By My Own Rules by Ma Anand Sheela

By My Own Rules: My Story in My Own Words is a memoir of Ma Anand Sheela in which she talks about 18 rules that she learnt from life. A chapter is dedicated to each rule along with the incidents that helped in the formation of that rule. The book is rich in insights on love and life. It also shares a glimpse of her team-building skills. The author gives credit to her mother, father, & Bhagwan for her learnings in life.

The name Ma Anand Sheela was given to the author by Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho. She referred to him as Bhagwan in the book. She is known as the controversial personal secretary of Osho, who founded & led the Rajneeshpuram Commune in Oregon, USA, and got involved in the attempted murder and assault for her role in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison though was released on good behaviour after serving 39 months in prison.

She didn’t talk about her reason for pleading guilty in the book except saying that most people have a limited understanding of her legal situation and preconceived stereotypical notions & scandalmongering have overshadowed the truth. Although she talked about the things that she learnt from her prison days.

The book, By My Own Rules: My Story in My Own Words, mainly deals with the story of Ambalal Patel Sheela who was born in 1949, in Baroda also known as Vadodara, in India, not of Ma Anand Sheela who once was the close associate & personal Secretary of Osho & later became a centre of talk in the public domain because of accusations & counter-accusations between her and Osho Commune.

However, she presented her side of the story in the book. She said that she didn’t want to sell her soul in the name of love and yet she went through fire out of her love for him. She talked about how she met Osho & fell in love with him along with why she had to left him, briefly. She came into the limelight again after the release of Wild Wild Country on Netflix.

Sheela is a Swiss citizen now and runs care homes in Switzerland, Vietnam, & Mauritius for old & people with degenerative illnesses. She lives by the ideology of being there & living in the moment. She believes in welcoming life as it comes without any judgment & making new mistakes every day instead of repeating the same mistakes.

The book focuses on the lessons she learnt in life. It mostly deals with the struggle she faced after her release from prison, how she started her life again from scratch, etc. Her journey is interesting and worth reading.

Takeaways from the Book

• Life is a vast ocean of events. One can either accept what one experiences and learn from the same or keep complaining.
• Feelings are connected with intuition and intuition is a process of the heart. Always listen to intuition. Every person must follow the inner truth. No one needs to be afraid of one’s feelings.
• The one ingredient one needs when it comes to caring is to understand the needs of others. The feeling of care and connection is what carries the soothing feeling of ‘love.’ Love enough so that you can let go.
• If Existence tests you with trying circumstances, it also sends you its angels to hold your hand.
• Everything in life passes, no matter how bad it is.

I’ll like to end this with Sheela’s views on success:

As I write this now, I am not concerned whether it’ll be successful or not. I want to write what I have learned and share my experience with my readers. This is what inspires me. Just letting myself run with words makes me feel lighter in my heart. It’s a beautiful feeling. This moment is my success, it is all that matters.

The post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon. I received the review copy from Penguin through Blogchatter Book Review Program. You can buy By My Rules here.