Living stream of Osho
November 2004
By Osho
The trinity of Osho Siddhartha, Osho Shailendra and Osho Priya have started oshodhara to keep alive osho’s legacy. they also claim their programme leads to enlightenment. defending it is osho shailendra in an interview with life positive
Halting at meditation is like stopping after tilling the farm. Samadhi is like sowing the seed and enlightenment is reaping the benefits of harvesting. Osho Shailendra
Things will go on happening; new things will go on being added. I am not a pond… I am more like a river, which goes on flowing, inviting every other river to join. … I am not the last prophet… I am the beginning, not the end of a totally new approach to life and its problems…”
This is what Osho said in The Transmission of the Lamp. And he left his mortal body in 1990. Taking a cue, many years later, three people claiming to be enlightened masters joined hands and decided to let the river flow. Known as Acharya Trivir (teacher trinity), their coming together led to the founding of Oshodhara.
Recalls Osho Shailendra, one of the Acharya Trivir, “The trinity emerged existentially. Nothing was thought or planned. On January 25, 2000, my wife Ma Priya was enlightened. This filled me with great self-confidence. I intensified my sadhana and was blessed with enlightenment on January 5, 2001. In April 2002, we were joined by Siddhartha, an Osho disciple since 1980, who was blessed with enlightenment on March 5, 1997. Together we decided to embark on the path of spiritual guidance.”
Oshodhara is based on Osho’s spiritual vision as well as the experiences of many world masters. It draws thousands of seekers and Osho lovers from all over the globe. Siddhartha, Shailendra and Priya have prefixed ‘Osho’ to their names to express their love, spiritual lineage, belongingness, gratitude, pride, determination and commitment to keep the Osho stream flowing for times to come.
So far so good. But a provocative part of Oshodhara teaching is their 10-level programme leading to possible enlightenment. Is it that simple and easy? Can you get enlightenment like you study towards a degree?
Without pussyfooting, Osho Shailendra replies: “Many people think that way. They are justified because this rarely happened in human history. Had I not experienced it myself, probably I also might have thought like that. Enlightenment is not that difficult. The number of enlightened people is much more than those who have climbed the Mt Everest. In fact, enlightenment is not an achievement—it is only a discovery of our inner self. It is only a journey from outer to inner space, from thinking to pure awareness, from part to whole, from time to timelessness. 100 disciples each of Gautam Buddha and of Sant Dadu Dayal were blessed with enlightenment during their lifetimes.” He names quite a few disciples of Osho who were declared enlightened by Osho himself.
Shailendra puts the onus on the masters of today: “They can be and should be more effective, more scientific in guiding the seekers, because they have the background of all the paths discovered by the past masters.”
So, what is this 10-level programme, where each level group runs for nine days? Osho Shailendra gives the details.
1. Dhyan Samadhi: Based on divine awareness, it has thee parts—Anand Pragya, Yoga Pragya and Samadhi Pragya, that teach right living, right witnessing and right samadhi.
2. Surati Samadhi: It teaches how to live in harmony, and to go into samadhi with the divine sound.
3. Nirati Samadhi: A seeker learns to go into samadhi with the divine light.
4. Amrit Samadhi: It is based on divine nectar. Most of the participants undergo out-of-body experiences in this group.
5. Divya Samadhi: It teaches how to enter into samadhi through divine taste, divine fragrance, divine ecstasy and divine energy.
6. Anand Samadhi: Teaches how to experience divine bliss all the time.
7. Prem Samadhi: Teaches how to feel and express divine love.
8. Gyan Samadhi: It prepares the seeker for enlightenment.
9. Kaivalya Samadhi: Here the existential meaning of Aham Brahmasmi is revealed to the seeker.
10. Nirvan Samadhi: Provides a rare opportunity to seekers for going into the Zero Experience—the ultimate void.
In Oshodhara view, meditation has a beginning (dhyan) and an end (samadhi). While dhyan is awareness—an understanding of one’s desires, dreams and thoughts, samadhi is when the awareness becomes so deep and profound that it consumes the whole mind like a wheel of inconsumable fire. Samadhi is the state when the awareness exists, but there is nothing to be aware of; the witness exists, but there is nothing left to be witnessed.
Said Osho in I am That: “Begin with dhyan and end in samadhi, and you will know what God is. This is not a hypothesis, it’s an experience. You have to live it—that is the only way to know it.”
Explaining Osho’s comment “Unless meditation becomes enlightenment, you have simply wasted your time”, Osho Shailendra says, “Halting at meditation is like stopping after tilling the farm. Samadhi is like sowing the seed and enlightenment is like reaping the benefits of harvesting.”
Currently, Oshodhara has four centres in India and Nepal where the residential Oshodhara samadhi groups are regularly conducted. Oshodhara Nanak Dham is at Murthal in Haryana; Oshodhara Anand Dham, Madhopur, is near Pathankot; Oshodhara Ashram is situated at Naddi in Dharamsala; and Oshodhara Gangotri Dham is at Sauraha in the Chitwan district of Nepal. There are other centres and Oshodhara Peeths that attract followers and seekers. Over 50 Oshodhara Dhyan Samadhi Kendras all over the world run weekly meditations, samadhi sessions, discourses, and non-residential Anand Pragya programmes.
They have also started a monthly journal, Osho Dhara, published in Hindi and English both. Osho Shailendra explains its raison d’etre, “Osho’s vision of the flowing river is not a dead dogma. It is being constantly rejuvenated through fresh inputs. For the same, a great need was felt for starting a magazine. Osho Dhara is designed to cater to both the Osho lovers and advance seekers.”
He adds, “While the media continues to present Osho in the refracted light of a sex guru, philosopher and thinker, rather than one of the greatest spiritual masters of all ages, we attempt to redirect the channels. We do not say that the articles on relationships and sex should not be published. We simply wish to emphasise that they are peripheral issues as far as spiritual exploration is concerned, and by over-emphasising them, a reader is only misled. Similarly meditation techniques are elementary part of Osho’s teachings. By over-emphasising these techniques as Osho’s main contribution, inadvertently we are reducing his stature as a spiritual master. Oshodhara has taken upon itself the responsibility to present this point in its proper perspective.”
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