Devotion is one of the themes that runs through Nectar of Time. Below is everything in the Nectarium that touches on it.
Where it comes up 3
Within this theme 14
Concepts 2
- Love as action
Sheela's idea, from an earlier interview Tamir cites, that 'love is not words, love is action'. Tamir links it to the Upanishads and to finding God more on a mountain or a run than in…
- Work as meditation
Sheela's form of spirituality. She skipped the commune's meditations and treated her work building Bhagwan's dream as sacred. Bhagwan backed her, telling people who complained to leave her…
Books 2
- Bhagavad Gita
Hindu scripture Tamir calls entirely dedicated to treating triumph and disaster alike; he highlights its reconciliation of conflicting desires and Krishna's teaching that you have a right…
- Upanishads
Tamir, who is Jewish but loves the texts, paraphrases a line saying rituals and prayers are 'a poor raft to cross the sea of samsara' and that true devotees come directly to God. He uses it…
People 2
- Ma Anand Sheela
Born Sheela Ambalal Patel in Gujarat, India (1949); personal secretary to Osho and spokesperson of the Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon in the early 1980s, widely seen as its…
- Osho
Indian mystic also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ('Bhagwan', meaning Lord), whose provocative teachings joined sex and spirituality. Sheela fell in love with him in 1972 at 22 and…
Quotes 2
Now you're not attached to an outcome, you're committed to a process of service, and that will leave you feeling far more fulfilled than any car, any religion, any climb to the top of a mountain.
My job was to protect him, protect his community and protect his teachings. And when he himself is going against, and I cannot protect him, it's time for me to go. Then somebody else has to take over my job.
Insights 1
- Work for a beloved's dream can be meditation
Spirituality doesn't have to look like sitting or dancing meditation. Sheela found jumping up and down boring, but working toward the dream of the man she loved was sacred to her, and…
Practices 1
- Orient your life around serving
Get clear on the few things you truly care about and commit to the process of serving them (e.g. giving your partner utmost presence regardless of how they respond), rather than to an…
Stories 3
- Sheela doesn't meditate, leave her alone
Sheela was bored by the meditation exercises and found her work more fun than 'jumping up and down'. Commune members complained to Bhagwan that Sheela didn't meditate, and he told them to…
- Rise of Rajneeshpuram (intro)
Tamir's cold-open history: in 1972 in India, 22-year-old Sheela fell in love with Bhagwan and devoted every waking moment to him. 'Whatever he willed, Sheela made it happen.' When they had…
- Synagogue as a social club
Tamir grew up going to synagogue with his father, where many people just chatted, and religion felt like a social activity. He finds more spirituality climbing a mountain, on a hike, or 'at…
Organizations and movements 1
- Rajneesh movement
The spiritual movement around Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), which many considered a cult. Its members saw it as an attempt at utopia. Sheela was its secretary and spokesperson in the early…