From Sex to Superconsciousness

Osho was known after he quit his post as university professor as Acharya Shree Rajneesh.  He delivered talks in  Hindi during the mid- 1960s in northern and western India, mainly to a Jain audience,  and supported financially  by Jains.

However he clearly wanted to shake things up after a few years of this, and on 28th August, 1968 sparked major controversy with his provocative five public talks, Sambhog Se Samadhi Ki Aur (From sex towards super-consciousness) in Mumbai, then Bombay. It is still reputed to be his most read book! We read somewhere that it had been translated into 34 languages!

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The first talk was delivered at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium and after a sharp public reaction for mixing sex with Indian spirituality, Osho could not deliver the remaining lectures at that venue. Apparently many people walked out half way through at the Bhavan.  Osho himself says in his fifth talk on this subject,  that he was surprised to see that when he ended his talk on the first day,  all the people who had welcomed him onto the platform, the friends who had organised the meeting,  had vanished into thin air!  Some friends!

He did manage to complete the talks a month later,  from the 28th September, at Gowalia Tank Maidan in the city. This venue was the one used by Gandhi in the pre-independence days apparently.

It maybe that some of the bloggers here know these two venues, and maybe they still exist? and why the first would have been so hostile? Any pics?

SN assumes these talks were in Hindi? And if so who translated them?  Laxmi published them in 1979 in English and with good pictures of the statues at Khajuraho, (thought to be illustrative of early tantra),  but we suspect they were actually published much earlier than that.

Indeed some talking points here!

 

 

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110 Responses to From Sex to Superconsciousness

  1. samarpan says:

    Seems like Osho did not want followers and did not care about losing financial supporters. First, with the Gandhians (e.g. “beware of socialism”), then with the Jains (e.g. “sex to superconsciousness”), then with the Rajneeshees, then with the theists of all stripes (e.g. “Christianity the deadliest poison”) – throughout his life he seemed to say what he wanted to say without concern for losing followers or money.

    • Parmartha says:

      Good summary, Samarpan.
      To me, it shows Osho was not into gurudom, etc. or the number of his followers, or money. (These are often accusations made by his detractors).

      Just an authentic man, who wanted to attract other grown men who had already freed themselves of definition.

    • dominic says:

      Osho was a rebel. Anyone coming up with dynamic meditation has to be pretty out there! He was well read as a philosophy professor and from his own large appetite. He drew large crowds with his intelligence and charisma. While losing more conservative supporters, he attracted others. He had chutzpah and enough self-confidence to ‘say what he wanted to say’. By his own admission, he also spoke on different religions in a good light to attract those followers until, feeling that he had his own people he could be more critical.

      His dictum, “all publicity is good publicity”, deliberately created controversy and ‘buzz’ so as not to be ignored. It was a double-edged sword, that worked well for him, particularly in the early days.

      To claim he was not into gurudom is to want to remake him into one’s own more socially democratic image. Sannyas initiation, robes and a guru locket, is all about gurudom, and creating a tribe, a brand, a movement. He also changed over time and evolved, an early, middle and late Osho perhaps. Dressing simply and more personal in the beginning, all the way to a more remote, costumed and god-like status, exuding glitz and glamour.

      Was he one person, always “authentic, who wanted to attract other grown men”, or a mix of contradictions with flaws, like most of us? Raised up by the power people gave him, as well as brought low by it.

      • anand yogi says:

        Perfectly correct!
        It was/is certainly an ongoing device by Osho to get rid of his followers.

        The Jains, the Gandhians,the Rajneeshees, the Baboons…so that he would be left with only those who could really understand his message and even after his leaving body, energy is still orchestrating!

        Parmartha is perfectly correct, Osho wanted to attract “grown men” and now through devices even after death he has finally whittled it down to boy`s club of great souls that he just couldn`t shake off: Samarpan, Parmartha, Shantam, a couple of alcoholics at the Resort,a few hard-core Hindu nationalist sannyasins and a tribute act in a jungle secure unit for parrots!

        Osho`s vision is all but complete!

        As a great day in the history of superconciouness, it will go down as emphatically as one of Shantam`s fantasy gora girls in front of a flamboyant Jamaican rapist guru with an organic penis!

        Swami Bhorat tells me that, as a result, the usefulness of his sojourn on this planet is almost over and he is heading for Himalayan peaks where he will commit sati in full knowledge that a 1000 year yuga of sexy superconsciousness is in very safe hands, with Parmartha at the helm administering beatings in the old zen style and Shantam following up the rear by following up the rear.

        Swaha!
        Yahoo!

        • dominic says:

          Pranams, Yogi! Roasting your victims over a laugh-out-loud slow fire of Swiftian satire!

          Where have all the ‘grown women’ gone in Parmartha’s idyllic ancient greek Agora? Or Is it a gentleman’s only club for Socrates and his groupies?

      • Parmartha says:

        It’s about one’s own experience. I always experienced Osho as authentic, and my own approach to him was that of a grown man.
        The trappings of external sannyas, etc. I just saw as playthings, and Osho also simply ‘playing’.

  2. Kavita says:

    My maternal grandparents lived in Nana Chowk area (Grant Road West), so I have spent some good times there, which is in the same area as Gowalia Tank Maidan.

    As children we would go to Gowalia Tank Maidan very often to play in the evenings, there were also benches around trees. There are a lot of hawkers selling some lovely Bombaya Snacks. The last time I was there was in Nov 2010 with my cousins for a lil walk!

    Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium is a cultural hub, specially for Indian Classical Music. I have watched many Indian musicians perform
    but my first memory of being there is of a magic show when I was 5-6 years.

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

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/humayunnapeerzaada/15337331686

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

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/humayunnapeerzaada/14920427784

    Both these areas are very close to each other, they are close to Girgaum Chowpaty (beach) area of Bombay where Osho held Dynamic Meditation on the beach. Btw, both these locations are also close to ‘Woodlands ‘ .

    • sannyasnews says:

      Thanks, Kavita.
      Your comments give a good background to the Bombay of that time, near Osho’s dwelling in Woodlands, and that those from the West would and did not have.

    • swamishanti says:

      I remember an afternoon trip to Chowpatty Beach, which was where the young Osho used to lead dynamic meditation.
      I too enjoyed lots of Bombay Snacks with my girlfriend and we watched a monkey who could dance like Michael Jackson (trained).
      I also had my sandals nicked from that beach.

  3. Lokesh says:

    I was pretty successful at the sex part, still am once in a while, when the moon is full. As for the super-conscious part I had glimpses that succeeded in bringing me to Osho’s feet with a scrambled brain. I think Osho made it all look a bit too easy. Captured by his words we were perhaps tricked into believing we were further on up the road than we actually were, or should I say, are?

    Today, just trying to focus on being conscious in my daily life is enough to be going with. As for the “super” part I can’t claim to know it. I find it important to be honest with oneself about where you really are in life. Don’t kid yourself into believing you’ve reached further than you actually have.The first step in escaping from prison is in the acknowledgement of the fact that you are in prison.

    • shantam prem says:

      Lokesh, try to imagine in the next life in India you get the super- consciousness and then you shift to South America for screwing devotee women from North America.

      Circle will be completed. You won’t need any books from anybody.

      • satchit says:

        “It is still reputed to be his most read book! We read somewhere that it had been translated into 34 languages!”

        Sex sells. And sex combined with super-consciousness sells even better.

      • Lokesh says:

        Shantam suggests, “Try to imagine in the next life in India you get the super-consciousness.”

        I find such speculations belong in kindergarden pop spirituality bracket. Yes, reincarnation has its realities but has nothing to do with moving in a two dimensional timeline in a hypothetical A to B future-orientated direction. Who or what exactly does Shantam believe is host to such fantasies?

        That’s what I mean about listening to other people’s concepts and ideas and taking them as being part of one’s own experience, including the idea that one was ever born in the first place, because that is what you have been told, but you do not actually know it.

        This in turn leads to Shantam’s lack of comprehension when it is said that Osho was never born and never died. This is of course a reference to the spiritual dimension of the absolute never being contaminated by anything, having always been here and all this coming and going from body to body is just a dream. This also is something else we have been told by sages.

        If we are honest we do not actually grasp this in our personal understanding of life’s deeper mysteries. Perhaps a glimpse of what such a lofty idea might entail may have come to us in a transcendental flash but for the most part it’s a case of lets get the kettle on and see what’s new on SN.

        Who needs a next life? This life is what we have and speaking for myself, that is more than enough to be going on with.

        • satyadeva says:

          Thanks, Lokesh.

          Shantam, have you ever really looked into the question of who or what ‘reincarnates’ and whether he/she can be ‘simply’ him/her so-called ‘self’, just in a different body?

          If not, it might be an idea instead of automatically quoting unexamined concepts as if you know what you’re talking about.

          Perhaps unsettling, if there’s little or no consolation in what we find, but perhaps that’s the price of truth?

          • shantam prem says:

            I like when someone gives consolation to others in a non-formal way without wearing priestly robe.

            About truth, also I have the opinion it has no firm principles like mathematics theorem, though essentially unbiased enquiry, love and honesty are time-tested elements.

            How much I am living it, cannot say, though wish to live them. What it costs, never asked.

    • Parmartha says:

      I liked this post, Lokesh. Thanks.

  4. shantam prem says:

    “Who needs a next life? This life is what we have….”
    Indians believe next life. So they will get.
    Christians won´t, because they don´t believe.
    About ex-Christians with Indian names, no one knows. They are new, maybe they have choice.

  5. shantam prem says:

    My belief is when someone like Osho talks, the voice of change talks through such person. In my understanding, Osho is not a guru (spiritual master) or Sadguru (true master) but Yuga-Purush (Man for the Age).

    One can see how much India has changed from the time Osho started pouring his energy. If new India is living and experimenting with sex and love, it is not because of Ramana Maharishi or Jaggi Vasudev. Only and only Osho is the one who talked about living sexuality and freedom from Socialism.

    When l look beyond the failed cult under his name, world at large is evolving beautifully. I don´t say it is just because of Osho. There are many in different fields who have played vital role to be angels of change. Osho in his chosen field has done enough.

    I don´t want to hide my smallness and bask in his glory, it is motivating to stand with truth, facts and figures, without malice and favour.

    • satchit says:

      “One can see how much India has changed from the time Osho started pouring his energy. If new India is living and experimenting with sex and love, it is not because of Ramana Maharishi or Jaggi Vasudev. Only and only Osho is the one who talked about living sexuality and freedom from Socialism.”

      Without the Westerner coming, who had lived already their sexual revolution in the West, he would have remained a local Indian event.

      • swamishanti says:

        “Only and only Osho is the one who talked about living sexuality and freedom from Socialism.”

        Osho did give a talk, ‘Beware of Socialism’, but in it he did not talk about freedom from socialism, he simply voiced his opinion that capitalism has to come to its peak before it can move into socialism.
        That`s what I remember of the text anyway.

        In ‘From Sex to Superconciousness’, Osho did not really emphasise enjoying sex, or speak about going into sex totally, or as a witness, like later discourses, but rather he just pointed out that we should understand sex, in order to transcend it, rather than suppressing it.

        In order to transcend “the lowest rung on the ladder”.

        In the talks, one of the questioners asks Osho, “How can you have any understanding of sex when you are a born celibate? Is it from previous lives only?”

        • Parmartha says:

          Thanks, Shanti. What was Osho’s answer?
          I never thought he had had no sexual experience myself.

          • swamishanti says:

            I haven’t read the book for a long time but I will have a look.

            • swamishanti says:

              I have the book but it’s stashed somewhere in my garage. I looked online but I was surprised that some of the versions of the text were slightly different, with words missing and in some, whole sentences. So brings into question what is posted online.

              I remember the talks are beautiful and Osho uses many anecdotes and stories:
              “A lady writes to say that Vinoba is celibate, and asks if I therefore don’t agree that he has probably never had an experience of samadhi. She continues to say that since I am also a born celibate and unmarried, that I may not have had the experience of samadhi either.”

              Osho replies:
              “If that lady is present here I wish to tell her that neither Vinoba, nor me, nor anybody else for that matter, can realise the stage and the significance of celibacy without the real experience of sex. I also want to tell her that the experience may be of this life, or it may be of a past life. One who attains to celibacy in this life owes it to a deep coital union in a previous life and not to anything else. This is the only explanation. If a man has had a profound experience of sex in a previous life, he will be born free of sex in this life; sex will not disturb him, even in his imagination. On the contrary, he will be surprised at how other people behave about sex; he will be amazed that people are so mad for sex. Such a man will even have to exert himself to distinguish between a man and a woman.

              If a person imagines he can simply be a celibate from his childhood, that he can be a celibate without any experience of sex, he will become a neurotic. Those who are always harping on celibacy, who shout about observing celibacy, are causing the disintegration of man. Nothing more than disintegration can come from this. Celibacy cannot be imposed; celibacy evolves only as the cream of inner experience. Brahmacharya, celibacy, is the result of a serene and profound experience – and that experience is of sex. If during sex one has had an absolute revelation, even once, he is released from sex for the unending journey of lives.”

              ‘From Sex to Superconciousness’
              (Chapter three)

  6. Kavita says:

    I have not read this book, the Hindi discourses I have heard when I was in the audio dept., only memory is they were provocative. I somehow don’t have any inclination to listen/read now.

    Probably Osho has a big hand at least in India for breaking the ice, now the Indian public has become much open. Earlier only the film-theatre-art-related folks had live-in relations, now even common folk of the gen-next in almost all cities of India are being cautious/delaying their baby-making urge, which I think is also good enough start compared to the earlier baby-booming phase.

    Sometimes I do remember my uncle, who was with J. Krishnamurti, saying that his Krishnaji used to say that 21st century will be an interesting time for human evolution & scientific inventions.

    Wondering whether all that was a bait for who knows what?!

    • Parmartha says:

      Do you know anything about the translation of Osho’s Hindi lectures, Kavita, from your work in the commune?
      They seem to vary in quality.

      I understand that Keerti’s group in Delhi do some translations of his work independently of the main organisation?
      I also understand that there are about 50 ‘books’ that are still to be translated?

      Do you know where those original texts are kept? Does Keerti somehow also have them?

  7. shantam prem says:

    If sex to superconsciousness becomes a reality and not just wishful thinking like G spot, my impression is many bearded uncles in spiritual trade will become unemployed.

    Ladies will become masters. It will be really a great liberation when women follow their own breed, some female master.

  8. Kavita says:

    Parmartha, there are total 250 series of Hindi lectures of Osho, of which you are right, 50 have been published, 50 shall be published in the near future, 25 are in process of translation. This information I have telephonically got from Swami Tyohar from OIF.

    I conclude 125 books are yet to be translated and they are with OIF, which is the only information I could gather now.

    I am not in contact with Swami Keerti as of now since I am not on any Social Media, of course other than SN!

    • Parmartha says:

      Thanks, Kavita.
      I am amazed that if your information is right there are still 125 series of Osho’s Hindi discourses still to be published in translation.
      It would seem to me to be a priority.
      Any news from Keerti welcome.

      • Kavita says:

        Parmartha, actually I know few sannyasin friends who are doing the transcriptions, only few are able to do this. I guess OIF is getting this done only through sannyasins living in Poona and not professionals, so probably it’s taking time to complete all the series. .

  9. shantam prem says:

    ‘From Sex to Super-Consciousness’ is the name of a book.
    It has been understood as: SEX & SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS.
    No wonder Osho therapists and mini-gurus from the cult are “Urologists” of the Inner Trade!

  10. dominic says:

    The real reason one attains to celibacy, and it’s got nothing to do with “deep coital union in a previous life”….

    • swamishanti says:

      Shock! Osho mentions “orgasm” in the text.
      This is in a country where a man holding hands with a woman is considered risque.

      “But man’s experience is generally of a moment’s duration; it is difficult even to imagine a period of three hours. However, I reiterate: if a person can remain in the coital position, can remain in that samadhi, in that submergence for three hours, then one single act of intercourse is enough to free him from sex for the rest of his life. It leaves behind such an experience of contentment, such an experience of bliss, that it lasts a lifetime. After perfect coitus there remains no barrier to the attainment of real celibacy.

      Even after a lifetime of sexual experience we never reach anywhere near that supreme stage, near that divinity. Why? A man reaches a ripe old age, comes to the end of his life, but he is never free from his lust for sex, from his passion for intercourse. Why? It is because he has never understood nor been told about the art of sex, about the science of sex. He has never considered it; he has never discussed it with the enlightened ones.

      You may be sceptical that an experience that is usually of a moment’s duration can be prolonged for three hours, so I will give you certain pointers. If you heed them, the journey to celibacy will become simpler.

      The faster one’s breathing is, the shorter the duration of intercourse; the calmer and slower one’s breathing is, the more it is prolonged. And the longer intercourse lasts, the more possibility there is of making sex a door to samadhi, a channel to superconsciousness. As I said earlier, the realization of egolessness, of timelessness, dawns upon man in that sex-samadhi. The breathing should be very slow. Slowness of breath will open deeper and deeper vistas of realization.
      Another thing to remember during the act of intercourse is that your awareness should be focused between the eyes, in the seat of the agnichakra. If the attention is focused there, the duration of the climax can be drawn out — even up to three hours. And such an act of coitus can firmly root a person in the soil of celibacy — not only for this life but for the next life also.”

      • Parmartha says:

        This seems like advice for the male only to me.

        • swamishanti says:

          Some of the ancient Taoists recommended the actual sexual union between male and female, with the balance of male and female energies. as very good for overall physical health, and could be practised as often as possible, but would recommend that if possible, male ejaculation should not happen more than one or twice a month.

          Breathing exercises were also recommended.

  11. shantam prem says:

    Indian news media is highlighting one more Guru caught with his pants down.

    This Delhi-based, mild-looking oldie named Virender Dikhit running Spiritual university in Delhi has the weird idea of being reincarnation of Krishna. For this reason a natural wish to have 16000 queens. Female disciples are called Baba’s queens. When so many queens, Baba prefers unripe ones!

    When police had closed the ashram they found good supply of condoms and Lust-enhancing medicines.

    Down the ages, fuckers in mind control business have a simple strategy, if you want soul awakening, surrender your body-mind money. When Baba touches your privates, it is his compassion, he wants to purify your being.

    Sometimes I wonder being born as an Indian is a blessing or a punishment. One thing is clear, to see best and worst of Indian spirituality is a passion for me.

    I can understand the Freudian Psychology of Indians.
    Blacks have very physical aura and supposedly long nail to bore in the wall.
    Whites have better ATM cards to get honey pie of their choice.
    What we browns have?
    Idea of spirituality to exchange for Sex!

    • frank says:

      Virender Dick-hit, sex-mad guru?
      Who writes this stuff?

      Shantam, one thing to be proud of being Indian for is that Hindu mythologists certainly nailed it with their idea that God is some kind of whacked-out dramatist endlessly coming up with his/her further and further out dreams of ’50 billion shades of Leela’!

  12. dominic says:

    Osho had some good ideas, but I’ll pass on this one.

    He’s promoting tantra as a spiritual path, with the idea of transcending sex altogether, celibacy being the ideal. I don’t have the impression he’s talking from personal experience, but from something he’s read about or cooked up.

    When something is pleasurable and fulfilling you’re more likely to want more of it, rather than less. Osho did hang on to the idea of brahmacharya as an ideal through the years, as I remember. What about his own sex life? Any intel on that?

    I’m sure there are any number of techniques to slow everything down, prolong the sexual experience, and take it to another level, if that is your bent. But the idea of a big bang experience that turns you into a celibate, seems far-fetched. Not to mention the whole past life/next life cosmology, which I’m agnostic on…bordering on atheist!

    Replacing western religious belief systems with equally tenuous eastern ones is to jump from the frying pan into the fire, and to still be hooked on the same drug – the drug of unexamined belief.

    • frank says:

      Osho was talking to the locals and in India if you want to flog stuff you have to consider local tastes, like curry-flavoured condoms! If he had said that he had experience in this life he would probably have been lynched. Certainly removed from the podium.

      Whether he knew what he was talking about or not, he was definitely winging it and blagging it.

      Can you imagine a headspace where it’s ok to talk about having sex in a past life buy not in this one?
      Medication time!

      I was having a discussion with an acquaintance who is well into various current Indian gurus, Amma etc., who considers reincarnation as a clear, unquestionable reality.

      I said to him:
      If you think about it, the doctrine of reincarnation is really just social conditioning. Now, not only do you have your native western conditioning, you`ve bunged a load of foreign stuff on top of it. Is that wise?

      My friend disagreed vehemently. He claimed that the ancient wise men had discovered the truth by their enquiries – through extensive meditation they discovered this. And then they disseminated the knowledge to the people.

      I said that the idea of transmigration had spread over the East because all the authorities, that is, the wisest people with the support of the most powerful in the land, proclaimed the truth of it. In their day they were ultimate authorities. They were Popes, Shankaracharyas, scientists and the police rolled into one!

      They ruled the roost in those days, and like today’s scientists, who tell you stuff about the universe that you can`t really know yourself, and as a layman you don`t disagree with Prof. Brian Cox (famous astrophysicist) about the ins and outs of nuclear fusion, do you?

      In short, the ancient religious authorities had total power of authorisation when it came to what people believed. People accepted reincarnation as true in the same way as before Galileo people `knew` that the sun circled round the earth!

      To which I added:
      It is very strange to me then that these uber-wise men in their total scientific/spiritual understanding of the true nature of existence were not able to discover and present the simple truth that men and women are essentially two parts of the same animal, therefore equal in the eyes of `God` or anyone with half a brain still functioning.

      How did their wisdom grasp one more difficult/unknowable fact and miss the obvious by proclaiming difference in status between the sexes as divine truth? They sound like bullshitters to me.

      He didn`t have a coherent answer.

      Re drugs:
      When they first synthesised heroin they thought it was a cure for opium addiction. It worked uncannily, until…
      An apt metaphor maybe for swapping Father Pete O`Foyle for Paedo Baba or beatings from the masters for er…beatings from the masters etc!

      • dominic says:

        I think blaguing and hyperbole was a rhetorical flourish Osho liked to employ. Just the implication here was enough to make people think, “Well, did he or didn’t he? Is he celibate or not?”, creating an air of mystery that piqued their interest, though no-one would be so bold as to ask him directly.

        Were the intellectual middle-classes coming here so prudish? Was he following a line in Indian tantra linking back to the erotic art of Khajurahoo, all the while creating a thrilling, spiritual worldview to entrance a new, more liberated generation? Does anyone know anything of his sex life?

        As for the other esoteric woowoo, if you keep repeating something long enough people will believe it. The difference with science and western rationalism is that evidence and testing is needed within a market place of ideas, and there has to be results.

        Strangely enough. these days, after a few google hits (and an empty life), I could probably put up a fight with Coxie on the merits of nuclear fusion (or at least his synth pop). It’s doubtless happening right now in a parallel universe!

  13. swamishanti says:

    Look at this image taken later of Osho, in the Woodlands apartment.
    His head looks bigger than everyone else in the room,except the guy in front.

  14. Dhanyam says:

    Osho Viha has the Poona One edition, the Resort edition, and the Tapoban edition for sale.

  15. Prem says:

    Osho was not attacking people, he was constantly and relentlessly attacking the mind.

    He was like a gardener who had to clear the mind of all the weeds. Tirelessly weeding, weeding and weeding. Destroying every idea and every prejudice from the mind, until all that remains is emptiness of mind and not-knowing.

    A thankless job, that very few masters had the courage or the energy to do. You have to get dirty to do this job.

    I admire him for making no compromises with the disciples’ minds.

    A true disciple will drop his mind.
    A false disciple will cling to his thoughts.

    • satchit says:

      One should appreciate the fact that the expression “superconsciousness” was invented by Sri Aurobindo, not by him.
      Sri Aurobindo was already long before young Rajneesh in the guru & ashram business.

      • frank says:

        Prem,
        The garden/weeds analogy is interesting.
        It strikes me that there is a discrepancy here between the gardening idea and the idea of ‘dropping/destroying the mind’.

        If the weeds need to be weeded out in order to leave the fruits/flowers/veg then the mind/garden is partly wanted, partly not wanted. The mind is partly needed/wanted-partly not.

        In this way, the gardening analogy supposes a gardener who knows the difference between weeds and flowers. This also begs the question, “Who is the gardener?”

        On the other hand, if you try to throw the whole mind out, it is like people in the UK who have come up with the solution to just pave or concrete over the whole garden. It`s not only ugly, but also doesn`t work because you end up just with stone and weeds, which don`t give up that easy!

        Are you sure that Osho wasn`t more of a a permaculturist, whereby the distinction between weeds and non-weeds is more fluid, giving rise to some very interesting gardens?

        • frank says:

          From Wiki:
          “Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.”

    • Lokesh says:

      Prem, you have quite obviously reached a state of not-knowing. Congratulations.

    • dominic says:

      Perfectly correct, Prembhai!

      Osho was a tireless Master Gardener, not even pausing for one chai and a three hour coital samadhi!
      Weeding and weeding and weeding with hoe and trowel!
      Rooting out the pernicious weeds of the mind, so that his true disciples, such as yourself, could grow as empty-minded vegetables…not-knowing anything.
      Jai Bolo!
      Osho Ki Jai!
      (With thanks to the Yogi!).

      • Kavita says:

        I have heard in the early 90s from Swami Vijay Aftab, Osho’s Student from Jabalpur days, he was always around Osho then (of course, not with a candle!), that Osho used to have long sexual intercourse with many of his women fans and he would ask for large jugs of orange juice after that! And there were a few women fans who had abortions too.

        • shantam prem says:

          This is quite revealing, Kavita.

          When Aftab speaks no one knows where truth ends and fiction begins. Maybe there is some magic in the water of Jabalpur!

        • dominic says:

          Excellent gossips, Kavita! Women are the best!
          Seems he was still scientifically researching that one elusive ‘perfect coitus’, ‘the cream of inner experience’, that would free him for the rest of his lives.
          It’s a good line, I might use it myself ;)

          • frank says:

            There are some good new-age chat-up lines in there, for sure.
            “Haven`t I seen you somewhere before?” pales into insignificance up against:
            “I`m pretty sure we`ve had deep coital union in a past life….”

            As Prem would put it:.
            “A true disciple will drop his pants.
            The false disciple will cling onto his trousers.”

        • Parmartha says:

          It is always a mystery to me about these accusations that Osho slept around, etc. Surely some one of these women would come forward and give us their accounts.
          But no, I have never, ever read one.

          • satyadeva says:

            But why would anyone necessarily want to speak or write about such an intrinsically private, perhaps even ‘sacred’ experience? Not to mention the possibility (or near-certainty?) of Indian women suffering infamy and opprobrium as a result of ‘going public’.

            Inevitable media exposure can be a monster, cheapening and devouring all it gets its teeth into. At another level altogether, I recall Jane Asher always refused to say anything about her relationship with Paul McCartney, back in the 60s, although she could have made a fortune from it. I always admired her for that, as, no doubt, did Paul.

  16. preetam says:

    If consciousness will be able to overcome the ruling hermetic world order of fascism – so that violence, slander and false accusations no longer hinder – we can heal and soon recognize where our oneness is rooted.

    • swamishanti says:

      Just think, if the British Empire, which was built on violence, and was the ruling worldwide power at the time, had not invaded and run India, Osho would never have read all those books and visited the library.
      He would never have learned to speak English, he would not have travelled around on trains, and he would never have attracted a worldwide following. We would not have learned about him.

      He would have remained a local phenomenon, like the Bidi Baba.

    • satyadeva says:

      Sounds like grandiose, utterly unrealistic daydreaming, Preetam.

      • dominic says:

        Not to mention tautology! Slander = false accusation (the grammar police are watching!).

      • preetam says:

        Maybe, SD, but what then is Enlightenment and Aurobindo’s superconsciousness – more realistic than an objective understanding above hostile lies of a greedy gang?

        MOD:
        an objective understanding above hostile lies of a greedy gang?
        Preetam, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, PLEASE?

        • preetam says:

          To overcome lies with understanding is no daydreaming.

          • swamishanti says:

            Aurobindo was a great scholar and came up with some incredible concepts and writings, but again, he was educated in Cambridge, England.

            There were famous Indian scholars and Indian masters like Adi Shankara and Chaitanya, but their knowledge was limited to the scriptures that they had read and the traditions that they were initiated into.

            Whereas Osho, being the intellectual type, was able to read from a vast reservoir of sources.

  17. shantam prem says:

    ‘Sex to Superconsciousness’, ‘Communes are future, families are dead’, ‘Soon world will be orange’ kind of masterly jingle bells have proven bitcoins of socio-religious world. Once the reality hits, market crashes.

    When we are emotionally involved then it is very difficult also to drop denial and recreate with realistic goals.

    • satyadeva says:

      “Soon world will be orange”? Only a complete fool would believe that!

      As for including “Sex to Superconsciousness” in this list of what you seem to regard as ‘failed promises’ then I suggest you’re also demonstrating extreme naivete, if not crass stupidity, Shantam.

      • frank says:

        “Soon world will be orange”? Only a complete fool would believe that!”

        Don`t count on it!

      • satyadeva says:

        Fyi, btw, Shantam, your Bitcoins analogy is way too premature, crypto-currencies are not necessarily doomed at all, it’s far too early to make such claims – wait for 18 months/3 years…

      • shantam prem says:

        “Sex to Superconsciousness” line was used to spice up the punch. Here I don´t doubt compassion and highly scientific temperament of Osho.

        • satyadeva says:

          It would seem a giveaway, Shantam, coming from your apparently chronic sex obsession, as where else could you expect or dream of expecting potential access to a large number of western women? That’s probably also, of course, why a commune would suit you far better than a family situation.

          Sure, there might well be other attractions, like being in a sort of ‘holiday camp’ set-up, hopefully with extra status accorded you due to your ‘past service’ and heroic struggle against the ‘imperialist oppressors’, but ‘easy’ access to sex, as per ‘the old days’, dressed up, as it were, in ‘tantric/spiritual’ garb, is the main thing you miss and dearly want, isn’t it?

          Wasn’t that your chief motivation for joining the ‘orange army’ in the first place?

          • shantam prem says:

            Stupid questions must not be answered but to discard them with contempt.

            • satyadeva says:

              Unfortunately, Shantam, such a contemptuous response invariably indicates that the question has somehow, somewhere hit the target – and in your case, almost always that’s been the case.
              That’s another reason why it often seems you don’t appear to have gained much real self-insight from all those years at the Pune ashram.

              It might perhaps even be suggested that you believed and still believe too much in dreams, both external and internal ones (thinking the true is false and the false is true – any idea why?).

          • satyadeva says:

            No ‘moral’ point at all intended by the above, but that’s the impression you’ve given here over the years.

            However, reading your persistent complaints about how Sannyas has “failed” tends to remind me of Shivamurti’s book, ‘The God That Failed’, where he blames Osho for ‘letting him down’, basically for not meeting his self-important, self-centred expectations.

            In your case, Shantam, it seems you became too dependent upon an external situation, with little or nothing else to fall back upon, and you don’t appear to have learned the lesson that ‘nothing lasts’, and that it’s asking for trouble to expect that it will, even a special relationship or marriage, and even when it’s possibly been decreed by a great master.

  18. shantam prem says:

    Let us presume as per the rumours Osho had sexual relations with women, as suggested by one insider from Jabalpur days.

    It simply means bodymind response to the erotica remains the same, even after enlightenment.

    Osho is no more to answer directly. Few people think Rajneesh junior is enlightened. Maybe someone can ask him does he gets the sexual urges and performs normally like everyone else?
    Why not?

    In this situation, enlightenment means an awareness ‘I am not body, I am not mind, but my body and mind work like everyone else.’

    • satyadeva says:

      I’m surprised this is even a point of discussion, I thought the previously commonly held idea that enlightenment = celibacy had gone out the window a long time ago.

      • frank says:

        God, yeah, that`s old hat.

        Things have moved on – any enlightened one worth his salt these days needs to be de rigeur into revenge porn, molestation of grandchild-age disciples, hanging out with rapists and cruising the swingers clubs, not to mention a bit of the rough stuff.

        Get with it!

        • shantam prem says:

          If cruising the swingers clubs is a sign of enlightenment, I was already two times there.
          Why I am not feeling to open my ashram?
          Many of my colleagues are already so successful.
          Maybe someone can suggest which tablet gives boost to self-esteem so much for narcissism to increase multifold?

          • Kavita says:

            Shantam, it’s ok if you want to declare on SN you are enlightened! I have heard that not all enlightened can be masters. Probably only masters have ashrams! So, chill!

            • shantam prem says:

              What is the fun to be enlightened and still not master?
              People become enlightened only to be the masters.
              And I rewrite it:
              If someone becomes enlightened, he has a craving to be a master, to have his kingdom; I mean Ashram.

              • satyadeva says:

                Shantam, from all the evidence from reliable sources all three of your statements are wrong and in fact would seem to illustrate your own hidden, unfulfilled “craving” for power.

                • shantam prem says:

                  It can be all reliable sources of yours have no understanding about deeper human psychology.
                  I will trust more Adler than impression of western tourists about India.

                  Here is one nugget:
                  “Striving for significance
                  The basic, common movement of every human being is, from birth until death, of overcoming, expansion, growth, completion, and security. This may take a negative turn into a striving for superiority or power over other people.”

                  Unfortunately, many reference works mistakenly refer only to the negative “striving for power” as Adler’s basic premise.

                • satyadeva says:

                  More nonsense from you, Shantam. Do you really think by “reliable sources” I’m referring to “western tourists”?! The sources are enlightened teachers themselves, including Osho (and, btw, not only Indian) who, certainly in this case, I would trust rather than Mr. Adler, whose quote you provide is irrelevant to the issue anyway.

                  As I said, sex and power – your twin obsessions, particularly due to your lack of both, which, among other distortions, play their part in preventing you from seeing straight.

              • Kavita says:

                No one is stopping you from having an Ashram, Shantam, why don’t you try it? Anyway, there is nothing to lose! Or is there?!

                • shantam prem says:

                  Kavita, as I know you, you know me, we both are lazy bums by nature and lucky enough to get that much wisdom as bank interest as what people earn at their full-time job.

                  Some hunger is missing and that final touch which can add some breakthrough.
                  Everything has its time.

                • Kavita says:

                  Sure, “everything has its time”!

                  Wish you all the luck in filling up that remaining hunger as well.

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