When people speak badly about a real teacher, it’s normal—stay kind and calm, because even hate can turn into love.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, it has always been forbidden to listen to slander of the master. It is even said that if someone is slandering the master, one should even wash one’s ears. One rarely meets your lovers, but your detractors are found everywhere. We do not have the capacity to explain anything to them. In such frequently occurring situations, what should we do? Please make the way clear.
Those gurus who told you to wash your ears had two kinds of fear. Their big fear was that if someone slandered, you might agree after hearing it. They were afraid of that. I trust you. You have managed to come to me after hearing all that slander. You have already passed through those touchstones. You have heard all the abuses one could hear; now it is hard for anyone to invent a new abuse. If someone slanders, tell him: “Bring something new. I have heard this already—many times—and in spite of it I am connected with him. Bring some new slander, discover something, be inventive. Why are you repeating these old, hackneyed lines!” Those scriptures that prescribe, “Avoid slander; keep away…”—such scriptures were written by the weak. There are such texts in India—Hindus have them, Jains have them. In Hindu scriptures it is written: even if a mad elephant…
Osho, you often say that this world is an echo point, from where we receive back exactly what we give it: love meets love and hatred meets hatred. If that is so, why were Buddha and Mahavira tortured; why were Jesus and Mansoor killed? And why are you receiving false allegations, slander, and abuse here? And can this world ever find people who offer more guileless love and blessing than you?
These feeling-moments come within you. To block them you must heap every possible abuse on Jesus. You will have to prove to yourself—convince yourself with all kinds of arguments—that this man is wrong; do not go near him, not even by mistake. So remember: man maligns to protect himself. Before giving Socrates the hemlock, the very court that ordered it also felt within… Do you think those who stood to crucify Jesus had no doubt in their hearts? No question arose—What are we doing? Is this right? How is it justified? The same happened with Socrates. The judge felt a great stirring, because this man is certainly unusual, different, unparalleled. But no error appears in him. Nothing could be proved against him in court except one thing: all of Athens is against him. Nothing else was established. But if everyone is against him—the jury against him, the magistrate against him,…
Osho, if two true masters criticize and condemn each other, what should the disciples understand?
If you are a disciple, you will choose what resonates with your heart and move on. You will not bother about who criticized whom. Nor will you oppose the one who criticized. Who are you to judge! A disciple, and he decides who is a true master and who is not? The very idea is foolishness. It is like a blind man deciding who can see and who cannot. How will the blind judge who sees? The blind need only know: “I cannot see.” Having found a friend, take his hand and walk. Then, through your own experience, see: walking with this person, do I fall into pits? Walking with him, do I keep bumping into things? Walking with him, do I end up breaking my hands and feet? If your experience shows otherwise, then to think, “This man must have eyes,” is at first only an inference. But that…
Osho, why do disciples betray the Master? Vijayanand and Mahesh now speak against you. And a sannyasin, Swami Chinmay, has written in Current that when my Master speaks against politics he falls below religion; and also says that since I am a living disciple I can therefore speak against my Master.
He does not understand me. He does not know what I am saying or what is happening here. He has just assumed. These things will happen. As my sannyasins increase and a wave arises, many will dye their clothes, string malas, announce themselves. People flock to a rising sun; they try to profit from it. Such a gentleman has no value. His statements have none—he does not know my vision of life. Religion is not a subject with boundaries. Religion has no limit. Religion is the name of the whole of life. Whatever life includes, religion has the right to speak about. The politician cannot speak about religion, for politics has limits; but the religious man can speak about politics, for religion has no limits. Religion is boundless. It envelops the whole of life, like the sky. Nothing is to be left outside religion. The religious person’s vision applies to…
Osho! Why do disciples betray their master? Just now vijayananda and mahesh are speaking against you. And one sannyasi, swami chinmaya has written in 'current', "when my master speaks against politics he is falling beneath religion" -- and along with this: "I am a living disciple, this is why I can speak against my master."
I will speak on poetry also, because religion has a poetic aspect too. This is why in this country we have given two names to poets: poets and rishis. We have called a rishi, that poet in whose poetry truth speaks, in whose poetry the experience of god speaks. One who has dyed his poetry in religion we have called a rishi. For instance Rabindranath should be called a rishi, not a poet. His GITANJALI should be valued the same as any Upanishad. He is a rishi. What he has said is not only meter, rhythm, grammar and knowledge of language. What he has said is a stream of experience. Nectar has flowed. Nectar -- that is not his! Nectar -- that is coming from above. He is merely like a medium. As if a flute is put on somebody's lip and is played. The illusion may come to the…