You have been forced to lose your life.

Life has been condemned in every possible way by all the religions; and when everybody is condemning life - the whole world is full of condemners - what can a small child do? He becomes impressed by all this condemnation.

Just look at the story of the beginning of the world. God said to Adam and Eve, "Don't eat from the tree of knowledge, and don't eat from the tree of life."

He had prohibited two trees. Both are the most significant things in life: wisdom and life - and God denies both. Then you can go on eating all kinds of grass and whatsoever you want. He does not say, "Don't eat marijuana, don't drink alcohol." No, He is not interested in that. Adam and Eve can smoke grass, that is allowed; can make wine from grapes, that is allowed.

Only two things are not allowed: they should not become knowers, they should remain ignorant; and they should not live, they should go on postponing life. And because they disobeyed and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge ... they could not manage to eat the second tree's fruit, they were caught. After eating the fruit of knowledge they were speeding fast towards the tree of life but they were prevented immediately.

It is natural: anyone who has awareness, consciousness - which are the qualities of wisdom - his first thing will be to go deeper into life, to taste it as much as possible, to connect himself with its center, to be drowned in the mystery of life.

-Rajneesh

It is a reciprocal thing. When so many people believe in you, it results in a very strange conclusion: you start believing in yourself, for the simple reason that if you are not right, then how can so many people believe in you?

Each leader needs thousands of people in order to be convinced that he is a capable leader. Just take the followers away and you will see the leader disappearing; you will see just an ordinary person - perhaps below average or retarded. But when thousands of people are behind you, believing that you have eyes - they are all blind - you start believing that you have eyes because so many people believe in you.

You forget completely that you don't know. And these people go on conditioning other people.

Parents go on giving their diseases as an inheritance to their children, teachers to their students, professors to their scholars.

-Rajneesh

There is no goal of life, for the simple reason that life is its own goal. The goal is intrinsic, not something outside; not there, far away, but herenow, in this very moment.

The very idea of goal is future-oriented.

The moment you start living for a goal you stop living in the present, in the immediate. The goal becomes more important. Tomorrow becomes more important, and you have to sacrifice today for tomorrow; and the trouble is, tomorrow never comes, has never come, is not going to come ever.

But you go on sacrificing your today - which is your only treasure, which is all that you have got.

You risk that which you have for that which is only a mind desire.

But the society, culture, civilization, religions - they have all conditioned the mind of human beings to live for ideals, goals, to go on sacrificing the real for some imaginary paradise, future life, eternity, God. All these names mean only one thing: Don't live now.

All the cultures and all the civilizations and all the religions are against the "now" - and now is the only reality.

-Rajneesh

Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.

-Rajneesh

All religions make you a fanatic, for the simple reason that unless you are a fanatic you cannot forget that your belief is superficial. By becoming a fanatic you become so involved and committed that you forget completely that it is only a belief.

-Rajneesh