Rajneesh (Osho): A Life of Spiritual Awakening and Controversy

Rajneesh, also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho, was an Indian spiritual leader who founded the Rajneesh movement. He was considered a controversial figure due to his rejection of institutional religions and his belief that spiritual experiences cannot be confined to any one religious doctrine. As a guru, he promoted meditation, particularly dynamic meditation, and encouraged his followers to live fully in the world without becoming attached to it. Rajneesh also stirred up controversy in India in the late 1960s by advocating for a more progressive approach to sexuality, earning him the nickname “the sex guru.”

 

Early Life and Influences (1931-1950)

Rajneesh underwent a spiritual awakening in 1953 at the age of 21. Following a period in academia, he resigned from the University of Jabalpur in 1966 and traveled across India, gaining recognition as a vocal critic of mainstream religions, political ideologies, and Mahatma Gandhi. In 1970, he established a following in Mumbai known as “neo-sannyasins” and expanded his spiritual teachings by commenting on various religious writings and traditions.

 

 

By 1974, Rajneesh had settled in Pune, where he founded an ashram offering therapies influenced by the Human Potential Movement to a growing Western audience. Tensions with the Janata Party government and a significant back tax claim in the late 1970s led to challenges for the ashram’s development.

 

In 1981, the focus of the Rajneesh movement shifted to the United States, with Rajneesh moving to Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. Conflicts with local residents and legal battles hindered the ashram’s progress. In 1985, Rajneesh publicly called for an investigation into his personal secretary and her associates for various crimes, leading to convictions and his subsequent deportation from the United States.

During his childhood and adolescence, from 1931 to 1950, Rajneesh, also known as Chandra Mohan Jain, experienced significant events that shaped his development. Born in a small village in India, he was raised by his maternal grandparents until the age of eight, which he later described as a period of utmost freedom and carefree living.

However, the death of his grandfather at the age of seven and his childhood girlfriend at 15 had a profound impact on him, leading to a preoccupation with death that lasted throughout his youth. Despite being a gifted student, he became critical of traditional religion and developed an interest in various methods to expand consciousness.

His fascination with literature, particularly communist writings, led to his involvement in discussions about communist ideology and opposition to religion. These experiences and influences played a significant role in shaping Rajneesh’s worldview and beliefs.

 

Academic and Early Spiritual Journey (1951-1970)

From 1951 to 1970, Rajneesh was a university student and a public speaker. At 19, he started at Hitkarini College in Jabalpur but left due to disagreements with a teacher and moved to D. N. Jain College. He was known for being argumentative and only attended classes for exams. During his free time, he worked as an assistant editor for a local newspaper.

Rajneesh began speaking at the annual Sarva Dharma Sammelan, a religious event, from 1951 to 1968. He also resisted his parents’ wishes for him to get married. Rajneesh claimed to have had a spiritual awakening on 21 March 1953, at the age of 21, during a mystical experience in the Bhanvartal garden in Jabalpur.

Mumbai: 1971–1974

 

Rajneesh celebrated his birthday at his home in Bombay on 11 December 1972. This was also the day he first introduced his Dynamic Meditation technique at a public event in early 1970. This technique involved fast breathing and dancing to music. He moved from Jabalpur to Mumbai by the end of June. On 26 September 1970, he started his first group of followers, who became known as neo-sannyasins.

These followers took on new names and wore saffron dresses typical of ascetic men, including carrying mala necklaces and wearing locket-containing mala for protection. However, they were also allowed to enjoy a lively life, rather than strictly ascetic. Rajneesh was seen as a guide and not as a god himself, being more like a sun that encourages growth and change.

By then, he had also hired Laxmi Thakarsi Kuruwa as his secretary, who, in turn, adopted the name Ma Yoga Laxmi as his first disciple. Laxmi was the daughter of one of his early followers, a wealthy Jain who had been a significant supporter of the Indian National Congress during the struggle for Indian independence, maintaining close ties with Gandhi, Nehru, and Morarji Desai. She was instrumental in raising the funds that allowed Rajneesh to halt his travels and establish a permanent residence.

In December 1970, he relocated to the Woodlands Apartments in Mumbai, where he conducted lectures and welcomed visitors, including his first Western guests. From that point forward, he traveled less frequently and no longer held open public meetings. In 1971, he adopted the title “Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.”

 

Reflecting on the decision to change his title from Acharya to Bhagwan, Rajneesh later remarked, “I loved the term. I said, ‘At least for a few years that will do. Then we can drop it.'”

Formation of the Neo-Sannyasins and Mumbai Ashram (1970-1974)

 

During the 1980s, Rajneesh faced significant health challenges due to the humid climate of Mumbai, which led to the development of diabetes, asthma, and various allergies. In 1974, on the 21st anniversary of his experience in Jabalpur, he relocated to a property in Koregaon Park, Pune. This property was acquired with the assistance of Ma Yoga Mukta, Catherine Venizelos, a Greek shipping heiress. Rajneesh delivered his teachings at the Pune ashram from 1974 to 1981.

The two adjacent houses and 6 acres (2.4 hectares) of land served as the core of the ashram, which remains the focal point of the present-day OSHO International Meditation Resort. This move facilitated the regular recording, and later, the video and printing of his discourses, allowing him to reach a much broader audience. The number of Western visitors saw a significant increase.

The ashram also featured an arts-and-crafts center that produced clothing, jewelry, ceramics, and organic cosmetics, and hosted performances of theater, music, and mime. From 1975, following the arrival of several therapists from the Human Potential Movement, the ashram began to incorporate therapy groups into its offerings, which became a significant source of income.

The Pune ashram was described as an exhilarating and intense environment, characterized by an emotionally charged, madhouse-carnival atmosphere. The day kicked off at 6:00 a.m. with Dynamic Meditation. From 8:00 a.m., Rajneesh delivered 60- to 90-minute spontaneous lectures in the ashram’s “Buddha Hall” auditorium, either commenting on religious writings or responding to questions from visitors and disciples. Until 1981, these lecture series alternated between being held in Hindi and in English.

Throughout the day, a variety of meditations and therapies took place, all of which were believed to be intensified by the spiritual energy of Rajneesh’s “buddhafield.” In the evening, Rajneesh engaged in one-on-one conversations with individual disciples or visitors, and also initiated new disciples (“gave sannyas”). Disciples would come for darshans when they were departing or returning, or whenever they had something they wanted to discuss.

By 1981, Rajneesh’s ashram was attracting 30,000 visitors annually. At this point, the majority of the daily discourse audiences were from Europe and the United State.

Observers noted a shift in Rajneesh’s lecture style in the late 1970s, characterized by a decrease in intellectual focus and an increase in ethnic or crude jokes aimed at shocking or entertaining the audience. On April 10, 1981, after nearly 15 years of daily discourses, Rajneesh embarked on a three-and-a-half-year period of self-imposed public silence.

During this time, satsangs—silent gatherings with music and readings from spiritual texts like Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet or the Isha Upanishad—became the new norm. Around the same period, Ma Anand Sheela, also known as Sheela Silverman, took over as Rajneesh’s secretary from Ma Yoga Laxmi.

 

The United States and the Oregon commune: 1981–1985

More details: Rajneeshpuram

The arrival in the United States

In 1981, the tensions in the Pune ashram and the criticism from Indian authorities led to the consideration of establishing a new commune in the United States. According to Susan J. Palmer, the move to the United States was initiated by Sheela.

Sheela and Rajneesh had discussed the idea of establishing a new commune in the US in late 1980, and he finally traveled there in May 1981. On 1 June that year, he traveled to the United States on a tourist visa, ostensibly for medical purposes, and spent several months at a Rajneeshee retreat center located at Kip’s Castle in Montclair, New Jersey.

Despite the stated serious nature of the situation, Rajneesh never sought outside medical treatment during his time in the United States, leading the Immigration and Naturalization Service to contend that he had a preconceived intent to remain there. Years later, Rajneesh pleaded guilty to immigration fraud, while maintaining his innocence of the charges that he made false statements on his initial visa application about his alleged intention to remain in the US when he came from India.

Bioterrorist attack

The deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants in The Dalles, Oregon in 1984 led to 751 people suffering from food poisoning due to Salmonella. This was a bioterrorist attack orchestrated by followers of Rajneesh, in an attempt to influence the 1984 Wasco County elections. The attack resulted in 45 hospitalizations, but thankfully no deaths. The incident remains the largest bioterrorist attack in U.S. history.

Death

Rajneesh passed away at the age of 58 on January 19, 1990, at the ashram in Pune, India. The official reason for his death was heart failure, although his commune claimed that he died because “living in the body had become a hell” following an alleged poisoning in U.S. prisons. His remains were laid to rest in his newly constructed bedroom in Lao Tzu House at the ashram in Pune. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, “Never Born – Never Died Only visited this planet Earth between December 11, 1931, and January 19, 1990”.

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