Jeevan Jagruti Kendra People in Mumbai
by Sw Chaitanya Sagar (Laherubhai),
entitled Life Awakening Center
When I went to listen to Osho's discourse at Cross Maidan, Mumbai in 1967, I met some of my friends there, Shri Harshadbhai, Shri Ishwarbhai, Shri Anopchandbhai, etc. From them I got some tapes of his discourses recorded before 1967. I brought the tapes and copied them in my tape-recorder for myself. In those days recording used to be done in spool tape recorders. Cassette tapes were not available then.
After meeting Osho for the first time, much inquisitiveness arose in me to know more and more about him. Shri Harshadbhai knew Osho from 1961-62, and I got more information about Osho and his work from him.
Since 1961-62, some institutions in Mumbai had arranged Osho's discourses. Most of the people who listened to Osho were Jains. During their religious festivals, Mahavir Jayanti and Paryushan, Osho was invited from Jabalpur for discourse series organized initially by Bharat Jain Mahamandal and then by Mumbai Jain Yuvak Sangha.
According to Shri Harshadbhai, he had listened to Osho for the first time at Birla Matushree Hall in Mumbai on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti. Osho was a guest at Shri Rishabhdasji Ranka's house at that time. When he went to meet him at his place, Shri Chimanbhai Chakubhai Shah and Shri Dharmveer Bharti from 'Dharmyug' (a Hindi monthly magazine) were discussing something with Osho. Shri Jatubhai Mehta, Shri Tarachand Kothari, etc were also there.
In 1962-63, Osho came to Shri Harshadbhai's house. One evening when he was going somewhere with Osho, he took Osho to a Bistro Restaurant to have some Ice cream. After entering the restaurant, Shri Harshadbhai felt that it would have been better if he had not brought Osho there. He felt that the atmosphere inside was not proper for a person like Osho, and he felt nervous. Osho has mentioned this incident several times in his discourses.
[And just to make sure you can find this story as told by Osho, Laheru reproduces it as a sub-chapter of this chapter 2. It is also of course findable in the CD-ROM or other sources: searching for "ice cream" + "bistro" gets you the version in Sat Chit Anand ch 16 q 2; searching for "Harshad" gets you the version in From Personality to Individuality ch 28 q 1. That's the one that Laheru has in his book.]
In 1962, Osho's first discourse was arranged at Hirabaug Wadi, CP Tank, Mumbai. Only a few people came to listen to him, but in the second discourse, without any advertisement, just by word of mouth publicity, a lot of friends had come, and the hall was full with a large number of people.
On June 15, 1965, some friends from Mumbai and Pune established a trust dedicated to Osho's work. The name of the trust was decided to be 'Jivan Jagruti Kendra (Life Awakening Centre)' and its trustees were Shri Gulabchand T Sheth, Shri Durlabhjibhai K Khetani and Shri Ramanbhai C Shah, who used to arrange Osho's discourses, meditation camps and publication of his books.
In the beginning, Shri Ramanbhai C Shah managed the work of Jeevan Jagruti Kendra from his office at Kalbadevi, Mumbai. Then it was shifted to New Empire Building at Fort, Mumbai and then to Eastern Chambers, Masjid Bunder, Mumbai for some time and finally to Bhagwan Bhavan, Masjid Bunder, Mumbai.
In 1967-68 Shri Ishwarbhai Shah and Shri Himmatbhai Joshi were trustees of Jeevan Jagruti Kendra and eight to ten other friends were working as committee members. Whenever Osho used to come to Mumbai from Jabalpur, Shri Harshadbhai and Shri Anopchandbhai took the responsibility of receiving him from or sending him to station or airport. Shri Premchandbhai Maheshwari and Shri Vasanjibhai Lodhaya used to arrange his discourses and recordings. Shri Ishwarbhai Shah used to publish the books and do other management of Jeevan Jagruti Kendra. I used to help all of them in their work.
