Rajneesh - Associated Press - Wild Wild Country TV - Children of the Cult TV -
Those who will criticize me will not be my enemies; neither am I the enemy of those whom I have criticized. The working of the enlightened masters just has to be understood. Rajneesh
I am the rich man’s guru. Rajneesh, cited The Last Testament: Interviews with the World Press, 1986
I would like that what I am doing is not lost. So I am trying in every possible way to drop all those things which in the past have been barriers for the revolution to continue and grow. Rajneesh ibid.
It was good of Friedrich Neitzsche to declare God dead — I declare that he has never been born. It is a created fiction, an invention, not a discovery … Anybody who gives you a belief system is your enemy, because the belief system becomes the barrier for your eyes, you cannot see the truth. Rajneesh, God is Dead: Now Zen is the Only Living Truth, 1989
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, given a hero’s welcome by his Indian disciples after returning from a US jail, denounced the United States Sunday and said the world must ‘put the monster America in its place.’
‘The real enemy is no more the Soviet Union, it is America,’ said the 53-year-old guru, who returned to New Delhi after pleading guilty to violating US immigration laws by arranging sham marriages so his followers could stay in the US.
In his first press conference since he was arrested last month in Charlotte, NC, Rajneesh declared, ‘Either America must be hushed up or America will be the end of the world.’ Associated Press November 1985, viz: Chicago Tribune 18 November 1985 p5
Antelope was a quiet little spot in the middle of nowhere. Wild Wild Country I, county resident, Netflix 2018
Group buys large ranch in Oregon. ibid. The Oregonian article
All these building materials and mobile homes being moved in truck-load after truck-load. ibid. county resident
It’s too incredible: how could this happen. ibid.
Sheela [assistant]: The world has assassinated me and my character so often I have nothing to lose. ibid.
I developed this need to sit at the feet of my master. ibid. disciple
The awakened man will be the new man. ibid. Bhagwan
The god has fled. It seems the Bhagwan left the ashram in Poona on 1st June without warning and without saying goodbye. His followers have been given no idea of his whereabouts. Informed speculation places him in the United States. ibid. Christopher Hitchens
This was not motivated by greed; this was evil. Wild Wild Country II, attorney general
It was heaven on Earth. ibid. Sheela
We had a banking operation, pizza parlour, a boutique, the colouring was a bit limited, there was a meditation hall … we built the farms … ibid. disciple
When they [Antelope residents] get scared they get tight. ibid. county resident #1
There was a lot of evil things going on out there. ibid. county resident #2
I didn’t have a gun here till they bombed our hotel. Wild Wild Country III, Sheela
You could hear them going all night. ibid. county resident
What can I say? Tough titties. ibid. Sheela on television
Almost everywhere in the world the Bhagwan’s communes had functioned … 500,000: and we were not afraid to show his vision in the physical world. ibid. Sheela
Rajneesh Commune International: $19 million; Rajneesh Investment Corporation: $31 million; Rajneesh Commune: assets $15 million. ibid. television news
He was a rock star. ibid. disciple
We were looking for the architects responsible for this very broad scheme of deceit against the United States government. ibid. attorney general
The homeless continue to pour into Rajneeshpuram. ibid. television news
It was a magnet for crazy people. ibid. county resident
Someone is out there poisoning an entire town [Salmonella]. Wild Wild Country IV, dude
A new group – they called them the Hollywood crowd … The Hollywood people had direct access to Bhagwan. ibid. disciple
Unfortunately, Bhagwan got sidetracked. ibid. Sheela
Bhagwan had started speaking to Sheela about a doomsday scenario. ibid. disciple
This rich group of people have got the Bhagwan hooked on to the drugs. ibid. Sheela
The immigration office knows he’s in this country illegally. ibid. city resident #1
This was no longer a sustainable fantasy. ibid. press dude
They couldn’t control the independent street people. ibid. city resident #2
She had his room wiretapped in order to protect him. ibid. disciple
He also told Sheela he would die on the master-stage on 6th July. It was too awful. ibid.
The day I left Bhagwan. ibid. Sheela
They have attempted to murder people in the commune. ibid. Bhagwan breaks silence
The Bhagwan was sending the dogs after us. Wild Wild Country V, escapee #1
The Empress Strikes Back. ibid. television news
You as the Queen presided over an empire build on a gigantic con. ibid. television news reporter to Sheela
She did not prove to be a woman; she proved to be a perfect bitch. ibid. Bhagwan television interview
We were a group of 21 people and we were in danger. ibid. escapee #1
This was the largest wiretapping incident in the history of any nation. ibid. rozzer
I am against all religions. ibid. Bhagwan
Rajneeshism is dead. ibid. spokeswoman
If they come in here shooting, we’ll shoot back. ibid. disciple
The search is on throughout the north-west tonight for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh … Wild Wild Country VI, television news
I am absolutely innocent. ibid. Bhagwan
To see a man who’s never hurt anyone shackled like a psychopathic killer shows me that the United States government’s terrified of this man. ibid. disciple
Sheela arrived this morning to plead guilty to the charges ranging from mass poisonings to wire tappings. Sheela will serve the four and a half prison sentence … ibid.
He gave us his final words: he said, ‘I leave you my dream.’ ibid. disciple
My name is Maroesja. I was six years old when I was initiated into a cult and became known as Chandra. My mother chose to become one of tens of thousands of followers of the India guru Baghwan Shree Rajneesh. Children like me didn’t get a choice. The cult became our entire world. Children of the Cult, ITV 2024
Only by destroying you, I can give you new birth. ibid. Rajneesh
I got used to things that didn’t feel right. ibid. victim
We were encouraged to watch people having sex. ibid.
My mother and I lived as followers in the Netherlands. ibid. Maroesja
Communes were also opening in the UK. One of the biggest was in Suffolk. It was called Medina. ibid.
As well as separating children from their parents, Bhagwan promoted other ways to undermine the family unit. ibid.
An outpouring on social media from children who said they had suffered from systemic social abuse. ibid.
I still suffer with trauma when I remember the constant pressure from men to have sex. ibid.
We found little evidence of any meaningful investigation into the treatment of children in Rajneesh communes around the world.
Bhagwan died in 1990. Today, the Osho International Foundation claims to be the custodian of Bhagwan’s work. ibid.