Worship, Ashrams and Samadhis
Some, (especially sub-continental) sannyasins have often raised the question as to why the name ‘Ashram’ was changed in Pune. The sad truth for them is that Osho had rejected the term ‘Ashram’ in the autumn of 1989. This was carried in the ‘Osho Times’ magazine of that time.
Further, Osho did not live in Pune for ‘most of his life’ as claimed over at ‘Osho world’, in fact he resided in the present campus for a total of ten years out of 59 years of his life. The covert contention as stated, in various places, is that “Osho’s Ashram at Pune is considered and believed to be the main Ashram and place of worship of Osho in the entire world”. A very disputatious remark!
Not only was Osho completely uninterested in what people ‘believe’, he rejected the value of belief as such. In particular the idea that his work would include a ‘main Ashram’ is clearly mistaken, as hierarchy was something he spoke against during his entire life.
Likewise, “worship of Osho” used in various sub-continental websites is an unfortunate term. One statement is that “visitors to the Ashram come to pay tribute and seek blessing from Osho’s Samadhi ” However, Osho clearly stated that the use of his bedroom (called by mistaken acolytes his “Samadhi”) , was simply that it would be “a place for people to meditate”.
The idea that Osho would want people to “pay tribute” or “seek blessing” from his ashes is a pure fantasy of the traditional Indian spiritual mind, against which Osho spoke for 35 years. In the same way, the premises referred to as “the most sacred place in the world for Osho’s devotees” is again mistaken, as Osho has said, ” except for this Existence, you don’t have any sacred place. This is the only holy, sacred temple. There is no other temple. All other temples are false – substitutes to deceive and cheat you.”
Osho’s interest was simply in awareness, and not at all in these traditional substitutes presented under the guise of ‘spirituality.’ He did not preserve that bedroom spot for posterity as some of his “followers” wish as a special sacred place.
In addition, (many) have no idea what they are talking about when they have tried to elucidate the devotional aspect of Osho. Osho’s view on devotion, to quote, was, ” Devotion is far lower than love, because devotion basically implies self-disrespect. I am against it because at the cost of self-respect you are respecting somebody else. The cost is too much. My whole effort is to teach you to feel dignity as a human being, and to feel self-respect as part of this beautiful existence.”
SN Staff Reporters
” Devotion is far lower than love, because devotion basically implies self-disrespect. I am against it because at the cost of self-respect you are respecting somebody else. The cost is too much. My whole effort is to teach you to feel dignity as a human being, and to feel self-respect as part of this beautiful existence.”
But Osho always made room for devotion and devotees too:
“Devotion is the ultimate stage of disciplehood.
Even to say that the devotee is close to the master is not right, because closeness is still a distance.
The devotee is one with the master.
His oneness is something not of this world.”
‘Osho Upanishad’
Thanks, SS.
Yes, a quote that Swami Samarpan who blogs here would find difficult. (He who believes that Osho never contradicted himself, even though Osho himself said that was part of his methodolgy to fox the mind).
One would still say that the SN reporter was correct to use the quote. There has been a big tilt since Osho died towards devotion, and the subsequent arising of the Nepalese and Indian Buddhafields built on a devotional and worshipful model.
Some people’s path is certainly ‘devotion’ and good luck to them. But nonetheless, whilst I was around Osho in his Buddhafield, when he was alive, a clear majority were not.
Yes, P,
Osho often deliberately contradicted himself so that it would be difficult to create a dogma or a system out of his words.
He said he didn’t want to create a religion when he was gone, yet apparently, he said, “This will be the country of my people/religion” when he visited Nepal in 1986?
“I have been constantly inconsistent so that you will never be able to make a dogma out of me. You will simply go nuts if you try. I am leaving something really terrible for scholars. They will not be able to make any sense out of it. They will go nuts; and they deserve it, they should go nuts. But nobody can create an orthodoxy out of me, it is impossible.
From my words you can get burned, but you will not be able to find any kind of theology, dogmatism.
What I am doing here is play – it is not work. When I am gone, my work is to be known as play, never as work.
Life is love and love is celebration. Celebration is the very core of religion, the soul. Without celebration religion becomes a corpse. And that’s what has happened to religions in the past again and again: they become serious. And the moment they become serious, only the dead body is there.
Religion remains alive only through celebration. When Buddha is there, there is celebration. When Krishna is there, there is celebration. When Jesus is there, there is celebration. The moment the Master leaves the body the disciples become very serious, they become fanatics, and they start becoming missionaries: they want to convert the whole world. They start arguing, proving, disproving; they create theology. And slowly slowly the soul dies – they become too engaged with other things.
Religion lives only through celebration, as celebration. But this point has been missed again and again; that’s why so many religions were born but they all died, and they all died a premature death. It was not necessary to die; they could have lived and served humanity.”
P.S:
I have visited Nepal and I met a few sannyasins there, but I have no experience of Tapoban or Osho centres there.
But I there is an interesting mix of Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism there.
“The idea that Osho would want people to “pay tribute” or “seek blessing” from his ashes is a pure fantasy of the traditional Indian spiritual mind, against which Osho spoke for 35 years.”
The person who wrote this is a downright stupid idiot.
For why that sick Indian guru wanted his ashes to be preserved? No one does such kind of thing for gimmicks?
The Idiot swami who wrote the above string seems to be some kind of falsely superior “master disciple”.
One of Shantam’s key buttons well and truly pressed.
Good article!
Pure devotion might well be a wonderful thing – for a few – but it can give rise to all sorts of foolishness, stupidity, easily descending into cloying sentimentality. Some of the comments re the effects of the Nepal disaster, citing “Osho’s grace” are obvious examples. While still other stupidities emanate from the guy who calls himself ‘Osho Rajneesh’.
Shantam, for an example of true devotion, ie without this traditional, unintelligent nonsense, I again refer you to Veena Schlegel’s book, ‘Glimpses of My Master’.
The world of spiritual seekers (males) is such:
Take a ruler.
Measure the size of some limb.
Then write an article, ‘What is the ideal size’.
Hardly one comes across a new age seeker who is not impressed by his own nature and environmental made inner software!
Even the most duffer human on the earth can tell that the main article is written by some English gentleman with an Indian name.
Alas, just by name changing not much changes.
Looks like paid news….:)
MOD: MEANING WHAT, PLEASE, AMRITO?
Maybe meaning that SN has been paid (by Resort Kings) to carry such an article?? Anyway, if that is the meaning, absolute balderdash – if that is the meaning.
Perfectly correct, Amrito!
Everyone has their price and the baboons at SN are no exception!
Secret sources have informed me that a case of ‘Old Monk Rum’ did the trick this time!
There is certainly a global baboon conspiracy to destroy Osho`s vision and legacy involving depraved alcoholic Anglo-Saxon gora males at SN who have abused the freedom that Osho has given them and are attempting to destroy our mighty ashram by turning it into a totalitarian Torremolinos!
We will fight them and their bitches!
We will fight them in the Samadhis!
We will fight them in the Ashrams!
We will never surrender!
Everyone needs someone to fight, as Shantambhai has made clear, otherwise why live?
Shantam is a born warrior with chuddies and turban tied tight enough to restrict blood flow, and I ask you, with him on our side, what could possibly go wrong?!
By the grace of Osho Almighty we true devotees must reclaim the power and the glory of Bhorat for ever and ever.
Amen!
Yahoo!
Oh, I mean it sounds so much like a ‘paid news’, like you read normal newspaper who try to justify the mess-ups by the politicians.
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter by what name you call the place, we all have been given sannyas names and we still use our legal names for doing many things – does it makes us more or less sannyasins? And we all have been calling it an ashram including all the white people (except for some as**^^kers).
I have seen many good articles in SN , but this one definitely sounds like a ‘paid news’; paid might not be in the sense of money but Resort is known to use cheap power tactics to get something done, they often do this kind of silly thing.
Just to clarify: I am not the same person posting above.
Every word written is right. Amrito has nothing to do with it.
Osho was against the concept of ‘Ashram’. He has said that several times in public. He only called the Pune1 place ‘ashram’ to provoke the Hindu folks.
Shantam is Indian. He has a hard time to let go of his Hindu/Sikh beliefs.
None of the Osho centres is called ‘ashram’. Osho UTA an ashram? Forget it.
Love to all,
Neelamber
“Further, Osho did not live in Pune for ‘most of his life’ as claimed over at ‘Osho World’, in fact he resided in the present campus for a total of 10 years out of 59 years of his life.”
Yes, for the record, Osho lived in Jabalpur for almost twenty years of his life, 1951 to 1970, but no one speaks of making that some kind of shrine because of the longevity of time he had his home there.
Sannyasnews, I dare you to change the signature photo of Osho Samadhi in its old degraded format.
You are welcome to add the newest version: a dildo head like Osho statue in a room called Chung Tzu!
Yeah, what is that dildo doing there in the Samadhi these days, Shantam?
Is it meant to be some kind of lingam?
Is there some tantric meaning?
Why did Amrito/Jayesh team remove the old “Never Born/Never Died” stone?
Anyway, what is this non-sense, ‘Never Born, Never Died. Only visited this planet Earth
between so and so dates’!
Any rational man, howsoever holly, holier than hollies, he maybe cannot order such kind of beyond-the-cliff-of-the-mountain statement for his tombstone.
And this man did not want to be worshipped, revered, adored.
The way Osho disciples’ mind is becoming victim of its own folly, no sensible human being would like to come closer to such people.
And the result is clear:
After the demise of Parmartha, Satyadeva, Lokesh kind, there won´t be any British, Irish, Scottish with meaningful Indian names. With them an era will come to an end.
No one will have the tears of sadness, but a relief.
An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a Samadhi.
A timeless-looking guy in a dental chair takes one look at them and says:
“This must be some kind of cosmic joke.”
First, re your first two paragraphs, Shantam, I refer you to Osho’s deathbed wish to be remembered as “a nobody”.
Now go and figure that one out.
Second, here’s a useful exercise for, er, you know, a bit of ‘self-enquiry’, self-knowledge, seeing the truth about oneself (ok, I realise you’ve zero aptitude or even interest in such arcane matters, that are clearly ‘beneath’ a great devotee such as yourself – but here it is anyway):
Every day for the next 6 months, read your sentence, “The way Osho disciples’ mind is becoming victim of its own folly, no sensible human being would like to come closer to such people” while looking straight into your bathroom mirror, every morning and night, beginning and ending with the question: “Does this apply to me?”
And to help you a bit with this exercise, I suggest that, preferably, you don’t post anything else here until the still, small voice of intelligence begins to inform you from within that “Yes, this very statement of mine exactly describes me.”
P.S:
Don’t forget Swami Anand Yogi, your distinguished compatriot. You wouldn’t want to wish him dead as well as the ‘Deadly Trio’ you named, surely?!
Satyadeva, don´t be childish. I have not wished dead for you and other two friends.
It is a simple fact that as far as West is concerned, Sannyas and Osho is a past fade. It has no future. It has no present. Its limited shelf life is over, prematurely expired because of the downright stupid arrogance of its preachers and followers.
As far as books are concerned, one can always order the books published centuries ago.
I think your Meera will be very happy about this fact!
On the contrary SP, you say: “As far as West is concerned, Sannyas and Osho is a past fade.”
I would say the opposite. Those shrines and statues being erected to Osho in the sub-continent will surely crumble and fade, but what is of real value beyond such trinkets will remain, and in the wisdom of the taxis of London and New York.
The famous taxi driver’s wisdom: it was before Osho, it was before J. Krishnamurti and it does not need Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra!
Is it not a wonder every business, every disco, every centre, every school based on Osho´s vision falls like a sand house built on the basis of renowned architect´s vision.
Seems like, Existence wants to show something basic and simple.
Parmartha, have you read the story of Tortoise and the Rabbit during your school days? Its message is wonderful for individual seekers as well as part of some cult.
Shantam Prem, you say:
“It is a simple fact that as far as West is concerned, Sannyas and Osho is a past fade. It has no future. It has no present. Its limited shelf life is over, prematurely expired because of the downright stupid arrogance of its preachers and followers.”
If you are concerned about this, why don’t you open an Osho centre or give out Osho books in the marketplace?
That’s what Osho told Swami Arun to do. You could start your own Osho Sampradaya.
“With them an era will come to an end.
No one will have the tears of sadness, but a relief.”
Shantam, your self-declared preference for so-called ‘spontaneity’ in writing is too often a self-created smokescreen for mental laziness
A few moments’ reflection would reveal that there’s really not much, if any, difference between being ‘relieved’ at others’ deaths and wishing them dead.
But it would seem that owning up to the latter would require more honesty than you, apparently, are willing to invest here.
So (as for too many of your statements) I suggest you address your “Don’t be childish” remark to your own self.
P.S:
Now notice how you automatically reject what you’ve just read, before cursing me (and the rest of the ‘whiteskin bastards’) and resolving to write some self-defensive bullshine.
Then see how robotic you are.
“Yes, a quote that Swami Samarpan who blogs here would find difficult.”
Hi, Parmartha, I am here to explain that I have no problem with apparent contradictary quotes, because I see Osho has an essential consistency of message. What I find difficult is to use such contradictory quotes to conclude that Osho quotes are worthless, not worth reading, because supposedly Osho can be made to contradict himself with a counterquote… Which is not true.
That is why I periodically point out that Osho is completely consistent on central points, like the quote Swamishanti presents above on religion as love, playfulness and celebration. Osho is consistent over the years…There are no counterquotes in any of the discourses where Osho says that religion is to promote hatred. There are no counterquotes where Osho says religion is a serious affair, not playful and celebratory.
If Osho said one thing one day about devotion, and then contradicted himself another day, then I conclude it was an intentional contradiction meant to challenge an individual’s precoceptions. I do not conclude that Osho is a ‘rascal’ whose words can be ignored because everything he said can be contradicted with a counterquote.
There are no counterquotes to be found on qualities/themes central to Osho’s message: meditation, silence, playfulness, celebration, love, etc…I doubt a single instance of quote/ counterquote can be found related to those. But I could find dozens, if not hundreds, of consistent messages related to those themes.
All I am saying is that finding isolated instances of apparent contradiction does not give one license to extrapolate, generalise, and then erroneously conclude that everything Osho said he at some time contradicted.
Osho does have a completely consistent essential message, presented in thousands of discourses over decades.
Thanks, Samarpan. A good post.
I think you fail to answer the fact that Osho used contradictions to upset the mind and encourage people to go beyond it, nonetheless much of what you say feels very sincere.
“Seems like, Existence wants to show something basic and simple.” (Shantam Prem )
Yes, Shantam Prem, it does.
For example, if you want to participate in Life, you have to die to the past, ever and ever again.
Easy to say it, quite difficult sometimes, to bow down to that simple Truth.
Anyway, by the way, if we acknowledge that simple truth, or not, it´s happening that way, in spite of our resistance. The more resistance, the more pain.
That´s another simple truth.
And I know what I am talking about here. So, I am that much ordinary as you are, Shantam Prem.
May we have a beautiful day.
Here, it´s sunny outside with a crystal clear sky. The children played in the courtyard, having, maybe, a little nap now. Even the birds are taking a nap, every now and then ´in-between´. Have a little dream, or two….
Madhu
During the lunch I was thinking about you, Madhu.
In this week or the next, I will be in Munich.
If you feel like, we can meet in the famous English Garden. I have heard it is quite a landmark of your city.
Good post, Madhu.
“Anyway, by the way, if we acknowledge that simple truth, or not, it´s happening that way, in spite of our resistance. The more resistance, the more pain.”
I wonder when or even if you’ll ever understand this, Shantam. It’s another one well worthwhile you carefully pondering, after all these years of fruitless struggle against ‘circumstances’ created by others – struggle that’s influenced no one to take any effective action.
To put it bluntly: you’ve failed (and were never likely to succeed anyway).
But what a chance to see the limitations of your conditioning, having been born and brought up with a warrior-type, conventionally ‘religious’ Sikh mentality.
No doubt it’s helped you feel like ‘someone’ – someone important! – imagining you’re fighting for a righteous cause against a ruthless ‘enemy’. But if you can even begin to perceive that in pointlessly persisting for so long you have become the self-important – and irresponsible (meaning, unconscious) – creator of your own pain then it would surely be a major breakthrough for you.
Madhu – over to you, this weekend! (Re)-educate this man, please.
What to infer from this ungoldly battle between the sannyasins and the neo-sannyasins and the easterners and the westerners? Between the disciples and students, devotees and others.
Everyone seems to have an idea of what Osho’s core message, central message, even what is his peripheral message is.
I guess he predicted as much: that it would all go to pot, and from the correspondence here, he would be be just about correct. It’s going up in flames! The various attempts to bring all the sides together seem to be failing rather. It’s becoming more and more like a regular religion with factions, like Catholics and Prots.
Perhaps we should be asking some other questions about this scenario? Like: Does it matter? What can each of us take individually from the whole shebang?? Perhaps that what others think or do doesn’t matter, as long as I have learned or am continuing to learn something from the old boy?
Good post, simond.
Excellent post, Simond!!!
Excellent post, Simond.
‘Egg’cellent post, Simond.
Excellent post?
It is a common sense post from a pacifist kind of person.
Middle-class goody goodness mind.
Simond: “What can each of us take individually from the whole shebang?? ”
Thanks, Simond, for the question. Here is my answer:
Neo-Sannyas has not failed. Ashram? Ranch? Resort? Commune? Wrong emphasis, in my opinion. For me, it was never about a movement. For me, sannyas is superficially social; for me, it is about joy, the joy of having Osho in my life; the joy of having learned to love silence, to now love that same silence in Osho’s absence.
No ashram /commune /resort is necessary. Discourse words, complete with contradictions and paradoxes galore, besides being beautiful, are capable of starting an internal love affair that ends in the silence between the words…
My gratitude is for a Master who called me through his books, changed my orientation, gave me a myriad of tools…and also gave the freedom to use them or to toss the lot. I feel so much gratitude for Osho’s continuing bibliographic legacy…the fruit of decades of Osho’s spoken poetry. I feel so much gratitude for having Osho in my life.
With Osho I never felt the call was to become part of a place or group. To the contrary, and quite apart from the ashram / commune / ranch / resort / etc., I feel accepted by Osho wherever I am, as I am: an individual neo-sannyasin misfit.
Osho’s unconditional love continues to shower upon me as an individual, not as a member of a group; feeling Osho present in my heart now, as he was those evenings in Buddha Hall; sitting with eyes closed…the cool evening breeze caressing my skin…hearing the distant sound of trains…the mournful call of cuckoo birdsthe creaking of bamboos…the boom of Nivedano’s drum…the stillness and inner silence of the let-go meditation.
For me, Neo-Sannyas was always – and still is – individual, not collective; a love affair, a heart-to-heart communion with Osho. Some may feel that “It’s going up in flames!”…In my experience, Neo-Sannyas continues going perfectly.
Thanks for your post, Simond.
OSHO QUOTE WARNING: STOP HERE IF YOU DON’T LIKE READING OSHO QUOTES!
“You are not forced to be a sannyasin; a deep longing arises in you. Something hidden in you takes the challenge. Some seed sprouts…you hear some unheard music…you become attracted to some unknown, mysterious force. But the decision is always yours; it is not imposed on you. YOU decide that you would like to learn, that you would like to seek and search. Out of that longing for truth, discipline begins. And you are always free to stop. You are always free to drop out of sannyas. You are always free not to be related to me anymore.”
Osho, ‘The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha’, vol.8 (1980, ch.13)
“Start with the individual and release his intelligence. Don’t give him any programme, don’t give him any project; just make him free and tell him, “The whole sky belongs to you – now you can fly anywhere you like, and whatever you want to do, you do, because there is no God to punish you or reward you. You are totally free, for any act that gives you bliss, that gives you peace, that gives you serenity.”
Osho, ‘The Last Testament’, vol.2 (1985 ch.4)
“I have always been interested in the individual, never in the society. To me, society does not exist; it is only a name. One who exists is the individual.
I will continue to communicate with the individuals without creating any organization. It will be a heart-to-heart talk.”
Osho, ‘The Last Testament’, vol.4 (1985, ch.14)
“What is happening here is not a movement: it is a mutation. It has no concern with the society: its whole concern is with the individual. It is a revolution in the true sense of the word. There is no idea of changing the society or the world, because there is no society at all. Only individuals exist – society is an illusion.”
Osho, ‘Philosophia Perennis’, vol.2 (1979, ch.8)
“You cannot organize love…Love is an individual affair with another individual. And religiousness is a greater love affair with the individual directed towards the whole cosmos. When a man falls in love with the whole cosmos, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the oceans, the stars, he knows what prayer is. It is wordless…Religiousness is an individual affair. It is a message of love from you to the whole cosmos.”
Osho, ‘Satyam Shivam Sundram’ (1987, ch.3)
Nice, Samarpan, and thanks.
I agree with much of what you say about your particular experience, especially about the individual rather than collective reality of Sannyas.
I too never really found the social side of things very important. I’d have liked more friends sometimes, but this arose out of my misplaced need. This need was to be explored intimately to discover what was true and false about it. I was not drawn to explore this in the social crowded marketplace of Sannyas and its over-emphasis on celebration and joy.
Socially, I sometimes felt inept. But as I explored what Osho showed me, these social issues dissipated anyway. Living is the true teacher, Osho just gave hints and pointers and encouragement.
For me, he gave me the tools to investigate, and he offered the practical example of someone who had investigated every corner of the psyche. Which is what I also needed to do, have done and continue to do.
Where you and I may differ is that I don’t now feel Osho in my heart, like you do, I’m no longer grateful to him, or in awe of him, or ever really have to read him. I don’t feel “accepted” by him, as you put it. “Osho’s love” doesn’t “shower me unconditionally” either. He is dead. And to glorify or worship him or in any way consider he is somehow alive or conscious is just using your imagination and memory.
There is much mystery, much we cannot know, but to imagine in the way you suggest is not necessary for me. I suggest, humbly, that you can also deny your imagination in this way. To do so will put the mind back in its proper place. As a tool to think and reflect, under the aegis of your conscious intelligence.
“An individual neo-sannyasin misfit” – that is spot on. Thanks for that, Samarpan.
Moderator, your “Osho quote warning” brought my first laughter of the day. Many thanks for that. Cheers!
MOD: THAT WASN’T US, THAT WAS SAMARPAN!
Stimuating and well written post, Samarpan.
However, one issue:
The Buddhafield in my experience had a magical alchemy if one was open to it. For example, meeting just the right person at the right time, and I include in that NOT seeing certain people, even though though one bumped into them at other times twice a day!
I can remember at least four relationships that came along within the Buddhafield, that certainly helped me along the way, and helped the partner also.
I don’t really accept that most people, myself included, were simply avoiding the journey of the alone to the alone. We were all at different stages of course, and Simond and your good self may have been at different stages from myself.
An interesting debate.
Thanks, Parmartha.
Simond said: “[Osho] is dead.” And Osho said on many occasions that once dead his molecules would dissolve into Existence. (Osho didn’t use those exact words, but I will look for the exact quote). I believe that is true, given what I know about bodily decomposition/cremation. Osho being dead means Existence is the Buddhafield.
But, looking back on my life, Existence was always the Buddhafield. That magical alchemy happened in my life long before meeting Osho, continued in Osho’s presence, and continues in Osho’s physical absence. Physical presence is not required. Existence manages quite well.
Existence = Osho = Magical Alchemy = Osho = Existence.
“Call it whatsoever you like…but there is no problem, there is no question. You are there full of wondering eyes. You are there, full of awe. Suddenly, a tremendous ‘Aha!’ arises in your being and spreads all over you and goes on spreading into the existence. This is what psychologists call the ‘Aha!’ experience, the peak experience. That’s what ecstasy is – such a great ‘Aha!’ that you are completely dissolved into it. It becomes your very song, your celebration, your dance. Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved. Life is a mystery to be lost in, not a problem to be handled.”
Osho, ‘The Discipline of Transcendence’, vol.2 (1976, ch. 6)
Parmartha,
How many of the events of the Buddhafield occurred as coincidence, and/or in imagination?
In my experience, many magical, eventful and profound experiences occur around good friends, at parties or elsewhere, in all sorts of environments. Much learning takes place in all sorts of places.
The import we place on them is up to us. It’s all reflection, or is it as you suggest, the environment itself? Around the master?
In the case of the Buddhafied, how much of the beauty is truly real and how much your imagination?
You have great memories of the Buddhafield, but they are just that, memories. There is no Buddhafield now, is there?
Or perhaps there is? Perhaps YOU are the Buddhafield, perhaps you always were? The beauty of the past and the present happened and is happening IN You, for You.
Osho just reflected the Real Buddha in you.
Whilst you stay in the past, reminding yourself of the beauty of the past, you miss.
You miss – you are the Buddhafield!
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days.
(Muffled sigh, soft shaking of the head, test match on Radio 4 in the background…).
“You miss – you are the Buddhafield!”
Once this thought penetrates the human skull, physical types will still remain focus on “I have the boobs and the beast.”
Intelligent ones will claim, “I have the beauty and the brain.”
Spiritual ones will shout from the facebook pages, “I have the Buddhafield in me” (Buddhafield is unisex).
Nonsense has no limits. There are many roadside signboards: ‘Taj Mahal Tea Stall’, ‘Taj Mahal Tailors (Ladies and Gents)’.
There are people who watch Sunny Leone on the screen and think they have screwed her. They have not even watched her porn!
Yet more material for someone to write an SN comedy show…
A dialogue (or rather, two simultaneous monologues pretending to be a conversation) between Shantam and simond would surely bring the house down…
I suggest it might end with simond (wearing an ‘I AM THE BUDDHAFIELD – AND SO ARE YOU!’ t-shirt) breaking into earnest song, ‘THESE are the days, swami’ (etc.) while observing Shantam (wearing an ‘I HAVE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF SUNNY LEONE – YOU HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD OF HER!’ t-shirt) going off in utterly non-spiritual exasperation to have a much-needed ‘J. Arthur Rank’ in front of his computer screen….
Nice !
There were certainly ‘Arhats’ in Sannyas, and one of my old friends was told that by Osho in an early darshan, and told to simply do everything alone, and that he had a hermit’s charter to so do. I have not seen or heard of him now for over twenty years, and one hopes he is enjoying his cave somewhere on a wild Scottish coast.
Maybe Samarpan and Simond are really types of hermit, and all very well and good. I myself am not that sociable at times, though I admit to liking, and some say, being good, at networking.
I have now lived 70 years, and though I rarely claim age as an ally, I do think that I can distinguish imagination and reality, Simond.
When I have been in a physical Buddhafield and relaxed within it many things and meetings happened which I would say were significant to my growth, and which don’t happen on the London underground (though of course, I do know someone who met his wife on the London underground!).
Sometimes I feel that hermits have a defence strategy and claim covertly that Buddhafields may even have a negative impact on growth. Frankly, my own life experience and also observing the lives of other commune sannyasins over the years speaks very much to the opposite of that.
Hey, Parmatha,
I’m 57 and still pretty unsure about the difference between reality and my imagination. I’m aware of my ability to deceive and confuse myself, so…
Looking forward to getting to 70!
And P.S:
I ain’t no hermit although her indoors does tell me that she has to drag me out sometimes to social events!
Great post, Samarpan!
I too continue to feel gratitude for having Osho in my life, although I was not fortunate enough to be graced by his physical presence. At one point in my neo-sannyas journey, I felt a need to be part of a community and I made a pilgrimage to Tapoban.
But after my experience of the “buddhafield” it become more clear to me that the path of ‘individual neo-sannyasin misfit’ is more fitting at this stage of my life. Even possibly for the rest of my life in this incarnation.
I still appreciate the community but I feel that the destruction of the community or communities will not affect the growth of the seed that has been planted by Osho in numerous individuals, like myself.
While taking my first tea of the day, my first sannyas thought is to encourage editor, proprietor of http://www.oshonews.com for adding comment sections.
First of all, old kind of journalism, old kind of religious preaching, old kind of political churning is over. Interacting is the way of Aquarius age.
And as I see the commentators here, many of them have no idea and no wish to talk about power politics hiding behind the veil of meditation. No doubt, policy-making process after Osho´s demise has become cunning, calculative, competitive and corrupt.
Most of the sannyasins are not willing to look at this aspect. They are busy with their enlightenment and before that happens, some poetry, some music and lots and lots of Tantra if it is possible, thanks to various Tantra teachers adoring the advertisement section of Oshonews.
By adding comments sections, many of the fellow bloggers here will find the space for their voice too. No doubt, these are beautiful people with beautiful hearts of mature seekers.
Thanks,
Shantam
Well, I would be interested in what Osho News replied, Shantam?!
Satyadeva,
Re your weekend proposals…
I am not in the education business, and as far as life experience is teaching me, psychopaths are efficiently resistant, either to education or to therapeutic efforts from ´outside´ themselves.
They mostly don´t suffer themselves, while they like to make others suffer.
So long time being patient – in patience – is up to us, I guess.
Madhu
I guess you feel like this right now, Madhu?
Fair enough, Madhu (and btw, my suggestion was not entirely ‘serious’).
Yet Shantam may be many things, but not, I think, a “psychopath”.
Sat, check out the new research on psychopaths. They are a fascinating bunch. Not all killers by any means, you might even be one? I’m certainly borderline!
Are you referring to (amongst others, perhaps) ‘The Psychopath Test’, by Jon Ronson? Excellent book that, very readable and amusing.
I guess psychopathology occurs along a continuum, a spectrum along which exist many variations? There surely must be plenty of common ground shared by ‘psychopaths’ and ‘normal neurotics’. In which case, I’ll see you on the borderline then, simond….
This whole post seems like work of someone from the Resort or someone sympathetic. There are just too many anomalies in each paragraph, each paragraph is an excuse on the basis of just one line.
Osho said no more ashram – well, for that matter, Osho never said ‘resort’ also, he wanted commune.
Second paragraph: you mean we should just let Jayesh get away with all the booty just because it’s not Osho’s main place, because he just spent 10 years of his life there. What about all the people who put their money and sweat into building this place?
Third paragraph: tell this to Jayesh and you will know the true meaning of hierarchy.
Fourth paragraph: I have never come across anyone who was in Samadhi and worshipping, and everyone called it Samadhi, and it didn’t matter, really.
Man,I can’t even comment on other paragraphs, this is called yellow journalism.
On a serious note, are all the old SN staff reporters gone? Or there are still some left? This is something I haven’t expected from SN, this sets the bar really really low.
Narayan,
Your post shows readers of Sannyasnews are not so passive in their responses.
Once in a while someone comes to remind: be centered and don´t claim once in a while sun rises from the west too.
Narayan, seems you are into reading too much of all kinds of news and you are bored with all of that (including sannyasnews).
One more anomaly: wondering how come Shantam has not asked for your passport details! But in any case would like if you don’t mind sharing a little about yourself.
This feels like hackneyed thinking to me. SN has always said, since its internet inception in 2000, that we prefer to be open to and publish multiple shades of opinion, many points of view, rather than keep solely to any single perspective.
This chap Narayan is probably surrounded by people who think just like him, and so finds it difficult to understand that other sannyasins may actually have a different view, but are equally in all respects, ‘sannyasins’.
For me, it is interesting to note Narayan’s accusation of “yellow Journalism”. The last person who accused us of this way back was his arch enemy ‘Amrito’.
It seems like both sides like the same vocabulary, and also don’t like independent thinking at all!
Shantam in his own words here on SN,a while back:
“I am a sannyasin…but a Sikh sannyasin and does not crave to be anybody else. My name is Shantam Iqbal Singh, and when death knocks me down, I wish to say goodbye with the customs which were before my birth and will be afterwards too.”
Before embarking on any `dialogue` with him it may be neccesary to remember that concepts and/or experiences that go beyond the imposed limits of such religious sentiments are simply beyond him.
Of course, a chat with a village idiot – or more accurately, a relig-idiot – can be entertaining at times.
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
Frank, thanks for digging out one honest and ‘relevant’ paragraph from my years old post:
“I am a sannyasin…but a Sikh sannyasin and does not crave to be anybody else. My name is Shantam Iqbal Singh, and when death knocks me down, I wish to say goodbye with the customs which were before my birth and will be afterwards too.”
Please let me know the whole link. I am curious to analyse my own words to see where it comes closer to statement and where as irony.
Anyway, the paragraph quoted above is inspiring enough for me to type one string: ‘The Last Rituals Of An Osho Disciple From Pune.’
I want to take the death celebration in this thread. I hope you too will share some thoughts about your own last day.
Wrong take on your guessing, Swamishanti.
Yet your graphic design compilations over the time are very impressing. Also that you shared another one about your way to look for special IT support, and not forgetting your egg-ing(s) in various numbers.
No, I have been busy little bit with research about ´balderdash´ or/and ´shebang’, with all its various meanings, and this didn´t come with you (but Satyadeva) onto this spot/edge/corner/issue of the cyberworld´s temporary caravanserai.
Mostly not a spot for taking refuge or serving as a kind recreation ´resort´; or a meeting place for Sannyas and friends, how it is named.
Too bad that we don´t meet this way.
As humans, sharing, on the pathless Path.
Just using a tool, instead of the tool using us.
Madhu
Guten Morgen,
Madhu!
Ah, so!
Sannyasnews is a visiting place for meditators, older/younger sannyasins, cybermen, misfits, salesmen and newsreaders. A tabloid with ‘tits and bums’ for some, for others it is a serious ‘newsprint’!
Some like to pass by and read.
Sannyasins who still have Osho pulsating in their hearts.
Sannyasins who love to walk ‘alone’.
Rascals, vagabonds, bald-headed men, Oinkzuhaus, und Satsang wallah’s das Geshaft!
People who want ‘Ashram’.
People who want ‘Resort’.
People who love to ‘argoo’, as Osho loved to ‘argoo’.
And space for serious commentary und debate.
Let it be a rainbow of themes and colours.
Different strains of music.
For ever and ever,
With love,
Auf Wiedersehen!
Guten Abend, Swamishanti,
Danke.
Your compilation about what is what and your love to SN-mix became clear. Maybe you can enlighten me why females (if at all) are quite under-represented as visible contributors?
Rainbows, Swamishanti, are – for me – quite rare happenings, especially in the metaphorical sense. That´s why it is so precious. Not to get hold on in anyway. (MOD:DON’T GET THIS SENTENCE, MADHU).
Otherwise, I know, the bunch of ´rainbow flags´, the ´rainbow businesses´, conferences, parties, songs and so much more.
My body grew up in a rather cold area…no monsoon ever. Once in a rare while, a rainbow happening.
Then you could see me running. In awe. Like a child.
Madhu
Guten Tag Madhu
“Maybe you can enlighten me why females (if at all) are quite under-represented as visible contributors?”
Apart from a few ‘bunnies’, not many females. seem to hang around for long on SN.
Maybe it’s because they can’t compete with the male intellectual egos.
Tschussi,
Bis dann!
Lately, the guys here are inspired to short phrases: “they can’t compete with the male intellectual egos”. I like it, SS. I am hanging around here, it means I am a bunny? Thanks, I am a sixty-two year old bunny! Cheers!
Definition of bunny ((from ‘The Online Slang Dictionary’): A highly sexual attractive female
Yes, you are a bunny, Tan, and you look much younger than your age!
I meant that all of the women on SN are bunnies.
Nice one, Shanti.
Good post, shantishanti.
Without sense of humour, there is no O Shanti, O Madhu, O Prem!
O religion business is full of humour, irony, denial and enlightenment (hide).
You`ve said it more than once dear boy .
Here was another (6 sept 2010):
“Today, I write again with my Sannyas name and the name describing my socio-religious identity. I am a sannyasin… but a Sikh sannyasin, and do not crave to be somebody else.
I am Shantam Iqbal Singh, and when the death knocks me down I wish to say goodbye with the customs, which were before my birth and stay afterwards too.
I don´t mind even the presence of Christian priest in one of the Churches I visit frequently. Only request will be, just don´t make any plea to anyone on my behalf. Just a Church song is more than enough I wish to carry with me. Just like a sandwich (Aloo paratha) and a cup of warm drink.
For my taste it is still real, if not grandiose.”
Do you really see your life and your death as matters for priests, churches, customs, the holy underwear one is wearing etc?
.
To be obsessed with what rituals take place after he is dead is surely a sign of some crazy obsession and self- importance. Do you imagine yourself watching from the Sikh heaven whilst women in dresses dance and sing and honour the newly deceased?
Perhaps a trail of white lilies? And above, in one of the many heavens you will soon frequent, a kindly Osho welcomes with open arms? Higher still, Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Das, and the others, with tears in their eyes, honouring You, the only true spiritual man left in this godless world?
Four and half years later, I can still write the same.
Not just children, human beings too need rituals; not just human beings, but Master and Master of the Masters too have their rituals.
If Frank (What is your Sannyas name?), you were around Osho´s last journey, I hope you have not forgotten the rituals. Surely there were no Jain or Hindu mantras but Osho music. Anybody can watch the photos of sannyasins dying in Pune or Europe, it has its own set of rituals and the famous music from the world of Osho.
P.S:
For this post, I was thinking to add link of ‘I Leave You My Dream’ documentary. It seems IS elements adament to remove every signature of past have pressurised youtube and others to remove it or never allow it again.
Well, as Frank intimated this morning, there is really little or no possibility of mutual connection concerning matters relating to ‘what Sannyas is all about’ with this sort of tradition-bound, externals (like ashrams)-fixated mentality.
Beyond a certain minimum, I’m no advocate of drug-taking, but I’m beginning to think that perhaps one or two carefully administered, mind-opening LSD sessions in a benign environment might just be what Shantam could do with.
The man is so stubbornly enclosed within a self-and-tradition-created psychic prison of ossified beliefs and values that perhaps only such an expansive shock to his system could possibly free him – at least, temporarily.
That, or some dreadful soul-shaking catastrophe, perhaps.
But of course, he’d have to want such an opening – and knowing Shantam, he’d want to resist it to the end. So, no hope down that avenue, unfortunately.
No, perhaps there’s no real alternative other than to recall that in the very early days, around ’72/3, Osho apparently ‘warned’ that all types would be attracted to his Sannyas:* ‘good’, ‘bad’, honest, criminal, wholehearted, half-hearted, intelligent, stupid, energetic, lazy, etc.etc. Which is why his community would be challenging rather than merely a ‘cakewalk’ for escapists. And Shantam is surely living evidence of that prediction….
*As noted in Veena’s book, ‘Glimpses ot My Master’, Osho personally telling her as much.
Satyadeva,
Do you feel remorse sometimes that life gave you the chance to be part of Osho community and your mind pulled you out?
I think it is that non-lived energy which you feel through Veena´s book. Many people went all the way, but not you. Now you are using all kind of rationalisation to save your mind.
A certain Ageh Bharti related this story about Osho in Jabalpur in 1970:
“On the way home (from a funeral) we sat in the rear and felt elated. Great luck – the Master drives and the devotees sit watching! These were ecstatic moments…
After a while, I asked Osho, “Is there any sense in the rituals that are done after death? I am asking because if this occasion happens to me, I will neither do any rituals, nor would I like them to be done for me.”
Osho took a right turn and replied, “There is a great sense but it is purely psychological. When some near and dear one dies, suddenly everything stops, a big gap comes as if a wheel of a moving car suddenly stops. So, when we engage ourselves in rituals, the wheel of life that had stopped slowly starts moving again and in a few days life becomes normal. Otherwise, when someone dies, there is such a void that it becomes hard to live and it is difficult to engage in some other work. Therefore, rituals were devised for the loved one who departed. But it does not do any good to the departed one. It is only to start the wheel of life that has momentarily stopped. So there is a great purpose in it but it is psychological. Other than that there is no purpose.”
I have been to maybe more funerals than I would have liked over the last few years and I have to say that a good amount of people that I talked to are indeed aware of the truth of what Osho is saying here. And once you know it, the rituals are just a bit of theatre really and the priest is more like a compere than a psychopomp.
Furthermore, those communal rituals are limited in scope and my experience is that the individual has to find their own equilibrium within their own loss and this process can never have a fixed, pre-ordained form.
Shantam, you have mentioned that you `experimented` with Prozac and viewed it as a western `soma`. That is not right.
Prozac is the sacrament of the chemical psychiatric western dream. It dulls the mind.
If you want soma, try LSD as SD suggests, or Ayahuasca is big these days.
Take a trip out of robe/chuddie/turban land, at least for a day!
And I have forgotten to mention that your own death has nothing to do with these rituals and so on whatsoever.
Nothing at all.
To think that it does is just to be brainwashed, like believeing that the caste system is ordained by God or that women are property etc.
Frank, do you have family? I mean children or disciples, wife or a keep?
As ‘remorse’ means guilt, bitter repentance, then no, I don’t feel remorse at all, Shantam, as I’m not grieving for what is irretrievably lost (unlike you, it would appear!).
Without going into specific details of my personal history, I did (or didn’t do) what seemed right at the time (like everyone) and things have ‘worked out’ largely for the good anyway.
You’re off the mark suggesting I enjoy Veena’s book as a sort of ‘substitute’ for personal experience as, for one thing, if I’d ever returned to Pune I would never have been anywhere near Osho’s ‘inner circle’, my place would have been very much among the ‘foot soldiers’, far away from those rarified environs, almost certainly struggling with therapies (having endured exceptionally negative extensive group experience in London) – and even very likely becoming ill.
At the time, ie back in ’80/81, the only realistic ‘window of opportunity’ I had in those days, it was a gamble that seemed more likely to fail than to succeed.
Having said that, I’ll never know, of course, and I might have made the ‘wrong’ decision, but what I do know is that other crucial life opportunities came along, including a lot of personal contact with another master, which made a significant difference.
No, the attraction of Veena’s book (and the others of hers I’ve read) is its certain ineffable yet down-to-earth quality, emanating the ring of truth on every page, that of a highly intelligent, discriminating, humorous, meditative and totally devoted, yet unsentimental female disciple who was close to Osho from the early days. An almost unique ‘memoir’ of priceless experience. (And again, Shantam, you’re mistaken if you think your Sannyas experience was similar; it self-evidently simply wasn’t – and isn’t).
Also, of course, having met her at the Nirvana Centre, London, in early ’73, where I took one of the two week intro courses she ran in dynamic meditation, hearing her fascinating tales of India and ‘Bhagwan’ related in a completely unintrusive, unfanatical yet compelling way, her books have a particular attraction for me.
Enough for today, Shantam?!
This is a personal and honest post and worthy for love and appreciation.
Thanks for opening up for a bit.
You at your best have the same scrupulous, reflective honesty about yourself and your life that you see in Veena.
Welcome back, Arpana!
(Sorry, I’ve forgotten – do you prefer cash or a cheque?).
“Osho rejected the name ‘Ashram’” is the title of this article. SN Staff reporters have failed to mention what was (is) Osho´s choice.
I think Osho has himself used many times the word ashram during early Pune days. It is a generic name for a place where a Master resides with His disciples. In English, the synonym can be monastery; contemporary spiritual version is commune: ‘my commune’, ‘this commune’ kind of phrases, my memory remembers Osho saying.
Every rickshaw wallah, as well as elites of Pune, know where is the ASHRAM but none of them can tell where is that fucking Resort!
To call that place ‘resort’ is a rapist´s synonym for Love!
So many genius around and no one has answered this point: If Osho rejected the name ‘Ashram’, what was His choice?
But you yourself (and, I think, others) have said it was ‘commune’, Shantam!
Osho rejected the name ‘Ashram’!
Osho rejected the title ‘Bhagwan’ too.
I remember to be in that discourse when Osho explains something like, ‘Bhag’ is Vagina, and ‘wan’ means who owes it or in it. So he drops the ugly Hindu word ‘Bhagwan’.
In my observation (I am very thankful to life, it has not made me with the stuff which changes its eye-witness account under greed, pressure or coercion, therefore in my imagination, if Osho movement survives, Shantam´s notes will be considered as the most authentic ones), during the last months of His life Osho was giving the final touches to His spiritual movement and finally creating new and independent entity He was working His whole life for.
Without naming it, one can say Osho has put the roots of a new religion. Religion means a way of life followed by individual and collective.
Think in this way:
Just like Christian festivals, Osho himself has created set of festivals falling every three months apart, in every season there is one Osho festival. Were these festivals created by bunch of conservative Hindus and Sikhs around or by the Boss himself?
Not by the boss, but he did allow it to happen!
I’m sure all sannyasins and fellow-travellers can hardly contain their excitement at the prospect of the forthcoming publication of the First Gospel of Swami Shantam Prem Iqbal Singh…
At last, there is Certainty!
At last, Order!
At last, a Proper, Authentic, Official Version of ‘What Osho Really Said…And Wanted…And Still Wants’!
Praise the Lord – er, sorry, I mean God – no, that’s not ‘It’…erm, er…ah yes, of course, ‘Existence’ – for allah-wing us to be Blessed so profoundly by One of Our Own!
Amen.
N.B:
For the foreseeable, non-existent future, Morning Sannyas Bhajans and Osho Evensong from Freiburg Cathedral will be led by the Swami Himself, who, despite total lack of public demand, is keen to demonstrate just how much in tune he is with something called ‘Osho’s Vision’ and how he alone possesses the highest qualifications for the crucial role of Head Priest of this latest version of a new-but-terribly-old-and-mediocre-already-unfortunately-thoroughly-clapped-out-concept.
The Very Best of Osho’s Grace to All who attend (you’ll most definitely need It).
Nice comedy, Satyadeva.
This genre of writing also suits you other than dry psychoanalysis.