What is the reason for inconsistency in statements?

Why are you not consistent in your statements?

I cannot be. The purpose of my statements is totally different than that of ordinary statements. I am not telling the truth, because truth cannot be told. Then what am I doing here? If you take my statements as true or untrue, you will miss the whole point. I am using the statements to awaken you. They are neither true nor untrue. They are either useful or useless, but they have nothing to do with truth. They have a certain utility. It is just as if you are fast asleep, and I start ringing a bell; there is nothing of truth or untruth in ringing the bell. To ask the question would be utterly irrelevant. But there is something useful in it: if it helps you wake up, it has been useful. Buddha is reported to have said, "Truth is that which has utility." Truth is a device. It does…

Osho, for some twenty years you have been speaking to us, and many of your statements contradict one another; yet, remarkably, to this day you have never taken back a single statement nor felt the need to revise any. And all your statements have now become public property. Are you doing this knowingly, and is there some secret behind it? And is there not the danger that, in time, people will doubt that all these statements could be from one and the same enlightened master?

That’s how a Muslim is a Muslim—he has grabbed the Qur’an’s statements. A Buddhist is a Buddhist—he has grabbed Buddha’s. A Jain is a Jain—he has grabbed Mahavira’s. I don’t want to leave statements behind for you to grab. I want to leave you in the statementless, the ineffable. I will say everything and take it all away. Give with one hand, remove with the other. One day you will understand that this empty state—when nothing remains in your hands—is the state of truth. The moment you grasp, you are grasped. The grasper is captured by what he grasps. The one who clings to statements becomes sectarian. The one who lives in the statementless is religious. Then he understands all statements and is possessed by none, defined by none. “Your many statements contradict one another. But surprisingly, you have never taken back a single statement.” There is no need to.…

Osho, whatever you say seems to be right from the point of view of what you are saying at that moment. But it may be contradictory. You draw the listeners in one direction confirming a particular point, and at the same time you go via the back door to the opposite point. It is a spiral -- the listener hardly realizes what may be happening. Is this not fooling the listener -- unless he realizes that the real answer lies beyond your spoken words?

One sannyasin has done well. He has called my path VIA CONFUSIVA -- that's right. That's perfectly right. It is neither VIA NEGATIVA nor VIA POSITIVE -- it is VIA CONFUSIVA. If you can be so much confused that you drop ALL belief, out of that confusion will come clarity. When do you feel confused? When exactly? Whenever one of your beliefs is attacked -- you become suspicious: Now what to believe in? Whenever a doubt arises... but how is a doubt possible if there is no belief? The man of no-belief cannot doubt either. There is nothing to doubt. 13y destroying your belief I am destroying the very pos-sibility of doubt. Can you see the point? Doubt is a shadow of belief. It looks like the opposite -- it is not. Only believers can doubt. If you believe in God, doubt can arise. But if you don't believe in…

Question: OSHO, I HAVE READ YOUR LITERATURE; I HAVE HEARD YOU. YOUR LANGUAGE HAS HYPNOTIC CHARM AND IS VERY CLEAR. SOMETIMES YOU SPEAK ON MAHAVIRA, SOMETIMES ON KRISHNA OR BUDDHA AND SOMETIMES YOU TELL ABOUT JESUS AND MOHAMMED AS WELL. YOU DIVULGE THE SECRETS OF THE GITA IN A MOST INSPIRING MANNER, YOU GIVE DISCOURSES ON THE UPANISHADS AND THE VEDAS, AND YOU WOULD NOT HESITATE TO GO TO TEMPLES OR CHURCHES TO GIVE DISCOURSES. ALL THE SAME, YOU MAINTAIN THAT YOU ARE NOT INFLUENCED BY ANY OF THE PERSONAGES MENTIONED ABOVE. YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM AND YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM. CONTINUOUSLY, YOU CRITICIZE AND SHATTER TO PIECES THE ANCIENT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SCRIPTURES. WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? DO YOU WANT TO ESTABLISH YOUR OWN RELIGION? DO YOU WANT TO SHOW THAT YOU HAVE LIMITLESS KNOWLEDGE?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, A TALK TO THE ASSEMBLY (PART THREE) DON'T REMEMBER WHAT I'VE SAID, AND CONSIDER IT RIGHT. TODAY I SPEAK THIS WAY, BUT THEN TOMORROW I'LL SPEAK OTHERWISE. AS SOON AS YOU'RE THUS, I AM NOT THUS; WHEN YOU'RE NOT THUS, THEN I AM THUS. WHERE WILL YOU SEARCH OUT MY ABIDING PLACE? SINCE I MYSELF DON'T EVEN KNOW, HOW CAN ANYONE ELSE FIND WHERE I STAY? THIS IS THE LIVING GATE: YOU CAN ENTER ONLY WHEN YOU'VE PUT TO DEATH YOUR FABRICATED "REALITY." YET STUDENTS CONSIDER PAYING HOMAGE TO THE BUDDHA, UPHOLDING THE SCRIPTURES, AND DISCIPLINING THEMSELVES IN BODY, MOUTH, AND MIND, AS THEIR SUSTENANCE, HOPING TO FIND REALIZATION. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH IT?