Inside the life of a Rajneeshee

                I found an interesting article depicting the life of a Rajneeshee. A Rajneeshee is a member of the Rajneesh movement, or rather, was a member as the movement has come to a close. The article was interesting because it was written by a member of the movement but instead of talking about her own experience, the author talked about someone else’s experience. This article is based on the life of Jane Stork, who was high up in the Rajneesh movement. Although Jane did not start that way, she made her way up the ranks in short time and by the time the movement was in Oregon, she was close to the leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who was later renamed Osho. This article was most interesting because the author was just a follower, and did not move up the ladder and she decided to talk about the story of another member.
                What is fascinating about Jane Stork is that after everything that happened to her, she wrote a book to emphasize her life as a Rajneeshee and to let the world know everything that she did. The author remembers that she was part of the movement, when it started small in Pune while Jane Stark joined later on but soon became part of the circle of people Osho kept close to him. Like many small religious movements, the members were given new names, names that should mean more than their given names. This just shows that this was definitely a religious movement and that its members were not being forced to join, it was all with their own free will. This movement liked to practice mediation and all kinds of therapies to relax the minds. What is also interesting is that a lot of famous people did join this commune because of the therapies they offered. And those therapies are exactly why Jane joined them as well.
                Jane joined this group because she was having some marital problems and needed someone to help her deal and make them better. That is how she met Osho, because he offered at home services and she went to his house for the treatment. And even though the treatment she got was not private as she had hoped, the group meditation she endured was enough to get her hooked on this commune. And so, she followed Osho everywhere, with her husband following but her kids left behind.

                But even this abandonment of her children did nothing to sway her away from this commune. And in the end, she did not leave voluntarily but she left because the nation she was in demanded that she go. This is where we get to the point where the members of the movement were not treated too nicely. Even though the “lower-status” members were fine, Osho’s close entourage suffered more than he did in the face of the government. That is because, every problems that Osho encountered, he blamed it on someone else. For example, he made Sheela, a companion, his scapegoat for all the illegal infractions he committed. And that is how Jane also got fined and jailed, because she was following Osho.

Claire Maurel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog # 2: From Within

After some searching, I came  ac ross  this article published by the New York Times titled   SHOCK SETS IN AS GURU'S FOLLOWERS IN OREGON LEAVE TO FACE OUTSIDE WORLD . The article covers a few key followers of  Bhagwan  Shree  Rajneesh  and  their departure from the  Oregon  commune. I felt it really captured the feelings of uneasiness they felt. Plus, I  chose  to  use this article instead of someone who willingly left, so I could see it from a different perspective.  I thought it  w ould  be beneficial to see both sides since the first thing that is usually at the  forefront of searches regarding former movement members tends to be very biased.  While I would not normally choose to use a source that uses the word "cult" so carelessly, I felt this article really captured what I wanted to be illustrated. When  Rajneesh  moved  back to India people were faced with some li...
Read more

Reception

Maggie Billingsley The Rajneesh was first exposed to media in 1978 when Time magazine featured an article called "God Sir." This article was not the best article for the Rajneesh considering the fact that the media was never really on their side. The Rajneesh commune was harassed by media and overlooked by society into thinking this commune was so negative. It almost seemed as if the FBI's goal to tear this commune down. The FBI went out of their way to investigate even further after the Rajneesh commune had already collapsed, to break it down even more. The Rajneesh have been a form of fascination and horror according to the media. The media has very much affected the way people that do not follow the Rajneesh look at them and think about them. Rajneesh is known for his revelation on sex and has constructed a vision of the new man that holds reputation to prior norms.  According to Rajneesh, a man is free to carve out the cosmos of his own image. This means th...
Read more

Through The Camera Lens

8 November 2017 By: Zach Schultz          The Rajneesh movement did not have a very good relationship with the media. Like many religious movements, the Rajneesh were portrayed very poorly with many different forms of media. They were looked at through a negative light. Many people thought they were doing illegal or awful things just because of the stories they were seeing in the media. The media was able to scare people away from trying to understand the movement rather than to open up their minds and give their beliefs a chance.      Media infected the local towns people so much that they began to make clothing and necklaces with catch phrases like "Nuke The Guru". They also had bumper stickers that were being distributed around town in order to try to scare the commune away. The media was doing everything in their power to create opposition to the movement. They did not want the Rajneesh anywhere near the state of Oregon. The media was co...
Read more