The Enigmatic Engineer

‘If you give a shape, give it with wisdom

Otherwise don’t give at all

If you have to think, do it carefully

Otherwise jump into thoughtfulness without care…’

So runs a stanza from a page of verses written by the then Acharya Rajneesh to one of his most beloved disciples, Swami Anand Arun, then simply, Arun K. Singh, an engineering student at the Patna University. The Acharya soon enough became world famous as Osho, and Arun is now an Acharya himself and has earned the title of Bodhisatva Swami Anand Arun.

 “ ‘Swami’ simply implies that one has mastery over the self,” explains the silver bearded master. “ ‘Bodhistava’ means that one is now free from the rigors of rebirth, and as an ‘Acharya’, one is authorized to initiate new disciples besides being able to give discourses and conduct meditation camps.”

He adds that he is but only one of the five close disciples of Osho as well as one of the only 21 Acharyas appointed by the Osho himself. Till date, he himself has already initiated about 30000 neo sanyasins all over the world. Professionally, the Swami is an engineer with vast experience and is a founder director of Building Design Authority (P) Ltd. in Kamaladi., a reputed organization with an imposing portfolio of finished works which include the UN building in Pulchowk, the hotels, Sherpa, Shangrila and Durbar, and the Tribhuvan University Humanities building in Kirtipur. Two of its newer achievements have been the impressive IT building in Banepa and the ICIMOD building. “I used to work as a structural engineer in my younger days but now I have no time and so look after only the over-all planning and cost control,” he reveals.

In fact, he has been living for the past many years in a small cottage named Siddartha in the retreat he helped to create in Nagarjuna Hills, and attends office but for a few hours a day. Most of his time is now taken up by a more pleasant and closer-to-the-heart work in Osho Tapoban, an international commune and forest retreat centre. Here he spends most of his waking hours engrossed in running a property that includes comfortable lodging and boarding accommodations for one hundred people at a time and which is ensconced within almost a hundred ropanies of lush green forest made all the more idyllic by the presence of streams and waterfalls. Regular activities in the retreat include a variety of meditations, samadhi darshan, Osho audio/visual discourses and evening satsangs. Besides this, hundreds of sanyasins gather here on Saturdays to conduct what the Swami refers to as a ‘Celebration’.

“We have on an average from 500 to 700 sanyasins who gather here on Saturdays to celebrate,” says Swami Anand Arun. This is besides the other special celebrations held annually on different auspicious days of the year such as 11 December (Osho’s birthday), 19th January (Mahaparinirvan Diwas), 21^st March (Enlightenment and Tapoban Foundation Day) and on full moon of July (Guru Purnima).

Most meditations are conducted by the Acharya  personally and if one were to listen to him either in person or via his discourses on various TV channels or read his writings in various magazines (“I have a regular column on page nine of ‘Samay’ magazine”, says the Swami) one cannot but be highly impressed with his clarity of thought and his eloquence even in subjects that are not so easily explainable. Most certainly, Swami Anand Arun is as worthy a disciple of the great Osho as any, and perhaps most who are intimate with the Osho movement will agree that in many ways the Swami reflects definite shades of the Osho himself.  

Still, it is not an easy matter to live up to such a comparison and surely the Swami himself will be the first to reject any such assessment. For one, he seems to be still quite some distance away from escaping the daily routine of a more mundane life and even though he says, “I am married to Osho Tapoban,” he is as proud as any father when he talks about children from a more commonplace marriage, one to a doctor who is now living in India and from whom he separated a long time ago. “It was a mutually agreed upon separation,” says Swami Anand Arun. The marriage however yielded rich dividends in the form of a son and two daughters who are leading very successful lives today. “My son, Sonal, is a doctor at the John Hopkins Hospital in the US. One daughter, Mrinalini, is a gynecologist in Biratnagar and another, Aishwarya, is doing her masters in computer engineering in the United States.”

The Swami is honest to a fault and free and frank in admitting both pleasure and pain with equal equanimity. However, pain seems to have been a stranger in his life. Born in a small village near Janakpur to late Kedar and Sumitra Singh on 6^th June 1946, Arun must have enjoyed a privileged childhood. “My mother was a member of parliament from 2008 to 2012. My father was secretary to home minister B. P. Koirala in 2007 and was personal secretary to all the prime ministers from 2007 to 2015 including Tanka P.. Acharya, K.I. Singh and M.P. Koirala.”

Among his friends, he specially mentions politicians Pradip Giri and Narhari Acharya as two personalities he admires for their intellect and integrity. It is interesting to note that Pradip Giri lives in the room below that of the Swami’s. “One will always find him reading some book or the other. He has vast knowledge about everything under the sun and I don’t think anybody else knows more about Marxism than him.”

The Swami is also happy that the sanyasins in Tapoban consist of hundreds of  accomplished professionals. “Cardiologist Mrigendra R. Pandey has built a cottage here and physician Madhu Ghimire and heart surgeon Damodar Pokhrel are regular visitors as are many engineers and architects.” Talking more about Tapoban, he declares, “This is a smoke free, non alcoholic, vegetarian zone. We don’t need artificial intoxicants. I myself get the greatest high during meditation.” He also reveals that his commune has rehabilitated thousands of drug addicts and alcoholics. “Our therapy includes cleansing of the mind and body through healthy living and meditative thinking as well as huge doses of love. Here we instill hope and increase self esteem by appreciating their true worth..”

He also states, “Tapoban is a magnet for the spiritually inclined and so can claim to promote tourism. Statistics show that out of all tourists worldwide, 30% are spiritual tourists. And unlike in other places where their itinerary is but for a few days, they often stay here for as long as their visa allows them to. Besides, such tourists are well educated and successful professionals. So, quality tourism is what is attracted.” Without doubt, the Swami must find it fulfilling to contribute so much to society, but one also feels that perhaps he must also feel a bit strained at the hectic schedule he has to follow in his beloved vocation. For instance, Tapoban now has 56 centres all over the country. And besides these, the Swami is also called upon to give discourses all over the world.

Arun became an Osho devotee on 29^th March 1969 while still a student in Patna, and on returning to Nepal, founded the Asheesh Rajneesh Meditation Centre at his residence in Tahachal, Kathmandu, which continues to function as the city centre today. Osho Tapoban in Nagarjuna was established in 1990 with the initiative of a group of dedicated disciples and Bodhisatwa Swami Anand Arun is its spiritual head. He received the titles of ‘Bodhisatva’ and ‘Acharya’ on 27^th June 1984 when in Rajneeshpuram, USA from where he was also awarded the Masters in Meditation (MMD) and D. Phil in Meditation.

Professionally speaking, Arun earned his BE (Civil) in 1973 and joined government service where he became a 2^nd class executive engineer. Unhappy with government service, he joined BD Associates which had been founded by Architects Tom Crees, Raja Ram Bhandari and Engineer Ashish Giri in 1973. In 1980, Arun Singh and Rajaram Bhandari established Building Design Authority. He says, “Tom Crees was a B.Sc graduate but had exceptional architectural talent and I personally consider him to be the best in the business. While talking to clients he would ask me to continue discussions and during this time he would be sketching out drawings as per his evaluation of the client’s needs. By the time discussions were over, he would have the drawing ready, and invariably, the clients would find it as per their own visualization.” He adds, “Tom and I had an extraordinary rapport and we made a very good team.”

However, Arun Singh also recollects, “At the same time, while Raja Ram and myself were relatively well off and so were quite modest in our demands, Tom was very ambitious financially. I often warned him that he would get into trouble if his ambitions were not kept within bounds.” Soon after, Tom Crees left for greener pastures in Australia where he seems to have settled down. About other architects, Arun Singh has a lot of respect for residential works by the late Gangadhar Bhatt Halbe. “His residential designs were simple but also, works of art.” About the burgeoning engineering colleges in Nepal, Arun Singh feels that quality has suffered because of lack of adequate facilities and sufficient faculty. He does concede that Kathmandu University is doing good work, and says, “The Chancellor, Surendra Raj Sharma, is a committed educationist and he is doing a good job.”

But back to where his heart resides today, Osho Tapoban, and one envies this man who has been able to live his dream life. Here he lives, in an Eden where all are welcome to share his happiness, in a paradise where he has found peace. And nowhere is he more at peace than when meditating at the lovely Samadhi of his adored Osho. For here is where his professional expertise and spiritual aspirations combine in a glorious expression of adoration and surrender. “This is a spiritually wonderful architectural monument,” he asserts. And indeed he is right. It is a Samadhi like no other.

Created on the hillock where Nagarjuna achieved enlightenment, the white marble Samadhi is enclosed within a perfectly circular moat. Erected atop a maroon coloured granite platform with nine sides, the Samadhi consists of three white marble triangles that are moon shaped at the top. The moon shape is symbolic of the meaning of ‘Rajneesh’.  In fact,  each part of the Samadhi has some symbolic meaning. “It is of a dynamic shape and echoes the vibrant philosophy of Osho’s teachings. It is also an open Samadhi, because Osho himself was a liberated being.” On a more practical level, one hundred and eight sanyasins can sit around at a time around the moat for meditative purposes. The moon shaped apex holds a tree that is no ordinary tree. “It is a ‘Hiuwan tree’,” explains the Swami. “Folklore has it that the queen of the forest lives in it.” Furthermore, the Swami confides, “I traveled to all the Samadhis of the great gurus in India to get an idea and spent considerable time and money in design selection. Also, the construction around a tree entailed engineering difficulties such as the problem of achieving a perfectly circular moat.”

Whatever the time and money spent, Swami Anand Arun can be justifiably proud of the result. As he can be of the result of his 30 years of hard labour in the engineering profession out of which has arisen a firm that can be proud of its standing in the industry today. But, obviously, Engineer Arun Singh is not like any other engineer and so, in 1982, decided to retire from the profession. “After my youngest daughter went to America, my responsibilities were over. And since my needs are simple and because I have been fortunate in life, I lost motivation to earn money. Therefore, now I could dedicate myself to my true calling.”

As an afterthought he adds, “Besides, I believe in encouraging youngsters and I do think that they are technically more qualified than we were at their age. I do not see any reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions. I am happy to say that I have found them to make better decisions than what I would have done.” So, Swami Anand Arun has been fortunate yet once again in having colleagues who he can depend upon to keep the firm’s flag flying while he himself can afford to spend a spiritually satisfying life in his Eden. Unworried, uninhibited and unshackled.