In Focus

• The Expansion of Osho's work is up to every single sannyasin by Ma Anand Bhagawati
• Freedom is Divine by Lakshen Sucameli
• The gift to humanity by Swami Chaitanya Keerti
• Robbing Humanity of its rights by Ma Prem Naina
• Enlightenment by Swami Prem Sarito
• From tent city to modern village by Swami Deva Tarit

Whatever words Osho has spoken on any subject, they intermingle, contradict, provoke, explain and yet there’s always the one persistent message, freedom and truth.

“Each individual is a freedom, an unknown freedom. It is impossible to predict, impossible to expect. One has to live in awareness and in understanding.

You come to me seeking knowledge; you want set formulas so that you can cling to them. I don't give you any. In fact, if you have any I take them away. By and by, I destroy your certainty; by and by, I make you more and more hesitant; by and by, I make you more and more insecure. That is the only thing that has to be done. That's the only thing a master needs to do! -- to leave you in total freedom. In total freedom, with all the possibilities opening, nothing fixed... you will have to be aware. Nothing else is possible.

This is what I call understanding. If you understand, insecurity is an intrinsic part of life -- and good that it is so, because it makes life a freedom, it makes life a continuous surprise. One never knows what is going to happen. It keeps you continuously in wonder. Don't call it uncertainty -- call it wonder. Don't call it insecurity -- call it freedom.”
OSHO
A Sudden Clash of Thunder, Chapter 6

So as we all are His successors, an intrinsic part of our freedom is to take care of Osho’s work, the books, the meditations he devised, making them accessible to every being on this planet, to share. However, with this freedom comes the responsibility not to manipulate anything that He said, and not to makes changes for appearance’s sake.

A sannyasin asked Osho about institutions or friends who take care of the publication and distribution of His words: “Do they still have a function, and how can they function?”

Osho said, “They still have a function -- and they will continue to function -- but their function is not dictatorial. Their function is to serve the whole world of sannyasins and the people who love me. So their function is not to govern you, their function is to serve you.”
OSHO
Light on the Path, Chapter 28

This mention is enormously important because in the last few years more and more control has been wielded with regard to Osho’s work, in particular by those who nowadays represent what is left of the original Inner Circle.

It appears to me that the symbol ‘©’ equals control equals fear!

An important step towards responsible freedom and against monopolizing Oshos’s work was winning the Trademark case in the USA, litigation against OIF Zurich brought about by a small group of concerned sannyasins.  You can find all the details on the website of http://www.oshofriendsinternational.com/

Osho did not endorse a centralized authority to dictate and control how sannyasins and their meditation centers should be like. Every sannyasin has the freedom to share Osho’s work and their experiences in their own way. We know He was not concerned about being misrepresented:

“I am not doing any serious work. I am not doing work at all; it is my joy to share with you. Now what you do with it is your problem, not mine.

You cannot disappoint me. You can betray me; there are people who have done that. You can do any kind of harm imaginable -- and people have done that. You can go against me, you can tell lies about me; still I will not be disenchanted, because in the first place I have never expected anything from you.”
OSHO
Beyond Psychology, Chapter 29

However, if a sannyasin loves Osho why would he/she want to misrepresent Him? His message is there for everybody to see and listen to. Why anybody would change words in His books when the authentic audio and/or video will show what He really said? This can only be done by somebody who comes from his/her mind and has not understood a single thing Osho ever said. Such as:

“My old books are immensely important. Unless you understand them, you will not be able to understand me. But remember, it is a constant flow and change, so don't be bothered with inconsistencies, contradictions.

If you go on, soon you will be able to find the truth. And once the truth is revealed, all contradictions and inconsistencies dissolve. Then you can see, crystal-clear, that it is a single message from the roots to the flower. It is a single organism.”
OSHO
From the False to the Truth, Chapter 11

Osho’s original archives are available in various locations. There are enough rebels among our caravanserai who have a keen awareness of the importance of Osho’s work and words. Rather than having a control group nobody wants and which anyway cannot even oversee all occurrences where Osho’s words are being used, it is up to us, His sannyasins and lovers that we keep an eye on any misrepresentations we come across and to make available Osho’s work as widely as possible. Remember, the sky is NOT the limit!

As Osho said, “Truth need not propagate itself, it need not advertise. It spreads like a wild fire, it reaches all the nooks and comers of the earth without any effort.”
OSHO
Don’t Let Yourself be Upset by the Sutra, Rather Upset the Sutra Yourself, Chapter 48

All we need to do is to allow and support this to happen.

Ma Anand Bhagawati

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I don’t know how many people are reading this journal on line, but I am happy to contribute to the topics that every month is offered and this month we have a very delicate one about copyrights and trademarks on Osho.

I will not choose any of His lines about these issues because they have been already quoted in many contests, but I would like to discuss the possible new scenario happening all over the world, and in Pune as well, after the decision taken by the US Court that canceled the attempt of Osho International Foundation to control Osho’s work !

In fact, after that result in US, it’s very possible that similar ones will be taken up in every country where OIF has put its marks during the last 10 years.
If this happens, any Osho center and any single individual who like to spread His vision and work will feel more free and strong to do it.

OIF has motivated its will to put copyrights and trademark on Osho’s meditation techniques and words on the basis that, if they are free, someone can interpret and use on his-her own accord.

This motivation could be based on understandable reasons if the people in charge to decide who’s who to interpret and use will not be themselves those who have done exactly the same for the past ten years!

I personally feel that Osho´s words and techniques are strong enough to sustain any kind of manipulation for many years to come but in any case, who are these guys pretending to give ‘guidelines’ to others about what can be and what cannot be done?

There was a time when we all trusted the people Osho left in charge but that time has gone long ago for the simple reason that these people didn’t give space at all to others to confront different opinions and contributions.

For many of us, the outcome has been to dilute the visits to the Resort, finding other places to share our experiences and often keeping a fearful attitude about what the OIF could do in case of a public exposition of their behavior.
 
Now, after the decision in US, we are facing a possible different phase. The centralized authority of OIF that seemed untouchable, is showing its legal weakness and it is possible to ask energetically and legally an open confrontation about several decisions taken against the will and the heart of many sannyasins.
 
In fact, decisions as banning several Osho’s lovers to enter the Resort and reduce or cut the work of therapists, artists and others who were not in tune with the Management should not remain confined to gossips or private discussions and should be brought in the open, as it happened for the issues about the copyrights and trademarks.

I feel that it’s also possible to open an inquiry among all of us interested to give their contribution to the Resort in a different way and see the possibility to come up with a Manifesto for a practical change.

I am not sentimentally attached to the Resort as I was when Osho was in body, or in the first years after He left His body but I would love to see a fresher, a more creative and loving situation than a dictatorship resembling the monopolistic experience happened in every religious movement after the Master left his body.

Osho was not afraid to challenge all the rotten institutions, including those born around spiritual visions.
I became a sannyasin also because of this challenge and I will always be.

Lakshen Sucameli

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It was summer of 1973. After travelling around in Osho Kirtan group for a year, I wrote a letter to Osho: "From Punjab, I wish to publish a monthly magazine for you with your discourses." I was living in Panipat, a small city 90 km north of New Delhi . I received a prompt response from Ma Yoga Laxmi, Osho's secretary, and the names of the magazine suggested by Osho: Anand, Sadhana, Bhavna, Chetana. There were five names, and now I don't remember the 5th one. Osho was living in an apartment in Mumbai. With Osho's blessings and the help from friends in Ludhiana, Punjab, I started publishing the magazine, and its name was Anand. I showed the magazine personally to Osho during a meditation camp being led by him in Mount Abu. He showed his happiness and told his disciples from Punjab: Keerti is hardworking boy. Support him in every possible way for the publication of magazine. I did not have to sign any legal papers and declare any copyrights and there were no formalities. The only thing that was important that Osho's message spreads without any delay. And it did.

In 1974, after moving to Pune and establishing Shree Rajneesh Ashram there, Osho invited me to edit his Rajneesh Foundation Newsletter, fortnightly and gave his personal guidance for the paper. I moved to Pune and started publication of this newspaper on Osho's birthday, 11 December, 1974. And ever since I have been fully involved in editing publishing of Osho newsletters, magazines and books, such as Rajneesh Times, Rajneesh Darshan, Osho Times, and Osho Darshan etc. It has been my joy to spread Osho's vision in every possible way.

In 1987, after Osho returned to Pune, I started working in the Osho Press Office, besides editing Osho Times and Osho books. I would get excerpts from Osho discourses published in various newspapers, and the newspapers were always sent to Osho. He was always happy that media started opening to him more and more. He encouraged me to feed the media in every possible way, which I did. Osho told me to send his one-liners to daily newspapers also and send articles on current topics and let these articles have the quotes from His discourses. And this too happened. Media in India became open to Osho and as a result you see Osho in all the newspapers and magazine today.

While doing all this, there was never any concern about copyrights or trademarks on Osho's words, thoughts or meditation. It was in, probably, 1999, when I was told by 2-3 sannyasins who told me that now the publishing headquarter was in New York, and I could not give anything to media in India, without asking New York. Before 1999, I was giving Osho videos almost regularly to TV channels based in India, and that got stopped for almost 10 years. I could not give any small quotation from Osho discourse without permission from New York. This was going totally against Osho's wishes and this is hurting Osho's work also. You can just imagine how many millions of people may have tasted Osho's vision if we had shown Osho videos on TV channels for 10 years without any restrictive hindrance. How many more Osho meditation centers would have emerged and how many more meditation camps would have happened?

But the monopolisers were not interested.

I give you one more example of Osho World magazine that we started in the summer of 2001 from New Delhi. It has been spreading very fast around India and other countries. More and more people come to know about the activities and come to attend the meditation camps. Fortunately nobody has been able to prevent its publication, and the work has been growing enormously. So is the case with www.oshoworld.com. They tried hard to get it off the internet, but did not succeed. So for almost 9 years millions of people around the world have had free access to Osho discourses and books.

Osho International Foundation registered in Zurich and operating from New York has been wasting its time and money in stopping and preventing Osho disciples, Osho centres from doing Osho's work. Instead, it would have been far better if it had with the same money and time meditation events around the world. This would have been a positive work worth real appreciation. It did not do it and so many years got wasted, and what it did that whosoever was doing something for Osho, it started bullying them with legal threats to stop the work.

Let's hope that now Osho International Foundation learns a lesson from this defeat and moves in the right direction of now not monopolizing Osho but making his vision available in a healthy way without stupid restrictions and legal threats to sannyasins around the world.
The message of enlightened mystics is not meant for trademarks or copyrights but meant for the whole humanity to receive it as a gift to raise its consciousness.

Even talking on Scientific knowledge, Osho says: “You may not know that many inventions which are going to help humanity are prevented; their copyright is purchased by somebody whose vested interest will be interfered with. And the poor scientist, if he gets enough money, how can he refuse? There are hundreds of inventions which have been prevented. Money has been paid, and humanity goes on suffering.”
OSHO
From the False to the Truth, Chapter #23

"When I am speaking to you, it is in fact the universe using me. My words are not my words; they belong to the universal truth. That is their power, that is their charisma, that is their magic." Says Osho in one of his discourses on Satyam Shivam Sundaram

And in another discourse, He adds: "If there is any truth in my words, that truth comes out of my emptiness. It does not belong to me, I am just a passage. I allow existence to connect with you -- and it is possible only if I am absolutely empty."

“Just now there is an exhibition going on in the Soviet Union. I have sannyasins in the Soviet Union; of course, they have to remain underground -- they cannot declare that they are sannyasins -- but there are a large number of sannyasins. Our stall of books is overcrowded; it is the most successful stall even in Russia. But the people don't have money, so they are stealing books. I have informed my people, "Don't pay any attention -- let them steal. At least those books will reach to millions of people, and if you catch somebody red-handed, just tell him, `I'm not against stealing; what can you do if you don't have any money? Just keep one thing in mind: when you have read it, pass it on. That is the price.”
OSHO
The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here
Chapter #12
(12 September 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium)

Swami Chaitanya Keerti

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I grew up watching my father doing Yog asanas every morning. I have been treated so many times as a child with herbs when I had a cough or indigestion or a small injury. Haldi or turmeric, is a condiment used in every household in every meal in India and most of us know the very benefits of haldi. Since time immemorial, this form of unwritten knowledge has been transmitted down from generation to generation in the families.  There is an endless list of such knowledge that has been in use in India. Our parents, our grand-parents, our great grand-parents, we all grew up with them.

To think of buying a license to use that very knowledge that has been free for centuries to humanity and take permission to feel an inner experience comes as a shock. The pace at which individuals and companies are claiming patent and trademark on knowledge, meditation, yoga etc, very soon humanity will be deprived of all that belongs to existence and not anybody in particular. Who is qualified to judge upon existential blessings?

Some years back, yoga was patented in the US by a particular yoga practitioner. Yoga is an ancient science and in Sanskrit, Yoga means “Union”. For more than 5000 years yoga is being practiced in India and was made available to humanity to benefit from it.

Then there was a stream of news of traditional knowledge being patented by individuals and companies. Ayurveda has been validated by its success with humans for centuries. Ayurveda is more ancient than most civilizations. The World Health Organisation acknowledges that 70% of Indians use traditional medicines or ayurveda for primary health  care. Indigenous herbs used in preparation of these ayurvedic medicines are being patented. For example, Neem, Bitter Gourd, Egg Plant, Jamun, Fenugreek, Kala Jeera to name  a few. Recently, the traditional Asian wheat grinder (Commonly known as the Atta Chakki in India) used for grinding flour was patented in 2002. And last, but shocking, cow's urine, traditionally used for medicinal purposes in India, has been patented in the United States as a distilled bio-enhancer.

In recent years, indigenous communities all over the world began to voice their concern for the protection of what belongs to nobody but existence. All believe that nobody can own what exists in nature except nature herself and a human being cannot own its own mother. No one can claim to be the owners of what does not belong to them. Thus, no single person can claim invention or discovery of medicinal plants, seeds or other living things. Protection and preservation of traditional knowledge have been a matter of concern to one and all.

The government of India successfully contested the grant of patents for non-original inventions in its traditional knowledge systems, i.e. turmeric, neem, Basmati, etc. But contesting against the registrations or for the cancellations at the international level is extremely expensive and time consuming. Yet it proves that such registrations can be opposed and cancelled.

The recent decision given by the Trials and Appeals Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office that cancels the registered trademarks of Osho and His meditations is a landmark example of recognizing that spirituality and inner experience cannot be trademarked.  Osho’s message is existential and is for the entire humanity.

Osho says, “the music of my voice is not my music, neither is the voice my voice. I am simply available to existence. Whatsoever it wants to say to you, I don't hinder it, I don't edit it, I don't add anything to it. Just as in a mine you find raw gold, raw diamonds -- uncut, unpolished: the same way I never polish anything. I never know what I am going to say to you. I simply allow the mine -- for you to pick up all the raw diamonds. They belong to existence.”

Osho’s message to His sannyasins, “Each individual now is his own religion, his own spirituality, his own seeking, search, inquiry. Nobody is going to dominate him. He has not to follow a church, a pope, a high priestess. He has simply to follow his own natural simplicity, potentiality.”
Meditation and spirituality is so personal that no mundane, physical or commercial give and take or sale and purchase is conceivable. Who can claim monopoly or trademark on eternal verities and universal concepts and bounties of mother nature, meant for the whole humanity. It is an absurdity to apply trademark law to spirituality. A perfumer may bottle and sell, rose, jasmine or sandal under a trade name but cannot monopolize the fragrance of rose, jasmine or sandal.

"Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace.

Nobody can monopolize anything. But perhaps the West cannot understand the difference between an objective commodity and an inner experience.”

“For ten thousand years the East has been meditating and nobody has put trademarks upon meditations.”

“You don't understand what meditation is. It is nobody's belonging, possession. You cannot have any copyright. Perhaps if your country gives you trademarks and copyrights on things like meditation, then it will be good to have a copyright on stupidity. That will help the whole world to be relieved... Only you will be stupid and nobody else can be stupid; it will be illegal.”
OSHO
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih, Chapter - 26

The very idea to pay someone for a license to meditate or experience or sit in a particular position is absolutely absurd. It is same as trying to prevent people from breathing, drinking or sleeping unless some authority permits you to do so.

Ma Prem Naina

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Ken Wilbur reckons there may have been around 1000 Enlightened Beings in the whole of history. Sounds about right. In my own lifetime I have encountered less than ten who have laid claim to Enlightenment, half of whom I have harbored doubts. Nevertheless all of them have devoted their lives to encouraging thousands of their devotees to discover who they are and for that I salute them.

We all have our images of Enlightened Masters and how they should behave but who are we to judge and does it really matter as long as they are spreading the good word? Krishnamurti was a petulant little man, Mukhtananda had a reputation for seducing the teenage daughters of his disciples, Papaji used to lose his temper and treated his wife like shit. But, as Osho says in "Tantra, the Supreme Understanding"..."When Gurdjieff gets angry it is beautiful. When you get angry it is ugly."

My own simple definition of Enlightenment was knowing that you have it all here and now, permanently. Like all the time. You never lose it. I only ever saw Osho get angry once, in Darshan. I did not speak enough Hindi to know what was going on but His youngest brother, the recipient of His monumental wrath cringed into the marble and Laxmi raised her eyes to the ceiling. My image of this serene Master floating around with a beatific smile was momentarily shattered. Right after the tirade He stood up, Namaste'd us and floated off with His usual {beatific} smile out of Chuang Tzu.

Right now I am hanging out with Tyohar in Costa Rica. Doubts have been expressed as to his Enlightenment. To me, whether he is enlightened or not is irrelevant. What is important is that with a few followers he has created a beautiful place in which as many seekers as possible can wake up. A courageous young man, he does not behave like the classic image of the guru sitting in meditation. He walks around this spiritual/ecological village like one of the boys, plays on the Commune Soccer team and DJs at parties.

Whether he is enlightened or not is a matter of personal choice and should not deny the fact that his creation, Pacha Mama is Central America's foremost expounder of Osho's wisdom. Osho would love this place. It reminds me of the simplicity and dedication of Poona One. The meditations, Dynamic, Kundalini, No Dimensions, the library of Osho books in so many languages, the Osho recorded discourses, Osho's picture everywhere, the flavor, the aroma of Osho permeates the village from the 400 seat Osho Hall down to the simple casitas scattered in the forest are witnesses to the homage Tyohar pays to his Master. Tyohar is the Host and we are his Guests. And still there are purists, hiding behind Osho's robes who call him a pretender. They are the present day equivalent of the Pharisees who condemned Jesus.

Last night in Satsang he answered a question by a pretty young Russian sannyasin "What do you mean by spiritual masturbation?". After the laughter died down his reply was pure Osho - a succinct, wise and poetic treatise on what is happening here in Pacha Mama - an opening to Truth beyond the pretensions of personality and a depth of understanding that brought tears to my eyes. The question of his Enlightenment is not my business. He speaks the Truth.

Swami Prem Sarito

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We all are on a journey towards enlightenment. If one of us attains enlightenment, how are we going to respond to such an event? What will we do with him? Do we throw him out of the movement? Are we qualified to judge such an attainment? Osho has given many instances of how an enlightened person is condemned and troubled by the crowd and the mass who have no idea of what it is.

Osho says, “A man who becomes enlightened is like a peak, Everest. Another enlightenment is also like a peak, another Everest. They are deep inside attained to the same, but they are unique. Nothing common exists between enlightened people -- this is the paradox. They are vehicles of the same whole, but nothing common exists; they are unique vehicles.

That has created a deep problem for religious people, because Jesus is Jesus and doesn't look like Buddha at all. Buddha is Buddha and doesn't look like Krishna at all. People who are impressed by Krishna will think that Buddha is somehow lacking. People who are impressed by Buddha will always think that Krishna is somehow wrong. Because then you have an ideal and you judge by the ideal, and enlightened persons are simply individuals. You cannot make any standard; you cannot judge them by any ideals -- there exists no ideal. They have a common thing within them: that is divineness, that is being a medium for the whole, but that's all. They sing their different songs.”

Osho says that His disciples are His garden and when they blossom and flower, He rejoices as any gardener rejoices. “With each of my disciples coming to flower, I attain enlightenment again -- because from my side, there is no distinction at all, no distance. Particularly as you become blissful, the distance starts becoming less and less. In your misery -- you have to forgive me -- I cannot be with you. The greater your misery, the further apart we are. But in your blissful moments, you are are so close that there is no distance at all. In your enlightenment, you are not even close -- you are one. I feel that again another spring has come to me.”
OSHO
The Osho Upanishad, Chapter- 40

The following article is about a man Tyohar, a young, Israeli Goa-DJ who had attained enlightenment as a disciple of Osho and how he is sharing the blessing bestowed on him by existence. He lives in PachaMama, a spiritual village in the forest of Costa Rica.

- Editor

From tent city to modern village

Swami Deva Tarit

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