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Osho meets Mahatma Gandhi
Hundreds of times we had discussed Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy,
and I was always against. People were a little bit puzzled why
I was so insistent against a man I had only seen twice, when I
was just a child. I will tell you the story of that second meeting....
I can see the train. Gandhi was traveling, and of course he
traveled third class. But his "third class" was far
better than any first class possible. In a sixty-man compartment
there was just him and his secretary and his wife; I think these
three were the only people. The whole compartment was reserved.
And it was not even an ordinary first-class compartment, because
I have never seen such a compartment again. It must have been
a first-class compartment, and not only first class, but a special
first class. Just the name plate had been changed and it became
"third class" so Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy was saved.
I was just ten. My mother - again I mean my grandmother - had
given me three rupees. She said, "The station is too far
and you may not be back in time for lunch, and one never knows
with these trains: it may come ten hours, twelve hours late, so
please keep these three rupees." In India in those days,
three rupees was almost a treasure. One could live comfortably
for three months on them.
She had made a really beautiful robe for me. She knew I did
not like long pants; at the most I wore pajama pants and a kurta.
A kurta is a long robe which I have always loved, and slowly slowly
the pajama has disappeared, only the robe remains. Otherwise one
has not only divided the upper body and the lower body, but even
made different clothes for each. Of course the higher body should
have something better, and the lower body is just to be covered,
that's all.
She had made a beautiful kurta for me. It was summer and in
those parts of central India summer is really difficult because
the hot air going into the nostrils feels as if it's on fire.
In fact, only in the middle of the night can people find a little
rest. It is so hot in central India that you are continuously
asking for some cold water, and if some ice is available then
it is just paradise. Ice is the costliest thing in those parts,
naturally, because by the time it comes from the factory, a hundred
miles away, it is almost gone. It has to be rushed as quickly
as possible.
My Nani said I should go to see Mahatma Gandhi if I wanted to
and she prepared a very thin muslin robe. Muslin is the most artistic
and the most ancient fabric too, as far as clothes are concerned.
She found the best muslin. It was so thin that it was almost transparent.
At that time gold rupees had disappeared and silver rupees had
taken their place. Those silver rupees were too heavy for the
poor muslin pocket. Why am I saying it? - because something I'm
going to say would not be possible to understand without it.
The train came as usual, thirteen hours late. Almost everybody
was gone except me. You know me, I'm stubborn. Even the stationmaster
said, "Boy, you are something. Everybody has gone but you
seem ready to stay the whole night. There is no sign of the train
and you have been waiting since early this morning."
To come to the station at four o'clock that morning I had to
leave my house in the middle of the night. But I had not yet used
those three rupees because everybody had brought so many things
with them, and they were all so generous to a little boy who had
come so far. They were offering me fruits, sweets, cakes and everything,
so there was no question of feeling hungry. When the train finally
arrived, I was the only person there - and what a person! Just
a ten-year-old boy, standing by the side of the stationmaster.
He introduced me to Mahatma Gandhi and said, "Don't think
of him as just a boy. The whole day I have watched him, and I
have discussed many things with him, because there was no other
work. And he is the only one who has remained. Many had come but
they left long ago. I respect him because I know he would have
stayed here till the last day of existence; he would not leave
until the train arrived. And if the train had not arrived, I don't
think he would ever have left. He would have lived here."
Mahatma Gandhi was an old man; he called me close and looked
at me. But rather than looking at me, he looked at my pocket -
and that put me off him forever. And he said, "What is that?"
I said, "Three rupees."
He said, "Donate them." He used to have a box with a
hole in it by his side. When you donated, you put the rupees in
the hole and they disappeared. Of course he had the key, so they
would appear again, but for you they had disappeared.
I said, "If you have the courage you can take them. The pocket
is there, the rupees are there, but may I ask you for what purpose
you are collecting these rupees?"
He said, "For poor people."
I said, "Then it is perfectly okay." And I myself dropped
those three rupees into his box. But he was the one to be surprised,
for when I started leaving I took the whole box with me.
He said, "For God's sake, what are you doing? That is for
the poor!"
I said, "I have heard you already, you need not bother repeating
it again. I am taking this box for the poor. There are many in
my village. Please give me the key; otherwise I will have to find
a thief so that he can open the lock. He is the only expert in
that art."
He said, "This is strange...." He looked at his secretary.
The secretary was dumb, as secretaries always are; otherwise why
should they be secretaries? He looked at Kasturba, his wife, who
said, "You have met your equal. You cheat everybody, now
he is taking your whole box. Good! It is good, because I am tired
of seeing that box always there, just like a wife!"
I felt sorry for that man and left the box, saying, "No,
you are the poorest man, it seems. Your secretary does not have
any intelligence, nor does your wife seem to have any love for
you. I cannot take this box away - you keep it. But remember,
I had come to see a mahatma, but I saw only a businessman."
That was his caste. In India, baniya, businessman, is exactly
what you mean by a Jew. India has its own Jews; they are not Jews,
they are baniyas. To me, at that age, Mahatma Gandhi appeared
to be only a businessman. I have spoken against him thousands
of times because I don't agree with anything in his philosophy
of life. glimps45
There was an earthquake in Bihar, in India, and Mahatma Gandhi
said that the earthquake happened because God was punishing the
sinners. I was very young, but I wrote him a letter that it is
very strange that God should punish the sinners only in Bihar.
What about the whole rest of the world? Do you consider that only
Bihar consists only of sinners, and the whole world consists of
saints?
And he had neither guts nor a gentleman's attitude. He never
gave any answer. I wrote a letter to Ramdas, his son - because
he was my friend - I wrote to Ramdas asking him whether his father
had received my letter or not. He said he had received it, "but
he has no answer to give so he is keeping quiet." last202
In India they say, "Even a leaf of a tree moves only if
God wants to move it." So even the murderer is not really
responsible, he is simply doing what God wants to do. That's the
whole teaching in the Gita of Krishna, and the Gita is worshipped
by Hindus and even by non-Hindus. And one cannot believe...even
people like Mahatma Gandhi, who pretend to be non-violent, call
the Gita their mother. Gandhi used to say that Hindus and Mohammedans
are one.
I was not more than seventeen when I wrote him a letter and
asked him, "If Hindus and Mohammedans are one, if the Gita
is your mother, what about the holy Koran? Is the holy Koran your
father?" He was so angry - his son was my friend and he told
me that he simply threw the letter out the window. Ramdas, his
son, told him, "What he is asking is relevant. If you can
call the Gita your mother.... If you cannot call the Koran your
father, you can call it step-father, uncle, but some relationship
has to be there, otherwise how are Hindus and Mohammedans one?"
I never received any letter. Ramdas informed me, "You will
never receive any answer."
I wrote Gandhi another letter: "On the one hand you say
you are non-violent, and on the other hand you worship the Gita,
which teaches simply violence and nothing else." The whole
book is a teaching for violence. Krishna, to his disciple Arjuna,
is teaching, "You go to the war, fight, because that's what
is the will of God, because without his will nothing happens.
So if this big war is happening, it cannot happen without his
will." Krishna tries in every way to persuade Arjuna. Arjuna
argues but he is not a great logician, otherwise it was so simple.
If I was in his place, I would have simply got out of the chariot
and walked towards the forest, and told him, "This is what
God wills. What can I do? I am simply following his will. Nobody
can do anything against his will, so if I am going to the forest
to meditate and not to fight, it is his responsibility."
There was no need for any argument. And the whole Gita is just
an argument: Arjuna trying to argue or non-violence and Krishna
imposing violence because God wants it. His sole argument is,
"You should surrender to God's will and do whatever He wants."
Arjuna must have been stupid. I would have accepted in the very
beginning - there would have been no need for the Gita - that
"You are right, I surrender and now I will do only that which
God wants." And I would have walked into the forest. last321
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