WITH NATURE, YOU HAVE TO BE REAL
Swami Chaitanya Keerti
17th May 2005


The Hindustan Times

The modern mystic, J. Krishnamurti, wrote a poem, which reads like a sutra from some Upanishad.

“I have no name. I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains. I have no shelter, I am as the wandering waters. I have no sanctuary, like the dark Gods, nor am I in the shadow of deep temples. I have no sacred books, nor am I well seasoned in tradition. I am neither in the graven image, nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice. I am not bound by theories, nor corrupted by beliefs. I am not held by the bondage of religions, nor in the pious agony of their priests. I am not entrapped by philosophies, nor held in the power of their sects. I am neither low nor high. I am the worshipper and the worshipped. I am free. My song is the song of the river, calling for the open seas. Wandering, I am life. I have no name, I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains”.

This is the ultimate expression of a self-realized person, who has no identification with any worldly image. We live a life of imprisonment created by ourselves, society and religion. We identify so much with this image that we spend our lives fighting to protect it. All our sufferings are born out of our being unnatural. We will have to drop all our identifications to become real.

Osho says, “People who live with nature are real because with nature you have to be real, otherwise nature won't yield to you. With nature you have to be alive, otherwise you will not be able to cope with it. The more surrounded you are with unnatural things, the more unnatural you become. If you just live surrounded by mechanisms, you will become a mechanism yourself.”

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DIVINE UNION: THE ORIGIN OF TANTRIC DEVOTION
By Radha C Luglio
May 19 2005


The Times of India                              

The origins of Tantra can be found in a romantic myth concerning Lord Shiva. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are three aspects of one universal energy. Seen as abstract forces, Brahma symbolizes the force of expanding creativity, mirroring recent scientific discoveries about the expanding nature of the universe. Vishnu is the maintaining force of all that is created, all that surrounds us in manifest form. Shiva is the destroying force that brings creativity to an end, making way for a new universal cycle.

As joint managers of a heavenly enterprise who don’t always get along, the members of the trinity are like principal characters in a cosmic soap opera that involves dozens of gods and goddesses, all quarreling among themselves, and falling in and out of love. One day, Vishnu and Brahma took their disagreement to Shiva’s house to ask him to mediate in their dispute. The guard was asleep and the doors were wide open, so they went in. They found Shiva and his consort Parvati in a private moment.

So deeply engrossed was Shiva in his partner that he did not notice the visitors. They waited for hours, growing more and more angry. Finally, they cursed Shiva for his impoliteness. “From now on, you will be remembered on earth in the form of a union between the male and the female sexual organs.” Hence the creation of the Shivlinga, worshipped universally as a symbol of Shiva.

From these mythical origins, Hindu Tantra developed as a form of devotion. Through divine union, devotees believed they could assume qualities of godliness in their own lives. It was the product of a society that was not sexually repressive, where even mystics and seers had wives and lovers, and in which a sexual scientist like Vatsayayana could write the Kama Sutra.

Only a small percentage of tantric ritual was concerned with sex. The major part involved the chanting of mantras, the creation of mandalas and the worshipping of various deities.

KHEL KHEL MEIN MAST
Shana Maria Verghis.

The Pioneer
28th May 2005

Think it was Ninjinsky the legendary ballet dancer who said something on the lines of "when in doubt, spin." At the Oshodham campus, (about 45 minutes from Delhi, near Gurgaon) on a sultry Friday morning, the go-word was 'dance.' We could do it two ways. With kids (aged anywhere between 4-15 years) who were attending the five-day Neo Education meditative Camp for company. Or parents - and it turned out, grandparents - in a separate section. We preferred the kids.

"It's about expressing individual freedom," said Swami Chaitanaya Keerti, who often leads meditation workshops for Oshoites.

Such camps are not new, but we wondered, how do you style them for children? As it turned out, 'active' meditation techniques are tailormade for children, because their ideas are still half-ghosts and there isn't much talking happening in their heads to bother about. As for all that energy, where do you put it? Around and about. You'll get our drift. But later.

The day began with meditation, breakfast and by 9.30am we were (55 kids and ourselves) seated on cushions at Buddha Hall at Oshodham. It was an open auditorium.

Air controlled by water sprinklers and coolers.

Green everywhere. Pigeons perched on the eaves above to watch the Heart Dance unfold.

But not before we listened to a recorded discourse by Osho on thoughtful behaviour

Fifty-five pairs of feet including a couple of stragglers settled on cushions to listen.

A chhota sardar shut his eyes tight and looked grave. Others squirmed, stared or switched off. One chuttu sprawled back, thoughts elsewhere. Three fellow meditators thought he was onto something cool and followed suit. Ma Dev Dakshina invited her listeners to share what they learnt from the talk. "You've got to think carefully before you get angry," said one.

"Give time for anger," said another. Dakshina padded it with, "say good things quick. Take time over the bad."

Master Sprawler yawned. What was he doing there anywhere? Meditation is for the 7-15 year age group, but some families came with more kids in tow. Couldn't leave minors unoccupied. Besides what followed next was so beautiful, who wouldn't want to be a part? Boys and girls formed two rows. One big sister in a trackpant attentively dragged her tiny brother by the scruff of his collar towards the formation happening in the middle of the floor.

Two circles were created and there were awkwardly shy moments as genders got used to looking each other in the eye before partnering for the Heart Dance.

This happened in two phases. First you swivelled your head in different directions as music played, and lightly touched hands with a partner. Then partners changed. All the time you 'looked into the soul next to you.' Milarepa is a regular performer at Osho commune. They played his music. We got involved.

Don't know if this ever happened to you. Singing the words, "May I take peaceful steps upon the Earth. I bow to you, a flower," we did a kind of side-waltz and made a low curtsy before our pint-sized partners. They did likewise. When you keep changing partners, you encounter their natures on the way. The-take-charge-and steer-arms-their-direction-though-you-are-hundred-pounds-lighter-one. The-curly-haired-tot, who indicated that we bow to her, as if it was her birthright.

Experiential meditation invites children to play. Our group also did 'whirling' to Arabic music, like a group of dervishes in denims and shorts. Then everyone spreadeagled on the floor like the debris after a battle.

Laughter and sessions of gibberish are part of the camp. Dakshina explained, "the discourse probably goes out their ears, but it could help in the long run." Nature walks with tree hugging and sharing is also included.

"These techniques reduce children's actions to slow movements", explained Ma Nidhi, who did her PhD on Osho's educational philosophy. She shared, "education should work on the inner dimension. Children can talk a lot, but they should also be encouraged to keep quiet."

The campers are given homework on the lines of, "go home, hug and kiss your parents. Tell them how thankful you are." Many reported trouble with this, so parents are being encouraged to be more open.

Single-mom Ma Tarannum brought daughter Simran for her first camp. Tarannum told us, "there's a lot of tension in education now with its emphasis on competition. My child is an average student. I don't overpressurise her. She has freedom to have fun. She is good at drawing. That's enough." And watching the small bodies on the marble floor she exclaimed, "you know, the best part about kids is that unlike us, they aren't full of thoughts."

Santosh Anand Bharti shared that his 11-year-old grandson Saurabh put more 'lagaan' in to his clay-modelling after his last camp. Bharti recommended meditation exercises for children because he feels it gives them direction. Like Ma Tarannum, Rajni and Shailendra Garg aren't phased about competition for their two children, aged 8 and 11. Shailendra says sagely, "Kuch nahi karna, jo banaya, sweekar karo. God knows us, he sent us here. And what do you get at the end by trying to stay ahead all the time anyway? BP, depression, heart attacks."

Had to admit, he had a point.

TENDULKAR PLAYS ON OSHO’S PHILOSOPHY
- By Nawaid Anjum

The Asian Age
28th May 2005

The Osho World Foundation recently staged Vijay Tendulkar’s Panchi Aise Aate Hain at the Sri Ram Centre.

Directed by Sanjeev Johri, the play derived its inspiration from Osho’s view to "live in the world and yet take it as a play". It acts as the guiding philosophy behind the life of the protagonist, Arun (Iqrar Khan), who abhors all sorts of social bondage. He thinks that he can prevent himself from being caught in the web of relationships, which he holds are the trappings of the world.

Arun believes he is born free and would die with the same sense of freedom. Leading his rootless existence, he comes across a family whose aim is to marry their unattractive daughter. Arun grooms the girl and motivates her to find beauty in life’s simple joys and pulls her from the quagmire of self-hatred and disillusionment.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Ma Prem Naina of the Osho World Foundation said, "The play is the first event in the series of activities that would be organised under the banner of Leela Arts." The Foundation, Ma Naina informed, recently established Leela Arts Academy to promote arts, theatre and dance.

Talking about the play, Sanjeev Johri said, "Apart from Osho’s thoughts and philosophy, which forms the basis of the theme, the plot, characters and the relationship between them, added to the charm of directing the play. The play has been directed earlier by various directors but the distinct aspect of my direction has been to bring out the characters’ relationships with greater clarity."

Sanjeev opines that Vijay Tendulkar’s plays have a vast scope of experimentation. So much so that different directors are able to highlight different aspects of the same play. A consultant physiotherapist by profession, Sanjeev is working on Vijay Tendulkar’s Jaat Hi Poocho Sadhu Ki and Badal Sircar’s Solution X. "I like the works of Tagore, Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani," he says.

TIME FOR DREAMS TO GET WINGS
Diwan Singh Bajeli

The Hindu
27th May 2005

Sanjeev Johri's "Panchhi Aise Aate Hain" presents an interplay of farcical and lyrical elements.

MOST OF the plays by Vijay Tendulkar have been staged in Hindi in the Capital. Translated from the original in Marathi into Hindi, these plays were produced not only by the students of the National School of Drama and its repertory company but also by the leading theatre groups like Abhiyan. His plays are remarkable for powerful theatre language, innovative form and serious social concerns being confronted by contemporary Indian society. "Ghasiram Kotwal" (1973) brought the power of Indian theatre and drama to the attention of the world. "Shantala! Court Chalu Ahe" (1968) has been translated into several Indian languages.

Tendulkar again

This past week we got the opportunity to watch once again Tendulkar's "Panchhi Aise Aate Hain" in Sarojini Verma's Hindi translation at the Shri Ram Centre's auditorium. Presented by Osho World Foundation under the banner of Leela Arts, the production offered hilarious moments interspersed with moments of melancholic sadness.

A theatrical tribute to Osho, who believed the world was a stage and people actors. No wonder, Shakespeare's plays occupied an important place in the repertoire of the Osho Ashram Theatre Group in the 1980s. Sanjeev Johri, a disciple of Osho has directed "Panchhi... ".

His latest work is sleek and the most noteworthy aspect of the production is his skilful treatment of the farcical and the lyrical aspects, inherent in the play.

Though the critics of Tendulkar say that he borrowed thematic elements from Pirandello's "Pleasure of Honesty", Durrenmatt's "Dangerous Game" and "Rainmaker" by Nash while writing "Panchhi... " but the milieu and the ethos are typically that of a small town Marathi family worried about the marriage of their only daughter who has been `rejected' by one after another would-be bridegrooms. The sensibilities of these characters have Indian flavour. The play projects the humiliation and agony of a young daughter living in a tradition-bound society. We are touched by her plight. The play is aptly cast throughout. Sanjeev Johri as Arun brings out various shades of a sympathetic stranger His Arun is clever, talkative, has the power to convince others but escapes responsibility. He establishes a lively rapport with the audience. Rekha Malhotra Johri as Saru impresses the audience with her portrayal of an insulted character.

Her transformation from an ugly shabbily dressed young girl into an intelligent and charming one is convincing. Danish Husain as Anna, the worried father and Sadhna Bhatnagar as mother give a good account of themselves.