Osho’s reply to the question “Who do you think is the greatest man in our history and why?”

“Krishna is the sole great man in our whole history who reached the absolute height and depth of religion, and yet he is not at all serious and sad, not in tears. By and large, the chief characteristic of a religious person has been that he is somber, serious, and sad-looking – like one vanquished in the battle of life, like a renegade from life. In the long line of such sages, it is Krishna alone who comes dancing, singing, and laughing.

Religions of the past were all life-denying and masochistic, extolling sorrow and suffering as great virtues. If you set aside Krishna’s vision of religion, then every religion of the past presented a sad and sorrowful face.

It is said of Jesus that he never laughed. It was perhaps his sad look and the picture of his physical form on the cross that became the focal point of attraction for people, most of whom are themselves unhappy and miserable. In a deep sense, Mahavira and Buddha are against life too. They are in favor of some other life in some other world; they support a kind of liberation from this life.

Every religion, up to now, has divided life into two parts, and while they accept one part they deny the other, Krishna alone accepts the whole of life. Acceptance of life in its totality has attained full fruition in Krishna. That is why India held Krishna to be a perfect incarnation of God”

Hare Krishna!