From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 7. SHAME IS THE NAME OF THEIR GAME
Ninety-nine times the ritual fails, it is bound to fail because it has nothing to do with weather. There
is no scientific cause-and-effect relationship between the ritual, your fire ceremony, your mantras,
and the clouds and the rain. The priest is certainly more cunning than the people he is exploiting:
he knows perfectly well what is really happening.
Priests have never believed in God, remember – they cannot, but they pretend to believe more than
anybody else. They have to, that is their profession. The stronger their faith, the more crowds they
can attract, so they pretend. But I have never come across any priest who believes that there is a
God. How can he believe? He goes on seeing every day that it is only rarely, by a coincidence, that
sometimes the ritual succeeds. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it fails. But he has explanations
for the poor people – that your ritual was not done rightly, that while doing it you were not full of pure
thoughts. Now, who is full of pure thoughts, and what is a pure thought?
It is very natural.... For example, in a Jaina ritual people must be fasting. And while they are doing
the ritual, they are thinking of food: that is an impure thought. Now, a hungry person thinking of food
– I don’t see how it is impure. It is exactly the right thought. In fact, he is doing a wrong act at that
moment doing the ritual; he should run to a restaurant!
But the priest has a very simple explanation why your ritual failed: ”God never fails, He always is
ready to protect you. He is the provider, the creator, the maintainer; He will never let you down.
But you fail Him while saying the prayer or doing the ritual: you are full of impure thoughts.” And
the people know that the priest is right – they were thinking of food... or a beautiful woman has
passed and the idea has arisen that she is beautiful, and the desire to get her.... They threw away
the thoughts but it was too late; it had already occurred.
So everybody knows that their thoughts are impure. Now, I don’t see that there is anything impure.
If a beautiful woman passes by a mirror, it will also reflect the beautiful woman. Is the mirror impure?
Your mind is a mirror, it simply reflects. And your mind is conscious of everything that is happening
around you. It comments, it is continuously making a commentary. If you watch, you will be surprised
– you cannot find a better commentator.
The mind says the woman is beautiful – and if you feel a desire for beauty I don’t see that there is
anything wrong in it. If you feel a desire for ugliness, then something is wrong, then you are sick.
Beauty has to be appreciated. When you see a beautiful painting, you would like to possess it.
When you see anything beautiful, just by the side of it the idea comes as a shadow, ”If this beautiful
thing could be mine....” Now, these are all natural thoughts.
But the priest will say, ”The rains have not come because of your impure thoughts” – and you are
absolutely indefensible. You know it, you are ashamed of yourself. God is always right. But when
rains come, then too these thoughts were passing through your head; you were exactly the same
person. If you were hungry, you were thinking of food; if you were thirsty, you were thinking of water.
These ideas were coming to you when the rains came; but then, nobody bothers about the bad
thoughts. The priest starts praising you, your great austerity, your deep prayer: ”God has heard
you.” And your ego feels so satisfied that you don’t say, ”But what about the impure thoughts?” Who
wants to mention impure thoughts when you have succeeded and God has heard? But ninety-nine
times nobody hears, the sky remains empty, no answer comes.... But magical religion goes on and
on.
From Ignorance to Innocence 86 Osho