Education and Religion

 

 

Discourse date: Fri, 3 March 1967 00:00:00 GMT

 

 

There was a fakir who was very alone. He saw God in his dream and found that he was even more alone. The fakir was puzzled and asked God, "Why are you also so alone? You have many devotees - where are they?"

 

On hearing this, God said, "I have always been alone, and hence only those who become absolutely alone are able to experience me. As for the second query, the so-called devotees and religious people have never been with me. Somebody is with Rama, somebody is with Krishna and somebody is with Mohammed or Mahavira. None of them is with me - I am always alone. And therefore, one who is not with anyone and is all alone, is with me."

 

Shaken, the fakir awoke from the dream in the middle of the night and came running to me. He woke me and asked, "What is the meaning of such a dream?"

 

I said, "If it was a dream, I would have found some meaning, but this was the truth. Is it necessary to find the meaning of truth? Open your eyes and see. Those who are Hindus, Mohammedans, Buddhists or Christians because of an inherited religion are not religious. Religion can only be one.

 

The boundaries created by man are not true for a religious mind. How can there be any cult, any scripture or any group, in experiencing truth? Where can there be a boundary for the boundless?

 

How can there be a principle for the wordless? Where can you find a temple or a mosque in the void? What remains ultimately is God."

 

Before I tell you anything about education and religion, it is necessary to tell you that by religion I don't mean religions. To be religious is very different from being a Hindu or a Mohammedan. To follow any cult is not to be religious at all. On the contrary, that is the biggest obstacle to being religious. As long as somebody is a Hindu or a Mohammedan, it is not possible for him to be religious.

 

All those who are thinking about education and religion, and want to connect religion with education - to them religion means Hindu, Mohammedan or Christian. Such religious teaching will not only not bring religiousness, but will make a man more irreligious. For five thousand years such education has been given, but it has not been able to create a better man or a better society. But more bloodshed, violence and irreligiousness has happened in the name of Hinduism, Mohammedanism or Christianity than anything else.

 

It is very surprising to find that the atheists - who do not believe in any religion - have not been responsible for such ugly crimes. Great crimes are committed by theists. Atheists have neither burned any temples nor have killed people; it is theists who have killed people. It is only theists who have divided man from man. Those who think themselves religious have created walls between one man and another. Words, doctrines and scriptures have made one man an enemy of another. Cults and 'isms' have dug insurmountable ditches and imprisoned humanity in small, self-created islands.

 

It is very dangerous to continue this type of education in the name of religion. Such education is neither religious, nor ever has been religious, nor can be religious in the future, because those to whom such things were taught have failed to be good human beings. The conflicts that have arisen due to these teachings have filled the whole mind of man with violence, anger and hate.

 

So the first thing that I want to tell you is that by education in religion I don't mean education in any cult, its beliefs and doctrines. If we want to connect education and religion we will have to break the relationship of religion with the words Hindu, Mohammedan or Christian. There should be no relation of any cults with education. Rather, it would be better to be irreligious, because the possibility of an irreligious man becoming religious is always there, but the mind of a so-called religious man is closed forever. One whose mind is closed cannot become religious. To have an open and free mind is a must in the search for truth.

 

If a religious civilization has to be created it will be neither Hindu nor Mohammedan; it will neither be of the East nor of the West. Such a civilization will belong to the whole man, will belong to all and be for all. It cannot belong to any section or division, because as long as we divide humanity we will not be free from rivalries and wars. As long as there are walls dividing man from man, how can we create a society which will live in love and bliss? Whichever society has been created so far has not been based on love.

 

During three thousand years, fifteen thousand wars have been fought. Fifteen thousand wars in three thousand years? How unpleasant even to think about it. So many wars cannot be fought for no reason. Five wars every year - what does it indicate? There is only a small span of three hundred years during which there was no war. These three hundred years are not in one stretch, but are made up of sometimes one day, sometimes two days, sometimes ten days of no war. Altogether there were three hundred years of peace. Three hundred years of peace and three thousand years of war? Certainly such peace cannot be true; it must be peace only in name. Even the period of peace is false: actually what we call the days of peace are the days spent in preparing for another war.

 

I am dividing the history of man in two parts - one, the period of war and the other, the period of preparations for war. We have really not known any period of peace. In creating this situation, the division of humanity into many parts is basically responsible. And who has divided humanity?

 

Is it not the religions, ideologies, doctrines and cults that have divided it? Is it not the nations, nationalities and confinements of ideologies that have divided it? It is mainly the religions that have divided humanity.

 

Behind all the quarrels and conflicts there are isms. Whether those isms are religious or political, they create conflict, and conflict ultimately leads to wars. Even today Soviet communism and American democracy have broken into two religions. It has become like a war between two religions.

 

But I ask if it is not possible to stop the division of humanity which is done on the basis of thoughts.

 

Is it right that for an insubstantial thing like thought, we should kill human beings? Is it right that your thought and my thought should make our hearts enemies of one another?

 

But so far this is all that has happened. And up till now unions formed in the names of nations and religions have not been unions of our love, but unions of our hatred. So you know that if the poison of hatred is spread forcefully, anyone can be made to unite. Adolf Hitler has said somewhere that if any race has to be united, it is necessary to create hatred for some other race. He not only said this, but he also did it and found it effective.

 

All mischief-mongers making this earth poisonous have found this method effective. By the slogan "Mohammedanism in danger," Mohammedans can be made to unite, and by the slogan "Hinduism in danger," Hindus can be made to unite. Danger creates fear, and there is hatred towards those of whom we are afraid. Thus all unions and organizations are based on hatred and fear. So while all religions talk of love because they need unity, they ultimately take only the help of hatred. Then love becomes only idle talk and hatred becomes the foundation.

 

So the religion I am talking about is not any union or organization, it is a spiritual endeavor. It is an experience of the individual, it is not interested in collecting a crowd. In fact, religious experience is basically individualistic.

 

And all our organizations are founded on some hatred. What relation can hatred have with religion?

 

Whatsoever creates hatred between you and me cannot be religion. Only whatsoever creates love between you and me can be religion. Remember, whatsoever divides man from man, how can it ever join man with God? It is not possible. But what we call religion divides us. Though the so-called religions talk about love, talk about unity among all and talk about brotherhood, it is puzzling that the talk remains only talk, and whatsoever they do spreads enmity and hatred. Christianity talks about love, but nobody else has killed as many people as Christians have. Mohammedanism is a religion of peace, but who else has succeeded more in bringing unrest?

 

Perhaps good things become instrumental in hiding bad things. If you want to kill people, you can do so easily in the name of love. If one wants to be violent, one can easily be violent in protecting nonviolence. If I want to kill you, I can easily do so for your own good - because in that case you will die but I will not be considered guilty. Then you will die, you will be killed and you will not complain.

 

It is said that man is an intellectual animal, so naturally, everything he wants to do he finds an intellectual way to do it. The devil has perhaps advised him to select a good slogan for doing a bad thing. The more evil a deed is, the better should be the slogan.

 

The organizations created in the name of religion have neither any relationship with God nor with love or prayer or religion. It is only your hatred and jealousy that are organized; otherwise, how is it possible that mosques are broken, temples are burned, idols are destroyed and people are killed?

 

But this is happening and has been happening for a long time. If this is religion, my question is:

 

What is irreligion then? Fanaticism is not religion. It is only the hidden form of irreligion.

 

So the first condition for education in religion is freedom of religion from all sects.

 

But the so-called religious people are giving nothing but sectarian poison to children in the name of religion. Why do they want to do it? Are they really interested in religion? No, they are interested in "their" religion. Such interest itself is irreligious. Whenever religion becomes yours or mine, it ceases to be a religion. Wherever there is no mine or thine, there is the beginning that leads to the divine.

 

In the interest shown by the so-called religious people for religious education, there are selfish motives which have deep and ancient roots on which many types of exploitations depend. If the new generations escape from the prisons in which they are kept, a fundamental revolution is possible in the life of a society. Such a revolution will have multiple results in that all types of vested interests will be hurt, and those who are living by making man fight with man will lose their livelihood. All those who have made religious intrigues their profession will also become unemployed. Then it will not be possible to protect class exploitation and class interests, to exploit by dividing - because so far only so-called religions have devised such protection in many forms.

 

In the name of religious education the old generation wants to pass on to the new generations their ignorance, blind faith, fanaticism, diseases and enmities. Their ego is satisfied in that way. This ego does not allow man to be free from unhealthy thought patterns. There is no bigger obstacle than this on the way to development. Development is possible only where there is rebellion.

 

The old generation's ego cannot accept any rebellion because it craves faithfulness, obedience and discipline. It educates the new generations for that. It wants to kill all that potential of the new generation which can inspire it to reject the old and set out to discover the new. But this foeticide is perpetrated in a very indirect way. Perhaps these people themselves are not aware fully of what is happening; it is an unconscious process. Their forefathers and teachers also had done the same thing to them. Unknowingly they continue to do the same thing to their children and pupils.

 

This vicious circle is ancient, but it has to be broken because it is not allowing life to unite with the truth of religion. Where is the center of this vicious circle? The central concept is: before the small children begin to think, seeds of belief have to be sown in them, because the mind full of belief is incapable of thinking.

 

The directions of belief and thinking are opposite. Belief is blindness; thinking is finding one's own eyes. By being blinded with belief, the children are deprived of their eyes forever. It is for such a harmful purpose that so-called religious people are so keen to give religious education. This keenness is not good. Actually there is no greater sin than killing the capacity to think. But parents have been constantly committing the same sin with their children, and this is the basic reason why the birth of true religion has not taken place.

 

Thinking is to be taught, not belief.

 

Right reasoning is to be taught, not trust.

 

Then only will religion cease to be blind faith and become a supreme science. With such a science, education can have a beneficial relationship. It is not by blind faith, but by testing the scientific truths on the touchstone of discriminatory thinking that man can be benefited.

 

Are you not aware that people living in the darkness of belief slowly become incapable of coming into the light of thinking? Their eyes become incapable of seeing anything but darkness. And they are training their children in this darkness so that they do not need to accept that they are blind themselves. It is convenient this way - to believe that they are right. Whenever some child is able to save his eyes, in spite of this collective conspiracy, it is well known what they do with him. They do what they have done with Socrates and with Christ.

 

So while thinking about imparting education in religion, it is necessary to make sure that we are not planning to teach darkness in the name of light. So far, in the name of being given eyes, people are deprived of eyes. All beliefs are nothing but ignorance and darkness, so it is necessary to save children from beliefs.

 

It is possible to save children only if they are made capable of sharp and deep thinking. So develop the power of thinking in them. Don't give them thoughts, but give them the power to think. Giving thoughts is as good as giving beliefs. Given thoughts will be yours; the power of thinking will be their own. Only the full development of the power of thinking can make children capable of discovering the truth of life. Thinking is the path - belief is going astray.

 

So I say that whoever is bound in belief can never think. Neither a Hindu, nor a Jaina, nor a communist, can think; his belief is his bondage. Since thinking may destroy his beliefs, he prefers not to think. It may become his protective amulet, but in fact such an amulet is nothing but suicide.

 

Is not belief the murder of thinking? But this murder is committed knowingly or unknowingly. A Hindu father wants to make his son a Hindu, and a Mohammedan father wants to make his son a Mohammedan - that too when the child is very small and incapable of thinking and understanding.

 

Such a wrong thing can only be done at an unripe age; it is difficult to do so afterwards. Once the power of thinking and logic has arisen it is not possible to throw dust in his eyes. The ability to think protects the individual, so it is no wonder if so-called religious people are against reasoning. Actually, they are against intelligence as such, because where there is logic, thinking and intelligence, there is rebellion.

 

Rebellion means looking for new ways of life.

 

Rebellion means a journey from the known to the unknown.

 

Rebellion means transcendence of the boundary lines the past generation leaves the new one with.

 

According to me, the ability to rebel is the soul of a religious mind, because there is no greater revolution than religion. Religion is the transformation of life from its roots.

 

So it is not possible for education in religion to be education in blindness and beliefs. It can only be education for deeper and deeper thinking. It is the sharpest logic. It is luminous intelligence.

 

So innocent children should not be tied down with unintelligent beliefs and concepts; rather, their intelligence should be given such sharpness and depth that it will enable them to keep their thinking conscious and free, and they will never be willing to sell it at any cost. Only such free consciousness can open the doors to truth.

 

In fact freedom is the door to truth.

 

So give freedom to children and create respect for freedom in their minds. Make them cautious and aware of all types of slaveries of consciousness and mind. Real education in religion can only be this.

 

But the teaching of religions is not such; it is just the opposite. It is only a training in slavery, because it is supportive of belief and not thinking. It is in favor of blindness, rather than eyes. It is based on following others and not on one's own consciousness.

 

Why are religions so afraid of thinking? Certainly the fear is not without any reason. The most important and solid reason is this, that if the thinking is conscious and active, many religions cannot last for too long. Religiousness will be there but the existence of religions will certainly be in danger, because the natural flow of thinking is towards universal truth. Just as the rivers flow towards theocean, all thinking flows towards universality. Only the truth that abides after impartial investigation finally remains. And truth cannot be more than one, it is always one.

 

Because science followed right thinking, the arithmetic of Hindus and Christians is not separate. On the basis of belief it would not be possible that arithmetic be one. The pools of belief do not flow; they are closed unto themselves. Since they cannot flow towards the ocean, they can never reach to that which is one. Their very confinement in themselves makes them many.

 

Thinking is a flow - belief is stagnation.

 

Thinking is a constant transcendence of oneself.

 

Belief is to be imprisoned in oneself.

 

So from wheresoever thinking begins, in the end it leads to the central and ultimate truth. Belief prevents one from reaching that far.

 

I have heard that there existed a geography of the Jainas. Such funny things happen with religions!

 

Can geography also be separate? Yes, if belief is the basis, it can be. Where there is no thinking, there is only fantasy, following and blind faith. And these can be separate for every individual. Truth is one, but the dreams of every person can be different. Even if two persons want to, they cannot have the same dream together.

 

Truth is always the same for all because it is residing in one's self. It is not imagination, a dream or an inference of any individual. One must deserve first to know the truth. To be able to see it, one must have healthy and open eyes. Such eyes are obtained only in perfect thinking and in the light of intelligence.

 

That is why I am repeatedly saying that if you want to give truth to children, give them the capacity to think. Make them free from just belief and give them intelligence. The awakened energy of thinking will make them capable of seeing and it will become their seeing. That alone will lead them to the ocean of truth, which is one and nondual.

 

Do you know that a person like Aristotle has written that women have fewer teeth than men? How could he write this? Did he not have a woman available to enable him to count her teeth? There is no dearth of women. But he just accepted a current belief, so there remained no question of any investigation. He himself had not one but two wives; he could have asked one of them to open her mouth for him to count her teeth. But no, when he did not doubt the current belief, how could he think? He just agreed to the blind belief of males that women have fewer teeth than men. In fact the male ego is never ready to accept that women can be equal to men in anything whatsoever, even if the matter is just of teeth! If a person of the stature of Aristotle did not doubt, who else can? - though doubt is in fact the beginning of all search.

 

The very first step to be taught in the search for truth is right doubt. A good beginning of religious education should be that. The real foundation of religion is doubt, not trust.

 

Doubt is the beginning, trust is the end.

 

Doubt is the search, trust is the achievement.

 

So whosoever begins with doubt, sometime or other does reach trust. But one who begins from trust reaches nowhere. There is no question of his reaching, because he has attached the bullocks behind the cart. Beginning is possible only with that which is the beginning. How can an end be the beginning? Where there is no doubt, there is no thinking. Where there is no thinking, there is no intelligence. Where there is no intelligence, there is no truth.

 

Religions have taught belief - neither doubt nor search.

 

Religion will teach one to doubt, to think and to search. Only whatsoever is obtained by one's own search is self-transforming, and is the truth.

 

Truth is a continuous search. It is an investigation with extreme awareness. Truth cannot be transferred by one to the other, it has to be searched for by one's own self. Truth cannot be borrowed; it is the fruition of one's own efforts. Education in religion is a preparation for such a search.

 

So as long as religion is related to belief, there can be no education in religion. It may be called education in religion but it will be only Hindu, Mohammedan or Christian. Such education is not religious, because people educated like this become narrow-minded. That way heartfulness cannot arise. Such people are full of prejudices. Their intelligence does not become free, but it dies. Such people become old in the mind, whereas for any search the mind must be fresh and young.

 

Only those who are impartial are young. Only those are young who have not allowed their consciousness to be imprisoned in conditioning. The conditioned mind becomes old, and the more conditioned it is, the more idiotic. Conditioning is not religion. Only the consciousness which is free of all conditioning can enter into religion.

 

Religion is your nature, your own self. Conditioning comes from outside; it is an outsider. Just as dust covers the mirror, conditioning covers consciousness. To cover the mirror of consciousness with traditions, conditionings, orthodoxies, beliefs and ideals in the name of religion is not to be allowed:

 

it has to remain free of them. The real education and search for religion makes one proceed in the direction of freedom. Religion is the only means that frees the mind of all complexes, but the religion that is sold in the market cannot do that work.

 

So before religion enters education, it will have to give up its old clothes and abode. It can become the soul of new generations only by itself acquiring a new soul.

 

Religion is certainly to be brought into our lives. Without it our life is very handicapped, incomplete and unbalanced. If we continue to think of the outer only, the inner will remain empty. If our eyes are focussed only on matter, we will remain deprived of God. That will be a costly bargain, because we will be losing diamonds and taking stones instead. What is the outer compared to the inner? What is the wealth of the world compared to the wealth of God? We have to know that which is the very life and center of all, and we have to make its search our central concern, because the search for the center can never be completed without making the search central.

 

So I do not want religion just to be related to education, because that is insufficient. I want to see religion become the center of all education, because it is essential that the center of life be the center of education too. Life does not end just at what is visible; in reality, the invisible is its basis. Without being acquainted with the invisible, there will be no purpose or meaning in life. Where there is no meaning, how can there be any bliss? Bliss is the attainment of meaningfulness.

 

Religion is a search for meaning, and science is a search for utility. Both religion and science are incomplete. In the synthesis and balance of the two is the benediction and wholeness.

 

One world is outside man, but that is not all; there is another world within man. And the search outside is ultimately for the within. While searching for the outer, the inner is not to be forgotten, because in the search for the outer you gain strength, but you do not gain peace; you gain wealth, but you lose your soul. What is the value of the whole world if you lose your soul? Your victory is a defeat.

 

There was a Sufi saint, Rabiya. One morning her friend asked her to come out of her hut. He said, "A beautiful sun is rising in the sky and the morning is pleasant."

 

Rabiya replied, "My dear friend, I invite you to come within, because I am seeing within the creator of that sun and the morning. Is it not better that you come inside? I have seen the outer beauty very well, but you are perhaps unacquainted with what is inside."

 

There is one world outside. Certainly it is beautiful. Those who want to set man against the outer world are ignorant. Those who are condemning this outer world are against the good of man. The outer world is really beautiful, but there is another inner world which is limitlessly more beautiful.

 

One who stops at the outer world stops at the incomplete. He has made camp very early; he has misunderstood the road to be the destination. He has mistaken the door for the palace and has stopped at the entrance. He has to be awakened and alerted. His eyes have to be drawn towards the destination. Once that is done he himself will continue his journey further.

 

The aim of education in religion is to see that children remain always aware of this destination and don't stop midway. It is necessary to know that science is a search only into that which is outside.

 

The outer search alone is incomplete. Education must be related with the inner search.

 

But the religions that we know do not go in search of the inner. They talk about the inner, but they are lying, because their temples and mosques are built outside and their idols are also outside.

 

Their scriptures are outside, their doctrines are outside, and they are seen fighting over these outer things. Their insistence is only on the outer, so they cannot take man into his inner abode.

 

A negro went to a church one morning and requested the priest of the church to allow him to enter.

 

But how can a man with black skin enter into a church of people with white skin? These people who talk about the inner also see the color of the skin. These people who talk of God also see whether a man is a brahmin or a sudra. The priest of the church said, "Friend, what will you do, coming inside the church? As long as your mind is not pure and peaceful, what can you do by coming into the church?"

 

Because the times have changed, the priest has changed his language also. Before he used to say, "Go away, nigger. How can you enter here?" He has changed his language, but his heart has not changed; even now he does not allow the black man in. But he did not say, "You are a sudra and therefore impious, so go away!" He said, "Friend, what will you do by coming in? How will you know God till your mind is pure and peaceful? So first go and purify your mind."

 

But he had not said such a thing to any people with white skin... as if they had all attained peace of mind. The simple negro went away. The priest must have laughed within. He may have thought that now the negro will not come back, because he cannot purify his mind. In fact, the black man did not come back, not because his mind could not become peaceful, but because his mind had become peaceful.

 

Many days passed by... about a year passed. Then one day the priest saw that black man passing near the church. He had become a different man altogether. In his eyes there was some light of the other world. Around him it was as if there was an aura of peace and music. The priest thought perhaps he was coming into the church. He was a little afraid too, but his fear was baseless; the negro did not even look at the church but went on straight ahead.

 

Then the priest ran after him and stopping him, asked, "Friend, you did not come back again?"

 

The negro laughed and said, "My friend and guide, I thank you very much. I have passed the whole year according to your advice. I was expecting to become peaceful so that I could come into the church. But last night in my dream I saw God, who told me, 'You madman! Why did you want go to that church to meet me? For the last ten years I myself have been trying to enter the church, but the priest does not allow me to do so. Where I have not been able to enter, it is impossible that you will be allowed!'"

 

I can tell you that God has not only not been able to enter that church, he has not been able to enter any church or temple - because churches and temples built by men have not been bigger than man; these temples are so small that there is no place for God in them. In reality, those whose minds are themselves not temples can build only meaningless temples. Those who have not found him within cannot find him on the outside.

 

The divine first manifests within oneself, and then manifests everywhere. Except one's own self, there is neither any path nor bridge to the whole. One's own self is the nearest to oneself, so it is better to search within before you search without. One who cannot find the divine in the nearby, cannot find it in the faraway. The divine has been known and can be known only in the heart, not in the temples. So the temples and the mosques cannot and should not be connected with education.

 

Insistence upon such a connection is for the outer. All such outer phenomena become obstacles for going within.

 

When I hear talk about building temples in universities, I laugh. I wonder if man is learning anything from history. Do we not know what the religions of temples and mosques have done? No, there is no necessity for outside rituals of religions. It would be tolerable if such rituals were only useless, but they are disastrous. There is no religion in the outer, so it is irreligious to give any value to the outer. It is very necessary to be as clear about this truth as one is about the fact that two plus two makes four.

 

There is a temple of God, but it is not made of stones and bricks. Whatsoever is made of stones and bricks can be of a Hindu, a Christian, a Jaina or a Buddhist, but not of God. Whatsoever belongs to somebody just for that reason does not belong to God. His temple can have no limits because he is limitless. His temple can have no epithet because he is the whole. Certainly, such a temple can be only of consciousness. Such a temple is not there in the sky, it is in the soul. It has not to be made, it is there forever; it has only to be uncovered.

 

So a religion related to education cannot be one that builds temples and mosques. It can be a religion that uncovers the temple hidden within the self. Whatsoever is residing within is to be known, because knowing that becomes a fundamental revolution in life.

 

Knowing the truth becomes the transformation of life.

 

The education which does not uncover the inner truth or God is incomplete and dangerous.

 

The reason for the failure of education until today is its incompleteness. The young man who comes out of the university is very inadequate. What is central to life is not known to him. He is not acquainted with whatever is of truth, goodness, and beauty in life. He comes out having learned the trivial, and lives in that for his whole life.

 

Such a life does not bring any bliss, and slowly a meaninglessness and emptiness and futility begins to surround the mind. The flow of life gets lost in this desert of meaninglessness, and as a result a sort of blind anger towards everything is left. I call this anger an outcome of an irreligious mind. The outcome of a religious mind is a sense of gratitude and benediction; it is a gratefulness towards the whole. But this can happen only when life is blissful and total. Such bliss and totality is not possible till one knows oneself.

 

So right education cannot be religionless, because knowing and being acquainted with the foundation of life - consciousness, the interiority, the soul - is a must in bringing life to its fulfillment.

 

What is religion? The education of man's interiority is religion. What shall we teach then? Should we teach scriptures and religious principles? Or should we tell the children that there is a God, there is a soul, heaven, hell and liberation? No, not at all. No such education is the education of religion.

 

Such education does not lead man to his interiority. Such education makes a man prejudiced.

 

Such education is only the teaching of words. It gives birth to false knowledge, which is even more dangerous than ignorance.

 

Knowledge is only that which comes from self-experience. Knowledge learned from others is not knowledge but an illusion of knowledge. Such illusion hides ignorance, and the search for knowledge stops. A clear awareness about one's ignorance is good because it leads one towards the search for knowledge. It is very dangerous to think knowledge learned from others is real knowledge, because the satisfaction that one gets through that binds one's feet and obstructs the journey ahead.

 

I went once to an orphanage - there were about a hundred children. The organizers told me that they are also giving education in religion to the children. Then they asked the children a few questions.

 

They were asked if there is a God. They replied "Yes, there is a God." They were asked, "Where is God?" They pointed towards the sky in reply. They were asked, "Where is the soul?" They kept their hands on their hearts and said, "Here."

 

I was watching this drama. The organizers were very happy. They told me to ask them some questions. I asked one child, "Where is the heart?" That child began to look hither and thither and said, "This has not been taught to us." Can education in religion be like this? And can repeating what is taught be called knowing? If it was such a simple matter the world would have become religious long ago.

 

I told the organizers of that orphanage that whatsoever they were teaching the children is not religion at all. On the contrary, the children will become parrotlike for their whole life. A person who learns to repeat things mechanically paralyzes his intelligence. When questions arise in life that could lead him to the search for truth, his learning will make him repeat what was learned and be quiet. Your teaching will kill their inquisitiveness. They do not know either God or the soul. The hands were so false that pointed towards their hearts! Do you call this teaching of falsehood education in religion?

 

I asked the organizers whether their knowledge of self was also like that of the children; whether they were also only repeating what was taught to them. They also looked here and there, like the child whom I had asked where his heart was. Generation after generation we go on teaching empty words and consider it knowledge. Can truth ever be taught? Can truth be repeated?

 

In the world of matter there is value for what is taught, because about whatsoever is outside no knowledge other than information is possible. But in the world of consciousness information has neither any meaning nor value because the world of consciousness is of experience, not of information.

 

It is possible to experience; one can be and live in such experience, but it cannot be taught. Learning it can only be like acting. Can anyone learn to love? If one can love after learning it, it will only be acting love. If love cannot be learned, how can prayer be learned? So everything learned about God - principles, worship and prayer - has become only acting. Prayer is a deeper form of love. When love cannot be learned, how can God be learned? The totality of love is God.

 

Truth is unknown, so through principles, scriptures and words which are known, one cannot reach the truth. For entering into the unknown, whatsoever is known has to be given up. On our becoming free of what is known, the unknown manifests before us. So religion is more of an unlearning than a learning. Religion consists more of forgetting than of remembering. We do not have to write anything on the mind; instead, all that is written has to be wiped out, because as soon as the mind becomes wordless, it becomes a mirror for knowing the truth. We do not have to make the mind a storehouse of doctrines but a mirror of truth. Then the meaning of education in religion will be more of a seeking than indoctrination.

 

Preparation for religious seeking is the only education in religion. Education in religion is not like the education in other subjects, so there can be no examination in it. Its examination will be in life; life itself is its examination.

 

Except life itself, what other examination can there be of life? And religion is life itself.

 

So those who think that by passing examinations they have become educated are mistaken.

 

Actually, where the examinations are completed the real education begins, because from then on life begins.

 

Then what should we do for education in religion?

 

The seed of religion is there in everybody because life is there in everybody. We should create opportunities for the growth of that seed, and remove the obstacles on the path of that growth. If this can be done, the seed sprouts on its own, out of its own strength, out of its own longing for life; it does not have to manufacture sprouts. The sprout becomes a full-fledged plant, the plant becomes full of leaves, flowers and fruits. We only provide an opportunity, and all else follows by itself.

 

How can there be an education in religion? The schools can provide the atmosphere and opportunity for the seed of religion to sprout. The schools can help remove the obstacles to its growth. In doing this, there are three very vital elements.

 

The first element is courage. One must have irrepressible courage. Courage is the basic requirement in the search for truth and for climbing to God. Courage is needed to climb the Himalayas and to reach the depths of the Pacific, but in the search for God, greater and deeper courage is necessary because there is no higher peak and no deeper ocean than God. But the so-called religious people are not courageous. In fact their religiousness is a mask for their cowardliness. There is fear behind their religion and God. I would like to tell you that a fearful mind can never be religious, because fearlessness is the very life of religion. Courage arises from fearlessness.

 

So the first thing is not to teach fear of any type, or of anything.

 

The second is to educate in fearlessness. What a great strength, luminosity and light fearlessness is! It is on the rock of fearlessness that the temple of religion is built.

 

But our so-called religions are exploiting fear, and so to date it has not been possible to build the temple of religion. Can temples be built on the quicksand of fear? Even if they are, how long can they last? When I go to temples, mosques and churches, I find that people trembling with fear have gathered there. Their prayers are embodied forms of their fears, and the God in front of whom they kneel down is the very projection of their fear. So man runs towards God during difficulties, because he is more fearful at that time. In old age man runs towards God because his approaching death makes him very fearful. Go to the temples and churches: you will find only such people who are nearing death or who are as good as dead.

 

We do not want to teach fear. Fearlessness is to be taught, only then can religion be for alive people.

 

What is the fear of teaching fearlessness? There is one fear - that a young man may deny God.

 

This fear is there because our very concept of God is based in fear. But what is wrong in denying such a God? In fact, accepting such a God is wrong.

 

I would like fearlessness to grow to such an extent where even that God whom we have not known can be denied. Where there is no denial of untruth, there is no fearlessness. Where there is no denial of untruth, how can there be the search for truth?

 

According to me, the atheism arising out of fearlessness is nothing but the other side of theism.

 

Such atheism is a must, it becomes a ladder to theism. One who cannot even be an atheist, how can he be a theist? Theism is more difficult than atheism. One who is afraid of becoming an atheist will be a false theist. He becomes a theist out of fear of becoming an atheist. Of what value can such theism be?

 

I respect an atheism based on fearlessness more than a theism rooted in fear, because where there is fear, there can be no religion, and where there is fearlessness, there is the door to religion. It is an experience, a joy to pass through an atheism born out of fearlessness. Through it the soul definitely becomes more strengthened. One who becomes a theist before becoming an atheist is a false theist because the inner atheist continues to hide within. One who has lived through his atheist within, transcends it and becomes free of it.

 

Atheism means the period of non-acceptance. If the society is against God and religion, then to deny that too is atheism. Passing through non-acceptance of things widely accepted and believed is atheism. For the maturity of the individual such a period is very valuable and beneficial. One who does not pass through it remains immature forever. This passing through non-acceptance is possible only if one has courage and fearlessness.

 

What is the greatest courage? Non-acceptance of false knowledge is the greatest courage.

 

If you do not know that "God is," do not just believe it. However much someone may pressure you, allure you by promising heaven, or make you afraid by cursing you to go to hell, do not ever agree to believe in what you do not know. Better to give up heaven or be ready to go to hell, but it is not right to be fearful. Only one who has such courage is capable of discovering the truth. What can a fearful mind do? It is ready to believe anything only because of its fear. In a theist society such a mind becomes a theist. If he is in Soviet Russia he will become an atheist. He is just a dead limb of the society, he is not a living individual, because life in an individual comes only out of fearlessness.

 

One man met me just yesterday. He said he believes in the immortality of the soul - and all over his face, fear of death was written. I asked him if his belief was because of the fear of death, because those who are afraid of death feel great solace in being told that the soul is immortal.

 

On hearing that, he became a little troubled and asked, "Isn't the soul immortal then?"

 

I said, "It is not a question of the mortality or immortality of the soul. The question is whether a person who is afraid of death can ever know or search for the soul. Fearlessness is very necessary in the search for truth."

 

I want to say the same to you: A man believes in the immortality of the soul in the same proportion as he is afraid of death. The belief is as strong as is the fear. Can such a man ever be ready to open his eyes to the truths of life? The path to truth passes from nowhere else but fearlessness.

 

The immortality of the soul is not the belief of a fearful mind but a reality encountered by a totally fearless consciousness.

 

A fearful mind does not seek the truth but seeks security. A fearful mind does not seek the truth but seeks consolation. Then he catches hold of any belief that gives him security and consolation.

 

What security and consolation can concepts and beliefs provide? Except in truth there is no security, contentment and peace. In order to realize truth, it is necessary that the mind have the courage to give up false securities and consolations.

 

So I call courage the greatest religious virtue.

 

A teacher, a priest, was teaching some children about courage, and the children asked him to give an example. The teacher said, "Let us assume that twelve children were staying in one room in a resthouse in the mountains. The night was very cold. When these children were going to bed after a tiring day, eleven of them drew their blankets over themselves and slept. But there was one boy who knelt down in one corner of the room to say his night prayer. I call this courage. Isn't that boy courageous?"

 

Just then one boy stood up and said, "Let us assume that there are twelve priests staying in a resthouse. If eleven priests kneel down in prayer before sleep, and if one priest draws his blanket over himself and sleeps, is he not courageous?"

 

I do not know through what embarrassment that priest had to pass. I also do not know how he escaped the predicament created by the children. But I definitely know one thing - that the ability to be one's own self is courage. The ability to be a man free from the crowd is courage.

 

To make a person his individual self is to give him courage. Confidence in one's own self is courage.

 

Courage is self-confidence.

 

Along with courage, teach awareness. This is the second important element in education in religion.

 

If there is no awareness, mere courage can be dangerous, because instead of becoming self- confidence it can become insane ego. Courage is power, but awareness is the eye. One can walk with courage but only with awareness can one see where one is going.

 

You may have heard the story of a blind man and a lame man. There was fire in a jungle, and the blind man and the lame man had to save their lives. The blind man could run but could not see. In a jungle that has caught fire, it is as good as inviting death if one who has no eyes begins to run.

 

The lame man could see but could not run. What is the value of eyes that have no legs? Then they thought of a way out and saved their lives. What was the method? Very simple. The blind man carried the lame man on his shoulders.

 

This story is not of a blind man and a lame man - it is a story of courage and awareness. If one has to save his life in a jungle of ignorance that is on fire, it is necessary to make awareness sit on the shoulders of courage.

 

Ordinarily, a man lives unconsciously, as if in sleep. That sleep is of self-forgetfulness. That sleep can be broken by becoming conscious and aware through self-remembrance. The children can be educated in the direction of self-remembrance, right remembrance of one's own self, and self- awareness.

 

The arrow of consciousness is ordinarily pointing outwards. We are aware only about whatsoever is outside us; but that arrow of consciousness can be pointed towards one's own self also. What we experience then is our very being. Becoming aware of that is the happening which leads one from the sleepy life of darkness to the awakened life of light.

 

The prayers, devotional songs and music going on in the name of religion do not bring any self- remembrance in us, rather they bring self-forgetfulness. The happiness of such people is that of unconsciousness and sleep. These are all mental intoxicants.

 

I call full consciousness and awareness the search for religion. A university can become a foundation for, and provide an opportunity for, learning awareness. Awareness at the level of body, mind and soul can be taught. Doing everything with awareness slowly fills one's life with consciousness. The endeavor to remain aware and be a witness to every mental activity has the capacity to make one's mind awake in an unprecedented way. At the same time, remaining aware each moment of what one is becomes self-realization in the end.

 

The third step is silence.

 

Words, words and words fill one's mind with too much tension and restlessness. Thinking, thinking and thinking, the mind loses all its relaxedness. Silence means relaxation of the mind. It is by knowing silence and living it that the mind always remains fresh and youthful. In total silence the mind becomes a mirror in which truth reflects.

 

What can a restless mind know? What can it search? It is so involved in itself that it cannot look in any other direction. Deep peace, total silence and the totally relaxed state of a thoughtless mind are required for knowing the truth. Such a state of mind is meditation.

 

Children can be led into the direction of a restful mind. To leave the mind totally relaxed and free is the fundamental rule for mind-rest. It is like floating in a river, not swimming; similarly, floating on the waves of mind, not swimming at all, an effortless effort takes one into a deep peacefulness which is not otherwise known to man.

 

Whatsoever meaning and joy is hidden within life, it all uncovers itself in such peacefulness.

 

Whatever is the truth of life is also attained. In fact, it was already the case but we were not aware of it because of our restlessness, and in peace it is uncovered and comes face to face with you.

 

The education in religion is education in courage, awareness and peace. The education in religion is education in fearlessness, awareness and thoughtless silence. Such an education can definitely become the foundation stone for a new humanity.

 

I hope you will think over what I have said. You do not have to believe what I have said, you have to think and contemplate on it. You have to give unbiased thinking to it. You have to test it on the touchstone of experiment. From every fire test, the truth comes out more refined.

 

-Osho, "Revolution in Education, #4"