Osho is alive. Who is Osho? Osho, biography and life path
"There were also false prophets among the people,
and you will have false teachers who
bring in pernicious heresies, and rejecting
the Lord who redeemed them, they will bring
on themselves a speedy death"
2 Peter 2:1
1. "Love yourself and do what you want"
The story of Rajneesh (Osho) and his cult is the story of the rise and fall of one of the adventurers of our time. Rajneesh deeply despised humanity and did not consider it necessary to hide his aspirations; perhaps even more than in the stories of other sects, here with undisguised cynicism, the reasons that moved the newly-minted guru are exposed to the surface - greed, lust, vanity and a thirst for power. It is worth adding that the cult of Rajneesh can hardly be attributed even to pseudo-Hindu neoplasms - this is an absolutely "author's work" operating in the area of the "New Age" movement.
Rajneesh Chandra Mohan (1931-1990) Born in Kushwad (Central India, modern Madhya Pradesh) in a Jain family. Jainism arose around the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC This religion recognizes the existence of an individual soul - jiva, but denies the existence of a higher God. Like adherents of other Indian religions, Jains see salvation in the liberation of the jiva from the chain of rebirth.
The one who has achieved liberation becomes, as it were, a living god and an object of worship. This Jain idea had a significant influence on Rajneesh, although in general his teaching is extremely eclectic.
Rajneesh was the eldest of his five sisters and seven brothers. Until the age of seven, Rajneesh lived with his grandparents. Rajneesh recalled that questions of spiritual liberation occupied him with great early age. In his youth, he began to experience various meditation techniques; at the same time, he tried not to follow any traditions and did not look for teachers, always relying only on himself. One of the main childhood experiences of Rajneesh was the experience of death. In a 1979 diary, he writes that in his childhood he followed funeral processions, just as other guys ran after a traveling circus. In 1953, when Rajneesh studied philosophy at Jabalpur College, he said he experienced "enlightenment" - his last experience of death, after which he seemed to be born again. As a student, Rajneesh led a life far from conforming to the strict ascetic norms of Jainism. But they entered his soul so deeply as a child that, for example, he vomited all night when he ate with his friends after sunset (food at night is strictly forbidden for Jains - you can swallow it without noticing what - some small insect, into which, say, the soul of great-grandfather reincarnated). Jainism does not know repentance, and Rajneesh was able to resolve the internal conflict only by rebelling against the "superstitions" of the religion of the fathers and all other religions. The theoretical justification for this Rajneesh was the "philosophy of life" (Nietzsche and others), which he met at the university.
In 1957, Rajneesh graduated from Saugar University with a gold medal in the All India Debate Competition and a Master of Philosophy degree, then taught philosophy at Jabalpur University for nine years. At this time, he travels around India, meeting and holding disputes with various religious and public figures. Speaking to audiences of many thousands, he gradually gains fame as a polemist and rebel. In 1966, Rajneesh left the university and began to preach his own teaching, which was a paradoxical mixture of bits of Jainism, Tantrism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Hasidism, Nietzscheism, psychoanalysis, popular "psycho-spiritual" therapies and the teachings of Krishnamurti and Gurdjieff. Having no initiation into any of the mystical traditions, he reinterpreted everything in his own way, adapting to his own needs.
At this time, Rajneesh called himself Acharya ("teacher"). He wandered on foot and rode a donkey across India, calling for inner transformation in order to survive in the coming nuclear catastrophe and preaching some new non-conformist religiosity, opposition to traditional religions, which Rajneesh sharply attacked at every opportunity: "We are making a revolution ... I burn old scriptures, breaking traditions..." ; "I am the founder of the only religion, other religions are deceit. Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha simply seduced people..."; "Faith is a pure poison" and so on in the same vein. More than once he said that he did not believe in any prophets, nor in the Messiah, and that they were all selfish people. Rajneesh saw the main mistake of traditional religious doctrines and meditative techniques in that they call on a person to abandon a "full-blooded" physiological life, offering "spiritual enlightenment" in return.
truly enlightened new person, combining the rich life of the flesh and meditation, materialism and spirituality, Western activity and Eastern non-action, Rajneesh called Zorba-Buddha (the Greek Zorba is an energetic lover of life, the hero of the novel of the same name by the Greek writer Nikos Kazanzakis. He saw in Zorba-Buddha " man of the future totally detached from the past."
The main postulate of the "only religion" of Rajneesh can be expressed by paraphrasing the well-known patristic saying: "Love God and do what you want." In relation to the teachings of Rajneesh, it will turn out: "Love yourself and do what you want." According to Rajneesh, there is no god but man, and this is a hedonistic god: "Everyone can potentially become God ... God is a state of consciousness ... it is a way to enjoy life right here and now"; “The first thing to understand,” Rajneesh taught, “is that you are perfect. If someone tells you that you need to become even more perfect, then this person is your enemy, beware of him”; "You can be Christ, so why should you become a Christian?"
If you follow Buddha you will be in trouble -- millions have already been in trouble. If you follow Christ, you too will get into trouble. Look at any followers - they inevitably get into trouble, because life changes every minute, and they stick to dead principles. Remember the only golden rule: "There are no golden rules!"
To achieve a spiritually and bodily life "here and now", you need to "be spontaneous", because "life is spontaneous". Rajneesh saw the main obstacle preventing a person from being a god and enjoying every moment of life in the division of the mind into two warring principles: the conscious and the unconscious. A person identifies himself only with his conscious mind, and this does not allow him to achieve inner integrity. Only when the potential, the unconscious is allowed to blossom, can one feel the "bliss of being." Passions and unconscious impulses must not be suppressed or overcome, but intensely and exhaustively lived. Following your passions and lusts is, according to Rajneesh, the path to achieving divine freedom.
Immersion in the unconscious, turning off the reflective mind and removing all moral restrictions subsequently led some of Rajneesh's students, especially if they were neurotics, psychopaths, drug addicts or alcoholics, to serious mental illness. Rajneesh himself, however, believed that true madness is the splitting of consciousness into two unequal and mutually hostile halves, consciousness and the unconscious:
You are crazy and something needs to be done about it. Old traditions say: - Suppress your madness. Don't let it come out, otherwise your actions will become insane," but I say, "Let your insanity come out. Be aware of it. This - the only way to health." Release it! Inside it will become poisonous. Throw it out, completely empty your system of it. But this catharsis has to be approached systematically, methodically, because it means going crazy with the method, becoming consciously crazy.
Schizophrenia goes away after deep awareness. Don't fight yourself. Always remember that the winner is wrong. When conflict arises, follow nature.
The nature that Rajneesh proposes to follow is fallen: "If a conflict arose between love and celibacy, follow love and surrender to it entirely"; "...if it happens that you choose anger, give yourself completely to it" and the like.
Traditional teachings cannot heal a person from the conflict in his mind, because they themselves are the culprits of this division. "Religions gave rise to schizophrenia" by linking the unconscious with their law and commandments. But the insufficiency of the law Rajneesh opposes not the freedom of grace-filled transformation, which he had never heard of, but the permissiveness of lawlessness:
There are no sinners. Even if you have reached the very bottom in this life, you are divine as before, you cannot lose this divinity. I tell you: salvation is not needed, it is in yourself.
Rajneesh considers it vital for the diseased rationalism of humanity to free the infernal unconscious:
A revolution in human consciousness is no longer a luxury, but an absolute necessity, because there are only two possibilities: suicide or a qualitative leap in consciousness to the level that Nietzsche called the Superman.
2. "Meditation is a state of no-mind"
Rajneesh's preaching had little success in India until he settled in Bombay in 1968, where he soon had his first disciples from the West. They were mostly Americans and British, most of them having gone through various new religious movements, the "narco-spirituality" craze, the hippie movement, occult psychotherapeutic groups, etc. In this audience, Rajneesh's illogical and immoral "non-teaching" about man-godism found a warm response. . Rajneesh adds to his name instead of Dcharya the epithet Bhagwan Shri - "God is the Lord." Since the beginning of the 70s, he began to regularly hold so-called meditation camps, predominantly in mountainous areas.
Rajneesh contrasted the purposeful and utilitarian activity of the conscious mind with "celebration" or "play", that is, activity for the sake of enjoying the activity itself, and not its end result. Such an activity, in his opinion, can rightfully be called meditation.
Meditation is a state of no-mind. Meditation is a state of pure consciousness with no content... You can find meditation only by putting the mind aside, becoming cold, indifferent, not identified with the mind, seeing the mind pass by but not identifying with it, not thinking that " I am he."
Rajneesh's meditation is similar in description to the dhyana of classical yoga, but great ascetic efforts were required to achieve samadhi, and Rajneesh's methods were even simpler and more effective than Sri Aurobindo's "integral yoga"; they fully corresponded to the superficiality and relaxation of his audience, offering an easy way to "enlightenment" as to some kind of sharp "spiritual" pleasure. At the same time, Rajneesh did not cease to speculate on the fears of his flock, generated by the Cold War and the emerging environmental crisis, presenting meditation as the only way to solve these problems.
In April 1970, at a meditation camp near Bombay, Rajneesh demonstrated for the first time the "dynamic" (or "chaotic") meditation he invented. Here is her technology:
Stage 1: 10 minutes of deep, fast breathing through the nose. Let your body be as relaxed as possible... If the body wants to move during this breath, let it... 2nd stage: 10 minutes of catharsis, fully facilitating whatever energy the breath has generated... Don't suppress anything. If you want to cry - cry, if you want to dance - dance. Laugh, shout, yell, jump, twitch: whatever you feel like doing, do it! Stage 3: 10 minutes of yelling "Hoo-hoo-hoo." Raise your arms above your head and bounce up and down while continuing to yell "Hoo-hoo-hoo." When jumping, land firmly on the soles of your feet so that the sound penetrates deep into the sexual center. Exhaust yourself completely. Stage 4: 10 minutes of full stop, frozen in the position in which you are. By breathing the energy was awakened, purified by catharsis and lifted by the Sufi mantra "Hu". And now let it work deep within you. Energy means movement. If you no longer throw it outside, it starts working inside. Stage 5: 10 to 15 minutes of dancing, celebrating, giving thanks for the deep bliss you have experienced.
Deep breathing to the beat of the drum in the first stage of "dynamic meditation" leads to hyperventilation of the lungs, as a result of which a person becomes drunk from excess oxygen. Then he "breaks away" as best he can, to the point of exhaustion. Having exhausted all reserves of activity, a person, according to Rajneesh, can no longer control the conscious mind, and it turns off. In a state of "switching off", when the head is empty and the body is completely relaxed, the unconscious comes into its own. This cheap psycho-physiological trance Rajneesh passed off as enlightenment.
One of the components of the Rajneesh vinaigrette is the occult tantric teaching about the chakras. True, Rajneesh added on his own behalf that the chakras are palpable only when they are polluted; if the chakras are clear, then the kundalini energy flows through them unhindered.
The main task of the Hu mantra is to open the Muladhara Chakra at the base of the spine and release the Kundalini, which in everyday life is spent on sexual life person. This is its natural use; however, enlightenment requires that it move in the opposite direction, up the "energy channel", opening all other chakras along the way. Rajneesh did not hide the fact that this method is very dangerous for the physical body and that many prominent yogis who practiced this method died before reaching old age from severe and painful diseases. However, at the same time, he believed that the use of kundalini was the most effective method opening of the chakras and that further assistance from the guru can reduce its negative effects. The main benefit that the ascending movement of the kundalini brings, in his opinion, is that it allows the "cosmic energy" to descend into a person and circulate in all his bodies, including the physical. The last two stages of chaotic meditation make it possible to feel and enjoy this circulation.
In addition to "dynamic meditation", Rajneesh also introduced the "kundalini meditation" developed by him, during which the sectarians shook violently in order to "disperse the clamps of the body" and danced "to manifest their newly found flowing vitality." In order for meditation to be most effective, Rajneesh recommended doing it for 21 days in a row, combining it with yogic breathing exercises, in complete isolation and silence, or blindfolded.
3. Commune in Pune
At the beginning of the 70s, Rajneesh began to initiate everyone into "sannyasins", who, however, did not have to leave the "world"; only the most fanatical of them later began to settle in the ashrams of Rajneesh. And, of course, these "sannyasins" did not take any vows and did not lead an ascetic life, on the contrary, Rajneesh urged them to discard all "conditions". The only thing that was required of them was to completely “open up” to Rajneesh and surrender to him in everything. Sannyasins received new Sanskrit names "as a symbol of commitment to meditation and a break with the past." Women received the obligatory prefix "Ma" (mother), and men - the prefix "Swami". They had to wear bright orange robes and a wooden rosary with a portrait of Rajneesh around their necks, as well as constantly carry a nut with a "piece of the body" of their guru (usually, trimmings of his hair or nails).
In 1974, Rajneesh moved to Pune (India), where he opened his first commune ashram in Koregaon Park. The ashram could receive up to 2 thousand people at the same time, and up to 50 thousand people passed through it in a year. Within seven years, hundreds of thousands of "spiritual seekers" from the West visited the center in Pune. By the end of the 70s, about 10 thousand worshipers of Bhagavan lived in the ashram, and about 6 thousand more pilgrims, whom the ashram no longer accommodated, settled in Pune. Every day, Rajneesh delivered sermons in broken English, richly seasoned with all sorts of stories, jokes, ridicule and blasphemy. These sermon-lectures were recorded on a tape recorder and published in the form of separate books (the guru himself did not write anything except diaries), the number of which currently exceeds six and a half hundred. In addition to books translated into more than 30 languages, Rajneesh's followers distribute audio and video recordings of his speeches. To organize the production and sale of these products, the beloved student and personal secretary of Rajneesh, an Indian adventurer with an American passport, Ma Ananda Sheela (Shila Silverman), created the Rajneesh Foundation Limited company in New Jersey, the turnover of which soon amounted to millions of dollars. According to one of the Rajneeshists, "the organization has long understood the power of money" .
Pilgrims returning from Pune, initiated into neosannyas, began to open subsidiary ashrams and become their leaders. By the beginning of the 1980s, 500 such centers had already been established - in other places in India, as well as in 22 other countries, including the USA, England, France, Canada and Japan.
At the ashram in Pune, there were "therapy groups" in which professional psychotherapists worked. Sannyasins-Rajneeshists generally lived only in groups, obeying the leader. Mind control in such communes was especially effective. For example, when Rajneesh hinted that a woman burdened with children could not achieve enlightenment, many female sannyasins were surgically sterilized right there in the Laguna Beach cult center.
Naturally, a well-designed cult could not do without apocalypticism. Rajneesh predicted the imminent approach of a worldwide catastrophe:
This crisis will begin in 1984 and end in 1999. All kinds of destruction will reign on earth at this time - from natural disasters to suicide by the achievements of science. In other words, floods unseen since the time of Noah, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and everything possible nature will give us... There will be wars that bring humanity to the brink of nuclear war, but Noah's ark will not save it. Rajneeshism is the Noah's ark of consciousness, a corner of calm in the center of a typhoon... Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bombay - all these cities will perish in a global catastrophe that will not be limited to local destruction. It will be global and inevitable. It will be possible to hide from it only in my teaching.
In early 1984, Rajneesh expanded on his prediction of a coming catastrophe, declaring that some prophecy of Nostradamus would be fulfilled and AIDS would kill two-thirds of the world's population. When asked if the Rajneeshists would survive the coming nuclear catastrophe, Bhagavan replied:
Monkeys made a breakthrough and became people, but not all. Some of them are still monkeys to this day ... I will not say that the Rajneeshists will survive the catastrophe, but I can say with absolute certainty that those who survive will be Rajneeshists, and the rest will be monkeys or commit suicide. In the end, the rest don't matter.
Rajneesh preached the freedom of fornication and perversion, while calling the family and children an unnecessary burden. He said:
There is nothing wrong with pure simple sex... No obligation, no duty, no obligation in this. Sex should be full of play and prayer.
Develop your sexuality, don't suppress yourself!.. I don't inspire orgies, but I don't forbid them either.
Visitors to the commune in Pune returned with stories of such sexual orgies, as well as perversions, drug addiction and drug trafficking, and suicides among the Ashramites. It happened that meditation sessions in the Rajneesh ashrams ended in fights and stabbings. Many have lost their health after experiencing the "Rajneesh therapy". Here is an excerpt from the memories of visiting the ashram in Pune around the year 80:
Murders, rapes, mysterious disappearances of people, threats, arson, explosions, abandoned children of "Ashramovites" begging on the streets of Pune, drugs - all this [here] is in the order of things ... Christians working in the Pune psychiatric hospital will confirm everything that has been said , not forgetting to mention the high level of mental disorders, due [in particular] to the fact that the ashram took political power into its own hands and there is no one to complain about it.
The scandals associated with Rajneesh and his statements shocking the public attracted Western journalists. In addition, shaven-headed, bearded, wearing a "Sufi" hat and loose-fitting "spiritual" vestments, Rajneesh was photogenic. He first appeared in the American press in early 1978, when Time magazine ran an article about him under the heading "God from the East." The magazine reported that this gifted guru had risen to the fore among the early apostles of the various New Age "human potential" movements. In the future, Rajneesh remained in the center of attention of the Western press and in the first half of the 80s became the most fashionable guru in the West, eclipsing the Maharishi.
4. "I am the guru of the rich"
In 1980 and early 1981, Hindu traditionalists made two unsuccessful assassination attempts on Rajneesh. Then, in 1981, an investigation was launched, which showed that "Rajneesh Foundation Limited" was up to its neck in tax evasion, misappropriation of donations for charitable purposes, theft and criminal cases against members of the sect. In the same year, the government of Indira Gandhi stripped the Rajneesh Ashram of the status of a religious organization, and he had to pay huge taxes. Rajneesh, without waiting for the end of the investigation, from May 1, 1981, stopped giving lectures and generally speaking in public. Since that time, Rajneesh's "right hand" Shila Silverman has become Rajneesh's intermediary in communicating with the world. Having sold off the property of the ashram in the early summer of 1981, withdrawing money from his Indian accounts and taking 17 of his most devoted students with him, Rajneesh went to the United States on a tourist visa ostensibly for treatment, and some Rajneesh sources indicate that he was going to be treated for a disease of the spine, and others - that of diabetes and asthma.
With the money of the American students of Rajneesh and mainly the second American husband Ananda Sheela in the desert part of Central Oregon, in the territory of Vasco County, the huge Big Magdi Ranch was purchased. Here, on dry, barren lands, an agricultural commune of the Rajneeshists first settled, and later a city of five thousand called Rajneeshpuram arose, which had an airfield, a comfortable hotel with a casino, shopping streets, restaurants, parks, gardens, greenhouses, roads and regular buses. All this was created by about 2000 adherents of Rajneesh. They worked for free, seven days a week, under the scorching sun for 12 hours a day, slept in the barracks and listened all the time through the loudspeakers of Rajneesh's sermons, in which they were inspired that exhausting work is a holiday, meditation, so to speak, a feast of the spirit.
Tens of thousands of other Rajneeshists came to Rajneeshpuram from time to time (in the summer, for example, up to 20 thousand people gathered). They were able to give significant amounts of money to the guru, since most of them belonged to the well-to-do middle class. More than 300 Rajneesh meditation centers were opened around the world, also bringing in considerable income; say, in British centers, the basic annual course of "Rajneesh therapy" cost 3,500 pounds. In addition, the centers also offered a number of paid New Age courses: bioenergetics, body control, dehypnotherapy, intuitive massage, neotantric yoga, rebirthing and many others. They tried to send those who graduated from the courses to Rajneeshpuram. For such a trip it was necessary to lay out several thousand more dollars. . Rajneesh believed that "spirituality is a luxury and a privilege of the rich". About himself, he said: "I am the guru of the rich. There are enough religions that deal with the poor, but leave me to deal with the rich."
He dealt with them quite successfully for his own pocket. By the end of 1982, he was worth $200 million tax-free. He owned 4 aircraft, a combat helicopter and 91 Rolls Roys. In fact, he expected to have 365 of these most expensive cars in the world, a new car for every day of the year. In the Rolls-Royce, Rajneesh made his daily tour of the flock. The Guru himself drove the car, moving slowly and solemnly, accompanied by submachine gunners, along the living orange wall of his adepts, who stood on the edges of the so-called "road of nirvana" and threw rose petals under the wheels of the car. It was a rare opportunity for them to see their idol.
As Rajneeshpuram grew, in all major Western countries, “holy cities” arranged by the Rajneeshists on its model began to appear - communes trying to lead an autonomous existence and should become an alternative to the “unfree society”. Under the talk of freedom, the Rajneesh sect gradually turned into a "totalitarian organization with a strict control system." It was in these words that even such a pro-sectarian researcher of new religious movements as Professor Eileen Barker described the commune in Rajneeshpuram.
In Oregon, the Rajneeshists occupied the nearby provincial town of Entelope, won a majority of the seats on the city council, and renamed it Rajneesh. Most of the original inhabitants of Entelope, mostly aged people, found themselves under constant surveillance by the police forces of sannyasins, were taxed in favor of the sect and were forced to contemplate a nudist beach established by the city council in a local park. They chose to give up and leave the city. The city grew as the followers of Rajneesh bought up existing houses and built new ones.
In the meantime, the deadline for elections to the legislative assembly of the county approached and the Rajneeshists decided to achieve a majority in it as well. Under local law, it was enough to live in the state for 22 days to get the right to vote in local elections. Therefore, it was decided to increase the number of voters who would vote for Rajneesh candidates. In the fall of 1984, the operation "Share a dwelling with your neighbor" was carried out: from New York, San Francisco and other large cities of the USA, sectarians brought to the ashram about three and a half thousand alcoholics, vagrants and drug addicts. Frightened by this, local legislatures hastily passed a law increasing the period of residence required to participate in elections. The vagabonds who accumulated in Rajneeshpuram thus did not bring any benefit to the sect. On the contrary, semi-criminal homeless people behaved arrogantly and defiantly, did not want to work for the gurus and, on top of everything else, worsened the already not brilliant relations between the communards and the local residents. In Rajneeshpuram, Sheela put together an armed detachment of a hundred militants, but even he failed to disperse the annoying "neighbors", and soon their corpses began to be found in the vicinity of the "holy city", only not in Rajneeshpuram itself. The police determined that they had all been killed by an unknown poison and understandably suspected Rajneesh and company.
At the same time, the sect's political ambitions continued to grow. Since the trick with the homeless did not work, now, in order to win the elections, the Rajneeshists decided to ensure that those who do not support their candidates could not take part in the vote. Continuing to be the "tongue" of the silent guru, Sheela Silverman figured out what to do: agents assigned to her sprayed salmonellosis bacteria on the salad bars of most restaurants in the county, causing many of their patrons to get sick. True, this did not help the Rajneeshists achieve the desired power in the county.
In October 1984, Rajneesh suddenly spoke up. He again accused priests and politicians of corrupting human souls, again claimed that Rajneeshism is "the only defense against nuclear weapons", and again preached the renunciation of the "old world", showing an example of "spiritual revolutionism": "I raise my hand against the past of everything humanity."
In his speeches there were more and more anti-Christian attacks:
Messiahs are, as a rule, insane. He [Jesus] was absolutely sure that the crucifixion would prove him right, and that is why I see in his actions just a suicide attempt in disguise. If anyone was to blame for his crucifixion, it was only he himself. He asked for it himself. And no source - Jewish or historical - confirms that he was resurrected. New Testament only. Fiction. There was no resurrection.
Rajneesh himself wanted to be his worshipers instead of Christ: "Let me be your death and resurrection." . And they sang to him with adoration: "I place my heart in your hands."
The spirit that spoke through the serpent to Eve in Paradise now spoke through the mouth of Rajneesh:
The devil seduced Eve with the argument that God wants her to remain ignorant. .. He is envious. And this seems to be true, for the God of the Jews is very envious. He does not want people to become equal to him. He is not a loving father... Knowledge is not a sin... I advise you to eat from the tree of knowledge..." .
By 1984, the number of followers of Rajneesh exceeded 350 thousand, and their average age was 34 years old. Despite the defeat in the Wasco elections, the Rajneeshists in the same 1984, in connection with the elections to the legislature of Oregon, gave reason to fear that the sect was striving for political power already at the state level. Sheela added fuel to the fire, declaring that, if necessary, the people of Rajneesh would turn the whole of Oregon into Rajneeshpuram. The surrounding farmers, driven by the immoral behavior of the Rajneeshists to the point that they were ready to call them to order by force, Sheela threatened to kill fifteen people for each follower of Rajneesh. . Under the influence of public opinion, the police, and then the FBI, finally opened a criminal case against the Rajneesh sect. About four dozen FBI investigators were investigating directly in Rajneeshpuram. They discovered weapons caches, laboratories for the production of drugs, which were regularly added to food for sectarians, a carefully camouflaged underground passage for the escape of the guru in case of emergency.
On September 14, 1985, Sheela Silverman, with her bodyguards and another husband, as well as several other members of the commune board, fled to Western Europe. Rajneesh accused Sheela of trying to poison his personal doctor, making an attempt on the life of the guru himself, killing vagrants whose bodies the police found in the vicinity of Rajneeshpuram, and wanted to turn the ashram into a fascist organization. Meanwhile, Sheela withdrew $55 million from the ashram's Swiss bank account and tried to escape, but was arrested in Stuttgart by Interpol. She, in turn, stated that "Bhagwan is a spoiled child who cannot breathe without monthly 250 thousand dollars of allowance. He is a genius at using people's gullibility, a drug addict who cannot live without Valium. His life story is a complete scam. And I was an accomplice in this scam. He and I, we made a great pair of swindlers ".
Rajneesh also managed to escape, but on October 29, 1985, he was arrested at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Bhagwan's own plane landed to refuel. Rajneesh and eight of his associates allegedly flew to rest in Bermuda.
The trial of Rajneesh, held in Portland, Oregon, ended on November 14, 1985. The state authorities, already suffering enormous losses due to the activities of Rajneesh, feared that they simply would not be able to pull through the extremely costly, months-long lawsuit. In addition, according to state attorney general Charles Turner, they did not want to make a martyr out of Rajneesh. As a result of difficult negotiations with Rajneesh's lawyers, a compromise was reached - Bhagwan pleaded guilty to only 2 of the 34 charges against him. Thus, he received a symbolic punishment for violating immigration laws and related criminal provisions: ten years of probation in prison plus a $400,000 fine. In addition, Rajneesh was ordered to leave the United States forever within five days. Shila was found guilty of illegally using listening devices, arson, beatings and intimidation, attempted murder and infecting 750 people with batulism, for which she was sentenced to prison and a heavy fine. After spending only 29 months in prison, she left for Switzerland at the end of 1988 and remarried - to the Swiss Urs Birnstiel, who died in 1992 from AIDS. Sheela reconciled with Rajneesh, but she was never his follower and accomplice. Now 52-year-old Shila Birnstil owns two homes for the disabled and the elderly near Basel. The contingent of its establishments are people with mental disorders, mainly those with Alzheimer's syndrome, that is, a memory disorder. In the United States, Schiela is again charged in the old cases, this time with conspiracy to kill Oregon Attorney General Charles Turner, but her status as a Swiss citizen protects her from extradition. Of the $469,000 Sheela owed to the State of Oregon and Vasco County, an anonymous person recently paid $200,000 (we can assume that this was one of her not quite adequate patients).
Rajneesh dissolved the Oregon ashram, burned five thousand copies of his pamphlets and publicly declared that he was not a god. After being deported from the United States, Rajneesh tried to stay in any country where he had followers, but 21 countries either denied him entry or expelled him without any special explanation (such as Greece). From that time on, the Rajneeshist movement began to lose its mass character more and more. Crowded communes are falling apart, the degree of influence of the cult on followers is falling.
Most of those who deal with the problems of new religious movements speak of the inadmissibility of using repressive measures against extremist totalitarian sects, justifying this by saying that the banned sect will go underground and become even more dangerous. But the well-executed police operation to liquidate the community in Rajneeshpuram suggests otherwise. It turns out that in exchange for guarantees of personal safety, the leader of the cult, who values his own person most of all, is ready to dissolve the sect. But just a few months before the events described, even a competent cult researcher, Christian apologist, holder of four doctoral degrees, Walter Martin, who, moreover, was sharply negative towards the Rajneesh sect, wrote: “Rajneesh and his followers attach great importance to the experiment with Rajneeshpuram, which led would be tragic if the government intervened and destroyed their dream."
5. "The population needs to be reduced"
In July 1986, Rajneesh was finally able to return to India (back in December 1985 he was expelled from there too). He settled in Bombay, where the few remaining disciples began to gather around him. In the last days of 1986, Rajneesh delivered two speeches, later published under the general heading "The Rights of the New Man." In these keynote speeches, Rajneesh vents his resentment at being kicked out of all Western countries, expressing both general indignation against all priests, rich people and white politicians, as well as surprisingly petty claims. In particular, he inherited the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The old Declaration should be replaced by the Declaration of the Rights of the New Man, whose "only fundamental right" is "to become a god."
Revealing in detail the ten points of his Declaration, Rajneesh paints a picture of the world in which his "new people" will live. The right to live in this world will mean the right to good life in which there will be no suffering, but only joys and pleasures. It is clear that as the human population increases, there will not be enough resources for a good life for everyone. Therefore, Rajneesh says that "the population must be reduced if a person wants to live with dignity, joyfully, and not drag out a miserable existence." To do this, Rajneesh proposes to limit the birth rate by any means, using not only contraceptives and abortions, but also the destruction of children with birth defects. In addition, it is necessary to introduce and promote euthanasia in every possible way and recognize the rights of homosexuals.
In the future world "there should be neither nations nor state borders. There should be no religions". Rajneesh hopes that religions "will dissolve by themselves. The best that is in various religions, will be preserved in the "single religion" of Rajneesh. In a world of absolute freedom, the main cause of slavery must be eliminated, which, according to Rajneesh, lies in Christian anthropology based on the belief that God created man in His own image and likeness. Marriage in the society of "new people" must disappear, because it is "a fake for love." The "new people" will freely converge and disperse, and it is better if the partners belong to different nations, and even better - to different races. Children should be separated from their parents and brought up by communities. And not even to be brought up, since Rajneesh considers any education, especially religious, a violation of children's freedom.
In a one world, there will, of course, be a one world government. What will be the form of his government? Rajneesh hates the monarchy. Democracy is also not good, because it is a cover for the manipulations of the powerful. In addition, the "ignorant masses" when voting are guided by random criteria: one of the candidates looks better, someone speaks better. In the new world, elections will be carried out by professional corporations: for example, "only educators should elect the minister of education." Only those who have received the right to vote will have the right to vote. higher education. The world government will be functional, but will not have power.
When a person eliminates the division in himself with the help of Rajneesh methods, the divisions in the world will also disappear. The new world will be different from the current one, like heaven from hell.
Now there is no need to even describe what hell is. It is enough to look around: here it is... But we can change everything. This earth can be turned into a paradise. And then there will be no need for a paradise in heaven, where it will be empty. If we recall Rajneeshpuram, it will become clear what will be done with those who do not want to live in this paradise of radical hedonistic godless humanism.
6. Osho died, apparently from AIDS
In January 1987, Rajneesh again moved to Pune. Here he comes up with a new meaningful name for himself - "Osho", that is, "ocean", which, apparently, should be associated with vastness, depth, randomness, abyss.
For his followers, Osho abolishes the obligatory wearing of orange robes and sandalwood rosaries with their own portrait on them. True, during meditation and in the presence of Osho, sannyasins were ordered to wear white clothes. In addition, maroon robes must be worn in the meditation camps, which are held for three days each month.
Psychotherapeutic programs are being renewed and expanded, new meditative techniques are being created. One of them, the "Mystic Rose", Osho modestly considered "the greatest breakthrough in meditation 2500 years after the meditation of Gautama Buddha". This meditation lasts 21 days; one week the participants laugh for 3 hours a day, the second week they cry for 3 hours a day, the third week for 3 hours a day "silently observe" and "testify" how they feel better.
Following the example of his long-time competitor in the neo-guru market - Maharishi, whom Rajneesh had previously criticized in every possible way, Osho is now trying to prove the beneficialness of his meditation therapy through "scientific studies".
Various therapeutic groups in the Osho International Commune were united in the "Osho Multiversity", which in the first half of the 90s included the following non-diploma "colleges": School of Centering, School of Creative Arts, International Health Academy, Academy of Meditation. The Transformation Center, the Institute of Tibetan Pulsations and others are quite a typical New Age set.
By the end of the 1980s, Osho's health had deteriorated significantly. In the last months before his death, if his health allowed, Osho went out to his students for "meditations of music and silence", and then they watched videos of his previous conversations. Osho died in 1990, apparently from AIDS. When he passed away, he did not leave a full-fledged organization, believing that there was no need for it, and did not appoint an heir. Moreover, he made it clear that if anyone declared himself his successor, he should be avoided. As a result, after the death of the guru, several independent currents formed within the movement. Among them are Paul Lowe's "International Academy of Meditation", "Humauniversity", headed by the Dutch sannyasin Verish, and others.
Now there are about 200 Osho meditation centers in the world. The center of the cult is still Pune. A group of 21 sannyasins led by Amrito, Osho's former personal physician, formed the leadership of the ashram after the latter's death. They turned the commune in Pune into a commercial enterprise - an exotic "esoteric" recreation park, designed for wealthy Western tourists aged 35-40.
On the territory of the former Soviet Union there are Osho centers in St. Petersburg, Voronezh (operating in 1996 under the name "Tantra Yoga"), Odessa, Krasnodar, Minsk, Tbilisi, Riga and Moscow, where, in addition to the center " Osho Rajneesh", there is also the East House center, created by a young Russian Igor. In the early 90s, he completed a course in Pune and returned from there as a sannyasin Swami Anand Toshan. In addition to meditation trainings, sending "to study" to Pune and other programs , "Oriental House" holds Sunday "Osho-Disco" where "everything is allowed".
OshoTime International is a bi-monthly magazine that is distributed worldwide and published in nine languages. Osho Fan Sites different countries abundantly presented on the Internet. But the popularity of Rajneesh is not commensurate with the presence of organizations associated with his name - elements of Rajneesh's ideology are an integral part of the New Age movement. Osho's books are sold in all New Age stores and are abundantly presented at any collapse of the occult literature.
179. Joachim Keden and others. Sects, spirits, miracle healers. Germany, 1999. -p. 28.
180. Amrit Swami Prem. Decree. op. -p.14.
Photo - Osho (Bhagawan Shri Rajneesh); cover of one of Osho's books; dynamic meditation; Russia - Belly dance lessons with Erasmia - enlightened dancer Osho - www.oshoforum.ru &www.orientdance.ru
4Quotes and Aphorisms 06.08.2017
Dear readers, today we have a very deep and sincere topic on our blog - about the meaning of life. At some point, we all become interested in such questions, and then we turn to sages like Osho for answers. Surely everyone is familiar with this name and many came across on the net osho quotes, and someone may have read books compiled from his lectures. However, not everyone knows that Osho is far from being such an unambiguous and blissful person as he is sometimes presented. So let's find out more about him.
At birth in 1931, he was named Chandra Mohan Jein, then changed his name to Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh, which means "The blessed one who is god." He left this world 27 years ago as Osho, translated from Hindi - "Ocean, dissolved in the ocean."
The life of this Hindu mystic was very eventful and contradictory. He criticized socialism, Christianity and personally Mahatma Gandhi. He promoted free love relationship(he was even called the "sex guru" and the "guru of scandals"). He founded "special" settlements, the inhabitants of which were considered dangerous sectarians. He was banned from entering 21 countries! And only after his death, many realized that Osho's activity is not only shocking, but the “oceanic” person himself is not an overgrown hooligan, but a passionate, interested in many things, truly deep personality. This is also indicated by his quotes about life.
In essence, Osho's teachings are a combination of Buddhism, Yoga, Taoism, Sikhism, Greek philosophy and much more, even Christianity, which he did not really like, as well as personal experience. Osho said many wise important things, and in the books compiled on the basis of conversations with him (and there are more than a thousand such books), everyone will find something for themselves.
Osho's worldview
Osho's worldview is reflected in his statements:
“I don't have a system. Systems can only be dead. I am an unsystematic, anarchic stream, I am not even a person, but just a certain process. I don't know what I told you yesterday."
"Truth is beyond specific forms, attitudes, verbal formulations, practices, logic, and its comprehension is carried out by a chaotic, not a systematic method."
“My message is not a doctrine, not a philosophy. My message is a kind of alchemy, the science of transformation."
Many of Osho's lectures were paradoxical, but on this occasion he said the following: “My friends are surprised: yesterday you said one thing, and today another. What are we to listen to? I can understand their bewilderment. They just grabbed the words. Conversations are of no value to me, only the spaces between the words I speak are what is valuable. Yesterday I opened the doors to my emptiness with some words, today I open them with other words.
And yet, Osho's speeches, reflecting his views, have value for modern culture. I suggest we read the best Osho quotes ...
About happiness
Osho believed that everything that happens to you should be taken lightly. This will avoid suffering. Osho quotes about life help to see what true happiness is.
“What difference does it make who is stronger, who is smarter, who is more beautiful, who is richer? After all, in the end it only matters whether you are a happy person or not.
"There are three traps that steal joy and peace: regret for the past, anxiety for the future, and ingratitude for the present."
“If you are rich, don't think about it; if you are poor, don't take your poverty seriously. If you are able to live in the world, remembering that the world is only a performance, you will be free, you will not be touched by suffering. Suffering is the result of taking life seriously; bliss is the result of the game. Take life as a game, enjoy it.
“Do not look for the best, but look for your own. After all, the best will not always be yours, but yours will always be better ... "
Love is what's inside
Love is what's inside. Osho's quotes about love are very sincere. The objects of passion can change, the main thing is freedom and joy, although in principle they can be preserved in alliance with one partner. But to be tormented by love experiences, giving up something significant for yourself, is the wrong approach.
“Love has nothing to do with relationships, love is a state.”
“If you can have freedom and love at the same time, you don't need anything else. You have everything - that for which life is given.
“If you have caught a bird, then do not keep it in a cage, do not make it want to fly away from you, but could not. And make it so that she could fly away, but did not want to.
"If you want to love someone forever, you can't get close to him even for a minute."
“Stop thinking about how to get love and start giving it away. By giving, you receive. There is no other way…”
“Love never hurts anyone. If you feel that love hurts, then something else hurts, but not your love experiences. If you do not understand this, then you will continue to move in the same vicious circle.
“When you are sick, call the doctor. But most importantly, call those who love you, because there is no medicine more important than love.
“If you love and you don’t, let go. If you are loved, but you are not - rate and take a closer look. If love is mutual, fight.
“Love knows how to go into the unknown. Love knows how to discard all guarantees. Love knows how to rush into the unfamiliar and unknown. Love is courage. Trust love."
"You must know that freedom is the highest value, and if love does not give you freedom, then it is not love."
"The mind is a very businesslike, calculating machine; it has nothing to do with love."
“In fact, there is no reason why a woman should wait for the initiative from a man. If a woman is in love, she should take the first step. If the man did not respond, she should not feel humiliated.
Make life around you beautiful!
The idea is simple: you must always go forward and up and discover something new! Both around you and in yourself. Osho's inspirational quotes will support you along the way.
"The only person on earth we can change is ourselves."
“Make as many mistakes as possible, just remember one thing: don’t make the same mistake twice. And you will grow."
“Make life around you beautiful. And let every person feel that meeting with you is a gift.
“Whenever you are faced with a choice, be careful: do not choose what is convenient, comfortable, respectable, recognized by society, honorable. Choose what resonates with your heart. Choose what you would like to do, regardless of the consequences."
“You only need to be natural, as natural as your breathing. Love your life. Don't live according to any commandments. Don't live according to other people's ideas. Don't live the way people want you to. Listen to your own heart. Become silent, listen to the still, small voice within you and follow it."
“All the values that a person dreams of are hidden inside him.”
“You must constantly be engaged in purification: noticing some nonsense idea in your head, cleanse it of it, throw it away. If your mind is pure and clear, you will be able to find a solution for any problem that arises in your life.
“Any borrowed truth is a lie. Until it is experienced by yourself, it is never the truth.”
“Dedicate your life to beauty. Don't dedicate it to the disgusting. You don't have much time, not much energy to waste. Such a small life, such a small source of energy, is simply stupid to waste on anger, sadness, hatred, jealousy.
“Only one thing in the world is constant, and that is change. Everything else changes, except for changes.”
“We have inherited not only the mind of millions of past years. We have also inherited the madness of millennia.”
"If you become a river, you can't help but become an ocean!"
About communication
All this "socialization" is an illusion. Understand yourself and share the most intimate with loved ones who are ready to understand you.
"Give yourself the luxury of not hanging out with unpleasant people."
“Loneliness is a state when you are sick of yourself, tired of yourself, tired of yourself and you want to go somewhere and forget yourself in someone else.”
“No one can say anything about you. Whatever people say, they are talking about themselves."
“The greatest fear in the world is the fear of the opinions of others. The moment you are not afraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar resounds in your heart - the roar of freedom."
"Society will give you everything if you give it your freedom."
Smile is the main weapon!
High spirits are the basis of our existence. A smile is the main weapon!
“Have you ever noticed that man is the only animal that laughs?”
“People take everything so seriously that it becomes a burden on them. Learn to laugh more. To me, laughter is as sacred as prayer."
"Getting too serious is the greatest trouble."
“There comes a time in your life when you move away from the drama and the people who create it. You surround yourself with people you laugh with. You forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right and pray for the rest. Life is so short, live it only happily. Falling is part of life, getting back on your feet is living it. Being alive is a gift, and being happy is your choice.”
"Truth is not a dogma, but a dance."
Difficulties are good for us
Isn't it too easy not to take the problems that arise to heart? Difficult, yes. But we should remember that difficulties are good for us.
"You're a big fan of creating problems... just understand this and suddenly the problems will disappear."
"Whatever happens, everything is fine."
"Fighting with others is only a ploy to avoid internal struggle."
"Heaven is where the flowers of your true self bloom. Hell is there - where your self is trampled on, and something is being imposed on you."
“Falling is part of life, getting back on your feet is living it. Being alive is a gift, and being happy is your choice.”
"The world comes to you as it comes from you."
Osho suffered from many diseases, for example, he had to be treated in the USA for diabetes and asthma, and at the time of his death, the philosopher was only 58 years old. So there is no doubt that he spoke about life in this way not because it was easy and cloudless for him. But because he really understood that there was no other way than to fall and rise again, and rejoice, and be grateful for everything.
Osho is a famous Indian spiritual leader. For some, his teachings today are the only true rules of life, while others see harm to society in his philosophy. Osho's teachings have been criticized more than once, but every year this Indian esotericist has more and more followers, since in many of his thoughts the truth of our existence and the meaning of life of all things are hidden.
Osho talked a lot about love and its manifestations. Some thoughts have become the basis of the modern understanding of love, family and relationships between a man and a woman.
These wise sayings Osho on love helps to reveal the deep meaning of love and relationships between a man and a woman. But everyone draws their own conclusions. Remember that the essence of love is kindness. Good luck and don't forget to press the buttons and
28.07.2014 09:40
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With this article, I want to start a new section on my blog -. In this section you will find sayings and advice from great people regarding life, yoga practice and spiritual development.
It will help someone understand themselves, in life, put their thoughts in order ...
Starting with wisdom of Osho - 10 best advice from Osho. Osho - enlightened master from India, was the founder of the ashram system in many countries, and his teachings became part of popular culture in India and Nepal. And also found numerous followers around the world.
1. People take everything so seriously that it becomes a burden on them. Learn to laugh more. To me, laughter is as sacred as prayer.
2. Every action leads to an immediate result. Just be alert and watch. A mature person is one who has observed himself and found what is right and wrong for him; what is good and what is bad.
And thanks to the fact that he found it himself, he has great authority: even if the whole world says something different, nothing will change for him. He has his own experience to draw on, and that's enough.
3. We are all unique. Never ask anyone what is right and what is wrong. Life is an experiment in which you should find out what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes, maybe you will do wrong, but this will give the appropriate experience, from which you will immediately benefit.
4. There are times when God comes and knocks at your door. This is love - God knocking at your door. Through a woman, through a man, through a child, through love, through a flower, through sunset or dawn… God can knock in a million different ways.
5. The desire to be extraordinary is a very common desire.
Relaxing and being ordinary is truly extraordinary.
6. Life is a mystery. It cannot be predicted. But there are many people who would like to live a predictable life, because then there would be no fear. Everything would be determined, there would be no doubt about anything.
But will there then be room for growth? If there is no risk, how can you grow? If there is no danger, how can you strengthen your consciousness? If there is no possibility that you will deviate, how can you walk on the right path? If there is no alternative to the devil, will there be a possibility of reaching God?
7. First become solitary. First, start enjoying yourself. First become so genuinely happy that it doesn't matter if no one comes to you; you are full, overflowing. If no one knocks at your door, then everything is all right anyway - you are not missing anything. You don't wait for someone to come and knock on your door.
You are at home. If someone comes to you, fine, fine. If no one comes, that's fine and fine too. Then you can go into relationships with others. Now you can do it like a master and not like a slave, like an emperor and not like a beggar.
8. If you are rich, don't think about it; if you are poor, don't take your poverty seriously. If you are able to live in the world, remembering that the world is only a performance, you will be free, you will not be touched by suffering. Suffering is the result of taking life seriously; bliss is the result of the game. Take life as a game, enjoy it.
9. Courage is the movement into the unknown, regardless of all fears. Courage is not fearlessness. Fearlessness happens when you get bolder and bolder. This is the highest experience of courage - Fearlessness; courage has become absolute. But at the very beginning, the difference between a coward and a daredevil is not so great.
The only difference is that a coward listens to his fears and follows them, while a daredevil leaves them aside and moves on. The daredevil goes into the unknown, despite all the fears.
10. You are changing every moment. You are a river. Today it flows in one direction and climate. Tomorrow is different. I have never seen the same face twice. It is changing. It is constantly changing. But one must have keen eyes to see it. Otherwise the dust falls and everything becomes old; it seems that everything has already happened.
Decides the relationship. Listen more consciously. Wake yourself up. When you feel tired, give yourself a good kick. Yourself, not another - kick. Open your eyes. Wake up. Listen again.
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You preach trust, but your house is closed from others by an impenetrable wall - with towers and machine gunners. You call students your favorite children, but secretly bug their homes. You convince others that the main happiness is not outside, but inside a person, but you continue to replenish your collections with new Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. You proclaim yourself a saint, but still sleep with your students and watch orgies.
So who are you really, Bhagwan Osho Rajneesh?
“People have become travelers. They are always on the go. They never achieve anything, but they always go somewhere: they just run away from where they are. But everything remains the same. Nothing changes. Changing the location won't help. You have created your hallucination and you live in it. Your heaven and your hell are all crazy. Live HERE and NOW. Regretting the past or rushing your thoughts into the future, you miss your real life”- I first crossed paths with Osho at a not the best period of my life, and his books pulled me out of depression. Since then, I have not returned to Osho.
No wonder - many came to Osho precisely during the period of mental breakdown, - sums up my words the Israeli writer and translator Uri Lotan, who lived in the Osho commune for seven years and wrote a book about it called “Happiness and Punishment for Him” (“Osher ve onsho”). - And I went to India, not yet recovered from the divorce from my wife, whom I continued to love. 
Monologue One "Approaching Osho"
I am an absolute atheist, Uri categorically declares. - In addition, I am not one of those who are looking for idols and hate the dictatorship. I came to Pune (the place where the commune of Osho - Sh.S.) is located, an absolute nihilist. I heard about this place and about the freedom that reigns here - above all, sexual freedom. India, exotic, cheap drugs, beautiful girls - what else do you need when you are only 25, but you are already a star (Uri Lotan was a famous DJ at the Galei Tsakhal radio station in the 1970s - it was he who told Israeli listeners about the breakup of the group " Beatles”, opened Bob Dylan and other Western musicians to them - Sh.Sh.). The first time I lived in a commune, just enjoying the atmosphere of this place. When I learned that I was from Israel and worked on the radio, I was offered to record Osho's lectures on a tape recorder and translate them into Hebrew. When you sit at lectures next to the Master, it is considered a great honor, and all the girls of the commune want to sleep with you afterwards. Everything else was of little interest to me then.
Monologue Two "Submission to Osho"
Now imagine a place, - continues Uri, - where everywhere you go, portraits of Osho hang: they are even in the toilet and above the bed, where you have sex with a girl. And on your chest is also a small portrait of Osho on a wooden chain, which is forbidden to be removed even in the shower or during sex. At first, you are told that with Osho around your neck, even sex will be of a different quality, then you yourself begin to think so.
I, unlike most members of the commune, was among those who personally communicated with Osho. And I will tell you that he is an incredibly smart, handsome and attractive person - with a bewitching deep voice, smooth hand movements ... When I was recording Osho's lectures, sitting at his feet, I felt like I was next to a generator - such a powerful energy came from him. Osho certainly had hypnotic powers. Once, while talking with him alone, I fell into such euphoria that I was carried out of his room in my arms, I laughed with happiness and could not stop for several hours. In a word, I myself did not notice how Osho ended up in complete control. My addiction to him was like a drug addiction.
Monologue Three "First Doubts"
One day they brought me a letter in Hebrew and asked me to translate it into English for Osho, who received letters from all over the world. I began to read and saw that this letter was not addressed to Osho at all, but to an Israeli member of the commune from his girlfriend. I took the letter to this guy, and then they call me to the office of the commune: “Where is the letter?” - "I took it to such and such, you made a mistake, this letter is not for Osho." What started here! They were ready to pulverize me. The fact that all the mail that came to the commune was screened, and all the rooms were tapped, I learned much later.
Then there was a story with an Israeli woman, who stated that she became pregnant by Osho. She was immediately sent for an abortion and expelled from the commune, defamated in every possible way for lying. I remember that I was also among those who attacked this girl at that time: “How can you say such things about Osho? He is a Master, an Enlightened One, he is not interested in women.” The fact that many of his students passed through the bed of Osho, I learned much later. As for that girl, she returned to Israel and after some time committed suicide.
Monologue Four "Slaves of the 20th century"
The main duty of the members of the commune was to raise money for Osho. People came here from all over the world, giving everything they had to the commune - money for sold houses, savings, cars. A relative of the Queen of Holland donated her inheritance to the commune - 250 thousand dollars, but she herself did not even receive the room promised to her. I remember that when I was informed from Israel that my father had died, I was immediately called to the office of the commune. I thought: "Probably want to express condolences." And they asked me just one question: “How much money did you receive after the death of your father?” Many members of the commune received money from their parents in letters, but it never reached them.
We were constantly driven to earn money for Osho. The easiest way to get money was prostitution, selling drugs and all sorts of fraud with credit cards. During my seven years of living in the commune, I managed to be both a drug courier and a pimp. Including: he sold to clients his second American wife, with whom he met in a commune, flew several times to Japan with three kilograms of hashish on his body.
I remember how in Bombay I approached a rich sheikh from Saudi Arabia, introduced himself as a Frenchman and asked if he wanted to fuck my beautiful sister for 1000 dollars (in the commune we were all considered brothers and sisters). Most of the members of the commune worked hard work - building houses, laying roads. There were no exits. They worked for the benefit of the commune for free for 12 hours a day. The commune did not accommodate everyone - many were forced to rent housing in Pune, which is why prices there jumped terribly and were no lower than European ones.
Osho divided the women of the commune into two types: beautiful and ugly. From the first, he chose his concubines, and gave power to the second, and they began to lead the commune, taking out their complexes on its members. One of these freaks led medical center commune, was well versed in poisons and skillfully used them, which is why she received the nickname "Sister Mengele".
In the OSHO commune, women chose men for sex, and not vice versa: every day the men had to line up, along which the women walked, choosing their partner for the night.
When the commune moved from India to America(Osho fled there, hiding from prison for not paying 40 million debt to the Indian tax authority, the first - on the private jet of his wealthy students from Hollywood, who bought a huge piece of land in Oregon for $ 7 million). Then the members of the commune moved to the USA, who first of all began to build a villa and a pool for Osho (the pool was subsequently heated for several thousand dollars a month), and then houses for his entourage. The members of the commune themselves lived in caravans - six people in a room, without air conditioning.
Monologue 5 "Myths about Osho"
The condition for admission to the commune was participation in paid(from 200 to 400 and above dollars) seminars. At one, a soulful striptease took place, where everyone had to tell everything about themselves to a random partner, who changed every 15 minutes at the sound of a bell. The second seminar for the candidate was chosen by Osho himself - from the photograph of the applicant and his handwritten request for admission to the commune. He, without seeing a person, decided what his problem was, an unfulfilled desire: to rape someone, or be beaten, or participate in an orgy. After such seminars, people came out with broken ribs and black eyes. There was even such a joke in use: “I fell on the way to the Ashram” (ashram is the Indian name for the place where the commune was located - Sh.Sh.).
Osho assigned me to the isolation group. I had to sit in my room in front of his portrait for a week and not communicate with anyone. Only allowed out for lunch. There was a sign “silence” (silence - Sh.Sh.) on my chest, and no one was supposed to speak to me. This test turned out to be unbearable for me - I spoke on the sixth day. Osho's clairvoyant instructions on the distribution of seminar participants turned out to be another myth: people were assigned to those groups where there was a shortage.
Allegedly for the purpose of spiritual improvement, Osho separated couples, formed before joining the commune or formed in the commune itself. For the same purpose, he forbade us to do anything in which we showed great interest. For example, since I was young, I dreamed of becoming a writer. Osho forbade me to write. In fact, the reason for such instructions was his desire to completely subjugate the members of the commune, so that no one and nothing would overshadow Osho himself in our eyes.
As for other idols… Osho respected Hitler, said that Hitler was an extraordinary person. He liked to repeat his words that if you utter a lie many times, it will turn into the truth. However, Osho tried to de-legitimize anyone who could outshine Osho himself in the eyes of his listeners. According to the Master, John Lennon and Freud were idiots, Gandhi was a liar, Mother Teresa was a fool, Freud was a maniac. As for the others... Sometimes Osho began his speech with the words: "People like me, Jesus and Buddha..."
When someone began to doubt Osho's postulates, he was immediately told: "You are not a whole person if you doubt the words of the Master."
We were told that Osho is sensitive to the smell of bad energy.- for example, the energy of anger, and to the noise. Before the start of the lecture, members of the commune were sniffed, and if they caught the smell of sweat, they were not allowed into the room. Once they did not let me in, and I was ready to commit suicide because of this - such was my dependence on Osho at that time. If during the lecture someone coughed, he was immediately thrown out. In fact, the reason for Osho's sensitivity to smells and sounds had nothing to do with esotericism: Bhagwan was drug addicted to Valium, laughing gas delivered for him in cylinders, and several other medicines, on which he "sat" for many years, as a result of which he developed this intolerance to smells and noise. I have seen more than once how Osho swayed like a drunk while walking. He moved very little, but once a week he always went on one of his Rolls-Royces for a short trip to receive honors: members of the commune stood along the road and threw rose petals under the wheels of his car. This ritual was called "the road of flowers".
The period when Osho took a vow of silence and remained silent for four years also turned out to be a myth. While in his chambers, he spoke incessantly. A member of the commune told me about this, who was the lover of one of the ugly people close to Osho, who led the commune.
Another myth is related to the claim that Osho did not know about the cruel order. planted in the commune by his entourage. Osho's former bodyguard wrote a book, God Downcast, in which he claims that Osho's secretary recorded all the conversations that Osho had in his private quarters, and now these 3,000 tapes are in the hands of the FBI. The author of the book claims that most of the ideas implemented in the commune belonged to Osho.
I remember that when the leadership of the commune announced that its members should undergo sterilization, referring to Osho, we did not believe that this was coming from the Master. But then, in one of his public speeches, he spoke openly about sterilization, arguing that the birth of children is a loss of energy necessary for spiritual self-improvement.
I remember how I dissuaded two girls I knew from this crazy idea, but they were sterilized. Now they, like me, are already over 50. It would be interesting to know what they think about all this now? When AIDS was first discussed, the commune promptly issued instructions to have sex using a condom and wearing rubber gloves. "Sister Mengele" began to check who has AIDS and who does not. Actually, it was not a test, but her sole decision. Members of the commune, declared "sister Mengele" sick, went to the settlement in the local gulag - an isolated area with caravans. I know at least two of them well - they are still alive, and they do not have any AIDS, despite the diagnosis of "Sister Mengele".
Monologue Six "Exile"
My American wife had her sight before me and left the commune. One day I called her and told her that I felt like I was in a concentration camp with these machine gunners on the towers and the need to ask permission from the leadership of the commune about any step I took. Half an hour later, a Mercedes stopped in front of my caravan, from which one of the leaders of the commune, nicknamed “Lady Macbeth”, got out, with two thugs behind her back, armed with an Uzi (there were a lot of weapons in the commune). She stated that Osho ordered me to be expelled from the commune and tore the chain with his portrait from my neck.
I still have the keys to my Ford, donated to the commune fund, and I took advantage of this by stealing my own car from Osho and driving it to Los Angeles.
It turned out to be easy to leave Osho, but to get rid of Osho inside yourself… If not for the support of my friends… After being expelled from the commune, I had a feeling of a black hole inside, which there was nothing to fill. For a long time I was in a severe depression, I was very vulnerable and involuntarily attracted misfortunes: I was robbed, fired from my job, and ?) I was so beaten in the street that it took me several surgeries to get back on my feet. Of those who left or were expelled from the commune, I know at least five who committed suicide, unable to free themselves from the Osho within them.
Monologue Seven "Osho's American Failure"
When Osho stepped off the plane in Oregon, the first words that he uttered, not without pathos, were: “Hello, America! I am the Buddha you have been waiting for!” However, with America, Osho missed. In those years, Americans were rather indifferent to esotericism and eastern spiritual currents. In addition, with their inherent pragmatism, they could not understand how to connect the commune proclaimed by Osho, not pursuing income goals, and therefore claiming tax exemption, with his ever-growing collections of Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. And even more so, the Americans could not understand how you can force a person to work 12 hours a day, without paying him a penny for it.
The rise of Osho in India is quite understandable: in time, this period coincides with the period of the sexual revolution, freedom, emancipation, which took place in the world in the 1960s. Osho just seized on this idea and gave sex spiritual legitimation, which looked especially attractive in the eyes of the younger generation. I remember very well my feelings of that period in Pune: I am 25, I am the king, all beautiful girls are mine, I am free, there are no restrictions. All over the world, group sex was considered an orgy, and only in the Osho commune was it called "spiritual work."
Monologue Eighth "Biological Terror"
When the commune moved to Oregon, terrible things began to happen. Deciding to win political power in the district elections, the leadership of the commune sent to Dallas, where they were supposed to take place, a group that sprayed liquid with salmonella in public places, which caused a massive epidemic: 750 people fell ill (later, in one of the books this event was called the first bioterror attack in the United States).
In addition, to participate in the elections, according to the laws of the state, representatives were required - natives of this place. The leadership of the commune bribed local homeless people for these purposes, most of whom later (after the elections) disappeared, and one was found killed. The case has gone too far: the FBI launched an investigation. On the life of Charles Turner, who led the investigation, members of the commune attempted twice. With the pilot who was supposed to send a rented plane with explosives to the Turner house, after ejecting, I shared a room. He fled the commune the day before the alleged attack.
Osho was arrested and held for two weeks, and a group of his close associates of 20 people fled to Germany, where they were arrested and transported to the United States. These people were convicted and spent seven years in prison.
As for Osho, thanks to the compromise reached by the lawyers, he received a suspended sentence. and paid a fine of half a million dollars, after which he left the United States on a private jet of his followers from Hollywood. For about a year, Osho wandered around the world in this way - not a single country wanted to accept him: in England, he twice requested a landing and twice was refused; in Ireland, only a short landing for refueling was allowed; from the island of Crete was deported by police and soldiers. In the end, Osho was forced to return to India, paying that country 40 million in taxes that he owed. Quite quickly, the Osho commune was reborn in its old place - in Pune, and this time hundreds of young Israelis rushed into it (while there were no more than a dozen of them when I was there).
Monologue 9 "The Seed of the Dragon"
Today I can already say that I have freed myself from Osho within myself. But for many years I experienced the consequences of living in a commune for seven years, where the use of drugs like hashish and LSD was the norm. For example, in my life there was a period when I could not fall asleep for months - neither day nor night. Only strong sleeping pills gave me a few hours of oblivion. Then I developed agrophobia, the fear of open spaces, and didn't leave my house for months.
For everyone who came to the commune not for a month or two, but for years, it ended in severe mental trauma. What kept us there?
An everlasting feeling of happiness, freedom, euphoria. It seemed to us that we belonged to the elite of the enlightened. The whole world is divided for us into two concepts "we" and "they". “They” are all other people who are not related to the commune, who do not have access to what they initiated us into. Most of us were at an age when a person usually builds himself, his family, career, future. We gave the commune everything we had - the best years, money, unrealized abilities, and left without a family, children, money, housing, work, profession ... Osho died in 1990. According to one version, he died of AIDS, according to another - from the long-term use of narcotic drugs. There was no autopsy. Osho's body was burned according to the Indian rite. A month before his death, the Englishwoman Vivek committed suicide, who for 30 years was literally his shadow, and in all lectures invariably sat at his feet.
The Osho Ashram in Pune still exists. And there, as I said, there are a lot of Israelis. I was lucky that I did not get AIDS and did not commit suicide after living in the Osho commune, so I feel responsible for telling as many people as possible about the true face of Osho and his followers. I was naive, carried away by the ideas of a false leader and almost lost myself, my personality. Sorry for wasted energy, wasted years. I avoid people who are still under the influence of Osho's ideas, and those who, like me, got rid of him, I am ashamed to meet, just like they are with me. We have nothing to remember.
