When Sekito received the precepts, his master, Seigen, asked him, “Now you have received the precepts, you want to learn the Vinaya, don’t you?”
Sekito replied, “There’s no need to learn the Vinaya.”
Seigen asked, “Then, you want to read The Book of Sheela?”
Sekito replied, “There’s no need to read The Book of Sheela.”
Seigen asked, “Can you deliver a letter to Nangaku Osho?”
Sekito said, “Certainly.”
Seigen said, “Go now, and come back quickly. If you come back even a little late, you will miss me. If you miss me, you cannot get the big hatchet under my chair.”
Soon Sekito reached Nangaku. Before handing over the letter, Sekito made a bow and asked, “Osho, when one neither follows the old saints nor expresses one’s innermost soul, what will one do?”
Nangaku said, “Your question is too arrogant. Why don’t you ask modestly?”
To which Sekito replied, “Then it would be better to sink into hell eternally and not ever hope for the liberation that the old saints know.”
Sekito, finding that he and Nangaku were not attuned to each other, soon left for Seigen without giving Nangaku the letter. On his arrival, Seigen asked, “Did they entrust something to you?”
Sekito said, “They didn’t entrust anything to me.”
Seigen said, “But there must have been a reply.”
Sekito said, “If they don’t entrust anything, there is no reply.” Then he said, “When I was leaving here, you added that I should come back soon to receive the big hatchet under the chair. Now I have come back, please give me the big hatchet.”
Seigen was silent. Sekito bowed down and retired.
Friends, before I answer your questions, I have to answer two letters from very knowledgeable idiots. This distinction has to be remembered. There is a certain ignorance that knows, and there is a certain knowledgeability that knows nothing.
One is a Buddhist scholar, and he writes, “An enlightened man cannot be concerned with the trivia of the ordinary world and its concerns.”
It means, according to him, I am an ignorant man. It is a compliment to me because every enlightened man finally becomes as ignorant as a child, or as innocent as a child. Socrates’ last words were: “I don’t know anything.”
This man is a scholar, but blind. Does he think that a Third World War, which is going to erase the whole of humanity, is trivia? Does he think that the explosion of population in this country is trivia when it is going to kill almost five hundred million people in the coming ten years?
And if these are trivia then I have to take him back to Gautam Buddha. He was concerned that no sannyasin of his should have more than three pieces of clothes – that was trivia. He was concerned that no sannyasin of his should wear shoes – that is trivia. He was concerned that no sannyasin should eat more than one time in a day – that was trivia. And still he is enlightened and I am ignorant. This is what I call a knowledgeable idiot.
Buddha has made thirty-three thousand rules for his disciples – all trivia. Where can you find thirty-three thousand truths? Truth is one and inexpressible. But he was concerned with absolute trivia.

One sannyasin was going to spread Buddha’s message. He had come for his last word because he may not be coming back to him for two or three years. And what was his message? “Don’t look at a woman.” Now, unless you look, you cannot decide whether the person is a woman or a man.
I don’t understand what kind of nonsense Buddha was talking. How are you going to know that the person coming toward you is a woman? You have to see first, then you can close your eyes, but you have seen. And once you have seen a beautiful woman and you close your eyes, she becomes more beautiful. Is it not trivia?
And Buddha told him, “You have to keep your eyes just four feet ahead of you. Just look only four feet ahead and keep your eyes down, so even if you come across a woman you only see her feet.” This is great spiritual stuff!
The man was a little puzzled. He said, “I will try my best, but if by chance I happen to see a woman accidentally – suddenly a woman comes from out of the forest or on a crossroad – what should I do?”
Buddha said, “If you accidentally see a woman, don’t talk to her.”
Is it great spirituality? “Don’t even say hello because she is a woman.”
And the man insisted. He said, “If the woman says something, won’t it be embarrassing not to answer her? Will it not be inhuman?”
Buddha said, “If such a coincidence happens, you can talk to her, but don’t touch her.” Is this spiritual stuff?
What do you call trivia? The whole humanity is going to die and I should not speak? And your Gautam Buddha is talking absolute nonsense to the people.
The man was intelligent enough. He said, “There may be a situation in which I have to touch a woman. Perhaps a woman has fallen in a well. What am I supposed to do? Or in a ditch, what am I supposed to do? Should I just go on without looking at her miserable state, without helping her?”
And Buddha said, “If such a coincidence happens, you can touch her. But remember: all that is outside is illusory.”
If it is illusory, then why make the first point? The woman is illusory – and don’t touch her! What is the problem if you touch an illusion? Don’t talk to the illusion! Don’t look at the illusion! This I call absolute trivia.

These Buddhist scholars are going to provoke me. I will pull Gautam Buddha down completely! My concern for humanity makes me ignorant, and his concern about women and about clothes and about shoes, and about not touching women, not looking more than four feet ahead, makes him enlightened? His enlightenment is rotten – it is a bullock-cart enlightenment. I am a contemporary man, twenty-five centuries ahead of Gautam Buddha. He is just old hat.
But these Buddhist scholars are provoking me. I will start talking about Gautam Buddha, and pull down the whole house that he has built because it is all built on stupid things.
My concern with humanity is absolutely spiritual. My concern for this beautiful planet is sacred. It is my compassion and my love. And I don’t care about any Gautam Buddha. I am a buddha in my own right, and your old Buddha is too out of date. I belong to my time, and I speak the language of my time.
Buddha was afraid to allow women in his commune. For twenty years continuously he refused women. What was the fear? He did not trust his own sannyasins. This was distrust. A master distrusting his own people? He was afraid of what would happen to the celibacy of the monks if women entered into the commune. But if their celibacy is so thin that the entry of a woman is going to disturb their celibacy, it is not much of a celibacy.
They must have been homosexuals, as we are finding now in every monastery around the world that all kinds of sexual perversions are practiced. It cannot have been otherwise for Buddha’s disciples. Only my people are living a natural, sacred, existential life, not against the current, not against the universe. And without listening to me, without reading me, these idiots go on making their comments.
My whole effort is to bring materialism and spirituality into a balance. To me the outside world is as real as the inside world. Naturally this creates trouble for me from both the sides. The communists have written books against me, for the reason that I am teaching spirituality and meditation, and diverting people from their real concern, which is a classless society. And I am making people selfish because I am just telling them to go in.
And the spiritualists are against me; they have written books against me, and articles, and every day there are letters. Their problem is that I am taking too much interest in the world. A man of real spirituality should close his eyes because the world is illusory.
But none of your so-called and self-styled enlightened people have taken the trouble to think twice. When you say the world is illusory, then there is no need to renounce it. Nobody renounces dreams. Do you renounce your dream when you wake up in the morning? A dream is just a dream, there is no question of renouncing it. And if you are having a sweet dream, I say enjoy it.
Make this whole world a sweet dream, not a nightmare. All your politicians and all your priests are trying to make it a nightmare. Then naturally people think of renouncing it. It is such a tragedy.
I am not in favor of renouncing the world, and I don’t say that the world is illusory; otherwise, why does Buddha go begging every day? If the world is illusory, why are you going begging before an illusory house? If a woman gives you food, she is illusory and the food is real!
Why do you need three pieces of clothes? This was the criticism of Mahavira, of Buddha’s contemporary, who lived naked. He did not accept Buddha as enlightened because he was not living naked. To Mahavira, three pieces of clothes was luxury – a man who lived naked in summer, in winter, in rain. Naturally he has the right to say to Buddha, “You are living in great luxury. Three pieces of clothes? You are much too materialistic.”
Buddha ate one meal a day; to Mahavira that was luxury. In the twelve years before Mahavira became enlightened, he ate on only three hundred and sixty-five days, in twelve years he ate only one year – not continuously. Two months passed, and then one day he would eat; three months passed, and one day he would eat – so it came to nearly one year in twelve years. That means that after eleven days he was eating one day, on average. Of course, to him Buddha is indulging in luxury. These are relative terms.
And Buddha was criticizing Mahavira for such trivial things, because he could not find answers to Mahavira’s criticism that he was living in luxury with daily food and three pieces of clothes. He found another way to criticize him.
The followers of Mahavira were saying, “Mahavira is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient” – all the qualities of God. And Buddha was laughing at Mahavira, telling his disciples, “This fellow, this guy, is omniscient, all knowing? I know him. Once he was begging before a house in which nobody lives. And he talks about knowing everything – past, present, future – and he does not know that the house is empty, there is nobody there, it has been empty for years. This man is omniscient?
“And one day he was passing early in the morning, going to the river, and he stamped on the tail of a dog who was fast asleep on the road. He only realized it when the dog started barking. This man is omniscient, all knowing, and he does not know that the dog is lying just in front of him?”
Do you think these criticisms are very spiritual? Neither are Mahavira’s criticisms very spiritual, nor are Buddha’s criticisms very spiritual. Just trivia. So I want to tell this Buddhist scholar: consider again who is enlightened.
The other is also a Buddhist scholar, and he had said to me, “I have been reading your books on Buddha, and I have appreciated them very much.” But he never wrote any letters to me, nor any letter to the newspapers. Now he had published a letter in the newspapers.
It is a strange thing: when I was saying things in appreciation, nobody ever wrote a single word. They thought what I was saying is really the meaning of Buddha’s sutras. It was not! The meaning was given by me, and I can take it away, and tear down all your scriptures point by point!
Now he says that I cannot have samadhi – enlightenment – because I don’t have sheel, I have only pragya. He does not understand at all – neither Buddha nor me. Pragya is a by-product of samadhi, of enlightenment. Pragya means wisdom. Unless you become enlightened, you cannot have wisdom, you can have only knowledge. And pragya does not mean knowledge, it means wisdom. It is a by-product of samadhi, enlightenment. But he has no experience of samadhi, he has just seen the scriptures. And you will see in the coming sutra, an authentic seeker simply denies that he has anything to do with sheel. Sheel means character. Now he is concerned with my character: “Without character you cannot become enlightened.” What does he know about my character? And has he ever thought about the character of Buddha?
For twenty-nine years continuously Buddha was indulging in sex – not only with his wife; he had many concubines. His father was told when he was born that either he would become a world emperor, or he would renounce the world and become an enlightened one. These were the two alternatives. Of course the father wanted him to become a world emperor.
So he asked how to prevent him from becoming enlightened. “I want him to become the world emperor.” He was a small king in a small kingdom. Arun, from Nepal, has just brought a picture of the palace – which is in ruins – where Buddha was born. Even in the ruins you can see that the kingdom was not great. The palace looks like just an ordinary big house. And it was a small village on the border of Nepal and India. Naturally his father must have had the ambition of Buddha becoming a great world conqueror.
And the astrologers suggested, “If you want him to be prevented from enlightenment, then make every comfort and luxury possible for him. He should grow up in luxury, indulgence. He should not see anybody old, anybody dead. Even the flowers which are going to fall down should be removed before he sees them. All pale leaves which are going to fall should be removed.
“And he should be made to live in different palaces in different seasons so he never comes to feel any season is a trouble.” So three palaces were made in different places: one for the summer, one for the winter, one for the rain. And great gardens were created around the palaces. And his father collected all the beautiful girls from the kingdom to be Buddha’s concubines. He was surrounded with women, music, wine, for twenty-nine years. He had a wife and a son. And he became enlightened.
I don’t have a son, I don’t have a wife, I don’t have concubines, I don’t even have a girlfriend. And I don’t have character? And Buddha has character! No man has indulged more than Gautam Buddha. What character…?
He used to have five disciples before his enlightenment. They were disciples because he was an ascetic. He was torturing himself, fasting and had become just a skeleton. And these five disciples were immensely impressed by his self-torture. The whole of humanity lives with this idea: if you torture yourself, you are a saint.
The day he became enlightened, he dropped all self-torture, it was absolutely useless. All his five disciples left him immediately: he has fallen, fallen from saintliness. He had become enlightened, and those five disciples who had been with him for many years, respecting him as a great saint, just left him, saying, “He has fallen. He has started eating, he has started having warm clothes.”
Perhaps these Buddhist scholars don’t understand anything at all except the scriptures. Character arises out of enlightenment, it is not vice versa. It is not character that produces enlightenment, otherwise enlightenment would have a cause to it. Enlightenment is your nature; it has no cause. It is already there, you just have to discover it. It does not matter what kind of character you have. If you go inward the sinner will find the buddha just as much as the saint. And only after you have found your enlightenment, the radiation of the enlightenment becomes your character, your sheel.
Your enlightenment becomes your innocence, and out of that innocence arises wisdom. But wisdom is not knowledge, it is simply transparent clarity about everything, inner or outer.
But these knowledgeable idiots simply prove something that I have been continuously telling you: don’t get involved in scholarship, don’t get involved in knowledgeability. That is the greatest barrier to enlightenment, because you are so full of knowledge, and all knowledge is of the mind.
Enlightenment is not of the mind, it is the fragrance of no-mind. No-mind is not based on any character. Just the contrary: all character arises out of the clarity of no-mind. So it is not imposed from outside as a discipline, it arises as a spontaneous response. You simply cannot do any evil. It is not a question of your deciding not to do evil, you simply cannot do it. You are so full of light, how can you behave like a blind man? You are so full of light, how can you behave like a man stumbling in darkness?
Character arises, wisdom arises, and a thousand more things – blissfulness, ecstasy, benediction, compassion. And there is no end; more and more flowers go on flowering. But this is the difficulty of the knowledgeable person. He has accepted a certain fixed formula.
I want you to know absolutely clearly that just as everything goes on expanding and growing, even enlightenment becomes clearer, deeper, higher as time passes by. After twenty-five centuries, I am not going to be a replica of Gautam Buddha. I have nothing to learn from him. If anything has to be, he has to learn something from me. Twenty-five centuries have not been a mere wastage. Just as everything is progressing and evolving, so is consciousness.
But every scholar gets completely fucked up! He thinks only in terms of his scripture, and the scripture is twenty-five centuries old. I am a contemporary man, and do not belong to any category. I am a category in myself. I decide according to my spontaneous response, not according to any commandments, not according to any discipline. Whether the discipline is given by Buddha or Mahavira or Christ or Krishna, it does not matter; they are all old. But these people are living in the past.
I am moving moment to moment into the future. I have left Gautam Buddha twenty-five centuries behind. His enlightenment also is twenty-five centuries old. So much dust has gathered on it. But my mirror of consciousness is absolutely fresh, and I am not going to listen to anybody. Nobody is my master! And nobody has the right to tell me what character is and what is wisdom and what is enlightenment. Nobody has that right.
I am a man, absolutely free. I live my life according to my own light. I am nobody’s follower, and I don’t live my life according to any scripture. These idiots should shut up! Because of them I will be provoked to condemn Buddha and Mahavira and Krishna and everybody! And they won’t have any argument against me.
Now what can these people say? That Buddha was not concerned with trivia? He was concerned. And my concern is not trivia.
My concern is a Third World War that is hanging just on the horizon. Any moment and there will be no life on the earth, and no possibility of any buddha! And you call it trivia?
Beware of scholars. They are the most idiotic people in the world.

Now your questions. The first question:
Osho,
God is dead, but that creates the question: Who began this universe?
There is no need for anybody to begin it, because there is no beginning to this universe, and there is no end.
This question has been exploited by all the religions because everybody wants to know who began the universe. Your minds are so small that they cannot conceive a beginningless universe, an endless universe, just eternity to eternity. Because you cannot conceive that vastness, your question arises, “Who created the universe? Who began it?” But if there was somebody already to begin it, there was a universe. Do you see the simple arithmetic? If there was somebody already to begin it, then you cannot call it the beginning because somebody was already there.
If you think that a God is a necessary thing… It gives you consolation that God created the world, so you have a beginning. But who created God? Again you fall into the same problem.
And all the religions have said that God exists eternally; there is no creator of God. If that is true for God, why is it not true for existence itself? It is autonomous, it exists on its own. There is no need of any creator because that creator will require another creator, and you will fall into an absurd regress. You can go from A to Z. But who created Z? The question remains standing. You simply go on pushing, but the question is not solved because you have asked a wrong question.
The universe has no beginning. It is not a creation by anybody. It has no end. And remember, if it had any beginning, then there would certainly be an end. Every beginning is a beginning of an end, every birth is the beginning of death. So it is good! Get rid of God because if he can create the world he can destroy the world. And any world that is created is bound to be destroyed sooner or later. If there is birth, there is death. Only a beginningless universe can be endless.
So your problem is just because the capacity of the mind is very limited. That’s why I want you to go beyond mind. Only no-mind can conceive the beginningless, the endless. The incomprehensible becomes absolutely clear, there is no problem at all. Those who have risen beyond mind have also simultaneously risen beyond God. God is a need for the mind because the mind cannot conceive infinite, eternal things; it can only conceive very limited things. The question arises because of your mind’s incapacity, its impotence.
You ask: “God is dead, but that creates the question, ‘Who began this universe?’” But have you ever thought that God will not solve the question? On the contrary, the question will be pushed a step back: Who created God? Any hypothesis that does not destroy the question is absolutely useless. Any answer that keeps on pushing the question further back but does not touch it at all is not the answer.
The only answer you will find is in your own experience of eternity. Then you will know nobody has created it. It has no beginning, no end: you don’t have any beginning, you don’t have any end. When you experience it within your own self, you know existence is autonomous, it is not created.
A created thing cannot be more than a mechanism; it cannot be an organic reality. A car is created, man is not created. If man is also created, then he becomes a mechanism, a robot. You can dismantle a car, take all the pieces apart – the wheels and everything – and you can put them back together and the car will be perfectly okay. But cut a man into pieces and then join them together with German glue and still the man will not be back together. An organic phenomenon cannot be dissected. The moment you dissect it, its very mystery disappears. Then you can rejoin those parts, but you will have only a corpse, not a living human being.
It is the dignity of existence that it is not created. It is the dignity of man that he is not created. God is an insult to existence, to man, to consciousness, to everything. God is a humiliation. God is not a solution for any problem; in fact, he creates more problems in the world. He does not solve anything.
There are three hundred religions in the world and all are fighting with each other. And they are all created because of the concept of God, because they have all invented their own concepts.
The Hindu God has three heads. Just think of the poor fellow. Imagine having three heads. I don’t think you would be able to stand up. One head would be falling this side, one head would be falling that side, this head would be falling this side, the very weight…
I have seen the statues and the pictures of the Hindu God. His whole body seems to be just like a man; it cannot manage three heads. I have seen children in circuses that are freaks of nature. I have seen children with two heads, but they cannot even sit, they are just lying down. The circus is enjoying their tragedy, earning money.
I have heard…

A man had gone to see a circus, and there was a three-headed child in the circus. And the man was very much concerned because all his children…
He had twenty children and four wives. He was a Mohammedan. The fee was one rupee per person, and all of his children were insisting on seeing it. There was great trouble. The father was trying to convince them, “We don’t have twenty rupees. I can stay out, and I can send you, but we don’t have twenty rupees.”
The owner, who was distributing tickets, heard all this argument between the children and the father. He said, “Wait! I will give you twenty rupees. Let me bring the child with three heads. He can see you are a bigger phenomenon! One man with twenty children!”
And he brought the child in a trolley to look at this man who has twenty children. The man gave him twenty rupees as a fee because, “This boy also needs some entertainment. He gives entertainment to thousands of people.”
But that boy could not see from all of his three faces and six eyes. It was difficult for him even to turn in the trolley.

The Hindu God must be living on a trolley. One head will always be pushing against the pillow, breathing will be difficult. And walking is out of the question. And all the three gods, which have one body, have wives. Just see the tragedy: each god is joined with two other gods, and each god has a separate wife. Three wives to one man, because the sexual machinery is only one. I never heard that the Indian God has three lots of sexual machinery! Now, I cannot figure out how things are managed…
These fictions create three hundred religions because everybody is free to have his own fiction. Why borrow anybody else’s fiction? There are religions that think that God has one thousand hands. One thousand hands? They must be growing all over the body just like branches of a tree. I don’t think he can manage to do anything. One thousand hands? From the back they will be growing backward, from the front they will be growing… There will be no space left for anything else!
There are gods that have a thousand eyes – I cannot conceive it. Even with no-mind I cannot conceive it! A thousand eyes in one head? Then there is no possibility for ears, no possibility for the nose, no possibility for the mouth, no possibility for anything – not even hair. He must be bald, with eyes all over the head. Even then I don’t think he can manage one thousand eyes. How will he move? According to which eye will he see? Even if he winks at a woman, which eye will he use? One thousand eyes, winking at one woman? That will be real romance!
God has not solved any problem. God has created thousands of problems. And every religion has its own idea because it is a fiction. You don’t have different ideas about the sun; you don’t have different ideas about the rose. You can have only different ideas about a fiction. It is then up to you, whichever way you want it.
The Bible says God created man in his own image. The reality is just the opposite. Man has created God in his own image. And he has been trying to refine the image of God, finding explanations for all kinds of absurdities. He needs a thousand hands because he has to care for five billion people. But if you have to care about five billion people, you need five billion hands. One thousand hands won’t do. At least, if you want to shake hands with the whole of humanity, you will need five billion hands. Just hands and hands and nothing else! You go on shaking and nobody is there.
They go on finding explanations: he has one thousand eyes because he has to look after the whole universe. Can’t he move his head, just the way I am moving mine? I can see ten thousand people without any difficulty, just with two eyes. Doesn’t he move backward and go in reverse? He has eyes all over his head, so when he wants to go backward, the front eyes are closed, the backward eyes are open. When he wants to go sideways, three sides are closed, the right side is open. Is it a god or some kind of toy to entertain children?
The very idea of God is just because our minds cannot comprehend eternity. Once you rise beyond your limited mind to an unlimited no-mind, you can conceive all that was inconceivable before. No God is needed.

The second question:
Osho,
Is there any place for prayer in religion if there is no God?
There is no place for prayer because prayer is God-oriented. If there is no God, to whom can you pray? All prayers are false because there is nobody to answer them, nobody to hear them. All prayers are humiliations, insults, degradations. All prayers are disgusting. You are kneeling down to a fiction which does not exist.
And what are you doing in your prayers? Begging. “Give me this, give me that” – utterly beggarly – “God, give me my daily bread!” Can’t you ask once and for all? Every day? And five billion people asking, with only one person listening? Do you think he will remain sane? “Give me my daily bread”! Why not ask for the whole of your life and be finished? One prayer will do.
But every day you are bothering him, nagging him like a wife, morning and evening. And there are Mohammedans who do five prayers a day. They are the great naggers.

I used to go to take meditation camps in Udaipur. It was a long journey from the place where I lived in Jabalpur – thirty-six hours – because there was no plane at that time. In Jabalpur there was an airport, but it was a military airport, and they were not allowed to open it to the public. Now it has opened.
So I had to go in a train and change at many junctions. First, I would have to change at Katni, then I would have to change at Bina, then I would have to change at Agra. Then I would have to change at Chittaurgarh, and finally I would reach Udaipur.
It was evening time when the train reached Chittaurgarh, and Ajmer is very close to Chittaurgarh. Ajmer is one of the strongholds of the Mohammedans, so in the train there would be many Mohammedans. And the train had to wait for one hour for some other train to come which was bringing passengers for Udaipur train.
So for one hour I used to walk on the platform. All the Mohammedans lined up on the platform would be sitting in prayer, and I would enjoy them. I would just go near somebody and say, “The train is leaving!” and he would jump up. And then he would be angry at me: “You disturbed my prayer!”
I would say, “I did not disturb anybody’s prayer. I am simply doing my prayer. This is my heartfelt desire: that the train should be leaving. I was not talking to you, I don’t even know your name.”
He would say, “This is strange… In the middle of my prayer?”
I would say, “It was not prayer because I was watching: you have been looking again and again for the train.”
He would say, “That is true.”
And it was the same all over the platform. I would go to a few people further up and just whisper, “The train is leaving.” and again another person would jump up and would be very angry: “What kind of person are you? You look religious, and you disturb people in their prayer?”
I said, “I am not disturbing anybody. I am just praying to God that the train should leave now.”

What are your prayers? Begging this, begging that. Your prayer reduces you to a beggar. Meditation transforms you into an emperor. There is nobody to hear your prayers, there is nobody to answer your prayers. But all religions go on making you extrovert so that you don’t turn inward. Prayer is an extrovert thing: the God is there, and you are shouting to that God. But it is taking you away from yourself. Every prayer is irreligious.
I have told you the beautiful story by Leo Tolstoy…

The archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Russia – it is a story before the revolution – became very worried when many people from his congregation were going to a lake where there were three villagers. They lived on a small island in the lake, sitting under a tree, and thousands of people were going, thinking they were saints.
In Christianity you cannot be a saint on your own authority. The word saint comes from sanction. You have to be sanctioned by the church if you are a saint; it is a certificate. It is such an ugly idea, that the church can give you a certificate that you are a saint. Even a man like Francis of Assisi, a beautiful man, was called by the pope: “People have started worshipping you like a saint, and you don’t have any certificate.”
That’s where I feel Francis missed the point. He should have refused, but he knelt just like a Christian and asked the pope, “Give me the certificate.” Otherwise he was a nice man, a beautiful man, but I don’t mention his name because he acted in a very stupid way. This is not the way of a saint.
I don’t need anybody’s certificate for my enlightenment or for my buddhahood. I declare it. I don’t need anybody’s certificate. Who can give me a certificate? Even Gautam Buddha cannot give me a certificate. Who has given him a certificate?
But the idea of saint in English is very wrong. It comes from sanctus.
So the archbishop of Russia was very angry: “Who are these saints? I have not certified anybody in years. Where have these saints suddenly come from?” But people were going, and the church was becoming more and more empty every day.
Finally he decided to go and see who these people were. He took a boat and went to the island. Those three villagers were uneducated, simple people, utterly innocent. The archbishop was a powerful man; next to the czar he was the most powerful man in Russia. He was very angry at those three villagers and asked them, “Who made you saints?”
They looked at each other. They said, “Nobody. And we don’t think we are saints. We are poor people.”
“But why are so many people coming here?”
They said, “You have to ask them.”
The archbishop asked them, “Do you know the orthodox prayer of the church?”
They said, “We are uneducated and the prayer is too long. We cannot remember it.”
“So what prayer do you say?”
They all looked at each other. “You tell him!”
Another said, “You tell him!”
They were feeling embarrassed. The archbishop became more and more arrogant, seeing that these were absolute idiots: “They don’t even know the prayer. How can they be saints?” He said, “Any of you can tell me. Just say it!”
They said, “We are feeling very embarrassed because we have made our own prayer, not knowing the authorized prayer of the church. We have made our own prayer. It is very simple. Please forgive us that we did not ask your permission, but we were feeling so embarrassed we did not come to see you.
“God is three, we are also three, so we have made a prayer: ‘You are three, and we are three. Have mercy on us.’ This is our prayer.”
The archbishop was very angry. “This is no prayer! I have never heard this kind of thing.” He started laughing.
Those poor fellows said, “Teach us what the real prayer is. We thought it was perfectly right: ‘God is three, we are three…’ And what more is needed? Just ‘…have mercy on us.’”
So the archbishop told them the orthodox prayer, which was very long. By the time he ended, they said, “We have forgotten the beginning.” So he told the beginning again. Then they said, “We have forgotten the end.”
He was getting angry and irritated and said, “What kind of people are you? Can’t you remember a simple prayer?”
They said, “It is too long and we are uneducated, and such big words. Just be patient with us. If you repeat it two or three times perhaps we will get the knack of it.” So he repeated it three times. They said, “Okay, we will try, but we are afraid that it may not be the complete prayer. Some things may be missing. But we will try.”
The arrogant archbishop was very satisfied that he had finished off these three saints and he could tell his people, “They are idiots. Where are you going?” And he left in his boat.
Suddenly he saw that behind his boat those three people were running on the water, coming after him. He could not believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and by that time they had reached the side of his boat, standing on the water. They said, “Just one time more. We forgot!”
But seeing the situation – these people are walking on water and he was going in the boat – he said, “Continue your prayer. Don’t bother about what I have said to you. Just forgive me. I was speaking out of arrogance. Your simplicity, your innocence, is your prayer. Just go back. You don’t need any certificate.”
But they insisted, “You have come so far. Just one more time! We know we will forget it, but one more time so we can try to remember it.”
But the archbishop said, “I have been repeating that prayer my whole life, and it has not been heard. You are walking on water, and we have heard only in the miracles of Jesus that he used to walk on water. This is the first time I have seen this miracle. Just go back. Your prayer is perfectly all right!”
The prayer was not the thing because there is nobody to hear it, but their utter innocence and trust transformed them into totally new beings, so fresh, so childlike – just a roseflower opening in the early morning sun in all its beauty. Now that his arrogance had dropped, the archbishop could see their faces, their innocence, their grace, their blissfulness. And they returned back on the waters, running hand in hand, to reach their tree.

Leo Tolstoy was refused the Nobel Prize because of such stories; he was nominated. The Nobel Prize committee opens its records every fifty years. It opened its records in the middle of this century. So when it opened them the last time, in 1950, researchers rushed to see in the records: whose names were nominated and canceled, and what the reason was. Leo Tolstoy was nominated but never given the prize. And the reason was written underneath: “He is not an orthodox Christian. He writes such stories, such novels, but although he is a Christian he is not an orthodox Christian, hence the Nobel Prize cannot be given to him.”
But it was never told to the world that the Nobel Prize exists only for orthodox Christians. Leo Tolstoy was one of the most simple-hearted, innocent people, one of the most creative persons the world has ever known. His novels are of such beauty. His life was also very simple, although he was a count. His forefathers belonged to the royal family, and he still had a vast palace and thousands of acres of land and thousands of slaves. His wife was very angry with him – for his whole life this was a problem – because he lived like a slave and worked like a slave in the fields. He was very friendly with the peasants. He slept in their poor huts and ate their food.
They could not believe it. They said, “Master, you are our owner.”
He said, “No. We are all sharing. I work with you, I can eat with you, I can sleep here.”
His wife was really angry. She was a countess; she herself belonged to a very rich family, another count’s family, and she could not believe what kind of man he was. “He lives with those dirty people, he eats their food. He goes to work in the field. He does not need to.”
And such a simple man, innocent man, creative man, was refused the Nobel Prize on the grounds that he was not part of the Orthodox Church, he did not belong to the orthodox line of fanatic Christians. Even I was amazed when I read that statement. So this Nobel Prize is just for orthodox and fanatic Christians, politicians, not for creative artists.

You are asking, “Is there any place for prayer in religion?” None at all.
In an authentic religion, meditation has a place, but not prayer. Prayer is extrovert, meditation is introvert. Meditation makes you a buddha, prayer simply makes you a beggar. And prayer is fiction-oriented, meditation is truth-oriented. Meditation is Zen, and prayer is nothing but part and parcel of the fiction called God.
Avoid prayers. They are taking you away from your own existential reality. Go deeper into meditation. That is the only religiousness possible.
The sutras:
When Sekito received the precepts, his master, Seigen, asked him, “Now you have received the precepts, you want to learn the Vinaya, don’t you?”
Vinaya is one of the scriptures of Gautam Buddha. The whole name is Vinaya Pitak.
Seigen asked Sekito, “You are initiated into sannyas. Do you now want to learn the scriptures called Vinaya?” The word vinaya means humbleness. It is one of the series of discourses of Buddha.
Sekito replied, “There is no need to learn the Vinaya.”
There is no need to learn the scriptures because truth is never found in any scripture. Truth is not a philosophy or a theology. There is no need.
Sekito was sent to Seigen by his master, Eno. He was already ripe, but because Eno was feeling death was coming very fast – he was very old – and perhaps he would not be able to see the enlightenment of Sekito, it would be better to send him to a master who could help him in the last stages of his evolution. So he sent him to Seigen, who had been his lifelong competitor. But both recognized each other in their hearts as enlightened.
Sekito was not a beginner, so when Seigen asked, “Would you like to learn the scriptures?” he said, “There is no need to learn the scriptures.”
Seigen asked, “Then, you want to read The Book of Sheela ?
…the book of character. “If you don’t want to learn scriptures about humbleness, would you like to know the scriptures that deal with character, morality?”
Sheela means character. This is what the Buddhist scholar has raised in his question against me: without sheela, how you can become enlightened?
Sekito replied…
…and this is the reply of a man who was coming very close to enlightenment:
“…There is no need to read The Book of Sheela.”
…because all these things will follow enlightenment. They don’t precede, they succeed.
Enlightenment contains immense treasures. Just become enlightened and everything follows. You don’t have to learn, you don’t have to be disciplined, you don’t have to make any effort. Everything spontaneously follows you. Just first become a buddha.
So Sekito said, “There is no need to read the book of character and morality.”
Seigen asked, “Can you deliver a letter to Nangaku Osho?”
Nangaku was another famous master, and this was just a strategy of Seigen. He was trying to figure out where Sekito was. All these questions were not for any answers; he was trying to figure out the newly-arrived person who has been living with a great master, Eno – how far had he reached, how deep had he reached? He was just trying to figure Sekito out from every nook and corner, so that he could begin to know how ripe he was and how much ripening he needed. So this was another methodology. He failed. When asked about the Vinaya scriptures, Sekito answered exactly as if he is already enlightened. Seigen asked about the Sheela scriptures, and he answered exactly as if he is already enlightened.
Then Seigen tried a different way. He said: “Can you deliver a letter to Nangaku Osho?” Nangaku lived in another mountain monastery nearby.
Sekito said, “Certainly.”
Seigen said, “Go now, and come back quickly. If you come back even a little late, you will miss me. If you miss me, you cannot get the big hatchet under my chair.”
Soon Sekito reached Nangaku. Before handing over the letter, Sekito made a bow and asked, “Osho, when one neither follows the old saints nor expresses one’s innermost soul, what will one do?”
His question is very important. He is saying – with absolute respect – he is saying: “Osho, when one neither follows the old saints nor expresses one’s innermost soul, what will one do?” Nangaku said, “Your question is too arrogant.”
“Nobody asks such a question immediately. You entered into my temple and you started asking me questions. First, you need initiation. First, you have to be a disciple. I am not here to waste my time on anybody who passes by and asks any type of question. This is arrogance.”
It was not arrogance, but that was also Seigen’s strategy. Nangaku was a very different kind of master.
Nangaku said, “Your question is too arrogant. Why don’t you ask modestly?”
To which Sekito replied, “Then it would be better to sink into hell eternally and not ever hope for the liberation that the old saints know.”
“If you call my question arrogant, then I would rather suffer eternally in hell than ask you any question modestly.”
No question is ever modest. Every question has to be, in a certain way, arrogant. When you are questioning, you are showing doubt, you are interfering in the silence of the master. Obviously, every question is arrogant, no question can be modest. Only silence is modest. But that is not a question. That is the answer.
But Sekito was really a man with a spine, with guts. He said, “Forget all about the question. I will not ask the question modestly because no question can be asked modestly. The very question is arrogant. Any question is a doubt. Any question is interfering in the energy field of the master. Only silence can be modest. But then I wouldn’t have to come to you. I could be silent anywhere. I could be silent even in the eternal fire of hell.”
Sekito is really a man of great intelligence and great courage. Nangaku could not put him down. He was sent specially to Nangaku who was known to be very hard. Seigen wanted to know about Sekito’s response, what response he would make to Nangaku.
And he really made the right response. He said, “Forget all about the question. I would rather fall eternally into hell than ask you a question with modesty. No question is modest, howsoever put. I have asked it very respectfully. I have called you ‘Osho’ – my beloved master – and you call my question arrogant? Rather than answering it you are insulting me.
“No master insults his disciples, and I am not even a disciple. I am just a stranger, and you are not being nice to me. I am just a guest. You should welcome me. Rather than welcoming me, you are humiliating me. I am not going to ask any question.”
Sekito, finding that he and Nangaku were not attuned to each other, soon left for Seigen without giving Nangaku the letter.
“That man does not deserve even the letter.” He did not stay there, he immediately left.
On his arrival, Seigen asked, “Did they entrust something to you?”
Sekito said, “They did not entrust anything to me.”
Seigen said “But there must have been a reply.”
Sekito said, “If they don’t entrust anything, there is no reply.” Then he said, “When I was leaving here, you added that I should come back soon to receive the big hatchet under the chair. Now I have come back, please give me the big hatchet.”
Seigen was silent. Sekito bowed down and retired.
The silence of Seigen was his acceptance of Sekito, of his courage. He knew that the letter had not been delivered, that there had not been any reply even though Sekito had not mentioned the letter. Sekito simply said, “They did not entrust anything to me, so how can there be any reply?”
Seigen saw the man, saw that he had the quality and deserved to be enlightened. His silence was his hatchet. He was saying, “When you come back, I am going to cut off your head with a hatchet.”
And now Sekito reminded him: “Now I have come back, please give me the big hatchet.” “Cut off my head. Do whatsoever you want to do, I am ready.”
Seigen was silent. In that deep silence is the transfer, the transmission of the lamp. It is not a question of language, it is a question of a transfer of energy. Simply in that silence the flame jumped from Seigen to Sekito. And because he received the flame, the fire, he immediately bowed down and retired. Now there was no need to disturb the master. He had been accepted, not only accepted, the last step for which he had come had been delivered.
Eno was dead before Sekito became enlightened. In fact, the moment Sekito left Eno, before he reached to Seigen, Eno died. He was absolutely aware that death was coming close, and Seigen was the right person to whom Sekito should be handed over. And he was absolutely correct in his judgment; it was Seigen who finally managed Sekito’s enlightenment.
But enlightenment happens in silence. That’s why my whole effort here is to make you as silent as possible. Then you don’t need even a Seigen. Sitting anywhere – in your room, under a tree, in the garden, by the side of the river, anywhere – if your silence deepens, existence itself gives you the initiation into buddhahood. And when it comes directly from existence itself, it has far more beauty than when it comes through a master.
I teach you immediate, sudden enlightenment. The meditation that you are practicing is just preparing you for that great silence in which existence will become a flame inside you.
Etsujin wrote:
Falling
but with easy hearts –
poppies.
The flowers are falling with easy hearts. They are not even looking back to the plant they have been blossoming on, the plant that has been their home for so long, the plant that has been their nourishment for so long. Now they are going back to the earth from where they have come.
“Falling, but with easy hearts…” There is no regret. They enjoyed the sun, they enjoyed the moon, they enjoyed the stars. They danced in the wind, they danced in the rain, they danced, celebrated. What more does one need? It is time to go into eternal rest. That’s why their hearts are easy, no tension, no anxiety. They lived totally, they are dying dancingly. They are coming very easily toward the earth where they will disappear again. They came from the earth, they are going back to the earth; the round is complete.
Just as flowers arise from the earth and go back to the earth for eternal rest, you come from existence and you return to existence if you have an easy heart. Then you will not be coming again into the imprisonment of a body. You will simply go back to the very source you have come from, to eternal rest.
That eternal rest is nirvana, that eternal rest is moksha, that eternal rest is liberation. That eternal rest is samadhi, truth, enlightenment – different names for the same experience. You have come back home, and you have come back home dancing, with no regret, with no complaint, with easy hearts, to disappear peacefully and silently. This is the most exquisite experience, when you are on the verge of disappearing with an easy and relaxed heart, a simple and pure let-go.

Maneesha’s question:
Osho,
In his book, The Antichrist, Nietzsche states: “People who still believe in themselves still also have their own God. In him they venerate the conditions through which they have prospered, their virtues – they project their joy in themselves, their feeling of power onto a being whom one can thank for them.” Would you like to comment?
Maneesha, Nietzsche wrote The Antichrist in an insane asylum. But he was such a genius that, even though he was declared insane by all the psychiatrists, his books prove they were wrong. Even in his insanity he was far saner than your so-called sane psychiatrists – even in his death. He wrote his last letter to a friend and he did not forget… Before writing his signature he always used to write, Antichrist. Even at the moment of death he did not forget to write Antichrist first, then his name.
And in that insane asylum he wrote many things which are of tremendous importance. The Antichrist is one of the books that will help you to understand Nietzsche’s depth. Although he never went beyond mind, he managed even with his mind, to reach to great heights and to great depths.
He was anti-Christ his whole life. He said, “Christ’s teachings are a humiliation to humanity because he calls humanity sheep and calls himself the shepherd. He says humanity has committed the original sin, and he calls himself the savior. Just believe in him and he will save you! This is the ultimate insult to anyone who understands.”
That’s why Sekito said, “I would rather suffer eternal hell than ask you the question again. We don’t fit with each other. There is no harmony between my heart and your heart. My journey to you has been futile.”
In The Antichrist, he says many, many things. His whole teaching is concerned with the superman. God is dead and man is free to be a superman. Now he need not be a slave, now he can declare his freedom, and in his freedom he will become a superman. With God, he was just a slave kneeling down before statues and sculptures and scriptures, and praying to God like a beggar – believing in saviors, prophets, messiahs, who were nothing but arch-egoists. The whole of humanity has been turned into a great spiritual slavery.
Nietzsche was against Christ because he was telling lies: “Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God.” This is a lie. He is simply consoling the poor, and to console the poor is to destroy the possibility of revolution. And that’s what all the Christians are doing. They are protecting capitalism, they are protecting the people who are in power, and they are giving empty words as consolation to the poor: “Blessed are the poor.” Nonsense!
And just to give them a deeper consolation, Jesus condemns the rich. He says: “Even if a camel can pass through the eye of a needle, no rich man will ever pass through the gates of paradise.” This is just to make the poor feel great: their poverty is spiritual, it is a gift of God, they are blessed. These people like Jesus have created poverty, and have destroyed the possibility of revolution, of changing the social structure, of creating a better society without classes, and finally, an ultimate society where the state also withers away.
People like Jesus are not saviors but consolers. They are functioning, perhaps not knowingly, as agents of the vested interests. That was the reason why Nietzsche continuously wrote Antichrist before his signature. He was very clear about it.
Jesus says: “If someone slaps you on one cheek, give him your other cheek.” Nietzsche does not accept it, and I agree with Nietzsche, not with Jesus. The reason? – Nietzsche gives a perfect argument for it. He said, “If you give the other cheek to a person, you are insulting him. You are telling him, ‘I am holier-than-thou. You are just subhuman.’” Nobody before Nietzsche has seen that this statement is an insult, that’s why I call him an original man. He just missed one thing: meditation. Otherwise, we would have had a greater buddha than Gautam Buddha himself because he would have been absolutely contemporary.
Do you understand what he is saying? When you give your other cheek you are rejecting the man, his humanity. You are saying, “I am a saint, and you are just an ordinary human being.” Nietzsche says, “When somebody hits you on the cheek, hit him, as hard as you can. That makes you equal.” You accept the man’s dignity as a human being, and you also say, “I am also a human being, I am not superior to you, I am not holier than you.” A strange argument, but absolutely perfect.
In this book, The Antichrist, he says: “People who still believe in themselves still have their own God.” Now they have become gods themselves. But he does not know anything about meditation; that is the difficulty. In meditation you enter as if you are a self, but the deeper you go, the more the self starts withering away. When you finally reach your center, you are no more. The question of being a god does not arise. You are certainly godly because the whole of existence is godly. But it is not a power trip because a power trip needs others to be lower than you are and for you to be higher.
In deep meditation you know that even trees are equal to you, even animals and birds and rocks are equal to you. The whole existence lives in tremendous equality. That’s why I have been saying again and again that only a spiritual, meditative person can be authentically communist and anarchist, nobody else, because as you go deeper into yourself you disappear, you are no more. There is no question of any power trip, any ego number. And the whole of existence suddenly becomes just as you are. The ego is absent, the “I” is absent – there is only a presence of light, of consciousness, of witnessing. And the whole existence seems to be as silent as you are, as ecstatic as you are. There is no higher, no lower.
Both the movements – the movement of communism and the movement of anarchism – have failed, in a way, because they missed the basic point about equality. Only a meditator knows everything is equal because we are all part of one organic cosmos. Different shapes and different forms create the beauty – because they create variety – but deep down, in the roots, it is the same juice, it is the same nourishment that is flowing in the tree, that is becoming a flower, that is flowing in you and becoming a buddha. Your unfolding into a buddha is exactly the same as the unfolding of a lotus flower; there is no difference at all. Nobody is higher, nobody is lower.
Nietzsche is right. If people are not meditative and they drop the idea of God, they themselves will become gods – because who will prevent them? Their egos will become absolutely inflated, they will become more and more egotistical. God was there, and they were humble, they were afraid of punishment, of hell. Now there is no God – who is going to prevent them from becoming great egos?
Once, when somebody raised the question, “This goes against the constitution of the country. What you are doing?” to Napoleon Bonaparte, he said, “I am the law. Throw away the constitution! Whatever I say is the constitution.” Now this is bound to happen. The egoists become the very law. The egotistical people become gods.
Hirohito has just died in Japan. The Second World War was such a shock to the Japanese people not because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but because of the defeat of the Sun God. They believed that their emperor was a Sun God: he was not a human being, he could not be defeated. And he was defeated for the first time in their whole history.
Because he was never defeated, the concept “he cannot be defeated, there is no power which can defeat him, he is no longer a human being, he is a god, a Sun God” continued and became more and more ingrained. The defeat of Hirohito was a great shock for the Japanese people because for the first time they were confused, could not believe that the Sun God had been defeated by ordinary human beings. But all great kings and emperors have believed that they share power with God. If there is no God, your kings, your emperors, the people who have power will start thinking, “We are gods and everybody else is just an ordinary human being.”
So Nietzsche is right. If you are not acquainted with meditation, mind is a dangerous phenomenon. Without God, it can become very inflated. It can start thinking of itself as God.

I am reminded of a beautiful incident. It happened in Baghdad, in the times of a Caliph Omar. A man declared that he had come with a new message from God, and that it was a great improvement on the Holy Koran.
He was immediately caught and brought to Caliph Omar, to his court. “This man is proclaiming that he comes from God, and has brought a new message to humanity, more refined than Mohammed’s Holy Koran.”
Mohammedans cannot accept any refinement on the Holy Koran: that is the last word of God. Every religion says the same. Mahavir is the last word: nothing can be changed, nothing can be refined. So is Buddha the last word for the Buddhists; so is Jesus, so is Moses. Every founder in the world has tried: “I am the final, the full stop. Everything stops with me; no more evolution.” But evolution does not care about these people, it goes on and on.
Omar was very angry. He said, “You are a Mohammedan and you are claiming that you are a better prophet than Mohammed?”
The man said, “Of course, because I am coming after so many centuries. The world has changed, the time has changed. It needs a new Holy Koran. I have brought it.”
Omar was very angry. He told his soldiers, “Give him good treatment! Bind him naked to a pillar in the prison and beat him for seven days. Don’t allow him to sleep – and no food! After seven days I will come and see whether he has changed his mind or not.”
The man was tortured for seven days continuously: no sleep, no food, and continuous beating. When Omar went to the jail on the seventh day, the man was simply covered in blood, his whole body was oozing.
Omar asked, “What do you think now? Have you changed your mind or not?”
The man laughed. He said, “When I was coming from paradise bringing the new message to humanity, God told me, ‘You will be tortured. Every prophet has been tortured.’ These seven days have proved completely that I am the prophet. God was right.”
Omar could not believe his ears. And at that moment, suddenly from another pillar, a man who had been brought in one month before and whom Omar had completely forgotten about…
This man used to declare, “I am God himself!” So he had been in the jail, tortured for one month. Omar had completely forgotten him – he had become interested in this prophet – and suddenly the man shouted, “Omar! Beware, I am God! After Mohammed I have never sent any prophet to the world. This man is lying!”

What to do with these people? Just insane.
No psychoanalyst, if he is true to his scientific analysis and scientific approach, can say that Jesus was sane. The man is calling himself “the son of God.” He needs hospitalization. He does not need crucifixion, that is absolutely wrong. He has not committed any crime, he is simply declaring his insanity. And you don’t put insane people on the cross, you have compassion for them, they need psychiatric treatment. But unfortunately there was no psychiatry and no psychology. It was waiting for another Jew, Sigmund Freud, to invent it. But he came too late, two thousand years after Jesus, the first Jew, was crucified.
It is really megalomania. If God is not there, there is every possibility that anybody who has an egoistic mind will move to the other extreme. First he was kneeling down before God. Now, knowing there is no God, he moves to the other extreme. Now he declares, “I am God.” God has to be there.
But this statement of Nietzsche’s is the experience of one who only knows the mind and nothing beyond it. As you move beyond the mind, you are no more. There is no one to declare, “I am the son of God,” or, “I am God.” There is no one to declare, “I am the savior of mankind,” or, “I am a prophet,” or, “I am the reincarnation of God.” All these people are simply insane. You have been worshipping insane people because they declared themselves to be God. All these so-called founders of religion needed psychiatric treatment.
There are still people…

When Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of India, there were at least one dozen people all over India who believed they were Jawaharlal Nehru. I knew one such person. He used to live in a nearby town and I used to go there once in a while to lecture in that town’s college. There I met him because he had come to the lecture. The principal laughingly introduced him to me: “Here is our prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.” And the man was dressed exactly like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
I said, “He looks like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.”
The man said, “Looks like? I am!”
Later on the principal told me that the man kept on sending telegrams to government circuit houses: “The prime minister is coming on such and such a date, so keep the best room for him. He will be staying for two days. And inform all the officials.” Many times he had deceived people because in a small village nobody knows Jawaharlal Nehru directly. They have only seen his pictures, and that man was dressed completely like him. He had the same hairstyle, the same cap, the same baskit, the same Mohammedan-style pajama – everything was perfect. And, perhaps because of his mind, his face was also becoming similar to Jawaharlal Nehru’s. He believed it absolutely. There was no doubt about it. He behaved the way Jawaharlal behaved, he walked the way Jawaharlal walked. But he was never caught because he died in a car accident.

Another man, who was in the biggest madhouse in India, in Barelli, used to think that he was Jawaharlal Nehru. He was forced into the madhouse, and finally after three years there, he recognized that he was not Nehru – perhaps it was the torture, perhaps the continuous hammering on his mind, “You are not.” He got tired, that’s my feeling, and what happened later on proves my feeling right.
Jawaharlal Nehru was going to Barelli for some celebration and he was going to visit the madhouse, to open a new wing which had been newly constructed for more mad people to be accommodated. So the officers thought that since that man had been cured, it would be a good opportunity to give him his release from Jawaharlal’s own hands. So they waited: it was only a matter of a week.
When Jawaharlal came, they brought the madman. They introduced him: “This is Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our prime minister.”
The man looked at Jawaharlal Nehru, and he said, “Don’t be worried. It will take three years at least. I used to think exactly the same as you think, but these people are such torturers. Finally I had to accept that I am not, although I know I am. In three years’ time you will also accept you are not Jawaharlal Nehru. Just go in. I am going. Get in! Don’t be worried, it takes only three years to be cured.”
Jawaharlal could not understand what to do with this man – he was perfectly logical. He thought, “These people cured him by torturing him, but deep down he knows who he is!”

It is said that it happened in England when Churchill was the prime minister… Because of the Second World War there was a curfew in London, and a very strict curfew. Nobody should be seen outside their houses, otherwise they might be shot. There was no question of any inquiry.
Churchill used to go for an evening walk. And that day there was such a beautiful sunset – which is very rare in England where the sun only appears once in a while. So he went on sitting on a park bench watching the beautiful sunset, and he forgot about the curfew. Suddenly as the sun went down beneath the horizon he realized that he was late. It was already past the time when he should have been inside his house, which was still at least a mile away. And the strict orders, his orders, were that anybody seen out of their house after six o’clock had to be shot. He would be shot.
He looked for wherever he could enter, any house – and anybody would give him shelter knowing that he was Winston Churchill, “our prime minister, our savior.” So he knocked on the first house. It happened to be a madhouse. A man opened the door, and Churchill said, “I am sorry to disturb you. I am Winston Churchill. You must know about me, I am the prime minister of England.”
The man simply grabbed him. Churchill said, “What are you doing?”
The man said, “Shut up! There are already six Winston Churchills here. Come in!”
He said, “I tell you, I am really Winston Churchill.”
The man said, “Don’t say anything. They all say the same thing. And I am putting you in with them. Soon you will know who is real.”
There was no way to get out. There was a danger of being shot dead, it was better to rest in the madhouse. And he was put with those six fat guys, smoking the same kind of cigar as you always see Churchill smoking. When the seventh Churchill entered, they all waved to him…
[To the accompaniment of laughter, Osho raises his right arm with two fingers extended in a V]
…the Victory sign: “Welcome guy! Come in.”
He saw this was a strange place. They all looked like him. They were fat and puffed-up, and smoking cigars and giving him the Victory sign. He tried hard, the whole night the discussion went on. He told them, “You people are mad. I am the real…” They all laughed.
One of them said, “Everybody here is real. Unreal Churchills don’t exist.”
Churchill tried: “Don’t you recognize me?”
They said, “Don’t you recognize us? We are very happy to have you. Six of us were already here, you are the seventh. More will be coming! But all are real. Nobody is unreal.”
His whole night he was tortured by those six Churchills continuously smoking and talking the way Churchill used to talk, about war affairs and programs of how to defeat Hitler. Churchill was silent. “What to do with these idiots?”
And they nagged him, “Why are you sitting silently? If you are the real Churchill, join in and discuss the problems of the country with us. The country is in danger and you are sitting silently. And you think you are the real Churchill?”
Later on Churchill said, “Once in a while in the night I had a doubt: if these people are so certain, who knows? Maybe I am mad – because I am also certain, there is no difference, they are also certain. They seem to be more absolutely certain than I am. I sometimes hesitated, maybe…”
In the morning he phoned parliament. “Send people to convince this jailer.” They were all worried because the whole night they had been searching for him all over London. Where had he gone? The whole of England was dependent on Churchill’s methodology to defeat Adolf Hitler. “Where has he gone? Is it some conspiracy of Adolf Hitler, has he abducted him?”
So when he phoned, people immediately came and told the jailer, “You are an idiot. You tortured our prime minister.”
He said, “Just come in, and see that there are seven of them. I am not at fault; they all say the same thing. This man was also saying the same thing. How am I to decide who is real? Come in.”
And when those people went in, they could not believe their eyes. They said, “You are right, we are sorry. But this man is the real Churchill. We are taking him out.” And they were high officials of the parliament, so the jailer agreed.
Those six others said, “What is the matter? That phony fellow has been taken out. We are real Churchills – not one, six! – but nobody cares…”

It has been the experience in many countries… Ego is insane. If there is no God, the egoist can think of himself as God. But this can happen only if you are not acquainted with meditation. Meditation simply dissolves into the cosmos. You are no more, only existence is.
This is the time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh…

A new young priest, Father Fever, has just arrived at the Holy Saints of Sackcloth Monastery. After a couple of weeks he is feeling so disturbed by sexual fantasies that he goes to see the father superior, old Father Fornicate, aged ninety-five.
“Ah, Father,” cries Fever, “I am deeply troubled by impure thoughts, and sexual temptations come crowding into my mind – things like doggie-style and sixty-nine, French ticklers and satin panties with pictures of Jesus on them! The more I try to resist them, the more they crowd into my mind.”
“Hmm,” says Father Fornicate, adjusting his robe. “So what would you like to know?”
“Well,” replies Father Fever, perspiring, “you are ninety-five years old and one of the most ancient relics of the church. Tell me, how old do you have to be before you are released from the lusts of the flesh?”
“Hmm,” says Father Fornicate, eyeing the young priest. “It takes many years of self-torture and holy prayer before your mind is cleaned of all such wickedness.”
“Really?” asks the young priest. “How many years?”
“Well,” replies old Fornicate with a sigh, “I can tell you that it is more than ninety-five!”

Newton Hooton gets into Dingle Dilda’s New York taxi to go across town, and finds himself being thrown around inside the car as Dingle races through the streets.
“Hey! Slow down!” shouts Newton, when he finally manages to catch hold of something, “or you will get us both into the hospital!”
“You don’t need to worry, mister,” replies Dingle. “I have just got out of hospital after being there for eighteen months, and I don’t intend going back!”
“Ah! I am sorry,” says Newton, feeling reassured. “You were in hospital for eighteen months – that must have been awful! Were you badly injured?”
“Nope! Not a scratch,” replies Dingle. “It was a mental hospital!”

Peter Pumper gets onto the famous TV game show, “Primal Passions,” and wins his way to the final round.
“Okay, Mister Pumper,” says Monty Mount, the emcee, “for the big, sixty-four thousand dollar question, which subject do you choose?”
“I choose ‘Sexual Techniques,’” replies Peter, excitedly.
“Good,” shouts Monty, “and in addition, you are allowed to choose any expert to help you answer the questions.”
“I have brought with me the famous French sexologist, Andre Perverse,” replies Peter Pumper, confidently.
The audience gasps with approval.
“Right!” shouts Monty. “Now enter the soundproof box together, and prepare to answer the big question on sexual techniques. You have exactly one minute to answer. The question is: You are in bed with your mistress, and you have exactly three kisses to arouse her to the max! Where would you place the first kiss?”
“On the lips!” cries Peter, without a second’s hesitation.
“Correct!” shouts Monty, “And where would you place the second kiss?”
There is a pause as Peter thinks for a moment. But then he shouts, “On the back of the neck!”
“Correct!” shouts Monty. The audience howls with approval.
“Now,” continues Monty, “for the third and final part of the question – for sixty-four thousand dollars, where would you place the third kiss?”
Perspiration pours down Peter’s face. He is in trouble as the music plays louder and louder and time ticks away. In desperation, Peter turns to his partner, Andre Perverse, and says, “Andre! You must help me!”
But the Frenchman shakes his head frantically. “Do not ask me, mon ami,” replies Andre. “In my mind I have already been wrong twice!”

Nivedano…

[Drumbeat]

[Gibberish]

Nivedano…

[Drumbeat]

Be silent…
Close your eyes, and feel your bodies to be completely frozen.
This is the right moment to turn in. Gather all your energy, your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be the last moment of your life, rush toward your very center of being.
Faster and faster…
Deeper and deeper…
As you come closer to your very center, a great silence descends over you. It is falling like soft rain.
A little more, closer, and a totally new experience…
Flowers of peace, flowers of serenity, flowers of absolute tranquillity are growing all around you.
Just one step more and you are at the very center of your being, absolutely drunk with the divine, surrounded by an aura of ecstasy. You are facing your original face for the first time. The face of the buddha is just a symbol, it is really everybody’s face, the ultimate face.
The only quality the buddha has… All the buddhas, past, present, future are bound to have only one quality – witnessing, awareness.
Just witness you are not the body. Witness you are not the mind. And witness you are only a witness.
You are just a buddha, utterly innocent, beyond mind, a pure space, infinite and eternal.

To make your witnessing deeper, Nivedano…

[Drumbeat]

Relax…
Let go, the same way as the flowers fall down from the trees – with easy heart, no tension, no anxiety. Settled at the center you are in tune with existence, your heartbeat is the heartbeat of the whole universe.
At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth, because there is no other splendor in existence greater than you are in this moment.
Rejoice in this beautiful moment.
Rejoice in this authentic and original experience.
Rejoice that you are so blessed to be so close to existence itself. And gather all these experiences before Nivedano calls you back.
You have to bring them from the center to the circumference of your life. You have to live a life of grace, beauty, joy, blissfulness, ecstasy – in every moment, around the clock.
Whether awake or asleep you are the buddha and all that belongs to the buddha – the witnessing, the ecstasy, the rejoicing, the blissfulness, the utter drunkenness that comes to you. When you reach to your center you have reached to the very center of existence.
You are drowned in the juices of life, and nourished.
Collect all this experience and remember that you have to persuade the buddha to come with you.
These are the three steps of meditation: first the buddha comes behind you as a shadow. But the shadow is fragrant, the shadow has tremendous solidity, the shadow is not a shadow but the presence – very tangible, you can touch it, you can feel it. It is almost behind you; its warmth, its compassion, its light will all be showering on you.
The second step: you become the shadow, and buddha comes in front of you. Your shadow slowly, slowly fades away because your personality is nothing but a false idea, an imagination, a fiction, a lie.
And as your shadow disappears your being becomes one with the buddha. That is the third and the final step.
The moment you become the buddha, you have come back home. That day will be the most fortunate day of all your lives. You have lived for many lives, in many ways, in many bodies, and you have been missing and missing and missing. This time, make it clear to yourself you are not going to miss: you have to become enlightened. You have to achieve the highest peak and the deepest depth of your being.
This is the very purpose of me calling your hidden secret, your hidden splendor, to the surface.
God is dead, now only Zen is the living truth.

Nivedano…

[Drumbeat]

Come back, but very slowly, very peacefully, very silently, as if there is no one in the auditorium.
Just sit silently for a few seconds to remember the path you have followed, to remember all that great space, those beautiful moments when your heart was in tune with the heart of the universe, those few rare moments when your whole life was eternal.
And feel the buddha, his warmth, his compassion, his presence. It is just behind you.
The day is not far away. You will take the second step and you will take the third step. These ten thousand people are going to become ten thousand buddhas in their own right.
Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Osho.

---