Satyam (Attilio Piazza)

Photo credits: Satyam’s FB account, Satyam (Bidinotto), Sheelu, Navyo, Sumano

Bio

Sw Anand Satyam (aka Attilio Piazza) was born in 1952 and grew up in Treviso (Northern Italy). He studied Philosophy at the University of Venice and later worked with an IT company. In 1978 he suddenly left his job for a longer period and started travelling to Nepal and India. He eventually arrived in Pune hardly speaking any English, following his girlfriend Mita who had gone there before. He took sannyas from Osho in May 1979.

He was finally able to come to the Ranch ‘forever’ in Sept 1985 – shortly before it ended. He was so happy to be there, that he stayed on till May 1986, helping out with the dismantling of the commune.

In December 86 he arrived in Mumbai to be with Osho and was part of Pune Two from the very beginning. In the early days he worked mostly as a photographer and bodyworker (psychic massage). Later he became involved in the Mystery School, eventually moving to Sedona, Arizona, to continue his work there.

After some years in the US he moved back to Italy, started afresh, got all the certifications needed to open his own institute, based in Rimini, from where he could give workshops and trainings in various methods, in particular based on Family Constellation. His younger sister, Shanti, was also working at the school.

Among others, he had studied NLP with Richard Bandler and Systemic Solutions with Bert Hellinger (from 2001 till 2007). He became a leading light in the Family Constellation field, expanding the modality and bringing in his own insights. He was particularly interested that we find solutions in the present and dwell less on the events of the past.

His positivity and playfulness were appreciated by his friends, students and clients; he was always looking at the positive side of any situation. A few years ago he was diagnosed with a serious auto-immune disorder, still, just a few days before leaving he wrote to a friend, “My health is slowly improving and I feel lucky to have all the help I need.”

Satyam is the author of Per una mente amica (For a mind who is a friend) which came out in 2012 and was received with great success. A year later came, co-authored with Monica Colosimo, La saggezza viena dal cuore (Wisdom comes from the heart) and last year Mindfulness per le relazioni affettive (Mindfulness in love relationships) – all books published by TEA.

Satyam died in Monteortone, Italy, where he was giving a workshop. He was surrounded by friends who loved him and whom he loved.

Text credit to Sheelu, Satyam (Umberto Bidinotto), Shola, Upchara, Upadhi and his website attiliopiazza.it

Info

Virag writes: Farewell to Satyam. Let’s sit in synchronicity on Tuesday, 17th January, 7pm (German time), whoever wishes can come to my house in Starnberg.

Osho answers Satyam’s question: Osho, your jokes make me afraid and confused. Please tell me one of Buddha’s sutras about God. P.S. I’m leaving for Italy tomorrow. Thank you – in Jokes are dangerous

Sannyas darshan

Anand means blissful, Satyam means truth. Truth is always blissful. And untruth always brings misery, although it promises to bring bliss. But it never delivers the goods, it cannot. Untruth pretends, poses, has beautiful masks. Hence the majority of people follow it.

Truth is naked, with no masks, with no garments. And truth never promises. It delivers but it never promises. To follow truth means to follow something without any expectation; to follow truth means to go into the unknown, the uncharted. One never knows what is going to turn up. One never knows where one is going to land.
To follow truth is to go into insecurity. But insecurity is freedom, insecurity is life; and insecurity is another name for God.

Osho, Just Around the Corner, Ch 25, 25 May 1979

Anecdotes

from Satyam (Umberto Bidinotto)

I knew Satyam well before we became sannyasins. We grew up in the same town, both studied Philosophy at the same University and later worked in the same IT company. When he left his job and started travelling I was jealous, but also admired his courage. When he came back and I heard all his engaging stories, I could not resist but to follow his tracks. After visiting Nepal and travelling around India I eventually arrived in Pune, where I met him. Our relationship was very very close. I saw him as a friend but also as the bigger brother. Maybe that was the reason why we received the same name from Osho: Swami Anand Satyam.

When I heard Osho give me the name I was quite stunned, but also understood that I was sitting in front of a Master. I immediately thought of the complications this would create when we would be back in Treviso, which is a small town.

When Satyam heard that I had received the same name as him, he told me (he still had a charismatic influence over me) to go to the office and ask Arup if it was possible to change the name. Upchara remembers that Arup had said to me: “Who are you to tell your master what to do?” I felt real stupid!

For a while Satyam ran events in the meditation centre I had opened in Treviso, so things became really complicated; sometimes there were letters from mutual friends and I had no idea if the letter was for me or for him.

We had often found ourselves on parallel ways, but at one point our ways parted. What is left behind is a sense of gratitude because he has brought me to Osho, and the memory of his qualities which have deeply touched me: his intelligence, intuition and humour. He loved life and adventures and now, once more, he has come first to tackle the last adventure towards the unknown that, I know well, will be in front of me sometime, too.

from Upchara

The first group I was asked to lead in the Mystery School in Pune 2 was called ‘Osho Island Experience’. It was based on Santosh’s hypnosis work. It entailed three days of sensory isolation in an extraordinary atmosphere: blue light, many assistants sitting in meditation to ‘hold the space’. Kaveesha gave me Satyam as the main assistant. All was fine until the end of the first day when Satyam told me that Garimo had given him this message: “From now on all participants of all the groups need to go every night to the White Robe meeting in Buddha Hall.” This of course would have destroyed our experiment. My usual sense of obedience would have immediately accepted the rule, until Satyam looked straight into my eyes and said: “Think carefully. Listen. Why follow orders?” Without hesitation I took on the risk NOT to accept the order and with a big smile, I said to Satyam, “We will not go to the White Robe, but say to Garimo only this, ‘Upchara has received your message.’ That’s all you say.” Of course that was the end of this kind of groups and all others were cancelled.

In the Mystery School Kaveesha always said to me, “Be patient, no rush. Trust that when the time is ripe the stage will appear and you will be asked to run groups.” As I did not have much self-esteem that was fine with me. Satyam on the other hand was much more ambitious and sure of himself. A few times we were asked to run the group ‘Beyond Fear’ together. His style was more of a Veeresh-ian (kind of: let’s have a beer together) while mine was more of an elegant, esoteric Mystery School-ish style. It was very difficult for me because he kept stealing the show!

from Mita

When I think of Satyam my memory goes back to February 1979. I was living in Poona at the time but took a quick trip to Italy, just for a month and a half. While I was in Milan I helped a friend sell antique Tibetan Thankas. We had heard of a small shop in the centre of the city specialized in oriental art. We were given the name of the owner and we set off for our adventure with the typical attitude of those magic days with Osho, full of trust, positivity and wonder. We were two beautiful women wearing red and the mala in the middle of a gray winter’s day.

When we finally found the shop we were told that the owner was on holiday but that a friend of his, from Treviso, was substituting him. The friend was a young man with curly dark hair and big blue, transparent, eyes. He had a cheerful attitude and a beautiful smile. I liked him. He liked me too and we started a playful and heartful relationship. My goal was to get back to Poona as quickly as possible, so we decided that he would come too, by himself, after getting the money together for the journey. It took him two months.

Two months in those days (with Osho we were living at the speed of light) was an awful amount of time! When Attilio entered the Gateless Gate it was immediately clear to me that I had been the bait for him to come to Osho. It was quite common that people fell in love with sannyasins only to find out that the love affair was in reality a love affair with the Master. Attilio then took sannyas a few days later and became Swami Anand Satyam.

from Upadhi

In the last few years we were rarely in contact with each other, and yet I felt him like a brother. Once I had to run the End of Year party at Miasto. I was miserable because of a love affair which had ended, I needed room for myself, so I asked him if he would run it for me, and he did. Once he fell ill when he was scheduled to run a workshop. He called me, “Can you please do the workshop for me, I am too ill.” Sometime later he said to me, “I no longer feel like running the Guilt group but it would be sad if nobody offered it in Italy, wouldn’t that be something for you?” This group has now become part of my programme. In all these years we have shared many experiences, many at the same time.

Tributes

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

I met Satyam in 1990, in Pune, and from that time he was my door to reach the master Osho. I have so many memories and anecdotes; football matches, jokes, groups, travels together. Thanks for everything, Satyam, I know that in this moment you are leading something or someone with your voice, with your presence, wherever you are.
Ninad

Beloved Satyam, I’m getting pissed off – another beloved takes off on the flight from the alone to the alone. Gads, where to start, my wild Italian friend? I will miss your sparkle, your humor, your great intelligence. I so enjoyed leading groups with you in Pune, and being your neighbor on rodeo road in Sedona. I was sad when you left for Italy, and now even sadder that we won’t have another hug in this lifetime. Arrivederci, bello,
Abhiyana

Beloved Satyam, I always called you my “little brother of the heart” and that is how I will remember you. I wish you everything wonderful on your voyage into greater and greater consciousness. Fly High, mio fratellino del cuore! Loving you, Leela Waduda

I met Satyam in the 90s. He was leading some groups in Italy; I was a participant. I liked him very much, his courage, his loving presence. I was interested in meditation, had several sannyasin friends and was very curious about Osho communes. It was the time of Vivek in Milan, and I was often there. I wanted to go to Pune but was also afraid of it. During a group I asked Satyam about the living situation in Pune, how it was and so on. He offered to fly together with me and be my escort companion for this very first encounter with India and the commune. I bought a ticket for the same flight. When we arrived in Bombay he met his girlfriend and he said to me: “Do not worry, take a taxi and you’ll get there on your own, I’ll arrive in a few days.” I felt abandoned but afterwards I realised that it was like a Zen hit in the sense of, “Now it’s time to be on your own, I have just helped you to get on the plane…”
In this very first period in Pune, he advised me about groups and we had a good friendly time together; he has a beautiful house there and enjoyed beautiful things, I remember something like gold plated dishes. I took sannyas at that time and I feel Satyam is my fellow traveller and guide.
Maderu

Hello Satyam! Old dear friend of so many precious moments spent together. I feel so lucky to have met you in Barcelona five years ago. There you helped me understand that it is more important not to stop loving than to be in the right. This seed of clarity is one of the most beautiful insights I have ever had and it is growing in me since then, constantly helping me in my life. Thanks for all the support and love that you have shared! Thanks for the laughter! For the tears! For the moments of silence and of profound connection! Fly FREE! I love you!
Prasuna

Satyam – WHAT!!??? You’ve flown away? How can this be? It’s too soon for me to be saying ‘fly high beloved’ to you… but I guess life has it’s own timing. Loving you, Satyam… fly free, beloved, and very high,
Peggy Sands