I Was Osho’s Security Guard

Guarding The Beloved Buddha

I went to Poona in 1989, and after about six months, I’d run out of money. So I was changing the dates on the old gate passes—basically forging gate passes—so that I could gain entry to the ashram to go to Satsang without having to pay any money. One of the main gate guards had a good look at the pass I’d handed in, and he said this was bullshit. So he took me to meet the guy in charge of security. I explained to him what I’d been doing, and they said, “You’ve been walking in and out of the ashram undetected with fake passes for the last three weeks. Would you like a job as a security guard?” And I said yes. This gave me free access to the ashram and a meal a day. I immediately started a nine-day shift: morning shift, day shift, and night shift. So I had full access to the ashram, 24 hours at different intervals.

The night shift was most interesting. You’d have to stay awake all night because the whole security of the place was resting on your shoulders.

It was a very peaceful experience at times, but not always. One night, at about 10:30–11:00 o’clock, three or four Sikhs in a very large jeep pulled up and drove into the driveway in front of the main gates of the ashram. They wanted entry and told me to open the gate. I said I couldn’t open the gate. They were drunk, and all I had was a bamboo stick. They said again that they wanted entry to the ashram, and I said, “No, come back tomorrow. Everyone is sleeping. I can’t let you in.” This went back and forth for 10 or 15 minutes. I didn’t know if they were going to drive straight through me or what. Eventually, they got bored and drove away.

The best thing for me during the night shift, if I was on the back gate of the ashram, was to go and stand where I felt the strongest energy point along the fence line, where no one was allowed to be. I had to keep people away from the fence lines, and I would stand there or sit there at different intervals of the night. (The other side of the fence was Osho’s garden and Lao Tzu House, where he lived.)

The other thing I loved was getting podium duty. (The podium in Buddha Hall where Osho sat to give Satsang.) They kept a guard on the podium 24 hours a day. The energy from the podium was quite interesting. Also, when Osho arrived for Satsang and left afterward, he would walk past me because I was security on the back door where he walked in. When he came out of his Rolls Royce and walked past me into Buddha Hall, it was like having silence itself walk through you. During Satsang, because I was a guard, I would sit just to the side of the podium. No one questioned why I was there. I think they were just used to me being a security guard there, so I got closer than the front row seats as far as proximity to Osho went.

Being that close to Osho, I felt emptiness.

It was very relaxing. I used to disappear. All thoughts would cease—I’d just be nothingness.

Once, after doing two meditations back-to-back, Nadabrahma and Kundalini, it was strange—I had this idea that I wanted to wake up. I walked out of Buddha Hall and just expanded. I was consciousness moving through the crowd. My consciousness was at multiple points. Eventually, I came back into the body.

It’s interesting taking this journey back to Poona because as I talk about it, I get really expanded and quiet.

I was living in a half-falling-down hand-me-down hut that was passed from guard to guard who had no money, in a complex called Surrender Gardens. It was very rudimentary—just a hut, a bed, and a shared cold shower and toilet. I rebuilt that hut with materials I was given from the ashram. I lived there for at least three months, maybe longer.

Osho’s health deteriorated over the time I was there. He was quite animated when I first arrived, but slowly he moved less, becoming less animated as the months went by, until eventually, Satsang became a rarity. I felt being with Osho was a one-shot deal. I felt I should stay there as long as I could because I didn’t think there would be a second chance.

Basically, I stayed in India until I managed to pay the guy who renewed my visas and held my passport until I paid. I got my passport back, and someone gave me a ticket so I could leave the country. That was my opportunity to get back to Perth, Western Australia.