According to Osho, scholars, theologians, and philosophers oppose him because their authority rests on borrowed, secondhand knowledge, while he speaks from direct experience. His insistence that people know truth firsthand threatens their profession and exposes their hidden ignorance. Like the blind leading the blind, they defend vested interests and one‑dimensional expertise, as has always happened with mystics such as Buddha or Jesus.
People who only read about God feel threatened by someone who has actually experienced it, because he shows their book-knowledge—and even their jobs—aren’t the real thing.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why the so-called authoritative scholars, theologians and philosophers on religion are against you?
The newlywed wife was a professor of philosophy, and it always almost happens with the professors of philosophy, that she suffered from insomnia. She kept waking up her husband whenever she heard noises downstairs. Finally he said, "Go to sleep, dear, please. Burglars don't make noises!" So she started to wake him up every time she heard nothing. That is logical! That is philosophical! Before beginning a postmortem the doctor wanted to check the chest. The cadaver was wheeled into the X-ray depart-ment and placed properly in the apparatus by the pretty technician, then she put the photographic plate into the control panel. As she stuck her head out from behind it she said automatically, "Please take a deep breath and hold it!" A technician is a technician! They function automatically. Experts function very unconsciously. They know not what they are doing, they know not what they are saying. They…
Osho, why are so many people attracted towards you from all parts of the world?
DON'T know! I am also surprised; it should not be so. The government is against me, the society is against me, all the religions are against me, and still people go on coming. All kinds of barriers are created, still people go on coming. Something mysterious is happening, something which cannot be explained. Something is transpiring which is elusive. That's why those who come as observers or spectators or journalists cannot catch hold of it. So they collect rumors in the town from people who never come here, and they go on reporting. Almost all over the world, in almost all the languages, there are rumors and rumors. This is very strange! The people have not experienced what is happening here, they have not been participants, and yet they think they have understood. There are things which can be understood only when you participate. You cannot know what love is…
Question: OSHO, WHY ARE THE SO-CALLED RELIGIOUS PEOPLE AGAINST YOU? THEY ARE NOT RELIGIOUS they are only so-called religious, hence they are bound to be against me. The so-called religious people have always been against the religious people; it is nothing new. It is the most ancient thing in the world. They worship a religious person only when he is dead because then there is no problem. Jesus alive is a problem. He disturbs you in many ways, in thousands of ways. In his presence you start feeling that all that you are is just holy cowdung, nothing else. It hurts, it hurts the ego. The so-called religious person starts looking so stupid. He is stupid, but when he is living with other so-called religious people he looks like a saint. He is a rabbi, he is a pundit, he is a priest; he is respected by people.
Osho, why does there seem to be so much conflict between the world and God?
It is as if someone were sleeping deeply in this garden. The cuckoo comes and sings, birds are chattering, the sun rises, breezes dance through the trees; but someone is fast asleep. The breezes touch him, the birds’ songs echo at his ears, the sun’s rays play on his face, but he knows nothing. Then someone comes and shakes him awake. His eyes open—the glory of the sun is revealed, the song of the passing breeze is heard, suddenly the cuckoo’s call, the fragrance of flowers. Do you think something new has happened? Everything was already there, just as it is. Only this man has become new—nothing else has changed. The same garden, the same sun, the same flowers, the same birds—everything the same; only a small difference: he was asleep; he is awake. The meaning of “world” is: you are asleep in God. The meaning of “God” is: you…
Question: OSHO, WHY DO PEOPLE CRITICIZE YOU AS A SELF-STYLED AND SELF-APPOINTED GOD? The people who go to the churches, to the temples, to the synagogues, are going for absolutely wrong reasons. What are their reasons for going there? They are going there to pray to God to grant them some of their wishes, so that some of their desires will be fulfilled. They have tried hard and they are not succeeding, and they would like God to do some miracles for them. Here is an English public schoolgirl's prayer: 'Holy Mary, I believe that without sin thou didst conceive. Now I pray in my believing that I may sin without conceiving.' They are going there in search of some miracles, they are not interested in discovering the truth.