Bits of Gossip

Croydon Hall

Lots of interesting things have been happening at Croydon Hall. This New Year, for the first time, they had a Vipassana Weekend to start off the New Year. What a wonderful thing to do! There were 17 participants and of course the community enjoyed the quiet meditative space as well. The weekend followed close after the very beautiful Osho Winter celebration. Leela writes about the weekend here... (There will be another OSHO Vipassana Retreat at the end of April.)

Croydon Hall has a great new website which reflects all the new changes while reaffirming the basic Osho ambience which we all know and love. Needless to say, it was created by sannyasins! Have a look: www.croydonhall.co.uk

Remember those rather ragged meditation cushions with the broken or scratching zips? Well, things have changed. It must be admitted that those cushion covers have done sterling service for the past 11 years! Shruti had them made in India and brought them back with her in her luggage! Now, however, all the cushions have brand new faux suede covers made by Veena and look very posh!

The German Osho Times

Rather surprisingly but rather beautifully, the recent issue of the German Osho Times featured three articles, in German, on UK sannyasins: one on Samarpan and his bird photographic expeditions, one on Premgit and his expeditions to photograph wild and unknown Indian/Asian scenes and one on Veena and her expeditions into unknown Chinese mountains. All the articles included gorgeous photographs from these far away places so it was a very colourful issue.

They have previously published stories on two UK artists: one about Aradhana’s Chinese-influenced brush paintings and most recently one on Alaya’s art.

Viha Connection

To mark the 20 years anniversary of Osho leaving his body on the 19th of this month, Viha Connection has printed some beautiful quotes on some things Osho said about when he would no longer be with us.

In ‘Beyond Enlightenment’ he says: "When I am gone, where can I go? I will be here in the winds, in the ocean. And if you have loved me, if you have trusted me, you will feel me in a thousand and one ways. In your silent moments you will suddenly feel my presence."

In ‘The Rebellious Spirit’ he says: "And this is my promise: I will try to linger on this shore as long as possible. And even if my ship is gone, whenever your tears will call me, or your laughter, I will be with you. And whenever you will dance or sing, you will find my shadow also present there."

And another promise in ‘The Divine Melody’! He says: "And I can promise you one thing: if you hunt for me you will find me... in every star and in every eye... because if you have really loved a Master, you have moved into eternity with him. The relationship is not of time; it is timeless."

Dhanyam also talks about taking some steps into the 21st Century that Viha Connection has taken!! Viha now has a Facebook page which you can see if you have a FB account, a blog – oshoviha.blogspot.com – and a nearly finished setup to receive the magazine online instead of on paper. Great!

text by Veena – January 2010