Should I love the idols or remember God?

Question: Second question: Osho, Shall I love the idols, or shall I remember God? So I asked my hosts, who were having the temple built: This is amusing! The walls of this temple are being raised by Muslims; the image too is being sculpted by Muslims; the steps will be set by Muslims; and then the temple will be “Hindu”? And one day these very Muslims will burn it down! I asked them: How will this become a Hindu temple? The walls are raised by Muslims. Many temples in India have been turned into mosques, because in the Muslim era, when they ruled, they converted any temple into a mosque. It took no time—change a few things and a temple becomes a mosque. And if later the Hindus ruled some region, they turned the mosque back into a temple! Between temple and mosque there is no essential difference.

A friend has asked: Osho, if God is everywhere, then why would he not be in an idol?

Of course he will be. But the one who insists that he is only in the idol will never find him everywhere. And for the one who does not find him everywhere, he cannot be in the idol either. God is everywhere—certainly he is also in the idol. But the person who says, “He is only in the idol,” for that person he is not everywhere; and for the one for whom he is not everywhere, he cannot be in the idol either. And the one who says, “He is everywhere,” will not go searching for an idol; whatever he encounters will be God. He will not go searching for a temple, because all is his temple. Then he will not say, “This is my idol; I will worship it.” Whom to worship then? When all is that. Every breath is that, every particle is that—so whom to worship? I…

Today I would request Osho to guide us on idol worship.

A Japanese seeker from Soto Zen told me of a practice: twenty-four hours a day the disciple intones “Muuuu… muuu…” After days, the sound storms inside; thoughts drop. By three weeks, the roaring “Muuuu!” possesses him. Food, sleep fall away; guards must watch him. At the final climax, a last thunderous roar—and suddenly all is still. For days he lies in deep quiet. When he returns, the old man is dead; a new man stands—continuity with the past broken. Om is such a sound; every religion has its own. As worship deepens, sound transforms consciousness. Repetition is crucial. If you sing one hymn one day, another the next, there will be no results. Continuous blows on one point drive the nail. But beware of mechanical repetition—then it is wasted labor. If the sound becomes your very life, every cell, bone, blood crying it—then sound can open the door. And all…

A friend has asked: Osho, if God is in everyone, then why do you object to worshiping an idol in the temple?

I said, “God in everyone!” and immediately they remembered the temple idol: “If we worship that, what objection can you have?” If it is understood that God is in everyone, then the question of the temple idol doesn’t arise at all. The idol remains a question only so long as God is not seen in all; until then one keeps trying to see God in the temple idol. The day He is seen in everyone, then who is the temple idol and who is outside the temple? Who is an idol and who is not an idol? How will you tell then? How will you be sure that the beggar sitting at the door is not the temple’s idol, and the stone placed inside is God? No—there is then no way. But the temple idol is a substitute, and therefore it is dangerous. I say, do not worship the temple…

Osho, I have no concern with anyone, no dealings; my only business is with what is truly mine: Your mention, Your care, Your remembrance, Your name.

Therefore, in my view, do not treat the remembrance of God and the remembrance of other things as enemies; otherwise you will be in trouble. Do this instead: take everything to be God. If your wife comes to mind, remember that it is God you are remembering—after all, she too is a form of God. If your son comes to mind, remember, it is God you are remembering. Do not set up any conflict between son and God, between wife and God, between husband and God. Otherwise you will be in difficulty. Whatever comes to mind, take your remembrance of God to be in that very thing. Slowly, you will find all opposition has dissolved. In whatever face appears, you will see His light. Peer into any eye and in that eye you will find His reflection. There are a thousand lakes, and one moon; the reflection of that moon…