The further away you were from the centre of things on the Ranch, the easier it was to be happy in the illusion of spirituality.”

NP, you are not enlightened. How can an unenlightened mind judge enlightenment and its results?

You will always fail and certainly you will find other minds who fail too.

It’s unfair to claim “he set the tone for much of the sexual abuse and abuse of power on the Ranch”. Osho didn’t have sex with under-age children and he made it clear that he wanted the communes’ kids to be looked after by the community rather than or in addition to their parents. (Perhaps his own very happy experience of spending much time with his grandparents rather than his actual parents encouraged him in this policy).

And as you seem to suggest, the vast majority of people at the Ranch (and in Pune) didn’t know what his prvate life was like, or even whether he had a sex life (except presumably, with Vivek) which of course is why the recent revelations are pretty shocking to many, including me: the apparent lack of love for the women concerned and his wish to keep these meetings secret. (If I were a man so treated by a female ‘guru’ I’m sure I’d be angry, disillusioned too).

It does sound like a middle-aged man from a repressive cultual conditioning in 1930s/40s/50s etc. India unable to contain himself any longer given his status among thousands of attractive young western women, however physically restricted he might have been. He might well have been curious to see whether he still ‘had what it took’ to ‘perform’. Well, he often said he was “just an ordinary man”…

Although maybe he had an ulterior motive, as also might apply to the ‘watch rage’ incident:

Re the bejewelled watch outburst, well, perhaps he had his reasons to act like that (as Swamishanti has suggested), eg maybe he deliberately exaggerated this attraction for a symbol of great wealth, acting it out, as it were, as a means of remaining rooted in this human life, in the body-mind with its desires and attachments, in order to keep on with his people, resisting the urge to ‘dissolve’ for the greater purpose of helping us. And likewise, a similar motive might have applied to his sex assignations. Or, was it that he simply remained an Indian from an averagely well-off (by Indian standards) background for whom such ‘baubles’ still exerted a fascination, however enlightened, wise and ‘beyond it all’ he was assumed to be.

As for his remarks about Sheela, well, frankly, she got off pretty lightly, all things considered. His judgment in appointing her was flawed but still, she and her wretched cabal were responsible for much that went wrong at the Ranch. And let’s not forget that for a very long time Osho lived in seclusion, well away from the daily life of the commune, not in the most robust condition, relying on what Sheela told him.

Finally, as I’ve said before, I’m not on the side of those who condemn Osho, regarding him as a hypocritical fraud. One lesson to come from the recent controversial revelations has been that enlightenment does not necessarily imply 100% ‘perfection’. I think we need to bear in mind the enormous work Osho did in order to ‘wake up’ his people. And to realise that he took on one hell of a task.

I say his people are and future generations will be hugely indebted to him for taking on such a task that one might say was and is demanded by the times, inspiring so many to pave the way for a new life for themselves and others. The huge good he gave us, the vast perspective he embodied and shared, the love, the joy, the celebration, the guidance, the gift of his silence, are still there, now embedded in the human psyche and therefore available as a resource for humanity to draw upon.

The personal stories placed by eyewitnesses on Facebook which I have been reading only recently do make a difference to all this. It’s not that he had a sex life, but that he did not seem to care about the pleasure of his female partners. It’s not that he had bejewelled watches, it’s that he got angry when he was denied another one. It’s not that he didn’t stop Sheela on the Ranch, it’s that he made spiteful remarks about her being raped as a young girl, in discourse after she left.

In the end there is too much there to discount, the mask of the guru comes off and he turns out to not merely be an ordinary human, but he set the tone for much of the sexual abuse and abuse of power on the Ranch. If you were there, the Facebook groups where the community is discussing these things are open to you, and you can go read the first-hand accounts for yourself.

The further away you were from the centre of things on the Ranch, the easier it was to be happy in the illusion of spirituality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnOvQWYPXv8

https://newrepublic.com/article/147864/bhagwans-jewish-problem?fbclid=IwAR2ME0MdbbmKt0oJq-17teWXdgZl2bVfeKQlJth5rVKuVqmV8e29m6h9d7k

Osho about Jews now ? Very easy to misinterpret quite obviously. Just look at this very old article (in the two posts, below) that at least seems to have some understanding – if you read it to the end.
1. Bhagwan’s Jewish Problem
2. OSHO: What Is Happening In Israel Is Nothing New

Yes, the celebration bus convoy to the fortress also happened in my days – climbing the mountain peak for the official opening of the “new commune”, then having Puri for lunch in white tents outside the fortress.

If you dive deep down in the timeline of https://www.facebook.com/groups/sannyaslostandfound you may see more photos, articles and Osho quotes about Saswad – btw, it’s a hotel now.

MOD:
Lokesh: “bone countryside”?

I am puzzled to have an editor trying his best to make a book or magazine out of this (again)?

Thanks for having me! (as they say in broadcasted interviews).

MOD:
Veet Tom, let us know when you’re unhappy with anything that’s been altered, as it’s occasionally difficult to know exactly what you mean.