Rajneesh

"The so-called mahatmas and saints are all cowards. I have never come across a single mahatma—Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Buddhist—who can be said to be really a rebellious spirit. Unless one is rebellious, one is not religious. Rebellion is the very foundation of religion."

"My grandfather ... had raised me with absolute freedom, no inhibitions, no suppressions, and no commandments.Love with freedom—if you have it, you are a king or a queen. That is the real kingdom of God—love with freedom. Love gives you the roots into the earth, and freedom gives you the wings."

"‘Only a whole person can be a holy person.’ (p. 19)"

"The new man will not be either/or; he will be both/and. The new man will be earthly and divine, worldly and other-worldly. The new man will accept his totality and he will live it without any inner division, he will not be split. His god will not be opposed to the devil, his morality will not be opposed to immorality; he will know no opposition. He will transcend duality, he will not be schizophrenic. With the new man there will come a new world, because the new man will perceive in a qualitatively different way and he will live a totally different life which has not been lived yet. He will be a mystic, a poet, a scientist, all together. (p. 19)"

"People may understand today or tomorrow or day after tomorrow— that doesn’t matter—but one day they will understand it. One thing I can say that, whatever I am saying is going to be the future philosophy, the future religion, of the whole humanity. (p. 22)."

"My trust in existence is absolute. If there is any truth in what I am saying, it will survive…The people who remain interested in my work will be simply carrying the torch, but not imposing anything on anyone…I will remain a source of inspiration to my people. And that’s what most sannyasins will feel. I want them to grow on their own qualities like love, around which no church can be created; like awareness, which is nobody’s monopoly; like celebration, rejoicing, and maintaining fresh, childlike eyes…I want my people to know themselves, not to be according to someone else. And the way is in. (p. 22)"

"Never born, Never died: only visited this planet earth between December 11, 1931 and, January 19, 1990."

"Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, given a hero's welcome by his Indian disciples after returning from a U.S. jail, denounced the United States Sunday and said the world must "put the monster America in its place." "The real enemy is no more the Soviet Union, it is America," said the 53-year-old guru, who returned to New Delhi after pleading guilty to violating U.S. immigration laws by arranging sham marriages so his followers could stay in the U.S. In his first press conference since he was arrested last month in Charlotte, N.C., Rajneesh declared, "Either America must be hushed up or America will be the end of the world.""

"Reading his discourses made me realize that Rajneesh was a sad loss. He had an extraordinary range of knowledge and a vision of how life should be lived, but he proved incapable of following his own precepts."

"...‘Osho is the greatest incarnation after Buddha in India. He is a living Buddha.’... - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 8)."

"With regards to Osho, the controversy is more intense because he speaks his truth against governments, religions and old beliefs publicly and without fear. He declares that 'he is a category by himself'. - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 18)."

"Osho's mother, Saraswati, about Osho, ‘I wonder why he (Osho) took birth in this simple family (of ours), because people go on asking so many meaningful questions, and Osho talks with such wisdom…and (here) we are full of amazement at why should he have taken birth in this family! If we had been more talented parents we could have described so many things about (his life)…would have complimented him in so many ways. But we cannot. We feel stunned when these questions come. People pour questions, but we do not feel capable of answering them.’ - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 29)."

"(I am) one man against the whole history of humanity. People have always misunderstood me -- perhaps that is my destiny.’) - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 10). Wisdom Tree."

"‘I am the beginning of a totally new religious consciousness, please don’t connect me with past; it is not even worth remembering.’ - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 17)."

"I have not come to teach, I have come tto awaken. - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 17)."

"‘I teach utter rebellion. I am not here to compromise. I have decided to be utterly honest and truthful whatsoever the cost.’ - Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 17)."

"‘This is true. Seven hundred years ago, in my previous life, there was a spiritual practice of twenty-one days, to be done before death. I was to give up my body after a total fast of twenty-one days, but I could not complete those twenty-one days…When only three days remained in that life, I was killed…and those three days were omitted. In this life, those three days were completed (by taking milk only on the fourth day).’ Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (p. 33)."

"‘That killing became valuable. At the time of death, those three days were left. After all my strenuous efforts for enlightenment during that life, I was able to achieve in this life, after a period of twenty-one years, that which would have been possible to achieve during those three days. For each of those three days in that life, I had to spend seven years in this life.’ Joshi, Vasant. Osho, The Luminous Rebel (pp. 33-34)."