Feminine mystics

[1]

Amrit Sadhana [1]

Woman is what man has made of her,” Osho often said. All the descriptions of ideal women created down the ages are nothing but echoes of ideas propagated by men. This is how they wanted to see women.

And women accepted their definition without question. Interestingly, among the qualities of the ideal woman listed by men, she was never portrayed as a meditator, as if this area was fully reserved for men. It was the man who left the house to become a monk, all the paths of yoga and other spiritual streams were developed for man’s body and mind. Women did not exist for these spiritual pursuits.
But the wheel of time moves and things change. Osho was the harbinger of change for women. But how? By opening the floodgates of meditation techniques to all women of the world, without questioning their capability. His trust in the wisdom and capacity of women was unconditional. He created a space inwardly and outwardly where women would feel safe and realise their potential. His stance that it is very easy for women to go into meditation because meditation is the way of the heart, encouraged women to take the road less travelled by their mothers and grandmothers. Women live in the heart, which is the source of trust, love, intuition, aesthetics, poetry and fine arts. They are intimately and strongly routed in their bodies. When women meditate, they unearth the subtle sensitivity of the body, their senses blossom like flowers. For the first time they acquire a beauty and grace which is not just physical.
I have come across thousands of women from around the world who come to Osho International Meditation Resort. They feel respected and accepted here. Their raised self-esteem helps them glide into meditation easily.
Monica, a businesswoman from Italy, says, “These meditations involving body, senses and emotions are more practical and more grounded than the traditional ones. There is a holistic view, not just about the soul and mind, but the body as well! The Osho vision stimulates one to be more complete, to work more; not just be spiritual.”
Then there is Corina, a journalist from Romania, who says that, living alone is still a curse for women. If they are alone they are looked upon as being abnormal. Doing Osho meditation makes her enjoy her aloneness, which is a tremendous inner power. This inner power is the real empowerment of women. Osho says: “The freedom of women is going to be the freedom of men, too. The day the woman is accepted as equal, given equal opportunity to grow, man will find himself suddenly free.”

Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune