Being the Master of My Life by Veeresh

Being the Master of My Life

After all these years, I have learned to be the master of my life, of who I am. Never do I want to be the master of someone else. You see, I have discovered the art of how to love and to be loved in return. This makes me complete. (From the CD Compassion: The Way of the Master by Veeresh)

The first time I met Osho, in 1974, I expected Him, as a Master, to have superhuman powers. In fact He was totally human, warm, enjoying everybody. I fell in love with Him – His way of laughing, His way of moving, the answers He was giving. As I was leaving He gave me a white robe and said, “Dye it deep red; that will be good for your meditation.” That was His first gift to me.
One Guru Purnima Day in Pune, as Osho was sitting at the front gate He said to me, “Veeresh, come sit next to me.” I was shocked. I wasn’t open to the invitation and said, “No, thank you.”
Another time, I had a toothache and went to the best dentist available in Pune, who was also Osho’s dentist. He hit a nerve, and I jumped because it hurt. He did an Indian head-shake and said, “It hurts Osho too!” That made me realize He’s not somebody who’s above pain.
As one of Osho’s guards died of a brain hemorrhage, He said that if He had known of his weakness He would not have put him in such a stressful situation. Then I got it again: He’s just like all of us; He needs information. The more Osho revealed His humanness, His fallibility, the more I started to appreciate Him as a person.
Over the years He was constantly offering me his friendship, and I would feel that it was too much, that I wasn’t worthy; I needed to prove something first. Then I would be given the right to sit next to Him, or be in the front row, or I would be able to receive His gifts.
Once in Rajneeshpuram I got called into Sheela’s office. She said, “Osho has declared you a Sambuddha. That means you’re enlightened.” All this recognition… He was just saying over and over, “I love you.” That was so difficult for me to accept.
Slowly, with His overwhelming love, I started to appreciate Him and what He was giving me. He looked to me like a superhuman being, but He was the most beautiful man that I ever met, and He demonstrated constantly that He loved me.
One day I wrote a letter saying that I wanted to interview Him because the Humaniversity had a newspaper. That was just an excuse to be close to Him. He sent back a message that He wasn’t talking any more because He had had all His teeth removed, but I could have a photo session. During the session I was so happy; I was overwhelmed. When they were changing the cameras, He asked about my health. I looked incredulously at Him and said, “My health? I’m doing very well. How are you?” I had heard He was not well, and He looked pale.
I was standing next to Him, and He reached out with His left hand. I held it and thought to myself. “Here’s my opportunity.” I took the risk and started to kiss His hand over and over. My tears were all over it, so I grabbed a sleeve of my robe and tried to clean them off. He started to laugh, and I laughed, and He laughed and…wow! I had an experience of what they call shaktipat: He overwhelmed me with His love and His laughter. I got completely lost. I had never felt so much bliss, looking into His eyes.

I realized I was squeezing His hand, and yet He just kept looking at me with so much love. That was such a treasure, such a gift in my life to be so close to Him and tell Him I love Him. He was my Master – He’ll always be my Master – and at that moment He also became my friend. I wanted to say, “If you’re not all right, stay with me. You don’t have to go out there and play Superman for everybody.” I wanted to take care of Him too, to thank Him for taking care of me.
I have come to love and appreciate Osho more and more. I once told Him, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.” I didn’t mean a carbon copy of Him; I was talking about His unconditional love, His care, His awareness, His constant efforts to free up all of us, insisting that we find our own way. He begs us to be aware, telling us that we have to see who we really are. He asks us to use Him up to a point, but then to do our own trip. The whole process is an incredible journey.
I feel nobody has ever cared so much for me, in that special way that He has. He has always wanted the best for me. As a result, today I am the best in my heart. Despite all my doubts, all my fears, all those things that happened, I’m home, I’m free. You can call it being the master of my life… I do my thing.
He once told me, ”If anything or anybody gets in the way of what you in your heart believe, don’t compromise. Be willing to die for your position.” So I’m ready to give everything, but if I feel in my heart that it’s wrong for me, I won’t do it! That’s another way of looking at freedom.
I once asked myself, “What do I want to be written on my gravestone?” The only thing I could come up with was: Veeresh: A Man of Osho. He loved and was loved by many. I thought that would be really cool. It’s true also. I think He’d say, “Very good, Veeresh.”
Now that Osho is not in the body anymore I feel a greater sense of responsibility. I’ve been listening to Him talk for years, and now I feel I have to carry out what He was talking about. That’s what He expected of all His sannyasins. I feel a deep necessity to really give in my work; there’s no time to waste.
I want everybody I work with, also the Tan-Jus, the teenagers here (at the Humaniversity), to change, to grow up and be beautiful. I give them what I think, what I feel, who I am. As a teacher I have a great responsibility to share my heart with them, so they can find their own Master inside one day.
I remember a beautiful story Osho told: When Buddha died he went to heaven, and he stopped at the front gate. All the angels were ready to welcome him, to jubilate and celebrate that he was coming in, and God was waiting… And he said, “I can’t go in now. I have to first wait until everyone else has passed through these gates.” All the angels cried because they were overwhelmed with his compassion. I see Osho like that: He wants all His people to go through. I also want the same thing.
Osho has this vision that 200 years from now, everyone will be able to appreciate what He’s been doing. When people walk in the main gate of the Resort, immediately they will move into the vertical plane, and the energy of the place will enlighten everybody. I see the same thing happening at the Humaniversity. I see us as the support team for the Resort, and that in two hundred years time we’ll still be supporting them, still be doing Osho’s work, making sure everyone goes through that gate: “Come on, you can do it: Hurry up!”
Osho said He wanted the Humaniversity to be officially affiliated with the Resort – not for us to feel restricted, but that He wanted us to be connected. I thought to myself, “If I were in His position and had to choose someone to support the work in Pune, of course it would be me!” I’ll do all I can to promote His work and accomplish what He wanted.
Osho Humaniversity is a School for Masters.. In the beginning we have to do a lot of therapy, change the negative behavior first. But finally, we are a meditation school: Who are you? When you look deep inside, you will find that you are a lovable human being. “Your behavior might be strange; your judgments and mental mind-fucks get in the way; your relationships can be improved; your sexuality is a little bit dysfunctional; you wish you could have had other parents…” But your foundation as a human being is: you are perfect just the way you are. Everyone is a master. It is just that a lot of doubts and conditioning gets in the way.
Our job here is to free people up to be themselves. I want everyone to develop their total human ability – everyone is unique. That’s the basis of being a Master. Once your awareness has grown enough, then give and share your love!” The world needs that!.
http://www.humaniversity.nl

This article first appeared in Viha Connection magazine

This entry was posted in Discussion, Meditation/Spiritual. Bookmark the permalink.

79 Responses to Being the Master of My Life by Veeresh

  1. frank says:

    wow.right .i get it.
    i have to do `a lot of therapy`
    then i will have to go to finishing school in pune
    to `get vertical` and finally help the poor old world that needs my help.

    ok ,let me figure this-so `a lot of therapy` .thats 3 months,6? a year or two?more?
    at £100 or so a day ,thats going to be a few grand,quite a few grand.
    then theres the vertical thing in pune,not forgetting airfares,candlelit dinners,bombay gin,ricksha,baksheesh etc etc

    easy,i just remorgage my house,again.
    damn it,ive just been repossessed.
    well,let me se…how about 30 grand at 29.9% apr.
    that should cover it.
    sorted .
    so by the time oshos vision kicks in in 200 years time i should have paid it all off-no sweat.

    i just hope my judgements about therapists and mind-fucks about my relationships, my poverty trips and general negativity dont fuck up my chances of getting vertical.
    i really wanna crunch my ego before my credit gets crunched.

    but seriously,i may never be able to get to afford to find out that i am a lovable guy if i cant blag the manager at barclays.
    and the world may never get helped….
    what a thought!
    so what to do?
    i know,my sexuality is pretty dysfunctional,so maybe i should just sell my ass!
    it makes sense.
    and i wouldn`t be the first would i?

    a bit of horizontality
    then it`s verticality for me!

    open the gateless gate
    here i come!

  2. amrito says:

    thats why a movement of meditation centers is much more helpful…you won’t have to remortgage your house frank!!

    By the way, if you’re in the states, i dont think you’ll be getting a mortgage n e time soon! haha (naa just kidding, states will break without credit!)

    yea, I see Frank’s point tho, Pune resort is very very very expensive!!! If i even decide to do therapy groups, which range at close to a 100 bucks a day, or even 50, than i’m spending half of my Canadian university tuition money for a 10 day course of n e type!

    Maybe its worth it if i make the big bucks, and I have bigger mind-fucks to spend it on!! haha

    Nonetheless, Veeresh seems pretty cool, would love to meet him some day! I wonder if he sides with Pune in its treatment of alot of meditations centers around th world. Whether he considers meditation centers like Osho Tapoban outlawed or not.

    hmmmm…?

  3. Chetna says:

    Frank, you made my day! Hilarious!

  4. alok john says:

    In defence of Pune, I believe entrance to the resort is about UK £7 per day and for that you can participate in the daily meditation program from dawn till the evening, starting with dynamic through to evening discourse. Okay, I acknowledge that if you start doing therapy and groups, then the costs escalate.

  5. amrito says:

    as much as i’d love to discuss pune and everything…I just read franks poetry again….it is absolutely ingenious!!

    I think i had a no-mind moment reading it-haha!

  6. Bearly there says:

    So we are recycling Veeresh articles. I’m very sure that he is a good soul but he does therapy . He runs a therapy circus and makes money from it. Good he has worked to get there.

    Can we move on and develop our own sense of being . let thaty which has to let go, go. Find a new road.

    Remember do something brave every day
    Even if you have to run like hell afterwards

    There is nothing in this world that can conquer love
    Yahoo!
    Bear

  7. meera says:

    osho had said very clearly that one should slowly slowly get away from artificial group-systems and create the ´group´,
    which is the commune..

    without samadhi veeresh would be nobody.. she is the one who arragend the humaniversity in the first place..all these legal matters etc..
    now other women are capitalizing who got no vision at all…
    and the future belongs to the woman

  8. Chetna says:

    Meera, Vereesh looks like a man to me, well, maybe all that therapy….

  9. alok john says:

    I’m also quite dubious about the Humaniversity. The training seems to turn some people into bullies, which no doubt helps them make money and survive in the West. Osho used to say that his teaching was to move energy from the head to the heart. In my opinion, the Humaniversity training moves energy in the opposite direction. Although they do the odd Osho meditation there, the meditations are peripheral to the training; and they appear to like Osho discourses even less.

  10. Ashik says:

    I believe vthat Osho wanted Veeresh to do something… Veeressh has been telling us about his addictive nature since he came to the Humaniversity.
    But he has stayed a therapist, a performer and he has used his power over others to become whatever it is that he is .
    Veeresh is a man and an addict . He helps other addicts as best he can. He may well have done good and saved people.
    In my view he gave therapy that suits some , as Alok says it appears to make some into bullies. Others it just turns them away.
    He has charged lots to have people clean toilets and party rooms that others used .
    He has created a cottage therapy industry that a lot of people are hooked on .
    But it has nothing to do with centring on your vown buddha nature , little to do with meditation and everything to do with living in the world.
    But basically he is trapped in the ethos of the therapist and he does not transcend beyopd his own ego . He has never gone further than he could to start with as Denny Yuson.

    Perhaps Osho hoped that V. would let go and sit by a river watching it flow …….

    Tomorrow is a good day so let me start to msake it better today .

    The splash of cold water
    the running steam
    Salmon Leaping

    Bearly there

  11. Greetings! actualy lots and lots of his trainings and meditations discoveries as I should call them,help human beings to discover how imprisoned we´re!Sexualy in all kinds of ways and VEERESH through Osho´s grace feels that part quite adquately …Showing what is working underground!I had met Veeresh briefly in Pune as well during a visit to Berlin(Far Out Cafe!) in the late 80`s and I thaught he was living an ego trip of his own,but since then much wather has gone under the bridge!for many people and on behalf of tan-ju dancers Veeresh is the greatest thing that has happend to meditation since Osho!

  12. alok john says:

    I found this interesting quotation of Osho’s from page 9 of The Orange Book :

    “Meditations are not fun. They can sometimes be dangerous. You are playing with a subtle, a very subtle mechanism of the mind. Sometimes a small thing that you were not aware you were doing can become dangerous. So never try to invent, and don’t make your own hotch-potch meditation.”

    Veeresh invented the AUM meditation in 1991, a year after Osho’s death.

  13. frank says:

    hi john,
    you are right.
    meditations aint much fun
    compared to…
    smoking cannabis,drinking whisky,popping e`s,chewing magic mushrooms,dropping acid,a few lines of coke,cigarettes,staying up all night,shagging your arse off and a few cans of lager to wash it all down..

    especially in a `rehab`!.

    a bit of heavy breathing,shouting and screaming and stuff?
    no problem mate,thats kids stuff for the old braincells of your average tantric master.

    a large whisky and a couple of e`s.
    thanks man.
    aum

  14. Heraclitus says:

    The only famous therapist I know who didn’t trade off Osho, one way or the other, was Somendra (Michael Barnett). He had already started a good and successful movement called People not Psychiatry, in the seventies before he ever met Osho. When, long before the 1985 exodus, he left the Ranch because he wanted to be his own man in 1982, he was widely castigated, but he started his own sangha, and made an effort to reach people who had never been involved with Osho, rather than trading off his old master. This sangha still survives today and thrives.
    People like Teertha, Rajen, etc dropped Osho and spoke against him as soon as the 1985 crisis hit them, and got out of the Ranch like rats from a sinking ship – also like St. Peter they were well known to “disown’ their master, and for all I know still do.
    Veeresh and a few less well known others continued to be sannyasins, but always basically made a living through the umbrella of what Osho had created.
    All therapies can have the potential to lead to subtle or unsubtle bullying, simply because it is a disempowering act to seek therapy in the first place.
    This paradox is very rarely addressed by therapists because they would end up not making a living.
    Osho was not against therapy, but did underline that it should only be undertaken for relatively short periods to prepare the ground for meditation. Had Veeresh and others really heard this, then they would have done much more for the cause of spiritual growth then they seem to have, and not dressed their egos in the power games of therapy – which certainly does not help them either – to reach 24/365 meditation.

  15. alok john says:

    Yes, it is very depressing, all these people who call themselves sannyasins and have no interest in what Osho says in discourse. No wonder he got murdered. No wonder the movement has such a poor reputation.

    Sometimes I think all the corruption in the movement is just a mirror of the corrupt West. Sometimes I think Osho’s work will only be accepted when the West is defeated by the East, through war or economic dominance.

  16. frank says:

    the guru/ disciple trip is one of the most authoritarian psychological systems ever invented by man,certainly in the east.it parallels feudalism in a neat pyramid.

    psychiatry/psychotherapy is also extremely authoritarian,historically to a frightening degree.

    stick `em together like sannyas did,and a crypto-fascist movement is an odds-on cert.
    wisdom of hindsight,maybe.
    but its clear as day here and now.

  17. Alok john says:

    There is also an interesting interview with Veeresh entitled ‘Everyone is Osho’ found in the Articles section of sannyas news, April 08.

    In this article the word “successor” is used about ten times. Although Veeresh does not claim explicitly in the article that he is Osho’s only real successor, a newcomer could easily conclude this from the article. I would guess that the article is intended to give this impression.

    The article includes the words…

    “I am a successor in the sense that I have succeeded in what He wanted me to do. I searched, I looked, I struggled, and I got it! I found it inside: I found Him, I found love, and I found truth. So I succeed Him by passing on the love that I experienced with Him. That is what I am doing.”

    This appears to be a claim of enlightenment to me.

    Old sannyasins will know that Osho said explicitly that He would have no successor.

  18. Isha says:

    I read an article where veeresh sais he got enlightened when he met osho for the photo shoot. Love Isha

  19. Somehow it is a pity that right now in the main srteam sannyas world, Veeresh is the only “super star”, all the sannyas sites and magazines use his interviews minimum 2 to 3 times per year, as a filler; because there is nobody else with the vocal coards, and he is doing the best balance act, saying his things without touching the delicate ego system of the bosses in the mother organisation.

  20. frank says:

    hey man,wow… yeah,that`s it …
    i am an egologist working in a delicate egosystem.

    thanks man
    aum

  21. Anthony Thompson says:

    Hi everyone.
    I would like to add something about Veeresh and my research about him and Osho.
    Veeresh was never a meditator, he was more interested in dating and smoking joints than meditating in Pune one…But Osho loved him. He loved him dearly. So much so, that He allowed him to do what ever he wanted. Osho gave veeresh full support… always. Why? because Veeresh was in love with osho and was absolutely devoted to him. The management of the commune in pune had a lot of trubles in the old days with veeresh therapeutic style and independence… but not Osho.
    lately that difference has been solved and veeresh seems to feel that he is offering his best to support osho´s work. His therapy institute and his social meditations are dedicated to his master.
    His therapeutic style is tough, confrontational and highly cathartic… perhaps not for everyone… but it is his contribution… and probably he is right. althou the therapeutic style in pune is much softer now, osho would have said as always: Good veeresh!
    Greetings
    Anthony

  22. Greetings !
    I´ve come to ask our Veeresh about helping Us share OSHO´S VISION* in this form of meditation that is happning as Horoscope*.
    In these meditations predictions are (His!) vision which Osho has, in helping the one born under His stars* the life long meditation that reflect His consciousness! I begin by a brief introduction that His vision is at conception rather than at birth ,hence parents are the ones that will call for the astrologer when planning a new birth;or rather an enquiry for when the most propitious time of birth as far as calendars are concerned; when His stars favourably advises parents, just as the newly born has like another (tree!), times to weather! In this way I´ve come to ask you for your help in tracing back the times of your astrological birth and if it has any coincidence rate with your spiritual rebirthing!Please send your D.O.B and local time if known,together with your given name at birth(legal name)!This approach perhaps will help future humanity another chance scientificaly with family His planning!
    Yours most apprecianting fellow traveller,
    amrit*

  23. Anthony Thompson says:

    what does that has to do with our sharing?
    anthony

  24. Alok john says:

    Possibly there is something in what you say, Anthony, but I still worry about the AUM “social meditation.” This was created after Osho’s death and we don’t know what he would have said about it.

    The AUM is the central technique of the Humaniversity. The first ten minutes consist of shouting at participants “I hate you” or similar words if not worse. I think this is very destructive. In most discourses Osho advises not to “dump” anger on others, but rather to go into a room alone when you are angry and beat a pillow or similar.

    It also promotes the idea that people have a “right” to use anger to fulfil their desires. This is contrary to what Osho says in discourse. In general he says that if you are angry this shows you have a desire that existence does not want to give you, and the solution is to drop the desire.

    To do the AUM once probably would not do much harm. But in my opinion doing it regularly leads to spiritual degeneration, just like sticking a bayonet into a sandbag and shouting “Die You Bugger” would.

  25. frank says:

    blimey,
    i had no idea that the osho foundation had employed a celebrity chef as its chief expert web-historian!
    i guess he`s the man to cook the books!

  26. Alok john says:

    would that they would employ me!!

  27. Our sharing…because perhaps in wanting to share and willingness to live out Osho´s vision a new humanity is afresh and kicking,and togheter with our tan-ju dancers and comming to accept our addctive minds as someone reminded Us a little awhile may be the cracks will be filled by solid rocks of His conciousness!Just may be…!!!!!!!!!!

  28. anthony Thompson says:

    Alok Jhon.
    I agree that the aum meditation became famous after osho´s death… so we do not know what he would have said about it.
    However, the meditation is a shortened version of the AUM Marathon which was created by Veeresh under osho´s guidance. and the AUm wa created a year before osho´s death in 1989.
    Osho higly encouraged the expression of anger in social situations within his therapy groups. see the darshan diary ” get out of your own way”.
    Not only that. Osho encouraged physical violence within the encounter groups lead by teertha. This has been well documented and you can can read his own words in the conversations he, teertha and the groups participants had in darshan diaries.
    Althou the therapeutic style used by osho´s therapists over the years evolved to softer and more delicate ways to dealing with anger and projections, there was a time when veeresh style was softer than pune in the seventies. Of course all this has been ereased from record by the Osho commune actual management…but all this information is right there in the old books.
    veeresh devotion to Osho was out of question… osho always had the dream that veeresh will move to pune and live there and he told him this many times. But veeresh did not like the unconfortabilities of living in a place like India… althou he did love goa.
    And.. also veeresh liked to do ” his thing”… to be in pune meant to be under the management of garimo,the arup, karuna, sheela and laxmi. he liked to be independent.
    So he loved osho, osho loved him back… but he was not the type to work as an emploee… he was not ” that” devotional.
    All this information can be found everywhere. specially in darshan diaries and veeresh own interviews.
    greetings
    anthony

  29. Alok john says:

    Hi Anthony,
    I am sure much of what you write is correct including the violent encounter groups in Pune 1. Do you know what the structure of the AUM marathon was? Did it include the “I hate you” stage of the AUM social meditation in which all participants scream “I hate you” to each other?

    I thought Osho only encouraged people to do the violent encounter group once or twice at the most.

    I thought he discouraged people from doing the same group over and over again, which is what people do with the AUM social meditation.

  30. Alok john says:

    PS

    I also think violent encounter groups don’t happen any more because there is not the demand or need as there was a generation or more ago. It may be that the Resort Management would not like such structures now but I just think there is no real demand any more. We baby-boomers carried a lot of the violence of our parents from two world wars; I think that was the reason.

    If I look at photos of the faces of the people in Pune 1, they are very different from those of today.

  31. I suggest to anyone to do therapy yes,and yet not to forget the old breath….deep breathing until one is connected to a breath awareness!Therapy as Osho have used it to point to the mind…as we are full of stories inside thetrapy to helps sorting out the mind and I find that for westerners and any thinkers on level with west that breath iws the Most important factor in ones life! I wished that our Veeresh if he is aware of this phenomenon with western minds why not discours and show more about this….if he thinks is worth His while!Thank U,
    amrit*

  32. Ps:If it Helps by placing ones hand over the Heart and the other on the navel!I personaly have benefited and others too!LUf,amrit.

  33. anthony Thompson says:

    My understanding about the use of any form of therapy is that the person should do it for as long as he/she feels that there is a benefit from the process.
    Dynamic meditation is a technique where catharsis is done in a way that probably you scream your lungs out at whoever you feel resentful in your life. the same is done in primal therapy with the parents and the same in gestalt work. the only difference with the AUM is that resentment and anger is externalized with a human being in front of you… but as far as the anger is concerned, it is not related to the person in front, as a pillow, he is just an excuse. There is no physichal contact in that fase.
    Osho encouraged therapists to scream at their clients in cathartic groups in pune1.
    The aum marathon was devised in 1975… and it was certainly confrontational… as far what osho would think today of the AUn meditation… no way to know that.
    But considering the success of veeresh´s meditation I think he would say:
    good Veeresh!
    greetings
    anthony

  34. Ashutosh kumar , Sw Veet gyan says:

    Hey my dear lovely friends …..

    stop all these fucking scrap which is nothing more than crap , …. fuck the matter enjoy the chatter hey no need to write any thing , hopefully i wont be opening this site again but i know you will do …..

    its all you who need to see deep down and move forward implies on me too, my kisses to the ladies and namskar to sanyasi brothers ….

    sanyas andar hai bahar nahi ……or ander bus prem hai….or prem hi sanyas hai……

    hey wish you all …………………………..guess what ……… that would be your own thought……

    thanks to Veeresh for sharing love …..

  35. Alok john says:

    Anthony wrote : “My understanding about the use of any form of therapy is that the person should do it for as long as he/she feels that there is a benefit from the process.”

    I cannot disagree with this.

    Were you in Pune in the 70s, Anthony? I was around London sannyasins at this time so I have some feeling of what went on, but I never went to Pune 1.

    Bharti’s book Ultimate Risk, also entitled Drunk on the Divine, gives a description of a Pune 1 encounter group but not the AUM marathon. Maybe there is a description in her other book, Death Comes Dancing.

    There seems to be no description of the groups in the Darshan Diaries, though they are referred to.

  36. frank says:

    “the person should do therapy as long as he feels benefit”

    sounds logical.

    but in a group situation the benefits are predicated by the group.
    in a one to one the benefits are predicated by the one in authority.
    if you say “this is doing me in even more”
    it will be termed “resistance”

    if it is “tough” therapy,they will scream at you,or get someone else to do it for them.someone will always be willing to please the authority.
    if it is “soft” therapy,they will try to convince you,in the nicest possible way,of course.
    get you a partner for the night or tell you youre spiritually advanced.

    i dont pay to play this game.

    any one playing it might do well to ask themselves what they are getting into.
    but if they like it,then it`s up to them and i apologise for interfering.

    and john,
    of course anthony wasnt in pune 1 or done any group with veeresh.

    sounds like a penpushing historian,to me.

    tell me i`m wrong.

  37. Parampara says:

    hi everyone
    apart from Anthony, everybody has only negative critics to offer. But how many of you are talking from experience ? how many of you have been to the Humaniversity and participated in the Tourist program or other week-end workshop ? How many of you have wet Veeresh ? how many are talking from reality ?
    I have the feeling that all this so called sharing is based on just gossips, heating up the mind and generally enjoying playing around with ideas.
    First, go to the Humaniversity. You don’t have to pay a lot of money to taste it. There is a program where you can work and be there.
    But of course, you would criticize that as being exploited probably.
    What is the price you are willing to pay in order to see what is in you ?
    So easy to pretend like you already know it all and most of all how Veeresh is !!
    What do YOU do, exactly for yourself ?
    What tickles you ?
    I enjoyed the Humaniversity, I was shaken, made aware of quite a few things about myself and I found a lot of love and care. And Veeresh is loving, and fun. Many people who had no idea a man like Osho existed became aware of him through the Humaniversity and took sannyas. I’ve met young people with more sharpness and heart than many of those who wrote on this “shharing” page.
    The meditation, you find it inside.
    The noise around it, you deal with it the way you want.
    cheers !
    parampara

  38. anthony Thompson says:

    well you are wrong. I have worked with Veeresh. I was not in Pune one , but I have interviewed most of the therapists of that time…and worked with them too. Including teertha, somendra, amitabh, aneesha, etc.
    But that is not the point.
    I am a psychotherapist and I think people should do therapy ( group or individual) if they feel to do so. I can see the limts of any therapeutic approach and certainly know that it is not a must for anybody.
    As far as the Aum marathon descrption, You can find it in the Humaniversity book “Aum marathon” and some of it in darshan diaries, when osho was advising him on certain structure in relation to people´s tendency to do the opposite than the therapists sugested.
    My point with Veeresh is that he got support from osho simply because osho liked him a lot and he brought tons of people to Him. and what he did was not that different from what was done under Osho´s direct supervision…. in pune one.
    greetings
    anthony

  39. Alok john says:

    I have done two weekends of the Humaniversity training in Osho Leela. I have done the AUM social meditation twice; I hated it and thought it harmed me, albeit mildly. I have done several evening events in London with Veeresh. I was around the Humaniversity trainees quite a lot when I worked at the Kentish Town Osho centre a decade ago.

    parampara writes : “I have the feeling that all this so called sharing is based on just gossips, heating up the mind and generally enjoying playing around with ideas.”

    Osho complains in one of his discourses that mankind is regressing to primitivism and to disparage “ideas” is quite a good example of this. There have always been a few sannyasins who think developing “No Mind” means developing a childish and primitive mind. I am sure this is a misunderstanding of Osho’s work.

    parampara writes : “I’ve met young people with more sharpness and heart than many of those who wrote on this “shharing” page.” But you have not met us Parampara, so you don’t know, do you?

    If Veeresh claims, more or less, that he is Osho’s successor and he is enlightened, this is worthy of discussion. If Veeresh was was just offering one therapy amongst others, I would not really object. But the Humaniversity is pretty cult-like really, and the leaders act as if they know everything.

    PS I am a survivor of extemely severe childhood abuse and my story is told in a book about child abuse by Morven Fyfe. I sent emails to Osho Leela about the book and to one of the London AUM leaders, but no-one is interested in buying or reading the book. I don’t think you should be a “therapist” without knowing about childhood abuse.

  40. anthony Thompson says:

    Alok john.
    I am psychotherapist and can tell you that the potential damaging effect of the Aum meditation is in the exact measure of any unresolved issue that is buried. If your childood abuse trauma has not been worked through it can come out in something like the aum interactive stages… but that could, depending on the view, be an opportunity to decide to work on these things.
    Any conflict always points in the direction of the person who experiments it…
    If hurt and pain comes out and you do not want to work on this, certainly keep away from any method that deals with emotional expression.
    My opinion is that veeresh is no one succesor, he is not a meditative peron… but he has the heart in the right place and his ” tough” methods can be helpful for some… a waste of time for others… and an opportunity to look at unresolved issues… as for yourself.
    greetings
    Anthony

  41. Alok john says:

    I am afraid I am a bit dubious about concepts like “working on unresolved issues and past pain.”

    I question whether there is such a thing or whether it is just therapy-speak. Lots and lots of qualified psychiatrists and psychologists would share similar doubts with me.

    And I certaily would not do it with an organisation that is not a member of any of the recognised counselling and psychotherapy professional associations.

  42. anthony Thompson says:

    i did not mean to work things with them. I just said that it could be an opportunity to see that those things are still there and you might decide to work them out…
    that is all
    greetings
    anthony

  43. Alok john says:

    I acknowledge that the “things” are still there, but is there such a thing as “working things out”?

  44. anthony Thompson says:

    again… This is not a universal truth and I am biased because it is my profession. However, it is my experience that things get ” worked out”. It is my personal experience with my own growth and it is the experience of my own practice as a therapist.
    However… I might be wrong or deluded… so find out for yourself.
    greetings
    anthony

  45. Alok john says:

    A very honest answer, Anthony. Thank you

  46. Alok john says:

    Would that the Humaniversity therapists were so honest!

  47. Sw Aatmo Neerav says:

    The AUM social meditation sounds really harmful and destructive. After reading the experiences of the participants i dont think i would ever want to participate…

    I mean why dont they just suggest doing no-mind or the mystic rose…. they are so much more simpler and you dont dump your catharsis on the other person and shout “I HATE YOU” which i think is very harmful and destructive. I dont think saying “I LOVE YOU” later can heal or neutralize the harms done. Such a bogus technique!!!

  48. anthony Thompson says:

    I will explain this, not because i think veersh is osho´s succesor, but because unless you have the understanding background the technique might not be understood.
    Any work of therapy or healing or resolving pending issues with my self and my life envloves bringing them to the surface… weather it is pain or anger or frustration abandonment or dispair.
    The unconscoius mind is all the time trying to complete this unresolved issues in asymbolic way: i. E. the need to be success or famous may be an unconscoius way to look for the love we did not have as a child or the propper devolpment of attachment to the mother in the first year of life. What therapy does is to create a fictitious, symbolic environment where the origibal experience can be re-created, evoked (meaning feeling an expressing its emotional components) so that in the therapeuitic situation it can be acted out in the resent. this may include talking to apillow as if it was your mother… beating a pillow, screaming your lungs out…etc. in group therapy you might choose a member of the group to represent the person you have the issue with
    what the aum does is the same but using a living human being…
    that is all
    greetings
    anthony

  49. Alok john says:

    Once when I did the AUM social meditation, I did it with someone called Nigel. We were not friends but we were acquaintances on good terms.

    When we did the ‘I Hate you’ stage, Nigel really looked like he meant it when he said ‘I hate you.’ We followed this by the ‘I Love You’ stage, and hugged.

    But the little love between us was destroyed by doing the AUM social meditation, and from then on there was distance between us.

  50. Alok john says:

    PS They don’t suggest the No-Mind or the Mystic Rose because it is easier to make money out of the AUM social meditation.

  51. anthony Thompson says:

    what I want to say is that the technique used in the AUM is actually very simple… veeresh is not inventing the wheel here… but is an effective way to discharge emotional baggage or to see where I have areas of unresolved issues… or to see which emotional expression I have blocked. i would not recomend the aum to anyone with deep unresolved wounds… unless he/she wants to use it as a diagnosis for his own repressed emotional issues.
    As far as i understand ( and have done it) the “i hate you” stage is not suppossed to be personal, but general. If your friend really meant it… it just means that he had withold things about you he never told you…this has nothing todo with the AUm it self… but with your relationship. If the AUM can brake a relationship…it means the reltionship would have not survived any honest confrontation.
    And please forgive my english… it is a second language for me and I have no english spell check in the computer.
    greetings
    anthony

  52. anthony Thompson says:

    ps. one more thing. Intensive training for the olympics is no cure for a broken leg. The Aum is for normal neurotics… I would not advised emotionaly disturbed people to do it
    greetinga
    anthony

  53. Alok john says:

    Well the AUM ain’t for me because I have about five lifetimes worth of deep unresolved wounds!

    Anthony wrote : “The Aum is for normal neurotics… I would not advised emotionaly disturbed people to do it”

    Maybe the Humaniversity should say that in their marketing, instead of suggesting it is for everyone.

    Where are you from Anthony? Such an English or anglo-saxon name!

  54. Alok john says:

    PS As a survivor of childhood abuse I prefer the term “psychologically injured” to “emotionaly disturbed.”

    There are issues of justice involved and “psychologically injured” puts the blame where it should lie, on the people who caused the injuries, in my case my parents and schoolteachers.

    Morven’s book includes the idea that victims of severe childhood abuse should be paid financial compensation.

    This is a rebellious idea and sannyasins are meant to be rebellious. I do find the approach of the Humaniversity and indeed most psychotherapy as inherently conservative in that it puts the onus on the victim alone, rather than the wider society.

  55. anthony Thompson says:

    Well, yea i am of anglo saxon origins… my family , I mean. But Spanish is my firts language.
    Any way, regarding your suggestion; I think it depends on where you want to look. as far as legal matters is concerned, I ageree with you. as far as personal, psychological matters, i think it is important to take responsability for what we do with our own emotional baggage as adults, than to see ourselves as simply vicrims. Althou this does not mean that we can understand that we WERE victims. but as adults it is far more productive to see ourselves as ” masters of our lives” and do something about our emotional stuff.
    greetings
    anthony

  56. Alok john says:

    If you say you are a victim you are making a demand of others, you are making a political statement. Now your demands may not be met. But you are showing solidarity with other victims.

    Oppressed minorities, gays, blacks etc, have only ever made progress by standing up for themselves. And I consider survivors of serious childhood abuse an oppressed minority in similar way.

    Just doing a little mental trick like telling yourself “I am a master of my life, not a victim” is not going to do much is it? I mean it is not going to cure
    cancer or a personality disorder is it?

    In an odd way saying “I am a victim” to others is masterful because you are standing up for yourself.

  57. Greetings!Xmas and New Year!
    I pray to Almighty(oshO!) that this new year comes with much more of His fragance warmth and peace to the hole planet!That the Klashnicovs be exchanged into tractors and that should be sent to places where clashes of politics are happening and brussel sprouts and other vegetables should be planted and cultivated instead and Veeresh´s Hugs to be Planted instead ! I also pray that Bar dosen´t become corrupt whilst in power as we know that power corupts and we all aware that abso power cor absolutly; to keep reminding him as he comes with the new man that Osho fortold US; He the LOrd had comming! reminding him constantly! This simple human phenomen of mind!Absolute power COr absolutly!
    Before I stray from my point in mind I would like to ask Veeresh to enlighten me(Us!)on what to do when the old mind as we´re gunged upon sometimes and it happens and just as now ,the confusion is so overwhelming…I used Inquire but that is in the past …but made many very happy! Please speak freelly on this subject I find it so enlightning as simple as a Hug!Beloved!Thank U OshO*

  58. amrito says:

    Apart from critically discussing issues such as Aum Therapy and Veeresh, with Anthony—mocking him because his life’s work is in studying Osho is not appropriate. Anthony stands as the only one in the sannyasworld, and he;s not even a sannyasin, to critically examine Christopher Calders spam and propoganda.

    I’ve met numerous people who have been so negatively influenced by Calder and asked why there wasn’t an a proper response to him by any Sannyasin. I’ve asked many about it and they harshly disagree with Calder’s attempt to tell the Osho story but still didn;t do anything about it. If you search “Osho” on google, the Calder article comes up on the first page.

    So mocking Anthony Thompson and saying:
    “sounds like a penpushing historian,to me.”
    Actually, he’s objectively looking into the events of one of the most misunderstood men of our times.

  59. anthony Thompson says:

    Thank you Amrito. It is true , I have dedicated the last 22 years of my life to study osho, his people and the whole movement.
    I think most sannyasins could not refute calder because they just do not know the whole story. And this is calder´s greatest point. He has studied the whole thing. because althou he appears as an insider who knew everything first hand, he just collected information from books, paper clips from the Oregonian newspaper, and gossip going around. he has no first hand information.
    that is why he can qmis-quote Osho with no problem.. who would take the time and bother to check the quote…? but I have. I have taken the time to do that job. Because from the firts time I read calder ( back in 98)I knew frpom my own research that what he was saying was not true. But it was all so well constructed that even people who lived with osho their whole life could not contradict him.
    So, I decided to take on the job of dicussing with him where ever i found him.
    He knows I am the only one who knows where he is wrong, where he misquotes and where he simply interprets things according to his own liking. In private mails I exanged with him he called me everything: from fanatic cult follower, to psychiatric case, to advising me to get checked into apsychiatric ward… and some other words I can not repoduce here.

    Many people have asked why I do this. well, Osho has been my life long subject study as a scholler; he has been also the most impressive human being i have met in my life. And I have been since intrigued by the mytery of the whole story. I have never been the disciple type, but that does not mean that I do not respect and admire the man. So, as far as my energy and spare time go… I will continue to refute Christopher calder…
    My only set back is my poor english… but that will not stop me.
    in case you want to check the whole article:
    http://truthaboutosho.blogspot.com/
    and get it around…Calder has done a fantastic job putting his article everywehere.
    Greetings
    anthony

  60. amrito says:

    yea actually, I couldnt a get a response from you when I found this article a while back, because I wanted to have it on a blog or its own site. So, I created, http://www.beyond-truth.blogspot.com , as a substitute. I’m glad you have a this new link up though, and I will try my best and get help to get your work edited gramatically and nicely compiled.

    Yes, so now the link is up! There are many people here, including Alok John whom are very literate in english, and I’m sure can make what you’ve studied more clear.

  61. Alok john says:

    Yes, I agree with Amrito, Anthony’s article on Calder is excellent. When I found it, just by a stroke of luck, I told parmartha, and he put quite a long extract on sannyas news with the link to the full article. This was July 08.

    Calder’s articles are such a sophisticated mixture of lies and truth, it did occur to me he might be CIA! A CIA disinformation campaign.

  62. amrito says:

    yea…alot fo strange things had been done, one of the most striking possibilities of CIA involvement was with the corrupt Indian doctor who declared Osho had aids. The doctor had been known for being corrupt amongst many in the field and so when records were looked at before he declared this, he recieved a large lump-slum from an American counterpart. He was proved to be lying but still…i met one girl who had been reading Osho’s book and she asked her uncle about him, who in turn told her that Osho died of AIDS!!!

    And…as I tried to explain the incorrect accusation/fact, she told me her uncle was an expert on Osho–haha!!

  63. Kailash says:

    Thanks Veeresh for sharing your experience with the Master Himself. Thank You Once Again :) :):)

  64. anthony thompson says:

    I am open and willing for anyone who wants to edit my article, then send it back to may mail and I will put it up on the web
    thanks
    anthony

  65. Alok john says:

    Basically I think Anthony’s article is okay as it is. I think you need a really comprehensive article that answers Calder and other unfair statements about Osho. I guess it is too long for many to read. But anyone who is really interested will read the whole thing.

    I found one error. As far as I know “sannyas giving” still happens at Pune, but you are not given a mala any more.

  66. Chetna says:

    I have read the whole article and felt very grateful to Anthony. Anthony says he is not a sannyasin, but I feel like he is more of a sannyasin than many of us so called sannyasins. Even though I started loosing interest in what was the true story, who did what and why, it is still good to see that some people care and do research and investigate. Thank you!

    The most interesting point I have found was this statement on a “non-sannyasin”-“The only consistent idea in his talks is that of awareness and meditation. The rest is simply not systematic enough to do anything with it.” And the sad truth is that many sannyasins have not understood this and are more into leela, therapy and so called “freedom”, which shows more laziness and deep sleep rather than any transformation.

  67. Alok john says:

    This is a true story about Osho Leela. These events occurred about nine years ago when Leela was run by Dhyano and Pragit.

    Dhyano organised a fund raising event for Leela in London. It was a bit of a party, you paid a few pounds for entry, there was a disco I think. The height of the evening was a sort of competition where people were encouraged to pledge their donations to Leela. Someone would stand on the stage hold the microphone and pledge £20; then there would be lots of clapping. The next person would only pledge £10; but still there was lots of clapping. The money was not to be collected that evening, but at a later date.

    People were going up to the microphone pledging £10, £20, £5, it was quite fun. Then my friend L pledged a ridiculous amount of money, in excess of £500 or £1,000, I think.

    Now L suffered from severe depression, she was under the care of a psychiatrist. Her depression also included manic elements which is characterised by reckless behaviour and spending sprees.

    My friend Prem Brian (not Dharmen) told Dhyano that L was mentally ill and suggested strongly that it was wrong to try to collect the pledge.

    A week or two later Dhyano and Pragit travelled up from Leela to L’s little flat in NW London to try to collect the money. I guess they told her that learning to keep agreements could be the beginning of a whole new life. “Learning to keep agreements” was one of the teachings of another popular cult, est-forum-landmark, which many sannyasins have been involved in.

    Remember Dhyano and Pragit had no formal training in psychiatry.

    After badgering L for some time she paid up.

    A few days later L’s parents travelled down to Leela and demanded the money back. They said unless Leela paid up, they would go to the police. Putting on my lawyer’s hat I cannot see what offence Dhyano and Pragit had committed except maybe harassment. Nevertheless they were sufficiently scared of a police investigation that they paid up.

    Pragit is dead and Dhyano has left Leela, so maybe the ethics of the place have improved a bit.

  68. anthony thompson says:

    Nop in pune there is no more sannyas giving. if you want to be a sannyasin you can choose any name you want.
    greetings
    anthony

  69. Alok john says:

    A little more I remember about Dhyano/Pragit and L…

    Roundabout the same time Leela was selling “share certificates” for a few pounds I think. These were offered to visitors to raise money for Leela. We were told that if you bought a share certificate you would own a share of Osho Leela.

    The certificates looked like fakes to me and a quick check at Companies House on the web confirmed that they were fakes.

    Not only were they fakes, but they were third rate fakes. My friend Brian said a twelve year old with a toy printing press from a toy shop would produce a better forgery.

    Ah well, I guess childish forgeries gel well with childish psychotherapies.

    However it was certainly a criminal offence to sell such false share certificates, probably fraud or forgery.

    So maybe L’s parents had one, and that was the leverage they used to get their money back when they visited Leela.

  70. frank says:

    hey lighten up john.
    so a few unconscious neg losers and ordinary neurotics with unresolved stuff get burned…
    big deal!
    we`re the chosen few,ok?

    if they cant handle the therapy,
    they should just hand over the cash and make at least some contribution apart from just bringing more shit into the world.

    come on.

    lets put the con
    back in consciousness
    and the
    sin
    back in sannyasin…

    you`ll be asking for a money back guarantee for enlightenment from your guru,next….

    get real,and do the aum,swami.
    it`ll put you in touch with your dark side.
    theres no light without darkness,
    so chill
    the world needs us…..

    Aggressive
    Underhand
    Mendacious

  71. amrito says:

    “lets put the con
    back in consciousness
    and the
    sin
    back in sannyasin…”

    haha….

  72. Alok john says:

    Frank wrote “Aggressive Underhand Mendacious”

    Sadly it has always been like that. Partly it is the unemployment; people will do anything for a buck.

    And poor old Osho carried the can in American jails for the “sin in sannyasin.”

  73. Swami Aatmo Neerav says:

    Osho on ON COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARKS,SUCCESSION, SUCCESSORS

    (It is quite clear that he was neither interested nor intended that his discourses and meditations be copyrighted or trademarked. After reading these I am sure Osho never said that he left his dream to Jayesh or Amrito (as they claim), everyone who loved him were his medium an he left his dream to everyone )

    “Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace. Nobody can monopolize anything. But perhaps the West cannot understand the difference between an objective commodity and an inner experience. For ten thousand years the East has been meditating and nobody has put trademarks upon meditations.”

    Osho- Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

    “I want my sannyasins to inherit my freedom, my awareness, my consciousness. And each sannyasin has to be my successor, has to be me. There is no need for anybody to dominate. There is nobody for anybody to dictate to. They are on their own. If they want to be together they can be together. Out of their own freedom, it is their choice and their decision. If they want to move free they have all the rights to move free.”

    Osho – The Last Testament

    So when I say, “Spread the word,” I mean whatever I have been telling you, go on spreading in as many ways as possible. Use all the news media, use everything that technology has provided, so that the word reaches to every nook and corner of the earth. And remember, it is far more powerful than any nuclear weapons because nuclear weapons can only bring death — that is not power. But the word which has come from an enlightened consciousness can bring new life to you; it can give you rebirth, resurrection — that is power.

    OshoThe Path of the Mystic

    “But nobody is my follower. Nobody is going to be my successor. Each sannyasin is my representative. When I am dead, you all — individually — will have to represent me to the world.

    Osho – From Death to Deathlesssnes

    “The very idea of succession is not the right idea in the world of consciousness. That’s why I have said, I will not have successors. But you are right in saying that you will carry in your bones and in your blood my love, my insight. But don’t use the word `successor’, rather use the words `you will be me’. Why be so far away, a successor, when you can be me? Be so empty that I can make a home in you, that your emptiness can absorb my emptiness, that your heart can have the same dance as my heart. It is not succession; it is transmission.
    The very idea of succession is political. Only one person can be a successor, so there is bound to be competition, ambition. There is bound to be a subtle struggle to be closer to the master, to force others away. It may not be on the surface but, underneath, the problem will remain in the disciples: “Who is going to be the successor?”
    I destroy the whole conception. Every disciple who has loved has become one with the master. There is no need of any competition, nor one successor. It is for everybody who has offered himself in deep gratitude, who has become one in a certain sense with the master’s presence. There is no need of any competition. Thousands can have the same experience, millions can have the same experience.
    To avoid politics in religion, I have said that I will not have successors. I want religion to be absolutely devoid of ambition, competition, being higher than another, putting everybody lower than oneself. With me you are all equal. And I trust and love you, that you will prove this equality. In equals there is no competition; there is a combined effort. You will all carry my message, but nobody will be higher or lower, nobody will be a successor. All will be my lovers and they will carry me.”

    Osho Nansen: The Point of Departure

    “Once I am gone, the serious people are dangerous. They can take possession, because they are always in search of taking possession of things. They can become my successors, and then they will destroy. So remember this: even an ignorant person can become my successor, but he must be able to laugh and celebrate. Even if somebody claims that he is enlightened, just see his face: if he is serious, he is not going to be successor to me! Let this be the criterion: even a fool will do, but he should be able to laugh and enjoy and celebrate life. But serious people are always in search of power. People who can laugh are not worried about power — that is the problem. Life is so good, who bothers to become a pope? Simple people, happy in their simple ways, don’t bother about politics.”

    OshoYoga: The Alpha and the Omega

  74. frank says:

    as anthony thompson
    and christopher calder have pointed out.
    what osho said
    and what he did and meant,
    were not the same.

  75. frank says:

    and quoting dead guys with beards
    wont get you to nirvana,anyway

  76. amiten says:

    the shadow of the bambu tree sweeps the floor without dust coming out…
    my love and gratitude to the the full moon master Osho.

    from here im not …
    amiten

  77. veet vivarto says:

    osho Leela has variouse degrees of involvement. One may get seriously involved in the humanity university program. good if you can hack the sleep deprivation and having one limits pushed . Or, a weekend Puravda, just fun, bio dance and other workshops such as singing bowl sound bath, great for the ultimate do nothing relax. Bio energetics is offered as is Aum meditation, these are heavier and pushing limits.
    All workshops are optional, as one can just hang out and dance.
    So, from my limited view there is no coersion or attempt to capture or brainwash any body. namaste. have fun

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