Osho’s parents take sannyas

Mataji takes sannyas

Let’s listen now to a mystical happening that took place during this time of transition. Among many other events was the initiation of Osho’s parents into sannyas – something unheard of and unparalleled – for perhaps the first time in the history of humanity a son had become his parents’ guru.

“It so happened that I came to live with Osho in Mumbai for two months,” says Mataji. “Before that, I had never had the opportunity to be in satsang with Osho, or to sit close to him and listen to him. I was always caught up in household chores and, moreover, our society was so conservative at the time that I had never sat in public with my face unveiled.

“After arriving in Mumbai, I had the opportunity to hear Osho’s lectures for the first time. This was in 1971. Throughout the day, sannyasins would come and go. I was surrounded by a climate of celebration and joy. During this time something began to stir within my heart. There was one night when I just could not fall asleep. I couldn’t understand what was happening inside my heart. When I woke up in the morning, Ma Anand Madhu said to me, ‘Why do you look sad? Your eyes are red.’ I told her, ‘Madhu, how should I tell you? I couldn’t sleep the whole night. Something was happening inside of me. I feel it would be best if Osho gives me sannyas.’ She answered that I should ask Osho about this. ‘I don’t have the nerve to ask Osho. You ask for me please,’ I pleaded. She happily ran off to Osho and told him what had happened. Osho said to her, ‘Tell Ma to come to Patkar Hall.’ Osho was giving lectures there in those days.

“When Osho’s chachi, his aunt, heard about this, she became ready too. We both asked Kranti to get us some orange sarees to wear. When we arrived at Patkar Hall we saw Osho sitting on the stage. When I heard Chinmayaji call out our names and we walked up to the stage, I could feel how my body started shivering. Osho quickly came down from the stage with a broad smile on his face and put a mala around my neck and then bowed down to touch my feet. As was my habit, I caressed his head with my hand; and when I was about to bow down, he went back onto the stage and took his seat. I then folded my hands to everyone who was sitting there that day, towards the sannyasins and finally towards the stage. That day, I was so incredibly happy.

“From that day onwards, our relationship of son and mother came to an end. Although he was still my son inside, there was also this feeling that he was now my master, my guru. The mother-son relation had fallen away. But to be blessed with a son like him is an exceedingly rare phenomenon. He took me to the other shore, to a new birth.”

After listening to her story and trying to fathom this mysterious relationship, we asked, Afterwards did you start calling him Bhagwan?

“Yes. After sannyas I began to call him Bhagwan just like the other sannyasins did. I felt my life had started to improve. For instance, the feeling of not wanting to eat food or drink water given to me by particular people – all of these things dropped on their own. Now, whenever I see a sannyasin, I don’t ask their name or language, I simply feel they are part of our own. A part of our family. I may not recognize them, but I feel love arise in my heart for all of them.”

It has been Mataji’s uniqueness that she has not been interested in organised religion throughout her life. She told us in a soft voice that she could never bring herself to fold her hands in a temple or to bow down to a holy book or scripture. But out of consideration for society, she used to do this anyway.

Gifts are showering

Elaborating further on her sannyas journey, Mataji said, “When I took sannyas, many people started showering me with gifts. Somebody would give me a saree, somebody something else. There was a man from Mumbai named Ramneek Bhai Jhaveri. He sent us an invitation to visit him. He supposedly had a room full of diamonds. He said, ‘Whenever we give something to Osho, our sales expand. Whenever we begin to wonder why, and ask ourselves why we should give something to Osho, we see no customers come to us for 8-10 days.’

“He started to show us his precious diamonds. I said to him, ‘I do not understand anything about diamonds. But my children certainly used to bring coloured stones from the river. To me, your stones look like that.’ He then asked me how many family members I had. Osho’s uncle, who had come along with me, said that there were 35 people in our family. Ramneek Bhai brought out 35 red-coloured diamonds and gave them to us. He also gave me two pearls to put into my mala. I said, ‘I am not deserving all these gifts.’ But he did not listen to me. We had to accept the gifts in the end.

“When Osho’s uncle returned to Gadarwada, he told Dadaji how we were doing and that his bhabhi, his brother’s wife – meaning me – had taken sannyas. He also told him about the gifts given to us by Ramneek Bhai. Dadaji was shocked to hear about the diamond gifts. That night he cried till 2-3 am. He wrote us a letter saying, ‘I am very happy to hear that you have taken sannyas, but I am sad to hear that you have sold your sannyas in exchange for a few stones.’ When the letter arrived, Vijay read it out loud to us and also showed it to Osho.

“Osho said, ‘What has happened to Dadda? Ma never asked anyone for anything. If someone has offered it with love, how can she refuse? It would hurt the other person. But now we must keep Dadda’s words. So, you call Ramneek Bhai, show him this letter and return all the diamonds.’ Both the Jhaveri brothers came to see us. Upon seeing the letter, tears flowed from their eyes. I said to them, ‘Son, please take these back. I feel sad that here I take sannyas, and there, he cries for 2-3 hours. Please take your diamonds back.’ They did eventually take the diamonds back but told me that they would sell the diamonds, and whatever money they would earn from the sale they would gift to the ashram. They insisted that I keep the two pearls. They folded their hands and asked me so very kindly, so I kept the pearls.”

We were all speechless to hear this tale of detachment. Mataji and Dadaji did not need to strive or practise these qualities, they spontaneously flowered out of their beings. This childlike innocence – this fragrance was felt by everyone around them, but they themselves remained oblivious to it. Sannyas was Mataji’s being; there was no question of her taking it.

Dadaji’s turn to take sannyas

Dadaji took sannyas four years after Mataji. Mataji tells the story: “One day he suddenly became ill in Gadarwara. These days I hear that husbands and wives sometimes bathe together, but in those days, it was quite different. I had never even gone into the bathroom at the same time as my husband. However, that day, I don’t know what had come over me, I said to him, ‘You go inside. I will wait at the door for you. You go inside, but don’t close the bathroom door.’

“He was not feeling well so I asked Amit to quickly call the doctor. And I woke up Vijay. While inside the bathroom, Dadaji had an acute bout of diarrhoea and fell on the floor, unconscious. Anxiously I called out to Vijay. He picked Dadaji up in his arms like a small child and brought him out. Later, when Dadaji regained consciousness, he said, ‘When I was lying on the floor, I had an out-of-body experience. I could see that my body was lying on the floor and that Vijay was picking it up. I was in this state for about ten minutes.’ Vijay said that he had become very worried when he picked up Dadaji’s body because he noticed that it felt as if lifeless.

“Dadaji was bedridden for two months. One day I went to him with a glass of mausambi, sweet lime juice. I called him two or three times but he did not respond. I sat there for about half an hour. When Dadaji opened his eyes he saw that I was crying and he asked me, ‘Why are you crying? For how long have you been sitting here?’ I answered, ‘What should I do if not cry? You were not saying anything.’ He asked, ‘But why are you crying now? Don’t worry. I will remain alive for five years. You can cry in five years.’ And indeed, he kept his word.”

There were tears in Mataji’s eyes. Perhaps the wound of separation was still fresh in her heart. The conversation was taking a serious turn and so we quickly steered it to the sannyas story.

“We had come to visit Osho and we were staying in Lao Tzu House. For many years, Dadaji used to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning to meditate. That day too, he had gotten up early to meditate. Suddenly, there was a loud shriek from his room. Since I and other family members were sleeping nearby, we woke up in a worried state. Dadaji was in a deep state of meditation and tears were flowing uncontrollably down his face. I wiped them with the corner of my sari and gently nudged him and asked, ‘What has happened?’ He asked me to call Bhagwan. That day, for the first time, he addressed him as Bhagwan. Before that he had always called him Rajneesh. It was 6 am. Niklank ran to get Laxmi. Osho had just woken up, but came immediately.”

Mataji’s face lit up while weaving this remarkable happening into words. It was as if that precious morning of 19 October 1975 was coming to life again and spreading its freshness in her being.

“Osho looked so beautiful and innocent – just like a newborn child. Dadaji asked Osho to stand on his bed and Osho quietly did so. Then Dadaji put his head on Osho’s feet – for the first time in his life. Tears were flowing… and flowing. Osho put his hand on Dadaji’s head and said, ‘The time has come. Laxmi, bring the mala.’ Now, from where could Laxmi get a mala at this hour in the morning? She removed the mala from her own neck and gave it to Osho. Osho put her mala around Dadaji’s neck and bowed down to touch his feet. Then Dadaji did the same and touched Osho’s feet.”

We were so engrossed in the story that we had stopped breathing!

So, after that, did Dadaji start wearing orange-coloured clothes?

“No, for about 2-3 days he continued to wear his old khadi clothes. He did not want to give up his khadi clothes. I would say to him, ‘Come on, now leave these! There is no longer a Gandhi rule. It’s Rajneesh’s rule now!’ But Dadaji replied, ‘When Osho will tell me, then I will start wearing orange.’ Soon enough, during one of the darshans, Osho said to Dadaji, ‘Now you can start wearing orange.’ That was the day that Dadaji dropped everything and completely immersed himself into the colour of sannyas – inside and outside.”

When Wordsworth wrote, ‘The child is the father of the man’, one would not have known that these words would come to life with Osho and Dadaji. Although a child was born physically through the father, life completed its circle when the child gave spiritual birth to his father. The seed gave life to a tree and the tree in turn birthed another seed. Life completed a full circle. To describe this divine happening is beyond our capacity and competency.

After taking sannyas, Dadaji lived in the ashram for the next four years. As Devateerth Bharti, he had truly become a teerth – a holy place, an oasis. People would come, chant songs, bathe in his silence and fragrance. However, he had to fulfil the promise that he had made to Mataji…

Dadaji’s mahaparinirvana

Mataji began to talk about Dadaji’s mahaparinirvana in an almost inaudible voice: “He experienced being out of his body on two occasions. The first time was during his illness and the second time was a few hours before his death. Both times, his soul left his body.”

Everyone will remember when Osho talked in detail about Dadaji’s mahaparinirvana. Mataji stated, as always with her unique simplicity, ‘I don’t know anything about nirvana.’ But for her it was the loss of her companion of fifty years. Perhaps she had not understood Dadaji’s enlightenment, but this event certainly impacted her. Her spirit bears testimony to it.

“There is a custom in India that after the death of her husband, a wife breaks all her bangles, removes her jewellery and erases the bindi on her forehead, as these are all adornments of a married woman. But for three days I was so stubborn that I did not want to do any of that. Also, I did not ask nor take advice from anyone in my family. Even Osho didn’t say anything. It did not feel as if someone had died. Vijay asked me if I wanted him to shave his head, and I said no. After three days, when Niklank and Vijay brought the urn with Dadaji’s ashes, I removed my bangles and toe rings, and put them in the urn. All the tears stopped, I closed my eyes and sat in my room in silence for eight days. After that, Osho sent a message saying, ‘Ask Ma not to sit in her room alone. She can come and listen to the discourses.’

You were companions for about fifty years. When he left his body, you must have been impacted by it deeply, weren’t you?

To this Mataji responded in a way only a Buddha’s mother could have. She said, “Existence had brought us together here, and it has also separated us here. As for the rest… who can give someone else company? We are all alone.”

To be continued…

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This interview was first published in the Hindi Rajneesh Times (PDF) in three consecutive issues between 1986 and 1987, and re-published in the Hindi Osho Times on 16 December 1993, under the title, A Pilgrimage from the Ocean to its Origin. Translation by Anuragi with edits by Osho News. Photos and PDF courtesy: Osho Resource Center