What is Hassidism?

Once, when the hasidim were seated together in all brotherliness, pipe in hand, rabbi israel joined them. Because he was so friendly they asked him, 'tell us, dear rabbi, how should we serve god?'

HE WAS SURPRISED AT THE QUESTION, AND REPLIED, 'HOW SHOULD I KNOW?' BUT THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL THEM THIS STORY.. THERE WERE TWO FRIENDS OF THE KING, AND BOTH WERE PROVED GUILTY OF A CRIME. SINCE HE LOVED THEM THE KING WANTED TO SHOW THEM MERCY, BUT HE COULD NOT ACQUIT THEM BECAUSE EVEN A KING'S WORD CANNOT PREVAIL OVER THE LAW. SO HE GAVE THIS VERDICT: A ROPE WAS TO BE STRETCHED OVER A DEEP CHASM, AND, ONE AFTER ANOTHER, THE TWO WERE TO WALK ACROSS IT. WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE. IT WAS DONE AS THE KING ORDERED, AND THE FIRST OF THE FRIENDS GOT SAFELY ACROSS. THE OTHER, STILL STANDING ON THE SAME SPOT, CRIED TO HIM, 'TELL ME, FRIEND, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CROSS?' THE FIRST CALLED BACK, 'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT THIS: WHENEVER I…

On a certain passover before the sedar celebration, rabbi yisakhar baer called his guest, the rabbi of mogielnica, a grandson of the maggid of koznitz, to the window -- and pointed to something outside. 'do you see, rav of mogielnica?' he said. 'do you see?' after the feast was over, the rabbi of mogielnica danced around the table and sang in a low voice: -- 'the holy old man, our brother, has shown me a light. Great is the light he has shown me. But who knows? -- who knows how many years must pass, how long we still must sleep before it comes to us, before it comes to us?'

Herrigel learned the whole art of archery. He was hitting his targets one hundred percent. But the Master was not satisfied. The Master would say: 'You are still not in the right posture.' And what is the right posture? The right posture is that when you pull your arrow back your muscles should be relaxed. But this is absurd. Because when you pull the bow the muscles are bound to become tense. But the muscles should be relaxed. Herrigel went many times and touched the Master's muscles when he was pulling the bow -- and they were relaxed. So you cannot say that relaxation cannot happen. They were as relaxed as a child's hand and arm -- no tension. The Master said: 'The arrow moves by itself when you are relaxed. Then God moves it; you are not the mover. You simply create the situation and then it happens. You…

Osho, why is the world in so much misery? Why can't we all be just as blissful as you always are?

He did not die, but I had taken a risky decision. My father stopped telling me to do things from that day. I said, "You can suggest, you cannot order. You have to learn to be polite to your own son, because as far as our beings are concerned, who is father and who is son? You don't possess me, I don't possess you; it is just an accidental meeting of two strangers. You had no idea to whom you were going to give birth. I had no idea who was going to be my father, my mother. It is just an accidental meeting on the roads. "Don't try to exploit the situation. Don't take advantage because you are powerful, you have money, and I don't have anything. And don't force me, because this is ugly. You suggest to me. You can always give me a suggestion that 'this is…

Today at the lecture you extolled the virtues of hasidism. But if they are so praiseworthy, so full of feeling of brotherhood, etc., why do they exclude women from their religious practices, and particularly their ecstatic religious dancing?

Pratima has asked the question. It is very relevant, and has to be understood. The first thing to remember, to always remember, is never to judge the past by present standards. That is not compassionate. For example, when Hasidism was arising, to allow women into a religiously ecstatic dance would have been impossible. Not that Hasidic mystics were not aware, not that they would not have liked to allow it -- they would have loved it -- but it was impossible. Even Buddha was afraid to initiate women into his order. What was the fear? Was he an orthodox person? No, you cannot find a more revolutionary mind, but he insisted for many years on not allowing women into his order. No, the reason is to be found somewhere else. A religion has to exist in the society. If the society is too much against a certain thing, even the…

Osho, when you speak of religions, you usually mention christians, mohammedans and hindus, but not jews. Is there a reason for it?

And, moreover, Judaism is a dead religion, just as Hinduism is. In fact, there have been only two source religions in the world: Hinduism and Judaism. Both are dead. Jainism and Buddhism are offshoots of Hinduism but because the root is dead the branches are dead too. And Christianity and Islam are branches of Judaism, and because the root is dead the branches are dead too. These are dead phenomena. I am not much concerned with the past. Yes, something beautiful has happened in Judaism, too, and that is Hassidism -- and I have talked about it a lot. Just as I love Zen people in the tradition of the Buddha, I love Hassids in the tradition of Moses and I love Sufis in the tradition of Mohammed. These three are still alive in some small way because these three have never become established religions; they have always been anti-establishment,…