Editing Rajneesh (section)

=== Renunciation and the "New Man" ===
Rajneesh saw his "neo-sannyas" as a totally new form of spiritual discipline, or one that had once existed but since been forgotten.<ref name="Aveling94-86">{{harvnb|Aveling|1994|p=86}}</ref> He thought that the traditional Hindu [[sannyas]] had turned into a mere system of social renunciation and imitation.<ref name="Aveling94-86" /> He emphasised complete inner freedom and the responsibility to oneself, not demanding superficial behavioural changes, but a deeper, inner transformation.<ref name="Aveling94-86" /> Desires were to be accepted and surpassed rather than denied.<ref name="Aveling94-86" /> Once this inner flowering had taken place, desires such as that for sex would be left behind.<ref name="Aveling94-86" />

Rajneesh said that he was "the rich man's guru" and that material poverty was not a genuine spiritual value.<ref name="Gordon114">{{harvnb|Gordon|1987|p=114}}</ref> He had himself photographed wearing sumptuous clothing and hand-made watches<ref name="TOI3104">{{cite news|author=Neil Pate |date=3 January 2004 |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/403145.cms |title=Celluloid Rajneesh, quite a hit |work=The Times of India |access-date=11 July 2011 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429204538/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/403145.cms |archive-date=29 April 2012 }}</ref> and, while in [[Oregon]], drove a different [[Rolls-Royce (car)|Rolls-Royce]] each day – his followers reportedly wanted to buy him 365 of them, one for each day of the year.<ref name="Hindu">Ranjit Lal, (16 May 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20040907145444/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/05/16/stories/2004051600330800.htm A hundred years of solitude]. ''The Hindu''. Retrieved 10 July 2011.</ref> Publicity shots of the Rolls-Royces were sent to the press.<ref name="Gordon114" /><ref name="FF1-47">{{harvnb|FitzGerald|1986a|p=47}}</ref> They may have reflected both his advocacy of wealth and his desire to provoke American sensibilities, much as he had enjoyed offending Indian sensibilities earlier.<ref name="Gordon114" /><ref name=Lewis129>{{harvnb|Goldman|2004|p=129}}</ref>

Rajneesh aimed to create a "new man" combining the spirituality of [[Gautama Buddha]] with the zest for life embodied by [[Nikos Kazantzakis]]' ''[[Zorba the Greek]]'': "He should be as accurate and objective as a scientist{{nbsp}}[...] as sensitive, as full of heart, as a poet{{nbsp}}[...] [and as] rooted deep down in his being as the mystic."<ref name="JMF6" /><ref name="HBU-ZTB175">{{harvnb|Urban|1996|p=175}}</ref> His term the ''new man'' applied to men and women equally, whose roles he saw as complementary; most of his movement's leadership positions were held by women.<ref name="JMF7">{{harvnb|Fox|2002|p=7}}</ref> This new man, "Zorba the Buddha", should reject neither science nor spirituality but embrace both.<ref name="JMF6" /> Rajneesh believed humanity was threatened with extinction due to over-population, impending [[nuclear holocaust]] and diseases such as AIDS, and thought many of society's ills could be remedied by scientific means.<ref name="JMF6" /> The new man would no longer be trapped in institutions such as family, marriage, political ideologies and religions.<ref name="HBU-ZTB169" /><ref name="JMF7"/> In this respect Rajneesh is similar to other counter-culture gurus, and perhaps even certain [[Postmodernism|postmodern]] and [[Deconstructionism|deconstructional]] thinkers.<ref name="HBU-ZTB169">{{harvnb|Urban|1996|p=169}}</ref> Rajneesh said that the new man had to be "utterly ambitionless", as opposed to a life that depended on ambition. The new man, he said, "is not necessarily the better man. He will be livelier. He will be more joyous. He will be more alert. But who knows whether he will be better or not? As far as politicians are concerned, he will not be better, because he will not be a better soldier. He will not be ready to be a soldier at all. He will not be competitive, and the whole competitive economy will collapse."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Brecher|first=Max|url=https://ildspor.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/159239659-a-passage-to-america.pdf|title=A Passage to America: A Radically New Look at Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and a Controversial American Commune|year=2013|pages=237, 238|access-date=30 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430142314/https://ildspor.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/159239659-a-passage-to-america.pdf|archive-date=30 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Theologica Mystica. Discourses on the treatise of st Dionysius|last=Rajneesh|first=Bhagwan Shree|publisher=Rajneesh Foundation International|year=1983|isbn=0-88050-655-5|location=Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, USA|pages=Chapter 2}}</ref>