‘I joined 'sex cult' and was sterilised at 25 - I left 40 years later and cry everyday’

The abusive practices of Baghwan Shee Rajneesh's cult have been examined in a Netflix documentary, and now a follower has opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered

The Star, UK/April 4, 2022

By Adam Goldsmith

The 2018 Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country exposed the heinous practices of Rajneesh Osho’s cult, and now another follower – who only left last year – has come forward to share her story of sexual abuse and mistreatment.

Bhagwan Shee Ranjeesh, known as Osho, was an Indian mystic who began a controversial belief group in India during the 1960s and 70s.

Although preaching values of love and friendship, a Netflix documentary has exposed the leader’s allegedly abusive tactics of control.

In one instance, followers even claimed that the leader had attempted to poison rival local officials in an attempt to establish the cult in the US during the early 1980s.

Now, speaking on the Little Bit Culty podcast, Erin Robbins has shared her own tales of her time falling in love with the abusive cult founder.

Erin was first attracted to the cult during its early origins in India, before its base moved over to Oregon in the US, when it began to outgrow its small surroundings.

And, despite opening up about her experiences now, Erin admitted that she had been enthralled by the preacher’s aura during her time integrating with the cult.

In one instance, she recalled how she had been part of a group of women selected to be “energy mediums”, and allowed them much closer contact with the guru.

“I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven, I couldn’t have wanted more. When I was near him, what happened in my body, I was ecstatic, I was in bliss,” she explained.

But, as her contact with Ranjeesh increased, a sexual undercurrent began to present itself.

Erin remembered: “I’m invited to go to this special meeting with the master, and the instructions I was given were to wear a loose robe and not to wear any underwear. So that’s how it started.

“He stressed it deeply and continuously that surrender had to be 100%... He talked about saying yes to everything that happened around him, and that was the door through which we would become merged with him and finally disappear as a separate person and become one with him.

“I was getting messages from his caretaker to come in the middle of the night… he would have me take off my clothes and touch me.”

Erin then claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the cult leader, explaining that at the time she had written it off by reasoning that it was simply a mark that the two had developed a special bond.

This dedication to the guru would have far-reaching implications for her later years. As well as displaying a sexualised attitude towards the women who associated themselves with him, Erin described how the group’s leader was unsympathetic towards children.

This meant, she explained, that the cult’s followers were encouraged to take steps meaning they would not be able to have children.

“He was professing to be interested in the future of humanity, but yet he said that children were a distraction to our awakening and to our relationship with him," she said.

“Having children was discouraged; people who were pregnant were suggested to have abortions… It was strongly encouraged to get sterilised, so many young women and men were sterilised.

“I have a scar too, under my navel, from where I was sterilised aged 25.”

Despite the horror of her experiences, and now into her late 60s, Erin acknowledged that she had only recently been convinced to step away from her life with the group after her therapist repeatedly suggested that she had been “brainwashed”.

“I need time to cry everyday, buckets of tears. But at the same time, I think I’m getting through,” she added.

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