Religion starts with love and ends with hate

All religions teach the brotherhood of man, but they only create enemies of each other. All religions teach that every man has a potential right to reach God, but practically they say: Only our religion is the true religion. Yes, every man can reach God but he has to reach through our way: Unless you follow Jesus Christ you have no chance. But the same is said by Krishna: “If you surrender to me, leaving everything aside, I will take care of you, you need not worry.” And the same is true about all other religions. They seem to be competing shopkeepers – everybody is trying to sell his thing: his holy book, his messiah, his god.

Pseudo-religion is always basically afraid, because deep down the pseudo-religious person knows that it is only his imagination, he has no actual experience. He himself is not convinced; hence, he needs to convince others. He goes on sending missionaries to other countries to convince, convert more and more people into Christianity, into Mohammedanism. Why? Why this great urge to convert? Psychologically it is of tremendous importance to understand.

The person who wants to convert anybody is a person who is suspicious of his truth. He is really trying, by converting people, to convince himself that he is right. If he can convert so many people that gives him enough support: “So many people cannot be fools. I may be a fool but so many people cannot be fools. Such intelligent people… and they have come to believe in my belief. My belief is bound to be true.”

Christianity seems to be the most bogus of all religions because it is more interested in converting people than any other religion. In fact, Judaism and Hinduism, which are the two ancient most religions, are not interested in converting anybody. You have to understand the psychology of it.

Why are Jews not interested in sending missionaries and converting people to Judaism? A Jew is born, not converted. Have you seen any converted Jew anywhere? It is simply absurd. Jews will not take anybody through conversion. If God has not made you a Jew then there is no other way; they are the chosen people of God. By converting all kinds of rubbish, can you improve upon God’s choice? If God has not made you a Jew that means that you are not meant to be a Jew; you are already rejected. So for thousands of years they have never thought about converting people into Jews.

The Hindus have the same idea – that they are the only people to whom God has chosen to give the first holy book in the world. Certainly their Rig Veda is the ancientmost scripture in the world and certainly it is the scripture of the most ancient religion. They have four castes: the brahmin, the priest; the kshatriya, the warrior; the vaishya, the business man; and the sudra, the untouchable. Now, it was a problem: how could they convert anybody? And in which caste were they going to put him?

The brahmin is the highest. You cannot convert anybody into a brahmin. He represents God, hence the name. The name of God in India is Brahma, and brahmin means one chosen by Brahma, appointed by God Himself. There is no way for anybody to become a brahmin. It is decided by birth, because birth is decided by God, it is not in man’s hands to decide such things.

Now, the kshatriya also will not allow anybody in. He is the second most important, and it is a traditional thing for him to be a warrior; just anybody – X, Y, Z – cannot be a warrior. It needs a long tradition, training. You have to have the blood of a warrior, you cannot be converted.

The only people who can absorb you are the untouchables. The business people are the third, but they are higher than the untouchables. Only the untouchables can absorb you, but without the permission of the brahmin they cannot do anything. Conversion – such a religious phenomenon – is beyond their capacity. They are outcasts themselves.

Hindus and Jews are born so. That’s why both these religions are the most egoistic. Naturally, other religions have to rely on conversions, otherwise from where are they going to get their customers, their clients? God has made Jews, God has made Hindus; now the whole world is divided into two chosen people of God. From where is Jesus going to get his people? From where is Buddha going to get his people? They had to depend on conversion. From where is Mohammed going to get Mohammedans?

These are latecomers. The old shops have credibility; they are already established, and established by God himself. These others are newcomers in the market. Naturally they have to attract clients from the old shops; otherwise no customer is going to come to them. And they have to create new allurements, cheaper prices, better rewards. And you can see that….

– Osho