How I started to present malas

Karunesh on wearing the mala again and giving new names to meditators.

In the last two years my personal meditation practices have dramatically increased. Last year in August I spent 18 days in my private Vipassana retreat. This has continued ever since and now, whenever possible, I spend 6 to 8 hours a day with meditation practice.

In that process, interesting things have begun to happen. Such as … I see malas around people’s necks and I hear names inside my being. After a while it dawned on me that these people are supposed to have malas… Soon I checked with my old sannyas friends to find out where I can obtain malas and of course, they told me… that Viha is your connection.

I contacted Dhanyam and the first packages with malas arrived. I had never really consciously thought of this. I recall there were several times in 1981-82 when I was leading groups in Japan and the USA that situations presented themselves that I was asked to give sannyas to several people, in Kobe and in New Mexico. In both cases I was given the malas and presented them to the happy recipients.

But now seems different. It feels as if existence is asking that I trust my intuitive perceptions and go ahead with this. I passed out over 20 malas in over a year and the fascinating thing is how much joy this creates in the people who receive the malas. In most instances, the people I give the malas to have meditated in my ongoing meditation groups for quite a while and I know that some of the recipients have dreams with Osho or display a great love for him.

It is time perhaps, as we meditate more and more, that we trust our connection with Osho more and more and flow with what arises from that. What that means for me is to, yes, give away malas, give new names also. And to wear the mala again. When I was in India the beginning of the year, at the Ramana Ashram, I met other sannyasins there who I recognized immediately … because they wore the mala.

This was great joy. When I was in Tiruvannamalai, I felt a great urge to have myself clothes tailored in flaming red. When I put them on, a great relief went through my being. As if I had come home again…

So, what is the message? It is simple : Be a rebellion unto yourself. Be yourself. No doubt, you will go up against the established priesthood. But you will be in fabulous company – you will be with Osho.

Osho Sharanam Gachchhami.

Note from Osho News: Malas are also available from Osho World in Delhi.

Anand Karunesh (Andreas Mamet) took sannyas from Osho in his ashram in Poona. In 1981 he started giving workshops in Japan, USA and Germany. He moved to the US in 1982 and lived for over 20 years in Mount Shasta, CA. After shuttling between Paris and California for a few years, he made Paris his base in 2009. He teaches meditation and has a weekly radio show ‘Follow your joy’. www.andreasmamet.com – youtube.com