Remembering Osho, one of India’s most brilliant minds
OSHO has been one of the most provocative and inspiring spiritual teachers the world has ever known. He was known for his contemporary contribution to inner transformation and the influence of his teachings continues to grow even today, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every corner of the world.”
Dec 11 is the birthday of Osho also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Of the many Indian Gurus whom the world loved and celebrated, Osho is probably one of the very few Masters who had such a world wide acceptance for his multi-faceted and contemporary teachings. Osho is considered by many to be the greatest spiritual master of the 20th century. Through his compelling discourses he used a convincing logic, compassionate wisdom, contemporary jokes and fitting anecdotes to bring home the truth about ourselves.
Osho, born as Chandra Mohan Jain came to be known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, calling himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and taking the name Osho in 1989. Some sources explain that the name Osho was derived from the expression “oceanic experience” by William James; others say that it was derived from an ancient Japanese word for master.
Unfortunately some have misunderstood the teachings of this enlightened genius in their hasty conclusions without going through or reflecting on much of his works. They have branded him as a Guru much ahead of our times because his teachings can fundamentally shake any ill-informed hard-nut of orthodoxy. However here are some remarks that matters which are made by eminent people on Osho that says why he is such an important teacher at a macro level.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “Osho is an enlightened master who is working with all possibilities to help humanity overcome a difficult phase in developing consciousness.”
Dr. Deepak Chopra: “These brilliant insights will benefit all those who yearn for experimental knowledge of the pure potentiality inherent in every human being.”
Tom Robbins, author: “…he was the greatest spiritual teacher of the 20th century… He understood us better than we understand ourselves.”
Dr. A. Schleger, Ph.D., Institute of Technology, Switzerland: “Never before or after have I encountered anybody having such a harmonious and immensely creative view encompassing art, science, human psychology and religiousness. Certainly we would lack substantially without his vision of the new man.”
Los Angeles Times: “Summarizing the thoughts of a man whose transcribed teachings have sold a purported 15 million volumes worldwide is not easy. Perhaps the kernel is Osho’s notion that the perfect human being combines the earthly zest of Zorba the Greek and the transcendental spirituality of Buddha.”
Osho has spoken on virtually every topic of concern to modern man – talking about everything under the sun and beyond. His thousands of hours of unpremeditated talks, spoken to people around the world over some three decades are available on all types of audio-video, web and print formats. An enlightened Guru lives through his teachings and so is Osho through his many communes. There are some three hundred Osho Information Centers and Osho Meditation Centers in forty-five countries around the world. Osho is also often referred to as the most prolific author, with some 600 titles to his name.
Just one of the many websites www.oshoworld.com on Osho has a complete archive of Osho discourses consisting of more than 5500 discourses in English (4,800 hours) and Hindi (4,000 hours).
In fact the Indian Parliament has placed a complete set of Osho’s books in a special section named after the author, a privilege that otherwise only Mahatma Gandhi enjoys. Osho has spoken on hundreds of mystics and traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, Communism, Hassidism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, Sufism, Tantra, Taoism, Yoga, Zen and many more.
On a regular basis Osho would remind the seekers of truth who were around him that the silent gap between his words are the essential message. “I am saying things and talking to you just to give you an experience of silence. Those pauses are the most significant thing that is being delivered to you, being transferred to you. Be available in those pauses.”
Osho was a Guru who insisted to live in the moment with all the heart and in constant celebration advising us that “To live in the head is stupidity. To live in the heart and use the head whenever it is needed is intelligence.”
According to Osho, his teachings aren’t complicated. He summarises in one of his talks saying
“My whole teaching consists of two words, meditation and love. Meditate so that you can feel immense silence, and love so that your life can become a song, a dance, a celebration. You will have to move between the two, and if you can move easily, if you can move without any effort, you have learned the greatest thing in life. Awareness and enjoying this life can grow together simultaneously. And this is my vision of the whole man.”
Osho’s teachings centred mainly on awareness, a love of life ~ Meditation and Love. About his own work Osho has said that he is helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being. He has often characterized this new human being as “Zorba the Buddha” — capable both of enjoying the earthy pleasures of a Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of a Gautam Buddha.
Running like a thread through all aspects of Osho’s work is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of the East and the highest potential of Western science and technology.
