Opposition

The masses were against jesus, they were against buddha, they are against you. Why?

The masses live in a kind of non-individual existence. They live like sheep. So whenever a man like Jesus or Buddha is there, asserting his individuality, his rebellion, his freedom, he is naturally disliked. The masses become afraid; their foundations are shaken. If Jesus is right, then the whole life pattern of the masses will have to be changed. It is too much work, and people have invested too much in their slavery. The presence of Jesus makes people feel bankrupt. The moment you come across a Buddha, you are reduced to a very ugly kind of inhuman being. You lose all dignity, you feel humiliated. If you are intelligent you will rise to the occasion: you will see the point that up to now you have lived in ignorance, in sleep. And you will feel grateful to the Buddha that his presence has become a ray of light into…

Question: , WHY ARE PEOPLE SO MUCH AGAINST YOU? Sudheer, they are not so much against me as they are afraid of me. Out of fear they are against, but the root cause is fear. And why are they afraid? -- because they don't understand. It is misunderstanding. It always happens, it is bound to happen; it is nothing new. I say one thing, they understand something else because their minds are prejudiced. They have been brought up in certain traditions and I am breaking all traditions! They have been brought up to think in certain ways, and my whole effort here is to take you beyond thinking. People are conventional, conformist, traditional. And to me religion is rebellion -- rebellion against all conventions, against all conformities, against all traditions. Religion is never a tradition, can never be a tradition. Science can be a tradition but religion never.

Jinswaroop has asked: Osho, the politicians and sadhus-mahatmas in this country who oppose you—why don’t they come to the ashram themselves and have their doubts resolved?

They don’t have the courage, they don’t have the strength; they are impotent. They get nervous at the idea of coming to this ashram to have their doubts resolved. They’re afraid the doubts might actually be resolved—then what will they do! And resolved they certainly will be. I say, let Tulsi come. And after what he’s been up to, I don’t even feel like calling him Tulsi anymore—now it’s Acharya Bhondumal! So let Bhondumal and Thothumal both come. Here a hundred processes of mind-revolution are going on. They won’t even know the names of a hundred of them; their forefathers wouldn’t either. Let them come—we’ll take them through all the processes. We’ll make men of them! But first they’ll have to become a rooster—because that’s the nature of these processes. If you go through Primal Therapy, you’ll have to be a rooster! They don’t have the guts to come here.…

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…