Swami Harideva

Who is Swami Harideva?

Swami Harideva is a former director of Zohar Institute in Tel Aviv, the Crisis Institute in Cologne Germany and Aaah Yes Institute in Fairfax California. At the Gyuto Monastery in Dalhousie, India [now Bhutan] Swami Harideva was the first Western student of Tara Tulku. In 1970 he studied with Neemkerali Baba, Gongka and Swami Satchadananda. The following year he met Acharya Rajneesh, later known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and then as "Osho". One of the first Western disciples of Osho, he remained a disciple until the latter's death in Poona, India in 1990.

In March 1971 Harideva introduced Rajneesh's work to the West and opened three meditation "houses" in America.He also opened meditation and therapy centers in Paris, Moscow, Tel Aviv and Germany.

In 1988 he suggested the name "Osho" to Rajneesh while preparing "Friends of Osho" programmes. Subsequently Harideva was "banned" by the administrators of the Poona commune.

Swami Harideva died in the Haridwar, India foothills in March 2009. He had been on world tour giving talks on meditation, creativity and Osho's legacy since July 2008 and was to return to San Francisco in July 2009. Gyuto monastery, his original monastery, interned his ashes in a public samadhi in Bhutan. His activities have been reported in the Rajneesh Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Viha News, Osho Times and the Times of India.