Supplement and Update 2024
Part Two. Jabalpur

 
 
 
PHOTOGALLERY
 
 
 
 

2.0 Jabalpur
 

Osho talks on Jabalpur during World War II
“… and Japan was winning continuously for years – even Calcutta was ordered to be evacuated because Japanese armies had reached Rangoon, and the second attack was to be on Calcutta. The third was to be on Jabalpur – where I used to teach, but not at the time of the second world war – because Jabalpur was the very center of India and because of its position the British government had its biggest factory for armaments there. So after Calcutta, the next target was Jabalpur. Even Jabalpur was getting ready to be evacuated. Once they attacked Calcutta, Jabalpur would have to be evacuated.” (Communism and Zen Fire, Zen Wind. 1990. Chapter 7, p. 305).

Osho’s residences in Jabalpur:

1. Marhatal
2. Tilak Bhumi Talaiya
3. Madan Mahal, Prem Nagar
4. Wright Towm, Dr. Mukherji’s house
5. Napier Town
6. Kamala Nehru Nagar.

Other places in Jabalpur:
– Saheed Samak Bhawan
– Bhanvar Tal Garden
– Hitkarni City College
– DN Jain College
– Mahakausal Kala Mahavidhalaya
– Devtal
– Bheraghat
– Tilwaraghat.
See also: Fig. 2. Map of Jabalpur. Vol. I. Part Two. Jabalpur.

Kul Bhushan writes on Osho’s nameplate from the entrance to his residence in Jabalpur
“Osho may NOT have designed his name with a full moon as many local artists also take these liberties and give their personal touch – like the full moon – to the name plates. I discussed this with some sannyasins last night and we concluded that it would be wise to say that Osho MAY have designed it.” (Kul Bhushan. E-mail. 22.09.2006)
(Note: Osho’s nameplate is pictured in Vol. I. Part Two. Jabalpur. Photo 5)

Gandhi Centennial Year was celebrated all over India in 1968-69 commemorating Mahatma Gandhi, born 02.10.1869 in the city of Porbandar in Gujarat. Later on Gandhi was living in Gujarat, and he was assassinated 30.01.1948 in New Delhi.

2.1 Academic Studies in Jabalpur and Sagar
 
From his tour to Osho related places in India 2014, Arjava recalls from Jabalpur
“We arrived in Jabalpur around four and were met by Swami Sushil, who told us that Osho had been a student at several Jabalpur universities and had been expelled from seven or eight institutions. In 1953, after his graduation, he went to Sagar for his post-graduate studies, staying there until 1955. Then he was appointed assistant professor at Raipur Sanskrit University and was transferred back to Jabalpur in 1958 where he finally had become an assistant professor of philosophy at the Mahakoshal Arts and Commerce College, where he stayed until he resigned in 1967. In June 1970, he left Jabalpur for Mumbai. Later on we met the dean and several others, who told us how much they appreciated having Osho as their senior colleague… Oh, the human being is such a hypocrite…
Osho managed to teach the curriculum of his yearly philosophy class in only two months. The rest of the time he toured India and gave lectures. His classes at the university were so popular even for students who were not studying philosophy that Osho had to teach in the auditorium; often times he spoke to 250 students at a time.” (Petter 2022, pp. 320-321. Amended)

Osho recalls Nehru’s visit to Jabapur
“Even in my university I was hitting the politicians right and left. Even the first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, I was criticizing continually from the platform of the Students’ Union of the university. He was Rajiv Gandhi’s grandfather.
When he came to the university, he particularly asked the vice-chancellor, “Where is that young man who has been criticizing me continually on everything?”
The vice-chancellor called me. He said, “Nobody except you could be doing this. Why have you been criticizing him?”
I said, “I am ready to answer if he has any question to ask, or if he has any answer to give I am ready to criticize.”
Pandit Jawaharlal looked at me. For a moment there was silence. He must have thought that if he criticizes me before everybody… And he had read all my criticisms, because I was sending the university magazine every month to the prime minister with all my criticisms of his policies. So he was wise enough, he just hugged me. I said, “Remember, this is not an argument!” But we laughed. He understood the situation.” (Yakusan. Straight to the Point of Enlightenment .1990. Chapter 2, p. 75)

Osho argues with his professor as recalled by his fellow student Jawaharlal ‘Tarun’
“We were students of B.A. Final at D.N. Jain Degree College, Jabalpur. Jai Narayan Awasthi was the Professor for Hindi poetry and Harikant Shivastava was the Professor for Hindi prose.
One day, Professor Shivastava was delivering a lecture on the genre of stories. He looked at his notebook time and again during his lecture. The students were listening attentively and some were taking notes as well. There were no questions from anyone. He was asserting that a story is born from some incident.
Rajneesh (Osho) used to sit on the last chair or bench near the open window, looking out at the green garden or the open sky. I was seated slightly ahead of him. Perhaps he was only attending the class to meet the required minimum attendance. He used to be quite uninterested to what was being taught in class. That day, he was in the same indifferent mood, staring out the window at the open sky. The professor was not pleased with the student’s indifference in the running class. He felt offended and couldn’t stand it any longer.
He called out, “You, backbencher! What exactly are you doing?”
“Are you talking to me?” said the backbencher.
The entire class became attentive to this question-and-answer dialogue.
“Yes, I am inquiring. What do you see through the window?”
“I’m seeing what is worth seeing.”
The entire class burst out laughing.
The professor’s rage grew stronger. “So you weren’t paying attention to the lecture?”
“I pay attention to what is worth listening to.”
The class began to enjoy the conversation.
The professor became enraged. “So, tell me what I said in the story?”
“It’s best if you don’t ask that.”
The student had now gone too far. He had questioned the professor’s knowledge. It did a lot of damage to his ego.
“How?” he exclaimed, frustrated.
Rajneesh (Osho) repeated himself, “What you’re saying is incorrect, sir. An ‘incident’ does not give birth to a story.”
The professor laughed at this incomprehensible response. He declared, “It’s that easy. An incident occurred, the writer witnessed it, and the story was written.”
All of the students agreed that the professor was correct. There was no way to argue with it.
However, the backbencher came again. “Sir, an incident occurred, the writer witnessed it, and he wrote a story about it. This is correct. However, this does not imply that the story is born from the incident.”
This self-contradiction had the entire class at a loss for words. And the professor was pleased that he had seized the opportunity. “Now kindly tell me where the story is born,” he said sarcastically, as he smiled at all the students.
Rajneesh (Osho) responded, “Sir, you are asking again and again, please listen. The story isn’t based on an incident. It is the result of sentiment.”
“Is it because of sentiment? If an incident occurs, then only sentiment will be triggered.”
“Yes, sir, this is the sequence: incident, sentiment, and the production of the story.”
“It proves that the mother of the story is an incident.”
“No, sir, that just goes to show that the feeling, sentiment, is the mother of all stories.”
“Doesn’t your argument strike you as odd?”
“It’s not unusual. It’s the correct strategy. Please remember that I am my mother’s son, not my mother’s mother’s son. As a result, the sentiment is the mother of the story, while the incident is the mother of the mother.”
The entire class roared with laughter as they agreed with this logic. The students who were thinking Rajneesh (Osho) was snappy, tight-lipped, and a wild boy, got very attracted to him. In the debate, he had defeated the professor; his reasoning was dismissed. He was in a humiliating situation when, to his good fortune, the bell rung, signalling the end of the period.
“Well, we’ll address the matter again,” he said, relieved and walked out.”  (Excerpt from the book ‘Sudhiyon ke Rajhans (King Swans Remembered) by the late renowned poet, Professor Jawaharlal ‘Tarun’ of Jabalpur. Translated by Ageh Bharti. www.oshonews.com 29.11.2021)

2.3 Reading and Book Collecting

Urmila recalls Osho suggesting some books for her to read
“He also suggested some books for me at around this time. A couple were slim books by Paul Brunton, one of which was called ‘The Secret Path.’ Another was by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – a guru who was to become very well known, but about whom Osho later said that his Transcendental Meditation was ‘nothing but the transfer of activity from the outside to activity on the inside.’“ (Savita 2019, p. 45)
(Note: Paul Brunton was a British philosopher who made Ramana Maharshi known to Western seekers in the 1930s and ’40s. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born in Jabalpur in 1911 and became almost world-famous when the Beatles were attracted to him in the 1960s)

Neelam on Osho’s way of reading
“At 2.30pm, during the break for lunch and rest, I meet Him and gift Him a few books that He had asked for. With one of them in His hand, He sits in front of me, flipping one page after another… then asks Laxmi to put it in the closet as He has finished reading it, and to place the remaining books at His bedside. Puzzled, I blurt out, “No, You haven’t! You merely glanced at it!” I push further and test Him by asking something randomly from the book. When He answers correctly, I tell Him that He must have already read a copy before. He explains that He has a photographic memory, and can merely look and absorb the content, choosing what to keep in His memory. Noticing my bewilderedness Laxmi comments, “Yes, Neelam! This is now He reads.” (Neelam 2022, p. 39)

Urmila recalls from Osho’s reading
“Once a lady called Manju, an Indian from Nairobi, arrived for a visit. She also commented on the strong scent of flowers, but when she saw Osho’s library, she had an even greater response: ‘So many books!’ she exclaimed in amazement: ‘Have you read them all?’
Osho gave her his light, knowing smile and then responded with a challenge: ‘Take out any book and ask me a question about it from any page…’
The woman smiled and nodded, and her raised eyebrows met my eyes as she turned away. But she did not resort to testing him.
For myself, I was tempted to take him up on it. But I also held back, thinking it might be ill-mannered. If I had not taken such things as book learning so seriously, I might have been able, in a light-hearted way, to tease him into fulfilling his promise. But I was far too serious in those days to embark on such a line of approach.
The fact was, I did believe Osho’s memory was good enough to be able to recall the content of any page of any book he’d read. And once I’d dropped the idea of the challenge, to my surprise, I found myself feeling envious.” (Savita 2019, p. 50)

Shobhana tells when interrupting Osho’s reading
“Over the months that followed that conversation, everything started to change. The guilt, self-consciousness and preoccupations I had previously felt, slowly began to vanish. I could be playful and at ease with him, hug and make mischief with him like a child. I’d come up to him from behind as he sat in his armchair reading after the discourse, and cheekily tap-tap on the top of his head to draw his attention to me. But he’d just smile and keep on reading. I’d even try to take the book out of his hands, wondering all the while out loud what on earth he was doing wasting his time with all these words on white paper. I was not a reader myself and could not understand why anyone would sit all day and stare into a printed page for hours together. He’d just smile gently at me and read on. Perhaps I was feeling like a lover might be after the tensions of desire had subsided and the friendliness of companionship took over.
I got more and more chances to be intimate with him in this way as I took on the role of his caregiver, concerning myself with his needs and providing the small items that eased his way on his many long journeys and exhausting camp gatherings.” (Savita 2019, p. 178)

Urmila recalls Osho moving to Bombay
“I know you won’t be coming back to Jabalpur again,’ I said, my hand over my heart. ‘I’ve noticed your books are being packed for transportation. And if there’s one thing I can be sure of, where ever your books are, you are!’
I had heard that the reason his library was being sent to Bombay so long after he himself had settled there was because until now there had been no real place to house them. Books need a dry and cool environment and plenty of shelving – and Osho already had thousands.
‘It’s true,’ he nodded. ‘My books and I cannot be separated for long!’
We rarely talked about them any more, but I knew an enduring love of books was something I shared with him, and I held it in my heart as a special connection between us that I believed he did not have with any of his other lady devotees.” (Savita 2019, p. 98)

2.5 Lecturer and Ass. Professor of Philosophy
 
From his tour to Jabalpur 2014 Arjava writes on the University Library
“The library of the university looked like it had not been used or restocked for fifty years and I asked them for their address to send them some of my books! It all seemed so ancient. They kept Osho’s chair with a picture of him as well as some of his requisitions for the books that he had borrowed. In 1964 and 1965, for instance, he had read W.H. Clark, W.H. Walsh, H.D. Barret, William James, E.W. Hall, C.G. Jung and A.K. Coomaraswamy. On some days he had borrowed four or even eight books. Eventually, we were shown the teachers’ staff room where his chair used to be kept by the window. He was speaking very little at the time, and spent most of his day reading in that chair. Outside the window there used to be a Gulmohar tree [it’s one that has beautiful red flowers] under which he parked his car. It was known as his parking spot. When he resigned after ten years, he said goodbye to the tree, hugged it and left. About two months after he had left, the tree died. People said that it could not live without him.” (Petter 2022, p. 321)

Osho on translating a doctoral thesis
“The head of my department had a doctorate from Oxford. Obviously he had written it in English. He wanted it to be translated into Hindi and wanted it to be published. It was a beautiful book: ‘The Nature of Consciousness in Hindu Philosophy.’ He could not find the right person to translate it. For almost twenty years he had been looking. I was his student, and he told me, “I am tired of looking, but I think you can manage it. You will just have to devote to it at least one summer vacation – two months.”
I looked at his thesis and I said, “It won’t take that long. I will translate it, but looking at your thesis I can say which passage has been taken from which book.”
He said, “That you keep secret; you just translate it. You are not to bother which passage has come from which book. I know you can manage it, because you are living in the library the whole day. You know all the books that I have consulted.”
I told him, “You have not consulted them, you have cut pieces. You needed only scissors and German glue!”
I translated his book. He was immensely happy. But I had marked on each passage “From this book, from this page to this page…”
He said, “You have spoiled everything! I will have to have it typed by someone and I will have to cut all these references. Why did you do it?”
I said, “I know this passage is not yours, you have taken it from Badrayana.” I had brought Badrayana, and I opened the page and I said, “Look! Word for word. You have been stealing.”
He said, “That’s true. It is difficult to argue with you.”
So I told my vice-chancellor, “I don’t want to do a clerical job. I would prefer to die than to be a clerk!”
He said, “Don’t be angry at me; if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it.” He said, “I have another offer for you. A commission of twelve students from all over India, who have come top this year in their universities, is going to visit Afghanistan. I have posted your name without asking you”
I said, “You have done absolutely wrong. You withdraw my name.”
He said, “But why do you want to withdraw your name?”
I said, “You don’t know, these names will reach to the politicians; they will have to approve them. My name can never be approved by the politicians.” (Yakusan. Straight to the Point of Enlightenment (1990). Chapter 2, p. 73).
(Note: On the above mentioned tour Osho’s younger brother Niklank tells: “I don’t have any details, but just a faint memory that he was selected for some study tour, which he has declined and never taken any such tour.” Anuragi. E-mail. 16.12.2022)
 
Osho on Urmila’s husband
“One of my friends was a colonel in the army, and his wife was my student in the university. She introduced me to the colonel, and after Jabalpur, where I was a teacher, they were transferred to Poona, so I used to come here and always used to have at least one meal in their house.
The colonel was very much influenced by me, and he had a big regiment in Jabalpur, so he invited me one day.
His wife said, “Do you understand what you are doing?”
He said, “He is a nice fellow.”
The wife said, “That’s true, he is a nice fellow, but he will teach disobedience to your regiment.”
He said, “Are you going to teach my regiment disobedience?”
I said, “Certainly!”
He said, “Then the program is cancelled. My God! If my wife had not told me…”
I said, “I want to teach all the armies of the world disobedience. If they disobey, then let the president and prime ministers have wrestling matches, boxing matches. They can enjoy, and we will enjoy on television – but there is no need for millions of people to be killed continuously.” (Christianity, the Deadliest Poison & Zen, the Antidote to All Poisons (1990). Chapter 4, p. 136)

Sheela writes on Osho’s classes
“Bhagwan’s classrooms used to be packed with non-registered students who had heard about him and were curious to hear him. Often, there would be no space for registered students. Other professors’ students were attending Bhagwan’s classes and their classrooms were empty. This made them feel inferior. Bhagwan was becoming a nuisance for them. Their constant complaints to the head of the university resulted in the termination of Bhagwan. He lost his job at the university and decided to move forward without his job and the platform it gave him. Soon he started travelling from one city to another, giving public discourses and consulting meditation camps.” (Sheela 2021, p. 33)

Urmila recalls visiting Yogesh Bhavan
“Yogesh Bhavan, where Osho lived most of my time in Jabalpur, was in the city, near Nehru Garden, the garden where he had become enlightened in 1953. He had often sat in meditation there, under a small spreading maulshri tree, a tree decked with orange pods and strongly scented flowers.
I soon found myself at the large two-storey stone residence. The building was set off the road by a metal gate and a somewhat neglected lawn at the front. I headed down a gravel path flanked by plants with long-dried-out flower-heads dropping on their stems. Clearly no lover of flowers had been picking them to put into drawing-room vases; in fact, I was to discover later that Osho disliked plucked flowers, and would prefer them to let them blossom on the stem and die there, as nature intended.
A young man I met at the doorway, who turned out to be his cousin Arvind, told me Osho was having his afternoon rest. So I went to kill time visiting a few friends nearby and eventually found Osho available at 4.30…
His living room was a small, simply furnished space with cane chairs and plumped cushions and, against one wall, a green-covered takhat where several people could sit together, cross-legged, propped up against several bolsters. Against the other wall there was a cane sofa with more cushions, and beyond the latch window, where hung some dark green curtains, I could see the front path and the lawn edged with drying creepers. White mogra blossoms poked their faces up against the window panes.
The rest of the building on the other side, which Osho shared with his two cousins, Kranti and her brother Arvin and his family, turned out to be quite spacious.
The room I was entering looked as if it were meant only for visitors. A few young men, probably students, were already present, some sitting, some standing, and Osho himself cross-legged in the takhat, was talking to them…
During 1966 and 1967 Osho used to gather with people in the reception room at Yogesh Bhavan, as well as in the tiny staff room at the college where I had first met him. Yogesh Bhavan, where I had gone to see him soon after that, was a spacious property owned by a friend of his who had given up a portion of the building so Osho and his cousins could live there; the friend and his family occupied the adjoining part of the house…
Most of the time Osho would receive people in the large space which served as his library as well as his living room (it is possible that he conducted meditations there too in the evenings, although I never attended any myself).
Innumerable books were arranged neatly floor-to-ceiling on shelves which covered all four walls. By now there were no chairs or sofas, only the one very large takhat – the square divan with bolsters on which Osho sat to read, and where visitors would also sit. It had been moved to the middle of the room – I imagine, to free up wall space for his rapidly expanding book collection. In those days, he sat comfortably cross-legged without any back support.” (Savita 2019, pp. 35,49,50)

Osho’s love for flowers and trees
Ma Amrit Saraswati, Osho’s mother, tells in an interview 1986. Part 4. Excerpts:
“Mataji often took strolls amidst the lush, dense forest around Lao Tzu House in Osho’s commune. Each branch and leaf of those trees was infused with Osho’s presence and fragrance.
Mataji looked up at those trees and said, “Osho loved flowers and trees from the very beginning. Wherever he lived, he created a garden around his house. In his garden, the flowers and trees somehow grew bigger than in other gardens. The gardener would always do his work only after he had asked him what to do. Even Dadaji was fond of tending gardens. As long as Osho lived in our home, together he and Dadji would plant trees, water and nurture them. They took care of all the plants.
But there was one thing that I always found strange – no matter how many flowers bloomed, he never wanted to let anyone pluck them. Our neighbours used to say, ‘How arrogant they are! It is not such a big deal if we are plucking two or three flowers for the morning offering to the gods!’ But no, Osho never allowed anyone to touch those flowers.” (Osho’s love for flowers and trees. Part 4. www.oshonews.com)
(Note: This interview was first published in the Hindi Rajneesh Times (PDF) in three consecutive issues 1986 and 1987, and re-published in the Hindi Osho Times on 16 December 1993, under the title ‘A Pilgrimage from the Ocean to its Origin.’ Translation by Anuragi with edits by Osho News. Photos and PDF courtesy: Osho Ressource Center)

Ageh Bharti writes from the years when Osho lived in Yogesh Bhavan, as told to him by Ma Geeta Bharti, youngest daughter of Shri Devaki Nandan who owned Yogesh Bhavan No 115 in Napier Town, Jabalpur. Osho lived in the house from 1959 until 1968 when he moved to a house in Kamla Nehru Nagar as he had a different understanding from the family on the marriage of Shashi, Geeta’s elder sister, who later married Osho’s brother Sw Aklank. The following vignettes were told to Ageh Bharti by Geeta (born in 1952):
“Osho loved me very much. He taught me everything. I used to arrange his books in proper order. It is he who taught me all this. It was in his mind from the very beginning to create a town like Rajneeshpuram. In Yogesh Bhavan, that beautiful garden was Osho’s creation with the help of the gardener, a very good gardener. Osho used to tell a lot of jokes at which we both, Shashi and I used to roll on the floor laughing. He would often tell us to live life laughingly, not seriously…
Osho wanted a swimming pool to be created at the side of the property as there was enough space. But my mother was afraid one of us might drown. He then suggested a hall to be constructed, which was done. And it became a nice place to accommodate his large number of books and to meet people who came to see him. At first, he gave talks in that hall every Sunday. When the number of people increased, the venue was shifted to Shaheed Smarak.
Once, Shri Bhanjdev, the King of Bastar, was to come and see him. Osho had told us that we could now see how a king looks like and that he would come riding on a horse. That day I had taken leave from school to see the King and I was sitting silently when he was talking to Osho. Later I told Osho that “the King came with a car while you had told me he would come on a horse.” He said, “Yes, the King of Bastar generally rides on a horse.”
When we wanted to go see movies, Osho used to drop us off at the cinema and, upon return, listened to us tell him the story.
Osho’s previous-life-mother, Madan Kunwar Parakh (later Anandmayee) of Chandrapur, had sent an Akai tape recorder to Osho, and later she gifted him also a car. It was here that Osho learned how to drive. Shashi and I roamed around a lot with him in his car. He would say that only those who are ready to risk their lives should come with him and we enjoyed doing so. More often than not, I went alone with him on outings. I was always concerned not to miss any opportunity. Although I was not interested in education, I somehow did my B.Sc. and then M.A., too.
Once we were guests at a concert given by renowned film music directors and composers, Kalyan Ji and Anand Ji. The program was disturbed due to overcrowding and all the artists as well as Osho and I were rescued and brought to the hall behind the stage. Osho looked towards me and said, “She is my chief guest!” and the whole orchestra of more than a dozen artists stared at me. Osho was standing by the side and I stood in the middle. In that way, he made me the centre, the queen, amongst all the celebrities standing there. (Ageh Bharti, then Shiv, was also present.)
In 1962, during the Sino-Indian War, Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, invited Osho to meet him. It was always a surprise to us when VIPs used to come and see him here in Jabalpur. The most prestigious person of Jabalpur, Seth Goving Das [an Indian independence activist and distinguished parliamentarian], was in a suicidal state when his son died at 42 years of age. He only recovered from that state after seeing Osho several times. When Osho left Yogesh Bhavan, we felt very bad. We wept while giving him a send-off.” (www.oshonews 15.10.2021)

Osho recalls his garden in Jabalpur
“When I was a teacher in the university I used to have a beautiful garden. I have always had a beautiful garden around me. A Hindu monk, very famous among the Hindus, had come to see me. I took him around the garden – because my garden was winning for years, every year, the first prize. We used to bring such big dahlias, such big roses – almost impossible to believe. And that old fool, the Hindu monk, said to me, “A man of spirituality like you should not indulge in any senses.”
Even looking at the roses is indulgence, because if you can appreciate the beauty of a rose, what prevents you from appreciating the beauty of a woman? It is the same sensibility. To destroy the sensibility, to make your skin as thick as possible, to make your skull as thick, as retarded as possible so you don’t appreciate anything… you cannot enjoy this beautiful existence.” Zen. The Mystery and the Poetry of the Beyond (1990). Chapter 4, p. 106.

Arun writes on Osho’s rose garden with a cobra
“Osho used to work as a lecturer at the Jabalpur university where he was living in a small bungalow in Napier town. He used to ride a bicycle to the university and it was famous as the cleanest bicycle in the whole town. Osho used to maintain and clean the bicycke himself and keep it spick and span. Whether he rode a bicycle or a Rolls Royce his sense for cleanliness and aesthetics was always very high.
The bungalow in Napier town had a small garden in front of it and Osho used to work it himself and tended the flowers there. There were lots of Roses, Royal Jasmine and Night Jasmine in his garden and it was always fragrant with their smell. His garden grew like a forest as he did not like it to be trimmed or pruned.
Every day after coming back from the university he would park the cycle and then walk in the garden. There was a small pathway along the flower rows and he used to relax by slowly walking in his garden. A very strange incident used to happen in that garden. With raised hood a cobra used to patiently wait for Osho every evening during the time of his return from the university. After Osho came back he would look at the snake and give him a loving look after which the snake used to join him for the walk…
He had instructed everyone not to disturb or harm the snake. Later when Osho had to travel to different cities for lectures and programs, the snake would still come and wait for him until the sun went down and then it would quietly slither back into the bushes. This went on until Osho lived in that house.” (Arun 2023, p. 227)

Osho Room. Mahakoshal University, Jabalpur
“It is reported that High Education Board Director Dr. Jagdish Chandra Jatiya made a surprise inspection of the Mahakaushal Arts and Commerce Autonomous Lead College in Jabalpur and gave several instructions to the Principal. One of the instructions was to create an Osho Room at the college.
This is the oldest College of the city, established in 1836; it was named Robertson College when Osho was a student. It was the most prestigious College in the province. Rani Durgavati University was established in 1956. Nowadays the College is affiliated to the University.” (Quoted from the Hindi newspaper ‘Dainik Bhaskar’. 04.12.2018. www.oshonews.com 20.12.2018)

Arun writes on the end of Osho’s university career
“By 1966 Osho was already very popular all over India and people were requesting him to resign from his job and start preaching full time. He had a meagre salary of 600-700 Rs a month and since 1964 only people were constantly telling him that they would themselves pay that much money to him as the University job was wasting his precious time. Osho wanted to keep his financial independence and had not agreed to them. Finally in 1966, Osho handed in his resignation from his 7 years of professorship.” (Arun 2023, p. 230)

Urmila recalls Osho resigning from university
“It was the end of 1966 – I was 36 years old – when after a short visit, Osho stood up to leave, and much to my surprise, announced: ‘I have resigned from my teaching job!’
I was quite taken aback. What did this mean? How could he possibly manage without a steady income? Rather than support his decision, I heard myself objecting, but unable to articulate anything clearly.
Osho immediately understood my misgivings.
‘I don’t have to worry about my needs. After all, what are they? – just one or two rotis a day and those I can get anywhere. Now I’m going to organise a place where I can gather people together and teach them meditation.’
I expressed my reservations about this too. I was worried that any kind of managed structure would inevitably involve tricky people administering it who would soon start competing for power.
‘Politics creeps into every organisation,’ I said. ‘How will you avoid that?’
‘No need to worry. I will not let anyone stay permanently in one position. I will keep rotating them so no one can get too attached’.
After about two years in Poona, my husband and I moved back to Jabalpur when RG took early retirement from the army to tend a piece of land we had bought there…
But for now, he [Osho] had moved out of Yogesh Bhavan and taken another house, far from the neighbourhood he had lived in before, but with a very large living room, providing plenty of space for people to meet him and have discussions.” (Savita 2019, pp.77, 88)

The first Osho Chair in India was set up at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in Surat at 22.01.2017. See also: 10. Sources / 20. Miscellaneous / 7. Talk given by Satya Vedant (Vasant Joshi) at Osho Chair Inauguration Celebration at Surat 2017. www.oshochair.com

One more Osho Chair was inaugurated at Shri M K S Bhavnagar University, Gujarat, sponsored by an Indian Gujarati couple with inauguration and conference on ‘Yoga and Meditation’ held in January 2024.  More details can be read at www.oshonews.com 19.01.2024.

Osho Mahotsav (Big Festival) was held in Jabalpur December 11-13, 2019 conducted by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, with an attendance of 2500 sannyasins touring Osho related places in Jabalpur in ten buses. Among other places they visited the college where Osho had been lecturing. Ageh Bharti participated in the tour and recalls:
“Later we reached the Government Mahakoshal Arts and Commerce College, where Osho taught as a Professor from December 26, 1957 to January 14, 1967. Its name was previously Robertson College. This college was the most prestigious in those days and the oldest in the province. It came into existence in 1836 at Sagar and was shifted to Jabalpur in 1873. After Independence in 1947 it was renamed as Government Science College. The RDV University [Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya] was established on June 12, 1956, But for many years the prestige and dignity of this college was much higher than the University, although it was affiliated with the University.” (www.oshonews.com 21.12.2019)

The Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar (The Daily Sun) announces on 24 May, 2023, the recent change of name to ‘Osho Government Art and Commerce Degree College’. (www.oshonews.com 29.05.2023)

2.7 Teaching and Traveling

Neelam recalls her first meeting with Osho in Ludhiana 1969
“Dareshi Ground is the chosen venue for the gathering of over eight thousand people today. I’m impressed by the systematic arrangements, unusual orderliness, and remarkable good-quality sound system. But above all, I’m dazzled by the pin-drop silence…
I cannot see Archarya Rajneesh, only hear His voice, loud and clear, for the very first time… While I can’t see through the possibly many layers of profundity in what He is saying, there is something in His voice… His words are penetrating my heart…I feel as if hypnotized… fifteen minutes have long passed and I still stand captivated, listening to Him, awestruck. There is something about this man, I have to see Him close.
It is the third and final day of the talk… It finally happens… my first sight of Acharya Rajneesh… walking in… 37 years old, well-built, robust. His masculine body clothed in fresh summer attire: a bright white lungi wrapped around His waist and a cotton shawl casually resting over His shoulders, atop His bare, manly chest. He is cocooned in an aura of impeccable purity, cleaner than anything I’ve laid eyes on, ever. I am mesmerized.
Like a soft breeze, He slowly glides on the stage… One foot barely touches the ground, lest it could do harm, as the other foot rises… I’m enchanted by the lightness in the way He walks. His hands are delicately folded in Namaste… a white handkerchief held between His slender hands… His tenderness takes my breath away.
raciously approaching the spacious white podium… with such elegance, such divinity. He seats Himself on the mattress on top of the dais, sliding into a cross-legged posture. He smiles with the beauty of a perfect rose flower… and instantaneously, something blossoms within me too.
Never before have I witnessed such an enigma. With His flawless hands He gently brushes His long beard… glances almost reverentially over the humongous audience and speaks into the microphone: “Mere priya aatman! (My beloved souls!).”” (Neelam 2022, pp. 25-28).
(Note: Interview with Neelam on her first meeting with Osho, also in: Vaidya 2017, p. 30-31)

Osho addressing the Rotary Club
“I had one famous doctor in Jabalpur, Dr.Bharat, a Bengali doctor, but the most famous physician in that part of the country. He was the president of the Rotary Club; that’s how I came to know him – because he requested me to address the Rotary Club.
So he had come to my house and taken me in his car, and had listened to me for the first time in the Rotary Club, and became very deeply interested in me. He used to come to see me once in a while. He was reading books I had suggested to him because he wanted to read something about Zen, something about Tibetan mysticism, something about Sufism, something about Hassidism – the things that I had been talking about to him.” The Zen Manifesto (1989). Chapter 2, p. 58.

Satya Vedant writes
“So initially, he was judged as saying similar to what J. Krishnamurti was saying, against masters, disciples, techniques and so on. But far more as a firebrand who berated the conventional wisdom of his time, whether it was Marx or Gandhi, Sarvodaya or Socialism… Then it seems he discovers that the people are ready and willing to understand him, but they are trapped in the religions. So he takes up religion.
There is a very funny story of Osho turning up to talk on Krishna in Bombay in the late 60’s. The doorman asked in surprise if it were true he was talking on Krishna, because “you were here two years ago talking against Krishna.”
Osho replies, “Yes, but if I speak against Krishna, nobody comes, so I am speaking in favor of Krishna. And if you repeat this conversation, I will deny it.” (Joshi 2000, p. 12)

A parable told by Osho
“Rajneesh illustrates man’s bondage through many parables such as the following:
A huge caravan reached an inn in a desert. The owner of the camels ordered that the pegs be driven in the ground and the camels be tied to them with robes so that they may rest. It was found that the peg and the rope of one of the camels was lost. They could not leave the camel untied, because they feared it may wander off. So they requested the proprietor of the inn for a peg and a rope. The proprietor replied ‘We do not have any peg or rope, but why don’t you drive the peg in the ground, tie a rope and tell the camel to sleep?’ The owner of the caravan was amazed, ‘Wouldn’t we have done it if we had a peg and a rope? Which peg shall we drive and what rope shall we tie?’
The inn owner laughed at this: ‘You don’t have to tie the camel with a real rope and peg, camels can be tied with imaginary pegs and ropes too. Drive the imaginary peg in the ground and tie a pseudo-rope in its neck and tell it to sleep.’ There was no other way. They didn’t believe it would work, but nevertheless they drove the imaginary peg into the ground. They hammered on the peg which was not. The camel heard the hammering and thought that the peg was being driven. The rope that was not, was tied to its neck. The camel thought that it was being tied. As they had asked the other camels to sleep, so they asked this one. The camel sat down and slept.
When the caravan was getting ready to move next morning, they pulled out the pegs of the 99 camels and untied the ropes. But because the 100th had none, they didn’t bother to pull out the peg or untie the rope. The 99 camels got up but the 100th refused to get up. They were very worried. They asked the old inn owner what magic he had done that the camel had been stuck on the ground and was not standing up. The old man replied, ‘First pull out the peg and untie the rope.’ ‘But there is no peg and there is no rope,’ they protested. ‘They may not be there for you, but they are there for the camel. Pull it out, untie it. As you had driven the imaginary peg in the ground and tied the false rope, you will have to take them off too.’
They went. They pulled out the peg which wasn’t there and untied the rope that didn’t exist. The camel stood up and got ready to move with the others. They were all amazed and asked the inn owner ‘What’s the secret?’ He replied, ‘Not only camels but men are tied to the pegs which don’t exist and imprisoned by ropes that are not. I have no experience of the camel, but advised you according to my experience of men.” (From: Satya Ki Pahli Kiran (1971), pp. 47-48. Reprinted in Mangalwadi 1977, pp. 133-35. Translation by the author)

Shobhana recalls meeting Osho in 1967
“I am sitting next to my cousin in a small quadrangle open to the sky and I am surrounded by a group of about fifty women. The only man present, swathed in a white shawl and lunghi, sits at one end, cross-legged on a low dais. He has as long black beard and a high forehead, and he speaks with a resonance I have never heard before. In rhythm with what he is saying, his hands rise and fall in front of him as his discourse slowly gathers pace. I notice how well built he is with broad shoulders and an expressive forehead, and find I am drawn to a sparkling quality in his eyes that seems to pull me slowly in.
This is 1967 and I am at the Gujarat Women’s Association. These people, whose Bombay office flank the little courtyard on all sides, have arranged this lecture for its members, of whom my cousin is one, and I am her guest…
Before heading into central Bombay, the train from Jabalpur – where Osho lived with his cousins and taught at the university – would stop at Dadar station in the suburbs for ten minutes or so. I took to meeting him there. Visiting him at a station was a less conspicuous, far more innocent option for my watchful, critical family than visiting him in someone’s home…
In the months that followed I met Osho at Dadar station as often as I could but it was impossible for me to get to another of the meditation camps he was conducting, although I longed to do so. I had no money and could not keep on borrowing to fund such trips. Nevertheless, I could feel him reaching out to me, and knowing how passionate I had become about writing, urging me on by writing about all the letters I had not yet written.
In this period I imagined he must be tired of receiving so much correspondence from so many people – all who needed his attention or all those who loved him. I assumed he would be burdened with having to answer them all.” (Savita 2019, pp. 146,159,168)

Urmila recalls Anand Vijay
“My first encounter with Swami Anand Vijay was in Jabalpur in the mid 1960s. He was one of the people who gathered regularly around Osho in our little discussion groups at Yogesh Bhavan at that time, and I got to know him better later, during the many meditation camps we participated in together. He was an uncomplicated heart-centered man of single charm, and I took an immediate liking to him…
Osho started his neo-sannyas movement in Bombay in 1970 and Anand Vijay, who had continued to see him during all the time he was living in Jabalpur, travelled to Bombay to take sannyas and become a disciple.
On delivering his mala and his new name, Osho told him to go back to Jabalpur and to open a meditation centre there and teach meditation to other people.
Like most other sannyasins at that time, he immediately switched his colours and returned home in his orange clothes with the mala around his neck that bore Osho’s picture…
He heard about a piece of land known as Devtal that was beautifully located on the edge of town. It included a mango orchard and a small lake surrounded by hills, and Vijay could see right away it would be a perfect place to start a meditation centre. He also worked out that while the purchase of the property would take a while, while it was in progress, he could still run his meditations in the open area surrounding it, undisturbed by any neighbours…
So, being fully aware that Devtal and its surroundings was an area that his master knew well (it was thought Osho used to go out in the hills around there to meditate), Anand Vijay went back to him in Bombay for further consultations…
He and Sambodhi ran the ashram while raising their remaining three boys and two girls, all of whom became sannyasins and continued the work there. The ashram is called Osho Amritdham and still thrives today.” (Savita 2019, pp. 124-127,132)
(Note: This editor had the opportunity to visit Osho Amritdham and stay in the marbled room made for Osho, should he come and visit the ashram. The surrounding landscape is enriched with great boulders and rocks creating a most meditative environment)

S.K Saksena recalls visiting Khajuraho with Osho
“One summer, my father suggested that Rajneesh and I visit the temples of Khajuraho. Neither of us had heard of these temples and they were definitely not on the tourist map then. We hitch-hiked in a police van, and reached a Gandhi Ashram, in rustic Chattisgarh. Then we hit the dirt track and finally arrived at a circuit house in Khajuraho village. The next morning we made enquiries from the villagers and took one forest trail after another to reach these mind-blowing temples. None of us had known what to expect. For the first time I wondered what the English explorers, with their Victorian values must have felt when they chanced upon something so exotic (or erotic!).
Rajneesh and I marvelled at the most sublime tribute to love and female form, which the Chandela kings had left behind for us. Was this an ode to the sublime yearning of the soul to merge with the divine? Or was it just hedonism and a public celebration of debauchery? What amazed us most was that, the village women went about their daily routine rituals and parikrama of these erotic temples in the most matter of fact manner, totally unabashed! As I clicked, he kept on saying, “I must see your pictures.” When the enlargements came, like an enthusiastic child he analyzed each picture. He particularly commented on the sublime expressions on the faces of entwined lovers. I suspect that the seeds of his book, ‘From Sex to Super Consciousness’ were sown at this time. Shortly thereafter my parents moved to Delhi.” (S.K. Saksena. www.oshonews.com/2017/01/25.  Also printed in Swami G 2022, pp. 164-167)
(Note: S.K. Saksena’s father is Dr. Sri Krishna Saksena, also spelled Saxena, Professor Emeritus in Philosophy, University of Hawaii, who was Rajneesh’s much loved lecturer and mentor at the University of Jabalpur in the 1950’s).

Arjava narrates in 2014 on Osho’s visit to Khajuraho
“Two caps brought us to our hotel in town, which was situated within walking distance to the ancient tantric temples. It is owned by Swami Ganga, a beautiful man in his seventies who used to guide Osho around the temples when he was in his twenties. At the start of our time with Ganja Ji, we heard a passage from Osho’s biographical sketches in which he relates how he once bribed a temple guard in Khajuraho and how this guard later became a Sannyasin and gave him back all the bribe.
Later in the afternoon, Ganga Ji told us over a cup of chai: “I met Osho for the first time in 1962 when I worked as a guard of the temples. We had erected a small gate at the entrance to the Western compound of the temples that was made of wood and some organic material with thorns. There was an ancient tree under which we used to sit and wait for visitors. On one occasion Osho came in an old beat-up Jeep that belonged to a friend of his who lived in a town nearby. It was all rotten. When he got out of the car he greeted me and asked me not to come with him. Instead he asked me to stay at the gate and to do something for him. He told me that there would be another car arriving shortly and he described the passengers in detail. ‘When they ask you whether or not I am here’, he said, ‘you must tell them that I am not’. Sure enough they arrive sometime later and they asked for him. When I told them that he was not in the temple, and they doubted me, I told them to go and look for themselves. After a short discussion amongst themselves they drove off. To make sure that they were not returning, I waited for about fifteen minutes and then went to inform him. He told me that they were university professors from Sagar and that he really did not want to talk to them. Not even one rupee changed hands in this ‘bribe.’ Sometime later when I saw him again I asked him about the ‘bribe story’ that he had told in a discourse series called ‘The Jain Sutras’ and he just chuckled…
“Without Osho”, Ganga Ji went on, “the world would not have understood Tantra. He was the third important tantric master in line from Shiva to Gorakh then to Osho. When he met me here, Osho said that he wanted to create a living Khajuraho in his Ashram. And he certainly did that.” Then he talked about Osho explaining the significance of the temples to him in 1964. On one occasion Osho apparently told Ganga Ji not to talk during one of the visits and that today Osho himself would be the guide. He then shared the deeper meanings of the temples with Ganga Ji, which he now was passing on to us.” (Petter 2022, pp. 270,276)
(Note: Osho’s favorite temple in Khajuraho was Kandariya Mahadev Temple, and Osho used to take a rest in the Nandi Temple on the far right of the main entrance).

Urmila tells about listening to Osho and his clothing
“Listening to him, I felt lulled into a kind of intoxication by his speech and the music of his voice. But the truth is that despite his simple, everyday language I soon found I was no longer understanding a word of what he was talking about. Instead I was more and more distracted by his eyes, which were so very bright and piercing it felt as if he were looking through me, to the point that I began to feel uncomfortable. It was as if he were seeing me from inside, seeing my mind, my thoughts, my feelings…
He had been wearing only homespun khadi cotton until then, and clearly it agreed with his body. But not long before this, he had started criticising Mahatma Gandhi for his backward-looking idealisation of the spinning wheel. He’d been saying at so many of his lectures that the country cannot possibly progress as long as people think that it is enough to spin cotton the way they did a thousand years ago, and he had been affirming how important it was to have new industry if India was to progress…
I didn’t notice Osho select anything else from those bales someone had delivered, but he appeared to have agreed with me, because I never saw him wear that particular silk. Instead, when he moved to Bombay, he started wearing white Teri-cotton – a mix of cotton and synthetic fibre – and stayed with synthetic mixes for the rest of his life.” (Savita 2019, pp. 30, 90, 91)

Nivedita recalls meeting Osho in 1963
“It was in the year 1963 that I heard about someone called Acharya Rajneesh, who spoke of spiritual matters in a completely different manner. The person who told me of Osho had heard about him in the “Jain Yuvak Mandal’s Paryshan Vyakhyanmala”. He had no other information besides this. But hearing Osho’s name from that person awakened the feeling of wanting to meet him. It must have had something to do with past connections in some previous birth. I tried to gather information about him from whatever source I could. At that time I must have been about 25-25 years old…
…my neighbour read in a newspaper that Achary Rajneesh, about whom I used to often enquire was coming to the Rashtriyashala at Ghatkopar, the very next day. It was as if Osho had heard my voice! The next day I reached the Rashtriyashala where the discourse was to take place. Osho had come before the due time and was sitting under a tree. Arrangements for the mic were being made. My eyes filled with tears in seeing him. I kept crying and tears of joy started rolling down. I had no idea when the discourse started and when it came to an end. It was as if time had come to a standstill. I was so happy that I cannot express the feeling in words. I am not making any exaggerations at all…
It was my first acquaintance with Osho. He must have been around 35-36 years of age then. After the discourse I came out of the hall in a state of vacuum. Two of his books were being sold there. Their names were ‘Krantibeej’ and ‘Path ke Pradip’. I purchased both the books and read them within two days. Both of them were unique, as if they were written in some other-worldly language.
At that time Osho lived in Jabalpur and used to roam all over India in order to spread his ideas. His Jabalpur address was given at the back of the books I had purchased. My entire outlook towards life changed on reading those books. Also changing alongside was my inner world. His words were on self-awareness and spirituality, but the manner in which he had expressed himself was unique and incomparable. I found myself totally under his influence. I wrote him many letters, and kept waiting for a reply. There were no questions in those letters, just simple matters that had been rising in my conscience.” (Nivedita 2023, pp. 10-11)

Arun recalls meeting Rajneesh March 1969 in Sinha Library garden, Patna
“Naturally, when I saw the poster I decided to give it a try. I was so excited that I was one of the earliest to arrive at the garden, and took my seat in the first row. Right at six o’clock, Acharya Rajneesh walked in. He had a very graceful way with his body. His hands had the beauty and precision of a classical dancer… Now he folds his hands in Namaste, now he holds the seam of his lungi gently and now he strokes his beard… I turned around in my seat and watched him walk towards me. His long black beard and hair danced to the rhythm of the evening breeze, his radiant face, blanched with the rays of the moon, emanated grace. I looked at him in disbelief. I couldn’t believe a human body could be so beautiful. My heart was filled with the loftiest sentiments. He looked like a luminous being who had just descended from the land of the ‘rishis’…
Acharya Rajneesh sat down on the podium and closed his eyes. I was still struck by his beauty and couldn’t take my eyes off him. A woman started singing a verse by Kabir in a very melodious voice. I learnt later that Acharya Rajneesh loved the songs of Kabir and Meera and in those days, their songs usually preceded his discourses. Her voice filled the campus with calm. The evening was still, except for the cool breeze off the Ganga. Beauty reigned everywhere.
“My beloved ones…” Acharya began his discourse.
My heart started to beat in violent spasms and tears rolled down my cheeks unchecked. A long-forgotten chamber of my heart had opened, some long-lost beloved was remembered. Acharya continued the discourse in his deep, hypnotic voice, and I kept sinking into the core of my being….
Acharya ended his talk with these words, “I am grateful that you listened to me with such patience and love. There is no reason to believe what I have said. Doubt my words, think about them, meditate on them. Accept that which feel right to you. In the end, I pay my respect to the divine residing within all of you. Please accept my ‘pranam’.”” (Arun 2017, pp. 6-9)

Neelam meeting Rajneesh again in early March 1970
“Finally, the moment arrives. The moment I have ceaselessly yearned for, for seven long months. A glimpse of Acharya Rajneesh Shree, and I experience a colossal burst of joy. Yes! I have found Him again. Tears flow non-stop, choking me, making it hard to breathe. I hear the sound of His voice but just like the time before, I am incapable of making any sense of the words. While the whole discourse passes in a haze, at the end, I clearly hear Acharya Shree saying, “I have said all that I could say in words. But to experience what I’m trying to say, come in the morning of a meditation at the York Hosiery guesthouse.” ‘What is this meditation?’ I wonder. At least I know that I’m seeing Him again tomorrow morning! York Hosiery guesthouse is one of the best in our town, with a lovely spacious lawn, and in close proximity to our home…
Fortune smiles… a stranger suddenly appears and asks if I would like to meet Him. “Yes! Of course!” I shout out. He later introduces himself as Kapil, tells me that Acharya Shree is staying at his residence and that Acharya Shree has Himself asked to see me at 2.30pm.
From the threshold of the room, I admire the magnificent scene; He sits cross-legged on a round bed, hedged by people sitting on the carpet in front of Him. Looking into my eyes, He asks, “What’s your name?” I struggle to answer but… mesmerized, in awe of His beauty and grandeur, I stand frozen. He gently enquires again, “Do you live in the neighbourhood? Are you a friend of Kusum?” Still mute, as if nailed to the door, I am rescued by Amarjeet’s light-hearted intervention… (Acharya Shree, she is dumbstruck ever since she has seen you. She is lost in your love. Ask me… her name is Neelam. She is my wife. She doesn’t know who Kusum is. Please make her sit close to you.)”…
Right after the blessed encounter with Acharya Shree, Kapil introduces his wife Kusum. Amarjeet and I share an instant affinity with this handsome, affable couple. I later discover that they, with the help of Mr. Gill, Senior Superintendent of Police in Ludhiana, have been organizing many talks of Acharya Shree in government degree colleges and universities. Special talks are also arranged in the Extension Library Auditorium, where only members of high-profile clubs such as Lion’s and Rotary as well as other eminent dignitaries are invited. Acharya Shree is especially particular about recording all of these discourses,” (Neelam 2022, pp. 28-30)

Arun recalls meeting Osho in Patna January 1970
It was an early January morning in 1970. The entire railway station was still asleep under a blanket of thick mist. A few tea vendors were ready to set up their stalls. Some were rubbing their frozen hands together in a desperate attempt to warm themselves. Winter had unleashed her force mercilessly, yet the thought that soon I would see Acharyashree kept me warm from the inside.
Acharyashree was arriving by Toofan Express at 6:00 am. I, along with my friend, Atma Vijay Gupta, (Dr. Ramchandra Prasad, who was then the head of the English Department at Patna University, and who later become the Vice Chancellor there), his daughter and a university student (whose name was also incidentally Toofan) had arrived at the station to receive him. We had invited Acharyashree for satsang and public discourse in Patna for four days.
Toofan, which means cyclone in Urdu, was an apt name for the train that brought Acharyashree to Patna. I felt an unusual calmness in my being, the calmness that precedes a cyclone. None of us were certain of the exact position of the platform where his carriage would stop, so we dispersed ourselves to five different places. Call it my good fortune, Acharyashree walked out right where I was standing.
Wrapped only in a white lunghi and shawl, he walked out gracefully. A few beads of water rolled down his freshly washed hair onto his body. The presence of Acharyashree brought a freshness to the entire ambience of the place, which only a moment ago had seemed so dull and lethargic. It seemed incredible to me that even at such an early hour, he had already had a shower and was ready for action. In those days in the first-class compartments, they had provisions for short, cold showers. I touched his feet and held his hand as he climbed down onto the platform…
He smiled. I went on board to fetch his luggage. He was here just for four days, but he had three suitcases and two bags. Acharyashree scanned the luggage and said, “But whare is my bullworker? Did you not find it with the rest of the luggage?’ I had seen a bullworker, but I couldn’t put the image of him and a bullworker together. I had thought it probably belonged to some other passenger in the train, and left it there intentionally. But as I would learn later, he was very particular about his health, and exercised regularly in those days. His body had the grace and beauty of a yogi.
Two of his suitcases contained a pillow each. Two other suitcases contained his lungis and shawls, and the rest of it was for his books. Acharyashree read three to five books on average per day. Whenever we watched him read a book, it was as though he was casually flipping through it, but then immediately afterwards he could give the most profound analysis of anything he had read, as though he had been reading the text for years. Tesla and Swami Vivekananda also had a similar gift. Swami Vivekananda attributed this gift to his spiritual life, and to celibacy in particular…
“I am ready,” he replied. I must discuss the programme. Just follow us in the rickshaw.” Acharyachree astonished us with his vigour. In those days he was in his ‘Rajas’ phase. Being with him was like being in the eye of a storm. It was difficult to keep up with his pace. It was as though he could stretch time at will. A day would seem like a lifetime…
For the first thirty-two years of his life, Osho lived his ‘Tamasik’ phase in totality. During that time he lived as inactively as Lao Tzu or Raman Maharshi. His parents were mystified as to how he could even sustain himself with such an inactive life devoid of ambition.
But this energy transmuted into ‘Rajas’ in the beginning of 1960. During this phase, the brilliance of his enlightenment expressed itself in an astounding explosion of activity, rebellion and originality. This phase lasted until 1970. He travelled extensively around India and gave his provocative discourses, shaking the whole nation from its foundations. It was during this period that his controversial books ‘From Sex to Superconsciousness’, ‘Beware of Socialism’, ‘Revolution in Education’, ‘Gandhism: an Analysis’, and ‘The Burning Questions of India’ were published. Due to his truthful and uncompromising delivery, he became notorious as a controversial and rebellious figure.
Those four days with him in Patna were the expression of the same explosive energy. They were no less than four lives, each day deserving a separate book of its own.
We reached Dr. Prasad’s house, where Acharyashree was to stay for the next four days. He told us he would have just a glass of fruit juice and have his brunch at eleven, then he started discussing the programme.” (Arun 2017, pp. 33-38)

Shohana recalls staying with Osho in an Ahmedabad guesthouse
“Osho and I spent that entire night lying together. I was shy and self-conscious but at the same time, still burning, ready to receive whatever he would do to temper my longing heart.
For the first twenty minutes or so we simply lay beside each other while he caressed my body. This was not an arousing experience so much as a sensual and serene one, one that involved no urgency nor seemed to be moving anywhere but in the present. The immense beauty of such a simple expression of love seemed to have no boundaries. I wallowed in the mysterious buoyant sensation that enveloped my body and silenced my mind. But as we began to remove our clothing and were half undressed, an image of my husband suddenly appeared in my head.
What on earth am I doing?
Shaken up and quite unexpectedly guilty, I at once contracted and retreated. My whole body reacted in such a way that even though I said nothing, it was clear I could not go on. Osho immediately understood. He shifted away from me and at once pulled some sheets over my partially clothed body and covered me with them.
‘Just lie next to me,’ he said. ‘No need to say anything. Just relax.’
I was feeling so bad about myself: bad for my husband, bad for Osho, bad about my foolish desires… But he was gentle and soothing and soon the harsh feeling evaporated, and we lay there quite peacefully while he stroked me and comforted me.
‘When a woman is very much in her heart, the man need not penetrate her. She will be orgasmic anyway.’
And it is true, throughout my body was a warm, floating feeling where the scattered energy had become one, where this being, which I now knew was my essence, was no longer separate from me, was suddenly whole, centered in rapture, and in complete harmony with him…
I had expanded into my inner sky…
As it happened, I shared his room many times on my travels as his caretaker, as I believe others of his caretakers did. Osho’s body was so sensitive, he needed someone near him most of the time. But though I slept close to him and imbibed the peace of his powerful loving energy, we never had sex. There was no need.” (Savita 2019, pp. 173,218)

Shobhana tells
“One afternoon, getting ready for one of his lectures, I watched him take a comb and run it through the sparse long hair at the back of his head. He had been losing his hair ever since I had known him.
Observing this futile gesture for a moment, I laughed and said, ‘Where is the hair you’re trying to comb?’
He looked at me, put on a sad expression and said in the tone of a doleful child: ‘Just look at it – all my hair has gone!’
I felt suddenly so motherly towards him that I wanted to hug him.
As we were going downstairs I noticed how slowly he was going, while I followed behind him in a playful mood, holding his shoulders and hopping after him. After two or three steps, I joked, ‘Why are you going down so slowly? Are you afraid if you speeded up, your hair might blow away?’
Osho looked back at me with that same sorrowful expression.
‘I was so fond of my thick hair and now look – it’s all disappeared.’
Thinking about it during the discourse afterwards, I recalled the Hindu mythology of the Mahabharata, where six guidelines are listed as essential to a woman, the first being that of a mother who nourishes – the words used in the Sanskrit text are: feeding with love.
I wondered if, as I left the phase of sexual infatuation that had gripped me for so long, Osho had been encouraging the protective, caring instincts in me. In fact I was getting more and more chances to mother him.” (Savita 2019, p. 191)

Arvind Chaitanya writes on Osho’s intensity of travel
“OSHO was in Delhi on Oct 13 and 18; in Jallandhar from 14 to 17; in Jabalpur on 20th; two days hence again in Delhi to meet George; and again in Jabalpur on 23 Oct. Such hectic was his travel, delivering three long discourses, answering several questions, in love, in grace for the hungry followers, Acharya Shree Rajneesh (then), Bhagwan and OSHO (finally) weaved a tireless criss-cross path in his young days for the good of all. Thank you dear Master. Thanks for all you gave us. Our Love to you.” (Chaitanya 2001a, p. 101)

Neelam writes on Osho’s itenerary and daily schedule
After Ludhiana, Acharya Shree leaves for Amritsar, a city 145 km away. For the next three days, the usual length of time He spends in each town, He is going to stay at Chamanlal Aggarwal’s beautiful bungalow…
After Amritsar, it is my turn to be blessed by His presence. The day commences at 6am with a guided meditation. He meets the press at 10am before lunch. Personal meetings with Him are scheduled in the afternoon between 2.30 and 4pm; the evening discourse at 8pm concludes the day. Talk events organized at various institutions are squeezed in-between these time slots.
We love to be around Him all the time and are also curious to know what He likes to eat and drink. Tea and toast are His usual breakfast, while soda water, rather than still water, is His preferred beverage. When He eats lunch at 11am and dinner at 6pm we sit with Him amidst much laughter and gossip, having a gala time!”…
Scheduled to leave for Allahabad at 11pm, He asks me to check with Kusum about fetching His clothes from the laundry and do the packing. He travels with four large suitcases; one for His clothes, another for the bedding, which includes bed sheets, two big pillows and a khade blanket – while books fill up the remaining two. (Neelam 2022, pp.31-36)

Shobhana recalls
“First-class two-bunk sleeping cars were usually booked for Osho and whoever accompanied him on his many journeys around the country. The deal was that his travelling companion would take care of whatever arrangements came up.” (Savita 2019, p. 171)

‘Osho’s Itinerary. Information on dates and places for Osho’s travels 1966 – 1973’ has been compiled by Sw Satya Anuragi from the magazines Jyoti Shikha and Yukrand. Including Gallery of text pages.
See: www.sannyas.wiki / Osho’s Bibliography / English Publications / Source Documents.

2.8 First Printed Booklets

Early booklets from Jabalpur. See also slideshow at the very start of 2.0 Jabalpur
“- Taaran-Vani (Voice of Sant Taaran) / Rajneesh. Taaran Taran Samaj, Jabalpur. (Taaran Taran Society, Jabalpur). 1955. 10 pages.
– Sant Taaran Taran Ka Amar Sandesh (Immortal Message of Sant Taaran Taran) / Rajneesh. Printed by Bharat Press, Subhash Path, Jabalpur. 1956. 12 pages.
– Sant Taaran Taran – Jeevan Aur Darshan (Sant Taaran Taran – Life and Philosophy) / Rajneesh. Printed at Singhai Press, Marhatal, Jabalpur. 1957. 10 pages.
– Sant Taaran Taran – Jeevan Aur Darshan (Sant Taaran Taran – Life and Philosophy). 1961. 19 pages.
“Contents of both these booklets ‘Sant Taaran Taran – Jeevan Aur Darshan’ published in 1957 and 1961 are the same. However, the booklet published in 1961 has additional information on introduction of Osho. The first page of discourse is also added in 1961, which is not in the 1957 edition…the discourse text is also the same as in ‘Jain Parampara ke Kabir: Sant Taaran Taran’ .” (Anuragi. E-mail. 19.04.2023)
– Jeevan Darshan (Life Philosophy). Acharya Shree Rajneesh Ke Dus Amrit Patra (10 loving letters by Acharya Shree Rajneesh). 1962. 20 pages.
– Jeevan Kranti Ka Vigyan (Science of Life Revolution) / Acharya Rajneesh. Printed at Chaturvedi Printing Press, Darhai, Jabalpur. 1965. 14 pages.
– Ahinsa Darshan (Philosophy of Non-Violence) / From the discourses of Acharya Rajneesh. Published by Jain Navyug Sabha Prakashan, Jabalpur (M.P.). Year of publication: Not known. But this could be in or before 1964. 40 pages.
– Jain Parampara ke Kabir: Sant Taaran Taran (The Kabir of Jain Lineage: Sant Taaran Taran) / Acharya Rajneesh. One discourse. Year of publication: Not known. No photo of front page. 13 pages.
The source about the dates of these booklets is Swami Niklank. He has lovingly gifted most of these booklets to Anuragi.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 15.04.2023)
(Note: See also photos of the above booklets at the start of this Supplement 2.0 Jabalpur)

Shyam Lal Soni writes in 1968 on Osho’s early published books
“’Kranti Beej’ (Seeds of Revolution) is a compilation of his letters. In it are such maxims of life transformation that just pondering over them one’s consciousness experiences a metamorphosis happening inside. Each word of it contains seeds of great human transformation.
In ‘Sinhnaad’ (Lion’s Roar) a very scientific synopsis of true religion is presented. Reading it our perception has a new dimension. His vision on religion is categorically manifested in it.
‘Mitti Ke Deeye’ (Earthen Lamps) is a compilation of awakening stories collected from talks and dialogues. Reading it heart dances with bliss.
‘Path Ke Pradeep’ (Lights on the Path) is a collection of letters. Born out of his love and compassion these letters are unique in themselves. They have illuminated many people’s path of life.
‘Naye Sanket’ (New Indications) is a compilation on many points of life. Which not only indicates towards new ways but also provides motivation and intensity.
Other publications are
‘Naye Manus Ke Janm Ki Disha’ (The Way of Birth of New Man), ‘Prem Ke Pankh’ (Wings of Love), ‘Main Kaun Hun (Who Am I), ‘Ahinsa Darshan’ (The Philosophy of Non-Violence), ‘Amrit Kan’ (Droplets of Elixir), ‘Satya Ke Agyat Sagar Ka Amantran’ (Invitation of Unknown Ocean of Truth) and ‘Surya Ki Or Udan’ (Flight Towards the Sun).
‘Jyoti Shikha’ (Flame Crest) is a quarterly magazine. Whatever he talks in three months travelling around the country is compiled and published in it.” (Shyam Lal Soni. Excerpt from his article ‘Enlightened Being Acharya Shree Rajneesh: An Introduction’. In: Jyoti Shikha, December 1968. Special issue to his Birthday 11^th December. By: Shyam Soni, M.A. Full text of nine pages translated from Hindi at www.oshonews.com 30.10.2020)

Urmila recalls receiving ‘Kranti Beej’ (1965), her first reading of Osho
“While I’d been living in Calcutta, I used to visit a well-known bookshop called Rupa & Co, which had a literary club next door whose activities I loved to attend. I had also befriended the owner, DD Mehra, and when in 1965 I returned to Calcutta for my wedding, he offered me a gift of two slim books.
‘I give those to all my friends,’ he said as he handed them over.
One was called Kranti Beej, meaning ‘seeds of revolutionary thought’, by someone called Acharya Rajneesh. From its title I took it to be a book about communism, and dropped it indifferently into the bottom of my bag…
As I read and read I felt my heart quicken. Here was something I had never come across before.
The language was light and easy-going. Ideas of a spiritual kind were repeated in different form, each phase extending itself beyond the previous one to elaborate its subject matter. Words and images of a poetic nature tumbled out willy-nilly. The style was almost conversational; the content, serious and vital.
Here was a very modern voice elucidating deep and searching subjects…
At first glance, it looked as if the author was giving simple, short maxims of a philosophical nature… And yet, as I moved from page to page, I realized he was actually recounting things that, taken together, came close to encapsulating the meaning of life…
I delved into the reading with increasing intensity. Though I felt I understood some of it, I saw immediately that much was over my head. Yet it was over my head in a way I could grasp and relate to. And perhaps because of that, there was something especially intriguing about it.
Having been lost in the reading, I now looked up from the page and stared into the middle distance. I suddenly had the understanding: this man knows. And by the time I had finished the book, half of which I read then and there in one sitting, I knew that this was the person I had so long been seeking. I promptly wrote to my friend, DD Mehra, asking if he had an address for the Acharya…
I even surprised myself by crying while reading Osho’s books – ‘Kranti Beej’, for example, which I read several times, and in particular a collection of his letters to Sohan Bafna, his hostess in Poona, called ‘Path Ke Pradeep’ [Life is a Soap Bubble (2012)], a copy of which he had given to me.” (Savita 2019, pp. 26, 49)

Both Mehra (2nd floor) and Rupa & Co (1st floor) are located in the building of Indian Coffee House (Albert Hall) on the corner of College St. and Bankin Chatterjee St. in Kolkata. Chandrakant Mehra is now director of Mehra’s ‘The World of Books’ and he is the son of Mr. D. D. Mehra, who provided Osho’s books to Urmila in the sixties. (Own observation. Kolkata, 2006)

Urmila recalls Dolly Didi, translator of early Hindi books
“As to the problem of the pullover… It was eventually solved by a friend of mine called Dolly Didi, also a devotee of Osho, who personally knitted several crewnecks for him during the time he lived in Jabalpur.
Dolly had read Osho’s books and was eager to meet him and speak to him, but she had a domineering husband who would never allow her to do anything on her own. He was a worldly and possessive man, completely unable to understand another person’s spiritual thirst. So poor Dolly had to be content with knitting pullovers and crocheting bedcovers for Osho to express her love for him. (She also got to translate some of his Hindi books into English, which made her very happy.)” (Savita 2019, p. 81)

Paromita writes on the mother Osho had in a previous life, Anandamayee (Masa’ab) (aka Madan Kunwar Parikh) after Osho had recognized her at a Mount Abu camp in October
“As a resident of Chandrapur (formerly Chanda) in Maharastra she had received numerous letters with anecdotes from Osho, later published in ‘Kranti Beej’ (Seeds of Revolutionary Thought) and her husband had been most generous to Rajneesh, when in 1960 he had presented him with a number pf presents including a typewriter with its Hindi keyboard to facilitate his work. Paromita writes in ‘Vidarbha Gazette’ (India) 18.10.2021:
“It was the second day [11.09.1960] of the three-day celebration [at Bajajwadi in Warda] attended by Jain families from many different parts of the country. It was quite early in the morning when they reached and as soon as Masa’ab crossed the verandah of one of the many rooms, her eyes met with those of a young bearded man whose eyes shone brightly. In that electrifying instant, she felt that she had met her son. The man was introduced by Bhikamchandji as Acharya Rajneesh, a professor teaching at the Robertson College in Jabalpur.
After lunch she sought him out and found him sitting on the floor of one of the rooms staring into space. She wondered whether he would allow her to enter the room because, in her experience, many ‘sadhaks’ avoided women as ‘narak ke dwar’ (doorway to hell). But he not only asked her to sit, they both discussed a few things. She asked why people don’t get what they want, and whether he intended to go to the Himalayas (she preferred teachers who lived amongst ordinary people to those who retreated into the mountains in the most selfish manner). She asked him his age which he refused to answer and finally invited him to Chandrapur. She learnt later that he was twenty-six years old, she was forty.
As part of the birthday celebrations, Rajneesh delivered a sermon which she rather liked. That night a poetry session had been organized. On the insistence of Rajneesh, Masa’ab recited three poems in Hindi which she had earlier read out at a national poetry festival. All three shared the themes of nationalism and communal harmony – ‘asadi mili azad bana, sapno me fir mat kho jana’ (we got freedom, we are free, do not fall asleep again), ‘jimmedari desh ki hai, ab to ulajhna chhod de’ (responsibility of the country is on you, get out of your confusions, and ‘aisa to kabhi hoga hi nahi ke aag bujha lenge’ (fire shall never put out fire). The poetry session ended at midnight and next morning Rajneesh had left Bajajwadi without meeting Masa’ab. She returned to Chandrapur in a state of confusion.
She narrated the meeting with Rajneesh to her husband and other close family members. She was sure in her heart that he was a son whom she was searching for but she could not be sure. To put her out of her misery, Rekhchandji suggested that she should write to him and invite him to Chandrapur. After some hesitation she did write to him but before she could post the letter, she received a letter from Rajneesh’s father. He had written the desire to meet the woman whom Rajneesh had described as his mother from a past life. Masa’ab’s joy knew no bounds. She travelled to Gadarwara and met Acharya Rajneesh’s family.
Between 1960 and 1964, for as long as Acharya Rajneesh remained in Jabalpur, he became a regular visitor to the home of Masa’ab. He attended the wedding of Sushilakunwar, Masa’ab’s youngest daughter in 1963 and addressed the gathering. It is apparent from Masa’ab’s diary that Rekhchandji Parikh and other family members were impressed by Rajneesh. Rakhchandji would inform interested people in the city and they would all assemble to listen to Rajneesh and also ask him questions. The question-answer sessions used to be quite long. The discussions between Masa’ab and Rajneesh would go on past midnight. Interestingly, Masa’ab does not mention learning anything new from Rajneesh, rather she repeatedly says that he was only saying what she already felt but could not articulate as well as he did. In this period Masa’ab and Rajneesh exchanged letters which were published as ‘Krantibeej (Seeds of Revolutionary Thoughts’).” (www.oshonews.com 28.11.2021)
(Note: Anandamayee (Masa’ab) (aka Madan Kunwar Parikh) is also featured in ‘Sannyas,’ (Nov/Dec 1973). The typewriter mentioned is pictured in Vol. I. Part Two Jabalpur. Photo 3)

Ishverbhai Shah (1922-2007), founder of Jeevan Jagruti Kendra. Obituary.
“First Ishverbabu, then Ishver Samarpan, and finally Ishverbhai – the names Osho called him all along during 25 years of their Sadguru-Shishya association…
Early on, Ishverbhai was attracted to the Acharya’s revolutionary thoughts on Life (jeevan), Death (mrityu), and Dharma. Ishverbhai himself had been a Raj Yogi and a Ghandian freedom fighter. Thus, it was of no surprise to those who knew Ishverbhai that Acharya Rajneesh’s earth-shattering krantikari (revolutionary) views on religion and life were strongly appealing to the rebel residing within Ishverbhai…
Ishverbhai’s love affair with Osho began in the mid 1960’s. Soon after their first meeting, he became actively engaged in fulfilling Osho’s unquenchable appetite for action. Ishverbhai took to organising Osho’s relentless talks around the country and applied himself to broadening Osho’s appeal to the people by securing greater venues in major cities like Bombay. There were several large personalities around Acharya Rajneesh at that time, but the Acharya had already spotted his dependable man in the ever-optimistic and result oriented Ishverbhai!
Those days were of a vision as vast as the sky but lacking seriously in resources to fulfil it. Also the multiple and fragmented effort around the country to spread Osho’s words were taking up much-needed financial resources and time, but were not as productive as they could have been. With Osho’s guidance, Ishverbhai created ‘Jeevan Jagruti Kendra (JJK)’, with himself as its first operating Trustee, supported by two others.
JJK now became the centralised organisation which consolidated all ongoing efforts under one umbrella and initiated much more. It gathered recordings of Osho’s talks of the past and began publishing books of Osho’s spoken words under the name of this Trust. The JJK logo was personally designed by Osho; it can still be found in the early books of the late 60’s and early 70’s. With JJK as the centre of Osho’s work, Ishverbhai began arranging talks in major metropolitan cities. Fundraising activity was one of the sorely needed and most difficult activities to accomplish at the time for the Trustees; they were always short of money.

Here’s an interesting episode of the late 60’s, related to a funding discussion between Osho and the Trustees. Ishverbhai had wanted to host a 10-day lecture series at Azad Maidan in Bombay and attract every day over 10,000 people in the audience; this needed a sizeable monetary fund to organise. Trustees were facing difficulties in raising funds and brought this to Osho’s attention. He asked how they had been going about it; the trustees had been working on finding 10 donors of Rs.10,000 each. Osho suggested to instead ask for one rupee daily from each in the audience while they were exiting after the lecture.
Osho sensed scepticism from a couple of the Trustees over this idea as it was risky! But Osho was confident of the appeal his lecture would have on the audience and so, he turned to Ishverbhai and asked him to make it happen. Ishverbhai took on the challenge! He gathered his family and friends to stand every day at the exit, holding long fabric pieces in their hands, and requesting a rupee from each one leaving the Maidan. And as Osho had predicted, they did well, in fact, super! The collection was more than enough to cover all the expenses of this long lecture series. Such was Osho’s vision, and his confidence in Ishverbhai.
Over the next few years Ishverbhai expanded the Trust’s activities to include week-long lectures and Dhyan Shibirs (meditation camps) throughout the country. Activities grew in leaps and bounds and Osho moved to Bombay, residing at Woodland Apartments. Ishverbhai remained actively engaged in expanding the publication of Osho’s words, and the Trust was quite successful in this endeavour.
The stay in Woodland turned out to be of a temporary nature as Osho’s divinity had now spread throughout the world. Foreign and local donations began coming from around the world to help create an Ashram; thus, soon followed the rise of the Rajneesh Ashram at 17 Koregaon Park, Pune, and subsequent transfer of Jeevan Jagruti Kendra to the organisational arrangement required to manage and grow the Ashram.
Ishverbhai wondered if he should move to the Ashram while family responsibilities (aging mother and a young family) were still resting on his shoulders alone. However, Osho asked that he remain in Bombay, support the Ashram when needed, and also to establish and run a meditation centre in Bombay, the first one outside Pune to be formally authorised. This Osho Aum Meditation Centre continued publishing and spreading Osho’s words, operating out of Ishverbhai’s business premises at Masjid Bunder, Mumbai, almost till the end of his life. [Note: Where also Sw Laherubhai was living with his family on top floor in same house].

Ishverbhai had a critically important role in the development of the Rajneesh Ashram assuring key regulatory approvals and removing associated hurdles; he continued supporting this activity for many years through the several subsequent expansions of the Ashram. As before, if the Ashram organisation described a significant problem they couldn’t overcome, Osho would ask them to contact Ishverbhai, assuring them that he would get it done! Such was the confidence in each other between Osho and Ishverbhai.
He visited Rajneeshpuram in Oregon when Osho settled there, and later again got involved in supporting the Commune in Pune when it was needed upon Osho’s return.
Ishverbhai was happy to switch between being a foot soldier and taking the personal lead to inspire others and get the work accomplished. A very noticeable thing about his work is perhaps that not many would know his valued contribution to such significant achievements. He was a ‘silent’ worker, not looking for recognition when serving the Ashram’s needs. His undying love for and total surrender to Osho were his motivational drivers to do whatever needed to get it done.
Perhaps Ishverbhai is the one pioneer of Osho’s work over 45 years who is the least known to people, but has been a major contributor to laying that solid foundation upon which the Osho organisation could rise and spread throughout the world. For all those years he worked with an infectious enthusiasm to broaden Osho’s visibility and succeeded in doing so due to his relentless passion to help others.

Ishverbhai’s meditations of choice throughout his life were Nadabrahma and Vipassana, and with Osho’s encouragement Ishverbhai went deeper with Vipassana towards the final years of his life. On the day he left his body, Ishver Samarpan was found lying down on an early afternoon in his favourite ‘shavasana’ position and was in Vipassana when he departed!
Such was the life journey of this self-driven, intrepid, gentle warrior of action. We salute you and all you have done for all of us, Swami Ishver Samarpan!” (Text by Sunil Shah, Ishverbhai’s son. With images by Parul, his daughter, sent to Osho News by Anuragi. www.oshonews.com 22.10.2020)

From Sex to Superconsciousness
“A new English edition of ‘From Sex to Superconsciousness’, “Osho’s most disputed books that stung the Indian sensibilities in the 70’s, is now back on the shelves in open displays, cheaper and more accessible to all. ‘From Sex to Superconsciousness’ by Osho has made a comeback following requests by readers for a fresh English translation, said Mr Shekhar Malhotra, founder of Full Circle books which has brought out this now-popular low priced editions. (The original talks were given in Hindi. Ed.).” (Excerpt from press release by Keerti at www.sannyasnews.com 18.06.2003)

Purvodaya’s daughter writes on Osho’s book from 1968
“He was also notorious as the ‘Sex God’, a branding first given by the Bombay Press in the ‘Poona Herald’ following a series of lectures he had given on sexuality, ‘From Sex to Superconsciousness’ in the summer of 1968, which conflates the egoless state one reaches during intercourse with religious experience. It was these lectures that led him to become notorious in India, a reputation that never left him.” (Dunn 2022, p. 68)

From Sannyas News on Osho’s discourses in Bombay 1968
“It is still reputed to be his most read book! We read somewhere that it had been translated into 34 languages!
The first talk was delivered at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium and after a sharp public reaction for mixing sex with Indian spirituality, Osho could not deliver the remaining lectures at that venue… He did manage to complete the talks a month later, from the 28^th September, at Gowalia Tank Maidan in the city. This venue was the one used by Gandhi in the pre-independence days…
[Kavita tells] My maternal grandparent lived in Nana Chowk area (Grant Road West), so I have spent some good times there, which is in the same areas as Gowalia Tank Maidan. As children we would go to Gowalia Tank Maidan very often to play in the evenings, there were also benches around trees. There were a lot of hawkers selling some lovely Bombaya Snacks… Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium is a cultural hub, especially for Indian Classical music. I have watched many Indian musicians perform there, but my first memory of being there is of a magic show when I was 5-6 years old. Both these areas are very close to each other, they are also close to Girgaum Chowpatty (beach) area of Bombay where Osho held Dynamic Meditation on the beach.” (Swami G 2022, pp. 242, 245)

Mangalwadi writes on altered states of consciousness
“The most interesting thing about this experience is that the techniques of yoga are not the only means of attaining it. Because it consists of alteration of our consciousness, one can attain it by artificially altering one’s consciousness by drugs, as Huxley, himself Vedantin [follower of Vedanta], says after his experience with mescalin in his book ‘The Doors of Perception.’ This state of consciousness can also be reached by sexual intercourse as Bhagwan Rajneesh teaches. When I pointed this out to one of the Swamis in the Divine Life Society he replied, “That is a crude way to reach God” – even though it may be shorter and more pleasurable!” (Mangalwadi 1977, p. 71)

Chaitanya writes on Osho’s discussion with George Fernandes
“George Fernandes, the socialist leader, sought to meet the rising star, know his views on topics dear to George’s heart, and in a way seek his endorsement for the socialistic pattern of society.” [Their discussion follows on pp. 96-101] (Chaitanya 2001a, p. 96)
(Note: Osho published ‘Samajwad Se Sawadhan’ in 1970. English edition ‘Beware of Socialism’ was out in 1978)

Some excerpts from early books published on Acharya Rajneesh:

In his ‘The World of Gurus’ (1977) Mangalwadi writes on Osho in chapter 7: Acharya Rajneesh. Excerpts:
“No other religious personality in India perhaps, possesses a more brilliant intellect than does Rajneesh, and yet, no one is more militantly anti-intellectual than he is. With his superb oratory, penetrating parables and courageous critique of our cultural and religious traditions he “has begun to hold a commanding historical significance in India today.” [Prasad 1970, v]. His daring denunciations of traditional philosophy, religion, scriptures, morality, values and ideals, his outspoken criticism of men like Gandhi and Vinoba and his bold advocacy of sex as a legitimate means of salvation, have no doubt won him many enemies, yet already there are tens of thousands, who have accepted him as Bhagwan (god). They claim:
“Acharya Rajneesh is an Enlightened One, who has become one with Infinity, the Totality. He is NOT – but the Infinity breathes through him. He is not a person but the Divinity personified. Transcendental Truth shines every moment through him, he is not living in Cosmic Consciousness, but has become the Cosmic Consciousness. Even further, he lives beyond Cosmos, beyond Being – in No-Being, in No-Thingness, in the Great Void – Nirvana.” [Path to Self-Realization]…
Having been a student and a teacher of philosophy, Rajneesh is one of the most widely-read gurus. His authorized biographer, Dr Ramchandra Prasad, points out the various sources of Rajneesh’s thoughts. Even though born as a Jain, Rajneesh says outright that he is neither a Jain nor a Hindu. He does not like old labels.
His rejection of the intellect as a valid source of knowledge and acceptance of mysticism and silence smacks simultaneously of contemporary western philosophy and of Buddhism…
Rajneesh’s critique of the contemporary politico-economic situation in India, according to Dr Prasad, is largely based on the writings of Arthur Koestler.” (Mangalwadi 1977, pp. 125,127,128)
(Note: Following publications by Osho are referred to: Beyond and Beyond, From Sex to Super Consciousness, Dharm Aur Rajniti, Pragatisheel Kaun?, Path to Self-Realization, Satya Ki Pahli Kiran, Seeds of Revolutionary Thoughts, Bhagwan Shree’s Meditation, and Neo-Sannyas, Vol. 2, 1973:4)

Urmila recalls the time when ‘Shanti Ki Khoj’ was published in 1969
“An Ordinary Author
During the whole of that year I used to meet Osho regularly. Almost every day except holidays, while on his way to his college, he would drop in without fanfare whenever he could, and sit down for half an hour – or sometimes for as long as an hour – and talk freely in response to my questions. And after addressing the many things I needed to hear him talk about, he would sometimes go on to talk more on his own about what he wanted to talk about, freely veering off on a tangent from whatever had come up.
I always listened to him with rapt attention; each and every word became imprinted on my mind unforgettably. He had such an eloquent gift for expression, and a wonderful, still, calming presence. Whatever he spoke about, it was always tinged with a certain lightless, helping me sense that though what he said was weighty and vital, it was never complex nor solemn. I felt privileged to be sitting and talking to him day after day, and fully engaged in absorbing this rich source of wisdom I was so happy to have found.
And after only the fourth or fifth of his visits, he asked me to write down what he said.
I had no idea what he had in mind when he asked this of me. But he must have understood that, as a former university lecturer myself, I would be able to accurately record his words, which also clearly interested me.
So the very day he suggested this, just as soon as he had left. I pulled out a giant notebook I had bought some time back with a view to continuing my PhD thesis, and began carefully noting down everything he had said. There was something thrilling about channelling his unusual way of expression in this way and seeing it unfold on the paper in my own handwriting.
He hadn’t asked me to read it back to him, but I didn’t trust myself to perfectly recount what he wanted to convey, so the following day I read what I had written for his approval. How could I be confident I had reported it correctly? I needed his affirmation.
Each time I did read it back to him, he would encourage me by saying, ‘Theek hé. That’s right’ and ‘That’s well put’ or ‘Correctly said!’ – little remarks which filled me with confidence.
And so that became a familiar routine.
I hadn’t asked him what these talks would be used for. I assumed he wanted them to be published in some magazine, so I was meticulous about getting everything right. And it was a wonder to me how he never corrected me nor asked me to re-write anything. Not as single word.
About a couple of months after I had begun to write down what Osho had been saying to me, he suddenly announced that he would like me to put all these talks together as a collection into a book. A book!
Yet again Osho had stopped me in my tracks. Until that moment, I’d imagined the notes I was taking would be for magazine articles; never did the idea of a book occur to me.
But then he dropped another bombshell: I was to publish this book under my own name. Under my own name?
‘How can I publish your words under my name?’ I protested. ‘Acharyaji, I would be honoured to do this work for you. But it shouldn’t be in my name!’
‘Yes. It is you who will put it together. It must be in your name.’
And while I continuously retorted that I could not possibly do that, he continued to insist that I did. Three or four times, we had variations of this exchange until, in the end, he asked what my objection was.
‘I’ve only just started meditating’, I told him, tapping the notebook on my lap in which everything was written. ‘And all these words are yours. These are your insights, your understandings; this is your wisdom, not mine. I don’t know anything about all this; I’m just a novice. I’m the secretary taking dictation!’
‘But all kinds of people have written volumes and volumes of books without knowing anything of what they’re writing about!’ he said, almost as if talking to himself. ‘Why shouldn’t you?’
I didn’t know whether to laugh or feel insulted.
Then he turned back to me and explained: ‘If I tell people to meditate, they think, ‘It is easy for you to talk about meditation; you’re such a great mahatma. But we are just simple, worldly people, how can we possibly meditate?’
‘But if you tell them your experiences, then they’ll be convinced that even an ordinary person is capable of meditating, and they’ll give it a try.’
I pondered this a moment. He had a point. Even I, whenever I’d gone on my early spiritual searches, had felt that only by sitting at the feet of one of the great masters, was there a remote chance of achieving spiritual wellbeing. The idea that I might have been able to start the search on my own had never occurred to me. You were either a ‘great mahatma’ yourself, or sitting at the feet of a great mahatma.
So I conceded this was a good argument and, of course, relented.
In this way, over the next few months the notes were duly prepared. I had them typed up and read for errors by a professional, and a couple of years later Osho asked his own publisher to carry it under my name. At no point in the procedure did he want to see the finished product, or question the quality of the text and whether it was worthy of him. His trust in me was undisputed.
Why did he use me as a medium rather than simply make it his own book? Osho never worked on one level alone when he could work on several! As he said, he needed his people to share their own experiences of meditation. But there might have been another motive too, more personal to me…
Osho knew how much I loved to read and write, and how I had once hoped to enter journalism or complete my PhD. He was giving me a unique opportunity to explore my creativity – perhaps another way of getting me to engage in life again. On top of that – at least so I liked to think – it was because he had observed how diligently I wrote down what he said, day after day without slaking, and that I could be trusted to produce a coherent piece of work.
The book was compiled and published in Hindi under the title ‘Shanti Ki Khoj’ (In Search of Peace). An English translation was produced decades later [‘The Inward Journey. In Osho’s Guidance’ , 2005].” (Savita 2019, pp. 57-59)

Urmila’s story on Osho’s healing
“While I am aware that later in life Osho stopped healing or performing the small miracles recounted here [see pp. 136-38 on the healing of Gautam Swami] – because as he stated somewhere, he ‘didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of people’ – nevertheless, I found Gautam Swami’s fascinating account of his healing gifts. I sometimes wonder whether, had I gone to him with a serious illness, he would have tried to heal me too…
And whenever it was offered me, I carried on with the occasional Osho translation and writing work, all the time living close by with my daughter and granddaughter, and sharing life with the many friends who also stayed in the neighbourhood. It has been, and still is, a remarkable life.” (Savita 2019, p. 139)

From Haribansha Rai Bachchan’s autobiography when meeting Osho in 1969
“I saw him to be a well-built man in his late thirties. His eyes were wide and piercing. His appearance gave the sense of a highly individual personality, and I found that he talked openly and with a transparent, mirror-like clarity.” (Arun 2017, p. 4)
(Note: The excerpt is from Bachchan’s autobiography ‘In the Afternoon of Life’. The noted Indian poet and recipient of the Padma Bhushan award attended a literary congregation at Delhi where Acharya Rajneesh had also been invited to speak).

Arvind quotes from Jyoti Shikha on an Essay Competition in 1969
“Ma Yog Geeta mentioned that Osho used to keep an essay competition on some subjects and the best ones were rewarded. She had won one of the best prizes on one such occasion and received a set of books from Osho.
Heading in Jyoti Shikha: Essay Competition (Nibandh Pratiyogita):
‘1. For anyone, the subject is: Without religion and life revolution, man and society can never be peaceful. Total words 1,500. This essay should be prepared on the literature of Acharya Shree Rajneesh publications from ‘Jeevan Jagruti Kendra’ and articles published in Jyotishikha (Tri monthly magazine). First prize is of Rs. 251, second of Rs. 101 and third winner will get a set of books of Acharya Shree.
2. Only for Students, the subject is Acharya Shree ji’s Kranti Beej or Sinhanad or the entire published articles in 500 words. The first winner will get a prize of Rs. 101, second Rs. 51 and third will get a set of books of Acharya Shree.
3. Can be written in Gujarati, Hindi or English.
4. Essay should be typed in 3 copies and using only one side of the paper.
5. Entry fee for submission of essay is Rs. 1. It can be sent through money order or cash.
6. It can be sent at Jeevan Jagruti Kendra, Ahmedabad.
7. It should reach by 30.7.1969.
8. Results would be announced on 15.[?].1969. Results will be published in newspaper and winners would be intimated in their address.’
On a photo Ma Geeta shows she is receiving a set of books from Osho as a prize. As I can see, the essays could also have been narrated in front of Osho as there are some suggestive pictures of the same time.
I spoke to Ma Geeta. She confirms the title of the essay but does not remember if it was a regular feature. In most likelihood it was done once in Gujarat. She mentioned that prize of books were given. And the prizes were given in various cities of Gujarat. Her photo of receiving the books from Osho is from Dwarka (gj). She said prizes were also given in Rajkot and Surendranagar. At the same time, she also says that essay was sent by post and it was not read in front of Osho. She says it is difficult to remember the exact happening… I spoke to Ma Mukti who mentioned that it was only once that such competition was organized in Gujarat.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 12.07.2019)

Sarlo is commenting on the Essay Competition in 1969
“This is sounding like not a big story, ie. it happened maybe only once. And the rules are clear that essays were not submitted to Osho but by post. But there are hints that WINNERS read their essays aloud in Osho’s presence. If that were so, that would make it all the more likely that it was a once-only event – can you imagine Osho giving a lot of encouragement to expounding on his words, extracting a solid philosophy from his words? If prizes were given in various places, it could easily have been to make it easier for winners to receive their prizes in person not that there were many competitions. I believe Jain communities like to do this kind of thing, and many of Osho’s early people are from that group.” (Sarlo. E-mail. 14.07.2019)

On Taaran Darshan in Smarika 1974
“This publication documents 35 years of birth celebrations of Sant Taaran Taran (1448-1515), a Jain reformer who worked mainly in central India. Osho spoke at these celebrations for many years, starting when he was 22. Thus, though not officially a book about Osho, the book documents many of the occasions on which Osho spoke there, including a few pictures and his words. The “author”-publisher and sponsor of these events, Sarv Dharm Sammelan – literally “all-religions conference” – was also a sponsor/organizer of interfaith gatherings.
According to Osho’s brother Shailendra, their family were not mainstream Jains, but members of Taaran’s group, Taran Panth. Taaran, variously rendered as Taran, Tàran, Taran Svami etc, was a rebel who rejected the then-prevalent practice of idol worship and attempted to restore a culture of meditation. In his temples there are no statues of Mahavir, or himself for that matter, just his books for reading. Osho has spoken on two of his books in ‘Books I Have Loved’.
His group remained limited to a small number of adherents, mostly in a few districts of Madhya Pradesh. Osho’s uncle Amrit Lal Chanchal became well known for “translating” Taaran’s books, from their 500-year-old language to a modern Hindi poetry form. He supported Osho at an early age to speak at Taaran Jayanti celebrations. Eventually Osho became the chief lecturer and presided over these functions for almost a decade, the last time being in 1969, the year he moved to Mumbai.
On that last occasion, he took with him some Bollywood celebrities, including singer Mahendra Kapoor, composer-directors Kalyanji-Anandji, poet Indivar and an orchestra to put on musical extravaganzas at Gadarwara and Jabalpur. The program at Gadarwara was a huge success, but according to Neeten’s Osho Source Book (end of section 2.6), the non-existent crowd control caused the program at Jabalpur to collapse in chaos.
Notes: “Editions” shows the covers, see the Gallery (at www.sannyas.wiki) below for inner page images. The six pages captioned with years contain reports of those years about the Taaran Jayanti functions. Osho’s name is rendered in various ways for each year (underlined in the images) from 1953 to 1969, except 1956 and 1959, which have no reports at all, and 1962, which does have a report but does not mention Osho. Osho is most commonly referred to as Acharya Rajneesh, occasionally Acharya Shri Rajneesh ji and once Shri Rajneesh ji Maharaj. The celebrations, when the date is mentioned, are all between Nov 26 and Dec 25, with Osho’s birthday exactly in the middle fwiw.
Following the Gallery are some more notes concerning particular pages shown.” (www.sannyas.wiki – Taaran Darshan Smarika 1974)
(Note: The mentioned reference to section 2.6 is Ageh Bharti’s book ‘Blessed Days with Osho’ (2007, p. 168))

Murti writes on books covering Osho’s early childhood
“When reading about Osho’s early years it is hard to sort facts from fiction. Vasant Joshi’s ‘The Awakened One’, published in 1982, set the gold standard for biography but that may now be surpassed by Gyan Bhed’s 2006 epic ‘The Rebellious Enlightened Master: Osho’. After prodigious research and visits to relevant towns and villages, Bhed reconstructs Osho’s life in flourishing detail, evidence perhaps of Bhed’s background as a novelist.
We learn through these impressive though speculative sources and Osho’s own revelations that his childhood was far from the norm. Left with his maternal grandparents for seven years, he was indulged and allowed to flourish without meaningful boundaries. From one angle, many of his so-called pranks could be called mischievous; from another they look downright cruel. Besotted with their grandchild, who they called ‘Raja’, the grandparents may have done their prodigy no favours. By the time Osho returned to his parents his sense of his own importance seems to be well entrenched, so much so that his parents were unable to discipline him and apparently gave up trying.
Harry Aveling (Anand Haridas) had edited an interesting book – ‘Osho Rajneesh and His Disciples’, in which writers of many persuasions deal with aspects of the man himself and of the communities he established. One of the essays is entitled: ‘The Narcissistic Guru’. The author, Ronald O. Clarke, delivers a psychological profile, drawing from Osho’s early days, his actions and attitudes over the course of life, and his spoken and written legacy. Clarke’s conclusion does not rule out ‘a profound mystical experience’ at twenty-one years of age and neither does it rule out the possibility ‘that this experience may have involved a vivid sense of ego-loss’. The author does, however, question Osho’s ‘grandiose self-interpretation’ and stated that his ‘self-avowed Buddhalike status is instead part of a delusional system associated with severe narcissistic personality disorder. In other words, his condition is one of ego inflation rather than egolessness.’
While I shrink from such extreme psychological labelling, I think it is a valid exercise to look at Osho’s childhood and subsequent behaviour for explanations as to how his life unfolded and to provide a context for his effect upon others.” (Menzies 2019, p. 361)

Sw Ageh Bharti, author and writer, was in December 2021 awarded with the Kadambari Award 2021 in Jabalpur for his book ‘Allah Gawah Hail (Allah is the Witness) 2010, and for his comprehensive publishing including several books on Osho. The event took place at Shahid Smarak Bhavan where also Osho used to talk during his years in Jabalpur. (www.oshonews.com 26.12.2021)

Material collected by Arvind Kumar Jain, Osho’s secretary in Jabalpur:

* Ankahe Pal (Untold Moments with Osho. Presented as a Place for those who are Devoted to the last Adventure of God Consciousness) / Arvind Kumar Jain & Yoga Kranti. Jabalpur. Unpublished manuscript. 66 typed pages. Covering the years 1947 to 1970 in 19 chapters of which only chapter 9 on Osho’s reading is translated (See Appendix in Volume I). Cat.C. (G,J).

* Osho: Diary Ke Darpan Mein (Osho: In the Mirror of My Diary) / Arvind Kumar Jain. New Delhi, Diamond Books, October 2016. 240 pages. PB. In Hindi. Cat.C. (G,J)
Talks from Chanda (Chandrapur) 1961, when Osho was staying with Madan Kuwar Parakh (Ma Anandmayee) and gave talks to a small gathering of friends.

* Osho: Prerna (Osho: Inspiration) / Prof. Arvind Kumar. Edited by Ashesh Kumar. Published by Jagdish Singh Bharti, Pune, Printer: Amrit Offset, Jabalpur. Pune, 2020. 159 pages. 15 chapters. In Hindi. Cat.C. (G,J)
(Note: Previously unpublished talks during mid to late 1960s, transcribed from audio spool tapes sold to the owners of the Tobacco Company in Jabalpur, and these talks were later to be digitized. The initiative for publishing this book was taken by Harak, the husband of Nisha (Osho’s sister living in Jabalpur). Someone financed the project and paid Rs. 30,000 to Ashesh Kumar for getting the rights and the transcribed discourses. The raw material for the discourses is with Kabir. These unpublished talks from mid- and late 1960s have been preserved on audio spools, which Arvind Kumar Jain, Osho’s secretary in Jabalpur, later wanted to sell. The spools were bought by a politician’s family in Jabalpur which Anuragi has tried to reach to preserve the spools. Kabir has mentioned that he had got them digitized unto a CD before handing over CDs and spools to the family in Jabalpur. Now, the main person has died and there is said to be some serious quarrels between the heirs in that family. Arvind did eventually transcribe the talks before giving the spools to him, and these 15 talks were later on published in Osho: Prerna (2020). Personal information. 2021)

Opposite the title page in ‘Osho: Prerna’ (2020) is a color photo of the publisher Sw Jagdish Singh Bharti’s parents: Mrs. Bhajan Kaur Saluja and Sardar Kesar Sing Saluja. Then follows ‘From the Author’s Pen’, quoted here in the rather peculiar and unique language and style used by Arvind Jain:
“How my respected elder brother (Osho) made me drown in the ocean of existence, today I could understand in my earthly journey. The divine benediction which I am getting now, its fragrance has been experienced in the divine close proximity of Osho (Archarya Rajneesh, respected elder brother) during the period from 1950 to 1970. I experienced this revolutionary life transforming stream of divine consciousness which like a flower, in this changing existence, which not only fills itself with the fragrance but also passes the way to the seeker desiring to merge with the god consciousness, with the existential consciousness. Saint Kabir Das has expressed his experience of existential consciousness in these lines:
“O friend, searching and searching
Kabir lost himself
The drop has fallen into the ocean
How can you find that?”
While living in the close proximity of my elder brother, I got the opportunity to write in great details my invaluable inspiring comments on discussions and ‘questions and answer’ sessions. It was all an unplanned happening. Today I consider that a sovereign power got this work done through me. Call it an excuse, an instrument or a hollow bamboo flute, the words are from Bhagwan arranged by Osho, notes arranged harmoniously by Osho which are being published for the good of the masses, for the welfare of the masses.
The source of inspiration and uniting work of Swami Sushil Agarwal Bharti ji, Swami Krishna Kabir Bharti, Ahmedabad, and Ma Kiran, Porbandar, made the editing of Prerna possible. The continuous flame of light has given this divine gift to all for the good and welfare of the world.
To them on behalf of all Osho lovers – Jai Osho
Prof. (Late) Arvind Kumar.” (Translated by Sw Satya Anuragi and friend, 2021)

A few articles on Osho’s early publishing in Jabalpur:

– Osho’s First Book From His First Camp. Ranakpur Camp, June 1964, a Landmark / Pierre Evald. In: Osho World Newsletter. Delhi, India. Vol XII, No. 2, February 2014. Page 44-46. Illustrated.
– New Treasures Discovered / Pierre Evald. In: Osho World News. Delhi, India. Vol IV, No.12, December 2006 (75 Year Anniversary Issue). Page 23-25. Illustrated.
– Early Books on Osho: Veil Upon Veil… / Pierre Evald. In: Osho World Newsletter. Delhi, India. February 2013. Page 5-7.
– Jabalpur: Now and Then. Rajneesh Times International, 1988:20. 01.11.1988, p. 3.

Audio recordings

Tarpan writes on Laherubhai’s early audio recordings
“Laherubhai was one among the five who were with Osho when he started his work in Mumbai. And he was the one who started recording Osho’s discourses. According to him he started recording them as he was not able to understand his words in the first hearing. Just to listen to them more carefully later, he started to record every talk of Osho. It is because of Laherubhai that we are fortunate to have thousands of Osho’s early discourses!” (www.oshonews.com/2017/11/15)

First recorded tape: Agyat ki Aur. Amhadabad. 7.10.1963. 57 min.

Laheru is having more than 5000 hours of audiotapes 1963-1989; much is left from the 60s and is yet to be published. He has handed over old spool tapes to Devendra (OIF) in Poona for digital remastering. (Laheru. Interview. Bombay. 2006)

Old spools
“I met with a person in Pune who had come from Bhopal and his name is Shyam Narayan Chauksy. He is a strong Gandhi follower now and runs a trust on Gandhi’s work.
He has been with Osho in Jabalpur times. He had a spool recorder wherein he recorded many of Osho’s earlier talks. He has made note of dates and subject matter on each talk along with dates. He is now 82 years plus of age. His two sons are well established in good jobs and one of them is settled in USA. He had approached the Pune Ashram long time ago asking for money against these spools. At that time he asked for 2 million Rupees…
One of the discourses is the famous one of Vishwa Hindu Samelan in Patna. He showed me 5 spools with a length of 180 meters each. Each of these spools had a few talks…
A few tapes which he mentioned are

1. Talk during the Vishwa Hindu Samelan in Patna
2. Talks/interview with George Fernandes (Indian Politician who was a minister in the central government)
3. Interview and talks with some film stars, including Kalyan Ji.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 09. 11.2019)

A follow-up from Rudra on Osho International Foundation and copyright
“You could explain to them, that although they own the physical spools, they do NOT own the copyright of the spools content. The copyright of all Osho’s talks belong to Osho’s estate which is Osho’s closest family namely his brothers and sisters and their children.
In light of that the spools are practically worthless, although they are allowed to exhibit them in a museum or listen to them in private, they are not allowed to copy or broadcast them in any way or medium (apart from short excerpts for fair use or research). The same restrictions would apply to any potential buyer, ie a collector or historian.” (Rudra. E-mail. 09.11.2019)

The audio spools belonging to the now deceased Arvind Kumar Jain in Jabalpur recording Osho’s early discourses and listed in the Appendix to Vol. I, have in recent years been sold to a businessman in tobacco, Mohan Das Govind. The spools may now have been digitized, and they are also existing in typed format according to Kabir. (Anuragi. Personal information. Skagen. 19.02.2020)

Chaitanya Veetarraga, the painter
Veetarraga (Kamlesh Sharma) was an artist and long time sannyasin. He drew Osho’s sketches for Yukrand and other magazines. Osho wrote him many letters, in Hindi and even in English, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was married to Maya, a former Jaina nun. Gallery with his paintings, sketches and letters can be found at www.sannyas.wiki

2.9 Letters, Manuscripts and Articles

Urmila recalls writing letters to Osho
“I used to write letters to him from time to time – he had told me it is good to express yourself in letters – so after I got home that day, I wrote: ‘I think I disturbed you today and I’m feeling very bad about it. I noticed your fingers moving in a special way. When you want to be alone, be frank and tell me – I don’t want to interrupt your meditation. Please be direct and I will leave.’
He didn’t answer and he never referred to it. But after that, if I had suggested coming at a time when he was busy, he was able to tell me frankly not to come. Mostly he no longer needed to though, because I became more sensitive to his personal body language and his spaces of silence.
After this I started writing to him regularly when he was out of town – about all kinds of things. And he confirmed again that it was good for me to write letters. But he never answered them: he clearly felt it wasn’t necessary.” (Savita 2019, p. 74)

Arun writes on Ma Anandmayee
“In 1960, Osho and Madan Kunwar Parakh met for the first time at a Jain festival in Wardha, in the northeast corner of Maharashtra in central India… They used to behave with each other as a mother and son and had a very beautiful relationship. Later Madan took sannyas and became Ma Anandmayee. Osho wrote her hundreds of letters which were later published in two books, ‘Kranti Beej’ and ‘Bhavna Ke Bhojpatron Par Osho’. Madan had great love for Osho and became his benefactor supplying him with many gifts for the furtherance of his work. When her husband bought her a car, Osho was then using a bicycle to go for his daily job at the University. Madan said to her husband how she could drive a car while Osho was riding in a bicycle and insisted on him to first buy a car for Osho and then buy it for her. At that time Osho had a mere salary of 600 Rs which was not enough even for a scooter.
When Osho started going to the University in a car it drew a lot of attention and jealousy especially from his seniors who used to come by bicycles and scooters… Osho had a favourite tree in the university and used to park his bicycle under that tree. It was a tall and broad Gulmohar tree that used to blossom hundreds of orange flowers in the season and provided a large shade… Now he also started parking his car under the same tree while the rest of the campus parked in the specific parking lot.” (Arun 2023, p. 228)

Anuragi writes on Ma Anandmayee letters
“I was thinking about the letters written by Osho to Ma Anandmayee (Mrs. Madan Parekh) since some time. This energy took me to Chandrapur yesterday. Chandrapur is in central India and is about 2 and half hour drive from Nagpur.
Near Chandrapur is the place where an experiment with building the commune had started sometimes in 1973-74 and this place was named Kailash. Since Osho shifted to Poona, this place was not developed further. This land belonged to Ma Anandmayee.
I met with the daughter of Ma Anandmayee, whose name is Sharda and her name has been mentioned in several letters by Osho. She is around 85 years old. She was in her early 20’s when she first met Osho. She narrated a few incidences and stories of that time, which I will share in due course. I also met her son, Deepak Parekh, who is a very helpful person.
As we know, about 100 letters written to Ma Anandmayee have been published. But when I met her family they showed me 4 folders full of Osho’s letters. The early letters have an expression of son and mother. It is difficult to explain but some of them are intimate letters between them.
Moreover, the scans which I made are of approx. 210 plus letters. The letters are not kept in a good condition as the quality of the folders were very bad and the paper is getting stuck to the plastic. In few letters, the ink of the letters have got imprinted with the plastic folder. I have been thinking to provide good quality (archival quality) material to the persons who have Osho’s letters so they can care about them. I would need help on this subject with the quality of material required. I would also request that anyone coming to India should carry the archival folders with them. The cost would be reimbursed.
I am glad that the scans have been made. Below are the links to the letters. There are 4 folders. And we have the permission from the family to publish them…
Further to my email, I had discussions with Ma Dharam, Jyoti and Keerti regarding publishing of these letters. Keerti mentioned that Osho had himself selected the letters which had to be published in ‘Krantibeej’. He also mentioned that a few things from the letters were edited in the book, such as his plans to travel to another city or his travel plans, etc. Keerti was of the opinion that there should not be issues in publishing those letters now. This is to keep everyone updated.” (Anuragi. E-mails. 23.10.2019)
(Note: Those letters to Ma Anandmayee are now to be found at:
https://www.sannyas.wiki/index.php?title=Letters_to_Anandmayee)

Shobhana tells from her writing of letters to Osho
“ACHARYA
RAJNEESH
115, Napier Town Jabalpur (M.P.)

Dearest Shobhana,
Love. Did you get my letter or not?
I am sure they reached you. As I sent them unwritten you probably answered them in the same way.
But look – you crazy one – if I don’t write I can be forgiven. But how can you be forgiven for not writing?

Rajneesh ke pranam
5/4/1968

With this question the doors swung open… ‘How can you be forgiven for not writing…?’
This was more than just an invitation, I told myself; it was complete permission to express anything and everything. It was the sort of permission that was totally liberating – to open all my wounds; to show my disagreeable thoughts; my craziness; my tensions and miseries; those foolish questions that he was now telling me to ‘live with,’ questions that, alongside my poetry, I knew could never be answered… and to reveal it all uncensored, knowing he was accepting the hidden chaos of my personality in its entirety in a way that felt profoundly healing.
I wrote and wrote – like a crazed woman, allowing myself to reveal what I wanted to say, liberally filling blank page after blank page, edge to edge.” (Savita 2019, p. 168)
(Note: “Many were intrigued by Osho’s sprawling and decorative signature. He told one friend who asked him why it was so elaborate, that it did not consist of his name alone: his signature included the greeting, ‘ke pranam’ – as in ‘Rajneesh greets the god in you.’ Rajneesh is Osho’s birth name.”)

Signature in the 1960s and 1970s
“His earliest signatures in Hindi read: ‘Rajneesh ke pranam’ (salutations from Rajneesh). (Vaidya 2017, p. 225)

Nine original letters in Hindi from Osho to Shobhana, 27.02.1968 – 11.10.1968, are included and reproduced in ‘Dinner with Osho’ (Savita 2019, pp. 136ff.)

In a letter from Osho to Shobhana
“acharya rajneesh kamala nehru nagar: jabalpur (m.p.) phone: 2957

17/8/1968

Dearest Shobhana,
Love.
‘I’ is the shore, it is the bondage, it is the obstacle between the Infinite and the Self.
It itself is pain and also the reason for pain.
With every decision it gets stronger –
Even when choosing to annihilate itself.
In fact, it is the summary of all the choices of life.
That is why it is difficult to destroy it and find freedom from it.
It cannot be destroyed by will…
That is why, simply UNDERSTAND it.
How do you understand it?
Ask – Who am I?
Ask – What am I?
Ask – Where am I?

Answer?
There is no answer.
When there is no ‘I’ how can there be an answer?
But is silence not the answer?

The answer IS silence – shunya, emptiness.
Only in that silence, what exists, is.
Then there is no Shobhana – no boundary – only the ocean.
Ocean, ocean, ocean.
And can’t you hear the call of the ocean?
Come! Come! Come!

Rajneesh ke pranam”
(Savita 2019, p. 185)

Shobhana reports
“It was in this dysfunctional domestic environment that I began rereading Osho’s letters, going deeply into each one, over and over again, hoping to grasp the sense of what was written. At first I was trying to understand the significance of each word he used… and then I looked at his short sentences, at his rhetorical questions and the message behind them…
But soon I was reading these letters from some other level, as if the meaning lay hidden behind the words, was not really connected to the words themselves. So with each reading came a fresh depth of understanding that was wordless, and each moment of aha! was followed by such a profound relaxation that the decision about how to respond to Osho’s proposal, which I had for so long been gnawing at like with a bone, just happened on its own.” (Savita 2019, p. 228)

English translation of Osho’s letter in Hindi to Arun 1969
Beloved Arun,
Love. I was travelling so I only just received your letter.
There is a meditation camp in Dwarika on October 28,29,30,31.
It will be good if you can come there.
Meditation can become your path for transformation.
We shall talk more when we meet.
The information regarding the Dwarika camp can be found on the following address:
Shree Pushkar Gokani,
Jeevan Jagriti Kendra,
Jawahar Road,
Dwarika (Gujrat)
[Osho]”
(Arun 2017, p. 13)

Krishna Saraswati was associated with Osho since the early days in Bombay. Osho first sent him to Kenya to open and facilitate a new meditation centre in Nairobi, Anand Need. Osho also married him in Mt Abu to Ma Ananda Pratima, of the USA. Osho wrote many letters to Saraswati, in Hindi and in English, some published, most not; www.sannyas.wiki is having high-quality images of thirteen of them, all from 1971.

Nivedita recalls writing to Osho
“I kept writing letters to him, without expecting any reply. Except my gratitude, there was nothing else in these letters… In 1967 I received a reply from him, and its excerpts are:

‘Dear Jaya,
Love.
I don’t reply so that you keep waiting.
Isn’t the longing ecstatic?
This endless waiting itself is a prayer.
Osho’s greetings’.
I continued to write letters to Osho. Once during the Matheran meditation camp I asked him why he was not replying to my letters. He said that he always replied through his heart; wasn’t I getting the replies? I did not understand what he was saying. I looked at him with awe and he said I would understand it when I was ready to reach that point. Even then I did not understand anything – what he wanted to say, and where I would reach, still I kept writing the letters. Once I received a reply:
‘Dear Jaya,
Love. I got your letter. I get all your letters on time,
and I reply to them through my mind.
Do you get the replies?
Greetings from Osho.’”
(Nivedita 2023, pp. 19,30)

A number of letters from Osho with their various letterheads from Jabalpur and Bombay are reproduced at www.sannyas.wiki / Category: Letterhead series.

Manuscripts

The first volume of Osho Source Book, uploaded in 2014, contained text and a listing of those manuscripts in Hindi from Osho’s own hand that have been preserved by his secretary in Jabalpur, Arvind Kumar Jain. Now all these manuscripts – and many more – have been made available for anyone to read at Sannyas Wiki, where a comprehensive presentation is to be found at: www.sannyas.wiki / Manuscripts:
Manuscripts / Reports Timeline Extractions

1. Manuscripts Messages Timeline Extractions
2. Manuscripts Notebooks Timeline Extractions
3. Manuscripts Programmes Timeline Extractions

The manuscripts are presented in their unedited and raw Hindi versions, and those looking for an English translation might find what they’re looking for in Osho’s printed books. Some of the manuscripts are still not published yet and in need of a translation. The text following Osho’s manuscripts at Sannyas Wiki has been expanded and contains further context on the provenance of the manuscripts and how they have been preserved.

On the authenticity of the manuscripts, Osho’s brother Shailendra writes in March 2018:
“I guarantee the authenticity of these documents.
In the early 1970s, when I was admitted to Jabalpur’s medical college there was a waiting period to get a room at the hostel, therefore I had the opportunity to stay at Arvind’s [Arvind Kumar Jain, Osho’s secretary] home for about 6 weeks.
He used to publish the Yukrand magazine. At that time the printing press was located in his house and I used to spend 1-2 hours daily helping in the press office. It was a great occasion to enjoy proof reading and matching the print matter with the original text. Hence, I have gone through and read all the files that contained the manuscripts.
I knew that Osho also wrote in the names of Kranti, Arvind, Aklank, Ramaa and others! He wrote the preface but the credit was given to one of them.
Once Niklank (brother of Osho and Shailendra) told me about the following incident:
During his school days Osho created a booklet entitled ‘Prayas’.
Niklank had a habit of preserving everything written by Osho, even the papers that had been thrown into the dustbin. He decided to preserve only those pages from this booklet which contained articles by Osho, and discarded the remaining articles writtes by other students.
Later on he came to know from Osho’s friends that all articles had been written by Osho himself.
The book Naye Sanket is described as being a compilation of notes taken by many friends during Osho’s discourses and discussions. This is not true. All 233 notes are written by Osho.
I also know that there were a clear instruction for editors, not to change a single word. To keep the text exactly 100% as it is.
As far as I know, nothing has been changed till now.
The books Kuchh Jyotirmaya Kshan, Naye Sanket, Kranti Beej, Mitti Ke Diye, Path Ke Pradeep, Kranti Sutra, Sadhana Path, a few chapters of Main Kahata Aankhan Dekhi, Sinhanaad, Path Ki Khoj, Naye Manushya Ke Janm Ki Disha, Dharm aur Vigyan, and many other books containing compilations of letters, are handwritten by Osho.
Osho’s original letters published in Path Ke Pradeep and Kranti Beej are still being well-looked-after by family members of Ma Sohan and Swami Manik Bafana (both of them passed away) in Poona.
Swami Niklank, Swami Ageh Bharti, Swami Amit and Ma Shashi (Aklank’s wife) are still alive and can verify the same. [Note: Osho lived for about 7 years in the home of Shashi’s father.]
Ma Sohan and Swami Manik must have shown photocopies of these letters to thousands of sannyasins who visited them. Ma Dharm Jyoti, Swami Chaitanya Keerti, Swami Satya Vedant, Ma Neelam, Swami Tathagat and almost all Indian sannyasins living in Poona at that time, plus many foreigners too, must have seen these letters. Sohan had a habit of inviting people for lunch or dinner 2-3 times a week, showing them the letters.” (Shailendra. March 2018. Adapted by www.oshonews.com from the original article published at www.sannyas.wiki)

A few words by this editor on the provenance of Osho’s manuscripts
“During field work in India I visited many old sannyasins who could tell many tales from the early days of Osho’s life. They were interviewed and their collections of booklets and paraphernalia documented and photographed. Among those visited was also Osho’s secretary in Jabalpur, Arvind Kumar Jain, member of the family as Osho was his first cousin and his maternal uncle’s eldest son.
During the interview [in 2000] he showed me the manuscripts given to him by Acharya Rajneesh when he left for Bombay in 1970. Then followed a snail mail correspondence for five years until finally a common understanding of the terms of the exchange was agreed upon in 2005, and I then revisited Arvind Kumar Jain in Jabalpur.
The total exchange also consisted of numerous other items from their years in Jabalpur, early pamphlets and booklets, photos, diaries, his typewriter with Hindi keyboard and even Osho’s name plate from the gate to his residence in Jabalpur. All manuscripts and other items are now kept in a secure box in Europe.
And, as we might expect in India, things are not always what they look like. After discussing the situation with some friends, Arvind Kumar suddenly had second thoughts about the whole thing, and he was no longer capable of fulfilling our agreement. Right there I felt blessed with experiences from years in India and how to adapt to almost anything.
So after a bit of patience, wrestling and some more patience, we ended up signing an officially stamped document at the office of the local notary public, finalizing the whole matter. I thought. But more was to come, and this document turned out later to be most useful. Anyway, those who might want to know Osho’s feeling about his secretary just have to listen to his discourses or have a look into the Osho Source Book where more context is to be found.” (Sw Anand Neeten. July 2017. www.sannyas.wiki)

Items gifted by Niklank ji to Anuragi, December 2021:
A Samsonite briefcase which Osho was carrying on his travels 1965-1972.
One Parker pen used by Osho in Jabalpur 1965-66.
One set of Parker pens used by Osho in Bombay 1971-72..

Notebooks

One more bulk of writings by Osho was discovered in late 2019 when Anuragi got in touch with a handwritten register in Poona
“A complete handwritten register [In India, a register is a long notebook] from the year 1946/47 has been photographed from Sw Niklank’s (Osho’s brother) house. I did not have a book scanner with me and therefore used my phone to take these photos. There are 369 pages, out of which a few could be double or close ups of dates. But for sure, there are 360 pages of original manuscripts. The dates are mentioned in a few pages… In some places, even the time has been mentioned. It was delightful to get this document to copy it. Heartful gratitude to Niklank Ji. He also mentioned that when we create a place for the archival centre, he would donate all the manuscripts and other articles to us. I am sure Neetan would be glad to hear this. The energy is now moving on how to create this space and where to get the funding from! Let’s see… This is a huge data and I am sure a few of us are going to be busy for a few days with this.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 28.12.2019)

Anuragi tells that during his visit to Nikalank in December 2019, Nikalank has shared following items with him:

1. One fat notebook, in sannyas.wiki called Register, from the 1950s. To be translated.
2. Loose sheets in a file. Now also on sannyas.wiki.
3. Scrapbook. Not to be shared yet on public domaine.
4. 10 personal letters from Osho to Urmilla. Not to be shared until later.
5. Notes of old talks and of people he met. 1958. This is still to be confidential.

Also from Anuragi’s fruitful visit to Niklank is a file with 12 handwritten pages by Osho. On the cover of the file is written ‘Rajneesh’ which seems to be writtten by the master himself. These pages too are to be found at www.sannyas.wiki. Transscription and translation are in progress. (Anuragi. E-mail. 01.01.2020)

Anuragi writes on the notebooks written by Osho
“What I can share with you are some basic details about the notebooks. As I had mentioned to you earlier, Niklank Ji had sent almost everything he had collected from Osho. These notebooks were part of the collection…. I cannot share the photos of these as per his wish. However, I’m sharing about the descriptions of these:
* Notebook No. 1: Year 1946-47. This is a long notebook. In this notebook, Osho has notes from Kabir, Farid, other saints from India, Islam, Jesus and others. The writing is in Hindi, Sanskrit and English. (This seems to be advanced studies on these saints). Osho is writing their verses and giving his own meaning/description to them.
* Notebook No. 2: Year 1953. This is also a long notebook. There is a sketch by Osho on the opening page with the pen. The sketch has two men on the camel descending from a desert. Both men have daggers in hand. The sun is descending. The sketch is dated 8^th April 1953 (Just a few days after the enlightenment).
* Notebook No. 3. (Year not mentioned). This is a long notebook. This notebook has records of Osho’s books in Gadarwara and later Jabalpur. He maintained a record of books himself. There is a record of 1106 books in this register.
* 8 Nos. small notebooks: All these are from the college days and later. Only one of them has a mention of the year, i.e. 1957. The writings are in English and Hindi in those books. These have notes from a much wider spectrum of subjects. For example, Mouni Sandhu, J Krishnamurti, R B Gregg, Simone Weil, A B White, E Mounier, Osborn, P Burton, Colin Wilsons, Paul Bruton, Eric Frowner, Rohit Mehta, T S Elliot, among others.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 17.04.2023)

Arvind Kumar Jain’s five notebooks
In the pipeline to be transcribed and translated into English are Arvind Kumar Jain’s five notebooks from the 1960s, already available for Hindi readers on www.sannyas.wiki. Written in the evenings, they contain in longhand the talks Arvind had been listening to during the day as well as Osho’s meetings with persons and his traveling schedules: “Personal Notes in Notes Book taken by Prof. Arvind Jain regarding Acharya’s (Osho) Life Philosophy & Psychological Analysis given to Meeting Persons. 1. One Note book of 84 Pages – Notes of Public Meetings Lectures & personal Meetings Guidance of Osho to Meeting Persons. Written on frontcover: ‘Notes of Public Meetings Address & Personal Meetings of OSHO with Dignitaries.’ April 1961 to July 1961.”

Anuragi commenting on Arvind Jain’s notebooks and his new book
“The interesting parts are the notebooks of Arvind Jain. Though they have been made available on www.sannyas.wiki, it did not give the same flavour as reading them from the very notebook itself. It was then that I realised that the events mentioned in the notebooks match completely with the events in Jyotishikha. And also, the notes written i Jyotishikha about Osho traveling, are part of the Osho’s manuscripts. He has written the travel notes himself, which is published in Jyotishikha magazines. Arvind Jain’s notes regarding his experiences with Osho has been published in a book few months back. His son had a copy of this and he along with a sponsor got it published. I’ll send you the title of the book.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 16.03.2021)
(Note: Osho: Prerna (Osho: Inspiration) / Arvind Kumar Jain. Edited by Ashesh Kumar. Published by Jagdish Singh Bharti, Pune, Printer: Amrit Offset, Jabalpur. Pune, 2020. 159 pages. 15 chapters. In Hindi. Cat.C. (G,J))

Anuragi comments further on Arvind Jain’s notebooks
“I would also like to add something more interesting about Arvind Jain’s notebook No. 3. This is from 1962-63. There are notings from the talks which Osho gave in Chanda (also known as Chandrapur). This is the town where Ma Anandmaybee (Madan KuwarParakh) lived.
I had once visited the office of Osho World looking for a particular thing. They opened the storerooms for me to look and find out what I required. In one of the shelves, I discovered a bag containing few spools (reel to reel). In one of the spools was mentioned Rajnish ji. And in the second spool it was written Chanda (in Hindi). I did not understand then. I brought them back with me and listed to them on the spool player. I was thrilled to hear Osho’s voice. I digitized all the spools in the next few days.
I was sure that these talks were given in Chanda. In one of the other spools, there was a kirtan which was recorded. In that, names were mentioned, which happened to be Ma Anandmayee’s daughters.
Later, on investigating more, and co-relating with the notebook No. 3 of Arvind Jain, these indeed confirmed that the audio discourses were from 1962 as they matched with Arvind Jain’s texts in the notebook.” (Anuragi. E-mail. 10.04.2023)

On his tour to Jabalpur in 2014 Arjava also met Arvind Jain
Avesh next asked Nisha if there was anyone else in Jabalpur who knew Osho well, and Harak spoke up again and mentioned Arvind [Professor Arvind Kumar, 1938-2018], a relative who later on became a professor at the same university where Osho had taught…. Here is what Arvind said to us:
“Osho has left a huge life-awakening treasure with all of us. I am a retired professor but my greatest fortune and destiny is that I have come across Osho and was able to spend so many years with him. Although I have not gone so deeply into meditation, I know that the seed that Osho has gifted me will flourish in any birth in time. My maternal uncle was from Gadarwara, and Nisha is my maternal cousin [making him Osho’s cousin]. I am very lucky that my mother was from Gadarwara but she died very early, when I was only four, and I had been brought up in my maternal uncle’s house in Gadarwara. Osho came to Jabalpur in 1951 and I came in contact with him when he was a student. In Gadarwara there was no college back then. Osho’s first secretary, Ma Yoga Kranti [who died in 2012 and is Arvind’s sister] is the only eyewitness to Osho’s enlightenment because he lived at her house. She used to call him “Elder Brother”. After his enlightenment she just noticed a change. She was twenty then while I was only thirteen.”
When the discussion moved on to Osho and music, Nisha, Arvind and Sushil told us that he loved classical Indian music, especially sitar music, and old Bollywood songs. His favorite singer was Ghulam Ali to whom he used to listen daily…
Now back to Arvind, who told us that, “I will not say anything about his going to America. His fellow professors say that America is heaven, but as far as I am concerned, for him America was hell. They killed him and committed a great crime against humanity. If it was not for that he would have lived for a hundred years.”
Then Avesh asked Arvind, “How was it to work for Osho while editing his magazine?” Arvind explained that “when the magazine was published back then, between 1969 and 1974, he used to live with us. He would wake up around five or six in the morning and then study for six to eight hours daily. No one could disturb him because he was totally devoted to doing his own things.” When asked about Osho’s habits, Arvind told us that he loved Bengali sweets and that he ate them before going to sleep at night..
“Every day so many visitors came by between 7 and 8:30 in the evening at Yogesh Bhavan, where we used to meet. The discussions that took place there I have published in book form [available only in Hindi]. The book is a memoir of my life with Osho plus his talks. We organized an “All Religions Conferences” here once a year from 1953 to 1969. For about sixteen years, he spoke there every year and people would come from Jabalpur and the surrounding areas to listen to him. In 1952, he was only twenty two years old and his talks were so incredibly deep. He had so much knowledge and such a great ability to grasp concepts, that he was studying Sri Aurobindo when he was only fourteen. He had waited for 750 years to be reincarnated in Gadarwara. Osho had a great library in Jabalpur. It was all taken to Mumbai in eight trucks. Those books were very lucky: they travelled from Jabalpur to Mumbai to Pune, to America and then back to Pune.” (Petter 2022, pp. 328,330-332)

Arvind Kumar Jain. Obituary 20.01.2018
“Prof Arvind Kumar Jain was Osho’s first secretary while at Jabalpur. He was Osho’s father’s sister’s son, i.e. a cousin, and he stayed with Osho. During that time his sister Kranti was the caretaker of Osho.
Arvind was a simple, humble and well-behaved person. He always came to the Railway Station to receive Osho and to give him a send-off. He maintained the Register of Osho’s assignments and, accordingly, he gave dates to friends who requested Osho’s lectures in their cities/towns. As long as Osho lived in Jabalpur, he took all possible care to comfort Osho.
Arvind graduated as Bachelor of commerce (Gold medalist) and Master of commerce and was a professor at D.N. Jain College at Jabalpur.” (Photos and text thanks to Ageh Bharti and Anil Bharti. www.oshonews.com/2018/01/20)
(Note: Arvind Kumar Jain wrote several books on Osho in Hindi. One of them is: Osho: Diary Ke Darpan Main (Osho: In the Mirror of My Diary). New Delhi, Diamond Books, October 2016. 240 pages)

Osho’s Olympia typewriter was presented to him by Mr. Rekhchand in 1960 and is mentioned in Part Two Jabalpur, see Photo 3. Niklank, Osho’s brother, has in March 2021 mentioned to Anuragi that also an earlier typewriter is preserved. It was in Gadarwara used by the young Osho when he was in high school and is still with Niklank. It is of the brand Jaykay with a Hindi keyboard and an operation manual in English. The Jaykay typewriter had in Gadarwara been used also by Daddaji, and it was later presented by Osho to Daddaji, when he moved to Bombay in 1970. So it looks like this typewriter may also have been with Osho and Arvind Kumar Jain during the Jabalpur years, and used before 1960 when the Olympia typewriter was gifted to him. As mentioned the Jaykay has been preserved by Niklank, while the Olympia has been with Arvind Kumar Jain and Sw. Anand Neeten since Osho’s days in Jabalpur. It is now at Osho Resource Center (OCR) in Delhi. (E-mails from Anuragi. 10.03.2019 & 10.01.2023)

2.10 Periodicals

Osho’s brother Shailendra recalls the printing of Yukrand
“In the early 1970s, when I was admitted to Jabalpur’s medical college there was a waiting period to get a room at the hostel, therefore I had the opportunity to stay at Arvind’s [Arvind Kumar Jain] home for about 6 weeks.
He used to publish the Yukrand magazine. At that time the printing press was located in his house and I used to spend 1-2 hours daily helping in the press office. It was a great occasion to enjoy proof reading and matching the print matter with the original text. Hence I have gone through and read all the files that contained the manuscripts.” (Shailendra writes further on Osho’s manuscripts at www.sannyas.wiki)

Osho’s Itinerary. Information on dates and places for Osho’s travels 1966 – 1973 retrieved by Sw Satya Anuragi from the magazines Jyoti Shikha and Yukrand are now available at Sannyas Wiki. Including Gallery of all text pages in colour.
See www.sannyas.wiki / Osho’s Bibliography / English Publications / Source Documents.

On Sannyas Wiki the mentioned Category: Source Documents, is featuring an exceptional wealth of varied information on bibliographic and editorial issues.

All issues of Jyoti Shikha (June 1966 – June 1974) and Yukrand (June 1969 – May 1975) are now available in digital format at www.sannyas.wiki with front covers and major parts of their contents in full text. Making these two early essential magazines in Hindi available in digital format has been a major achievement for those studying Osho’s work in its early phases. Now some translation of essential parts to English would be very helpful.

2.11 Meditation Camps

Dinubhai M. Rawal on early camps and Osho’s portraits
“Dinubhai, my father, started taking photos of Osho (then still known as Acharya Rajneesh) in 1967. From then on, whenever he attended Osho’s meditation camps he took his camera with him. He was a photographer by trade and owned a studio in Rajkot, Gujarat. He established the studio in 1959. It was in a good location in town and still exists today, and now I run it. My father then joined a group of five or six people to help organize Osho’s camps in Rajkot, Abu, Junagadh, Dwarka, and surrounding areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
In 1964, Dinubhai along with his friends, Lalji Bhai Desai, Janardhan Trivedi, Dhirubhai Dave and Beatles [one of the KK Brothers perfume business] visited Osho in Jabalpur. When they entered the house, Osho was playing the sitar [or was it the flute? ed.] – and later they all had dinner together.
Three years after that, Dinu (as Osho used to call him) travelled to Mumbai with friends, to discuss with Osho the dates for the October and November meditation camps in Rajkot. After the meeting they booked the Rashtriya Shala Hall for a 3-day camp (in those days Osho gave discourses to huge masses), and the Lal Bahadur Shastri School for the second camp. And a big bungalow for Osho.
My father built the stage in the 5000-seater Rashtriya Shala Central Hall all by himself, and arranged the lightning, much to Osho’s approval, who even called him up onto the stage to tell him so. He said he appreciated the soft lights he had used. I was 16 years old and my friends and I volunteered at the camp. That was where I took my first portrait of Osho.
In 1972 Dinubhai attended the meditation camp in Manali, and took the group photos of the new sannyasins. After coming back from the Manali camp he opened another photography studio, called Manali Studio – that studio ran for 45 years.
Dinu painted many portraits of Osho over the years and in 1974 took them to Pune. [There had also been an exhibition in Manali in 1969 where sannyasins had bought paintings, ed.] Osho was allergic to smells so my father was not allowed to bring them in to show him. But when Osho heard he had brought the paintings and they were being exhibited in the ashram, he came to see them at the inauguration. I remember my father telling me that Osho commented on how well made they were, each had their own uniqueness. All the paintings were auctioned in Poona – this is why there is no record of them with the family.” (Bipinbhai (Sw Divine Akhlank) and his wife, Dhyan Anjali, as told to Anuragi. www.oshonews.com 15.05.2019)
(Note: See also Anuragi’s visit to Rajkot and his meeting with Anand Christ (aka Beatles) with several old photos: www.oshonews.com 24.05.2019: Visiting Beatles in Rajkot. And: 15.05.2019: Early portraits of Osho)

Vaidya writes on early meditation camp at Mount Abu
“There was yet another reason the ‘Sex Guru’ tag got affixed to Osho. It was during one of his meditation camps at Mount Abu that a fierce controversy erupted when some women took off their clothes during a Dynamic Meditation session. Tathagat, who was then a young corporate executive, recalled reading about it in the newspapers. Tathagat, who later became the ashram in-charge during Poona-II explained what had happened: “Osho had been conducting Dynamic Meditation and after 45 minutes, during catharsis, the third stage of the meditation, was instructing, ‘Throw everything out; lighten your mind, bring it out, faster, with greater effort; if your clothes are heavy on you, throw them; bring it out; throw it out…’ It was at this stage, during the frenzy of this charged environment that some women actually removed their clothes. This caused a sensation in the media and the headlines from Rajasthan were flashed across the country. It even caused an uproar in the Rajasthan State Assembly,” Tathagat recalled.” (Vaidya 2017, p. 29)

Osho banned from having meditation camps in Gujarat
“But soon I found that meditation camps began creating trouble for me. In Rajasthan, in their assembly, they decided that I should not be allowed into Rajasthan. I had been going to Mount Abu, which is in Rajasthan. In Gurajat, at that time Morarji Desai was the chief minister. He himself proposed to the assembly that my coming to Gujarat should be prohibited. I used to go to Bhavanagar, to Rajkot, to Jamnagar, to Dwarka – and there were a few very beautiful places for camps – Nargol… miles and miles of huge saru trees. The sun never reaches underneath them because on top they are so full of leaves, branches, and they grow very close. And by the side of the sea you can hear the sound of the sea waves and listen – sitting, not together, but scattered in the forest.” (Hujakujo (1989). Chapter 8, p. 162)  

Nivedita recalls Shardagram Meditation camp 1967
“After three months, the discourses of Osho were to take place in the Cross Grounds of Mumbai.Those who wanted to ask questions could do so by writing them on paper. I wrote how my world had changed on meeting him. ‘I was drowning in divine love, etc.’
He replied to a few questions and at last it was the turn of my letter and Osho said that whoever had written that letter should come and meet him.
I felt like I had achieved God! I immediately went to the stage. I was speechless on seeing his calm and peaceful face with eyes full of awareness. It seemed as if he had been waiting for me, and he asked me, “You have come?” I was speechless, because meeting him like this was a dream coming true for me. Then he said, “Will you be able to come to the Shardagram Meditation camp?”…
There were two more persons going with me. One was Jhaver Behan, who now lives in Walkeshwar and the other was Premchand Bhai, who has passed on. At that time, Premchand Bhai worked as the Osho’s secretary and used to record his discourses on spool. At that time, there were no tape recorders…
This incident happened around 1967 and my Upanishad journey with Sadguru began right after this. Such a person is born on this earth after thousands of years and it is very fortunate for someone to be under his benign grace during his lifetime….
After the camp got over, I came home. The camp had lasted for three days. Osho had given nine lectures and had conducted a silent meditation. The lectures are contained in a book, that is: ‘Rom Rom Ras Pijiye’”. (Nivedita 2023, pp. 13-15)

Arvind Chaitanya writes on meeting Maharshi Shree Mahesh
“It was indeed a very rare event in Pahalgam when a meeting between OSHO (then known as Acharya Shree Rajneesh) and Maharshi Shree Mahesh Yogi took place and their disciples thronged to witness the spiritual dialogue between the two Masters. It was im September 1969 when OSHO was conducting a meditation camp, speaking on Mahavir, and the Maharshi happened to stay nearby. It was an unique meeting where their spiritual diversities and similarities could be highlighted.
The Maharshi was stressing that man has drifted away from his nature, bestowed by God, and some method, device, a way was to be provided, to bring man back to his nature, which he was doing. Osho maintained that man has not drifted away from his nature, only he has forgotten that reality, and hence he need not attempt to regain that state, no method is relevant. He asserted that the methods could be useful, but only to prove their futility; ultimately all methods are attempts in the wrong direction and a waste of effort.
The discussion was long and as usual inconclusive. But the Maharshi carries on his efforts to bring the strayed flock back into the fold, and OSHO leads with his meditations, which are the essence of non-doing, sitting silently, in ‘tathata’, in a no-mind state.” (Chaitanya 2001a, p. 90. See also photo of both gurus at start of this Supplement)

Osho with Maharishi in Pahalgam 1969
“Osho was an entirely different story. In 1969 in Pahalgam, Kahsmir in the Himalayas, Maharishi met with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (a.k.a. Osho) to debate merits of their respective systems. Maharishi warned his students Rajneesh was a college professor with a keen mind, so be careful how you respond.
The two gurus sat on a couch on the lawn surrounded by their students. Maharishi described TM as a technique that takes the mind from the surface to subtler levels into the state of transcendental pure consciousness, the absolute, which is everywhere present and the basis of everything.
Rajneesh disagreed. “There is no validity to this whatsoever. How can you have a technique to go somewhere that is everywhere? If it’s already everywhere, where is there to go? Why would you need a technique to go there?”
The two gurus got into a heated debate. They denigrated each other’s methods, cringed, and made faces at each other. Students got restless and felt the need to defend their respective gurus. Not realizing it was just a game, they became agitated, stood up, and started arguing. Then the two gurus stood up, hugged each other, and walked off arm in arm.” (Shumsky 2018, p. 206. See also photo at the start of this Supplement)

Subhuti writes on peoples’ response and the aftermath
“It was the first, last and only time the two gurus met. It was also the first time that Bhagwan addressed a Western audience and the first time he spoke publicly and at length in English…
This [Bhagwan’s remarks on meditation] didn’t go over too well with the Western audience and Bhagwan must have realized he couldn’t reach people this way. Soon afterwards, a remarkable shift happened. Within a year, he was developing his own meditation techniques, including the Dynamic Meditation I’d encountered in London. Two years after that, he was offering initiation into “neo-sannyas’ – his own version of discipleship – and also started giving discourses in English as well as Hindi, speaking on a wide variety of spiritual paths.” (Subhuti 2019, p. 38)

Subhuti’s rendering from their debate
“I have listened to an audio recording of their debate and could feel how the Westerners soon became frustrated and irritated with the Acharya, because all Osho would say, in a dozen different ways, was that no technique could help people attain to enlightenment. This was the opposite of the Maharishi’s teaching, and although the two mystics sat side by side in an apparently friendly manner, they were poles apart.
The Maharishi described TM as a technique that takes the mind from the surface to subtler levels of the human psyche and eventually into a state of pure, transcendental consciousness. The technique itself, as many people know, is basically a practice of continuous verbal repetition, uttering certain sacred sounds, like repeating a mantra.
Acharya Rajneesh disagreed with the Maharishi. “There is no validity to this whatsoever. How can you have a technique to go somewhere that is everywhere? If it’s already everywhere, where is there to go? Why would you need a technique to go there?”
When asked to state his own position, Osho told the crowd: “There is nothing like my position, because to have a position is to be untrue. I have no position. I am totally negative. There is no possibility of there being any path.” (Subhuti 2024, p. 32)

From morning discourse at meditation camp in Nargol, 02.11, 1968
“There was a mystic in Japan. He was having the Buddhist scriptures translated. For the first time, the Buddhist scriptures were being translated from Pali into Japanese. He was a poor mystic. For ten years he had begged and had managed to collect ten thousand rupees.
There was a famine in the area. His friends said, “No, that money should not be given for famine relief. People die, people live, that’s how it goes. The Buddha’s words should be translated. That is far more important.” But the mystic started laughing. He gave away the money for famine relief.
Then the old mystic – he was sixty years old – started begging again- In ten years, he again managed to collect ten thousand rupees to ask the priests to get the translation work done. Without money you can’t find priests; all priests are for hire. So the priests wanted money to translate from Pali into Japanese. He collected the money, but unfortunately, there was a flood. He gave away the ten thousand rupees.
His monks asked, “What are you doing? Your whole life’s toll is being wasted. Famines will keep happening, floods will keep coming; all this goes on happening. If money is spent again and again on such things, then the translations will never happen.”
But the monk laughed. Again he had given away those ten thousand rupees.
In the last phase of his life, in another ten to twelve years, he was again able to collect fifteen thousand rupees. The translation work started, and the first book was translated. On the first book, he wrote “third edition.”
His friends asked him, “Where are the first two editions” When were they published? Are you mad? This is the first edition.”
He said, “They were published, but they were formless editions. They did not have form. They were published. The first time, when the famine struck, Buddha’s words were published. The second edition came out when the flood came. Again Buddha’s words came alive. But only those who know friendliness could have heard and read that edition.
“This third edition is the cheapest, the most ordinary. Anybody can read it, even the blind can read it. But the first two must have been read by only those who have the eyes of friendliness.”…
Now we will sit for the morning meditation…
You have to go on asking continuously, like someone breaking stones who goes on hitting them continuously. You have to go on hammering – “Who am I? Who am I?” Slowly only the question remains and you are not. Only the question remains: “Who am I?”…
So now let us sit down. You may keep your eyes half-open or closed. Let your body be loose. Sit completely relaxed. Allow your body to be loose. Now ask your being, “Who am I?” With all your strength ask, “Who am I?” With all your determination ask, “Who am I?”
Go on asking with extreme intensity. With intensity ask, “Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?” From every corner of your bering go on asking, “Who am I? who am I, who am I, who am I…?” Ask with all your energy, not even a little energy should be left unused, use up all your energy. Ask, “Who am I? Who am I?” Shake up your being, shake up your entire life force, and make sure that this arrow – “Who am I?” – penetrates your being…
Ask, ask, ask, “Who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I?” We cannot relax for a single second. Who knows, this might be the last moment. Ask with your entire energy, “Who am I, who am I, who am I?” Don’t worry at all if tears flow, if you feel like crying, just go on asking. Don’t pay attention to anyone else, just be concerned with yourself. Ask “Who am I, who am I, who am I?”
You shouldn’t say later that you didn’t ask yourself enough. Ask yourself completely, “Who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I?” Go on asking with full intensity. Awaken the whole question. A silence will start arising on its own. However intense your enquiry is, the same will be your silence. “Who am I, who am I, who am I?” Go on asking, go on asking…
Now slowly take a few deep breaths, slowly take a few deep breaths. With each breach you will experience a marvellous silence. Slowly take a few deep breaths. Then very slowly open your eyes… Very slowly open your eyes. The morning session ends here.” (Just a Small Step. Enter Meditation like a Shooting Star (2022), pp. 99-102)

First experiment with Dynamic Meditation was done on 15.04.1970 in Bombay at Palm Beach High School which is in Breach Candy on Nepan Sea Road seashore. (Laheru 2016, p. 55 & Anuragi. E-mail. 04.01.2022)
(Note: See also Part 10. Sources. Filmography. Breach Candy, Bombay / Dynamic Meditation. 1968. 16 mm. ABC source 9)

The early Dynamic Meditation had 4 steps (Nargol and Mount Abu) and later on 5 stages.
An early recording spool with Osho’s energetic voice (no date, 49:27 min) in Hindi and English, shows only 3 steps of Dynamic Meditation with finally lying down waiting for the divine to descend:

1. Fast breathing. 10 min.
2. 10 min.
3. Shouting Hoo, Hoo, Hoo. 10 min.

Nivedita recalls early Dynamic Meditation in Jabalpur
“Initially, Osho used to have four phases. In which one had to ask, “Who am I?” in the third phase. Later, for the modern mind he started to the use of “hu,” that directly affects your sex centre.” (Nivedita 2023, p. 28)

From a leaflet on meditation
“Another is called “whirling meditation,” supposedly an ancient Sufi technique. The meditators often practice it together in the afternoon during Rajneesh’s camps. It requires you to make your whole being as receptive, and unconscious as possible:
No food or drink should be taken for sometime before the meditation. Loose clothing and bare feet are best. The meditation takes two hours, and it is essential that the whole programme is completed.
The whirling is done on the spot; it is not a dance. You should move in a clock-wise direction, and only if you find that impossible, do it anti-clockwise.
Let your body and arms be soft and for the first 15 minutes rotate slowly. Keep your eyes open all the time, but de-focus as soon as you can so that images become unformed and endlessly flowing. If it helps, imagine yourself pivoting around your navel. Should someone whirl into you, feel his energy and absorb it – and make a little room.
After 15 minutes the music will become progressively faster. Attune yourself to the rhythm and increase your speed with the music. The whirling lasts for one and a half hours. The final half hour of this is the fastest, and it is marked by the introduction of clashing cymbals. During this period you should spin so fast that you cannot remain upright and your body topples involuntarily.
If your body is soft you will land softly: the earth will absorb your energy. Do not allow your mind to arrange your fall prematurely. If you are still whirling when the music stops, simply let yourself drop to the ground.
Once you have fallen, the second part of the meditation starts, lasting for half an hour. Roll onto your stomach immediately so that your bare navel touches the earth. Only if this causes great discomfort should you lie on your back. Then press your body close to the earth, blend into it and recapture the moment of childhood when you pressed yourself on to your mother’s breast. Keep your eyes closed and remain passive and dreamy.” (From a leaflet entitled ‘Bhagwan Shree’s Meditation.’ Reprinted in: Mangalwadi 1977, p. 137)

H.P. Salve, Nirmala’s brother, describes the meetings of Osho and Nirmala
“In 1961 Salve and Nirmala went to Jabalpur to purchase some marble. Afterwards we went to meet a cousin of ours. Her daughter was the student of Acharya Rajneesh. Acharya Rajneesh was a professor in the local Robertson College and was giving spiritual discourses. Knowing the inclination of Shri Mataji towards spirituality, my cousin arranged a meeting between Shri Mataji and Acharya Rajneesh. When Acharya Rajneesh saw Shri Mataji, he raised his arms and ran to Shri Mataji, saying, “Oh Mother Adi Shakti, I have been looking forward to meeting You for so long! And today my dream is fulfilled.” So saying, he lay prostrate at the feet of Shri Mataji. I was a personal witness to all this and so was my cousin and her daughter.
Later on, the same Acharya Rajneesh was to hold a seminar in Nargol, where Shri Mataji decided to manifest on the 5^th of May 1970. He was very anxious that Shri Mataji should attend. She did not want to go, but C.P. arranged a separate house and a car for Her with a cook and so She went because She was very much pressurized by Sir C.P., as Rajneesh was telephoning him all the time…
Shri Mataji [Nirmala] went to visit Chandra Mohan Jain [Osho at his Woodlands apartment] on one further occasion after the 1970 Nargol camp. However, Shri Mataji was denied access by Ma Yoga Laxmi, who was then Chandra Mohan Jain’s secretary. Later Chandra Mohan Jain was to say of Shri Mataji: “I know, she got a Satori experience, but once her ego came, she could not sustain such experience.” (Salve 2018 and web.archive.org/web/20111204105236. Quotations in: Myshkin 2022, pp. 43,45)
(Note: On their way to Nargol for the meditation camp, Osho dropped by to visit Muktananda, since the latter had invited him several times. This is as mentioned by Osho. Nirmala was then traveling in the same car with Osho. When she saw Muktananda, the idea of becoming a guru arose in her. Personal information. Anuragi. October 2022)

Keerti writes on his upcoming meditation camp in Goa, January 2023
“A meditation camp in Goa, you ask? Yes, I have always hesitated to facilitate a meditation camp in Goa, because I thought that most people who take the trouble to travel to Goa go there only for pleasure. (Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with going anywhere just for fun!)
Osho had facilitated several meditation camps in various holiday locations, like Pahalgam in Kashmir, Manali, Mount Abu, Mahableshwar, Matheran, Lonavla, Nargol, and many such places. But I often wondered why he discouraged his people to go to one place only – and that was to Goa. Also, he never asked anyone to open a meditation centre there. What could be the reason to single out a most exotic location like Goa?
My guess is that it would be very difficult to hold participants within the campus of a meditation retreat. Most people would get tempted to go out – to be on the beach, watch the sunset, have a drink, and stay awake at parties till late into the night. And then who would be ready to come in the early morning for Dynamic Meditation? This all means that participants would not attend a camp with all their energy; it would be more of a lukewarm affair.
Besides that, each place has a certain vibe of its own – for collective awakening, or collective sleepiness. For sure Goa is for deep relaxation, but only through drink, not through meditation. So, I think there will be situations when there can be a clash between meditation and intoxication. This is my personal conclusion, but I may be wrong in assuming all this. Who knows?” (Sw Chaitanya Keerti. www.oshonews.com 02.01.2023)

Osho says on participating in meditation camps
“Participate fully in the various meditations that will be conducted in this meditation camp. By doing so you will begin to have, for a few moments, a glimpse of that ultimate state Kabir is pointing to. But if you spare yourself even a little, you will miss. Try to drown yourself totally in meditation. Make every possible effort from your side and leave the rest to existence. If nothing happens even after this, then you are not responsible. From your side make every effort, then leave it to existence; but don’t leave it to existence making only a half-heated effort from your side.” The Fabric of Life (2012). Chapter 1)

See also at www.sannyas.wiki: Meditation Camps Timeline.
 
2.12 Leaving Jabalpur

Ageh Bharti recalls the preparations for Osho’s move from Jabalpur to Mumbai
“When Osho was about to move to Mumbai, He was sorting out the books in two lots – those that were to be taken to Mumbai and those that were to be left in Jabalpur. B.C. Jain, N.P. Shrivastava and I were helping Osho. We were cleaning the books of dust and kept them in separate piles while Osho was making us laugh, telling jokes and anecdotes. The work was not like work, with Osho’s presence we were enjoying it tremendously.” (www.oshonews.com 03.02.2018. Excerpts)

Urmila tells
“A few months after this farewell dinner, I met Arvind, with whom Osho had been living in Jabalpur with his sister Kranti. Kranti had by now accompanied Osho to Bombay, and Arvind told me that he and his wife were thinking of shifting to Bombay as well.
Instantly I heard myself say: ‘Who are you running after? The day after you arrive in Bombay, he’ll leave for America! Are you going to follow him there, too?’
A part of me was talking to myself. Yes, the temptation to follow Osho was great! Yet I knew in my bones there was no way I could ever uproot my own life to give myself over to him. In my emphatic words to Arvind, however, I did recognize again a discreet expression of my envy towards those who felt free to do so.
Some time later, on a visit to Bombay, perhaps to console myself, I mentioned to Osho this conversation with Arvind about moving from place to place. Osho opened his eyes wide in a look of excitement: ‘You’re quite right. Even I don’t know where I’ll move to next!’
And so it happened. Four years later he did move from Bombay – first to Poona and then, seven years after that, as I had predicted, to the United States.
Similarly, however much I, too, may have wanted to follow Osho around and live close to him, I would have to wait many years for this to come to pass.” (Savita 2019, p. 99)

Preface

Home

Contents