Swami Krishna Vedant has been making a living at Watkins Bookshop in the heart of London’s West End for many years and still does. The bookshop is the best for mysticism in London, and sits in a nice back alley near Leicester Square. Personally I like it, its laid back, and even conversational, and they have always kept a good range of Osho books. This old Indian disciple of Osho has been doing the readings there for at least 15 years. In this video you can clearly get a good taste of his connection with Osho and his detailing of his early contact which is fascinating.
Parmartha
“I have heard a beautiful story about Roshi Taji, a great Zen master.
As Roshi Taji approached death, his senior disciples assembled at his bedside. One of them, remembering the roshi was fond of a certain kind of cake, had spent half a day searching the pastry shops of Tokyo for this confection which he now presented to Roshi Taji. With a wan smile the dying roshi accepted a piece of the cake and slowly began munching it. As the roshi grew weaker, his disciples leaned close and inquired whether he had any final words for them.
’Yes’ the roshi replied.
The disciples leaned forward eagerly. “Please tell us!”
“My, but this cake is delicious!” And with that he died.”
Osho
This Very Body the Buddha
CHAPTER 6.
Interesting man. You can tell for sure the interviewer is amazed too.
Many western people have the fetish to get amazed by the Indians with long beard. It is almost like children looking at magicians. After reading much of the esoteric stuff in their languages, they think such people are yogis from Himalayas and they know the secret of eternal life and happiness without any misery.
It seems in potatoes’ eyes to be a tomato is a juicy, juicy red; many stages ahead in evolution!
“Many western people have the fetish to get amazed by the Indians with long beard. It is almost like children looking at magicians. After reading much of the esoteric stuff in their languages, they think such people are yogis from Himalayas and they know the secret of eternal life and happiness without any misery.”
You are probably right, Shantam.
But to be fair, at least he has got a job!
Frank, what was your job? I mean, how you were financing your Indian trips during all these years?
To be true, after dropping my promising career in law, I have not done any job worth calling a job. I can confess, I am a financial parasite, and God willing, most probably in the next life, I will be an Indian guru or investment banker in London. I cannot drop to be a financial parasite!
“Frank, what was your job? I mean, how you were financing your Indian trips during all these years?”
A bit of this and that. You know…dope-dealing, sex-work, ponzi schemes etc…
…and a bit of dodgy stuff as well!
“Many western people have the fetish to get amazed by the Indians with long beard. It is almost like children looking at magicians. After reading much of the esoteric stuff in their languages, they think such people are yogis from Himalayas and they know the secret of eternal life and happiness without any misery.”
Another bit of babyish jealousy from Shantam, the Sannyas News resident 13 year-old.
Arpana, Shantam’s family name is Iqbal, and actually most of his friends know him by this name, including me, and literally, Iq = one & bal = kid, in Hindi!
What a thought, Kavita.
Maybe few thoughts are reality in some sense .
Shantam, are you offended by me calling myself your friend? Then I correct myself as an acquaintance, since much water has flowed under the bridge, I guess!
Kavita, Shantam can feel offended but not the Iqbal. For the kid in me, friends remain friends, sometimes though stranger friends.
And moreover, the life and times with Osho people in Pune are so intense and deep. My impression is, master’s main work is to bring same kind of people on the same platform.
Absolutely. Sadly, not in the best sense.
A lovable meeting to watch; left watching it the feeling of relaxation and mutual friendliness and an ‘easy is right’. An easiness possible only after quite some journey!
Less a fake performance of such easiness than the way we are quite often meanwhile harrassed you-tube-wise by, in some talk shows or others…
I felt included mysteriously.
Thanks for sharing that.
Madhu
P.S:
Amazing what bitchiness and jealousy came along then response-wise; could be a good sign that we saw ´quality of being and being together´ (as an option):
playful, light and warm.
No wonder women are the biggest consumers of cosmetics and religious talks.
I think someone should be daring enough to say, “Only women will inherit the newly constructed kingdom of neo-gods.”
“No wonder women are the biggest consumers of cosmetics and religious talks.”
No wonder the peacocks are always ready to dance for the peahens , it’s an ancient-most game!
Every evening, before sunset at the India/Pakistan border at Wagah, something strange has been happening.
Guards from both sides strut their stuff and perform goosesteps in a bizarre choreographed set of movements, cheered on by supporters on either side of the border.
Each side wears hats with large feathers, and their movements are reminiscient of the dance of peacocks, each trying to out-do the other.
After this performance, both sides shake hands and then they lower their respective flags.
I do wonder who came up with such an idea!
Anyway, here is the wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagah_border_ceremony
P.S:
Amazing what bitchiness and jealousy came along then response-wise; could be a good sign that we saw ´quality of being and being together´ (as an option):
playful, light and warm.
It’s but natural for the true colours to be seen only in true nakedness!
This Swami Krishna Vedant I have met him at my residence in the late 90s, he had come along with our very dear friend Swami Krishna Dev (of Hamburg), but I don’t remember having any conversation with him , he was busy watching the space all around himself!
Frankly, I quite enjoyed this video.
Interviewer: “You’ve been reading tarot in the store for 16 years now? Incredible!”
I do not find anything incredible about that at all, but it sets the pace for the interviewer’s style, which is basically inexperienced and uninspired.
Vedant seems like a lovely guy. So very Indian in the most charming of ways. I am sure I would enjoy to meet such a sweet guy. As for what he had to say I did not find it particularly interesting. I listened for 10 minutes.
What I did enjoy was his delivery. Humourous to the max and generally entertaining. “Live in the world, but don’t get lost in it. Life is a challenge.” Vedant seems to be doing a good job of taking up life’s challenges in a dignified way.
Sometimes nice to watch the whole ´dance in a meeting, Lokesh; then later (after 10 minutes) you might have also enjoyed Krisha Vedant´s answer-play to the following:
When asked by the interviewer (who was not so much ´naive´ as presumed, I would say) if he (KV) himself would use palm reading, tarot etc. for his own life-decisions, he played: “No, I wouldn´t” (smiling like a sphinx), sharing in a humorous way and with authentic friendliness that one alwayas has to meet the people at the state they are at. And there was not the slightest hint of hybris in it.
So there stayed quite a big smile above the whole meeting and multi-layered too and any maliciousness has been kept out of the door.
Later, thoughts came into my mind yesterday: Krishna Vedant, knowing Osho from the very first moments of the Sannyas movement that came into birth, had all this time his own rhythms of ´in´and ´out´, regarding the commune issues, which most of us here more or less, are digging in and out and on and on.
It is precious to hear his relaxed state of mind. And get a little infected by it. For the time being. And get reminded to ´Take it Easy´ (an ´ancient discourse series of Osho too, btw).
And knowing that anybody´s ´story’, if shared with authenticity and without special political means, is worth listening to. And to acknowledge. With an “Aaah, This”, maybe, or like listening to the birds chirping in a tree in a summer night, when they are very busy to communicate.
Feeling well in being part of it, having ears to hear, sometimes eyes to see and much more. Maybe?
Sunday-in-the-house-cloud watching-undersapphire-blue-sky…
Madhu
Not just this video, on facebook there are dozen-plus white and brownies who claim to be in the first batches of Osho Sannyas, who met him in Mumbai and then became part of his communes. Somebody was repairing Osho’s bicycle, somebody did first dynamic when Osho was leading the meditations, somebody left his job at CNN and became spokesperson of HoHo Times in Resort.
It irritates me when people glorify the past and have no idea about the present and no vision for the future, and that too based on their own master’s teachings. Most of the time they deliver cliched answers.
One of the reasons Sannyas has lost its mojo is because answers are pet, just like 2+2=4, but look sheepishly here and there in the books if question is what is 2.2+1.8=?
It irritates me when Shantam glorifies the past and has no idea about the present and no vision for the future, no self-awareness, and that too based on his juvenile prejudices. Pretty much everything he delivers is cliched answers.
The Iqbal in you so predominant for quite awhile now, Shantam!
I enjoyed the video…(all of it). Just as KV says, there is a magnetic pull (this happened before seeing Osho in person) as if I had known Osho, a pull which continues today. As KV says, with a body, without a body, makes no difference. So much love…overflowing love….
With Osho, freedom.
Jai Osho!
What kind of magnetic pull is that?!
The same as when you fall in love. Have you ever experienced a love affair? Then you know.
Yes; and thus far hasn’t ended.
Perfectly correct, Samarpan!
You are clearly feeling magnetic pull towards what the sages of mighty Bhorat have known for thousands of Yugas!
Not only did they pioneer space travel, genetic engineering and plastic surgery, but many aeons ago they also made breakthrough discovery that by growing beard and repeating words and ideas of spiritual master it is possible to sound like wise man who knows what he is talking!
Following Osho`s guidelines and using modern scientific innovations like facebook and blog sites, it is now possible to extend this appearance of wisdom like a wildfire all over the planet!
Samarpan, you have proved Osho`s vision that even gora can learn this art and become,like you, a perfect disciple, deep in deathless love affair with himself and saying all classic keynotes at correct moment.
You are certainly the perfectly correct disciple!
And, I know with the same certainty with which you know that there is no difference between life and death, that when you finally leave the body and arrive at gates of nirvana, Osho himself will greet you with folded hands saying:
“Perfectly correct, Samarpan!”
Yahoo!
Jai jai!
Kwatz!
Sammy declares, “As KV says, with a body, without a body, makes no difference.”
I kind of doubt he actually knows that. Sounds cool and all that, but, as everyone knows, talk is cheap. So tell me, Sammy, how would you know this is true? What experience do you have of being without a body? What exactly would you describe that does or does not have a body that experiences, as you put it, “So much love…overflowing love”?
Sammy, you conclude with the following: “With Osho, freedom.” Who do you believe Osho to be or what? And who or what do you believe that it is experiencing the freedom? Freedom from what exactly?
Western sannyasins can look around their surroundings and observe, “Foreign nationals are the happiest ones.” Indians talk quite often among themselves, “Why these gora people are so depressive, so serious?”
If someone says such thing in my presence I always retort back, “They have to be serious, they have built the infrastructure for us good talkers.”
Why foreigners look happy? One reason is just after few hours of flight or few days of illegal sea travel, they land in the countries which look paradise compared to their homelands. They have earned this upward mobility. They have achieved something which people back home read in the newspapers.
Similar is the situation when westerners took sannyas. Through Osho they got the similar energy-boosting dose. They have more sharpened logic than one-book religions in the homeland.
The above thoughts arose after watching the video at random point for few sentences. I think I will have the similar facial expressions as the young man has when I get a chance to be in the presence of Jeff Bezos. I don´t mind to call founder of Amazon as Bhagwan Sri of retail sector.