Khirad interviews Alok Samadhana, a meditation facilitator from France, after one of his visits to the Osho Meditation Resort in Pune
Q: You offer many meditation retreats in the lineage of Osho… It’s been almost 45 years since you first came across Osho’s teachings and meditation practices, and have witnessed many eras and changes. I notice that you remain an unconditional follower of Osho’s approach. Why? Does your thirst for liberation not lead you to explore other teachings, other techniques as well?
Why remain faithful to Osho’s approach? Probably because it was Osho – through his presence, his words, his guidance – who opened the way for me towards the spiritual dimension of my Being on a path of transformation. It’s this unconditional commitment that allows me to also open myself to other teachings, which ultimately point to the same destination: the space of meditation. When you are engaged on one path, is that not itself a recognition that other approaches are also part of it? Everything is tantric… Everything is conducive to meditation… What is here is everywhere; what is not here is nowhere, Tantra tells us. Yes, I am an unconditional follower of the path that leads to meditation.
Osho, like a Zen master, shows us the moon and invites us not to stop at the finger pointing towards it, but to move in the direction that is indicated. Being committed to one path does not exclude other riches, other wisdoms. Osho created techniques inspired by other traditions, weaving together contributions from the West – emotional release therapies – with those from the East – inwardness, observation, silent sitting. He, in fact, drew upon numerous traditions and worked to bring ancient scriptures back to life by decoding them.
Once we have found the path that aligns with our evolution, once our thirst is quenched, what is the point of losing ourselves in an intoxicating search that can throw us off balance? Especially since what I continue to receive from the outside invites me to find the answer within. Osho and his teachings continue to allow me to enjoy what Life offers me so I can keep growing in consciousness. I welcome other techniques; I’m quite fond of them. Osho’s active meditation techniques are precious and unique; tantric and other meditation techniques are so many.
At this point it’s maybe good to remember that these techniques are precious in helping us sense the moment when they are no longer needed on the path towards meditation. It’s then our daily life that becomes the ultimate technique that can give us a taste of simply becoming pure consciousness. That’s where my thirst for liberation is guiding me!
Q: This winter you again visited the Osho International Meditation Resort in Pune; some still call it Osho’s ashram although it no longer has much in common with an ashram. What do you think of how the place has evolved, and what are you looking to find there?
Thinking about the evolution of the place would drive me to compare, even to pass judgement, get lost in mental analysis and ultimately turn away from the experience that has to be lived. The International Meditation Resort in Pune, connected to Osho’s teaching, remains for me an exceptional place of inner transformation. For that, I need to invite myself into ‘presence’ – to welcome the outside world as an opportunity to accept what I feel, and perhaps to bring understanding to it, so as to awaken the witness state, the state of pure consciousness…
For me, it remains a surprising place of experimentation that continues to teach me to observe, to feel, to become less and less identified with my inner sensations, to be less ‘in reaction’ and a little more ‘in response’, to experience the middle path by letting go of conflicting dualities. This experience is an extraordinary preparation for returning to the world, to my daily life… Much as a meditation and personal development retreat can be, this place has that additional dimension Osho often spoke of – the perception of a buddhafield, the energetic field created by the gathering of people committed to the path of meditation.
Today I still sense it in such a way that, in that place, I can more easily make sense of situations life brings me. It is in my hands to unfold this teaching in my daily life, even when the outer context is less supportive. This place of practice and renewal has existed since 1974 – with Osho’s presence, and since then, countless changes have occurred…
Tantra and its sutras can help by inviting us to observe everything that is constantly changing on the outside, so that we may become aware of what is unchanging at the centre, where everything is calm beyond all judgment, and rest in a space where we can simply remain receptive to the present moment. Allowing oneself to have this wonderful experience of observing what changes on the outside is also an invitation to remain centred. It’s like a continuous practice that expands the space of meditation.
That’s what I come here to find, and that’s what I have received during this month of February, as I gently immersed myself in this bath of consciousness. I am deeply touched, today, by the invitation to be more focussed toward the inside and less devoted toward the outside. At the same time, I realise that I go there – and return there relatively often – to search for a place in myself that is no longer searching. And beyond that destination… And above all, to bring back that quality with me wherever I am… Wherever I am… Whatever that place is!
Q: Osho left his body 36 years ago, and more and more of those who were close to him or knew him personally are disappearing, and will disappear. How do you see Osho’s work and the evolution of meditation in the future – in 2050, for example?
The future, by definition, is uncertain, and I am no visionary. When Osho left his body he left us his dream, which he has shared with us through his carefully recorded words – audio and video recordings, books transcribed from his discourses. So are his instructions for the active meditation he has passed on. These recordings stand as guarantees to protect the authenticity of what he so generously transmitted to us. This transmission is as relevant today as ever. Of that I am certain; but what the future holds can only be hypothetical. André Malraux is said to have proclaimed: “The twenty-first century will be spiritual or will not be.” (Le XXIe siècle sera spirituel ou ne sera pas.)
Meditation, as such, is not destined to evolve in the future, for it emerges from the eternity of the present. Only the practices and techniques that prepare us to receive this space may perhaps adapt to future generations.
Q: How do you understand awakening – or enlightenment – after meditating for 45 years? Some teachers of non-duality assert that we are already awakened and that we simply need to become aware of it, without any particular effort. Yet I feel that this view may be illusory: doesn’t it require genuine inner work? For me, awakening corresponds to a profound shift – a state where one is no longer dominated by the ego and desire, a full and transformative presence, with a true ‘before’ and ‘after’. What is your understanding of this?
Awakening doesn’t seem to me to be something to be understood, perhaps just to be received. Only those who have experienced it can bear witness to it, perhaps simply by remaining silent or, like Osho and other masters did, by inviting us to sow the seeds and wait for them to flower.
Q: Osho says, “I have no teaching.” He speaks more of his work as “an alarm designed to wake us up before it is too late.” What does he mean by this?
No doubt to invite us to be alert at every moment – to return to our centre with the greatest urgency, as though each moment might be our last, and to feel the quality of being that arises from that.
Q: You wouldn’t need to facilitate retreats to make a living… So where does this passion come from, to keep running so many meditation workshops and retreats at festivals in France?
From the joy of teaching, guiding, offering new perspectives, sharing my understanding, my references, and my experience. To sharpen my creativity, reawaken my vitality, and to allow myself to open up and receive the right answers. To enrich myself with what I receive, so as to offer what I understand! To continue growing on the path of knowing.
For more information about Alok Samadhana’s retreats see corps-et-ames.org
Contact: 06 63 52 77 08 and email: alok.samadhana@aol.com
Translation from French by Osho News
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