The power of Now

Tolle is quite rational and very articulate about his mystical experience. He graduated from the University of London and was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. He claims to have had a profound spiritual transformation at the age of 29 that “dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life.”

Reading Eckhart’s book, one remembers Osho who always taught to live Here and Now and be free of the past. Now and Here or Here and Now is Osho’s mantra for the new man in the millennium.

In several discourses, Osho spoke about the emergence of a totally new kind of man, who would be a discontinuity with the past; of the coming few years witnessing the flowering of a fresh consciousness basic to the existence of new man, with a unique individuality.

Man has fought war (minor and major) 5000 wars in 3000 years and continues to fight, mainly for religious reasons. The other wars, whether they are for the sake of race or nation, colour or creed, have roots in man’s barbarous history and conditioning.

The collective psyche of man carries wounds that are never healed, which are the major causes of all wars. This collective psyche needs total dry-cleaning, of all the stains of history and conditioning. This cleansing is possible with Dynamic Meditation.

We need to sever all connection with the ugly past and its history and declare our freedom, if we want to survive in the new millennium. Osho is hopeful. All the Buddhas are always hopeful.

Osho expressed his hope thus: “I can see the new man arising in you on the horizon. And with this new man will be born a new humanity, a new vision, and a new way of life. I am not interested in creating a religion, which is a very simple affair. I am interested to create as many religious people as possible — an atmosphere of religiousness, with no organized church but every individual having his own individuality as his religion.”

On similar lines Eckhart Tolle also tries to come close to the Osho’s vision about the emergence of a new consciousness. He says: “And now we are about to experience a collective flowering of human consciousness. Whether it will affect all humans on the planet, or only some humans, I don’t know.’’