Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
6th August is a black day in the history of mankind. It is the day when the United States detonated a nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. Three days later, on 9th August 1945 another atomic bomb was dropped over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Both these bombs had been developed under the Allies’ Manhattan Project led by the United States with the support of UK and Canada. The two bombings killed approx. 350,000 people, most of whom were civilians. Apart from the immediate devastation at impact, hundreds of people continued to die for months afterwards from the effects of injuries, illnesses and radiation compounded by malnutrition.
Atomic energy could have been a great benediction had it been used rightly to solve the persistent problems of mankind like energy sufficiency. But it was used for the worst possible crime against innocent people. Einstein was not aware of how politician’s minds work and how they will misuse the power. Osho says Truman was the president of America who had ordered that Nagasaki and Hiroshima should be destroyed — without any reason or rhyme, because Germany had surrendered and Japan too was going …. The papers were being got ready, just the signature was needed of the emperor of Japan. Within two or three days, or at the most seven days, agreements would have been completed and Japan would have surrendered. Seeing that Japan was going to surrender, Truman was very quick. Before Japan surrendered — because then he would not be able to test his atom bombs — he gave the order.
Osho Says….
BELOVED OSHO,
ALL THE NEWS MEDIA ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SIXTH OF AUGUST, THE UNFORTUNATE DAY FORTY YEARS AGO WHEN HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI WERE BOMBED WITH THE FIRST ATOM BOMBS. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, GOVERNMENTS ARE STILL SPENDING MOST OF THEIR MONEY MAKING THESE NUCLEAR WEAPONS. CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT?
The sixth of August can never be forgotten. That day we proved that civilization has not happened to humanity yet, that we are barbarians, that we are cannibals, that we are still animals. Darwin is wrong; the whole idea of evolution is just imagination. Instead of believing in Darwin, I believe in the monkeys, because monkeys also have their idea: they think man has fallen — and certainly he has fallen — from the trees. Falling from the height, you call that evolution? The sixth of August proved the monkeys are right, because to drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the ugliest thing that man has done in the whole of history. Everything else paled before it.
And the wonder of wonders is that it was not needed at all. Germany had already surrendered; the Japanese forces were almost finished. Perhaps without the dropping of the atom bombs the war may have continued one week more. That would not have been a great calamity — people had been fighting for five years; for seven days more…. But that was the reason for dropping the atom bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, because if the war ended then you would never be able to drop the atomic weapons that you had.
It was the time to make the world feel how much power and strength you had. America wanted it to be remembered that if Nagasaki and Hiroshima can disappear in smoke, then there is no problem: Moscow, New Delhi, London, Paris — any place can be evaporated within seconds.
American was trying to prove itself the greatest power in the world. It had nothing to do with the war, they were winning. Now, dropping atom bombs on people who are already losing every day — there cannot be any other reason. President Truman — and what a name he has got.
Certainly he was a true-man. We should change his name to President True-monkey; that’s where he belongs. Even his military experts were not willing. They told him, “It is absolutely unnecessary, the war has really ended. It is only just a week’s work and Japan will surrender. Now that Germany has surrendered, Japan cannot survive; the basic power was Germany. And we are winning every day, so just wait seven days more. And if after seven days the war is not finished, you can drop atom bombs.”
But he did not listen, because there was some other motivation in dropping the atom bombs. It was not to win, they were winning already.
The motivation was to make it clear to the whole world that now America is by far the biggest power. And just to prove this, two big cities, throbbing with life, were just destroyed.
Obviously, Japan surrendered immediately; otherwise Tokyo would go the same way as Hiroshima and Nagasaki had gone. And President True-monkey told his military experts, “See? The war is finished immediately. We don’t have to wait.”
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are wounds which have not healed yet. And rather than healing those wounds, America is piling up nuclear weapons. Naturally, afraid of America, Russia is doing the same; they are piling up nuclear weapons.
In fact, it is now difficult to say who is more powerful, because about American things are known, how much power America has, but about Russia everything is secret. She may be more powerful, she may have more nuclear weapons. She may have new methods which are even superior. For example, they have been trying, and perhaps they have succeeded, in creating death rays. No bomb is needed, certain rays are just directed towards the country. You will not see them, so you cannot protect yourself. When somebody is bombing, there is time — Russia cannot destroy the whole of America in a day, nor can America destroy Russia in a day. But death rays will kill people and nobody will be able to know what is happening. Suddenly the death ray hits your heart, you fall dead. It is an invisible way of killing, and as far as I know, there is as yet no way found to protect people against death rays.
And because these two biggest powers in the world are continuing to create more and more destructive weapons, even small countries — just out of fear, the whole humanity is living in fear — countries which are starving, cannot manage even to survive, which perhaps will not be there to see the third world war at all, they are also trying to make atomic plants, nuclear plants. Their people are already dying and starving, and they are preparing death for others, knowing perfectly well that now there is no time to become in any way a great world power. Russia and America are so far ahead that by the time you reach that point, they would have moved again, miles further ahead. Now there is no way for them to catch up.
It is sheer stupidity on the part of other countries to waste their money on nuclear weapons, for the simple reason that they can never be the top power. That is impossible; they don’t have the means, they don’t have the time. And it is stupid for America and Russia too, because they have already so much destructive energy in their hands that they can kill all living beings on the earth, from trees to man — everything that breathes. They both are ready enough to destroy life seven times over. Can you see any intelligence in making more weapons? Are not these enough? A man dies only once!
And you are not the begotten son of God, that after death you will be resurrected with glory, so they will have to kill you again…
Hiroshima and Nagasaki create a division in history. And now, to go on piling up more and more weapons of destruction, just out of fear…. Even India wants a nuclear plant. The difficulty is that one of the most important things needed to make nuclear weapons is uranium, and uranium is found only in Russia and America. So anybody who wants to create a nuclear plant has to depend on these two powers. America has bigger resources for uranium, so although India deep down condemns America, it cannot declare openly that “We are not with America,” because from where are they going to get the uranium? Russia has only enough for itself; otherwise Russia would have provided the uranium for India. And the situation is absurd.
When you have already enough to destroy every man seven times, then stop everything! All the energy should move to provide people with more comfort, more education, more health, more medicine. And this is so simple.
People go on asking me, “Don’t you have any compassion for Ethiopia? What are your people doing for Ethiopia?” I am not so unintelligent as to send you to Ethiopia to serve the poor people there who are starving. The crisis has been going on for four years, because for four years there have been no rains. I don’t feel responsible at all for Ethiopia, or India. There are two kinds of people who are responsible, and on this sixth of August, those two categories should take the responsibility to see that things like Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happen again. Who are these two categories? One is the politicians. They should stop — not a semicolon, a full stop. No more money goes into making destructive things, no money goes into the service of death. And you should remember, seventy-five percent of the energy of all the nations is going into the service of death. This seventy-five percent of the energy should become available to the poor, the downtrodden. And can you imagine? Seventy-five percent of the finances, if released from the service of death, can make this earth a paradise.
This sixth of August…. The second category is that of priests of all religions, who are teaching people that birth control is against God, that abortion is a crime, is a sin. These are the people who are helping the population grow faster and faster. These people should be behind bars: the pope, his bishops, the shankaracharya, the imam, Mother Teresa — certainly at least one woman should be included with these criminals. They all should be in prison. Leaving them out is leaving ferocious animals without chains in the society. They go on helping the population to grow, and the population goes on creating more poverty.
I am not responsible. For thirty years I have been continuously teaching that the pill is the greatest revolution after the discovery of fire. Nothing else in between is of any importance. Birth control is your birthright. It is up to you to decide, because there is no God who is deciding. You have to take the responsibility upon yourself. We are in our own ways trying to raise the consciousness around the world to prevent the politicians from creating more destructive weapons. And whatever nuclear energy, atomic energy, is available should be used for creative purposes. The same energy can bring clouds over Ethiopia; the same energy can stop floods in India.
Energy is always neutral. It depends on you for what purpose you are going to use it.
The politicians are responsible — and the religious leaders. I am not responsible at all, because for thirty years I have been teaching in favor of birth control, the pill and other methods. And I have been teaching against atomic energy. But if people don’t listen then it is their responsibility.
If Ethiopia dies, it is not my responsibility; it is the responsibility of Ethiopia itself. If India dies, it is not my responsibility. They should hang their shankaracharyas who are responsible for poverty in India. They should tell their politicians, “We don’t need nuclear plants.” India is dying, half of India is starving, and the wheat is being exported, because only by exporting wheat and other things which their own people need, can India arrange finances enough to make nuclear plants. These politicians should be forced: “Either stop all efforts for war, or get down from your seats. We will find other presidents, other prime ministers.” The sixth of August should be a day of declaration against the politicians and the priests.
Source:
This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune.
Discourse Series: From the False to the Truth
Chapter #32
Chapter title: God: the need of the old man
30 July 1985 am
References:
Osho has spoken about the ‘Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing’ in many of His discourses. More on
the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:
1. The Golden Future
2. From the False to the Truth
3. The Osho Upanishad
4. Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
5. The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart
6. Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons
7. Come follow to you Vol. 1, 2
8. From Bondage to Freedom
9. The Path of the Mystic
10. YAA-HOO! The Mystic Rose