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In addition to the millions of dollars the group generated every year through various investments and holdings, Rajneesh also had a fondness for Rolls Royces. The Oregon property, which Rajneesh named Rajneeshpuram, became the center of the movement and its business operations. All of these were managed under an umbrella organization called Rajneesh Services International Ltd. Shell corporations were created to shuffle money around, but the three main branches of holdings were the Rajneesh Foundation International (RFI) the Rajneesh Investment Corporation (RIC), and the Rajneesh Neo-Sannyasin International Commune (RNSIC). He and over 2,000 of his disciples settled on the 63,000-acre ranch property and continued to generate income. In 1981, Rajneesh and his followers purchased a massive compound in Antelope, Oregon. Others were more secular, like industrial cleaning companies.įollowers greet Rajneesh as he drives through Rajneeshpuram in 1982.
Some were spiritual in nature, such as yoga and meditation centers. Operating like a corporation, with corporate principles in place, Rajneesh owned dozens of businesses, both large and small, around the world. He also discouraged reproduction, and supported the use of contraception and abortion to prevent children from being born in his communes.ĭuring the seventies, the Rajneesh movement amassed a phenomenal amount of wealth by way of numerous business enterprises.
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He believed that a communal, pastoral, and spiritual way of life would eventually replace the secular mindset of the world’s towns and large cities.īecause of his disapproval of the institution of marriage, Rajneesh encouraged his followers to forgo marriage ceremonies and simply live together under the principles of free love. His plan was to form intentional communities around the world, where people could practice meditation and achieve spiritual growth. Based upon principles of joyful affirmation, Rajneesh believed that that each person could find their own way to spiritual enlightenment. In the early seventies, Rajneesh wrote a manifesto that outlined basic principles for his sannyasins and followers, who called themselves Rajneeshees. Rajneesh with disciples in Pune, India in 1977. He founded an ashram in the city of Pune, or Poona, and began to expand his following around the globe. In the early 1970s, Rajneesh had nearly 4,000 initiated sannyasins in India. Jain formally changed his own name from Chandra Jain to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The disciples dressed in ochre-dyed robes and changed their names. This term was based on a Hindu philosophy of asceticism, in which practitioners renounced their worldly goods and possessions in order to ascend to the next ashrama, or spiritual life stage. He began initiating followers, whom he called neo-sannyasins.
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He eventually found wealthy investors to fund a series of meditation retreats, and he left his position as a university professor.
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He was also opposed to the idea of state-sanctioned marriage, which he saw as oppressive to women instead, he advocated for free love. He worked as a philosophy lecturer at Jabalpur University and, in the 1960s, became a bit of a controversial figure thanks to his extensive criticism of Mahatma Gandhi. Born Chandra Mohan Jain in 1931 in India, Rajneesh studied philosophy and spent the early part of his adult life traveling around his home country, speaking about mysticism and eastern spirituality.