Publicity

Osho, seeing the wide publicity of your views along with your photographs in newspapers and magazines, people have formed the impression that you are eager for advertising and fame—something not in harmony with India’s saintly tradition. Our sages and saints lived simple lives in solitude, far from crowds and display. Osho, we request you to speak on this.

But in this country we suffer from the idiocy of forcing everything into a mold and then insisting everyone fit that mold. How am I to fit? Mahavira was nude. A Jain could say: until you are naked, how can we accept you as a tirthankara? So should I go naked just because Mahavira did? That was Mahavira’s whim, his way—he lived in his own manner. Buddha, a contemporary of Mahavira, was not naked; he wore robes. The Jains always objected: if only Buddha would drop his clothes, he could be a tirthankara; clothed, he’s not—at best a little lower, a mahatma; not yet arrived. Thus Jains call Mahavira “Bhagwan,” Buddha merely “Mahatma.” And Buddhists don’t call Mahavira “Bhagwan”—for them he is “Mahatma,” while Buddha is “Bhagwan.” Each has its own notions. They say one should not go naked and advertise oneself—that, too, is a form of propaganda. And that’s…

When you already knew, couldn’t you have avoided so much publicity?

...you’ve already said the whole thing. Yes, what I say gets written down; I don’t write. So that isn’t an article—what comes from me is a statement. I don’t write anything. I just said something now; if you write it down and take it away, it will become an article. But I write nothing; it isn’t an article from my side. From my side it is a statement—that’s one point. Second point: if you feel confusion is spreading among the public, then make a steady effort to break it. Confusion should not spread. Try to break it—keep breaking it. And if someone can break it by coming onto the platform, then invite him there; let him say it there. But for me, that is a conversation, not a scholastic debate. Because I understand this should be a very loving matter. If the aim is to break the public’s confusion, that…

I say I am ordinary, because to be ordinary is the nature of things. And there is no desire to be extraordinary, no ambition to be extraordinary. In fact, because I am an ordinary man, I can enjoy diamond watches, I can enjoy Rolls Royces. No extraordinary man can do that. For example, Mahatma Gandhi is an extraordinary man. He will move in a third-class compartment in the train because he has renounced all comforts. He cannot move in a first-class compartment, he cannot go into an air-conditioned compartment. He will move in a third-class compartment. And because of that he will be respected as a great saint all over India. But nobody looks at the reality. The reality is, because Gandhi was moving in a third-class compartment, a compartment that is meant to carry sixty people is carrying one person.

Osho, Most newspapers print all sorts of absurdities about you. This spreads very wrong notions among people, and many come to the ashram carrying false expectations. Isn’t it necessary to take some steps, in time, to stop this?

But Purna was determined. He said, “Precisely because no one has ever gone there, I want to go. And if the people are bad, then they are the first who need to hear your message! Who else will bring them your news? If they are sick, they are the ones who most need treatment. If their feelings have died, then those very feelings must be awakened. If they have dried up, then while you are alive, if greenness does not return to their lives, when will it? When will their good fortune dawn? Please give me your blessing.” Buddha said, “I will give my blessing. If you ask, I will give it. But I want to ask you three questions. If you answer rightly, I will grant you permission. First—if they insult you, what will happen in your mind?” Purna said, “Please don’t ask—you know very well what will happen…