In the 1970s, thousands of Westerners visited or even moved to the city of Puna, India, to be close to a guru known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (who would later be called Osho).
Bhagwan lived and performed his religious activities in an ashram, which is a kind of Indian “convent”, with gardens and other places favorable to meditation. In fact, with all the money pouring in, the place has become a sophisticated capitalist resort, which is still open to everyone who can afford it.
Osho’s books (who died in 1990) have always been successful in sales almost everywhere in the world, including USA. However he has returned to fame lately thanks to the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Cowntry.
The documentary is very enlightening, but leaves out some of the most perverse aspects of Osho’s doctrine: the praise of abortion and the encouragement for parents to have sex in front of their children.
On the Osho International website, it is said in all letters that abortion is not a sin, but a VIRTUE (see here).
In a lecture by Osho to his disciples in the USA (in the late city of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon), it is clear that the guru hated St. Teresa of Calcutta for her fight against abortion. He goes so far as to absurdly condemn her for … caring for the orphans! Osho implies that it would be good to let the orphans die of hunger, in order not to grow up and generate more poor children:
It’s time to stop! The world is four times more populous than it should be. If the world population can be reduced to a quarter, there will be neither poverty nor violence … Thousands of problems will disappear.
But Mother Teresa won a Nobel prize because she helps orphans, opens orphanages around the world. She is creating problems! These orphans will have children one day. And she is against abortion, because if abortion is legal, where will she find the orphans? … And a Nobel Prize? This senile woman is driving crazy people.
It takes absolute birth control for at least two decades. Absolute, I said! It is not that you have to stop after having two or three children. No, it will not help. (…)
This is the only city where no child has been born in four years. Unless the world population is reduced, there will be no way to avoid violence. (…)
– Osho. Lecture in Rajneeshpuram (see the video here)
Watching Osho deliver this disgusting speech in the video, you can see that he had great comedy timing, which made his ideas even more enjoyable to be absorbed by the audience. This talent, unfortunately, was widely applied for spurious purposes.
The main sophistry in this speech by the Indian guru is the thesis that violence is the result of overpopulation. In short, poor people steal and kill because they are hungry. However, a brief reflection on the main agents of wars and violent crimes dismantles this idea in two seconds.
Note: before the discovery of America by the Europeans, there was no overpopulation in these lands. Still, there were many native americans tribal disputes, with deaths, rapes and, eventually, cannibalism.
The biggest thieves in the world are not pickpockets, but wealthy politicians with perks. It is they, hand in hand with great businessmen, who are responsible for great acts of corruption that defraud nations and have harmful effects on the lives of millions of people. If poverty were the main cause of violence, the rich would not steal as much or wage so many wars.
Perhaps the darkest side of the Osho’s sect is the indirect incentive to pedophilia. With his skillful art of reversing the logic of things to defend the indefensible, the guru said that the best way for parents to protect children from sexual abuse is to have sex in front of them. Check out what the sect’s own newspaper – Osho Times – published:
So I said that the best way to introduce your children to love is that while you are making love, children should play. Let them be there.
(…) So I said that it is perfectly good – because the child has to learn, and it is better that the child learns from the beginning.
Now this woman wrote to me: “A problem arose: we allowed our son to be present while we were making love; now the child wants to make love to me. He says, “If the father can do this, why can’t I do this?” (…)
But children are very understanding too. The mother, the father, both must make the child understand: “This is your training to see how love is made. The time will come when you will be young and make love – and don’t make the same mistakes we did. “
– Osho. Who is responsible for child sexual abuse? Osho Times, March 7, 2016
We consider this alert important, to prevent inadvertent Catholics from being influenced by the ideas of this guru: Osho was terrified of the poor! Owner of more than 90 Rolls Royces, in an interview, he said:
My people are rich. In fact, only the very rich, educated, intelligent, with culture, can understand what I am saying. Beggars cannot come to me. Poor people cannot come to me: the separation is too great.
– Osho, diva rich and elegant. Interview to the Good Morning America program. ABC TV
So yeah, right…
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I’ve been reading about the steps of kundalini meditation, created by Osho. I was under the strong impression that anyone who spends an afternoon jumping like a popcorn gets the same results (lots of shaking, screaming, jumping and dancing to provoke catharsis, relaxation etc.).
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Regarding the Osho documentary on Netflix, I warn that there is a quick, but scary, gangbang scene in episode 2.