According to Osho, the 'history' of Switzerland’s existence is spiritually irrelevant; dates and origins are just mind-games. His playful claim of witnessing its creation mocks our obsession with facts. What matters is consciousness in the present, not encyclopedic trivia. Drop fixation on timelines; inquire instead into awareness, because truth is realized here-now, not in historical accounts.
He’s saying when Switzerland began doesn’t matter; what matters is being aware right now.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is history?
Before long, those who went to live in the valleys wished they had gone to live in the hills and those who had gone to live in the hills wished they had gone to live in the valleys. The liberators, under the guidance of God, set fire to the discontent, so presently the world was at war again. This time the destruction was so complete... that nothing at all was left in the world except one man and one woman and one flower. But that's enough, that will do; that one flower will do. Again everything will come back. History is a wheel. It is a vicious circle, it goes on moving in the same rut. Many, many times man has become very civilized, and many, many times all civilization has disappeared from the earth. This is not for the first time that we have discovered science. Ancient records tell…
Osho, how many years ago was Krishna born? What research has been done on this so far? What is your own conclusion? And can a person in samadhi not give the exact answer?
Yet we are preoccupied with time—morning and evening; clocks ticking; we measure everything by time. We carry a yardstick of time and try to measure with it. Our measuring is natural—but not true. As our understanding is, so is our measure. Our measure is like the frog in the well, who asked the frog from the ocean, “How big is your ocean?” He leapt halfway across the well: “This big?” The ocean frog said, “Forgive me—your well won’t do as a measure!” The well-frog tried again—leaped from one side to the other: “This big?” Seeing doubt still in the ocean frog’s eyes, the well-frog said, “Your mind seems deranged—is there any place bigger than a well? I’ll give you my final measure,” and he hopped the full circle of the well: “This big?” The ocean frog replied, “Brother, if we measure the ocean by your well, we will be in…
Many western historians feel that humanity is constantly making progress. If this is the case, then how is it that human consciousness is so unevolved?
Mark and Luke are contradictory because they are writing history. But Tulsidas and Valmiki are not contradictory. They are not writing history, they are not concerned with history at all. They are reliving, in their imaginations. They say, "We cannot say much. We cannot say enough because we are not capable. All that is said is only a fragment. It is not the whole story." If you yourself see Krishna, you will see something else altogether. But you are at liberty to see it because the event is not historical. So the life of Krishna or of Ram, becomes very rich. Jesus' recorded life was very poor because his followers were obsessed with history. They could not write anything that was beyond history. The eastern mind could see that we cannot do justice to Krishna or Buddha if we limit ourselves to bare events. This will be an injustice because…
Questioner: what is the time of krishna's birth? What investigations have been made up to now? And what is your own view on this matter? Do you think an enlightened person cannot rightly answer such a question?
No, Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira and Krishna cannot be imprisoned in a moment. We do try to imprison them so, because we are attached to our limitations, to our fragments. The day people in the West grow in understanding, they will forget all about the time of Christ's birth and death. In this matter the understanding of the people of the East is much deeper. And it has given rise to a lot of misunderstanding in the West in regard to us. The way we look at things, the way we think and say things is such that the world cannot understand. When someone from the West wants to know about the lives of the tirthankaras he is astounded to hear that some of them lived for millions of years. How can he accept it? It seems to be impossible. How can he believe that some of the tirthankaras were as…
Osho, what insights allow us to drop the past and not repress it?
And that happens to individuals, that happens to countries, to societies, to nations too. For example, a young country like America thinks of the future; its golden age is yet to come. A country like India, very ancient, old, thinks of the past; its golden age has passed. In the days of Rama it has been; it is already a gone thing. It is simply an indication that the country is very very old and cannot conceive any future. In the future is death. But to be a child is to miss; and to be old is to miss. The meditator is exactly in the middle: he has something of eternal youth in him. You will be surprised to know that in the East we have never depicted any enlightened person old; we have always depicted them young. You have not seen any picture of Buddha as old, or Mahavira,…