There is an Osho HeartBeat pulsating softly and rhythmically at the *heart* of the North American continent. Here, in the center of the vast windswept lands of the Canadian Praires, is the city of Winnipeg. And it is here that the OSHO HEART CARDS have been creating themselves over the past ten or more years. It has been a very playful happening that came to completion recently and it only seemed appropriate that they be published from here...at the heart of the continent.

Over the years, there have only been a handful of sannyasins in Winnipeg. At present there are two of us, Sw. Prem Manmohan and myself, Ma Anand Komalta, who have an Osho Information Centre in our home; and two other sannyasins are also here-- Ma Prem Satori from Germany and Sw. Bharti Sangam from India,who just arrived. I am always complaining to existence that there are too few sannyasins here and somehow we are always provided with a few fellow travellers. At one point we enjoyed the company of two sannyasins from Nepal. I often wondered how they found us here in what seems to me at times like the middle of nowhere.

So when the weather was very cold and there was nowhere to go but inside I would play with my heart cards with my friends who would love the hearts I had cut out by hand and the Osho quotes I used. The quotes were kept in an orange folder. I knew nothing then about the tarot but used the cards playfully to do heart readings. And we all enjoyed and laughed! This was some ten or more years ago.

Over time the cards evolved and changed and the quotes were put into a computer. The idea started to come that perhaps this could be published. And just as Findhorn had it's Angel Cards, we could have our own OSHO HEART CARDS, and just as tiny books were being printed and becoming popular in the West , we could have a tiny book of Osho quotes that would be easy to carry and could complement the OSHO HEART CARDS.

The design and colour for the miniature cards also came to me and remained constant, soft peach and gold with Osho's signature also in gold. I found boxes and bowls that would hold the cards. A friend instructed me about publishing without my asking...It just seemed that these cards had an energy of their own and I could only follow. And so I did. And lead me they did. Sometimes it seemed that they would not leave me alone! As I worked on them they worked on me, they stayed in my dreams, until it was clear that I had to find a way to put them out.

So I prepared a final draft to bring to the ashram and in January of 1996, much to my surprise Ma Shivani (to whom I am very grateful) at Osho International approved the copyright that I needed. The first time she said yes I could hardly believe my ears, so I went to ask a second time to confirm that I had heard correctly. "Yes," she said. Stunned I walked out the door of Krishna House. Tears of gratefulness came because now I had a way to thank Osho.

I walked around the ashram with the sample OSHO HEART CARDS held close to my heart. As I approached the area of the pyramids, a white peacock opened it's wings against the back drop of the black marble wall and danced before me. I smiled. It danced. I knew it was right!

So when we returned home from India I learned about self-publishing and within seven months the OSHO HEART CARDS were published. My Sufi friend who owns a book and gift shop named 'Radiance' said she would be delighted to have the book launch, another friend said she wanted to prepare the food. And on the high energy evening of the first winter snow storm one hundred people still managed to make it through the ice and snow to the warmth of this amazing gathering. With every purchase people received a champagne coloured rose. There was music, love, life and laughter...and I thought how Osho would love this! This was October 30, 1996.

Within a month 200 sets of OSHO HEART CARDS were sold mostly to non-sannyasins. And out of this energy, three Osho Meditation Courses have developed and are being given from our Centre. These cards have already opened the hearts of many who otherwise would not have read His sweet sweet words. Some colleagues and friends are now using the Osho Heart Cards in their therapy groups to begin or to close their groups, some are using them at the end of therapy sessions. I sat here so surprised when a friend tells me she brought them to a gift show in Colorado and they loved them. And on Heart Day, February 14, 1997 a possible distributor in Denver ordered 88 to put in another gift show and test the market!

It seems that even two sannyasins and the energy of playfulness, love and gratefulness can create a little Buddhafield.

These cards have been a powerful teacher to me. They have taught me to listen inside and to follow my heart even when the mind was judging that I was wasting my time cutting out paper hearts and that what I was creating was trivial. I could be publishing a scientific paper and here I was publishing 72 tiny gold-rimmed hearts. They taught me patience...this has taken over ten years, more like twelve years. They have taught me that when I do not have expectations the unexpected happens...they got published. They have taught me that even simple things like cutting out hearts when done with love can lead to something of significance...a gift to Osho.

So, yes there is an Osho HeartBeat here too, in the middle of nowhere, in the vastness of the Canadian Prairies, at the heart of this continent.

To find out about ordering: Email Komalta

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