What is the meaning of the word 'God'?

Osho, what is god?

GOD is not a person. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings, and it has prevailed so long that it has become almost a fact. Even if a lie is repeated continuously for centuries it is bound to appear as if it is a truth. God is a presence, not a person. Hence all worshipping is sheer stupidity. Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence -- like beauty, like joy. God simply means godliness. It is because of this fact that Buddha denied the existence of God. He wanted to emphasize that God is a quality, an experience -- like love. You cannot talk to love, you can live it. You need not create temples of love, you need…

As you call yourself 'god', what is the meaning of this word? And are there more gods? Who are they?

Joey, I am God because I am not. And the moment you are not, you are also a God. God is not something special; God is our very being, God is our very existence. When I say I am God I am simply saying I exist. Existence and God are synonymous in my language. I say the trees are also God, and so are the rocks, and so are you. Yes, Joey, even a journalist is a God! He may not know. You may not be aware of your godliness. I am aware of it! And the moment I became aware of my godliness I became aware of everybody else's godliness. So it will be difficult for me to tell you how many Gods there are. Infinity... All beings are Gods at different stages of recognition, realization, awareness. But I can understand your problem. Joey is a Dutch journalist. People…

Osho, is the soul itself God?

Yes, that very essence is God. That very essence is God. In truth, from childhood we are given certain notions: we are told there is a God sitting up in the sky who runs everything. There is no such God sitting anywhere. The whole universe is not only matter; within matter, consciousness is also hidden. The name of that totality—the total consciousness hidden throughout the whole cosmos—is God. God is not a person. God is the name of the entire flow of the total consciousness. And the name of the entire flow of insentience is the world. Here we are so many people sitting together. Two kinds of happenings are taking place here: so many bodies are sitting here, and so many consciousnesses are sitting here...

Buddha says: "This very body is the lotus paradise, this very body the Buddha." This ordinary body has the capacity to invite God into it. It can become a host, it can become a home for God -- it all depends on us. If we prepare our mind and body, God is immediately ready to come in. And the moment God enters the body, the dust is transformed into gold. Then the body is no longer material, it itself becomes spiritual. Even matter is transformed. Every man is an empty country without God. Only with God do we become populated. Only with God entering us do we start feeling contented, fulfilled for the first time. All that is great always descends from above. It falls over you, it rains and showers over you. It is a waterfall. It does not grow from below, upwards; it showers from upwards, downwards.

Why do you call yourself bhagwan ? Why do you call yourself god?

The last thing about it. I am not a philosopher. Always remember me as a poet. My approach towards life is that of poetry, is that of romance. It is romantic, it is imaginative. I would like you all to be gods and goddesses. I would like you to reveal your true being. Calling myself god is a challenge. It is a subtle challenge. There are only two ways to settle with it. One is, you say, 'This man is not god, and go away, because then what are you doing here? If this man is not god, then why waste your time? You go away. Or, you accept that this man is god, and then you start being with me, and your own godliness starts flowering. One day you will also be a god, a goddess. Accepting me as god is in fact deep down accepting the possibility that…