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Part IX : World Tour - Persecution continues; Osho leaves Bombay
The Indian government has informed all the embassies that no
sannyasins should be given entry into India, so sannyasins are
going there without the mala, without orange clothes, but somehow
they are caught. Now letters have started reaching me: "What
is the matter? Those people immediately start asking questions
about you. They say there is something in sannyasins that makes
them different—they look more stable, more centered; more
integrated, more together; more graceful, unafraid of the world."
upan13
I have received cuttings from Laxmi. The home minister was asked
in the Indian parliament, "Have you prevented Osho's followers
from entering into India? If he comes to live here will his followers
be refused entry as tourists?" He denied it.
The question was asked twice by two different persons. Again he
denied it. He said, "No, there is no condition like that.
Everybody can come and visit him."
And the next day somebody from the opposition party raised a question—he
is the leader of the party and knows me because he is from Poona.
He asked, "Is there any income tax that Osho has not paid?
or any kind of taxation that he has avoided?"
And the finance minister said, "No, because he has no income.
How can he have any income tax? And he has not avoided any taxation."
To the parliament they are saying this, because if they say anything
else then they will have to prove it. And to the other governments
they are falling in line, in tune with every politician. mystic05
I am receiving letters from sannyasins that they are being refused
at Indian embassies. In Athens they refused. Because the sannyasin
had read the statement of the minister, she went to the embassy
in red clothes. They immediately rejected her application and
said, "No sannyasin can go to India."
Just two days ago, one sannyasin came from Australia and he said,
"Two other sannyasins—who were not wearing red, who
were not wearing the mala—were rejected. They asked, `Why
are we being rejected?' and the ambassador insisted, `You are
sannyasins.' They said, `We are not sannyasins; we don't know
who Osho is,' but the ambassador said, `I know the very vibe of
sannyasins.'
They have taken a written statement from the man, because I have
informed my sannyasins all over the world: Whichever embassy refuses
you, take a written statement that they are refusing you and that
the cause is that you are sannyasins. Then we can sue them in
those countries, and we can sue this government in this country—"Your
ministers in the parliament are lying and deceiving the whole
country. You say one thing in the parliament and you order your
embassies to do just the opposite."
These politicians cannot accept me.
They have neither any understanding of human nature, nor do they
have any understanding of human consciousness. They have no understanding
of human evolution, nor do they desire that man should evolve.
Man should remain retarded so that they can remain leaders. It
is easy to be a leader in a retarded crowd. When people are intelligent,
things become different. upan38
A few sannyasins have just come from Nepal, and they were not
thinking that there would be any problem because on the border—they
came by road—there are no computers. All the computers of
the Indian government in all the embassies all over the world
and in all the international airports in India simply say, "This
man is a disciple of Osho and should not be allowed in the country."
But they were amazed to see that even on the road—no airport,
just passing the boundary—the police have a thick book of
all the names of sannyasins they may have been able to collect.
And in the ministry, the most egoist and the person most interested
in power, Arun Nehru, has issued all these documents, names, to
the computers. And if computers are not available, then they are
put into a thick book. He made the statement in the parliament—asked
by a member of the parliament, "Is it true that Osho's sannyasins
will not be allowed in India?" he said, "It is absolutely
wrong. Everybody is welcome."
These politicians can lie without any shame. mess118
The Indian parliament has urged Indian journalists and news media
people not to give any space to my ideas. The American government
has been pressuring the Indian government so that no news media
people from the West should be allowed to take my interview. sermon26
One of my sannyasins works in the Indian television. She wanted
to bring a small piece from my talks every day to the television.
The director said, "We can accept the material, but we cannot
mention Osho's name."
She said, "But this is absolutely illegal, and it is stealing."
But the director said, "You should not mention his name at
all "—because that's what the Indian politicians want,
and that's what the politicians of the whole world want.
The Attorney General of America (Ed Meese) has emphatically declared
in a press conference, "Our whole effort will be to silence
Osho's voice completely."
One reporter asked, "What does it mean? Do you want to assassinate
him?"
And the Attorney General laughed. He said, "No, we will find
some roundabout ways so he is not heard any more."
The American government is pressurizing the Indian government
so that no foreign news media will be allowed to reach me. And
I am receiving letters from Germany, from America, from Greece,
from England, from Australia, "What is the matter? Why is
the Indian government absolutely stubborn that they don't want
any news media, newspapers, radio, or television people to come?"….
This is the way, in their eyes, to silence me. They are wrong.
I have my own ways: I have my own people who are enough…just
person to person. If a man like Gautam Buddha, without any television,
without any newspapers, without any radio, could convert the whole
of Asia, what is the problem? I am not dependent on their news
media.
But the fear of the politicians is…the whole media attention
should be focused on them—and why are people asking to go
to me? Why don't they ask to come to Delhi? That hurts them very
badly. pilgr01
The attorney general of America has declared a few days ago in
a press conference…He was asked why Osho had not been jailed.
He said three things which are very significant to remember.
The first thing he said: "Our priority was to destroy the
commune." But why should their priority be to destroy the
commune? The commune was in a desert; the nearest American town
was twenty miles away. We were almost an independent country.
Nobody was going to visit the American towns. We were so blissful
with our meditations, with our work, with our dances, with our
singing, with transforming the desert into an oasis—and
we had succeeded….
The attorney general has unconsciously spoken the truth: "Our
basic priority was to destroy the commune."
Secondly, he said, "Osho has not committed any crime, and
we had no proof, no evidence for anything against him, so how
could we jail him?"
And thirdly, "Even if we could jail him, we would not have
done it because we never wanted him to become a martyr. Jailing
him would have created a tremendous wave of sympathy around the
world."
They had seen it. For just twelve days they had kept me in jail
and they had seen that all over the world, America included, there
was such tremendous sympathy that they simply wanted me to get
out of America.
But his statement makes many things look very weird. He admits
that he is the highest law authority in America; he admits I had
not committed any crime—they had no proof, no evidence—yet
I was fined four hundred thousand dollars. For what have I been
fined? I am thinking to sue the attorney general of America, because
if he is right, then that money should be returned.
But they had to fine me, just to show the world that they had
not kept me in jail for twelve days without any reason. They were
not ready to go to trial, so before the start of the trial the
attorney general called my attorneys: "Why don't we negotiate
rather than going into trial?"
They had a list of one hundred and thirty-six crimes that I had
committed, and he was saying that I had not committed a single
crime—can you think of bigger criminals in the world?
They invented one hundred and thirty-six crimes, and they said
to my attorneys, "If you want to save Osho's life, it is
better that you accept any two crimes and then there will be no
trial. For those two crimes, we will fine you a small fine and
you can take Osho out of America immediately—within fifteen
minutes. We don't want him in America more than fifteen minutes."
Now I can understand why they did not want me to be there more
than fifteen minutes—because all those crimes were bogus;
I could have gone to a higher court, because this was blackmail….
And now the attorney general is saying that I have not committed
any crime and they don't have any proof.
And they said that I had to be out of America within fifteen minutes.
They did not give me even one day to remain in America, because
even in one day things could be different—I could go to
a higher court. So directly from the jail to the airport, just
exactly within fifteen minutes, I was out of America.
These are the politicians. How can they accept me?
Their fear that humanity might become a celebration is very valid,
because it is out of human misery that they are in power. If you
are not miserable, their power is gone. upan38
Now the American government is pressuring the Indian government
that I should not be allowed to make a commune here. The government
has started doing harm—I am receiving summons from different
parts of the country, which are politically motivated. The only
reason for all those summons is that somebody's religious feelings
are hurt. So I have to be present in the court—in the south,
in Bengal, in Kashmir—just to harass me, from one part to
another part of the country, and from one court to another court.
I will win all those cases. I have won all the cases of the same
nature in the past, because whatever I have said is a truth. And
if it hurts you, leave that religion because I am not making up
that fact, that fact is in your scriptures.
And in fact, those facts are against the constitution of India.
Rama pouring melted lead into a sudra's ears because he has heard
the Vedas; hiding behind a bush where he has heard brahmins chanting
the Vedas, and that is such a sin that both his ears are destroyed.
Now, this is…if I mention it, it hurts the Hindu mind. Then
don't be a Hindu! It is strange, because it is in your scriptures;
I am not creating it. And it is against the constitution; Rama
is committing a crime. If I say that a man who can commit such
an inhuman act cannot be a divine person, I am simply stating
a fact. If it hurts you, it is your problem.
And I have been winning many cases. Just the other day I have
won one case in Patna; a few days before, another case in Bengal.
But they can harass me.
Now the parliament has sent…I have said that the politicians
are retarded, that their mental age is not more than fourteen
years; this insults the parliament. It does not insult the parliament,
it simply praises the parliament: what a great parliament—we
have given our leadership to innocent children, all saints, because
these retarded people cannot commit anything criminal.
They have sent three notices to me. I have answered, and I hope
they ask me to come to the parliament because I want to show them
that this is simply a fact. You can inquire of the psychologists:
the average age of all human beings is fourteen. You will have
to prove that your members of parliament are not average; the
burden is on you to prove it. I am a trained psychologist. I was
a professor of psychology for nine years; I have the right to
test all your members and prove that they are not above fourteen.
If I am proved wrong I am ready for any kind of punishment; but
if I am proved right then this whole parliament should be behind
bars.
But they will not call me. They know—they cannot face me.
I know all of them. They don't have any intelligence or any courage.
But they can do things in an indirect way. So a gang of fanatic,
chauvinistic people in Bombay is provoked by the politicians from
Delhi: "Make the threat, burn the house. Throw stones."
This they can do, but this will simply prove what I was saying—that
they are mentally retarded. If they are not, then they should
simply invite me.
I am not insulting anybody. If you are sick, if you have a headache
and the doctor says that you have a headache, does it mean that
you have been insulted? Are you going to court because your feelings
are very much hurt by this doctor, his saying that you have a
headache?
I am simply stating a fact, that fourteen is the average age of
all human beings. And I don't think your parliament has superhuman
beings. You will have to prove it. Forty years of Indian independence
proves what I am saying, it does not disprove what I am saying.
They can burn the house, but that will simply prove that I was
right: they behave like stupid idiots. upan17
Even here, just today a threat has come that if I am not going
to leave this place the house will be burned. Just as I was coming
to you I told Neelam to tell Suraj Prakash,*from me, that if there
is any problem I can move to a hotel—because I would not
like his family to be in trouble unnecessarily. upan16
Note:*Osho's host
I was in Bombay. One leader, a president of some powerful political
group, wrote a letter to the chief minister and sent a copy to
me. The letter was to tell the chief minister that my presence
in Bombay would pollute the atmosphere.
I said, "My God, can anyone pollute Bombay? The worst city
in the whole world…. " For four months I was there;
I never went out even one time. I never even looked out of my
window. I remained in a completely closed room—still, you
can smell…as if you are sitting in a toilet! This is Bombay.
I started thinking of how to pollute it more but I am sorry to
confess, I could not find any way. It is too far gone.
And then pressure was brought on one of my sannyasins in whose
home I was a guest for four months: if I'm not removed from his
house, he, his family and his house, with me, will be burned.
One sometimes wonders whether to cry or to laugh.
Somebody was continuously phoning every day—"When are
you coming to Poona? I am a police officer and I am inquiring
about it to give you protection." We inquired of the Bombay
police, we inquired of the Poona police. They said, "We have
not been phoning you. Somebody is pretending to be a police officer."
I was going to come last Sunday, but my host became so much
concerned that he asked for protection from the police. On Saturday
night, the police informed him, "We can give you protection
up to Thana. Beyond that you will have to ask another district,
up to Chinchwad; from Chinchwad you will have to ask the Chinchwad
police for protection up to Poona."
I told him, "You don't be worried. Rather than asking for
protection from these people…I know their protection."
He said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "When I was arrested in America, I was handcuffed,
a heavy chain around my waist, chains on my feet….
To avoid the police protection—because I have seen the police
protection—rather than moving from Bombay on Sunday, I moved
on Saturday night. My host was not convinced, but the next morning,
he was convinced because his house was surrounded by fifteen policemen
with guns.
He had come with me. His family informed him that "Police
are surrounding the house. We are almost under arrest, and we
are telling them that Osho left last night." And they told
the police, "Your protection was asked—but then he
was leaving at twelve o'clock today. Why have you arrived in the
morning, with guns? And we had asked only for six police officers,
without uniforms—why a whole regiment?"
They remained there the whole day thinking that I would leave
at twelve. Finally, they thought that perhaps I was not in the
house. Then the chief said to the son of my sannyasin, "Osho
bluffed us."
Strange—we had asked for protection. If we don't want
it, you cannot impose it upon us—"We will protect you
whether you want it or not." Where does the question of bluffing
arise?
I reached here at four o'clock in the night, and within three
hours the police were here. I was asleep. As I opened my eyes,
I saw two policemen in my bedroom. mess105
On 4 January 1987, Osho arrives in the Poona ashram.
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