Virtues

 

 

Man cannot be virtuous unless he is blissful. In the past religions have been teaching just the opposite; hence the failure of the old religions. All religions have failed. Humanity has not become religious at all. After thousands of years of teaching, nothing much has happened. Only very few people have been really religious -- a Jesus, a Buddha, a Krishna -- just people who can be counted on fingers. They can be thought as exceptional. They just prove the rule: that millions of people have remained absolutely irreligious. Something has gone wrong basically; religions have been teaching something fundamentally wrong.

 

They have been telling people: be good, first be virtuous be moral and then you will be rewarded with bliss. That is not so, that is just the opposite of the truth. Be blissful and you will be good. A person who is blissful cannot be bad to anybody, he cannot do wrong -- it is impossible. When you are blissful you share your bliss with people. And that's what good is, virtue is: sharing your bliss. When you are blissful you become a blessing to others; when you are miserable, how can you be a blessing to others? Even if you intend to be a blessing you are not going to be a blessing, you will be a curse.

 

And that's what one can watch and see. I am not talking about any theoretical phenomenon: everybody wants to help but everybody harms. Parents want to help children; their intentions are good but the outcome is not good. The teachers want to help the students; the universities are there to create better citizens but nothing happens. The churches, the priests, the temples everywhere are trying to make life more beautiful -- it goes on becoming more and more ugly. And I am not doubting their intentions, I am not saying that their intentions are wrong; their intentions are very good but very unscientific. They want you to live long and they go on giving you poison.

 

Their desire is good but what they do is not good, it cannot be good. They are miserable, so anything that they do brings misery to others. We can only give to others what not we have already got; vice versa is not possible. You cannot give bliss if you are miserable, and you cannot be helpful if you yourself are living in a dark valley, in darkness. When you are full of light, when your whole being is full of blissfulness, naturally, whatsoever you do brings joy to others.

 

And blissfulness comes through meditation, not by being virtuous. Meditation brings bliss, bliss brings virtue: this is the fundamental law.

 

Nothing else makes a man victorious except when he becomes blissful. Money, power, prestige, fame -- nothing helps to be victorious. The real victory consists of being blissful.

 

-Osho, “The Golden Wind, #18”