To many, he is better known as Bhagwan or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The name Osho was later given to him by his disciples (‘sannyasins’). A spiritual teacher, mystic and enlightened master, he created unique and highly effective meditation techniques for ‘modern man’ and has helped transform the lives of millions of people around the world. His original meditation techniques and his ‘discourses’ (spontaneous explanations) – on a wide variety of spiritual and secular topics, interspersed with questions from his disciples and punctuated by the hilarity of the many jokes he told – have been copied verbatim and turned into more than 600 books and available in more than 50 languages. Osho is undoubtedly the most controversial guru (master) of all time. Admittedly, modern communication has provided unprecedented access to him and his teachings that other masters did not have.
“The essence of the meditations is ‘witnessing’, without association with emotions, feelings or thoughts.”
Invitation to growth
Although he passed away (“left his body”) in 1990, it was his emphatic wish that he be spoken of in the present tense. He, his essence, is no doubt still present and accessible to those searching for their own truth. He sees in every human being a potential Buddha – a seed that can become a fruitful tree and grow into divinity – who can attain the state of enlightenment.
He knows that conflicts – in the inner and outer world – arise from limiting thoughts, beliefs and social conditioning. This conflictual state creates slaves who lead stressed, destructive and depressed lives. To quiet the Mind and calm the constant flow of thoughts, he developed dozens of types of therapies and active meditations. Working through the layers of emotions, it is possible to relax into the underlying peace that everyone carries deep within. Experiencing and expressing all obstructive, pent-up emotions such as anger, frustration, disappointment, fear, pain, sadness, desire and powerlessness ultimately leads to freedom from the Mind and from the suction of the ‘swamp’ of unconscious, conditioned life.
“Most people can’t just sit down to meditate at all. They can go crazy from all the noise they find inside themselves.”
Zorba AND Buddha
His vision is to create ’the New Man’: a Zorba the Buddha, someone capable of living physical life to the full in all its aspects. In doing so, he uses meditation to develop his ability to go beyond the duality of his Mind. This New Man is rich, both materially and spiritually. Osho is known all over the world for his pioneering ‘discourses’ in which he removes the dust from the old Buddhist traditions with humour, wisdom and clarity and provides insight into all kinds of themes concerning politics, religion and love.He devotes 28 discourses – spread across The Book of Wisdom Volume 1 and Volume 2 – and some 46½ hours to discussing and explaining ‘The Seven Points of Mind Training’ of Atisha. He brings Atisha’s essential science and methodology to life with a freshness and spontaneity rarely found in contemporary spiritual works.
Road to freedom
During his lifetime, Osho was criticised, reviled, persecuted and eventually poisoned. Even today, he and his visionary work are largely ignored by the mainstream (the mainstream channels of media, churches, politics and the world of science).
He is like a postman who had to be crucified for delivering a ‘dangerous’ package, a package that holds eternal value. It is a package of words and stimuli that invite you to free yourself from your self-created prison, from the conditioning of your Mind.
Yet his teachings attract many thousands of people worldwide who are looking for meaning, joy, love, truth… in search of pure freedom. Osho passed into the light and merged with universal consciousness in 1990. On his tombstone are the following words: “OSHO – Never born, never died. Only visited this planet.”
More on Osho: https://vrienden-van-osho.nl/biografie-osho/
“His visit to this planet touched my heart and with me many millions of hearts. He left the world something of inestimable value. The combination of therapy, meditation and spirituality is perhaps his most important legacy.”
*Ma Deva Indra