“And Chaitannya Keerti also cannot deny it, because we four persons – myself – Swami Chaitanya Bharti, Swami Chaitannya Keerti, Swami Anand Sant, and Swami Vedant Bharti, used to play cards sitting in the room of Chaitanya Keerti in the (first) Commune(Pune) whilst Osho was speaking.” …
These are the words of Swami Chaitannya Bharti, previously an Osho Sannyasin who has now changed his name, and is called ‘Whosoever’ by his followers. By saying so he has tried to give an example in support of his claim that Osho never insisted that His sannyasins should participate in Osho White-robe Evening Meditation. Such a view seems rather strange. Certainly in Pune two Osho made it clear to the workers in the ashram that they were not to work during “white robe” mediation, and should, where health allowed, attend the meditation.
As far as SN knows, but we can of course be corrected, ‘white robe meditation’ is still seen as a central part of the Pune Resort daily regime, and this is held in common with places like Arun’s commune in Nepal, and also the Delhi sannyasins where Keerti now finds a home. if so, then surely at least there is a common base, which is often denied between them ?
Of course from the early days, on occasion some did not attend Osho lectures. However it does seem a little odd that the four swamis above did not attend, as they lived in the ashram, and were sitting playing cards within 100 yards of where Osho was speaking. At the time such behaviour was generally thought to exhibit a certain “resistance” or unreadiness for the “energy” of the Master, and this view seems to us to have some credence.
On the holy four swamis above, well, Osho sometimes used to say that people who are near to Him for long, tend to take Him for granted and thus miss his energy.
“Whosoever” had cited this incident of playing cards while Osho had been delivering his discourses, in support of his claim that Osho never said that everyone should participate in ‘Osho White Robe Brotherhood Meetings.’
Further See what “Whatsoever” says in his book Tum Ek Gorkhdhanda Ho” page 81:-
“Has Osho said even this, that it is compulsory to participate in ‘Osho White Robe Brotherhood Meeting’ and that those who dont participate in it will not be provided shelter and food in the Commune; the commune will not support him..? No, He(Osho) has never said this:
But you(The Inner Circle) are saying this now. So it comes about that people are participating in the White Robe Brotherhood only so that they may not lose the support of the Commune. Osho has never said, never even indicated any recrimination if we do not come to His discourses – though He knew where we were and what we were doing.”
This argument by ‘Whosoever” seems highly dubious. There were a number of times in Pune one and Pune two when Osho was still in the body that instructions were received from him saying that all work had to be stopped when he was speaking and sannyasins should attend the lecture/meditation. A number of those in the SN collective can testify to that.
SN
In Hindi/Urdu poetry there is a famous couplet used quite often in context of many situations-
हर शाख पे उल्लू बैठा है अंजामे गुलिस्तां क्या होगा?
Owl is sitting on every branch, what will be the destiny of the garden?
Meaning: For destroying the wonderful garden, even one owl is sufficient. Here there is an owl on each branch – wonder what would happen to the garden????
This sums up the situation of Neo-Sannyas after founder´s demise. Every owl wiser than the other. When there is no sense of irony and self-parody, Brahmin´s seriousness prevails.
Part of the point of this story, Shantam, is that when Osho was alive, things were not always what they seemed.
You seem to think of a golden age before Osho died. Sadly not the case, especially in Rajneeshpuram.
Let`s hope that Swami Whatever and his white rogue brotherhood are playing with a full deck…
I wouldn`t put my house on it.
In a Buddhafield, I myself don’t think it is such a crime to be playing cards! I remember Osho himself visited the disco (once!) in Rajneeshpuram, where blackjack was played.
Arguably, and within reason, all human activities should be countenanced in a Buddhafield, just that awareness is brought to them.
The condemnation in the story about Keerti, etc. does not seem that well-founded. There is a kernel of puritanism in it.
This story revisits, in perhaps a previously unknown anecdote, some difficulties with the ‘White Robe Meditation’. Clearly, in Pune 2 it was a major part of the commune day, and Osho, or his organisers, made plain that they did not want anyone working in the ashram whilst the meditation was going on.
Having lived around Osho for a number of years, nothing ever remained the same for long, and I very much doubt whether this meditation would have continued in its then form, even for few more years.
Oddly enough, as far as I understand it, all the factions that now quarrel about Osho’s legacy do embrace the White Robe meditation, retaining it in a more or less devotional form.
There has always been ‘resistance’ to this particular meditation, (though of course there is always resistance by the mind to any real meditation).
This included when Osho was alive. Hence the edicts by commune organisers to underline its importance, as clearly some people were not attending!
Further, in Pune 1, there were certainly those who considered themselves to be living in an extended Buddhafield near the ashram, but who rarely attended lecture or ashram activities. They made their lifestyle a meditation.
As someone who was around at that time I certainly rated some of them more than the ashramites, as people who seemed in touch with themselves and with Osho, and who had long seen through the organisational mirage.
Hugh Milne has written a book, ‘Bhagwan: The God That Failed’.
My version will be different: ‘Sannyas: The Disciples That Failed’.
In my eyes, in this failed venture, public names mentioned in this string have also contributed.
Take the ‘s’ off ‘Disciples’ and that’ll be Shantam’s autobiography.
Coming soon, a hard-hitting book:
‘Shantam: Trapped In The Wreck of New Age Sannyas’ – an autobiography of a misfit disciple of a misfit master.
Pre-release reviews just in:
“The crassly irresponsible outpourings of a ‘professional victim’ (0 stars)”
“It appears this supremely unintelligent fool just can’t stop himself. A sad case of ‘foot-in-mouth disease’. (0 stars)”
“More utter bullshine for his (alleged) legions of, er, “invisible” fans.(0 stars)”
“With this laughably self-dramatizing volume, the author takes pseudo-spiritual self-delusion to a new level of idiocy. (0 stars)”
“Total bollocks. (minus 25 stars)”
Pithy review. 100 Stars.
Perfectly correct, Shantam!
The disciples are utter failures!
Publish your book immediately!
The invisible readers of the world must know the truth from a man who has given his very life for the cause, and watched the twin towers of spirituality that have been shamelessly destroyed by Anglo-Saxon extremists topple all around him and he has been left standing at ground zero!
All complete failure!
Satyadeva, hopelessly lost in the logic-chopping, psycho-analist world of the mind which is nothing but mind!
The Anglo-Saxon baboons at the Resort drowning in a cocktail of ego and alcohol!
Parmartha Conan Doyle embarking on another unsolvable mystery, ‘The Unremarkable Case of Mr Nobody and the Four Knaves’!
The Three Stooges of Oshodhara, the most ludicrous arhats of all time!
Frank, a cynical dog vomiting into a garbage can and urinating on all that we hold holy!
The ex-sannyasin Lokesh, another one who is simply prepared to sit around playing cards whilst the religion of mighty Bhorat slides into oblivion!
Madhu, banging and scratching against the wall of her padded bunker in Munich!
It is indeed a tragedy!
I fear that all is lost and that not even you, Shantambhai, despite your heroic efforts ejaculating endlessly on your computer and meditatively watching Japanese porn, can save the day!
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
For any writer worth of its substance, it is a matter of satisfaction when few people´s buttons are pushed.
I am happy to serve this purpose at this site.
Such a fickle, judgemental mind, Shantam.
What kind of purpose it serves?
Cretinous delusions of grandeur once again from one so aptly termed “the village idiot of Sannyas News” by Lokesh, two or three years ago.
Again, the western mind of the psycho-analist Satyadeva, that is merely the mind repeating the words of abc maharishis and inspirational speakers like Eggheart Tolle shows his utter ignorance on issues concerning the land of mighty Bhorat!
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to become a village idiot in Punjab? The competition there is famously much fiercer than in any other part of India and maybe even the world!
To become a VIP there (Village Idiot Punjab) is an honour that is only achieved after many years of unwavering commitment to utter idiocy, complete stupidity and a genius for spouting mindless random incoherent nonsense!
Indeed, Modi himself has recently made clear the little-known fact that along with plastic surgery, flying, stem cell genetics and public toilets, village idiots actually originated in India, a by-product of the glorious religion of Bhorat that has for 5000 years focused on the achievement of no-mind by any means possible!
In Punjab, it appears that the turbans and chuddies may have been tightened a little too tight causing damage in the relevant chakras, a fact celebrated by the famous 15th century Hindi/Urdu poet Kabab in his classic Doha, or couplet, which translated into English renders thus:
“Punjabi born and Punjabi bred,
Strong in the (right) arm and thick in the head.”
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
Yogi, another brilliant one! The French have much to learn from you: you never cross the line, which is very difficult with that kind of humour. Look at me, sucking up again, must be my psychic inheritance. XX
Yogi,
You are very brave. I have suffered like many others from a genetically implanted and crass idiocy which forces me, daily, to write . Many have taken advantage of people like me, sometimes by using terrible words like “cretinous”, “dunce-head” and “Aldi discount lard-burgers”, which both oppress and control those of us who through no fault of our own were born with a taste for food in plain packaging by a vast car park on the edge of town. I know there are others like me who experience this slavery.
For all those of us who march with 20,000 friends online for justice and against a prima facie case of unfinished legal studies at the Sri Sri Dhole and Dhoti University, Lepzighabad, I salute you.
As Sean Penn, the actor, recently stated when asked to talk of those with virtually no capacity for joined-up thinking, in a land where ready-made meals fulfil the simplest desires without effort, where merely claiming to be offended can provide an income for legal fees, and where whole sections of plebean disenchantment may be inflamed by a genetically reproduced inability to have ever had a half-coherent conversation with either parent about their inability to use birth-control measures to avoid reproducing the words ‘doh’ and ‘dit-doh’, then I say this:
“The fact is that I understand it. I see it all the time. When somebody sees the opportunity to frame something in the comfort that it will be common, that they can do that and they can get a group to look at them and that they will take on those positions and never really think about what it was (about).”
Perfectly correct. Tan!
Modi has also spoken on the matter, that along with plastic surgery, genetics, stem cell science, flying, space-travel, public toilets and village idiots, recent proof has emerged that comedy was also invented 5000 years ago in Mighty Bhorat!
It is essential to understand that in those days there was not so much specialisation as is found in the modern western science which is extremely reductionist!
In those far-off glorious Vedic days, the sciences of astronomy, astrology, scatology and gelotology were merged into a holistic whole!
Thus, although the modern western science boasts of having landed on Mars ,the ancient rishis had already realised that, with the help of a few carefully positioned banana skins it was possible to land on Uranus!
Our glorious leader Modi has also revealed that the writers of the Vedas and Upanishads were also masters of double-entendre, overstatement, understatement, juxtaposition, puns and that the Shiva lingam is clear evidence of the world`s first knob-gag!
Yahoo!
Thou art That!
Jus` like That!
Brilliant.
Perfectly correct, Shantambhai!
Many thanks!
It is indeed the finest honour to be recognised and congratulated by the leading VIP of Sannyas!
I am sure that now that you have put in a good word for me, all the invisible readers will also read my words, which are the holy truth that emanates from the very bowels of mighty Bhorat!
You may remember that in the first and second world wars as well as on motorcycles in 1970s, our esteemed VIPs in GB were allowed to operate with turban instead of helmet on, as it was in contravention of holy edict?
The mystic poet Kabab had spoken wisely!
And we have lived and breathed his very words!
With thickness of head, where is the need for helmet?
As Modi has clearly stated, not only the science of comedy originated in mighty Vedic Bhorat, but also the development of catch-phrases was 1000s of years ahead of the West!
Consider:
“Thou art That”
“I am That”
“Who am I?”
“Don`t worry, be happy”
“Healthy, happy, holy”
“Love, life, laughter”
“It’s nice to be important but it is more important to be nice.”
Are they not superior to those paltry efforts offered by the efforts of the western mind which is nothing but mind, such as Bruce Forsyth etc?
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
Enough for today!
Yogi, you rascal, brilliant! XX
My God, my god, my god…
You are pulling laughter out of Belly.
Shantambhai!
To pull laughter from your belly is certainly, like the belly itself, a huge undertaking that involves some extremely heavy karma!
Do not be worried, you are a proud inheritor of our mighty religion of Bhorat!
Our glorious leader Modi has made it clear that along with stem cell research, genetics, plastic surgery, space travel, public toilets, village idiots, comedy and catchphrases, the wisdom of ancient India was also the original producer of fat bellies!
Yugas before the beer-bellies and obesity of the West, we had Ganesha!
Rest assured, Shantambhai, that with your daily excursions to Lidl to buy sackfuls of 2 for 1 meat pies and Dr Oetka’s pizzas,you are continuing the traditions of our much-loved Gods!
Hari Om!
Yahoo!
Gutes Essen!
In another life, the four notable swamis.
White Robe in Pune is almost like watching sun set on some beach. Only the enjoyers know how intoxicating, how soothing and how one of its kind event it is.
Surely for the frogs in the ponds, sunset does not matter. Similarly, those who like to meditate on their wives’ thighs, it is a wastage of time and money to go somewhere else.
About work and Osho White Robe Brotherhood:
This evening event in the campus of Osho ashram is not called Osho White Robe Brotherhood any more. Jayesh and his coterie decided that if we want to develop this place as a one-stop relaxation resort for business travellers, cult-like names should be dropped. it should give a secular feeling.
Thanks to inbuilt human intelligence, business executives did not turn out. Not a single, yes, not a single company offered packages of Osho Resort to its business executives.
Still, whatsoever it is called, it is one exquisite event. Pyramid-shaped Osho Auditorium becomes a lake of purity and oneness. At the end of the event, when people come out, one can imagine some kind of elixir in the air.
Whether in Buddha Hall or in Osho Pyramid, my favourite place was always in the back. I think it must be 2005, my switched-off mobile was in the pocket of my robe. As many times, I lay down and sometimes sleep, by taking a turn, mobile went switched on. Suddenly there was a signature tune of Sony Ericson in the silence of the meditation.
To disturb that silence is almost like a crime. The bouncers jump over the person, even it is a cough. Here it was loud mobile tune. Immediately, I switched it off. Jayesh´s brother Yogendra comes to me and points me sternly to go out from the auditorium.
During the dinner time, I went to him, said sorry, showed him the pieces of my mobile and said, “This kind of disturbance will never ever happen again.”
Wonder what ‘Whosoever’s rules are in his Commune in Mysore now regarding the same matter?
In Pune it is called the ‘Evening Meditation Meeting’ now, but think that white robes are still encouraged? Quite an anodyne name! Maybe someone can tell us the clothing guidance?
Someone told me it is now a bit like the old satsangs at Medina! There, periods of music and silence were interspersed with Osho extracts.
Kavita, I suspect that Gurudev does not follow the old ashram pattern. Arun and I think, Keerti, still do.
Parmartha, actually my question was of a rhetorical nature.
My remembrance of being with Swami Chaitanya Bharti is that he is a class apart from both Sw.Arun (I have not met him & have no inclination to) & Sw.Kirti (I have met him on many occasions). By class apart I do not mean any discriminatory way, but in a factual way .
I had heard from friends who visited him that there are generally no specific rules in his commune. That’s about it.
Parmartha,
Just the title name ‘Gurudev’ suggests Chaitanya Bharti has his own establishment.
It is his right to run his show in his own way. Why the hell he should collect leftover food from restaurants when he can afford his own kitchen?
I appreciate the sincerity and risk taken.
Parmartha, in Pune the previously called ‘White Robe Brotherhood’ is now called ‘Evening Meditation Meeting’ & dress code is still maroon robe for day meditations & white robe for evening meditation.
Rates for entry: http://www.osho.com/visit/rates-offers/seasonal-rates .
Kavita, thanks for replying.
I know nothing about Gurudev, if you have met him, I trust that. He seems to be most famous for 40 day retreats, which one assume contain Osho meditations.
Playing cards whilst the Master talked…
Anyway, it was just about cards.
If everybody around Osho starts writing in confessional tone, there will be many instances to read, “Making Love whilst the Master talked….”
Did you ever do that, Shantam? One suspects the answer is yes!
Life has to be looked into its context. If someone was living in Pune for years, it was humanly impossible to be present in the discourses 100% times.
Also, most of the couples were living in a state of periodical aloneness, someone was coming, someone´s visa was expired. So in that sense, it is human to spend the evening with the beloved.
Osho´s spiritual movement WAS the most humane one.
Shantam will never grasp that the collective gathering at the Pune ashram wasn’t an end in itself, it was a means to an end – and probably a necessarily temporary one at that, especially eventually after the Master had gone.
If he doesn’t know what to do with himself now all that has finished, then what did he actually learn during all those years he was fortunate enough to spend there?
Nothing, it would seem, apart from knowing how to endlessly complain about how much better things were in those ‘good old days’ and how to blame everyone else but himself for his situation.
Shantam:
The problem was never in the evenings in Pune 1! But in the mornings!
Beauty of the Sannyas is, it has only the past!
“The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
(Oscar Wilde)
Frank´s choice of quotation is fitting just like a computer- generated suggestion.
I think in 1988-89 Osho has taken one question from Sarjano fitting with the theme of this string. Questioner asked something like, how he feels contented to sit on his balcony and look at the sunset instead of coming to discourse.
Sannyasnews in-house encyclopaedia experts can find out.