'Zarathustra a God that can Dance' is Osho's commentary on Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Thus Spake Zarathustra', a philosophical novel chronicling Zarathustra's fictitious journey into the mountains at the age of thirty and his down coming to share his blissfulness , wisdom, peace and joy to humanity after remaining ten years in the mountains in deep solitude , peace and prayerfulness . Zarathustra , also known as Zorastrer who lived about twenty five centuries ago in Iran is the founder father of Zorastrianism , perhaps the smallest religion in the world , the Parsis of bombay. Nietzsche was so interested in Zarathustra that he wrote the book , Thus Spake Zarathustra. Nietzsche was against Jesus Christ and he was against Gautam Budha for the simple reason that they were against life, they were against enjoyment, and the were against playfulness and humour. But he was for Zarathustra because amongst all the religious founders Zarathustra is the only one who is life affirmative, who is not against the pleasures of life and who is not in favour of renouncing the world.
In this book Osho sheds light on zarathustra's prologues and also goes deep into Zarathustra's speeches on metamorphosis , on despisers of the body , on joys and passions, on life,love, war and warriors, on flies of the market place , on voluntary death , on justice ,virtue.etc.
Zarathustra teaches the Superman in his prologue part 3 saying man is something to be overcome. Go beyond man so that there will be the birth of a new man the Superman, just like what apes had gone beyond themselves and gave birth to man. Every creature has produced something beyond itself. The apes have created man. But coming to man, the whole evolution has stopped. Man simply gives birth to another man. Osho says that the man who is going to succeed man will be superior. It can humiliate man and perhaps that is the reason why the superman has not arrived. Man will be a laughing stock at the hands of superman just like the apes are being made a laughing stock at the hands of humans.
Zarathustra , in his speeches on metamorphosis ,compares the three stages of human consciousness to thre animals from camel to lion to child. Zarathustra divides human consciousness into these three symbols , the lowest of which is the camel which is a beast of burden, ready to be enslaved, never rebellious. According to Osho " He cannot ever say no. He is a believer, a follower, a faithful slave. He needs all the religions , all the priests and all the holy scriptures because he cannot trust himself. He has no courage and no soul and no longing for freedom. He is obedient. He needs a leader " The lion is the next higher form of consciousness. The lion is revolution. The lion is not in need of any leader. He cannot be enslaved. He is enough unto himself. . The highest peak is when the lion also goes through a metamorphoses and becomes a child. The child is innocence. It is neither obedience nor disobedience, it is neither belief nor disbelief- it is pure trust - it is the highest peak of purity and sincerity, the highest peak of consciousness . Zarathustra is in favour of a strong spirit.
Nietzsche is saying through Zarathustra in his prologue that ' God is dead '. Osho agrees with Zarathustra and with Friedrich Nietzsche , but expresses it differently saying that God has never been alive , there has never been any God..
Nietzsche writes in a very condensed form and according to Osho these are almost like the sutras of the Upanishad. Each single sutra, and each single maxim, contains so much, has so many implications. Nietzche's ideas and concepts are unique . Osho's commentary on those made it rather awesome .
Some of Osho's interesting observations about God , godliness and religion found in this book are :
There is no belief which is not blind. A man with eyes does not believe in light , he knows it - there is no need to believe. Only the blind man believes in light because he does not know it. Belief exists in ignorance , and all the religions are all for belief.
God is the creation of the unwise, not of the wise. It is the creation of the slaves, not of those who love freedom.
I am all for godliness because godliness is a quality you can learn, you can grow. God is just a dead idea. The sooner it is dropped, the better, because it unnecessarily wastes your time.
The scriptures are man made, the statues of God are man -made , the temples and churches are man - made, but thousands of years of conditioning has given them a certain sacredness, holiness. And there is nothing sacred in them, nothing holy in them.
The visions of Nietzsche and of Osho are mingled together in this book. A great book indeed. I love to read this book.
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