Female Consciousness

One friend says, "lao tzu has talked of the profundity of the female-consciousness but no tirthankar, or avatar or paigambara (prophet) or a jesus or a buddha or a mahavira or a krishna is born out of a female-consciousness. If the female-consciousness is so superlative, all religions of the world should have been thereof. All religions have however originated from man. Why?"

This definitely requires to be understood. There is a reason to this. Everything that is born in this world, is a result of the male and female relationship. In the birth of a child, the role of the male is accidental. His contribution is momentary, but he is the initiator. The birth of the child begins through him. All things in this world are born this way. You will be surprised to know that even though Mahavira, Jesus and Buddha give rise to a religion, it was because of the women it was absorbed by the people. It is the women who first absorb it, develop it and spread it. This could never have occurred to you. Go to a temple, a mosque, a church, whom do you find there? Man is missing. If he is there it is only out of fear of his wife. All churches and temples…

A friend has asked: Osho, do all the enlightened have their consciousness become feminine?

It will, inevitably. But by “feminine” it doesn’t mean they become women. By “feminine” I mean their consciousness shifts from aggression to receptivity, from being aggressive to being receptive. Only when this receptivity arises can one open the inner doors to the divine.

Someone has asked: Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao Tzu, Rajneesh—meaning, all men! Then why has no woman ever carried the news of Buddhahood to the world? Is becoming a bodhisattva harder from a woman’s point of view?

Many things have to be understood in this regard. First, woman and man are fundamentally different. Different does not mean higher or lower; they are equal, but opposite. Neither is above, neither below. Equal—but polar opposites. And their polarity is essential; from the union of these two opposites, birth happens and the current of life flows. Because they are opposite there is attraction; because they are opposite there is also love and there is conflict. Love, because there is attraction; conflict, because they are opposite. Between woman and man there can never be a final reconciliation—nor can there be. Their polarity creates a pull, and the same polarity creates attraction. Man is incomplete without woman; woman is incomplete without man. Man wants to be whole with woman; woman wants to be whole with man. To be whole alone is very difficult—until the inner journey begins, one goes on seeking outer…

And god has to be seduced, persuaded, provoked, called forth. One need not go in search of god. Where will you search for him? You don't have any address. Even if you come across him you will not be able to recognise him because you don't have any previous experience. God can only be waited for, and in true waiting he arrives. The lotus flower represents that quality of waiting, softness, grace, femininity, receptivity. It sends its fragrance, it releases its fragrance and waits. So that has to be remembered: religion is basically feminine just as science is basically male. Western psychology is male; the Eastern psychology is feminine. And just in understanding it you will find a grace arising in you; tensions start withering away. That's why women are so beautiful, so round. Even in small children the baby girl is silent, more quiet.