Osho’s parents’ marriage

Osho’s parents’ marriage

Hajji Baba of Pakistan, who is now* nearly one hundred and ten years old, was present at my father's marriage and he had come with the marriage party to my mother's place. It created a great stir in the whole Jaina community, because it is a tradition that when the bridegroom comes to the house of the bride they have to be received on the boundary of the town, and the chief of the family has to be garlanded. A turban, a very valuable turban, has to be put on his head, beautiful shoes made of velvet have to be put on his feet and he is given a robe, specially made for him.

My (paternal) grandfather said, "Hajji Baba is the chief of our family." Now, a Mohammedan, chief of the family of a Jaina…my mother's father was at a loss—what to do? Hajji Baba was saying, "Don't do this." But my grandfather was never able to listen to anybody. He said, "It doesn't matter. Even if we have to go back, we will go back, but you are my family's chief I have always been like your younger brother, and how can I be received when you are here?"

There was no other way; my mother's father had to receive Hajji Baba as the chief of the family. misery05

*Note: 1985

In the past there were children married before they were ten. Sometimes children were even married when they were still in their mother's womb. Just two friends will decide that, "As our wives are pregnant, if one gives birth to a boy and the other gives birth to a girl, then the marriage is settled, promised." The question of asking the boy and the girl does not arise at all. They are not even born yet. They are not even certain yet whether both may be girls, both may be boys. But if one is a boy and another is a girl, the marriage is settled. And people kept their word, their promises.

My own mother was married when she was seven years old. And her parents had to tie her to a pillar inside the house when the marriage party was coming* and there were many fireworks. And at the reception there was music and dance. And everybody was out of the house, and my mother reminds me still that, "I could not understand why only I was left inside the house and tied! They wouldn't let me go out." She had no understanding what marriage was. She wanted to see, like any child, everything beautiful that was happening outside—the whole village had gathered, and she was crying.

My father was not more than ten years old, and he had no understanding of what was happening. I used to ask him, "What was the most significant thing that you enjoyed in your wedding?"

He said, "Riding on the horse." Naturally, for the first time he was dressed like a king, with a knife hanging by his side, and he was sitting on the horse, and everybody was walking around. He enjoyed it tremendously. That was the most important thing that he enjoyed in his wedding.

A honeymoon was out of the question. Where will you send a ten-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl for a honeymoon? So in India the honeymoon never used to exist, and in the past, nowhere else in the world either.

And when my father was ten years old and my mother was seven years old, my father's mother died. After the marriage, perhaps one or two years afterwards, the whole responsibility fell on my mother, who was only nine years old. Two small daughters my father's mother had left, and two small boys. So four children, and the responsibility on a nine-year-old girl and a twelve-year-old son.

My (paternal) grandfather never liked to live in the city where he had his shop. He loved the countryside. He had his own beautiful horse. And when his wife died he was absolutely free. You will not believe it, but in his time—and it is not long ago—the government used to give land to people for free. Because there was so much land, and there were not so many people to cultivate it.

So my grandfather got fifty acres of land free from the government. And he loved living sixteen miles away from the city where he had left the whole shop in the hands of his children—my father and mother—who were only twelve and nine years old. And he enjoyed creating a garden, creating a farm, and he loved to live there in the open air. He hated the city.

Now how can you think that there could be a generation gap? My father never had any experience of the freedom of young people of today. He never became young in that way. Before he could have become young, he was already old, taking care of his younger brothers and sisters and the shop. And by the time he was twenty he had to arrange marriages for his sisters, marriages and education for his brothers.

I have never called my mother, "Mother," because before I was born she was taking care of four children who used to call her Bhabhi. Bhabhi means `brother's wife'. And because four children were already calling my mother bhabhi, I also started calling her bhabhi. Even today I call her bhabhi, but she is my mother, not my brother's wife. And they have tried hard to make me change, but it comes so natural to me to call her bhabhi. All my brothers and sisters call her mother. Only I am crazy enough to call her bhabhi. But I learned it from the very beginning, when four other children…

And then I had a rapport with my uncles and with my father's sisters, a friendliness. They were a little older than me, but there was not much distance. I never thought of respect. They never thought of respect to be received. They loved me, I loved them.

It was a totally different world just seventy years ago. Generations were overlapping, and there used to be no youth. Now youth has come into existence and it will be growing bigger, because as machines are going to take more and more jobs in the factories, in the offices, what are you going to do with people? They cannot be left doing nothing, otherwise they will do something absurd, something irrational, something insane. They will go mad. So you have to extend the period of their education. chit15

*Note: Osho's mother was restrained because it was the custom that the bridal couple not see each other before the wedding ceremony

My diabetes is my inheritance. My great-grandfather had it, my grandfather had it, my father had it, I have it, all my uncles have it, all my brothers have it. It seems to be something intrinsic, so it cannot be cured; it can only be kept in control. last317

Osho’s Past Lives

Osho’s Past Lives

The moment the child is born, you think, is the beginning of its life.

That is not true.

The moment an old man dies, you think, is the end of his life.

It is not.

Life is far bigger than birth and death.

Birth and death are not two ends of life; many births and many deaths happen within life. Life itself has no beginning, no end: life and eternity are equivalent…

Life begins at the point of your past life's death. When you die, on the one side one chapter of life, which people think was your whole life, is closed. It was only a chapter in a book which has infinite chapters. One chapter closes, but the book is not closed. Just turn the page and another chapter begins.

The person dying starts visualizing his next life. This is a known fact, because it happens before the chapter closes…

Buddha has a word for it, he calls it tanha. Literally it means desire, but metaphorically it means the whole life of desire. All these things happened: frustrations, fulfillments, disappointments, successes, failures… but all this happened within a certain area you can call desire.

The dying man has to see the whole of it before he moves on further, just to recollect it, because the body is going: this mind is not going to be with him, this brain is not going to be with him. But the desire released from this mind will cling to his soul, and this desire will decide his future life. Whatever has remained unfulfilled, he will move towards that target.

Your life begins far back before your birth, before your mother's impregnation, further back in your past life's end. That end is the beginning of this life. One chapter closes, another chapter opens. Now, how this new life will be is ninety-nine percent determined by the last moment of your death. What you collected, what you have brought with you like a seed—that seed will become a tree, bring fruits, bring flowers, or whatever happens to it. You cannot read it in the seed, but the seed has the whole blueprint…

If a man dies fully alert, seeing the whole terrain that he has passed and seeing the whole stupidity of it, he is born with a sharpness, with an intelligence, with a courage—automatically. It is not something he does. misery09

There are six great religions in the world. They can be divided into two categories: one consists of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They believe in only one life. You are just between birth and death, there is nothing beyond birth and death—life is all. Although they believe in heaven and hell and God, they are the earnings from one life, a single life. The other category consists of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. They believe in the theory of reincarnation. One is born again and again, eternally—unless one becomes enlightened, and then the wheel stops. glimpse16

I have meditated; I have come to a point where I can see my own past lives, and that's proof enough. It is my knowing, my experiencing; it is nothing to do with Indian heritage, beliefs, or anything. I speak on my own authority. last112

I began as an intellectual—not only in this life but in many lives. My whole work in many lives has been concerned with the intellect—refining the intellect, sharpening the intellect. inzen08

I have known so many esoteric groups—in this life and before. I have been in contact with many esoteric groups, but I cannot tell you their whereabouts. I cannot tell you their names, because that is not permitted. And it is of no use really. But I can tell you that they still exist, they still try to help… gate08

I knew Bodhidharma* personally. I traveled with the man for at least three months. He loved me just as I loved him. You will be curious to know why he loved me. He loved me because I never asked him any question. He said to me, "You are the first person I have met who does not ask a question—and I only get bored with all the questions. You are the only person who does not bore me."

I said, "There is a reason."

He said, "What is that?"

I said, "I only answer. I never question. If you have any question you can ask me. If you don't have a question then keep your mouth shut."

We both laughed, because we both belonged to the same category of insanity. He asked me to continue the journey with him, but I said, "Excuse me, I have to go my own way, and from this point it separates from yours."

He could not believe it. He had never invited anyone before. This was the man who had even refused Emperor Wu—the greatest emperor of those days, with the greatest empire—as if he was a beggar. Bodhidharma could not believe his eyes, that I could refuse him.

I said, "Now you know how it feels to be refused. I wanted to give you a taste of it. Goodbye." But that was fourteen centuries ago. glimps06

*Note: Bodhidharma: the mystic who brought Buddhism from India to China

Some days ago Lama Karmapa had said something about me…* Karmapa had said that my one body from some past birth is preserved in a cave in Tibet. Ninety-nine bodies are preserved there, among them one body is mine, that was said by Karmapa.

In Tibet they have tried for thousands of years to preserve the bodies in which some extraordinary things happened. They have preserved such bodies as an experimentation. Because such events do not happen again and again, and do not happen so easily. After thousands of years, once in a while such things happen. For instance, someone's third eye opened and along with it, it broke a hole in the bone where the third eye exists. Such an event takes place sometimes once in hundreds of thousands of years. The third eye opens in so many people but this hole does not happen to everybody. When this hole happens, the reason behind it is that in that case the third eye has opened with tremendous force. Such skulls or such a body is then preserved by them.

For instance, someone's sex energy, the basic energy, arose with such force that it broke a hole in the crown of his head and merges into the cosmos. Such a thing happens only once in a while. Many people merge into the universal reality, but the energy filters through so slowly, and with such intervals, that the energy simply seeps in small measures, and a hole is not created. Once in a while, it happens with such sudden intensity that, breaking the skull, the entire energy merges into the cosmos. So they preserve that body. This way, until now they have done the greatest experiment in the history of mankind. They have preserved ninety-nine bodies. So Karmapa had said that among those ninety-nine bodies a body of mine is also preserved….

It is the ninety-seventh body, but if it is counted from the opposite side, it can be the third one. samadh12

*Note: Swami Govind Siddharth, one of Osho's disciples, reported that on 6 June 1972 Karmapa told him, "Osho is the greatest incarnation since Buddha in India, and is a living Buddha!" and "Now in this life, Osho has taken birth specially in order to help people spiritually—only for this purpose. He has taken birth fully consciously."

Karmapa was very excited and indicated a close association with Osho in past life. Osho's last birth is said to have occurred about 700 years ago. Karmapa was referring "to one birth before that". Osho was one of their great incarnations two births ago. "If you want to see one of Osho's past incarnations, you can go to Tibet and see his golden statue there which is preserved in the Hall of Incarnations." Asked of whom Osho is an incarnation, he replied, "Now, that is a secret. Unless someone is the head of one of our monasteries, we do not disclose whose incarnation he is."

"My blessings are always there, and I know that whatever we Tibetans are not going to be able to do to help others, Osho will do. "Osho is the only person able to do this, he took birth in India specially. You are very very fortunate to have him. He is the only divine incarnation living today who will be a world teacher." And "The world will know him but only a few people will realize what he actually is. He will be the only person who can guide properly, and can be a world teacher in this age, and he has taken birth only for this purpose."

You ask me: Please would you say something about your last life, and if you were born in Your present life fully realized.

My previous birth took place about seven hundred years ago…

It can be said that I was born with nearabout full knowledge. I say nearabout only because some steps have been left out deliberately, and deliberately that can be done.

In this connection, the Jaina thinking is very scientific.* They have divided knowledge into fourteen steps. Thirteen steps are in this world and the fourteenth is in the beyond…

After a certain stage of development, for example, after the attainment of twelve steps, the length of time that it takes to achieve the remaining steps can be stretched out. They can be attained either in one birth, two births or in three births. Great use can be made of postponement.

After the attainment of full realization there is no further possibility of taking birth more than one time more. Such an enlightened one is not likely to cooperate or be helpful for more than one additional birth. But after reaching twelve steps, if two can be set aside, then such a person can be useful for many births more. And the possibility is there to set them aside.

On reaching the twelfth step, the journey has nearabout come to an end. I say nearabout: that means that all walls have collapsed; only a transparent curtain remains through which everything can be seen. However the curtain is there. After lifting it, there is no difficulty in going beyond. After going beyond the curtain, whatsoever you are ordinarily able to see can be seen from the other side of the curtain also. There is no difference at all.

So this is why I say nearabout: by taking one step more, one can go beyond the curtain. But then there is a possibility of only one more birth, while if one remains on this side of the curtain one can take as many births as one wants. After crossing into the beyond, there is no way of coming back more than once to this side of the curtain…

Seven hundred years ago, in my previous life, there was a spiritual practice of twenty-one days, to be done before death. I was to give up my body after a total fast of twenty-one days. There were reasons for this, but I could not complete those twenty-one days. Three days remained. Those three days I had to complete in this life. This life is a continuation from there. The intervening period does not have any meaning in this respect. When only three days remained in that life, I was killed. Twenty-one days could not be completed because I was killed just three days before, and those three days were omitted…

The person who killed me had no enmity with me, though he was taken to be and was treated as, an enemy. That killing became valuable…

Now I can take still another birth. There is now a possibility of one more birth. But that will depend on whether I feel that it will be useful. During this whole life I shall go on striving to see whether one more birth will be of some use. Then it is worthwhile taking birth; otherwise the matter is over and it is no use making any more effort. So that killing was valuable and useful…

In the last moments of my previous life, the remaining work could have been done in only three days because time was very compact. My age was one hundred and six years. Time was moving very fast. The story of those three days continued in my childhood of this birth. In my previous life it was at its end, but to finish that work here in this life took twenty-one years.

Many a time, if the opportunity is missed, it may be necessary to spend as many as seven years for every single day. So in this life I did not come with full realization, but came with nearabout full realization… known02

*Note: known02 and known03 explain in detail Jaina and Buddhist understanding of past lives in relation to enlightened masters. It is too complex to include here.

What little I have told you about my previous life is not because it has any value or that you may know something about me. I have told you this only because it may make you reflect about yourselves and set you in search of your past lives. The moment you know your past lives, there will be a spiritual revolution and evolution. Then you will start from where you had left off in your last life; otherwise you will get lost in endless lives and reach nowhere. There will only be a repetition.

There has to be a link, a communication, between this life and the previous one. Whatsoever you had achieved in your previous life should come to be known, and you should have the capacity to take the next step forwards…

Nowadays the difficulty is this: it is not very difficult to make you remember your previous births, but the thing called courage has been lost. It is possible to make you remember your previous births only if you have achieved the capacity to remain undisturbed in the midst of the very difficult memories of this life. Otherwise it is not possible…

When no memory of this life can be a cause of anxiety to you, only then can you be led into the memories of past lives. Otherwise those memories may become great traumas for you, and the door to such traumas cannot be opened unless you have the capacity and worthiness to face them. known02

Do you hear me? Do you see me? I stand at the door and knock, and I knock because of a promise made in another life and another age. teacup06

This was my assurance given to many friends in the previous life: that when truth is attained, I will inform them. letter03