The True Home (by Milarepa)

Seeing, Watching, Living with the Master and
Being at Home
by Ma Yoga Neelam

Seeing, Watching, Living with the Master and Being at Home is a wonderful read. I knew Neelam personally, so many of her stories were familiar. What I found particularly compelling were the last chapters that chronicle her experience with cancer that led to her leaving-the-body in 2021. 

The last time Neelam and I met was in 2016 at her beautiful meditation center, Osho Nisarga, where I was visiting. She was in relatively good health, but shared some worrisome issues she was having that she wanted to have checked. Turns out it was cancer. 

So began her long journey with chemotherapy. Cancer presented her the ultimate test for a meditator: watching one's body slowly, and sometimes painfully, deteriorate as it makes its return journey to the Source. I have heard Osho say that while one is alive, use the opportunity to find something in oneself that the fire will not destroy, something of oneself that never dies. Death will take the mind. Death will take the body. What, if anything, remains? Who am I? What is my eternal essence? I am sure Neelam meditated on these questions until her last breath. 

I also enjoyed reading her daughter, Priya’s, epilogue. It is a touching account for anyone who has has watched up close a loved one die. Neelam took her last breath in Priya’s arms. Life-lessons from such experiences can be profound because they offer a precious glimpse into one of Life's greatest mysteries. Priya’s sharings are an insightful conclusion to the book. 

Neelam was a kind, loving person in my experience, so surrendered to the Master that whatever Osho asked her to do, she did it with joy and gratitude. No complaint. RBG (Rajneesh Buddhafield Garage) Tea Mom at the Ranch? Yes! A humble job she embraced with enthusiasm. Be my secretary for India? Yes! A work she did with grace and diligence. Build my place in the Himalayas? Yes! She manifested the miracle that became the Osho Nisarga Meditation Center -- a vision she pursued with perseverance in spite of many obstacles. Write a book chronicling your life and time with me? Yes! This book was a two-year project she managed with utmost dedication and determination in spite of her declining health. Neelam had this quality. When it came to Osho, she got it done. 

Osho gave her the title for this book, Seeing, Watching, Living with the Master and Being at Home. I find the last part especially significant: being at home. It was her lifelong journey: to find that home within herself, that place of inner silence, of ultimate rest, the “Osho” within her. It is a blessing to have known her as a friend and had the opportunity to collaborate with work. Some of my best events were with Neelam facilitating and me with my band providing the music. I am sure this book will provide inspiration to all seekers, like myself, searching for the same thing: the True Home. 

By Milarepa

An read next review -

• Being at Home: A Living Guide to the Path (by Nirbija)