RAI - Viaggio nell'Utopia (1972)

This black and white documentary was aired by italian public broadcaster RAI (Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A.) initially 1972 and then repeated Dec. 22 2010 under RAI series „history“. The video shows Osho welcomed by indians and already a few western meditators, giving instructions for mediation and people meditating. This happened in an industrial area in Shivajinagar, Poona 1972 before the Poona Ashram started in March 1974.

The Italian commentary are voiced over the original sound; this applies specially to Osho’s talks and in the last part of the video his answer to questions of a journalist (person questioning not shown). It shows original historic footage and there is a English transcript

See below for the English transcript, including the English translation of the moderation.

language: Italian

released: Broadcast by Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. (RAI) 1972, rebroadcasted Dec 12, 2016.

length: 12:57 min

credits

Produced: Giovanni Costa

Off-screen voice: Arnoldo Foà

film

sources

Vimeo.com

Publisher: Lillo F. Guadalupi

Published: May 31, 2019. 383 views (on 2022-12-11)

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transcript

There is a transcript with continuous translation in English which is quoted below. Source: Osho News

RAI – Viaggio nell'Utopia (1972) / RAI – Viaggio nell'Utopia (1972)

We are in Poona, in South India, among the meditating disciples, many of them Westerners, of a famous philosopher and guru, the Acharya Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh.

What is now going to happen is the drama of sannyas, an initiation into life of the spirit, to consciousness of being through meditation. It seems unbelievable that these people, who will shortly be beset by an uncontrolled frenzy of the senses, are practicing meditation. Their bodies will explode, all their compressed energy will be released with maximum violence. But once they have reached the pinnacle of physical effort and mental tension the next reaction will be calm relaxation and peace of mind. This scientifically controlled physiological process also draws on the ancient Indian discipline of Yoga. And at its climax we should reach the highest spiritual stage, dhyan, the intimate fusion of the individual with the absolute, the identity with all, total consciousness or total mind.

(Osho gives instructions before the meditation)

A communion with the sky… Something is descending in communion with you. When you will feel part of this communion let it express itself through any spontaneous gesture, allow the bliss that flows within you, with laughter, with tears, with dance and any other movement of the body. When something else happens to you, express it with gratefulness to the divine. Before giving thanks I will give you instructions after the third stage of deep silence. Now express your bliss.

(Gopala Bolo sung by Taru)

(Interview with disciples)

Q: Why have you started sannyas? Have you found yourself?

First sannyasin: Not yet, not completely; but I have looked in many places, each different from each other, to discover something more about myself, to know more about the meaning of life. I experimented with different ways to live life more fully but, among the many ways, this seems to be the best.

Second sannyasin: My life before was empty; I realized that in a way I was clinging to the past in an effort to live for the future. I sensed that what was taking place around me did not represent what I thought existence could offer; but I felt that something very significant would happen. Now I live in the present. Past and future are dimensions that do not exist. Being a sannyasin means dying to the past and to live the present in every moment.

(catharsis)

(Osho’s instructions for third eye meditation)

I must tell you again, after the second step you have to put the right palm between the eyebrows and then rub it sideways, up and down for one minute continuously. Energise that point, the centre from which it goes inwards. Rub it! A very thin screen is there and has to be dropped, the screen that hides the third eye. Thanks to the abundant flow of energy, thanks to the energy that will flow through you, the palm of your hand will create the channel through which the energy will flow where the third eye is. Do this for a minute, then go in deep silence in the third step. So now we will begin.

(Osho replying to interviewer (translated from Italian):

The society in the West has reached its logical conclusion, a conclusion consistent with its assumptions because, I think, the Western society has been founded and is based on reason alone, while everything else, which nevertheless is part of the human soul, has been denied. But each time someone tries to be only rational, the route of life is interrupted and denied. Society becomes just something artificial in which you cannot live anymore. For this reason the East has become a point of deep attraction and has become so fascinating for people from Western Europe.

Westerners come here to find their way into their unconscious, the irrational part of their being. The reason has been refuted, after they have seen that reason led them to a point where the whole loses its meaning. Reason has become like a strait-jacket in which life is impossible. And so is everything that is not rational that needs to assert itself. And it’s only the East that can still make a contribution to the non-rational, because the East has remained deeply irrational. We do not think that reason alone is sufficient, we rather believe that what is NOT rational is the juice of life – because life itself is not rational.

Perhaps the West will soon become East – and there is another possibility of which you might not be aware of – I mean it could happen that the East becomes West. You see, even the East is at a turning point and is attracted by Western science, as much as the West is attracted by the Eastern spirituality.

This century may witness a role-play: the West is exchanged with the East and vice versa. The West is tired of being only logical and the East is tired of being illogical. Both of these worlds have arrived at the peak of its own assumptions. And each time it reaches to the top, to a peak, it seems to me to be totally logical to admit that you cannot do anything else than go down. The way society has organised itself so far, man has always been divided. The East has taken a partial role and the West has taken another partial role. It was a choice, but no one has ever wanted to accept the entire role, the way it is.

The East has chosen the unconscious, the emotions, the depth, but this is still a part of the whole. The West has chosen the rational, that which is more utilitarian, but also this is still just a part. For me, a synthesis is something without meaning; instead, a transcendence is possible. And I hope it will happen. But transcendence is something completely different from a synthesis. In a synthesis both substances remain detectable, but in a transcendence, in a transformation (?), both disappear. And there is not a new arrangement of the components but a new reality, something that is born – and it is totally new.

This new thing will be the total mind, it will not be either Eastern or Western but something universal, a global human consciousness. This overcoming will make the opposites complementary to each other. So, the future has a wealth to reveal that has previously never been revealed. But this equilibrium will be there only when the East, as such, will die and when also the West, as such, will die as well.

What is happening right now is just a simple exchange of clothes. This is not the way to solve the problem. It is only good enough to share the load we carry.

As long as man remains like this – do not exchange the load, do not be attracted to the opposite, but if you feel the pull of this attraction, try to transcend it.