ASHRAM

In August of this year (2011)  the New York Times took the unusual step of re-publishing a review dated November, 1981 of the historical German documentary about the Ashram from 1979, simply called “Ashram”. The movie has been freshly released by Libra Films. Here is that review below with the possibility to comment at the end of the piece.

ASHRAM (1981)
By Janet Maslin
Published: November 13, 1981

At the start of ‘Ashram’, a title announces that this film has been condemned by the followers of Osho, even though Wolfgang Dobrowolny, who wrote and directed ‘Ashram’, was a disciple at the time the film was made. Mr. Dobrowolny may not have intended any treachery, but it’s understandable that the Osho organization would be upset by even a straightforward, unbiased film record of its activities. That is largely what ‘Ashram’ appears to be.

The group’s practices, including therapy sessions in the nude and very violent encounter sessions, cannot help but look foolish on the screen. When they are seen writhing on the floor in the manner of ‘Altered States’, for example, the devotees are bound to appear more debased than enlightened. But these people, when interviewed at calmer moments, also say credibly that they’ve never been happier in their lives, and they have a look of contentment to prove it. Mr. Dobrowolny’s film, which is valuable chiefly for the bizarre spectacle it presents, also poses a provocative riddle. Will a complete lack of inhibition lead the way to wisdom? To put it another way, can inner peace be achieved by methods that, on the surface, appear absurd?

The film’s answer is a resounding ”Why not?” Though it mildly mocks the guru and his tactics at times – for instance, when it labels his new cream-colored Mercedes-Benz ”one of his jokes that cannot be understood in a poor country like India” – it also offers evidence of the disciples’ serenity. ”Ashram” was filmed in Poona, India, where large numbers of well-off seekers come to learn from a man whose teachings – at least on this film’s evidence – are none too remarkable. And yet any of these students is liable to experience ecstasy if the guru so much as touches his or her brow.

”Ashram,” which has been filmed and assembled in very ragged fashion, offers a candid glimpse of life inside this community. The place seems ruled by a gentle but very firm hand, as witnessed by a sign near the schedule of lectures, ”Friends, it is not possible to leave the discourse before it is over.” For a relatively high fee, visitors have the opportunity to hear the master, mingle with one another and experience Rolfing, primal-scream sessions and some of the ashram’s more idiosyncratic therapies. A great deal of physical interaction is encouraged, leading the disciples to drop their inhibitions about violence and about sex.

Scenes of these therapies have the mood of other movies’ madhouse episodes. In one scene, a large number of people are found squirming, shouting, embracing and recoiling from one another as though their movements had been choreographed by Ken Russell. In another, a group pillow-fight meant to release violent instincts becomes a naked freefor-all, accompanied by the most piercing screams of fear and rage. During the course of this session, a narrator tells us, one woman was very nearly raped; indeed, when she’s seen on camera, this woman appears to be hugely distressed. But when she’s interviewed later, it turns out that she has been at the ashram for a long while and is very content. The violent therapy, she says, has helped her to overcome her fear of men.

A narrator must explain what has happened to the woman because Mr. Dobrowolny’s footage is often so poorly shot, and so muddled, that it’s hard to understand. His film is also unsubtitled and multilingual, and this woman happens to speak German. Because her story is told only superficially, and because her experience is not exactly universal, it is not clear what can be made of it. But Mr. Dobrowolny has certainly captured a moment that’s odd and troubling, an emotional excess that’s not usually seen on the screen.

ASHRAM is directed and produced by Wolfgang Dobrowolny; a Mu-Film; released by Libra Films.  Running time: 83 minutes.

The film can also be mostly viewed on You tube but in 10 different segments with one missing.                                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkApy4hgG9s

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12 Responses to ASHRAM

  1. Martyn says:

    One of my first groups was with Wolfgang (bit of a pseudonym-metaphor that is for sannyas I reckon too).. anyway he came back to Pune after leaving his wife on his return to Germany and we were doing a group , with Chaitanya Christ (I think that was him the guy who went on to turn witness evidence in return for leniency, against sheela at the ranch ), and californian /uk Bodhi Prem (last heard of as living in st ives devon maybe passed away now).. it was an encounter group and the ashram had let him back in despite the first problems he was having with them over the film.As i remember he said he wasn’t against Bhagwash at all…but that he’d broken a promise to Laxmi over distribution ..so no more filming for wolf boy.

  2. shantam says:

    Documentary film makers and historians, and sannyasins too look at the Osho movement as if it has some kind of Past but no Future!
    Present generation of remaining tribe is slipping away everyday!

  3. Lokesh says:

    Last night I watched a vid about Osho’s death. I listened as Deva Raj gave his touching and candid interpretation of events. So far so good. Next we had shots of Osho conducting his human orchestra with Nivedano on percussion. Everyone present was obviously loving it but my bullshit meter began to go haywire when it heard the collective cry of Oshooooo! I switched the film off…it was so weird it gave me a chill to think I was once that daft.
    In 1992 when I met Poonjaji I had a reassessment of my seven years with Osho. Thanks to Osho I was able to appreciate what Poonjaji was teaching….self enquiry, something which Osho himself practiced before he claimed to be enlightened. Thing is, my time with Osho was over by 1981. Thirty years have passed. Osho was a wonderful guy in my books. I think it is ridiculous that people actually believe that Osho is somehow present and guiding them today. It is absurd on many levels, not least of which being that he claimed that his life was his last human incarnation and that he would be entering nirvana when he died…nirvana…extinction of flame. Osho is gone.
    Now we have losers like Shantam getting self righteous and uptight about managers on the ‘resort’. This is so patently ridiculous and so far away of how the whole thing began, which was round about the time that Osho came up with the idea of celebrating everything, which was a blast when it was hot but sounds a little tired today. But boy did Osho know how to throw a party back in the good old days when life was a song and a dance and the managers were called zen mistresses (bunch of overweight powermongers who were one of the biggest jokes in the ‘ashram’.) Yet even back then there were idiots like Shantam who took those bitches seriously. Shantam is very serious about the managers…hey but hold on…didn’t Osho say that seriousness was a disease…Shantam it is time for your shots, baba.
    As for the Ashram movie…it probably looks absurd…because in retrospect it was absurd. It is also history, colourful, funny, maybe even mad, but it is also dead and gone and therefore nothing to get your diapers in a twist about..
    Next…..

    • Teertha says:

      Youth usually seems daft from the perspective of the grey years. It’s easy to forget sometimes how ‘young’ the whole scene was around Osho back then…25-35 year olds with a 40-something pied piper. Had Osho lived another 20 years his views would have changed, since they changed as much as the stock market over the last decade of his life. Hell he might even have gotten to sound like U.G. Krishnamurti on his death bed — “I’ll rot like a garden slug!”:


      The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

  4. frank says:

    every saint has a past
    and every sinner has a future
    –oscar wilde

    • Teertha says:

      Saint: a dead sinner revised and edited.

      – Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

    • Lokesh says:

      I was reading a book about Ramana Maharshi’s life last night. He was saying that past and future only exist in our mind. I’ll take Ramana’s version of what is what over Oscar Wilde’s eight days a week. Oh yes, we’ve heard it all before and Osho said the same thing time and again. When it comes to words, I pay more attention to what Ramana says than Osho. This is because Ramana was more concise than Osho. Part of the power of Osho’s discourses was actually being there and listening to them as they were delivered. Transcribed to books they do not carry the same impact; basically because there is so much dross.

  5. shantam says:

    Hell, he might even have gotten to sound like U.G. Krishnamurti on his death bed — “I’ll rot like a garden slug!”:
    Teertha, this could have happened in the same way with Jesus. If Jesus was alive 10, 15 years more, he would have learnt to play the flute the way Krishna does.
    One thing is clear, that day will hardly come again when a middle class Indian with a dyed beard, makes the intelligentsia of the west sit at His feet and change their names.
    Surely this youthful folly must be hurting the egos of many oldies now!

  6. Nirbheeti says:

    I can only say, sorry guys, you missed the point!

  7. Gayathri Karthik says:

    Also dear lokesh though Ramana didn’t live & test his people like Osho he stood by a man called seshadri swamigal in tiruvannamalai who was exactly a die hard teaser like Osho…if any 1 comes to him to get initiated straight away he would go to a prostitute’s house & hide himself…always makes it a point that he walks with 2 prostitutes on his side & call them godly beings…a group always go to complaint abt. him to Ramana Maharishi & raman would rub off their statements & would declare that seshadri is a brahma gyani …if u call him mad then know that even i ‘m equally mad…he personally guided seshadri swamigal’s samadhi consrtuction (which is still there in tiruvannamalai near his ashram )…& was thru with
    him completely …shedding his supportive shoulders…but as usual Osho was not lucky in this area too. No contemperory gyani lend his shoulders to support Osho ..to explain the whys of Osho…the result? these type of never ending articles& thoughts…love.

  8. Dhyan Vijen says:

    The whole movie can be downloaded from http://www.sendspace.com/file/b30qfa

    Then you will need Winrar (or similar) to unpack it, and GomPlayer (or
    similar) to play it

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