Devakrishna’s comic book now available in print and ebook
Q: How did you come up with the idea, why did you choose topics such as “Mystic Rose, Dynamic and the Empty Chair”? What does humor mean to you and what is Osho’s role in this for you?
The idea to do a comic about Osho, meditation and his commune came up together with a few friends during 1988 while I was living at the Ashram in Pune. A first draft was presented to Osho who I heard then said: ”What is this – a kids’ book?” – then he saw caricatures of Swami Niskriya and Swami Sardarji inside and, said: ”Publish it!”
I later took the lead in further editing the story and expanded the drawings to allow for a broader audience to enjoy the stories. The originals had Osho as a comic character which I was no keen on and chanced with the concept of an empty chair talking and flying around.
For me this comic is very important as it explains very simply how one can use the Dynamic Meditation and the Mystic Rose Meditation before being able to sit truly still. It also explains the search for truth, for love, for god, for the true self. It also gives a little glimpse of Osho’s commune, how his people lived together in love, laughter and meditation, while additionally explaining our therapies and growth groups happening in Osho’s centers in a humorous way.
We also explained the serious ecological problems nowadays, the sexual repression of all the religions and the sick outcome like pedophilia, AIDS, and sexual perversion. It explains the politicians, what happened after the Oregon commune, how they prevented Osho to land anywhere in western countries, the jailing, poisoning and murder of Osho.
If I look at all the turmoil that is currently going on all around the world today, nothing has changed, and in essence we can only change if we change something within ourselves. The entire comic symbolizes the search and the finding of the master, and the inner transformation one has to go through.
For me, although it is a comic, it is also piece of history where characters like Sardarji, Niskriya, Maneesha, musicians like Nivedano, Milarepa, Rupesh, Satgyan and many other caricatures are actually real people and the Osho evening meditations did happen in that way. And of course it has a happy ending where nations disappear and everybody becomes liberated and enlightened.
Initially, my intention was to reach out to all the young seekers in the world, to introduce them to Osho and his people in a sincere, crazy and funny way and take away any potential stigma. Hopefully, it will put a smile on the face of all the people who recognize themselves in the comic as they were there around that time.
The book is now available with 42 color pages as paperback at amazon.com and with 137 color pages as an eBook in Kindle format (for Kindle, Kindle DX, Fire, iPad and iPhone) at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.it and amazon.es. Posters of separate pages are also available: Contact: marco@giollo.com
We might remember Devakrishna (aka Marco Giollo or just plain Krishna) as one of the workers in Deeksha’s kitchen where most Italian speakers ended up. He was one of those who instigated the music at the drive-bys on the Ranch and later we saw him in the percussion section of Nivedano’s Oshoba band. After returning to his native Switzerland he started painting again, remembering the techniques he had learned at art school in Lugano. He now lives with his wife Meera in Switzerland.
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