Osho

enjoy sexuality

In this episode of the Received Wisdom series, I'm going to say a few words about Osho, also known as Bhagwan, and before that Rajneesh.

Osho was teaching in the latter half of the 20th century, and he died in 1990. I only came across his teachings a little later, and only delved more deeply into his world when I started visiting India.

In the 70s, Osho switched from teaching in Hindi to English. And from there on, he began to attract large numbers of Westerners, as well as Indians. Osho used a lot of humour in his teachings, advising us to be sincere but never serious. This is a beautiful point.

Seriousness makes us so heavy. And when we're being serious, we're not feeling light, and we're not really enjoying the moment.

That was one beautiful teaching that I gleaned from Osho. But there were many others. He put a focus on celebrating life. There was always a lot of music and dancing around Osho. Of course, in the Hindu tradition, there are a lot of festivals, so I think it's part of the Indian culture in general. So with Osho, there was this combination of humour and celebration, which led to a joyful experience for the seekers.

What I really want to say a few more words about, though, is his teachings on sexuality. Of course, we have to think back to the late 70s and the 1980s when he was giving his teachings, especially to Westerners. And with regard to sexuality, especially, he encouraged us to explore it.

And this is a break from a tradition that many established religions teach. Many of the established organised religions teach us either to be celibate –to give up sex altogether – or to only indulge in sex within the framework of marriage. Osho was really ahead of his time, in a way, in encouraging us to live our sexuality more freely.

He understood the human condition very well, I feel. Basically, we are almost all sexually repressed. And that sexual repression not only leads to most of the trouble in the world, but it also ends up being a block to our spiritual growth. It's only when we've lived, really lived, these human aspects that we can really flower into spirit.

And this is one of Osho's main teachings which I am very thankful for. There were others, too. In general, he taught from a deep understanding of human psychology, combined with spiritual realisation. And this combination is needed. The psychological and the spiritual.

Thank you, Osho.