Stop Discrimination Against HIV-Seropositive People in Osho Centers

Let's Stop Discriminating Against HIV-Seropositive People

I am posting here the arguments for changing the AIDS policy of Osho meditation centers, and in particular of the Osho Commune in Poona. Currently these centers exclude HIV-seropositive people from participating in their activities. Since AIDS is not spread by casual social contact, this exclusion is unjustified, discriminatory, and uncompassionate. It rejects people who, because of their shortened life expectancy, have every reason to want to find meaning for their life in Osho's world of meditation. This is not to say that the centers should stop compulsory periodic AIDS tests, as this is one way of raising awareness of the need for responsibility in halting the spread of the disease through unsafe sexual practices. Only the practice of discriminatory exclusion should stop.

I wrote an article about this subject five years ago, "How AIDS is not transmitted". Most of it was printed as a letter to the editor in the magazine, VIHA Connection, a U.S. publication aimed primarily at friends of Osho. Recently I was talking to a friend who wanted to go to the Osho Commune in Poona. One thing that made her hesitate was the exclusion of HIV-seropositive individuals. Since she had done extensive professional work in education on AIDS prevention, she was able to easily see the stupidity of this policy, and was so revolted by it, that she hesitated to make the trip. I told her that this outdated policy did not stop the commune from being the greatest place for meditation in the world that I was aware of, my last experience there being in 1996-97. I told her that to me, this policy was one of many imperfections that simply reflect that the commune is run by error-prone and occasionally thick-headed human beings, who have faults which I share myself and can not judge in other people. She is going to go and see for herself, and I hope that this text will help other people who object to this policy to see that not everyone in Poona agrees with it.

Osho's Farsighted Vision on AIDS

It should be understood that Osho had an amazingly farsighted vision of the real impact of the AIDS epidemic much in advance of his time. I recall being at the Oregon commune in the mid eighties when Osho spoke out about AIDS predicting that AIDS would become a world-wide epidemic. At this time the disease was thought to only affect homosexuals. Osho advocated the use of condoms, and even rubber gloves and a halt to kissing for all sexual relations, if not outright celibacy. This was at a time when governments were doing absolutely nothing in the way of AIDS prevention. It must also be understood that at that time it was not known how AIDS was transmitted, and Osho's extreme measures were very appropriate, and life-saving given the little that was known at the time. Osho believed that AIDS could be spread through sweat, tears, and even hugging, as shown by his discourses, so it is no wonder that he advocated segregation of HIV-seropositive persons. Today we know that this is not true, (How AIDS is not transmitted) but leaders of the Osho Commune continue as though Osho's words are an inviolable scripture, and the findings of science are to be ignored, much like the church once denied that the earth was round, or that the earth revolves around the sun. Osho deserves better than that from his disciples.

The "Official" AIDS Policy

I searched the Web for information on the Poona Commune AIDS policy, but found little. I wrote about this lack to the webmaster of the official Osho site, and they informed me that they would put this on their list of things to do. The Poona Commune advertises itself as an "AIDS-free" zone. But AIDS tests are only partially effective in screening out infected persons, so it can not really be sure of being "AIDS-free". It would be more correct to say that the commune is a "HIV-tested" zone. Otherwise people may be encouraged to let down their guard concerning safe sex practices. This error is ironic considering how strongly leaders of the commune proclaim themselves to be aware of the importance of preventing AIDS.

In fact, the real problem about AIDS transmission in casual social contact, such as in group and meditation activities is the danger from accidents involving bleeding, which is the only known non-sexual means of transmission. All meditation and group rooms should be supplied with blood cleanup and decontamination kits in case of accidents. The fact that this is not the case, shows that the leaders of the Commune are not as aware of real AIDS prevention measures as they like to think.

I did find one quote on the WWW from the Ko Hsuan school for kids concerning this AIDS policy. They resort to a rather twisted logic to justify their discriminatory policy: "Who can say with confidence that this virus will not change its mode of spread? Who can say that it will not develop a strain that does particularly well in saliva? The problem is that while the virus mutates very fast, it creates disease only very slowly. That means that by the time we have discovered changes in the way it spreads, months or years may have passed before the medical profession has assembled 'the facts.'"

This argument is a tacit admission that AIDS as we know it today is not spread by normal educational activities. The test is intended to forestall a new AIDS-type disease that may exist tomorrow. But if the AIDS virus can spread in new ways, why can it not also elude detection by tests in new ways? It would be safest to close the school completely.

If the mutation argument is so important, then what about microbes that are mutating because of overuse of antibiotics. There are many diseases that are already thousands of times more contagious than AIDS. These diseases are breaking through one antibiotic barrier after another as medical science scurries to hold off this microbial Armageddon while at the same time teaching the microbes to defend themselves through overprescription of drugs. If these diseases become immune to antibiotics, a new plague will decimate the earth's population. Should we therefore test now for tuberculosis, staphylococcus and every other kind of microbe? Without a specific incurable contagious disease to target, this kind of approach is akin to refusing to cross the street because of the danger of being hit by a car, maybe.

A Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision

A recent U.S. Supreme court decision (Bragdon v. Abbot, June 25, 1998) ruled that a person who is HIV-seropositive, though without overt AIDS symptoms, could not be discriminated against according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The particular case concerned a dentist who refused to fill a cavity of an HIV-seropositive patient.

The Act states : "No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation…" A later subsection restricts this right if the "individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others." The supreme court decided that an HIV sero-positive person qualifies as a disabled person who does not threaten the health of others, and therefore should not be discriminated against.

When Osho was was still formulating certain policies concerning AIDS he was far ahead of any government in the world in terms of AIDS prevention. However, today we can say that his disciples are far behind even the U.S. government in terms of understanding how AIDS is transmitted.

A Call for Discussion

I hope that this text will contribute to a discussion of this question among friends of Osho. If you have a contribution to make to this discussion, whatever your particular insight may be, send it to me and I will publish it in a discussion section, to be created when your contributions arrive.

- Sw. Prem Srajano, July 29, 1998

"…While speaking over and over again against words, I will have spoken many words. Someone or other may catch hold of them and make scriptures out of them. But I cannot stop speaking because there is one chance in a hundred of them becoming a scripture. Only if I stop speaking will there be a safeguard against this one chance. However, there is no basis for this fear, because someone will come along after a while who will speak against my works and the scriptures that will have been made from them. There need be no fear! But a strange thing happens here and that is this : In the future, my work in this world will be furthered by the very person who speaks against me…"

Osho, Dimensions Beyond the Known, six talks given in Bombay between 1970 and 1973.