THE FINAL DAYS
Liquidation Sale
SKI CLOTHING:
Bibs, Suits, Pants,
Orig. $280 • NOW $15
SOCCER & FOOTBALL CLEATS
Spot built, Puma, Spalding
Orig $45 • NOW $5 & &7.50
In the old Porters Building
125 W. 11th
Rajneesh
Continued from Page 1
Rajneesh follower Sunshine guides visitors around the ranch
"For us it's like building a shrine to a master The object is to build a city where
we can live his teachings every day.”
The master is 51-year-old Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Bhagwan means "the
blessed one " Shree, in a strict sense, is "sir", the object of religious veneration.
Rajneesh is the man's given name It means "the full moon," or "the master of
night.”
He attracted thousands of people to Poona, India in the 1970s, where he
lectured every morning, one month in English, the next in Hindi His discourses fill
hundreds of books, cassette and video tapes that earn the Rajneesh Foundation
Inc an estimated $70,000 in monthly sales
Rajneesh no longer speaks in public
His teachings draw from other "enlightened masters" like Christ and Buddha
and Lao-Tze He talks about how genuine love makes life flower, about man being
born free and perfect, about the new "self-disclosing, fulfilled" man
He has predicted a nuclear war in the 1990s; his message, and the work of his
I followers, are tinged by urgency.
Rajneesh inspires a variety of rections, all impassioned
"I fell in love with this man,” says Ma Anand Sheela. president of Rajneesh
Foundation Inc. and the Bhagwan's personal secretary. "I fall in love with him
every day again.”
"He's very eccentric but I don't think you can classify him as a Jim Jones
wacko,” says John Stewart of Antelope He's very brilliant And supposedly very
ruthless. He's out there making quantum leaps in his thinking He’s not just
growing organic carrots by the river."
"Bhagwan has nothing to do with the ranch." Sunshine says "His concern is
with our spiritual lives "
"I feel Bhagwan as someone who. every thought, every action, everything
comes from that central core of energy," says Swami Navan, who lives at the
Rajneesh Eugene center. "I meditate and the thoughts stop, and I don't
"Sannyasins " gather at Jesus Grove daily, waiting for Rajneesh s Rolls Royce to pass by. hoping to catch a glimpse of their master
experience myself as body or emotions, but as energy. At those moments. I feel my
connection with him."
I think that the old duffer actually believes he is God " Don Smith says "If you
surround yourself with people you've told you're God. and they believe it. then
eventually you're going to believe it too "
He's not a messiah," says Swami Vedant. whose path led from India to a
professorship at Berkeley to Rajneesh "He's a simple ordinary man who has some
vision. He has put us in touch with ourselves."
Every afternoon the Bhagwan takes one of his Rolls Royces for a spin The
sannyasins gather in Jesus Grove — a section of the incorporated town — and
watch him pass
They wear sunrise colors, the most prevalent one burgundy, and the mala, a
necklace with a Bhagwan medallion, a gift from him to each sannyasin
A lead car turns into view, gravel crackling under its wheels The Bhagwan
follows, today in a yellowish Silver Spur with smoked glass. He wears a white robe
and a turban and drives slowly past the arc of his followers He looks ahead and
has his hand up on the window side of his face The sannyasins, hands clasped
together in a gesture of communion, begin to laugh Laughter passes among
them; the experience unites them People hug and kiss and stroll back to work
They are turning away from the predominately material concerns of our
society and trying to pursue more inner or spiritual matters." Dr Kim says
In a few minutes the sounds of heavy machinery — earthmovers and
rockcrushers. tractors and chain saws — echo in the canyons
Sunshine says the movement, which depends on contributions for its financial
base, has spent $32 million in 15 months on the ranch She says the ecotopia
should have 2.800 residents by 1995,
Up on this hill will be the lodge," she says. "This whole valley will be the civic
center That 10-acre ridge is for the hospital This will be a light industrial area
This area is zoned for 100 homes "
If their religious beliefs continue to appeal to human needs," Dr Kim says,
"they have a good chance of surviving and growing ."
Members of the community share in the farming labor as well as more industrial work
SHIRT
SALE
40% off
ALL WOOL SHIRTS
8. JACKETS
CAMPUS STORE ONLY
IIARVKY FOX’*
SPORTING GOODS
Hour* *30 4 30 Monday Ihrnuqh f rid ay
ALL CHAMOIS
SHIRTS
$16.95
Reg. $22.95
Photos by Bob Baker
Cultural Forum and
Eugene Folklore Society
present
An Evening
Of Quality
Folk Music
and
Country Dance
with f ^ I |
Contraband
from Bluemont .Virginia
Beginners, singles welcomed All dances taught
Sunday Oct. 24,8:00 p.m.
EMli Ballroom University of Oregon
Tickets ^ 2^® UO Students
$ 300 QeneraJ public
available at the door
Workers pause to take a "hug break" as they work to "build a shrine to the master "