Power

When power arises, does it mean it is the God of our imagination?

God has nothing to do with it. It will arise within you—absolutely it will. And from that, it will seem as if we are receiving power from God. But it is your own power, your own will-force.

What is the trade secret of the priests? How have they been able to exploit man for so long?

IT IS VERY simple.Just a few stories will make it clear to you: Two music students were discussing their part-time jobs. Said one, "I work in the opera at night and carry a spear in one act." His friend asked, "How do you manage to keep awake so late at night?" "It's simple," replied the first. "The man behind me carries a spear too." The second story: Preacher Pitts had undertaken that morning to describe the terrors of hell to his congregation. "Brothers and sisters," he intoned, "some of you have seen melted iron running out of a furnace, haven't you? It's white, sizzling and hissing. Well, in the place I'm talking about, they use that stuff for ice cream." Reverend Walker stood before his congregation and in dynamic fashion pontificated on the wickedness of intercourse. After twenty minutes of ranting about the sin of sex, he raised himself to…

Osho, you speak of trust, love, and joy, but why don’t you explain power? These days an unbearable power is arising in me. What is it, and in this situation what stance should I take?

A friend of mine, an eminent Hindi litterateur, long-time president of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and the oldest member of the Indian Parliament—an MP for fifty years—was close to Jugal Kishore Birla. He was interested in my work and said, “If Birla becomes interested, great help is possible.” He arranged a meeting. Birla spoke with me, became interested, and said, “I will give you as much as you need, whenever you need it. Only one thing I must know for sure: what use will it be put to?” I said, “Then let’s end the matter here. This won’t do; such a deal is not possible. If you must ask what I will do with what you give, keep it. That isn’t giving. If you can give unconditionally so that, in front of you, I could squander it on the street and you would not be able to ask, ‘What are…

Beloved master, you said before that meditative people cannot be corrupted by power, but how come sheela and her gang were corrupted by power? Please say something about the organization of the meditative people.

Meditative people cannot be corrupted -- ever. If somebody is corrupted, that only means he was not meditative. And about Sheela, I can tell you certainly: she had no interest in meditation, in my way of life, my philosophy. Her interests were totally different. She had come first to me because her husband was suffering from cancer, and the doctors in America had said that he cannot live more than two years. She was desperately in search of someone who could help. Her husband, Chinmaya, was a beautiful man. He remained with me, and it almost always happens, when you are facing death meditation is easy. You cannot postpone it, because tomorrow you may not be here to meditate. So Chinmaya tried hard to meditate, and that helped him to live. All the medical experts were agreed. They could not believe what had happened to him, because two years was…