Histórias com Osho – Leela

Abheeru and Divya interviewed Leela on zoom about her life with Osho and of course about the Mystic Rose

This video is part of the series Histórias com Osho (Stories with Osho) by Divyadez, conceived by a group of sannyasins in Brazil (Abheeru Sufi, Divya and friends), who have been interviewing sannyasins for the last three years. Their channel boasts to-date over 140 episodes, 40 of which are in English with Portuguese subtitles – youtube.com/@divyadez7174

The changes I was going through as a result of doing Dynamic! Just that one meditation started to have such transformative effects. Just doing this simple meditation, in a very short time. Things would just pop out of my mouth. I started being more assertive, more truthful, more responding, rather than reacting to things. I felt more courageous (I was quite well conditioned in my family home as a child – I did not get much opportunity to speak up for myself as teenagers and younger people can do today). Lots of layers were releasing through this meditation. And I went for it!

In one of Osho’s books there was: ‘Life is just a leela, it’s just a cosmic play.’ Every time I came across this word I got this big feeling in my heart. It sounded so perfect: ‘life is just a play’. It resonated very deeply with me. When I finally decided to take sannyas… I sent the letter by mail. Then the name came: Ma Prem Leela. It means: ‘the cosmic play of love’.

[In the late 80’s – Pune 2] we had a huge programme of meditation and therapy. The Pune Commune became again the largest growth and therapy centre in the world. That’s what this place was. It was not a religious… That’s where people came because they wanted to transform their lives, they wanted to become more aware and awake. That was the place where this could happen. It had the potential.

And every day we had beautiful discourses by Osho… He was pouring the wisdom, the clarity, the enormity of his compassion. And he was so funny, so human. To sit in that presence, in the energy that we were all collectively enjoying, feeling. It was an energy field so unique and so unusual. You could just sit and feel this life, this love, this clarity pouring upon us every time he would come out.

00:37 Question: How did Osho come into your life and what happened next?

04:00 First Dynamic Meditation.

07:58 Taking sannyas by mail.

11:02 Keerti singing to her “Leela, leela, life is just a play,” when they passed each other.

11:35 Leela talks about her two children, Anubhasha and Divakar, her fellow-travellers.

12:12 Transformative effects of Dynamic Meditation in her life.

16:46 First darshan with Osho in Pune, on the porch.

22: 27 Enlightenment Intensive / Who am I?

27:24 Return to England, then back to Pune for a longer period.

30:00 Q: Tell us more about your life as a sannyasin. Did you go to the Ranch?

30:03 Work in the Press Office in Pune with Krishna Prem and Bhagawati.

31:35 Witnessing Osho leave the ashram in his car, heading for the USA.

32:38 Living in the Suffolk commune Medina and 3-month visit to Oregon.

34:06 Feeling disconnected on the Ranch. Work in the welding shop and in the legal department.

39:02 Return to London.

40:18 Return to Pune in early 1987, Leela works in book distribution dept, then becomes the coordinator of the group department, the Multiversity.

46:36 About Osho’s discourses.

49:47 Q: Abheeru asks: I have done the Mystic Rose. Osho had put you in charge of it. Tell us all about it.

55:13 First Mystic Rose group for participants. Leela teaches others to facilitate the Mystic Rose so that she can continue running of the group department.

57:48 Leela talks about her book, Osho’s Mystic Rose Meditative Therapy.

58:40 Mention of other Meditative Therapies: No-Mind, Born Again.

1:01:31 Q: How did you get to run the Mystic Rose?

1:05:40 Q: The connection to Osho. How is it for you?

1:07:00 Q: How do you see Osho’s legacy today?