Osho’s Jabalpur Gardener

Posted on 12 February, 2015 by

Ma Yoga Mukta was Osho’s gardener for many years.  Before her Osho had a gardener for 12 years in Jabalpur, this is what he said about him.

I have, my whole life, loved trees. I have lived everywhere with trees growing wild around me. I am a lazy man, you know, so somebody had to look after my trees. And I had to be careful about those people who were looking after them,  they all tried to do something to the tree, they wouldn’t allow the tree to be itself. They would prune it, they would cut it.

  images-1

I had one gardener in Jabalpur—a beautiful old man—but I told him, “The moment I catch you cutting anything, you are fired. I love you, I respect you, but I love and respect my trees more, so be careful! Don’t be caught.”
He said, “What kind of garden is this? And I am a gardener—I HAVE to cut. I cannot allow trees to go wild, the whole garden will be destroyed. And if I don’t cut”—he was just working on a rosebush. He said, “If I don’t prune this rosebush then the flowers will be small. I have to go on cutting many buds, then there will be few flowers but really big. And I have been winning prizes my whole life for my flowers’ bigness.”

images

I said, “You will have to forget about your prizes now, I am not interested in your prizes. I don’t care whether the flower is big or small. If the tree wants to blossom in a hundred flowers, who are you to manage just to create one flower? I understand, your logic is simple: if all the buds are cut then the whole juice of the tree moves into one flower; it certainly becomes big.”
He had been winning prizes. Each year there was a state-wide competition and he was always winning the prizes. In fact I got hold of him just because of that, because that year he had won the prizes, and I saw his flowers and I could not believe…. So I told him, “You just come and be my gardener.”
He said, “What about my salary?”
“Salary” I said, “you decide; gardening I will decide.” Poor man—he was getting only seventy rupees per month, wherever he was working. Now a poor man cannot even imagine much.
I told him, “You decide.”
He must have stretched his whole imagination, and he came up with one hundred and forty—double. He could not believe that I was going to say yes.
He said, “If it is too much then….”

Unknown

I said, “No, it is not too much. I was wondering how far you could stretch your imagination: only seventy rupees more? Seventy has become a fixed idea in your mind, and asking for one hundred and forty you are feeling guilty. That is decided—if you had asked any amount I was going to give it to you. But now I am sorry—you have asked one hundred and forty, you get one hundred and forty. But gardening you have to do according to me. No more big flowers, no more exhibitions, because the rosebushes are not interested in exhibition. And they don’t get the prize, you get the prize.”

I said, “This is your last year of prizes. Now—if my garden goes wild, let it go wild; that’s what nature wants it to be.”

But his whole life…. Whenever I was out—I would go to the university and he would start doing his thing. I had to come in the middle of the day when he was not expecting me. I had to leave my car far away so he could not see the car coming. And then I would come and I would catch the old man. He would say, “Excuse me—just an old habit! I cannot see this garden being destroyed. And I feel guilty that I am getting double the salary—for what? Just letting this garden get destroyed?”

I said, “It is not destroyed. You have to understand. This is the way it would have been if we were not here; if all men disappeared, it would be this way. Let it be the way it would be if man had not interfered. You can support, you can help, you can be a friend, but don’t be the saviour of the garden”

This entry was posted in Discussion. Bookmark the permalink.

34 Responses to Osho’s Jabalpur Gardener

  1. Kavita says:
    13 February, 2015 at 12:43 am

    I wonder how many men & women can afford to be as lucky as Osho to be able to afford such forest-like gardens?

  2. shantam prem says:
    13 February, 2015 at 9:01 am

    Kavita, if London-based Hinduja brothers can invite Jennifer Lopaz in Udaipur for dance performance at the big fat Indian wedding, Osho has earned to have forest-like gardens.

    After all, Osho is one of the most successful as well as compassionate entrepreneurs in his sector of work.

    And once ashram was established, we all were enjoying the forest-like garden in urban jungle.

  3. madhu dagmar frantzen says:
    13 February, 2015 at 11:24 am

    If you come a bit closer to The Presence of a Master, Kavita, you may experience one thing:
    That stories told, are sometimes stories, being used as a transporter to a Message.
    And one of the parts of that message is, not to destroy Nature through your means.

    examples, like to get more fruit juice fabrication by fertilizing or biggest blossoms of all in a combat as serving your vanity/ies) all kins of violation(s).
    The examples here , still sticking in a more narrow way to the visible, fall short, very short of course , as trying to get closer to the parable and the metaphor .

    But learning to be a Gardener of human seeds, the Garden with plants and trees and flowers and fruits, is such a good playing field , to unlearn interference with Life, and to bow down to Life instead of dominating it.

    And the lessons you naturally, inevitably become , without having been asking for them in special, teach you more and more, to treat yourself as others too (best case) the same way, in a way of respect and dignity.

    And above all, as a byproduct, you open up to gratefulness , just for the reason to be able to be present to that abundance of Life. And Beauty.

    Who can afford that, you ask ?
    I say, everybody but same way, very rare , are the people , being able to take that offer. Because it MAY mean, you have to loose much, much of that, you called ´skills´, before gaining the fruits of unlearning and not interfering.

    The story of that special gardener, Osho spoke of, and spoke about, why He choose just that person , and not another, is a parable for me, has ever been.

    The joy and the pain too, and the Silence in it all , having been able to be part of the Ashram Garden (of visible terms) , taught me stuff unforgettable.

    Even if I left that (visible) Garden long ago, the teaching is living, and yes, also sometimes haunting me. ( As indeed, it was a luxury, utter luxury playing field. To practise ´unlearning under very good conditions , with a lot of support).

    What´s left now , sometimes aware of it, is the invitation, to just go outside-inside, inside outside, looking for the Garden as a quality , and acknowledging , being part of it.Not more, and not less either.

    And, to be honest with you, Kavita, I often feel like a plant, being cut off and replanted somewhere in a field, where I feel bound , to suffocate.

    You know, what i am dreaming then ? , the ´aborigine´ way ? :

    I am trying to remember the song lines of a ´desert rose´, you know these roses , Kavita ?

    They really exist, being tossed and turned by the desert winds, sometimes the wind brings them (when they just look like some rotten straw) and when by chance the winds bring them near an oasis space, then they open up in lush green and full glory.

    Just up to the moment the next winds take it to the next space and place.

    One of the numerous plays in Nature, we can become aware of.
    Letting them teach us precious things.

    Love

    Madhu

    • Kavita says:
      14 February, 2015 at 2:17 am

      ”The joy and the pain too, and the Silence in it all, having been able to be part of the Ashram Garden (of visible terms) taught me stuff unforgettable.”

      After reading your post I thought to myself, I was thinking about invisible garden when I read this thread & I wrote my comment here. & thank you for sharing, Madhu.

    • anand yogi says:
      14 February, 2015 at 11:20 am

      Perfectly correct, Madhu!
      I too have experienced the joy, the pain and the silence, like yourself, and I have become deeply spiritual and sensitive as I have learned the lessons of respect and dignity and going inside, outside, inside, outside, like songlines in an aboriginal way!!

      As you say, only very, very rare ones like you and I, who are open, grateful and gracious can take the offer and understand!

      Your writings confirm to me, Madhu, that you are indeed amongst the chosen few who roll through life like a desert rose and whose words are as precious as rotten straw endlessly tossing in the desert!

      I also feel suffocated by the unconsciousness of those who live in vanity and cannot understand the precious things in life. People like Frank and Martyn who are constantly laughing outside the joke in the support of mobocracy!

      Yahoo!

  4. frank says:
    13 February, 2015 at 11:39 am

    It could be that I`m missing something here, but if Osho wanted the garden “the way it would be if man had not interfered” then why was he paying a gardener 140 a month in the first place?

  5. Lokesh says:
    13 February, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    Gardens require quite a lot of maintenance. I was just sitting in the garden thinking about spring’s arrival in a few weeks and how that means work. Here is a photo of one section of my garden. Looks good and just needs a bit of trimming and cleaning to keep it just so. Visitors always welcome.

  6. Kavita says:
    14 February, 2015 at 2:32 am

    Lokesh, your garden, if real, the palm & the growth around it somehow has a similarity with you, you know what I mean, sure!

  7. madhu dagmar frantzen says:
    14 February, 2015 at 8:48 am

    Well…well…well…Prem Martyn, one of your compilations again, compilations only you can contribute, as I realize.

    Very first time, I have been seduced to ask you for a pic, showing up yourself (with real body measures, sizes and so on).
    However, just to spare me and others a reminder of Shantam Prem’s habits, that wish of mine was so easy to let go of.

    Best I loved the car presented, and the driver(s?). Worse, for me at least, looked your way of onlooking ´locals´, wherever they are, by the way…

    Well…well…well…
    And thank you, for passing me a laughter this morning. Enjoying your in-sights.
    Hope you have a nice and contentful temporary ´house-in-living´ just NOW.

    Best wishes. Sincerely,

    Madhu

  8. samarpan says:
    14 February, 2015 at 8:49 am

    “Many flowers were growing in his garden like in a wild forest, but most prominent were the roses growing wild without being trimmed by a gardener, and next to the gate a board was placed: ‘Flower plucking for offering on idols is prohibited.’ His understanding was that flowers were to remain living in the garden and not spend on dead idols, or on himself by visitors who wanted to show their respect to him. Even snakes were to be found in the garden due to the fragrance of the roses Rat ki Rani (Night Queen) and Chameli. Another fragrant flower, Nargis, which he knew from the making of garlands in Calcutta, was also among the flowers in his garden. From Personality to Individuality #22; The New Dawn #7″

    – Osho Source Book (2014)

  9. madhu dagmar frantzen says:
    14 February, 2015 at 9:28 am

    And a P.S. for Prem Martyn, as you as well as others here may like to wilfully misunderstand what I meant:

    It’s more nice (better taste), Prem Marty, to enjoy with a lady than to present her in a kind of ´peep show’ for onlookers, isn´t it?
    That’s why I said, this part of your contribution is ´worst´.

    However, I came to know by now that some males here, could be, won´t agree; about the more rarely contributing females, I don´t know.

    Anyway, my remark on this includes possible misuse on males this way too. I simply don´t like it.

    Sincerely,

    Madhu

  10. madhu dagmar frantzen says:
    14 February, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    Aahh, Prem Martyn (2.00pm),
    What a beautiful surprise, took like Alice in Wonderland my magnifying glass…yes, so much to discover, also the field, the background, and how witty, all the secrets stay ´cache´ (MOD: hidden?). That´s what I love in it.

    So I am very much surprised and same time ´know nothing´, and that´s a very good mix….

    Thanks, and have a good day.

    Madhu

Leave a Reply