Wearing Orange and the Mala – Riding two horses at once

Arpana Reflects

Was in the local library the other day and came upon, unusually, a book on tarot, on the returned shelf.
The book opened on the eight of swords, and I muttered , Christ that says so much about how I felt
wearing a Mala and red clothes in the west – around people who didn’t.  But that wasn’t all , because I also
felt really good, positive, so I added the fool to the eight of swords in my imagination,
and that made the picture more complete

Two horses
Riding two horses at once. That’s what I was doing and it was so challenging.
Taken me all these years to get clear about that. Then; So what!
Shows how powerful the impact of dressing in that way was, that I can still reflect and
gain insight all these years later.

Jesus Said

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A MAN TO MOUNT TWO HORSES AND TO STRETCH
TWO BOWS; AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A SERVANT TO SERVE TWO MASTERS,
OTHERWISE HE WILL HONOR THE ONE AND OFFEND THE OTHER.

Osho Comments:
Everybody is already mounted on two horses, everybody is stretching two bows –not only two but
many. That’s how anguish is created, that’s why you are constantly in anxiety. Anxiety shows that
somehow you are mounted on two horses. How can you be at ease? Impossible, because the two
horses are moving in two directions, and you cannot move anywhere.
With one horse movement is possible, you can reach somewhere. With two horses movement is
impossible, they will negate each other and you w ill not reach anywhere. And this is the anxiety –
that you are not reaching anywhere. Deep down this is the anguish: that life is slipping out of your
hands, time is becoming less and less, death is coming near and you are not reaching anywhere. It
is as if you have become a stagnant pool, just getting dryer and dryer and dying. There is no goal, no
fulfillment. But  why is it happening? –because you have been trying to do the impossible.
Osho.
Chapter 10,  The Mustard Seed

 

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28 Responses to Wearing Orange and the Mala – Riding two horses at once

  1. shantam prem says:

    Who stops the first generation sannyasins to revive the orange and mala cult again in the West? It will be cool. Maybe they can consult Arun ji from Nepal.

    Other day I was thinking, “It is really interesting how many kind of A4 size sannyas certificates are in circulation and how many kinds of malas.”
    It is almost like currency notes from Banana republics.

    In this sannyas game, there is not a single one from the West who is initiating people. Most probably there is a sense of irony, “Baptising in the name of Jesus and sannyas initiation in the name of Osho; it will feel like like old wine in the new bottle or new wine in the old bottle.”

    • frank says:

      Sounds like an extract from that cautionary tale:
      ‘Autobiography of a donkey who bet his life savings on the wrong horse in the guru stakes and ended up spending donkeys’ years flogging a dead horse in a one-horse town whilst eating Lidl horse lasagne.’

  2. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    Dear Arpana,

    three (?) directions of response possibilities came up in me:

    _I._
    See Upnita, have a tea or walk with her on the bright side for a little while;
    she is living in the body close to you, isn’t she?
    No need with a wise woman to talk about turbulence especially;
    just enjoying a walk
    a tea
    a silence

    Madhu

  3. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    Dear Arpana, a second try (more personal):

    Opened up one of my dusty book shelf corners yesterday, late,
    found all the Tarot stuff I’ve still kept (it’s a lot),
    found out that I (gathering feathers of birds when I am in nature) had been putting some as a reminder on the page where the Eight of Swords is described.
    Read the text – first the dramatic analysis(including astrology bits) then the affirmations again:
    “Leave things as they are – trust life and relax” -
    Well, with the ‘Fool’, you are well prepared…

    The book I love very much from Sheldon Kopp,
    ‘The Hanged Men’, I also dusted for surfing on a tarot-and-more-line for a little while,
    reminding me once again of the Japanese Butoh dancers play (1981) about “the hanged men”,
    a human condition we are all in, even if we are blissfully unaware of it,

    or not.

    Arpana, you seem to be very much touched by similar precious ‘heritage-nuggets’ from what the co-founder of SN left as a gift, yet to deserve it or giving it life in our own voices,

    ‘The Fool’ is one way,
    the taken hostage figure to really feel that – another.

    But after all, I tend to say
    these are all fingers pointing to the ‘moon’,
    and also,

    nobody is an island (sorry about the flatness of the latter remark)
    but it comes from my heart.

    Have a nice breakfast – preferably, maybe with friends and fellow-travellers.

    Madhu

  4. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    Arpana, third and last response at the moment:

    No horse(s)
    No bows
    No targets
    No one to shoot and no one to be shot
    No right and no wrong
    And no paths to no-go.

    And what then?

    Madhu

  5. Parmartha says:

    The Arun disciples still imitate the old orange and mala closely. Anyone know what instruction is given from their source as to wearing the orange and mala ‘in the world’?

    My experience from those decades ago was that in India or in the communes wearing the mala and orange felt perfectly okay.

    Outside of that I was never sure, seeing a fellow sannyasin in 1977 wearing an orange robe and mala in Hampstead High Street uncreased my brow I must admit! I think it was quite a low percentage of sannyasins (particularly those with so-called professional jobs) who wore orange and a mala ALL the time in the West between 1975 and 1985. (The latter is when Osho discontinued it).

    I did wear my mala to bed for years, but think now that was just some kind of superstition.

  6. shantam prem says:

    Trust looks like superstition when the dreams built with labour of love start falling like Lego castles.
    Oh, my dear,
    Orange and Mala!

  7. lokesh says:

    With one horse movement is possible, even if it is three-legged.
    There is no goal, no fulfilment. But why is it happening? Because you have been trying to do the impossible.

    So true.

  8. Chinmayo says:

    There is no target, no goal, no bow, nor arrow. Unless you are at an archery range.

  9. shantam prem says:

    One of the wonders is that those who did not live at the feet of Osho or participated in ashram activites, but read only his books, are in the front line to take meditation camps and give initiation; it seems like priest bug was just waiting to enter.

    Maybe there are one or two western disciples who are into initiating people; but Indians – there are more than 20 kinds of malas and certificates.

    It is almost like creating Family on footpaths.

    • sannyasnews says:

      Sannyas News doubts your assertion that there are over 20 kinds of malas and certificates for sannyas in India. Can you give a few examples, Mr Shantam ?

      What mystifies us is if that is the case why there are so many takers?

      You say the “Priest bug” must have been waiting to enter, but in the world of modern India, also the devotee/follower bug still seems endemic.

      As for the current day ‘West’, a number of centres/small communes, etc. do ‘give sannyas’ if anyone wants to take it. This includes Osho Leela in the UK. Their ceremony is low-key, similar to what is done in the Resort, as far as we understand it, but of course subject to correction from any reader who goes there.

      The main distinguishing feature as far as the string is concerned is that it is a question of ‘giving the mala’ in the West, the edict around wearing orange was supposed to have been dropped, and dropped by Osho himself, in 1985!

      What on earth Arun, and now, Shantam, you are saying many others are doing, totally contradicts Osho’s wishes over the orange clothes.

  10. shantam prem says:

    Osho’s Wishes -

    They have become like plastic rope used in Fitness Studios!

    Anyway, Parmartha, do you have any idea or openness to understand what went beyond 1985?
    During His last innings in Pune in 1987,1988,1989, Osho has worked over time to rebuild His movement, His work, His legacy.

    Has someone heard the phrase, “OSHO ACADEMY OF SANNYAS INITIATION”?
    I had the privilege to work there till 1993 and participated as staff in hundreds of ceremonies in Buddha hall, including the historic one just 2 days after Osho´s leaving the Body.

  11. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    Dear Sannyas News,

    There probably isn’t anything Osho left/leaves (?) out by abandoning fixed rules, rituals, recommendations. As I remember, he spoke in contradictions about the mala dropping, as well as the dropping orange clothing, as well as ‘Master versus Master as Friend’.

    Surpreme Zen-mastery, I used to recall these kinds of paradoxical treats, but only when not having just been swallowed up in turbulence of my emotional body.

    And this kind of (inner) work is continuing…

    I remember, beginning of the nineties, hearing (here in Bavaria)
    one of the rumours: that ex-sannyasins had sold their old Malas on Goa beaches,
    and I remember that stitching pain in the heart,
    listening to that or other crap – because even if it had been invented, that hurt me deeply – or hurt what I call “me”- to be precise – which hurts me more than facts, or no-facts, till nowadays (so maybe I am incurable).

    It’s carelessness, even an intentionally aggressive form of showing contempt, targeting what I still value very much,
    without feeling any need to demonstrate it to others.

    But here, I guess I can say it.

    I value, also in its previous form, a commitment to sannyas around Osho, that existed when He was still in the body.

    I only become aware, in later life, in quite different life-conditions, surroundings, living a kind of female hermit-life, that
    all outer forms had become more and more totally irrelevant,
    but one remained.

    I am utterly sensitive to contemptuous approaches.
    I also find it counter-productive for contact.

    So contributions of the kind Shantam is much into
    I understand more as a kind of uproar on (for me) an unseeable male competition-line, mixed up with a certain culture clash (imagined), INDIA versus the so-called WEST.

    And mostly, reading such contributions leaves me kind of sick
    and maybe, because also that latter issue is very, very old stuff, remarkably going on right from the beginning, when you, like me, were part of the caravan. So maybe kind of ‘heritage’ of this Shantam Prem is carrying.

    All is in constant MOVEMENT – sure -

    And how to share with Shantam Prem, that in spite of that I sometimes imagine I well feel the pain deep, deep, deep hidden in his lines and shouting, and
    yet they come up as poison,
    some poison, like one of the (many) rumours that are made and are making the round?

    Sorry about this.

    Madhu

  12. Parmartha says:

    You miss the point, Shantam.
    Osho did not in 1985 say people should NOT take sannyas, just not observe the trappings that had hitherto been there.

    I don’t see anywhere where he changed his mind on that between 1985 and 1990.

    Actually, his remarks were quite practical. Realising that Sheela had ruined the outer face of the movement he said it would make it easier for us to go “underground”. I must say I felt at the time that this was wise.

    Pune three, yes, of course, perfectly valid – but nothing beats living within a few hundred yards of a living Master which we old’uns had the privilege of.

  13. shantam prem says:

    “…but nothing beats living within a few hundred yards of a living Master, which we old’uns had the privilege of.”

    And Parmartha, you think such people became apostles of truth?
    Are they the chosen few?

    If you compare the selfish deeds of sitting-near-Osho people with the people who were closer to previous masters, it is one of the biggest let-downs in spiritual history.

    No master´s vision has been chopped so butcher-like as by such people.
    Sitting near Him
    Getting all the shades
    They burn the woods
    When it was winter,
    When they died,
    Only ashes were left….

    And the belief -
    helicopters will come to take them to the Tritrah land!

    MOD: WHAT’S the Tritrah land?

    • Arpana says:

      You’re not angry at the people who came before,
      not angry at Jayesh and Amrito.
      You’re bitterly angry towards Osho,
      because he didn’t recognise you.
      It eats at you.

      • satyadeva says:

        Shantam, you seem to have not the slightest clue that your concept of “Osho’s vision” might well be just that, a mere concept that happens to suit you, to suit where you’re at, to suit your internal ‘comfort zone’, rather than a genuine approximation to the truth.

        I suspect it’s just a convenient means for you to blame for any current personal discontent with your general situation.

        But so far, in all the years you’ve posted here, you’ve shown no signs of having the fairly basic self-reflective ability to even consider that as a possibility.

    • lokesh says:

      El Chudo enquires, “you think such people became apostles of truth?”

      The question would be better directed at himself. What kind of apostle is he?
      I’ll give you a clue. This year’s golden chamber pot award for producing a mountain of bullshit goes to none other than ……………………….the unbelievable………the incredible….El Chudo.

    • Parmartha says:

      I am not talking of the famous or the so-called front row people, Shantam!

      I am talking of those of us who just lived happily and almost anonymously in his presence. We never had a front row seat, we were just ‘hanging out’. Of course, work made it easier and more structured to hang out. But one had to be laid back to catch the vibe.

      Those guys in the office or in Lao Tzu were too full, it is true, of ambition and their egos, to even understand what being laid back’ was.

  14. Fresch says:

    Madhu, this morning I was driving in my car around the most elite neighbourhood in my city, watching some really wealthy and/or successful people driving their cars or walking in their branded clothes. I was thinking I want that apartment in that neighbourhood, also I want to keep my country house for myself (now I am renting it), I want a holiday place in Bali or Goa and also somewhere in southern Europe, where there are sannyasins…ahhhrghh.

    The problem is that with Osho I have become too lazy to achieve all that. I only get sudden bursts if something truly creative and meaningful goes through. So, it’s not that I would not like all pleasures, but if it seems to take too much effort or being involved with too aggressive people, I do not seem to be motivated enough.

    Most of the sannyasins work like that. Also, the creativity makes it that many ideas are ahead of our time, so somebody else will cash it later. It might bother somebody that I share about work, but these all also issues that concern many of us.

    Madhu, I liked very much you having the camera as your favourite new book. Also, reading aloud to yourself is quite a creative act. Did you know that in Japan one of the most popular youtube videos are the ones where women whisper anything on the videos?

    Madhu, actually my only interest in the ‘Her’ movie was that she said, “It’s between the words”. I was blown away. People see that and some day hear Osho saying that…have their experience of that.

    I am interested how drugs work in our brain and body, because someone should make a map what happens physically in body/emotions while taking drugs, falling in love, meditation, doing different Osho techniques etc. I am just curious, like I am curious about many things.

    I also thought that re my friend Shantam, who does not bother to answer to my post, I think you, Shantam, must be still having some withdrawal effects of bliss/ecstasy from your time in Poona. I was in Poona when they changed sannyas celebration to the bar and I was shocked. But perhaps it’s the right place for it; a zip of ecstasy.

    I understand you, Shantam, had a lot of bliss experience, but not so much individual, meditative, more grounded experience. Also, you do not seem to be interested in it (meditation). I can relate to that too. However, I am committed on my own path, so for example I tried nadabrahma sitting on the sofa, it works. What a miracle Osho is.

    • satyadeva says:

      “I understand you, Shantam, had a lot of bliss experience, but not so much individual, meditative, more grounded experience. Also, you do not seem to be interested in it (meditation).”

      Thinking it’s all about “bliss experience” is one of the biggest psycho-spiritual myths around, common enough in sannyas, or used to be.

      For a start, it’s not much use if you inevitably have to ‘come down’ afterwards, is it?

      Searching for a ‘high’ – well, you might as well be into drugs or hope your team wins the World Cup…

  15. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    P.S:

    To Fresch, from my post the other day…
    I am a lot into walking and writing, Fresch – and the camera serves to take photos of nature and when I discover some art which people just by everyday creativity leave (be it street painting, be it stones of the riverbank they pile up for temporary sculpture).

    I dropped photographing humans (portraits) at the end of the seventies,
    but I was much into that some time long ago.

    As I am not able to travel for quite a long time,
    I became a street walker
    and sometimes I talk my walk and I walk my talk,
    and the premium experiences are when I enter a silence (finally) where the city or some suburban areas in nature
    ‘just walk through me’…

    You and I are quite on different life – (body age) and other conditions –
    so I hope you don´t get that wrong – when the issue to make money is not so much on my screen.
    But what I can say is that the experience in Osho´s communes
    had a great impact on what I could do for money and what not any more
    (like being a therapist or a researcher working for a company).

    So, that was a not at all easy phase sometimes to live everyday in insecurity, so long, as it had been a struggle to earn my living and look out for paid work.

    Also -
    I didn´t and don´t have a kid to take care of, unlike you.

    So I read your posts with much interest in your kind of walkabouts,
    and maybe we can just listen to each other – when reading.

    Madhu

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