OSHO bytes

Osho Inspires INDIA Dance Wales Troupe

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:38:00 +0000

Sadhana

Can a book be danced? Why not? This is the age of multimedia which means one medium can be converted into many other media. Music can be painted, and words can be danced.
This multidimensional creativity has inspired Kiran Ratna, the founder of INDIA Dance Wales to choreograph a multi art production "Life" combining engaging dance, live music and spellbinding narration.

The County Times writes, "This production, "Life," is inspired by the controversial writings of Osho, an Indian mystic and spiritual teacher who spoke and wrote much on the subject of human behaviour and modern day life, will take the audience through all the stages of life a human being encounters.
"From the womb, through relationships, family, career, religion, old age and finally back to the meditative state, these themes will be explored through dance, live music and narration."
I became curious and wrote to this company 's email address. And lo! Kiran Ratna herself replied saying, this dance was inspired by Osho's book on Maturity.

By the way what is the book on maturity?

Here is a glimpse :

About Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself

In a culture infatuated with youth, and determined to avoid old age at all costs, this book dares to raise a question that has been all but forgotten in the age of Viagra and cosmetic surgery. What benefits might lie in accepting the aging process as natural, rather than trying to hold on to youth and its pleasures all the way to the grave? Osho takes us back to the roots of what it means to grow up rather than just to grow old. Both in our relationships with others, and in the fulfillment of our own individual destinies, he reminds us of the pleasures that only true maturity can bring He outlines the ten major growth cycles in human life, from the self-centered universe of the pre-schooler to the flowering of wisdom and compassion in old age. A unique sense of humor runs like a thread through the book, along with a profound compassion and understanding of how easy it is to be distracted from the deeper meaning and purpose of our lives - which is, ultimately, to flower into our own individual uniqueness and maturity with an attitude of celebration and joy.
Copyright Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com/

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Investment in Unhappiness

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Sadhana

Osho says: ' Happiness is a learned skill. Basically every child is born happy and blissful.'

"Happiness is a choice you make in each moment about how you experience that moment, not a state you one day achieve. " says Barbara DeAngelis the foremost American author on human relationships .
Happiness appears to be like the horizon, the more we chase it, the more it recedes further. But it is worth remembering that the horizon is an illusion and happiness is reality. It eludes human beings because the human mind is trained to be negative, miserable, competitive, ambitious, complaining. The seeds of unhappiness are sown in the very childhood.
You may not agree that happiness is our natural state of being. Every child is born happy and blissful. Look at an infant chuckling and playing with itself, it is in a complete bliss. But as it grows older, the people around it conditions it to be serious, miserable putting lot of pressure.
We are taught to be ambitious, to be competitive, and in order to achieve it we sacrifice happiness. When we spend our lives preparing for the future rather than enjoying the present, we end up postponing happiness. Ask yourself: is my present career best described as preparing for the future, figuring that one day I will be happy?
I have a Swedish friend here at the Osho Meditation Resort, Pune, called Sucheta. A middle aged lively, bubbly woman. We all suffer from arrogant auto riksha drivers. Pune is no exception. Here the auto-rikshaw drivers demand exhorbitant money from the western passangers. When everyone is freaking out about it, Sucheta pays them more than they ask for, and is chirping happy! She says, "I bought peace for ten rupees. This is my antidote to their greed."

But we let these opportunities slip away because we are never present in the moment.
Osho has made an insightful observation on human investment in unhappiness: " People have a morbid liking for illness and people have a morbid attachment with unhappiness. That's why you are always ready for unhappiness. No preparation is needed, everybody is ready to jump. Nobody comes to me and asks how to be unhappy. Nobody has been teaching you unhappiness. You know it by instinct.
"There must be some deep investment in it. They want to be happy, but they cling to unhappiness. When you are unhappy it is easy to condemn the whole world, it is easy to throw responsibility on everybody else. When you are unhappy you can manipulate others who are near you -- because you are unhappy, and they have a responsibility to make you happy. When you are unhappy you can demand attention: 'I am ill; I am unhappy'
"Everybody goes on playing the game of being unhappy. You want to be happy, but unless you cut the investment in unhappiness you cannot be happy. And happiness is not somebody else's responsibility towards you, remember. Nobody else can make you happy. It is your own growth, your own awareness, your own moving energy -- higher and higher -- that gives you bliss."

www.osho.com/library

A Genius In Search Of His Original Face

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:31:00 +0000

Sadhana

Osho talks about the deep human longing for finding one's original face. In view of the sudden demise of Michael Jackson the Osho wisdom gives a great insight into the inner life of geniuses. No amount of plastic surgery to alter the face can satisfy a person who is basically searching for his faceless being, his consciousness.

" Nobody is ever satisfied with their face; even the most beautiful people are not satisfied. Even Cleopatra was worried that her nose was a little longer than it should be. Marilyn Monroe committed suicide -- a beautiful woman, but not satisfied, not contented. There is something in it. All faces are false. Deep down, your being is faceless.

That's what Zen people call the original face. When a disciple comes to a Zen master, the master says, "Go and meditate upon your original face." And what is the original face? The face that you had before you were born and the face that you will have again when you are dead: find out that original face. It is not a face at all.

Have you ever thought about it? The shape of your face is given by the body. It can be changed by plastic surgery. And you will not be changed by the change of the face: your nose can be longer, shorter, your eyes can be different, eyebrows can be different -- much can be done now.

And you will remain the same.

Have you got any face? Sometimes with closed eyes go deep into it... and you will be surprised to see you don't have any face.
That's why one is never contented. One can never be contented with this face, howsoever beautiful. This face is not going to satisfy you unless you come to the original face, the facelessness of your being: purity with no shape, the formless, the attributeless."

The Divine Melody/www.osho.com/library

Silent OSHO Explosion in India

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Sadhana

Osho International Foundation has been working silently and diligently to make Osho available in India. I am very happy to share it with everybody.

* Every year, approximately twenty-thousand people come to the OSHO International Meditation Resort for meditation, out of which 54% are Indian nationals. There is a discounted price for entry for Indians corresponding to their economic situation.

* OSHO International Foundation has currently 712 Osho titles licensed to 28 leading publishers in India in 12 Indian languages: Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Sindhi, and Urdu. There may be no other author in history whose works have been so widely distributed in India.

* OSHO International Foundation has licensed a large number of audio and video titles with major publishers: Music Today, SONY Music, Shemaroo, in process with Moser Baer.

* Osho quotes are available via sms on mobile phones throughout the country, including test and audio options in English and Hindi.

* The total number of units sold in all formats throughout India is around one million - excluding the pirated copies!

* The press office of Osho International Meditation Resort sends Osho content in the form of articles on current topics to all the top newspapers of India in three languages - Hindi, English and Marathi. As a ripple effect, other papers in other languages such as Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and so on, publish Osho articles in their periodicals. As a result Osho content is read by some100 million people from India every month.

* On www.osho.com visitors can find thousands of pages of Osho content in both English and Hindi, including an online magazine, a full description of all the Osho meditations, a presentation of the Osho International Meditation Resort, an online shop where visitors can find all the books, ebooks, and audiobooks currently available, and an online Library of the Osho archives in text format in English and Hindi.

* In the audiobook section of osho.com, there are 2861 Osho Talks in the English audiobook catalog on osho.com and 1344 Osho Talks in the Hindi audiobook catalog. In addition there is a special price for downloading these talks within in India.

* In the online Library on osho.com, visitors can find the complete text archive of Osho Talks which can be read and searched online in both English and Hindi. The Hindi archive is free of charge. In addition, this Hindi archive has been made available in such a way that it can be read in six different Indian scripts.

* The Osho International Meditation Resort has helped open 11 exclusive Osho bookshops called OSHO Glimpse all over India. This chain is growing as people enjoy being able to see the full collection of Osho Titles available in one place, including the music for the Osho Meditations, and the DVDs of the Osho Talks.

*The meditation resort also sends trained facilitators to OSHO Meditation Events around the country. Hundreds of participants thought the country enjoy Osho meditations in this way.

For more information www.osho.com

Co-existence? No, one existence, says Osho

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:23:00 +0000

We are a word drunken societey. We live in ideas and words without checking whether these ideas make any sense, or are we misguided by our own creations? One such word is co-existence -- most common in the modern world. All the nations and politicians advocate it thinking it is a great ideal to live for.
Here is Osho's take on it -- totally different, as usual .
"A woman journalist asked me in America -- I was addressing a world press conference and she was the first one to ask a question. She asked, "Can't you live in coexistence with America?"I said, "No."The woman may not have thought that anybody would say no. She was so stunned that she left the microphone. Later on she met me again and I told her, "You did not listen to my whole answer, why I said `no.' You must have misunderstood, because I could see it on your face, but you moved away and another questioner came."She said, "Can `no' have many meanings?"I said, "Every word can have many meanings, many implications. What did you understand?"She said, "I understood simply that you cannot accept coexistence."
I said, "You misunderstood me completely. I was saying that coexistence is still war. Coexistence means we will tolerate each other. Coexistence means, `What else to do? -- we have to live together.'
All husbands and wives are living in coexistence. All nations are living in coexistence. All religions are living in coexistence. But this coexistence is not a joyful, celebrating experience. I was going to say to you, I want one existence, not coexistence.Why divide?"
She said, "My god, I reported your answer on the television and I have done an injustice to you. Because that `no' is resounding all over America, and naturally with the same meaning."

Words are delicate people, and as you become deeper, you start giving new meanings to words. By saying no to coexistence I was saying that the whole idea of coexistence is ugly. It means we cannot be one -- that we will remain enemies. We will not fight, but the antagonism is absolutely implied in the word `coexistence'. And this is the situation with the whole language. "

Excerpted from Om Mani Padme Hum/courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

Love is not sex, it is related to meditation

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Osho says: "Love is a by-product of a meditative mind. It is not related to sex; it is related to meditation. The more silent you become, the more at ease with yourself you will be, the more fulfilled you will feel, and the more a new expression of your being will be there. You will begin to love. Not anyone in particular. It may happen with someone in particular, but that is another thing. You begin to love. This loving becomes your way of existing. It can never turn into repulsion because it is not an attraction.You must understand the distinction clearly. Ordinarily when you fall in love with someone, the real feeling is how to get love from him. It is not that love is going from you to him. Rather it is an expectation that love will come to you from him. That is why love becomes possessive. You possess someone so that you can get something out of him.

But the love I am talking about is neither possessive nor does it have any expectations. It is just how you behave. You have become so silent, so loving, that your silence goes to others now.When you are angry, your anger goes to others. When you hate, your hate goes to others. When you are in love, you feel that your love is going out to others, but you are not dependable. One moment there is love, and the next moment there will be hate. Hate is not opposite to love; it is part and parcel of it, a continuity.If you have loved someone, then you will hate him. You may not be courageous enough to admit it, but you will hate him.

Lovers are always in conflict when they are together. When they are not together they may sing songs of love to each other, but when they are together they are always fighting. They cannot live alone, and they cannot live together. When the other is not there, infatuation is created; the two again feel love for one another. But when the other is present, infatuation goes and hatred is felt again.The love I am talking about means that you have become so silent that now there is neither anger nor attraction nor repulsion. Really, now there is no love and no hate. You are not other-oriented at all.

" To ask for love from the other is always ugly. To depend on the other, to ask for something from the other, always creates bondage, suffering, conflict. A person should be sufficient unto himself. What I mean by meditation is a state of being where a person is sufficient unto himself. You have become a circle, alone. The mandala is complete."

The Psychology of the Esotericcourtesy Osho International Foundation

Osho: don't kill mosuitoes, improve immune system

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sun, 03 May 2009 09:08:00 +0000

At the moment the whole world is terrified by the Swine Flu. Whenever a new pandemic erupts, everyone tries to find medicines to suppress it. This is a destructive method. The Osho approach is to find out why new diseases come up in the first place. Instead of panicking, isn't it intelligent to nurture a more constructive attitude?

While speaking about the wisdom of the Chinese mystic Lao Tzu, Osho comments:
"The Aristotalean Science says, exterminate the mosquito if you want to be rid of malaria. This is the language of destruction. But it is very likely that there is something that is conducive to life that comes with the mosquitoes. If the mosquitos are destroyed, this will stop coming. Mosquitoes can be useful to life in other respects also but this we can only know after their complete annihilation. Then perhaps we shall have to try and replace them again!

If Lao Tzu was faced with the problem of eradicating Malaria, he would never think in terms of destroying the mosquitoes. He would have suggested two methods. He would have suggested a change of attitude towards the mosquitoes or a change in man's physical system to make him immune to Malaria. There is no need whatsoever of destroying the mosquito. It is also possible to change the composition of the mosquitoes' body system by which it would not be an enemy of man but rather a friend. Either or both of these methods can be implemented.
If we had followed the Lao Tzu method, we would have worked out an accord between the two."

The Way of Tao, Vol 1/Courtesy Osho International Foundation

OSHO Whirling Meditation

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:47:00 +0000

Meditators whirling at Buddha Grove, OSHO International Meditation Resort, Pune,India

Osho has spoken on Sufi stories and The Sufi Way extensively. He has also introduced the famous whirling meditation which we do every day at the open air Buddha Grove.
Osho says: "All over the world, children like to twirl, to whirl, and naturally the parents will stop them: "Don't do that, you may get dizzy. You may fall, you may hurt yourself." But all over the world, children enjoy it. And it was from seeing children enjoying whirling that Jalaluddin Rumi got the idea that there must be something... because whenever you see a child whirling, his face changes. A strange grace comes to his face; he starts radiating a certain aura, and when he stops he is so full of joy....
"Jalaluddin Rumi tried -- in the forest, so nobody makes a laughingstock of him -- just to know what these children find in twirling. And he was amazed: he discovered one of the greatest methods of meditation, and for twelve hundred years after him, his school has been a living school. His school is called the Whirling Dervishes; in their temple, that is their prayer, that is their meditation. That is their whole religion. They go on twirling for hours together.Jalaluddin himself became enlightened after thirty-six hours of continuous, nonstop twirling. And when he was asked, "There is no scripture describing this meditation; how have you found it?" He said, "Just by looking at children. I tried it myself, and I was amazed because the more you twirl, the faster you go, soon you become aware that something deep inside you is absolutely still and unmoving. The whole body is moving and the faster it moves, the more is the contrast between the unmoving and the moving. And the unmoving consciousness within is my soul. That is the center of the cyclone."
From The Hidden Splendor/copyright OSHO International Foundation

When walking, just walk!

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:54:00 +0000

When you walk on the road do you simply walk or you think and imagine and plan thousand and one things? More often than not, this is the case. Isn't it?

Osho gives a wonderfully simple technique -- walk with full consciousness, it will become a meditation. "Every person moves in a different way, walks in a different way. If a Buddha walks he is tremendously grounded. He is in deep contact with the earth. He is nourished by the earth, the earth is nourished by him. There is a continuous transfer of energy. Forget that you are a man, think of yourself as a tree, and soon you will see something transpiring between you and the earth.
Try it walking on the road: remember that you are a consciousness. Walking continues -- and a new thing is added, a new richness is added, a new beauty. Something interior is added to the outward act. You become a flame of consciousness, and then the walking has a totally different joy to it."

Courtesy Osho International Foundation

Who has your remote control?

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:56:00 +0000

Sadhana

Have you realized, your remote is in someone else's hands. Someone pushes your button and you react, Osho points out. Your actions are continuesly controlled by others.

Can't agree?

OK, see how Osho explains it:
"Watch how many things you do unconsciously. Somebody says something and there is anger. There is not even a single moment's gap. It is as if you are just a mechanism -- somebody pushes a button and you lose your temper. Just as if you push the button and the fan starts moving and the light goes on. There is not a. single moment. The fan never thinks whether to move or not to move; it simple moves.
This is unconsciousness, this is mindlessness. Somebody insults and you are simply controlled by his insult."
So what's the way out? Meditate, and meditate.
courtesy Osho International Foundation

The thin layer of social formality

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Sadhana

What we call etiquette and manners are nothing but a mask. It is not a true representation of our real nature. It may be socially convenient but it is not honest and fulfilling. This is why people don't feel loved or respected. So many people around and not a drop to drink!
What is the reason?

Osho says: "All your social formality, modesty, politeness, is just a layer, a very thin layer -- like when you pour oil on water and a thin film of the oil covers it. It is not even skin deep. Don't be deceived by it. The only way to get beyond is to go within. You can become rude -- that is happening. Just to become sincere, some people are becoming rude. That is not the way. Just to be honest, people are becoming violent. Just to be true, they are becoming angry and insane.
That is not the way.
If you want to be true, move to the centre -- because if you remain on periphery you will remain untrue. Let your centre dominate the periphery. You move to the centre.
And be in a hurry. I don't mean be impatient. I mean don't be lazy. Because the problem is that if you have lived too long in the society and you have followed its rules and regulations for too long, one becomes accustomed to it. One forgets that it is a bondage, one forgets that these are chains. The chains start appearing like ornaments. You in fact start protecting them."

Excerpted from Dang Dang Doko Dang/courtesy Osho International Foundation

Those who can't love write poetry

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:04:00 +0000

Sadhana

Love is the most depicted, written about subject in human culture. Does that mean people are very loving? Far from it! Osho says, all this talk of love indicates that we cannot love.
Osho's view on love:
"It almost always happens that when you are missing something you start thinking about it, you start creating a philosophy about it. Love is that which you are missing. This is my observation, that people who have not loved write books about love; that is a kind of substitute. People who have not been able to love, write poetry, they write very great love poetry, but they don't have any experience of love so all their poetry is just speculation. They may have great flights of imagination but it has nothing to do with the reality of love. Love's reality is totally different; it has to be experienced."
Believing the Impossible Before Breakfast

Will There Be A Third World War?

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:17:00 +0000

Sadhana

These days there are so many fights erupting all over the globe, that people have forgotten about a The World War. Osho has foreseen this and said almost two decades ago that there won't be any world war because people will always be at war!
Look what Osho says in this book, " A Third World War is not possible for the simple reason that science has given us so much technology to destroy each other that a Third World War means a total world war. A total world war means that nobody will be the survivor -- neither will there be any winner or any loser. For the first time war has lost all its meaning. It is not because of Buddha or Christ that the Third World War is not going to happen; it is because of scientific technology -- atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, super-hydrogen bombs, death rays. They have made it impossible. Unless we decide on a global suicide, a Third World War is impossible.
Small conflicts will go on happening because they are needed; they are an economic need. Sometimes in Vietnam, sometimes in Korea, sometimes in Israel, sometimes in Kashmir, sometimes in Afghanistan -- small wars, not a Third World War. Small wars have to happen, otherwise where are these big powers going to sell their weapons? And those weapons are accumulating and every day new developments are happening so their old weapons become out of date. Who is going to use them?
Poor countries, backward countries, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, these small countries can be sold out-of-date weapons. So these countries have to be continuously quarreling with each other -- small quarrels, lukewarm fights. The superpowers, America and Russia, need these wars to sell their weapons, otherwise their stockpile of weapons will be so great that they themselves will die under the burden. So these small wars are an absolute necessity.
A Third World War means those two superpowers coming in conflict directly.If Russia attacks America, then it will take only ten minutes for America to retaliate; or if America attacks Russia, it will take only ten minutes for Russia to retaliate. There will be only a ten-minute gap, that's all. If you think that is victory, then it is okay. After those ten minutes both are finished. In fact, if these superpowers come in conflict there is every possibility that people who are very primitive and living far away in the forests of South Africa or in the Himalayas, in Tibet, may be the only survivors. They will be the only people who will be benefited. For the first time their backwardness will pay; for the first time they will be the winners and the winners will be the losers.
With the Second World War, world wars were finished. Now there will be only small fights -- battles but not wars."

Excerpted from Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen

The Osho vision of nuclear weapons

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Sadhana

Since President Obama is talking about his utopian vision for ridding the world of nuclear weapons and his address in Prague: "America's committment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," I am reminded of Osho's strong statements and fervent appeal to the super powers to drown the huge pile of arsenals in the ocean if they want this planet to survive.

Osho also gives a blueprint to America's inner development.

" If we want to change the violent structure of America, there are three things to be done. One, the country should be ruled by its native people. It belongs to them. Anybody who wants to remain here should remain here, but he cannot remain here as a ruler. Secondly, America should stop bothering about other countries' poor people. It should help its own poor people.
Thirdly, America should stop piling up nuclear weapons. They are pointless, and so costly, so meaningless. You already have enough to destroy the whole world, what more do you want?America should declare, "We drop the whole idea of war. We destroy all our nuclear weapons. We drown all those weapons in the Pacific, in the Atlantic. We're finished with it."
America should declare, "We will not have any defense department any more -- it is just pointless."If America can do that, its people can be immensely rich, happy. And people who are happy do not do violence. It is out of misery, suffering, anger, that violence comes. When you are comfortable, happy, at home, and all that you need is available to you, you don't want to be violent -- because your being violent will destroy your cozy home, your beautiful surroundings, your love life. Your children, your wife, your parents will be lost. It is the people who have nothing to lose who become violent."
The Last Testament, Vol 1

Swimming meditation

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Swimming Pool at the Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune, India

Sadhana

Make swimming a meditation as per Osho. He says every act can be turned into meditation if done with awareness -- be it swimming, running or even smoking.

It is hot summer time in Pune. Naturally every one is gravitating towards the coolness of the Olympic Size pool. Shaped like an ameba, with crystal clear water, black tiles and the luxurious trees all around makes swimming a heavenly experience.
www.osho.com

The mind cannot make a committment

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Sadhana

Wonder why the love affairs or freindships -- political or any kind, do not last long in today's world? Osho says, it is so because the modern man is too much in the mind, too rational, too intellectual. This type of mind cannot go deeper into anything.
Osho explains this in his book Come Follow To You:
"The mind, at the most, exploits. It can never become a deep commitment. Deep commitment is of being. It knows no time, it knows no death. I am not saying that it is permanent, because permanence is part of time. It is eternal. It has the fragrance of divineness.
Let me tell you one anecdote:
A politician named Strange lay dying. A friend asked him what he would like inscribed on his tombstone.
'Just put,' said the politician: Here lies an honest politician.'But,' said the friend,'that doesn't tell who it is.
''Oh yes, replied the politician,'the passer-by will say,'That is strange -- a politician, and honest?' -- no need to say the name. Passers-by will by themselves say,'That is strange.'

courtesy Osho International Foundation

Does Satan Exist?

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:04:00 +0000

Sadhana

This question may may sound irrelevant in today's world dominated by science and technology, but belive it or not, there was a panel discussion on the abc news channel of America in their night program Face Off , and the subject was : Does satan exist. The anchor person said that 70% percent of Americans believe that Satan exists!
The panelists were three men and one woman. Deepak Chopra was one of the panelists. The woman was as glamorous as any film star and one wouldn't expect her to be discussing myths like satan and god. But she sincerely believes in both the guys.
Other two were clergymen so it was necessary for them to belive in satan and god. Business, you know. The assorted audience gathered in the studio were deeply involved in the discussion and cheered at the right time.
Deepak Chopra was the only one who spoke against the fictitious existence of satan. He said, "belief s a cover for insecurity. If something is real you don't believe in it, you experience it."
Watching this program I missed Osho a lot.
Now just see what Osho says: "You will be surprised to know that the word "divine" and the word "devil" come from the same Sanskrit root, deva. They are not separate; devil and divine mean the same. But you have been told that they are just polar opposites and that there is a universal fight going on between God and Satan, God and evil. If that is true then it seems God is losing continually.
The devil is winning because everywhere you can see crime increasing, people becoming more and more inhuman. It does not seem that God is winning. God cannot win because he is the other side of the devil. They are together, they are partners in the business.
"If you try to understand the complexity of your misery you will see that all that is good is connected with all that has been condemned as bad. And you have been told to drop the bad and save the good. This is the dilemma you have been put into by your priests, by all your religions, by all do-gooders. They have put you in such a schizophrenic state ....
Once you see that good and bad are together you will be immensely relieved, you will feel such a relief, because the whole conflict was baseless. You were fighting against shadows, you were fighting against yourself. It is as if my left hand is fighting with my right hand. Do you think there is any possibility of coming to a conclusion? There is no possibility. Both are my hands; there is no need for them to fight, they can be together and friendly. They can be helpful to each other, they can be a tremendous support to each other.
And that's the whole difference between me and all the religions of the world. They have been trying to create a conflict in you between good and bad, and I am trying to bring your good and bad closer and closer so that you can start using them in a harmonious unity. "
Excerpted from: From Darkness to Light/courtesy Osho International Foundation

Stay loyal to the earth

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Sadhana

Love to share Osho's message for the newly started Earth Hour.

Osho says, " Be loving to the earth. Sow the seeds of love on the earth.The question is not for you to enter into some paradise in the skies. On the contrary, the question is how to transform this earth into paradise. It has all the potential. Just an awakening about the potential of the earth, about the potential of the people on the earth, and there will be no talk about any heaven or any paradise or any God. Man can become complete, fulfilled unto himself.This earth is our home, it is our mother.

"The earth is searching through you for its own meaning. You are the highest evolved part of the earth. Have you ever considered? -- your body is earth, your brain is earth, your heart is earth. You are the highest flowering, a great metamorphosis. There seems to be no connection between the earth and your eyes, but your eyes are nothing but the eyes of the earth. It is an effort of the earth to see. Your ears are an effort of the earth to hear the music."

Courtesy Osho International Fondation/www.osho.com/library

Man is an experiment

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Sadhana

Osho views man from the space of no-mind, and therefore you can see the clarity and originality of his statements. Last evening while listening to his talk I was struck by this Osho insight. I want to share it with you. Osho was speaking on Neitzsche's book Thus Spake Zarathustra. You may want to read this talk in Zarathustra: A God that can dance.

Osho says, " Man is an experiment -- an experiment of existence to reach to the heights of consciousness and to reach to the depths of the very sources of life. Man should be understood only in this way. You are not born complete. All other animals are born complete; a dog is born a dog and will die a dog. Man can be born a man and can die as a Gautam Buddha. Between birth and death no other animal evolves, except man.
"Once this is recognized in your heart -- that you are an experiment of existence -- you bestow upon yourself the greatest dignity possible. Then you cannot go on living in a mechanical, robot-like fashion. You have to move -- move towards the stars. You have to progress, and your progress knows no limits."

Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

Fear is not a problem

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:40:00 +0000

Sadhana

Fear is one of the basic instincts everybody has. The young ones are innocent enough to show it and the elders try to hide it. That is the only difference. Fear is basically the survival instinct given by nature, there is nothing cowardly or shameful about it. But human civilization condemns cowardice and teaches people to be brave and courageous. Right from the childhood kids are told to suppress their fear and try to be courageous. But courage cannot be cultivated by suppressing fear, you have to go the roots of fear. Look at it, find out the reason-- is it real or just an imagination? More often than not fear is enlarged imagination or blowing up of some idea which then becomes a phobia.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, a phobia is an irrational and excessive fear of an object or situation.
Osho has given some valuable tips on how to be free of fear. His methods are straight and simple but non-traditional ones.

Accept fear
If you have fear, you have fear- why make a problem out of it? You know that you have fear, just as you have two hands. Fear is there: accept it, note it. What will happen? Suddenly you will feel it has disappeared. And this is the inner alchemy -- a problem disappears if you accept it, and a problem grows more and more complex if you create any conflict with it. It is there and nothing can be done about it. And when I say nothing can be done about it, don't think that I am talking about pessimism to you, in fact I am giving you the key to solve it.

It is good to tremble in darkness
If a child is afraid in the dark, we say, "Don't be afraid, be brave." Why? The child is innocent- naturally he feels fear in the dark. You force him: "Be brave." So he also forces, then he becomes tense. Then he endures the darkness but now tense; now, his whole being is ready to tremble and he suppresses it. This suppressed trembling will follow him his whole life. It was good to tremble in the darkness, nothing was wrong. It was good to cry and run, nothing was wrong. The child would have come out of darkness more experienced, more knowing. And he would have realized, if he passed through darkness trembling and crying and weeping, that there was nothing to fear. Suppressed, you never experience the thing in its totality, you never gain anything out of it. Wisdom comes through suffering and wisdom comes through acceptance. Whatsoever the case, be at ease with it.
www.osho.com/library

Language is not the only communication

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Evening Meeting

Sadhana

Every evening we meet at the magical Osho Auditorium for The Evening Meeting -- a wonderful meditation created by Osho. Everyone wears a white robe, is freshly showered, celebrating the day. Every evening Osho's video is played. What a feast! We get to hear gems of insights that brings clarity and light. Today I heard one such insight and I was thrilled. Felt like sharing it with all.

Osho said, “Unfortunately man has become too much language-oriented;
he has forgotten other ways of communication.
There are many other ways of communication.
The idea that language is the only way of communication has made humanity very poor, very prosaic.
It has lost the mystery of poetry, it has lost the meaningless, but utterly significant, music of existence. Now dance has become a discipline, outwardly practiced, rehearsed, but not something growing from within you and spreading out.”

The Language of Existence

Work in the world but don't get lost in it

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Sadhana

My friend Sundari from Portugal has asked for some words of wisdom from Osho about working in the world. I understand her for she has just been here. When you come to Pune in the Osho Meditation Resort life is so serene and blissful, you wish it stays like this forever. And then you go back and face reality. The dream has disappeared! Here is an Osho insight for all those who want to change the quality of their working life.
Osho says: " It is good to continue the work and to continue working on yourself side by side. Never be an escapist because escape is not going to help. The best arrangement is to work in the world but don't be lost in it. Work for five or six hours and then forget all about it. Give at least two hours for your inner growth, a few hours for your relationship, love, children, friends, society.
Your profession should only be a part of life. It should not overlap into every dimension of your life, as ordinarily it does. A doctor becomes almost a twenty-four-hour doctor. He thinks about it, he talks about it. Even when he is eating he is a doctor. While he is making love to his woman, he is a doctor.
My whole effort is to help you to be in the world and yet to be a meditator. Of course it is more difficult because there will be more challenge and situations. It is easier to be either a doctor or a meditator. It will be difficult to be both because that will give you many contradictory situations. But a person grows when there are contradictory situations. In the turmoil, in that clash of the contradictions, integrity is born. You become more centred.
A wise man has to be so wise that he can allow himself a little foolishness also. That is the greatest wisdom: to use foolish-ness also as a part of life so that you can laugh -- not only at others but at yourself also; so that you can play for no profit, no motive; so that you can simply relate to people for no reason whatsoever. "
Cypress In The Courtyard

OSHO : a protected trademark in more than 40 countries

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Amrit Sadhana

For more than 40 years both during his life and afterwards the Osho Foundations have always acted on Osho’s request to protect his name, his copyright and his work and will continue to do so. As part of this work Osho is now a protected trademark in more than 40 other countries around the world.

Recently the Patent and Trademark office in the US decided, in a trademark dispute brought against the Osho Foundation by a group of so called “Friends of Osho,” that the name Osho is generic and cannot be registered as a trademark in the United States.
Generic means that Osho is now in the same category as computers and tissues. This decision is appealable in the American courts. It is interesting to note that the same group, Friends of Osho, that brought the US action, and who today claims victory in the US action, is the same group applying to register “Osho” as a trademark in India for their personal business.

Osho Foundation’s main reason for applying for the Osho trademark is to ensure that Osho’s name would be used as a way of identifying his work. If this decision stands this will no longer be the case.

As the decision now stands anyone in the United States can use the name Osho in any manner they may choose. They may create their own meditations and call them Osho Meditations or even change any of Osho’s meditations as they wish. They may create and sell “Osho paintings” even if they are painted by someone else, or any manner of such things.

It is strange that the Foundation’s success in making Osho’s proposal available, including in the United States, was the source of the board’s view that Osho, in the United States, is considered generic.

This decision has no effect on Osho’s copyright which is protected by international treaties around the world. So, Osho Foundation’s efforts to make Osho available around the world will continue to expand exactly as is currently the case.

How much land does a man need?

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Amrit Sadhana

Reading about the recent fraud worth Rs 50 billion by Ramalingam Raju, the CEO of Satyam Computers, the first thought that came to my mind was, “How much is 50 billion? What must have he done with all the money that I can’t even calculate? Why do people require so much money?”
And then it came to light that Mr Raju had purchased more than six thousand acres of land near Hyderabad and Karnataka, the southern part of India. Again my mind did a somersault -- how much is six thousand acres and what would he do with it?
But I was looking from the space of need, and people like Raju are driven by greed . For greed even the whole earth is not enough, whereas the need is satisfied with a small shelter.
This case of abnormal lust for land reminded me of a famous story by Leo Tolstoy: How much land does a man need? Osho often tells this story to highlight the greed of the human mind. What is the source this insatiable greed?
Says Osho: “Greed simply means you are feeling a deep emptiness and you want to fill it with anything possible -- it doesn't matter what it is. And once you understand it, then you have nothing to do with greed. You have something to do with your coming into communion with the whole, so the inner emptiness disappears. And with it, all greed disappears. But there are mad people all over the world, and they are collecting... Somebody is collecting money although he never uses it.
So there can be many directions and many ways to fill emptiness, although it is never full -- it remains empty, and you remain miserable because it is never enough.” Beyond Psychology

Now the story -- you must have read the story but it will be interesting to refresh your memory in view of the current Satyam scenario.
There is a poor peasant in the village of Russia named Pakhom, who at the beginning can be heard complaining that he does not own enough land to satisfy him. He goes on buying land but is not satisfied.
Finally, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. Thus, he goes to them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate.
But their offer is very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pakhom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his.
Again his greediness has the better of him. He tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already has. As the sun nearly sets, he realizes his error and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets.
But exhausted from the run, he drops dead as he reaches the starting point. They bury him in an ordinary grave only six feet long. Actually the land that he needed, and everybody needs, was only six feet long!

I wish Mr Raju asks himself sitting in the prison cell: how much land do I really need – as big as the cell?

Osho loves science and technology

noreply@blogger.com (sadhana) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:40:00 +0000

Amrit Sadhana

There can't be more contemporary a mystic than Osho. He is a perfect guy for these times, because he is not against technology, on the contrary he wants to use all the modern electronic gadgets to spread the message to millions. But what's the message, one would ask. The message of meditation. The message of awakening consciousness. And he does that so playfully. Not the traditional boring way of preaching.

Mark Osho's words : "My word can go to the farthest corner of the earth -- it is reaching already. New methods have been evolved. A videotape is a far better way to reach people because they can hear me the same way as you are hearing me. And just hearing the word without seeing the person is one thing; seeing the person also makes a lot of difference. It is totally different because when you are listening to me on a tape recording or on records you will not be able to see my hand, which says more than I can say with my words. You will not be looking at my eyes, which have much more to say than words can convey. Something will be missing, something of immense value -- the person will he missing. You will be hearing only a ghostly voice.
I will use films, television, videotapes, tapes, every modern technique to spread the message. I belong to the twentieth century totally, wholeheartedly.
And I love this century; I am not against it. I love science and its technology. It is in the wrong hands, but that always happens. Whenever something significant is discovered it always falls into the wrong hands first for the simple reason that they are very quick people, cunning people.
Even the discovery of atomic energy can be a blessing to the world. But it has fallen into the hands of the politicians. It should be in the hands of mystics; then there would be no need to be afraid of a Third World War. Then we could fill the whole earth with affluence; then poverty could disappear for the first time from the whole earth. Much illness could disappear."
Excerpted from Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 1