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Osho
File:Osho.jpgOsho (Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain, रजनीश चन्द्र मोहन जैन)
Nationality	Indian
Movement	Jivan Jagruti Andolan; Neo-sannyas

Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain (Template:Lang-hi) (December 11, 1931 – January 19, 1990), also known under various self-given names. In the 1960s he called himself Acharya Rajneesh, then during the 1970s and 1980s Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and after his return to India he took the name Osho. He was an Indian philosopher whose entire person is surrounded by controversy: while some regard him as an enlightened spiritual teacher others think of him as a cult leader. He lived in India, the United States, and in other countries. He founded the Osho movement, a controversial spiritual and philosophical movement that continues to have many followers.

Biography

Early life

Osho was born Chandra Mohan Jain (Template:Lang-hi) in Kuchwada, a small village in the Narsinghpur District of Madhya Pradesh state in India, as the eldest of eleven children of a cloth merchant. His parents, who were Taranpanthi Jains, sent him to live with his maternal grandparents until he was seven years old. By Osho's own account, this was a major influence on his development, because his grandmother gave him the utmost freedom, leaving him carefree without an imposed education or restrictions.

At seven years old, he went back to his parents. Apparently, he received a similar kind of respect from his paternal grandfather who was staying with them; he was able to be very open with his grandfather, who was fully supportive of him. He resisted his parents' pressure to get married.

He was a rebellious, but gifted student, winning the title of All-India Debating Champion. He started his public speaking at the annual Sarva Dharma Sammelan held at Jabalpur since 1939, organised by the Taranpanthi Jain community into which he was born. He participated there from 1951 to 1968. Eventually the Jain community stopped inviting him because of his radical ideas.

Osho later alleged he became spiritually enlightened on 21 March 1953, when he was 21 years old. He claimed he dropped all effort and hope. After what he describes as an intense seven-day process he went out at night to a garden in Jabalpur, where he sat under a tree. He writes:

The moment I entered the garden everything became luminous, it was all over the place – the benediction, the blessedness. I could see the trees for the first time – their green, their life, their very sap running. The whole garden was asleep, the trees were asleep. But I could see the whole garden alive, even the small grass leaves were so beautiful.

I looked around. One tree was tremendously luminous – the maulshree tree. It attracted me, it pulled me towards itself. I had not chosen it, god himself has chosen it. I went to the tree, I sat under the tree. As I sat there things started settling. The whole universe became a benediction.

He finished his studies at D. N. Jain College and the University of Sagar, receiving a B.A. (1955) and an M.A. (1957, with distinction) in philosophy. He then taught philosophy, first at Raipur Sanskrit College, and then, until 1966, as a Professor at Jabalpur University. At the same time, he travelled throughout India, giving lectures critical of socialism and Gandhi, under the name Acharya Rajneesh (Acharya means "teacher"; Rajneesh was a nickname he had been given by his family). In 1962, he began to lead 3- to 10-day meditation camps, and the first meditation centres (Jivan Jagruti Kendras) started to emerge around his teaching, then known as the Life Awakening Movement (Jivan Jagruti Andolan). He resigned from his teaching post in 1966.

In 1968, he scandalised Hindu leaders by calling for freer acceptance of sex; at the Second World Hindu Conference in 1969, he enraged Hindus by criticising all organised religion and the very institution of priesthood.

In 1969, a group of Osho's friends established a foundation to support his work. They settled in an apartment in Mumbai where he gave daily discourses and received visitors. The number and frequency of visitors soon became too much for the place, overflowing the apartment and bothering the neighbours. A much larger apartment was found on the ground floor (so the visitors would not need to use the elevator, a matter of conflict with the former neighbours).

On September 26, 1970, he initiated his first disciple or sannyasin at an outdoor meditation camp, one of the large gatherings where he lectured and guided group meditations. His concept of neo-sannyas entailed wearing the traditional orange dress of ascetic Hindu holy men. However, his sannyasins were not expected to follow an ascetic lifestyle.

1971–1980

From 1971, he was known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Shree means Sir or Mister; the Sanskrit word Bhagwan means "blessed one". It is commonly used in India as a respectful form of address for spiritual teachers.

The new apartment also proved insufficient, and the climate of Mumbai was deemed detrimental to his health, since he had developed diabetes, asthma and numerous allergies. So, in 1974, on the 21st anniversary of his enlightenment, he and his group moved from the Mumbai apartment to a property in Koregaon Park, Pune, which had been purchased with the help of Catherine Venizelos (Ma Yoga Mukta), a Greek shipping heiress. Pune had been the secondary residence of many wealthy families from Mumbai because of the cooler climate (Mumbai lies in a coastal wetland, hot and damp, Pune is inland and much higher, so it is drier and cooler). Osho taught at the Pune Ashram from 1974 to 1981.

The two adjoining houses and six acres of land became the nucleus of an Ashram, and those two buildings are still at the heart of the present-day Osho International Meditation Resort. This space allowed for the regular audio and video recording of his discourses and, later, printing for worldwide distribution, which enabled him to reach far larger audiences internationally. The number of Western visitors increased sharply, leading to constant expansion. The Ashram soon featured an arts-and-crafts centre that turned out clothing, jewelry, ceramics and organic cosmetics and put on performances of theatre, music and mime.

Following the arrival of several therapists from the Human Potential Movement in the early seventies, the Ashram began to offer a growing number of therapy groups as well as meditations. Some of the early therapy groups, such as the Encounter group, were experimental and very controversial, since they allowed a degree of physical violence as well as sexual encounters between participants. Conflicting reports of injuries sustained in encounter group sessions and allegations of drug use amongst sannyasins began to mar the Ashram's image. Violence in the therapy groups eventually ended in January 1979, when Osho issued a press statement saying that he believed violence "had fulfilled its function within the overall context of the Ashram as an evolving spiritual commune."

The Pune Ashram was, by all accounts, an exciting and intense place to be, with an emotionally charged, madhouse-carnival atmosphere. Many observers noted that Osho's lecture style changed in the late seventies, becoming intellectually less focused and featuring an increasing number of jokes intended to shock or amuse his audience.

By the latter half of the 1970's it had become clear that the property in Pune was too small to contain the rapid growth of the Ashram and Osho asked that somewhere larger be found. Sannyasins from around India started looking for property that could be purchased and used for a larger Ashram and alternatives were found, including in the province of Kutch, Gujarat and in the Himalayas. Nothing came of many of the ideas, although a castle at Saswad, in the hills above Pune, was purchased and work started on a community there.

However, plans for a large utopian commune in India were never implemented, as mounting tensions between the Ashram and the conservative Hindu government led by Morarji Desai resulted in an impasse. Land use approval was denied and, more importantly, the government placed a moratorium on visas for foreign visitors who indicated the Ashram as their main destination in India.

In addition, Desai's government cancelled the tax-exempt status of the Ashram, resulting in a claim of current and back taxes estimated at $5 million. Conflicts with various Indian religious leaders added to the situation – by 1980, the Ashram had become so controversial that Indira Gandhi, despite a previous association between Osho and the National Congress Party dating back to his early speeches made in the sixties, was unwilling to intercede for it after her return to power.

During one of Osho's discourses in May 1980, an attempt on his life was made by a young Hindu fundamentalist.

1981–1990

By 1981, Osho's Ashram hosted 30,000 visitors per year. On 10 April 1981, having discoursed daily for nearly 15 years, Osho entered a three-and-a-half-year period of self-imposed public silence, and satsangs (silent sitting and music, with some readings from spiritual works such as Khalil Gibran's The Prophet) took the place of his discourses. Then, in mid-1981, Osho went to the United States in search of better medical care (apart from his other health issues, he now suffered from a persistent and very painful back problem). The move to America seems to have been a unilateral decision on the part of Osho's secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, who wished to ensure the availability of medical facilities in the event of any further deterioration in Osho's health. Others attributed the move to the various conflicts that had marred the period preceding his departure from Pune. There is, however, evidence that Osho had not intended to reside permanently in the United States.

After a brief spell in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheela bought (for US$6 million) a 64,000-acre (260 km) ranch in Wasco County, Oregon, previously known as "The Big Muddy Ranch", and immediately began setting up the so-called Rancho Rajneesh commune. Within a year of arriving Osho's followers had become embroiled in a series of battles with their neighbours; the principal conflict relating to land use. In May of 1982, the residents of Rancho Rajneesh (having grown larger in number than the local inhabitants) voted to incorporate the city of Rajneeshpuram.

Osho resided at Rajneeshpuram, living in a purpose-built trailer complex with an indoor swimming pool and other amenities. Over the coming years, he achieved notoriety for the large number of Rolls-Royce cars that his followers bought for his use, eventually numbering 93 vehicles.

As part of his withdrawal from public life, Osho had given Ma Anand Sheela limited power of attorney in 1981, and removed the limits in 1982. In 1983, Sheela announced that he would henceforth only speak through her. It appears that due to his self-imposed isolation, his knowledge of events in the commune was from this point derived exclusively from Sheela's reports. He would later claim that she kept him in ignorance. Likewise, many sannyasins expressed doubts about whether Sheela truly represented Osho. An increasing number of dissidents left Rajneeshpuram, citing disagreements with Sheela's autocratic leadership style.

In October 1982, an article in the Rajneesh Foundation International Newsletter announced that Osho had said an apocalyptic future was now almost inevitable, declaring that "... all the causes for a third world war have already happened. There is therefore only a very remote possibility that the conflict itself will not take place. It would take something totally unpredictable – such as, for example, contact with an intelligent life form from another galaxy – to change the direction in which humanity is heading ... the third world war ... will begin sometime between 1993 and 1999."

In 1983, Sheela announced that Osho had predicted the death of two-thirds of humanity from AIDS. As a precaution, sannyasins were required to wear rubber gloves and condoms while making love and to refrain from kissing. This was widely seen as an extreme overreaction, as AIDS was not considered a heterosexual disease at the time and the use of condoms was not yet widely recommended for AIDS prevention.

A book entitled "Rajneeshism" was published by Sheela in 1984, claiming that Rajneeshpuram was in essence a "Noah's Ark of consciousness," a "still centre in the midst of the cyclone" – in short, a safe haven for those who chose to follow Osho's path. While Osho had in previous years commented on the need for a "new man", or a quantum leap in human consciousness, to avoid a third world war, these apocalyptic themes were now being used as a means to enforce discipline within the commune.

Osho ended his period of public silence in October 1984, announcing that it was time for him to "speak his own truths". In July 1985, he resumed his daily public discourses in the commune's purpose-built, two-acre meditation hall. According to statements he made to the press, he did so against Sheela's wishes.

On 16 September 1985, Sheela and her entire management team having suddenly left the commune for Europe a few days prior, Osho held a press conference in which he labelled Sheela and her associates a "gang of fascists". He accused them of having committed a number of serious crimes, most of these dating back to 1984, and invited the authorities to investigate. The alleged crimes, which he stated had been committed without his knowledge or consent, included the attempted murder of his personal physician, poisonings of public officials, wiretapping and bugging within the commune and within his own home, and a bioterror attack on the citizens of The Dalles, Oregon, using salmonella. The subsequent investigation by the U.S. authorities confirmed these accusations and resulted in the conviction of Sheela and several of her lieutenants. While there was no evidence to link Osho himself to the crimes, his reputation suffered tremendously, especially in the West.

On 23 October 1985, a federal grand jury issued a thirty-five-count indictment charging Osho and several other disciples, including Sheela, with conspiracy to evade immigration laws. The indictment was returned in camera, but word was leaked to Osho's lawyer. Negotiations to allow Osho to surrender to authorities in Portland if a warrant were issued failed. On 28 October 1985, Osho, his personal physician and a small number of sannyasins accompanying them were arrested aboard a rented Learjet at a North Carolina airstrip; the group were apparently en route to Bermuda ($58,000 in cash and 35 watches and bracelets worth $1 million were also found on the aircraft). Osho had by all accounts been neither informed of the impending arrest nor of the reasons for the journey.

Osho's imprisonment and transfer across the country took the form of a public spectacle – he was displayed in chains, held first in North Carolina, then Oklahoma, and finally in Portland. Officials took the full ten days legally available to them to transfer him from North Carolina to Portland for arraignment. After initially pleading not guilty to all charges and being released on bail, Osho, on the advice of his lawyers, entered an "Alford plea" – through which a suspect does not admit guilt, but does concede there is enough evidence to convict him – to two counts of making false statements to a federal official. Under the deal his lawyers made with the United States Attorney's office, he was given a 10-year suspended sentence and placed on five years' probation. In addition, he paid $400,000 in fines and prosecution costs and was deported from the United States and not allowed to return for at least five years without the permission of the United States Attorney General.

Osho then began a somewhat enforced world tour, speaking in Nepal, Greece and Uruguay, among others. Being refused entry visas by more than twenty different countries, he returned to India in July 1986, and in January 1987, to his old Ashram in Pune, India. He resumed discoursing there.

In November 1987, his health failing, Osho expressed his belief that his deteriorating condition was the result of some form of poison administered to him by the U.S. authorities during the twelve days he was held without bail in various U.S. prisons. His doctors hypothesised that he had been poisoned by radiation and thallium, and that he must have slept on his right side on a deliberately irradiated mattress, since his symptoms were concentrated on the right side of his body. However, this allegation, as disseminated by Osho's one-time attorney, Philip J. Toelkes, was dismissed outright by U.S. attorney Charles H. Hunter, who stated: "It's a total and complete fiction and you have to consider the source ... the man has no credibility." Indeed, Toelkes (Swami Prem Niren) conceded that there was no evidence to support the claim. A less sinister explanation is that Osho, who had been a diabetic for many years, may have suffered from a series of systemic breakdowns in the final stages of his chronic disease, perhaps exacerbated by the stress he had experienced.

In late December 1988, he said he no longer wished to be referred to as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and shortly afterwards took the name Osho.

On January 19, 1990, four years after his arrest, Osho died, aged 58, with heart failure being the publicly reported cause.

His ashes were placed in his newly built bedroom in one of the main buildings (LaoTsu House) at his last place of residence, his Ashram in Pune, India. The epitaph reads, "OSHO. Never Born, Never Died. Only Visited this Planet Earth between Dec 11 1931 – Jan 19 1990."

Legacy

The events around Rajneeshpuram during the eighties had brought Osho and his movement into disrepute in the eyes of the public. But since Osho's death, there has been a sea change in public opinion in India. As early as 1991, an influential Indian newspaper counted Osho, among figures such as Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, among the ten people who had most changed India's destiny; in Osho's case, by "liberating the minds of future generations from the shackles of religiosity and conformism". Since then, his teachings have progressively become part of the cultural mainstream of India and Nepal, perhaps in part because of his status as a figure who had a large Western following.

In total, around 600 books are attributed to Osho. Virtually all of these are renderings of his taped discourses, and many of them reinterpret the writings of religious traditions from his perspective. His books are available in 55 different languages and have entered best-seller lists in such varied countries as Italy and South Korea.

Osho is one of only two authors whose entire works have been placed in the Library of India's National Parliament in New Delhi (the other is Mahatma Gandhi). Excerpts and quotes from his works appear regularly in the Times of India and many other Indian newspapers. Prominent admirers include the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the noted Indian novelist and journalist, Khushwant Singh. The Osho disciple Vinod Khanna, who worked as Osho's gardener in Rajneeshpuram, served as India's Minister of State for External Affairs from 2003 to 2004.

In the West, figures such as the American poet and Rumi translator Coleman Barks, the American novelist Tom Robbins and the German philosopher, author and TV host Peter Sloterdijk have championed Osho.

Osho's Ashram in Pune has become the Osho International Meditation Resort, one of India's main tourist attractions. According to press reports, it attracts some 200,000 visitors from all over the world each year; politicians, media personalities and the Dalai Lama have visited the Meditation Resort. HIV/AIDS is still a concern for the Osho movement, and AIDS tests are mandatory for those wishing to enter the resort.

Teaching

A true iconoclast, Osho spent a lifetime challenging systems, institutions, and governments that he considered to be atrophied, corrupt, neurotic, or anti-life. His teachings were not static but changed in emphasis over time, forming an enormous body of work that is impossible to cover in full. The fact that he revelled in paradox and inconsistency makes it even more difficult to present more than a flavour of his work.

His teachings were interspersed with jokes, and delivered with an oratory that many found spellbinding. He was a genuinely gifted speaker – many have said hypnotic – and extremely well read. Conversant with the whole range of traditional Eastern religious thought – Buddhism, Hassidism, Sufism, Tantrism, Taoism, to name but a few – he also drew on a great number of Western influences in his teaching.

On the ego: man as a machine

Osho's view of man as a machine, condemned to the helpless acting out of unconscious, neurotic patterns, reflects the thought of Gurdjieff and Freud. His vision of the "new man" who transcends the constraints of convention is reminiscent of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. His views on sexual liberation bear comparison to the thought of D. H. Lawrence. And while his contemporary Jiddu Krishnamurti does not seem to have been too fond of Osho's mission, there are clear similarities between their respective teachings.

Ultimately, Osho's message was a positive one. He taught that we are all potential Buddhas, with the capacity for enlightenment. According to him, every human being is capable of experiencing unconditional love and of responding rather than reacting to life. He said: "You are truth. You are love. You are bliss. You are freedom." He suggested that it is possible to experience innate divinity and to be conscious of "who we really are", even though our egos usually prevent us from enjoying this experience. "When the ego is gone, the whole individuality arises in its crystal purity." The problem, he said, is how to bypass the ego so that our innate being can flower; how to move from the periphery to the centre.

Osho views the mind first and foremost as a mechanism for survival, replicating behavioural strategies that have proved successful in the past. But by repeating the past, he says, we lose the ability to live authentically in the present. We continually repress what we genuinely feel, closing ourselves off from experiencing the joy that arises naturally when we move into the present. "The mind has no inherent capacity for joy. ... It only thinks about joy." The result, he states, is that we unconsciously poison ourselves with various neuroses, jealousies, fears, etc., rather than living in joyous, authentic awareness. By repressing sexual feelings, for example, we hope to pretend they do not exist. But repression only leads to the re-emergence of these feelings in another guise to haunt our lives. The result is a society that is obsessed with sex. Instead of repressing, he argues, we should accept ourselves unconditionally. "We have been repressing anger, greed, sex ... And that's why every human being is stinking. ... Let it become manure, ... and you will have great flowers blossoming in you." This solution could not be intellectually understood, as the mind would only assimilate it as one more piece of baggage: instead, what was needed was meditation.

On meditation

According to Osho, meditation is not just a practice, but a state of awareness that can be maintained in every moment. He used Western psychotherapy as a means of preparing for meditation – a way to become aware of one's mental and emotional hang-ups – and also introduced his own, "Active Meditation" techniques, characterised by alternating stages of physical activity and silence. In all, he suggested over a hundred meditation techniques.

The most famous of these remains his first, known today as OSHO Dynamic Meditation. This comprises five stages that are accompanied by music (except for stage 4). In the first, the person engages in ten minutes of rapid breathing through the nose. The second ten minutes are for catharsis: "et whatever is happening happen. ... Laugh, shout, scream, jump, shake – whatever you feel to do, do it!" For the next ten minutes, the person jumps up and down, shouting Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! each time they land on the flats of their feet. In the fourth, silent stage, the person freezes, remaining completely motionless for fifteen minutes, and witnessing everything that is happening to them. The last stage of the meditation consists of fifteen minutes of dancing and celebration.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

There are other active meditation techniques, like OSHO Kundalini Meditation and OSHO Nadabrahma Meditation, which are less animated, although they also include physical activity of one sort or another. His final formal technique is called OSHO Mystic Rose, comprising three hours of laughing every day for the first week, three hours of weeping each day for the second, with the third week for silent meditation. The result of these processes is said to be the experience of "witnessing", enabling the "jump into awareness".

On the function of the master

Another key ingredient of his teaching is his own presence as a master: "A Master shares his being with you, not his philosophy. ... He never does anything to the disciple." He delighted in being paradoxical and engaging in behaviour that seemed entirely at odds with traditional images of enlightened individuals. All such behaviour, however capricious and difficult to accept, was explained as "a technique for transformation" to push people "beyond the mind." The initiation he offered his followers was another such device: "... if your being can communicate with me, it becomes a communion. ... It is the highest form of communication possible: a transmission without words. Our beings merge. This is possible only if you become a disciple." Ultimately though, Osho even deconstructed his own authority, emphasising that anything and everything could become an opportunity for meditation.

On the "New Man"

By the aforementioned means, Osho hoped to create "a new man" combining the spirituality of Gautama Buddha with the zest for life embodied by Zorba the Greek in the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis: "He should be as accurate and objective as a scientist ... as sensitive, as full of heart, as a poet ... rooted deep down in his being as the mystic." This new man, "Zorba the Buddha", should reject neither science nor spirituality, but embrace them both. He believed humanity to be threatened with extinction due to over-population, impending nuclear holocaust, and diseases such as AIDS, and thought that many of society's ills could be remedied by scientific means.

This new man would no longer be trapped in institutions such as family, marriage, political ideologies, or religions. In this respect, Osho has much in common with other counter-culture gurus, and perhaps even certain postmodern and deconstructional thinkers. His term the "new man" applied to men and women equally, whose roles he saw as complementary; indeed, most of his movement's leadership positions were held by women.

Summary

In the course of his life, Osho spoke on all the major spiritual traditions, including Tantra, Taoism, Christianity, Buddhism, Yoga, the teachings of a variety of mystics, and on sacred scriptures such as the Upanishads and the Guru Granth Sahib. But the topic that predominated, and on which he came to focus exclusively towards the end of his life, was Zen.

If Osho's teachings seemed mad, playful or simply absurd, this was no doubt intentional: as an explicitly "self-deconstructing" or "self-parodying" guru, his teaching as a whole was said to be nothing more than a "game" or a joke. His early lectures were famous for their humour and their refusal to take anything seriously. His message of sexual, emotional, spiritual, and institutional liberation, as well as his contrariness, ensured that his life was surrounded by conjecture, rumor, and controversy.

Reception and controversies

Appraisal as a thinker and speaker

There are widely diverging views on Osho's qualities as a thinker and speaker. It seems these opinions say as much about the people holding them as they do about Osho.

The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk has called him a "Wittgenstein of religions", "one of the greatest figures of the 20th century"; in his view Osho had performed "a radical deconstruction of the word games played by the world's religions." The American poet Coleman Barks likened reading his discourses to the "taste of fresh springwater". Khushwant Singh, eminent author, historian and former editor of the Times of India, said, "Osho is really a free-thinking agnostic. He is profoundly erudite and can explain the most abstract conception in simple language illustrated with witty anecdotes. He mocks gods, prophets, scriptures and religious practices and gives a totally new dimension to religion."

Others, however, found themselves entirely unimpressed by Osho's oratory, expressing themselves in a context that was almost completely hostile, cynical or sarcastic about his movement. The author and broadcaster Clive James, for example, scornfully referred to him as "Bagwash", a title which he found it "impossible not to call him if you have ever sat in a laundrette and watched your underwear revolve soggily for hours while exuding grey suds. The Bagwash talks the way that looks." Following a gushing review of Osho's talks by Bernard Levin in The Times, Dominik Wujastyk, also writing in The Times, similarly expressed his opinion that "the talk was of an extremely low standard, often factually wrong, and wearyingly repetitive."

The religious scholar Hugh B. Urban, Assistant Professor of Religion and Comparative Studies at Ohio State University, found Osho's teachings "neither original nor particularly profound", but "consisting in large part of material borrowed from Eastern and Western philosophies." What he found most original about Osho was his keen commercial instinct or "marketing strategy", by which he adapted these teachings to meet the changing desires of his audience, a theme also picked up on by Gita Mehta in her book Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East.

Bob Mullan, a sociologist from the University of East Anglia, summed up Osho's vast body of writings as a kind of "postmodern pastiche". Although he considered his range and imagination second to none, and acknowledged that many of his statements were quite insightful and moving, even profound at times, what remained was a "potpourri of essentially counter-culturalist and post-counter-culturalist ideas, namely: strive for 'love' and freedom, live for the moment, self is important – 'you are okay', there is mystery in life, the fun ethic, the individual is responsible for his own destiny, drop ego (including fear and guilt), and so on."

Charisma

Most people who saw Osho in person, whether detractors, admirers, sannyasins or disaffected followers, appear to agree that he was possessed of extraordinary charisma. Many sannyasins and ex-followers have stated that hearing Osho speak, they "fell in love with him." Sally Belfrage, who penned a rather disparaging account of life in Osho's Ashram in India, nevertheless confessed on viewing him in person that "he was AB-SO-LUTE-LY RI-VET-ING." Frances FitzGerald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote a study of Rajneeshpuram for The New Yorker magazine, stated, "He was – in a way that could not be appreciated on videotape – a brilliant lecturer ... what I had not gathered from reading the lecturers was his talent as a comedian. The jokes sounded better than they read, but far better were the comic riffs he would go off into once or twice in a lecture – little experiments in language and the play of associations. Also, Rajneesh was a world-class hypnotist. One of his lectures ended with a description of a dewdrop sliding off a lotus leaf and being carried down a stream to the ocean. It put virtually everyone in his audience into an alpha-wave state at ten in the morning." Hugh Milne, an ex-follower, writes of his first meeting with Osho, "Whatever this marvellous being is doing, it is far more than the words that are passing between us. There is no invasion of privacy, no alarm, but it is as if his soul is slowly slipping inside mine, and in a split second transferring vital information.

Personality and alleged personality disorder

In his paper The Narcissistic Guru: A Profile of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Ronald O. Clarke, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Oregon State University, argued that Osho, like other charismatic religious leaders, possessed all the essential features of narcissistic personality disorder, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association. Basing his study for the most part on statements made by Osho himself, Clarke concludes that Osho exhibited a grandiose sense of self-importance and uniqueness; a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success; a need for constant attention and admiration; a set of characteristic responses to threats to self-esteem; disturbances in interpersonal relationships; a preoccupation with grooming combined with frequent resorting to prevarication or outright lying; and a lack of empathy. Drawing on Osho's reminiscences of his childhood in his book Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, he argues that Osho suffered from a fundamental lack of parental discipline, due to his growing up in the care of overindulgent grandparents. Osho's self-avowed Buddha status, he argues, was part of a delusional system associated with his severe narcissistic personality disorder; a condition of ego-inflation rather than egolessness.

Culpability for crimes committed in Oregon

Osho claimed that because he was in silence and isolation, meeting only with Sheela, he was unaware of the crimes committed by the Rajneeshpuram leadership until Sheela and her "gang" left, and sannyasins came forward to inform him. A number of commentators have stated that they consider this not even remotely possible. Others have pointed to the fact that although Sheela had bugged his living quarters and made her tapes available to the U.S. authorities as part of her own plea bargain, no evidence has ever come to light that Osho had any part in her crimes.

Sex guru

Osho's liberal views on sex and emotional expression – first formulated in the sixties in a series of discourses later published under the title From Sex to Superconsciousness – and the resulting unrestrained behaviour of sannyasins visiting his Pune Ashram at times caused considerable consternation, dismay and panic among people holding different views on these matters, both in India and the U.S. A number of Western daily papers routinely, and falsely, claimed that Bhagwan, a traditional title for spiritual teachers in India, meant "Master of the Vagina", and focused their reporting on sexual topics.

There have also been numerous reports of adults in Osho communities around the world engaging in sexual practices with with children of varying ages . While none of these accounts involves Osho himself of, such behavior seems to have been common practice with some of his followers.

Personal wealth

Osho said that he was "the rich man's guru", and that material poverty was not a spiritual value. He was photographed wearing sumptuous clothing and hand-made watches. He drove a different Rolls-Royce each day – his followers reportedly wanted to buy him 365 of them, one for each day of the year. Publicity shots of the Rolls-Royces (more than 90 in the end) appeared in the press, apparently as a deliberate taunt.

While Osho surrounded himself with luxury, members of the Oregon commune "were forced to do twelve hours work a day for no pay." and "had to endure unbearable hardships" .

Some of the children living in the communes were also not as lucky : Apart from the emotional neglect, some of them had to work in support of their parents lifestyle or were forced by strangers to greet Osho during his "drive-bys" in Rajneeshpuram.

Deconstructionism

In his discourses, Osho consistently attacked organisational principles embraced by societies around the world – the family, nationhood, religion. He condemned priests and politicians with equal venom, and was in turn condemned by them.

Alleged drug abuse

Osho dictated three books while undergoing dental treatment under the influence of nitrous oxide (laughing gas): Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, Notes of a Madman, and Books I Have Loved. This led to allegations that Osho was addicted to nitrous oxide gas. In 1985, on the American CBS television show 60 Minutes, Sheela claimed that Osho took sixty milligrams of Valium every day. When questioned by journalists about the allegations of daily Valium and nitrous oxide use, Osho categorically denied both, describing the allegations as "absolute lies".

Criminal activity

There have been recurrent allegations that Osho was connected to criminal activity, going back to the early days of the Poona ashram. There is evidence that some Western hippie sannyasins were financing their extended stays in India through prostitution and drug running. Some of them have claimed that, while Osho was not directly involved, he was aware of, and gave his blessing to, this kind of activity.

Conclusion

The author of a recent academic study of the Osho phenomenon has remarked that the "answer to whether Osho was a manipulator, addicted to power, etc., or a radically enlightened spiritual master who continues to offer a joyful, authentic, and enriching – if at times turbulent – path to those who open their hearts to him, seems to rest with the one asking the question, and with posterity."

Further reading

• Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic (St. Martin's Griffin) 2001 ISBN 0-312-28071-8
• Osho, Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (Rajneesh Foundation International) 1985 ISBN 0-88050-715-2; new edition (Rebel Publishing House) 1998 ISBN 81-7261-072-6
• Sue Appleton, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: The Most Dangerous Man Since Jesus Christ (Rebel Publishing House) 1987 ISBN 3-89338-001-9
• Harry Aveling (ed.), Osho Rajneesh and His Disciples: Some Western Perceptions (Motilal Banarsidass) 1999 ISBN 81-208-1598-X (Hardcover); ISBN 81-208-1599-8 (Paperback) (includes sociological studies by Susan J. Palmer, Lewis F. Carter, Roy Wallis, Carl Latkin and others previously published in various academic journals)
• Sally Belfrage, Flowers of Emptiness: Reflections on an Ashram (Doubleday) 1981 ISBN 0-385-27162-X
• Ma Satya Bharti, Death Comes Dancing: Celebrating Life With Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Routledge) 1981 ISBN 0-7100-0705-1
• Satya Bharti Franklin, The Promise of Paradise: A Woman's Intimate Story of the Perils of Life With Rajneesh (Station Hill Press) 1992 ISBN 0-88268-136-2
• Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram: A Community without Shared Values (Cambridge University Press) 1990 ISBN 0-521-38554-7
• Frances FitzGerald, Cities on a Hill: A Journey Through Contemporary American Cultures (Simon & Schuster) 1986 ISBN 0-671-55209-0 (includes a section on Rajneeshpuram previously published in two parts in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 and Sept. 29 1986 editions)
• Juliet Forman, Bhagwan: One Man Against the Whole Ugly Past of Humanity (Rebel Publishing House) 2002 ISBN 3-893-38103-1
• Judith M. Fox, Osho Rajneesh. Studies in Contemporary Religion Series, No. 4 (Signature Books) 2002 ISBN 1-56085-156-2 Excerpts available here
• Tim Guest, My Life in Orange: Growing up with the Guru (Harvest Books) 2005 ISBN 0-15-603106-X
• Bernard Gunther, Swami Deva Amit Prem, Dying for Enlightenment: Living with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Harper & Row) 1979 ISBN 0-06-063527-4
• Rosemary Hamilton, Rosemary Lansdowne, Hell-bent for Enlightenment: Unmasking Sex, Power, and Death With a Notorious Master (White Cloud Press) 1998 ISBN 1-883991-15-3
• Latkin, Carl A. "Feelings after the fall: former Rajneeshpuram Commune members' perceptions of and affiliation with the Rajneeshee movement". Sociology of Religion. 55 (1): Pages 65-74. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Win McCormack, Oregon Magazine: The Rajneesh Files 1981-86 (New Oregon Publishers, Inc.) 1985 ASIN B000DZUH6E
• George Meredith, Bhagwan: The Most Godless Yet the Most Godly Man (Rebel Publishing House) 1988 ASIN B0000D65TA (by Osho's personal physician)
• Hugh Milne, Bhagwan: The God that Failed (St. Martin's Press) 1987 ISBN 0-312-00106-1 (by Osho's one-time bodyguard)
• Bob Mullan, Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Routledge & Kegan Paul Books Ltd) 1984 ISBN 0-7102-0043-9
• Donna Quick, A Place Called Antelope: The Rajneesh Story (August Press) 1995 ISBN 0-9643118-0-1
• Sam, Life of Osho (e-book) (Sannyas) 1997 (review)
• Ma Prem Shunyo, My Diamond Days with Osho: The New Diamond Sutra (Full Circle Publishing Ltd) 2000 ISBN 8-176-21036-6

References

1. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 51) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
2. Osho: Come Follow To You, Vol. 2, Chapter 4
3. Osho: From Darkness to Light, Chapter 6: Every Child's Original Face is the Face of God
4. Interview with Howard Sattler, 6PR Radio, Australia, video available here
5. "Online biography". Retrieved 2007-11-23.
6. Smarika, Sarva Dharma Sammelan, 1974, Taran Taran Samaj, Jabalpur
7. "My Awakening". Retrieved 2007-11-23.
8. Osho: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol. 2, Chapter 11
9. "University of Sagar website". Retrieved 2007-11-23.
10. "Encyclopædia Britannica entry". Retrieved 2007-11-23.
11. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1)
12. ^ Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, Appendix
13. ^ "University of Oregon Libraries Collection, Historical Note". Retrieved 2007-11-23.
14. Macdonell Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (see entry for bhagavat, which includes bhagavan as the vocative case of bhagavat)
15. Glossary definition; example of use for Ramana Maharshi
16. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 78
17. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 87
18. Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 48–54) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
19. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 15) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
20. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 80
21. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 16) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
22. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 17) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
23. ^ New York Times article dated 13 Nov. 1981
24. Karlen, N., Abramson, P.: Bhagwan's realm, in: Newsweek, December 3 1984
25. Prasad, R.C.: Rajneesh: The Mystic of Feeling, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (Revised Second Edition, 1978)
26. Mehta, G.: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979
27. Mitra, S., Draper, R., and Chengappa, R.: Rajneesh: Paradise lost, in: India Today, December 15 1985
28. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 84
29. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 18) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
30. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 85
31. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 21) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
32. Goldman M.S. (1991), Reviewed Work(s): Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram: The Role of Shared Values in the Creation of a Community by Lewis F. Carter, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Dec.), pp. 557–558.
33. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 63–64) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
34. Times of India article dated 18 Nov. 2002
35. Mitra, S., Draper, R., and Chengappa, R.: Rajneesh: Paradise lost, in: India Today, December 15 1985
36. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 22) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
37. Palmer S. J. (1988). Charisma and Abdication: A Study of the Leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 2. (Summer), pp. 119-135 (p. 127)
38. Guru in Cowboy Country, in: Asia Week, July 29 1983, pp. 26–36
39. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 24) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
40. ^ New York Times article dated 16 Sep. 1981
41. Latkin, C. (1992): "Seeing Red: A Social-Psychological Analysis of the Rajneeshpuram Conflict", in Sociological Analysis, Vol. 53, No. 3, Monopolism and Pluralism in American Religion and Society (Autumn), pp. 257–271
42. Wakin D. J., Rajneesh-Rolls Royce, Associated Press Writer, APpa 07/26 1407
43. ^ The Hindu article dated 16 May 2004
44. Palmer S. J. (1988). Charisma and Abdication: A Study of the Leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 2. (Summer), pp. 119-135 (p. 128)
45. ^ Susan J. Palmer (1988): "Charisma and Abdication: A Study of the Leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Sociological Analysis, 49:2, p. 119–135; also included in Harry Aveling (ed.): Osho Rajneesh and his Disciples: Some Western Perceptions, Delhi 1999, p. 378
46. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 94
47. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 1), p. 93
48. Rajneesh Foundation International Newsletter, 1, 14, 1st October, 1982: iv
49. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 26) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
50. ^ Palmer S.J. & Sharma A.(Editors) (1993). The Rajneesh Papers: Studies in a New Religious Movement, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, pp. 155–158. ISBN 81-208-1080-5
51. Palmer S. J. (1988). Charisma and Abdication: A Study of the Leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 2. (Summer), pp. 119-135 (p. 129)
52. Rajneesh Times, 16, 1st October, 1984:6
53. Roy Wallis: "Religion as Fun? The Rajneesh Movement", Sociological Theory, Religion and Collective Action, Queen's University, Belfast, 191–224; also included in Harry Aveling (ed.): Osho Rajneesh and his Disciples: Some Western Perceptions, Delhi 1999, p. 156–157
54. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 27) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
55. Osho: The Last Testament, Vol. 2, Chapter 29 (transcript of interview with Stern magazine and ZDF TV, Germany)
56. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 29 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 2), p. 108
57. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 233–238) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
58. ^ PublishingTrends.com
59. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 29 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 2), p. 110
60. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 232) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
61. Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 232, 233, 238) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
62. ^ Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 29 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 2), p. 111
63. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990:234–235) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
64. "Acharya Rajneesh", Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, September 5, 2003.
65. Staff. "Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 5th ed., Gale Group, 2001.
66. Staff. "Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Newsmakers 1990, Gale Research, 1990, pp. Issue 2.
67. Staff. "Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Almanac of Famous People, 9th ed., Thomson Gale, 2007.
68. Stern, Richard L. (June 24, 1991). "Bhagwan Washington? (Dennis Washington's purchase of ranch owned by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)". Forbes 147 (13).
69. Joseph R. Greene, Director, Office of Policy and Planning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
70. Staff. "Wasco County History", Oregon Historical County Records Guide, Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
71. Staff. "Oregon History: Chronology - 1952 to 2002", Oregon Blue Book, Directory and Fact Book compiled by the Oregon State Archives, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
72. Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990:241) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
73. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 35–36) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
74. Akre B. S.: Rajneesh Conspiracy, Associated Press Writer, Portland (APwa 12/15 1455)
75. ^ Bombay High Court tax judgment, sections 12–14
76. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 42) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
77. News Post India article dated 19 January 2008
78. Former prime minister of Nepal, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, on a visit to the Kathmandu Osho commune
79. Hugh B. Urban: Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA (2003: 242)
80. Carter L.F.(1987). The "New Renunciates" of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: Observations and Identification of Problems of Interpreting New Religious Movements, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Jun.), pp. 148–172
81. Tehelka article dated 30 June 2007
82. ^ San Francisco Chronicle article dated 29 Aug. 2004
83. The Tribune article dated 25 July 2002 (8th from the top)
84. Parliamentary Biography
85. Osho, Just like that: Talks on Sufism, with an introduction by Coleman Barks, ISBN 3-893-38113-9
86. Interview with Tom Robbins
87. German-language interview with Peter Sloterdijk in Lettre International
88. Page on virtualpune.com
89. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 41) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
90. Indian Embassy website, section "A modern Ashram"
91. Willamette Week Online, Portland, Orgeon, article dated 2 Feb. 2000
92. Osho Meditation Resort Website FAQ
93. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 1) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
94. Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, p. 1
95. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 1) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
96. Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, p. 33
97. Prasad, R.C.: Rajneesh: The Mystic of Feeling, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (Revised Second Edition, 1978) pp. 14–17.
98. Carter L.F. (1987): The "New Renunciates" of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: Observations and Identification of Problems of Interpreting New Religious Movements, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Jun.), pp. 148–172
99. Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 41) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
100. Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram (1990: 50) ISBN 0-521-38554-7
101. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 3) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
102. Osho: The Goose Is Out, p. 286, quoted in Fox (2002: 3)
103. Osho: The Goose Is Out, p. 142, quoted in Fox (2002: 3)
104. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 4) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
105. Osho: The Goose Is Out, p. 13, quoted in Fox (2002: 4)
106. Osho: Be Silent and Know, p. 36, quoted in Fox (2002: 4)
107. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 5) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
108. ^ Osho: Meditation: The First and Last Freedom, p. 35
109. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 6) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
110. ^ Hugh B. Urban (1996). "Zorba The Buddha: Capitalism, Charisma and the Cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Religion 26, 161–182
111. Osho: Philosophia Perennis, p. 10, quoted in Fox (2002: 6)
112. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 7) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
113. Peter Sloterdijk: Selbstversuch. Ein Gespräch mit Carlos Oliveira, p. 105
114. Introduction to Osho's book Just like that
115. Khushwant Singh, writing in the Indian Express, December 25, 1988, quoted e.g. here
116. Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, p. 2
117. ^ Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, pp. 8–9
118. Obituary of Bernard Levin in The Daily Telegraph dated 10 August 2004
119. Hugh B. Urban (1996). "Zorba The Buddha: Capitalism, Charisma and the Cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", Religion 26, 161–182
120. Gita Mehta: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East, Vintage Books, 1994, ISBN 0679754334
121. Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, p. 48
122. ^ Palmer S. J. (1988). Charisma and Abdication: A Study of the Leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 49, No. 2. (Summer), pp. 119-135 (p. 122)
123. Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Routledge 1983, ISBN 0710200439, p. 67
124. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 22 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 2), p. 106
125. Hugh Milne: Bhagwan, the God that Failed, Caliban Books, 1986, ISBN 0-85066-006-9, p. 48
126. Harry Aveling (ed.): Osho Rajneesh and his disciples. Some Western perceptions, p. 55–92
127. ^ Uday Mehta: Modern Godmen in India: A Sociological Appraisal, p. 117
128. Harry Aveling: The Laughing Swamis, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi 1994, ISBN 81-208-1118-6, p. 205
129. Article in The New Yorker magazine, Sept. 29 1986: Frances FitzGerald: A reporter at large – Rajneeshpuram (part 2), p. 109
130. Harry Aveling (ed.): Osho Rajneesh and his disciples. Some Western perceptions, p. 17
131. Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 50) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
132. Article on religioustolerance.org, in the last paragraph above the section Beliefs and Practices
133. Tim Guest, My Life in Orange: Growing up with the Guru (Harvest Books) 2005 ISBN 0-15-603106-X
134. ^ Maroesja Perizonius, Child of the commune, Lemming film, 2004
135. Osho: From Darkness to Light, Chapter 29: History repeats itself, unfortunately, Question 1
136. Osho: Beyond Psychology, Chapter 9: I Want to Provoke Your Jealousy
137. Times of India article dated 3 Jan. 2004
138. Sam Jordison, The Joy Of Sects: An A-Z of Cults, Cranks and Religious Eccentrics: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sects But Were Afraid to Ask, Robson Books Ltd (7 Nov 2005), ISBN 1861059051
139. See for example his book Come Follow to You, Vol. 1., Chapter 9: Go Thou and Preach the Kingdom of God
140. Witness the title of one of his books, Priests and Politicians: The Mafia of the Soul, ISBN 3-893-38000-0
141. Article on sannyasworld.com
142. Osho: The Last Testament, Vol. 4, Chapter 19 (transcript of an interview with German magazine, Der Spiegel)
143. ^ Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh, (2002: 47) ISBN 1-56085-156-2
144. Sam, Life of Osho, Sannyas, London, 1997, p. 57–58, 80–83, 112–114

External links

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• Osho International Foundation
• Excerpt of an Osho discourse on youtube
• Osho Bibliography at Sannyas Wiki

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• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from February 2008
• 1931 births
• 1990 deaths
• Spiritual teachers
• Indian writers
• Dharmic writers
• Indian philosophers
• Modern Indian philosophers
• Religiously motivated violence in the United States
• People from Madhya Pradesh
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• Osho movement