Notes
Introduction
1. Osho World News. 2009:3, p. 3.
2. Amrito (Dr. George Meredith aka Devaraj). Interview. Poona. 31.07.2001. Amrito was Osho’s personal physician and is now a member of the Inner Circle.
3. Pundits – or pandits – are learned Hindu scholars interpreting and expounding the scriptures. These discussions are ongoing after Osho left his body, and information on the hot issues of e.g. trademarks and copyrights concerning Osho is to be found at >www.oshofriendsinternational.com<
4. Amrito (Dr. George Meredith aka Devaraj). Interview. Poona. 31.07.2001.
5. Based on Canonical and extracanonical texts in new religions by Olav Hammer & Mikael Rothstein. Page 113-129 in Hammer 2012. The term routinize was first used by Max Weber in his Theory of Social and Economic Organization. First published in German 1922.
6. The author has now retired from his position as Associate Professor at the Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg, Denmark. The main field for his research and workshops has been the organizational change in public libraries following the implementation of IT in the 1980s, but his interests also include library interior design, library history and cultural anthropology. The Taoist Yao (Mien) ethnic minority group has been studied on several field surveys in the mountains of Southern China and Laos. He first met Osho in Poona January 1981 and in July 1983, Oregon, he was initiated as sannyasin Swami Anand Neeten. On his website >www.pierreevald.dk< articles on Osho are to be found, as well as anthropology field notes and library science publications. Contact: >mail@pierreevald.dk<
7. Shaktipat is the traditional notion for the transfer of cosmic energy by means of a master. Satori is the Japanese expression for experiencing higher states of consciousness.
8. Lannoy 1971, p. 424.
9. Osho was first used by Eka to address his master, Bodhidharma. ‘O’ means ‘with great respect, love and gratitude’, as well as ‘synchronicity’ and ‘harmony.’ ‘Sho’ means ‘multidimensional expansion of consciousness.’ Osho is not the only spiritual leader with a name connoting also to ocean. Dalai is Mongol for the sea, vast and profound.
Gadarwara
1. Based on Brendon 2008, p. 379.
2. When Osho’s father Babu Lal was initiated into sannyas in 1975 his name became Devateerth Bharti. Joshi narrates that Taran Swami (The Savior) in the sixteenth century was a contemporary of the Indian saints Kabir and Nanak. His family was of the Parwar sect, a subdivision of the Digambara sect, and he opposed the prevalent idol worship and preached the worship of the formless. He was much harassed by society and it is said that Osho as a child read his complete teachings contained in fourteen books and he was without doubt influenced by Taran from early age. The books are in a unique blend of Prakit, Sanskrit and Apabhramsha, and Taran’s language was perhaps influenced by his reading of the books of Acharya Kundakunda. Osho’s first booklets in the 1950s were in fact on Taran Swami. Core publications for the Digambara sect were Siddhi Svabhava (The Nature of Ultimate Realization) and Shunya Svabhava (The Nature of Emptiness), phenomenona to be explored by Osho throughout his lifetime. These books are both included in Books I Have Loved. At the altar in their shrines the followers of Taran keep a book instead of an idol.
3. The sannyas name of Osho’s mother is Amrit Saraswati. Saraswati, the goddess of learning, is particularly honoured by the Jains in their pantheon of sixteen goddesses of learning. She is also called Shruta Devi, the goddess of sacred learning.
4. Bhagawati at >www.oshonews.com/2011/05<
5. Vasant Joshi has it that Osho’s uncle Shikhar Chand was suggesting his first name Rajneesh Chandra Mohan, alternating with Rajneesh Mohan Chandra as Osho used it in Prayas. See Joshi 1982, p. 15 and Appendix. Gandhi was having Mohandas as his first name. The quotation is from the Introduction by George Meredith (aka Devaraj / Amrito) in Forman (1988), p. xix. Quatrain means a poem or verse of four lines. According to wikipedia his birthname was Chandra Mohan Jain or Rajendra Kumar Jain.
6. Interview with Osho’s mother Saraswati by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. At: >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<. Osho’s brothers were Vijay, Nikalank, Akalank, Shailendra and Amit. His sisters were Rasa Kumari, Sneh, Neeru and Nisha. His sister Kusum died from smallpox when she was four years old only. Amit has green eyes, cf. his grandmother Nani’s lineage.
7. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. At: >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
8. Arvind Kumar Jain, Osho’s secretary in Jabalpur, has commented on Osho’s parents’ experience: “But in his later advanced age life Osho’s father left Gadarwara & went to PUNE Commune where in presence of master (Osho) he deeply & intensively perform MEDITATION, experiencing the very Existential Truth & liberated himself from this Worldly Bondage. Osho’s Divine compassion has shown the path of Self Realisation & the Devotees who sincerely meditated, experienced the existential Truth. Osho not only Himself Enlightened and experiencing God’s Bliss but also shows the self attainment way to His Mother Pujya Maa Saraswati Devi who attains Self Realisation & liberated HERSELF.” Tranlation from Hindi into English by Arvind Kumar Jain, Jabalpur, of chapter #9 ‘Extremist of Study And Great Lover of Books – Rajneeshji’ from his book Ankahe Pal. Letter from Arvind Kumar Jain. Jabalpur. 06.04.2009.
9. Apana. Interview. Rajyoga Meditation Center, Delhi, 23.09.2007. Swami Govind Siddharth’s meeting with Lama Karmapa, Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, on June 6, 1972, was first published in Sannyas, 1972:4, pp. 25-32.
10. Bhopal was a fief carved out of the kingdom of Rani Durgawati of Gondwana and placed under a Nawab by Akbar. It became independent in 1761 but later submitted to the British Raj.
11. Osho has in Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1990), p. 2 talked on his reverence for the madhumalti tree (madhu – sweet, malti – queen).
12. Narmada, which is esteemed holy, is also spelled Nerbudda River. The personified river is variously represented as being daughter of a Rishi named Mekala, as a daughter of the moon, as a ‘mind-born daughter’ of the Somapas, and as a sister of the Nagas. It is not unlikely that the connotation with the moon may have had some impact on the young Rajneesh.
13. Wild elephants were in the beginning of the 20th century found only in one or two of the minor eastern Native and Feudatory States named Nandgaon and Kawardha in the Central Provinces to the east of Jabalpur and also north of Bastar.
14. Indian National Congress had met annually since 1885 and was the major All-India political body representing Indian opinion in a loose confederation and only later on it became a political party in the modern sense. In Jabalpur Congress was formally organised from 1920, and during the elections in 1937 and 1946 Congress took a strong stand in Jabalpur District winning all seats except one in both elections. In a letter from 12.02.2009 Gyan Bhed mentions that Osho’s father and his uncle Sri Shikhar Chand were both members of Indian National Congress, probably mistaken for Jabalpur Congress, which in a dyarchy system was managing those matters transferred from the central power to Indian provincial authorities.
15. Gyan Bhed has it that Osho’s grandfather Raja Saheb with his servant Bhoora traveled Gadarwara – Jabalpur – Allahabad and from there to Kashi to meet the astrologer (Gyan Bhed 2006, p. 21). The state astrologer lived in Benares (resplendent with light; this cityname used until 1956), a place which during Buddha’s time, when he was preaching here was the capital of the kingdom of Kashi, a name it kept for centuries. Today the city is known as Varanasi. It is the holiest of all holy cities in India and said to be founded at least 3.000 years ago. In 1910 the British made Varanasi a new Indian state with Ramanagar as its headquarter without any jurisdiction over the city itself.
16. See also the figure with Osho’s birth chart.
17. Bhed 2006, p. 65 mentions a three days period in the Shiva temple. Joshi 1982, p. 32 is mentioning a seven days period.
18. Brahma Raksha is a brahman who after his death takes the form of Raksha (demon) who resides in a peepal tree (holy fig tree). The peepal tree is worshipped by the Hindus for the quality of its fragrance and its residing gods.
19. Sarito 2000, p. 223, line 14. Errata: Should be Gadarwara, not Kuchwada.
20. Bhoora’s son herited Raja Saheb’s house and estate. Later on Sw. Nikalank Bharti (Osho’s nine years younger brother who was very close to him and lived in his shadow) and Sw. Chaitanya Bharti (Osho’s chosen photographer from Bombay onwards) went to Kuchwada to take photos of the house and the pond. Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1990), p. 26.
21. Sati is the widow joining her husband on the funeral pyle, a traditional Indian custom declared illegal by the British Raj.
22. Osho has indicated that Jesus visited Gadarwara coming from Pahalgam in Kashmir where he later died and his grave is to be found. Just like Gadarwara Pahalgam means ‘the village of the shepherd’. See Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1990), p. 220 and Kersten 2001.
23. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 12.6.2009.
24. Literacy in Hindi rose from 9.2% in 1931 (the year Osho was born) to 15.1% in 1941 and to 23.5% for men and 7.6% for women in 1951. Literacy in English rose from 14.9% in 1931 to 18.9 in 1941, in percentage of all literate Indians. The raise in literacy was one decisive factor behind the growth of Congress and the spreading of nationalist ideas. By 1981 the literacy rate had risen to 46.7% for men and 24.9% for women.
25. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. On: >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
26. Sukraj Bharti. Interview. Gadarwara. February 2000.
27. Arvind Kumar Jain. Jabalpur. Interview. 24.07.2005.
28. Vasant Joshi. E-mail. 07.03.2007.
29. When years later Osho visited his old primary school in Gadarwara he was very touched when seeing the cutting down of the peepal trees that had brought him so much comfort.
30. Gyan Bhed is calling him Shambhu Babu.
31. Excerpt from interview with Sri Shyam Soni by Gyan Bhed in Osho Hi Osho. Translated in letter from Gyan Bhed. 09.09.2006.
32. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
33. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
34. This broadcasting took place before the later regular morning recordings at Radio Patna in the early 1950s.
35. The photo mentioned is in a private album with Osho’s younger brother Nikalank Bharti, Poona. Osho’s adoration for Tagore is exposed in Ecstasy. The Forgotten Language.
36. Joshi 1982, p. 190. Brahma Muhurta is the holy early morning time before sunrise.
37. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 12.6.2009.
38. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. According to Nehru, Gandhi had told the Federation of International Fellowships in January 1928 that “after long study and experience I have come to these conclusions, that (1) all religions are true, (2) all religions have some error in them, (3) all religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism. My veneration for other faiths is the same as for my own faith.” In: Nehru (1946), p. 365.
39. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was established in Nagpur in 1925 by the Congressman Dr. K.B. Hedgewar. It was organized in the 1930s as a Hindu nationalistic movemment to revive the cultural heritage of the Hindus under the threat from Muslims and work towards India as a nation for Hindus only. Some distinguishing features were their uniformed volunteers wearing khaki shorts, and its military-style marching. In contrast to Congress it remained an urban movement, and the shooting of Gandhi in January 1948 was carried out by Nathuram Godse who had connections with RSS and was blaming the Mahatma for the partition of India. Following this incident RSS was banned at three subsequent occasions. BJP is the political party associated with RSS and the movement was responsible for the destruction of Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya in 1992. Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) is the ideological and international line of RSS in India.
40. A nucleus of the Communist Party was formed in Jabalpur District in the late 1930s where a group of young men helped organizing a body named League Against Fascism and War in 1937. The Congress Socialist Party was organized in Jabalpur in 1938, and it is most likely that these functions were well-known to Rajneesh when he grew up in Gadarwara.
41. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
42. Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj was among those books banned according to the 1910 Press Act and the pamphlet had to be sold illegally. Osho’s magazine Yukrant (Abbreviation of: Youth – Revolution) was published from Jabalpur 1969 – 1975 and its name may have been inspired by Gandhi’s newspaper Navajivan (Young India) published 1919-1932.
43. Gyan Bhed. Letters. 12.02.2009 and 12.6.2009.
44. Satyagraha is ‘truth-force’ or ‘soul-force’, a non-violent resistance to injustice or evil blending Christian pacifism and Hindu non-violence. The word was created by Gandhi from Gujarati words, his name Gandhi itself meaning ‘grocer’ in Gujarati. Gandhi read voraciously authors like Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau, and participated in movements such as theosophy and vegetarianism.
45. Article On Gandhism. Printed in Hindi in Mukul (Flower in Bud), 1953, 3rd issue. Osho’s first printed magazine publication.
46. Published booklets by Osho on Gandhi include: Philosophy of Non-violence (1967). This was the first booklet of Osho to be translated and published in English. Original edition in Hindi Ahimsa darshan (1966). Also Gandhivad, Vijnanik dastie (1971), Kam-Yog, Dham aur Gandhi (1972), and Bharat, Gandhi aur maim (1974). See Bibliography.
47. Speech in the Martyrs Memorial Building, Jabalpur, October 5th, 1969.
48. Blessing is in Unio Mystica, vol.1.
49. Quotation from a letter written to Kranti from Jabalpur. On the letterhead: Acharya Rajneesh, Yogesh Bhawan, 115 Napier Town, Jabalpur, where he was staying from 1961 to 1968 in the house of Sri Deovki Nandan as his guest.
50. Tirthankara is one of the 24 enlightened Jain masters. Meaning ‘a ford – one who make a place for your boat from where it can take you towards the other shore’. Rishabhdeva is the first Jain tirthankara, Mahavir the last.
51. The Acharyas are in Jain terminology teachers and master ascetics. Later on the term denoted the senior monks who head and govern the congregation and manage a temple. The installation of an acharya in this sense is in a way equivalent to the succession of a king, as the new acharya is becoming a participant in a continuing Jain tradition. Osho adhered to this tradition and terminology when in the 1960s he started using the epithet Acharya.
52. The vedas are from around 2000 BCE, making them older than Greek and Israeli texts, and Rigveda is called ‘the first spoken word of the Aryan man.’ Veda comes from the root vid in Sanskrit, meaning ‘to know.’
53. Of the many Indian festivals Holi may correspond to the European Carnival, and Divali is a special festival of the Banias on which they worship a rupee and their account-books, khatas. The Hindu commercial year begins from this day. All classes light lamps in their houses so as not to be overlooked when Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, passes over them during the night and bestows her gifts. The Jain festival Mahavir Jayanti in honour of Mahavir is celebrated in March or April, and the Paryushan Parva in the month of August or September for ten days marking the beginning of a new account year for the Jains.
54. Shastras are scriptural texts setting out right behaviour.
55. Prakrit means unrefined, natural, raw. This language is the vernacular language of Mahavir and the Jains, and according to Osho more ancient than sanskrit, meaning refined. The ancient narratives of the Hindus in eighteen volumes were written in Sanskrit and are called the puranas (old).
56. Letter from Gyan Bhed. 12.11.2006. Translated from Ek Phakkar Messiah: Osho #36.
57. Panth means path and math monastery.
58. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 12.02.2009.
59. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 20.11.2006.
60. Illaychidana are granules of cardamom offered to guests after meals for mouth refreshing. These sugar-coated seeds or granules are distributed to worshippers in Hindu temples as Prasad (blessings) and offered to a deity.
61. The word arihanta literally means ‘one who has killed the enemy’, the enemy being his own ego. The Jain mantra can be compared to the Buddhist Gachchami.
62. Rabindranath Tagore prevented Gandhi who wanted the temples of Khajuraho and their tempting sculptures to be buried under earth. Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1990), p. 34.
63. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 12.11.2006. Tantra was a major theme in Osho’s discourses in Poona One, and a key series is Tantra: The Supreme Understanding, alt.t. Only One Sky. Sannyas 1973:4 is a special issue on Tantra.
64. Sri Ambalal Patel was very supportive to Osho. He took sannyas while Osho was in Oregon and received the name Swami Swarupanand. He was for reasons of Osho’s legal staying in USA in 1984 designated to be the father of Ma Anand Sheela.
65. E-mail from Gyan Bhed. 01.01.2007. Translated excerpt from Ek Phakkar Messiah: Osho (1996-2000). Part II. Chapters #2, #6 and #9.
66. Masto is a term used by an older man to a child. The name was given to him by his master Pagal Baba as a pet and loving name. 67. In Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1990, p. 304) Osho is refering this address to March 22nd 1953, the day after his enlightenment. On this very day Masto went to the Himalayas having fulfilled his promise to Pagal Baba. See also Gyan Bhed 2006, p. 125.
68. Durgavati was the widowed rani of Raja Dalpat Sa of Gondwana and regent for her son Bir Narayan. She was defeated by Akbar’s general Asaf Khan in 1564 when she, after having fought from her elephant Sarman against the invaders, ended her own life with a dagger on the battlefield at Narhi. Her samadhi about thirteen miles from Jabalpur played a role for prominent local freedom fighters when in 1930 they took a solemn vow at this place to continue their struggle against the British. Garha, the former capital of Gondwana, is now within the city line of today’s Jabalpur.
69. The 1945-issue of Prayas has been preserved by Osho’s younger brother Nikalank Bharti, Poona.
70. E-mail from Gyan Bhed. 01.01.2007. Translated excerpt from Osho Hi Osho, p. 380.
71. Annual issue SMARIKA of Osho Times (Hindi edition) 1997.
72. From an interview with Nikalank Bharti in Osho Times (Hindi edition). Annual issue SMARIKA 1997, page 22-27. The interview is with photos, a poem by Kabir in Osho’s own handwriting from his diary and a sketch. The interview was conducted, edited and later translated from Hindi by Gyan Bhed, Kanpur. E-mail from Gyan Bhed. 20.11.2006. The latter part from ‘Suddenly…’ is a supplement from another translation provided by Anando in e-mail 23.04.2012.
73. Ma Dharm Jyoti. Interview. Bombay. August 1999.
74. Nikalank is denying that Osho used to apply a pain-killing balm to his forehead for further reading. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
75. The Satguru (True Master) is the embodiment of the divine and is in fact the Supreme Being himself, to distinguish him from other types of lesser gurus. A seeker must seek out the Satguru of his own time and surrender himself totally to his worship, and importance is placed on Satsang (True Association). In Sanskrit sat (alt. translit. sad) means essential.
76. Anando. E-mail. 21.07.2000.
77. Tranlation from Hindi into English by Arvind Kumar Jain, Jabalpur, of chapter #9 ‘Extremist of Study And Great Lover of Books – Rajneeshji’ from his book Ankahe Pal. Letter from Arvind Kumar Jain. Jabalpur. 06.04.2009.
78. The accession register from his library has been preserved by Nikalank Bharti, Poona. See photo.
79. Arvind Kumar Jain. Jabalpur. Interview. 24.07.2005.
80. E-mail from Gyan Bhed. 01.01.2007. Translated excerpt from Osho Hi Osho. The note books preserved by Nikalank are from 1944-1945, Middle School years. They are continued in diaries from 1946-50 including his Higher Secondary School years. Nikalank Bharti Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999.
81. Due to Indian visa restrictions Vivek, like other sannyasins in the Poona management, in her later years had to change her name to Ma Prem Nirvano. She died an untimely death on December 9th 1989 from an overdose of sleeping pills. Throughout Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, Osho is calling Vivek Gudiya.
82. Excerpt from Abhi Root Kuch hai (Some Moments of This Night are Still to be Passed). The full story in Hindi is reprinted in the magazine Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, October/November issue, 1984. Editor: Ma Prem Bharti. Published by Rajyoga Rajneesh Dhyan Kendra, Safdarjung Development Area, New Delhi. English translation in ten pages by Gyan Bhed. Enclosed to letter. 09.09.2006. Also printed in toto in Ageh Bharti (2012), pp. 108-114.
83. The soldiers of Azad Hind Army were respected throughout India, but following the death of Chandra Bose in 1945 its members were persecuted in a trial held by the British at the Red Fort in Delhi.
84. At the time of the author’s visit to the public library in Gadarwara, Februar 2000, Mr. Anand Shaiwastbai was the president of the Library Committee and Mr. Laljiram Malviya still remembered attending Osho’s lecturing at Town Hall area in the 1960s. These lectures have not been confirmed. One may wonder if the former chairman Shambhu Dube was one of the library founders.
85. Lala Rajpat Rai (1856-1928) was an Indian nationalist leader and president of the Indian National Congress in 1919. Due to his extremist views he was deported by the British to Burma. He organized the boycott of the Simon Commission in 1928, was assaulted and beaten with lathis by the British and died from his wounds in 1928, after having said that ‘every lathi blow was a nail in the coffin of the British Empire.’ (Brendon 2008, p. 377). He founded the Anglo-Vedic College at Lahore and the journal The Punjabee. Author of England’s Debt to India, Unhappy India and other books. For his political merits see Nehru’s autobiography (Nehru 1949).
86. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 09.09.2006. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 20.11.2006. The titles are from Gyan Bhed’s interview with Osho’s childhood friend Sri Shyam Soni for his book Osho Hi Osho. Some titles are published in India and have not been verified as the spelling may be inaccurate. “After passing his Intern from Jabalpur University on 01.02.1953 Osho had donated his own books to this library, which were kept on separate shelves in a cupboard. On each book a label is affixed, where it was written ‘Jo Sarvajanik Pustkalaya Gadarwara from Sri Khub Chandra Hagarilal, which were donated by Rajneesh Chandra Mohan.'” Osho Hi Osho contains 17 interviews narrated in Gyan Bhed’s own wording with the following: 1. Osho’s youngest sister Ma Nisha Bharti and his brother in law Sw. Anand Bharti. 2. Osho’s uncle Sri Shikher Chand together with Osho’s childhood friends Sw. Sukhraj Bharti, Sri Kanchedi Sukul and other sannyasins of Gadarwara. 3. Osho’s childhood intimate friend Sri Shyam Soni, to whom Osho had offered the secretaryship of Poona commune which was refused by him. 4. Sw. Chaitanya Keerti. Editor of Osho World. 5. Ma Neelam. Former secretary Poona commune. 6. Ma Amrit Mukti, who used to prepare and cook food for Osho. 7. Sri Ajeet Kumar. Former editor of Yukrant. 8. Sri Arvind Kumar. Son of his father’s sister and editor of Yukrant. 9. Master Bheekam Chand. Founder member of Jeevan Jagriti Kendra. 10. Seven interviews taken from other sannyasins of Osho. Osho Hi Osho is supplemented by the following interviews in Osho Maykhene Ke Deevane Rind (The Drunkards at Osho’s Bar): 1. Ma Urmilla. In Jabalpur Osho used to go to her residence daily and her husband was a military officer. 2. Ma Sohan Bhapana & Sw. Manik Bhapna. Osho had written 100 letters to her published in Path Ke Pradeep (1974). 3. Laheru. He used to tape the discourses of Osho in Bombay. 4. Kiran Bhai & other. Only 10% was written down during the interviews, the rest was remembered and taken down in writing from a few days up to a month later. The interviews were looked over and approved by the interviewees, by Keerti and Mukta with supplementing letters. This method and its inaccuracy may be kept in mind when reading these interviews. On the cover of all volumes of Ek Phakker Messiah is mentioned: ‘A Novel based on the Life of Osho’, and on title page: ‘This is the authentic Life Story of Osho in the Style of a Novel.’ These specifications were added by demand from the management in Poona, and Gyan Bhed was advised by Chinmaya to do translation work rather than his biographical studies. Gyan Bhed. Interview. Kanpur. 15.09.2007.
87. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 20.11.2006. Arya Samaj is a Hindu social reform organization founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in Bombay on April 7th 1875. It was advocating a return to Vedic ideals, and its purpose was to move the Hindu Dharma away from fictitious beliefs. One section of the Samaj also favored Westernization and English education. The Samaj was a reaction to the influence of Islam and Christianity, condemning also the Vedanta philosophy, and thereby Osho when he was living in Poona.
88. Sanjey. Interview. Poona. 05.02.2000. Mentioned in Books I Have Loved (1985) #15
89. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 12.6.2009.
90. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 09.02.2000.
91. Also in: From Misery to Enlightenment #15.
92. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
93. Also in: From Misery to Enlightenment #15.
94. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000 & 28.07.2001.
95. E-mail from Gyan Bhed. 01.01.2007. Translated excerpt from Osho Hi Osho.
96. The accessions register of Osho’s library collection has been preserved by his younger brother Nikalank Bharti, Poona.
97. Bhed 2006, p. 91. Upasthit Sriman means ‘Present Sir’ when the pupils in the class are called by their name.
Jabalpur
1. The new state of Madhya Pradesh came into existence in 1956 comprising 17 districts, including the Mahakoshal region of the old Central Provinces, of the former state with the same name Madhya Pradesh formed in 1947 and its bordering states of Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh means The Central Province just like its former English name. Chattisgahr has since 2000 been a separate Indian state constituted by some former eastern parts of Madhya Pradesh.
2. In the Indian system of higher education, colleges do not have the authority to award degrees independently; they have to be affiliated with a university. The universities are responsible, once they grant the affiliation, for the maintenance of standards in the colleges. Likewise prior to 1957 the colleges in Jabalpur were affiliated to universities in other towns. These colleges finally constitute the new University of Jabalpur founded in 1957, where Rajneesh gets a position as a lecturer of philosophy in March 1958. Some of his colleagues are now the professors and lecturers with whom he was studying earlier as a student for his B.A.
3. The official biography of Osho is presenting a short listing of his time in Jabalpur: “1951-1956: UNIVERSITY STUDENT. Osho majors in philosophy and wins numerous awards in debating competitions. He graduates with honours from Jain College and is invited by Professor S.S. Roy to do his postgraduate study at Sagar University…1957-1970: PROFESSOR AND PUBLIC SPEAKER. Osho accepts a position first at Sanskrit College in Raipur and later at the University of Jabalpur, where he teaches philosophy. His unorthodox and challenging approach to teaching draws many students to his classes, regardless of whether they have actually enrolled for credit. As the years pass he begins to spend more and more time away from his teaching duties and begins traveling to public speaking engagements throughout India.” (Sarito 2000, p. 224)
4. Hitkarini Sabha was the oldest social service institution in Jabalpur District established as early as 1868. It installed a printing press from which the monthly magazine Hitkarini was printed. Hitkarini Mahavidyalaya, their ‘city college’ where Rajneesh began his academic studies, was founded in 1933, one year later the Hitkarini Law College and in 1937 the Hitkarini Kanya Vidyalaya.
5. Nationwide the enrolment of students for higher education was in 1951 0.8% of total population in India, rising to 2.4% in 1966 when Rajneesh left his teaching position, with a ratio for the enrolment of girls being 1:6.
6. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
7. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 1999. A FIAT car is said to have been at his disposal in 1967-70 according to his co-hosteller in Sagar, Dr. Bhagwan Singh, in Ageh Bharti (2012, p. 34)
8. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 17.06.2010.
9. Gyan Bhed (1996): Ek Phakkar Massiha Osho. Part III, page 121.
10. Gyan Bhed (2001): Osho Hi Osho, page 120. Translated into English by Gyan Bhed. (Letter. 17.06.2010). In the same letter he writes on the references in his book on Osho, Ek Phakkar Massiha: “This book is not fiction or novel. This is an authentic biography of Osho. When I had submitted the manuscript to Poona Ashram I had sent a list, where it was mentioned that what is the source of this incident, or wether it was told by Osho himself in some discourse (mentioning the name of discourse and page no. also), whether it was reported in the magazine Jyotishikka, Yukrant, Sannyas, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Rajneesh Newsletter or Osho Times. Whether it was told by his relative or friend (with his name) while taking his interview. I requested the publisher to publish this list at the end of the book, but he did not agree. This list was prepared for 1st volume to 5th volume, then I had left this exercise.”
11. Among the many places Rajneesh stayed in Jabalpur were the following: His first years in Jabalpur from 1951 were at his aunt’s house, with his father’s brother in law Fufa and his son Arvind Kumar Jain who helped him and later became his secretary. Following this he lived as a tenant in a small rented room in the countryside outside Jabalpur near restaurant Sharma Bhojnalaya, followed by his stay at Madan Mahal Road and finally with his relatives Arvind Kumar and Kranti in a house near Plaza Talkies. During his studies at Sagar University Rajneesh was mostly staying in the houses of two of his professors, Dr. S.S.Roy and later on Dr. S.K.Saxena, but also the students’ hostel was available to him. After getting his position in 1958 as a lecturer at Jabalpur University College Rajneesh had taken a small house on rent at Bhalderpura, a rather busy and dirty locality, and he remained at that very humble place from 1959 to 1961. From 1961 to 1968 he lived at Napier Town in the house of Shree Deoke Nandan where there was enough room for him to give talks and introduce his listeners to meditation. This comfortable bungalow turned out to be his most permanent stay in Jabalpur for seven years. Finally from 1968 and until he left for Bombay in 1970 he had shifted to a house in Kamla Nehru Nagar at Garkha Road. Based on: Gyan Bhed. Letter. 17.06.2010.
“Some important events of Osho’s life. His stay at Jabalpur in 4 houses:
– From 1959 to 1961 he stayed in a small house of the dirty locality of Bhaldarpur in Jabalpur.
– From June 61 to Dec. 61 he stayed in the house of Gupteshwar at the locality of Devtal.
– From 1961 to 1968 he stayed at Napier Town in the house of Sri Deovki Nandan as a guest.
– From 68-70 he had changed the residence from Napier Town to Garha Road in Kamla Nehru Nagar.” Gyan Bhed. Letter to author while in Dehra Dun. 21.09.2007.
12. Sukhraj Bharti. Interview. Gadarwara, February 2000.
13. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 09.02.2000. Arvind Kumar Jain himself was to become a professor in commerce and accountancy at the very Indian College where Osho had studied. He retired from his position in 1998.
14. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000; Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. See photo.
15. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007.
16. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007.
17. British repression and censorship imposed by Linlithgow was for the last time experienced in India during World War II. Books from the All-India Progressive Writers’ Association were banned, while Hitler’s Mein Kampf was freely available.
18. Fateh Chand Goyal. Editor of Nav-Bharat. Interview. Jabalpur. 12.02.2000.
19. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999.
20. Osho Times International 1999:2, pp. 51-53. Translated Unfulfilled Desires it is also printed in Ageh Bharti (2012) pp. 104-107. Also the Hittvada, a Hindi daily in Jabalpur, has for years published features on Osho’s time in Jabalpur. Fateh Chand Goyal. Editor of Nav-Bharat. Interview. Jabalpur. 12.02.2000.
21. Osho World has a special issue on Master of Media (2007:12). See also: Osho on Journalism (1989). A compilation from The New Dawn #19. 32 pages.
22. The surroundings of Sagar had been rich in wildlife also, and the last lion in Central India was shot in Sagar in 1851.
23. Exhibition note from Original Art by Osho. Osho Lao Tzu Library, Ramakrishna. December 1999 to February 2000. Visited 05.02.2000.
24. Excerpt from: Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. In the Eastern concept disappearing is equivalent with enlightenment.
25. First edition of Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell was published in 1957, indicating either a digression on the part of Osho or the actuality with which he was following the international publishing on philosophy.
26. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005. Dr. Ranade was Osho’s external evaluator for his written M.A. degree. In Search of the Miraculous, vol.l #3.
27. Sir Saiyad was the external censor for Osho’s M.A. oral exams.
28. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 was awarded to Bertrand Russell “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.” >www.nobelprize.org<.
29. Bhed 2006, p. 156. The number of points varies. In Bhed 2006, p. 156: ninety points out of hundred. In Bhed 2006, p.158: ninety-five on a scale to hundred.
30. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 20.11.2006. Excerpt from his Ek Phakkar Messiah Osho.
31. N.C.C. is National Cadet Core, a military boy scout and student organization.
32. Meditation. The First and Last Freedom, p. 53. See also Sannyas magazine, Jan-Feb 1973.
33. Sarito 2000, p. 92. Ramana Maharshi was recognized by Osho as an enlightened being. After a powerful understanding at age sixteen Ramana left home and settled near the holy Mt. Arunachala in southern India. He was to remain there for the rest of his life and died in 1950.
34. Maulshree (Minnusops elengi) is the Sanskrit name for the mulsarry or maulsary tree. The evergreen tree is native to the Indian subcontinent only and appears in Indian mythology as Vakula, said to put forth blossoms when sprinkled with nectar from the mouth of lovely women. In Bodhgaya (Bihar) stands the famous peepal tree (Ficus religiosa, also called Bo(dhi)-tree) under which Sakyamuni Buddha achieved buddhahood around 500 BC. The offshots of the original Bo-tree are to be found in several buddhist countries, among these in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, and in Bodhgaya itself a lineal descendant is still standing next to the temple after the original Bo-tree was dug up and destroyed by Sasanka, the Hindu king of Gauda to signify his hatred of Buddhism. The Mahabodhi temple marks the very site for Buddha’s supreme nirvana. The banyan tree (Ficus Bengahalensis) is sacred to the Hindus like the Bo-tree to the buddhists. A celebrated very large specimen mentioned in several sources stood on the banks of the Narmada and was most likely known to Osho.
35. >www..oshonews.com/2011/04/maulshree-tree-march-21-2011/<.
36. Brahma is pictured coming out from Vishnu’s navel sitting on a lotus flower likewise connected to Vishnu’s abdomen.
37. Mukul, January 1953. In his own magazine Mukul his hearted expressions The Play of Life, Death and Nature was published in January 1953. The text is here amended from Gyan Bhed’s translation. E-mail. 20.11.2006.
38. Saptahik Prakash, 21.09.1953. Excerpt.
39. Gyan Bhed. E-mail 01.01.2007. Translated from Hindi Osho Hi Osho. Dimensions Beyond The Known #2 & #3 explain in detail Jaina and Buddhist understanding of past lives in relation to enlightened masters.
40. Osho says their meeting took place in her house and not at the railway station (Urmila 2007, p. 131).
41. Urmila 2007, p. 151. Like Osho, Vivekananda preached the monism of Advaita Vedanta, and having worn himself out in his travels while spreading the message, he already died at age 39 in 1902.
42. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
43. Osho spoke these words to Devageet in the dental room in Poona an early morning in October 1989 when he couldn’t sleep. They were not recorded but written as recalled by Devageet, on February 18, 2001.
44. Gandhi’s writing of his autobiography initially took the form of a series of articles, the first of which Gandhi published in December 1925 in his own newspaper, Navajivan (Young India). Published under the title The Story of My Experiments with Truth they continued to appear until early 1929. The articles were collected in book form in two volumes, in 1927 and the second in 1929. These volumes carried the additional subtitle An Autobiography, the original in Gujarati priced at one rupee. Gandhi mentions that his principal field of work lay in Gujarat, a state with a Jain community also much favoured by Osho. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a professor of fine arts at Oxford.
45. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 12.02.2000.
46. Ajit Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 20.09.2007.
47. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
48. Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 17.09.2007.
49. Ram Chandra Naik. Interview. Jabalpur. 10.02.2000; Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 17.09.2007.
50. Anando. E-mail. 28.4.1999.
51. Osho’s family relations has been laid out by Vasant Joshi: “He lived with his cousins Kranti and Arvind, who were about his age. Kranti and Arvind were the children of one of Bhagwan’s father’s sisters, Ratnibal. Ratnibal died when they were young and their father remarried so they were brought up by their aunt Makhmalbai and her husband, Kundalal Samaiya, who had no children of their own. Kranti was married at a very young age, but unfortunately her husband died just one year after the marriage.” (Joshi 1982, p. 49). Ma Yoga Kranti was the elder sister of Arvind Kumar Jain and left her body on 22.04.2006. Arvind Kumar Jain. Letter. 04.07.2008. Following her death a cd for private circulation (Not For Sale) was published by Chirantan Brahmachari (Kabeer): In Loving Memory of Smt. Kranti Chirantan Brahmachari (Ma Yog Kranti). With Blessings of Sadguru Pujya Bhagatji (Shri Girdharlal Panchal). A Discourse by OSHO on Mahavir Sutra (Jaraa-Mrityu). A profile of Swami Krishna Kabeer is presented in Sannyas, 1972:2, p. 46.
52. Bharti 2007, p. 121. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
53. Based on Bhed 2007.
54. Ajit Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur 20.09.2007. The interview with Ajit Kumar Jain was occasionally disturbed by extensive chewing of paan, somewhat blurring the taperecording.
55. Sw. Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 4.10.2007. Gyan Bhed claims that Rajneesh was staying in Kamla Nehru Nagar from 1968 until leaving for Bombay in 1970.
56. Urmila. Interview. Poona. August 1999.
57. The establishment of Shahid Samarak building in 1956 for meetings and exhibitions catered to the cultural needs of the city. In 1960 also Jabalpur University offices was shifted to this place.
58. Ram Chandra Naik. Interview. Jabalpur. 10.02.2000.
59. This bookshop is remembered by Nikalank and Arvind Kumar Jain.
60. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
61. Neelam. Interview. Dharamsala. 09.07.2006.
62. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000; Karuna. Interview. Bombay. 02.02.2000.
63. Early discourse tapes #8. Unpublished. Osho’s Life on www.
64. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
65. Bodhicitta. Personal information. Bageshwar. 26.09.2007.
66. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005; Jain 2007 #9.
67. It is worth noticing that when Osho was born in 1931 of the various religions in India the Jains were the most literate group with a literacy rate on 38.2% compared with Muslims 7.2%, Hindu 9.3%, Sikhs 10.2% and Christians 30.5%. Only the Parsi by far outnumbered the Jains with their impressive literacy rate of 83.0% in 1931. Trade requires literacy and so it is no surprise that Jain merchants and tradesmen are the anchors for a literate culture in the well-to-do Jain communities. In Jabalpur District the number of Jains increased during the 1930s, 40s and 50s and were in 1961 the third largest religious group equal to the number of Christians. All India literacy rate when Rajneesh left Gadarwara in 1951 for his studies in Jabalpur was a total of 16.6%, that is for males 24.9% and for women as low as 7.9%. With the cities as the base for literacy, the rural areas were even lower than the total figure. In the state Madhya Pradesh the total figure for literacy was less than 10% in 1951 (98 per 1000 inhabitants), slowly rising to 171 per 1000 inhabitants in 1961.
68. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 28.07.2009.
69. Ram Chandra Naik. Interview. Jabalpur. February 2000. Two samples of contemporary book cards from the1950s are preserved.
70. The edition of Attack Upon Christendom by Soeren Kierkegaard taken home by Rajneesh was from Princeton University Press, 1944. At the time of visit in February 2000, Dr. A.K.Strivastava, principal at Mahagoshal Mahavidyalaya College, was preparing Xerox copies of material concerning Rajneesh’s stay at the college, but this material has not yet been possible to retrieve for further documentation.
71. Rajneesh Ke Pranam. 4 letters To Ma Dham Jyoti, #4. Jabalpur. Osho Life www; Gyan Bhed. Letter. 01.01.2007. Also in: Ageh Bharti 2012, p. 44.
72. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
73. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal by Swami Svatantra Sarjano. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
74. Guru consists of two syllables: gu (darkness) and ru (remover). He who removes the darkness from our understanding is the real guru.
75. The year 1960 is also mentioned for Rajneesh’s second visit to Chanda (later Chandrapur). Alternate transliteration: Shree Rath Chand Parikh. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 15.02.2007.
76. Bharti 2007, p. 69. Sw. Anand Vijay became an ardent and devoted collector in his home in New Delhi of all Hindi magazines and books published by Rajneesh. Not mentioned anywhere by Osho is Dr. C.D. Sharma, a professor of philosophy who must have been his colleague at the University of Jabalpur. In 1967 he was the instructor for a thesis and intellectual study of Indian philosophy from the Upanisads to Sri Aurobindo, approved for the Ph.D. at the University of Jabalpur (Lad 1967).
77. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Clarke 2006, p. 432.
78. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
79. Arvind Kumar Jain. Letter. 04.07.2008. At the time of writing it is not possible to verify whether the certificates mentioned are the original ones, which Osho claims were all burned and destroyed, or whether they are later copies made by university authorities on request.
80. Rajneesh Ke Pranam. 4 Letters to Ma Dharm Jyoti. Jabalpur. Osho’s Life www.
81. Rajneesh’s participation in these early religious conferences is partly based on personal information from Nikalank to Anando in Poona. E-mail to author 01.02.2012 with attached time-line.
82. It’s uncertain in which year the conference alluded to was held. The raja of Bastar Pravir Chandra Banj Deo ruled as the last king of the dynasty in his capital Jagdalpur from 1936 to 1948 when he acceded to the Indian Union and he died in 1966. He is properly the one Osho met on the train maybe as early as in 1953, the very year he participated in his first anniversary celebration for Taran Swami. As far as Nikalank remembers it, all SDS conferences were held in Jabalpur only.
83. Osho writes his visit to Rajnagar took place in 1963: “I have just returned from Rajnagar in Rajasthan. I was invited to a religious function there organized by Acharya Shree Tulsi. I put four hundred monks and nuns through an experiment in meditation. The results were extraordinary.” A Cup of Tea. Letters from 1963 #13
84. Bhed 2006, p. 216. The circumstances around Osho’s first appearances as a speaker on these religious conferences in the 1950s are still to be verified in detail. Next to Gyan Bhed’s versions they have been initially clarified in interviews with Arvind Kumar Jain as well as additional personal information from Nikalank to Anando, Poona, February 2012. The Hindu Shankaracharya has a position similar to that of the Roman-Catholic Pope in the Vatican of Rome, Italy. He is honoured as Jagadguru, a title that was used earlier only to Lord Krishna, and is also seen as an avatar of Shiva. Sarva Dharma Sammelan may also be translated as Meeting of All Faiths and is based on the anekanta principle of Jainism and the understanding that all religions can coexist in harmony. The best known meetings have since 1932 been held at Dharmasthala every year while other Sammelans have been organized at Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Jabalpur and Bangalore.
85. Notes from: British Museum. Asian Exhibition 2006. London.
86. In Jabalpur District the town itself had been linked with a regular reliable manual telephone system since the early 1930s, with nine sub-exchanges including Gadarwara.
87. Swami Maitreya, one of Osho’s oldest disciples, later became enlightened. Acharya Rajneesh’s friend in Patna was Dr. Ram Chandra Prasad, M.A., Ph.D, D.Lit and Head of the Department of English at Patna University. He was the author of the first in-depth study on Rajneesh Samanwaya, Vishleshan aur Samsiddi (1969). English editions 1970 & 1978: Rajneesh. The Mystic of Feeling. A Study in Rajneesh’s Religion of Experience. During the Patna tour Dr. Ramadhari Singh Dinakar (author and poet laureate) and Ma Yoga Shakti from Munger College of Yoga both came to have darshan with Acharya Rajneesh. Bharti 2007, p. 274.
88. Shankaracharya is the title for four heads of monasteries called mathas and derives from Adi Shankara in 9th century. The Govardhana matha in Puri is among the four cardinal mathas.
89. For books already published in Hindi 1969 see the Bibliography.
90. Elderly sannyasin from Patna met on train to Patna, meditating and making asanas in compartment. Interview. July 2006. Nikalank also tells there may have been one more Hindu World Conference attended by Osho, may be the one in Allahabad, mistaken for Ahmedabad? Jyoti Shikha in 1969 has a full report about Osho’s presence at these conferences.
91. When Gandhi died in 1948 his ashram at Wardha was headed by his son Ramdas, who was befriended with Osho and invited him to the ashram once in a while, where he was suffering from all the mosquitoes living there. Gandhi himself had at an earlier stage left the ashram and moved to the village of Sevagram which became famous as the nervecentre of India’s political life and a place of pilgrimage.
92. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 04.08.1999.
93. Jabalpur District Gazetteer (1968), p. 340.
94. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 04.08.1999.
95. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. Interview with Ajeet Kumar Jain translated from Osho Hi Osho.
96. Sindhi Samaj was a gathering of expelled Hindus from the province of Sindh who were rehabilitated at Jabalpur in 1947.
97. Shree Jamuna Lal Bajaj was the famous industrialist who had built the Wardha Ashram for Mahatma Gandhi.
98. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. Excerpts translated from Osho Ek Phakkar Messiah.
99. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 15.02.2007.
100. Also in: Lead Kindly Light #1; Kranti 1972, p. 34
101. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
102. >osholoveosho.blogspot.com<
103. In Ahmedabad Osho used to stay in Jayantibhai’s house, a long-time friend and disciple who later moved to Bombay where he died in 2011. He arranged Osho’s camps in Mt. Abu, and drove Osho there. He also sometimes drove Osho around in Bombay for his visits to bookshops. Ahmedabad is a large city also associated with Gandhi and the Indian freedom struggle.
104. In the 1960s air-conditioned meant ´with a fan´.
105. Ageh Bharti is said to be the first tape-recorder of Osho. He used to write diaries, and was like a secretary to him in the Jabalpur era in close touch with Arvind Jain. He used to travel with Osho to remote areas, and is now staying in Satna. Most of his published books are in Hindi, but he is a good reader of English and speaks it very well. Keerti. Interview. New Delhi. 01.08.2006. Blessed Days With Osho was published in 2007.
106. Shiv Pratap Singh took sannyas on January 23, 1971 and received the name Swami Ageh Bharti. Two weeks later his wife became Ma Yoga Sambodhi.
107. The previous lecture on Gandhi Where are the Gandhians was delivered at K.C. College, Bombay. The lecture was adapted for publication in Hindi by Vinoo Vora and translated into English but never published. Translations: Hindi to English. Research Library. Poona, 18.1.1981.
108. The lecture What is Rebellion was later translated by Shree Padam Prakash and edited by Ma Ananda Prem. Translations: Hindi to English. Research Library. Poona, 18.1.1981.
109. In Gyan Bhed’s Ek Phakkar Meseeha Osho a intentionally comprehensive list of Osho’s unpublished lectures is included in the volumes III, IV and V. And in the last volume IX a publication list of 377 Hindi books and 277 English books is on record, from Jabalpur and onwards. The books have been documented by his numerous visits out of Kanpur to collectors in Jabalpur, Lucknow and elsewhere.
110. >www3.telus.net/public/sarlo/Yoshobooks.htm<
111. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 05.01.1999.
112. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 04.01.1999.
113. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999.
114. Manu and Sanjay. Interviews. Poona. August 1999.
115. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 11.11.2006. See Bibliography for full and correct identification of publishers.
116. Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 04.10.2007. Sadhana Path is also said to have been published by the Rajneesh centre in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in December 1964, but this information has yet to be verified.
117. Garimo. E-mail. 15.04.2012. According to Chinmaya the publication history of Sinhanad is as follows: “The Lion’s Roar was included in a bigger book called Sadhana Path which had 4 sources. The book consists of 14 discourses of Sadhana Path, the first discourse of which was the Lion’s Roar (from a talk in Mumbai September 10, 1964) and which Osho changed the title to Bath Ki Khoz; plus 8 discourses of the Inner Journey, plus 7 talks called Prabhu Ki Pagdandia, which are not yet translated into English.” Personal information from Chinmaya to Anando. E-mail from Anando. 15.02.2012.
118. Kranti Beej are the letters to Osho’s past-life mother who is still alive (2006). The letters he wrote has been published in a book from Delhi, and sometimes her name has been removed for personal reasons. She is Mrs. Madan Kunwar Parikh (Ma Anandmayee). Dr. Vikala Gautam from Poona is still in contact with her. Keerti. Interview. New Delhi. 1.8.2006. ‘According to my knowledge Kranti Beej was published in 1963 by Acharya Shree Rajneesh Sahitya Publication Trust, Kamla Nehru Nagar, Jabalpur, and printed by Singhai Printing Press, Jabalpur’. Gyan Bhed. Interview. Kanpur. 14.09.2007. An interview with Osho’s past-life mother is to be found in Sannyas, 1973:6, p. 24.
119. Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 05.10.2007.
120. Sannyas.wiki. Bibliography
121. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 04.01.1999.
123. Laheru. Interview. Bombay. 21.07.2006. Jagriti and Jagrati may be translitered also as Jagruti which is generally used in this text.
124. Zen: Zest, Zip, Zap and Zing #11. Mansoor was an enlightened mystic and master killed by orthodox Muslims in Bagdhad 922.
125. Ajeet Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 20.09.2007.
126. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 07.03.2008. Sri Yogendra Kumar Dutt was an advocate much devoted to Osho. According to his law colleague Ajeet Kumar Jain he was not involved in the publication of Yukrant magazine, but one book may have been translated by him. His name may also be transliterated Dutta. Chouksey Ji is mentioned as an additional member of JJK Jabalpur in an interview with Ajeet Kumar Jain for Osho Hi Osho according to e-mail from Gyan Bhed. 01.01.2007.
127. Some manuscripts for this book are listed in the Appendix.
128. Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was an outstanding Austrian psychotherapist occupied with the breaking down of muscular blocks and tensions to enrich the sexual orgasmic life. Orgon energy was seen as the key to mental health, and his work was influencing Western alternative therapies in the 1960s. He was censored and his books burned before his death in an American prison, a destiny Osho could easily understand and hardly escaped himself in late 1985. Reich was the main influence on Osho’s Dynamic meditation, his active meditations and also a key element in his therapy. See Sermons in Stones #7.
129. William Dalrymple: The Age of Kali. London, 1999. 385 pages. Page 148. Shastras means holy books, divided in four categories; shruti, smriti, purana and tantra. Together they cover all aspects of social and religious life including law, medicine, architecture and art. See Glossary.
130. Osho did not want Beware of Socialism to be reprinted later on. Personal information from Anando. Skagen. 26.08.2011. There are four big industrial houses and families in India: Birla, Sahu, Tata, Bajaj.
131. Osho’s quotation ‘a special transmission outside the scriptures’ is from Jyoti Shikha, June 1966.
132. Osho also quoted on this in: Sadhana Path #6.
133. Titles and bibliographical data on the biographies by Karpatri and the author from Baroda are yet to be verified.
134. Also in Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet, vol.2 #3.
135. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999. The title by Seth Govind Das is Jivan kranti ki disa (1966) (Life Revolution’s Direction), and the book is kept with Nikalank. Personal information from Nikalank to Anando, Poona, February 2012. Translation is by Dr. Kuldip Dhiman, author of The Ultimate Iconoclast (2012).
136. Gyan Bhed has in Ek Phakkar Massiha Osho put forward some information on his editing of the text and notes: “This book is not a fiction or novel. This is an authentic biography of Osho. When I had submitted the manuscript to Poona Ashram I had sent a list where it was mentioned that what is the source of this incident, whether it was told by Osho himself in some discourse (mentioning the name of discourse and page no. also), whether it was reported in the magazin Jyotishikha, Yukrant, Sanyas, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Rajneesh Newsletter or Osho Times, whether it was told by his relative or friend (with his name) while taking his interview. I requested the publisher to publish this list at the end of the book, but he did not agree. This list was prepared for 1st volume to V volume, then I had left this exercixe.” Gyan Bhed. Letter. 11.06.2010. And further: “From nine volumes of Ek Phakkar Massiha Osho I myself has prepared the abridged manuscript for The Rebellious Enlighened Master Osho in Hindi language. Up to four years I could not get such an Osho lover who could translate it in English. Then the publisher had engaged some English professor (retired) for the translation. To my limited knowledge of English I had corrected the translation, so that the essence of Osho’s teachings and message might have communicated truely. There may be mistakes in that translation, but I am sure that Osho lovers shall realize & appreciate my love, surrender, feelings and essence of Osho’s message. I have no facilities of typewriter etc. I am 72 years old and nowadays I am busy in translation work from English to Hindi of Osho’s famous discourses.” Gyan Bhed. Letter. 09.09.2006. The first volume of the Hindi edition was introduced by Ma Amrit Sadhana, secretary of Osho International Commune in Poona, and the English translation is with an introduction by Sw. Prem Nisheet, Kanpur. Osho’s younger brother Nikalank’s personal assessment of Gyan Bhed’s as well as Ageh Bharti’s publishing on Osho is fairly deploring, and he claims the publishing is without much quality. Nikalank. Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999. He is without doubt holding Osho in very high esteem, which does not leave not much space for more ordinary and inaccurate biographers.
137. Books by Ageh Bharti on Osho include in English: Beloved Osho. In Hindi: Rajneesh Yani Prem. 1972; Indradhanushi Smiritiyon Mein Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh. (Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh in the Rainbow of Memoirs). 1978; Osho Gatha (A Saga of Osho). 1993; Osho ke Sangh Kuch Anmol Kshan (Some Precious Moments with Osho); Rajneesh-ras-Bhijyon. Hindi poems. In progress 2007; Returning Home. English poems. In progress 2007. (Bharti 2007, p. 286).
138. Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan became an ardent collector of Rajneesh’s publications and had a standing order at the Bombay AUM Center for new books in Hindi as well as in English. He was a subscriber to all magazines and was listening to Osho’s audio cassettes every evening.
139. Location also mentioned: 62, Prabhat Vihar, Panna Road. Satna – 485 001 (Madhya Pradesh).
140. Sw. Bodhisatva Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 4.10.2007.
141. In Search of Truth was translated by Urmila into English from Hindi, and dictated to Suha based on the text published earlier in the Hindi magazine SMARIKA (Memorial), December 2002. SMARIKA was an annual commorative issue of the Hindi Osho Times magazine, with its first issue coming out in December 1991 published by Tao Publishing. The initial idea came form Sanjay Bharti with Chaitanya Keerti as its first editor. Suha. Poona. E-mail. 15.08.2003.
142. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
143. Devendra. Interview. Poona. 31.07.2001.
144. Mamta. Interview. Poona. January 1999. See Appendix.
145. Laheru. Interview. Bombay. 21.07.2006.
146. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
147. Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 18.09.2007.
148. Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 18.09.2007.
149. The Dwarka Meditation camp was held in Gujarat for four days starting on October the 28th, 1969.
150. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 15.02.2007.
151. Arvind Kumar Jain. Letter. 04.07.2008.
152. Vikas Vig. Interview. Delhi. 05.07.2006.
153. Interview. Sannyasin on train coming UP before Patna. July 2006. The existence of these recordings read by a speaker for six months at Radio Patna 1969-1970 is yet to be verified. A manuscript: Vichar Anu (Minute Thoughts) from 1967 is preserved.
154. Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 18.09.2007.
155. Parikh is also with alternative transliteration Parekh.
156. Neelam. Interview. Daramsala. 09.07.2006. Anando, editor of Life Is a Soap Bubble (2012), mentions that Sohan unfortunately had all her letters laminated, and that they had been preserved by her sister. Anando. E-mail. 27.02.2012.
157. Kabeer 2001. A reference list with Unlisted material (Updated 04.02.2000) from a cubboard in Osho Research Library, Poona, mentions: Early letters 1964-71. Misc. letters translated from Hindi and published in Osho Times. See in Appendix: Early letters to Ma Yoga Sohan and Ma Dharm Jyoti. 2 chapters: 1. Letters to Ma Yoga Sohan printed in Path Ke Pradeep and A Cup of Tea. 2. Letters to Ma Dharm Jyoti. First published in the Osho Times International, September 1, 1990.
158. Gyan Bhed suggests that the letter was written much later in Woodlands after 1970. “Perhaps [Kabir] had followed the suggestion of Osho regarding the marriage with Kranti Didi. When Ma Laxmi was nominated as secretary at Woodlands, Kranti Didi felt it very insulting and had gone in frustration. Perhaps she was jealous. Under those circumstances it appears that Osho had suggested Kabir to marry with her. It appears that perhaps Osho had written this very letter to Kranti for her consolation and improving her understanding before her marriage. Though in this letter Osho has not mentioned the date, but the contents of this letter indicates its time.” (Gyan Bhed. Letter. 24.09.2008). Chinmaya has a much earlier date between 1958-62 for the letter which does not correspond with the letterhead. (Chinmaya. Bageshwar. 27.09.2007).
159. This context is mentioned in the letter from Gyan Bhed 24.09.2008.
160. Translated by Dr. Jyoti Arora. Pranam means: offering my respect, obeisance.
161. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
162. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
163. Vasant Joshi. E-mail. 07.03.2007.
164. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
165. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
166. Arvind Kumar Jain. Letter. 12.09.2000.
167. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
168. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005. This was the standard seize of paper in Europe and the British Commonwealth before format A4 was introduced. It is 216×343 mm.
169. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
170. The articles mentioned have all been preserved in paper format cuttings by Arvind Kumar Jain.
171. Narendra was Osho’s cousin and a lecturer in psychology. His dissertation The Effect of Meditation on Personal Change was nevertheless not approved by the academic authorities, a case quite familiar to other sannyasin students in psychology. In Bombay together with Chinmaya he edited and published Osho’s newsletter and booklets.
172. Arvind Kumar Jain. Letter. July 2005.
173. Mukul has in one issue damaged by insects been preserved in the collection of Osho’s younger brother Nikalank Bharti. Mukul (Hindi), published 1952-53, is mentioned and documented in Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers (Shrivastav 1968, p. 652) in the section for magazines and newspapers published in Jabalpur 1951 to 1955.
174. Urmila. Interview. Poona. 04.02.2000.
175. Transliteration Yukrant as well as Yukrand.
176. Ajeet Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 20.09.2007. Ajeet Kumar Jain was with Osho for many years without sannyas initiation. On his non-surrendering he asked Osho a question in a Hindi lecture in January 1981. When Osho in Bombay chose the epithet Bhagwan many of his former followers from Jabalpur took the opportunity to distance themselves from him.
177. Arvind Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
178. On reverse page is written with ball pen: Yukrand. Reverse (Same seize) s/s. Paper with print on reverse: nehru nagar jabalpur (m.p). Some glue on recto page. 25×8.6 cm. ‘Earthen Lamps are different, the Flame is one.’
179. Ageh Bharti. Interview. Jabalpur. 18.09.2007.
180. She was later to become Ma Yoga Meera and her husband Dr. Hemant Swami Anand Nirvan.
181. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 20.11.2006.
182. Early discourse transcript, #8. Unpublished. In: Osho’s Life at >www.oshoworld.com<.
183. Vasant Joshi. Interview. Ahmedabad. 25.07.2006.
184. Early discourse transcript, #8. Unpublished. In: Osho’s Life at >www.oshoworld.com<. Osho’s own book with 226 blank white pages is titled No Book / Osho Rajneesh (1989). Postscript: “What I could say, I have told you. What I could not say, I have given to you.” A blank paper may also be put in front of a Tibetan performer so through it he can envision what he is about to sing.
185. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
186. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
187. In Anant Ki Pukar (1967) Osho is speaking on his youth movement.
188. Pahalgam may also be spelled Pahalgaon in alternative transliteration.
189. Arun: My Days with Osho. >www.sannyasnews.com<. Laheru has it that 7-800 people participated in this camp at Dwarka.
190. Some inconsistency is to be found in the original translation from Hindi into English. According to an editors’ list ‘Translations: Hindi to English’ (Poona. 18.01.1981. 5 pages) The Gateless Gate is ready in manuscript, but as there already was one book of Bhagwan’s letters with the same title (Jeevan Jagruti Kendra, 1971) the talks were later to be published as And Here and Now (Several editions 1984-2008. See Bibliography: Compilations published after 1974). Content of manuscript: 15 lectures based on talks given in Dwarka, Gujarat (October 29th to 31st, 1969) and Bombay (November 4th and 5th, 1969 and August 1st to 6th, 1970). Translated by Dolly Diddee. Edited by Ma Satya Bharti. Forword by Swami Yogi Chinmaya. “This is another compilation more suited to an Indian audience. Would need more work before printing for a Western market. Many referencers to death – possibility of compiling them into a booklet in view of current Western interest in the subject. 1 top copy edited. 2 carbon copies need copy editing.”
191. On RSS see Note 36 for Gadawara section.
192. “After Nargol Meditation Camp, Osho answered many esoteric questions about kundalini, chakras, psychic experiences, the occult etc. It is not fruitful to give many excerpts because these matters need to be read in full.” In Search of the Miraculous, vol.1 #1). See also The Psychology of the Esoteric and Hidden Mysteries.
193. Hasiba Kheliba Dhariba Dhyanam #2. Unpublished translation from Hindi.
194. The correct date for the celebration is 28.06.1970, according to Ageh Bharti and Gyan Bhed.
195. Personal information from Anando collected during her interview with Arvind Kumar Jain. Jabalpur. November 2011.
196. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005. Bhia comes from Sanskrit root Bhiyas meaning fear, dread, apprehension.
197. Vasant Joshi has dated Osho’s speech June 29, 1970, and he has also translated it from its Hindi original in Yukrand, 1970 no. 5 and 6. (Joshi 1982, p. 94).
Bombay
1. Laxmi is the most important deity in an average Hindu’s life. She is the wife of Vishnu and the goddess of fame, good fortune, prosperity and above all: Wealth. On Deepavali, the festival of lights, every Hindu prays to her and many devotees keep their doors and windows open all night, that she can enter their home unobstructed.
2. In September 1971 meditation camp Osho changes the third stage of Dynamic Meditation from ‘Who am I?’ to shouting ‘Hoo Hoo Hoo’. By October 1972 Osho has changed the fourth stage of Dynamic Meditation to a ‘Stop’ or ‘Freeze’,excercise in whatever position one is in, and remaining in it for 10 minutes. A fifth stage of five minutes celebration and dancing was later added at the end of the meditation in the early 1970s. At the July 1973 meditation camp at Mt. Abu a conga-drum band with five musicians is making accompanying music for the meditation, and when Osho moved to Poona Indian sannyasins played live music during the camps. Later on Osho had musical accompaniment recorded for all his meditations made by Chaitanya Hari (aka Georg Deuter). Connection, 1992:4, pp. 28-31; VIHA, 2012:4, p. 14.
3. “December 8th 1970 Osho moves to Woodlands Apartment, where he lives until March 1974. Now that Osho is settled he is able to work more closely with disciples. He gives private interviews, and discourses which are often followed by ten minutes’ kirtan and meditations.” Osho’s Life www.
4. With Laheru in Bombay is now Osho’s chair from his study at Woodlands. The chair was also used later on in Poona until December 1976 and again when Osho returned to Bombay 1986 after his world tour. In the Bombay years Osho once kept his feet in plaster for two hours and got made a die of both his feet from it. Seven pairs of the feet were cast in a mixture of five metals including bronze, from that mold at Wagh Sculptor at Chowpati. Osho kept them in his bed for three days to ‘energize’ them and then presented them to a few selected disciples: 1. Shri Ishwarbhai. 2. Ma Taru (later with Japanese sannyasin Limbuswami). 3. Ma Saroj. 4. Ma Karuna (later with Ma Big Prem). 5. Shri Lashkariji. 6. Ma Anand Pratima from New York. 7. Shri Laheru. Some feet made from marble (marble powder) are also said to have been produced. Anando. E-mail. 07.11.2011. Laheru 2012, p. 88.
5. Kul Bhushan in: Osho World, February 2009, p. 51.
6. It may be interesting to note that when Gandhi was writing about making one’s own khadi in Hind Swaraj (1908) he had not actually seen a handloom or a spinning wheel. The Khadi movement was only taking momentum very slowly as the spinning of yarn had to be resumed with all spinning wheels stored away as useless lumber in the homes of people. Gandhi 2001, p. 439.
7. Kul Bhusant in: Osho World, February 2009, p. 53.
8. His Chevrolet Impala was most likely a 3rd generation 1961-64 model.
9. The Buddha Disease 10.01.1977; >osholoveosho.blogspot.com<
At the third Mt. Abu meditation camp in April 1972 Chinmaya received Bhagwan’s consent to marry Ma Anand Prem from England. Once when Bhagwan returned from his discourse held at Patekar Hall in Bombay, he is reported to have chuckled to Chinmaya, ‘O dear, you have been married now; please care to produce some children!’ Bharti 2007, p. 234.
10. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 30.09.2007. An interview with Swami Yoga Chinmaya speaking on Divine Healing is presented in Sannyas, 1972:3, p. 38.
11. Joshi 1982, pp. 107-109. Further quotes by Vivek are to be found in an interview December 17, 1978, called ‘Love’s Returning’ published in Sannyas, 1979:1, pp. 34-39. Sannyas was edited by Ma Yoga Sudha and published by Rajneesh Foundation, Poona. Bhagwan is talking about Vivek’s work with him in The Sound of Running Water. (Asha 1980, pp. 81-83), reprinted in The Awakened One (Joshi 1982, p. 110). Vivek later changed her name to Nirvano and her last days in December 1989 is described in her friend Ma Prem Shunyo’s Diamond Days With Osho (Shunyo 1993, pp. 243-47).
12. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 13.07.2006; Kabeer. Interview. Ahmedabad. 25.07.2006. Kranti met Sw. Krishna Kabeer in Woodlands, they shared a room and later got married. Sw. Krishna Kabeer aka Chirantan Bramachari started in 2003 as a columnist to write weekly columns on Osho in a Gujarathi newspaper, and Kranti died in 2006. The love she felt for Osho is obvious from the letter he wrote to her in answer to her anxieties (See Appendix). Together with Arvind Kumar Jain she has recounted her memories from her days with Rajneesh in Jabalpur. Kranti and Arvind Jains manuscript was typeset and made ready for printing in 2006, with Osho’s photo on green background from Woodlands.
13. Arvind Kumar Jain. Interview. Jabalpur. 24.07.2005.
14. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 27.09.2007.
15. These organisational issues are laid out in Sannyas, January 1972, and in Work is Love Made Visible (2011), including a talk given in August 1971 to NSI organisers. Osho’s Life www.
16. Chaitanya Bharti was the first president of Neo Sannyas International (NSI) and Kabeer its first secretary. Quotations on sannyas are taken from the following sourses: Tao. The Golden Gate #10; The Wisdom of the Sands. Discourses on Sufism, vol.2, p. 200; Hallelujah! A Darshan Diary, pp. 51-54, 71-73. (Joshi 1982, note 29, p. 198).
17. Osho Bibliography. sannyas.wiki. Bibliography.
18. Gyan Bhed. Interview. Kanpur. 16.09.2007.
19. Sannyas means renunciation in Sanskrit, literally to ‘lay it all down’. In the Hindu tradition it is indicating a life of austerity and life renunciation, but as we can see Osho’s concept was a very different one. Additional identification of the first sannyasins initiated in Kulu Manali are located at >satrakshita.com/osho_first_sannyasins.htm<.
20. The living-cum-library room was not really downstairs, but its floor was in different levels with the end towards the street somewhat lower than the other end.
21. Swami Svatantra Sarjano. Interview with Osho’s father Babu Lal. >www.oshonews.com/2010/11<.
22. VIHA, 2011:6. Page 22.
23. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 01.01.2007. Translated from Hindi Osho Hi Osho.
24. A full list of sannyas names, their meaning and their Sanskrit or Hindi origin made by Sarovara is to be found at >www.oshonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sannyas-names/<. It is still to be verified whether Osho was in command of both reading and writing Sanskrit, although his father has mentioned that he taught Sanskrit in Raipur with remarkable profundity and enthrallment.
25. Vasant Joshi is explaining that Shree is a term generally used for respect, much as ‘Sir’ or ‘Mr.’ are used in English, but it is also more specifically used as a title before the names of deities and revered persons, such as one’s guru or master. The epithet Bhagwan was used also by Ramana Maharishi, the famous Advaita sage, and as we can see Osho’s name change incited quite some controversy in India, just like his initiation practice the previous year. Bhed writes that the change of name to Bhagwan took place at the Kulu Manali camp. Bhed 2006, p. 310.
26. “Im Sanskrit gibt es drei Worte für Gott: 1. BHAGWAN, 2. ISWAR, 3. PARAMATA. Paramata ist die überlegene seele, besser noch, die höchste Seele. (Param – höchste, atma – Seele). Ishwar heisst: “der Reichste”, jemand, der alles hat, der alles ist. Bhagwan: Die Buddhisten gebrauchen für Buddha das Wort “Bhagwan”: Bhagwan Gautama Buddha. Die Jainas glauben, wie auch die Buddhisten, nicht an einen persönlich vorgestellten Gott, aber für ihren Gründer Mahaviraa gebrauchen sie den Namen: Bhagwan Vardhman Mahavira. Die Hindus sind sehr erdverhaftet. Die ursprüngliche Wurzel vor Bhagwan ist “bhag”, d.h. “Vagina”. Bhagwan heisst in dieser Bedeutung: Einer, der die Vagina des Universums benutzte, um zu schaffen, der Schöpfer.” Huth 1993, p. 107.
27. This letter, as well as those to follow later, is translated from Hindi by Vasant Joshi and they were first published in Jyotishikha, no. 20, March 1971, pp. 55-57.
28. Osho’s Life www.
29. Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 05.10.2007.
30. Neelam. Interview. Dharamsala. 09.07.2006.
31. Osho Times International. 01.08.1991, p. 12.
32. Sw. Radhey Shyam Bharti. Interview. Osho Center in Nirav Complex, Ahmedabad. 24.07. 2006. Jayantibhai also published some of Osho’s books in Gujarati and was a senior member of the Inner Circle. He died in November 2011. VIHA 2012:1. Page 6.
33. Some of Osho’s favourite Indian singers were Noor Jahan, Pankaj Malik, Sahgal, Thakur Onkar Nath and K.C Dey. Gyan Bhed. Interview. Kanpur. 15.09.2007.
34. Pratap & Naik. Interviews. Poona 04.02.2000 & Jabalpur 10.02.2000.
35. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999; Manu. Interview. Poona. 03.08.1999.
36. Karuna. Interview. Bombay. 02.02.2000. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 13.07.2006.
37. Karuna. Interview. Bombay. 02.02.2000.
38. Jyoti. Interview. Poona. August 1999.
39. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 03.02.2000.
40. Prem Jeevan. E-mail. 05.12.2011.
41. Sw. Bodhisatva Narendra.Interview. Dehra Dun. 04 & 05.10.2007.
42. Osho Times International. 01.08.1991, p. 12.
43. Sw. Bodhisatva Narendra. Interview. Dehra Dun. 04 & 05.10.2007.
44. Nikalank Bharti. Interview. Poona. 04.08.1999.
45. In German edition (1996, p. 113) the figures are 50.000 and 80.000.
46. Interview with Sw. Anand Maitreya. In: Divya 1980, p. 346.
47. Narendra Prakash Jain. Interview. Delhi. 04.07.2006.
48. N.K. Verma. Interview. Delhi. 24.09.2007.
49. Kabeer. Interview. Ahmedabad. 24.07.2006; Ishwarbhai. Interview. Poona. August 1999. Ishwarbhai took ‘white’ sannyas at Mount Abu in 1971 and received the name Sadhu Ishwar Samarpan.
50. Laheru. Interview. Bombay. 21.07.2006. The first television recording for an European audience took place in Woodlands on May 1, 1972, when a crew from West Germany interviewed Bhagwan and filmed a Kirtan celebration. For audio/video in Bombay see also section on Jabalpur and Appendix.
51. Chaitanya [Proper] Sagar. In: Viha Connection, 2003:4.
52. Osho Enlightened Guru. Posted in the Asheville Forum, NC, by Nisaranda. >www.topix.com/forum/city/asheville-nc/<. 25.02.2013.
53. Translated from the German by the author.
54. The Bhagavad Gita is a poem of seven hundred stanzas in eighteen short sections, inserted in Book VI of the Mahabharata. The eight volumes of Osho’s Geeta Darshan are with the following chapters: Vol.1: #1,2,3. Vol.2: #4,5. Vol.3: #6,7. Vol.4: #8,9. Vol.5: #10,11. Vol.6: #12,13. Vol.7: #14,15,16. Vol. 8: #17,18.
55. Osho’s ideas with the construction meditation temples or halls in his centers can be seen in Hasiba Kheloba Dhariba Dhyanam #2 and in Laheru 2012, p. 74.
56. The two first parts of the discourses on Tao were published by Motilal Banarsidass in Delhi (See Appendix). Later on a third series of 21 discourses was held in Bombay from July to December 1972, and a fourth consisting of 21 discourses also in Bombay from June to November 1973. Those discourses were translated by Dolly Diddee and introduced by Swami Anand Maitreya. A fifth series was translated in 1981 and a sixth series was not yet translated in 1981. Translations: Hindi to English. Research Library. Poona, 18.1.1981. On the publication history of Geeta Darshan see also Laheru 2012, p. 66.
57. Arihant means he who has left everything, whereas aschetic is a positive term which means he who has got everything. An Upadhyaya bestows kindness on you and tells you things by way of speaking.
58. To illustrate the numerous title changes and the publishing of ever new editions of one original source we here list the various later publications from Diamond Pocket Books in Delhi, all based on the original Geeta Darshan: 1. Geeta Bhakti aur Karam. 2. Geeta: Manovigyan ka Param Shastra. 3. Geeta: Krishna ka Yog Vigyan. 4. Geeta, Vigyan, Kala aur Adhayatma. 5. Geeta Samast Yogon ka Sar. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 15.02.2007.
59. To illustrate again title changes and the publishing of still new editions of one original source we list here the various later publications from Diamond Pocket Books in Delhi all based on the original Krishna Smriti (The Remembrance of Krishna): 1. Krishna, Jigyasa, Khoj Uplabdhi. 2. Krishna Guru Bhi, Sakha Bhi. 3. Sakshi Krishna aur Raslila. 4. Krishna Sadhna Rahit Sidhdhi. 5. Krishna aur Hansta Hua Dharam. 6. Krishna Meri Drishti Mein, vol.1-2. Gyan Bhed. E-mail. 15.02. 2007.
60. Osho Bibliography (wiki).
61. Osho’s Life www.
62. Patanjali is said to have lived in the 2nd century BCE. Like other rishis he made no effort to mention his own biodata in the texts, as truth is eternal and not to be pinned down by a single individual into exact time and space. This is similar to the recent practise of editing Osho’s works with locations, timings and names all left out.
62. Osho’s Life www. Among Blavatsky’s Theosophical ideas was the Great White Brotherhood, a term to be used also by Osho in his reorganizing of the movement during the rainy season 1989.
64. Shaktipat is the energy of a Master which may trigger energy in people, producing involuntary physical and emotional responses like crying, laughing, chaotic breathing, shaking, trembling, and celebrating. The instructions are: 20 minutes instrumental music, followed by 20 minutes silence, followed by 20 minutes music. During the music people are to express whatever comes. People are requested to bring a flower with them (Osho’s Life www). Shaktipat in a more intensive format was to be found during Energy Darshan in Poona One.
65. Sannyas, Mar-Apr 1973.
66. Sw. Radhey Shyam Bharti. Interview. Osho Center in Nirav Complex, Ahmedabad. 23.07.2006. Dvarika also with alternate transliteration Dwarka.
67. Peter Brent is born 1931 in Wales. The setting he is narrating may be from a very early meditation camp or some other session during the Bombay phase or even from late Jabalpur.
68. Devadas (John Maynard) in Viha Connection, 2002:4, p. 20.
69. Osho’s Life www. “The structure Osho recommends is reported in Sannyas, Jan-Feb 1973. Ananda-Shila will work as a World Centre for Meditation and the Science of Religion by promoting a series of activities connected to the following:
1. A Yoga-Therapy Centre
2. A Naturopath and Acupuncture Research Centre as helpful grounds for scientific investigations and collateral to Meditation
3. A University for Meditation, inclusive of departments such as: (a) A Training centre for esoteric sciences; (b) A Training College for Yoga and meditation; (c) An East and West Meeting Centre for Psychologies and Philosophies
4. A Library of Universal Knowledge
5. A Publication Centre
6. A Temple of Understanding: The Temple will represent all religions of the world, visibly manifested as sixteen gates opened to a central, void space to represent the Divine
7. A Hostel for resident sannyasins
8. A Guesthouse for visitors and students under training
9. A Hall for mass meditation and international conferences
10. Fifty Underground Cells for deep meditation
11. A bungalow for the private residence of osho
12. Residential Cottages for friends
Ananda-Shila, according to Osho’s inspiration, will be an absolutely non-political and non-sectarian Foundation which will work for the rising of awareness among human beings with a basis of love and understanding.”
70. Devi Singh Bikaner. Interview. Bikaner Palace Hotel, Mt. Abu. 30.07.2006. A meditation camp held at Mt. Abu already in 1969 which was stopped by the authorities as reported by Devi Singh, Bikaner, has not been confirmed. He may have mixed it up with the April 1971 camp. Devi Singh Bikaner is a wild-life supervisor, son-in-law to the Maharaja of Bikaner and uncle to the present owner of Bikaner Palace Hotel (2006).
71. Devi Singh Bikaner. Interview. Bikaner Palace Hotel, Mt. Abu. 30.07.2006. He remembers his early reading of Acharya Rajneesh and his gift as a speaker; to some extent influenced by a German sound professor from Berlin, who had done some theoretical work on the effect of sound for propaganda purposes, also used by Adolf Hitler. Rajneesh was wearing white coloured clothes while his later sannyasins were to wear saffron clothing, which was seen by Devi Singh as a sign of Rajneesh’s strong affiliation to Jainism,
72. Ageh Bharti has it that 215 took sannyas rising the total number of initiated to 4.250 by October 1972. Gyan Bhed mentions the number of 150 initiates for this camp.
73. Devi Singh Bikaner. Interview. Bikaner Palace Hotel, Mt. Abu. 30.07.2006; Bhagawati in: Viha Connection, 2010:5. Page 17. There’s a big mango tree next to Bikaner Palace Hotel where according to some sources Rajneesh is said to have spoken and meditations held at a big ground next to the tree, now a tennis lawn. This ground was in early 1970s a place where his followers could meet him when he stayed at the hotel at a time when the tree was in a more private zone next to the hotel. Osho’s speaking under the mango tree is unconfirmed. The present manager (2006) indicates so, as he has been told by some of his visitors that Osho has spoken there, but Devi Singh Bikaner rejects that any camps at all were ever held on the premises of the hotel.
74. Devadas (John Maynard). Viha Connection, 2002:4, p. 20.
75. According to Ageh Bharti all discourses during the sixth Mt. Abu camp were held in English (Bharti 2007, p. 255), whereas Gyan Bhed is mentioning also evening discourses in Hindi (Bhed 2006, p. 361).
76. Ageh Bharti is mentioning that discourses were in Hindi only (Bharti 2007, p. 257).
77. Osho’s Life www.
78. VIHA Connection, 2001:6, p. 22.
79. The Art of Dying #12. See also: LSD: A Shortcut to False Samadhi (January 1971), an edited version was later published in The Great Challenge #4. It is reported by an early sannyasin to the author in Kathmandu April 1981, that encounter groups were initiated already at Woodlands, where Bhagwan used Wilhelm Reich’s techniques and is said to have brought in prostitutes to facilitate his work with the repression of sexual desires and self-acceptance among his Western followers.
80. Paraphrased by Gyan Bhed this passage says: “When one has a brain but no heart, he can not go to rest and so he can not attain delight. The East is trapped in emotions and the heart whereas the West in logics. Thoughts, logic and brain developed in the West and its emotion part died. Therefore both the East and the West have become lame like a one-winged bird. The correct balance of brain and emotions is necessary for a healthy human civilization.” (Bhed 2006, p. 322). This may give us an idea of the accurancy with which Gyan Bhed may render the words of his master and the caveats we need when reading his quotations from Hindi. According to Gyan Bhed their conversation ended with a discussion on the Indian preference for vegetarian food, and Osho on this point quoted Bernard Shaw, himself a vegetarian, for saying when he was offered a non-vegetarian dish during a feast, “Excuse me, my friend! My stomach is not a grave.” This phrase is not seen included in the actual text.
81. See Appendix. In preamble: “To date [1972] the total number of neo-sannyasins and sannyasins in India is 3.800. Abroad, the number is 134, and they live in the following places: U.S.A. 56, England 16, West Germany 16, Italy 12, Philippines 12, Canada 8, Kenya 4, Denmark 2, Japan 1, France 1, Holland 1, Australia 1, Greece 1, Sweden 1, Norway 1, Switzerland 1.” Chinmaya in: I Am the Gate (1972), p. 233. In Practical Ways: “These ashrams will have their own libraries consisting of books and scriptures of all the religions and of particular books related to the practical sides of spiritual experimentations. In addition, it will also have tape recorders, films, etc…Publications will be carried out in the state languages as well as national and international languages. For the printing work, different presses will be installed by NSI.” I Am the Gate (1972), p. 236.
82. VIHA 2011:5, p. 10.
83. All titles to be ordered from: The Secretary. Jeevan Jagruti Kendra, 53 Empire Building, Dr. D.N. Road, Fort, Bombay-1. India. Phone: -264530. Or from: 31, Israil Mohalla, Bhagwan Bhuvan, Masjid Bunder Road, Bombay-9. Phones: 327618 and 327009.
84. In Osho Research Library, Poona, the Poona Index #3 is presenting an incomplete listing of jokes and anecdotes on page 183-355.
85. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 30.09.2007.
86. Sarito. E-mail. 07.06.2001.
87. Manu. Interview. Poona. August 1999.
88. Interview with Sw. Anand Maitreya in: Divya 1980, p. 353.
89. Khushwant Singh. Renowned Indian author (Train to Pakistan, History of the Sikhs) and editor of Illustrated Weekly of India (1969-1978), National Herald and Hindustan Times. He also wrote the foreword to Osho’s Life Mysteries (1995). He stood by Indira Gandhi during her days in power and was later forced to quit his editorship due to pressure from Morai Desai’s family.
90. Devendra. Interview. Poona. 31.07.2001.
91. Osho Bibliography (wiki)
92. Osho Bibliography (wiki)
93. Swami Yogi Chinmaya was a sannyasin (Swami Kriyananda Saraswati) when he first came to Osho in 1966 long before the Kulu Manali meditation camp in September 1970 where he was initiated by Rajnesh. Chinmaya became Osho’s personal secretary and devoted editor at Woodlands. More on Chinmaya is to be found earlier in the Bombay section. Laheru. Interview. Bombay. 21.07.2006.
94. Vora is said to be his South Indian family name, but it has not been possible up to now to retrieve further information on this author.
95. Kranti’s pet name used by Rajnessh was Mouna or Mauna (silence). Lead, Kindly Light is a famous hymn written 1833 by John Henry Newman on a lengthy voyage at sea bound for England.
96. >www.oshonews.com/2013/06<.
97. Gyan Bhed. Letter. 07.03.2008.
98. Chaitanya Keerti. Interview. New Delhi. 01.08.2006. Anandini published from Ludhiana was sanctioned by Osho, but was not an ‘official’ magazine as Yukrand and Jyoti Shikha. The issues of the magazine kept by Nikalank were all sent to Oregon. Nikalank Bharti Interview. Poona. 07.08.1999.
99. Keerti. Interview. Citadel. 14.10.2000; >www:sannyas.net<.
100. Osho’s Life www.
101. Osho Research Library. Poona. 04.08.2001. Shelved in Osho Library as of July 2001: Sannyas 1972-1981. Sannyas Darshan (Hindi) 1974:1-3. 1975:1, 1976:26.
102. Chaitanya Keerti. E-mail. 17.04.2013.
103. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 13.07.2006. Sw. Chaitanya Bharti met Osho in 1969 and he was among the first persons to be initiated into sannyas in September 1970. He resigned as a government photographer in 1971 and was appointed one of the three group leaders of Kirtan Mandali. From 1972 he became Osho’s first photographer in Bombay as well as editor of Hindi discourses. An interviw with Swami Chaitanya Bharti on the Kirtan Mandali group is published in Sannyas, 1972:4, p. 42. Much later in Poona Two he became a member of The Inner Circle and published a few books in Hindi on his experiences when he left this work. Among those Osho aur Inner Circle (1994) and Bulle Shah aur Inner Circle. In English have come out: Out of His Ashes (1994), Osho is not a Person (2013) and …and nothing has ever happened. In 2002 he calls himself Gurudev, and in 2010 ‘whosoever’.
104. Osho’s Life www; Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 27.09.2007. We may expect still more letters from Osho to be published in years to come, e.g. his letters to Chinmaya. Anando. E-mail. 15.02.2012.
105. Chinmaya. Interview. Bageshwar. 13.07.2006; Clarke, 2006, p. 465; Sutcliffe 2000, p. 207.
106. Osho’s Life www.
Postscript
1. Excerpt from a column by the Australian journalist John Pilger in The Guardian, 04.07.2013. Pentagon has censored access to The Guardian among its armed forces in the Middle East. Other titles presenting Osho’s custody are, next to Brecher 1993, also Juliet Forman’s trilogy on Bhagwan from the late 1980s, and two books by Sue Appleton: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The Most Dangerous Man Since Jesus Christ (1987) and Was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Poisoned by Ronald Reagan’s America? Osho’s own narratives of his days in jail are with the captivating titles: Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries, and Jesus Crucified Again. This Time in Ronald Reagan’s America.
2. ‘It was actually the beginning of a new series that night, and he had no intention of it being the last discourse, hence those last words were not intended as his last words. It was only as he left the podium at the end he felt something disconnect inside him and realized he only had nine months left.’ Anando. Personal information. January 2014.
3. The Buddhist heritage was guarded during the reign of Ashoka (268-233), who through the strength of his ideas began a tradition of humane, non-violent statecraft that leads directly to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Osho. Following Alexander Cunningham’s rediscovery 1851 of the Buddhist stupas in Sanchi (M.P.), we know that the lion capital of pillar number 10 was later chosen as the symbol of the Indian Union at India’s Independence in 1947. At the same time, the thirty-two-spoked Dharmachakra or ‘Wheel of Law’ that the four lions had originally supported, became the central image on India’s new tricolour. But what might be less known, are the seven lines in Brahmi characters found inscribed on the base of the column. This surviving edict by Ashoka enjoined the monks and nuns to avoid creating schisms within the Sangha, its third line declaring that by command of his sacred majesty ‘no one shall cause division in the order’. Brahmi is an ancient Indian script from which the current Indian characters are derived. According to tradition Brahmi is derived from the hieroglyphs of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
4. On copyright see >www.oshofriendsinternational.com<.
5. Recently the collection in Osho Library has not been of much help for the writing of Osho Source Book. During my visit to Poona in July 2006 it was evident, that no material before 1970 and no booklets from Bombay were included in database and collection, and accordingly there was nothing there to collect for these writings. One may wonder where all old material has gone.
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