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Priests
and Politicians - Mafia of the Soul
Chapter
1. Priests & Politicians - A Silent Conspiracy
'Forget
the war in Iraq' - Bush
'Forget
the child abuse by priests' - Pope
"The
Pope blessed Adolf Hitler.
Now,
this is what I call subtle politics.
Blessing
Adolf Hitler is simply getting into a contract, getting into a conspiracy."
Osho
All your so-called spiritual people are in deep conspiracy with the politicians. There has always been a conspiracy between the priest and the politician, a subtle strategy to dominate people.
Your
so-called spiritual persons don't say anything against the establishment. That
does not mean that they are not political - in fact they are for the
establishment; they are political. They never say anything against it - their
silence is their support.
In
India, we have a saying: Maunam Sammati Lakshanam - to be silent is a sign of
agreement, not to say anything is to agree.
Karl
Marx is perfectly right as far as these so-called spiritual persons are
concerned, that religion has functioned as an opium for the people. Your
so-called religious people have been teaching others to submit to the
establishment, to obey the establishment, to never go against the established
order whatever it is.
I
am not a religious person, a spiritual person, in that sense. I am a rebel. You
cannot categorise me with anybody else. And, to me, life is an organic unity;
it cannot be divided, it cannot be split. I will comment on poetry, and I will
comment on politics too, because life consists of all these dimensions.
My whole teaching
is: Rejoice - never renounce. Rejoice in the totality of life, the wholeness of
it. Rejoice, and rejoice again.
I am not a
religious person, a spiritual person, in that sense. I am a rebel - Osho
I
am not a politician, true. But when I see something going wrong, I have to make
people aware of it. I have every right to speak on poetry, although I am not a
poet; I have every right to speak on music, though I am not a musician. But I can
show my likes and my dislikes, I can indicate where things are going.
I
am simply a light. And if the light is there in the room, it lights everything
that is there - the furniture, the painting on the wall, the ceiling, and
everything. I am just a light, a mirror: I will reflect everything that is
happening.
So
please forget that old division. It has really been a compromise; down the
ages, the politician and the priest have bargained. This has been the bargain,
that the politician will not interfere with the priest; he will pay his
respects to the priest, to the church. And the priest should not interfere with
the politician; he should pay his respects to the state, and help people to be
obedient to the state.
I
am in no conspiracy, in no contract, with anybody. I will say things as I see
them, and I don't care whether you think me spiritual or not. Who cares? I know
perfectly well that thousands of Indians will be puzzled, because they think a
spiritual person should not talk about politics. They really don't understand.
Do
you think Krishna did not talk about politics? He not only talked about
politics - he participated. In fact, Arjuna was trying to escape from the war.
It was Krishna who persuaded him, convinced him, that it was a war which had to
be fought. Because when it is a question of evil and good forces, you have to
be with the good forces.
And
you have to be with the future, because the past is gone and gone for ever.
Forget all about it.
Create
the future, forget that which has been. Don't waste your time with it: create
the future.
And
the future has much thrill in it; a great adventure is awaiting you. And this
country keeps looking backwards. This country never looks forwards. Its golden age
has passed; it was once, thousands of years ago. If your golden age is in the
past, then life is going to remain a drag, because you will be falling and
falling farther and farther away from the golden age.
This
is not a right vision of things. The golden age has to be in the future; it
always has to be created. Your eyes should look towards the future. And when
you look towards the future, your present becomes meaningful, because then
there is a possibility of great adventure, exploration. Then the thrill of
creativity grips you, and the soul is created through it.
I
am not a spiritual person in the ordinary sense; I am a class unto myself. You
cannot categorise and label me with others; I represent nobody else but myself.
What you call me - spiritual, religious, or anything else that you want - does not
matter. These labels are useless.
I
will go on destroying your labels. I will keep trespassing over your labels and
your boundaries. That's what I have always been doing: you try to define me,
and I destroy your definition, because any and every definition is a bondage.
And I am not here to fulfil anybody's expectations.
And
to me, to divide life is to create a schizophrenic world. Politics and poetry
and religion and music and painting - are all together. These are all
dimensions of the same life. I accept life in its totality. Remember, life is
an organic whole, it cannot be divided; if you divide it, you destroy it.
I
believe in totality, I believe in wholeness. To me, to be whole is to be holy,
and there is no other kind of holiness. To me, the totality of life is God.
Worship it in every possible way.
I
am not a politician; that is not my choice. I have far better things to do. I
am not interested in political power, because to me, power is never there
outside. Power is something inside you, power is your inner reality. And to be powerful
over others is ugly, violent. Be a master of your own self. That is true power.
And a power that never destroys is intrinsically creative, and a power out of
which great poetry arises.
Politics
is the concern with the outside, politics is the concern to change the
circumstances. There is a higher world than politics; that higher world is of
spirituality. It is a concern not with the circumstances, ces automatically but
with the inner space.
Change
the inner space of man, and you will be changing his circumstances
automatically. But still, people who are trying to change the outer
circumstances are doing something; it has its own importance. This is not my
interest.
I
would not like to go into active politics, never. I am finished with all toys,
I am not childish. That does not mean that I cannot comment on toys. I am not a
small child to play with toys, but if a child is playing with toys I can
comment. I can say, "Better toys are possible." I can say, "This
toy is dangerous, don't play with it. This toy can harm you; don't play with it
- throw it away."
This
much I can say. So I don't become a politician just because I have commented on
politics. And I will go on commenting, because I cannot just be a spectator
when millions of people's lives are going slowly slowly into darkness, into
poverty. I cannot just be a spectator. I always wonder - your so-called
spiritual persons who are just spectators, what kind of spirituality do they have?
What kind of compassion do they have? They are cunning people; they have made
secret deals with the politicians. They keep quiet, and they always keep people
in such a state that they never in such a state that they never become
rebellious, that they never become revolutionaries.
The
politicians are always afraid of the rebels. And my sannyasins are going to be
rebels, total rebels, against all kinds of nonsense and stupidity, against all
kinds of bondages.
My
sole concern is religion, my major concern is religion. But I will comment on
other things too, because I take life in its totality. I love life. To me, life
means God. But let me remind you again that I am not a politician, and I don't
want you to become politicians. I would like you to be aware of the whole life
as it is. And a part of it is concerned with politics; you have to be aware of that
too.
The
Pope blessed Adolf Hitler.
Now,
this is what I call subtle politics. Blessing Adolf Hitler is simply getting
into a contract, getting into a conspiracy. All politicians are evil. Then what
should be done? Choose the lesser evil.
I
am not going to the masses to tell them to vote for this or that; I am not
going into any activity. I have far better things to do: my energy has to
remain involved with my sannyasins. I am here to create millions of mystics in
sin the world.
That's
my sole purpose, and that's my joy and my celebration. On the margin I am going
to comment on many things, but those are all just marginal things. And I am a
spiritual person, not in the sense that I am against the world; I am a
spiritual person because I rejoice in the world. The world is the manifestation
of God.
My
whole teaching is: Rejoice - never renounce. Rejoice in the totality of life,
the wholeness of it. Rejoice, and rejoice again.
It
is natural; people have always thought that spiritual persons have to remain
far away from worldly affairs. To me, there is no affair which is worldly; all
affairs are the same, all affairs belong to the one centre. The ordinary life
is also theextraordinary life. It is only a question of seeing, right seeing; then
even pebbles on the street are transformed into diamonds.
I
love life in its totality, as it is. Politics is also part of it. It is not my concern
- but because it is part of life, I am going to comment on it.
(Continued)
