Sw .Surendra Bharti (Surendra Singh Saini)
born in Delhi 1937, died in Munich on August 15th 2008
As a memorial to this sannyasin, six years dead this month, good to remember it was he who found a very old film about Osho from 1975 moldering in a Munich basement. It was his work, or the work he commissioned, that got it back to a state it could be viewed, or shall we say, more or less! It was an act of great “service”. For the more technically minded here is his description:
“This film was originally on 16mm. We got it transferred on to VHS/PAL video tape in 1980, to be able to show it on TV in our Anubhuti centre in Munich. The Anubhuti Centre closed as a public place in 1982 and this video tape was packed away with other things and was in the cellar till 1994 when, while cleaning up we found it and naturally the tape was in a bad condition. This film is a rare document and we decided to save and preserve it, we got it re-mastered and transferred to a metal tape and made 60 copies which were given to Osho Centres in Germany only. In year 2000 we got it re-mastered again digitally and distributed it to Osho Centres around the World.”
As someone who was in Poona in 1975 it is particularly evocative, and reminds me very deeply of that time. The film requires a bit of patience, and it it is in four parts. I particularly like the commentator, his reaction to both India and the ashram resonated with me, also reflecting on that time. How he came to do the film is also of particular note as he describes in the first lines of his transcript. I commend it to you.
Parmartha
I bought a copy on DVD. It is quite good quality on DVD. It is a lovely film, isn’t it?
I watched this vid some years back. I was not particularly impressed and even less so now.
There is something so unsannyasinlike dispayed by indulging in over much nostalgia. Sure, those were good times, but what about today? Watching reruns of all our yesterday seems so pedestrian. On Facebook there are so many photos of sannyasin past and people going on about how it was back then. It seems so old.
It’s as if what is going on now cannot compete with the past. It comes across like old folks rattling on about their school and university days. Or maybe old hippies recalling their acid trips of yore, which is probably one of the most boring topics ever, on par with this cheapo docu about discovering Osho
Yes, I have spoken about the past many times on SN, but usually in context. Meanwhile, life goes on and most of the time I am living today and not long ago. Of course, it is interesting, if not fascinating, to reflect on how things were and how it is now, but somehow I get the feling that for a certain group of sannyasins it is like the golden years are over and all that is left is a bunch of faded memories.
Osho declared that he was not sentimental, which is not entirely true, going by his exaggerated biographical accounts about his “golden childhood”, but I can dig where he is coming from when he said sentimentality was not a strong force in his lfe. You can look back if you wish but I’ll take today no matter what it brings, because essentially the past is dead.
I am immensly grateful that you have been putting these living documents ´on stage ´here, Parmartha,
and for me at least, the timing at this place here is like a precious gift.
I knew Surendra and Usha, his wife, personally, as we lived together with other sannyasins for a little while in a large flat in Munich – long ago – and that´s another big story from inside the travel agency
‘travels’- from- here-to-here.
Love,
Madhu
Aah, Lokesh,
When I saw your contribution on the screen here a smile came up, like that smile when you start to recognize someone, you have become a little more familiar too.
Your ‘pattern’ – sorry, I see it sometimes like that – to give an annoyed kind of statement about how utterly ‘dead; all the past (history) is, I don´t take too seriously, especially when your response comes up so immediately, like yesterday.
Sometimes responding takes kind of midwife inner work or to put it less romantically, waiting for words to come.
To your place and to you , a smile, today breakfast-time, and more is in ‘work in progress’….
Madhu
Madhu, if I write more than a few lines I have usually given the topic consideration.
When beauty lies in the videos of the past, it is a clear indication green has turned into dull.
Lokesh is somewhere right?
Why Golden Past has not created Golden Present? Forget about future.
Just the other week, Osho Resort has celebrated Monsoon festival.
One can look at their facebook page, even dogs won´t piss on the artificial green.
Is it because of Sheela, Ronald Reagan or Modi?
Where is Dentist Devageet to look at the tooth decay of the present, where is that German or British journalist for their reporting skills?
“Is it because of Sheela, Ronald Reagan or Modi?”
More likely, human nature.
As you are no ‘fan’ ot either groups or meditation, Shantam, and as Osho wouldn’t be there, I do wonder what ‘your’ version of Pune (‘Pune 4′) could possibly be…
As others have suggested here, perhaps you’re just using this obsessive ‘outer’ discontent as a convenient means of discharging what might be more than a degree or two of ‘inner’ dissatisfaction with the state of your own life (‘inner’ & ‘outer’).
I think you’re quite fortunate to have been allowed to make such tediously repetitious posts here at SN, plugging the same old line, for so long.
(Btw, any angry reaction to this from you will be taken as further evidence that such an analysis is on the right track).
Often when the libido dies nostalgia sets in…and perhaps one distracts oneself with excessive hoovering, or car maintenance…here is further evidence of what some in the DIY trade know as displacement behaviour… watching old vids of time past included….
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2014/08/12/impotent-man-has-best-kept-house-on-street/
I watched this video a few years ago also, I found it fascinating, it caught aspects of that time so well and there is very little historical documentary that does that. For that I think it has value. I have not viewed it on its presentation here but would recommend it to anyone who is curious about early Poona. For a lot of people, those times were golden and I don’t really see any problem in acknowledging that, they were rare and the like of which will not be seen again.
Of course, if viewing or going on about the past becomes a substitute for living the present, then we are falling asleep, but waking up or staying awake has always been the challenge and overindulging the past is just one pitfall of that. But maybe you’re right, Lokesh, maybe some of us go into this one too easily!
Dharmen, well put.
Friends,
Polishing a house that is no longer inhabited (nostalgia), is quite something else than re-aligning again to a SOUL VALUE and looking for ways to experience realigning to values which are beyond time, beyond space and yet existing.
And I want to share as well that pretty most of the Facebook selfies of nowadays don´t breathe the living better or more contemporary (and are not nostalgic).
So the last two or three waves here, thread-wise belong together – easier to recognize than in other ‘times’.
May you, in England, have a beautiful celebration soon.
Madhu
Just read in the news..
“BKS Iyengar, Who Sparked Global Yoga Craze, Dies Aged 95 in Pune ”
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/bks-iyengar-who-sparked-global-yoga-craze-dies-aged-95-578885?pfrom=home-otherstories
OSHO
Visited this planet Earth…
Beloved Existence,
Is it possible for you to erase all photos of Osho, all his words and in return send Him again like before?
Yours,
Tired from photos, tired from words,
One disciple.
The journey from early Poona to Rajneeshpuram always reminds me of ‘Woodstock to Altamont’.
(And to be fair to those who went to Altamont, they most probably had a really good time with little idea of what was happening at the front of the stage).
“Beloved Existence, Is it possible for you to erase all photos of Osho, all his words… Yours, Tired from photos, tired from words, One disciple.”
“What I call meditation is simply a method of cleaning your heart totally of all past, and giving you a new birth. Unless you are reborn just like a child, innocent, there is danger. The past is long and heavy; it can catch you again. It is making every effort.”
(Osho, ‘Existence is Never Wrong’, Question 4, from ‘Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries’ (Talks in Greece))
Osho’s words are playful, fiery, logical, confrontational, full of the intensity of the present moment. Osho’s words contrast with and reveal the gaps between them.
In those gaps of silence…raindrops are heard. In that silence…the distant train whistle. In that silence…the call of the cuckoo. In that silence…the creaking of the bamboos…
All of that, and Osho’s love, is still available to us…Here. Now. In silence….
Thank you, ´Kabir 1440,
For moments like that – more than a flavour – discovering – appearing words on a screen – showing up – disappearing again…
But (for me) healing instead of scratching delicate areas.
Love,
Madhu
Beloved Kabir 1440,
Can the readers of yours see your face, that face which is drenched in Osho´s here and now love?!
Feeling a little jealous, are we, Shantypants?
That rotten Madhu -
“Thank you, Kabir”.
Rotflma0.
Kabir 1440 and Arpana can create a ‘cut piece retail’ shop together.
I presume Shri 1440 is an Indian so he can be of great support to Arpana, who has to rely only on English stuff.
Jealous. Yep.
Hilarious.
Shantam Bhai, do not be jealous of Kabir!
Rest assured, with your words, which come from the Beyond and the Behind, you are as great a poet as he and also just as important part of Osho’s vision!
Do not fight amongst ourselves in an orgy of brown-on-brown violence, we must unite and direct our energy at the alcoholic gora baboons who are destroying the heritage of mighty Bharat!
Let Kabir be drenched in whatever he is drenched in, just as we understand perfectly well, Bhai, what you are drenched in!
Let us unite and crush the puny English baboons like Arpana and do not let yourself be dragged into the cynical abyss of the degraded gora ex-sannyasins.
Meanwhile, rest assured, Swami Bhorat speaks of you frequently.
Only yesterday, he turned to me and said:
“You know, Yogi, this Shantam fellow is like the clap.
No matter how hard you try to deal with it, there’s really nothing you can do about it.”
Hari Om!
Yahoo!
Zovirax!
What is touched, Shantam, has been never ever a point of ‘geography’. Either you got that, or you don´t get it in terms of understanding – and you, apparently, simply don´t get it, that what is said is beyond words too, and yet words can leave space for that to happen.
Or not.
Madhu
Arpana, instead of using the words, understand first the essence of them.
To be jealous is too far-fetched, I don´t think there is any need to feel even envious.
Shantam (aged 6 and 3/4)
As always, in denial.
People think at 51, I am like aged 6 and 3/4.
Most probably it is enough to get entry into the Kingdom of God.
Moreover, I also see, king of the rebellious sect is naked!
Shantam.
Further evidence of your pathological capacity for self-deception.
We ALL come NAKED, pass over NAKED…
And meanwhile? Like here just now -
being on a competition-line?
Please give me a break – of onlooking on such ‘destructive stupidity’.
Madhu
Madhu,
You and your double standards.
OK for you to be critical, but not for the rest of us.
When religious seeker loses sense of humour, he becomes part of Jihadist movement.
The word Jihadist is already part of English language. One can expand its meaning: ‘Those who take their religious cult too seriously; those who are willing to fire at the whole world but not their own belief factory.’
Shantam demonstrates, in typical Shantam fashion, the meaning of projection.
“Psychological projection
Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others.” (Wikipedia)
We ALL come NAKED, pass over NAKED…
and critisize NAKED…Is that better said, Arpana?
Madhu
Well no, Madhu.
Sounds to me as if
you’re getting critical
of me getting critical
of you getting criical
of me getting critical….
Wrong echo, Arpana – somehow ‘lost in translation’.
And we could go on and on and on in being lost like that, like it´s happening quite often in these virtual caravanserai realms. And I don´t want that.
You don´t know me – the latter I posted was meant as a kind of bridge and that´s all I can say now and if we can´t meet on that bridge…
That´s the way it is just now.
Madhu
You don’t know me either Madhu, nor anyone else here, but you appear to think you do.
What a shame. People go on writing here and boasting too, “No one knows me here.”
Those who treat words as illegitimate children, SannyasNews is a right place to dump them.
This is the reason I insist people should declare their identity. It brings legitimacy to their own life´s experiences, howsoever tiny they may be.
Shantam:
Determined as ever to ensure nobody will ever forget the drivel well from which he gets his posts is indeed infinite.
Until today I did not know this forum existed.
Greetings, happy to see You All.
Usha