Sufi Abheeru and Aminah Divya from Brazil interview Subhuti via zoom – video with edited excerpts from the talk
Subhuti talks about his sannyas darshan:
“There was a connection with a space, particularly when Osho said, ‘Close your eyes and listen to the bird’. There was nothing of me, there was nothing of him, there was just this empty space. But these things are very difficult to describe. There was certainly a quantum leap in experience. I had met a few spiritual teachers, nice people, and some of them also had a certain energy, but Osho was in a separate league. There was an immediate understanding that I needed to be around this guy and absorb what he has to share.”
On the different communes:
“Pune One was Eastern mysticism with the volume turned up to the max. And the Ranch was Eastern mysticism somehow trying to find a place in Central Oregon, with bulldozers and trucks and cowboy boots. It was more like Gurdjieff, who used to talk about ‘The Work’ with his disciples. Maybe Pune One was the honeymoon and Rajneeshpuram was The Work.”
About the Rajneesh Theatre Group in Pune:
“It was in 1978 or 1979. Osho’s discourses were in the morning, and in the evening he gave darshan. If you weren’t going to darshan, you could either go to Music Group or hang out with your friends.
“Just for fun, a group of English sannyasins, many of whom had experience in theatre, started reading a Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is one of William Shakespeare’s most enjoyable romantic comedies. Suddenly it occurred to me that we had this very controversial reputation in India – Osho was the ‘sex guru’, we were the ‘free love’ ashram – a very sensational reputation. I thought, if we take this play around India, it will counterbalance the ‘free love’ reputation. In a way, there’s nothing more respectable than William Shakespeare!
“So, I wrote to Osho asking, ‘Why don’t we take this play on the road?’ And he said, ‘Yes, go ahead.’
“That’s when the Rajneesh Theatre Group was formed. I doubled up; I was sometimes in the Rajneesh Theatre Group, sometimes in the Press Office. I had a role in Midsummer Night’s Dream. I played an angry jealous father of one of the lovers. So, we did it in Pune. We did it in Mumbai. We did it in Delhi, Surat and Ahmedabad, I think. We took it around.
“It helped people to understand that Osho’s vision of sannyas was creative. It wasn’t about just sitting, chanting mantras, or smoking chillums. It had a creativity to it.
“One of the nice things about the Theatre Group was that all the costumes were done in sannyas colours. So, there were a lot of oranges, reds and pinks, all designed by Ma Deva Padma, while her boyfriend, Siddhena Murray-Clark, did the stage sets and lighting. (Padma then went on to design the Osho Zen Tarot deck, which is very popular around the world. She made two more decks after that, the Tao Oracle and the Sacred She.).”
About Osho’s legacy:
“Osho’s legacy is a mystery. I don’t actually think it’s got much to do with Pune or with any of us. It’s going to go its own way. Osho once said that he would be contemporary, by which I think he means ‘generally understood’, in about 200 years after his death.
“He has created some remarkable shifts in people’s understanding, like sexual freedom and love of life and the quality of celebration. It’s much more accepted now. Spirituality doesn’t have to mean that you deny having fun.
“Osho’s legacy continues to be an ongoing question. It’s already implanted in society, in the global understanding, and will manifest itself in unexpected ways. It’s going to go on for hundreds of years. For example, in 50 years’ time, I can see some student at university writing a PhD on why Osho went to Oregon, stuff like that…”
A word to describe Osho:
“Wordlessness. Mystery.”
Timeline
00:18: How did Osho come into your life and what happened next?
04:27: How was your first meeting with [Osho]?
06:51: What’s the meaning of your name?
07:41: How was the sannyas darshan for you?
09:56: How was it for you? Pune 1, Rajneeshpuram, Pune 2, the World Tour?
17:05: We want to hear about your experience with the Rajneesh Theatre Group.
20:25: It is said that you met Ronald Reagan at the White House. He was against Osho. How was that experience for you?
24:36: What year was that? The government was already prosecuting Osho?
26:12: In Lakshen’s movie, 10,000 Shades of Osho, in which you appear, it’s mentioned that there was a recognition that to go to America was a mistake.
32:25: We interviewed Neelam’s daughter, Priya, and she told us that [Osho] wanted to go to the Himalayas.
33:58: You wrote books about Osho?
34:04: Would you share something with us about your books?
37:00: How was it for you when Osho left his body, Subhuti?
41:05: How do you see Osho’s legacy today? What can you say to newcomers?
45:06: We always like to end with one last question. Can you say one word for Osho. What would that be?
Related articles on Osho News
- Histórias com Osho – Histories with Osho – Two Brazilian sannyasins create an oral history of life with Osho, Histórias com Osho – by Subhuti
- Histórias com Osho – Leela
- Histórias com Osho – Punya
- Histórias com Osho – Aneesha
- Tag: Histórias com Osho
Link to the Playlist of the English interviews by Histórias com Osho
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