Ma Anand Sheela

Sheela (center) at Cabaret Voltaire 2008

Ma Anand Sheela (born December 28, 1949 in Baroda , India ) was from 1981 to 1985 the secretary, spokeswoman and "right hand man" of Guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh . Today she lives as Sheela Birnstiel in Switzerland .

Youth - until 1980

Sheela was born as Ambalala Patel Sheela in 1949 in the Indian city of Baroda and grew up there. She met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh shortly before studying at university in the United States , and after returning to India in 1972, her career began alongside Bhagwan. A little later she returned to the USA, married an American and was then called Sheela Silverman .

Rajneeshpuram - 1981 to 1985

On July 10, 1981 bought Sheela as president of the Rajneesh Foundation International , the 25,600  ha large Big Muddy Ranch in Central Oregon near the village of Antelope and it was in Rancho Rajneesh renamed. Antelope had 47 residents at that time. Bhagwan moved to the commune ( ashram ) in August and Sheela became its leader.

Within a short time the settlement Rajneeshpuram , as it was officially called, grew (1983: 1,500 inhabitants, 1985: 3,000 inhabitants). The red-clad Bhagwan followers, called sannyasins , turned the barren desert into fertile farmland. The city got its own post office, school, fire and police department, shopping centers, restaurants and a public transport system with 85 buses. Its water storage tank with a capacity of 1.323 billion liters won an award for its innovative, environmentally friendly design, and its own power station supplied the city with the electricity it needed.

Sheela, now known as Ma Anand Sheela , along with her female circle, led the commune in an authoritarian manner. She introduced the religion of Rajneeshism and began to dress as a high priestess . Since Bhagwan had been in a quiet time since his entry into the USA and did not speak, this was felt as his consent to the change in the movement. From 1984 Sheela wore pope-like robes .

The city's success and expansion attracted critics and local resistance arose. In 1982 Sheela managed to influence the local council elections in Antelope. With the resulting majority of votes, Antelope was renamed Rajneesh in 1984 .

That same year there was again electoral influence when Sheela resettled homeless people in Wasco County. With these votes, the sannyasins won two seats in the Wasco County Commission election.

In May 1985, Sheela called a leadership meeting to plan the assassination of Charles Turner , the US Attorney General for Oregon, who led the investigation into the group. But the plan was never carried out.

In September 1984 Ma Anand Sheela instigated one of her groups in an attack in which the salad bars in various restaurants in the town of The Dalles were contaminated with salmonella and 751 residents became ill. There were no fatalities, but 47 people had to be hospitalized. The attack is considered the first bioterror stroke of the 20th century . It served as a test for the November 1984 election in which Wasco County's district councilors were to be redetermined.

Separation of Bhagwan and Haft - 1985 to 1988

On September 12, 1985, Sheela separated from her spiritual master and one day later traveled from the USA to Europe; then other members of the hard core followed her. On September 15, Bhagwan charged her with arson, wiretapping , attempted murder and mass poisoning. The investigating authorities then found wiretapping systems and bio-terrorism testing facilities in Sheela's apartment.

On October 28, 1985, Sheela was arrested in West Germany and transferred to Oregon. In early 1986, she was sentenced to ten years in prison. On 13 December 1988, after 29 months in prison in Pleasanton ( California ), she was released for good behavior and traveled immediately to Switzerland .

In October 1985, Rajneeshpuram commune collapsed; Bhagwan was arrested, convicted of making false statements to immigration authorities, and expelled from the United States. Most of the supporters fled the settlement. Since November 1985 the village of Rajneesh has been called Antelope again and has 60 inhabitants.

Rajneeshpuram became a modern ghost town. On December 2, 1988, the ranch was foreclosed and insurance paid $ 4.5 million for it. A farmer then bought the former Big Muddy Ranch and later bequeathed it to a Christian youth camp, which she renamed Young Life's Washington Family Ranch and has since used as a summer camp.

Switzerland - 1988 until today

In Switzerland, Sheela married a Swiss sannyasin, got the Swiss passport and is now called Sheela Birnstiel . Sheela could not leave Switzerland, as in connection with the conspiracy to murder Charles Turner an arrest warrant from Interpol against them existed. In 1994 the two British women Sally-Anne Croft and Susan Hagen were deported to the USA and convicted there for their involvement in the conspiracy. Sheela could not be extradited as she is a Swiss citizen , but the Swiss authorities took over the case. In February 1999, a Swiss court also convicted her of conspiracy to commit murder, but she did not have to serve a sentence as the court considered her to have already been served. In January 2000, Sheela was arrested on the basis of the Interpol arrest warrant after a television show in Frankfurt am Main , but was released after three hours. The US authorities failed to overturn the arrest warrant following their conviction in Switzerland.

Today Sheela runs two dormitories for the elderly and disabled in Maisprach and Waldenburg . Initial fears that she might bring Bhagwan's teachings into the dormitories have not been confirmed.

In 1996 she published a book called Don't Kill Him! (Walter Schinagl, Munich; ISBN 3-9805246-0-4 ). In it she describes how she got to know and love Bhagwan and how the events in the USA took place from her point of view. In it she describes herself as a faithful disciple of Bhagwan. As an interview partner and contemporary witness, she also plays a central role in the documentary series Wild Wild Country from 2018. The six-part Netflix series focuses on the Rajneeshpuram community project in Oregon , which Sheela directed from 1981 to 1985.

In 2008 Sheela worked with David Woodard and Christian Kracht on an art exhibition at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich .

literature

• Max Brecher: A Passage to America. A radically new look at Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and a controversial American commune . Book Quest Publishers, Bombay 1993.
• Lewis F. Carter: Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram . Cambridge University Press, 1990 ISBN 0-521-38554-7 .

Web links

• Biography of Sheela (English)
• Report on Sheela in English
• Guru - Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard Documentary also about Sheela
• Guru - Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sheela uses words as weapons in bid to serve Rajneesh (part 8 of 20) . In: The Oregonian , Oregon Live, July 7, 1985. Retrieved June 12, 2012. 
2. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram , 1990, p. 222
3. ↑ Some Medical Puzzles Lead to Dark, and Criminal, Minds , New York Times, August 12, 1997
4. ^ Lewis F. Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram , 1990, p. 237
5. ↑ Indian guru follower Anand Sheela arrested after German TV show ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Oregonian, January 22, 2000 
6. ↑ [1]
7. ↑ Sheela, don't kill him! , 1996, p. 240
8. ↑ Documentary series "Wild Wild Country": A story that should be in school books . Kolja Haaf, Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 13, 2018
9. ↑ Cabaret Voltaire, Dreamachine: David Woodard, Sheela Birnstiel, Christian Kracht ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 2 - August 24, 2008. 
10. ↑ Obleser, J., “Spirals of a Memory: Announcement David Woodard, Christian Kracht, Ma Anand Sheela,” Wall of Time, April 25, 2008.