The long-awaited documentation of USA v. Osho

A Legal History of the US Government Persecution of a Minority Religious Community, Oregon 1981-1986, written by Prem Niren (Philip Toelkes), now published.

USA v. Osho: A Legal History of the US Government Persecution of a Minority Religious Community, Oregon 1981-1986
by Philip Toelkes (Swami Prem Niren)
Available as downloadable e-book and paperback via domestic and international shipping
The Archive and Key Documents are available on the website without any purchase.
Order from bsrinusdocs.com

From Niren’s post on Facebook

The book proves the US Government’s illegal program to get Osho out of the US and destroy his Community in Central Oregon: from the federal government’s misuse of the immigration laws, to the State of Oregon’s misuse of the constitutional requirement of the separation of Church and State, and the RICO statutes to an Oregon land use “watchdog” group’s misuse of the Oregon land use laws. All in a pervasive atmosphere of bias and hostility.

The book provides clear summaries at the beginning of each part, chapter and discussion of major issues. Note well, however, that the book is a detailed presentation and analysis of the applicable law and evidence, not a popular history.

The key documents discussed in the book and an archive of over 1700 relevant documents are available on the website.

I am deeply grateful to Osho for entrusting me with this work and to friends who have supported this work for so long. Special thanks to Sarito Carol Neiman and Roshani Shay-Curtis for much effort and kindness in editing and to Suriya Dibbeena Kaur for creating the site. Many, many others who deserve credit are acknowledged in the book. And for the rest of you, you know who you are.

Much love always,

Niren

About the author

Niren has been a lawyer for almost 50 years, a daily meditator for over 40 years, and a mediator and coach for over 20 years. Niren was Osho’s personal attorney from 1981 to 1990 and was appointed by Osho as his personal ambassador to the United States. Niren lives in NW Washington State about a mile outside of a small town.
From big firm lawyer, Niren has come to a very quiet life in nature, meditating, writing, teaching awareness practices and sharing Osho’s vision. bsrinusdocs.com

Osho speaks in a discourse

My attorney in America, Niren, is here. Just the other day he told me that now the politicians who destroyed the commune illegally, without any reason, are repenting. They are repenting because… the attorney general of Oregon, Frohnmayer, was the number one enemy of the commune. He was supported by the whole state of Oregon just because he was opposing us, and the stupid fellow could not understand that once we were gone his support would also be gone. Now he has been defeated.

The governor of Oregon, Atiyeh, was also getting support from people because he was against us. As far as I am concerned, I will say they were amateur politicians. They did not understand a small thing: they should have continued harassing us, but not destroyed the commune. The whole of Oregon’s population would have been behind them.

Now Atiyeh is gone. These two men destroyed the commune, and the day the commune was destroyed and closed, I told people: “These politicians will repent because they are in power because of us. Once we are gone, their power will be gone too.”

Frohnmayer, the attorney general, was hoping to become governor; there was so much support. Now he is not even the attorney general. Somebody else has defeated him. And when we were there a very competent man – far more educated in law, has many degrees, Ph.D.’s and D.Litt.’s in law – was defeated by Frohnmayer only on one point: because that man was not against us. He made a political mistake by making a statement that “I don’t see why these people should be harassed. They are not doing any harm to anybody.” And that became the cause of his defeat. Against that man, Frohnmayer was nowhere close – the man was an authority on law. But Frohnmayer was victorious in the election. And now they are all gone. It is a very strange world.

In Oregon there is a law that if somebody lives there for twenty days, he becomes able to participate in the voting. They were afraid of us, so they were changing the law, which for more than a hundred years they had never thought of changing. For that, seventy-five percent of the peoples’ signatures were needed.

When we were there, they had collected almost fifty thousand signatures. But as the commune disappeared, nobody was interested in giving them signatures. The campaign had been going very well. But it was going well because of us – that, they could not understand. Once we were not there, people said, “What is the need? The law has been there for years and there has been no trouble and the people you were afraid of are gone.”

They were so much afraid – as if we were going to take over Oregon! Because just jokingly I had said, “We are going to take the whole universe. What about Oregon? – I am not interested in small things.”

Now those politicians who had become great leaders have fallen back into the nobodies. Now they must be repenting, and remembering….

Niren was saying that there is a possibility: “If you want to come back we can get the commune again, because the defeated politicians will support us. And now everybody understands that our presence is necessary for people who are in power to remain in power.”

But I said, “Now, to start again in that desert from ABC – I am not interested.”

I feel compassion for Frohnmayer, and for Governor Atiyeh – poor fellows. They proved to be retarded, not understanding the ways of politics. I am not a politician but I can see it clearly: in politics you should not destroy your enemy completely. You should go on threatening him – that’s enough – because by his presence, there is immense support to you, from all those people who are afraid.

Osho, The Hidden Splendor, Ch 2, Q 1 (excerpt) – March 1987

Niren’s response to USA v. Osho book review – A letter from Osho’s chief attorney, Niren (Philip Toelkes).
New book, USA v. Osho, brings up many more questions – A view on Niren’s recently released book, subtitled, A Legal History of the US Government Persecution of a Minority Religious Community, Oregon 1981-1986.