Dharmesh: A Man for all Seasons

DHARMESH

Francisco Martinez Negrete

IMG_0847Our beloved friend Dharmesh from Mexico left us last week on December 7th.  Swami Vichara, his loyal friend, was with him when he took his last breath in hospital in Mexico City.

Many of you will remember his generous spirit and wholehearted love of Sannyas and our international community.

I first met him in London in the 70s when he arrived from Mexico with his lifetime buddies, Vichara and Rupesh. We had some wild times here and in Poona. He was an unforgettable character.

Dharmesh was also a renowned poet in Mexico, usually writing in Spanish but also very articulate and well-read in English.

Over the years we have all kept in touch. He was always ‘Uncle Dharmy’ to Premda, my son with Vichara. They visited here only this past Summer.

There has already been a Celebration of his life with sannyasins at the Samasati House in Mexico City.

We love you Dharmy

You will be sadly missed

Ma Anand Nishigandha

London Dec.13th

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12 Responses to Dharmesh: A Man for all Seasons

  1. sw. veet (francesco) says:

    On the boat with you, Parmartha, toward the “the final steps to deliver unto Death a drop of splendour, of humanity, of truth” (Mutis/De André).

    But to us, just a dance in F sharp minor, so that She “put her scythe down and danced round and round”, not anymore “Lady of the Time” (Branduardi).

    https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=3457&lang=it

    http://lyricstranslate.com/it/ballo-fa-diesis-minore-dance-f-sharp-minor.html

  2. shantam prem says:

    At Oshonews, the regular feature called ‘Voyages’ is one of its kind; remembering the disciples who loved and followed the master born out of a philosophy lecturer.

    As the one who is born with Sikh (disciple) values, I feel to say role of disciples is not given that much importance which they truly deserve. It is an heroic act on part of disciples to bow down before someone who is just like them and yet much different. It touches me to see different faces of disciples around Osho.

    Sooner or later, we all will have our ‘obituary’, including those bloggers who have protected their identity for any reason whatsoever. For my side, I would like to request, “Don´t write for me, he left the body.” I would prefer to die in an ordinary way. Leaving the body as disciple is bit too elitist for my sense and sensibilities.

    • Arpana says:

      What a suprise. Shantam has made the thread about him. Made someone’s demise about him.

    • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

      “As the one who is born with Sikh (disciple) values…I would prefer to die in an ordinary way. Leaving the body as disciple is bit too elitist for my sense and sensibilities.” (Shantam Prem)

      Well – yes, Shantam – go ahead.

      Just one question, why do you then eagerly read and write here? Addressing these meeting places of friends….

      Madhu

  3. Lokesh says:

    [11/05/2016 08:57:28] luke mitchell: HAPPY BURTHDAY!
    [11/05/2016 16:17:15] pakesh: Whose burthay???
    [11/05/2016 16:17:21] pakesh: haha
    [11/05/2016 16:17:27] pakesh: me november
    [11/05/2016 18:26:52] luke mitchell: Good you told me, I almost sent a check.
    [11/05/2016 22:30:09] pakesh: Fuck me!

    And so went our last exchange, apart from me sending a link to a You Tube clip about Poona 1, where Dharmesh appeared in the role of busy handyman in a big sombrero. I realise now that he was probably too ill to respond.

    Dharmesh was a real original. Back in Poona 1, he almost died from a chronic skin disease that made his entire epidermis peel off, leaving him looking like a burn victim. A wonderful woman called Priya was very loyal to him and nursed him back to health.

    Later, once he had healed, he stole the star prize from a friend and I in a talent competition, held in the Music House. We were surefire favourites to win in a comedy routine named the Sparks Brothers. Dharmesh shows up with a battered guitar and sings a song called ‘Hungry Paise Baba’ and he brought the roof down in a standing ovation. Perhaps that is why we burnt his hut down some months later in a very wicked practical joke.

    I talked occasionally to Dharmesh over the years on Skype. He liked drinking, women and chain-smoking in no particular order. He was a lot of Zorba with a wee bit of Buddha. Things often went wrong for him. Some time back he made a down payment on a car and took his latest girl for a spin. They had only gone a few kilometres when he had an accident and wrote the car off half an hour after buying it.

    I never read Dharmesh’s poetry, but I bet his poems were great. He was a man who really lived and he always wore his big, generous heart on a ragged sleeve for all the world to see. As far as the material world went he was often struggling, very hard up with barely enough to spare to buy a packet of smokes. Yet somehow he overcame it all, never complained, and was always having a laugh about his trials and tribulations, which he wrote off with a sardonic sense of humour.

    Dharmesh was loved by many. He had at his core something very sweet and childlike that was expressed in a very Mexican way. I will miss our conversations on Skype and the world is a sadder place without him. Like a few who went before him, including Osho, I always had it in my heart that we would one day meet up again, but alas, it was obviously not meant to be, not in this world at least.

    • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

      We are weavers, aren´t we? Lokesh, Parmartha too, all of us present here weaving on our story boards (not only at SN) and being woven too.

      I was hooked the other day by the title of this memorial thread, ‘Man of all Seasons’, took a dive into English history (Thomas More and his ´Utopia´) where this expression had its origin – then reading you, Lokesh, was sent into the ´Divine Comedy´ by Dante Alighieri…

      And this morning, following the sharing of of a Loving Being online, I felt like sharing that partially with you two and all readers, as it was – while even not at all having asked for it by myself – touching my soul when being informed of a demise of a friend, unknown or known.

      “Groups online that look at the past of the old tribal groups across the world, some in dry sort of date and place ways, but others in vivid ways that might also appeal to you.

      BALANCE in RE-WEAVING, respect the cloth, be tender, assess the injuries, bless the cloth, re-weave to the best of your ability, give your learning to your kin…

      I urge people who seek their arterial lines of spirit, of heritage, to take a slow and contemplative view of what one finds. I urge no spectacles. Peak experience is not the point, in fact can often lead ego away from what is most needed, that is humble, to instead hunger for more peak experiences.

      And as you go, go steady for the ancient soul…let not the ego grab whatever one finds, neither for aggrandisement nor for shame or shaming; instead, holding the injustice aimed at one’s own, along with some from one’s own who may have fallen below the soul line, to balance those with what is radiant. And in all, parity, that is, holding all tribal groups, not just one’s own, as souls who lived, loved, made errors, created beautifully, shared much, and still, THROUGH those alive now, have stories to tell. Often humble and beautiful, touching stories of actual truths that too often have been put to sleep or ignored.”

      Clarissa P. Estés

  4. Parmartha says:

    I liked what Lokesh and Nishiganda both said.
    It is worth remembering that Dharmesh partly overcame a lot psychologically, in particular his mother’s suicide.
    Also he was perhaps more a meditator than Lokesh suggests, he did dynamic regularly for years.

    • Lokesh says:

      I have seen this photo before. The three Mexican hermanos.

      That is Rupesh on the left. He died not so long ago of brain cancer in Mexico City. Like Dharmesh on the right, he was a one-of-a-kind sort of man and best remembered for his skills as a percussionist. In the centre is Vichara, who I have not seen since the seventies. Those three men have been close friends most of their lives. Great photo.

  5. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    @ Prem Martyn.

    Just a question: has the crap and aggressive rubbish, that then followed yesterday , under your name , after the below quoted lines of annoncements added to the thread topic ´Little known (vid)Footage about Pune One´, come from your own computer (?), or has that been a hijacked and distorted e- mail of yours ( in Wales or elsewhere ) ?

    “Prem martyn says:
    19 December, 2016 at 3:58 pm
    The way the video seems so effete and innocent. Well, guys let me just add a couple of words…

    ?

    This thread has had been closed then (yesterday) , but these kind of question does move me, ever now and then here looking at SN UK news !

    Madhu

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