From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 10. GOD – THE NOBODY EVERYBODY KNOWS
admit the fact that I came to see you.” The higher class people were not mixing – what to say of
mixing – they were not even ready to talk to this man.
This is the son of God, created in His own image – and nobody in the whole of Judea could recognize
him except those few fools who had no religious education, no understanding. They were fishers,
woodcutters, farmers – and they enjoyed the idea of being associated with the only son of God
because that gave them the hope that, ”When we reach the kingdom of God we will be with the son,
close to God. Then all these rich people, these kings, these viceroys and these rabbis will see who
we are. Right now we are only fishermen, woodcutters, farmers....” So that was their hope. That’s
why it was so cheap to enter the kingdom of God with Jesus. This opportunity was not to be missed.
But he could find only those twelve people in the whole of Judea.
No great religion in the East will accept him, because a man is known by his company, and his
company was certainly not good. And that company became his apostles, that company created
Christianity; so if Christianity is a third-rate religion there is no wonder about it – it has come from
a very thirdrate source. It hasn’t the profundity of Jainism or Buddhism or Hinduism: there is no
comparison.
But you are asking about Hazrat Mohammed. Now what do you see in Hazrat Mohammed that you
think he can be proclaimed as the image of God? For his whole life he was a killer. His hand was
always on his sword, even in his sleep: his whole life was a continual war. Of course on his sword he
had written, ”Peace is my mission.” A strange peace, that you have to write on your sword, ”Peace
is my mission.”
And with the sword Mohammed wanted to bring peace into the world. Either you accepted that he
was the messenger of God or you were finished – that was the peace. In both ways there would be
peace: either you became Mohammedan and there was peace, or you were no more and there was
peace. Certainly that message on his sword was really meaningful. You could choose: two kinds of
peace he allowed you.
Mohammedanism had converted millions just on the fear of death: man’s lust for life is such that he
will be ready to do anything. And what was he asking? It is nothing to make much of a fuss about.
His religion is simple, almost a simpleton’s religion: repeat the name of Allah five times and for one
month every year – the month of Ramadan – keep a fast in the day. In the night you can eat; in the
night there is a feast, so the whole day you fast and in the night you feast.
This is a strange kind of fasting – in India it is just the opposite. In the night you cannot eat at all –
fasting, not fasting, that is not the question; but while you are fasting then it is absolutely impossible
to eat in the night. The sun has gone down, life has gone to sleep – and this is not the time for
eating.
And it seems to be rational and reasonable that when the sun is there digestion is easier. You will
be working, you will be perspiring, you will be doing something; digestion is easier. When in the
night the sun has gone down and you are going to sleep, if you eat, then digestion is not going to be
good. It is a simple fact.
But why did Mohammed choose the other way? The reason was that the whole day they were
fighting. In the night the fight had to stop because in darkness, in the desert you could not fight, so
From Ignorance to Innocence 130 Osho