Hinduism

Osho, you said that the Hindu genius was once supremely intelligent and succeeded in touching the ultimate heights of religion. As a result there came into being devas, dvijas, gurus and gnanis; the Upanishads, the Gita, the Dhammapada and the Jina-vani. Then what is the reason that the same people have fallen into the great abyss of decline for a thousand years, with no sign of rising?

The West too produces, once in a while, an Einstein—knower of the outer. But even that does not solve anything. The masses remain full of tension and anxiety. Is it not possible to accept the outer and the inner together? Both are; your acceptance or rejection makes no difference—only you get into trouble. Take breathing: it goes out and it comes in. If you insist, “I will only draw it in; I will not let it go out,” you will die. Another insists, “I will not let it go in; I will hold it out here”—he too will die. The East died; the West died—because both embraced only half. I call courageous the one who accepts both together, who says, “I will keep both pans of the scale in balance.” The East has lost; the West has lost. And the danger is: when you lose one thing, a craving arises…

Sarva niramaya paripoornohamasmiti mumukshunam mokshaik siddhirbhawati "I am that absolutely pure brahman: to realize this is the attainment of liberation."

Ramanuj said, "Then it is impossible, because you do not know how to melt. And it will be very difficult for you to reach the Divine. If you have known love, then you can understand the language of melting. If you have known love, no matter how little, you have broken the bar, broken the barrier. Then you have looked beyond. It may have just been a glimpse, but then something can be added to it and the glimpse can become a vision. But you say that you do not know love at all. You refuse it totally. Then I do not know how to help you toward the Divine, because it is a love affair." And, really, this happens: if you love a mere human being, in the moment of love the human being disappears and the Divine is there. It is impossible not to have known it: in…

Osho, comparing with other religions, you said that such a mind has not existed in this country. You have overlooked a very big historical fact: in the stream of “One, without a second,” there is still so much diversity in this country’s consciousness that there are 330 million gods. Whereas those who believe in one book, one prophet—one Bible, one Christ—have walked a single path. Here you will find worshippers of Rama, some of Vishnu; even within Rama, both formless and with-form worshippers, and so on. So in this country there has always been freedom to think.

Understand this a little, understand it a little. In this country there hasn’t been freedom to think; rather, there have been many prisons to bind thinking—not just one. In one village there is one jail; in another village there are ten. The village with ten jails says, “We have great freedom—go to any jail you like.” The other village is not free; it has only one jail. See, there is a difference between reasoning and mere verbal cleverness. Who will decide who is doing clever wordplay and who is reasoning? Who will decide? Time will decide. Yes, time will decide. What I am saying is: in India too the mind is the same; only the prisons are many. The multiplicity of prisons creates the illusion of freedom. It looks as if one worships Rama, another Krishna, another Buddha, another Mahavira—so there is a lot of worship, therefore there is great…

Great intelligence is born when you start searching for something higher -- higher than you, bigger than you. Friedrich Nietzsche has said 'The saddest day in humanity's life will be when man will not think of surpassing himself.' He is right. And it seems that the saddest day has come... it has come too soon. Nietzsche was here just one hundred years ago; within a century his prophecy is almost fulfilled. The major part of humanity thinks no more in terms of transcending itself. People have all become engaged with small toys, and meanwhile life goes on slipping by... a very precious life wasted in gathering rubbish. Fortunate is the man who starts becoming discontented with the so-called world, and in whom a great discontent arises -- a longing to reach to heaven, a longing for the moon. That's what sannyas is all about: the longing for the impossible.