Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain), later known as Osho was an Indian cult leader. He was the head of his own self-named movement, which, after its relocation from India to Wasco County, Oregon, arose tensions and controversies.
Background[]
The eldest child of a textiles merchant and one of two Taranpanthi Jains, Rajneesh lived in the small village of Kuchwada and was allowed is grandmother significant freedom that didn't bind him to strict education and other mandates. When his grandfather died, he lived with his parents in Gadarwara; his girlfriend Shashi passed away from typhoid when Rajneesh was a teenager. He was remembered as an intelligent, strongly debating student who researched death to sort through his grief. Rajneesh rejected traditional religions and researched higher states of consciousness; he loved to read, but turning to research into Marxism left him threatened with expulsion. Rajneesh put his attention to building a library primarily with communist literature with friends, and he amassed a small following consequentially. When Rajneesh turned to socialism and nationalism, he wasn't accepted by organizations once it was realized he didn't adhere to their constructs fully. Rajneesh went to college at Jabalpur, but he challenged his subjects and was encouraged to only come to exams. After a position as an assistant editor of a local newspaper, he became a public speaker at the Sarva Dharma Sammelan, an annual Jain assembly. Rajneesh earned a Bachelor and Master of Arts in philosophy, then went through some trial and error before his desires to be a professor were met at Jabalpur University, where he amassed significant attention and was recognized as beating the odds of achievement over his home village. Rajneesh traveled across India so frequently as a public speaker, he slept primarily on railway coach berths. Rajneesh protested many political, religious, and new revolutionary institutions, believing India needed to secure wealth, advancement of studies and technology, and birth control to prosper. Even wealthy merchants and businessmen followed his objections against the Orthodox. He grew so popular and controversial the university convinced him to resign.
Rajneesh Movement[]
Rajneesh developed meditation camps and offered consultations for fees, which resulted in his Life Awakening Movement forming. He became known as the "sex guru" by the press once he criticized Hinduism's interpretations of sex. In spite of Rajneesh's criticisms, his public speeches increased in frequency, and in spite of efforts to cancel his appearance, he also attended the World Hindu Conference. He solidified his meditation methods, chose disciples and designed their uniforms, including his secretary Laxmi Thakarsi Kuruwa, the daughter of a Jain with political influence and ties, and took up residence at Mumbai, where he settled down and even was met by the first of his Western acolytes. Rajneesh openly admitted he knew he was experimenting with official titles as his movement was building, arguing he was changing his roles and levels of influence on his followers' lives. Certain titles he took were already existent titles he changed the meaning of.
Rajneesh was assisted by Greek shipping heiress Catherine Venizelos in purchasing a property to make his ashram, in Koregaon Park, Pune, in 1974. From there, he recorded and distributed his speeches to global audiences, resulting in floods of visitors. An arts and crafts center was developed, and Human Potential Movement therapists partnered with Rajneesh to form therapy groups at the site. Followers consulted with him on which groups to attend or chose themselves. Encounter groups were reported as being severely violent, so it had to end after several years of operation. Additional reports of crimes included illegal labor, drug trafficking, and sex trafficking. The overall atmosphere has been compared to a carnival.
When time came to find larger properties to house the expanding movement, the Indian government refused to approve land use, exempt taxes, and grant visas to visitors, leaving the movement's debt ranging in the millions. Hindu fundamentalist Vilas Tupe tried to kill Rajneesh once from believing he was a CIA agent. The audiences the movement catered to were primarily Western by the 80s, and Rajnessh was reported to be becoming more prejudicial than intellectual. Rajneesh to a three-year break from public attention, and Sheela Silverman, a.k.a. "Ma Anand Sheela", became Ranjeesh's new second-in-command.
Relocation to the United States and Legal Issues[]
Return to India, Death, and Aftermath[]
The Pune ashram has now become the OSHO International Meditation Resort.
Modus Operandi[]
Rajneesh's higher-ranking followers targeted the civilians of The Dalles, Oregon, to to prevent them from voting in the Wasco County elections so Rajneeshpuram's candidates would have a better chance of success in gaining government positions. They snuck cultivated, nonfatal strains of salmonella bacteria into various fast food restaurants scattered across the census-designated region, leaving customers with serious fevers, which the admins of Rajneeshpuram hoped would make them too sick to cast their ballots on Election Day. When Rajneesh gave up the officials responsible, he also revealed they planned to assassinate former state attorney Charles H. Turner, but the plans were never publicly elaborated.
Profile[]
Rajneesh has been evaluated by many scholars, specialists, and psychologists, even by newspapers, the public, and celebrities. Rajneesh has been described as one of the most influential figures of India's course of history by an Indian newspaper. He taught of the unity of opposites, oppression leading to imbalance, and made his own ten commandments off his perspectives of divination and enlightenment. However, critics abound have regarded Rajneesh as a charismatic narcissist, evident in his Rolls-Royce merchandise, and like many cult leaders, derivative in his teachings contrived from other philosophies substantiated or not, altered to fit his viewpoint and intentions. He appealed to the time's of counterculture, and he was described as not being an amateur with his style and communication of preaching to his followers. His condemnation of authority figures in politics and religion, coupled with his anti-authoritarian teachings with the perspective of harmony from balance and unity of the opposites, demonstrated his intentions of normalizing contradictions, and new movements and cults often do to try and divert followers' perspectives away from reality and bring them under the hive mind. Higher authorities were arguably competition for Rajneesh or even just "different, so he cited reasons to criticize them from different sequential and long-haul viewpoints. Though his involvement of his followers' escalations to high crimes is debatable, he's been cited as manipulative of resources and circumstances, evidence the federal investigations of US Attorney Turner were initiated by around the time he was conspired against in an assassination plot. Rajnessh was seen worldwide as both a martyr and a provocation by the time he was deported when h took his Alford plea, which was likely by his intentions to no try and lose what he created, no matter the level of competence in his mindset regarding his objectives and philosophy.
Known Victims[]
The following were committed by officials and followers of the Rajneeshpuram cult, with Rajneesh's knowledge and involvement being debatable:
- The Dalles Oregon, 1984: 751 unidentified citizens (all poisoned with salmonella in fast food orders)
- Unspecified date: Charles H. Turner (a former state attorney; attempted to assassinate, but were thwarted)
On Criminal Minds[]
- Season Fourteen:
- "300" - The Rajneeshpuram commune was referenced in the episode.
References[]
Wikipedia: