According to Osho, drop blind, secondhand faith—including “faith in God” as a concept—and replace it with direct knowing born of sadhana and inner exploration. Belief is an opiate; real religion is lived, experiential transformation. Trust your own inner lamp, not borrowed authorities. Let practice permeate life, dissolve the ego’s separation, and realize truth firsthand rather than clinging to consoling ideas.
Don’t just believe because others say so; look within, live the search, and trust your own inner light until you know.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
I have faith in god but you say faith is harmful. Should I give up my faith?
What is the mind? It is both the collector and the collection of whatever is perceived by the senses. Anyone who considers the mind as his self has mistaken the servant for the master. And if you want to realize your real self you will have to give up what you know and will have to follow one who knows. Your mind is only what you know about; the self is the means by which you know all. The witness, the knower is the self. This self is different from birth and death, different from maya and moksha, from illusion and liberation. It is only a witness, a witness to all things -- to light, to darkness, to the world, to nirvana. The self is beyond all dualities. As soon as a person knows this witness he becomes like a lotus -- separate from the mud of which it was…
Osho, I cannot bring myself to have faith in God. Then what is the remedy for me?
The sliding drop of dew on the grass is enough—to fill you with faith. The newborn sprout breaking through the earth is enough—to fill you with faith. There is no shortage of supports for faith. If there is a lack, it is in your capacity for wonder. And man’s greatest stupidity is that he becomes ‘knowledgeable.’ The more ‘knowing’ he becomes, the more wonder dies. Then he knows everything. Ask him anything—he has an answer. Find some places where you become answerless. From there faith will come. Love is such a place—from where faith wells up. For love does not fit into knowledge. Love has not been known till today. People have lived it, people have experienced it; but it has not been known. No one has even been able to define what love is. If your life is nothing but mathematics, then where is rest?—there is only toil. And…
A friend has asked, Osho, what should one do so that faith does not turn into blind belief?
I have heard: Saint Francis was a supremely faithful man and would trust anyone. His disciple was Leo. They were traveling. Whoever came along, Francis would take him along. Often someone would stay for a night and then steal their belongings and go. He would stay one night, and by morning their bedding, their bag—the few things they had—would be gone. Leo, his disciple, was very troubled. He said that at least some checking should be done. You take anyone along and then suffer. Give up this trust in people. So many have deceived you, and still your trust in people does not leave you. Saint Francis said, they are all testing my faith. There are two ways. A man stays the night and leaves stealing. One way is: the things are gone anyway—which are of little value—and along with them let faith also go, which is of great value.…
A friend has asked: Osho, what is the difference between sin and virtue? And as long as the mind is filled with sin, how can there be faith, devotion, feeling? How will prayer happen while the mind is full of sin? So first let the mind be filled with virtue; then prayer will happen!
It sounds right. It seems reasonable. Yet it is not right—and it is full of unawareness. It sounds right to say, “As long as the mind is full of sin, how can there be prayer!” But that is like a physician saying, “As long as you are sick, how can I give you medicine! First get well and healthy, and then take the medicine.” But once you are well, why would you need medicine? If you decide to pray only after you’ve dropped all sin, you will never get the chance to pray. As long as there is sin, you won’t pray. And when there is no sin left, why pray? What would be the meaning of prayer then? Prayer is the medicine. Therefore, one has to pray while still a sinner. And another thing: how will sin go? It cannot go without prayer. Those who try to remove sin…
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…