When people can’t brag about themselves, their hidden ego brags through their group—so they claim “my religion is best” while pretending to be humble.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why is it that every religion boasts about being the greatest and truest religion in the world?
In fact, the Buddhist has never accepted Mahavira as an enlightened person. The Buddhists have always condemned Mahavira as a little perverted because he was moving naked -- something is wrong with the man! In contemporary language you can say the Buddhist has always thought of Mahavira as a masochist, torturing himself. And ask the Jaina: he thinks the Buddha was not a real ascetic -- he lived in a little bit of comfort. He was not a real ascetic like Mahavira, moving naked in the heat, in the rain, in the cold, in every season, and almost starving. There is a record of his twelve years of spiritual exercises in which it is said that he ate only once every week or every month -- only once. Sometimes he would eat after one week, sometimes after two weeks, sometimes after three weeks, sometimes after four weeks -- only once.…Read the full discourse →
Osho, "holier-than-thou" seems to be my lifelong mantra. Growing up as a catholic, I thanked god daily that I was a part of the one true religion. As a catholic nun I knew I had "made it". Now, as a sannyasin, I observe those same attitudes and judgments happening at every turn. I watch myself as I act superior around non-sannyasins and inferior around those who have been with you longer than I. I really exhaust myself in constructing intricate continua along which to place everyone in relation to myself. I simply can't shake hard enough to let it go. Please comment.
Being a logical man, and being a very polite, cultured man, he could not say no to Gandhi. He thought the best is swallow the whole chutney in one gulp, and then enjoy your food, rather than destroying the whole food again and again. That chutney has to be tasted and that was a rule in Gandhi's ashram: you cannot leave anything on the plate, everything has to be eaten. So he swallowed chutney in one gulp and Gandhi immediately ordered more chutney for him. He said, "Look! A man of understanding immediately can see the medicinal qualities of neem leaves." For seven days he has to suffer that hell... The whole idea behind the neem chutney was to destroy your delicate, fragile tastebuds, so that you only stuff yourself without tasting: aswad -- tastelessness. That has been one of the very cherished goals of religious people. So if you…Read the full discourse →
Osho, with Saint Paltu’s aphorism “Deepak bara nam ka” a new series of talks begins today. Please explain what this lamp of the Name is, and which “Name” Saint Paltu is referring to?
To prove this greatness of the “I,” this ego, you clutch at this and that. All this must be dropped—only then the seed breaks. Courage is needed to leave the known and enter the unknown. Our deranged mind clings to the past—because mind is nourished by the past. Mind is nothing but the accumulation of the past. It has no way to enter the unknown; it lives only in the known, in the familiar. Therefore mind is the obstacle. It is what does not let your lamp be lit. The moment there is no distance between you and a lit lamp—when this mind no longer stands between—your lamp will be lit instantly. But you, too, must do something: come closer. Trust brings you close; become moist with love. Become zero, become silent. I call that silence meditation. What Paltu calls “Name,” I call “meditation.” Only a difference of word. When…Read the full discourse →
Osho, I feel that I have nothing to lay at your feet, and this poverty is unbearable. Kirti has asked. Keep in mind what I was just saying: this meekness is also a form of ego. Do not think this meekness is anything very good; it is only the shadow of ego. What is the need to offer anything? What is the need to place something at my feet? Stay close to me and learn to be a zero—that is enough. Then everything has been offered. Just offer your ego—enough is enough.
In a Jain temple the talk goes on: “Jainism is the greatest.” No objection there. In a Hindu temple: “Hinduism is the greatest.” In the mosque: “There is no faith greater than Islam.” These discussions go on within their own boundaries, and everyone present nods—because they are all Muslims, or all Hindus, or all Jains. But try to see this truth: everyone says the same thing. If donkeys and horses could speak, they too would say the same: “None greater than us.” I have heard that when Darwin propounded that man evolved from apes, there was an uproar among humans. It didn’t sit well—they were hurt: “We evolved from apes!” They had always thought God created them; suddenly the paternity changed! From God to ape—what a switch! Where God—and where an ape! Humans were angry; none was ready to accept it. But I have heard, there was a great uproar…Read the full discourse →
Osho, what is the greatest harm that the so-called religions have done to humanity?
Just a single hit, and what you are -- you may be acting a Buddha, a Christ, a Krishna -- it will disappear, just by a simple hit on your head. Imitation cannot go to your being, it is going to remain just on the surface. You can practice it for thirty years, forty years.... There are monks who have been practicing for fifty years. There are monasteries, Catholic monasteries, where once a monk enters, he never comes out; and thousands of people are living in such monasteries. What are they doing? Continually trying, making an effort somehow to become a little bit like Christ; if not the whole Christ, even a partial Christ will do. But that imitation is not going to help. It may give you a pseudo, phony mask, but scratch it just a little bit and you will find your real person is still there. You…Read the full discourse →