The moment a child is born, we force religion upon him... ~OSHO~

YOU CANNOT BE BORN INTO A RELIGION: you have to choose. Religion has nothing to do with blood, bones, birth -- nothing!

Someone is born a Buddhist. He may be a feeling type, but he will follow Buddha. Then his whole life will be wasted. Someone is born an intellectual type. He may be born a Mohammedan, or he may be born into a devotional cult. His life will be wasted and he will become false.

THE WHOLE WORLD IS IRRELIGIOUS because religion is foolishly associated with birth. There is no relationship at all. You have to choose consciously, because first you have to understand your type and then you have to choose.

THE WORLD WILL BE DEEPLY RELIGIOUS the day we allow everyone to choose his religion, method, technique, path.

But religion has become organizational, politically organizational. That is why THE MOMENT A CHILD IS BORN, WE FORCE RELIGION UPON HIM; we condition him into a religion. The parents are afraid that he may move into another organization.

BEFORE HE BECOMES CONSCIOUS, he must be destroyed, crippled, forced. Before he becomes conscious and can think about things, his mind must be conditioned so that he cannot think freely. You cannot think freely, because whatsoever you think has been preconditioned....

YOUR MIND IS FUNCTIONING LIKE A COMPUTER. The information has been fed, evaluation has been fed. You are already based on some non-sensical concepts, traditions. You cannot throw them away easily. That's why religion is just a word.

Very few people can become religious, because very few people can rebel against their own conditionings. ONLY A REVOLUTIONARY MIND CAN BECOME RELIGIOUS -- a mind which can see a thing, the facts of it, and then decide what to do.

BUT FEEL YOUR TYPE, try to feel your type. It is not difficult. The first thing: IF YOU FEEL CONFUSED, you are the intellectual type. IF YOU FEEL CERTAIN, TRUSTING, then proceed with the different techniques which require trust as a basic thing. And secondly, remember, never do both the techniques. That will create more confusion in you. Nothing is wrong; both are right; RamaKrishna is right, Buddha is right.

Remember one thing: IN THIS WORLD, MANY THINGS CAN LEAD YOU TO TRUTH -- MANY PATHS. There is no monopoly. Even contradictory paths, absolutely contradictory paths, can lead you to the same point.

THERE IS NO "ONE" PATH. On the contrary, if you go deep and analyze, you will come to know that there are as many paths as there are travelers -- because each individual has to proceed from the point where he is standing already. He cannot use a ready-made path.

BASICALLY, YOU CREATE YOUR PATH BY YOUR MOVEMENT. There is no ready-made path already there; there are no highways, ready-made. But every religion tries to force on you this idea that the path is ready and you have just to travel over it. That's wrong. This inner search is more like sky than earth.

A BIRD IS FLYING: HE WILL LEAVE NO FOOTPRINTS IN THE SKY. The sky will remain a vacuum. The bird has flown -- he has not left any footprint. No bird can follow in his footprints, the sky is again empty. Another bird, any bird who has to fly, will create his own path.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS LIKE SKY, NOT LIKE EARTH. A Mahavir moves, a Buddha moves, a Meera moves, a Mohammed moves... You can see their movement, you can see their achievement -- but the moment they move, the path disappears. You cannot follow, dead-like, you cannot imitate; YOU HAVE TO FIND YOUR OWN PATH.

FIRST THINK ABOUT YOUR TYPE AND THEN CHOOSE METHODS. In these one hundred and twelve methods, many are for the intellectual type, many are for the emotional type. But don't think that because you are a mixed type, you have to follow both. That will create more confusion, and you will be divided so deeply that you may even go mad, schizophrenic, split. Don't do that.

OSHO
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra
Vol 1, Ch #24: Doubt or faith, life or death; the bases of different paths
pm in Woodlands, Bombay