Word: poona
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...movement's potential-and their own-had reached a dead end. Refugee experts from encounter groups, Rolfing massage and other please-touch techniques began making the pilgrimage and offering Rajneesh their talents. Since 1974, when the lushly gardened Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Ashram opened in the sedate city of Poona, more than 50,000 seekers have gone, mostly from the U.S., Britain and West Germany. Among recent visitors: Actor Terence Stamp, Singer Diana Ross and the Marquis of Bath. Now the guru is instructing his best-connected disciple yet: Richard Price, co-founder and director of the Esalen Institute...
...profess anything," Rajneesh says. The charm seems to lie in the guru's dramatic presence and the hope of an easy way to Eastern enlightenment. In ancient Hindu tradition, a sanyasi is a holy man who studies and meditates for years before he renounces the world. The Poona guru offers the blissful state of sanyas immediately, and calls it "neo-sanyas." Says he: "Westerners want things quickly, so we give it to them right away...
...master was born 46 years ago as Rajneesh Chandra Mohan in a small village in Madhya Pradesh province. Raised in the Jain religion, he worked as a journalist, photographer, and teacher of philosophy at Madhya State University before becoming a spiritual master in 1966. Today the Poona center is growing so swiftly that he is looking for roomier quarters. Rajneesh's lectures are taped and turned into a steady stream of books. One title: Above All, Don't Wobble. Rajneesh centers now operate in 22 nations...
...staff at Poona, whose only remuneration is free room and board, includes a range of behavior therapists whose services are urged on initiates by the master. Some of their courses are taxing indeed. Ma Prem Amida. who once conducted Arica therapy in the U.S. under the name of Enid Stevens, offers Intensive Enlightenment. Group members sit opposite partners and for 17 hours take turns in five-minute bouts answering the often painful question. "Who am I?" For three days, all other subjects are forbidden...
...week in the presence of "God Sir" can be had for well under $100, including a gourmet vegetarian diet. Typically the Poona seekers are in their late 20s, or older, searching frantically for spiritual answers. Ma Prem Ida, who dropped out after 15 years as a Las Vegas waitress, then tried est, says, "I want to get out of myself, have fun with myself, do what my feelings tell me." A 35-year-old psychotherapist named Tim who practices in the Midwest found his techniques running dry and is searching for what he calls "radical autonomy." America, he says...