God is my Judge
Osho introduces Dhyan Daniel into sannyas...
Dhyan means an absolute state of silence where no thought moves inside you; all the waves of the mind are gone, the consciousness has become a silent, undisturbed lake. In that very moment one becomes unafraid of the society, of the state, of the church, of all so-called outer authorities which are reducing every human being to a slave. In those moments of silence one stands naked before God. One knows that: except for God nobody is my judge. Daniel means God is my judge.
The moment you experience that only God is your judge you become fearless of all other judges, of the opinions of others. The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.
Buddha has actually called it the lion′s roar. When a man reaches an absolutely silent state, he roars like a lion. For the first time he knows what freedom is because now there is no fear of anybody′s opinion. What people say does not matter. Whether they call you a saint or a sinner is immaterial; your whole and sole judge is God. And by ′God′ a person is not meant at all; God simply means the whole universe.
It is not a question of having to face a person, you have to face the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the stars - the whole universe. And this is our universe, we are part of it, there is no need to be afraid of it, there is no need to hide anything from it. In fact even if you try you cannot hide. The whole knows it already, the whole knows more about you than you know; hence the other meaning of Daniel.
One meaning is ′God is My Judge′ and the second is even more significant; the second is, ′God Has Already Judged′. It is not something that is going to happen in the future, it has already happened, he has judged. So even the fear of that judgement withers away. It is not a question of some judgement day at the end. You need not tremble. The judgement day happened on the first day; the moment he created you he already judged you. He knows you, you are his creation. If something goes wrong with you he is responsible, not you. If you go astray he is responsible, not you. How can you be responsible? - you are not your own creation. If you paint and something goes wrong you cannot say that the painting is the cause of it - the painter is the cause.
So there is no need to be afraid of the crowd or of some imaginary God at the end of the world asking you what you have done and what you have not done. He has already judged - that is really significant - it has already happened so you are free. And the moment one knows that one is totally free to be oneself, life starts having a dynamic quality to it.
Fear creates fetters, freedom gives you wings.
(Osho - I am Not as Thunk as You Drink I am #20, a darshan diary)