From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 10. GOD – THE NOBODY EVERYBODY KNOWS
So for that there is also a good strategy: you can steal anybody’s woman and you can convert
the woman to Mohammedanism. Now in India, a woman who has been converted by the
Mohammedans – if even for one night she has remained in a Mohammedan house – will not
be accepted back into a Jaina family or in a brahmin family or in a Buddhist family. That is
impossible because Mohammedans are thought to be the worst people in the world – the woman has
remained the whole night with those people and they have even converted her – and their method of
conversion is something which creates nausea in Jainas, Buddhists, brahmins, everybody in India.
The conversion method is that you have to eat with Mohammedans from one plate. So four, five,
six... as many Mohammedans as are available will all sit around a table – their brotherhood is
guaranteed now. The new person who is being converted will also eat from the same plate with
them and then they will all drink from the same cup; the new person has also to drink from the
same cup. Now, to any other Indian religion this is not acceptable at all. I know, because I had
Mohammedan friends, and it was such a difficulty.
One of my friends in the university who was almost not a Mohammedan, he was just born a
Mohammedan – because a fanatic Mohammedan cannot be friendly with me at all.... Listening
to me, still he remained my friend; that was enough proof that he had an open mind. Professor Farid
was his name, and many times he would come with me to my village which was eighty miles from
the university. Once in a while I would drive to the village just to see my father because he was so
much attached to me that if I did not come for eight or ten days, then he would come to see me;
he would not be satisfied that everything was okay without seeing me. He was always afraid that
something was going to be wrong.
So rather than troubling him I used to drive there, and Farid many times came with me. I had
to explain to him, ”Listen, you are going to a Jaina family, so don’t feel offended – even I am not
allowed in the kitchen, so what about you! They suspect me of eating with Mohammedans and
Christians....”
You will be surprised that the Hindu word for Christian is Kristan. In the beginning Kristan was used
for the Christian, but by and by it became associated with something wrong, something bad. So
if you are doing something wrong, they will say, ”Don’t behave like a Kristan.” First I was puzzled
that Kristan is the Hindi for Christian, but then I understood why: because to them, a Christian or a
Mohammedan belong to the anti-religious – their religions are not worth anything.
So I told Farid, ”We will be sitting outside when eating, and you will be given a special plate that is
kept separate, because they know that once in a while I bring a Christian or a Mohammedan home.
So they keep a whole set separate and nobody in the family will touch that set.” I had to bring it in
and put it before my friend; then I had to clean it because nobody else was going to clean it. I said,
”Don’t feel offended in any way; this is just how things are. And don’t disturb these people, because
even this much is too much for them – that just outside their kitchen a Mohammedan is sitting; this
is too much.”
So it was very easy in India to get hold of anybody’s woman and just keep her one or two days in
your house; then she could not go back. Even if she wanted to, even if you were ready to send
her back, she could not go back; she had to get married to you – there was no other way. They
converted millions of women in this way; and with the women came the increase in population. But
this is ugly.
From Ignorance to Innocence 132 Osho