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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallReporting published in 2018 described Ma Anand Sheela—also known as Sheela Birnstiel—as living in Maisprach, Switzerland, and running two homes for adults with disabilities. A 2020 interview likewise described her as living in Switzerland and operating two nursing homes. Those are dated accounts, not confirmation of where she lives or what she does in 2026.
What was Ma Anand Sheela doing in Switzerland?
In a 2018 report, Scroll.in described Sheela’s work running two homes for disabled adults in Maisprach. The report said the homes had 29 residents in total at the time and that monthly fees were CHF 8,500, with government support covering all or part of fees for some patients. Both figures describe the situation reported in 2018; they should not be read as current numbers or prices.
Sheela told the reporter that the care homes were her own achievement, distinct from the commune she had helped lead. “After I left Bhagwan, everything I do is my baby. I am proud to say his training comes in handy but this is my life’s work. Rajneeshpuram was Bhagwan’s life’s work and this is purely mine along with my team. I am happy with both my legacies: with and without Bhagwan.”
How did she go from Rajneeshpuram to care work?
Her role in the Oregon commune
From 1981 to 1985, Sheela was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s personal secretary and spokesperson, and a prominent figure in Rajneeshpuram, the group’s Oregon community. The commune’s expansion in Wasco County brought it into conflict with local residents and officials. Sheela rejected the label “cult” in a 2018 Guardian interview: “It was a way of life, not a cult.” That is her characterization, not a neutral description of the movement.
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Departure, conviction and imprisonment
After leaving the commune in 1985, Sheela was extradited from Germany to the United States. Scroll reported that she pleaded guilty to immigration fraud and illegal interception of telephone calls, then served 39 months of a 20-year sentence. That account identifies the offenses to which she pleaded guilty; it should not be taken to mean that every allegation made about the Oregon episode resulted in a conviction.
Building a life in Switzerland
According to Scroll’s 2018 report, Sheela settled in Switzerland in 1989. In 1990, she began taking in six elderly disabled patients in a rented home. The report said the home received government accreditation in 2008. By the time of the reporter’s 2018 visit, she was running two homes.
How did Wild Wild Country present her?
The six-part Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country revisited Rajneesh’s US commune, its conflict with Oregon communities and officials, and the people involved. Its filmmakers, Chapman and Maclain Way, told Vogue India that they visited Sheela in Switzerland twice before interviewing her. Chapman Way recalled her saying: “That’s not for me. I like business, marketing, building. I like power.” This is the filmmakers’ reported recollection, not a direct interview transcript.
The documentary helped renew attention to Sheela, but it is one perspective on her and the events. The filmmakers told Vogue India they wanted to understand how the group’s ideals and justifications led to criminal acts, rather than make a conventional true-crime account. The Guardian’s contemporaneous coverage foregrounded her role in the movement and the criminal history; Scroll’s reported visit centered more closely on the care homes and included her account of her later work.
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The clearest later account in the cited coverage is a 2020 Vogue India interview, which described Sheela as living in Switzerland and running two nursing homes. It does not establish her present circumstances. As of October 8, 2026, the latest located reporting here remains historical, so claims that she still lives in Maisprach or operates the homes would go beyond what these accounts confirm.
In a 2019 Indian Express interview, biographer Manbeena Sandhu described seeing a softer, emotional side of Sheela during a visit and discussed how Sheela continued to understand her life through devotion to Bhagwan. That is Sandhu’s interpretation as a biographer, not independent proof of Sheela’s private feelings.
Quick Recap
Further viewing and reading
- Wild Wild Country is the documentary that brought renewed attention to Rajneeshpuram and its participants. Its current streaming availability is not established here.
- Don’t Kill Him! The Story of My Life With Bhagwan Rajneesh is Sheela’s memoir, identified as such by The Indian Express.
- Nothing to Lose: The Authorised Biography of Ma Anand Sheela by Manbeena Sandhu is a separate biography, also named by The Indian Express.
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