Osho, born in 1931 in Kuchwada, started an ashram in Pune (then called Poona) in 1974. His teachings and work quickly became famous allover the world and attracted thousands of followers, called Rajneesh Neo-Sannyasins.
In 1977 I travelled overland to Poona (now Pune), and Osho (then called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) initiated me into neo-sannyas with an intense look and a short talk:
“This will be your name: swami deva ananya.
Deva means divine, ananya means one – one with the divine. That’s our reality, that’s how it is. We may know, we may not know, but our knowledge or our ignorance does not change the reality at all. It is so: we are one with the divine! Otherwise is not possible because we cannot exist without being one with the divine. We are rooted in it, we are part of it. In fact to say we live is not right: only he lives through us. So many millions of forms but the reality is one.
Ananya is one of the beautiful terms, the most beautiful terms. Literally it means ‘not other’…not other than god. Mm? somebody thinks he is a man, somebody thinks she is a woman, somebody thinks he is a child, somebody thinks he is old, somebody thinks he is beautiful and somebody thinks he is not beautiful, somebody thinks he is intelligent and somebody thinks he is not – but all are one the divine.
These are all just forms of the surface; deep down our reality is one. They are just like waves of an ocean: they are all ‘ananya’ with the ocean, not other than the ocean. A small wave, a big wave, a very big tidal wave – all are one with the ocean.
So this name will remind you again and again, and whenever you are reminded of it feel one with god in that moment. By and by one becomes more and more skilled in that feeling, that’s all.
We have not lost anything, we have simply forgotten. Once the memory returns, once the remembrance comes back, everything is there, has always been there. The treasure is not lost, we have only forgotten where we have put it. It is in our houses; we have lost track of it. “

After four years in the USA and some adventures around the world Osho returned to India in 1986. His Pune Ashram flowered again and he resumed to give daily talks. I was working in the video department and managed to produce a video clip on the side:

His physical condition deteriorated visibly in 1988 and 1989, on Jan 19, 1990, he died.

More information on Osho on the web:
– Danish professor Pierre Evald has put together a great collection of data on Osho in oshosourcebook.com
– A group of Indian devotees present Osho on oshoworld.com
– Worldwide news on Osho and his devotees on oshonews.com
– The official site of the ashram in Pune promotes Osho Ressort and Osho Multiversity on osho.com