According to Osho, spirituality is not an ideology but a state of no-mind where all ideas dissolve; this universal silence is the true Sanatan Dharma—the eternal law or religiousness beyond any particular religion. He rejects identifying Sanatan Dharma with Hinduism, affirming that religions arise and die, while religiousness endures; his work embodies this source where Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, and all traditions meet.
For Osho, real spirituality is the quiet beyond thoughts where all religions are one, which he calls the eternal law—not a Hindu label.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
And the fifth thing they said was, “Now Osho is speaking properly; he isn’t like before—he has improved a little!”
Absolutely wrong! I am getting worse. The question of improving does not arise. The more I experience all these fools, the sharper I keep my edge. Their necks have to be cut. I am driving the blade in deeper. My blow will grow deeper every day. Let no one remain in this mistake. And yet they go on explaining this to my disciples. Now this is most amusing: on the one hand they call me “Bhagwan Rajneesh,” and on the other they say I am improving! Is there anything left to improve in a Bhagwan? Does it mean that even after being God something still remains to be improved? Only “worsening” remains; there is nothing left to improve. And once you are a Bhagwan, even the fear of worsening is gone. Now, even if you send me to hell, it makes no difference. I will celebrate there too. There you…
Osho, Mahavira was non-insistent, yet Jainism became a religion of insistence. You too are non-insistent—won’t your religion in the future also turn into a religion of insistence?
One who understands knows that the said religion will be made and unmade. The unsaid religion is eternal. What Mahavira did not say will not change. What Mahavira said will change; dust will settle upon it. What I am saying—dust will settle upon it. What I am not saying will not change. What I am not saying is the same as what Mahavira did not say, what Krishna did not say, what Buddha did not say. Only when you can hear the unsaid will you recognize the eternal. As long as you can hear only what is said—and even that is difficult; you don’t even hear that properly—as long as you only hear the statement, everything will grow stale. This is natural. There is nothing to cry over or be troubled about; nor is there any need to make arrangements against it. No arrangement will work; all arrangements will fail.…
Rajneeshism allows everyone into its fold, states Osho
Our religion should not be categorized with any other religion of the world because it has not tradition or dogma and it allows everybody without any discrimination into its religious fold. Rajneeshism does not ask anyone to renounce their religion and does not have any conflict with Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Lao Tzu, etc. Basically Rajneeshism has the essential core of all religiousness. The other religions are against each other's traditions and attitudes. In fact, these other religions are fanatic and each believes and fights that theirs is the true religion and others are false. This is not the case with me or Rajneeshism. A Christian can become a Rajneeshee and he is not asked to drop his love for Jesus, in fact he finds Jesus in me. The same is true for a Buddhist or a Mohammedan. Our commune consists of people from all religions who have found their religion's…
Osho, please say something about the real nature of dharma.
Dharma means your intrinsic nature. Dharma means your spontaneity. As fragrance is to a rose, as heat is to fire, as coolness is to water, so you too have a nature of your own; living in tune with that nature is called dharma, living against it is called adharma. There will be slight differences in each person’s nature—there must be, because existence does not make carbon copies. Therefore each person’s dharma will also differ a little. What is medicine for one can be poison for another, and what is poison for one can be medicine for another. Hence each person has to search for his own nature in the depths of meditation. No one else can give you a clear, definitive statement about your nature. You yourself have to recognize, slowly, your naturalness in the depths of meditation, and then gather the courage to live according to it. Courage is…
Osho, the shankaracharya of shardapeeth, dwarka, is reported to have said that your ideas about spirituality do not conform with the sanatan dharma which gives great importance to self-control and prescribes rules of conduct given in the ancient scriptures. The shankaracharya also remarked that wherever you and your ashram will move, it would spoil the spiritual environment of that place. Osho, this is perhaps the first time that the shankaracharya has openly criticised you and the ashram. Would you kindly say something?
Now this may be the only place in the whole world where all religions are meeting and merging into a new kind of religiousness, a totally different quality. Nobody bothers here whether you are a Christian or a Parsi, whether you are a Taoist or a Buddhist, because we have found the source. And once you know the source it does not matter from what shore you drink, in what kind of bucket you draw the water from the source. The bucket is non-essential; the water is essential. We have found the eternal religion: it can only be a religiousness, a quality, a fragrance. My meaning of Sanatan Dharma is totally different from the Shankaracharya's meaning. The Shankaracharya of Shardapeeth, Dwarka, simply represents a tradition, a convention which is already dead. All traditions are dead! What I represent is a living experience. The Shankaracharya is only an imitator of the…