Many years ago, I came across Life Positive magazine. There was an article from OSHO in the
magazine. I do not remember what the topic was, it felt like I need to read
more. Soon, I had subscription of OSHO Times. The writing was interesting. It felt like a
free flow of thoughts. I learned about audio discourses available on oshoworld. I found that the guy had a very special way of telling
"stories". For me I always enjoyed the "story-telling" of
OSHO. I listened to some other people as well, but never felt so aligned with
them as I felt with the style of OSHO. It had something different in it, something
that kept me listening to them. It is simply relaxing.
While reading and listening I found that there
are many things that were strange. Especially, the contradictions become more
clear when I read his biography on oshoworld. It is different in way that it
is not written specially for writing a biography. It is simply an effort of
someone to listen to huge volume of audio discourses of OSHO and arrange parts
about his life in chronological order. The similar method is used to write
most of his books as well. It is easy to find that there are lots of contradictions
in what he says. But what can you do about it when the man himself says, "I will
keep on contradicting myself". Now go and find your own meaning on what
you want to believe or not. Anyways, I thought I may learn something from
others. So, I joined some online groups. Well, during those days, there was no
Facebook, twitter, google plus. Those were very old yahoo or google groups. Anybody
still remember those?
I found a lot of groups on OSHO for various
topics as well. I started to read discussions and sometimes get involved. I was
expecting that I would learn something. However, on the contrast I found that
everyone is simply arguing and fighting over what he said or what he did not.
Everybody is trying to make a point that his understanding is better than
others. It does not matter what the topic is. Does one need a master or not?
Did he quote Buddha correctly? Even to the extent if the material should be
available free or for a cost. I learned that there are different organizations
now. Each claims that they are keeping the true spirit of OSHO alive and others
are manipulating the text, thoughts, ideas. Now this was completely stupid. I
realized that in a way he also ended up leaving the same what he tried to
destroy in the beginning; an organized religion. In case of OSHO one may argue
it is not "religion". But, I am not debating that point here. Message
is that in all other so called religious worlds also this is the fight. 1st
fight is internal. Christianity is catholic or protestants, Is it old or new
testament; In Islam is it Shia or Sunni, in Hinduism we have unlimited options, in
Sikhism do we pray statues/photos or not. 2nd fight is external. Which is
better and stronger; Christianity, Muslim, Judaism, Hinduism and so on. He
challenged all to remember Christ and not Christianity; Buddha not Buddhism.
But what happened when he left? It seems like it "OSHOism" now and
not OSHO.
I finally got fed up of this stupidity and
left all groups. I felt, it is totally useless to discuss the topic. Slowly, I
completely stopped, reading listening OSHO. This was a strange beginning and
strange end. I stopped. But, somewhere I was connected to the thoughts. I found
that many of my thoughts relate to what he mentioned. In the coming years, once
in a while I kept on feeling that. I have been challenging the norms, raising
question on the accepted standards/rituals all my life. For sure, it has been limited to my capabilities. This was probably the
connection that remained in the background.
I got in touch and got out of touch in some
short span of time. This relation lasted probably around 5 years. Ironically it
relates to the normal government cycle of 5 years and may it was time to choose
new government again. One thing that I gained from this relation was smile. It
remained with me. It is not that I was not smiling before, but I felt it
changed in some way. I felt better every time I smiled.In someway its
quality had changed. I may write about it some other day. For now, I would like
to close this with a smile.
Mulla Nasruddin has applied for a job. The
manager looked at him and did not feel that he's even qualified to apply for
it. He asked him, "Can you read and write?"
Mulla Nasruddin said, "I cannot read, but
I can write."
The manager was surprised; this is a rare
situation -- he could have never conceived of a man who cannot read but can
write.
He said, "Then write!" He gave him a
paper and Mulla immediately started writing on it. He went fast -- one page,
two pages, three pages.
The manager said, "Now you stop! You
please read what you have written, because I cannot read."
Nasruddin said, "That I have told you
before -- I can only write! I can't read."
Keep Smiling
Arundeep