Is the campaign for social revolution a reactionary movement?

Question: Second question: Osho, are you against social revolution? And this inner change does not happen through changing ideas. It happens by leaping from thought to meditation. There is only one revolution in the world: to go from thought to no-thought; from a mind full of choices to a choiceless consciousness. The day the thinking mind dissolves into the emptiness of no-mind, that day doors open within you— the doors of the seven heavens open. That day indeed your chains become anklets. That day no prison can contain you, because for the first time you taste freedom—you experience moksha within. You know, “Even if handcuffs are put on the body, I am free—because I am not the body.” If such an event happens to innumerable people on this earth, perhaps there will be a radiance spread from horizon to horizon. It has not happened yet.

Osho, most of the youth of Italy’s New Left are beginning to relate to you. Would you call this an evolution of the Left, or a distortion of the right understanding of your experiment?

Therefore, Silvano, many young people of Italy’s New Left have taken sannyas. The very father of the Left’s revolution in Italy has also become a sannyasin. The air in Italy is very heated—because no one can quite believe what is happening! Those from whom bombs were expected are meditating! Those from whom killings were expected are singing songs of love! Those expected to become guerrillas have put on saffron robes! They are dancing, humming songs; they are losing themselves in the mystery of the starry sky! Therefore there is anger toward me as well. Their comrades simply cannot believe what has happened! But this fire will spread, because behind this fire there are historical grounds. All revolutions so far have failed; now only one hope remains: perhaps rebellion may succeed. Let each person make a revolution within his own life. Let each person begin to live in his own way;…

The whole credit goes to the revolutionaries. If the world is in such a mess it is because of so many revolutions. Utterly ignorant people, not knowing even the ABC of the inner world, are trying to change the world. With no light inside they are blind, and whatsoever they do is going to harem. Of course their intentions are good but just good intentions don't help. Somebody's intention may be good and he may operate on your appendix knowing nothing of surgery. He may not even be able to recognise the appendix. His intention is good: you are in pain, he opens your stomach to remove the appendix. But he will do harm, he will kill you. And that's what has been happening in the world. Only buddhas can bring revolution because they have gone through inner transformation themselves.

Osho, in the Gita Krishna forbids conduct that goes against society and scripture. But by that rule society will become a mere line-follower. Perhaps that is why Hindu society has been stuck in the status quo and rotting for centuries. This tendency will only increase obscurantism, making reform, change, and revolution impossible! Please shed light on this.

What thousands of revolutionaries cannot effect in society, a single self-realized person can. But it is not his wish; he is not trying for it. His very presence, the light of his life, transforms many. But that transformation is very gentle. It is not a “revolution.” It is a very gentle evolution. There is no noise. It happens quietly. It happens in silence. Buddha does not make a social revolution, yet after Buddha the world becomes different. The presence of Buddhas, the happening of their knowing, transforms human consciousness somewhere deep within; no one even notices. It is like a flower opening silently and its fragrance spreading in the air. No band plays, no drums beat; there is no hullabaloo; silently the fragrance fills the breeze. The flower may wither, but the fragrance continues to drift. For centuries people are bathed in that perfume and transformed by it. But these…

Osho, are you for an organized movement for the economic betterment of man? Because you have declared yourself against all organized movements. So do you propose a movement for economic regeneration, or a rebellion for economic regeneration? I suppose you do.

I am against organized movements, not against movement. Whenever a movement becomes organized, it is no longer a movement; it immediately turns into a vested interest. There should be movement—a wave in the consciousness of the whole country, a stirring. From that movement, things should emerge. But the moment it is organized, it becomes tied to a small section. A minority then starts trying to impose itself on the majority. Whenever a movement is organized, by that very organization it becomes the property of a minority and tries to impose itself on the majority. Then violence is born, because whenever a minority tries to forcibly change the majority, violence becomes inevitable. In my view, the movement should be diffused; it should spread. It should deepen, idea by idea. And when the whole country consents to an idea, then without much organization things change on their own... A decentralized social structure…