In Dutch there is a saying that could be translated to “those living in a glass house shouldn’t throw rocks on their neighbor’s roof”. It means something like ‘don’t critique others when you have done wrong’, and it seems like a good introduction to the tale of the neighborly relationship between the Antelopians and Rajneeshees. This case is a story of norms and values, sham marriages, a whole lot of sex, 93 Rolls-Royces, bombs, birthday parties, blended beavers, festivals, bioterrorism and spiked beer. To understand fully, it is important to go back to the commune’s time in India.
5.1 From India to America
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as ‘Bhagwan’, ‘Rajneesh’ and later as ‘Osho’, was born in 1931 in Kuchwada, India, as the eldest of eleven children. He loved to read the books that his grandparents kept at home, and quickly learned English (Zaitz 1985a). Looking for what his uncle described as the “supreme power”, Bhagwan dives into the practice of meditation (ibid.). He goes on to study philosophy for his bachelor’s and master’s at the Dr.
Hari Singh Gour University in India. In 1953, when Bhagwan was 21, he claimed to have reached enlightenment (ibid.). After graduating, he became a lecturer in philosophy. Next to teaching classes, Bhagwan toured around India to give spiritual lectures to whoever was interested in hearing them. By doing this, Bhagwan gathered around him a group of people that followed him which ended up being the first of his sannyasins (ibid.). Bhagwan’s neo-sannyasins differed from the traditional Indian neo-sannyasins (Sandu 2020: 106). Traditionally, sannyasins renounce the material world and “all its comforts in their search for God and truth”
(ibid.). Bhagwan’s vision was one of celebration instead of renunciation: a combination between spirituality and capitalism to be able to “enjoy life and celebrate it to its fullest potential” (Rajneesh n.d. as cited in Sandu 2020: 107). In 1966 Bhagwan left his lecturing post at the university to focus on his public speaking (Zaitz 1985a).
Bhagwan lectured about capitalism and the dangers of socialism and communism, the issues he had with established religion, how Eastern spirituality was meant to be supplemented with Western techonology to experience synthesis and about sex (ibid.) When he lectured about how sex was ‘divine’, and sexuality was the path to enlightenment, he sparked such controversy that the rest of his lectures were cancelled (ibid.). This controversy gave Bhagwan so much publicity that he returned about a month later to talk about sexuality in front of a dazzling crowd of 15,000 (ibid.). This gave Bhagwan the controversial name of
‘the Sex Guru’. Over the years, Bhagwan’s following grew and he and his sannyasins moved into the Ashram in Poona. Here, followers could live on the same premises as Bhagwan and listen to his daily lectures which were accompanied by meditations led by Bhagwan. Bhagwan’s
lectures were appealing to the many (predominantly white) tourists visiting from Europe and the United States, who were looking for “more meaning in their lives” (Zaitz 1985q). Many of the visitors stayed on the Ashram for a while, were initiated as sannyasins, and instructed to leave their original lives and names behind to permanently move to the Ashram (Stork 2009).
In Poona, the Ashram filled with more Western sannyasins who were looking for spiritual fulfillment. Besides lectures and guided meditations, followers participated in different types of group meditations, which provided the Ashram with a solid income (Sandu 2020: 140). One of these types, and arguably the most well-known one due to the controversy it sparked, was encounter group therapy. In encounter groups “everything [was] allowed”
(Stork 2009: chapter 85) and according to Jane Stork, one of Sheela’s close aides, the groups were known for ‘no holds barred’ (Stork 2021). Encounter groups were known to escalate:
people broke bones during the therapy (ibid.) and conflicting reports were spread about the therapy resulting in other extreme injuries (Carter 1985: 158). These encounter groups took place in padded rooms. The participants were naked – men and women – and screamed their lungs out, cried, hugged, hyperventilated and laughed maniacally whilst crying. People piled upon one another, shaking vigorously and rocking back and forth. Men and women were being touched by many hands at once, pushed and held down. There is no music playing – but for a part of the session one can hear pounding on something that sounds like a bongo drum. There is controversial footage from one of the encounter groups6 (see figure 2 for a screenshot). It is unverifiable if the footage was filmed with
consent of the ones participating, with both Jane and Sheela being unsure when asked during interviews (Stork 2021, Sheela 2021). This footage was shot by Wolfgang Dobrowolny, a former sannyasin. He shot more footage and created the documentary titled ‘Ashram in Poona’ (1978). This movie was shown in local theatres in Oregon in 1981, and was one of the first introductions, and insights into the commune, that Oregonians had with the Rajneeshees.
5 The Kindle version of Breaking the Spell: My Life as a Rajneeshee, and the long journey back to freedom (2009) provided page numbers that were relative to font choice and size. After discussion with the author's supervisor, it was decided to refer to chapters instead of page numbers.
6 The documentary Ashram in Poona (1978) can be found here: https://vimeo.com/417009669. For the controversial encounter group footage, see roughly 49:46–51:25.
Fig. 2: still from the documentary Ashram in Poona (1978)
Over the years, the Ashram became more densely populated and sannyasins had to find housing outside the commune. Followers started publishing books of Bhagwan’s lectures, which popularized his ideas and drew more people to India: in 1981 the Ashram reported receiving 30,000 visitors per year (Carter 1985: 158). It became clear that the Ashram in Poona was overflowing; Bhagwan wanted to expand. In India, however, there was a lot of resistance to Bhagwan’s controversial lectures about sex, as well as the violent encounter groups. There was friction between the locals and the Ashram-members on many fronts: citizens
“complain[ed] alleging that ashram residents disobeyed traffic rules, used abusive language in public, used public streets “as lavatory for natural call” and teased modest local women with public displays of kissing and hugging” (Zaitz 1985c). It was true that Bhagwan encouraged his followers to have sex with each other, indulge in polyamorous relationships and open marriages and explore their ‘raw sexual energy’ (Sandu 2020, as referenced in Kamer 2020a:
3). Furthermore, because India didn’t count the Rajneesh International Foundation (the financial organization behind the Ashram) as a charitable, religious or educational institution, a large sum of overdue taxes was charged to the corporation (Zaitz 1985c). The amount owed totaled more than $5.4 million (ibid.). Bhagwan thought it best to seek expansion in a different country: the United States (Sandu 2020).
Bhagwan’s personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela called it the “land of religious freedom and a sacred constitution” (Wild Wild Country 2018a). Having lived in America for a year during her studies, Sheela went back to scout for a piece of land that was big enough. Before she had a chance to do this however, Bhagwan told her on April 10th, 1981, that he would take a vow of silence. He believed that he had prepared his sannyasins well enough that they could now communicate with him in silence (Sandu 2020: 300). While continuing the search for the right piece of land which could house a whole city of sannyasins, a castle in New Jersey was bought. Because of his poor physical health surrounding back problems and heavy allergies, Sheela got Bhagwan a visa by the end of May (idem: 305). Before they left India, investigations showed that the commune attempted multiple insurance frauds by filing rape charges against the castle landlord, setting off bombs on the commune and starting a fire in the printing office which conveniently burned all books written in Sanskrit, but left the English books untouched (idem: 307; Zaitz 1985c).
5.2 A city in the desert
On June 1st, 1981, Bhagwan moved from India to the United States. After having visited possible locations in Tennessee, Colorado and Arizona, Sheela visited Oregon. Here, she fell in love with the Big Muddy Ranch, a 63,000-acre piece of rugged land. The nearest town was the town of Antelope, thirty kilometers away, with only 40 residents (Wild Wild Country 2018b). Within days of seeing the ranch, the sale of $5.9 million was finalized on July
10th, 1981 (Sandu 2020: 331-332). Within weeks, the ranch was prepared to receive Bhagwan and other sannyasins, and the rugged desert was turned into a “very beautiful city, [...] one which has never existed [in] the universe where people live in harmony [and] in love” (Sheela as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018b). Truckloads filled with building materials drove through the town of Antelope, which made the local people very anxious (Stork 2021).
Simultaneously though, local contractors were happy with the amount of money that was being spent (Callister 1981e).
Drawing upon sannyasins that used to be lawyers, city planners, construction workers, designers and scientists, the city that would later be called Rajneeshpuram was an incredibly modern city for its time (Wild Wild Country 2018b). Infrastructure and plumbing were laid, an electric power plant – sufficient for 10,000 people – was created, and “cutting edge, low water use, intelligent farm[s]” were created to allow this community to be self-sufficient (ibid.). A-frame houses, a disco, a cafeteria, movie theatre, a shopping center, boutiques, an entire airport: everything was built from scratch (ibid.). On August 29th, a mere six weeks after buying the deserted ranch, Bhagwan arrived at a bustling settlement.
In the meantime, the relationship with Antelopians was off to a rocky start. (False) rumors that Bhagwan used to be a hypnotist motivated people to “cross [their] arms” to “throw a signal to them that it’s not going to work” (Silvertooth as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018b). The town of Antelope was populated by predominantly conservative, Christian retirees who loved the sleepy nature of their settlement. Many were anxious about the steady stream of sannyasins that traveled through town on their way to the ranch. Sannyasins wore clothes in the colors red and orange, meant to symbolize the rising sun which brought a new day for Bhagwan’s ‘new man’ (Sandu 2020: 213). The locals’ distrust of the Rajneeshees only increased when an ad about sex was placed in a local magazine calling Oregonians to “go like an explorer. Search all the nooks and corners of your sexuality, and you will be surprised and enriched and benefitted” (Wild Wild Country 2018b). It spoke of the future of sex being “more fun, more joy, more friendship, more a play than a serious affair as it has been in the past”
(ibid.). This led to locals proclaiming on television that “this is the downfall of our civilization, the free love” (ibid.).
It’s clear that there was friction from the beginning. Locals felt like Sheela thought they were less intelligent (ibid.). When Sheela bought property in Antelope and received permits to continue their mail-order and printing business, locals protested the presence of Rajneeshees in their town. However, when there was talk of incorporating the city of Rajneeshpuram, which would allow them to operate their businesses from within their own city, there was resistance too. An organization called 1000 Friends of Oregon challenged the planned incorporation based on land-use laws: the ranch was zoned for agriculture and ranching, not for a city, they
argued. Their request was denied and their appeal as well. This did not stop them from filing many suits and challenges to the Rajneeshees over the years.
During the time of these initial appeals, a documentary about the commune was shown in theatres across Oregon. ‘Ashram in Poona’ (Dobrowolny 1978) was an 1,5 hour documentary that was filmed, as the title suggests, in the Ashram in Poona. The most notable footage in this documentary was the one of the encounter group therapy. People were naked; fighting, screaming, crying, laughing, convulsing violently and shouting and muttering gibberish (Ashram in Poona 1978). This documentary was shown in theatres in November 1981. This selective footage only fueled the anxiety that the locals felt towards Rajneeshees. Besides that, it became known that the daughter of Rep. Leo Ryan, the Congressman that was murdered at Jonestown, was a follower of Bhagwan. This linked the commune to the Jonestown cult, and further scared locals (Wild Wild Country 2018b). As a way of reaching out to the locals, Sheela organized a Christmas party at a local café to which she invited over 300 Oregonian “friends”
and others that they worked with (Senior 1981).
5.3 The end of Antelope?
In 1982, the city of Rajneeshpuram was incorporated. Embedded in the United States Constitution is the freedom of assembly and association, and the state of Oregon upheld the right to home rule, which states that any community of 150 citizens can create their own city and government (Wild Wild Country 2018b). The Rajneeshees wanted to be able to issue their own building permits and have their own law enforcement (ibid.). 1000 Friends of Oregon, who also represented the local ranchers in the Antelope region, kept filing petitions and lawsuits. This upset Sheela, who really wanted this project to succeed (ibid.). In an interview, Sheela was told that 1000 Friends of Oregon wanted to see Rajneeshpuram disincorporated.
She responded by saying: “Good. They can come. They’re most welcome. I’ll be right on the road. They need to drive over me? It’s their choice. I will paint their bulldozers with my blood.
And I’ll be proud to be under those bulldozers” (Sheela as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018b).
When asked if Sheela thought it would really come to that, she replied “if they’re not aware of my determination, I think they’re stupid, they’re unintelligent” (ibid.).
With 1000 Friends of Oregon using the legal system to “derail” the commune and block permits, the Rajneeshees started buying empty property in Antelope to “secure [their]
existence as a city” (ibid.). They bought empty houses and buildings and opened their businesses there. With only 40 residents living in Antelope, locals quickly felt like their town was being taken over. And it was. Rajneeshees even ended up buying the town’s café and renamed it Zorba the Buddha café, after Rajneesh’ vision for the New Man. Sheela answered to the increased hostility of locals by accusing them of having “religious prejudice as well as Mayflower mentality: I came here before you, therefore you can’t be here” (Sheela as quoted
in Wild Wild Country 2018b). It was an added bonus that more Rajneeshee residents in Oregon meant more political power in the town. Through some thinly veiled classism7 Sheela essentially bought out some of the poorer residents who couldn’t refuse fifty-thousand-dollar cheques.
This ‘takeover’ of Antelope really brought tensions to a first boiling point. Locals were scared and Rajneeshees felt wronged. The local’s fears were quickly accompanied by hostile anger: locals could be seen walking around town holding guns, shooting rounds through road signs or up into the air, wearing necklaces made of bullets, and verbally harassing and threatening Rajneeshees in town (ibid.). A rancher who was interviewed at the time even said:
“it’s not like they were asking to get shot. They were positively begging for it” (Bowerman as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018b). During these rising tensions, Oregon State Governor Victor Atiyeh said in a radio interview that he believed “the Rajneeshees should go home if they are not wanted” (Church 1982). Tensions rose further and the Rajneeshee hotel in Portland – called Hotel Rajneesh – was vandalized. The words “GO HOME” and “RED IS DEAD” were spray painted on the walls (Wild Wild Country 2018b). In Antelope, protest continued: locals hoisted American flags all over town and anti-Bhagwan merchandise was sold on the streets (ibid.). “Bag the Bhagwan” shirts and stickers were donned by Antelopians, and mock wanted-posters were spread around town with the text “not wanted dead or alive – known to drive Rolls Royces, and have a gang of hard working followers, with an appetite for Oregon soil. Not armed, but still considered dangerous” (ibid.). As to be expected, the harassment of Rajneeshees was met with harassment targeting Antelopians. Rajneeshees shone spotlights into bedrooms at midnight, and videotaped Antelopians going about their business.
The buying of property, constant harassment of both parties and the threat of Rajneeshee political influence in the city council drove Antelope to hold a disincorporation election on April 15th, 1982. Antelopians would rather disband their city than have Rajneeshees use their city charter to further the growth of Rajneeshpuram. The Rajneeshees attempted to have the disincorporation election blocked – they challenged the city’s argument that there was an immediate threat – but their challenge was shot down by the Wasco County court (Senior 1982i). Leading up to the election, cars could be seen driving around with bumper stickers saying “Better Dead Than Red” (Wild Wild Country 2018b). The day of the election was filled with tension. Reporters from all around the nation, having finally picked up on the news of what was happening in this small city, flocked from all over the nation to report on the election. It was a close call; even though Antelope had a 100% voter turnout, the number of Rajneeshee citizens outweighed the original Antelopians by only 13 votes. With a final result
7 See Kamer (2020a) for a more in depth intersectional analysis of Sheela’s action during the commune’s time in Oregon
of 55-42, the Rajneeshees opposing the disincorporation won the election, preventing the city of Antelope from giving up their city charter (Senior 1982l).
In the summer of 1982, Rajneeshpuram created their own police: the ‘peace force’.
Because they had incorporated their own city, they were legally allowed to create their own law enforcement (Wild Wild Country 2018b). Harassment from both sides continued over time, both sides filing defamation lawsuit after defamation lawsuit, claiming damages that ran into the millions (The Oregonian 1983d; The Oregonian 1983b). In July 1983, Hotel Rajneesh was targeted by three pipe-bombs. On the night of the bombing, Sheela had woken up feeling full of inexplicable dread. She ordered patrols around the commune’s premises to ease her anxiety, and when they found nothing, Sheela returned to bed. A little while later, however, she got the call that the hotel had been bombed. As it turned out later, the men responsible for the bombs had visited the ranch earlier in the day. They had plans to set off the bombs at the commune, but the patrolling peace force scared them off, which led to the decision to bomb the hotel in downtown Portland instead (Sandu 2020: 415-417).
5.4 The violent turning point
This was a clear turning point in the conflict. Up until now, however hostile it may have been, the conflict had remained nonviolent. After the bombing, however, Rajneeshpuram mayor Krishna Deva said on television: “we want everyone to know that if you’re going to use violence, that we will be ready to take whatever action is needed to protect ourselves” (Krishna Deva as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018b). To be able to protect the community, Sheela decided to import weapons into the ranch. She made sure to broadcast footage of Rajneeshees training at the shooting range located on the ranch (Wild Wild Country 2018c). The continuing buying of empty property gradually gave the Rajneeshees a majority in the city of Antelope. In November 1983, Rajneeshees living in Antelope held a symbolic election to change the name of the city of Antelope to “Rajneesh”. To celebrate their victory (and in all probability) pester the local community, all the street names were renamed and the Rajneesh flag was hoisted.
In the next city council election, the Rajneeshees elected three Rajneeshees and two Antelopians. They passed ordinances creating a nude sunbathing park in the city, where, according to the locals, they had sex at night (ibid.). Locals did not appreciate this, who could be seen on television angrily saying “the noises and things sounded like animals” and that
“there is a sense of lustiness and sexual obsession there that I have never known of anywhere”
(ibid.). This only strengthened the label of ‘sex cult’ that had been circulating since the ad about free sex was posted in 1981. This inspired some more protest, where again a sign could be spotted that said “Better dead then red” (presumably meant to say “better dead than red”), a definite revival of the Cold War slogan once again (ibid.). Sheela admitted that she’d leave the
town alone if the necessary permits were released to allow Rajneeshpuram to grow – the situation was referred to by journalists as a ‘hostage situation’ (ibid.).
When City Council member John Silvertooth found Rajneeshee documents that were supposed to have been shredded in the trash somewhere, it came to light that there were things going on at the ranch that were illegal. Until now, the FBI had explicitly refused to investigate the situation at Rajneeshpuram, but these documents changed that. The documents mentioned incriminating things such as censoring mail from residents and arranged marriages, and General Attorney Dave Frohnmayer became involved in the case. On November 9th, 1983, he filed a suit challenging the incorporation of Rajneeshpuram on the basis of separation of church and state. The Establishment Clause in the constitution states that Congress shall make no laws establishing a religion. What was unique about this case was that it was an attempt to void an entire city. In the history of the U.S., many establishment clause-cases have been tried. The usual outcome is that it is injunctive and corrective: ‘stop doing that’. As Swami Prem Niren, Bhagwan’s lawyer and later Rajneeshpuram Mayor, said:
“if you look at Catholics in Boston, [they] were a huge majority and totally ran the government, [...] Mormonism in Utah and Salt Lake City...Nobody tells those people that they can’t have a city. [...] Nobody ever even raised the issue, until us” (Niren as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018c).
After this, the state of Oregon launched a series of legislative attacks against the community. Oregonians joined in the fight too: a petition to “expel the Rajneesh Cult from Oregon” was circulating the state (The Oregonian 1983a). The legislature on all levels was united against Rajneeshpuram, which angered Sheela. She felt like the community was about to be destroyed. Looking back, Sheela said that “it was their hate that forced us to take these steps for self-preservation, self-protection and self-survival” (Sheela as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018c). With the threat of electing anti-Rajneesh commissioners in the 1984 election, Sheela responded with the “Share-A-Home” project. Bhagwan’s orders were to take over Wasco County, before they would elect Republican commissioners who would destroy the commune (Wild Wild Country 2018c). When asked by a reporter if she was planning to take over Wasco County, Sheela replied confidently that “this county is so fucking bigoted, it deserves to be taken over” (ibid.). Over the course of three months, houseless people from all over the United States were bussed into Rajneeshpuram. Promised free housing, medical care and food, they came by the thousands (Sandu 2020: 449). The plan was to have these 6,000 houseless people vote in the 1984 election, since Oregon’s voting laws were one of the most lenient in the county. Anyone that was a citizen of Oregon for 20 days was legally allowed to vote, a right secured in Oregonian law (Wild Wild Country 2018c).
Suspecting election fraud, however, Wasco County issued a blanket rejection of all new voter registration on October 10th. The county took away the inalienable right of thousands of
Americans, who by Oregonian law, were legally allowed to register and vote. Within the commune, this led to complete chaos. Naturally, formerly houseless people were upset that their rights to vote were being denied and unrest spread through the community, in which the Rajneeshees were outnumbered 2:1. After Sheela got attacked by one of the formerly houseless people in the commune, commune leaders made the controversial choice to (nonconsensually) drug all the houseless people in the community. Beer served to the houseless was spiked with Haldol, a sedative. Days later, they were instructed to leave the premises. The thousands of houseless people, once again without shelter or money, spread out across Oregon, heightening tensions between Oregonians and Rajneeshees even further. Oregonians protested across the counties, and Sheela made explicit threats on television. “You tell your governors, you tell your attorney general and all your bigoted pigs outside, [if] they touch any of our people, I will have fifteen of their heads and I mean business” (Sheela as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018c).
5.5 New tactics: the beginning of the end
Jane explained that this was a turning point for Sheela and the commune. “Now, instead of trying to trick your way through, or shout your way through, or force your way through to get what you wanted, now it was different. Now there was talk of killing people to get what you wanted, to get them out of the way” (Stork as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018c). The Share-a-Home project was not the communes’ only way of attempting to influence the 1984 elections. In September 1984, 751 people suffered food poisoning in The Dalles, Wasco county’s largest city (Wild Wild Country 2018d; Homeland Security Digital Library n.d.). Investigations later showed that they got sick by ingesting salmonella bacteria, which was spread around ten local salad bars and restaurants by Rajneeshees (ibid.). Out of the more than 700 poisoned people, 45 people had to receive medical care in a hospital. It was a test of a plan to incapacitate The Dalles’ voters on election day. This salmonella poisoning of an entire community remains the largest bioterror attack on U.S. soil to this date (Sambyal, Sharma and Singh 2017: 410). Spreading the salmonella bacteria on salad bars and restaurants was not the only part of the plan, however. It turned out later that there was also an attempt to spread the salmonella virus into the Dalles’ water supply (Carus 2002). Rumors spread that Rajneeshees attempted to add blended beavers into the water supply to infect the city through the water (Wild Wild Country 2018e). When on October 10th, however, the blanket rejection for voting registration was issued and it became clear that the Share-a-Home project would fail, the plan was cancelled. The commune decided to boycott the entire election, and out of the 7,000 people living on the ranch, only 239 people voted (New York Times 1984).
After the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) failed to deport Bhagwan through attempting to deny Bhagwan a visa in 1983, the U.S. Attorney's office got involved to start a criminal prosecution in a different attempt to deport him (Wild Wild Country 2018d).
The U.S. Attorney for Oregon was Charles Turner, a presidential appointee. The angle that the U.S. Attorney’s office took was marriage fraud. It turned out that Bhagwan had been instructing his foreign followers to marry American followers, after moving to a random city in the U.S. and building a ‘life’ there. They’d get married, and as soon as the partner was able to get a green card, they “made a hasty return to the ranch and return to their original lives and original partners that they had” (Weaver as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018d). Through this process, the commune committed the largest immigration fraud in the history of the U.S.
(ibid). The U.S. Attorney’s office knew that this information would allow them to indict and charge Bhagwan and other high officials in the commune, including Sheela.
Because Sheela felt that Mr. Turner was the person who decided if Bhagwan could stay in the United States, an assassination plot was drafted. Stork was supposed to shoot him in the parking lot of his work. The plot failed only because Mr. Turner failed to show up to work that day (ibid.). A little while later, during the World Festival which was hosted every year for Sannyasins from all over the world, another assassination plot took place. This time, it came to an actual attempt. Sheela had bugged Bhagwan’s personal living quarters and had overheard him asking his doctor about euthanasia. After the doctor explained, Bhagwan could be heard telling his doctor to order the necessary drugs and bury them somewhere in his yard until they were needed (ibid.). On July 6th, 1985, Bhagwan’s personal doctor was jabbed by Stork with a syringe filled with adrenaline (Stork 2009: chapter 21). Having injected it accidentally in a muscle, the amount was not deadly and Devaraj was treated in the hospital.
This moment was a turning point for Sheela and other disciples. The fact that it had come to physical violence and attempted murder was a step too far. On September 13th, Sheela resigns and a day later leaves the commune in Oregon for Europe with a group of her closest aides, including Jane Stork. In his anger at Sheela leaving, Bhagwan broke his silence after four years of not speaking in public (Wild Wild Country 2018d). After inviting press to come and listen, Bhagwan threw Sheela under the bus. He claimed that “Sheela and her group” took advantage of his silence, tried to kill three people, attempted a coup, stole millions of dollars and attempted to bug his and other people’s houses (ibid.). Bhagwan called Sheela and her group “absolutely criminals”, “inhuman” and “brutal” (Rajneesh as quoted in Wild Wild Country 2018d) and held them responsible for everything that happened in the commune. To
‘prove’ his innocence, Bhagwan invited the FBI onto the ranch. This eventually led to criminal charges for Bhagwan as well as Sheela8, and many other people involved in the running of the commune.
8 See this article from the Oregonian for the full list of charges and people charged:
https://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/page/federal_prosecutions_of_rajnee.html.
Sheela’s leave proved to be the downfall of Rajneeshpuram. Slowly but surely, the citizens of Rajneeshpuram left to return to their own homes in the winter of 1985. The town of Rajneesh was quickly changed back to the town of Antelope, and locals felt elated that the commune was finally falling apart. From the 40 original inhabitants, only 10 remained. To commemorate what happened, a statue can still be found in Antelope to this day. It says:
“Dedicated to those of this community who throughout the Rajneesh invasion and occupation of 1981-1985 remained, resisted and remembered…”, followed by a quote from Edmund Burke. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.