Gita Darshan: Discourses on the Bhagavad Gita by Osho (Volume 5): Adhyaya 6 - Yoga of Meditation (Dhyan Yoga)

Osho was born as Chandra Mohan Jain on 11 December 1931, in Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh, India. From 1960 onwards, he has been known as Acharya Rajneesh. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and since 1989, he has been known as Osho Rajneesh.

During his school years, he was already a rebellious soul, although everybody recognized him as a very gifted student. Osho also acquired a reputation as a very talented debater.

Already in his youth, moved by an unquenchable thirst for truth, Osho sought extreme experiences in which he touched moments of totality, of union with existence, with the whole. He used to dive into the whirlpools at the bottom of a waterfall, or jump into the river from a high railway bridge. These experiences, as Osho himself has said, gave him the first glimpses of meditation, of a state beyond the mind. Later on, in his life, he created and developed a variety of meditation techniques, in an effort to help others experience similar states of meditation, without having to undergo such extreme experiences.

In 1951, at the age of nineteen, Osho enrolled in Hitkarini College in Jabalpur. After a short time, he was urged to leave because of his outspoken and truthful temperament, which was not appreciated in the conventional environment of the College. He was transferred to D.N. Jain College in Jabalpur where he was asked to attend only the examinations, not the daily classes, as he was considered to be dangerously argumentative. During his free time, he used to be an assistant editor of a local newspaper. He gave his first public talks in 1951 at the annual Sarva Dharma Sammelan held at Jabalpur, organized by the Taranpanthi Jain Community (where he continued to give yearly talks until 1968).

Vaidehe Vadgama and Alvaro Ruffo della Scaletta have been devotees of Osho for many years. Vaidehe, who is of Indian origins, met Osho for the first time in 1969 at his residence in Jabalpur, India, when Osho was known as Acharya Rajneesh. She was initiated by Osho into Neo-Sannyas in 1974 with the spiritual name Ma Yoga Videh.

Alvaro met Osho in Mumbai in 1974 and was initiated by Osho into Neo-Sannyas with the spiritual name Swami Chidananda.

In the early 1970s, both Vaidehe and Alvaro were invited personally by Osho to live in his Ashram in Pune. Since then, up until Osho's demise in 1990, they lived with Osho in all his Ashrams/Communes, always maintaining a personal and close relationship with Osho and receiving his direct guidance in regard to their spiritual growth.

Having listened to Osho's daily talks throughout all those years, they have imbibed the essence of his spoken words and are familiar with his wide range of expressions and his eclectic knowledge, which they are able to convey in their translations/transcreations from Hindi into English.