Life "s mysteries

Copyright © 1995 by Osho International Foundation, Switzerland, www.osho.com/copyrights

© Publishing House "Sofia" LLC, 2011

Foreword

I only met Rajneesh once, sometime in the early 1970s, when he was living in the Woodlands, near Camp Corner in Bombay. I read about him in the newspapers and met his students, who dressed in saffron robes and wore medallions with his image around their necks. At that time his name was Acarya (teacher) and venerable Bhagwan (Divine) and Osho he became later. I had no strong desire to meet with Rajneesh, but his followers convinced me that he was different from other spiritual mentors and that I could get answers to my questions. In search of answers, I visited many ashrams and listened to different gurus and priests. But I haven't heard anything new from them. Most of their sermons talked about the fact that God is inside each of us, and if you look inside, you can find Illumination, Truth and Reality. There was no sense in this, like pouring from empty to empty. More than the teachings themselves, I was interested in the impact they have on their adherents. What makes them huddle in crowds of many thousands from all over the world to listen to sermons and live in the strictness prescribed by the rules of the ashram? What did they hope to get and what did they not get? I didn't have much trouble and went to Rajneesh, more out of curiosity than out of necessity.

I was scheduled for an appointment, asking me not to use perfume or cologne on the day of the meeting - I never use them - and also not to use strong-smelling soap in the morning.

At the appointed time I arrived at the Woodlands. I was ushered into a large, spacious office filled with books and asked to wait a bit. Acharyu... I went to the bookshelves. Most of the books were in English, some in Sanskrit and Hindi. I was amazed at the diversity of topics, from religion, theology, philosophy, history, biographies, autobiographies to humor and detective stories. I suddenly remembered that I had not seen books in the ashrams before. Some of them had libraries for students, most of them were books on religious topics or generalized sermons from a guru. Other teachers read almost nothing, except for the sacred Indian scriptures, Vedas, Upanishads and epics; they did not attach importance to the study of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity or Islam.

And Rajneesh was interested in everything.

It turns out that while others studied their religions indirectly, Rajneesh studied the originals and created his own teaching. Jain Mahavira and Buddha knew nothing but Hinduism. I do not know what Zarathustra possessed when he raised the flame to the symbol of purity. It is easier to understand the material on which the Jewish prophets built the foundation of the Jewish faith: after all, it is known that both Christianity and the Islam that followed it borrowed a lot from the Old Testament. Islam boasts that the Prophet Mohammed was completely illiterate. The last of the great religions of India, Sikhism, is largely built on Vedanta. None of the early teachers claimed their erudition. Rajneesh was perhaps the first of the great gurus to carefully study the doctrines of other religions and could rightly claim to be the only specialist in comparative religion. This fact alone commands respect for him.

Rajneesh entered. He was a man in his forties, of average build, with a thin, yellowish face. He had a thin wavy beard with gray hair around the edges. On his head was a knitted woolen hat, and he was dressed in a kind of light orange robe up to the ankles. I was most struck by his eyes - large and mesmerizing. With a radiant smile, folding his palms, he answered my greeting: "Namaskar."

We sat down.

- How can I help?

He spoke softly, with a strong Indian accent.

“Not many,” I replied. - I do not have problems.

- Then why did you come here? You are wasting your time. And mine too.

Not a good start for a dialogue. I blurted out:

- I'm interested. I want to understand why so many people strive for you. What are they looking for here?

- They have problems, and I try to solve them as best I can. If you have no problems, then I will not help you.

I quickly came up with a problem.

- I am an agnostic and do not believe in the existence of God. On the other hand, I am unable to overcome my fear of death. I know death is inevitable, but I cannot believe neither reincarnation nor the Day of Judgment. For me, death is a complete end. Dot. However, I am afraid of her, afraid of dying. How can I overcome this constant fear in the depths of my mind?

He was silent for a moment before answering.

- You are right, death cannot be avoided, and no one knows exactly when it will come. Remind yourself of these truths, do not be afraid of the dead and dying. Your fear of death will diminish, it is not so terrible. That's all you can do to help yourself.

I saw the meaning in this: for several years now I had visited crematoria and cemeteries, sat by the bodies of dying friends and relatives. For a while, it did help overcome the horror of death, but it always came back. When we met, I didn't know what he was thinking about the theory of birth, death and reincarnation, otherwise I would have kept asking questions. I was not thrilled with his answer to my question, but left with the knowledge that there was a person who did not try to impress me with the abstruse jargon so characteristic of gurus, swamis, acaryas and mullahs. I could easily talk to him, we were on the same wavelength. I wanted to know more about his life and teachings.

I happened to meet a young attractive Italian woman, Grazia Marciano, a devoted follower of Rajneesh. She was twenty years old; she had gray eyes and copper-colored hair. She wore a wide orange shirt and lungiand tied her head with an orange ribbon. On the neck there is a medallion with the image of Rajneesh. Every time she came to my office, she brought some kind of literature about Rajneesh and his teachings and managed to kindle my interest in him. I have nothing more to say about Grace. I'd better tell you about Rajneesh.

He was the eldest of eleven children of a cloth merchant. Born December 11, 1931 in the small town of Kuchwada in the Khoshangabad region, Madhya Pradesh. As a child, his name was Chandra Mohan. His parents were Jains, so his full name was Chandra Mohan Jain. As a child, he lived with his mother's parents for several years. The boy was developed, studied well, but did not listen well: the teachers, tired of his tricks, constantly complained to the headmaster. Chandra Mohan Jain loved to argue and seek the truth. The illness and death of the grandfather traumatized the young soul. There were no doctors nearby, and the patient was taken for a long time in a cart to the nearest town, where there was a hospital, but the old man died on the way. Rajneesh was shocked. Later, he very often recalled this incident.

In 1953, Rajneesh received a degree in philosophy from Jain College in Jabalpur. Thanks to a deep study of many religions and long meditation, he comprehended the great esoteric secret, attained enlightenment. He recorded the exact date of this event - March 21, 1953. He was only 21 years old.

In 1958 he was appointed professor of philosophy at Jabalpur University. He combined teaching and preaching in various cities in India. Huge crowds began to gather at his lectures, for he talked about things that no one had previously spoken about. He had a hypnotic voice and accompanied his daring sermons with parables to illustrate his thoughts, as well as many anecdotes, scattering religious dogmas that were considered sacred for centuries to smithereens. Thousands of men and women, mostly educated people, turned to his faith... In 1974 he established the first commune in Pune. By that time, his fame as a guru had spread throughout the world. Foreigners flocked to Pune to listen to him, study his meditation system, and became his disciples. They received new names, wore orange robes and medallions with his image.

Orthodox Hindus were wary of his popularity. As photographs of his students dancing naked in ecstasy appeared in Indian and foreign magazines, they spread ridiculous rumors of sex orgies in Pune. He has been described as a sex guru. The atmosphere in Pune has heated up. The then prime minister Morarji Desai, a straightforward, not very educated, short-sighted man, has repeatedly criticized Rajneesh.

Rajneesh treated this hype with due disdain. He spoke negatively about both politicians and religious figures, who were followed across the country by crowds of the gullible. For his disciples, he changed from Acharya (teacher) to Bhagwan (Divine). In the end, Rajneesh decided to leave India and try to spread his teachings in less hostile countries to him.

In 1981, his American adepts acquired a ranch and 25,000 hectares of land in Oregon; they created a commune there, which they called Rajneeshpuram.

As thousands of admiring worshipers flocked here from all over the world to take part in the annual festival, American ministers gathered crowds of their parishioners to counterbalance the onslaught of the messiah from the East on their long-held beliefs. Rumors spread about drug addiction, sexual permissiveness, crime, allegedly hitting the commune. None of the rumors were proven, not a single case was brought to trial, but all this became fertile ground for all kinds of inventors, in particular John Updike, who wrote about the commune in his novel C.

The US federal government has always been suspicious of religious communities. Rajneeshpuram became the largest and most prosperous of them, even the rich and famous people were interested in it. They bombarded Rajneesh with gifts: in addition to serial Mercedes, he was presented with a whole armada of 100 Rolls-Royces. Why not one for every day of the year? - Rajneesh taunted those who criticized his lifestyle. The disciples put stickers on their cars: "Jesus saves, Moses invests, Bhagwan spends." Rajneeshpuram had its own theaters, restaurants, beauty parlors, schools and swimming pools; it was a real city, closely watched by the church and government.

Rajneesh said: “The commune should live in such a way as to constantly get rich and avoid overproduction of people ... for this leads to the appearance of beggars and orphanages. The more shelters, the more benefactors like Mother Teresa. My ashram is very different [from Indian ashrams] because people here dance, sing, hold each other's hands, hug, love, have fun. This is not at all an oriental concept of an ashram, where a serious atmosphere reigns, which looks more like a cemetery than a garden. "

In 1985, the US government decided to strike. Rajneesh was charged with 35 willful violations of the immigration law. He was arrested, detained for 17 days and then expelled from the country.

Rajneesh returned to India. He had no idea exactly where to recreate the new center. In February 1986, he embarked on a world tour, hoping to find a new refuge. Twenty-one countries have denied him an entry visa. In July he returned to Bombay and in January 1987 revived his ashram in Pune, known as Osho International Commune.

I visited the OSHO center in Pune in Koregon Park. Osho Rajneesh was seriously ill and was not allowed to receive visitors. I wandered around the commune for several hours. Music came from his meditation hall: a quartet of musicians began to play at someone's command. Some sannyasins danced, others folded their hands and plunged into deep meditation. Everyone did their own thing. Winding paths that ran through lush vegetation led to a waterfall, a swan pond; further on there were workshops, a large library, classrooms, lounges, a shopping center, a bookstore, and an office. The commune was completely built by the parishioners, among them were surveyors, engineers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers - everyone helped in any way they could. No outside contractors or workers were hired. What amazed me most was that everyone I met gave me a big smile. The commune lived in the spirit of freedom and harmony. This made it very different from the many ashrams that I visited in different parts of the country. Nobody laughed there, everyone was preoccupied with world problems, there loud laughter was considered blasphemy. I was wondering if the rainbow atmosphere in Rajneeshpuram was the result of the sexual liberation that has been so much written and talked about?

And now I will return to my meeting a few years ago with the Italian Grazia Marciano, who for the first time sparked my interest in the teachings of Rajneesh.

Grace met and accompanied me, constantly supplying literature about Rajneesh. To keep the conversation going when we met again, I had to read everything she gave me. She had no other topic besides Rajneesh. No doubt she was trying to turn me into his student. Once I sharply told her: “Grace, do you want me to become a follower of Bhagwan? You don't have to force me to read all this literature. You can't buy me that cheap. " She smiled innocently and did not ask how to “buy” me. This happened two or three times. Grazia decided that I did not take her seriously, and at the next meeting she asked me directly: “Do you like my body? Do you want to have sex with me? My body means nothing to me, you can use it whenever you want. I will come to you".

This awakened all my amorousness, which I suppressed in myself. She had no prejudice about sex. And I had them, and my mind was clouded with carnal desires. With a direct blow, she shattered the barrier between us. We became friends. A few months later, when my wife and I were driving through Rome on our way to the Italian lakes, she invited us to dinner. I later met her at a conference room in Los Angeles. She married a TV producer and no longer wore orange robes and the Rajneesh medallion on her chest.

When I arrived at the commune in Pune, I learned that Rajneesh had renounced the honorary title of Bhagwan and had accepted the Japanese title of Osho in return. This word is not so easy to translate: "O" means love, respect and gratitude, "sho" - a global expansion of consciousness and life in full swing. In the end, he gave up on the Rajneesh name, and they began to call him simply Osho.

By mid-1988, Rajneesh felt that he had already said everything he wanted to. He began to gradually withdraw from public life, meet people less and less. Osho has never been in excellent health; he suffered from diabetes and asthma. He had every reason to believe that his health had been severely damaged in prison: there were rumors among the students that thallium was added to his food there. This tasteless and odorless poison slowly destroys the body. Despite the best medical care, Rajneesh was never able to recover. In April 1989, he gave his last public speech.

Two of his close students - the Canadian Swami Jayesh and the English doctor Swami Amrito - were on duty around the clock at his bedside in the last days of his life. Swami Amrito recounted in detail his dialogue with Osho shortly before his death. Feeling his pulse, Amrito said that the end was near. Osho nodded, indicating that he knew. Amrito wanted to send for a cardiologist to try to restore the work of his heart, but Osho stopped him: “No, I have to go. My hour has come. " He gave instructions on how to deal with his room and personal belongings. "Lay the rug wall to wall like this bath rug." He pointed to the stereo: "Nirupa will be glad to have it." Nirupa kept order in his room for many years. "And this needs to be removed," he continued, pointing to the dehumidifiers (they made a loud noise), "but let one air conditioner work." He was asked about samadhi... He asked that after death the body be taken to the meditation hall. "Then take me to the crematorium, but before that, put on my hat and socks."

Several weeks before his death, someone asked Rajneesh what would happen to the teachings after he left.

I completely trust life. If what I am talking about is true, then it will persist ... and people interested in my legacy will simply carry my torch without imposing anything on anyone.

I will remain a source of inspiration for my followers, and almost all sannyasins will feel it. I want them to grow on their own, to develop in themselves a love around which you cannot build a church; awareness that is not someone's monopoly; joy, fun, so that they keep alive children's eyes ...

Before his death at 17 o'clock on January 19, 1990, Osho said: "I leave you my dream."

He forbade mourning and mourning. That evening the hearse with his body was carried out of the ashram; crowds of disciples chanted and danced all the way to Tulsi Ram Gat. The funeral pyre was lit by his younger brother Swami Vijay Bharti, and the ashes were returned to the commune the next day.

9 months before his death, Osho himself dictated the text that should be placed at the burial site of his ashes. The marble slab reads:

Never born - never died

Just visited planet Earth

Regardless of the fate of the Pune commune, whoever leads it, it will remain a place of pilgrimage for admired Rajneesh adepts living on all continents. Now his dream will light the way for them.

* * *

It is foolish to try to summarize Osho's teachings in a short preface; it is like trying to pour the ocean into a mug. For 35 years of daily conversations, answering questions from students and guests, he touched on a huge range of topics. They were carefully recorded on tape, then transferred to paper and published. There are over 600 volumes of his printed works and thousands of tapes of his tapes that can be purchased in shops and centers in Osho. Many of the themes of his sermons dealt with the ancient religious texts of various religions; others were answers to questions. They conquer me with their depth.

Several times in the mornings I listened to recordings of Guru Nanak's morning prayers in Kasauli, japzhwhich I translated into english language... I thought I knew everything about this morning prayer until I heard Rajneesh's voice on tape explaining the esoteric meaning of each line, quoting the Upanishads and scriptures of the saints- bhakti... I have not seen such a depth of analysis even among the apologists of Sikhism.

It may seem strange that Osho preferred to answer simple questions from visitors and students about his attitude towards other religions and their founders. For him, nothing was trivial; the guy who was left by the girl wants to know what to do now; a married couple wants to know if extramarital affairs are a sin; someone asks what love is and how it differs from lust and falling in love. Etc. Here is what Osho said in his collection Golden Future about the simple questions he was asked:

I am convinced that the questions and answers are even more important because they concern you, your spiritual growth. You wander in the dark trying to find your way out. Of course, you cannot ask questions of the level of Zarathustra or Kalil Gibran, so I must answer questions of your level.

Listening to Zarathustra and Kalil Gibran is great fun: someone will cry, someone will feel great, but all this is grinding air! You remain the same, nothing changes in you. Sometimes I mention Buddha, Chuang Tzu, Zarathustra to show you what heights a person can reach, to give you an idea of \u200b\u200bthe distant stars. They are not as far away as they seem: after all, people like us were able to reach them. All in our hands.

That is why I am talking about Zarathustra, Buddha, Bodhidharma and thousands of others: I want to ignite desire in you. Although desire alone is not enough. I need to show you the way, put things in order in the chaos of which you are made, collect all your fragments scattered throughout the Cosmos ... and put them together, and then somehow push you on the right path.

Questions and answers are directly related to you, your spiritual growth, your progress. Conversations about Zarathustra or Kalila Gibran lead to where you should be, but you are not there yet.

First of all, you need to correctly determine your priorities: what is important and what does not matter much.

Do you know how the purity of gold is determined? Let the next question be the yardstick for what really matters: will it take death with it? If so, it doesn't matter. Therefore, money is not important - it is necessary, but not significant, does not have the highest significance.

Power, prestige, responsibility ... Death will come and take everything with him. Why make so much fuss about them for a couple of days while we're here? This is a caravanserai, a stop for the night - and by morning we are gone.

Osho's disciples called themselves sannyasins... However, they, unlike others who took sannyasa, did not call to give up life and retire in the jungle or caves of the Himalayas. When asked if it is true that his sannyasins celebrate any event, Osho replied:

True! My sannyasins celebrate everything. At the core of my sannyas is celebration, joy, not giving up life; delight in everything that life gives - beauty, joy, for life itself is a gift from God.

Religions have always been taught to deny life, to treat it negatively, their approach to life is full of pessimism. All religions are against life and its joys. For me, life and God are synonymous. Moreover, the word "life" is better than the word "God". God is a philosophical term, and life is real. The word "God" is found only in the scriptures, it is just a word, just a word. And life is in us and outside us, it is in the trees, clouds, stars. Everything that exists is the dance of life.

I teach love to her.

Is there a God who controls our desires? Osho replies:

Life has no purpose, it just is, for life is another name for God. Anything in the world can have a goal, it can be a means to achieve it, but at least there is something that is the crown of everything, something that has no goals.

You can call it Being.

You can call it God.

You can call it life.

These are all different names for the same reality.

God is the name given to life by theologians, and therein lies the danger, since the word, the idea of \u200b\u200b"God" can be refuted, disputed. Almost half of humanity does not believe in God. These are not only communists, but also Buddhists, Jains, thousands of atheists-free-thinkers. The idea of \u200b\u200b"God" is not easy to defend, because it was invented by man, and this concept cannot be witnessed, proven, confirmed. The word remains more or less empty. It can mean anything.

I prefer “existence” more. All the great thinkers of this century are existentialists. They completely abandoned the word "God". Existence itself is enough for them.

Osho did not tolerate ascetics who denied themselves comforts and inflicted physical pain on themselves for religious reasons.

Only the one I call religious who affirms life. A real religious person has a sense of humor. Our Universe is our home. We are not orphans. The earth is our mother. The sky is our father. The entire gigantic universe exists for us, and we for it. Essentially, there is no difference between us and the Whole. We are organically connected with him, we are part of a single orchestra. To feel the music of life - that's what I mean by real, standing religion ... God is not a man. He is everywhere - in trees, birds, animals, humanity - and in a sage and a fool.

When asked by a young man who feared that he would fall out of love with a girl after intimacy, Osho replied:

I am not against sex, but I am in favor of making it a prayer ... sex is perceived as humiliation ... but it also brings moments of complete purity, joy and innocence. It creates a sense of timelessness when suddenly time disappears. It also brings moments when the ego is gone, when it vanishes in an acute orgasmic spasm. Sex brings divine glimpses, it is an integral part of our life.

Osho doesn't sound entirely confident when he condemns homosexuality engendered by religion: it was common in monasteries where women were not allowed. Homosexuals and lesbians are not byproducts of monasteries or convents, they are simply born that way. Not everyone will be convinced by his statement that

... sex should be a great meditation art. This is the merit of Tantra. This merit is the greatest, because she revealed the ways of transforming the lowest into the highest, she showed how to turn dirt into a lotus. This is one of the greatest sciences.

Why is it so difficult for people to communicate?

Just a little understanding is needed. There are a few basic truths to be realized. One is that no one is born for another. Second, no one on earth will match your ideals of what it should be. Third - you yourself are the master of your love and you can give it as much as you want, but you cannot demand love from others, for there are no slaves.

If you understand these simple truths, it doesn't matter if you are married or not, you can be together and keep space for each other, never encroaching on the individuality of the other.

Marriage is an outdated institution.

Let's start with the fact that living within the framework of any social institution is already bad. This destroys the person. Marriage practically cut off all paths to happiness for millions of people, and all for the sake of insignificant little things. So, marriage, its very ritual, is a fiction.

He gives a specific answer:

We take seriously what needs to be treated with humor, and all problems begin with this seriousness.

First of all, why would you marry? If you love someone - live with him, this is your full right. You can live with someone, you can love someone.

Speaking of friendship and love, he continues:

Friendship is the highest form of love. In love there is passion, in friendship it completely disappears, nothing rough remains, everything becomes extremely harmonious.

Love is greed, this word comes from the Sanskrit lobha (greed). No one rises in love, everyone descends in it. Why do people sink in love? Because it is a transition from the conscious to the unconscious, from the rational to the instinctive. Life is a mirror that reflects your face. Be friendly and everything in life will respond to you with friendliness. Everyone knows well: if you treat a dog with affection, then even she will be affectionate with you, even very much. There are people who have known the kindness of a tree, they treated it with kindness.

Try an experiment, for example, with a rose bush, and you will see a miracle. Very slowly, but a miracle will happen - a person never treated trees with care, and they began to be afraid of him.

Osho has his own way of relieving tension:

You will be surprised to find that the same thing happens with any part of your body, it obeys, obeys - after all, this is your body! Close your eyes, mentally examine the body from head to toe, penetrate into the place where the tension is felt. Then talk to him the way you talk to a friend - let there be a dialogue between you and the body. Ask him to relax, tell him: “There is nothing to be afraid of. I'll take care of everything, you can relax. " Gradually, you will acquire the necessary skills and the body will relax. Then take the next, more important step: ask your mind to relax. But first you need to relax the body, you cannot start from the mind, from the middle, everything must be done in order. Many people start out crazy and fail, and all because they start wrong. Everything obeys a certain order.

How to overcome the ego?

The ego is a fiction, sometimes it disappears. Dreamless sleep is great. Remember the importance of sleep, do not neglect it ... Another great source of overcoming the ego is sex, love ... If you completely immerse yourself in sex, the ego will disappear, because at the highest point, on the wave of orgasm, you turn into pure energy. The mind is unable to function, it becomes silent with an influx of joy, with a strong release of energy; confused, he doesn't know what to do. In a normal situation, he copes with his functions perfectly, but when something new and important happens, he stops. And sex is the most important aspect of life. If you can completely immerse yourself in love, then the ego disappears. This is the beauty of sex, it is a manifestation of God, like a deep sleep, but only more valuable, because in a dream you are in an unconscious state.

Osho elevated sex to a kind of cult:

During sex, think about prayer, meditation, God. Burn incense, sing, dance during sex. Let the bedroom become a temple, a shrine. This should not be done in a hurry. Immerse yourself in sex, taste it slowly and beautifully, and you will be surprised, you will know the truth.

There is no doubt that Osho believed in reincarnation. He did not mention how he arrived at this conclusion, but calling the lotus position ( padmasana) the best for meditation, he explained that Buddhist monks preferred to meet death in this position and in full consciousness.

If you consciously face death, then you will have a completely different resurrection: you will be born consciously. The one who dies in consciousness is born in consciousness. One who dies unconsciously is born unconsciously. The one who dies consciously can choose his mother: he has a choice, he deserves it. The one who died unconsciously cannot do this and is born unconsciously, by accident.

It is even more difficult for the common man to understand his concept of meditation:

Running can become meditation, jogging, dancing, swimming, whatever. My definition of meditation is this: if your body, mind, soul are all harmoniously functioning together, then this is meditation, for the fourth appears by itself. And if you realize that you are doing meditation, not competing at the Olympics, but meditating, then the result will be fantastic.

Osho told his students how to act correctly:

Do what your nature wants, what your nature strives for. Listen not to the scriptures, but your heart - this is the only scripture I recommend to you. Listen very carefully, very consciously, and you can never go wrong. By listening to your heart, you will never doubt, you will start moving in the right direction, without even thinking what is right and what is not.

The ambivalence towards one's homeland is another mystery of Osho. He decided to leave her, then returned (perhaps reluctantly). When asked why there is so much violence in India, he answered.

"There were also false prophets among the people, as
and you will have false teachers who
will introduce harmful heresies and, rejecting
the Lord who redeemed them,
to themselves quick destruction "
2 Pet. 2: 1

1. "Love yourself and do what you want"

The story of Rajneesh (Osho) and his cult is the story of the rise and fall of one of the adventurers of our time. Rajneesh deeply despised humanity and did not consider it necessary to hide his aspirations; perhaps even more so than in the stories of other sects, here with open cynicism are exposed the reasons that moved the new-born guru - greed, lust, vanity and a thirst for power. It should be added that the cult of Rajneesh can hardly be attributed even to pseudo-Hindu neoplasms - it is absolutely an "author's work" operating in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Newage movement.

Rajneesh Chandra Mohan (1931-1990) was born in Kushwad (Central India, modern state of Madhya Pradesh) in a Jain family. Jainism arose around the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC This religion recognizes the existence of an individual soul - jiva, but denies the existence of a supreme God. Like adherents of other Indian religions, Jains see salvation in freeing the jiva from the chain of rebirth.

The one who has achieved liberation becomes, as it were, a living god and an object of worship. This Jain idea had a significant impact on Rajneesh, although in general his teachings are extremely eclectic.

Rajneesh was the eldest of his five sisters and seven brothers. Until the age of seven, Rajneesh lived with his grandparents. Rajneesh recalled that issues of spiritual liberation occupied him from a very early age. In his youth, he began to experience various meditation techniques; at the same time he tried not to follow any traditions and did not look for teachers, always relying only on himself. One of the main childhood experiences of Rajneesh was the experience of death. In his 1979 diary, he writes that in his childhood he went after funeral processions, as other guys ran after a traveling circus. In 1953, when Rajneesh studied at the philosophy department of Jabalpur College, he, according to him, experienced "enlightenment" - his last experience of death, after which he seemed to be born again. As a student, Rajneesh led a life that fell far short of the strict ascetic norms of Jainism. But they penetrated so deeply into his soul as a child that, for example, he vomited all night when he ate with his friends after sunset (food in the dark. Jains are strictly forbidden - you can swallow without noticing what some small insect, into which, say, the soul of a great-grandfather has reincarnated). Jainism does not know repentance, and Rajneesh was able to resolve the internal conflict only by rebelling against the "superstitions" of the religion of the fathers and all other religions. The theoretical basis for this Rajneesh was the "philosophy of life" (Nietzsche et al.), Which he met at the university.

In 1957, Rajneesh graduated from Saugar University with the gold medal of the All India Debate Competition and a Master of Science in Philosophy, then taught philosophy at Jabalpur University for nine years. During this time, he travels around India, meeting and conducting disputes with various religious and public figures. Speaking to audiences of many thousands, he gradually gains fame as a polemicist and rebel. In 1966, Rajneesh left the university and began to preach his own doctrine, which was a paradoxical mixture of stubs of Jainism, Tantrism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Hasidism, Nietzscheanism, psychoanalysis, popular "psycho-spiritual" therapies and the teachings of Krishnamurti and Gurdjieff. Having no initiation into any of the mystical traditions, he reinterpreted everything in his own way, adapting to his own needs.

At this time, Rajneesh called himself Acharya ("teacher"). He wandered on foot and rode a donkey across India, calling for internal transformation for the sake of survival in the coming nuclear catastrophe and preaching a certain new non-conformist religiosity, opposition to traditional religions, which Rajneesh sharply attacked at every opportunity: "We are making a revolution ... I am burning old scriptures, I destroy traditions ... "; "I am the founder of the only religion, other religions are deception. Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha simply seduced people ..."; "Faith is a pure poison" and so on in the same spirit. More than once he said that he did not believe in any prophets or in the Messiah and that they were all selfish people. Rajneesh saw the main mistake of traditional religious doctrines and meditative techniques in the fact that they urge a person to abandon a "full-blooded" physiological life, offering "spiritual enlightenment" instead.

Rajneesh called a truly enlightened new person, combining the rich life of the flesh and meditation, materialism and spirituality, Western activity and Eastern inaction, Zorba-Buddha (the Greek Zorba is an energetic lover of life, the hero of the novel of the same name by the Greek writer Nikos Kazanzakis. In Zorba the Buddha he saw "a man of the future, totally cut off from the past."

The main postulate of the "only religion" of Rajneesh can be expressed by paraphrasing the famous patristic saying: "Love God and do what you want." In relation to the teachings of Rajneesh it will turn out: "Love yourself and do what you want." According to Rajneesh, there is no god but man, and this is a hedonistic god: "Everyone can potentially become God ... God is a state of consciousness ... it is a way of enjoying life right here and now"; “The first thing to understand,” Rajneesh taught, “is that you are perfect. If someone tells you that you need to become even more perfect, then that person is your enemy, beware of him”; "You can be Christ, so why should you become a Christian?"

If you follow the Buddha, you will be in trouble - millions are already in trouble. If you follow Christ, you too will get into trouble. Look at any followers - they inevitably get into trouble, because life is changing every minute, and they stick to dead principles. Remember the only golden rule: "There are no golden rules!"

To achieve a spiritually and bodily fulfilled life "here and now", you need to "be spontaneous", because "life is spontaneous." The main obstacle that prevents a person from being a god and enjoying every moment of life, Rajneesh saw in the division of the mind into two warring principles: conscious and unconscious. A person identifies himself only with his conscious mind, and this does not allow him to achieve inner integrity. Only when the potential, the unconscious is allowed to blossom, can a person feel the "bliss of being." Passions and unconscious impulses should not be suppressed or overcome, but intensely and exhaustively experienced. Following your passions and lusts is, according to Rajneesh, the way to achieve divine freedom.

Submersion into the unconscious, turning off the reflective mind and the removal of all moral restrictions later led some of the students of Rajneesh, especially if they were neurotics, psychopaths, drug addicts or alcoholics, to serious mental illness. Rajneesh himself, however, believed that true madness is the splitting of consciousness into two unequal and mutually hostile halves, consciousness and the unconscious:

You are a madman, and you need to do something about it. Old traditions say: - Suppress your madness. Don't let it go outside, otherwise your actions will become insane, "- but I say," Let your insanity come out. Become aware of it. This is the only way to health. "Release it! Inside it will become poisonous. Throw it out, completely free your system from it. But this catharsis must be approached systematically, methodically, because it means going crazy with the method, becoming consciously crazy.

Schizophrenia resolves with deep awareness. Don't fight yourself. Always remember that the winner is wrong. When conflict arises, follow nature.

The nature that Rajneesh suggests to follow is fallen: "If a conflict arises between love and celibacy, follow love and surrender to it entirely"; "... if it happens that you choose anger, surrender to it entirely" and the like.

Traditional teachings cannot cure a person from the conflict in his mind, because they themselves are the culprits of this division. "Religions gave rise to schizophrenia", linking the unconscious with their laws and commandments. But Rajneesh opposes the inadequacy of the law not with the freedom of grace-filled transformation, of which he had never even heard of, but the permissiveness of lawlessness:

There are no sinners. Even if you have reached the very bottom in this life, you are divine as before, you cannot lose this divinity. I tell you: salvation is not needed, it is in you.

Rajneesh considers it vital for the diseased rationalism of humanity to free the infernal unconscious:

A revolution in human consciousness is no longer a luxury, but an extreme necessity, for there are only two possibilities: suicide or a qualitative leap of consciousness to the level that Nietzsche called Superman.

2. "Meditation is a state of no-mind"

Rajneesh's sermons did not have much success in India until he settled in Bombay in 1968, where he soon had his first Western disciples. They were mainly Americans and British, most of whom had gone through various new religious movements, the fascination with "drug spirituality," the hippie movement, occult psychotherapeutic groups, etc. In this audience, Rajneesh's illogical and immoral "non-teaching" about humanity found a warm response ... Rajneesh adds to his name instead of Dcharya the epithet Bhagwan Sri - "God the Lord". From the beginning of the 70s, he began to regularly conduct so-called meditation camps, predominantly in the highlands.

Rajneesh contrasted the purposeful and utilitarian activity of the conscious mind with "celebration" or "play", that is, activity for the sake of enjoying the activity itself, and not its final result. Such activity, in his opinion, can rightfully be called meditation.

Meditation is a state of "no-mind". Meditation is a state of pure consciousness without content ... You can find meditation only by putting the mind aside, becoming cold, indifferent, not identified with the mind, seeing the mind passing by, but not identifying with it, not thinking that " I am he. "

Rajneesh meditation is similar in description to the dhyana of classical yoga, however, to attain samadhi, tremendous ascetic efforts were required, and Rajneesh's methods were even simpler and more effective than Sri Aurobindo's "integral yoga"; they fully responded to the superficiality and relaxation of his audience, offering an easy path to "enlightenment" as to some kind of acute "spiritual" pleasure. At the same time, Rajneesh did not stop speculating on the fears of his flock, generated by the Cold War and the beginning ecological crisis, presenting meditation as the only way to solve these problems.

In April 1970, at a meditation camp near Bombay, Rajneesh first demonstrated the "dynamic" (or "chaotic") meditation he had invented. Here is her "technology":

Stage 1: 10 minutes of deep, rapid breathing through the nose. Let your body be as relaxed as possible ... If the body wants to move during this breath, let it ... 2nd stage: 10 minutes of catharsis, full cooperation of whatever energy the breath has generated ... Do not suppress anything. If you feel like crying, cry; if you want to dance, dance. Laugh, shout, yell, jump, twitch: whatever you want to do, do it! 3rd stage: 10 minutes of chanting "Hoo-hoo-hoo". Raise your arms above your head and bounce up and down, continuing to shout "Hoo-hoo-hoo." When jumping, land firmly on your feet so that the sound penetrates deep into the genital center. Exhaust yourself completely. 4th stage: 10 minutes of complete stop, frozen in the position in which you are. By breathing the energy was awakened, purified by catharsis and raised by the Sufi mantra "Hu". And now let it work deep within you. Energy means movement. If you no longer throw it out, it starts working inward. 5th stage: 10 to 15 minutes of dancing, celebration, thanksgiving for the deep bliss you have experienced.

Deep breathing to the beat of a drum in the first stage of "dynamic meditation" leads to hyperventilation of the lungs, as a result of which the person becomes drunk from excess oxygen. Then he "comes off" as he can, to the point of exhaustion. Having exhausted all reserves of activity, a person, according to Rajneesh, can no longer control the conscious mind, and it turns off. In a state of "passed out", when the head is empty, and the body is completely relaxed, the unconscious takes over. This cheap psychophysiological trance Rajneesh presented as enlightenment.

One of the components of the Rajneesh vinaigrette is the occult tantric teaching about chakras. True, Rajneesh added on his own that the chakras are felt only when they are polluted; if the chakras are clean, then the kundalini energy flows through them unhindered.

The main task of the "Hu" mantra is to open the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine and release the kundalini, which in everyday life is spent on a person's sex life. This is its natural application; however, for enlightenment, it is necessary that she move in the opposite direction, up the "energy channel", simultaneously opening all the other chakras. Rajneesh did not hide that this method is very dangerous for the physical body and that many outstanding yogis who practiced this method died before reaching old age, from severe and painful diseases. However, at the same time, he believed that the use of kundalini is the most effective method of opening the chakras and that further help from the guru can reduce its negative consequences. The main benefit that the upward movement of the kundalini brings, in his opinion, is that it allows the "cosmic energy" to descend into a person and circulate in all his bodies, including the physical. The last two stages of chaotic meditation make it possible to feel and enjoy this circulation.

In addition to "dynamic meditation", Rajneesh also introduced the "kundalini meditation" developed by him, during which the sectarians shook violently in order to "disperse the clamps of the body" and danced, "so that the newly found flowing vitality manifested itself." In order for meditation to be most effective, Rajneesh recommended practicing it for 21 days in a row, combining it with yogic breathing exercises, in complete isolation and silence, or blindfolded.

3. Commune in Pune

At the beginning of the 70s, Rajneesh began to initiate everyone who wanted to become "sannyasins", who, however, did not have to leave the "world"; only the more fanatical of them later began to settle in the ashrams of Rajneesh. And, of course, these "sannyasins" did not take any vows and did not lead an ascetic life, on the contrary, Rajneesh urged them to drop all "conventions". The only thing that was required of them was to fully "open up" to Rajneesh and surrender to him in everything. Sannyasins received new Sanskrit names "as a symbol of commitment to meditation and a break with the past." Women received the obligatory prefix "Ma" (mother), and men received the prefix "Swami". They had to wear bright orange robes and a wooden rosary with a portrait of Rajneesh around their necks, as well as always carry a nut with a "piece of the body" of their guru (usually clippings of his hair or nails).

In 1974 Rajneesh moved to Pune (India), where he opened the first ashram-commune in Koregaonswa Park. The ashram could receive up to 2 thousand people at a time, and up to 50 thousand people passed through it in a year. Over the course of seven years, the center in Pune was visited by hundreds of thousands of "spiritual seekers" from the West. By the end of the 70s, about 10 thousand worshipers of Bhagavan lived in the ashram, and about 6 thousand more pilgrims, whom the ashram could no longer accommodate, settled in Pune. Every day, Rajneesh preached sermons in broken English, richly seasoned with all sorts of stories, jokes, ridicule and blasphemy. These sermons-lectures were recorded on a tape recorder and published in the form of separate books (the guru himself did not write anything, except diaries), the number of which now exceeds six and a half hundred. In addition to books translated into over 30 languages, followers of Rajneesh are distributing audio and video recordings of his performances. To organize the production and sale of these products, the beloved student and personal secretary of Rajneesh, an Indian adventurer with an American passport, Ma Ananda Sheela (Sheela Silverman), created the Rajneesh Foundation Limited company in the state of New Jersey, whose turnover soon amounted to millions of dollars. According to one of the Rajneeshists, "the organization has long understood the power of money."

Returning pilgrims from Pune, initiated into neo-sannyasa, began to open subsidiary ashrams and become their leaders. By the beginning of the 80s, 500 such centers had already been created - in other places in India, as well as in 22 other countries, including the USA, England, France, Canada and Japan.

At the ashram in Pune, there were "therapy groups" with professional psychotherapists. Rajneesh sannyasins generally lived only in groups, subordinate to the leader. Mind control in such communes was particularly effective. For example, when Rajneesh hinted that a woman burdened with children could not attain enlightenment, many female sannyasins were surgically sterilized right there at the cult center in Laguna Beach.

Naturally, a well-designed cult could not do without apocalypticism. Rajneesh predicted the imminent approach of a worldwide catastrophe:

This crisis will begin in 1984 and end in 1999. All kinds of destruction will reign on the earth at this time - from natural disasters to suicide by scientific advances. In other words, floods, unprecedented since the time of Noah, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and everything possible will be given by nature ... There will be wars that put humanity on the brink of nuclear war, but Noah's ark will not save it. Rajneeshism is Noah's ark of consciousness, a corner of tranquility in the center of a typhoon ... Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bombay - all these cities will perish in a worldwide catastrophe that will not be limited to local destruction. It will be global and inevitable. It will be possible to hide from it only in my teaching.

In early 1984, Rajneesh expanded on his prediction of an impending catastrophe, stating that some prophecy of Nostradamus would come true, and AIDS would kill two-thirds of the world's population. When asked whether the Rajneeshists would survive the coming nuclear disaster, Bhagavan replied:

The monkeys made a leap and became human, but not all. Some of them are monkeys to this day ... I will not say that the Rajneeshists will survive the catastrophe, but I can say with absolute certainty that those who survive will be Rajneeshists, and the rest will be monkeys or commit suicide. In the end, the rest don't matter.

Rajneesh preached freedom of fornication and perversion, while calling the family and children an unnecessary burden. He said:

There is nothing sinful about pure simple sex ... No obligation, no duty, no obligation in it. Sex should be full of play and prayer.

Develop your sexuality, do not suppress yourself! .. I do not inspire orgies, but I do not forbid them either.

Visitors to the Pune commune returned with stories of such sexual orgies, as well as perversions, drug addiction and drug trafficking, and suicides among Ashram residents. It happened that sessions of meditation in Rajneeshev's ashrams ended in fights and stabbing. Many have lost their health after experiencing the "Rajneesh therapy". Here is an excerpt from the memories of visiting the ashram in Pune around the year 80:

Murders, rapes, mysterious disappearances, threats, arson, explosions, abandoned children of "Ashramovites" begging on the streets of Pune, drugs - all this [here] is in the order of things ... Christians working in the Pune Psychiatric Hospital will confirm everything said not forgetting to mention the high level of mental disorders caused [in particular] by the fact that the ashram has taken political power into its own hands and there is no one to complain about it.

The scandals associated with Rajneesh and his statements shocking the public attracted Western journalists. Besides, with a shaven head, bearded, wearing a "Sufi" cap and loose-fitting "spiritual" vestments, Rajneesh was distinguished by his photogenicity. It first appeared in the American press in early 1978, when Time magazine published an article about it under the heading "Lord God From the East." The magazine reported that this gifted guru stood out among the early apostles of various New Age "human potential" movements. Later, Rajneesh remained in the center of attention of the Western press and in the first half of the 80s became the most fashionable guru in the West, eclipsing Maharishi.

4. "I am the guru of the rich"

In 1980 and early 1981, Hindu traditionalists made two unsuccessful assassinations of Rajneesh. At the same time, in 1981, an investigation was launched, which showed that "Rajneesh Foundation Limited was bogged down in tax evasion, embezzlement of donations for charitable purposes, theft and criminal cases against members of the sect." In the same year, the government of Indira Gandhi deprived the Rajneesh ashram of the status of a religious organization, and he had to pay huge taxes. Rajneesh, without waiting for the end of the investigation, on May 1, 1981, stopped giving lectures and generally speaking in public. Since that time, Rajneesh's "right hand" Shila Silverman has become an intermediary in communicating with the world. Having sold off the property of the ashram in the early summer of 1981, withdrawing money from his Indian accounts and taking 17 of his most devoted students with him, Rajneesh went to the United States on a tourist visa, ostensibly for treatment, and some Rajneesh sources indicate that he was going to be treated for a spinal disease, and others - that from diabetes and asthma.

With the money of American students of Rajneesh and mainly the second American husband of Ananda Sheela in the desert part of Central Oregon, the huge Big Magdi ranch was acquired on the territory of Vasco County. Here, on dry, barren lands, an agricultural commune of the Rajneeshists first settled, and later a five thousandth city called Rajneeshpuram arose, which had an airfield, a comfortable hotel with a casino, shopping streets, restaurants, parks, gardens, greenhouses, roads and regular buses. All this was created by about 2000 followers of Rajneesh. They worked for free, seven days a week, under the scorching sun for 12 hours a day, slept in the barracks and all the time listened to Rajneesh's sermons through the loudspeakers, in which they were inspired that exhausting work is a holiday, meditation, so to speak, a feast of the spirit.

Tens of thousands of other Rajneeshists came to Rajneeshpuram from time to time (in the summer, for example, up to 20 thousand people gathered). They had the opportunity to donate significant funds to the guru, since most of them belonged to the wealthy middle class. More than 300 Rajneesh meditation centers were opened around the world, also generating considerable income; in UK centers, say, a basic annual course of "Rajneesh therapy" cost £ 3,500. In addition, the centers offered a number of paid New Age courses: bioenergy, body control, dehypnotherapy, intuitive massage, neotantric yoga, rebirthing, and many others. They tried to send those who finished the courses to Rajneeshpuram. For such a trip it was necessary to shell out several thousand more dollars. ... Rajneesh believed that "spirituality is a luxury and privilege of the rich." About himself, he said: "I am the guru of the rich. There are enough religions that deal with the poor, but leave me to deal with the rich."

He dealt with them quite successfully for his own pocket. By the end of 1982, his fortune had reached $ 200 million tax-free. He owned 4 aircraft, a combat helicopter and 91 Rollsroys. In fact, he expected to have 365 of these most expensive cars in the world, one new car for every day of the year. In the Rolls-Royce, Rajneesh made his daily round of congregations. The Guru himself drove a car, slowly and solemnly accompanied by submachine gunners along the living orange wall of his adherents, who stood along the edges of the so-called "road of nirvana" and threw pink petals under the wheels of the car. It was a rare opportunity for them to see their idol.

As Rajneeshpuram grew in all major Western countries, "holy cities", arranged by the Rajneeshists after its model, began to appear - communes trying to lead an autonomous existence and should become an alternative to the "society of non-freedom." With talk of freedom, the Rajneesh sect gradually turned into a "totalitarian organization with a tight control system." It was with these words that even such a pro-sectarian researcher of new religious movements as Professor Eileen Barker described the commune in Rajneeshpuram.

In Oregon, the Rajneeshists took over the nearby provincial town of Entelope, gained the majority of the city council seats, and renamed it Rajneesh. Most of Entelope's native inhabitants, mostly aged people, were under the constant supervision of the sannyasin police forces, were taxed in favor of the sect and were forced to contemplate a nudist beach established by the city council in a local park. They chose to surrender and leave the city. The city grew as the followers of Rajneesh bought up existing houses and built new ones.

Meanwhile, the date for elections to the county legislature approached and the Rajneeshists decided to achieve a majority in it. According to local law, it was enough to live in the state for 22 days to get the right to vote in local elections. Therefore, it was decided to increase the number of voters who will vote for the Rajneesh candidates. In the fall of 1984, Operation "Share your home with your fellow man" was carried out: from New York, San Francisco and other large cities of the United States, sectarians brought about three and a half thousand alcoholics, vagrants and drug addicts to the ashram. Frightened by this, local legislatures urgently passed legislation extending the period of residence required to participate in elections. The vagabonds gathered in Rajneeshpuram did not bring any benefit to the sect. On the contrary, the semi-criminal vagabonds behaved arrogantly and defiantly, did not want to work for the guru and, among other things, worsened the already not brilliant relations of the Communards with the local residents. In Rajneeshpuram, Sheila put together an armed detachment of one hundred militants, but even he did not manage to disperse the pesky "neighbors", and soon their corpses were found in the vicinity of the "holy city", but not in Rajneeshpuram itself. The police found that they were all killed by an unknown poison, and, understandably, suspected Rajneesh and company.

At the same time, the sect's political ambitions continued to grow. Since the trick with homeless people did not work, now, in order to win the elections, the Rajneeshists decided to ensure that those who did not support their candidates could not take part in the voting. Continuing to be the "tongue" of the silent guru, Sheela Silverman, figured out what to do: agents assigned to her sprayed salmonella bacteria on the salad bars of most restaurants in the county, leaving many of their customers sick. True, this did not help the Rajneeshists to achieve the desired power in the county.

In October 1984, Rajneesh suddenly spoke up. He again accused priests and politicians of corrupting human souls, again argued that Rajneeshism is "the only defense against nuclear weapons", and again preached renunciation of the "old world", setting an example of "spiritual revolutionism": "I raise my hand against the past of everything humanity ".

In his speeches, more and more anti-Christian attacks became:

Messiahs are usually insane. He [Jesus] was absolutely sure that the crucifixion would prove him right, and that is why I see in his actions just a disguised attempt at suicide. If anyone was to blame for his crucifixion, it was only himself. He asked for it himself. And no source - Jewish or historical - confirms that he was resurrected. Only the New Testament. Fiction. There was no Resurrection.

Rajneesh himself wanted to be his worshipers instead of Christ: "May I be your death and resurrection." ... And they sang adoringly to him: "I place my heart in your hands."

The spirit that spoke through the serpent to Eve in Paradise now spoke through the mouth of Rajneesh:

The devil seduced Eve with the argument that God wants her to remain ignorant. .. He is envious. And this seems to be true, for the God of the Jews is very envious. He does not want people to become equal to him. He is not a loving father ... Knowledge is not a sin ... I advise you to eat from the tree of knowledge ... ".

By 1984, the number of Rajneesh followers exceeded 350 thousand, and their average age was 34 years old. Despite the failure in the Vasco elections, the Rajneeshists in the same 1984, in connection with the elections to the Oregon legislature, gave rise to fear that the sect was seeking political power already at the state level. Sheela added fuel to the fire, declaring that, if necessary, the people of Rajneesh would turn all of Oregon into Rajneeshpuram. The nearby farmers, driven by the immoral behavior of the Rajneeshists to the point that they were ready to call them to order by force, Sheela threatened to kill fifteen people for each follower of Rajneesh. ... Under the influence of public opinion, the police, and then the FBI, finally opened a criminal case against the Rajneesh sect. About four dozen FBI investigators were investigating directly in Rajneeshpuram. They found weapons depots, laboratories for the production of drugs that were regularly added to the food of sectarians, a carefully camouflaged underground passage for the escape of the guru in case of emergency.

On September 14, 1985, Sheela Silverman with her personal bodyguards and another husband, as well as several other members of the commune's board, fled to Western Europe... Rajneesh accused Sheela of trying to poison his personal doctor, attempting to kill the guru himself, killing vagrants whose bodies the police found in the vicinity of Rajneeshpuram, and wanted to turn the ashram into a fascist organization. Meanwhile, Sheela withdrew $ 55 million from the ashram in a Swiss bank and tried to escape, but was arrested in Stuttgart by Interpol. She, in turn, stated that "Bhagwan is a spoiled child who cannot breathe without a monthly $ 250,000 in pocket money. This is a genius in the use of human gullibility, a drug addict who cannot live without Valium. His life story is a complete scam. And I. was complicit in this scam. He and I, we made a great pair of swindlers. "

Rajneesh also managed to escape, but on October 29, 1985, he was arrested at Charlotte Airport, North Carolina, where Bhagwan's own plane landed for fuel. Rajneesh and eight of his associates allegedly flew to rest in Bermuda.

The trial of Rajneesh, held in Portland, Oregon, ended on November 14, 1985. The state authorities, already suffering colossal losses due to the activities of Rajneesh, feared that they simply would not be able to cope with the extremely costly months-long lawsuit. In addition, according to State Attorney General Charles Turner, they did not want to make Rajneesh a martyr. As a result of difficult negotiations with Rajneesh's lawyers, a compromise was reached - Bhagwan pleaded guilty to only 2 of 34 charges against him. Thus, he received a symbolic punishment for violating immigration laws and related criminal norms: ten years of probation plus a $ 400,000 fine. In addition, Rajneesh was ordered to leave the United States forever within five days. Sheela was found guilty of illegal use of listening devices, arson, beatings and intimidation, attempted murder and infecting 750 people with batulism, for which she was sentenced to imprisonment and a heavy fine. After spending only 29 months in prison, she left for Switzerland at the end of 1988 and married again - to the Swiss Urs Birnstil, who died in 1992 from AIDS. Sheela reconciled with Rajneesh, but she was never his follower and accomplice. Now 52-year-old Sheila Birnstil owns two homes for the disabled and the elderly near Basel. The contingent of its establishments - people with mental disabilities, mainly patients with Alzheimer's syndrome, that is, a memory disorder. In the US, Schiele is again charged in old cases, this time with conspiracy to assassinate Oregon Attorney General Charles Turner, but her Swiss status protects her from extradition. Of the $ 469,000 owed by Sheela to Oregon and Vasco County, an anonymous person recently paid 200,000 (it can be assumed that this was one of her inadequate patients).

Rajneesh dissolved the Oregon ashram, burned five thousand copies of his brochures, and publicly declared that he was not a god. After deportation from the United States, Rajneesh tried to stay in any country where there were followers, but 21 countries either banned him from entering, or expelled him without any special explanation (such as Greece). From this time on, the Rajneesh movement began to lose its mass character more and more. Crowded communes fall apart, and the degree of influence of the cult on its followers falls.

Most of those who deal with the problems of new religious movements speak of the inadmissibility of using repressive measures against extremist totalitarian sects, justifying this by the fact that the banned sect will go underground and become even more dangerous. But the well-conducted police operation to liquidate the community in Rajneeshpuram suggests otherwise. It turns out that in exchange for guarantees of personal safety, the cult leader, who values \u200b\u200bhimself most of all, is ready to disband the sect. But just a few months before the events described, even a competent cult researcher, Christian apologist, holder of four doctoral degrees Walter Martin, who was sharply negative towards the Rajneesh sect, wrote: “Rajneesh and his followers attach great importance to the experiment with Rajneeshpuram, which led would be a tragedy if the government intervened and eliminated their dream. "

5. "The population must be reduced"

In July 1986, Rajneesh SMOG finally returned to India (back in December 1985 he was expelled from there as well). He settled in Bombay, where few of the remaining disciples began to gather around him. In late 1986, Rajneesh made two speeches, later published under the general title "The Rights of the New Man." In these keynote speeches, Rajneesh expresses his resentment at being driven out of all Western countries, expressing both general resentment against all priests, the rich and white politicians, and surprisingly petty claims. In particular, he inherited the Declaration of Human Rights. The old Declaration should be replaced by the Declaration of the Rights of the New Man, whose "only fundamental right" is "to become God."

In detailing the ten points of his Declaration, Rajneesh paints a picture of the world in which his "new people" will live. The right to life in this world will mean the right to a good life, in which there will be no suffering, but only joys and pleasures. It is clear that as the number of humanity increases, there will not be enough resources for a good life for everyone. Therefore, Rajneesh says that "the population must be reduced if a person wants to live with dignity, joyfully, and not drag out a miserable existence." To this end, Rajneesh proposes to limit the birth rate by any means, using for this not only contraception and abortion, but also the destruction of children with congenital disabilities. In addition, it is necessary to introduce and promote euthanasia in every possible way and recognize the rights of homosexuals.

In the future world, "there should be no nations, no state borders. There should be no religions." Rajneesh hopes that religions "will dissolve by themselves. The best of different religions will be preserved in Rajneesh's" only religion. "In the world of absolute freedom, the main cause of slavery, which, according to Rajneesh, is Christian anthropology based on faith, must be eliminated in the fact that God created man in His own image and likeness. Marriage in the society of "new people" should disappear, since it is a "fake for love." "New people" will freely converge and diverge, and it is better if the partners belong to to different nations, and even better - to different races.Children should be torn away from their parents and brought up by communities, and not even brought up, since Rajneesh considers any upbringing, especially religious, a violation of children's freedom.

In a single world there will, of course, be a single world government. What will be the way of his government? Rajneesh hates the monarchy. Democracy is also not good because it is a cover for manipulation by the powers that be. Moreover, the “ignorant masses” are guided by random criteria when voting: some of the candidates look better, some speak better. In the new world, elections will be carried out by professional corporations: for example, "only teachers should elect the Minister of Education." Only those with higher education will have the right to vote. The world government will be functional, but it will not have power.

When a person, using the Rajneesh techniques, eliminates division in himself, divisions in the world will disappear. The new world will be different from the present, like heaven from hell.

Now there is no need to describe what hell is. It is enough to look around: here it is ... But we can change everything. This land can be turned into paradise. And then all the need for paradise in heaven will disappear, there it will be empty. If we remember Rajneeshpuram, it will become clear what will be done with those who do not want to live in this paradise of radical hedonistic godless humanism.

6. Osho died, apparently from AIDS

In January 1987, Rajneesh moved to Pune again. Here he comes up with a new meaningful name - "Osho", that is, "ocean", which, apparently, should be associated with vastness, depth, chaos, abyss.

For his followers, Osho is abolishing the mandatory wearing of orange robes and sandalwood rosary with his own portrait on them. True, during meditation and in the presence of Osho, sannyasins were ordered to wear white clothes. In addition, in meditation camps, which are held for three days every month, maroon clothing must be worn.

Psychotherapeutic programs are renewed and expanded, new meditation techniques are created. One of them, "The Mystic Rose", was modestly considered by Osho as "the greatest breakthrough in meditation 2,500 years after Gautama Buddha's meditation." This meditation lasts 21 days; for one week the participants laugh for 3 hours a day, for the second week they cry for 3 hours a day, for the third week for 3 hours a day they "silently observe" and "testify" how they feel better.

Following the example of his longtime rival in the neoguru market, Maharishi, whom Rajneesh had previously criticized in every possible way, Osho is now trying to prove the benefits of his meditation therapy through "scientific research".

The various therapeutic groups in Osho International Commune were merged into the "Osho Multiversity", which in the first half of the 1990s included the following non-graduating "colleges": Centering School, Creative Arts School, International Health Academy, Meditation Academy. The Transformation Center, the Institute of Tibetan Pulses and others are quite a typical New Age set.

By the late 1980s, Osho's health had deteriorated significantly. In the last months before his death, if his health allowed, Osho would go out to his students for a "meditation of music and silence", and then they watched videos of his previous conversations. Osho died in 1990, apparently from AIDS. Leaving this life, he did not leave a full-fledged organization, believing that there was no need for it, and did not appoint an heir. Moreover, he made it clear that if anyone declared himself to be his successor, he should be avoided. As a result, after the death of the guru, several independent currents were formed within the movement. Among them are the "International Academy of Meditation" by Paul Lowe, "Gumauniversity", headed by the Dutch sannyasin Verisch, and others.

Now there are about 200 Osho meditation centers in the world. The center of the cult is still Pune. A group of 21 sannyasins led by Amrito, a former personal physician of Osho, formed the leadership of the ashram after the latter's death. They have turned the commune in Pune into a commercial enterprise - an exotic "esoteric" recreation park, designed for wealthy Western tourists 35-40 years old.

On the territory of the former Soviet Union, there are Osho centers in St. Petersburg, Voronezh (operating in 1996 under the name "Tantra Yoga"), Odessa, Krasnodar, Minsk, Tbilisi, Riga and Moscow, where, in addition to the "Osho Rajneesh" center, operates also the center "East House", created by a young Russian Igor. In the early 90s, he completed a training course in Pune and returned from there as a sannyasin, Swami Anand Toshan. In addition to meditation trainings, sending "to study" in Pune and other programs, "Oriental House" holds Sunday "Osho-discos", where "everything is allowed."

OshoTime International magazine is published twice a month, which is distributed worldwide and is published in nine languages. The websites of Osho fans from different countries are abundantly represented on the Internet. But the popularity of Rajneesh is not commensurate with the presence of organizations associated with his name - elements of Rajneesh's ideology are an integral part of the Newage movement. Osho's books are sold in all New Age stores and are plentifully featured in any collapse of occult literature.

179. Joachim Keden and others. Sects, spirits, miracle healers. Germany, 1999. -S. 28.

180. Amrit Swami Prem. Decree. op. -P.14.

Photo - Osho (Bhagavan Shri Rajneesh); cover of one of Osho's books; dynamic meditation; Russia - Belly dance lessons with Erasmia - the enlightened dancer of Osho - www.oshoforum.ru & www.orientdance.ru

Childhood

Osho was born on December 11, 1931 in Kushwada (Central India). The family loved him very much, especially his grandfather, who gave Raja, which means king. He spent all his childhood at his grandfather's house. His father and mother took him to them only after the death of his grandparents. Before the school he was given a new name - Rajneesh Chandra Mohan.

From an early age he was interested in spiritual development, studied his body and its capabilities, constantly experimented different ways meditation. He did not follow any traditions and did not look for teachers. Experiment was the basis of his spiritual search. He looked very closely into life, especially at its critical, extreme points. He did not believe in any theories and rules and always rebelled against the prejudices and vices of society.

Enlightenment

Osho was 21 on March 21, 1953. On this day, enlightenment happened to him. It was like an explosion. “That night I died and I was reborn. But the person who was reborn has nothing to do with the one who died. It is not a continuous thing ... The person who died died totally; nothing is left of him ... not even a shadow. The ego died totally, completely ... On that day, March 21, a person who lived many, many lives, millennia, simply died. Another being, absolutely new, not at all connected with the old, began to exist ... I became free from the past, I was torn out of my history, I lost my autobiography. " At this point, Osho's story actually ends. A man named Rajneesh Chandra Mohan died at 21, and at the same time a miracle happened: a new enlightened person was reborn, completely free of ego.

University years

After that, Osho's outer life did not change. He continued his studies at Jabalpur College in the philosophy department.

In 1957, he graduated from Saugar University with an honors degree, a gold medal and a master's degree in philosophy. Two years later, he became a professor of philosophy at Jabalpur University. He was very loved by students for his humor, sincerity and uncompromising pursuit of truth. During his nine-year career, Osho traveled throughout India, often commuting fifteen days a month. A passionate and skillful debater, he constantly challenged orthodox religious leaders. Addressing one hundred thousand audiences, Osho spoke with a conviction emanating from his enlightenment, he destroyed blind faith in order to create true religiosity.

In 1966, Osho left the university department and devoted himself entirely to spreading the art of meditation and his vision of a new person - Zorba the Buddha, a person who synthesizes the best features of the East and West, a person who can enjoy a full-blooded physical life and can simultaneously sit silently in meditation, achieving peaks of consciousness.

Osho is a master practitioner.

He created incredibly effective meditation techniques
for a modern person, changing the very quality of your life.

Start taking real steps in your development.

Bombay

In 1968 Osho (Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh) settled in Bombay and soon the first Western seekers of spiritual truth began to visit him. Among them were many specialists in the field of therapy, representatives of the humanist movements, who wanted to take the next step in their growth. The next step, as Osho said, is meditation. Osho experienced the first glimpses of meditation as a child, when he jumped from a high bridge into the river, or walked along a narrow path over an abyss. There were a few moments when the mind stopped. This caused an unusually clear perception of everything around him, of his being in it and complete clarity and separation of consciousness. These experiences, experienced many times, sparked Osho's interest in meditation and prompted him to look for more affordable ways. In the future, he not only experienced all the meditations known since antiquity, but also came up with new, revolutionary techniques designed specifically for modern people. They are called “dynamic meditations” and are based on the use of music and movement. Osho brought together elements of yoga, Sufism and Tibetan traditions, which made it possible to use the principle of energy transformation through the awakening of activity and subsequent calm observation.

Osho (Bagwan Shri Rajneesh) first showed his morning dynamic meditation in April 1970 at a meditation camp near Bombay. On that day, everyone was dumbfounded and fascinated at the same time. Indian journalists were amazed to see the participants screaming, screaming and ripping off their clothes - the whole scene was fatal and very intense. But as much as the tension was in the first, intense stage, so was the relaxation in the second part, leading to complete peace, not attainable in ordinary life.

Osho explained:

“For ten years I have been continuously working with the Lao Tzu methods, that is, I have been continuously studying direct relaxation. It was very easy for me so I figured it would be easy for anyone. Then, from time to time, I began to understand that this is impossible ... I, of course, said “relax” to those whom I taught. They understood the meaning of the word, but they could not relax. So I decided to come up with new methods of meditation that first create tension - even more tension. They create such tension that you go crazy. And then I say relax.
What is meditation? Osho Rajneesh talked a lot about meditation. On the basis of his conversations, many books have been compiled, in which all objects of meditation are considered in great detail, starting from the technique of execution, ending with explanations of the subtlest inner nuances.

Pune 1

In 1974, Osho moved to Pune, where, together with his students, he opened an ashram in the beautiful Koregaon Park. Over the next seven years, hundreds of thousands of seekers from all over the world come there to experience Osho's new meditations, to listen to his talks. In his conversations, Osho touches on all aspects of human consciousness, shows the innermost essence of all existing religions and systems of spiritual development. Buddha and Buddhist teachers, Sufi masters, Jewish mystics, Indian classical philosophy, Christianity, yoga, tantra, Zen ...

Osho says about his books:
“My message is not a doctrine, not a philosophy. My message is not verbal contact. This is much more risky. This is nothing more, nothing less than death and rebirth ... "
Many people from all over the Earth felt this and found the strength and courage to touch this source and begin their own transformation. Those who are firmly established in this decision take sannyas. The sannyas that Osho gives is different from the traditional one. This is neosannyasa. Former sannyasins - people who completely devoted themselves to spiritual practice, went to monasteries or secluded places and studied with their Master, minimizing contact with the outside world. Osho's neo-sannyas does not require this. Neo-sannyas is not a renunciation of the world, it is rather a renunciation of the madness of the modern mind, which generates division between nations and races, depletes the Earth's resources for weapons and wars, destroys the environment for profit and teaches their children to fight and dominate others. Modern sannyasins, Osho's disciples are in the very thick of life, they are engaged in the most ordinary things, but at the same time they regularly engage in spiritual practice and, first of all, meditation, combining material life with spiritual life, synthesizing in themselves the love of life of Zorba and the height of the spiritual consciousness of Buddha ... This is how a new person is formed - Zorba-Buddha, a person who will be free from the madness of the modern mind. According to Osho, "the new man is the only hope for the future."

One who becomes a sannyasin receives a new name as a symbol of commitment to meditation and a break with the past. The name, usually derived from Sanskrit or Indian words, contains indications of a person's potential or a certain path. Women receive the prefix Ma - an indication of the highest qualities of a woman's nature: to cherish and take care of themselves and others. Men get the prefix Swami - which Osho translates as “self-possessed”.

Osho met with his disciples every day, except for periods when he was unwell. His conversations were very beautiful.

Rajneeshpuram

Rajneeshpuram is a city of dreams. In America I had a beautiful commune of five thousand people,

living joyfully without a shadow of class struggle. There was not a single beggar. Not a single child has been born in five years. They worked hard, they meditated, and at night they danced, played the flutes, played the guitars. It was a dream come true.

We have transformed an entire desert.
It was not a small place; it was one hundred twenty-six square miles ... a great desert. We built dams, we had our own buses, our own cars - all ours. We had our own hospital, our own school, our own university.

And what happened to America? Why were they so worried about us, an oasis in the desert? The nearest town was twenty miles away. We were not interested in anyone else. We enjoyed ourselves.

How it was - a chronicle of events

1981 year. For many years Osho suffered from diabetes and asthma. In the spring, his condition worsened and he plunged into a period of silence. On the recommendation of doctors in June this year, he was taken to the United States for treatment. Osho's American students bought a 64,000-acre ranch in Central Oregon and founded Rajneeshpuram. Osho arrived there in August. In the four years that Osho lived there, Rajneeshpuram became the most daring experiment in creating a transnational spiritual commune. Every summer, up to fifteen thousand people from Europe, Asia, South America and Australia came to the festival organized there. As a result, the commune became a thriving city with a population of five thousand people.

1984 year. As suddenly as he stopped speaking, in October Osho spoke again. He talked about love, meditation and human lack of freedom in a crazy, heavily conditioned world. He accused priests and politicians of corrupting human souls and destroying human freedom. From the very beginning of the experiment to create a commune, federal and local authorities tried to destroy it in any way. Documents subsequently confirmed that the White House was involved in these attempts.

In October 1985, the US government accused Osho of violating immigration laws and took him into custody without any warning. He was held in handcuffs for 12 days in custody, with no bail. He suffered physical harm in prison. He was exposed to a life-threatening dose of radiation in Oklahoma, and he was also poisoned by talium, according to subsequent medical examination. When a bomb was discovered in Portland Jail, where Osho was located, he was the only one who was not evacuated. Concerned for Osho's life, his lawyers agreed to admit violation of the immigration law, and Osho left America on November 14. The commune fell apart. The US government was not content with violating its own constitution. When Osho, at the invitation of his students, went to other countries, the United States, using its influence in the world, tried to influence other states so that Osho's work was disrupted where he did not arrive. As a result of this policy, 21 countries have banned Osho and its companions from entering their borders. And these countries consider themselves free and democratic!

In July 1986, Osho returned to Bombay and his disciples began to gather around him again.

Return to Pune

In January 1987, as the number of people visiting him grew rapidly, he returned to Pune, where by that time the Osho International Commune was formed. Daily wonderful conversations, meditations, holidays began again.

New names

In December 1988, OSHO went to bed again with a serious illness that required the presence of a personal doctor around the clock. Three weeks later, Osho reappears in the meditation hall and makes a startling statement. In her letter, a Japanese clairvoyant says that Gautama Buddha lives in Osho's body. Osho confirms that this is true and announces his decision to renounce the title of Bhagavan. In addition, for the first time in many months, he takes off the sunglasses that protected his eyes from camera flashes and gives them to one of the students. Over the course of several days, he chooses a new name for himself and settles on the option that came in response to a question from a reporter from United Press International.

Gautama Buddha took refuge in me. I am the host, he is my guest. This does not mean conversion to Buddhism. I am a buddha in myself, that is why he decided to use my body to finish what he did not have time to. He waited a long time. For twenty-five centuries, he has been a wandering cloud, seeking a suitable body.

I am not a Buddhist. Gautama Buddha also did not set himself the goal of creating Buddhism, an organized religion. He never created it. The moment truth is turned into an organization, it immediately becomes a lie. Organized religion is simply an implicit policy, the hidden exploitation of people by the clergy, and it doesn't matter what the priest calls himself - shankaracharya, imam, rabbi or priest.

Gautama Buddha left no successor behind him. His last words were: “Don't put statues on me, don't write down my words. I don't want to be a symbol, I don't want to be worshiped. And most of all I am afraid that you will become imitators. You don't have to become a Buddhist, because potentially every one of you is a buddha. "

And I also want to say: I do not teach Buddhism. For that matter, I don't teach any "-ism" at all. I am teaching how to become a Buddha.

And my people don't belong to any organized religion. They are independent, self-sufficient seekers. They are my companions and friends, not students.
By the way, I would like to remind you of the prophecy made by Guatama Buddha twenty-five centuries ago. He said: “When I come back again, I will not be able to be born from the mother's womb. I will have to seek refuge in a person with a similar consciousness, the same level and under the same open sky. And they will call me simply Friend. "
The word "friend" implies great freedom. Buddha does not want to be a guru, he wants to be just a friend. He has something to tell about, but he does not want to bind others with any harsh conditions.
By the way, this is helpful, tat as some sannyasins are now confused. They do not know how to distinguish the words of ancient Gautam Buddha from my own. Gautama's prophecy clears up the confusion.
Although he took refuge in me, I will not call myself Gautam Buddha. Let me be called, according to his prophecy, "Buddha Maitreya." This will show the difference, there will be no more confusion.
On the fifth night, after an unusual visit, Osho appears in the meditation hall with a new statement.

Gautama Buddha left due to some inconsistencies in the lifestyle of the host and the guest. These four days were very difficult for me. I hoped that Gautama Buddha would understand what changes have taken place in the world over two half millennia, but he never succeeded. I tried my best, but he is too peculiar and disciplined ... Twenty-five centuries made him hard as a stone.

And therefore, even with the most unremarkable little things, difficulties arose. He only sleeps on his right side. He's not used to the pillow and just puts his hand under his cheek. He considers the pillow a luxury.

I told him, “This cheap pillow is not a luxury. Sleeping with your head on your palms is sheer torment. You think that you need to sleep only on the right side, but what is the fault of the left one? Personally, I have a different principle: I always try to treat both sides of things equally ”.

He ate only once a day - and demanded it from me. In addition, he was used to feeding himself only on alms and kept asking: "Where is my alms bowl?"

Yesterday evening, at exactly six o'clock, when I was taking a jacuzzi, he suddenly became terribly indignant, because he considered it a luxury to even swim twice a day.

And I told him: “You fulfilled your prophecy. You are back. But four days was enough for me - now goodbye! Stop wandering the earth, dissolve in your blue sky.

During these four days you have already understood: I am doing the same thing that you wanted to do, but I am doing it in accordance with the dictates of the time and current conditions. But no one will order me anything. I am a free person. I gave you shelter with all my love, I accepted you as a dear guest, but don't even try to become the master here. "

All these days my head was splitting. I haven't had a headache for thirty years. I completely forgot what it is. But all my attempts to improve relations were in vain. He was used to doing everything in his own way and could not even understand that times had changed.

So now I am making an even more important, historic statement: I am just me.

You can call me Buddha if you like, but this will no longer have anything to do with Gautama or Maitreya.

I am a buddha in my own right. The word "buddha" simply means "awakened." And now I declare that from now on my name is Shri Rajneesh Buddha Zorba. "
Soon “Sri Rajneesh Buddha Zorba” again strips himself of all names and says that he will remain a man without a name. However, his sannyasins are confused, they do not know how to address him, and therefore they offer the title of Osho, which in many Zen parables is used as a respectful, respectful address. Osho agrees and supplements this word with a new meaning, associating it with the concept of "ocean" (ocean) by William James. He later says that this is not a name at all, but just a healing sound.

Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Self

For several weeks after “visiting” Gautama Buddha, Osho seemed to overflow with new reserves of strength and energy. Conversations are getting longer - a couple of times he spoke for almost four hours without a break. Osho's speech sounds noticeably livelier and more energetic. In several series of lectures, he links Zen with the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Walt Whitman, compares it to Christianity, and even recommends it to Gorbachev as an easy path to transition from communism to capitalism. However, in February 1989, after two lectures in a new cycle called The Zen Manifesto, Osho fell ill again and did not appear in the meditation hall until early April. The Zen Manifesto was the last cycle of his talks.

The Zen manifesto is absolutely necessary because all ancient religions are now falling apart. And until they die completely, and humanity does not go crazy, Zen needs to be spread throughout the earth. New houses need to be built before the old ones collapse.

Now you must not repeat the mistakes of the past. You lived in a house that did not exist at all, and therefore suffered from rains, cold winters and a burning sun, because the house existed only in your imagination. This time it's time for you to enter your real home, and not hide in man-made temples, under the roof of far-fetched religions. Hide in your own existence. Why be someone's exact copy?

This is a very important time. You are lucky that you were born in this era when the old loses its validity and reality, when it just hangs around, because you are afraid to escape from this prison. But the doors are open! In truth, there are no doors at all, because the whole house where you live exists only in imagination. Your gods, priests, and holy scriptures are all in your imagination.

This time, you must not make the same mistake. Humanity must make a qualitative leap, move from an old, rotten lie to a fresh, eternally young truth.

This is the Zen Manifesto.
Osho pronounces his last words to the assembly of sannyasins on the evening of April 10, 1989:

You are the most blessed people in the world now. Remembering yourself as a buddha is the most precious experience, because it contains your eternity, your immortality. It is no longer you, but the Universe itself. You are one with the stars and trees, the sky and the ocean. You are inextricably linked to everything that is. The last thing the Buddha said was the word sammasati. Remember you are buddhas! Sammasati.

Inner Circle

April 6, 1989 Osho chooses the so-called "Inner Circle". This group includes twenty-one students who practice community management. This is not publicly disclosed, but later he explicitly explains to the group members that their goal is not spiritual guidance community, but purely practical concerns about the availability of the fruits of his labor. If someone from the “Circle” dies or for some reason refuses to continue working, another person is elected to his place by secret ballot. The group makes all its decisions only by a general vote.

Tradition cannot be avoided. It is not in our power. After death, you are no longer able to influence people. And therefore, giving clear instructions to trusted people in advance is better than leaving everything to the mercy of the ignorant.

Preparing for leaving

On the evening of April 10, at the end of the lecture, Osho tells his secretary that his energy has changed dramatically. He explains that nine months before death, the energy goes into the period of preparation for death - just like nine months before birth, a person's energy begins to develop in the mother's womb. Osho's next lecture was supposed to be the beginning of a new cycle called “Buddha's Awakening”.

On May 19, at the general meeting in the meditation hall, it was announced that Osho would never again speak in front of an open meeting.

On May 23rd, it was announced that Osho would start coming to the meditation hall in the evenings. When he appears, music plays and everyone can have fun with him. The holiday gives way to silent meditation, after which Osho leaves. After he leaves, the recordings of his conversations are shown in the hall.

Osho University was founded in June-July. It is made up of many “faculties” covering the seminars and programs offered by the community. Among the departments of the University are the Transformation Center, the School of Mystery, the School of Creativity and Arts, and the School of Martial Arts. Everyone is asked to come to evening meetings in white. This rule is established during the traditional Indian festival in honor of the enlightened teachers, which is held on the July full moon. This holiday has been celebrated in the community for a long time.

On August 31, at the former Chuang Tzu Hall, adjacent to his home, a new bedroom for Osho is being completed. He is directly involved in the design of the new room, which is decorated with marble and illuminated by a huge chandelier; floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto a wild jungle garden.

On September 14, Osho returns to his old bedroom. The new room is given to the Mystic Rose and Out of Mind meditation therapy groups. A new indoor and air-conditioned glass corridor, built specifically for Osho to walk in the garden, is now intended for Vipasana, Za-Zen and other silent meditation groups.

On November 17, Osho gives instructions on what to do when he leaves this world. He also asks for a group to be formed to translate his books from Hindi into English, and leaves detailed instructions for the work of the Inner Circle.

On December 24, the English Sunday Mail publishes an article stating that Cardinal Ratzinger, that is, the Vatican, is responsible for the deportation of Osho from the United States.

On December 17, doctor Osho announces that from now on he can no longer participate in evening meditations in the common hall, but will appear for a short time only to greet the audience. When Osho enters the hall, everyone can see that it is already very difficult for him to move.

On January 18, Osho remains in his room and does not appear at the evening meeting, but communicates through the assistants that he will be present at the meeting invisibly.

Osho's departure from the body.

On January 19, 1990, at five o'clock in the evening, Osho leaves his body. Before that, he refuses the doctor's offer to carry out urgent medical intervention. Osho says: “The universe itself measures its time”, closes his eyes and peacefully leaves. The doctor announces death at 7pm when everyone comes to the meditation room for their daily appointment. After a while, when the sad news spreads throughout the community, Osho's body is brought to the hall, where a ten-minute farewell takes place. The procession then takes him to a nearby funeral pyre. A farewell ceremony is held all night long.

Two days later, Osho's ashes are transported to the Chuang Tzu Hall - the very room that was to become his new "bedroom". There he spent many years talking and meeting with sannyasins and visitors. According to Osho's will, the ash is placed “by the bed,” that is, on a marble slab in the center of the room, which was really intended as a support for the bed. Nearby, a tablet is strengthened with the words that Osho himself had dictated a few months earlier:

Osho - never born, never died
He was often asked the question, what will happen when he dies? Here is Osho's answer to Italian TV:

“You are asking what will happen when Osho dies. He is not God and he does not believe in any prophets, prophecy, or a messiah. They were all selfish people. Therefore, whatever he can do at this moment, he does. What happens after he leaves, he leaves to the will of existence. His trust in existence is absolute. If there is any truth in what he says, it will survive. "

Every day you go deeper and deeper. Remember that no matter how you go today, tomorrow you can go a little further. It may take two, five, ten, twenty or thirty years, but you will certainly become buddhas. For me you are already buddhas, all that remains is to take courage and admit it to yourself. Thirty years is not needed to become a buddha, you are already a buddha. It may take thirty years to drop the hesitation, the doubt that you are really a buddha. Even though I repeat this, all the buddhas are trying to convince you, but deep down you still doubt: “God, am I really a buddha? How can this be? " But one day you will be convinced of this by your own experience. No one can convince of this, you can only be convinced on your own.
Osho chair

Detailed letter of departure from Osho

“How mercantile you are, my friend. Remember: everything that money can buy is already cheap! " - one of the most peculiar spiritual leaders of the 20th century, the owner of almost 100 Rolls-Royces, 4 planes, a combat helicopter and a fortune of 200 million dollars, spoke about wealth. Osho left a controversial memory of himself: a great teacher, exiled from several dozen countries, a biological terrorist and a sex guru. It seems he was a bit of everyone.

This man was born into the family of a cloth merchant in a small Indian village. They called him then Chandra Mohan Jayin, but quickly enough he received the nickname Rajneesh (Lord of the full moon). He will wear this name almost until his death, only later they will add Acharya (teacher) and Bhagwan (enlightened) to him. In the last year of his life, he will choose another name for himself - Osho, under which he will remain in the memory of people.

Why Osho is considered a great teacher

Well, first of all, for creating your own teaching. It is not called a new religion, probably because in fact Osho, who received a classical philosophical education, very organically mixed and fused into a single whole pieces from a variety of religious teachings - Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Zen, Sufism and almost a dozen other sources. Therefore, his works are called syncretic. And this applies not only to theory, but also to practice - he added Western methods of group therapy to eastern meditation.

Secondly, for the organization of the ashram system (the abode of sages and hermits in ancient India). There is no data on how many people are in different time touched to one degree or another to his teachings, but only for the 1987 festival in the settlement-commune of Rajneeshpuram in the United States, 7 thousand people came from all over the world. The population of this city of Osho followers was then 15 thousand people.
Today, in the homeland of the thinker in India, he is considered a teacher who left an important mark on the mass culture of this country and influenced its fate. The complete collection of Osho's works is kept in the Library of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. By the way, in total he published more than 600 books, which are still published worldwide in 55 languages \u200b\u200bwith a total circulation of about 3 million copies annually.

Why Osho is considered a dangerous sectarian

Well, here, first of all, again you need to return to his eclectic teaching. One of the components of the philosophical system has become a free attitude to sex. This tantric component of the "integration of sexuality and spirituality" aroused understandable interest and, at the same time, denial in the West. It was because of this that his communities were criticized for massive orgies, and the teacher himself received the nickname of the sex guru in the press.

Secondly, Osho's main troubles began because of the ashrams he organized. In 1984, a disgusting story happened in America. Salmonella bacteria have been added to food in several restaurants in the neighboring town of Rajneeshpuram. This strange action was carried out by the followers of Osho's teachings. In addition, weapons depots and drug laboratories were found on the territory of the center. Despite the fact that Osho himself was not involved in these crimes, his reputation was forever undermined.

The next few years turned into a forced flight, which Osho optimistically planned as a trip around the world. The religious leader was accused of violating the immigration and tax laws of America, and after a prison and a huge fine from the United States he was simply deported. Further teachers are not allowed or kicked out of Greece, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Canada, Holland, Germany, in total 21 countries refuse to accept him. Leaving Greece, Osho makes a statement to reporters:

“If one person with a four week tourist visa can destroy your two thousand year morality, your religion, then it is not worth keeping. It must be destroyed. "

Probably, we have yet to fully realize who this person was and what he gave to the culture of humanity. In the meantime, about him and his teaching, one can find diametrically opposite opinions. In Russia and in many countries, the centers of Osho followers are officially considered destructive religious organizations and sects.

"There were also false prophets among the people, as
and you will have false teachers who
will introduce harmful heresies and, rejecting
the Lord who redeemed them,
to themselves quick destruction "
2 Pet. 2: 1

Other names: "The only religion".

Manual

The founder of the movement is Osho (Bhagavan Shri Rajneesh).

Location of centers

The headquarters of the movement is OSHO Commune International, 17 Koregaoh Park, Poona 411011 MS India.

Osho centers, led by sannyasins wearing red and orange robes, have been established in 22 countries, including the United States, India, England, France, Canada, Japan, Russia and other countries.

In Russia - in St. Petersburg, Voronezh (operating since 1996 under the name "Tantra Yoga") and Moscow.

The number of adepts

By 1984, Rajneesh had amassed about 350,000 followers, with an average age of 34.

Doctrine

Rajneesh's teachings are a mixture of Tantrism with the revelations of Rajneesh himself. Tantra, which occupies a special position in Hinduism, is the path of permissiveness. Before the spread of Christianity in India, Tantrism reached a level of roughness, cruelty, witchcraft and prejudice, often incomprehensible to modern consciousness. In its grossest forms, tantra includes black magic, sexual orgies, and human sacrifice.

The central role in the teaching is played by "dynamic meditation" (three phases of intense movement and catharsis result in two phases of calmness and relaxation).

The "founder of the only religion" urged his followers to "stop time, immersed in the moment." He preached "liberation from one's own self," from conscience. He said that one should live without thinking about anything, not burdening oneself with thoughts either about the past, or the future, or about the family, or about their daily bread. And as the only way. to this he pointed to his system, including meditation, chants, ritual dances, similar to the dances of the first hippies.

"I have become the universe for myself," Rajneesh explained. After intense meditation, something like cosmic despair or the urge to commit suicide: to become a god or to die! Over time, all the questions dissolved and disappeared, and a "great emptiness" was created in his brain. He says that on March 21, 1953, he fell into a faceless, bottomless abyss of emptiness. Obviously, that's how it was. Rajneesh fell into the bottomless abyss of his manic pride and devilish seduction.

I was becoming non-existent, he confessed. - I felt a huge presence around me in my room ... a strong vibration ... a huge explosion of light ... I was drowning in it ... That night the door opened to another reality ... the actual Reality ... It was nameless. .. but she was there. ”At that moment, something completely alien took possession of Rajneesh.

He himself described it this way: “That night I died and was born again. But the one who was born had nothing to do with the one who died ... The one who died, died completely, nothing of him remained ... After explosion there was only emptiness. Whatever happened before, it was not me and it was not mine ";

“That night, another reality opened its door, another dimension became available. This experience shakes you to your very roots. You can never be the same after such an experience, it will bring new visions into your life, new qualities”;

"On that day, March twenty-first, a person who lived many, many lives, millennia, simply died. Another being, completely new, completely unrelated to the old, began to exist ... I became free from the past, I was torn from my history, I lost my autobiography. That night I died and I was reborn. But the person who was reborn had nothing to do with the one who died ... The person who died died totally; nothing remained of him .. . even shadows. "

The experiences described by Rajneesh are very reminiscent of the process of introducing demons into a person. The person possessed by them really becomes completely different. It is evident that Rajneesh experienced a diabolical initiation that night. Later, his family members admitted that he was no longer the person he was before.

Researcher Tal Brook claims that Rajneesh is indeed possessed by the devil. He has the quality of perfect possession, something like the Antichrist, who is "really connected to the other side of the universe." Brook tells the story of Ehart Floser, one of Rajneesh's loyal disciples, who spoke of encounters - gang rape, violent sex partner exchanges, forced homosexuality, abortion, countless deaths and suicides in the Pune community. Favorite women like Laxmi, Rajneesh's number one witch, were thrown into the streets of India without a penny. Others tell stories about satanic communities, spiritual vampirism, how souls are deprived of the will to live, about endless victims of countless suicides. “She was crazy about him, she was crazy about this Rajneesh,” the old nun explained, referring to Isabella, a Spanish girl from a noble family. “But Rajneesh used her and threw her away. She was a fragile bird and he crushed her ... But she continued to believe in Rajneesh, repeating that it was just a test of her devotion ... She ended up in an insane asylum in Pune ... muttering all sorts of nonsense ... God! I tell you - he is the devil! "

Rajneesh said: "Meditation is a state of pure consciousness without any content." To achieve it, he directly urged his followers to rage - advised every morning to jump with raised arms, shouting: "Hu! Hu! Hu!", Recommended making faces in front of the mirror, imagining oneself without a head, buzzing through the nose, walking on all fours around the room and growl like a dog, suck milk from a baby bottle and generally "be an astronaut of your inner space."

The stories about the cult of Rajneesh are really talking about the kingdom of darkness. They are somewhat similar to the stories about the orgies of the ancient druids in England, when a huge horned god, sitting on a throne, as the embodiment of evil, contemplated the altar covered with mud. These people who exalt themselves as God are like the little antichrists, and whose "coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all unrighteous deception" (2 Thess. 2: 9, 10).

Any traditional religion brings with it a light, kind, Rajneesh, realizing to whom he sold his soul, associated himself exclusively with death. Later, he recalled: "Loneliness swept me from the age of 7. Loneliness became my nature. This death became for me the death of all attachments. Whenever my relationship with someone began to become intimate, that death stared at me. From that day on every moment of the consciousness of life was invariably associated with the awareness of death. "

To match his inner nature, he conducted his gatherings. Meditation in the ashrams of Rajneesh includes specific dances, when participants blindfold, undress and enter themselves into an ecstatic trance. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta gathered for his lectures, ending with massive shaking and stripping of clothes. Many times such "dances" in Rajneeshev groups, for example in the USA, ended with bumble-hole group sex.

Here are the words of the Rajneesh adept Ma Pram Paras: "Once you start questioning the mind, then sooner or later you will fall into the abyss of meditation." It is into the abyss of madness and the power of demons that the followers of Rajneesh break down.

Whatever the defenders of this kind of "spirituality" may say, it all very much resembles the ritual rites of Satanists.

Those who did not accept his teachings were declared narrow-minded and stupid, while Rajneesh attributed the halo of "misunderstood genius" to himself: "Many great mystics behaved like fools, and their contemporaries were in complete confusion: how to figure out their lives - and the greatest wisdom was present in it. To be wise among you is really stupid. Nothing will come of this venture; you will only create a lot of trouble. " This is a very comfortable position for critics. Since you criticize me, it means that you have not yet grown to my level, it means that you are narrow-minded and spiritless persons. But this is pure swindle and megalomania!

How much the real teachings of Rajneesh do not correspond to those fake, sugary pictures from his life that his followers paint to us, can be seen from the following passages:

"Life is simple. Do not complicate it with pretense. No one urinates. So only in textbooks. Everyone writes - this is life. Love unfolds from the mud of sex. Compassion comes from the mud of anger. And nirvana - from the mud of this world";

"To think of yourself as a rooster is crazy; but to think of yourself as a human being is even more crazy, for you do not belong to any form ... You belong to the formless ... And until you become formless, nameless, you will never be mentally healthy." ;

"You have come to me. You have taken a dangerous step. It is risky, because next to me you can be lost forever. To come closer can only mean death, and nothing else. I am like an abyss";

"I can only help you become nothing. I can only push you into the abyss ... into the abyss. You will not achieve anything, you will simply dissolve. You will fall and fall and dissolve, and the moment you dissolve, everything your being will experience ecstasy ";

“When I initiate you into sannyas, I initiate you into this nameless, homeless death”;

"A real, perfect person ... has no attachments."

Like other sectarians, Rajneesh predicted a very imminent approach of a worldwide catastrophe: “This crisis will begin in 1984 and end in 1999. All kinds of destruction will reign on earth at this time - from natural disasters to suicide by scientific advances. In other words, floods, unprecedented since the time of Noah, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and everything possible will be given to us by nature ... There will be wars that put mankind on the brink of nuclear war, but Noah's ark will not save it. will be global and inevitable. It will not be possible to hide from it only in my teaching. "

In early 1984, Rajneesh expanded his prediction of an alleged catastrophe, noting that the prophecy of Nostradamus would come true, and AIDS would kill 2/3 of the world's population. At the same time, he told his followers: "I will not say that the Rajneeshists will survive the catastrophe, but I can say with absolute certainty that those who will survive will be Rajneeshists, and the rest will be monkeys (that is, not grown to the level of the Rajneesh" superman ", - ed.) or commit suicide. In the end, the rest do not matter. "

Unlike other self-denial gurus, Rajneesh immediately became known as the sex guru of India, preaching total self-denial through absolute indulgence in his desires. He openly calls for premarital sexual relations, "open" marriages and the destruction of the family, free sex. "Suppression is not a word to be in a sannyasin's vocabulary," was his ad in Time magazine. Rajneesh encouraged tantric (sexual) yoga, ecstatic dancing, undressing, and even drug use as a means of meditation. Sterilization of women as a remedy against pregnancy is also a common practice. "The path to desirelessness is through desire," Rajneesh instructed his followers.

"Develop your sexuality, do not suppress yourself! - he urged. - Love is the beginning of everything. If you missed the beginning, you will not have an end ... I do not inspire orgies, but I do not forbid them either. Everyone decides for himself. myself. "

Rajneesh wrote: "When in meditation you have a moment of enlightenment, a glimpse of some kind of ecstasy, let it happen, let it penetrate into the depths of you and delve into it yourself." Usually, when Rajneesh's henchmen were brought to a state of ecstasy, people committed such lewd practices that they later were afraid to remember. But they just believed Rajneesh and followed his advice.

The "love" preached by Rajneesh in practice turned out to be the most unbridled sex without any restrictions, including group sex. That is why he was nicknamed the "sex guru".

However, the students and followers of Rajneesh vehemently oppose this point of view. Thus, Swami Satya Vedant wrote: "Bhagavan does not teach 'free sex' or sexual tolerance, as it is misunderstood. On the contrary, he declares in unambiguous terms that sex, properly understood, has nothing to do with licentiousness."

The resolution of this dispute can be found in Osho's quotation on the topic of sex, where the clear position of Rajneesh on this issue is quite clearly and unequivocally reflected:

"Sex is everywhere, it is nothing, it is by no means mysterious. If you want to understand sex, then it is enough to understand animal sex, and everything that is applicable to animal sex is applicable to man. In this sense, man is nothing more." ;

"There is nothing sinful in pure, simple sex ... There is no need to hide it behind the beautiful word" love ". There is no need to create a romantic fog around it" (, p. 5);

"This should be a pure phenomenon: two at this moment feel that they would like to connect on a deeper level, that's all. No obligation, no duty, no obligation in this. Sex should be full of play and prayer" (, p. 6);

"I give you complete freedom. My efforts are here only to help you go beyond this; thus, if you are homosexual, you must go beyond homosexuality; if you are heterosexual, you must go beyond heterosexuality" (, p. .fifty);

“The baby in the crib is playing with his genitals, and the mother comes in and removes his hands. Now it’s a shock for the baby; he begins to be afraid to touch his own genitals. And it’s so nice to touch them ... it’s so relaxing. , the child reaches a non-sexual orgasm, it's just pleasure. The natural urge to touch the genitals, play with them is so wonderful "(, p. 55);

"When sex becomes connected, merged with comprehension, an absolutely new energy is born - this energy is called Tantra ... Real Tantra is not a technique, but love. It is not a technique, but a prayer ... You can stay in tantric union for hours .. The mantra is focused on another type of orgasm ... Tantric orgasm can be called the valley orgasm "(, pp. 70-74);

"A normal sexual orgasm looks like crazy, a tantric orgasm is a deep, relaxed meditation ... A tantric love act can be done as many times as you want ... Just keep playing and don't think about intercourse at all. It may or may not happen. and will not happen "(, p. 76-77).

Rajneesh was attracted not only by preaching freedom of sexual life. "Every sannyasi," he wrote, "has a great contribution to make, for we are trying to fulfill a great dream in which all religions can meet, in which the earth can become our home - not divided into nations, races and colors." This dream will be fulfilled by the followers of Rajneesh - "enlightened" or going to "enlightenment".

The ashrams of Rajneesh have become nurseries and incubators for the "new people of the new world." And, of course, only Guru Bhagwan will help them show the path to "enlightenment". "Everyone can potentially become God ... God is a state of consciousness ... it is a way of enjoying life right here and now." "Enlightenment" is a leap into the unknown, and in order to accomplish it, one must surrender with all one's soul to Bhagwan, remove psychic barriers in front of him. "When you become a disciple, when I initiate you ... I am just trying to help you find yourself."

Osho promoted the ideal of a new person as a person capable of enjoying a full-blooded physical life and at the same time reaching the heights of the spirit. He called such a person Zorba-Buddha, choosing Buddha as a symbol of the soul, and Zorba as a symbol of the body (Zorba is the hero of one of the novels of the Greek writer Kazandtsakis, endowed with a huge potential for love of life).

The pseudoguru said: "Live fully the life of Zorba, and you will naturally enter the life of Buddha ... Zorba is only the beginning ... Zorba is an arrow. If you follow it correctly, it will lead to Buddha ... Sooner or later, when you allow to achieve full self-expression for your Zorba, you will have nothing left but to look for something higher, more perfect and majestic. "

Osho taught his students not to suppress Zorba in themselves. Live intensively, he urged, reject nothing, accept and explore everything: matter and spirit, soul and body, love and meditation. "Go deeply inside all the experiences of life," Osho said.

Having appropriated the strange title of "Man of the Planet", Rajneesh has repeatedly spoken hostilely about traditional religions: "We are making a revolution ... I am burning old scriptures, destroying traditions ... Shoot me, but I will not convert to your faith." He called all orthodox religions "anti-life".

"I am the founder of the only religion," Rajneesh declared, "other religions are deception. Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha simply seduced people ... My teaching is based on knowledge, experience. People do not need to believe me. I explain my experience to them. If they are find it right, they accept it. If not, then they have no reason to believe in it. "

Representatives of new religious movements in Russia are literally fixated on the demands of respectful treatment of their organizations and teachings. At the same time, in most cases, they themselves consider it quite acceptable for themselves to offend the religious feelings of believers of traditional religions, who make up the majority of the population of Russia.

What Rajneesh said and wrote is in no way respectful. This is nothing more than insults and incitement to sectarian strife:

“Any religion that views life as meaningless and teaches us to hate it is not a true religion. Religion is an art that shows how to experience life. But these shops, which have taken the names of religions, do not want the person to become truly religious since then there will be no need for a priest ";

"All religions of the past are for the sake of life, not one for the sake of the living, not one for the sake of laughter. No religion perceives a sense of humor as a property of religiosity. Therefore, I say that my religion is the first religion that considers man in his universality, in its naturalness, perceives a person as a whole, as he is. Holiness means for me not something sacred, but something accepted in all its integrity ... This is the first religion that does not reject anything from your life. It accepts you as a whole, as you is, and finds ways and methods to make the whole more harmonious ... ";

"All religions have turned into politics. They use religious terminology, but there is politics behind it all. What is Islam? What is Hinduism? What is Christianity? All of them are political groups, political organizations engaged in politics under the guise of religion ... no. The temple has disappeared, it has become politics ";

“Christian priests have been trained for two thousand years, but not a single Jesus has come out of them, and not one will ever come out, because you cannot be taught to be Jesus. You cannot produce Jesus in a factory. And these are factories, these theological colleges. you release the priests, and if these priests are downright boring, dead, burdensome, then it is not difficult to understand that the whole religion will become the same ... Of course, these Christian priests are dead, everything is planned out ";

"A truly religious person cannot be a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist. Religion is absolutely useless. Well, what is the use of a temple? What is the use of a mosque? Why do we need churches?" ;

"If this land ever reaches true religiosity, then we will stop teaching Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism - for this is one of the most serious sins in the world."

He also had a bad relationship with Hinduism. In India he is better known as "Ngariya" Rajneesh - a furious teacher who destroyed ancient myths and beliefs, traditions and teachings. "I teach extreme rebellion," he declared. "If we want to change society, we must be extremely honest and truthful, we must speak out against it." Many years ago, at the Second Hindu Religious Congress, chaired by the head of Hinduism Shankaracharya, the views of Rajneesh caused strong irritation among the representatives of the main currents of official Hinduism, who after that diligently dissociated themselves from him.

Characteristic

The infamous destroyer of ancient Indian traditions and beliefs, "spiritual terrorist" and "sex guru" Rajneesh was born on December 11, 1931 into a family of Jains, adherents of one of the ancient religions of India, in the remote village of Kuchwada in the province of Madhya Pradesh, in Central India. His parents named him Rajneesh Chandra Mohan.

Later, this person became known as Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh (or Rajnesh), which translates as "the blessed one who is God", or Osho ("oceanic", "dissolved in the ocean"). His disciples called him "acarya" ("teacher") and "bhagwan" (which means "holy man" in Sanskrit).

Rajneesh was the eldest of his five sisters and seven brothers. His childhood was overshadowed by the fact that his father, unlucky in business, was often on the road. Rajneesh's father was replaced by his grandfather, to whom he was very attached.

He spent the first seven years of his life with his grandparents, who gave him complete freedom to be himself. The death of his grandfather, whom he loved very much, had a deep impact on his inner life.

From early childhood, Rajneesh, who declared that he had come to enlightenment by completing a fast he began 700 years ago in another life, was obsessed with the idea of \u200b\u200bdeath. "Death looked at me intently before life began," he muses. "Loneliness became my essence." The Hindu astrologer told Rajneesh's parents that the boy would "die" every 7 years until he turns 21. It is then that he will finally experience sudden enlightenment. When Rajneesh was 7 years old, his grandfather died; at 14 he almost drowned himself. To the twists and turns of fate, he actively added his own foolishness - he threw himself from high bridges into rapid whirlpools, where a rotating funnel of water sucked him in, and then carried him back. In such a strange way he wanted to prove his theory of "cooperation with divine providence in all things."

In his youth, his greatest passion was reading, but he read literature that was rather specific for a future guru. During this period he was christened a communist (!), Because he read Marx and Engels intensively. He even organized a circle of young people, where communist ideology was regularly discussed and opposition to religion was expressed. He and his friends believed that socialism would solve all of India's economic problems. At this time, he is an atheist, openly criticizing religious rituals and blind faith in the holy scriptures. But gradually there was a disillusionment with socialist ideas. Rajneesh realized that he would not receive any dividends here, and announced to his comrades-in-arms in the Marxist circle: "Only a revolution in consciousness, and not in politics, can bring peace and happiness." This transition from a fascination with communism to the birth of the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating your own religion occurred sometime between 1945-1950.

Rajneesh was the son of relatively wealthy parents, so he could afford to get a good higher education. In 1957, he graduated from university and received an honors degree, a gold medal and a master's degree in philosophy. After that, he taught philosophy at two Indian universities from 1957 to 1966.

Later he tried himself in occult magic, telekinesis and breath control according to the yoga system. He began to travel a lot in India and preach. He wandered on foot and rode a donkey, telling everyone how they can change and transform in order to survive. According to his disciple, who later found the strength to leave this sect, Eckart Floser, in an interview with Forward magazine, Rajneesh's sermons were not very successful, and by 1970 he was nothing more than a tired, poor man, who, however, was very much mistaken. believing that he possesses a certain gift and power.

Since 1969, Rajneesh began to initiate his first students, giving them new names and a medallion with his image. In Bombay, he decided to create a group of people whom he could start teaching. Little by little, he overgrown with his students, the room where he lived no longer contained them.

Then in 1974, Rajneesh moved to the wealthy Indian city of Pune (120 miles south of Bombay). During the same period, he organized his own neo-Sannyasin international movement. A commune began to form around him, attracting more and more people from the West, "seeking spiritual truth." By the mid-70s, the pseudo guru was already hosting traveling VIPs, movie stars such as Diana Ross, and even Ruth Carter Stapleton, Jimmy Carter's sister. His followers-sannyasins in bright scarlet robes flooded the streets of Pune, to the delight of local shopkeepers. A rapidly growing community of 7,000 soon formed. A large number of others made regular visits.

In 1981, Osho came to America, where his followers bought a huge ranch and founded the Rajneeshpuram commune.

Later, Osho ashrams were formed in other places in India, as well as in 22 other countries, including the USA, England, Germany (in Cologne, Munich, Hamburg), France, Canada, Japan, Russia and a number of other countries. Rajneesh's sermons found their addressees. Up to fifty thousand people passed in a year only through the chanting and meditation school in Pune, where the movement's headquarters is located (OSHO Commune International, 17 Koregaoh Park, Poona 411011 MS India). By 1984, Rajneesh had amassed about 350,000 followers, with an average age of 34.

Rajneesh's tape-recorded performances were published and replicated in many books and brochures, which were then distributed around the world.

Today, more than 500 Rajneesh meditation centers operate around the world. The international meeting place for the followers of this movement is the international Osho commune in Pune, governed by an elected committee of 11 women and 10 men.

Owned by the Osho commune, Multiverse offers hundreds of seminars, groups and courses presented in its nine faculties:

• Osho Centering School
• Osho School of Creative Arts
• Osho International Health Academy
• Osho Meditation Academy
• Osho School of Mysticism
• Osho Tibetan Pulse Institute
• Osho Transformation Center
• Osho School of Martial Arts Zen
• Osho Academy of Games and Zen Training

Belonging to the Osho movement, at least until 1985, was symbolized by a kind of clothing (colors of the sunrise: red, orange, pink), a wooden chain on which an amulet with the image of Osho and a new name hangs.

In the CIS countries, the organizations of the Osho movement have created groups for meditation, astrology, and psycho-training. In Belarus, the Rajneeshists operate in Minsk, in Ukraine - in Kiev and Odessa, in Georgia - in Tbilisi, in Latvia - in Riga.

In Russia, Osho's followers established their organizations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh (operating since 1996 under the name "Tantra Yoga", 30-40 followers), Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and other cities.

The Rajneesh Meditation Center "ATMA" under the leadership of AV Soldatov and VS Kosikhin, the Osho Moscow Center, the "Eastern House" under the leadership of Marikhin and other groups of Rajneesh followers operate in Moscow.

Rajneeshists also actively climb into Russian schools. It is known that some time ago the Rajneeshists held their classes in secondary school No. 984 in Moscow.

Osho Center conducts regular seminars. In May 1997, those who participated in the seminar "Touching Tantra" were offered the following programs: "practical tantra yoga, pair exercises, breathing techniques, various tantric techniques, working with chakras, working with the body, ... overcoming barriers in choosing partners, overcoming difficulties in communication between a man and a woman, ... tarot cards. "

Recently, a "meditation disco" has been held in the Moscow club "Yamskoye Pole" every Sunday, where you can not only dance, but also roll on the floor, make grimaces, yell, jump, bark and whistle. The disco is held by the head of the "Eastern House" association Swami Anand Toshan (in the world - Igor Marikhin). Toshan completed a course at the Multiverse in Pune and received a spiritual initiation - sannyas. After which he returned to Russia and began to translate Rajneesh's books into Russian. Then, together with several friends, he traveled around the country, preaching the Master's teachings at seminars and lectures. Toshan called his group "Osho Gypsies" because he had to spend several years "on wheels." After gaining followers, Toshan founded the "Oriental House" center, which includes a school of Indian dance, an art studio. meditation training and Osho disco.

Rajneesh assigned an important role to ecstatic dance - spontaneous movements without practiced steps and learned positions. "The body is forgotten, only movement remains. Feel like a tree in the rain in a strong wind." Therefore, at the Osho-disco everything is allowed that does not disturb others. You can, for example, take off everything from yourself. Or, conversely, wear the most exotic clothes. The role of the DJ at the console is performed by Toshan himself. He looks at the dancers and, depending on their mood, puts on certain music. He did not forbid to arrange sexual orgies during such "dances".

As reported in the press since the founding of the center in Pune, some visitors to the commune returned with stories of sex orgies and drug use in Osho's communities. Some researchers believe that the word "orgies" is hardly applicable to Osho practices, since Rajneesh does not divide the manifestations of life into positive and negative, like many Hindu cults, in the Osho doctrine the concepts of good and evil are blurred.

One of the most widely used spiritual practices in the Rajneesh cult is the so-called "dynamic meditation". It is explained that with its help, "the consequences of previous life experience are removed, energy is gained." Each session begins with chaotic breathing to the beat of a drum. Due to the hyperventilation of the lungs accompanying such breathing, a person becomes drunk from an excess of oxygen. He is advised to shout, roll on the floor, do any involuntary movements. The special state experienced by a person during this is explained as something mysterious, possible only thanks to some secret possessed by the guru. In fact, according to Professor Dr. Margaret Tayler Singer (University of California), this phenomenon has a clear physiological explanation and is nothing more than a trick.

In the Rajneesh cult, professional psychotherapists worked with the guru. Leaders inspire people that the person himself is to blame for his previous tormenting state, since he was allegedly inadequate in his behavior. After a few days of "healing" people lose the ability to think for themselves, they become people without their own biography, "existing here and now." They are now ready to accept the "new doctrine." The gurus are especially emotionally perceived by female followers, they are the majority in the sect. A religious ceremony looks something like this. Rajneesh cries out the words: "Life! Death! Despair! Happiness!" They mix, and ultimately it means nothing. This muttering brings the disciples into a trance similar to meditation. In this state, a person has practically no rationality, a person is out of reality.

Among the meditation practices offered to adherents, developed by Osho, there is one called "Die consciously".

Becoming a sannyasin (monk) in the Rajneesh cult, a person completely loses his own will. Therefore, sannyasins can exist only in groups, obeying the will of the leader. The cult of Rajneesh, at least for its American followers, is characterized by a special fanatical devotion of the adepts, even against the background of other destructive cults. For example, when Rajneesh hinted that a woman burdened with children could not achieve enlightenment, many female sannyasins were sterilized right there in the cult center of Laguna Beach.

In his cult rituals, Rajneesh often introduced his adepts into a state of nirvana (in translation from Sanskrit "bliss", "illumination") with the help of drugs, and individual sessions of meditation in the ashrams of the "holy man" ended in fights and stabbing. There were cases when sectarians, maddened by Bhagwan's lamentations and drugs, broke each other's arms and legs.

Psychiatrist Betty Tilden (UK) believes that without the help of medicine, the followers of the Rajneesh cult are not able to return to normal life. The psychotherapists working for Rajneesh were cold, calculating and ruthless people. For Rajneesh, the life and health of his followers did not cost anything: "I am not interested in your opportunities. If you feel bad, then it should be so. All this is done in the name of love ...".

According to a journalist from Munich, he is familiar with a dozen former followers of Rajneesh who were completely mentally destroyed after leaving the sect. Here are just two examples of such consequences.

Hamburg musician, 26 years old. He cannot find contact with reality, instantly forgets everything he just said, says, "he has absolutely no energy."

Nurse from Berlin, 29 years old. I suffered from "withdrawal". After leaving the sect, she could not think consistently, she committed suicide.

Those who join the destructive teachings and practices of Rajneesh eventually become a kind of zombie. A thirty-year-old Perm doctor - a follower of Rajneesh - once said: "My inner experience, the spiritual joy experienced by me, testify that the path to true freedom lies through the liberation of a person from the voice of conscience. The voice of conscience in a person is the voice of the devil." which once again confirmed that this organization can be quite confidently classified as potentially the most dangerous from the point of view of possible participation in the organization of anti-social actions, including terrorist acts.

And this is not surprising, for Rajneesh seeks to completely eliminate all doubts and the mind itself from his followers:

"The mind resembles a disease ... When there is a mind, you are always caught. The mind rapes, forces you, you are its prisoner ... Meditation is throwing the mind out, it is freeing yourself from the burden. You do not need to carry all your excrement with you, otherwise you will be dull and dull ";

"The mind is the deadliest thing in you ... The mind is the same dead part as the hair ... The human mind is a monkey";

"Both the hair and the mind are dead, do not carry them on you. It will be wonderful! Make sure that dead particles do not accumulate in you ... The mind is a dead part of you, this is excrement";

"Meditation is nothing but emptying, becoming nothing. Emptiness should become your path, goal, everything. Starting tomorrow morning, start emptying yourself of everything that you find inside ... - whatever you find, just throw it away. will turn up, indiscriminately; empty yourself ";

"When the mind is needed, use it as a mechanical device; when you are not using it, put it aside and forget about it. Then you become useless and do something useless and you will begin to live a full happy life";

"If you become aware, ugliness, ugliness appears."

Many of his followers were “addicted” to drug addiction. “Among my patients there were many people from the circle of Bhagwan, who healed in Pune,” said Professor Claude Olivenstein, director of the Marmotan drug treatment center in Paris. According to the former ward of the guru, the Time magazine claimed that there were cases when sectarians, maddened by the sect's rituals and drugs, broke each other's legs and arms.

Researchers of the harm of meditative practices to human health Mikhail Medvedev and Tatyana Kalashnikova wrote: "In Hindu-occult immersions in the supersensible and in Christian spiritual life, we have, according to the remarkable researcher of the history of religions L.A. Tikhomirov," two completely different psychospiritual processes, which from beginning to end they follow different paths. "A person walking the path of yogic-occult practice first plunges himself into somnambulistic passivity and causes the disintegration of the soul into separate parts. Bringing himself into a state in which no action is possible, he imagines the effort of his disintegrated This is the practice of false images and visions, in which the human spirit becomes even more blinded and dragged into the trap of unusual sensations, from which it cannot free itself. All occult-yogic paths, despite their external diversity, are united in their spiritual essence. they, from the gospel point of view, are those broad paths that the Lord quite definitely said about them as destructive: "Enter by the narrow gates: because the gates are wide and the path leading to destruction is wide, and many follow them; because the gate is narrow and the path leading to life is narrow, and few find it "(Matthew 7: 13-14).

Tal Brook, a former initiate of another neo-Hindu guru, Sathya Sai Baba, described his experience after visiting Poona:

"The subject of horror and adoration in the media, Rajneesh created the image of a" new man "who rejects all norms and traditions. Man, according to Rajneesh, is a hedonistic god who does not depend on anything (except from the inner voice of Rajneesh) and is free to give to the cosmos, any appearance, depending on his desire. This is the dominant seeker of pleasure, existing in himself, owing nothing to anyone. The family is cursed, the children are a burden. As long as the "neosanyasin" has money, he has mad fun. Then interest in him disappears. Murders, rape, mysterious disappearances of people, threats, arson, explosions, abandoned children of "Ashramovites", begging for alms on the streets of Pune, drugs - all this is in the order of things for the marvelous hybrids in red, who consider themselves daring pioneers of a new meaning of "love." workers at the Pune Psychiatric Hospital will confirm all that has been said, not forgetting to mention the high incidence of mental disorders associated with that the ashram has taken political power into its own hands and there is no one to complain about it. "

In early 1981, there were reports of a threat to Rajneesh's life. A strict regime was introduced in the ashram, all those who entered were searched for weapons. The shop was set on fire, and an explosion occurred near the ashram medical center. The attack on the guru in February forced the ashram administration to accelerate the search for a new headquarters, according to cult officials. According to India Today magazine, "The police and authorities in Pune are unanimous that the incidents were triggered by the followers of Rajneesh" because "the last two weeks of investigation have shown that the Rajneesh Foundation is head over heels bogged down in unpaid taxes, embezzlement of donations for charitable purposes. , thefts and in criminal cases against members of the sect, the investigation of which had not been completed by the time she left the city. "

In 1981, the government of Indira Gandhi stripped Bhagwan's ashram of the right to be considered a religious organization. The US Consulate in Bombay issued Rajneesh a visa, and on June 1, 1981, after selling the ashram's property and taking 17 of his most devoted students with him, he secretly flew to New York. After Rajneesh left Pune, his adherents spread throughout the West, with the goal of founding "holy cities" throughout Europe, which were planned to be self-sustaining and which were to become an alternative to society, being models of "sannyas". In the United States, efforts have been made to create a model of a "holy city" run by the "teacher" himself. On July 10, 1981, the Chidvilas Rajneesh Meditation Center in Montclair (New Jersey) acquired the Big Magdi Ranch from an investment company in Amarillo (Texas) for $ 6 million (of which $ 1.5 million in cash). Its territory near Madras, Oregon covers over 100 square miles. The center also managed to lease 14,889 acres in the same area from the American Bureau of Land Management.

Soon two hundred Rajneesh followers from 16 European countries gathered in Big Magdi to enthusiastically welcome the teacher to his new home in September. Some time later, the intentions were made public to build "the first enlightened city in America" \u200b\u200bcalled Rajneeshpuram (the city of Rajneesh). On November 4, 1981, the Vasco County Commission voted by a double margin to hold a referendum in May 1982 on whether Big Magdi could be considered a city. In such cases, only local residents vote in such cases, and in this case - the followers of Rajneesh, and the result was not difficult to predict: 154 votes for the appearance of the city of Rajneeshpuram and not a single one against.

In a short time, in the dusty steppe of Oregon, not far from the provincial town of Entelope, on the abandoned Big Magdy Ranch, an oasis of Western civilization was created: an airfield, a comfortable hotel with a casino, shopping streets, restaurants. Roads with special buses running along the routes indicated by the "holy man" have been laid. This "miracle" was created by the labor of 6,000 Rajneesh adherents, as well as the money of 500,000 so-called touring adepts who live far from the guru, but regularly came to Oregon to communicate with their leader and transfer impressive sums to his account.

From the outset, the cult's attempts to create a paradise in the Oregon desert met with fierce opposition. The legality of the new city was questioned for two reasons: firstly, the constitutional clause on the separation of state and church was violated and, secondly, the decision of the Vasco County Commission on the referendum violated the state land use laws. There was a threat to dismantle most of the buildings. As a precaution in the event of a decision to dismantle Rajneeshpuram and to show that the organization has influence among municipal services and authorities, the Rajneeshists formally occupied the nearby town, deciding to rename it from Entelope to Rajneesh. Taking advantage of the fact that, according to local law, it is enough to live in the state for 22 days to get the right to vote in local elections, the guru decided to increase the number of voters in Entelope at the expense of his followers. In New York, San Francisco, and other major cities in the United States, Bhagwan's supporters began calling alcoholics, vagrants, and drug addicts into the ashram. All this continued until the election of the mayor of the town. Rajneesh's operation "share the dwelling with his neighbor" thus gathered 3,500 people in Rajneesh. The followers of Bhagwan voted for the right person guru, and Entelope was renamed Rajneesh.

Most of Entelope's forty aboriginal residents, mostly elderly people, were subject to constant surveillance by the sannyasin police force, taxed in favor of the sect, and forced to contemplate a city park, established by a city council full of Rajneeshists, a nudist beach in the city park. They chose to surrender and leave the city. The city grew as the followers of Rajneesh bought up existing houses and built new ones.

Meanwhile, the American Immigration Service continued to investigate suspected violations of immigration laws and related criminal regulations by members of the Rajneesh Foundation International. More than 30 Rajneeshists, including the leadership, were suspected of sham marriages of US citizens with foreign citizens. By the way, the residency qualification of Rajneesh himself was also in great doubt, and the American Immigration Service hoped to prove that he had received a visa by exaggerating the severity of his illness.

Homeless people and alcoholics, having done their job, could leave. The order to disperse the suspicious company was given to the guru's personal guard, and he was guarded by a whole detachment of specially trained militants, armed not only with small arms, but also with helicopters (there was even at least one combat helicopter with missiles).

However, the tramps were in no hurry to leave the city of Rajneesh, proclaimed by them. They were not going to spend money on guru either. With a reluctance of heart, the guru was forced to agree that they stay among his flock. But soon strange events began to take place in the vicinity of the newly-made Rajneeshpuram-Rajneesh. Several times the state police had to investigate very similar crimes in handwriting: people seemed to fall asleep, killed by an unknown poison. Moreover, all the victims were among the recently appeared adherents of Osho who took part in the vote. Their corpses were found in different places, but not in Rajneeshpuram itself. The police understandably suspected the guru and his associates. Sensing the danger, Rajneesh did not find anything more witty than to withdraw from secular affairs and take a vow of silence. I must say that he was not particularly involved in "secular affairs", for that he had an army of sectarian slaves.

While Rajneesh retired from the affairs of the commune, taking a vow of silence, a group of his closest assistants committed lawlessness. Major financial scandals in the leadership of the organization became known.

For four years the pseudo-saint was silent. His loyal follower Sheela Silverman became the mediator of his communication with the world. With a firm hand, she effectively ran the ashram, regularly collected tribute from the sectarians and, of course, provided advertising to the reluctant silent man, who continued to issue pamphlets calling for "freedom through sexuality." Sheela personally led the army of the ashram, numbering in its ranks about 100 people. When the surrounding farmers tried to urge the inhabitants of Rajneeshpuram to observe Christian morality or at least basic norms of human life, Sheela threatened to kill fifteen farmers for every one follower of Rajneesh, saying that soon the whole of Oregon would be called Rajneeshpuram: “To achieve this, I am ready every bulldozer going to demolish this world, paint with your blood! " ... Under the influence of public opinion, the police, and then the FBI, opened a case against the Bhagwan sect. Rajneesh decided to speak, but it was too late.

About four dozen FBI investigators were investigating directly in Rajneeshpuram. They found weapons depots, drug laboratories that were regularly added to the food of the sectarians. During the searches, a carefully camouflaged underground passage was found for the escape of the guru in case of emergency.

On October 27, 1985, the FBI arrested Rajneesh at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Bhagwan's own plane had landed to refuel. Rajneesh and eight of his associates allegedly flew to Bermuda.

Shortly before the exposure, the "high priestess" Sheila Silverman, who sensed that clouds were gathering over her, considered it good to move with her personal guard and another husband to Western Europe. While the pseudo-saint sounded the alarm and gathered his thinning ranks, Sheela withdrew $ 55 million from the ashram's Swiss bank account and disappeared. What accusations did Bhagwan bring against his recent like-minded woman? He yelled that Sheela was trying to poison the life of the "saint's" personal doctor, that she attempted on the life of the guru himself, that she killed vagrants whose bodies the police found in the surrounding fields ... The "High Priestess" was not idle either. When in Stuttgart "Interpol" tracked down Sheela and her gang, Silverman willingly told about all the ins and outs of Rajneesh's real activities.

A short trial in Portland, Oregon ended on November 14, 1985. Rajneesh was found guilty on two counts of federal indictment. The US government decided to deport Rajneesh from the country, so he received a purely symbolic punishment: ten years of probation plus a $ 300,000 fine. The criminal pseudo guru was ordered to collect all his belongings and leave the territory of the United States within five days. The FBI was monitoring his departure.

In mid-1986, Rajneesh returned to India. Over the course of several months, the commune in Pune resumed and expanded its psychotherapy and meditation programs, which is reflected in the word "Multiversity", which Rajneesh chose as a general name for his teachings and practices.

By the late 1980s, Rajneesh's health had deteriorated significantly. In the last months before his death, if his health allowed, Rajneesh would go out to his students for a "meditation of music and silence," and then they watched videos of his previous conversations.

From the very beginning of his active preaching work, Rajneesh conceived it as a means to achieve a very definite goal. And this goal was to cobble together on the credulity of simpletons, who are thrilled by the phrase "ancient Indian spirituality", a decent condition. Rajneesh's natural talents and the foolishness of his Indian followers almost immediately began to pay very good dividends. He began to drive around in Rolls-Royces and Mercedes, lived in luxury.

Osho's fortune grew steadily. "I am the guru of the rich," said Rajneesh. "There are enough religions that deal with the poor, but leave me to deal with the rich." By the mid-1980s, his fortune had reached $ 200 million tax-free. At the disposal of Rajneesh were his four aircraft, one helicopter and 91 (!) Rolls-Royce.

“We would like him to have 365 Rolls-Royces. A new car for every new day of the year,” a fanatical follower of the “prophet” confidentially told the correspondent of Figaro magazine.

Rajneesh changed expensive cars like gloves. Each time he went out in a different car. In one of these luxury vehicles, Bhagwan made his daily detour of the flock. Exactly at 2:30 pm, the guru personally got behind the wheel and slowly, solemnly paraded along the living wall of his adepts, lined up along the edges of the so-called "road of nirvana." They considered it happiness to contemplate their idol, draped in an emerald-colored mantle, and threw pink petals under the wheels of his car.

When Interpol arrested Sheela Silverman in Germany, she said: “Bhagwan is a spoiled child who cannot breathe without a monthly $ 250,000 in pocket money. He is a genius at using human gullibility, a drug addict who cannot live without Valium. his life is a complete scam. And I was complicit in this scam. He and I, we made a great pair of dodgers. " Such is the fraud on the religious feelings of people ...

Since the mid-80s, the teachings of Rajneesh began to meet active opposition from public organizations in the most different countries... The call for complete freedom, supplemented by Osho's very free views on family, marriage, sexual relations, caused a storm of public disapproval and opposition against him throughout the world, was perceived as propaganda of permissiveness. Russia was no exception.

The organizations of the followers of Rajneesh have been classified as a destructive religious organization (totalitarian sect, destructive cult) in:

• The address of the participants of the Conference "Spiritual Security of Russia" (Moscow, December 11, 1998) to the President, Government, Federal Assembly, Security Council and General Prosecutor's Office of Russia;
• Note Verbale from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany dated November 22, 1995;
• The analytical bulletin of the State Duma of the Russian Federation "On the national threat to Russia from destructive religious organizations", published in 1996 in the series "Defense and Security";
• The analytical bulletin of the State Duma of the Russian Federation "Religious expansion against Russia", published in 1998 in the series "Defense and Security";
• Letter of initiative - a deputy request of the Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation N.V. Krivelskaya to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, General of the Army A.S. Kulikov (January 1997);
• Information material of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of the Russian Federation "On the report on the social and medical consequences of the impact of some religious organizations on the health of the individual, family, society and measures to provide assistance to victims", 1996;
• the book "Religious Habitat: Assessing Threats and Searching for Protection Measures" published by the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 1998;
• the book by Colonel AI Khvyli-Olinter "Dangerous totalitarian forms of religious sects" (1996);
• the book by the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation NV Krivelskaya "Religious expansion against Russia";
• the collection "Law enforcement bodies and religious organizations" published in 1997 by the Main Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation;
• in the Bulletin of the Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Non-Traditional Religions "Register of centers of new religious organizations classified by experts as destructive, occult or pagan";
• the Angels of Deception by Richard Lee and Ed Hindson;
• in the final documents and appeals of the participants of the Republican Scientific and Practical Conference "Belarus: Religious Sectarianism and Youth", held on December 18-19, 1996 in Minsk;
• report of Doctor of Medical Sciences FV Kondratyev and renowned expert-psychologist EN Volkov "Spiritual substitutions, society, crime" at the scientific-practical conference "Spirituality. Law and order. Crime", held on March 28, 1996 in Moscow.

As a destructive cult of the Osho organization, experts from the Kiev organization "Poryatunok", traditionally engaged in the activities of sects, are assessed.

Experts from the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of Russia also negatively assessed the activities of Osho communes in their 1998 reference book "New Religious Cults, Movements and Organizations in Russia": "... this former university professor ... organized with his students in Oregon (USA) a commune that collapsed due to ... criminal perversions within the commune itself. "

According to the famous Orthodox researcher of the sects Mikhail Medvedev, “the cult of Rajneesh is one of the most destructive for the consciousness of adepts. the idea of \u200b\u200bsupposedly personal gain. "

After Rajneesh was deported from the United States, he tried to stay in any country where his followers were (and by that time there were already about 300 Rajneesh centers around the world), but 21 countries either banned him from entering, or deported him without any particular explanation (like Greece, for example). The current followers of Rajneesh and imaginary human rights activists who welcome the appearance of all, even the most "frostbitten" sects in Russia, point to this fact as a manifestation of the infringement of freedom of conscience. However, 21 countries cannot be labeled as a non-legal state. Rather the opposite. This fact points to the real danger and destructiveness of Rajneesh's activities, and any state has the right to protect the interests of its citizens, regardless of what hysterical cries are heard from the sect-defenders.

And the final touch. In December 1997, the newspaper Segodnya wrote: “The biological threat is still speculative for the United States: the only attempt to use this type of weapon was made in Oregon in 1984: members of the Rajneesh sect tried to cause a salmonella epidemic among local voters in order to influence the election result in my neighborhood. " We have a choice: go to the rule of law or the anarchy of lawlessness, where religious fanatics-maniacs will poison us with bacteriological or chemical weapons. The choice is ours ...

Igor Kulikov

New religious organizations in Russia of a destructive, occult and neo-pagan nature: a Handbook. - Third edition, supplemented and revised. - Volume 4. Eastern mystical groups. Part 1 / Auth.-comp. I. Kulikov. - Moscow: "Pilgrim", 2000. (The material is abridged)

References

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2. Register of centers of new religious organizations classified by experts as destructive, occult or pagan / Bulletin of the Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Non-Traditional Religions. - Issue 1. - M., 1998 .-- 21 p.

3. Note Verbale of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany dated November 22, 1995 // Missionary Review (Belgorod) .- 1996.- No. 3.- P.8.

4. Kozlovsky V. The Pentagon is preparing for the war against anthrax. In the US Army, the total vaccination of military personnel and civilian personnel from terrorist weapons begins // Today, December 17, 1997.

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8. Paris-match, 1985, 8.XI.

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Photo - The founder of the sect - Osho (Bhagavan Shri Rajneesh)