There has been a lot of back and forth commentary on my FaceBook account concerning the documentary “Wild Wild Country”. The documentary chronicles the occurrences in the 1980’s in Oregon between the local people and the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I was one of those followers. I feel that I must set the record straight for myself about my relationship with Bhagwan…I have included a photo of myself with him and some others from India in 1980. Words will never be able to describe what I was feeling when he touched me as this photo chronicles…I just know that I was touched like never before and that particular moment is one of the reasons that I stayed close to his side for 11 years before he died…Many people who are aware of the history of Bhagwan in America accuse his secretary, Sheela, of causing the demise of the community and the instigator of the crimes that were committed by the community…..yes, she was very caustic and quite the criminal…however, I tend to disagree that she was the final source of the commune’s demise…Osho/Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was aware of everything that went down at Rajneeshpuram…a friend in RLS (Rajneesh Legal Services) was asked (before Sheela left) to research the easiest place in the world to be deported back to the US from and the hardest place in the world to be deported back to the US from…mind you…this before either Sheela or Bhagwan left…the easiest: Germany…(Sheela and her group fled to Germany)….the hardest: the Bahamas…(where was Bhagwan headed) Case closed….I have my own personal relationship with this man…even in his Death I am related…I refer to him as the Criminal Buddha…Darkness and Light…this is what he showed me…no holds barred…I feel that it is my duty to myself to post this blog entry…this is my Truth…this is my Experience…I had the ride of my life and quite frankly…the ride continues…Giddy-up-go
Ramapada says
Do you remember those weekly compilations of the news that we used to watch at Buddha Hall? Yeah, I have a distinct memory of one with Ed Meese (then, the attorney general of the US), Ronnie Raygun and the gov. of Oregon. Ed was discussing the ‘current state of affairs’ in the state and mentions “My #1 project in the state of Oregon is to get rid of those red people”. I knew right then that our stay would be short and glorious, Sheela or no Sheela a way would be found to remove us…
Anado says
Absolutely…