Sufism, Vol. 1 Sufis: The People Of The Path Chapter 10: The Original Signature, Question 6

The sixth question:

Question 6

OSHO, YOU ARE QUOTED AS BEING HERE TO PROCLAIM A NEW TRADITION, NOT TO PERPETUATE THE OLD. WHY IS THIS, AND HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE?

First: the creation of a new tradition is the only way to perpetuate the old, the only way. The old has to become new again and again. Only then can it be perpetuated. It is like Buddha attaining enlightenment sitting under a Bodhi tree near Bodhgaya.... That tree has existed, not exactly the same tree, but again and again branches of the tree were planted -- three times it has happened. The old tree died and when the tree was dying a branch was planted. Then that tree also died, but before it died another branch was planted. It comes in the same conti-nuum. It is not the same tree in a sense, just as your son is not you in a sense, but it is the same tree in another sense -- just as your son is another you in a sense, your continuity.

Each time the world consciousness takes a new turn, a new religion has to be born -- and this new religion will in a sense be absolutely new, and in a sense absolutely old. It will contain all that is true in all the old traditions but it will be a new birth, a new body. The wine will be old but the bottle will be new.

Truth cannot be new or old, it is the same truth always. It has no difference in time. That truth Buddha attained is the truth I have attained. That truth I have attained is the truth you will attain. It is not that truths are many -- truth is one. But Buddha's language is no longer relevant; my language is relevant. Buddha was talking two thousand five hundred years ago to a different kind of people, to a different kind of society, to a different kind of mind. Naturally, he had to speak a language that those people were able to understand. I speak to a different kind of world, to a different kind of time, to a different kind of mind. I have to speak a different language. Truth is the same, the wine is the same, just the bottle is different.

You ask me: OSHO, YOU ARE QUOTED AS BEING HERE TO PROCLAIM A NEW TRADITION, NOT TO PERPETUATE THE OLD. To proclaim a new tradition is the only way to perpetuate the old. If you go on insisting on the old, you insist on something dead. If you cling to the old, you cling to the past. Each time, each age, has to discover truth on its own, has find its own way of expressing it, its own way of dancing it, its own way of singing it, its own gospel, its own scripture, its own Master. Each age has to find truth again and again. It is the same truth but it has to be found again and again.

It is not like science. In science you discover one thing and it is discovered forever. Then there is no need to rediscover it. Religious truth is utterly different; it has to be rediscovered again and again. Only then does it remain alive. I am proclaiming a new religion. But how can religion be new? It is the ancientmost truth. But this is the only way to give it a new body and a new dress and a new language and new concepts, and a new stir and a new thrill -- to make it alive for you. I am bringing the same religion for you that was brought by others for others. It is new in a sense; it is the ancientmost in another sense.

So those who understand me, they will find.... If they have loved Jesus, they will find Jesus in me; if they have loved Buddha, they will find Buddha in me; if they have loved Mohammed, they will find Mohammed in me. That's why so many people have gathered around me. It is a rare phenomenon. Hindus are here, Jainas are here, Buddhists are here, Muslims are here, Christians are here, Jews are here. You can find all varieties of all kinds of people around here. It is rare; it has never happened this way before.

It could not happen this way before because it is only in this twentieth century that the consciousness has become so alert about stupid things. It has become so alert about superstitions that is ready to drop them. If I had spoken the language that I speak in a Mohammedan country one thousand years ago, I would have been killed the first day, the very first day. It was not pos-sible, but now it is possible. You can ask Krishna Mohammed, you can ask Radha Mohammed.... I have Mohammedan sannyasins here. This is a rare phenomenon. They love me; they don't find any conflict between me and Mohammed. In fact, they find Mohammed in me. Through me they become better Mohammedans.

Jews are here, a great number of Jews are here. Jews are ordinarily very orthodox people. They have persisted in their own idea that they are the chosen people of God, that the real religion belongs to them, that God has spoken only to them. Jews could not accept their own son, Jesus, but fifty per cent of you here are Jews. You will be surprised -- fifty per cent! And it is not an exaggeration, it may be more. This is rare. You could not accept Jesus, your own son, but you can accept me. What has happened?

This twentieth century brings a new consciousness into the world, it is a quantum leap. Now you can see. now you are no longer bothered by language and words. You can see deep into my eyes and you can see the same truth as is revealed in Moses or as is revealed in Baal Shem.

I am proclaiming a new religion -- the essential religion. In Islam it is known as Sufism, in Buddhism it is known as Zen, in Judaism it is known as Hassidism -- the essential core. But I speak your language, I speak the way you understand, the way you can understand. I speak-a very religionless language. I speak as if I am not religious at all. That's what is needed in this world. This twentieth century needs a religion completely free from all kinds of superstitions, utterly nude, naked.

This century is trained in the ways of science, is trained very logically. Never before was any other human society so logically trained. I am talking about something which is basically illogical but I have to talk in a logical way. If you go to a Sufi he talks about the illogical in an illogical way. I talk about the illogical in a logical way. If you go to a Zen Master he simply talks in an illogical way. You will not be able to make a bridge between you and him. With me, the bridge is very easy. I go with you to take you with me further.

First, I go with you. I make you perfectly happy that I am coming with you. Sooner or later you forget when things change and you start coming with me. I am ready to come into your valley -- the darkest valley, wherever you are -- I am ready to come into your unconscious cave... and in the way you want. I am ready to come there. Once I have entered there I can bring you out. That is the only meaning when I say, 'I proclaim a new religion.'

And you ask me: HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE? The future is great because the present is great. I don't think about the future, the present is more than enough. But if the present is so beautiful then the future is going to be great -- it will be born out of this present. That future will contain this present. We need not worry about the future, we need not be prophetic about the future, we need not say a single thing about the future. We should be joyous and happy in this moment, and the next moment will be coming out of this moment. It will be suffused with the celebration of this moment, and, naturally, it will lead you into a higher celebration.

The future is going to come out of this present.

There are two kinds of people: one who goes on thinking about the future, not bothering about the present at all. That future is not going to come, that future is just a fool's imagination. I don't think about the future. I am a totally different kind of person. I don't think about the future at all, it is irrelevant. My whole effort is how to beautify this present moment, how to make people more celebrating, how to make people more joyous, how to give them a little glimpse of blissfulness, how to bring laughter to their life. And then the future takes care of itself. You need not think of the morrow, it comes. It comes out of this moment. Let this moment be of great celebration.

Sufism

VOL. 1, SUFIS: THE PEOPLE OF THE PATH

Chapter-10

The Original Signature