How Nietzche And Muhammad Iqbal's New Man Was Crystallised As Zorba By Rajneesh ?
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
9 December
2022
" Humans are still sheepishly standing on
the lowest rung of the ladder of human evolution. I want a New Man to emerge
from these dead souls. "
-Nietzsche, quoted by Allama Iqbal and Osho
Friedrich Nietzsche
--
When the
German maverick Friedrich Nietzsche conceptualized Ubermensch (German for the
Superman) in his iconoclastic tome, ' Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All
and None,' it gave an idea to Osho to create a transcendental individual bereft
of all ideological and doctrinal trappings and who would be a harbinger of
new-age spirituality. At the same time, Osho read Ralph Russell's English translation of Iqbal's seminal essay in Urdu,
Naya Insaan, Nai Parvaaz (New Man, New Flight) and got convinced that
mankind needed a New Man.
In these
fissiparous times, when humans are stuck in caste, class, creed, country,
culture, civilization, colour, continents and contours, we need an evolved
human who can transcend time, space and vision. The very idea of conventional
spirituality never appealed to Osho. He believed that the so-called
spirituality was nothing but a euphemism for religiosity. In other words, he
was dead against the austere spirituality and ritualistic religiosity of all
faiths that churned out zombies sans any sense of bliss and blessings. He
(Rajneesh) created Zorba the Buddha and said, " Zorba is the foundation
and Buddha is the palace. Buddha is the peak, but the foundation stones are
laid by Zorba. It will be foolish to choose to be a Buddha without having the
foundation stones.
“I am absolutely mathematical about it: Zorba
should be there and the stronger a Zorba is there, the better a Buddha is
possible. So I can become Buddha any moment, Zorba is absolutely needed as the
basic energy out of which the Buddha is going to be carved. Zorba is the marble
rock out of which the Buddha statue has to be carved. I choose the rock...and
Buddha is easy. “It is just a question of opening your eyes. I don’t bother
about Buddha; I am worried about people who are not Zorbas. How will they
become Buddhas? They don’t have the basic material out of which a Buddha is
made.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal
-----
“And this poverty has been given to people by
our religious leaders. They have been told not to be materialists. They have
been told to be celibate. They have been told to live in poverty. They have
been told that life is out of sin. All these things have destroyed their
Zorbas. Otherwise, every man is a born Zorba the Greek.
“And if everything goes according to me, every
man will die as Zorba the Buddha. Between the Greek and the Buddha there is not
much distance, but first you must be the Greek.” Osho's Zorba the Buddha is
basically a Celebratory Existentialist, who rejoices in all situations and
enjoys every moment. To quote Nazim Uddin, " Osho's Zorba the Greek is the
protagonist from celebrated novelist Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel of the same
title. He is the Greek personification of the spirit of life. He indulges in
sensual pleasures, he dances and plays the santuri, and he does not hesitate in
his exhilarated enjoyment of life. Zorba exemplifies the Dionysian passion for
living as seen in his enthusiasm for women, wine,and hard work." Osho
disliked stereotypical, archetypal and one-dimensional character-depiction of a
human. He called it a lapidary existence and believed that every human had
boundless possibilities but we're unaware of that. To quote Shakeel Badayuni, '
Apni Hasti Ka Bhi Insaan Ko Irfaan Na Hua/Khaak Phir Khaak Thi, Auqaat Se
Aage Na Gayee' (Man hasn't
understood the significance of his own existence/After all, dust hasn't gone
beyond being mere dust). Ergo, all seemingly paradoxical traits lived cheek by
jowl in an individual. Contrasts and contradictions created a person. That's
why, even Buddha's profound contemplative self further blossomed and came to
totality with the inclusion of Zorba's joie de vivre. Human life must be
celebrated in its totality in which even the so-called perceived negativity has
a role to play! This is the dynamics of life and the crux of existence. Life is
full of bliss, we need to remove the veneer to awaken the blissful nature of
life and scratch out the patina to get to the ecstatic state life can offer so
generously. Enjoying life to the hilt is every individual's birthright.
Finally, if nature does not want us to enjoy life, then why do we have an
endocannabinoid system in our body? Why does our body produce chemicals called
anandamide, that produce anand (Sanskrit for joy, bliss), joy, and bliss? To
sum it up, humans must avail themselves of their embedded Dopamine selves.
-----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/nietzche-iqbal-zorba-rajneesh/d/128594
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