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Part VI : Early search for a New Commune
When Osho lives in Bombay there are four experimental Communes,
while a search continues for a property where thousands of people
can meditate and live together. Overseas, several new meditation
centres are set up, some of which are residential ashrams.
The ashram is an Eastern concept, there is no word to express
it in English. "Monastery" is not a good word; ashram
is totally different. You have to understand the concept. A monastery
is where monks live. There are Christian monasteries - there
is no need for an enlightened person to be there; abbots are there,
administrators are there. The monastery is like a training school.
The abbot need not be enlightened, but he will train you, because
they have a curriculum, a course. Christian priests are prepared
that way....
A monastery is a training school; an ashram is not a school,
an ashram is a family. And an ashram doesn't exist as an institution,
cannot exist as an institution. The ashram exists around an enlightened
person, that is a basic must. If the enlightened person is not
there the ashram disappears; it is the person around whom the
ashram can come into being. When the person is dead the ashram
has to disappear. If you continue the ashram it becomes a monastery....
The person is important, not the institute - institutions
are dead. So remember this: a live phenomenon, a master, just
by his presence creates a milieu - that milieu is the ashram.
And when you move in that milieu you are moving in a family, not
in an institute. The master will take care of you in every way,
and you will be there in intimate, close proximity.
Eastern ashrams are disappearing, they are becoming monasteries,
institutes. The Western mind is so obsessed with institutes that
everything is turned into an institute. I was just reading a book
on marriage. It begins by saying that marriage is the greatest
institute, the greatest institution - but who wants to live
in an institute? The ashram is more intimate, more personal.
So every ashram will differ from others, every ashram is going
to be unique, because it will depend on the person around whom
it has been created. All monasteries will be similar but no two
ashrams can be similar, because every ashram has to be individual,
unique; it depends on the personality of the master. If you go
to a Sufi ashram it will be totally different - much dancing
and singing will be there; if you go to a Buddhist ashram, no
dancing, no singing, much sitting silently will be there. And
both are doing the same, they are leading towards the same goal.
The first thing to remember: an ashram exists with a master;
it is his personal influence, his person, the atmosphere, the
milieu that he creates through his being. An ashram is his being,
and when you enter into an ashram you are not entering into an
institution, you are entering a live person, you are becoming
part of the soul of the master. Now you will exist as part of
the master, he will exist through you. So no forced discipline,
but spontaneous happenings will be there. vedant08
In October 1971 Vishwaneed Neo-Sannyas Commune is set up by Ma
Anand Madhu in Ajol, Gujarat. Facilities are provided for experiments
in 21-days’ silence and seclusion
It is helpful to practice breath awareness for twenty-one days
in total seclusion and silence. Then, much will happen.
During the twenty-one-day experiment, practice Dynamic Meditation
once a day and constant awareness of breathing for twenty-four
hours a day. Do not read, do not write, do not think, because
all these acts are of the mental body; they are not concerned
with the etheric body.
You can go for a walk. This helps because walking is part of
the etheric body; all manual actions are concerned with the prana
sharira, the etheric body. The physical body does these things,
but it is for the etheric body. Everything concerned with the
etheric body should be done, and everything concerned with another
body must not be done. You can also have a bath once or twice
a day; it is concerned with the etheric body.
When you go for a walk, just walk. Do not do anything else;
just be concerned with your walking. And while walking, keep your
eyes half-closed. Half-closed eyes cannot see anything other than
the path, and the path itself is so monotonous that it will not
give you something new to think about.
You must remain in a monotonous world, just in one room, seeing
the same floor. It must be so monotonous that you cannot think
about it. Thinking needs stimuli; thinking needs new sensations.
If your sensory system is constantly bored, there will be nothing
outside of you to think about.
During the first week you may feel less need of sleep. Do not
be concerned about it. Because you are not thinking, because you
are not doing many of the things that you ordinarily do, you will
need less sleep. And if you are constantly aware of your breathing,
so much energy will be generated in you, you will become so vital,
that you will not feel sleepy. So if sleep comes it is alright;
if it doesn't come it is alright. If you do not sleep it will
not be harmful....
So much will come to you: things that are absurd, illogical, unimaginable,
inconceivable, fantastic, nightmarish. You must go on watching
your breath. Let these things come and go; just be indifferent
to them. It is as if you are going for a walk. The street is full
of people. They pass by, but you are indifferent to them; you
are not concerned with them. Then these images and fantasies will
be released and, by the end of the first week, a new silence will
come to you. The moment the unconscious is unburdened, there will
be no more inner noise. Silence will come to you, a deep inner
silence.
You may experience moments of depression. If a deep-rooted feeling
of depression has been suppressed in the unconscious, it will
come and overwhelm you. It will not be a thought, it will be a
mood. Not only thoughts will be coming to you, but moods, too,
will be coming. Sometimes you will feel exhilarated, sometimes
you will feel depressed or bored, but be as indifferent to these
moods as you are indifferent to thoughts. Let them come and go.
They will go by themselves so do not be concerned with them. Moods,
too, have been suppressed in the unconscious. During the twenty-one
days of the experiment they will be released, and then you will
experience something that you have never experienced before - something
new, something unknown.
Each individual will experience something different. There are
many possibilities, but whatever happens, don't be afraid; there
is no need to be. Even if you feel that you are dying, no matter
how strong that feeling is, no matter how sure you are of it,
accept it. Thoughts, feelings, moods, will be so acute, so real.
Just accept them. If you feel that death is coming, then welcome
it - and go on watching your breath....
After the first week you will begin to have some psychic experiences.
The body may become very big or very small. Sometimes it will
disappear, it will evaporate, and you will be bodiless. Do not
be afraid. There will be moments when you cannot find where your
body is - it is not - and moments when you will see your
body lying or sitting at a distance away from you. Again, do not
be afraid.
You may feel electrical shocks. Every time a new chakra is penetrated,
there will be shocks and tremblings; the whole body will be in
a turmoil. Do not resist; cooperate with these reactions. If you
resist, you will be fighting against yourself. Shocks, trembling,
a feeling of electricity, heat, cold - anything felt on your
chakras you must cooperate with. You yourself have invited it,
so do not resist it. If you resist it, your energies will be in
conflict, so cooperate with any psychic experiences that you may
have.
Sometimes you may not feel that you are breathing. It is not that
breath has stopped, but that it has become so natural, so silent,
so rhythmic, that it is not felt....
Just be aware of this situation. You were aware of breathing;
now be aware of a situation where no breath is felt. Whatever
happens, be aware of it. Awareness must be there. If nothing is
felt, then you must be aware of your no-feeling. Nothing is being
felt, but awareness must be there....
Do not stop the experiment before the twenty-one days are over.
After the first week you may want to stop it. Your mind may say,
"This is nonsense. Leave." Do not listen to it. Just
tell yourself once and for all that for twenty-one days there
is nowhere else to go.
After the third week you may not want to leave. If your mind is
so blissful that you do not want to disturb it, if only nothingness,
blissfulness is there - if you are just a vacuum - then
you can prolong the experiment for two or three or four more days.
But do not break it before the twenty-one days are over....
So go and begin it as soon as you can. artof18
In 1972 Samarpan Rajneesh Sadhana Ashram, New York state, is
the first residential ashram overseas
You ask me: Can you guide us as to some specific ways that Rajneesh
Sadhana Ashrams in the West and elsewhere should be structured
which makes them different from other Ashrams? How are they unique?
Remember three words: love, discipline, an independence. These
three have to be combine. Love should be the main thing. So whatsoever
you do, you must remember that it must be loving. It is very easy
to be authoritative. It is every easy to restrict others, because
the mind wants to dominate. Then the guru becomes the dominator
and the dictator. Then love is lost. So love is the base of whatsoever
you are doing.
For example, smoking: it is innocent, but you can create much
fuss about it, an you can make it so significant that it seems
as if the whole moksha (liberation) is dependent on whether you
smoke or not. It is not so.
For example, sex: All those who want to dominate will always be
against sex. You cannot dominate a person if you give freedom
about sex. You cannot dominate because man has two basic things:
food and sex. He cannot survive without these two things. These
are survival bases: food and sex. So all the religions who want
to dominate others, they will always be concerned with food and
sex - always! They will control your food completely and then
they will control your sex completely. Then you are just a slave
without knowing that you have become a slave. But food cannot
be completely controlled, because you will have to eat something - because
for an individual to survive, food is necessary. So they create
many taboos around food. Unscientific, nonsensical taboos are
created.
The basic thing is that if one controls your food, he controls
your life. So, really, you have become a slave. But food cannot
be completely controlled, and one has to eat some time because
an individual's life depends on it. But sex can be completely
controlled, because individual existence is not dependent on sex.
You are already born, so sex can be completely cut out. That is
why religions are totally against sex.
Every religion creates taboos around food, but allows something
to eat, whatsoever it is. But they try to control sex completely.
And once someone controls your sex, he controls you.
So the first thing is we are not to control anybody. We are just
to help. Our Ashrams are not dominating fields for someone to
play God and then create a slavery around him. Love, I say, is
the basic thing to remember. Whenever you are thinking to prohibit
anything, remember, it is not going to be your domination. It
must be something to help the other person, and that is the basic
difference.
If I say take vegetarian food, it is just to help you. You will
be more patient with vegetarian food, more silent, and it will
be easy for you to move in meditation. You can move with non-vegetarian
food also, but then you are doing two contradictory things. So
it is just a love act when we say that a vegetarian diet will
be helpful. So be a vegetarian.
But we are not food addicts and maniacs and faddists. So this
is not going to be a principle. We are not saying to anyone that
he must be, for his whole life, a vegetarian. We are not saying
that! You have come to the Ashram to experiment for deeper meditation.
So if you have come for deeper meditation, it is good to be vegetarian.
Later on, if you feel it is good for your whole life, that is
up to you. We are not for vegetarianism. It is not an "ism".
It is up to you. If you feel that it is good for you and later
on also you want to continue, it is up to you.
So do not create any "ism" around anything. We just
want utilitarian devices. The same for sex, because it is very
easy to inhibit any person about sex and create guilt feelings.
And once someone feels guilty, you can dominate him....
Our approach is with love. We do not want to create any guilt
in anyone, because we are not to dominate - -just to help.
So if we say anything about sex, it is not against sex. If we
say that it should not be displayed while others are present,
that is only not to trespass others' freedom. So remember this:
whatsoever you do, first make it judged by the criterion of love.
This must be the first touchstone. Whatsoever you decide, always
remember, love must be the reason for the decision....
So discipline is just utilitarian, just for outward behaviour
so that a group can live easily, peacefully, with each other.
Remember this: the discipline is not for the inner individual.
It is only for his outer behaviour, because he is not alone. There
are others. That is the difference from a disciplinarian. For
a disciplinarian, discipline is the absolute end, the ideal. For
me, it is just a technique, and the technique is to help the individual
to be independent. And we want discipline so that he becomes more
responsible toward others - so that no one is disturbed by
him. When no one is disturbed by him, he will not be disturbed
by anyone.
There should be no conflict in behaviour among Ashram residents,
and everyone can grow inwardly without any conflict with the outside.
Just to get rid of conflict, we have to create discipline. It
is not against the individual. It is against the possibility of
conflict. When many persons are living together, there are bound
to be many conflicts. So no trespassing, and this is to help the
individual to be independent, not to be a slave.
Love should not become possession. Discipline should not become
a dead end. And we must continuously remember that everyone remains
independent, even following discipline. So make it clear to everyone
who comes to the Ashram that this is your choice. You have come
to the Ashram. You have entered the Ashram for a few days, for
a certain period. You choose discipline. This is with your independence;
you choose it! If you do not want to choose it, do not come. This
is your choice. Once you choose it, it is your responsibility
to follow it.
Even then there will be many problems. Even if you make all the
rules, problems will be there, because you cannot know what can
happen in any moment. Whenever something occurs and you feel that
the rules and the discipline are not fixed about it, remember
love and independence, and then decide the discipline. Your mind
must be loving, and the person must get a maximum of independence.
And then decide the discipline between these two.
It is going to be a delicate thing, and that is the responsibility
of the Vice Chancellor and the Chancellor: to decide so delicately!
Think it over. Do not be hasty. And always decide within the framework
of love and independence. From you, love must be the base. For
the other, love must be the end. And between these two there is
discipline just because of communal living. If everyone is alone,
then there is no question of discipline. Because the other is
there, the question of discipline comes.
So this is going to be the difference: for us moksha is not the
ideal. The individual himself is the ideal. How he becomes totally
independent: that is moksha, that is liberation. So we have to
help him, because in other ashrams, for them, their emphasis is
on moksha, God Realization or something vague, something very
very far away. Because of that ideal, that goal, they will force
the individual to become a slave. They say that unless you become
a slave completely, you cannot achieve moksha. And in order to
gain the ideal, individuals become slaves.
For us, the individual himself is the end. There is no future
ideal for him. So owe are to help him to attain this very moment,
and we cannot cause that individual to be a slave in any name.
There are only two ways to make slaves: one is physical force,
another is mental force. They both work the same. Dictators use
physical force. Religious organizations, churches, they use mental
force. But the end result is slavery. You can force someone physically
or mentally, and the second is more tricky, more cunning. So we
are not going to cause anyone to be a slave in any sense. sannyas
magazine Jan-Feb73
In 1972 two farming communes are set up: 'Kailash' in Chanda,
donated by Ma Anandmayi, Osho's past-life mother, where a group
of 30 Western sannyasins participate in a 6-month residential
program; and 'Samarpan', Baroda, Gujarat, donated by Swami Swarupanand
(Sheela's father), for a group of Western and Indian sannyasins.
Some experiments developed by Gurdjieff are used.
Kailash was a great group. It was a different kind of group,
but it was good; it helped the people tremendously! shore07
Gurdjieff was experimenting with his disciples. He and his thirty
disciples lived in a big house, and he told them to live there
in such a way as if the other twenty-nine did not exist. They
were not to speak with anyone, not to make any signs, not to make
any gestures which might create any communication. Even if one
passed by someone else, he had to remember that he was all alone
there, nobody else was there in the house. Knowingly or unknowingly,
nothing was to be done by anyone that might indicate the presence
of the other. If someone stepped on somebody else's toes he was
not to make any apology, for there was no one else present there.
Even if because of somebody's mistake an ember from the fire was
to fall on someone's hand, no one was to ask for any forgiveness - for
there was no one else present there. No one was even to express
through their eyes, "I am sorry."
Gurdjieff asked these thirty disciples to stay like that for three
months. Twenty-seven disciples ran away after some time; only
three remained to the very end, but those three were transformed
into totally different persons.
What was the purpose of this experiment? Let us understand it.
It is very easy not to pay any attention to others, or not to
apologize, even if you kick someone! This is very easy, there
is no difficulty in it. This is how we always want it to be. But
this is not the significant point. So what meaning does this experiment
carry?
Remember, its meaning is deep and hidden. Gurdjieff had asked
you not to pay any attention to the fact that there is someone
else present, but then also to understand well that others also
will not pay any attention to you. That is where the catch is.
You will not pay attention to others, you are alone; others will
not pay attention to you, they are twenty-nine. You will not receive
twenty-nine other people's attention, for three months, at all!
All transactions are mutual. I give you attention, you give me
attention. It is a business. I am fulfilling your ego, you are
fulfilling mine. But in this experiment the exchange will cease
at both the ends. What was the reason for those twenty-seven disciples
running away? Many of them said later, "We felt as if we
were suffocating, that we would die, that we were choking."
Actually their throats were not choking, it was their ego's throats
that were choking. They were thinking, "Three months! And
there will be no food for our egos! By the time we are out of
this place we will be empty." Those three courageous disciples
who stayed, came out after three months as different persons altogether.
What had changed in them?
Ouspensky was one of those three disciples who had stayed through
the experiment. Later he said, "This man Gurdjieff was amazing,
because in three months.... And we had no idea that this was
a device to kill our egos. We had thought that the experiment
was being carried out to bring peace and silence to our minds.
We were not even told that our egos will be killed. After three
months we became as though we did not exist; only our being remained.
There was no tune of 'I' arising anywhere in us."
The day no 'I' arises within you, that day you are standing at
your real 'I'. That real 'I' is called the soul. And naturally
then your individuality becomes spotlessly clean like the full
moon - ever blissful and self-luminous. finger05
In 1972 an island at Ambernath near Bombay is donated and inaugurated
as 'Ananda-Shila', with the Meditation Camp in February 1973.
However the land is found to be unsuitable, damp, infested with
mosquitoes, and the water salty. The structure Osho recommends
is reported in Sannyas Magazine:
Ananda-Shila will work as a World Centre for Meditation and the
Science of Religion by promoting a series of activities connected
to the following:
1. A Yoga-Therapy Centre*
2. A Naturopath and Acupuncture Research Centre as helpful grounds
for scientific investigations and collateral to Meditation
3. A University for Meditation, inclusive of departments such
as: (a) A Training centre for esoteric sciences; (b) A Training
College for Yoga and meditation; (c) An East and West Meeting
Centre for Psychologies and Philosophies
4. A Library of Universal Knowledge
5. A Publication Centre
6. A Temple of Understanding: The Temple will represent all religions
of the world, visibly manifested as sixteen gates opened to a
central, void space to represent the Divine
7. A Hostel for resident sannyasins
8. A Guesthouse for visitors and students under training
9. A Hall for mass meditation and international conferences
10. Fifty Underground Cells for deep meditation
11. A Bungalow for the private residence of Osho
12. Residential Cottages for friends
Ananda-Shila, according to Osho's inspiration, will be an absolutely
non-political and non-sectarian Foundation which will work for
the rising of awareness among human beings with a basis of love
and understanding. sannyas magazine Jan-Feb 1973
*Note: As early as September 1970 Osho talks to an American woman
working with mentally disturbed patients, about group therapy
and the need for a commune, so people can become aware of suppressed
emotions which have caused their madness, followed by creativity,
and relaxation (early04.doc). This topic is covered later, see
Part VII.
Osho writes to a friend in India:
The news of the commune delights me. The tree's seed is sprouting,
soon innumerable souls will shelter under its branches. Soon the
people for whom I have come will gather - and you are going
to be their hostess! So prepare yourself; that is, empty yourself
completely because only emptiness can be the host. You are already
on your way singing, dancing, blissful like a river flowing to
the sea. I am delighted, and I am always with you. The ocean is
close - just run, run, run! teacup03
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