This clip is a New Year’s reminder to live life to its fullest and not take a single moment for granted; to live a life of joy, love, laughter, and celebration. It is one of the last darshans with Osho before he left his body, January 19, 1990.

Osho had already stopped speaking publicly on April 10, 1989, his last words being: “The last word of Buddha was ‘sammasati’. Remember that you are a buddha – sammasati.” The subsequent months were a series of darshans consisting of celebration and silent sitting.

Osho attended these as often as his health permitted. When not able to attend, Osho suggested playing discourse videos as a way for his people to stay connected with him. It became more obvious as months went on that he was preparing us for a time he would no longer be with us physically in the body.

The format of the darshans slowly evolved into a three-stage meditation known as Evening Satsang With The Master, also known as the Osho White Robe Brotherhood. Night after night, Osho was honing the stages, especially the second stage. In the beginning, Osho would sit in silence for about ten minutes, then open his eyes, get up, and go out dancing. Initially, the music would play through these times he was in his chair. One particular evening, Osho’s hands suddenly began moving, gently keeping time to the music, and before the musicians knew it, he had raised his arms skyward as if raising the collective energy, all the while keeping time to the music. One particular evening, he suddenly clapped his hands together high above his head, signaling a stop. Unsure of what was happening, we (the musicians) played on. It was a situation we felt terrible about afterwards because we had not followed his direction. We decided that if he did it again the next night, we would stop with him. Alas, it happened again! This time after the stop, Osho brought his arms down and rested his palms on his lap. Lo and behold, after a few minutes, he started moving his hands again, and then his arms! Up they went, as did the music, to a peak, and again he stopped. This sequence happened a third time. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, got up, and started celebrating with the hall. This format crystallized and eventually became the Music/Silence Stage we know today. Osho asked Nivedano to keep the time, and after ten minutes, he should hit his drum three times.

The musicians asked for a video feed and monitor from Nishkriya. Since we were sitting far back in the hall, it helped us see Osho’s movements (and his dancing!) and follow him better.

This music/silence sitting became quite wild with each progressive night. Osho would move his arms and hands in the most amazing ways — always giving and raising energy, which would deepen and intensify the gaps of silence. As everyone in Buddha Hall had their eyes closed, no one except the musicians could see what he was doing. At some point, Nishkriya set up a video monitor in the Book Store to play the previous night’s darshan so people could witness for themselves this amazing spectacle.

Another beautiful phenomenon developed whereby at the darshan’s end, Osho would get into his car, and people would rush to the perimeter of the hall. Osho would have Avesh drive slowly, and there was this lovely, sweet namaste communion that happened. During this time, the musicians would continue to play, grooving and jamming. One such track comes at the end of this clip, accompanying a few iconic photos of Osho from the darshan evenings.

Darsana is the Sanskrit root of the word ‘darshan’. It literally means “to see” or “to behold”. It is often used in a reciprocal sense to describe the melting of energies that occurs in the presence of the master.

Waduda and Bhikkhu made this footage available to me. They formatted it with a title and quotes. I did some additional editing of the soundtrack and added the ending. The live track can be heard on the CD “Lion’s Roar”. It is one of four tracks from this unique time, the last months Osho was in the body. It is available as a free download here: https://www.oneskymusic.com/instrumental/