Ultimate Game: The Rise and Fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh [Hardcover]

Kate Strelley (Author), Robert D. San Souci (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Strelley joined the Rajneesh movement in 1976 as a girl of 15 and left it just before its highly publicized collapse in 1985. This book, which purports to be an account of the rise and fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, is actually the story of one unhappy girl's attempt to find peace through personal surrender. Like Hugh Milne's Bhagwan: the God that failed ( LJ 3/15/87) this tale of petty bickering, grandiose plans, and ultimate disappointment fails to explain the allure of Bhagwan or the dynamics of his movement. Moreover, flawed by a haphazard, breathless style and an episodic organization that blurs the narrative, it is more irritating than illuminating. Perhaps the essence of Bhagwan and insight into his appeal will come only from someone with an outsider's perspective. D. Stephen Rockwood, Mt. St. Mary's Coll. Lib., Emmitsburg, Md.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 381 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (May 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062508210
• ISBN-13: 978-0062508218
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,712,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Personal, informative, interesting, February 13, 2003

By 

Angarai Vadyar (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Game: The Rise and Fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Hardcover)

For those who want to know what went on in Rajneesh's ashram"s at Poona,and Antelope, Oregan, this book can be useful. Kate Strelley has given a lucid autobiographical account of her experience at the ashrams of Rajneesh. I also got the impression that most of the devotees of Bhagwan Rajneesh were quite green behind their ears, not to have noticed what was really going on, and that the Master they so much admired was not following what he so brilliantly preached.

The books of Rajneesh are insightful and superb. If you want to know the essence of Tantra. Taoism, or Zen, you need only to go through the books of Rajneesj(Osho). But for the life of me I cannot understand why the so-called sanyasins gleefully put up with the pompous ceremonies of their Master when his Zen teachings clearly spelled out that the ordinary is extraordinary and that everyone is a celebrity.

I wish that Rajneesh had followed his Zen insights. He reminds me of a friend of mine who is a brilliant expert on nutrition but is very obese.

Love and best wishes.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Subtitle is inappropriate, November 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultimate Game: The Rise and Fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Hardcover)

Based on the subtitle of the book, one might expect this to be a history of the Rajneeshees and their eventual establishment of a large community in Oregon. Instead, this book is basically an autobiography of a former Rajneeshee, who does touch on some of the more infamous actions by the Rajneeshees. There is precious little detail on the salmonella poisonings in The Dalles, the political posturing in Antelope and other parts of the state, or even the anti-Rajneeshee actions such as the bombing of the Zorba the Buddha restaurant. Good for those who want to read an autobiography of someone who was in the movement, but hardly a tome about "the rise and fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh."