@article{Biedermann2023,
       author = "Biedermann, Kate",
       title =  {{"Whatever is in you has to come out": An Individual’s Journey through Bhagwan’s Communes and Beyond}},
       howpublished = "\url{https://ir.hamilton.edu/do/73f6abb5-4085-46e1-bd7b-99c15698a97e}",
       publisher = {Richard W. Couper Press and Hamilton College Library Special Collections},
       journal = {American Communal Societies Quarterly},
       year = 2023,
       month = jan,
       volumen = {17},
       number = {1},
       pages = {29--43},
}

Creator

Date

January 2023

Available After

2026-01-01

Description

This essay seeks to recount the intimate history of Madhuri Z K Ewing's late-twentieth century experience in a mystical intentional community under the Indian guru known as Bhagwan. Rather than focusing on aspects of the Rajneesh movement that have since been sensationalized by popular media, I explore a deeply personal account of one woman’s experience over the course of her twenty-six years spent in Bhagwan’s communes in India and Oregon. To embark on her path towards the Self, Madhuri muddled through decades spent in community where she submitted to authority and let the powers working around her strip her bare. This essay is far from comprehensive and seeks to illustrate facets of Madhuri’s journey that speak to her identity formation within the Rajneesh movement and the tension between intense individualism and collectivism.

Type of Work

• Article

Source Title

American Communal Societies Quarterly

ISSN

1939-473X

Volume

17

Issue

1

First Page

29

Last Page

43

Publisher

Richard W. Couper Press

Hamilton College Library Special Collections

Part Of

Rights Statement

The copyright for this work is held by its creators and Hamilton College. More information