Osho

Osho (pronounced [ˈoːʃoː]), born Chandra Mohan Jain on 11 December 1931 and also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Acharya Rajneesh, or simply Rajneesh, was an Indian godman who founded the Rajneesh movement, a new religious movement. He opposed organized religions, arguing that spiritual experience cannot be confined to any single system of religious dogma. As a guru, he promoted meditation, particularly a distinctive practice he called dynamic meditation. He also rejected traditional asceticism, urging his followers to live life fully while staying detached from worldly desires. Osho claimed he underwent a spiritual awakening in 1953 at age 21. After several years in academia, he resigned in 1966 from his position as a philosophy lecturer at the University of Jabalpur. He then traveled across India, gaining notoriety for criticizing mainstream religions, political ideologies, and Mahatma Gandhi. In 1970, he began initiating followers called "neo-sannyasins" in Mumbai. During this time, he expanded his teachings and gave extensive discourses on writings from various religious traditions, mystics, bhakti poets, and philosophers worldwide. In 1974, he moved to Pune, where he established an ashram offering therapies derived from the Human Potential Movement to a growing Western audience. By the late 1970s, tensions with the Janata Party government under Morarji Desai led to restrictions on the ashram’s growth and a back tax claim of about $5 million. In 1981, the movement shifted to the United States, where Osho founded a commune called Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. The commune faced conflicts with local residents and the state government, and legal battles over construction and development hampered its success. In 1985, Osho asked authorities to investigate his personal secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, and her close supporters for crimes including a 1984 mass food-poisoning attack meant to influence a county election, a planned assassination of U.S. attorney Charles H. Turner, an attempt on Osho’s personal physician’s life, and the bugging of his own quarters. Several ashram members, including Sheela, were later convicted. That same year, Osho was deported from the United States on immigration charges after entering an Alford plea. Following deportation, 21 countries refused him entry. Osho returned to Mumbai in 1986, and after a period of public discourses, moved back to Pune in January 1987 to revive his ashram. He died there in 1990. The ashram, now called the Osho International Meditation Resort, along with all related intellectual property, is managed by the Osho International Foundation (formerly the Rajneesh International Foundation). Osho’s teachings have influenced Western New Age thought, and their popularity grew after his death.