Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance

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In this commentary on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra, Osho unravels the mystery of man three metamorphoses — from camel to lion to child, and in setting the record straight about the meaning of Nietzsche s concept of the superman shows us how we ourselves can become the New Man. Zarathustra, through Osho’s eyes, is first and foremost a human being who can laugh and shed tears just like the rest of us. He speaks to us as a friend, sorting methodically through the ins and outs on the path of truth, giving each aspect a thorough and single-pointed attention. Each of Osho’s talks thus becomes a lesson on a very specific theme, and each theme is a step deeper into the journey toward becoming “a god that can dance” — a person who dares to shed all the bondages of false virtues and values and dance in innocence and joy with each moment of life.

“The day man forgets to laugh, the day man forgets to be playful the day man forgets to dance he is no longer man, he has fallen into a sub-human species. Playfulness makes him light; love makes him light; laughter gives him wings. Dancing with joy he can touch the farthest stars, he can know the very secrets of life.”

Osho is a revolution, inspiring millions of people worldwide with his approach to the science of inner transformation. Yet in his own words, he says, “I am nobody. I don’t belong to any nation, I don’t belong to any religion, I don’t belong to any political party. I am simply an individual, the way existence created me.”

His books and audiobooks are international bestsellers and cover an extraordinary range of topics from the wisdom of the world’s mystics to intensely personal questions about the inner search.

Osho defies categorization. His thousands of talks cover everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today Osho’s books are not written hut are transcribed from audio and video recordings of his extemporaneous talks to international audiences. As he puts it, “So remember: whatever lam saying is not just for you. I am talking also For the Future generations.”

Osho has been described by The Sunday Times in London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by American author Tom Robbins as ‘the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ.” Sunday Mid-Day (India) has selected Osho as one of ten people — along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha — who have changed the destiny of India.

About his own work Osho has said that he is helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being. He often characterizes this new human being as “Zorba the Buddha” - capable both of enjoying the earthy pleasures of a Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of a Gautama the Buddha.

Running like a thread through all aspects of Osho’s talks and meditations is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of all ages past and the highest potential of today’s (and tomorrow’s) science and technology.

Osho is known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, with an approach to meditation that acknowledges the accelerated pace of contemporary life, His unique Osho Active Meditations are designed to first release the accumulated stresses of body and mind, so that it is then easier to take an experience of stillness and thought-Free relaxation into daily life.

Two autobiographical works by the author are available :

Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, St Martins Press, USA

Glimpses of a Golden Childhood. Osho Media International, Pune, India

Friedrich Nietzsche says “God is dead,” which means he was alive before, As far as I know, he has never been alive. How can God be dead if he has never been alive? God is not a person, so he cannot be alive and he cannot be dead. To me, God is life itself. God is synonymous with existence; hence you cannot say God is alive or God is dead. God is life, and life is forever; it is a continuum, it is eternal, no beginning, no end.

Nietzsche was really saying that the God that people had worshipped up to then had become irrelevant. But he was very accustomed to making dramatic statements. Rather than saying: “The God that people have worshipped up to now is no longer relevant,” he said: “God is dead.” And in a way, dramatic statements penetrate people’s consciousness more. If he had said it in a philosophical way it may have missed the target, but it became the most important statement made in these one hundred years. No other statement has had such significance, or has had such an impact on human thinking, behavior, life.

What Nietzsche was saying was that the Christian God is dead, the Jewish God is dead. But there have been so many gods and all have gone down the drain, if you make a list you will be surprised how many gods have been worshipped. One man has made a list. I was reading the list and found that not even a single name he mentions is known. He mentions near about fifty gods. The Egyptian gods are no longer there; not even in Egypt does anybody know about them. There was a time when even human beings were sacrificed for those gods, wars were fought, crusades, murders, rapes; villages were burned in the name of those gods. Now even the names are not known, I read the whole list; out of the fifty not a single name is known. There have been many gods invented by people, and when those people become tired of those gods, they invent new toys and they throw away the old ones.

These gods go on being born and dying, but these are not the true God. “True God” simply means life — aes dhammo sanantano —the inexhaustible law of existence. How can it die? There is no way. Forms change.