Osho,
You have said that you have never lied in your whole life, but for the sake of your people you had to lie to get yourself released. Osho, the saints have had to pass through a phase of fire tests – were you not supposed to do the same?

I have lied three times in my life. Who told you that I have never lied?

You said so in an interview that you gave to Dharmayuga.

There must be some mistake on the part of Dharmayuga. I have lied three times.

When?

Because to me, love and compassion are the most precious things, once I lied to protect Anand Sheela. I had explained to her a thousand times that no adoption of me had ever occurred, but she prepared false documents so that a case could be made for my staying in America. The question before me was of an old man, of Sheela, and of a commune of thousands of sannyasins. I lied only this much: I said that I had no idea and that I may have been adopted in my childhood, but it had never been told to me.

The second time I lied was in the American jails, after having been harassed for twelve days in every way. The American government told my attorneys that there were only two options: “One option is that this case runs on in the courts for years. We know that we will lose the case, because Osho has not done anything wrong. But, the case may run for ten years, fifteen years, twenty years. During this time we will destroy the commune. Without Osho the commune will die, and the movement of sannyasins will be destroyed all over the world.” The second option: If I accepted – they had prepared a list of one hundred and thirty-six crimes against me, all false – if I pleaded guilty on any two counts, the movement could survive, the commune could survive; all the sannyasins spread all over the world could continue.