Bhagwan was, is and will be part of my life: Ma Anand Sheela, Osho's controversial personal secretary

Ma Anand Sheela.

The recently released Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country unpacks an extraordinary story about Indian professor and philosopher Bhagwan Rajneesh aka Osho and his unique mystical cult. Through interviews with Rajneesh’s followers – mostly international, residents of Antelope, Oregonian journalists, US politicians, and law enforcement, the documentary follows the group from their initial commune in Pune, India to their ill-fated intentional community built on the expansive Big Muddy Ranch in Oregon, USA. The new Netflix documentary reveals an uncomfortable truth about American religious innovation, its immigrants, and Americans’ perception of both. The most fascinating aspect of Wild Wild Country is not its thoughts and concepts but its people. In my two-and-half decade’s interactions with hundreds of followers of different nationals, including all 21 members of his chosen inner circle, I can safely put it that the followers of Osho weren’t outcasts and losers of society. They were educated, aware, and elite and rich — and they stayed with Bhagwan with their choice. Even decades later, when rush, euphoria and passion have faded, they are still held in its sway. You see them crying and chocked with emotions on the screen when they talked about Osho’s rough rides in the US. Of all the sannyasins, the filmmaker duo, Chapman and Maclain Way makes Ma Anand Sheela the central figure- perhaps for a reason. She turned out to be a multifaceted, spunky, determined and tough cookie.  She was hated and even called "evil". She evokes different emotions in you. At times you hate yourself for hating her. All these years, she was portrayed as the main villain character in the Rajneeshpuram at Oregon story. She was blamed for all that went wrong with the cult and Osho in Oregon. I had hardly met any sannyasins who praised her or liked her till then. Only when I read Sheela’s Memoir ‘Don't Kill Him! The Story of My Life with Bhagwan Rajneesh’ in 2013, I got to know the other side of the story. She tells her side of the story, claiming that the truth was very different, and sheds light on that part of Bhagwan's life which has so far been shrouded in a cover of secrecy and darkness. In my interview with Ma Anand Sheela now known as Sheela Birnstiel for Star News- now ABP News, she came out as a very open, smart, straightforward and intelligent woman. She admits to have enjoyed being Osho’s closest and most trusted confidante. From 1981 to 1985, Sheela was the personal secretary to the Osho and the face, voice, and ruling hand of the Rajneeshpuram commune. Osho called upon her when he wanted to discuss personal issues, crucial administrative matters, run minor errands, and to even place an order for a new Rolls-Royce. She ran the entire commune under his guidance - until differences crept up. What followed next, soon became part of Osho’s infamous history. Sheela resigned from her position, left the commune, and fled to Europe with the entire management team. An enraged Osho accused her of planning a bio-terror attack, conspiring to murder important public officials, and running away with fifty-five million dollars. Sheela pled guilty to some of the charges in court and spent thirty-nine months in prison. Born in Vadodara, India as the youngest of six children of Ambalal Patel, Sheela moved to the United States to attend college when she was 18 years old. She later moved back to India with her husband and was introduced to the spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the early ’70s by her father. She fell for him instantly and quickly became a key member of his following. At 68, she is still in love with her Bhagwan and his teachings. She was open to all kind of scrutiny in my interview. She is smart Gujarati woman who knows her business very well. Many find this very quality in a woman as a negative aspect, but as a Gujarati myself, I think it has been her strongest quality that might have convinced Osho to entrust her with the responsibility of creating the city of his desire, Rajneeshpuram. ‘Wild Wild Country’ has managed to highlight Sheela’s robust –yet – very vulnerable persona, which has become the driving point of the series. Her spunk and spirit have remained consistent all along the timeline. Ma Anand Sheela, answers all tough questions by Sheela Raval, yet again in an exclusive interview from Switzerland. Q: What is your response to the WWC and the buzz it has managed to generate across the world in the web sphere? Sheela:  Surprise! Never imagined that people would ever get see or feel my real person or character. Q: What were your thoughts when you were approached by American filmmakers of WWC and consented to share with them your life and times with Bhagwan Rajneesh? Sheela: I have been telling the same things since I had left Rajneeshpuram. For over thirty years, I have shared with hundreds of visiting and curious reporters the same reality- my truth- but they have had their own spin to the narrative in their final reports that came out. I gave these young film makers the same attention as I had given to those curious journalists and film makers. But this time around the only thing that I requested to the filmmakers that they cannot take my words out of context. They had the advantage of having row materials on us, our work and our creative force at Rajneeshpuram commune from some archives. My information was that all of the official Rajneeshpuram archives had been destroyed by the new management of Bhagwan's legacy. Q: Bhagwan and you were at the heart of WWC- but you seem to have represented more than just wild stories. There were people who described you as “pure evil”, you were like a person who has cultivated a complex image from seemingly constant manipulation. Some reviewer even wrote that you come across ‘as giddily vengeful, brazenly deceitful, and pointedly antagonistic'. Sheela: Everyone has a right to their opinions. Opinions are based in eyes and experience of their own character and needs. And then, it is easy to shift blame on me. Q: List of your destructive activities during those four years in Oregon is really long as shown in the docuseries such as - You armed Rajneesh followers with semi-automatic weapons, you drugged homeless people who came to the compound, without their knowledge, poisoned an entire town in order to make them too sick to vote, conspired to win an election by bussing in homeless people and registering them to vote, kicked the homeless people off the compound, planned to assassinate an Oregon reporter who was covering the Rajneesh movement. WWC shows it all through local voices and official versions. How would you respond to negative narrative about you? Sheela: These are accusations and all hear-say. It is easy to put blame on me as I was the head of the organization. But then, you had also the comments of FBI agents in the film. He felt that I answered every question of his truthfully. The mist was created by Bhagwan for damage control. No one in his commune thought Bhagwan and Sheela are separable! Bhagwan was the soul. I was the heart. Look at his organization now.  You will find people are either copying him or trying to become gurus; or looting his riches. Q: In my interview in 2013, you had said that you wrote your memories because you had never been given a platform to explain your side of the story – in media or otherwise.  And now the debate is going on in the web sphere that -Is she the persecutor or the persecuted? A criminal or a victim? How do you find your personality and your role at Rajneeshpuram are being dissected all over again? Sheela: I am me! I live my life fully now as before. I do not suffer from this duality. I have used each situation as a learning event. I have learned from my parents and Bhagwan not waste time on self-pity. Q: What come across in WWC is that you and Jane Stork (Ma Shanti B) felt like you had dedicated your lives to this man—you had helped build his empire, bought him Rolls-Royces and got him glamour and glory—but as soon as situation became messy and complicated, he completely threw you under the bus. Was it like a kind of awakening or wanting your own path and identity and not just to be under him anymore when you decided to leave him? Sheela: I only feel sad that he dropped to this level to hold on to his Sanyassins. Bhagwan's anger was evident. He knew he had to hold own, his following for his own existence and rich life style; Capable management had left with me. Q: What was your last breaking point before the final parting ways or can you describe how you felt then- to give up everything that you had created? Sheela: His drug use and unwillingness to stop it was the last tipping point. His lake of interest in his own community and dream was heart breaking. Q: What were your feelings when you got to know when Bhagwan Rajneesh announcing that he didn’t have sex with you – the secretary? There’s this very confrontational video where he calls you a bitch! Sheela:  After I was gone he had spoken these words. It was sad! He was very angry, I believe. It was not that I had left, but our whole management had left with me. It was a crisis for him. Q: Do you think portraying such volatile moments are meant to get the audience to ask themselves if this is truly how an enlightened man behaves? Has it gone to put you in the right human spirit? Sheela: It was disgraceful to see a man like Bhagwan stoop to such a low degree! Q: The message goes out through WWC is that in a country like America that founded on religious freedom, there is an institutional rejection of new practices before those new practices proved illegal; And there is still an unnerving relevance — to immigrants, to minorities, to so many people who feel threatened under the current Trump administration — the problem you faced then, still persist and need to be solved- your response. Sheela: Not just discrimination and bigotry exist but also it is promoted and supported by the republican government and their leaders. Discrimination cannot be accepted. Q: Chapman and Maclain Way commented in some interview that “The thing that surprised us (about you) was that though she is elderly, she is also very hip” How do you look at your life journey and yourself? Are you spiritual or do you meditate? Sheela: I am simply me and that makes me hip!  I live my life fully as I always did. Being in love and working for my beloved Bhagwan was good enough for me then. Now I am in love with my patients and my team at work. I enjoy every bit of my life. Q: Was Bhagwan your past or is he still exist in your present life? Sheela: Bhagwan was, is and will be part of my life. Always. Q: Your family is worried about your safety in general and particularly if you travel to India – is that reason that you haven’t visited India in long time? Would you ever visit India again? Sheela: If Existence wishes, opportunity to visit India will come. Q: The Doctor in the WWC whom Ma Shanti attempted to kill – is alive and has allegedly moved to India under a different name. He is said to be staying in Pune commune and managing the business there. The people who you thought were putting Bhagwan’s life in danger have stayed in on and allegedly had controversial role in Bhagwan’s death in Pune commune. Do you feel that your stand vindicated in the end? Sheela. Yes. My attention was drawn to misuse of prescribed medicine and orders of nonessential dangerous medicine (addictive drugs) by his private doctor. That is when I immediately informed Bhagwan of the imminent danger to his life. The plan was deferred- but in the end, they carried out their plan a few years later. Q: Some disciples of Bhagwan are contesting Osho’s will that never was made, and claim to save his words – in voice and print from the foreign management team. Have they taken legal route to fight the battle? What advise you could offer them? Sheela:  I would help if I could but I have no desire to take responsibility as before. Q: You are involved with some social work in Switzerland, what exactly it is? Sheela: I work with mentally, psychologically and physically challenged persons. I am there for them! You may check our work: www.matrusaden.ch/www.matrusaden.com Q: What legacy of Bhagwan you think you are carrying on? Sheela: Bhagwan is a part of me. His teachings and his creation of Rajneeshpuram are also part of me. I fully accept the reality of life – the way it has turned out for me.