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The labels “commune” and “ashram” have been unceremoniously dropped, Ma and Swami shrugged off as prefixes. Life-size photographs of the man with the flowing beard and piercing eyes, Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain aka Acharya Rajneesh aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh aka Osho, have disappeared from the walls and corners. The swirl of maroon robes remains—you still have to wear one to enter—as does the initiatory ritual of an HIV test. But the Pune ashram of the man who preached a path from sex to superconsciousness is a sanitised space—the Osho International Meditation Resort.

The easy thing, of course, would be to succumb to the notion, as well as the opinion of many an old-timer, that in its compulsion to keep up with the times, the centre has somewhat misplaced its soul. The trappings of modern-day luxury that dot the 40-acre complex, from the huge swimming pool to the Jacuzzis, from the tennis courts to the restaurants, will bear you out. The drug orgies that shocked Pune in the ’90s don’t make headlines anymore and there is more than a whiff of conformism in the description of the place as “the only place in the world that combines meditation with resort facilities”.

Except that, as Amrit Sadhana, who has been associated with the commune since the ’70s and is now part of the management team for India, suggests—this is perhaps a change to subtlety. You could call it growing up. From the days of wild abandon in the ’70s to the rebellion of the ’80s to the ’90s, when the commune tried too hard to be accepted by inviting Zakir Hussain and Hariprasad Chaurasia on Osho’s death and birth anniversaries, the Osho centre seems to have matured.

For one, it is no longer screaming for attention—quite its hallmark even a few decades ago; the controversies it gets embroiled in are far and few in between. No celebrities are tom-tommed to sell the place and after decades of trial and error, the movement seems to be getting together a blueprint that assimilates its strengths and philosophy. The context, too, is more familiar than mysterious, more participative than merely exotic.

Carlos Zanasi (61), a celebrated Italian chef who has been coming to the centre for three months every year since 1977, says the change is wonderful. “It’s always good to grow. You can’t be static. I come here every year,” he says. Psychotherapist Hector Aristizabal from Columbia (47) has returned to the centre after five years. “I come back for the meditation and the ambience that encourages people to go through their own personal processes. This is one of the few places in the world that is touching new heights in psychotherapy. Yes, I do find the place has changed. There are more celebrations here now,” he says.

Never mind what the management wishes, visitors still call it the ashram. “We prefer the name Osho International Meditation Resort to ashram or commune as the terms are associated with gurus and religions and Osho was in complete disdain of both. The current name is in harmony with Osho’s directions given before he left his body,” says Sadhana. Adds Amrito, a Brit who was Osho’s physician and is also part of the management team, “An ashram for most people means a place where you’d be taken care of and where you don’t have to do anything yourself. Osho had no intentions of creating this kind of a society. This is not a place one escapes to, but where one comes, learns and goes back with enhanced knowledge about life and self.” 

That, perhaps, is why Sadhana and other women followers have shrugged off the prefix that had been theirs for years. “There are no Mas and Swamis here any more. We go by our names,” she says nonchalantly. Amrito talks about the 1989 public meeting in Buddha Hall, which, he says, was arranged on Osho’s directions, and where Amrito and two other senior disciples, Anando and Neelam, spoke.
The session was recorded and the video shown to Osho. “In that meeting, we told the people about the vision Osho had for the centre. He wanted us to create the most beautiful spiritual health club in the world. A kind of Club Med., spiritual Club Med., as in ‘meditation’. He wanted a huge swimming pool, tennis courts, a dojo for martial arts and a house for creative arts like painting, sculpture, dance, music, theatre and a mystery school with a complete smorgasbord of every kind of esoterica. He wanted a health club, beauty club, a spa, gymnasium, medical center, discos and restaurants. And that’s what we have done. The process started right then,” says Amrito.

They make no claims to a larger philosophy of freedom and the “new man”. The ashram is a more chilled out, if a less interesting place in terms of ideas.
And so you have the new resort complex that covers 2,50,000 square feet and comprises the guesthouse, the auditorium and the sprawling kitchen and dining area. The Osho auditorium is a pyramid-shaped meditation hall that reaches up to 84 feet in height. The guesthouse on top comprises 60 tastefully done up air-conditioned rooms with double beds and attached bathrooms, to give the visitor “a five-star facility at three-star rates”. All this is in addition to the earlier complex of the Buddha grove, the multiversity complex, meditation rooms and the boutique that sells Osho robes and the bookstore.

Osho’s photographs might not be spotted easily but the walls are adorned by abstract paintings, some with his complicated signature scribbled on them. “Osho never wanted to be a cult figure. This is in deference to that sentiment,” defends Sadhana.
The changes have not come in the way of popularity. Business has grown by almost 300 per cent after his death. And around 2,000-odd visitors come to the resort daily, about 80 per cent of them foreigners. Germans were once the dominant nationality but now there is a surge of Koreans, Austrailians, Canadians, Americans and Europeans looking for peace.

Sadhana puts the average age of the visitors at 30-35 but you cannot help notice that the groups are getting younger by the day. Visitors without the baggage of memories and history are welcome. “They don’t ask where Osho’s pictures are. They come here for the meditation packages we offer and know the value of all he taught is in there,” says Sadhana.
Among the more welcome changes is the fact that the centre in its resort avatar seems more accessible to the public. Anyone willing to undergo an HIV test and who tests negative is allowed to be a part of the activities, according to the packages offered.

Not everyone is bowled over by the transformation of the commune to a resort-spa. Swami Chaitanya Keerti, founder of the Delhi-based Osho World and former spokesperson of the commune, before it split into two in 2000, says what is missing is the love for people who have been coming there for a long time. “The spirit, the feeling of being in a sangh, that is not there anymore. By dropping Ma and Swami from their names, they are mercilessly killing the spirit of sanyas,” he says.
There are allegations that the inner circle, a group of 21 who, according to the authorities are people chosen by Osho to run the centre, are beholden to the West. “The inner circle members were chosen by Jayesh or Michael O’Byrne (a Canadian real estate agent who is supposed to control the circle). The management team has no power and the entire control rests with Osho World New York. All notices sent on behalf of the commune originate from New York. We had walked out on this issue,” says Keerti.

Sadhana refutes the allegations and says that the breakaway faction hasn’t even visited the resort since its revamp. Amrito is at pains to explain why the makeover has not diluted the spiritual focus. “This impression is only held by those who have not attended the evening meeting where hundreds and hundreds of people sit in complete silence for the discourse and meditation. The scene is indescribable. The survival of this place depends on this daily gathering. Without it, it’s just another resort. With it, it’s the most unique thing in the world—a meditation resort,” he says.
As the sound of laughter and music ripples outwards, a question remains. What would Osho have made of it? The piercing eyes hold no answer.

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