Ma Sneha Bharti

(20 October 1943 – 20 July 2024)

Born on 20 October 1943, Ma Sneha Bharti was 13 years younger than Osho. Named Snehlata by her parents, she was affectionate, loving, and soft-hearted, and living up to her name.

In those times, girls in Indian villages were not expected to receive much education, so she studied only up to sixth grade before marrying Shree Rajendra Kumar Jain. During her wedding ceremony, Osho’s mother of a previous life, Ma Anandmayee (Mrs. Madan Kunwar Parekh), came to Gadarwara to bless the couple.

Ma Sneha Bharti lived with her husband in various cities in central India (MP), notably Itarsi, Sendhwa, and Sagar. After her husband’s retirement, they settled permanently in Hoshangabad, which has recently been renamed Narmadapuram. Her elder sister, Ma Yoga Bhakti (Rasa Fouzdar), resided in the same town.

In 1971, she took sannyas initiation from Osho and was given the name Ma Sneha Bharti, while her husband received the name Sw Rajendra Bharti. They had five sons, one of whom died at an early age. Their eldest son is Sw Anand Sanjay (Sanjay Jain), second is Sw Sandeep Bharti (Sandeep Jain), third is Sw Sudeep Bharti (Sudeep Jain) and the youngest is Sw Somesh Bharti (Somesh Jain).

All the children were named by Osho, with their names starting with the letter S to match their mother’s name. Two of her sons were ashramites during the Poona One days.

Sneha visited the Pune ashram almost twice a year and, before 1974, attended Osho’s meditation camps elsewhere. She had a keen interest in spiritual practice and regularly participated in the online meditation classes organised by Osho Fragrance which had started during the Covid era.

About 10 days prior to her 80th birthday (20 October 2023), she announced that there will be a grand celebration and that she would pay tribute to herself on that day. She invited all her relatives and acquaintances, stating it would be her last birthday celebration.

Sanjay Bharti and Somesh Bharti organized the event.

She wrote an invitation letter and also read it out loud to everyone during the celebration (video in Hindi: youtu.be).

Beloved children,

I am going to pay a tribute to myself – so please pay attention.

When a person leaves, we shed tears and leave flowers in front of their picture. When I die, you will come and visit my relatives – and I will not even know about it…

So do come today!

When I die, you will forgive all my sins, so do forgive me today!

When I die, you will say nice things about me – and I will not even know. So do it on this day. I can then leave my body peacefully.

When I die, you will feel that we should have sat with each other a little longer. So, beloved children, let’s sit together today!

Don’t wait. Death may come any time. It is unpredictable.

Behave well as long as I am in the body.

Whatever you want to say after my death, you may say, but I won’t come to hear it.

My many blessings and love to everyone.

I wish that no one will be sad after my death and will perform my last rites, laughing, dancing and singing happily.

Jai Osho. Jai Osho. Jai Osho.

After the birthday celebration, she travelled to many places, although she did not enjoy travelling much at her age. She went to Hyderabad to be with her granddaughter and flew back alone (for the first time in her life!).

On 21 March she visited the Osho Fragrance Ashram in Sonepat to celebrate Osho’s Enlightenment Day. A video from that time shows her on stage dancing joyously and singing kirtan. Later she went to New Delhi to visit her nephew Ashutosh and stayed with them for two days.

Ma Sneha Bharti left her body on 20 July 2024 in a state of perfect peace, awareness, and acceptance of death. The following day, 21 July was Guru Purnima, a day considered auspicious for one’s final departure. Coincidentally, her husband, Swami Rajendra Bharti also passed away on Guru Purnima, on 22 July 2013.

Fulfilling her wish, the family turned her death ceremony into a musical celebration.

It is worth noting that, while speaking on Patanjali’s Yoga, Osho mentioned that a person of awareness and sensitivity becomes aware of their impending death exactly as many days as they have spent in their mother’s womb (the average gestation period being 280 days). This has proved true in Ma Sneha Bharti’s case.

Many thanks to her brother Shailendra for text and photos

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