What is the difference between meditation and worship?

Osho, for the last seven or eight years that you have been turning the wheel of dharma, the central emphasis has been meditation and sadhana. So please tell us what is the difference between meditation and worship, and whether the central thread of your turning of the wheel is meditation and sadhana, or worship?

For me there is no difference. For me there is no difference at all. Words make no difference to me. The question is of truth. In meditation I speak the same truth; in prayer I speak the same truth; in sadhana I speak the same truth; in worship I speak the same truth. For me, it makes no difference. But if you ask in the context of Krishna, then there is a difference. If you ask in the context of Mahavira, then there is a difference. For Mahavira the right word is not worship. Mahavira would not agree to the word worship. Mahavira would agree to sadhana, Buddha would agree to sadhana. Emphatically, their stress would be on sadhana. Christ would agree to worship; Krishna would agree to worship; Mohammed would agree to worship. Their emphatic word would be worship. For me there is no hassle; for me there is…

What is the difference between prayer and meditation?

Then the second layer of your being: love, heart. If a man is religious love becomes prayer. If the man is not religious then love becomes poetry, art, painting, music. Then the third layer, the deepest core, beyond which nothing exists, is being. Absolute silence; and absolute aloneness. There;s no difference now between religious and non.religious. At the centre everything becomes one. In that silence one is neither religious nor anti religious, because those are the terms of the reason. In that silence one's love is neither prayer nor art. Everything has become one. That silence IS meditation. When people come to me, if I see that they are in their heads then I help them to be related, to move, to fall in love, to become a little foolish, so that they come down from their heads, so that they get down from the throne of the ego a…

Beloved Osho, is worshipping in the commune related to meditation? Why don't we have any meditation time separate from worshipping?

But all the religions have been doing prayers in the name of meditation. And what kind of stupid prayers! In fact any prayer that a man can do is going to be stupid. "Don't let my wife die" -- do you think that is something very intelligent? If that dodo was a little bit intelligent -- God was making him free, and he is praying against his own freedom. But if you look in the scriptures you will be surprised what kind of prayers are there. In the VEDAS, the most holy scriptures of the Hindus, the great seers.... I cannot even conceive how for centuries those people have been called great seers. They should be called the great blind men! Seers! -- they were praying to God: "Please increase the milk of my cow, decrease the milk of the cow of my enemy, my neighbor. This time let rains…

Questioner: meditation seems to be central to the campaign of spiritual regeneration that you have been carrying on for the last seven or eight years. So please explain the difference between meditation and devotion and whether it is meditation and spiritual discipline that is central to your teaching, or devotion.

To me there is no difference whatsoever. To me words make no difference. The real thing is truth. And it is truth that I teach through meditation, and it is truth again that I teach through devotion and prayer. Even if I speak of spiritual discipline, I teach the same truth. As far as I am concerned it makes no difference. But it does make a difference in the context of Krishna. And it also makes a difference for Mahavira. Devotion is not relevant to Mahavira; he will never accept upasana as his way. Both Mahavira and Buddha adhere to spiritual discipline, sadhana, efforts. Their whole emphasis is on discipline. Of course, Christ is for devotion. and so is Krishna; Mohammed too. Devotion is their way. But as far as I am concerned I accept all of them together. I have no difficulty whatsoever. So many times you will come…

Osho, should I practice meditation or devotion? I’ve been thinking about this for years. And since I can’t decide anything, even if I want to begin, how should I begin?

That is why, in my Buddhafield, meditation is happening and devotion is happening. Lovers are dancing in ecstasy, and meditators are sitting in silence. Both are flowing together. This has never happened before. Those who gathered around Buddha meditated; those who gathered around Meera were devoted. For the first time on this earth, Sufi ecstasy and Sufi dance are here, the joy of the devotees is overflowing, and alongside that, Vipassana, zazen, and deep, deep meditative processes are also here. I am giving you both opportunities. You are the master—taste both. Then the decision will happen by itself. But you are sitting outside. You neither meditate nor sing bhajans; you sit afar as a spectator, pondering: “What should I do? What should I not do?” Could it be that there is a great laziness in the mind, a great inertia? Two lazy men were lying under a tree—Satyapriya sent me…