Osho
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was born Rajneesh Chandra Mohan in Kuchwara, India. At the end of his life, he changed his name to Osho. Osho claims to have received samadhi (enlightenment in which his soul became one with the universe) on Mar 21, 1953. He went on to teach philosophy at the University of Jabalpur for nine years and concurrently worked as a religious leader. In 1966, he left his teaching post and focused on teachings his sannyasins (disciples) while pursuing a speaking career, He acted as a spiritual teacher, guide and friend in Bombay. In 1974, he moved to Pune, India to establish an ashram (place of teaching) which would provide comfortable facilities for his disciples It is estimated that at this ashram 50,000 Westerners spent time seeking enlightenment. In 1979, he saw his movment as a route to the preservation of mankind. He taught a syncretistic spiritual path that combined elemetns from all of the world's major religions, including some ancient religions. In 1981, he left India to come to the US to receive advanced treatement for health problems. The group once had 200,000 members and 600 centers around the world. Osho developded new forms of active meditation. The best known is Dynamic Meditation which often starts with strenuos physical activity followed by silence and celebration. These were expected to lead the individual to overcome repression, lower than personal inhibitions, develop a state of emtiness, and attain enlightenment. The person would then have no past, attchemnt, mind, ego, or self. Prior to 1985, the disciples wore red robes, and a necklace of 108 beads which had an attched picture of Rajneesh. Osho assigned a new name to each disciple. men were called Swami, while women were called Ma. Osho felt the family institution was out of date and should be replaced with alternate forms of community and ways of caring for children. Yet, he did encourgae disciples to make peace with their families. He taught a form of Monism, that God is in everything and everyone. He said people even at their worse are divine. he recognized Jesus as having attained enlightenment and believed that he survived his crucifixion and moved to India where he died at age 112. osho read many jokes that were anti-Semitic, anti_catholic and that insulted every religious and ethnic group in the world. He encourgaed each culture to disaccociate their attahcment to their ethnical religious beliefs. He said national, gender, religious, and racial divisons are destructive. Before he died, Osho appointed a circle of 21 individuals to look after his meditation resort in Pune and handle administrative affairs relating to his work. They now operate 20 meditation centers worldwide.
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