Frank questions the validity of current popular socio-political theories arising from various responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and other controversial issues.
In the last months, since the Covid emergency, many newsagents, including, of course, Osho sannyasins, have bought into and are propagating for various of their own reasons, a swathe of insane and fraudulent “conspiracy theories”. Many of these theories originate from and are being deliberately engineered and pumped out on social media by far-right propagandists, particularly Qanon, as well as various other sources.
There`s a lot on the web about it. This is a relevant clip from ‘The Guardian’:
Here`s a link to a more detailed examination if you`re interested:
https://medium.com/@julianwalker111/the-red-pill-overlap-19ad346c62f0
This isn`t just something I`ve read about in the papers and online,though. I have fallen out with quite a few people as a result of all this.
Therefore, I can agree with the author that amongst the reasons for this are certainly: financial self-interest (for example, amongst wellness industry people who benefit from dissing science and orthodox medicine), attempts at perceived `rebelliousness` (“I`m not a sheep/you can`t muzzle me with your masks”), underlying racism (“BLM are terrorists funded by the elite cabal!), having freedoms curtailed , the satisfaction of being in a gang with special knowledge (“I have awakened and seen through the Matrix”, ”they want to inject you with the mark of the beast”), and other plain ignorance and gullibility born of misplaced idealism fuelled by unaddressed projections that can create a desire for a showdown with the forces of evil/Babylon/The Matrix that will usher in a new age of Light. Getting into this stuff is presented in familiar terms of `awakening`,`awareness`, `consciousness` etc.
Thus, many of our fellow-travellers are now unknowingly or knowingly spouting far-right, Trumpian lies and fabrications that have apocalyptic Christian overtones mixed in with the old Hari Potter yogic-powers siddhis stuff, and believe that the truth is out there courtesy of random online chancers who are riding the wave, getting rich and famous as their Youtube/Facebook clicks go up.
I would also say that, generally speaking, people on this wave follow the standard basic psychology of fascism, (of which Qanon is most definitely a propagandist form.)
That is to say:
Uniting around a central idea, purpose and/or charismatic leader, the subscribers turn feelings of depression into aggression, inferiority into superiority, ignorance into arrogance, shame into pride.
I also suspect that many so-called seekers and wellness freaks had already lost the plot before the emergence of the virus and the rise of Qanon, by investing too heavily in bogus (already fascistic) gurus, authoritarian teachers and leaders, highly questionable `healing modalities`, quack remedies, dodgy diets and a raft of `spiritual practices` that nullify basic intelligence and disable critical thinking, thus leaving themselves ripe for the harvesting.
What do you say, SN punters?
I`d love to hear your opinions and experiences.
Frank, I appreciate your analysis of the situation.
The Matrix of the unconscious is really destroyed by your clarity. But fact is, and this you also know as a fighter for Love & Peace, we cannot prevent Armaggedon coming.
The signs are written on the wall or you can read it on the revelations of John. The seven plagues start already with Covid-69, the Apocalyptic Riders are on their way.
Time is running. Repent!
That’s the most sensible thing I’ve read here for a long time. Well done!
Wonder who will live to tell the Post-Apocalyptic/Armaggedon tale?!
Thanks, Satchit,
It seems that the SN elite are continuing to deny Anand Yogi a voice – no doubt because they are being financed by George Soros. How else could such an evil organisation survive?
It is thus in the interest of fair-play and in a compassionate attempt to heal the broken fabric of our spiritual community that I pass on the letter Yogi has sent me:
“Beloved Baboons,
It has been noticed for some time that the number of contributors to SN has been dwindling to an extreme degree! I discussed this with Swami Bhorat, who had a quick word with David Icke who explained it very clearly! The truth is that the falling numbers are entirely due to the eugenics programme being funded by Bill and Melinda Gates! Also, shockingly, one of Gates’s other shady cabalists, Samarpan, who, according to very reliable sources on Facebook and Youtube, is a well-known twelve-foot lizard with a penchant for pedo pizzas, has even called for SN to commit Sati!
Information is also circulating concerning a certain Bhagwan who had for years been distributing vaccines at the Ranch and other buddhafields that had the effect of inoculating people from religious holy cowdung of all sorts! Swami Bhorat, on behalf of all purveyors of the wisdom of mighty Bhorat everywhere, solemnly condemns this! We are totally anti-vaxx!
Do the research! Vaccines are dangerous! They have small amount of mercury and other heavy metals in! It is well documented that people who have been given these vaccines have, as a result, suddenly started singing very camp at top of voices, become homosexual and launched into penultimate section of Bohemian Rhapsody!
It is certainly Kali Yuga!
The Nine Unknown Men of Ashoka, due to the seriousness of the situation, have now come out of shadows and have own Youtube channel: ‘The Nine Qanon Men of Mighty Bhorat’, also selling great range of merchandise! Check their wide range of bleach, bleach neti-pots, bleach colonic-cleanse kits, colloidal lead, CBD popsicles, homeopathic homo-cures etc. and don`t forget to pick up your “Make the New Age Great Again” T-shirts and baseball caps!
Or, alternatively, sign in and take part in a 5G mast debate with free organic coconut oil for the first 100 to log on! Then send your support for the Nine Men`s application for membership to the Republican Party and inevitable job at White House when Kalki Trump re-elected!
And don`t forget to prepare for the evil 1% cabal`s plan for a cashless society. Outsmart them now and send all yours to us first at PO Box 6662020.
Swami Bhorat proclaims that, although he feels it is an affront to his personal freedom, he also finds wearing a mask an extremely useful device whilst performing various time-honoured important devices by guru for the advancement of his disciples’ enlightenment such as fraud, deception, mendacity, aggravated buggery etc. whilst also having bonus of being able to dodge facial recognition CCTV at same time!
Satchit and Sam Lucas are perfectly correct! The four horsemen of the Apocalypse, Trump,Icke, Modi and Q, while being cheered on by the Nine Men, are certainly riding home to victory in the 6.66 Armageddon Stakes at Holocaust Park with all the dignity and certainty of a three-legged donkey in a two-horse race in a one-horse town!
Rest assured that mighty India, the country that, as Zorba the Buddhi Modi has made clear, whose Vedic scientists many yugas ago invented flight, space-travel, stem-cell genetics, plastic surgery, mathematics, the number zero, institutionalised racism, public toilets and knob gags, is working hard at producing a vaccine! This is taking place in a top-secret lavbratory down near the railway tracks where extensive experiments with Delhi belly, Montezuma`s revenge are also taking place!
Yahoo!
Hari Om!
Keep the Nuage great!”
Frankly, Frank, we are being censored, set up, systematically deplatformed, defamed, and worse.
Osho would never have let David Rockefeller’s grandkid Mark Zuckerberg and Castro’s son, Justin Trudeau, get away with it.
Will you?
Bong,
Right on.
Not only is Zuckerberg Rockefeller`s son and Trudeau Castro`s son but Obama is Malcolm `X`s son and Hilary Clinton is Myra Hindley`s daughter! Plus, chemicals in the water are turning people gay, ‘American Pie’ by Don Mclean Predicts Satanic-Communist Takeover, dinosaurs helped build the pyramids and psychics feel that Donald Trump has really good energy.
Do the research!
Apologies for the fake news here.
The dinosaurs did not help to build the Pyramids, they helped construct Stonehenge.
Frank, I said grandkid, not son.
Bong,
Doesn`t make it any truer either way, does it?
“I have the whole vision of the New Man: No religions, no nations, no governments – only one functional government, and a powerful world academy of scientists. And science should be the decisive factor.”
Osho, ‘From the False to the Truth’
And the Indian mystic has no vision who will run his empire.
Intellectuals influenced by him also have no vision how to collect 200 pounds a year to run a discussion site.
MOD:
SN eagerly awaits your own fund-raising vision, Shantam.
As far as I have understood the situation it is not just a question of money, but also of time needed for the admin of the site.
MOD:
Not so much time but SN does need someone with computer tech competence to look after the upkeep of the site.
Got it. Hopefully.
Somehow, frankly, since sometime now, I didn’t feel the need for any kind of theories, so I am quite enjoying this time, though first few months of the supposed pandemic were very tough/a bit tough, for all of us, but looks like the collective mind has been taking it quite ]easy & guess unlearning & learning ways to live now!
Here`s an interesting angle, too.
https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-psychedelics/
I notice that Osho News has put up a link to a discussion about the same issue, billed as “Can the conscious community bridge the divide?”
I listened to it but the people there are mostly going on about how to reconcile opposites and listening to opposing opinions etc. A bit metaphysical, not enough actual examples.
Ragini, one of the discussers on there, speaks in terms of not reacting and remainimg calm, seeing all sides as a polarity. Not getting into “My view is right and yours is wrong.” That`s all very good advice, generally speaking, but I don`t think they`re really getting to the bottom of the problem. They are still assuming some sane conversation can be had.
When you come to face people who say, point blank: the virus does not exist, AIDS epidemic does not exist, Bill Gates is eugenicising the world by funding vaccines (try to work that one out!), bleach or baking soda cures the virus, 5G causes the virus, etc. you are not talking about opinions in the sense of political, aesthetic, medical or otherwise.
It`s plain bullshit that doesn`t ask for genuine dialogue.
That`s what it`s for. It is essentially language used to attempt to take control of (your) reality by force.
You`ve got even less chance of getting your point across than with a brick wall or a Jehovah`s Witless!
Today, mankind’s problems are often on a worldwide scale In some nations, most people are poor and oppressed. In others, many people seem to have more than they need. Only a global administration could distribute the earth’s resources fairly – read Ecclesiastes 4:1; 8:9.
Who could be trusted with a world government?
The idea of a world ruler is unpopular because no man or woman could do the job well. No human could gain the acceptance of everyone. Also, who is above being corrupted by power? The thought of a single tyrant ruling all mankind is terrifying – read Proverbs 29:2; Jeremiah 10:23.
Jehovah God has chosen his Son, Jesus, to rule mankind forever (Luke 1:32, 33). Jesus has experience in living on earth. While here, he cured the sick, taught the meek, and spent time with children. (Mark 1:40-42; 6:34; 10:13-16). So Jesus is the ideal Ruler — read John 1:14.
Sam,
This guy Jesus who, if he ever actually existed, has been dead for 2000 years, should rule the world?
How will that work?
Plus, according to the Old Testament, Jehovah is
“…a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.”
Or
“The Lord God tolerates no rivals; he punishes those who oppose him. In his anger he pays them back.”
Sounds like a complete tyrant.
Are you sure you want this guy running the place?
Shanti,
You quote Osho who said:
“He (the world president) can be a poet, a painter, a mystic, a dancer, but not a politician. Anything except that.”
Mmm…a reality TV show host maybe?
The idea that anyone would be better than a career politician seems to have taken a bit of a beating with ol` Mcdonald Trump.
I don`t think politics was Osho`s best subject.
Btw, that reminds me, do you remember Osho`s school report which surfaced around the same time as his will?
It seems about as authentic to me.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Annual School Report
Summer term, 1985
English: Must brush up on his tendency to leave out indefinite articles.
History: Really needs to stick to the facts a little more.
Religious Studies: Excellent, if a little unorthodox.
Chemistry: Must try harder, the world is made up of more than just nitrogen and oxygen.
Geography: Rather slow. it has taken him 4 years to find out where the Redneck Riviera is.
Philosophy: Challenging. Has driven his professors out of their minds on numerous occasions.
Phys Ed: Bone idle. Just sits in his room all day doing nothing. Waving his arms about for a few minutes in the evening is just not enough.
Politics: Lamentably naïve and misguided.
Dance: A bit wobbly, but the rest of the class seem to find it entertaining.
Theatre and Drama: Definitely.
Driving: Very poor.
Media Studies: Needs to grasp that not all publicity is good publicity.
Film Studies: Really must learn to branch out a bit.
Citizenship: Doesn’t seem to be taking the subject seriously at all.
Headmaster’s Report:
All in all, it is sad and disappointing to see someone who showed so much early promise failing so badly. He seems to have lost his enlightenment completely this term and his disruptive behaviour, practical jokes, poor choice of friends and substance abuse have offended almost everyone who has come into contact with him.
This leaves expulsion as the only option.
If I was the Chief Founding Trustee of this school, then would confer one year’s bonus to Mr. Headmaster for this report!
Frank, very clever bit of fun writing. Best thing I have read on SN for some time.
Cheers K and McLoke,
It definitely pays to keep the ol` clown chakra charged up.
And it makes a welcome break from the endless mask debating!
The program itself seems to be a bit crazy. Why is Sam Lucas’ contribution on the caravanserai and not here on the main site?
Is it only for the chosen few here?
MOD:
Satchit, his two posts were originally deleted as, given these were standard Jehovah’s Witness chapter-and-verse, we felt a productive discussion would be highly unlikely to arise.
However, if enough readers are interested to read them then they’ll be put up, although any resulting responses would need to be free from abusive comments.
Satchit, his two posts were originally deleted as, given these were standard Jehovah’s EWitness chapter-and-verse, we felt a productive discussion would be highly unlikely to arise.
However, if enough readers are interested to read them then they’ll be put up, although any resulting responses would need to be free from abusive comments.
Shanti,
You make some good points. It probably is quite relevant to the discussion.
I have heard it said at times by people who have been earbashed by conspiritualists that the conspiritualists are “just like Jehovah`s witnesses”. Sam has shown what they mean. And as he gets any chance, he comes straight in with his propaganda, totally ignoring any flaws in his presentation that have been pointed out. It`s simply monological idiocy.
You are right in saying that the links between conspirituality and Old Testament religion are manifold. Simply, you need a devil – Bill Gates, Soros, Biden, lizards, Jews, BLM…You need a saviour – Q, “Truthers”, Trump…
And a showdown leading to the establishment of a new age of righteousness.
It`s not a very sophisticated story-line but it pulls in the thickos.
Old Nisargaddata Maharaj’s master, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, went a step further: he didn’t only encourage his discipes to remember that they are not their bodies or their minds, and to understand that everything is a play of consciousness with God being the only doer, he also disliked the belief in Karmic retribution for one’s actions, whether good or bad, considering it a great poison as it strengthens the idea of the individual doer, the ‘I’.
According to Siddharameshwar Maharaj, the ‘holier than thou’ ego, who considers itself higher and holier than all the rest with his thoughts and actions, who is constantly judging and condemning others, is just as dangerous as the most sinful.
Thus this idea of no free will or Karmas was also taken on board by Ramesh Balsekar, the popular Indian guru of the same lineage, as well as Satyam Nadeem, imprisoned ecstasy manufacturer, turned satsang wallah (and author of ‘From Onions to Pearls’).
Why should a Jehovah’s Witness not be allowed to write here?
Nobody is forced to read, nobody is forced to react.
Maybe he is here to learn a bit of tolerance before the Armageddon of SN will happen.
” “But the world president will be chosen not from the members of the World Government, but from outside. And one thing should be absolutely certain about him — that he is not a politician. He can be a poet, a painter, a mystic, a dancer, but not a politician. Anything except that. So in this way we will destroy the political power which has been the whole torture in the past.”
(Osho: ‘The Golden Future’)”
Reminded me of a recently watched ‘Designated Survivor’ on Netflix & the older webseries, ‘House of Cards’ was a complete antithesis of it.
Yes, Osho chose president of His empire, a real estate developer and a doctor.
In a way, Osho has chosen no one, real estate developer and a doctor took the words out from master´s mouth.
“Let others do the dirty work, I would do preaching” seems to be the life Sutra of Gurus Inc. Donation Ltd.
“We are all soldiers of heaven on our way to eternity.”
Not quite my wording.
Jesus rules.
But so do others.
This universe rules.
But so may others.
Sane conversation is not possible with someone who is paranoid. The person has no disease insight.
The covid climate creates fear. Mostly people react rationally and protect themselves. A few react irrationally and create mental sickness.
Maybe slipping into paranoia, in the case of spiritual seekers, certainly of the `positive thinking` variety, is an outcome of excessive attempts to continually psyche themselves into feeling that everything is going their way, their practice is keeping them one-up on maya, unconsciousness, ego, false self, illness, evil etc.
Then, when an event, such as a global virus, threatens core ideas such as “you create your own reality” and the yogic/well-being idea that your health is somehow completely down to your efforts on the path (only neurotics/sexually repressed get cancer, good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people) the construct flips and then it is necessary to project blame wholesale onto the outside. Then “They” are responsible and the inner battle to stay one-up presents as an evil force in the outside world trying to fuck your consciousness?
Thanks, Frankie, for mentioning about the Osho News discussion.
It was interesting to see views being discussed, even though I don’t agree on every point, it did seem they were effortlessly sharing, which was enjoyable & interesting.
https://watch.eventive.org/illuminate/play/5f603b93a6f52b0055a1b7a2
Satchit enquires, “Why should a Jehovah’s Witness not be allowed to write here?”
I’d say because they are completely stupid people who have been brainwashed. I’ve chatted with a few Jehovah bots over the years and found that they don’t have an original thought in their heads. They take everything that is said in The Bible literally and have no idea that the good book is in many places an esoteric text.
A good example of these esoteric ideas can be found in Mr G’s teachings, which have often been described as a form of esoteric Christianity. A good example would be the story of Noah’s Ark, which, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with an old guy and his family going for a cruise with a zoo’s worth of animals and birds for company. The story of the ark is at heart a description of man’s situation on a planet strongly influenced by universal laws, and how to get out from under those oppressive laws. Try telling that to a Jehova’s Witness.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the present world order, which they perceive as being under the control of Satan, will be ended by a direct intervention of Jehovah (God), who will use Jesus Christ to fully establish his heavenly government over earth, destroying existing human governments and non-Witnesses, thus creating a cleansed society of true worshippers who will live forever. They see their mission as primarily evangelical (disseminating “good news”), to warn as many people as possible in the remaining time before Armageddon. All members of the denomination are expected to take an active part in preaching, which is why Sam posts his derisory stuff on SN. He believes he is doing God’s work. Witnesses refer to all their beliefs collectively as “the Truth” Which of course is a load of childish bollocks that also happens to be very negative.
Anyone with a little intelligence who checks world news can easily see that idiots are running the show, a complete nutter in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth who has the nuclear option at his disposal. It’s insane. We need places that we can take a breather from the nut jobs. SN can function like that. Yet you, Satchit, are asking why not allow Sam the man on board our wee boat afloat in a sea of madness? I ask you.
Satchit, do you really think inviting a Jehovah’s Witness to write on SN is a good idea? Because if you do you must be as away with the fairies as Sammy boy is. People like Sam actually believe people like you are the spawn of Satan. I cannot imagine a group of weirdoes further away from the concept of sannyas than the Jehovah’s witnesses.
No, Lokesh, Sam does not believe that I am the spawn of Satan. He is a fan of me. He said re my comment, “that’s the most sensible thing he has read here for a long time”.
Our wee boat SN will not have problems on the sea because of this stowaway Sam, Jehovah’s Witness.
Our boat SN will have problems because there is no money for surviving.
Still playing poker, Lokesh?
Maybe you should gain a bit of money!
Currently, I cannot play poker because of covid.
Satchit, seeing as how you are a non-witness, according to Sam Lucas you are destined to be destroyed because you are under the power of Satan, so there is no hope for you.
Shanti,
You say: “Many newagers and conspiracy theorists have adopted similar beliefs taken (consciously or unconsciously) from the Biblical prophets.”
That`s at the core of the problem with conspirituality.
It`s based in many ways on the insanity of literal interpretations of the OT.
It`s a fucking nightmare.
It is quite literally a retardation back to the cultural brainwashing of early life, dressed up as some kind of rebellious vision.
MOD:
Sam’s certainly, as Swamishanti says, “into his biblical passages”, his lengthy and so far unpublished post contains 31 Biblical quotes and references.
His other post consists of a picture of some lost-and-bewildered-looking souls, with an accompanying text condemning their/our appalingly immoral sexual behaviour.
The Nazis were `turned on` to Nietzsche.
The Spanish Inquisition was turned on to Jesus.
Fascists are turned on to psychedelics.
Hippies are turned on to Trump.
It`s a funny old world!
I`m surprised that the conspiritualists haven`t wheeled out the Nine Unknown Men yet.
Give it just a little more time, I guess….
Or…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge1PL0p0zO8
Schizoid man…had the album back in the day…up in a loft, stoned listening to prog rock…hearing it now it is easy to understand that when I went psychedelic I was more attracted to California bands,,,British prog rock was such a head trip.
“Contrived” and “concepts” were much used words in the 70s music press, I seem to remember.
‘The Six Wives of Henry 8′ by Rick Wakeman. No 1 in the cringe factor chart for me.
‘The Return of the Giant Hogweed’ by Genesis (cue spit-take) etc etc.
King Crimson had their moments but lost me with ‘Lark`s Tongue In Aspic’ (they nicked that from Monty Python, surely?).
Osho certainly let the cat out of the bag with the “you can be sexy and spiritual at the same time.”
Fact is. though, the power dynamic between these gurus and their birds is always pretty lopsided.
Like this, how different are they from any other powerful guy who uses his position and money to get sex and keep his women from ever really becoming on a par with them?
That was probably the case with these old tantric guys from the past who were most likely shagging the low-status hookers from down the temple.
But really, who knows about all those guys from obscure scriptures, what was really going on?
Osho is living memory for us and yet already the `story` varies from ‘Wild Wild Country’/tabloid sex guru to master of masters.
Hagiography versus hatchet job again.
What to say about old tantricas allegedly getting their chuddies off and sinking a few bottles of feni centuries ago?
Btw, here`s a vid of the Dude himself quoting from the Advadude Sutra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHLelReSWdY
Tony Montana says, “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.”
Krishnamurti had a long term (25 years) clandestine sexual relationship with Rosalind Rajagopal, his manager`s wife.
He was keen to keep it secret (from his followers and the public) and indeed it remained so until after his death. This was clearly done to preserve his public image. Sad, really, as by all accounts their relationship was rather a loving and caring one until they fell out. But it didn`t stop him from advising celibacy, making it pretty clear to his fanbase in his talks that he was above it.
Some confusion or split in the man, it seems, coming from his Brahminical/upper class Brit Xian upbringing as well as issues of `brand management`, it seems.
Freddie Nietzsche said, “I would only believe in a god who could dance.”
Maybe that should be updated to “I could only believe in a god who gets his/her rocks off”?
Tony Montana is definitely enlightened. His words have the `ring of truth`.
Er…yes…there are a lot of similarities between the master/disciple relationship and the BDSM scene, not least that they both use a lot of `devices`.
MOD,
I didn`t really expect an answer and predictably, he just trotted out some more standard JW propaganda.
It`s a simple thing, imv:
Religionists who believe that their book is the indisputable word of God, be it the Koran, the Bible or the Gita have taken a default position that rules them out of almost every possibility of interesting conversation or real dialogue. That`s their choice. Or maybe it`s not their choice because they have been been brainwashed, groomed, bullied into it. Either way, chit-chat with them is unlikely to set the Thames on fire!
My God, Frankie, you talk of chit-chat and Armageddon is on the horizon.
I can only say: Repent!
“Mock thou not the words of Jehovah, O thou spawn of Onan who spilleth thy seed profusely on the ground, lest He take thine testicles up into a tabernacle and crush them with oil and spices in a mortar and pestle,o ye of little faith who art filled with false pride and walketh like one with the buttocks of an ape.” (Book of Retards, chapter 13, verse 666).
Shanti says, “You don’t seem to have much respect for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lokesh.”
Really? I have no idea how Shanti could imagine that. Prince was a Jehovah’s Witness and I thought he was an absolutely wonderful guy. Felt sad when he died in an elevator.
As for Sam Lucas, I am not at all interested in anything he has to say. My crystal ball tells me next time he shows up on SN he will give a few pertinent quotes from the Bible.
Shanti reveals, “Osho had his own experience of God realisation and enlightenment.”
It has been established by ye ancient Sages of Auld Lang Syne that enlightenment is not an experience.
Yes, Shanti, all good. I think the MOD need not be impartial. Having a JW spouting biblical quotations on SN is not on as far as I am concerned. Just like in real life most JWs are a laughable pest.
I’m quite well read in relation to the Bible. Couple of years back I had two JWs show up at my gate. I asked them in for tea. Of course, Bible quotes began to flow. I began to enquire about this and that and those poor guys were drawing blanks. I felt sorry for them in the sennse that their whole approach was based on memory with nothing of substance in their lives to back it up.
Faith for me is simply reinforced belief. I agree totally with Osho when he says, “I am not a believer.” Neither am I.
My wife recently fell out with one of her best friends over the conspiracy nonsense. This friend suddenly got taken with all the Icke/elite/covid hoax bollox and was banging on and being very pushy about it. My wife said to her, “You sound like a Jehovah`s Witness.”
This was the ultimate insult! The friend was very angry and offended. They have hardly spoken since.
I don`t need much convincing.
Perhaps these ancient tales of ‘Great Floods’ are partly or even largely metaphorical, the ‘drowning’ under water an image describing the descent of earlier civilisations into decadence and eventual inner and outer self-destruction?
Is our own so-called ‘civilisation’ nearing a similar tipping point, climate change melting mountain and polar snow and ice that’s moving ever closer towards a similar end scenario? Not to mention nuclear weapons…
Ultimately due to similar causes, perhaps, as the fate of those that went before, ie spiritually ignorant masses of people drowning in emotional upheaval and anguish, while their leaders play self-serving power games based on fear?
(Still, at least America is getting rid of Trump…Or is it? Who knows, he might be around for years, whipping up his mobs into civil war-type mode?*).
So what’s the contemporary world’s equivalent of Noah’s Ark? Could it be those who’ve at least heard and welcomed ‘the Truth’, however imperfect their responses, and who accept that the only refuge is ‘within’?
Could the UK National Lottery marketing department be on the right lines when they suggest, “It Could Be You!”?
*Surely no one would want to miss that – make sure you renew your tv licence!
Here`s a ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flood_myths
Floods and natural disasters are probably humans’ worst fear.
Eg More people died in 2 hours in the SE Asia tsunami in 2004 than in 4 grim years in the Syrian civil war.
Some archaeologists also attribute the birth of civilisation as well as their deaths to natural disasters.
https://slate.com/technology/2015/11/floods-led-to-civilization-archaeology-lessons-on-climate.html
Attributing it to God/gods/goddesses and cosmic dads teaching their unruly kids a lesson seems to be a common interpretation. Whether it`s actually true or not, it could be quite literally a case of “whatever floats your boat”!
It seems that these myths are based on real events. Humans like to live near the sea and water in general so have always been vulnerable.
But the whole world being flooded, like in Noah, is an exaggeration, altho` it probably feels like it when you`re in it.
It`s well iffy, this being alive lark.
Tbf, Osho`s `Noah Ark of Consciousness` seems to have banged into a few icebergs along the way.
Still, some of us in the lifeboats, rowing away towards eternity`s sunrise, might make it or end up wrecked on the shores of infinity….
“Tbf, Osho`s `Noah Ark of Consciousness` seems to have banged into a few icebergs along the way.”
A Master is by definition not a victim.
He plays the role he wants to play.
Others play their roles, maybe some new Judas on the stage at Oberammergau Passion Play.
Yes, he plays only the roles he wants to play, like Leonardo DiCaprio or Amitabh Bacchan.
That`s the perks of getting to the top in your field, I guess.
Never trust anyone who only reads one book (Billy Connolly).
Or, slightly less concisely….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlh4ia6XWGU
Anand Yogi reports from Bungabungalore Ashram:
“Certainly, a lockdown is necessary to stop the virus of negativity and unconsciousness that is emanating from batshit crazy petri dish super spreader event of Sannyasnews from spreading globally and infecting even the holiest of disciples!
The unconscious baboons have continuously ignored warnings of impending doom from Sam the Jehovah`s Witness and calls for compulsory euthanasia from Sam the Osho Witness, and they continue to abuse the freedom that Osho has given them with the shamelessness of a red-bottomed baboon relieving himself in front of live webcam in holy Samadhi!
Instead of taking blue pill and egoistically titillating and titivating own sense-organs, these fools should wake up, take the red pill, and hurl selves at feet of Trumpj, iModi, Arun, Shantam, Brian and other inheritors of Osho`s vision!
At a critical time like this when the very future of consciousness is at stake and great souls such as Nobby Norbu Rinpoche and important disciples of Q, such as Sean Connery, are leaving their bodies daily under the stress of it all, we should all be following dictats of master and putting the mind under strict lockdown, staying inside, and stray, wandering cogitations must be dealt with severely by thought police!
There remains nothing more to say but to re-iterate guideline issued by Swami Bhorat this morning for coming lockdownL
‘Keep calm and Hari Om!’ “
Lockdown or not.
A sannyasin celebrates the mystery of life and death.
Om Shanti Om.
“Lockdown or not.
A sannyasin celebrates the mystery of life and death.” –
Well then, does this mean Iam not a sannyasin anymore, since I don’t need to celebrate both?!
I shall celebrate to this!
So you celebrate that you are not a sannyasin ?!
This is far out, Kavita.
Thanks, Satchit, for leading me to this clarity!
I see that Osho News has put up an article:
“Humanity has trolled itself into an awaken-or-die situation” which floats the idea that the world situation is like a supposed Zen story about a monk who “sat with a stick of incense in one hand and a knife in the other and vowed to kill himself if he didn’t get enlightened by the time the incense burned out. He got it just in time, pushed to the breaking point by the pain of the burning stub.”
Sounds more like Bruce Willis in ‘Awaken Harder 3′ or ‘Ramana Goes To Hollywood’.
And then, apparently, there`s going to be a “mass awakening”.
As if one plague wasn`t enough, now we will have to deal with yet another wave of awakened cyber-messiahs, pound-shop saints, self-appointed avatars, profiteering online prophets and all the rest, saving the world and rabbitting on about their `awakening`.
Beam me up, Scotty!
Btw, MOD,
A bit late, but I noticed that the first line of the article reads:
“In the last months, since the Covid emergency, many newsagents, including, of course, Osho sannyasins”
That should be `many newagers`.
Cheers
MOD:
At last! We couldn’t resist putting that one in. Just our way of having a bit of fun…in these ever so bleak times.
It works.
Aye, Bones, it’s aww very weel for Osho News and their high falootin ideas, but am dealin with reality doon here in the engine room and am tellin ye the photo condenser tubes will no take it.
Meanwhile, I wasn’t allowed to say anything until today, but it’s now okay for me to share that I have volunteered for the Covid-19 vaccine trials that St. Vincents are running in partnership with Pfizer. It’s important that we all do our part to beat this virus. The vaccine is the one that has been developed in Russia, Sputnik 5. I received my first dose this morning 06:20 am, and I wanted to let you all know that it’s completely safe, with иo side effects whatsoeveя, and that I feelshκι я чувю себя немного стрно и я думю, что вытл осные уши. чувству себя немго страо.
Glad to hear you are doing your bit, comrade.
And I hear the chocolate novochok milkshakes are to die for, too,
Down with the droogs in Moscow’s Moloko Milk Shake Bar.
“Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders. And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk round my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum, into the thick thick toffee gold and silver. I was in such bliss, my brothers.”
Anthony Burgess, ‘A Clockwork Orange’
“There was me and my droogies down the Sannyasnews Koregova milk bar. We were drinking moloko plus which sharpens you up for a bit of the old ultra-awareness and gets you viddying Bog and his angels, but Shantdim was scratching his yarbles and thinking about the old in-out.
“Come with uncle,” I said, “and hear all proper. Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited….”
Stanley Frankbric, ‘The Clockwork Orange People’
Btw,
What is happening at the Resort these days?
Will the gora masters ever be let back in after they had to leave because of the virus?
Will it eventually become another regular holy pilgrimage spot for locals banging their head on the marble and so on?
Are the days of the Resort, that veritable Costa del Sol of consciousness, Buddhist Benidorm (or was it totalitarian Torremolinos?) finally over?
Hello, Swami Ali here,
Sannyas ]in Russia very strong! Red army of sannyas spreading like wildfire and coming to dominate world very soon, so be very aware, swami, and not speak negative blabla about 10,000 Red army buddhas or, after Crimea, I come to Hove and put my foot in your ass!
I want to go Osho Cocoon Mexico to see living buddha but Bill Gates creating Covid hoax and stopping all flights to control unconscious masses, frighten sheeple and euthanise buddhas, so apart from short holiday in Salisbury where I meditate in Cathedral, drink Novochok milkshakes, vandalise 5G masts and practise martial arts on BT employees, I stay here in Chernobyl Electroshock Hospital where I convert many inmates to Sannyas!
In America we Russian sannyasins very good at internet. In America, we use it to elect true orange person and leader of American white robe brotherhood, Trumpji in White House to help spiritual wasteland of West and teach that the lie of the orange man is more true than the truth of the far-left homosexual LGBT socialist sleepy snowflake baboon!
Trumpji, like real Indian guru, using crazy wisdom! He use time-honoured methods of gurus like speaking in language mind cannot understand and using money and power to grab pussy of female disciples and saying to egos of male disciples: “You`re fired!”, while all deeply religious people bow at his feet!
I have important message for British sheeple and failed ex-sannyasins in UK. No need to believe mainstream media Covid hoax, only need to take mask and shirt off and show breasts like strong leader Putin and Rajneesh and then Covid run away very fast!
A flying birdie told me Yogendra is giving online Taichi classes daily at 8 pm IST!
Another insider birdie shared the Resort will open as soon as A & J will arrive in Poona, ie when international flights resume in India for foreigners!
Well, I will soon be travelling to the mountains!
MOD, I had written A & J, you made it AJ (Amrito & Jayesh).
MOD:
Yes, it came through as “A & amp; J”, and deleting “& amp;” led to “AJ”. Sorry!
It`s old news, isn`t it?
Osho International moved its HQ to Hangover Square/Palmeira Ave. a few years ago. It was reported here on SN.
There was also an interesting piece in the Evening Standard at around the same time, I wonder if anyone remembers it?:
“In what appears to be an attack in Central London by IS (Indian Sannyas), dangerous religious factions have once again thrown possibilities for world peace into turmoil…
In the newly established London HQ in Hangover Square of OIF (Oligarchs International Freelunch) an attempted bomber by the name of Ali Iqbal Shantam, an unemployed man with severe learning difficulties, and self-styled spokesman for his facebook friends, walked into the reception dressed cunningly, not in an explosive vest, but in explosive underpants.
Shouting “Osho Akbar Yahoo!”, he pulled the ignition cord on his pants but his bomb failed to go off and his pants fell to the ground.
Survivors agreed that it could have been worse but it was still a pretty unpleasant sight.
The OIF management moved swiftly and business consultants are offering trauma counselling and free white socks to the victims at £200 per hour.
Later, a leading figure of OIF, Dr. Dave O`Raj, aka John George Paul Ringo Meredith Julie Andrews, gave evidence in court, appearing unsteady on his feet, clutching a half-empty Gin bottle as he pulled down his trousers and pointed his shiny white buttocks (which had a 10 rupee aerogram stuck in the crack) at the opposition lawyer and shouting:
“If you marble-kissers want something to kiss, then wrap your lips round these beauties!”
The case continues.”
Yes, I recall reading that article in the Standard on my way home to a squat on the Northern Line. I was shocked to the core of my being and must confess I haven’t been the same since.
For all the cynics and doubters, John Hogue points out in his new book Nostradamus predicted the whole thing.
‘Nostradamus and Hogue’
UnReal Estate Agents with a vision.
“We make dreams your reality.”
Here`s the orginal quatrains in medieval Latin:
“Discipulus de magister et hominem novae veni de Punus
Vidi et regardus per perfectus locus in desirabilius et exclusivus Hovus
Guidus pricus: tre centum mila livris or proximus offertus
Quintus minutis ambulatus de experiencius oceanicus.
Proximus de bonum mysteria scholae et shopus
Convenientus per linkus transportus et omnibus
Grandus potentialis, suitabilis per investorius cum ready pecunias
Vidi recommendati. Non onward chainus.
Locationus, locationus, locationus.”
Dear Sannyasnews,
Why is it that OFI (Osho Fenians International) is run by a bunch of hard drinking Irishmen?
D`Arcy O`Byrne, Mick O` Byrne, Dave O`Raj, what`s going on?
Yours sincerely,
Paddy Mullarkey, Doolally.
Re NEW ARTICLES
Following Anubodh’s suggestion of a year or two ago, we’re proposing that until new iideas for articles emerge, a selection of former topics from the last 12-plus years are revisited to see whether there are more things to say, or whether views have changed (or both).
Eg we’ve had a quick look at the ‘Articles’ section (at the bottom of the ‘Home’ page and suggest these three from five years ago might be worth putting up and discussing again (let us know iof you disagree):
’Islamophobia and Nostradamus’ (November 7, 2015)
’The Fight Between Disciple and Master’ (November 8, 2015)
’Sting: If Blood Will Flow’ (November 8, 2015)
Readers and contributors’ own choices are most welcome, as, of course, are completely new articles or ideas for new articles.
UPDATE (November 25, 2020)
Swamishanti has recently initiated further discussion on a topic from July 2008, ‘Christopher Calder’s Criticisms of Osho Answered’.
I see Osho News have wheeled out John Hogue/Arjuna and are advertising his latest book about US politics.
He did make predictions about the election. This one was put out on Oct. 15, 2020:
“Trump will have a second term.
Trump’s Electoral College victory will be larger than 304 (2016) — closer to 320 this time.”
Actual score:
Biden 306
Trump 232
My advice is, if Hogue ever asks you to lend him a fiver to go down to the bookies with, cos he`s got a sure-fire tip on a two-horse race, have a think before you get your wallet out!
Mind you, he`s unlikely to ask to borrow a fiver as he`s a well respected “Nostradamus expert” and for sure “where there`s muck there`s brass.”
To bring this back to the thread topic, the link between this kind of rank nonsense and the rise of the conspirituality scene is clear.
It`s all there: the narcissistic thinking that masquerades as some kind of magical superior spiritual wisdom that declares truth to be whatever fantasy it wants, with disregard for simple facts, critical thinking and basic intelligence.
Shanti, you say:
“Nostradamus himself, although accurately predicting several future world events….”
Do you have any examples of this?
Not much interested in future predictions, seeing the future as uncertain.
Just for the record, though, “Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis/The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude/Fire approaches the great new city/Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up/Within months, rivers will flow with blood/The undead will roam the earth for little time.”
It’s easy to fit these words to the actual events of 9/11, and much was made of the second line, as New York City (the “Metropolis”), lies at about 40 degrees north latitude. To someone reading Nostradamus for the first time, one could be convinced that he might have predicted the tragedy.
If you’re familiar with the writings of Nostradamus, though, this particular prediction does not ring true: This writing is actually a hybrid of real Nostradamus verse and fiction, and whoever rewrote it was spectacularly sloppy. Not only is it not written in quatrain form (Nostradamus’s typical writing style) but the phrase “two steel birds” is an obvious giveaway, as steel wasn’t invented until 1854, nearly 200 years after Nostradamus died.
That those examples are portrayed as “accurate predictions” is farcical.
Even taking account of convoluted translations of the already extremely hazy language Nostradamus used comprising of Greek, Italian, Latin and Provencal, how does the following constitute “Successfully predicting the Second World War”:
“The two greatest ones of Asia and of Africa,
from the Rhine and Lower Danube they will be said to have come,
cries, tears at Malta and Ligurian side.”?
Did you know that in the first edition of his Nostradamus book, Hogue interpreted the mentions of “Third Antichrist -`Mabus`” as the Ayatollah Khomeini. After Khomeini died, future editions of the same book were changed so that the third antichrist – Mabus became Saddam Hussein?!
On top of that, Hogue can`t even match the success rate of Paul the Octopus:
https://www.businessinsider.com/octopus-paul-world-cup-google-doodle-2014-6?r=US&IR=T
Yes, Osho could read the future like a book. He told everyone that one third of the world’s population would die from AIDS, Mount Fuji would erupt, California would tumble into the pacific and, most importantly of all, Zen would flower in the USA.
One only needs to study American politics today to see that being in a state of no-mind is the only way to understand what the fuck is going on. Jai Bhagwan!
I found Osho’s future predictions period to be a bit of a low point in his career. In a way it was out of character for him. I heard that he came away with all that bullshit due to the influence of a PR expert who told Osho that if he wished to attract more followers, prophecies of doom and gloom was a tried and tested formula to achieve just that. It’s just a few steps up from those assholes in the street telling you the end is nigh. Really, who needs it? The idea of the future is a source of anxiety for many.
If I find my mind drifting into the past I turn away from that direction, same goes for the future. Here and now is where life is really happening.
It`s very likely that Osho`s speaking/warning early about AIDS and the ensuing precautions amongst sannyasins did save some lives.
But this was co-opting prediction/prophecy to push people into taking some kind of action.
This is a different kind of thing to claiming Nozza predicted Princess Diana`s death or the Twin towers, which serves no purpose at all other than to further confuse already confused people about the nature of reality.
Further to this, I was knocking about in the Himalayas in the early 80s when I saw a notice on a Tibetan Buddhist centre noticeboard about Osho`s apocalyptic predictions about Cali falling into the sea etc. I thought, “Shit,I better get over there before the whole thing blows.” And I did.
It was a bogus prediction but it helped push me to get over to Oregon, so I can vouch that, as Lokesh mentions, the operation boosted the number of punters at the Ranch by at least one!
In the early days I suppose I thought that these kind of Nostradamus books had a value in that they were, through using the popularity of prediction and prophecy, a way to bring out-of-the-box ideas into the mainstream notice.
Like Osho`s ‘Nine Men’ rap or the magical stuff in ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, Carlos Casteneda, Lobsang Rampa and so on, they could be seen as ways of opening people to the idea that there is a life beyond the mundane tick-tock world and the flatlands of unconsciousness, a `Wow` world inhabited by uber-wise magi, mystics, masters, occultists and shamans that reveal deeper truths about life.
It seems to me things have changed. The web has had a lot to do with it.
Far from opening people up to greater consciousness, these fictions – which, let`s be clear, always masquerade as truths, indeed higher truths than any truth as measured by ‘normal’ standards, have the effect of disabling basic elements of critical thinking and intelligence.
This playing fast-and-loose with the truth has been jumped on as a wonderful way of befuddling and controlling people, not only by religionists and cultists but now the mainstream. You could almost say that the mainstream political world has cottoned on to the cult mind-control techniques and are using them en masse.
I know that the world cannot be totally apprehended by the mind and its critical faculty alone – I am not a rationalist – but substituting a fantasy world doesn`t seem to be the answer either.
Maybe a bit of what some Buddhists call “bare attention” wouldn`t go amiss?
Shanti, you say you “have searched and I cannot find anything Osho specifically said about Mount Fuji erupting again on California collapsing into the sea.”
That`s because Osho`s apocalyptic pronouncements came whilst he was in public silence from May 1981-Oct 1984. So they all came through his secretary.
The Cali-in-the-sea was in `82/3 and the AIDS pronouncements came in early 1984 as I remember.
Yes, he seemed to contradict himself.
There again, I would say that as he first said Nostradamus was all nonsense (“I`m just using it as a device”) and later said. “Nostradamus was bang on `cos he said I was a major Boss”, it`s not really a contradiction because he`s already given the game away that he will say whatever suits his aim!
That`s how I took it anyway.
If Osho did have an opinion about Nostradamus, it was probably irrelevant because according to him, as a `Master`, all info is just data to be utilised for the hitting/stroking of egos for various purposes, allegedly with the final aim of the receiver`s enlightenment.
For myself, on the other hand, a regular guy with an ego and a mind, I do have an opinion which is:
The idea,judging from the evidence presented, that Nostradamus actually predicted events that came to pass centuries later, is completely untenable, thereby begging the question of why anyone would actually believe such nonsense.
Frankie, you have a dry mind.
People believe in Nostradamus and these kind of things because they believe in magic.
Life is not only 2+2=4, but also the unpredictable.
Frank, I am shocked to the very core of my being to hear that you have an ego and a mind, and also an opinion. I thought you had gone beyond all that, like Satchit.
Lokesh,
Yes, tragically and predictably, I am still wallowing in a cesspit of unconsciousness, ego and spiritual ignorance, unable to work out what comes after 2+2, with my mind dry as a nun`s fanny at an AA meeting.
Satchit,
You say it is magic.
But it`s pretty low-grade magic.
Most people, myself included, love to be fooled by good magic.
John Rogue/Nostra-dumb-ass doesn`t do it for me.
“Sooner or later, you will see great changes. etc. etc.”
zzzz
Sounds like a race to the bottom of the brain stem to me.
I suppose you could say that prophecy is one of the greatest magic tricks, like the famous Indian Rope Trick in that the actual magic was in the fact that the magicians have managed to convince people that it actually existed and got everyone to know about it and many to look for it yet it always remained elusive. Just odd stories, rumours and apocryphal tales here and there but no cigar.
Maybe enlightenement is the same kind of magic trick knocked up by some very advanced jadoo-wallahs?
Frankie,
God is compassionate.
To some people he gives low-grade magic, to others he gives high-grade magic.
Distinctions exist only in the mind, not in no-mind.
Satchit,
What type of magic do you prefer when you are not in a state of no-mind?
My mind prefers qualified magic.
But fact is also if guys like Nostradamus would not exist, one had to invent them.
We don’t live in a perfect world!
Or if you want to see it from a distance:
the world is perfect as it is.
Satchit, you say:
“We don’t live in a perfect world!
Or if you want to see it from a distance:
The world is perfect as it is.”
What is the `distance` and how does it change the world from being imperfect to perfect?
The world remains the same, but perspectives can change.
You can have a judging or a watching perspective.
Satchit,
Like you, I`m mostly in the watching space. I only move into the judging space when I need to change channels, put the football on, decide which type of beer to drink and choose between salted or dry roasted peanuts (usually I find a bit of choiceless awareness works for the latter).
Occasionally, of course, Existence decides that it`s time to slag off Nostradamus or some other f…ing idiot so I have to just let go and do it although there isn`t really a doer at all.
Namaste.
Btw,
I see that the New Age/Trump overlap has reached a new level as Lara Trump announces that Donald`s supporters just don`t “feel” that he could have lost the election.
Perfectly correct!
Every conscious person on the path knows that you have to follow your feelings, not your mind, right?
Well, I suppose someone had to say that…while not realising they were providing a perfect representation of the problem.
I recall my old History teacher telling us in our early days in the 6th form that if you ask 100 people a question on a socio-political issue, past or present, 98% or more would give an answer based on purely personal emotional bias.
“But there’s got to be at least some people who are able to recognise and put aside personal concerns and look at the whole picture from as many angles as possible, to at least attempt to be objective”, he opined in his Hampshire drawl, unspoilt by his years at Oxford after the war, and his years fighting in the hell-hole of the Burmese jungle.
“You have the potential to be those people, that’s why you’re here.”
At times it seems there ain’t many of us left….
Yeah, Osho was better at spin than Trump. The whole ‘one day he says this and the next the opposite’ was covered by him saying that life is contradictory and being in tune with life it was only natural that he would constantly contradict himself. Sounds like hokum to me. Did not his Holiness the Beedie Wallah say that the truth contains no contradictions? How does that fit into the widescreen picture with dolby surround?
Once upon a time, Osho’s words meant a lot to me, and I daresay helped me. I have not read an Osho book in twenty years. On reflection it was not really about what Osho was saying, but rather the energy he generated. He said lots of great things and also talked nonsense.
To take it all as gospel requires a strong element of stupidity. I still know people who listen to an Osho discourse every day. What to say? Words are more important for some people than they are for others. That whole thing about Osho saying he was surprised that he fulfilled all of Nostradumus’s prediction sounds like typical Osho bullshit. Who knows, Osho might have gotten the idea for the birds symbol after reading Nostradamus. People are that gullible.
Osho said: “My words are fingers pointing to the moon.
Don’t bite into my fingers!”
So all his talking about Nostradamus, predicting the future or talking about past lives is not relevant.
At the most it is good for entertainment, not more.
It is like if you want to sing a song, you have to make some sounds. Being silent will not help.
Never heard of a book titled ‘A Cup Of Tea’, let alone read it. Last book of Osho I read was ‘Glimpses of A Golden Childhood’, one of my favourites. I suspect a lot of the book’s content is grossly exaggerated, but for me it is a good read. Currently reading ‘The Psychological Commentaries’ by Maurice Nichol. Read it many times…a storehouse of practical wisdom, which I am certain Osho was very well acquainted with.
Shanti, you got me there, no denying it. I have no recollection whatsoever of reading ‘Kyozan, A True Man of Zen’. I do not often give books by Osho away, but that book is not in my library. Yeah, another mystery to be lived.
I often forget things…intentionally. But I never forget that which is important to me, for instance music. I just need to hear a single chord and I recognize the tune immediately. Talking of chords, here is the lost one. I am sure you will agree this is a beautiful and timeless piece of music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax6ztO4WCa0
I don`t know why, but the news that religious people are chanting mantras to keep Covid at bay reminds me of this tale:
Two Irish junkies were shooting up together and sharing a needle in some squalid squat somewhere in London in the 1980s.
“So, aren`t ye a little scared about catchin` AIDS, tho`?” asked Paddy.
Mick replied:
“Oh no, I`m takin` precautions, I`m wearin` a condom.”
Shanti,
That certainly beats being stuck in a shopping mall in December with “I wish it could be Christmas every day” by Slade banging out on the PA.
Shanti,
And the moral of the story is…that you can be a heavily tooled-up, hard-drinking psycho and still enjoy singing Hindu mantras!
Do Miten and Premal know this?
That would have been the Chuddie Mantra.
Btw,
Here`s an important piece of news from last year that we missed.
I think it`s fair to say that not only has Sannyas News made a unique contribution to the enlightenment of humanity and a new Yuga of superconsciousness, but we`ve done our bit for anglophone culture too…
https://www.theweek.in/leisure/society/2019/03/26/chuddies-gets-initiated-into-oxford-english-dictionary.html
Words words words.
“Words are more important for some people than they are for others.”
I would like to second that:
Possibly Osho was saying quite a few things with the intent
“to keep us glued to the screen”,
“to keep us from walking away”,
“to keep us from giving up the whole quest”
“to keep us from interrupting the process and having to re-start somewhere else”
etc.
Silence in the modern world needs a lot of helpers. It seems.
Has anyone read this?
Any good?
Why do people believe in this or that?
Why do they practise this or that?
Ha:
Because they get off on it.
Tony Joe White – I get off on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9nRvLNM8_o
Yes, yes, this is over-simplistic.
Funky!
I get off more on that than a poke in the eye with a plastic daf or an earbashing from a twelve foot lizard.
Shanti,
You are saying that to call out the patent absurdity of statements such as Robert Adams’s “I say `God, God, God` and I get unlimited school knowledge, candybars and violins” is `cynicism`?
That`s how far you have been gaslighted and brainwashed by so-called spiritual thinking and as a result are unable to use your critical faculties in a simple, straightforward human way.
They`ve got you!
The two types of event you describe are of a different order. Your old girlfriend`s experience of moving around out of her body was a private reality. Could she bring back candy bars and violins or any other proof with her, for example?
On the other hand, manifestation of candy bars and violins or watches would be a `consensus reality`, a happening which could be verified by onlookers and then also, for example, by confectioners and violin makers who could say “Ah; yes this is a Snickers bar or a Stradivarius.”
You can call my thoughts cynicism, doubt, suspicion, the mind or whatever you like. I think of it as simple human intelligence. The same type of intelligence that has helped humans use their minds, for example,to make a fire, cook food, build a house, defend from wild animals and illness, deal with adverse weather conditions and so on for aeons.
Plus, so-called holy men making these magic claims have not survived the video age. Sai Baba got caught doing his magic tricks on camera decades ago. His disciples still believe the magic is real as do many newagers and self-proclaimed spiritual types, of course.
“Never underestimate the power of denial,” someone said.
I`m totally in agreement that everyone needs a sense of magic, the marvellous and mystery in their life so as not to get lost in the numbing flatlands of the ticktock world. But rumours of psychic magic tricks, Hari Partha yogic stories, blagging chai-shop gurus and fantasy fakirs don`t do it for me.
This useful article appeared in yesterday’s online Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/29/how-to-deal-with-a-conspiracy-theorist-5g-covid-plandemic-qanon?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB#comment-145631657
`Conspiracy believer` is probably a more accurate term than `conspiracy theorist.`
That`s why conversation is difficult.
It`s back to the old religious dogma/Jehovah`s Witness thing again.
Btw, the globe-trotting, ashram-visiting, international nouveau yogis and shaman anti-vaxxers will get their egos challenged when vaccine passports come in as they certainly will do in some form or other.
Does anyone remember the old overland trail to India and Nepal? You needed a vaxx passport then, a little cardboard thing to show you had had cholera, tetanus and typhoid jabs. They wouldn`t let you over the borders without one.
This has a ring of truth, from an interview with Mominatu.
Question:
“Finally, what are the books, movies and music that have fed you, that have centered you during this time?”
Answer:
“Wow. That’s a beautiful question. I love that. “Purple Hibiscus” was a treat in lockdown. I listened to a lot of Ethiopian jazz, so Dexter Story, the “Bahir” album. Florence and the Machine, her latest album. A lot of Osho — I love Osho. I know he’s so controversial, but I love Osho’s books. I love his talks.”
“Getting Through … With Mominatu”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/getting-through-with-mominatu_n_5fcfaa25c5b619bc4c363ffd
Re. `getting through`…
Ayurvedic tongue scrapers are good. I recommend them, too. Amazingly, you can buy them in `Home Bargains`, a super-cheap store here in the UK, for only 39p. They have developed tongue brushes, too, which are also 39p. They`ve got organic coconut oil and quite a few herbs, all dirt cheap. You can achieve a pretty high state of yogic consciousness in there and still get change from a fiver.
Check out the packets of Dal Makhani too, made by some Sikh guy in the Midlands. Although it sounds odd to have it out of a packet, that stuff is surprisingly authentic and potent; a couple of mouthfuls of that and I get past-life flashes of sitting in a backstreet dhaba in Delhi, in the warrens opposite the railway station. It has the `ring of truth`, for sure, and also the `ring of fire`, to boot.
I was `getting through` today by browsing a very interesting book .
“The Wayfarers: Meher Baba and the God intoxicated”. It`s written by an English doctor,William Donkin, who travelled through India with Meher Baba during his marathon tour of India seeking out `masts`. A large part of the book is a kind of census of the masts, listing their names, location and a little about them from the perspective of Meher Baba.
In all about 20,000 masts and mastanis were visited during Baba`s estimated 70,000 mile tour of India.
A lot of them were naked, many filthy, poverty-stricken, starving or not bothering to eat, begging, just sat there, living in caves, streets, hovels, latrines, rubbish tips, a variety of crazy and bizarre behaviours, a lot were tobacco freaks , there were drinkers and opium enthusiasts listed as well as saddhus and relatively more `regular` renunciates with their own followings, disciples and even ashrams.
Oddly familiar was the account of a certain Bashir Mian whom Baba and the author visited three times in 1942. He lived in Bareilly,UP, and is described thus:
“An adept pilgrim. He is a very old, man, lean of body, for he eats very little he has long fingernails and apparently never sleeps at night. He has some 30 or 40 disciples, both men and women. All the men have beards. Every evening these disciples gather round Bashir Mian and one of them plays a harmonium singing a Persian couplet and as they listen or join ion the disciples slowly become ecstatic, the men nodding their heads and breathing strangely. At certain times of the day the disciples shout “Yahoo” “
The author also opines :“There is no doubt that masts, the god intoxicated, often exhibit an incapacity to deal with the ordinary situations of life and they are, in this respect, comparable to those who are deranged in the mind. But the departure of masts from normal behaviour and responses is not due to lack of sufficient mental development, nor is it due to any chaotic form of disruption; it is due to suspension of interest in the ordinary pursuits of life and to an absorption in the spiritual realities encountered in the path to truth realisation”
It`s a strange idea.
Is this really real or an opening to a more an out-of-the-box way of relating to craziness (in self and others)?
Useful lockdown kit
@Frank 16 Dec 1:54
Meher Baba:
I followed his story (online) from the energy transfer by Babajan to the stone thrown to his forehead to his wandering around and writing letters on a board…
This happened in Poona, too. Seems to be a very good place: Shirdi Sai Baba, Osho, Babajan, Meher Baba etc.
Regarding the masts:
This tradition seems to be strong – not only – among Sufis – Dam Mast Qalander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v38w5djsbXM
by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Singing to the Holy Ones, the Mast, the Hazrat, the Awwliya invoking the energy.
My teacher took me to the mazaars (shrines, samadhis etc.) of holy ones in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Hyder Shah of Dhaka was still alive, died in 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjg5GsFaJPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez8Gltp8vEA
In his normal life he has been a director of National Bank of Pakistan before devoting his time to spiritual practice (zikhr etc.).
When still alive, he spontaneously walked the streets of Dhaka. One could only meet him by calling his aides asking where he was just now. He could sit for hours slouched (?correct word) in the rubble on the curbside before walking again. He did not talk, but his followers sang sometime.
His Samadhi is in central Dhaka near Ring Road in Mohammadpur.
Klaus,
I remember Babajan`s shrine in the middle of the road in Pune and the little temple on Bund Garden Road. Any cyclist falling off their bike these days would be more likely be caused by the traffic and fumes rather than the light coming out of a female saint`s face, I guess!
A large amount of the masts listed and described in “The Wayfarers” actually sound like classic crazies that you might find anywhere.
For example:
Goher Shah ,
“A real mast. Very thin, and a great drinker of toddy and country spirits. If given money he spends it on toddy or spirits. He was contacted in a toddy shop on each occasion.”
Paser Buk
“He used to collect leaves, rubbish, scraps of paper, stones and so forth. At mealtimes he would smear his face with food and when given water and told to wash, would dab water on to the crown of his head and on his eyes and ears but would leave the rest of his face as it was.”
Bhai Chowar
“He sits in a filthy room with a heap of wool in front of him that he incessantly beats with a stick.”
I notice by the names that very many were Muslims.
Meher Baba`s explanations of the varying states of mast-hood and their variants are very difficult to follow or make sense of, and his claims that the masts were in some way exerting influence on the direction of world events, including the contemporaneous WW2 are pretty out-there. The author does not claim to understand this,
Nonetheless, there is something very compelling in this story of this silent man and his followers moving around the country in a very determined and organised way, setting up meetings with these crazy people (and also many saddhus and other oddbods) and organising ashrams where they would live. No one seems to really know exactly what it was all about other than some divine mysterious work that Meher Baba was doing.
The author himself admits that only a few of the masts showed signs of `improvement` in their obviously deranged states. Many enjoyed the attention lavished on them, but not all.
It really is an extraordinarily odd story.
I have to admit that despite the bizarreness of the whole story I find it both fascinating and strangely relaxing. Insanity really is part and parcel of human life.
Maybe if we accepted that more, we and the world would be less crazy.
Then again, madness does have a long history and pedigree of being worshipped and framed in religious terms, so I may be projecting my ideas and feelings onto the matter.
I want to write some more about the experiences of my time with the masts – dead and alive:
With Hyder Shah I have been sitting in the rubble of the streets in Dhaka, meditating about 5 merers near him. ‘Nothingness’ was almost pure. After about 30-40 minutes my teacher called me: “Klaus, enough, we have to go.”
He explained to me later, that if I sat longer I would become like Hyder Shah and I still had some worldly tasks to carry out: married man, high level job with lots of running here and there, financings and else.
As I am the type of throwing myself lock-stock-and-barrel at the opportunity – ready to throw everything away, including my life and all the current dependencies at the time.
At another opportunity, I sat in a small room just off Darussalam Road in Dhaka, where Hyder Shah went, when the weather turned nasty. It is about 5 x 5 metres in size. Just through the door – and you’er in. Hyder Shah with eyes closed was slouching on the right hand wall. I sat about 3 metres away from him, meditating. Slowly he turned his head, opened his eyes and looked at me: I could see the universe, my system seemed to be fully clear. What a giant. But a small body if you look at the videos.
Again, my teacher called me away 30-40 minutes. This time because of the dangers of the city: the local extortion gangs take around 50-60 minutes to hatch a plan once they know of a worthwhile victim: I was the only foreigner there – and lots of people where coming and going….
Shah Ali Boghdadi R.A. at Mirpur Mazaar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIl_OqlogCA
(the video is from outside the grave)
Many times I went there for like thirty minutes, meditating and touching the railings around his grave. There was a continuous slow zikhr going on, I got carried into deep silence.
Sometimes I joined the prayer in the mosque afterwards. Just lovely. Intimate. Connected. Protected.
Sharaf Uddin Chisti R.A. at High Court Mazaar:
There is a gate about 100 metres from the actual Mosque and Mazaar. Once I entered the gate I felt intoxicated with a sweet feeling of love and unity. I forgot everything around me and walked straight to the grave, to sit there. Sometimes I joined prayers in the mosque.
I cannot describe what happened. In daily life very often I have a tension in my left shoulder stemming from twisted vertebrae in the spine. Whenever this gets too much, I ‘call’ Sharaf Uddin Chisthi R.A. – and it gets less.
There are no dangers at this mazaar besides me giving away all my rupees to the people asking….
Shah Amanat Khan of Chittagong:
http://dargahinfo.com/DargahNameSearch.aspx?DargahName=Shah%20Amanat
After a 5-6 hours car drive I went there and sat near the grave. I became more and more sleepy and sat – or lay – there for about an hour….
This was before my brain haemorraghe at the end of 2013:
For 2 years, most I could do was cycle around and sit in every coffee shop. My in-laws Nana and Nani took care of my daughter together with my wife. Greeeaaat people.
2016 we went to Thailand where I planned to meditate 2 hours a day in any temple.
This I managed, somehow.
When asked whether he could get me “all the way to enlightenment with Shaktipat”, my teacher said: “Yes. But it makes no sense – as you would fall down again. It is by your own effort and understanding that step by step….”
That is, I feel, where therapy etc. comes in: two wings to fly.
What remains with me as a kind of understanding is that we have to pass through so many energy shifts – even without thoughts and visions or intuitions. This, Ozen Rajneesh to my mind described quite detailed in his book ‘Mystic Rose’.
About the exoteric, political or secret meanings of the actions of Meher Baba I do not know. Whatever.
So, I just keep on keeping on.
Everything happens.
Shit or no shit.
Wow! You sound like a bit of a mast in your own right, if you don`t mind me saying so.
Thanks, Frank.
Meher Baba’s wee hoose on the Bund Garden Road was a sanctuary for me some days. Read all about the masts.
Many years ago I was sitting having a chai in a back street in Maduri in Tamil Nadu. Sat watching a crazy guy eating sludge out of an open sewer. On closer observation I saw that the man appeared totally healthy, the whites of his eyes unblemished. That shit he was swallowing must have contained enough nasty bacteria to load a weapon of mass destruction.
Meher Baba
Masts
Babajan
Osho
Meditation
I kept some quotes that touch me much:
“All that is essential can only be communicated in silence.
Once you become silent a lot of things will be revealed to you.”
Osho
“Don’t underestimate the transformation that happens when I walk silently among you.”
Sai Baba of Puttaparthi
“The doors to heaven are:
- Silence
- Inner Peace
- Non-violence
- Love and compassion”
Osho
Who cares about “vibuthi” or “Rolls Royces and diamond watches” or “being slouched in the rubble on the curbside” when there is communion with a master and the mysterious?
Note:
I do not condone (sexual or other) misuse of any person – especially the underaged and or vulnerable. For sure.
Klaus, you say:
“I do not condone (sexual or other) misuse of any person – especially the underaged and or vulnerable.”
Come on Swami, you sound a bit repressed and judgmental there.
Time to loosen up, let go of some of your moralistic preconceptions, societal conditionings and mental pettifogging about how enlightened ones should act.
I mean,
male/female, jailbait/wrinkly, abuser/victim are simply dualistic mental concepts arising in the non-dual emptiness of the void and as such, are simply passing thoughtforms that have no reality in the ultimate truth of the transcendent consciousness of the fully awakened ones.
@Frank 5:07
I sign that, too.
It is all obiously unavoidable and just a happening.
What to do?
What to do?
I think Frank Sinatra may have solved that koan:
do-be-do-be-do.
In case anyone has missed it:
“Astrologers have hotly debated when the Age of Aquarius begins and when it ends, some claim it began in 1900, but most agree it starts on the 21st December 2020 with the Grand Conjunction.”
Here we are then, the Age of Aquarius officially starts tommorow.
Well, us front-line veterans here at the Orange Sunshine Retirement Home for the spiritually challenged have been around, seen a bit and whacked a few on the way, for sure.
Some of us might still be reeling from the chemical attacks of the 60s, the silent explosions of the 70s, the spiritual terrorism of the 80s, or recovering from our no-holds-barred encounters with the enemy, inner and outer, that left many of us with our egos blown clean off in no-minds land…suffering from PTSD (Post Therapy Sannyasin Disorder) or savouring the cameraderie of the therapy trenches…recalling the general, with his gas mask on, exhorting his troops, Patton-esque, to keep going, dropping our minds, our egos and our pants, getting a taste of fascism and a taste for the Tao…
Cheraiveti,cheraiveti…
And now here we are…with the moon in the Seventh House…Jupiter aligned with Mars.
Man, we made it!
Pats on the back all round.
Yeah, cool, Frank. I suspect it’s more a case of the dawning of the age of the virus. Living my hobbit-like existence on a wee isle in the Med. and checking the world news it appears like the world has gone nuts…or gone even more nuts than before.
Country life here does not bear much signs of el virus. One needs to go into a town to see that…and I find it totally weird. It all starts to appear like an apocalyptic sci-fi series.
Fortunately, the last series of Vikings will be hitting the screen soon to present a more optimistic vision of how life can be lived. Valhalla rocks!
“PTSD”
Haaahaaaaa! I love it!
Pats on the back for everyone, too. Smiley.
After a good morning`s panic buying, I`ve got a full larder and a copy of the 2020 VIZ compendium.
Age of Aquarius ?
Bring it on!
VIZ, great stuff. A friend was recently asked for a donation by a sannyasin therapist and was sent this classic VIZ cartoon.
……..
MOD:
?!
Why don’t we all break on through to the other side?
Are you on the bus yet? It has left yesterday, 7:22 p.m…
However, there will be more buses, soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlu3m31OSc
Funny sketch.
Maybe we could break on through to the funky side….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY25dPKJlX8
Booooom…the bass…perfect for me ::))))))))
Yeah, Bill mashes them up better than any other. ‘Killed by Exodus’ is still my fave. Oil give it foive.
About Nicolas Sand / Swami Pravasi:
http://sannyasnews.org/now/archives/6864
“Shall we go, you and I while we can
through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?”
– Grateful Dead, ‘Dark Star’
Some down on earth…
James McMurtry – “Carlisle’s Haul” – Live at Lagunitas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT-jqKzKq14
The Dylan of America’s South. Maybe or not.