According to Osho, Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus demanded faith in himself as savior; Osho demands no faith in him, only trust in oneself. Therefore no one can betray Osho—one can only betray oneself. Sheela’s gang betrayed their own growth; Siddha and others were forced out by Sheela, still love Osho, and intend to return—no betrayal.
Judas turned on Jesus, but Osho says you can’t turn on him—only on yourself; Siddha didn’t betray, while Sheela only harmed her own growth.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, what is the difference between judas, the only intelligent disciple of jesus, betraying him, and siddha, the vice-chancellor of our meditation university, and other influential leaders and powerful people of the commune, like prabodhi, deeksha, shiva, makima, somendra, sushila, divya, etcetera going against you?
Sheela does not have even that conscience. And with a man like me... if she had come to me, even if she comes to me now, with her whole gang, and confesses that they had committed these things and they feel guilty, I will take all their crimes on myself -- because to me, to live tomorrow does not mean anything. I have attained whatever life is capable of attaining. I have experienced the ultimate peak of life, love, light. There is no problem, I can take the whole load of crimes, but at least I should know what the load is; otherwise, how can I take it on myself? Those twenty people have not yet known anything, so rather than sending them to prison, I would prefer myself to be hanged. And they have committed enough crimes, enough for a death sentence for one single man. That will help…
Beloved Osho, what is the difference between the emptiness of the child before the formation of the ego and the awakened childlikeness of a buddha?
Whether you are for it or against it doesn't matter -- your concern shows where your ego is hanging. And I will include the capitalist in it also: his whole concern is how to gather money, hoard money -- because money has power over matter. You can purchase any material thing through money. You cannot purchase anything spiritual, you cannot purchase anything that has any intrinsic value; you can purchase only things. If you want to purchase love, you cannot purchase; but you can purchase sex. Sex is the material part of love. Through money, matter can be purchased, possessed. Now you will be surprised: I include the communist and the capitalist both in the same category, and they are enemies, just as I include Charvaka and Mahatma Gandhi in the same category, and they are enemies. They are enemies, but their concern is the same. The capitalist is trying…
Judas was one of the closest disciples, very close. And he loved Jesus -- but this is how the mind is paradoxical. He loved him so much that he hated him also. He loved him so much that he was always afraid that he may be overpowered, so he resisted. He loved so much that he could never allow Jesus to be very close to him, or allow himself to be very close to Jesus because he was afraid that he may be absorbed, finished. So he resisted, he fought, he argued. And this was his final effort to escape from his own love. He was afraid of his own love, but when Jesus was crucified, then Judas understood that he had killed himself. He committed suicide the next day. Christians have never meditated much on the suicide of Judas because they have never looked with compassion on him.
Beloved master, do I betray my real self, and only myself, by not letting go?
In this commune, you cannot betray anybody except yourself. In the outside world the situation is different. You can betray Christianity, you can betray Jesus Christ, Moses, Mohammed. You can betray communism, Karl Marx. You can betray a thousand and one things, for the simple reason that they are all asking for your faith. Betrayal comes as the other side of faith. I am not asking for your belief, I am not asking for your faith. There is no way to betray me or anybody else here. This is a commune of individuals, totally independent, living out of their freedom and responsibility. There is nobody above you. You are alone here! So if you betray, you can betray only yourself. Let this sink as deep as possible in you, because every faith creates rebels, and every belief creates disbelief. The very seed of betrayal is sown in the idea of…
Osho, why do disciples betray the Master? Vijayanand and Mahesh now speak against you. And a sannyasin, Swami Chinmay, has written in Current that when my Master speaks against politics he falls below religion; and also says that since I am a living disciple I can therefore speak against my Master.
He does not understand me. He does not know what I am saying or what is happening here. He has just assumed. These things will happen. As my sannyasins increase and a wave arises, many will dye their clothes, string malas, announce themselves. People flock to a rising sun; they try to profit from it. Such a gentleman has no value. His statements have none—he does not know my vision of life. Religion is not a subject with boundaries. Religion has no limit. Religion is the name of the whole of life. Whatever life includes, religion has the right to speak about. The politician cannot speak about religion, for politics has limits; but the religious man can speak about politics, for religion has no limits. Religion is boundless. It envelops the whole of life, like the sky. Nothing is to be left outside religion. The religious person’s vision applies to…