Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic
About This Book
Osho is one of the best-known and most provocative spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. More than a decade after his death in 1990, the influence of his teachings continues to expand, reaching people of all ages in virtually every country of the world. Born in India in 1931, Osho first became known as a rebellious philosophy professor in the 1960s and traveled extensively throughout India, giving talks, debating with traditional religious leaders, and introducing his revolutionary active meditation technique, Dynamic Meditation. In 1974 he established a center for meditation and self-discovery in Pune, India. His work there, he said, was an experiment to create the conditions for the birth of a "new man"--one who is free of all outdated ideologies and doctrines of the past and whose vision encompasses both the spiritual wisdom of the East and the scientific understandings of the West. Osho is now globally recognized as one of the twentieth century's most important spiritual guides, although his uncompromising approach and "in your face" style were often misunderstood during his lifetime. "He loved controversy," says Aroon Purie, editor of India Today. "He used to make all kinds of outrageous statements that would get everybody worked up. People used to get upset about the messenger and forget the message. Today the messenger isn't there and people are listening to the message, which is something very intelligent and useful."
What You'll Learn
• Follow the key stages of Osho's spiritual development: the childhood questioning of received religious wisdom, the years of philosophical study, the breakthrough experience at age 21, and the gradual development of his capacity to work with others
• Understand Osho's core relationship to organised religion: why he systematically challenged every form of institutionalised spirituality — not from nihilism but from the conviction that genuine spirituality cannot be contained in any organisation, doctrine, or practice without being distorted
• Grasp his understanding of what went wrong at Rajneeshpuram: how the genuine spiritual community that Osho envisioned became entangled with the ego-driven management of his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela, and what this reveals about the perpetual danger of spiritual movements becoming power structures
• Recognise the consistency of his core teaching across every phase of his life: the insistence on individual consciousness as the only valid authority, the rejection of all borrowed spirituality, and the absolute primacy of one's own direct experience over any tradition, teacher, or text
• Appreciate the literary quality of Osho's narrative: how his characteristic blend of storytelling, philosophy, humour, and provocation creates an autobiographical account that is itself a form of the unconventional teaching that defined his entire career
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