Maroon, Money and Marble

If I have the opportunity, I will only vote for a people that allow me to wear whatever colors I feel reflect my current inner-beauty. Maroon happens not to be one of those colors. I like red, yellow, green, blue, and also white. Also, if I were a man I would like to wear a robe every second day and tight pants (to show of my bottom) on the other. However if I were a women, when I go to worship my beloved Master in the evening meditation, I would like to wear a dress that has lots of frilly flower patterns all over it

I am absolutely sick of having to wear maroon. Even worse, I am sick of having to wear dark non-faded maroon, preferably made from a disgusting synthetic fabric that does not allow my body to breath (especially during active meditations). Don't try and find any of those nasty crease forming natural cotton robes in the galleria.

The restrictions on the type of robe are a metaphor for all that is happening at the resort and in the inner-circle. It does not matter if it is unpleasant or unhealthy or vulgar, so long as everything looks beautiful.

Why is this so? You see there is a little mathematics involved. It is much much cheaper to make things look beautiful, than for them to be beautiful. What you then do is make sure that no-one from the outside can see behind the veil and find out that the truth is very very ugly. Then guess what happens? Lots of people are drawn to the beauty, especially because it is so cheap. This is where mathematics comes into it. The sale price is relatively high, but not to high. The cost is relatively low. Multiply the difference by the number of clients, and I have made heaps of money.

The trouble with this logic is that you can only deceive people for so long. Stay for a while or come back a few times and you might start to wonder about the quality of your experience. Also, when you as a client engage with something that appears beautiful but is in fact ugly, you can have a nasty experience. Although this may hurt people physically, mentally, and emotionally, this is not of any significance at all. The key is that unfortunately it reduces the brand image.

Brand images are rather important – it is also a form of hypnosis. If there is a beautiful ashram that has thrived by the efforts of its beloved disciples, then a strong positive brand image is built up. This gives me an idea. If I stop investing money into making the place actually functional and beautiful, and invest that money into making the place look artificially beautiful, then I can ride on the historically strong brand image, harm people and rip them off, and make heaps of money$$$. That seems like such a great idea I think I will do it.

All I have to do is push the positive brand image that the place actually is beautiful, and people will be hypnotised into believing so. It will be easy to push a strong brand image, because when Osho left the body, his beloved sannyasins gave their heart and soul into making the place very functional and absolutely beautiful. Also, from my experience, if I can deceive the crowd sufficiently with my very strong advertising skills, I can keep then deceived even when I have hurt and deceived them deeply. Ah, the flock of sheep to my slaughter…such joy, and indeed such big bucket loads of money.

There is an interesting twist to the metaphor of the plastic maroon robe. Following the argument it might seem that it does not matter that my body stinks from excessive sweating, so long as I don’t have any creases on my non-faded robe. However it does matter if I stink. People cannot see the ugly deception with their eyes, but they have other senses as well. They can get hurt by the dysfunctional and the ugly, and they can get put off by the stench.

Perhaps my nose is a little too sensitive. I know, I will go to the Pune resort and breathe in the air from all the poorly cleaned air-conditioners. Then I will get a nice flu (hopefully the pig or bird variety). This will block my nose so then I no longer have to smell the stench.

I just had another idea. I am going to vote for people that let me wear all kinds of colored clothing, and that also pledge to provide an efficiently functioning and good quality environment. I will also find out how I am going to be assured that this is actually happening, so that I don’t have to find out the truth once I have recovered from the flu.

Of course meanwhile if I have completely trashed the place and its people, and the joke is starting to wear a little thin, what to do? The answer is simple and obvious. I simply sell for a song to an unsuspecting buyer.

None of the above is particularly profound – just good business (sense if you have a criminal mind).

Just good business that’s all.

Of course in the last few years there was a lot of money invested in new infrastructure – a brand new meditation auditorium for example. This was an attempt to rebuild the cash cow that had been milked yet not fed. The smashing of Buddha Hall pagoda no doubt is connected with the building of the auditorium. It does provide an excuse to demolish it. This also provides many advantages. It removes meddling religious interference from worshipping Indians (and some devotional Westerners). It also makes the place easier to sell. However I do not think selling the place was in mind at the time. I think the aim was simple enough. The previous business model of ashram had been milked and the starving cow was almost dead on her feet. The idea was then to build a 5-star resort to attract wealthy clients. The brand new O-Hotel down the road fits nicely into the picture as well. Who would sell such a business? Also, resort management and the inner-circle become the elite in a powerful, religious organisation that has many wealthy adherents.

However the place was so trashed that the efforts to create a new business model have left gaping holes in resort infrastructure. Also, the new investments are in a few short years not so new anymore: built on the cheap, improperly commissioned, treated with neglect, and poorly maintained. Any interference from well meaning working Osho sannyasins (who could possibly create trouble) was addressed by a well-dressed team of Sodexo workers. However Sodexo has been shown to be utterly and resolutely incompetent. Furthermore, like management is there to make money, Sodexo workers are there to do a job. This very quickly has put a further and significant drain on the energy field – the resorts greatest historical asset.

So the old business model of ashram dried up, but thanks very much to all of Osho’s devoted sannyasins that in part gave years of their life to try and help recover from the guilt and injustice that arose out of the explosion of The Ranch experiment. The new business model is for the above mentioned reasons not working. With the current state of archaic resort infrastructure, and the rapidly corroding new infrastructure, the new resort model is aging fast. With the number of people coming to the resort dwindling to a trickle in off-season, and rising to a hillock in the main season, and with additional expenses like an army of staff that actually have to be paid (all be it for doing an incompetent job), there is absolutely no way that the place can get a return on its investment.

The only option left is to sell the place to the highest unsuspecting bidder. Of course this will create an uproar if the highest bidder has no connection with Osho and has no intention of keeping it as an Osho centre. The intractable part of this problem is that the Buddha Hall pagoda and the Samadhi are sacred to many Osho devotees. The pagoda is an easy one as the new auditorium provides the excuse to get rid of the old. Of course it would all have to be cloaked in spiritual terminology. You know how it goes, Osho wanted a 5-star resort and the Buddha Hall pagoda is the antithesis of Osho’s vision. I leave you my dream and all that nice mushy stuff. Ah yes it was his dream, and many tried to make it right this time, but others had there own ambitions and turned the dream into a nightmare.

The Samadhi is a tough call. One idea is to change the name, change a few things here and there, and slowly slowly the Samadhi becomes sufficiently changed (not just in name but also in nature), that it can be argued that it is no longer a Samadhi, no matter what you might like to call it. This is the only approach available as the simple approach of demolition of the pagoda created such an uproar.

You might argue that the demolishing of the pagoda was simply making way for the new auditorium, to enable a successful transition. However if the pagoda remained intact for any length of time after the opening of the auditorium, there was no way that the new auditorium could be used as an excuse. If the pagoda was left standing for several years, then that is how it would have to remain for a long time to come.

The pagoda was very important to many people and was therefore a very emotive, but also a very powerful, object. It being there (with all the devotional people) could always pose a problem. India is famous for its great temple protests. So the pagoda was a counter-weight to the powers of the establishment. In general it could pose ongoing problems with devotees, and in the end could provide the ultimate problem if selling the place became the preferred option.

A strategic thinker is always going to have a back up plan if things don’t go as planned. The new business model of resort was a big investment, targeting new and unknown markets. The risks and consequences of failure need always be considered. Hence it is straight-forward to conclude that if the business model fails the place may need to be sold up. It is also straight-forward to work out that there is absolutely no way you could sell a place that had a Buddha Hall, complete with podium and pagoda, and a Samadhi. Hence I would argue that it is entirely possible that strategic management was capable of reaching the same conclusions that I have here. It is not only entirely possible, it is, from a purely business standpoint, the smart decision to make.

So ashram business was good until the starving cow refused to give any more milk. Resort business sounded great, but isn’t so good. The Buddha Hall religious icon is gone. The Samadhi has changed its name and we have some small changes. Let these changes settle for a while. Make a few more changes. Put the place up for sale. However don’t tell anyone that the ashram was so trashed that it was not possible to build a resort on top of these shaky foundations. Don’t tell anyone that the resort has started crumbling on the old foundations. At least, with the pagoda gone and the Samadhi less and less in the picture, we have a bargaining position. It is tough to sell to a non-Oshoite. However it is now possible. This gives a bargaining position to put pressure on any collective of Osho sannyasins to pay a high price. Indeed Pune real-estate has boomed and just look at the brand new resort. However the reality is that market value needs to take into account the fact that the resort, although looking beautiful, is actually not. The trouble is that Osho sannyasins have not been deceived by the image of a beautiful 5-star style resort (as have many visitors). Hence they will not pay the asking price needed for investors to recover from the failing investment. As time passes, the aging of the resort will become more and more evident. Hence time is of the essence. Osho sannyasins revolted against the destruction of the pagoda, and they didn’t much like the subtle changes to the Samadhi. This is putting a dampener on the exit strategy.

I can not see an easy way out of this one. That is a terrible shame.

Reply to Sannyasnews Comments

This is some responses to comments made by people in "sannyasnews.com". I hope it helps clarrify some objections.

When Osho was a living breathing buddha sleeping in his bedroom he requested the bedroom stripped of all its marble. He gave it to his beloved sannyassins.

Like the issue of Osho’s bedroom marble you are again deceived. Have a closer look! I am not quoting Osho, nor am I using anything that he has or has not supposedly said to back up my position. I am asking you to investigate what your intelligence says about Osho. As I stated clearly each person will have a point of view more or less in line with Osho….who knows?? I am not stating my point of view about Osho, I am asking what yours is.

Again you are deceived with my name. Every time I write Harri you write Hari. I would not be surprised if again you do not see the difference. For your benefit the first name has two r’s. The second name has just one.

What about this online poll…absurd that I may change anything with this poll. It is clearly stated in the title that this poll is a TRIAL.

You don’t like this person or that person in the poll list. I simply wrote out 21 names that came into my mind. The poll, as with the names, simply helps to give context to the concept of an elected inner-circle. It gives some names that will make people think…many are former inner-circle members…some have little if any association with Osho…others (quite a lot of them) are banned.

Osho gave interesting lectures on the concept of moving from monarchy or dictatorship, to democracy, and then to meritocracy. It is my opinion that a refined democracy is a meritocracy.

Of course the inner-circle will not give way to a democratic process. It would be absurd to think they would simply give away their power. If enough people participate in the various on-line polls, this gives weight to the submission of the proposal of democratic reform to various governmental institutions. If I was the Indian government I sure would not want a Sheela fiasco on my doorstep. Also, no doubt government authorities thought it was great when the ashram was bringing in an abundance of tourism and foreign currency. During the majority of the year the resort is now turning into a little family circus.

For important posts in most constitutional democracies (the president for example) the stipulation of only a limited number of terms or years in office is not there by coincidence. Nor is it coincidental that many presidents try and change this: Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) and Micheletti (Honduras) to name two recent ones. The mayor of New York (Bloomberg) is another example.

It is not whether or not the pagoda was demolished. It is not whether or not it will be reconstructed. It is not whether or not we sit like a buddha. It is why?

The Sacred Stone

Osho was contradictory on many if not most issues. On the preciousness of marble however he was not. Marble is used in sacred buildings because it can hold the energy of the master. Osho had the marble in his bedroom lifted and given to his people for this very reason. This offering was received and treasured.

If Jayesh is enlightened and therefore gave everyone a spiritual lesson by having the Buddha Hall pagoda scattered in pieces across the ground, then he is an enlightened master that works in different ways to Osho. However, Osho had no spiritual successor.

Some of Osho’s disciples have claimed to be enlightened and have gathered friends around them in many parts of the world. If they are enlightened this is beautiful. However none of these people had the right to claim to be Osho’s sole spiritual heir – and indeed they have not done so.

If Jayesh wants to play master then let him build a spiritual empire around him. However by playing master under the guise of chairperson of the inner-circle he is deceiving sannyassins and betraying what Osho clearly stated about the functioning of the inner-circle: it was to be a managerial/administrative body.

It is often repeated that such things as worshipping a pagoda is the very antithesis of Osho’s vision of a forward looking spiritualism. Who is to say what are the subtleties of the vision of a great master. (This is for example why his words should not be in anyway altered – not a word more nor less). However I ask each and every authentic sannyassin to ask yourself whether or not you think Osho would have had the pagoda smashed into pieces in the middle of the night?

Osho was a buddha with the presence, the energy field, of a great master. His presence, along with his disciples and the qualities of the communal land, built a buddha-field. As Osho has said (and not I believe contradicted himself that) marble and certain structures help contain and confine this sacred energy. The energy is not a projection or a meaningless new-age term. It is this subtle vibrating field that provides a supporting environment that allows and helps us to meditate.

The pagoda was not about empty worship, like a tourist going to fake temple. The pagoda was about going into an energy field and receiving subtle support to lift us in our time of need. It really did not matter whether Osho spoke or not when he sat on the podium with us. What mattered was that we were bathed in his energy. When his energy dispersed, the purest form of that energy was contained in his ashes, his bedroom, his Samadhi, and his pagoda. It is in the marble; it is in the creaking bamboos; and it is in his people.

Seekers come to the pagoda, not to throw their energy out through their eyes as a tourist would, but as people going inwards into meditation. They both receive support from this energy field and leave a subtle taste of their own elevated presence. In this way a sacred place or temple (or whatever) is not a mind projection nor an excuse for hypocritical worship; it is an existential reality that is able to be experienced. It is tangible, it can be nourished, and it can also be destroyed.

I mentioned before about a sacred temple in Tibet that emanated a powerful vibe, and can currently be visited by Westerners. Do you think that the ancient Tibetan masters new anything about meditation and enlightenment? I offer here a hypothetical story.

What about if when the Chinese invaded Tibet they destroyed that temple. The Tibetans then complained and the Chinese Communist Party’s politburo had already known that it would create an uproar so they had in parallel built a nice new temple down the road (with a nice new Chinese flag out the front). “It is in the vision plan passed down by the ancients, and it is for you”, they said to the Tibetan people.

If I were to go and visit the site where the sacred temple once stood, do you think I would be able to experience the energy field that was the essence of the sacred site? Do you think I would receive meditative support by sitting on the pile of rubble? Perhaps I should walk down the road to the new sacred temple. Do you think there would be anything special there? Certainly it would make for a nice photo shoot!

It might be argued that the marauding Chinese had no sensitivity for the subtle. I would agree that the foot soldiers did not. However the Politburo new that there was something about the Dalai Lahma, as with the many the sacred sites: there was a threatening reality that although subtle, had immense power. This power could spread (and indeed was spreading) into greater China and was therefore an existential threat.

In the same way the current Osho inner-circle and the management of the Pune resort are ridding the place (and the planet) of this subtle yet powerful existential threat. They ban the sannyassins that have the rebellious spirit which is uniquely part of the flavour of Osho’s spiritualism. They control, threaten, and condemn the centres and people around the world that flower too much. They condemn the so-called worshippers who come and meditate and keep Osho’s Pune buddha-field alive. And they smash down the structures that contain and confine not just the energy of the land, not just the energy in Osho’s sannyassins, but the actual energy of Osho.

People often say that wished they could have sat in the presence of Osho…to feel what it was like to have your own being uplifted by him…and who knows, maybe to be propelled into the eternal…just for a moment. I say to these people that the actual presence of the master lives on for a time, slowly ebbing away like a vast receding tide. The master’s disciples protect it for as long as possible for it is this sacredness that they were drawn to themselves. It was this presence that was their first taste of the divine in a seemingly turbulent and listless world. It was this presence that drew them from darkness and provided their guiding light.

Yes smash down this and that. Kick out some person and then another. Squash all the autonomous and independent centres that pop up here and there. What does it matter? Everything is to be just witnessed as passing clouds in the empty sky of our eternal being. I say to this that though we all live in our minds, in our own mental projections, there are other people and other beings that do the same. Though there is beauty and good there is also ugliness and evil; though there is truth there is also the ignorant that mask its radiance; though there is suffering there is also the cruel and ignorant that foster it, and the wise that take it away.

The energy of a master is so light that it is only awareness. It contains a shower of compassion and love that drenches and cleanses our beings; it provides a mirror-like grace that accelerates our own awareness; and it shows us not just the fogginess from whence we have come, but the clarity to which we shall always belong…an endless sea of diamonds shimmering here now forever.

An inner-circle should be to support and nourish not to control and destroy. Granted there will be much fear in the Osho sannyassin community that voting in some other sannyassins may just create more problems…perhaps even worse problems. This fear is there in large part because of the tyranny that is currently being forced upon them. The inner-circle should be there to support any individual or any group in the way that they wish to be supported. Obviously there is a line drawn somewhere in the sands that says this or that is not acceptable. Currently the line is drawn in the unworkable land of domination and control. Even worse, the current inner-circle (as with Pune resort management) jump over their own standards at will.

The key difference between democracy and dictatorship is that when it becomes so clear that something is drastically wrong, you can vote the tyrants out of power. Imagine the people of Cambodia in the time of the Khmer Rouge (or any other tyrannical regime for that matter). Do you think that when the majority of the Cambodian population is either being starved to death or being tortured to death they would vote to keep the Khmer Rouge in power? Democracy does offer unknowns, especially if everyone votes for a bunch of nutcases. However in time people would work out that it is not very pleasant having nutcases in charge, and so they will change their vote next time.

So how about let’s see who has the popular support of the Osho sannyassin community? Let’s see what sannyassins think of the pagoda being demolished. Who knows, maybe a new inner-circle will bring a wrecking-ball to the Samadhi. On this question, I personally will be sure to ask or here from candidates before I vote for them.

There are many Osho sannyassins who are fanned out across this globe planting flowers and sharing treasures. If these people are not to you a shepherd tending to their flock, but rather a source of inspiration and joy and freedom, then they are possible candidates for the inner-circle. Would you like to select people such as these to be in the Osho inner-circle?

If an inner-circle position overwhelms someone and they go astray, then they have their own inner journey to refocus on. If, like Sheela, they do not realize this, I only hope that you do.

Potential Candidates

It has been suggested that Pan from Buddha Hill and Gurudev from India would be suitable candidates. I have received a number of requested to remove Jayesh, Amrito, Yogendra, and Mukesh from the list of potential candidates: the reason being lack of suitability. It is interesting to note that these are the only current inner-circle members listed on the on-line poll.

Facebook Friends

I am sorry but the OMDC is not accepting facebook friends for fear that they will be banned.

Electoral Nominations

If you have a preferred candidate that is not mentioned in the list post a comment or send an e-mail. If you are your own unfeatured candidate then the OMDC irreverently apologizes because the current trial election closes in the year 2099. Please note the fact that there are 21 candidates is entirely coincidental. The universe works in mysterious ways.

Going Against Osho?

Isn't such an idea of voting for an inner-circle going against Osho's wishes?

In response, Osho chose the inner-circle. Jayesh then kicked out whomever he wished and then brought into the fold whomsoever he liked. Also, do you think that Osho didn’t know that Sheela was destroying the Ranch? Do you think that he didn’t know this all along? Do you think he didn’t know this when he chose her? In the same way do you think Osho didn’t know that Jayesh was going to destroy the inner-circle? You may ask why a master would do such a thing. The only reason that comes to my mind is that he always liked a good joke!