I first met Om Johari in 1970 in Chicago and was immediately drawn to him by his charming personality and his great interest and knowledge about numerous stories in the epic Mahabharata of which he was a keen student. As years went by, I became very close to Om and his wife, Anu; Saroj and I used to visit his home very often. Om had a lot of free time in those days. We spent many hours together. Visiting Morton Arboretum, Sand Dunes of National Lake Shore, and several State Parks of Northern Indiana. As time went bye, Om’s interest shifted from the epic Mahabharata to the teachings of Rajneesh who was later known as Osho. I was deeply interested in the teachings of J. Krishnamurti. Even though there are some differences, there is also some similarity in their respective teachings that further deepened my relationship with Om. We have spent many hours together having philosophical conversations and exchange of ideas. Over the course of time, our friendship grew deeper. Om knew a lot of people and introduced me to quite a few of his friends. We used to visit their homes together. Some of them became my close friends also.

Om was very fond of walks in Morton Arboretum and often invited me to visit the arboretum with him. Om would take me to some of his favorite, remote, less-traveled places in the arboretum. We will sit down on rocks and enjoy natural surroundings as well as silence. We both were very fond of listening to the sound of silence and had conversations as to the origin of this sound.

Once Om was driving my car as we were returning back after a visit to Mount Baldi. It was dusk. He was driving on Hwy 94. All of a sudden a deer came running from the forest trying to cross the road. He hit our car and was thrown back, survived, and ran back into the forest. The car needed repairs for the damage to the front of the car.

Om was very fond of the statement that I had formulated: “What is, is; what is not, is not, so be it” and would often quote this statement in his various group meetings.

Osho’s teachings had a profound impact on Om and completely changed his outlook on life. He rejected conformity to the usual traditions and formalities commonly observed and was totally unconcerned about the opinions of others. Later, he became an Osho Sanyasi. His favorite sanyasi dress was a white kurta and pyjama. On the occasion of my 50th wedding anniversary, my children had organized a very elegant party. Om was the only one who came to my party in white kurta and pyjama ! Every one else was dressed in the usual party dress! Some people asked me, “Who is this guy”. I replied, “He is my very close friend who is an Osho Sanyasi”! I greatly enjoyed this memorable incident.

I invited Om as my cherished guest to attend the wedding ceremony of all my four children. To my surprise, when Om’s son, Ramesh was married, Om never informed me nor invited me to attend the wedding! Same thing happened on the occasion of the wedding of his other son, Mahesh.. These incidents are examples of a change of non-conformity that happened in Om as a result of Osho’s teachings.

Om conducted many group meetings on diverse topics. If some one in the group would ask a question in regard to J. Krishnamurti, Om would refer him to me. He considered me as his authority on JK. As a result of these referrals, I got the chance of knowing several new people and having dialogues with them on the teachings of J. Krishnamurti.

In my opinion, Om was highly advanced spiritually and a saintly person whose life was changed due to Osho’s teachings. He was one of my closest friend. We had mutual affection for each other and a very happy relationship together.

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from Om. He said to me, “Somani Saab, I have a health issue.” During this conversation, he mentioned to me about his health problem as well as his decision how to manage it. We had a long chat together. We had many conversations in the following weeks. About two weeks later, I got the sad news that he is no more. I can’t describe in words the depth of my sadness due to the loss of a most cherished friend and a fellow traveler on the road of spirituality.

Indra K. Somani