. Christianity is dictatorial, so is Islam. Hinduism is basically democratic. You can go and worship in the temple of Shiva, it is for you. You can go and worship in the temple of Rama, it is for you. You can go and worship…

Osho, what is religion, and why are there so many religions in the world? Is it not possible to have just one religion for the whole humanity?

No, even to support that idea is dangerous because that simply means, destroy others. But who are we? If somebody wants to remain a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian, then it is his choice. It is nobody else's business. Religion is a private concern, a personal concern. You like a certain flower, and I don't like it, but that does not men that we are enemies. No, there is no need of one religion. But there can be one religiousness. People can belong to different kinds of religions but still they can carry the same quality of religiousness. Then there is no problem about whether they go to the church or to the synagogue or to the temple, or nowhere. They may not go anywhere their own house is a temple. It is possible -- not only possible, it should be made actual -- that there could be…

Beloved master, why are there so many religions in the world, and why do these religions continuously quarrel with each other?

Hence, in the East a totally different kind of reading has existed which is nonexistent in the West. You would not like to read the same Bernard Shaw book again and again and again, or would you? Unless you are insane you would not like to read it again and again and again. What is the point? Once you have read it, it is finished! That's why the paperback has come into existence: read it and throw it. But in the East a different kind of reading exists: the same book is read again and again the whole life long. The TAO TEH CHING is not a book which can be published in paperback -- they are doing that now. It should not be published in paperback -- it cannot be, because it is a totally different kind of book. It has layers and layers of meaning. When for the…

Why are there so many religions in the world?

-- because there are so many types of people, because there are so many different kinds of people. Religion is one, but the languages of religion are different. The Jew understands one language, the Christian understands another language. The difference is of language. The Hindu speaks still another language -- but all differences are linguistic. Just as English can be translated into French and French can be translated into Italian and there is no conflict, so Christianity can be translated into Hinduism, Hinduism can be translated into Judaism -- there is no problem. One just needs clarity to see. A religious person will see that there is only one religion in the world -- although many are the manifestations. And there is nothing wrong. It is good. If these religions don't fight with each other and don't nag each other, it is perfectly good, it is enriching. It makes the…

You looked at a flower and it was beautiful, and you enjoyed. Now after twenty-four hours you wait again. You will come back home and you will go to the flower. You will again have that thrill. This time it will not be there, because no repetition can be thrilling. It was a thrill because yesterday, suddenly you came there. It was an encounter -- the rose and you. Neither were you waiting for the rose nor was the rose waiting for you. A sudden encounter -- you looked at each other and something flashed. Now you have come with a cunning mind, calculating that now you will go and you will look again at the flower and you will be happy. This time it is not going to happen -- and the flower is not guilty. The flower was ready there because he was not waiting for you again.