Product Description
Ten years have passed since, in the words of his attending physician, Osho prepared for his departure from the body that had served him for 59 years ""as calmly as though he were packing for a weekend in the country."" This volume is a recognition that the time has come to provide a historical and biographical context for understanding Osho and his work. Who was this man, known as the sex guru, the ""self-appointed Bhagwan"", the Rolls Royce Guru, the Rich Mans Guru and simply the Master? Drawn from nearly 5000 hours of Oshos recorded talks, we hear the story of his youth and education, his life as a professor of philosophy and years of travel teaching the importance of meditation, and the true legacy he sought to leave behind: a religionless religion centered on the act of meditation and the teaching of ""Zorba the Buddha"".
Foreword xiii Preface xvii Part 1 Just an Ordinary Human Being: The History Behind the Legend Glimpses of a Golden Childhood 3 1931-1939: Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh, India 4 The Rebellious Spirit 24 1939-1951: Gadarwara, Madhya Pradesh, India 24 In Search of the Deathiess 52 Enlightenment: A Discontinuity with the Past 58 Sharpening the Sword 83 1953-1956: The University Student 84 1957-1966: The Professor 93 On the Road 102 Expressing the Inexpressible: The Shences Between Words 117 Part 2 Reflections in an Empty Mirror: The Many Faces of a Man Who Never Was Sex Guru 129 Cult Leader 133 Con Man 136 ""Self-Appointed"" Bhagwan 140 The Rich Mans Guru 146 The Joker 149 The Rolls-Royce Guru 154 1978: Pune, India 155 1981-1985: Oregon 157 The Master 158 Part 3 The Legacy Religionless Religion 171 Meditation for the Twenty-First Century 180 1972: Meditation Camp, Mt. Abu, Rajasthan, India 186 The Third Psychology: The Psychology of the Buddhas 192 Zorba The Buddha: The Whole Human Being 207 Appendix Highlights of Oshos Life and Work December 11, 1931 223 1932-1939: Kuchwada 223 1938-1951: Gadarwara 223 March 21, 1953: Enlightenment 224 1951-1956: University Student 224 1957-1970: Professor and Public Speaker 224 1970-1974: Bombay 226 1974-1981: ""Pune One"" 233 1981-1985: The Big Muddy Ranch 248 1985-1986: The ""World Tour"" 260 1987: ""Pune Two"" 265 Epilogue: 1990-Present 297 References 285 Further Reading 293 Meditation Resort 294 Index 296
Chapter One
GLIMPSES OF A
GOLDEN CHILDHOOD
* * *
I have never been spiritual in the sense that you understand the word. I have never gone to the temples or the churches, or read scriptures, or followed certain practices to find truth, or worshiped God or prayed to God. That has not been my way at all. So certainly you can say that I was not doing anything spiritual. But to me, spirituality has a totally different connotation. It needs an honest individuality. It does not allow any kind of dependence. It creates a freedom for itself, whatever the cost. It is never in the crowd but alone, because the crowd has never found any truth. The truth has been found only in peoples aloneness.
So my spirituality has a different meaning from your idea of spirituality. My childhood stories, if you can understand them, will point to all these qualities in some way or other. Nobody can call them spiritual. I call them spiritual because to me, they have given all that man can aspire to.
While listening to my childhood stories you should try to look for some quality?not just the story but some intrinsic quality that runs like a thin thread through all of my memoirs, And that thin thread is spiritual.
Spiritual, to me, simply means finding oneself. I never allowed anybody to do this work on my behalf?because nobody can do this work on your behalf; you have to do it yourself.
1931-1939:
KUCHWADA,