40 Years After the Oregon Cult Commune: The Girl from the Osho Ranch
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Indian spiritual leader Osho’s communes drew thousands of seekers to India and the US, where children like Sarito Carroll endured neglect and sexual abuse under the guise of spiritual freedom. Carroll now recounts her childhood in a memoir and documentary that expose the crimes long hidden from public view. Her testimony signals renewed calls for accountability and justice for survivors of cult abuse.
Sarito Carroll lived in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s commune in Oregon, which collapsed under criminal charges 40 years ago. Like most teenagers in Rajneeshpuram, she was sexually abused there. Now she is holding the cult of “Wild Wild Country” accountable.
Sarito Carroll holds two pairs of shoes in her hand and looks undecided. For the stroll through town, she opts for the more stylish ones: “I definitely don’t want to look like a hippie!” The author and acupuncturist from Boulder has flown to California for a discussion on stage the next day. The recorded live event will be about Osho. The name stands for an ideology that has liberated many people and destroyed others — especially former children of the new-age movement, who still have a stronghold in the Rainbow Region.
Carroll’s father was a junkie from New York; her single mother was a hippie. In 1978, the restless seeker and her young daughter ended up in the Indian commune of Osho, who was known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh back then. Thousands of followers from all over the world flocked to his ashram in Pune, India, dressed in orange and later red. Most were middle-class and educated, and more than half were female.
The sannyasins danced, meditated, played music and toiled in a state of perpetual euphoria for their guru. The mystic and philosopher loved to provoke as a capitalist rebel with diamond watches and a fleet of Rolls-Royces. His promise was divine ecstasy through sexual freedom.
In encounter workshops, his followers howled, screamed and lashed out. There were mental breakdowns, broken bones and even rape. The goal was to overcome parental conditioning and old moral values. To surrender, let go. Transforming into a new person without shame, fear, attachments or jealousy. Open relationships were the norm. Young women got sterilized because the master didn’t want children, claiming they would hinder spiritual development.
“Bhagwan always said that we don’t belong to our parents, but to the community,” Carroll recounts on her way to the café. Her copper-colored curls bounce. She speaks fast and precisely, and appears composed. Thanks to decades of therapy, any bitterness or anger is barely noticeable. She even sounds dry when she says, “They were meant to give us up to be happier.”
The girl hardly saw her mother in the ashram anymore. They lived separately, and their relationship was permanently shattered at that time. In the sea of new people, the nine-year-old felt lonely and lost.
French kissing and touching
Soon after arriving in Pune, everyone received new Indian names. American Jennifer became Ma Prem Sarito, meaning “River of Love.” For her, it meant that she finally belonged. The photo of the sannyas initiation, where the bearded guru laid his hand on her, is the cover of her memoir In the Shadow of Enlightenment. This shadow is disturbing when you read the book. It describes the dark side of a parallel world where “love and light” were preached. Always be radiantly positive. Above all, don’t be a victim.
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