osho's biography

Part VIII : About the Communes around the world

Osho answers questions about the Commune in Rajneeshpuram and around the world:

You are the head of a very rich worldwide organisation…
I am not the head of a worldwide organization. I am not even a sannyasin. Nothing is in my hands; it is my sannyasins' business. I am simply a guest. last112

Many politicians have asked if You are running this place.
No. Never. Who wants to fall back in all that bullshit? It was so difficult to get out of it. It took many lives for me to get out of it all—and you are asking me again to take a dive into the bullshit? No. Absolutely no! last103

Was this commune your sannyasins' idea or your idea?
It is my vision, and their love for my vision, but the idea to materialize it is theirs. I am a dreamer: I can give you beautiful dreams, and I give for free—I don't charge for them. But then if you get caught up in the dream and you start trying to materialize it, that is your responsibility. I simply watch from the outside.
Are you not suggesting to them what to do?
No. Not at all. I never talk to them about these things. I never talk about the commune, about any mundane things. They are intelligent enough that they can manage themselves. And they are doing so well that it cannot be improved. last117

This commune is being run by the people themselves. I'm not even a member of the commune. I have never gone to their commune meetings. I don't know where their offices are. Anybody who comes for a few hours will know more about the commune than I have known in four years, because I never go out of my room….
I am explaining to them what I have experienced in my life, and leaving it up to them. And I never inquire whether anybody is following my ideas or not. I'm not interested in that at all. My whole interest is that my people should be intelligent, and then their intelligence will take care; then whatsoever they do is right, even if it goes against me, but it should not go against their intelligence.
I respect individuals, I respect their intelligence, I respect their sensitivity—so much that I will be the last person in any way to give them beliefs, dogmas, creeds. last205

What do you view as the development of this valley for the people with you?
I'm not concerned with it. My concern is with people and their growth. The city is their concern, not my concern. And I have so many intelligent people here, architects, engineers, doctors, professors—from all the professions, daring, adventurous people have come to me. Now it is up to them, a mundane affair, I don't care about it. I trust them, they will be able to manage, and they are managing. And they will be able to develop it technologically, but it is not my concern at all.
What is your concern?
My concern is their spiritual growth. Their intelligence should come to its highest peak. They should be deprogrammed from all past, rotten and dead, meaningless and harmful….
My work is not to create the city, but to create the man, and then the man will take care of the city and the houses. That is a totally different matter. I don't bother about it.
But my basic concern is the individual. The individual is to me the highest SIZE=2>last118

In America, when I reached for the first time to the desert that we had purchased, there was not a single bird. It was a strange place, like some modern paintings which give you such a strange feeling. There was not a single bird in over one hundred twenty-six square miles, and only one kind of tree which is called the camel of the desert, the juniper tree. It is really a great tree; no other tree can remain alive in that desert, but the juniper remains. But they were small: the growth was difficult—they were not green, not lush green.
But in five years' time, as thousands of sannyasins gathered there—as we made lakes, as we started cultivating—strangely enough I saw those juniper trees growing thicker, greener, becoming more beautiful.
Birds started coming, waterbirds started coming, and so many deer that in the night it was impossible to move your car on the roads because they were standing, and they would not move; they didn't care about your horn. One thing is certain: they knew that these people were harmless, that they are not going to hurt them. Otherwise, deer immediately run away as they see a man coming, particularly in America where they are continually hunting the deer, killing the deer. Perhaps in the whole history of America, these five years in the commune were the only years when deer were protected.
We had to fight a lawsuit against the government. The people who used to hunt deer filed a suit against us because we didn't allow them to enter and we didn't allow shooting. And we had to convince the court: "We are vegetarians and we will not allow anybody to kill on our ground. They can do anything they want on their own grounds, but these one hundred twenty-six square miles are sacred; they belong to us, and they belong to the deer too. We are newcomers, they are ancient owners of the land. We will be gone, they will remain. We are their guests, and we cannot be so ugly as to kill the host."
The magistrate could not believe what we were talking about! But the deer understood—so from all the surrounding lands they started gathering in thousands, in the mountains, in the forest of the commune.
Suddenly, within five years, a desert which had always been a desert became an oasis. And I was watching the synchronicity of life: when there are people, when there are trees, the birds will come. When there are birds, people, trees, the animals will come.
We had swans, we had ducks. We had three hundred peacocks. It was a dream come true. Peacocks were dancing and human beings were dancing too, and there was a certain affinity, a friendship. The peacocks were not allowed in the houses because they would make the houses dirty, but they would come to the windows and look inside to see what was going on—the same curiosity, the same consciousness, just the body is different; the same sensitivity, the same desire to relate in some way, to be friendly. upan10

Our people in four years changed the desert into the oasis. For fifty years it was lying dead, nobody was ready to purchase it at any price. What you will do with a desert? We purchased it, knowingly that it is going to be a great challenge. But to accept challenges has been one of my loves. We accepted the challenge, and jumped into the unknown. Our people worked as hard as people may never have worked anywhere—twelve hours, fourteen hours, sometimes sixteen hours. We poured as much money as our people could manage—two hundred million dollars in the desert.
But, nobody was asked to do it. People simply loved that they are creating something out of their own joy. They were ready to sacrifice anything for it. And within four years, something was accomplished that may take hundred years for others to accomplish.
In four years we were a full-fledged city, with five thousand people living there, with all modern facilities, with all beautiful houses, roads, gardens, lawns. The whole city was centrally air-conditioned; perhaps that was the only city in the whole world. And people were starting their life in the morning with meditation, then they were listening to me, then they were going to work, and in the evening they had still energy enough to dance and to sing late into the night. One never knows how much energy you have, unless you allow it expression.
Even after this much work people were asking me, "Can we do something by the side—painting, poetry, sculpture." People were so much aflame with a creative urge, possessed by creativity. Those four years we made a dream come real….
Because in the commune there was nobody poor, nobody rich.
Karl Marx had to write his whole life about communism, Soviet Russia has been for seventy years trying to bring it—it does not come. The country is still poor; and I managed it by a simple thing. I simply stopped money circulation in the commune. There is no need to destroy the rich; there is no need to bring a dictatorship of the proletariat. We simply stopped money circulation in the commune. And if money circulation is stopped, you may have millions of dollars and I may have none; but if the money is not used, who is rich and who is poor?
And everything that you need will be given by the commune; and we had everything—the hospital, the school, the university. We made the desert yield enough crops for five thousand people—vegetables, fruits, milk products. And for the first time I tried an experiment. Vegetarians in India will be very much against it. Vegetarian food lacks few proteins which are absolutely necessary for the growth of intelligence. That's why vegetarians have never produced geniuses. In India, Jainas are the vegetarians, for thousands of years they have not produced anything worthwhile. They had not received a single Nobel prize. The three Nobel prizes that were received in India were received by non-vegetarians; they were not vegetarians. So it keeps the mind retarded.
I added something to it; the non-fertilized egg, which is vegetable because it has no life. And if you add the non-fertilized egg in the vegetarian food it becomes perfect. It gives all the proteins needed for intellectual growth. last428

We have a medical center, we have enough medical people. You cannot find, in such a small commune anywhere else, all the professions—and the topmost people of the professions. We have four hundred legal experts—the biggest law firm in the whole world. And these four hundred people are going to fight for every single inch. We have doctors, all qualified—highly qualified. We have surgeons—one of the best plastic surgeons in the world, one of the best heart surgeons in the United States. We have nurses…we have everything that is needed. And in our other communes we have more people if we need any help.
We have one million sannyasins around the world—in every profession. And because only the very intelligent people become interested in me, this is bound to be so. None of my people are uneducated, almost all are graduates from the universities; most of them have masters degrees, many are Ph.Ds. We are perfectly balanced in every way, and that's why I say the commune is the way for the future, because nobody needs to be paid, but all his needs are taken care of.
I don't believe in austerity. I am against it—it is masochistic, a psychological disease. All your saints have suffered from it. Everything that my people need is made available. They themselves make it available. They have pooled all their energies into one pool, and things have become so simple.
For example, five thousand cars are not needed, only one thousand cars will do. Anybody can take a car, there is no problem, there is no question. So everybody has the facility of a car. We have one hundred buses. If you want to go in an air-conditioned bus and don't want to go in a car and drive and unnecessarily take risk, you go in an air-conditioned bus. We have five airplanes, which are perfectly sufficient for our people. Anybody, in any emergency, can use the airplanes. We have our own pilots, we have our own engineers. We have our own garages, we have our own mechanics. last215

Five thousand people eating in one restaurant. It is cheaper, economical, happier, joyous, because all your friends are there; and if somebody has the idea he is playing his guitar, somebody is dancing if he wants to dance. And five thousand people enjoying food together. In ordinary society there would have been at least twenty-five hundred kitchens. Now twenty-five hundred kitchens are reduced in one kitchen. Twenty-five hundred women are freed to do something else, something creative, something productive. And all women are not good cooks. In fact, all the literature on the science of cookery, is written by men, not a single book by a women. The best cooks are men.
The woman is caged in cooking, whether she likes it or not. She may like to learn dancing, she may like to create painting, she may like to cultivate the garden. But there is no possibility. Her whole life is the kitchen. And this life you call life? This is imprisonment. And if the woman becomes angry, it is not a wonder.
So we had the best cooks chosen, who had a natural tendency to cook, who wanted to cook, who loved to cook. So our food was delicious, and very few people are needed to cook. Not twenty-five hundred women. Much can be done by machines. Only few people have to look after them. And everything should be done by the best, and others should be released and free to do their best. So the ultimate outcome of a commune is that everything is the best.
And we can create everything. Just a little understanding, a little intelligence, and anything can be done.
In the commune we were creating our own food, our vegetables, our fruits, our milk products; and it was a joy, because the people who wanted to do it, they were doing it. It was not something like enforced labor, enslaved labor. So it was not labor, it was love. And when you can create more, you can sell it to the society; and in exchange you can have things which you are not producing.
And we were on the point to start industries. We had made a special tent, a winterized tent, which had never been in existence. You can use it in winter, in snow, anywhere, in rains. And it has been made in such a way it can be heated. It can be air-conditioned. It can have an attached bathroom. Even the American air force had become interested. They wanted that we should produce in large numbers, so they can buy….
We had many ideas, we had many scientific minds in the commune who had many ideas which can be materialized and sold to the outside world. And in exchange you can get anything that the commune needs. And slowly slowly the commune can produce everything that it needs. And every commune can be totally self-sufficient, and can have a feeling of freedom, self-respect, and nobody is lower, nobody is higher, nobody is poor, nobody is rich. last429

We abandoned money in the society, in the commune. Money should not be used in the commune. You use whatever commune can supply, and commune will try to give you as much as you need. If you want to give money, you give money to the commune. But you cannot purchase anything in the commune for money.
And by simply removing money from the commune, there was nobody rich, nobody poor. Sometimes, small measurements can create great revolutions. All that is needed is that money should not be used. Then how you can make somebody poor and somebody rich? It is the money. Once there is no money, all are alike. And the commune supplies to everybody whatever is his need. last429

Your commune in America Oregon, has been described as both, as an experiment of an alternative society and as an experiment of a real communist. Would you agree?
Yes, I agree. I agree totally…
It was an experiment for both an alternative society and as a higher quality of communism.
The old society has some basic things on which it depends. There have been many critics of the old society but none of them has succeeded to hit the very roots. They have been just pruning the leaves.
So the critics have been criticizing and the old society goes on and on. Their criticism has not made any difference to it.
The roots of the old society are hidden like all roots of all the trees. They are not available unless you dig deep.
For example, the family is the basic unit of the old society.
Marriage is the basic unit of the old society.
Money as the means of exchange—is very fundamental to the old society.
Religious orientation—whatever the religion may be; but the old society needs a certain religion. It is the opium that keeps the people asleep and drugged.
In my commune we were destroying the very roots. We were destroying the family, we were dissolving the family into the commune.
The children were not going to belong to the parents: they could love them, they could meet them, they could invite them, but they cannot possess them. They have been only vehicles of bringing those children to the world. The children are not their property. The commune will take care of the children.
Hence, marriage loses its relevance.
You can be together with a woman or a man as long as you love. Except love, there is no other reason to be together. There should not be any other reason to be together. Because any other reason is going to be wrong reason.
No law, no logic, no convenience, no respectability…the moment you see the love has disappeared it is time to depart in deep gratitude, friendship, remembering all the beautiful moments that you have given to each other. Not spoiling it by fighting, quarreling, going to a court for a divorce—it is absolutely ugly.
When there is no marriage there is no question of divorce.
When there is no marriage prostitution disappears automatically.
Prostitution is the shadow of marriage. It is the marriage in which love has died that creates the prostitute—the ugliest institution in existence.
The old society forces the woman to sell her body for money.
This is a crime which cannot be forgiven and strange is the fact that all the old societies are against prostitution and they are the causes to create it; and they can't see the simple logic that when a man cannot feel love for his wife and cannot enjoy her…she is no more an ecstasy to him—he tries to find, perhaps he can buy ecstasy, he can buy love, he can buy happiness…a desperate effort of a miserable man….
And we had managed in our small commune of five thousand people for four years, the highest quality of communism that has ever existed on the earth. It was an alternative society because it dissolved the family, it dissolved the marriage, it dissolved divorce, it dissolved the whole of possessiveness of the parents over children. It dissolved money. It made a classless society. It dissolved any need of a ruling class and the ruled. It created a functional structure.
So the president was not more prestigious than the plumber. He was doing his work; the plumber was doing his work. It was possible that the plumber was doing a better work as a plumber than the president was doing his work. Then the plumber has to be honored and respected.
Yes, our commune was an alternative society and a higher form of communism.
And we have proved that it is possible. We were not only theoreticians; we have practically proved it, against all odds… We managed to create an oasis in a world of misery.
People rejoicing and dancing. People feeling completely unburdened of the whole past and unconcerned of the future.
Those four years we had managed to give reality to a dream which man has been dreaming for millenia. last529

Khajuraho is incomparable. There are thousands of temples in the world, but nothing like Khajuraho. I am trying to create a living Khajuraho in this ashram. Not stone statues, but real people who are capable of love, who are really alive, so alive that they are infectious, that just to touch them is enough to feel a current in you, an electric shock! glimps04

My communes are universities to learn the ways of a rich life, of love, beauty, warmth, compassion, humanity.
We are not gathered here in search of some dodo God who always sits on the roof—I don't know why; can't he come down a little bit so people can see him?…
My people hugging are not two skeletons rattling their rib-bones with each other. My people are flesh, blood, everything that is real. And they know the secret: radiate warmth and love around you, and you will be getting more and more from existence.
Existence understands only the language of reality. The moment you are real, you are in a communion with existence.
It is not only a question of hugging, it is a question of accepting your body as a beautiful phenomenon. It is the most complex, delicate thing in the whole of existence….
I want only raw men, raw women—natural, unpolished, free from the mind. And if you can live that way, everything in your life will become a rejoicing. And everything in your life will make you richer. dless10

Slavery is always mutual. Freedom is always mutual.
So I don't make any distinction between women's liberation and men's liberation. These are two sides of the same coin. If the woman is liberated, man's liberation follows automatically. false33

The sannyasins I have met have a seemingly inner peace. What would You say is the reason for this?
It is not just that my people are seemingly at peace, they are peaceful; and once you are freed from your past and its garbage, you can also be immediately in the world of peace, serenity, and blessedness. It is a natural phenomenon which your culture, society, religion, civilization, educational system all have conspired to destroy—because a peaceful individual cannot be enslaved by the vested interests, neither can he be oppressed and exploited. last100

Here, we are not creating a theology, a dogma.
We are creating an opportunity for the evolution of consciousness.
And it is happening!
My sannyasins are certainly more conscious than anybody else, more alert, more loving, more joyous than anybody else.
And this is my argument—and my proof. dless36

One university has done research in my commune. Sixty percent of people are graduates from some university. Twenty percent have postgraduate degrees—one M.A., two M.A.'s, three M.A.'s. Ten percent of people have Ph.D.'s—one Ph.D., two Ph.D.'s, three Ph.D.'s. Three percent of people have D.Litt.'s, B Sc.'s, Doctor of Education, LL.D.'s. unconc07

This is the function of the commune, where so many people are just happy for no reason at all, where life is just fun, every moment of it. We can radiate from this commune for miles around.
New people coming from some other country outside America have reported to me that the moment they enter Rancho Rajneesh something in the air changes. Suddenly they feel as if they have come home, and they have never been here before. Perhaps never in their millions of lives—I don't think they have been born in the Big Muddy Ranch, but suddenly they feel at home, as they have never felt even in their own home. And as they come closer to the commune, a great joy starts arising in them for no visible reason.
We have not only created an oasis in the desert, we have created an oasis of consciousness, too, which is far deeper, far more powerful, far more significant. And soon, as our other communes in the world will be becoming more mature….
My idea is to make a belt of energy around the world, so in fact we become one commune as far as the energy belt is concerned. So all the communes may be far away from each other in space, but in the inner world they are all together. You don't have only five thousand people's strength, you have the strength of one million sannyasins, wherever they may be. And each commune has one million sannyasins' support. So if we have two hundred communes, the inner logic and arithmetic is that we have already 200,000 sannyasins—that much energy, the quality, the quantity. And that is going to transform the world.
Never before has any experiment of this kind been made, so ordinarily nothing is known about it. But I have been experimenting on small scales until I have become absolutely certain of something. I have not tried to make any effort for expansion. We are in perfectly good shape—it could not be better—to do the job that we have chosen.
We can be so full of bliss that we can fill the whole universe with our bliss, our rejoicing our dance, our laughter. And to me, this is revolution, an absolute psychological change in the atmosphere of the world. last217

And when I say "this commune" I mean all the communes around the world—it is one commune. I want to create a circle of energy around the world of meditative people, so that anybody who wants to have some taste of meditation can have it. And it is very addictive! bond35

You have this beautiful and very efficient settlement here in Oregon. Could it be everywhere in the world or only America?
It could be everywhere in the world. I would like it everywhere. Already we have communes around the world, and they are increasing every day. And I do not believe in countries—America or Germany or India. That is nonsense. Humanity is one, and it is time we should declare that all these maps are creations of stupid politicians.
The earth is undivided, and we are all one. I would like that everybody burns his passport, his green card, and everybody declares that, "This whole earth is mine." last213

You ask: Something is happening in my heart. It pounds when you are near. It is happening to many of us. What is happening?
This is the happening for which I am here, you are here. It has no name. Call it just "happening." It is immensely beautiful. When your heart starts pounding, that means your heart is close to my heart.
It is a sign to you that the mind is left far behind, that you are no longer thinking but feeling, that you are no longer doing anything; it is happening. In the beginning you may get scared because it is so new. You may think something is going wrong—why is my heart pounding?—but only in the beginning. Just allow it, don't try to stop it. Enjoy it, rejoice in it. This is communion, heart to heart.
There comes a moment when your heart pounds, beats in exactly the same rhythm, in the same frequency as my heart. Immediately there is a meeting. And that meeting brings transformation.
The master cannot do anything. He can only create certain devices in which the happening becomes possible. This commune is a device; otherwise there was no need for it. You were living somewhere, everybody was doing something. To take you out of your houses, your families, your cities—what is the purpose? The purpose is that if so many hearts start beating in the same rhythm and frequency, others whose hearts are not beating but whose heads are circling may catch the fire. It simply jumps like wildfire from one tree to another tree.
I know a few people are in tune with me. That makes it easier for others to be tuned in with me. All these hearts together become a tremendous force. If five thousand people can be in one rhythm, in one frequency, they may create such great energy that it will start spreading around the world.
That's why I have created communes in so many countries. I want all those communes to be exactly like this place, because I will not be there. The governments are making it impossible for me to go anywhere. false13

You ask: You have about four hundred thousand sannyasins around the world. Nobody ever reached that many people before. Is there any limit to the number of your disciples?
First, correct your numbers. I don't have four hundred thousand sannyasins. I have almost double that number: eight hundred thousand sannyasins. And there is no limit—we are going to take the whole earth! There is no limit. And this takeover is not political. Politicians should not be worried about it. This takeover is far deeper, far more significant; it is spiritual.
The reason why nobody before me in his lifetime has been able to reach so many people is simple: he was not open to all. He had a certain prejudice, a certain ideology, a certain program that he wanted to impose upon you. He could reach only those people who were ready for that kind of program.
I don't have any program. I am available to all. Whether you are a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Mohammedan, or a Christian, or a communist does not make any difference, because I don't have any program to enforce upon you. My work is just the opposite: I am deprogramming you.
So if you are a communist, my work is the same—I deprogram the communist, he is no longer communist. If you are a Jew, I deprogram the Jew—the process is the same, you are no longer a Jew. If you are a German, I deprogram you. It is a little hard, but on the other hand, when the deprogramming succeeds, the German proves to be the most reliable. He takes a little time, resists, but when he gives way he gives way totally.
Whoever comes to me, I don't give him any discipline that he has to live by: don't smoke cigarettes, don't drink alcohol, don't look at somebody else's wife with desire.
I don't know…how can you look at a beautiful woman without desire? It is insulting to the woman, it is against her human dignity. A woman, a beautiful woman, should be desired. The more she is desired, the more people look at her with desire, the more beautiful she becomes, the more contented she becomes.
I don't see that anything that all old, stupid religions have been telling you will prevent you from reaching God. In the first place there is no God to reach, so don't be worried about it. You are not going anywhere—to any God, to any paradise.
Secondly, I have not experienced that anything—alcohol, cigars, gambling, love affairs—anything that all the religions have been prohibiting can prevent your becoming enlightened. You can perfectly become enlightened, there is no need to sit under a bo tree.
You can become enlightened with a Havana cigar, resting in your chair by the side of Patanjali lake, naked—there is no problem in it. How can a Havana cigar prevent enlightenment? I don't see the arithmetic of it. It may perhaps help, but it cannot prevent.
It may help you to relax. It may help you just to be in the moment—naked, by the side of Patanjali Lake, enjoying the fresh air. A little champagne, may help you to be more meditative, because it will help you to get rid of other worries: that you have a wife, a nagging wife, that you have a husband who is just an idiot. Just a little champagne will take you away from all these ideas.

That's why I have been able to reach eight hundred thousand people around the world. And these are the sannyasins. There are millions more who are just on the borderline; any moment they can become sannyasins. There are many more who may never become sannyasins, but feel that they are cowards, feel that this is the right thing to do. Perhaps in their next life they may become sannyasins.
We are going to take over the world in a spiritual sense. We are not interested in taking over governments, nations. We are interested in destroying nations, governments—there is no need of all this paraphernalia! What is the need of a president? Yes, if there are nations, then presidents are needed, premiers are needed, commanders in chief are needed, an army is needed, nuclear weapons are needed.
I don't see that these things are needed to make humanity happier, more comfortable, more lovable, more dignified, more free. I don't see how these things can help; they have not helped for thousands of years. It is time that we take over the whole world spiritually, and dissolve all kinds of nonsense that have been torturing man, stopping his growth.
The world can live in so much peace, serenity…. My effort, in short, is not to take you to paradise, but to bring the paradise to you on this earth. It can be done, because I have done it for myself. false25

Why do you not visit your communes around the world?
Just my health does not allow. And when I can manage from sitting here, giving an interview to you and to all kinds of media, there is no need. They are seeing me every day, morning discourse, evening interview. Tomorrow you will be all over the world, seen by my commune people.
Your newspaper may be late but my video will be there tomorrow!

Immediately. They get everything that they need.
So there is no reason for it. I have asked my scientists—I have scientists, psychologists, professors, doctors, every kind of people in the commune—I have asked them that the video should be three-dimensional. Why it should be flat? And they should work upon it to make it three-dimensional, then it is exactly as if I am visiting the commune and any moment I may come out of the screen. last312