Rajneesh Ashram is the founder and leader of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult. He developed a cult that is unique when compared to other Hindu sects. Anything goes within the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Ashram seems to have a fascination with sex. The cult is very sexually immoral. Ashram preaches that premarital sex is all right and that people should have open marriages. He preaches against the family unit as a whole and claims it is a threat to the progress of humanity. Just as we see his movement as a cult, Ashram sees Christianity as a cult. He has made the claim that God is not a person and that He is a mere presence. He sees God simply as godliness. Ashram sees the understanding of God as a person as a great misunderstanding of humanity.

Ashram came from India to New York in 1981. He arrived with a huge amount of personal belongings. He found his way to a removed piece of land in Oregon. He and his followers set up tents immediately. The group developed a truck farm, a poultry and dairy business, and a huge greenhouse.

Ashram and his followers did as many other cults do by misrepresenting themselves to others in order to gain members. Ashram mixed eastern mysticism, the occult, and New Age ideas into the formation of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Ashram referred to a new follower as a sannyasin which is a Sanskrit word meaning “one who is under a vow of renunciation.”

Before coming to the United States Ashram got himself in trouble over some very cruel forms human behavior in his Indian home at Poona. Former members reported events that resulted in bones being broken and even an attempted rape. Other members have said that there were strange and immoral forms of sexual activity that took place in front of the group.

Ashram lived a large lifestyle. He drove a Rolls-Royce around while his members worked hard in the field for hours at a time. Ashram used threats to secure the things he wanted, which included some local residents. Ashram apparently was very wealthy economically and was not ashamed to show it. However, after several allegations of embezzlement and threats upon some of the members lives including his own, he was arrested after attempting to leave the country and jailed.

Ashram has returned to India and continues to lead those who follow him there. However, he has changed up the movement a little bit. His return to India has not taken him out of the international spotlight though. He has changed whom he wanted to be called at least twice in the last ten years. Therefore, the conclusion can be made that Ashram is a very unstable person. Not only the activities in India prior to coming to the United States prove this, but also, his uncertainty of who or what he wants to be referred as. This conclusion is the only one that can be made about Ashram besides the fact that he is the founder and leader of a very false religion.