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Part X : 1987-1990 Poona-Two : Controversy
with: Mohammedans
Author Salman Rushdie mentions in one of his books the fact that
Mohammed had edited some verses from his Koran. Ayatollah Khomeini
issues a death warrant against him, his publisher, printer, and
agent. In connection with this, several people have been killed
by fanatical Mohammedans. Rajiv Gandhi bans Rushdie's book.
Friends, I have been telling you that God has been the greatest
poison to humanity and its evolution towards ultimate peaks of
consciousness. Ayatollah Khomeini has supported what I have been
telling to you, by declaring a death sentence on Salman Rushdie
and three others for simply publishing a factual statement. No
law of any country supports it. No constitution in the world supports
it. But this has been the attitude of the priests all down history.
A second ayatollah—ayatollah simply means a religious
leader—not Khomeini, but another ayatollah, and there are
two thousand ayatollahs in Iran, has come up with a better support
to my argument. Now he has declared that if Salman Rushdie's head
is presented to him, he is going to give two point six million
dollars if the person who presents it happens to be an Iranian.
If it is a non-Iranian, then one million dollars.
From every Mohammedan country, including Pakistan, death squads
have moved into England to kill those four people—and if
not four, at least Salman Rushdie for writing the novel—and
to bring his head to Iran.
Now this will show you why I have been condemning all God-oriented
religions, because finally the God-oriented religion is in the
hands of the priests. God does not exist, the priest exists. And
the priest does not know any civilization, any culture. Murdering
a man is not an argument, it is really accepting defeat. A cultured
society needs dialogue. If you have something against Rushdie,
you have every right to say it and criticize him—that is
human. If you feel he is wrong, you have all the freedom to criticize
him.
But religions don't believe in dialogues, they believe in murder,
in the sword—that is their argument. To me, it is their
defeat.
These people have been keeping the world retarded. A few people
from India, and from other countries who have condemned Ayatollah
Khomeini and the other ayatollah, have been receiving anonymous
phone calls, that they will be killed also.
Here in India, one of my friends, Madhu Mehta, made a statement
condemning Ayatollah Khomeini. He is a man of immense intelligence,
culture, education….
Madhu Mehta has received an anonymous phone call that he also
will be killed and that anybody who says anything against Ayatollah
Khomeini will be murdered. Are we living in the twentieth century,
or some thousand years back where only killing and murder was
the argument?—whoever kills, whoever wins in killing is
the right person.
It is very easy to kill a Gautam Buddha. Any idiot can do it,
in fact, only an idiot can do it. But that does not prove that
the idiot's idea of religiousness is correct, nor does the death
of a Gautam Buddha prove that his philosophy is wrong. In fact,
it just does the opposite. It proves that the unconscious and
retarded humanity, for which all the religions are responsible,
have a tremendous poverty of philosophy, of argument, of a cultural
and civilized dialogue. And it goes back, as far back you can
see….
You have to understand deeply. My whole work here is to make
you declare freedom and total independence from all prisons—religious,
national, racial. Only that is going to give you a life of celebration.
Your freedom will give you the space to dance, to sing, to celebrate.
My vision of religiousness is that of sheer celebration, a tremendous
joy in life, in love, in creative actions. This is my manifesto,
the Manifesto of Zen.
Unless humanity is taken out of their prison cells—we
are living in the dark ages—every vested interest is going
to be against me, it is going to be against you. Every manifesto
of freedom will be crushed….
Meditation is a rebellion, perhaps the most fundamental rebellion
against all fictions, against all lies, and against all those
who are living on those fictions and lies. celebr05
Just today one man has asked the government of India, "Just
as you have banned Salman Rushdie's book, why don't you ban Osho's
books which are far more dangerous?" It is true, they are
far more dangerous. Rushdie has not done anything, and is unnecessarily
being harassed. If you harass me that will be absolutely right,
because I am stating things against every religion.
But to ask the government to ban my books is to accept defeat.
Why can't you argue with me? Why can't you bring a dialogue into
existence? If you think your religious ideology is right, I am
ready for any challenge to discuss it. Why are you afraid? In
a cultured society, in a democratic nation it is against the constitution
to take away anybody's freedom of speech. I am ready to confront
anybody—Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jaina, Buddhist. Whoever
they are, I am ready to confront them, but because they don't
have any way to answer my questions they immediately take the
course of asking the government.
The Indian government is secular, it has no way to defend any
religion or anybody's religious feelings. And it is barbarous
to ask the government; it simply shows you are primitive and you
don't know how to behave in a civilized way…. celebr07
The Koran is one of the most strange books, because it has not
been written in a continuity—one verse today, one verse
ten days after…because Mohammed was uneducated. He did not
write it himself. He used to dictate whenever he found something
worth dictating. So-called holy scriptures are written by self-styled
prophets and messiahs—and they are called "holy"!
I don't see anything holy in them.
So many Mohammedan friends have asked me, "You have spoken
on many religions, why don't you speak on the Koran?"
I said, "Do you want me to be murdered?" I have something
else to do meanwhile. Finally, when I think that it is time for
me to leave the body, I will speak on the Koran. And I will manage
to have one of my sannyasins kill me and get 2.6 million dollars
for my work! While my work is incomplete, I am not going to speak
on holy scriptures, because they are the most primitive kind of
literature. celebr05
All these religions are gathering their whole energy—the
last flare-up of life before they disappear forever with their
God, with their priests, with their monks, with their churches,
with their holy scriptures. That day will be the greatest day
in the history of man. Man will become free.
Hence I say that the days for celebration are coming closer. Get
ready! celebr07
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