In the meantime, on the Big Muddy Ranch in Oregon, Sannyasins and their master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had laid foundations for a city they called Rajneeshpuram. The ranch transformed from an empty rural property into a city of up to seven thousand people, complete with a typical urban infrastructure of fire department, police, restaurants, malls, townhouses, a forty-two-hundred-foot airstrip, a public transport system using buses, a sewage reclamation plant, and a reservoir. Several times a year, large festivals took place, with thousands of visitors streaming into Wasco County by bus or airplane from Portland. Interested and able people could worship or join self-awareness group programs for money as long as they could afford it and had a valid visa or US residency. Worshipping meant living and working on The Ranch. As well as paying for it. American Sannyasins were in high demand as marriage collaborators for foreign disciples to obtain permanent residency. Disciples from Hamburg were going to and returning from their visits in Oregon.
Hasmukh and Chandra in the fancy two-bedroom apartment behind the university hospital in Eppendorf, Hamburg, wanted nothing more than to travel with Parmesh to Rajneeshpuram and finally meet the master in person. Be a part of the astonishing excitement and activities in the commune. They counted their cash funds, while Hasmukh sold the black truck and asked Rudi in Frankfurt if he could pay his last settlement installment for the apartment. Chandra worked her own accounting and produced some money. Altogether, it enabled them to book a flight to Portland for both. By chance, they met a couple in the Dharmadeep Center from southern Germany. Nimisha and Sarango with a small baby were looking for a place to live. Since they appeared to be sweet and easygoing, Hasmukh and Chandra rented the second bedroom to them.
As they waited for the departure to Oregon within a month, the two performed their daily routines. Hasmukh met with Sannyas women and their kids in a nearby park. Parmesh, who had begun to walk, played with children his own age. Every now and then, a group of them would spent time with him in the apartment during his babysitting duty. Other times, he could drop off Parmesh with someone else and drive taxi or have time alone with Chandra. Their relationship appeared to be solid and unclouded, the daily chores in the home mostly done by Hasmukh, who liked it when his family appreciated what he prepared for dinner. The mates were blessed with a healthy, active sex life; almost no day or night passed by without sex. Chandra’s desire and energy enabled a satisfactory copulation at any time it seemed opportune. Sometimes she would hug Hasmukh in the kitchen, and the pair would disappear for a moment onto the bed; there were very few nights Hasmukh could not give it to her due to his or her tiredness. Then one day, egregious news and guidelines from Oregon arrived directly from the master.
Before having sex in any way, Sannyasins had been instructed to first decontaminate the genital areas with a liquid and then wear latex gloves and condoms while doing it. Bhagwan knew that his disciples enjoyed rich and frequent sex lives, with many of the Sannyasins having numerous partners. His directive to safeguard his people arrived before the worldwide pandemic of AIDS and HIV. For years, his followers practiced safe sex, and he probably saved many lives. In reality, couples who stayed with one sexual partner, tried gloves and decontamination procedures for a while, and then refrained from using them.
After a year of being a devotee, this condition integrated itself naturally and fully into Hasmukh’s life. From the moment, the picture of Bhagwan began moving in front of him in the Mada Center of Frankfurt and he wanted to take Sannyas, to sitting in a taxi in Hamburg with his red outfit and mala around his neck. Being Bhagwan’s devotee had seemed an effortless enterprise. He had come from deep gray to a shiny red, his being transformed from cloaked to radiant. Hasmukh did not think and worry, but did his part of what needed to be done for the small family to survive. There were plenty of realizations and visualizations but also many questions he wanted to ask. All of them were answered in due time. He trusted the master, and he trusted his partner and himself.
Finally, the plane took off from Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel to Amsterdam, Holland, and then to Portland, Oregon, via Atlanta. Little Parmesh spent most of the time on one of his parents’ laps and adjusted to the long journey by sleeping a lot. The trio arrived at Portland International Airport, where Hasmukh and Chandra were immediately overwhelmed by what they saw in the arrival terminal: a sea of people dressed in orange and red.
New arrivals had two options for proceeding to Rajneeshpuram—bus or plane. Parmesh’s parents decided to take the plane. Bhagwan’s Sannyasin had purchased some used two-engine turboprop planes. Their cabins were prepared for approximately thirty passengers, with two rows of comfortable seats facing each other from each side of the aircraft. Before landing, after a forty-five-minute flight, on an airstrip in the midst of nowhere, the pilot circled once over the area, which incorporated the actual town. The disciples on board were able to see the tent city below, glimmering in the glare and heat of the sun. It had been erected for visitors from all over the world who wanted to attend the five-day summer festival.
Once the luggage had been retrieved from the plane, the group of new arrivals made their way to a bus that took them to the next stop. It was hot and dusty as the former school bus bounced over the red dirt road and then stopped at a lowered bar across the road for what turned out to be the decontamination station. A woman, Ma, entered the bus. Everybody recognized immediately the strong German accent as she attempted to silence the crowd inside the bus for her announcement. To Hasmukh, she looked amazing, like an athlete with a trained, tanned body, wearing a tiny turquoise-colored bikini that revealed more than covered anything. Tall and blond, with blue eyes and large, upright breasts, as well as a complimentary butt, she broadcasted her directions in a loud voice. All visitors had to go through the same procedure: Clean the genital areas with disinfection wipes and read the instructions before having sex. Sufficient materials, including condoms, would be provided in the tents.
Someone less surrendered might have thought that after almost twenty-four hours on the road, this whole process and interruption of the journey felt like torture, considering the 104-degree heat and then having to enter a small cubicle to rub the sexual organs with some burning solution. But within the group of followers, no objection could be heard. The excitement to be so close, to finally reach the destination and experience the master, subdued any other emotion. At another stop a few hundred yards farther, they checked in, with names and reservation verification. They also received maps and instructions on how to find their tents. The separated luggage had been sniffed by dogs.
Finally, the bus rolled onto a paved road and accelerated somewhat. One could see a building or structure here and there. People in red were walking, bicycling, or driving other buses, trucks, and agricultural machinery. At some point, the newcomers crested a hill and were able to look into the distance. Everybody erupted in oohs and aahs when they spotted the tent city and its enormous dimensions. All tents were the same size and rectangular shape, more than six feet high in the center, and resting on wooden platforms. The Hamburg family found their tent empty. Inside were sleeping mats, blankets, and utensils for six. They joined the other Sannyasins, about ten thousand of them, and began to experience a period of extreme exhilaration.
Daily life in town offered anything a spiritually inclined urban person from the West might have wished. If the seat one got for the daily Satsang was very far away from the master on the stage, there was another opportunity to see him up close during his drive-by in the afternoon. Everybody lined up on the road and Bhagwan eventually appeared in one of his numerous Rolls-Royce limousines or convertibles. He would drive very slowly, sitting in the back of the car, waving and occasionally stopping, handing out small gifts to children or saying a few words to someone along the way. If any of his disciples caught a glimpse, or thought to have caught a glimpse from him directly, they would stand in awe with closed eyes, some of them weeping. When it happened to Hasmukh, he felt something inside he could not describe. All he knew and sensed was gratefulness and peace.
Hasmukh and Chandra were married spiritually in the airport lounge, with some witnesses, a service, nice clothes, and a glass of champagne, but no promises. It happened in a maze of emotions to have some fun—and why not? They had never married legally. The festival coordinators offered various types of wedding ceremonies for different amounts of money to celebrate divinely.
During the day and sometimes at night, children could be placed in a special quiet area of town at a baby-sitting and kindergarten service. That way the parents were able to enjoy a late Satsang or the disco downtown. A wooden square in the shape of a small stadium had been built, and the space inside served as dance floor. For several hours, people could dance their hearts out and have a couple of beers. Chandra and Hasmukh went there whenever they wanted, and someone watched over Parmesh. On hot days, Sannyasins could take advantage of the cool water in a lake reservoir, which was equipped with wooden constructions for a food area and swimming platforms in the middle of the lake. During the week of the festival, a Japanese Sannyasin drowned in the lake, and rumors were passed around that Bhagwan declared him enlightened.
There were always rumors and gossip spreading throughout the commune, such as who might have made it—become enlightened or almost. Certain Indian terms, such as bodhisattva, were assigned to specific people to indicate a stage of enlightenment. Hasmukh had his doubts whether this was something Bhagwan created, since it did not fit into his teachings.
On the night before their departure back to Hamburg, the couple once more visited the large, corralled, wooden disco dance floor in downtown Rajneeshpuram. Music, delivered by a superb sound system, included current pop dance music, and most guests were on the dance floor continuously. While dancing and during breaks to catch their breath and have something to drink, using body language, looks, glances, smiles, and dancing with an individual spontaneously, minds automatically selected and weeded out potential mates for the night. At every disco in the world, the same patterns, a common process existed. On their last night in Rajneeshpuram, the encouraging atmosphere motivated Hasmukh and Chandra, to find someone other to spend it with than the one from the night before.
The disco closed down for the night. Hasmukh found himself walking next to a sweet, appetizing young woman along a dirt road in the tent town. The temperature dropped dramatically at night, as it does in deserts and high plains. He could smell the aromatic odor of woodchips, which had been spread everywhere between the tents and walkways to avoid mud baths in case of rain. When the couple, like many other couples trying to find their destination in this huge city, finally arrived at the woman’s tent, she apologetically asked him, “I hope you do not mind tent mates?”
Without further delay, Hasmukh and his date crawled into the dark interior and fumbled their way, first on top and then inside her sleeping bag. Both were fully clothed, and after only a few minutes, it became clear to him that there would be no passionate lovemaking during this night. He could hear the tent mates turning and coughing close to him and all of a sudden felt completely exhausted. The temporary couple hugged and was friendly with each other until the woman fell asleep soon.
Hasmukh tried to do likewise but could not. One hour, two hours passed, and then he peeled himself out of the sleeping bag, found his shoes, and left the tent. He had been thinking about Chandra, where she might have ended up and whether she had taken little Parmesh on her night out. As he walked the long route in direction of his own tent through the quiet city, the moon providing some light, he once again enjoyed the powerful smell of woodchips. Then anxiety set in, a fear he had not experienced for a long time.
Eventually, he came to the area that looked familiar to him, the way some tents were assembled, and he walked slowly to what he thought was his tent to listen from the outside whether there were any noises. Nothing. He could not hear a sound from anywhere. When Hasmukh carefully opened the canvas cover to slide inside the tent, he immediately noticed in the dim moonlight that Parmesh was the only person in it, sleeping peacefully. His father could not believe it. What had she done? Why did she leave the child alone?
Adrenaline began to pump through his system; not an iota of tiredness was left. He exited the tent and began walking around the circle of tents in the neighborhood, listening for Chandra’s voice somewhere. He tried for an hour or more; in the meantime, late night had turned into early morning, and the initial surge of anger and jealousy wore off, enabling him to lie down for a bit on his own mat. He must have fallen asleep because the sudden noise of the canvas flap awakened him. Chandra smiled at him but then stopped grinning when she noticed his face and felt his rigid body and silence.
This situation concluded their stay in the master’s city, and the atmosphere between them remained grim and silent even when they reached the departure terminal at Portland International. Once again, passengers in red commanded the panorama. The couple from Hamburg and their son sat on a row of seats near restrooms and other facilities, watching their fellow Sannyasins pass by. Sporadically, the parents looked at each other, and Hasmukh could see Chandra’s face twisted from the pain inside of her. Early in the morning, she had tried to explain what had occurred the previous night, something about a massage that a swami had offered her in his tent, but Hasmukh did not want to hear anything about it. Their wait was several hours. The emotions in both of them had reached a boiling point, and something had to give. They gazed at each other one more time, sitting next to each other. They began hugging, and then she said, “Let’s go into the baby changing room, shall we?”
Exhausted Parmesh had been sleeping for some time. They carried him carefully the few steps to the small cubicle next to the restrooms and closed the door behind them. Chandra placed the child cautiously on the retractable change stand and then asked, “How should we do it?”
“Turn around and lean over.”
There was no other way. They quickly stripped down their pants. Hasmukh had a condom available and made sure to pull it up securely all the way. She had not much space to lean forward because of Parmesh in front of her, but it was enough for him to find the entrance into her and push forward. Chandra squeezed her mouth shut with one hand, trying to avoid awakening the child, as he ambushed her with all he had. It felt extremely and deliciously lustful to do it this way. When both came simultaneously, Chandra screamed, and Parmesh began crying as well. She had to calm him down and assure the boy that his father had not hurt her.