The People of Rajneeshpuram
If you ever get the chance to travel to the central basin of the John Day River, well over 175 miles from Portland, Oregon, there once lay one hundred square miles of Rajneesh properties that spanned over two counties. Between 1981 and 1985, followers of the Indian philosopher, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, built a Utopian city from the ground up, starting with the purchase of Big Muddy Ranch, a 64,000 acre piece of land in rural Eastern Oregon. Bought in 1981, this land was to become a fully-functioning urban center and a spiritual mecca for Rajneesh’s followers around the world. Within a few years, the population in Rajneeshpuram hiked from a few hundred to a few thousand; at its peak in 1985, Rajneeshpuram housed somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 permanent residents, alongside varying number of visitors and students of the Rajneesh religion. The Rajneeshees had built everything they needed for a modern American town: postal office, hotel, damn, sewage reclamation plant, townhouses, shopping centers, airport runway, and a mass transit system comprised of 85 buses crisscrossed around their modest new metropolis. The Rajneesh himself, however, preferred to get around by car, often seen cruising down the streets every day in one of ninety-three Rolls Royces he owned.Taking a vow of silence the Rajneesh delegated everyday operations of Rajneeshpuram to his secretary and right-hand woman, Ma Anand Sheela. When the Rajneeshees first arrived in town, they had to make many overtures to the surrounding counties; however, within a year, they soon began feuding with their neighbors. This hostility is best seen in the town of Antelope where city officials of Antelope refused the Rajneeshees a business permit. Various intimidation tactics were employed in an attempt to take over the Antelope city council. The Rajneeshee were ultimately successful, and the town of Antelope was renamed, Rajneesh.
Responding to threats from outcries nationwide and local Oregonians, the Rajneeshpuram authorities created their own police ‘peace force’ and began stockpiling weapons, including two helicopters. This escalation alerted state authorities, who stalled construction within Rajneeshpuram and called the legality of the city into question. Rajneeshpuram responded with even more hostility in disguise of charity. The Rajneeshees rolled out the “Share-A-Home” program, which bussed in thousands of homeless people from around the country and offered them a place to live. This program was enacted not to just house the homeless, but to make these newcomers vote in the local election in order to gain greater control within local government. It would be late known that the new residents were drugged with a powerful, antipsychotic, Haldol. In a desperate attempt to further block locals from voting, a group of Rajneeshee’ poisoned a local salad bar with salmonella, affecting over 750 people. To this day, this attack remains the largest act of bioterrorism on United States soil. Investigations began to unravel the cities secrets one allegation at a time. From multiple attempted murders, forced sterilizations to the firebombing of the Wasco County Planning Department, the Rajneeshpuram had their hands tied.
The Making of a Utopia
Why did Rajneeshpuram fail? The true answer lies in xenophobia, the orientalist views of Oregonians, the media, and the Rajneeshees, and America’s hypocrisy. In 1960s Britain and America, a mystical Orientalist view of India held sway: India was seen as a land of trippy gurus holding secret, ancient, psychedelic wisdom that could liberate the young hippie from the system of rigid Western values. What will soon become the Rajneeshpuram first began its humble beginnings in Mumbai, India in 1970. As years went by, the humid climate of the city proved detrimental to Rajneesh’s health: developing asthma, diabetes, and numerous allergies. In 1974, the guru purchased a plot of land in Pune that would be known as the Pune Ashram. It was in the Prune Ashram where Rajneesh honed in on his teachings of the Human Potential Movement, a series of therapeutic movements that enable a person to make full use of his or her personal capacities, leading to self-actualization. This humanistic therapeutic approach attracted large western audiences in the wake of the counterculture milieu of the 1960s; the movement allowed an escape for many westerners that wanted to enlighten themselves and didn’t agree with governmental proceedings at the time. From the Civil Rights Marches to protest against the Vietnam war, widespread social tensions developed concerning issues regarding traditional modes of authority and differing interpretations of the American Dream. Not only did the mystification of the east and the anti-establishment sentiment play a large part in growth of the Pune Ashram, it also catapulted the Rajneesh into local stardom.
As the Rajneesh received an American visa to visit medical professionals in the states, Sheela saw this as an opportunity to seize her own American dream: to move the commune west. As the designated authority of the commune, Sheela purchased and authorized the cult to be moved from their 6 acre facility in Pune, India to the 64,000 acre ranch in central Oregon. While Rajneeshpuram, the new name for the commune, appeared to be physically isolated and removed from government intervention, unbenounced to Sheela, it was actually entrenched in a dense system of laws and bureaucratic regulations, quite within reach of local, state, and national bureaucracies. The physical isolation of Rajneeshpuram diverted attention from the closeness of its public institution context; this would prove to be a disastrous miscalculation. Only a few miles apart, the isolation of the ranch’s activities and the almost instantaneous omnipresence of Rajneesh in the neighboring city of Antelope ignited great fear and suspicion among locals. Oregon law forbade the commune from conducting business outside an incorporated city. When some of the Rajneeshees bought property in Antelope, the clash of cultures began. Mayor Margaret Hill and other locals objected vehemently to the provocative Rajneesh advertisements (“love…relationship…seriousness..laughter…sex”) appearing in several national magazines with the latter topic emphasizing total “sexual freedom and exploration.” City officials were further disturbed by the number of foreign and domestic communications to the mayor; local citizens, parents of cult followers, and even foreign governments expressed alarm and frustrations, stating the Rajneesh destruction of ‘morals, belief systems, and personalities’ was an emergency that needed to be resolved. These disturbing phone calls, further other-ized the Rajneeshees and fed into the xenophobia they were feeling, furthering the oriental stereotype.
“I think there were a lot of masters and maybe doctor’s degrees out there. It didn’t mean they had any horse sense. They were pretty illogical about a lot of things,”
A quote filled with othering and mystifying a group of people, it is shocking to think this was what the Rajneeshees had to face continuously. If Margaret Hill, an elected official in public office, did not respect nor take the time to understand the Rajneeshees, how shall her constituents?
The community of Rajneeshpuram also brought to attention international scrutiny of Oregon’s hard-earned reputation for tolerance, most notably with the Ku Klux Klan. Having already barred African Americans from living within state constitutionally and with a population over 80% white American, the Klan had found fertile ground in Oregon. During Oregon’s 1922 midterm election, the Ku Klux Klan swept all of the seats, allowing the Christian white supremacist cult to push their religious and racial preference onto the state and the across the nation. Linda Gordon, a professor of history at New York University and author of The Second Coming of the KKK, stated that,
“The first thing the Klan did was fuse religious bigotry with racial bigotry. While they never stopped attacking African Americans, they added Catholics and Jews to the enemies list.”
As Gordon prophesied, the first measure that was proposed by the Ku Klux Klan was the Compulsory School Bill, which sought to require that all students attend public schools. In retaliation to Catholic private institutions in Oregon, the KKK pushed for this agenda to assimilate Catholic immigrants by Americanizing their children. The Compulsory School Bill is one of many measures that show the KKK funneling money and political power to issues that directly benefit and strengthen their religious cause by wielding their own political authority. It is interesting to note that the bill was approved with little objection, but later deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.
The arrival of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers had led to over one hundred lawsuits and hearings, on many issues but with religion always a factor. The State intensely scrutinized their school operations and forced them to shut down an innovative "school without walls" program, where students spent part of the day working in the community, because the state deemed the community a religious one. A program that might have been acceptable in secular Portland was deemed not acceptable in religious Rajneeshpuram.
The Oregon legislature passed bills seeking to slow or stop the development and the City of Rajneeshpuram, including HB 3080 which stopped distribution of revenue sharing funds "for any city whose legal status had been challenged. Rajneeshpuram was the only city impacted by the legislation." The Governor of Oregon, Vic Atiyeh, voiced in 1982 that, since the Rajneeshees’ neighbors did not like them, they should leave Oregon, further stating that,
“…It is very clear that their presence has been extremely disturbing to the long time residents. Their presence is so different. If I moved into the neighborhood, and they didn’t really like me, I see no reason as to why I should stay…they indicated they are going to take over a town. They are talking about moving in, not just as neighbors but as someone who is going to take over their government.”
Governor Atiyeh’s rhetoric of blatant xenophobia is shocking to the audience. As governor, Atiyeh’s should be representing all of his constituents, including the Rajneeshees, equally. A representative of the Rajneesh community cleverly responded: "all you have to do is insert the word Negro or Jew or Catholic…and it is a little easier to understand how that statement sounded."
The Attorney General, after first declaring the City of Rajneeshpuram unconstitutional because it was religiously run, filed suit in state court to disincorporate it. It came as no surprise the Supreme Court announced that the incorporation of Rajneeshpuram violated state and Federal constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state. After over 200 legal battles with the Attorney General and 1000 Friends, they succeeded with tactics such as special investigations, withholdings of school and road funds, public attacks, instructions to state departments to harass Rajneeshees in every way. Religion may not be the sole factor, but is clearly a major one in these proceedings. Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer states that,
''After nine months of study, we have come to the inevitable conclusion that on the facts presented to us, Rajneeshpuram cannot be a city. The constitutional prohibition against intermingling of church and state is so basic to our system of government that we feel a responsibility now to determine whether the facts are as we believe, and if so, to take appropriate legal action.''
Since the land of Rajneeshpuram was bought with the Rajneesh’s money, for the Rajneesh commune, and for the sole purpose to strengthen and aid in the Rajneesh religion, it would be seen that if Rajneeshpuram became an incorporated city, it surely would violate the separation between church and state. If American history is to suggest anything, the opposite would certainly seem to be the case. The Ku Klux Klan, a religiously affiliated cult, was not seen with the same heavy hand of the law when taking positions in office in Oregon and using that political power to further aid in their cause. Many U.S. cities were established by religious followers in an attempt to establish their own area where they could freely practice their faith. The settling of Utah by the Mormons and the incorporation of Salt Lake City is an obvious example. Based on the rhetoric of Oregonians surrounding the case, it can be said that the legal action taken against the Rajneesh is motivated with more than the constitutional prohibition against the intermingling of church and state, but fear of an unknown eastern religion and their odd followers.
Similar to the Oregonians, the media had many orientalists and xenophobic elements placed onto the Rajneeshees. When the Rajneesh first arrived in America, the Montclair center ran an advertisement about the Rajneesh in Time magazine headlined ''Sex'' and reading, in part: ''Never repress it! Search all the nooks and corners of your sexuality. It will be more fun. The constant focus of the ‘sexual’ nature of the eastern Rajneesh religion feels very reminiscent of orientalist rhetoric. Nearly every media medium that covers or had covered the Rajneeshees lead with the sexual ‘liberation’ Rajneeshees, often speaking about the rumored orgies that happen regularly, often referencing Sheela the sex cult leader. This can be best shown through article titles such as,“Wild Wild Country: ‘Sex Cult” Member Reveals Truth About Orgies, Sterilizations and Punishments at Oregon Ranch,” and through the 1981 documentary Ashram in Poona. In the film, there are various clips of very violent group therapy sessions in the nude, with participants in a screaming with rage. These mediums reinforced the popular stereotype of the sexual promiscuous exotic Orient, often depicted nude or partially-clothed, presented as an immodest, active creature of sexual pleasure who held the key to a myriad of mysterious erotic delights.
Imagine a band of people, deserting their homes to search for the “promised land” in the wild, craggy landscape of North America. Together they build homes, grow vegetation, all spirited by their conviction that they’re doing sacred work. But these pilgrims — in their zeal and ambition — drastically underestimate the people already inhabiting the land they’ve come to occupy. When this error becomes inescapably clear, they immediately elect to steamroll their opposition. Intent on manifesting their destiny, the commune leaders recklessly compromise their ideals. Negotiation and middle ground are ignored in favor of might. An ideological, physical, and biological war is waged. Evil is excused as a “means to an end,” and the persecuted become persecutors. Before long, the honey-tinted visions of utopia are lost forever. This account of the Rajneesh’s history can easily be the narrative of the Puritans; a religious minority group voyaging elsewhere for greater religious freedom. The Puritans founded the American values of the American dream, and yet, the Rajneeshees, a religious minority group paralleling that of the Puritans, is denied their American dream. Denial of the Rajneeshees American dream is seen through their negative portrayal in American media, both seen in eye catching titles like, “Cult in Castle Troubling Montclair” and passages like:
“A guru from India wheels into town in a Rolls-Royce, buys the biggest house in the community – a castle, actually – and places an advertisement in Time magazine preaching spirituality through sex.”
This damaging portrayal of the Rajneeshees in American media brings to light what the American dream really is: hypocritical. The Rajneeshees never had a chance for a utopian society in the first place, as the American dream only caters to white Protestants. The persecution of the Rajneeshees, an eastern religious minority group in America, tells a scary story of how easy religious persecution can happen.
Just like the Oregonians and American media, the Rajneeshees had fallen victim to orientalizing themselves and their cause. As the first generation after World World II, young adults in the 1960s and early 1970s grew up in the conforming atmosphere of the 1950s. Coming into adulthood during the Vietnam war, war on drugs, and Civil Rights Movement, many had received an awakening to the true nature of the world, empowering an entire generation to challenge the status quo with the political Civil Rights and Anti-War Movements. For many well off young Americans (white, college educated), this was their first time witnessing the repercussions of the underlying issues ravaging America for decades. Watching the all of this protest and anger on the television, they have been finally exposed to the ‘true’ America and not the contradictory image of they were raised with. As a result, they wanted to revitalize their spirituality, many looking to the east for answers.
The romantic interest in India was therefore inseparable from a critique of the European present. ‘The West’ was characterized by rationality, progress, quantification and secularism, whereas India came to represent a spiritual return to a superior past characterized by unity and harmony.
To characterize ‘the East’ as an ancient and spiritual place that could ease their spiritual ache is a very skewed, orientalist perspective on the world, one many during this era had internalized. This internalization and need for a spiritual ‘awakening’, alongside compelling guru’s lead many to join the growing influx of Westerners to Indian ashpuram’s, specifically the Rajneesh’s Punna Aspuram.
Westerners who joined the Rajneesh in his Punna Aspuram, joined due to an orientalist ideal, thus, already had orientalism internalized. Submerging themselves fully in Indian culture, the Rajneeshees acted within oriental stereotypes. As a result, when the Rajneesh moved his ever-expanding commune to a ranch in the middle of central Oregon, the American Rajneeshees no longer viewed themselves as nor acted like Americans, but as oriental. When the Rajneeshees came to central Oregon and faced backlash from the Antelopians, for many this was their first time feeling like a marginalized person in society. No longer do they have the economic status, familial ties, nor white privilege; as a Rajneeshee you were seen and treated as a minority. Feelings of marginalization, xenophobia, and orientalization from the Antelopians, State of Oregon, and American media further pushed the Rajneeshees to perform acts that played into the oriental stereotype: terrorism. This is essential in explaining the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack, because the Rajneeshees were threatened, the retaliated in the stereotypical way they were perceived. This is in no way in justification nor advocation of the Rajneeshees bioterror attack that injured 751 people, but an explanation as to why it happened.
It is interesting to note that after the fall of the commune, most of the Rajneeshees had their white privilege to fall back to. There are many accounts of former Rajneeshees going back to college to finish their degree or back to their job as a dentist. Carl Latin, a professor at John Hopkins University as a professor in the Department of Mental Hygiene, studied the mental health of former members of the Rajneeshpuram. Considering the severity of the Rajneeshee change in lifestyle and number of life changing events, the Rajneeshees appear to have adjusted well. The Rajneeshees scored over 150 points on the Homes and Rahe (1967) Social Readjustment Rating scale, well above average. Throughout the change of residence, occupation, hours of work, recreational and social activities, eating and sleeping habits, and financial status, the Rajneeshees had zero evidence that the stressors had been deleterious to their mental health. There are a few explanations as to why the Rajneeshees showed few signs of psychological impairment. One explanation is that those who join the commune may have been less embedded in their social surroundings, come from more unusual lifestyles and backgrounds, and tend to be less dependent on traditional forms of social support; hence, why those who want to join a Rajaneesh find it easy to return to their former status in society. Another explanation involves the Rajneeshees’ belief system. One key tenet of the Rajneeshees world view is self-acceptance, and emphasizing the positive elements of any situation. The ability to maintain a positive outlook has been shown to differentiate nondepressives from depressives, even when it results in distorted perceptions. Whatever it may be, it still speaks to the privilege many of the Rajneeshees had. To be able to live the life as an Orient, but with the accessibility to leave the Orient lifestyle, is a freedom not many have.
As a commune, the Rajneeshees had everything going for them to possibly create the utopian society they have always craved: the money, the resources, the land, the people, the religion. When looking at this case, it becomes apparent that the Rajneeshees were set up to fail even before Sheela bought the ranch. Within the spectrum of American political cultures, Oregon exemplifies a moralistic and issue-oriented approach to public affairs, which entails the acceptance of the limitations of private activities by the intervention of community or government on behalf of public interest. When you taking into consideration Oregon’s historic racist beginning, created as an all white state, ran by the Ku Klux Klan, you begin to see how Oregon’s homogeneous white, protestant population would be the worst place to create an ‘Oriental’ commune. All that Sheela and Rajneesh wanted was to live their American dream, to head west and find something they could call their own, and yet, they were denied. Their American dream died through the marginalization of the Rajneesh by the Oregonians and American media, and the orientalism internalized by the Rajneeshee themselves. Therein lies America’s hypocrisy. The Puritans, Utah Mormons, Ku Klux Klan, all incorporated church and state, but when a non-white, non-christian community tries so, it is no longer “a religious minority group voyaging elsewhere for greater religious freedom” but a violation of the constitution and infringing on what it means to be American. Even the way America views the Rajneesh, as a sex cult and not a religion, speaks volume of who holds the power to religious freedom and the American dream in America. As such, the Rajneeshees never had a chance to create their utopia in America, because American freedoms were not created to be given to them.