Human consciousness will take a turn
“And why has there not been a Master before you in all the ages who has combined and synthesized all the teachings of past Buddhas?”
There was no need; now the need exists. The world was, in the past, divided. The world was very, very big. People remained confined in their own countries. Teachings were not meeting: a Mohammedan lived like a Mohammedan, never aware of what the Vedas say; a Hindu lived like a Hindu, never knowing really what Zarathustra has taught. But now the world has become very small, a global village; the world has shrunken tremendously.
Now everybody knows everything else: a Christian is not just a Christian – he knows what the Geeta says, he knows what the Koran says. Now there is confusion; because the Koran says something, the Geeta says something, the Bible says something else. Now everybody is aware of everything else that is around. People go on moving from one country to another country, from one teacher to another teacher. There are many here who have been with many teachers; now they are a mess.
A great synthesis is needed. In the future, religions will not be able to exist separately, no. That will become impossible. I am just creating the base for a new temple – which will be a church also, a mosque, a gurudwara. I am creating a base for the religious man who will neither be a Christian nor a Hindu nor a Mohammedan, just religious. Now the time is ripe for a great synthesis; it was never so.
Buddha was talking to people who were not Mohammedans. Jesus talked to people who were Jews; Jesus talks as if there exists nobody else other than Jews. He was talking to Jews, but now to whom am I talking? Here are Jews, Christians, Mohammedans, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs – all are here. You here are a miniature world. Soon, when people will understand each other more, the differences will be lost. When a Christian will understand the Geeta really, the distinction between the Geeta and the Bible will be lost; they will become one whole.
That’s why I am trying to talk about all the systems and all the Masters, so a base can be created. On that base will stand the temple of the future, the religious man of the future. He will not be a Christian. In fact in the future if somebody is a Christian he will look a little outdated, and if somebody is a Hindu he will look a little stupid, and if somebody still insists that he is a Mohammedan he will not be a contemporary – a dead man. The future is for religion – in which all religions will mingle and meet and dissolve.
That’s why it was not needed in the past. Now it is needed. Now man is just around one of the greatest turning points. It always happens after twenty-five centuries that humanity takes a turn; the circle is complete. The human consciousness had taken one turn at the time of Buddha. Now twenty-five centuries are over and the turn is just in the near future. Those who are alert will be benefited most by that turn because they can use that tide. They can ride on that tide; they can reach home easily. When the sea is on ebb it is difficult to reach the shore. When the sea is on tide the waves are moving towards the shore on their own – you just leave your boat with them and they carry you.
Just within twenty-five years one of the most significant points of history will be reached and human consciousness will take a turn. If you are ready and meditative at that moment, much is possible which will not be possible again for twenty-five centuries. At Patanjali’s time there was a turn; Patanjali existed twenty-five centuries before Buddha. This has always been so.
It is just like the earth takes one round of the sun in a certain period of time: the whole human consciousness moves in a circle and comes to the original source in a certain time, that is twenty-five centuries. That critical moment is near. It can become very radical. If in your mind you are synthesized, you will be able to use that turn. If you are not synthesized – you remain a Mohammedan, you remain a Christian – you remain out of date, you remain of the past. You are not here; you are not available to the present. To make you available to the present, to make you capable of understanding what is going to happen soon, that’s what this whole synthesis is all about.
Osho, Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 5, Ch 8, Q 6 (excerpt)