*Dec. 11, 1931
5:13 PM (11:43 GMT)
Kuchwada (Gadawara)
Madhya Pradesh, India
23N16, 77E24
22:09:30 LST
Osho's Birth Chart (by Sw Anand Varij)
Osho, in character traits, life patterns and themes, certainly seems to reflect his sun sign, Sagittarius. For example, consider Osho's insistence on freedom, both in terms of personal action even as a child, he would do only what he wanted, or what felt right according to his own convictions and also as the highest value to be honored between people in any kind of relationship. To him, freedom is the highest value.
Consider also his Sagittarian quest for truth, for enlightenment, his honesty and absolute refusal to lie, his humor and its parallel attitude that seriousness is the worst of sins; his bluntness and directness of expression for example, not hesitating to call something 'bull shit' if that's what he felt about it, and the sometimes outrageous language of his jokes.
Consider, too, his propensity to engage in argument in support of strongly-held convictions, plus his mastery of debate. When, as a student, during the all-India national debating championships, his opponent failed to show up, Osho argued both sides himself and the result was declared a draw.
His penchant for exaggeration, for down playing the importance of facts in favor of a higher truth, his love of higher learning, his insatiable appetite for books and the fact that he is probably the most published person in history. In all of these ways, in all of these dimensions of life, Osho exemplifies classically Sagittarian traits and themes.
When a life significantly unfolds in seven year cycles, as Osho's does, any astrologer will suspect the influence of the planet Saturn, and to be sure, Saturn is a major influence in Osho's birth chart. It is given strength firstly by being placed in the sign of Capricorn, the sign of its rulership, and given added significance by virtue of being the planetary 'sub-tone' of four other planets Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars also placed in the sign Capricorn in his chart.
For all of us, Saturn, the planetary ruler of chronological time known as Chronos in Greek mythology makes a powerful aspect to its birth position every seven years. This constitutes the skeletal structure of key maturation points in a life.
Age seven is the end of infancy and represents the culmination of the period of our primary conditioning. Thus the aphorism give me the child until seven and I'll show you the man.
In Osho's chart, Saturn, ruler of the material plane, the 'lord of karma, also makes a close challenging aspect to the planet Pluto, planet of death and rebirth. This might have been the astrological basis of the astrologer's fear of an early death for Osho. Certainly, it indicates the likelihood of intense life-changing experiences, colored by themes of extreme tests and separation, with death as the culmination of this stage, and of other seven year cycles.
Of the years between seven and fourteen Osho says, in language totally in keeping with the power of the Saturn/Pluto aspect in his chart, 'at that young age I began to feel and experience a sort of maturity and elderliness. No-one who had not seen death could ever become my teacher. I wanted to respect them but I could not.
As his fourteenth birthday approached, his family again became worried that he would die, for the son of the astrologer who had predicted Osho's death by the age of seven had also worked on Osho's chart when his father died, and had come to a similar conclusion: 'It is almost certain that this man is going to die by the age of 21. Every seven years he will have to face death.
Again it happened. Osho's fascination with death became a pre-occupation. He turned everything around him into an exploration of the phenomenon. He spent much time at funerals and cremation grounds. Seven days before turning fourteen he went into retreat to meet death consciously. During that time he had his first satori: 'The basic note was this: that if you are feeling you are going to die you become calm and silent. Nothing creates any worries then, because all worries are concerned with life. If you accept death there is nothing to fear. If you cling to life every fear is there. I died in a way but I came to know something deathless is there. If you accept death totally you become aware of this.
The next seven-year cycle ended at the age of 21, when, as everyone familiar with Osho's personal story is aware, his enlightenment occurred, on 21, 1953: 'In that explosion the old man of yesteryear died. This new man is absolutely new. The man who was walking on the path is dead and is no more. There is no story after that explosion, there are no events after it. After the explosion there is only void. Since that night I have never been in the body. I am hovering around it.
As I see it, even after enlightenment, Osho's life on this plane continued to unfold according to the schedule indicated by his birth chart, even down to the timing of when he left his body. This occurred on January 19, 1990, the time of his fast approaching second Saturn Return. As he said, just before leaving, 'Existence decides its timing.' To me, the timing of existence is contained and reflected in all of our birth charts.
In a recently published translation from his Hindi discourses titled Hidden Mysteries, Osho explores and validates astrology as 'the science of cosmic oneness' and as 'a door to religiousness. Let's end with a quote from this beautiful book:
'Astrology lends a co-operative hand to whatever is inevitable. It does not unnecessarily struggle against whatever is to be. It does not demand or reach out towards whatever is not to be. Astrology is a means for making man religious for bringing him to suchness, for bringing him to an ultimate acceptance.'
-This article appeared first in OSHO TIMES INTERNATIONAL, Vol.10 # 12, December 1997