Osho’s ideas on students, childhood and society remain strikingly relevant
Recently, I happened to read an article authored by Osho in The Times of India. It was titled “Don’t Let Politicians Hijack Your Student Years” and was meant for the students in the country. Osho, also known as Bhagawan Rajneesh or Acharya Rajneesh among his followers, and who lived from 1931 to 1990, was a global phenomenon in his time. What I read in TOI should have been written/spoken by Osho much before 1990. That was the era when there were no mobile phones, satellite phones, or internet, not to speak of social media or Gen Z. But his discourse is more valid now, and the so-called Gen Z should read with care what he has said.
Osho says those who tell students to take up politics have their own political motives. “A student is preparing for life. He should not plunge into life just yet; he should prepare himself for it. He should understand politics thoroughly. There is no need for him to participate in politics at this stage. He needs to understand it so that when the time comes for him to enter politics, he cannot be exploited by politicians. I would like to tell students that their greatest responsibility is to raise the intellectual and creative potential of their country to ever greater heights. The country provides them with food, clothing, and other necessities for as many as twenty-five years so that their talents can develop”.
He further warns that if the students spend their academic years shouting slogans for political leaders, carrying their flags, and cheering them on, they are doing great harm both to their country and to themselves. “Once a student becomes involved in politics, he ceases to be a student in the true sense of the word,” writes Osho.
The spiritual leader has reasons to oppose student politics. He wants the students to study politics and understand it thoroughly. “Then, when they turn twenty-five, leave the university, and enter the world of practical life, no second-rate politician should be able to deceive or exploit them”. According to Osho, politicians who are not in power will continue urging students to join politics. “The reason is simple; students are a source of power. Whoever gets students on his side gains enormous strength, whether his cause is right or wrong…If Indian students were to study politics seriously, they would be astonished by what goes on in the name of politics in the country,” points out Osho.
I have seen with my own eyes how my colleagues in school and university were taken for a ride by these politicians. Many of them were forced to drop out of school and colleges because of politics and the resultant fights with rivals. Why did they fight with their political rivals? Over trivial issues like hoisting party flags on college campuses and campaigning during student elections! Many lives have been lost because of student politics.
The important thing that stands out is the fact that our veteran politicians do not allow their sons or daughters to join politics during their student days. Any doubt? Take the case of Kerala politicians. Former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has a son and daughter. No CPI(M) leaders have seen Vivek or Veena during their student days. Vivek did his MBA from Birmingham University and is a senior executive in an international bank in Abu Dhabi. Veena, Vijayan’s daughter, is a B. Tech graduate and an entrepreneur. Vijayan’s case is not an isolated incident. Take the case of Ramesh Chennithala, the present home minister of Kerala. Both his sons are well employed; one is an IRS officer while the other one is a medical doctor. They never had any interaction with leaders and activists of NSUI, the student wing of the Congress. Though the son and daughter of Oommen Chandi are in politics, they were parachuted into the turmoil only after the completion of their post – graduation in professional courses.
How Chandra Mohan Jain, born in the village Kuchwada in Bhopal, rose to become a spiritual guru for disciples spread across the world is an amazing story. He was the one who thought and walked ahead of the times. As Acharya Rajaneesh, he set up an ashram in Pune to teach dynamic meditation. In the heyday of the ashram, I have read about Hollywood celebrities making a beeline to Rajaneesh for getting solace from stress and strain. Late Vinod Khanna took a sabbatical from Bollywood and became a disciple of Rajneesh.
(His tiff, or was it a stand-off?) with the Janata Party government of 1977 was famous. Rajneesh described the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, his cabinet colleagues Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram as three sexually frustrated monkeys! That was the last straw, and he was forced to leave India and set up another ashram in the US. After a couple of years in the US, the acharya returned to his home turf and breathed his last at a comparatively young age of 58.
“Osho: Glimpses of a Golden Childhood” is the transcription of his dialogues and chats with some select persons and is an exhilarating work. Rajaneesh never wanted the child to be dominated by its parents. He says only a playful child could grow to become a great personality. According to Osho, the claim by people that they had a golden childhood is a lie. “But so many people are telling the same lie that nobody detects it. A golden childhood is extremely rare, for the simple reason: where can you find it?”
Osho claims, nay, says his childhood was golden. “Everybody says his childhood was golden, but it is not so. People only think their childhood was golden because their youth is rotten; then their old age is even more rotten. Naturally, childhood becomes golden. My childhood was not golden in that sense. My youth was diamond, and if I am going to be an old man, then it is going to be platinum. But my childhood was certainly golden… literally, factually.”
Kuchwada, the village where he was born, was a backward area. There was no railway line, no post office. “Not a single newspaper had ever entered that village. You can now understand why there was no school, not even a primary school. What, a blessing! No modern child can afford it”, says Osho.
He has set in motion a discussion (or debate) about the quality of literary works hitting the bookshelves across the world. He is sad that the Russian revolution killed the Russian genius. No country could compete with Russia when it comes to novels. “If you count only ten novels of the world, you will have to include five Russian novels, leaving only five for the whole remaining world. What happened to the genius of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Maxim Gorky-they all disappeared. Why don’t they create books like Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina, Fathers and Sons, The Mother, etc.?
Well, reading Osho is like trying to understand the complexities of the Himalayas and its water system. I remember hearing one of his disciples say: “There is only one Bhagwan, and He is Osho. He lost his life because he refused to toe the line of evangelists who asked him to follow Christianity. Bhagwan told them to get lost because their God (Jesus Christ) could not save himself from the sect”. Don’t worry, Osho was not pushing for Hinduism. He was against all religions and all Gods. Some are born great. Osho belonged to that category. But it is unfortunate that his works are confined to his followers and disciples. A person who left this world way back in 1990 is still remembered afresh could be an ideal tribute to him. He was India’s first Vishwa Guru…
A good read… You will become richer in knowledge and wisdom, and that is why it is said that Osho foresaw the future.
OSHO: Glimpses of a Golden Childhood
Penguin
Rs 1499/-
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