It is such a simple fact of life - that each child has to disobey

CHRISTIANS SAY Adam and Eve committed the original sin and the whole humanity is suffering because of it. It is so patently foolish!

Now, scientists say that humanity has existed for millions of years. So, before millions of years, a couple -- Adam and Eve -- committed a sin and we are suffering for it. CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING MORE RIDICULOUS -- that you are imprisoned because millions of years before, somebody committed a crime? You have not committed it, how can you suffer for it?

And what original sin they are  talking about? It is neither original nor sin! What Adam did is a simple phenomenon -- he disobeyed the father. Every child has to disobey the father. UNLESS A CHILD DISOBEYS THE FATHER, HE NEVER BECOMES MATURE. It is nothing original. It is very simple and natural. It is very psychological.

There comes an age when every child has to say "no" to the parents. If he does not say "no" to the parents, he will never have a spine -- he will be spineless. IF HE CANNOT SAY "NO" TO THE PARENTS, HIS WHOLE LIFE HE WILL BE A SLAVE, he will never attain to individuality.

ADAM AND EVE HAVE NOT COMMITTED ANY SIN, THEY HAVE SIMPLY BECOME MATURE. They said "No!" They disobeyed.

WHEN YOUR CHILD GOES BEHIND THE HOUSE AND STARTS SMOKING, DON'T BE WORRIED TOO MUCH. He is simply disobeying you. That is part of growth. If he never disobeys you, be worried. Take him to the psychoanalyst -- something is wrong with him. If he always obeys you, then he has no soul. He is abnormal, not normal. Be happy when your child disobeys you. Thank God that now he has started moving towards becoming an individual. It is only by disobeying -- rebelling -- that a child attains authentic individuality.

IF PARENTS ARE WISE, THEY WILL BE HAPPY. And I think that God cannot be as foolish as Christian priests are. God must have been happy the day Adam and Eve disobeyed. He must have rejoiced. He must have sung a song, that "Now my children are becoming mature!" I can't see him being annoyed. I can't conceive a God who can't understand such a simple psychological phenomenon!

You have to give your God a little more intelligence than Sigmund Freud. IT IS SUCH A SIMPLE FACT OF LIFE -- THAT EACH CHILD HAS TO DISOBEY. It is not sin. Disobedience is not sin.

AND WHAT IS ORIGINAL ABOUT IT? It is nothing unique. And it has not happened millions of years before, it happens each time a child starts growing. You will see it happening in your child. Somewhere near the age of three or four, the child starts asserting his freedom.

That's why if you try to remember your life, you can remember only up to the age four or at the most three. Beyond that, all is dark. Why? YOU HAD NO INDIVIDUALITY; HENCE, NO MEMORY. You attained your first individuality when you were three or four. Girls attain individuality near about three, boys near about four -- they are always lagging behind....

Near about the age of three or four... That's why I say THIS PARABLE OF ADAM AND EVE HAS SO MANY ASPECTS; I am never tired of talking about it from different angles. It was Eve who was the first to disobey -- that means one year ahead. Adam came to his senses a little later; in fact he was persuaded by Eve....

That's what happened: EVE ATE THE FRUIT FIRST, DISOBEYED GOD, AND THEN ADAM FOLLOWED. This is not something that happened once; it happens always. It happens to every child, and it is good that it happens. It is near about four that the child starts feeling a kind of individuality of his own; he starts defining himself.

There is a time when the child wants to declare to the world that "I am here", that "I am." He wants to define himself, AND THE ONLY WAY TO DEFINE HIMSELF IS THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE. So there is nothing original about it, and nothing like sin. It is a simple process of growth.

And because Christianity has been denying it as a simple process of growth, it has not helped humanity to become mature. ALL THE RELIGIONS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO KEEP HUMANITY IMMATURE, JUVENILE, CHILDISH. They are all afraid that once humanity becomes mature then they will not be of any value, they will lose all luster, they will not be able to exploit mature humanity. They can exploit only children.

So what sin humanity has committed that Jesus is needed to come for the salvation of the world? I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR TO YOU THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY SALVATION. Secondly, if you feel that there is a need for salvation, it can't be done by anybody except yourself. And thirdly, you are not living in sin -- you are living in nature. But if nature is condemned, you start feeling guilty.

AND THAT IS THE TRADE SECRET OF THE PRIESTS: TO MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY! I don't think Jesus has said that his sacrifice on the cross was for the salvation of the world from the sins of man. Priests must have imposed such ideas on Jesus in order to control the masses.

THE NEW TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN CENTURIES AFTERWARDS, and then for centuries it was edited, changed. And the words that Jesus spoke were in a language which is no more alive -- Aramaic. It was not even Hebrew -- a dialect of Hebrew, but different in many ways.

OSHO
Be Still and Know
Ch #2: No Sin, No Virtue
am in Buddha Hall