Dragon Lady
![](/images/e/ec/Dragon_lady.png)
This is Dragon Lady, the last witness, the sequel series of “Soli” by Roberta Lippi. Her name was Deeksha, and she was one of the women of power in Osho’s entourage, the famous Indian guru, and one of the few disciples to have direct access to the teacher. Deeksha was somewhat of a living legend in the ashram because many considered her to be a true tyrant. Osho often spoke of her as an exemplary figure, calling her Zen Master or Dragon Master, and still today the Sannyasins remember her this way. even if she has long since disappeared from the scene. Deeksha arrived in the United States and was destined to take over Rajneeshpuram together with Ma Anand Sheela, but suddenly decided to leave the commune. The reasons that prompted her to leave have remained secret for over 40 years. Today she has decided to talk and reveal everything about the community and the guru.
Cover image by Martino Pietropoli
Music by Smokelab
- language
- English
- notes
- 6 episodes + Trailer
- time period of hosting
- 2022
- presenter (producer)
- Roberta Lippi
- see also
- Soli: i bambini di Osho - original Italian prequel podcast
- Hosting website
episodes
Episode 0
Trailer
- This is Dragon Lady, the last witness, the sequel series of “Soli” by Roberta Lippi.
- Her name was Deeksha, and she was one of the women of power in Osho’s entourage, the famous Indian guru, and one of the few disciples to have direct access to the teacher.
- Deeksha was somewhat of a living legend in the ashram because many considered her to be a true tyrant. Osho often spoke of her as an exemplary figure, calling her Zen Master or Dragon Master, and still today the Sannyasins remember her this way. even if she has long since disappeared from the scene.
- Deeksha arrived in the United States and was destined to take over Rajneeshpuram together with Ma Anand Sheela, but suddenly decided to leave the commune. The reasons that prompted her to leave have remained secret for over 40 years. Today she has decided to talk and reveal everything about the community and the guru.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 1:34
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 1
Dragon Lady – Part 1
- A young educated and rich woman has just taken a long trip around the world, after he received an inheritance. She will stop in Bombay, where an acquaintance tells her that there is a master she really needs to know and where she will start proselytizing for him to bring new Western followers.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 52:01
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 2
Dragon Lady – Part 2
- Deeksha has become one of the most feared and respected people in the community. The ashram grows excessively and she works without respite. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t even have time to realize that many, too many strange things are happening within the commune, and that she herself is inevitably involved.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 59:07
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 3
Dragon Lady – Part 3
- TThe community has become so large that it is almost unmanageable, gossip about what happens in the ashram increases and strange events sharpen suspicions about what happens once you cross the gates of Poona’s Ashram. Sheela manages to get the power she so longs for and convinces the guru to move to America. Deeksha is in charge of organizing everything in advance and leaves for the United States.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 58:56
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 4
Dragon Lady – Part 4
- In New Jersey, Deeksha and Sheela indulge the whims of the guru as they try to give life to the new commune of Rajneeshpuram, but suddenly the story takes a turn for one of the two: while Sheela indulges Osho in everything he does, asks and teaches, Deeksha has a brainwave: who is really the man she thought she had known ten years earlier and who has always considered a teacher? And what does he really want?
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 01:06:32
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 5
Dragon Lady – Part 5
- Deeksha follows up on the guru’s last requests, but as soon as he can he escapes Rajneeshpuram. His name now represents a danger to the whole community: bring her back in by any means or make her pay? But the intimidation was not effective on the woman who decided to return to give voice to the Dragon Lady in her.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 01:03:34
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
Episode 6
Dragon Lady – Part 6
- After years of impositions and dramatic acceptance of a world totally out of reality, Deeksha realizes how fundamental her role was in the birth, growth and fall of the sannyasin world. Too many voices of those who have suffered and those who have been lost who have remained silent, too much violence and abuse. This is the definitive delivery of the truth, so that history does not repeat itself.
- Date of broadcast :
- Duration : 01:23:14
- Listen to this episode here
- Episode notes :
- To learn more:
- Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia
- by Russell King
- Sins of My Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unravelling
- by Lily Dunn
- Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram: A Community without Shared Values
- (American Sociological Association Rose Monographs)
- by Lewis F. Carter
- My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru
- by Tim Guest
- Breaking the Spell: My life as a Rajneeshee, and the long journey back to freedom
- by Jane Stork
- The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
- by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad
- Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults
- by Janja A. Lalich
- The Mother of God
- by Luna Tarlo
- Holy Hell: A Memoir of Faith, Devotion, and Pure Madness
- by Gail Tredwell
- Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults
- by Steven Hassan, Daniel Greenberg, et al.
- Bhagwan: The God That Failed
- by Hugh Milne
- When She Comes Back
- By Ronit Plank
- Wild Wild Sheela – Le 100 cose che Wild Wild Country non vi ha detto e state cercando su Google
- By Roberta Lippi