Is religion really that simple to understand?

Is religion really that simple that even I can understand?

YES, SHEELA -- EVEN YOU. But when I say religion is simple, I don't mean in the sense of easy. I mean in the sense of uncomplicated. Life is uncomplicated, existence is not complex. All complexity is brought into it by the mind. Thinking is complex; how can non-thinking be complex? When there is not a thought left in the mind, how can it be other than simple? When the mirror is absolutely empty, what complexity can be there? Religion is simple, not in the sense of easy but in the sense of uncomplicated. Philosophy is complex, very complex. But religion comes to the simple heart; it is not a mind effort, it is not philosophizing. In fact, the philosopher finds it very difficult, almost impossible, to become religious. The more intellectual you are, the more difficult. But the difficulty comes from you. You bring the difficulty. You have a…

It all seems so simple -- I just can't understand it. I keep grasping at it and it eludes me, a music that can almost be smelt, a taste that can almost be felt. Sometimes I am on the very threshold; other times it's not in a million years, not for me.

And Jesus also says, "The way is straight and NARROW." Why narrow? It is so narrow that it cannot contain your ego. Only you can go -- but you will have to leave your ego outside, outside the door. It is so narrow, two persons cannot walk together. You cannot take your child with you, you cannot take your aging mother with you, you cannot take your beloved with you. Even a Buddha cannot take you with him. Buddhas only point the way -- because two persons cannot walk on it, it is so narrow. One has to go alone: the flight of the alone to the alone. And so alone that not even your ego is with you, and so alone that not even your mind is with you, and so utterly alone that not even your SELF is with you. You go into it as absolute silence, as…

Osho, why is your religion so simple? Because of this simplicity it doesn’t look like religion at all but like a celebration, and for this very reason many people don’t find you religious. For myself I say: celebration is liberation, liberation is celebration.

And I have not cut sannyas off from the world. So they feel I have made it too simple. The truth is the opposite. Running away from the world is easy. All cowards run—and we clever folk give them beautiful names. You see temples everywhere named “Sri Ranchhoddasji.” Do you know what Ranchhoddas means? One who fled the battlefield—showed his back! But we decorated the abuse—Ranchhoddasji! A Vaishnav sadhu used to visit me; his very name was Mahant Ranchhoddasji. I asked him, “Do you know what your name means? It means coward, deserter.” He said, “Now that you say it, it seems true. But I never thought of it. For fifty years my guru has called me this; now I’m seventy. It never occurred to me that Ranchhoddas would literally mean this. But now you’ve created trouble—whenever someone calls me ‘Ranchhoddasji,’ I’ll remember it’s not a name, it’s a kind…

Beloved Osho, what is religion?

In anger one day the archbishop took a motorboat and went to those three people who were sitting under a tree. He looked at them and he could not believe it: what kind of saints are these? In the very beginning he introduced himself and declared, "I am the archbishop." The three saints all touched his feet. Now he felt relaxed, "These are fools... and things are not yet gone so far that they cannot be controlled." He asked them, "Are you saints?" They looked at each other, and they said, "We have never heard the word. We are uneducated, uncultured. Don't talk Greek to us; just simply say what you mean." "My God," said the archbishop, "you don't know what a saint means? Do you know the Christian prayer?" Again they looked at each other, and nudged each other as if to say, "You tell him." The archbishop now…

Osho, isn’t reading and understanding religious books necessary to understand religion?

Not at all. If you want to know something about religion, then books are necessary. But if you want to know religion, books are not necessary. To know about religion, books are very necessary; to know religion, books are absolutely unnecessary. To know religion, you will have to read yourself. And to know about religion, there are texts, there are scriptures—you will have to read them. One who reads about religion does not become religious; he becomes a pundit of religion. One who knows religion becomes religious. You do see the difference between the “religious” and the “pundit,” don’t you? A pundit is one who knows everything about religion, but the scriptures on him are like scriptures loaded on a donkey. They have no connection with his life. He is not a religious man. He is carrying a burden. The pundit carries a load. His own wisdom has not opened;…