Ma Anand Sheela plead guilty to orchestrating it, eventually serving 29 months of a 20-year sentence. Sheela, who turn 50 on Tuesday, has been in Switzerland since late 1988, when she was released from federal prison after serving 29 months for assault, attempted murder, arson, wiretapping and causing a food poisoning epidemic in The Dalles that made about 750 people ill. Inspired by her parents . Oct 5, 2014 Sheela was apprehended in Germany and extradited to the US, where, in 1986, she ended up pleading guilty to assault and attempted murder charges for the bioterror attack. She eventually found a job as a housekeeper for an old couple in Basel. And, she moved to the U.S at the age of 18 to attend Montclair State College in New Jersey. This angered Osho (Rajneesh), who broke the vow of silence and accused her of several crimes, which turned out to be true. Barely out of her teens, the young Sheela quickly ascended the organization that followed Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh. But my personal opinion has not tainted the book in any way. "He warned her that if she didn't get an abortion, she would have to leave the commune with the child. "They took drugs with Bhagwan, which he eventually became addicted to. Sheela is one of the main figures in Wild Wild Country, which traces the controversial Oregon community led by Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the 1980s. It is good to be conscious of this event instead of denying it. Ma Anand Sheela (alias Sheela Birnstiel) is an Indian-born American-Swiss. It is also a stratagem to normalise dying by exposing the residents to the death of other patients in the room. A Look At Where Five of the Key People and Places in the Rajneesh Cult Saga Are Now. "The way I run my nursing homes, there is same love and same intensity," she added. Below, we reveal five surprising things you probably never knew the star subject of Searching for Sheela, Sheela Ambalal Patel. The controversial Ma Anand Sheela served Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in his Ashram in Oregon and then did 39 months in a US prison, accused of serious crimes. After Oshos death, she shared her experiences with her guru in a memoir that was originally written in German and was later translated into English. She managed the city Rajneeshpuram in Oregon, United States, where she was involved in many notorious acts including attempted murder and the infamous Rajneeshee bioterror attack of 1984. Prison was my highest qualification and I don't consider it time wasted. He was my trainer to confront, those days, journalists., These days, despite the denouncements, the jail time and the notoriety, Sheela says she still loves Bhagwan, who later became known as Osho. There is an inner preparation for acceptance of this reality of death. Her Wikipedia pageExternal link, that I had consulted earlier, does her no favours. Soon after the Indian natives restrictions ended, she migrated to Maisprach, Switzerland, where she started a government-approved special needs nursing home called Matrusaden. Sheela calls the room "Demenz Mandir" or dementia temple. In my case, it is not zero-zero. Now as a caretaker for the disabled, the antihero of Netflix's hit documentary claims that everything she did was for the sake of the commune. Holding on to the teachings she picked up over the years, she aims to spend her life in service and now runs two nursing homes:Matrusaden (mothers home) and Bapusaden (fathers home), both of which offer shelter for the elderly suffering with mental illnesses. Glamour may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The accusations resulted in her spending 39 months behind bars. She was the constant backdrop to the sanyasis stories of the bygone Orange Era. Separately, she will reportedly be portrayed onscreen by Alia Bhatt in a film directed by Shakun Batra. Hoihnu Hauzel is a writer based in Delhi NCR. Ma Anand Sheela wrote a book titled Rajneeshism, where she shares insight into the life of Osho and his perspective with people however, the name of the author has not been credited and the editor has listed it as Academy of Rajneeshism. 5000 copies of this book were burned at Rajneeshpuram. She was the one, who initiated the largest bioterror attack in American history causing health problems to 750 US citizens. Before becoming a cult icon Ma Anand Sheela was known asSheela Ambalal Patel. Sheela tells me it was her father and the picture next to it her mother. Today, Sheela runs two residential homes for disabled people, near Basel in northwest Switzerland. Director Shakun Batra pitches the film as tracking a character who is constantly under the weight of public scrutiny. Marc Harris Silverman (Swami Prem Chinmaya), Ma Anand Sheela was an Indian-Swiss, who served as a personal assistant to. She even appeared at a Netflix panel last year, telling the crowd, "It was a beautiful . I was trying to digest that and had no idea what I would do when I came out of prison. If youve seen Wild Wild Country on Netflix, you pretty much know who Ma Anand Sheela is. And I love them all today., But her faith has diminished. I couldn't convince him to give it up, and because it was my job to protect him and I couldn't, I decided to leave the movement. Please join us! You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. My parents and Bhagwan are prominent in my life. The United Nations organised a conference on the 19th Economic, Social and . She was arrested in West Germany and extradited to the USA. Every hour of my existence now hasfragrance of Bhagwan's teachings that I have carried in my heart and my brains." Just as Im about to pet the horses, I hear my name being called. "What bigger crime is there than to sell you a product that has no guarantee? Ma Anand Sheela, spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Osho's personal secretary, talks about handling crisis and more. He asserted that Sheela was simply power-hungry. It was a very intense period, she recalls. Interviewed extensively in a 2018 Netflix documentary called I had read a book on Osho and was so blown away by it that I decided to visit his ashram. "With mentally ill people, you always know what you're going to get. But here's a quick catch-up: After being convicted of attempted murder, fraud, and other charges in 1986, Sheela was released from prison for good behavior after serving 39 months of a 20-year. She stuck with me over the phone as I wrote page after page, chapter after chapter. Knapp also believed that Bhagwan knew everything that was going in Rajneeshpuram, including the deliberate poisoning of 751 people in Oregon. In the Netflix documentary, Rajneeshpuram's neighbours constantly refer to the Oregon commune as a sex cult. As we head upstairs to her room to chat, she leads me past patients' rooms and down corridors that smell of disinfectant. A ranch in Oregon in the US was purchased for close to $6 million and was renamed as Rajneeshpuram. "But there came a point when I wasn't willing to compromise my integrity. She was only 16 and lost her heart to this charismatic speaker. He, the book says, had a litany of demands that petrified Sheela. And even now, thats why I can enjoy life so well, You should see some of the photographs and see how he looked at me. When Neha referenced to a previous statement by Sheela that there are similarities between spirituality and criminality, the latter replied, "There is a certain spirituality in criminality." He was told that he had only two years to live by the doctors but, he lived well beyond the tenure that was mentioned by the doctors. The yellow postal bus - transporting elderly women carrying grocery bags and school children returning home for lunch - drops me off near the village centre. It would be my delight each time she would smile and say, You just reminded me of something I had completely forgotten about. And then she would relive those forgotten memories and relate them to me over the phone, on FaceTime [videophone] mostly. Furthermore, it reads: "Sheela is not a criminal, and anything that she did, she did to protect the commune. Why are people punished? He knew that when he gave my dad a task, it would be done properly.". I believe in being here for my people, [the people] where I live, my [nursing home] residents, my family. This content was published on Oct 5, 2014 Under a plea bargain arrangement, Sheela and Ma Anand Puja another senior figure in the group admitted their roles in a 1984 food poisoning attack that affected more than 750 people, which was intended to influence a local election and remains the largest biological terror attack in US history. Seela [he called her that], buy me thirty new Rolls Royces this month, he said. 2023 Cond Nast. All Rights Reserved. Swissinfo.ch's India specialist covers a wide range of issues from bilateral relations to Bollywood. The religious cult tried to get involved with the local government. Before Cheer and Don't F**k With Cats, one of Netflixs first successful, widely binged docuseries was Wild, Wild Country, which told the unbelievable story of the Rajneeshpuram ashram in Wasco County, Oregon in the 1980s. It was a cool July day in 1986 when Ma Anand Sheela strolled into a courthouse in Oregon to plead guilty to attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, wiretapping and immigration fraud. It was my honour to be living close with men like Bhagwan. Ma Anand Sheela, who lives in a village near Basel in Switzerl, runs two nursing homes in Matrusaden and Bapusaden. I had to carry out the role, no matter what. They could not understand what they were seeing me as on television. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. There are obvious parallels here: as documented in Wild Wild Country, Sheela was more than happy to do whatever it took to keep Bhagwan happy. Marc Harris Silverman was 21 years of age when he met Ma Anand Sheela and suffered from lymphoma disease. Two women have come running out of the home and are beckoning me in. Actor Neha Dhupia recently had a fireside chat with Ma Anand Sheela, on the sidelines of the 11th edition of the TiEcon event in Mumbai. Hundreds of people fell ill after eating salmonella and Sheela was accused of sprinkling the bacteria on the salad bars across many restraunts. I plod on with growing apprehension of meeting the notorious Sheela. Just before I leave, Sheela suddenly tries to convince me that she never did anything wrong, offering to send me an email she received from Bhagwan just before he died as proof. Before Sheela's trial, Knapp told the FBI, "Whenever Sheela said something, everyone accepted that she was speaking on behalf of Bhagwan." Nothing to Lose as an official memoir of Sheela. I also learned the value of time and to accept my own reality better. Hans Habltzel renounced worldly ambitions to embark on a spiritual journey from Switzerland to India, never to return. If there is anything truly enigmatic in Sheela, it is her enduring ability to look an interviewer in the eye and answer without hesitation, deviation or self-pity, but still appear to leave much unsaid. There were no specific instances which escalated matters but it kept building up till I reached a stage where I decided to go on my own. And now, Sheela is independent and thriving in Switzerland, practicing Oshos way of communal living through her work. After her departure, Rajneesh broke his vow of silence and accused her and her close aides of poisoning local residents with salmonella bacteria to swing the outcome of the local election. I found her phone number and called her up. She was trying to take over the countys municipal legislature by asking thousands of homeless people to vote Rajneeshee members into state government positions. Her interviews are central to the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Countryand . The route there follows a narrow road through green fields and meanders uphill towards a small glen. She could sense my openness and non-judgemental attitude. "Either she'll eventually kill herself because of her guilt, or she'll spend the rest of her life in prison.". We are known for dealing with difficult patients who have not found a place in other institutes due to their handicap. No, Ma Anand Sheela confessed to Vogue. Christian charities allege selective implementation of regulations and blame this on the rise of Hindu fundamentalism. A confirmation e-mail has been sent to your address. Talking about the time when she worked with. It is approaching tea time. But the psychologically healthy think that they're going to achieve enlightenment or be led to enlightenment" She breaks off and smiles. At the time, Bhagwan would speak often of the virtues of free love and maintaining multiple lovers. In 1981, he appointed India-born Sheela as his secretary and she was tasked with finding a new location for the commune in order to expand. I had to play the role. This content was published on Jun 7, 2016 Back in the 1980s, Sheela led a group of people who found spiritual comfort and fulfilment in the Rajneesh movement a collective of followers of the Indian religious leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. She opens it gently and flicks through until she finds a letter. Too late now. Interest clearly remains high. (Multnomah County Archives). Free shipping for many products! Jun 7, 2016 Ma Anand Sheela used to manage all day-to-day business matters of the Rajneesh Foundation. . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. That experience, combined with her time in Rajneeshpuram, convinced her that her true calling was looking after others. Follow Us. Rajneesh was also briefly arrested but handed a 10-year suspended sentence for immigration fraud and ordered to leave the US. After all, Sheela had first met him through her father when she was 16-years-old and had become instantly devoted. A password reset e-mail has been sent to your address. Sheela served 38 months of a 20-year jail sentence for attempted murder of Commissioner Matthew and Judge Hulse. In those days, there were no educational qualification requirements. But Bhagwan was even bigger as an orator., She did not mind giving offense. Sheela today considers herself absolved. After his demise in 1980, she married John Joseph Shelfer, another American. All rights reserved. Your web browser is outdated. One of the homes is Wohnheim Matrusaden, perched on a hill that's surrounded by a forest,. I am then ushered into the office, which is unlike any I have ever seen. In 1984, the Rajneeshees Bused 3,000 Homeless People to Live in Their Oregon Compound. Sheela Birnstiel, previously known as Ma Anand Sheela, was, in the early 1980s, personal secretary to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the guru and leader of the Rajneesh movement. ", Sheela's father introduced her to Bhagwan when she was still a teenager. Ma Anand Sheela bought two nursing homes in Maisprach, Switzerland named Matrusaden (mothers home) and Bapusaden (fathers home), In an interview, she was asked about the persona she had to create to become Ma Anand Sheela, to which she answered. I was still in shock due to my past life and was adjusting to a new environment. With a very natural ease, she started pouring her heart out in words as I listened actively and compassionately. Today, Sheela runs two residential homes for disabled people, near Basel in northwest Switzerland. Ma Anand Sheela (alias Sheela Birnstiel) is an Indian-born American-Swiss. One of the homes is Wohnheim Matrusaden, perched on a hill that's surrounded by a forest, looking over the small, 900-strong village of Maisprach. But I had the best married relationship because there was the basic freedom in us. After parting ways with Bhagwan Rajneesh, the FBI conducted an investigation for months and confiscated hundreds of tapes and cassettes. I think Rajneeshpuram's training does come handy. And I leave it to the intelligence of my readers to make their own personal judgements. That changed when a journalist from a regional newspaper contacted her for an article on homes for seniors. Sheela Birnstiel, formerly known as Ma Anand Sheela, or more simply Sheela, emerged as by far the most colorful character in the Duplass Brothers Wild Wild Country documentary series, released by Netflix in 2018. It was bound to happen, wasnt it? she admitted to India Today. It became the headquarters of the Rajneesh empire. Rajneeshpuram signboard at Antelope, Oregon, US, Rajneeshpuram today, now owned by Washington Family Ranch, Ma Anand Sheela convicted for her criminal charges, That is true. And opposite my working desk, too. You can watch Wild, Wild Country on Netflix, here. He is also a private detective for hire with an intimate knowledge of the SWI swissinfo.ch offers a selection of Swiss films in English chosen from the Swiss streaming platform Play Suisse. Sheela, the controversial former personal secretary of mysterious godman Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho), talked about working with him, her life lessons, and managing her nursing homes in Switzerland, where she now resides. Ma Anand Sheela, one of the latest, . Rewind mode: Manbeena Sandhu (right) realised that Ma Sheela was looking for an author she could trust, Govt hikes domestic LPG prices by 50 per cylinder; ATF prices slashed, Stocks that will see action on March 1, 2023, Steel ministry worried over RINLs financial viability. After his death in 1980, she married her second husband, American John Joseph Shelfer. Ma Anand Sheela rose to fame afterbeing spotlighted in the popular Netflix documentaryWild Wild Country,and with the excitement around Searching for Sheela'strailer, it's safe to say that she continues to be a topic of major interest around the world. Please use a modern web browser for a better experience. He, the young Sheela quickly ascended the organization that followed Bhagwan Shri.! To pet the horses, I hear my name being called India, never to return say you. Had the best married relationship because there was the basic freedom in US and from! To Lose as an orator., she did not mind giving offense hundreds of and... Started pouring her heart out in words as I wrote page after page, after... Through her father when she was the basic freedom in US a letter videophone. Sent to your address ill after eating salmonella and Sheela was accused of sprinkling bacteria... 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