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• MEET SATYARAJ, THE PHILOSOPHER 

• THE WAY OF THE ZEN: JUST BEING

• MAIN HOON NA

• ONE NEEDS TO BE AT HOME WITH ONESELF
  

News Today                                                                                 Back to top
Chennai, July 3

MEET SATYARAJ, THE PHILOSOPHER
RADHIKA G  

What do Periyar and Osho have in common? While the former was a rationalist who worked among people to convince them to reject every religion, the latter, a godman preached freedom from every man-made shackle including religion. 

Ask actor Satyaraj and he will tell you that 'both were revolutionaries in their own way'. We know the actor in Satyaraj. But he now sounded philosophical. Satyaraj, with apparent rationalist leanings argues that the two 'wanted to break the 'chains' in the mind which links their thought process'. 

This was the view of Socrates, Buddha , Jesus and Krishna too, he asserts. The actor, who is known for his on-screen and off-screen wit, seems to be an avid reader of Osho. On his introduction to Osho's teachings, the actor said he had become 'hooked' to his teaching ever since he chanced upon a translated version of a book of the 'free-thinking' philosopher in Tamil sent to him by 'someone'. 

'I am a BSc graduate. But when it comes to reading English, I struggle. The Tamil translation came as a blessing', he admitted. 

'I started to read Osho about seven years back only because I wanted to do something wrong. I was curious to know what the godman had said as Osho's reputation as a sex godman intrigued me', the actor admitted candidly amidst laughter at a book release function at Landmark yesterday. 

The event was held to launch the Tamil translation of Osho's 'Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic' called 'Buddarin Vaira Suthiram'. 

Setting the mood jovial, Satyaraj went on to say: 'Well I was reading and reading every page with the intent of reaching 'those' pages but was still not at it thus frustrating me. After going through about 50 pages I actually forgot about sex and became interested in the book'. 

The rounds of humour were laced with traces of seriousness. 'We need constant awareness about unawareness.' said the actor who did not miss the occasion to take a dig at societal admiration for actors in Tamilnadu and their belief about self. 
According to the actor, Osho has written about 'the character of god' rather than giving a shape and appearance to God. 'I believe there is a character of God, unlike what is projected in every religion'. 

‘God is man made', he argues and hence 'should not be taken seriously', he adds claiming that Osho was a much misunderstood man. 

The Tamil translation was published by Kannadhasan Pathippagam which along with Osho Premveena Meditation Centre, Coimbatore, organised the programme. 


Hindustan Times,                                                                             Back to top
New Delhi, July 7 

THE WAY OF THE ZEN: JUST BEING 
Swami Chaitanya Keerti  

Marjorie Hansen, the author of The Confident Woman uses a very interesting phrase for people in her book. She calls them “Human Doings” rather than “Human Beings”.

The enlightened mystics of the East have also talked about these two categories. Doing is our karma, and being is our consciousness. From the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we hit the bed at night, we remain engaged in all kinds of doings. And when we sleep, our minds remain engaged in dreaming.

Unfortunately, this divine gift of life does not get enough attention and nourishment from us.It is a rule of life that anything that gets attention from us becomes nourished. Lack of attention causes starvation.Pay attention to negativity and the negativity increases.Yes, it is important to work in life.

But there has to be a limit. We should leave aside all our doings and find some time to feel our being. In Zen they call it: sitting silently. There are certain things in life that we don't achieve with our doings, they happen by themselves. And that's why they are gift.

Osho says: “Existence exists in order to exist. Our mind may not comprehend this because this belongs to the transcendental dimension.”


Pioneer                                                                                       Back to top 
New Delhi, 12 July

MAIN HOON NA
Swami Chaitanya Keerti  

Relationships are always a big issue in life - the only one. We spend life thinking and worrying how to relate with others, how deeply or superficially we should involve ourselves with them. We often get into all kinds of entanglements. And each relationship promises pleasure in the beginning then turns sour. Some create insecurity, others make us dependent.

Some relationships appear so beautiful we don't want to lose them and become possessive. Then comes bondage leading to suffering and misery. Relationships create extreme reactions in our being - either we become possessive or start escaping. And these extreme situations are not healthy and harmonious. They have nothing much to do with love - they are weaknesses, dependence on others. They keep our mind, heart and emotions in turmoil. They are not nourishing.

Love is real nourishment but it has nothing much to do with the way we relate with people.

Love is a pure joy but these relationships suck our life and leave us in anguish. What is the way then? How to go beyond bondage and misery?

Osho guides us: My vision of a real humanity is of pure individuals relating to each other but not tied in any relationship. They will be loving to each other but not being possessive. They will be sharing with all their joys and blessings, but never even in their dreams thinking of dominating, thinking of enslaving the other.

My vision of real humanity is of a world consisting not of families, nations or races, but individuals.

He says: "Going beyond needs, demands, desires, love becomes a soft sharing, great understanding. When you understand yourself, that day you have understood whole of humanity. Then nobody can make you miserable..."


The Hindustan Times                                                                  Back to top 
New Delhi, 24 July

ONE NEEDS TO BE AT HOME WITH ONESELF
Swami Chaitanya Keerti  

J. Krishnamurti, the enlightened mystic, once said: "We gossip about others because we are not sufficiently interested in the process of our own thinking and our own action."

The average human being does not live more than 60-70 years, and what does he do during these years? Most of the time he spends gossiping, thinking and worrying about things that really don't concern him directly, and he is left with little time to do something for his own life.

Life is really very precious and if we realise this, we will have no time for petty things. Instead we will utilise our time in raising our own consciousness. 

The Russian mystic Gurdjieff used to say: "We live in such a sleepy state of consciousness that if we really count the minutes we spend when we are really aware, fully conscious, it will be not more than five minutes in all the 60 years. Out of this, the 20 years are spent in sleeping. While the rest of the 40 years are spent day-dreaming, fulfilling our ambitions and desires, and chasing mirages. And in the end we find really nothing in our hands.

In order to make his point, Gurdjieff gives an example. He says that we cannot concentrate for 60 seconds on the movement of seconds by our wrist watch – our mind will wander away quickly. It may take three months to accomplish this much concentration. This is the state of our consciousness - always in turmoil. And having such disturbed state of mind, we cannot truly celebrate our life. We are not really home, we are not there in our mind where we are physically. Mind is all ripples and our Being is not visible in totality in these ripples.
Meditation takes us beyond these ripples, and there we are at home.