Why do religions conceptualize God as a person?

Osho, why did almost all religions form a notion of God as a person? Christians speak of a personal God. Why do you say he is not a person but a presence?

Nikhilanand, those who have known have said exactly what I am saying. It cannot be otherwise. But the ones who know religion and the ones who manufacture religions are different people. Buddha knows—but who builds the religion? The pundits. Mahavira knows—but who builds it? The pundits. The knower is one person; the maker is another. The one who knows did not construct; the one who doesn’t know is the one who constructed. Hence all the distortion. And those who constructed without knowing had their own purposes. They turned religion into a basis for exploitation. For exploitation to work in the name of religion, the notion of a personal God is essential. Without a personal God, whom will you worship? Whose scripture will you recite? For whom the sacrifices, the fire rituals? Whose temples, whose idols? Whose mosques, whose churches? The priest’s entire business collapses. There is no need for the…

Beloved Osho, if the experience of god is a subjective experience, then what are priests and popes for? If the experience of god is an objective experience, then why don't they produce him?

Because of the concept of God, man has been able to live -- not very joyously, because his whole living is based on wrong principles. But still, somehow he has been able to drag through his life. Without God you sudddenly feel a cold wave around you, a dark night surrounding you. God was the great father -- protection, security, hope... all are gone. This makes one mature -- if you can get rid of God you are mature. According to me, twenty-one years of age does not make you mature, adult. Only one thing makes man mature, and that is getting rid of God -- because God is a bundle of all kinds of fears, greeds, hopes. It is opium; it keeps you drugged. But while you are drugged your life is slipping by, and soon death will knock on the door and then it will be too late.…

God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, satiety and want.

SEA WATER IS AT ONCE VERY PURE AND VERY FOUL: IT IS DRINKABLE AND HEALTHFUL FOR FISHES, BUT UNDRINKABLE AND DEADLY FOR MEN. THE NATURE OF DAY AND NIGHT IS ONE. THE WAY UP AND THE WAY DOWN ARE ONE AND THE SAME. EVEN SLEEPERS ARE WORKERS AND COLLABORATORS IN WHAT GOES ON IN THE UNIVERSE. IN THE CIRCLE THE BEGINNING AND THE END ARE COMMON. Something psychological is involved. Man is afraid of darkness; man feels very good when there is light -- it is part of your fear. Why do you call God light? The Koran says God is light, the Upanishads say God is light, The Bible says God is light. There has only been a small school -- in that small school Jesus was taught and brought up to be ready to receive the divine -- that small school was known as the Essenes; they were…

Osho, what is god?

GOD is not a person. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings, and it has prevailed so long that it has become almost a fact. Even if a lie is repeated continuously for centuries it is bound to appear as if it is a truth. God is a presence, not a person. Hence all worshipping is sheer stupidity. Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence -- like beauty, like joy. God simply means godliness. It is because of this fact that Buddha denied the existence of God. He wanted to emphasize that God is a quality, an experience -- like love. You cannot talk to love, you can live it. You need not create temples of love, you need…

Invocation

WHAT SIGHT FAILS TO SEE, BUT WHAT SEES SIGHT -- KNOW THOU THAT ALONE AS BRAHMAN, AND NOT THIS THAT PEOPLE WORSHIP HERE. WHAT HEARING FAILS TO HEAR, BUT WHAT HEARS HEARING -- KNOW THOU THAT ALONE AS BRAHMAN, AND NOT THIS THAT PEOPLE WORSHIP HERE. WHAT PRANA DOES NOT REVEAL, BUT WHAT REVEALS PRANA -- KNOW THOU THAT ALONE AS BRAHMAN, AND NOT THIS THAT PEOPLE WORSHIP HERE. This century started with a very strange declaration. The declaration was made by Friedrich Nietzsche. He said, "God is dead, and hence man is totally free from now on." The declaration looked very strange the moment it was made but it proved prophetic. And, by and by, it became the base of the modern mind. Really, for the modern man, God is dead. It is not that God is dead: if God can be dead then nothing can be alive, because…