NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JAN 29
Claiming that all is not well with the Osho International Foundation (OIF) which manages Rajneeshpuram in Pune, as OIF trustees have closed the doors of Osho samadhi there for his disciples, Rashtriya Agnee Sena led by Osho disciple Swami Gynanasagar announced the construction of ‘Rajneeshpuram Osho Tapovana Ashram’ in Gujarat.
Speaking with navjeevanexpress.com, Swami Gynanasagar said, “We have purchased 11 acres of land on the banks of Narmada at Kosam village in Kapadvanj taluka of Kheda district in Gujarat. All necessary permissions have been obtained to start the construction of ‘Rajneeshpuram Osho Tapovana Ashram’. It will be built at a cost of Rs 80 crore and open to all. This campus will be set of on the lines of Rajneeshpuram of Oregon in the United States. Once the campus is ready, under the ‘Osho Returns, Healthy India Mission’, we will initiate the process to preserve the legacy of Osho’s amazing 108 meditations and lectures. We will hold all activities for Osho disciples free of cost.”
The Swami also alleged that after the death of Osho, the trustees of the Osho International Foundation have clandestinely set up a new world headquarters in the US. The so-called world headquarters is continued to earn a lot of money in the name of copyrights and trademark of Osho’s books and other materials. Thus the income earned was not ploughed back to Osho International Ashram – Pune, the original headquarters.
Another Osho disciple, Sanjay Patel, who is spearheading the legal struggles, said, “The OIF, which partly owns the Osho Meditation Centre, as the ashram is called, in Pune, had in 2020 proposed to sell off the plots concerned alleging financial distress citing the pandemic COVID. In 2020, as the centre ceased operations and closed gates for outsiders, the Osho International Foundation made its deal with Rajiv Bajaj, MD and CEO of Bajaj Auto, who lives on an adjacent plot. We have moved the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner as well as the Mumbai High Court and stalled their move to sell off a 2-acre plot of land inside the Osho ashram in Pune’s Koregaon Park for over Rs 100 crore.”
Mukesh Kantilal Sarda, Devendra Singh Deval, Sadhana Belapurkar and Lal Pratap Singh are the present trustees of the Osho International Foundation. A protest by Osho’s disciples from across the country will be organised on March 21 outside the Pune ashram opposing the four trustees, Patel added.
