silence shared in words
presents
Mahatma Gandhi's Poverty Is Very Costly
...I will give you the example of Mahatma Gandhi.
In India,
railway trains have
four classes
the air-conditioned,
the first class,
the second class and the third class.
And the country is so poor
that even to afford a third-class ticket
is difficult for almost half of the people of the land.
Gandhi started
traveling in third class.
I used to have discussions with his son, Ramdas,
and I told him, "This is simply crowding the third class,
it is already too crowded.
This is not helping the poor."
And you will be surprised;
because Gandhi was traveling in the third class,
the whole compartment was booked for him.
In a sixty-foot compartment,
where at least eighty to ninety persons would have traveled,
he alone is traveling.
And his biographers will write,
"He was so kind
to the poor."
He used to
drink
goat's milk
because that is the cheapest,
and the poorest of people can afford it.
Naturally,
everybody
who is conditioned with the idea
immediately appreciates what a great man he is.
But you don't know about his goat!
I am a little crazy,
because I don't care about Mahatma Gandhi much,
but I care certainly about the goat.
I inquired everything about the goat,
and I found
that his goat
was being
bathed every day
with Lux toilet soap.
The food of the goat cost in those days ten rupees
ten rupees was
the salary of a schoolteacher
for one month.
But nobody will look into these matters.
Only one woman,
a very intelligent woman
in Mahatma Gandhi's circle, Sarojini Naidu
later on she became the governor
of North India
joked once
that to keep Mahatma Gandhi poor,
we have to destroy treasures.
His poverty is very costly.
But it worked.
As a politician
he became the greatest politician
because the poor people thought,
"This is the man who is our real representative
because he lives like a poor man in a cottage,
he drinks goats' milk, he travels in third class."
But they don't know
the background
that to maintain his poverty
was very costly.
The idea he got
was from the Christians.
He was born a Hindu,
but he was born
in Gujarat
which, although
it is a majority Hindu state,
is mostly influenced by Jainism;
the people are not all Jainas,
but Jainism has been a subtle spiritual influence all over Gujarat.
Then he went to the West to study,
and there he came in contact
with Christian missionaries.
And many times he
was on the verge
of being converted into Christianity.
If you divide his life,
he is ninety percent Christian,
nine percent Jaina,
one percent Hindu.
But this country
has a majority of Hindus.
To influence these Hindus
he used
a totally new kind of strategy,
and that was
to live like a poor man.
His clothes,
his house,
his food
everything will give you
an appearance of a very poor man.
But if you look
into everything minutely,
with an impartial eye,
you will be surprised
that everything is more costly
than even the richest man
living in a palace
that will be cheaper.
But he succeeded in deceiving people.
This is one of the curses that Christianity
has brought to humanity.
Other religions have helped,
but Christianity is at the top.
Khalil Gibran, himself a Christian,
is not befooled by that idea.
But you who are strong and swift,
see
that you do not limp before the lame,
deeming it kindness.
What are all your saints doing,
living like poor people?
It does not help the poor people in any way,
it simply burdens them.
In India there are millions of monks
Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas.
They all live the life of the poor.
The poor cannot manage
their own lives
and all these millions
of monks,
who are not doing anything productive,
anything creative,
are sitting on the chest of the poor people of India
sucking their blood
and with great authority, because they are living like poor men;
you have to worship them,
you have to feed them,
you have to clothe them.
I once said to Ramdas, Mahatma Gandhi's son,
that if it is sympathy
and kindness and compassion
to live like a poor man amongst the poor,
then what about other things?
If there are a few blind people,
should I live
with a blindfold?
Or if there are
unintelligent people
and there are,
the whole world is full of the unintelligent
should I also live
like the retarded,
the stupid, just out of sympathy?
No, this cannot be the criterion
of being good,
of being virtuous, of being religious.
If somebody is sick,
that does not mean
that the doctor should come and lie down on another bed,
so as to help the sick.
Everybody can see the nonsense in it.
The doctor has to remain healthy
so that he can help those who are sick.
If he himself becomes sick out of sympathy,
then who is going to help?
The same is true
in the inner growth of man.
Copyright© OSHO International Foundation, Switzerland
www.OSHO.com/copyright
OSHO is a registered Trademark of OSHO International Foundation