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Where have they all gone?
By Mary Courtis
Of Ihf Kmerald
Where have all the Rajneeshees gone?
It seems a pertinent question. From the time the
group bought the Big Muddy Ranch in eastern
Oregon and renamed it Rajneeshpuram. their
presence in the state consistently made headlines
and incited heated controversy over a three-year
period. Clashes between Oregon officials and tin;
Rajneeshees’ outspoken representative. Ma Anand
Sheela, received frequent national coverage.
Entertainers and social observers also were
quick to joke about and judge the group. Bill the (’.at
underwent a temporary conversion to Rajneeshism
in the comic strip “Bloom County.*’ for example,
and TV hosts such as Phil Donahue arranged
debates between Rajneeshees and their critics.
Interest in the Rajneeshees also ran high among
the academic community. Sociologists and
psychologists from the University. Oregon State
University and several colleges in Washington
visited Rajneeshpuram, and many conducted
studies dealing with the community or its residents.
Then in the fall of 1985. Sheela and several
other important people in the Rajneeshee organiza
tion abruptly left Rajneeshpuram. It later was
reported that they had embezzled millions of
dollars from Rajneesh Foundation International,
and their names were linked to other questionable
acts such as tapping rooms and telephone lines, an
outbreak of salmonella in the Dalles and attempts to
poison members of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's per
sonal staff.
I hough tin; Rajneeshee community made a
determined bid to survive this scandal, their efforts
were in vain. Further investigation by local
authorities suggested that other illegal activities —
most notably sham marriages allegedly arranged by
Kajneesh to get foreign sannyasins (disciples) into
the United States had taken place at Ra
jneeshpuram. Such reports led to the arrest and
later expulsion of Rajneesh from the country and
the deportation of most foreign sannyasins.
These events marked the demise of Ra
jneeshpuram as a vital community and the Ra
jneeshees as a vocal and visible group in Oregon.
Consequently, there has been speculation that Ra
jneeshism is dead as a religious movement and its
followers disbanded and disenchanted.
These rumors have little substance, however.
The Rajneeshee movement has not dissolved,
but only gone underground — especially in Oregon
and other states where the resentment towards san
nyasins was and is the greatest. Many of these
disciples have dropped their Sanskrit names and no
longer wear red clothes or malas, the lockets with
Rajneesh s picture on them. Many have gone back
to school or resumed their former professions. They
also are less likely to live communally or engage in
group activities than in the past.
Smaller city- or area-specific centers also have
tended to replace former attempts to consolidate
either power or people. Most of these centers are
careful to avoid negative publicity and in some
cases downplay their affiliation with Rajneesh. But
though the outer form may have changed, the inner
commitment these sannyasins feel for their master
remains the same.
"Much of the outer structure of the organiza
tion has evaporated." said Swami Prem Jal. a san
nyasin who lives in Seattle. "The outer form of the
movement now seems more like what 1 feel it has
always been in essence: an individualistic path of
inner growth. For me. the challenge of being part of
the development of an alternative culture has been
Rajneesh movement still strong;
disciples now living in mainstream
replaced by that of individual growth while living
and working in the mainstream society.... The
larger community still exists, but few of us feel the
need to consistently gather together in large groups.
Most of us keep quite busy developing our owm in
dividual lifestyles.”
For some sannyasins, however, the attempt to
integrate hack into American culture has not been
easy.
“Before becoming a sannyasin 1 lived for 15
years in Portland and owned a home there,” said
Ma Vinal Agyana, another Seattle sannyasin. “But
after 1 left the ranch (Rajneeshpuram), my right to
vote was revoked and 1 couldn’t get a job in
Portland. The prejudice was so had that 1 finally had
to move to Seattle.”
Agyana hopes to return to Portland in the
future. But other sannyasins plan to remain in the
Seattle area as permanent residents. They keep in
touch with each other through an informal phone
network and meet periodically at one of the 10 to 20
houses that serve as communal gathering spots to
watch videos of Rajneesh’s latest discourses, to
meditate or to discuss experiences and insights.
Space also is made available for traveling san
nyasins or other visitors at the cost of $15 per day,
which includes a private room and three meals.
Coordination of this and other activities is very
loose and relaxed. But the apparent lack of structure
does not seem to bother sannyasins.
“1 do not feel that the growth process of san
nyasins stopped because of the lack of a center,
commune or of therapy groups,” Jal said. “The
spontaneous interactions of sannyasins within and
between the houses, as we deal with the practical
and human problems of everyday life, serve as
highly effective catalysts for both catharsis and
awareness. I view my house as an ongoing,
leaderless growth group.”
1 Instructured spontaneity does not characterize
the interactions of all Rajneeshee communities,
however. In San Francisco, for example, sannvasins
maintain their own newspaper and opportunities
for group meditation, and other activities are more
frequent and varied. I ies to Kajneesh Friends Inter
national. located now in Boulder. Colo., also are
stronger and more judiciously acknowledged than
in Seattle.
"Basically. Seattle sannvasins are a bunch of
rebels and anarchists.” Svvami Deva Pradip said.
A lot of us originally came here because we
wanted to be close to Bhagwan, but we didn't want
to live at Rajneeshpurum and deal with tin*
organization.”
Among those sannvasins who stayed at Ra
jneeshpuram until it closed, most did not seem hit
ter about tin* experience or wish they had not par
ticipated in life at the commune. Rather, they ap
peared to regard their time spent there as a positive,
growth-promoting step in their spiritual develop
nient and devotion to Rajneesh.
"I do not look hack on my experience at Ra
jneeshpuram as being negative.” |al said. ”1 came
to feel that the energy of the place was such that it
served as a kind of psychic vacuum cleaner for my
own negative and unnatural conditioning,
relentlessly pulling large quantitites out from inside
me so that I could wallow in them for a while until
they disappeared. ... I now have a sense of a very
definite gap between the person I was before and
after this period of time.”
Some sannyasins also believe that the media
coverage biased public perspectives on events at Ra
jneeshpuram and that many of the actions taken by
community leaders at the time were understandable
or quite legitimate.
After 1 became a saiwyasin people became
very hostile, Agyana said. "One time I was almost
run down deliberately in the street - twice! Many
people who patronized our Zorba the Buddha'
restaurant in Portland had their tires slashed. While
at the ranch, I also personally experienced being
shot at by cowboys when 1 was working in the
vegetable fields. 1 feel that this climate of hostility
made everyone at the ranch feel threatened, and tin*
wire tapping and other security procedures were in
stituted to protect the community. It’s unfortunate
that the press blew the facts way out of proportion.”
Another common misunderstanding was that
the Kajneeshees "took over" the neighboring town
of Antelope, Agyana said.
"The land in Antelope was up for sale," she
said. "We just bought it. It's ridiculous to say that
we took over the town. Another misconception is
that Bhagwan is fabulously rich and self-indulgent.
In truth. Bhagwan doesn't own anything — in
cluding any of the cars he drove. A separate finance
company owned the Rolls Royces and they were
considered to be investments. Bhagwan just en
joyed driving them. They were gifts of love, given
freely. To think that coercion or brainwashing was
ever involved is to misunderstand the master/disci
ple relationship and not appreciate what it means."
Clearly. Rajneeshism is still alive. Whether it
will persist and ever gain recognition as a legitimate
religion in the minds of most Americans still is
uncertain.
Wolff
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