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Part VII : Religious Hostility
Osho comments on the reaction to him of 'religious' people around
the world, and exposes orthodox religions
A new sannyasin has just written to me saying, "I am feeling
very good here but when I go out, there are Christians who hand
out pamphlets to me about Christianity, about Jesus, and they
tell me that you are an anti-Christ. So what should I do?"
It is natural. Christians are becoming afraid, because so many
Christians are coming to me. The fear is natural, they have a
vested interest. Hindus are afraid, Jainas are afraid; their fear
is understandable. To take anybody from any group to which he
has belonged is to offend the group, because their number is reduced.
And number means power. In this world, the more people belong
to your group, the more powerful you are. In the name of religion,
much power politics goes on.
So they will tell you that I am anti-Christ. They were telling
Jesus' followers that Jesus was anti-Moses, they were telling
Buddha's followers that Buddha was anti-Veda. That has been an
old story; it is nothing new. unio110
One bishop in England has written to one of my sannyasins who
is also a priest—he is a chaplain at the University of Cambridge.
The bishop has written to him: "We have heard that you have
also become involved with this dangerous man, and this is not
right for a Christian priest. Please explain." Our sannyasin—Chinmaya
is his name—has written a beautiful letter to the bishop
saying: "Listening to this man I became convinced that Jesus
was a reality. Coming closer to this man, for the first time I
became aware that Jesus is not a myth." Now, from a chaplain
at Cambridge University, an important person…the bishop
must be feeling very disturbed: 'What to do with this man?' And
now Dynamic Meditation is being done in his church in Cambridge!
inzen07
Just the other day I received a letter from a Christian missionary,
well-known all over the world. He writes, "Whatsoever you
say is beautiful, logical, appealing, but still, you are an evil
force because you are not a Christian, and Christ has said that
many false messiahs will come, and you are one of those. And they
will be very convincing and their words will look like truth,
but it will not be true." The missionary asked, "Can
you prove that you are the second Christ? If not, then you are
a false messiah."
Buddha is a false messiah then, because he is not a second Christ;
and Krishna too, and Kabir, and Bahaudin—all are false messiahs.
That's what Jewish rabbis were saying to Jesus!—that he
is a false messiah. "Can you prove," they were asking,
"that you are the messiah we have been waiting for?"
They were asking for proofs. Jesus was not proof enough; they
wanted some proofs, solid proofs, maybe a written letter from
God saying, "Yes, I appoint him; he is not a self-appointed
messiah, he is appointed by me."
Jesus was present. They could not look at him, they could not
feel him, they could not see him, they could not hear him, and
they were asking for proofs.
Now the same thing again?
I am not a Christian. Certainly, I am not a Christian. Why should
I be a Christian? My whole approach is either be a Christ, or
don't be a Christ, but what is the meaning of being a Christian?
Christ-consciousness is one thing; being a Christian is just a
plastic flower. I am not a Christian. And I am not the second
coming of Christ! Why should I be anybody else's coming? I come
on my own. I am not anybody's carbon copy. Now the Christian is
going to be against me, naturally. secret13
You ask: Why are you being compared with Rasputin rather than
with Jesus, Krishna, Mahavira or Buddha?
Do you think that when Buddha was alive people were thinking that
he was a god? Then you are wrong. Do you think Mahavira was worshipped
by the people as a god? Then you are wrong. Of course, he was
accepted by a few disciples as divine, but the major part of the
society condemned him. They condemned Buddha, they condemned Krishna,
they condemned Jesus, in the same way they are condemning me.
In fact, in a roundabout way they are putting me in the same category
with Jesus, Krishna, Mahavira and Buddha, by calling me Rasputin—because
in their minds Rasputin is nothing but an evil spirit, a very
powerful evil spirit. And of course, they are accepting one thing:
that there is some power which is working here.
Just the other day I received a letter from a sannyasin saying
that a few months ago a television company had made a film of
the ashram, and now a Christian priest is doing the commentary
on it. And the sannyasin has seen the commentary and the film,
and the priest is just stating lies, absolute lies. He has never
been here. The film was made by the television company; the priest
has never been here and he is commenting on the film, he is giving
a running commentary on the film. So when in darshan people are
moved, and they are dancing and they are singing and they go ecstatic,
his commentary is: "Look! This is black magic! This man is
an incarnation of the Devil. What he is doing is hypnotism, mesmerism."
They are bound to compare me with Rasputin, just to condemn
me. Once they have crucified me, the same people will worship
me, but first they have to crucify me. And I am not in any way
in a hurry—that's why there are so many guards and security
arrangements. Naturally, twenty centuries after Jesus I am a little
more alert about what they can do! Jesus was not alert about this,
that they would go to such lengths. I know they can go—I
know they will go—but I would like to linger on a little
more so I can infect as many people as possible!
So they will make every effort to destroy me—but because
they cannot destroy they become enraged. Then at least they can
write in newspapers and spread rumors—and I love it! I love
all those rumors! Even respected newspapers, news agencies go
on doing stupid things, but it creates sensation and they live
on sensationalism. This is absolutely natural; it has to happen
in this way. It can only happen in this way—this is inevitable.
Only my people will understand what I am, and I don't care what
others say—not a bit! In fact, I would like them to create
as many rumors as possible, because their rumors bring people
to the ashram—and once they are here I can always hypnotize
them! Those rumors are bringing many people here. Once they are
here their vision changes, their perspective changes. They start
seeing that it is a totally different phenomenon: what is happening
here is something totally different from what they have heard.
What they have heard helps me because that becomes a contrast.
If you come to me thinking that here is a Rasputin, and then
you see and you listen and you sit in silence with me, suddenly
the contrast is clear: where is Rasputin? Here is a simple man,
talking in simple language, pouring his heart and his love sharing
his joy, neither interested in any politics nor interested in
any organized religion, only interested in one thing—how
people can become more aware, more alert, more meditative.
The priests are afraid—their business can be destroyed
by me. The politicians are afraid because I can create, through
creating consciousness, rebellious people. Hence they are going
to conspire against me, but all their conspiracy is ultimately
a help.
It is my observation that truth cannot be killed. You can kill
me, but truth cannot be killed. You can crucify Jesus, but how
can you crucify truth? In fact, the crucifixion becomes a background
in which the truth shines forth more clearly, more definitively
than ever. So I enjoy their rumors. I never say anything against
their rumors….
But these fools are bound to do such things—this is expected.
And I am not worried, because I have nothing to worry about. I
have found that which is the fulfillment of my life. Now whether
I am famous or notorious does not matter. Whether I am Rasputin
or Buddha does not matter. A few people will think of me as Buddha,
a few people, and the majority will think about me as Rasputin.
That's beautiful.
One thing I am certainly interested in is that everybody should
think something about me! guida11
You say: At this moment the Christian Broadcasting Company,
NCRV, in Holland, has started a series of eight programs on spiritual
movements entitled: Not To Be Believed. The producer-minister,
Sipke van der Land, who has been here with his crew to film you
and life at the ashram, called the first program: Bhagwan, Sex
Guru from Poona….
Because it is a Christian broadcasting company they must have
come with prejudiced ideas, they must have come with a closed
mind. They had come already with conclusions, hence whatsoever
they say only shows something about them, nothing about me. And
remember, their title is right: Not To Be Believed!
They have received many letters—I have received many letters
too—and there have been many comments in the newspapers
in Holland. And almost all the newspapers have asked one question:
that their whole program about me does not give any indication
about the title, Bhagwan, Sex Guru from Poona. Their whole program
has nothing to do with the title. People are meditating. People
are sitting silently listening to me, people are working…It
has no relationship at all with the program. What they have filmed
and what they have tried to project is totally irrelevant! But
they were not even aware, it seems, that the title has no relevance
with the program—it has nothing to do with sex!
And what this director has replied?—because the newspapers
asked the director, "Why you have given such a title, which
has no reference with the program at all? It shows a prejudiced
mind!" So he has answered that, "That was our very purpose,
that's our very purpose of a Christian broadcasting company: to
expose everything that is not Christian." They are not concerned
with truth—as if truth is Christian! Truth is neither Hindu
nor Christian nor Mohammedan.
And he should be reminded that Jesus was not a Christian himself!
Christianity never existed in those days. Jesus was born a Jew,
lived a Jew, died a Jew! I may be a little bit of Christian—in
fact, more Christian than Jesus!—but Jesus cannot be Christian
at all. First they should condemn Jesus—why he was not Christian;
that will serve their purpose more accurately.
And they should make a film on Jesus. Jesus was moving with
a prostitute, Mary Magdalene—must have been a sex guru!
He was always in the company which this director would not approve
of—gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes. He himself was a drunkard!
He should make a film on Jesus. And there are rumors that he was
a homosexual! I don't know how far they are true, but there is
a possibility…because he was constantly moving with those
twelve boys! And religious people are known, very well-known,
to be homosexuals. Homosexuality is a religious phenomenon! When
you keep men separate from women and women separate from men,
homosexuality is a natural byproduct.
He has also said in one interview to a newspaper, that "Bhagwan's
sannyasins say that, 'We feel immense energy, that we feel the
presence of Bhagwan transforming us.'" And he says, "I
lived there for a few days—I didn't feel anything!"…
But he had come with a particular idea. In a way it is good
that people are becoming so much afraid of me. It is good: it
shows that the impact is making them tremble. Holland is becoming
one of my most important orange countries. Christians are becoming
afraid—it is good. Make them as much afraid as possible!
Make everybody afraid of you! Let them all tremble—before
they collapse! It is good… ithat02
I have been in tremendous love with Buddha; I think there is
no other man on the earth today who has loved Buddha as much as
I. But just the other day I was reading in the newspapers: the
president of the Buddhist Society of India is going to raise questions
against me in the parliament in the coming session. I can understand,
these people must be feeling very much offended because I am giving
Buddha a new color—his color, Buddha's color. I am trying
to bring his reality to you. And these people have distorted his
image totally; they have made him look so sad, they won't allow
him to laugh. If he laughs, they will raise questions against
him in the parliament.
I am offending people because I am trying to live religion not
according to their ideas. dh0208
Just the other day I received a very angry letter from someone
who was here for a few days. He is the librarian in Dharamsala
of the Dalai Lama's library—must be a scholar!
He writes to me, "You are saying things which are not Buddhist
at all. In Mahayana sutras," he quotes, "Mahayana scriptures,
it is perfectly and clearly stated that one has to live life ascetically.
And you are changing the whole color of Buddha—you are making
him look as if he is a hedonist!"
I don't care about the Mahayana sutras and the scriptures, but
I know Buddha, I know his heart. I know that space from my own
experience. I am not a scholar; in fact I have never read these
sutras before! Every day I have to look at them and start talking
to you. I am not concerned much with what Buddha said, but I know
what Buddha would have said. I cannot believe that he was a pessimist.
He believes, of course, in a totally different kind of life. He
does not believe in the ordinary, unconscious life—dishonest,
unauthentic, unloving, unmeditative. He calls that life misery,
but only a certain kind of life he calls misery. True life cannot
be misery, true life is bliss….
But you cannot expect anything else from a scholar. A scholar
is bound to be stupid, otherwise why should he be a scholar in
the first place? An intelligent person will seek and search for
truth. He will not bother about Mahayana sutras and scriptures.
I have no respect for scholarship.
And this man became very much disturbed, so much so that he has
left already. If he had been here I would have hammered him a
little more, but I received his letter just the other day when
he had left. I hope that sometime again he will come, because
to me the space of Buddha is a totally different space from what
Buddhist scholars think it is.
He said, "Whatsoever you are saying is illogical and against
the scriptures." So far so good! If it is against the scriptures
it must have some truth in it. If it is illogical then it must
be closer to truth, because truth is illogical. Life is illogical.
Those who think that life is logical are simply befooling themselves.
Life is absolutely illogical because life contains contradictions
and logic cannot contain contradictions. Logic is stupid. dh0907
Whenever a Master arises, wherever, the priests are always angry,
because when somebody starts speaking from the heart, the people
who live in the head start losing their customers. Naturally,
the priest is in business, he becomes very much angered.
You will find millions of people angry with me. And a miracle!
The Mohammedan priest is angry, the Hindu priest is angry, the
Buddhist priest is angry, the Jaina priest is angry, the Christian
priest is angry. This is a miracle! At least on one thing they
agree: that I am wrong. That is their only agreement. Otherwise
they don't agree on anything. Why should they be so much angered?—because
whenever the real coin is there, the pseudo-coin starts feeling
embarrassed…. parad301
People ask me why the society is against me. The society is
not against me—I am anti-social. But I can't help it—I
have to do my thing. I have to share what has happened to me,
and in that very sharing I go against the society. ahthis01
I cannot be supported by the society. It is a sheer miracle
that I am existing, it is very illogical. I should not be here
at all. The society does not support me, it cannot support me.
In every possible way it will create—it is creating—hindrances
for my work.
Just the other day I was reading in the newspapers, one man
has suggested to the government that I should be expelled from
India. He must be a very religious man, because he says I am destroying
religion. And he is not satisfied with just my expulsion—he
then suggests my tongue should be cut out, so that I cannot speak;
and my hands should also be cut off, so that I cannot write. And
he thinks he is a religious man! unio202
Just the other day I was seeing the newspapers. One article
suggests—a very religious person who has written the article—that
Osho should be given electroshocks. This is Indian culture, religiousness,
nonviolence, celibacy, great heritage, the country of the great
seers—asking the government to give me electroshocks.
The second article I saw yesterday was that I should be deported
immediately. The third article was that the Indian government
should throw me into the Arabian Ocean—not even in the Indian
Ocean, because I may pollute the Indian Ocean. "Throw him
in the Arabian Ocean, so if he pollutes, he pollutes the Arabs!"
My suggestion is: all these three things can be done together;
there is no need to do separately. First, give me electroshocks,
then deport me and don't give me any passport, so of course I
cannot go outside the country; and because you have deported me,
then throw me into the Arabian Ocean. And this will save your
country, your religion, your culture, your great heritage!…
Not a single argument is said against me. Now, do you think
these are arguments against me?—electroshocks, deportation,
throwing into the Arabian Sea…these are arguments? Not a
single argument is there. They are feeling very impotent, and
out of their impotency great rage is arising. wildgs14
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