According to Osho, rituals and rules are limiting because they replace living, heartfelt communion with dead, secondhand forms. Without the heart, prayer becomes lip-service—conditioned gestures that breed hypocrisy and ego. True religion is spontaneous presence; when love is alive, even an awkward or self-made prayer has wings. Fixed forms comfort the mind but sever intimacy, reducing devotion to performance.
If your heart isn’t in it, following set prayers or rules is just pretending—you miss the real connection.