Osho in the World Press



Osho in the World Press
A sensation in the press precipitates Osho into the world news. In October 1978, Osho responds:
One German film actress (Eva Renzi) had come to India to my commune there. Her image in Germany was falling down; she was getting fewer and fewer films to work in. She wanted some attention so she could again become a great star.
She came to my commune, She did a few groups, meditated, and then suddenly--not saying anything to anybody--she disappeared. And while leaving Bombay airport, she gave a press conference in which everything that she said was a lie: that she has been beaten, she has been raped, that they were going to kill her; somehow she has escaped. In Germany, she became again a great famous star.
Her husband wrote a letter to me. I want you to know what was in that letter. Her husband wrote, "I don't believe what my wife is talking about, because every day she goes on adding more and more against you and your commune. I don't believe that any such thing has happened to her. If it had happened, she should have gone to the police department nearest to your commune. There was no need to go to Bombay, one hundred miles away, give the press conference and get into her plane."
But he said, "I don't believe any of these things have happened, but if they have happened I am immensely pleased, because this is what I have always wanted to do to her but I could not gather courage. She is a bitch!"
What kind of life are people living if the husband carries such ideas about his own wife? And the wife must be doing things to him; otherwise, why should he carry these ideas in his mind? dless10
This is part of the human mind: anything written and people believe it. The written or the printed word has a hypnotic power over people. I say something: if it goes against your scripture you come immediately to me to say that it is not written in the Bible--as if just by writing something it becomes true. If it is not written in the Bible, so what? So it is not written in the Bible! Improve upon the Bible--write it. At least you can write it in your own copy.
But people believe the written word very much; it is almost hypnotic. That's why you can go on believing even stupid newspapers, because a printed thing, a written thing?--then it must be true. All kinds of falsities and lies go on being circulated.
Just the other day I was reading one German newspaper. It says I have two wives, one Indian, one Western. Looks very relevant...because that's why I say "the meeting of the East and the West"! And the more amazing thing is that the picture that he has chosen to show of my two wives--one of them is Shiva! Shiva has long hairs; he is standing with his back towards the camera, so he is my Indian wife! It is really nice of these people....
The other newspaper I was reading has written that I fly in a helicopter. I liked it. I never leave my room...and I fly in helicopters? True, I fly, but I fly without helicopters! And even a greater discovery is there--that I eat only eggs, meat, lobsters, and nothing else! Now millions of people in Germany will believe it: a written thing is a written thing after all.
Another newspaper has a report that the reporter came to the ashram early in the morning, at five-thirty. He knocked on the door. A naked, utterly beautiful woman opened the door, hugged him, welcomed him, "Come in," plucked a fruit from this tree--looked like an apple--gave the fruit to the reporter, and told the reporter, "Eat it. It rejuvenates sexual energy."
And you will be surprised--letters have started arriving. One man writes from Austria: "I am sixty and I have a young wife. Please, Osho, be kind to me. I can come to India. I have heard that in India things like that happen. Can you give me that fruit?"
It is believed, and all kinds of rubbish, all kinds of falsities and lies go on being written. And many believe. secret11
From Germany my friends have written that you should be alert, because so much of this kind of false information is spreading here, its effect will be that all kinds of mentally ill people, psychological insane people will start reaching the ashram. death10
A journalist asks: You are still regarded as the guru of free sex in many parts of the world. Is that a misnomer?
It is simply a misnomer; I have never been a guru of sex. On the contrary, I am the only person in the whole world who has been trying to transform people's sexual energy into spiritual energy. I am against repression because repression of sexual energy means there is no chance of spiritual growth.
The people who have been with me have become less and less sexual, and have become more and more spiritual. Those who have been with me longer have lost all interest in sex.
If you want to call me something, I am the guru who is absolutely anti-sex. But you know third-rate journalism which thrives on sensationalism--they created the misnomer. last408
Strange things they go on saying--and not only saying, but believing. And now it is not only in India that they are saying hard words about me, it is almost all over the world.
Just yesterday I received an article published in London. They say that I brainwash people here and when their brains are washed away completely, then the men are sent for smuggling jobs and the women are sent for prostitution. That's what I am doing to you, so beware! Once your brain is washed completely these two alternatives are left. And the man who writes it, writes it with great confidence as if he knows.
Just the other day I received a news from Bombay. A sannyasin has come across a few photographs in a studio. The sannyasin could see in the pictures somebody who looks like me. At the first glance he was shocked; when he looked closely then he could see that it was somebody else, but with some similarity. Now, they have bribed this man to be naked among naked women, and they have taken his pictures, and now they are going to publish them all over the world. Great idea! I really loved it. Some imagination.
But this is how they have been doing always. And I am not saying that they do it knowingly. No, they may be thinking that they are serving humanity, they are making people aware of the danger that I am. They may have every good intention behind all these things; that makes it more complex. They are simply servants of humanity. dh0903
Just the other day, I was reading a report in the Indian Express. Their journalist had come here for just two or three days. He writes in his report that thousands of people were sitting so silently that you could hear the birds chirping in the trees. They were so silent, it was as if there was nobody there.
And what is his conclusion? He thought it was all managed, that it was a performance. He thought it was a performance to impress the poor journalist from the Indian Express! He could not believe it, because he knows Indians, and he knows Indian meetings.... That Indian journalist must have seen many many such meetings. So, seeing three thousand people sitting silently here, nobody stirring, nobody talking with each other, it was natural to conclude that it was just to impress him.
When I was leaving that day, I saw two persons sitting here who looked absolutely out of place. And when I bowed down to you, they did not respond. Now, if many such people are here around me, nonresponsive, I will not be able to pour out my heart; it will be impossible. wisdom06
A small anecdote:
A little boy and his father are in front of the lion's cage at the zoo. Suddenly the little boy comes too close to the cage and the lion is almost on the boy.
A man standing by with a swift movement grabs the boy and saves him.
A journalist happens to be among the crowd, so he decides to write an article about the man's courageous act. Among other questions he asks him, "What religion do you belong to?"
"I am agnostic," replies the man.
The next day the newspaper carries the following headline: "Pinko Commie snatches lunch from hungry African immigrant." ggate209
Perhaps Satyananda is here. He came as a journalist from Stern magazine in Germany. He was one of their topmost journalists, but he wanted to feel it--the meditations, the groups, silent sittings with me, discourses...he remained there for a few weeks. He wanted an inside story, not just a story from an outsider. He collected so much material and he was so happy when he went...before leaving he became a sannyasin, too. But as he reached the Stern office they started laughing. They said, "He is completely hypnotized! Look at his red clothes, mala...he is not the man we sent."
When they saw his report they simply said, "Not a single word from this report can be published. You have been brainwashed, you don't know what you are writing. You are under hypnosis, you are being used as a medium; you don't know what you are doing."
He said, "What nonsense are you talking? I have not been hypnotized."
But what can he do? The report belongs to Stern, not to the writer. The writer is paid for it.
He went on struggling, negotiating--"This much you can cut...this much you can cut.... " And finally only one sixth remained. They distorted his whole beautiful article.
But he was disillusioned completely--this freedom of expression, all these democratic values are just words. He resigned his position on the grounds that they had been printing things which were not true, and because they had inserted whatever they wanted into his article.
He told them, "I cannot serve here like a slave anymore. You have not purchased my mind."
He wrote a book, which became a best seller in Germany. He came back to live in India, and then he was in America with me. sermon11
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