Violence

Osho, Krishna says “kill,” and Mahavira says that even the mere thought of violence is violence. Please tell us who is superior between the two?

In the smoke and dust, the hustle and bustle of the road, you will be lost: you won’t even have time to enter the temple or the mosque. If you want to pray, you must choose somewhere. But be mindful about the basis of your choice—choose because of “me,” not because of which of them is superior. Keep the relativity on your side. I cannot choose both together. My heart is not that vast yet. My vision is not so immense that I can hold both together. My house is not so spacious that I can host both as guests at once. Accept this compulsion and choose: the house is small; I can invite only one. The day you awaken, you will find both are two different faces of the same truth. But until then, you must decide. And decide very consciously. Do not leave this decision to your birth—“I…

It has been asked: From the standpoint of psychic anatomy—the structure of the mind—what does it mean to call violence a disease?

Man is poly-psychic. The psychic structure—the structure of his mind—is made of many parts. The mind is divided into many fragments, and it will remain divided until the undivided self awakens at the center. Violence is the mutual conflict of these fragments—the servants’ rival claims, “I am the master!” When they confront one another the mind falls into great inner strife. All day long the mind fights over who the master is. And the conflict, the anguish, the suffering generated by these battling fragments—that is what such a mind then unloads by fighting with others as well. It is a curious thing: we often project our inner battles outward. There is a thief within you; you are struggling with him, suppressing him: “I will not allow theft.” If a theft occurs in your neighborhood and the thief is caught, you will beat him the most—because you have longed to thrash…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…

Beloved master, can you please say something about violence as the expression of rebellion?

Milarepa, violence can never be a part of the rebellious spirit for the simple reason that violence is the whole past of humanity -- and the rebel wants to discontinue with the past. Violence has been the way of life for millennia. Directly or indirectly we have lived under violence. Our armies, our police, our jails, our judges, our wars, our so-called great religions, all have lived in violence. And violence, reduced to its essentials, is irreverent towards life. To me the religious man, the religious consciousness, is nothing but a deep reverence for life itself, because there is no God beyond life, there is no paradise beyond consciousness. Violence is a violation of both life and consciousness -- it is destructive. The rebel is a creator; his whole philosophy is that of creativity. We have lived in destructiveness far too long, and what is the achievement? That's why I…