Laguna Canyon’s Rajneesh Center for Sale

The Utsava Rajneesh Meditation Center in Laguna Canyon, the last remaining American commune of disciples of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, is up for sale.

An executive for the owner of the five-acre parcel, Oregon-based Rajneesh Friends International, confirmed that “the property is for sale, and serious negotiations are under way.”

The official, who did not want to be named, said through a spokeswoman that the deal should be closed “within a few days” and that more information would be made available at that time. The spokeswoman declined to reveal the purchase price or the identity of the prospective buyer.

Swami Anand Satgyana, a member of the Laguna Canyon commune that leases the facility from Rajneesh Friends International, said commune members had been told only that the property was on the market. The commune normally houses about 20 Rajneeshi at one time, but hundreds of followers have settled in the area and come to the center each week for gatherings.

Rajneesh Friends International, which until a few months ago was called Rajneesh Foundation International, is responsible for distributing the Bhagwan’s books and is not normally involved in real estate transactions, Ma Ananda Sarita, spokeswoman for the Oregon Rajneesh ranch, said. The Oregon facility was closed last fall shortly after the Bhagwan was arrested on fraud charges and deported to his native India.

The ranch, which is owned by Rajneesh Investment Corp. and at one time was home to 3,000 Rajneesh faithful, is now populated by a few caretakers and will be until it is sold, probably later this year, Sarita said.

Ardith Freebairn, escrow officer for Action Escrow Inc. in Santa Ana, said her company “has no signed escrow” in hand. “A contact has been made, but unless I hear (from the parties involved), it’s dead,” she said.

A spokesman for the Church of Religious Science, which lost the property to the Rajneesh Foundation in a 1982 Superior Court ruling but which still has an appeal pending in federal court, said the land was almost sold six months ago, but the buyer backed out because of the litigation. A decision in favor of the Church of Religious Science would leave any new buyer “out of luck,” said Larry Barber, a spokesman for the church.

Barber, who was treasurer of the church when it legally changed hands, said the property, in county territory, is zoned for agricultural use--a designation that permits some commercial and residential development--and “might be worth $2 million with the three buildings on it--$2.5 million tops. The bare land might go for $1 million.”