The Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the guru who drew thousands of followers to central Oregon by preaching a blend of Eastern religion, pop psychology and free love, died Friday of heart failure, his spokesman said. He was 58.
Rajneesh, known as Osho Rajneesh in recent years, died at his commune in the southern city of Poona, where he had lived since being deported from the United States in 1985."Osho left his body at 5:30 p.m. The doctors say it's heart failure," spokesman Swami Kirti said in a telephone interview.
As "the Bhagwan," a Hindi word for "god," Rajneesh presided over a 64,000-acre commune in central Oregon from 1981 until 1985, when he pled guilty to violating federal immigration laws.
In its heyday, the commune known as "Rajneesh Puram" was home to 4,000 red-clad followers, who toiled for 12 hours a day and showered Rajneesh with jewels and Rolls-Royces that he used for daily drives past lines of singing, clapping fans.
Residents of nearby communities resented the intrusion, and Rajneesh's top aide was eventually convicted in an elaborate scheme designed to gain political control of the county.
Rajneesh pleaded guilty to immigration charges in 1985 and under a plea agreement received a suspended 10-year sentence, paid a $400,000 fine, and agreed not to return to the United States for five years without the written permission of the U.S. attorney general.
He returned to India, and in December 1988 dropped the Hindu honorific of Bhagwan.
In July 1986, Ma Anand Sheela, who ran the Oregon commune's business affairs as Rajneesh's top lieutenant, pleaded guilty to charges that included poisoning several county officials and masterminding food poisonings that sickened more than 750 diners at restaurants in the county seat.
The crimes were allegedly part of a plot aimed at gaining political control of the county.
Sheela was sentenced to 41/2 years in prison and ordered to be deported when her sentence was served.