Swaram and Chetna, after many years of promoting Osho in London, are venturing to South-Asia. Punya asked them for updates about their move.
Swaram and I came to know each other in cyberspace a few years ago when he first sent in an article praising Osho and his active meditations. He had taken sannyas in 2000, when still living in his native Rome, and then came to work in England where, together with his beloved Chetna, they ran weekly Dynamic Meditation sessions in London, inviting people from all walks of life to start meditating.
They also organised weekend retreats and Osho Festivals in Southern England, while at the same time busy with their demanding managerial job at prestigious international companies. Chetna worked as a compliance officer at an investment bank and Swaram was Head of Business Development at a genetic testing company. In just a few years, an active, juicy, and vibrant community of sannyasins and Osho lovers grew around them.
In the meantime, Swaram discovered his joy in writing. We had the pleasure of publishing several of his articles, some – and more coming – about Osho Dynamic Meditation, one of which has recently been translated into French by Meditationfrance. Also, we enjoy posting his short videos under Minute Meditations.
Chetna, however, is a longer acquaintance, also via cyberspace. Over 10 years ago she started organising well-attended Meditation Retreats around London, and I would post the details on the events page of Osho in UK.
But a couple of years ago we finally met in person when they visited Corfu for a summer holiday.
In his post, Love Knows No Time And Space, which sounds like a ‘Farewell to London’ letter, Swaram writes:
For many people, life in London means little time for personal development, no opportunity for relaxation, and no space for intimate heart-to-heart connection. The heart is a very powerful centre but also very fragile. In a harsh and competitive environment like London can be, people tend to operate on a defensive mode, protecting their soft and vulnerable part, and forgetting all about heart-to-heart connection.
We feel very fortunate and privileged that out of necessity to nourish our inner soft part, we were led to deepen the connection with our primary source of love: Osho. And magically it happened. Slowly, slowly, meditation after meditation, so many beautiful people started to arrive and we found ourselves surrounded by the most sincere, loving, and talented individuals we could ever imagine. Because of Osho, we crossed paths with all the closest friends we have now. Just by sharing what we truly love, we gained so much, beyond any expectations in terms of friendship and heart-to-heart connection.
Encouraged and supported by this wonderful community of friends and Osho lovers, we were inspired to reach out to a wider audience of non-sannyasins and people who were interested in meditation but not necessarily in Osho, or who had never heard of him before. We felt the urge to present Osho in a modern way and make him available to all those people who know something is not right in their lives but do not know how to fix it. Our aim was to find the means to communicate Osho’s vision in a way that could be received by individuals who are often sceptical and are used to operate from the mind centre.
It’s hard work! But we think that Osho and his vision is far too important to just keep him for ourselves. And at some point, we realised that the best way to break through was by using his most famous and powerful tool: Dynamic Meditation. We dreamt of making Dynamic Meditation the most popular meditation in London and from there, ignite the fire and spread it to all major capital cities in Europe. Imagine for a moment large groups of people gathering across the main squares of every city in the world doing Dynamic Meditation. What a dream!
And now, after many years, we are moving to Singapore. Of course, we are sad to leave the community we worked so hard to build, but at the same time we feel joyous. It does not matter if it is us who will do it or someone else. What matters is that it is happening.
Their move to South-Asia naturally intrigued me and created so many questions…
Who is going to take care of Dynamic Meditation in London?
We are happy that some of the friends whom we came to know during our Osho meditation activities got inspired to carry on the work, especially the weekly Dynamic Meditation. A wonderful friend, called Karunesh, with the help of Leela, Andreia and others, is going to taking care of it. It will be available every Thursday, 19.00 – 20.15 in Central London, near King’s Cross St Pancras – “Business as usual.”
Will there be a website where people can find out all details?
Karunesh is working on that. He has plans to launch a new website called Osho London. For now, we left Karunesh our Meetup group which, with over 3000 members, is the largest Osho Meetup group in the world. A full update and re-branding will happen as soon as Karunesh has more time – he is also a busy professional. You can join the Osho London Meetup group on meetup.com/Osho-London
Have you been transferred to Singapore because of your work?
Not exactly, but Chetna was offered a job interview for an open position in Singapore. My first reaction was “no way are we moving from London to Singapore.” Our life in London was just brilliant, but it’s also true that London is very hectic and fast-paced. It is very challenging to find a balance between meditation, professional and personal life in London. So, after just few days we decided to go with the flow and take the jump. Chetna is super brilliant and went through five interviews and landed a prestigious job. So we said a big YES.
You say that it has been your dream for many years to live somewhere in South-Asia.
Because we feel it’s the ideal place for us at this particular moment in our lives. We still want to pursue our professions, but at the same time we want to scale down and find more and more time for meditation. Singapore seems to offer just that. Even though Singapore is a busy financial hub, it is Asia. It’s a much softer environment, more heart-centred and being smaller and more efficient than London, it allows more personal time out of working hours.
Will you have the possibility to offer Osho’s meditations in Singapore as well?
Absolutely yes. No question about that. It is such a joy and nourishment for us to share Osho that we will always do that, wherever we are and whatever we do. Our website has changed from .co.uk to .com and it’s now www.loveosho.com. As soon as we start offering Osho’s meditations in Singapore, we will update it with all the details. At the moment it is on hold because of the move, but very soon it will be back with many more blog posts and possibly offering inspiring news from South-Asia.
Am I right to say that Love Osho started as a vehicle to be in contact with the meditators in London and has then turned into a media platform for Osho’s work?
Love Osho is the name we chose to promote all our Osho-related activities. The blog arrived later and is one part of all our activities. Love Osho was born out of our own personal need to meditate and gather with other Osho lovers. Slowly it grew into an active community and lately we took on more responsibilities and felt like sharing Osho with a wider audience. To do that we needed to find the right communication channels, language and platforms. Things were picking up nicely in London and we are happy that we have such wonderful friends who have taken it over and will expand Osho even further.
Have you found a nice place to stay and are you getting acquainted with the new environment?
We have just arrived so it will take a while to settle. We found a wonderful nest for us, in a quiet area where we can meditate. It’s very early days and the change is so big that we need some time to metabolise it but, so far, we love it here. The first enormous and noticeable difference from London is the pace of life. Here it is hot, people walk slowly, laugh more and there seems to be no stress, which is exactly what we were looking for.
I wish you both, Swaram and Chetna, a wonderful time in Singapore.
Thank you, you are welcome to visit us.
In the meantime keep us posted.
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