Nirvikar tells the story of how a life-threatening accident became the beginning of his spiritual path
My Second Life
I had just come back from a motorcycle holiday in Greece, when one day – the 17th of August, 1979, to be exact – I drove into town to meet some friends.
When I was halfway there, an elderly driver in a Porsche ignored a stop signal and crashed into two motorcycles. On one of those bikes was me.
I flew through the air and hit a traffic sign – very badly. I lost a lot of blood and fell unconscious. I was fortunate that the hospital was nearby and that the ambulance arrived quickly. During a 12-hour operation, my damaged right kidney and gallbladder were removed, and my ruptured liver was sewn back together.
After three days in intensive care, during which I kept telling my father, “Don’t worry, I am not going to die,” I was out of danger. I left the hospital after four weeks.
Now some ‘coincidences’: about two weeks into my hospital stay, a new patient was wheeled in to the bed next to me. He had broken a leg while motocross training. It turned out that he was actually the first person who had arrived at the scene of my accident and helped me after the crash. He told me how he had found me lying in the middle of the road.
Another ‘coincidence’: two years later, for some paperwork, I got in touch with a lawyer. During our conversation it turned out that he had by chance witnessed the accident while driving past to attend a court case nearby…
Life is full of surprises!
After leaving the hospital, I spent two weeks in rehab. The resort was in a beautiful valley in southern Switzerland, in Ticino. There I followed a special diet and recovered surprisingly well. I regained my strength and started going on daily walks through the sweet chestnut forests (they make wonderful chestnut honey). I felt so happy, just to be part of nature again.
My Amazing Healing
I began to understand that I was much more than just the body, that I was connected to a source of energy beyond anything I could have imagined. Somehow, I never thought that I would die. In a strange way, during the accident everything felt okay.
At first, I just watched what was happening to me. But soon I realized that in one second, you can be gone – and anything you’ve been postponing may never happen. I felt a strong need to take my life into my own hands and to live it my own way.
I went to the insurance company to claim my money. I wanted to use it for a trip to India. I had only one thing in mind: to visit Osho and his commune. I had read and loved his books (and had even sold them as a distributor in Switzerland), but I had always postponed my visit to see him.
Six months later, hardly speaking any English, I left Switzerland for a two-month trip to Pune.
And my whole life changed.
My Second Rebirth
I was endlessly happy and full of joy to finally meet Osho – something I could have nearly missed. For some weeks I joined the daily meditations, enjoyed the evening Music Group with Anubhava (Peter Makena), and attended Osho’s morning talks in Buddha Hall.
It didn’t matter whether Osho spoke in English or Hindi – I didn’t understand either of them. My English was so poor back then. But what was beyond words entered my heart anyway.
One evening, in Chuang Tzu Auditorium, I became Osho’s disciple during an Energy Darshan and Sannyas Ceremony. While Osho was giving his personal energy transmission and speaking to people, a wild storm with heavy rain broke out. It was the most joyful and wild moment I have ever experienced. All my worries disappeared. I didn’t feel my body anymore – I had melted into one energy of love and celebration. I couldn’t sleep the whole night, filled as I was with light and joy.
What I experienced with Osho was not a learning, but rather an unlearning. I began to let go of all kinds of things that had nothing to do with me – beliefs received from parents, teachers, and society – and started trusting my own intuition.
Being in India, I also saw a completely different way of life.
What helped me the most was a 21-day Vipassana retreat in absolute silence: no reading, no writing, no music. I simply watched whatever was happening inside and outside – without reacting. By the end of the retreat, it became so simple just to sit, breathe, and relax into myself.
To this day, whenever I visit the Osho Meditation Resort in Pune, I feel the deep silence and magic of that place – a powerful, transforming energy. Inside me, I still feel a strong flame burning. It has been alive since my first meeting with Osho, and it feels like it will go on burning for eternity.
I always loved it when Osho said, “Life is a celebration to be lived, not a problem to be solved.”
I feel this deeply in my heart. And yes, the accident I had when I was 20 years old helped me immensely to celebrate and enjoy life.
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