Veetam (Ian Campbell) will have his first one man show of his paintings at The ARC Gallery in Chicago (September 1-25).
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Veetam exhibition in Chicago
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Satori and Clowning – Moments of Truth
Chapeau to the producers (Samarpan and Diya) for this beautiful video presenting:
part 1) Satori, also called “Who is in?” or “Awareness Intensive”
part 2) Clowning
with Ganga Cording and Mouji Kochs
held in August 2010 at the Finca Son Duri centre in Mallorca, next date will be: 3-13 July 2012 – findyournose.com
18 friends met in Mallorca to look deep into themselves. First week was a Satori Retreat, the second Clowning. Clowning and awareness – a great combination! Ganga and Mouji supported the process.
Satori – for one week the participants asked each other koans (unsolvable questions) like “Who am I?” or “What is Trust?” or “What is Life?” Additional to the satori sittings there were active Osho meditations as well as work as meditation to deepen the process.
Clowning – in this video a few impressions of the second week of self-inquiry. The clowning process reached even deeper realms of the unconscious, showing our conditionings, and finally, giving an experience of how life can be different.
More about Satori retreats (in English): awareness-academy.com
More about Clowning: clown-augsburg.de
FindYourNose.com – Online Magazin für Meditation (in German):
findyournose.com
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Lesvos: Celebration with Meditation
Osho Afroz Summer Festival with Milarepa and Friends, 16-20 August 2010 in Lesvos Greece
Milarepa had spent a few summers supporting the ‘Love, Devotion, Surrender’ group with Premartha and Svarup at the Osho Afroz Centre in Lesvos, Greece. He enjoyed the atmosphere so much that he came up with an idea, together with the co-founders of the centre, Varidhi and Tameer, to create a festival with music, creativity, and meditation. He and his co-organizer Disha from Istanbul invited musicians and facilitators from all over the world to support the programme.
Disha writes: “For five days, August 16 to 20, more than 120 people attended to enjoy what Milarepa calls a ‘holiday with a difference’. The intensive program started from early morning with Dynamic Meditation followed by Morning Satsang with live music. Everyday felt full and abundant with a variety of meditations and workshops; also mini-sessions, dance parties, concerts – even a variety show! One of the daily highlights included the evening White Robe meditation where everyone enjoyed celebrating with the band and listening to Osho in the outdoor buddhahall. These evenings were very special indeed. And there were plenty of breaks in the schedule for participants to relax and enjoy the sea and beautiful Erresos Beach.”
Pictures can sometimes say more than words, so here are thirty for you to enjoy. The photos are by Advita (used with permission – thanks!).
Niskriya has just come back from Lesvos saying: “The festival was very alive and juicy. The more the days passed the more I felt we were all connected with each other. The combination of celebration and meditation works! To dance with live music and then to sit down creates a space where meditation happens spontaneously.
“I facilitated the group ‘Spontaneous Singing’ together with Ranjana. There were 35 participants and still it went so easy. Everybody was open and ready to sing, probably because of the many meditations and the strong Buddhafield.
“Ranjana, together with the other Greek musicians – Sundaram, Pan, Premdas, Geetprem and Kirad – gave that special Greek flavor. It was a joy to see how Milarepa, Teerth and Chandira, melted with the Greek musicians as if they had played together forever.
“I can’t wait to go again!”
Next year’s festival dates will be August 16-20, 2011
Milarepa: www.oneskymusic.com
Osho Afroz Centre in Lesbos: www.oshoafroz.com
Osho Afroz Summer Festival 2011: www.oshoafroz.com
Premartha & Svarup: primaltantra.com
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Sannyas in Seattle
Weekend Meditation Camp in Seattle with Satya Vedant
Many of you know Satya Vedant by the name Vasant Joshi, author of Osho’s biography ‘Osho The Luminous Rebel’ (which he has recently updated, by the way). Sannyasins and friends in Seattle were lucky enough to host Vedant in October as the guest facilitator of several talks, a weekend camp, and a sannyas celebration.
Vedant’s first talk was at Microsoft, where he was warmly welcomed and attentively heard. Next, he gave a talk on India and his early days with Osho attended by over 30 people at Shanti and Subhan’s World of Meditation Center. On Friday, October 22 he welcomed nearly 30 people at the Center for Spiritual Living for an evening of Satsang music, a video, an audio discourse and a dance meditation.
The next two days saw nearly 20 participants starting off with Dynamic Meditation. Saturday, we also experienced an Osho discourse, question and answer session about meditation, Kundalini and Evening Meditation. On Sunday we moved to a lovely zen-like yoga studio. As the rain pattered on the windows, we did a graceful namaste meditation, which set the stage for a high energy, live music sannyas celebration. We flew high, especially Seattle’s newest sannyasin, Swami Dhyan Alok, who leads mountain climbs for a living. After Everest, Kilimanjaro and many other famous peaks, Alok is now climbing a spiritual slope with Osho. Yahoo!
Read a review of Satya Vedant’s book ‘Osho The Luminous Rebel’…
Text by Roshani for Osho News, Nov 2010
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Meditator’s Festival in Bali
Bali for the second time in as many years hosted the International Bali Meditator’s Festival from November 12-14, 2010. The event was inspired by Anand Krishna, one the very few Osho sannyasins in Indonesia, who has popularized meditation as a way of life, free of all denomination. The theme was ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Living in Peace, Love and Harmony through Meditation’. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam means ‘This World Is One Single Family’.
Panel sessions and workshops on meditation and yoga were run throughout the two days, a bazaar and community events were colorful additions. Margot Anand spoke during a panel session about ‘Life is Joy: The Bliss of Everyday Meditation’, and also facilitated a workshop on meditation, entitled ‘The Nature of Meditation and Bliss’. She said, “I so appreciate the Balinese who are creating a field of consciousness based on respect, meditation and kindness; and being consciously present, in every moment, is a blissful meditation.”
I enjoyed being part of a panel session, speaking about Osho, sannyas, and meditation. The audience was delightfully active with many inquiries about meditation, religion, identity, mind and spirituality in Bali in particular. A renowned Balinese healer and spiritual teacher, Ketut Arsana, and Prof. Dr. Lu Ketut Suryani, an eminent psychiatrist, and the founder of the Gandhi Ashram in Bali, Indra Udayana were among the speakers.
A very respectful and loving sparring went on between Nurul Arifin Husein, a Sufi who stands for human rights values and is very concerned about the freedom of embracing religion or belief, and me. When I wrapped up the discussion with the statement that all what humanity needs is religiousness rather than ‘religion in boxes’, he gave me a double thumbs-up.
I was surprised to see that so many people from the mainly Indonesian audience know about Osho. One of the Balinese participants showed me the screen of his mobile phone – displaying a lovely picture of Osho. Ode, as he is called, told me that he loves to read Osho’s books and is very taken by his teachings. Rani, a female journalist from Jakarta told me laughingly, “I’ve read every book by Osho!”
The King of Ubud who hosted the lunch spoke with Anand Krishna about making the festival venue available for more programs and workshops about meditation in the future.
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Birthday Celebrations – 11 December 2010
Osho’s birthday, 11th December, was celebrated at Oshodham in New Delhi with various Osho meditations, music, dance and videos. The evening concluded with Sannyas initiation and celebration.
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Osho Festival in Italy
Osho Festival Riccione
This is an annual international event ,which will be held again in Riccione on the Italian Adriatic coast. This year the dates are: 14-17 April 2011.
The Italian Osho Festival was initiated by the Italian book distributor Oshoba back in 2000 and in the last few years it had each time 1000 enthusiastic participants, who flocked in from all over Europe. Some of the feedback read “A celebration of life at its best…” “A journey inside myself… I’ll bring home so many beautiful things.”
There will be four days full of joie de vivre, rich with meditations, workshops and events offered by facilitators like Anando, Aneesha, Svagito, Leela (Waduda), Siddho… and many others. Plus dances, live music and… the biggest AUM meditation in the world! Most of the events are in English (with Italian translation).
Two lotteries will be held, with the chance to win, amongst many other prizes, a 15-day free stay at the Guesthouse of the Osho International Meditation Resort in Pune.
The venue is the Congress Center of the 4 star hotel Le Conchiglie which will allow the Festival to offer a very rich and varied programme, with up to 3 events happening at the same time! Special rates for Festival participants are also available at other hotels nearby.
Programme and all info in English at oshoba.it
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Isness as Usual at Croydon Hall
It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I went this time to Croydon Hall for the Osho Spring Celebration. Croydon Hall is now under new management and the Osho community there as it was no longer exists, although a few sannyasins still live and work there.
We have been having large, juicy Osho meditation and celebration weekends there several times a year for at least six years. Would there be the energy for these to continue, I wondered?
I wasn’t intending to write an article about this celebration but at the end of the three days was inspired, as I wanted to let people know how beautiful it still is to be there. Of course the infrastructure is gorgeous, plus the energy we have created together there over the years; that legacy remains. But more than that, I found once again that whenever sannyasins and friends are gathered together a phenomenal energy is created.
I won’t go into the programme, the food, the company, the music – all excellent as usual. We did have quite a bit of sunshine too, if not summer temperatures.
On a personal level I felt I tasted very deep spaces in the meditations and was really touched by the whole weekend. In the farewell circle lots of people shared similar experiences.
Manu, the drummer in ‘Presence,’ spontaneously commented to me, “Yatro, what a great weekend, eh? And everyone had so much doubt about it. Better than ever!” And gave me a double thumbs up.
The new owner and manager are totally supportive of our continuing with these weekends and really wish us to do so. They appreciate the special energy that we bring to the place.
So, it’s ‘Isness as usual.’
The dates for the coming Osho Celebrations at Croydon Hall are:
July 28 – 31, Sept 15 – 18, Dec 15 – 18.
The photos accompanying this (more to come) were taken by Allan for his personal use, but he was happy for them to accompany this article.
Text by Yatro
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Buddha Purnima Celebrations in New Delhi
Each month of the year Osho World Galleria in New Delhi dedicates a celebration day to an enlightened mystic. In May it is Buddha’s turn because of the Buddha Full Moon, the Buddha Purnima, which this year falls on the 17th of May. Reason for a big gathering at the Ansal Plaza with meditation and creativity.
Kul Bhushan welcomed a packed house of Osho lovers with the following words: “Osho, a modern day Buddha, is creating the conditions for the emergence of what he calls Zorba the Buddha or the ‘New Man’ – the combination of the celebration, dance and song of Zorba and the silence, stillness and meditation of the Buddha – the meditation of the East and the materialism of the West. Zorba the Buddha is a totally new human being who is aware, life-affirmative and free.”
This concept was presented in “Silence of Zen”, an exhibition of paintings on Buddha created by Anusheh Hussain inaugurated jointly by well-known artist Aparna Caur and writer-producer-director Rajiv Mehrotra. To mark Buddha Purnima, Anusheh has chosen to visualize yet another inimitable Master’s wisdom through the strokes of her brush, with colour and calligraphy, capturing the simplicity and the silence of Zen. Her creative expression is inspired by the spiritual philosophies and traditions of India and by Osho in particular. This is her second show at the Osho World Galleria: in her first exhibition, held in December 2004, she had shown a series called ‘Finger Pointing to The Moon’ which was inspired by Osho’s signatures which are considered as works of art. Anusheh Hussain was born and brought up in Pakistan and has now been living in India for many years.
The celebration was also an occasion for the launch of 5 DVDs on Osho’s lectures The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha by artist Arpana Caur and writer-producer-director Rajiv Mehrotra.
The artist Aparna Caur also launched a set of five DVDs on Osho’s discourses on The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha. Before the launch, Kul Bhushan outlined Osho’s unique insight challenging the common notion that Buddha ‘renounced’ his palace. Osho says, “If you renounce the world to gain something, whatsoever it is – nirvana, enlightenment, moksha, freedom, truth or God, whatsoever it is – if you renounce the world to gain something, it is not renunciation.”
“Hence, I will not say that Buddha renounced the world to attain something. The very idea of attaining something IS the world. The very idea of attaining something is to live in imagination is to live in the future. And a man of understanding lives in the present, not in the future. A man of understanding does not really renounce the world – the world simply falls from him, the world simply becomes irrelevant; it loses meaning. His insight is such that he can see through and through the falsity of all desire – not to attain something, but seeing the futility of desire, desiring ceases. That is true renunciation. That’s what Buddha did,” says Osho.
A scintillating Kathak performance enacted from the life of Buddha by Astha Dixit concluded the event. Astha Dixit has trained for over ten years under Shri Harish Gangani of Jaipur gharana and Smt. Malti Shyam of Lucknow gharana. She has performed in the USA, China and at major festivals in India and has also performed as a repertory dancer with the Kathak Kendra under the Ministry of Culture.
A spectacular celebration indeed!
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25 Years Mahabodhi Center in Heidelberg
Last week the Osho Mahabodhi Meditation Center in Heidelberg, Germany, celebrated its 25 year anniversary, in love and gratitude for Osho. The center was founded in 1987 and has been a gathering place for friends since then.
Aviram writes:
Located on the banks of the river Neckar, next to a nature reserve (Neckarvorland) and close to the famous University town of Heidelberg, our (large) house is very inviting. We can meet, meditate and celebrate, offer groups and events and this is what we did full-heartedly on this occasion! Friends from all over Germany came to help celebrate our anniversary.
Our Mahabodhi Band (Mridula, Peter, Pratibha, Raghu und Uli) played to their and our heart’s content (you will soon be able find them on Youtube under Osho Mahabodhi Band); we sang and danced and also sat silently… In a concert with Mutriba and Pradeep we were guided deep into silence and meditation.
The programme which stretched over two days gave the visitors a varied weekend: satsang, video clips from our sannyas past, chatting with friends, kids hopping in-between, and fantastic food of course! We also had Heart Dance with Shantidharma, deep relaxation and laughter meditation, and a Tantric event with Atasa nourished our hearts and souls.
Our next celebration will on ‘Mahaparinirvana Day’, which will be held either on the 10th or 11th September (see our website for the final date). We invite everyone to come! Our center is throughout the year, a beautiful place to visit for a short (or longer) trip and we can offer overnight stays.
Come and enjoy!
Contact Aviram: maaviram@hotmail.com
Website : www.osho-mahabodhi-meditation.de
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Meditation, Celebration on Osho Beach in Goa
December 11, 2011 will be Osho’s 80th birthday, and his essence is alive and well and living on Osho Beach in Goa, India.
It’s been more than 40 years since Osho sent me down from Bombay with my friend Samadhi to open the first Osho center in Goa, Shanti Niketan. Niseema and I are now pleased to announce that we have secured a wonderful space over Café Coffee Day for the home of Osho Essence and Lovebaba’s. The space is air-conditioned, safe, clean, and within a two-minute walk from where sannyasins have been drawn for many decades.
We plan an ongoing environment for morning meditations, live music, performances, and a state-of-the-art surround-sound cinema for special arts film showings. Niseema will be designing the restaurant menu to reflect her love and expertise in natural and fresh culinary treats for the in-house restaurant, as well as rolling out her food lines to be offered at the nearby grocery outlets and delis. Harideva will be directing all of the other in-house activities, as well as producing the Goa Jazz and Blues Festival.
Our center will offer a real meeting space for friends, and we invite all friends to come and get involved in its creation and also offer whatever talents they may wish to share. Over the past seasons we have had concerts, comedy nights, and several dance parties, where some of our DJ friends from Europe and Japan have spun great dance mixes to get the packed club buzzing.
Since I started bringing Osho’s message and work to the West in the very early ’70s, I have always had a calling for creating a meditational atmosphere that was full of celebration and love. Our friends will find that here in Goa. As a group, many of us are getting older and some of us even a bit creaky. We might want to succumb to the approaching limitations of what once was a spry and exuberant physicality and move into isolation and a sense of a perceived “safety” that might be found in “settling down” and avoiding risk. Let’s not do that. Let’s go for life and see if somehow India still calls us.
Goa, and in particular Candolim Beach (what I have called Osho Beach), continues to be a clean and wonderful place for a healthy lifestyle while bringing us into close contact with international friends of every age. More and more families come with their kids, while an international collection of top-notch yoga teachers transfer their insights and disciplines to a fresh class of seekers. We have a blast almost every night. Goa is a place where all of his lovers can come for some silence, great surf, and the serenity of knowing that we are surrounded by friends.
Hope to see you there. I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:
Around the Corner
by Charles Hanson Towne
Around the corner I have a friend
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone
And I never see my old friend’s face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell,
And he rang mine.
We were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
“Tomorrow” I say, “I will call on Jim”
“Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes, and
distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner! – yet miles away,
“Here’s a telegram sir‒”
“Jim died today.”
And that’s what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Text by Harideva, first published in Viha Connection
haridevaosho (at) hotmail.com; www.lovebaba.com
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International Reunion in Munich
In Munich, Germany, preparations abound for an ‘International Reunion’ from October 1-2, 2011. The venue will be the Chinese Tower in the famous Englischer Garten (English Garden) and coincides with the Munich Oktoberfest. Much beer and bliss will flow! Mega – many of you folks will remember him as a congenial rebel throughout the times – had the marvelous idea to call up upon old friends from all over the world to fly into Munich for this event.
How it all came about
Thirty years ago, Mega initiated a similar event (October 26-27, 1981) called ‘Bhagwan’s Bavarian Buddhafield’ after returning to Europe from Pune. It was widely reported in the German press, including in Der Spiegel, and about 1,500 sannyasins participated. Shortly after that, in November of the same year, the ’Orange Connection’ was celebrated in Berlin, initiated by Gurudas, the center leader of Vihan, with about 2,000 sannyasins showing up. This time, bets are there will been many more!
I asked Mega to let us know a bit more about his drive to create such gatherings and he said, “I flew out of Pune after Osho left for the USA. I had just enough money for a one way ticket to Munich and 100 German Marks in my pocket. Musician friends from the Rajneesh Rock Band asked me to organize some gigs for them in Europe…and I told them yes, I would see what I could do as in the late 70′s I had already arranged a 3-day party for them in Goa.
To cut the story short, I got a whole bunch of sannyasins together and we created a company called ‘Satori Musik Gesellschaft’, and were able to raise 120,000 German Marks in donations (a miracle in itself) to set up this 2-day festival called ‘Bhagwan’s Bavarian Buddhafield’. Before we got started, our Munich crew went to Amsterdam in July 1981 to participate in the ‘Full Moon Affair’, an event organized by Veeresh from the Humaniversity to learn how it was done.
Fast forward to October: It was a scandal! The Bavarian Press went wild and so did the authorities. Pune had become notorious after the movie Poona, and the allegations by actress Eva Renzi that she had been raped in a therapy group; surprisingly she came to our festival! From the Mayor’s office to the Chief of Police everybody was on alert and our event was headline news for days.
And to top it all, two days before the celebration we were offered to take over a discotheque as the owner had read in the press that sannyasins like to dance – and that became the first sannyas disco in the West called ‘Disco Orange’ and because of this (and another job on the side) I could make my living between 1981 and 1986.
When Osho came back to Pune after ‘The World Tour’ I returned to India where I lived on and off until 2006 when after getting married in 2005 in Pune I finally shifted to Basle, Switzerland.
The idea for this reunion came from the fact that many of us don’t visit India so often anymore, so why not all meet in Munich – 30 years ago we had a blast – so imagine the excitement 30 years later!”
Email: anand.megalove@gmail.com
Facebook group: facebook.com/groups
1st October (Sat) – day ticket 15€ – weekend ticket 30€
8.30h Dynamic available with Premtirth at Jivamukti Yogacentre (5€) or Osho Leela Centre (5€ plus Brezn breakfast)
How to get there: for details check on www.jivamuktiyoga.de or www.osho-leela-muenchen.de
11h Meditation Flash Mob at Odeonsplatz near Marienplatz
How to get there: – U3/U4/U5/U6 Odeonsplatz
12.30h Osho Friends Meeting at Chinesischer Turm in Englischer Garten (if rain Klangheilzentrum is open)
How to get there:
- U3/U6 Giselastr. plus 10 min.walking
- Tram 17 Tivolistr. plus 3 min. walking
- Bus 54/154 Chinesischer Turm
16h Sing and Chant with Anugraha and Friends at Klangheilzentrum, Ötztalerstr.1b, 81373 München
How to get there: – U3/U6 Harras, a few min. walking
18.30h Osho Videodiscourse at Klangheilzentrum (KHZ)
21h Free entrance to Rupens Jalla Party at Völkerkundemuseum, Maximilianstr.42, 80538 München
How to get there:
- U4/U5 Lehel plus walking
- all S-Bahn(city-train) Isartor plus walking
- Tram 17/19 Maxmonument little walking
2nd October (Sun) – day ticket 20€/Disco extra 8€
8.30h Dynaymic with Premtirth at Jivamukti Yogacentre (extra 5€) or Osho Leela Centre (extra 5€ plus Brezn breakfast)
10h Satsang at KHZ
12-14.00h Bodywork Clinic with Saarangi and Friends at KHZ (30/60 min. sessions for 20€/40€)
15h Path of Love Event with Jayant at KHZ
17h No Dimensions with Sufi Sam at KHZ
18.30h Presentation of The Womb Meditatiobn Centre Thailand with Pranesh at KHZ
21h Final Disco Dance Celebration at the Loft behind Ostbahnhof with various DJs (Mahendra, Rupen,…), Friedenstr. 22, 81671 München
How to get there:
- U4/U5 Ostbahnhof
- all S-Bahn (city-train) Ostbahnhof
For further informations please contact one of the organizers in Munich:
Mahendra: mx@planetoflove.net – Tel. (0049)-(0)89-395575 – general info
Saarangi: saarangi64@gmx.net – Tel. (0049)-(0)179-6751075 – helpers & general
Yashen: biz@p-hartmann.de – Tel. (0049)-(0)8178-908698 or mobile …(0)1728-302010 – reservation tickets
Ramabajan: hirtenrama@googlemail.com – Tel. (0049)-(0)151-10784821 – accommodation
Link to Adresses-Map of Munich
Story by Bhagawati
See the slideshow of the MedMob at the Odeonsplatz in Munich
Read Samai’s article: Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami and watch the slideshow of the Gathering in the English Garden in Munich
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MedMob at the Odeonplatz in Munich
From Marina the first photos of the event (it’s the MedMob at the Odeonsplatz) with the following comment: “It was a beautiful session. I could sense how a soft energy globe of light, love and peace was building up above us. And it kept growing larger and larger, gently beaming outwards. It was quite noisy around us during the first half an hour (pedestrians laughing and talking, tourists shouting, children running, bells of horse-drawn carriages. i.e. Oktoberfest in full swing) but from then onwards our group seemed to have an effect on the environment – it got noticeably calmer and serene. A lovely initiative!”
Read here How it all came about that Mega organised the Gathering (and programme)
Read Samai’s article: Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami and watch the slideshow of the Gathering in the English Garden in Munich
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Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami
Samai reports from the recent Munich Osho Gathering
Some months ago, Swami Mega – whom many of us remember from Poona – launched the idea of an International Osho Reunion in Munich.
I felt attracted by the idea without questions or expectations of how it would be. And I had never been to Munich. I’m originally from Berlin and Bavarians are historically considered as our archenemies! So I was looking forward to discover the unknown and meet friends.
The first happening of the event was a MedMob meditation at the Odeonsplatz where about 150 people sat for a one-hour silent meditation. Mahendra told me that there were about 150 meditators; half were sannyasins and half were people who just joined the event.
Unfortunately I have missed it as my train arrived too late in Munich. My friend Ila met me at the station and we headed straight to the English Garden, where Mega had set up the meeting point in a traditional beergarden.
Meeting and picking up Sufi-Sam by chance on the way in the subway, we arrived at the English tower where some hundreds of Bavarians and tons of tourists where sitting at long wooden tables drinking beer and eating Haxen (pork knuckles).
Many of them were wearing this special Bavarian outfit: boys in leather pants and girls in a 3-piece colorful dress called Dirndl. I was told that this party called the Oktoberfest takes place every year and lasts for many days and that some thousands of liters of beer are consumed….
It was not difficult to spot ‘The Tribe’. Wow: so many familiar faces. For many I could neither remember names nor where we had met. It was a long time ago, but it did not matter: the hugs were always nice.
“Oh, I know you from Poona 1, we had done Encounter together, etc, etc.”
Some bonds for me were still very strong, especially from my early sannyas days in 1978 in Berlin and my short commune experience in Bremen, and of course Poona. Some friends I had not seen for almost 30 years.
Sooooo nice.
Yes, it was in big parts a journey on memory lane, but the heartfelt connections and the depths of the meetings were always Here and Now, juicy and fresh and new.
As drinking beer is not really my favourite occupation, after some time we headed to the Klangheilzentrum where more ‘meditative’ activities took place. Mahendra (aka Ananya), Saarangi, Yashen and friends had foreseen that in The Tribe there would be people with different interests and had organized a beautiful two-day program.
I enjoyed a lot the chanting with Anugraha, singing old and new heartfelt songs together. After great Indian chai we did an evening meditation with an Osho video. I especially liked the quite ‘untraditional’ music Jayant had chosen for us to dance to before the video started. New and alive!
Next morning, a Satsang with beautiful live music took place, with more hugs and chai afterwards. Unfortunately I had to skip the bodywork sessions, which were proposed, but I really wanted to see a bit of Munich and Ila took me on a tour to the Isar River, with brunch and a stroll through town and showed me all the sannyas businesses which still exist.
Later in the afternoon we participated in a Path of Love Event with Jayant and whirled in the No Dimensions Meditation led by Sam. And in between, always meeting friends, hugs, sharing. Sunday night, the celebration continued at a disco which was the last official event of the gathering.
This is where I noticed that the ‘Buddha section’ of our fellow travellers was definitely less represented than the ‘Zorba section’: there were tons of people at the Party and a lot less at the mediations… (I later heard that some friends did not move from the Oktoberfest in the English Garden for the full two days; they must have enjoyed the good Bavarian beer!) Mahendra told me that people had come from France, Australia, Spain, Holland, Israel and from different places in Germany, like Cologne and Freiburg….
Last minute finale was the moment we expressed our gratefulness to Mega for taking the initiative to kick off this beautiful event. He was quite moved….
In the train on my way back to Freiburg I was pondering:
Many of us at this gathering were ‘old-timers’, and I thought it was funny to see that the average age was well over 40. Very different from the parties in the Resort in Poona nowadays, where the younger generation dominates. I must say, I enjoy both!
At some point I had to think of the Ranch and I remembered that it had always been easy for me to bow down during the gachchhamis to my master and the ultimate truth. But to bow down to his commune… that was not so easy – I had my ups and downs.
At the Munich Gathering I felt that although there is no more a ‘physical commune’ there are lots of Buddhafields all over the world, where each one has its place and each one is equally representative of Osho’s vision. The different expressions and views feel beautiful and alive to me.
I love the mini-Buddhafield in Freiburg where I live since a couple of months. I enjoy the satsang or videos and potluck dinners together, with no fixed dates and where each host can add their particular flavour.
Now I bow down to the wide-spread commune of Osho in all their forms, all over the world.
Sangham sharanam gachchhami
And again thanks to ‘The Zorba’ Mega for initiating the Munich Gathering and overseeing the English Garden event. And thanks to the Buddhas Mahendra-Ananja, Saraangi, Yashen. And thanks to all of you who have come to share love and fun together.
Mahendra Mega Saarangi Yashen
Maybe see you at a similar event somewhere in the future.
Samai for Osho News
Photo credits go to Mega, Madhav Krishna and Gerd
Read here How it all came about that Mega organised the Gathering (and programme)
See the slideshow of the MedMob at the Odeonsplatz in Munich
Samai discovered Osho in a small a center in Berlin and took sannyas in Poona in 1978. There she worked in the boutique till the end of Poona 1. After a short stay in Bremen she went to the Ranch and later followed Osho back to Poona. Samai is running a successful therapy center in France where she leads groups and trainings in Primal, Inner child Work, Family Constellations as well as business coaching. A few months ago she moved back to Germany, settling in Freiburg, in a charming little town in the Black Forest.
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December 11: Flash Sangha at 1 pm worldwide
Harideva wrote on the occasion of Osho’s 80th Birthday Celebration:
I would love to invite all of Osho’s lovers and friends worldwide on December 11 at 1 pm to move into 30 minutes of a shared silence together in whichever city, town, or country they find themselves. Without words, simply sitting silently together. You will enjoy and it will also have a profound effect on those who may have not, up until that moment, experienced a taste of meditation or no-mind. It can be done in a room, a garden, a street square – anywhere!
This is a conscious experiment of what some have come to know as a ‘flash mob’. A ‘flash mob’ usually needs no particular awareness to speak of. This is different.
Come together on this day and remember that even if you have never actually seen Osho in the body, it is irrelevant. He is Here Now, and your ‘Flash Sangha’ will remind you.
Just remember not to take it too seriously. Have fun, but go inside with a joy of understanding and a small twinkle in your inner eye!
See you down the road … or at the beach!
Lovebaba Harideva
Harideva’s mention “…or at the beach” alludes to a grand party he and Niseema are organizing for December 11th, from 8 pm to 1 am. If you find yourself anywhere near Goa’s Osho Beach (Candolim), make sure to drop in! Details
Also, he and Niseema announced they will open the first international Osho Center, Bookstore and Osho Essence Vegetarian Restaurant on Osho Beach; Harideva opened the first center there 41 years ago. Read more about that here or contact Harideva and Niseema at haridevaosho at hotmail.com
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Osho at the 20th World Book Fair, Delhi
Organised by India’s National Book Trust, the event is considered to be the third biggest market for English publications and has gained popularity on a global level. The exhibition hosted more than 1,300 exhibitors and 12,000 publishers.
Thousands of books in more than 20 languages were displayed, from science and technology to social sciences, medicine and health, business, and last but not least – spirituality.
As at every fair, Osho World Foundation participated prominently in this event by displaying the complete work of Osho by showing hundreds of Osho books, launching rare videos of Osho discourses from ‘Be Still and Know’ and ‘Theologica Mystica’, as well as DVDs, ACDs, MP3CDs, Music CDs, I-Pod, Hard Disk, photo biographies and magazines. Also, they made available for the first time Osho Meditation Demo DVDs and Osho Books in foreign and regional languages – Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Urdu, Punjabi, Malayalam, Kannada and Gujarati among others.
Ma Prem Naina of Osho World said, “The fair was also a great venue for people to meet. Swami Satya Vedant and Swami Chaitanya Keerti were there every day for several hours. It’s a fantastic place for making Osho’s vision available and visible to the world. Visitors walk in and get to know about Osho. Lots of sannyasin friends have been volunteering in taking care of the customers and of those people interested in understanding Osho’s vision through his books and meditations.”
Bhagawati for Osho News
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Party Time in Canada
Deva Prem (aka Anadideva’s partner) sent us a delightful lip-dubbed video featuring French Canadian sannyasins at the season’s opening weekend of the Auberge du Lac Carrée, the meditation center run every summer by Charu (Khudai’s sister). It is located about 110 km from Montreal. The song is an old French folk song called Au chant de l’Alouette (The Song of the Lark) but the words were changed to “It’s great to meditate and to party”.
Ah yes – what a lively and joyful bunch of friends!
- Original Music and Direction: Punam and Gyandev
- Camera and Editing: Pritam
- Concept and Welcome: Charu
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One Sky Band On Tour
Milarepa, Chandira, and Teerth have started their Europe tour with a series of summer festivals in Romania, Turkey, and Osho RISK, joined by various guest musicians along the way. The upcoming Swiss weekend in Zurich (July 28-29) will be supported by Ramadhan on santoor and percussions; Atmo on trumpet; and Almasto on slide guitar.
The Swiss weekend has been a consistent annual event since more than sixteen years and also one of the most beautiful. Always in a divine venue, this year is no exception with a spacious meditation hall overlooking Lake of Zurich and The Alps beyond.
Tour schedule: www.oneskymusic.com
For Switzerland contact Premgit for details:
+41 44 701 2458
+41 79 510 8303
premgit@oshonet.ch
oshonet.ch
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India my Love Festival
An annual treat, Osho Leela in Dorset, England, organized their India festival also this year – from June 1st to June 5th 2012. More than 250 friends gathered to what was in its true sense a labor of love. Participants enjoyed being served the delicious satvik food (aka yoga diet, based on foods that lead to clarity of mind while also being beneficial to the body).
The highlight on the first day of the festival was a performance of Hindustani Classical Music by renowned vocalist from Delhi, Meeta Pandit. She was accompanied by Heiko Dijker on the tabla and Praful on the flute. Meeta sang the raga bageshri followed by bhajans. For the finale of the performance the audience joined together in full force to the tune of ‘Shri Krishna Govinda Hare Murari he naath Narayan Vasudeva’.
And on the next day, a marvelous cross cultural concert called the ‘Luminance Project’ with Meeta Pandit singing, Heiko Dijker from Amsterdam on percussion, Praful from Germany on the flute and saxaphone, Win Den Herder from Amsterdam on Guitar. The pieces played during the concert have already been released as a CD by EMI Virgin. Understandably, the audience started to dance right from the first song onwards!
The Festival also included other activities such as Kirtan, live music for Osho meditations, upbeat Temple Groove gig with Praful and friends, Mandala painting, Raga singing, Yoga, Tantra, Bollydanza, Indian Head Massage and Henna art.
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Osho New York, New York!
It’s the perfect time to come to New York to celebrate from October 5 – 7, 2012.
Sign up (and pay) before September 15th and there is a discount to be had. Let’s go!
Register here
Find directions here
Osho Padma Meditation Center
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