The god that failed

So said Rajneesh aka Acharya, Bhagwan, Osho, Zorba the Buddha in 1979. An ironic prophecy given that we have just passed the deadline an...

So said Rajneesh aka Acharya, Bhagwan, Osho, Zorba the Buddha in 1979. An ironic prophecy given that we have just passed the deadline and the men and women closest to him in his lifetime are involved in nothing more revolutionary than a bitter struggle over his legacy. I first heard Rajneesh speak in his prime, about 20 years ago at his ashram in Pune. The whole experience 8212; two unkempt white skinned sanyasins sniffing visitors for smells the Bhagwan was allergic to strong odours, the seated bodies swivelling inch by inch to mark the Enlightened One8217;s progress to the Buddha Hall, the envious glances at those he seemed to favour with his closeness 8212; bordered on the ludicrous. The speech itself was hardly impressive. I did not see any evidence of the Bhagwan8217;s famed hypnotic quality, nor did the content rise above trite truisms peppered with anecdotes.

Years later going back to report on his death or the occasion of his having left his body8217; as his followers preferred to term it, I spent some time at the ashram and had reason to see his influence in a more positive light. The spirit of co-operation, for instance, seemed vividly alive. Red-robed sanyasins cheerfully performed all kinds of tasks 8212; one morning I encountered a man on all fours cleaning the path that led to the Osho8217;s quarters. Laboriously polishing every bit till it gleamed, he smiled abstractedly as we passed by. quot;Oh noquot; said my companion, quot;work is meditation, we disturbed his meditation.quot; Talent flourished. There was beauty everywhere 8212; in the music, bits of calligraphy and the Japanese gardens. Even more interesting were the people. At the peak of its popularity the movement is said to have had 200,000 followers. In India the ones to hog the limelight were usually film stars. But all sorts of people flooded the ashram. To me this seemed a significant achievement 8212; to get so manyordinary people to lead what was a fairly extraordinary life.

Contradictions however were glaring. Rajneesh had preached openness. Yet a journalist could not walk unaccompanied through the ashram. Rajneesh had preached against false gurus, yet he brooked no criticism. Critical articles invited the wrath of his followers. He had promised to set people free. Yet as Hugh Milne, a former bodyguard, confessed in his tell-all book, Bhagwan The God That Failed, quot;about the only thing which had so far been left unlegislated against was our sex lives.quot; The Guru who aimed to help people attain no past, no future, no attachment, no mind, no ego, no self8217; became a megalomaniac with a passion for bejewelled caps and Rolls Royces. His followers were embroiled in murder cases in the US where he went in 1981 and left after being charged with immigration fraud. He died in 1990, amidst rumours of poisoning and conspiracies. And now, a decade later, we have the spectacle of his followers squabbling in what would appear to be a schoolyard brawl if it did not involve staggeringamounts of money. The duel is between the Inner Circle that has been heading the organisation following Rajneesh8217;s death and certain dissenters who were once powerful. Chief among the issues highlighted by the media is the future of the Koregaon Park Ashram. The original site for the ashram, reports claim, has become an escape centre for jaded souls to dabble in meditation and laze in the jaccuzi. Even the ashram8217;s official website welcomes visitors to this luxury resort for meditation holidays.8217; A feeble end to one of the most intriguing movements of our times. Why did things turn out this way? How did Rajneesh fail to create a new man8217;?

Various theories have been proffered in the past. Rajneesh, it has been claimed, was ailing and dependent on drugs; it has often been suggested that following his departure from India he had lost control over his flock and surrendered the levers of power to plotters and manipulators. Christopher Calder who calls himself an ordinary student of meditation8217; however puts forward another theory which asserts that the failure was the result of a conscious decision. Rajneesh, Calder claims, never lost the ultimate existential truth of being, but did lose the ordinary concept of truth. quot;He consciously decided to discard truthfulness in favour of what he perceived as useful lies8217;. He calculated that a majority of the earth8217;s population was of such a low level of consciousness that they could not understand or tolerate the real truths. So he decided on the policy of spreading seemingly useful lies to bring inspiration to his disciples and on occasion stress his students in unique situations for their own personalgrowth. This was his downfall and the prime reason he will be remembered by historians as just another phony guru which he undoubtedly was not.