OSHO

If you are interested in Rajneeshpuram and their shenanigans, check out the Netflix series Wild, Wild Country.

They probably could have gotten away with establishing their town if that hadn't gone overboard and attempted to poison the town of the Dalles.

obviously a total nut, however, he did give us this amazing and classic meme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFgcqB8-AxE

I had a friend who rajneeshee...    I usually mock religion, being a polyatheist and all, but he wanted me to read something the Bongwan wrote to get my opinion, so out of friendship I did.

It was not what I expected!  It was a brilliantly and unconventionally written piece about politicians and criminals, with a pretty direct correlation between both...  so the more politicians you had, the more criminals.

I enjoyed the point of view and said as much, but I never developed any imaginary friends over it, let alone needing a guru.  I guess I won't be sending money anywhere anytime soon...

doolittle, why do you feel the need to air your racial stereotypes here?

India has a billion people.

You have identified two con-men from India.

From that you conclude that India is the birthplace of "con spiritual men".

Whatever that means.

That is not logical.

Surfdead is wise. It's a logical fallacy known as a hasty generalization, aka a stereotype.

Sai Baba did have the best nag champa incense.

All that travel doesn't seem to have done you any good, doolittle. A bunch of yellowed pictures and a mind warped by hatred and fear.

Don't think India has a monopoly on con-artists, creeps, and charlatans posing behind religion.   Far from it.

One just has to look at the evangelical movement in America or the long sordid history of the Roman Catholic Church.  Rasputin was kind of a bad ass though.

And there's the Ayatollahs.

Yeah, hatred and fear. You still a fan of OAN? That's fear central.

P.T Barnum, Father Coughlin, Trump, and the Falwell's would like to have a word about the whole India thing. Seriously America will always be the king of the con. 

And let's not forget Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate, and the Branch Davidians too.

Slugging it out with nobody in your corner again. It must get lonely being an army of one.

I traveled India from end to end. Spent close to six months there. First thing I learned about India is don't believe anyone who tells you this is India, because India is everything all at once. The one constant is that it will put callouses on your soul, but that goes for just about any poor country. What's confusing about India is that it is 4th world and top 1% 1st world all on the same street. Open sewers next to a trench being dug for fiber optics. I didn't live in NYC in 1910 but I think that would be the closest analogy. 

Their religion is less structured and hierarchical than Christianity so leaders or gurus can come from anywhere, but they aren't any different than the people who start mega churches in America. It's all the same con.  

>  What's confusing about India is that it is 4th world and top 1% 1st world all on the same street

Iran was like that when I was there in 1978. Great wealth held by a few and children begging in the streets. No fiber optics back then, of course, but they had plenty of open sewers.

Let's not forget about the Moonies. Spiritual con men/women are just a part of the human condition dating back to prehistory. Don't think any one culture has a patent on this shit.

I don't need to visit India to know when you're spewing racial stereotypes on the black screen. I do, however, need a weather vane to tell me which way the wind blows.

Well then, maybe you're just too dense to get it. "India is the birthplace of con spiritual men" is a racial stereotype. You're generalizing about an entire people in a very unflattering way.

What I think is interesting is the money Rajneesh had....I find it difficult to comprehend that he received so many millions from just his followers....not enough information regarding the 501 (c)(3) status, where the dough originated, and how the tax filings went down.  

A similar, although quite a bit different, story is more recent, taking place in Grafton, NH.  An excellent, entertaining book titled A Libertarian Walks into a Bear, shows libertarians moving to a small town, and trying to take over the town politically.  Many videos about it as well, town meetings on youtube etc.  More recent history, similar idea, although without the religious angle.

And, as awful as this reads....there is a reason no one makes jokes about the Jim Jones event anymore....

because......

the punch line is too long.

(sorry for the poor humor, and those who know survivors....) 

>>>>>Great wealth held by a few and children begging in the streets.

Sounds familiar.

Oh, right, I saw that last week when I went to Portland. 

Kesey B, the couple of people from Eugene I knew who followed Rajneesh had a lot of inherited wealth and seemed happy to generously share with him and the community.

Plenty of spiritual con men and women right here.

doolittle, if it was just me pushing back against your ill-formed arguments, you might have a leg to stand on. But when folks like Surfdead, Portland Ken, gunnkman, and El Nino are all saying No, that ain't right, then maybe you should pay attention for a change.

I'm especially surprised you didn't respond to, or even acknowledge, Nino who spent six months in India, and ended his most recent post by saying of charlatans in India "they aren't any different than the people who start mega churches in America. It's all the same con." But to do so would require courage on your part, and might have had the effect of sucking all the wind out of your stereotypical sails, and leave you with nothing to say but the flapping sound of twisting, twisting, twisting.

So cultists of India are like cultists in America. 

Rudyard Kipling spent a total of 13 years living in India, and that didn't keep him from being a racist.

Nobody is doubting that you're informed about India, doolittle. It's your conclusions that are problematic.

"I was there, and you weren't, so I'm allowed to post ugly self created stereotypes"

Got it!   

By the way, my niece had a lovely Bollywood wedding...   more dancing than on Shakedown Street, which sounds a lot like any street in India...

(Note, i've been to around 30 countries, but India isn't one of them, and yes, poverty next to extreme wealth is a pretty universal truth, and where there's money, there's con men) 

I have no horse in this race, but it does sound like a race. Or like when my grand kids believe their opinions are facts and defend them until they tire and metaphorically wilt in exhaustion.

People pointing out stereotyping ("an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic.)" are seeing a way that someone presents opinions.
Also, "Stereotype is a pervasive and persistent human tendency that stems from a basic cognitive need to categorize, simplify, and process the complex world. This tendency is a precondition for social bias, prejudice, and discrimination."
"Stereotype has a negative connotation. But a stereotype is simply a generalization about how a group of people behaves. It may be statistically accurate but not universally valid."

So really, you said, I said, he said, it all got said. A group see your statements as stereotyping a very large and populous continent and you don't, doolittle. Perhaps you could restate your thoughts and clarify it.

I'm getting ready to go meet up with Moses, so looking forward to his way of being, sharing info, no stereotyping.

Doolittle takes pride in being intentionally "misunderstood"

It's his schtick

just one Oregon zoner's opinion, as requested 

You're twisting this all into something unrecognizable, Bss. Like a post-Modern mobile fashioned with Joan Crawford's discarded wire coat hangers.

Misunderstood?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2sz_YwwwQ4

ah Mike, there I go again (sigh)

twisting and turning and just making everything so very complicated 

it's my schtick 

Sick schtick, dude.

What I have learned thus far in life is...people really don't like being told they are wrong or are doing something wrong. The more you tell them they are wrong, the more they double and triple down....

That's just wrong, Turtle.

So does everywhere else.

> I really wanted to pick him up and take him to a hospital but didn't.

So why didn't you do the good Samaritan thing?

>>

> I really wanted to pick him up and take him to a hospital but didn't. <

>>> So why didn't you do the good Samaritan thing? <<<

I don't know why doolittle didn't, but I bet I wouldn't have because I'd be intimidated, a little grossed out, nervous, unsure, concerned about being delayed for my flight, etc., but I still would have wanted to.

I can totally relate, judit. That's why I would've tried to find a cop, or an ambulance, or something.

I'm not a troll. I'm more like a gremlin.

I read what you said. I would have been like Diogenes and looked for an honest cop.

>>> Did you even read my post that a policeman avoided him by walking on the street. Pay attention!

Cops in India aren't exactly honest. <<<

doolittle, One cop walked by. Of course Mike read your post, but he seems to be saying he would have tried to find one, maybe not that one. Or he might have talked with that one, who knows. What the hell are you doing when you say, "Pay attention"?

You are stereotyping Indian cops as dishonest. You wrapped them all up there. The other thing I ask is, what does honesty have to do with talking with a cop about helping an injured or dying person?

Edit: I was writing this as Mike was posting.

We wearing you out more than your grandkids today, judit?

Nope. I had a lovely time visiting with Moses and Air Drummer; I'm energized, but this isn't really pleasant or entertaining.

I Googled, and many cited articles say there's a lot of police corruption in India. I guess I still would have talked to the cop, even if he walked away. Just the way I am.

doo was so overcome with contempt for Indian people for walking past a dying man

that he actually had to go back and walk past the man a second time

yeah I'd feel pretty shitty too

Did your parents have any children that lived?

Total dumpster fire.