And in his last few years he was at his protean best, shifting persona from Rajneesh to Zorba to Osho.Īnd even if he did not confuse his followers during his lifetime, bewilderment was beginning to mount after his death. It was almost like a game to him, a joke he played on lesser beings to gain some private comic relief. He would suddenly change his identity, his utterances, and his beliefs, and positively revel in seeing his fawning flock follow suit. Bhagwans cannot be chastened, at least not for long, and Rajneesh showed just an initial touch of fatigue before recovering to his splendiferous, iconoclastic self.Īmong all the philosophers he digested, Heraclitus must have been a major one, for Rajneesh actively courted flux all his life. So, it was back to India, and off to the cool clime of Manali, before a final retreat to headquarters: Koregaon Park, Pune. There was more humiliation in store, as country after country denied him entry. Having served 17 days behind bars, Rajneesh used the stratagem of a "plea bargain", coughed up Rs 48 lakh in fines, and agreed to leave the country. He was booked on 35 counts of immigration violations, and of attempted flight to avoid prosecution and conspiracy. The Bhagwan's US dream began to collapse like a house of cards. Just as you can taste the sea from any place and it is salty, you will be able to taste any of my sanyasins and you will find the same taste: the taste of the Blessed One." When I am gone continue to rejoice in remembrance of a man who gave you freedom, and individuality." "Live with me, dance with me, rejoice with me. She alleged Rajneesh was a 'super-fraud', who used laughing gas and a mood elevator called Ecstasy to hypnotise his audience. The Bhagwan's right-hand Ma Anand Sheela turned coat, fled Rajneesh-puram, and announced that God had feet of clay. Scandal and controversy, which had always enshrouded the ranch, now erupted at the very heart of the commune. Rajneesh's samadhi inside the Lao Tzu House where he had livedThis combined with the multi-million dollar 'word' industry - audio and video cassettes, and some 650 volumes of books - that Rajneesh had literally spouted to make the commune remarkably wealthy.Īnd in keeping with his beliefs, stickers like "Jesus saves, Moses invests, Bhagwan spends" proclaimed an unabashed materialism: through excess would come final renunciation.īut long before that could happen, publicity once again took its toll. His saffron-wrapped acolytes made a corporate symbol of their guru, and to the flourishing ranch added hotels, night-clubs and bakeries. Yet it was a triumph of his charisma that his cult continued to prosper. Hewing a habitat out of inhospitable terrain, the Rajneeshites did a remarkable job, as only the spiritually possessed can.īut offsetting this was an aggressively acquisitive phase in which the Bhagwan greedily acquired 93 Rolls Royces, and even expressed the craving for more: "One for each day of the year." The Bhagwan then retreated into a self-inflicted silence, becoming inaccessible to his devotees. The 64,229-acre Rancho Rajneesh he set up in Oregon marked both the acme and nadir of his messianic career. You are humans."īut come back he would, and in the most ignominious of circumstances. You don't need roots - you are not trees. "I want everyone to become an existential gypsy. And to me, beauty is far more valuable than truth."
#Osho rolls royce free
His ashram at Koregaon Park, Pune, outraged the local residents who saw it as the mecca of a licentious soul-seekers-through-sex brigade.Īs western sanyasins flocked to it, and the locals were kept out, the ire mounted - so much so that cursing the Indian Government, suddenly on May 31,1981, the prophet of free love decamped with his closest followers for the US, resolved never to come back.
It was not only to paint him in lurid hues, making him out to be more satyr than saint, but was also to hound him to the very edges of incarceration. An initiation ceremonyYet, as with everyone else, with Rajneesh too publicity was a two-edged weapon.