Bhagwan Rajneesh: The Greedy “Sex Guru” With A Nefarious Sidekick
Matthew NAYTHONS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesCult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh arriving in Oregon.
At the height of his popularity, Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh owned and operated a 64,000-acre property out of Muddy Ranch in Oregon’s Wasco and Jefferson counties. By 1981, his cult of sannyasins numbered in the thousands.
According to People, many of those acolytes hailed from middle and upper-class families in Europe and the U.S. Rajneesh himself earned a steady income from his widely distributed teachings in book, cassette, and video form.
But the former journalist and philosophy teacher’s new base of operations in Oregon wasn’t exactly the escapist commune many who had flocked to it thought it may be. As explored in the six-part Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, the cult would get caught up in attempted murder, bombings, and the largest act of bioterrorism in United States history.
Wikimedia CommonsAn aerial view of Rajneeshpuram commune in Antelope, Oregon.
Incidentally, the cult leader’s story in the U.S. begins when he himself was the target of an assassination attempt.
A few years before his move across the pond, a knife was thrown at him while he was preaching to his followers. It was then that he knew he had to leave India, particularly since he failed to garner tax-exemption in Poona. He founded his religious group of Rajneeshees, which combined mysticism, sexual liberty, the eradication of the nuclear family, and “encounter therapy,” in 1974.
The 49-year-old had already garnered a sizable following when he moved to Montclair, New Jersey in 1981.
By the time his organization moved to its Oregon compound, Rajneesh had a lavish sum. He owned anywhere between a few dozen and 91 Rolls-Royces. His followers, meanwhile, were only to wear clothes in colors comparable to the sun; red, orange, purple.
Rajneesh mostly interacted with his followers through large-scale preachings; otherwise, he spoke almost exclusively to his secretary, Ma Anand Sheela.
“It is impossible that Bhagwan would ever ask people to kill anyone. But if he asked me to do it, I don’t know. I love and trust him very much. To me he is God. He sees more clearly than I do. But if I want to say no to Bhagwan, I’ll say no.” — group member Shannon Jo Ryan, formerly known as Ma Amrita Pritam.
Though Oregon locals initially welcomed the cultists, tensions escalated rapidly when Rajneesh sought to incorporate the ranch as its own city: Ranjeeshpuram. At this point, the compound had electricity, plumbing, roads, a shopping mall, airport, pizza parlor, a 10,000-person meditation building, and its own zip code. But the relationship between the cultists and locals had worsened, especially when the Rajneeshees tried to win seats on the city council.
Sheela nefariously reasoned that the best way to earn seats for her followers, who were a minority, was to ensure that little to none of the locals could come out to cast their votes. Then in 1984, hundreds of Wasco County residents were infected with salmonella. Seven-hundred people became ill and 45 were hospitalized. It was discovered that 10 restaurants in the area had been poisoned with the bacteria.
Authorities suspected Sheela and even found the makings of Salmonella typhi, typhoid fever, in the compound. Nevertheless, not enough evidence was brought against her and authorities chalked the outbreak up to workers mishandling food.
The following year, Rajneesh himself fled the country.
Sheela left the ranch too in 1985 and pleaded guilty to being involved in the mass poisoning effort, in addition to other charges. She was sentenced to 20 years but served around 39 months. Meanwhile, the group’s sinister activities didn’t cease.
In the 1990s, two British Rajneeshes conspired to murder a U.S. attorney general for his thorough investigation into the cult. Fortunately, their efforts were thwarted in time. The Oregon commune dissolved within months and was finally abandoned for years before falling into foreclosure.
Rajneesh died of heart disease in 1990. Sheela moved to Switzerland after her sentence where she spent her time caring for the elderly. Oddly enough, she never stopped loving the man.
“My own personal conflict with Bhagwan was a bigger issue,” she said in 2011. “My love for Bhagwan had a priority over all problems.”
