If we destroy places where people learn deep inner peace, we lose our best chance to stop the world from harming itself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, could america survive the destruction of rajneeshpuram? Can the world?
No, America cannot survive the destruction of Rajneeshpuram, nor can the world, for the simple reason that we are creating the energy that can stop the destruction that is looming larger and larger and closer and closer on the horizon. This is the only commune in the whole world where people are not just being spectators, where people are searching for the antidote to nuclear weapons, where people are trying to find out the sources of life so that death loses all meaning. It will be the most idiotic act on America's part to destroy this commune, because it will mean destroying innocent people who are trying to reach to their own center of being. And that is the only possibility of saving the whole world. Either meditate, become enlightened -- or the whole world is going to become a graveyard... Christian, of course.
Beloved Osho, the communes of mahavira and buddha survived even after their lifetimes, but your communes are not surviving in your lifetime although they are self-sufficient. Does survival of communes depend on social structure, affluence of the society, prevalent religions, or national and international politics? Please comment.
And women have greater capacity for becoming fat than men -- it is a biological privilege, because the woman has to be able to become pregnant, to become a mother; then for nine months she cannot eat well, she throws up, she is carrying such a load in her belly. And every day the child needs more and more food. It is a very strange situation: the woman cannot eat, and the child wants more food because he is growing. Hence nature has made woman's body capable of collecting more fat for emergency measures. So even if she does not eat, the child can get as much as he needs from the reserve fat the woman has; and the woman can also go on eating her own fat -- and nine months is a long time. So the woman has immense capacity. If she uses her full capacity, then man…
Beloved Osho, rajneeshpuram was a rare experiment in the history of human consciousness where for the first time seekers of truth from the whole world gathered around a master. It was an international commune for the most intense and the fastest growth of human consciousness. The rajneeshpuram commune could not survive because of orthodox religions and international politics. Is there any hope of such a rare experiment happening again around you? Or is there any alternative experiment possible on an individual scale in the present situation? Or is it destined that such a rare opportunity for h
The commune in America was only a beginning; a beginning of many communes around the world. They will go on spreading -- because it is not only a question of orthodox religions and dirty politics, it is also a question of the future of humanity. And the future is always more important than the past. The past is heavy and long. The future is light, unknown. But the past is dead, and life belongs to the future -- and death cannot win over life. One commune can be destroyed. Thousands of other communes will arise. Of course my way of functioning will be different because the experiment in Rajneeshpuram needed me to be there, it was the first commune.... Every step had to be taken carefully. And within five years, so much was done that is not possible to do even in fifty years. But now the basic rules are…
Even your peaceful experiment in oregon has been destroyed by american power. Many people who saw this happen doubt the possibility that a new man and an environment for him to grow in can be created. Can you please comment?
I can understand their doubt -- but I am not a pessimist. My peaceful commune in America has been destroyed by the ugly fascist forces of the American government. That does not mean that finally peace and love and freedom are going to be defeated. That was only a battle lost. But a battle lost does not mean that the war is ended. In fact that was the beginning of the war. The attack on the peaceful commune in America has proved something: that the American government is afraid of peace, is afraid of silent people, is afraid of rejoicing people. It has proved one thing absolutely: that a small commune can make the biggest power in the history of man so afraid. It has not been a defeat; it has been a victory. The destruction of the commune does not matter, because my commune does not consist of houses…
[NOTE: This was published in THE RAJNEESH TIMES, 19th August 1983 while Osho was in silence.] INTERVIEW WITH KIRK BRAUN Q: WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF RAJNEESHISM? Osho: Rajneeshism is not a religion like Christianity, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, etc. The name should not be misunderstood. It simply shows a poverty of language -- to be exactly true, Rajneeshism is a religionless religion. In other words it is a kind of religiousness, not a dogma, cult or creed but only a quality of love, silence, meditation and prayerfulness. Hence it can never end. It is not beginning with me. It has always existed and it will always exist. It is the very essence of human evolution, of culture consciousness.