Shanti Kristian Dahl-Madsen, MS Mystic‚ group analyst, bonding therapist, Osho-counseling training and Osho-breath therapy training in Oregon. Sharya Helsinghof, Meditation leader, psychoanalyst, Neo-Reichian Therapist.

Most seekers have to go beyond their negative parental bindings in order to make it possible to return to the original love to the parents. This brings inner tranquillity and silence which make it easier to let go of the identification with the ego, mind, feelings and body. Since Buddha's time many techniques have been developed. We use various techniques which to a large extent stem from Wilhelm Reich and which have been much further developed since his time. These techniques are entirely life affirmative. There is nothing essential to human needs you have to renounce . The countless renunciations of the Buddhists are unnecessary now. Spiritual Hedonism, which means a life-affirmative spirituality, is the natural way today. One other thing we have found important to explore is your chief attitude (also known as the Enneagram types) which is the cornerstone of the ego; here we use methods introduced to the West by George Gurdjieff. These techniques of making the subconscious conscious, in combination with cathartic emotional work, lead to reduced identification with the ego, mind, feelings and body, and awareness increases effortlessly. When the process is combined with a number of meditation techniques and subtle energy work the development can continue and result in extensive surrender to existence and ultimately lead to enlightenment. When this path has been followed the development after the point of enlightenment will proceed effortlessly compared to any other path which disregards the subconscious life-negative programs or neuroses, and there will not be the general occurrence of psychosomatic illness which in the past afflicted many enlightened beings.   ONENESS DEEKSHA/BLESSINGS After participating in the Oneness Process at the Oneness University in India, it is our experience that Deekshas is a very important tool for increasing consciousness. Deeksha giving will now be a major part of our activity. This is a way we wish to help increasing higher consciousness in the world. WHAT IS DEEKSHA BLESSING The Deeksha is a non-religious benediction. It is the transfer of Divine Energy which is designed to create the state of Oneness in the recipient. WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE DEEKSHA The Deeksha initiate a process in the brain that when complete enables the senses to be free from the interference of the mind. When the senses are not interfered by the minds interpretations a natural clarity of perception occurs with spontaneous feelings of joy, inner peace and connection to the Oneness with everything. HOW IS THE DEEKSHA TRANSFERRED AND HOW IS THE EXPERIENCE The Deeksha is transferred by the Deeksha giver by placing his or her hands onto the crown of your head usually for about 1 minute. Experiences during the Deeksha vary, sometimes strong, sometimes subtle, sometimes delayed for days. The recipient may experience a tingling sensation in the head, or blissful energy in the body, or sometimes nothing at all. Whatever the experience, the process of Oneness has begun, a process designed by Divine Grace for your own nature that will lead gradually or spontaneously into your own Awakening. Over time one might experience: A clearing of negative life programming. Release of past traumas stored in the body. Deep emotional and physical healing. Shift in the perception and experience of life. Profound inner stillness. Witnessing state of mind. Personal confidence and equanimity. Harmony in relationships. Absence of suffering coursed by attachment. The experience of causeless joy, unconditional love and Oneness with all and everything. WHO CAN OFFER THE DEEKSHA The Deeksha can be transferred by anyone who has received the transmission and training by the OnenessUniversity. These people are referred to as Oneness Deeksha Givers. The Deeksha Giver then works, as an empty vessel for the energy to transfer to the recipient. CAN ANYONE RECEIVE THE BENEFITS OF THE DEEKSHA Yes, most adults and children can receive the Deeksha at any time. The exeptions are pregnant women after 16th week and people suffering from serious psychological illness. DOES THE DEEKSHA ADHERE TO ANY PARTICULAR RELIGION OR BELIEF The Deeksha does not adhere to any particular belief or spiritual path. The Deeksha is given all over the world to people of all races, all religions, all spiritual beliefs. It is not necessary to change one's religion, nor adopt a new guru or spiritual master to receive the Deeksha.

The Main Building	The Assembly Hall Building and the Water Wheel

 

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SPIRITUAL HEDONISM (SH) includes Satsangs based on dream work, meditations, subtle energy work, esoteric exercises and evening Satsangs.

HEDONISTIC THERAPY (HT)is a combination of group-analysis, emotional work, breath sessions, meditations and evening Satsangs.

EXCERPTS FROM SATSANGS

Satsang October 20, 2000

Question: At my latest satsang with ShantiMayi I remember her saying "When you have taken the first step on the path then you are already awakened, then there is just cultivation of IT left". It was said so beautifully. Will you comment on this?

Shanti Kristian: Yes, it is true, it happens the day you have accepted that you are a seeker because this means you have understood that your highest possible development is the most important thing in your life. This insight leads to a total investment in the search which is synonymous with "cultivation of IT". You will do everything which can be done and thereby finally reach to what non-doing is: this ability to just be, without being identified with anything not even thoughts or feelings. You will be able to rest in this harmony as long as the situation does not demand anything else. It is even OK when something else is required but you will then find that thoughts, feelings, the body etc. are just tools. They may be valuable and fine tools but you cannot identify with them, you are identified with the Self, which is far deeper. There are many ways to "cultivate IT". Each of you must find the ways which work best for you. This is a luxury which can be afforded in our time in contrast to old traditions where a spiritual master would just offer one or a few techniques for the disciple regardless of whether it suited that disciple or not. We make all known techniques available now, and remember there are no new techniques, they have all in some form been known for centuries. F. inst. the mantras which we have just been chanting were known in India far before even the Viking age.

Question: Does this mean there is no risk for resignation again?

Shanti Kristian: There are always risks that you will go astray on the way but once you have understood that development is the most important thing, then you can always feel when you get stuck and find ways to get going again. Resignation when you get stuck is the worst which can happen to a seeker, it is deathly when you stop this extraordinarily strong drive for development which characterize a seeker. It will sooner or later result in more or less serious psychosomatic illness or other self destructive activities. When you instead get going again, then the original optimism is not far away.

Satsang May 13, 2000

Question: I would like to hear your comments on the phrase "being in the world but not of it".

Shanti Kristian: Being instead of doing is the alpha and omega. Almost everything in the retreat and the satsangs has the purpose of helping you to go deeper in the being and leave the doing. Try to see that any kind of activity or job can either be turned into a work which you are doing, or it can be turned into something which just happens through f.inst. your hands or head while you watch it and remain in the being, which actually is "being in the world but not of it". There are tree possibilities: You can renounce and leave the world by living in isolation or in some kind of monastery. You can be absorbed in the world, sharing its predominate values of work, career, conduct etc. You can be in the world but not of it. The first alternative has been the main road for the seekers for more than 1000 years. The last alternative is the way of the spiritual hedonist. The first alternative has several draw backs, one is that any level of meditation or being which has been attained in isolation will have a tendency to be weakly grounded, it is easily lost when you come to the marketplace again. Three things have to be practiced in order to "be in the world but not of it". The first is meditation, which is the state of non-doing. Nobody can do meditation, you can only somehow permit yourself to relax into meditation and into pure being. The second is to exercise awareness, again this is not something which you can do, it is just your absolutely natural ability which you have to discover to the full again. It is not possible to define what awareness is. It can be said that awareness is just seeing, without judging, without thinking, without doing anything, but this is of course not a definition, it is only an attempt to say what it is not. An example of an awareness exercise is the breath session, where we train awareness of everything which is coming up, awareness of the breath, awareness when the breath is stopped and awareness during the satori which often happens during the last stage. And finally the third thing which is necessary in order to be in the world but not of it, is to understand and for a large part get rid of many of those programmings which we got as children. Nearly everyone is strongly programmed in the direction of doing, should and should not instead of just being and following an innocent pleasure principle. When all this is very clear then you just cannot be of the world, you will see how beautiful it is to be in the world but not of it, you will always see what is going on, you will see homo mechanicus walk on the streets or doing all sort of things. You will see jokes everywhere, and you will see what a joke you have been yourself in former days. This lightness will reach a peak when you finally discover what you really are, and what you always have been. Bodhidharma is reported to have laughed for a whole week, when he got enlightened, seeing what a joke he had been.

INTERVIEW WITH SHANTI KRISTIAN

This is an excerpt from an interview by Ma Sharya, which was published in Viha Connection, Sept. 1998.

Question: Isn't enlightenment bound to happen to at least some of us? Are transformations already happening around us?

Answer: Yes, enlightenment is certainly bound to happen. I remember Osho saying several times that He expected approximately 200 sannyasins to become enlightened when He left His body. Shortly before He stopped talking for the last time, I remember Him actually saying that there was almost 200 now. They do hide remarkably well, since only a very few have said anything in public about their enlightenment.

In my own case, it happened 16 years ago. I kept it completely secret for five or six years and even denied it when somebody asked me if I had realized. In 1987, I wrote to Osho during the winter when I was in Pune. He sent a letter back, giving me His blessings. He had, of course, known it well before that time. There are several who got their enlightenment blessed by Osho this way, but He was so compassionate that He did not publish it. And since Osho left His body, some of His sannyasins have reached enlightenment on their own, or when they came in contact with other masters.

Question: Do you think you would recognize an enlightened sannyasin?

Answer: The answer is yes. When you are enlightened, it is possible to recognize another who is. And there are some who can recognize awakened ones even before they are enlightened themselves. The recognition is difficult to explain in words, but something happens within both people when two enlightened ones who have never before met come near each other. The feeling is one of such deep joy that there is a tendency to share a belly laugh with each other. It often happens without any words spoken. The recognition is a kind of tasting of one another's being, which is transferred neither through words nor through non-words.

Question: How do you feel about sannyasins who sit with a sannyasin who has declared him/herself enlightened?

Answer: Shortly before Osho went into silence for the last time, in the lecture He gave on January 18, 1989, He asked - in very strong terms to my ears- those of His sannyasins who had become enlightened to step forward and show themselves. He speaks through Yakusan, but anyone with ears can hear what He is saying. I would strongly recommend getting this video and watching it. Don't just read the book, you must watch the video. Strangely enough, it seems only a few of Osho's people heard what He was saying. I have asked several sannyasins, and most of them did not seem to hear him.

On another occasion He said, "If your journey is not complete with me when I am here, if something is still to be done, completed, then don't be afraid. By dropping me you will not be betraying me. In fact, by not dropping me and by not following the real, the alive Master, you will be betraying me. Keep it in mind." (Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol. 1, Chapter 3)

I cannot see that there is anything to say against this. On the other hand, if a sannyasin has a strong connection to Osho that still works for him or her, it may not be necessary to go to anybody else. This is certainly a matter for each sannyasin to decide for him- or herself.

Question: How do you feel about a sannyasin who has declared him/herself "awakened" holding darshan in the ashram?

Answer: Ordinarily, it takes years to draw all the consequences of enlightenment. It is such a vast thing, it changes your outlook on almost every aspect of life. It is only when all the consequences are drawn that sufficient clarity and sharpness can be derived. In most cases, it also takes a long time for the transition from sabeej samadhi to nirbeej samadhi. Osho Himself kept His enlightenment secret, if I remember correctly, for about five years, which was the time He considered necessary to get everything together.

It is absolutely necessary that the enlightenment of an Osho sannyasin reach this degree of maturity before he or she holds darshans or satsangs in an Osho ashram. After Osho, the requirements for being a Master should be higher than ever before.

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Recommendable Reading

Psychotherapy

Sigurd Naesgaard: Drömmetydning

Nina Thymark: Polanski´s Films (based on symbolic language)

Nina Thymark: Äktenskap, Partnerskap, Samliv

Daniel Casriel: A Scream Away From Happiness

Alice Miller: Drama of Being a Child

Spirituallity

Osho Rajneesh: The Book of Secrets (describes all known meditation technics)

Osho Rajneesh: I Am the Gate (+ any of his 600 books)

J. Krishnamurti: Krishnamurti´s Note Book

Enough Reading for the Rest of Your Life

Osho Rajneesh: Books I Have Loved

Links:

THE INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL HEDONISM