According to Osho, no nation is truly best or worst—'nations' are fictions; only individuals are real. India exemplifies both peaks of consciousness and the gutters of degradation. Every country holds saints and scoundrels; the bad dominate because they’re aggressive, while the good are nonviolent and self-sufficient. The only meaningful revolution is inner: the more conscious, meditative individuals a land hosts, the 'better' that country becomes.
Countries aren’t good or bad; people are—so change yourself, and the place you live improves.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, which is the best nation in the world? And which do you consider the worst?
India is both, because here I am—and so are you. India has touched the highest peaks of consciousness in this world, and now I also see you lying in the gutters. You have become so accustomed to the gutters that you have turned them into temples. You don’t even wish to get out! There was a revolution in France. There was a central prison, the Bastille, where only those sentenced for life were kept. Their handcuffs and shackles were broken only when they died. Once the locks were closed, the keys were thrown into wells. In dark cells, bound in heavy chains, thousands of prisoners lived in the Bastille. When the revolution came, naturally the revolutionaries felt that the first thing to do was to free these prisoners. They had suffered the most. They broke the gates of the Bastille. But the prisoners were not willing to leave the prison,…
Osho, you have titled this series of talks “Sahaj Yoga.” Do “sahaj” and “yoga” not seem mutually opposed?
Anand Maitreya! They don’t just seem opposed, they are opposed. But no ultimate truth of life can manifest without contradiction. Life is made of opposites—darkness and light, day and night, woman and man, negative electricity and positive electricity, birth and death. The very structure of life is woven of opposites. Hence the opposites are not only opposed; they are complementary to each other. If you have labored hard all day, you will be able to sleep deeply. Labor and rest are opposites, yet only the one who has worked can rest deeply—and the one who has not worked cannot. So the opposites are not only opposed, they complete each other. And only the one who has rested deeply at night can rise in the morning and engage in work again. One who has not rested through the night will not be able to work in the morning. Look closely at…
Question: Third question: Osho, isn’t India a land of the enlightened? A gentleman from the Radhasoami sect came to me and asked, “How many planes of existence do you accept? Our master accepts fourteen planes; the fourteenth is called Sach Khand!” He had even brought a chart—fourteen planes. And the chart was quite a provocation: Mohammed, Moses, etc., are in the fifth plane—stuck there. Jesus and Zarathustra a bit farther—sixth. Mahavira and Buddha a little higher—seventh. Great kindness on their part! Then Kabir, Nanak, etc., a little higher still—eighth. But only their own guru reached the fourteenth—Sach Khand! He asked me, “How many planes do you accept? What do you think of our guru? Are these planes real?” I said, “Absolutely real—because I have seen your guru stuck in the fourteenth.” He said, “What do you mean?” “I’m in the fifteenth—Mahasach Khand!” “What are you saying! Never heard of that.
Osho, would you be kind enough to say something about your view of India? Ayub Syed, editor, ‘Current.’
Dear Ayub Syed! I am not a nationalist. India, Pakistan, China, Japan have no meaning for me. I do not see this earth as divided into fragments. The misfortune of the earth is precisely that it is divided into fragments. And as long as it remains divided, that misfortune will continue. Science has made the earth one; if only politics would step aside, humanity’s misfortune would end. Today the earth has all the means to make human beings happy and prosperous. For the first time, the earth could fill even the gods of heaven with envy. But politics will have to die if science is to win. Science opens the doors of good fortune; politics turns those very doors into misfortune. Scientists like Albert Einstein and Lord Rutherford discovered the atomic bomb. The atom could have proved a blessing for the earth, for such energy had come into our hands…
Osho, I am a thoughtful young man who cannot stand the present condition of my country. Our India, crushed under superstitions and obscurantist, antiquated ideas, has become sheer hell. My blood boils seeing its rotten state, and I grow impatient to do something for this unlucky country. Osho, as an individual, what is my duty toward this nation? What can I do so that this country’s wretchedness, hunger, hypocrisy, indolence, and stench are wiped out?
In China, a six-thousand-year-old statement was found written on human skin: “I don’t like the present state of the country.” Six thousand years ago! In Babylon, on a brick almost as old, there’s a statement that if you read it you would think it is this morning’s Poona Herald editorial: “We don’t like the present condition. Students don’t listen to teachers; discipline is corrupt. Children don’t heed their parents. The very foundation of family has broken. Love has vanished from the world; hatred and enmity reign!” Six thousand years ago, the same complaint! And today, the same! When were conditions ever good? All the scriptures claim they were good before—but when was this “before”? There never was such a “before.” Conditions used to be worse. You call Rama’s time “Ram-rajya,” the rule of Rama. The conditions were worse than today. Don’t ever make the mistake of bringing Ram-rajya back! A…