Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

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Indian guru and author of more than a hundred book which are sold through his organization. Also known as Osho, Rajneesh was not only intimately familiar with the world's great religions and philosophies, but the modern psychologies of Jung, Freud, Maslow, and the rest of the West's best thinkers in modern psychology and psychiatry. His followers felt that the depth of his intellectual sophistication was only matched by the profundity of his wisdom and the spiritual impact of his spellbinding lectures. His philosophy was eclectic, though much of it is was similar to that of Krishnamurti, who was acknowledged by Rajneesh as the only other enlightened man alive (beyond himself). In 1981, the guru founded a commune near Antelope, Oregon of 1,700 disciples, a sprawling religious community of a hundred square miles. He had continual problems with the local government over land development along with bad press and controversy over his string of pricey Rolls Royce automobiles and fat bankroll. Called the "sex-guru" because of his popular talks about tantric sex, Rajneesh’s ashram became known as one big love fest during celebrations. With AIDS on the horizon, he was careful to warn his followers about the lethal spread of the disease and their practice of the Tantra rituals was accompanied by a genuine fear over unclean sex. The tumultuous commune became a real-life soap opera of hedonism and murder plots, with reports that Rajneesh advocated free love for himself and his disciples, a voyeur and participant. His most prominent feature was his large, watery eyes, due to thyroid problems. He was actually very ill when he arrived in Oregon, a location that was recommended as beneficial to his health. The ashram was an attempt to build a self-sufficient commune based on ecological and organic farming principles, turning the desert into a garden, which they achieved in part. The devotees who joined the ashram came from all walks of life, devoting their money and labor to create a utopia. The task of running the commune fell to Ma Anand Sheela who was also the financial backer for the Rajneeshpuram venture. Ma Anand Sheela and her appointed staff took full charge of the daily running of the commune. Internal strife between Rajneesh and Ma Anand Sheela added to the mix, as he claimed that she was trying to establish the Rajneeshees as a religion, and that her quest for personal power led to her paranoia, which eventually spread throughout the commune. He spoke often of how organized religion is an obstacle to enlightenment and he blamed Ma for her ambition of wanting to be the first Popess. The assets of the organization were all in her name. Difficulties accumulated with not only the local citizens but with the National Immigration Service and Revenue Service and Rajneesh was arrested as he fled his strife-torn utopia on 28 October 1985 to the tune on 35 counts of conspiracy and fraud, indicted by a Grand Jury in Oregon. On his return to India, he changed his name to Osho to signal a change in his consciousness. Less than five years later he died of heart failure at his Ashram in Poona, India, on 19 January 1990. Link to Wikipedia biography