The philosopher who brought laughter back to the spiritual: Who is Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?

He connects the unforgettable beauty of his childhood to the warm family atmosphere created by his parents, who are deeply attached to each other. The death of his grandfather, who died in his arms at the age of 7, causes storms in his inner world. It is with this event that the enlightenment process begins.

Completing his philosophy education at the age of 21, Osho taught philosophy at Jabalpur University for years. He travels during his professorship, which he continued until he resigned in 1966. He traveled throughout India, giving speeches and challenging the most conservative religious leaders in public debates. Questioning concepts such as sex, Gandhi, socialism, and orthodox Hinduism, including beliefs, Osho has been a living example of how people can achieve freedom through meditation. Osho is someone who has discovered the door to living his life in the timeless dimension of the moment. He has called himself a true existentialist. In the 1970s, he began to live a communal life with his followers in a farm-like center he called the Ashram in India.

Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho was an Indian Godman, philosopher, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader during his life. He rejected institutional religions, insisting that spiritual experience could not be organized into any one system of religious dogma.

He criticizes priests as well as politicians against all faiths and religious doctrines that bring laughter back to the spirit and have enslaved humanity. Thanks to his vast knowledge of all the mystical and religious teachings of human history, he was able to find an answer to every imaginable question. With his spontaneous movements, contagious smile, fiery narration decorated with hundreds of allegorical stories, and meditation techniques he modernized for the modern man, he attracted hundreds of thousands of disciples from all over the world, whom he called sannyasin. Osho, who developed his own unique philosophy and meditation techniques and shared them with people in different corners of the world, was accepted by the masses for his extraordinary personality, and his speeches were recorded and turned into many books until today.

According to Osho, the purpose of spiritual development was samadhi or enlightenment. Osho, until his last breath, argued that all religions that came and went were one and that the contrasts between them were due to differences in time, place, and culture. According to him, the man was responsible for self-discovery instead of worshiping a higher power. The kingdom of heaven was to be found only within man, to be blessed there, to be celebrated with daily life. For him, life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.

He started a commune life similar to the one in India on a farm in Oregon, which was taken to him by his followers in the USA, where he went to be treated in 1981. 90 Rolls Royces were bought for him by his followers. In 1985, Osho was accused of terrorism and fraud, as well as organizing the commune life, and was kicked out of America after 12 days in prison. Osho's perverted sex rituals and drug parties were also effective in this deportation. Neither his interesting approaches to sex nor the Osho techniques, which reduce meditation to the level of smoking, do not diminish the reputation of this mysterious sage. “The only thing I will say to those who seek divinity in my words is that my words are a joke. I am here to bring joy to life”, but many artists, psychiatrists, and many disciples who embraced the original techniques Osho created are still highly attached to him today. He died of heart failure in 1990.

One of the most important reasons why he is loved so much and his thoughts and meditation techniques are adopted is that he tells even the most serious subject like a holy joke and conveys it with anecdotes. This style of his has provided both comforts of perception and ease of internalization in people. Osho argues that humans are actually conscious creatures created to be happy and that they have all kinds of equipment for this. All the adjectives that evoke happy people exist to balance the body and mind. They are always there. According to Osho, we just need to know how to reach out and pick it up.