Life of the master
Osho or Acharya Rajneesh was born as Chandra Mohan Jain in 1931, in the village Kuchwada of Madhya Pradesh. His father was a cloth merchant, and his family belonged to the sect of Taranpanthi Jainism.
Rajneesh was a nickname given to him since childhood. Until the age of 7, he lived with his maternal grandparents, after which he went to Gadarwara to live with the parents.
During childhood he was known to be rebellious and talented student. His interests were very diverse – yoga, meditation, breath control, occult, and even socialism. He was briefly associated with the Indian National Army and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
As his experience of yoga increased, he slowly began giving public speeches. From 1951 to 1968, he spoke at the annual interfaith function “Sarva Dharma Sammelan” held in Jabalpur, organised by the Taranpanthi Jain community into which he was born. On 21 March 1953, he got enlightened while sitting under a tree in a garden in Jabalpur.
In 1955, he completed his BA degree and in 1957, MA in Philosophy. From 1958 he taught philosophy in Jabalpur University as a lecturer. At the same time he was travelling throughout India, lecturing on various topics starting from spirituality to socialism. He was called Acharya Rajneesh by the listeners.
He was a very unconventional spiritual master who criticised orthodox religions, and dismissed them as empty rituals.
From 1962 onwards he began having 3 to 10 day meditation camps, and gave a name to the movement – Jivan Jagruti Andolan. Meditation centers began to pop up called Jivan Jagruti Kendra.
In 1970, he introduced his dynamic meditation technique at his meditation event in Mumbai. The technique involved fast breathing and celebrating with music and dance. In 26th September 1970 he initiated his first set of disciples. In December 1970 he moved to Mumbai where he gave lectures to visitors.
In 1971 he himself adopted the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. As the climate of Mumbai caused him health problems, he shifted to a newly acquired property in Pune in 1974. The center became the nucleus of the organization and even today is the heart of Osho International Foundation.
Because of the non-conformist nature of his speeches and views against orthodox religion, he invited the ire of many people including the BJP. There was even an attempt to take his life in May 1980 by Vilas Tupe, during his discourse.
Because of the growing controversies and threat of punitive action by Indian authorities, Rajneesh decided to move to United States. In June 1981, Rajneesh moved to the US on a medical visa.
A new property in Oregon, US was bought by the husband of Rajneesh’s secretary to be the location of the US commune. Rajneesh moved there in August 1981.
Rajneesh resumed his daily discourses in US from 1985 which he had left since 1981. He had spent the past four years in seclusion, only interacting with his secretary Ma Sheela. He realised that in 1984, Ma Sheela and a group of other fake sanyasins were involved in many crimes including a bioterror attack on the citizens of The Dalles. He requested police to investigate and they were convicted.
After his ashram facing lots of charges and himself facing charges of conspiracy, he left the US and reached India in November 1985. He tried to visit multiple countries including Canada and UK, but was denied entry or was asked to leave after a short stay.
He came back to his Pune ashram in January 1987 where he held daily evening discourses. In February 1989, he took the name “Osho Rajneesh” and shortened it to “Osho” in September. He delivered his last discourse in April 1989, and passed away on 19 January 1990 out of heart failure.
His entire life was marred with controversies, but many of his teachings were accepted after his death. He was known as the Rolls Royce guru in the US and the Sex guru in India, but had many followers and still they exist.
Organization
Osho International Foundation, established by Osho in 1984, in Switzerland, disseminates all of Osho’s teachings, and is also the owner of all the Intellectual property related to Osho. It manages the biggest ashram in Pune, Osho International Meditation Resort, as well as the smaller centers all over the world. There are 300 Osho information and meditation centers in 45 countries of the world.
Teachings
Osho was all about acquiring wisdom in a celebratory manner, and rejected traditional religion which, sometimes, put restrictions on the seeker’s life. His teachings were not boring, rather peppered with jokes. He spoke on all major religions and spiritual traditions of the world. He was a very controversial figure and some of his contemporaries like Jiddu Krishnamurti did not accept his style, while others like Nisargadatta Maharaj appreciated him.
He taught many meditation techniques including Dynamic meditation, Mystic rose meditation and Nadabrahma meditation technique.
He never wrote any book, but his discourses were compiled by the devotees and published in form of books. There are over 200 of his publications available to be read online.
Avadhoota Udyana 