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The controversial Ma Anand Sheela, who worked as Osho’s aide at his commune in the US, and was later convicted for her role in a bioterror plot, spoke about her time in the ashram, which hosted several influential men and women from across the globe. One of them was Indian star Vinod Khanna, who famously gave up his career and family and became a disciple of Osho’s, who was then known as Rajneesh.
In an interview shared on the Daasta YouTube channel, Sheela was asked if she ever interacted with Vinod Khanna at the Rajneeshpuram ashram. She said, “I was too busy taking care of Bhagwan and the commune. When he had an issue or problem, then I would see him, or if I saw him on the street, we’d wave and say hello. That was my contact with Vinod.”
Asked if she was fascinated by the idea of a major movie star leaving everything behind for an ashram life, and if she ever asked him about his out of curiosity, Sheela said, “Near Bhagwan, there was only one big star. And that star was Bhagwan. No other star could wow me,” adding that the Hollywood actor Terence Stamp also spent some time at the ashram.
Vinod Khanna became interested in Osho’s philosophies in the 1970s. In 1982, at the peak of his success, he moved to the Oregon ashram. He was given the name Swami Vinod Bharti by Osho, and was given the job of a gardener. Asked how this job was assigned to him, Sheela said, “This was decided by our personnel manager. Her name used to be Vidya, and she would have her own assistants. They would decide where to place people, according to the original guidelines of Bhagwan.”
In an interview with the Indian Express in 2017, Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor, Osho World magazine, spoke about the actor’s time at the ashram. “Vinodji meditated deeply and worked as a gardener in Osho’s garden till 1985. Work itself became his meditation, his worship. He flowered into a spiritually evolved human being and a ‘kalyan mitra’ to fellow travellers on the spiritual journey, sharing his insights and wisdom,” said Keerti.
Vinod Khanna’s son, actor Akshaye Khanna, spoke about his father’s decision to leave his family behind for the life of a ‘sanyaasi’. He said in an interview with mid-day, “The influence… to not only leave his family, but to take ‘sanyaas’ (renunciation). Sanyaas means giving up your life in totality — family is [only] a part of it. It’s a life-changing decision, which he felt that he needed to take at the time. As a five-year-old, it was impossible [for me] to understand it. I can understand it now,” he said, adding that Vinod only returned home because the ashram was shut down following the government pressure that erupted in a bioterror attack. “Otherwise I don’t think he would’ve ever come back,” he said.
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