Osho – I am unable to give you the truth. If anyone says he is capable of giving it to you, you can be certain he has begun by giving you an untruth. No one has the capacity to give the truth. This is no comment on the capacity of the giver, it only shows that truth is a living thing. It is not an inanimate object that can be given or taken away. It is a living experience one must obtain by oneself.

Dead objects can be transferred from one person to another, but not experiences. Can I transfer to you the love, the experience of love that I have had? Can I give you the beauty and the music I have encountered? How I wish I could give you the joy I have experienced in such an extraordinary way in this ordinary-looking body of mine! But there is not way to do so. I feel restless and tormented about it but I can do nothing. This is such helplessness!

A friend of mine was born blind. How I wished I could transfer my sight to him but it wasn’t possible. Perhaps one day it may be possible because eyes are parts of the body and may be capable of being transplanted. But the sight that sees the truth can never be transferred no matter how strongly one might wish it. It belongs to the soul, not to the body.

Whatever is achieved in the world of the self is only achieved through self-effort. In the world of the soul, no debt, no borrowing, no depending on others is possible. Nobody can walk there on borrowed legs. There is no refuge there apart from one’s self. To attain to truth you must be your own refuge. This is the inescapable condition.

It is because of this that I said I am incapable of giving you the truth. Only words can be communicated, words that are lifeless and dead – and the truth always remains behind. And this communication of words is not real communicating at all. That which is alive – their meaning, their soul, the experience that is their essence – does not go with them. They are like empty cartridges, like bullets without gunpowder. They are like dead bodies, corpses. They can only be a burden to you; they can never liberate you. With words you only carry the corpse of truth. There is no heartbeat of truth in a corpse.

As I said, truth cannot be given. But I can be of some assistance in helping you set down this load you are carrying on your back. It is a burden you have been carrying for ages and it has become very heavy, unbearable. You must be freed from this burden of words. Just as a traveler becomes covered with dust while walking along the road it is natural that the dust of words and thoughts gathers on one during the journey through life. But you have to brush this dust off.

Words are dead things; they are not the truth. Nobody’s words are the truth. Do not collect them. Collecting them is harmful. The pilgrimage to truth cannot be made carrying this weight. Just as a climber must lay down his pack before scaling a mountain to seek the heights, one who has embarked on the journey to truth had better lay down the burden of words. Only a consciousness free of words is able to attain the lofty heights of truth.

I teach only one kind of non-possessiveness, the non-possession of words and thought. Their dead weight is making your journey very difficult. Chuang Tzu has said, ”The net is for catching fish. Catch the fish and throw away the net.” But we are such bad fishermen that we have become entangled in the nets and have forgotten about the fish. Look on your heads. You are carrying boats on your heads nad you have forgotten you are to sail in them.

Words are symbols. They are sign-pointers. They themselves are not the truth. Understand the significance of the signs and then throw them away. Collecting signs is no different from collecting corpses.
Words are like fingers pointing to the moon. A man who concentrates all his attention on the fingers misses the moon. The fingers serve their purpose if they lead you away from them. But on the contrary, they draw you to themselves, then they become not only useless but truly harmful.

Haven’t the words you have learned about truth become a source of misfortune to you already? Have they not separated you from one another, man from man? Aren’t all the stupidities and cruelties perpetrated in the name of religion because of words? Aren’t all those sects known as the various religions just based on the differences of words?

Truth is one and can only be one, but words are many, just like the moon is one while the fingers pointing to her may be a thousand and one. Those who have held on to one or more of the countless words that point to the truth are responsible for the many religious sects. These religions have not arisen from truth but from words. Truth is one. Religion too is one. Those who discard words attain to this religion alone and to this truth alone. It is without equal.

Therefore I don’t want to add to your burden of words by more talk. You are already breaking down under this heavy load of words. I see clearly that your necks are bent under their weight.

Those who have known the truth do not open their mouths at all. Their lips are sealed. Not a word is to be heard from them. Aren’t they saying enough this way? Aren’t they suggesting that truth lies in silence, that silence itself is truth? But we are unable to understand their language.

We cannot understand anything without words. Our understanding is limited to words and so they speak to us through the medium of words. They tell us in words about that which cannot be communicated in words. It is their compassion that leads them to attempt this impossible feat, and because of our ignorance we try to catch hold of their every word. Words coupled with ignorance form a sect – and once again we are deprived of truth and true religion is as distant from us as ever.

You must rise above words. Only then will you know what is behind the words. Words only fill our memories. Knowledge does not come from them. And please don’t mistake memory for knowledge. Know once and for all that memory is nothing more than a record of the past. It is learning, not knowledge.

Source – from Osho Book “The Perfect Way”, 6 June 1964 am

Osho – One and only one moment of determination, of sankalpa, of complete determination is enough, whereas a whole life without it is nothing. Remember it is not time but determination that is the important thing. The achievements of the world are accomplished in the realm of time and those of truth in the realm of determination. Sankalpa, determination, must live in your sadhana.

So what shall I say to you today? We shall be separating tonight and I see that your hearts are already heavy at the prospect. It has only been five days since we all came together here in this lonely spot. Who thought of departure then? But don’t forget that parting is inherent in coming together. They are two sides of the same coin.

Although they appear to be different they always go together. Because they show up separately and on different occasions we are deluded into the false belief that they are not connected. But if you go a little deeper you will find that meeting is itself a parting, that happiness is also grief and that even birth itself is death. Indeed there is hardly any difference between coming and going – or rather, there is no difference at all. It is the same in life. You have hardly come when the process of going begins, and what appears to our minds to be staying on is merely a preparation for leaving.

Really, what is the distance between birth and death? The distance between them can be endless. If life, if this distance between birth and death, becomes a pursuit for self-realization, this distance can have no end to it at all. If life becomes a sadhana, a journey to self-realization, death can become moksha, liberation. While there is not much distance between birth and death, the span between moksha and death is infinite. That distance is as great as the one between body and soul, between a dream and the truth. That distance is much greater than all other distances put together. No two points are greater apart than moksha and death.

The illusion that ”I am the body” is death; the realization that ”I am the soul” is liberation, salvation, moksha. And your life is an opportunity for the realization of truth. If this opportunity for the realization of truth. If this opportunity is used properly and not wasted in vain, the distance between birth and death becomes infinite.

As well, there can be a great distance between your coming here and your departure – a tremendous distance, in just the few days we have spent here. Isn’t it possible you will not be the same when you return as when you came? Isn’t it possible you may return as entirely new and changed people?

If you want it, this revolution or transformation can take place in a moment. Five days are too many. If even five previous births have been too few, why talk of five days? Just one moment of will, of complete determination is enough. A whole life without determination is nothing. Remember that determination and time are the important things. The achievements of the world are made in time; those of truth, in determination. It is the intensity of sankalpa, of determination, that gives a fathomless depth and an infinite expanse to a moment. As a matter of fact, in the intensity of sankalpa time ceases to exist and only eternity remains.

Determination is the door to liberate you from time and unite you with eternity. let your determination be deep and intense. Let it pervade your every breath. Let it be in your memory, asleep or awake. Only through it can a new birth take place, a birth which knows no death. This is real birth. There is a birth, the birth of the physical body, that inevitably ends in death but I deo not call this real birth.

How can something that ends in death be the beginning of life? But there is another birth that does not end in death. It is the real birth. Its fulfillment is in immortality. It was for this birth I invited you here, and to this birth I have been calling you for the past few days. We gathered here for that very birth. But merely coming together here is of no value. If you become whole, if you become one and call from the thirst of your own being, then the determination of your entire being will take you into the presence of truth.

The truth is very near but you need determination, you need will to approach it. The thirst for truth is there in you but determination is necessary as well. This thirst becomes a sadhana only when it goes hand-in-hand with determination.

What does ”determination” mean?

A man once asked a fakir the way to attain God. The fakir looked into his eyes and saw thirst. The fakir was on his way to the river so he asked the man to accompany him and promised to show him the way to attain God after they’d bathed.

They arrived at the river, as soon as the man plunged into the water the fakir grabbed the man’s head and pushed it down into the water with great force. The man began to struggle to free himself from the fakir’s grip. his life was in danger. He was much weaker than the fakir but his latent strength gradually began to stir and soon it became impossible for the fakir to hold him down. The man pushed himself to the limit and was eventually able to get out of the river. He was shocked. The fakir was laughing loudly and he could not understand his behavior.

After the man had calmed down the fakir asked him, ”when you were under the water what desires did you have in your mind?” The man replied, ”Desires! there weren’t desires, there was just one desire – to get a breath of air.” the fakir said, ”This is the secret of attaining God. This is determination. And your determination awakened all your latent powers.”

In a real moment of intense determination great strength is generated – and a man can leave the world and enter truth. By determination alone one can pass from the world into truth; by determination alone one can awaken from the dream to the truth. At this time, at the hour of our parting, I want to remind you of this: determination is needed.
And what else? Determination is needed, plus continuity in your sadhana. Your sadhana must be continuous. Have you ever seen a waterfall coming down from the mountains? It is a continuous stream of water that can even break huge rocks. If a man constantly endeavors to break the rocks of ignorance, those rocks that seemed impossible to break in the beginning will one day turn to dust. And then the man will find his way.

The path is there to be found, without a doubt, but don’t try to locate one that’s ready-made. You have to find it yourself, by your own efforts. And what dignity this brings a man! How much to our credit it is that we attain truth by our own efforts! Mahavira wanted to convey this when he spoke of truth attained by labor.

The truth is not alms given in charity, it is an achievement. You need determination, continuous effort and one more thing: infinite patience. Truth is infinite, endless, and therefore in waiting for it infinite patience is necessary. God appears only after endless waiting. Those who have no patience cannot attain God. I wanted to remind you of this as well.

Finally, I am reminded of a story I will pass along to you. Although quite imaginary, it is perfectly true. An angel passed a spot where an old sadhu was sitting. The sadhu said to the angel, ”Please ask God how long it will take for me to attain moksha, to achieve liberation.”

Near the old sadhu a very young, newly-initiated sannyasin was living. He was sitting under a banyan tree. The angel also asked the young sannyasin if he wanted him to ask God about his moksha as well. But the sannyasin did not say a word. He was quiet, calm and silent.

After some time the angel returned. He said to the old sadhu, ”I asked God about your moksha. He says it will take three more births.” The old man grew furious and his eyes became bloodshot. He threw away his rosary and said, ”Three more births! It’s atrocious!”

Then the angel went to the young man and said to him, ”I also asked God about you. He said you will have to practice your sadhana for as many births as there are leaves on the banyan tree under which you are sitting.” The young sannyasin felt very happy and his eyes filled with tears of joy. He jumped up and began to dance. ”In that case I have attained! There are so many trees in this world and so many leaves on each of them! and if I will attain God in only as many births as there are leaves on this small banyan tree then I have almost attained him.”

This is how the crop of truth is harvested. And do you know the end of this story? The young sannyasin kept on dancing and dancing and that very moment he became free and attained to God. That moment of tranquil and infinite love and patience was everything. That very moment was emancipation. This I call infinite patience. And he who has infinite patience achieves everything here and now. This mental attitude itself is the final attainment. Are you willing to wait this long?
With this question I bid you farewell.

Source – from Osho Book “The Perfect Way’, Chapter name – TheFarewell, 8 June 1964 am

Question – Are you yourself able to make things Materialize?
Osho – I am able to do it. And I am also able not to do it – because I feel the absurdity of it. And the second ability is better. Buddha could not be persuaded to do it, but Jesus had to do it. Again, the reason is the same: because the Jews could not believe anything unless it was something material. They could not be convinced without a miracle.

In India one can conceive of a Buddha who does not perform any miracles. But the Jews began to ask, ”Can you do miracles? Only if you do miracles can we believe that what you are saying is meaningful.” It was not Jesus who wanted to do the miracles, it was the Jews who compelled him. Without miracles, his thinking, his preaching, would have seemed meaningless to them. We cannot even conceive of Buddha’s doing miracles. It is appealing to a much lower state of mind.

Why be so concerned with convincing anyone? Why be so concerned?
Sometimes a miracle would happen around Buddha, but it was not deliberately done. It would happen in a particular situation. Still, there are layers of meaning to it. All the miracles recorded in The Bible – sometimes bread appears, sometimes disease disappears, or a dead man becomes alive again – are all very material, very ordinary things.

They are concerned with the day-to-day problems of the ordinary man: bread, disease, death. Buddha says that the whole of life is a dream. So what does it matter if someone becomes alive again? It is meaningless. It only means that a particular dream has begun to have some reality again.

There is one story recorded. Buddha was in a certain village where a child had died. The mother was so obsessed with the child that she was weeping and crying and trying to escape in order to commit suicide. So someone said, ”Come to see Buddha. He can do anything. He is an enlightened man; anything is possible. Come! He is the compassionate one. If he begins to feel compassionate toward you, the child may revive.”

So she came to Buddha with the dead child in her arms and laid the child at Buddha’s feet. Imagine what would have happened to Jesus in a similar situation in a Jewish country. If the child had not been brought back to life, Jesus would have been finished completely because this would have proven that he was not the man he claimed to be.

But when the child was brought to Buddha, what did he say? He said to the mother, ”I will make your child alive again, but first you will have to do one thing. Go to every house in the city and find out if there is any house where no one has ever died. If there is any house in the village where no one has ever died, then in the evening I will revive your child.”

The woman went and asked everyone. In every house, in every family, someone had died. By the time she returned in the evening she had become aware that death is a reality, death is a part of life. Buddha asked her, ”What do you say now? Is there any house, any family, any person who has not suffered due to someone’s death?”

The woman said, ”I have not returned now so that my child can be revived. I have come to be initiated. Death is a reality. The child has gone, I will go, everyone will have to go. Initiate me into that life which never ends.”

This is a greater miracle! But we cannot conceive of it. If the child had been brought back to life, it would have been a miracle. But this is a greater miracle, with deeper compassion. With a particular race it is possible; otherwise, it is not possible. The woman became a sannyasin: the death of the child was not used to satisfy the lust for life, it was used for renunciation.

If Buddha’s disciples were hungry, he would not perform a miracle and provide them with bread. On the contrary, he would say, ”Witness your hunger. Witness the hunger so that you can transcend it, so that you can move away from it. The hunger is not you; it is somewhere on the periphery.

Remember that. Use it.” Jesus had to supply bread and Buddha had to convince his followers to fast. To give someone bread is not a miracle really, but to make someone ready to fast is a miracle. It depends on how we define things. I am not concerned with miracles because it is all nonsense.

This whole life that we are living is absurd, so even if you can create something in it, it is meaningless. The only miracle that I am interested in is pushing you beyond. Even a glimpse of the beyond will be a miracle.

As I see it, if Jesus had prevented himself from doing these things, he would have served humanity better – by doing them, he attracted fools. The masses became interested in Jesus only because of his so-called miracles. He tried to help them through his miracles but it was not possible; on the contrary, he himself got into trouble.

I do not see that Christ was able to help anyone in this way.
If I were to materialize something, it would be bound to happen that fools would gather round me more and more. Soon I would be amongst fools, because only they are interested in such things.

If you go to Sai Baba you will see that he is doing certain things. But then only fools are attracted. If a ring appears in my hand, what does it matter? How is it related to any spiritual phenomenon? Even if this whole house disappears and then reappears again, what does it matter? So what? That is why I am not concerned with miracles. And those who are only attract fools.

Source – from Osho Book “The Great Challenge”

Question – THE PEAKS ARE GETTING PRETTY WONDERFUL, BUT THE VALLEYS ARE DEEPER AND DARKER THAN EVER. FINDING BALANCE SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT TO DO?

Osho - There is no need to do anything. You are not to find balance, balance will find you. You simply move. When the valley comes, you go into the valley. When darkness surrounds you, enjoy it, feel blissful in the velvety touch of it. Move into it, into the infinite magnificence of it. Darkness has a soothing quality which no light can have. The valley is a rest: like the night, like death.

No need to try to find balance. The balance will find you. You simply move into the valley. When the valley comes, you accept it. You not only accept it, you welcome it. You enjoy it, you delight in it — darkness is beautiful. And when the valley goes and you move towards the peak, that too is perfectly beautiful. That is beautiful: the light, the morning, the sun.

But don’t cling to either. Clinging creates trouble; through clinging, anguish comes. If you cling to the peak and you say, “I would not like to go to the valley again,” then you will be in trouble. Then at the very peak you have created the valley. Then, already, the suffering has started. You are afraid: fear has entered, the agony is already there. You are no longer happy. You have destroyed the peak.

When you are in the valley you will suffer that “now the valley has come.” You will suffer the valley, and you will not be able to enjoy the peak. This is the ordinary situation.

When you are happy, you become afraid. Is this happiness going to stay or will it be gone? Now fear eats away at your happiness like a worm and poisons it. You are happy and yet you are not happy. Something is already dead: you have become apprehensive of the future. When you are unhappy, of course, you are unhappy. When you are happy you cannot be happy, so how can you be happy when you are unhappy? The whole life becomes a vicious circle of unhappiness.

Now, listen! When you are at the peak, dance. I know, and you know, that the peak is not going to last forever. There is no need. If it lasts forever, it will be such a tension that you will not be able to tolerate it. It will be such an excitement that you will not find any rest in it. It will be dangerous, it will kill you. No need for it to last forever.

But while it lasts, dance, enjoy, sing — knowing well that it is going to he lost again. Knowing it, one has to enjoy it even more before it is lost. And remember, this is the miracle: when you enjoy it more it lasts longer. When you are happy in it and dancing, it forgets to go away from you. It lingers with you. When YOU don’t cling to it, it clings to you. This is the whole secret.

And when it is gone, then too it is not gone. It has given you such a deep blissfulness that now you go into the valley and you can rest in darkness. Then the valley becomes relaxation and the peak becomes enjoyment. Then the peak becomes the day and the valley becomes the night: then the peak becomes activity and the valley becomes passivity.

One has to enjoy the night also. That is the only way to enjoy the day. And if you enjoy the day, a great night comes with great rest. It refreshes you, rejuvenates you.

Always remember: the greater the peak, the greater will be the valley. Otherwise how can the peak be greater? If you go to the Himalayas you will find that the greater the peak the greater the valley. If you are afraid of the valley, then don’t ask for the peaks. Then move on plain ground. There will be no peak and no valley.

That is the most miserable life: where there is no peak, no valley. One simply vegetates. It is not a life. One simply drags. It is a monotony. It is not a dialogue; it is a monologue. A dialogue needs duality, a dialogue needs contradiction, a dialogue needs polarity, a dialogue needs paradox. And within the paradox, you move from one pole to another.

Don’t be worried about balance. Balance will seek you; I will see that balance seeks you. You simply do this much: while on the peak, dance; while in the valley, rest. Accept the valley; accept the peak. Both are parts of the one whole and you cannot deny one part. They are two aspects of the same coin.

Remember, one who enjoys more is bound to suffer more because he becomes very sensitive. But suffering is not bad. If you understand it rightly, suffering is a cleansing. If you understand it rightly, sadness has a depth to it which no happiness can ever have. A person who is simply happy is always superficial. A person who has not known sorrow and has not known sadness, has not known the depths. He has not touched the bottom of his being; he has remained just on the periphery. One has to move within these two banks. Within these two banks flows the river.

And I tell you, balance will seek you if you accept both and you live both. Whatsoever happens, you welcome it. Suddenly. one day you will see that balance has come. And when balance comes to you, it is something totally different than that balance which you can force upon yourself.

If you force the balance, it will be a.sort of control. A control is always artificial, a control is always ugly. Control has a violence in it. It is forced, artificial. When balance comes to you, it is a happening. Suddenly it descends on you. Heavens open and the spirit of God, like a dove, descends in you.

All that is great always comes. All that YOU make is always small, petty. It is never great. All that you do is going to be lesser than you. All that is great — you have to allow it. Balance will find you. God will find you. You just be ready. And this is readiness: to accept whatsoever comes, to accept it with gratefulness. Even sorrow, even sadness. even the valley… dark.

Source – from Osho Book “Come Follow to you, Vol2″

Question – Sometimes you call us ‘you Fools’ and sometimes you call us ‘you Buddhas’. Are fools and Buddhas the same to you?
Osho – They are not the same to me but they are both meeting in you right now, shaking hands within you. Your past is the fool, your future is the buddha, and at this moment they are both within you.

The buddha is your destiny, the fool is your reality; something is actual in you and something is potential. When I talk about your actuality I call you ’the fools’, when I talk about your potentiality I call you ’the buddhas’ – they are not the same but they can exist in the same person. In fact the fool is nothing but the buddha confused, and the buddha is nothing but the fool integrated, rooted, centered.

The fool can become the buddha – the possibility is there but a re-arrangement is needed; nothing is lacking, just a re-arrangement is needed. You have all that is needed within you but it is in a deeply disarranged state, a chaos; a crowd of noises exists. The harmony has not happened. The crowd of noises I call ’the fool’; but when the crowd of noises has disappeared and the notes, different and even opposite, have fallen into a deep pattern, the chaos becomes a cosmos, the disorder, an order, the crowd is no longer there, only one exists.

When the harmony has happened, you have become a buddha. The fool and the buddha are not the same, they are two phases of your growth. The fool is the lowest rung of the ladder and the buddha is the highest rung of the ladder. The ladder is the same, but the dimensions are totally different, and unless you become aware of the fool you will never become a buddha.

In India we have very parallel terms for both: the fool is called the BUDDHU and the enlightened man is called the BUDDHA. The word ’BUDDHA’ comes from Buddha himself, they have the same roots. A BUDDHU is an inverted buddha, standing on his head; a buddha is one who has come back home.

Sometimes I call you ’you fools’ to make you aware of your actuality, but immediately I contradict myself and I call you ’you buddhas’ so that you do not get identified – you might get identified with the actuality. No, you are a potential being, you have to grow, you have to become that which in the innermost core of your being you are already.

Your center is the buddha, your periphery is the fool, and I have to talk to both – the fool has to be persuaded to go, the buddha has to be persuaded to come. So when I call you ’fools’, don’t get hurt, and when I call you ’buddhas’, don’t get high. When I call you ’the fools’, remember that I also call you ’the buddhas’; and when I call you ’the buddhas’ never forget that I also call you ’the fools’. Between these two remembrances something will crystallize within you.

Source: from Osho Book “Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 2″

Osho – In India, we have called philosophy, ’darshan’. It means the capacity to see. We don’t call it a love of thinking, as the word ’philosophy’ means. We call it: the capacity to see. Philosophy is not a right translation of darshan. The right translation of darshan would be PHILOSIa – ’a love to see’. Philosophy means love of thinking. SOPHIA means thinking and PHILO means love.

The Indian philosophy is not philosophy; it is PHILOSIA. SIA means to see. The whole emphasis is not on the object; the emphasis is on the subject. Subjectivity is religion. Objectivity is science. To pay attention to the object is to be scientific. To pay attention to the subject is to be religious.

You look at a flower. If you pay attention to the flower, then it is scientific. If you pay attention to the witness of the flower, it becomes religious. A scientist and a religious man may be standing side by side, looking at the same flower – but they are not looking in the same way. The scientist is looking at the flower and has forgotten himself completely. The religious man is witnessing the flower, and remembering himself. It is a change of gestalt. Try it sometimes. Look at a flower – then suddenly change the gestalt. Now look at the seer of the flower.

You are listening to me right now. You can pay attention to what I am saying – then it is a scientific listening. Or you can be aware of the one who is listening to me within you – then it becomes religious. The difference is very delicate and subtle. Try it right now. Listen to me. Forget yourself. Then it is scientific.

A scientist while working is absolutely concentrated. Science is concentration. Religion is meditation. And that is the difference between concentration and meditation. Concentration is not meditation. Meditation is not concentration. Concentration is focusing your eyes on the object; meditation is focusing yourself on your self. Meditation has no object in it; it is pure subjectivity.

Listen to me. Concentrate. Then you forget yourself. Then you don’t know who you are: You are simply a listener. Then change the focus. It is a knack. It cannot be taught how to change it. You simply change it. You just become aware that you are listening. Awareness becomes more important then what you are listening to. Immediately, a deep change has happened in your being. In that moment you become religious.

If you go on paying too much attention to the object you may come to know many secrets of nature, but you will never come across God on any of the paths that you will travel. It will never be a pilgrimage, a TEERTHYATRA. You will wander and wander into the wilderness of the world and matter. That’s why science cannot think that God is – it is impossible.

God is not an object. Your very approach is such that God is excluded from it. God is not an object! God is your withinness. It is not in the object of concentration. It is in the subjectivity of meditation. He is you.

I have heard one beautiful story. There was a man, a great devotee of Buddha. He had a beautiful statue of Buddha, a wooden statue, a piece of art – an antique, very valuable. He carried it like a great treasure.

One night it happened: he was staying in a cold hut. And the winter was really ice-cold and he was shivering. It seemed that he was going to die. There was no wood for his fire. At midnight, when he was shivering, it is said that Buddha appeared and said: ’Why don’t you burn me?’ The wooden statue was there. The man became afraid. This must be a devil. He said: ’What are you saying? Burn the statue of Buddha? – never!’

Buddha laughed and said: ’If you see me in the statue you will miss me. I am in you, not in the statue. I am not in the worshipped, the object; I am in the worshipper. And I am shivering within you! Burn this statue!’

God is your subjectivity. He is there within. When you focus outside, there are objects. When you become unfocused and look within, without any focus, He is there – absolutely alive, throbbing, ticking.

Source : from Osho Book “The True Sage”