Breaking the Spell: My Life as a Rajneeshee and the Long Journey Back to Freedom
Encyclopedia
Breaking the Spell: My Life as a Rajneeshee and the Long Journey Back to Freedom is a non-fiction
book by Catherine Jane Stork about her experiences as a Rajneeshee
, a follower of India
n guru
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. It was published in April 2009 by Pan Macmillan
. Stork was raised in Western Australia
in a Catholic
upbringing, and met her first husband while at university in Perth, Australia
. After a psychotherapist introduced Stork to teachings of Rajneesh, she became involved in the movement and moved with her husband to an ashram
in Poona, India. Stork later moved to the Rajneesh commune in Rajneeshpuram
, Oregon
. She became involved in criminal activities while at Rajneeshpuram, and participated in an attempted murder against Rajneesh's doctor, and an assassination plot against the U.S. Attorney
for Oregon, Charles H. Turner
. Stork served time in jail but later lived in exile in Germany for 16 years, after a German court had denied extradition to the United States. She returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges after learning of her son's terminal cancer condition. Stork discusses her process of reevaluating the effects her actions within the Rajneesh organization had on other people and on her family.
The book received generally positive reception in the press and media. The Australian Associated Press
commented that Stork "provides an insight into the mind of the Bhagwan and his mouthpiece Ma Sheela", and The Sunday Mail
called the book "An amazing story of self-delusion, followed by self-determination and redemption." The Sunday Telegraph
highlighted the book in the newspaper's "Must Read" section, and The Gold Coast Bulletin
called it "Shattering". A review in The Age
commented that the book exposes "the ultimately selfish nature of apparently selfless fanaticism".
, in a family of five children. She is the daughter of a math teacher from Albany, Western Australia
. Her family maintained a strict Catholic
household. Stork met her first husband Roger while attending university in Perth, Australia
. Catherine and Roger married and had children Kylie and Peter. After suffering from bouts of anger which Stork directed at her husband, a psychotherapist recommended she attend meetings at a centre in Perth, where addresses by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were shown. By 1977, Stork and her husband had become devoted followers of Rajneesh, and they moved to a Rajneesh ashram
in Poona, India in 1978. Stork moved to the Rajneesh commune in Rajneeshpuram
, Oregon
in 1984, where she observed Rajneesh's lavish lifestyle which included Rolls Royce
s and million-dollar diamond
watches.
While at Rajneeshpuram, Stork became involved in an assassination plot against then-United States Attorney
for Oregon Charles Turner
. Stork was convicted of the attempted murder
of Rajneesh's physician in 1986, and served almost three years in jail. After her release, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
uncovered the plot to assassinate Turner, but Stork had already fled to Germany. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1990. In 1991, the German government refused to extradite
Stork back to the United States. In June 1991, U.S. prosecutors filed affidavits in the murder conspiracy case with the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, as part of an attempt to extradite Stork from Germany to the U.S. In February 2006, Stork became the last perpetrator sentenced in the political assassination plot against Turner, after ten months of negotiations with Oregon prosecutors. Stork offered to turn herself in and return to the United States after learning of her son's terminal brain tumor
. Prior to sentencing, the court allowed her to travel to Australia to visit her son. In addition to charges of conspiracy to commit murder, Stork also pled guilty to the purchase of weapons in violation of federal firearms law. An Oregon judge sentenced her to five years probation, and three months time already served in a German jail during the extradition dispute with the United States. Though Stork could have faced life in prison, U.S. District Judge Judge Malcolm F. Marsh
thought she had "seen the error of her ways." A federal prosecutor in the case described Stork as the "MVP" of the conspiracy, and said she was the designated assassin that was set to murder Turner. After her sentencing, Stork stated: "I actually conspired to kill Mr. Turner, it is up to me alone to face this terrible truth ... No person has the right to do what I did. I'm truly sorry." Stork returned to Germany after her sentencing. She met her second husband, a mathematics professor named George, while she was working in Germany. In 2009, Stork resided near the Black Forest
in Germany, with her second husband.
of the Rajneesh movement, in India
. She and her family would later move to live with the Rajneesh movement in the United States. Stork describes the impact that her time in the Rajneesh organization had on her children and her marriage, including an account of walking in on her husband kissing their neighbor, and her own sexual experiences with a stranger. While in the Rajneesh organization she took a new name of "Ma Shanti Bhadra".
Stork left her husband and children and broke off contact with her parents and siblings. She gained an influential position within the Rajneesh organization, and worked closely with Rajneesh's secretary, Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Silverman). Stork believed she had to defend Rajneesh, and was part of an attempted murder plot which at the time she felt would protect him. She discusses how she attempted to kill Rajneesh's doctor with a syringe filled with adrenaline, and also plotted to kill U.S. attorney Charles H. Turner. Stork discovered that while in the organization, her children were sexually abused. "It still makes me want to cry. It is the most painful thing to realise what I did to them. They are incredible people and I am so proud of them, but they really suffered," said Stork of her children's abuse while in the Rajneesh organization. She spent a period of 16 years in Germany while the U.S. government attempted to extradite her to face charges, and later served jail time in Germany while awaiting possible extradition to the United States for her role in the attempted murder plot. In addition to her prison sentence, her son Peter's condition of a brain tumour affected her, and she reevaluated her experiences in the Rajneesh organization and the effects her actions had caused. She was given leave by a United States federal court to visit her son, on condition she return to the U.S. to face charges. "It was a rough ride, but I made it. It does feel as though I spent a very long time asleep in a dream," said Stork.
highlighted the book in the newspaper's "Must Read" section. Lucy Clark of The Sunday Mail
described the book as "one woman's extraordinary story of becoming a devotee of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ... sacrificing self, family and freedom to carry out the bizarre -- not to mention criminal -- wishes of her guru". Clark concluded that Breaking the Spell is "An amazing story of self-delusion, followed by self-determination and redemption." A review in The Gold Coast Bulletin
commented "A prime example of religion gone bonkers, Stork's journey goes from adoration to betrayal, madness to redemption," concluding: "In a word: Shattering".
Writing for The Age
, Fiona Capp noted: "Interestingly, what this memoir unconsciously exposes is the ultimately selfish nature of apparently selfless fanaticism. For all Stork's contrition, Breaking the Spell left me angry and saddened." In a separate review for The Sunday Age
, Lucy Sussex commented on the history of the Rajneesh movement: "The Rajneeshees have become an almost forgotten cult. They lacked the notoriety of the Jonestown
bloodbath, or the political meddling of the Exclusive Brethren
. Nobody got killed, a minor miracle, as this book shows." Fran Metcalf of The Courier-Mail
described the book as a chronicle of Stork's "turbulent and bizarre life". A review by the Australian Associated Press
wrote that Stork "provides an insight into the mind of the Bhagwan and his mouthpiece Ma Sheela", noting "Charismatic and feisty, Sheela was hugely influential in the organisation, Stork says. But she was also the Bhagwan's puppet and scapegoat, and ultimately his fall-woman."
Sunanda Mehta of Indian Express wrote that "the book paints a sordid picture of the guru and his ways" and noted it was "already creating ripples amongst readers and Osho followers the world over." A spokeswoman for the Osho Meditation Resort in Pune
stated "Whatever [Stork] may have written has no relevance to us. She is writing about Rajneesh and the commune, that part is over and gone." Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor of the Osho World magazine, said that Stork "did not have any power or individuality of her own. She did whatever Ma Anand Sheela asked her to do. She may be repenting now what she had done then and blaming everything on Osho. She may be bitter about being jailed for her misdeeds."
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book by Catherine Jane Stork about her experiences as a Rajneeshee
Rajneesh movement
The Rajneesh movement is a term used by Hugh B. Urban and other commentators to refer collectively to persons inspired by the Indian mystic Osho , particularly initiated disciples who are referred to as "neo-sannyasins" or simply "sannyasins", also formerly known as Rajneeshees or "Orange People",...
, a follower of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. It was published in April 2009 by Pan Macmillan
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
. Stork was raised in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
in a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
upbringing, and met her first husband while at university in Perth, Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. After a psychotherapist introduced Stork to teachings of Rajneesh, she became involved in the movement and moved with her husband to an ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
in Poona, India. Stork later moved to the Rajneesh commune in Rajneeshpuram
Rajneeshpuram
Rajneeshpuram, Oregon was an intentional community in Wasco County, Oregon, briefly incorporated as a city in the 1980s, which was populated with followers of the spiritual teacher Osho, then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.- History :...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. She became involved in criminal activities while at Rajneeshpuram, and participated in an attempted murder against Rajneesh's doctor, and an assassination plot against the U.S. Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
for Oregon, Charles H. Turner
Charles H. Turner (attorney)
Charles H. Turner is a former United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Prior to his presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney, Turner worked under his predecessor, Sidney I. Lezak, for 14 years. He was appointed as Lezak's replacement by President Ronald Reagan.As U.S...
. Stork served time in jail but later lived in exile in Germany for 16 years, after a German court had denied extradition to the United States. She returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges after learning of her son's terminal cancer condition. Stork discusses her process of reevaluating the effects her actions within the Rajneesh organization had on other people and on her family.
The book received generally positive reception in the press and media. The Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press is Australia's national news agency. The organisation was established in 1935 by Fairfax and The Herald and Weekly Times.AAP employs more than 175 journalists who work in bureaux in all Australian states and territories...
commented that Stork "provides an insight into the mind of the Bhagwan and his mouthpiece Ma Sheela", and The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
called the book "An amazing story of self-delusion, followed by self-determination and redemption." The Sunday Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
highlighted the book in the newspaper's "Must Read" section, and The Gold Coast Bulletin
The Gold Coast Bulletin
The Gold Coast Bulletin is a daily newspaper serving Australia's Gold Coast region.It is published as The Gold Coast Bulletin on weekdays and the Weekend Bulletin at weekends....
called it "Shattering". A review in The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
commented that the book exposes "the ultimately selfish nature of apparently selfless fanaticism".
Background
Born in 1945, Catherine Jane Stork was raised in Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, in a family of five children. She is the daughter of a math teacher from Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
. Her family maintained a strict Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
household. Stork met her first husband Roger while attending university in Perth, Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. Catherine and Roger married and had children Kylie and Peter. After suffering from bouts of anger which Stork directed at her husband, a psychotherapist recommended she attend meetings at a centre in Perth, where addresses by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were shown. By 1977, Stork and her husband had become devoted followers of Rajneesh, and they moved to a Rajneesh ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
in Poona, India in 1978. Stork moved to the Rajneesh commune in Rajneeshpuram
Rajneeshpuram
Rajneeshpuram, Oregon was an intentional community in Wasco County, Oregon, briefly incorporated as a city in the 1980s, which was populated with followers of the spiritual teacher Osho, then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.- History :...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in 1984, where she observed Rajneesh's lavish lifestyle which included Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
s and million-dollar diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
watches.
While at Rajneeshpuram, Stork became involved in an assassination plot against then-United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
for Oregon Charles Turner
Charles H. Turner (attorney)
Charles H. Turner is a former United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Prior to his presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney, Turner worked under his predecessor, Sidney I. Lezak, for 14 years. He was appointed as Lezak's replacement by President Ronald Reagan.As U.S...
. Stork was convicted of the attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
of Rajneesh's physician in 1986, and served almost three years in jail. After her release, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
uncovered the plot to assassinate Turner, but Stork had already fled to Germany. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1990. In 1991, the German government refused to extradite
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
Stork back to the United States. In June 1991, U.S. prosecutors filed affidavits in the murder conspiracy case with the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, as part of an attempt to extradite Stork from Germany to the U.S. In February 2006, Stork became the last perpetrator sentenced in the political assassination plot against Turner, after ten months of negotiations with Oregon prosecutors. Stork offered to turn herself in and return to the United States after learning of her son's terminal brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. Prior to sentencing, the court allowed her to travel to Australia to visit her son. In addition to charges of conspiracy to commit murder, Stork also pled guilty to the purchase of weapons in violation of federal firearms law. An Oregon judge sentenced her to five years probation, and three months time already served in a German jail during the extradition dispute with the United States. Though Stork could have faced life in prison, U.S. District Judge Judge Malcolm F. Marsh
Malcolm F. Marsh
Malcolm Francis Marsh is an American attorney and jurist from the state of Oregon. He is currently a senior federal district court judge in Portland, Oregon, for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon...
thought she had "seen the error of her ways." A federal prosecutor in the case described Stork as the "MVP" of the conspiracy, and said she was the designated assassin that was set to murder Turner. After her sentencing, Stork stated: "I actually conspired to kill Mr. Turner, it is up to me alone to face this terrible truth ... No person has the right to do what I did. I'm truly sorry." Stork returned to Germany after her sentencing. She met her second husband, a mathematics professor named George, while she was working in Germany. In 2009, Stork resided near the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
in Germany, with her second husband.
Contents
Stork became exposed to the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a young wife. She decided to accept this as her new faith, and moved with her two children and her husband to live on an ashramAshram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
of the Rajneesh movement, in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. She and her family would later move to live with the Rajneesh movement in the United States. Stork describes the impact that her time in the Rajneesh organization had on her children and her marriage, including an account of walking in on her husband kissing their neighbor, and her own sexual experiences with a stranger. While in the Rajneesh organization she took a new name of "Ma Shanti Bhadra".
Stork left her husband and children and broke off contact with her parents and siblings. She gained an influential position within the Rajneesh organization, and worked closely with Rajneesh's secretary, Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Silverman). Stork believed she had to defend Rajneesh, and was part of an attempted murder plot which at the time she felt would protect him. She discusses how she attempted to kill Rajneesh's doctor with a syringe filled with adrenaline, and also plotted to kill U.S. attorney Charles H. Turner. Stork discovered that while in the organization, her children were sexually abused. "It still makes me want to cry. It is the most painful thing to realise what I did to them. They are incredible people and I am so proud of them, but they really suffered," said Stork of her children's abuse while in the Rajneesh organization. She spent a period of 16 years in Germany while the U.S. government attempted to extradite her to face charges, and later served jail time in Germany while awaiting possible extradition to the United States for her role in the attempted murder plot. In addition to her prison sentence, her son Peter's condition of a brain tumour affected her, and she reevaluated her experiences in the Rajneesh organization and the effects her actions had caused. She was given leave by a United States federal court to visit her son, on condition she return to the U.S. to face charges. "It was a rough ride, but I made it. It does feel as though I spent a very long time asleep in a dream," said Stork.
Reception
The Sunday TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
highlighted the book in the newspaper's "Must Read" section. Lucy Clark of The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
described the book as "one woman's extraordinary story of becoming a devotee of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ... sacrificing self, family and freedom to carry out the bizarre -- not to mention criminal -- wishes of her guru". Clark concluded that Breaking the Spell is "An amazing story of self-delusion, followed by self-determination and redemption." A review in The Gold Coast Bulletin
The Gold Coast Bulletin
The Gold Coast Bulletin is a daily newspaper serving Australia's Gold Coast region.It is published as The Gold Coast Bulletin on weekdays and the Weekend Bulletin at weekends....
commented "A prime example of religion gone bonkers, Stork's journey goes from adoration to betrayal, madness to redemption," concluding: "In a word: Shattering".
Writing for The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, Fiona Capp noted: "Interestingly, what this memoir unconsciously exposes is the ultimately selfish nature of apparently selfless fanaticism. For all Stork's contrition, Breaking the Spell left me angry and saddened." In a separate review for The Sunday Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, Lucy Sussex commented on the history of the Rajneesh movement: "The Rajneeshees have become an almost forgotten cult. They lacked the notoriety of the Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
bloodbath, or the political meddling of the Exclusive Brethren
Exclusive Brethren
The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848....
. Nobody got killed, a minor miracle, as this book shows." Fran Metcalf of The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
described the book as a chronicle of Stork's "turbulent and bizarre life". A review by the Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press is Australia's national news agency. The organisation was established in 1935 by Fairfax and The Herald and Weekly Times.AAP employs more than 175 journalists who work in bureaux in all Australian states and territories...
wrote that Stork "provides an insight into the mind of the Bhagwan and his mouthpiece Ma Sheela", noting "Charismatic and feisty, Sheela was hugely influential in the organisation, Stork says. But she was also the Bhagwan's puppet and scapegoat, and ultimately his fall-woman."
Sunanda Mehta of Indian Express wrote that "the book paints a sordid picture of the guru and his ways" and noted it was "already creating ripples amongst readers and Osho followers the world over." A spokeswoman for the Osho Meditation Resort in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
stated "Whatever [Stork] may have written has no relevance to us. She is writing about Rajneesh and the commune, that part is over and gone." Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor of the Osho World magazine, said that Stork "did not have any power or individuality of her own. She did whatever Ma Anand Sheela asked her to do. She may be repenting now what she had done then and blaming everything on Osho. She may be bitter about being jailed for her misdeeds."
See also
- 1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot1985 Rajneeshee assassination plotThe 1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot was a conspiracy by a group of high-ranking followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon...
- My Life in OrangeMy Life in OrangeMy Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru is an account of a child growing up in the Rajneesh movement led by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The book is a firsthand account, written by Tim Guest years after his experiences, at the age of 27. The book was published in 2004 by Granta Books...
- Rajneesh movementRajneesh movementThe Rajneesh movement is a term used by Hugh B. Urban and other commentators to refer collectively to persons inspired by the Indian mystic Osho , particularly initiated disciples who are referred to as "neo-sannyasins" or simply "sannyasins", also formerly known as Rajneeshees or "Orange People",...
External links
- Breaking the Spell, description at official website of publisher