India is not just a geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields that no other country can claim.For almost ten thousand years, thousands of people have reached to the ultimate explosion of consciousness. Their vibration is still alive, their impact is in the very air; you just need a certain perceptivity, a certain capacity to receive the invisible that surrounds this strange land.It is strange because it has renounced everything for a single search, the search for the truth.In these pages, we are treated to a spellbinding vision of what Osho calls "the real India," the India that has given birth to enlightened mystics and master musicians, to the inspired poetry of the Upanishads and the breathtaking architecture of the Taj Mahal. We travel through the landscape of India's golden past with Alexander the Great and meet the strange people he met along the way. We are given a front-row seat in the proceedings of the legendary court of the Moghul Emperor Akbar, and an insider's view of the assemblies of Gautama the Buddha and his disciples.In the process, we discover just what it is about India that has made it a magnet for seekers for centuries, and the importance of India's unique contribution to our human search for truth.
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.
"India is not just a geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields that no other country can claim"
A marvelous book, less of a reading exercise than an experience, brough to life through parables and what Osho calls myths. I can easily admit I am not qualified enough to write more but just wanted to leave a caveat here.
Like Osho mentions many times in it, the India he refers to is not so much any physical or definable attribute (e.g. country, people, religion etc.) but it is the ephemeral quality that one is likely to experience in moments that transcend everyday rationality (right, there I go sounding like a lunatic :) so I'll stop here).
Lovely read about Eternal India . The powerful energy field of India , the meditative Mind of India , our centuries long tradition, and lots of exciting stories about the enlightened masters from India .
This lovely book provides a wonderful overview of the uniqueness of India. It contrasts India with others and helps others understand India. It elucidates crucial concepts in India that are distinctive and hence difficult to understand. It demonstrates that India is the only land in the whole world that has devoted all her talents in a concentrated effort to see the truth and to be the truth.
Swami Vivekananda wrote (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 4.3.11): "Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct, all moral perfection will be extinct, all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct, all ideality will be extinct; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force, and competition its ceremonies, and the human soul its sacrifice." This book convincingly argues that destiny of the whole humanity is linked with the destiny of India.
A superficial glimpse of India will not help in seeing her soul. Those who visit India as tourists just as they visit any other country, cannot see the soul of India. Those who try to categorize India with other countries, have already missed the point.
Swami Vivekananda wrote (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 8.6.29): "I have come to this conclusion that there is only one country in the world which understands religion -- it is India; that with all their faults the Hindus are head and shoulders above all other nations in morality and spirituality." This book illustrates how India and spirituality are synonymous.
This fascinating book provides a perceptive peep at India's soul through a diverse set of characters including Svetaketu, Krishna, Buddha, Gorakh, Saraha, Mulla Nasruddin, Ashoka, Mahavira, Patanjali, Meera, Chaitanya, Sharda, Shankara, Rabindranath Tagore, Nagarjuna, Gargi, Prithviraj, Dandani, Nanak, Tansen, Akbar, Kabir, Farid, Bulleshah, Lal, Sarmad, Ashtavakra, and Atisha.
This book is a beautiful bouquet of extracts taken from published, extemporaneous talks given by Osho to disciples and friends. It presents them in a very interesting, lively, and humorous manner. This is a superbly readable marvelous book. Every Indian and anyone interested in knowing the true India and her uniqueness will love this book.
Myth, mysticism. in lieu of Marxist tradition of history, a very different kind of historical account for bhakti tradition full of mythical stories in a poetic style.
This book is a compilation of excerpts from Osho's other work and talks, divided into loose chapters like "The Universal Dream" and "Golden Spires of Consciousness." I like most everything he has to say, the stories and parables I enjoy especially. The reason it only gets four stars is that there are different works being quoted side by side (with only footnotes to indicate it) and many of the quotes are from talks he gave...and people aren't always as precise when they're speaking as when they're writing. It just led to a disjointed kind of feel as different paragraphs were taken out of context and put by other paragraphs that were taken out of context, which led to some seeming contradictions. Besides that though (which I deducted a star for), content gets 5 stars.