30 years ago: The death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Mark 13:22 (also Matthew 24:24)

On January 19, 1990, Indian "holy man" Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died of heart failure at the age of 58. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, born Chandhra Mohan Jain, was a Hindu guru who became a philosophy professor and a popular lecturer in the 1950s and '60s. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh became known as the "sex guru" because of his liberal teachings on sex. He began initiating disciples in 1970, and created an ashram. The ashram began attracting Western followers, especially after 1975, when therapists promoting human potential, aka New Age teachings arrived. Violence and abundant sexual activity between members attracted critical attention from Indian authorities, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and he relocated to Oregon in 1981, where American followers Sheela Silverman and her husband John Shelfer had purchased property.

The Rajneesh organization created the city of Rajneeshpuram, accumulating 93 Rolls Royces and encountering stiff opposition from local residents. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had taken a vow of silence in April 1981, but ended the public silence in October 1984, and almost a year later publicly denounced Ms. Silverman and her associates, accusing them of serious crimes, including a 1984 salmonella attack on local residents. Rajneeshpuram collapsed, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was indicted in October 1985 for conspiracy to evade U.S. immigration laws; he ended up making a deal including a fine and an agreement not to return to the United States for five years. After various stops around the world, he landed in Mumbai in July 1986, returning to his ashram in Pune six months later. He suffered from declining health, which he blamed on poisoning in U.S. jails, and in 1989 took the name Osho Rajneesh.

It's interesting to note that a disproportionate number of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's followers had backgrounds in psychology. I was a student at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton in the early 1980s, and the college had a psychology instructor under the surname of Narayan, who was a Rajneesh devotee. Mr. Narayan was a Jew whose original name I've forgotten, but he changed his name after falling under the spell of the Bhagwan.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's organization continues to proclaim his false teachings, using the name OSHO. As for the current whereabouts of Rajneeshpuram's 93 Rolls Royces--we're not sure. False Christs such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh come and go, but the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and will return to Earth (Acts 1:11).