Osho biography in his own words dancing


Osho Biography

1. Youth - Enlightenment - University studies:

Born in Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh, India on December 11, , Osho says of his parents, "I had chosen this couple for their care for, their intimacy, their almost one-ness." Growing in an atmosphere of tremendous love, freedom and respect, Osho was an intuitive and adventurous child with the knack of penetrating to the very heart of a situation.

Exploring life fearlessly and intensely, he insisted on experiencing life for himself rather than acquiring opinions or knowledge given by others. "My childhood was certainly golden - not a symbol, absolutely golden; not poetically but literally, factually Those years were unforgettable."
When he was seven years ancient, his maternal grandfather died with his head in Osho&#;s lap as they traveled in the back of a bullock cart on the long journey to reach the nearest doctor.

This had a profound effect on his inner life, provoking in him a determination to find that which is deathless.
"I learned much in that moment of his silence," Osho said later, "I started on a new search, a new pilgrimage." This, and other stories in Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, give rich insight into Osho&#;s early years, and the angelic spirit of the flame of rebellion and playfulness he brought to every endeavor in his life.


At the age of twenty-one, Osho became enlightened. "For many lives I had been working on myself, struggling, doing whatsoever can be done - and nothing was happening. The very effort was a barrier Not that one can extend without seeking.

Seeking is needed, but then comes a signal when seeking has to be dropped And that day the search stopped it started happening. A new energy arose It was coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was in the trees and in the rocks and the sky and the sun and the air - and I was thinking it was very far away.

And it was so near" A full account of his enlightenmentcan be found in his manual The Discipline of Transcendence.
After his enlightenment on March 21, , Osho graduated from the University of Saugar with first class honors in philosophy. While a student, he won the All-India Debating Championship.

He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Jabalpur for nine years.

Notes:

2. Travel all over India - lecturing, teaching: -

Osho (then called Acharya Rajneesh) traveled throughout India giving talks, challenging religious leaders in universal debate and meeting people from all walks of life.

He read extensively, everything he could find to broaden his sympathetic of the belief systems and psychology of contemporary man.
Osho had now begun to develop his unique dynamic meditation.
Modern man, he said, was so burdened with the outmoded traditions of the past and the anxieties of modern-day living that he must go through a deep cleansing process before he could expect to discover the thought-less, relaxed state of meditation.

He began to hold meditation camps around India, giving talks to the participants and personally conducting sessions of the meditations he had developed.
In Osho opens his first Meditations Centres known as Jivan Jagruti Kendras (Life Awakening Centres), and names his movement Jivan Jagruti Andolan (Life Awakening Movement).

As of he started to initiate people into sannyas.
In followers of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi invited Osho to talk to them. This was the first occasion on which Osho addressed a western audience, and the first time he talked publicly at length in English.
In Osho decided to stop traveling and settled in Bombay where he continued to give regular universal lectures.

By the following year, he had begun to lure a small Western following, and these early Westerners enjoyed personal and close relationships with their master. Among their number was a shy twenty-two-year-old English girl named Christine Wolff.

Taking on the name Ma Yoga Vivek, she became Osho&#;s constant companion.

Notes:

  • Interview with Ma Yoga Vivek, later known as Ma Prem Nirvano.
  • The Rising Moon video is a unique recording of the earliest phase: starting with the famous meditation camps in Mount Abu, continuing through Osho staying in a Bombay apartment and up to the Ashram in Poona.

    An account of what the video is all about.
    Download The Rising Lunar video ( MB, x , .mpg-file, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)

  • Devotional song excerpted from The Rising Moon Video ( MB, .mp3-file, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)
  • There is a short video showing Osho giving sannyas in the seventies.


    Download short video ( MB, .mp4-file, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)

  • Osho on the Master-Disciple affair in chronological order.
  • December 23rd, , at Lonavala, Osho sows the seeds of what is to become a worldwide sannyas movement.
  • September 26th.

    , Osho initiated his first disciples at Manali. Here&#;s a picture:


    Read more on who these first sannyasins are.

  • Video of Osho&#;s birthday celebrations December 11th. It was filmed by one of Osho&#;s earliest and closest disciples.

    The minutes video is in color but has no audio.

  • Osho conducting a meditation camp Pune (.mp4 file, MB, with Italian voice-over)
  • Rare video clip of Osho shares his vision with Italian media in his bedroom in Bombay (.wmv file 20 MB, with Italian voice-over)
    Same video in quicktime format (.mov file, 69 MB)
  • Video of Osho lecturing in his Bombay apartment in (.mp4 video, MB)

3.

He was given the birth name Rajneesh Chander Mohan by his grandparents, when he was around 11 years elderly before joining the school. Osho was sent to live with his maternal grandparents after his paternal grandma passes away. They give him access to an amazing and extraordinary environment of respect, freedom, and love, even he joined school at the age of During s, Osho was known as Acharya Rajneesh in his initial days, when he used to be a professor in his early days after completing his education.

Bhagwan in Poona 1: -

For more than thirty-five years Osho worked directly with people who came to him, sharing his vision of a "New Man" aka "Zorba the Buddha", and inspiring them to experimentwith a life based in meditation.

Bridging the ancient truths of simpler times with the current truths of man, he created numerous meditation techniques which give seekers an avenue to experience the ultimate.
Seeing that the complexities of life needed to be addressed, he worked closely with many prominent therapists from the West to create new therapies based in meditation.


Terence Stampis one of the many who took sannyas from Osho in
Slowly Osho builds up what he calls a Buddhafield.

Notes:

  • When Osho left for the U.S.A, quite a few sannyasins were taken by surprise and felt appreciate they were left behind.

    A sannyasin remembers

  • A video clip covering a period of time of the &#;s in Osho&#;s Ashram in Pune (Poona 1). The electronic music track is by the German hard rock band Scorpions.
  • An old movie made by a sannyasin in of the then ashram ( MB, no sound, just image).
  • An account of how the atmosphere was in the Poona 1 Ashram during preparations for Enlightenment Day Celebration.
  • A New York Times review of "Ashram", a controversial movie shot in Osho&#;s Ashram at the time.
  • Osho&#;s account on how the Ashram was run.
  • In Osho&#;s soon evening darshans became "energy darshans" in which, rather than discussing issues with individuals, he would transmit energy to them (shaktipat) by pressing on their "third eye".

    A number of female sannyasins were chosen as mediums to transmit his energy more widely.

  • Osho called the entrance to his Ashram in Poona The Gateless Gate.
  • Osho gave many wooden boxes to sannyasins to help them cope with the challenging West and to assist in transcending bodily, emotional and mental problems, should these come in the course of their meditation.

    These boxes contain Osho&#;s nail and hair clippings, which are saturated with the master's vibe; here&#;s a picture.

  • At the beginning of Osho&#;s lecture Ma Taru sang a devotional intro.

    On this short video, with moving an still images, you can hear her perform.

    (Download video by right-clicking and opting for "save target (or link) as")

4. Rajneeshpuram: -

After his initial work in India, Osho was invited to America where a bold communal experimentto translate his vision into a living reality began.

Ma Anand Sheela, Osho&#;s private secretary at the time, and a not many other women were in attack. Thousands of Osho&#;s disciples poured their love into a barren piece of land and began to transform it into a flowering oasis in the desert.


But Osho&#;s presence and the success of the commune revealed the hypocrisies inherent in the beliefs and prejudices of the current age, particularly in the religious and political establishment. The antagonism of these groups toward Osho and the commune mounted, and after only four years, after a short stay in an American prison, he was forced to leave America.


This is described in a manual by Max Brecher called A Passage to America. Read more about it here.
The inhabitants of a nearby little town, called Antelope, were glad that Osho and his people were gone, as is clear from a plaqueat the base of the Antelope post office flagpole, to mark that time.
The inscription reads:
"Dedicated to those of this group who, through the Rajneesh invasion and occupation of , remained, resisted, and remembered."

During the Rajneeshpuram period, the gachchamis were introduced.

Notes:

  • A closer look at Rajneeshpuram, Osho&#;s commune in America.
  • Feelings After the Fall, perceptions of former Rajneeshpuram members after this commune collapsed.
  • Another video giving a taste of what Rajneeshpuram was like: The Way of the Heart.
    Download this video (MB, x VCD, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)
  • A rare video of Osho getting a guided tour of the Zorba store in Antelope, surrounded by sannyasins (.mp4 file, MB, to download right-click link and opt for "save goal as")
  • In the Rajneeshpuram period many Rolls-Royce cars were given to Osho by his disciples.

    The Rolls-Royces were one reason why Osho became notorious.

    He is the eldest of 11 children of a Jaina cloth merchant. He is described as independent and rebellious as a youth, questioning the social expectations and religious beliefs his family and teachers try to impose on him. As a youth he experiments with meditation techniques from many different traditions. See here for some stories about his unusual childhood.

    Towards the complete of Rajneeshpuram Osho could opt between 93 Rolls-Royces and he had the intention to include at his disposal a fleet of , one for each day of the year. He has this to say about it.
    When Osho left the USA, his Rolls-Royces were up for sale, something which perturbed executives at the carmaker&#;s U.S.

    headquarters: article.

  • Rajneeshpuram had its possess airport.
  • In connection with what happened in Rajneeshpuram
  • Osho talked about the mismanagement in Rajneeshpuram in his lecture series From Bondage to Freedom.
  • Samvado&#;s high definition pictures of Antelope and The Ranch in Oregon, USA as they are today ().

    (The Ranch, aka The Muddy Ranch, is another name for Rajneeshpuram)


  • Rajneeshpuram was legally incorporated on May 18, and survived the last attack on its legality (on land operate grounds) in a Oregon Supreme Court decision.

    Ironically, by that time, the thousands of red-clad sannyasins who had transformed the once barren Big Muddy Ranch into a thriving city had long since deserted it after Osho&#;s controversial deportation on unproven minor immigration charges in
    In a taped interview, Charles Turner, the US Attorney for Oregon, finally admitted, "We were using the criminal process to solve what was really a political problem."
    So much for upholding constitutional freedoms of religion and speech.

    (from Osho Times International - July 1, )

  • Osho celebrating and dancing with his sannyasins (video, MB, x , right-click and &#;save link as&#;).

    "Celebration is my message", says Osho.

  • Another celebratory video from before one of Osho&#;s Last Testament lectures (.mp4 of MB)
  • Osho had several interviews with the World Urge to expose and explain what had happened in Rajneeshpuram.


    Here&#;s a 30 seconds excerpt from an interview with Jim Gordon, journalist at The Atlantic Monthly Magazine, and The Washington Announce (a .flv file).
    Excerpts from an interview with Mike Wolfe KBND Radio, Bend, Oregon.

    If Osho ever wrote his life story as a note, this is how he has written it. Life is a journey, a dance of existence where we traverse the landscapes of bliss and sorrow, of light and darkness. Allow me to contribute with you the essence of my journey, a voyage that led me to the depths of self-discovery and the heights of spiritual awakening. I was born in a small village in India, a land affluent with ancient wisdom and mysticism.

    "I am destroying the whole idea of the separation, of a split between matter and mind, body and soul, materialism and spiritualism." - Osho

  • Osho explains to Mike Wolfe how uninformed psychologists can be:

  • ZorbaTheBuddha An fascinating (and only slightly biased) view of the happenings at the end of the Ranch.

    The writer is Sarmad (aka Kent Welton), an established writer and musician. The Osho Story at ZorbaTheBuddha gives a good account of commune history.

  • Sambodhi, Nura, Samarpan, and Felix visited what used to be Rajneeshpuram:
    1. Rajneeshpuram revisited video 1
    2. Rajneeshpuram revisited video 2
    3. Rajneeshpuram revisited video 3
    4. Rajneeshpuram revisited video 4
  • Wow, I&#;m Still Alive Subhuti remembers and muses after seeing Wild Wild Country, the Netflix documentary.
  • The Hilariously Incompetent Hit Squad a black comedy by Subhuti.

5.

Worldtour: -

Osho then began a World Tour. He is refused entry by 21 countries. In the midst of this campaign of worldwide persecution orchestrated by the US Government, Osho responds with characteristic humor and uncompromising honesty, publicly challenging his persecutors and at the matching time showering his love unconditionally, giving some of his most intimate talks to disciples who gathered around him wherever he went.

What is This? - Osho World: Life is a journey, a dance of universe where we traverse the landscapes of joy and sorrow, of light and darkness. Allow me to share with you the essence of my journey, a voyage that led me to the depths of self-discovery and the heights of spiritual awakening. I was born in a small village in India, a land rich with ancient wisdom and mysticism.

Notes:

  • While Osho went on a World Tour, many sannyasins left the USA and spread all over the nature. A substantial part of them landed in Ibiza. Anthropologist Anthony d&#;Andrea, aka Techno Tony, has spent recent years investigating club/rave centres around the World, researching a PHD thesis on &#;Club Cultures&#;.

    He writes in this pdf file that sannyasins became a crucial bridge between Ibiza&#;s 60s counterculture and the 90s electronic dance subculture.

  • Osho was denied entry by the UK. Here&#;s a selection of 10 other &#;controversial&#; figures arbitrarily banned from this country.

    British humour arguably at its best.

6. Osho in Poona 2: -

Finally, Osho returned to Poona, India, giving talks twice a day. Thousands of seekers from around the world came together again to be in the presence of this rare buddha and mystic, and a new commune grew around him.

It was during this time that Osho announced that he did not wish to be called Bhagwan again: "Enough is enough! The joke is over." In these years of his final discourses, Osho gradually began to withdraw from public activities. His fragile health often prevented him from giving discourses, and the periods of his absence grew longer.

He introduced a new element into his discourses, guiding his audience into a three-stage meditation at the end of each sitting. Eventually he delivered his last discourse series, answering questions and commenting on Zen sutras.
After his failing health had caused him to stop giving discourses, a message came that the specify Rajneesh was also being dropped.

Many of his disciples had already collectively decided to contact him Osho. He has explained that the word &#;Osho&#; is derived from William James&#; statement &#;oceanic experience&#; which means dissolving into the ocean. "Oceanic describes the experience," says Osho, "but what about the experiencer?

For that we use the synonyms &#;Osho&#;."
In the following months, whenever his health permitted, he would appear in the evening to sit with his disciples and friends in a meditation of music and silence, after which he would retire to his room while the assembly watched one of his videotaped discourses.

These sittings together with Osho are called White Robe Brotherhood Meetings.
In the last year of his life, Osho organised an administration of his closest disciples to take protect of his work after he had left his body.

Osho himself chose the 21 members of this inner circlewho could contribute in the administrative labor and who had different areas of expertise. This committee was to make decisions unanimously. Members of the inner circle were for life, only to be replaced after death by the remaining members.

After a while, the required unanimity making swift action impossible according to some, a group of 6 people formed within the inner circle, called "The Præsidium", which, over time, became decisive in policy making; this led to struggles within the inner circle whereupon many members left.

Nowadays only three people take care of the management of Osho&#;s legacy, three people of non-Indian descent, which contributes to disagreements between leading Indian and non-Indian disciples.

Notes:

7.

Osho born Chandra Mohan Jain, and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the s and s and as Osho fromwas an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following. A professor of philosophy, he traveled throughout India in the s as a common speaker. His outspoken criticism of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi and institutionalized religions made him controversial. InOsho settled for a while in Bombay.

Poona 3: - I Leave You My Dream

On 19 January Osho leaves his body after a long sickness due to his poisoning by the US- Government in His body was brought to Buddha Hall the same evening so that his Sannyasins could give him a send off. Later on his body was carried to the burning ghat at the river near the ashram and cremated in a large celebration with all his Sannyasins.


Just a few weeks before his demise, Osho was asked what would happen to his operate when he was gone.

He said:

"My trust in existence is absolute. If there is any truth in what I am saying, it will survive.

The people who remain interested in my work will be simply carrying the torch, but not imposing anything on anyone. I will remain a source of inspiration to my people. I want them to grow on their own - qualities fond love, around which no church can be created, like consciousness, which is nobody&#;s monopoly; enjoy celebration, rejoicing, and remaining fresh, childlike eyes.

I want my people to know themselves, not to be according to someone else. And the way is in."

He also said:

"If you have loved me, I will live with you forever. In your love, I will exist. If you have loved me, my body will disappear but I cannot die for you
Even if I am gone I know you will seek for me.

Yes, I can trust you will hunt for me in every stone and flower, in every eye and star And I can guarantee you one thing: if you hunt for me, you will find me - in every star and every eye - because if you have really loved a Master, you possess moved into eternity with him.

The relationship is not of time; it is timeless.
There is going to be no death. My body will disappear, your body will disappear - that will not make any change. If the disappearance of the body makes any adjust, it simply shows that cherish had not happened.
Love is something beyond the body.

Bodies come and go, love remains. Love has eternity in it - timelessness, deathlessness."

(Osho - The Divine Melody #10)

Sitting with the Master

From the supplement to the Osho Times International of February 1

A few days before Osho left his body, he said he would like his people all over the nature to sit in meditation each evening at pm (their local time).

Osho speaks on ‘Dancing’; “The dancer remains one with the dance. Even when he starts dancing, the unity is not broken, there is no duality. Utter oneness.” The religious person is one who has seen the fact that life is not problematic; it is mysterious, it is miraculous. You dive deep into it. Mark it! Make a festival out of it.

He suggested that people first watch a video of the meeting of Pale Robe Brotherhoodto see exactly what has been happening during the evening meetings in Poona. From then on, they can position in silent meditation with their eyes closed, with the video providing the period of song and silence.

  • A very touching video, titled I Leave You My Dream, was made on the evening when Osho&#;s personal physician Amrito declared Osho&#;s death and announced his last words to his sannyasins.
    Download I Leave You My Dream ( MB, x VCD, right-click and &#;save link as&#;).
  • A short video showing the burning of Osho&#;s body ( MB, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)
  • A compilation of pictures taken after Osho left his body ( MB, .mp4-file, right-click and &#;save link as&#;)

Osho once mentioned in Nansen: The Point of Departure #10:

I want to remind you
that whether I am here or not
the celebration has to continue.
If I am not here
then it has to be more intense
and it has to spread around the world
Celebration is my religion
Love is my message
Silence is my truth


General Notes:

  • Osho in a nutshell (short .flv video).
  • What is Osho&#;s Message?
  • This autobiography of Osho&#;s has not been written by himself.
    Here&#;s the reason why.
  • Development of Osho&#;s Teaching (compiled by sannyasins from his books).
  • Interview with Garimo about the development of the Multiversity.
  • Sociological study of the development of Osho&#;s sannyas-movement in Nepal (a .pdf file).
  • Osho Rajneesh A study in contemporary religion by Judith M.

    Fox. An excerpt. And a review by Swami Rammurthi.

  • Architect Hafeez describes how the black Pyramids in Osho&#;s Ashram came to be (search for Osho)
    The wonderful pyramid in Osho&#;s Ashram has drawn attention of the Great Pyramid of Giza Reasearch Association: see this website.
    A picture of the Pyramids (with cleaners and peacocks).
  • People who want to accept Osho&#;s neo-sannyas should read this.
  • Meanwhile most members have left the inner circle; the few remaining people are in charge of an administrative body called Osho International Foundation, that manages Osho&#;s Ashram in Pune (the Ashram is also called &#;Osho International Meditation Resort&#;).

    A conflict has arisen between Osho International Foundation and a few Indian disciples - like Arun, Keerti and Neelam, who have organised themselves in Osho Friends International. The core reason of the dispute lies in that the resort management wants to avoid Osho&#;s sannyas movement to turn into a formal religion.

    Devotional practices are discouraged; Osho&#;s birthday isn&#;t even celebrated anymore in the Poona Ashram.


  • Traveling to and living in Poona

    • If you explore to India and want to recover from your trip and acclimatise before moving on to Osho&#;s Ashram in Poona, you can do so at Anamika Music and Meditation Center, located in Goa.
    • To book for rooms close to the Osho International Meditation Resort, write to Abhipsa and Ekanta.

      email: shopladhani

    • If ever you travel to Pune (India), there&#;s one sustenance lane where you won&#;t hold to look far to uncover a restaurant to your appetite and that&#;s &#;Koregaon Park Road&#;. Koregaon Park, synonymous with the &#;Osho International Commune&#;, is one of the major tourist attractions in Pune.

      And with adequately established and reputed eateries and restaurants, as well as fresh ones popping up everyday, Koregaon Park or KP as it&#;s called by locals, has develop a major hot spot for dinning and eating out.


      One of the oldest and best known in sannyas circles is the German Bakery.

      Sadly the German Bakery has been completely destroyed in a bomb blast on February 13th , with 15 people killed and 50+ injured: Photogallery.

      Osho on Terrorism

      The German Bakery in better times:
      pic 1  pic 2  pic 3  pic 4  pic 5  pic 6  pic 7

      Video-tribute to the German bakery.


Osho and Astrology

Another name for Vedic, Hindu or Indian astrology is Jyotish. "Jyoti" means light or flame and "Ish" means God. Jyotish thus means Lord of the light.

Thanks to satellite images of Kuchwada on the internet it is now possible to decide the exact co-ordinates of this little village.

Osho (then called Acharya Rajneesh) traveled throughout India giving talks, challenging religious leaders in public debate and rendezvous people from all walks of life. He read extensively, everything he could find to broaden his understanding of the conviction systems and psychology of contemporary man.

Before the internet, one had to locate Kuchwada on a map and had therefore only approximate co-ordinates to estimate Osho&#;s horoscope.

Osho&#;s horoscope in Sannyas-Magazin of 5/ was calculated with a time of birth of hrs, with Gadarwara as birthplace and co-ordinates of Bhopal.

Prasad, a sannyasin-astrologer, once mentioned that at first he had used hrs as time of birth, this according to what Osho&#;s mother remembered. Osho&#;s second of birth has never been officially recorded. At the Ranch, Prasad once asked Osho&#;s mother again, urging her to aim and be as precise as possible.

She then said Osho&#;s birthtime to be hrs.

So, we now accurately have: Osho, , hrs (LMT = GMT+)
Kuchwada / Madhya Pradesh, India, 23N09, 78E21

The left Vedic horoscope is shown with a diamond-like style typical for present North-Indian astrology (a design also prominent in medieval astrology in the West, by the way).

The rising sign is Taurus and signs are counted counterclockwise. Note the cluster of planets in the eighth house in Sagittarius.

The right horoscope is Osho&#;s Burmese horoscope, also called Mahabote. Osho was born "Mohan Chandra Rajneesh".

"Mohan Chandra" means "Full Moon"; "Rajneesh" means "Lord of the Night" from Sanskrit "rajani" "night" and "isha" "lord, ruler". This may be reflected in the Moon of Osho&#;s Mahabote horoscope being on top in the "leader house".

More on Mahabote (Burmese astrology)