Chapman and Maclain Ways six-plus-hour Netflix docuseriesWild Wild Country chronicling the Rajneesh communes controversial and criminal efforts to overtake a rural Oregon townis nothing if not exhaustive.But as anyone with an internet connection knows, theres always more to the story. Before you start scouring the web foreverything to knowabout Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (a.k.a. Osho), Ma Anand Sheela, and the sannyasins five-decade saga of dynamic meditation and sordid international intrigue, here are the eight biggest questions thatWild Wild Countrydidnt answer. (Plus, a handy bibliography of recommended reading and viewing if youd like to dive into the investigation yourself.)SEE ALSO:All these TV shows are ending in 2018 ' get prepared to say farewellHow did Bhagwan become a guru'Wild Wild Countryis far more interested in how one mystic can inspire multitudes than what creates a single persons mystique. But if youre curious about Bhagwans biography and how he successfully strung along generations of devotees during his life and postmortem, heres some insight: He was,according to one uncle, headstrong and prone to devouring library books. FurtherOregonianreporting circa 1985 (see further reading bibliography below) clarifies that he was raised in rural poverty by, alternately, his grandparents and parents, and more or less grew to be both an expert in Eastern religions and know-it-all doubter. In 1953, while attending college, he professed to have had a moment of ultimate enlightenment that dovetailed with his burgeoning interest in meditation and hypnosis, as well as his knack for public speaking. Ostensibly, a guru was born by the time he was 21. One former acquaintance toldOregonians Les Zaitz that Bhagwan (then known as Rajneesh) knew what the rich people want. They want to justify their guilty consciences, to justify their guilty acts. Fast-forward to the late 1960swhen he would encounter Sheela and start planting seeds for Puna and eventually Rajneeshpuramand Bhagwan was more or less a traveling spiritual salesperson promoting a lifestyle that was as much submissive as sinful. Better yet, it was largely funded by donations from Western businessmen seeking an approachable slice of flower power and psychedelia. It was the perfect storm from which Bhagwans image as lord of the hedonistic manor took unshakable hold.What, exactly, was Bhagwan's free-love philosophy'In archival footage fromWild Wild Country, longtime Rajneesh spokespersonMa Prem Sunshine(a.k.a. Sunny V. Massad) coyly suggested that there simply was no single set of rules. Though in apost-Rajneeshpuram interviewwith Australian journalist Howard Sattler, Bhagwan (by then known as Osho) made it crystal-clear that his philosophy on monogamy and sex was rooted in, apparently, teen angst. Im against marriage from the very beginning, he explained. My parents were in difficulty, my family was in difficulty, but I told them clearly I am not going to be married. He goes on to describe a neurotic society populated by couples having duty-filled sex. Ina separate lectureto his followers, Osho presents free love as a way to abolish the worlds oldest and most scandalized profession, preaching that, if sex becomes fun, prostitutes will disappear. He urges sannyasins to leave sex out of the marketplace and suggests that love to be your only god and we all be playful and joyous in the sack. That these ideals are apparently only possible when sannyasins evade less optional institutions like taxation and live within an outlier sovereign state paradoxically symbolized by its conformity goes undiscussed.What about the children of Rajneeshpuram'We learn a bit about Jane Storks abandoned and thengrievously ill son PeterinWild Wild Country, and other kids are caught on film or discussed in fleeting retrospect. But what was it like to be raised against your will in Rajneeshpuram or any out-there commune' AskHira Bluestone, who recentlyshared an accountof spending ages 7 to 11 alongside her dad under Bhagwans sway, and is penning a memoir on the experience. Bluestone recalls working the land more than hitting the books, and getting lectured by Stork (a.k.a. Shanti B.) for avoiding her obligations. Though when they did read, it was fare likethis terrifying taleof a girl deteriorating from the effects of radiation in Hiroshima, seemingly to comfort them as they counted down to nuclear holocaust. Movie night strucka similar tone. More distressingly, there were unconfirmed allegations of childrenbeing sexually abusedon the compound. Anincredible photo setby Jean-Pierre Laffont illuminates how, at minimum, Rajneeshpuram waslike a surreal sleepaway campthat lasted for nearly half a decade.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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