# Ma Anand Sheela

Ma Anand Sheela (Gujarati: માં આનંદ શિલા; born 28 December 1949), also known as Ambalal Patel Sheela, Sheela Silverman, later Sheela Birnstiel, is a former follower, secretary and spokeswoman for the Indian mystic and spiritual teacher Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now commonly known as Osho. She was the main planner of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack.

## Quotes

* Rajneesh is a great leader and a good man who was never really understood in his own country. In India he was a philosophy professor whose real name was Mohan Chandra. Rajneesh was a nickname he acquired in his childhood. He began lecturing in 1957 at colleges and universities. In 1971, he changed his name to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
** 1982 interview with FBI Agent Mike McPheters, quoted in — McPheters, Mike (2009). Agent Bishop. Cedar Fort. p. 145. ISBN 1599553171.
* You tell your Governor, your attorney general and all the bigoted pigs outside that if one person on Rancho Rajneesh is harmed I will have 15 of their heads, and I mean it. You have given me no choice. Even though I am a non violent person I will do that.
** September 18, 1984 press reports, quoted in — Congressman James H. Weaver (February 28, 1985). "The Town That Was Poisoned". Congressional Record (United States House of Representatives).
* By the year 2000, Oregon will be collapsed and the city of Rajneesh Puram will be existing.
** ABC News (September 19, 1984). "Rajneesh Puram, Oregon/Frieda K.". Nightline: p. 2; no. 868.
* In order for the Moral Majority and the mobs to understand Rajneesh, they will have to leave their mob mentality and their morality and become amoral. Right now they are living in the 16th century; it is about time that they grow up and move with the science. And become sophisticated as Rajneesh are.
** USA Today, October 16, 1984, p. 11A.

## Misattributed

* Tough titties.
** Although it was somewhat scandalous that CBS 60 Minutes aired an interview 3 November 1985 in which Sheela said this, it was not coined by her as some believe. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) dates the phrase to 1934, but it may be found as early as 1921.

## Quotes about Sheela

* Charismatic communications from Bhagwan or his designated surrogate, Sheela, were grandiose and served as motivation, direction, and inspiration for the group. Bhagwan's and Sheela's rhetorics posed problems for the movement in their very expansiveness and arrogance toward other groups and institutions. While the attacks on other cultures attracted followers dissatisfied with governments and institutions, they also alarmed and alienated more conventional audiences.
** Carter, Lewis F. (1990). Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram. Cambridge University Press. pp. 129-130. ISBN 0521385547.
* Once the Rajneeshees moved beyond Rancho Rajneesh and began to publicly challenge the status quo's discursive formation, their radical vision direcly threatened the existing order. Ma Anand Sheela's polarizing rhetoric took the values and definitions of the establishment and subverted them, gaining a public voice for the Rajneesh cause.
** Collins, Catherine Ann (1992), "Chapter Nine: Ma Anand Sheela: Media Power through Radical Discourse", in King, Andrew, Postmodern Political Communication: The Fringe Challenges the Center, Praeger Publishers, pp. 118-119, ISBN 0275938409
* All evidence suggested that Sheela and her small circle were responsible for these dangerous activities, but whether or not Rajneesh knew remains in dispute. However, for the past twenty years, Sheela has sworn that Rajneesh directed every criminal and violent move.
** Wellman, James K. (2007). Belief and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence across Time and Tradition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 171. ISBN 978-0742558243.
* Rajneesh had taken a vow of public silence before his arrival in America. He now spoke to his followers only through his inner circle, chiefly Ma Anand Sheela, who met with him every day.
** Mikul, Chris (2009). "Enlightenment in Orange: Rajneeshism". The Cult Files: True Stories from the Extreme Edges of Religious Beliefs. Murdoch Books. ISBN 978-1741960419.

## See also

* My Life in Orange
* Oregon
* Rajneesh
* Terrorism

## External links

* University of Oregon video on The Rise and Fall of Rajneeshpuram
* Oregon History Project Biography of Ma Anand Sheela