A Ram Katha by Morari Bapu dedicated to Osho’s birthday?

Critical comments on a recent event, expressed by Zorba Buddha in a video (Hindi with English translation)

What is it about?

Morari Bapu recently held a special 9-day Ram Katha (Dec 6-14, 2025) in Jabalpur to celebrate the birthday of the enlightened mystic Osho, who was born on December 11, 1931, with Osho devotees invited to join the festivities honoring his vision of awareness and peace, says a Facebook post.

What is a Ram Katha?

A Ram Katha is a religious event with priests performing rituals, singing, chanting the verses from the Hindu scripture, Ram-Charit-Manas, an interpretation of the Hindu epic text Ramayana, written by the 16th century poet/saint Tulsi Das (whom Osho has thrashed numerous times calling him at one time a disease of the Hindu mind). Osho gave a good beating also to Rama, as being the epitome of obedience in Hinduism, explains Zorba Buddha.

Who is Morari Bapu?

Morari Bapu is a Katha Vachak from Gujarat, a storyteller who narrates, often in marathon discourses, the life stories of Hindu Gods, accompanied by rituals with full religious fervour. A Katha Vachak is revered as a guru/saint by the Hindus. Morari Bapu, who can apparently also boast a political backing, has a global following of an estimated one hundred million people. According to the internet, individual events can draw massive crowds up to 1.2 mio over 9 days.

Morari Bapu, who calls himself an Osho lover, having listened to Osho in Pune when Osho was still in his body, decided to ‘offer’ his Ram Katha to celebrate Osho’s birthday event in Jabalpur. Or was it perhaps that Osho sannyasins had requested him to make this offering to Osho, as he commented in his opening speech?

Disturbing is the backdrop, where Osho’s photograph is facing in namaste the monkey-God Hanumana! A deliberate composition?

In the Name of Osho
Osho Ki Ram Katha (literally, The Rama Story of Osho)

video by Zorba Buddha

Watch on YouTube

Translation of the transcript

Today I went to Kuchwada, Osho’s birthplace. I am working on a documentary on Osho’s life and vision – a comprehensive documentary – and I wanted to shoot at Osho’s grandmother’s house. When I reached there, I saw something totally unexpected. Hanging on the grandmother’s house was a flex banner announcing Osho’s birthday celebration on the 11th of December. And the main attraction of this year’s celebration, which is about to happen in Jabalpur, is Morari Bapu’s Ram-Katha (the Hindu tradition of narrating the story of Lord Rama) at Osho’s birth celebration. Hmm… pretty interesting!

This is hard to make sense of, even for those who understand Osho superficially, who understand Osho only intellectually. Ram-Katha at Osho’s birth celebration? I know that for many sannyasins – or rather, so-called sannyasins – this won’t come across as something weird. For them, it is a religious offering to Osho. After all, Rama is an enlightened being, and Osho has spoken about him.

It’s a different matter, though, that Osho has hammered him a lot. Osho has praised him as well on certain occasions. But if you are a Hindu, why not ignore the thrashings? Why not focus on the “positive” side? Why not focus on the praise Osho has given to Rama? Why not use Osho’s praise of Rama to support our blind conditionings? Usually, this is what Indian sannyasins do.

It feels a little awkward to say “Indian sannyasins,” because to be an Osho sannyasin implies that you are neither Indian, nor American, nor Japanese. You are no longer a Hindu, or a Muslim, or a Sikh, or a Christian. The one who is courageous enough to let go of all belief systems, of all conditionings of the past – only such a person is an Osho sannyasin.

If you are a sannyasin, shouldn’t you have the readiness to let go of all your past conditionings – if not in a single stroke, then gradually? This much courage is needed right from the beginning, at the very first step. If not, then your sannyas is nothing but hypocrisy.

I understand it may not be so easy for many people. But one should be clear about it, honest about it: that although I have taken sannyas – Osho’s sannyas – I am not yet courageous enough to take the jump. And that’s what Osho’s sannyas is – to be totally empty. Tabula rasa! A clean slate, on which nothing is written.

If you are still clinging to your belief systems, your past, know very well that sannyas has not happened to you. You may have taken sannyas, which is “freely” available nowadays. I have heard that there are many meditation facilitators in India who not only invite participants, but also lure them into sannyas – as if there is nothing at stake.

I see so many sannyasins around who wear the mala and the robe but have no inclination towards meditation. They simply don’t have the inner call, no inner journey. Just as free food is offered in a bhandara (the Hindu community feast), sannyas is offered at a meditation camp – so we take it. And I hear that many meditation facilitators even take pride in the fact that they have initiated so many people into sannyas. Ridiculous.

Osho’s sannyas is not so cheap. But if you want to justify your point, you always have Osho’s words in your pocket: that Osho never imposed any conditions on sannyas. Yes, if you look at it superficially, it appears so. But as far as I understand, Osho’s sannyas is a cakewalk on the surface, yet the deeper you go, the more you realise – I won’t use the word “difficult” – but, as I said earlier, one must have the readiness, the courage, to let go of the past.

I remember Osho saying, “There is a sannyas that you take, and there is a sannyas that happens!” It happens!

So when I reached Kuchwada and saw this flex banner, and was told that Morari Bapu is offering the Ram-Katha to Osho – Osho is being offered the Ram-Katha! – I wondered: why was Osho not privileged with this offering when he was physically here? Could you dare to do that when he was in the body? Could you go to Pune and request Osho, “Osho, your birthday is just around the corner, and we are offering Ram-Katha to you. A bhandara (the Hindu community feast) is also being organised.” How would Osho respond?

Knowingly or unknowingly, an effort is being made to create a religion around Osho – the man who boycotted all religions, who exposed the hypocrisy of all religions, who didn’t just denounce organised religions and beliefs but burned them to ashes. In the name of such a man, a new religion will be created, as I see it.

The day is not far when the so-called Osho sannyasins of India will consecrate a temple in the name of Osho. Osho is already being worshipped at a few places. They call it devotion. Victory to Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh! Earlier it was Jai Shri Ram! (Victory to Shri Ram!), Jai Mahakaal! (Victory to Shiva!). Now it is Jai Osho! (Victory to Osho!). What has changed, brother? It’s the same old mind.

And things are taking this turn because, for those who are creating traditions and rituals around Osho, Osho is dead. You can’t play such games with a living master. You can’t play your mind games with a living master. But because Osho is dead to you – of course, you won’t accept that Osho is dead to you – rituals, traditions, worship, temples can be created around him. All this can only be organised around a dead master. You can’t do this to a living master.

But this is being done to Osho by sannyasins – by so-called Osho sannyasins of India – and of course, in the name of devotion. After all, Osho spoke so highly of devotion. There is enough to justify our doings: Osho said this. Osho said that.

What have you got to say? What is your understanding, your vision? Is there anything at all? Or are you just a jackass? A jackass who quotes Osho every now and then – Osho said this, Osho said that – just to justify and support your beliefs, your conditioning. And where will you find a support like Osho?

So when I told the facilitator at the Kuchwada ashram that this banner on Osho’s house doesn’t make any sense to me. Why not remove it?

Not that I have any objections to Morari Bapu, or the Ram-Katha, or Rama. I am not talking in that context. That’s not the point. The point is: by organising such traditional, religious events around Osho, are you not diluting his vision? Are you not gradually sabotaging Osho’s vision? And as I see it, that is exactly what is being done. Knowingly or unknowingly, Osho’s vision is being sabotaged.

Over thousands of years, India has perfected the subtle mechanism of ruining the vision of enlightened beings. In fact, this has happened all over the world, to almost all enlightened masters. Once the master is gone, we reduce him to a toy – and then we are free to make whatever we want of him.

So when I asked the facilitator why not remove the banner, he became afraid and urged me not even to think about it. Why? “We were pressurised from above.” Pressure on an Osho ashram from “above”? I asked, what is this “above”? Damn – it’s political pressure. Political pressure on Osho sannyasins to organise and promote Ram-Katha on Osho’s birthday? And this is acceptable to sannyasins?

If it really is political pressure, then it becomes even more absurd. I don’t actually think there is any political pressure, but let’s assume there is. In that case, sannyasins should object even more strongly – assuming you really are a sannyasin and have some guts. But if you are scared shitless, that’s a different matter altogether.

And it happens. I see sannyasins hanging around politicians. Namaste ji! The same nonsense. The man who did not compromise even an iota before the most powerful political power in the world – today his sannyasins are bootlicking any Tom, Dick, and Harry politician. I don’t believe there is political pressure; it must be the undertaking of the sannyasins themselves – the undertaking of so-called sannyasins.

Go ahead, it’s a good thing. All the best. Go for it. You have your freedom, your own understanding. But that’s not my take. And that’s why I objected to it in Kuchwada.

When I returned to Gadarwada, where I am staying, I saw the same banner there too: Morari Bapu’s Ram-Katha on Osho’s birth celebration. Wonderful! When I saw it again in Gadarwada, I felt that now I had to do something about it. I had to listen to my inner voice: this is something worth doing.

You might think I am overreacting – “Let it be, why make a fuss about it?” That’s how things go. Every master has been treated this way. All these arguments will be given. To me, this is not a violent reaction. It may appear to be a reaction, but it is simply an excuse to make my point.

Today Ram-Katha is being organised. When are you going to organise Osho-Katha? It won’t take long, as I see it. In a few years’ time, Osho-Katha will be available on the market. Preparations are already underway, knowingly or unknowingly. To jump straight to Osho-Katha would be too much – that much courage is a tall order for most people. So let’s begin with Ram-Katha; gradually, we can mature to Osho-Katha.

We only know how to look back. The Indian mind is stuck in the past; it simply cannot let go. There is no drive to move ahead, no drive to let the seed grow – the seed that Osho has given us – to help it sprout and flower. There is no vision of how this seed might flower in the future.

And yet it is already flowering, particularly in the West, as I see it. The hundreds of meditation techniques Osho gave are being scientifically experimented upon. Consciousness is being scientifically researched. Meticulous experiments on frequencies and the human–nature connection are being carried out. Scientific tools are being developed. You may remember Kirlian photography, which Osho spoke about – that is already a thing of the past. Far more refined tools are now available.

Scientific research on meditation is being conducted by various universities in the West, by Osho sannyasins and non-sannyasins alike. I see a new world being created in the West – but not in India. Here, all that is great has already been done in the past. Now all we have to do is repeat it. First Ram-Katha, then Bhagwat-Katha, and next will be Osho-Katha.

I see how the vision of an enlightened master is sabotaged, knowingly or unknowingly. I see it happening to Osho’s vision here in India. It is 4 a.m. now, but I felt this message needed to reach sannyasins far and wide. You may agree or disagree – I have shared what resonates with me.

Lastly, if you are an Osho sannyasin – truly an Osho sannyasin – if your sannyas is not merely formal but has really happened to you, then you will not comply with such events and with everything being done in the name of Osho or Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh. You will not submit to it. You will not remain silent. You will not rationalise it as God’s or Existence’s play. That is just an excuse.

I did what resonated with me. And you will follow your own course.

To sum it up: in this short life, let the seed Osho has handed to us sprout. Let us not drag the peaks of Osho down into our valleys. Let us learn to flow. Let us gather some courage.

That’s it.