OSHO TAPOBAN-  E-NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009

In this issue:
- Art in Tapoban.
- Meditation in Dehradun.
- Osho Mahaparinirvana day.
- Janakpur overwhelmed with Osho.
- Osho Enlightenment Day celebrations.
- Osho meditation camp in Puri
- A 3-day Himalayan retreat on the bank of Ganges.
- 50% off on Osho's MP3's and DVDs from 28 March
- Becoming a rippleless lake with Ma Anand Madhu.
- Osho's ambassadors from Tapoban...
- Forthcoming camp dates.

Osho Mahaparinirvana day.

On 19th January the Master’s Mahaparinirvana day was celebrated in all Osho centres and communes in Nepal as well as the other centres and communes throughout the world. At Tapoban the celebrations started with the Dynamic meditation later followed by music and kirtan celebrations performed by sannyassins. In the afternoon, the Buddha hall was crowded with more than 500 Osho disciples from all over the world who had come to participate in the celebrations. Speaking on the day, Swami Arun said, "“I can tell you that after Osho dropped his body he has become more active, more available and his work has accelerated. So spiritually we have not lost anything."” Much good news about the growth in Osho’s work including the news of the four upcoming communes in Nepal was also shared during the program. The celebrations concluded with 15 friends taking initiation into Osho neo sannyas.

Osho meditation camp in Jagannath Puri, India.

Swami Anand Arun conducted a three day camp from 6-8 February at the beach side luxury resort Holiday Inn in Puri, India. The camp was an intensive meditation camp where participants took part in six Osho meditation techniques every day.  Along with the meditation sessions, sannyassins also enjoyed the sea along with the facilities provided by the resort.  This combination of luxury and meditation only helped the participants to dive deeper into themselves. During sharing sessions Swami Arun shared about his days spent with Osho giving tears and smiles to most of the participants. He spoke on freedom that comes through self discipline and also emphasized over the importance of daily meditations. The camp concluded with 35 friends taking sannyas. There was a participation of 175 friends from Italy, England, Belgium, India and Nepal. Click here for camp pictures

A 3 day meditation camp was conducted at the Osho Om Bodhisattva Commune in Dehradun by Swami Anand Arun. With about 100 participants from Nepal, India, Russia, Belgium, Italy, Latvia and Holland, the camp was an intense experiment with Osho's meditation techniques. Six Osho meditation were practiced every day which helped the participants experience great silence and relaxation. During the camp two sannyas celebrations were made in which 12 new friends took initiation into Osho Neo-sannyas.

Whether it is Tapoban or Dehradun, the growing number of young people showing interest in Osho meditations articulates a significant sign in the expansion of Osho's work in the 21st century. We are thankful to Swami Narendra, Ma Mukti and Ma Divya of Osho Om commune for facilitating this camp.

A 3-day Himalayan retreat on the bank of Ganges. 

Osho has many a times in his discourses talked about the spiritual importance of the river Ganges and has called it a great alchemical experiment of the Hindus. The bank of Ganges is highly conducive to meditation and has been home to great Himalayan masters and yogis.

Amidst this spiritual ambience of the Ganges, a 3 days meditation retreat was conducted by Swami Anand Arun at the new Osho Gangadham commune. Run by Swami Prem Chaitanya, the Gangadham commune is situated very close to the Samadhi cave of the enlightened master, Swami Ram Teertha and is a fast growing commune which can currently accommodate 100 participants at a time. The commune has a recently built meditation hall that overlooks the Ganges and the hills across. The main attraction of the camp was the Kirtan celebrations made every evening at 6:30 on the banks of the river. The kirtans were followed by white-robe satsang at 7'o clock. 8 new friends took intiation into Osho neo sannyas during the camp.

Osho Enlightenment Day celebrations.

3 days intensive meditation camp in Tapoban.

In order to help the participants experience deep silence in a short period, Tapoban organized an Intensive Meditation Camp from 26-28 March conducted by Swami Arun. Participants from England, Germany, Holland, Latvia, Russia, Belarus and Nepal actively participated in the six meditation sessions facilitated at the commune. Great energy was felt during the last day sannyas celebrations when 11 new friends got initiated into sannyas.

Zara, a 30 year old choreographer and acrobat from Pune shared, "Its great energy here and I really liked the gacchamis and humming like in Rajneeshpuram. Though its different from Pune, this place has its own beauty. I loved the people here and the energy at Osho Samadhi is great. Swami Arun is a vivacious person and he is really connected with Osho."

NOTICE: ART IN TAPOBAN

A five day painting exhibition is being held at Tapoban from 11-15 April where works of 6 artists will be exhibited. Amongst the artists are Supriya Kosinska (Ma Deva Supriya) from UK and Urmila Upadhyaya, Kushal Regmi (Sw Chaitanya Aseem) and  Shanti Shakya(Ma Anand Sambodhi) from Nepal. Two other artists will also exhibit their paintings during the program. The exhibitions will be held at the hall in the Raman block at Tapoban.

35th Anniversary of Osho Asheesh Meditation Centre.

The oldest meditation centre of Nepal, Osho Asheesh Meditation Centre in Tahachal, Kathmandu celebrated its 35th Anniversary on 21st March in the presence of Swami Anand Arun and sannyasins. Situated in the heart of Kathmandu city, the centre was previously  the personal residence of Swami Anand Arun before being established as an Osho centre in 1974. The centre conducts four daily meditations and is being run by Swami Nikhil. Click here for glimpeses

Janakpur overwhelmed with Osho.

Osho spreads like wildfire and what happened in Janakpur, Nepal on 23rd March only testifies this. When Swami Anand Arun spoke about the 5 self disciplines or panchsheel of Osho Sannyas (compiled from Osho's old discourses when he was personally taking camps) during a one day camp at the Osho Rajshri Meditation centre in Janakpur, the consequences were overwhelming. 100's of new friends mainly youngsters were influenced into taking Osho neo-sannyas. However, as only 50 malas were available, only 50 new friends were initiated. The initiation of others had to be postponed for a later date. Janakpurian's love for Osho only showed more when hundreds of participants flocked to see-off Swami Arun at the airport. A sannyasin shared, "The crowd was so emotional that the security didn’t know what to do so they opened the VIP lounge for Swami Arun. It was unbelievable."

Becoming a rippleless lake with Ma Anand Madhu.  - by Swami Aatmo Neerav

"I gave that watch to the first of my sannyasins. The name of my first sannyasin is Ma Anand Madhu -- a woman of course, because that's what I wanted. Nobody has initiated women into sannyas like me. Not only that, I wanted to initiate a woman as my first sannyasin, just to put things in balance and in order." (Glimpses of a golden childhood) -OSHO

When Osho started giving sannyas in 1970, Ma Anand Madhu was the first lady who decided to become the disciple of Acharya Rajneesh (As Osho was known in those days). A long mala and orange were a compulsion and being a professor and a lady from a renowned political family, it was a bold step for Ma Madhu to accept the controversial guru as her master.

(Madhu ma's picture being inaugurated by Swami Anand Arun, Swami Narendra,
and Ma Amrit Mukti with the photographer Swami Bodhi Vartaman)

As a sannyasin Ma Madhu became very active in organizing meditation camps for Osho and she was also a member of the kirtan mandali or travelling music groups which carried Osho's message to different parts of India in the early days. Later Ma Madhu became the personal secretary of Osho and contributed much to the growth of Osho's work. Osho wanted Ma Madhu to open a commune in Gujarat and had given it the name, 'Biswa Neer' or World family, but Madhu Ma had recently taken silence camps and her love for silence had only grown over the months. So when she asked Osho if she could go to the Himalayas for a long silence retreat, the master gave his blessings and sent her with his shawl as a gift.

After fourteen years of penance and meditation on the banks of Ganges in Rishikesh, Ma Anand Madhu attained ultimate realization but still preferred to remain in silence. However after many requests of old sannyasins, Ma Madhu came out of silence and today meets only Osho sannyasins for an hour in her room at the Gujarati Ashram in Rishikesh. Here is a little story of my second meeting with her.

It was my second meeting with Ma Anand  Madhu, the first initiated disciple of Osho. And this time I had the money and the heart to think of a present.  When I first saw the towel in an Ashram shop, I knew this was exactly the gift. Like her it was soft and in orange and my heart said yes.

So with a two dozen sannyassin caravan we started our journey to her place. Through the narrow lanes of Rishikesh, over the Ganges on a boat and finally on the same tempo ride I had taken earlier, we arrived at the gates of the Gujrati Ashram. 

It was different for me. The Ashram was cool, silent and clean and it was also a place I had come earlier. With polished cemented floors the simple structure of the Ashram not only radiated physical coolness but also the nourishment that touched the heart. I was touched and I knew that I could only be silent.

I also knew that on the floor over this entrance lived a beautiful lady that I deeply loved.  I hadn’t met her and I was already influenced by her overflowing presence. Maybe our love had grown over the year and had made me more receptive of her beauty. This I did not know.  I looked above and admired the importance that this place so gracefully held along with its plainness.

A bald sannyassin in orange said that we could leave our bags downstairs and go up. So in a group with our own silence and gifts we all went to the upper floor where Ma Anand Madhu lived. I could already hear her soft stern voice repeating the same greeting with which she had greeted me last year. She welcomed each sannyassin with the word Osho. 

As I entered I felt a thickness of an overpowering presence spread throughout the room.  Though I could not see it I felt a large radius of energy surrounding her which influenced everyone that came to her presence. This was the same nourishment I had felt at the entrance of the Ashram only that this time it was stronger. My eyes were wide open, my mind was silent and I felt a tremendous well being at my heart centre. My heart guided me and I silently bowed down and touched her little feet. She softly touched my back and said, “Right”. I put my gift in her hands and after looking at it she said, "This was important."

Swami Anand Arun had come earlier in the morning and was already sitting with her. He introduced each of us with compliments bigger than ourselves. Such beautiful adjectives can only come from someone like him.

After some time it was Madhu Ma’s turn to play her games. She made fun of everyone and everything. After giving each of us some snacks and sweets she insisted that she would cut apples for Swami Arun and asked him if he liked them peeled or normal. While Swami Arun cracked jokes, Madhu Ma ridiculed him with her witty answers which only made us laugh more.

When Swami Arun told Ma Madhu that he was condemned of trying to pollute Osho for advocating the five disciplines, ‘the panchsheel’,  Ma Madhu boldly replied, “These were the same disciplines Osho gave us for meditation when he was taking camps and you have not added anything. Don’t worry. Positive and negative are both needed for a balance. It’s good.”

As I was sitting right in-front of her she would look at me and ask me questions like, “How many meditations do you do in a day?” or “How many meditations do they do in Tapoban?” But every time I tried to speak I only found that I had no words or thoughts to respond to her questions and I only smiled back. She understood this and would smile back at me and somebody else would answer the questions.

Ma Anand Madhu inspires and ignites that flame of love, silence and celebration that we all carry. Her being is a living evidence of that beautiful potential that our beloved master always talks about and I feel more than blessed for having met her twice. Through words I only try to express this overflowing experience in hope that a fragment of it is carried.

Other Updates

OSHO's QUOTE OF THE MONTH

Sannyas should be available to everybody. The whole country must be able to become sannyasins, but that is possible only if you can be a sannyasin in ordinary life -- if you can go to the office, if you can work in a shop, if you can be a laborer, or a teacher, or a doctor, or an engineer and still be a sannyasin.  

Spiritoon of the month!!

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