Questions and Answers

Letters and Responses
Question on Vipassana meditation (May 6, 2001)

Request for a commentary of Osho on U. G. Krishnamurti (May 6,2001)

Keerti's response to Stefano on an article about Osho (April 17, 2001)

Question on taking sannyas (August 18, 2000)

Keerti's response to Jayen (July 11, 2000)

Keerti's response on some more jokes of Jayen (July 15, 2000)

Question:
Dear Swamiji
I am from kosovo and wanted to start Vipassana meditation. I heard about it but do not know how to do. Can you guide me since i am far from my home and you.
yours
Singha

Osho Answers:

Buddha's way was VIPASSANA - vipassana means witnessing. And he found one of the greatest devices ever: the device of watching your breath, just watching your breath. Breathing is such a simple and natural phenomenon and it is there twenty-four hours a day. You need not make any effort.
Buddha discovered a totally different angle: just watch your breath - the breath coming in, the breath going out. There are four points to be watched. Sitting silently just start seeing the breath, feeling the breath. The breath going in is the first point. Then for a moment when the breath is in it stops - a very small moment it is - for a split second it stops; that is the second point to watch. Then the breath turns and goes out; this is the third point to watch. Then again when the breath is completely out, for a split second it stops; that is the fourth point to watch. Then the breath starts coming in again... this is the circle of breath.
If you can watch all these four points you will be surprised, amazed at the miracle of such a simple process - because mind is not involved. Watching is not a quality of the mind; watching is the quality of the soul, of consciousness; watching is not a mental process at all. When you watch, the mind stops, ceases to be. Yes, in the beginning many times you will forget and the mind will come in and start playing its old games. But whenever you remember that you had forgotten, there is no need to feel repentant, guilty - just go back to watching, again and again go back to watching your breath. Slowly slowly, less and less mind interferes.
And when you can watch your breath for forty-eight minutes as a continuum, you will become enlightened. You will be surprised - just forty-eight minutes - because you will think that it is not very difficult... just forty-eight minutes! It it is very difficult. Forty-eight seconds and you will have fallen victim to the mind many times. Try it with a watch in front of you; in the beginning you cannot be watchful for sixty seconds. In just sixty seconds, that is one minute, you will fall asleep many times, you will forget all about watching - the watch and the watching will both be forgotten. Some idea will take you far far away; then suddenly you will realize... you will look at the watch and ten seconds have passed. For ten seconds you were not watching. But slowly slowly - it is a knack; it is not a practice, it is a knack - slowly slowly you imbibe it, because those few moments when you are watchful are of such exquisite beauty, of such tremendous joy, of such incredible ecstasy, that once you have tasted those few moments you would like to come back again and again - not for any other motive, just for the sheer joy of being there, present to the breath.
Remember, it is not the same process as is done in yoga. In yoga the process is called PRANAYAM; it is a totally different process, in fact just the opposite of what Buddha calls vipassana. In pranayam you take deep breaths, you fill your chest with more and more air, more and more oxygen; then you empty your chest as totally as possible of all carbon dioxide. It is a physical exercise -- good for the body but it has nothing to do with vipassana. In vipassana you are not to change the rhythm of your natural breath, you are not to take long, deep breaths, you are not to exhale in any way differently than you ordinarily do. Let it be absolutely normal and natural. Your whole consciousness has to be on one point; watching.
And if you can watch your breath then you can start watching other things too. Walking you can watch that you are walking, eating you can watch that you are eating, and ultimately, finally, you can watch that you are sleeping. The day you can watch that you are sleeping you are transported into another world. The body goes on sleeping and inside a light goes on burning brightly. Your watchfulness remains undisturbed, then twenty-four hours a day there is an undercurrent of watching. You go on doing things... for the outside world nothing has changed, but for you everything has changed.
Osho: Dhammapada, The Way of the Buddha Vol.5 # 1

back to top

Question:
with respect n love i request you to tell me the commentary of our beloved osho on the u g krishnamurti. where can i find this?
with regards and love

dr raw n
drrawana@yahoo.com
Hungary

Answers From Osho:

Just the other day I was reading a lecture of U. G. Krishnamurti. He says he went to see Ramana Maharshi. He was not attracted - because he was chopping vegetables. Yes, Ramana Maharshi was that kind of man, very ordinary. Chopping vegetables! U. G. Krishnamurti must have gone to see somebody extraordinary sitting on a golden throne or something. Ramana Maharshi just sitting on the floor and chopping vegetables? preparing vegetables for the kitchen! He was very much frustrated.
Then another day he went and saw him reading jokes. Finished for ever! This man knows nothing. This man is very ordinary. He left the ashram; it was not worth it. But I would like to say to you: this man, Ramana Maharshi, is one of the greatest Buddhas ever born to the world. That was his Buddhahood in action!
U. G. Krishnamurti must have been in search of a pretender. He could not see the ordinariness and the beauty of it and the grace of it. And this same man, U. G. Krishnamurti, lived with Swami Sivanand of Rishikesh for seven years - and that chap was just stupid - and practised yoga with him. And after seven years he recognized that he has nothing; but after seven years, he took seven years. That simply shows that he also has a mighty dull mind. Seven years to see that Sivanand has nothing. Seven seconds are more than enough! And with Ramana Maharshi, seven seconds were enough - because he saw him chopping vegetables or reading jokes, looking at cartoons. That's how the ordinary mind, the egoistic mind functions.
The ego is always searching for something bigger, some bigger ego. And the true sage has no ego; he is an ordinary man. He is utterly ordinary - that is his extraordinariness!
I would like to say to U. G. Krishnamurti: he should have looked in the eyes of Ramana Maharshi. He looked only at the hands which were chopping vegetables. He should have looked into his eyes - with what love he was chopping the vegetables. He should have looked into his eyes to see what love he was. He was the Real Man.
There is only one indication and that is love. But to understand love you have to be a little silent, a little loving, a little open. If you are full of prejudices about how the enlightened man should be, then you will go on missing. You should not have any prejudices.
Just look into the eyes of a real man, and suddenly something will start stirring in your heart too. Tears will come to your eyes, your energy will have a great delight, your heart will throb with new vigour. Your soul will spread its wings.
Osho: Take It Easy Vol.1 # 5

Just the other day I mentioned U.G. Krishnamurti. When he saw Ramana Maharshi reading joke books and looking at cartoons, he was very much frustrated. Not only that: a man asked a question about God and U.G. Krishnamurti was present there - very seriously, bowing at his feet, a man asked about God. And what did Sri Ramana do? do you know? He gave him a joke book and said, "Read it!"
Naturally, U. G. Krishnamurti was very much offended. Is this a way? This seems to be disrespectful to the man who has asked such a serious question - to give him a joke book. This is again a kick in the pants, in its own way.
What he is saying is, "What nonsense are you talking about! God? It is not a thing to be talked about - better read a joke book and have a good laugh.
"If you can laugh, maybe you can know God - not by what I will say. But if you can laugh a hearty laugh, a belly-laugh, in that moment thinking stops."
In the moment of laughter, suddenly you are one with the harmony of existence. Weep... you have fallen apart, you are no more part of it. In sadness, in seriousness, in despair, you are not in rhythm with existence. In laughing, in dancing, in singing, in loving, you are in rhythm with existence.
Osho: Take It Easy Vol.1 # 6

Now, this U. G. Krishnamurti missed Sri Ramana - and something great was happening. Almost like Buddha giving his flower to Mahakashyap, Sri Ramana giving a joke book to a man who is asking about God, or Ma Tzu giving a terrific kick in the pants. U. G. Krishnamurti missed Ramana. Then he missed J. Krishnamurti too. He lived for years with J. Krishnamurti.
Now, J. Krishnamurti is totally different in his expression, very logical, very rational. The beginning of his work is always with the mind; then slowly slowly he leads you beyond the mind, But there U. G. Krishnamurti thought it was all abstraction, philosophy. He stopped going there because "It is all abstraction." He left Sri Ramana because there was no philosophy. He left Krishnamurti because there was too much philosophy. In both the cases he missed.
And he lived with Sri Sivananda of Rishikesh for seven years doing yoga postures. There for seven years he thought, "Something is here." And there was nothing! Sivananda is a very ordinary teacher. You can find dozens of them all around this country teaching people how to stand on their heads, teaching people stupid things. There he remained for seven years, became a disciple.
Osho: Take It Easy Vol.1 # 6

back to top
Question on an article about Osho

Dear Keerti,
While surfing the net looking for information about meditation, I found this article about OSHO.
I would appreciate very much your opinion about this article.
Thank you for your answer.
Love. Stefano (Rome -Italy)

http://www.clipper.net/%7Ecalder/Osho.html

Beloved Stefano
I read Calder's article and my feeling is that he has a superflous knowledge, a journalistic understanding of Osho. It is not so easy to grasp how a master like Osho works. The following paragraph shows his lack of understanding or whatever he can understand:

"Rajneesh overestimated himself and underes imated his own disciples. The real seekers of knowledge around him could have easily handled the truth and were already motivated without the need for propaganda. But Rajneesh had been a high guru for such a long time, not just in this life but in previous lives as well, that he came to see himself in grandiose terms. He was indeed an historic figure but he was not the perfect superman he pretended to be. No one is! His disciples deserved honesty but he fed them fairy tales "to give them faith". "

A person like Osho is not into estimating himself, others do, Calders do. Osho knows who is the real seeker around him and who is not. At the same time he is working on different levels. He works on Sheela who did not look like a seeker and he worked on others who looked real seekers. Osho did not choose as Existence does not choose.

Propaganda was needed to attract all kinds of people and then the master spots his people out of the whole lot and he becomes available to those who become very receptive to him. And at the same time all kinds of people were always welcome to drink from his fountain.

Osho never claimed any perfection, he ridiculed perfection and infallible-ness. He said he was fallible.

I don't remember being fed by any fairy tales and he did not give me any faith. Osho and Faith don't go togther. One day when I have more time I will give you my full comment on the whole article.
Love
Keerti

back to top
Question from Horst Schmid to Keerti

Dear Sw. Keerti,
Excuse me, but I have only a simple question to you: when I heard you talking how you became a disciple of Osho, I immediately knew that it was true and authentic. Since that time I have more confidence in you than in people who are( knowingly or unknowingly ) destroying Osho's Commune another time - they cannot succeed, I feel it in my heart, but it hurts me to see you leaving Pune.

My question: is it still possible to become a Sannyasin of Osho? Is becoming a disciple of an enlighthened Master not necessarily connected with a Master who is still living in his physical body. How is the tradition in India, has Osho changed this tradition?

I hope my questions don't bother you; thank you if you have the time to answer me.

Thank you,
Horst Schmid

Reply by Chaitanya Keerti

Beloved Friend
I have not left the commune. I am part of the larger commune which is spread all over the world. 100-200 people living in the commune in Pune are not the whole commune. Though I am not allowed to enter in Pune commune right now, but I am going to challenge that also. I know that the present management team ( all Indian citizens ) is being dictated by three people based in New York. ( They have themselves admitted in their draft sent to Internet Arbitration Forum that they also operate Osho Commune in Pune) Some kind of remote control exists. So that should be challenged in Indian courts.

So I have not left the commune -I am being forced to stay away. And commune is where the heart is. It is a heart to heart communion.

And yes, it is still possible to become a sannyasin. It does not matter who intiates you into sannyas. What is important is that you receive sannyas. Osho is no longer in his body. He is not a physical body. Osho did not follow any tradition of sannyas. He only adopted this traditional word. All words are traditional - even the word 'modern' is also traditonal. So you can take sannyas with all the joy in your heart. Osho will be giving you sannyas - nobody else. He is breathing in all of us.
Come join his caravan!
Love to you
Keerti

back to top
www.sannyas.net (News and Gossip from Pune, July 11, 2000)

Keerti's response to Jayen

Jayen: Recent developments indicate that Keerti, Neelam and Tathagat may be aiming to set up an "Osho World Foundation" to rival Osho International Foundation. This would be tantamount to the founding of a "Protestant church", perhaps with Neelam as its "pope".
Keerti: We have no such aim. Jayen is imagining or dreaming or projecting. There is no rivalry. We have been seeing that we want to see our commune in Pune as the headquarters where people from over hundred countries have been coming to meditate. And all the decisions of Osho's work should happen there - and not in New York office, where three people control everything. Sannyasins have been receiving rude letters full of arrogance, legal notices for the work they have been doing. While from Osho and his commune in Pune they were receiving blessings for the same work. Amrito did tell me some times that “now we are so strong that we can afford to step on some people's toes.” These are the toes of Osho lovers and his sannyasins - and they are not only Indians, they are from the West also. They are Osho's people, who get notices from Klause Steegs, D' Arcy O' Byrnes…

Jayen: From content available on www.meditate-celebrate.com, it appears that an "Osho World Foundation" has been set up. The name "Osho World Foundation" is strikingly ambiguous - it can be read either as "Osho World" Foundation (based on the name of the "Osho World" shop in Delhi, which sells Osho books, video and audio tapes), or as Osho "World Foundation".
Keerti: Let there be thousand flowers! Osho's work in India has spread like nowhere else. Every newspaper, magazine, TV channel welcomes Osho. But for last three years, since this New York office started, it has been impossible to take Osho to satellite TV, because New York office people ask money or they want to deal with Indian TV channels themselves. And then nothing happens. People in India have been asking me for such a long time: “When will we see Osho again on TV?”

Jayen: Keerti and Neelam launched the "Osho World" shop in Delhi this April, promising that more "Osho World" outlets are to come.
Keerti: We would be delighted. Who would not be delighted?

Jayesh: Keerti has stated in the press that Osho World is planning to offer services based on Osho's teachings to the general public, and intends to do so on an independent basis.
Keerti: How shall we offer services - on slavery basis, if not independent basis? Where is the problem here?

Jayesh: There is also an oshoworld.com website, which at present only contains a single page with a clear reference to Delhi and a link to Keerti's meditate-celebrate.com website.
Keerti: We could have started it faster if we did not become busy dealing with the media and the legal notice that has been sent to Delhi center. The Center leader is Atul Anand who registered this website www.oshoworld .com
But they thought it was Keerti and in the notice described him as their employee and the press officer of the Osho commune. They also claim in the notice that “the complainants also operate Osho Commune International, established in 1974…” When did New York office come into existence - 1996? When did Swami Yogendra take sannyas? In 1985? I took sannyas in 1971. How did I become his employee?

Jayen: An extensive national media campaign is underway in India, exploiting the fact that the protagonists are well-known to the Indian media from their past work for the Osho Commune in Pune. The campaign unashamedly plays on national sentiments of the Indian public and tries to present Osho International Foundation as a body of "foreigners" who have usurped Osho's heritage. Much is made of the fact that OIF has an office in the US, rather than India.
Keerti: The support that we are getting from our Western Sannyasins refutes all these charges made by Jayen. I get more emails of support than from Indian friends. It is because we don't have this issue of East-West. What we are saying that Pune is the world capital of Osho's Neo Sannyas Movement and people from hundred countries come to Pune, where Osho lived his last years and left his body. That is naturally the head quarter - and not the three persons in New York's small office.

Jayen: Keerti, Neelam and Tathagat should come clean and state to all sannyasins and the public at large what their intentions are. Answers to the following questions may go some way towards clarifying the situation: Do you aim to set up a rival organisation to Osho International Foundation?
Keerti: No! Osho Centers are not rivals to each other. They exist in different places and flourish independently. They are not needed in every big and small city. Stop using this language of rivalry.

Jayen: If so, who will head this organisation?
Keerti: Osho Rajyoga Center has been existence since 1978. Osho asked this center leader in 1985 to find a bigger place for Oshodham in Delhi. So Oshodham has been in existence since 1991. A suitable center for books and tapes was needed in the capital, that came into existence this year in April, to the delight of everybody. Ma Anando, Ma Sadhana and Swami Devendra from the commune came to attend the inauguration. It was inaugurated by the Unison Minister for Law and Justice. To promote the activities of this center www.oshoworld.com was registered.
The same people are haeading the Osho World who run Oshodham and Osho Rajyoga and Osho Dhyan Mandir. New Delhi deserves all this because it is a very big city. People are very happy to see Osho World in the finest area of New Delhi? Do you have any problem?

Jayen: Is the name "Osho World Foundation" intentionally ambiguous?
Keerti: There's nothing ambiguous about it. Through this foundation we promote art and culture offered by artists who love Osho. Mallika Sarabhai, who performed for President Clinton also performed for the Osho World Foundation. Now Italian Dancer Ileana Citaristi is going to dance in tribute to Osho on 19th July. This foundation celebrates everymonths week dedicated to the mystics. We had Buddha Week in May and Kabir week in June and now we have Guru Purnima week in July.

Jayen: Do you claim that you are the legitimate representatives of Osho in India and/or the rest of the world? If so, on what basis?
Keerti: No, we are happy to be illegitimate! Love does not certificates of legitimacy. Who will give us certificates? Amrito? I heard he gave to six- or seven new meditation camp leaders recently - to lead meditation camps according to how he wants. I am not sure about all this. We are not seeking any legitimacy.

Jayen: Is your envisaged trademark action aimed at enabling you to set up an independent commercial enterprise, with a chain of "Osho World" shops/meditation schools in India and/or abroad?
Keerti: Commercial Enterprises? Are you joking? We spend more than we earn, because just to have Osho bookshop in the most expensive area is not commercially good idea. There would be heavy losses, but some crazy friends can do that too because that is needed too. Try and open an Osho bookshop in any five star hotel, you are not going to make money. Some friends did that in Bombay and after one year, it was closed because of losses.

Jayen: Have you considered that, if the trademark on Osho's name were indeed removed, not just you, but any person could set up shop and offer services under Osho's name, claiming to possess a special connection with Osho? Do you feel that this would be in the interest of Osho's work and in the interest of sannyasins the world over, or do you perceive that there might be any dangers inherent in this?
Keerti: Live dangerously! Take risk. You are talking like shopkeeper or trader. Why are you so afraid and paranoid about the dangers before actually doing something. Why spend energy in preventing this and that, why not do some effort in promoting. Now OshoWorld is also becoming paranoia for people like you that this will happen that will happen and so send the legal; notice to Osho world. Are you in your senses?

Jayen: Will you attempt to take over the Pune Commune?
Keerti: Me? I am not Alexander the Great! I have not taken over this small galleria even. I am a simple worker - not owner of anything. Osho Commune does not belong to anybody - it is an energy field of our beloved master. It belongs to all and everybody. It is not resort, it is a buddha field. It may be a resort in appearance, but actually it is a buddha field of our master. People like me may come and go. I may not be allowed to come in, how can I take over? People like Amrito may come and go. Every body will come and go. Waves cannot control the oceans - they are part of it.

Jayen: Why is your press campaign playing on national sentiments of the Indian public, attempting to create a division between India and the rest of the world, when Osho has always been against nationalism (this being one of the few issues that Osho was consistent about)?
Keerti: I have already answered this allegation.

Jayen: What harm do you see in certain global administrative tasks being handled in Zurich/New York, other than the fact that neither of these two places is in India?
Keerti: We have already discussed this harm. So much aharm has already happened because of the arrogance of these people in New York office. I have all the detais from different parts of the world.

Jayen: How would you answer your critics who allege that you are motivated by self-love rather than love for Osho?
Keerti: Let them allege anything. You think this is the way I have lived for last thirty years in the commune? Did I have no love for Osho? Do I need to answer this question?

Jayen: How do you reconcile your widely publicised criticism of "commercialisation" of the Osho Commune in Pune with the fact that Keerti advised Billu, India's billionth baby, to become the New Man – Bill Gates on the outside, and Buddha on the inside?
Keerti: Billu the Buddha had a Osho quote about his vision of the new man. In earlier times we have been living in some kind of balance between these two sides. In recent past too much emphasis has been given to commercialization and love of Osho lovers and sannysins has been crushed cruelly. People have wept before me. I will strat weeping if I remember those scenes. It is not without reason that I say repeatedly that Osho used to send his blessings to his disciples and now these New Yorkers take pride in sending legal notices. They went to change America, America changed them instead. On the dollar they say: In god we trust. What our people learn in America: In God We Crush!
Love to you Jayen
Keerti

back to top
Jayen(on July 15) : Dear Keerti,
Here's a few more jokes to test your sense of humour.
Keerti: Beloved Jayen
Welcome to humour - Indians don't have any and I don't know about the British - either they don't have it or if they have, nobody is intelligent enough to understand it. Something similar I heard from Osho.
Now your jokes:

Jayen: Rivalry. I am glad to read that you are not planning to establish a "Protestant church". I'll hold you to that word – we shall see.
Keerti: No, please don't hold on to my word. I am not reliable. As you have already known that I spoke for the Inner Circle last year.

Jayen: Your "seniority" as compared to some of the people in OIF
I think it is immaterial how many years someone has been a sannyasin. Isn't it ridiculous for you to "pull rank" and say: I've been a sannyasin for twice as long as such and such a person, and ergo I'm more qualified to represent Osho? Sometimes "younger" sannyasins are fresher and more inspired – they've had less time to work on camouflaging their ego.
Keerti: Yes it is immaterial - this seniority. But what they declare from New York is this: " They own every thing of Osho - word, copyright, trademark, service mark and what not. They operate Osho Commune International. And they declare that I was their employee." These are not my words - these words are from their legal notices I received from New York. It is in this context that I said that twenty years after my sannyas they come and declare me as their employee. Bravo!

Jayen: Here's a nice koan for you: Anyone who claims to be "more advanced on the spiritual path" than any other person has not even begun. You may fool people, but the people you fool will be – fools.
Keerti: I agree with you and with anyone who wrote this koan. I am not on a spiritual path - so there's no claim that I am more advanced. I am not telling anybody: You cannot lead meditation or meditation camps. I never desired that. But now this has become the job of our owners of copyrights and trademarks. They must be advanced on the spiritual path. Me? I am not a saint - I am innocent and not on any advance spiritual path.

Jayen: Self-love and love of a master are not mutually exclusive aspects in a disciple's psyche. Aren't they, by the very nature of things, bound to co-exist? Otherwise, what need would there be to be anybody's disciple? If in doubt, each of us should ask ourselves if we think highly of our abilities ... and then think about whether thinking highly of our abilities can lead to any truth greater than our present selves.
Keerti: You are more qualified to talk all this.

Jayen: Another nice saying: "Do not boast that you have no pride, because it is less visible than an ant's foot on a black stone in a dark night."
Keerti: You are a learned person. I am not that educated and articulate. Amrito may need you in the press office.

Jayen: I don't think you can deny that the newspaper reports in the Indian Express, the Times of India etc. have had a nationalistic tinge, and that this will have triggered automatic nationalistic responses in the general readership. ("Does Osho, India's gift to the spiritually starved West, no longer belong to India?", "Many of the rebel Oshoites are outraged that India, Osho's homeland, has been completely sidelined by the "western" leadership that has injected a commercial agenda into the soul of the cult", etc.)
Keerti: It does not matter what I or Amrito tell the media, the media colours everything. They are unable or unwilling to report exactly the way we want. It is always a risky affair. But it is also true that by some of the inner circle members Indians are looked down upon and they are treated as second class citizens. See the situation even now. The management team now also cannot talk to the media independently. The media is told to send in their questions. Satya Vedant takes them to Amrito and he gets the answers and sends the response on behalf of the management team. I know it. Indian media also knows it now. Nobody in the management team is free to answer media's questions on the phone directly as we have been doing for so many years. Do you think. Satya Vedant, the chancellor of Osho multiversity, is incapable or less capable than Amrito to talk to the media directly?

Jayen: I am not talking about sannyasins here. You can find people in dire need to "rebel" against someone in any country. I am talking about the 99.9% of the Indian readership who are not sannyasins, but who may hold the view that Osho was "one of India's great mystics" or "India's gift to the spiritually starved West", as the article put it. Don't you think you have a responsibility towards them as well, not just to sannyasins? I'll return to that below.
Keerti: "One of India's great mystics" or "India's gift to the spiritually starved West" are not my words. The Western media has been calling Osho "sex-guru" " Rolce Royce guru" and they are also not my words. So they write what they write. We can laugh about all this. My master never took these things so seriously and told me not to take such things seriously. He told me to encourage them to write anything, even nonsense, because that too helped his work – he said it in a Hindi discourse. What he did not like was to be ignored by the media. And now we see him again on the front pages. Media is also talking about his 4800 hours of English discourses and 4000 hours Hindi discourses. And it is talking about all his contribution.

Jayen: Perhaps there is a genuine publishing hiatus in India. I have e-mailed OIF in New York about that. If I don't get an answer, I'll assume that they have more valuable things to do. If there is a genuine problem, then I expect OIF will do what they can to sort it out, to your and everybody else's satisfaction in India. I would not like to think that Osho's work in India was affected by any unconscious cultural bias on the part of westerners in OIF. That would be a tragedy, and a grave injustice. And as far as I personally am concerned, nothing would make me happier than to see OIF involving you in their work for India. We need East and West to make a complete body.
Keerti: I don't need to be involved by the OIF - I am already involved here with lot of things. Let them continue. What I don't like that India has to buy imported books like Osho's autobiography for Rs 1325 from Indian bookshops. If it had also been published in India simultaneously it would not have cost the Indian reader more than 500 rupees. But they give world rights to American publishers without taking India into account. They seem to want to reach out to the rich Indians only who can afford to buy Osho book for Rs 1300 And the fact is that rich Indians rarely read books. It is mainly the middle class. And Bihar, the poorest province reads the most. Osho had special consideration for Bihar.

Jayen: But don't take so much delight in your rhetoric about cruelty, greed, jailed apostles and the need to save Osho from the vultures. What a drama you are creating! And don't go on and on about industry-standard royalties and copyrights that would even apply to any cookery book or cheap detective novel sold in the US or India or anywhere else in the world ...
Keerti: It may sound like rhetoric. Is it also rhetoric when Osho says : "Climb on the roof tops and shout…or take me to the masses." This is what Osho has been telling people like me.

Jayen: Everybody's birthright – nobody's copyright? Good rhetoric – poor memory. My trusted old copy of "Zen, Zest, Zip, Zap and Zing", published in India in 1981, has a Rajneesh Foundation copyright and the following sentence on the same page: "Trademarks registered in India and other countries". (I am happy to e-mail a scan of that page to anyone.) Keerti, you're talking nonsense when you say Osho was against copyrights and trademarks. You can find as many Osho quotes as you like! Instead, why don't you look at what was DONE when Osho was in the body? You know it as well as I do ... and knowing that you know it, I'm forced to conclude that you are pretending not to know because it suits you and some kind of ambition on your part to be the one who "brings Osho to the people" – which you can't do if OIF hold the copyright.
Keerti: Beloved Jayen, I am not pretending anything. All I am saying is that don't harrass Osho lovers with copyrights, trademarks royalties etc. And I know that they started harassing sannyasins after they established themselves in New York. They even took pride in that arrogance. I remember their statements: "Now we are so strong and established that we can afford to step on some people's toes and we intend to do that." This is what they started doing - stepping on the toes of sannysins and Osho lovers.

Jayen: And then I wonder if part of the problem here isn't that you're stuck in a past role and don't know what else to do with yourself?
Keerti: You seem to know me more than I know myself! I am not stuck in any past role - I am stuck in Osho - while others are taking third quantum leap. To remind somebody to behave lovingly with sannyasins is not being stuck in any past role. It is not a role, it is a sensitivity.

Jayen: Money. You create spurious visions of Canadian real-estate agents absconding with millions of dollars ... while the IC, many of them decade-long friends of yours, have stated in public that international royalties cover only 10% of the total expenditure of making Osho available worldwide, and that the remainder is financed through individual private donations. Isn't it a fact that OIF are as unlikely to be "laughing all the way to the bank" as is Osho World?
I hope Hasya will forgive me if I quote here from her letter of last year:
"Jayesh has money, and had money before he came to Osho. He has no need for the Commune's money. .... All of you who are worried about how much money the commune is making, how much in royalties, how much money from daily entrance passes, exposes the minds of those upset.
So let's see how Jayesh has harmed the commune. He has re-mastered all of Osho's audio and video discourses at a cost of millions of dollars. Osho's books continue to be published and distributed, at great expense. (So all of the preoccupation about the money from royalties, it is silly.)" (end of quote)
Keerti: I don't have any serious vision. Laughing all the way - any way is fine. About your quote from Hasya I suggest that you don't take that letter very seriously. My guess is that it was written by Jayesh himself and conveyed to Hasya and she may have agreed to let it release it to the sannyasins and media, because that time Jayesh was in real need of support. And friends always come forward to help saying OK, do it if it helps you. I saw that letter with Amrito last year - before the final draft, back and forth between Jayesh and Amrito by Email - and finally it was given to me to release it to the media.

Jayen: To the million-dollar expense mentioned above should now be added the costs connected with digitising Osho's art for the benefit of future generations, which some overly nervous people have interpreted as its "being stolen from India".
Keerti: Yes they have become some kind of assets of the Masterzone. Do you know what this company Masterzone is? The company does need some assets.

Jayen: Do you have a problem with it if publishing royalties alleviate the financial burden on those who are making private donations to keep all this work going?
Keerti: No problems. Just don't harass sannyasin publishers who started doing publishing Osho books when no other regular publisher would touch Osho, because he was so controversial.

Jayen: Trademarks on meditations As far as trademarks on meditations is concerned, have you not noticed that you do not need to pay OIF if you want to do a Dynamic? You just put your CD in and off you go .... so what's the problem here? The trademark does not affect meditators at all .... it's a complete non-issue.
Keerti: You are right. But what is the need of trademark of meditations?

Jayen: The trademark only affects those who would want to "teach" Osho's meditations. There is no need for such "teachers". The meditations work by themselves.
Keerti: Now you are coming to the real problem. There are about seven hundred centers which conduct meditation programs. Imposing trade mark on Osho Centers will be dictatorial. And only three people in New York would assume the role of deciding who should be authorised and who should not be. I would rather not authorise these power mongers D' Arcy O' Byrnes, Michael O' Byrnes to have the authority about deciding such matters which affect thousands of Osho lovers around the world through these centers.
By the way you know, they have described Osho as a teacher in the Osho autobiography published by St. Martin Press. How many times did Osho remind us the difference between a teacher and a master, but now we are doing things to please people in New York. Now they don't write "Osho left his body" - they write " Osho died"! And these books are being edited by our own people!

Jayen: Yes, meditation camp leaders should be certified – to certify that they will not interpose their ego, but will let people explore by themselves.
Keerti: Certified by who? These three people? You seem to be very sure about the ego of camp leaders, but at the same time you are not at all worried about the ego of the controllers. Wake up! Please open your eyes.

Jayen: Who is doing the real damage here?
Keerti: Centralization of power in the hands of two-three people?

Jayen: The conclusion that general newspaper readers will draw from your press campaign may well be this: that Osho's people are just as selfish, cantankerous and unaware as any other group in society, and that therefore an association with Osho is clearly not able to transform people for the better. And thus, any passing interest they might have had in Osho will be extinguished in a second. That, to me, is the real harm that's being done here.
Keerti: You don't need to get so concerned about Osho's image or his people's image. What happened to our image when Sheela left? We come out stronger every time. By raising certain genuine issues no harm is being done to Sannyas movement or commune. Yes, the people who want to hold on to power are feeling the heat. And they should feel it. Nothing is going to extinguish in a second - only something that is false and without substance extinguishes. Truth knows no fear. So you stop worrying.

Jayen: Do you think I doubt that you love Osho? No way. But as far as I can see, you don't really seem to understand what you are doing.
Keerti: Yes I don't know what I am doing. Do you know? Who knows? May be Existence knows.

Jayen: "Whoever strays from the path will in no way attain to anything worthwhile; even though he acquires a public reputation which resounds to the heavens." Keerti, put the tooth paste back in the tube. Keerti: Thanks for the perennial wisdom. I can't put the tooth paste back in the tube. Paste is out like the goose is out.

Jayen: P.S. I do not speak for the Inner Circle, I have never spoken to anyone on the Inner Circle, I speak from what I consider to be common sense.
Keerti: Yes you may not have spoken to anybody in the Inner Circle. But you are doing quite fine without doing that. You sound so much like some of them. I would like to recommend your name to them. But who is going to listen to me? They did not let me come near the commune on Osho Full Moon Celebration. They had the injunction from the court that I could not enter within the limit of hundred meters.
Any way much love to you.
Keerti
PS: There was a man with his donkey near German Bakery of Pune. Many people gathered to see the show of this man with a donkey. Donkey's owner was announcing loudly: "I will give one thousand rupees to anyone who can make this donkey shake his head. He is so stubborn he does not move his head!" Many people tried and the donkey did not oblige, he did not shake his head. A Sannyasin was passing by. He said, "I am sure I can do that. I will make this donkey shake his head. Give me one thousand rupees." He went ahead and said something in the ear of the donkey and the donkey shook his head so furiously that all the people got totally shaken and stunned. In utter amazement, they asked the Sannyasin what he had said to the donkey in his ear. He replied: "I simply said to him - would you like to join the Inner Circle?"

back to top