According to Osho, the line between good and evil in great conflicts is drawn by values, not by who seems virtuous. Justice equals freedom; injustice equals dependence. Any bloc that reduces human freedom—even under noble slogans like equality—serves evil. Goodness supports conditions where each person’s freedom expands to realize their potential; evil imposes control, centralization, and dependency, often promising later liberty that never returns.
Good sides help people be free; bad sides make people dependent, even if they use nice words.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you just spoke of a decisive war between good and evil. Today the world seems on the brink of a world war and is split into two blocs. Which bloc should be considered good and which evil? And with which bloc would Krishna choose to align?
Under the cover of equality, freedom will be cut. And once freedom is cut, restoring it is very difficult. For when freedom is cut, the cutter also cuts off its future possibilities. And another point: freedom is a wholly natural element which each person should have, while equality is a wholly unnatural thing that cannot be given. It is unpsychological to make human beings equal. Human beings cannot be equal; they are not equal. Man is essentially unequal. Freedom is certainly needed—and so much freedom that each person can become all that he can become; he should have his full chance. So in my view, the side of freedom is Krishna’s side; it cannot be the side of equality. If freedom exists, then gradually inequality can lessen. Note, I am saying inequality can lessen; I am not saying equality can arrive. If freedom remains, inequality can slowly diminish. But if…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU ARE FULLY AWAKE IN YOUR SPEECH. YET YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU SLEEP WHILE YOUR TONGUE STAGGERS WITHOUT PURPOSE. AND EVEN STUMBLING SPEECH MAY STRENGTHEN A WEAK TONGUE. YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU WALK TO YOUR GOAL FIRMLY AND WITH BOLD STEPS. YET YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU GO THITHER LIMPING. EVEN THOSE WHO LIMP GO NOT BACKWARD. BUT YOU WHO ARE STRONG AND SWIFT, SEE THAT YOU DO NOT LIMP BEFORE THE LAME, DEEMING IT KINDNESS. YOU ARE GOOD IN COUNTLESS WAYS, AND YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU ARE NOT GOOD, YOU ARE ONLY LOITERING AND SLUGGARD. PITY THAT THE STAGS CANNOT TEACH SWIFTNESS TO THE TURTLES. IN YOUR LONGING FOR YOUR GIANT SELF LIES YOUR GOODNESS: AND THAT LONGING IS IN ALL OF YOU.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, AND ONE OF THE ELDERS OF THE CITY SAID, SPEAK TO US OF GOOD AND EVIL. AND HE ANSWERED: OF THE GOOD IN YOU I CAN SPEAK, BUT NOT OF THE EVIL. FOR WHAT IS EVIL BUT GOOD TORTURED BY ITS OWN HUNGER AND THIRST? VERILY WHEN GOOD IS HUNGRY IT SEEKS FOOD EVEN IN DARK CAVES, AND WHEN IT THIRSTS IT DRINKS EVEN OF DEAD WATERS. YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU ARE ONE WITH YOURSELF. YET WHEN YOU ARE NOT ONE WITH YOURSELF YOU ARE NOT EVIL. FOR A DIVIDED HOUSE IS NOT A DEN OF THIEVES; IT IS ONLY A DIVIDED HOUSE. AND A SHIP WITHOUT RUDDER MAY WANDER AIMLESSLY AMONG PERILOUS ISLES YET SINK NOT TO THE BOTTOM. YOU ARE GOOD WHEN YOU STRIVE TO GIVE OF YOURSELF. YET YOU ARE NOT EVIL WHEN YOU SEEK GAIN FOR YOURSELF.
Osho, then what is good and what is bad—should a person judge it for himself?
There is no other way. And judging is not very difficult. First, look at what you cannot come to rest upon. You are often more childish than a child. The body has an age; spiritual age is another matter entirely—and often it hasn’t grown at all. Then people go on doing childish things. An old man hoarding money—take him for a child, because the act is childish. What is he doing? Death stands before him, and the man is putting more locks on his safe. Pure child’s play. Little children play with dolls; a grown man carries a whole wedding procession of Lord Ram—with all the dolls arranged—parading and making a racket. He is still a child. He has made different kinds of dolls, given them big, respectable names. But his mental age has not grown. Within us there are many ages, many layers of age. My quest, my appeal,…
Beloved Osho, what is the difference between the emptiness of the child before the formation of the ego and the awakened childlikeness of a buddha?
Whether you are for it or against it doesn't matter -- your concern shows where your ego is hanging. And I will include the capitalist in it also: his whole concern is how to gather money, hoard money -- because money has power over matter. You can purchase any material thing through money. You cannot purchase anything spiritual, you cannot purchase anything that has any intrinsic value; you can purchase only things. If you want to purchase love, you cannot purchase; but you can purchase sex. Sex is the material part of love. Through money, matter can be purchased, possessed. Now you will be surprised: I include the communist and the capitalist both in the same category, and they are enemies, just as I include Charvaka and Mahatma Gandhi in the same category, and they are enemies. They are enemies, but their concern is the same. The capitalist is trying…