Pantha

Voyages

…left his body on 1st February 2016.

Pantha was born in Birmingham in 1950. His father was from the island of Saint Helena (part of the British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean) and his mother was Irish. He had five sisters. In the late 70’s he trained to become a carpenter.

Pantha took sannyas in 1979 in Pune; in the early 80’s he became part of the Medina Commune in southern England working for Sun Services and visited Rajneeshpuram for the summer festivals. He also visited the Commune in Pune before Osho left his body.

In 2004 Pantha had a serious accident which left him in a wheelchair and needing 24-hour care. He was regularly visited by his friends and sisters at his home where he died peacefully.

Pantha’s cremation is planned for Friday, 19th February, 10.15 in Littlehampton.

Anand Pantha then

Archa writes:

Pantha was an unusual man; sometimes a big heartful, cuddly teddy bear, sometimes a wild and crazy grizzly bear! One of the dearest ‘bad boys’ I have known. His life was rather blighted by his early addiction to drink and drugs but he did have very long gaps where he was ‘straight’; then he was delightful!

I met Pantha during a Veeresh group just after he came out of Pheonix House Rehab in London; and we fell in love. We travelled to Pune together where we did non-stop groups for a whole year.

When he visited the Ranch for Festivals, he once had to be carried off the plane having enjoyed rather too many of the free drinks served!

After we broke off we remained good friends and he became best friend of my present partner, Sankirtan (aka Sans), and a ‘crazy’ uncle to our daughter Megan. He had many lovely girlfriends too.

Sans and Pantha worked together on an old Estate in North Devon rediscovering and renovating an old Japanese water garden in the forest. It was a mad time and the three of us were like the Three Musketeers; anything was possible and we shared many crazy times together, stretching the boundaries of our lives and usually ending up rolling about the floor in hysterics!

We then brought him into our miniature business, Rosie Duck Designs. Sans taught him how to create old looking historical doll’s houses. They are now in collections worldwide.

Pantha and Sans loved to meditate together and riding on high energy, Pantha often insisted they do Dynamic and Mandala Meditation back to back! Thogether often went on long walks and he’d always want to get lost!

Pantha’s sannyas darshan: Bliss Is the Path

Tributes

You can leave here a message / tribute / anecdote using our contact form (pls add ‘Pantha’ in the subject field)…

Beloved friend, thank you for the days when we were the gallant three, tasting the depth of life in our early sannyas years, companions, experiencing the joys, hardships and the intensity of youthful living. Our best friend for many years you made us laugh like we could die in the moment and showed us the depth of heart through your loving embrace. We laughed and cried and walked together in friendship, fellow travellers in this beautiful dance. Your presence in our lives has been made bigger for knowing you. You showed your being, the way you knew how! You touched our depths with the laughter and your love. Thank you friend for being who you have been… bigger hearts we have for knowing you in this life. A gentle touch of our lives… a loss at your farewell. Love you, miss you, thank you. Namaste dear friend,
Archa and Sans

Hey Pantha, I was shocked at the news of your passing over to the other side of the spheres. You were one of the few people I had a good connection with all those years ago in our Medina Commune, and all the various building sites we worked on together. You as a chippy, me as a plasterer’s mate. I remember us sometimes going jogging together, wearing our bin liners, wow, how so delicate and vulnerable we are still within or without the body. I am glad I took those photos of you sitting by your sculptured barge boats and hobbit houses made from driftwood you had collected around Brightons beaches and sculpted into amazing lifelike objects, with your true craftsmanship. That was the last time we saw each other in the flesh.

I will burn a candle for you now next to your picture. We will meet up again sooner or later to do a bit more fooling around together further on up the road. Meanwhile, if you want to pay me a visit over the North Sea to Hamburg you are most welcome to astral travel this way, but no spooky shit ok! Your friend from way way back,
Gyanodaya

PS. Following on what I wrote yesterday about Pantha, I would like to add a couple of instances that stood out as pure ‘panthaesque’: when we were on a big job in Tunbridge Wells, one Swami Premdas was taking his early morning shower and singing at the top of his voice, ‘Oh what a beautiful morning’. We waited for him to come to the line ‘I’ve got a wonderful feeling – everything’s coming my way’, I pulled back the shower curtain and Pantha sloshed in a full builder’s bucket of COLD water over the singing swami. We must have laughed about it for a good month afterwards…. And one day, on the same building site, Swami Prabodham had a really bad accident and lost three fingers at a power saw. I nearly fainted and looked away at the wall I was trying to plaster, but Pantha raced up to him, grabbed his arms tight around him and held him secure during his immediate shock, while others looked for the three fingers. Then Pantha went with him to the hospital. He was a solid and dependable bloke in the most surprising of situations. He was at his best when his back was up against the wall… Thank you, Pantha for being a Pantha. Love you,
Gyanodaya

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