Allah to Zen

By Swami Chaitanya Keerti

Who is Osho? Osho has himself explained that the word 'Osho' is derived from William James' expression 'oceanic experience' which means dissolving into the ocean. "Oceanic describes the experience," says Osho, "but what about the expression? For that we use the word 'Osho'."
Subhuti was one of the rare disciples of Gautama the Buddha. One day he asked Buddha, "Will there be people after some centuries who will understand the teachings?"

Gautama the Buddha replied, "Subhuti, don't talk like this. After 2500 years there will again be a Sangha (commune of seekers). This earth will always have presence of awakened souls or earth will cease to exist".

Once again, after 25 centuries, a unique Sangha of seekers, came into existence in the presence of the enlightened master Osho. In this book, some of them have shared their understanding about Osho and his vision and we are grateful to them. Osho is oceanic. So many such books have been written and we are sure that thousands of books will be written in near future, as what Osho has given to the world, is totally inexhaustible. Allah to Zen is not more than a tiny drop.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Aug 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9788128822247

Book preview

The Real Man of the Millennium

From Allah to Zen and everything in between! The man had such an unprecedented understanding of almost everything under the sun. One wonders what to call him - savant, seer, sage? No labels can be attached to him. He remains as elusive to pin down as a wave on the sand. Like that wave he is enduring, every time you think it has ebbed its surges back to the shore with renewed vigour and strength, awash with the secrets of a different space and time.

Osho. The name is so apt. Derived from William James’ expression ‘oceanic experience’, it means dissolving into the ocean, becoming one with the waves. Oceanic describes the experience, says Osho, but what about the experiencer? For that we use the word ‘Osho’. Life was something he wanted to experience for himself and this he did fearlessly and intensely. His reality was his own, never based on the knowledge of others, and even as a child he was fiercely independent in his thinking. Known over the years as Acharya and then Bhagwan Rajneesh, it is the name Osho that is nearest to the essence of him.

Osho’s is an oft told story but each time you hear it a new dimension is revealed. Another layer is peeled from a tale that is still quite unbelievable to stubborn sceptics, and who find it safer to believe he was a charlatan.

Osho was born in Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh, India on December 11, 1931 to parents whom he says he chose for their love, their intimacy, their ‘almost one-ness’. His childhood was one of tremendous love, freedom and respect, an ideal atmosphere for an intuitive and adventurous child.

The death of his maternal grandfather, when Osho was seven years old, had a profound effect on him. Cradling his beloved grandfather’s head in his lap, as they bounced along in a bullock cart to reach the nearest doctor, he watched the older man slip away. I learned much in that moment of his silence…, Osho says, I started on a new search, a new pilgrimage. It was the start of an incredible inner journey.

Enlightenment came on March 21, 1953, at the age of 21. For many lives I had been working on myself, struggling, doing whatsoever can be done — and nothing was happening. The very effort was a barrier…. Not that one can reach without seeking. Seeking is needed, but then comes a point when seeking has to be dropped… And that day the search stopped…it started happening. A new energy arose… It was coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was in the trees and in the rocks and the sky and the sun and the air - and I was thinking it was very far away. And it was so near…

Graduating from the University of Sagar, with first class honours in philosophy, Osho went on to teach philosophy at the University of Jabalpur for nine years. An accomplished speaker even then, he read everything he could find, gaining not only erudition but also the ability to find simple solutions to the ills that plagued the country. It was a time of flux, the aftermath of years of British rule. Religion ruled a country that was made up of a thousand different sects and he revelled in challenging religious leaders in public debate, His way was different. Disdaining conventional vehicles of worship, he introduced a life lived in totality, in love, and in a deep, fragrant meditativeness to his slowly growing number of followers. My message is not a doctrine, not a philosophy. My message is a certain alchemy, a science of transformation. He wanted to create the ‘New Man’.

Meditation was the cornerstone of Osho’s way of life. Modern man, he. said, was so burdened with the outmoded traditions of the past and the anxieties of modern-day living that he needed to experience a deep cleansing process before he could hope to discover the thought-less, relaxed state of meditation. Osho developed his unique Dynamic Meditation technique and introduced his followers to it at camps across the country. The way is in, he said, as he helped people seek new levels of consciousness, and more and more people were drawn to him and his vision.

By 1974 a commune was established around him in Pune, India, and it soon attracted a multitude of visitors from the West, in time becoming the largest spiritual growth centre in the world. Later Osho was invited to America where thousands of his disciples transformed a barren piece of land in Oregon into a flourishing community. But antagonism from locals forced him to leave America after four years and he embarked on a World Tour. Called the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ, by Tom Robbins, one of America’s greatest living novelists, it is not surprising that Osho provoked a campaign of worldwide persecution. Refused entry into several countries, Osho responded with characteristic humour and uncompromising honesty, publicly challenging his persecutors. He continued to speak to his disciples and continued to expose the hypocrisy of the establishment. Nothing could stop him.

Osho returned to Pune, India, and a new commune grew around him. He began to give talks twice a day till failing health forced him to gradually withdraw from public activities. Whenever his health permitted, he would appear in the evening to sit with his disciples and friends in a meditation of music and silence, after which he would retire to his room while the assembly watched one of his video discourses.

When Osho left his body on January 19, 1990 the world was agog. What would happen to his commune and his followers without the physical presence of the charismatic Master? The answer had been given by Osho himself, just a few weeks earlier. My trust in existence is absolute. If there is any truth in what I am saying, it will survive… The people who remain interested in my work will be simply carrying the torch, but not imposing anything on anyone…I will remain a source of inspiration to my people… I want them to grow on their own — qualities like love, around which no church can be created; like awareness, which is nobody’s monopoly: like celebration, rejoicing, and remaining fresh with childlike eyes…I want my people to know themselves, not to be according to someone else. And the way is in.

Things haven’t really changed. His epitaph reads Never Born, Never Died, Only visited this Planet Earth between Dec 11, 1931 - Jan 19, 1990. And, for more than 10,000 people who travel to the Osho Commune International every year, their Master is still with them. The ‘Buddhafield’ at the commune is as strong as ever, the energy as vibrant, and his teachings as relevant.

Over 35 eventful years Osho gave thousands of discourses on multitudinous and diverse topics. These have been published in more than 650 volumes, including translations into over thirty languages. A large number of people who know Osho only through his books have been introduced to a whole new world, a new way of life that is so inspiring in its simplicity and originality. The man had an amazing way with words, and could translate profound insights into the simplest language. Provocative and challenging, anecdotal and humorous, his discourses are always a true revelation.

He has spoken on Allah and Zen, on Tao, Tibetan Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, ancient Greek philosophy. After 650 volumes one would imagine there’s not much left unsaid, but Osho himself, like his name, remains fathomless. There’s always something more to be said about him by the vast number of people whose lives he has touched. I am like a river, which goes on flowing, inviting every other river to join, he said once. Life knows no full stops, no semicolons: it simply goes on and on, and it will continue to add spices of which we are not even aware. And it is good. It means that I am giving you something living, which will go on growing - even beyond us it will have its own growth.

– Ashvina Vakil

Former Editor, Society Magazine

* * *

Sufis say repetition of the name of God — repetition of the name of Allah — is in itself the bliss. They go on repeating and they enjoy. This becomes their whole life, just the repetition of the name.

Nanak says, naam smaran — remembering the name is enough. You are eating, you are going to sleep, you are taking your bath, and continuously your heart is filled with the remembrance. Just go on repeating Ram or Allah or whatsoever, but not as a word, as a devotion, as a love. Your whole being feels filled, vibrates with it, it becomes your deeper breath. You cannot live without it. And by and by it creates an inner harmony, a music. Your whole being starts falling into harmony. An ecstasy is born, a humming sensation, a sweetness surrounds you. By and by this sweetness becomes your nature. Then whatsoever you say, it becomes the name of Allah; whatsoever you say, it becomes the remembrance of the divine.

Osho: Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega,

Vol., Chapter #7

Only a few will realise

An interview with

His Holiness Lama Karmapa

In 1972, Swami Govind Siddharth, accompanied by his wife and two young daughters, visited the Monastery of the Tibetan Lama, His Holiness Lama Karmapa in Darjeeling. To his disappointment he found that the monastery was closed. About to leave, he is suddenly approached by a lama who informs that he was immediately wanted inside by His Holiness. He went in and was greeted by Karmapa as if he was expected there. For sure His Holiness didn’t know anything about the visitor beforehand, except for the information that he was in sannyasin clothes. His Holiness is said to be a ‘Divine Incarnation’. In Tibet, they believe that whosoever attains to buddhahood, to enlightenment, and wishes to be born again to help the people of the world to grow, they are incarnated and are called bodhisatvas. His Holiness is said to be the sixteenth incarnation of Dsum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa, who was born around 1110 AD. He is a descendant of the chain of masters traced back to Marpa, one of Tibet’s great yogis.

When Swami Siddharth entered, the Karmapa told him he knew where he was coming from. He said, I am seeing that you have a photograph of your master which is printed on two sides,. Swami Siddharth answered that he had nothing like that. He had completely forgotten about the locket hanging from his mala that held Osho’s photograph on both sides! There was an English woman who was acting as an interpreter since the Lama Karmapa did not know English. She immediately saw his mala and said, What is this? He then remembered that the locket was printed on two sides and said, This is the photograph of my master. She was curious to see it, so Siddharth took it off and showed it to her. Immediately, His Holiness said, That is it.

He took the locket of Osho in his hand and touched it to his forehead and said, He is the greatest incarnation in India since Buddha- he is a living Buddha! His Holiness went on to say, You may feel that he speaks for you, but no, Osho speaks for the Akashic records also, the records of events and words recorded on the astral planes. Whatever is spoken is not forgotten. That is why you will find that he goes on repeating things and you will feel that he is doing this for you, but as a matter of fact, he speaks only for a few people. Only a few people realize who Osho is. His words will remain there in Akashic records, so that they will also be helpful to people of the future.

His Holiness went on to say that Osho was with them in past lives. If you want to see one of Osho’s previous incarnations - who he was in Tibet - you can go to Tibet and see his golden statue there which is preserved in the Hall of Incarnations.’’ Speaking of Osho’s work he said, My blessings are always there, and I know that whatever we are not able to do to help others, Osho will do."

The main aim of the lamas in coming to India was to preserve their occult sciences. Osho confirmed this in his Kashmir lectures given in 1969. The Dalai Lama had not escaped just to save himself, but to save the Tibetan religion, the meditation secrets and the occult sciences. We received these from India in the past, and now we have brought them back. We know that here is an incarnation, Osho, who is doing our job in India and we are very happy about it. The whole world will know him, but only a few will realize what he actually is. He will be the only person who can guide properly, who can be a world teacher of this age, and has taken birth only for this purpose.

– Ma Prem Jeevan

* * *

The oldest Jewish word for God is Elohim. It comes from the same root as the mohammedan word for God, ‘Allah’. It comes from the root el. El means power. Elohim means the one who is powerful. Allah also means the one who is powerful. Allah is the totality of the whole universe — all yin, all yang meeting, all feminine, all male energy meeting, life, and death meeting. That is the total energy of Allah, Elohim, God.

Osho: God Is Not For Sale, Chapter #21

Meeting with the Master

I arrive in Bombay on the morning of 4th September, 1971. I have five rupees in my pocket. Taxi is too expensive so I take a bus and go to Jeevan Jagruti Kendra to find out Osho’s residential address. The office boy, Balkrishna, directs me to ‘A-1, Woodland Apartments, Peddar Road’ and tells me how to get there. At the entrance of the apartment there is a notice board saying that the Meeting Time with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was 9.30am to 11.00am and 2.30 to 4.00pm. I am too late for the morning meeting, so I wait around and return at 2.30 p.m. for my first meeting with the Master. I enter the apartment and introduce myself to his secretary, Ma Yoga Laxmi, who is sitting at the reception desk. There are a few cheerful sannyasins sitting nearby, laughing and having fun.

I ask Laxmi if she could arrange for me to meet Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Have you heard his discourses? she asks.

I have been reading his books. I reply.

Then it would be better if you first attended his discourses in the Patkar Hall, before coming for Darshan.

No, I replied, I have read his books and feel ready to see him right away. There is no need for me to wait.

No, she retorts, You can’t see him right away.

But I am determined to see him there and then, so I just sit there and wait. Who is she to prevent me from seeing him? I tell myself, When he comes out of his room I will catch him.

I wait until 4 o’ clock. The afternoon meeting is over. Then suddenly I get an idea.

Please give me a note-pad, I request Laxmi. I wish to send him a note.

Laxmi gives me a note-pad and I write to him in Hindi.

Bhagwan Shree, I have come this far without trouble. And now when I am sitting here and you there - a few yards away, what are these walls between us? What is this distance? Why I have come, I can’t express — I won’t be able to express. I have come - this is my expression. (I am unable to remember the exact words)

Laxmi takes the message in without reading it, and very quickly returns saying, He is calling you. Go into that room.

Now? A full stop to all the struggle? I was so used to the struggling mind which kept saying, No.

The mind doesn’t know how to react to a ‘Yes’ that comes like a lightning. The mind simply stops. To me, it seemed the right thing for the mind to stop before one goes in to see the Master.

In this state — somewhere between the mind and no-mind - I take few steps towards the room where the Master sits. Laxmi does not accompany me. Very softly I open the door.

I SEE HIM!!

He sits there in a revolving chair. There is a glass wall behind him, the sun is shining and so is He. The chair in which he sits is simple and small, but he is all over the room. The empty room is filled and vibrating with His glowing presence.