Swami Yoga Chinmaya (Top right with letter N)
Swami Yog Chinmaya was for a while in the centre of the cyclone in Bombay circa 1970, being Osho’s Joint Secretary with Ma Laxmi, and was in the first group to take sannyas from Osho. His name means “Pure Intelligence”. Why his name prefix is variously spelt Yog and Yoga, – we dont know why, maybe Kavita can enlighten us.
Some SN people recently asked after him. He prefers to live in solitude, keeping far from the limelight. He has a small Ashram at Bagheswar in India. He had had a yoga background, and also had his own small following when he first started being with Osho in 1966. . Over time Chinmaya put intellectual questions to Osho and was consequently hammered for his seriousness.
There is now a very small group with him, and Chinmaya does not allow any media to come to them or write about them. Keerti visited him in 2002, and said “I see that he is radiant and very centered and contented. Everybody felt so totally healthy. They are managing to be protected and safe. I felt like staying with them for longer”
Chinmaya is most famous for his suggestion in 1971 over Osho’s then name. Osho asked Chinmaya to find him a new name to replace “Acharya,” . Chinmaya came up with “Bhagwan” after numerous names which were rejected. In Pune One he received many zen sticks from Osho for his “esoteric” questions.
Here is a short example from a Kabir series of Osho lectures:
Chinmaya’s Question to Osho:
AS KABIR IS SINGING THE PATH OF LOVE, EXCUSE ME ASKING A PERSONAL QUESTION. I COULD NOT RESIST THE TEMPTATION, SO… WHEN DID YOU HAVE YOUR LAST GIRLFRIEND, AND THE LAST LOVE RELATIONSHIP?
Osho’s answer:
And Chinmaya has disappeared; I cannot see him here. Whenever he asks a question, he hides. Just the other day he was sitting in the first row, now he has disappeared!
You are all my girlfriends, boys included. But this will not satisfy him; he needs something esoteric. So for him especially — please, nobody else should listen to it, you close your ears. It is only especially for Swami Yoga Chinmaya, because an esoteric thing has to be very secret!
I had a girlfriend when I was young. Then she died. But on her deathbed she promised me she would come back. And I was afraid. And she has come back. The name of the girlfriend was Shashi. She died in `47. She was the daughter of a certain doctor, Dr. Sharma, of my village. He is also dead now. And now she has come as Vivek… to take care of me. Vivek cannot remember it. I used to call Shashi `Gudiya’, and I started calling Vivek `Gudiya’ also, just to give a continuity. Life is a great drama, a great play — it goes on from one life to another to another.
This is especially for Chinmaya. I hope nobody else has heard it!
What a great question from Chimnaya!
Pity Osho didn’t publicise more often.
At least he answered the question here with little room for doubt.
As far I know , Yog is the sanskrit pronunciation & Yoga is the anglicized version .
I met Swami Chinmaya in Bagheshwar in 1998 by chance on Guru Pournima day. It was a very memorable experience to be with him and his commune , a very serene abode in the mountains. He was very centered, contented as Swami Keerti says. I heard recently that he and his group of sannyasins do travel to Goa .
According to Wiki terminology : In Vedic Sanskrit, the more commonly used, literal meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga which is “to add”, “to join”, “to unite”, or “to attach” from the root yuj, already had a much more figurative sense, where the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses takes on broader meanings such as “employment, use, application, performance” (compare the figurative uses of “to harness” as in “to put something to some use”). All further developments of the sense of this word are post-Vedic. More prosaic moods such as “exertion”, “endeavour”, “zeal”, and “diligence” are also found in Epic Sanskrit.
There are very many compound words containing yog in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on meanings such as “connection”, “contact”, “union”, “method”, “application”, “addition” and “performance”. In simpler words, Yoga also means “combined”. For example, guṇá-yoga means “contact with a cord”; chakrá-yoga has a medical sense of “applying a splint or similar instrument by means of pulleys (in case of dislocation of the thigh)”; chandrá-yoga has the astronomical sense of “conjunction of the moon with a constellation”; puṃ-yoga is a grammatical term expressing “connection or relation with a man”, etc. Thus, bhakti-yoga means “devoted attachment” in the monotheistic Bhakti movement. The term kriyā-yoga has a grammatical sense, meaning “connection with a verb”. But the same compound is also given a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras , designating the “practical” aspects of the philosophy, i.e. the “union with the Supreme” due to performance of duties in everyday life
According to Pāṇini, a 6th-century BCE Sanskrit grammarian, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate). In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered by traditional commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, states that yoga means samādhi (concentration)
According to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate).] Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi (may be applied to a male or a female) or yogini (traditionally denoting a female).
Dear Kavita,
Late Yoga Sudha, in her editing forword to a lecture series of the Master on Yoga –
´Yoga the Alpha & the Omega´(April 1975, commenting on the Sutras of Pantanjali , in Q & A ´s )
Sudha said: ” being His disciple has been like living inside a Zen Koan….”
The credit, looking into This again, goes to you, may be you feel to look to ?
with love
Madhu
Madhu Dear , thank you for suggesting .
Just to let you know Yoga has not been my cuppa & the last time I have listened to the whole series of Osho’s discourses you mentioned , was along with my boyfriend in his room , in May of 2008 , in Shantam’s flat which he rents out in Poona . Anyway thanks for reminding . Sometimes everything seems like past life !
Zen is more to my taste . I guess sometimes one has to take holiday from ones comfort zone. I have just started listening to ”One seed makes the whole earth green” actually I avoided listening to his Poona two discourses for quite awhile but this is my first Poona two series in nearly 15 years , so maybe I shall hear it after that is completed .
Wait a minute, Kavita,
I guess , even by only fairly becoming more acquainted with you by now, you would feel quite ´home´with His Takes on Patanjali…
Anyway, I owe a thank to you (again)to the bits of ´wicki´s on Yoga , you contributed. Therein I was hooked by “unify- issue” and then I followed an inner river…
And anyway, we just enjoy here (sometimes) to share about the ´earth underneath our feet (metaphorically speaking) – when moving, don´t we ?
And thanks to share about what ´s just now moving you.
Sometimes wish, we could have a Tea together…like now, may be, we would just giggle, and sweeten our stuff ? Or not ?
Madhu
Madhu , this morning Swati ( my sannyasin friend from Dharamshala ) called to tell that our friend Yatri’s journey has ended amidst a few friends and his family, in his hometown in Bihar / India .
Anyway tea some other day dear
A virtuel gentle hug, ma eyes wide open on the screen to read your note
will that do ?
with love, Kavita
Madhu
Thank you Madhu .
Wait a minute, Kavita,
I guess , even by only fairly becoming more acquainted with you by now, you would feel quite ´home´with His Takes on Patanjali…
Anyway, I owe a thank to you (again)to the bits of ´wicki´s on Yoga , you contributed. Therein I was hooked by “unify- issue” and then I followed an inner river…
And anyway, we just enjoy here (sometimes) to share about the ´earth underneath our feet (metaphorically speaking) – when moving, don´t we ?
And thanks to share about what ´s just now moving you.
Sometimes wish, we could have a Tea together…like now, may be, we would just giggle, and sweeten our stuff ? Or not ?
Madhu
Buddham Sharnam Gacchami, Sangham Sharnam Gachaami, Dhamam Sharnam Gachaami (I surunder/take shelter at Awakened one´s feet, I surrunder/take shelter at His community´s feet. I surrunder/take shelter at the eternal Truth)
Somehow this is the way spiritual paths are made from the time humans have acknowledged some kind of longing in them.
With the arrival of intellect and information technology, it has got a different look-
BOOKHAM SHARNAM GACCHAMI.
I surrunder/take shelter in BOOKS.
By seeing the recent strings of articles at snews, i think it is worthy to strech the original Mantra-
Bhutam(The past) Sharnam Gacchami!
That is as may be Shantam,but without books and development of the intellect and only marble-kissers and grovelling floor-licking religionists as you describe calling the shots, there would have been no—
Thomas Paine,,Albert Hoffman,Alexander Fleming,Louis Pateur,the Suffragettes, to name but a few….
And you,rather than getting your end away with gora girls would have been stuck in Jullundur with a dirty hankie demanding your conjugal rights from some hairy minger with 15 kids that your dad chose for you…
Did you ever think of that?
Perfectly correct Shantam!
It is absolutely necessary for all aspirants to bow on the floor in front of great souls such as Modi the Buddha!
If it had not been for the books ,writing and the absurd western intellect,you Bhai,may also have had some disciples prostrating themselves at your own stubby toes!
See how destructive the western mind which is nothing but mind is?
But do not worry bhai,forget the past…Osho has given only `taste of fascism` but our great Modi will deliver full thali with extra chutney!
Shantam Sharanam gacchami!
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
Looks like you have not read the article very thoroughly Mr Shantam – as usual.
Swami Yoga Chinmaya runs a small ashram in the Himalayas in the present day, and is regarded by some as enlightened. How’s about that for the “PRESENT” and how it is rooted in the past.
Parmartha, if i make the list of 5 men i appreciate and treat them as my role model from the world of Osho, Swami Yoga Chinmaya is one of them.
My tease was only for you, and still much love and respect for your efforts. This is the way one remembers the seniors and fellow travelers.
When you get caught with your chuddies down you can always grovel!
Now,Shantam, repeat after me:
`Par-mar-tha sha-ra-nam ga-cha-mi……`
….. Sann-yas-news-sha-ra-nam-ga-cha-mi ..
.. Here-and-now-sha-ra-nam-ga-cha-mi .
One of the best bits and pieces I have read / heard, Parmartha, is that Chinmaya denied (is still denying ?) to big extend contact to the media playing fools all around.
And I hope that is true. I really hope that.
Sincerely,
Madhu
Osho did not talk too much about reincarnation. His above take shows his romantic side. Whether or not there is any truth in it is debatable. The idea is appealing in certain ways. I am sure all in attendance at the discourse were touched. A few tears shed at the thought of these old loves reunited once again. Could it be a case of give the people what they want?
I reckon something moves from body to body, but whether or not that something has a personality is, once again, debatable.
Even if you believe that you remember flashes of past lives, how can you be sure that they are your flashes and not someone elses? Who is it that ‘has’ past lives? Questions, questions, questions.
I wonder whether Lokesh was under the spell of some black magic to spend 7 years in Pune.
It must be a kind of some record, a Scotish man spending 7 years not in USA but in India. Was it really his choice or collective fashion?
Now looking at every statement of OSHO in an ironic way shows the character of a man who makes hole in the same plate where his food was served?
Shantam Prem,
wouldn ´t it be as appropriate to ask yourself, for what reason you spend so longtime in Germany on the swiss border (?) by now, instead of spreading your phantasies about others, like Lokesh et al. ?
Or is – are – your digging holes (where…when…how..) top secret ?
Anyway, and otherwise aspects of ´food-issues, you mention here, have probably no address at all. Never essentially had.
What Masters like Osho didn ´t get tired to share about and inspired us to share too amongst each others.
That was and Is very courageous in a way as an essential approach , as the history of mankind is full of of declarations. this ´food is MINE and don ´t dare to touch it, to put it in a simple way.
Only on a very gross and materialistic plane, is food not unimportant to stay in the body though, or for the possibilities to own a chat technical manual and use it.
And how many wars are happening, on any plane, isn´t it ?
Sorry about that
Madhu
Shantam, it is not a question of irony, but rather enquiry. It is a mistake to believe everything you are told, even by an enlightened fellow like Osho. Osho encouraged his people to question him. To take another man’s experience as your own is, once again, is a mistake, because it will be of no value to you unless you come to experience it as your own.
I have had insights into lives that may or may not have had something to do with me. I could not positively say they were ‘my’ past lives. The whole idea of reincarnation running on a three dimensional timeline is a misconception, because it applies to the timeline that we apparently live in as human beings. Higher dimensional time is completely different and does not run in a straight line from the past to the future. Osho understood this and that is one reason I question his three dimensional reincarnation story.
You say, ‘It must be a kind of some record, a Scottish man spending 7 years not in USA but in India.’
This betrays your lack of understanding about Scots on this level. They say that there are twenty million Scots living in the world today. Five million live in Scotland. People, not whiskey, is Scotland’s biggest export. No matter how far flung a global destination one travels to you will, sooner or later, meet a Scot.
380 uses of the word reincarnation, embedded in phrases, paragraphs etc.
Thanks for the piece of Osho trivia Rpana. It confirms what I said. 380 times is not very much considering the massive body of Osho’s words and the nature of the subject.. I wonder how many times he used the words. Buddha, or enlightenment. Perhaps you could enlighten us.
Dear rpana3
Can you also tell how many times Osho used the word
resort, My resort, meditation resort or this very fucking resort?
The world won’t fall down if you are not right all the time, but just for the record I posted the trivia, because I agreed with you.
Rpana, I do not experience the need to be right all the time. I do often get things wrong, especially in regards to how I misjudge people. Perhaps something you too might be able to relate to.
I know of no other thing that the mind gets so wrong as its judgements about others. So many times I listened to its tempting judgements and became identified, only to find out further down the road that nothing could have been further from the truth. Live and learn.
I don’t know about Arps, but I can totally relate to it. McLoke, lovely post!
Shantam,
i was reading Veena’s book this morning for my meditation time. It is a book with which I feel in tune everytime I pick it up.
She seems convinced that Osho did not like any of the places he found himself living in, including Woodlands, the Ranch and the “Ashram”.
He had even shown Vivek a pic of part of the Himalayas, in a book where he wanted the commune to be, and Vivek marked it and showed people like Veena.
Veena also tells a story of being asked to drive Laxmi to see him on the Ranch, and Osho had told Laxmi to try and find him a place for the commune in the Himalayas. He didn’t like the Ranch.
Frankly I agree with Osho! Pune, even in the past, did not have the elevation and sense of freedom from the usual muck and disease of India, and is worse now.
The Ranch was a desert with no trees, and no-one had lived there for decades when we came. I always intuited it felt “wrong” from the first time I ever went there.
It follows from that Shantam, that all this quarreling about the ashram /Resort is redundant. You try and make a shrine of a place which Osho himself had rejected and did not feel at home, and would have, if one of his followers had managed it, been living in the Himalayas!
Parmartha, because of your love for Veena´s books, i have just ordered one. Most probably in two days, it will be with me.
Group energy not only inspires criminal in us, it has its own positive effect too.
Sangha(Commune, Monastery) is the highest order if Gangs( political parties) are the lowest ones.
I’m enjoying the book as well P.
Gives a real flavor of the times.
Good post, PM.
“….. been living in the Himalayas!”
Sounds plausible to me given the current toxic dump status of Pune.
Neelam’s place (Osho Nisarga), just outside Dharamsala, fits the bill in my opinion, as a more suitable location.
The picture at the top looks like a Sannyas version of the `Blockbusters` tv quiz show.
Which `M` spent fifteen years meditating in the mountains in solitude before attaining enlightenment?
Which `L` , was a very small lady who wore an orange headscarf around her head and spent years as Osho`s secretary in Woodlands and Poona 1?
And which `C` spent time as Osho`s photographer, later attaining enlightenment and becoming known by his disciples as `gurudev`, or `nobody`?
The picture at the top looks like a Sannyas version of the `Blockbusters` tv quiz show.
Which `M` spent fifteen years meditating in the mountains in solitude before attaining enlightenment?
Which `L` , was a very small lady who wore an orange headscarf around her head and spent years as Osho`s secretary in Woodlands and Poona 1?
And which `C` spent time as Osho`s photographer, later attaining.enlightenment and becoming known by his disciples as `gurudev`, or `nobody`?
where is swami chinmaya now is he still alive?
SHANTI:
Here is a compilation that has surfaced of rare photo’s. He left his body in 2019. : https://youtu.be/FhQi5rKHwuQ?si=ebTfuE2BvgKPHlBo
Mr. or Ma Swami,
Please read the base article again after taking few deep breaths, within 30 seconds you will see the answer of your question.
If you take trunk of an elephant away, He is like any other animal.
After Osho, His mangers have brought Osho to the level of any other guru.
Commune is the USP around Osho. It is the magnetic pull.
Without this, magnet is just a piece of iron.
Unfortunately, life and work of enlightened mystic OSho has become part of history confined on the paper of books.
“Unfortunately, life and work of enlightened mystic OSho has become part of history confined on the paper of books.” /Shantam Prem
If this looks so, Shantam Prem, that looks like so for YOU !
May be you should hire to be an UPS driver ?
¥ou seem to have a banker´s mind, claiming to have THE recipe for a big rendite.
Alas – love is missing.
Love to yourself and love to others too.
Madhu, dare to bare your face if you love yourself and the others.
Madhu, please come out from Burqa if you love to write on behalf of your master.
Don´t forget Your master´s name start with O and not M!
PS- This post is addressed to every masked writer.
If you cannot do this then don´t address my personally.
please.
It is simply not fair.
If you take religion away from Shantam,he is like any other animal.
After Osho,his mingers have brought Osho to the level as any other guru.
Braless gora girls was Oshos USP. Shantam was babe magnet,on the pull.
Without this,magnet is just piece of flaccid blubber.
Unfortunately life and work of unenlightened shagmonster Shantam has become part of history confined to Prozac-sodden imagination!
“….and the last love relationship?”
I don’t know why Chinmaya, bothered asking this question, as the answer is surely obvious: Himself!