Controversy

Osho, why are so many people attracted towards you from all parts of the world?

DON'T know! I am also surprised; it should not be so. The government is against me, the society is against me, all the religions are against me, and still people go on coming. All kinds of barriers are created, still people go on coming. Something mysterious is happening, something which cannot be explained. Something is transpiring which is elusive. That's why those who come as observers or spectators or journalists cannot catch hold of it. So they collect rumors in the town from people who never come here, and they go on reporting. Almost all over the world, in almost all the languages, there are rumors and rumors. This is very strange! The people have not experienced what is happening here, they have not been participants, and yet they think they have understood. There are things which can be understood only when you participate. You cannot know what love is…

About that controversy: are you in some way different from others? Why did they get so upset? We would be grateful if you could tell us something about this.

Controversy is perfectly natural. It is not their fault; the fault is mine. Because whatever I am saying goes against many things. In this I am opposed to tradition. And I maintain that religion has no tradition; it cannot have one. The experience of religion is always new; it can never be old. Whenever it comes to someone, it is fresh and new. And we cannot build a tradition upon the experience of religion; the very act of making it into a tradition turns it stale and borrowed. In fact, the moment the experience of religion is given words—written or spoken—it dies. A living religion has no tradition; only dead religions have tradition. All religions are dead religions. And yet religion can never die. Religion is a living experience. Whatever happened to Nanak is alive, but what a Sikh clings to is dead—the words Nanak spoke. The experience that happened…

Beloved Osho, during your recent interview with der spiegel, you made a statement about hitler, saying you love the man because he's crazy, and also that he lived a life of a discipline just as a saint lives in a monastery. You also compared him with mahatma gandhi and called him as moral as mahatma gandhi. This has caused a great deal of concern and confusion in germany, holland, and other european countries. My question is: is this an accurate reflection of your feelings about hitler?

And about small things Gandhi was really nasty. He wouldn't allow anybody to drink tea. In his ashram tea was prohibited, coffee was impossible to bring in. The question of alcohol did not arise. For forty years the people followed all kinds of ascetic disciplines, prayed morning and evening -- and the answer was millions of people either murdered or half-murdered; and Gandhi himself assassinated. If this is the result of practicing nonviolence, then I don't think there is any difference practicing violence. Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi both ended the same way. They both landed their countries in the same mess. I have said I have a certain love for Adolf Hitler, for the simple reason that at least he was straightforward; Gandhi was not. Adolf Hitler was not cunning. Whatever he wanted to do he did. He was a little crazy, but a crazy man managed to be…

Question: OSHO, WHY ARE THE SO-CALLED RELIGIOUS PEOPLE AGAINST YOU? THEY ARE NOT RELIGIOUS they are only so-called religious, hence they are bound to be against me. The so-called religious people have always been against the religious people; it is nothing new. It is the most ancient thing in the world. They worship a religious person only when he is dead because then there is no problem. Jesus alive is a problem. He disturbs you in many ways, in thousands of ways. In his presence you start feeling that all that you are is just holy cowdung, nothing else. It hurts, it hurts the ego. The so-called religious person starts looking so stupid. He is stupid, but when he is living with other so-called religious people he looks like a saint. He is a rabbi, he is a pundit, he is a priest; he is respected by people.