There is a new development in the “Osho” Trade- Mark case in Europe
SN bloggers will remember that about six months ago the European “Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market” (OHIM) ruled that “Osho” could be a trademark and that the OHIM accepted the argument of Osho International Foundation (OIF) that Osho is not a well enough known spiritual leader to merit the kind of protection spiritual figures like Buddha and Confucius have received in the EU.
This decision has now been appealed by the Osho Lotus Commune in Cologne, in the form
of a complaint against the OHIM in the General Court of the EU in Luxemburg. In the complaint the Cologne sannyasins involved in this case argue that “Osho” is used by many people to refer to Osho’s teachings and work, and not just to Him as a person. This means that “Osho” is generally descriptive, and so could not be a trade- mark that distinguishes OIF’s work related to Osho from anyone else’s work related to Him.
This issue has affected many people in the sannyas worldwide community, as OIF has been arguing that trademarks, including the one in the EU, give OIF the right to prevent people from using the name of Osho the person online or to refer to Osho’s teachings and work. OIF has used this argument to have material taken down on Facebook, YouTube, and other sites. OIF argues that as long as it has a trademark for “Osho” registered somewhere in the world no one but OIF can use “Osho” online, even if there is no trade mark where the users are located.
The next step in the EU case is that OIF must file a reply, and then there will be an oral hearing before a panel of judges from the General Court.
Whatever happens, SN abhors the taking down of Osho material from the internet. Osho’s energy was and is a wild fire, and his words, etc are particularly suited to the wild fire of the Internet in terms of dissemination and wider distribution. In terms of his work it matters little where those words come from.
(We are grateful for some of this material from Viha Connection -www.oshoviha.org )
A short story (it is a fictional story. If religious feelings get pissed, I say sorry):
To hear the cats and dogs fight among the various fractions of a broken mala, Osho decided to send “Sorry, Ronald” note with a message: “In hindsight, I feel it was a right decision to uproot city of Rajneeshpuram.”
Late US president was happily shocked. He had tears of joy as if tons of guilt stones had been taken away from his chest. After receiving the note, he went personally to Osho during the evening walks and expressed his thankfulness. He also asked, “How you come on this conclusion after three decades?”
Master was heard saying, “Those who fight just over words and few acres of land cannot have the maturity to run a fully-fledged city.”
Ronald Reagan said, “Bhagwan, I bow down before you grace. It is only here i have the time to observe you personally. When others get millions of birthday cards and other presents during some anniversary, you get hardly any card and still you never complain, you maintain your grace as a solitary bird.”
To hear this Osho becomes emotional too and says, “I hope future masters won’t leave behind any kind of words, any kind of property for the sucker disciples to fight over.”
Wow, what an excellence the human mind has reached. Wondering if this is the climax of Osho’s agnosticism!
Discussions and views on this topic always seem to be predicated on the idea that OIF, more specifically Jayesh and Amrito, are evil, that they know they are being evil but are determined to continue in their evil ways regardless.
Further to that, is it not possible to entertain the idea they act the way they do because they believe what they are doing is in the best interests of Osho’s work/s, the long-term interest of Osho’s work?
Arpana,
They may “believe” anything they like, as many people do. The Earth was once believed to be at the centre of the universe, and so on.
It is, of course, ‘possible to entertain’ that they believe in their work, whilst others believe they aren’t acting correctly.
Action speaks louder than words, as the phrase goes. And their actions seem a little controlling to me.
What YOU see is far more interesting and important than talking vaguely about how others might “entertain the idea”.
What you say about me, vicar, says everything about you and next to nothing about me.
For me, vagueness is entertainment!
Yes, it’s shocking, Vicar, that they aren’t perfect, unlike the individuals who are so critical of them.
The Taliban believe that they are preserving the purest vision of Mohammed`s religion, so they have persecuted the Sufis and other interpretations of Islam.
In India, bald-headed Hari-Krishnas argue with Buddhists and other bald-headed nuts about whether God is impersonal or not, or whose god is superior.
OIF pull down videos off youtube because they believe that they are acting in the best interests of preserving Osho`s vision. But is it really for that reason?
Other sannyasin groups and fanatics claim that OIF are destroying Osho`s work.
Ah well, life goes on….
Fritz Perls said of relationships that A has got B by the balls, and B has got A by the throat (changed slightly in the interest of political correctness).
Here`s an idea:
At one stage, Swami Rajneesh was presenting himself as `Osho Rajneesh` online and thereby attracting google hits for the name. OIF called this internet piracy, which it was.
Could they have forced Rajneesh to change name without having trade-mark registered? If not, Rajneesh could have continued to be amongst the top pages of google for Osho. I wonder, would that have been a satisfactory result for Viha and anti-OIF people?
Btw, my position towards all the warring parties is summed up in the words of my old art teacher, Mr Wise, when, as a footie-mad 10 year-old I asked him what team he supported. He answered:
“They don`t support me, so I don`t support them.”
Good point, Frank.
Every dictator, howsoever cruel, stupid and arrogant he may be, there are always some percentage of people who will go all the way to defend him. “After all, without some divine grace, how one can be on such high position?” they argue.
One can discuss for decades about the bigots and tyrants in the world of Osho Orgnisation, my belief is very clear: unless guru leaves behind a successor, only way left is the democratic way. Let the disciples’ opinions become paramount. Let us say factually, in the matter of neo-Sannyas, I don´t think there are more than hundred thousand people scattered in many countries. They are not uneducated, they have all open hearts thanks to intensive love therapies.
Unless their opinion is respected, there is no way out from the mess created by The Mind – that fucking mind sannyasins think they will be the first to get rid of.
Shantam,
Jayesh and Amrito are not to blame for the fact that all those beautiful young Western women you want to have sex with at the ashram don’t want to have sex with you – at the ashram or anywhere else for that matter.
And they still won’t want to have sex with you even if the place is run by someone who you choose.
This kind of post shows, Arpana, how swamis have become slumdogs. You are showing extreme stupidity once again.
Sometimes I wonder, were you a North Korean in the past life. Only such people will go all the way to defend their tyrant and feed the innocents to the dogs.
This kind of post shows, Shantam, how you are a slumdog. You are showing extreme stupidity once again.
You belong, Shantam, in North Korea. Only such people will go all the way to make themselves a tyrant and feed the innocents to the dogs.
“Unless their opinion is respected, there is no way out from the mess created by The Mind – that fucking mind sannyasins think they will be the first to get rid of.”
Shantam, you are obviously better at ass-licking than psychology/philosophy!
Play to your strengths, lad!
I don´t mind, faceless frank, if instead of me, dentist Devageet or Art of Love Turiya write their philosophical and psychological wisdom.
Psychologically speaking, ass-slickers are the people who turn to satire when serious issues are discussed in a sincere tone.
Perfectly correct, Shantambhai!
These western baboons cannot take anything seriously! You have discussed serious issues in a perfectly sincere tone: democracy, how to transcend the mind and how to give analingus, yet they simply laugh at the wisdom that emanates from your mighty tongue which has spent many hours showing its devotion through the act!
It is indeed a sad day for mighty Bhorat when one who has selflessly given the ultimate pleasure to the female of the gora species is reviled and shat on by ungrateful red-bottomed baboons!
As you rightly say: unless your opinion is respected, there is no way out from the mess created by The Mind!
But it does not appear to be likely to happen any time soon so the white-skinned disciples will remain stuck for yugas in the mind which is nothing but mind!
Yahoo!
Thanks, Yogi, first laughter of the day! XXX
Democracy, collective responsibility, shared power, safeguards against dictatorship – sounds all very fine, all very rational, all very fair, the way things ‘should’ be…
But in practical terms, has anyone – including you, Shantam – ever thought about, let alone proposed exactly how such ‘ideal’ structures might be organised and set up to actually function both effectively and democratically in the world of Sannyas, characterised as it is by very disparate individuals and groups?
How would people be elected, for example? And by whom exactly? Would all sannyasins have a vote? If not, how could such a system be termed ‘democratic’? Anyway, how would one ‘qualify’ as a sannyasin voter? How to prevent corruption in the voting process, eg outsiders being ‘hired’ to vote to support specific individuals or policies? Would anyone trust the likes of Rajneesh, for instance, not to indulge in such interference?
A few moments’ thought is enough to undermine such a concept as too idealistic, in fact its very impracticality tends to blow it out of the water completely. I’d forsee endless disputes and consequent lengthy delays and ineffective action under such circumstances.
Anti-regime diehards like Shantam blame the ‘Big Two’ for the collapse of the Osho-inspired committee of 21, but what about the other 19, wasn’t their apparent lack of commitment equally worthy of criticism or condemnation? How can anyone be even 50% certain that any such set-up won’t end similarly?
No, whether everyone approves or not of the current powers-that-be and everything they’ve done, it might well be the only realistic way.
In the end, Indians will probably take over and be as controversial as Jayesh and Amrito have been. But you’ll just have to wait, Shantam…quite a long time…with no guarantee that you will be taken seriously (because you’re certainly not, here at SN) and that you will ever have any say in whatever happens…
Frankly though, who cares? In the long run (now a rather ‘short run’ for many of us), we’re all dead…There are better things to do with our time than waste it in such concerns.
Excellent post, Sat.
“Anti-regime diehards like Shantam blame the ‘Big Two’ for the collapse of the Osho-inspired committee of 21″
“Big Two”?
I thought it was the “Big Three”, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahe.
Ah, now wait a minute, shouldn’t that should be Amrito, Anando, and Jayesh?
Double binds – some interpreters of Zen consider that kind of Buddhism the masters of them. Osho seems to have left us with one if one gets too involved with the matter of his organisation for in the end it is a matter of power, and the desire of some for regime change.
But whatever regime comes to be in the future, it will have the same problems, one way or the other, as those who have gone before.
To go beyond such double binds one has to get to the point of clapping one’s hands so the goose is out of the bottle. Going beyond the organisation is the key, just an unmonitored space between the disciple and the master remains. Changing one’s gestalt from within – then the interest in power will drop away.
Nicely put, Parmartha; as you say, in the end the organisation of the Osho movement is unimportant.
All that is important is how you or I respond to what we have understood and gleaned from his teaching.
Don’t some dismiss the idea of any “teaching” by saying Osho contradicted himself intentionally? A double bind. So we are left with nothing…aaaaaaah…never mind.
“I have to use words. I am helpless. The day you will be able to understand silence there will be no
need for me to talk to you every day. We can sit in silence. And that will be a beautiful day – I am
preparing you for that. Even though I use words I use them against words – I use them in such a
way so that they can commit suicide in you. That’s why I have to be contradictory.
That’s why I say one thing this moment and contradict it immediately – so that no word takes root in you. So slowly slowly you start understanding that words are meaningless, their meaning is a pretension. Then there will be no misunderstanding.”
Osho.
‘This Very Body the Buddha’
CH. 5. ‘The flight towards the sun’
I feel to add here another from the sips in cups of tea – for whomsoever has an empty cup…
A Cup of TeaWork — May 2016
Love.
Then life is a play, and then even effort becomes play.
“Poetry, philosophy, religion are the fruits of repose.
This has not been available to everyone
but technology and science will make it so
in the near future.
That is why I am in favour of technology.
Those who attribute intrinsic value to labour
oppose the use of machines – they have to.
For me, labour has no such intrinsic value:
on the contrary, I see it as a burden.
As long as work is a prerequisite for rest
it cannot be blissful.
When work flows out of a state of rest voluntarily
then it is blissful.
So I cannot call rest a sin.
Nor do I support sacrifice.
I do not want anyone to live for anybody else,
or one generation to sacrifice itself for another.
Such sacrifices turn out to be very costly –
those who make them expect an inhuman return.
This is why fathers expect the impossible
from their sons.
If each father lives for his son
who will live for himself?
For every son is a potential father.
No, I want everyone to live for himself –
for his own happiness, his own state of rest.
When a father is happy he does much more for his son –
and easily, because it comes out of his happiness.
Then there is neither sacrifice nor renunciation;
what he does comes naturally out of his being a father –
and a happy father at that.
Then he has no inhuman expectations of his son and
where there is no pressure from expectations,
expectations are fulfilled – out of the son being a son.
In short, I teach each person to be selfish.
Altruistic teachings have taught man nothing but suicide,
and a suicidal man is always homicidal;
the unhappy sow their sorrow amongst others.
I am also against the sacrifice of the present
for the future, because what is is always present;
if you live in it totally the future will be born out of it –
and when it comes it too will be the present.
For he who has the habit of sacrificing
the present for the future, the future never comes
because whatever comes is again always sacrificed
for that which has not yet come.
Finally, you ask why I too work for others
and for the future.
First of all, I do not work.
Whatever I do flows out of my state of rest.
I do not swim, I just float.
No one can ever do anything for another
but if something happens to others out of what I am,
that is something else,
and there too I am not the doer.
As for the future –
for me, the present is everything.
And the past too is also a present – that has passed away;
and the future too – that is a present that is yet to come.
Life is always here and now
so I do not bother about past and future.
And it is amazing that ever since I stopped
worrying about them they have begun to worry about me!
My regards to all there.”
‘Cup Of Tea’ (75)
Osholove
If you have understood enough from the teachings of A, B, C whatsoever and have no desire to go into organisational matters then enjoy your status as consumer.
There is nothing wrong in it. To be shareholder of a company is a different thing, to be shareholder plus in the management is again a different ball game.
Many times I wonder, in an interaction between an Indian master and western disciples, who was using whom or maybe it was a mutual satisfying relation as long as master was alive.
God, but you’re a social climber, Rev!
“If you have understood enough from the teachings of A, B, C whatsoever and have no desire to go into organisational matters then enjoy your status as consumer.
There is nothing wrong in it. To be shareholder of a company is a different thing, to be shareholder plus in the management is again a different ball game.”
Does this mean the shareholder + the management have stopped consuming?
In a normal business, shareholders and management are ethically bound to consume their products. In the world of Sannyas, ethics have almost no role. Here you can eat the cake, have the cake and pay no bill. After all, life is too short and it is only an illusion.
It seems shareholders in management position don´t consume their product. I know personally many long-time workers in Resort who have never entered Osho Samadhi for more than a decade or even more. They go to evening meeting regularly because they have to. It is compulsory.
Shantam, are you saying that consumption should be maximum & compulsory in Samadhi for all shareholding-managers?
P.S:
Wonder if this criterion can be followed by all sannyasins desiring to be shareholder managers, including yourself, to attend Samadhi – too far-fetched.
Here`s some info on some one of your favourite topics, Shantam.
Enjoy!
http://www.n0by.de/2/rst/jayesh.htm
Thanks, Shanti.
It is well written article. I think nothing better is written about this elusive chairman of us during last 17, 18 years.
Based on my personal view on him, Jayesh is a perfect gentleman, also Amrito. I simply cannot understand their weird attitude regarding Osho´s legacy.
Western disciples are fighting over a word imposed by their late Indian master. Amazingly enough, the word has no cultural roots in any of their heritage. When stolen things are treated as one´s own, gang war starts!
Over the copyright issue, http://www.oshoworld.com offers complete archives of Osho discourses to be downloaded free of cost. While ironing clothes, it has become a ritual to listen Osho talks. i download this from oshoworld and listen during twice a week ironing.
Oshoworld is controlled by Delhi-based expelled disciples. It is a clear case of defiance and showing the fuck you finger to the trustees of Osho Foundation.
I don´t think foundation has any guts to challenge them in India. They will get slaps from all around.
When all the talks are easily available free of cost, why even to bother about cut pieces at youtube?
Shantam is fighting over words that come from nowhere else but his own grotesque self-importance, which is why he has no credibility.
Yes, well, reading his posts one needs to bear in mind that he hasn’t much else going on in his life where he feels ‘important’, hence the obsessive concern with what boils down to power issues.
Add considerable helpings of self-blindness, seasoned with more than a smattering of typically post-colonial racist-type resentment, with far too much otherwise empty time on his hands, and bingo! – the perfect recipe for years of chronically self-important, thoroughly stupid outpourings.
It’s a dilemma.
Ignore him and he will take over at Sannyas News, turn the site into an outlet for his drivel.
Continue to put him in his place, and feed his cretinous adolescent rebel ego.
Satyadeva, you are one one fine example of rolling stones gather no moss. It will take you centuries to accept an ordinary disciple like me has more gravity in his words than most of your spiritual teachers combined together.
I am not holding their adolescent rebel ego but the high priests of Osho cult and their followers, they think going against natural laws is a sign to be different.
When a 20-plus Lithuanian girl asked her 60-plus old Swami from UK about the meditative baby they are going to have, Swami said, “Then you have to blow me all the time.”
Girl could not understand. She asked, “Why?”
Swami ji replied, “It is an old Tantric Technique from Himalayas to bring the sperms directly into belly.”
This is basically the mind-set of Arpana kind and their boss Amrito.
Shantam.
If Satya Deva doesn’t evolve for a million lives, you will never reach his level.
You are a typical know-it-all adolescent.
Cheers, Arps.
(Btw, I’ve lost your bank details – could you send them on, please. Thanks).
Sure. You don’t need to pay me as much as last time. Happy to oblige.
“It will take you centuries to accept an ordinary disciple like me has more gravity in his words than most of your spiritual teachers combined together.”
A crystal clear case of delusions of grandeur and possibly the most preposterously arrogant statement ever put out by this prize clown.
(Btw, Shants, “eternities” would be a far more appropriate word than “centuries”!).
Perfectly correct, Shantambhai!
As you make clear,it will take centuries to accept that an ordinary disciple like you has more gravity in his words than most of your spiritual teachers combined together. Indeed, it may never happen at all!
But do not become too consumed by your own hubris, Bhai, and remember your heritage! As Narendra Modi, Zorba the Buddha recently proclaimed: along with air travel, space travel, plastic surgery, stem-cell genetics, public toilets and knob-gags, it was the rishis, yogis and Vedic scientists of ancient Bhorat who discovered rimming, analingus and BDSM!
And long before Einstein and Stephen Hawkings they had already discovered and conducted in-depth investigations into black holes!
The master/disciple relationship was a perfect setting for it with masters using all devices to get into states of ecstasy, ranging from carrot to stick!
Of course, fervent licking of ass remains an integral factor of religions, even religionless ones even today!
But it is certainly tragic that one who spent 2 decades practising this meditation with utter devotion and reaching the dizzying spiritual heights of ‘Hindi-typist with benefits’ has ended up in queue at gora dole office with devotional tongue, like other vital organs, hanging permanently unemployed, like owner!
Hari Om !
Yahoo!
Shantam, unsurprisingly, in his element concerning this particular thread. What the thread does for me is shake my head and make me wonder how did such a radical movement turn into something that could be concerned with a trademark?
“Osho’s energy was and is a wild fire” – Ehm…er…from where I stand I see a puff of smoke on the horizon. Or is it a white cloud? My eyesight is not what it was.
There are still plenty of Osho vids on Torrentz if you are interested. Quite remarkable the fuss over Osho’s words, when he himself declared that his real message lay between his words. In other words, silence. You ask me, anyone overly concerned with Osho trademark needs a bit more meditation in their life. Best path to realizing none of this matters. A storm in a tea cup and the tea cup does not exist, let alone the storm.
“The next step in the EU case is that OIF must file a reply, and then there will be an oral hearing before a panel of judges from the General Court.”
Gee whizz. Doubtless many will become enlightened if there is a positive judgement. Having said that, I have no idea what would constitute a positive ruling. Thank fuck for that.
“Shantam is fighting over words that come from nowhere else but his own grotesque self-importance, which is why he has no credibility….”
This is an interesting religious point from Arpana. About my self-importance thing I don´t take him seriously. He is like radical Muslims who hate from their guts the reformist types. Fortunately, he has no authority to issue Fatwa!
It seems he means words spoken by Osho have come from Nowhere. Let us say each and every word spoken by Osho has come from Nowhere. Does it also mean everything he did also got sanctioned by Existence?
My impression of watching Sannyas clergy is that their Osho was entuned with Nowhere only when he was before the microphone, rest of the time he was Mr. Jain from Jabalpur. I mean, if you treat Osho that great as being entuned with Nature you would not dare to change the name of his creation from Osho Commune International to Osho International Meditation Resort.
Simple fact is the thugs in Pune mention Osho in present tense but are sure, ashes are ashes, once someone has gone he has gone for ever, be it Buddha, Jesus or Osho.
So there is an ugly control over the work of one man word factory. Thank God, no guru has ever got the capacity to create gold or nickle mines. Was it some prophet that created the vast reservoir of oil under the desert?
Just like Lokesh, I also wonder how a radical movement has ended in a pity battle over trademark and control over the few acres of Pune real estate.