by Krishna Prem
I am an old friend of death. My birth
mother left her body when I was one year old and left me with my 15-year-old
sister-mother, who left her body and left me with Osho, who also left His body.
Death does not surprise me. Death has a look. Osho had that look. What surprises
me is living. I can handle death, but I am still mangled by
life.
Aloneness rocks my
world.
I am not "righting" about the word
"aloneness" or even aloneness's twin brother loneliness. Like most old
sannyasins, I can quote Osho from both sides now. I am enlightened...most of the
time. The only reason I am not leading satsangs at Starbucks today is because
when aloneness speaks to me I shake from my core and I can't drink coffee
without spilling my guts out.
Shit, it's easy for Osho to say "Never
born, Never died"... but where does that leave me while I am
here?
Many of my female friends filled up
their space of aloneness when Osho left His body by getting pregnant. I know
several kids with the name India, even an Osho. Many of my male friends went
back into the marketplace. Think about it: What do you fill yourself up with
when you feel emptiness: Food, sex, drugs, another living Master? We are born
alone, we die alone, and in the middle we stuff ourselves. At least I do. I
filled myself in a relationship with a woman.
And for 17 years I had a great partner
who saved me from being alone. Her name is Jwala. "Jwala" means fire. We had an
open relationship, and she left me for a younger version of me. I experienced
death one more time. I know what you are thinking: Open relationships don't
work. But how many closed marriages work for 17 years? Maybe just one couple who
are reading this issue of Viha
Connection have lasted a score of years.
(My hat is off to Dhanyam and Avinasho.)
At the very same time my beloved niece
Risa got big-time cancer. Risa thinks of me as her brother, since when she was
born I had already been adopted by her mother, who was actually my
sister.
Jwala leaving me was like an espresso,
and Risa getting the big C was like adding two lumps of sugar - the combination
was lethal. I fell apart. My body got old in a moment, my head felt chopped off,
my heart burst, and I felt like I got kicked in the belly. I remember Osho once
saying in discourse something like: First I cut off your head, then I rip out
your heart, and then I kick you in the belly, and finally you remember who you
are... Please don't quote me on this, as it may not be Osho's exact words, but
now that I am having this experience I am pretty sure I know what He
means.
I was alone again. In reality, I was
lonely. All that I loved was in the past. Even on a rainy day, I wore
sunglasses. The smile on my face was created by the fear that you would not love
me if you knew my pain. I sang to myself, paraphrasing Janis Joplin, "Aloneness
is just another word for nothing left to lose."
Sixty-eight years on this planet, 39
years with Osho, 17 years with Jwala... I know what Osho means when He asks His
infamous question, "Sannyas or suicide?"
But before you write me off as a poor
excuse for a human being, think again. I popped out the other side, I got it! I
am home alone naturally.
How did I do it? I really can't explain
myself, at least not in a way that would make sense. Sometimes life just
happens.
I think it had something to do with me
finally accepting that I am alone. That Osho, my family, Jwala, were never me in
the first or last place…just dramas. Drama for me is when I am so involved in my
own story that I think it's true. I lose my sense of self. And the cosmic joke
is when I begin to laugh at my own drama.
I always felt that Osho was hinting that
it was a great idea for Krishna Prem to have his head on his shoulders and a bad
idea when Krishna Prem has his head on Osho's shoulder. Simply said, I became
the center of my cyclone.
Jwala and I are still best friends. When
we lie together and cry, I always peek out and whisper in her ear, "I don't want
us back." Right now is the right time for me to accept my
aloneness.
Love is, kp
"Whenever you feel death close by, go
into it through the door of love, through the door of meditation, through the
door of a man dying. And if some day you are dying - and the day is going to
come one day - receive it in joy, benediction. And if you can receive death in
joy and benediction, you will attain to the greatest peak, because death is the
crescendo of life. Hidden in it is the greatest orgasm, because hidden in it is
the greatest freedom." Osho
This small piece first appeared in the
Viha Connection Magazine http://www.oshoviha.org