Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh  By  cover art

Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

By: Rusty King
  • Summary

  • Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh rose from a precocious boy in India to a spiritual guru to tens of thousands of people worldwide. He became famous for his controversial teachings and lavish lifestyle, leading some to call him a cult leader. Building Utopia paints an immersive, unflinching portrait of Rajneesh and the people who chose to devote their lives to him -- including his top lieutenants, who fled his Rajneeshpuram commune in 1985 amid a cloud of criminal allegations. Building Utopia will captivate those familiar with Rajneesh, as well as those who have not yet discovered his fascinating and troubling story.
    Copyright 2018-2022 Rusty King
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Episodes
  • Episode 1: Finding the Master, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
    Oct 26 2018

    We'll examine Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's early life and his first years as an enlightened master. We'll explore his initial efforts to organize his followers and how he was able to cement his master/disciple relationship with people from the West. We’ll also visit a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere where Bhagwan conducted an experiment that pushed his followers to the brink of death.

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    41 mins
  • Episode 2: Oasis in Poona
    Oct 26 2018

    Today we'll take a grand tour of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s first ashram in the city of Poona, India. Within a couple years of its founding in 1974, it had expanded into one of the most popular — and controversial — ashrams in India, where people could meditate, commune with likeminded people, and be close to the man they called Master. We'll see how an unstoppable force of nature made it all happen: Bhagwan’s personal secretary, Ma Yoga Laxmi. We’ll stroll the grounds through the eyes of a newcomer to see what this place was all about. And we’ll explore about a new, lucrative, sometimes-terrifying method that Bhagwan developed to instruct his followers — and to keep them there.

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    44 mins
  • Episode 3: Trouble in Paradise
    Oct 26 2018

    As Bhagwan's dreams for the future continued to blossom, outside pressures, like the Indian government, threatened to squeeze the life out of his ashram. We'll also examine the efforts to find a new home for the ashram, led by two very different but equally devoted women: Ma Yoga Laxmi, and her assistant, Ma Anand Sheela. To the surprise of nearly everyone, Sheela was about to take Bhagwan’s future into her own hands … forever changing his life and his legacy.

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    49 mins

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So very well done

An incredibly well planned and executed podcast by Russell King, the author of Rajneeshpuram. In so many ways, the podcast is even better than listening to an audiobook thanks to the audio clips of some major players in the story speaking publicly or amongst themselves - but his audiobook is amazing as well. I highly recommend both. The podcast is great, but if you're interested in the details, his book is well worth the listen (and he narrates that as well!)

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