Ma Satya Bharti

(Jill Franklin)

Satya Bharti was one of the editors of Osho’s books, and a prolific writer of several books about Osho and life at the ashram during the seventies. They were published between 1980 and 1981, entitled ‘The Ultimate Risk’, ‘Drunk on the Divine’, and ‘Death Comes Dancing’, describing her own experiences, life at the ashram, and the therapy groups. After her experiences in Rajneeshpuram, she wrote ‘The Promise of Paradise’, which resulted in an appearance on ’Larry King Live!’ and other radio and TV programs. The book has been optioned twice for a movie, but Satya ultimately turned down the scripts as being sensationalist, not realistic, nor sympathetic to Osho.

"Harper & Row wasn’t interested in publishing Bhagwan’s books, but wanted me to write a book on meditation for them. (They knew I was a poet and speechwriter for Shirley Chisholm.)

When I returned to India and told Bhagwan this, he said not to write anything for Harper & Row but, instead, to rewrite his early books in a form they’d publish. These books had multiple fonts on every page and were repetitive and contradictory, often making no sense. In order to make them suitable for publication in the West, I took concepts from various talks of Bhagwan’s, interwove them, then rewrote the material to such an extent that I virtually ghostwrote the books. I wrote substantial portions of each book—entire chapters, sections describing meditation techniques, appendixes—but was familiar enough with Bhagwan’s speaking style to make it “sound” like him. It was through these books that most people in the West learned about Bhagwan and his teachings. I still hear words I’d written myself being quoted as Bhagwan’s words. (Rajneesh Foundation International now publishes these books—with my name removed!) My own books about Bhagwan were soon being published by major publishing companies worldwide as well, drawing people to the ashram." (Satya, Apr 3, 2018 in Daily Beast)

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