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alokjohn posted an update in the group The Humaniversity: 12 years, 8 months ago
Parmartha, you show good judgement in never visiting Leela. I always had a funny feeling about the place when I went.
Jay, I don’t think many sannyasins have advanced degrees, ie masters or doctorates. Quite a few have batchelor degrees, but as you say they do not seemed to have gained much from their education.
Come to think of it, I might have read about that study in Cities on a Hill by Frances FitzGerald which has a large depressing chapter on Rajneeshpuram. It does occur to me to ask if the Oregon sociology dept actually saw the certificates. In the febrile atmosphere of Rajneeshpuram, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that lots of sannyasins lied about this. They were lying en masse about sham marriages to stay in the US, so a little lie about a doctorate…..
In some of the books of the time, sannyasins have degrees from Rajneesh International Meditation University.
I am in UK and I think the only English sannyasin I have met with an advanced degree was Vismaya, mother of the late Tim Guest. Her legal name is Anne Geraghty.
She said she had a doctorate in educational psychology.
In her book ’In the dark and still moving’ she says as a child she won a place at a secondary school for gifted children. She says the fees for this were paid direct to the family by a charity or similar. She says instead she attended a local school and the family kept the money.