Biryani, Elachi and Osho

Osho Meditation Resort — My Experience

Me in the Maroon Robe which I wore for all meditation sessions.

I wanted to go to Osho Meditation Resort on my long travel(158-day break) but couldn’t do it.

This time I came to Mumbai for work and decided I need to visit the Osho Meditation Resort and experience it(I read a couple of books by this time and was following a few people who follow Osho methods. Those people seemed to be full of life).

By the end of the first day here. The exact words in my mind were — ‘ This is a happy place’.

I had to leave a little early so I a missed couple of meditations on the last day but still, my mind said the same words and I knew I would miss that place.

Here is what the schedule at Osho Meditation Resort looked like.

Schedule of Meditations at Osho Meditation Resort.

Day 1:

I happened to go late than the registration time (which is 4 pm, there was a 90 min delay on road because of some road work at that time on the highway).

If you want to go around in normal clothes in this place. You need to do it before 9 am and post 8.30 pm. All other times, you need to be wearing a Maroon robe for all meditation sessions and a white robe for the evening meeting.

So I went outside the campus until 8.30 pm and was able to see the resort properly only at the dinner time.

Day 2:

The registration wasn’t open till 9 am so I couldn’t attend the morning sessions either. Once opened I went there. Paid for the weekend meditation fee+ and took coupons for the robes.

Here on the campus, everything is coupons Food, locker, robes etc. So you need to buy coupons first(And they have unlimited time validity).

We quickly brought them(there are 2–3 patterns for each gender as I see and you can try and buy which you like). After we selected we changed there itself (trail room available) and left to the next meditation in the schedule.

After that, one person briefed us about the meditation practices and the session details in general. Then the person who helped us get registered (me and three others) showed us the campus and left us to go and attend the sessions.

Dynamic Meditations:

Whatever you have seen above(except silent sitting and Vippasana) all of them are Dynamic Meditations (mostly there is a moment of the body except for Nadabhrama. In which you hum for 30 mins and do hand rotations in different directions to receive and give energy to the universe(or that’s the theory they told us).

The Idea of this is that when doing normal meditation, we need to observe our breath or thoughts. It takes effort to focus. Osho's method is to do effortless meditation.

So by theory, he says it’s easy to move your body and let it control your mind than vice versa. So most Meditation has moments, at least half of them had dancing.

Dancing. Not the one you see on screen. Normally we compare with others and try to dance better. Or even if you are dancing at a party or a function or even by yourself, we tend to think and get things right, which is still an effort.

Here, lucky, I felt all the worse dances and non-dances are gathered and were asked to move the body as we like. If someone from outside sees what was happening there, it would have looked like a madhouse.

You could search for Osho Meditation resort dance and whichever video you see. Imagine 10X worse moments.

It’s a no judgement space so everyone is allowed to move as their body allowed.

Here are the meditations we have done.

No dimensions MeditationL

This meditation consisted of making ‘shuuu’ sound and pointing our hands in all four directions (one shuuu in one direction) and continued with music. After 30 mins there was a drum beat.

Then we went started rotating ourselves 360 degrees altering the sides so we don’t get dizzy. After 15 mins there was a drum beat.

Then we lied down on our bellies and did nothing. Those 15 mins were the best relaxation I felt in a while. When we(me and the other 3, whom I met at the registration time) met outside the hall. Everyone said those 15 mins was a great experience.

Silent Sitting

Noting fancy but you enter into a Hall called Lao Tzu. Once you enter there is a real Rolls Royce car. Which we were told was Osho’s Samadhi.

We were given socks because the Meditation hall has some expensive white marble and they dint want to spoil it. We entered through Osho’s library (a pretty large collection he got) and then into the Meditation hall.

We say silent for 30 mins. That’s it. (It was a super peaceful experience).

Nadabhrama:

In this, we hummed from our naval and while our lips closed. We needed to visualize ourselves as empty vessels while doing this. This happens for 30 mins.

I’m next 15mins for the first 7 1/2 mins we kept our palms upward and rotate our hands outward as if we were sending energy to the universe (okay, that’s what we were told). Next 7 1/2 mins you keep your palms downward and rotate your hands inward as if you are receiving energy. After that, there was a drum beam

For the next 15 mins, we simply sat in silence.

Kundalini:

For the first 15 minutes, we just moved our bodies to loosen up.

Next 15 minutes we danced. Danced in the sense that worse dances were gathered and tried to move our bodies without knowing what we did(For someone outside, it would look like a little madhouse).

Then next 15 minutes, we sat and observed our bodies and how we felt.

Last 15 minutes we slept on our bellies and did nothing. This was the most relaxed 15 minutes for me that week. When I came out, others gave the same feedback about their experience for those last 15 minutes.

Osho Evening Meeting:

This meeting is considered a celebration of the day.

It started with a small dance then there was a video of Osho on some topic.

Once it was done, you speak Gibberish(@#$DEFFERRE#$). Yes, it won’t make any sense but according to their theory. The mind thinks a lot to talk and there are a lot of untold unexpressed emotions in your mind. This gibberish talk is supported to trash out all the trash in your head. I attended this only once so cannot comment on the effectiveness of just this.

Then it was followed by a couple of jokes told by Osho(In the morning brief we were told that Osho’sJokes are a part of the session).

Then we sat in silence.

All this together went on for 90 minutes

Dinner:

The dinner was beside a swimming pool though not open to swimming now. We sat under the trees(which have tables and chairs). It’s a visual treat to see all the lights falling on the trees and having dinner there.

There was a small DJ session too. Few people went and danced. There were a couple of 60-year-olds (later part of the 60s pretty much) who came and danced, a few of us went too. Except for one, none of us knew what we were doing, but no one cared, it was fun to try moving the body even though we don’t know what we did.

Day 3:

Osho Vipassana

In this, we sat in silence for 45 minutes and then for 15 minutes we did a very slow walk in the meditation hall. When I tried at home, I hardly could sit for 15 minutes but here 45 minutes of meditation was doable without a lot of effort(compared to my previous experiences).

Nataraja Meditation:

It’s a dance meditation technique.

Idea is to dance for 40 minutes without any thought or judgement. Next 20 minutes you observe how you are feeling. Again the last 5 minutes went for a small celebration of dance. (When I say dance, it was the madhouse like a dance).

It was exhaustive but it was fun.

Overall my summary:

• Mobile isn’t allowed into meditation halls so Hardly had any distractions or phone usage.
• Phones aren’t allowed to use inside the resort too except for a couple of designated areas or in the guest house. So hardly we touched phones either.
• This is a must experience for everyone
• Meditation is worth trying and two days isn’t enough(you can go and try for a weekend if you like and got time, you may want to extend to 7,14 or 21 days). I was told it takes 21 days of practice to really start seeing the full impact of the Meditations. I was told that the 2 days of activities I did is just to get a taste of what happens during the Meditation programs.
• Stay is pricy, so better to take nearby and come here only for the Meditation package.
• I read a couple of books from Osho and I felt he creates a lot of Us vs Them(every other religion) and tried to tell his way is the way to go forward otherwise humanity will have a slow death. However, many methods he proposed or the Ideology on many things are on point. So I felt I need to see this brainwashing thing as Elachi in biriyani and leave it and enjoy the rest of the meal.

PS: I went around Pune for 2–3 hours and it got amazing food. Sujata Mastan. Bun Maska and chai at Good Luck Cafe, FC road. Also, FC road is beautiful with people street singing and a lot of street food. Worth spending an hour or two going around and trying the food there. If time permits you can sit and chill somewhere there.