commune wasn’t ‘disbanded, destroyed’
Akshaye spoke to Mid Day about his career and his relationship with his father, late Vinod Khanna.
Ever since the Netflix series on controversial godman Rajneesh, there has been a renewed interest in him and his philosophy. Unwittingly, Akshaye has had a close association with the cult, thanks to Vinod Khanna becoming an avowed follower to the guru. Speaking about the time Vinod Khanna decided to leave his family and the worldly life to become a sanyasi (monk), Akshaye said that he was only four or five when his father left them, adding that it was only when he turned 15 or 16 that he realised what had happened. “One doesn’t look at it like that at five. Osho had nothing to do with my thoughts about why my dad wasn’t there. That came much later. As one grows, maybe 15 or 16, you start learning, listening or reading about the person who…”
“To not only leave his family, but to take ‘sanyaas’ (renunciation). Sanyaas means giving up your life in totality — family is [only] a part of it. It’s a life-changing decision, which he felt that he needed to take at the time. As a five-year-old, it was impossible [for me] to understand it. I can understand it now.”
Explaining further, he said he did eventually understand that something deep within must have moved his father to give up everything. “In the sense that something must have moved him so deeply inside that he felt that kind of decision was worth it for him. Especially, when you have everything in life. And when life doesn’t look as though there’s much more that you can have.”
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