Celebrating my 48th sannyas birthday

Pratiksha Apurv takes a dive into memory lane, and recalls her evening darshan on 18th October 1975 and her new birth

I vividly remember my first trip to the Pune Ashram. I was with my grandparents (Osho’s parents). It was in October 1975.

For an 11-year old kid, it was a journey to an absolutely new world. My days were surreal. I used to look forward to the evening darshans with Osho. That’s where I learnt to sit in utter silence, drinking the nectar from the source. The darshans had a fascinating pattern. After entering the hall and before taking his seat, Osho would first touch his father’s feet followed by his mother’s. It used to be a divine sight. Subsequently, the moment Osho would be seated in his chair, my routine was to walk up to him and touch his feet.

I don’t remember the precise sequence on that evening of 18th of October, but I can recall very clearly that after touching Osho’s feet, I didn’t return to my seat as usual but told him I wanted to take sannyas. Imagine an 11-year old asking her uncle (Bade Papa) so casually, and that at a time when no one else in the family had taken sannyas…

Osho smiled and very lovingly asked, “Have you asked your mom about it?”

I spontaneously replied, “When you are here, why do I need to ask Mom about it?”

He smiled again and gave me a mala. He didn’t change my name because he had already given my name when I was born. After a brief pause, I bent down to touch his feet. Since it was a normal mala, one for grown-ups, it hit the floor, making a clanking sound. Osho noticed that and told Laxmi (his secretary at that time) to take me to the mala shop next day and have me design a mala especially for kids.

The following day I went to the mala shop with Laxmi and designed my own mala. What an eventful day!

When I look back, I feel that Osho knew that one day I would become a designer and then an artist. The mala shop was perhaps my initiation.

Interestingly, the mala that I designed later became the standard mala for children starting their sannyas journey.