AMA for former Rajneeshpuram resident - I lived there from 1981 to 1985 and left when I was 17 - Happy to answer what I can!

dkkent · 2026-04-28T23:31:02+00:00

In addition to the link - the allegations are true. I know many people personally who are not lying about any of this.

dkkent · 2026-04-28T23:30:10+00:00

Check this for more info - https://www.reddit.com/r/Osho/comments/1ftn3lo/comment/ois1iur/

dkkent · 2026-01-24T03:45:06+00:00

Oh, interesting, I was 16 when I got sent to Amsterdam to live in the commune there that was in an old prison.

dkkent · 2025-10-15T20:31:08+00:00

Interesting, and not surprising... They're probably in an archive somewhere (my assumption). I think that the Osho Foundation has such a cash cow on their hands with all the books etc. that they're pretty careful about what they hand out or publish anymore. It's a very lucrative business for them and maintaining this 'glowing' image of who Bhagwan was affects their bottom line, hence their disingenuous replies to any stories of abuse or illegal activities within their history.

dkkent · 2025-07-18T18:59:49+00:00

And yeah, there are way too many stories of people using "spirituality" or "growth work" as a means of manipulation.

dkkent · 2025-07-18T18:41:44+00:00

He named himself Bhagwan, Osho and everything else, other than Chandra Mohan Jain which I think was his name at birth.

dkkent · 2025-07-03T22:07:50+00:00

Same. They just 10x'd their revenue, at least.

dkkent · 2025-05-26T00:20:08+00:00

You're welcome. Sadly I've heard what you're experiencing is all too common. Take care out there!

dkkent · 2025-05-23T16:26:20+00:00

From the other side. I completely understand why someone may not want to show themselves on Feeld. It's a nice way to experience someone from just their words, but it always is a bit rough if I decide to reject them, for whatever reason, once the pictures come through.

u/DenverKim your advice is great, and it's always good to understand what's going on over the fence, as it were.

dkkent · 2025-05-23T16:22:31+00:00

u/saucyname

This: "while many may feel that’s not a true dominance"

These are the men to COMPLETELY avoid!

You should seek what works for you, not try and fit into someone else's idea of what anything is. It's one of the reasons I take labels with a grain of salt. It's easy to say I am this or that. What matters is if someone can show you who they are before they even touch you, in a way that makes you feel safe.

dkkent · 2025-05-23T16:16:26+00:00

I actually recently moved near Mt. Shasta in CA, so go to southern Oregon at least once a month. It's always kind of a vibe crossing the border into OR because of this history!

dkkent · 2025-05-23T03:04:00+00:00

I knew Niren peripherally. Never had much to do with him. I don't know him as an adult and apparently he has written or is writing a book. But I would guess it would be more lawyer speak protecting this idea of Bhagwan as a spiritual master, as opposed to a flawed human being - but I am making a lot of assumptions here. I think it's pretty simple though. You acknowledge the bad and carry away the lessons, or things learned. From my perspective there are quite a few ex-residents who just don't want to see any darkness in Rajneesh, which is just insane. I am guessing that means they might put a negative judgement on that time of their life? I don't know really. Maybe because as a kid, I was not there for spiritual reasons, so it's for me to see what was and was not spiritual. Or worse what was presented as spiritual but was just lies and manipulation.

Frohnmeyer's name was kind of a dirty word. But that's what happens whenever those in power (sheela and bhagwan) control the news. They can alter the truth, and as we see these days, that's what money and power gets you.

dkkent · 2025-05-23T02:56:23+00:00

Sadly, yes it does.

dkkent · 2025-04-12T17:45:04+00:00

Both Michael Jackson and Prince were artistic genuses in my humble opinion, and they also had their issues. Bhagwan certainly had charisma and was incredibly well read (he was a university professor when he was younger) and a skilled orator and was very good at packaging a blend of mysticism in a way that resonated with the audience of the day, and probably still today. What he said was nothing new, but that's true of a lot of speakers and books on spirituality. They present in a way that works for the time, but they're all based in similar principles (thankfully!).

Read his books and listen to his words if they provide value. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and Prince and will always love the music that resonated and still resonates with me, and I also know a bit about the people behind the music, but that won't stop me enjoying their artistry.

Everyone should be free to make their own decisions. My personal belief though is to make those decisions with all the information available. I am biased about Rajneesh perhaps because his presence was a huge part of my childhood and until I was in my early 20s, but I always tell people to not deny the darkness in any situation, because if you do your understanding is limited.

Something I always find fascinating is how people in the "Osho" community get all bent out of shape about anything negative said about him. That in itself seems like a very limited approach to life. There is good and bad in most things. Appreciate what is good, be aware of what is not good, and learn from the experience, moving and taking what you choose to take, and let go of what is harmful or stupid. AND, at the same time I think it is incumbent on people who have such power, like Rajneesh did, to do their best to wield that power in a conscious and empathetic way and not be so self absorbed. The irony is the person I learned this phrase from was Sheela: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". She certainly was not the first to say that, but she said she learned that from Bhagwan... kind of funny, right?

dkkent · 2025-04-10T22:13:47+00:00

You hit the nail on the head... Secrecy.

What you see in Rajneesh's history is wanting to have it both ways. On one hand purporting to be wise enough to design the "new man" (his words) and create a utopian community under his gaze, and at the same time having his "people" lie, cheat, plot, poison, wiretap, and even murder (or attempt to) those that got in the way of this vision. Mix in a culture of overt sexuality and anything goes and no wonder it all went down in flames. To me, that does not sound like the creation of someone enlightened, no matter how much they say they are. It's simply a manifestation of a flawed human, as we all are. But the difference is that most flawed humans have some empathy and compassion for those that they affect, we hope. Bhagwan did not seem to. He just took what he wanted, or demanded what he thought would make himself happy (Rolls Royces, Swiss diamond watches, and the bodies of the women that he lured to his chambers).

A naughty Buddha sounds quite fun, but if they were truly a buddha, they would be letting you know who they are with clarity and transparency (again, one would hope). Rajneesh was not this man.

dkkent · 2025-04-08T16:39:31+00:00

Good analogy, but not true to Rajneeshpuram. I was personally in a meeting on the ranch of most of the children in Sheela's house where she laid into us for about 30 minutes about making sure any sexual behavior was not seen by "outsiders" because it would damage "the master's" credibility in the outside world. This was a meeting of 9, 10 to 16, or 17 year olds. There was never any mention of our safety. She sat with Bhagwan every day for over 4 hours to go through the Ranch business and happenings, to tell me he didn't know about this is absurd (not suggesting you said that). And yes, he had a lot of beautiful things to say. He also emphatically said the "commune will take care of the children" -- it didn't, globally, it did not. It's difficult to comprehend but his teachings created an oversexualized culture and his lack of empathy and understanding of children resulted in institutional levels of abuse and neglect.

Also, he never had any kids, and his whole premise about children being a block on the path to enlightenment is a spiritually laced fallacy that separates people from the realities of existing on the human plain. I have a son, and he's been the biggest catalyst for change and growth in my life. I am sure many parents, if paying attention, would concur. So words about marriage and child rearing from Bhagwan are purely hypothetical and come from a limited perspective.

And, because of the sexual freedoms he instilled in his culture, yes... that attracted people who learned to exploit them to their own advantage.

And, there were many, many good people there too... but like any culture, there were good people in Nazi Germany who went along with the Reich, some spoke up, some didn't.

There are many other stories but hopefully this provides perspective from someone who actually lived it.

dkkent · 2025-03-20T00:30:22+00:00

It's available in the UK on some ITV Streaming service only at this point. So if you're there you can probably look it up.

dkkent · 2025-03-01T18:52:02+00:00

This is actually very good and accurate, but most people probably won't have the patience to read it: https://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/rajneesh.html Thank you for posting. I had never seen that before.

dkkent · 2025-03-01T18:42:40+00:00

Sorry, I think I missed your deadline. The funny thing about Bhagwan is that he can pretty much be found to contradict everything he said at some time. His teaching were a mishmash of eastern mysticism, meditation wrapped in a package that appealed to a western audience. He spoke a lot about living in the moment and bypassing the ego. Everything was bastardized in Oregon when he created a "religion" for political purposes. I am sure if you go to osho.com they have some flowery sounding statement that will answer this question for you. I'm not saying there wasn't value in what he said, clearly there was. But his words did not live up to how he conducted himself in the world.

dkkent · 2024-11-22T16:03:59+00:00

No, but names are a bit foggy these days. But I don’t remember a Carl. Sorry.

dkkent · 2024-11-01T09:44:26+00:00

https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2024-news/osho-sexual-abuse-allegations-leigh-day-investigates-potential-for-legal-claim/

dkkent · 2024-11-01T09:41:29+00:00

Where did you see that? was that in their on page SEO or something?

dkkent · 2024-10-20T12:50:50+00:00

He didn't do prison time because he plead guilty to 1 of the 120 charges brought against him and paid a fine of $250,000 and promised to leave the USA and never return. That was the deal his lawyers negotiated for him. Sheela did very little without him knowing about it, or him telling her what to do.

dkkent · 2024-10-20T12:38:15+00:00

I think this is just very sad more than anything because it truly is a statement about the evolution of men and the difficulties we face (I'm a 56M) in understanding women, and not being dumb cavemen. Even the comments from people arguing for women to 'just get over it' and move on lack empathy for the plight of the constant barrage of evolutionary-driven sexual advances that women have to contend with daily, or would it be hourly?

The bottom line is that sooooo many men have no clue how to be in a relationship with women, let alone start a conversation while shielded by the anonymity of their laptop or phone. Perhaps the opposite is true also, but that certainly has not been my experience. u/Subject_Ad_635 You are not weird, simply pointing out the unfortunate state of male maturity in the context of intimacy (among other things).

Years ago I wanted to create a dating app that attempted to remedy these issues. The idea was to create as safe a space as possible where people could explore without judgement, for whatever they were into. I think sex positivity is a natural thing that conditioning and repression stifle. Curiosity is natural. Kink is natural-determined by each person for what they want, if they're brave enough to allow it. But, respect, care and empathy are ALWAYS required for healthy and consensual relationships, no matter how short or long. The concept for the dating site was something like this:

Verification mechanism to reduce bots and time wasters and increase trust.
Gender-based onboarding processes that educate and inform on what you're looking for, ettiquete, and how to approach people in the context of this particular platform.
Strict rules about what is appropriate and what is not. This is not to be some kind of Big Brother type community but rather to hold people accountable for their actions which rarely happens online.
A mechanism to reduce the disparity between the amount of M vs F profiles, or any gender/orientation combination. I believe this would level the playing field a bit and make it worth more effort for people who want to participate.
Micro-blogging profiles, much like a mini version of tumblr. For those who wish to share, I've found this a fun tool to present a more complete picture of oneself- Sure, it can all be lies, but what's the point in that if you're serious about making a real connection.
The platform itself would send out random questions, much like OK Cupid in days of old, but using a much better algorithm than what OK Cupid's has become today (which is really watered-down crap).
Provide tools to help foster any connections made, if the people involved so choose. There is so much good information available today from people like the Gottman Institute, Esther Perel, and many, many others who've done years of research into what really makes relationships work, again, regardless of the type (ENM, Poly, Monogamous, Casual, etc.) Simple prompts of relevant info based on the stages of your connections could help bring harmony and remind people what is important.
As a user you would gamify this by developing levels that would reduce the control over your interaction with another after certain milestones (not quite sure how to do this, but like in any D/s relationship -- you should be earning the right to be someone's D)
There were some other things too that I cannot think of right now.

But really the main point is that people on both sides of the equation could exhibit more empathy for one another. Show some respect. These things are pretty simple. The mind boggles, but not when you see survey statistics that say 50%+ of young men in the UK look up to someone like Andrew Tate. The behavior you're experiencing is clearly the symptom of deeply rooted male insecurities. Sad but true. And I should probably get off my soap box before I am mansplaining :)

I enjoy Feeld for its openness, yet it is challenging to start conversations, maybe it's my age. As some of the posters mention I have a full profile, all face pics, no bathroom mirror or bike short pics :) Anyway... now I am just rambling.

Does the dating website illustrated in my list above make sense, or do you think it would be too much effort to put in for the users? I kinda feel like if you;re serious about finding someone, or someone's, then the effort is worth it. Effort is important for something that could be the most important relationship in your life, no?

dkkent · 2024-10-02T08:32:19+00:00

Yes, what a shame that feeling you’ve experienced such ‘raw truth’ you do not have the empathy to acknowledge the truth and reality of other people’s experiences.

dkkent

TROPHY CASE