Why does religion change if it is eternal?

Religion is eternal, you say, but then why does it go on changing?

And the second thing to be remembered: this is the change that is brought by enlightened people, but there are other changes also which go on parallel to it. Many changes are brought by the priests not because they know what truth is, but they have to adjust to people's needs. When an enlightened person like Jesus or Buddha makes any change, he has to look at two things: he has to look at truth and he has to look at people's minds. He has to create a bridge. But when a priest looks at the people he is only looking at the people -- the politics, the society, the economics. He has no idea of truth. He goes on making compromises, he goes on changing the religion. He has to change because he has to adjust. A thousand and one changes are brought by the priests, but the changes…

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.…

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, you often say that religion is rebellion, revolt. But by definition dharma is that which upholds all; dharma is the supreme law; dharma is eternal. How can that supreme, that eternal, be rebellious?

The danger is this: because of worshipping that corpse, whenever an intelligent person is born in your house and says, “Be free of this dead body,” the whole house turns against him. “You tell us to burn our mother? To burn our scripture? Our tradition that has always been—our fathers worshipped this corpse, and their fathers, and their fathers. From this has come our very birth. This is our culture, our civilization!” Whenever discernment is born in such a house, there is turmoil; rebellion becomes necessary. Some son has to rebel. And the irony is: the son who rebels is the one who stands for life. The traditionalist is an enemy of life, a mere follower of a line. He is a worshipper of the past—he has respect for the dead, and contempt for the living. Who were those who crucified Jesus? Not bad people—remember this. You often fall into…

Osho, why has human faith in religion waned?

Then there is a further fall. This is when, around Buddha, people hear, oppose, accept. Then two-and-a-half thousand years pass. One generation hands it to the next. Those who had heard from Buddha, or at least seen him—some hint of truth must have reached their ears; some touch of Buddha’s presence must have touched them; some color of Buddha must have fallen upon their souls—however slight, it fell. Then their sons and their sons’ sons believe because the fathers believed, the forefathers believed, people have always believed—and then belief becomes blind belief. What you call religions are superstitions. They should have been bid farewell long ago. New editions of truth descend from the sky every day. A new Koran descends every day. God has not grown tired, has not exhausted Himself with Mohammed. Jesus is not God’s only son—as Christians say, the only begotten. Nor did God come to an…