Is There a Scrap of Enlightenment?

Swami Prem Oscar sent an interesting note and we invite our readers to join the discussion:

I have been struck by a question and, in my usual fashion, just cough it out, despite its maybe being sinful or whatever!
We/I say we are/I am unenlightened, but how would we/I know? How? Will there be a very obvious change, a knowing, a happening – trumpets from the sky and all that.

I am “merged” with my natural surroundings here, spend most of my time happily alone, often following my breath, and constantly very aware of all the astounding beauty around me...and also of how very lucky I am.
But how would I know if there's even a scrap of enlightenment present here?

Thanks, Oscar – Nairobi, Kenya

Sourced from the Viha Connection Osho magazine

Osho’s World Tour 1985 – 1986

After leaving his commune in Oregon in November 1985 Osho returns to India, but in December of 1985 
Osho's new secretary, his companion, his doctor, and other western disciples accompanying him are ordered out of India, their visas canceled. No reason is given by the Indian government for this unprecedented action except, "You are not wanted here." Osho leaves to join them in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he resumed his daily discourses. The discourses Osho gives during his time were published under the titles Light on the Path and The Sword and the Lotus.

However, the Nepalese government soon refuses visas for his visitors and closest attendance, so 
Osho leaves and embarks on his world tour. His first stop is Greece where he is granted a 30-days tourist visa. He lives in the villa of a Greek film producer in Crete and starts to speak twice daily. Disciples arrive from around the world to hear him. The Greek Orthodox clergy threatens the Greek government that blood will flow unless Osho is thrown out of the country. Osho titles the series of discourses he gives while in Crete Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries.

On March 5, 1986 
police breaks into the villa and arrests Osho without warrant, staking him to Athens where only a 25-thousand dollar bribery moves the authorities not to put him on the boat to India.
In the next two weeks numerous countries refuse to let Osho enter: Switzerland, Sweden, England, Ireland, Canada, Antigua, Holland, Germany, and Italy.

On March 19, 1986 Uruguay extends an invitation, and so Osho and his attendants fly to Montevideo.
Uruguay even mentions the possibility of permanent residence. However, in Uruguay it is discovered why Osho has been denied access to every country he tried to enter: Telexes with "diplomatic secret information" (all from NATO government sources) mentioning Interpol rumors of "smuggling charges, drug dealing and prostitution" concerning Osho's circle preceded them to their prospective host countries. The source of these stories is found to be the USA. Soon Uruguay comes under the same pressure, but on May 14 the government decides to announce at a press conference that Osho has been granted permanent residence in Uruguay.

That night Sanguinetti, the President of Uruguay, receives a call from Washington, DC, saying that if Osho stays in Uruguay, current US loans of six billion dollars will be called in, and no future loans given. Osho is requested to leave Uruguay by June 18. A day after Osho leaves Uruguay, Sanguinetti and Reagan announce from Washington a new US loan to Uruguay of 150 million dollars.

The talks Osho gives during his two months in Uruguay are among Osho’s most esoteric discourses. They were published under the following titles: Beyond Psychology, The Path of the Mystic, and The Transmission of the Lamp.

On June 19, 1986 
Jamaica grants Osho a 10-day visa. Moments after he lands there, a US navy jet lands next to Osho's private jet, and two civilians descend. The next morning, the visas of Osho and his group are canceled, "for reasons of national security."

Osho flies on to Lisbon via Madrid, and remains "undiscovered" for some time. A few weeks later policemen are placed around the villa where he is resting. Osho decides to return back to India the next day, on July 28.
Altogether 21 countries either deported him or denied him entry.

July 29, 1986 
Osho arrives in Mumbai, India, where he settles for six months as a personal guest of an Indian friend. In the privacy of his host's home, he starts giving daily discourses and disciples from around the world arrive. These discourses were published as The Osho Upanishad, Beyond Enlightenment, and Sermons in Stone.

On January 4, 1987 
Osho moves into the house at the ashram in Pune where he lived for the major part of the seventies. He stays there until his death on January 19, 1990.

Several of the printed discourse series covering his World Tour are no longer available. Osho Viha is happy to be able to offer all the series on MP3 CDs.

Our March/April Viha Connection

Our March/April Viha Connection has only just hit the streets (or cyberspace) but is already getting rave reviews. Not only is the cover stunning, but folks are also loving the contents.

The Special Section, titled More Lives in Orange, focuses on folks who grew up in Osho's communes. In 2004 Tim Guest, aka Yogesh, published his memoir, My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru. The book received a lot of attention, almost all of it negative about Osho and the sannyas community. There were talks of movie deals, until Yogesh died suddenly in 2009 at the age of 34. Critics claimed that Yogesh blamed his mother’s parenting behavior on Osho and the community, when, if fact, he lived most of his childhood with her outside of the community. In an article about her son’s death, his mother also seemed to blame her behavior on the community.

For our two-part series we asked Yogesh’s contemporaries for an honest look at their own experiences growing up in the sannyas community as children. It’s possible that only people who enjoyed their experiences were motivated to respond, but our contributors have both honest criticism and deep-felt gratitude to share about their unusual upbringings. Many of them are now parents themselves, and they share how growing up in the community has influenced their own parenting experiences.

Writers are Arvind, now a visual journalism instructor at the University of the West of England; Melania, a mother, social worker, and doula in Bodrum, Turkey; Madhav, an electrical engineer working in DVR technology in Los Angeles; Viyogini, a singer and event coordinator in France; and Urja, a devoted mother on the path toward freedom who lives in a satsang monastery in Germany.

Other feature articles include a report by Nirdosha about his recent enlightenment, and a piece by Aneesha titled "The Alchemy of Celebration."

There is also a review of Madhuri's book Love at Dancing Leaves by Prartho, obituaries for Navyo, Melissa and Rupesh, Bhagawati's very popular gossip column from Bali, Deepak's famous astrology column – and of course lots of wonderful Osho quotes.

Does this sound tempting? You can subscribe for the printed or the online version on our website.

Osho Talks on Zen

On no other topic has Osho talked more than on Zen, from early discourse series like Roots and Wings (1974) to his final talks in The Zen Manifesto in early 1989.

Even though throughout his 30 years of talking Osho commented on just about any religion or teaching, he would always return to Zen.

In the beloved series, The Goose Is Out, Osho says, “Zen is not a religion, not a dogma, not a creed, Zen is not even a quest, an inquiry; it is non-philosophical. The fundamental of the Zen approach is that all is as it should be, nothing is missing. This very moment everything is perfect. The goal is not somewhere else, it is here, it is now. Tomorrows don't exist. This very moment is the only reality. Hence in Zen there is no distinction between methods and goals, means and goals.”

Unfortunately many of the books are out of print although they are very much in demand. Here at Viha we keep getting requests for them. So it is with great joy that we can announce that we now have all 20 Poona-One Zen discourse series available in MP3 format.

We continue to expand our MP3 selection and are now working on the Poona-Two Zen series. Stay tuned!

Sourced from Viha Connection Osho magazine.

Jayapal on His Father's Passing

HAROLD SHERMAN (1910—2011)

“Jay (his tongue had an easier time with jay than jayapal), I have to do things my way.” And this was his mantra until the very end. He renewed his automobile insurance the day before the fatal heart attack at age 100. Yes, he was still driving. “His way” meant no cane, no walker, no wheelchair and just maybe an occasional aspirin. He lived alone in his small apartment-cum-artist studio until the very end and antagonized every doctor in Kalamazoo where he resided for over 35 years. He thought they were all charlatans “out to make a buck.”

When he came to Pune in 1978, hauling an electric typewriter across the ghats as requested by the ashram, I took him to M.G. Road to have an orange outfit made with which he could come to discourse. When he picked it up from the tailor he wore it proudly. Unfortunately, when he took the orange “pajamas” off at the end of the day his entire body had become orange with the bleeding dye. He did not take this as a mystical sign that he was meant to take sannyas. Rather it unleashed his considerable wrath on the unlucky tailor.

In 1984 Sheela had the idea of inviting parents of sannyasins to come live and work at the Ranch. I believe Harold was the first to take up this invitation, and, at age 74, was given half a trailer for accommodations and was put to work at Dadu as a gentleman farmer. He thrived as a target for many flirtatious lovelies and enjoyed his unique status in the commune. When he was about to be transferred to the publications department to use his artistic talents (his lifelong profession was as an artist and illustrator) Sheela and her posse left the Ranch, threw things into turmoil, sending Harold scurrying back to Kalamazoo.

He was proud of the fact that, in May of 2001, he created the first non-photographic cover for the Viha Connection with his painting of Osho. He also illustrated a hilarious series of ads for Viha, promoting my investment advisory business. Any chance he got to connect in some way with the world of sannyas he jumped at.

Few people who had contact with Harold could forget him. He could be cantankerous, stubborn, loyal and loving. As his kid I dealt with all of these moods and then some. At his core was a very fragile, delicate being who had grown up in horrendous conditions of poverty and lived a life of solitude among his paints and canvasses. I write this a few days after his passing and already I miss this bittersweet, bigger-than-life character.

May he fly weightless above the clouds.

Osho the Most Prolific Author of All Times

by Dhanyam

I am always a bit amused when I see this label attached to Osho. Although there are more than 650 Osho books to his name, Osho, of course, did not “write” any of them, apart from A Cup of Tea, a beautiful collection of early letters. Those familiar with Osho know that he spoke – or gave “discourses” – for about 30 years and that the books are transcripts of recordings made from these spontaneous talks. The earliest recordings, on audio, were made around 1974, and video recording started in 1978.

Although I love Osho’s books and do my best to make available as many as possible by importing them from all over the world, I think that hearing and seeing Osho are powerful ways to experience him. That’s why here at Osho Viha we continue to expand our selection of Osho DVDs and, now that audiotapes and CDs are old technology, Osho MP3s. I am also glad that we have more and more DVDs and MP3s available because more and more books are going out of print.

Just these past few days, we added to our MP3 selection all of Osho’s discourse series on Jesus: The Mustard Seed, Come Follow Me, and I Say Unto You, and a beautiful Zen discourse series: This Very Body the Buddha: Discourses on Haikun’s Song of Meditation. This series starts out with the much-loved “birthday discourse,” given on December 11, 1977: “My beloved ones, I love you all. Love is my message – let it be your message too. Love is my color and climate. To me, love is the only religion.”

With Osho’s birthday just a month away, I wanted to make this treasure available.

Sourced from the Viha Connection, our Osho magazine.

Osho's Copyrights

The recent interview of Ramateertha by Harideva in the Viha Connection and Ramateertha’s open letter to the Inner Circle have stirred up fresh interest in the topic of intellectual property rights: copyrights and trademarks. We’ve received comments from several people about Zurich-based OIF’s claim to own Osho’s interests in His copyrights, along with requests to open this topic for discussion in the community.

We’ve also had questions about the difference between copyrights and trademarks. Copyrights protect the use of the content of creative works that have been “fixed” by digitalizing, printing, writing down, drawing or painting, recording, and so on. A copyright applies to creative works like writing, audio, video, photographs, and artwork. The copyright attaches automatically at the time the work is fixed and belongs to the person who created the work.

Trademarks are what they sound like. They protect the mark used to market goods or services in the marketplace. A mark can be a word, phrase, or symbol. The only connection between trademarks and content is that the person who controls a mark can control what content is marketed under that mark. The same content can be marketed under a different name.

One writer raised the question of using money from copyrights to support operations in Pune. He had heard a person involved with management there complain that audio copies of Osho’s discourses are being distributed for free (apparently the new cost price in this techie age). He wanted to know what people thought about this. Since OIF doesn’t run the center in Pune, it isn’t clear what the financial connection actually is. Other commentators are concerned that Osho’s work can’t be protected without a copyright. Others argue that with all the compilation books published by OIF or with their blessings, OIF does not protect Osho’s work at all. Some of these books, as well as books published by the “official” Pune publishers, are heavily edited.

Osho clearly owned the copyrights to His work during His lifetime, since copyrights automatically attach to creative works at the time they are “fixed” (written down, recorded, and so on). The relevant question today is whether Osho transferred those rights to someone else. Many people are convinced, from the documents on file at the US Copyright Office (available at www.OshoFriendsInternational.com), that Osho did not transfer His rights to OIF. This raises several questions. If Osho did indeed not transfer copyright interests, should anyone try to pretend He did, in the interest of protecting the work or making money? Could pretending that someone owns Osho’s copyrights ever be successful? Will attempts to do so bring on more coercion (banning, shunning, threatening lawsuits), in an effort to bring people in line behind a questionable claim? What effects would this coercion have on the community?

Osho had some interesting things to say about owning, distributing, and protecting His work. One was a request to have His work distributed at cost price. Here are a few others:

I am utterly empty.
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. (Sermons in Stone, Chapter 15)

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.” (The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here, Chapter 12)

“Beloved Osho,
The commune is no more; or, every sannyasin is the commune. But what about such institutions as the Academy, or Friends, which takes care of the publication and distribution of your words? Do they still have a function, and how can they function?”

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.
And they are not organizations, they are simply institutes. And their function has become more important now, because for all the languages that books are being translated into, it has to be seen to it that they are not mistranslated – that the translation is right, that it does not harm the spirit of the message.

So it is a great work to take care of all the languages – we need the publication institute to check all the language publications before they are published.

Now there are many countries... Just yesterday, a Korean woman was here, and she informed us that more than thirty of my books are translated into Korean, and thousands of copies are available in all the bookstalls all over the country. We have to take care of things. There are countries that are not members of the Bern Convention: they do not believe in copyright. Korea is one of those that do not believe in copyright, so they can translate any book, publish any book.

But we can at least keep an eye that the translation is done rightly, that the person who is doing the translation understands me. It is not only a question of copyright; it is a question that I should not be presented in a wrong way – which is possible. Because if they are just earning money, who cares whether the translation is right or wrong?

I informed the woman, "You send..." Because we don't even know: it may be happening in other countries. There are many countries that are not under the copyright convention. But we can help them, we can suggest to them, "We don't want any money from you, any royalty from you, but we would like you to represent every book exactly, without any distortion." And in many countries we will have to take publication into our own hands. (Light on the Path, Chapter 28)

We would like to invite our readers to discuss these issues. We ask everyone to be respectful (no insults, sarcasm, personal attacks, psychological evaluations…) so that we can hold a space for all points of view. Posts that do not follow these guidelines will be removed.

In the meantime, some lawyers from around the world have written in with a few helpful comments. An American attorney points out that even if OIF, Zurich did have a legitimate claim to copyrights, it would still be legal to use Osho quotes:

As I understand the situation, many requests have gone to OIF over the years, asking to use Osho quotes in various kinds of publications: books, memoirs, people’s personal stories about meeting Osho, etc. Almost invariably, OIF wants to see the proposal, assess its worth, and give or withhold permission.

The reality is that your right to Osho’ s words is safeguarded by the legal framework of “fair use” that has been adopted in the United States and in most other countries. […]

One of the key issues in permitting “fair use” is public interest.

For example, Osho is a public and controversial figure. He might well be described as one of the most radical philosophers of the twentieth century. Therefore, it greatly benefits the public to understand him from as many different perspectives as possible.

Let’s say, I’m totally opposed to Osho’s teachings and regard him as a danger to society. I want to write a book showing how immoral and subversive are his teachings.

Now, clearly, OIF is never going to give permission for a book like that. But, equally clearly, it is in the public interest to have access to my views, since it broadens the public’s general understanding about Osho and his work. It encourages debate and discussion. It widens the public’s knowledge about a controversial figure.

So, with full legal protection, I can use long quotations from Osho in my book, refuting each of his statements as I go along, and OIF cannot do anything about it. If they take me to court, they are certain to lose.

Similarly, if you have personal stories about Osho, or if you want to use Osho quotes in your book, you do not need permission to do so. Why? Because your use of Osho, in your particular context, is broadening public understanding about this controversial mystic.

You’re adding to the body of knowledge that is available to the public about Osho. The chat you had with him, over a cup of tea in Woodlands in 1973, or the relevance of his vision to your book on quantum physics, deepens the public’s understanding of this extraordinary man.

If Osho had been a very private man, things would be different. But he was not. On the contrary, he made every effort during his life to become as widely known and as notorious as possible. Parodying Dale Carnegie, Osho once said that his biography should be called “How To Make Enemies And Influence People.”

Osho’s public stature is your protection.

If you want to play safe, then keep each quotation under 300 words, because this has been adopted as a general “fair use” guideline. But longer quotes will also be okay, especially if you break them up into short sections of direct quotations, while paraphrasing in between.

But for those of you who just want to write about their personal memories, or use a quote here and there, or talk about Osho’s views on various subjects, have no fear. Feel free to quote the Great Rebel. He’s public property and your right to comment will be protected under the law.

Another writer points out that if there is a legitimate copyright holder, and if you are relying on the fair-use rule for protection, you need to make sure you attribute material by Osho to Him to avoid claims of plagiarism. You can’t take a quote or close paraphrase of Osho and use it as your own work.

An attorney in Australia suggests that a new approach to handing copyright, called Creative Commons, might be the solution. Here are links to a comic book description of Creative Commons that explains what it is: www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/digital.php;
and information on an author who increased sales using this approach:
www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b46f5a58-aa2e-11db-83b0-0000779e2340.html
Let us know what you think.

Sourced from our Osho magazine, the Viha Connection.