The Mystery of Osho’s Text “I am the Gate” Alok John solves the riddle

I have finally solved the mystery of chapter 8 of  “I am the Gate” : …

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where Osho says Hessenhoff gave Hitler the anticlockwise swastika, a destructive symbol. But, there was no important Nazi called Hessenhoff.

Osho was thinking of Karl Ernst Haushofer, 1869-1946. According to the documentary below, Gurdjieff gave Hitler through Haushofer the anticlockwise swastika, a symbol that would lead the Nazis to destruction. See 31 and 32 minutes into the documentary.

It is an interesting documentary. It says Gurdjieff briefly taught Stalin when he was a very young man, Josef Djugashvili, with nickname Soso. See photos here where young Stalin sports a Gurdjieff moustache.

http://murdertutorials.tumblr.com/post/102315203726/young-stalin-mugshot https://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/George_Gurdjieff

And here is the link for the documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nljcpS62cg

Alok John

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65 Responses to The Mystery of Osho’s Text “I am the Gate” Alok John solves the riddle

  1. Kavita says:

    Thank you, Alok John, for the links you shared.

    That voice of supposedly Gurdjieff in the video was very impressive.

    Good to know that your mystery of ‘I Am The Gate’, chapter 8, has been solved!

    Btw, this chapter 8 is still full of mysteries to me.

  2. shantam prem says:

    If first generation Osho disciples discuss books, what future disciples will do? Discuss books.
    It means there is no qualitative difference between disciples who were with the living master and who will be with the idea of a living master?

    Mama Mia…it seems present is living in the past or future of the past.

    • Parmartha says:

      SP,
      There has been some confusion over this chapter for some 30 years. Alok has given a very plausible explanation which is worth hearing. Don’t see what you object to, frankly. Bringing ‘light’ to any subject is worthy of a disciple’s work.

      • satyadeva says:

        It’s just the same old refrain from Shantam, I’m afraid.

        Behind the surface bluster is the sad lament:
        “I’m unhappy with my life, discontented, even angry, but basically feeling lonely and rather useless, as if I don’t really ‘belong’ anywhere. I feel essentially powerless to make it better, except to blame others. And so what’s the point of mere books, especially talking about them? It’s all an absolute waste of time.”

  3. Parmartha says:

    Thanks for posting the Russian Gurdjieff video, Alok. Was very good in its own right.

    It’s a long time since I read Osho’s ‘I Am The Gate’…
    All I would say until revisiting that chapter is I don’t believe that reversed symbols led to a curse on Nazism and its fall – just millions of lives lost in action, some my relatives. I guess some historians might say these losses were the result of the extremely punitive pacts the Allies forged, and that followed the end of the first world war, which in turn led to social and economic conditions in Germany that could lead to the rise to power of a madman.

    I feel it is a shame that the unreversed symbol was, as I remember, a Tibetan spiritual symbol of some meaning in Buddhism? Now forever sort of tarred by its reversal.

    It’s good you solved the riddle.

    • Kavita says:

      Parmartha, here is what Osho said about the origin in this chapter:
      “In India, one of the most ancient groups is that of the Jains. The swastika is their symbol,
      but not exactly as it was with Hitler. Hitler’s swastika design was in reverse. The Jains’
      swastika is clockwise; Hitler’s is anti-clockwise. This anti-clockwise swastika is a destructive symbol.”

    • alokjohn says:

      Well, I researched it a bit. Here are some pics of swastikas on Buddhas: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+buddhaswastika&espv=2&biw=1093&bih=508&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWsPTNgazKAhXKtBoKHX3yDjAQ_AUIBigB

      Here are Nazi swastikas:
      https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=nazi+swastika&espv=2&biw=1093&bih=508&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN3_-DgqzKAhWGVhoKHbBOC6oQ_AUIBigB

      Hindu and Jain swastikas can point in either direction. I find the Nazi swastika more pleasing to the eye, but who knows if it is really a “destructive” symbol?

      @ Kavita, I find it hard to take seriously some of the things Osho says in that chapter.

      • alokjohn says:

        Just put ‘nazi swastika’ and ‘buddha swastika’ in google images.

      • Kavita says:

        AJ, after I read your post & watched the vid, I wanted to hear the discourse but it was not available to me on the internet, so I read the pdf. It does seem a bit over the top & confusing & mysterious all at the same time to me, nevertheless worth reading.

        • anand yogi says:

          Perfectly correct, Alok !
          You are absolutely right!

          Not a lot of people know it, but Gurdjieff certainly reversed the swastika, taught Stalin how to grow a moustache whilst they were studying yak-killing at school, wrote ‘Tertium Organum’ through Ouspensky several years before he had even met him, and also composed the mantra that eventually led to Hitler’s downfall!

          The reverse swastika was merely exoteric – the true esoteric reason for the collapse of the Third Reich was the creation of a piece of objective art created by G, which combined the exact octaves whistled by the Sufi builders of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul with the hidden yak-killing techniques of central Asia, which he then cunningly supplied to the Allied troops through a certain Colonel Bogey, a Sufi musician and infiltrator into the British government whom G had met on a drinking binge in the monastery of Sarmoung!

          The troops chanted it religiously and it sent a huge wave of malamat-ul-Hadji-Astvatz-Troov which even penetrated Hitler’s bunker, put a stop to his meth-fuelled yakking and forced him to commit sati.

          “Hitler has only got one ball” remains one of the most effective mantras of all time!

          Shantambhai,
          Yes, how could we forget the true symbol of the one true religion, as exemplified by true exponents of the wisdom of mighty Bhorat, as practised by brown-skin heroes of consciousness on the female of the white-skin Aryan species…?

      • Kavita says:

        Read the 8th chapter again just in case I missed something; this time it was mysteriously hilarious!

  4. Kavita says:

    I would rather be living with the idea of a living master than be living with no idea at all, like a few who claim to have lived with a living master!

  5. shantam prem says:

    If symbols and logos could change the destiny of nations and institutions, I must say with heavy heart, Neo-Sannyas founder did not choose right symbols.

    The last one was two swans going far beyond the sky. If one checks google photos, there are just three or four images.

    As a disciple, my basic question is, who killed the final logo chosen by the founder himself? Surely, Apple did not buy this to make it obsolete later on. One faded one I paste here, just for the sake of nostalgia.

  6. prem martyn says:

    AJ,

    Thanks for the research. The metaphysical symbolism of the four ‘tails’ of the swastika’s interstitial lines are interesting. From what I remember of these things, the 4 is the world. The world made matter. Cuboid. It is put into action by the propulsion of each force (tail ) hence the swastika spins.

    Swastika must mean something in Vedic language. The swastika appears in Celtic forms too and Grecian. Its one of those mandalas that I guess appears in tripping, or shaman stuff.

    But how does consciousness, ie the knower, the knowing the known…(Osho went into that in the Unio Mystica of Hakim Sanai lectures, leaning with acknowledgement, on Krishnamurti’s ‘presence’ thing…the knower is the known is the knowing..) .. go from the three of consciousness, (father son, holy ghost in Xtian esoterics ) into matter..????

    All I remember was in Ouspenksy’s writing that he mentioned that in the Taj Mahal the muezzin call would echo four times the ‘Allah’ before disappearing into the upturned dome of the infinite sky.)

    Does consciousness that exists as one, then two, then three, become manifest as four .. and how and what is the platonic rationale behind it?

    The spinning swastika with a central axis is undoubtedly the firmament on the earth plane…

    I’m also wondering if me tripping out on fascists buddhists got some lateral puzzle-solving thinking happening across the ethers?

    Cheers.

    P.S:
    Madhu,
    Keep on boogying!

  7. Parmartha says:

    I used to like the symbol of Osho’s Life Awakening Movement from before 1970 and before Sannyas; a little way down this page link:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh_movement

  8. Parmartha says:

    The first logo of Neo-Sannyas was geometical.
    Some way down the same wiki link:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh_movement

  9. Parmartha says:

    Shantam:
    I can remember three symbols being used in Osho’s lifetime. Maybe there were more? A testimony, one might say, to the fact that whilst alive, Osho always kept things changing. I am sure had he lived beyond 1989 logos/symbols would have kept changing.

    I don’t think there is any point served by freezing everything back to the time Osho left the body.

    What symbol do you consider your enemies now use, or perhaps they do not use any?!

    • shantam prem says:

      I don´t think i have any enemy in the world of Sannyas. Difference of opinions do not amount to enmity. This is the lesson one learns by appreciating democracy and basic human rights.

      As far as Osho is concerned, or any other founder of any institution, they have inbuilt right to change anything in their creation, but not the employees or the disciples.

      Let us presume, Osho was (is) alive past 1990, it is not difficult to imagine He might have taken those black, white and maroon robes away. Can the Canadian/British closest disciples dare to do?

      These robes, world´s most stupid dress codes, do not fit in any way in 21st century; who has the inner guts in the cult of Sannyas to discard them?

      Surely, one does not commit blunders with the master´s last actions and will written through his gestures and silent nods of appreciation?

      • satyadeva says:

        “I don´t think I have any enemy in the world of Sannyas. Difference of opinions do not amount to enmity. This is the lesson one learns by appreciating democracy and basic human rights.”

        Fine-sounding sentiments – which unfortunately fail to square with many of your comments over the last decade or so, Shantam. What’s happened – have you suddenly ‘seen the Light?’

        Anyway, as the bookmakers are giving very short odds that you actually remain mired in the most profound, self-ignorant (and self-protective) delusion, it seems safe to assume you’re once again writing what you like to believe is true, rather than what is actually the case.

        Correct me if you in fact do not regard the powers-that-be in Pune as your “enemies”, but rather as those with whom you have a mere “difference of opinion” – you know, the sort of thing that can easily be settled over a nice cup of chai (storm in a teacup really, eh, old chap?!). But which, by some extraordinary ‘quirk of fate’ has somehow managed to continue, unabated, with much obsessive anger, bitterness and resentment on your part, for an extremely long time.

        “Enemies? But of course not!” For the umpteenth time: Pull the other one, Shantam!

        • shantam prem says:

          I would be glad to discuss with you on each and every issue. I am sure it will make a good copy for the fellow bloggers and few hundred readers of Sannyasnews scattered on every continent.

          I can accept your resignation not to show your face behind the wise-sounding words. Let us say hallo over Skype. Without seeing the person, I am unable to communicate.

          I have not many values, not many codes of conduct, but what I have I cherish them with my life.

          • satyadeva says:

            This is just humbug, Shantam. For many years you’ve discussed and argued here, many times with me as well as with quite a few others. But one feature of your time at SN has been choosing to avoid responding to issues when it doesn’t suit you, ie when you’re unable to find an adequate response. That, plus, going by your answers, at times apparently not bothering to read others’ posts properly.

            Now, whenever you’re cornered, you drag up this ‘photo’ excuse. And it wouldn’t surprise me at all, given your penchant for deluding yourself, if you actually believe in your own reasoning, that your ‘high principles’ demand such a dismissive response, whereas in fact they’re just a means of neatly avoiding the need to reply.

            MOD: WE WON’T PUBLISH ANY FURTHER POSTS RE ‘PHOTOGRAPHIC ID’!

      • swamishanti says:

        Osho left his people wearing maroon robes, which are the same colour as Tibetan robes.

        Yet around the world, groups of hardcore Osho heads are still wearing the orange. Is it a seventies revival thing?

        I had heard that the Dalai Lama regarded Osho as enlightened but read this qoute in the Source book:

        “The Dalai Lama is reported to have said that Bhagwan was the reincarnation of the most powerful Tantric master of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and that Bhagwan had also been a ‘crazy wisdom’ guru in other incarnations in other traditions. He said that Bhagwan’s incarnation in the 20th century was his last, his greatest and most potent of them all.” (Geraghty 2007, p. 123)

      • Parmartha says:

        SP, can’t accept this.

        Some courageous choices have been made by those of the 21 who survived; for example, look how much fuss you and others have made about the decision to discontinue using Osho pictures all over the place in the Resort. Easier for someone who wanted a smooth ride to simply follow the more Indian tradition.

        Osho, in wearng at first a plain white robe for many years and just chappals – that was unique to Osho, even in those early days, or just a lungi and bare chested…

        Many religious traditions, Christian, Buddhist, etc. still wear a gown or robe monastically. And I am sure such clothing in the right climate is the most healthy for the body.

        It is a mystery to me where your antipathy finds its imputus and its daily nagging. Let it go, and create your own thing. I am sure your “Master” would say as much.

        • shantam prem says:

          Parmartha, this answer from someone who is with Osho for 40 years or more: to me, it seems like teabag of yesterday in a fine china cup.

          Maybe it is the aging effect. It is almost impossible to acknowledge, “priestly politics of my master is not different than others.”

  10. prem martyn says:

    The Dolly Llama was also, I believe, if my memory serves, supremely chastised as usual by the great O, as someone who took all the gold of Tibet at night in a cowardly escape…to sponsor the feudal priesthood of Tibet, in exile.

    Now one shouldn’t be drawn into who said what about whom, as the kettles here in Nirvana are black enough already.

    But consider this: what does attempting to bring the O, whilst he was alive, at any rate, into the fold of the Dolly’s yak-butter lineage do for the value of yak butter on the open market?

    Does it make all of O’s criticisms of the usual Buddhist painstaking, laborious, long-winded, impersonal self-asserting, medieval, arrogant, institutional, macho, posturing, tribal, goon-moon-faced, self-serving, spineless, pasty-faced, western-world-savers…slightly less, ermm, challenging to the blanket-robed noblesse? By making him, O, part of their funky lineage, ‘been there, done that’ type smelly mindfulnessness?

    I mean, I’m not saying the Chinese have got the measure of them, that the Chinese are any yardstick to measure intelligence with, but it is quite satisfying to think that a version of spiritual vainglorious achievement has to navigate its own nemesis without a ‘carte blanche’ of utter unaccountability, untransparent and politically motivated proclamatory self-image, around the world.

    It would be equal to putting some wannabe actor on a red carpet pedestal…and for the fawning mass to photograph the goofy smiles for everyone to play husshy husshy around – spooky.

    Try this: go to a meet-up of some bloke in a red blanket and ask some awkward questions and then notice how courageous they are to answer – and how welcome you are…

    If you want to throw yourself on the floor every two feet and spin a prayer wheel a million times and you tell people it’s worth it, then could you queue up behind the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and take your turn?

    If you ever felt awkward because some Osho centre leader was actually a nightmarish c+^t and waltzed around the place with a-licking wannabees around the porthole, then you’ll want to make sure that the message goes out as far as possible.

    • satyadeva says:

      “The Dolly Llama was also, I believe, if my memory serves, supremely chastised as usual by the great O, as someone who took all the gold of Tibet at night in a cowardly escape…to sponsor the feudal priesthood of Tibet, in exile.”

      I wonder whether he had much choice as the Chinese would surely have locked him up for many years, if not the rest of his life, if they’d got hold of him during the Tibetan uprising of 1959 (when the DL was 24).

      Remaining where he was wouldn’t have served any purpose – just as Osho remaining in America would have been equally stupid (and yes, I do realise America wasn’t his homeland).

      So if Osho actually did make such a comment, he was a bit of an arrogant fool, especially if he said that after 1985 when he might at least have learned from his own experience of encountering a ruthless State enemy.

      • satyadeva says:

        Still, at least Osho had the ‘credentials’ to make such a critical comment. It’s quite another matter when you get people who are, to put it mildly, nowhere near the psycho-spiritual level of the likes of, say, the Dalai Lama, carping and criticising and poking fun, malicious or otherwise, as if merely being a disciple or ‘friend’ of Osho somehow fully qualifies them to definitively pronounce on such people, borrowing their conviction through some sort of imagined ‘symbiosis’.

        DL deserves better than that sort of irresponsible copycat stuff. These quotes below (easy to find at Wikipedia) might not exactly suit sannyasin know-it-alls, or anyone else mired in cynicism, but, at the end of the day, they might just happen to approximate ‘what it’s all about’…

        “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.

        This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

        My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

        • prem martyn says:

          The Tibetans don’t have a monopoly on abusive adherents who can’t afford emotive integrity.
          The Catholics have a nice line in masturbatory power-mongering too – under cassocks.

          If you think I get my stories from Wikipediatibetans, forget it. My oblique condemnation of robey, wafty proselytisers are very, very personal.

          Unfortunately, I can’t get even without a lot of trouble and plotting to redress the score – and that’s unlikely to happen.

          So I just write to the ethers in the vain hope thatsemantic redress will act as a spoiler. It’s therapeutic diary writing, if you like, for numbing solace.

          It doesn’t work – but it’s creative and fun.

        • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

          Yes, I know this Dalai Lama quote you are quoting, Satyadeva, and it really sounds very, very good.

          If you yourself would live up to it (just in the chat) I presume your habitual bashing would take just another turn, wouldn´t it?

          And don´t get me wrong again, I don’t want you to be friendly and accepting if you don´t feel like.

          My everyday experience with western buddhists next door (some of them ex-Osho sannyasins) has been that they often like to wear the mask of ´kindness´, some of them even worse than fundamentalist Christians with their ´Bigotteria´ (talking this like a mantra and acting that) and that was and is quite a bitter pill to swallow.

          And according to you here, you couldn´t have a better choice for a Dalai Lama quote, I would say.

          To live up to it in an honest way, a life-long processing, isn´t it?

          Madhu

          • prem martyn says:

            Madhu, for the first time in recorded online history…
            I like and agree with what you say about falso buddhistas and bigottios.
            Buddhist kindness – what a manipulation.
            Hooray for the Truth, it still works!!

            I am currently drinking a glass of Chardonnay to celebrate, cheers.

            • swamishanti says:

              The thing about Tibetan monks that I love is…they sit on piles of cushions, high up in the hills, while the clouds whisp by, blowing on those cosmic horns…

              Ommmmmmm…
              And they wear those funny hats.
              They spend hours creating mandalas out of coloured sand, and then blow it all away again.

              They try to research after-death states.

              So just you remember that, Marto, next time you get the urge to run over a group of robed monks in your car – and remember, they look similar but not all monks are the same. The ones with orange robes are from a different sect.

              If you see monks with a piece of hair left on the back of the shaven head, with a mark on the forehead, ringing bells and dancing in a line, they are probably the Hari Krishnas.

          • satyadeva says:

            Madhu, as I’m sure you know, to be ‘kind’ doesn’t necessarily imply being a gullible fool, neither does it necessarily mean accepting everything others ‘throw’ at us. In fact, at times the ‘kindest’ thing is to challenge people’s foolishness (including one’s own, of course). That’s much of the function of this place, isn’t it?

            • satyadeva says:

              And just in case of any misunderstanding here, I was talking earlier only of the Dalai Lama, not about Buddhists or Buddhism.

              • satyadeva says:

                And yes, Madhu, re that deceptively simple DL quote, it might well be a lifetime’s work, of course, or many lifetimes (whatever it is that ‘goes on’ from life to life).

                But such quotes can, at times, cut through a lot of crap, and I would say that DL is one person who ‘walks his talk’, a rare sort of human being, and as such is worth a great deal of respect.

    • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

      “Now one shouldn’t be drawn into who said what about whom, as the kettles here in Nirvana are black enough already.”

      If I am allowed, Prem Martyn, I just take this – and take it with a “Wow!” As it is the Essence of the Remedy (for me, at least).

      Madhu

      MOD: PLEASE WRITE ‘Martyn’ (NO ‘h’)!

    • swamishanti says:

      “The Dolly Llama was also, I believe, if my memory serves, supremely chastised as usual by the great O, as someone who took all the gold of Tibet at night in a cowardly escape…to sponsor the feudal priesthood of Tibet, in exile.”

      That’s right, Martyn – I can remember the lecture now…

      It was one of those Communism and Zen Wind, Zen Fire ones, the really long one where Osho spoke for a very long time and everyone was sitting in Buddha Hall, legs numb, thinking “just come on Osho…I really need a piss now…it’s been almost four hours now….”

      I have a vhs tape of it somewhere. The discourse was too long for the videotape…Osho addressed the meditators as “comrades”, and then expressed some dissatisfaction with Gorbachev for taking the USSR out of the “great experiment” of communism. And then later he started laying into the nominates for that year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

      Having a go at the Dalai Lama like you said, and I know that he had previously called him a fool…but the Dalai Lama is a humble guy. He has been qouted as stating that “Osho is an enlightened master who is working to help humanity overcome a difficult phase”, or something like that, and I don’t disbelieve that he made the comments above about Osho being a Tibetan reincarnation.

      Still, the point was that Osho himself had talked about a previous incarnation as a Tibetan Lama in ‘I Am The Gate’ – correct?

      It’s kind of funny to picture people, particularly westerners, gnashing and wailing and thinking the worst of the man like O, with his Rolls Royces and diamond watches, “what a charlatan”, whereas the Dalai Lama is thought of as a true Spiritual Saint by the same people, with his simple style…Yet here he is describing Osho as a great incarnation.

      By the way, the Chinese always make a big fuss whenever the leader of any country takes time to meet with the Dalai Lama.

      They didn’t like it when Cameron invited him to Downing St. – and if I remember correctly, Gordon Brown didn’t invite him to Downing St. so as not to offend the Chinese.

      • Parmartha says:

        Good post, Shanti. There is a lot of false piety around the Dalai Lama, and I do wonder about his following amongst various western elites. They all seem to lack the benefit of any real wisdom in spiritual matters.

        I am anti-Chinese communism, very much so. But that does not make me a supporter of a medieval religious theocratic serf state. Tibet must have been a terribly poor and hard to live place for most of its citizens, apart from the religious elite, for centuries.

      • prem martyn says:

        Cheers, SS. Yes, I was there then at those lectures, so it must have been then. Your memory neurons are in better shape than mine.

        Funny how just contributing here provokes all sorts of tangential correspondences, first with AJ and the Nazi fascination /connection with the Tibetans that goes way back. That german SS guy who became a famous Tibetan Buddhist missionary in the West – forget his name now.

        Then yourself remembering the lecture from whence O told us that the Dolly was a twerp.

        If it gets people thinking, singing or dancing from their own hymn sheet without any holy shoes dangling from a piece of string from those who would use and abuse good faith, then it’s worth extending a few column inches here of satisfaction.

      • samarpan says:

        “…the Dalai Lama is thought of as a true Spiritual Saint by the same people, with his simple style.” (Swamishanti)

        Swamishanti, I suspect it takes a whole lot of people and money to enable the Dalai Lama to live simply. :)

        • swamishanti says:

          “Swamishanti, I suspect it takes a whole lot of people and money to enable the Dalai Lama to live simply.”

          Yes, indeed. And Osho also enjoyed a simple and luxurious lifestyle, which was also supported by lots of people and money.

          But the difference is how the Dalai Lama is perceived by the masses when they see him on tv to be a simple monk, whereas when they see Osho they just see diamond-studded hats, designer suits and gold watches.

          • swamishanti says:

            What is interesting about the picture on the cover of the edition of ‘I Am The Gate’ (above) is that Osho appears, unusually for a pic of Osho after 1986, without one of his famous and stylish hats.

            Now watch it! Osho quote warning: Just look away if you don`t want to read any Osho quotes:

            “Arup’s mother, Gita, has written a question that she wants her family to become more interested in me, but the only thing that seems to create trouble is my pictures with fantastic hats! That is creating the trouble – so good! Now bring more hats for me, because these are the people I would not like to be here. I would not like for them to be here because such stupid minds have to be kept out. These minds cannot grow.

            In the new commune I am going to make it such that only those who are really daredevils will be able to enter into it.
            A thousand and one things will prevent them, because those are the people who, even if they come in, they will go out. So why waste time on them? It is better to keep them out, bracket them out.”

            ‘The Wisdom of the Sands’, Vol. 2

            Now, interestingly, the above quote from Osho was from back in Poona 1, he was not wearing the hats sewn with precious stones or designer suits at this stage, but he is talking about his photoshoots, where he would dress up and wear different hats and styles of clothing.

  11. samarpan says:

    “If you ever felt awkward because some Osho centre leader was actually a nightmarish c+^t and waltzed around the place with a-licking wannabees around the porthole, then you’ll want to make sure that the message goes out as far as possible.”

    Aren’t there some other choices? Or is becoming a missionary your preference? You could just drop sannyas. You could start your own centre. You could go to the pub and get drunk. You could go home and meditate alone. You could laugh and not take things so seriously. The possibilities are many. There are many ways to deal with that awkward feeling, besides becoming a missionary.

  12. Parmartha says:

    This is the original symbol of the Neo-Sannyas movement, first seen after 1971 or thereabouts. It was also on the binding of the books as I recall, but not in red, in black. There may be someone around who knows who created it. I think it might even be Osho’s original work.

    Samarpan describes this as an enneagram. The original enneagram was probably created by Gurdjieff, though as usual with that scoundrel he claimed that he had discovered it in some remote place in Asia and it had ancient roots.

  13. shantam prem says:

    Disciples of Osho´s lifetime will certainly leave a legacy behind: the legacy of criticizing each and every past and future icon of religions.

    The readers of Osho books calling themselves disciples will not accept Existence can produce another great or one can say guru with flowering oratory!

  14. shantam prem says:

    Those who think brands of their masters grow like wild grass because of existential grace should not bother to lick the feet of the book publishers.

    To promote ‘No more in the body’ Buddha, Jesus or Osho needs lots of marketing and cutting-edge promotional work.

    Any smug can find many drawbacks in Dalai Lama, matter of the fact is, his style has established Buddhism in the tough-to-crack western market.

    Any fellow blogger has ever checked what kind of contribution they have made to spread ‘their’ Osho?

    In this regard, I have an interesting experience to share. Yesterday, I was chating with a single woman on one of the elitist singles site. The woman, around my age, is a English German translator who has credentials of translating books.

    As we are in an introductory phase, I wrote in some context, “I am not from South America but North India, who has lived for many years in Pune, India at Osho Commune International.”

    Her reply I won´t forget because of the ending: “Hey, thanks for the prompt response! Looking at your pictures, I thought you were from North America, Canada or South America. What’s an Osho Commune International?”

  15. Lokesh says:

    Zen Wind is surely a concise description of Shantam’s gaseous contribution to the world of SN and Sannyas in general. I suppose it is his flatulent way of fuelling the blazing torch of Osho’s legacy. Only goes to show there is a use for everyone’s contribution, no matter how small, or in this case, invisible.

    I mean to say, someone coming away with a pomp ass statement like the following, “I have not many values, not many codes of conduct, but what I have I cherish them with my life” deserves the golden lavvy pot award. Jumping Jack Flash, it’s a gas, gas, gas. Phew!

  16. shantam prem says:

    I feel this string won´t be complete without the title of the original book. That title must have ignited the interest in faraway West. Which master has ever given a blueprint for a better and saner world?

    • Lokesh says:

      Shantam enquires, “Which master has ever given a blueprint for a better and saner world?”
      Ehhhh…Rasputin, the Mad Monk?

      I mean to say, Osho’s blueprints were, to put it mildly, messy. He left a blueprint for how he wanted his commune…now the Resort…to be run once he left the building and all Shantam does is complain about it.

      Basically, while alive, Osho ran a non-democratic scene…Osho was in charge and delegated his officers to run the show under his all-seeing eye. Worked for a while before it all went a bit loco. Now Osho is, well, dead, what to say? Who needs a fucking blueprint anyway?

      • shantam prem says:

        “Who needs a fucking blueprint anyway?”

        The bastards who were not happy with the names given by their parents surely need blueprint from someone called Osho.

        How many gurus and masters have insisted to change the fucking name and that too from a language one has iota of knowledge?

        I hope you will accept your folly, Swami Lokesh Ibiza!

        • Lokesh says:

          Shantam enquires, “How many gurus and masters have insisted to change the fucking name and that too from a language one has iota of knowledge?”

          As history has shown, quite a lot.

          I know quite a few words in Sanskrit, thanks to Osho. And even more in Lhasa Tibetan, in which adjectives generally follow nouns in, unless the two are linked by a genitive particle, thanks to years of study.

          Lokesh is quite a common name in India and in Tibet, but strangely enough it is also used in various other cultures. In the Alaskan culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world. In the Cherokee culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world’. In the Cheyenne culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world’. In the Miwok culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world’. In the Mohawk culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world’. In the Native American culture, Lokesh means ‘King of world’. Which might well bring about a certain conclusion, but certainly not due to a lack of knowledge about a language one has not an iota of knowledge about?

    • swamishanti says:

      Shantam, the cover of this edition of the book is surely very beautifull.

      I still have a book, that another sannyasin gave me, which is another old one from the seventies: ‘The Ultimate Alchemy’. 1971 or ’72, I think. Comments on the Atma Pooja Upanishad. Very esoteric stuff as well.

      And the cover artwork is also intricate, like the one shown above. Actually, not only the dust-jacket looks great, but the actual cover and binding of those old books had been produced in a very beautiful way, with some kind of marbling effect and technique.

  17. Parmartha says:

    With all the so-called benefit of years of searching, I must say I now find such statements inflated.

    Jesus’s statement that (only) he was “the way, the light and the truth”, and only through him could one “reach the Kingdom of Heaven” has done so much harm, and – well, who knows whether Jesus actually said any such thing? Could have been dreamed up by those disciples who wrote things down 40 years later.

    BUT if he did, clearly nonsense and has led to wars.

    And a mild similarity with Osho, at least he didn’t say it was only through him that one could pass from ego to egolessness, from the little self to the great Self, but he clearly claims to be a “Gate” to it. Something inflated really, about such claims from anyone.

    Laxmi published this first in 1975 at a great price of 25 rupees. but the answers were actually given in Bombay in April, 1971.

    JUST after the first hippies arrived from Goa, as Lokesh has indicated earlier, Osho casting his net because those sort of esoteric topics filled the beach cafes of Goa at that time.

  18. Lokesh says:

    The whole point about a guru using the metaphor of being a gate implies that it is a process to pass through. It is not something to hang on to and worship at the church of your choice. Pass through the gate and keep on truckin’ to wherever it is that you are bound.

    Life is a journey. A beedie break at the gate is cool but no need to fall asleep for all eternity at the gate. What a boring prospect. Such an interesting gate only sparks curiosity to find out what lies beyond it. Unless you are completely fucking stupid.

  19. swamishanti says:

    Osho talks about one of his previous Buddhist bodies being preserved in a cave in Tibet. Well, apparently the tradition is still being continued in China.
    Here`s to Wu Yunquing:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3033849/Is-world-s-macabre-tourist-attraction-People-flock-body-monk-died-17-years-ago-disciples-perfectly-preserves-body-beneath-special-crystal-case.html

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