Is India a religious country?

Isn't india religious?

Yes, India is religious. But India became religious when India was a rich country. Now it is just a hangover. India was a rich country at the time of Buddha. It was at a peak, just like America is today. Patliputra was the same as New York is today. In the time of Buddha, India was at its golden peak. It could think in dimensions that are not confined to the body, not confined to the physical, visible world. So India could probe deeply into the ultimate mystery. It is a strange fact that whenever a country becomes rich it becomes religious, and whenever a country becomes religious it is bound to fall back from its riches. When a country becomes religious it becomes other-worldly; this world becomes meaningless.

Osho, India has been a prosperous country!

No. Only a certain class in India was prosperous. India as a whole was never prosperous; only some strata were. From that affluent class came the religious people. From that affluent class the talk of religion also spread. India was never prosperous. As a society it was never prosperous. But yes, India was contented in its poverty. Therefore, rebellion against poverty never arose. Do not take this to mean that India was prosperous. India would still have been content in its poverty if the contact with the West had not come. The poor in India had no anxiety about it. But contact with the West created restlessness, and it planted in the poor the idea that being poor is the result of the social order. Poverty is not a necessity. But the affluent in India had convinced the poor that poverty is the fruit of your own sins, that being…

Osho, would you be kind enough to say something about your view of India? Ayub Syed, editor, ‘Current.’

Dear Ayub Syed! I am not a nationalist. India, Pakistan, China, Japan have no meaning for me. I do not see this earth as divided into fragments. The misfortune of the earth is precisely that it is divided into fragments. And as long as it remains divided, that misfortune will continue. Science has made the earth one; if only politics would step aside, humanity’s misfortune would end. Today the earth has all the means to make human beings happy and prosperous. For the first time, the earth could fill even the gods of heaven with envy. But politics will have to die if science is to win. Science opens the doors of good fortune; politics turns those very doors into misfortune. Scientists like Albert Einstein and Lord Rutherford discovered the atomic bomb. The atom could have proved a blessing for the earth, for such energy had come into our hands…

Is it possible to live religiously and continue on the road to enlightenment while living in a country like the usa and involving oneself in a competitive business?

It is not accidental that Jesus' followers go on talking about Jesus' miracles.What are those miracles? First, they are physiological: a blind man is given eyes, an ill person is healed; or miracles like Jesus' turning stones into bread. Just think! These miracles say something. Jesus does not turn stones into sermons, but into bread; Jesus does not turn stones into music, but into bread; and he turns water into wine. Now we don't have any miracles like that around Buddha. There are miracles, but they are totally different -- the hierarchy. Buddha's miracles are so different that you will be surprised. A woman goes to Buddha: her child is dead and she is crying and she is weeping, and she is a widow and she will never have another child, and the only child is dead, and that was all her love and all her attention. She goes crying…

Master lu-tsu said: your work will gradually become concentrated and mature, but before you reach the condition in which you sit like a withered tree before a cliff, there are still many possibilities of error which I would like to bring to your special attention. These conditions are recognized only when they have been personally experienced. First I would like to speak of the mistakes and then of the confirmatory signs.

WHEN ONE BEGINS TO CARRY OUT ONE'S DECISION, CARE MUST BE TAKEN SO THAT EVERYTHING CAN PROCEED IN A COMFORTABLE, RELAXED MANNER. TOO MUCH MUST NOT BE DEMANDED OF THE HEART. ONE MUST BE CAREFUL THAT, QUITE AUTOMATICALLY, HEART AND ENERGY ARE COORDINATED. ONLY THEN CAN A STATE OF QUIETNESS BE ATTAINED. DURING THIS QUIET STATE THE RIGHT CONDITIONS AND THE RIGHT SPACE MUST BE PROVIDED. ONE MUST NOT SIT DOWN (TO MEDITATE) IN THE MIDST OF FRIVOLOUS AFFAIRS. THAT IS TO SAY, THE MIND MUST BE FREE OF VAIN PREOCCUPATIONS. ALL ENTANGLEMENTS MUST BE PUT ASIDE; ONE MUST BE DETACHED AND INDEPENDENT. NOR MUST THE THOUGHTS BE CONCENTRATED UPON THE RIGHT PROCEDURE. THIS DANGER ARISES IF TOO MUCH TROUBLE IS TAKEN. I DO NOT MEAN THAT NO TROUBLE IS TO BE TAKEN, BUT THE CORRECT WAY LIES IN KEEPING EQUAL DISTANCE BETWEEN BEING AND NOT BEING. IF ONE CAN…