OPENING TALK AT CELEBRATION

We also welcome her family and the enormous community of friends from all over the world who could not physically be here with us, but who are certainly here in spirit.
Over these last days there has been an over-whelming outpouring of heart-felt emails, messages and phone calls expressing a tidal wave of love for Disha…giving expression to their grief, shock, memories and loss as well as recognizing her for the remarkable, inspiring life she has led.

Disha’s unexpected death is a tremendous shock for us all…certainly for many of us it will take a very long time to realize her vivacious physical presence is not going to delight us and warm our hearts as it has for so many precious years...

Most likely you can imagine the depth and range of emotions that Bhakta and Nandan must be feeling.
For Bhakta, the deep loss of his partner and lover.
For Nandan, her cherished and beloved daughter.
And in this day lets also honour the spirit of the life that Bhakta and Disha had created together.

Disha has left us some clear guidelines regarding the spirit of how she would like her day to be...
a very Deesh-like picture of how we might celebrate her life and her death...for those of you that knew her well you already know that as well as being a very spontaneous, free and wild spirit, she also had very clear vision and was precise and attentive to details.
In this, the celebration of her life, she has been true to character!

I would like to read to you something she has written in her will to help you get the flavour of her wish for this day:

“in case of my death I wish my body to be cremated with a joyous gathering of my friends…. with lots of music, creativity and meditation. Bhakta can choose the music I love and if there is time and friends around, I like the idea of my casket being painted by all my friends. Spend money from my bank account to make it a yummy, abundant and aesthetic party.”

Over the last days many of her beloved friends and family have gathered here to work out how we can give her the greatest send off possible. When I look around and see the love and beauty…
the generosity, abundance and care that has gone into the preparation… When I see the community of friends that have gathered here I feel we will fulfil her vision.

On behalf of Bhakta and Nandan, I also want to convey their wishes for this day…..they want it to be a total celebration of our love for Dish. A day that carries the unique spirit of Disha, a day of love, openness, and sparkle… A day of beauty and wonder...

We have created this day in a way that will give us all the opportunity to honour Disha.
A place to allow our feelings to be felt and expressed….
A space to appreciate the gifts she gave us in her death in such a way that we may live our lives more as she did...
with great Love and Trust.
and that we might even sense and realize what many of the great mystics have said:
that there is truly no death...
that we are eternal beings changing form.

This day is for her…for this rare Being that recognized her Master at age 7, and dragged her mother to India to meet Him…
To me she was a natural-born devotee who lived devotion with her total Being…and though she lived just 36 years
her passion gave her a life as rich and deep
as one might wish for in 36 life-times.

Osho gave her the name Ma Anand Disha…which means Direction to Bliss…lets take her name in our hearts today and let her spirit guide us, direct us…(lets face it, as far as direction is concerned, Bliss is about as good as it gets)...
lets allow her life to inspire us…
to lift us higher and take us deeper than we may have ever dared to go before. For as sweet and soft as she was...
as gentle as her Being is…she has always been one of those rare, courageous warriors that was ever ready to risk,
to jump in the fire whenever she sensed the possibility of deeper Consciousness, greater Love, more Truth.…
she had that kind of courage...

Through this day lets celebrate the meaning of her name as given to her by her beloved master...
Direction to Bliss.

And as we grieve her physical absence,
lets also recognize and reflect her spiritual presence...
she is here!

Through this day let her twinkle in your eyes....
or roar with laughter from your belly...
Let her give you the courage to speak a deeper truth than you usually do….lets discover how to look with the eyes of Love at everything that comes in front of us...
just as she did...

lets honour her by embracing for ourselves all of the divine qualities we have recognized in her.

We have an hour for people to be able to speak,
to share their feelings, give recognition and respect,
tell humorous memories or speak whatever you feel the need to say. We only ask you to be brief as we want to give as many people the chance to speak as an hour allows and to devote much time today for us to be with her body and spirit in meditation, silence, music and words from Osho...

If you do not get the chance to speak, or you don’t feel the need to speak in public and wish to express your feelings,
your love, your memories to her you may want to write a letter...the letter will go into her coffin along with all the messages which have poured through the internet…paper and pens are being provided and are outside, near to the coffin.

Lets close our eyes for a minute of silence before we open the space for sharing...

Rafia