I am responsible for whatever happened – because you are fast asleep

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Osho takes the responsibility for what happened in Rajneeshpuram and says, “…this is my deepest longing: that Sheela and her group should be forgiven.”

Beloved Master,
Yesterday I was sad when you said, “I take the blame for everything that has happened.”
Why should you be blamed? Every moment you are trying to make us loving, meditative and celebrative. If there is any blame, we are all responsible. We are not loving, meditative and alert, and that is why Sheela and her gang could dare to do such evil actions.
Please tell us how to become more meditative, loving and responsible.

Osho RP (94)

That’s why I have said that I am responsible for whatever happened – because you are fast asleep. You are not alert, aware; you live like a somnambulist, walking in your sleep. How can you say that you are responsible for it all?

Neither can I say Sheela and her group are responsible. They belong to the same category as you. They just had power and, in their sleep, they did whatever sleep allows you to do. You had no power, you followed them, because what can a sleeper do?

So the whole responsibility is basically mine. I should not have gone into silence and isolation.

But it has been a great experiment, and a great experience that a man like me should not leave you alone in the hands of people who are just like you.

The law, perhaps, may not allow it, but this is my deepest longing: that Sheela and her group should be forgiven, and if any punishment is needed they should give it to me.

Only I am responsible, because I went into silence. I had never thought that silence can lead to such calamity.

Osho, From Bondage to Freedom, Ch 6, Q 2

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