Pramila Bharti and Bipin Bharti – devotion

Pramila and Bipin have been running their centre – Osho Pankaj (lotus flower) Meditation Centre – since 1979. Nearly 30 years – that is quite something!

Pramila, born in Tanzania, and Bipin, born in Kenya, came to England in 1970 from Kenya. They are now both retired but at that time Bipin was working as an accountant in London. Both of them had been interested in meditation for much of their lives, so when some friends told them about a woman who was visiting London to talk about an Indian ‘guru’, they went along to listen. The woman was Ma Manju who had started a very successful centre in Nairobi, Kenya, in the early 70’s.

Pramila and Bipen have been running the Osho Pankaj Meditation Centre in London since 1979. Here we see Pramila and Jyoti sightseeing at Hampton Court during her recent visit, and Bipin (below).

Pramila and Bipin were instantly fascinated with Osho’s words and the new Dynamic Meditation that Manju demonstrated. Pramila had already planned to go to India to see her family in Gujarat so she visited Poona and took sannyas from Osho in 1977. A few months later Bipin and their son, Manoj (7 years old), also became sannyasins.

They started to offer meditations and taped discourses (now videos) every second Sunday in their house in Wembley and have continued to do so ever since. Since they became sannyasins they have been to Poona every year except for the time that Osho was in the USA. During that time they went to at least one of the big celebrations each year which they absolutely loved.

As well as the regular fortnightly meditations they have occasionally arranged special events. Two years ago Ma Jyoti, who wrote the beautiful book Ten Thousand Buddhas about her time with Osho, was invited to come from India to lead a meditation camp which was such a success that she returned last month to lead another one. July is a special month in India – there people traditionally pay homage to their guru during the full moon of that month, the Guru Purnima festival. Around the world Osho sannyasins still celebrate this festival so about 30 people gathered at Pramila and Bipin’s house to sing, dance and meditate.

Everybody is welcome to join them twice a month on Sunday to meet and meditate together.

Text by Veena - August 2006