Kamal Ghorui
Vinod Khanna was at the peak of his career when he left movies decided to follow a spiritual path, leaving everyone shocked. He followed spiritual guru Osho and join his commune, first in India and later in Oregon, US. At the time, Vinod was one of the biggest stars in the country, delivering back-to-back hits and often being seen as the only real rival to Amitabh Bachchan. The actor had returned to the movies after five years. He was married to Geetanjali Khanna and had two children – Akshaye and Rahul Khanna. He left them and took the spiritual path. After he was back, things did not work out and he and Geetanjali got divorced. Khanna later married Kavita. In a recent interview on her YouTube channel, Vinod Khanna’s second wife, Kavita Khanna, shed light on what led to his dramatic decision. She revealed that Vinod’s spiritual inclination began early in life and that he first encountered Osho’s teachings as a teenager.“Vinod was very spiritual from when he was a child. When he was 17, he bought the book ‘Autobiography of Yogi’ and at that time, he said that he didn’t realise then that Osho was in the same bookstore at the same time,” Kavita recalled.Speaking about the turning point that made Vinod renounce his glamorous life, Kavita said the loss of close family members played a decisive role. “The tipping point from giving up this unbelievable material life that he had… the adoration he had and the success… was when a number of deaths happened in the family within two years. So, when his mother passed, he just went to Osho and took sanyas.”Kavita also shared lesser-known details about Vinod’s life at the Oregon commune, revealing that the former superstar took on simple responsibilities there. “He was Osho‘s gardener. Osho’s home was private, and very few people had access to it, but if you were the gardener, you were there. That was his seva.”Gardening was not the only role Vinod played during his time at the commune. Kavita revealed that he was also involved in helping design Osho’s distinctive attire. “In Oregon, Osho had these fabulous flowing ropes, which were designed for him, and all of them used to be tried on Vinod because of their same shoulder size,” she said.According to Kavita, Vinod’s spiritual exploration had already begun long before he left films and moved to the ashram. She recalled an incident from his Mumbai days when he participated in nude meditation sessions at Chowpatty Beach. “Even when he was in Mumbai before he moved to Pune ashram, the meditations on Chowpatty Beach in Bombay, which is right at the centre of this throbbing city, and everyone took their clothes off, and they were meditating naked in a circle on the beach.”Clarifying his intent, Kavita emphasised that Vinod’s journey was never about sensationalism. “I know Vinod was not there looking for the physical part of it, I think his journey was a spiritual one with immense commitment and devotion.”Vinod Khanna eventually returned to India, resumed his acting career and remained active in films and public life until his death in 2017.
