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Part IX : World Tour - Osho is arrested and deported
On 5 March, Osho is arrested forcefully in his bedroom, and
taken to the police station in Heraklion, then escorted to the
airplane which flies him to Athens. At Athens he is held in detention
by armed police until his private jet is ready to leave.
The president of Greece was willing for me to have a commune
in Greece, and in fact he wanted it. His reasons were different—that
it would bring thousands of tourists and that it would boost the
economy. In fact he was the cause that I was allowed a four-week
visa for Greece.
But then the condition came in—that if I wanted to stay
there and make a commune, I should remember a few things: "The
Greek Orthodox church is respected by our constitution; you cannot
criticize it. The family is our foundation; you cannot criticize
it. Our code of morality; you cannot criticize it. We believe
in virginity; you cannot criticize it."
They certainly believe in virginity, but it is difficult to
find a single virgin in the whole of Greece. That's okay—but
you should not criticize it. You can see the political mind: the
reality can be tolerated but it should not be exposed.
I cannot accept anybody's conditions.
Whatever happens to me, whatever the consequences…but to
accept conditions, and that too for a little piece of land…
How much land does a man require? I might like to live without
a country—a wanderer in the true sense. There have been
wanderers but they had a home base. I will be really a wanderer
without any home base—being rejected from one country to
another country. But their rejection of me is simply an acceptance
of their defeat, their impotency. psycho10
Before I was deported from Greece, the archbishop of Greece threatened
the government that if I am not immediately deported, he is going
to dynamite and set fire to my house. And all the people who are
in there with me, he is going to burn them alive. This is the
representative of Jesus who says, "Love your enemy"—I
am not even a friend—and "Love your neighbor."
He has forgotten to say, "Love the tourist."
These people are religious heads! And why was the archbishop
so troubled by me? Because in the garden of the beautiful house
by the sea where I was the guest of a famous film director of
Greece…It is an ancient, beautiful house, renovated, with
a big garden, and under a tree I used to sit and talk to the people.
And people gathered from all over the world who had not seen me
for almost a year, or two years, or five years. I was close so
they all had come. We were not doing any harm to anybody; we were
simply singing, dancing. There was music; I was answering their
questions.
What was troubling the archbishop?—because he must have
been troubled very much; otherwise nobody threatens to burn somebody
alive.
The joy…people are dancing, people are loving to each other,
there is nothing but rejoicing—no prayer, no Jesus Christ,
no cross. He became afraid: "This is going to destroy our
younger generation."
I came to know from friends that ninety-four percent of Greeks
are registered as Christians, but only four percent of the people
ever go to the churches—out of ninety-four percent! And
who are the four percent? I inquired how many people this particular
archbishop has in his congregation. A woman who is my sannyasin
simply laughed and said, "I was worried that you would ask
that question; it is very awkward. Only six old women are his
whole congregation." And he was threatening for fifteen days
continuously that he would bring a protest against me. I was waiting;
we were all waiting to enjoy the protest. We would have welcomed
them with music and dance, but they never came.
Finally I asked, "What is the matter? Every day it is being
postponed."
And they said, "You don't understand his situation. He goes
on making these threats, but he cannot bring a protest because
who will come?—six old women, and one old archbishop! Seven
in all; it will look hilarious."
But he managed to make the government afraid, because the government
depends on votes, and ninety-four percent of the people are Christian.
Their archbishop has to be listened to. They may not go to the
church, but still, their conditioned minds are the same.
Against the law, against the constitution, I was deported. I was
arrested immediately. And they were so afraid; the government
was so much afraid. invita11
The government became afraid. They had no reason…because
I had not even left the house in two weeks. I was asleep in the
afternoon when the police came. My legal secretary, Anando, was
telling the officers, "Sit down, have some tea, and I will
wake Him up." But they threw her from a four-foot porch down
onto the gravel, and dragged her over the gravel to the jeep,
and took her away to the police station: she was trying to prevent
government action.
And as I was awakened by John, I heard noises as if dynamite was
being exploded. The police started throwing rocks at the house
from all sides, destroying the beautiful ancient windows and doors…and
they also had dynamite. They said, "You have to wake him
up this very moment, otherwise we will dynamite the house."
No arrest warrant…no reason to be so furious…just
because the archbishop had told the government that if I was allowed
to stay in Greece, the morality, the religion, the culture, everything
would be in danger. In just two weeks I would corrupt the minds
of the young people. I had not even left my house, and I had not
met anybody. The people who had come to see me had all come from
outside Greece.
But I wondered: they have built up this morality and this religion
and this culture over two thousand years…what kind of culture
and what kind of morality is it which can be destroyed in two
weeks by an individual man? It does not deserve to exist if it
is so weak, so impotent. spirit25
Just recently I was arrested in Crete. They did not show me my
arrest warrant. I told them, "This is absolutely criminal."
They said, "We have got it, but it is in Greek."
And I said, "Do you have another warrant to search the house?"
They had none—they had never thought about it. I said, "You
were allowed by your warrant to arrest me outside the house; you
were not allowed to enter the house. You not only entered the
house, but Anando, my secretary, was trying to tell you, `Just
wait! Osho is asleep and I will go and awaken Him. It will take
only five minutes.' You could not even wait five minutes….
On the way to the police station they stopped in an empty, silent
space and gave me a paper, describing all that had happened, that
I should sign it. I said, "I would be happy to sign it, but
it is not a true description. You have not mentioned anything
about breaking the windows, the doors of the house, threatening
that you will destroy the house with dynamite. You have not mentioned
anything about Anando, that you threw her on the ground, dragged
her along the stones without any arrest warrant for her…I
will not sign it! You want to cover it up. If I sign it, that
means I cannot go to the court because you can present this paper
that I have signed already. You make it exactly factual, saying
all that has happened; then I will be willing to sign it."
They understood that I am not a person who can be threatened,
and they took the paper away. And they never again asked me to
sign it, because they were not in a position to write all those
things that they had done; that would have been their condemnation.
They wanted immediately to send me to India by boat, and I refused.
I said, "Sailing by boat on the sea does not suit me. I will
be seasick, and who will be responsible for it? So you have to
give me a written document saying that you will be responsible
for my sea-sickness and the damages." They forgot all about
that boat!
I said, "My jet plane is waiting in Athens. You have to take
me on a plane from here to Athens, or you have to allow my plane
to come here. I am not interested in living in such a country
even for two weeks"—because my visa was valid only
for two weeks more—"where government authorities behave
in such a primitive, ugly, inhuman way."
I told the police officer, "Wherever the pope goes, he kisses
the ground after landing. I should start spitting on the ground,
because that's what you deserve."
The comment that he made to me reminded me of all this. He said,
"It seems that from your very childhood, nobody has disciplined
you in obedience."
I said, "That's right, that's an absolutely right observation.
I am not against obedience, I am not disobedient, but I want to
decide my life in my own way. I don't want to be interfered with
by with anybody else, and I don't want to interfere in anybody
else's life either." psycho04
I was sitting in the police station for almost seven hours…By
and by the chief superintendent relaxed, started talking to me,
and finally he said, "I am feeling proud that you are sitting
in my office. So many of your people come, and I have seen you
only in the picture of their locket. Now I will be able to say
to them, `This is the chair your master has been sitting in for
seven hours with me.'"
He phoned his wife, saying, "I will not come until Osho is
safely sent to Athens." He became so concerned that he allowed
Devaraj to drive me to the airport. The police officers were sitting
at the back, I was sitting in the front and Devaraj was driving!
This would have never happened… psycho24
Even the police were sad, and they could not believe it: "We
have not even seen your people in the city; they never come out.
They are just enjoying themselves in the garden of your house."
Just by the side of the window at the police station where I was
sitting, two women police officers were standing to prevent sannyasins
from reaching me. Sannyasins had come and surrounded the whole
police station, and they started dancing and singing. Now it is
not criminal to dance and sing, but the police officers said to
me, "Stop your people; they are dancing and singing."
I said, "Dancing and singing—is that against any law?"
The officer said, "It is not against any law but it is making
us very frightened."
Those two policewomen who were standing just by the window, to
watch the window, allowed the sannyasins one by one to come and
to talk to me. And finally they said to me, "We are sorry
that this is happening in this country, in this century. We hope
that you will come again."
The policewomen told me, "The people of the island where
you are staying are inquiring what they should do, because everybody
has felt so wounded and hurt by the behavior of the government
and the archbishop." invita11
Just recently I have received news from Crete about a few incidents
that happened after they arrested me. Eleven old people—fifty
to sixty years old—just as I left the house with the police,
reached the house and said, "This should not have happened
without us. Why did you not inform us? We have our hunting guns,
we would have come and shown those police people what it means
to misbehave."
One journalist had asked me, "Any message for the people
who live here?"
I said, "Just tell them to reach the airport in the night
to show that they are with me—not with the church and not
with the government." There were three thousand people at
the airport They had waited for hours to support me, and to say
that what the police had done and what the government had done
was not right. Fifty people met one sannyasin; they were immensely
angry about what had happened and were asking, "What can
we do?" Just poor people, simple people…. Another group
of forty people met another sannyasin, and they were asking, "Show
us…we want to do something. This thing should not be allowed
to happen. And everything that Osho was saying was right, about
the church; there was nothing wrong in it."
These simple villagers understood that what I was saying about
the church is true; nothing was wrong in it. And even when I had
left Greece, people from Crete sent a delegation to the president
saying, "This behavior of the police and the government has
disgraced us." psycho33
When I was arrested and brought to Athens from the small island
where I was staying, the chief of the police was there with forty
police officers to welcome me. I said, "In the middle of
the night, there is no need for forty police-officers with loaded
guns. I am not a violent man, I don't have even a pistol, and
I am under arrest. Why have you gathered this crowd?" razor28
The man who had given me the tourist visa for four weeks was
the chief of police; and the man who canceled it after fifteen
days was the deputy chief of police. That seems to be absolutely
improper—that the chief should give the permission and the
deputy should cancel it.
At the airport in Athens there were at least forty police officers,
just for a single unarmed man, and that deputy chief was also
present. There was a huge crowd of press people from newspapers,
radio, television, and dozens of cameras—they all wanted
an interview with me. And I said, "There is not much to say,
other than it seems man is not going to be civilized, ever."
The press people were in front of me and those forty police
dogs—all big officers—were surrounding me, and the
deputy chief was standing by my side. When I said, "With
this kind of police, this kind of government, you are destroying
the very future of humanity, particularly of your own country.
These people were responsible for killing Socrates…. "
When I said this, pointing towards the deputy chief, he wanted
to interfere.
For the first time in thirty-five years, I pretended to be angry.
I could not succeed because inside I was giggling! But I told
that man, "Shut up, and stand by the side where you belong.
And don't come close to me."
And I shouted so loudly, "Shut up!" that he really
became silent and went back and stood in the crowd. Later on I
saw the reports: they thought I was ferocious, very angry—I
was nothing! But that is the only language those people will understand.
And when you are talking to somebody, you have to use the language
he understands.
But I enjoyed that. Anger can be acted—you can remain
absolutely silent within and you can be ferocious outside. And
there is no contradiction, because that ferociousness is only
acting.
On the plane I remembered George Gurdjieff, who was trained
in many Sufi schools in different kinds of methods. In a certain
school one method was used, and that was acting—when you
are not feeling angry, act angry; when you are feeling very happy,
act miserable. The method has a tremendous implication.
It means that when you are miserable you will be capable of
acting happy; when you are angry you will be able to act peaceful.
Not only that, it implies that you are neither misery nor happiness.
These are faces you can make: you are different, your being is
not involved in it….
At the airport in Athens, I saw those forty police officers…they
must have been the topmost people—except the chief, because
he could not gather courage to come. I would have asked him, "On
what grounds has the visa issued by you been cancelled by your
assistant?"—only he was not there.
But the others…I saw a strange thing: they were behaving
in very inhuman ways, but they were all cowards. When I shouted,
"Shut up!" that deputy chief simply slipped back like
a small child, afraid that the television would catch my words
and me, and him with all the honors of the police on his coat,
with a pistol hanging by his side. But inside there was a child,
a cowardly child. psycho06
I wanted to go to Delphi when I was in Greece, because that was
the place of the greatest oracle. The very genius of oracles was
selected from Delphi. It was one of the most significant mystery
schools. But the Greek government would not allow me even to stay
overnight. transm30
My people in Athens—Amrito, who had invited me to Greece,
was there—they were trying hard, that at least for the night,
I should be allowed to stay in a hotel. But they were not willing,
even for six hours, to let me stay in a hotel. I had to leave
immediately. razor28
Later Osho was to comment:
And just now (1989), the president is hammered from every side
because he has found a girlfriend. The wife is there and she is
not divorced—there is no question of divorce in Greek Orthodox
Christianity. Thinking that he is a president, he even started
coming to the parliament with his girlfriend. But he was wrong.
The whole country is against now, he cannot be again selected.
And this man forced me out without thinking for a moment that
a religion which has existed for two thousand years cannot be
destroyed in two weeks by a man. And if it can be destroyed by
a man in two weeks, it is worth destroying. last615
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