Bageshwar Baba visits Kathmandu, praises Osho Rajneesh and His movement

New Delhi : One of the most revered Indian spiritual leaders, Bageshwar Baba (real name: Dhirendra Krishna Shastri), recently travelled to Nepal to give a speech to the locals.

Baba met with Swami Anand Arun, the leader of the Neo Sannyas and Osho movement in Nepal and the founder of the Osho Tapoban International commune in Kathmandu, when he was in Nepal.

Osho books and lectures by Osho Rajneesh were presented to Baba by Swami Anand Arun during this occasion. In addition, Baba requested Swami Anand Arun to join him on tours of Chitwan, and the two companions spent a few days together talking about the Osho movement and the nature of human awareness.

Bageshwar Baba has praised the Osho community and its leader, Osho Rajneesh, to great effect. Baba has said that Osho Rajneesh was confronted with hostility and scepticism because of the widespread attention he garnered for his ground-breaking meditation practises and other innovations. Baba, who is originally from Madhya Pradesh like Osho, remarked that he is encouraged by Rajneesh Osho’s perseverance despite the worldwide opposition he has encountered. Bageshwar Baba, a new age, youthful guru followed by millions, began listening to Osho lectures and reading Osho publications after meeting with Swami Anand Arun. In addition, Baba has said in his Nepalese speeches that the road of growing human awareness at large would be walked by two great saints. Both Gorakhnath and Osho Rajneesh are gurus.

Between 1970 and 1990, just before Osho Rajneesh departed his body, the Osho movement flourished. The revolutionary concept behind the movement is that spiritual enlightenment may be achieved without giving up one’s worldly possessions. Because of his radical discourses linking sexuality and spirituality, and because he reintroduced traditional Sannyas as Neo Sannyas, which does not require a Sannyasin to abandon the world, Osho Rajneesh was and remains a divisive figure. There is no God, only godliness, Rajneesh said, adding to his list of arguments against God’s existence. The point was to suggest that religious belief requires looking inside rather than beyond. However, Rajneesh, who referred to himself as “Bhagwan,” stated that we are all capable of realising our own inherent divinity. For the ardent followers of God in India and elsewhere at the time, this was a devastating blow to their unwavering faith. Thousands of people from all around the globe joined the Osho movement and visited his Poona Ashram and the luxurious Rajneeshpuram in Oregon.

Bageshwar Baba praised Osho Rajneesh’s bravery in taking such a risky strategy for growing his cause. We have a bond that spans many lives, as Baba told Swami Anand Arun: “aapke saath toh janam janam ka rishta hai.” Also, during the next three months, Baba has pledged to return to Nepal, this time intending to remain at the Osho Tapoban International commune in Kathmandu.

It may be time to reopen the chapters of the movement and Osho Rajneesh himself in India, since prominent traditional Indian gurus like Murari Bapu and Bageshwar Baba have acknowledged and supported the Osho and Neo Sannyas movement in Nepal.