Osho - Religiousness is a humble gratefulness towards Existence

Question - Beloved Osho, How can the Master help the Disciple to live religiousness without religion?

Osho - It is the most simple thing in the world. The reverse is the most difficult -- to be religious and to be part of an organized religion is almost impossible. But just to be religious, without being part of any religion, is the simplest thing. You have to understand what I mean by religiousness: by religiousness I mean a gratitude towards existence. It has given so much to you, and you cannot pay it back.

Osho on religiousness

I have heard, a man was going to commit suicide and a master was sitting on the river bank from where this man was going to take the jump. He said, "Wait just a moment! Wait! Are you going to commit suicide?"
The man said, "But who are you to prevent me?"

The master said, "I am not preventing you. In fact, I would love for you to commit suicide, but before committing it, if you can give your two eyes... because the king of this country has gone blind. And the doctors say if somebody can donate his eyes -- not the eyes of a dead person, but a living person -- then those eyes of can be transplanted and the king will be able to see again. And whatever you want as a reward, as a prize, you say it and it is yours. So just before committing suicide, why not do a little business?"
The man said, "How much will he give?" He forgot about his suicide.
People are so business-minded.

The master said, "Whatever you want, you just say."
He said, "I am a poor man, I cannot ask much -- you suggest something. And I am going to commit suicide..."
So the master said, "You think it over... twenty thousand rupees."
The man said, "Twenty thousand? My God, I never thought that I would have twenty thousand rupees."
But the master said, "You can still think. I can even tell the king, `He needs twenty million.' It all depends on you. And the king wants the eyes at any price."
The man said, "Twenty million? But then why should I commit suicide?"
The master said, "That is up to you. But," he said, "Living a life without eyes, even having twenty million rupees will not be so much joy."
Just on the way towards the palace, the man started saying to the master, "I am having second thoughts."

He said, "What second thoughts? Have you raised your price again?
He said, "The price is not the question. I am thinking that just for two eyes, twenty million -- what about ears, the nose, the teeth, my whole body? How much is the price of my whole body?"
The master said, "You can calculate; just for two eyes, twenty million... "
The man said, "I am not going to sell. I am going home."
The master said, "What about suicide?"
He said, "I used to think you are a religious man. You are a murderer! You want me to commit suicide? Now for the first time I have recognized what existence has given to me -- and I have not paid a single pai. These two eyes which have seen all kinds of beauty, these two ears which have heard all kinds of music, this life which has experienced so much -- and I have not paid anything and I have not even said a thank you.
"And suicide is nothing but the last complaint, the ugliest complaint against existence: you have given me so much and I am destroying it. Rather than being grateful, I am betraying. No, I cannot commit suicide and I cannot sell my eyes; they are priceless. You can tell the king that even for the whole kingdom I cannot give my two eyes, although I am a beggar."

Have you ever realized how much existence has given to you? No, you simply take it for granted, as if you deserve it, as if you have earned it. You don't deserve it. You have not earned it, it is a gift. It is a blessing; it is simply out of love that the existence has given you so much. And it is ready to give you much more. You are just not ready to take it.
Religion prevents you from being religious -- sends you to the mosque, to the temple, to the church. It teaches you to pray to a hypothetical god that you have never met, that nobody has ever met.

And the real temple is all around you -- under the stars, under the green foliage of a tree, by the side of the ocean. The real temple is all around, and the real god is nothing but the living, the alive, the conscious phenomenon in you. Wherever there is life, wherever there is consciousness, there is god.

And when you come to the ultimate experience of consciousness you become a god. Everybody's birthright is to become a god -- not to worship God but to become a god.
All the religions are preventing you. They don't teach you non-ambitiousness; they teach you ambition, they teach you how to be virtuous so that you can reach paradise. They don't teach you fearlessness, they teach you fear -- that if you do certain things you will be thrown into hell and you will suffer for eternity. All the religions are basically an exploitation of humanity: they enslave you, they humiliate you, they call you sinners, they destroy your self-respect.

Religiousness is a humble gratefulness towards existence. And because existence has given so much to you there is a humble self-respect -- but humble; it is not egoistic, you are not bragging about it. It teaches you to love, it teaches you to be more alive, more playful, more celebrating. Your life should be a song and a dance and a festivity.

What is the need to belong to a crowd? All these things are your individual experiences, they don't have anything to do with any crowd. You need not go to a church, you need not worship a god, you need not worship a book which is dead and full of all kinds of nonsense, stupidities, superstitions.

Religiousness is absolutely an individual phenomenon. It is not something to do with collectivity; you are not going to fight with somebody... "So, be united." Mohammedans have to be united against Hindus, Hindus have to be united against Christians, Christians have to be united against Jews. These are not religions. These are insane crowds which want to do violence in the name of religion, in the name of God.

I have seen a few riots, and I could not believe... very nice people suddenly become like animals. I knew a person who was a professor in the same university where I was teaching, and I knew him as one of the nicest persons. But he was a Mohammedan, and when there was a riot amongst Hindus and Mohammedans I saw that professor raping a woman. I could not believe it. I dragged the professor away. I said, "What are you doing?" He came back to his senses, as if he was doing it in a state of sleep.

He said, "I am sorry, just forgive me. The whole crowd was doing it, and I simply became part of the crowd. I forgot my individuality completely, and the animal within me started doing things. First I was trembling... `I should not do it -- what I am going to do is not right.' But the animal is too strong and too ancient, and when the whole crowd was doing it... "

I have caught hold of people burning temples, burning mosques -- people whom I knew -- and I have dragged them away and asked them, "What are you doing? Can you do it alone? If there is no crowd, can you burn this mosque? What has this mosque done to you? It is a beautiful piece of architecture -- why are you destroying it? It has not harmed anybody."
And the man would say, "Alone? Alone I cannot do it, but everybody is doing it. And I am also a Hindu, and Hindus have to be united."

United for what? -- to kill, to burn people alive. For thousands of years, religions have been just killing, murdering, burning. And their whole strategy is that the crowd has a psychology of its own. Just don't let the individual stand aloof; otherwise, you cannot make him rape a woman, burn a house, kill a child. Just let him be within the crowd, and when everybody else is doing something he will start doing it; his animal will surface.

Once I was sitting in a bookstore and suddenly a riot... just across the street there was the most beautiful shop full of watches, clocks. And people started taking away watches and clocks. And one man, one old man was shouting loudly, "This is not right! If Hindus and Mohammedans are fighting, you can fight. But taking things from shops... I don't see any religion in it."

I was listening from the bookstore. Nobody was listening to the old man. I knew the old man; we used to meet on a morning walk once in a while and discuss things. He was a very nice man and had a very philosophical approach towards life. He was a Mohammedan, and it was a Mohammedan crowd which was destroying a Hindu shop. When the whole shop was finished, there was only one big wall clock left. It was too big, so nobody took it out because he would be seen. Wherever he would go, people would see -- you would have to carry it on your back. The old man took the big clock.
I could not believe it. I had to come out of the store and I said, "Wait! What are you doing?"

He said, "What else can I do? They have taken everything, only this is left. So I said to myself, now what is the point? They did not listen to me -- I tried my hardest to save the shop. And when I saw that all the watches and all the clocks were gone, suddenly a desire arouse in me -- `What are you doing here standing like a fool? Just take this one and go home' -- and I am going."

I said, "You are perfectly right. You have earned it. You have been shouting, you have been... You are not stealing -- I am a witness; if any problem arises you can always name me. You have done your work, your religious work of teaching people. Nobody listened to you, and the man whose shop it was had escaped out of fear that he would be killed. Now it is just pure earnings. You have wasted your whole day, and in old age... Can I help you?"

He said, "Don't make me feel ashamed. This clock is so big, and my house is so far away."
I said, "Let me help you; otherwise... you are a Mohammedan, you may be caught by some Hindus. And nobody will believe what you have purchased this clock at this moment when people are taking everything."

He said, "You are right. Just do one thing: If you can call a taxi... it is too heavy."
I said, "I will call a taxi." I called a taxi. Meanwhile we were standing by the side of the road; many people gathered there to see what was happening. I said, "Nothing, there is no problem. He has earned it, he deserves it."

He felt so ashamed that by the time the taxi arrived he said, "No, it is not right. Put it back, leave it... somebody else will take it away."
I said "Somebody else is going to take it away -- it doesn't matter who takes it away, you simply sit in the taxi and take it away."
He said, "You are a strange man. You are supporting a Mohammedan."
I said, "I am not a Hindu, not a Mohammedan. I simply see that in old age, you have done enough work; you should be paid. Now there is nobody here to pay for it, you just take it away."

The next day when I saw him in the garden I said, "How is the clock working?"
He said, "I could not sleep the whole night. It makes such a `tick-tock, tick-tock' that it reminds me, `My God, I have stolen it -- against all my philosophy and all my religious teachings.' And I was advising people... this is not a reward, this is a punishment. And my wife was angry; she said, `You have become old but you are really an idiot. When people were taking beautiful wristwatches, you have brought this "tick-tock". You cannot even sleep. Throw it out.' So my wife has put it out in the garage, and I have been thinking to somehow return it."
I said, "That's a good idea. Should I call a taxi? You should not go to return it -- I will go, because you will be caught."

So I had to go to return the clock. And the man said, "But how did you get involved in it?"
I said, "It is a long story... but we could save only one -- this big clock. About the others, I know who has taken them, I was watching. I can give you a few names if you can find them, but it will be very difficult. This was taken by an old man, and because his wife could not tolerate this `tick-tock'... he was coming himself but I said, `It is dangerous, there is still tension.' So you just take it. But when the tension subsides, remember that old man; he has really tried his hardest, but finally the animal surfaced and when he saw that nobody was listening -- `Only I am the loser, everybody is gaining something'... just sheer economics."

Religions are nothing but crowd psychology, mob psychology, and the mob is still in its animalhood. They are still not human beings. There are individual human beings, but there are no crowds which are human. The crowd immediately slips back and becomes unconscious.

So there is no problem for the individual to become religious. You just have to understand what religiousness means: Be grateful to existence, enjoy the beautiful life that surrounds you. Love -- because tomorrow is not certain. Don't postpone anything beautiful for tomorrow. Live intensely, live totally, here and now. And there is no need to be a Mohammedan or a Hindu. And you will find a tremendous blissfulness arising. That is your paradise. Paradise is not some place, somewhere. It is a space within you.

Source - Osho Book "The Osho Upanishad"

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