PCA Trail Guide to the West: Oregon 07/2008 Parker

We depart the Timberline and head to the Eastern Oregon desert.

As we make our way, we decide to visit the Young Life Camp that used to be the headquarters of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Here's the story on the Bhagwan, whom I remember from my summer in Oregon, circa 1981.

He was born Rajneesh Chandra Mohan in Kuchwara, a town in central India. He began a cult in India and changed his name. Various sources state that "Bhagwan" means either "The Blessed One" or "God" and that "Shree" means "Master". At the end of his life, he changed his name to Osho.

The Bhagwan left India reluctantly because of health problems. He went to the United States in order to obtain advanced treatment. There have been rumors of income tax evasion, and insurance fraud; it is not known whether these have any validity. His followers settled on the 65,000 acre "Big Muddy Ranch" near Antelope, Oregon, which his sannyasins had bought for six million dollars. The ranch was renamed Rajneeshpuram ("City of Rajneesh"). This "small, desolate valley twelve miles from Antelope, Oregon was transformed into a thriving town of 3,000 residents, with a 4,500 foot paved airstrip, a 44 acre reservoir, an 88,000 square foot meeting hall..."

Many remember The Bhagwan for his cars: Rolls Royces:

His followers would line up everyday to pay their respects to the Bhagwan as he drove by.

All of these Rolls gives one the idea that he really liked them.

Sympathizers argue that many of the local folks were intolerant of the new group in their midst, because of religious and cultural differences. One manifestation of this perceived intolerance was the town's denial of building permits to the followers of Rajneesh. Some buildings were erected on the ranch without planning board approval. When officials attempted to stop the construction, their office was firebombed by unknown person(s). When the local city council repeatedly refused to issue permits for their businesses, some sannyasins elected themselves to the city council. The town of Antelope was renamed City of Rajneesh.

Top aides of Osho were charged with a number of crimes, including the attempted murder of Osho's personal physician. There were stories of a hit list. Some fled the country for Switzerland where they had control over the group's bank accounts. Two were eventually convicted of conspiracy to murder local lawyer Charles Turner in an attempt to prevent closure of the ranch.

In 1983, Osho's secretary Sheela Silverman predicted on behalf of Osho that there would be massive destruction on earth, between 1984 and 1999. This would include both natural disasters and man-made catastrophes. Floods larger than any since Noah, extreme earthquakes, very destructive volcano eruptions, nuclear wars etc. would be experienced. Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bombay were all expected to disappear. There is doubt that these predictions actually came from Osho; they are not representative of his other teachings.

A number of sources have reported that spiritual devotees of Rajneesh had spread salmonella on local restaurants salad bars in order to reduce voter turnout on a measure that would have restricted the group's activities. Allegedly, 751 people were affected by the bacteria.

Fearing a raid of the type that later happened in Waco, several of Osho's disciples arranged for him to be flown to Charlotte for safety. In North Carolina, he ran afoul of US immigration law. He entered an "Alford Plea," commonly called a no-contest plea.

He was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the country. He returned to Pune, India in 1987, where his health began to fail.

He abandoned the name of Rajneesh and adopted "Osho".

More on the the conflict:

In September 1985, there was an outbreak of salmonella poisoning at The Dalles, Oregon, possibly the largest known outbreak of salmonella in the United States up to that time (Domestic Terrorism). The state health department and the Center for Disease Control traced the cause to salad bars in eight different restaurants in The Dalles. About 750 people got sick and Rajneesh was blamed. Sheela later admitted the poisonings were part of the community’s political agenda, to show that they could do anything they wanted.

For the fall election, Secretary of State Norma Paulus instituted a screening process for prospective voters. After the election, about half of those who had come to Oregon left the state. The loyal followers just drove them out to the property line and dumped them off. This incident finally got the attention of the state legislature. The state had already sued Rajneesh for illegal incorporation of a city and considered charging two Rajneeshis who registered to vote in two cities. In addition, seven people hired a lawyer to sue Rajneesh on the basis that they were defrauded, coerced, and suffered physical abuse.

On June 30, 1985, The Oregonian launched a twenty-part investigative series on the group. They found an extensive wire tapping operation and two biological warfare laboratories. They also found evidence of an experiment to develop a live AIDs virus to be used against dissidents.

The end of Rajneeshpuram was just on the horizon. On September 15, Rajneesh called a press conference to announce that Sheela and a dozen others had left the country. He said she had big plans in the works. In actuality, she was looking for a new location for the commune. Others left Rajneeshpuram, claiming they were tired of the deception and manipulation.

To deflect culpability, Rajneesh publicly accused of Sheela of engineering the salmonella outbreak and of poisoning The Dalles water system. He also claimed she conspired to murder his doctor, his dentist, his girlfriend, and the county district attorney. He claimed Sheela mismanaged the colony’s finances. Rajneesh tried to blame everything that went wrong on Sheela.

In the end, it was relatively easy to eliminate Rajneesh and his commune. The courts charged Rajneesh, Sheela, and six other executives with thirty-six criminal and civil violations. It only took violation of certain immigration laws to oust Rajneesh from the country. He was also convicted of illegal aiding of marriages between his members and U.S. citizens. He tried to escape on a chartered Lear jet, but federal customs agents stopped him and sent him back to Portland for trial. In return for a suspended ten-year sentence, Rajneesh agreed to pay $400,000 in fines and to leave the country within five days. He would not be allowed to return for at least five years and even then only with permission from the U.S. attorney general.

Sheela thought she was safe in her hideout in Germany, because immigration fraud is not an extraditable offense there. Unfortunately for her, attempted murder is. German police picked her up and put her on a plane to the United States. Sheela was sentenced to spend twenty years in federal prison for burglary, arson of the Wasco County planning office, racketeering, immigration fraud, wiretapping, and causing the salmonella outbreak.

After awhile all the excitement died down. State maps no longer showed the town of Rajneeshpuram. Antelope reverted to its original name. A used car dealer in Texas bought all 74 of the Rolls Royces at public auction. Connecticut General Life Insurance owned the mortgage on the Rajneesh property and bought it outright, minus what was owed for back taxes.

From the ashes of this cult, Young Life buys the land and opens the Washington Family Ranch.