How I learned to Dance/ Shantam

“Nothing is said, nothing is heard, and the heart start dancing with the Master”
(This little piece I wrote in remembrance of the Osho Musicians, Late Swami Om Prakash Saraswati (Osho Rajyoga, New Delhi)   and Swami Satya Krishan (Bajaj Sahib, Karnal)

It must be a few weeks ago, during  my stretching exercises at the end of  my fitness session,  in the studio where I attend regularly.  An  Osho song started coming to me through the ear plugs and my stretching took the shape of slow dance movements, my hands were towards the sky, memories of  music groups in Buddha Hall, Pune became alive and eyes were filled with tears. That very corner in Rüeckgrat fitness studio became my Buddhafield!

Later on while relaxing in the wellness area after my Sauna, I felt compelled by some force outside me to write about how I learned to dance.

There are many personality traits in me which do not fit with the archetype Punjabi culture that I was born and brought up into. Punjabis are supposed to be extroverts and hard working, which surely I am not. Punjabis are very much into singing and dancing, i had no interest.  Punjabis reading books?  in India, i have never seen houses with books and my mother used to say, ” Why don´t you resell your books?”
In India, my race has made “Big Fat Punjabi Weddings” a way of life.
I am like an elephant,  I have simply walked my walk and felt an indifference towards the show off culture into which I was born.

Because Indians live a tribal life, before going to Pune, it was normal for me to participate in  5 to 7 marriages per year. When we were invited by the girls side, it was easier for me, as participating from the bridegroom’s side,  males were suppose to dance in the streets.
I had simply a No in my heart. Under much persuasion from fellow relatives, i have tried for a minute or  two to dance as per the ritual,  but I knew, it is not in me.
Later on, I found out, most of the dancers in a conventional marriage get drunk before the processions start.
Wine and liquor shops make brisk business during marriage seasons.
Yes, In India, marriages happen during a certain period of the year when the stellar constellation of Jupiter  and Venus are in a good position. In a city like Delhi, there are a few thousand marriages in particular days of the year. But I remained resistant to dance.

But then came Osho into my life. By chance, I came across a book on that fateful day of 14th October 1983 and amazingly, it was at the marriage of some relative. At the house of my uncle, I was searching for some magazine or newspaper to avoid boredom and saw one Hindi title of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh lying on the radio.

Osho´s words created the click within the first page,  and during the next 36 hours I was drinking that book and once I gave the book back to its owner, my waiting was for the next day to go and buy books of Osho.
I was fully engrossed in the books,  and then around two months later there was a small ad in the newspaper about a one day Osho meditation camp in Delhi.
To take it as the sign of the next door opening, I found myself going to Delhi.  It was my first experience of an Osho gathering. After Lunch, there was also Kirtan. All others were dancing and singing but I was standing by the side to observe. A very fatherly and warm looking Swami Om Parkash saw my hesitation,  so at the end of the kirtan, he nodded at me for some communication.
I told him how I came to know about Osho books and through the newspaper ad.I have come here,  and then I said simply, ” I don´t feel very impressed by these dancing people. It feels like automatic behavior,  as in marriages.”
Swami Ji said, ” I see in you much potential to be with Osho. In the beginning, you need to do a little effort to bring the dance and meditation out, later on it happens on its own. Now, next is Kundalini Meditation. You give that a try.”

It was enough!  After that I have never met again Swami Om Parkash ji. Once in Pune I have seen him coming out from the main office. Yet that small meeting has left a mark of gratitude in my heart. How much a small encouragement can kick start a long and unending journey!

There was much contentment in me on the way back home. It was a long three and half hours bus journey. Next day, my body was aching from my first kundalini.
A few days later, i connected with the organiser of the meditation centre in my home town. He asked me to come next morning at 6 for Dynamic.
As I was not  any more new to Osho Meditations, there was no hesitation at all. I am really indebted with gratitude to Swami Satya Krishnan, who used to come everyday for months so that I could complete six months Dynamic without a break. Sometime there were others too,  but mostly I was alone.
To feel and see me dancing was really a sweet feeling. I was applauding my inner voice, ” This is what you were looking for. ”

shantam puneThree years of meditation in the local centre,  and at home,  was one of my most intense phases. I was part of a small sannyas community  and was doing two or three meditations everyday.
It was the first time in my life, I was not gloomy or lost.  I had a purpose and menaing in my life. I was not hankering any more to find a suitable political party to join.
From that time, 30 years of an eventful life has flown by like so many dry papers in the wind.
For me this is enough,  my body and heart now move to dance as second nature.

 

Shantam

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91 Responses to How I learned to Dance/ Shantam

  1. Kavita says:

    Shantam, thanx for sharing, it’s nice to hear from you about your journey to Poona.

    My first memory of you is meeting you on my first day at the Poona commune, at the back gate, when you were guest-guarding.

    Are these pictures from the Poona commune?

    • shantam prem says:

      1984-85 Pune commune. At that time, one photographer was assigned the job to click all the participants and then each copy was sold for 5 rupees.

      At the present bookshop and the offices behind was once Radha Hall, where most of daily Osho meditations were taking place.

  2. shantam prem says:

    It is becoming a kind of nuisance to bring different kind of material and compare with Sannyas.

    Maybe faceless frank should clean the toilet of princes and then exclaim, “My God! Why they are not cleaners when poo like me.”

    • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

      “It is becoming a kind of nuisance to bring different kind of material and compare with Sannyas.” (Shantam).

      That´s true, Shantam.
      And maybe you also should do (“drop that kind of nuisance”) what you recommend to the others?

      Madhu

    • satyadeva says:

      Come on, Shantam, lighten up, ffs! Can’t you see how hilariously ludicrous these videos are? Or do you imagine they somehow undermine the ‘significance’ or something of your own dance story and/or of ‘The Sannyas Dance Tradition’?!

      I enjoyed your piece, and in a way I can relate to it, as coming to the world of Osho, in my mid-twenties, was also a ‘dance breakthrough’ for me (and a fair number of others, I suspect) although I wasn’t exactly a ‘dance virgin’ at the time, just very uptight.

      So, yes, pivotal moments indeed – but no need to get so ‘serious’ about it all, otherwise you begin to undermine the whole purpose of the game, which is to give up self-importance, not magnify it, surely?

  3. samarpan says:

    Very nice, Shantam Prem! Thank you for sharing.

  4. Lokesh says:

    I read Shantam’s article and, to be honest, felt sorry for him. What he describes is the life of a square, a person living in a two- dimensional reality. I have no need to compare my life with anyone else’s. I will share a couple of relevant points.

    I grew up in a culture where almost everyone danced. At an early age I went to various festivities where everyone, including the kids, danced and sang. Nobody was taught how to dance because everyone already had the dance gene hardwired into their souls.

    Then came the sixties a time when everyone danced, often high on mind-expanding drugs. Perhaps Shantam hasn’t watched the movie ‘Woodstock’ to see how it was then. ‘The Doors with Val Kilmer’ is also a good movie to check out how it was back then.

    By the seventies, Goa was happening, where communal full moon parties were centred around one of the wildest dance floors in the world. Poona was a natural progression of that. The only difference being that the dance scene in the ashram was drug-free. People were high on Osho.

    Shantam believes that the East is the birthplace of all things spiritual. Sannyas was always very dance-orientated. The dance scene in Osho’s communes was mostly based on a western set-up, apart from kirtans and bhajans, which were also fun. Most western sannyasins did not need to be instructed how to dance because they already knew.

    I find it a human tragedy that people actually need to be instructed in how to learn to dance. In Africa, dance is central to all tribal life. African children are the best natural dancers in the world. Osho wasn’t much of a dancer. Watch the vids, in this respect he was a typical Indian, copying the stilted dance moves of a very repressed culture.

    The guru of western dance moves was Elvis the pelvis. Never really caught on in India but there you go. Come on baby, there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on and it wasn’t learned from doing the Kundalini meditation.

    • frank says:

      Well said.
      If there hadn`t been African rhythms and dance ,there`d have been no Chuck Berry, no Elvis.
      No Chuck Berry,no Elvis… no Osho ,no neo-tantra.
      Psychotherapist like Reich theorised about loosening people up.
      Rock n roll did it!
      Along with Dr Gregory Goodwin Pincus ,godfather of neo-tantra.
      (Throw in Mary Wolstencraft and Marie Stopes,too)

      We`ve been lucky.

      Born in the era when the ancient mafia of the soul
      endlessly making the common folk an offer they couldn`t refuse, was losing its grip
      By some serendipitous twist of fate, Homo Ludens made a welcome appearance.
      We took to the dance floor with gusto,
      our bass chakras thumping out the beat
      Rascal Saints appeared on the scene proclaiming the merits of DIY soul-making, giving the old mafia bosses a pie-in-the-face.
      The idea that seriousness is a disease got taken seriously.
      The universe became the play of god,
      Hindus had thought of this long ago
      but, like Masala Dosa, they stuck with the old recipe
      whereas this one got mashed up with Renaissance ideas of re-creation of self and became a celebration fruit and nut cake with just about every spice from everywhere in the world mixed in- the like of which none had ever tasted before.

      A small-town boy from India infiltrated his way into enlightenment and before you knew it, spiritualised mixed freaky dancing , hugging and laughing your way to nirvana were where its at on a massive scale.

      Yahoo!!!

      “If you know your history
      Then you would know where you coming from”
      Bob Marley

    • shantam prem says:

      I feel sorry for people like Lokesh who went to Osho and other Indian spiritual elites because they could not find meaningful dialogue in their religious heritage.

      I did not go to Osho because I hated my religious heritage. Dance, music, love affairs are salads and dressings but not the main course.

      • Lokesh says:

        Shantam, I did not hate my religious heritage, because I did not have one to hate. My parents were both Druids but I was never interested in that. One of my earliest childhood memories is from when I was three or four years old and going to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.

        Shantam, your comment is purely reactionary. It might be wiser to take on board what I’m saying and seeing what you consider a major breakthrough in your life as being nothing special in someone else’s life. In a way, such reactionary thinking betrays your lack of willingness to being open to new perspectives.

        • swamishanti says:

          Lokesh, this must be your mum and dad at Stonehenge:
          https://youtu.be/cWVK586TQj4

        • shantam prem says:

          It is surely reactionary because you, Lokesh, have the habit to compare everything from your perspective.

          May I remind, you are not the navel of the world or of spiritual heritage of any kind. Nobody is the navel, nobody, not even any bhagwan of anybody. So sometimes read, keeping in mind what other wants to convey and in which state of mind.

          This piece, whatsoever may be in the contents, was my offering to late master on his day of leaving the body, so it was natural to be hypersensitive with the ‘mind stuff’.

          Anyway, I doubt the mental equilibrium of faceless frank. Thanks to India and Osho, this borderline case could spend his creative years in the borderline society called Neo-Sannyas.

          • Lokesh says:

            Shantam, this is one of the dumbest posts you have ever written, and that’s saying something.

            It’s been said that nationalism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel turns. In your case, it’s Neo-Sannyas, whatever the fuck you imagine that is. You are still a Sikh at heart. Jai Nanak.

        • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

          Hi Lokesh,
          Quite easy to imagine (especially since I saw the ´baby-photo´ you posted once) that you have a strong connection to your Celtic heritage in this lifetime.

          I remember how impressed I´ve been – like always – when I see a very young being (apparently from ‘body-age) who seems to be much older than most of his or her contemporaries: evoking a mix of deep awe, mysterious enchantment about Life as such, a respect and sometimes a bit of anxiety too about how abundant power may be applied (use or misuse of the latter).

          Better (for me) to understand then the trance-work too you´re living out in your techno-musical creative expression (also your literary one ?) and some a bit growing capacity to take care about how much of it I want or am able to ´take´ in, as one says.

          Many of us in the Osho-Sannyas-Sangha have been connected by the strong urge to heal, coming from all conceivable nukes and corners of the so- called world.

          Attracted by a source, imbibing the promise to become ´whole´ again and deal ´another way´ than merely to mechanically function in apparently sick societies like some robot.

          “That Source (to heal) is in you”, I heard the Master say, and that message is still alive, although I m quite often as confused and desperate as Shantam (or others here and elsewhere) with the traumata to be cut off (cut off from a Sangha or fellow-travellers) and then very much narrowed consciousness about that essential message.

          Thanks for this of your post(s) to Shantam; I take it too, if you don´t ´mind´.

          Snow in the sky here today…
          Freezing cold, as it should be today in this time of the year – and here…
          The climate wheel though is going topsy-turvy…

          And so am `I´-

          And what is – is….

          Madhu

          • swamishanti says:

            In a historical context, Stonehenge was a meeting place for the Celtic tribes pre-Roman invasion. The many tribes would gather for the Solstice and play music, dance, roast wild hogs and trade and barter.

            The Druids always felt it was their right to visit there and in more recent times, the psychedelic flower power generation and hippies also started to hold festivities there.
            https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2sDUjOKi69U&feature=youtu.be

            Some of those hippies and nomads felt closer to their Celtic heritage and were attracted to a tribal type of lifestyle, and may have felt that life may have been better before the Roman invasion. I myself do not really share that view, but I can appreciate the beauty of living close to Nature.

          • Lokesh says:

            Madhu, try and see a documentary called ‘HOLY HELL’.

            • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

              Hi Lokesh, thanks for the recommendation.

              Due to the Chat here, I´ve already been watching the long documentaries (thoroughly done) about the Los Angeles Jim Baker Cult of ‘The Source Family’, their rise and their fall and their very thorough own documenting of the ´whole of it´ (including all the deterioration stuff!).

              Ever again it becomes clear to me how unique and different (individually-wise onlooking) the approaches have been (and are!) to ‘leave the small families’, so to say.

              I realised that also in Pune 1/2 as on the Ranch in Oregon. And I realised and realise such when participating in some of the mushrooming ´Advaita´-Satsang Groups.

              Yesterday in ZDF Zoom about History, I watched a doc. about the grand-niece of Hermann Göring (the Nazi capital criminal and murderer) whom you (?) or others here might know from Pune 1 (?), or some of the Californian buddhies may know here. She’s been living in Thailand now for quite a while. (Compilations of Pune 1 Ashram pics and little features have been included).

              A sensitive and heart touching doc., teaching onlookers at its best (for the moment…) that it truly takes quite a while, that mutual projections of victims and their offspring as also projections of offspring of perpetrators take a long time to heal and dissolve.

              Dissolve mutually I mean!

              Me – as a ´patient´- is practising ´Being patient´ and in that kind of state of being I already took off long ago to Pune and the Ashram as a former (German-Native) trained Psychologist

              The so-called Flower-Power time and the so called Feminists time had already left their marks on/in me – like on many others. What I´d been learning or unlearning in my time as a University Student or afterwards then in the confrontation with socio- psychological and socio-political realities made it irresistible to look for a “Psychology of the Buddhas” and look for a transgenerational, transpersonal, transforming Teaching.

              The latter, Lokesh, is happening up to today. And the role Indian Wisdom and Osho as well as others are playing in that is an alive one and has nothing to do with cult-behaviour.

              In gratefulness and with Love,

              Madhu

              • Lokesh says:

                What is interesting about ‘HOLY HELL’ is how people used many ideas originally propagated by Osho. The cringe level is high at times, very funny. You are in for a treat if you can find it. Very educational in the sense that a group of very intelligent and gentle people were conned by an obvious charlatan. Really unbelievable but true.

    • kusum says:

      Indian flilms are full of dancing & singing. Most of the western films are mainly head-oriented. Also, people intoxicated with alcohol end up dancing too, especially in the bars & clubs.’Natraj’ (Dancing Shiva) is very well known.

      • frank says:

        Shantam`s right.
        Osho Neo-Sannyas is just Sikhism with extra dancing and shagging.

      • Kavita says:

        Kusum, are you a non-resident Indian? I am curious to know your sannyas journey, please share, I am sure it would be interesting!

        • Lokesh says:

          Kavita, sorry to interrupt, but it’s pretty evident that Kusum’s sannyas journey took him into an existential cul-de sac.

          • Kavita says:

            Lokesh, you may be right about cul-de sac.

            I am just interested what is the real story behind all this wisdom, because only an Indian can be so wise!

            • Lokesh says:

              Yes, Kavita, Swami Kissum is a fascinating character here on SN. My mouth is often agape reading his cutting-edge comments.

              As for Shantam, he certainly deserves praise for his article. Were SN to give out medals I’m sure dear Shantam would be first on the honours list. A better example of a spiritual warrior one could not imagine.

              Phew…these mushrooms are strong, man.

          • shantam prem says:

            Thanks to Lokesh for adding new and wonderful expression, ‘cul-de-sac’ in my spiritual vocabulary.

            If Lokesh was around Osho for few more years, it is possible Osho may have used too in sentences like, “My Sannyas is cul-de-sac of your mind. It is the dead end. After this, there is only vast Existence, no companies, no factories, just you, meditation and job centre allowance.”

            • Kavita says:

              Shantam, what do you exactly mean by “After this, there is only vast Existence, no companies, no factories, just you, meditation and job centre allowance.”?

              • shantam prem says:

                Satire, irony, joke have no meaning, they are enough unto themselves.
                I can try to rewrite in an Indian context:

                “My Sannyas is cul-de-sac of your mind. It is the dead end. After this, there is only vast Existence and you. just you without any profession or job but higher calling of teaching meditation and living on donations or ancestral property.”

                • Kavita says:

                  Thank you for specifying in the Indian context! But I was just wondering how can a vast Existence be a dead end? Maybe that’s the satire!

                • kusum says:

                  Actually, Osho has never encouraged anyone not to work or to leave the marketplace. He was all for creativity. He always said be in the marketplace & meditate.

                  Osho has never encouraged people to be runners & live in the caves!

                • Kavita says:

                  So, Kusum, is your marketplace situated on planet Earth, and if yes, where exactly is it?

                • Lokesh says:

                  Kissum, you often sound like you are living in a cave, meaning you report common knowledge as if it were breaking headline news. In essence, completely out of touch with what is current in the world at large.

                • kusum says:

                  Yes, Lokesh, nowadays one can gather lots of knowledge through news papers, books, films, documentaries, tv channels, internet, travelling, schools, universities etc. ‘Google’ on internet is good for all the knowledge too. But knowledge is still knowledge.

                • kusum says:

                  Kavita, what is your sannyas name?

                • Kavita says:

                  Frankly, I don’t want to answer any of your questions. But since I participate on this sannyas blog I will.

                  My sannyas name is Deva Dilruba.

            • kusum says:

              Lokesh, you mentioned hippy parties on Goa beach as past thing so I mentioned full moon parties around the world at the present time. What is wrong with that? & what do you mean by commonplace exactly? Do you think so-called sannyasins don’t frequent those places?

              Your mentioning of ‘Holy Hell’ etc. – do you think people don’t know about these cults etc? Do you think all the clubs in Ibiza are above the common places? Wake up & smell the flower…).

              • kusum says:

                Why do you think Osho was reading so many books? Was he parrot??

                Some bloggers here also seem like flock of birds to me, who seem to seek some momentary glory or avoidance of loneliness. It is easy to punch the keys on computer than face the real humans. I better meet up with some real people who have some uplifting energy.

                Enough for today!

                • Lokesh says:

                  To be honest, Kissum, you sound a little confused to me.
                  You ask, “Why do you think Osho was reading so many books?”
                  I’m surprised, Kissum, that you can’t figure that out for yourself. The answer is that Osho was a man who enjoyed reading books.

                • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

                  In your “enough for the day”, you say, Kusum:
                  “Some bloggers here also seem like flock of birds to me, who seem to seek some momentary glory or avoidance of loneliness. It is easy to punch the keys on computer than face the real humans. I better meet up with some real people who have some uplifting energy.”

                  All well and good; so I´m wondering what you are doing here then in the Chat, wasting your precious time? You´d be better off, wouldn´t you (?) to meet “real people uplifting your energy” (whatever that means for you).

                  Enough for tonight!

                • kusum says:

                  Yes, Madhu, you are right, as I don’t have spare time for this mind entertainment (writing etc.) as I am too busy with my family & work.

        • shantam prem says:

          Kavita, someone must be an idiot or addict to expose their sannyas journey. Sannyas Book Warriors expose their wisdom just like birds, leaving no trace behind!

      • Lokesh says:

        “head-oriented” – Kusum, you have to stop watching cheap porno films. That’s a disgusting comment to make on a spiritual blog site like SN. Osho is obviously not working on you.
        His blessings….

    • kusum says:

      Even now, some places like Ko Phangan in Thailand etc. have full moon parties where thousand of people end up dancing on the beach. Hippie era still continues….

  5. sannyasnews says:

    Zorba’s dance, yes, and mix this with the Buddha, and you have enough….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38_MPn6hr4

  6. Parmartha says:

    Osho’s ‘school’ did one great and fantastic thing. Which has seldom, if ever, been repeated in such fullness.

    Those who came full of self-discipline, formal meditation and yoga, if they persisted even for a while, got the taste of Zorba, and the joys of the dance.

    And those who came full of the pleasurable addictions of life, and dance, and concupiscence, and drink and drugs and many another thing, if they persisted for a while, got the taste for the quietude of the Buddha.

    • kusum says:

      Synthesis of Zorba & Buddha! (Zorba the Buddha).

    • Arpana says:

      A gem of an observation.

      Would have perceived
      the two as mutually
      exclusive at one time.

    • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

      Parmartha, you said: “Osho’s ‘school’ did one great and fantastic thing. Which has seldom, if ever, been repeated in such fullness.”

      Seconded by Heart, Parmartha, and how convenient that you did put ´school´into parantheses.
      What your grammatical use of the past confers, I don´t know.

      In my better moments of ´acceptance´ or being in the present mode, I´d say that a lot of seeds have been falling on very different grounds of soil.

      It´s more comparable, I guess, to how Nature is functioning. Some seeds grow trees, some flowers, some even fruits, and some simply die, but in that dying also give something for yet unknowable suchnesses to come forth.

      We don´t know – or do we?

      Madhu

  7. shantam prem says:

    The title I gave to my original piece is ‘Thanks, Osho, for The Dance’.
    My request is to add P.S. that the title in the article, ‘How I learned to Dance/ Shantam’ was chosen by us. Writer has submitted another title, ‘Thanks, Osho for The Dance’.

  8. Parmartha says:

    For me, Shantam deserves some praise for the post. It can’t be so easy ‘leaving’ such a cultural background as he came from. Very few do. No posters here, except perhaps Kavita, seem to acknowledge this.

    And also that by a heartfelt effort he ended up in an Osho centre and doing two or three Osho meditations a week for some years.

    I can have respect for the way he left Sikhism, and that Punjabi middle class cultural crap.

  9. madhu dagmar frantzen says:

    The Druids, Swamishanti, in ancient former more tribal kind of human time, did perform all kinds of spiritual stuff, in the best sense of keeping their folks sane and healthy (and fertile) and in a way prosperous ´together´, which also implied juicy celebrations in harmony with Nature.

    And some were said to be very powerful in this; maybe comparable to the Shaman´s Identities, invoking all kinds of support of collective and supernatural (cosmic) forces or travelling to the so-called ´Otherworld´ for good counselling and healing.

    To find the best possible solutions and motivations and intentions, according to their time..

    As with any other evolutionary stuff, and as time went by, we also then came to know about some dark sides, like sacrificing some living, also human beings, for the sake of the ´whole´(a ´cosmic order´, etc. etc.).

    Human History, passing times and times of evolution, and nowadays we are able to know more of that. Also about the dark sides, so to say.

    Last century, as Information Age came into its global gears by ways and means, like it had never ever been before, it was no surprise that – to cope with such immense acceleration – demanding the ´help´ for a harmonious life, to look for a ´Druid´ or a ´Shaman´ developed to a quite fashionable, almost mass-oriented movement.

    There are indeed quite some immature crackpots on their ways to offer ´help´, so much so that those who had or have a calling as a Druid or a Shaman nowadays are probably repelled (?).

    But no surprise about this development, I guess, it´s a kind of balancing necessary (?) counterpart (if we want that happening or not) as we are all linked in the immense influences and effects of a Technical and Information Age, and I mean all mixtures and merging of existing global net-workings contents meet in a kind of ´cold start´- spreading-information, almost in real-time as one says, meeting all kinds of human levels of mental and spiritual maturity.

    And it´s quite a challenge to digest the consequences; the terror flooding our planet, also that just one outcome of it. And besides that, indeed some well-doing effects on the global Human scale are also happening.

    I am very grateful, having been able to enjoy some culture of commune-i-cation in the Osho-Sangha happening – and that did set some inner-standards up to now. Fortunately or unfortunately, just as you like to perceive it.

    As ´Dance´ is a topic issue just now, quite similar has been happening re Dancing.

    I rarely felt myself, or others too, disappearing Into the dance (instead of performing), but I call myself lucky enough to have had the chance to experience such in the body and since then knowing more about the difference.

    Swamishanti, I remember a photo compilation you once posted. The pic showed two men, sitting with painted faces (one of them) by a fireplace, somewhere, somewhere…desert-like, working on a small, white-coloured Apple computer.

    Can´t help it; this pic comes pretty much always into my mind when I read your posts – there may come the day when such automatism of my associations just leaves me.

    Hope that will be soon.

    Madhu

    • swamishanti says:

      I have met quite a few people who feel connected to the Druid way as a spiritual path, and in this also is the reverence of life, the worship of Nature, plants, beings and the universe, and the inner alchemy of transformation from the base metal into gold.

      These people I found usually feel a deep connection to these islands, and places like ancient stone circles and monuments have a special attraction for them.

      I am personally not attracted to Paganism or Druidism as a spiritual path, and I am often keen to work and save money to travel to warmer shores.

      “And some were said to be very powerful in this ; maybe comparable to the Shaman´s Identities, invoking all kinds of support of collective and supernatural (cosmic) forces or travelling to the so-called ´Otherworld´ for good counselling and healing.”

      Yes, that’s what they say.
      They were experts in plant medicine, magic potions (think Asterix), and the Romans armies were afraid when the druids rose their arms on the battlefield to use their magic.

      I believe they were like shamans, and I have heard that they also would purify themselves through fasting and meditation for days before consuming fly agaric mushrooms to open themselves up to the spirit world (all familiar to shamanic practices around the world).

      I remember seeing “Arthur Uther Pendragon”‘s van parked up in a couple of places, the last one was at Dead Woman’s Bottom, Whatley Quarry, at a protest camp in Somerset where I once spent a couple of days.

      You talk about human sacrifices but there is some debate whether the ancient druids practised this. Some historians say this could have been Roman Imperialist propaganda.

      I feel that the old tribal way is limited and the people give their power away to the Shaman, who can then put any old crap into people’s head.

      On the other hand, their knowledge of natural plant remedies is something modern civilisation has lost, along with the health benefits of living in nature and in harmony with the natural environment.

      “Swamishanti, I remember a photo compilation, you once posted.
      The pic showed two men, sitting with painted faces (one of them) by a fireplace, somewhere, somewhere…desert-like, working on a small white- coloured apple computer.”

      I think I know which picture you mean, but it was not a ‘compilation’ – I think just a picture of a couple of sadhus using a laptop. With a speech bubble? I can’t remember.

      • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

        Thanks for your thouroughly considered answer, Swamishanti.

        As far as the ´sacrificing living beings´ habits go (up to nowadays, btw – just as different in execution as the geographical locations…and historical times…) such is simply evidence and not imagination.

        (Whatever was/has been/could be besides that “Roman Imperialist Propaganda”, as you put it, I don´t know, but wouldn´t deny that Writing History has been/is always quite “flexible”, satirically speaking).

        I´m glad I came to know (long ago) some material of decades-long researches from archaeologists and ethnologists who had been living a long time for research amongst those tribal people (like in the Himalayas area – Michael Oppitz and many others too made the effort – to gather more than just impressions).

        As far as ´speech bubbles´ (?) go re that photo, that I remember you´ve been posting as a kind of ´flying reporter´, I didn´t mention such bubbles.

        As far as your appreciation of natural herbs and other stuff or your interest in it goes, I never doubted your experience in such.

        Madhu

  10. shantam prem says:

    I hope wise ladies and gentlemen sannyasins will enjoy the link enclosed about “close-knit community”.

    Osho may have said not to create ism or religion out of his work but was not he all for the community?!

    Community and commune pass together so well as Resort and Donald Trump!
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5295355/Knitting-enthusiasts-create-woolly-model-village.html

    • swamishanti says:

      Shantam if you want to change direction of the Resort, taking direct action is your only chance.

      I was in India during the last general election in 2014. There were lots of minivans driving around with loudspeakers mounted on the top, broadcasting all kind of garbage.

      I supported neither party, but one time the BJP candidate visited the town I was in and a stage was set up, right in the middle of town, and people spent all day getting it ready and testing the microphone, etc. They connected lines of orange and green flags, from the stage running to all the local shops and buildings.

      The candidate was almost ready to walk on, I was sitting nearby in a local cafe when I just got this idea in my head, so I leapt onto the stage and grabbed the mic and started singing and doing a little jig, and listened to my voice broadcasting over the distorted loudspeakers.

      All good fun, but perhaps you could try something serious in Poona with a loudspeaker or horn, attached to a bicycle perhaps?

    • Kavita says:

      I think Osho was for all things enjoyable but more so for an individual rather than for a community.

      Maybe there are individuals who like community living but not necessarily all like too much of social activity. These kinds (links) of communities exist in most societies .

      Somehow I think even if one is not socially active the society at large is always there when the individual needs any real help. This I speak from my own current experience of single-handedly giving care to my bed-ridden mother & I am glad I can have quality time with her. I can still live a much secluded life with maybe minimum social/house help. Now I can’t imagine any other way for me.

      • shantam prem says:

        Kavita, why not an article about what you think about what Osho was doing and for what?!

        It will be an interesting piece if your effortless effort types it down for the exclusive publishing at this site.

        • Kavita says:

          I am not good at writing articles!

          What I say is very majorly influenced by Osho’s discourses, I shall not deny this. Maybe each one of us expresses about the part of the elephant which we come into contact with!

          Shantam, now I can say that I have spent half my of life in Sannyas, as I am 50+ now. Considering the time I have spent, I can say that every phase is teaching a new lesson in being self-sufficient with minimum dependency but without denying inter-dependency. Perhaps that is what is an Osho teaching in the literal sense for me.

          I don’t bother much if anyone else endorses this.

          Of course, as they say, truth cannot be put into words! So what I say is not the whole truth!

          • madhu dagmar frantzen says:

            Don´t you underestimate your writing, Kavita, I´d say you are, as far as I see it, the inaugurated and well respected ´UK/SN Chat serving gossip-queen’. (Contributing “good gossip”, as Parmartha mentioned, who knows how to differentiate).

            You have a beautiful Indian name. Three German native ´Kavitas` (by sannyas name) I knew. One of them told me the meaning of Kavita has something to do with poetry (instead of rough prose). Is that a right understanding?

            I can very well imagine that you visited Munich too sometimes in the past (as you shared here) gathering some juicy (?) Bavarian gossip and did sort it out or in after coming across it.

            And the very last lines of your post (at 1:15 pm yesterday) are quite witty.

            And then you speak of “phases” and “teaching of new lessons”; relaxed as a cat – a state of being I´m far distant from, quite often ´bothered’, sorry to say….

            Madhu

            • Kavita says:

              Thanks, Madhu, for all the superlatives but frankly, I just enjoy sharing them, hopefully when it’s in context.

              ‘Kavita’ in most Indian languages means poetry/poem.

              My father named me this, he wrote poems in Urdu & English in his free time! He once told me that I was his live poem! Which at that time I couldn’t understand, but sometimes in my heart I do hope that’s true.

              My Bavarian family friends & their gossips are not very different from my own family so there was no sorting as such!

              Madhu, it’s not that I am always relaxed like a cat, when I am really bothered I come into full action!

  11. sannyasnews says:

    We have become aware that a few posters are posting from fake or non-working email addresses.
    We will no longer put up their posts.

  12. shantam prem says:

    Kusum says,
    23 January, 2018 at 4:36 pm:
    “Actually, Osho has never encouraged anyone not to work or to leave the marketplace. He was all for creativity. He always said be in the marketplace & meditate.
    Osho has never encouraged people to be runners & live in the caves!”

    Maybe Kusum or someone else can tell, during last 500 years how many spiritual masters have encouraged people to be runners and live in the caves.

    In a country like India, where few thousand discourses are delivered every day, it is one common theme, “Be in the world and not of it.”
    As no one knows biography of Kusum, it is very much possible Kusum was working at British Post when few thousand young people were gathered around Osho. These people have really put their careers in jeopardy. Most of the bloggers at sannyasnews have lived their life without careers; lifelong sannyasins from their college days.

    Once the Spiritual Syndicate Bank got burst, chairman wrote the email to its depositors, “Our founder has always taught us, even everything is taken away from you, don´t stop meditating. This is your eternal investment, everything else is very slippery.”

    • Lokesh says:

      Shantam, I do not think it is true that sannyasins gave up their careers, at least not all of them. Many began careers as a result of being around Osho. Osho made it very clear that he did not want his sannyasins to be social parasites and sponge off the system.

      Life is not always easy on a financial level. Needs must be and one does what one has to do when it comes to survival. I currently work at two careers, if you want to call it that. If you are truly grateful to life, I find it natural to wish to put something back into life in purely human terms, and I have made it my task to do just that in as many ways as I can find.

      • shantam prem says:

        It is true many began careers as a result of being around Osho. While having my lunch, I was thinking how coolly Sheela became the owner of two old people´s homes in world´s most expansive real estate country, and that too, after doing her time in American prison.

        I know few young sannyasins who are running successful Yoga and Ayurvedic massage schools in Goa.

        Last month, I also printed my fliers for Vedic astrology work, have already put around thousand in the postboxes plus newspaper ad. and amazingly, not a single phone till now.

        Instead of feeling bad, I am contented to see evolution in German mind; German mind is not that naive any more to trust Indian stuff.

    • kusum says:

      Shantam,
      How one can earn their living without career? No one can meditate with empty stomach. You may always work as security guard even now if you want to.

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