MovieChat Forums > Wild Wild Country (2018) Discussion > Ma Anand Sheela

Ma Anand Sheela

posted 7 years ago by blissquest (133)
15 replies | jump to latest

Just finished binging on all 6 episodes (I was fast-forwarding throughout 5 - got boring)
There turns out to be a 40 minute documentary on Youtube with a lot more information than what Netflix presents in over 5 hours!

In my Opinion, Sheela is probably the most genuine of them all. Her position as secretary (manager/assistant) is clear from the onset and she pretty much stays true to that role throughout. She simply worked for Bhagwan and was not one of his followers. Bhagwan basically betrayed her when she decided to leave, and if she had, in fact, stolen the amounts he had claimed, I doubt she would have done the Stern Magazine interview, or end up working where she is today.

Bhagwan's lawyer, though a nice guy, is just another devotee with strong principles of loyalty. I like him as well, but not as much as Sheela.

[–] Galactus03 (4377) 7 years ago

Sheela tried to have to have the doctor killed though.

[–] blissquest (133) 7 years ago

A doctor who was allegedly prescribing mind-altering drugs to a spiritual leader of a community with thousands of followers. Don't you see the potential danger there? I don't condone what she tried to do, but I completely understand why. Bhagwan was (voluntarily) basically being manipulated, and she felt that she needed to act.

[–] Geff (453) 6 years ago

She's a pathological liar. I don't believe a single thing that comes out of her mouth. This is the same person who said Osha was saying that he thought there would be an apocalypse. Absurd lies!

[–] smidget28 (803) 7 years ago

Genuine? I don't take her that way.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I think she was pure evil.

Having too much power got to her head and she basically created her own cult of fanatics within the cult. She left because she knew she was about to lose it all. She never blamed Osho for her crimes, so it was all her. She didn't only try to kill the doctor, she poisoned people outside and inside the cult. She spied on everyone by tapping their phones and reading all the mail. She massively sedated homeless people. And this is just what we know from the documentary.

Osho seemed genuine at the beginning of his movement, but he was probably just happy living a life of luxury and having sex with women once he arrived in Oregon.

The lawyer was genuine, but kinda pathetic with his blind loyalty.

[–] ribtin (153) 7 years ago

Yep, that about sums it up.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

I agree. She knew exactly what she was doing and had no regard for right or wrong... A sociopath.

I think contemporary audiences will be drawn to her and will probably empathise with her and imbue her actions with meaning and sensitivity where there is none. People today seem to have been trained to like and excuse sociopathic behaviour, especially among their leaders and their heroic figures. You can see this in their love for psychos in comicbook movies, either psycho villains like the Joker, or psycho 'heros' like Batman and so on...

I don't think they recognise that Sheela basically ran the ministery of the interior for this cult. Their version of a Stasi and CIA rolled into one... If their cult had taken over Oregon, it would have turned into a police state within the US with Sheela at the helm...

I think the Bogwan/Osho is just another charlatan mystic, but he had the innovation of embracing materialism as part of his ideology; Therefore his religion can grow quickly in a capitalist system, in our modern times. As with most of these types, they really have no regard for their subjects and see them just as tools for their own pleasure and ego... They don't care that these people are losing their autonomy, or are being deluded... It's insidious as he entices people with the prospect of healing their psychic wounds and filling their emotional and social voids...

The lawyer is a true beleiver, even after all of this has been done and the guru had died... He still beleives... As pathetic as he is tragic and I think added a lot to the story to include him in the documentary, especially as he is also clearly a very intelligent and sensitive guy...

This is a great documentary to watch with a critical eye... Talking about it with friends, I was surprised to learn that a couple of them had read and were "into" some Osho books! wow!

[–] Geff (453) 6 years ago

HOW!? You are the second person on this board I've seen who empathizes with Sheela. How can this possibly be? Did you guys see the same documentary as I did? She is a complete sociopath. She plotted assassination and she poisoned people. She is a pathological liar.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

Some people love sociopaths... They find them charesmatic and are eager to be led by them... Maybe they project too much of themselves onto these sociopaths...

I'm sure a lot of the followers, the 'sannyasans', also thought Sheela was a swell gal!

I've worked with sociopaths of different levels in the corporate world... It is somethjng to be weary of...

[–] blissquest (133) 6 years ago

No one said the woman was (is) an angel, and neither did she claim to be one. What I said was, “she was the most genuine” of them all. Everyone else was simply drunk on Osho’s teachings, while she never waivered from her original objective, which was to help Osho bring his dream to reality (at any cost). Again, she made it clear that she was not a meditator, which meant she was not one of Osho’s pious (blind) followers.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

Oh, I see what you mean more clearly now. 👍

I thought she clearly worshiped him and had a connection with him, seeing her service to him as her destiney... She felt betrayed by him when he took in the Hollywood types and that's when her jealousy kicked in...

She may have been cynical about the senyansans (the followers), but she was deluded not only by her megalomania, but also by her subservience to and idolatry of Bogwan Ragneesh (Osho)...

I suppose I see her as more self deluded, whereas the others are more Osho deluded... Even though I recogonise her submission to Osho for the whole period until they had a falling out/the jealousey started... She was initially a believer, in my point of view...

I think your perspective is clearer when we contrast Sheela with the lawyer who remains a true believer to the end...

[–] Geff (453) 6 years ago

I disagree, she was the least genuine out of them all. She essentially led a movement that she herself didn't believe in. She pretended to the naive and gullible masses that she believed it. You can tell by her statements regarding meditation and free sex that she was more interested in the political power, and warped type of communism.

Whether or not Osho himself believed in his teachings is up in the air. Based on my perception he did. According to Osho himself, he did not see himself as a religious leader. The movement can be seen from a secular lens. It's a movement about granting freedom and it's a mixture between materialism and collectivism. Altogether it's clearly a very misguided idea that ends up taking away freedom through reliance and stealing labor power. Calling whatever they had in Oregon a "Commune" is a grose subversion, it's essentially a worse form of capitalism where the workers aren't even paid wages, and are instead paid with being allowed to stay in the commune. The capitalists accrued vast sums of wealth by exploiting the deluded laborers.

The people who followed Osho's teachings were gullible, but the need for something greater than material greed is understandable. Capitalism creates an alienation from your labor where the perception becomes that you are performing labor not for yourself, but you are enslaved by the capitalist. The followers who built the 'commune' felt in touch with their labor because they felt as if they were creating something for themselves. Ofcourse the reality that was hidden from view was that they were creating something for the cult, not for themselves. The cult was stealing their labor through delusion. But, they were happy and made to think they were not enslaved thanks to the delusion.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

Thanks Geff for pointing out the political economy of the cult...

I would like to add that the cult of personality (re: Osho) is a key driver as well... He can protest not being a god all he wants, but the fact is he is their de-facto idol as is clear by people wanting to be in his presance, receive his recognition and such...

This cult of personality was key to the power dynamic within the cult at that time... It'd be interesting to see how institutionalised this cult is now since Rajneesh's death... Whether or not they have developed a clergy class, or inner circle of priest leaders...

[–] blissquest (133) 6 years ago

Well put, but I beg to differ on a few points. Here’s an analogy: a CEO of a Fortune 500 company that produces beef happens to be a vegan. Would you call her disingenuous because she doesn’t believe in the product her company produces?

[–] Geff (453) 6 years ago

That's a bad analogy because the CEO's predisposition is not manifested in her actions. If Person X performs Action A or claims to support Action A, but in reality Person X supports Action B(which might stand in direct contrast to Action A) or performs Action B, then we can say that Person X is being disingenuous.

In your example, if the vegan CEO is selling vegan patties and claiming that they are beef, then it's disingenuous.