To Be Whole Is To Be Healthy

Osho's message on the World Health Day.

This year's theme for the World Health Day is ' Urbanization and public health.'
Urbanization is associated with many health challenges related to water, environment, violence and injury, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks. The WHO is pledged to work in these areas in the year 2010.

It is very significant that the definition of health has expanded much beyond the physical state of not being ill. Now it includes the psychological components as well.

For Osho, health has a very wide scope -- much more than mere physical or mental. I am happy to share the Osho insight on this day.

"Whenever your heart falls out of line with the whole you are in trouble, you are ill; whenever the heart is in rhythm with the whole you are healthy.
Let this be the definition of health.
Whenever there is no conflict between you and the whole, not even a rumor of conflict, you are healthy. To be whole is to be healthy. To be whole is to be holy. And what is the way to be holy, healthy, whole? Your heart should beat in the same rhythm as the heart of the whole. You should not fall out of line, out of step. It is a great cosmic dance. It is a great harmony. When you sit still, silent, not doing anything, meditative, prayerful, suddenly you start merging into the whole. You come closer and closer and closer and your steps are no longer heard as separate from the whole. You become part of this great symphony. Suddenly you are healthy, holy, whole.

How to come to this tuning with the whole? Why are you missing it?

You are constantly in discord, you have many contradictions within you. Those contradictions go on like a tug of war within continuously, day and night, awake and asleep. You are constantly pulled into opposite directions. This tense state of affairs does not allow you to listen.

Even when you are in love you go on fighting. Even in love, you don't fall into step with the whole. Even lovers go on fighting with each other; otherwise love can become a door to the ancient music. If you love somebody at least drop all conflict with him, or with her, with your child, with your wife, with your brother, friend -- drop!
But even there conflict continues; a subtle way of fight continues. Because you are constantly in conflict within yourself, whatsoever you do is going to be an extension of the same conflict, a reflection of the same disharmony. "

Ancient Music In The Pines # 9

The Religion Is Founded On A Dirty Joke

Up until now we all knew only one Murphy, the legendry Murphy who floated famous laws like : "If anything has to go wrong, it will." The wisdom of ages is packed in these funny and profound sayings.

But nobody knows who this person was. The fact is that these laws have been around for years, slowly they were collected and given a name : Murphy's law.
But now you have to forget about this wise, practical smart Murphy as another Mr Mrphy, sorry, Rev. Murphy or his ghost has loomed up on the horizon. Yes, I am referring to The Predator Priest who was sexually abusing deaf boys for 22 years. Victims tried for more than three decades to bring him to justice, but documents show that the church neither defrocked him nor referred him for prosecution.

Cardinal Levada said that although Father Murphy never faced judgment in a criminal or canonical court, the priest had not evaded it altogether.

“As a believer,” he wrote in his statement, “I have no doubt that Murphy will face the One who judges both the living and the dead.”

Ho! Ho! Anyone up there?
The clergymen did not dare to judge the criminal priest down here and now they are leaving it to the mythical almighty who will punish him for his crimes on earth.
When Osho ruthlessly hammers the organized religions and their hypocrisy, one doesn't understand the deeper significance of it, but when such incidents are exposed one feels, it serves them right.

Here is one Osho joke for Cardinal Levada. It will be handy when he will face the "One" on the judgment day.

" Finally, the Polack pope died and went to heaven with pomp and circumstance. At the pearly gates, Saint Peter stopped him and said, "Hey, you can't walk in just like that. Who are you?"

The pope answered, "Well, I am your very own representative on earth. I am the pope."

Saint Peter said, "Pope? My representative? I have never heard of you."

The pope, puzzled, said, "Ah, just tell God I am here. He will tell you to let me in."

Saint Peter yelled, "Hey, boss, a guy here says he is the pope. Do you know him?"

God answered, "Never heard of him." The pope said, "Strange, but ask Jesus. He knows me."

Saint Peter yelled, "Hey, sonny. There is a guy here says he is the pope. You know him?" Jesus answered, "No."
Saint Peter said, "Sorry, I can't let you in. Nobody around here knows you."

The pope said, "You can't turn me away like this. I am the pope himself. Ask the Holy Ghost. He knows me for sure."
Saint Peter yelled again, "Hey, spook! A guy here claims you know him. Says he is the pope."

And the Holy Ghost shouted, "The pope, sure I know him. He is the guy that spread those dirty rumors about me and Mary. Kick him out of here."

The whole religion is founded on a dirty joke."


The Hidden Splendor

An Osho Solution To Avoid Sex Perversion.

When we come across the cases of sex abuse by  religious people like Christian priests or Hindu monks we desperately look for a solution. We don't want our next generation to be afflicted by the same disease, do we?  Every parent must be anxious that their kids should not inherit this religious poison.

Who can guide us?

Osho has a very simple solution : teach children meditation. Childhood is the foundation of life, make it stonger and healthy. This Osho insight will be go a long way to make it happen.

"The first step towards the transformation of sex is to begin meditation in small children -- to coach them to be calm and to keep their own counsel, to teach them to be silent and to enlighten them about the state of no-mind. Although children are already calm and peaceful by adult standards, if they were guided in the right direction and taught to practice reticence and serenity even for a little while each day, a new door would open before they were fourteen years of age."


" Then, when sex rears its head, when the energy wells up and is about to spill over, it would flow through the new door that has already been opened. They would already have realized the serenity, the bliss, the joy, the timelessness and egolessness of meditation long before the experience of sex. This familiarity would prevent their energy from moving into wrong channels; it would divert it onto the right path."


From Sex to Superconsciousness/

The Fruits of Unnatural Celibacy

You must have read about the latest news of sex abuse by Christian priests, making headlines.

You may feel , what's new in this? I could almost hear Osho chuckle. For Osho always ridiculed the perverted priesthood and the doctrine of celibacy forced on them.

Priests and clergymen, down the centuries, have been indulging in sexual abuse in the monasteries. What else would they do? If natural sexuality is denied, and they are asked to observe forced celibacy, and go on speaking against sex, this is bound to happen.

Now these incidents come to the fore thanks to the super active media who gleefully exposes them and asks for an action.
The New York Times reports on March 24th, Arthur Budzinski says he was first molested in 1960 at a cemetery behind St. John's School for the Deaf, when he went to Father Murphy for confession. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office.

Vatican’s insistence on secrecy has often impeded cooperation to discipline the offenders. At the same time, the officials’ reluctance to defrock a sex abuser shows that on a doctrinal level, the Vatican has tended to view the matter in terms of sin and repentance more than crime and punishment.

How long are we going to put up with this? Osho has raised his voice against this in no uncertain terms.

"Christian theologians are very clever in finding ways. Just a few days ago, the third man in the Church of England has come out with the statement that, "Taking the vow of celibacy does not include homosexuality." You can be celibate and you can be homosexual; it simply prevents you from heterosexuality. A new definition! They have to find such a definition, because almost fifty percent of Christian monks are homosexuals. The remaining ones may be masturbating, but nobody, unless he is born impotent, can be celibate by nature.
"These people go on teaching unnatural things. And when people cannot cope with unnaturalness, and they are drawn to their nature, it becomes sin. Then they have to be condemned to hellfire. To be natural is a sin, according to Christianity -- and according to other religions too. To be unnatural and abnormal -- to be perverted -- is to be saintly."

Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons

"The Earth Was Shaking, We Were Meditating."

Meditators running in

Believe it or not, this is what Osho meditators have reported from Chile. On February 28th the terrible earthquake that shook Chile was 700 times stronger than that of the Haiti earthquake. Now everybody knows that Chile is quake- prone but every new earthquake shatters and devastates the citizens anew.

What can one do in this situation? Nothing can be done outwardly for sure, but much can be done inwardly. And that's what the Osho meditators in Chile do.
There are four Osho Meditation Centers in Chile , so when we heard about the terrible earthquake we sent worried emails to them asking about their welfare.
Their answers reflect their spirit--

One of the center co-ordinators Aseema wrote : "The earth keeps shaking and thanks to Osho... we run in! "

Mukti is another lady who facilitates Osho meditations in a high rise building. She informed with a Spanish flavor, " Me and my family very ok--- but many people with many problems…. My flat is on the 11th floor but I’m ok—I’m not afraid of quake and I feel we need to continue living life as it is now. Many things happen in the world right now, and I feel it is moment to just go in---- and as Osho says 'meditation the only way, and the real home is inside.'

Easier said than done. Right? But these guys are saying this in the midst of the destruction all around. This is the strength of meditation.

No quake inside

This reminds me of a story Osho tells; it's about a Zen master whose unique behavior in face of death is a great learning for all.
" It happened that a Zen master was invited as a guest. A few friends had gathered and they were eating and talking when suddenly there was an earthquake. The building that they were sitting in was a seven storey building and they were on the seventh storey, so life was in danger. Everybody tried to escape. The host, running by, looked to see what had happened to the master. He was there with not even a ripple of anxiety on his face. With closed eyes he was sitting on his chair as he had been sitting before.

The host felt a little guilty, he felt a bit of a coward, and it did not look good that
a guest was sitting there and the host was running away. The others, the other twenty guests, had already gone down the stairs but he stopped himself although he was trembling with fear, and he sat down by the side of the master.

The earthquake came and went, the master opened the eyes and started his conversation which because of the earthquake he had had to stop. He continued again at exactly the same sentence -- as if the earthquake had not happened at all.

The host was now in no mood to listen, he was in no mood to understand because his whole being was so troubled and he was so afraid. Even though the earthquake had gone, the fear was still there.

He said: Now don't say anything because I will not be able to grasp it, I'm not myself anymore. The earthquake has disturbed me too much. But there is one question I would like to ask. All other guests had escaped, I was also on the stairs, almost running, when suddenly I remembered you. Seeing you sitting here with closed eyes, sitting so undisturbed, so unperturbed, I felt a bit of a coward -- I am the host, I should not run. So I came back and I have been sitting by your side. I would like to ask one question. We all tried to escape. What happened to you? What do you say about the earthquake?

The master said: "I also escaped, but you escaped outwardly, I escaped inwardly. Your escape is useless because wherever you are going there too is an earthquake, so it is meaningless, it makes no sense. You may reach the sixth storey or the fifth or the fourth, but there too is an earthquake. I escaped to a point within me where no earthquake ever reaches, cannot reach. I entered my center."

Excerpted from Tao : The Three Treasures, Vol 2

The Soft Power of Touching

When visitors come to Osho International Meditation Resort, they comment, "People look so happy and relaxed here. They touch so easily."

Yes, it is one of the Osho tools for relaxation.

Touch is the first language we learn. If you have forgotten it, go and watch a new born being caressed and cuddled by its mother. The infant has yet to enter the complex world of words, so the first communication it receives through all senses is by touch. And that remains with all of us throughout our lives -- an undercurrent of nonverbal transmition of love and support.

A  touch speaks more than a thousand words. A pat on the back, a caress on the cheek, or the warmth of a hug carries the bioelectric energy of  humanness.

In the brain, prefrontal areas, which help regulate emotion, can relax, freeing them for another of their primary purposes: problem solving. In effect, the body interprets a supportive touch as “I’ll share the load.”

“We think that humans build relationships precisely for this reason, to distribute problem solving across brains,” said James A. Coan, a a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “We are wired to literally share the processing load, and this is the signal we’re getting when we receive support through touch.”

At the Osho International Meditation Resort this happens so naturally, almost unknowningly. Hugs and  embraces flow as freely as the brookes and waterfalls here. This may be the reason why people look so relaxed, so happy. There is a sharing of energy all around, a kind of melting. By touching they participate in each other's being.

www.osho.com/meditationresort

Jesus In The Jar Of Marmite?

It's a BBC news guys : "Family see Jesus image in Marmite "
It may not be immediately obvious to everyone, but one family are convinced they can see the face of Jesus on the lid of a jar of Marmite. The family said they found the image comforting . Claire Allen, the housewife said she was the first to notice the image on the underside of the lid as she was putting the yeast spread on her son's toast.

Now one can understand the need for a saviour or a caretaker for people who are treated roughly by life. In this case Clair Allen admitted that they had a tough couple of months; her mum's been really ill and " it's comforting to think that if Jesus is there, he's watching over us."

That's the crux of the matter. People are desperate for a support, and they let their mind project anything that could give them solace. Since this was a Christian family they projected Jesus, a Hindu family would not have seen anything like this because Hindu gods are all decked up with ornaments and luxurious hairdo.

A Buddhist may project something else.

Osho warns people, particulalry spiritual seekers against falling into this trap as it only weakens the person. The real strength comes out of meditation.

While talking to a man wha had visions Osho said, " The mind starts playing tricks. Somebody will see lights, somebody will start hearing sounds, somebody will start experiencing something else, and the ego says 'This is something great -- it is only happening to you. It is rare. You are special, that's why it is happening to you' and you start cooperating.

My suggestion is: simply disconnect yourself from all this. Whenever anything like this arises just have a good laugh!

And don't pay much attention to it -- just neglect it! One has to become utterly empty. The only spiritual experience worth calling spiritual is the experience of nothingness, of emptiness... what sufis call 'fana', the disappearance of the ego. That is the only spiritual experience -- all else is just mind games. And the mind can create many things. The mind can start hallucinating; it can see visions, Christ and Buddha... The mind has the capacity to dream -- even with open eyes it can dream. When you see Jesus standing in front of you, how not to believe? And there is no Jesus standing before you -- it is your projection.

"That's why Zen masters say 'If you meet the Buddha on the way, kill him!' They are right... absolutely right. It looks sacrilegious, very disrespectful to say that if you meet Buddha on the way, kill him... but it is very true. You will meet the Buddha on the way or Jesus or Mohammed -- that is not the point. You will come across anything that you had been conditioned for in your childhood.

My work is hard because I cannot support any illusions of your mind, I cannot support any hallucinations. I have to cut all kinds of hallucinations."

Excerpted from The Tounge-Tip Taste of Tao