Message #24477

[ding dong]

I don't think of him as a false prophet, but rather as a con-man and, yes, a masterful one. A false prophet would mean that he was presenting himself as a true prophet, but he derided that notion on every occasion. He made fun of all the traditional prophets, calling them crackpots, as well as what he considered their superstitious and uneducated followers. Many think Yogananda is a false-prophet too, as you know. The term isn't terribly meaningful, really, in post-modern days. It assumes there are true prophets and that is a highly dubious notion. You are right about Osho being a joker though - he definitely was. But I find spirituality is itself something very often joke worthy. You laugh to keep from crying, I guess.

Case in point, just watch that movie on Netflix, "Holy Hell". The ballerino guru. Spirituality and guru-disciple...ism often takes on sick and disturbing forms and funny too. It is a power dynamic that is just inviting abusers and abusees to sign up. Perhaps no setup is quite so good, short of outright BDSM, for strange psychologies to coalesce.

Anyway, the real question in my mind is, "was Osho actually anything other than a con man?" We have established the fact of him being a con-man. I don't think that's up for much debate since he himself admitted it and there is ample evidence to support the notion. But IMO, many gurus are con-men, whether they realize it or not. Some, if not all, you could argue always get drunk on their own Kool-aid before serving it to others.

So what should we say? Had Osho attained those states that have been cataloged in the spiritual literature or was he just extremely well-read about them and nothing more? I am not able to say, unfortunately. But I imagine it is a subject which will arouse passions. LOL. Have at it...