Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

We'll examine Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's early life and his first years as an enlightened master. We'll explore his initial efforts to organize his followers and how he was able to cement his master/disciple relationship with people from the West. We’ll also visit a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere where Bhagwan conducted an experiment that pushed his followers to the brink of death.

Today we'll take a grand tour of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s first ashram in the city of Poona, India. Within a couple years of its founding in 1974, it had expanded into one of the most popular — and controversial — ashrams in India, where people could meditate, commune with likeminded people, and be close to the man they called Master. We'll see how an unstoppable force of nature made it all happen: Bhagwan’s personal secretary, Ma Yoga Laxmi. We’ll stroll the grounds through the eyes of a newcomer to see what this place was all about. And we’ll explore about a new, lucrative, sometimes-terrifying method that Bhagwan developed to instruct his followers — and to keep them there.

As Bhagwan's dreams for the future continued to blossom, outside pressures, like the Indian government, threatened to squeeze the life out of his ashram. We'll also examine the efforts to find a new home for the ashram, led by two very different but equally devoted women: Ma Yoga Laxmi, and her assistant, Ma Anand Sheela. To the surprise of nearly everyone, Sheela was about to take Bhagwan’s future into her own hands … forever changing his life and his legacy.

Our first "minisode" provides some additional color on topics covered in the first three episodes. We’ll revisit Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a boy and look at the life-or-death events that may have turned him into the brash guru. Then we’ll sidle up to some of his earliest Western followers to see why they fell under Bhagwan's spell. We’ll end the episode at his ashram in Poona and learn about the not-quite-legal methods that some desperate sannyasins used to earn enough money to stay close to their Master.

We visit the launching pad for Bhagwan’s American experiment: a castle in Montclair, New Jersey. Bhagwan's followers scramble to prepare for his arrival, and then he manages to get into some trouble while waiting for his next move. Later, we travel America with Sheela as she searches for the perfect place for Bhagwan’s new commune. She’ll wind up about as far from New Jersey as you can get, in a dusty desert town, negotiating the biggest deal of her life.

As Sheela and the first Rajneeshees arrive at the Big Muddy Ranch in July 1981, we explore why Oregon was about the last place they should have picked for Bhagwan's new commune. To transform the huge tract of agricultural land into a commune fit for an enlightened Master and thousands of his disciples, they'll need to concoct stories to tell their neighbors and government officials. But the truth becomes clear when Bhagwan arrives amidst a fleet of Rolls Royces.

War is looming between the Rajneeshees and a town of just 39 people — a “ghost town,” as Sheela calls it. Bhagwan’s followers are about to go to battle with the people of Antelope.

It’s the holiday season in Rajneeshpuram! We’ll explore the Rajneeshees’ three major holidays and see how they were celebrated during Bhagwan's first year in America. This culminates in the First World Festival in July 1982, which attracted 5,000 visitors and helped lay the foundation for the city of Rajneeshpuram. We’ll close by hearing Bhagwan’s thoughts on Santa Claus.

How do the Rajneeshees go about fulfilling their Master's vision of a new utopia on their ranch? We see what life was like for the hundreds of commune members who toiled from sun-up to sundown each day to make it happen. And later, we catch up with the big man himself. Bhagwan had entered into a silent phase before leaving India. So if he wasn’t talking… what was he doing in his secluded compound?

Bhagwan develops a bizarre — and potentially lethal — way to escape his silent isolation at Rajneeshpuram.

How could Sheela and Bhagwan establish their new commune in America when most of their members came from other countries? The answer rested in a sacred institution — one the sannyasins were not afraid to twist to their own advantage.

The Rajneeshees extend themselves into the community in an effort to sway public opinion and make some money. But now their enemies have easy access to them — a vulnerability that is violently exploited on July 29, 1983.

Sheela is given a new mission in 1984: win the Wasco County election, no matter what it takes. The plan she and her lieutenants put into place sets the state of Oregon into crisis mode, from the local politicians all the way to the governor's office.

What was it like to be a child living at Rajneeshpuram? In this minisode we’re joined by a special guest — a person who lived at the ranch as a teenager for nearly four years — who discusses his unique experiences living, learning, working, and loving at Rajneeshpuram. CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains a discussion of child sexual abuse and statutory rape.

The largest bioterror attack on U.S. soil hits the sleepy town of The Dalles, Oregon, two months before a high-stakes county election. But it’s just a dress rehearsal for the bigger scheme that Sheela’s closest ally—an enigmatic nurse named Puja—has cooked up in her secret laboratory at Rajneeshpuram, amid her rat cages, incubators, and petri dishes.

Bhagwan, who once called organized religion "the corpse of religiousness," becomes the head of his own religion in 1983. But the Oregon Attorney General proves that "Rajneeshism" is the greatest existential threat the new commune has ever faced.

A quick update about upcoming episodes of Building Utopia, as well as an exciting new project!

NEW EPISODES! While external enemies mass against Rajneeshpuram, Sheela fixates on powerful disciples within the commune whom she believes pose an even greater threat. Her efforts to neutralize them lead to unintended — and catastrophic — consequences. Also, an update on my forthcoming book, "Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia," available for pre-order now!

In the summer of 1985, commune leaders begin plotting the assassination of people who oppose them. In this episode, we examine the events that led them to believe that murder was the only way to preserve their community and their master. Explosive public hearings, concerns about the commune’s arsenal of semi-automatic weapons, and a sprawling surveillance apparatus all contribute to a frenzied atmosphere of paranoia.

Murder is in the air at Rajneeshpuram during the summer of 1985. We track the commune leaders’ audacious plots to assassinate public officials and commune members they felt were enemies, including U.S. Attorney for Oregon, Charles Turner, and Bhagwan’s closest companion, Vivek. The events culminate in Sheela making a drastic decision. BOOK NEWS: For a limited time, my publisher is extending a 25% discount on my book, Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia, to listeners of Building Utopia. Use promo code BUILDINGUTOPIA when checking out at their website, www.chicagoreviewpress.com/rajneeshpuram.