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Part VIII : Conspiracy to destroy Rajneeshpuram
In June 1985, Rajneesh Foundation International (RFI) files
a class-action lawsuit against U.S. government, U.S. Attorney
Edwin Meese, U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz, and INS,
accusing them of federal conspiracy to convene a grand jury to
arrest Osho and Sheela during the festival. A second conspiracy
lawsuit claims Oregon state and county officials conspired to
destroy commune
The conspiracies, taking place over the five years, are very
complex, and best summed up as follows: at national level through
the INS, and fundamentalist Christians in Reagan's government
who have an anti-cult policy. At Oregon state level, Governor
Vic Atiyeh and Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer, supported by
land-use agencies, spearhead an anti-Rajneeshpuram campaign to
win votes. At Wasco County level officials use land-use issues
to deny building permits and extort exorbitant fines. Residents
in the nearby ghost town of Antelope join with local people to
harass sannyasins.
Osho is not directly involved in this but is asked to comment
on it. He recommends using the law courts. The commune wins most
of the cases, but it takes many years.
I was in America for five years, fighting in all the courts.
In the end my visa had expired long before, I had no visa, no
entry permit—but they had not the guts even to come into
the commune. They surrounded the whole commune—the commune
had one hundred and twenty-six square miles—they surrounded
the whole commune with the National Guard with machine guns, but
they did not dare to enter into the commune.
And we had nothing—just thirty semi-automatic guns, which
are available in America to any citizen. These belonged to the
police force of the commune, which was paid by the American government
because the police force was part of the American police force,
even though all the people were sannyasins who had taken the police
training. So they were afraid that "Although the police force
is ours, it is going to fight for the commune, not for us."
The greatest power in the world was afraid of thirty semiautomatic
guns. They were planning for years and years how to arrest me—and
I don't have even a paperknife!
To arrest me is so easy…. There was no need to handcuff
me, there was no need to put chains on me. You could just have
told me, "You are invited to the presidential guesthouse—the
jail," and I would have gone with them. There was no question
about it.
But you will be surprised…. They asked the FBI to arrest
me, and the head laughed. He said, "A single individual who
has not committed any crime, and you ask us to arrest him? We
will not." Even the head of the army was asked. He simply
laughed: "Have you gone mad? Has the army ever been called
to arrest a single individual who has nothing in his hands with
which to fight? You will make us a laughingstock all over the
world." He refused.
All the government agencies refused to arrest me, for the simple
reason that they could not show any reason why I should be arrested.
They could not say that I didn't have a visa, although my visa
had expired long before. They could not say it because I had applied
for renewing the visa, and they had not answered. They were afraid
that if they said no, I was going to take them to the court, up
to the Supreme Court, and it would take twenty years at least
to decide the matter. So "No" they could not say; "Yes"
they would not say.
So they did not tell the army or the government agencies that
"The only reason to arrest him is that he has been living
in America without any visa." It was their fault, not mine.
I had asked them again and again that "Either you say no,
or you say yes"—but they could not say either.
They could not say yes because the Christian church was pressuring
them that I should be thrown out of the country; once I am thrown
out of the country, the commune will disperse. The commune had
gathered out of love and gratitude around me, otherwise there
was no reason to be in that desert.
We transformed the desert into a garden. It was for sale for forty
years, and nobody was ready to purchase it—at any price.
What will you do with that desert? But our creative people made
houses, made dams, created small rivers. We had enough water in
our reservoirs so that even if for five years there was no rain,
we had reserves of water. We had planted so many trees that it
was not going to be long before the trees would attract the clouds.
We were cultivating in the desert enough food for the commune.
Five years more and the commune would have been absolutely independent.
We had our own cows for milk, we had our own hens laying eggs
for people's breakfast. We had our own fields, we had our own
greenhouses—because in the desert the sun is so hot, and
unless you make a greenhouse…We had our own greenhouses
for vegetables, for fruits. And this all was happening while we
were fighting with the government in every court. They were putting
imaginary cases…but once they put a case against you, you
have to fight it.
We had the greatest law firm in the whole world. Two of the attorneys
are here: Anando, Sangeet, and I think Niren was here just a few
days before—perhaps he may be here. We had four hundred
people in the law firm, four hundred people continuously working
on every aspect of American law and the Constitution.
If they had depended simply on law, there would have been no way
to destroy the commune. But they dropped all law, all Constitution,
they were simply mad! And that madness is not part of a cultured
religion. It is not civilization. christ06
My attorney, Swami Prem Niren, is sitting here. He is now doing
deep research into what was going on behind the screen when I
was in America. And such hilarious facts are coming out! One cannot
figure out whether this world is sane or a big madhouse.
The politicians and the church leaders were trying to force the
supreme court of Oregon to arrest me, send me to jail, or at least
deport me. But it was difficult for them to find any legal, constitutional
reason. They knew perfectly well that it was not going to be a
small thing. So first, a preparation was needed. And you will
not believe—just to arrest me, they wasted five and a half
million dollars in research work to find something that I might
have committed so that my arrest could be valid. They were at
a loss, because I am such a lazy man—to commit a crime is
such an impossibility. I have not even prepared a cup of tea for
myself in my whole life. Most of the time I am asleep. The few
hours I am awake, I am talking to you.
After five years of research, wasting five and a half million
dollars in the research…and the pressure was increasing.
But this is strange…A man cannot just be deported, because
then you are afraid that he will fight up to the Supreme Court.
On what grounds are you deporting him? And neither can you allow
him to live there—not because he is doing any harm to anybody,
but you cannot allow him to be, because he is hitting your very
roots.
I don't have to go anywhere to hit the roots. I can hit those
roots from here.
The Christian fundamentalists were angry because I said that Jesus
Christ, to me, is not a man of enlightenment. He may be good entertainment,
but he is not…And to crucify a man who has not done anything
except making statements which are simply stupid—"I
am the only begotten son of God."
Now anybody you meet in the street who says to you, "Listen,
I am the only begotten son of God," do you think it is right
to crucify him? At the most you can say, "It is perfectly
good." What is criminal in it? If he was saying, "I
am the one who can save the whole world"…so who is
preventing you? Save! But I don't think that he is worthy of a
cross. And when I said this, that the more I look into Jesus and
his psychology, I see only a crackpot and nothing else….
If there is no God, and Jesus Christ is a crackpot, then what
is the pope? Just a representative of a crackpot…. mani23
But I am disillusioned with America because I thought it is a
new country, just three hundred years old, well educated, economically
sound, one of the most powerful nations that has ever existed.
And I hope that there is a possibility for democracy to exist.
That possibility was the reason of my disillusionment—it
is not there, it is in the same boat with other countries, with
a mask of democracy. But inside the same fascist attitude.
The government was trying to destroy us. The Christianity was
trying to destroy us and they both joined together.
President Ronald Reagan is a fundamentalist Christian. Christianity
is one of the worst religions in the world and the fundamentalist
Christian is the worst Christian amongst other Christian sects.
It is the most fanatic sect.
The Christians were afraid because all the people that have gathered
around me were Christians, Jews. I have never told anybody to
drop his religion; there is no need. I simply explain to you how
your mind can be more silent, more clear and automatically your
conditionings go on disappearing. And with those conditionings
your religion and your sect and your God and your heaven and hell,
they all disappear.
The Christians were afraid that I am changing Christians. They
were forcing the government, the government was afraid that I
am creating a kind of communism. last510
Where our commune was situated in Oregon, three magistrates had
to decide whether to give Rajneeshpuram the status of a city or
not. One of them was a Mormon, and he was the most influential
of the three. One was against; the other was just wavering, but
because of the Mormon he voted for the city.
The Mormon judge used to come to the commune, and he loved the
place. And he himself told my secretary, "You should be alert
and aware, because what has happened to our leader…We were
not doing any harm to anyone, but our leader was shot. And the
man you are following is saying such outrageous things that the
danger is always there."
And what happened? Because of this Mormon judge the city was recognized.
For two years the city was on the map of America, in geography
books. The federal government was giving money to it, as to any
city; the state government was giving money to it. They managed
a very tricky thing. They persuaded the president of the Mormons
to send a message to the judge, "You have been chosen by
God to go to Nigeria for missionary work."
I wrote a letter to him, saying, "It is very strange that
in the whole world God has chosen you to go to Nigeria. I suspect
there is politics behind it—Ronald Reagan wants you to be
removed from the place. The only way to remove you is a direct
order from God."
And actually what I had visualized happened. The moment he was
removed another person was appointed and the three judges decided
that the city was no longer a city. That's what Ronald Reagan
and his government wanted: first take away the recognition, then
it is easy to destroy it. And they destroyed it. I had sent a
message to the magistrate, saying, "You will be responsible
for the destruction. You don't understand that it is a political
strategy."
After one year, when he came back, he recognized that something
strange had happened. The people who destroyed the commune were
also angry with the magistrate who had recognized it. hari05
In October 1983 Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer declares
Rajneeshpuram illegal because it violates church/state constitution.
Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission create new
rules retroactive against Rajneeshpuram. Wasco County then bans
further development and issues 32 citations for alledged building
violations.
Just the other day some information came to me: the attorney
general of Oregon has declared Rajneeshpuram illegal. The reason
that he has given is that here in Rajneeshpuram, religion and
state are mixed. person28
Because Rajneeshpuram is a unique city, an illegal city, a library
cannot be made here. The permission…the city does not exist
at all, so from whom to get the permission in a city which does
not exist? There are one hundred and fifty thousand books lying
in the warehouses here, rare books. But strange are the ways of
politicians.
Just a few days ago I heard the federal government of America
wrote a letter saying that the city had been given federal funds,
but now it has been informed by the state of Oregon that the city
does not exist, "so you please return the federal funds."
I enquired how much federal funds they had given. Two hundred
and fifty dollars! Great America!
If the city does not exist, who is going to return the funds?
And to whom are you addressing the letter? And in the first place
who informed you that it is a city? The state must have informed
you that this city. is incorporated; that is why you started giving
the funds. Now the same state informs you that the city does not
exist. You ask for the money from the state. And great federal
funds, two hundred and fifty dollars, have disappeared!
And this is just the opinion of the attorney general of Oregon,
that the city is illegal—just the opinion of a single individual
which is under consideration in the court. Until the court decides
whether his opinion is right or wrong, everything should remain
as it was till the litigation is over…
The attorney general is spreading his opinion that the city does
not exist to other agencies, federal and state. He was pressuring
the police department, saying, "Cut Rajneeshpuram's police
from the state police. The city does not exist, so what is the
need for a police force there?"
It is only his opinion. Unless the court decides that it is not
constituted, not incorporated legally…. It has been incorporated
legally by the court; it has remained for two years a legal city.
The government has been giving it funds for two years, and the
same attorney general was there for two years. It took him two
years to decide whether the city is legal or illegal? And he allowed
his own government to give funds; he allowed the federal government
to give funds. He allowed the police force to make the Rajneeshpuram
police force part of it.
Now, just because he wants to become the next governor, he wants
all the Oregonian voters in his favor—my sannyasins are
doing a great deal of good to many people…. Now this is
the only fact about Oregon which is decisive: if anybody is in
favor of us, he is going to lose the election. Anybody who is
against this commune and doing anything legal, illegal, moral,
immoral, to harm us—the whole of Oregon is for him.
Now this man has nothing against sannyasins. He has not even the
guts to come here and see whether the city exists or not. He should
come and see with his own eyes. He has not the guts. He has not
even the guts to appear on the same television program with Sheela.
Such cowards!
But that's how the political mind works. The attorney general
is making arrangements for the election for governor that is coming
in one and a half years. At least for one and a half years he
is going to be continuously harassing the city, saying that "You
are not legal"—although it does not make any difference.
Who wants to be legal? Only illegal people want to be legal, constitutional.
When you are not a criminal you don't think of the law at all;
only criminals think of law.
I have never thought in my whole life what it is to be legal because
I was never doing any illegal thing.
The attorney general knows perfectly well that he will be defeated,
but all he wants is the case to be postponed, prolonged till the
governorship happens; then he knows he will withdraw the case.
He should not be allowed to withdraw so easily. But that's the
politician's mind: just to go on prolonging, postponing; and that's
what he is doing. The date goes on being postponed; he has to
go on postponing it. person27
We are so happy with ourselves, we don't care at all. We are
so utterly contented that it does not matter. A few cases here
and there we can fight. And we are going to win, because the constitution
is in our favor and the law is in our favor. So they will be simply
proving themselves utter fools.
Just a few days before it happened: we had the annual festival—fifteen
thousand people were here from all over the world. The tents we
had made were special tents. We made them ourselves, and we had
made them so that they can be used in the winter. So they were
not ordinary tents, but they were still tents. And we have applied
for a patent for the tents, that we have invented a tent which
can be used in snow, which can be used in winter without any trouble,
without any problem. The attorney general immediately imposed
a fine. (aside) How much fine did he impose?
One point four million dollars.
One point four million. We asked them to "come and see before
you impose a fine. They are not permanent structures, so they
don't need any permission. And you have not seen them—none
of your officers have seen them. You have taken it for granted
that they are permanent structures just because they're winterized."
But nobody came. And I told my people, "You just take one
tent into the courtroom. Open the bag, put up the tent—it
takes ten minutes; and then unfold it—it takes ten minutes—and
ask the judge, "Can a permanent building be made in ten minutes
and taken down again in ten minutes? So this is a tent."
The judge simply dismissed the case and said, "This is absurd.
Nobody can make a permanent building in ten minutes."
Now, if this attorney general has any dignity he should have jumped
into the ocean! He must be a buffoon: you fine somebody one point
four million dollars without any grounds, without even looking
at what you are punishing them for…. All their cases are
like this, and we are going to prove in each case that they are
being behaving in a stupid way.
It is better for them that they should come. We have no antagonism
against them. We have no political aspirations, we have no political
parties, we are not concerned at all; just leave us alone….
But they cannot leave us alone! last225
As early as 1982 Oregon Governor, Vic Atiyeh puts 300 national
guard and several helicopters on call during the July Festival
'to protect local Oregonians'
Strange. We are such a small minority, and the governor keeps
the army alert, that any moment they are ordered, within three
hours they have to be able to reach Rajneeshpuram. I cannot believe
that you can choose such idiots as governors. What has the army
to do here? If they want their army to learn meditation, we can
invite them. There is no need to keep them alert—we can
make them alert twenty-four hours a day! They should ask us. And
they can go on sending one battalion after another and we will
destroy their whole army by making them alert. Because an alert
person cannot kill; only sleeping people can destroy. last207
In September 1984, Oregon Attorney General, Dave Frohnmayer,
calls a secret meeting with National Guard, FBI, INS, IRS, state
police and state agencies.
Before the last election in America, the governor of Oregon had
a secret meeting of all the top officials of his government. The
attorney general was there, Norma Paulus was there, and everybody
who means anything in the government. They did not allow the journalists
inside…. And still you go on calling this a democratic country?
They were deciding about my people, but they did not allow any
of my people to be present there. And the governor came out and
gave a press conference in which he lied completely. What happened
inside and what he said outside are completely contradictory.
In the press conference he said, "Things are normal. There
is no need to be afraid, everything is in control. We are trying
to calm down the Rajneeshees."
I don't know how he was trying to calm us down. He never came
here, he never sent a message to us, but he was calming us down.
Does he think he is a magician? And he said he was trying to keep
the opposing people from getting too hot.
Inside, everything was different. Now the confidential record
of the meeting has been found—he was thinking it had been
burned. But in this world impossible things also happen. Now we
know what happened inside the meeting; there was no question of
calming anyone down, no question of creating peace. On the contrary,
they were deciding how much time it would take their army to reach
Rajneeshpuram to destroy it completely. They had decided to put
the army on alert so any moment, within three hours, they could
destroy my people.
Of course, in a way it is calming us down. If you are not here,
there will be calm. It has been calm here in this place for many
decades, but that calmness was death. There was only one house,
and there was only one family to look after this big place. It
is one hundred and twenty-six square miles—three times bigger
than New York. Of course it was calm. There were no birds to sing,
there were no trees to blossom. It was a dead place; we made it
alive.
Now birds have started coming. Nature has a tremendous harmony
when there are so many people loving, singing, dancing. Birds
have started coming to this place, flowers have started blossoming.
But it is not noisy, it is not "hot" in the governor's
sense. You cannot find a cooler place in the whole world. Of course
the sun is hot—that is not our fault. But the place is cool,
calm, there is no disturbance. In these four years there has not
been a single fight. But they want to destroy this calmness. They
would love to have a dead place, the serenity of a cemetery.
There is serenity in a garden too. Do you think birds singing,
flowers moving in the air, disturb anything? They make the silence
deeper, meaningful. Silence in itself is meaningless unless it
has the potential for a song, unless it has something in it to
blossom, something to grow.
In the meeting they decided that the army should be put on alert,
and the army was put on alert. And they were ready, in three hours,
to destroy this place, these people. Of course we would have died
singing and dancing. We would have made history.
But these people make me sad—and they are in power, and
they go on lying. Now what do you call it—is it not a conspiracy,
to tell the people that everything is normal? Then why is the
army on alert? And what crime have we committed that we have to
be destroyed? false05
Do you think it…one day it might lead to bloodshed?
It is all in their hands, because the governor is keeping the
army on the alert. It looks so stupid! We have invited him that,
"You should come and see that these peaceful people, they
don't go out…." The nearest neighbor is twenty miles
away; we have nothing to do with anybody. We are living like a
separate island and we don't have to depend on anybody else. We
have everything that we need—you just come and see. And
if you see that this is a place where you have to bring an army,
you just tell us why, what is the reason.
But no, they don't have the guts to come and see. And the day
they had this secret meeting of all the government agencies' chiefs,
where they decided that the army should be kept on the alert so
that within three hours they should be able to reach Rajneeshpuram—the
attorney general did not allow any of our representatives. "You
were discussing us, you wanted to take some decision about us—at
least you should listen to our story too!" He did not allow
that. He did not allow the press either.
The press were not allowed, and he said, "I will talk to
the press after the meeting." And whatever he talked was
an absolute lie. Whatever had happened in the meeting, he did
not mention a single thing to the press, and whatsoever he mentioned
to the press was not discussed inside the meeting. Just by chance
one journalist managed to get the secret file, and it was shown
on the television. Now we have got a copy from that journalist
of a document in which they are preparing for a war!
It seems so idiotic….
Has the governor visited here at all?—state governor.
No. None of these people who have been deciding there, in that
meeting, none of them has been here. And every day we are in the
news, every day on the television, in every magazine, every newspaper—it
is not that anything is hidden here. They can come—and we
invited them as our guests!
But, no—they don't want to come.
I welcome visitors, because that's the only way the world to become
acquainted with us. last220
Just a few days ago was the president's election here. What I
heard was, that before the election on the sixth of November,
on the night of the fifth of November, before the Wasco County
Court, all the Christian congregations gathered. All the priests—who
are enemies of each other, continually fighting, arguing about
who is right, who is wrong and who is closer to Christ and God
and who is not closer, and who is really orthodox and who has
just gone astray—they all gathered there together. All the
priests, with all their congregations, before the county courthouse…for
what? To pray against the Antichrist, to save Wasco County.
Now who is the Antichrist in Wasco County? And Wasco County needs
to be saved from the Antichrist? I really enjoyed it, that they
are all praying for me—because I don't think there is anybody
else who can claim to be the Antichrist. But I am a little crazy.
They say I am anti-Christ, anti-Buddha, anti-Mahavira, anti-Krishna,
anti-semite…. Anything—just put "anti" before
it and it refers to me. And in reality I am just for myself and
not against anybody. I don't care a bit about Christ, so why should
I be anti-Christ? I don't care about anybody! They never cared
about me, why should I care about them?
These people go on…. The journalists asked the priests,
"Who is the Antichrist?" and they were not even courageous
enough to utter my name. They just went round and round answering,
"We are just praying so that the county is saved from evil
forces." But why only Wasco County? Are all the evil forces
gathered here in Wasco County? They should have gone to the White
House in Washington and prayed there. because if all the evil
forces are gathered anywhere, there are two places: the Kremlin
and the White House. And if the world is going to suffer, it is
going to suffer from these two places: the Kremlin and the White
House. ignor04
Offices have been rented in the nearby 'ghost' town of Antelope,
mainly for the use of telephones, as there is only one line into
the ranch. Antelope residents create obstacles for sannyasins.
Sannyasins are elected to the city council, and the name is changed
to City of Rajneesh.
There has been a great deal of controversy about sannyasins living
in Antelope and being elected to the city council. The people
in Antelope are hostile to you, so what is the point of sannyasins
living there.
In fact, you bring me to something in which I have no interest.
Just not to be impolite to you, I am answering it….
When we came here we needed our people to stay in Antelope, because
there were no houses here. Before we made houses and roads and
restaurants and eating places, they had to remain in Antelope.
The population of Antelope was less than my sannyasins. And the
Antelope population started behaving with great hostility: they
wouldn't allow any permit, they wouldn't allow them to purchase
any land, they wouldn't allow change of zone—small things.
My people told them, "We don't want your city or your government.
We are simply here for the time being, and we will be moving to
our own city. But we have to create the city, and before we create
it we have to be here. This is the nearest place."
And because they wouldn't listen, and they tried in every possible
way to hinder, naturally my people thought that the best way was
to take over the government. What is the need of asking permission
from these people when we have the government and we give the
permission?—so they took over, there was no problem in it.
If you had come four years ago and seen Antelope, you would not
have believed it….
They are trying to collect 84,000 signatures so that in the next
election they can ask the governor to dissolve Antelope into Wasco
County.
They certainly know they cannot win, because only eight or ten
old Antelopians are there and one hundred sannyasins are there.
They cannot win democratically, and this is absolutely unconstitutional.
If it is done, then we are going to fight up to the Supreme Court.
Was it constitutional to take it over in the first place?
Taking over is not the problem. They are the majority; the majority
should rule. It is not a question of taking over.
Is it an important enough question though, now that your city
is established?
Not yet. They are not allowing it to be established yet. Our city
is under litigation. And we have been telling them that if you
allow us whatever we need, if you help—and we are creating
a beautiful place for you in a desert—we can leave Antelope.
That was our basic proposal to them. last118
There are increasing pressures and law-suits from government
agencies to destroy Rajneeshpuram, and rumours of a Grand Jury
investigation, causing the Commune legal department to file the
conspiracy law-suits.
In one case they were trying to find twelve jurors who were unprejudiced
to me and to the commune. They interviewed at least fifty people,
and putting their hand on the Bible they became afraid and they
said, "We are prejudiced." So they were rejected as
jurors; otherwise, they were going to sit as a jury.
Now these people were rejected—because we insisted that
their interview should be taken and their oath. It was so difficult
that even the judge said, "Your cases should be decided outside
of the state of Oregon because in Oregon you cannot get justice.
Everybody is prejudiced." transm37
There are so many cases going in the courts against me—false,
utter lies. And we are defeating all those cases, because they
are against their own laws, against their own constitution. last224
We fight the government, the government agencies. But we follow
their rules because we are playing their game. And we can play
the game better than they are playing. In four years we have proved
to them how stupid they are. Laws are made by them, rules are
made by them, but we can find loopholes in their laws and loopholes
in their rules. And we are going to be here, and are going to
fight to the ultimate end.
So we are not against their laws. But their laws are made by
mediocre politicians, and we have far more intelligent people
to fight them. We have the biggest law firm in the whole world—four
hundred legal experts continuously getting ready for more and
more fights on more and more grounds.
And your governments—the state government, the federal
government—are all doing many things illegally, against
the constitution. It is their constitution, it is their law, but
they are doing things against it, going against it. We will be
in favor of the constitution and we will go against them. We will
be in favor of the laws and prove to these people that they are
acting illegally. So our way of fighting is not to disobey; our
way is to prove that we are obeying the laws and you are disobeying
your own laws. The laws are yours, made by you, and you have committed
so many stupidities in them that we are perfectly capable of fighting
with you. last128
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