As the Bhagwan ...

The Indian production location of the valve manufacturer MACK belonging to the HEROSE Group is Pune, a lively city in the West Indian State of Maharashtra. Many elders know the metropolis with about four million residents under the former spelling Poona. In the nineteen seventies, the controversial cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh founded a place of free love and total therapy. Thousands made a pilgrimage there, many Germans amongst them. Bhagwan disciples, called Sannyasins, wore the Mala around their necks – a necklace with the picture of their master on it. The fact that they only wore orange or red clothing, the colours of the sunrise, was a sign. They wanted to create a new human being, free from Western performance thinking and outdated structures.

The hustle and bustle in Poona took an end in 1981: Bhagwan was expelled from India for alleged tax reasons and settled with his community in the US Federal State Oregonx. The Sannyasins pounded a new city out of the ground here:

Rajneeshpuram dam, restaurants, a school, shopping centre, including public utilities. Their own airfield with airlineand 85 large-capacity buses ensured for mobility, a publishing house and printing company for distributing the "Rajneesh Times“. Boutiques, an amusement arcade and a travel agency made the Guru Wonderland perfect.

In particular, for the Guru himself. Whereas the Sannyasins still had to get along with the most necessary, their greatest role model surrounded himself with luxury. He decorated himself with expensive watches and glittering robes. His Rolls Royce fleet of 93 vehicles was legendary. The decadence of the master and the large project Rajneeshpuram consumed millions. The Sannyasins successfully operated book stores, jewellery shops and bakeries throughout the world. Their companies traded with art, patent windows and even with compost worms. The community was turning into an economical empire acting globally. In the nineteen eighties, the disciples with their red clothing were a part of the street scenery in the relevant areas of the cities. The red cutters were not wacky pilgrims, there were frequently successful business persons – a combination that strengthened interest for the cult even more.

In 1985 Bhagwan was expelled from the USA due to problems with the immigration authorities. After returning to India following a world trip, he renamed himself in Osho. He passed away on 19th January 1990. Oshos community, a 15 hectare large park in Pune, is called „Osho International Meditation Resort“ today and presents itself as a spiritual service provider for wealthy international customers. Here one meets software engineers from Bangalore, mathematicians from Cambridge, accountants from Cologne, actors from Los Angeles. About 20,000 people visit here every year.