Religion is not service. Service may come as a by-product but it is not synonymous with religion. Religion is meditation, prayer, relaxation. Religion is to go into yourself. IF you have arrived deep into your own being, maybe — and that is a maybe, a perhaps — you may start serving people. But the service will not be a duty, it will be just sharing.
And the East says: It is just a “perhaps”, because it may not happen to everybody in the same way. Each is so unique.
When it happened to Meera, she started dancing; she forgot all about service. Of course, there were poor people, and it would have been more economical if she had served poor people, but she simply started dancing and singing.
And I say she did well. If she had served a leper or a poor person, or if she had opened a school and had made a hospital, that would have been a great loss — because her songs are so tremendously beautiful. Her dance has changed the quality of human existence: she has pulsated a new tune.
No, it would not have been good. It is good that she allowed her own expression. There have been people who never went anywhere when they became enlightened; they remained under their trees. That’s how it happened to them.
In the East we accept the uniqueness of the individual. We don’t enforce any ethic on top of him. We simply say: When you have come home, then whatsoever happens is good. Then whatsoever God wills through you, let it be so. Amen. You don’t interfere.
If He wants to be silent in you under a bodhi tree, then let Him be silent. Through silence He will create pulsations which will change the centuries the coming centuries. For thousands of years those pulsations will help people to attain higher states of consciousness, altered states of consciousness.
So don’t bother and don’t interfere. If He wants to remain quiet and silent, let Him be. If He wants to dance in you, let Him. If He wants to go and serve poor people, let Him. If He wants to become a Meera, good; if He wants to become a Chaitanya, good; if He wants to become a Buddha, good. Whatsoever He wills, let His will be done.
OSHO
