According to Osho, the holy war is already underway and it is a cool, loving battle of dharma: the light of awareness dissolving darkness, beliefs, and idols. No strategies, no enemies—only consciousness removing inner thorns and chains we mistake for ornaments. In a buddha’s presence this transforming fire soothes rather than burns, though its chiseling can feel painful.
It’s not fighting people; it’s the gentle light inside you melting fears and false ideas, even if letting them go can sting a bit.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, listening to your talks a question has arisen within me: are you preparing for a holy war? If this is true, I am ready for your great work.
Taru, you came to know only now? This holy war is already underway, and you are standing in the very front line. But it is a war of great love, so perhaps it doesn’t look like war at all. And it is a very cool war. The war of dharma can only be cool. This is a cool fire: it will give light, but it will not burn. Those who run away at the sight of fire do not understand. They saw the fire and thought they would be burned, so they fled. But this is a cool fire! It does not burn. The closer you come, the more it will soothe you. It is mentioned in the life of Moses that when, for the first time, he beheld God he was astonished. What was astonishing? God appeared as a flame. In a green bush a flame was burning—yet the…
Osho, Lord Shri Krishna in the Mahabharata took up the Sudarshan Chakra against tyrants. The Prophet Muhammad too had to take up the sword for the sake of religion. Even the Son of God, Jesus, had to take a whip in his hand. The “ahimsa paramo dharmah” of Buddha and Mahavira must have come in the way of their path, and people committed violence against them. Osho, is that still the call of the time? Is that how the law of things stands?
Osho, until life is sacrificed in love, in my eyes there can be no true devotion before that. Osho, may my life depart in your embrace—my heart is restless for that hour; love does not happen for everyone—this deep affection is only for a few. Osho, the longing for self-offering seethes in our hearts; let us see how much strength there is in the murderer’s arm. They say nails were driven into Mahavira’s ears. Consider that story. Mahavira stood naked outside a village beneath a tree in meditation. It was during the twelve years of silence. A cowherd was grazing his herd. Someone came calling him home for urgent work. He saw a naked fellow standing uselessly and said, “Brother, watch my cows for a bit.” He said it and left, not noticing the silent man had neither nodded nor spoken. He assumed silence meant assent—mounam sammati lakshanam. Mahavira could…
Everything is going perfectly right as it should go. Even if governments start torturing sannyasins, it is perfectly right. That's how steel is created out of man, and that's how their potential gets the challenge. So we are in a better condition after this American experience. And we are going to change the world because there is nobody else to do it. Either the world will die or we will change it. These are the only two alternatives the world can choose. And I don't think anybody will choose to die. IN THE SAME CONTEXT, OSHO, WOULD YOU THINK THAT IF TWO HUNDRED ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE ARE PLACED AROUND THE WORLD, THE THIRD WORLD WAR COULD BE AVOIDED? He is right. And I am working on the same number, two hundred is perfect. And we are coming closer.
India talks about non-violence, yes -- in their scriptures. They have written beautiful doctrines of non-violence. They say: ahimsa parmo dharma: Non-violence is the greatest religion. But what happened to the Buddhists, how did they disappear? Millions of people were converted by Gautam the Buddha. Almost ninety percent of India had become Buddhist. Where they all disappeared, evaporated? What happened to those people? They were burned alive. They were killed. And these people were thinking that they are fighting for God, remember. They were not in any way fighting for themselves; they were fighting for Hinduism, for Islam, for Christianity, for Judaism. Beautiful labels, and ugly realities behind. The line is very very delicate, and only inside one's own subjectivity is one capable of knowing the difference. The difference cannot be known from the outside, but you can know.
The sooner one becomes aware of it, the better Because time is very short. One never knows about tomorrow: It may come, it may not come. Hence everything has to be done now. Now the real battle begins! It is easy to fight with others. The real fight is with one's own darkness The real fight is with one's own ego. The ego is the only evil, the only devil. And if you can kill the devil You become victorious. But very few people enter into that fight. They fight with everybody else in the world They fight many kinds of battles But the real battle remains unfought. Sannyas means the beginning of the real war. It is a war between Your consciousness and your unconsciousness. Your consciousness is very tiny Just one-tenth of your being. And the unconsciousness is vast Nine-tenths of your being.