Commune in the spirit of Osho. Interview with Shimaji and Chetan

But they failed to hide it for a simple reason. A few years earlier, Gandhi's own personal secretary, Pyarylal, had fallen in love with a woman. He was a young, intelligent man, and a wonderful writer. Gandhi blocked him with an ultimatum: “Either remain celibate or leave the ashram. If you want - get married, I have no objections; get married, but stay celibate!”

Amazing Logic: Fast while holding all kinds of great food around you. This makes fasting even more difficult, because it is impossible to think of anything other than the wonderful dishes around, and the aroma that rises from them constantly reminds of hunger.

It was Pyarylal - as far as I understand, out of sheer revenge - who revealed the secret to the whole world. He wrote a biography of Mahatma Gandhi and devoted almost a hundred pages to his unnatural idea of ​​celibacy. And in the end, just before his death, Mahatma Gandhi began to sleep with a girl! Even now the Gandhists do not talk about it. Films have been made about Gandhi, but this part is not there. And people like Vinoba Bhave, Kaka Kalikar - his closest students - wrote letters to Pyarylal, which he published: "Do whatever you want, but do not give out this secret." Here are the people who are looking for the truth.

What can I say about them, except that they also stand under the rays of the sun, but with their backs to it?

All these people who blame and condemn others just to feel superior are only concerned about not turning around to face the sun in order to keep their backs to the sun. They do not want to see, they are quite content with their blindness. Their blindness lasts for a very long time, it has become their philosophy, their religion, their way of life. They are unable to change it, although it is very easy to change it: one turn of one hundred and eighty degrees - and there is no darkness, only light.

But even if you turn these people, they will keep their eyes closed. They only look at their shadows; they see only their shadows, and their shadows are their laws. The question was: "Tell us about the laws."

Almustafa says very precisely:

They see only their shadows, and these shadows are laws for them.

Their laws are created by their blindness, their darkness, their unconsciousness.

What is the sun to them if not the creator of shadows?

The sun is not light for them, but only shadow maker. If you kept your back to the sun, then your belief would certainly be the same.

And what does it mean to recognize the laws, how not to bend down and draw your shadows on the ground? They have no light, only their own shadow - what remains to be done?

What does it mean to recognize the laws, how not to bow down and draw your shadows on the ground? And what is drawn on the ground by their own shadows, they want to impose on everyone else.

Great saying: But you, who are walking towards the sun, what images inscribed on the earth can hold you back? The sun is your law! That is what I am saying: love is your only law. Don't go against love. Follow where your love leads you and you will always be innocent.

You who travel with the wind, what weather vane will show you the way? Live simply a life of allowing, and the winds will take you gently to where your destiny is.

It is in your hands to remain a slave or become a free man. You were born free; slavery is a gift from all those who pretend to love you. Most likely, they do not even realize that they are making you slaves.

Break all chains, cast off yokes, and follow your own nature.

Wherever she leads, there is heaven.

The question is not the location of paradise. I say if you simply follow your nature, wherever you go you will find paradise.

What human law will bind you if you throw off your yoke, but not before the door of man's prison?

What laws will you fear if you dance without running into the iron chains of man? This is for you:

Dance, but don't trip over someone's chains. If someone decides to stay in chains, that's his problem.

And who will bring you to judgment if you take off your clothes, but do not leave them in the way of man?

Who has the right to hinder you, to drop your clothes, your conditioning and become an individual in your own right? - but do not throw your clothes and vestments in anyone's way.

People of Orphales, you can silence the drum and loosen the strings of the lyre, but who can forbid the lark to sing?

Pune Police Commissioner!

Okay, Vimal?

Yes Master!

The Osho International Commune in Pune, India, is guided in its life by the vision of the enlightened master Osho. This is a kind of laboratory, an experiment to create new person - a person who lives in harmony with himself and with the world around him, free from all systems of beliefs and ideologies that are now tearing apart humanity.

The Multiversity of the Osho Commune offers hundreds of workshops, groups and training sessions, which are held in nine faculties:

Zen Centering and Martial Arts School

Osho School of Creative Arts

Osho International Academy of Healing Arts

Osho Meditation Academy

Osho Institute of Love and Consciousness

Osho School of Mysticism

Institute of Tibetan Pulse Diagnosis and Healing

Osho Transformation Center

Osho Creative Rest Meditation Club

All of these programs are designed to help participants acquire the skills of meditation - the passive contemplation of thoughts, emotions, and actions without judging or identifying them. Unlike many traditional disciplines of the East, meditation in the Osho International Commune is an inseparable part of Everyday life- work, communication and just being. And the result is that people do not withdraw from the world, but bring into it a spirit of awareness and celebration, with a deep reverence for life.

The highlight of the day in the Commune is the gathering of Osho's White Robe Brotherhood. This two-hour celebration of music, dance and silence, with a talk from Osho, is unique: complete meditation in oneself, when thousands of seekers, in the words of Osho, "dissolve into the sea of ​​consciousness."

Osho is one of those who discovered the door leading to life in the infinity of the present - he called himself a "genuine existentialist" - and he devoted his life to making other people want to find the same door, to go beyond the world of the past and future and discover the world of eternity.

Osho was born in Kuchwada, in the Indian province of Madhya Pradesh on December 11, 1931. From early childhood, he was distinguished by a rebellious and independent spirit and always sought to reach the truth himself, instead of using the knowledge and beliefs offered to him by others.

Having reached enlightenment at the age of twenty-one, Osho completed his academic education and devoted several years to teaching philosophy at Jabalpur University. At the same time, he traveled around India, giving talks, challenging orthodox religious leaders to public debates, questioning traditional beliefs, and meeting people from all walks of life. He read a lot - everything he could find to expand his understanding of the belief system and philosophy modern man. In the late 60s, Osho began to create his own unique dynamic meditation techniques. Modern man, he said, is so burdened by the obsolete traditions of the past and the anxiety about life today that before he can discover a thoughtless, relaxed state of meditation, he must go through a process of deep purification.

In the course of his work, Osho talked about almost all aspects of development human consciousness. He singled out the quintessence of everything that is important for the spiritual search of modern man, based not on intellectual understanding, but verified by his own existential experience.

He does not belong to any tradition. "I am the beginning of a completely new religious consciousness," he says. "Please don't connect me with the past - it's not even worth remembering."

His published discourses with disciples and seekers from all over the world amount to more than six hundred volumes and have been translated into more than thirty languages. "My message is not a doctrine or a philosophy," he says. "My message is a kind of alchemy, the science of transformation, and only those who are ready to die as it is and be reborn into something so new that this and it is impossible to imagine ... only a handful of these daredevils are ready to listen, because listening means being ready to take risks.

OSHO COMMUNITY

The Osho International Commune in Pune, India, is guided in its life by the vision of the enlightened master Osho. This is a kind of laboratory, an experiment to create new person - a person who lives in harmony with himself and with the world around him, free from all systems of beliefs and ideologies that are now tearing apart humanity.

The Multiversity of the Osho Commune offers hundreds of workshops, groups and training sessions, which are held in nine faculties:

Zen Centering and Martial Arts School

Osho School of Creative Arts

Osho International Academy of Healing Arts

Osho Meditation Academy

Osho Institute of Love and Consciousness

Osho School of Mysticism

Institute of Tibetan Pulse Diagnosis and Healing

Osho Transformation Center

Osho Creative Rest Meditation Club

All of these programs are designed to help participants acquire the skills of meditation - the passive contemplation of thoughts, emotions, and actions without judging or identifying them. Unlike many traditional disciplines of the East, meditation in the Osho International Commune is an inseparable part of everyday life - work, communication and just being. And the result is that people do not withdraw from the world, but bring into it a spirit of awareness and celebration, with a deep reverence for life.

The highlight of the day in the Commune is the gathering of Osho's White Robe Brotherhood. This two-hour celebration of music, dance and silence, with a talk from Osho, is unique: complete meditation in oneself, when thousands of seekers, in the words of Osho, "dissolve into the sea of ​​consciousness."

Osho says You preach trust, but your house is closed from others by an impenetrable wall - with towers and machine gunners. You call students your favorite children, but secretly bug their homes. You convince others that the main happiness is not outside, but inside a person, but you continue to replenish your collections with new Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. You proclaim yourself a saint, but still sleep with your students and watch orgies. So who are you really, Bhagwan Osho Rajneesh?
“People have become travelers. They are always on the go. They never achieve anything, but they always go somewhere: they just run away from where they are. But everything remains the same. Nothing changes. Changing the location won't help. You have created your hallucination and you live in it. Your heaven and your hell are all crazy. Live HERE and NOW. Regretting the past or rushing your thoughts into the future, you miss your real life”- I first crossed paths with Osho at a not the best period of my life, and his books pulled me out of depression. Since then, I have not returned to Osho.
“Nothing surprising - many people came to Osho precisely during a period of mental breakdown,” sums up my words the Israeli writer and translator Uri Lotan, who lived in the Osho commune for seven years and wrote a book about it called “Happiness and Punishment for Him” (“Osher ve onsho "). - And I went to India, not yet recovered from the divorce from my wife, whom I continued to love.
Monologue One "Approaching Osho"
I am an absolute atheist, Uri categorically declares. - In addition, I am not one of those who are looking for idols and hate the dictatorship. I came to Pune (the place where the commune of Osho - Sh.S.) is located, an absolute nihilist. I heard about this place and about the freedom that reigns here - above all, sexual freedom. India, exotic, cheap drugs, beautiful girls- what else do you need when you are only 25, but you are already a star (Uri Lotan in the 1970s was a famous DJ at the Galei Tsakhal radio station - it was he who told Israeli listeners about the breakup of the Beatles group, opened Bob Dylan and others to them Western musicians - Sh.Sh.). The first time I lived in a commune, just enjoying the atmosphere of this place. When I learned that I was from Israel and worked on the radio, I was offered to record Osho's lectures on a tape recorder and translate them into Hebrew. When you sit at lectures next to the Master, it is considered a great honor, and all the girls of the commune want to sleep with you afterwards. Everything else was of little interest to me then.

Monologue Two "Submission to Osho"
Now imagine a place, - continues Uri, - where everywhere you go, portraits of Osho hang: they are even in the toilet and above the bed, where you have sex with a girl. And on your chest is also a small portrait of Osho on a wooden chain, which is forbidden to be removed even in the shower or during sex. At first, you are told that with Osho around your neck, even sex will be of a different quality, then you yourself begin to think so.
I, unlike most members of the commune, was among those who personally communicated with Osho. And I will tell you that he is an incredibly smart, handsome and attractive person - with a bewitching deep voice, smooth hand movements ... When I was recording Osho's lectures, sitting at his feet, I felt like I was next to a generator - such a powerful energy came from him. Osho certainly had hypnotic powers. Once, while talking with him alone, I fell into such euphoria that I was carried out of his room in my arms, I laughed with happiness and could not stop for several hours. In a word, I myself did not notice how Osho ended up in complete control. My addiction to him was like a drug addiction.

Monologue Three "First Doubts"
Osho-trans-2 One day a letter was brought to me in Hebrew and asked to translate it into English for Osho, who received letters from all over the world. I began to read and saw that this letter was not addressed to Osho at all, but to an Israeli member of the commune from his girlfriend. I took the letter to this guy, and then they call me to the office of the commune: “Where is the letter?” - "I took it to such and such, you made a mistake, this letter is not for Osho." What started here! They were ready to pulverize me. The fact that all the mail that came to the commune was screened, and all the rooms were tapped, I learned much later.
Then there was a story with an Israeli woman who said that she got pregnant from Osho. She was immediately sent for an abortion and expelled from the commune, defamated in every possible way for lying. I remember that I was also among those who attacked this girl at that time: “How can you say such things about Osho? He is a Master, an Enlightened One, he is not interested in women.” The fact that many of his students passed through the bed of Osho, I learned much later. As for that girl, she returned to Israel and after some time committed suicide.

Monologue Four "Slaves of the 20th century"
Osho machine - The main duty of the members of the commune was to raise money for Osho. People came here from all over the world, giving everything they had to the commune - money for sold houses, savings, cars. A relative of the Queen of Holland donated her inheritance to the commune - 250 thousand dollars, but she herself did not even receive the room promised to her. I remember that when I was informed from Israel that my father had died, I was immediately called to the office of the commune. I thought: "Probably want to express condolences." And they asked me just one question: “How much money did you receive after the death of your father?” Many members of the commune received money from their parents in letters, but it never reached them.
We were constantly driven to earn money for Osho. by the most the easy way money was obtained through prostitution, the sale of drugs and all sorts of fraud with credit cards. During my seven years of living in the commune, I managed to be both a drug courier and a pimp. Including: he sold to clients his second American wife, with whom he met in a commune, flew several times to Japan with three kilograms of hashish on his body. I remember how in Bombay I approached a rich sheikh from Saudi Arabia, introduced himself as a Frenchman and asked if he wanted to fuck my beautiful sister for 1000 dollars (in the commune we were all considered brothers and sisters). Most of the members of the commune worked hard work - building houses, laying roads. There were no exits. They worked for the benefit of the commune for free for 12 hours a day. The commune did not accommodate everyone - many were forced to rent housing in Pune, which is why prices there jumped terribly and were no lower than European ones.
Osho divided the women of the commune into two types: beautiful and ugly. From the first, he chose his concubines, and gave power to the second, and they began to lead the commune, taking out their complexes on its members. One of these freaks led medical center commune, was well versed in poisons and skillfully used them, which is why she received the nickname "Sister Mengele".
In the commune, women chose men for sex, not the other way around: every day the men had to line up, along which the women walked, choosing their partners for the night.
... When the commune moved from India to America (Osho fled there, hiding from prison for not paying 40 million debt to the tax department of India, the first - on a private plane of his wealthy students from Hollywood, who bought a huge plot of land for him in Oregon for $ 7 million) . Then the members of the commune moved to the United States, who first of all began to build a villa and a pool for Osho (the pool would later cost several thousand dollars a month to heat), and then houses for his entourage. The members of the commune themselves lived in caravans - six people in a room, without air conditioning.

Monologue 5 "Myths about Osho"
The condition for admission to the commune was participation in paid (from 200 to 400 and more dollars) seminars. At one, a soulful striptease took place, where everyone had to tell everything about themselves to a random partner, who changed every 15 minutes at the sound of a bell. The second seminar for the candidate was chosen by Osho himself - from the photograph of the applicant and his handwritten request for admission to the commune. He, without seeing a person, decided what his problem was, an unfulfilled desire: to rape someone, or to be beaten, or to participate in an orgy. After such seminars, people came out with broken ribs and black eyes. There was even such a joke in use: “I fell on the way to the Ashram” (ashram is the Indian name for the place where the commune was located - Sh.Sh.).
Osho assigned me to the isolation group. I had to sit in my room in front of his portrait for a week and not communicate with anyone. Only allowed out for lunch. There was a sign “silence” (silence - Sh.Sh.) on my chest, and no one was supposed to speak to me. This test turned out to be unbearable for me - I spoke on the sixth day. Osho's clairvoyant instructions on the distribution of seminar participants turned out to be another myth: people were assigned to those groups where there was a shortage.
Allegedly for the purpose of spiritual improvement, Osho separated couples that had formed before joining the commune or formed in the commune itself. For the same purpose, he forbade us to do anything in which we showed great interest. For example, since I was young, I dreamed of becoming a writer. Osho forbade me to write. In fact, the reason for such instructions was his desire to completely subjugate the members of the commune, so that no one and nothing would overshadow Osho himself in our eyes.
As for other idols ... Osho respected Hitler, said that Hitler was an outstanding person. He liked to repeat his words that if you utter a lie many times, it will turn into the truth. However, Osho tried to de-legitimize anyone who could outshine Osho himself in the eyes of his listeners. According to the Master, John Lennon and Freud were idiots, Gandhi was a liar, Mother Teresa was a fool, Freud was a maniac. As for the others... Sometimes Osho began his speech with the words: "People like me, Jesus and Buddha..."
When someone began to doubt the postulates of Osho, he was immediately told: "You are not a whole person if you doubt the words of the Master."
We were told that Osho is sensitive to the smell of bad energy, such as the energy of anger, and to noise. Before the start of the lecture, members of the commune were sniffed, and if they caught the smell of sweat, they were not allowed into the room. Once they did not let me in, and I was ready to commit suicide because of this - such was my dependence on Osho at that time. If during the lecture someone coughed, he was immediately thrown out. In fact, the reason for Osho's sensitivity to smells and sounds had nothing to do with esotericism: Bhagwan was addicted to Valium, laughing gas delivered for him in cylinders, and several other drugs that he "sat" for many years, in as a result of which he developed this intolerance to smells and noise. I have seen more than once how when walking Osho shook like a drunk. He moved very little, but once a week he always drove one of his Rolls-Royces on a short trip to receive honors: members of the commune stood along the road and threw rose petals under the wheels of his car. This ritual was called "the road of flowers".
The period when Osho took a vow of silence and remained silent for four years also turned out to be a myth. While in his chambers, he spoke incessantly. A member of the commune told me about this, who was the lover of one of the ugly people close to Osho, who led the commune.

Another myth is connected with the assertion that Osho did not know about the cruel orders imposed in the commune by his close associates. Osho's former bodyguard wrote a book, God Downcast, in which he claims that Osho's secretary recorded all the conversations that Osho had in his private quarters, and now these 3,000 tapes are in the hands of the FBI. The author of the book claims that most of the ideas implemented in the commune belonged to Osho.
I remember that when the leadership of the commune announced that its members should be sterilized, referring to Osho, we did not believe that this was coming from the Master. But then, in one of his public speeches, he spoke openly about sterilization, arguing that the birth of children is a loss of energy necessary for spiritual self-improvement. I remember how I dissuaded two girls I knew from this crazy idea, but they were sterilized. Now they, like me, are already over 50. It would be interesting to know what they think about all this now? When they first started talking about AIDS, the commune immediately issued an order to have sex using a condom and putting on hands rubber gloves. "Sister Mengele" began to check who has AIDS and who does not. Actually, it was not a test, but her sole decision. Members of the commune, declared "sister Mengele" sick, went to the settlement in the local gulag - an isolated area with caravans. I know at least two of them well - they are still alive, and they do not have any AIDS, despite the diagnosis of "Sister Mengele".

Monologue Six "Exile"
My American wife had her sight before me and left the commune. One day I called her and told her that I felt like I was in a concentration camp with these machine gunners on the towers and the need to ask permission from the leadership of the commune about any of my steps. Half an hour later, a Mercedes stopped in front of my caravan, from which one of the leaders of the commune, nicknamed “Lady Macbeth”, got out, with two thugs behind her back, armed with an Uzi (there were a lot of weapons in the commune). She stated that Osho ordered me to be expelled from the commune and tore the chain with his portrait from my neck.
I still had the keys to my Ford, donated to the commune fund, and I took advantage of this by stealing my own car from Osho and driving it to Los Angeles.
It turned out to be easy to leave Osho, but to get rid of Osho inside myself… If not for the support of my friends… After being expelled from the commune, I had a feeling of a black hole inside that there was nothing to fill. For a long time I was in a severe depression, I was very vulnerable and involuntarily attracted misfortunes: I was robbed, fired from my job, and ?) I was so beaten in the street that it took me several surgeries to get back on my feet. Of those who left or were expelled from the commune, I know at least five who committed suicide, unable to free themselves from the Osho within them.

Monologue Seven "Osho's American Failure"
Osho people - When Osho stepped off the plane in Oregon, the first words he uttered, not without pathos, were: “Hello America! I am the Buddha you have been waiting for!” However, with America, Osho missed. In those years, Americans were rather indifferent to esotericism and eastern spiritual currents. In addition, with their inherent pragmatism, they could not understand how to connect the commune proclaimed by Osho, not pursuing income goals, and therefore claiming tax exemption, with his ever-growing collections of Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. And even more so, the Americans could not understand how you can force a person to work 12 hours a day, without paying him a penny for it.
The heyday of Osho in India is quite understandable: in time this period coincides with the period of the sexual revolution, freedom, emancipation, which took place in the world in the 1960s. Osho just seized on this idea and gave sex spiritual legitimation, which looked especially attractive in the eyes of the younger generation. I remember very well my feelings of that period in Pune: I am 25, I am the king, all beautiful girls are mine, I am free, there are no restrictions. All over the world, group sex was considered an orgy, and only in the Osho commune was it called "spiritual work."

Monologue Eighth "Biological Terror"
When the commune moved to Oregon, terrible things began to happen. Deciding to win political power in the district elections, the leadership of the commune sent a group to Dallas, where they were supposed to be marching, which sprayed liquid with salmonella, in in public places, which caused a massive epidemic: 750 people fell ill (later, in one of the books, this event was called the first bioterror attack in the United States). In addition, to participate in the elections, according to the laws of the state, representatives were required - natives of this place. The leadership of the commune bribed local homeless people for these purposes, most of whom later (after the elections) disappeared, and one was found killed. The case has gone too far: the FBI launched an investigation. On the life of Charles Turner, who led the investigation, members of the commune attempted twice. With the pilot who was supposed to send a rented plane with explosives to the Turner house, after ejecting, I shared a room. He fled the commune the day before the alleged attack.
Osho was arrested and held in custody for two weeks, and a group of 20 of his close associates fled to Germany, where they were arrested and transported to the United States. These people were convicted and spent seven years in prison.
As for Osho, thanks to the compromise reached by the lawyers, he received a suspended sentence and paid a fine of half a million dollars, after which he left the United States on a private jet of his followers from Hollywood. For about a year, Osho wandered around the world in this way - not a single country wanted to accept him: in England, he twice requested a landing and twice was refused; in Ireland, only a short landing for refueling was allowed; from the island of Crete was deported by police and soldiers. In the end, Osho was forced to return to India, paying that country 40 million in taxes that he owed. Quite quickly, the Osho commune was reborn in its old place - in Pune, and this time hundreds of young Israelis rushed into it (while there were no more than a dozen of them when I was there).

Monologue 9 "The Seed of the Dragon"
Today I can already say that I have freed myself from Osho within myself. But for many years I experienced the consequences of living in a commune for seven years, where the use of drugs like hashish and LSD was the norm. For example, in my life there was a period when I could not fall asleep for months - neither day nor night. Only strong sleeping pills gave me a few hours of oblivion. Then I fell ill with agrophobia - the fear of open spaces and didn't leave the house for months.
For everyone who came to the commune not for a month or two, but for years, this ended in severe mental trauma. What kept us there? An everlasting feeling of happiness, freedom, euphoria. It seemed to us that we belonged to the elite of the enlightened. The whole world is divided for us into two concepts "we" and "they". “They” are all other people who are not related to the commune, who do not have access to what they initiated us into. Most of us were at an age when a person usually builds himself, his family, career, future. We gave the commune everything we had - best years, money, unrealized abilities, and left there without a family, children, money, housing, work, profession ... Osho died in 1990. According to one version, he died of AIDS, according to another - from the long-term use of narcotic drugs. There was no autopsy. Osho's body was burned according to the Indian rite. A month before his death, the Englishwoman Vivek committed suicide, who for 30 years was literally his shadow, and in all lectures invariably sat at his feet.
The Osho Ashram in Pune still exists. And there, as I said, there are a lot of Israelis. I was lucky that I did not get AIDS and did not commit suicide after living in the Osho commune, so I consider myself responsible for telling as much as possible more people about the true face of Osho and his followers. I was naive, carried away by the ideas of a false leader and almost lost myself, my personality. Sorry for wasted energy, wasted years. I avoid people who are still under the influence of Osho's ideas, and those who, like me, got rid of him, I am ashamed to meet, just like they are with me. We have nothing to remember.

Posts from This Journal by “Applied Psychology” Tag

• POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS WORSE THAN BOLSHEVISM

  VLADIMIR BUKOVSKY: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS WORSE THAN LENINISM Russian dissident writer Vladimir Bukovsky (it was a ditty about him...

How did your spiritual journey begin? How did it happen that you are walking this path together, and why is your path connected specifically with Osho?

Chetan: My spiritual journey began at the age of 17 with a sense of the insufficiency of what I received or could receive from the life that I knew. That is, from a feeling of inner dissatisfaction, from the search for the meaning of one's existence, the search for something real, genuine, authentic. At first I looked for answers in books - these were books on the practical psychology of Nikolai Kozlov, on the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, Satprem. Then psychological trainings, which helped me open access to my inner space and begin to navigate in it. In the place where the trainings took place, I was invited to the Dynamic Osho meditation. It was a strong experience, I became interested in reading. Since my interest was practical - that is, I wanted real changes in my life - I did not miss the opportunity to attend other meditations and seminars. They completely changed my inner world and ultimately my outer life. At some point, at one of the seminars of Osho's student, Sarovara, who came to St. Petersburg, I was seized by a strong fear - I realized that I did not know who I was. I was really scared to be in this unknown, and the leader of the seminar said that it was very good that everything was going right. After that, when I got home, I lay down and felt that I was dying, or rather, that something in me was dying. I allowed it to be, and then I felt that I could not live as before - I dropped out of school, I wanted to go to Pune, to the ashram. Those close to me were excited, convinced me to take an academic leave, and not quit everything so abruptly. Failed to leave for India. For about a year I hung out here and there, worked, meditated on my own or in groups, but I could not find any main path, a new way of life - and again returned to my studies, trying to somehow squeeze myself into the framework of social life and those targets that could be seen there. This made me feel worse and more depressed. There were many thoughts about leaving life altogether. I remember getting up in the morning, and every day I made a decision - I will live, no matter how hard it is, I will live.

And then I met Shimaji, then her name was Masha. I loved her, and she me. There was a strong resonance between us on a spiritual level, as if something had awakened inside me again. We started a relationship, and we almost immediately began to live together. She soon became pregnant. I again began to try to live a social life, got a job - such strong conditionings of the role of a husband, future father turned on. It seemed that now you need to realize yourself in society, make a career. But I did not last long, about a month or two. Together we realized that such a life does not suit us, that there is some potential for another life that we must realize. She was very supportive of me in this. We created a small commune and organized the Osho Friends Club, where we began to hold meditations and seminars. This period of our life is described in detail in my book Love Is.

Why Osho? It was like an invitation to us. It just happened that way - it's like love. This was love - for this Master, for his space, his energy. Osho's ideas about a new way of life, his deep insight into the problems of modern man, and his dream to build Heaven on Earth - all this was close to us and encouraged us to move on. There were other teachers - Sumiran, Ramesh Balsekar, Ram-Tzu, Gangaji and Eli, Papaji ...

Now the energies of teachers with subtle plan such as Kryon, Archangel Gabriel, Kirael. There are many meditations on Jasmuheen, Drunvalo Melchizedek, author's meditations of Shimaji and other members of the commune, her students.

Osho continues to play an important role in our work and on our path. We feel an inner resonance and connection with his energy, a sense of deep alignment with his vision. And gratitude...

Shimaji: My path began not with the search for enlightenment, but with the search for love, simple human happiness. Just at some point, I realized that external searches led me only to external results, and that although my life has all the external attributes of happiness, there is no true happiness in this. There is no something very important, something without which the whole life loses its meaning, and I cannot ask someone else for this important thing, I have to find it myself. This understanding led me to the need for an inner search. But at the same time, in this inner search, I was ready to accept the help of teachers, at first it was just books, then communication with living people, and as a result I met someone who could open my eyes to my true nature, Buddha nature. This meeting took place in the forest, in the Osho meditation camp in Petäjärvi, and the first person I could truly call my teacher was Swami Dharma Sumiran for me. Also in this camp, I found a Master, who, although he was no longer present in the body, but the love for which helped me find my inner master. I really felt this love, Osho was both a space and a person for me.

But this does not mean that I have abandoned the search for earthly love. I just realized that it is not external searches that are more important, but internal readiness for a meeting. And having gained this readiness, I really met with someone who was also ready to share my path with me, with my future husband Chetan.

As a result of this meeting, my first satori- a temporary state of unity, integrity, full awareness of one's divine essence. From that moment on, my search became really conscious, I learned what enlightenment is not conceptually, but from my own experience, I learned what true love is.

From the moment of the first satori to the final enlightenment, about two and a half years passed, and during this period my inner path was mainly connected with the awareness of what was holding me, what desires prevented me from finally awakening, and gradually realizing my desires, I freed myself from them. .

The last obstacle, as it turned out, was my desire for recognition from a man, that is, my female conditioning did not allow me to be the first. I was waiting for my husband to become enlightened, become my Master and help me in my realization. And only realizing that I myself must do what I expect from him, I enlightened. It happened quite unexpectedly during our conversation with Chetan. I just suddenly realized that I could not wait any longer and it happened. It really looks like awakening, as if after long wanderings in a dream, searching, worrying and suffering, you suddenly wake up and it turns out that you are already at home, you don’t need to look for anything, everything is already here - you yourself are what you were looking for.

How did the idea for the community come about? What is its purpose?

Shimaji: The idea of ​​creating a commune came to me during my stay at the Osho meditation camp. Somewhere towards the end of the camp, I had a feeling that since we lived here for these three weeks, we could live further, that such a life might not be easy. summer vacation. At the time, I had not read Osho books and did not know that it was his ..., so we can assume that this message was received by me from above. At the same time, I understood that it might not be so easy, but at that moment I did not see my role as a leader of the commune, and even more so as a Master, I was simply ready to do whatever was required to implement this idea. I approached the sannyasins in the camp with this idea, they shared their experience, their attempts to create communes, and the difficulties that arose. In general, everything turned out to be even more difficult than I thought, but at the same time I was clearly aware that I could not just return to my ordinary life. Then a small commune from St. Petersburg came to the camp, and they invited me to become a member of it. I lived with them for about two months, and I am very grateful to them for this experience. Then they left for Auroville, and in general I realized that this was not quite what I wanted. In this commune, I was missing something, but at that moment I still did not quite understand what. Then I got acquainted with Osho's ideas about the commune, and they inspired me a lot, there was more understanding of why this is needed. Osho said: "My sannyasins must build heaven on earth." And for me it was not just words. It was like a command from above, and I felt ready to dedicate my life to it. Then, when we were already together with Chetan, it turned out that he shared my desire to create a commune. Over the next two years, we had the experience of living with different people, that is, we tried to create a commune, but at some point, shortly before my enlightenment, there was a feeling that something was missing here, as if we were trying to build a house without light. Then I realized that I myself should become this light, because at that moment I had several experiences of satori, temporary states of enlightenment, and I felt that I was close to the final awakening. Understanding that this is not only necessary for me, gave me a strong impetus to awakening. And indeed, after my awakening, somehow everything began to happen differently, everything became more clear. And now I understand that it is really very difficult to make a commune without a Master. There are many situations where people bump into each other and in those moments it is very important that there is light so that someone can see and help them figure out why this is happening and what to do about it. Of course, gradually they themselves learn this, older students appear who can help others. But even this is probably not the main task of the Master in the commune. It is important that people understand why all this is needed at all, see where they are going, to which internal state, the quality of life they strive for. Osho has a parable about how two lost people meet in the forest, and at first they are very happy that each of them is no longer alone, but then they realize that none of them knows how to get out of the forest. So the Master is the one who knows this way out. So we can say that the commune has two goals - internal and external. Internal is helping people in their spiritual awakening. Because sometimes it happens that a person does not realize what hinders this awakening, it seems to him that he is very close to it, and the states are very high, but for some reason the final awakening does not occur. So, in a commune, your ego becomes visible at a glance, and it becomes possible to work with it consciously every day and track the dynamics of progress. That is, love becomes not just a beautiful word. It becomes a daily practice. The second goal - external - is to make Osho's dream a reality, to create heaven on Earth, and heaven for me is primarily a community of people who live in love and harmony. Of course, these two tasks are closely related.

How does she see the meaning and purpose of her life now?

Shimaji: I still see the meaning of my life in love, in the fact that this love fills more and more space in this world, leaving everything less space anger, hatred, violence. So that gradually our whole life becomes the dance of love, the music of love, the song of love. We can say that this is also the goal of my life, that is, I continue to build heaven on Earth.

How many people live with you now? Please describe your daily rhythm of life.

Chetan: Now 11 adults and four children permanently live in the commune, soon there will be five - we are waiting for an addition.

The rhythm of life is very intense, both on the inner plane and on the outer. There are several general meditations throughout the day. This is an active morning meditation, a celebration in the afternoon - we dance to mantras and other music, then satsang - a space of silence, in the evening one more meditation, then a general circle where all members of the commune gather, sometimes night meditation. There is a lot of work during the day - men have to finish the house, prepare firewood, etc., women work in the kitchen, sit with the children. So visiting meditations is organized in turn or selectively - not everyone can go to everything, and there is no such need.

In addition to general meditations, individual spiritual work takes place, which includes meetings with senior student-curators and Shimaji, reading, independent execution exercises and assignments. There are also meetings in small groups to solve individual problems - preparation for classes, circles, solving practical issues.

When guests arrive, the life of the commune centers around organizing a meditation process for those who have come, helping and working with them. This is one of the main tasks of our work – to help people spiritually.

Do spiritual insights happen to other members of your community?

Shimaji: Spiritual insights happen to everyone, but there are no enlightened disciples yet. Although there are people who are very close to this.

How long have you been on a raw food diet? How do children eat in the community?

Chetan: Personally, I started the transition to a raw food diet about three years ago. I did it gradually, over the course of six months. At this time, continued to consume dairy products, raw seafood (mainly squid), eggs. Then for a long time was on a pure raw food diet. Now occasionally I can eat something cooked - a piece of bread and butter, a baked potato or something like that.

In general, everyone in the commune adheres to a raw food diet, some have been for a long time, some just recently. For those who need it, moderate consumption of cooked food is allowed, usually at a certain time, so as not to provoke those who have chosen a complete raw food diet for themselves, but have difficulty with this, and not to accustom children to boiled food - they are also in our country. mostly on a raw food diet, only the eldest child is our daughter, she is 9 years old, occasionally there is something cooked.

Is it possible for new spiritual seekers to join you? How and under what conditions?

Chetan: Yes, there is an opportunity to join. This usually happens in stages - so that there is time for the new person to orient himself in the space of the commune, to understand deeper in his intention. Because starting to live in a commune is really a serious restructuring at all levels - on the physical - in terms of nutrition, work, psychological, spiritual. You have to give up a lot of things - old habits, lifestyle, the ability to independently make decisions on many issues. That is, in general, this is such a total decision to change intensively - and not everyone is ready for this. But without this, new opportunities will not open here, there will be no purification from ego motivation, from everything that interferes with the true realization of a person.

So first we invite guest programs for a few days. Then you can stay for a longer period - again as a guest or volunteer, depending on whether a person has the opportunity to pay for his stay in the commune. Volunteers participate in physical work and are paid much less. After about a month, you can talk about the decision to stay in the commune - the conditions for each are individual, depending on the situation and the needs of the person himself, his capabilities and the living conditions that he or his family need, and so on.

Do you keep in touch with other spiritually awakened people? If yes, with what?

Chetan: In the city we talked with Igor Chebanov, now we continue to keep in touch - sometimes we call each other. Before leaving, we also met Sat Marga, an awakened student of Sumiran, a pranoedist. I had a very interesting meeting with him, now sometimes we communicate via the Internet, we look forward to visiting.
There was also a meeting with Sergei Gurdjieff - also while living in the city. We were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea - and suddenly someone looks out the window, we had the first floor. I go to open it - he says: "I came to meet Shimaji." Very sincere, bright person. We talked for about an hour or two, and haven't seen each other since.
All these meetings gradually change consciousness, the idea that enlightenment is very rare and happens only to the chosen, great people. For me, this is important - although, of course, Shimaji, as the person closest to me, is also the most striking example of such an ordinary miracle for me.

What are your plans for the future? What is the aim of community development?

Chetan: By by and large we strive to create a society of enlightened people, which will be an example and a school for those who also strive for a happy, fulfilling life. Well, and so - there are many different plans yet - to finish building the house, to organize seminars, the arrival of new people. To create such a spiritual space in which there will be all conditions for life and practice. Beautiful, harmonious space, materialized space of Love.