What I Learned from Meeting an Osho Sanyasin
In my first week settling into Ibiza, I had the wonderful synchronicity of meeting an Osho Sanyasin at a dinner party.
The friend I’m staying with for the next two and a half months hosted a gathering at his house by Benirras beach one Friday evening.
He invited his neighbors, but they were out of town. Interestingly, their friends who were visiting the island for a few days were staying at their house and ended up coming to the dinner.
For those who have seen the controversial Netflix series Wild Wild Country, you know that Sanyasins are people who lived in Rajneeshpuram — an intentional community in the northwest United States, located in Wasco County, Oregon. It was incorporated as a city between 1981 and 1988, and the population consisted entirely of Rajneeshees, followers of the spiritual teacher Rajneesh, later known as Osho.
The gentleman began talking and it was clear he had a number of spiritual experiences all over the world working with, learning from, and living with spiritual teachers and masters of all kinds. His stories were mesmerizing as he delved into the annals of deep self-awareness, knowing the Self, healing traumas, and awakening to the nature of consciousness.
He was 69 years old and spent years living in Rajneeshpuram with 5,000 other Rajneeshees. They built and created a self-sustaining community with regenerative farming, meditation, and spiritual studies at the core of daily life.
He explained how brilliant Osho was — how he could pick up a book from an awakened being and perfectly channel the wisdom to a completely silent lecture hall filled with thousands of people. He had a brilliant gift, but towards the end something shifted.
The vibe I picked up from the conversation was that this gentleman was incredibly genuine. He had experienced living in Rajneeshpuram with heart-centered intention and wasn’t caught up in the scandal that seemed to unfold unbeknownst to the vast majority of the people living there.
As Osho became engrossed in the materialism of life, my new friend explained that he sensed a shift in the spiritual teacher.
He said, “I noticed the shift when Osho became filled with fear. Someone who is centered in loving awareness does not have the need to be fearful.”
Osho would scream out during lectures that there were CIA agents there watching him and that other religions and people were out to get him.
It was during this time that our dinner guest decided to leave the community and continue on his journey.
Hearing his story of living as a Rajneeshee and the way he described his life was one of pure joy, bliss, openness, and heart-centered service to others. It was clear he received a profound level of spiritual teaching and awakening from the things he learned and experienced, allowing him to live an embodied life in flow with the Universe.
The world he loved to use was, “YUM!” Everything was complete “Yum” in life and just to be living was like the feeling of enjoying something so deeply that all you can say is “yum!” He was a truly happy being sharing his truly joyful experiences.
He spoke of consciousness, experiences in Indian ashrams, with indigenous people of the Americas, and so many others.
Having interactions like these allowed me to see that while we may have a perception based on our beliefs, the movies we watch, or things we read, there is no one blanket one-size that fits all sweeping generalizations of people or a community.
Everyone here is important and everyone is a teacher — whether a 69 year old Sanyasin or an 18 month old baby.
One of the most profound takeaways however was the concept of FEAR. This has been an aspect that I’ve been deeply called to explore over the past few months.
As I’ve worked with clients over this time period, I see that what holds most people back is FEAR. Their inability to step into it and realize that it is actually a symbol for their greatest growth.
Fear back in the day of early humans was a protection mechanism of keeping us alive when we were out in the wilderness or hunting for food. It was imperative for the survival of our species and bodies to reproduce.
However, in today’s day and age, most fear is completely psychological. That is to say that it is entirely in our heads and 99% of the time, is not in response to a situation of physical danger that may kill us.
From a deep experience I had at my plant medicine retreat in Sintra-Cascais, Portugal, I first hand experienced that fear is not real. It is a concept of thought, just as we are (more on this in another post).
Fear cripples us and lets self-doubt creep in. That self-doubt predicts our fate in the future. It freezes us in the present and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Fear, just like every other emotion, is a piece of data meant to be decoded. It orients us to change and allows us to get our bearings. Oftentimes however, we allow it to freeze us completely, resulting in inaction and stagnating our growth.
Growth is on the other side of the comfort zone. It’s on the other side of the self-imposed psychological fear barrier we impose upon ourselves to keep us “safe” and “secure” in our predictable stories we tell ourselves and the egoic narrative of our earthly existence.
What it sounds like happened to Osho was that he became too engrossed in the physical materialism of the world — believing that he was the limited body with possessions that were “his” and enemies that were after him that were going to take away those things. A mindset based on fear, competition, and lack.
Fear is something that we can begin to work with as an ally instead of something that we don’t want to look at. Next time you’re fearful, go deeply INTO that fear. Chances are, it’s not as scary as you think it is once you allow yourself to totally confront it.
Try this Fear Exercise as a starter.
Fears Exercise
1. Name the actual fear
- Uncertainty magnifies fear — get specific! (separates it from your imagination)
- Go deeper than the surface level fear — the behavior you’re scared to participate in. See if you can get at least 5 layers deeper.
- For example — not making enough money.
- What happens if I don’t make enough money? I won’t be able to provide for myself.
- What happens if I can’t provide for myself? I won’t be safe or secure.
- What happens if I’m not safe or secure? I’m in survival mode
- What happens if I’m in survival mode? I’ve destroyed everything I’ve been given
- What happens if I destroyed everything I’ve been given? I am viewed as a failure on my life mission/purpose
- What happens if I’m viewed as a failure? I’m not worthy.
- During each step or phase that you uncover. Allow yourself to completely go into each realization and FEEL what that fear feels like. Where do you feel it? How is it driving you? What happens if all of that is true? The only way out is through. For once you allow yourself to become fully aware of the feeling, only then can you treat it with gratitude, consciously release it, and choose to repattern into what it is you do want.
2. Undermine the fear
- Follow the consequences — find the worst case scenario (what if it happened)
- Question the beliefs — why do I believe that? AND — What else would I need to believe in order for this to be true?
- Identify the opposite of the fear and surrender the resistance to it. Often we are subconsciously blocking the outcome ourselves because what we want is actually something we’re afraid of due to what we think having that thing entails. Pretty wild, but very true after doing this work for myself and others over the past few years. Therefore, identify what the opposite of the fear is, and fully surrender your resistance to it.
Fear can continue to govern your life and lead you into difficult life situations, or you can use it for your greatest growth and evolution.
Opening to these incredible experiences and synchronicities of meeting people along my journey has been my favorite intention of traveling. This 69-year-old Sanyasin gave me some of the most mind blowing food for thought.
The world has a magical way of bringing you together with people who have something to teach you. After all, you as the thought consciousness put them on your path for a reason!
Be open minded and step into fear. You can learn something from everyone and it may even help you grow in ways you’d never expect.
