In the early days, when Bhagwan Rajneesh started his first commune in Pune, India in the 1960’s, he regularly engaged with his followers. Many would receive advice, spiritual guidance and listen to his “wisdom.” Many reported crying in joy in his presence or felt a certain weight lifted from them, like they could be themselves.
Gloria Malerba put on the orange robe and entered the Pune temple in the late 1960s. According to Waterfall, when Malerba was ready to go home, Rajneesh told her, “Go and spread my word in New York.”
Gloria Malerba, who went by Ma Satya Priya, headed the past Osho Padma NYC Center in her West Village apartment, establishing a small senyassin community.
At the time, thousands flocked to Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon, which began in 1981, to sit at the feet of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.Priya would often travel to the commune and even recruited homeless people in San Francisco to join the commune. (The homeless were used to take over the county legislature. They were also secretly drugged to make them docile.)