How to run an Osho ashram?
Financial Models at the Resort/Ashram old and new
During the last few months, much discussion has taken place in writing at sannyasnews about Osho and the people who are the current custodians of His work. As I imagine we all can agree Osho is not just a name of Acharya or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; Osho is a complete way of life based on a contemporary definition of Meditation, and LOVE, developed under the microscopic observation of an Enlightened Mystic.
The simplicity of Osho is such that it is still quite possible to captivate the attention of those tens of thousands of people around the world who are free from the past and want to use this freedom for a better and new approach towards individual and collective life on our earth.
Osho is not a theoretical jargon or a Utopian idea of some university scholar. On the contrary a campus was developed for real experimentation with this vision. Many, many, are witness to what happened.
As it is said, many great experiments touch the dust because of very small wiring defects. However with passion and resilience, it is possible to work beyond and over these flaws. The human spirit has faced such challenges from the beginning of the species.
Being a part of the Osho movement for the last 27 years, i don’t hesitate to say that on some fateful day at the end of the nightmarish Nineties; when the computers of the world did not crash because of the millennium bug; someone performed a vasectomy on the spirit of the whole Osho movement. A simple operation with local anesthesia, not even a scar remains after a few weeks, yet life is never the same again.
Now we are approaching the 20th anniversary of Master leaving the body, I wish to point out how we can create ” Reverse Vasectomy”. Such an operation exists, though it is complicated.
The re-blossoming of 17, Koregaon Park, Pune is a need of our time. This campus developed under OSHO is may be the only campus fully dedicated to the research and development of Human software. I don´t think something like this exist in Silicon Valley or in Bangalore. Can the incubator of Zen Zen Zen be likewise created in the technical labs of Sony and Nintendo? The best would be that the people who performed the first operation, realise their folly and do the reverse work.
If they don´t, the future will do it somehow. It is just a matter of time. People are intelligent enough, if they have to follow they will definitely follow the foot prints of the Master and no one else.
So let us discuss here one main point: namely MONEY.
The work of Osho was not supported by some government grant, neither was it sponsored by some business group or industrial house. The whole movement grew without the generosity of kings and queens and Pashas of our time.
It was His people´s movement. Some disciple bought the house, others contributed for the furniture. Brick after brick, it was based on the love of disciples towards the Master. When almost all the ashrams and churches and temples have no entrance fee in India, to have the 10 Rupees entry and than another 10 rupees for His lecture became continuous news at the time in the Master´s home country.
However it meant that in Janaury 1990, 20 rupees per day were the charges to have a complete day drenched in the energy of Buddhafield. This amount has now increased 35 times in 20 years.
Please correct me, if I am wrong: The fundamental rule of thumb when Osho was alive was that basic facilities will be provided at COST PRICE. Cost price was not just relevant about the entrance charges - but also His literature was sold at cost price. The same was true about the basic food in the Ashram canteens and the Robes.
Deluxe prices were supposed to be charged on luxury products. For example therapies and sessions. Multiversity therapy groups had the same price structure as in the west and the best part was that all the therapists were sharing their expertise free of cost. Therefore full revenue was going into the ashram account. Literally a load of money used to go everyday into the bank. Now, in spite of exuberant price rises, it is only a brief case.
I think in this model, compassion was married to pragmatism. Even for group leaders it was a win/win situation. They were getting exposure before a multitude of people and enhancing their brand value for the real world.
The way I have figured all this was when working as a Hindi typist for 6 of the inner circle members from 1990-1993, Osho was so clear not just about Pune but about the people leading His meditation camps. They were not supposed to charge any money for their facilitating work other than the travelling expenses. Food and accommodation is not even mentioned. Guests are received with utter thank fullness.
The main point is not to create a business out of meditation. Mix money with meditation and it becomes a fodder for the priests. We all know what priests were in the eyes of OSHO. Let’s return to the money model that Osho laid down when he was in the body.
Shantam