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Osho is known all over the world as a mystic and a spiritual master. He is known for his approach to life, which emphasizes meditation, love and celebration. In these talks on the Gita, Osho reveals to the reader another approach which is based on self-enquiry, on questioning and pondering, but at the same time it is a non-ideological approach, not based on any fixed principle taken a priori—an approach which is rooted in Osho’s inner wisdom manifesting itself in the world of thought patterns and concepts.
We may say that this approach is the birth of a new vision of sadhana, of the spiritual path. Osho does not propose a fixed path with rigid rules, nor does he propose a new paradigm. He just helps the human mind to come to its natural flowering and keeps reminding us that, in the process, the mind has to question and doubt all concepts, conditionings and a priori conclusions. Within Osho, the energy which is contained in the doubting mind, in the questioning mind, has flowered into a pure vision, which is beyond thought—what Osho calls a state of thoughtlessness. That is the state, which Osho would like every seeker to attain. Osho speaks from that dimension but his uniqueness, which differentiates him from the many enlightened souls who have walked on this earth, is his extraordinarily sophisticated and cultured mind, which enables him to be so articulate in his expression.
Why should we say that Osho’s words in this series on the Bhagavad Gita give birth to a totally new vision of sadhana? Osho’s talks lead us through the labyrinth of the human mind and may become a tool, for generations to come, which can help seekers from all paths to use the mind and the thinking process in such a way that—as Osho continuously reminds us—thoughts may lead us to the edge of the abyss, where we can take the final jump into thoughtlessness.
Nothing can be said about the state of thoughtlessness, but Osho has much to say about the thinking process, about man’s ability to question and enquire. In this series, Osho takes us by the hand—just like Krishna took Arjuna by the hand—and leads us through a long journey of self-enquiry, which lasts 219 discourses.
Self-enquiry, the journey from mind to no-mind…but one has to have a mind before one can drop the mind! Osho is the perfect example of this simple truth. With a personal library of more that 150,000 books, he stands out for his immense knowledge and erudition and at the same time he is probably the most well known mystic of the 20th century, who has completed the journey from thought to thoughtlessness. That is the ultimate spiritual path, which Osho describes from many different perspectives in this series on the Bhagavad Gita.
Man has to move from mind to no-mind—that is the journey. But man cannot move into thoughtlessness, if he has not learned how to think, how to understand himself—his motivations, his desires, his attachments. Osho’s new vision of sadhana may give birth to a new school of psychology—the psychology of the Buddhas—which can indicate to man the right path to self-enquiry and self-transformation. Krishna’s extraordinary psychological insights, which transpire throughout the dialogues with Arjuna, become the jumping board from where Osho leads us into that journey. Probably nobody before Osho has understood so deeply Krishna’s unique psychological approach, nobody has ever thought of Krishna as the first great psychologist of the East. Up to now Krishna has been considered as a divine incarnation, as a complete avatar, but nobody before Osho has brought to light Krishna’s genius as a psychologist.
Arjuna’s despair and hopelessness are the same despair and hopelessness, which has gripped modern man. And the same keys, which Krishna gave Arjuna thousands of years ago, can work even today. Osho explains in clear, modern language and concepts how to use those ancient keys. Perhaps this is the birth of a new spiritual path, which is outlined in this book by two great masters of the inner world: Krishna and Osho.
Osho, a twentieth century Enlightened One, brings Krishna’s ancient wisdom into modern language, more easily understandable to a contemporary man who is on a spiritual search—just like Arjuna was, thousands of years ago.
From the shlokas of the Gita, Osho ventures into the psychological realms of modern man, whose problems seem to be not very different from Arjuna’s suffering and despair, and proposes to modern man the same ancient keys, the same solutions which Krishna had proposed to Arjuna, in an effort to help him attain the ultimate reality. What are those keys? That is to be discovered by the reader who dares to explore the unknown dimensions of Krishna and Osho.
The timeless message of Krishna is brought to a new life by Osho, India’s mystic and intellectual giant of the 20th century. Enjoy the adventure…
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