The Cult of Yogi Bhajan
Harbhajan Singh Khalsa
Yogi Bhajan came to the US to spread the teachings of Kundalini Yoga, something he claimed was an ancient spiritual practice, but ...turns out he made the whole thing up and left a trail of sexual abuse and shady business deals along the way.
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What should we call this 1? Oh god. I should've been thinking about this the whole time, and I didn't. Oh, show no she didn't. Oh, show no Sheila Dibs.
I mean, it's not that bad. It's really not. How are you? I am on fumes, running on fumes. Yeah.
But I think I'm good. Yeah. We just literally caught up. Yeah. We're, like, I guess, doing it.
But I guess, like For show, no. Yeah. It's the new job of it all. Just got a new job. I did.
I work at a bank, but it's not that intense. It's just draining because I'm relearning a bunch of things that I I used to work at a bank a 100 years ago, and now I'm doing it for the schedule because Mhmm. I can still mom. And now it's just, like, relearning things, and I have the upper hand because I certainly have done this before. And so I'm trying to, like, maintain my, patience and grace for people who have it and are learning it the for the first time.
It's just not going well for me. There's so many times where I'm, like, on on mute because it's, like, all the training is through the computer. And so but we're in, like, a whole room. And so I'm, like, having to, like, make sure, like, double check that I'm muted Mhmm. So that I'm not talking shit in front of everybody and for all to hear.
Because there's a lot of what the fuck moments or, like, oh my god. Or, like, no. You know? Yeah. That's brutal, but Mhmm.
Temporary. But I'm good. Yay. You? Also a fume.
Mhmm. I feel like that's just kinda that's always my vibe. I yeah. I'm always on fumes, but I am very not a go go go person. So you add one thing to my schedule, and I'm like, immediate fusing.
Immediate fusing. Yeah. Just dying. But went to Disney Disneyland yesterday. Oh, that's an yeah.
So that's my feet are tired. I was not prepared, so I did wear platform vans. Reasonable fumes. Yeah. Platform Vans.
But if you would have bought new shoes. No. A 100%. Yeah. That would have been dumb.
It would have hurt anyway, and you guys didn't know I didn't know if I was going. If I knew I was going, I would have worn regular Vans. Yeah. Maybe some jogap pants. Yeah.
Did you wear your skirt? No. What skirt? I don't know. You said I have platform Vans and a skirt.
No. I was wearing a skirt. I did switch to jeans. I was worried I was gonna be too hot in the jeans, but I did. I wore jeans.
And the wrong I thought I was going to Universal, so I had the sims I had a Simpsons Halloween shirt. Oh, I do love that. But Oh, so you wore, like, your gray jeans? No. That's Or I wore my high waisted front pocket ones.
Oh, those are cute too. Yeah. No. It was a really cute outfit because I thought I was going to Universal for, like, a couple hours. And I was like, this will be perfect.
Mhmm. I wasn't expecting a full Disney Land. Full Disney. No stroller, no backpack. You, like, belly flopped off the high dive on that one.
I did. But Worth it. Free free. You can't pass up free. Free.
We got free tickets. Shout out. To go. Shout out shout out auntie Rhonda. Oh.
Made it all better, because Faye was, like, freaking out once she saw. I know. The crocodile tears, the silent cry, that's where I would have been, like The sigh it was the silent cry that took it. I was, like, oh, god. She is heartbroken.
It's like a real one. You know when they, like, flail and go scorpion on it? No. I'm, like, I don't 0. Yeah.
Yeah. But when it's a silent singleton Like, looking out the window, just, like, crying to herself, and I was like Oh, god. Yeah. Because you know I would never ask for a favor, but No. No.
I did. Worth it. So now that we've Oh, yeah. Caught up. Super tangent.
Probably so long. I don't know. I know. This thing is already at 21 minutes. But we started we started record I started recording, like, really, really early.
Okay. Okay. I'm, like, just a minute. 20 minutes of banter, but just, like, 19. Kidding.
No. I don't know. I literally haven't seen you in, like, forever. Uh-huh. The last time we recorded was, like, right was in September.
We went on a yoga retreat. Yeah. We went on the yoga retreat. We did you got a job. I got job.
You got job. I don't think I've seen you since job. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? I know.
It's like a week and a half, but I know. Yeah. Okay. So today, we're gonna be talking about the Rajnishis. Rajnishis, Yeah.
Do you know anything about them? Nothing. Not a single thing. I just really like to say the name. Rajnishis.
Rajnishis. Okay. So in early September through October of 1984, the ER in the Dalles, Oregon was inundated with patients experiencing stomachaches, chills, vomiting, and diarrhea. 45 people ended up being admitted to the hospital, including a baby who was born 2 days after his mother was infected. Oh my god.
Mhmm. So sad. That's and after so nobody died. Okay. That was gonna be my thing.
I'm like this poor little baby. It's baby. I know. No. Baby was survived.
But it took out 45 people. 45 people. So afterwards, there was a study, and it was discovered that 750 peep 51 people were suffering from gastroenteritis. The cause was salmonella typhimirium. Okay.
That was a lot for me. Yeah. That was a lot for me to, especially after a beer. But Yeah. So, anyway, salmonella of this type is usually caused by unsafe food handling.
Mhmm. And on September 17th, the Waskow Sherman Public Health Department started to receive reports of the uptick of gastroenteritis cases. Their investigation revealed that most of the patients had eaten at salad bars at 2 restaurants in the days before. So on September 25th, they closed every salad bar in the county. However, cases kept I was just gonna say it's too late.
So then the CDC was like, okay, we've we've interviewed 100 of employees. They trace the food sources, and they couldn't figure out where the outbreak started. But the locals were like, we know who it was. It was the Rajnishis. What?
Yeah. Or do they have, like, a farm where they okay. So this is where my brain sorry. This is where my brain is going. Are they, like, harvesting bad lettuce?
And no. No. Every time I think of a bad food outbreak, it's It's always lettuce. It's always romaine. It's romaine lettuce romaine.
All the time. Okay. No. But, this case remains it's the first and it remains the worst bioterror attack in US history. It's like an attack bio Oh, my God.
Terror attack. Mhmm. So The Rajnishis? The Rajnishis. So the Rajnishis arrived in Waskow County a few years earlier in 1981 near the town of Antelope.
Antelope has a pop had a poise has had a population of 40 people, and most of them were middle class retirees looking for an affordable place to live, like, live out their lives Live out the rest of their days. It was, like, log cabins. Yeah. Hunting. Rural rural.
It is very rural. It's like 40 people. 40 people. That's ins yeah. That's like a pinky tip.
Yeah. So this was disrupted with the arrival of the Rajnishis or the Sannyasins, as they like to call themselves. They bought a 64,000 acre ranch previously known as big ready ranch or big muddy ranch. And they were all dressed in shades of orange and red and descended on the town by 1,000. Wait.
Where did they come from? Okay. Because I'm just, like, trying to envision this whole bit, and it's hard. I'm thinking I was thinking, oh, the Rajeshi is like, oh, it's a cute family. That must be their last name, and it's With poisoned lettuce.
Romaine. With their poisoned romaine lettuce. What? Okay. Where they come from?
Tell me more. I'll tell you more. Yeah. Let me get there. K.
So according to one neighbor, when they arrived, they said they just wanted to farm their land, worship the way they wanted to worship, and be good neighbors. But locals and antelope started to suspect something was off when their leader, Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh, also known as Osho or just Bhagwan, he drove into town in a motorcade with, like, 10 Rolls Royces. What? And then Oh, I just wanna come in. She's lined the streets, like, crying and cheering.
Oh, no. Red flag. Mhmm. So red That is not them coming in all, like, oh, I'm just gonna farm this land and, you know, be a good neighbor and be, you know, practice the way or not practice, but, you know Mhmm. They're coming in hard.
They're dropping hammers, and they're 10 Rolls Royces or 12 Rolls Royces. Mhmm. Oh, god. Oh, god. And then You've never seen I mean, you've never seen Wild Wild Country No.
On Netflix? Am I saying, am I right? Is that what you're saying then? No. Oh, okay.
You're not right. Okay. But Don't get back. Don't don't get into this. Anyway okay.
So Rajneesh, the leader, he was born December 11, 1931. So he was a he's a satch. Yeah. He's spoiler. He's a dead he's dead.
Not he wasn't murdered. Just old. 31 19 30 1 years old. Yeah. So he was born in a small village in central India, and from a young age, he was smart and rebellious.
He became a professor in philosophy, and he would travel and lecture outside of just the academic institutions, which, in turn, amassed him a large following. He believed that there is a place for spiritualism alongside capitalism, science and technology, and he was critical of institutionalized religion and socialism, which at the time was, like, the foundation of, like, the new age self realization moment Mhmm. Or moment movement. Mhmm. So, like, during the time, a lot of, like, the self realization moment movement was, like, all about, you know, sacrifice and socialism and, like, foregoing worldly pleasures and Mhmm.
Giving away your money Mhmm. Doing good work. So he set himself apart by being like, no. There's a place for technology and capitalism alongside all of that, and, you know, the spiritualism, the Hinduism, alongside with, like, the capitalism of, like, the Americas or North America, that can come together and create, like, this whole new version of the what they called the new man. Mhmm.
So by the eighties, Rajneesh had established himself as a spiritual leader. Rajneesh Puram, his ashram in India was thriving. It had thousands of residents and a rotation of about 30,000 visitors a year, mainly from the Europe from Europe and the US. I cannot talk today. That's fine.
And over a 100,000 a 100,000 followers worldwide. Oh my god. Yes. So he was already, like he was already super popular. Like, so much moments.
Huge following. Yeah. So then he didn't want or not them. So he didn't want his ashram to be just like a place of mental entertainment. What is a ashram?
Just an ashram? It's a place it's basically like a commune. Okay. It's a it's a commune where people come and they work and are allowed to, like, study and find, like, for spiritual development. Mhmm.
But Rajnish, he didn't want it just to be a place for, like, basically, rich white people to come and just meditate and live there for free. Mhmm. So he was, like, you're expected to work. Like, one lady came, and she was, like, I worked toilets for the first, like, cleaning toilets in the ashram for the first, like, 2 years. So not only were they expected to work, but they also had to pay to be there because he thought that meditation was a product that he was selling to people.
What? That doesn't make any sense. He's like, work to live here, also pay me. Yeah. It sounds, like, kind I mean, it's I'm sure it's gonna get culty real quick.
Well, I mean It is culty. Yeah. It's very culty. So, so the so the reason why he wanted people to pay to be there was that, I think, that it was gonna weed out the people that were there just for, like, oh, well, I came up for this thing. For now, and just to, like, explain it to me.
Running a socialist kind of society, even though he was, like, against socialism. It was very expensive. Mhmm. And there was a lot of people to keep up with. And so he was like, I you need Yeah.
You need to pay into this. Pay your way. I'm not gonna pay Uh-huh. For all of this, for the whole community. So they had a huge rate of growth, and so he needed more money.
So they cut they came up with their own banking system. They had they were they have like it was like it was like a banking card system. Yeah. And so because of Rajnish's age and failing health, he became a little bit more reclusive and stopped lecturing at the ashram. And so he started to be barely seen.
So he left most of the day to day to his secretary, Ma Anand Sheila. And, Sheila, she was only 16 when her father brought her to Rajneesh, like, brought her into Rajneesh's orbit. And she was basically groomed to be Yeah. His, like, right hand man or right hand man. Right hand woman.
Were they, like, more than right hand? No. Oh, thank God. I just almost had a moment. No.
I think she was very much in love with him, and I think he knew it and took advantage. And that's that doesn't mean her hands are clean. Are clean. But, she for sure was in love with him. But maybe not at first.
Yeah. Because she was with him for a very, very long time. So the growth of the community and the controversy surrounding some of his tactics, which included questionable sexual techniques and violence, came to the attention of the Indian government. Mhmm. And there were allegations of Right.
Who was he? Like, just the people that lived there? So the they had, so the way that, like, some of their, like, healing sessions worked was that, like, you know, in somatics, like, in somatic work, there's, like, the calming, like, reset your nervous system kind of small movements, but there's also, like, the jumping and, like, thrashing around. Right. So it was a lot of that, but a lot of it was, like, sexual allowing these men to kind of live out these, like, kind of, like, more sadistic urges, and women to also, like, work out some of their aggression.
Like, so it felt very empowering. Okay. And then at the end, they would do some breathing, and they'd all meditate in, like, silence. But they were, you know, encouraged to get things out of their system, like, sexual like, sexually or with violence, like, fighting. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, get it all out, and then we'll breathe together. And then we'll meditate. Move yeah. And then you've moved past it, and, like, it's seen as, like, a sort of, like, somatic healing.
Mhmm. And, I don't I don't know. I don't feel like you need to do that. Do you know? Reset your nervous system, but I don't think that you have to do anything that affects other people to reset your own nervous system.
No. And there's like a lot of real a lot of allegations of real yuck yuck that come out later. Because I did go into this. I mean, I always try to go into it with, I don't know, like an open an open mind and trying to understand. I I also try to go into it, like, how would I get sucked into this, and what would my thought be?
I would not though. You're like, where where would I fit into all of this? Where would I fit into this? What would I do? Mhmm.
And so, like, I like, I I get why people were drawn there, especially, like, in this this is, like, the seventies, I think, is when people started going to the ashram. Yeah. And it's, like, the era of, like like, the hippie movement's kind of over, but people are still looking for that. And Yeah. There's not a lot of that.
People are looking for, like, change and ways to maybe escape whatever is troubling them, and it sounds like an easy reset. Yeah. So the Indian government was starting to crack down on them because there was allegations of drug use, tax fraud, physical harm to the followers and visitors. There was, a suggestion that there might be some sort of prostitution ring going on. Oof.
And so that crackdown combined with the unsustainable growth Mhmm. He and Sheila decided they were gonna move their base of operations. So in 1981, they bought this that huge property in Oregon Mhmm. And thousands of followers just started, like, trickling in. Yeah.
Just started slowly yes. Slowly trickling in, and so they took to this, like, hilly mountainside, and a lot of people were, like, oh, that's kinda weird. It's not super farmable land, because it was, like, very craggy and Right. Right. Right.
And, and I'm sure there's farmable land in Oregon. After But, well, it was, like, that particular parcel of land, they were, like, it's probably not, like, suit it's not fertile ground. Right. However, they built everything up, like, from the ground up. They tilled everything.
They, like, terraformed the is terraformed this isn't a question for you, I realized. No. No. Your audience, I was, like, ask me. I need to ask if terraforming is something that's in just in real life or if it's just in video games?
I'm I don't know. Okay. For more than one reason, I am not the I am not the one. So they terraformed the entire property. They built infrastructure, roads, plumbing, sewage, electrical grids.
They had a fire department. They went restaurants Yeah. Full on a shopping center, but everything was, like, red and orange, a bank with its own banking system, a 42 100 foot airstrip with its own planes Oh, nice. Called Rajnish Air Mhmm. An eco friendly farm which grew its own produce, and men and women worked side by side to build everything, which was, like, very empowering.
That's Cool. A lot of these women, like, they were, like Had all, like, the big machinery and, like, the sledgehammers, and, they felt like it looked like it was a very, empowering time. Like, a lot of people said they worked, like, basically, like, 16 hours, and, like, the end of the day, they were just smiling because they felt like They felt good about it. They felt good about it. Yeah.
Honestly, there are days where I'm, like, dead tired myself, and I'm like, no. I fucked it up today. I did it all. And, like, you know, and you go you get energy and you feel good about that. Sleep real well.
Mhmm. Yes. Yeah. So they did all that. And then they opened a hotel in Portland that, because they were only an hour away from Portland.
So they opened a hotel in downtown Portland. So that Do you know what it's called today? It was called Rioja Beach Hotel. It's closed down. I don't know where the building is.
But, like, the area that they, like, has it been built out? And is it now, like, Beaverton or some shit? Or, like, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like wait.
Hold on. I wanna see. So it was on 11th between Jefferson and Main Street. So it was kind of near, like, Old Town. What's over here?
Near the oh, it's by the Portland Art Museum. Okay. That's where, I think my brother graduated, college. Oh, they have really cool art installations. Oh, there's Coraline.
Oh. Oh, okay. I definitely know where this is, and I've been here. Because they did the light they did the Laika exhibit here when they, a few years ago. I think it's in Seattle now, but they had a Laika exhibit where they had, like, all the Coraline stuff.
Remember, like, we went to the one at Comic Con Mhmm. A few years ago. Yeah. Or not a few years ago. That was, like, 5 years ago.
But Yeah. But that's Yeah. So downtown Portland. That's so crazy. But yeah.
So that way that visitors could come and stay without having to stay on the farm. Because there was like, they were still buying like, building housing, and they put up these, like, cute little, like, very minimalist a frames. I love that. But the new residents, they made locals nervous. And Jonestown was, like Rightfully so.
Pretty fresh in their minds. So they were, like, that's a cult because it was just all over the news. Yeah. And they just immediately were, like People coming in, like, in troves just to, like oh my god. With the red and it was more yeah.
Mhmm. All of this coming in. Oh my god. They must have been, like their britches must have been up and wrinkled. No.
What? Like In a bunch. What? In a bunch. A bit bridge britches?
Yeah. Like, their britches in a bunch? Their britches were real wrinkled. Real wrinkled. Okay.
Edited out edited out. Okay. So they were real nervous. Uh-huh. And it was clear to the residents of Antelope that the group was not really an agricultural commune as they kinda presented themselves, but it was something else entirely.
And Bill Bowerman, who was an Olympic coach, inventor of the modern running shoe, and Oh. A cofounder of Nike. Oh, yeah. He led the charge. Yeah.
The Oregon of it all. Mhmm. Yeah. He was basically I I went on a little bit of, like this is a side note. Mhmm.
I went on this, like, little deep dive on him, and, basically, they were they were, like, shoes were, like, super fun. Like, running shoes were, like, super hard back then. And he would take their soles and, like, put them through a waffle iron, because they, I think, were still rubber sole, like, rubber sole. Uh-huh. But he put it in a waffle iron so that it had more flexibility.
More and more, and then he was they were, like, that was it. And so that's what That's how it all started. How Nike started. That's rad. I know.
That's cool. I know. It was very cool. Mhmm. So he led the charge against the Rajnishis, trying to get ordinances passed to prevent to prevent them from expanding.
And so they started buying up land in Antelope in 1982 and then gained control of their city council, because they were like Holy shit. Well, it's a way to do it. Do anything. That bitch shit. I know.
Yeah. And, like, low key, like, in the like, in wild in wild, wild country, Sheila's like, I mean, this was for sale. Why are you mad? We gave you fair we paid fair for it. We didn't, like actually, people are just mad that we're here even though we're, like, giving them our money and just slowly started, like, buying stuff up.
And then, eventually, like, there was and it's really funny because there was this, like, kind of, like, sweet old guy who was like, yeah. But it's just like me and then, like, 3 guys. I was like, they're all in red, and he's got, like, his, like, big suspenders. Son of his girls with a straw hat. A piece of straw.
Twisty? Yeah. Oh my god. Basically. Yeah.
With them. And he was like, I just he's like, I knew I was gonna just be there with them, and he would just was like the sweetest little I don't necessarily know much about him, but it could probably be probably be the worst. But Yeah. I don't know. In the documentary, he seemed pretty nice.
I must watch. Should I have what? No. Because then it would've ruined it. Yeah.
You didn't wanna watch before. No. But anyway, so the fact that they now have control over Antelope made the surrounding towns angry and fearful. So there was campaigns to show the Rajnishis how unwanted they were. So wait.
When mister Nike bought up the surrounding land Oh, no. No. Mister Nike didn't. The Rajnishis did. Oh, my God.
I thought the oh, my God. No. I thought mister Nike was like, no, I'm gonna come in there. No. He was like, you're not gonna build anything.
You don't even have land here. And they were like, okay. Watch this. Mhmm. Now, it makes a lot more sense.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, that'd be a pretty baller move. Yeah. That's right. Just one single man who's buying up all this land.
I literally I was like, that's some bad bitch shit. Like, that's what you do when you wanna make it, a like, you have the reason. Stella has to go with Nike shoes. Oh, give me my waffle maker. Yeah.
Waffle iron. Is that waffle iron? Waffle maker. Uh-huh. It's the same.
Yeah. It is both. It is. But I in my head, I was like, oh, he's going in. He's like, not on my watch.
No. It was them. No. It was them. It was Okay.
Demraj Nishis. So the locals were super irritated. So they started, like, making these shirts that says bag the bag one on it with, like, his like, an illustration of him and then, like, a, you know, like, the circle with the cross? Yeah. Like, the ghostbusters.
The ghostbusters thing. So they started making, like, shirts and bumper stickers and flags. Like, it the hate Holy shit. The hate for the group spread in a way that was, like, not bad. No?
Yeah. Like, I get why they were maybe frustrated and upset, but, the way that they did it feels very, very yuck. I was just gonna say there's a good way to go about it and a yuck way to go about it. There so they were super upset. So hate for the group started to spread.
And, like, they were making the news because people were, like, we don't want them here. So ridiculous. And he's trying to create this uproar. Yeah. And so, in 1983, the Rajneesh Hotel in Portland was bombed.
Oh my god. And no one other than the bomber was hurt because I guess he accidentally blew off a finger or 2. But also, way to go. What? Who was it?
Was it was it was it like a guy with a straw? No. He was, some rando who was, like, linked to a Muslim fundamentalist group, but it was not any of the neighbors. It was no one that knew them. However, the bombing marked this change in the Rajnishis' tactics.
So, they started a militarized peace force, and they started walking around the commune carrying Uzis, and then they drove a jeep with like a machine gun that was like on the top in the top. Oh, my god. It just screams war, war, war. Like, all bad things. It was super yuck.
They started watching. Ironic that it's called a peace force. That's the point, I think. Oh, okay. Thanks.
That that that that that that landed for me. Oh my god. Oh my god. So they so they started, like, kind of, like, these intimidate intimidation tactics where they would, like, stand on the property line and just, like, watch people's houses. Like, I think that they felt like people were gonna come at them, and they were gonna be, like, we're standing our ground.
Like, super defensive. We're ready for I guess, the people that they probably didn't need to be defensive over. Like, if these people are going to, like, the Chamber of Commerce or whatever and, like, we're not gonna let you have a permit, they're not gonna be the ones that are, like, pew pew or, you know, like Yeah. All Pew pew. Yes.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Yeah. Like, they're not gonna be the ones showing up to start a fight like that.
So soon after this, they just started getting a little bit more brazen. So they renamed the town of Antelope. Oh, Antelope. Antelope. Antelope, to Rajneesh.
They raised property taxes on the few locals that lived there. That's fucked up. They were there before them. And then they renamed the local recycling center that Adolf Hitler recycle. Okay.
Just to, like, piss a few people off. I'm I'm not quite sure. I think that they wanted to just be, like, provocative. Yeah. And I don't know.
It's It didn't it's much. It doesn't land. No. It just is, like, oh, that's stupid. Yeah.
It's just like like, you know? Yeah. They were trying to be too much, and it showed. Yeah. So, Sheila, Ma non Sheila was told by Bhagwan at this point to do to do press and provoke them.
And she kind of was, like, badass. Like, she's not good. Mhmm. But she was pretty badass in her approach. So, like, one interview, they were, like, so one interview, they said, quote, we don't want you in our town.
What do you say to that? And she said, quote, well, I say tough titties. Oh my god. I am putting that in my pocket, and I'm saving that for the rest of my life. I say tough titties.
And, like, she just said it, like, more say tough titties. More say tough titties. I mean, I'm here. What do you want? And her attitude was like, I don't know.
Her it was just like, take it or leave it. What she was like what you want? I'm here. She's like, fuck you. Like, it was kind of she's very diluted for sure.
But, like, also, like, I kind of love her, like, her vibe of just being, like, I don't know. Fuck it. Yeah. Like, especially from an like, an Indian woman in the eighties. Mhmm.
Mhmm. That should be so, like, like I don't know. I don't care. Give, like Okay. It was it's, like, very refreshing to see.
Right. I mean, again, she's not innocent in any of this, but, like, she I don't know. It's just I was just really unapologetically her. Yeah. And just kind of Best and worse.
Yeah. Take Yeah. Take it. Take it. Or Take take it.
Take it or leave it so much. Yeah. Oh, we do. We do. I do.
I don't know that. Or was it just today? Did we at all? No. Have I been saying this in my personal life too much?
Probably. And as me. Projecting it onto this podcast? I think so. Okay.
I know. I haven't seen you, so it must have It must have just for me. Tough titties. Tough titties. So in 1984, they decide they decided the only way to obtain the building permits was to take over Wasco's County election in November despite only accounting for less than 10% of the population.
So they had to take more drastic action to win the 3 seats Mhmm. Needed to, like, take over their council. So they had a plan that had two parts. 1 was to depress the turnout among regular voters by poisoning 1,000. What was salmonella?
Round up the unhoused population, and entice them to vote in their favor with promises of food and shelter. What? So that was like a 2 prong plan. Yeah. Let me poison these people and then promise refuge.
Yeah. So they, like, strong armed the people that they didn't sell Manila. Yeah. So they tested their plan a few times. And the first time they tested was they 2 commissioners visited the compound on in August of 84.
Mhmm. I didn't put the 19 on there. And I was like, 84 is not a date that you Oh, no. You're like, what is that? What is this note I wrote?
Yeah. So a resident dressed in hospital garb. I don't know why that's important, but every single article that I've made sure to mention mention the hospital garb. So I was like, I don't know. Maybe it's important.
So I put it in there. It's in. So they offered them water. Both were violently ill. 1 ended up in the hospital for 4 days and almost died.
And then they hoped that just this would stoke fear with the commissioners and get them to appease the request, but when permits were continuing to be denied, they were, like, alright. We gotta go bigger. Yeah. Bring up the big guns. So one morning in early September, 2 teens left the compound and traveled to nearby restaurants in the Dalles and secretly poured salmonella into salsa and salad bars.
Oh. And they hit 10 restaurants and a handful of public places. They, like, hit it up their sleeve in, like, a little brown bag, And they would, like, wave their hand over, which I don't even know how. No. I know how.
How. I fuck up a salsa bar. That would have been you. It would have been me. It would have been you.
And honestly, every article because when I first started looking to this, one of the places that got hit was called Taco Time. And I started looking up the reviews of Taco Time, and it had really good reviews. And I was like, oh, that would have been you. I I want to go now. The carrots?
I want Give me a pickled carrot. Air loves Air loves some pickled carrot. Pickled jalapenos. Yes. That would have been a goner.
You would have been a goner. A Chipotle situation? I just read sauce or or bust. I don't know how to get fancy. I had not had burritos in so long, and I had burritos this last weekend.
And I was like Did I tell you? I resurfaced? Mhmm. Sounded. I had another Chile Rellano burrito from Junior's.
Oh, from Junior's? Oh, it's so good. They're so good. It's so good. So good.
Sour cream? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, on Friday. It was Friday.
I also had a chile relleno burrito, but it was from Cheetos, not from you do Cheetos a lot. Is that your go to? No. Junior's is our go to. But Cheetos, it depends.
So Cheetos uses, like, white cheese. Oh. Like a mozzarella. Oh. And they're no.
But I fuck with it. That's bad one. And it's got beans in it. Oh, so yeah. Just a little.
No. That's weird for me. No. I'm not sure. They're both something different.
Okay. So, respect them both for their different vibes. Yeah. But Jade isn't a big fan of Junior's. So Cheetos What does she have against Junior?
The salsa? I don't know. She's a picky she's a picky one. Well, you know, I think she normally gets a breakfast burrito, but I think she's always like, oh, I don't know. And, yeah, that's an impression.
Yeah. That was so honestly, it was spot on. Yeah. It was good. She has this this delicate little She's like, but I don't really know.
She doesn't, like, go hard on, like, Mexican food like we all do. She's very she's a very clean she loves a caprese salad, that one. Yeah. She's like a very healthy eater. Mhmm.
She would have also got Taco time Taco time did get hit. And, Jade would have not survived the romaine. Oh, yeah. Did you shout her first? Yeah.
She would have gotten got too. Mhmm. Got and got got got. I don't know. Anyway, they also thought the Rajnishis, they also considered poisoning the local water supply.
And I think that they did try, but it just was too diluted. And so it wasn't as potent. That is just crazy. They also considered crashing a plane. Oh my god.
Into the county courthouse. So this isn't they are coming in, like, crazy. Like, all this is Crashing a plane with bombs into a county a county courthouse. Sounds very 911y. It sounds very like, it's a county courthouse.
Like, you're you're shooting your wad, like, way too quick. It's just what it is. A county Yeah. Courthouse. Yeah.
Yeah. No. It's, yeah, a lot on a little. Yeah. I mean, who knows?
But a little. Yeah. Right? I mean, they didn't do it. They probably figured it out.
They were like, this is This is a county court. Overkill. It's a little overkill. We'll go with the mass poison. Yeah.
Let's go with the salmonella. Yeah. So in order to fulfill the second part of their plan, the Rajnishis started a share a home program and charted dozens of bus so dozens of buses of unhoused people. So not dozens of unhoused people, but No. Bus of buses.
So 100. Bus. Oh, wait. Oh, my notes. Thousands.
It it wasn't 100. It was 1,000 people. It was 23100 people who were come. 20 where did they find these unhoused people? They scoured the US.
So they, like, sent teams out, and they were, like, hey, are you hungry? Do you need shelter? Come with us. Come with me. Come with me.
Glamas best. Literally, people, like, in their most distant home. State. Yeah. And then, but all you have to do is you have to register to vote when you get there.
I was just gonna say they're using them for their Uh-huh. And then they could so they registered to get on the bus, and then they could stay there as long as they promise to vote with the Rajnishis. I mean, to somebody who's, like, at in dire need of just survival Yeah. That sounds like an easy out. Yeah.
And then they were super grateful. They there was a lot of people that were suffering from a lot of mental health issues. As most in house people do. Yeah. And the commune wasn't quite ready for that, but a lot of people were, like, just so grateful to be there.
They were, like, they're giving me work. They're giving me a house. Yeah. They're telling me they believe in me and that I'm special. And, like Yeah.
And I haven't heard this in so long. Yeah. I've only heard and felt like the scum of right? Is that okay? Okay.
Yeah. I'm only sorry. I was like, oh, I'm gonna piss a lot of people off. I know. But, you know, like, in house people, like, they're they're they're really in the thick of it.
They're literally at rock bottom, some of them. And to meet somebody or to meet a group of people or to feel like taken in and cared for Yeah. 100%, I guess. Yeah. It was great.
But the were like, you're a little too rowdy, so they started spiking their beer kegs with tranquilizers. Oh, they are all about population control. Like, how am I going to control the masses? I'm gonna salmonella you. I'm gonna now tranquilize you.
They pressured most of their women to get sterilized, or if they became pregnant, have abortions, then get sterilized. That's fucking disgusting. Yeah. 1 of the women, she said that both her and her daughter, her teenage daughter Oh my god. Were sterilized at home, which whatever if you wanna do that, I get it.
But don't But do it under somebody else's request or somebody else's Yeah. And I feel like at the request of someone else is yuck and also as a teen. Like, she's She doesn't even know what she was. Decisions. Do you know what this dumb shit I did as a teenager?
Yeah. I don't I honestly wonder. I Erin and I talk about it all the time. I'm like, how did we survive? We should have been killed and wiped off the face of the freaking planet several times.
So state officials, they kept a close eye on the cult activities and soon caught wind of their voters voter fraud scheme. So they halted all voter registration in Moscow County and invoked an emergency rule on October 10th that required anyone registering to vote to appear in person at an eligibility hearing in which they just kind of reinforce, like, there's a 20 day residency requirement in order to vote. And you guys have been here for, like, a week. And so, they the Rajnishis filed for an injunction, and they were denied because they weren't in compliance. And so, they were, like, well, fine.
And fuck that. Like, fuck that. We're not gonna vote. We're gonna boycott the vote, like, it mattered. Okay.
And then, they pulled their candidates, and they were, like, just kidding. You guys just, like, don't get our sense of humor. Oh my god. They're like, it was a joke. Don't you get it?
That mass poisoning was just, like, really funny. Yeah. And I, like, was just poor baby. Uh-huh. That was just hilarious.
The all the efforts that we went to, like, bring all these people in, it Like, we were just it was just child's play. We were just no. No. The worst. I know.
So following the attack, pressure intensified not only on the group, but also on Sheila. So she was facing pressure from these newcomers looking to steal influence with the baguan, and the government was looking into the poisoning. So Sheila ordered a hit. The DA in Oregon, Charles Turner, to thwart the investigation, but it was so poorly planned. They were like, oh, he's gonna come out to his car.
So they, like, waited in a parking garage, like, all night, and he, like, never showed up. Oh. And then they were, like, oh my god. We're just leaving. Oh my god.
She also ordered a hit on Bhagwan's doctor who she believed was going to administer a fatal overdose to him at his own request. Wait. Because he was old and like, he's tired of dying? He was tired of dying? I think that he was like, oh, if I die, like, it'll probably be like better or like maybe he was just done or maybe he knew that shit was like getting Getting real yuck and he was like, I don't wanna live time and go back.
I think he pretends to be, like, oh, I'm very feeble, and I don't really know what's going on, but I think a 100% he does. And I think he knew it was getting hot, and that he was he was I think it was He saw the direction it was going. Yeah. I think he was, like, this is how I'm gonna get out of this. And so, Sheila had, God, I forget what her name is, which is, like, so stupid, because it's in my notes somewhere.
Jane something. Anyways Sure. Sweet the sweet Australian looking lady, she took a vial of, like, some sort of poison, again with the poison, and, stabbed him, and he just The doctor? The doctor during, like, a big celebration. And then she said, like, she stabbed him, and then he was looking at her.
And then she was like, what's wrong with you? Like, after Oh my god. That's so psycho. I know. Oh my god.
That's next level psycho. I know. I'm gonna just shank you and look you in the eye and be like, oh, what's that? Oh, no. And then she was like it was I think that her like, so in Wild Wild Country, her interviews, I mean, obviously, she's just so cute.
That are being interviewed too? Yeah. Oh, real people. Oh my god. So, like, her hair is so cute.
Because the way that she I mean, she's very remorseful. But I think it's very indicative of, like, how cult behavior happens. Mhmm. She's just, like, I in my I was, like, for the right reason. I'm protecting my spiritual leader.
This man was gonna kill him. Yeah. And I always can just be, like, twisted in such a way. She was like, I felt it was like an out of body experience when I volunteered. I didn't realize it was my voice that was, like, I'll do it.
Yeah. And she was like, it was like floating. It just like like, it fell out of my body because it felt like the right thing to do for Yeah. Big the Which is, like, very especially, like, in cults, I feel like this is, like, how this is how things get Fucking Yeah. Like, but Yeah.
No. People, like, become martyrs on Yeah. The name of the greater what they think is Well and, also, despite, like, despite, like, Balguan being, like, institutionalized religion sucks and, like, blah blah blah blah blah. They established Raj like, Rajneesh ism as a religion when they came over here in order to get him a visa. Isn't it ironic?
And so he wore like, they all wore, like, necklaces with, like, his, like, a, like, a, like, a brooch or something of, like, his shit on it. And it was very much, like, I think that he very much leveraged this interest in people wanting to Well, like, probably out of this spiritual development. Out here though too. Yeah. I'm trying to think.
I'm like, how did so many people who are not citizens get out here that quick? Yeah. Is that they yeah. They established it as a religion. Yeah.
And he was And they needed clear asylum essentially probably or what. Yeah. And like the a lot of I think it was popular with women a lot because, like, the lady, the stabby lady, she was saying that when she was with her husband in Australia, she was just angry, like, all of the time. Mhmm. Just, like, so angry and had this, like, rage inside of herself.
And so when she finally was able to go to India and, like, be there at the ashram, she was, like, you flailed. You got this odd of your system, and then it was just quiet. Yeah. And it was probably really cathartic. I'm sure.
But there's also, like, a lot of a lot of cults, the way that they function and the way that they use their, like, languaging and all their tactics. A lot of that is, you know, using chanting. Like, chanting is something that creates, like, a euphoria if done repetitively for a long time. Uh-huh. Like, dance big groups of people speaking in tongues.
Yes. Okay. I didn't know if that was gonna be frowned upon. No. No.
Fuck it. No. Okay. Wait. No.
I need, like, because that's part but that's, like, part of, like, all these these things that get that kind of create this sense of euphoria that you associate with this leader. Mhmm. And so it makes you start to associate that feeling with that person. Right. And then you only have reverence for that person.
Right. They become like the your beacon of Mhmm. Light? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure. So yeah. So in September of 1985, Sheila and a circle of like, her close, like, circle of advisers fled the commune. Things were getting a little bit dicey.
There was this new woman who was coming, who was Stabby lady? No. Oh. Stabby went with her. Oh.
But there's this new woman who was coming and kind of, like, asserting control over the Bogwan. So they bought him 300, but, like, they called them the Hollywood crowd. And they brought him bought him a $1,000,000 watch. What? Bought him 365 Rolls Royces so that he could drive 1 every day of the week.
They introduced all of this money to him, and so she, Sheila was starting to lose influence. And so she was like, I'm gonna get bagged for all of the shit that he's probably told her to do. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. She's tried to assassinate his doctor, and so she flees.
And the bad one was pissed. And so he comes out. He's like, I'm gonna break my silence. He calls, like, a press conference. And he is like, Sheila, she poisoned all these people.
She did a she called a hit on me. She's the she did everything. All of this, like, framed, essentially. He basically, like, scapegoated her. And he was like Her and her being a fascist.
And so but in doing that, he implicated the Rajnishis and the salmonella poisoning, the hit on Charles Turner, and then opened them to So I was just gonna say, he just shouted He just basically everything. The the thing about Wild Wild Country, and I suggest I suggest everyone watches it. But on the Netflix? It's on Netflix. Okay.
So the thing that I find really interesting is that a lot of the old footage of, like, Bhagwan, he's very, like, great like, a gracious, like, humbled, leader, like, spiritual leader. Mhmm. But after like, there is a significant shift when he go does these press conferences. And he's like, I suspect that she wanted to have sex with me, and I don't have sex with my secretaries. And he's like and he's like, because she disgusts me.
Like, so gross. So awful. So gross and, like, so cold. Like, count down. Did.
Like, it and then he was, like, I don't even believe in religion anymore, so y'all should burn that. So he made everyone burn their clothes, all of his books. Like, I I honestly think that he was just trying to do, like, a full, like, redo. Full. Yeah.
And be, like, I know that. He's doing an outfit change Yeah. 1,000%. So once the government started investigating, what they found on their property was a full bioterrorism lab that contained Wow. The salmonella cultures found in the outbreak, literature on the manufacture and use of of usage of explosives in military bio warfare.
They discovered the largest illegal wiretapping operation ever found. Wiretapping even? Sheila had everything tapped. And she had like a secret lair that had like hidden doors and staircases. That's fucking crazy.
That's insane. I want I'm like, how does she do Oh, I was gonna I thought you were gonna say, how do I get a secret lair? No. I want a secret lair. Oh, what would we do with a secret lair?
I won't come to ice. Silence. Yeah. It would be a silent room with just trash TV and, like All the Real Housewives of everywhere. Yeah.
And then, like, oh, all things bravo below deck. Burritos? No. I mean, I'll watch okay. I'll have my own I'll, like, how about in layer divide?
Yeah. A layer divide. I'll watch scary movies. You watch Yeah. Bravo.
Yeah. And then we'll have Los Junior's delivered. Just delivered. Chips and salsa in the middle. Chips and hot wok.
And just, taps. A goblet? On tap. Oh. A pooch on tap?
Yeah. Pooch is on tap and maybe alkaline water. Just Alcon you mean, it's the opposite. Alkaline. Okay.
Okay. Just to offset all the yeah. Some liquid IV. Yeah. Something.
Yeah. Cool. Alright. He knows who it is. Oh, sorry.
I forgot where we're going. See how that happened. I know. I think this. Wait.
Where did that come from? Where where did we leave off? Don't know. Be no. It was, somebody was doing something, and it was Wild warfare, wiretapping.
Oh, we were talking about our fort or our Our Sears. Sears. Okay. So there was also allegations. So there was the biggest wiretapping operation ever found.
That is insane. The the confirmation of the assassination plot on DA Charles Turner, there was also allegations of sexual abuse and rape involving women and children, for sterilization and child neglect. And that is so yuck. Honestly, when it when anything happens with children Yeah. And those were crimes that were not prosecuted.
So, eventually, Rajnish was deported back to India where he returned to his ashram. Eventually And he died. Oh, well, yeah. From old age. I mean Shit.
Yeah. Eventually, Sheila and her 3 aids were caught in Germany. She was sent sentenced to 59 years in prison, but ended up only serving 29 months Good. And was released for good behavior. She's out.
She's just frolicking. She's frolicking. But without their leader, the compound quickly collapsed. Sheila now lives How old was she when she got out? Do we even know if we could guesstimate?
No. Okay. I like that. That's math. I don't know how to math.
I don't know how to phrase it out in fact. But so she lives in Switzerland and claims all her actions were at the order of the Bhagwan. And then he died of natural causes in 1990, and until the day he died, blamed Sheila for everything. And there's still a pretty strong Raj Rajnish community today. In Oregon?
No. Oh, in India. So now it's called the Osho International Foundation. And so in 2018, the Netflix Netflix produced, the documentary Wild Wild Country, and the Osho Foundation said that, quote, the docuseries fails to explore key aspects and it the and so does not give a clear account of the real story. They go on to say, quote, essentially, this was a US government conspiracy from the White House on down aimed at thwarting Osho's vision of a community based on conscious living.
Okay. Okay. Which poke my eyes out. Poke my eyes out. But, yeah.
They still have, like, a pretty decent big following today. And they don't have a lot of the stuff that they had back then. I think it's, like, a little bit more of a watered down version because I do think that, like, some of the stuff he was saying, there's validity to it. It was just Right. Because, honestly, when you started to introduce him to me, I was, like, well, that's not terrible.
That's not bad. Well, but I think that this is the thing that happens with, like, these men and men and women in positions of power Mhmm. When they have a captive audience willing to eat the shit up. It is that they How low can you go? Yeah.
How low? Because we saw I mean, I think we saw that with, Greg Gemmakyo. Gemmakyo. Gemmakyo. Did we call him that?
No. That would have been so good. Gemmakyo? I would call him makyo. Gamakchio.
G gam the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the And I think that's what happened is that you give these people money, and you give them power. And they didn't do right by So much money. So Yeah. Much power. People were giving, like, their life savings away to come and For him to have a Rolls Royce for every day of the year.
Yeah. Super unnecessary for a guy who never leaves his house. Who's like on the brink of death? Yeah. I don't know.
Yeah. So, yeah, that is the Rajnishis. And they're still o showing. They're still o showing. Sheila is very much still, like, he was the love of my life, but, you know, he was The thing is that it's just like she was really young when it started.
And I'm sure she, like, reached an age where she was like, this is probably you know, there's moments where she was like, she really could have chosen a better path. Yeah. She's probably so deep into it, and they're like Mhmm. Held in such a high regard where she felt like she had to do certain things. Yeah.
Definitely yucky. Yeah. Definitely should be held responsible. I do think that there is something that is a good thing that she was so young. Yes.
And she was, like, be brought into his orbit by her dad who she trusted. Where dad go? I don't know. I mean, don't care, I guess. She was married so Sheila was married very young to this, guy that she met.
Was she married to this guy? She was married to a guy, like, when they she was younger. He had I don't remember what he had. He had something wrong with him, and he ended up dying very young. And so she quickly just put everything into the community.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that I I just think that, like, a point of her life where she's just, like, experiencing crazy desperation to find something, you know, like, big transitional points in your life are when you're the most vulnerable, for sure. What should we call this one?
Oh god. I should have been thinking about this the whole time, and I didn't. Oh, show no she didn't. Oh, show no Sheila didn't. I mean, it's not that bad.
It's really not. It's really? I mean, oh, okay. Well, that's it. This is seriously fucked.
Thanks for hanging. Thanks for hanging. Please follow us on Instagram or like and, review our podcast so that we can keep doing this. That's fun. We like to grow.
We like to do this. That's it. Bye. Bye. Oh my god.
Resources
Deslippe, Philip. “From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga”
Dyson, Pamela Saharah. Premka: White Bird in A Golden Cage. Eyes Wide Publishing. 2020
Scofield, Be. “Master of Deceit: How Yogi Bhajan Used Kundalini Yoga for Money, Sex And Power.” The Guru Magazine