Is worshipping in the commune related to meditation, and why is there no separate meditation time?

Beloved Osho, is worshipping in the commune related to meditation? Why don't we have any meditation time separate from worshipping?

But all the religions have been doing prayers in the name of meditation. And what kind of stupid prayers! In fact any prayer that a man can do is going to be stupid. "Don't let my wife die" -- do you think that is something very intelligent? If that dodo was a little bit intelligent -- God was making him free, and he is praying against his own freedom. But if you look in the scriptures you will be surprised what kind of prayers are there. In the VEDAS, the most holy scriptures of the Hindus, the great seers.... I cannot even conceive how for centuries those people have been called great seers. They should be called the great blind men! Seers! -- they were praying to God: "Please increase the milk of my cow, decrease the milk of the cow of my enemy, my neighbor. This time let rains…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, AND AN OLD PRIEST SAID, SPEAK TO US OF RELIGION. AND HE SAID: HAVE I SPOKEN THIS DAY OF AUGHT ELSE? IS NOT RELIGION ALL DEEDS AND ALL REFLECTION, AND THAT WHICH IS NEITHER DEED NOR REFLECTION, BUT A WONDER AND A SURPRISE EVER SPRINGING IN THE SOUL, EVEN WHILE THE HANDS HEW THE STONE OR TEND THE LOOM? WHO CAN SEPARATE HIS FAITH FROM HIS ACTIONS, OR HIS BELIEF FROM HIS OCCUPATIONS? WHO CAN SPREAD HIS HOURS BEFORE HIM, SAYING, "THIS FOR GOD AND THIS FOR MYSELF; THIS FOR MY SOUL AND THIS OTHER FOR MY BODY"? ALL YOUR HOURS ARE WINGS THAT BEAT THROUGH SPACE FROM SELF TO SELF. HE WHO WEARS HIS MORALITY BUT AS HIS BEST GARMENT WERE BETTER NAKED. THE WIND AND THE SUN WILL TEAR NO HOLES IN HIS SKIN.

A:* No. No obligation on anyone's part -- neither on my part nor on sannyasins part. I am available out of my own joy. I am not obliging anybody. Nobody even give me a simple thank you, no need. I am so full, that I would like to share. In fact, that's what I mean by availability. The opening of a flower, and the fragrance spreads. It is not obliging anybody. Anybody who is available and close to the flower, is sensitive enough, will be able to get something out of it. So it is not a commandment, that you have to follow me, that you have to receive what I give, that you have to accept it. There is no question of any commandment, no order. I am not a leader. I am simply a human being who has blossomed to full humanity, of which everyone has the potential.

Osho, for the last seven or eight years that you have been turning the wheel of dharma, the central emphasis has been meditation and sadhana. So please tell us what is the difference between meditation and worship, and whether the central thread of your turning of the wheel is meditation and sadhana, or worship?

For me there is no difference. For me there is no difference at all. Words make no difference to me. The question is of truth. In meditation I speak the same truth; in prayer I speak the same truth; in sadhana I speak the same truth; in worship I speak the same truth. For me, it makes no difference. But if you ask in the context of Krishna, then there is a difference. If you ask in the context of Mahavira, then there is a difference. For Mahavira the right word is not worship. Mahavira would not agree to the word worship. Mahavira would agree to sadhana, Buddha would agree to sadhana. Emphatically, their stress would be on sadhana. Christ would agree to worship; Krishna would agree to worship; Mohammed would agree to worship. Their emphatic word would be worship. For me there is no hassle; for me there is…

Osho, our commune is not like any of the traditional ashrams or monasteries. Would you talk to us more about the function of your commune?

IT is necessary first to understand the traditional structure of an ashrama, and also of a monastery. It will give you the background to understand the meaning of my commune. The ashrama is an Eastern concept based on renouncing society, its comforts, conveniences. An ashrama is a group of people living together in austerity, self-imposed poverty, starvation in the name of fasting; torturing the body in order to have control over the physical by the spiritual; doing all kinds of exercises so that they become able to concentrate on the idea of God if they are Hindus, or on the idea of the ultimate growth of human consciousness if they are Buddhists and Jainas. But the goal is far away for all the three -- you can call it God, you can call it the Buddha, you can call it the Jina. They are different words signifying nothing, but pointing…