Meeting Veeresh / Meeting Osho

Abheeru Sufi remembers the impact Veeresh and the Humaniversity team had on his life

The first time I heard of Veeresh (Denny Yuson-Sanchez) was in 1989, in Amsterdam, at a place called the Mystery School. I had just arrived from Pune, where I had spent over a year attending the daily gatherings, with talks, and meditations within the talks, led by Osho himself.

If my memory serves me correctly, this School was in a former convent, renovated and transformed into a community by Osho’s disciples. It was a very large property, comprising three buildings: one residential, the others containing offices, a canteen, a shop, a bar, a café, a meditation hall and other facilities.

There I heard about Veeresh – that he was a disciple of Osho, and a therapist. And that he ran a commune, a therapeutic centre and university – with a focus on training therapists – called Osho Humaniversity, in Egmond aan Zee, on the Dutch coast.

I was then invited to watch a video of this Veeresh, in which he stepped out of a white Mercedes-Benz and performed the namaste gesture to the people around – that’s all I can remember from that video.

I was outraged: How dare he, Veeresh, a disciple, act like a Master, when there was only one Master: Osho, who was in Pune, India!

I was even more incensed when, on a visit to a meditation centre in Amsterdam, there was again this Veeresh, with his quotes written on boards, displayed all over the centre. Who did this Veeresh think he was?

Some time passed, and I returned to Pune. Then, suddenly, I heard Osho speak, during the playback of one of his discourses, about someone present who was doing beautiful work for him in Europe.

Osho mentioned that this person could have asked for a front seat at discourse – one of the spots much sought after by many of us – but that this person was so shy that he sat right at the back, so that he was not even seen, too embarrassed in case Osho would speak about him.

I remember Osho saying then that Veeresh’s love for him was so great that their hearts – Master and disciple – had become one…

After a few months, there I was in Japan, taking part in a meditation retreat with some friends, in a beautiful place known as Ito, a two-hour train journey from Tokyo. Osho had left his body a few months earlier.

At the time, in the second half of 1990, the global climate, particularly in the East, was very tense, as Iraq had invaded Kuwait and we were on the eve of the outbreak of the first Gulf War.

I was going through a hypersensitive period. Everything in Japan was driving me to put all my attention inwards; I had no Brazilian friends around me, no television, only very little reading material. And mobile phones didn’t exist yet… For the most part I was on my own.

At that meditation retreat in Ito, we had just been doing a Sufi breathing session, led by my dear Japanese friend, Abhivandan. Abhi, for short, was a musician who used to play with the Oshoba band in Pune during the Evening Meetings with Osho.

After the breathing exercise, Abhi asked us to lie down on the floor and exchange a kind of Reiki energy session with someone in the group. While I was receiving my session, Abhi put on a track called ‘Osho’s Delight’, in which – would you believe it? – Veeresh spoke about Osho with warm affection, in his irreverent and laid-back manner:

We’re putting out this tape for all our friends and lovers around the world, who love Osho and understand his message of love and happiness.

I had the personal opportunity to meet Osho and I found out that this man is a gangster. What an amazing amazing humour he has! He can tell the dirtiest jokes in the whole world and have people meditating with him. He can turn a catastrophe into something amazingly beautiful. And he can turn something amazingly, apparently beautiful into something totally ugly. This man has the ability to transform everything within our hearts. And that’s why, he is my man.

If you really want to know what Osho’s delight is all about, just imagine dancing with Osho RIGHT NOW! says Veeresh in the song.

Immediately, I pictured that music being played all over the world, and Osho reaching people through Veeresh.

And immediately I began to cry, and I cried a great deal. From that moment on, for me, there was no longer a distinction between Osho and Veeresh. Because I had understood that their hearts were truly one.

More than thirty years have passed since then. I discovered the Humaniversity, spent time with Veeresh, and took part in his first visit to Brazil and many others that followed, taking part in his activities and training programmes with his team. After all, according to him Osho had entrusted him with training the very best therapists in the world. Indeed, as was characteristic of Osho, he wanted nothing from us but simply the very best, whatever activity we might be involved in…

From Veeresh and the Humaniversity therapists I learnt the importance and the true meaning of deep friendship. A friendship in which you can be extremely honest with someone; where you can say things that may be very difficult, even hard to hear. And that when you speak the truth that comes from your heart, you will be helping that other person. This also means being truly honest with yourself and what you are feeling.

I also learnt about the sense of wholeness, of being fully present in everything I do. They introduced me, as well, to other ways of experiencing and feeling Osho, in an extremely creative and authentic way. I have always seen in the team a sense of integrity, honesty and transparency… a great source of inspiration.

Veeresh himself has always spoken of his great love for Osho, and, sensing that Osho was about to leave this world, he went to see him one last time. This meeting was captured in a photo shoot that is shown on the cover of Osho Freestate, Humaniversity’s magazine, which recounts this visit.

In May 2010, Veeresh took part in a concert with the musicians Deva Premal and Miten. On stage, he once again described himself as “a man of Osho” and revealed that he would like the following to be inscribed on his gravestone:

“Here lies Swami Anand Veeresh, a man of Osho, who loved and was loved by many”

Veeresh left his body on 27 January 2015, and his gravestone bears these words.

I continued to follow the work of the Humaniversity. As a music lover, I also discovered much of what they produced at the Humaniversity Sound studio, including wonderful pieces such as the soundtrack to the AUM Meditation, and many others from a vast collection of creations… including Veeresh’s own poetic forays.

Recently, as part of the lovely project I’m working on with my dear friend Jivan Divya Aminah, we’ve been sharing in our weekly podcast, Stories with Osho, our conversation with Chandrika Zimmermann, Executive Director of Humaniversity, in which she beautifully recounts her life with Osho, with Veeresh, and with the Humaniversity. These were followed by interviews with Premdip, President; Geetee, Executive Director; and Sangitama – all of whom have graduated as Humaniversity Therapists.

Veeresh has also spread his wings and, like the swan Paramhansa – the Great Swan, Osho’s personal symbol – has, in a beautiful metaphor, flown to the Lake Mansarovar of consciousness, with both him and Osho residing in my heart and in the hearts of all those connected to this great egregore of light, love and consciousness.

Life, love and lots of laughter. Jai Veeresh! Jai Osho!