Was the word 'God' used in ancient times to explain the unexplainable and the nature of being?

Beloved Osho, you say there is no god. Can you explain why man has ventured into the spiritual realm in search of god?

Mind is part of the society. It is not part of existence. Hence, it needs a society for its growth. The better established the society, the more proficiently the mind grows. The question of God arose in the very beginning, perhaps ten thousand years ago, because in the Rig Veda -- the oldest scripture in the world -- one of the most important statements occurs. And that statement is, "We do not know who created the world. We do not know whether anybody created it or not." This must be in the very beginning when man starts the first stirrings of thought: "Who created the world? We do not know." Yes, the theologian has not appeared yet; the man with the answer has not appeared yet. He comes very soon, he is not far away. Once you ask, "We do not know who created the world," the cunning man amongst…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, IF THERE IS NO GOD, WHY WERE YOU BEING CALLED BHAGWAN? There is a place in India, Mohenjo Daro... it has been found to be the ancientmost city in the world. There are seven layers in Mohenjo Daro. It seems that civilization had to face some calamity seven times. When the first layer was found, it was thought that this is all: we have found Mohenjo Daro. That was determined to be seven thousand years old. But a little more digging and another city was found underneath the first city which must have been ten thousand years old. Then the work continued. The people who were working on the excavation went on digging and city after city.... Seven cities have been found in Mohenjo Daro. The seventh seems to be at least twenty thousand years old. They have temples, they have statues of God.

Osho, you say god is not a hypothesis nor an idea. Then what is god? Has anyone ever met god or not?

It was left to be proved by another Indian, Jagdishchandra Bose, who devoted his whole life to finding scientifically whether Buddha and Mahavira were right or wrong. And he conclusively proved that trees are alive. He was given a Nobel prize for proving trees to be alive. But that was only the beginning. Then more and more researchers went into it. Just to be alive is not enough. Soon it was found that they have a different kind of brain system, but they do have one. You should not look for the same brain as you have. This is a stupid human idea, that your brain is the only kind of brain. If there can be so many kinds of bodies why can't it be that there can be so many kinds of brain? And soon it was found that they have a certain kind of brain system, and things…

Osho, what is god?

GOD is not a person. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings, and it has prevailed so long that it has become almost a fact. Even if a lie is repeated continuously for centuries it is bound to appear as if it is a truth. God is a presence, not a person. Hence all worshipping is sheer stupidity. Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence -- like beauty, like joy. God simply means godliness. It is because of this fact that Buddha denied the existence of God. He wanted to emphasize that God is a quality, an experience -- like love. You cannot talk to love, you can live it. You need not create temples of love, you need…

The questions. The first question: it seems that for god worshippers, the opposite to god is not -- in the first instance -- that which is "evil," but that which is natural. What has made man such easy prey for the priests with their concept of a god who is hostile to life?

Another baby monkey is given a version of an artificial mother just a little different. The wires are covered with woolen clothes and with fur. It is artificial, just made-up, and warm like the mother's blood. It is kept warm through electricity, so the baby feels the warm body because of the warm clothing. Inside there are tubes carrying milk, kept continuously warm by the electricity. It has breasts for the baby monkey, not just like pipes, but looking almost like real breasts -- plastic, but warm and so the milk comes out warm. And the baby monkey can hug the mother. And strangely, all these experiments proved that the child who gets the warmth and a certain idea that he is with a living mother, lives; the other child dies. Within three months the other child dies, although he is being nourished, taken care of. Only one thing is…