... direction goes down deeper and deeper into destruction, death and darkness. That is death, because that is a move against the nature of the self. Non-violence is the announcement of life; love is life. There is prohibition against the negativeness of violence in the word non-violence and I have heard that two negatives make a positive. Perhaps, in the word non-violence there is an indication of the same...

...Philosophy of Non-Violence...

... Osho Philosophy of Non-Violence: Philosophy of Non-Violence Main Books Headers Help Your browser does not support iframes. < Prev  Osho Philosophy of Non-Violence   Next > Philosophy of Non-Violence From: Osho Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT Book Title: Osho - Philosophy of Non-Violence Chapter #: 1 Location: am in Bombay, India Archive Code: N.A. Short Title: N.A. Audio...

... Brahman which is the existence the knowledge and the bliss...... These all are the ways of an ostrich for hiding his face in the sand... This is not the way of human exertion. This is the false satisfaction of those who are devoid of power for exertion. Question PHILOSOPHY OF NON-VIOLENCE I peep into your eyes. I see there a torture, an intense pain and a deep sorrow. I find in them not the light and...

... world, that is salvation, that is pain and that is pleasure; that is violence and that is non-violence; that is poison and that is nectar. I am reminded of a discussion held on the gate of a temple. The flag of the temple was fluttering in the morning breeze. Seeing that flag flying, in the golden rays of the sun, to monks were discussing between themselves whether the stir was in the flag or in the...

... wind. A third monk passing near by, said: "Friend, the stir is in the mind." True! All agitation is in the mind and of the mind. If I do not forget, Mahavir, who said: This soul is the enemy; the self itself is the friend." The pure development of soul is non-violence; the impure development of the soul is violence. That is not an indication of behaviour but mainly of the spirit. There...

..., just as our shadow follows. The Agamas refer to this knowledge and say: [Hindi script] (first knowledge; then compassion). First knowledge; then non-violence and then conduct. This is the way to change the circumference from the change of centre. This is the correct way. He who acts against it, makes a basic mistake. He wants to substitute the living by the dead; he wants to substitute the big by the...

... small; he wants to substitute the root by the branches. Such a person sows the seeds of his failure right from the beginning. Let this golden rule be remembered: that the self cannot be converted through conduct; it is the conduct that is converted by the self. Correct knowledge is the basis of correct conduct. Therefore, Hari Bhadra has said: "The soul is non-violence and the same is violence...

...; because non-violence comes into play through the vigilance of the soul and violence follows negligence. Soul alone is non-violence; "soul also commits violence. This is certain. He who is vigilant is non-violent; the other one is violent". If I am awakened within myself, vigilant and conscious, then my conduct is 'non-violent. If I am established within myself, steady-minded and drowned in God...

..., then my movement on the circumference of life is 'nonviolence'. Non-violence is the manifestation of the awakened mind on the surface of the world. Non-violence is the spread of happiness from a consciousness which is established in bliss. As light spreads from a lamp, similarly non-violence spreads from the consciousness which has attained bliss. That light is not for the sake of somebody; that is...

... has never been able to differentiate.' When I hear that showing compassion to others is non-violence, I am very much surprised. What different ways can ego find for self-satisfaction! Its inventive power is wonderful! Non-violence has, in truth, no relation to any such thing. That is light born out of the soul. On whomsoever it falls, they might experience love and compassion; but it is not...

... motivated by that object. I also hear that non-violence should be practised, as if that also is an action which could or could not be performed. At times, how useless and misinformed apparently beautiful discourses can be! We can understand that, on hearing such things. Love is not an action;, that is a state of the self. Love is not done; it just happens; that is not a relation, that is a good feeling...

... individuality, then after that there is nobody who knows it. Then there is no lover; there is only love. I understand non-violence to mean love. That is the pure and perfect experience of love. The negative expression of non-violence has been used only to remove the feeling of relationship in love. In that negativeness there is no denial of love; there is denial only of love being a relation. Love is not a...

... relation; it is a state. The word non-violence has been used to emphasize this truth. But those who start considering it as absence of love, make a big mistake. It is not the absence of love; it is the absence of only those elements which do not allow love to become perfect and pure. That is, no doubt, an absence of those elements which do not allow it to rise from the state of relationship to the nature...

... of the self. That is the absence of love and hatred, attachment and non-attachment. Rising above these bonds, love becomes devoid of attachment. I call love-without-attachment as 'non-violence'. Non-violence is love and, therefore, it is not negative. The word non-violence, is negative, but non-violence itself is not negative. That state of feeling is very positive. Nothing can be more positive...

... than that. What can be more living and positive than love? Violence in which there is absence of love is negative; because that is against nature. I do not want the lack of love or violence towards myself; nobody else wants it. Everyone is thirsty for love. Why no one has the thirst for the opposite of love? I feel that we love, and can love, only our own selves; and if we can understand our own...

... the similarity of ourselves? What is sitting inside the self and the non-self is not different. The ambition of this unseparable consciousness is not the opposite of love or non-violence. Therefore, I said that violence is negative, because that is opposed to nature; and what is negative is destructive. Non-love is a destructive force; that is the maid-servant of death. He who moves from that...

... has been able to describe love as God, and God as love. Truly, it is difficult to search out any manifestation of creativeness better and more demonstrative than love. I find that if this constructiveness and self-strength of non-violence is not keep in view then it just becomes a prohibition of violence. Non-indulgence in violence alone is not non-violence. Non- violence is much more than that...

.... Absence of enmity is not love; love is much more than that. Absence of enmity is not love; love is much more than that. If this difference is not borne in mind then attainment of non-violence is just converted into prohibition of violence. and renunciation of violence. The results of this are killing. The attitude of negativeness and prohibition does not provide broadness to life; it gives narrowness...

..., stagnation and bondage. The individual does not grow; he becomes narrower. Thereby the magnificent life does not grow into the Brahma; it gets narrowed down to the small and to self-conceit. It could have become a river and reached the ocean, but it starts drying up as a tank. To awaken non-violence is like becoming a river; getting involved in mere renunciation of violence is like becoming a tank...

... honour. The head of the monastery, during the course of his introduction to it and its residents, said: "We do not commit violence. We do not use intoxicants. We do not gather wealth." In the same tone he mentioned several other things which the monks would not do. That guest kept listening to all those for a long time and in the end he asked: "I have understood what you do not do; now...

... kindly tell me what you do?" Surely, I also want to ask the same thing. I also want to remind you about this very valuable difference between 'not doing' and 'doing.' Whoever has understood non-violence, or from that point of view the religion, in the language of 'not doing' has fallen into a very basic mistake. What Schweitzer called prohibitions in life, becomes his daily routine. His relations...

... have all returned to him. The currents that he suppresses appear to be gaining speed and he does not know why. The desires with he is at war, whose heads he cuts off from the body and throws away, stand surrounding him again and again, with thousand heads, to his utter surprise! Neither violence, anger nor lust can be made to disappear through suppression alone. These currents do not end through...

... look at all renunciation in the same way. It is nothing more than making room to receive the good when it comes. It is not the forerunner of knowledge, it is the follower; just as the wheels of a cart leave behind their traces without any effort, similar is the case of arrival of renunciation. That is a natural reflection of knowledge. I call violence, irreligion and ignorance as negative in the same...

... somewhere. Only the existent can be brought in and removed. With the non-existent, there can be no direct action; with that all behaviour is invisible. All dealings with that can take place through the medium of what it is the negative. Non-violence, love, bliss and God, are all positive and concrete. They have their existence. They are not negatives or merely absence of others. They exist in themselves...

.... Therefore, the absence of something does not form their existence; although when they come, violence, pain, ignorance, etc. run away like darkness. Perhaps it is wrong even to say that the darkness disappears; because it has never been there. In fact, on arrival of light, the truth, that it was not there and is not there, becomes clear. Now it can be stated that non-violence is not the renunciation of...

... violence but is awakening of the self. It is not a salvation from pain; it is establishment in bliss. It is not renunciation but attainment; even though after its coming, violence may disappear, pain may stop and the great renunciation may follow. If non-violence is to be achieved, the soul will have to be discovered. Non-violence is a result of the same discovery. It can be cultivated. Krishnamurthy has...

... asked: "Can love also be cultivated?" Surely, the cultivated love cannot be love. It is either there or is not there. There is no third alternative. If it flows automatically, it is all right; otherwise it is violence; it is mere acting. What is superimposed with thought and effort is untrue. The true non-violence flows from the intellect, just as heat flows from fire. What becomes manifest...

... cover, the cloth; gold is always present inside. Good conduct and non-violence are the revelation of nature; they are the uncovering of the face. Mahavira accepted them in the same meaning. Whatever exists in the self, that alone is available to non-violence. That action which is merely a conduct and not a natural product of character does not take to the Brahma; it takes to the deeper layers of self...

.... Ignorance is pride; knowledge is freedom from pride. conduct of ignorance goes with self-conceit; conduct of knowledge goes with God. Egoistic conduct is violence; Godly conduct is non-violence. The feeling of self-conceit drags to violence. That feeling is offensive. All violence turns around that axis. In ignorance, conceit prevails on the self. The soul gets drowned in it. What really does not exist...

... appears to be there. This conceit stands separated and in opposition to the 'Power of the world'. Then it has to engage itself in constant self-defence. Constant extinction surrounds it. A feeling of unsafety keeps him company for twenty-four hours. That is a boat of paper which can drown any moment. It is a house of cards and any stir of the air can shatter it. This fear is the birth of violence. In...

... its original mental form violence is fear itself. This fear can develop from self-defence to offence. In truth, even offence is another form of self-defence. Perhaps, Machiavelli has said: "Offence is the best form of defence". If fear remains confined to self-defence alone then ultimately it leads to cowardice. The same fear looks like bravery when it becomes offensive. But whether it is...

... many and powerful proofs of this. The basis of non-violence is fearlessness. In the absence of fearlessness, non-violence is not possible. Mahavira and Buddha have considered fearlessness as an essential pre-requisite for non-violence. I find that the entire consciousness of man is surrounded by, and is made of fear. It is always present on some surface of his mind. This fear, whatever be the form of...

... forms of violence take birth. Therefore, I say that fear itself is violence, and fearlessness is non-violence. To be free from violence, one has to be free from fear; to be free from fear, one has to be free from death; to be free from death, one has to know oneself. I know others; but I do not know myself. How surprising it is? Can there be anything more surprising than that? How mysterious it is...

... thought and beyond the thought. Negation of thought is concentration. Experience of God in the negation of thought is meditation. Meditation is the sight of truth. The experience of meditation is the truth. The conduct of meditation is non-violence. In meditation it appears that what is visible is in1mortal. The illusion of death is gone. With death fear also disappears and fearlessness is born. From...

... fearlessness non-violence flows. One reaches the state of meditation through the self. But on reaching that state, the self and the non- self disappear. That difference was due to thought. Meditation is beyond difference and dualism. It has no difference, no twos. Just as the lamp-thread burns the lamp - oil and ultimately also burns up itself, similarly the self, after getting free from the non-self...

..., becomes free itself. the salvation of the self is also salvation from the self. Meditation is god incarnate. From realization of God, godly conduct emanates. The centre of godly conduct truth and its circumference is non-violence. In meditation, there grow the flowers of truth and fragrance of non-violence. It is necessary to know in complete nakedness, after breaking false conceptions about the self...

...Philosophy of Non-Violence...

... may do so, and standing in that destruction, see what kind of poison there is within you. These poisons will be purged, it will be their catharsis. After this catharsis you will br able to see your violence. To be free from violence, it is inevitable to see violence. VIOLENCE VIS-A-VIS SEXUAL ENJOYMENT From the time of Rashabha to that of Parshva, religion had four slogans; or you can say, the...

...Source of violence in man...

... Osho The Perennial Path The Art of Living: Source of violence in man Main Books Headers Help Your browser does not support iframes. < Prev  Osho The Perennial Path The Art of Living   Next > Source of violence in man From: Osho Date: Fri, 10 November 1970 00:00:00 GMT Book Title: Osho - The Perennial Path - The Art of Living Chapter #: 2 Location: am in Archive Code: N.A...

... declares his inability to do it. One who refuses to choose, refuses also to be a human being. What is, is. After taking wine, man goes back to the animal world. After committing violence, he returns to the animal world. On becoming angry, he goes back to the animal world. So, if you look at a person filled with anger, you will see a human form only but not the soul of a man. If you look at angry eyes...

... understanding of this fact that I am responsible for my destiny. I am the person to decide my fate, transforms man's life. So I said that man is responsible for his ignorance of self-knowledge. He is responsible in the sense that he can remove his ignorance but does not do so. He can be a free man but does not become free. SUBLIMATION OF VYASANAS BY MEDITATION The desire for violence, is not solitary...

.... Suppression of many desires is also linked with it. The desire for violence is already there; there is a longing to commit violence, but there is no scope for it on many occasions. We wish to commit violence but are unable to do it, because our civilization, culture, way of life, circumstances and adverse situations come in our way. It is difficult to find out a person who has not, at one moment or another...

... the desire for violence rises in the mind and it is not possible to put it into practice, the desire persists and the force of the desire is checked outwardly. This goes on accumulating. The desire for violence remains within, and along with it, acts of violence not committed and also fresh desires to commit violence are collected together. The desires thus collected are not of one birth but of many...

... violence. Dissolution of desire for violence and also the dissolution of suppressed flow are equally essential. If the desire for violence goes away new forces of violence are not created in future. Mahavira has used a very fine word for catharsis. We call it purgation which is called catharsis by the western psychologists. Mahavira has called it withering away. It is a wonderful word, means the falling...

... small experiment when there is a desire in your mind to box someone, you will be much perplexed. i am not joking about that experiment. A big science laboratory in America is working on this experiment. There is Esalen Institute in California. There is a very great sage-Rishi in America at present. His name is Pearse. He puts bandages on the eyes of those who have a strong desire to commit violence in...

... says when you have the violence let out with a purpose against someone, it is exhausted. Now show your violence against air, don't show it against any person, because there will be reaction if it is let out against someone. If I box someone, it will not be lost in the sky, the sky will not absorb it. The person whom I box will react. He may react today, or tomorrow or in future. He may wait but he...

... box. In this way the vicious circle of anger and repentance will go on revolving. So when we strike somebody, there follows not only repentance but there is also a preparation to reply to the attack from another person. Thus violence would create a vicious circle, and it becomes difficult to come out of it. But when a person is striking a pillow, this does not happen. In striking a pillow, catharsis...

... object. If no human being is there, let there be a pillow. Mahavira would prohibit us to strike even a pillow. He would tell Pearse there is some - a little - violence committed in this action. One who strikes a pillow projects his enemy in that pillow. There is no enemy receiving the beating, but the striker is enjoying beating and is taking interest in it. This interest also will keep the flow of...

... violence more or less going. Complete catharsis of violence cannot take place in this method. So people having undergone the treatment in Pearse's laboratory, will return to him in about six months' time and will say, 'Violence has again accumulated in our minds.' Now they will again require a pillow and will have to strike it again. The process of meditation asks us to leave aside anxiety of anything...

..., one has to practise subjective violence. Objective violence means not to commit violence with ourselves, and subjective violence means simply to let go violence. Impulses of violence suppressed within a person's mind will disappear, when he is practising meditation, shouts aloud, boxes somebody, or jumps and dances. After an hour's experiment on any day, you can experience this fact, that your...

..., thinking that due to the violence which can be purged thus, you gave pain to others and created a vicious circle. Once Mahavira was standing near a village, at that time some persons came there and beat him severely. Somebody pushed nails in his ears. He was just standing and looking. After some time, somebody asked him, 'Did you not say anything?' You should have said something, you should have at least...

... difficult to find out a better person than I to purge their violence on.' Mahavira behaved like a pillow with those persons. Meditation is purgation, it is catharsis. Meditation means, let that which is taking place within, come out without any purpose. That process of coming out will not be on anybody, but it will be in a void. It is to be dedicated to the void. Examine this by performing a small...

... slogans of religion. Up to Parshva, it was thought that one who attained nonviolence would observe celibacy without any effort. It was thought so because sex itself is a very deep-subtle form of violence. Why is sex called violence? It is essential to understand four slogans in this connection, and it will also be proper to think about why Mahavira considered celibacy as a separate slogan. Mahavira's...

... name is very intimately connected with nonviolence. No other name is so much connected with it. But you will be surprised to know that Mahavira had to separate celibacy from nonviolence. The whole reason why he did this was - that the persons whom Mahavira was addressing were unable to understand violence in its deepest sense, they could understand only the upper layer of nonviolence. As long as one...

... understands nonviolence at the superficial level, one cannot realize that there is violence in sex also. When one understands the deep and subtle nature of nonviolence, one realizes that sexual desire is also one form of violence. But this point was not raised, was not discussed till the time of Parshva, because nonviolence was being understood in its deepest sense by the people. Why was it so? There are...

... happiness, he will get deception, not the truth; he can see dreams but will weep when he wakes up. The desire for another is a positive proof that one hasn't yet got the key to happiness. And there cannot be any sexual enjoyment without the desire for another. Sex is hidden in the desire for another so it is also violence, moreover it is also violence because the semen particles a person has got are all...

... intercourse. These semen particles are lives in seed form. Each particle has the potentiality of becoming an individual, a person. So there is already a massacre - killing of millions of persons in one sexual intercourse. And this killing of millions of persons is violence. It is essential to bear in mind the third point. Those who have understood nonviolence in its true and deep sense will say, the...

... not make the poor fellow so conscious as to forget it by discussing and talking about health. Similarly, an immoral society talks about morality; an amorous or sensual society talks about celibacy; a fallen society talks of their progress and a poor community talks about wealth. We discuss that matter which we haven't got. There was a lot of violence in the times of Mahavira, nonviolence was not...

... understood in its depth, so he was compelled to discuss celibacy separately. Only the discussion about nonviolence was considered enough by Rishabha, and perhaps it was not necessary even to discuss it in the times before Rishabha. When violence grips the mind tightly discussion about nonviolence starts immediately. So I said sex is a kind of violence and absence of sex is the blooming of nonviolence...

... thought it proper to select another word empathy. 'Sympathy' is a false thing, it is deception And if we understand fully that if the sympathy of someone is genuine, that is, he experiences unhappiness in another's unhappiness and experiences happiness in another's happiness, even then it remains as violence, it cannot be nonviolence because as long as there is another, it cannot fulfil the conditions...

... of nonviolence. Nonviolence is an experience of non-duality. It is the experience that apart from the other there is also I. It will certainly be violence if your experience of feeling unhappy on seeing another unhappy is false. And even if the feeling be true, I remain I and the other remains the other. The bridge between the two is not broken and there is no possibility of nonviolence. To know...

... the other as the other is also violence. Why? Because I am living in ignorance as long as I consider the other as the other. In fact the other is not the other. Empathy does not mean knowing that the other is becoming unhappy but it means I myself have become miserable. It is not knowing that the other has become happy, but it means I myself have become happy. It is not like this, that the moon is...

... shining in the sky; but it is I too have been shining. It is not that the sun is rising but that I have risen. It is not that flowers have blossomed but it is I who have blossomed. Empathy means nonduality. Empathy means oneness. Nonviolence is oneness. So, there are three states: one is false sympathy, which is violence, pure and simple; two, genuine sympathy which is a very subtle form of violence...

..., and three, empathy which is nonviolence. It may be violence or a subtle form of violence; it may be genuine sympathy or false sympathy - all these are happenings at the mental level. Empathy is a spiritual happening. lt is never possible for us to be one on the mental level with someone else. My mind has a separate entity, your mind has a separate entity. My body has a distinct entity, your body has...

..., its peak experiences where there is 'One' only. When 'thou and I' have fallen off, one realises that relationship of 'thou and I' is surely violence. Life is a continuous flow, it is an unbroken stream, it is one, but we are unable to experience that oneness, because we have bu;lt ramparts around us, we have built our own walls, we have surrounded us from all sides, we have created boundaries, in...

.... NONVIOLENCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Nonviolence is not social policy and law. If it is social tradition and law, it can never free itself from violence Nonviolence is not social, it is spiritual. If we make nonviolence a social law, then we may, some day, consider violence a necessity. And then it becomes such a disaster that violence will be considered necessary to protect nonviolence. Suppose a man commits...

... violence against somebody, the court will commit violence - punish him because he had committed violence. If a country - a nation commits violence against another country, then the latter will react with violence against the former, because it is considered just to reply violence with violence. To endure violence is injustice, and it is not proper to endure injustice. And the slogan of nonviolence, of...

... which I am talking about is spiritual. And if we wish to discuss social nonviolence, there will always be a relative law of nonviolence also. It will accommodate both violence and nonviolence. These two will be mixed there, it will be like a Mixed Economy. Violence and nonviolence stand side by side here; only their aspects go on changing. Complete or total nonviolence is not possible on the social...

... on the social level. Therefore those who have advocated nonviolence on the social level, have admitted the presence of violence; they will have to do so. Violence will continue. Then violence and nonviolence will be the two aspects of the society according to its necessity. There will be nonviolence when it is required, and there will be violence when i; is necessary and it will be adopted. When...

... emerge a nonviolent society. A nonviolent society is not possible. Only individuals can be The followers of Mahavira's nonviolence. So the society which tries to be nonviolent thinking that it follows Mahavira's nonviolence will simply be a cowardly society, and it will proclaim its cowardice as nonviolence. It will go on calling its lack of daring to commit violence as nonviolence. But if we scratch...

... its skin a little, we shall find streams of violence flowing within. A coward is also a great violent person but he is so only mentally. So bear in mind, a society cannot be nonviolent, I do say that it is never possible. It is very difficult, it is impossible. Only an individual can be nonviolent. The nonviolence which I am talking about is not a social truth, it is an individual achievement...

... Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. Violence is a disease of human beings, but it is not so for beasts. For beasts, it is their nature. There is no possibility of nonviolence at the level of beasts. That is why they haven't got any idea of violence. Violence is the disease which man bas inherited from beasts, and it is a disease obstructing his evolving consciousness. It can be said that...

... millions of years ago, is not yet leaving its pursuit of man, it is still linked with him. I said this as an illustration. Exactly in the same way, violence is an impression carried by man from his life as a beast. Beast cannot live without committing violence. But we cannot live with violence. Man is not born with violence. But we see that man is not doing anything else but fighting for the last many...

... in which the fighting instinct is satisfied. If he cannot go into actual warfare, he would win to fight in a game of chess. In a deep sense, there is a strong longing to defeat others and an interest to fight with others in a game of chess. Life is full of violence on all sides. Violence is a disease for man. Now, it is not inevitable, it may be inevitable for beasts. It should be borne in mind...

... that no sooner is a new step of evolution taken than new responsibilities and new burdens are also taken. Every step in evolution is a step towards greater responsibility. Nonviolence has become his responsibility from the day man left beasthood and evolved as man, because the flower of manhood can never bloom in the midst of violence. His manhood can fully bloom only in the midst of love. That is...

... why I said nonviolence is wholesomeness, violence is a disease. Perhaps there does not exist a more dangerous disease than violence. The meaning of violence, is having such a mind which would remain restless without quarreling, which would not experience happiness without hurting somebody or making someone miserable. Naturally the mind which is eager to hurt others, or to which the only happiness is...

... rhythm is destroyed. All the lines of the poem are scattered away. That condition is really a disease which is produced as a result of breaking of all the wires of a sitar. the body cannot be kept in a healthy condition for long when the mind within becomes diseased. The body always follows the vital breath as a shadow. That is why I say violence is a disease. Nonviolence is freedom from disease...

... is no 'other' so that there is no scope of any conflict. There are no different tunes, all the tunes have merged into oneself. Such a condition is called swasthya. Nonviolence is swasthya in this sense, and violence is a disease. In its journey of millions of years, the human body has accumulated poisonous ganglions which are quite necessary for emergency. When he was an animal, a beast, they were...

... of the bull! The soul or spirit of the bullock did not develop, only his body became humble or pitiable. If some ganglions of human body are cut off, man would not be able to commit violence, but he would not also be nonviolent. These two are quite separate matters. Then man will be a humble, pitiable human being. Then he will be like an old person suffering from sex-desires but is unable to enter...

... the world of sex. Such a person cannot evolve. Such a person, if created, will not oppose, will not rise in revolt. Slavery will be his soul. He will be non-rebellious. Violence remains there only in an important form. Violence will get accumulated there and go on whirling. There will be disease in the soul, the soul will be devoid of music harmony. But the body will be incapacitated even to send...

... that musiclessness, absence of music - to others. We can break this bulb, but its electric current will not be cut off due to the breaking of the bulb, but the current will not be seen. Electricity is shining through the medium of bulb but the bulb is not electricity. Violence is produced through the medium of ganglions but they are not violence. And one more thing which should be borne in mind is...

... that when violence itself is taking leave of man's mind, the accumulated source of poison and exciting substances making man disharmonious, will now begin to create a new chemical revolution in man's life. It is said about Mahavira that his perspiration did not emit bad smell. This may look like a got-up story, but it is not very unscientific. This is possible; it does not matter much whether sweet...

... kinds of scents are prepared and which are sold in markets, you will know that sweet smell is due to transformation of bad smell. Nonviolence has its own sweet smell and violence has its own bad smell. Love has its own sweet smell, lust or passion has its own bad smell. Similarly truth has its own sweet smell while untruth or falsehood has its own bad smell. That is why I am not in favour of making or...

... transforming man biologically nonviolent. If a person becomes nonviolent in the spiritual sense, his biology and also his 'body-chemistry' will be transformed and fragrance of sweet smell will start flowing from where there always emitted bad smell. One more question is asked. Is violence disintegration of the mind into many parts from the point of view of psychic anatomy? Nonviolence is integration...

... other person, he is unable to show much about that other person but is showing much about himself. His act of speaking ill of others tells us what he is projecting. There is some conflict going on within him, which he is planting on another person. And so when there is no conflict going on within, the matter of planting it ceases at once. Man's mind is fragmented. His violence is born in this very...

... place. When man's mind begins to be nonviolent, it will become whole, unfragmented - it will be one. And when the mind becomes one whole, then there are no different or opposite tunes, then there begins a dance of joy. In man's life, a flute of joy begins to chime and people reach God travelling on that road of flute of joy. They have not reached God by any other road, they cannot. IMPACT OF VIOLENCE...

... one's self, because he alone can live with himself who has achieved the highest of joy within. One who is full or misery within is anxious to live with another. So I told you violence is unhappiness - uneasiness within. That is why a violent mind is always in search of another, sometimes it is in search of a friend and sometimes in search of an enemy. And it does not take much time in doing so, as the...

... willing, touch the highest peak of supreme existence? That is why we are in search of another, and there will certainly be violence in us as long as we remain in search of another. Violence enslaves others. There are many kinds of slavery. There are sweet kinds of slavery which are worse than bitter ones, because there is some honesty, some sincerity in bitter types. Sweet kinds of slavery are very...

... ourselves. Then violence will start again and we shall be in search of another because we cannot live without him. We shall certainly make him a slave without whom we cannot live, we shall certainly possess him, we shall certainly be his master, we shall certainly claim ownership of him. And we shall destroy those - kill those - whose masters we become. That mastership can be of any type, because all...

... types of ownership kill and destroy. Ownership is a very subtle violence, it is a subtle murder. This ownership is the killing of somebody slowly. A religious teacher also can enslave somebody and kill him. There are many types of slavery. When we chain somebody, grip his neck tightly, become dependent on him, then we hang like a stone - a weight - on his neck. And this action of hanging is a downward...

... journey. There is no end to this journey. It goes on spreading. Ours is such a mind which remains in search of another. Such a mind journeys downwards. Its violence goes on increasing. Such a mind will assume many forms, it will have thousands of faces, it will have thousands of ways, it will suppress others, harass them, torture them. There can be very subtle and cunning ways and methods of torturing...

... journey begins with his own self. It leaves the outside and enters within because the other is always the outer, the other is always the without. He will certainly be out. As long as the search continues for the other, he (the other) will always be out, even though that 'other' be a wife, or a beloved, or a lover or even God. If anyone looks even at God as some other person then violence will continue...

... and in that action there cannot be freedom from violence. That is why Mahavira rejected 'God of the outside' because he thought 'if God is the other', there would be a way for violence. So very few people understood why Mahavira rejected God. The ignorant thought Mahavira was an atheist, they thought Mahavira said so because God is perhaps non-existent. Mahavira said 'There is no God except you...

... geographical positions - places like heaven and hell. Everything depends on which direction one's mind's attitude looks at. Violence is the decline and nonviolence is the upward movement of life-force. NATURE OF VIOLENCE Violence is a thing given to man by nature but it is not the nature of man. It is animal's nature, it is the nature of beasts. Man has passed-travelled-through this nature and so has carried...

... all the experiences - impressions of that animal life with him. Violence is like this: suppose a man is passing on a road and is covered with particles of dust and when he enters a palace, he refuses to remove those particles of dust saying they have come with me, they are a part of me. Those dust-particles are those things which have stuck on man's soul while passing through an animal life. They...

... have become fixed but they are not the nature of man. Violence is natural far beasts, it is their nature because they have no choice in this matter. Violence is not natural for man because he has a choice in this matter. In fact, manhood to be human - begins with this choice. Manhood begins with this decision. Manhood begins with this resolve. Man is standing at the cross roads. All beasts are on a...

... God for some person, it means that there is so much humanity in them that it is found insufficient to call him man. What a man is, is not everything; much more can happen to him. There is a very great potentiality in him. His past is linked with his journey - through beasthood, that condition is that of violence. And what he can be is his nonviolence. The nature of man is that which it will be when...

... it will evolve itself fully. The reality about man is what he has accumulated in his journey uptil now. That is why I say violence is acquired, nonviolence is the nature. So violence can be given up; but nonviolence can only be achieved, it cannot be given up. It is very necessary to understand this difference. Every sinner has a future and every sinner has an opportunity to be a saint in future...

... future. If a bud wishes to be a flower, it can become a flower. So when we tell a bud that it is your nature to be a flower, it doesn't mean we are talking of a fact, we simply talk of potentiality. When we tell a bud it is your nature to be a flower, it means, if you wish to be a flower, you can be a flower. Thus if man says violence is my nature, he is talking like the mistaken bud, which thinks that...

... it can be a bud for ever. Violence is not the nature of man; it is the acquisition of his past, it is the impression of his past. Violence is man's conditioning which was unavoidable through the process of his evolution from beastly life. Beast is to be pardoned because violence is unavoidable in its life. Man cannot be pardoned, because violence is his choice; it is not inevitable when he chooses...

... violence. Violence is inevitable for beasts, it is a responsibility for man. It is a fact for beasts, for man it is merely a historical memory. It is the present for beasts, it is past for man. We have the choice in front of us. Man can take a decision to be nonviolent; he can take a decision to be violent also. That is why when a certain person takes a decision to be violent, no beast can compete with...

... any memory - any record - in this matter.' It is very interesting to know that no animal except man becomes atrocious towards its own fellow-members. No animal kills another animal of its class, does not commit violence towards it. This distinguishing feature is also there in the violence of animals. Man is the only animal who kills other men. It is interesting to know that if an Indian wolf is left...

... worthless, new ones are being found out. New causes prove that old ones have become useless, they are not to be used now. Let us find out new ones. Uptil now we have killed many Hindus and Muslims, let us now make Hindus and Jains quarrel. If we do not succeed in Hindu-Jain quarrels, let us start dividing them into the rich and the poor. Let us have a class-war. Thus when man wants to commit violence, to...

... kill, he conveniently finds out causes. Animals never kill without a cause. I am telling you this that if we understand violence of man we shall see that man becomes violent without any cause. So violence is his choice and that is why no animal can become as cruel and violent as man can be. To be violent is simply the nature of animals, it is not its choice, that is why there can be a Nadirshah and...

... approach is existential, not mental. Non-violence - the very word is not appealing to me, it is not my taste, because it is negative. Violence is positive, non-violence is negative. Nobody has paid any attention to the simple fact that you are making violence positive, solid - and non-violence is simply negating it. I call it reverence for life, I don't use the word non-violence. Reverence for life - it...

... countries, insects of all kinds grow very easily. A certain insect - I don't know what you call it in English - KHATMAL...? "It means 'bedbug', Osho." Bedbug - that is a parasite. Jainas cannot kill them because of their philosophy of non-violence. They cannot kill them, but if nobody sleeps on those cots, the bedbugs will die - so they hire people. They will give you five rupees per night: you...

... remember: a man believing in nonviolence need not be necessarily life-reverent. But one who reveres life is bound to be non-violent - that is just its necessary corollary. But his non- violence will have a totally different flavor. It will not be Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence. For example: Gandhi is continually trying to teach non-violence to his disciples - and following it himself He is not a fraud...

... want the distinction to be clear. It is delicate. The man who believes in non-violence will be very careful not to be violent to anybody - too careful! But because he has not experienced reverence for life - it is only an ideology; rationally he has concluded that this is good, that this is the right path - he is going to be very violent to himself In fact his violence towards others will turn upon...

... believing they are saints, superior beings, higher than everybody else. In their egoistic attitude there is more violence than there may be in the whole life of a hunter who has killed many animals. The non-violent believer does no violence to you physically, but psychologically he is very violent. Psychologically he will try to prove his superiority in every possible way. And one thing more: whatsoever...

... violence he has prevented reaching others has not simply disappeared; things don't disappear like that. The violent mind is inside. If you don't allow it to express its violence on others, it is going to turn upon itself So non-violent people have been torturing themselves in every possible way. They are very inventive in finding new methods of torturing themselves. The violence has not disappeared, it...

... has only taken a roundabout turn. Gandhi was very violent to himself - just any excuse and he would go on a fast. Fasting is violence. If you keep somebody else starving it is violence. And if you keep yourself starving, isn't it violence? Do you have double standards? Whether I keep you starving or I keep myself starving, it is the same; the same principle and the same standard should be applied: I...

...? What has he gained by standing? lust look at his face! Has he ever said a single thing which has any meaning?" He was a very ordinary man. But he managed, just by standing, to become a great sage. Now, this man is non-violent to everybody but himself This is sheer violence. And I cannot conceive, if you have reverence for life, how you can destroy your own life in this way. Jainism is the only...

... still breathing, but except for the breathing and the pulse and the heartbeat, there is no sign of life. For three months he may hang on in this limbo, between death and life. And these people are non-violent people! Gandhi learned his non-violence from these idiots. He recognized as one of his gurus, his masters, a Jaina monk, Shrimad Rajchandra, who tortured himself and taught people the same...

... followed by everybody. Of course he was far ahead of the disciples, so he had the authority. The disciples knew that they had limitations, but they would do the best they could. The master of course is the master. I have no philosophy of non-violence, but I have a way of life which you can call reverence for life. And this is a totally different perspective. Non-violence simply says don't kill others. Do...

... you are not obliging anybody, you are not doing a service; you are simply enjoying yourself. The same way those people are enjoying torturing, you are enjoying sharing. So I want it to be remembered by you once and for all that reverence for life is my approach. Non-violence comes automatically, there is no need to bother about it. And when it comes of its own accord it is never ugly. And you ask me...

...: What do I say about the Christian philosophy, the Christian attitude of turning the other cheek? Jesus has learned that idea from India. There was no other way for him to learn it, because Jewish scriptures have no ideas about non-violence. Even the Jewish God is not non- violent. He clearly declares, "I am an angry God. And those who are not with me are against me. I am not nice," he says...

... Adolf Hitler said, "Those who are not with me are against me," perhaps he was not aware that he was being very Jewish! That is the attitude of the Jewish God. Somewhere Jesus got the idea of non-violence. It had never existed anywhere except India. And particularly at the time when Jesus moved from Egypt to India, it was very much in the air because Mahavira had just passed away five hundred...

... years before, Buddha had just passed away five hundred years before. Sanjay Viletthiputta who was a very significant Master, Ajit Keshkambal who was also a very charismatic figure, Makhkhali Gosal - all these people had turned the whole climate of India into non-violence. Everybody was talking about non-violence. Brahmins became ashamed of their scriptures; they started changing the commentaries on...

... non-violence. He got the idea from India, and that is one of the reasons why the Jews could not accept him. He had got many ideas from India, from Egypt, and then when he came back he was thirty. From thirteen to thirty - seventeen years are completely missing from all Christian accounts. Those seventeen years he spent in Egypt, in India, in Kashmir, in Ladakh, and perhaps in Tibet too. And the vibe...

... of Buddha and Mahavira was still very alive, so it was not his own vision either. But he became tremendously impressed by the idea of non-violence. And the idea was rational: to harm somebody must be against God, because it is God's creation - you should not be destructive. But the question was, if others harm you, then...? That's where turning the other cheek comes in; that was his invention. It...

... is mentioned nowhere in Indian scriptures that you turn the other cheek. The question was not raised, it seems. Non-violence was preached so rationally that nobody asked, "If somebody harms you, then what?" Mahavira and Buddha would be perfectly ready: "Let him harm you, he will be punished by his karmas. Do not bother about it; you go on your way." Yes, once Buddha was asked...

... the Jewish structure at all. Jesus said that if somebody hits you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. You are asking me what I have to say about it. This will be the attitude of a man who believes in the idea of non-violence, the philosopher of non-violence. But when you are hit by somebody and you give him the other cheek, you are encouraging violence in the world. It is not non-violence. And you...

... are assuming something which is absolutely your imagination. If somebody hits me, according to Jesus I have to give him my other cheek. But his tastes may be different. He may have enjoyed the first hit, he may enjoy the second even more; he may be a sadist. Then you are encouraging a sadist to torture people; you are encouraging violence. Even to allow your own body to be tortured by somebody is to...

... encourage violence. No, this stupid ideology has been the downfall of the whole of India. After Buddha and Mahavira, India never again became the same golden bird it was. After Buddha and Mahavira begins the downfall. Buddha and Mahavira are absolutely responsible for twenty-five centuries of slavery in India, because they taught people to be non-violent. They completely forgot that the other people...

... even. If you look at your non-violence and it has provoked violence, then what kind of non-violence is this? It has brought more violence in the world than there was before. Before Buddha and Mahavira, India was never invaded. There had never been any violence because people knew that to invade India was to just invite your death. But after Buddha and Mahavira's teachings people became just like...

... butter - you just cut into them with your knife, and there would be no noise at all. And millions of people were killed, burned without any resistance, because resistance would be violence. But you go on missing seeing the point that you are provoking the violence in the other person. Who is responsible for it? Now turning the other cheek means you are telling the other person, "Please hit me a...

... respect life, yours included. In fact, you are first to be respectful towards yourself, then only can you be respectful towards anybody else. Be loving towards yourself, then you will be able to love others too. Reverence for life will not allow any provocation to violence. It will not start violence, but if anybody starts it, it will stop it immediately. Jesus says, "If somebody hits you on one of...

... simultaneously, 'I do not believe in violence, hence I have to stop it at the first chance. And remember that you cannot just be violent without being prevented.'" You have to prevent violence if you respect life. And in another way too, it is respectful to hit the man, not to give him your other cheek, because that is very disrespectful. This may seem a little difficult for you: you hit me, and I don't...

... India, and the experiment has completely failed. Twenty-five centuries of slavery, slaughter, rape, and still nobody raises a finger and says that Buddha and Mahavira are responsible for it. They created this impotence in the whole country, this weakness in the whole country. No, I am not in favor of creating impotence, slavery, and provoking people to do violence to you. Never do violence of your own...

... transforms and grows into a tree. The tree dies after some time but leaves behind thousands of seeds with potential energies. The seed is not destroyed, it is transformed, because there is a tree now where there was a seed formerly. Celibacy does not mean the destruction of sex, now celibacy is there where there was sex yesterday. Where the nausea of sex energy was running out yesterday, there the same...

... returns the energy to you within twenty-four hours. So you feel that nothing is wasted. These are all biological functions of life but life goes beyond all those routines. We can move higher only after we break out of this vicious circle and stop wasting our energy in these circles. We get to know about it after we have experienced the positive aspects of this energy. VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL DESIRE It is...

... impossible to have a sexual intercourse without violence even if Mahavira or Buddha or Krishna is born out of it. It may be less but that is a different thing. Violence will certainly be there. No birth is possible without violence. Therefore longing for birth is also violence. If Mahavira was desirous, even to a small extent in his previous birth, he will be born. Mahavira is also accused of that violence...

.... His parents are certainly guilty of violence and Mahavira also shares in that violence because he was eager to take birth. Parents only create a situation. Therefore when this violence on the part of Mahavira is over, he cannot be born again after that. There is a very interesting story about Mahavira. It applies to all Jain Tirthankars - religious teachers. The Jain-tradition says to belong to...

... becoming a teacher is also violence. Whoever desires a birth - he may be Mahavira or he may be Krishna - will have to pass through violence. And when this violence is over the births of men like Mahavira will be over. Then there is no way to come back. The last desire to come back is finished. There is violence in my birth, in your birth, and in Mahavira birth. That violence will be in proportion to the...

... intensity of the desire to be born. Birth cannot take place without this violence. It is necessary to understand that birth is violence, life is violence, death is violence. We cannot live without violence. It does not make any difference if a person eats meat or eats vegetables only. There is life in vegetables, so he commits violence. He will certainly drink water. There is life in water too. A person...

... has to breathe so the;e is life in breath also. I utter one word, lips open once, and shut once, but lakhs of bacteria die in that single operation. Violence will be there. It is another matter that Mahavira committed less violence, but he is certainly not out of it. There will be violence while walking, stepping forward, breathing, standing and sitting. So our entire life is swimming in the ocean...

... of violence. We are the fish in that ocean. While we live, total nonviolence is not possible. An attempt to achieve total nonviolence is worthwhile. But if I go on decreasing violence throughout my life, if I go on diminishing my desire for violence, if I go on taking less and less interest in violence, I shall reach the point of my last breath, this will be my last act of violence. And when that...

... case of Mahavira it was a gap of nearly forty to forty-two years. There was violence before these forty-two years. But the point of view was changed. The violence which was there before Mahaviras arrival, was not known as such, but after his arrival it was known as violence. The former one was done unconsciously, now it is conscious, so it is minimum. Mahavira does not commit violence of his own...

... accord. Only that much violence is committed which is absolutely necessary to live. Even there he tries to commit as little violence as possible. He sleeps on one side. He does take food, but he can go on with one meal, he takes it once only. Then he takes food once in two days. He does not eat meat, but takes only vegetables. He prefers dried vegetables and dried fruit to green ones, because to pick...

... up green vegetables and fruit would be to give pain to them. Dried up things fall themselves, but there are innumerable lives in them also. They will certainly be killed. Whatever violence was committed by Mahavira after achieving Supreme Knowledge, was committed through sheer helplessness. The final breath will also be in that helplessness. There will be supreme liberation after the last breath...

... postpone things, and that is very dangerous. Another thing that happens as a result of a goal-oriented outlook is that it creates suppression in the mind of a person and creates a sort of torture due to one's remaining violent. He wants to be nonviolent - what can he do? Should he suppress violence, should he pretend being nonviolent - what can be the way out? Since I am violent, even after my pretending...

... nonviolence, my violence is going to continue. It is therefore very interesting to note that in becoming nonviolent I shall use violence. If I have to be nonviolent I will run away from my wife; it does not matter if due to my action my wife dies of starvation and the children begin to beg in the streets - in the process I am becoming nonviolent. The irony of the situation is that this violent behavior of...

...;botheration." That man was of a very violent nature, because even at her moment of death he had no feeling of compassion, pain, or sensation of unhappiness. What he said was full of violence, and during these twenty years he had been practising nothing but violence. What else can a poor violent person do in trying to be nonviolent? He can only make use of violence. He will be violent towards others and...

... towards himself also. It becomes problematic when we become violent to others: we know and others also know that we are violent, but when we become violent to ourselves we do not understand that we are violent. If a man goes on a long fast we do not think he is doing any violence. But when I catch hold of a person, lock him up in a room, do not give him any food, and keep him starving for a number of...

... of who you are and what you are doing. Let this be understood properly. If I am doing violence, let it go deep within me that I am violent, and let that violent nature of mine become clearer and go deeper in my awareness, and let me realise that I am violent from morning till evening; let me realise that when I am walking on the road there is violence in my walk also. Violence is not such that it...

... happens only when one puts a knife into somebody's chest. It is thought by people of very poor intelligence that only when you put a knife into another person's chest does it become violence. The violence of staring at a person in a particular way can become more violent than putting a knife in his chest. Violence can happen even if you do not look at somebody at all. It is not only a question of seeing...

... charity, if you can look within his mind, he will be doing violence. While giving charity somebody's poverty is not a matter of importance for him, but when he is giving charity it is he who is giving, who is important, not the one who is receiving it. While giving charity also his ego is getting nourished. Whatsoever that violent person does will be violent. Therefore what I want to tell you is that it...

... is not necessary to make nonviolence a goal. It was an old trick, but it has failed. It has caused great harm. What is necessary is to know what I am, know it and recognize it. What am I today? What am I now? If my recognition of this becomes quite clear, I do not have to do anything else. The more clearly I see that violence is existing every moment in me, the deeper will be my understanding. The...

... moment I see violence as violence, violence will become impossible. Violence will disappear. My sitting, standing, eating, drinking, walking, speaking, meeting - everything, all my gestures will change. I will not have to change it; I will not change anything, keeping nonviolence as a goal before me. I should just recognize that violence exists in me, and the transformation will happen. It is...

... understanding that changes. Just as the changes happen, I will know that violence is disappearing. When violence disappears, what remains is nonviolence. It means that nonviolence is not a goal which is to be reached tomorrow. If today violence disappears from my mind, then today nonviolence is achieved - this very moment. Nonviolence is neither to be brought from anywhere, nor to be reached. Nonviolence is...

... not a matter of any gap in time, that I will reach within ten years or after trying for ten births; it is not a goal. If my violence disappears today I am nonviolent today. How can this violence disappear? It cannot disappear through any violent means. If one thinks that by going on a fast he can become nonviolent.... Fasting itself is a violent means, a torture, suicidal. By fasting, neither...

... violence can disappear, nor can nonviolence happen. A person may say, "I shall stand on my head or remain lying on a bed of thorns" - all these are violent means. Through them one cannot become nonviolent. Then the question arises: What can be the means for achieving nonviolence? The first thing: Understanding is the first means. There is no other nonviolent method in this world as good as...

... understanding - because for one whose understanding increases, violence becomes impossible. Understanding is so nonviolent that violence is impossible. Once you are able to see that this is violence, it disappears. The moment of your seeing becomes the moment of its disappearing. Nothing more has to be done. Now the question you have raised about the present education system - whether it will be able to do...

... are like that. All arrangements are based on violence, but the goal is of nonviolence. The whole arrangement is dishonest, but we go on talking about honesty. Ultimately what has happened is that the greater the dishonesty there is in the mind, the greater is the illusion of honesty. Those words "honesty is religion" written on our doors can enable perpetration of a bigger dishonesty. It...

.... Length: N.A. Beloved Bhakti, Love. Anger, violence, greed or envy cannot be overcome by the cultivation of their opposites. Because anger itself will cultivate its opposite. And violence will be present in its cultivated non-violence. So always be aware of the hypnotic spell of the opposite. It never solves any problem. Because it is beating around the bush. Do not fall into the trap of the opposite...

.... But understand anger, violence or greed or anything else directly. To seek the opposite is a way of escape. To seek the opposite is cowardice. Live with your mind as it is. Do not try to change it. Be brave to face it and to understand it. When the light of awareness falls on anger, or greed, or envy, there is a change. Awareness acts as a catalytic agent. And then anger does not change into its...

... opposite. It is not that violence becomes non-violence. But there is no-anger. There is no-violence. And when there is no-violence, there is no-mind. And an altogether different dimension opens its door. The dimension of the spontaneous. The dimension of the Divine. 22-5-1971 Generated by PreciseInfo ™ ...

... prescription. Life is moving forward and the follower is dragging it backwards. The followers who assembled around Gandhiji were broadly of two kinds: Political minded and theoretical minded, later turning into the autocratic and the pedantic. The former is busy exercising power, the latter is busy spinning Gandhian scriptures. The Gandhian in power killed truth, non- violence and all, the Gandhian in ashram...

... killed satyagraha, mass resistance, non-cooperation and all. The Gandhian in power came to know that power could be sustained only untruth and violence. He harps on truth and non-violence, and very loudly too. The loudness is necessary to camouflage what actually, in practice, he is doing. Abstinence is talked about but the possessions of all kinds are being acquired. The Gandhian in power has...

... as mahatmas. India is destroying herself by running after extremist tenets: life, character, everything is being deteriorated. Take for example the Gandhiji's ideal of complete non- violence. The Gandhian could not become completely non-violent. Not only he but even Gandhiji could not live complete non-violence. Violence to an extent is necessary if one has to live. Even which we term as an...

... instrument of non-violence could be violence. If I put a knife on your chest and as you to obey me, it is violence. And if I sit and starve at your doorstep, threatening to die if you do not do what I say? Is this not violence? The former goes out from me to you, the latter is going towards myself. The latter is self-violence. A forcible pressure, mental cruelty, it is!... I believe that Gandhiji also was...

... not a complete non-violent man.... Nobody changed for truth but agreed lest Gandhi should not die. In this context, Dr. Ambedkar has stated clearly that he believed in what he believed in, but he obeyed only to save Gandhiji's life. Whose change of heart took place because of the non-violence of Gandhiji? Gandhiji put extreme ideals in all matters. To stress complete non-violence was precarious. He...

... did that and the country, at the time of partition, passed through full violence only in his lifetime.... Why? A very important psychic law, the law of reverse effect, is behind it. You pull the string to send that arrow forward. As much as you pull back the string, so much the arrow will go forward! A ball will return with so much force from the wall, with as much force as you throw it! The same...

... law has operated in Indian life. Ditto is the case in abstinence as in non-violence. You go on suppressing the mind and it will react with equal pressure. The ball will react, a volcano of violence will erupt! It did, and Gandhi is responsible for it. The more you talk of brahmacharya - celibacy - the more society will become sex-minded. In the resultant split personality, as much as man fights with...

... sex, so much sexual he will become. As much as he fights within for non-violence, so much violent he will become, unconsciously. Understanding this is imperative otherwise we will not be free from mahatmas, and until then there is no release from mahatmas' followers. Again, as an anticlimax, after a mahatma, there is always a big fall. Jesus said: "If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn...

... anything. Confucius said: "I believe n the middle road. For me thinking twice is enough." He detested extremity. A criminal lives in the extremity of violence, a mahatma lives in the extremity of non-violence. Life is neither here nor there. It is in the middle road. Gandhiji came as a symbol of ancient Indian culture and repeated the ancient strict asceticism.... Abstinence! Leave clothes...

... in the whole world. America has no friends anywhere, for the simple reason that it is the most destructive power today. When your whole government and the energy of the people and the intelligence of your scientists are moving in only one direction -- destruction -- how can you avoid violence? There is only one way, which is really difficult. Give the country back to its native people. If they want...

...: N.A. Audio Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. [NOTE: This discourse is published in the book: The Last Testament, Volume 1, as Chapter 20.] Swami Shanti Prabhu THE RAJNEESH TIMES RAJNEESHPURAM, OREGON QUESTION: BHAGWAN, IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT VIOLENCE IS AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE. WHY IS THE UNITED STATES -- A COUNTRY THAT PRIDES ITSELF AS A LAND OF FREEDOM -- SUCH A VIOLENT PLACE? IS...

... THERE A RELATION BETWEEN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA AND ITS SO-CALLED FREEDOM? ANSWER: Violence in America has deep roots. It is the only continent in the world which is being ruled by foreigners. The native red Indians, to whom this continent belongs, are almost finished; and the people who think they are Americans, none of them are American. They have all come from other countries, invaded the poor country...

..., invaded the poor innocent natives. The roots of violence are there. The people who had come into power over this continent through violence have remained in power through violence. Unless the continent is given back to its people, this violence is going to remain. It is a strange phenomenon that the foreigners who are ruling the country are trying to prevent others from living here. We are not trying to...

... marketplace just like cattle. Slavery had disappeared from the whole world, and it appeared just three centuries ago in America. And the slaves, although no longer called slaves, still are not first-class citizens. This continent is based on violence. It has repressed the red Indians in such ugly ways... it is difficult to imagine what man can do to man. Red Indians are living almost in concentration camps...

... again think of being free, that they never think of getting rid of all the invaders of this continent. The whole society is interwoven with violence. The black people are downtrodden. There are thousands of people on the streets with no home. What do you expect them to do? They will do every kind of crime, they have nothing to lose. And America goes on pretending to the whole world, that wherever...

... there is any trouble, we are going to help. You can't help your own people. Twenty-five percent of Americans who are able to work are unemployed, and America goes to help Ethiopia! In America, Ethiopia is spread everywhere -- just thinly, but it is there -- and violence will come out. These people who have lost everything, respect, humanity, integrity, they have been treated like animals. You cannot...

... expect the country to live without violence. Basically, America is one of the greatest destructive powers in the world. The whole government is working with only one object, to win the third world war. But they are simply fools, because nobody can win the third world war, neither the Soviet Union nor America. The difference may be at the most ten minutes. Whoever attacks first, it will take only ten...

... happened in the beginning so that a few people became poor and a few people became rich. They think it has always been so. But the American poor have a unique situation. They know what has happened. They cannot forgive it. They cannot forget it. That brings violence. Violence is the religion of America. And America is despised and condemned all over the world -- even those countries receiving American...

... back. Give the country to its own people. If they allow you to live here, you live, but you live under their rule, and violence will disappear. I don't think red Indians can even imagine about nuclear war. When you are in power, and you are the greatest power in the world, you are not going to be human, considerate. So it is not a simple phenomenon, it is very complicated, and the violence has many...

... a slave of man. In America there are more lesbians than in any other country, and naturally, when women become lesbians, men start becoming homosexuals. These are all different shapes of violence. Your priests are responsible, your politicians are responsible. Do you know what happened in Vietnam? You forced your young people to fight there without understanding the fact that they are not soldiers...

... this American violence was absolutely ugly, uncalled for. They could see that the poor Vietnamese have difficulty to arrange even two meals every day and you are bombing them, destroying their houses, burning their houses. Many American soldiers went insane for the simple reason that they could not believe that this was what their country stands for. Many of the American soldiers had to be treated...

... basically wrong. It is based in violence. Twenty percent of American presidents have been murdered. This is a record! In no other country has this happened. Once in a while a person may be murdered, but not twenty percent of the presidents. And if the president is so much unprotected -- remember, the American president is the most protected man in the world -- if the most protected man in the world can be...

... killed by his own people, who else can be at ease? Even the president is not at ease. Every moment, violence! It is not something superficial. If we want to change the violent structure of America, there are three things to be done. One, the country should be ruled by its native people. It belongs to them. Anybody who wants to remain here should remain here, but he cannot remain here as a ruler...

... those weapons in the Pacific, in the Atlantic. We're finished with it." America should declare, "We will not have any defense department any more -- it is just pointless." If America can do that, its people can be immensely rich, happy. And people who are happy do not do violence. It is out of misery, suffering, anger, that violence comes. When you are comfortable, happy, at home, and...

...: N.A. Question 1: 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...

... from the past. The past is his orientation, he reacts against it. But whether you are for it or against it, it remains your reference, your context. The revolutionary is a little higher than the reactionary. He does not only react, he also has dreams of the future, he has his utopias. But as far as violence is concerned, the revolutionary down the ages has thought that right ends can be attained...

... through wrong means. I refute that contention. Right ends can be achieved only through right means. Through violence you cannot achieve a peaceful, silent, loving humanity. The violence will be in the roots, it will poison your whole superstructure. The rebel has to be nonviolent out of sheer necessity. Unless he is nonviolent, he cannot be the vehicle of a peaceful, warless, classless humanity. If you...

... sow the seeds of violence, you cannot expect and hope that the flowers will not be affected by violence. Those flowers will come out of the seeds you have sown. So each violent revolution has created another violent society, another violent culture. It is disgraceful to see that we still need armies, that we still need nuclear weapons. It is undignified to see that we need the policeman, the court...

... and the jail. A better humanity, a more conscious man, will get rid of all this nonsense that surrounds us and pollutes our whole being. The rebel cannot be half-hearted. He cannot be a chooser; he cannot choose a few things from the past, and not choose a few other things. Past as a whole has to be completely denied. Only then can we get rid of barbariousness in humanity - cruelty, violence and a...

... entity. And no spirituality can accept violence as a means to attain the end. Violence is simply out of the question as far as my rebellion, my rebel, is concerned. He cannot destroy, we have destroyed enough. He cannot kill, we have killed enough. It is time to stop this whole idiotic way of life. We have to come out of this darkness into the light. Even if it costs you your life it is perfectly good...

... people who have these destructive weapons in their hands. Rebellion has not been tried on a vast scale. Just with the effort of millions of people meditating, loving silence and peace, and destroying all kinds of discriminations which create violence, we will be making the space, the gap, the discontinuity that can save man and life on this planet. Question 2: BELOVED MASTER, THE OTHER DAY, YOU SPOKE...