The Last Testament (Vol 1) ~ 03
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| event type | interview |
| date & time | 20 Jul 1985, 14:00 |
| location | Rajneesh Mandir, Rajneeshpuram |
| language | English |
| audio | Available, duration 2h 22min. Quality: good. |
| online audio | |
| video | Available, duration 2h 26min. Quality: good. |
| online video | |
| see also |
|
| online text | find the PDF of this discourse |
| shorttitle | LAST103 |
- notes
- Most of the 166 interviews Osho gave during the Ranch era and World Tour (see The Last Testament (series)) have never been published in book form. They have been published on the CD-ROM though; there they appear under the titles The Last Testament (Vol 1) to (Vol 6).
- CD-ROM on this chapter: This discourse is published in The Last Testament, Vol 1, chapter 8. See The Last Testament, Vol 1#Correspondence between this Book and the CD-ROM.
- synopsis
- Interview. Announcements by Ma Anand Sheela : (see names in context of questions)
- 1993 master tape-jacket: Pressconference: Sally Hill, AP Portland; Peter Gillams, UP;...
- CD-ROM on this chapter: World Press Conference, Open Forum, Rajneesh Mandir, Rajneeshpuram, Oregon.
- Question 1 : Sally Hale, Associated Wire Services, USA
- Bhagwan, I'm Sally Hale of the Associated Press from Portland. My question is this: Can the Rajneeshees and their neighbors in Oregon ever coexist peacefully?
- Question 2 : Peter Gillins, UPI Wire Services, USA
- Bhagwan, Peter Gillins from the United Press. On ABC's morning interview program the other day you said that you considered yourself to be the guru of the rich and you would leave it to the other religions to take care of the poor. In light of that, do you think you have an obligation to pay taxes on the money that your followers give you in the form of donations?
- Question 3
- Should your foundation be required to pay taxes on donations? Do the rich need charity -- which is the purpose of tax-exempt status?
- Question 4 : Mark Haas, KATU Television, Channel 2, USA, Portland
- Bhagwan, last year you brought the poor and homeless into your commune, presumably to help them and in light of that my question is, why do you accept the Rolls Royces that you accept when perhaps that money may be used to help the poor and homeless that you wanted to help last year?
- Question 5 : Greg Hoy, 7 Network Australia Television, Australia
- Bhagwan, this morning you explained to us the difference between yourself and history's self-professed prophets and messiahs. You explained that you were not special at all and that you did not wish to place yourself on a high pedestal. Does it occur to you that there may be those that see the regal way you dress, as opposed to those who follow you, see your jeweled, borrowed watches and now -- famous borrowed Rolls Royces and think that you have very successfully placed yourself high on a pedestal, and it's an elevation you obviously enjoy?
- Question 6 : Richard Draper, KOIN Television, Channel 6, USA, Portland
- Bhagwan, ten days ago in this hall, you told a group here -- and I quote -- "We have to deprogram America from dirty politics, from fanatic religions, from all kinds of hypocrisy." How do you propose to deprogram America?
- Question 7 : Jon Tuttle, KGW Television, USA, Oregon
- Bhagwan, as we understand, there are just two Rajneeshee communes left in the United States. Across the country we hear reports that both membership and donations are on the decline. It appears that to date America has looked at Rajneeshism and said, "No thank you." Did you come to the wrong country at the wrong time?
- Question 8
- The other half of my question was whether this was the wrong country. Was it a mistake to come to the United States?
- Question 9 : Don Lattin, San Francisco Examiner, USA, California
- Bhagwan, I would like you to elaborate on two things you said in Poona on what happens when religious movements become institutions -- when Buddha becomes Buddhism or Rajneesh becomes Rajneeshism. You warned that once a religion becomes organized, violence enters into it. Organization is going to be violent; it has to fight its way. I wanted you to comment on that, in light of the weaponry we see and the security forces in Rajneeshpuram.
- The other thing you said on that subject which I found very fascinating was "We have to learn one thing, not to institutionalize religion. When the master goes, let the religion go." I wanted you to comment on that in the light of the announcement that was made here last summer that three committees were being formed to oversee Rajneeshism once you -- if you -- leave your body.
- Question 10 : Mr. Romano Giachetti, EPOCA Magazine, Italy
- Bhagwan, I live in New York, but I am Italian.
- I have been in this city eight hours now, and I have a number of emotions, most of them strong. But I was following your lecture this morning and there were many things that you say that brought me back to Italy. My... This is a serious question!
- Among the many things that you said that impressed me, there were a few that brought me back to a culture that I thought I had left in Italy, namely that God doesn't exist; that any religion that is organized means exploitation of a lot of people -- and many other things that you said. It came to me that there was one Italian thinker, Antonio Gramsci, who has said many things that were very similar to yours, especially the one about God, the one about religion, and above all the one about the new kind of consciousness that we need if we want to change life on the planet. He was one of the founders of the communist party.
- The question that I have is, do you see any possibility for the birth of a new consciousness in the framework of communism, of all the systems that exist on the planet?
- Question 11 : Jeff McMullen, 60 Minutes, Australia
- Bhagwan, who is the better showman, in metaphysical terms if you like, you or President Ronald Reagan?
- Question 12
- If that is true, what kind of show do you enjoy? Is this theater, or circus?
- Question 13 : Marilyn Deutsch, Public Broadcasting System, USA
- Bhagwan, I'd like to go back to the idea that you have said you are the rich man's guru. I am wondering, though. You know of suffering on this earth and starving people in Africa. Do you hurt with the knowledge that other people suffer so and die from starvation, or have to sleep on streets and things like this?
- Question 14
- What about yourself? Do you think you deserve a Nobel prize?
- Question 15 : Peter Coster, Australian News (CD-ROM states: Newspaper) Service, Australia
- Bhagwan, why do you think such a disproportionate number of attractive young women are drawn to you?
- Question 16
- I have another question. You talk of physical love without ambition among sannyasins. Are you celibate?
- Question 17
- Bhagwan, one final question. Why do you think outside people feel threatened by this community or you?
- Question 18 : Bruno Glaus, World Press Institute, Switzerland
- Bhagwan, my question refers to the worldwide famine crisis. Don't you think your lecture this morning makes the economic system and the current governments very happy, because that's exactly what they think also. I quote: "Starvation is a way of natural balance" or I quote, if I quote it well: "Helping the poor is destroying their license to heaven." That's exactly the same way they see the world.
- Question 19
- Don't you think your community stabilizes, by this kind of view, the current political and economic system?
- Question 20 : Ma Mary Catherine, Rajneesh Times, Rajneeshpuram
- Bhagwan, what do you have to say about politics?
- Question 21
- Many politicians have asked if you are running this place.
- Question 22 : Enrico Franceschini from La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper
- Bhagwan, I am Enrico Franceschini from La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper.
- If I may first follow up on the question concerning communism that a colleague of mine asked you before. You said this morning that messiahs, prophets, incarnations of God are cheating us, keeping us repressed and preventing us from rebelling against the status quo. You said that poverty and hunger are not a blessing. But communists have said these same things for many years and have tried to do something to eliminate poverty and hunger. What do you think of that?
- Question 23
- Let me ask you another question. If, as you said this morning, you are just an ordinary man, why is there a buddhafield around you that makes the grass greener, and puts more birds in this valley?
- Question 24
- Just a very brief question: Since to laugh is so important to you and to this community, is there anything in the arts, like movies, literature, that makes you laugh? Do you like Woody Allen?
- Question 25 : Tarcisius Munaku, World Press Institute, Zimbabwe
- Bhagwan, one correction. I am from Zimbabwe.
- How do you explain the lack of followers with black skin in this community?
- Question 26
- I was going to ask why -- you say it's been five years since you last read newspapers, last saw the television how come you know about Ethiopia if not from the newspapers and the TV?
- Question 27
- No, how come you know there is hunger and starvation in Ethiopia when you don't read the newspapers, when you don't watch television? Where do you get the information?
- Question 28 : John Ng'anga Thuruo, World Press Institute, Kenia
- Bhagwan, you described prophets, Jesus and other messiahs as liars. What makes you think that what you teach is the truth?
- Question 29
- Bhagwan, another question. The followers, you call them sannyasins, love you so much -- I have seen that and you must be aware about a community like this that lived in Jonestown, Guyana, who committed suicide some years back. Don't you think that if you ever told them to take a potion, they would do so?
- Question 30 : Nevil Aschen, National Public Radio, USA
- Bhagwan, is it planned that the leadership of the Rajneesh foundations and organizations are all female? Is there a reason for that? Is it something deliberate?
- Question 31 : Howard Sattler, 6PR Radio Australia, Australia
- Bhagwan, I hope I won't repeat myself you have been continually telling us that you have the greatest circus in the world and as we know great circuses travel. I wonder if you would respond to stories from the Southwest of Australia that you are about to tour the circus there and that the circus is going to set up its big top there near a little timber town called Pemberton.
- I wonder if you would like to tell the people there, particularly the Christian leaders who have been leading a legal and a moral battle against your people over there, what they can expect if the circus comes to town and what is your message for them?
- Question 32 : Tom Senior, KPTV, Portland, USA
- Bhagwan, getting back to your wristwatch for a second. As an enlightened master, why do you care what time it is?
- Question 33 : Carlo Silvestro, Grazia Magazine, Italy
- Yes, another Italian. Bhagwan, I would like you to speak on what kind of love is possible between a man and a woman, and also if there is any hope for a relationship between a man and a woman which is not going to be entangled in the usual pattern of sado-masochism.
- Question 34 : Burt Rudman, KOMO Television, USA, Washington
- Bhagwan, we're here to do a story on your personal secretary, Sheela, and I was hoping that you might be able to describe your personal relationship with her, and perhaps why it was with Sheela with whom you spoke during your vow of public silence.
- Question 35
- She was discussing with a German magazine recently the fact that the reason that most of the people in the Rajneesh trust were women was that because women are more intelligent than men. And I was wondering if you shared that feeling with her?
- Question 36 : Swami Ramateertha, The Rajneesh Times, Germany
- Bhagwan, I was very shocked at hearing you support the production of test-tube babies, saying they could be geniuses, more beautiful and healthier than human beings. Surely the beauty of our inner being is all that matters? -- or were you joking?
- Question 37 : Bob Chase, KEX Radio, USA, Oregon
- Bhagwan, for the last many years we've been told by Rajneeshee leaders that the reason for the vow of public silence was because you had nothing more to say, that you had said it all in your teachings and writings. Is your feeling now that there is something new to say, that the past bears repeating, or is it that you enjoy the showmanship in the setting that you have here today, for breaking the public silence?
- Question 38 : Ma Prem Isabel, Press Relations Bureau (CD-ROM adds: Rajneeshpuram)
- Beloved Bhagwan, I'm not a journalist, but I deal with journalists all the time. And before the press conference is over, I have a question that everybody asks me but nobody asked you today. And that is, during the time you didn't speak, Sheela was speaking all over the place, and many people got offended with her comments. And everybody asks, "How come Sheela is your spokesperson? How come Sheela makes those statements? She is antagonizing people."
- Would you say something about that?
- Question 39 : Kathleen Stone, KBND Radio, Bend, Oregon
- Bhagwan, you have said you have no interest in the outside, no interest in politics. Why then did you take over the town of Antelope, or your followers, your community? And why then did you say you would like your followers to take over the world?
- I'm sorry. The city of Rajneesh, the former town of Antelope.
- Question 40 : Penny Allen, Esquire (Sheela missed: magazine), USA
- Bhagwan, a number of your sannyasins have told me that they sense a certain ripeness in this moment. They feel that the fruit of Rajneeshism is ripe now and ready to be plucked from the tree. Do you feel this also, and is this why you have chosen this moment to address the questions of the press?
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