sunpuerh
April 16th, 2004, 01:37 AM
Osho, Bhagwan Rajneesh, and the Lost Truth
"Meditation must not be made into a business." Acharya Rajneesh 1971
When I first met Acharya Rajneesh at his Bombay apartment in December of 1970, he was only 39 years old. With long beard and large dark eyes, he looked like a painting of Lao-Tse come to life. Before meeting Rajneesh I had spent time with a number of Eastern gurus without being satisfied with the quality of their teachings. I wanted an enlightened guide who could bridge the gap between East and West and reveal the true esoteric secrets, without what I considered to be the excess baggage of Indian, Tibetan, or Japanese culture. Rajneesh was the answer to my quest for those deeper meanings. He described for me in vivid detail everything I wanted to know about the inner worlds and he had the power of immense being to back up his words. At 21 years old I was naive about life and the nature of man and assumed that everything he said must be true.
Rajneesh spoke on a high level of intelligence and his spiritual presence emanated from his body like a soft light that healed all wounds. While sitting close during a small gathering of friends, Rajneesh took me on a rapidly vertical inner journey that almost seemed to push me out of my physical body. His vast presence lifted everyone around him higher without the slightest effort on their part. The days I spent at his Bombay apartment were like days spent in heaven. He had it all and he was giving it away for free!
Rajneesh possessed the astounding power of telepathy and direct energy transmission, which he used nobly to bring comfort and inspiration to his disciples. Many phony gurus have claimed to have mysterious abilities, but Rajneesh had them for real. The young Acharya never bragged about his powers. Those who came near soon learned of them through direct contact with the miraculous. One or two amazing occult adventures was all it took to turn doubting Western skepticism into awed admiration and devotion.
One year earlier I had meet another enlightened teacher known to the world as Jiddu Krishnamurti. J. Krishnamurti could barely give a coherent lecture and constantly scolded his audience by referring to their "shoddy little minds." I loved his frankness and his words were true, but his subtly cantankerous nature was not very helpful in transferring his knowledge to others.
Listening to Krishnamurti speak was like eating a sandwich made of bread and sand. I found the best way to enjoy his talks was to completely ignore his words and quietly absorb his presence. Using that technique I would become so expanded after a lecture that I could barely talk for hours afterwards. J. Krishnamurti, while fully enlightened and uniquely lovable, will be recorded in history as a teacher with very poor verbal communication skills. Unlike the highly eloquent Rajneesh, however, Krishnamurti never committed any crime, never pretended to be more than he was, and never used other human beings selfishly.
Life is complex and multilayered and my naive illusions about the phenomena of perfect enlightenment faded with the years. It became clear that enlightened people are as fallible as anyone. They are expanded human beings, not perfect human beings, and they live and breathe with many of the same faults and vulnerabilities we ordinary humans must endure.
Skeptics ask how I can claim that Rajneesh was enlightened given his scandals and disastrous public image. I can only say that Rajneesh's spiritual presence was identical to that of J. Krishnamurti, who was recognized as enlightened by every high Tibetan Lama and revered Hindu sage of the day. I do sympathize with the skeptics, however. If I had not known Rajneesh personally, I would never believe it myself.
Rajneesh pushed the envelope of enlightenment in both positive and negative directions. He was the best of the best and the worst of the worst. He was a great teacher in his early years, with innovative meditation techniques that worked with dramatic power (see explanation and warning about Osho's Dynamic Meditation technique near the bottom of the page). Rajneesh lifted thousands of seekers to higher levels of consciousness and detailed Eastern religions and meditation techniques with luminous clarity.
One false move. One grand error.
When former university professor Acharya Rajneesh suddenly changed his name to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I was dismayed. The famous enlightened sage Ramana Maharshi was called Bhagwan by his disciples as a spontaneous term of endearment. Rajneesh simply declared that everyone should start calling him Bhagwan, a title which can mean anything from 'divine one' to God. Rajneesh became irritated when I would politely correct his mispronunciations of English words after his lectures, so I felt in no position to tell him that I thought his new name was inappropriate and dishonest. That change in name marked a turning point in Rajneesh's level of honesty and was the first of many big lies to come.
Rajneesh lived in an ivory tower, rarely leaving his room unless to give a lecture, his life experience cushioned by throngs of adoring devotees (see photograph ). His isolation became even more complete when he moved from his small Bombay apartment to a large and luxurious estate in Poona, India, in 1974. As most human beings who are treated as kings, Rajneesh lost touch with the world of the common man. In his artificial and insulated existence, Rajneesh made one fundamental error in judgment which would destroy his teaching
http://home.att.net/~meditation/Osho.html full story A balanced treatment of the Guru gone mad and whose followers tried to poison the population of a small town in Oregon in order to win the election for themselves.
"Meditation must not be made into a business." Acharya Rajneesh 1971
When I first met Acharya Rajneesh at his Bombay apartment in December of 1970, he was only 39 years old. With long beard and large dark eyes, he looked like a painting of Lao-Tse come to life. Before meeting Rajneesh I had spent time with a number of Eastern gurus without being satisfied with the quality of their teachings. I wanted an enlightened guide who could bridge the gap between East and West and reveal the true esoteric secrets, without what I considered to be the excess baggage of Indian, Tibetan, or Japanese culture. Rajneesh was the answer to my quest for those deeper meanings. He described for me in vivid detail everything I wanted to know about the inner worlds and he had the power of immense being to back up his words. At 21 years old I was naive about life and the nature of man and assumed that everything he said must be true.
Rajneesh spoke on a high level of intelligence and his spiritual presence emanated from his body like a soft light that healed all wounds. While sitting close during a small gathering of friends, Rajneesh took me on a rapidly vertical inner journey that almost seemed to push me out of my physical body. His vast presence lifted everyone around him higher without the slightest effort on their part. The days I spent at his Bombay apartment were like days spent in heaven. He had it all and he was giving it away for free!
Rajneesh possessed the astounding power of telepathy and direct energy transmission, which he used nobly to bring comfort and inspiration to his disciples. Many phony gurus have claimed to have mysterious abilities, but Rajneesh had them for real. The young Acharya never bragged about his powers. Those who came near soon learned of them through direct contact with the miraculous. One or two amazing occult adventures was all it took to turn doubting Western skepticism into awed admiration and devotion.
One year earlier I had meet another enlightened teacher known to the world as Jiddu Krishnamurti. J. Krishnamurti could barely give a coherent lecture and constantly scolded his audience by referring to their "shoddy little minds." I loved his frankness and his words were true, but his subtly cantankerous nature was not very helpful in transferring his knowledge to others.
Listening to Krishnamurti speak was like eating a sandwich made of bread and sand. I found the best way to enjoy his talks was to completely ignore his words and quietly absorb his presence. Using that technique I would become so expanded after a lecture that I could barely talk for hours afterwards. J. Krishnamurti, while fully enlightened and uniquely lovable, will be recorded in history as a teacher with very poor verbal communication skills. Unlike the highly eloquent Rajneesh, however, Krishnamurti never committed any crime, never pretended to be more than he was, and never used other human beings selfishly.
Life is complex and multilayered and my naive illusions about the phenomena of perfect enlightenment faded with the years. It became clear that enlightened people are as fallible as anyone. They are expanded human beings, not perfect human beings, and they live and breathe with many of the same faults and vulnerabilities we ordinary humans must endure.
Skeptics ask how I can claim that Rajneesh was enlightened given his scandals and disastrous public image. I can only say that Rajneesh's spiritual presence was identical to that of J. Krishnamurti, who was recognized as enlightened by every high Tibetan Lama and revered Hindu sage of the day. I do sympathize with the skeptics, however. If I had not known Rajneesh personally, I would never believe it myself.
Rajneesh pushed the envelope of enlightenment in both positive and negative directions. He was the best of the best and the worst of the worst. He was a great teacher in his early years, with innovative meditation techniques that worked with dramatic power (see explanation and warning about Osho's Dynamic Meditation technique near the bottom of the page). Rajneesh lifted thousands of seekers to higher levels of consciousness and detailed Eastern religions and meditation techniques with luminous clarity.
One false move. One grand error.
When former university professor Acharya Rajneesh suddenly changed his name to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I was dismayed. The famous enlightened sage Ramana Maharshi was called Bhagwan by his disciples as a spontaneous term of endearment. Rajneesh simply declared that everyone should start calling him Bhagwan, a title which can mean anything from 'divine one' to God. Rajneesh became irritated when I would politely correct his mispronunciations of English words after his lectures, so I felt in no position to tell him that I thought his new name was inappropriate and dishonest. That change in name marked a turning point in Rajneesh's level of honesty and was the first of many big lies to come.
Rajneesh lived in an ivory tower, rarely leaving his room unless to give a lecture, his life experience cushioned by throngs of adoring devotees (see photograph ). His isolation became even more complete when he moved from his small Bombay apartment to a large and luxurious estate in Poona, India, in 1974. As most human beings who are treated as kings, Rajneesh lost touch with the world of the common man. In his artificial and insulated existence, Rajneesh made one fundamental error in judgment which would destroy his teaching
http://home.att.net/~meditation/Osho.html full story A balanced treatment of the Guru gone mad and whose followers tried to poison the population of a small town in Oregon in order to win the election for themselves.