I have another confession, it shouldn’t feel like one, but it does. At 21 I became a 'disciple' of Osho, born Chandra Mohan Jain, also known as (Acharya) Rajneesh. I was one of those ubiquitous ‘orange people’ you might have seen in the 80s. Just recently I have returned to reading Osho’s writings. That in itself is remarkable because for years I have buried that part of my life. Why? Because as a member of this so-called ‘cult’ I was looked upon with scorn, disrespect, fear, pity…. you name it. If you want to experience how the minority groups really feel - just join one.My family were horrifed, aghast, so I ‘divorced’ them for 2 years which probably just fuelled their fears. They can’t have known me very well, because if they had, they would have known that I am quite discerning, mistrustful of group hypnosis and mass hysteria. I liked what this man said, he made me feel that I wasn’t a waste of space, he said I was ‘divine’ - I knew he was right and I tried to believe him. Is that such a bad thing? It wasn't about ego, though many interpreted it that way.
His teachings were a ‘syncretic’ mix, of ‘meditation, awareness, love, celebration, creativity and humour’ which he believed were all suppressed by sticking to 'static belief systems, religious tradition and socialisation’. He told jokes, they were funny and hundreds of people in one room laughed loudly together. He upset the status quo which earned him vilification by the ‘popular’ press. Not so popular with me I have distrusted their destructive habits ever since. I agree with Tom Robbins (author) who, although not a ‘disciple’, expressed the view that Osho was ‘the 20th century's greatest spiritual teacher, and probably also one of the most maligned figures in history, given the amount of vicious propaganda and slanted reports published about him’.
One scholar summarises his teachings: ‘a potpourri of "counter-culturalist and post-counter-culturalist ideas" focusing on love and freedom, the need to live for the moment, the importance of self, the feeling of "being okay", the mysteriousness of life, the fun ethic, the individual's responsibility for their own destiny, and the need to drop the ego, along with fear and guilt’.
It was his emphasis on ‘the individual's responsibility for their own destiny’ that really got me in. I have to admit that many sanyassins (disciples) focused on the freedom and forgot that with freedom comes responsibility, something I am always ramming down the throats of my poor students. Of course society doesn’t want or therefore teach us to be responsible, not really, because that means those who hold power will have to relenquish it. And in this material world, power is everything, usually bought, sometimes earned. In essence knowledge will only gain you power in subversive and obscure ways, but money, or muscle, or the money to buy the muscle will deceive you into thinking you have it. Ultimately though, how each person finds truth is an individual responsibility, there are many wounded souls left in the wake of those heady days who still project their own failures on the 'master'.
I will be posting some extracts of Osho’s discourses, not to try and convert anyone, but just because they are insightful, remind me that there were very sound reasons I took sannyas in the first place and because they are sometimes just beautifully said.
‘Osho’ Wikipedia
http://www.religioustolerance.org/rajneesh.htm
