OSHO

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh(1931-1990) was born Rajneesh Chandra Mohan in Kuchwara, a town in central India. Various sources state that "Bhagwan" means either "The Blessed One" or "God" and that "Shree" means "Master". At the end of his life, he changed his name to Osho.
His parents' religion was Jainism. However, Osho never subscribed to any religious faith during his lifetime. He received "samadhi" (enlightenment in which his soul became one with the universe) on 1953-MAR-21 at the age of 21. Rajneesh obtained a masters degree in philosophy from the University of Saugar. He taught philosophy at the University of Jabalpur for nine years and concurrently worked as a religious leader. In 1966, he left his teaching post and gave his full attention to teaching his sannyasins (disciples) while pursuing a speaking career. He had an apartment in Bombay where he often met individuals and small groups, where acting as spiritual teacher, guide and friend. Most of his Sannyasins came from Europe and India in the early years.
In 1974, Osho moved from Bombay southward to Pune, India. Some anti-cult groups have claimed that this decision was made because of local opposition from the public in Bombay. In reality, it was to establish an ashram (place of teaching) which would provide larger and more comfortable facilities for his disciples. The ashram consisted of two adjoining properties covering six acres in an affluent suburb of Pune called Koregaon Park. Some estimate as many as 50,000 Westerners spent time seeking enlightenment there with the guru. In 1979, he saw his movement as the route to the preservation of the human race. He said:

"If we cannot create the 'new man' in the coming 20 years, then humanity has no future. The holocaust of a global suicide can only be avoided if a new kind of man can be created."

He taught a syncretistic spiritual path that combined elements from Hinduism, Jainism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, ancient Greek philosophy, many other religious and philosophic traditions, humanistic psychology, new forms of therapy and meditation, etc.
In 1980, he was the victim of a knife attack by a Hindu fundamentalist during his morning discourse. Because of police incompetence, the charges against the terrorist were dropped.
In 1981 he left India reluctantly because of health problems. He went to the United States in order to obtain advanced treatment. There have been rumors of income tax evasion, and insurance fraud; it is not known whether these have any validity. The group settled on the 65,000 acre "Big Muddy Ranch" near Antelope, Oregon, which his sannyasins had bought for six million dollars. The ranch was renamed Rajneeshpuram ("City of Rajneesh"). This "small, desolate valley twelve miles from Antelope, Oregon was transformed into a thriving town of 3,000 residents, with a 4,500 foot paved airstrip, a 44 acre reservoir, an 88,000 square foot meeting hall..."₈ Many of the local folks were intolerant of the new group in their midst, because of religious and cultural differences. One manifestation of this intolerance was the town's denial of building permits to the followers of Rajneesh. Some buildings were erected on the ranch without planning board approval. When officials attempted to stop the construction, their office was firebombed by unknown person(s). When the local city council repeatedly refused to issue permits for their businesses, some sannyasins elected themselves to the city council. The town of Antelope was renamed City of Rajneesh. 
Top aides of Osho were charged with a number of crimes, including the attempted murder of Osho's personal physician. There were stories of a hit list. Some fled the country for Switzerland where they had control over the group's bank accounts. Two were eventually convicted of conspiracy to murder local lawyer Charles Turner in an attempt to prevent closure of the ranch. 
In 1983, Osho's secretary Sheela Silverman predicted on behalf of Osho that there would be massive destruction on earth, between 1984 and 1999. This would include both natural disasters and man-made catastrophes. Floods larger than any since Noah, extreme earthquakes, very destructive volcano eruptions, nuclear wars etc. would be experienced. Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bombay were all expected to disappear. There is doubt that these predictions actually came from Osho; they are not representative of his other teachings.
A number of sources have reported that spiritual devotees of Rajneesh had spread salmonella on a local restaurant's salad bar in order to reduce voter turnout on a measure that would have restricted the group's activities. Allegedly, 751 people were affected by the bacteria. _9,10
Fearing a raid of the type that later happened in Waco, several of Osho's disciples arranged for him to be flown to Charlotte for safety. In North Carolina, he ran afoul of US immigration law. He allegedly arranged a number of phony marriages between some of his Indian followers and American citizens so that the former could obtain clearance to stay in the country. He was also charged with lying on his immigration papers. He entered an "Alford Plea," commonly called a no-contest plea. His lawyers suggested that he do this because of concerns over his health and safety if he had to spend more time in prison. He was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the country.
He returned to Pune, India in 1987, where his health began to fail. Here, he abandoned the name of Rajneesh and adopted "Osho". Some sources explain that the name was derived from the expression "oceanic experience" by William James; others say that it was derived from an ancient Japanese word for master. He died in Pune in 1990. Various rumors spread that he had been poisoned with thallium by the CIA, had been exposed to damaging doses of radiation by the U.S. authorities, or had heart failure. It is obvious that he did not experience thallium poisoning, because he died with a full beard, and only male-pattern baldness on the top of his head. A person suffering from thallium poisoning suffers a dramatic loss of hair with a week of exposure. ₆ His death certificate lists heart failure as the cause of his death.
At its peak, the movement had about 200,000 members and 600 centers around the world. They were targeted by many anti-cult groups as an evil, mind control cult. One source, in a masterful stroke of religious disinformation, claimed that "Bhagwan" means "Master of the Vagina." He has been called the "sex guru."

 Beliefs and Practices

Osho developed new forms of active meditation. The best known is Dynamic Meditation which often starts with strenuous physical activity followed by silence and celebration. These were expected to lead the individual to overcome repression, lower their personal inhibitions, develop a "state of emptiness", and attain enlightenment. The person then would have "no past, no future, no attachment, no mind, no ego, no self." Prior to 1985, the disciples wore red robes, and a necklace of 108 beads which had an attached picture of Rajneesh. Osho assigned a new name to each of the disciples. Men were given the title "Swami"; women were called "Ma". Although most members lived a frugal, simple lifestyle, Rajneesh himself lived in luxury. His collection 27 Rolls Royces, given to him by his followers, was well known. (Some sources say he had as many as 100 cars). Anti-cult groups claimed that he urged his disciples to sever their connection to their families of origin. It is true that he felt that the institution of the family was out of date and that it should be replaced with alternative forms of community and ways of caring for children. However, he actually encouraged individual disciples to make peace with their families. Many of the latter became disciples themselves, including Osho's own parents.
He taught a form of Monism, that God was in everything and everyone. There is no division between "God" and "not-God". People, even at their worse, are divine. He recognized Jesus Christ as having attained enlightenment, and believed that he survived his crucifixion and moved to India where he died at the age of 112.
Osho was noted for reading very offensive jokes; some were anti-Semitic; others were anti-Roman Catholicism; others insulted just about every ethnic and religious group in the world. He explained that the purpose of these jokes was to shock people and to encourage them to examine their identification with and attachment to their ethnic or religious beliefs. His contention was that national, religious, gender and racial divisions are destructive.

 

Recent Developments

Osho repeatedly stated that he would not appoint a successor to replace him after his death. He viewed each disciple as his successor. However, before his death, he appointed an inner circle of 21 individuals to look after the functioning of the meditation resort at Pune and handle administrative affairs relating to his work. They now operate about 20 meditation centers worldwide. Rajneesh's main influence now is through his voluminous writings; they are read by many New Agers as well as followers of Osho.
Osho Commune International^® administers the center in Pune, India. Since it was founded, it has been expanded from 6 to 32 acres. The group has a Global Connections department that provides information about centers and activities worldwide. Osho International in New York, NY, administers the rights to Osho's works.
Some of Osho's aides who were imprisoned because of crimes committed in Oregon were released from prison in mid-1998 and deported to England.

Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/

Introduction to Chakras

A person can collect energy from several different levels of vibrations–including color–that are utilized in various parts of the body. Throughout our body we have main energy centers, which are connected to major organs or glands that govern other body parts. Each of these main energy centers are referred to as chakra–chakra is a Sanskrit word which means wheel. A chakra is a wheel-like spinning vortex that whirls in a circular motion forming a vacuum in the center that draws in anything it encounters on its particular vibratory level.

It is said that our body contains hundred of chakras that are the key to the operation of our being. These “spinning wheels” draw-in coded information from our surroundings. Coded information can be anything from a color vibration to ultra-violet ray to a radio or micro wave to another person’s aura. In essence our chakras receive the health of our environment, including the people we are in contact with (that’s why other people’s moods have an affect on us!). As well our chakras also radiate an energy of vibration.

It is also believed that we have seven main chakra centers and that each main center is connected to our being on several different levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. On the physical level each chakra governs a main organ or gland, which is then connected to other body parts that resonate the same frequency.

Every organ, gland and body system is connected to a chakra and each chakra is connected to a color vibrational frequency. For example, the heart chakra governs the thymus gland and it is also in charge of the functioning of the heart organ, lungs, bronchia system, lymph glands, secondary circulatory system, immune system as well as the arm and hands. And the heart chakra resonates to the color green.

The seven main chakra centers are aligned along the spinal column. If there are disturbances on any level, this shows in the chakra’s vitality level. Also each of the seven main chakras is their own intelligence center. This means that each chakra is not only associated with our physical health but also controls aspects connected to our emotional, mental and belief system.

To help balance a chakra–whether on an emotional, intellectual, physical or spiritual level–we need to bring in the chakra (color) vibration, which resonates at the same frequency.

In the study of the anatomy of the aura it is important to understand the significance of the chakra system and the language of colors expressed in the aura.

The names of the seven main chakras and the master organ that each one governs is as follows:

 When one part of a chakra center is out of sync it may eventually effect its other parts and possibly its neighboring chakra. When a chakra center is out of balance it generally means that it is over-active or under-active, or possibly congested or blocked. If this happens it is usually felt on a mental, emotional or physical level.


What is Energy & Why does It Affect Our Chakras?

Sunlight is our main source and provider of light, heat and energy. Not only does sunlight sustain all life on Earth, but also it sustains the Earth itself. It provides plants with the energy for photosynthesis, which in turn sustains the lives of all animals and humans. Sunlight consists of energies in the form of the electromagnetic waves and part of this electromagnetic energy includes cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays, visible light rays, infrared rays, micro waves and short and long waves (radio waves). We utilize many of these energies in our daily lives; however, we seem not to put much emphasis on the visible light rays. We refer to them as the visible light rays because of all the energies mentioned above we can see visually see light rays. By holding a prism towards the sun, we can break down the visible spectrum of light rays into seven different beams of color. Light consists of the seven color energies: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. We can see these seven colors in a rainbow, drop of rain or dew and even in a snowflake.

Color and light are inseparable. Each color of the visible light rays has a different wavelength and vibrational frequency, which affects us differently. Red has the longest wavelength and the slowest vibrational frequency, which we innately recognize as warm and stimulating. Whereas, violet has the shortest wavelength and the fastest frequency that we recognize as a cool and calming energy. We receive light and color information through our eyes, which then stimulates the retina and its cells, rods and cones. These impulses, which travel through the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain via the pituitary, trigger other glands and their hormone secretion to various parts of the body. Many body functions are stimulated or retarded by light and the different colors of light and thus affect our chakra system.

Since light and its colors physically affect glands and hormones, they will also have a marked influence on our moods and feelings. Science has proven that certain colors can calm the mind while others stimulate mental activity. We need light energy for nourishing our brain, our emotions and our physical body as well as our light bodies and especially our chakras. Light can also enter through our skin and our breath. As well, we can receive additional color energy through a balance of various colored foods, herbs, vitamins, aromatherapy, sound, minerals, clothing, decor and color bathing.


Importance of Our Chakra System

In reality little is known and understood about the human psyche and its intricate systems. However, medical science has proven that toxins and other impurities, which include negative thoughts, chemical enhancements in our food and other poor environmental factors, influence our body. Constant forms of “pollution” can cause chakra imbalances to manifest, which may eventually affect us on a physical level. Since traditional health care systems at this time are unable to naturally or totally alleviate symptoms or cure our problems, this means it is up to each individual to improve their health conditions. We also have to consider that we may be our own best doctor. So understanding the chakra system is more about how you can help improve your own state of health and all levels of your being.

The benefit of learning about your own chakra system is for you to understand on a whole (whole = body, mind and spirit in harmony) that when all parts of you (all of your seven chakra centers) are communicating equally and working in alliance with each other, you will have little or no energy disorders. For example, if the mental part of you is powerful and so are the physical, emotional and spiritual parts of you equally as strong, it is then that you feel at your optimum level.

Nowadays, we live in a fast world and often forget about our “whole.” We put too much emphasis on independence and very little on interdependence. Our chakras are interdependent on each other for harmony and balance.

The emphasize of this website is to educate you on your complete chakra system so you can take control of your life and become the best you possibly can in this lifetime. No one else is totally responsible for you... except you!

Your mind alone cannot nurture your whole being, nor can a proper food diet solve all your problems. It is important to understand that “all of you” has to be understood in order to keep “your house” in order.

If there is a disturbance on any level, this shows in a chakra’s vitality level. And each of the seven main chakras has its own innate intelligence and function. Similar to how your body functions automatically, your chakra centers also operate automatically. If you are to understand your chakra system then you must learn what each chakra’s function is and how it represents a part of your “whole.”



 
Source: http://www.chakraenergy.com/

NIKOLA TESLA

         THE GENIUS WHO LIT THE WORLD   

Nikola Tesla symbolizes a unifying force and inspiration for all nations in the name of peace and science. He was a true visionary far ahead of his contemporaries in the field of scientific development.  New York State and many other states in the USA proclaimed July 10, Tesla’s birthday- Nikola Tesla Day.

Many United States Congressmen gave speeches in the House of Representatives on July 10, 1990 celebrating the 134th anniversary of scientist-inventor Nikola Tesla. Senator Levine from Michigan spoke in the US Senate on the same occasion.

            The street sign “Nikola Tesla Corner” was recently placed on the corner of the 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. There is a large photo of Tesla in the Statue of Liberty Museum. The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey has a daily science demonstration of the Tesla Coil creating a million volts of electricity before the spectators eyes. Many books were written about Tesla : Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John J. O’Neill  and Margaret Cheney’s book Tesla: Man out of Time has contributed significantly to his fame. A documentary film Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Lit the World, produced by the Tesla Memorial Society and the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, The Secret of Nikola Tesla (Orson Welles), BBC Film Masters of the Ionosphere are other tributes to the great genius.

            Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Lika, which was then part of  the Austo-Hungarian Empire, region of Croatia. His father, Milutin Tesla was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and his mother Djuka Mandic was an inventor in her own right of household appliances. Tesla studied at the Realschule, Karlstadt in 1873, the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague. At first, he intended to specialize in physics and mathematics, but soon he became fascinated with electricity. He began his career as an electrical engineer with a telephone company in Budapest in 1881. It was there, as Tesla was walking with a friend through the city park that the elusive solution to the rotating magnetic field flashed through his mind. With a stick, he drew a diagram in the sand explaining to his friend the principle of the induction motor. Before going to America, Tesla joined Continental Edison Company in Paris where he designed dynamos. While in Strassbourg in 1883, he privately built a prototype of the induction motor and ran it successfully. Unable to interest anyone in Europe in promoting this radical device, Tesla accepted an offer to work for Thomas Edison in New York. His childhood dream was to come to America to harness the power of Niagara Falls.

            Young Nikola Tesla came to the United States in 1884 with an introduction letter from Charles Batchelor to Thomas Edison: “I know two great men,” wrote Bachelor, “one is you and the other is this young man.” Tesla spent the next 59 years of his productive life living in New York. Tesla set about improving Edison’s line of dynamos while working in Edison’s lab in New Jersey.  It was here that his divergence of opinion with Edison over direct current versus alternating current began. This disagreement climaxed in the war of the currents as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investment in direct current equipment and facilities.

            Tesla pointed out the inefficiency of Edison’s direct current electrical powerhouses  that have been build up and down the Atlantic seaboard. The secret, he felt, lay in the use of alternating current ,because to him all energies were cyclic. Why not build generators that would send  electrical energy along distribution lines  first one way, than another, in multiple waves using the polyphase principle?

            Edison’s lamps were weak and inefficient  when supplied by direct current. This system had a severe disadvantage in that it could not be transported more than two miles due to its inability to step up to high voltage levels necessary for long distance transmission. Consequently, a direct current power station was required at two mile intervals.

            Direct current flows continuously in one direction; alternating current changes direction 50 or 60 times per second and can be stepped up to vary high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances. The future belongs to alternating current. 

            Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, determined to supply America with the Tesla system. Edison did not want to lose his DC empire, and a bitter war ensued. This was the war of the currents between AC and DC. Tesla -Westinghouse ultimately emerged the victor because AC was a superior technology. It was a war won for the progress  of both America and the world.

            Tesla introduced his motors and electrical systems in a classic paper, “A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers” which he delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1888. One of the most impressed was the industrialist and inventor George Westinghouse. One day he visited Tesla’s laboratory and was amazed at what he saw. Tesla had constructed a model polyphase system consisting of an alternating current dynamo, step-up and step-down transformers and A.C. motor at the other end. The perfect partnership between Tesla and Westinghouse for the nationwide use of electricity in America had begun.

In February 1882, Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field, a fundamental principle in physics and the basis of nearly all devices that use alternating current.  Tesla brilliantly adapted the principle of rotating magnetic field for the construction of alternating current induction motor and the polyphase system for the generation, transmission, distribution and use of electrical power.

            Tesla’s A.C. induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry

and household appliances. It started the industrial revolution at the turn of the

century. Electricity today is generated transmitted and converted to mechanical

power by means of his inventions. Tesla’s greatest achievement is his polyphase

alternating current system, which is today lighting the entire globe. 

            Tesla astonished the world by demonstrating. the wonders of alternating current electricity at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Alternating current became standard power in the 20th Century.  This accomplishment changed the world. He designed the first hydroelectric powerplant in Niagara Falls in 1895, which was the final victory of alternating current.  The achievement was covered widely in the world press, and Tesla was praised as a hero world wide.  King Nikola of Montenegro conferred upon him the Order of Danilo.

Tesla was a pioneer in many fields.  The Tesla coil, which he invented in 1891, is widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment.  That year also marked the date of Tesla's United States citizenship.  His alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time.  Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light , laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla’s turbines and vertical take off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.

            The Century Magazine published Tesla's principles of telegraphy without wires, popularizing scientific lectures given before Franklin Institute in February 1893. 

The Electrical Review in 1896 published X-rays of a man, made by Tesla, with X-ray tubes of his own design.  They appeared at the same time as when Roentgen announced his discovery of X-rays.  Tesla never attempted to proclaim priority.  Roentgen congratulated Tesla on his sophisticated X-ray pictures, and  Tesla even wrote Roentgen's name on one of his films.  He experimented with shadowgraphs similar to those that later were to be used by Wilhelm Rontgen when he discovered X-rays in 1895.  Tesla's countless experiments included work on a carbon button lamp, on the power of electrical resonance, and on various types of lightning.  Tesla invented the special vacuum tube which emitted light to be used in photography.

The breadth of his inventions is demonstrated by his patents for a bladeless steam turbine based on a spiral flow principle.  Tesla also patented a pump design to operate at extremely high temperature. 

Nikola Tesla patented the basic system of radio in 1896.  His published schematic diagrams describing all the basic elements of the radio transmitter which was later used by Marconi. 

In 1896 Tesla constructed an instrument to receive radio waves.  He experimented with this device and transmitted radio waves from his laboratory on South 5^th Avenue. to the Gerlach Hotel at 27^th Street in Manhattan.  The device had a magnet which gave off intense magnetic fields up to 20,000 lines per centimeter.  The radio device clearly establishes his piority in the discovery of radio. 

The shipboard quench-spark transmitter produced by the Lowenstein Radio Company and licensed under Nikola Tesla Company patents, was installed on the U.S. Naval vessels prior to World War I.

In December 1901, Marconi established wireless communication between Britain and the Newfoundland, Canada, earning him the Nobel prize in 1909.  But much of Marconi's work was not original.  In 1864, James Maxwell theorized electromagnetic waves.  In 1887, Heinrich Hertz proved Maxwell's theories.  Later, Sir Oliver Logde extended the Hertz prototype system.  The Brandley coherer increased the distance messages could be transmitted.  The coherer was perfected by Marconi.

However, the heart of radio transmission is based upon four tuned circuits for transmitting and receiving.  It is Tesla's original concept demonstrated in his famous lecture at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1893.  The four circuits, used in two pairs, are still a fundamental part of all radio and television equipment.

The United States Supreme Court, in 1943 held Marconi's most important patent invalid, recognizing Tesla's more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology.

Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, to experiment with high voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena.

When the Colorado Springs Tesla Coil magnifying transmitter was energized,  it created sparks 30 feet long.  From the outside antenna, these sparks could be seen from a distance of ten miles.  From this laboratory, Tesla generated and sent out wireless waves which mediated energy, without wires for miles.

 In Colorado Springs, where he stayed from May 1899 until 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery-- terrestrial stationary waves.  By this discovery he proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency.  He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles( 40 kilometers) and created man-made lightning.  At one time he was certain he had received signals from another planet in his Colorado laboratory, a claim that was met with disbelief in some scientific journals.

The old Waldorf Astoria was the residence of Nikola Tesla for many years.  He lived there when he was at the height of financial and intellectual power.  Tesla  organized elaborate dinners, inviting famous people who later witnessed spectacular electrical experiments in his laboratory.

Financially supported by J. Pierpont Morgan, Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter.  It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe.  The huge magnifying transmitter, discharging high frequency electricity, would turn the earth into a gigantic dynamo which would project its electricity in unlimited amounts anywhere in the world.

Tesla's concept of wireless electricity was used to power ocean liners, destroy warships, run industry and transportation and send communications instantaneously all over the globe.  To stimulate the public's imagination, Tesla suggested that this wireless power could even be used for interplanetary communication.  If Tesla were confident to reach Mars, how much less difficult to reach Paris.  Many newspapers and periodicals interviewed Tesla and described his new system for supplying wireless power to run all of the earth's industry.

Because of a dispute between Morgan and Tesla as to the final use of the tower.  Morgan withdrew his funds.  The financier's classic comment was, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?"

The erected, but incomplete tower was demolished in 1917 for wartime security reasons.  The site where the Wardenclyffe tower stood still exists with its 100 feet deep foundation still intact.  Tesla's laboratory designed by Stanford White in 1901 is today still in good condition and is graced with a bicentennial plaque.  

Tesla lectured to the scientific community on his inventions in New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis and before scientific organizations in both England and France in 1892. Tesla’s lectures and writings of the 1890s aroused wide admiration among contemporaries popularized his inventions and inspired untold numbers of younger men to enter the new field of radio and electrical science.

            Nikola Tesla was one of the most celebrated personalities in the American press, in this century.  According to Life Magazine's special issue of September, 1997, Tesla is among the 100 most famous people of the last 1,000 years.  He is one of the great men who divert the stream of human history.  Tesla's celebrity was in its height at the turn of the century.  His discoveries, inventions and vision had widespread acceptance by the public, the scientific community and American press.  Tesla's discoveries had extensive coverage in the scientific journals, the daily and weekly press as well as in the foremost literary and intellectual publications of the day.  He was the Super Star. 

Tesla wrote many autobiographical articles for the prominent journal Electrical Experimenter, collected in the book, My Inventions.  Tesla was gifted with intense powers of visualization and exceptional memory from early youth on.  He was able to fully construct, develop and perfect his inventions completely in his mind before committing them to paper. 

According to Hugo Gernsback, Tesla was possessed of a striking physical appearance over six feet tall with deep set eyes and a stately manner.  His impressions of Tesla, were of a man endowed with remarkable physical and mental freshness, ready to surprise the world with more and  more inventions as he grew older.  A lifelong bachelor he led a somewhat isolated existence, devoting his full energies to science. 

In 1894, he was given honorary doctoral degrees by Columbia and Yale University and the Elliot Cresson  medal by the Franklin Institute.  In 1934, the city of Philadelphia awarded him the John Scott medal for his polyphase power system. He was an honorary member of the National Electric Light Association and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On one occasion, he turned down an invitation from Kaiser Wilhelm II to come to Germany to demonstrate his experiments and to receive a high decoration. 

            In 1915, a New York Times article announced that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize for physics.  Oddly, neither man received the prize, the reason being unclear.  It was rumored that Tesla refused the prize because he would not share with Edison, and because Marconi had already received his. 

On his 75th birthday in 1931, the inventor appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. On this occasion, Tesla received congratulatory letters from more than 70 pioneers in science and engineering including Albert Einstein. These letters were mounted and presented to Tesla in the form of a testimonial volume.   

     Tesla died on January 7th, 1943 in the Hotel New Yorker, where he had lived for the last ten years of his life.  Room 3327 on the 33rd floor is the two-room suites  he occupied.

            A state funeral was held at  St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City. Telegrams of condolence were received from many notables, including the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice President Wallace. Over 2000 people attended, including several Nobel Laureates. He was cremated in Ardsley on the Hudson, New York. His ashes were interned in a golden sphere, Tesla’s favorite shape, on permanent display at the Tesla Museum in Belgrade along with his death mask.

            In his speech presenting Tesla with the Edison medal, Vice President Behrend of the Institute of Electrical Engineers eloquently expressed the following:  "Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the result of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark and our mills would be idle and dead.  His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science."  Mr. Behrend ended his speech with a paraphrase of Pope's lines on Newton:  "Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night.  God said 'Let Tesla be' and all was light."

 

                        “The world will wait a long time for Nikola Tesla’s equal in

                                           achievement and imagination.” - E. ARMSTRONG

 Source: http://www.teslasociety.com/