The Voice of Silence

by Osho

Discourses on Mabel Collins' "Light on the Path"

Genres: Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction

544 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic.

In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.

Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.

In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".

In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.

In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.

In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[

After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.

Reviews

[Nupur Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightened!

[Dr Kashmira Gohil · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you come across a gem in repository of books, you know that you are going to go at it again. And everytime you do it, you gain something new to your soul. This is one such book. Osho has effectively and effortlessly explained some soul sutra from an ancient mystic Mabel Collins, who said she seen them in her meditation. Starting from killing out the ambition or desire for life, getting rid of outer sensations, or desire for seperateness to realising the inner core being, osho beautifully explains about the need to shed the outer matter, the body, covering like slipping out of snake skin, understanding the inner soul consciousness and realising the godliness by being free from either 'outer' or 'inner'. I will be reading it again after some time. The book is simply 5 star content.

[Kanchan Mandanekar · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have been incessantly thinking since we remember ourselves. Most of us are tired of this thinking. If you are like me who catch yourself going nowhere where your thoughts lead you, this book will calm you down. It's the art of listening-to-yourself exemplified. It's about dropping the unnecessary ways of thinking and freeing yourself.

It almost sounds like learning how to swim, you don't learn it. Your body is already buoyant. You just learn not to resist (that's why dead bodies float, there's no resistance).

Similarly, peace already exists within us. We just learn to drop the 'me', un-clutch our miseries, and we're good.

[Bhakta Kishor]

The question is: "Is there a stop to thought and time?" Because if there is time, that is if there is thought, the perpetual occupation, as most of us are perpetually occupied, thinking about various things, chattering, mind is never... the brain is never quiet, but always groping, searching, remembering, hoping. Such a mind, obviously, is never quiet. But to perceive that it is not quiet, without any direction, say it must be quiet, to perceive it, to observe it's not quiet, then it becomes extraordinarily quiet, without any compulsion, without any practice, which means one requires great sensitivity, attention, awareness. Only in that absolute silence of the mind, a silence which is not cultivated by thought - it isn't a silence between noise, between two noises, or between two thoughts - this silence is not that. Silence demands total freedom from all self-centred activity and pursuit of pleasure and fear and so on. Only in that silence completely can there be that which is nameless.

[Neeramitra Reddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never understood why people revered Osho as a never-will-be-born-again legend.

But this book's sheer depth of wisdom expressed in a jaw-droppingly simple way explains why - Osho is the only enlightened one I have come across so far who manages to convey the path, process, and meaning of enlightenment in the simplest language.

This massive book is a commentary on a tiny book called "The Light On The Path" by Mabel Collins - which she says she only "read" and translated a lost Sanskrit booklet that "came" to her in her mind.

And I totally believe it - Light On The Path isn't a book a regular human could have written - imagine that this 10-page booklet demanded 500+ pages of commentary and explanation by an enlightened sage!

Osho's one of a kind - there's a reason he's one of the most beloved and controversial mystic of all time. His wisdom will challenge all your existing notions - material or spiritual.

MUST-READ for truth seekers

[Harshit Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Guide for spiritual seekers

Osho's discourses are a delight. He takes to a space where it seems going on a spiritual pilgrimage is all that there is.

[Saloni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing book.

[Hari Prabhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 / 5

[HANAN]

شفت فديوا للرجل المسمى اوشو رجل بلحية طويلة و عمامة يضغط أواخر حروف كلمات جمله له عين حادة بارزة لها طبقة من بريق يلمع لكن بغبش و يتحدث بهدوء و تؤده كأنه حاز العلم المطلق و الحكمة المطلقة و كينونة الأشياء كما يشاء يقول ليس هناك اله و لست بملحد هههههه فقفزت في ذهني حينها قصة الشيطان الذي تمثل في صورة شيخ نجدي و حضر مجلس سادة قريش ليدبروا مكيدة تخلصهم من محمد عليه السلام و ايد أبو جهل في أخذ رجل من كل قبيلة لخاتم النبيين يستغرق دمه بين القبائل و قلت في نفسي ما كان للشيطان إلا أن يتمثل لهم في صورة اوشو هذا الرجل القبيح البجيح و تخيلته يغشى مجلسهم يسمعهم و يعقب على مكائدهم بكل ما أوتي من لؤم و شؤم و يمد أبا جهل بالمكيدة عن طريق التخاطر حتى إذا طرحها أبو جهل و هو يحسبها من عنده و ليست وحي من شيطان خبيث وافقه عليها و ايده


كله كوم و لما يغمض عينه بثقة و استعلاء و يفتحها مجددا ببطء ليطرح فكرته هههههههه أعوذ بالله من الجهل أنها لا تعمى الأبصار و لكن تعنى القلوب التي في الصدور مع أن له عينان ثاقبتان


هداك الله يا اوشو فلن نتألى على الله
لكن مادام هذا رأيك الحالي فقبحك الله و قبح ما جئت به

[Gautam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book by a Revolutionary Mystic OSHO.

[Pradeep Badatiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended for those spiritual aspirants/seekers of eternal bliss who are willing to read a thick and very detailed book about the concept of "being".