Osho on Zarathustra

“Zarathustra balances Jesus. Zarathustra is the only person out of all the religious founders who is in deep love with life. Perhaps that is the reason why the followers of Zarathustra are the smallest minority in the world. They live here in Bombay, mostly; Bombay is their whole world. Just a few fragments maybe live in Khandala and Lonavala, but Poona is the end; beyond it, you will not find any follower of Zarathustra. And nobody thinks them religious -- because they love life, they enjoy life.”

-Osho, "The Messiah, Vol 2, #14"

 

 

“Zarathustra, amongst all the religious founders, is the only one who is life-affirmative, who is not against life, whose religion is a religion of celebration, of gratefulness to existence. He is not against the pleasures of life, and he is not in favor of renouncing the world. On the contrary, he is in absolute support of rejoicing in the world, because except for this life and this world, all are hypothetical ideologies. God, heaven and hell, they are all projections of the human mind, not authentic experiences; they are not realities.”

-Osho, "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance, #1"

 

 

“Zarathustra would like your life to be a garden where birds sing, where flowers blossom, where trees dance, where the sun comes with joy. Zarathustra is absolutely for life, and that is the reason why he does not have many followers. The poisoners, the destructive people, have millions of followers. And a unique teacher and a unique mystic whose whole message is love and life, has got the smallest religion in the world.”

-Osho, "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance, #2"

 

 

“Zarathustra is the most potential man the world has ever known. It has known great men, and many of them, but they were in a certain way still understandable. They used your language, they used your prejudices. Rather than giving you a new light they have supported you as you are. You call them great because they have supported you, they have made you comfortable with yourself. Zarathustra creates discomfort, discontent, because without a great discontent the superman is not possible. Your other great men have been teaching you to be contented, to be desireless.

Zarathustra teaches you a pine discontent, and a longing for the stars. And I agree with him absolutely, that unless you have a longing for the stars, you cannot grow, and you cannot become your true self; you cannot achieve your potential to its fullness. Hence, listen to his words, not just as words, but as seeds.”

-Osho, "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance, #13"

 

 

“Zarathustra is not a priest, he is a scientist of the soul. His religion does not consist in worshiping, his religion consists in transformation -- the symbol of his religion is fire. The symbol of fire is significant, it is the only thing that defies gravitation. It does not go low-wards; it always goes upwards.”

-Osho, "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance, #18"

 

 

“Zarathustra denies God as a creator, but he is willing to accept God as the ultimate creation of human consciousness. To avoid misunderstanding, he calls this ultimate evolution of consciousness "the superman." Superman is his God. But he does not come at the beginning, he comes at the very crescendo, in the end. He is not your master and your lord, he is your evolved form, refined form. Hence another thing has to be remembered: Zarathustra cannot believe in one God. There are millions of beings, they are all evolving, and there will be millions of gods; because each life has the seed, the potential, to become a god.

Zarathustra brings a total revolution in the concept of God and religion. Now religion is no longer a worship or a belief; now religion becomes the greatest creative act of man.”

-Osho, "Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet, #1"