By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Almost two decades after he died, leaving behind a legacy of controversies and disputes, Indian godman Osho aka Bhagwan Rajneesh has risen, phoenix-like, from his ashes in Nepal, a country he visited just once.
The charismatic preacher, whose gospel of free love became synonymous with free sex and whose ashrams in India and abroad became a byword for intrigues and orgies, has been resurrected on his 18th death anniversary by loyal followers in Nepal.
Swami Arun Anand, a 63-year-old engineer who first saw the bearded new age prophet in Patna while studying in the engineering college there and was struck by Osho’s “physical grace” and “forceful speech”, began spreading Osho’s message in Nepal in 1970, opening a meditation centre at his own residence.
Today, the Osho Tapoban in Nepal is spreading his gospel in Russia and the Central Asian states and has plans to establish communes in Germany, France and Britain.
“Things were very hard in the 1970s,” Anand reminisces. “I had to give up my government job since they didn’t like me wearing orange robes and beads.
“It was the era of the panchayat (when political parties were banned and the king reigned supreme) and I was arrested and jailed for selling Osho’s books because they had not been censored.”
Today, there are five communes in Nepal and 60 centres with almost 45,000 initiated disciples.
Osho Tapoban also runs a centre for visitors that can accommodate 150 people, a coffee shop, a magazine and an online newsletter.
It has satellite links and broadcasts special events – like the commemoration of Osho’s death anniversary Saturday – live on Internet.
To integrate closely with society, it has started a commune marriage system where people who are against dowry and ostentation can tie the knot.
Anand also conducts stress and lifestyle management courses for corporates and others, his clients including Nepal Police and the state-run Nepal Telecom.
After establishing Osho in Nepal, two years ago, Anand started eyeing Europe.
Now there are 10 centres in Russia with two communes in the pipeline despite the Russian government’s suspicion of anything other than orthodox Christianity.
There are also centres in Belarus, Ukraine and Estonia.
Meditation courses have been started in England. This year, Anand hopes to open Osho centres in France and Germany as well.
Although conservative Nepal once shunned Osho, Anand says it has today accepted his philosophy most.
He feels Osho was reviled because people misunderstood his teachings.
“Osho never advocated free sex,” he says. “He advocated love and freedom from any interference. He emphasised emotional relationships.
“But people are so obsessed with sex that when they saw the title of his book, ‘Sex to Superconsciousness’, they didn’t have the patience to read the whole thing and thought it was only about sex.”