A PASSAGE TO AMERICAby Ma Anand Bhagawati&nbsp;I was alone at the Rajneeshpuram (Oregon) press office late in the afternoon on Sunday, October 27, 1985 when Roger Worthington from the Chicago Tribune suddenly burst in, shouting, "The Bhagwan is leaving! I must call my editor!" He told me that there were two Learjets standing at our airport. Minutes later I heard one take off. It was followed shortly thereafter by the second, apparently with Osho – then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh –on board.&nbsp;Late that night I got a phone call telling me that Osho had been arrested at the other end of that trip. I was shocked. But I had a job to do. I went down to our communal living room with lists of journalists' names and phone numbers and began calling, starting with "Bhagwan has been arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina." We thought that a significant media presence in Charlotte would have an impact and ensure his safety.&nbsp;While there was always a lot happening at the city commune of Rajneeshpuram – which residents simply called "The Ranch" – the lead up to these events was particularly stressful. In September Osho had exposed a catalogue full of secret crimes planned and committed by the previous administration and there were all sorts of government agencies coming down daily to investigate. There were rumors of this and that. The National Guard coming in to take over the place. There were rumors of Osho's imminent arrest that took an humorous turn when he anresponded &nbsp;to a question in discourse on October 1, 1985 about a rumor in the air that he was to be arrested on that day or the next. He said, “Aha! That's really groovy. That's the only experience I have missed in my life. And knowing that this is my last life, I would certainly want to be arrested. Make sure that I am handcuffed, because whenever I do anything, I do it totally.I am perfectly happy. I don't want to miss this opportunity. But why tomorrow? -- because tomorrow never comes. It is better today. Arrest me today. And arrest me as a criminal, handcuffed, so the whole world can see that this government is not for the people, of the people, by the people. That this government is, behind a mask of democracy, as dictatorial, as fascist as it can be.”&nbsp;Rumors and more rumors. At the time we couldn't sort out fact from fiction. Meanwhile, life went on. We worked, danced, read, meditated, made love. And now the most unbelievable event had happened, Osho’s arrest. The following day, the authorities claimed that his detention in Charlotte was a “last-minute” attempt to prevent him from evading justice. An arrest in Rajneeshpuram had already been planned. The only issue with that scenario is that there were no arrest warrants at the airport when Osho was apprehended by 12 highly armed and turbocharged government operatives and shackled with chains around his wrists, waist and ankles. There were no arrest warrants issued during the whole week of bail hearings in Charlotte. Why were there no arrest warrants? Because there were no arrests planned for that or any other day. This was obviously not a last-minute event.&nbsp;Thus from the get go the government's actions were illegal. Which included 12 days of incarceration, including a 3 day deliberate disappeareance in Oklahome City, a plea bargained deportation, and the sudden collapse of a $150 million city commune built up around Osho and his vision for a better, more conscious humanity. In other words, the real criminals in this case were not Osho and his sannyasins, but the government officials who went to persisent and extreme lengths to drive him out of town.&nbsp;According to Brecher, A Passage to America "unequivocally demonstrates that there was numerous plots against both Osho and his sannyasins. Not just one. Various state and federal agencies and departments with disparate goals pushed the ongoing conspiracies, which were not very well organized. The gangs that couldn't shoot straight. Their attitude was:&nbsp; 'We will investigate you until we discover something. Anything!' And this wasn't restricted to basic legalistic stalking. There were also assassination plots."&nbsp;To this day most of the world press corp still hasn't caught up to what really happened.Not so Max Brecher, who didn't run with the rat pack of received, but unsubstantiated, opinion. He dug and dug some more. Travelled thousands of miles to conduct taped interviews with major and minor players. Pored through mountains of court documents and historical data (mosrly media reports).Then painstakingly combed through the material, making the connections, contrasting and comparing. He said, "It was important to read between the lines and lies to see what was going on behind the scenes. The goal was to identify the differences between public statements made and the underlying motives and nature of events. Separate the wheat from the chaff.."&nbsp;Operating at full tilt, he finished writing the book one month before Osho's passing. In some sense, the timing couldn't have been more providential. "I had a major scoop on a world story – saying in effect that all of you got it all wrong – at the moment that the main character just died. I was seeing dollar signs." But no one was interested. According to 20 or so publishers he approached, the story had already been told. It wasn't news. One publisher, who obviously hadn't read the manuscript, told his New York agent that it was "a puff piece".&nbsp;He finally made his discoveries public in India in 1991 at the first, aborted, launch of his book in the fall of 1991. A prestigious Indian publisher, Motilal Banarsidass, had signed a contract but later reneged because he didn't want to annoy the Americans. There was lots of local press coverage, all favourable. This book was finally published at the start of 1993. It is widely regarded as the most reliable historical account of events in and around Rajneeshpuram. Strangely though, the popular Netflix 6-part series Wild Wild Country, on Osho and his commune, whose producers couldn't have not known about the book before they wrote their script, made no attempt to contact its author to hear his take on events Why? Because they didn't want to know. They opted for sensation and scandal instead of trying to discover what pushes led to what shoves. Who threw the first punches?&nbsp;American governments behaving badly isn't news any more. Especially in Canada. What makes this book worthy of a review in your magazine is the spiritual side of Osho's vision. In a podcast a few years back, Brecher said, "Take it or leave it – it's up to you – but Osho deserves to be seen in the light of who he was and what he actually stood for, not the smear campaign of a guru on the run fleeing justice. His major theme of Zorba the Buddha combines the physical and spiritual. Living a not holier than thou earthy life to the hilt – delightenment – and reaching for the stars. There just might be something in it..&nbsp;The rebranded and republished book can be found on Max Brecher's website athttps://maxbrechersbookstobuy.com/ in PDF and other formats for the incredibly low priceof $5. He can be contacted through his website.&nbsp;