Sigmund Freud is right that God is nothing but a search for a father or mother figure. Buddha would have agreed with him, Buddha would have blessed Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud’s insight about it is very accurate. He does not go very far, but he begins rightly, though he becomes stuck in the middle because he was not aware of Buddha and he was not aware of Lao Tzu. He remained basically part of the Judaic-Christian tradition – which is not very evolved, which is not yet a metaphysics in the true sense of the term.

Christianity and Judaism are very earthly religions, more rooted in man’s psychology than in man’s spiritual understanding. And because man’s psychology is a chaos, whatsoever is rooted in his psychology is bound to remain a chaos.

Man needs a father figure, somebody to depend upon. In the name of God people are not searching for God but are only searching for excuses for their dependence – beautiful excuses so that the dependence does not look like slavery, so the dependence also starts having a flavor of religiousness, spirituality. But to call God “the father” indicates what you have been searching for.

There are religions which call God “the mother”; it is the same, the same game – either mother or father. If the society is mother-oriented, matriarchal, then God becomes “the mother”; if the society is father-oriented, patriarchal, then God becomes “the father.”

Germany calls itself “the fatherland,” India calls itself “the motherland”; the difference is only in names. Whether you call the country motherland or fatherland does not make much difference, because you create the same trouble. The labels are different but it is the same politics; the labels are different but it is the same childish approach towards reality.

Why do you seek for God? Out of fear? Yes, there is fear, because there is death. If you are seeking God out of fear you will never find him. God can be found only through love, not through fear.

In all the languages of the world such phrases exist as “God-fearing”; the religious person is called God-fearing. It is utter nonsense! A religious person is never God-fearing: a religious person is God-loving. His prayerfulness arises not out of fear but out of tremendous love and gratitude. His prayer is a thankfulness, not a demand. He does not ask for security, because he knows already that he is secure. He does not ask for safety, he does not ask for protection, because he knows that existence protects, that existence is our home, that we belong to it and that it belongs to us. Why should he ask for such things which are already available, which are already given, which are built in, in your very existence?