Pardeshi

Pardeshi was always a woodworker.

Speaking with his old friends, different ones recalled different aspects of his life. In Pune 1, he “did shopping for Number 70”, according to Prem Rasa, while Sarvo remembered an “exquisite” sculpture that Pardeshi created which “ended up outside Buddha Hall, or Lao Tzu.”

Originally from Melbourne, Pardeshi moved to Byron around 1984 and lived around these parts – the subtropical Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia – for the rest of his life. When not building furniture, he focussed all his money and energy into building a 40-foot wooden boat that he called ‘NoMad’. His other love was an exquisitely fitted out ‘antique’ VW Kombi van, that suited him to a ‘T’.

A man who hated vegetables, he had a close connection with a group of around 20 other woodworkers living in the area, all connected through sannyas and their work as builders. Some built the meditation hall at Mevlana Community. Others built houses for the many sannyasins who arrived in the area after the Ranch, some building communities.

When his health declined about 17 months ago, Pardeshi moved into residential aged care in Mullumbimby, where, in Sarvo’s words “he faced his death full-on,” maintaining his sharp mind and keen sense of humour until the very end.

Born on 20 December 1950, his send-off in Mullumbimby at the house of old friends Pantha and Merrick, took place on 6 September 2023, his sannyas birthday.

Garimo

It’s almost exactly a week to the hour since Pardeshi departed… however not by sailing boat – just as a lone sailor. Pardeshi moved to the Byron shire shortly after the Ranch; together with the large influx of sannyasins. Firstly, those from the surrounding Osho centres, then from Europe and beyond.

At the gathering around his ashes on the 6th (also his sannyas birthday) were many old friends: from Pune 1 days and from acquaintances around his boat building sites: the guys, the salt of the earth types and the girls (women) their female equivalents. Connections abounded. Heartfelt to witness

I’m sitting here quietly, in the sun and breeze and birdsong and sky… and expansive greenery – Pardeshi colours – bathing in the tangible energy release of such an event. Blessed.

Sarvo

Our dear friend Pardeshi slipped away into the universe this morning. I am always amazed at how our Osho connections reverberate around existence! I stayed briefly in Pardeshi’s house in Byron Bay way back in about 1996 and was always touched by him. Recently Sarvo and Deep have been in contact with me telling me that Pardeshi was disappearing. I sent much love via them, and Sarvo read bits of my book to Pardeshi who remembered me and my ‘sludge soup’ – a tribute, I guess, to my rotten cooking skills!

So after all these years, connections have now happened between Pardeshi, Sarvo, Deep and me. How incredibly amazing. I can never forget one of my most favourite Osho quotes: ‘The smallest blade of grass is connected to the farthest star.’ Gratitude to Osho for all of this, and I wish Pardeshi a wonderous flight into the unknown.

Veena

Pardeshi was a master craftsman who almost always wore green, the colour of the Sufis.

He was a hermit in many ways and lived on his beautiful yacht, Nomad, which he built from the hull up to his cabin. He was always happy to receive a visitor through, and he was dearly loved by the community around Byron shire…

His wake was a reminder of his gentle nature and deep spiritual connection to beautiful people…

Deep

Sannyas Darshan

Ananda means blissful, pardeshi means a stranger – a blissful stranger. That is the lot of all of us on this earth: we are strangers here. Now it depends on us – we can become miserable strangers or we can become blissful strangers. We can start thinking in terms of alienation, as if we have been thrown out of our home. That’s what Christianity goes on teaching – that man has been expelled, expelled from the Garden of Eden… that God is angry, that man has fallen, that man has committed sin so he has been thrown out. Then naturally one is miserable. How can you feel happy when you have been expelled from your home? You have been expelled from your real soil, uprooted, thrown out – thrown out into a dark and dismal world, thrown out with strange people with strange situations, without any shelter, without any security. One naturally becomes miserable.

So Christianity, because of this idea of expulsion, became the religion of misery, sadness. Christians say Jesus never laughed. That is just the most stupid statement every made, but that fits with the Christian ideology. They cannot allow even Jesus to laugh; they cannot allow anybody to laugh. You are thrown here as a punishment; how can you laugh? You have to work your way back home.

But this is our choice. There is no need to think of it as expulsion. Rather, think that you are on a holiday from your home – then the whole quality of life changes. Think that you have not been expelled; you have been exploring the strange. You have not been thrown out, not punished, but sent into the world to grow; it is a situation in which to grow. This whole strange state is a device of God to help people grow.

The child has to be sent to the school – not as a punishment. The child has to be sent one day to the hostel not as a punishment but to grow, to learn, to be. The child has to be sent away from home to the university to live amongst strangers to grow, to confront, to encounter!

This is my attitude: man is not here on this earth suffering from any punishment. This is a growth situation: man is here to mature. And maturity is possible only when you are insecure, unsheltered, and all kinds of challenges and all kinds of dangers surround you.

This world is a beautiful device of God. So be a blissful stranger here!

Osho, Don’t Just Do Something Sit There, Ch 6 – 6 September 1977

Tributes

Good Bye Pardeshi,

thank you for sharing a few hours of your last months on this planet with me…

Roses are on the table!

Ride smoothly, dear friend…

Ma Atmo

Pardeshi, always on the edge. Fly high. Love you,

Yoga Amrita

You can leave a message / tribute / anecdote, and send a photo, by writing to web@oshonews.com (pls add ‘Pardeshi’ in the subject field). Your contribution will be added manually, typically within 24 hours.