We need one humanity

An essay by Nirbija

From soldier to sannyas

I had been a professionally-trained soldier for some years, when, by unexpected grace, I found myself in Pune 1, at Osho’s feet, and took sannyas. For now, it may be explanation enough to add that my father was an Army officer and that I may have come into this life with the karma of a World War II fighter.

During my last trip to India to see Osho at the Pune Ashram, in the early 80s, I received an immense blessing. For one moment during darshan with him, I was able to melt into his overwhelming love. It was like being immersed in a vastness, a deep life-giving respect for all humanity and life itself.

Back home again, I felt an urgent need to register as a conscientious objector. Army and sannyas just did not fit together. Later, I heard him say:

“A hand that knows the beauty of a rose flower cannot drop a bomb on Hiroshima. A hand that knows the beauty of love is not the hand to keep a gun loaded with death.”

My registration took just a few moments for a jury to approve, since I was a young officer and would now be seen as an unacceptable risk by the Army authorities. Since then I have, from time to time, been following military affairs from a distance. In general, I tend to forget about the madhouse we are living in!

The military world of 2022

The financial footprint of the military upon this planet Earth is simply astronomical. If there were an intergalactic Guinness Book of Records competition for global insanity, the inhabitants of our small planet would be shouting out loud: “EARTH FIRST! We want to become a record-holder!”

Scientists from the Stockholm peace research institute SIPRI published last April their annual report on military armament (sipri.org). It states that global expenditure on war material and services had risen in 2021 to $US 2,113,000,000,000.

The report specifies:

“Total global military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in 2021, to reach $2113 billion. The five largest spenders in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, together accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure […].”

The implications of these figures are dramatic. To put this huge amount into perspective: each of us 7.9 billion earthlings pays an average of 250 dollars annually to their respective government for what might lead to global self-destruction.

7.9 billion people, from babies to the elderly, from the rich to the starving, shift tax money into the hands of a relatively small group of politicians. Thence it flows into the ever-evolving weapons industry and their shareholders, to scientists, to arms merchants, to soldiers.

If my maths is correct, this means that, for every day in the year, we are investing more or less 6,000 million dollars each day in destruction. The 12 months’ budget of the United Nations for 2021/2022 was 5.7 billion dollars!

World Military Expenditure, by region, 1988-2021 0 Source: Sipri

Looking at the development of expenditure since 1988, one wonders why it dropped for nearly a decade? One possible reason may be the successful disarmament and peace negotiations between Russia and the western nations. Commencing with the 1985 Geneva Summit, Mikhail Gorbachev, newly chosen as Soviet leader, managed to reach a historic agreement with US President Ronald Reagan to dial down the Cold War rhetoric. Thousands of nuclear warheads were subsequently dismantled. It seems fair to say that Gorbachev succeeded in reducing the level of fear between nations which had fuelled the long-term conflict.

However, since 1996, total military spending has increased by a full one hundred per cent.

The “Intergalactic Guinness Award for Global Madness”

We can easily imagine a jury of aliens conferring the First Prize to the planet Earth for ‘Outstanding Achievements in Madness’. Furthermore, a compassionate and wise extra-terrestrial jury member from Andromeda Galaxy might propose: “Guys, you are definitely heading in the wrong direction. Cool down on your little blue dot! You might try compassion and a peaceful world government – for a change.” Bingo!

Did they listen attentively to Osho’s repeated statements? He says:

“I would like a world government. All nations should surrender their armies, their arms to the world government. Certainly, if there is a world government, neither armies are needed, nor arms. With whom are you going to have a war? To find the closest neighbour amongst the planets for some kind of war is almost impossible.

“Nations have become out of date, but they go on existing – and they are the greatest problem. Looking at the world, just like a bird looks, a strange feeling arises: we have everything, just we need one humanity.”

(Both quotes from Osho, Hari Om Tat Sat, Ch 5, Q 1)
Correction 15.12.2022: amount of UN budget from 3 billion a year to 5.7 billion over two years.

Related discourse excerpts by Osho

I am hoping against hope – Osho, is the world going to survive the third world war?
The Third World War – Beloved Osho, what do you say about the third world war? Is it going to happen or not? What should we do to prevent it?
Topic: Osho on War