These people [Swami Anand Arun and Swami Anand Keerti] want to be
free to dominate, to tell sannyasins what their religious duties
are, to play their ugly holier-than-thou trips, to press some third
eyes, imitating Osho, recreating a past, but now with themselves in
Osho's shoes ...
The Commune tried to prevent them, that's why the argument.
I've looked into Arun's eyes, here:
You know the Osho samadhi in Tapoban? It is an island; "the
remains"
are on a little island, surrounded by a ring of water. So in this
picture, he is sitting on the island, by Osho's "remains", and
everyone else "meditates" outside, outside the ring of water.
This is so ugly. It is almost like necrophilia. And it tells you
everything you need to know about Arun.
And yes, these people talk about freedom and beautiful things
before
the revolution, and when they feel they have enough of a power base,
they tell you that it is your religious duty as a sannyasin to
attend their meditation camps, as Arun is doing even now.
They are liars. Everything they have ever said about Osho being
against copyright and trademarks is a lie, since such copyrights and
trademarks are expressly mentioned at the front of the old books
from Poona 1 and the Ranch. But they simply keep repeating their
lie, because they don't like the truth. It interferes with their
designs.
Arun's claim that Osho made him an Acharya and that this means he
is
entitled to hold discourses is a lie. Arun's claim that Osho was
against the use of black is a lie.
These are priests and politicians, appealing to the basest
instincts, as all politicians do - hiding, of course, behind
beautiful words. Don't get caught.
I gather you must be good at reading Tarot cards.
One can't say that Arun isn't open about himself and his endeavours.
One only needs to have a good look at the symbolism.
Still methinks there's no harm if Osho remains available with all
his books.
So, it's good that there's a grassroots movement of making the
database of his books available as much as possible.
Arun and Keerti won't be able to explain everything away. If the way
they behave is how they want to learn (disciple literally means learning), then
they may be in for a tough ride at times.
The question is, are Nepalese sannyasins sufficiently acquainted
with the internet (and are there enough of them able to read English...).
There are many different topics, the first being the - The Mala revival, I want to give my two Cents worth of opinion on this today, rest in other mails.
The statement on this website "Notwithstanding the fact that Osho advised his sannyasins to stop wearing the mala, in Nepal Swami Arun revived "the sanctity of the mala". There has even been a Mala Revival Celebration." This is a myth because Osho never said NOT to wear the Mala and NOT to wear red clothes. Below are some quotes and all dated after the quote on this website from Osho in The Last Testament, vol.4 #8 19 November 1985.
Beloved Osho,
The device of mala and saffron clothes gives us an integrity,
freedom from social norms and courage to stand alone. Now, with a
free sannyas, are you going to create more subtle devices to achieve
this?
I am certainly - because it is time that your meditation should
make you different from anybody who is not meditating. Your silence,
your love, your compassion, your friendliness, should make you
aloof from anybody else.
Mala and clothes are very material things. I would like now some
spiritual distinctions to be created - and they are already there.
It has happened many times - people have reported it to me. They had
gone to do some work, and perhaps the mala and the clothes might
have been a hindrance in the work, so they went in plain, ordinary
clothes, but they were recognized. The shopkeeper said, "But
something is different about you. You are not the usual kind of
person who comes."
And that will be far more beautiful - that you are recognized by
your spirituality, by your integrity, by your individuality, by your
compassion, by your love.
But I have not said that people who want to remain in orange and
mala have to drop it. Even new sannyasins who want to choose the
mala and red, they can. And my feeling is that none of the old
sannyasins are going to leave the mala and red clothes. They have
become almost part of them - without them they will feel almost
naked.
And the new people who come, even if they come with plain clothes,
soon they will start wearing red and the mala, because they will
look so much like foreigners, outsiders - and nobody wants to look
like an outsider. Everybody wants to be an insider, in the innermost
circle.
So I have opened the doors so people can come in who are just
sitting on the fence, who are sympathizers, who always wanted to be
sannyasins, but just because of the clothes and the mala, they are
afraid. So I want them to get down from the fence and enter into the
temple; and the temple is full of red people. Once they are down off
the fence, it will not be a long time before they will be in red.
Red is not going to disappear. It is going to grow more and more.
And opening the doors for people who cannot suddenly change their
clothes - let them take their time, why keep them out? Let them
meditate - that will give them courage.
Sannyas will remain red and sannyas will remain with malas. I have
opened the door only for those who are half-heartedly standing
outside. It does not look good - let them come in. Painting their
clothes will not be very difficult.
Beloved Osho,
Wearing the mala and red clothes used to be my statement to the
world around me, my rebellion. Now, when I wear them it is out of my
gratitude and an ever-deepening love and trust. What is happening?
The two things are two aspects of one phenomenon.
In the beginning when I insisted that you should wear orange and the
mala, it was for a particular reason. It was a statement to the
world about your rebellion, that you don't belong to the old and the
dead traditions; that you have found a new way of life, a new way of
being. And it is not only your conviction; you are devoted totally
to it, whatever the consequence.
Against the whole world, standing alone, it helped your courage, it
helped your intelligence. It helped you to unburden all the past
knowledge, traditions, religions. That phase is over. Now there is
no need. The second phase of the work has begun.
I don't insist that you wear orange clothes or mala.
We have already made the whole world aware of the movement, of its
philosophy, of its approach. There is no need to go on struggling
with the dead forever.
Now, if you choose to wear orange and the mala it is not my
insistence, it is your insistence - then naturally its meaning and
significance has changed. Now it is your gratitude, your love, your
thankfulness for whatever has happened to you and is happening to
you.
Now it is not a statement to the world, but an indication to me.
Now it is no more a struggle with the world, but simply a love
affair with me. First it was my insistence, now it is your
insistence.
Beloved Master,
A Few people are feeling not to wear their malas or red clothes, but
they consider themselves Rajneeshees and want to live here. How does
this fit your vision?
There are no Rajneeshees, and there is no Rajneeshism. That was
also part of this fascist regime.
You cannot be Rajneeshees because there exists nothing like that.
Even I am not a Rajneeshee, so how can you be? So, first thing,
forget that you are a Rajneeshee.
Second thing, the mala and red clothes are symbolic of the commune.
If you don't want to wear the mala and red clothes, then pack your
luggage and get lost. This is not your place, and we don't want you
to be here.
This only shows how the mind moves to extremes. Either you will be a
slave or you will be licentious, but you cannot be a free
individual.
Your red clothes are your identification that you have dropped all
old conditionings, that you are the sunrise of the new man and of
the new humanity.
The mala has one hundred and eight beads. It represents the one
hundred and eight methods of meditation. Any method will do. It is
just to remind you continuously that one hundred and eight doors are
open to bring you into light, and you are unnecessarily groping in
darkness. Choose any method. I have spoken extensively on all the
methods of meditation.
Dropping the mala simply means forgetting the symbolic meaning of
the mala. Dropping the mala means that you don't want to meditate.
If you don't want to meditate, then what the hell are you doing
here? It is a meditation commune.
And why were you not walking around without the mala and without red
clothes before? Cowards!
When everything was being done against humanity and against you and
against the law, that was the time to revolt. That time you were
just docile. And now, because nobody is forcing you, you are walking
around without the mala and without red clothes. You can walk, but
that means walk out. And we don't want anything to do with such
people, because these are the people who will again force the same
structure.
My picture, and the locket in the mala, is simply symbolic. It is
not something sacred. It is symbolic of your freedom from all
religions the way I am free! It is symbolic that you are my fellow
travellers. It is symbolic of your love.
It is difficult, of course, for me to hang around my neck one
million lockets to show my love. It is easier for you.
On the one hand you address me, "Beloved Master" - and you cannot
have the mala and the locket. I know the reason. In the outside
world, everywhere you will go you will be condemned, you will not
be accepted. You will be misfits. And I want you to face the world,
rather than get lost into the crowd. My picture is enough. You will
not be accepted anywhere. So you can decide. If you don't have the
courage to be rejected everywhere - in your family, in your friends,
in your society - you are free. Nobody has told you to become
sannyasins. You have become sannyasins on your own accord.
Naturally, if you don't want to remain sannyasins, you are perfectly
welcome. But not on the streets of Rajneeshpuram.
You all can find many more quotes on your own. This myth that Osho asked or advised NOT to wear the Mala and red clothes is common among the western sannyasins, I live in Munich and wear the Mala most of the time and whenever I come across a sannyasin who does not know me, I am always asked "hey, swami don’t you know that Osho has asked us NOT to wear the Mala"
Yes, there are more quotes. Like for instance this one:
"Don't, don't follow any rules. This is what I mean when I say: Be
a sannyasin. Just be. Your ochre robes, your mala - these are rules.
This is a game. This is not what I mean by real sannyas. But you are
so accustomed to games that before I lead you to a ruleless life, in
the transitory period you will need rules. Moving from this world of
rules, of games, to that world without rules and games, a bridge has
to be passed. Your orange clothes, your mala, are just for that
transitory period. You cannot drop rules immediately, so I give
you new rules.
But be fully alert that your robes are not your sannyas, your mala
is not your sannyas, your new name is not your sannyas. Sannyas will
be there when there is no name, when you become nameless. Then there
will be no rules. Then you will be so ordinary, you will not be
recognized. Only then....
But don't think that now it is okay, so no need to take sannyas and
no need to take an orange robe. That is again a trick. You have to
pass through this, you have to go through this. You cannot bypass it
- and if you try to bypass you will never reach to the other shore.
Rules of the world, then rules of sannyas, and then comes a no-rule
state; no, commandments are needed. Don't change the old
commandments - they are okay as they are. You be, simply be, and
follow and flow into the being."
So, it seems to me that nowadays you are free to wear orange and the
mala or not.
That's what Osho's insistence has been all the time, to be free from
any outside structures.
In this regard also consider this:
"Sometimes people are bewildered. Sometimes someone comes to me; he
has not even heard me, he has not even known me, and I initiate him
into sannyas. This is absurd, not understandable at all. But I know.
And whatsoever I am doing, I am doing very considerately. This is
just the beginning, this initiation, because only through this
initiation will I be able to create devices for his waiting;
otherwise he cannot wait. If I tell him, "Wait five years, and then
I will give you initiation," he cannot wait. If I give it to him
this very moment, then he can wait.
So let it be like this, it makes no difference. The same will be the
process. Because you cannot wait, I change. I will allow you to wait
afterwards, and then there will be a second initiation.
This is
the formal initiation, the second one will be informal. The
second one will be like a happening. You will not ask me, I will not
give you. It will happen. In the innermost being it will happen, and
you will know it when it happens."
One could say that Arun and Keerti and Neelam emphasize formal sannyas, which is only a preparation for the real sannyas to happen later on. I have also referred to this possible movement from the formal to the real when I wrote on my website:
"So, as long as the dynamite in Osho's books remains available to
all neo-sannyasins in Nepal, out of the exotericism constantly new
esotericism will flower. There will be a movement from the outer to
the inner, from down to up.
The exotericism in Christianity could become overpowering and
extinguish esotericism only after a few books were accepted as
gospel to the exclusion of many Gnostic works."
That to me is crucial: the availability of the complete works of Osho.
Yes, Osho's insistence has been all the time, to be free from any outside structures. But he makes it clear that this happens only "when there is no name, when you become nameless. Then there will be no rules." Osho goes further to say that first "Rules of the world, then rules of sannyas, and then comes a no-rule state; no, commandments are needed. Don't change the old commandments - they are okay as they are. You be, simply be, and follow and flow into the being."
My question to you and to all sannyasins who feel free to drop Orange and the Mala is. "Have you all become 'NAMELESS' ?"
There's no question that Osho allowed for the orange and mala not to be worn anymore. Believe me, I personally would have preferred to continue as before with the orange outfit and mala. But, there's been a time period in between the orange-and-mala-phase and the maroon-robe-phase, when people went into Buddha Hall with plain, ordinary clothes and without a mala to listen to Osho's lectures. And this without problem. After lecture celebrating like so:
An Osho quote indicating orange and mala had ceased to be obligatory:
...My whole work - day in, day out - is going from one emergency room to another emergency room. I don't have any other work. I have so many people in the world, and they are so expert in creating emergencies, that I am running like crazy. Why do you think I have told you now to drop the mala and orange clothes? Because it is getting too much! - running, without any rest.
(Osho - The Hidden Splendor #10, 17 March 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium)I do give a lot of importance to Mala and I wear it all the time,
with other Rudraksha, yantras etc. embedded Malas on my Neck All the
time:).
Whether one believes or not, I being my self, an Astrologer, found
the Osho-Mala also to be very
powerful Talisman. (I have
experienced many times, on different occasions, how
these things work and how when they are not there, how the
unprotective our aura becomes for negativities to enter etc, etc,
etc,.............this is entirely different topic.............).
Please believe/listen to me, they have Power. They are seekers tools
from the ages, they are to be respected...
Esotericism or exotericism, It is a
Self-Observable fact, that Mala works just like a Talisman and
Osho's Purpose and Mysticism is highly exemplified by this. Of
course
if anybody is not interested or they cannot wear it due to some
special circumstances....etc.....It's their personal choice. But
that does not downgrade the importance of esoteric and
Master-Initiation Symbolisms reflected in the Mala which is usually
worn after the "happening" of one's sannyas.
So I strongly support the wearing of Mala (of course voluntarily!) by all or many Osho-Lovers and Let the flow of revival
continue in its full swing.
Why Not?
Simply because the past is dead. If you try and revive the past it will hold you back. Revival is sickness, it is the bringing back to life a corpse, still stinking and rotting. Let it be, move on to the future :)
I too give a lot of importance to the mala - always have. I
don't wear it on my body a lot anymore, but it hangs clearly visible
in a prominent spot where I live. It is always with me where I
dwell.
But I think we have become sidetracked from the real
question here. It is not a question of whether one should or
should not wear the mala. It is a question of whether someone
should require others to wear the mala. Wearing the mala as a matter
of own choice is one thing, wearing the mala as a requirement given
by someone else is something entirely different.
In my opinion, Arun
is definitely out of bounds in requiring people to wear the mala. No, he is not merely of the priest caste, he is setting himself up
as something even higher than that. He is not only living in the
past, he is also over-riding Osho's own last words on wearing the
mala - which clearly gives us the choice to wear the mala or
not. Does the whole thing suck? Yes, it does.
But when I say to you, "Drop the
ego," you all become deaf. "Drop the mala," and you are
immediately ready. But all have not dropped the mala. Those who
had loved it, those who had accepted it as symbolic of a
relationship with me - they have not dropped it. Neither have
they dropped their red clothes, because red clothes have become
their remembrance of being a sannyasin, that they are initiated
into a mystery school. Those red clothes twenty-four hours a day
remind you that your work is to find yourself. They have not
dropped them.
A few immediately dropped...
and
it was simply a great experiment to see who is really an
initiate, and who is here just by accident. Those who did
not drop the mala and did not drop the red clothes may
perhaps be able to drop their egos first.
Then those who dropped the
mala and the red clothes and rushed to the boutique to find
new clothes, they will be the last to drop the ego.
And I am not Jesus, who said,
"Blessed are the last" - no.
Blessed are
the first! Cursed are the last!
Osho suggesting at first that sannyas' paraphernalia had become unnecessary and then in this quote suggesting the opposite, it is perhaps another instance of him proving to be a master of confusion. It's this confusion around sannyas that Arun in Nepal is trying to take away. You equally seem to want to assert that you're not confused at all on the matter. Yet confusion may be a vital ingredient. In the confusion people feel helpless, because they don't know anything for sure anymore. And Osho may have created confusion at the time as yet another device to undermine ego...
It is good to feel helpless... prayer arises out of helplessness. And that helplessness will help your ego to drop. If you can do something in every situation then the ego never drops. You have to come to face certain situations where you are absolutely impotent. You would like to do something but you cannot do anything... it is simply impossible to do anything.
...Just see the helplessness of man... and all the nonsense that ego goes on thinking. Neither birth nor death are in our hands. Nothing is in our hands. Once you realise this, prayer arises. Prayer is a cry, a deep cry, of helplessness. And prayer makes a person religious.
(Osho - Nothing to Loose But Your Head #19 (a darshan diary)There are almost two million sannyasins in the world. I have told them not to wear orange clothes, not to wear the mala, because I don't want anyone to suffer because of me. But anybody trying to persuade sannyasins to drop sannyas... Now what is left as far as sannyas is concerned? I have told them to forget about the orange clothes, throw away their malas in the ocean. Only meditation is the essence. Just keep to it, nobody can even suspect that you are a meditator. It is your inner, innermost center.
(Osho - Zen: The Quantum Leap from Mind to No-Mind, 20 June 1988)Osho sent a message to the Academy of Initiation that there is no
need to wear malas any more. Sannyas is about going inwards and
nothing to do with the outer.
Some people are upset, so it is taken to Osho again and his
response, passed on again to the Academy is:
"If you must wear your mala, then at home in meditation only."
Friends,
I have not been there but many of you here must have been in Poona
2, in 1989 & 1990.
Were you asked not to wear the Malas at that time?
Is the above statement from the Pune Resort true?
Yes, it is true, as you know we have a controversal master...
It was at the very beginning of Poona 2, a police officer came up to
Osho's bedroom (Lakshmi had unfortunately let him in when he
demanded to see him ) to personally hand over to Osho a court order
to leave Poona immediately again (Osho had just arrived the night
before from Bombay). So Osho had to be woken up and when he saw the
police, he ripped up the paper and told them in a very strong and
powerful way to leave his room immediately. We were standing outside
in the corridor at the "green curtain", with pricked up ears, trying
to hear all that's happening. It would have been a great scene in a
movie.
So the situation was very heated, the police had come early in the
morning with trucks, tools and a bunch of workers to tear down all
illegal buildings, and it was quite difficult to cool them down and
come to an agreement.
Since there was a lot of hostility against sannyasins in the whole
city, I guess Osho wanted his sannyasins to be more safe at that
time and also to meet with trouble already at the airport (a few
sannyasins had been refused entry).
It just made total sense when he said something like, "Now it is
good to be invisible like the fish in the water."
I remember there were a few sannyasins who didn't like it and
continued to wear bright orange clothes and mala.
When Osho heard about it he told us to take their mala away, if they
didn't get the point.
Yes, It was so... I knew only from outside, I was too a main gate
guard at that time... It was swami Swabhav, Osho’s ambassador for
India now, who let the police man go inside the Master's bedroom, I
think, not Lakshmi, but anyway that doesn’t matter.
But I know I heard he was beating his head on the wall and crying
out loud asking for forgiveness... he might have felt utterly guilty
(I feel) and helpless...
I remember when the Vilas Tupe’s Guys came with a full truck in
front of the ashram to destroy everything... osho let us know to "just
go in front of their truck and do kirtan, make female sannyasins
take the lead."
What an energy it was at that time, Oh !!! Only now there is some
sense of what I have witnessed at that time, Alas!! If only I had
been a little more awake to know the value of that...
Since you were at the gate, you got especially this part and
swami Swabhav as "Ashram in charge" was responsible for letting the
police officer into the gate and into Lao Tzu House, but Lakshmi had
the key to Osho's room and she let them in.
After that incident she didn't get the key anymore and was mainly
working outside Poona for the Ashram; not much later Osho appointed
swami Tathagat "Ashram in charge".
Thanks for sharing your intimate experience and the reason for
Osho's message at that time. That is understandable. What I don't
understand is that it is said to be Osho's "FINAL MESSAGE" by the
Academy of Initiation in Pune on
their new website for Neosannyas.
At the end of the webpage titled Osho on Sannyas there is the statement, "The Final
Message to the Academy of Initiation on Malas, 1989", to me this gives the impression that all what Osho
says on sannyas is also Osho's final messages, and all decisions
taken in Pune about sannyas and the running of the "Osho Resort" in
Pune are according to "Osho's Final Message".
To me using this phrase "Final Message" is creating a Religion, with
the resort being the FINAL authority like the Vatican of Sannyas.
And they claim that all they want is to prevent sannyas becoming a
Religion and it is surprising that intelligent sannyasins believe
them.
I don't need to find an Osho quote to say that all organised
Religions, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism etc. claim to be the "Final
Message".
I used to be critical of the RESORT but now I trust their intention
to avoid sannyas becoming another religion; but Amrito & Co are not
enlightened enough to avoid the "Law of reverse effect".
Osho says:
"Now one thing has to be understood. The hypnotists have discovered
a fundamental law; they call it the Law of Reverse Effect. If you
try hard to do something without understanding the fundamentals,
just the opposite will be the result."
(From: Ah, This! Chapter #6)
So in my understanding Amrito & Co should just keep to the
exoteric part of Osho's work and leave the esoteric work if they
don't understand the fundamentals.
But then it is the most difficult thing to accept that "We don't
Know".