Fellow Friends

There are those who lift your spirits;
there are those who make your spirit soar;
and there are those that leave you trodden on.

It is true that the essential question
is who am I, but who is it by your side?

Your enemy is your friend
in showing you your faults.
However the journey is much more
than churning through your demons.

Your friends help you sing
when all you want is to weep.
And when you sing
who around you
will want to weep?

Is your neighbour hiding from their spirit?
Keep company with fellow travellers and
keep closest company with yourself.

Who Am I?

Where are you now my friend?
Are you settled into yourself,
or are you running here and their?

The final resting place of the Ganges
cannot be if it were not born a raging torrent,
high in the glacial Himalayas.

And even in its origin the river
knows where it is headed;
just as the vast, peaceful sea
knows its source.

The river knows
that though the journey
is one of nature,
the source is the end,
as the end is the source.

As vast is the sea,
so the mountains are silent.

The essence of who you are -
whether it be called God or spirit -
is dancing along with you,
every step of the way.

Truth Manifest

Truth is too pure to see fiction,
yet fiction cannot hide from the truth.
It is like a shower of rain that is
not troubled on exactly what it falls,
yet everything becomes drenched.

That which is false melts away,
while that which is innocent flowers.

Yet a deceptive mind
can crush the innocent,
weaving a web a delicate intrigue.
For this truth takes not the form
of an abundant raincloud, but rather
of an ominous thunderstorm.

Ah yes truth is pure,
yet it can play games too.

Arrogance

It might be assumed by some
that my poetry assumes self-mastery and wisdom.
However I make no claims to having attained
any level of spiritual attainment.
Such a claim is false,
and to consider it
is a waste of time.

Rather than being considered
as coming from me, the poems I write
I do so for me.

They are not an expression
of my understanding.
Rather, they are written
to help me understand;
for my own inspiration,
for my own path.

If you read my poetry
and have some connection with it,
then the poetry is written for you
rather than written by me.

Achievement

Those that reach
great heights in body or mind
sometimes do so at the expense of the spirit;
sometimes to ignore a hurting spirit; and
sometimes in harmony with the spirit.

After the grandeur of the peaks fade,
and when the crowds have all gone home,
perhaps another journey begins.
It is time to wait and see.

If the spirit now calls do not fear;
much has been gathered along the way,
for the journey ahead.

A Few Snippets

The others love is a
glimpse through a keyhole.
It is also the key.



There is a fine line between
being brave and being brazen.



Veils cannot hide the truth
for you are not outside looking in.

Balance

Thoughts are etched
on the canvas of the mind.
Dreams are painted
on the petals of the heart.

Too many thoughts and they
become trains of entangling twine.
Too many dreams and a
flowering heart can only
wilt with burden.

Yet given space thoughts
can trace the path of wisdom;
and dreams bring an aliveness
that lets our beings soar
to unknown heights.

What patterns of art
criss-cross my mind?
What flows this way
and that in my heart?

As I ask this question
drop by drop
my little cup of awareness
fills to overflowing;
new tracks are laid,
others untwine,
and still others
disappear.

Heavy emotions flow
not through my eyes,
but under the gravity of seeing
are consumed like a waterfall
into an endless canyon;
settling in the stillness
of a clear forest pool.

The Essence of Patience

The body runs this way,
the mind goes that;
giving sustenance to
a whirlpool of emotions.


A rich sauce cannot be
without much drama on the stove.
If it is time for action then
celebrate the aliveness.

What is a fine cheese
if not matured;
a great wine
if not fermented?

Whether through
action or inaction,
in time the essence
will always be revealed.

Amrito & Resort Drama

The purpose here is to examine what side of the fence Osho’s personal physician sits on, and to provide a summary of my recent involvement with the resort.

The contamination of drinking water was (I assume) first identified in the monsoon of 2004. All the drinking water stations were closed for several weeks. When a sannyassin engineer (Swami Mahasukh) began opening the water stations, there was still periodic contamination of this drinking water. I approached a number of people about my concerns. I sent a copy of some test results to Amrito. There was an apparent technical problem with Amrito contacting me at the ‘Hygiene’ email account. However he could send them to my coordinator. I received at least one email from Amrito. I do not recall the contents of the email.

After January of 2006, I approached Amrito and expressed my concerns about the water treatment system. I said that the consulting microbiologist had explained to me that the 2005 monsoon contamination was worse than the preceding year. I also said that I had changed to drinking resort water, and had been diagnosed with amoebic dysentery. He told me that it was absolutely essential that the water be completely clean, and that he would look into the matter.

In mid-January 2006 I left Amrito a copy of my report into health and safety concerns at the resort. A large part of this report was directed towards addressing water issues. In February of 2006 I phoned Amrito from Bangkok to confirm that he had received my report, and to ask for his feedback. He said that he had received my report, and that it was important to address the problem with the water prior to the (2006) monsoon. He also said that the other issues in the report needed addressing.

In late 2006 I made efforts to contact Amrito and resort management, asking for further feedback about to what extent the issues in the report had been addressed. I never received any reply and this gradually led me to assume that the likely scenario is that a lot of important issues (including water) may have been ignored.

I decided to try and make sannyassins in general aware of the hidden problems at the resort. I opened an information website (nomindspiration.com). Soon after opening the site I received an email (early 2007) from Amrito saying that some people feel that the resort is the last place I should be right now.

It is a possible that Amrito’s positive response to my Bangkok phonecall was merely an effort to placate me. However from the above information it is reasonably to conclude that Amrito is well aware of the problem with contamination of drinking water at the resort. I understand that he is meticulous with personal hygiene, and also secured funding to upgrade the water treatment system at the inception of Pune II. He is a medical doctor, and has a deep interest in the effects of food and water-borne illnesses in India.

There are many advantages of not calling a spade a spade and getting kicked out like I did. The manner in which I have approached the resort has been one that isn’t necessarily conducive to dialogue. However I would like to make mention that this is in direct response to the way I was ruthlessly dealt with by resort management. In order to remain at the resort, no doubt a considerable level of diplomatic skills is required. The trade-off is between gaining from being in the know (so to speak), and the loss of being excessively diplomatic and ‘nice’.

Amrito appears to take a very firm stance with respective to drinking water contamination. He is also well aware that there have been entrenched problems with drinking water contamination. He appeared to support investigating and correcting the problem. Perhaps he does not have the (financial) decision making authority?

In December 2007 I travelled to Pune, went to the main gate of the Osho International Meditation Resort, and started handing out a report outlining drinking water contamination at the centre. I was for this peaceful exercise assaulted. I then wrote an article titled Notice of Eviction, an article that has been posted on the Sannyasnews website. It is interesting to note that soon after I plastered this article all over Koregaon Park, I was assaulted a second time.

I am not aware of any action taken by the police with respect to the two complaints I lodged. Both assaults started in the area of the main gate, and so the video surveillance would have captured this. This video evidence will fit exactly with what I have documented in my complaints to police.

During my stay in Pune I was verbally threatened with being beaten; I have been pushed and punched; I have been threatened with a broom stick, sticks, metal rods, and possibly a disguised threat with a knife.

My information site has moved from “nomindspiration.com” to “oshobuddhism.blogspot.com”.

I am now seeking legal advice to determine my next course of action.

Love and yahoo,
Prem Abhay

Rickshaw Drivers (More Resort Drama?)

After approximately two months of dramas with Dhyanesh and the Resort – that would be two months after arriving in Pune – for a couple of afternoons as I passed near the German Bakery a rickshaw driver yelled out to me that he could solve my problems with the resort. He mentioned that he new someone at the resort that could help me. I didn’t stop to discuss the matter and ignored the person.

Soon after, a girl who had just arrived in town approached me at the German Bakery and asked if I new of any reasonably priced rooms. I said that I stayed with an Indian family near here, and they had a spare room. I showed her the room, and she liked it. I left the house, and when I was near a cemetery and rubbish drop-off area, I was approached by the three rickshaw drivers - who loiter around the German Bakery and run a little business trying to find people rooms. The man who had yelled out to me that he could solve my problems came up to me and said that if I keep doing this there will be trouble for me. I replied that I didn’t like being threatened and that I was simply helping out a fellow traveller.

That afternoon as I passed by the German Bakery the rickshaw driver again called out to me and said that he new someone at the resort that could solve my problems. I was completed disinterested and did not look at him. He then yelled out that his friends name was Dhyanesh. I still ignored the person and continued walking by. However I felt a little stunned at the time and wondered whether I had just been at the receiving end of yet another threat.

I was threatened once more by the three rickshaw drivers. One of them approached me as I was entering the German Bakery. He said he needed to talk to me. I said that he can talk to me right here. He wanted me to come outside the Bakery. After a little time for reflection I followed him. I followed him round to where his two rickshaw friends were sitting on a seat outside the Bakery. He said in a low voice, now you listen to me. We have a little business here…. I new exactly where the conversation was headed. I called to a passerby to listen to me being threatened. The passerby came over to listen. The three rickshaw drivers then moved over to their rickshaws. The rickshaw driver first mentioned in this incident then told me to go back to my country. I said to him that he was threatening me and that I may go to the police about the matter.

There were no further direct incidents of being threatened by these three rickshaw drivers.

A Clear Mist

Ah yes it is indeed the weary body
that overflows into the mind.
Tonight shall I rest deep.

Tomorrow let us see what springs into action.
Perhaps a day of toil in the fields,
or one of wrestling with thoughts.

I can see
a day not long will come,
where motion shall ebb,
not out of drama and fatigue,
but out of understanding.

As the winters fog deepens
and the trees become engulfed,
a quiet silence is settling in.

What can move in the mist?
Yet clarity is so fine and pure

Fearless Love

A weary body, a restless spirt;
yet a key turns gently, the door ajar.

Anothers love is the key to the
doorway of our own hearts treasures.

Nothing can be lost in allowing love;
for to be sure it is really just love seeking love;
love finding love; and ultimately love revealing love.

Alas the coming and going of the beloved,
glimpse after glimpse reveals our own treasure.

As there can be no thorns without roses
so there can be no loss without gain.

Fear not love revealing truth.