A year or so after Osho left the body in 1990, I was playing one evening in Buddha Hall for the meditation and found myself looking out over a sea of celebrating meditators in white, with Osho’s empty chair in the distance on the podium. It was a moving experience that inspired this song, a tribute to the wonder and gratitude I felt in that moment. How many times had I heard Osho say, “My chair is empty. I am just a presence”? It is one thing to hear the master say this. It is quite another to understand it. But this night, something clicked. Another of the things Osho indicated is that we would feel him more once he was unburdened by the body. He also said, “Wherever two or more of my sannyasins gather, my presence will be felt”.

The next days, I asked my musician friends — Bharti (keyboards), Disha (vocals), Sanjva (audio), Satgyan (bass), Sudhananda (vocals, second guitar), Teerth (drums) — to help me record the track. Digital mixing hadn’t arrived yet, so we had fun memorizing the track sequences and mixing it down by hand. It was a sweet project, the kind of creative thing one does  for the sheer joy of it. The song always felt too intimate and personal for me to share, so it sat over thirty-five years on my hard drive. Recently, during one of my spring cleanings, I discovered it tucked away among some old files. At the nudging of a dear friend, I decided to release it to the winds, trusting it will reach where it is meant to reach. 

To read more of my insights on the significance of Osho’s empty chair, click https://www.oneskymusic.com/the-empty-chair/<

Meanwhile, enjoy this free download of the song:

“Milarepa, it is possible to become enlightened from anywhere, and a comfortable chair, particularly, is not a hindrance to it. Just don’t try my chair!” Osho, Transmission of the Lamp #22