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SPREAD FRAGRANCE LIKE THE PERCEPTIVE FLOWER
Times of India
18th March 2006
Lavlin Thadani
We are entitled to our own space. If for some reason, we are denied it, we
have the ability to design our inner space, create our own sky, lush gardens
of fragrance with colourful birds that chirp songs dear to our heart and
take flight into realms of imagination.
But how authentic are our birds and skies if we are not in tune with
ourselves? And do we have the ability to spread the goodness of fragrance? A
flower is most perceptive for it is endowed with sensiti-vity to absorb the
most brilliant part of nature and reproduce it in its tender petals.
It has the ability to imbibe the finest of fragrance and distribute it to
the winds that carry it far and beyond. A flower has the ability to share
the sweet perfume collected patiently, drop by drop, over time.
Why can't we shed debris and burden of a cumbersome past to assimilate the
best that nature has to offer, like a stunning rose or lotus do?
By bragging about our species' superiority, we have unwittingly limited our
growth by undermining all other, much more rewarding and potent
possibilities that lie within our reach. Our deep-rooted conditioning
devises our fate.
We always have enough excuses to justify our wrongs because the 'rights' are
difficult to come by, involving too much effort and a high degree of
integrity. We look for an easy way out.
Unhealthy compromises have become the norm, be it at work or in
relationships, compromises that often camouflage our uncertainties and
inferiority complexes, making us feel like inflated superstars.
Selfishness, greed for money, name and fame lead us to a dangerous alley
that is depressing and dark. We are mostly groping, slouching individuals
who refuse to look at our own intimidating reflections having skilfully
pre-painted our larger-than-life images on mirrors in garish colours that
cannot reflect our true identity.
We hide our ugliness and lethargy behind an unworthy hope that we chase
aimlessly, running in circles to the rhythm of deafening, dying songs that
drown our inner voice.
Nature offers us grace, balance, rhythm, song, understanding, compassion,
even Bodhic enlightenment. Then why separate ourselves from the very source
of our existence? In order to gain power? Control? To use and abuse?
Why can't we be tender like flowers? Why can't humans spread frag-rance and
make this world a heaven? Get inspired by sunrise or sunset, floating
clouds, the purity of blue sky, swaying green trees and innocent smiles of
infants.
We are running and struggling against our own flow, fighting a losing
battle, feeling dissatisfied, and all in the name of so-called success. Let
us first recognise ourselves, explore treasures within.
For nature has endowed each one of us with something special, something
unique and often exceptionally beautiful. By all means, let us run the race
but, with our own, individual inner self, challenging our own potential,
honing our own skills, in tune with our own inner, peaceful self.
Then we stand a good chance of becoming flowers and genuinely creative in
all our relationships. As Osho put it: "It does not matter whether you are a
rose or a lotus or a marigold, what matters is the flowering... let your
fragrance spread all over!"
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THE SPEAKING TREE -
ONE BUBBLE TO THE OTHER: THANK YOU SO MUCH
The Times of India
21 March, 2006
Swami Chaitanya Keerti
Osho was asked why he didn't write his autobiography. Osho replied: "All
autobiographies are ego-biographies. It is not the story of the soul. As
long as you do not know what soul is, whatever you write is ego-biography".
Neither Jesus, Krishna, nor Buddha have written their autobiographies.
Writing or speaking about oneself has not been possible for those who have
known themselves, because after knowing, the person changes into something
so formless that what we call the facts of his life - facts like his date of
birth, events, all dissolve.
They cease to have meaning. The awakening of a soul is so cataclysmic that
after it occurs, when you open your eyes you find that everything is lost.
Once you know your soul, an autobiography is only a dreamlike version of
oneself, like writing an account of your dreams: Such writing has no more
value than a fantasy, a fairy tale. So it is difficult for an awakened
person to write.
On becoming awakened and aware, he finds that there is nothing worth
writing. It was all a dream. The experience of becoming aware remains, but
what is known through the experience cannot be written down.
Reducing such an experience to words makes it seem insipid and absurd. A
dying Buddha was asked: "Where will you go after death?" He said, "I have
been nowhere, so where can I go after death?"
The meaning of Buddha-hood is nowhereness. One is nowhere, so the question
of being somewhere does not arise. If you can be quiet and silent, only
breathing remains like the air inside a bubble.
When there are no thoughts there is nothing but breathing. So Buddha says, "I was only a bubble. Where was I? A bubble has burst and you are asking
where it has gone". One day Lin Chi ordered the removal of all Buddha idols.
When asked why, he said: "As long as I was thinking that I am, I believed
that Buddha was. But when I myself am not there, when I am only an air
bubble, then I know that someone like Buddha also could not have been
there".
In the evening Lin Chi was again worshipping Buddha idols. When asked why,
he said: "I was helped in my own non-being by Buddha's non-being. That is
why I have been giving thanks. It was a thanksgiving from one bubble to
another, nothing more".
Autobiography does not survive. Deeply speaking, the soul itself does not
survive. So far we understand only that the ego does not survive. For
thousands of years, we have been told that the ego does not survive when one
attains self-knowledge.
But to put it correctly, the soul itself does not survive. Buddha said, "The
soul also does not survive; we become non-soul". Mahavira talked only of the
death of the ego; that much could be understood.
It is not that Mahavira did not know that even the soul does not survive,
but he had in mind our limited understanding. Therefore, he spoke only of
giving up the ego, knowing that the soul would automatically dissolve.
The idea of the soul is a projection of the ego. But Buddha revealed the
secret which had been closely guarded for so long. That created
difficulties. If the soul does not survive either, they said, then
everything is useless.
Where are we? Buddha was right. Everything is like a dream sequence, like
the rainbow colours formed on a bubble. The colours die when the bubble
bursts.
Osho World Foundation, New Delhi
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CLAY PLAYS ON SPRING BLOSSOMS
Asian Age
21st March 2006
Spring is in the air, the sun's all smiles and flowers are abloom. It's time
to swing into the mood of the season and bring home a touch of the outdoors.
Check out a collection of ceramics which pays an ode to warm earth tones and
the gentle beauty of the champa flower.
Designed by Anupama Jalan, the collection of studio ceramics and candles
emphasise the shift of traditional design towards a contemporary one in the
section of utility pottery. Her work contains a wide range of tableware
products, ranging from dinner sets to accents such as dip platters, sauce
boats, soup cups, serving bowls and platters of various sizes, and other
smaller utility items like mugs and cups with saucers.
There is a wide range of glazes both in matte and gloss. The earthy palette
ranges from bright oranges and red to matte black, warm browns, greens, and
even some metallic tones besides the pastel blues, greens and yellows.
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SHOOT AT FLIGHT
The pioneer
21st march 2006
Team Viva
India has been attracting people from around the world for various reasons.
However for this photographer it is Osho's philosophy and vibrant birds that
made him lose his heart.
Amano Samarpan is no new name to bird photography in India. He has been
coming here since 1978 but started photographing birds only a decade ago.
The eye-catching photographs that flawlessly capture the detail of each
bird's beauty are on display at an exhibition Flight into Unknown at Osho
World Galleria, Ansal Plaza. One can spot birds like Common Hawk Cuckoo, a
pair of Laggard Falcon, Tawny Eagle, the Kingfisher and Sun bird.
Says Amano "I worked on this series for two months during which I visited
Assam, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar looking for these birds."
Amano does not make a living through photography and pursues it because it
is his passion. He says, "I feel photographs are best means to conserve
precious things."
On his choice for birding he says, "It is a real challenge to capture birds
because one cannot make them pose. You need to be patient for hours and
sometimes even days to capture a bird. But despite this I love to shoot them
because they are colourful and more diverse than any other living being."
Narrating an incident when he was trying to spot a Cuckoo Amano says, "It is
very difficult to spot this bird. You can only hear its familiar voice
before the rains. I was in a jungle in Guwahati with my friends and it was
about to rain when we heard this bird. We searched but could not spot the
bird. After much waiting we spotted it sitting on a tree. I quietly fetched
my camera and zoomed it to capture this tiny bird."
Amano who was earlier known as Mark Tracy considers himself an ardent
disciple of Osho. "It was spiritual heritage of India that attracted me to
this country," he confesses.
Amano has also written a coffee table book on birds of India. The book is an
excellent photographic guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent.
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On
the occasion of 70th Birthday of Our Beloved Master Dept. of Posts.
Govt. of India launched a Special Day Cover at a special function
in the capital. 
