OSHO'S SAMADHI BUILT OUTSIDE WILL NOT LIBERATE
REAL SAMADHI IS WITHIN YOU; THAT ONLY CAN LIBERATE

Few Osho's disciples having vested interests, particularly those who had left Pune Commune in the year 2000 and thereafter, have spread the rumors among Osho sannyasins and friends that Osho's Samadhi in Pune Commune has been spoiled; and that the same has been shifted from Osho Commune, Pune to some other place by the Trustees of OIF. They have also expressed apprehension that now, according to them; the Commune at Pune, in the absence of Osho's Samadhi, will be sold. We came to know this rumor from an email message received from one of Osho's sannyasins who claimed to have been engaged in the business of publication of Osho's books. The email reads as under:

"While they say no Samadhi in the ashram, so they can sell the ashram. Recently I have visited the ashram and asked where is Samadhi everyone told there is no Samadhi but one Chuang Tzu hall is there for meditation. I have worked on Samadhi in 1996 for two months and now they have removed the photo of Osho and put the head statue. I will suggest these people are doing 'Guru Droha' and do not support them in any way. I am not in any group. So I am giving you suggestion as a fellow traveler and rest is up to you."

After receiving the above message we replied the same with following extract from a reply given by OIF on the point:-

"While in Pune, Osho used to reside in 'Chuang Tzu' House. As per Osho's instructions his ashes have been kept in his bed room. His instructions for the use of his bed room were simply that it would be "a place for people to meditate", and nothing else. Some people's idea that Osho would want people to "pay tribute" or seek "blessings" from his ashes is pure fantasy of the traditional spiritual mind against which Osho spoke for 35 years. Osho had said, "Except for this existence, you don't have any sacred place. This is the only holy, sacred temple. There is no other temple. All other temples are false, substitute to deceive and cheat you."Osho's interest was only in awareness, and not at all in these traditional substitutes presented in the guise of "spirituality". As Osho has put it, "It does not matter where awareness happens, what matters is that it happens. If it happens in a casino, then the casino has become a temple, a sacred place."

"Several disciples and friends of Osho did come and meditate in the said 'Chuang Tzu' during the life time of Osho and the meditation continues even as on today in the said "Chuang Tzu". Few friends have raised the question for the removal of the name plate 'Samadhi' from 'Chuang Tzu" house now is also not correct. Such name plate was removed more than 14 years before as the place was not a Samadhi."

This friend appeared to have not satisfied with the above reply. Being confused he reacted with the following words:-

"It appears that there are three Samadhies .One in Pune 2nd in Tapoban Nepal 3rd at Osho Mahakaal Dhyan Kendra, Ujjain, recently constructed."

The above case is not an isolated case but representative of many of Osho's sannyasins and friends all over the world who have been misguided and misinformed by the group of sannyasins who have been engaged in activities intended to harm Osho Commune, Pune. They have been taking revenge of being declared as un-welcome visitors to the commune for their anti-commune activities.

This is how superstitions and wrong traditions are started in the vision of enlightened masters by their blind followers. This of course, shows their love for their masters, but an unconscious love proves to be blind and inevitably takes to the wrong direction. There is no Samadhi culture in the vision of Osho. Samadhi is an inner experience which has nothing to do with so called outer Samadhies.

However it cannot be denied that a place where an enlightened master has been living is charged with his vibrations of enlightenment. That place can be helpful for meditation. Such person's silence and peace remains in the air of that place for hundreds of years. To meditate by sitting at such a place can be helpful for meditation as a starting point. But it all depends on the meditator – his thirst for Truth, his trust and love for the master, his sensitivity and receptiveness and openness. If these qualities are not there, even master's physical presence will to be of any help, what to speaks of his Samadhi or relics. Thus the presence of the master or his Samadhi does nothing directly. If a seeker of Truth has these qualities, anything in existence can be of help or it can be said that whole existence is helpful for his meditation. Therefore the primary thing is to grow the above qualities in oneself. The presence of the enlightened master or his Samadhi is secondary and only a stepping stone. One should neither depend upon it nor cling to it. These qualities grow only with meditation; and meditation happens only when one frees oneself from everything that is outside and turns his attention inwards. Therefore one should rely on meditation only and nothing else.

In India Samadhi is also called the place where the body of an enlightened person is buried. This has caused confusion in the minds of some persons. The word has also been corrupted being associated with absurd rituals which have no spiritual significance. That is why even Buddha avoided to use the term Samadhi and instead used the word Nirvana for ultimate realization.

With the passage of time it became the tradition to bury the body of a sannyasin whether he was enlightened or not. Further there are no criteria to judge whether a particular sannyasins is awakened or not. However, people started to build structures on the same in the form of temples or as simple places of worship as symbols of their love for such persons. Now this has ceased to have any spiritual significance. Moreover these outer symbols are of no real help for one's spiritual growth because they create dependence which is another form of spiritual slavery. Moreover, people are attracted towards such things which are cheap and for which one needs not to go on arduous search.

We have come to know for the first time that there is a Samadhi of Osho at OshoTapovan , Kathmandu, Nepal. This is simply difficult to understand in the back drop of Osho's vision. Whose Samadhi is there cannot be said, but it is certain it cannot be that of Osho. Almost all of Osho's sannyasins know that the body of Osho was burnt at the burning ghat at Pune itself. Therefore his body was neither buried in the Osho Commune, Pune nor at any other place. How Osho's Samadhi at OshoTapovan, Kathmandu, Nepal has come into existence is a miracle. It seems they have collected the relics from somewhere and put them there and give the name Samadhi to deceive those who do not know the truth. Recently another Samadhi has been built in Ujjain in Osho Mahakaal Meditation Center. One of Osho's sannyasins has claimed to have kept Osho's relics with him for 24 years. He now offered these to the above center to build a Samadhi of the same. And they have built and claimed that many people will be coming to see the same and be blessed. How they will spiritually benefit from these relics even if these are that of Osho? When the sannyasins who had kept the same with him for such a long period of 24 years could not become enlightened, how people will be benefited from the same by only seeing. This is only the beginning of the series of Osho' Samadhies. With the passage of time, and as long as the blind disciples are there, it will not stop and more and more Samadhies of Osho will go on appearing. It seems the episode of Hajratbal Masjid has been repeated at above places by the leaders of sannyasins there just to provide Osho Lovers the substitutes with the intention to add to the importance of their meditation centers. This is sheer politics to deceive Osho friends and exploit their love for Osho and his vision.

The leaders of Osho's sannyasins or lovers who have built such Samadhies must have met Osho and spent some time in his presence. On seeing what they are doing at present, it appears that they are asleep as everyone is. If they could not grow to enlightenment/Samadhi in the presence of a physically alive enlightened master; how they think they will be enlightened by sitting near his relics? It seems these leaders are not interested in the real spiritual development of their followers; they are interested to increase the number of sannyasins who come to them for learning meditation techniques devised by Osho. If this goes on then sooner or later, inevitably their meditation centers will start functioning like Hindu Temples which are always crowded with the believers with offerings in the form of money and other precious things for fulfilling their desires which has nothing to do with spiritual search. They believe that by visiting these places or worshiping the images of enlightened persons they will get spiritual benefits. Osho had never supported such short cuts and cheap substitutes. See below what Osho has said about worshiping the relics of an enlightened master:-

"All the scholars of the world are gravediggers. They dig deeply into graves and find bones of all kinds of people, but they never dig deep into themselves. They may find the bones of Buddha... they even worship the bones when they find them."

"In Sri Lanka, in Kandy, they have a great temple devoted to a tooth of Buddha. Every scientific test has proved that it is not a tooth of a human being, it is too big; it can only be that of an animal. But who cares about it? Kandy attracts more pilgrimages to Sri Lanka than any other temple because it has a tooth of Gautam Buddha."

"Scholars sometimes seem to be so stupid. There was a hair in Srinagar, in Kashmir, thought to be Hazrat Mohammed's. Mohammedans worshipped it because that was the only relic left from the body of Mohammed. Nobody knows whose hair it is, and there is no way to prove that it is Mohammed's hair. But a few years back it was stolen."

"Then there was great fuss all over the world amongst the Mohammedans. That mosque, Hazrat Bal...bal means hair; even the bal is to be called Hazrat, "revered hair." And it was such a difficult situation. Riots started happening because Mohammedans thought certainly it must be the Hindus. And Hindus are a very small minority in Kashmir. Even though Hindu leaders in Kashmir declared again and again, "We are not concerned at all with your religion," it was to no avail."

"Finally the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had to send the chief of the armies with a great number of soldiers to surround the mosque and somehow manage to restore the hair. Now, how can you manage? Somehow it was managed: somebody's hair has been put in the tube which was empty. Now everybody is happy that the hair has been found. What kind of stupidity...? What will you do with the hair? If you find the whole head of Mohammed, that too will not help. But people are concerned with absolute absurdities, so much involved, and this is because of the scholars, the so-called learned who provoke the masses."

Osho never gave any significance to the place where he remained for a long period. Many times his disciples asked to keep such places as a spiritual heritage but every time the proposal was refused. This fact was revealed by the OIF in the following words:-

"It is worth reviewing Osho's own approach to "sacred places" in relation to his own life. When his own family has asked Osho if they could turn his birth place into a sacred place and a shrine, he had declined. Then after he had spent some years in his flat in Bombay, his secretary had asked if they should buy the flat as memorial, to which he had again refused. Further, when Osho was designing the old meditation hall called Chuang Tzu so that it could become his new bedroom. The exact spot where he had sat on and spoken from than any other place and which was again the exact spot where he had given sannyas to thousands of meditators was the spot he turned it into a cupboard for cleaning materials. He did not preserve that spot for posterity as so many of his "followers" might have wished."

We have been visiting Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune for the last about 40 years with gaps of two or three years. We have also been meditating in Osho's bed room where His Ashes have been kept. In February, 2013 also we were there . We have not found any difference there so far as the meditative atmosphere is concerned. Nor removing the photo from that place has made any difference in the peace and silence that we experienced while meditating there. What meditation has to do with picture or idol of an enlightened master? His presence can be felt any where if one has a loving heart and a little empty mind. Osho is not in the body now and has become one with the existence. His presence is available everywhere. One is required to tune to the same state that one had been in His physical presence and experienced the silence and serenity.

"My presence has to be only a lesson.
Once you have learned the art of opening, the art of being silent, it does not matter whether I am present or not. If you have really learned it, it will happen anywhere. It may be a little difficult in the beginning, but soon you will get the knack of it."

"Meditation is also a knack.
You are not to become attached to the presence of the master, because that will be learning something wrong. You have to learn how you are opening. Forget about the master; that is his business, to be present or not to be present. Your business is to see how you are opening, what happens in your opening, and then try on your own, when you are alone to see whether it can happen or not. It is bound to happen."

"Space makes no difference, but you have to learn what happens in you so that you can repeat it in the absence of the master. Otherwise, one can become attached to things which were to help you... but now they will hinder you. The presence of the master was to help you; now it has become a hindrance -- because the master is not there, so you cannot meditate."

"Remember: no attachment should grow, no clinging should grow. They are all against your independence, your freedom, your individuality. And whatever is happening here can happen anywhere; it just needs a little understanding of how it happens here."

"Just try. Even if you fail a few times, don't be worried. It is a knack which will come to you. And once it happens without any support from outside -- even the smallest support, such as the presence of the master -- you will feel a great joy, because a great freedom has happened."

"Now there are no barriers for you. Wherever you are you can be in meditation, you can be in silence, you can be peaceful. Now you can carry your paradise within you."

"And unless that happens, a disciple has not matured."

(Beyond Enlightenment # 8)

Whether to be in the physical presence of Osho or to meditate at the place where He had lived for long; what counts is one's depth of love for Osho and openness of his heart. Moreover, whatsoever is attained in the presence of the master will not remain forever unless continuously nourished by meditation. It is more so because man is not a static phenomenon. He is alive and always goes on changing. There were many sannyasins who were once very near to Osho for a long time, and at several occasions Osho himself had appreciated their love and trust. But with the passage of time and changing circumstances the same persons betrayed Osho. This paradox of life also is there.

Notwithstanding what is stated above, the individual freedom of a person is above all. Everyone is free to do anything on his search to truth. Even not to go on such search or go astray is also his freedom and nobody is allowed to trespass the same. He may worship anything or pray to anything, create the image of any god and sit before it, prepare Samadhi of anyone and remain sitting there or gather the relics of any person and worship them. But it should remain in his individual domain. In case he propagates such things to others that go against the vision of Osho. Osho has never supported such things in his latest discourses involving such issues. Therefore Osho sannyasins who are engaged in building Samadhies in their Meditation Centers or Communes are betraying Osho's Vision and its unique rebelliousness. Their act goes to the public domain and will have longtime repercussions which will harm Osho's work.

[Osho's above quotations are under copyright of Osho International Foundation]
OSHO FRIENDS TRUST