A present day visit to Rancho Rajneesh!
A letter from Niten
Hello y’all,
I happen to be in Portland Oregon for a training in Somatic Experiencing, a trauma healing modality. Having arrived here about two weeks before the start of the training I decided to go for a trip down memory lane….
Started out from Portland at about 9:00 am and found my way quite easily to route 26 in the direction of Madras, via Mt Hood. This was a beautiful drive with fresh snow on the mountain. I arrived in Madras at about mid-day, did some shopping at Safeway and had lunch before travelling on to Antelope. Before lunch I was cool as a cucumber about my visit to The Ranch. After lunch, as I made the turn off Highway 97 onto the road to Antelope my mood changed, I felt quite emotional. Like I was on a pilgrimage and not feeling comfortable because I expected not to be welcome where I was going.
My first view into the valleys 
In Antelope itself I felt definitely quite self conscious, going into the Antelope store and café and seeing a booklet for sale about the good bad old days of when the Rajneeshies were in town, cost: $20.-. I didn’t buy it but did have a flick through, just a reprint of stuff that is available on the net, all negative.
After Antelope down to the business end of my journey, onto county road 218 direction Fossil, then a right turn into Cold Camp Rd. So far it all looked familiar, at the bottom of Cold Camp Rd a left turn into Muddy Rd and on to The Ranch. Then there was a big surprise: at the entrance to the property the road went from a dirt road, the way it used to be, to a paved road! Still, I went down gingerly, both to take in the view (and many photo¹s) and because I was still a little worried about what kind of people I would meet. My last visit in 1993 had been very unpleasant in that regard….
I stopped at Krishna Murti Lake and admired the view and reminisced about the time I spent there in 1993 camping under the Pine trees with a perfect view of the lake. My next stop was at the first building of the Ranch I encountered as I entered what used the be the city of Rajneesh, or Rajneeshpuram: The fire station and peace force head quarters. I was a good place to stop, as I was taking some pictures a van pulled up with a man in it, dressed in camouflage clothing and a rifle on the passenger seat. Needless to say I was a little nervous as he called me over…. He asked me who I was and what I was doing here. I told him my name is Bruno and I am having a visit because I used to live here 25 years ago. The man was very friendly, introduced himself as Jay, and told me that the building I was looking at used to be the fire station. I told him that I knew that because I had been on the fire fighting team at the time. The he lit up because Jay happens to be the fire chief of the nearby town of Madras and he consults for the new owners of The Ranch.
Krishnamurti Lake
Jay took me in his van to see first the new fire station, located in our bus repair garage. Then as he warmed up more and more he took me all over the place, into RBG (Rajneesh Buddhafield Garage) where I used to work. There I met Terry who is now the sole occupant of that huge place that used have at least 20 mechanics and spare parts people working in it! Still, the place was packed with tools and works in progress, from car and truck repair jobs to the manufacturing of three and four wheel dirt buggies. Terry looked like a very happy 50 something year old kid in a huge sand box. Both Jay and Terry expressed their appreciation of how well everything on the Ranch had been built, specially the infra structure and the more industrial buildings.
Distant view of RBG
After RBG we went to the more central part of the Ranch, which is now being used as a holiday and education centre for teenagers. It is owned by the ‘Washington Family Ranch’, a Christian Foundation (See: http://sites. younglife. org/camps/ Wildhorse/ default.aspx ). I must say I was extremely impressed and happy to feel how beautiful the place is becoming, they have been there for nine years now and are running these weekend and also week long camps for kids. See: http://sites.younglife.org/camps/ Wildhorse/default.aspx
The vibe is relaxed and happy. The kids I saw looked great! They have complete renovated the original Ranch house and what used to be Jesus Grove, as well as the Hotel. The Ranch house and Jesus grove are used in much the same way we used to and the Hotel house up to 650 kids in dorm style. Next stop a new complex built between the Hotel and our Rajneesh Mandir: Multi Media entertainment centre, cafeteria and swimming pool, all surrounded by beautiful lawns and gardens. Then on to the Mandir, which is now a huge indoor sports complex consisting of: rock climbing wails, table tennis, pool tables, basket ball courts, tennis courts, skating ramps and more I can’t remember. It was truly amazing… both because of the sheer size of the hall (I had forgotten how big it was) as well as the feeling of joy the place exuded.
The whole Ranch is there for camps for teen-agers, this sculpture reflects the mood and vibe of the place. I have to say it warmed my heart....
After our visit to the sports complex Jay brought me back to my car as he had to get back to work. I drove slowly along the county road through the Ranch, taking some more pictures along the way and went right to the end of the area we used inhabit: Pythagoras grove. I managed to find the location where the trailer used to be that I had lived in, the steps to the front door where still there but not much else (a skeleton of a cow, that¹s all…). Just before Pythagoras there was also the road Osho used to drive, ‘Mevlana Bhagwan Drive’, it was closed off and I could not go there.
The Mandeer, now with Basket ball courts, volley ball and many other sporting facilities, including an indoor skate-board park. I had forgotten how big this building is and how awesome the view is from the end windows...
Now I had a choice to make: turn around and go back the way I came or continue on the county road to Mitchell. I chose the latter and I very happy I did. What a beautiful drive…. I am amazed I had never done it yet. Please have a look at the photo’s and you will see what I mean. Just before getting to Mitchell I stumbled across the ‘Painted Hills Unit’ of the ‘John Day Fossil Beds National Monument’. Again, have a look at the pictures to see the amazing natural beauty of this landscape. Many times on my drive I had the sentence ‘This is Gods country’ running through my mind. (I am not talking of the Christian God here of course, it just was so beautiful that I felt full of gratitude for being there).
At the Painted Hills I met a guy who was there as a member of a photography club and I asked him where I might find a hotel to spend the night as it was nearing sunset. I directed me to a town about 30 miles past Mitchell. As I came close to Mitchell I was amazed to see that Mitchell is actually quite a cute and active little town, although it only has a 160 in habitants (according the owner of the hotel, who knows them all), it has a hotel, general store, restaurant, petrol station and farm supply store. I had dinner at the restaurant and listed in amusement to the conversations going on around me (there were at least ten other diners). Most were to do with hunting and one conversation I followed in particular which was a youngish women telling her story of shooting a deer that morning and dragging it back to her horse, carving it up in four pieces, bagging it, and hanging it on
the horse to ride home…. Oh yeah! They got some real women left out here…!
After dinner back to my hotel next door, a cute little place with about six or eight rooms, half up stairs and half down stairs just off the lounge room. And now to bed…
With love,
Niten
More Photo’s at: http://picasaweb.google.com/NitenCoral/RanchoRajneeshOct2008#
Thanks for sharing your experience and beautiful pictures of the Ranch . I along with bunch of other Nepali sannyasins made a trip there back in November 2004. The person in charge gave us a brief tour of the place. We were not allowed to go inside the Meditation Hall. You got really lucky and you managed to take such nice pictures.
Love,
Ma Anand Vishakha
Thank you so much for posting.
Atleast its nice to know that its a recreational place for young teenagers and they didnt convert it in to a military camp.
Looking at the pictures of the meditation hall, the lake, the garage……
i feel if only we could restore it back to its original form, an oasis for all spiritual seekers.
maybe someday it will happen again.
Love,
Neerav
Sad story
The article of Neerav is a romatic fabrication and one more proof that the “Osho movement” has lost all its integrity, producing more and more lies to support all the denial that is going on. Remember the facts?
Those who lived in sannyas communes or even participated in the commune in Oregon between 1981 and 1985 will remember well that Sheela one day began to collect homeless from the streets of Oregon and the neighbouring states. Sheela promised a better life and a warm winter to them. After some weeks some thousand homeless were on the ranch, among them many blacks. For some time there were twice as many homeless on the ranch than sannyasins. Alcohol, fights and theft suddenly were on the daily agenda. To the outside world the whole undertaking was sold by Sheela as a social undertaking called “Share a Home”. But this was all but propaganda. In fact, something completely different was happening. It was about getting a political majority in the local elections in Wasco county. It was about to win political influence.
During the weeks to come Sheela tried to convince the newcomers in many public meetings to vote for “us”. It was completely crazy. Certainly the plans did not work, because the authorities would not issue polling cards to to the “immigrants” for the local elections. As a result Sheela and her assistants put strong tranquilizers into the drinks of the homeless and send them out by bus to the streets again (only later I found out that the homeless were fed separately from the rest of us, because they were sedated with drugs all the time). Now, at the begining of winter, the streets of Portland suddenly were filled with homeless who did not know where to go or where to sleep.
The “Share a Home” program was completely unethical and cynical. From this time on, I also started reading the „Oregonian“, additionally to the propaganda news of the “Rajneesh Times”. It was not easy to find a real perspective in this closed world. Why had Osho equipped somebody like Sheela, a power-mad housewife, with absolute power? Because he knew her from childhood? Because she was easy to control? Because she was practical and power minded?
After Sheela had left the ranch, a “revolution” broke out. At times, there was even only very poor food, because nobody appeared for work. For weeks, groups sat together everywhere, discussing. Osho had problems to keep the commune going. The whole truth came up. Everybody had his own story to tell. All the lies, the dirty tricks, the chicaneries, the whole sadism, all the Yes-Saying in the name of “Surrender”. Who, where, when, with whom and why had violated whom and had spied on whom etc. Tears. Anger. The stories I have heard then, would fill a book alone. People were mobbed extremely. There were so-called “shit lists“ of people and “hit lists” and strategies to silence people who were supposed, they could leave the ranch and talk. In the course of time, more and more came up: biological attacks with salmonella, underground escape routes and bunkers in which CIA manuals about guerrilla warfare tactics, instructions were found for the construction of bombs, poison murder and brainwashing; bugging devices installed throughout the commune, 300 firearms, material for bombs, a lab with viruses and mice, AIDS contaminated blood… murder attempts on sannyasins and outsiders, lies of all kind. Some day swimming in the Patanjali lake was prohibited. No reason given. The reason was, that the fish in the lake died: Somebody had unloaded poison in huge quantities…
The time between the escape of Sheela and Oshos takeoff from the USA was an important lesson to me! I had rationalised many things to myself. Because of my love for Osho, because of surrender and because I simply could not cope with the fact that around Osho, who had spoken so much of freedom and individuality, suddenly a religion called “Rajneeshismus” originated, “worship” in “temples” took place, paramilitary groups with colts and machine guns walked around. During the “Share a Home” program massive doubts came to me for the first time. Obviously not only to me: during the Oregon period many well known disciples of Osho left in conflict and contradiction: Teertha, Somendra, Rajen, Amithab, Satja Bharti, Poonam, Shiva, Deeksha, Laxmi just to name a few.
Arup (Garimo), who is well know by many sannyasins, because she was in charge of therapeutic groups in Poona 1, tearfully told in a public meeting that during the evacuation of the homeless she was asked by one of the homeless for warm clothes because he froze. She refused it to him and put him out on the streets with the others in the cold prewinter’s days. This is a crucial point to me! I have great respect for Arup having told this story honestly: Missing empathy is a unequivocal sign for the fact that something goes wrong. Cruel behaviour originates easily, if one is in control of existential situations. Many authors and scientists have written about this subject and I will not go into details. But I well remember a sentence by J. Fest, a well known historian, who has written many books about the Nazi characters: “The Nazis were not condemned in the Nuernberg trial because they were stupid, but because of missing compassion”. An obvious symptom is a narzistic self-confidence, where the feeling for human strength and human values is lost and a “special” ego is formed. Many may remember that the videos shown in Rajneeshpuram started with a preface, saying that the content was for „the chosen few, who will be the messengers for Rajneeshism for the world at large“ (I don’t remember exactly the words, the preface was deleted from all videos later). This was the kind of self-confidence of the regime and of many sannyasins at that time.
I stayed on the ranch until Osho had left the USA. Only when it was explained by the new regime, that there were gold mines on the ranch (to keep the folks on the ranch), I left. This was all but a ridiculous farce anymore.
In the following years I spoke with many sannyasins about the strange events. But many either rejected discussion or came up with absurd and even violent arguments. Hiding, denying and covering become a habit in the movement! Therefore I started reading books about the whole story which was an important part of my live. I read books written by sannyasins as well as books written by outsiders, trying to get an impression from as many perspectives as possible. I started with autobiographical books, because I primarily was interested in the perception of those who were involved. Later I also read books by journalist or scientists. Autobiographical publications naturally are subjective, but a great deal of the speculation is created by the fact that there is so much covered and not being spoken about officially, even today. Personally I like Satya Bharti Franklins book „The Promise of Paradise“ the best. Satya Bharti was an editor of many books of Osho and her book is absolutely sincere and honest and it contains many facts. She tells it like it was, giving many details. I did not find even one story in the book which did not correspond with my own experience. Unfortunately the most detailed and honest books by early disciples like Satya Bhartis book or „Bhagwan, the God that Failed“ by Hugh Milne (Sw. Shivamurti, Oshos bodyguard for many years) are out of print and only available second hand via the internet. But there is also Sam’s „The Life of Osho“, and Christopher Calders „Osho, Bahgwan Rajneesh, and the Lost Truth“. which both are availabe freely as PDF in the internet. I am shure, there is more to come, because there is so much hidden and covered, even today.
To join the Osho caravan and become a sannyasin for most of us meant to change our names, wear red and the mala with the picture of Osho, leave jobs and careers, families and friends. Those involved in the communes mostly worked without being payed and without any social security, because they thought this was their future and the way to live. Many lived exclusively within the social bounds of the movement, because they could not get jobs elsewere and because the outside world was not too friendly about the disciples of the notorious Osho, who produces scandals on the line.
Osho often stressed totality and many sannyasins put themself at stake completely. Therefore the investment in the Osho movement and the attachement was total, materialy as well as psychologically. Osho was talking a lot about freedom, but the fact is, that he commited his disciples up to a degree which only can be called dependency. Therefore, even today, it is extremly difficult for sannyasins to realize and accept that they have spent a great deal of their live with an illusion. It is extremly difficult for them to start talking openly and sincerely about the realities of their lifes. Many of those who were involved, also seem to fear prosecution. They rather go on building myth and hold on to an illusory image of Osho and of themselves. But it is not a good idea to silence and cover up things. It is very destructive in the long run. But we do not need new myths. Myth will just create more demage.
It is obvious that the corruption in the Osho movement is a wound for many sannyasins. Many just deny. I know the pleasant feeling to be special and feel protected just by being a sannyasin. But denial is an awful mistake! One sannyasin, confronted with Calders article, even claimed, that Calder would not even exist at all and it was all made up by him because he was rejected by the great enlightened ones of the 20th century. Even well educated people deny, some of them with elaborate arguments. These people remind me of scientists who spend their lifes to serve the Vatican to prove that Darwin was wrong (creationism), just to avoid the simple fact that the bible is a fabricated collection of brutal fairytales. It also reminds me of the denial of war criminals who deny their responsibilities in the court of justice in Den Haag. It is unbelievable how man is able to hide facts to himself and to others, if he does not want to see the obvious.
It is so strange: Osho attacked all the bigotry of other religions for his whole life, but his own disciples can not see their own blind spots. They fall into the same traps which Osho pointed out. Osho has spoken so much about truth, but his own disciples seem to be unable to tell the truth. I know that it is not easy to look into ones own biography and find, that a dream has turned out as an illusion. I also often defended Osho. But it does not help. If the feeling for truth is lost, one is on the wrong track. It is a tragic outcome, if one cannot admit truth any more.
Telling the truth inevitably means to loose friends who do not like to be disturbed in their dreams. But at the same time one gains integrety and freedom. I would like to encourage everybody to contribute. Mainly those who were NOT in the high-ranks. It is important, that those, who were NOT involved in the high-ranks or even were children raised in sannyas environments: Step forward and talk about your experiences. It is important, because those who were involved in the high-ranks obviously don’t have the guts to come up with the facts. They fear to loose their image or are afraid of prosecution. Some involved in the story have even lost any basic feeling for compassion and human understanding. They justifying even criminal acts. But criminal acts can only be defended by people who live with a life-long illusion, similar to fanatics or fundametalists. Those who try to do this, have a big blind spot. This blind spot is their image of Osho as a perfect master which Osho himself created his whole life. Many can not accept even one scratch on the image of Osho, because it hurts their own narcism and it questions their investments. They have to rationalize, but can not admit the most obvious facts and therefore have to lie. This it tragical and a waste of intelligence and energy.
To criticise Osho is not a betrayal or a sacrilege. It is a necessity. Surrender doesn’t absolve anybody from responsibility. In any case the individual remains responsible for his surrender and his obedience.
A typical argument against critique I often heard is, that the one who expresses it, must be hurt and therefore turned antagonistic. But this is just a logical trick to reject critique and turn things in a way as if it these events were just an individual problem and part of subjective perception.
Many disciples of Osho became sannyasins because Osho was a rebellious iconoclast, someone who was atacking and exposing all the lies of priests and polititions. But Osho himself ended up in a net of lies, similar to those he criticized. What I am trying to discribe here is this process of corruption. It is not something very new in the history of mankind. It has happend before, again and again! But the sad thing is, even today disciples of Osho think themselfs beyond all ethics, the chosen few somehow. Those being responsible in the Club Med in Poona today may build nice web sites. But as long as the real events of do not come to light officially, it is all but a nicely packed lie. Everything which happened is an integral part of our past and history as sannyasins. To tell only one side of the story is to create just nicely painted lies. And those who still hide, obscure, excuse and justify are jointly responsible! Ethics is not a small thing and surrender is just criminal in the context of criminal acts! To defend these things one must be either a criminal, indoctrinated, blind or dependent. Lies always have a motiv, a direction, a certain impetus. Every outsider who has a simple feeling for truth can read between the lines. All the lies ruin the truth of Osho. Intelligent people immediately see the contradictions. Osho had a great message and an incredible gift to express it. But his message is devastated to a nub trough all the stupid and unnecessary lying and narcism. It is completely wrong not to talk about these things and to repress or deny them. In the beginning it takes courage. But after the hypnosis is broken, the emotional, mental and factual realities come up.
Andreas Roth
P.S. Sorry for mistaking Neerav with Niten. The beginning of my comment certainly should be “The article of Niten is a romatic fabrication…” instead of “The article of Neerav is a romatic fabrication…”
Andreas Roth
Andreas
A great attempt to be honest, but could you be one of those who was not quite “ready”? I also was there in the communes and on the Ranch, and dont have any real observations about right and wrong or good and evil. it simply was. Something in me gestated in that time, and it did not have the taste of good or evil, but it was a taste I never had before.
By the way, you seem keen on the “facts”!
Somendra and Laxmi left the Ranch shortly after they arrived in 1982, not in 1985 as you state.. Somendra did not leave in”conflict and contradiction” he left confidently and because he simply wanted to be his own man, and no longer be a disciple. He told me so himself.
He also left long before there was any hint or whiff of scandal in the so-called movement. He then went on to create his own sangha and still inspires people, right up until today. He never “poached” sannyasins to get customers, (like many other therapists did after the Ranch) but worked hard to in fact work with people who had never known Osho. if he is a “graduate” of sannyas then maybe sannyas has more to be said for it than you suppose.
Its all a bit nagative isnt it what about all of the positive growth that happened around osho in ranch and poona two and continues to happen ?
I dont think osho `became` corrupted! I just felt a tremendous love in his presence in poona two and dont feel he somehow `lost` his integrity. The energy in buddha hall and the commune was beautifull!
Thanks for the beautiful article and pictures Niten. It is good to know that some organization is using the land with the intention of healing for American youths, who if they are sensitive will feel the vibrations of Love and Ecstasy left behind by Osho and so many of the sannyasins who lived lovingly at the Ranch.
I was personally there off and on from 1982 to 1985 and remember the place fondly as that is where I first encountered Osho and took Sannyas.
Regarding the rather lengthy and confused diatribe by Andreas Roth, sounds like you missed so much of what Osho was offering to us brother.
Yes, mistakes were made. Yes a group of sannyasins completely fucked up and it is a lesson to us all. But, there was also so much beauty there in Rajneeshpuram, so much beauty in participating in the commune on a moment to moment basis and sharing the experience of Osho with thousands of people who for the most part had open hearts.
I for one felt that there was something strange with the leadership at the Ranch. But, I knew that it was the usual political bullshit that all groups, spiritual and otherwise have to deal with. I chose not to participate in the politics but to be there for Osho and I was rewarded tremendously by his presence and his infinite gifts. Despite all of the circus atmosphere and the politics, I looked beyond all that directly to Osho and he showered his blessings on me, for which I will always be profoundly grateful.
When Osho went back to Poona, for me that was sheer ecstasy as we didn’t have to focus on building a city with all of the stresses involved in that and in the politics of America but could just relax into deep meditation. The way I see it, Osho taught for nearabout 30 years mostly in India but also in America and on his world tour. The American episode lasted about 4 years. The rest of it lasted over 20 years and countless sannyasins were profoundly blessed by his teachings and his Sacred presence. Many of his sannyasins became enlightened. And many more are moving powerfully in that direction. So, having been in Rajneeshpuram and having seen the beauty and ugliness of it and having been in Poona and having experienced the silence there, what is left for me to express? Absolute and total gratitude to Osho for the entire experience of being with him. I feel no need to single out and condemn and obsess over whatever (very real) mistakes were made. I simply chose to celebrate the unending gifts that our elightened master continuously showered on us and continues to do so to this day.
Love,
Satyam Dhyanesh
Beloved One,
It was a beautiful experiment. We often forget that this World is On Humanity. To learn the greatest thjings some pleasure may be lost.
Commune is a dream. It is a place for you to experience the reality. It has to happen and one day, the whole world will opt iti is the way.
Thought about Ranch bring tears in my eyes. Your description was wonderful. Of course it will become a Pilgrimage plcae for millions of Oshoites around the Globe.
Love,
Atmo
What I find is that the experiment with Osho, from 1931 to 1990, was completely a new phenomenon from the past. Yes, from a distance, things like that which Andreas describes, may have happened, but from a an even farther distance, it makes no difference to what Osho was offering.
Even today, while Osho is not in his body, that essence of experiment and meditation continues. I’ve listened to Osho’s discourses deeply, drinking every gap and word I could, and for many years before the Rajneeshpuram fiasco, Osho often prepared ground.
The message was experience, and he took everyone for quite a ride, and the ultimate key I found, was ‘witnessing”. People HAD to witness Sheela’s barbaric tryanny and be concious of the mud surrounding such a beautiful lotus flower.
Many things occured, but i don’t need to say “I believe Osho..” was this or that. This word “belief” is irrelevant when I say Osho used everything possible to convey the unconveyable. His contribution continues even without his body and not as a ‘dis-emodied’ master, but a witnessing essence.
In math, a negative and positive coefficent on either side of an equation, cancel each other out if they are the same number. This constant play of negatives and positives makes math and makes the very fabric of existence. In the same way, in all these talks of Osho over the last 30 years, I can only hear the cancellations of contradictions and the essence of witnessing. Osho is absolutely closest to this when he says many times, the chair is empty.
Osho beyond his talks may be represented as the actions by his “so-called” desciples…who are? This word ‘desciple’ is cunning. Descipleship cannot be trivial and be given to those who are merely “organizers”, even if they organized rajneeshpuram. But this illusion that they were close desciples of Osho because they ran the place and made it abundantly rich, is just a social conditioning.
Socially, money is the “lie” we all live in, whether we have too much or too little. Its just a tool to use, not a house to live in (maybe a tool to get that house). But, we judge so much according to money, but, essentially its just an illusion of meaning. If Osho remained a traditional mahatma or saint, without the abundance that was displayed, he would have earned the ranks in many schools of thought. However, everyone has their eye on money and Osho’s rolls royces!! (even noww!)
But those who can sink deep or rise between the gaps and song of Osho’s vision (his work, his talks, his life), can laugh at our own stupidities this very moment!! Making Meditation accesible and “in” is the greatest contribution of Osho, and I have gratitude of tears and laughter in every step.
Happy birthday OSHO!
and so that no one is confused:
I haven’t been to Rajneeshpuram or met Osho is the body (atleast not in this life
). But what i’m talking about is Osho’s discourses way before 1981, between 1971-1981!! I havent even been close to finishing any of these discourses, but from what i’ve heard so far, Osho cannot be summed up by 2-3 years in America or a few, handfull, of so called “sannyasins”.
But I know, the social current certainly moves against Osho and its easier to be on the other side and be critical (which is a great academic tool). However, to feel the subtle nuances of Osho;s vision need not be defended, because everyone has their own freedom! There’s no fanatatism, so Andreas, “live your life” (as Rihanna sings it).
But what I find is, these Calders and Roths, always seem to want to “save” sannyasins from”lies”. Almost a christian way of doing it too, as a few christians have ‘tried’ saving me from hell a couple of times! But never have I seen a sannyasin try to save anybody or tell them that their path is wrong!!! Amazing!
It is so strange to find Mr. Roth back. We discussed in another formum for quite some time till we departed in good heartful terms.
None of what MR. Roth says is his personal experience. As all of us he is quoting the Oregonian, satya bharti, shiva, … etc, He has just read the literature around Osho and come up with his own understanding… which is nothing wrong.
When I asked him for a personal truth… actual, factual experience. He had none. He was just a sannyasin as many others with no access to any of the events he mentioned.
regards
Anthony
This is not fair play. Anthony Thompson just ignores every argument I gave in a long thread on http://www.rebelliousspirit.com. Actually it is vice versa. He never was there. He is twisting it all. I repeatedly have told Anthony Thompson that I was in Poona I, in Oregon and in Poona II (after Oshos death, on various travels throughout Asia) and I have lived in various communes at that time too. I also wrote an article which contains many details. He read that article, long before he published this comment here. This kind of strategies and pseudo scientific talk remind me of reborn christians, who fanatically support creationism to defend their epiphany. This is cultlike, it will fit in most cult structures. Somehow the same approach, simmilar story. I deeply decline this kind of sophistry. I just think we have to learn from the past and not hide it, because to hide it, is an ultimate defeat and completely stupid.
Klick on the following link to get my article as PDF, containing many of the details and more:
http://www.authentic-spirit.net/denial_and_corruption.pdf
To have lived in a place where osho was residing is just not a good enough proof of being a witness to the events he discusses.
I am sorry, but still you have not provided a single proof of anything except books.
Anthony