Amrit Sadhana
Reading about the recent fraud worth Rs 50 billion by Ramalingam Raju, the CEO of Satyam Computers, the first thought that came to my mind was, “How much is 50 billion? What must have he done with all the money that I can’t even calculate? Why do people require so much money?”
And then it came to light that Mr Raju had purchased more than six thousand acres of land near Hyderabad and Karnataka, the southern part of India. Again my mind did a somersault -- how much is six thousand acres and what would he do with it?
But I was looking from the space of need, and people like Raju are driven by greed . For greed even the whole earth is not enough, whereas the need is satisfied with a small shelter.
This case of abnormal lust for land reminded me of a famous story by Leo Tolstoy: How much land does a man need? Osho often tells this story to highlight the greed of the human mind. What is the source this insatiable greed?
Says Osho: “Greed simply means you are feeling a deep emptiness and you want to fill it with anything possible -- it doesn't matter what it is. And once you understand it, then you have nothing to do with greed. You have something to do with your coming into communion with the whole, so the inner emptiness disappears. And with it, all greed disappears. But there are mad people all over the world, and they are collecting... Somebody is collecting money although he never uses it.
So there can be many directions and many ways to fill emptiness, although it is never full -- it remains empty, and you remain miserable because it is never enough.” Beyond Psychology
Now the story -- you must have read the story but it will be interesting to refresh your memory in view of the current Satyam scenario.
There is a poor peasant in the village of Russia named Pakhom, who at the beginning can be heard complaining that he does not own enough land to satisfy him. He goes on buying land but is not satisfied.
Finally, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. Thus, he goes to them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate.
But their offer is very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pakhom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his.
Again his greediness has the better of him. He tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already has. As the sun nearly sets, he realizes his error and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets.
But exhausted from the run, he drops dead as he reaches the starting point. They bury him in an ordinary grave only six feet long. Actually the land that he needed, and everybody needs, was only six feet long!
I wish Mr Raju asks himself sitting in the prison cell: how much land do I really need – as big as the cell?
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Osho loves science and technology
Amrit Sadhana
There can't be more contemporary a mystic than Osho. He is a perfect guy for these times, because he is not against technology, on the contrary he wants to use all the modern electronic gadgets to spread the message to millions. But what's the message, one would ask. The message of meditation. The message of awakening consciousness. And he does that so playfully. Not the traditional boring way of preaching.
Mark Osho's words : "My word can go to the farthest corner of the earth -- it is reaching already. New methods have been evolved. A videotape is a far better way to reach people because they can hear me the same way as you are hearing me. And just hearing the word without seeing the person is one thing; seeing the person also makes a lot of difference. It is totally different because when you are listening to me on a tape recording or on records you will not be able to see my hand, which says more than I can say with my words. You will not be looking at my eyes, which have much more to say than words can convey. Something will be missing, something of immense value -- the person will he missing. You will be hearing only a ghostly voice.
I will use films, television, videotapes, tapes, every modern technique to spread the message. I belong to the twentieth century totally, wholeheartedly.
And I love this century; I am not against it. I love science and its technology. It is in the wrong hands, but that always happens. Whenever something significant is discovered it always falls into the wrong hands first for the simple reason that they are very quick people, cunning people.
Even the discovery of atomic energy can be a blessing to the world. But it has fallen into the hands of the politicians. It should be in the hands of mystics; then there would be no need to be afraid of a Third World War. Then we could fill the whole earth with affluence; then poverty could disappear for the first time from the whole earth. Much illness could disappear."
Excerpted from Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 1
There can't be more contemporary a mystic than Osho. He is a perfect guy for these times, because he is not against technology, on the contrary he wants to use all the modern electronic gadgets to spread the message to millions. But what's the message, one would ask. The message of meditation. The message of awakening consciousness. And he does that so playfully. Not the traditional boring way of preaching.
Mark Osho's words : "My word can go to the farthest corner of the earth -- it is reaching already. New methods have been evolved. A videotape is a far better way to reach people because they can hear me the same way as you are hearing me. And just hearing the word without seeing the person is one thing; seeing the person also makes a lot of difference. It is totally different because when you are listening to me on a tape recording or on records you will not be able to see my hand, which says more than I can say with my words. You will not be looking at my eyes, which have much more to say than words can convey. Something will be missing, something of immense value -- the person will he missing. You will be hearing only a ghostly voice.
I will use films, television, videotapes, tapes, every modern technique to spread the message. I belong to the twentieth century totally, wholeheartedly.
And I love this century; I am not against it. I love science and its technology. It is in the wrong hands, but that always happens. Whenever something significant is discovered it always falls into the wrong hands first for the simple reason that they are very quick people, cunning people.
Even the discovery of atomic energy can be a blessing to the world. But it has fallen into the hands of the politicians. It should be in the hands of mystics; then there would be no need to be afraid of a Third World War. Then we could fill the whole earth with affluence; then poverty could disappear for the first time from the whole earth. Much illness could disappear."
Excerpted from Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 1
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Is your illness authentic?
Amrit Sadhana
I wonder why there are so many medicines and doctors and hospitals. Isn't it a sign of a sick humanity? Can't we live a healthy life like birds and animals? Osho points out that we not only create our illness, we cling to it because we enjoy being sick. Startled? Of course, who would agree with it? But go deeper, and you will agree with the Osho insight--
"If medicine fails to cure you, know well your illness is not curable through medication -- the cause of the illness lies somewhere else; it has nothing to do with medication. You may curse the medicine and call the doctors stupid for not finding the right treatment for you; you may try ayurvedic medicine or naturopathic treatment; you may turn to allopathy or homeopathy -- nothing will work. No doctor can be of any use to you, simply because a doctor can only treat an authentic illness -- he has no control over something pseudo. And the interesting thing is that you keep busy creating illnesses like that, and you want them to remain. "
So what's the cure? Meditation. Meditate and clean your mind every day the way you clean your clothes, the pots and pans and the body. A clean mind will have a healthy body.
Excerpted from And Now And Here, vol1
I wonder why there are so many medicines and doctors and hospitals. Isn't it a sign of a sick humanity? Can't we live a healthy life like birds and animals? Osho points out that we not only create our illness, we cling to it because we enjoy being sick. Startled? Of course, who would agree with it? But go deeper, and you will agree with the Osho insight--
"If medicine fails to cure you, know well your illness is not curable through medication -- the cause of the illness lies somewhere else; it has nothing to do with medication. You may curse the medicine and call the doctors stupid for not finding the right treatment for you; you may try ayurvedic medicine or naturopathic treatment; you may turn to allopathy or homeopathy -- nothing will work. No doctor can be of any use to you, simply because a doctor can only treat an authentic illness -- he has no control over something pseudo. And the interesting thing is that you keep busy creating illnesses like that, and you want them to remain. "
So what's the cure? Meditation. Meditate and clean your mind every day the way you clean your clothes, the pots and pans and the body. A clean mind will have a healthy body.
Excerpted from And Now And Here, vol1
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Gibberish : The Language of 2009
Amrit Sadhana
Language is no doubt one of the greatest means of communication. If it is used unconsciously, which is more often than not , it creates lots of problems and misunderstanding. Have you noticed, our 99% problems are created because of our words. Often we say things we don’t mean and later we have to clarify ourselves or apologize. It depends where the words are coming from. If they are coming from emotions they carry lot of charge which hurts others. If they come from the intellect they trigger an argument.
NLP Psychologists have found that 98% of human communication is non verbal and only 2% is verbal. In that case won’t it be good if we use a language that will express ourselves and not create fire wherever it reaches?
There is such a language called Gibberish. The word gibberish is Arabic; and it comes from an enlightened Sufi mystic, Jabbar. Jabbar spoke so fast that his words would run over each other. It was impossible to make any sense out of what he said because there were no full stops, commas, no indication of where the sentence began and where it ended. It was such an outburst of energy that the listeners found it mind blowing. This is exactly what he intended: to bring the mind to a stand still. It gave a taste of silence and relaxation to the listener.
Osho has revived Gibberish which is immensely cleansing and an excellent device for venting out tensions, or releasing bottled up emotions without hurting anybody. It is actually speaking in the language you don’t know. Osho uses gibberish as a meditative therapy and a door to meditation. Highly effective!
It is a wonderful potion for the modern mind which is trained to think logically, rationalize every act , or accumulate thoughts like a heap of garbage. Yes, garbage it sure is. The modern man is bombarded with much information from the electronic gadgets and media . This unprocessed information creates stress and he feels bogged down by it. This leads to many illnesses like migraine, headache, and other psychosomatic diseases.
Usually when two people are angry with each other they start hurling abuses and poisonous words at each other, or they suppress it and torture themselves. There is no need to go the conventional “fight or flight” way, express your thoughts in gibberish instead. Make meaningless sounds, tell the other person what you think about him/her without words. Use your body and face. Chirp like birds or small kids who cannot speak yet. It is so hilarious, and liberating. It cleanses the toxins in the body, relaxes strained nerves, activates positive energy.
It also holds good if you want to express your soft feelings for someone. It is embarrassing for many people to express their love or appreciation for somebody. You can use a gentle singing like gibberish sounds, let your body speak and transmit your energy to the other person.
I wish more and more people use gibberish as a means of communication in 2009. It will save so much trouble and fill our lives with joy.
For more informtaion on gibberish see The Osho book: Live Zen, # 17/www.osho.com/library
Language is no doubt one of the greatest means of communication. If it is used unconsciously, which is more often than not , it creates lots of problems and misunderstanding. Have you noticed, our 99% problems are created because of our words. Often we say things we don’t mean and later we have to clarify ourselves or apologize. It depends where the words are coming from. If they are coming from emotions they carry lot of charge which hurts others. If they come from the intellect they trigger an argument.
NLP Psychologists have found that 98% of human communication is non verbal and only 2% is verbal. In that case won’t it be good if we use a language that will express ourselves and not create fire wherever it reaches?
There is such a language called Gibberish. The word gibberish is Arabic; and it comes from an enlightened Sufi mystic, Jabbar. Jabbar spoke so fast that his words would run over each other. It was impossible to make any sense out of what he said because there were no full stops, commas, no indication of where the sentence began and where it ended. It was such an outburst of energy that the listeners found it mind blowing. This is exactly what he intended: to bring the mind to a stand still. It gave a taste of silence and relaxation to the listener.
Osho has revived Gibberish which is immensely cleansing and an excellent device for venting out tensions, or releasing bottled up emotions without hurting anybody. It is actually speaking in the language you don’t know. Osho uses gibberish as a meditative therapy and a door to meditation. Highly effective!
It is a wonderful potion for the modern mind which is trained to think logically, rationalize every act , or accumulate thoughts like a heap of garbage. Yes, garbage it sure is. The modern man is bombarded with much information from the electronic gadgets and media . This unprocessed information creates stress and he feels bogged down by it. This leads to many illnesses like migraine, headache, and other psychosomatic diseases.
Usually when two people are angry with each other they start hurling abuses and poisonous words at each other, or they suppress it and torture themselves. There is no need to go the conventional “fight or flight” way, express your thoughts in gibberish instead. Make meaningless sounds, tell the other person what you think about him/her without words. Use your body and face. Chirp like birds or small kids who cannot speak yet. It is so hilarious, and liberating. It cleanses the toxins in the body, relaxes strained nerves, activates positive energy.
It also holds good if you want to express your soft feelings for someone. It is embarrassing for many people to express their love or appreciation for somebody. You can use a gentle singing like gibberish sounds, let your body speak and transmit your energy to the other person.
I wish more and more people use gibberish as a means of communication in 2009. It will save so much trouble and fill our lives with joy.
For more informtaion on gibberish see The Osho book: Live Zen, # 17/www.osho.com/library
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Terrorism is not in weapons, it is in your hands
The world is shaken by the growing menace of terrorism and no one seems to have any solution. Here is the Osho insight -- the analysis and the remedy : 'clean the basement of human mind, the unconscious which harbors violence and ugly emotions. '
OSHO Dynamic Meditation is the most effective tool that can be useful.
Osho says, " The event of terrorism is certainly related with what is happening in the society. The society is falling apart. Its old order, discipline, morality, religion, everything has been found to be wrongly based. It has lost its power over people's conscience.
Terrorism simply symbolizes that to destroy human beings does not matter, that there is nothing in human beings which is indestructible, that it is all matter. Once man is taken to be only a combination of matter, and no place is given for a spiritual being inside him, then to kill becomes just play.
Terrorism has many undercurrents. One is that because of nuclear weapons, the nations are pouring their energy into that field, thinking that the old weapons are out of date. They are out of date, but individuals can start using them. And you cannot use nuclear weapons against individuals -- that would be simply stupid. One individual terrorist throws a bomb.
What I want to emphasize is that the nuclear weapon has given individual people a certain freedom to use old weapons, a freedom which was not possible in the old days because the governments were also using the same weapons.
Now the governments are concentrated on destroying the old weapons, throwing them in the ocean, selling them to countries which are poor and cannot afford nuclear weapons. And all those terrorists are coming from these poor countries, with the same weapons that have been sold to their countries. And they have a strange protection: you cannot use nuclear weapons against them, you cannot throw atom bombs at them.
Terrorism is going to become bigger and bigger, because the third world war is almost impossible. Terrorism simply means that what was being done on a social scale now has to be done individually. It will grow. It can only be prevented if we change the very base of human understanding -- which is a Himalayan task; more so because these same people whom you want to change will fight you; they won't allow you to change them easily.
My understanding is that the way he has lived, man needs every ten to twelve years -- a war. He accumulates so much anger, so much rage, so much violence, that nothing short of a war will give him release. So, war after war, there is a gap of only ten to fifteen years. That gap is a kind of relaxation. But again you start accumulating, because the same psychology is working -- the same jealousy, the same violence.
And man is basically a hunter; he is not by nature vegetarian. First he became a hunter, and for thousands of years he was just a meat-eater, and cannibalism was prevalent everywhere. To eat human beings caught from the opposing tribe you were fighting with was perfectly ethical. All that is carried in the unconscious of humanity.
Things are interconnected. The first thing that has to be changed is that man should be made more rejoicing -- which all the religions have killed. The real criminals are not caught. The terrorists and other criminals are the victims.
It is all the religions who have destroyed all possibilities of rejoicing. They have destroyed the possibility of enjoying small things of life; they have condemned everything that nature provides you to make you happy.
A man who is living in comfort and luxury cannot become a terrorist. Religions have condemned riches, praised poverty; now, a man who is rich cannot be a terrorist. Only the poor can be terrorists -- because they have nothing to lose, and they are boiling up against the whole of society because others have things they don't have.
You live in fear, not in joy. If we can clean the basement of the human mind's unconscious... it can be cleaned away.
The terrorism is not in the bombs, it is in your hands; the terrorism is in your unconscious.
Otherwise, this state of affairs is going to grow more bitter. And it seems all kinds of blind people have bombs in their hands and are throwing them at random.
So individual violence will increase -- it is increasing. And all your governments and all your religions will go on perpetuating the old strategies without understanding the new situation.
The new situation is that every human being needs to go through therapies, needs to understand his unconscious intentions, needs to go through meditations so that he can calm down, become cool -- and look towards the world with a new perspective of silence."
Excerpted from Beyond Psychology
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Darkness is like a womb
Everybody is afraid of darkness. And just to avoid it we have conceived god as light. But darkness remains settled in the depth of our unconscious as a great fear. Humans are afraid of darkness because of their primitive days when there was no light on earth, and they were surrounded by wild animals.
The best way to get rid of the fear of darkness is, meditate on it!
There is a wonderful meditation in Tantra which says,” in rain during a black night, enter that blackness as the form of forms.”
Darkness is eternal. Light comes and goes, darkness is the basic state of existence. This is not the negative darkness which is absence of light, this is a positive darkness which is the source of all forms.
A pitch dark room or a place is required for this meditation which may be difficult to find in the city, as darkness is always covered by artificial lights. It will be good to do this meditation in a remote place where there is no electricity.
What is important is having a loving attitude towards darkness, not fear. If you carry fear, you will not allow darkness to penetrate your being.
Osho describes the method like this: "Sit in a dark place with open eyes and stare into the blackness. The real blackness is possible in a rainy night because the sky is covered with clouds and there is no star to disturb the blackness. Have a communion, a deep friendship with darkness.
Don't close your eyes, because with closed eyes you have a different darkness. That is your own, mental. It is a negative part; it is not positive darkness. With open eyes you will have a positive darkness that is always there. Stare into it. You will be utterly relaxed. You may feel that the waves of darkness are entering you from all sides. Accept them without fear.
Many fears will come up. Feel them. Be aware of them. Bring them to your conscious. They will come by themselves, and they will disappear by themselves.
Then a very beautiful phenomenon happens. You feel , darkness is the womb, the cosmic womb. You can rest, and dissolve yourself into it. "
The best way to get rid of the fear of darkness is, meditate on it!
There is a wonderful meditation in Tantra which says,” in rain during a black night, enter that blackness as the form of forms.”
Darkness is eternal. Light comes and goes, darkness is the basic state of existence. This is not the negative darkness which is absence of light, this is a positive darkness which is the source of all forms.
A pitch dark room or a place is required for this meditation which may be difficult to find in the city, as darkness is always covered by artificial lights. It will be good to do this meditation in a remote place where there is no electricity.
What is important is having a loving attitude towards darkness, not fear. If you carry fear, you will not allow darkness to penetrate your being.
Osho describes the method like this: "Sit in a dark place with open eyes and stare into the blackness. The real blackness is possible in a rainy night because the sky is covered with clouds and there is no star to disturb the blackness. Have a communion, a deep friendship with darkness.
Don't close your eyes, because with closed eyes you have a different darkness. That is your own, mental. It is a negative part; it is not positive darkness. With open eyes you will have a positive darkness that is always there. Stare into it. You will be utterly relaxed. You may feel that the waves of darkness are entering you from all sides. Accept them without fear.
Many fears will come up. Feel them. Be aware of them. Bring them to your conscious. They will come by themselves, and they will disappear by themselves.
Then a very beautiful phenomenon happens. You feel , darkness is the womb, the cosmic womb. You can rest, and dissolve yourself into it. "
Excerpted from The Book of Secrets
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Osho disscets Indian spirituality
Amrit sadhana
Vogue India is an Indian edition of the international fashion magazine Vogue. Its August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches, status-symbol umbrellas, and designer watches modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by poor Indian people.
A poor farmer modeled a Burberry umbrella that costs about $200.
A poor woman has a Hermès Birkin bag (usually more than $10,000) prominently displayed on her wrist. Or a middle aged farmer woman standing with her husband sporting a designer watch.
The caption of these images is: Welcome to the new India.
What’s funny about showing a poor person in a mud hut in clothing designed by Alexander McQueen? The poor farmer modeling a Burberry umbrella awkwardly might as well commit suicide shortly like many others in his starved village.
The fashion magazine in an excitement of floating novel idea forgot that they are touching the raw nerve of Indians. Not surprisingly, not everyone in India was amused.
“Fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,” said the editor of Vogue defensively.
But these people do not carry it off. The contrast between these high end fashion goods and the person wearing them is as stark as the difference between the rich and the poor class of India.
Nearly half of India’s population live on less than $1.25 a day, according to World Bank figures released last week. At the same time India also has a fast-growing wealthy class and emerging middle class that make it one of the world’s most attractive new places to sell high-end products.
India has always been a country of paradoxes but the present contrast between poverty and growing wealth is incomprehensible to the world marketers.
Not to the Indians I suppose. Because Indians are used to this contradiction down the ages. Poverty has always been there, what is new is the financial upswing and expansion of the middle class.
These nouveau riche of India like to flaunt their money. The guy wearing a $10,000 watch on his wrist does not think about farmers whose debt could be paid in this price and that their lives could be saved. Their luxury is just a status symbol which is so important to them that they are blind to the dying people on the street.
Brands like Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Hermès have been bunking in new super luxury malls, where guards are often stationed at the doors to keep the destitute outside.
It may hurt the spiritual ego of Indians but we have to wake up to the reality that we are a greedy race. Whether in this world or in the other world, we are driven by greed.
Osho has hammered this trait again and again: “This greed, this money infatuation, this materialism comes exactly down from the seers of the Rigveda. It still constitutes the unconscious of the Hindu mind. On the surface, everything is spiritual; underneath, everything is so ugly. Indians go on condemning the whole world as materialist; they are the only spiritual people.
"But my own experience is that I have not come across more materialist people in the whole world than the Indians. Yes, they have a spiritual mask which the others don't have, so the others appear to be materialist. And Indians are very much conditioned to talk about spirituality, the ultimate reality; it is just common heritage to talk about great things. Indians have a great desire to possess. You may not have anything, and still you will be a materialist if the desire to possess is there. You may possess only a small hut or only a begging bowl, but that is enough for your whole possessiveness to be focused on. And you will be a materialist, not a spiritualist.”
Excerpted from Theologia Mystica courtesy Osho International Foundation
Vogue India is an Indian edition of the international fashion magazine Vogue. Its August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches, status-symbol umbrellas, and designer watches modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by poor Indian people.
A poor farmer modeled a Burberry umbrella that costs about $200.
A poor woman has a Hermès Birkin bag (usually more than $10,000) prominently displayed on her wrist. Or a middle aged farmer woman standing with her husband sporting a designer watch.
The caption of these images is: Welcome to the new India.
What’s funny about showing a poor person in a mud hut in clothing designed by Alexander McQueen? The poor farmer modeling a Burberry umbrella awkwardly might as well commit suicide shortly like many others in his starved village.
The fashion magazine in an excitement of floating novel idea forgot that they are touching the raw nerve of Indians. Not surprisingly, not everyone in India was amused.
“Fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,” said the editor of Vogue defensively.
But these people do not carry it off. The contrast between these high end fashion goods and the person wearing them is as stark as the difference between the rich and the poor class of India.
Nearly half of India’s population live on less than $1.25 a day, according to World Bank figures released last week. At the same time India also has a fast-growing wealthy class and emerging middle class that make it one of the world’s most attractive new places to sell high-end products.
India has always been a country of paradoxes but the present contrast between poverty and growing wealth is incomprehensible to the world marketers.
Not to the Indians I suppose. Because Indians are used to this contradiction down the ages. Poverty has always been there, what is new is the financial upswing and expansion of the middle class.
These nouveau riche of India like to flaunt their money. The guy wearing a $10,000 watch on his wrist does not think about farmers whose debt could be paid in this price and that their lives could be saved. Their luxury is just a status symbol which is so important to them that they are blind to the dying people on the street.
Brands like Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Hermès have been bunking in new super luxury malls, where guards are often stationed at the doors to keep the destitute outside.
It may hurt the spiritual ego of Indians but we have to wake up to the reality that we are a greedy race. Whether in this world or in the other world, we are driven by greed.
Osho has hammered this trait again and again: “This greed, this money infatuation, this materialism comes exactly down from the seers of the Rigveda. It still constitutes the unconscious of the Hindu mind. On the surface, everything is spiritual; underneath, everything is so ugly. Indians go on condemning the whole world as materialist; they are the only spiritual people.
"But my own experience is that I have not come across more materialist people in the whole world than the Indians. Yes, they have a spiritual mask which the others don't have, so the others appear to be materialist. And Indians are very much conditioned to talk about spirituality, the ultimate reality; it is just common heritage to talk about great things. Indians have a great desire to possess. You may not have anything, and still you will be a materialist if the desire to possess is there. You may possess only a small hut or only a begging bowl, but that is enough for your whole possessiveness to be focused on. And you will be a materialist, not a spiritualist.”
Excerpted from Theologia Mystica courtesy Osho International Foundation
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