Because of their praise of poverty, poverty has persisted in the world. Rajneesh had never made any secret of his procapitalist sentiments and his fondness for expensive objects of conspicuous consumption.Īs he explained in a 1982 interview with an INS officer who asked him about the importance of wealth, “All the religions have commanded and praised poverty, and I condemn all those religions. Today, most Americans probably remember Rajneesh primarily as the “Rolls-Royce Guru,” who made national headlines because of his massive fleet of expensive cars and his daily “drive-bys” in which he drove his Rolls slowly along a road of cheering red-clad sannyasins at the ranch. Credit: WikipediaĪlthough he had entered into a vow of silence in 1981, Rajneesh was in many ways the fluid, protean center of this complex multinational corporation. Sannyasins wait to catch a sight of Rajneesh on one of his drive-bys. It is characterized by the emergence of entirely new sectors of production, new ways of providing financial services, new markets and, above all, greatly intensified rates of commercial, technological and organizational innovation.Īs a kind of “charismatic” multinational corporation with a wide array of fluid, protean forms, the Rajneesh movement was in many ways not just a reflection but the epitome of flexible accumulation, which Harvey sees as the condition of postmodernity. rests on flexibility with respect to labour processes, labour markets, products and patterns of consumption. The early Rajneesh movement in Pune was a kind of spiritual reflection of the increasingly decentralised and shifting dynamics of “disorganised capitalism.” Yet by the 1980s, the movement had evolved into a fluid multinational network of protean corporate structures that were perhaps uniquely suited to the dynamics of what David Harvey calls “flexible accumulation.” In the global marketplace of postmodernity, as Harvey suggests, funds can be transferred and exchanged instantaneously from any point on the planet, through a network of constantly shifting, increasingly flexible corporate structures, labor markets, and patterns of consumption:įlexible accumulation. Ironically, while Rajneesh presented a radically iconoclastic and rebellious message, and the surrounding American society saw the commune as a dangerous and deviant cult, Rajneeshpuram was also in some ways a striking embodiment of the global dynamics of late capitalism. “Corporate identities are used as disposable devices… created as a need of the moment arises and discarded… Specialised corporations of limited life spans can be created to provide vehicles for new activities or transfers of assets.” The individual businesses within the Rajneesh Foundation served, in effect, as “empty forms” or fluid structures that might be a discotheque one week, a yoga center the next, or a health-food store the next, depending on the shifting needs of the market. In all, some twenty corporations were created worldwide with twenty-eight bank accounts, including twelve in Switzerland.Īs the academic Lewis Carter suggests, this global network had a markedly fluid and flexible structure rather than a fixed corporate organisation with permanent structures, the Rajneesh movement adapted quickly to the needs of different contexts. These included not only meditation centers and spiritual institutions but also seemingly “secular” enterprises, such as discotheques and restaurants. On the contrary, the Oregon community was very much interrelated with and dependent upon a vast global network of Rajneesh centers. Yet as a charismatic multinational corporation, the operations of the Rajneesh movement were by no means limited to the United States. As Hugh Milne recalls, “Bhagwan said that in the new commune we would grow money on trees… Bhagwan was quite open about the fact that the primary object was to make money.”
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Overall, between 19, an estimated $130 million poured into the ranch.
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During the 1984 festival, the 15,000 people attending spent over $10 million.
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Admission for the seven-day festival was $509 for a place in a four-person tent or $1,804 for a room in the hotel, while the cost of the therapy groups, food and drink in the restaurant, and souvenirs, was extra. And finally, a huge amount of money flowed in during the annual World Festival, which began in the summer of 1982. A great deal of revenue also came from the many courses offered at the ranch, which ranged from the “Rajneesh Fresh Beginning Course” ($2,500) and “Rajneesh Movement Therapy” ($2,100) to the “Rajneesh DeHypnotherapy Basic Course” ($5,500) and “Rajneesh Rebalancing Course” ($7,500). Some of this came from sannyasins, including many who were willing to sell their possessions to support the ranch (such as one who recalls selling his Porsche for $20,000 to donate to the cause). In a remarkably short time, a great deal of money began to flow into and through the Oregon commune.