Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
(1931-1990)
Born Rajneesh Chandra Mohan, in Cuchara, a town in Central India, Rajneesh’s parents practiced Jainism. From a very early age only he was independent. He had his own ideas about the world, and loved to debate with anyone who would engage with him. He was considered rebellious, and ran into trouble with his teachers in school, though he was a brilliant student. At the age of 21, he attained enlightenment, merging his consciousness with the universe. He received his masters of arts in philosophy, and spent ten years teaching philosophy at the University of Jabalpur, in India. He also traveled throughout the country giving lectures, challenging every kind of organized religion.
He soon began to gather disciples, and left the University to settle in Bombay. Many Westerners seeking Indian wisdom came to hear him speak, and most found him charismatic, an excellent speaker, full of energy, presenting fresh ideas with great clarity and shining intelligence. Intellectuals were drawn to him, as well as many middle and upper class Western seekers. As his number of followers grew, he moved to Poona and established an ashram. Soon thousands of disciples were coming to visit him, and many stayed.
A variety of experimental therapeutic techniques were used to expand the consciousness of the disciples, including massage, reflexology, acupuncture, Rolfing, postural integration, hypnosis, counseling, rebirthing, and Rajneesh’s own dynamic meditations. The latter involved an evolving process of movement based meditations, taking the practitioner through a physical, and psychological process which involved deep breath work, aerobic dance movements, escalating into a wild and emotive spontaneous dance expression, with the practitioner jumping up and down, moving limbs wildly, and shouting hoooo, hoooo, repeatedly. This was followed by a period of mindless relaxation many described as a pure and cleansed state of consciousness.
Some of the practices were considered more controversial than others. Rajneesh encouraged total sexual freedom, and this was practiced fully by his disciples. This was disturbing to some, especially with the Hindu population. Another controversial aspect was violence in the therapy encounter groups, which happened spontaneously, for the expression of rage was encouraged. Despite these controversies, this center became known in the West as one of the most progressive personal and spiritual growth centers in the world.
Possibly because of the controversy, cited for health reasons, Rajneesh and his disciples moved to the U.S., purchasing a ranch in Oregon near the town of Antelope. He and his disciples began to build a town they considered the beginning of a sacred city, which they named Rajneeshpuram. At that time, the energy and enthusiasm of the disciples was great. The arid landscape was transformed into a flourishing town with over 3000 residents, a large reservoir, a huge meeting hall, and a paved airstrip. The initial community was a cooperative success, with an organic farm, and production of various goods benefiting the community.
From the beginning there was conflict between the citizens of Antelope, and Rajneesh and his disciples. The locals were not appreciative of this comparatively large population of people descending on the community and threatening their traditional, mainstream American values with what they perceived as radical and foreign cultural ideas. One of the ways this conflict manifested is that building permits were withheld without good reason from Rajneeshpuram. Many of the buildings had to be constructed illegally, which later became a point of confrontation.
It was during this time that Rajneesh’s secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, became quite powerful in the organization, as Rajneesh International was quickly becoming a multi-million dollar corporation. Many wealthy Americans and Europeans had become disciples, and large amounts of money came into the organization daily. (Another controversial subject was the 100 Rolls-Royce cars owned by Rajneesh.) During the time when Sheela wielded so much power, many bizarre things began to happen. Accusations of intimidation, control, violence, and even attempted murder and mass poisoning of local citizens eventually came about. The latter was connected to an event that occurred on the day of an election in which issues concerning Rajneeshpuram were to be decided by the local community. Over 700 people who ate at 10 different local restaurants got sick with salmonella poisoning. Some believe that the disciples were responsible and that contamination of salad bars was the method they used in order to ensure that a smaller number of non-disciple voters would turn out. Eventually the citizens of Rajneeshpuram gained control of the City Council, renaming Antelope “City of Rajneesh.” At some point the FBI had become involved, and an investigation into the practices of the group was initiated. In particular the practices of Ma Anand Sheela came into question, and many of the inner circle began to leave, some making comments to the press concerning their reasons for leaving.
Throughout his teaching years, Rajneesh wrote many books, some of which are considered powerful spiritual works. He wrote as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho. His grasp of many different spiritual teachings and ancient scriptures, as well as psychology and philosophy, and his original and refreshing way of framing these different teachings, set him apart from other writers.
Rajneesh returned to India in 1987, forcibly deported by legal authorities in the United States, and around this time his health begin to fail. He changed his name to Osho and also began to modify his views on complete sexual freedom, as he had begun to be concerned about the AIDS virus. He died in 1990. His death was surrounded by controversy, with rumors of CIA involvement. When he was departing the U.S., his private plane was grounded. It was suspected that he was poisoned while being held for questioning. He was then let go, but became very ill from toxicity. Despite all the controversy, Rajneesh died the beloved spiritual leader of thousands of devoted disciples. Many of them consider him to be the most brilliant enlightened spiritual teacher of all time. He was definitely an eloquent speaker.
Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)~
“Remember: whatsoever I'm saying it is not the thing that I want to say to you. The whatsoever I'm saying has nothing to do with the truth, because truth cannot be said. Whatsoever I am saying is nothing but hammering. If you become awake, you'll see the truth.”
“Why do I contradict myself? I am not teaching philosophy here, the philosopher has to be very consistent―flawless, logical, rational, always ready to argue and prove his statements. I am not a philosopher. I'm not here giving you a consistent dogma to which you can cling. My whole effort is to give you a no-mind.”
“I have been misunderstood perhaps more than anyone else ever, but it has not affected me, for the simple reason that there is no desire to be understood. If I’m misunderstood, it is their problem in their misery. I am not going to waste sleep because millions of people are misunderstanding me.”
“I don't think about the future at all, it is irrelevant. My whole effort is how to beautify this present moment, how to make people more celebrating, how to make people more joyous, how to give a little glimpse of blissful life, how to bring laughter to their life.”
“I am trying in every possible way to drop all those things, which in the past have been barriers for the revolution to continue and grow. I don't want anybody to stand between the individual and existence. No prayer, no priest―you alone are enough to face the sunrise, you don't need somebody to interpret for you what a beautiful sunrise it is.”
“I want to leave you alone, absolutely alone, so that you cannot take anybody's help, so you cannot cling to any prophet, so that you cannot think that Guatam Buddha is going to save you. Left alone―utterly alone―you're bound to find your innermost center.”
“I am not here to buttress your egos; I'm here to destroy them. I have to speak against them. My whole work consists in destroying. First a great destruction is needed, only then your energies are released for some creative work.”
“My message is too new. India is too old, the ancient, traditional. I am rebellious. In fact I am not an Indian. If I am an Indian, then I am already prejudiced in favor of India. Then my message cannot be universal. It will be deep down Indian, basically Indian―camouflaged, hidden behind beautiful words, abstractions, but it will remain essentially Indian. They can't be universal. I am not an Indian. I belong to no nation. My message is universal.”
“My whole effort is to take all the props away from you, all beliefs, Osho included. First I pretend to give you help... because that is the only language you understand! Then by and by I start withdrawing myself. First I take you away from your other desires and help you to become very passionate about Nirvana, liberation, truth. When all desires have disappeared, there is only one desire left, and I start hammering on that desire, and I say, drop it, because this is the only barrier. And I start taking the last desire from you. Once the last desire disappears you are enlightened. Then you are Osho.”
Find out about Osho zen meditation technique. His popular technique is named Dynamic meditation, this is a guided meditation involving body movements and the meditator is guided by music. His philosophy on meditation and consciousness was less to do with mindfulness as a zen letting go state. As in some yoga practices his meditation was meant to lead people to creative brain consciousness. This state of higher consciousness through various forms of transcendental meditation brings insight to those who practice. On the transcendental zen path there is a sense of growth in our brain matter as if there is physical consciousness matter within us.