Question: Who is Osho, what did he teach?
Swami Anand Arun: Osho is a Sadguru, like Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus, Shankaracharya were in their time. At that time, they looked normal, but as time went by, their shine was fading. They had to face many opponents during their time but later everyone accepted them as divine avatars. We believe that no personality like Osho was born after Buddha and Shankaracharya. After the birth of Jesus, history was divided into two parts, like: If the events that happened before the birth of Jesus are counted as ‘Before Christ’ and the events that happened later are counted as ‘After Christ’, similarly, we believe that Osho has also started dividing history into two parts. For example, Osho has started to influence literature, world literature. After some time, there will be a situation where literature is evaluated: before Osho and after. We consider him as a great man born in this period.
Question: What is Osho’s message?
Swami Anand Arun: The main message given by Buddha is that there is suffering in the world and there is a reason for suffering. Osho modifies it and says, ‘Unconsciousness is the cause of suffering.’ Today, science has made so much progress, we have not been able to reap its benefits properly. Why not? We are walking, eating, and talking unconsciously. We don’t know who we are, why we are, what we are for, what we should do. As a result, we suffer. Another cause of misery in the world is dirty politics. The one who leads the country, the society, has become directionless. Common people have suffered in this world because of short-sighted, unintelligent and dishonest politicians. Therefore, the inner cause of suffering is our unconsciousness.
Question: Do you think God is born, like Rama, Krishna and Buddha?
Swami Anand Arun: Osho also believes this but his approach is slightly different. Any great man is born by the need of time.
Question: Is Osho also an incarnation of God like Rama and Krishna?
Swami Anand Arun: We consider it to be human development. Even now the light has not reached his village. Even now, there is no other school in his village except the primary school. Osho, who was born in an ordinary family in such a village, developed himself as a person who wrote the most books in the world and gave the world a pioneering thought. We believe that it is an explosion of talent. We do not believe that he is an avatar of Vishnu.
Question: You yourself are a thinker, researcher and analyst of events, how are you looking at the events happening in Nepal now?
Swami Anand Arun: It should be viewed very liberally, as: violence is happening here, it is global. A little more is happening in Nepal. Kashmir, Iraq, Gaza, Assam, Sri Lanka have violence too, no? The way we have lived the same life for 500 years has given birth to such a reaction. Since the development of science and development of industry, it has been seen that the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. What has happened now is that one hundred people in the world have accumulated more money than six billion people in the world. Osho has already said that when there is an imbalance in the world, no matter what kind of imbalance it is, it creates dissatisfaction. That is the main cause of violence. The increase in violence in Nepal is also the cause of such dissatisfaction and imbalance.
Question: Shouldn’t we bring peace through negotiations?
Swami Anand Arun: Talk is a temporary painkiller like Citamol. Current diseases cannot be cured by temporary painkillers alone. There has been social injustice in Nepal for hundreds of years. It also includes economic, social and linguistic. “What I have said, you should say the same, what I have to wear, feel the same way, you should also accept whom I consider as a god.” Therefore, just using painkillers to fix what has happened is not going to establish peace.
Question: Then the peace talks that are going to be held now are just rumours?
Swami Anand Arun: Yes, one who says peace must be very generous. I am ready to understand other people’s problems, I am ready to stand on other people’s ground and talk. I have to promise that I am ready to live in the misery that most people are living in. How can you solve the problem by talking about peace in an air-conditioned castle? How many people died in the mountains without being able to eat one Citamol? We are sending it abroad to make medicinal root by spending millions of rupees at government expense. Until we can change ourselves, we are not ready to give up, then there will be no peace talks.
Question: But the authorities are not ready to do all this?
Swami Anand Arun: Knowing that there is no peace, it is said that there is no possibility of peace. I don’t want to leave anything, I want to make a deal with you. If you have nothing but I have everything, how do you compromise?
Question: What do you want to say to both sides?
Swami Anand Arun: Violence breeds counter-violence. Violence is not a permanent solution to the problem, but violence has opened our eyes. This problem has been there for hundreds of years but has not been noticed. Now we have to open our eyes. All the problems of the world have been solved from the table itself. Violence has made our deaf ears to hear. If you insist that you are strong today, tomorrow I will wait for an opportunity. I press you when I get a chance. Therefore, it should be resolved with compassion and an open heart.
I will say one more thing. Everyone has taken this problem very lightly. Everyone says peace but no one is ready to sacrifice for peace. They have taken such a sensitive matter so lightly that it cannot be resolved in this way. There has neither been an election, nor has there been a negotiation. Everyone is sitting wondering what happened. This is a very sad situation.
Question: Today’s youth are very disappointed, what would you like to say to them?
Swami Anand Arun: Youth depression is due to the fact that they have no future. When we were students, after studying engineering, it was like a guarantee of employment. Now there is no guarantee of employment, nor is there any way to go. Tomorrow looks darker than today. In other countries, even if there is sadness today, there is hope that tomorrow will be better, but here, tomorrow is even more difficult. For this, work should be done to ensure the future of the youth. The trend of going abroad should be stopped. They should create an environment where they can sit here and work.
Question: Are the youth making the country rich by going abroad?
Swami Anand Arun: We have not gone abroad and sold our skills. We are selling the body. You may say that only girls sell their bodies, but what you need to understand is that we are doing very low-level work for very low wages. Workers in other countries work for 1000, we are doing that work for 200.
Question: Do you have any vision to make such a damaged country?
Swami Anand Arun: Change should be done by humans, not the system, but we only changed the system. My vision is – if we want to build the country, we must think of a radical change in people. Some of the ways to make it are as follows:
- Education: Developmental education should be implemented so that poverty and unemployment can be addressed.
- Foreign assistance: Foreign assistance should be taken only for building infrastructure. Random foreign aid has made us dependent. We should stop taking foreign aid to prove that we have to do our work ourselves.
- Hydropower: In our country, small hydropower projects should be completed, in which local workers and our own engineers should be used.
- Arms: The money that is currently being spent on buying helicopters, guns and other explosives, that money should be invested in development. If someone wants to give arms support, we should politely ask him to give materials for development.
These above things should be done so quickly that people feel that something is happening. The current violence is the result of slow work. Time has made people very stupid. If we can’t keep up with the times, we will fall behind.
