How I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)

My spiritual journey started in 1972 when I began to practice Hatha, Japa and Kriya Yoga. In 1975 I wanted to deepen my practice, but importantly, I wanted to find a teacher who I felt was rooted in Samadhi, who lived it constantly. Therefore, I did what many seekers before me did: I packed my bags and went off to the Himalayas to look for that teacher.

Having arrived in Rishikesh in February 1975 was an astounding experiences and I soon spent time with yogis in ashrams and caves. Being in Rishikesh felt surprisingly like I had come home. The search however was not easy. There were enough sadhus who promised me the big Samadhi in six weeks and intuitively I turned them down. During six months of being there, my search had narrowed down and I found one disciple of Nityananda by the name of Charanananda and another man close to the Tibetan border, Paramananda Avdhoot. Both men turned me down when I asked them to be my teacher. Nevertheless, I was blessed with profound experiences in their presence. Of course, later on I understood why they turned me down.

During my stay in Rishikesh I began to hear stories about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho). People told of encounters with him that catapulted them straight into most expanded states of consciousness. However, I did not respond to those stories. Later in New Delhi I went to famous bookstore Motilal Banarsidass and found a book by him. I read it, found it clearly brilliant, but also was not entirely impressed.

I returned to the West and deepened my personal practice adding Zen Seshins (retreats of 8 hours meditation practice per day) to my practices. I did everything possible to find avenues to take me to the center of my consciousness.

One night in February 1976 I went to bed after many hours of meditation. The body was quite tired.

As I slept I had a dream. I saw a man. He looked at me and said, "You have an appointment with me. You are getting late. Come." I rushed off immediately to meet the man at the proper place and found him again in a forest. He was in the middle of a clearing. However, he sat behind a mirror. He looked at me and pointed to the mirror and said: "This mirror is for you to see yourself. Do you not want that?" I nodded and said, "I want that very much."

Then I sat down in front of the mirror. However, the mirror was placed in an awkward position. I could not see anything. Then, the man behind the mirror started touching the mirror and shifted it into place. When he had shifted it into correct position for me to properly see myself, I looked into it and the moment I did, everything exploded.

An explosion of nuclear dimension ignited in my consciousness.  It was indescribable. The drop exploded and expanded. It was like a Big Bang. One moment everything was normal, the next moment this explosion turned everything into Infinity. There were no limits to consciousness and at the same time there were many different aspects to the Experience. There was luminosity and radiance. There was the unexplainable presence of Knowledge, as if everything was clear and understood, though without the sense of a specific understanding or focus. There was an enormous sense of power, a tremendous electricity that was all-consuming, like an infinite fire. Simultaneously, there was the complete absence of any sense of self.

The experience broke the sleep state. The body "woke up". However, the experience continued. My entire body was filled with this electricity, in my feet and hands, my stomach, my chest and my brain.

To say that this was shocking does not even get near to describing it. I looked over at the corner of my room. There was a book I bought in New Delhi. The backcover was placed to the front and there was a picture of the same man who I just met in dream and who was the cause of this nuclear explosion of my consciousness. It was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho).

Now I was impressed. Six months later, in August 1976, I arrived in Poona, India. There I lived in the daily presence of the master for 5 years.