Are We Becoming an ‘Old Boys Club’?

Letters / Opinions

An open letter from Sajjad.

I am just another sannyasin like the girl-next-door, nothing special in the past or future. I don’t see me being a Master in the near future, nor do I have that desire. In the past I haven’t been especially close physically with Osho or far apart. Just there, like thousands of others, enjoying and playing and getting to know the ways of our Master along the way…and being alive!

I had written a letter recently to the editor of another website for sannyasins or disciples of Osho: Sannyasnews. And, frivolously, sent a copy to the editor of this site…Punya…just for fun, let’s see what happens. Poking up the fire of the heated debates by men in the chat room of the discussion section of Sannyasnews and poking the fire between pro and con trademark issues, Poona and all that. So, again, I am no lawyer: you will learn nothing from reading this article on the subject of trademarks. And, I am not a philosopher: for that you have to direct yourself to the discussions at Sannyasnews, if you have the time and energy for it! Having said that I shall now offer you an excerpt of that letter:

“I am writing this letter to God knows who, but never mind. I am probably voicing the opinion of a lot of sannyasins here. For years I have been looking at the sannyas-scene, once in a while checking out websites like Sannyasnews and others and wondering if being a sannyasin or disciple (or whatever we are supposed to be these days) of Osho is being part of an ‘Old Boys Club’? I mean philosophising (or mind-tripping) on any subject under the sun with some other Old Boys.

“Most letters in the chat room of Sannyasnews seem to come from men…and they go on for hours, days even, mumbling on and on about some totally insignificant subject. Most of it is totally unreadable for any outsider in full capacity of his senses, but sometimes I try to at least read an article and skip all the blabbering comments!

“These “Old Boys” give me a headache with their cynical humor and unreadable “nudge/nudge…wink/wink” jokes and punch lines which of course only they can understand, being part of ‘The Club’. They seem to be (re)tired sannyasins living with a wealth of free time; do they have jobs?”

Etcetera. Nothing personal…

This is how it starts, don’t get me wrong, I am not against philosophising and I certainly don’t want any site getting shut down! I was just poking fun, but I doubt if the moderator at Sannyasnews will post my letter, [they did, ed] he will get too much in trouble with all those guys in the chat room! But you never know, he might show some guts…! And anyway, if he posts this letter (Sannyasnews is proud to offer a forum for all sannyasins with different opinions) he won’t be bothered because the Old Boys in the chat room will all no doubt attack me mercilessly with their witticisms and sarcasms! Good for them.

The second part of the letter concerns another, more serious, issue: the stuff about trademarking Osho or not. Again, like I said, I am no expert but I am just voicing the opinion of some of my friends when we get lonely and talk a bit about the Osho Community and gossip about that. I must say, I have never been banned in my life, so I don’t know if that is a very terrible experience to go through. And, again, this is not pro or con anything happening in the Osho Marketplace, I don’t want to choose sides…. I just want to enjoy the overview of what’s happening at the moment and this is my account of that overview in the same letter:

“…And sometimes we also wonder about the whole controversy regarding copyrights and trademarks and what is happening in Poona. Personally, I would like to say one thing: If I remember correctly when Osho was in the body his primary function was to wake us up by using devices. So why should it be any different with Osho ‘out of the body’? Let’s just assume the whole thing is just a device so that his dream can stay fresh and alive! And creating confusion is just a part of that device to keep it alive; it’s not so difficult to imagine. So for example, he said “you can’t trademark meditation” in the past, in public and to people in Poona before leaving the body. He said, “trademark my meditations” in private. Which is a bit of a joke in itself… Osho could have mentioned this last item in public or make it official but he didn’t, but I am pretty sure he did want his work to be protected and controlled from misuse and decline in standards.

“So, I am not saying this is what happened. I am just saying “suppose”…

“He is no longer there himself to keep the situation fresh and alive through devices, so trust Osho to create confusion after his death! Now people in Poona are trying hard to keep Osho’s message pure gold and a lot of other people are checking on those people in Poona who are in charge (mostly disagreeing with them), it sure as hell has stayed as alive as when he was in the body! I don’t see the problem? Celebrate, don’t go dead on the whole thing, that is sooooooo male! All the devils are doing their thing but don’t become so serious about whatever it is that you are doing!”

What I meant was: in every society or marketplace you need control and fighting. And Osho has created other devices in the past in similar situations to show the way and wake up. For example, what if the whole Rajneeshpuram trial (and error) was a device: there was too much control by Sheela and nobody fighting back. At least that’s what I heard the master say when he started speaking again in Rajneeshpuram days; he commented that nobody dared raise their voice against Sheela. But paradoxically, the sannyasins are bound to be more rebellious (fighting!) by nature than the average person living in average society… so in the first instance we did need Sheela to control us, but then she went too far obviously. So, to finalise, I think I am beginning to understand Osho’s ways and therefore everything happening now is exactly as it should be! Please guys, don’t change anything! Just don’t become a bunch of Old Boys with One Foot in the Grave! I don’t want to end by quoting Osho – that seems to be done too much already – so I shall happily quote myself (this is an excerpt from my ‘Story of the Goodness Energy – Osho and Good Women’):

“Society is a human construction, based upon ancient ideas of how we should live together in a harmonious way. There are four main pillars upon which it is based: guilt, control, ego and fighting. When these four are in balance harmony prevails, otherwise there is chaos or dictatorship. For example: if there is too much control as in dictatorship people resort to fighting to settle the balance. Control is maintained to guarantee order and guilt is necessary to make control effective, as when an individual breaks the law and he or she feels guilty. Ego is the suit we put on every day to be able to move more smoothly in society, it gives others an indication of how to deal with us, based upon who we are and how we present ourselves.

“Surrender, or the art of living naturally or the Philosophy of Goodness Energy is the opposite and about letting go of all the above. It is not going against society, but in order to live fully in surrender one must start by dropping all four of society’s basic assumptions. Don’t forget the human construction aspect; let’s say that people in ancient times could have chosen a different philosophy to live by than the one that is prevalent today. They could also have chosen the Philosophy of the Goodness Energy which is similar to the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, I suppose. Instead they chose a much more rigid structure with no possibility for spiritual or inner development. For spiritual development we need the Tao or Osho. “

Simplicity itself!

Love you guys! And girls!

Vedant Sajjad

Vedant Sajjad

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