For twenty years I have criticized Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy. No Gandhian has answered. Many Gandhians have come to me and they say, "Whatsoever you say is right, but we cannot say it in public, because if we say that whatsoever you say about Mahatma Gandhi is right, we will lose."
The public believes in Mahatma Gandhi. so utter nonsense has to be supported because Gandhi was anti-technological. Now this country will remain poor if this country remains anti-technological; this country will never be in a state of wellbeing. And there is no need for technology always to be anti-ecology; there is no need. A technology can be developed which can be in tune with ecology A technology can be developed which can help people and will not destroy nature -- but Gandhi was against technology.
He was against the railway, he was against the post office, he was against electricity, he was against machines of all kinds. They know this is stupid, because if this continues... But they go on saying so, and they go on paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi because they have to get the votes from the people. And the people worship the Mahatma because the Mahatma fits with their ideas of how a mahatma should be.
Mahatma Gandhi fits with the Indian mob; the Indian mob worships him. The politician has to follow the mob. Remember always: in politics the leader follows the followers. He has to! He only pretends that he is leading; deep down he has to follow the followers. Once the followers leave him, he is nowhere. He cannot stand on his own, he has no ground of his own.
Gandhi worshipped poverty. Now if you worship poverty you will remain poor. Poverty has to be hated.
I hate poverty! I cannot say to worship it; that would be a crime. And I don't see any religious quality in just being poor. But Gandhi talked much about poverty and its beauty -- it helps the poor man's ego, it buttresses his ego; he feels good. It is a consolation that he is religious, simple -- he is poor. He may not have riches but he has some spiritual richness.
Poverty in itself is not a spiritual richness; no, not at all. Poverty is ugly and poverty has to be destroyed. And to destroy poverty, technology has to be brought in.
Mahatma Gandhi was against birth control. Now if you are against birth control this country will become poorer and poorer every day. Then there is no possibility.
One day Mulla Nasruddin was saying to me, "Osho, it seems that soon everybody will be reduced to beggars. All will be begging!"
I asked him, "Nasruddin, from whom?"
The country is going to such poverty that even to exist as beggars will not be possible, because from whom will you beg? And when there is poverty there is crime. Poverty is the source of all crime -- not the source of religiousness, not the source of spirituality. Richness is the source of spirituality and religiousness, because religion is the ultimate luxury. It is the highest art, the greatest music, the profoundest dance.
When you have everything else, only then do you start looking for God. When you are finished with everything else, when you have seen everything and you have found that you are not satisfied, you start searching for God. A poor man has no idea of God. His God is nothing but a support: he clings, leans upon the idea of God.
This happens every day: when a poor man comes to me he never comes with the problems which are religious. He says, "My wife is ill. Osho, can you bless her? My son is not getting employment. Can you help?" Now these things have nothing to do with religion at all.
But he never comes with the problem of meditation or love; those are not his problems at all. His problem is bread, shelter. Life is in such a state that he is trying to survive somehow.
When a man is drowning in the river, will he ask "What is meditation?" or "What is love?" He wants to be helped to come out of his situation first. He is drowning, life is disappearing -- who bothers about meditation? A hungry man cannot be interested in meditation. But Gandhi thinks that poverty has something spiritual in it. It is just ugly. It is the most unspiritual thing in the world, because it is the source of all crime and sin.
I have heard...
There were reports of people claiming to have seen the spirit of Diogenes stalking the streets of many capitals of the world again. The learned Greek was first spotted in Paris. Some people approached the lamp-bearing philosopher: "Diogenes, what are you doing in Paris?"
Diogenes laughed a hearty laugh, he was very very happy, and he said, "Messieurs, I am searching for truth."
There was joy, there was dance, there was hope in his eyes. And then it was heard that he was seen walking in London. Some bobbies again found him with his lamp: "Diogenes, what are you doing in London?"
Now he was not so joyous. He tried to smile but it came only with an effort. He said, "Gentlemen, I am searching for truth."
Hope was disappearing from his eyes, sadness was settling.
And then he was seen in New York. Hope had completely disappeared, he was utterly sad, but he still repeated, almost mechanically, parrot-like, "I am searching for truth."
And then inevitably he was reported to have been seen in New Delhi. One Gandhian politician, clad in pure white khadi, approached him and asked, "Diogenes, what are you doing in New Delhi?"
And he was very angry, almost in a rage, and he said, "Netarji, I am searching for my lamp!"
In New Delhi you cannot save your lamp.
The country is falling into deeper and deeper misery every day. The misery is creating more misery -- it always happens. If you have, you get more; if you don't have, even that which you have starts disappearing.
And the Indian politician is responsible for all this nonsense because he goes on preaching high ideals. The Indian politician only talks, promises -- nothing is ever fulfilled. He cannot fulfill because his beliefs are stupid; or maybe he has to believe in those stupid superstitions. For example, they still talk about celibacy; not birth control but celibacy: people should be celibate so that the population can be reduced. Now this is nonsense. How many people can be celibate? And this is not a way to reduce the population. And they still think in terms of no-technology, no-machines.
The whole country is becoming like a wound, a cancer.
I see all this. That's also why I don't want to leave this country. I want to create a small oasis, my commune, which will be absolutely technological and still ecological. It has to be a model so that we can say to the whole country that if this can happen with five thousand sannyasins in a small place, why can't it happen on a higher scale, a greater scale, to the whole country?
My commune can become an example. It will be simple and rich. It will be technological and not against ecology. It will be ABSOLUTELY scientific and yet human. It will be a totally different kind of communism. It will be a commune not for something from the outside or from the top, but because people love each other, they have created a family, they want to live together. We will be doing farming, collective farming, with all the technology possible. We will make the commune absolutely independent. There will be no need to go outside. And my effort is that we will not be bringing anything inside; we will produce everything.
It can become a great oasis in this desert country. It can be of much help, it can create great inspiration.
So I am not going to leave it. The country will need me, and you too.