Cultures clash over Osho's 'Samadhi'
9 Aug 2007 from Times of India
PUNE: The relatively unknown but beautifully maintained ‘samadhi’ of the controversial Indian mystic Osho is witnessing a serious clash of ideas between his Indian and western followers. Unless resolved, this clash could take a nasty turn as it relates to the highly sensitive issue of samadhi — place where an enlightened person’s ashes lie buried.
Located in what was Osho’s bedroom in his spacious Lao Tzu bungalow in Pune, the ‘samadhi’ was created soon after his death on January 19, 1990 when his ashes were placed in an urn and buried in the bedroom. While thousands of Indians revere the ‘samadhi’ as extremely sacred as per Indian religious thought, a group of Osho’s western followers who control the Pune establishment (Osho International Meditation Resort) abhor the word ‘samadhi’. So much so that a resort spokesperson termed it as a mistake for having allowed the idea of a samadhi to take roots in the first place.
