Category Archives: Music
The Nataraj Dance Meditation is one of the most-beloved meditations from the World of Osho. It is also one of the most fun to play live with a band. The format is always the same: forty minutes of continuous dancing, twenty minutes of silence lying on one’s back, and several minutes of soft music with three bells at the end. As with all Osho’s active meditations, the key is totality: the more one pours of oneself into the meditation, the more profound will be its effect. With this particular meditation, dance so totally that the dancer disappears and only the dance remains. The track presented here was recorded live in 2002 at a meditation and celebration festival in Varazze, Italy. The band is (if my memory serves me right):
Atmo – trumpet
Chintan – tablas
Harshil – percussion and didgeridoo
Milarepa – guitar
Mohan – keyboards
Rishi – drums
Satgyan – bass
Subodha – guitar
I am not a big fan of live recordings, but as Rishi said when he shared the track with me, “Hey, give this a listen. It’s not too bad.” And indeed it isn’t. I am happy to share it here as a free download.
(link will be sent to your email address)One of the perks of my work is visiting communities and witnessing the growth in people due to meditation and living Osho’s vision. One such community is Texas. In particular, the Osho Dallas network of friends. From the day I arrived for the Spring Awakening event, every moment was an overflowing of love and celebration. The meditations and sharings went especially deep Saturday and Sunday with Indu. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful time together. But as Osho says, there are no full-stops in existence; only semi-colons. So it is only onwards and upwards from here. Many thanks to Rakesh, Premal, and the entire Osho Dallas Team for inviting me, organizing things, and making our joy-filled days such a delight, a rainbow of color, from start to finish.
One morning after Zazen, students asked Zen Master Suzuki Roshi, “Why do you shave your head?”
Suzuki replied, “Because this is the fundamental hairstyle.”
*image by Queena
We planted some seeds of love and awareness in northeast Las Vegas, Nevada, Saturday. Meditation at 3,500 feet naturally goes deep when supported by the vast emptiness of the high desert. I couldn’t help marvel, observing the beautifully landscaped gardens around the house, how the desert blooms when given water — just as thirsty souls do when watered with meditation. Seeing faces of participants soften and start shining from the inside confirmed this. Many thanks to Murali for having the vision; and to new friends Jeanne and Mark for opening their lovely home to us. This event has been something of a miracle, one I won’t soon forget. I have a feeling it is the start of something new.
Issa wrote:
PURE SIMPLICITY
MARKS THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
A PALE YELLOW SKY.
Basho writes:
TEMPLE BELLS DIE OUT
THE FRAGRANT BLOSSOMS REMAIN
A PERFECT EVENING!
I want to share a live-track of music I’ve been working on recently. It also gives an opportunity to share a little of my experience about Osho.
One of the questions I get a lot at events is: “Can you tell me how it was to be with Osho when he was in the body?” This immediately puts me in a dilemma because I have to speak about something in the past when in fact Osho is a realtime, moment-to-moment, living experience for me. When someone tells me they “missed” by not being with Osho when he was alive, what are they really saying? Rather than dive into a world of memories and what was, I do my best to share with them there were perhaps people around Osho when he was in-the-body who missed him. Also, that I experience Osho much more now than I ever did then. Yet, for those with a deep angst of missing, such sharings are not easily convincing. My sense is if someone is missing Osho in the past, they are likely missing Osho (and something in their life) in the present. I am not saying the question or questioner is wrong. But it seems the real question to be asking is: “What am I missing NOW?” And as I see it, no reminiscing about the past is going to provide the answer.
Now with a new film about Rajneeshpuram soon to be released on Netflix (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLS_OM6Puk&feature=youtu.be), again there is going to be a lot of looking back and reminiscing about the old times. Yes, it will give another angle on Osho and his sannyasins, perhaps interesting for those who weren’t there; and for a few fleeting days will hang around until the next sensationalized documentary comes along. But is this fascination with Osho-in-the-past answer going to answer any sincere seeker’s questions? I lived at The Ranch — all four years. And I have said many times they were the four best years of my life. No film or discussion about those days can possibly be more fulfilling for me. I don’t really need to see this film to know what it is: just entertainment, focusing more on the container not the content, and ultimately a distraction from what I consider Osho to be about: meditation.
At the risk of sounding too preachy and serious here, I want to say to anyone reading this post who has feelings they missed Osho in-the-body: Osho is not about looking back. Osho is about looking in. Osho is a quality of meditation. Osho IS meditation. If one really wants to know Osho — past, present, or future — one needs to know meditation. And to know meditation, one needs to walk the talk and DO IT. I was recently chatting with one of the New York City friends from the Osho Padma Center. We we were discussing the new Rajneespuram film and he asked me what I thought. He laughed when I said as far as I am concerned all roads lead to Joeffry Ballet Studio where Dynamic Meditation happens every Saturday morning in Manhattan. Why? Because in my experience, only meditation can answer the question everyone on some level is longing to know: who they are.
I know nothing from my past can ever satisfy another’s “I missed Osho” feelings; nor do I think anyone is going to come to know Osho by seeing this Netflix film. What I do know is this: these “I-am-missing-something-in-my-life” feelings in others are the same longings that took me to India and Osho’s feet many years ago. I admit I was lucky. I call it a divine accident the way I stumbled across Osho. Funny thing is: I thought I found someone who could answer my questions. Instead, I found someone who turned my eyes inward and stumbled across something even more remarkable — myself.
A little about the music… it is an early 1990’s live recording from Evening Satsang in Buddha Hall. My memory is a bit rusty but I believe it is from one of the festivals. It’s a big band playing. I must have invited every sannyas musician in Pune at the time! What I like about the track is its energy, what for me Osho is all about: energy. I am very picky about White Robe music. Not all of it turns me on. But this works. At least for me. And not because I am playing on it! It is a wild sea of celebration. The singing opens the heart, the instruments give flight to the soul. It also has something of the unexpected in it, like when music papers get tossed to the wind and musicians slip out of their minds. You will hear Somesh (electric guitar) and Yashu (flute) playing, two of the few musicians who played for energy darshans in Pune l. When I hear them on this recording I know why they were chosen by Osho. In my understanding, Evening Satsang music is never a performance. Its purpose is to engage and lift. It is an energetic preparation for listening to Osho’s discourse. I know (and perhaps many have had this experience) that when I’ve had a good dance and a deep let-go in the silent sitting, it is much easier to be attentive and absorb the inspiration from Osho’s words. Indeed, this is the genius of the meditation. When done totally, it is a comprehensive package for transformation that gives a direct experience of Osho — who we are beyond space and time. Pure and simple.
The track in my shop under the title Evening Satsang lll: oneskymusic.com/meditation.
Enjoy it with your favorite Osho video which can be streamed from osho.com.
“Once you have seen a buddha, an enlightened one, a tremendous flame suddenly starts blossoming in you, ‘If this beauty, this grace, this wisdom, this blissfulness can happen to any man, then why can it not happen to me?’ As far as human beings are concerned, we have the same seeds and the same potentiality. But a seed can remain a seed and may never become a flower, although there was every possibility available. But rather than disappearing in the soil, the seed can remain safe, hiding in a stone cave, thinking that it is too rainy outside, worrying that it is too sunny outside, fearing the unknown. It feels cozy in the closed silence of the cave, but there it cannot grow, there it will simply get rotten. There it will simply remain something… it could have been a beautiful manifestation, it simply remains unmanifested, a song unsung, a poetry unwritten, a life unlived. It is very essential to find a man who can provoke in you the challenge to attain to your heights. The master is nothing but a challenge — if it has happened to me, it can happen to you. And the authentic master — there are so many teachers propounding doctrines, beliefs, philosophies — the authentic master is not concerned with words; is not concerned with beliefs, atheism or theism; is not concerned even with God, or heaven and hell. The authentic master is concerned only with one single thing — to provoke you to see your potentiality, to see inwards. His presence makes you silent, his words deepen your silence, his very being slowly starts melting your falseness, your mask, your personality.” Osho – Dogen, the Zen Master #4
Although my physical birthday falls on February 23 since… how many years? (wink wink)… festivities started a good month before. This is because I am under the belief that when it comes to celebration, why place limitations on it. Why celebrate one’s birthday just a day? Isn’t that a little stingy? Why not two days, three days, a week, a month, a year, or… eternity!
When friends began asking me last month what would I enjoy as a present, I thought, hmm, you know this year there is no greater present I can imagine than meditating with friends. So, together with Svaaha, we invited a small group of the New York City center friends, as many as we could comfortably accommodate, for two days of meditation at the house. And of course, celebration! In fact, it was the most perfect, divine balance of Buddha and Zorba. And although everything stayed within moderation (more or less ;+) it is a good thing I forewarned the neighbors as Dynamic and Mandala Meditations Sunday morning definitely shook the floorboards!
Our dear friends from Virginia, Vasanti and Anam, “surprised” me with their visit coming all the way from Virginia. And our youngest attendee, Rakesh, spontaneously took a jump Sunday afternoon and became Anand Puneet (blissful innocence). I think it must be the first sannyas celebration ever in the State of Connecticut. So, what started as one birthday celebration became TWO. A double-whammy so to speak!
Festivities came to a soft landing Sunday evening at our local tapas place with those few friends remaining. I don’t think after this weekend the State of Connecticut will ever be the same. I’ve added some captions to the photos. And I want to say THANK YOU to everyone — especially beloved Svaaha — for making this birthday my best EVER. In fact, if getting old is going to be this much fun, I think I’ll try to stretch-out things out a little more… perhaps indefinitely? Hahaha … Is this being shameless? Actually, at my age (now how old am I?) I can say on my own authority: Who cares?
Finally, some words from Osho on birthdays. And thank you, Puneet. You took a jump and reminded us all of something essential<3
“… This second birth is the real birth. The first birth is not the real birth; it is only an opportunity for the second birth, that’s all. If the second birth happens, you used your first birth. If the second never happens, then the opportunity was lost. The first birth is only the birth of the body and the mind. The second birth is the birth of your spirit, of your soul. And unless you know something of the innermost eternal core of your being, you have not known anything… Each moment should be a new birth.” paraphrased from “Nirvana: The Last Nightmare #7”
“Maneesha has asked: ‘Beloved Osho, you have often said you will have no successors. But won’t all those who love you be your successors in that we carry you in our blood and bones and so you are part of us forever?’
“Maneesha, the concept of the successor is bureaucratic. The very idea of succession is not the right idea in the world of consciousness. That’s why I have said, I will not have successors. But you are right in saying that you will carry in your bones and in your blood my love, my insight. But don’t use the word `successor’; rather use the words `you will be me’. Why be so far away, a successor, when you can be me? Be so empty that I can make a home in you, that your emptiness can absorb my emptiness, that your heart can have the same dance as my heart. It is not succession; it is transmission. The very idea of succession is political. Only one person can be a successor, so there is bound to be competition, ambition. There is bound to be a subtle struggle to be closer to the master, to force others away. It may not be on the surface, but underneath the problem will remain in the disciples: “Who is going to be the successor?” I destroy the whole conception. Every disciple who has loved has become one with the master. There is no need of any competition; nor one successor. It is for everybody who has offered himself in deep gratitude, who has become one in a certain sense with the master’s presence. There is no need of any competition. Thousands can have the same experience, millions can have the same experience. To avoid politics in religion, I have said that I will not have successors. I want religion to be absolutely devoid of ambition, competition, being higher than another, putting everybody lower than oneself. With me you are all equal. And I trust and love you, that you will prove this equality. In equals there is no competition; there is a combined effort. You will all carry my message. But nobody will be higher or lower, nobody will be a successor. All will be my lovers and they will carry me … If the disciple loves the master, if there is trust, and trust founded on experience, he will carry spontaneously the master’s message. There is no need to say anything, he will be his master’s message. Now something serious…
“The Babblebrain family are going to the theater one night but nobody wants to stay at home to look after Grandad. So they decide to take him with them.
The movie is nearing its most exciting part when the whole row is disturbed by old man Babblebrain crawling around on his hands and knees.
‘Grandpa!’ whispers Boris loudly. ‘Get back in your seat!’
‘I can’t,’ replies Grandad. ‘I’ve lost a toffee.’
‘Sit down!’ snaps Boris. ‘You are disturbing the whole theater for a lousy toffee. I’ll buy you another one if you just sit down!’
‘I need that one,’ says Grandad.
‘My God!’ cries Boris. ‘What’s so special about THAT toffee?’
‘Because my teeth are in it!’ shouts Grandad.”
Osho, paraphrased from Nansen: The Point of Departure, Chapter 2
Recently, I rented a compact economy car in Atlanta and the agent said, “Sorry. We don’t have the car you requested. I hope this will do” — and handed me the keys to this American Beauty. I felt a little guilty about the carbon foot-print I’d be leaving until I fired it up and heard (and felt!) the lion roar. After which, it was game-on and just fun. Pure fun. I am thinking it could be a nice option for this year’s tour van. What do you think?
“The man who respects himself is authentic. He cannot compromise: he would prefer to die but stick to his truth. And that is the price God asks for. Risk all that you have — because you don’t have anything, you only think you have. In reality, you are a nothingness.
“Sanai says:
‘STRIVE TO PASS FROM NOTHINGNESS TO BEING,
AND MAKE YOURSELF DRUNK WITH THE WINE OF GOD.’
“Be open, and God starts pouring into you like wine from every nook and corner of existence. Then wherever you look, you find God. Then whatsoever you touch, you find God. Then whatsoever you drink and eat, you find God. And when God pours from everywhere, then life is a celebration.”
Osho, Unio Mystica, Volume 2 #3
A country priest used to keep chickens in a coop behind his church.
One evening, the old cock from his lot went missing. The next service, the priest asked his congregation, “Who has a cock?”
All the MEN stood up.
The priest said, “No, I mean who has SEEN a cock?”
All the WOMEN stood up.
The priest said, “No, no, I mean who has seen a cock that isn’t theirs?”
HALF the WOMEN stood up.
Exasperated, the priest shouted: “For heavens sake, who has seen my cock?”
All the NUNS stood up.
Meditation’s ultimate conclusion is live the moment to its totality, intensively, joyously, because there is nothing to be feared; because even death is a fiction. There is no need for any security, for any safety. Live moment to moment, trusting the whole existence as the birds are trusting it, as the trees are trusting it. Don’t separate yourself from existence, become part of it and existence will take care of you. It is already taking care of you.
A traveling salesman, completing a trip earlier than anticipated, sent his wife a telegram: “Returning home Friday.”
Arriving home, he found his wife in bed with another man.
Being a person of nonviolence, he complained to his father-in-law, who said, “I’m sure there must be an explanation.”
The next day the father-in-law was all smiles when he met his son-in-law. “There was an explanation,” he said, “she did not get your telegram.”
Osho, The New Dawn, #26