Wealth

How is it that india could not produce wealth?

We create what we desire, intensely desire to create. We created poverty because we accepted it. If somebody asked Gandhi why he traveled in a third-class compartment, he used to say, "Because there is no fourth class on the railway trains." If there had been a fourth class Gandhi would have traveled in that class saying, "I travel in the fourth because there is no fifth class on the train." Now Gandhi would not he contented until he traveled in the train of hell itself. We say that Gandhi was a mahatma, a great soul, a saint, because he accepted the third class. Because we all, being poor, travel in the third, we think of Gandhi as the real mahatma. Really, we are sick of traveling third class; we would travel by first class if w e could afford it . But that is not possible, so we have to…

Osho, what are your views on wealth and position?

Let position not make you mad. Let it not unhinge you. Use the office; don’t identify with it. After all, some people will have to do certain jobs—someone will have to be a collector, someone a commissioner, someone a governor, someone a station master, someone a headmaster, a principal, a vice-chancellor… These functions will continue. But the meditator does not identify with them. He does not become stiff because of them. He knows the cobbler who makes shoes is doing work just as useful as the president. Therefore he does not regard himself as superior, because the one who makes shoes is as indispensable as anyone else. No hierarchy, no caste order arises of “I am above, you are below”; no ladders get built. Everyone is engaged in what is necessary for society. Each does what he can, what gives him joy. The day position no longer dominates you, there…

Osho, Sant Palatu Das says the looting of the divine treasure is going on and “whoever wants may take.” If that is so, why is it that among millions only one or two become wealthy with it?

When Buddha left his palace, his old charioteer—who had driven him since childhood and loved him like a son—fell at his feet in the forest and pleaded, “What are you doing? Where are you going—leaving this marble palace, your beautiful wife Yashodhara, your newborn son Rahul, your aged father? You are his staff in his old age. What will you find in the jungle? I’ve roamed the forests; there is nothing there. The whole world wants to come to palaces, and you are leaving one! Anyone would want to be a king, and kingship is in your grasp—yet you turn away?” The old man wept. From his side too, he was right: the forest showed him nothing; all value was in the palace. To the poor man, wealth seems to live in palaces; it takes an actual rich man to discover that palaces are empty. Having seen, he finds no…

Why do people want to be rich?

WHEN ONE IS RICH, one does not have to be smart. And that's a big relief. That's why people want to be rich. Nobody wants to be intelligent; richness can afford to be stupid. You can see the faces of rich people -- you will always find a kind of subtle stupidity. The more rich a person is, the more you will find that he does not live, he vegetates. You will not find the sign of life in his eyes. People want to be rich so they can afford to be stupid -- it is a great relief. If you really want to be intelligent, who cares about being rich? If richness comes as a consequence of being intelligent, that's another matter -- but who bothers about it? It is not a direct goal. And the difference is great. Intelligent people also become rich. Intelligence is REAL richness --…