Osho´s Indian Sannyasins approach their Political Elite
As one can see through Osho pages on facebook, Indian ex- inner circle members who were kicked out from the main organisation/Ashram/Resort in Pune are doing their best to reach everywhere through networking with the Indian political leadership.
For example a few weeks ago they were presenting books to the Rajasthan Assembly, and as one can see from the accompanying photo, Satya Vedant, under the banner of Osho Nisarga is presenting Osho books to one of the most powerful right wing leader of India, Mr. Narendra Modi.
Narendra Modi was just recently on the cover of Time Magazine as India’s most vaunted political figure. It is probable he will be the main oppositions Prime Minister candidate for the elections in 2014 or even before.
Without doubt if Osho has got some footing in India, it is that these few sannyasins based in Delhi/Dharamshala have played an active and caring role from the days Osho entrusted them with forwarding his work. On some level, their reaching out to India’s political leaders can play a big role towards a cool and smooth regime or mind set change in Pune
Whatever happens, one can be sure that such public relations work will make the bosses of Osho Resort create their own counter strategy. This will not be through public relations, but through the highly paid legal brains of Mumbai!
On a curiosity level I would be glad to know, whether there is some possibility that Amrito , the Doctor of Osho and one of the policy makers at Osho Resort or any other publicly active British sannyasin can make a similar gesture and bring Osho books to the UK´s main political figures? Whether he will get the few minutes from David, Nick or Ed is another question? If not, why not? is a question worth discussing!
Shantam
i can promise sincerely,that should i happen to meet one of the UKs main political figures, i will certainly be making an appropriate gesture….
but seriously,
this task of bringing oshos vision to life clearly needs a unique soul..
what we need is a semi-racist, half-trained lawyer who thinks western society is based on the teachings of the bible, and is fluent in gibberish…
now,where can we find a guy with those sort of qualifications around here?
Yeah, yeah, Frank, great minds think alike…there is another bit to that saying, but I’ve forgotten what it is…probably unimportant. Yeah like we need a leader just like you describe…an Apollo-like figure to lead us out of the darkness into the light. But unfortunately a being such as you describe is so unique I find myself, in the dark night of the soul, doubting if such a heroic enlightened figure could possibly exist. Dearly beloved Osho, please help us.
It is a question of who you want to reach. A Master does not want to reach everyone like a politician. He wants to reach a particular few who he considers can throw off the burden of all karma.
Cannot see how reaching the Indian political elite furthers this – it might even put off those Osho most wants to reach.
A further point is that Osho has now become “respectable” in India. This happens sadly with many true rebels. In his lifetime the political elite hated him, and made life very difficult for him. That is why he left the place in 1981. There were all sorts of plans that Laxmi had which were somehow blocked by the Indian establishment.
has “animal farm” been translated into hindi yet?
Is that the animal husbandary manual written by David Attenborough?
Good points Parmartha, re Osho’s new-found respectability. This is, I think, partly due to books like Vasant Joshi’s recent work, which presents the sanitized version. There is probably a cultural divide here as well. For the average Baby-boomer American (the younger generations are barely aware of Osho, if at all), Osho is largely a negative quantity. For the average Indian who remembers him, he is probably some source of pride.
I was recently reading Ronald Clarke’s old essay on Osho titled ‘The Narcissistic Guru’. Clarke wrote the piece in 1988, and at the time was dismissed by most sannyasins as an egg-headed academic who lived through his psychoanalytic filters and biases. Re-reading his essay however I was struck by the obvious clarity of some of his points (even if he obviously missed the ‘higher’ points of the whole matter, much like Milne did, for different reasons). Clarke’s main point was that sannyasins mistook Osho’s grandiosity for enlightenment; that instead of being ‘ego-less’, Osho was in fact an inflated personality, whose power derived largely from his immense charisma and sense of entitlement.
The funny thing is, I don’t think Osho ever really denied that. He was no ‘selfless’ guru like Ramana Maharshi, and nor did he ever present himself as such. He was teaching many valid things, and unquestionably helping many seekers get untracked in life, but he himself was having a good time with it all. He was not dragging some cross around, nor was he lying on a cheap couch surrounded my monkeys. Quite simply, he did not teach ‘respectability’ in any conventional way.
The irony is that in making Osho ‘respectable’, the point is lost that he was pointing at something entirely different, that being how to steer clear of self-sacrifice and puritanical debasement of self in the name of some ‘holy’ cause. Osho’s teaching was largely based on antinomianism, a fancy term that ultimately has to do with breaking free of religious shackles.
All the so-called ‘zombie killings’ that have been occurring in North America over the past few weeks (madmen killing, then cannibalizing their victims) is a good testament to the power of the ‘Shadow’ unleashed, doubtless itself partly brought about by centuries of religious conditioning around dividing the self inwardly between morality and the self-centered beast. Osho was clearly self-centered, and he taught such a way of being — the integration of selfless monk with self-centered beast — as a means to reversing the toxic religious conditioning that has been creating these madmen and their like. Such a teacher can never be ‘respectable’, nor should he ever be. And that is a good thing.
Good post from Teertha.
With all Respect, as I see it, Selfless like Ramana… Ramana’s behaviour and Outfit are 10 x more Ego than any material wealth that they accuse Osho of. Ramana’s inner wealth should have been a little more obvious, and not only for Christian conditioned.
It sounds as if the Self isn’t something else except another name for Ego. To me, a wrong interpretation of the “Self”, maybe a result of superficial, half the truth, New Age.
What else we find within Meditation, beside rising Silence, Truth and Inspiration out of self-realizing. Silence, without self-realizing can only be pure repression, so far my opinion.
Ehm…er…thanks for your heartfelt response, Preetam.
PS: If anyone knows what Preetam is talking about please drop him a line, because it appears like he does not. Mind you, I could be mistaken and he is simply too deep for a New Ager like myself. I’m off to light some special joss sticks before peering into my crystal ball to see if the spirits know how Preetam’s brain damage actually occured and if there exists any chance of a recovery in the future zone. Kabaam! Wizardcraft!
Guess, the Master would love to reach all Humans… but in our times, not many are available enough Rebel.
Really awkward what neo sannyas does to get accepted, still the same inferiority complex. This complex of getting attention by the common is only possible if the commune has lost its roots, no living self realizing, and no realizing of the true self.
What true self might that be, Preetam?
Normal, I would this only answer my Girlfriend.
The “Self” that I mean is an act of Poetic and Mechanic. Poetic (Love and Inspiration) realizes (awareness) the (No -) Mechanic of the Self as existential Law. The Rest for me is only fantasy.
Let’s not mention tax evasion, but yes, now that he has gone Osho has become respectable. Give it another twenty years and Osho will be hailed as India’s greatest philosopher saint. I mean to say, just study the photo above, doesn’t exactly inspire does it?
Call girls and gurus are almost in similar business. If someone feels offended, sorry. I have immense respect for undervalued professions and their contribution to the individual and society.
After all, “Sex to Super-Consciousness” is like an evolutionary journey from Nursery to the university. Are not the primary class teacher and a professor in University in similar profession?
When both are young and crispy, customers make a beeline around them. Once they lose the grip, it is almost like sitting alone on the top.
Only advantage of being a guru is, his books can still be used for higher entertainment.
In that sense, successful guru is like a Porn star!
theres an article on osho news by an indian sannyasin who went to the jubilee celebrations,he feels a strong connection with the royals and said the “british royal family brings out the best in britain”.
this,and satya vedant brown-nosing nationalist hindu politicians…
is there some mass lobotomy thing going on in sannyas that i havent heard about,or something?
Seems like Frank likes to read all the Osho media!
Now after reading his comment, i also searched for the below article written by Kulbhushan; the In house political commantator of Osho world family. Normally he choses some quotation of Osho to prove his knowledge, but here he got None.
http://www.oshonews.com/2012/06/queen-elizabeth-diamond-jubilee/
hindu nationist racist politicos
and
indian lovers of the queen.
shantam,
i am wondering,
are these the guys to bring oshos legacy and vision to the world?