“I like to send my salute to Swami Gyan Anugrah who is now, through this unexpected article, a no-longer unknown messenger of Osho,” writes Ageh Bharti.
Anugrah is surprisingly little known to date in spite of the excellent job he has been doing to spread Osho’s message and vision since 1995.
I have been to facilitate a Meditation Camp in Guwahati, Assam, from 10th to 13th February 2017. Swami Anand Bhairava of Guwahati was especially kind to me to also invite Ma Prem Isha from Bihar to facilitate the camp, so I didn’t have to do much. I thank Isha that with the same spirit she managed for me to be a free agent with lots of free time.
However, I like to be always present at the site and sometimes I just did what she wanted me to do. The camp was organised by Bhairava. He had arranged for us to stay in a VIP guest house which was excellent and the whole campus, known as Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakdhetra (SSK), can be said to be the second glory of Guwahati, while the first glory remains the Brahmaputra River, spread vast like an ocean. Guwahati itself is the second-largest metropolitan region in eastern India, after Kolkata.
The campus sprawls across 40 acres, so large that there are many venues and things to visit; among them are Purbajyoti Sangrahalaya, a heritage museum, an open-air Theatre, a Portrait Gallery, Art Gallery, Light and Sound Show, Puppet Theatre, Doll Museum, Sisuban Sky Train, Heritage Park and lush gardens everywhere. I saw three programmes happening simultaneously without interfering with one another. It was a joy to be in that campus.
Anugrah arrived from Solan, Himachal Pradesh (a distance of 2,900 km) to launch an exhibition of books by Osho. He keeps a selection of Hindi and English books, photos of Osho, as well as robes in maroon and white, and shawls.
As far as I know, Osho never visited this area and hence he is less known here than in other places; I sensed that by observing that many visitors were barely in their mid-twenties. I had conducted my first camp in Guwahati a year earlier when Anugrah already had his bookstall and the attendance was about the same. Not surprisingly, the sale of books has been poor both times. Yet Anugrah expressed no signs of concern and kept on gifting books so generously to all those who visited the stall without buying – as if he had won in some lottery! When asked, he told me that in the previous Guwahati camp the sale of books amounted to ₹20,000 (ca. US$ 300) and his costs were ₹16,000, despite the fact that he had gifted many books. But several friends became subscribers to the Hindi magazines Yes Osho and Osho World and a few of them participated in this camp.
Anugrah also took part in the Publication Board of Assam’s Book Fair at the beginning of January this year. The book sales amounted to ₹1,40,000; his expenditure was ₹65,000 including the rent of the guest house for ₹26,000. He told me that the arrangements at the book fair and the cleanliness and conveniences were superbly laudable! And the best thing was that sannyasin friends would do the Kundalini Meditation in public from 4 to 5 pm at the Book Fair. Happily, Anugrah has already registered his name for the next book fair from 30th Dec 2017 to 10th Jan 2018 and paid the deposit.
His sannyas story begins in 1995. By then he had read some books of Osho and then got hold of Swami Ageh Bharti’s book in Hindi, Osho Gatha. On completion of reading the book, he went straightaway to the railway station and booked a ticket to Pune. He took sannyas at the Osho Resort on 13th July 1995. He told me he felt so drunk with the divine that he decided to work solely for Osho. He took books from the Osho Resort worth ₹1,24,000 by paying an advance of ₹20,000 in cash and paid the remaining amount later. Since then he is moving around the whole of India with huge bundles of books, selling and gifting them. Sometimes he travels in AC-two tier and sometimes in non-AC sleeper 3rd class.
I end the story here as my tears do not permit me to go any further after feeling his love for Osho and his work, and that at the age of 65, many times he has to lift and even carry the bundles himself.
Ageh Bharti is a regular contributor
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