Mahatma Gandhi
Osho on Gandhi
- Gandhi said to people who were violent: Try to be nonviolent. Then their nonviolence comes out of violence, so their nonviolence is just a facade, just a face to show. Deep down, they are boiling with violence. If your brahmacharya, your celibacy, comes out of too much sexuality, it will be perverted sex, nothing else.
- That’s my observation of Mahatma Gandhi. He observed, cultivated non-violence; but I have looked deeply into his life and he is one of the most violent men this century has known. But his violence is very polished; his violence is so sophisticated that it looks almost like non-violence. And his violence has such subtle ways that you cannot detect it easily. It comes from the back door; it is never at the front door. You will not find it in his drawing-room; it is not there. It has started living somewhere in the servants’ quarters at the back of the house where nobody ever goes, but it goes on pulling his strings from there.For example, if ordinarily you are angry, you are angry with the person who has provoked it. Mahatma Gandhi would be angry with himself, not with the person. He would turn his anger upon himself; he would make it introverted. Now it is very difficult to detect it. He would go on a fast, he would become suicidal, he would start torturing himself. And in a subtle way he would torture the other by torturing himself.
- Even Mahatma Gandhi was very afraid to go into sleep. He was trying to reduce it to as little as possible. Religious people make it a point to try not to sleep for too long — four hours, five hours at the most. Three is the ideal. Why? Because once your need of bodily rest is satisfied your mind starts weaving and spinning dreams. And immediately the mind brings up things which you have been repressing Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘I have become a celibate as far as my waking consciousness is concerned, but in my d reams I am not a celibate.’ He was a true man in a sense — truer than other so-called saints. At least he accepted that in his dreams he was not yet celibate.
- Mahatma Gandhi his whole life prayed morning and evening saying that Allah and Ram are the names of the same God. But when he was shot in Delhi…by a Poonaite, remember! Beware of the Poonaites! The man who murdered Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, was a Poonaite; Poona is one of the strongholds of Hindu orthodoxy. I have knowingly chosen a place to create trouble for you!When Gandhi was shot dead he didn’t say Allah. The last words were “Ram — Hey Ram! Oh Ram!” He forgot all about Allah. His whole life…but still deep down he knows that he is a Hindu. The Gita he says is his mother. And who is his father — the Koran? That he never says anything about. The Gita is his mother but the Koran is not his father. And he chooses words from the Koran which are really nothing but echoes of the Gita, and he also chooses words from the Bible which are echoes from the Gita. He is REALLY clinging to the Gita; the Gita is the criterion. Whatsoever is in the Gita is right; if it is in the Koran, then too it is right because it is in the Gita. He leaves out everything that goes against the Gita. This is tolerance….
- For example the day Mahatma Gandhi’s father died he was with his father massaging his feet, and the doctors had said that this was going to be the last night; there was no hope that this man would ever see the sunrise, before sunrise he would be gone. In the middle of the night, Mahatma Gandhi was massaging his father’s feet, but he was thinking of his wife.The father was dying. It was an absolute certainty that this was his last night, and he had fallen asleep. Seeing that he was asleep, Mahatma Gandhi slipped silently into his wife’s room, and while he was making love to his wife, his father died. And suddenly the whole house was awake. He heard the noise — “What is the matter?” And he could not forgive himself, that even for one night he could not remain away from his wife when the death of his father was absolutely certain.If he had not become a famous man, a world-famous man, this incident would not have carried any importance; perhaps he himself would have forgiven it, forgotten it — just an ordinary incident.
But writing his autobiography, he connects it with the great mahatma that he became. And this is all fiction — he says that he became concerned about celibacy because of this incident. He started thinking of brahmacharya, celibacy, because of this incident. This is not true, but he has to fit the incident into the life of a mahatma. And it fits perfectly well; anybody reading it will feel that there seems to be a certain connection. But it is not true, because all his four sons were born after this incident. So he cannot deceive me. He is deceiving himself, he is deceiving his followers, he is deceiving the historians. But if this was the cause of his becoming a celibate, then he would have remained without any children. All four sons were born after this incident, so this incident has nothing to do with celibacy.
But in his mind — and in anybody’s mind who is reading Mahatma Gandhi — it seems relevant, that perhaps the shock was too much, as if “I am guilty of the death of my father. I could have stayed a few more minutes, but my lust, my sexuality proved to be more powerful than my love and respect for my father. And my wife was going to remain with me for my whole life, but my father was going to disappear that very night into darkness and into the unknown and there would not be another meeting again.”
it seems as if osho has made up his mind that whatever gandhi did was done by him purposefully.he was not an extra-ordinary man,agreed.but there is no doubting the fact that ,he was searching and aspiring for something higher, something spiritual.
osho is related with truth only. never intended to humiliate gandhi. he was searching for truth but was on wrong path. osho is to be fully understood first.
gandhi’s non-violence was a conditioning. a religious conditioning and conditioning is not transformation. osho just meant that. not that gandhiji was not a great personality or not on spiritual path. he was. but religious conditioning is different thing. osho is just trying to say that.
i agree with the words said by osho about mahatama gandhi because osho was an enlightened man….a person who was fully awakened and whatever he is saying about gandhi holds some deep meaning and not the superficial ones.Violence and non- violence are sisters……gandhi supported non violence not because he was against violence but because of the reason that he was not having the guts for being violent….i would bow head against gandhi if he had supported non violence bravely and not diplomatically………
hi jyotsna but i disagree well dont take it personally but just saying that it does not take guts to be violent anyone can do that but being non violent tolerating till the opponent ‘s hand starts to pain and his mind becomes guilty that is difficult.
Osho knew fabrication well enough to convince the gullible (elite et al). He may have appeared to “know” all about enlightenment; but was not an enlightened soul. His fall from grace and subsequent lament is evidence of his limitations.
So sad that people judging the masters! Both have attained what they were supposed to.
fully agreed with osho
In one of his discourses, Osho said that he is against Gandhi because we Indians otherwise give him God like status and will stop following him (because his deeds can be repeated by Gods not by us mortals). Also, (he added), when humanity does “tapa” for thousand years than Earth bears good fruits and spreads happiness. When Earth does “tapa” for thousand years then a person like Mahatma Gandhi takes birth.
BTW, Osho (then 17 yrs) wept on day when Mahatma Gandhi died as per his autobiography.
I totally agree with abhinav that osho had made up his mind that whatever Mahatma Gandhi did was wrong..i have following points..
1]Osho says Gandhi was most violent person because Gandhi kept his anger introvert him…..so isnt it good?? havent people like Buddha, Mahavir, Christ say the same thing?? so what did Osho expect Gandhi to throw and break things when angry?? then would he consider him non-violent….quite a hypocritical statement..
3.he considers spiritual men Reduce sleep because they are afraid that their mind will start weaving and spinning dreams. Ok if that is so why dint he say the same for people like Buddha,Mahavir or Bodhidharma who inspired osho a lot?? even these people hardly(or not at all) slept??is he sure that he wasnt covering his habit of sleeping for hours by criticizing less sleeping great people.
4.now if you think osho is intelligent(no doubt he was)then dint he realize that when a person is suddenly shot a religious person will always remember the name of the god he has always worshipped. If a person like us would be shot suddenly, the first word that would probably come out of our mouth would be F**K.Now just compare the both dosent it prove Gandhi being of a pure heart?? and Believing Allah and Ram to be one and the same dosent deny anybody’s right to worship god in whatever name he wants to….i mean just imagine Gandhi is shot and gandhi shouting Ram,Allah,Buddha,Mahavira,Jesus Christ…etc…just to show that he is secular…ha ha this shows that Osho was a big hypocrite.
5.Now about the incidence about the death of Gandhi’s father.
If you read the book ‘My experiments with the truth'(Gandhi’s autobiography) He clearly says that from that day I inclined towards celibacy…he never wrote that he became a complete celibate at the age of 36, till then all his sons were born.Gandhi never wrote false statements…thus proved..
Dear Osho…and his fans all his points thus proved to be no more then a big bag of Hippocratic Vomit…
completely agree
look at gandhi’s last years with girls
girls are not only meant to have sex….women generally are more emotional, spiritual and loyal compared to men…thus it becomes easy for a women to understand the people on the spiritual path. This is why spiritually high graded people are generally surrounded by women…see Buddha & Mahavira had more nuns den monk..even for dat matter Osho….and the same was with Gandhi….then why is Gandhi being given a step motherly treatment..
Every body has its own interpretation of the things. Don’t argue, but live life completely. Complete your responsibilities honestly. Arguments don’t take you anywhere.
Nimit Vora,here is a reply to you
1. Buddha,Mahavira and other people also said to be non-violent and their life was also full of non-violence,but their nonviolence was natural and meditative,it came out of inner understanding.It was not enforced.What gandhi was doing was enforced.Gandhi,took nonviolence to such an extreme that it became masochism .
And masochism is not nonviolence,it is just violence turned on itself.And you must realize that Osho has criticized mahavira at many times,because of his influence india was not able to protect itself from foreign invaders!
2.Now this comment of yours is honestly speaking very stupid.You say why didn’t osho criticized buddha,mahavira, and other when they didn’t sleep.
Do you think boddhidharma kept himself awake because he feared he will have sexual dream?Nay,peoples like buddha and boddhidharma were peoples who were wandering here and there to find enlightenment,because of the connection of maschosim with religion they thought that enlightenment can only be acheived with heavy meditation…so sometimes they remained awake.
It is said that Boddhidharma used to awake for days sitting in front of an empty wall and meditatied….but i don’t think that he remained awake because he feared sexual dreams.Boddidharma who is the partriach of Zen has left a tradition which is very natural.Zen says that you have to be natural,when sleep comes sleep,when sleep vanishes awake,when you feel hungry eat.This is the greatest meditation in zen that is being natural but Mr. Gandhi was against natural life.You will be surprised to know that in this guy’s ashram even DRINKING TEA WAS PROHIBITED! .What stupidity! Drinking tea with awareness is a meditation in zen!
Now do you think that a person who fears going to sleep is spiritual,that only means that he is hiding a monster inside which can come out anytime.Gandhi used to SLEEP WITH NAKED WOMEN when asked about it he said that he was checking if he could control his manliness!In his own book he has written that he used to have ‘wet dreams’ .Now a old guy like gandhi is having wet dreams at the age of 60+ and sleeps and baths with naked girl to test his control…that only means that gandhi was enforcing celibacy so much that it converted into perversion.Buddha and boddhidharma never slept with naked girls to test their celibacy!
Now do you consider a person of 60-70 years having wet dreams and fantasies someone spiritual,if gandhi would have live a natural life then at the age of 50 all his sex would have disappeared but still this old man was having wet dreams and testing his manliness with girls!Now that is very spiritual!
3.It is better not to comment on this that whether gandhi really said ‘Hey Ram’ when he died.Because this topic is really controversial…and there is no proof that he said so or it was just made up as a congress propaganda.Anyways,this doesn’t matters much .
4.Gandhi was a guilt filled man.At the moment his father died he was having sex with his wife Kasturba.Gandhi,later blamed his lustful craving for his fathers death.This created a anti-sex attitude in him.It is said that gandhi used to give lectures at length about celibacy and how to repress it.He advised couples not to have sex even if they are married but only for procreation.Some peoples have said that these lectures about sex and celibacy were abnormaly and strange as to why such a person should be so much of repressive of sex.
Cleary his father’s death has resulted in him an anti-sex attitude in his life.
What’s more you will be surprised to know that during the period of Holocaust Gandhi advised the Jews that they should all commit ‘suicide’ but not fight.
And he suggested to british that when hitler’s army come they should just drop their arms and if they want to take their beautiful palace,beautiful land and all they should give them without any resistance.It was only by God’s grace that there were no stupid peoples in the british government who took have this suggestion seriously!
Gandhi’s nonviolence no doubt had been a successful tool against the british but what would have happened if inplace of british the nazis would have been there.
Hitler would not have cared about gandhi or his followers and he would have crushed this movement ruthlessly.In front of this man the only way is to fight back with arms.
Now instead of getting flamed when criticized we should just think and see for themselves that this conditioning is not going to take us anywhere.
Gandhi was good for his period but idiolizing anyone will bring only dissatisfication and contempt on your part.Now time has changed and new challenges has arised and if you still hanker in the past then that would be destructive!
At last,any -ism or any ideology will always be incomplete because every ideology forces us to change going against the flow of time instead what we should be doing is to change ourselves with the flow of time.That is the only way to remain fresh and young.
Nimit Vora,here is a reply to you
1. Buddha,Mahavira and other people also said to be non-violent and their life was also full of non-violence,but their nonviolence was natural and meditative,it came out of inner understanding.It was not enforced.What gandhi was doing was enforced.Gandhi,took nonviolence to such an extreme that it became masochism .
And masochism is not nonviolence,it is just violence turned on itself.And you must realize that Osho has criticized mahavira at many times,because of his influence india was not able to protect itself from foreign invaders!
2.Now this comment of yours is honestly speaking very stupid.You say why didn’t osho criticized buddha,mahavira, and other when they didn’t sleep.
Do you think boddhidharma kept himself awake because he feared he will have sexual dream?Nay,peoples like buddha and boddhidharma were peoples who were wandering here and there to find enlightenment,because of the connection of maschosim with religion they thought that enlightenment can only be acheived with heavy meditation…so sometimes they remained awake.
It is said that Boddhidharma used to awake for days sitting in front of an empty wall and meditatied….but i don’t think that he remained awake because he feared sexual dreams.Boddidharma who is the partriach of Zen has left a tradition which is very natural.Zen says that you have to be natural,when sleep comes sleep,when sleep vanishes awake,when you feel hungry eat.This is the greatest meditation in zen that is being natural but Mr. Gandhi was against natural life.You will be surprised to know that in this guy’s ashram even DRINKING TEA WAS PROHIBITED! .What stupidity! Drinking tea with awareness is a meditation in zen!
Now do you think that a person who fears going to sleep is spiritual,that only means that he is hiding a monster inside which can come out anytime.Gandhi used to SLEEP WITH NAKED WOMEN when asked about it he said that he was checking if he could control his manliness!In his own book he has written that he used to have ‘wet dreams’ .Now a old guy like gandhi is having wet dreams at the age of 60+ and sleeps and baths with naked girl to test his control…that only means that gandhi was enforcing celibacy so much that it converted into perversion.Buddha and boddhidharma never slept with naked girls to test their celibacy!
Now do you consider a person of 60-70 years having wet dreams and fantasies someone spiritual,if gandhi would have live a natural life then at the age of 50 all his sex would have disappeared but still this old man was having wet dreams and testing his manliness with girls!Now that is very spiritual!
3.It is better not to comment on this that whether gandhi really said ‘Hey Ram’ when he died.Because this topic is really controversial…and there is no proof that he said so or it was just made up as a congress propaganda.Anyways,this doesn’t matters much .
4.Gandhi was a guilt filled man.At the moment his father died he was having sex with his wife Kasturba.Gandhi,later blamed his lustful craving for his fathers death.This created a anti-sex attitude in him.It is said that gandhi used to give lectures at length about celibacy and how to repress it.He advised couples not to have sex even if they are married but only for procreation.Some peoples have said that these lectures about sex and celibacy were abnormaly and strange as to why such a person should be so much of repressive of sex.
Cleary his father’s death has resulted in him an anti-sex attitude in his life.
What’s more you will be surprised to know that during the period of Holocaust Gandhi advised the Jews that they should all commit ‘suicide’ but not fight.
And he suggested to british that when hitler’s army come they should just drop their arms and if they want to take their beautiful palace,beautiful land and all they should give them without any resistance.It was only by God’s grace that there were no stupid peoples in the british government who took this suggestion seriously!
Gandhi’s nonviolence no doubt had been a successful tool against the british but what would have happened if inplace of british the nazis would have been there.
Hitler would not have cared about gandhi or his followers and he would have crushed this movement ruthlessly.In front of this man the only way is to fight back with arms.
Now instead of getting flamed when criticized we should just think and see for themselves that this conditioning is not going to take us anywhere.
Gandhi was good for his period but idiolizing anyone will bring only dissatisfication and contempt on your part.Now time has changed and new challenges has arised and if you still hanker in the past then that would be destructive!
At last,any -ism or any ideology will always be incomplete because every ideology forces us to moulde ourselves with the ideology by going against the flow of time instead what we should be doing is to flow with the flow of time.That is the only way to remain fresh and young.
Hundreds of times we had discussed Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy, and I was always against. People were a little bit puzzled why I was so insistent against a man I had only seen twice, when I was just a child. I will tell you the story of that second meeting….
I can see the train. Gandhi was traveling, and of course he traveled third class. But his “third class” was far better than any first class possible. In a sixty-man compartment there was just him and his secretary and his wife; I think these three were the only people. The whole compartment was reserved. And it was not even an ordinary first-class compartment, because I have never seen such a compartment again. It must have been a first-class compartment, and not only first class, but a special first class. Just the name plate had been changed and it became “third class” so Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy was saved.
I was just ten. My mother—again I mean my grandmother—had given me three rupees. She said, “The station is too far and you may not be back in time for lunch, and one never knows with these trains: it may come ten hours, twelve hours late, so please keep these three rupees.” In India in those days, three rupees was almost a treasure. One could live comfortably for three months on them.
She had made a really beautiful robe for me. She knew I did not like long pants; at the most I wore pajama pants and a kurta. A kurta is a long robe which I have always loved, and slowly slowly the pajama has disappeared, only the robe remains. Otherwise one has not only divided the upper body and the lower body, but even made different clothes for each. Of course the higher body should have something better, and the lower body is just to be covered, that’s all.
She had made a beautiful kurta for me. It was summer and in those parts of central India summer is really difficult because the hot air going into the nostrils feels as if it’s on fire. In fact, only in the middle of the night can people find a little rest. It is so hot in central India that you are continuously asking for some cold water, and if some ice is available then it is just paradise. Ice is the costliest thing in those parts, naturally, because by the time it comes from the factory, a hundred miles away, it is almost gone. It has to be rushed as quickly as possible.
My Nani said I should go to see Mahatma Gandhi if I wanted to and she prepared a very thin muslin robe. Muslin is the most artistic and the most ancient fabric too, as far as clothes are concerned. She found the best muslin. It was so thin that it was almost transparent. At that time gold rupees had disappeared and silver rupees had taken their place. Those silver rupees were too heavy for the poor muslin pocket. Why am I saying it?—because something I’m going to say would not be possible to understand without it.
The train came as usual, thirteen hours late. Almost everybody was gone except me. You know me, I’m stubborn. Even the stationmaster said, “Boy, you are something. Everybody has gone but you seem ready to stay the whole night. There is no sign of the train and you have been waiting since early this morning.”
To come to the station at four o’clock that morning I had to leave my house in the middle of the night. But I had not yet used those three rupees because everybody had brought so many things with them, and they were all so generous to a little boy who had come so far. They were offering me fruits, sweets, cakes and everything, so there was no question of feeling hungry. When the train finally arrived, I was the only person there—and what a person! Just a ten-year-old boy, standing by the side of the stationmaster.
He introduced me to Mahatma Gandhi and said, “Don’t think of him as just a boy. The whole day I have watched him, and I have discussed many things with him, because there was no other work. And he is the only one who has remained. Many had come but they left long ago. I respect him because I know he would have stayed here till the last day of existence; he would not leave until the train arrived. And if the train had not arrived, I don’t think he would ever have left. He would have lived here.”
Mahatma Gandhi was an old man; he called me close and looked at me. But rather than looking at me, he looked at my pocket—and that put me off him forever. And he said, “What is that?”
I said, “Three rupees.”
He said, “Donate them.” He used to have a box with a hole in it by his side. When you donated, you put the rupees in the hole and they disappeared. Of course he had the key, so they would appear again, but for you they had disappeared.
I said, “If you have the courage you can take them. The pocket is there, the rupees are there, but may I ask you for what purpose you are collecting these rupees?”
He said, “For poor people.”
I said, “Then it is perfectly okay.” And I myself dropped those three rupees into his box. But he was the one to be surprised, for when I started leaving I took the whole box with me.
He said, “For God’s sake, what are you doing? That is for the poor!”
I said, “I have heard you already, you need not bother repeating it again. I am taking this box for the poor. There are many in my village. Please give me the key; otherwise I will have to find a thief so that he can open the lock. He is the only expert in that art.”
He said, “This is strange….” He looked at his secretary. The secretary was dumb, as secretaries always are; otherwise why should they be secretaries? He looked at Kasturba, his wife, who said, “You have met your equal. You cheat everybody, now he is taking your whole box. Good! It is good, because I am tired of seeing that box always there, just like a wife!”
I felt sorry for that man and left the box, saying, “No, you are the poorest man, it seems. Your secretary does not have any intelligence, nor does your wife seem to have any love for you. I cannot take this box away—you keep it. But remember, I had come to see a mahatma, but I saw only a businessman.”
That was his caste. In India, baniya, businessman, is exactly what you mean by a Jew. India has its own Jews; they are not Jews, they are baniyas. To me, at that age, Mahatma Gandhi appeared to be only a businessman. I have spoken against him thousands of times because I don’t agree with anything in his philosophy of life. glimps45
There was an earthquake in Bihar, in India, and Mahatma Gandhi said that the earthquake happened because God was punishing the sinners. I was very young, but I wrote him a letter that it is very strange that God should punish the sinners only in Bihar. What about the whole rest of the world? Do you consider that only Bihar consists only of sinners, and the whole world consists of saints?
And he had neither guts nor a gentleman’s attitude. He never gave any answer. I wrote a letter to Ramdas, his son—because he was my friend—I wrote to Ramdas asking him whether his father had received my letter or not. He said he had received it, “but he has no answer to give so he is keeping quiet.” last202
In India they say, “Even a leaf of a tree moves only if God wants to move it.” So even the murderer is not really responsible, he is simply doing what God wants to do. That’s the whole teaching in the Gita of Krishna, and the Gita is worshipped by Hindus and even by non-Hindus. And one cannot believe…even people like Mahatma Gandhi, who pretend to be non-violent, call the Gita their mother. Gandhi used to say that Hindus and Mohammedans are one.
I was not more than seventeen when I wrote him a letter and asked him, “If Hindus and Mohammedans are one, if the Gita is your mother, what about the holy Koran? Is the holy Koran your father?” He was so angry—his son was my friend and he told me that he simply threw the letter out the window. Ramdas, his son, told him, “What he is asking is relevant. If you can call the Gita your mother…. If you cannot call the Koran your father, you can call it step-father, uncle, but some relationship has to be there, otherwise how are Hindus and Mohammedans one?” I never received any letter. Ramdas informed me, “You will never receive any answer.”
I wrote Gandhi another letter: “On the one hand you say you are non-violent, and on the other hand you worship the Gita, which teaches simply violence and nothing else.” The whole book is a teaching for violence. Krishna, to his disciple Arjuna, is teaching, “You go to the war, fight, because that’s what is the will of God, because without his will nothing happens. So if this big war is happening, it cannot happen without his will.” Krishna tries in every way to persuade Arjuna. Arjuna argues but he is not a great logician, otherwise it was so simple.
If I was in his place, I would have simply got out of the chariot and walked towards the forest, and told him, “This is what God wills. What can I do? I am simply following his will. Nobody can do anything against his will, so if I am going to the forest to meditate and not to fight, it is his responsibility.” There was no need for any argument. And the whole Gita is just an argument: Arjuna trying to argue or non-violence and Krishna imposing violence because God wants it. His sole argument is, “You should surrender to God’s will and do whatever He wants.” Arjuna must have been stupid. I would have accepted in the very beginning—there would have been no need for the Gita—that “You are right, I surrender and now I will do only that which God wants.” And I would have walked into the forest.
This is by OSHO………….
Nimit Vora, you are good. You have guts to say whatever your mind says. But, brother, please, go deep into yourself and your truth. Nothing wrong , OSHO may wrong, but I want you to truthful and heartful. And you will find more treasures. Go deep and you may find Osho there.
i agree with osho. i never have doubt on osho’s comments
search youself only but not gandhi . osho as a guru will help you all