Bodhena's Adventures in Samsara (A Sannyasin Memoir)

This is a candid and honest account of German seeker who, for a combined total of 8 years, has lived in the communes around the enlightened mystc Osho, in Poona, India, and in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon.

In a detached way without sugar-coating and laced with a deadpan sense of humor, Bodhena relates how he came to fined Osho and what life was like at the famed Shree Rajneesh Ashram of the late 70s, how “The Teaching” happened to him. He was also a member of the experimental commune in Oregon, and of the commune in “Poona II” during the late 80s, after Osho’s return to India.

This story offers answers to what an involvement with Osho has meant to continued on his path after he left the commune, out in the world.

Deva Bodhena was born in Clausthal, Germany in 1948. After completing his MA in Geography and Regional Planning, he has lived in India, California, Oregon and Spain. In 1999 he relocated to Clausthal, where he has been practising “nowhere to go and nothing to do”.

This is his first book. He has been contemplating to write a sequel about his “adventures in nirvana”- stay tuned!

It has been an interesting experience writing this story, more than ten years ago. Please let me tell you briefly how this happened.

Between late 1977 and early 1989, for most of the time, I used to live in an absolutely extraordinary environment, in the communes around the enlightened mystic Osho. While I had always been aware of the significance of this, it was not until years later, around 2000, that I came more frequently into contact with seekers who were quite curious about that time, and who wanted to know, "Hey, what was it like to be around Osho? How did you live? What did you guys do?" And I was the man who had the goodies ... well, at least a few of them. But how to relate all this over a cup of coffee or two? Almost impossible. However, the question had been put to me, and, as it seems now, a seed had been planted.

In the spring of 2002 I started noticing that there were all kinds of Poona- and Ranch-stories popping up in my head, just welling up, all -nicely structured and plotted and formulated. And they kept coming and coming, and at times it felt like it was almost driving me nuts. It has never been my intention to write a 'book', but in March I started to write, if only just to unburden myself. And it was all quite easy, as if the whole thing had been waiting there in my belly to be written down, and it came out in one piece, pretty much in the same form as it is now. Around late summer I lost steam. So I left it there, the way it was, except for corrections and some minor additions and changes. I am still a bit baffled today, jeez, did I really write that? Where did that come from? How did I remember all that stuff? I mean, I had no notes from back then, except for a few from my aborted PhD thesis.

But what to do with it? To step out with it in front of the whole sangha - not me! And ambition has never been one of my stronger character traits. Obviously I needed a bit of help if anything was going to happen with it, and I began sending out some e-copies. I am very grateful for the friends that happened along, read the draft and gave me some encouraging feedback. And after all, it is one of my great pleasures to share Osho, and it appears that is a way for me to do it.

This story is not about 'new revelations', nor was I in a privileged position that would enable me to come up with previously untold hot gossip, about Osho, or the creme de la creme of the commune. I was, and still am, just a 'regular guy', and the story is told from that perspective. Still, each detail, written or unwritten, has its own significance, and in some way has brought me to where I am here and now. It has been a wonderful ride, a challenging encounter with myself, up to this very day.