What is the godliness in life?

Osho, lately you have been speaking of godliness instead of God, and of religiousness instead of religion. Kindly explain godliness and religiousness in detail.

In the same way, I speak of religiousness instead of religion. For “religion” means fixed notions—beliefs, dogmas. “Religiousness” means a radiant state of consciousness: the inner becoming luminous, lit up. Right now there is darkness within—that is irreligion, or more precisely, non-religiousness. When the light of awareness spreads within, meditation awakens, the flame of meditation rises—that is religiousness. Religiousness is not a doctrine, just as godliness is not a person. Doctrines are worth two pennies; make them as you like, erase them as you like. A doctrine is a net of arguments—and man is the master of argument. The same logic can prove, the same logic can disprove. There is no trusting logic. What doctrine is there that cannot be refuted? What idea is there that cannot be supported? Logic is a prostitute—make it stand with anyone. Or say logic is a lawyer. There is not much difference between lawyers…

[NOTE: This is an unedited tape transcript of an unpublished darshan diary, which has been scanned and cleaned up. It is for reference purposes only.] The moment we use the word 'god' we create a fictitious person, who does not exist. Godliness is a truth, god is a fiction, Godliness is a quality, not a person but a presence. You cannot see godliness but you can feel it, you can experience it, you can have a taste of it. It is like fragrance, not like a flower. The flower is visible, the fragrance is invisible. You can possess the flower; you cannot catch hold of the fragrance. All that you need to experience fragrance is a deep sensitivity. Godliness is the fragrance that surrounds the whole existence. The moment we say god, suddenly it seems god has an address.

Godliness is eternal. All that is needed is that you create emptiness in yourself -- not that you seek God. The moment you are empty something from the beyond penetrates you, fills your emptiness. You start overflowing with something absolutely new which you have never tasted, never known before. It is such a blessing, such a benediction. It is such an ecstasy that from that very moment you know that there is no birth, no death; you are also eternal. From that very moment you are part of a tremendous energy called godliness. Godliness is like an oceanic energy; we are just waves in it. We are making every effort here to help you, through different devices, so that you can feel the presence of something which escapes ordinary intellect, which needs extraordinary intelligence to be grasped, which really needs less logic and more love, less head and more heart.

Beloved master, I am feeling more and more that this life is something magical. Is this how you see life? Is this what you mean by the godliness all about us?

Yes, Anand Nur, that's precisely what I mean. By "God" I don't mean a person. By "God" I mean the magic that surrounds you, the mysterious, the miraculous. By "God" I don't mean anybody who created the world, but creation itself. The very process of creativity is God. Hence you cannot worship God, you cannot pray to God. All prayers are false because they are addressed to a personal God -- and there is no personal God. You cannot relate to God, calling him "father," "mother." He is not a person; relationship is not possible. Then how to worship, how to pray? You will have to learn new ways of praying and worshipping. To be creative is to worship. To be creative is to participate in the great process of creation -- and participating in creativity is participating in God. For a moment you are transported. When you are painting…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD? And to me, to be creative is the most important religious quality. If you create a song, if you create music, if you create a garden, you are being religious. Going to the church is foolish, but creating a garden is tremendously religious. That's why here in my commune, work is called worship. We don't pray in any other way, we pray only through creating something. To me, creativity is God. But it will be better if you allow me to change the word god into godliness, because I don't want to be misunderstood. There is no person like God, but there is tremendous energy -- exploding, unending, expanding. This expanding, unending, exploding energy, this creativity, is divine. I know it; I don't believe in it. I have tasted it; I don't believe in it.