We will have to understand a few things which might upset our habitual knowledge structure, in particular the difference between facts and truth. That’s why I say you are fortunate.” My Way. Right now, it is alive and you are near the source. They will systematize everything, they will destroy everything, and the opportunity will be missed. Sooner or later, the logicians will enter. Even with my ideas it will not be so again. It happens only once in thousands and thousands of years that you are near the source.
Whatsoever I am saying to you is just at the source. On the future work of logicians, researchers and pundits (3) that did not have the opportunity or the courage to be in his presence while he was still available, and so have not experienced him face to face, Osho has commented: Also it would be like writing about someone whom I have known or heard about, whom I used to see, but who is now dead.” Dimensions Beyond the Known #5 It can be about a person whom I once used to be, but who has now ceased to be. It can be a biography of a person whom I once knew, but who is no more. It cannot be an autobiography because the “I” is no more there. “If I write a biography, it will not be mine. We may also bear in mind that the writing of an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the West and not easily found in the East, with some exceptions amongst those Easterners who have come under Western influence. Each of these edited compilations is well‑defined according to its chosen focus and understanding. Rather than someone writing about him, this implies the value of constructing an autobiography from Osho’s own words, an editorial task which has produced various compilations from his published works, where he elaborates on events in his life. For an outside biographer, the challenge of describing not an actual person, but rather a phenomenon in human consciousness is quite obvious. No biography can penetrate to the psychological layers of a man who has reached an enlightened state of being. When presenting Osho as a bookman, some biographical context will be needed as everything is a bit interwoven, as we soon will see, and also a few caveats will have to be considered. And yes, there has certainly been a definite jump from his presence to his absence, where also the significance of his books and other media is increasing as they are now the only way for us to get in touch with his message. His doctor Amrito has quoted Osho as saying that the vital part of his work cannot happen while he is still present, because that very presence is a distraction to many. It is a single organism.” From the False to the Truth #11įollowing Osho’s passing away, his publications have become widely distributed on a global level, and it seems that now, when he himself is no longer around, the time is ripe to focus more on the content of his message, as we are not likely to be distracted by the rebellious behavior for which he was notoriously infamous. Then you can see, crystal‑clear, that it is a single message from the roots to the flower. And once the truth is revealed, all contradictions and inconsistencies dissolve. If you go on, soon you will be able to find the truth. But remember, it is a constant flow and change, so don’t be bothered with inconsistencies, contradictions. Unless you understand them, you will not be able to understand me. His earlier phases in Jabalpur and Bombay will be dealt with at some length, as these years are those least covered in Western literature, and because they are the cornerstones and basis for much of his later work. For that, since his passing away in January 1990, his books and other media are all we have to get a hint of what was really going on in the days when he was giving discourses and synchronizing all the major religious paths into a holistic approach to the inner riches of man.
So what we are focusing on in this lengthy essay are mostly his bookish merits, and not necessarily his achievements as an enlightened mystic. He will be recognized as a voracious reader and one of the most widely‑read figures on a global level, as the owner of the world’s largest private library ‑ now Osho Library in Poona, India ‑ and the author of titles and translations on a scale and in numbers hard for anyone to grasp. We are presenting Osho as the greatest Indian bookman of the twentieth century.
Some of the books are adulatory biographies or retrospective hagiographies, others may rather be read as self‑therapeutic showdowns from former followers, and yet other titles are ardent accounts from various religio‑politico segments, who obviously have felt themselves threatened on their innermost values and interests. They have appeared steadily since the late 1960s, written by devoted followers as well as ardent antagonists. By no means can we claim a shortage of biographies and classic narratives covering the Indian mystic Osho.