Listening to your heart
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
I just wanted to pass on the story of how my family got involved with Osho. One day, my father was thumbing through some leaflets and alternative papers when a foto of a bearded man caught his eye, there was something about this man... he went home, but it wouldn’t let him go. So he took some time off from his post at the University, booked a plane to India and went to see him, leaving his wife and six year old son behind. He came back clothed in orange, and we looked and joined him. We visited India again, together, several times.
It was a classic case of listening to what the heart is telling you. It’s something mysterious, that sometimes the heart knows better what we need than our poor befuddled minds. But in order to listen you sometimes have to be ready to take a leap into the unknown. It’s a question of trusting your intuition, that it won’t lead you astray.
Sometimes we have that with spiritual teachers, that their words or their image suddenly seems to touch us. The spiritual can be a quest, with a number of twists and turns. You find some new influence, your head thinks it’s interesting but your heart seems unmoved, until one day you find that one person who inspires you.
Comments
Just as you can not trust monkey mind. Monkey heart and monkey gut feeling are no substitute for Buddha Gnosis/knowing.
Equanimity is independence from our obsessions, trivial being, lesser attachments, monkeying around and supposed discernment.
Thanks for sharing your story. My involvement is very different. I now have an excellent bullshit detector. It is why I am not susceptible to celebrity 'spiritual teachers', sales and ads etc...
Some people become oranges eg. World savour and genius DJ Trump.
Fruity ...
Perhaps trusting an impulse like that is the province of the young. As one gets older one builds up defences and some people get cynical. Certainly my father was just 30 when this happened.
Also, one should alongside detecting bullshit also develop a nose for detecting the real deal. It’s easy to just say no to everything, it is more difficult to pick the one real teacher out of a dozen fakers. Taking a leap of faith can require courage.
Which is one reason why the Buddha dharma is popular, most of its teachers are safely dead and cannot make inconvenient demands.
You know, whatever the results of our choices, we can always change our minds...
Yes we can. But for some people the influence of a spiritual teacher like Osho makes a lasting difference in their lives. My father for example still listens regularly to Osho discourses, does Osho meditations, and still has friends in those circles. His life would have been very different without Osho.
I am sure you had a great childhood ...
Perhaps it is time your dad grew up? Just a thought.
'spiritual teacher'? No! Not even close. Fake news/reporting?
Worse than fraud. Just so you know.
Bhagwan is practically in a coma from valium in the above video.
There was a lot of negative reporting, and they had a field day when the ranch broke up. And Sheela and those around her did some very bad things. Also there were a lot of lies around on the part of the press. All you have to do is look at the other video’s the 60 Minutes team produced, “Maddie and the monster” about Madeline McCann, “Casino unmasked” more about money.
But you are not actually looking at Bhagwan’s teachings in those sensationalised video’s, it’s all visual junk food for those attached to money and status.
Anyway my father is very aware of the negative reporting. It’s painful, because Bhagwans movement was a beautiful thing. There was no compulsion to staying, people were there because they wanted to be. And there were a lot of highly educated folks, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, engineers.
Yes, it's amazing how brainwashing affects even the most erudite and intelligent people...I mean.. you'd think they would be able to see... through the veil...This is how an awful lot of Christian cults operated too. Didn't always end well for them, either... Bad news sells...
Bhagwan’s movement was not a cult, there was no brainwashing, people were free to stay or go as they pleased. Certainly no more so than Buddhism engages in brainwashing.
The reason so many intelligent people stayed and invested in the commune was because they appreciated its ideals.
The ranch was an experiment in an alternate way of life. It was a commune, your basic necessities were taken care of, no individually owned property, ecologically sound organic farming, and people worked hard to keep it going.