The man wore shoulder pads and sat on a throne surrounded by men with machine guns. It confers a sense of wholeness and utter satisfaction.Īnyone who sets out to convert the world, to accumulate unbridled wealth, diamond watches and a fleet of rolls royces is someone who is deluded, not enlightened. It’s simply having an understanding of one’s true nature and functioning from that perspective. In simple, scientific terms enlightenment is shifting the locus of one’s identity from the mind-body-sense complex to awareness from the ego to the Self. One of Shankara’s texts exhorts that the enlightened see “no difference between a lump of gold and the excreta of a crow”. I know from having immersed myself in Vedanta for the past several years that a true jnani (self-realised person) would never behave in such a manner. It’s hard to divorce a teaching from the teacher when that teacher ended up being rather psychotic.
Whenever I see an Osho quote on Instagram or Facebook, a part of me recoils, even if his words happen to be beautiful, inspiring or, indeed, true. I’ve known about these incredible events for a few years now. Although Sheela does make a statement at the very end that seems to confirm that Osho was in indeed ‘part of the scandal’ and not the innocent and aggrieved soul he made himself out to be. The former ‘sannyasins’ generally seem to remain loyal to Osho. These women were very much the face of what happened at Rajneeshpuram. Unlike Sheela, Stork knew she was doing wrong and has clearly spent the rest of her life trying to deal with what she did. But she readily set aside her moral conscience and was willing to carry out the assassinations because she believed it was for a greater cause. She was clearly a genuine person who knew right from wrong. The other most interesting character in the affair was Jane Stork. It’s terrifying to see how easily some people can justify any means to satisfy their ends. She saw nothing wrong with poisoning people en masse (in what actually remains the USA’s biggest bioterror attack), or with using several thousand homeless people to rig an election, or with planning to assassinate people. As the directors confirmed, she seemed incapable of empathy and had no remorse for her actions. She loved what she’d helped build and was fiercely protective of the place and its people.īut she also exhibited clear sociopathic tendencies. Sheela is at times sympathetic and charming. By then, following the failed assassination of Osho’s personal doctor, Sheela had fled both the commune and the country.įrom a purely psychological point of view, it’s a fascinating watch.
When everything blew up, he pointed the finger of blame entirely at Sheela. (I’d say calling himself ‘Bhagavan’, which means God, rather encouraged that). Because he kept back from both the public eye and the rest of the commune, there was no direct evidence linking him to the catalogue of atrocities committed in his name. He had immense power over his followers as can clearly be seen. Osho was clearly an intelligent and cunning man. He kept behind the scenes, allowing his press secretary/personal assassin Ma Anand Sheela to be the ‘face’ of the commune. For most of his time in Oregon he undertook a ‘vow of silence’. Osho, or Rajneesh as he was called back then (he changed his name to distance himself from the scandals) is no longer here, having passed away not long after he was booted out of the States.Īstonishingly, he remains a peripheral figure for much of the documentary.
OSHO TEACHINGS SKIN
One of the things that makes the documentary so fascinating is trying to get under the skin of those involved.