Pune, Nov. 25: The Buddha hall controversy has once again brought the mysterious and secretive world of the uppermost echelons of Osho Commune International under the spotlight.
Who are the people at the helm of commune affairs? What is their agenda? What are they planning to do with the enormous wealth and property amassed in Osho's name? Is this wealth being used to spread Osho's vision? Or is it being quietly and subtly usurped?
These are some of the questions being intensely discussed and debated on the Internet by a large number of followers of the controversial guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Osho), in and outside India.
In its heydays, the circular, marble-floored hall, with a tent-like canopy, used to be the venue for a daily, electrifying spectacle. Often in the evenings, Osho, in his Gucci goggles and flashy robes, would arrive in his Rolls Royce from his Lao Tzu residence, located barely 350 metres from the hall, enter the hall from one of its rear doors, and, after a characteristic namaskaar, deliver discourses, or just meditate.
These were post-Oregon days in the late 1980s, when Osho, driven out of the United States and subsequently from 21 other countries where he had sought refuge, had returned to his base in
Pune. Many Oshoites see the Buddha hall as their "birthplace" as was pointed out on the Internet by Ghoshana, an Oshoite from Holland.
"The Buddha hall is my 'birthplace'. It is where I found my true self and the joy of being. It is where I met Osho for the first time, back in 1989. The Buddha hall has the energy of our beloved master. It has given birth to so many people.... If Buddha's Bodhi tree could be saved for thousands of years, why cannot we, the
sannyasins, save our beloved Buddha hall from coming down?" he said.
As in the past, Commune authorities were reticent and refused to reply to specific questions
posted by The Times of India. However, offering matter-of-fact explanation was Commune spokesperson Richa Kaushish, who issued a press note stating that the Buddha hall had been replaced by a pyramid-shaped meditation hall and an adjoining guest house as per Osho's instructions.
"This new hall replaces the temporary, tented structure, which lasted mysteriously until the completion of the new hall," Kaushish said.
The Buddha hall episode, however, is just one in a series of startling events that have rocked the Commune over the last two years.
