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Whatever you might have heard, the very best of Osho’s teachings on enlightened living and meditation continue to inspire thousands who come to the Osho International Meditation Resort each year, most of them looking to reconnect with themselves or find motivation for their quest towards leading a more meaningful life. The resort is the same commune—now much expanded and elegantly prettified—that grew around Osho in the 1970s when he gave almost daily discourses in Hindi and English covering his insights into all the major spiritual paths, including yoga, Zen, Taoism, tantra, and Sufism, and talking in detail about Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Laotzu, and other important mystics. In the early 1980s, he developed a degenerative back disease and traveled to the U.S. in anticipation of surgery. He ended up on a ranch in Oregon where a devotional community that became known as Rajneeshpuram (the largest spiritual community ever started in the U.S.) grew around him and quickly attracted suspicion from all quarters; Osho’s arrest, imprisonment, and deportation followed—all under varyingly mysterious circumstances—after he was charged with immigration fraud and tax evasion. Following several years spent traveling the world in search of asylum, and being denied visas, entry, or support in a string of countries, many of them under political pressure from Reagan’s government, Osho finally returned to his Pune ashram in 1987. For the next 3 years he developed some of his most innovative meditation techniques and initiated the compulsory evening darshan known as the Evening Meeting of the Osho White Robe Brotherhood—to this day, the “meeting” is the culmination of all daily meditations and workshops held at the resort. In 1989, he gave up his name in favor of Osho, and a few months later, in January 1990, died from complications believed to have arisen from being poisoned while in prison in the U.S.

The commune that Osho left behind may have changed somewhat and adapted with the times to some extent, but the focus here is still overwhelmingly on meditation. According to Osho, meditation is the only path to enlightenment and is essential if you are to “become the Buddha that you already are”—the resort strives to be a place where you can work on achieving just that. While at the resort (don’t come here expecting to find an ashram—aside from a few rules regarding dress, general decorum, and attitude, there’s nothing of the monastic lifestyle that you might associate with ashram life—and there’s a huge pool, relaxation facilities, cafes, and health club), you’re encouraged (but certainly not compelled) to attend as many meditation sessions as you can cram into a day. Each session is markedly different from the next, so you get to experience a range of personal insights. From well-known approaches such as Tibetan humming, silent sitting, and meditative breathing, to Osho’s own techniques that include dancing (“there is nothing more miraculous for meditation than dancing,” he said), gibberish, “letting go,” and the grueling, invigorating “dynamic meditation” held every day at 6am—one of the triumphs of the resort is that you have a chance to discover methods that work for you.

On top of the timetabled regime of meditations, there are talks and lectures, and you can sign up for one of the programs at the Multiversity, where seriously “alternative” courses, designed to pave the way to a smoother existence (without the strictures of the social world), are offered at extra cost. Taught by practitioners from a range of disciplines and backgrounds (and from all over the world), these workshops may sound ethereal—with titles such as “Dehypnosis, Self-hypnosis and Meditation” or “The Beauty of Darkness”—but they’re mostly practical and, at the very least, will help you see the world from a different perspective. You can also go in for various healing treatments, therapies, and massages, or reiki.

All this happens in a very relaxing, soothing environment—the campus of modern buildings spreads