Bhagwan Rajneesh: A forgotten legacy?

A visit to the Osho Meditation Resort, Koregaon Park, Pune

Till very recently I was under the impression that Acharya Rajneesh/ Bhagwan/ Osho was just one in the series of the several controversial Gurus who were popular in the nineteen eighties. And that the phenomenon which caught everyone’s imagination in Pune in those heydays, is now safely buried in the pages of history along with the Ashram at Koregaon Park.

I was proved completely wrong last Sunday, when we mustered up the courage to find out.

On the day that we visited Osho international, there were about 70 odd visitors including a few foreigners. Many of the visitors were staying on the campus accommodation. There were entire families including teenage children, couples and singles. In other words, this meditation resort seems to be continuing to attract people, especially those in the active phase of life and not just the Vaanprastha kind, that one would normally associate with activities like meditation.

The conviction of the staff and volunteers, regarding the teachings of their Bhagwan, and the faith that he is still amongst us, is what gives a unique energy to the whole place. The very fact that it is called a Resort and not an Ashram, is clearly in line with the core philosophy of Osho which is “Zorba the Buddha”; but more about that later.

Anyone who went through the phase of teenage discovery of self in the last century, would have read about Experiments with Truth, Communism, Anarchism, Buddha, Freud, Ayn Rand, Zen, Sri Aurobindo, Paramhansa etc. and their searches would definitely have led them to the writings of Osho. That was a time when, in order to gain knowledge, one had to borrow physical books or specifically visit Connaught place to get hold of a pavement edition of the book of interest.

Eastern mysticism has always evoked curiosity among learned scholars and others with an exploratory spirit. Spirituality in one form or another has always been native to the Indian Subcontinent since ancient times.  It is not possible to recount the life and message of hundreds of Gurus belonging to various faiths , who had, and continue to hold sway over millions here.

The 20th century saw a succession of Gurus who were able to carry their message overseas. The most well-known in the early part of the century were Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar and Paramhansa Yogananda.  The Beatles famously travelled to Rishikesh in search of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Swami Prabhupada brought ISCKON to the world, which continues to grow. The teachings of Neem Karoli Baba bring people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg to India, several years after he passed. Sri Sri Ravishankar continues to rule the minds of seekers all over the world.

Mr Chandra Mohan Jain (later known as Osho) was born to a cloth merchant in a mofussil town near Bhopal, and was one of seven siblings. He  went on to study and teach philosophy, and in the process read extensively about various religions, ancient scriptures and philosophies. He became “enlightened” at the age of 21, and when he finally decided to quit the formal teaching job at University, he decided to move to Bombay by which time he had already developed a huge following.  Also notable is the fact that as his influence grew, there was a succession of women who worked as 'secretary' and took care of the organizational and worldly aspects of things.

What catapulted him to rockstar status all over the world, was the message that sexual desires and enlightenment were not mutually exclusive.  While most belief systems either tiptoe around the subject of sex and carnal pleasures or downright condemn them, Osho’s message stood in stark contrast to everything taught till then.

In a nutshell the Osho philosophy is about " Zorba the Buddha".  Zorba (a fictitious character in a 1930 novel) represents a person who enjoys materialistic pleasure but lacks a soul; Buddha represents an enlightened being  who has no body (bodily pleasures). Both are incomplete. So the new awakened man, in the words of Osho, is one who enjoys physical life to the fullest, and is able to exist in an enlightened awakened state. Zorba the Buddha. The perfect and palatable recipe for achieving this, which was distilled by Osho taking elements from various sources starting with Patanjalis Yogashastra to Buddhism,  was an instant hit with rich successful westerners who were seeking something higher but didn't want to give up worldly pleasures!

By the late seventies, a Greek shipping heiress who was a follower, had bought up premium adjoining plots at Koregaon Park in Pune and the Acharya Rajneesh commune began taking shape. Thousands of foreigners were thronging the place and even climbing over the walls to get a glimpse of the Rolls Royce riding Guru.

When a rich, successful white man in the nineteen sixties said “I'm going to India”, it was not a description of his travel plans. It was the culmination of his desire to search for something higher. It meant an acceptance of the heat, dust and filth that was India, because therein lied, somewhere in an ashram or a mountainside cave, the person who would bring salvation to their troubled souls. Going to Pune was so much easier and exciting.

To these people, got added the youth of the Vietnam generation, for many of whom, protest and rebellion was a cause unto itself. Add to this the lure of free love and freely available psychotropic substances, and there was a heady mix available at Pune, difficult to resist.

As his prescription for salvation was getting refined, there was lot of experimentation. Since the Acharya was a voracious reader, he studied a huge diversity of thoughts, beliefs organized  religions, especially fringe concepts like hatha yoga and tantrik Buddhism and tried to find the right recipe of enlightenment for his followers.

What often escapes notice is that even enlightened beings were are actually born as mortals. When this mortal gets “enlightened” and decides to follow an unconventional path, he is not automatically in possession of the toolkit to know where he is headed and how to get there. More often than not, his thoughts and ideas are still evolving, but he has a general idea of the way. In other words, there is a learning curve even for Gurus and they gradually evolve in their ideology and methodology of discourse

If you look around, that is not so different from painters whose works and brushstrokes can be timestamped to a particular decade. Similar is the case with writers and other creative people. Infact professionals like judges doctors or anyone else for that matter evolve in their careers with experience and knowledge. Anyone who has been to Shantiniketan would have definitely noticed the various avatars that Rabindranath Tagore went through during his lifetime.

The same phenomenon was seen with Mr Chandra Mohan Jain who turned into Acharya Rajneesh and then  became Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh (much to the annoyance of the Hindu religious leaders) and  finally began to call himself Osho a few years before he passed away at a relatively young age of 58 under mysterious circumstances.

What to expect/do at the resort?

Since the whole idea was to make the path to enlightenment interesting, there are at least a dozen kinds of activities systematized by Osho, that one can participate in a single day. These include Dynamic meditation, Vipassana, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Kundalini, Darkness, Nadabrahma, Laughing Drums and several more. Choose what suits you the best.  Meditation booklet and the days itinerary are provided at the visitors centre on arrival. Naturally many experimental practices carried out in the past are no longer on the menu.

 

None of these events are compulsory and one can simply roam around or lie under a tree the whole day or dance to music or quietly enjoy a smoke (in the designated areas)

 

Why should anyone spend Rs 5K and visit?

Anyone who took the phrase " sab mithya hai" (everything is unreal) seriously and wondered 'then what is real'?.

Anyone who has sought to find out the answer in various ways and dabbled with meditation only to find that it can be  boring, monotonous and difficult.

Anyone who has tried to delve into the concept behind Matrix and Nolan movies.

Anyone who believes that he has everything he needs, but keeps getting a feeling that there is something beyond, which needs to be found.

Anyone willing to overlook what appears to have been a learning curve for the Guru when he was distilling his prescription of meditation techniques when some experimentation with physical violence and tantrik sex were videographed and leaked to the press to prove that he was “Pure evil”.

Anyone  simply looking for some greenery, peace and quiet need not go to the resort but can visit the adjoining Nallah Park (or Osho Teerth ) which is a public place open to all. The Teerth which flows through it,unfortunately, is sewage.

Visitor tips:

1.       The resort is housed on two plots in the Koregaon park area facing each other separated by a public road. The main road leading to the meditation centre is quite narrow, but apparently one can park the car here after issue of visitor pass. Therefore, someone planning to visit only once is better advised to use a cab or park on the North Main road.

2.       The resort is lush green and perfectly maintained. Plenty of toilets and water fountains are available on the premises. There is a café for small eats and also a full-fledged restaurant which serves excellent veg food catering to varied palates and is reasonably priced.

3.       One can opt for a full day or three day or even longer visit. Accommodation is available inside the campus. Some people stay in nearby hotels and visit daily.

4.       At the Welcome Centre which opens at 0900, there is a very systematic registration process requiring Aadhar/ Passport.  Thereafter a visitor card is issued (valid for 3 months) with endorsement for 1 day/3 day etc.

5.       Maroon robe is required to be worn in the day and white robe for the evening meditation. Both can be purchased at the curio shop called Galleria within the resort. There is a changing room in the Galleria, and also a locker room behind. One may carry a lock if one wants to avoid paying the Rs 150 for it.

6.       The entire premises are a no photography/no mobile zone (though we sneaked a few pics). However, they do not insist on anyone depositing the mobile. One is permitted to use mobile in the designated smoking areas (Yes, smoking is allowed!!). One cannot be seen taking pictures/selfies of the area. There is zero tolerance for the mobile inside the meditation halls, one of which is shaped like the Louvre.

7.       Coupons are required to be purchased at the entrance, which then serve as currency at the Galleria (for robes and curios) and the eateries. Both types of money are separate.

8.        Contrary to popular belief and serious misgivings that most people including Punekars have, there are no unusual practices being carried out there. The resort is all days open to all and no appointment is needed. 

9.        There are several documentaries and movies made on the life of  Osho. The Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country sums up his life, wart and all.

 

 

The Brave Seekers