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From Jalal In one of his discourses, Osho spoke on how the Masters, in the past, had refused to write down what they were saying. It was spoken spontaneously, in the moment, and should remain that way. Despite this, in the years to come all of the (remembered) Masters words would be written down. As he pointed out, the idea had never worked. Osho took a different tack. If the words were going to be written down anyway, why not do it while the Master was alive? Do it as consciously as possible, while they were being spoken, and, coincidentally or not, Osho happened to be speaking in a time when audio and video recordings were easy to make. So lets take the first point, that "Poona's had it". The Pune Meditation Resort is doing fine. There has just been opened a new Osho Auditorium and kitchens, a magnificent structure from all accounts and, 12 years after Osho left, the place is functioning very well. The Inner Circle may have made their share of mistakes, but essentially there is still a place on this planet where one can go and meditate and listen to Osho and still absorb the echos of his presence. An excellent achievement. Why a Meditation Resort? Well, without a Master's physical presence, it could hardly remain an Ashram, and with the majority of people only visiting for a short period it's no longer a Commune. It is a Resort. The feeling that the "network of centers and communes" is in a state of dissarray is especially strong in the UK. Of the hundreds of English sannyasins I've lived and worked with in Pune and on the Ranch, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number that still live in England. There is something about England that suffocates any attempt at creating a center or a commune. But when you travel outside of England, the picture is a little different. Try telling the folks in Byron Bay that Communes don't work. Or the folks in Uta, Cologne. Or in any of the many centers in India. Or visit Marin County or Sedona or... the list goes on. In fact, wherever a handful of sannyasins gather together for meditation and celebration, then there is the Commune. One problem is the idea of an organized sannyas network. Sannyasins hate being organized, into a network or anything else for that matter. Even trying to organize a meditation evening can be daunting, but then this is also the beauty of sannyas! In fact, this is the hope of sannyas. As long as it is difficult for centers and communes to exist, then I know that the spirit of Osho is still living in some places. It is when they get "stuck" and established that I start to worry. "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold and that is with his use of the word "mere". Anarchy is glorious, it is the medium from which suns and stars are born, it is the gust of fresh air that can blow away the attempts at creating organised religions and political systems. When Osho was interviewed by the US Immigration authorities and asked if he was an anarchist, he answered, "I more than an anarchist". For another quote, see below. This makes it all the more remarkable that there is a place like the Pune Meditation Resort at all. I know that it is a continuous challenge just to keep the place running from day to day. Having lived and worked there for much of my adult life I have to laugh when people talk about the "organization" in Pune. It is much more of a disorganization! And this is really the crux of the matter. For sannyas to be seen as successful by the outside world, it needs to create a presence, to become a movement, to be a coherent system of ideas and people, working together spreading Osho's message, forming centers and communes. So far this hasn't happened (although given time it probably will) and for this reason, Osho and sannyas are increasingly being seen as a failure from the perspective and values of the outside world. And the big problem with this is, that those who have been around Osho for any period have no intention of being involved in any such nonsense. Not in any permanent way. Sannyas has, for many of us, always been a moment to moment flow, not an organization. For some, including myself, success in the eyes of the world would mean failure. And so, here we are, probably going to end up as a failure, Things Falling Apart, the Center Not Holding, a seeming inability to create a lasting "Osho movement", fragmented, anarchic. "All around the globe people had to create these systems just to create a convenient way to live together; otherwise, if all people are left alone, on their own, there will be chaos. Now, there are two ways.... Yes, there will be chaos if people are not intelligent; but if people are intelligent, there will be a chaos – but a chaos out of which stars are born, a chaos which is creative. A certain anarchy will happen but it will not be destructive. I am an anarchist. I basically believe in the individual. I don't believe in the society at all. I don't believe in civilization, in culture. I simply believe in the individual. I don't believe in the state, I don't believe in the government. I don't want any government in the world, any state in the world. I simply want intelligent people to live harmoniously out of their intelligence. And if they cannot live out of intelligence, it is better to die than become robots [...]. We should live intelligently, and our order will come out of our intelligence, not vice versa." Osho, From Misery to Enlightenment, Ch 29 Love, Jalal P.S. It is an irony that the people, like Chaitanya Keerti, the mailing lists, like OBB, the web sites, like SannyasNews.com, that have done the most to sow the seeds of discontent within sannyasins, to try and split the community, are now the ones to be asking why they feel that the world of sannyas is so fragmented. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, my friends. Sannyasnews Editor (Parmartha) comments maybe, Jalal, the point about Pune would have been better stated as, Pune reaching a major watershed, and this is partly contextual, and not at all dependent on what the Inner Circle do or dont do, or whether Buddha Hall is torn down or not. Whether India and the East generally is more dangerous for westerners, people perceive it to be, so this does effect the travel plans of new seekers — like it or not, and therefore will effect the revenue and energy around the Resort over time. Love, Parmartha
In a similar manner, all the Masters of the past have warned against organized religion, of having politicians take over the words of the mystics and use them to create a power stucture.And, without exception, their warnings were ignored and religions have been born. Again, Osho has turned this around. If it's going to happen, let's make it happen while the Master is alive, when so much consciousness is available. Lets create a structure whose sole purpose is to be an organisation based on the teachings of the Master. And make it clear, from the start, that this is not the spirit of Osho's teachings, but an organisation to facilitate spreading of them.
And so the Inner Circle came to be. A group of people whose sole purpose was to oversee the running of the Commune, the publishing of the books and the spreading of the "message". At no point did they embody the message itself, they were not intended to be successors to Osho.
On to the article:
The later ideas in the article ("Could all the cults enter into a real dialogue with one another and forge something new") is so ridiculous that I won't give it any further energy. There are plenty of politicians who will take on that job.
On to Yeats, and I have one problem with his beautiful phrase:
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."
But celebrating every moment of it beloveds, laughing and dancing
through it, giggling, loving, falling into silence...
Let me end with a quote from Osho:
[Talking on establishments and organizations]
Dear Jalal
With the English thing I am sure you are mistaken. Osho said that sannyas would have it’s zen period in England and I see nothing to fault that, it’s just that sannyas here is a little more covert. English sannyasins, like French ones, have always been a little more eccentric and less given to being “organised”, but Osho is here. You reinforce my point when you go on to say that as long as it is difficult for centres and communes to exist, “then I know the spirit of Osho is still living in some places”. Precisely. This talk is not about failure, it is about moving towards a launch pad for a community of individuals, where to think and be for oneself is not suppressed — as it has been in communities (and not just sannyas ones) hithertoo. The central paradox of your remarks is that in a sense you praise the anarchic approach of the English, whilst on the other hand running them down for being just that!