Wild Wild Country (Documentary; 2018)
It is easy to classify everything as either good or bad. There are, however, two sides of the story. At a cursory look, both sides seem justified with their assertions. In the old uncivilised world, might prove to be right. Violence and killing settle everything. In the civilised society, the fight through rhetorics and mind wars can be equally brutal. At the end of the day, both parties would realise that there are no winners in wars, only losers.
Hence is the story a sleepy hollow of retirees with a population of 40 in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, USA; in a town called Antelope. Nothing was happening till a band of members of an international New Age Awakening group bought a large piece of barren land there. At first, they were undisturbed by their activities minus the curiosity. Soon, the original town dwellers realised that they were unnumbered and the newcomers' practices were different to what they had held dearly. That is when all the might of modern armamentarium was used to put things in order- law, media, protests and all.
The newcomers, the Rajneeshees, were a group of religious commune under the leadership of their guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho). The leader, after establishing himself in Poona, (perhaps running afoul with the law there too), wanted to spread his wings to the land that propagates freedom of speech and liberty of mind. The movement drew attraction from professionals disenchanted with the trappings of modern living. They found solace in the Guru's quests in exploring the hidden secrets of the human mind and to partake in his social experiments of studying the human Consciousness.
From a piece of unproductive land, the worshipers, comprising engineers, builders, and entrepreneurs, managed to transform it into an oasis with crops, residential buildings, power grids, dams, malls, banks, and even an airstrip. Within the ambit of law, they also appointed a Mayor and started a policing department. The township was named Rajneeshpuram.
That is when the more one-on-one trouble started - the fear of the 'other'. A group of different looking people in strange red garments chanting mantras in an unknown language and practising a lifestyle alien to the original inhabitants of the county was no comfort. Accusations of Devil worship and countered by replies of having Mayflower mentality were heard. Amidst all these was the commune's de-facto spokesperson and Guru's secretary, Ma Anand Sheela.
From then on, things became uglier. One side wanting to practice their religion as stated in the American Constitution and citing discrimination in their defence; the other using the brunt of the law and the legal institutions against them - the Immigration laws, surveillance and electorate processes.
As it was found out later, things even took a grimmer turn. The commune members brought in homeless people from all over the country to boost their chances at the local elections. Then, there was the most significant salmonella poisoning in the history of the USA orchestrated by them. It also saw attempted murders (of even a US Attorney) and the most intricate web of wiretapping.
Finally, as most things do, this far-sighted human experiment to change humanity failed miserably. Rajneesh, Sheela and many of the frontliners were apprehended, charged for high crimes. Rajneesh was deported to India. Back in Poona, he rebranded himself as Osho and continued his work there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/riflerangeboy/
It is easy to classify everything as either good or bad. There are, however, two sides of the story. At a cursory look, both sides seem justified with their assertions. In the old uncivilised world, might prove to be right. Violence and killing settle everything. In the civilised society, the fight through rhetorics and mind wars can be equally brutal. At the end of the day, both parties would realise that there are no winners in wars, only losers.
Hence is the story a sleepy hollow of retirees with a population of 40 in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, USA; in a town called Antelope. Nothing was happening till a band of members of an international New Age Awakening group bought a large piece of barren land there. At first, they were undisturbed by their activities minus the curiosity. Soon, the original town dwellers realised that they were unnumbered and the newcomers' practices were different to what they had held dearly. That is when all the might of modern armamentarium was used to put things in order- law, media, protests and all.
The newcomers, the Rajneeshees, were a group of religious commune under the leadership of their guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho). The leader, after establishing himself in Poona, (perhaps running afoul with the law there too), wanted to spread his wings to the land that propagates freedom of speech and liberty of mind. The movement drew attraction from professionals disenchanted with the trappings of modern living. They found solace in the Guru's quests in exploring the hidden secrets of the human mind and to partake in his social experiments of studying the human Consciousness. From a piece of unproductive land, the worshipers, comprising engineers, builders, and entrepreneurs, managed to transform it into an oasis with crops, residential buildings, power grids, dams, malls, banks, and even an airstrip. Within the ambit of law, they also appointed a Mayor and started a policing department. The township was named Rajneeshpuram.
That is when the more one-on-one trouble started - the fear of the 'other'. A group of different looking people in strange red garments chanting mantras in an unknown language and practising a lifestyle alien to the original inhabitants of the county was no comfort. Accusations of Devil worship and countered by replies of having Mayflower mentality were heard. Amidst all these was the commune's de-facto spokesperson and Guru's secretary, Ma Anand Sheela.
From then on, things became uglier. One side wanting to practice their religion as stated in the American Constitution and citing discrimination in their defence; the other using the brunt of the law and the legal institutions against them - the Immigration laws, surveillance and electorate processes.
As it was found out later, things even took a grimmer turn. The commune members brought in homeless people from all over the country to boost their chances at the local elections. Then, there was the most significant salmonella poisoning in the history of the USA orchestrated by them. It also saw attempted murders (of even a US Attorney) and the most intricate web of wiretapping.
Finally, as most things do, this far-sighted human experiment to change humanity failed miserably. Rajneesh, Sheela and many of the frontliners were apprehended, charged for high crimes. Rajneesh was deported to India. Back in Poona, he rebranded himself as Osho and continued his work there.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
Post a Comment