According to Osho, Christianity’s messianic hope and Hinduism’s expectation of Vishnu’s tenth incarnation are the same psychological strategy: a future-oriented fantasy that keeps people waiting rather than transforming now. The savior is always ‘coming’ but should never arrive; enlightenment does not return in person, and Vishnu is mythic. Such promises console the masses and maintain social order, while postponing individual awakening to the present.
Both beliefs are like telling yourself a hero will come later so you don’t have to change today.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, christianity in the united states today is moving towards more literal messianic thinking. Does this correlate with the hindu expectation of the tenth incarnation of vishnu? What is your place in this? Does your ministry in life have a messianic character?
No. I just want to be myself, not a mission. I hate to use borrowed clothes -- how much I must hate to have borrowed souls? What is happening in America is really not messianic Christianity. It is a fanatic movement headed by President Ronald Reagan who is a fundamentalist Christian. And the reason is, up to now communism had a message, communism had a philosophy, and capitalism had no message and no philosophy. On that point America was losing. Now the underground movement... I have been five years in America, and what I have seen is that America is becoming more and more fanatically Christian to encounter the fanatical communists. It is just a hypocrisy to call it a democracy. It is a Christian kingdom, and it is better to name things exactly what they are -- it helps immensely. Now the fight is between communism and Christianity. That…
Osho, on the one hand human life is filled with great suffering, and to be rid of these sufferings man waits for ages for some avatar in the hope that someone will deliver him. But when that auspicious moment arrives, he does everything possible to avoid it and ends up hacking at his own foot. Osho, is it really true that man does not want to be free of his torments?
Ramakrishna ate fish—how will Jains accept him as Paramhansa? He eats fish! If he doesn’t even know not to eat fish, what else can he know? He ate at night too—how can he be a Paramhansa? Remember: your fantasies are your fantasies; no person comes to fulfill them. Avatar means: whenever someone attains the ultimate knowing, he is unique. He will not fit your patterns. He will tear all your nets of imagination. Hence it is hard for you to accept. You could accept him if he walked exactly along your line. But “men of the line” can exist in pageants, not in reality. So people wait for ages for an avatar, hoping someone will save them. That hope is wrong too—because no one else can save you. You create the trouble; someone else should deliver you? You fall ill—you must undergo treatment, the operation, drink the medicine. You are…
Osho, do you believe in the second coming of christ?
And who do you think I am? Christ is not a person, Christ is a state of consciousness. There have been Christs before Jesus, there have been Christs after Jesus. Jesus is only one of the Christs. Buddha is a Christ, Mahavir is a Christ, Lu-tsu is a Christ, Zarathustra is a Christ. Christ simply means the ultimate state of consciousness; it is equivalent to Buddha. Buddha is not the name of any person, it is a happening. So is Christ -- it is not Jesus' name! His name was Jesus. One day Jesus disappeared and the Christ-consciousness descended IN him. He was no more the ego, he became the vehicle of the whole. He could say, "I and my Father in heaven are one." This is Christ-consciousness; it has nothing to do with Jesus. If you are waiting for Jesus' second coming, then you are waiting in vain; but…
Osho, you say christ was the last christian. Are you the last rajneeshee? Please explain.
That is the other way of declaring superiority -- perhaps far better a way, because it is so arduous. To become a messiah all that you need is a retarded mind, stupid, stubborn -- and you can declare yourself And to declare yourself the only begotten son of God, what do you need? Just no sense of shame, that's all; otherwise such stupid things.... Any intelligent person, even if he is the only begotten son of God, will try to hide the fact: if somebody hears, what are people going to think about it? Even if he knows that he is a messenger from God he will not tell anybody. He will deliver the message and escape because it looks so foolish that you are the son of a poor carpenter, uneducated, and you have been chosen to be the messenger of God. God could not find an educated, sophisticated…
Osho, what do you think? Is jesus coming back to earth again as he had promised or not?
A new arrival knocked on heaven's door. Jesus was on duty and opened the door. "Who are you?" he asked. "Adolf Hitler," came the reply. "Adolf Hitler! You cannot come here. You are a megalomaniac bent on world domination. Get away!" "But I want to mend my ways!" "No way! Get out!" "Ah, if you will let me in, I will give you something." "Well," said Jesus, weakening a little, "what is it?" Hitler, in dress uniform, pulled off his special Iron Cross and showed it to Jesus. "Well," he asked, "can I come in?" "You just wait here. I'll go and ask my dad." Jesus found God in his study. "Dad, there's a newcomer at the gate who wants to come in." "Who is he?" "Adolf Hitler." "Adolf Hitler! That megalomaniac bent on world domination? He can't come in here!" "But he has something very special to give me."…