What are the different paths to God?

Osho, can you clear this confusion in me? The other day at discourse you talked about the different ways and paths to god. The christian feels his is the only way, the moslem feels his is the only way, and so on. Now all of us here, your entire following -- don't we too believe that yours is the most appealing and therefore the only way? Then what is the difference? I cannot seem to figure it out and yet I am sure there is difference.

GOD IS NOT A GOAL, hence there can be no way to God. All ways are wrong. God is right now, this very moment. God is always in the present, now and here, and always now and here. There can be no way to God. The very idea of the way is fallacious. The way means you have postponed; the way leads to tomorrow, and the tomorrow never comes. The way means you have projected into the future: God is somewhere else and you have to travel. Then religion becomes a journey. And religion is not a journey, it is already the case. God has not to happen to you. God has happened because you are alive. What is life? Who is breathing in you and who is conscious in you? God is not to be known, God is the knower. God is not the object that you have to…

If there is a path to awakening awareness, is the goal still the same?

No. Understand this. What would the difference be? For example, if this room were full of darkness, I would tell you: there are ways to kindle light; there are no ways to remove darkness. Do you get what I mean? I would say there are ways to light a lamp; there are no ways to separate or throw out the darkness. Yes, once the light is lit, darkness departs. But if we start looking for some method to remove darkness—come, bundle it up and throw it out; bring a sword to drive it away; friends, gather together, tie it with ropes, drag the darkness outside—we will go mad. There is no way to take darkness out. There is a way to light a lamp. And the delightful thing is that when the light is lit, darkness cannot be found at all. The distinction I am making is: there is no…

How would you describe your particular path to enlightenment in relationship to other traditional paths such as the various kinds of yoga, sufism, buddhism, zen, christianity, etcetera?

I HAVE NO particular path. I don't belong to any path whatsoever, and therefore all paths belong to me. Each path is perfect in itself, but each path can help only a very minor part of humanity. Each path exists for a particular type. It is complete in itself. Nothing is to be added to it -- nothing is to be deducted from it. As it is, it is perfect. But it can help only a particular type. Humanity is vast; one path cannot carry the whole of humanity. All paths are needed. In fact, as the human mind changes, more new paths have to be evolved. With the mind changing, many old paths have become by and by useless, or can be used only by a very few individuals. I use all paths. Whenever I see a seeker, I start looking into him -- what type he is and…

Deva means divine, amarga means pathlessness -- divine pathlessness. There is no path to God; all paths are false. In the very nature of things there can be no path to God because God is all and everywhere. A path leads somewhere. God is not somewhere: God is everywhere. A path is needed when you are going from here to there. But God is here, and there is no need for any path to be here. So all paths misguide, all paths mislead, all paths take you away from reality, not to reality. The path exists because of the desiring mind. The desiring mind is always dreaming of somewhere else. It is never in the moment so it creates the path. All paths are mind creations, and to come back to reality one has to renounce all paths. All paths are fabrications, lies, so are all philosophies, all religions.

Osho, please shed light on what walls stand between religion and man.

There aren’t many walls—just one: ego. Though there are many bricks in that wall, and they all get mortared in the same way: whatever is against nature becomes a brick for the ego. I teach a natural life. My message is straight and simple. Live simply. Don’t run away from anywhere; don’t avoid anything. Whatever God has given is auspicious—give thanks. And if he has given mud, he gave it in the hope that lotus flowers would bloom from it. And if he has given iron, he did so in the hope that you also have the philosopher’s stone within—find it. At its touch, iron becomes gold. And not merely gold—fragrance comes into gold. And don’t keep asking the pundit-priests. Avoid them. They neither know nor have experience. But in this world very few are simple-hearted enough to say, “I don’t know.” If someone asks you something, even if you…