Have you ever realized how much existence has given to you?
You simply take it for granted, as if you deserve it, as if you have earned it.
You don't deserve it. You have not earned it, it is a gift. It is a blessing; it is simply out of love that the existence has given you so much. And it is ready to give you much more. You are just not ready to take it. OSHO
To be religious and to be part of an organized religion is almost impossible.
But just to be religious, without being part of any religion, is the simplest thing.
You have to understand what I mean by religiousness: by religiousness I mean a gratitude towards existence. It has given so much to you, and you cannot pay it back.
I have heard, a man was going to commit suicide and a master was sitting on the river bank from where this man was going to take the jump. He said, "Wait just a moment! Wait! Are you going to commit suicide?"
The man said, "But who are you to prevent me?"
The master said, "I am not preventing you. In fact, I would love for you to commit suicide, but before committing it, if you can give your two eyes… because the king of this country has gone blind. And the doctors say if somebody can donate his eyes — not the eyes of a dead person, but a living person — then those eyes of can be transplanted and the king will be able to see again. And whatever you want as a reward, as a prize, you say it and it is yours. So just before committing suicide, why not do a little business?"
The man said, "How much will he give?" He forgot about his suicide.
People are so business-minded.
The master said, "Whatever you want, you just say."
He said, "I am a poor man, I cannot ask much — you suggest something. And I am going to commit suicide…"
So the master said, "You think it over… twenty thousand rupees."
The man said, "Twenty thousand? My God, I never thought that I would have twenty thousand rupees."
But the master said, "You can still think. I can even tell the king, `He needs twenty million.' It all depends on you. And the king wants the eyes at any price."
The man said, "Twenty million? But then why should I commit suicide?"
The master said, "That is up to you. But," he said, "Living a life without eyes, even having twenty million rupees will not be so much joy."
Just on the way towards the palace, the man started saying to the master, "I am having second thoughts."
He said, "What second thoughts? Have you raised your price again?
He said, "The price is not the question. I am thinking that just for two eyes, twenty million — what about ears, the nose, the teeth, my whole body? How much is the price of my whole body?"
The master said, "You can calculate; just for two eyes, twenty million… "
The man said, "I am not going to sell. I am going home."
The master said, "What about suicide?"
He said, "I used to think you are a religious man. You are a murderer! You want me to commit suicide? Now for the first time I have recognized what existence has given to me — and I have not paid a single pai.
These two eyes which have seen all kinds of beauty, these two ears which have heard all kinds of music, this life which has experienced so much — and I have not paid anything and I have not even said a thank you.
"And suicide is nothing but the last complaint, the ugliest complaint against existence: you have given me so much and I am destroying it. Rather than being grateful, I am betraying. No, I cannot commit suicide and I cannot sell my eyes; they are priceless. You can tell the king that even for the whole kingdom I cannot give my two eyes, although I am a beggar."
Have you ever realized how much existence has given to you?
No, you simply take it for granted, as if you deserve it, as if you have earned it.
You don't deserve it. You have not earned it, it is a gift. It is a blessing; it is simply out of love that the existence has given you so much. And it is ready to give you much more. You are just not ready to take it.
Religion prevents you from being religious — sends you to the mosque, to the temple, to the church. It teaches you to pray to a hypothetical god that you have never met, that nobody has ever met.
And the real temple is all around you — under the stars, under the green foliage of a tree, by the side of the ocean. The real temple is all around, and the real god is nothing but the living, the alive, the conscious phenomenon in you.
Wherever there is life, wherever there is consciousness, there is god.
And when you come to the ultimate experience of consciousness you become a god.
Everybody's birthright is to become a god — not to worship God but to become a god.
OSHO