You have been with me for many lives, it is a long long love affair

Beloved Master,
   Why are thousands of people from all over the world coming to you?

Sandeep,
   IT IS A VERY DIFFICULT QUESTION for me to answer. How can I answer on behalf of thousands of people who are coming to me? They have different reasons.

    FEW ARE COMING TO ME BECAUSE I HAVE CALLED THEM: they may know it, they may not know it. More possibility is that they will not know it, at least not in the beginning. Only later on, as they become immersed into my commune, into my world, slowly slowly they will become aware that they have been called forth, just as Jesus called  Lazarus in his grave, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out of his grave.

    THE LIFE THAT YOU HAVE LIVED IS THE LIFE OF A GRAVE -- and I have called you. Few of you are being called, that's why you are here. About these people I can say why they are here -- because I have called them. THEY HAVE BEEN WITH ME FOR MANY LIVES: THIS IS A LONG LONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH THEM. This is not for the first time that they are with me: this is the LAST time certainly -- because I am not going to come again. I have called them because of certain promises made in the past.

    But there are many kinds of people. FEW HAVE COME JUST ACCIDENTALLY; but even though they have come accidentally, they have a certain potential in them and their potential became involved with me. They were not consciously coming, they were not called -- they were just passing by -- but they got caught in the net.

    Few have come for certain needs to be fulfilled. THERE ARE FEW PEOPLE WHO ARE IN SEARCH OF FATHER FIGURES -- because Friedrich Nietzsche says, "God is dead," and once God is dead man feels empty. The West is feeling very empty: God is dead, and God was the father, the permanent, eternal father.... Christianity has become a Sunday religion. And exactly the same is the case in the East: all religions have become formal. Now people are in search of a father figure.

    Few people come because they are missing protection, they need protection. Either they will escape from me, because I DON'T GIVE PROTECTION... on the contrary, I TAKE AWAY ALL  PROTECTION. They will escape because I don't give any security. On the contrary, I take all security away. I give you insecurity, because TO ME INSECURITY IS THE RIGHT SITUATION IN WHICH ONE GROWS. If there is no God, no father, the whole responsibility falls on your own shoulders -- and it is good, it is perfectly good.

    I absolutely agree with Friedrich Nietzsche. Buddha agreed also. Buddha says there is no God, Mahavira says there is no God, for the simple reason that THE IDEA OF GOD HAS BEEN DANGEROUS -- dangerous in the sense that people feel protected and they stop growing. If you are unprotected, if you are under the sky, then you have to depend on your own self. Then you have to become stronger, more integrated. Then you are free to live in hell or in heaven -- nobody can reward you and nobody can punish you.

    Few people are coming because they are missing the father figure. If they stay with me, I will transform this situation into a beautiful, positive phenomenon; if they escape, then it is up to them. It is very easy for them to escape, because they will see that I am destroying... Even if something is left of protection in their minds I am destroying that too. I AM TAKING AWAY ALL PATTERNS, STRUCTURES, STRATEGIES OF THE MIND. I want you to be utterly alone, so alone that you have to fall upon yourself -- there is nowhere else to go -- that you have to stand on your own legs, that you can't use any crutches.

    Few other people are coming to find some kind of consolation -- they will also be shocked, because I DON'T GIVE ANY KIND OF CONSOLATION.... People, many people, consciously or unconsciously, are here to find some kind of consolation -- some kind of consolation so they don't feel guilty, so that they don't feel unworthy. But I am not here to give you consolation. Why give consolation when I can give you the real thing? Why give you plastic toys when I can help you to grow into a soul?

    FEW OTHER PEOPLE COME BECAUSE THEY ARE ON THE VERGE OF GOING INSANE. And the psychology, the psychoanalysis and the psychiatry have not been of much help. It can help only up to a point. It can help a person to be normal if his madness is ordinary madness, but it cannot help a person if his madness has something spiritual in it.

    People like R.D. Laing are becoming aware of it: that if a person's madness is because he is too sensitive, TOO ALERT AND TOO AWARE OF THE MISERY IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE LIVING -- and he himself is living... If he becomes aware of the meaninglessness of this whole life that we have created on this earth, he is bound to go berserk. He will not be able to bear it -- it will be unbearable. Those people cannot be helped by psychiatry or psychoanalysis. THOSE PEOPLE CAN ONLY BE HELPED if something like meditation starts happening in their being.

    So if some ordinary insane person comes here I send him back to the West, because psychiatry is perfectly capable of helping him. There is no need for me to waste my time on that kind of person -- there are other plumbers who can do that! I do a special kind of plumbing. IF YOUR INSANITY IS SPIRITUAL, THEN I AM HERE TO HELP YOU. And the spiritual insanity is really a beautiful beginning; it can become the greatest blessing in your life. It is a blessing disguised as a curse.

    But still the question, Sandeep, is difficult because there are so many people and each person comes with a different motive. But I am not much concerned about your motives -- I KNOW WHY I AM HERE, AND I GO ON DOING MY THING, IRRESPECTIVE OF WHY YOU HAVE COME HERE!

    THOSE WHO HAVE SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT GROWING IN THEM ARE BOUND TO REMAIN WITH ME -- those who are courageous enough to move beyond the boundaries of the mind, beyond all boundaries and all limits. Those who are not courageous will leave of their own accord.

    Many will be called, few will be chosen. THOUSANDS WILL COME, BUT ONLY FEW WILL BE TRANSFORMED, it is all up to you. You can use this opportunity that I am making available to you, you can miss it too. It cannot be forced upon you. I am available, you can share. You can look through my eyes. I have opened a door and I am standing at the door welcoming you. Why you have come is not the point. Come in!

OSHO
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha
Vol 6, Ch #2: Many are called, few are chosen
am in Buddha Hall