Nitya Prem writes:
In a bit of a homage to the Love Osho podcasts I thought I’d post an answer to one of their closing questions, and see if it might raise some debate.
For me, Osho was the centre of a sometimes difficult, sometimes inspiring childhood. Things that have stayed with me were the warmth of the sannyasin community, the early steps on a spiritual path from the discourses, the knowledge that spirituality didn’t have to be serious (the jokes were great!), the many-sidedness of Osho’s spiritual knowledge. These things still colour my thoughts every day.
So perhaps that makes it difficult for me not to see Osho’s influence in wider society as well. For example the other day my cousin goes on a spiritual retreat, with a lady called Erica Rijnsburger, who it turns out has a background in Poona, or I pick up a book by Tony Parsons, who also spent a long time living among sannyasins. It seems Osho can be found in lots of unexpected places.
The other thing that really made a difference to me is Osho’s attitude to women — he loved having them around and made sure the commune treated them with respect. It’s something which I think has slowly been gaining ground over the old patriarchy, that women can bring a new perspective in governance, care, counselling, many areas.
But it seems to me that men and women complement each other, that in a relationship where the feminine as well as the masculine are respected and support each other that both benefit. The whole discussion of equality of the sexes is a red herring: the sexes are not equal, just different. If you ask a fish to climb a tree, you’ll never find out what a great swimmer he is.
In a way, society has absorbed some of Osho’s teachings, and in other ways he is still as relevant today as he was in the 1970s and 1980s. There isn’t a worldwide spiritual movement today that’s as much of a force of renewal in the psyche as Sannyas was back then, but there are still young sannyasins joining the path.
(MOD: Apologies for lack of bold text in first paragraph, there seems to be a technical fault).
There can be no doubt that Osho had a positive impact on many peoples’ lives. In retrospect, after the dust had settled, what Osho left behind was a bit of a mixed bag.
It is impossible to ignore the scandals that emerged after his death completely. Of course, those who feel positive about Osho will rationalize his actions and make light of it, turn a blind eye, so to speak, while those who feel pessimistic about him will use what information they can to set Osho in a negative light. As we believe, so the world will appear. The world is a mirror. Upon reflection, I have had conflicting thoughts about this over the years. Today, I tend to view Osho in a positive light. On a personal level, he gave me patience, laughter, incredible vibes and good advice, and he certainly knew how to create a celebration out of all the good things in life. Yes, he was a rascal, but a very lovable one.
About the scandals, which are you talking about, exactly? The Erin Robbins letter made it clear she was talking about consensual sexual encounters between adults. The abuse of female teenagers in the communes is hard to attribute to Osho, he was so remote from it. The nitrous oxide I see as a personal matter — some people choose to do ayahuasca, Osho did laughing gas. The 93 Rolls Royces were just a bit of playful fun on behalf of many wealthier sannyasins.
After giving it all due consideration, I don’t think there is that much we can lay against him. He may have been a bit of a rascal but he was also a wonderful guru (in the Indian sense) and teacher. It’s beyond the scope of my late night musings to give a full overview of all he did and what he meant for his people, but my image of him is overwhelmingly positive.
When I came to the Pune Commune for the first time, he had just left his body & I didn’t have any knowledge of him & his Work. Initially missed his physical presence terribly, but soon overcame that.
Realized, through his words, sharing with fellow-travellers &, last but not least, my own understanding ! that I/anyone always lived & lives their life in the moment – only few realize this!
Yes, I agree with Lokesh ”what Osho left behind was a bit of a mixed bag.”
NP, now it seems Qsho has seeped through most society/ies.
”The whole discussion of equality of the sexes is a red herring: the sexes are not equal, just different. If you ask a fish to climb a tree, you’ll never find out what a great swimmer he is” is true.
Somehow now, I think & feel, for me Osho is my kindergarten Teacher & I would not be able to explore on my own without his initial teachings!
Kavita writes, “I think & feel, for me Osho is my kindergarten Teacher & I would not be able to explore on my own without his initial teachings!”
It is a good point, and one I can relate to.
NP enquires, “About the scandals, which are you talking about, exactly?”
NP, the scandals around Osho have been covered enough on this site. The whole ‘was Osho guilty or innocent?’ issue has passed its sell-by date ages ago. The information is out there. One can make of it whatever one wishes. I have no desire to go into it.
Well, if it has passed its sell-by date then there is no need to discuss it, is there? For me, the scandals are largely irrelevant to how I see Osho now. It’s like they gave things a little push, just to make things wobble. People can spend time on them if they wish.
For me, it’s all fallen away, apart from the Osho who talks in the discourses. That’s how I like to remember him, sitting in the Buddha Hall in front of his people.
Lokesh said, “The whole ‘was Osho guilty or innocent’ issue has passed its sell-by date ages ago”
I was reading in ‘The Hidden Splendour’ this morning, and came across this passage…
“Relationship as such, real or imaginary, is a very subtle kind of psychological slavery. Either you enslave the other, or you become a slave yourself. Another point to be noted is that you cannot enslave somebody without becoming a slave yourself. Slavery is a double-edged sword. One may be stronger, one may be weaker, but in every relationship you become the jailer and the other becomes the prisoner. From his side, he is the jailer and you are the prisoner. And this is one of the fundamental causes of humanity living in such sadness, in such a sorrowful state.
You have heard me rightly: I don’t want any part of any relationship, “…certainly not our hate, but not even our love.” From my side, I will not allow any relationship; I will not nourish any relationship. But you are free to suffer — that is your birthright.”
( Osho, ‘The Hidden Splendour’ )
Osho is talking about his non-relationship with his sannyasins in this passage, and I think that is kind of relevant to this issue of thinking about him as guilty or innocent. He was not really there as a person, and so it doesn’t really matter whether you consider him guilty, it’s something that happens just in the viewer’s mind. What he was was beyond all this.
Later on in answering the same question he says this:
“Relationship is part of the business world. Just a slight change in the situation, and it evaporates. It has no solidity.
I have showered my love without any conditions, and yet there have been many people who have taken advantage of it, in many ways. And because of their loving imagination, they were expecting something from me. Man is so blind, he cannot see it. When I don’t expect anything from you, at least remember that you cannot expect anything from me either.
And when their expectations are not fulfilled — and they are not going to be fulfilled — then immediately love turns into hate. And it has left wounds in my heart, because I have simply given love, never expected anything from them, and they have turned into enemies because of their expectations — in which I have no part. I have never promised them anything. Expectations are there, frustrations are there — but first they were projecting expectations; now they are projecting frustrations. Neither could they see last time, nor are they able to see this time, that they are surrounded with their own unconscious ideas. And they are suffering.”
( Osho, ‘The Hidden Splendour’ )
People are trapped in their own expectations of him, and I think that applies whether your vision is of him in the moment, or viewing his legacy retrospectively. The whole issue of what you consider his role was is something that he leaves with you.
Instead he just showered his love and blessings on those who were present.
NP says, “Osho was not really there as a person.”
I know what is meant by that, and I have heard what Osho said about this.
Yet, I find myself wondering what NP means by saying Osho was not really there as a person.
NP, perhaps you would care to share what you mean by this, because, to all intents and purposes, Osho was really there. He liked to tell jokes, he enjoyed to talk, he had girlfriends, he took pleasure in driving luxury cars, he was disturbed by the children who were making noise in his room’s precincts and he didn’t like the Pope or Mother Theresa, he liked to spend a lot of time reading books etc. If he was not there how is all that possible?
If you know what Osho meant by saying that it’s surely enough. For me it’s a phrase which carries the flavour of non-duality, it’s slightly poetic, as if there’s no sense of ‘I’ there.
But then I think that most people who work long enough with the question ‘Who am I?’ arrive at this point, that they discover that there is nothing to which they can refer to as an ‘I’.
“I am not” is the negative expression.
What is the positive expression?
Osho is still a mirror today, for those who want to look into the mirror.
Why does there have to be an opposite? Thinking in opposites is the primitive mind asserting itself…
Haha, then Osho must be primitive for you.
I suggest you look in his books where he talks that no-mind and total mind is the same. Good luck!
Another stunning intellectual victory for Satchit. How can poor NP stand a chance when mighty Satchit focuses his sharp mind and wit upon him? Yes, a razor-sharp mind. So sharp he must be careful not to cut himself, especially when laughing at his own jokes.
Lokesh, you are so wise and compassionate.
Maybe you should tell NP the ultimate joke?
I would, if I knew it.
Looking forward to someone telling the ultimate joke…
Think the English will lose tonight, 2-0
Decent attempt, NP, but surely you can do better than that, I’ve barely raised a smile!
Although apparently, Spain and Spanish clubs haven’t lost in the last 23 international competitions where they’ve reached the final.
I’m going for both teams to score and a draw at 90 mins.
Scotland will win the EURO 2024 final for sure.
Cue the one independent Scottish fan to charge onto the field for a few selfies….
I came across a beautiful section today…
“What is the path of virtue? No religion has been able to provide it — not even the criterion by which it can be judged.
As far as I am concerned, I say to live joyously, contented, fulfilled, sharing your love, your silence, your peace, letting your life become such a beautiful dance that not only you feel blessed but you can bless the whole world — that is the only authentic path. Life is itself the criterion; everything else is non-essential.”
( Osho, ‘The Hidden Splendour’ )
Talking about ‘what is the aim of life’ and how religions had been unable to provide an answer to this question. Even today Osho’s view on this is enlightened and fresh.
“Amrito, you are saying, “This morning before discourse, sitting on the marble, I felt as if we were one mouth singing, one heart beating, one breath breathing. I felt so much love in my being, as if we were all one being.
“I feel like giving a lot, I feel as if I am taking so much from everywhere, and my being wants to be useful for developing eternal love. I have the feeling we are holding each other’s hands and starting to flower all together in the spring.”
It is not a dream. It is a dream that is becoming real, a dream that is transforming itself into reality.
And it is not only you. Many people have written to me; in different ways they have felt it, and what they have felt is not their projection. It is our reality, it is our discovery. The whole existence is one organic unity. You are not only holding hands with each other, you are holding hands with the trees. You are not only breathing together, the whole universe is breathing together.”
( Osho, ‘The Hidden Splendour’ )
Osho did have a certain something of non-duality, the idea of oneness to his teachings, although it is not often emphasised.
NP draws the following conclusion: “Osho did have a certain something of non-duality, the idea of oneness to his teachings, although it is not often emphasised.”
I can’t agree with that. Osho constantly reminded people of oneness. To say he did not often emphasize this is absurd.
Yeah, but you have to admit that when people talk about Osho’s teaching it is more often the meditation techniques or the ‘sex to superconsciousness’ angle that gets talked about.
I suppose that depends on the kind of people you listen to. ‘Meditation’, ‘sex to superconsciousness’, even there the underlying motivation is to achieve some kind of oneness, or else what is the point?
No I mean the summaries of his teachings that appear on the internet… Wikipedia, general web pages, AI summaries and so on.
NP writes, “When people talk about Osho’s teaching it is more often the meditation techniques or the ‘sex to superconsciousness’ angle that gets talked about.”
I comment, “I suppose that depends on the kind of people you listen to.”
Then NP writes, “No, I mean the summaries of his teachings that appear on the internet… Wikipedia, general web pages, AI summaries and so on.”
NP, you began by referring to people talking. Now you say that it is not people talking you are referring to but rather AI summaries and so forth. Erm…I think you need to consider the comments you write more carefully before publishing, otherwise people, not AI, might be left with the impression you are shifting the goalposts, or something like that.
Besides, what you are saying is untrue. In the Wikipedia link you refer to it clearly states, “The sociologist Lewis F. Carter saw Osho’s ideas as rooted in Hindu advaita, in which the human experiences of separateness, duality and temporality are held to be a kind of dance or play of cosmic consciousness in which everything is sacred, has absolute worth and is an end in itself.”
Perhaps you did not actually bother to read the link, simply content to imagine you are right, when in fact you are mistaken. That is a pity because the Wikipedia link also contains the following statement:
“According to Rajneesh every human being is a Buddha with the capacity for enlightenment, capable of unconditional love and of responding rather than reacting to life.”
“Responding rather than reacting to life.” Yes, indeed.
Talking of which, we have His Holiness Satchit putting in his rupees worth with the following pearl of wisdom:
“”the idea of oneness”
I would not call it an idea, NP. It is the reality.”
Which is, of course, an idea, because an idea is a formulated thought or opinion.
Certainly Bhagwan Sri Sri Loco is right:
A thought is a thought.
And reality is reality.
Hmm. Being right is overrated, lol.
Being right is underrated compared to being wrong.
The thing is, everyone on the internet spends so much time arguing about who is right, which is a mind-based activity. So much of what Osho said is poetic or wrapped in anecdotes, I’m tempted to leave arguing about it to others.
I have my impressions of how others view what he said, I could be wrong in detail or in grand sweep, but I’m not that interested in going and justifying every detail of every post I make by a thorough scholarly analysis.
If other people think that I am wrong and are willing to gather evidence to that effect, that is fine, I don’t think it particularly matters although there are probably better ways they could have spent the time.
The whole notion of Osho and oneness, I have never seen it get a lot of attention, and he was not known as an Advaita teacher at the time. You can cite a specific reference which believes his teaching had roots there, and you can argue the point, but I don’t think you can classify Osho so easily.
Oneness and Buddhahood are the same.
Was not his whole teaching about becoming Buddhas?
About waking up sleeping Buddhas?
I’m not so sure, there are people who have had mystical experiences of oneness, through mushrooms or meditation, who don’t seem to be very enlightened. Many non-duality teachers are a little curious, I have been reading their books.
Mystical experiences are not so difficult.
Lately I had one while driving on the German Autobahn.
For enlightenment the experience needs to be stable – only oneness is, you are not.
NP writes, ‘There are people who have had mystical experiences of oneness, through mushrooms or meditation, who don’t seem to be very enlightened.’
You can add people who had a mystical experience while driving on the German Autobahn to the list.
Satchit said, “lately I had one while driving on the German Autobahn.”
You should get that looked at, if you have mental health experiences while driving you could be uninsured and they may take your licence….
It is nothing new, NP.
Down through the ages the mystic and his experience has been ridiculed by the masses.
Poor Satchit, a mystic being ridiculed by the masses. Is there no end to his persecution?
Satchit, tell us about your mystic experience on the Autobahn! We are interested.
Yes, yes, Satchit, please tell us about your mystical experience while driving on the Autobahn. Were you listening to Kraftwerk? “Wir fahren, fahren, fahren auf der Autobahn.”
Basically, a mystical experience is a private affair.
But it can happen that you suddenly drive without the self.
And suddenly you are the driver on your right side and you are also the driver on your left side.
You are driving through emptiness, or call it oneness.
Thank God, it was a short moment!
By the way, I did not say that Osho did not teach oneness, merely that this aspect of his teaching is often not emphasised…Anyway, enough about that. Next topic!
NP, I know it might come as a surprise to you, but I have to tell you anyway, so I hope it does not come as too much of a shock. I can read.
Shock, horror! It seems to me you can write as well.
Yes, yes, it is true, NP. I am even proficient at grammar. For example, SD had to insert a comma between shock and horror in your comment. Naughty boy. Write ‘Who am I?’ one thousand times.
Who am I? 1000x
However, I am proficient at maths.
Oh, I see, NP. Then you will have no problem understanding Swami Gandhooji’s famous spiritual equation:
One and one makes two times more than you.
I base my subjective definition of a beautiful mathematical equation on two primary factors: the simplicity of the equation and the satisfaction I feel in using it. Those elements include a high level of concentration, a sense of control, and decreased rumination or worry, with a clear goal and immediate feedback. It is also accompanied by an altered sense of time, as I fail to notice the minutes or hours flying by.
Lokesh said, “Then you will have no problem understanding Swami Gandhooji’s famous spiritual equation:
One and one makes two times more than you.”
Well, since according to some mystics there is no such thing as ‘I’ it makes perfect sense….
“the idea of oneness”
I would not call it an idea, NP.
It is the reality. But it needs at least a little satori to perceive it.
I think that anyone who looks long enough at the natural world comes to that conclusion, no satori needed.
The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, who I am very fond of although he passed away in 2022, used to tell a story… he said, the cloud rains itself onto the Earth, where the water stream is collected as drinking water by humans. So it is that the cloud is present in my tea. All things in this way are interrelated.
And even more so, the physicist Jacob Boehm once said, “all things that we take to be real are made up of things that are profoundly unreal,” talking about quantum mechanics and how the process of observation changes the thing observed.
The whole of reality, ourselves included, is a tremendous Mystery, which really can’t be separated into smaller parts. And is that not Oneness?
By the way, I misattributed the quote. The physicist is David Bohm, the philosopher from the early Rennaisance is Jacob Boehme. I muddled them up together.
I am still making my way through the early Pune 2 discourses, and have just downloaded ‘The Razor’s Edge’, ‘Zarathustra, A God That Can Dance’ and ‘The Golden Future’ onto my iPhone, which is slowly filling up with Osho discourse series.
The chronological sequence is ‘The Rebellious Spirit’ (which I have been listening to) followed by ‘The Razor’s Edge’ (yet to consume) and then ‘The Hidden Splendour’ (which I was reading recently). I find it very useful to know roughly what part of Osho’s life the discourses come from, he went through certain phases, and in the end he spoke very slowly.
I’ve found this web page useful, in combination with the invaluable resource that is OshoWorld:
https://osholifeandvision.com/osho-books-in-chronological-order/
I find the early Pune 2 lectures a golden period, they are not so full of political stuff as the late Ranch or the World Tour, but still lively and not as slow as the late Pune 2 material on Zen. I thought ‘The Hidden Splendour’ was a particularly good series.
Yet another excerpt from NP’s diary.
Hehe, yep. All in the general trend of helping sannyasins decide which Osho book to read next. I recall you said a while back that you picked up an Osho book off your shelf to read, I know other sannyasins who do this. But then you’re stuck with just the few books you have a paper copy of, and they may not be the best…
I like to peruse the chronological list of Osho books, pick something which looks good, and then download the pdf from OshoWorld, where they have a comprehensive list of them for reading and downloading, onto my tablet and I read them there.
His Holiness Satchit declares, “Basically, a mystical experience is a private affair.”
Just one more thing his Holiness and Osho do not see I to eye on.
Basically, I suspect this has more to do with Satchit’s inability to share anything much of a personal nature, content instead to trade in cliches and gobble-de-gook he has picked up, while driving through emptiness, or call it oneness, or more likely, a load of nonsense produced by someone who has fantasies about himself being a mystic who is ridiculed by the masses. Oh well, I suppose we all have our cross to bear.
So wicked, Lokesh! Satchit may be a man of limited talents at writing posts, but he has provided us with a short outline of his experience…
Satchit wrote: “But it can happen that you suddenly drive without the self. And suddenly you are the driver on your right side and you are also the driver on your left side. You are driving through emptiness, or call it oneness.”
It sounds like it could be a case of depersonalisation, which can have as symptoms ‘observing yourself from an external perspective’ or ‘a general feeling of being disconnected from the world.’ It’s important to seek treatment, because it may be a symptom of a more serious condition. Just saying…
NP, I mentioned it already, it’s a private experience. Certainly you can enjoy your psychological diagnosis.
Fact is: It says more about you than about me.
But are you not concerned Satchit? It sounds like quite a drastic thing to have happened just driving along on the Autobahn.
Just the fact that there are two ways to interpret it, one therapeutic and one mystical, doesn’t mean you should not get medical advice over it. These things can be early warning signs of a more serious disorder. Seriously.
That said, the state of therapy these days is pretty awful, mostly they just prescribe pills or do a little cognitive behavioural therapy. It can be a difficult landscape to navigate. But you could at least do something like living a lower-stress life for a while.
By golly, NP, you might be on to something. “It could be a case of depersonalization.” Yes, Satchit may well be suffering from this mental disorder. Depersonalization-derealization disorder is thought to be caused largely by interpersonal trauma such as early childhood abuse. Did his geography teacher in primary school order him to bend over to receive punishment? Heavens forbid! Adverse early childhood experiences, specifically emotional abuse and neglect have been linked to the development of depersonalization symptoms.
Compassion for His Holiness Satchit may well be in order for his mental disorder. Not to mention his feelings of being a persecuted mystic who has to suffer the indignation of the masses ridiculing him. It’s just a thought but, as Satchit reminds us, “A thought is a thought. And reality is reality.”
NP, I will curb my wicked cynicism (wsomething I might have picked up from Osho), while you keep an eye on the poor fellow.
Unfortunately, Satchit being Satchit, he will in all likelihood write your psychological diagnosis off as some sort of projection on your part.
So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills,
You know the one, Dr. Everything’ll Be Alright,
Instead of asking him how much of your time is left,
Ask him how much of your mind, baby!
Kudos on the Prince lyrics reuse in a post!
I could hear the guitar track to ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ start up in my mind as I read it, haha.
The thing is, Joseph Campbell once said, “the psychotic drowns in the same waters where the mystic swims with delight”, and I think there is truth in that, but you need to know what to do to swim, otherwise a breakdown and drowning is on the cards.
Maybe that’s why there are so many kind-of mystics among the crazy people… they just couldn’t tell the difference anymore!
“Satchit may be a man of limited talents at writing posts…”
Interesting what is behind your meditative surface, NP.
You need not be proud of your writing talents. How long did you live in England?
So you do not have a background in English-speaking countries, Satchit? I knew you were German, but you seem reasonably fluent in English to me, you just choose not to write in paragraphs.
No, I don’t have that background and I am no native speaker either.
This is the reason my comments are mostly short, no long stories.
I think you underestimate your linguistic talents, I rarely see you make a language error.
Very predictable, old fellow.
You seem to be much bored and discontented lately.
Why not going to the doctor?
Being bored and discontented is just an existential phase, I’m sure Lokesh will recover to regale us with stories about his many inner wanderings. No need for a doctor.
Boredom? I can’t relate to boredom, because I never feel bored. I enjoy life every day and even when feeling a bit low I look into it and find something to learn from. Buddhists see life full of suffering and that is not hard to understand, considering the shit that goes down on this planet. Nonetheless, I view life as the most precious of gifts.
Lokesh wrote, “I suspect this has more to do with Satchit’s inability to share anything much of a personal nature.”
Some people are quite afraid to share anything personal on the internet, I see it in some of my family. They only wish to be anonymous and keep their innermost thoughts inside.
But I think the age of social media is teaching everyone to be a bit more extrovert. For me, a man and a Generation X’er, it’s been a bit of a challenge. It’s also a question of being genuine versus adopting a social media mask. I’ve generally found that when you choose to talk about difficult topics in a sensible way, people are sympathetic.
So if you choose your subjects well, you can be genuine and heartfelt as well as having a voice in the wider space of the internet.
Why should it be inability or fear?
It is simply my choice to share what I want to share.
Anyway, we only perform a stage play here:
“Three, four guys, who are somehow related to Osho and talk.”
And then we have these 20,000 visitors last month.
Applause!
Satchit is starting to sound a bit more real.
There have been instances when I wrote more personal comments on SN and later deleted them because I felt I was revealing too much about my private life to a largely anonymous readership. I do not see any need to tell strangers about my inner workings. It is a private investigation, not a public enquiry.
Over the years, I have had a few outings on social media, but before doing that I considered what I wanted to put out there carefully because once you let it go it can float around for a long time.
I have listened to podcasts, some by people who have written on SN in the past. A couple of times I felt almost embarrassed for the talkers, because I knew that in retrospect they would think to themselves, “How could I have been so naive to go public with that?”
Of course, ultimately, it all boils down to an ego trip. Everyone has one, and we all have to deal with it in our own way. Osho’s approach of adopting a non-serious attitude about oneself can be most helpful on this level. As in, who is it that imagines themself to be making a fool of themself in public in the first place? Nobody special, for sure.
That’s true…elsewhere on the internet I have written much more personal things, but under a veil of anonymity. That feels like somehow a licence to experiment with being open, because what you’re putting out there is not linked to your legal identity.
But I think a lot of people have been down this road, especially on Facebook, where you are talking from your legal identity. And a lot of them seem to have found, unless you do very stupid things, it doesn’t seem to matter.
That is not a reason to keep pushing at the boundaries, to make it more and more personal. But really the story of Osho is also the story of his sannyasins, there is a body of literature out there developing around it. It kind of has to be personal.
I didn’t know SannyasNews was still so widely read, Satchit, if you look at the number of commenters you’d think it is a ghost town. Every once in a while a new poster drifts by but they rarely stay very long.
“Ghost town” is funny, NP.
Who is the Sheriff?
As a sannyasin I would say, the flower of Sannyas blooms also in a ghost town.
Yes, one wonders, why so many spectators? Maybe they enjoy the theatre. Or they are silent supporters who love reading.
One does not know. It’s a mystery.
It is not a mystery. The visitor counter counts how many times the site is visited, but does not distinguish between users. One user can create many hits in a month, creating the illusion that hundreds of people have visited the site. I’d be surprised to hear that more than twenty different people actually visited the site in a month.
Let’s be honest. SN is not that interesting to visitors. It is only mildly interesting to us participants.
It kinda depends on the numbers of old-time sannyasins who are still out there browsing the internet. I doubt whether SN is as popular as Osho News but it has a bit of a magazine function, as long as people keep contributing articles.
It is well known that out of every hundred visitors, only a few percent will read the whole page, and out of those, only a few percent will take the time to write a comment.
Which might explain why there have been no new commentators in a long time.
Twenty different people or two thousand. It’s all speculation.
SN is fragile anyway.
Who knows if it will survive this year.
Last night I was listening to discourse #2 of ‘The Razor’s Edge’ and there was a question from Veet Niten about trying to write a history of the future. Some of Osho’s most outrageous stuff came out, about overpopulation, homosexuals, Aids, all sorts. Best to ignore that kind of stuff… it just goes to show that you always have to test the teachings, whether they are relevant for you today.
And then discourse #3 is quite mellow, talking about how the mind’s real nature is fear and worry, about non- seriousness, about leaving the mind at the entrance to the Buddha Hall, about bliss and ecstasy. That is the problem, that it can be so inconsistent…
“A man once came to Ramakrishna, and brought him a thousand gold coins as a gift. Then Ramakrishna asked him, now will you do me a favour? Take these thousand gold coins and throw them in the Ganges. Of course the man was upset, but had to admit, the coins were now Ramakrishna’s. It took hours… when Ramakrishna went out to look, he found him throwing the coins one at a time… throwing the whole bag was too painful.”
(Osho, ‘The Razor’s Edge’)
I thought it was interesting that Eckhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ near the beginning recommends a technique which Osho also talks about, of witnessing thoughts non-judgmentally until they begin to slow and you can watch the gaps between thoughts.
NP writes, “Witnessing thoughts non-judgmentally until they begin to slow and you can watch the gaps between thoughts.’
And then what? Mind the gap?
That is all very well…for beginners. What are you suggesting? Minding the gap for the remainder of your life? I think even quite ordinary people are aware of this process. Not everyone you meet is completely identified with the mind. People are aware that thoughts come and go. It is not such a big deal. Of course, it is good if a spiritual teacher directs one’s attention to the fact that you can watch thoughts come and go…especially for the young, because it is a good start, but it is just a beginning.
The real work is to become aware of that which witnesses, become absorbed in that which does not come and go, which is a definite step up the ladder of becoming self-aware. Osho was persistent about the importance of witnessing, but it must be considered that he meant his message to go mainstream. It did.
I hung out in the witnessing stage for almost twenty years. Whatever comes up, one can witness it. Unless, that is, one encounters a snake on the path. Then you jump!
Osho talked about self-enquiry, which has to do with finding out the true nature of the witnessing consciousness. This is not something that will go mainstream in the foreseeable future. The main reason being that, in the outset at least, a more intimate contact with a realized person is needed in the vast majority of cases.
Becoming acquainted with the nature of witnessing consciousness might sound simple and easy enough to some. The truth is that it is quite simple but not that easy, very difficult in fact, and, as I have already mentioned, it is good to have a teacher nearby to keep an eye on you when one moves up the ladder, because it is very powerful medicine and one needs to be earnest in one’s approach, and it certainly helps to have a guide, because you might slip on the slippery slope, fall and cause serious damage to your mind. The mind gets a bad rap in certain spiritual circles, but living in the world at large you won’t get very far without one.
Some merge into the witnessing consciousness without help. Those people are rare. One only needs to read Osho’s pre-enlightenment testament to understand it is not a picnic one is embarking on. It is the fundamental destination of anyone who is truly drawn to getting in touch with the energy behind the ever-changing show of human existence. It is a journey that requires guts and earnestness and is definitely not for the faint-hearted because ultimately one has to die to the false idea of what you have up until now mistakenly taken to be yourself. The ultimate let go, if you like.
The final word goes to Lao Tzu. ‘He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.’
Lokesh said, “I hung out in the witnessing stage for almost twenty years.”
With that amount of experience with witnessing did you ever penetrate through to seeing beyond the mind? I’ve only sporadically tried to watch thought, but it gives me a feeling of bliss and renewal. So you could say I’m fairly new to it.
I’m finding that a lot of thoughts are triggered by what I see and hear, and that the old Zen method of staring at a blank wall in a quiet room is conducive to letting it slow down.
By chance this morning I came across and enjoyed this short (9-plus mins.) extract from a talk by Eckhart Tolle where he discusses the process of witnessing thought and resting in the state of no-thought.
No mention here though of the sort of ‘death of the self’ that you refer to, Lokesh (although elsewhere he often deals with dying to aspects of oneself as essential preparation along the way to ‘real-ising’ what you describe as one’s “fundamental destination”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5QFWTCj0yc
I find these kind of notes on what worked for other people very interesting; it has the potential to point out pitfalls in your own practice. Thanks, Lokesh!