Rajneesh (playing Osho) speaks about Other Gurus
Until it was blunted by drug use Rajneesh had a sharp and biting wit. His take on some other gurus is refreshing,
Osho on Nisargadatta Maharaj
You can get stuck in the middle and you cannot do anything.
With a ladder, you are absolutely free! You are the master: you can take the ladder wherever you want, you can leave the ladder wherever you want. The ladder will not cling to you and the ladder will not ask you for any kind of surrender. I love the idea! I am certainly an old-fashioned ladder.
My whole effort is to make masters of you. Krishnamurti has not even been able to make disciples of you.
I have called Amrito tonight to ask, "What other nonsense have you been listening to from these so-called enlightened people? You are my disciple and you have to finish your book with my declaration that you are now a master! Without that, the book will remain incomplete. But first tell me what all these idiots have been telling you so I can answer them; otherwise your book will remain incomplete."
There was a man in Bombay, Nisargadatta Maharaj. Nobody knew this big name; he was known to the masses as "Beedie Baba" because he was continuously smoking beedies. You can find in every village such kinds of beedie babas. I think India has seven hundred thousand villages and each village must have at least one; more is possible. And Amrito wrote a few days ago to me, because another young Dutchman became very much involved with Beedie Baba… The man seems to be very sincere, but the trouble is that the people who come from the West have a very childlike heart, very trusting, and they are unaware that in India spirituality is just a routine. Everybody talks about great things and their lives are as ugly as possible.
When Beedie Baba said that he would speak only to this young Dutchman, naturally his ego must have felt tremendously vast.
The crowd that surrounded Beedie Baba was also of the same quality… rickshaw wallahs waiting for their passengers, sitting by the side of Beedie Baba. And when he said he would not speak to anybody unless it was this Dutchman… So he spoke to the Dutchman, who has now compiled books on Beedie Baba.
Now in India it is almost parrot-like, but to the Westerner it seems to be a tremendous revelation -- when Beedie Baba said, "Aham brahmasmi; I am God, I am that" the young Dutchman immediately wrote a book: I AM THAT! Because for the West, spirituality is a foreign affair, just as for the East, science is a foreign affair.
I have heard: In a factory in Bombay, they installed a very costly mechanism. Two days it worked, and then it stopped. It worked for two days because the expert was present, and the moment the expert was gone the mechanism stopped. They phoned the expert -- "What to do?"
He said, "I will have to come and it will cost a lot of money, ten thousand dollars."
But to keep the factory closed was even more costly, so they had to allow the man to come. And the man came and just hit the machine and it started working! The industrialist asked him, "Just for this hitting you are costing me ten thousand dollars?"
He said, "It is not for the hitting. For hitting it is only one dollar, but to know where to hit it costs money."
When Amrito's letter came to me about this Dutchman, saying that "Many sannyasins are going to him, and I am also going to him," I talked about it. He heard it, and he took the tape to the man. The man heard it, and he was very grateful but baffled also, because he was gathering a big crowd of disciples. But because he felt baffled and he was grateful that I had talked about him… I would like Amrito, when he goes back, either to bring the man to me or send him to me. Because I know where to hit!
Even the poorest beggar knows more about metaphysics, about great ideologies… And when the Western man comes -- he may be well educated but his education is of science, his education is of logic, his education makes him a great intellectual. But in the heart he remains very naive. Then any Beedie Baba, any idiot can make a great impact on him. This Dutch man lived for months together with Beedie Baba. He does not mention his well-known name, Beedie Baba; he mentions only his legal name, Nisargadatta Maharaj. He has written many books on Nisargadatta Maharaj; he has made Nisargadatta famous all over the world. I have looked through those books -- sheer nonsense.
Nisargadatta Maharaj on Anonymous Monk
Early on in my visit to Maharaj, we were invited to hear Maharaj speak at a spiritual center. The center was celebrating its 50th anniversary. The men and women were split by gender and we sat on a cold marble floor. Maharaj was a guest speaker as was a Shankara Order swami. In India, when a holy personage enters a room, everyone rises to their feet. I remember Maharaj coming in to the room with very dark sunglasses on. But he was not settled until his Guru Brother, Bhai Nath Maharaj was seated. He must have given an hour's talk in Marathi. Of course I didn't understand a word he said but after the talk, Mr. Sapre gave a full translation (or his own elucidation) of the talk. People put offerings at Maharaj's feet. At the end of the program, Maharaj stood up, took the offerings and gave them to the the Swami, who has shared the dais with him. The next morning in Satsang Maharaj asked us if we knew why he had given the swami his offerings. Maharaj said "I gave him the offerings because speaks to feed his belly." This suprised me because I had not noticed Maharaj being critical. He went on to talk about people wearing the ochre robe to feed their bellies. So it became clear to me that Maharaj didn't really accord people any special status because of title or order. Maharaj felt no patience with people who were pundits.
The following was downloaded from a website of Edward Muzika who claims he is enlightened
Osho on U.G. Krishnamurti and Muktananda
Now, he (U.G. Krishnamurti) missed two pinnacles…(J. Krishnamurti and Ramana) and this is what goes on happening. You have a mind, a certain mind. When you go to a master, you look from your mind. If it fits, you are happy; you start clinging. But that is not going to help -- because it fits, it will strengthen the same mind that you had brought with you. If by chance you come across a real master, nothing is going to fit. He is going to disrupt all your ideas about how a master should be; he is going to sabotage you. He is going to take all expectations. He is to frustrate you, he is to disappoint you in every possible way -- because that is the only way real work can start. And if you still can be with him, then… then you are going to be awakened.
Even a Muktananda can get followers. Once I passed Muktananda's ashram, and just to see what was happening there, I went in. I have never seen such an ordinary man becoming a great religious leader of people. No potential, no achievement, no insight -- if you saw him walking in the street you would not recognize that there is something there. Just plain ordinary -- and not ordinary in the sense of Zen -- just plain ordinary. But even he can find followers.
Osho on Yogi Bhajan:
You must have heard the name of a great sardar yogi in America, Yogi Bhajan. He was just a porter at Delhi Airport. He saw Muktananda coming with seven hundred Americans…. Of course at that time his name was Sardar Harbhajan Singh; he was a poor porter, but certainly he looked far better than Muktananda, more impressive. The idea came into his mind, "If this fool can be a PARAMAHANSA, A SATGURU, etcetera, etcetera, then why should I waste my time just being a porter?" He dropped the job, went to America, and is now the greatest spiritual leader of the Sikh hierarchy in the Western hemisphere.
Just a few days ago, he was back in Delhi with all his disciples. One of his bosses, who is a lover of me, passed by. He saw him sitting on the lawn of the Delhi Taj Mahal Hotel with his disciples. He could not recognize him, he had changed so much. He thought, "A great mahatma."
But Yogi Bhajan is a simple man in that way, far simpler than Muktananda or Nirmala Devi. He sent a disciple to the boss to tell him, "Come to my room. I have something to say to you."
The boss could not understand why the great yogi was calling him; he was thrilled, excited. He went into the room, Yogi Bhajan came in and he said, "Boss, don't you recognize me? I am just that poor Sardar Harbhajan Singh, your porter. Have you forgotten me completely?"
Then he could recognize the face. He said, "But what has happened? You have become such a great yogi with so many disciples!" Then he told the story… that it is due to Muktananda. The whole credit goes to Muktananda!
Osho on Mother Teresa: Deceiver, charlatan and hyopocrite
Just the other day I received a letter from Mother Teresa. I have no intention of saying anything against her sincerity; whatsoever she wrote in the letter is sincere, but it is unconscious. She is not aware of what she is writing; it is mechanical, it is robot-like. She says, 'I have just received a cutting of your speech. I feel very sorry for you that you could speak as you did. Reference: the Nobel Prize. For the adjectives you add to my name I forgive you with great love.'
She is feeling very sorry for me… I enjoyed the letter! She has not even understood the adjectives that I have used about her. But she is not aware, otherwise she would have felt sorry for herself.
The adjectives that I have used (for her)--- the first is 'deceiver', then 'charlatan' and 'hypocrite'. The deceiver is not only the person who deceives others, in a far more fundamental sense the deceiver is one who deceives himself. Deception begins there. If you want to deceive others, first you have to deceive yourself. But once you have deceived yourself you will never become aware of it unless you are shocked by somebody from the outside, shaken, hammered; you will not become aware that the deception has gone very deep on both sides. It is a double-edged sword.
She is a deceiver in this double-edged sense. First she has been deceiving herself, because meditation can certainly create a life of service, a life of compassion, but a life of service cannot create a life of meditation. Mother Teresa knows nothing of meditation: this is her fundamental deception. She has been serving poor people, orphans, widows, old people, and she has been serving them with good intentions, but the way to hell is full of good intentions! I am not saying that her intentions are bad, but the results don't depend on your intentions.
Osho On Jiddhu Krishnamurti:
J. Krishnamurti has been saying that there is no need for a Master. He is right -- and absolutely wrong also. He is right because when you become awakened, you also know that there was no need, you were dreaming. When you become alert, dreaming stops, and then you can't feel what the need was.' It was just a dream, I could have shaken myself out of it.' But it is an afterthought. Even Krishnamurti needed Annie Besant and Leadbeater -- he had his own Masters.
It is an afterthought. When a thing happens, then you can always feel: I could have done it. But when it has not happened, you cannot even think because your thinking will also be a part of your dream.
A Master is needed when you are asleep. When you become awakened, you also will think a Master was not needed. Then for you, of course, the Master is not needed. But then many will be deluded because many egoists will surround you, as you will find. You cannot find anywhere else such a mass of egoists as you will find near Krishnamurti, because the moment the egoist hears that no Master is needed, he feels very happy. He says: Right! He always thinks he is the Ultimate; no need to surrender to anybody because ego resists surrender. And this man says that no Master is needed -- egoists feel very happy. Around Krishnamurti you will find all sorts of egoists because it seems very good, very convenient -- no need to surrender.
J. Krishnamurti, a man who struggled for ninety years -- his last words have some great meaning. One of my friends was present there. Krishnamurti lamented, he lamented his whole life. He lamented that "people have taken me as entertainment. They come to listen to me…." There are people who have listened to him for fifty years continually, and still they are the same people as had come for the first time to listen to him. Naturally it is annoying and irritating that the same people… Most of them I know, because J. Krishnamurti used to come only once a year for two or three weeks to Bombay, and slowly, slowly all his followers in Bombay became acquainted with me. They all were sad about this point: What should be done? How can we make Krishnamurti happy?
The reason was that Krishnamurti only talked, but never gave any devices (Methods) through which whatever he was talking about became an experience. It was totally his fault. Whatever he was saying was absolutely right, but he was not creating the right climate, the right milieu in which it could become a seed. Of course he was very much disappointed with humanity, and that there was not a single person who had become enlightened through his teachings. His teachings have all the seeds, but he never prepared the ground.
(My Comment: This same argument can be used against all the neoAdvaitins who also claim no teacher or surrender is necessary. They really have no method or preparation of the student for awakening. All that they have is "just talking.")U.G. Krishnamurti on Jiddhu Krishnamurti and Osho: Osho is a pimp, Jiddhu Krishnamurti the greatest fraud of the 20th Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHw6wfWQ630
Osho on Muktananda :
I know many people, like Muktananda, who have nothing to give. It is a miracle that Muktananda can also become a guru. But still if somebody is following Muktananda, I will not say don't follow him. I will say go headlong. Because that is the only way to find out, to figure it out. I will say, 'Go headlong with open eyes; maybe this is how your life is going to grow.' Nothing is wrong in it. Why be so much afraid?
One learns from fools as much as from wise people, and one learns from pseudo-gurus as much as from authentic gurus. They are part of one phenomenon. In fact, you get that which you deserve. Now there are a few people who deserve Muktananda. What to do? They have earned Muktananda through their lives; many lives of karmas and they have earned Muktananda. Now who am I or who are you to prevent them? Why? They deserve, that is their growth, they have to pass through it.
Osho on Nityananda Maharaj:
One of the great Hindu monks, Nityananda, the master of Swami Muktananda - Muktananda was very well known in America. Nityananda had only one unique quality: his belly. I don't think in the whole history of man anybody had such a big belly! When he lies down you can see a strange shape.
When I saw him I told him, "You don't have a belly, your belly has a head and legs, because that is your major part!" But he is worshipped, he is thought to be enlightened. And his belly is proof enough. And now this man cannot be celibate: he is eating so much that he will create sexual energy. What is he going to do with that energy? Anything that he will do will be a perversion; and the easiest way is always homosexuality, because if he is found with a woman, all his respectability and great sainthood will disappear. He has to be with a man, and then nobody suspects.
Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries
http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Beloved_Osho_Books/Discourse_Series/Socrates_Poisoned_Again_After_25_Centuries_(Talks_in_Greece).pdf
BELOVED OSHO,
IN MY EXPLORATIONS BEFORE TAKING SANNYAS, I WAS INITIATED INTO THE FOUR MEDITATION TECHNIQUES OF GURU MAHARAJI. I HAD A VERY BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF THE TECHNIQUES DURING THE INITIATION SESSION, AND STILL FIND THE TECHNIQUES SIMPLE AND FASCINATING. HOWEVER, THERE IS MUCH CONFLICT IN ME ABOUT USING THESE TECHNIQUES SINCE I HAVE BECOME A SANNYASIN. AND I NEVER FELL IN LOVE WITH GURU MAHARAJI LIKE I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU. CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE SOME GUIDANCE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT IT IS OKAY FOR ME TO CONTINUE PRACTICING THESE TECHNIQUES WHILE BEING A SANNYASIN – OR SHOULD I DROP THEM?
ALSO, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT GURU MAHARAJI.
There is no problem. If you feel good with any technique you can continue it. From where it comes does not matter, who has given it to you does not matter. If it gives you pleasant feelings, a certain silence, serenity, continue it. Being my sannyasin does not mean that I monopolize you. Being my sannyasin means now the whole world is yours; enjoy everything that feels good for yourself – but remember what I was just talking about. A pleasant feeling is not real meditation, because that too will pass away. It is only a technique. I want to give you something that does not pass away. Meanwhile you can play with all kinds of toys, there is no harm.
And you are asking about Guru Maharaji. First I will tell you a small story; perhaps it explains Guru Maharaji to you. It is a Tibetan story….
A man who later on became very famous as a saint was searching for truth. He came across a so-called master who had a great following, whose only teaching was: "Surrender to me and surrender totally, and I will take you to the ultimate state of consciousness. Don't be worried, at the right time the explosion will happen." It had not happened to anyone.
But in the East, one life is not enough to realize oneself. It takes thousands of lives to find the right moment, the right time when the explosion happens. So nobody can complain, "I have been waiting for thirty years and it has not happened." Thirty years or thirty lives don't count.
But this man really, totally surrendered. And the second day the disciples were amazed because he was walking on water. They could not believe their eyes; they asked the man, "What is the secret?"
He said, "You must know it because you have been with the master so long. I surrendered totally, I trust him, I just repeat his name and leave everything to him, and anything becomes possible. I can pass through fire, I can walk on water, I can jump from high mountains. You look surprised," he said. "In fact, I should be surprised that you cannot, and you have been here for years with a great master." They rushed to the master. They said, "This man is strange. He is walking on water, and he says it is the power of your name. He simply repeats your name and he can do anything."
The master himself was surprised, but he did not show his surprise to the disciples. He said, "That's what you should all be doing. If your surrender is total, my name can take you to ultimate liberation." But deep down he was thinking that when everybody is gone, he is going to try repeating his own name and walk on water. Because if that other guy in just one day is doing such a miracle, "then what miracles can I not do? I was not aware…" So he repeated his name, walked into the water and started drowning. With difficulty he was saved, and his disciples said, "What happened?"
He said, "Call that strange man and let me see how he walks, because if I cannot walk repeating my own name, how can he?" The man came and he walked on water.
The master said, "You jump from the mountain, thousands of feet high, deep into the valley." The man jumped, and they had to walk down for hours to reach him. They were thinking they were not going to find a single bone un-fractured, that the man must be splattered all over the place – but he was sitting in a lotus posture under a tree looking so beautiful. He said, "Great master, your name is such a miracle!" The master had to fall at his feet.
He said, "Forgive me, I'm not a master at all; I'm just a charlatan. I have been cheating people, exploiting people, but I cannot exploit you. Your trust prohibits me."
People like Guru Maharaji belong to the same category as that master. If they repeat their own name, they will start drowning in the water. The technique they have given to you, which is giving you a certain peace and silence, has not given them any peace, any silence.
I know the man, I used to know his father. His father was also doing the same thing – pretending to be a mystic. He trained this boy, Guru Maharaji – who was just six years old at that time – to memorize a few scriptures, and that became a great attraction. He would recite scriptures in pure Sanskrit. His father used to say, "In his past life he was a great master; he still remembers these things from his past life" – and I know this was not true.
The master, the father of Guru Maharaji, was not at ease with his wife – just as nobody is at ease. I asked the wife… and she said, "He is a cheat, and now he is training his children to be cheats. He has spoiled this boy; now he is spoiling the other boy." And just because he was six or seven years old, thousands of people would come to listen, believing that it was the memory of his past life. When the father died he announced, "This boy, Guru Maharaji, will be my successor."
Guru Maharaji became world famous – but he was only sixteen when he became world famous, and a boy of sixteen naturally fell in love with a girl. I don't see any objection to it. But his mother, who had always been against the father for spoiling the children, was now doing the same. Those children proved to be a great business.
But the mother was very angry. In India, if a man has some spirituality then he has to be celibate – and he had fallen in love with an American girl. Not only that, he got married. He was not of an age to get married; the girl was twenty-one years old, he was sixteen years old. He had to appear before a court to get the permission of the judge, that he was mature enough. The judge said, "There is no question about your maturity. You are world famous. You can get married."
This marriage created trouble. The mother renounced the boy and renounced that he was the successor to his father. She said, "The second boy is the real successor." So now the empire is divided into two, the smaller boy and the mother in the East, and Guru Maharaji in America.
When he went to India, the followers of his own brother and mother threw stones, protested against him, and he had to leave India because of them. They would not allow him to stay there – and he is doing the same thing with his mother and his brother when they come to America. These people are simply business people; religion to them is nothing but business.
But this has been so for centuries: exploit the innocent, exploit the ignorant, exploit the miserable, exploit people who are in suffering, in anguish and anxiety.
I have no problem. If you can walk on water with the name of Guru Maharaji you can do it; you should not feel any conflict – because I don't have any conflict with anybody.
Your question may be important for other people also, because many other people may have learned something from some other sources. There is no need to be worried. Sometimes it happens that the source may be wrong but what you have got is right. The master may be fake but he has got some techniques, handed down to him by heritage, which are significant.
But remember, every technique can only give you an experience; I want to give you the experiencer, not the experience. Experience comes and goes; don't rely on it. Unless you have found the experiencer…who is feeling joy? Who is feeling pain? Who is feeling well-being? Who is feeling sad?
Who is this consciousness?
Every effort should be to reach to this innermost center of the cyclone. Your whole life is a cyclone of change, of changing scenes, changing colors, but just in the middle of the cyclone there is a silent center. That is you. My effort is to help you to find yourself.