Satsang
Under construction"Satsang", and to a lesser extent, "darshan", are terms widely used in the Indian spiritual tradition(s) and their Western spinoffs to refer to various forms of "meeting with the master". Osho's use of "darshan" has been clarified on the page dedicated to that. Here we consider "satsang".
"Satsang" literally means fellowship with truth and usually refers to largish gatherings spent either listening to the master talking or sitting in silence with the master. In Osho's sannyas, the first usage was never called that but simply "discourse". Rarely, there was a hybrid entity referred to as "silent discourse", usually an occasion where a speaking discourse was normally to happen but didn't and was replaced by silent sitting, with or without Osho. No other activities would take place during such events.
When Osho went into silence in Mar 1981, that effectively cancelled discourse and temporarily darshan as well, though the function of initiating new disciples picked up again soon with two sannyasins replacing Osho in that role (and under his guidance). But discourse? Something had to happen.
So on May 1 1981, Satsang was launched. In it, Osho would come to Buddha Hall to sit in silence with his people, with alternating periods of music, readings from various books, Gachchhamis and silence. These Satsangs would run from a little over an hour to about an hour and twenty minutes. Osho's physical presence was the center of it, with the rest offering different flavours of participation.
He pulled the rug out from under this setup a month later by leaving for the States, going to the Ranch at the end of Aug 1981. Satsang was reconstituted there but took a while ... [more to come]
