Old Rajneesh Commune Lightens Up in Afterlife - By AMY WALDMAN

PUNE, India — Participants in the Osho Commune International wear maroon most of the time, because that is what Osho wanted. For evening meditation they wear white, because Osho wanted it that way.

They takes AIDS tests before entering the commune, because Osho said they should. The buildings in the commune are black, with blue film on the windows — yes, Osho wanted that, too. 
But these days almost nowhere in the commune that bears his name are there pictures of the late Osho himself.

Would Osho have wanted that?

Osho, better known to many Americans as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was a diminutive Indian self-help guru who attracted thousands of followers in the 1970's and 1980's with talk about sex as a path to superconsciousness.

He and his followers set up a commune in Oregon, taking over the town of Antelope, where he acquired 93 Rolls-Royces and news columns of controversy before he was arrested and deported for immigration violations in 1985.

He returned here, his early base, and revived his commune, with acolytes catering to his every whim. In 1990 he "left his body," as his followers say, dying of a mysterious illness at age 58.

He also left behind an empire centered on his 7,000 hours of audiotapes; books, now in 47 languages; meditations; and the 40-acre commune in this balmy industrial city about 100 miles from Bombay.

Ever since, a power struggle has swirled among his devotees, many of whom Osho formed into a 21-member Inner Circle before he died. These days the five disciples who managed to win control — a Canadian, a Briton, two Germans, an Indian — and a few add-ons have undertaken the de-Oshoization of the Osho commune.

Hundreds of his pictures have been taken down. The Osho Times rarely features Osho's face. Those who want to be sannyasins, or initiates, no longer have to wear a string of beads with Osho's picture around their necks.

The thinking is that for young people who knew little of Osho, having his picture everywhere — and it was everywhere, from the entrance to the swimming pool — was a big turnoff.

"Someone comes in and there are like 1,000 pictures of this dead guy, and they're like 'Whoa, get me out of here,' " said D'arcy O'Byrne, a lawyer known as Swami Yogendra, who is part of the management team. He wore maroon suede Helmut Lang shoes with his maroon robe.

Osho Commune International is, in fact, no longer a commune; it is the Osho Meditation Resort, with increasing emphasis on resort. Amid the lush greenery and waterfalls, there are tennis courts where noncompetitive Zennis is played, a giant swimming pool with maroon bikinis on sale, a sauna and a cybercafe.

It still draws young Westerners eager to relax, fix a relationship, or find one, or figure out how to free themselves of attachments. But Osho has also become popular among young Indians.

"In India, Osho has become a cocktail party name," said Sanjay Bharthi, 34, a freelance graphic designer who described the Osho lifestyle as "so aesthetic, so juicy, so modern, and at the same time so peaceful."

Not peaceful enough, perhaps. The resort focus, the rising prices and the disappearance of Osho's image have displeased a group of mostly Indian followers who have left the commune to set up their own operation in Delhi, Osho World, which includes an art gallery and Web site.

"The focus has shifted from spirituality to it being like a club," said Swami Chaitanya Keerti, the commune's former spokesman. "It's a long-term plan to systematically kill the spirit of Osho from within."

The latest battle has been over Buddha Hall, the tented marble platform where Osho led meditations. The commune's leaders have constructed a new, air-conditioned meditation hall — an 18,000-square-foot black pyramid with a black marble floor and state-of-the art sound system, but no Osho picture. When it opened in early November, they began dismantling Buddha Hall.

The dissidents baying at the commune gate, since they are no longer allowed inside, were furious. 

"You can create the seventh wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal, and that place will not have Osho's energy, and that of 10,000 people meditating with him," Swami Keerti, who wears a gold Osho ring, said of the hall's historic importance.

As if assembling a legal dossier, those in control have scoured the master's words to prove that the new look is exactly what he would have wanted. He embraced change. He hated religion and all its trappings, and the concept of gurus, although he did not mind being treated like one when he was alive.

The two camps are also arguing over who owns the master's words. Swami Keerti argued that Osho's meditations were never meant to be trademarked, as the group is trying to do. Mr. O'Byrne, the lawyer on the management committee, disagreed. "Osho was very, very legalistic," he said.

Asked why he thought Swami Keerti was so angry, Mr. O'Byrne replied, "I think it's because he's not meditating."

In truth, Osho is still around. His library of about 100,000 volumes is intact, as is the air-conditioned enclosed walkway built for him to enjoy a junglelike garden without being bothered by the heat.

His ashes are there too, beneath a plaque reading "Never Born, Never Died, Only Visited This Planet," in a cavernous round room with Italian marble, Spanish mirrors and a German chandelier.

To read this article on the web - 
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/international/asia/10OSHO.html?ex=1040101200&en=c296c83b9cade56f&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

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Meditation Camp at Dharali, Gangotri 

Osho talks about the Gangotri phenomenon:  "The energy goes on moving away and away from you, towards the periphery. Once you are the master, the energy starts moving homeward. Kabir, one of the great Indian mystics, has said, "The day I became enlightened, I saw the Ganges flowing upcurrent, flowing back to the source." He is right: the Ganges then no longer goes towards the ocean; it goes back towards Gangotri, the origin from where it comes in the Himalayas."

The supreme blessing of my Life - Thomas Pope

Two years later, in the late 1970s, he became a disciple of the mystic Osho Rajneesh, whose teachings he continues to follow. Rajneesh gave Thomas Pope the name Anand Naren, which means "bliss king" in Hindi. "Meeting this spiritual master has been the supreme blessing of my life," Naren says.
To read more click the following URL - 
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/diversions02/092002_diversions_goddess.shtml

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News Release

Osho World Celebrates the spirit of Eternal India
New Delhi, August 14 2002

India holds a special place in the heart of Osho. He says,  "India is not just geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields which no other country can claim."

Coinciding with the Independence Day every year in August, Osho World celebrates the spirit of eternity that India is. 

The week long celebrations known as the ‘India My Love Week’ started on 12th August this year. Ms. Kavita Khanna, wife of Swami Vinod Bharti, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture inaugurated the week long celebrations at Osho World Galleria located at Ansal Plaza in New Delhi. Former Governor of Uttar Pradesh and veteran Parliamentarian Shri B. R. Satyanarayan Reddy was the chief guest at the occasion. Grammy Award winner and inventor of double violin L. Shankar and his musical partner Ginger were also present at the inauguration. Speaking at the occasion Ms Khanna said that she was delighted that her maiden public appearance was at Osho World at the inauguration of this event of national importance and in tune with the vision of Osho for what eternal India stands for in its collective consciousness.

'India My Love week’ takes its name from a landmark book of the same name that features insights of Osho into India's spiritual heritage. Focus of the week was another Osho book of his provocative discourses on India entitled 'India's Burning Questions' originally published in Hindi as 'Bharat ke jalte prashn'. A CD of these taped discourses on solutions to India's problems was also launched in MP3 format at the function. A brief humming meditation was also held to mingle with the spiritual energy abound in India.

The spirit of Indianness was evident at the Osho World galleria specially decorated in the colours of India's national flag for the occasion while well known singer Sandeep Shrivastava sang Sanskrit hymns and Kabir bhajans to remind all present about the eternal India.    Osho says, "For almost ten thousand years, thousands of people have reached to the ultimate explosion of consciousness. Their vibration is still alive, their impact is in the very air; you just need a certain perceptivity, a certain capacity to receive the invisible that surrounds this strange land." The Osho Upanishad.

As part of India's 55th Independence Celebrations and Osho's 70th Birthday Celebrations, a set of the spiritual master's books was also presented to the speaker of Lok Sabha, Mr Manohar Joshi, for the library of the Indian Parliament at a special function on the 13th August  The Minister for State for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Vinod Khanna, and his wife Ms Kavita Khanna, and former Governor of four States and a former Rajya Sabha Member, Mr B. Satyanarayan Reddy were present at this function.Thanking Osho World Foundation for this gift, Mr Joshi said many MPs have been reading Osho and this set of 116 in Hindi and 106 in English books will enable more MPs to get a better idea of his insights.

At this ceremony, Dr Lavlin Thadani, an Osho disciple and a media personality, read out an extract from Osho's vision of an enlightened India or its eternal identity named Bharat. In this extract Osho explains that the word 'Bharat' consists of 'Bha' or light and 'Rat' means involved in this pilgrimage to realize this light within oneself. Those who are on this journey can be called the real Indians - Amritasya Putrah. 

Last year Union Home Minster Shri L. K. Advani inaugurated the ‘India My Love Week’ and had said that, ‘India My Love’ is a feeling that should extend throughout one’s life instead of just one week.

Swami Chaitanya Keerti

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