Devil

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY DID THE HOLY BOOKS HAVE TO INVENT THE IDEA OF THE DEVIL? To be a Mohammedan is just to believe in three things: one God, one prophet Mohammed, one holy book, the Koran. That's all -- these three beliefs and you are saved. If you are not willing to be saved by these three beliefs, then the sword is going to save you immediately. But they won't allow you to live a wrong life. They know what a right life is; and other than their life, all lives are wrong. These are the holy books. All these holy books are a heavy burden on the human soul. So first I want to say, there are no holy books -- including mine. All books are human. Yes, there are well written books and there are not-so-well written books, but there are no categories of holy and unholy.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, IS THE DEVIL REALLY MALE? God being a woman will create trouble. Then the devil will be a man -- because they have to be polar opposites. Perhaps the women's liberation movement has not thought about the implications of what they are doing. I would like God to be the man and tortured by the devil, the woman, rather than vice-versa, because good can be tortured by bad, but bad cannot be tortured by good. But the question simply has not come up around the world -- and women are insisting that God is a woman. It is really strange that nobody has bothered about the devil, who is a more important person than God. God is only a VIP, the devil is a VVIP! God may have created the world, but the devil is running it -- and running it so devilishly and so perfectly.

Beloved Osho, where did the devil come from when he appeared to adam and eve as a serpent?

Not only were ordinary women forced to confess and burned alive, once a woman accepted that she was a witch and has had a sexual relationship with the devil, then certainly she could not be allowed to remain alive even for a single moment. She was bringing the devil into human blood, she would pollute the whole of humanity: she had to be burned alive. And it was not ordinary women only -- even nuns, mother superiors, they managed, and forced them to confess. Anybody could raise the suspicion, just that was enough. Anybody, any man, could raise the suspicion to the pope, to the bishop, to the high priest, that this woman, this nun, seems to be a witch. That was enough for the investigation to begin. And there was a special court arranged by the pope, the Inquisition, with a big office and hundreds of people working for…

Osho, my wise shiatsu teacher at home told us, "you cannot fight against the devil, you can only play with him." I feel that this could help me but I do not understand it completely. Would you speak about it?

But this is not what is ordinarily understood by a religious person. A religious person becomes very, very serious. He looks at you as if you are sinners condemned to go to hell, doomed. He walks erect, with great pride. You can see in his eyes that he knows that he is 'holier than thou', higher than thou, that he is saved and you are condemned. And of course he becomes very serious; his going to the church, to the temple, his prayer, his ritual, all are very serious affairs. He does not take it non-seriously, playfully. And you cannot know what prayer is if you don't know what playfulness is. Real religion teaches you playfulness -- sincerity of course, but seriousness no, authenticity of course, but seriousness no. You have come to the right place, Christiane, that's what we are doing here. This whole space that is being created…