NONFICTION - June 28, 1987

THE ULTIMATE GAME: THE RISE AND FALL OF BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH by Kate Strelley with Robert D. San Souci (Harper & Row: $17.95; 381 pp.). “The Ultimate Game” is a riveting account of the inner workings of the Rajneesh movement, from its beginnings in India to the disastrous debacle in Oregon.

Author Kate Strelley, for 10 years a sannyasin, a follower of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, spent several of those years as part of the Ashram’s inner circle. The book begins badly with a pedestrian account of the author’s unconventional upbringing and teen-age drug addiction, but the minute we enter the Poona Ashram, the details of daily life, dress, attitudes and political decisions make for engrossing reading.

Since it is difficult to write about the mystical without sounding trite, the book wisely concentrates on the practical: how the Rajneesh movement became an international empire, how money was subtly coaxed out of wealthy and willing donors, and how the organization successfully and skillfully created the illusion of magical events. By the end of the book, we can understand how immoral acts could flourish without thought of their consequences in the outside world.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the leader of this movement, is only seen from a distance. We receive hints, but it is never quite clear how much he really knew. Strelley never puts the Bhagwan’s teachings in spiritual or intellectual context. Instead, Bhagwam seems to act as a mirror by which thousands write their own fantasies. There is no understanding that the entire concept of master and disciple may be flawed, and perhaps fundamentally at odds with spiritual liberation, but then Strelley is only 26.

“The Ultimate Game” succeeds as a fascinating history of a movement because it is neither the bitter confessions of an ex-convert nor the impassioned apology of a true believer.