Devadas
1. Once I decided
to totally fast, 'cept water. After three days a tray of food was sent to me from
Osho, via the Nepalese non-sannyasin assistant in His house, whose name I cannot right now remember. A silver tray with foods such as
delicious chick peas in sauce, and other things. This gracious gift signalled the end of my fast!
2. Once inside the garden after an night of guarding back in 74, I had forgotten my hat, a gift from him, so I
snuck back into the garden to retrieve it. Slowly crawling through the bushes I reached said hat. As I rose
Osho was watching this as he was so delicately breakfasting with Vivek, he looked like the most shy deer, ready
to bolt at the slightest sound!
3. It's 1973. I
have one week
left before flying to Bombay, India. I'd left my work behind and went to
London, to the small Kalptaru Rajneesh Centre run by South African Veena, beneath
Shyam Singha's Central London Bell Street Clinic. The next week the
first large group of Sannyasins and Sannyasins-to-be is to travel to meet
the Master in his Bombay apartment.
I was to do the two week dynamic meditation course in one
week here in London. This means two dynamic meditations a day, for me!
So the last day arrives, I give it absolutely everything; the third stage
starts, the HOO! stage; something hits me like a thunderbolt from below and I
start to cry, cry cry, like I've never cried before or since.
Uncontrollable rolls of tears coming up from where? No more stages of
the meditation after that, it just continues for the next hour and finally
Veena comes in to the now empty room and tells me to come out. I sob
uncontrollably, lying in her lap; she asks someone to go get a towel which I
soak for another half hour...
Eventually it stops, there is much silence. I'm ready
to go to Bombay...
4. We took several taxis down into
the city, to Woodlands Apartments where Bhagwan lived. We were met at
the door by Laxmi, his diminutive but highly beautiful and intelligent
secretary. This was the first group to have come from the West, all
together to see Bhagwan; we were about ten in number.
After a short
wait, we were shown in to see Bhagwan. The room was bare but for him,
seated in a black vinyl executive style chair. No furniture, no carpet,
just him; a beautiful aroma met our noses, of the powerful aromatic oil he
always wore. Seated in two rows, the Sannyasins bowing to his feet in
the front, us neophytes at the back, he greeted us with huge smiles and
beaming love. The atmosphere was so charged! His eyebrows were
able to move about two inches up and down his forehead as he beamed at and
stroked these new arrivals. Finally I was called forward, we were
each being introduced by Veena...
What happened next I cannot clearly remember... He asked my
name, I don't recall anything I said, and then he touched my forehead – a precursor to Darshans much later in Poona but not done up to this point I was
told later – and I recall my body arching in bliss, and moving around on its own as I witnessed whatever was taking place. My heart felt like a
huge rose, I felt I had to pour out this enormous love/bliss flowing downwards
through every pore of my body and being, out to everyone there. Swaying
in this bliss I remember him saying, "At last you have come."
He then lowered a mala over my head, shook it, and said, "Now I have got
you!". Your name is Swami Devadas, this means servant of God.
This he wrote on Rajneesh, Woodlands, letterhead. I did not really hear
much more of what was said. I was gone...
For five days I lived in another world. We set
off for the Mt. Abu Hindi meditation camp in Rajasthan, travelling by rail,
in the then available Indian Third Class compartments.
As I recall these happening now my hair still stands on end
all over my body.
5. & 6. Coming,
awaiting hard copy publication in July/Aug '02
Viha Connection
Sw Devadas, English
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