Roots and Wings

Rajneesh and I were close friends and we talked of books and traveled a lot together, to explore ruins and things exotic. He was my father's most brilliant student. Later, he became known as 'Osho, the Enlightened' - one of the most controversial spiritual leaders of the 20th century. He authored a book (one of over 400!), which is as much banned as it is adored, 'Sex to Super-consciousness'. You may like to read my recollections of him, on Associated Content - 'Osho, the Last Encounter'. Not many realized, that when he criticized Buddha, Christ, Mahavir or even Gandhi - he was not criticizing these great men, but taunting those, who claimed to be their followers. Those who were negating their prophet or master's teachings of Love and Compassion! He was taunting and criticizing these votaries for claiming exclusive copyright to the 'One and Only Truth'! Thus, they were excluding everyone else from any vision of truth; leading to division and hatred - the very antithesis of religion!

He was at his best, when expounding Zen. One of my favorites is his book 'Roots and Wings'. A student of his wrote the following :

"Osho tells us that wings cannot develop without roots, just as a tree cannot flower independent of its seed, its roots. The growth is a continuum; you cannot skip the birth pains, the suffering, the effort, the pushing upwards, and begin with the flower, the bliss, the meditation.
There is no choice to be made, he says. If you accept the roots, explore them deeply and consciously. In other words, be where you are; that is the nourishment the roots need to blossom into wings. He says that life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived. Mysteries cannot be solved- H2O is not a river- but mystery can penetrate you. Often, in the activity of finding out, we are closed to what we seek, by the very tension of that search."

On a similar search, when I go out for my morning walks, my muse within and my faithful camera are always there, looking for that mystery in every branch, leaf and root! The shots taken this morning are my tribute to the muse within me and to Osho - who pleads with us to look around for the mysterious - for that, is the language of Gods!

I invite you to share my slideshow of today's shots on this link :

http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/3921/roots_and_wings.html

May your search for meaning in Life be as fulfilling as mine! Best of luck!