10.03.2010 - 19:05
Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
Irfan Hussain
Scandals
Sixty Years On, More Sinned Against...
The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. A trip down murky memory lane.
Smita Gupta
Special Issue: India At 60
The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. They rolled out decade after decade7the
Mundhra scandal, the Kairon embarrassment, the mysterious Nagarwala
case; in the 1980s, big defence scams kept pace with India's growing
defence needs. In the 1990s, as the economy liberalised, stockmarket
and hawala scams erupted. Ironically, while political reputations were
ruined and a government was brought down7in 1989, on the Bofors issue7
very few allegations have ever been proved. The recent scandals, like
the Taj Corridor case involving Mayawati, and the Telgi fake stamp
paper scam, are still fresh in the public mind. Here, we take you on a
trip down murky memory lane.
***
The Mundhra Scandal
The timing was disastrous. Less than a year after the government
nationalised life insurance in 19567on the grounds that it was not
being managed well7the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) produced
independent India's first scam. Pressured by the Union finance
ministry, LIC bypassed its investment committee and purchased shares
worth Rs 124 lakh in six7mainly dud7companies belonging to Calcutta
industrialist Haridas Mundhra. Feroze Gandhi, Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru's son-in-law, dramatically disclosed the deal in
1958, leading to a nationwide furore, and an investigation. The guilty
were punished, and Union finance minister T.T. Krishnamachari had to
resign.
Kairon and Sons
For independent India, this was a first-of-a-kind scandal. Later, of
course, it was to become almost a cliche in political life: a chief
minister accused of aggrandising himself and his family at public
expense. The S.R. Das Commission, tasked to investigate these charges
against Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, exonerated him in
1964, saying a father could not be held legally responsible for the
actions of his grown-up children. But a caveat7that a chief minister
could not escape moral responsibility for his children's' actions7was
indictment enough. Kairon quit.
"Man from Bangladesh"
The case, straight out of a political thriller, captured public
imagination and continues to raise unanswered questions. On May 24,
1971, former intelligence agent R.S. Nagarwala, posing as a "man from
Bangladesh", withdrew Rs 60 lakh from the Parliament Street branch of
New Delhi's State Bank of India, following a purported call from then
prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to the chief cashier.
Nagarwala had apparently "mimicked" Indira Gandhi's voice. In the
course of the probe that followed, investigating officer D.K. Kashyap
was killed in a mysterious car accident and Nagarwala died in prison.
The Janata Party, alleging that the money belonged to Indira Gandhi,
set up the Jaganmohan Reddy commission in 1977, but found insufficient
evidence to indict her.
"Rajiv Gandhi chor hai"
"Gali gali mein shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai!" As the scandal over
the Bofors gun deal became a symbol of corruption in high office, this
slogan was heard across the country. The alleged kickback involved was
Rs 60 crore, small change as such scandals go, but it helped V.P.
Singh's National Front trounce Rajiv's Congress in 1989. Since then,
the Delhi High Court has acquitted Rajiv Gandhi and the Hinduja
brothers. 'Middleman' Ottavio Quattrocchi's name has not yet been
cleared, but investigators have not come up with anything conclusive
either. Yet, 18 years later, the ghost of Bofors continues to haunt a
forever tainted Congress7and Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia.
St Kitts Forgery Scandal
Chandraswami, a godman with greasy locks and mighty political
connections, was the central figure in the 1989 tit-for-tat "scam"
intended to tarnish V. P. Singh. He, along with then external affairs
minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, and another minister, K.K. Tewary,
reportedly organised forged documents to show that VP's son Ajeya
Singh had deposited $21 million in the First Trust Corporation Bank in
the Caribbean island of St Kitts, with his father as beneficiary.
After Rao's term as PM ended in 1996, the CBI formally charged him for
the crime. But later, the court acquitted Rao for lack of evidence.
All the other accused were also eventually let off. However, the scam
punctured Chandraswami's colourful career. Politicians kept clear of
him from then on.
Sukh Ram Telecom Scam
He came to be known by the epithet, minister of tele-'phony'. In 2002,
a CBI special court sentenced former Union communications minister
Sukh Ram to three years RI, and fined him Rs 1 lakh for purchasing
poor quality radio system equipment from a company in 1991, causing
the public exchequer to suffer losses totalling Rs 1.68 crore. The
buzz was that Sukh Ram, under whose bed dhobi bundles of cash were
found, was involved in several other deals, but nothing was proved. A
senior telecom official, Runu Ghosh, and Hyderabad-based businessman
Pataru Rama Rao, were also sentenced to two and three years
imprisonment respectively. A tortuous legal battle continues.
Stockmarket Scam, 1992
He was toasted and celebrated by investors and the media alike. But
like the stockmarket, he too crashed, leading to one of the biggest
financial scandals in independent India. 'Big Bull' Harshad Mehta,
held to be largely responsible for the stockmarket crash of '92, was
arrested by the CBI in November that year for "misappropriating" more
than 27 lakh shares7worth Rs 250 crore7of about 90 companies,
including Sensex heavyweights like ACC and Hindalco, through forged
share transfer forms. Blacklisted in the stockmarket, he reportedly
caused a loss of more than Rs 4,000 crore to various entities and
eventually died in custody in December 2001, before all the legal
issues were sorted out. The stock scam reverberated through the
country, with several people committing suicide after losing their
life savings and going bankrupt overnight.
PV in a Pickle
Close on the heels of the stock scam came Harshad Mehta's sensational
allegation that he had paid Rs 1 crore in cash to the personal
secretary of then prime minister Narasimha Rao. He even displayed a
suitcase, offering a symbol for venality, but the allegation was never
proved. Rao was also embarrassed by the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
scandal. Pickle king Pathak, a UK-based Indian businessman, alleged
that he had paid Chandraswami and his associate K.N. Aggarwal alias
Mamaji (who were close to Rao) $100,000 in return for a paper pulp
supply contract in India, a "promise" that was not kept. Rao and
Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003 due to lack of
evidence. Despite this, the case remained a blot on Rao.
Jain Hawala Scam
Some of the country's leading politicians were implicated in the Rs 64-
crore hawala scandal, involving payments allegedly received by
politicians through the Jain brothers, who were hawala brokers. The
media went into overdrive over a diary, which apparently contained the
names of top politicians. These included the BJP's L.K. Advani and
Congressmen Balram Jakhar, Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh. However,
they were all cleared. Advani was let off in 1997, while Jakhar and
the Jain brothers were also let off in 1999 for want of credible
evidence. The CBI was severely criticised for its inefficient
investigation of the scandal.
Fodder Scam
In 1996, Bihar CM Laloo Prasad Yadav became the focus of the Rs 950-
crore fodder scam in the state's animal husbandry department,
notorious for financial irregularities involving powerful politicians
(across parties) and officials. In April 2000, Laloo was chargesheeted
in the case, with wife Rabri Devi as co-accused. In December '06, they
were acquitted, but the CBI and the Bihar government, now under the
JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, opposed the decision in the Patna high court.
Till date, 250 persons have been convicted. But the scandal's severest
toll has been on Laloo's reputation.
Petrol Pump Scam
Shortly after the NDA came to power in '98, the BJP was quick to prove
it was not "a party with a difference". By '02, it was evident that
most petrol pump, LPG and kerosene allotments during the NDA regime
had favoured BJP functionaries, Sangh activists and selected governors
and bureaucrats. Then prime minister A.B. Vajpayee was forced to
cancel all 3,158 allotments, with effect from January 2000. However,
the SC quashed the order. In 2005, an apex court-appointed panel
recommended that 296 of the 409 allotments be cancelled.
Operation West End
Tehelka.com sent shockwaves throughout the country when it released
secret video footage of senior politicians, including then BJP
president Bangaru Laxman and Samata Party national president Jaya
Jaitly, bureaucrats and army officers accepting bribes for defence
deals. This was the first major sting operation in Indian journalism.
From then on, getting 'Bangarued' came to mean being caught with your
hand in the till. The scandal forced Bangaru and then defence minister
George Fernandes to resign. The CBI filed charges against Bangaru and
two of his aides in July '06 and against Jaitly in December '06.
Chargesheets were also filed in 2006 against some of the other accused
in the Union ministry of defence and the army. R.K. Jain, former
treasurer of the Samata Party, was finally arrested in 2006 on charges
of receiving huge payoffs in defence deals.
Bu Smita Gupta with Debarshi Dasgupta
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
22 Gulam:>>" Who are "we" here?
All those involved in fighting the terrorists."
All those now involved in 'protecting/training' the terrorists should
also sincerely join the fight against terrorists and their
elimination. Otherwise, these may well be the first, though
unintended, casualties in the terrorist explosions. Perhaps, you may
be able make them realize this, before it is too late.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
21 Seshadri,
Who are "we" here?
All those involved in fighting the terrorists.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
20 Ghulam:>>"We should kill them at a faster rate than they can train
their recruits."
Who are "we" here? The major OIC countries, especially Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, should help non-OIC terrorist-
targetted countries like, India, UK, US in detecting and exterminating
terrorists. Will they? Pakistan is sheltering the Bombay bomber and
Bin Laden and denying it all the time. God Allah will help these
moslems only if they help in eliminating islamic terrorists. Will
they ?
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
19 "The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are both
ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community."
Most of the muslims nourish ideas of ummah expansion and how it can be
brought about. Many of them express it shamelessly, in schools,
offices etc. One of the reasons why the rest of the Indians despise
Muslims in general.
chaitanya
chennai, India
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
18 Seshadri,
It means 5 million can be killed or maimed, in due course, by these.
Not if we are killing them at the same time. We should kill them at a
faster rate than they can train their recruits. The terrorists have
done more harm to Muslims than to anyone else.
you will agree that all moslems consider non-moslem khafirs could justif=
iably be killed, if they come in the way of the expansion of the UMMA.
Not true. The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are
both ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community. I have never heard of them from anyone I know. The only
time I hear them is from the sanghis, zionists and from rabid jehadis
who somehow or other have become the favorites of British TV crews.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
17 Ghulam:>>"The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000."
I see it was Joseph who mentioned the number of jihadis as only a few
millions out 1.3 billion moslems in the world. I wrongly attributed it
to you, sorry. You say the ''trained' terrorist jihadis' are only
10,000; each has a potential for killing or disabling 500 persons,
with today's terrorism technology. It means 5 million can be killed or
maimed, in due course, by these.
More are being trained, in the mean time. IF the moslem states
cooperate with the non-moslem states, the menace can be contained.
Otherwise, the number of terrorist jihadis may grow exponentially with
time and become uncontainable, as it is becoming in Iraq.
"You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were trained to=
kill non-believers. That is patently untrue."
I did not imply that all the moslems were "trained" to kill the other
non-believers. But, you will agree that all moslems consider non-
moslem khafirs could justifiably be killed, if they come in the way of
the expansion of the UMMA. Even this is against the basic human rights
of non-moslems also as humans, with a right to exist. If devout
moslems believe that only believers in Allah will go to heaven in
after-life, I have no objections to that.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
16 Seshadri,
You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a few =
millions.
What we were discussing was what percentage of Muslims may be
terrorists. The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000. You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were
trained to kill non-believers. That is patently untrue.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
15 Ghulam:>>"Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis "
You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a
few millions. If each suicide bomber can kill 100 and disable another
100, most of them moslems of slightly different sects, the few million
jihadis can finish off most of the billion-plus moslems in the moslem
world today. Is it desirable or permissible ?
Moslem govts should themselves monitor their madarsas, modernize their
education, reduce inter-sect hatreds, liberalize the moslems' world-
view and jail the die-hard jihadis in isolated islands, if reqd.
Mesa'potamia' is burning, George Bush on the 'Potamac' river in
Washington is not able to do much about it. Only Man Mohan Singh's
kind heart may be bleeding for the berieved, disabled, displaced and
refugees of Iraq, especially the children. I wonder why the OIC or the
moslem-welfare organization you have in US are not doing anything
about it. The OIC should itself organize a CIA type secret service to
identify hard-core suicidal jihadis among moslems and arrest them and
put them off.
The idea that 72 'virgins' are waiting to please martyrs in heaven
must be re-explained to the moslems in general and jihadis in
particular. What Narada {GaapriyaDGasbriel] told Mohammed [Ravana]is
that there is a non-gravity region in Jupiter [St. Peter's 'heaven']
neighbourhood; soul-will in that neighbourhood can bring about the
'joining' of appropriate free elements of the periodic table, seen as
the 272 joiners or yoginees [spiritual virgins, in tantra saastra on
the sree chakra, wheel of creation] to form bodies to experience some
life and apples to eat and so on. 72 of the more significant elements
are indicated by Narada to Ravana. Bhagavat Geeta also talks about
swarga where souls can have some happiness before returning on a new
birth to the earth. If these things are explained and sexual
interpretation of the enjoyment of virgins etc is removed, jihadi
enthusiasm may come down; they may choose to have some good lives on
the earth itself.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
14 Seshadri,
Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as khafirs fit for eli=
mination only.
Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis who miss the main thrust of
religious teaching and memorize just a few paragraphs out of context.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
13 >>" corruption: abuse of public power for private gain. They rolled
out decade after decade"
Corruption will continue to mar the nation's politics and
administration until politics ceases to be the first choice as 'money-
making profession' for scoundrels and scoundrel families. Perhaps, the
grandchildren of corpotate-succeess families now may loose the lure
for lucre and seek to enter politics for purely 'national service' and
not to make money, which they may have in abundance.
But, there is one aspect which popular will can enforce on corrupt
politicians/bureauocrats, even now, namely quick, early and proper
punishments when prima facie crime has been established. The Chinese
have recently given death sentence to a senior official found
responsible for non-enforcement of pharma-product qualities. We may
not go that for, but we may at least confiscate the properties of
politicians and bureauocrats found guilty by the first courts, on
fodder scam, stamp-paper scam etc; they could go in appeal to higher
courts, as per law, but leaving them in power and with ill-accumulated
wealth already declared illegal still with them only makes it easier
for them to employ the most expensive lawyers and win the appeals
somehow, or delay eventual sentences by decades. Karunanidhi now
questionably celebrates halfcentury in politics, only because the case
against some ex-judge who held his black money benami could not end
even before the said judge himself died ! If confiscation of property
pending appeals becomes the norm, such confiscated wealth could be
held in trust and the income proceedings from it can be used for
health and education of the poor in the country; trust can be closed
and wealth returned to appellant, if and when he wins the appeal at
the higher court.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
12 Shenoy: Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as
khafirs fit for elimination only. But, practising christians like
Joseph could be expected to be even-handed between hindus and moslems,
but he is very partial to islam, favouring its growth and eventual
domination of world, to eliminate other cultures and civilizations
from the world, because of its basic intolerance. But he forgets that
such intolerant culures usually meet their nemesis, by internal feuds
and conflicts, besides acts of God like earthquakes and volcano
eruptions and tsunamis, since arrogance violates God's expectation
from mankind; the Roman civilization met with its end for such reasons
only.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
11 Joseph:>>"So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis
total a few million people "
Today's news is that over 170 people died and over 200 injured in Iraq
in one or two suicide bombings. Thus, each jihadi claiming heaven's
vigins makes life extinct or impossible for over 200 people, most of
them moslems also. You say there are only a few million jihadi
moslems. But, 5 million jihadis are enough to kill or disable a
billion moslems, if my arithmatic is right, 7 million enough to take
care of all moslems. Are you happy with the situation? Perhaps, you
are happy about it, as a practising christian, so long as the people
killed are only moslems, jews, hindus, not christians. But moslems
must consider the fact jihadism is wiping out moslems at a rate faster
than procreationism is proliferating it. Moslems should learn to live
in harmony with other cultures all over the world, enlarging and
ennobling quranic laws into humanistic
welfare laws, by give-and-take adjustments with the laws of other
cultures also, which are also human.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
10 Joseph:>>"the President and the Prime Minister of India will always
be Hindus."
Since you insist on proportionate representation for moslems, i.e,
increasing representation for them, as their population increases
disproportionately every decade, they will increase their political
power in all the legislatures and the parliament; chances of moslem
presidents and prime-ministers for India would only increase.
Recently, all 3 candidates for VP's post were moslems. Nothing wrong,
if they are like Zakir Hussein, Abdul Kalam or Ansari. The word,
moslem, sanskritized, stands for mukta-Sreemaan, liberated well-fare-
minded person. All moslems should live upto their names.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
9 Joseph:>>"Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation
is, Mr. Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and
forecast that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of
India will always be Hindus."
A secular democracy can only provide equality of 'opportunity' to all
creeds and castes in the country, people have to utilize them and come
up.
Pak and B-desh drove out nonmoslems. Earlier the moslems 'destroyed'
all persians in Iran and buddheists in Afghanistan, you seem to have
no regrets on that. They would have done the same in India, but the
hindu 'cast' system saved them from annihilation, as a bad blessing in
disguise; only the 'fighting caste' faught and died, 'traders' fled
and came back; priest-caste were either pushed into temples [those not
destroyed] or pushed out of villages as the new 'dalits', the
'workers' started working for the new masters, without change of
religion. Only the older dalits could be persuaded to become moslems.
Women, of all castes, if not too old and not married, were all taken
into harems of the sheiks; child-marriage of girls saved India's
ancient civilization for posterity.
Compared to this, free India's treatment of the non-hindu minorities
has been more humanistic and less demonaic; in fact the privileges
given in set-up, staffing, charging etc of minority institutions for
education in India have been such that, minority college-lords have
prospered fleecing the hindus on education; hindus are trying to get
minority college status on language basis; RKMutt is seeking minority
status for convenience, knowing Paramahamsa will not approve it ! My
late friend Varghese of HCE in Chennai was hoping his college wealth
will beat the Birlas! But now, lay christians in Kerala are raising
their voice against greedy churchian priests running colleges for
profit there. Commerce stands for 'kaama' and 'eershaa', desire and
jeaolousy; hence it leads to corporate behaviour, 'sarpa-reetih',
serpentine behaviour.
Sanskrit apart, you should admit that, opportunity-wise, minorities in
India have been treated more than fairly. Christians have benefitted
and prosperred, because they have left the bible behind and grown up
with science and technology for progress in this world, like their
counterparts in the west, other than the catholics of south America;
but moslems have used their educational priviliege only to deepen
quranic education and thinking in madarsa children. Result is that
moslem children shun science and technology, grow up to be either
traders or tailors or artisans or money-lenders, [perhaps they could
get into police/army, but they probably think defending India will be
quranic sin] They keep their women in coverage, concentrate more on
procreation than creativity, demand larger power in politics because
of increasing numbers in population. Post-1973 rise in oil prices gets
them more Arab dollars for madarsas, making them imagine that God is
for the UMMA to eventuyally take over the world. But, money can buy
things only if someone in the world 'produces' goods other than
children. If the whole world has only procreators, the increasing
population will die of hunger and overpopulate the heaven.
Friends of islam, like you, should advise modernisation of madarsa
education, instead of hate-hindu ideas. Then, moslems can take all
sorts of jobs and prosper in all fields. I have taught in an IIT and
elsewhere for over 50 yrs, had only very few moslem students in most
classes, but those who were there were very studious, courteous and
competant; given good education, they can equal and excel all other
cultures, and deserve the fact that Lord Skanda [same as Apollo/Jesus]
appeared as Sikandar for the moslems to save them from extinction by
the crusaders. God has only mercy and goodwill for all mankind. It is
for humans to utilize it.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
8 Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation is, Mr.
Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and forecast
that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of India will
always be Hindus.
Going by the Caste situation in India, to an out side mind, it is
difficult to accept that Hindus will accept non-Hindus as equals when
Hindus themselves are discriminated against by fellow Hindus.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
7 Dear Mr. B. V. Shenoy, I take serious umbrage at your addressing me,
a practicing Christian, as one who does not afford space for other
Religions and for alleging that I am steeped in Islamic
Fundamentalism, whatever that may mean.
Please allow me to recapulate my basic premises about Islam and
Muslims which are as Follows.
a. As Muslims number 1.37 billion which is about one-fifth of the
World's people, it will serve no useful purpose to browbeat them or
subjugate them as is being attempted in Afghanistan, Iraq and
Palestine and elsewhere to a lesser degree.
b. So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis total a few
million people out of a total 1,370 Million people.
c. The more the West adopts the present strategy, more number of
Muslims will become antagonistic to it.
d. Islam is growing while other Faiths are either static or losing
followers.
e. Muslims are far more ardent in following their precepts and
practices and as such are a far more dynamic whole.
f. It is better to 'live and let live'
g. From (f.) above must follow a just and equitable solution of the
socio-political issues relating to Muslims in the Philippines,
Thailand, Myanmar, Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, the South-
West Regions of China and Palestine.
Iam quite clear in my mind that the continuinf presence of foreign
invading forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 'cruel approach' of
Israel to Lebanon and Palestine is only exacerbating the problems.
This appraisal is seconded by a House of Commons Committee as may be
seen below.
Let us not use exaggeration and negative observations against some
one, just because his or her views are unpalatable.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
6 I have to thank you Mr. Pathasarathy for telling me what I always
knew that the Minorities in India are no better off than their
counterparts in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, in the political sphere
we are far better off in that we have Joint Electorate with Special
Reserved Seats as well.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
5 Dear Sheshadri, you are wasting your admittedly deep knowledge about
the Hindu scriptures and holy books on people like Joseph who are
steeped in Islamic fundamentalism which refuses to acknowledge living
space for other religions. You may be a great savant or a pundit, but
for Joseph, you are only a kafir. Pl keep this in mind.
B.V.SHENOY
BANGALORE, India
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
4 Joseph:>>" India is a Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One"
You are being unfair to hinduism and India and you know that.
Secularism, pluralism etc. are respectable words in India's politics,
only because the majority of population in India is still hindu,
despite higher-than-average proliferation rate of moslems and rapid
increases in churchians by open and crypto-convesions. Hunduism in
India still respects secular values for India, because the bhagavat
Gita, accepted by all sections of hinduism. requires that hindus
should respect all godheads faithully believed in by people anywherem,
since the formless and hence all-forms-possible Absolute will respond
to them in any form faithfully worshipped. Even the RSS/BJP/VHP are
fighting only for the survival of primordial hinduism in India, in
harmony with all other world religions, NOT for the removal of other
religionists from India, or the curtailment of their citizenship
rights in India's dynamic democracy, temporarily operating as if it is
a dynastic demonarchy.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
3 When will the U. P. A. Government fall, Miss. Chitra of Mangalore?.
Rather, more precisely, when will Sardar Manmohan Singh be asked to
resign?.
We are coming closer to the situation where the President and Prime
Minister will always be Hindu, which is how it should be as India is a
Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One. Sixty years is, indeed,
to long to carry on with a myth.
By the way, were you at St. Agnes'?.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
2 Congress and secular brigades are known as mother of all scams and
scandals. Today india is fast moving to occupy the world's most
corrupt nation. Let us hope that we stand first at least in some area.
Shameless secular leaders are running in the government in the name of
secularism and showing ghost of the hindu nationalists. Our democracy
have failed to punish corrupt politicians. UPA government is full of
corrupts, anti-nationals and hardcore islamists.
Miss Chitra
Mangalore, India
Aug 12, 2007 12:00 AM
1 Man u guys are liar.. after investigation it was found only 7% of
petrol pump went to peopel with BJP support.. given BJp usually nets
around 26% popular vote if anything bjp suporter should cry foul that
they didn;t get their proper share..
Rahul
Delhi, India
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235369
National Magazine | May 01, 1996
Focus
Settling A Score
Nina Pillai's mission is to defeat the Congress
Ajith Pillai
Focus
The Political Option
M'esco Managing Director Rita Singh hits the campaign trail
Bharat Ahluwalia
EVER since the gruesome death last July in Tihar jail of her biscuit
tycoon husband Rajan Pillai, Nina Pillai has been threatening to get
her back on "friendly" politicians who "deserted" her in her husband's
time of need. So it did not come as a surprise when she filed her
nomination as an independent candidate for the Lok Sabha from her
husband's hometown of Kollam, 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram.
Though she does not admit it, Nina's immediate mission seems to be not
to win herself but to ensure the defeat of Congress candidate and
Union Minister of State S. Krishna Kumar. "Krishna Kumar was supposed
to be our friend," she says. "But he refused to even come on the phone
when Rajan was dying." However, she is quick to add that it is not
Krishna Kumar she is fighting. "I am fighting his boss."
The 39-year-old former air hostess is also using her political status
to embarrass the Congress. Her revelation at a press conference in
Thiruvan-anthapuram on April 17 that her husband had been cheated by a
political nexus, with the controversial godman Chandraswami at its
core, will not help the Congress. She has alleged that about $2
million was paid to the godman between November '94 and February '95
by her husband. Chandraswami had promised to sort things out for Rajan
Pillai but finally failed him. Points out Nina: "The money was paid to
him because even senior Union ministers we approached told us that
Chandraswami was the man who could move things at the Prime Minister's
level".
She also sees sinister machinations in the troubles she has been
facing in claiming her shareholdings in various companies owned by her
late husband. She suspects the hand of a rival business group which
she alleges is acting with the blessings of Chandraswami. Says Nina:
"Rajan is gone. Now this friend of the Prime Minister wants to torture
a helpless widow." She says her husband fell out of favour with a
section of Congressmen after the '91 elections. It was then that her
husband, she claims, on the request of a senior Congress leader from
Maharashtra, approached K. Karunakaran and Satish Sharma, asking them
not to support Narasimha Rao as the candidate for prime minister-ship.
"Ever since this came to the notice of Chandraswami, we have been in
trouble," she says.
Though Nina Pillai is not likely to emerge even as a marginal leader,
local Congress leaders did their best to persuade her not to contest.
Among them: Chief Minister A.K. Antony, Union Industries Minister K.
Karunakaran and PCC President Vylar Ravi. The Pillais are influential
in Kerala and traditional Congress supporters.
The only cause for comfort in the Congress camp is that Nina is a
novice in politics and as an independent she lacks the backing of any
political organisation. The BJP has come forward to support her but
the party's infrastructure is not fully committed to campaign for her,
perhaps because Nina has made it clear that she will not join any
party. Says she: "Don't think I am part of the BJP. I am not. They
(BJP) came forward to help and I said fine. I want to be an
independent".
Her campaign involves meeting people directly rather than holding
meetings. However, Nina says she is trying to rope in Arjun Singh,
Kiran Bedi and friends in the film industry in Bombay to attend a
rally in Kollam. But despite such plans, her campaigning is patchy.
She is the first to admit that she is a reluctant politician. "I never
dreamt of getting into politics. I have literally been forced to fight
this election. I am fight-ing it for my survival and the survival of
my children".
Though her husband's family was opposed to her entering politics they
have now come around and her in-laws who command much respect in
Kollam have extended support. Early estimates put it that Nina will
corner enough votes to ensure Krishna Kumar's defeat. That, in a
sense, will be victory for her.
May 29, 1996
1 No Place for Revenge
It was saddening to learn that people enter the electoral fray revenge
(Settling a Score, 1). Nina Pillai has admitted that her husband Rajan
had tried to bribe himself of the mess he was mired presumably one of
his own creation, by offering Rs 2 crore Chandraswami. Business people
like them exploit and a corrupt system to further eir ends and, in the
rare instances when they don2t succeed, cry themselves hoarse bout
corruption.
Nina Pillai contested the elections not to serve the electorate, but
to ensure the down- of Krishna Kumar, who (I be wrong) is one of the
Congress politicians who is clean and, what2s more, who proved himself
an able administrator and an efficient minister. It is not that I
don2t sympathise with Nina Pillai. she has suffered is traumatic. But
it is, to a large extent, the effect of the actions of her own ilk
that nurtured such a system. The only thing that can be said in her
favour is that she is honest and makes no bones about her intentions.
N.J. Thomas, Dehra Dun
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201281
SC's Poser on Chandraswami's Role in Rajiv Assassination
New Delhi | May 26, 2009
The Supreme Court put a query why no proceedings were initiated
against controversial godman Chandraswami if the government really
suspected him of funding the assassination of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE.
"If he has funded the assassination, then why did you not proceed
against him?" a vacation bench of Justices VS Sirpurkar and RM Lodha
asked ED's counsel Wasim Ahmed Qadri.
The bench made the passing reference after the ED opposed
Chandraswami's plea to travel abroad on the ground that he had several
criminal cases registered against him and is suspected of funding the
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the controversial godman,
however, told the court that Chandraswami was never an accused in the
case unlike the slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran and others like the
organisation's intelligence wing chief Pottu Amman.
To another query from the bench, Quadri said it appears the case
against Prabahakaran might be closed in India in view of his killing
by the Sri Lankan Army.
Rohtagi earlier strongly pleaded that Chandraswami be permitted to
travel abroad as he had been acquitted of all the criminal cases
registered against him, except the nine-odd cases registered against
him by ED.
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?660446
National / Politics / Interviews Magazine | Dec 08, 1997
Exclusive
"Chandraswami Was Sivarasan's Godfather"
J. Ranganath, who sheltered Sivarasan, Rajiv's assassin, speaks to
Outlook on One-eyed Jack's last few days
A.S. Panneerselvan Interviews J. Ranganath
Jayaram Ranganath, 40, is accused No. 26 in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case. A Kannadiga Tamil from Bangalore, he was married
to Mridula and owned a workshop in the garden city. An unwitting
player after Rajiv's assassins7kingpin Sivarasan alias one-eyed Jack,
and Shubha, part of the killer squad at Sriperumbudur, along with five
others7knocked on his backdoor and allegedly forced entry into his
house on August 6, 1991. The LTTE operatives stayed on till August 20
when the CBI raided the house and found them dead. The deaths, says
the police, was by suicide, although there are doubts about this
theory.
Ranganath was arrested on August 18, 1991, for sheltering Sivarasan
and Shubha. Ironically, it was Ranganath who informed the police about
the fugitives in his house and is the only witness to the CBI's break-
in operation. And he and his estranged wife are the only ones to have
heard Sivarasan and Shubha speak about the crime.
Ranganath's recent affidavit filed before the Jain Commission accuses
the CBI of deliberately hiding key facts and shielding several
culprits. His major contention is that his information that Sivarasan
and his team were promised a safe passage to the West by Chandraswami
and details pertaining to the god -man and some Congress leaders were
not recorded by the CBI. According to him, the CBI was determined not
to widen the net beyond the role of the LTTE in the plot to kill
Rajiv. "As the only living witness and the only one with no political
axe to grind, my words should be taken seriously," he declares.
As a key witness, the information he has is important, to say the
least. A.S. Panneerselvan sought an interview through Ranganath's
lawyers. The questions were sent to him at the high security
Poonamallee sub-jail located within the designated court complex where
the Rajiv assassination case is being heard in Chennai. Ranganath's
answers have been duly attested by the additional superintendent of
the jail. Excerpts:
Did Sivarasan and Shubha tell you about their connections with
Chandraswami and an AICC functionary?
They did speak about their connections with Chandraswami and also with
a Congress leader from Karnataka who was a member of Rajiv Gandhi's
cabinet. They used to say that it was through this leader that they
got the details of Rajiv Gandhi's election tour programme. They talked
about the AICC functionary as their close associate. During his stay
with me, Sivarasan also informed me that Chandraswami was his
godfather.
(In his affidavit submitted to the Jain Commission on November 4,
Ranganath speaks of Sivarasan and Shubha naming Aswath Narayan, a
local Congress leader, as one of their friends. Both Shubha and
Sivarasan pointed out that Narayan was close to the AICC functionary
in Delhi who helped them with Rajiv's tour programme.)
What was the safe passage promised to Sivarasan by Chandraswami?
Sivarasan wanted to go abroad directly from Bangalore. This was the
reason why he came to Bangalore. But he said that if he went to Jaffna
he could be killed and that the 'Jain Muni' (The godman's real name is
Nemichand Jain) would arrange for his safe passage to a foreign
country.
(In his affidavit to the commission, Ranganath declares that Sivarasan
told him the godman planned to first bring him to Delhi and then sneak
him out to a foreign destination.)
Did the CBI prevent you from telling the whole truth?
The CBI threatened me. Barring the LTTE, they did not want me to
mention the involvement of the others in the crime. Since they fixed
the LTTE as the only offenders, they wanted evidence to accuse it7and
not against those who commissioned the offence.
What are the truths the CBI refused to record or act upon?
Then CBI chief Karthikeyan warned me not to speak anything about the
AICC functionary or any other Congress people, and Chandraswami.
Karthikeyan seemed to know the facts about the assassination and also
the powers behind Rajiv's killing. He warned me of serious
consequences if I gave the information to a magistrate or others. From
what he told me it was clear that he was shielding Chandraswami and
some key Congress people. Even after my request, CBI (SIT) failed to
record my statement.
I took DCP Kempiah (Karnataka police) to the Bangalore hideout where
Sivarasan and Shubha were hiding. But his statement has not been
produced before the designated court.
How do you know that the CBI was reluctant to arrest Sivarasan and
Shubha?
On the morning of July 30, 1991, a person called Vicky was arrested at
Coimbatore. He gave specific information about Sivarasan's hideout in
Bangalore (this was before Sivarasan and the others forcibly entered
Ranganath's house on August 6). But for 24 hours, the CBI made no
effort to search the hideout. On August 2, 1991, the CBI questioned
one Jaganathan, who arranged four safehouses for the LTTE workers. He
gave details of the locations of these houses and the hospitals in
which the injured LTTE men were admitted. But the CBI did not make any
effort to arrest Sivarasan. Perhaps because if he were caught alive,
Sivarasan would squeal about those who conspired to kill Rajiv and
also of his (Sivarasan's) connections with Congressmen. This is
perhaps why even on August 18, 1991, the CBI did not allow the local
police to catch them.
If I get an opportunity to depose before the Jain Commission, then I
will prove the fact that there are other persons involved in Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination. I am the only one alive who stayed with
Sivarasan and Shubha (after the assassination) and heard what they had
to say about the killing.
Aug 25, 2009 04:04 PM
1 congress has involved in rajiv's killing it is the hidden fact
MATHI
Madurai, India
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?204696
National / Politics / Cover Stories Magazine | May 04, 1998
Cover Story
Enter Chandraswami
Rajesh Joshi
Also In This Story
Cover Story
The Life And Times Of Jayalalitha"
No one can get anything out of me or subdue me by threats, harsh
treatment; it only makes me more stubborn, inflexible, unbending,
determined. The only way anyone can get me to cooperate is to be nice
to me, pamper me, cajole me, talk to me kindly, softly." 7Jayalalitha
in a March 1985 interview.Ajith Pillai, A.S. Panneerselvan
Cover Story
The Revenge Of Draupadi
Cover StoryThe Inner Circle
Cover StoryA Coalition In FettersThe BJP struggles to come up with a
strategy to deal with unpredictable allies like JayalalithaIshan
Joshi
Cover StoryAn Intriguing DualismThe Tamil psyche is a paradoxical mix
of a 2,000-year-old heritage, regional pride and modernitySagarika
Ghose
Cover Story72% Tamils Angry With Jaya's DemandsTo gauge the reaction
of the people of Tamil Nadu to AIADMK leader Jayalalitha demands on
the BJP government at the centre ,an option poll was conducted by
Outlook - Mode in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and
adjoining areas. In all 5990 respondents in the age group 21 - 45 were
interviewed on April 21 - 23. Most of them do not approve of her
actions and move to destabilise the Vajpayee government.
CHANDRASWAMI is back in business. His services were sought recently by
friends in the BJP to defuse the on-going crisis provoked by the
friend Subramanian Swamy and J. Jayalalitha on one side, and Ram
Jethmalani on the other. Even though the BJP adopts an anti-
Chandraswami posture in public, senior leaders like Murli Manohar
Joshi and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat are known to be close to him.
So, while the prime minister appealed to the allies to observe
restraint, Shekhawat met the godman at Rajas-than Bhawan, apparently
to propitiate Swamy. However, Chandraswami's aide Vikram Singh
maintains they discussed "some work regarding his school in
Rajasthan".
Such interaction with the godman is not new. Sources say that after
the general elections when the BJP was still trying to garner support,
Chandraswami was approached by "top party leaders". Says a
Chandraswami aide: "Around 10 days before the formation of the
government, people from the BJP approached Swamiji to get Dr Swamy and
Jayalalitha around." And now with the BJP-Jayalalitha standoff
continuing, the Vajpayee government badly needs an effective
intermediary. Chandraswami, it is felt, is just the man. His hold on
Swamy can be gauged from the fact that he played an important role in
bringing two sworn enemies, Swamy and Jayalalitha, together.
But those close to Chandraswami concede that even he can't ask Swamy
to keep quiet. "How can you expect Swamy to keep quiet when he is not
getting anything? Why does one then get into politics?" asks Singh.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205454
National / Politics Magazine | May 11, 1998
Focus
Swami's New Saviours
Will friends in the BJP coalition help Chandraswami wriggle out of the
cases against him?
Charu Lata Joshi
Also In This Story
Chandraswami Case-List
CONTROVERSIAL godman Chandraswami could well have been holidaying in
the south of France. But for a timely order on May 1 by CBI Special
Judge Ajit Bharioke who has been hearing the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
case7and in whose court the swami had moved an application for
permission to travel to France and the US for 'medical treatment'.
Till then, Chandraswami's plans for a getaway had appeared to be
moving with clock-work precision.
Jethmalani feels the government is 'soft' on the Godman. AIADMK's R.
Kumar is believed to be behind the 'Save Swami' campaign.
Just a fortnight back, on April 17, the Directorate of Enforcement
(DOE)7which is trying him for five cases of foreign exchange
violations amounting to Rs 2,100 crore7had told the metropolitan
magistrate hearing the cases that it had no objection to his
travelling abroad. In a matter of days, the court gave Chandraswami
the green signal.
The two dichotomous moves have exposed a simmering controversy within
the government on the future of the godman. And has exposed the power
he continues to wield. This time round, Chandraswami derives his
strength, not only from his proximity to BJP leaders like Bhairon
Singh Shekhawat, but also from his closeness to Janata Party chief
Subramanian Swamy. And it is the Swamy-faction7represented by AIADMK
chief J. Jayalalitha and her minister of state for banking, R.K. Kumar7
who appear to be indirectly involved in soft-peddling the cases
against Chandraswami. Says Ram Jethmalani, minister for urban
development, who has had clashes with both the godman and Swamy: "The
attempts to go soft on Chandraswami seem quite obvious."
The stand adopted by the DOE7a letter from Kunal Singh, assistant
director of investigation, Delhi zone, had informed the court that it
had "no objection" to Chandraswami's travel plans7which literally gave
him permission to flee the country, has clouded the entire proceedings
with suspicion. The enforcement agency holds that since both
investigation and adjudication proceedings were completed in the four
cases, they had technically no reason to oppose his application.
However, legal experts argue that the move amounts to a major
concession towards Chandraswami by the department. The move seems
suspicious since investigation is still pending in one case7involving
foreign exchange transactions worth $200,000 with his then New York-
based disciple Bina Ramani in 19817and there are apprehensions that if
he does travel abroad, he could tamper with witnesses and crucial
evidence.
The fact that the metropolitan magistrate had first asked for the
DOE's stand on the accused in writing and also demanded Chandraswami's
status in the CBI cases, possibly indicates the DOE's influ-ence over
the court's decision.
What made the DOE's stand even more dubious was the fact that yet
another sister agency, the CBI, which when confronted with a similar
move in the Pathak case7the agency is presently handling two cases
against the godman, the St Kitts Forgery case as well as the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case7had categorically opposed the godman's
application to travel abroad. According to sources, Cha-ndraswami is
likely to move the high court in appeal against the rejection of his
application by Bharioke.
THE godman's moves are getting desperate. And in the process, the
dichotomy in the government's stand is being further exposed. In a
spate of curious developments, even as the DOE appeared to be giving
Chandraswami a free rein, a definite lobby within the government,
headed by L.K. Advani in the home ministry, appears all set to nail
him. The main motive being to get at the BJP's principal foe,
Subramanian Swamy. Says Supreme Court senior counsel, Ashok Panda:
"What is required is a comprehensive approach by the government as a
whole and not diverse actions by individual agencies. "
Within a matter of days of the DOE move, the ministry of home affairs
(MHA) gave its approval to prosecute the god-man under the Foreign
Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). The case had come to light when
the CBI, while inspecting the accounts of Chandraswami's Vishwa
Dharmayatan Trust, found that it had not intimated the MHA of its
foreign contributions ever since it was formed in 1985. The agency
subsequently filed a chargesheet and moved the MHA for sanction to
prosecute the godman
. Recently, an interim Income Tax report evaluated the total assets of
Chandraswami and the Trust at Rs 2,300 crore, a substantial amount of
which came from foreign donations. The report, which gives a detailed
break-up of foreign donations received by the Trust till June, 1996,
shows that, among others, NRI businessmen Somchai Chawla of Hong Kong,
Abdul Ismail from the UK, Adnan Khashoggi and Rakesh Khanna from
Canada, had made substantial contributions in dollars.
The income tax department's inquiry into the godman's living expenses
also shows that he had spent nearly Rs 200-300 crore on foreign trips
undertaken between 1985-95. The report also mentions Vikram Singh as
Chandraswami's closest confidant and states that he is the director of
five companies7Ambassador Construction Pvt Ltd., Neptune Estates Pvt
Ltd., Nav-Abhiyan Publication Pvt Ltd., Scorpion Finlease Pvt Ltd.,
and Genesis Financial Services Pvt Ltd.
But, despite all the probes into the god-man's murky financial affairs7
which followed after the public interest litigation was filed in
Supreme Court in December, 19967what has emerged most clearly is that
the swami is neither down nor out. After nearly two years of heated
legal battles and after languishing for eight months in a dingy Tihar
cell, Chandraswami appears to have staged a dramatic comeback.
Political circles are abuzz with news of his having returned to his
favourite occupation: power-broking.
What has aroused even greater suspicion within certain sceptics in the
DOE circles is Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's recent
announcement to "introduce drastic changes" in foreign exchange
regulations by the next session of Parliament. Insiders fear that this
will spell a dilution in powers of arrest as well as major concessions
to FERA offenders. Realistically, this may imply that the charges
which Chandraswami presently faces may not constitute offences at all
by the time a new enactment on FERA is brought about.
Political pundits see a deeper conspiracy behind the recent moves to
go-slow on Chandraswami. The fact that both Chandraswami and
Subramanian Swamy have allegedly been named in Justice M.C. Jain's
final report on the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's
assassination, and that the government has a mere six months to place
it before Parliament along with an Action Taken Report is one of the
reasons for Chandraswami's desperation to flee the country. According
to sources, former cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah had told Jain of
having personally read certain wireless intercepts of conversations
between the LTTE, Chandraswami and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad
in early 1991. And these had allegedly showed their involvement in the
wider international conspiracy.
With the underlying pressure to make the report public, the
speculation is that certain factions in the government are eager to
free Chandraswami and would prefer to turn the heat on the Janata
Party leader7who is, in any case, causing problems for the ruling
combine. Legally, too, experts argue that a case of embezzlement and
foreign exchange regulations is not as serious as the findings of the
Jain Commission report. For, once a special team is constituted to
further investigate the Jain Commission recommendations, it will lead
to a serious probe into an even murkier case of money laundering, and
involvement with foreign intelligence agencies in an assassination.
But given that Advani has constituted a team of home ministry
officials to recommend further action on the basis of Jain's
recommendations and an internal report is to be submitted to him
within a month, the heat on the godman seems back on. Yet, knowing
Chandraswami, he will do his bit to use every likely political contact
to wriggle out of a sticky situation.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205496
National / Politics Magazine | May 15, 1996
Investigation
No Godfather Now
Chandraswami's fate will depend on the next government
Ranjit Bhushan , A.S. Panneerselvan
WILL Chandraswami ever be nailed? This week, finally, may provide an
answer as the godman was remanded to a day's judicial custody till May
4. But that answer hinges on another key question: is Narasimha Rao
losing his grip over the proceedings? That may be decided by May 10,
when the results of the elections are expected to be known. If Rao
returns as Prime Minister, the May 2 arrest of the well-chronicled and
controversial godman in a Madras hotel could turn out to be merely a
flash in the pan.
But in the event of the reins of power slipping from Rao's hands, the
investigating agencies may have a different role to play. "The charges
are serious. Depends on how they are framed," says an official
coordinating several charges against the self-styled guru7which range
from income-tax evasion to FERA violations to charges of bribery and
cheating.
Officials admit that the charge on which Chandraswami and close
associate Kailash Nath Agrawal (alias 'Mamaji') were picked up7of
cheating London-based NRI Lakhu Bhai Pathak to the tune of $100,0007is
a weak link in the chain of investigations launched against the
godman. But if Rao's downfall becomes inevitable, there is every
reason for Chandraswami's tryst with trouble to be long drawn out.
On May 2, Delhi's chief metropolitan magistrate Prem Kumar issued non-
bailable warrants against Chandraswami. Issuing the warrants, Kumar
directed the CBI that the godman be arrested and produced on or before
May 14. Such is the godman's clout that reporters trying to ascertain
the next course of action were informed that "he would have to be
traced", even though it seemed common knowledge that the god-man was
holed up in Madras.
A 10-member CBI team headed by Joint Director D. Mukerjee descended on
the Om Sindoori hotel in Madras the same evening. Interestingly, the
hotel owner is Apollo hospital's Dr Pratap Reddy, a Chandraswami
acolyte. Inside the hotel7which resembled a set out of a detective
movie, with CBI sleuths prowling around with their cellphones7the
godman was talking to Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy. The three-
hour meeting between the former Union commerce minister and the guru
was ostensibly meant to ward off the arrest. Swamy was reportedly
trying to use his friend and former attorney general G. Ramaswamy to
invoke immunity through a 1988 bail order in the same case.
The godman had already summoned a battery of doctors who were ready to
certify his "acute condition of cervical spondilitis". But the CBI
would have none of it. In a move reflecting freshly-found confi-dence,
Mukerjee said that if the godman needed treatment, he would have to
accompany the CBI men to a government hospital. After that,
Chandraswami got into the waiting CBI car without further ado and was
taken to the residence of additional sessions judge S. Sambandam,
where a transit warrant was to be obtained.
The CBI had registered the case against the godman on the basis of a
complaint filed by Lakhu Bhai Pathak in 1988. The agency had
chargesheeted the godman and 'Mamaji' for cheating Pathak through the
false promise of using their influence to secure him a newsprint and
paper pulp contract in India. Since then, nothing much had happened.
As judge Prem Kumar observed in his 17-page order, "investigations had
been going on for years without any tangible results."
Interestingly enough, the preliminary investigations conducted by a
CBI superintendent of police in the Pathak case found the "allegations
to be true". Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Enforcement
Directorate for initiating "necessary action". And the Directorate has
declined to reveal the further course of investigations, claiming
privilege because of the sensitive nature of the case. Now, perhaps,
it will be forced to reveal its hand. The real drama may have just
begun to unfold.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201366
National / Politics Magazine | Apr 03, 1996
Focus
Godman Cornered?
A new PIL pitches Chandraswami in his toughest legal battle yet
Rajesh Joshi
WILL the jet-setting guru Chandraswami be able to wriggle out of this
one? Time seems to be running out for the godman, as the Supreme Court
this week hears a public interest litigation (PIL), originally filed
on September 20, 1995, seeking to appoint a special commission to look
into the charges against him.
The investigating agencies7under fire for allegedly protecting the
godman are hoping to prevent that eventuality.
The petition accuses the investigating agencies of having failed to
take action against the godman in spite of the presence of
overwhelming evidence.
The PIL, originally filed by advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan, accuses
the agencies of "complete inaction" vis-a-vis the Chandraswami case,
because of his "influential connections". The petition primarily seeks
an expeditious inquiry into the charges against Chandraswami, to be
carried out by special commissioners under the direct supervision of
the court.
The PIL was filed only a few days after the then minister of state for
internal security, Rajesh Pilot, ordered the swami's arrest, following
disclosures by Dawood Ibrahim's hitman, Babloo Srivas-tava, linking
the godman to the Dubai-based don. Subsequently, a human rights
organisation, People's Union for Civil Rights, also sought the apex
court's intervention to book Chandraswami and others in the St Kitts
forgery case. The court directed that all complaints pertaining to
Chandraswami be clubbed together and appointed advocate Anil Divan as
amicus curae. It came down heavily on the CBI, directing it either to
"book or leave" him.
The amended petition highlights the Government's reluctance to take
action against Chandraswami. It says the probe must cover his alleged
FERA and tax violations, the St Kitts forgery case, the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case, Babloo Srivastava's allegations and the godman's
links with politicians. The investigating agencies have failed to take
action "in spite of overwhelming material", says the plea.
The fact that the court has taken cognisance of the petition should
set alarm bells ringing. Those said to be closely linked with the
godman are Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Petroleum Minister Captain
Satish Sharma and former minister R.K. Dhawan. All three and former
Union minister K.K. Tewari are named in the FIR in the St Kitts case,
but have not been interrogated. Had the CBI acted vigilantly and
independently, it would have done so, the petition points out.
It goes on to explain how Chandraswami manages, each time, to get over
any crisis7referring to his close proximity to top politicians. To
establish the godman's high connections with politicians like Rao and
former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, the petition quotes from his
own admission before the Jain Commission.
Giving details of the St Kitts forgery case7allegedly plotted by V.P.
Singh's political opponents with the aid of Chandraswami and some
officials of the Directorate of Enforcement (DOE)7the petition pleads
for the confessional statement of the late A.K. Nandy, former DOE
deputy director and an accused to the CBI. The petition says, Nandy's
statement discloses the role played by politicians. It also describes
how the operation was planned by Chandraswami, his aide K.N. Aggarwal
alias Mamaji, Larry Kolb (son-in-law of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi)
and the godman's disciple, Dev Kethu.
Quoting from the FIR lodged on May 25, 1990, the petition observes
that Rao, then external affairs minister, also had a role to play. The
FIR says that Rao called consul general R.K. Rai to his suite at the
United Nations Plaza hotel in New York on October 4, 1989, and told
him to personally attest the documents brought to him by Nandy.
The petition highlights the CBI's reluctance to follow the Babloo
Srivastava case. Contrary to practice, the CBI did not use
Srivastava's claim7that he had stayed at Chandraswami's ashram and
planted a bomb in journalist Rajinder Jain's car to falsely implicate
him at the behest of the godman7in the chargesheet filed in the L.D.
Arora murder case.
This omission by the CBI was intended to prevent the judge from taking
cognisance of it and directing the agency to investigate Chandraswami
for harbouring a criminal. More so, because TADA provisions are
drastic, the petition speculates. Had the statement been filed,
Chandraswami would have been implicated, it adds. In former Union
minister Kalpnath Rai's case, the CBI had filed the statement of
Bombay-based criminal Bhai Thakur, which finally led to the arrest of
Rai and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan.
Meanwhile, Chandraswami is maintaining a stoic silence and7perhaps in
the hope of propitiating the gods7observing the navratri fast.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201123
National Magazine | Feb 21, 1996
Update
By The Grace Of God
The CBI fails to find 'clinching evidence' and recommends that the
case against Chandraswami be closed
Rajesh Joshi
Also In This Story
Update"The Swami Used To Give Us Money"THE various people accused in
the hawala and the Bombay blasts cases have made sensational
allegations against top politicians in the course of their
interrogation by the investi -gating agencies. Only a few of these
have been conclusively proved. But nevertheless, the charges can
provide vital leads. Outlook met Virendra Pant, a close associate of
Dawood's right-hand man Babloo Srivastav, and an accused in the murder
of the Delhi businessman, Lalit Suneja. Pant, who was arrested and
interrogated by the CBI and is currently in Tihar Jail, spoke about
Chandraswami's activities and the goings-on in his Delhi ashram.
Excerpts:
The preliminary inquiry (PE No. 2/S/95) registered last year against
controversial godman Chandraswami is being accorded a quiet burial by
the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI). Last week, the CBI sent a
report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recommending that the
case against the godman be closed.
The orders to arrest the godman had been issued by the then minister
of state for internal security, Rajesh Pilot, in the wake of the
confessions made by Babloo Srivastav, a hired killer, about Chandra-
swami's links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
While arrest warrants are being issued to top politicians, the godman
continues to play wheeler dealer from his ashram.
Following his extradition from Singapore for masterminding the murder
of L.D. Arora, a customs offi-cial, last year, Srivastav had disclosed
to the CBI that Chandraswami had kept him in his ashram in February
1992 when hewas wanted in connection with several criminal cases by
the Uttar Pradesh police. In his statement, Srivastav confessed to
having placed a bomb in the car of Delhi-based journalist Rajendra
Jain at the behest of Chandraswami, along with Virendra Pant and
Sanjay Khanna, members of Dawood's vast underworld network.
Pilot's directive had been precipitated by allegations from the
Opposition that Chan-draswami was not being investigated because he
enjoyed political patronage. The CBI looked into the revelations made
by Sriv-astav, and the godman and his aide Vikram Singh were
interrogated on four occasions. But ultimately, the CBI says it has
found "nothing clinching" against the swami.
10.03.2010 - 23:47
This page contains information The Rick A. Ross Institute has
gathered about Sathya Sai Baba.
Visit Sathya Sai Baba's Official Web Site
(Link takes you outside the Rick A. Ross Institute web site)
http://www.sathyasai.org/
Sathya Sai Baba, "God"
or "sexual predator"?
Atheist Karuna woos godman in TN
Times Now, India/May 9, 2007
By Dhanya Rajendran
He may be one of the country's best known atheists, but when it comes
to funding state projects, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi
does not mind the help of spiritual gurus. The Satya Sai trust has
agreed to fund a project which will provide drinking water to parched
Chennai. And Karunanidhi is only too happy to welcome the godman.
Till a few years ago, it was unthinkable that Karunanidhi would ever
share a dais with Satya Sai Baba, however at a public appearance with
the spiritual Guru in January this year, Karunanidhi asked Sai Baba's
help for developmental projects. Now Sri Satya Sai Trust has agreed to
upgrade the 25 km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal, which will bring water
to Chennai.
Karunanidhi may not believe in God, but as analysts say, he has proved
to be a tactful politician.
"He is an atheist at a personal level, and when he shared a dais with
Sai Baba, he explained his stand saying the question was not whether
he believed in God, but whether he was worthy of God's trust. But at a
more practical level, I buy his point From whichever source the money
comes, and as long as it is not tainted, it is welcome," remarked S
Murari, a political analyst.
The chief minister has kept aside his radical beliefs for good reason;
With the states finances running dry due to the numerous sops given by
his government, Karunanidhi desperately needs funds. Now that the Baba
trust has entered into a partnership with the government, the big
question is whether they will undertake the Coovum river-cleaning
project.
"Cleaning the Coovum is my dream, but I will need your help. It has
been quoted as a Rs 1,000 crore project. I'm not asking for the whole
amount, but I will be happy if you donate the same," is M
Karunanidhi's request.
This is, definitely, an image makeover. But the chief minister's
tolerance towards religious matters are limited to accepting help to
develop his state. When it comes to clashes between believers and non-
believers within the state, Karunanidhi always sticks to his
ideologies.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba24.html
Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region
Gulf Times/January 23, 2007
Hyderabad -- People went on a rampage here yesterday in protest
against spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba who said he was against a
separate Telangana state.
His followers meanwhile called a shutdown in Puttaparthi town of
Anantapur district to condemn remarks on the guru.
Shouting slogans against him, dozens of students belonging to
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) barged into a Sai Baba temple near
Osmania University here, pulled down huge cut-outs of the guru and
burnt them.
An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed moves to bifurcate the state
'mahapapam' (great sin), was also burnt.
Addressing a function in Chennai on Sunday, Sai Baba said there was no
demand for a separate Telangana state from the people of the region.
"Dividing the people or the country is not good. Bifurcating the state
is mahapapam," he said.
Sai Baba, who preaches love, understanding and universal brotherhood,
has thousands of followers in India and abroad including several heads
of state, politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and
sportsmen.
During the last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions
of rupees transforming the small village of Puttaparthi, his
birthplace, into a modern town with a state-of-the-art airport,
education and health facilities.
The reaction to his comments was sharp from the protagonists of
separate Telangana. TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao asked Sai Baba
to confine himself to religion. "Is Sai Baba blind to the suicides by
farmers in Telangana region? Is he blind to the fact that the region
was subjected to exploitation?" asked Rao, who is leading the movement
for a separate state comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.
Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi Goud wondered what Sai Baba
knew of the problems of Telangana.
"He is from Rayalseema region and what does he know about the problem
of fluorosis (an abnormal condition caused by excessive intake of
fluorine), in Nalgonda? He is funding the water projects for
Rayalseema and Chennai," said Goud.
Revolutionary balladeer and Maoist sympathiser Gaddar, who is also
actively participating in the movement for separate Telangana,
criticised Sai Baba for opposing the demand.
Meanwhile, a shutdown was being observed in Puttaparthi town in
Anantapur district to condemn the remarks of Telangana leaders against
Sai Baba.
Shops and business establishment were shut and Sai Baba's disciples
set afire effigies of Chandrasekhara Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud and
Gaddar. The streets around Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Baba, wore
a deserted look.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba23.html
Satya Sai Baba caught in British controversy
Indo-Asian News Service/December 22, 2006
Satya Sai Baba, one of India's best known spiritual leaders, has
triggered a fresh controversy in Britain after association with The
Duke of Edinburgh's Award charity involving young people.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a London-headquartered charity whose
patron is Prince Philip.
It gives three kinds of awards (bronze, silver and gold) to anyone
aged between 14-25 for achievements in four categories: community
service, skills, physical recreation and expeditions. Each year it is
estimated that over 2,25,000 youngsters vie for the honour in Britain
alone.
This year, when the charity celebrates its 50th year, it has chosen to
send about 200 young volunteers to India to work with the Sri Satya
Sai Organisation.
However, the feat, pulled off by Sai Youth UK, a division of the
parent body, has created a furore. Several people, including some of
the Satya Sai Baba's former Western disciples, questioned the decision
in view of the mixed reputation the godman enjoys. Sai's devotees deny
the allegations.
The Guardian was the first to raise its voice saying the award scheme
had chosen as its accredited partner a spiritual group "whose 'living
god' founder has been accused of sexually abusing young boys".
Satya Sai Baba hit bad press in Britain two years ago when a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, interviewed young Western disciples who
alleged that the godman had sexually coerced them.
The Guardian quoted Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and
chairman of Fair, a cult-watching and victim support group, as saying:
"It is appallingly naive for the award scheme to involve young people
and the royal family with an organisation whose leader is accused of
paedophilia. Parents who plan to send their children on this
pilgrimage... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
The daily also said Michael Gave, a conservative MP, planned to write
to the charity to say it should monitor the organisations they chose
as partners more strictly.
"As a society we need a more determined effort to identify and expose
those religious cults and extremists that pose a direct threat to
people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that should be directed
elsewhere," he was quoted as saying.
In the 1990s, when Prince Charles visited India, he had expressed a
desire to visit the Sai Baba but was quietly dissuaded by the British
Embassy in New Delhi.
Since The Guardian's article, it was reported that there was mounting
pressure on the charity to distance itself from the Sai group.
However, charity spokesperson Shona Taylor did not answer repeated
queries as to whether the volunteers had left for India and how they
could be contacted.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba22.html
A holy furore rages in Britain
Daily News Analysis/November 5, 2006
By Ginnie Mahajan
Delhi: Old allegations of sexual abuse of boys by spiritual guru
Sathya Sai Baba have created a fresh furore in Britain.
The issue snowballed after the British press reported that 200 boys
would visit India on a month-long humanitarian pilgrimage starting
November 13, organised by the Sai Youth Movement, a division of the
Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
These boys are to receive the Duke of Edinburgh award for their
humanitarian work. According to the Guardian, the British public is
irked by two issues 7 safety of the boys at Sathya Sai Baba2s ashram
at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and the
involvement of royalty with the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
The newspaper quotes a former home office minister Tom Sackville, who
also runs a victim support group, as saying, 3It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.4
Interestingly, the United States Department of State has a travel
advisory against the Sathya Sai Organisation: 3US citizens should be
aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual
behaviour by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or
religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh.4
The Guardian says US state officials have confirmed that this is a
direct reference to Sathya Sai Baba. There have been rumours for years
that the spiritual guru, who calls himself an incarnation of god,
molested young devotees during interviews. Both Indian and foreign
visitors to the ashram have come on record to say how he has abused
them.
The public relations officer of Sathya Sai Baba2s ashram, however,
told DNA: 3We do not care what the advisory says. People and
organisations can write whatever they want to believe. We have no more
to say on this issue. Yes, the boys are coming to India in about two
weeks2 time.4
The visit coincides with Sathya Sai Baba2s 80th birthday. He had
apparently given a 1divine commandment2 to the Sai Youth Movement to
visit him on the occasion.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba21.html
The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of
Edinburgh awards
Sexual abuse accusations against group's leader--80th birthday
invitation to hundreds of youngsters
The Guardian, UK/November 4, 2006
By Paul Lewis
A spiritual group whose "living god" founder has been accused of
sexually abusing young boys has become an accredited partner of the
Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, the Guardian can reveal.
Last night pressure was mounting on the charity to break its links
with the group whose followers are devoted to the preachings of 79-
year-old holy man, Sai Baba.
About 200 young people will fly to India in two weeks' time on a
humanitarian pilgrimage run by Sai Youth UK, a division of the Sri
Sathya Sai Organisation. The teenagers and young men earn their Duke
of Edinburgh awards for humanitarian work, chiefly distributing
medical aid.
The trip coincides with Sai Baba's 80th birthday and has been
arranged, organisers say, after he gave a divine commandment for the
UK's Sai youth movement to visit him for the occasion.
For decades male former devotees have alleged that the guru molested
them during so-called "interviews". During the last youth pilgrimage,
in 2004, young people were granted group interviews with the guru
after administering medical aid to villages surrounding Sai Baba's
ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, although there was no evidence
of abuse.
Large numbers of young men have travelled from across the world to
study alongside and meet the guru. His supporters say their encounter
was spiritually enriching. Others, including participants in a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, two years ago, accuse him of abuse,
claiming he massaged their testicles with oil and coerced them into
oral sex.
Sai Baba has never been charged over the sex abuse allegations.
However, the US State Department issued a travel warning after reports
of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious
leader" which, officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba.
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and chairman of Fair, a
cult-watching and victim support group, said: "It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.
"Parents who plan to send their children on this month's
pilgrimage ... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
But Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the charity, last night faced
down calls to terminate his organisation's relationship with the Sai
organisation. He said: "This is not the only religion accused of
paedophilia. Young people who are participating on these trips are
doing so because they choose to," he said. "The awards accredit the
good work they do for poor people in India. We make no judgment about
their religion. We would no sooner intervene here than we would the
Church Lads' and Girls' Brigade."
The Conservative MP Michael Gove said he would write to the charity
asking it to consider a stricter monitoring of the organisations they
they work with. "As a society we need a more determined effort to
identify and expose those religious cults and extremists that pose a
direct threat to people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that
should be directed elsewhere," he said.
Shitu Chudasama, Sai's UK national youth coordinator, defended the
trip, saying it was primarily a humanitarian mission to help
impoverished people, saying that the sex abuse claims were "totally
unfounded". He added: "We hope to have an interview with Sai Baba but
it's not guaranteed. If he wants to see us, he'll call us."
Sai Organisation's UK branch has also came into contact with royals
through the awards, something Buckingham Palace was made aware of in
September. In correspondence seen by the Guardian, Brigadier Sir Miles
Hunt-Davis, Prince Philip's private secretary, wrote: "[We] are very
keen to get this sorted out properly and finally." He said trustees of
the award would undertake legal advice before deciding how to
proceed.
In July the Sai Organisation received a certificate for their
"invaluable contribution" to the awards at a Buckingham Palace garden
party. A news story which appeared on a Sai Baba website after the
ceremony was removed after an intervention by Peter Westgarth, who
said the event had been misrepresented.
In the posting, Mr Chudasama recounted the moment he delivered a
speech to "various dignitaries, diplomats, ministers [and] famous
celebrities" at the palace. "I was the last speaker called up, and
suddenly a confidence, a joy, engulfed my being," he said. "I
attributed everything to our founder Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As
I spoke I watched the sea of faces, they were hanging from my every
word and there was a look of excitement on their faces as if to say
'why have we not heard of this organisation before?'."
Mr Chudasama also attended a private audience with Prince Philip at St
James's Palace last year. "Prince Philip showed a very keen interest
in our youth and asked many questions," Mr Chudasama wrote in a Sai
newsletter. "I also had the opportunity to mention ... that we drew
our inspiration and motivation from our founder Sri Sathya Sai Baba;
he paused for a few seconds and then said: "Very good".
Backstory
Saytha Sai Baba, who has an estimated 30 million followers worldwide,
is possibly India's most controversial holy man. He gained a following
in his teens when he claimed to have divine powers and, later, said he
was an incarnation of God. His teachings are benign - his most famous
mantra is "Love All, Serve All" - and he encourages followers, which
include many of India's political elite, to undertake humanitarian
work. He purports to be able to miraculously conjure sacred ash and
expensive jewellery into the palm of his hand, as if out of thin air.
Opponents dismiss his miracles as party tricks. The Sai Organisation
claims to have more than 1,200 Saytha Sai Baba Centres in more than
100 countries.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba20.html
Guru who gives us no answers
The Scotsman/June 18, 2004
By Tom Adair
The Secret Swami might have veered towards the amusing - in an "Oh my
God, how gullible can you be?" kind of way - had it not been for the
repeated allegations of sex abuse.
Sai Baba, the swami in question, had started off looking like some old
bloke with an ego as big as his bank account. There he sat, in his
opulent ashram at Puttaparthi, near Bangalore, dressed in blinding
canary-yellow and sporting a head of what looked like jet-black pubic
hair - a mane of Leo Sayer proportions; as if he had poked his tongue
into a light socket. Count your blessings - he didn't sing.
Instead, he did tricks, producing trinkets from his fingers - gold
watches, bracelets, stuff with Ratners written all over it. Maybe he'd
read the Paul Daniels Trickster's Guide to Palming, and practised like
mad without the distraction of the lovely Debbie McGee (it later
transpired that Debbie would not have been a distraction). The swami's
followers adored his "miracles" and gasped.
Ten thousand worshippers formed a permanent camp inside the ashram,
believing Sai Baba to be an avatar - a god on Earth. He attracted
attention from burned out hippies, the ones with smoke still doping
their nostrils. Sometimes they smiled their faraway smiles; sometimes
they spoke. One guy believed he'd been in communion with Sai Baba for
21 years before he'd visited "god" in his pad. Sai Baba was quick to
spot white faces wearing dollar signs. As these dupes gawped up from
the crowd, he would single them out for special attention.
The documentary took a much less wide-eyed approach than Sai Baba's
flock, denouncing him from the start as a sham whose ashram resembled
a market place, not a shrine. Oh yes, he appeared to have done some
good - constructing a hospital in the district, providing free
medicare for the poor, and supplying clean water - however, the 340
million it cost was funded by wealthy acolytes, faithfully following
Sai Baba's earnest exhortation: "Wherever you see a sick person -
there is your field of service." And yet, Sai Baba's secret motto
turned out to be different, more like: "Wherever you see a gullible
young believer, (boys only apply) bingo! - sexual opportunity."
The programme gathered American former devotees who claimed that Sai
Baba had abused them, had exposed himself to them, indulged in oral
sex and then sworn them to secrecy. This sexual degradation had shaken
their faith. These victims included a father and a son who were
alleged to have been abused over many years. It was implied that many
Indian boys had also been taken advantage of but were too scared to
make public statements.
All this would matter if it affected just one child. What makes it
worse is that Sai Baba has a worldwide following of 160 million people
and is visited by heads of state. He is thus respectable, a notable
Indian figure.
The allegations went unanswered. When duly challenged, a twitchy
Indian government minister blew his top and accused the reporter of
impertinence. Meanwhile the US embassy's website has posted warnings
to potential visitors.
Whether or not it will shake the blind faith of the devotees remains
to be seen. However, the programme was an example of investigative
reporting all too rare these days - getting inside and under the
issue. It may have even stopped further innocents from falling prey to
the avatar's whim.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba19.html
Spiritual Depths
The Guardian (UK)/June 18, 2004
By Rupert Smith
It's difficult to write about religion without offending someone, but
mercifully we're reviewing a television programme here, and not the
mixture of wishful thinking and wilful credulity that leads people to
worship soi-disant gurus such as Swami Sai Baba. BBC2's This World
strand last night gave us The Secret Swami, an entertaining hour that
made a compelling case against Sai Baba, portraying him as a charlatan
and an abuser.
Young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba related
hair-raising stories of "private interviews" in which the not-so-holy
man pulled his skirt over his head and invited them to get down and
dirty. Hilariously, one Hindu scholar reminded us that this is a
practice sanctioned by neither scripture nor tradition. "Worship of
the linga does not include doing the blow-job."
What started out as a routine denunciation developed into something
more sinister. Sadly, the moment I see a man in a dress surrounded by
grinning worshippers, I'm looking for a catch - and it didn't take
much to prove that Sai Baba's "miracles" were nothing more than a bit
of old-fashioned sleight of hand. On that basis, we might all end up
worshipping David Blaine, which is a worry. But reporter Tanya Datta
did her job properly, and went far beneath the surface of magic tricks
and gaudy tat. She found that Sai Baba bought the eternal gratitude of
rural Indian villagers by paying for clean water supplies, and that he
caused a massive hospital to be built, funded by one of his followers,
Isaac Tigrett, who co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain. She discovered
also that the Indian government, rightly mindful of the rural vote,
has turned a blind eye to claims of wrongdoing in the Baba camp. A
government official got very shirty indeed with Ms Datta, shouting
denials before he'd even heard the allegations. In these cases, "no"
usually does mean "yes".
There was little room amid all the skulduggery for any real
examination of Sai Baba's theology; all we learned was that he is an
avatar, although of whom was not made clear, and that he conveniently
embraces all religions. Without any real exegesis of his ideas, it was
hard to know exactly what his followers believed in - it surely can't
just have been Baba's ability to produce fake Rolexes out of thin air,
or cough up eggs.
But even former disciples couldn't shed much light on what turned them
into such true believers. A nice family from Arkansas were so crazy
about Sai Baba that they encouraged their teenage son to spend as much
time with the guru as possible. Despite allegations of abuse at the
hands of Sai Baba, the son came out with the astonishing comment, "we
are all tools, and we all have to be around for Swami to use - if he
needs a screwdriver".
An hour wasn't enough to do the subject justice, and for once I was
left wanting more. This isn't something I'd say lightly about
television documentaries, which usually need to be edited by 50%. The
mystery of Sai Baba, of his apparent protection by the authorities, of
his canny manipulation of the rural poor and his inexplicable appeal
to rich westerners, only deepened. Astonishingly, Sai Baba has not yet
had the collar of his robe fingered by the long arm of the law.
Armand Leroi, the handsome biologist, turned his attention to the
tricky subject of racial difference in the final part of Human Mutants
(Channel 4). There was some fun stuff about excessive facial hair and
random skin pigmentation to pave the way to Leroi's central thesis,
that "we are all mutants - but some of us are more mutant than
others".
With this in mind, he gently introduced the idea of "a new race
genetics", which was nowhere near as sinister as it sounded. Genome
mapping enabled scientists to identify racial background according to
four main human groups - and, against this kind of science, "terms
like 'black' and 'white' don't describe anything that's real any
more".
This would have come as cold comfort to a Cape Town housewife who went
to bed as a white woman and woke up the next morning black. Shunned by
her family, she died in poverty, which suggests that Leroi's DNA
utopia is a way off just yet.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba18.html
Sai Baba: God-man or con man?
Basava Premanand is India's leading guru-buster
BBC News/June 17, 2004
By Tanya Datta
He believes that the country's biggest spiritual leader, Sri Satya Sai
Baba, is a charlatan and must be exposed.
Basava Premanand has been burgled... again.
It is the third time in just one month. But he is in no doubt of the
thieves' motives.
He suspects they were looking for evidence that he has collected for
over 30 years against India's leading spiritual guru, Sri Satya Sai
Baba.
Mr Premanand believes this evidence proves the self-proclaimed "God-
man", Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser.
"Sai Baba is nothing but a mafia man, conning the people and making
himself rich", he says of his bete noire.
As India's leading guru-buster, Basava Premanand is the scourge of all
miracle-makers.
He is the founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
and the editor of a monthly periodical called The Indian Sceptic.
He believes that it is his duty to dispel the "curse of gullibility
blighting his country in the form of myth and superstition", and
replace it instead with the "gospel of pure, scientific
understanding".
Since 1976, he has waged a bitter war against Sai Baba, a man who
commands a following of millions both in India and abroad. His
devotees believe him to be an Avatar, or incarnation of God in human
form.
But to Mr Premanand, this God is anything but holy.
Allegations
Rumours about Sai Baba sexually abusing young male devotees have been
circulating for years.
In 1976 a former American follower,Tal Brooke, wrote a book called
Avatar of the Night: The Hidden Side of Sai Baba. In it, he referred
to the guru's sexual exploits.
But Brooke's allegations were dismissed out of hand by the tightly
controlled Sai Baba Organisation.
Dr Michael Goldstein, chairman of the international Sai Baba
organisation, admitted he had heard rumours, but told us that he did
not believe them. He said: "My heart and my conscience tell me that it
is not possible."
But in the last four years, and with the growth of the internet, the
tide of claims against Sai Baba has become a groundswell.
Former devotees such as Alaya Rahm and Mark Roche, featured in the the
BBC film Secret Swami, are coming forward with increasingly graphic
stories of the guru's serious sexual exploitation.
Their own experiences bear an uncanny resemblance, yet span a time
frame of almost 30 years.
Both had been subjected to Sai Baba rubbing oil on their genitals.
"He took me aside", said Alaya Rahm, "put the oil on his hands, told
me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitals with the oil. I was really
taken aback."
All the allegations against Sai Baba so far have been made by
Westerners.
But Mr Premanand says that there are many Indians who also claim to
have been abused but are too afraid to speak out.
Well-connected
It is no surprise that Indian victims are scared of reprisals. Sai
Baba's influence among the power elite of India is impressive.
Prime ministers, presidents, judges and generals, have all come to the
ashram (religious retreat) in Puttaparthi in southern India, to pay
their respects.
The previous prime minister of India, Mr Atal Vajpayee, once issued a
letter on his official notepaper calling the attacks on Sai Baba
"wild, reckless and concocted."
Sai Baba also enjoys a close relationship with the state police. A
former head of police once acted as his personal chauffeur.
None of this, however, deters Mr Premanand who has doggedly pursued
Sai Baba over the years through the courts, the media and several
embarrassing books and exposures.
Little wonder that his campaign has enraged some of the holy man's
supporters.
To date, Basava Premanand has survived four murder attempts and bears
the scars from several savage beatings.
In 1986, he was arrested by the police for marching to Puttaparthi
with 500 volunteers for a well-publicised confrontation with Sai
Baba.
Later that year, he took Sai Baba to court for violating the Gold
Control Act by producing gold necklaces out of thin air without the
permission of a Gold Control Administrator.
When his case was dismissed, Mr Premanand appealed on the grounds that
spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.
Break-in
In June 1993, the peace of the ashram was shattered when a gruesome
incident took place.
Four male devotees, who were close to Sai Baba, broke into their
guru's private quarters late at night armed with knives.
Their motives are unclear. Some say they were going to warn their guru
about corruption among the higher echelons of the ashram. Others say
they were going to kidnap or even kill Sai Baba.
They were stopped by Sai Baba's personal attendants and in the violent
struggle that ensued, two of the attendants were killed and two left
seriously wounded.
Sai Baba managed to escape through a secret flight of stairs and raise
the alarm.
Just before the police arrived, the four men escaped to Sai Baba's
bedroom. It was there, the police say, they shot the intruders out of
self defence.
Mr Premanand claimed a cover up and went to court.
He says: "The central government stopped the investigation, because if
the investigation takes place, a lot of things will come out like
economic offences and sex offences."
He was outraged that Sai Baba - one of the key witnesses to the events
of that night - had not been questioned.
Over the next three years, he took his case all the way to the Supreme
Court, before he was eventually defeated.
Today, this sprightly septuagenarian is as busy as ever, collecting
and collating more information. Mr Premanand is preparing for another
battle.
"This," he says mischievously, "is going to be the greatest fight of
my life."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba15.html
BBC2 uncovers secrets behind India's Secret Swami
Aim/June 14, 2004
The most popular of all Indian Godmen, Sai Baba has always been the
Teflon God, the untouchable, charismatic man worshipped by Indian
Prime Ministers, Presidents and peasants. His power over both the
influential and the downtrodden goes to the heart of Indian society
and raises serious questions about the social health of the world's
fastest emerging economy.
Sai Baba claims to be a living God and to millions, his word is truth;
his ability to bring clean water and healthcare to thousands, proof of
divinity.
In a programme that explores the nature of belief, This World travels
from India to California, where the generation whose devotion and
donations helped Sai Baba to power are unravelling at the seams. Hard
Rock Caf9 owner Isaac Tigrett sent Sai Baba's message around the world
by making the Godman's Love All Serve All mantra the corporate slogan
of his multi-million empire. He now has to confront the fact that his
God may have been a sexual abuser.
This World features the story of a family who gave their entire lives
to a man they believed was God, only to discover he was exacting a
terrible price: the sexual innocence of their son. In an intimate and
powerful portrait a family talks openly about their betrayal and the
man who controlled their lives.
"The being which I called Sai Baba, the living God that I had taken
into my heart had been truly abusing my son, for so long. I felt
completely betrayed..." says Marissa, a former devotee. Another, Alaya
says: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life
will be filled with pain and suffering."
This programme is the first to film inside Sai Baba's Ashram for a
number of years and aims to come closer to the true "face of God" than
ever before.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba16.html
Man Arrested With Gun at Sai Baba's Ashram
The Hindustan Times/January 18, 2002
Bangalore, India -- A 26-year-old man who allegedly tried to shoot Sai
Baba on Thursday with an air pistol at his ashram in Whitefield on the
outskirts of Bangalore, was overpowered by ashram volunteers. The air
pistol and some pellets were recovered from the man, Somasundaram, the
police said. Somasundaram was overpowered when he started running
towards Sai Baba who was emerging from a building to give darshan,
eyewitnesses said.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba13.html
British law against Sai Baba sought
Times of India/September 5, 2001
By Rashmee Z. Ahmed
London -- Campaigners against religious cults across western Europe
are trying to persuade the British government to follow the French and
legislate against movements such as Sai Baba and the Moonies.
Tom Sackville, a former British minister and current chairman of the
anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR),
told The Times of India, "the French legislation of two months ago has
enormously encouraged my 15-year battle against exploitative cults
such as that of Sai Baba."
The anti-cult campaign comes even as The Times, London, carried
extensive reportage of Sai Baba on Monday, questioning his role in the
"mysterious deaths of three British men", which campaigners admit are
hard to prove were directly caused by the guru.
The newspaper, which flagged its investigation as "exclusive", said
"Sai Baba's activities are being studied by the (British) Foreign
Office, which is considering issuing an unprecedented warning against
the guru to travellers."
It said one of the men had "complained of being repeatedly sexually
molested by Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore."
There is growing British press interest in the man they describe as
"Indian mystic and miracle worker" to the rich, famous and titled such
as the Duchess of York and an architect known to be close to Prince
Charles.
Commentators say this is largely because Sai Baba has a substantial
European fan following, alongside a growing number of hostile and
vocal former devotees who accuse him of physical, mental and monetary
abuse.
The Internet war launched by former devotees across western Europe,
including David Bailey, a Welsh concert pianist once considered to be
Sai Baba's right-hand man, has focussed unsavoury publicity on Sai
Baba.
However, Sai Baba's London headquarters continues to reject all the
allegations.
Several parliamentary questions in the last five years have drawn the
British government's attention to Sai Baba's alleged misconduct. But,
British MPs and anti-cult campaigners say the government has always
maintained that the number of British cases are too few to merit
action.
But now, a new area of concern has arisen according to The Times,
which says Sai Baba has infiltrated the British school system in a
dangerous catch 'em young policy.
The newspaper says more than 500 British schools are being taught
according to "Sai Baba-influenced educational programmes". It says the
programmes are promoted by two charities, the Sathya Sai Education in
Human Values Trust UK and the Human Values Foundation.
Former minister Sackville says the development is worrying because "it
is just like we wouldn't want or allow far-right groups such as the
British National Party (BNP) to be talking to our children in school."
Admitting the BNP was an extreme example, he said "the principle we
are keen to impress on the British government is that just like the
French, we have to make it a criminal offence to exploit people in
vulnerable situations."
Anti-cult campaigners say that their cause has been strengthened
because UNESCO pulled out of an educational conference at Puttaparthi
last year.
They say that if the French legislation is followed by other European
countries, it could eventually become European Union law and would
severely limit the activities of movements such as that of Sai Baba.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba12.html
Suicide, sex and the guru
The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has
been tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse
August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
In a world of pain and sorrow, a smiling little man in a saffron robe
who can cure misery by magic is a bewitching prospect.
To millions of followers around the world, Sai Baba is a benevolent
spiritual leader whose hospitals and schools work tirelessly for the
advancement of the poor. But an investigation by The Times today
discloses that three British men have apparently taken their own lives
after becoming followers of the miracle worker. Two of them were
encouraged to believe that he could cure their medical problems. One
of those also said that he had been touched intimately by the Sai
Baba.
This is the same Sai Baba who is adored and indulged by the
international jet set. The Duchess of York had the treat of watching
him produce a gold watch and cross from thin air when she visited his
ashram in India.
The Prince of Wales's architectural adviser, Keith Critchlow, designed
a vast, stunning hospital for Sai Baba, which has been compared to St
Peter's in Rome and a maharaja's palace. "The most influential holy
man in India today," is how the respected architect describes the
guru.
The hospital, mostly financed by Isaac Tigrett, the wealthy American
founder of the Hard Rock Caf9 chain of restaurants, treats the humble
people of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. So it was with
righteous indignation that Sai Baba, in a rare fit of public anger,
has turned on the band of disillusioned disciples who are now
tarnishing his name.
Jesus Christ, said Sai Baba to a large crowd of devotees, underwent
many hardships and was put on the cross because of jealousy. In those
days there was only one Judas to betray him, but now there are
thousands.
The holy man alleged that his detractors were being bribed to lie
about him because of fear of his growing popularity. "People are
trying to stop me but can do nothing," he said. "People love and
follow Sai because of the truth I stand for and the love that is my
basis."
Detractors are casting doubt on Sai Baba's miracles, suggesting that
he is little more than a conjuror with a limited repertoire of jaded
tricks. A financial row over the 313 million fortune of the British
film actor James Mason, whose widow became a Sai Baba devotee, is
smouldering. Most devastating is the suggestion that Sai Baba might
have been abusing his power over young male followers by indulging in
sexual activity with them.
Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the tiny
village of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.When he was only 14, Sai Baba
- already magically producing candles and pencils for school friends -
surprised his family by announcing that he was the reincarnation of
Sai Baba of Shirdi, a miraculous old Indian sage who died in 1918.
Today Sai Baba's birthplace is home to an ashram that can accommodate
10,000 pilgrims. The obscure village has grown to cater for Sai Baba's
followers, of which there are more than 20 million worldwide. They
include some of India's most influential people. The legendary batsman
Sachin Tendulkar, who helps to organise cricket matches at Sai Baba's
stadium, says that he "worships" the guru.
The director-general of police in Andhra Pradesh, H. J. Dora, acts as
Sai Baba's chauffeur when the spiritual leader visits the state
capital, Hyderabad. Judges and top civil servants flock for audiences
with him. The Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, another follower,
has opened a new Sai Baba hospital in Bangalore. In a lofty tribute,
the premier said that Sai Baba has shown humanity the path of
liberation which goes beyond freedom from worldly attachments.
However, the first cracks in faith in Sai Baba's magical powers came
about because of a visit by a previous prime minister, Narasimha Rao,
also a devotee.For this special occasion, Sai Baba appeared to
materialise a gold watch from nowhere. But when Indian state
television workers played back film of the incident in slow motion,
they saw that the miracle was a sleight-of-hand hoax. The clip was
never broadcast in India but has been widely circulated on videotape
there. Sai Baba's most common miracle is to produce "sacred ash" from
between his fingers.
Sometimes he pulls shiny, solid religious artefacts from his mouth.
But magicians who have analysed these wonders say they are nothing
more than old and simple tricks. Sai Baba is being challenged on
another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the
fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of
targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker
might be able to cure the afflictions of old age.
One of Sai Baba's most devout followers was Clarissa Mason, the second
wife of the film star James Mason. When Clarissa died of cancer in
1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's 313 million estate
to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children,
Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will
in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to
see any of the Mason millions.
Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her
house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has
gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children
to include a follower of Sai Baba.
But more potentially damaging than claims about money are the sexual
allegations against Sai Baba. These were first publicised as long ago
as 1976, when Tal Brooke, a disenchanted American devotee, wrote
Avatar of Night. Over the years, the description by disillusioned
followers of intimate acts involving Sai Baba has persisted.
The suggestion is that Sai Baba grants one-to-one audiences to young
men, who believe they are in the presence of a living god. This may
entail a high level of intimacy and the men allowing their private
parts to be touched or fondled by the guru.
There have been no prosecutions. A complaint was lodged with India's
Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been
no result. In the United States, though, anti-Sai Baba campaigners are
trying to persuade the authorities to open investigations into the
alleged molestation of American citizens who are minors. The co-
ordinator of this American campaign says that he has been interviewed
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no formal inquiry is under
way.
So has Sai Baba, the most worshipped sage of the Orient, really been
groping youthful followers. One innocent explanation is provided by
Stuart Jones, a member of Sai Baba's Bristol and Bath group. He points
out that there is a possible cultural misunderstanding at play. In
yoga, Jones explains, one of the energy points on the body is below
the testicles, an area sometimes stimulated by a teacher such as Sai
Baba.
"When I was out there, it happened to a couple of friends of mine, but
it was more like, how can I say, doctor's surgery. There was no
sexuality involved. One chap said that a tremendous amount of energy
was suddenly released in him and he felt wonderful afterwards. I don't
mean ejaculation. It was like suddenly feeling wonderful. Sometimes he
rubs the chest or the forehead where these other points are."
Talk of "energy points" does not endear Sai Baba to the Indian
Rationalists Association, an organisation of atheists and doubters
which seeks to debunk organised religion and disprove all miracles.
They denounce him as the biggest fraud of the "god industry". Joseph
Edamaruku, the association's president, says: "He has consistently
refused to subject himself to an independent examination. He raises
enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not
believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."
One charitable field where Sai Baba's followers do seem to be most
active is education. Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection
of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has
made in a six decade-long career as a living god are "Help ever, hurt
never" and "Love all, serve all". Few are likely to argue with such a
simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by
allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while
paying homage to him.
Sai Baba's children's course, Education in Human Values, is taught in
schools in 100 countries. It promotes five qualities: truth (satya),
righteousness (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema) and nonviolence
(ahimsa). Education in Human Values rejects rote learning, emphasising
Indian techniques such as "silent sitting", quotation, story-telling,
song and group activities.
Sai Baba's message reaches British schoolchildren through two
charities. The first is named in his honour, the Sathya Sai Education
in Human Values Trust UK, which claims to have had contact with 80
schools. Typical of its activities is a summer camp held at
Christchurch Primary School in Ilford, East London, several weeks ago
where 100 children painted, played games and sang. Courses have been
cleverly designed to fit into Key Stages 1 to 4 of the National
Curriculum, targeting children aged seven to 16.
The charity states that it does not promote any particular religion.
Carole Alderman, the founder, a former ChildLine volunteer, has no
teaching qualifications. She admits to using some of Sai Baba's
quotations but says: "We don't teach about Sai Baba at all."
She adds: "I have witnessed a lot of his miracles. I have seen people
going in with crutches or wheelchairs and come out walking. I have
seen him materialise things many times a day. He just knows
everything." Asked about the sexual allegations, she says: "It's
totally unfounded. Anybody who actually knows him, knows it is."
Another British charity, the Human Values Foundation, says it has
reached more than 500 schools. Its chairman, Dennis Eagan, said "The
foundation has nothing to do with Sai Baba."
But the Human Values Foundation's programme is also called "Education
for Human Values". It promotes Sai Baba's same five virtues, using
"silent sitting", activities, songs, quotations and stories. Its
president, June Auton, has been a regular visitor to Sai Baba's
ashram. She has been described by Barry Pittard, a former English
lecturer at Sai Baba's college in India, as "synonymous with Swami's
Human Values Programme."
Auton told The Times: "I'm not going to discuss anything about my
religion at all on the phone. My religion is my business." Pressed,
she would only say: "I do attend my local church." It is the recent
suicides, however, that may hurt Sai Baba the most in Britain.
Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his reputation. A
German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early
1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999
after failing to get an audience with the guru.
In a puzzling incident in June 1993, Sai Baba was attacked by four
young male devotees armed with knives. Two of the guru's bodyguards
were stabbed to death. After the four youths, long-time followers of
Sai Baba, locked themselves in a room, they were all shot dead by
police. Challenging faith in a man of miracles can be painful. At Sai
Baba's Central London base in Clerkenwell, there is reluctance to
confront the allegations of sexual harassment, suicides and financial
maneuvering.
Dee Puri, at the London headquarters, denounces the suggestion that
Sai Baba takes money from the rich, pointing out that at his 28-year-
old London premises: "Entrance is free. There is no money going to
Baba at all.
As for the suggestions of sexual harassment, she told The Times: "I
don't want to talk about it because there is no such thing. I think
such conversations disturb me and my beliefs. The organisation is most
unhappy that you have tried to hurt us. Nobody will speak to you
unless you want to write something which is truth, which is not
controversial.
"As far as I am concerned, Baba is a great, great guru. Thirty years I
have been a devotee of Baba and millions and millions of people are,
so I would very respectfully ask you please not to put that sort of
question to me."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba11.html
Three die after putting faith in guru
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
Three British men have died mysteriously after becoming followers of
an Indian mystic famed as a 'god man' and miracle worker. Sai Baba's
activities are being studied by the Foreign Office which is
considering issuing an unprecedented warning against the guru to
travellers.
The Times has learnt that three Britons have apparently taken their
lives after placing hope in India's most popular holy man.
One of them had complained of being repeatedly sexually molested by
Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore.
Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student, was found dead at a London
hostel after taking alcohol and painkillers. He had already tried to
commit suicide at the holy man's headquarters.
Aran Edwards hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai
Baba support group and being encouraged to write to the guru to solve
his psychological problems.
Mr Edwards sent a flurry of anxious letters but was devastated after
receiving no replies and being told that the guru did not read his
mail.
Andrew Richardson, a South Africa-born British national, jumped off a
building in India shortly after visiting Sai Baba's ashram.
Among visitors who have paid respects to Sai Baba are the Duchess of
York, the Prince of Wales's architect Keith Critchlow, the cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Sai Baba's message is being preached in more than 500 British schools
through charities which claim to provide non-denominational education
in 'human values.'
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Minister, last night urged the
Government to take decisive action to warn teachers and pilgrims of
the dangers of becoming involved with Sai Baba. The guru's reputation
is plummeting after the United Nations cancelled a conference at his
headquarters, issuing a condemnation of his alleged sex abuse of
youths and boys.
Unicef pulled out of a conference it was due to sponsor with the
guru's educational organisation in Puttaparthi last September.
The UN's cultural agency issued a trenchant statement: 'The
organisation is deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of
sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at
the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba.
'Whilst it is not for Unesco to pronounce itself in this regard, the
organisation restates its firm moral and practical commitment to
combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires states to
protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.'
In hundreds of British schools, Sai Baba-influenced educational
programmes on 'human values' are currently being promoted as part of
the National Curriculum.
The Charity Commission met the trustees of one of the educational
charities involved, the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust UK,
last year and 'found no concerns,' a spokesman said.
Mr Sackville, chairman of the anti-cult organisation Fair (Family
Action Information and Resource), said that he had successfully
intervened to persuade a girls' school to reject a Sai Baba-inspired
course.
'Schools are not on their guard because at official level they are not
given any steer,' Mr Sackville said. 'Some other countries would have
had official warnings.'
He said that Whitehall was strongly opposed to letting the British
Government apply sanctions to cults, which civil servants describe
respectfully as 'new religious movements.'
As for the Charity Commission's clean bill of health to the Sai Baba
educational organisation, Mr Sackville said: 'There's a lot of very
naive people around in these government institutions.'
He called on the Foreign Office to issue a warning against Sai Baba
along the lines of recommendations to travellers to beware the dangers
of Aids and violence abroad. The Foreign Office is believed to be
considering putting out just such advice.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba10.html
'I sought peace and couldn't find it'
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Michael Dynes and Dominic Kennedy
Durban -- Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able
to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world,
Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi,
southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr
Pender, known as "Mitch," was found dead after taking tablets in the
lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London.
He was 23.
Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since
destroyed her books and videos on the holy man. She said: "I blame
myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would
probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd
find a cure.
"He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs
more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there.
There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has
given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks
about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by
describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's
evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very
first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.
"At first he couldn't believe any of this was happening. It felt
unreal and frightening. But then after the first interview he thought
SB must have been showing him something about himself . . . that there
must have been some spiritual or 'divine' explanation behind the
swami's actions.
"But after the fourth interview, he became very despondent and
confused about the whole thing; each interview was a repetition of the
first . . . Baba 'materialised' an emerald ring on the fifth interview
and gave him money on the sixth.
"After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed."
On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of
his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood,
but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal
doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras.
Aran Edwards, a classical guitarist and postgraduate theology student
at the University of Wales in Newport, joined Sai Baba's Bath and
Bristol support group. David Bailey, a concert pianist from Conwy,
North Wales, who had become one of the guru's closest British aides,
met Aran with the group.
"He was sort of persuaded that Sai Baba looked after him, did
everything for him and that he should write to Sai Baba with his
problems," Mr Bailey said.
"He was quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox
help. In the end, he wrote a couple of dozen or more letters to Sai
Baba. The group had told him this was what to do.
"He used to ring me from phone boxes pleading with me. There were 35
phone calls, I suppose . . . he was absolutely desperate that I should
talk to Sai Baba for him because he was in such a state and had
written all these letters which he had sent out and hadn't had a
reply. Could I please help because I was Sai Baba's right-hand man?
"At the end I said, 'Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters'. He
was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide."
Aran Edwards, a single man, was found hanged from a staircase at his
home in Cardiff, on April 19, 1999. He was 37. A suicide verdict was
recorded by the coroner.
Stuart Jones, of the Bath and Bristol group, said: "He was a very
fragile kind of person, very sensitive, very gentle in nature. If you
are thinking there is a link, I know for a fact there wasn't a link in
the sense of all the allegations going about Sai Baba. He was in
distress long before."
Aran never visited Sai Baba in India. But Andrew Richardson, a British
national born in South Africa, did. He made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's
ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two
days.
On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired
a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings,
the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and
travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to
the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the
ground, killing himself. He was 33.
Two letters were found on his body. One to Sai Baba outlined his quest
for spiritual enlightenment. The second was a suicide note saying he
was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but
could not find it." His mother, Deirdre, at her home near
Pietermaritzburg, said: "Andrew wanted to see Sai Baba, but was also
heading to Calcutta to see Mother Teresa . . . All he wanted to do was
work with the poor."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba9.html
Sex Scandal swirls around Sai Baba
Cult News Summary/December 2004
Sai Baba, a controversial Indian "holy man" presides over a spiritual
kingdom that includes one of the world's largest ashrams. He claims to
have millions of followers.
But the guru, who is approaching 80, has a history of sexual abuse
allegations that in recent years has made media headlines around the
world.
Former followers of the aging swami reportedly call him "a sexual
harasser, a fraud and even a pedophile."
One man says Sai Baba ordered him to drop his pants and allow the guru
to massage his penis. He later said, "Sai Baba was my God -- who dares
to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he
had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in
totality."
Despite such revelations and the growing scandal that surrounds Sai
Baba he continues to be worshipped at his ashram. Twice a day he
parades about and makes appearances to the faithful, entertaining them
with what seems like little more than magic tricks.
Sai Baba's so-called "materializations" include making watches and
jewelry appear out of "thin air."
At functions his followers rock back and forth with "shining eyes"
seemingly in trance-like or hypnotic states. Perhaps in this condition
they are prepared to believe almost anything.
The guru holds court within lavishly appointed rooms decorated with
gold leaf and hanging chandeliers.
"Sometimes I think the ashram is a madhouse and Swami is the
director," said one recently devoted disciple. Does Sai Baba prey upon
the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable? "When you don't have
problems, you don't go to the ashram," says a disciple.
But there may be casualties amongst the true believers.
A Malaysian woman reportedly had a psychotic breakdown, attacked
ashram workers and was taken into police custody. She sat in a holding
area almost catatonic, mumbling "darshan, darshan, darshan"
repeatedly.
Sai Baba has accumulated substantial influence and prestige within
India. That influence includes some prominent leaders such as former
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Times of India reported in 1993
that the guru's followers include "governors, chief ministers,
assorted politicians, business tycoons, newspaper magnates, jurists,
sportsmen, academics and, yes, even scientists."
His popularity is easy to understand. Sai Baba has built a hospital
that offers free services, partly financed by a $20 million donation
from Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Caf9. Its pink fa7ade
makes it look more like a palace than a hospital. And in the entrance
area there are images of Sai Baba.
Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of
chicanery and worse."
Nevertheless Illustrated Weekly of India stated, "God or a fraud, no
one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization."
But does the guru use his accumulated good will and "God-man" status
to get into people's pants?
The sex abuse claims are strikingly similar and seem to fit the same
pattern.
"During my 'private audiences' with Sai Baba, Sai Baba used to touch
my private parts and regularly massage my private parts, indicating
that this was for spiritual purposes," wrote one former devotee. "He
grabbed my head and pushed it into his groin area. He made moaning
sounds. As soon as he took the pressure off my head and I lifted my
head, Sai Baba lifted his dress and presented me a semi-erect member,
telling me that this was my good luck chance, and jousted his hips
towards my face," the man said.
When the devotee later talked about his sexual encounter he was thrown
out of the ashram.
"Each time I saw Baba, his hand would gradually make more prominent
connections to my groin," said another former follower.
All of the allegations reportedly involved mostly teenage boys and
young men in their 20s.
This story is hardly new. In 1970 a book by Tal Brooke titled "Lord of
the Air" later renamed "Avatar of Night," told the story of a devoted
disciple's disillusionment upon learning of Sai Baba's sexual
appetite.
More recently a document called "Findings" accumulated accounts of
alleged sexual exploitation and abuse from the guru's former
followers.
An excerpt from the document reads, "Whilst still at the ashram, the
worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young
man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please
Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us&These sons of
devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling
participants in a pedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share
this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed
their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a
visiting professor of music to the Sai college."
Since the release of "Findings" the Sai Baba sex scandal has grown and
gained momentum.
A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a devotee
wanted to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Sai Organization
in America. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do
anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with
someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe. This
isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this,"
Meloy said.
One former Indian ashram volunteer petitioned India's Supreme Court to
investigate Sai Baba. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been
abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old
kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In
most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not
going to believe them. American citizens have been knowing about this
abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to
him," he said.
UNESCO yanked its co-sponsorship of an education conference in India
linked to Sai Baba and stated it was "deeply concerned about widely
reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children
that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question,
Sathya Sai Baba."
After Conny Larsson, a Swedish actor went public about his coerced
sexual relations with the guru; the Sai Organization in Sweden was
shut down.
India Today ran a cover story about the scandal, as has England's
Daily Telegraph.
Labor MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament.
Former British government minister, Tom Sackville said, "The
authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable."
But it seems that the guru's ardent followers can rationalize almost
anything.
One such disciple concluded in an essay published on the Internet,
"First of all, I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full
incarnation of God ... any sexual contact Baba has had with devotees
-- of whatever kind -- has actually been only a potent blessing, given
to awaken the spiritual power within those souls. Who can call that
'wrong'? Surely to call such contact 'molestation' is perversity
itself."
A "potent blessing"?
"When he does it, he has a purpose," concludes another still devoted
follower.
Other devotees have rejected reports about their guru's sexual abuse
completely regardless of how many of his alleged victims come forward
to tell their stories.
One said, "I think this is a projection of his devotees' problems. You
hear a lot of rumors&but for me it's not important. When you're happy,
why doubt it?"
Note: This news summary is based upon an article titled
"Untouchable" (note: dead link) by Michelle Goldberg, which appeared
in Salon Magazine, July 25, 2001
Holy man? Sex abuser? Both?
Vancouver Sun/February 27, 2001
By Douglas Todd
His followers say Sai Baba is a God on Earth, and they generously
support his multi-billion-dollar religious empire. But some former
adherents are coming forward with dark tales of the guru sexually
molesting young men.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba -- "The Protector," "The Infinite," "the Creator"
-- has only once left India, where he reigns as arguably the country's
most famous living swami. But Sai Baba is here tonight at this temple
in east Vancouver. Sai Baba is sitting in the ochre robe on the wooden
throne at the front altar, smelling the eye-stinging incense,
listening to the
gathered about Sathya Sai Baba.
Visit Sathya Sai Baba's Official Web Site
(Link takes you outside the Rick A. Ross Institute web site)
http://www.sathyasai.org/
Sathya Sai Baba, "God"
or "sexual predator"?
Atheist Karuna woos godman in TN
Times Now, India/May 9, 2007
By Dhanya Rajendran
He may be one of the country's best known atheists, but when it comes
to funding state projects, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi
does not mind the help of spiritual gurus. The Satya Sai trust has
agreed to fund a project which will provide drinking water to parched
Chennai. And Karunanidhi is only too happy to welcome the godman.
Till a few years ago, it was unthinkable that Karunanidhi would ever
share a dais with Satya Sai Baba, however at a public appearance with
the spiritual Guru in January this year, Karunanidhi asked Sai Baba's
help for developmental projects. Now Sri Satya Sai Trust has agreed to
upgrade the 25 km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal, which will bring water
to Chennai.
Karunanidhi may not believe in God, but as analysts say, he has proved
to be a tactful politician.
"He is an atheist at a personal level, and when he shared a dais with
Sai Baba, he explained his stand saying the question was not whether
he believed in God, but whether he was worthy of God's trust. But at a
more practical level, I buy his point From whichever source the money
comes, and as long as it is not tainted, it is welcome," remarked S
Murari, a political analyst.
The chief minister has kept aside his radical beliefs for good reason;
With the states finances running dry due to the numerous sops given by
his government, Karunanidhi desperately needs funds. Now that the Baba
trust has entered into a partnership with the government, the big
question is whether they will undertake the Coovum river-cleaning
project.
"Cleaning the Coovum is my dream, but I will need your help. It has
been quoted as a Rs 1,000 crore project. I'm not asking for the whole
amount, but I will be happy if you donate the same," is M
Karunanidhi's request.
This is, definitely, an image makeover. But the chief minister's
tolerance towards religious matters are limited to accepting help to
develop his state. When it comes to clashes between believers and non-
believers within the state, Karunanidhi always sticks to his
ideologies.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba24.html
Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region
Gulf Times/January 23, 2007
Hyderabad -- People went on a rampage here yesterday in protest
against spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba who said he was against a
separate Telangana state.
His followers meanwhile called a shutdown in Puttaparthi town of
Anantapur district to condemn remarks on the guru.
Shouting slogans against him, dozens of students belonging to
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) barged into a Sai Baba temple near
Osmania University here, pulled down huge cut-outs of the guru and
burnt them.
An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed moves to bifurcate the state
'mahapapam' (great sin), was also burnt.
Addressing a function in Chennai on Sunday, Sai Baba said there was no
demand for a separate Telangana state from the people of the region.
"Dividing the people or the country is not good. Bifurcating the state
is mahapapam," he said.
Sai Baba, who preaches love, understanding and universal brotherhood,
has thousands of followers in India and abroad including several heads
of state, politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and
sportsmen.
During the last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions
of rupees transforming the small village of Puttaparthi, his
birthplace, into a modern town with a state-of-the-art airport,
education and health facilities.
The reaction to his comments was sharp from the protagonists of
separate Telangana. TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao asked Sai Baba
to confine himself to religion. "Is Sai Baba blind to the suicides by
farmers in Telangana region? Is he blind to the fact that the region
was subjected to exploitation?" asked Rao, who is leading the movement
for a separate state comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.
Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi Goud wondered what Sai Baba
knew of the problems of Telangana.
"He is from Rayalseema region and what does he know about the problem
of fluorosis (an abnormal condition caused by excessive intake of
fluorine), in Nalgonda? He is funding the water projects for
Rayalseema and Chennai," said Goud.
Revolutionary balladeer and Maoist sympathiser Gaddar, who is also
actively participating in the movement for separate Telangana,
criticised Sai Baba for opposing the demand.
Meanwhile, a shutdown was being observed in Puttaparthi town in
Anantapur district to condemn the remarks of Telangana leaders against
Sai Baba.
Shops and business establishment were shut and Sai Baba's disciples
set afire effigies of Chandrasekhara Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud and
Gaddar. The streets around Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Baba, wore
a deserted look.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba23.html
Satya Sai Baba caught in British controversy
Indo-Asian News Service/December 22, 2006
Satya Sai Baba, one of India's best known spiritual leaders, has
triggered a fresh controversy in Britain after association with The
Duke of Edinburgh's Award charity involving young people.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a London-headquartered charity whose
patron is Prince Philip.
It gives three kinds of awards (bronze, silver and gold) to anyone
aged between 14-25 for achievements in four categories: community
service, skills, physical recreation and expeditions. Each year it is
estimated that over 2,25,000 youngsters vie for the honour in Britain
alone.
This year, when the charity celebrates its 50th year, it has chosen to
send about 200 young volunteers to India to work with the Sri Satya
Sai Organisation.
However, the feat, pulled off by Sai Youth UK, a division of the
parent body, has created a furore. Several people, including some of
the Satya Sai Baba's former Western disciples, questioned the decision
in view of the mixed reputation the godman enjoys. Sai's devotees deny
the allegations.
The Guardian was the first to raise its voice saying the award scheme
had chosen as its accredited partner a spiritual group "whose 'living
god' founder has been accused of sexually abusing young boys".
Satya Sai Baba hit bad press in Britain two years ago when a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, interviewed young Western disciples who
alleged that the godman had sexually coerced them.
The Guardian quoted Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and
chairman of Fair, a cult-watching and victim support group, as saying:
"It is appallingly naive for the award scheme to involve young people
and the royal family with an organisation whose leader is accused of
paedophilia. Parents who plan to send their children on this
pilgrimage... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
The daily also said Michael Gave, a conservative MP, planned to write
to the charity to say it should monitor the organisations they chose
as partners more strictly.
"As a society we need a more determined effort to identify and expose
those religious cults and extremists that pose a direct threat to
people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that should be directed
elsewhere," he was quoted as saying.
In the 1990s, when Prince Charles visited India, he had expressed a
desire to visit the Sai Baba but was quietly dissuaded by the British
Embassy in New Delhi.
Since The Guardian's article, it was reported that there was mounting
pressure on the charity to distance itself from the Sai group.
However, charity spokesperson Shona Taylor did not answer repeated
queries as to whether the volunteers had left for India and how they
could be contacted.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba22.html
A holy furore rages in Britain
Daily News Analysis/November 5, 2006
By Ginnie Mahajan
Delhi: Old allegations of sexual abuse of boys by spiritual guru
Sathya Sai Baba have created a fresh furore in Britain.
The issue snowballed after the British press reported that 200 boys
would visit India on a month-long humanitarian pilgrimage starting
November 13, organised by the Sai Youth Movement, a division of the
Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
These boys are to receive the Duke of Edinburgh award for their
humanitarian work. According to the Guardian, the British public is
irked by two issues 7 safety of the boys at Sathya Sai Baba2s ashram
at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and the
involvement of royalty with the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
The newspaper quotes a former home office minister Tom Sackville, who
also runs a victim support group, as saying, 3It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.4
Interestingly, the United States Department of State has a travel
advisory against the Sathya Sai Organisation: 3US citizens should be
aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual
behaviour by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or
religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh.4
The Guardian says US state officials have confirmed that this is a
direct reference to Sathya Sai Baba. There have been rumours for years
that the spiritual guru, who calls himself an incarnation of god,
molested young devotees during interviews. Both Indian and foreign
visitors to the ashram have come on record to say how he has abused
them.
The public relations officer of Sathya Sai Baba2s ashram, however,
told DNA: 3We do not care what the advisory says. People and
organisations can write whatever they want to believe. We have no more
to say on this issue. Yes, the boys are coming to India in about two
weeks2 time.4
The visit coincides with Sathya Sai Baba2s 80th birthday. He had
apparently given a 1divine commandment2 to the Sai Youth Movement to
visit him on the occasion.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba21.html
The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of
Edinburgh awards
Sexual abuse accusations against group's leader--80th birthday
invitation to hundreds of youngsters
The Guardian, UK/November 4, 2006
By Paul Lewis
A spiritual group whose "living god" founder has been accused of
sexually abusing young boys has become an accredited partner of the
Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, the Guardian can reveal.
Last night pressure was mounting on the charity to break its links
with the group whose followers are devoted to the preachings of 79-
year-old holy man, Sai Baba.
About 200 young people will fly to India in two weeks' time on a
humanitarian pilgrimage run by Sai Youth UK, a division of the Sri
Sathya Sai Organisation. The teenagers and young men earn their Duke
of Edinburgh awards for humanitarian work, chiefly distributing
medical aid.
The trip coincides with Sai Baba's 80th birthday and has been
arranged, organisers say, after he gave a divine commandment for the
UK's Sai youth movement to visit him for the occasion.
For decades male former devotees have alleged that the guru molested
them during so-called "interviews". During the last youth pilgrimage,
in 2004, young people were granted group interviews with the guru
after administering medical aid to villages surrounding Sai Baba's
ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, although there was no evidence
of abuse.
Large numbers of young men have travelled from across the world to
study alongside and meet the guru. His supporters say their encounter
was spiritually enriching. Others, including participants in a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, two years ago, accuse him of abuse,
claiming he massaged their testicles with oil and coerced them into
oral sex.
Sai Baba has never been charged over the sex abuse allegations.
However, the US State Department issued a travel warning after reports
of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious
leader" which, officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba.
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and chairman of Fair, a
cult-watching and victim support group, said: "It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.
"Parents who plan to send their children on this month's
pilgrimage ... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
But Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the charity, last night faced
down calls to terminate his organisation's relationship with the Sai
organisation. He said: "This is not the only religion accused of
paedophilia. Young people who are participating on these trips are
doing so because they choose to," he said. "The awards accredit the
good work they do for poor people in India. We make no judgment about
their religion. We would no sooner intervene here than we would the
Church Lads' and Girls' Brigade."
The Conservative MP Michael Gove said he would write to the charity
asking it to consider a stricter monitoring of the organisations they
they work with. "As a society we need a more determined effort to
identify and expose those religious cults and extremists that pose a
direct threat to people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that
should be directed elsewhere," he said.
Shitu Chudasama, Sai's UK national youth coordinator, defended the
trip, saying it was primarily a humanitarian mission to help
impoverished people, saying that the sex abuse claims were "totally
unfounded". He added: "We hope to have an interview with Sai Baba but
it's not guaranteed. If he wants to see us, he'll call us."
Sai Organisation's UK branch has also came into contact with royals
through the awards, something Buckingham Palace was made aware of in
September. In correspondence seen by the Guardian, Brigadier Sir Miles
Hunt-Davis, Prince Philip's private secretary, wrote: "[We] are very
keen to get this sorted out properly and finally." He said trustees of
the award would undertake legal advice before deciding how to
proceed.
In July the Sai Organisation received a certificate for their
"invaluable contribution" to the awards at a Buckingham Palace garden
party. A news story which appeared on a Sai Baba website after the
ceremony was removed after an intervention by Peter Westgarth, who
said the event had been misrepresented.
In the posting, Mr Chudasama recounted the moment he delivered a
speech to "various dignitaries, diplomats, ministers [and] famous
celebrities" at the palace. "I was the last speaker called up, and
suddenly a confidence, a joy, engulfed my being," he said. "I
attributed everything to our founder Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As
I spoke I watched the sea of faces, they were hanging from my every
word and there was a look of excitement on their faces as if to say
'why have we not heard of this organisation before?'."
Mr Chudasama also attended a private audience with Prince Philip at St
James's Palace last year. "Prince Philip showed a very keen interest
in our youth and asked many questions," Mr Chudasama wrote in a Sai
newsletter. "I also had the opportunity to mention ... that we drew
our inspiration and motivation from our founder Sri Sathya Sai Baba;
he paused for a few seconds and then said: "Very good".
Backstory
Saytha Sai Baba, who has an estimated 30 million followers worldwide,
is possibly India's most controversial holy man. He gained a following
in his teens when he claimed to have divine powers and, later, said he
was an incarnation of God. His teachings are benign - his most famous
mantra is "Love All, Serve All" - and he encourages followers, which
include many of India's political elite, to undertake humanitarian
work. He purports to be able to miraculously conjure sacred ash and
expensive jewellery into the palm of his hand, as if out of thin air.
Opponents dismiss his miracles as party tricks. The Sai Organisation
claims to have more than 1,200 Saytha Sai Baba Centres in more than
100 countries.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba20.html
Guru who gives us no answers
The Scotsman/June 18, 2004
By Tom Adair
The Secret Swami might have veered towards the amusing - in an "Oh my
God, how gullible can you be?" kind of way - had it not been for the
repeated allegations of sex abuse.
Sai Baba, the swami in question, had started off looking like some old
bloke with an ego as big as his bank account. There he sat, in his
opulent ashram at Puttaparthi, near Bangalore, dressed in blinding
canary-yellow and sporting a head of what looked like jet-black pubic
hair - a mane of Leo Sayer proportions; as if he had poked his tongue
into a light socket. Count your blessings - he didn't sing.
Instead, he did tricks, producing trinkets from his fingers - gold
watches, bracelets, stuff with Ratners written all over it. Maybe he'd
read the Paul Daniels Trickster's Guide to Palming, and practised like
mad without the distraction of the lovely Debbie McGee (it later
transpired that Debbie would not have been a distraction). The swami's
followers adored his "miracles" and gasped.
Ten thousand worshippers formed a permanent camp inside the ashram,
believing Sai Baba to be an avatar - a god on Earth. He attracted
attention from burned out hippies, the ones with smoke still doping
their nostrils. Sometimes they smiled their faraway smiles; sometimes
they spoke. One guy believed he'd been in communion with Sai Baba for
21 years before he'd visited "god" in his pad. Sai Baba was quick to
spot white faces wearing dollar signs. As these dupes gawped up from
the crowd, he would single them out for special attention.
The documentary took a much less wide-eyed approach than Sai Baba's
flock, denouncing him from the start as a sham whose ashram resembled
a market place, not a shrine. Oh yes, he appeared to have done some
good - constructing a hospital in the district, providing free
medicare for the poor, and supplying clean water - however, the 340
million it cost was funded by wealthy acolytes, faithfully following
Sai Baba's earnest exhortation: "Wherever you see a sick person -
there is your field of service." And yet, Sai Baba's secret motto
turned out to be different, more like: "Wherever you see a gullible
young believer, (boys only apply) bingo! - sexual opportunity."
The programme gathered American former devotees who claimed that Sai
Baba had abused them, had exposed himself to them, indulged in oral
sex and then sworn them to secrecy. This sexual degradation had shaken
their faith. These victims included a father and a son who were
alleged to have been abused over many years. It was implied that many
Indian boys had also been taken advantage of but were too scared to
make public statements.
All this would matter if it affected just one child. What makes it
worse is that Sai Baba has a worldwide following of 160 million people
and is visited by heads of state. He is thus respectable, a notable
Indian figure.
The allegations went unanswered. When duly challenged, a twitchy
Indian government minister blew his top and accused the reporter of
impertinence. Meanwhile the US embassy's website has posted warnings
to potential visitors.
Whether or not it will shake the blind faith of the devotees remains
to be seen. However, the programme was an example of investigative
reporting all too rare these days - getting inside and under the
issue. It may have even stopped further innocents from falling prey to
the avatar's whim.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba19.html
Spiritual Depths
The Guardian (UK)/June 18, 2004
By Rupert Smith
It's difficult to write about religion without offending someone, but
mercifully we're reviewing a television programme here, and not the
mixture of wishful thinking and wilful credulity that leads people to
worship soi-disant gurus such as Swami Sai Baba. BBC2's This World
strand last night gave us The Secret Swami, an entertaining hour that
made a compelling case against Sai Baba, portraying him as a charlatan
and an abuser.
Young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba related
hair-raising stories of "private interviews" in which the not-so-holy
man pulled his skirt over his head and invited them to get down and
dirty. Hilariously, one Hindu scholar reminded us that this is a
practice sanctioned by neither scripture nor tradition. "Worship of
the linga does not include doing the blow-job."
What started out as a routine denunciation developed into something
more sinister. Sadly, the moment I see a man in a dress surrounded by
grinning worshippers, I'm looking for a catch - and it didn't take
much to prove that Sai Baba's "miracles" were nothing more than a bit
of old-fashioned sleight of hand. On that basis, we might all end up
worshipping David Blaine, which is a worry. But reporter Tanya Datta
did her job properly, and went far beneath the surface of magic tricks
and gaudy tat. She found that Sai Baba bought the eternal gratitude of
rural Indian villagers by paying for clean water supplies, and that he
caused a massive hospital to be built, funded by one of his followers,
Isaac Tigrett, who co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain. She discovered
also that the Indian government, rightly mindful of the rural vote,
has turned a blind eye to claims of wrongdoing in the Baba camp. A
government official got very shirty indeed with Ms Datta, shouting
denials before he'd even heard the allegations. In these cases, "no"
usually does mean "yes".
There was little room amid all the skulduggery for any real
examination of Sai Baba's theology; all we learned was that he is an
avatar, although of whom was not made clear, and that he conveniently
embraces all religions. Without any real exegesis of his ideas, it was
hard to know exactly what his followers believed in - it surely can't
just have been Baba's ability to produce fake Rolexes out of thin air,
or cough up eggs.
But even former disciples couldn't shed much light on what turned them
into such true believers. A nice family from Arkansas were so crazy
about Sai Baba that they encouraged their teenage son to spend as much
time with the guru as possible. Despite allegations of abuse at the
hands of Sai Baba, the son came out with the astonishing comment, "we
are all tools, and we all have to be around for Swami to use - if he
needs a screwdriver".
An hour wasn't enough to do the subject justice, and for once I was
left wanting more. This isn't something I'd say lightly about
television documentaries, which usually need to be edited by 50%. The
mystery of Sai Baba, of his apparent protection by the authorities, of
his canny manipulation of the rural poor and his inexplicable appeal
to rich westerners, only deepened. Astonishingly, Sai Baba has not yet
had the collar of his robe fingered by the long arm of the law.
Armand Leroi, the handsome biologist, turned his attention to the
tricky subject of racial difference in the final part of Human Mutants
(Channel 4). There was some fun stuff about excessive facial hair and
random skin pigmentation to pave the way to Leroi's central thesis,
that "we are all mutants - but some of us are more mutant than
others".
With this in mind, he gently introduced the idea of "a new race
genetics", which was nowhere near as sinister as it sounded. Genome
mapping enabled scientists to identify racial background according to
four main human groups - and, against this kind of science, "terms
like 'black' and 'white' don't describe anything that's real any
more".
This would have come as cold comfort to a Cape Town housewife who went
to bed as a white woman and woke up the next morning black. Shunned by
her family, she died in poverty, which suggests that Leroi's DNA
utopia is a way off just yet.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba18.html
Sai Baba: God-man or con man?
Basava Premanand is India's leading guru-buster
BBC News/June 17, 2004
By Tanya Datta
He believes that the country's biggest spiritual leader, Sri Satya Sai
Baba, is a charlatan and must be exposed.
Basava Premanand has been burgled... again.
It is the third time in just one month. But he is in no doubt of the
thieves' motives.
He suspects they were looking for evidence that he has collected for
over 30 years against India's leading spiritual guru, Sri Satya Sai
Baba.
Mr Premanand believes this evidence proves the self-proclaimed "God-
man", Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser.
"Sai Baba is nothing but a mafia man, conning the people and making
himself rich", he says of his bete noire.
As India's leading guru-buster, Basava Premanand is the scourge of all
miracle-makers.
He is the founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
and the editor of a monthly periodical called The Indian Sceptic.
He believes that it is his duty to dispel the "curse of gullibility
blighting his country in the form of myth and superstition", and
replace it instead with the "gospel of pure, scientific
understanding".
Since 1976, he has waged a bitter war against Sai Baba, a man who
commands a following of millions both in India and abroad. His
devotees believe him to be an Avatar, or incarnation of God in human
form.
But to Mr Premanand, this God is anything but holy.
Allegations
Rumours about Sai Baba sexually abusing young male devotees have been
circulating for years.
In 1976 a former American follower,Tal Brooke, wrote a book called
Avatar of the Night: The Hidden Side of Sai Baba. In it, he referred
to the guru's sexual exploits.
But Brooke's allegations were dismissed out of hand by the tightly
controlled Sai Baba Organisation.
Dr Michael Goldstein, chairman of the international Sai Baba
organisation, admitted he had heard rumours, but told us that he did
not believe them. He said: "My heart and my conscience tell me that it
is not possible."
But in the last four years, and with the growth of the internet, the
tide of claims against Sai Baba has become a groundswell.
Former devotees such as Alaya Rahm and Mark Roche, featured in the the
BBC film Secret Swami, are coming forward with increasingly graphic
stories of the guru's serious sexual exploitation.
Their own experiences bear an uncanny resemblance, yet span a time
frame of almost 30 years.
Both had been subjected to Sai Baba rubbing oil on their genitals.
"He took me aside", said Alaya Rahm, "put the oil on his hands, told
me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitals with the oil. I was really
taken aback."
All the allegations against Sai Baba so far have been made by
Westerners.
But Mr Premanand says that there are many Indians who also claim to
have been abused but are too afraid to speak out.
Well-connected
It is no surprise that Indian victims are scared of reprisals. Sai
Baba's influence among the power elite of India is impressive.
Prime ministers, presidents, judges and generals, have all come to the
ashram (religious retreat) in Puttaparthi in southern India, to pay
their respects.
The previous prime minister of India, Mr Atal Vajpayee, once issued a
letter on his official notepaper calling the attacks on Sai Baba
"wild, reckless and concocted."
Sai Baba also enjoys a close relationship with the state police. A
former head of police once acted as his personal chauffeur.
None of this, however, deters Mr Premanand who has doggedly pursued
Sai Baba over the years through the courts, the media and several
embarrassing books and exposures.
Little wonder that his campaign has enraged some of the holy man's
supporters.
To date, Basava Premanand has survived four murder attempts and bears
the scars from several savage beatings.
In 1986, he was arrested by the police for marching to Puttaparthi
with 500 volunteers for a well-publicised confrontation with Sai
Baba.
Later that year, he took Sai Baba to court for violating the Gold
Control Act by producing gold necklaces out of thin air without the
permission of a Gold Control Administrator.
When his case was dismissed, Mr Premanand appealed on the grounds that
spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.
Break-in
In June 1993, the peace of the ashram was shattered when a gruesome
incident took place.
Four male devotees, who were close to Sai Baba, broke into their
guru's private quarters late at night armed with knives.
Their motives are unclear. Some say they were going to warn their guru
about corruption among the higher echelons of the ashram. Others say
they were going to kidnap or even kill Sai Baba.
They were stopped by Sai Baba's personal attendants and in the violent
struggle that ensued, two of the attendants were killed and two left
seriously wounded.
Sai Baba managed to escape through a secret flight of stairs and raise
the alarm.
Just before the police arrived, the four men escaped to Sai Baba's
bedroom. It was there, the police say, they shot the intruders out of
self defence.
Mr Premanand claimed a cover up and went to court.
He says: "The central government stopped the investigation, because if
the investigation takes place, a lot of things will come out like
economic offences and sex offences."
He was outraged that Sai Baba - one of the key witnesses to the events
of that night - had not been questioned.
Over the next three years, he took his case all the way to the Supreme
Court, before he was eventually defeated.
Today, this sprightly septuagenarian is as busy as ever, collecting
and collating more information. Mr Premanand is preparing for another
battle.
"This," he says mischievously, "is going to be the greatest fight of
my life."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba15.html
BBC2 uncovers secrets behind India's Secret Swami
Aim/June 14, 2004
The most popular of all Indian Godmen, Sai Baba has always been the
Teflon God, the untouchable, charismatic man worshipped by Indian
Prime Ministers, Presidents and peasants. His power over both the
influential and the downtrodden goes to the heart of Indian society
and raises serious questions about the social health of the world's
fastest emerging economy.
Sai Baba claims to be a living God and to millions, his word is truth;
his ability to bring clean water and healthcare to thousands, proof of
divinity.
In a programme that explores the nature of belief, This World travels
from India to California, where the generation whose devotion and
donations helped Sai Baba to power are unravelling at the seams. Hard
Rock Caf9 owner Isaac Tigrett sent Sai Baba's message around the world
by making the Godman's Love All Serve All mantra the corporate slogan
of his multi-million empire. He now has to confront the fact that his
God may have been a sexual abuser.
This World features the story of a family who gave their entire lives
to a man they believed was God, only to discover he was exacting a
terrible price: the sexual innocence of their son. In an intimate and
powerful portrait a family talks openly about their betrayal and the
man who controlled their lives.
"The being which I called Sai Baba, the living God that I had taken
into my heart had been truly abusing my son, for so long. I felt
completely betrayed..." says Marissa, a former devotee. Another, Alaya
says: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life
will be filled with pain and suffering."
This programme is the first to film inside Sai Baba's Ashram for a
number of years and aims to come closer to the true "face of God" than
ever before.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba16.html
Man Arrested With Gun at Sai Baba's Ashram
The Hindustan Times/January 18, 2002
Bangalore, India -- A 26-year-old man who allegedly tried to shoot Sai
Baba on Thursday with an air pistol at his ashram in Whitefield on the
outskirts of Bangalore, was overpowered by ashram volunteers. The air
pistol and some pellets were recovered from the man, Somasundaram, the
police said. Somasundaram was overpowered when he started running
towards Sai Baba who was emerging from a building to give darshan,
eyewitnesses said.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba13.html
British law against Sai Baba sought
Times of India/September 5, 2001
By Rashmee Z. Ahmed
London -- Campaigners against religious cults across western Europe
are trying to persuade the British government to follow the French and
legislate against movements such as Sai Baba and the Moonies.
Tom Sackville, a former British minister and current chairman of the
anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR),
told The Times of India, "the French legislation of two months ago has
enormously encouraged my 15-year battle against exploitative cults
such as that of Sai Baba."
The anti-cult campaign comes even as The Times, London, carried
extensive reportage of Sai Baba on Monday, questioning his role in the
"mysterious deaths of three British men", which campaigners admit are
hard to prove were directly caused by the guru.
The newspaper, which flagged its investigation as "exclusive", said
"Sai Baba's activities are being studied by the (British) Foreign
Office, which is considering issuing an unprecedented warning against
the guru to travellers."
It said one of the men had "complained of being repeatedly sexually
molested by Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore."
There is growing British press interest in the man they describe as
"Indian mystic and miracle worker" to the rich, famous and titled such
as the Duchess of York and an architect known to be close to Prince
Charles.
Commentators say this is largely because Sai Baba has a substantial
European fan following, alongside a growing number of hostile and
vocal former devotees who accuse him of physical, mental and monetary
abuse.
The Internet war launched by former devotees across western Europe,
including David Bailey, a Welsh concert pianist once considered to be
Sai Baba's right-hand man, has focussed unsavoury publicity on Sai
Baba.
However, Sai Baba's London headquarters continues to reject all the
allegations.
Several parliamentary questions in the last five years have drawn the
British government's attention to Sai Baba's alleged misconduct. But,
British MPs and anti-cult campaigners say the government has always
maintained that the number of British cases are too few to merit
action.
But now, a new area of concern has arisen according to The Times,
which says Sai Baba has infiltrated the British school system in a
dangerous catch 'em young policy.
The newspaper says more than 500 British schools are being taught
according to "Sai Baba-influenced educational programmes". It says the
programmes are promoted by two charities, the Sathya Sai Education in
Human Values Trust UK and the Human Values Foundation.
Former minister Sackville says the development is worrying because "it
is just like we wouldn't want or allow far-right groups such as the
British National Party (BNP) to be talking to our children in school."
Admitting the BNP was an extreme example, he said "the principle we
are keen to impress on the British government is that just like the
French, we have to make it a criminal offence to exploit people in
vulnerable situations."
Anti-cult campaigners say that their cause has been strengthened
because UNESCO pulled out of an educational conference at Puttaparthi
last year.
They say that if the French legislation is followed by other European
countries, it could eventually become European Union law and would
severely limit the activities of movements such as that of Sai Baba.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba12.html
Suicide, sex and the guru
The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has
been tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse
August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
In a world of pain and sorrow, a smiling little man in a saffron robe
who can cure misery by magic is a bewitching prospect.
To millions of followers around the world, Sai Baba is a benevolent
spiritual leader whose hospitals and schools work tirelessly for the
advancement of the poor. But an investigation by The Times today
discloses that three British men have apparently taken their own lives
after becoming followers of the miracle worker. Two of them were
encouraged to believe that he could cure their medical problems. One
of those also said that he had been touched intimately by the Sai
Baba.
This is the same Sai Baba who is adored and indulged by the
international jet set. The Duchess of York had the treat of watching
him produce a gold watch and cross from thin air when she visited his
ashram in India.
The Prince of Wales's architectural adviser, Keith Critchlow, designed
a vast, stunning hospital for Sai Baba, which has been compared to St
Peter's in Rome and a maharaja's palace. "The most influential holy
man in India today," is how the respected architect describes the
guru.
The hospital, mostly financed by Isaac Tigrett, the wealthy American
founder of the Hard Rock Caf9 chain of restaurants, treats the humble
people of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. So it was with
righteous indignation that Sai Baba, in a rare fit of public anger,
has turned on the band of disillusioned disciples who are now
tarnishing his name.
Jesus Christ, said Sai Baba to a large crowd of devotees, underwent
many hardships and was put on the cross because of jealousy. In those
days there was only one Judas to betray him, but now there are
thousands.
The holy man alleged that his detractors were being bribed to lie
about him because of fear of his growing popularity. "People are
trying to stop me but can do nothing," he said. "People love and
follow Sai because of the truth I stand for and the love that is my
basis."
Detractors are casting doubt on Sai Baba's miracles, suggesting that
he is little more than a conjuror with a limited repertoire of jaded
tricks. A financial row over the 313 million fortune of the British
film actor James Mason, whose widow became a Sai Baba devotee, is
smouldering. Most devastating is the suggestion that Sai Baba might
have been abusing his power over young male followers by indulging in
sexual activity with them.
Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the tiny
village of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.When he was only 14, Sai Baba
- already magically producing candles and pencils for school friends -
surprised his family by announcing that he was the reincarnation of
Sai Baba of Shirdi, a miraculous old Indian sage who died in 1918.
Today Sai Baba's birthplace is home to an ashram that can accommodate
10,000 pilgrims. The obscure village has grown to cater for Sai Baba's
followers, of which there are more than 20 million worldwide. They
include some of India's most influential people. The legendary batsman
Sachin Tendulkar, who helps to organise cricket matches at Sai Baba's
stadium, says that he "worships" the guru.
The director-general of police in Andhra Pradesh, H. J. Dora, acts as
Sai Baba's chauffeur when the spiritual leader visits the state
capital, Hyderabad. Judges and top civil servants flock for audiences
with him. The Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, another follower,
has opened a new Sai Baba hospital in Bangalore. In a lofty tribute,
the premier said that Sai Baba has shown humanity the path of
liberation which goes beyond freedom from worldly attachments.
However, the first cracks in faith in Sai Baba's magical powers came
about because of a visit by a previous prime minister, Narasimha Rao,
also a devotee.For this special occasion, Sai Baba appeared to
materialise a gold watch from nowhere. But when Indian state
television workers played back film of the incident in slow motion,
they saw that the miracle was a sleight-of-hand hoax. The clip was
never broadcast in India but has been widely circulated on videotape
there. Sai Baba's most common miracle is to produce "sacred ash" from
between his fingers.
Sometimes he pulls shiny, solid religious artefacts from his mouth.
But magicians who have analysed these wonders say they are nothing
more than old and simple tricks. Sai Baba is being challenged on
another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the
fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of
targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker
might be able to cure the afflictions of old age.
One of Sai Baba's most devout followers was Clarissa Mason, the second
wife of the film star James Mason. When Clarissa died of cancer in
1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's 313 million estate
to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children,
Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will
in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to
see any of the Mason millions.
Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her
house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has
gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children
to include a follower of Sai Baba.
But more potentially damaging than claims about money are the sexual
allegations against Sai Baba. These were first publicised as long ago
as 1976, when Tal Brooke, a disenchanted American devotee, wrote
Avatar of Night. Over the years, the description by disillusioned
followers of intimate acts involving Sai Baba has persisted.
The suggestion is that Sai Baba grants one-to-one audiences to young
men, who believe they are in the presence of a living god. This may
entail a high level of intimacy and the men allowing their private
parts to be touched or fondled by the guru.
There have been no prosecutions. A complaint was lodged with India's
Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been
no result. In the United States, though, anti-Sai Baba campaigners are
trying to persuade the authorities to open investigations into the
alleged molestation of American citizens who are minors. The co-
ordinator of this American campaign says that he has been interviewed
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no formal inquiry is under
way.
So has Sai Baba, the most worshipped sage of the Orient, really been
groping youthful followers. One innocent explanation is provided by
Stuart Jones, a member of Sai Baba's Bristol and Bath group. He points
out that there is a possible cultural misunderstanding at play. In
yoga, Jones explains, one of the energy points on the body is below
the testicles, an area sometimes stimulated by a teacher such as Sai
Baba.
"When I was out there, it happened to a couple of friends of mine, but
it was more like, how can I say, doctor's surgery. There was no
sexuality involved. One chap said that a tremendous amount of energy
was suddenly released in him and he felt wonderful afterwards. I don't
mean ejaculation. It was like suddenly feeling wonderful. Sometimes he
rubs the chest or the forehead where these other points are."
Talk of "energy points" does not endear Sai Baba to the Indian
Rationalists Association, an organisation of atheists and doubters
which seeks to debunk organised religion and disprove all miracles.
They denounce him as the biggest fraud of the "god industry". Joseph
Edamaruku, the association's president, says: "He has consistently
refused to subject himself to an independent examination. He raises
enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not
believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."
One charitable field where Sai Baba's followers do seem to be most
active is education. Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection
of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has
made in a six decade-long career as a living god are "Help ever, hurt
never" and "Love all, serve all". Few are likely to argue with such a
simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by
allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while
paying homage to him.
Sai Baba's children's course, Education in Human Values, is taught in
schools in 100 countries. It promotes five qualities: truth (satya),
righteousness (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema) and nonviolence
(ahimsa). Education in Human Values rejects rote learning, emphasising
Indian techniques such as "silent sitting", quotation, story-telling,
song and group activities.
Sai Baba's message reaches British schoolchildren through two
charities. The first is named in his honour, the Sathya Sai Education
in Human Values Trust UK, which claims to have had contact with 80
schools. Typical of its activities is a summer camp held at
Christchurch Primary School in Ilford, East London, several weeks ago
where 100 children painted, played games and sang. Courses have been
cleverly designed to fit into Key Stages 1 to 4 of the National
Curriculum, targeting children aged seven to 16.
The charity states that it does not promote any particular religion.
Carole Alderman, the founder, a former ChildLine volunteer, has no
teaching qualifications. She admits to using some of Sai Baba's
quotations but says: "We don't teach about Sai Baba at all."
She adds: "I have witnessed a lot of his miracles. I have seen people
going in with crutches or wheelchairs and come out walking. I have
seen him materialise things many times a day. He just knows
everything." Asked about the sexual allegations, she says: "It's
totally unfounded. Anybody who actually knows him, knows it is."
Another British charity, the Human Values Foundation, says it has
reached more than 500 schools. Its chairman, Dennis Eagan, said "The
foundation has nothing to do with Sai Baba."
But the Human Values Foundation's programme is also called "Education
for Human Values". It promotes Sai Baba's same five virtues, using
"silent sitting", activities, songs, quotations and stories. Its
president, June Auton, has been a regular visitor to Sai Baba's
ashram. She has been described by Barry Pittard, a former English
lecturer at Sai Baba's college in India, as "synonymous with Swami's
Human Values Programme."
Auton told The Times: "I'm not going to discuss anything about my
religion at all on the phone. My religion is my business." Pressed,
she would only say: "I do attend my local church." It is the recent
suicides, however, that may hurt Sai Baba the most in Britain.
Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his reputation. A
German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early
1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999
after failing to get an audience with the guru.
In a puzzling incident in June 1993, Sai Baba was attacked by four
young male devotees armed with knives. Two of the guru's bodyguards
were stabbed to death. After the four youths, long-time followers of
Sai Baba, locked themselves in a room, they were all shot dead by
police. Challenging faith in a man of miracles can be painful. At Sai
Baba's Central London base in Clerkenwell, there is reluctance to
confront the allegations of sexual harassment, suicides and financial
maneuvering.
Dee Puri, at the London headquarters, denounces the suggestion that
Sai Baba takes money from the rich, pointing out that at his 28-year-
old London premises: "Entrance is free. There is no money going to
Baba at all.
As for the suggestions of sexual harassment, she told The Times: "I
don't want to talk about it because there is no such thing. I think
such conversations disturb me and my beliefs. The organisation is most
unhappy that you have tried to hurt us. Nobody will speak to you
unless you want to write something which is truth, which is not
controversial.
"As far as I am concerned, Baba is a great, great guru. Thirty years I
have been a devotee of Baba and millions and millions of people are,
so I would very respectfully ask you please not to put that sort of
question to me."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba11.html
Three die after putting faith in guru
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
Three British men have died mysteriously after becoming followers of
an Indian mystic famed as a 'god man' and miracle worker. Sai Baba's
activities are being studied by the Foreign Office which is
considering issuing an unprecedented warning against the guru to
travellers.
The Times has learnt that three Britons have apparently taken their
lives after placing hope in India's most popular holy man.
One of them had complained of being repeatedly sexually molested by
Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore.
Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student, was found dead at a London
hostel after taking alcohol and painkillers. He had already tried to
commit suicide at the holy man's headquarters.
Aran Edwards hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai
Baba support group and being encouraged to write to the guru to solve
his psychological problems.
Mr Edwards sent a flurry of anxious letters but was devastated after
receiving no replies and being told that the guru did not read his
mail.
Andrew Richardson, a South Africa-born British national, jumped off a
building in India shortly after visiting Sai Baba's ashram.
Among visitors who have paid respects to Sai Baba are the Duchess of
York, the Prince of Wales's architect Keith Critchlow, the cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Sai Baba's message is being preached in more than 500 British schools
through charities which claim to provide non-denominational education
in 'human values.'
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Minister, last night urged the
Government to take decisive action to warn teachers and pilgrims of
the dangers of becoming involved with Sai Baba. The guru's reputation
is plummeting after the United Nations cancelled a conference at his
headquarters, issuing a condemnation of his alleged sex abuse of
youths and boys.
Unicef pulled out of a conference it was due to sponsor with the
guru's educational organisation in Puttaparthi last September.
The UN's cultural agency issued a trenchant statement: 'The
organisation is deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of
sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at
the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba.
'Whilst it is not for Unesco to pronounce itself in this regard, the
organisation restates its firm moral and practical commitment to
combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires states to
protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.'
In hundreds of British schools, Sai Baba-influenced educational
programmes on 'human values' are currently being promoted as part of
the National Curriculum.
The Charity Commission met the trustees of one of the educational
charities involved, the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust UK,
last year and 'found no concerns,' a spokesman said.
Mr Sackville, chairman of the anti-cult organisation Fair (Family
Action Information and Resource), said that he had successfully
intervened to persuade a girls' school to reject a Sai Baba-inspired
course.
'Schools are not on their guard because at official level they are not
given any steer,' Mr Sackville said. 'Some other countries would have
had official warnings.'
He said that Whitehall was strongly opposed to letting the British
Government apply sanctions to cults, which civil servants describe
respectfully as 'new religious movements.'
As for the Charity Commission's clean bill of health to the Sai Baba
educational organisation, Mr Sackville said: 'There's a lot of very
naive people around in these government institutions.'
He called on the Foreign Office to issue a warning against Sai Baba
along the lines of recommendations to travellers to beware the dangers
of Aids and violence abroad. The Foreign Office is believed to be
considering putting out just such advice.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba10.html
'I sought peace and couldn't find it'
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Michael Dynes and Dominic Kennedy
Durban -- Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able
to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world,
Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi,
southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr
Pender, known as "Mitch," was found dead after taking tablets in the
lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London.
He was 23.
Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since
destroyed her books and videos on the holy man. She said: "I blame
myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would
probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd
find a cure.
"He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs
more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there.
There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has
given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks
about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by
describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's
evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very
first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.
"At first he couldn't believe any of this was happening. It felt
unreal and frightening. But then after the first interview he thought
SB must have been showing him something about himself . . . that there
must have been some spiritual or 'divine' explanation behind the
swami's actions.
"But after the fourth interview, he became very despondent and
confused about the whole thing; each interview was a repetition of the
first . . . Baba 'materialised' an emerald ring on the fifth interview
and gave him money on the sixth.
"After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed."
On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of
his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood,
but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal
doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras.
Aran Edwards, a classical guitarist and postgraduate theology student
at the University of Wales in Newport, joined Sai Baba's Bath and
Bristol support group. David Bailey, a concert pianist from Conwy,
North Wales, who had become one of the guru's closest British aides,
met Aran with the group.
"He was sort of persuaded that Sai Baba looked after him, did
everything for him and that he should write to Sai Baba with his
problems," Mr Bailey said.
"He was quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox
help. In the end, he wrote a couple of dozen or more letters to Sai
Baba. The group had told him this was what to do.
"He used to ring me from phone boxes pleading with me. There were 35
phone calls, I suppose . . . he was absolutely desperate that I should
talk to Sai Baba for him because he was in such a state and had
written all these letters which he had sent out and hadn't had a
reply. Could I please help because I was Sai Baba's right-hand man?
"At the end I said, 'Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters'. He
was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide."
Aran Edwards, a single man, was found hanged from a staircase at his
home in Cardiff, on April 19, 1999. He was 37. A suicide verdict was
recorded by the coroner.
Stuart Jones, of the Bath and Bristol group, said: "He was a very
fragile kind of person, very sensitive, very gentle in nature. If you
are thinking there is a link, I know for a fact there wasn't a link in
the sense of all the allegations going about Sai Baba. He was in
distress long before."
Aran never visited Sai Baba in India. But Andrew Richardson, a British
national born in South Africa, did. He made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's
ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two
days.
On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired
a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings,
the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and
travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to
the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the
ground, killing himself. He was 33.
Two letters were found on his body. One to Sai Baba outlined his quest
for spiritual enlightenment. The second was a suicide note saying he
was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but
could not find it." His mother, Deirdre, at her home near
Pietermaritzburg, said: "Andrew wanted to see Sai Baba, but was also
heading to Calcutta to see Mother Teresa . . . All he wanted to do was
work with the poor."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba9.html
Sex Scandal swirls around Sai Baba
Cult News Summary/December 2004
Sai Baba, a controversial Indian "holy man" presides over a spiritual
kingdom that includes one of the world's largest ashrams. He claims to
have millions of followers.
But the guru, who is approaching 80, has a history of sexual abuse
allegations that in recent years has made media headlines around the
world.
Former followers of the aging swami reportedly call him "a sexual
harasser, a fraud and even a pedophile."
One man says Sai Baba ordered him to drop his pants and allow the guru
to massage his penis. He later said, "Sai Baba was my God -- who dares
to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he
had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in
totality."
Despite such revelations and the growing scandal that surrounds Sai
Baba he continues to be worshipped at his ashram. Twice a day he
parades about and makes appearances to the faithful, entertaining them
with what seems like little more than magic tricks.
Sai Baba's so-called "materializations" include making watches and
jewelry appear out of "thin air."
At functions his followers rock back and forth with "shining eyes"
seemingly in trance-like or hypnotic states. Perhaps in this condition
they are prepared to believe almost anything.
The guru holds court within lavishly appointed rooms decorated with
gold leaf and hanging chandeliers.
"Sometimes I think the ashram is a madhouse and Swami is the
director," said one recently devoted disciple. Does Sai Baba prey upon
the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable? "When you don't have
problems, you don't go to the ashram," says a disciple.
But there may be casualties amongst the true believers.
A Malaysian woman reportedly had a psychotic breakdown, attacked
ashram workers and was taken into police custody. She sat in a holding
area almost catatonic, mumbling "darshan, darshan, darshan"
repeatedly.
Sai Baba has accumulated substantial influence and prestige within
India. That influence includes some prominent leaders such as former
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Times of India reported in 1993
that the guru's followers include "governors, chief ministers,
assorted politicians, business tycoons, newspaper magnates, jurists,
sportsmen, academics and, yes, even scientists."
His popularity is easy to understand. Sai Baba has built a hospital
that offers free services, partly financed by a $20 million donation
from Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Caf9. Its pink fa7ade
makes it look more like a palace than a hospital. And in the entrance
area there are images of Sai Baba.
Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of
chicanery and worse."
Nevertheless Illustrated Weekly of India stated, "God or a fraud, no
one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization."
But does the guru use his accumulated good will and "God-man" status
to get into people's pants?
The sex abuse claims are strikingly similar and seem to fit the same
pattern.
"During my 'private audiences' with Sai Baba, Sai Baba used to touch
my private parts and regularly massage my private parts, indicating
that this was for spiritual purposes," wrote one former devotee. "He
grabbed my head and pushed it into his groin area. He made moaning
sounds. As soon as he took the pressure off my head and I lifted my
head, Sai Baba lifted his dress and presented me a semi-erect member,
telling me that this was my good luck chance, and jousted his hips
towards my face," the man said.
When the devotee later talked about his sexual encounter he was thrown
out of the ashram.
"Each time I saw Baba, his hand would gradually make more prominent
connections to my groin," said another former follower.
All of the allegations reportedly involved mostly teenage boys and
young men in their 20s.
This story is hardly new. In 1970 a book by Tal Brooke titled "Lord of
the Air" later renamed "Avatar of Night," told the story of a devoted
disciple's disillusionment upon learning of Sai Baba's sexual
appetite.
More recently a document called "Findings" accumulated accounts of
alleged sexual exploitation and abuse from the guru's former
followers.
An excerpt from the document reads, "Whilst still at the ashram, the
worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young
man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please
Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us&These sons of
devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling
participants in a pedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share
this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed
their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a
visiting professor of music to the Sai college."
Since the release of "Findings" the Sai Baba sex scandal has grown and
gained momentum.
A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a devotee
wanted to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Sai Organization
in America. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do
anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with
someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe. This
isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this,"
Meloy said.
One former Indian ashram volunteer petitioned India's Supreme Court to
investigate Sai Baba. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been
abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old
kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In
most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not
going to believe them. American citizens have been knowing about this
abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to
him," he said.
UNESCO yanked its co-sponsorship of an education conference in India
linked to Sai Baba and stated it was "deeply concerned about widely
reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children
that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question,
Sathya Sai Baba."
After Conny Larsson, a Swedish actor went public about his coerced
sexual relations with the guru; the Sai Organization in Sweden was
shut down.
India Today ran a cover story about the scandal, as has England's
Daily Telegraph.
Labor MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament.
Former British government minister, Tom Sackville said, "The
authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable."
But it seems that the guru's ardent followers can rationalize almost
anything.
One such disciple concluded in an essay published on the Internet,
"First of all, I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full
incarnation of God ... any sexual contact Baba has had with devotees
-- of whatever kind -- has actually been only a potent blessing, given
to awaken the spiritual power within those souls. Who can call that
'wrong'? Surely to call such contact 'molestation' is perversity
itself."
A "potent blessing"?
"When he does it, he has a purpose," concludes another still devoted
follower.
Other devotees have rejected reports about their guru's sexual abuse
completely regardless of how many of his alleged victims come forward
to tell their stories.
One said, "I think this is a projection of his devotees' problems. You
hear a lot of rumors&but for me it's not important. When you're happy,
why doubt it?"
Note: This news summary is based upon an article titled
"Untouchable" (note: dead link) by Michelle Goldberg, which appeared
in Salon Magazine, July 25, 2001
Holy man? Sex abuser? Both?
Vancouver Sun/February 27, 2001
By Douglas Todd
His followers say Sai Baba is a God on Earth, and they generously
support his multi-billion-dollar religious empire. But some former
adherents are coming forward with dark tales of the guru sexually
molesting young men.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba -- "The Protector," "The Infinite," "the Creator"
-- has only once left India, where he reigns as arguably the country's
most famous living swami. But Sai Baba is here tonight at this temple
in east Vancouver. Sai Baba is sitting in the ochre robe on the wooden
throne at the front altar, smelling the eye-stinging incense,
listening to the
11.03.2010 - 08:57
Cult News from Rick Ross
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
07.01.04
Guru exposed in sex scandal snags space in the New York Times by
lifting Jeff GoldblumPosted in Sri Chinmoy, Brainwashing, Amma at 7:19
am by Rick Ross
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, called 3Sri Chinmoy4 by his devoted followers,
has made something of a career through publicity stunts. His favorite
appears to be phony power lifting that he uses to attract attention
and feed his seemingly insatiable ego.
The latest newspaper to be sucked in by the guru2s antics is the New
York Times.
In a long piece today titled 3They2re Not Heavy; They2re His People,=
4
NY Times reporter Cory Kilgannon gave the guru enough space to make
him blush, perhaps for the sake of humor.
However, though the NY Times correctly reported that the guru2s group
has been called a 3brainwashing cult,4 it gave much more attention to
his self-serving public relations ploy than the people he hurt.
Readers were regaled with a long list of celebrities that Chinmoy has
lifted in the past, which reportedly includes Nelson Mandela, Desmond
Tutu, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon,
Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Sting, Richard Gere, Sid Caeser, 20 assorted
Nobel laureates, sumo wrestlers and a headhunter from Borneo.
Actor Jeff Goldblum was the latest celeb slated for the 70-something
guru to hold up for a photo op.
It all sounds like fodder for a good laugh. That is, unless you know
the details of sexual abuse allegations that have spun around 3Sleazy
Sri4 as reported by the New York Post.
Nothing was mentioned in the NY Times article about this.
According to former Chinmoy devotees the guru is not only posing as a
celibate, he2s also is a bit kinky.
Chinmoy apparently likes to watch but not always weightlifting
events.
He also reportedly has paid for at least one of his female follower/
sex partners to have an abortion.
This is hardly the stuff of humor.
Sorry, comments are closed
Disclaimer
This news page is about groups, organizations or movements, which may
have been called "cults" and/or "cult-like" in some way, shape or
form. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are
harmful. Instead, they may be benign and generally defined as simply
people intensely devoted to a person, place or thing. Therefore, the
discussion or mention of a group, organization or person on this page,
is not necessarily meant pejoratively.
http://www.cultnews.com/?pD1587
Rick Ross
Rick Ross was born November of 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio. His family
moved to Phoenix during 1956 and he grew up in Arizona.
Ross attended both elementary and high school in Arizona, except for a
brief one-year stint at Camden Military Academy, a boarding school in
South Carolina. He never attended college.
During his summers he often worked as a camp counselor and was an avid
swimmer.
After graduating from Phoenix Union High School in 1971 Ross was first
employed by a finance company and later a local bank. In 1975 he took
a job with a cousin's auto salvage business. He became a company vice
president and worked in that area until 1982. During this time his
other interests were largely good cigars, art, jazz and classic cars.
But in 1982 a controversial religious group infiltrated the staff of a
Jewish nursing home where Ross' grandmother was a resident. He brought
this to the attention of the director and working with the organized
Jewish community in Phoenix, ended the problem.
Ross' effort at the nursing home soon led to further work with the
Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and the publication of a ground
breaking brochure, which carried the ecumenical endorsements of most
of Arizona's religious leaders. It was titled, What in God's Name is
Going on in Arizona?
The brochure achieved wide recognition and Ross was soon appointed to
a national committee focused upon the cult phenomenon, by the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). The UAHC, commonly called the
"Reform Movement," is one of the largest denominations of Judaism in
the world today.
Ross was later appointed to the UAHC Interreligious Affairs committee.
And during the 80s he lectured and contributed to educational
materials for the denomination.
In the early 80s Ross also became aware of serious problems regarding
proselytizing within the prisons and jails of Arizona. He again
brought this to the attention of the organized Jewish community.
Hate groups, harassed, threatened and frequently targeted Jewish
inmates. Jews in prison also lacked any meaningful advocacy or
consistent programs.
Ross founded the Jewish Prisoner Program of Arizona, which was soon
absorbed by Jewish Family & Children's Service (JFCS) of Phoenix.
In 1983 Ross became a member of the JFCS professional staff. What was
once volunteer work for the Jewish community, now became his full-time
job.
Ross' work on behalf of Jewish prisoners culminated in his election as
chairman, of both the Religious Advisory Committee to the Arizona
Department of Corrections and the International Coalition of Jewish
Prisoner Programs sponsored by B'nai B'rith in Washington D.C.
During his time at JFCS Ross continued his cult-related work, studies
and research.
He also became an instructor for the Phoenix Bureau of Jewish
Education and designed a course curriculum about destructive cults.
In 1986 Ross left the staff of JFCS to become a full-time private
consultant, lecturer and cult intervention specialist.
He then began working privately with the victims of destructive groups
and/or leaders.
His professional help is typically requested by parents, but often is
sought by spouses and at times by the adult children of cult members.
He has done hundreds of interventions.
Ross once cooperated with parents in involuntary "deprogramming"
cases.
Such involuntary interventions were initiated by families and involved
the restraint of a loved one. In this type of intervention the cult
member was not free to leave and instead restrained under the
supervision of their family. This restraint guaranteed an opportunity
and adequate time to address family concerns.
However Ross, like other professionals working in this area, abandoned
involuntary casework some years ago. He now restricts his intervention
work exclusively to voluntary efforts, unless working with a minor
child under the direct supervision of a custodial parent.
In voluntary interventions adult cult members are free to go at any
time.
Cult members willingly agree to participate in Ross' current
intervention work, despite the option to leave, usually because family
members urge them to stay.
Ross states that amongst his current voluntary cases 75 percent not
only decide to stay and discuss their family's concerns, but
ultimately leave the group, which has drawn concern.
He has maintained this success rate consistently for some years. This
is important, in a field where such definitive results are most often
the bottom line.
Ross has worked throughout the United States and internationally.
He also continues to lecture and has been asked to speak at many
universities and colleges. This has included such prestigious
institutions as the University of Chicago, Dickinson College, Carnegie
Mellon, Baylor, The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
Duquesne, Knox College, Rutgers and the McCallie School.
Ross has been qualified, accepted and testified as an expert witness
regarding destructive cults and controversial groups in nine states,
typically concerning child custody and personal injury cases.
His work with law-enforcement has included consultation with local
police departments across the United States, the Federal Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the FBI.
Families once retained Ross to do two interventions with Davidians and
both ended successfully. His study of the once little known group led
by David Koresh, began in 1988 as a direct result of repeated
complaints.
Ross' work has been cited and/or his comments quoted in newspapers
across the United States including the New York Times, Chicago
Tribune, Washington Post, USA Today, Dallas Daily News, Boston Herald,
LA Times, Village Voice, Seattle Times, Phoenix Republic, Anchorage
Daily News, Tampa Tribune, The Las Vegas Sun, Austin American
Statesman, Richmond Times Dispatch and the Oregonian.
Ross has likewise been quoted within national magazines such as
Newsweek, GQ, Details, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, American Lawyer
and Slate.
Wire services such as Associated Press and Reuters have also carried
his comments.
Time Magazine cited Ross as "a veteran cult watcher."
He has also been quoted within international publications including
The London Times, The South China Post, Davar of Israel, Processo of
Mexico, The Toronto Sun, Johannesburg Sunday Times and The Australian
Courier.
Ross has appeared on more than 100 radio shows across the U.S.
including National Public Radio, CBS and Pacifica and internationally
on the BBC, RAI in Rome, CKO National Network of Canada and the
Australian Broadcast Corporation.
He has appeared on American national network television on programs
such as Nightline, Dateline, The Today Show, Good Morning America,
Primetime, NBC Evening News, CNN, MSNBC, Oprah, 48 Hours and MTV News.
Ross has appeared internationally on such television networks as NHK,
Asahi and Nippon in Japan, CBC of Canada and TV 2 National News of
Denmark.
He has also participated in documentaries for Post Newsweek, NHK and
Court TV.
Ross has been retained as a paid professional consultant by CBS, CBC
and Nippon television networks.
He also worked for Miramax/Disney as a technical advisor to the actor
Harvey Keitel regarding his role in the Jane Campion film Holy Smoke.
Launched in 1995, his website, RickRoss.com, is now one of the largest
and most comprehensive sites about controversial groups and leaders on
the Internet. It contains thousands of articles and documents archived
through hundreds of individual group and subject web pages.
Noted cult researchers and authors Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman call
RickRoss.com, "The Mt. Everest of mind control Internet Resources."
Thousands of individuals visit this website every day.
Rick Ross personally handles hundreds of complaints and inquiries each
month. This work has often led to breaking stories both about "cult"
abuses and celebrity, political and business involvement with groups
often called "cults."
After 2000 Ross launched two more related websites. CultEducation.com,
which features educational materials about cults and CultNews.com for
breaking stories.
In 2001 Ross moved from Arizona to New Jersey. He now lives in
downtown Jersey City on the Hudson River, opposite Manhattan.
At the beginning of 2003 Ross launched the Rick A. Ross Institute Inc.
(RI). RI is a New Jersey nonprofit corporation recognized as a tax-
exempt educational charity by the US Internal Revenue Service. The
mission of RI is the study of destructive cults, controversial groups
and movements. RI maintains public archives made available through the
Internet and is an institutional member of the New Jersey Library
Association.
In January 2009 Rick Ross was an official guest of the Chinese
government invited to attend an International Forum on Cultic Studies
sponsored by the the Centre for the Study of Destructive Cults in
China. Ross presented a paper, which was published by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
Other than his work, which requires frequent travel, Ross is a life-
long art collector and still enjoys a good cigar while listening to
some quiet jazz.
Ross is pictured on this page in front of an oil painting by noted
artist Steven Yazzie titled, No Spring Chicken.
Britain's FHM Magazine named Rick Ross "America's number one cult
buster."
The Rick A. Ross Institute
email: info@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com
http://www.rickross.com/biography.html
By Rick Ross
Topics
Defining a Cult
Destructive Cult
Destructive Cult Dynamics
Destructive Cult Mindset
Destructive Cult Control
Destructive Cult Recruitment
Defining a Cult
Isn't the word "cult" a pejorative label used to discriminate against
new religious movements?
No. It is disingenuous to ignore the historical significance and
modern day applications of the word cult. Today many controversial
groups, that have been called "cults", are seeking to either eliminate
the word, or create through fear of litigation a reluctance to use the
term. Some cult apologists have literally said that "'cult' is a four
letter word," and should be replaced by the politically correct title
"new religious movement" (NRM). However, historically cults have
always been with us and they continue to be a part of the world
today.
How is the word "cult" defined?
Webster's Dictionary defines a cult as:
"1. A formal religious veneration 2. A system of religious beliefs and
rituals also its body of adherents; 3. A religion regarded as
"unorthodox or spurious."; 4. A system for the cure of disease based
on dogma set forth by its promulgator; 5. a: A great devotion to a
person, idea, thing; esp.: such devotion regarded as a literary or
intellectual fad, b: A usually small circle of persons united by
devotion or allegiance to an artistic or intellectual movement or
figure."
This definition obviously could include everything from Barbie
collectors to old "Deadheads," "Trekkies" to diehard Elvis fans.
American history might also include within such a definition the
devoted followers of Mary Baker Eddy the founder of Christian Science,
or the Mormons united through their devotion to Joseph Smith. Both
these religious groups were once largely regarded as "unorthodox or
spurious." However, the most important concern today is not simply who
might be somewhat "cultic" in their devotion now or historically, but
what groups might represent potential problems regarding personal or
public safety. That is, groups that are potentially unsafe and/or
destructive.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who wrote the definitive book about
thought reform (often called "brainwashing") also wrote a paper about
cult formation. Lifton defined a cult as having the following three
characteristics:
A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as
the general principles that may have originally sustained the group
lose power.
A process [is in use] call[ed] coercive persuasion or thought reform.
Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the
leader and the ruling coterie.
Don't some groups once seen as "cults" often move more into the
mainstream, becoming generally respected sects or religions?
Yes. There are certainly examples of groups that were once perhaps
thought of as "cults" that have evolved into relatively mainstream
sects or religions. Such examples as the Seventh Day Adventists once
led by Ellen White, or the Mormons, also known as the Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
But it is also important to note that some groups, which may have once
been labeled as "cults" continue to be controversial due to their
unsafe or destructive practices. Two examples of groups that continue
to be problematic and often destructive are the former Russellites,
now known as "Jehovah's Witnesses," that once prohibited organ
transplants and still expects its members to refuse blood
transfusions, which has resulted in numerous deaths. And the Christian
Scientists founded by Mary Baker Eddy who often reject medical
treatment, again resulting in the loss of life. Some groups may say
they have renounced unsafe or destructive practices, only to be
exposed later as guilty of the same extremes and abuses.
Can hate groups or political extremists be somewhat "cultic"?
Yes. Many anti-government extremists such as the so-called "militias"
and hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, racist skinheads, some
radical anti-abortion groups, the "Christian Identity" movement and
often violent gangs, share many of the same characteristics as
destructive cults; such as a "we they" mentality, black and white
thinking and/or unreasonable fears about the outside world. And
radical anti-government extremists and hate groups have at times
isolated themselves in compounds or remote settings not unlike the
Waco Davidians or Jim Jones' People's Temple.
It is important to note that historically there have also been many
radical left-wing political groups such as the SLA that abducted Patty
Hearst, or the National Labor Federation founded by Gino Perente,
which exhibit these same cultic tendencies.
More recently the right-wing followers of Lyndon LaRouche appear to
have obsessive, cult-like devotion to their leader and some have
referred to this group as a "political cult".
Can some multi-level-marketing and commercial schemes be seen as
somewhat cultic?
Yes, some commercially motivated groups stress total commitment, avoid
answering critical questions and seem to employ "cult like"
manipulative techniques to achieve what can be seen as undue
influence. Though most lack the intense focus upon a central leader
like a classic cult, I have received repeated complaints about alleged
abuse within some commercial groups.
People considering multi-level-marketing need to research a company
thoroughly and ask tough questions.
Is the company about selling a product or selling its system of
distribution? This can often be seen by the emphasis it places upon
the importance of recruitment.
What amount of the company's income is derived from promotional tools
and/or percentages paid up the chain of distribution, as opposed to
product sales?
What is the actual net monthly income for the average distributor and
the the typical number of hours devoted to achieve that income?
These are important common sense questions that should be clearly
answered and objectively proven before becoming involved with any
marketing and/or commercial sales group.
Are all so-called "cults" unsafe and destructive?
No. Just because a group is "cultic" and its adherents are focused on
unusual leaders and/or ideas is no reason to call them unsafe or
destructive. There are groups centered on seemingly strange
spiritualists, radical political concepts, the supposed power of
crystals, UFO's, witchcraft or "Satanism," that may appear eccentric,
but most often don't harm anyone. An unsafe or destructive group is
not defined by what it believes, but by what it does. That is, the
behavior that causes harm and injury to the members of the group and/
or others in society.
Do you ever find that complaints you receive about a group or person
are false and/or unfounded?
Yes, there have been times that families have over-reacted to a group
or situation that later proved to be benign and/or not dangerous or
destructive. This has often occurred regarding claims about "Satanism"
and/or so-called "Satanic ritual abuse". Such claims have often been
based upon supposed "recovered or repressed memories" gathered through
therapy sessions. This is a controversial practice and/or process that
relies upon a theory, which has been increasingly rejected as
unscientific and unproven in the courts and also rejected by many
mental health professionals.
Again, it is crucial to understand that behavior is the issue and not
belief. When those concerned about someone's group involvement find
clearly destructive behavior, this is an issue for legitimate concern.
But when a group is simply perceived as strange, eccentric and/or even
personally repugnant, such as some adherents to "Satanism," this does
not mean the group is destructive. Satanists, just as Christians, Jews
and Moslems, have religious rights that are constitutionally
protected. I have rarely found that the claims of horrific acts
attributed to "Satanic" conspiracies can be objectively proven. And
those destructive acts that were proven were rather examples of
isolated and atypical groups. This has been substantiated again and
again by law-enforcement reports and numerous studies.
Destructive Cult
What are the characteristics of a destructive "cult" or group?
Margaret Singer, clinical psychologist and once Professor of
Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley was the
preeminent cult expert of the 20th Century. She counseled and/or
interviewed thousands of people affected by controversial groups often
called "cults." Dr. Singer offered meaningful definitions of unsafe
groups or "cults" in her book Cults in our Midst.
According to Singer, unsafe groups or cults can generally be defined
by three factors:
The origin of the group and role of the leader.
The power structure, or relationship between the leader[s] and the
followers.
The use of a coordinated program of persuasion, which is called
thought reform [or more commonly, 'brainwashing'"].
What typifies an unsafe group or "cult's" leadership and structure?
Again, a good working understanding has been provided by Margaret
Singer: "In most cases, there is one person, typically the founder at
the top...decision making centers in him or her." Illustrating the
structure Singer says, "imagine an inverted T. The leader is alone at
the top and the followers are all at the bottom". There is little if
any accountability and as Singer says, "the overriding philosophy...is
that the ends justify the means, a view that allows [such groups] to
establish their own brand of morality, outside normal society
bounds".
What specifically would define a group or "cult" as unsafe?
Unsafe groups or "cults" often abuse and exploit their members. This
abuse may occur in the areas of finances, physical labor, child abuse
and neglect, medical neglect, sexual exploitation and/or psychological
and emotional abuse.
Extreme examples of destructive behavior have been historically
recorded in such groups as the Waco Davidians, the cult suicides of
"Heaven's Gate" and the Solar Temple of Switzerland and the suicide/
murder of almost one thousand members of the Peoples Temple ordered by
Jim Jones. In 1995 the Japanese cult known as Aum, the followers of
Shoko Asahara, gassed the subways of Tokyo with the deadly poison gas
sarin, killing twelve and injuring thousands of citizens. Perhaps the
most deaths ever caused by a single cult in modern history can be
attributed to the "Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments" of Uganda. Shortly after the turn of the century 780
bodies were found after a reign of terror that included murder and
possibly mass suicide. But due to the isolated circumstances of the
group many believe all the bodies will never be recovered, placing the
actual loss of life much higher, possibly greater than Jonestown.
Are all unsafe or destructive groups isolated in compounds?
No. Isolation can often be less obvious. Many destructive groups
create isolation through their control of a member's associations with
outside society. The group members may be discouraged from associating
with outsiders, especially those who express a negative attitude about
the group and its leader(s). Isolation can also be fostered by a kind
of hyper-activity that allows little time for family, outside
interests or friendships. Marshall Applewhite the leader of "Heaven's
Gate" controlled his followers through carefully subscribed daily
schedules and regimentation, though the members were seemingly free to
come and go at anytime. This regimentation and control took place in a
mansion within a plush California neighborhood, not an isolated
compound.
Doesn't the First Amendment protect these groups?
Yes. The First Amendment certainly protects all religious groups in
the United States in the areas of freedom of belief and speech, but
this is not blanket protection for any actions done in the name of
those beliefs. If a group breaks the law they are accountable for
their actions just like everyone else. Psychiatrist and cult expert
John Clark once commented, "The First Amendment is not a suicide
pact."
Isn't criticism of so-called "new religious movements," a form of
religious bigotry, hatred and persecution?
Americans historically have been sensitive to the issue of religious
intolerance since before the Revolutionary War. Roger Williams, a
dissenter who disagreed with the Puritans founded Rhode Island as a
safe haven for religious minorities. But the members of many groups
called "cults" often characterize virtually any criticism of their
behavior as religious "persecution," "intolerance" and/or "bigotry."
It seems that many so-called "cults" have forgotten that the First
Amendment is expansive and protects both their freedoms and the free
speech of their critics. Margaret Singer once said that "The conduct
of certain cults, however, especially groups that tend to overtly
exploit and abuse people and engage in deceptive, unethical, and
illegal conduct, does provoke the surrounding society into a critical
stance."
Destructive Cult Dynamics
What types of people become leaders of unsafe and/or destructive
groups?
Many cult leaders seem to be narcissistic personalities often
fantasizing about messianic visions that will change the course of
human history, while appearing to have little if any conscience. Some
make claims that they are the exclusive voice of God, "psychic"
connections to historical figures, or aliens from outer space. Often
these leaders seem deeply delusional and disturbed and some have been
called psychopaths. Marshall Applewhite, the leader of "Heaven's Gate"
was once confined to a mental hospital.
Extreme examples of destructive and delusional behavior by cult
leaders such as Jim Jones, David Koresh and Shoko Asahara have caused
many mental health professionals to question their sanity. Still
others simply may be opportunistic con men or women, exploiting their
followers for personal profit and self-interest.
What kind of relationship do destructive group leaders have with their
followers?
The leadership most often defines what is right and wrong and group
followers are essentially expected to defer making meaningful value
judgments regarding almost any issue of significant importance. And
any member of the group who questions or doubts the authority of the
leader is likely to be labeled wrong, rebellious, suppressive,
negative and in some situations even "demon possessed" or "satanic".
No area of a member or follower's life appears to be immune from such
a group's scrutiny and/or criticism. A kind of learned dependency
often develops. Group followers appear highly dependent upon their
leaders to resolve problems and provide them with an ongoing sense of
clarity and purpose.
Are there any meaningful boundaries in such relationships?
No. It seems that most destructive cult leaders do not provide
appropriate boundaries regarding the relationship they have with their
followers. Because of this and other factors such as learned
dependency, thought reform and little if any meaningful
accountability, a formula for abuse and exploitation often exists in
such group relationships.
Also, the adulation of followers may have a negative impact upon the
leader(s), almost like an intoxicating and addictive drug. This may
deepen a codependent relationship between the leader and his or her
followers. And such virtual worship may also provide seeming proof to
some cult leaders that their grandiose delusions of greatness, power
and absolute authority are true. The more obedience and adulation such
leaders receive, the more they may want and eventually require. This
may then become the foundation for ever-escalating bizarre and/or
destructive behavior.
Destructive Cult Mindset
Is there actually a kind of mindset within potentially unsafe or
destructive groups?
Yes. There seems to be a typical mindset within most destructive
cults. This is often characterized by black and white thinking, a low
tolerance of ambiguity and a relentlessly judgementa1 attitude.
Members of such a group often think in "we, they" opposing terms
regarding those outside their group. This mindset frequently produces
feelings of superiority and/or spiritual elitism, claims of supposed
"persecution" and unreasonable fears. These fears typically concern
the outside world and the consequences of disagreeing with or leaving
the group.
How is such a mindset achieved?
Most often destructive cults, groups and/or leaders are able to shape
a mindset based upon control of communication, association, and
information through hyperactivity and/or isolation. This in turn
provides the basis for further control of behavior, emotions and
thinking, which has been called "mind control." This is frequently a
gradual step-by-step process that includes facets of psychological
persuasion and the principles of influence.
Destructive Cult Control
How can cults use communication to control people?
One example is through "loading the language," a feature of thought
reform, characterized by thought terminating cliches. Such cliches are
easily memorized phrases and terms that essentially become
communication shortcuts or "ultimate terms." This can have the effect
of stopping critical thinking and independent analysis, essentially
restricting and ultimately often constricting the mind.
How can cults control information?
Information is controlled in many cults by creating strict rules and/
or guidelines regarding such things as books and outside reading,
television, movies, radio, music and often even restricting
associations with anyone who might express independent ideas, doubts
or negative feelings about the group. The group and its leader(s) thus
may become much like a filter, supposedly needed to help eliminate the
"pollution", "poisons" and negativity of the outside world.
How can hyperactivity or isolation contribute to cult control?
When people are busy with group activities there may be little if any
meaningful time away from the group, except for work, school or sleep.
Group members are thus often cut off and isolated from any outside
frame of reference or objective feedback. They become constrained
through their largely exclusive associations within the group, this
may also include being substantially removed from family and old
friends. All these factors can create a kind of vacuum regarding any
meaningful critical analysis. And then the group and/or its leadership
fills that vacuum with its own perspective and agenda.
How is "coercive persuasion" really different from normal persuasion?
Essentially, coercive persuasion relies largely upon thought reform
techniques and may also utilize unreasonable fear to compel people to
change. Through such a process many can be changed without their
knowledge and/or informed consent. This is done in a rigid way that
frequently precludes any meaningful exchange of ideas, is fairly one-
sided and seems to have little respect for differences. Margaret
Singer clinical psychologist and author of the book "Cults in Our
Midst" made distinctions between various types of persuasion such as
education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination and thought
reform.
What "unreasonable fears" do many cult members have?
These are fears often not based upon objective reality, such as
bizarre conspiracy theories, baseless projections of an impending
catastrophe, crisis and/or physical danger. Members of some cult
groups are warned of an extreme punishment beyond death proscribed
specifically for those who refuse to submit to the group and its
leader. They may also be told stories about those who left or were
disobedient and how their lives were tragically ended or impacted as a
direct result. Many of these stories may be made up, grossly
exaggerated and/or distorted, but they reflect an implicit purpose,
which is to intimidate members and thus retain them within the group.
What is "undue influence"?
This can be seen as an individual who becomes so dependent upon others
through cult indoctrination that they often make decisions which are
not in their own best interest. Our judicial system has made such
distinctions by determining diminished capacity, which subsequently
may be exculpatory regarding responsibility and/or mitigate sentencing
concerning a crime.
There is a notable difference between the levels of influence employed
through education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination and thought
reform. Undue influence usually is the result of unethical and/or
improper techniques of persuasion that is administered by an
authoritarian figure and/or hierarchical structure.
Some have offered the analogy that the Marines are not unlike
authoritarian cults and that they also use undue influence to train
and control recruits. However, there are stark and basic differences
between the operation and conduct of the Marines and most destructive
cults in such areas as meaningful accountability, the ability to
address grievances and communication.
Can one individual gain destructive "cult-like" control of another
person?
Yes. It is possible for a cult to be composed of one leader and only
one follower. This also can be seen as an abusive/controlling
relationship, which is a one-on-one deliberately manipulative and
exploitative intimate relationship between two people. Some marriages
or domestic partnerships where there is spousal abuse may be
characterized and explained in this way. This is sometimes called a
"cultic relationship."
Those dominated within abusive/controlling relationships may be so
completely under the influence of another person that they appear to
have lost the ability to think independently, much like the member of
a destructive cult. The person in submission is also frequently
isolated from family and friends and becomes very dependent upon the
dominant authority figure.
Destructive Cult Recruitment
Are cults and other controversial groups deceptive when they recruit
people?
Yes, they often are. They may employ deception in the recruitment
process by using front organizational names and/or not clearly
identifying themselves or their purpose. For example, a religious cult
may not even initially advise potential recruits that it has a
religious agenda. Groups with controversial leaders may withhold that
information and also keep their more radical beliefs hidden or secret
until they achieve more influence and compliance thorough their
indoctrination process.
What types of people are recruited by cults or become involved in
potentially unsafe or destructive groups and relationships?
All types of people. Individuals from strong and troubled families,
with and without histories of psychological problems. People who have
had and have not had drug problems, with a solid or weak religious
background, the educated and uneducated, the wealthy, poor, middle
class, intelligent and not so intelligent.
One of the myths about cult involvement is that a certain type of
person is more vulnerable. Another myth is that healthy, strong,
intelligent well-educated people from good families don't become
involved. Or, that somehow if someone has clearly defined religious
convictions they cannot be recruited. These theories have never been
proven or substantiated through research. In fact, repeated studies
continue to indicate a wide and varied background for cult recruits.
Frankly, cults are quite good at persuasion and indoctrination; it's
their stock and trade. And most people simply are not prepared, either
through education and personal experience, to be sensitive to the
possible impact of cult methodology.
The truth is, almost anyone could potentially become involved with an
unsafe or destructive group. We are all especially suggestible at
certain times, when depressed, lonely, during an awkward transition,
when within a new environment such as a college campus away from home,
after a romantic breakup, death in the family or some other personal
problem or ordeal. Since all people have such experiences, we all have
periods of vulnerability. And many destructive cults/groups have honed
their skills, timing and focused their programs to exploit such
situations as opportunities for recruitment.
But aren't these people just weak and stupid?
No. As previously mentioned cult recruits are often caught at a
particularly vulnerable time and probably did not recognize the
warning signs necessary to make a more balanced and informed decision.
In everyday life this can be seen to some extent when people make
poorly informed decisions largely based upon the influence of slick
advertising and sales gimmicks. There are many examples of such
successful, but often unethical, methods of persuasion through high-
pressure car deals, land and stock swindles, misleading infomercials
and boiler room phone solicitations.
Many intelligent and successful celebrities and stars have become
involved with groups that have been called "cults," such as Madonna,
Tom Cruise , Elizabeth Taylor and John Travolta.
Specifically because these well-known personalities are so strong and
compelling, some have been used to promote controversial groups and
defend them. Ironically, the very reason they are useful to such
groups is the public admiration and respect they enjoy and the
perception that they are role models and often trendsetters.
People are often frustrated and anxious about the world around them.
And most of us seem to have a need for answers, security, a sense of
control, a feeling of belonging and a desire for personal recognition.
Today there are millions of "true believers," who faithfully accept
psychics, UFOs, angels, questionable multi-level marketing schemes,
political extremism, conspiracy theories and demagoguery. People often
find things to believe in that fulfill a need for explanation about an
increasingly complex world. At a time of crisis such beliefs may also
fill a personal void. Personal voids, burning questions and the need
for answers are not unique to any single type of person, instead they
appear to be part of the human condition.
If such a system exists to coerce, persuade, influence and control
people, then why doesn't somebody use it to take over a nation or the
world?
This has already happened. The politics of fear, control of the
environment and manipulation of both information and communication has
been used successfully to control nations. Hitler's Germany, Stalin's
Russia, Mao's China, the Ayatollah's Iran and Sadam's Iraq are just a
few examples. Such intense influence and control allowed Hitler to set
the stage for the Holocaust.
Many dictators have historically been labeled as "megalomaniacs" and
"psychopaths." They are not unlike destructive cult leaders, who often
have messianic pretensions and delusions about world influence.
Movements such as Nazism, Stalinism and Maoist China can be seen as
cults that fit well within the criteria advanced by Robert Jay Lifton
in his paper concerning "cult formation." Hitler, Stalin and Mao were
all "charismatic leader[s] who increasingly be[came] an object of
worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained
the[ir] group[s] los[t] power". These leaders also employed obvious
thought reform techniques and exploited their followers.
In the United States during the "Red Scare" of the 50s there was a
mindset that came be known as "McCarthyism." This mindset produced
overwhelming intimidation, information control, propaganda and
unreasonable fear. During that bleak era of American history Senator
Joseph McCarthy dominated and profoundly influenced the thinking of a
nation.
The Rick A. Ross Institute
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1977 N. Olden Ave. Ext #272
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email: info@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com
Copyright 9 1999 Rick Ross
http://www.rickross.com/faq.html
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
The University of North Carolina Press/Chapel Hill and London
By Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.
Below is an edited excerpt from Chapter 22 of Robert Jay Lifton's
book,"Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of
'Brainwashing' in China." Lifton, a psychiatrist and distinguished
professor at the City University of New York, has studied the
psychology of extremism for decades. He testified at the 1976 bank
robbery trial of Patty Hearst about the theory of "coercive
persuasion." First published in 1961, his book was reprinted in 1989
by the University of North Carolina Press. Scroll down to the read the
chapter.
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Chapter 22: Ideological Totalism
Topics
Milieu Control
Mystical Manipulation
The Demand for Purity
The Cult of Confession
The "Sacred Science"
Loading the Language
Doctrine Over Person
The Dispensing of Existence
A discussion of what is most central in the thought reform environment
can lead us to a more general consideration of the psychology of human
zealotry. For in identifying, on the basis of this study of thought
reform, features common to all expressions of ideological totalism, I
wish to suggest a set of criteria against which any environment may be
judged - a basis for answering the ever-recurring question: "Isn't
this just like 'brainwashing'?"
These criteria consist of eight psychological themes which are
predominant within the social field of the thought reform milieu. Each
has a totalistic quality; each depend upon an equally absolute
philosophical assumption; and each mobilizes certain individual
emotional tendencies, mostly of a polarizing nature. In combination
they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or
exhilarate, but which at the same time poses the gravest of human
threats.
Milieu Control
The most basic feature of the thought reform environment, the
psychological current upon which all else depends, is the control of
human communication. Through this milieu control the totalist
environment seeks to establish domain over not only the individual's
communication with the outside (all that he sees and hears, reads or
writes, experiences, and expresses), but also - in its penetration of
his inner life - over what we may speak of as his communication with
himself. It creates an atmosphere uncomfortably reminiscent of George
Orwell's 1984.
Such milieu control never succeeds in becoming absolute, and its own
human apparatus can - when permeated by outside information - become
subject to discordant "noise" beyond that of any mechanical apparatus.
To totalist administrators, however, such occurrences are no more than
evidences of "incorrect" use of the apparatus. For they look upon
milieu control as a just and necessary policy, one which need not be
kept secret: thought reform participants may be in doubt as to who is
telling what to whom, but the fact that extensive information about
everyone is being conveyed to the authorities is always known. At the
center of this self-justification is their assumption of omniscience,
their conviction that reality is their exclusive possession. Having
experienced the impact of what they consider to be an ultimate truth
(and having the need to dispel any possible inner doubts of their
own), they consider it their duty to create an environment containing
no more and no less than this "truth." In order to be the engineers of
the human soul, they must first bring it under full observational
control.
Mystical Manipulation
The inevitable next step after milieu control is extensive personal
manipulation. This manipulation assumes a no-holds-barred character,
and uses every possible device at the milieu's command, no matter how
bizarre or painful. Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific
patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear
to have arisen spontaneously, directed as it is by an ostensibly
omniscient group, must assume, for the manipulated, a near-mystical
quality.
Ideological totalists do not pursue this approach solely for the
purpose of maintaining a sense of power over others. Rather they are
impelled by a special kind of mystique which not only justifies such
manipulations, but makes them mandatory. Included in this mystique is
a sense of "higher purpose," of having "directly perceived some
imminent law of social development," and of being themselves the
vanguard of this development. By thus becoming the instruments of
their own mystique, they create a mystical aura around the
manipulating institutions - the Party, the Government, the
Organization. They are the agents "chosen" (by history, by God, or by
some other supernatural force) to carry out the "mystical imperative,"
the pursuit of which must supersede all considerations of decency or
of immediate human welfare. Similarly, any thought or action which
questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower
purpose, to be backward, selfish, and petty in the face of the great,
overriding mission. This same mystical imperative produces the
apparent extremes of idealism and cynicism which occur in connection
with the manipulations of any totalist environment: even those actions
which seem cynical in the extreme can be seen as having ultimate
relationship to the "higher purpose."
At the level of the individual person, the psychological responses to
this manipulative approach revolve about the basic polarity of trust
and mistrust. One is asked to accept these manipulations on a basis of
ultimate trust (or faith): "like a child in the arms of its mother."
He who trusts in this degree can experience the manipulations within
the idiom of the mystique behind them: that is, he may welcome their
mysteriousness, find pleasure in their pain, and feel them to be
necessary for the fulfillment of the "higher purpose" which he
endorses as his own. But such elemental trust is difficult to
maintain; and even the strongest can be dissipated by constant
manipulation.
When trust gives way to mistrust (or when trust has never existed) the
higher purpose cannot serve as adequate emotional sustenance. The
individual then responds to the manipulations through developing what
I shall call the psychology of the pawn. Feeling himself unable to
escape from forces more powerful than himself, he subordinates
everything to adapting himself to them. He becomes sensitive to all
kinds of cues, expert at anticipating environmental pressures, and
skillful in riding them in such a way that his psychological energies
merge with the tide rather than turn painfully against himself. This
requires that he participate actively in the manipulation of others,
as well as in the endless round of betrayals and self-betrayals which
are required.
But whatever his response - whether he is cheerful in the face of
being manipulated, deeply resentful, or feels a combination of both -
he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for
self-expression and independent action.
The Demand for Purity
In the thought reform milieu, as in all situations of ideological
totalism, the experiential world is sharply divided into the pure and
the impure, into the absolutely good and the absolutely evil. The good
and the pure are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions which
are consistent with the totalist ideology and policy; anything else is
apt to be relegated to the bad and the impure. Nothing human is immune
from the flood of stern moral judgments. All "taints" and "poisons"
which contribute to the existing state of impurity must be searched
out and eliminated.
The philosophical assumption underlying this demand is that absolute
purity is attainable, and that anything done to anyone in the name of
this purity is ultimately moral. In actual practice, however, no one
is really expected to achieve such perfection. Nor can this paradox be
dismissed as merely a means of establishing a high standard to which
all can aspire. Thought reform bears witness to its more malignant
consequences: for by defining and manipulating the criteria of purity,
and then by conducting an all-out war upon impurity, the ideological
totalists create a narrow world of guilt and shame. This is
perpetuated by an ethos of continuous reform, a demand that one strive
permanently and painfully for something which not only does not exist
but is in fact alien to the human condition.
At the level of the relationship between individual and environment,
the demand for purity creates what we may term a guilty milieu and a
shaming milieu. Since each man's impurities are deemed sinful and
potentially harmful to himself and to others, he is, so to speak,
expected to expect punishment - which results in a relationship of
guilt and his environment. Similarly, when he fails to meet the
prevailing standards in casting out such impurities, he is expected to
expect humiliation and ostracism - thus establishing a relationship of
shame with his milieu. Moreover, the sense of guilt and the sense of
shame become highly-valued: they are preferred forms of communication,
objects of public competition, and the basis for eventual bonds
between the individual and his totalist accusers. One may attempt to
simulate them for a while, but the subterfuge is likely to be
detected, and it is safer to experience them genuinely.
People vary greatly in their susceptibilities to guilt and shame,
depending upon patterns developed early in life. But since guilt and
shame are basic to human existence, this variation can be no more than
a matter of degree. Each person is made vulnerable through his
profound inner sensitivities to his own limitations and to his
unfulfilled potential; in other words, each is made vulnerable through
his existential guilt. Since ideological totalists become the ultimate
judges of good and evil within their world, they are able to use these
universal tendencies toward guilt and shame as emotional levers for
their controlling and manipulative influences. They become the
arbiters of existential guilt, authorities without limit in dealing
with others' limitations. And their power is nowhere more evident than
in their capacity to "forgive."
The individual thus comes to apply the same totalist polarization of
good and evil to his judgments of his own character: he tends to imbue
certain aspects of himself with excessive virtue, and condemn even
more excessively other personal qualities - all according to their
ideological standing. He must also look upon his impurities as
originating from outside influences - that is, from the ever-
threatening world beyond the closed, totalist ken. Therefore, one of
his best way to relieve himself of some of his burden of guilt is to
denounce, continuously and hostilely, these same outside influences.
The more guilty he feels, the greater his hatred, and the more
threatening they seem. In this manner, the universal psychological
tendency toward "projection" is nourished and institutionalized,
leading to mass hatreds, purges of heretics, and to political and
religious holy wars. Moreover, once an individual person has
experienced the totalist polarization of good and evil, he has great
difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner sensitivity to the
complexities of human morality. For these is no emotional bondage
greater than that of the man whose entire guilt potential - neurotic
and existential - has become the property of ideological totalists.
The Cult of Confession
Closely related to the demand for absolute purity is an obsession with
personal confession. Confession is carried beyond its ordinary
religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming
a cult in itself. There is the demand that one confess to crimes one
has not committed, to sinfulness that is artificially induced, in the
name of a cure that is arbitrarily imposed. Such demands are made
possible not only by the ubiquitous human tendencies toward guilt and
shame but also by the need to give expression to these tendencies. In
totalist hands, confession becomes a means of exploiting, rather than
offering solace for, these vulnerabilities.
The totalist confession takes on a number of special meanings. It is
first a vehicle for the kind of personal purification which we have
just discussed, a means of maintaining a perpetual inner emptying or
psychological purge of impurity; this purging milieu enhances the
totalists' hold upon existential guilt. Second, it is an act of
symbolic self-surrender, the expression of the merging of individual
and environment. Third, it is a means of maintaining an ethos of total
exposure - a policy of making public (or at least known to the
Organization) everything possible about the life experiences,
thoughts, and passions of each individual, and especially those
elements which might be regarded as derogatory.
The assumption underlying total exposure (besides those which relate
to the demand for purity) is the environment's claim to total
ownership of each individual self within it. Private ownership of the
mind and its products - of imagination or of memory - becomes highly
immoral. The accompanying rationale (or rationalization) is familiar,
the milieu has attained such a perfect state of enlightenment that any
individual retention of ideas or emotions has become anachronistic.
The cult of confession can offer the individual person meaningful
psychological satisfactions in the continuing opportunity for
emotional catharsis and for relief of suppressed guilt feelings,
especially insofar as these are associated with self-punitive
tendencies to get pleasure from personal degradation. More than this,
the sharing of confession enthusiasms can create an orgiastic sense of
"oneness," of the most intense intimacy with fellow confessors and of
the dissolution of self into the great flow of the Movement. And there
is also, at least initially, the possibility of genuine self-
revelation and of self-betterment through the recognition that "the
thing that has been exposed is what I am."
But as totalist pressures turn confession into recurrent command
performances, the element of histrionic public display takes
precedence over genuine inner experience. Each man becomes concerned
with the effectiveness of his personal performance, and this
performance sometimes comes to serve the function of evading the very
emotions and ideas about which one feels most guilty - confirming the
statement by one of Camus' characters that "authors of confessions
write especially to avoid confessing, to tell nothing of what they
know." The difficulty, of course, lies in the inevitable confusion
which takes place between the actor's method and his separate personal
reality, between the performer and the "real me."
In this sense, the cult of confession has effects quite the reverse of
its ideal of total exposure: rather than eliminating personal secrets,
it increases and intensifies them. In any situation the personal
secret has two important elements: first, guilty and shameful ideas
which one wishes to suppress in order to prevent their becoming known
by others or their becoming too prominent in one's own awareness; and
second, representations of parts of oneself too precious to be
expressed except when alone or when involved in special loving
relationships formed around this shared secret world. Personal secrets
are always maintained in opposition to inner pressures toward self-
exposure. The totalist milieu makes contact with these inner pressures
through its own obsession with the expose and the unmasking process.
As a result old secrets are revived and new ones proliferate; the
latter frequently consist of resentments toward or doubts about the
Movement, or else are related to aspects of identity still existing
outside of the prescribed ideological sphere. Each person becomes
caught up in a continuous conflict over which secrets to preserve and
which to surrender, over ways to reveal lesser secrets in order to
protect more important ones; his own boundaries between the secret and
the known, between the public and the private, become blurred. And
around one secret, or a complex of secrets, there may revolve an
ultimate inner struggle between resistance and self-surrender.
Finally, the cult of confession makes it virtually impossible to
attain a reasonable balance between worth and humility. The
enthusiastic and aggressive confessor becomes like Camus' character
whose perpetual confession is his means of judging others: "[I]5
practice the profession of penitent to be able to end up as a judge5
the more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you." The
identity of the "judge-penitent" thus becomes a vehicle for taking on
some of the environment's arrogance and sense of omnipotence. Yet even
this shared omnipotence cannot protect him from the opposite (but not
unrelated) feelings of humiliation and weakness, feelings especially
prevalent among those who remain more the enforced penitent than the
all-powerful judge.
The "Sacred Science"
The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic
dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of
human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition
(whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic
assumptions, and in the reverence which is demanded for the
originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word
itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however,
the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight
logic, of absolute "scientific" precision. Thus the ultimate moral
vision becomes an ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize
it, or to harbor even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only
immoral and irreverent, but also "unscientific." In this way, the
philosopher kings of modern ideological totalism reinforce their
authority by claiming to share in the rich and respected heritage of
natural science.
The assumption here is not so much that man can be God, but rather
that man's ideas can be God: that an absolute science of ideas (and
implicitly, an absolute science of man) exists, or is at least very
close to being attained; that this science can be combined with an
equally absolute body of moral principles; and that the resulting
doctrine is true for all men at all times. Although no ideology goes
quite this far in overt statement, such assumptions are implicit in
totalist practice.
At the level of the individual, the totalist sacred science can offer
much comfort and security. Its appeal lies in its seeming unification
of the mystical and the logical modes of experience (in psychoanalytic
terms, of the primary and secondary thought processes). For within the
framework of the sacred science, and sweeping, non-rational
"insights." Since the distinction between the logical and the mystical
is, to begin with, artificial and man-made, an opportunity for
transcending it can create an extremely intense feeling of truth. But
the posture of unquestioning faith - both rationally and non-
rationally derived - is not easy to sustain, especially if one
discovers that the world of experience is not nearly as absolute as
the sacred science claims it to be.
Yet so strong a hold can the sacred science achieve over his mental
processes that if one begins to feel himself attracted to ideas which
either contradict or ignore it, he may become guilty and afraid. His
quest for knowledge is consequently hampered, since in the name of
science he is prevented from engaging in the receptive search for
truth which characterizes the genuinely scientific approach. And his
position is made more difficult by the absence, in a totalist
environment, of any distinction between the sacred and the profane:
there is no thought or action which cannot be related to the sacred
science. To be sure, one can usually find areas of experience outside
its immediate authority; but during periods of maximum totalist
activity (like thought reform) any such areas are cut off, and there
is virtually no escape from the milieu's ever-pressing edicts and
demands. Whatever combination of continued adherence, inner
resistance, or compromise co-existence the individual person adopts
toward this blend of counterfeit science and back-door religion, it
represents another continuous pressure toward personal closure, toward
avoiding, rather than grappling with, the kinds of knowledge and
experience necessary for genuine self-expression and for creative
development.
Loading the Language
The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the
thought-terminating clich9. The most far-reaching and complex of human
problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-
sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become
the start and finish of any ideological analysis. In [Chinese
Communist] thought reform, for instance, the phrase "bourgeois
mentality" is used to encompass and critically dismiss ordinarily
troublesome concerns like the quest for individual expression, the
exploration of alternative ideas, and the search for perspective and
balance in political judgments. And in addition to their function as
interpretive shortcuts, these cliches become what Richard Weaver has
called "ultimate terms" : either "god terms," representative of
ultimate good; or "devil terms," representative of ultimate evil. In
[Chinese Communist] thought reform, "progress," "progressive,"
"liberation," "proletarian standpoints" and "the dialectic of history"
fall into the former category; "capitalist," "imperialist,"
"exploiting classes," and "bourgeois" (mentality, liberalism,
morality, superstition, greed) of course fall into the latter.
Totalist language then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing
jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly
judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in
Lionel Trilling's phrase, "the language of nonthought."
To be sure, this kind of language exists to some degree within any
cultural or organizational group, and all systems of belief depend
upon it. It is in part an expression of unity and exclusiveness: as
Edward Sapir put it, "'He talks like us' is equivalent to saying 'He
is one of us.'" The loading is much more extreme in ideological
totalism, however, since the jargon expresses the claimed certitudes
of the sacred science. Also involved is an underlying assumption that
language - like all other human products - can be owned and operated
by the Movement. No compunctions are felt about manipulating or
loading it in any fashion; the only consideration is its usefulness to
the cause.
For an individual person, the effect of the language of ideological
totalism can be summed up in one word: constriction. He is, so to
speak, linguistically deprived; and since language is so central to
all human experience, his capacities for thinking and feeling are
immensely narrowed. This is what Hu meant when he said, "using the
same pattern of words for so long5you feel chained." Actually, not
everyone exposed feels chained, but in effect everyone is profoundly
confined by these verbal fetters. As in other aspects of totalism,
this loading may provide an initial sense of insight and security,
eventually followed by uneasiness. This uneasiness may result in a
retreat into a rigid orthodoxy in which an individual shouts the
ideological jargon all the louder in order to demonstrate his
conformity, hide his own dilemma and his despair, and protect himself
from the fear and guilt he would feel should he attempt to use words
and phrases other than the correct ones. Or else he may adapt a
complex pattern of inner division, and dutifully produce the expected
clich9's in public performances while in his private moments he
searches for more meaningful avenues of expression. Either way, his
imagination becomes increasingly dissociated from his actual life
experiences and may tend to atrophy from disuse.
Doctrine Over Person
This sterile language reflects characteristic feature of ideological
totalism: the subordination of human experience to the claims of
doctrine. This primacy of doctrine over person is evident in the
continual shift between experience itself and the highly abstract
interpretation of such experience - between genuine feelings and
spurious cataloguing of feelings. It has much to do with the peculiar
aura of half-reality which totalist environment seems, at least to the
outsider, to possess.
The inspiriting force of such myths cannot be denied; nor can one
ignore their capacity for mischief. For when the myth becomes fused
with the totalist sacred science, the resulting "logic" can be so
compelling and coercive that it simply replaces the realities of
individual experience. Consequently, past historical events are
retrospectively altered, wholly rewritten, or ignored, to make them
consistent with the doctrinal logic. This alteration becomes
especially malignant when its distortions are imposed upon individual
memory as occurred in the false confession extracted during thought
reform.
The same doctrinal primacy prevails in the totalist approach to
changing people: the demand that character and identity be reshaped,
not in accordance with one's special nature or potentialities, but
rather to fit the rigid contours of the doctrinal mold. The human is
thus subjected to the ahuman. And in this manner, the totalists, as
Camus phrases it, "put an abstract idea above human life, even if they
call
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
07.01.04
Guru exposed in sex scandal snags space in the New York Times by
lifting Jeff GoldblumPosted in Sri Chinmoy, Brainwashing, Amma at 7:19
am by Rick Ross
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, called 3Sri Chinmoy4 by his devoted followers,
has made something of a career through publicity stunts. His favorite
appears to be phony power lifting that he uses to attract attention
and feed his seemingly insatiable ego.
The latest newspaper to be sucked in by the guru2s antics is the New
York Times.
In a long piece today titled 3They2re Not Heavy; They2re His People,=
4
NY Times reporter Cory Kilgannon gave the guru enough space to make
him blush, perhaps for the sake of humor.
However, though the NY Times correctly reported that the guru2s group
has been called a 3brainwashing cult,4 it gave much more attention to
his self-serving public relations ploy than the people he hurt.
Readers were regaled with a long list of celebrities that Chinmoy has
lifted in the past, which reportedly includes Nelson Mandela, Desmond
Tutu, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon,
Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Sting, Richard Gere, Sid Caeser, 20 assorted
Nobel laureates, sumo wrestlers and a headhunter from Borneo.
Actor Jeff Goldblum was the latest celeb slated for the 70-something
guru to hold up for a photo op.
It all sounds like fodder for a good laugh. That is, unless you know
the details of sexual abuse allegations that have spun around 3Sleazy
Sri4 as reported by the New York Post.
Nothing was mentioned in the NY Times article about this.
According to former Chinmoy devotees the guru is not only posing as a
celibate, he2s also is a bit kinky.
Chinmoy apparently likes to watch but not always weightlifting
events.
He also reportedly has paid for at least one of his female follower/
sex partners to have an abortion.
This is hardly the stuff of humor.
Sorry, comments are closed
Disclaimer
This news page is about groups, organizations or movements, which may
have been called "cults" and/or "cult-like" in some way, shape or
form. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are
harmful. Instead, they may be benign and generally defined as simply
people intensely devoted to a person, place or thing. Therefore, the
discussion or mention of a group, organization or person on this page,
is not necessarily meant pejoratively.
http://www.cultnews.com/?pD1587
Rick Ross
Rick Ross was born November of 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio. His family
moved to Phoenix during 1956 and he grew up in Arizona.
Ross attended both elementary and high school in Arizona, except for a
brief one-year stint at Camden Military Academy, a boarding school in
South Carolina. He never attended college.
During his summers he often worked as a camp counselor and was an avid
swimmer.
After graduating from Phoenix Union High School in 1971 Ross was first
employed by a finance company and later a local bank. In 1975 he took
a job with a cousin's auto salvage business. He became a company vice
president and worked in that area until 1982. During this time his
other interests were largely good cigars, art, jazz and classic cars.
But in 1982 a controversial religious group infiltrated the staff of a
Jewish nursing home where Ross' grandmother was a resident. He brought
this to the attention of the director and working with the organized
Jewish community in Phoenix, ended the problem.
Ross' effort at the nursing home soon led to further work with the
Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and the publication of a ground
breaking brochure, which carried the ecumenical endorsements of most
of Arizona's religious leaders. It was titled, What in God's Name is
Going on in Arizona?
The brochure achieved wide recognition and Ross was soon appointed to
a national committee focused upon the cult phenomenon, by the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). The UAHC, commonly called the
"Reform Movement," is one of the largest denominations of Judaism in
the world today.
Ross was later appointed to the UAHC Interreligious Affairs committee.
And during the 80s he lectured and contributed to educational
materials for the denomination.
In the early 80s Ross also became aware of serious problems regarding
proselytizing within the prisons and jails of Arizona. He again
brought this to the attention of the organized Jewish community.
Hate groups, harassed, threatened and frequently targeted Jewish
inmates. Jews in prison also lacked any meaningful advocacy or
consistent programs.
Ross founded the Jewish Prisoner Program of Arizona, which was soon
absorbed by Jewish Family & Children's Service (JFCS) of Phoenix.
In 1983 Ross became a member of the JFCS professional staff. What was
once volunteer work for the Jewish community, now became his full-time
job.
Ross' work on behalf of Jewish prisoners culminated in his election as
chairman, of both the Religious Advisory Committee to the Arizona
Department of Corrections and the International Coalition of Jewish
Prisoner Programs sponsored by B'nai B'rith in Washington D.C.
During his time at JFCS Ross continued his cult-related work, studies
and research.
He also became an instructor for the Phoenix Bureau of Jewish
Education and designed a course curriculum about destructive cults.
In 1986 Ross left the staff of JFCS to become a full-time private
consultant, lecturer and cult intervention specialist.
He then began working privately with the victims of destructive groups
and/or leaders.
His professional help is typically requested by parents, but often is
sought by spouses and at times by the adult children of cult members.
He has done hundreds of interventions.
Ross once cooperated with parents in involuntary "deprogramming"
cases.
Such involuntary interventions were initiated by families and involved
the restraint of a loved one. In this type of intervention the cult
member was not free to leave and instead restrained under the
supervision of their family. This restraint guaranteed an opportunity
and adequate time to address family concerns.
However Ross, like other professionals working in this area, abandoned
involuntary casework some years ago. He now restricts his intervention
work exclusively to voluntary efforts, unless working with a minor
child under the direct supervision of a custodial parent.
In voluntary interventions adult cult members are free to go at any
time.
Cult members willingly agree to participate in Ross' current
intervention work, despite the option to leave, usually because family
members urge them to stay.
Ross states that amongst his current voluntary cases 75 percent not
only decide to stay and discuss their family's concerns, but
ultimately leave the group, which has drawn concern.
He has maintained this success rate consistently for some years. This
is important, in a field where such definitive results are most often
the bottom line.
Ross has worked throughout the United States and internationally.
He also continues to lecture and has been asked to speak at many
universities and colleges. This has included such prestigious
institutions as the University of Chicago, Dickinson College, Carnegie
Mellon, Baylor, The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
Duquesne, Knox College, Rutgers and the McCallie School.
Ross has been qualified, accepted and testified as an expert witness
regarding destructive cults and controversial groups in nine states,
typically concerning child custody and personal injury cases.
His work with law-enforcement has included consultation with local
police departments across the United States, the Federal Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the FBI.
Families once retained Ross to do two interventions with Davidians and
both ended successfully. His study of the once little known group led
by David Koresh, began in 1988 as a direct result of repeated
complaints.
Ross' work has been cited and/or his comments quoted in newspapers
across the United States including the New York Times, Chicago
Tribune, Washington Post, USA Today, Dallas Daily News, Boston Herald,
LA Times, Village Voice, Seattle Times, Phoenix Republic, Anchorage
Daily News, Tampa Tribune, The Las Vegas Sun, Austin American
Statesman, Richmond Times Dispatch and the Oregonian.
Ross has likewise been quoted within national magazines such as
Newsweek, GQ, Details, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, American Lawyer
and Slate.
Wire services such as Associated Press and Reuters have also carried
his comments.
Time Magazine cited Ross as "a veteran cult watcher."
He has also been quoted within international publications including
The London Times, The South China Post, Davar of Israel, Processo of
Mexico, The Toronto Sun, Johannesburg Sunday Times and The Australian
Courier.
Ross has appeared on more than 100 radio shows across the U.S.
including National Public Radio, CBS and Pacifica and internationally
on the BBC, RAI in Rome, CKO National Network of Canada and the
Australian Broadcast Corporation.
He has appeared on American national network television on programs
such as Nightline, Dateline, The Today Show, Good Morning America,
Primetime, NBC Evening News, CNN, MSNBC, Oprah, 48 Hours and MTV News.
Ross has appeared internationally on such television networks as NHK,
Asahi and Nippon in Japan, CBC of Canada and TV 2 National News of
Denmark.
He has also participated in documentaries for Post Newsweek, NHK and
Court TV.
Ross has been retained as a paid professional consultant by CBS, CBC
and Nippon television networks.
He also worked for Miramax/Disney as a technical advisor to the actor
Harvey Keitel regarding his role in the Jane Campion film Holy Smoke.
Launched in 1995, his website, RickRoss.com, is now one of the largest
and most comprehensive sites about controversial groups and leaders on
the Internet. It contains thousands of articles and documents archived
through hundreds of individual group and subject web pages.
Noted cult researchers and authors Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman call
RickRoss.com, "The Mt. Everest of mind control Internet Resources."
Thousands of individuals visit this website every day.
Rick Ross personally handles hundreds of complaints and inquiries each
month. This work has often led to breaking stories both about "cult"
abuses and celebrity, political and business involvement with groups
often called "cults."
After 2000 Ross launched two more related websites. CultEducation.com,
which features educational materials about cults and CultNews.com for
breaking stories.
In 2001 Ross moved from Arizona to New Jersey. He now lives in
downtown Jersey City on the Hudson River, opposite Manhattan.
At the beginning of 2003 Ross launched the Rick A. Ross Institute Inc.
(RI). RI is a New Jersey nonprofit corporation recognized as a tax-
exempt educational charity by the US Internal Revenue Service. The
mission of RI is the study of destructive cults, controversial groups
and movements. RI maintains public archives made available through the
Internet and is an institutional member of the New Jersey Library
Association.
In January 2009 Rick Ross was an official guest of the Chinese
government invited to attend an International Forum on Cultic Studies
sponsored by the the Centre for the Study of Destructive Cults in
China. Ross presented a paper, which was published by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
Other than his work, which requires frequent travel, Ross is a life-
long art collector and still enjoys a good cigar while listening to
some quiet jazz.
Ross is pictured on this page in front of an oil painting by noted
artist Steven Yazzie titled, No Spring Chicken.
Britain's FHM Magazine named Rick Ross "America's number one cult
buster."
The Rick A. Ross Institute
email: info@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com
http://www.rickross.com/biography.html
By Rick Ross
Topics
Defining a Cult
Destructive Cult
Destructive Cult Dynamics
Destructive Cult Mindset
Destructive Cult Control
Destructive Cult Recruitment
Defining a Cult
Isn't the word "cult" a pejorative label used to discriminate against
new religious movements?
No. It is disingenuous to ignore the historical significance and
modern day applications of the word cult. Today many controversial
groups, that have been called "cults", are seeking to either eliminate
the word, or create through fear of litigation a reluctance to use the
term. Some cult apologists have literally said that "'cult' is a four
letter word," and should be replaced by the politically correct title
"new religious movement" (NRM). However, historically cults have
always been with us and they continue to be a part of the world
today.
How is the word "cult" defined?
Webster's Dictionary defines a cult as:
"1. A formal religious veneration 2. A system of religious beliefs and
rituals also its body of adherents; 3. A religion regarded as
"unorthodox or spurious."; 4. A system for the cure of disease based
on dogma set forth by its promulgator; 5. a: A great devotion to a
person, idea, thing; esp.: such devotion regarded as a literary or
intellectual fad, b: A usually small circle of persons united by
devotion or allegiance to an artistic or intellectual movement or
figure."
This definition obviously could include everything from Barbie
collectors to old "Deadheads," "Trekkies" to diehard Elvis fans.
American history might also include within such a definition the
devoted followers of Mary Baker Eddy the founder of Christian Science,
or the Mormons united through their devotion to Joseph Smith. Both
these religious groups were once largely regarded as "unorthodox or
spurious." However, the most important concern today is not simply who
might be somewhat "cultic" in their devotion now or historically, but
what groups might represent potential problems regarding personal or
public safety. That is, groups that are potentially unsafe and/or
destructive.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who wrote the definitive book about
thought reform (often called "brainwashing") also wrote a paper about
cult formation. Lifton defined a cult as having the following three
characteristics:
A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as
the general principles that may have originally sustained the group
lose power.
A process [is in use] call[ed] coercive persuasion or thought reform.
Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the
leader and the ruling coterie.
Don't some groups once seen as "cults" often move more into the
mainstream, becoming generally respected sects or religions?
Yes. There are certainly examples of groups that were once perhaps
thought of as "cults" that have evolved into relatively mainstream
sects or religions. Such examples as the Seventh Day Adventists once
led by Ellen White, or the Mormons, also known as the Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
But it is also important to note that some groups, which may have once
been labeled as "cults" continue to be controversial due to their
unsafe or destructive practices. Two examples of groups that continue
to be problematic and often destructive are the former Russellites,
now known as "Jehovah's Witnesses," that once prohibited organ
transplants and still expects its members to refuse blood
transfusions, which has resulted in numerous deaths. And the Christian
Scientists founded by Mary Baker Eddy who often reject medical
treatment, again resulting in the loss of life. Some groups may say
they have renounced unsafe or destructive practices, only to be
exposed later as guilty of the same extremes and abuses.
Can hate groups or political extremists be somewhat "cultic"?
Yes. Many anti-government extremists such as the so-called "militias"
and hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, racist skinheads, some
radical anti-abortion groups, the "Christian Identity" movement and
often violent gangs, share many of the same characteristics as
destructive cults; such as a "we they" mentality, black and white
thinking and/or unreasonable fears about the outside world. And
radical anti-government extremists and hate groups have at times
isolated themselves in compounds or remote settings not unlike the
Waco Davidians or Jim Jones' People's Temple.
It is important to note that historically there have also been many
radical left-wing political groups such as the SLA that abducted Patty
Hearst, or the National Labor Federation founded by Gino Perente,
which exhibit these same cultic tendencies.
More recently the right-wing followers of Lyndon LaRouche appear to
have obsessive, cult-like devotion to their leader and some have
referred to this group as a "political cult".
Can some multi-level-marketing and commercial schemes be seen as
somewhat cultic?
Yes, some commercially motivated groups stress total commitment, avoid
answering critical questions and seem to employ "cult like"
manipulative techniques to achieve what can be seen as undue
influence. Though most lack the intense focus upon a central leader
like a classic cult, I have received repeated complaints about alleged
abuse within some commercial groups.
People considering multi-level-marketing need to research a company
thoroughly and ask tough questions.
Is the company about selling a product or selling its system of
distribution? This can often be seen by the emphasis it places upon
the importance of recruitment.
What amount of the company's income is derived from promotional tools
and/or percentages paid up the chain of distribution, as opposed to
product sales?
What is the actual net monthly income for the average distributor and
the the typical number of hours devoted to achieve that income?
These are important common sense questions that should be clearly
answered and objectively proven before becoming involved with any
marketing and/or commercial sales group.
Are all so-called "cults" unsafe and destructive?
No. Just because a group is "cultic" and its adherents are focused on
unusual leaders and/or ideas is no reason to call them unsafe or
destructive. There are groups centered on seemingly strange
spiritualists, radical political concepts, the supposed power of
crystals, UFO's, witchcraft or "Satanism," that may appear eccentric,
but most often don't harm anyone. An unsafe or destructive group is
not defined by what it believes, but by what it does. That is, the
behavior that causes harm and injury to the members of the group and/
or others in society.
Do you ever find that complaints you receive about a group or person
are false and/or unfounded?
Yes, there have been times that families have over-reacted to a group
or situation that later proved to be benign and/or not dangerous or
destructive. This has often occurred regarding claims about "Satanism"
and/or so-called "Satanic ritual abuse". Such claims have often been
based upon supposed "recovered or repressed memories" gathered through
therapy sessions. This is a controversial practice and/or process that
relies upon a theory, which has been increasingly rejected as
unscientific and unproven in the courts and also rejected by many
mental health professionals.
Again, it is crucial to understand that behavior is the issue and not
belief. When those concerned about someone's group involvement find
clearly destructive behavior, this is an issue for legitimate concern.
But when a group is simply perceived as strange, eccentric and/or even
personally repugnant, such as some adherents to "Satanism," this does
not mean the group is destructive. Satanists, just as Christians, Jews
and Moslems, have religious rights that are constitutionally
protected. I have rarely found that the claims of horrific acts
attributed to "Satanic" conspiracies can be objectively proven. And
those destructive acts that were proven were rather examples of
isolated and atypical groups. This has been substantiated again and
again by law-enforcement reports and numerous studies.
Destructive Cult
What are the characteristics of a destructive "cult" or group?
Margaret Singer, clinical psychologist and once Professor of
Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley was the
preeminent cult expert of the 20th Century. She counseled and/or
interviewed thousands of people affected by controversial groups often
called "cults." Dr. Singer offered meaningful definitions of unsafe
groups or "cults" in her book Cults in our Midst.
According to Singer, unsafe groups or cults can generally be defined
by three factors:
The origin of the group and role of the leader.
The power structure, or relationship between the leader[s] and the
followers.
The use of a coordinated program of persuasion, which is called
thought reform [or more commonly, 'brainwashing'"].
What typifies an unsafe group or "cult's" leadership and structure?
Again, a good working understanding has been provided by Margaret
Singer: "In most cases, there is one person, typically the founder at
the top...decision making centers in him or her." Illustrating the
structure Singer says, "imagine an inverted T. The leader is alone at
the top and the followers are all at the bottom". There is little if
any accountability and as Singer says, "the overriding philosophy...is
that the ends justify the means, a view that allows [such groups] to
establish their own brand of morality, outside normal society
bounds".
What specifically would define a group or "cult" as unsafe?
Unsafe groups or "cults" often abuse and exploit their members. This
abuse may occur in the areas of finances, physical labor, child abuse
and neglect, medical neglect, sexual exploitation and/or psychological
and emotional abuse.
Extreme examples of destructive behavior have been historically
recorded in such groups as the Waco Davidians, the cult suicides of
"Heaven's Gate" and the Solar Temple of Switzerland and the suicide/
murder of almost one thousand members of the Peoples Temple ordered by
Jim Jones. In 1995 the Japanese cult known as Aum, the followers of
Shoko Asahara, gassed the subways of Tokyo with the deadly poison gas
sarin, killing twelve and injuring thousands of citizens. Perhaps the
most deaths ever caused by a single cult in modern history can be
attributed to the "Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments" of Uganda. Shortly after the turn of the century 780
bodies were found after a reign of terror that included murder and
possibly mass suicide. But due to the isolated circumstances of the
group many believe all the bodies will never be recovered, placing the
actual loss of life much higher, possibly greater than Jonestown.
Are all unsafe or destructive groups isolated in compounds?
No. Isolation can often be less obvious. Many destructive groups
create isolation through their control of a member's associations with
outside society. The group members may be discouraged from associating
with outsiders, especially those who express a negative attitude about
the group and its leader(s). Isolation can also be fostered by a kind
of hyper-activity that allows little time for family, outside
interests or friendships. Marshall Applewhite the leader of "Heaven's
Gate" controlled his followers through carefully subscribed daily
schedules and regimentation, though the members were seemingly free to
come and go at anytime. This regimentation and control took place in a
mansion within a plush California neighborhood, not an isolated
compound.
Doesn't the First Amendment protect these groups?
Yes. The First Amendment certainly protects all religious groups in
the United States in the areas of freedom of belief and speech, but
this is not blanket protection for any actions done in the name of
those beliefs. If a group breaks the law they are accountable for
their actions just like everyone else. Psychiatrist and cult expert
John Clark once commented, "The First Amendment is not a suicide
pact."
Isn't criticism of so-called "new religious movements," a form of
religious bigotry, hatred and persecution?
Americans historically have been sensitive to the issue of religious
intolerance since before the Revolutionary War. Roger Williams, a
dissenter who disagreed with the Puritans founded Rhode Island as a
safe haven for religious minorities. But the members of many groups
called "cults" often characterize virtually any criticism of their
behavior as religious "persecution," "intolerance" and/or "bigotry."
It seems that many so-called "cults" have forgotten that the First
Amendment is expansive and protects both their freedoms and the free
speech of their critics. Margaret Singer once said that "The conduct
of certain cults, however, especially groups that tend to overtly
exploit and abuse people and engage in deceptive, unethical, and
illegal conduct, does provoke the surrounding society into a critical
stance."
Destructive Cult Dynamics
What types of people become leaders of unsafe and/or destructive
groups?
Many cult leaders seem to be narcissistic personalities often
fantasizing about messianic visions that will change the course of
human history, while appearing to have little if any conscience. Some
make claims that they are the exclusive voice of God, "psychic"
connections to historical figures, or aliens from outer space. Often
these leaders seem deeply delusional and disturbed and some have been
called psychopaths. Marshall Applewhite, the leader of "Heaven's Gate"
was once confined to a mental hospital.
Extreme examples of destructive and delusional behavior by cult
leaders such as Jim Jones, David Koresh and Shoko Asahara have caused
many mental health professionals to question their sanity. Still
others simply may be opportunistic con men or women, exploiting their
followers for personal profit and self-interest.
What kind of relationship do destructive group leaders have with their
followers?
The leadership most often defines what is right and wrong and group
followers are essentially expected to defer making meaningful value
judgments regarding almost any issue of significant importance. And
any member of the group who questions or doubts the authority of the
leader is likely to be labeled wrong, rebellious, suppressive,
negative and in some situations even "demon possessed" or "satanic".
No area of a member or follower's life appears to be immune from such
a group's scrutiny and/or criticism. A kind of learned dependency
often develops. Group followers appear highly dependent upon their
leaders to resolve problems and provide them with an ongoing sense of
clarity and purpose.
Are there any meaningful boundaries in such relationships?
No. It seems that most destructive cult leaders do not provide
appropriate boundaries regarding the relationship they have with their
followers. Because of this and other factors such as learned
dependency, thought reform and little if any meaningful
accountability, a formula for abuse and exploitation often exists in
such group relationships.
Also, the adulation of followers may have a negative impact upon the
leader(s), almost like an intoxicating and addictive drug. This may
deepen a codependent relationship between the leader and his or her
followers. And such virtual worship may also provide seeming proof to
some cult leaders that their grandiose delusions of greatness, power
and absolute authority are true. The more obedience and adulation such
leaders receive, the more they may want and eventually require. This
may then become the foundation for ever-escalating bizarre and/or
destructive behavior.
Destructive Cult Mindset
Is there actually a kind of mindset within potentially unsafe or
destructive groups?
Yes. There seems to be a typical mindset within most destructive
cults. This is often characterized by black and white thinking, a low
tolerance of ambiguity and a relentlessly judgementa1 attitude.
Members of such a group often think in "we, they" opposing terms
regarding those outside their group. This mindset frequently produces
feelings of superiority and/or spiritual elitism, claims of supposed
"persecution" and unreasonable fears. These fears typically concern
the outside world and the consequences of disagreeing with or leaving
the group.
How is such a mindset achieved?
Most often destructive cults, groups and/or leaders are able to shape
a mindset based upon control of communication, association, and
information through hyperactivity and/or isolation. This in turn
provides the basis for further control of behavior, emotions and
thinking, which has been called "mind control." This is frequently a
gradual step-by-step process that includes facets of psychological
persuasion and the principles of influence.
Destructive Cult Control
How can cults use communication to control people?
One example is through "loading the language," a feature of thought
reform, characterized by thought terminating cliches. Such cliches are
easily memorized phrases and terms that essentially become
communication shortcuts or "ultimate terms." This can have the effect
of stopping critical thinking and independent analysis, essentially
restricting and ultimately often constricting the mind.
How can cults control information?
Information is controlled in many cults by creating strict rules and/
or guidelines regarding such things as books and outside reading,
television, movies, radio, music and often even restricting
associations with anyone who might express independent ideas, doubts
or negative feelings about the group. The group and its leader(s) thus
may become much like a filter, supposedly needed to help eliminate the
"pollution", "poisons" and negativity of the outside world.
How can hyperactivity or isolation contribute to cult control?
When people are busy with group activities there may be little if any
meaningful time away from the group, except for work, school or sleep.
Group members are thus often cut off and isolated from any outside
frame of reference or objective feedback. They become constrained
through their largely exclusive associations within the group, this
may also include being substantially removed from family and old
friends. All these factors can create a kind of vacuum regarding any
meaningful critical analysis. And then the group and/or its leadership
fills that vacuum with its own perspective and agenda.
How is "coercive persuasion" really different from normal persuasion?
Essentially, coercive persuasion relies largely upon thought reform
techniques and may also utilize unreasonable fear to compel people to
change. Through such a process many can be changed without their
knowledge and/or informed consent. This is done in a rigid way that
frequently precludes any meaningful exchange of ideas, is fairly one-
sided and seems to have little respect for differences. Margaret
Singer clinical psychologist and author of the book "Cults in Our
Midst" made distinctions between various types of persuasion such as
education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination and thought
reform.
What "unreasonable fears" do many cult members have?
These are fears often not based upon objective reality, such as
bizarre conspiracy theories, baseless projections of an impending
catastrophe, crisis and/or physical danger. Members of some cult
groups are warned of an extreme punishment beyond death proscribed
specifically for those who refuse to submit to the group and its
leader. They may also be told stories about those who left or were
disobedient and how their lives were tragically ended or impacted as a
direct result. Many of these stories may be made up, grossly
exaggerated and/or distorted, but they reflect an implicit purpose,
which is to intimidate members and thus retain them within the group.
What is "undue influence"?
This can be seen as an individual who becomes so dependent upon others
through cult indoctrination that they often make decisions which are
not in their own best interest. Our judicial system has made such
distinctions by determining diminished capacity, which subsequently
may be exculpatory regarding responsibility and/or mitigate sentencing
concerning a crime.
There is a notable difference between the levels of influence employed
through education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination and thought
reform. Undue influence usually is the result of unethical and/or
improper techniques of persuasion that is administered by an
authoritarian figure and/or hierarchical structure.
Some have offered the analogy that the Marines are not unlike
authoritarian cults and that they also use undue influence to train
and control recruits. However, there are stark and basic differences
between the operation and conduct of the Marines and most destructive
cults in such areas as meaningful accountability, the ability to
address grievances and communication.
Can one individual gain destructive "cult-like" control of another
person?
Yes. It is possible for a cult to be composed of one leader and only
one follower. This also can be seen as an abusive/controlling
relationship, which is a one-on-one deliberately manipulative and
exploitative intimate relationship between two people. Some marriages
or domestic partnerships where there is spousal abuse may be
characterized and explained in this way. This is sometimes called a
"cultic relationship."
Those dominated within abusive/controlling relationships may be so
completely under the influence of another person that they appear to
have lost the ability to think independently, much like the member of
a destructive cult. The person in submission is also frequently
isolated from family and friends and becomes very dependent upon the
dominant authority figure.
Destructive Cult Recruitment
Are cults and other controversial groups deceptive when they recruit
people?
Yes, they often are. They may employ deception in the recruitment
process by using front organizational names and/or not clearly
identifying themselves or their purpose. For example, a religious cult
may not even initially advise potential recruits that it has a
religious agenda. Groups with controversial leaders may withhold that
information and also keep their more radical beliefs hidden or secret
until they achieve more influence and compliance thorough their
indoctrination process.
What types of people are recruited by cults or become involved in
potentially unsafe or destructive groups and relationships?
All types of people. Individuals from strong and troubled families,
with and without histories of psychological problems. People who have
had and have not had drug problems, with a solid or weak religious
background, the educated and uneducated, the wealthy, poor, middle
class, intelligent and not so intelligent.
One of the myths about cult involvement is that a certain type of
person is more vulnerable. Another myth is that healthy, strong,
intelligent well-educated people from good families don't become
involved. Or, that somehow if someone has clearly defined religious
convictions they cannot be recruited. These theories have never been
proven or substantiated through research. In fact, repeated studies
continue to indicate a wide and varied background for cult recruits.
Frankly, cults are quite good at persuasion and indoctrination; it's
their stock and trade. And most people simply are not prepared, either
through education and personal experience, to be sensitive to the
possible impact of cult methodology.
The truth is, almost anyone could potentially become involved with an
unsafe or destructive group. We are all especially suggestible at
certain times, when depressed, lonely, during an awkward transition,
when within a new environment such as a college campus away from home,
after a romantic breakup, death in the family or some other personal
problem or ordeal. Since all people have such experiences, we all have
periods of vulnerability. And many destructive cults/groups have honed
their skills, timing and focused their programs to exploit such
situations as opportunities for recruitment.
But aren't these people just weak and stupid?
No. As previously mentioned cult recruits are often caught at a
particularly vulnerable time and probably did not recognize the
warning signs necessary to make a more balanced and informed decision.
In everyday life this can be seen to some extent when people make
poorly informed decisions largely based upon the influence of slick
advertising and sales gimmicks. There are many examples of such
successful, but often unethical, methods of persuasion through high-
pressure car deals, land and stock swindles, misleading infomercials
and boiler room phone solicitations.
Many intelligent and successful celebrities and stars have become
involved with groups that have been called "cults," such as Madonna,
Tom Cruise , Elizabeth Taylor and John Travolta.
Specifically because these well-known personalities are so strong and
compelling, some have been used to promote controversial groups and
defend them. Ironically, the very reason they are useful to such
groups is the public admiration and respect they enjoy and the
perception that they are role models and often trendsetters.
People are often frustrated and anxious about the world around them.
And most of us seem to have a need for answers, security, a sense of
control, a feeling of belonging and a desire for personal recognition.
Today there are millions of "true believers," who faithfully accept
psychics, UFOs, angels, questionable multi-level marketing schemes,
political extremism, conspiracy theories and demagoguery. People often
find things to believe in that fulfill a need for explanation about an
increasingly complex world. At a time of crisis such beliefs may also
fill a personal void. Personal voids, burning questions and the need
for answers are not unique to any single type of person, instead they
appear to be part of the human condition.
If such a system exists to coerce, persuade, influence and control
people, then why doesn't somebody use it to take over a nation or the
world?
This has already happened. The politics of fear, control of the
environment and manipulation of both information and communication has
been used successfully to control nations. Hitler's Germany, Stalin's
Russia, Mao's China, the Ayatollah's Iran and Sadam's Iraq are just a
few examples. Such intense influence and control allowed Hitler to set
the stage for the Holocaust.
Many dictators have historically been labeled as "megalomaniacs" and
"psychopaths." They are not unlike destructive cult leaders, who often
have messianic pretensions and delusions about world influence.
Movements such as Nazism, Stalinism and Maoist China can be seen as
cults that fit well within the criteria advanced by Robert Jay Lifton
in his paper concerning "cult formation." Hitler, Stalin and Mao were
all "charismatic leader[s] who increasingly be[came] an object of
worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained
the[ir] group[s] los[t] power". These leaders also employed obvious
thought reform techniques and exploited their followers.
In the United States during the "Red Scare" of the 50s there was a
mindset that came be known as "McCarthyism." This mindset produced
overwhelming intimidation, information control, propaganda and
unreasonable fear. During that bleak era of American history Senator
Joseph McCarthy dominated and profoundly influenced the thinking of a
nation.
The Rick A. Ross Institute
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Copyright 9 1999 Rick Ross
http://www.rickross.com/faq.html
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
The University of North Carolina Press/Chapel Hill and London
By Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.
Below is an edited excerpt from Chapter 22 of Robert Jay Lifton's
book,"Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of
'Brainwashing' in China." Lifton, a psychiatrist and distinguished
professor at the City University of New York, has studied the
psychology of extremism for decades. He testified at the 1976 bank
robbery trial of Patty Hearst about the theory of "coercive
persuasion." First published in 1961, his book was reprinted in 1989
by the University of North Carolina Press. Scroll down to the read the
chapter.
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Chapter 22: Ideological Totalism
Topics
Milieu Control
Mystical Manipulation
The Demand for Purity
The Cult of Confession
The "Sacred Science"
Loading the Language
Doctrine Over Person
The Dispensing of Existence
A discussion of what is most central in the thought reform environment
can lead us to a more general consideration of the psychology of human
zealotry. For in identifying, on the basis of this study of thought
reform, features common to all expressions of ideological totalism, I
wish to suggest a set of criteria against which any environment may be
judged - a basis for answering the ever-recurring question: "Isn't
this just like 'brainwashing'?"
These criteria consist of eight psychological themes which are
predominant within the social field of the thought reform milieu. Each
has a totalistic quality; each depend upon an equally absolute
philosophical assumption; and each mobilizes certain individual
emotional tendencies, mostly of a polarizing nature. In combination
they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or
exhilarate, but which at the same time poses the gravest of human
threats.
Milieu Control
The most basic feature of the thought reform environment, the
psychological current upon which all else depends, is the control of
human communication. Through this milieu control the totalist
environment seeks to establish domain over not only the individual's
communication with the outside (all that he sees and hears, reads or
writes, experiences, and expresses), but also - in its penetration of
his inner life - over what we may speak of as his communication with
himself. It creates an atmosphere uncomfortably reminiscent of George
Orwell's 1984.
Such milieu control never succeeds in becoming absolute, and its own
human apparatus can - when permeated by outside information - become
subject to discordant "noise" beyond that of any mechanical apparatus.
To totalist administrators, however, such occurrences are no more than
evidences of "incorrect" use of the apparatus. For they look upon
milieu control as a just and necessary policy, one which need not be
kept secret: thought reform participants may be in doubt as to who is
telling what to whom, but the fact that extensive information about
everyone is being conveyed to the authorities is always known. At the
center of this self-justification is their assumption of omniscience,
their conviction that reality is their exclusive possession. Having
experienced the impact of what they consider to be an ultimate truth
(and having the need to dispel any possible inner doubts of their
own), they consider it their duty to create an environment containing
no more and no less than this "truth." In order to be the engineers of
the human soul, they must first bring it under full observational
control.
Mystical Manipulation
The inevitable next step after milieu control is extensive personal
manipulation. This manipulation assumes a no-holds-barred character,
and uses every possible device at the milieu's command, no matter how
bizarre or painful. Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific
patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear
to have arisen spontaneously, directed as it is by an ostensibly
omniscient group, must assume, for the manipulated, a near-mystical
quality.
Ideological totalists do not pursue this approach solely for the
purpose of maintaining a sense of power over others. Rather they are
impelled by a special kind of mystique which not only justifies such
manipulations, but makes them mandatory. Included in this mystique is
a sense of "higher purpose," of having "directly perceived some
imminent law of social development," and of being themselves the
vanguard of this development. By thus becoming the instruments of
their own mystique, they create a mystical aura around the
manipulating institutions - the Party, the Government, the
Organization. They are the agents "chosen" (by history, by God, or by
some other supernatural force) to carry out the "mystical imperative,"
the pursuit of which must supersede all considerations of decency or
of immediate human welfare. Similarly, any thought or action which
questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower
purpose, to be backward, selfish, and petty in the face of the great,
overriding mission. This same mystical imperative produces the
apparent extremes of idealism and cynicism which occur in connection
with the manipulations of any totalist environment: even those actions
which seem cynical in the extreme can be seen as having ultimate
relationship to the "higher purpose."
At the level of the individual person, the psychological responses to
this manipulative approach revolve about the basic polarity of trust
and mistrust. One is asked to accept these manipulations on a basis of
ultimate trust (or faith): "like a child in the arms of its mother."
He who trusts in this degree can experience the manipulations within
the idiom of the mystique behind them: that is, he may welcome their
mysteriousness, find pleasure in their pain, and feel them to be
necessary for the fulfillment of the "higher purpose" which he
endorses as his own. But such elemental trust is difficult to
maintain; and even the strongest can be dissipated by constant
manipulation.
When trust gives way to mistrust (or when trust has never existed) the
higher purpose cannot serve as adequate emotional sustenance. The
individual then responds to the manipulations through developing what
I shall call the psychology of the pawn. Feeling himself unable to
escape from forces more powerful than himself, he subordinates
everything to adapting himself to them. He becomes sensitive to all
kinds of cues, expert at anticipating environmental pressures, and
skillful in riding them in such a way that his psychological energies
merge with the tide rather than turn painfully against himself. This
requires that he participate actively in the manipulation of others,
as well as in the endless round of betrayals and self-betrayals which
are required.
But whatever his response - whether he is cheerful in the face of
being manipulated, deeply resentful, or feels a combination of both -
he has been deprived of the opportunity to exercise his capacities for
self-expression and independent action.
The Demand for Purity
In the thought reform milieu, as in all situations of ideological
totalism, the experiential world is sharply divided into the pure and
the impure, into the absolutely good and the absolutely evil. The good
and the pure are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions which
are consistent with the totalist ideology and policy; anything else is
apt to be relegated to the bad and the impure. Nothing human is immune
from the flood of stern moral judgments. All "taints" and "poisons"
which contribute to the existing state of impurity must be searched
out and eliminated.
The philosophical assumption underlying this demand is that absolute
purity is attainable, and that anything done to anyone in the name of
this purity is ultimately moral. In actual practice, however, no one
is really expected to achieve such perfection. Nor can this paradox be
dismissed as merely a means of establishing a high standard to which
all can aspire. Thought reform bears witness to its more malignant
consequences: for by defining and manipulating the criteria of purity,
and then by conducting an all-out war upon impurity, the ideological
totalists create a narrow world of guilt and shame. This is
perpetuated by an ethos of continuous reform, a demand that one strive
permanently and painfully for something which not only does not exist
but is in fact alien to the human condition.
At the level of the relationship between individual and environment,
the demand for purity creates what we may term a guilty milieu and a
shaming milieu. Since each man's impurities are deemed sinful and
potentially harmful to himself and to others, he is, so to speak,
expected to expect punishment - which results in a relationship of
guilt and his environment. Similarly, when he fails to meet the
prevailing standards in casting out such impurities, he is expected to
expect humiliation and ostracism - thus establishing a relationship of
shame with his milieu. Moreover, the sense of guilt and the sense of
shame become highly-valued: they are preferred forms of communication,
objects of public competition, and the basis for eventual bonds
between the individual and his totalist accusers. One may attempt to
simulate them for a while, but the subterfuge is likely to be
detected, and it is safer to experience them genuinely.
People vary greatly in their susceptibilities to guilt and shame,
depending upon patterns developed early in life. But since guilt and
shame are basic to human existence, this variation can be no more than
a matter of degree. Each person is made vulnerable through his
profound inner sensitivities to his own limitations and to his
unfulfilled potential; in other words, each is made vulnerable through
his existential guilt. Since ideological totalists become the ultimate
judges of good and evil within their world, they are able to use these
universal tendencies toward guilt and shame as emotional levers for
their controlling and manipulative influences. They become the
arbiters of existential guilt, authorities without limit in dealing
with others' limitations. And their power is nowhere more evident than
in their capacity to "forgive."
The individual thus comes to apply the same totalist polarization of
good and evil to his judgments of his own character: he tends to imbue
certain aspects of himself with excessive virtue, and condemn even
more excessively other personal qualities - all according to their
ideological standing. He must also look upon his impurities as
originating from outside influences - that is, from the ever-
threatening world beyond the closed, totalist ken. Therefore, one of
his best way to relieve himself of some of his burden of guilt is to
denounce, continuously and hostilely, these same outside influences.
The more guilty he feels, the greater his hatred, and the more
threatening they seem. In this manner, the universal psychological
tendency toward "projection" is nourished and institutionalized,
leading to mass hatreds, purges of heretics, and to political and
religious holy wars. Moreover, once an individual person has
experienced the totalist polarization of good and evil, he has great
difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner sensitivity to the
complexities of human morality. For these is no emotional bondage
greater than that of the man whose entire guilt potential - neurotic
and existential - has become the property of ideological totalists.
The Cult of Confession
Closely related to the demand for absolute purity is an obsession with
personal confession. Confession is carried beyond its ordinary
religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming
a cult in itself. There is the demand that one confess to crimes one
has not committed, to sinfulness that is artificially induced, in the
name of a cure that is arbitrarily imposed. Such demands are made
possible not only by the ubiquitous human tendencies toward guilt and
shame but also by the need to give expression to these tendencies. In
totalist hands, confession becomes a means of exploiting, rather than
offering solace for, these vulnerabilities.
The totalist confession takes on a number of special meanings. It is
first a vehicle for the kind of personal purification which we have
just discussed, a means of maintaining a perpetual inner emptying or
psychological purge of impurity; this purging milieu enhances the
totalists' hold upon existential guilt. Second, it is an act of
symbolic self-surrender, the expression of the merging of individual
and environment. Third, it is a means of maintaining an ethos of total
exposure - a policy of making public (or at least known to the
Organization) everything possible about the life experiences,
thoughts, and passions of each individual, and especially those
elements which might be regarded as derogatory.
The assumption underlying total exposure (besides those which relate
to the demand for purity) is the environment's claim to total
ownership of each individual self within it. Private ownership of the
mind and its products - of imagination or of memory - becomes highly
immoral. The accompanying rationale (or rationalization) is familiar,
the milieu has attained such a perfect state of enlightenment that any
individual retention of ideas or emotions has become anachronistic.
The cult of confession can offer the individual person meaningful
psychological satisfactions in the continuing opportunity for
emotional catharsis and for relief of suppressed guilt feelings,
especially insofar as these are associated with self-punitive
tendencies to get pleasure from personal degradation. More than this,
the sharing of confession enthusiasms can create an orgiastic sense of
"oneness," of the most intense intimacy with fellow confessors and of
the dissolution of self into the great flow of the Movement. And there
is also, at least initially, the possibility of genuine self-
revelation and of self-betterment through the recognition that "the
thing that has been exposed is what I am."
But as totalist pressures turn confession into recurrent command
performances, the element of histrionic public display takes
precedence over genuine inner experience. Each man becomes concerned
with the effectiveness of his personal performance, and this
performance sometimes comes to serve the function of evading the very
emotions and ideas about which one feels most guilty - confirming the
statement by one of Camus' characters that "authors of confessions
write especially to avoid confessing, to tell nothing of what they
know." The difficulty, of course, lies in the inevitable confusion
which takes place between the actor's method and his separate personal
reality, between the performer and the "real me."
In this sense, the cult of confession has effects quite the reverse of
its ideal of total exposure: rather than eliminating personal secrets,
it increases and intensifies them. In any situation the personal
secret has two important elements: first, guilty and shameful ideas
which one wishes to suppress in order to prevent their becoming known
by others or their becoming too prominent in one's own awareness; and
second, representations of parts of oneself too precious to be
expressed except when alone or when involved in special loving
relationships formed around this shared secret world. Personal secrets
are always maintained in opposition to inner pressures toward self-
exposure. The totalist milieu makes contact with these inner pressures
through its own obsession with the expose and the unmasking process.
As a result old secrets are revived and new ones proliferate; the
latter frequently consist of resentments toward or doubts about the
Movement, or else are related to aspects of identity still existing
outside of the prescribed ideological sphere. Each person becomes
caught up in a continuous conflict over which secrets to preserve and
which to surrender, over ways to reveal lesser secrets in order to
protect more important ones; his own boundaries between the secret and
the known, between the public and the private, become blurred. And
around one secret, or a complex of secrets, there may revolve an
ultimate inner struggle between resistance and self-surrender.
Finally, the cult of confession makes it virtually impossible to
attain a reasonable balance between worth and humility. The
enthusiastic and aggressive confessor becomes like Camus' character
whose perpetual confession is his means of judging others: "[I]5
practice the profession of penitent to be able to end up as a judge5
the more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you." The
identity of the "judge-penitent" thus becomes a vehicle for taking on
some of the environment's arrogance and sense of omnipotence. Yet even
this shared omnipotence cannot protect him from the opposite (but not
unrelated) feelings of humiliation and weakness, feelings especially
prevalent among those who remain more the enforced penitent than the
all-powerful judge.
The "Sacred Science"
The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic
dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of
human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition
(whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic
assumptions, and in the reverence which is demanded for the
originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word
itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however,
the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight
logic, of absolute "scientific" precision. Thus the ultimate moral
vision becomes an ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize
it, or to harbor even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only
immoral and irreverent, but also "unscientific." In this way, the
philosopher kings of modern ideological totalism reinforce their
authority by claiming to share in the rich and respected heritage of
natural science.
The assumption here is not so much that man can be God, but rather
that man's ideas can be God: that an absolute science of ideas (and
implicitly, an absolute science of man) exists, or is at least very
close to being attained; that this science can be combined with an
equally absolute body of moral principles; and that the resulting
doctrine is true for all men at all times. Although no ideology goes
quite this far in overt statement, such assumptions are implicit in
totalist practice.
At the level of the individual, the totalist sacred science can offer
much comfort and security. Its appeal lies in its seeming unification
of the mystical and the logical modes of experience (in psychoanalytic
terms, of the primary and secondary thought processes). For within the
framework of the sacred science, and sweeping, non-rational
"insights." Since the distinction between the logical and the mystical
is, to begin with, artificial and man-made, an opportunity for
transcending it can create an extremely intense feeling of truth. But
the posture of unquestioning faith - both rationally and non-
rationally derived - is not easy to sustain, especially if one
discovers that the world of experience is not nearly as absolute as
the sacred science claims it to be.
Yet so strong a hold can the sacred science achieve over his mental
processes that if one begins to feel himself attracted to ideas which
either contradict or ignore it, he may become guilty and afraid. His
quest for knowledge is consequently hampered, since in the name of
science he is prevented from engaging in the receptive search for
truth which characterizes the genuinely scientific approach. And his
position is made more difficult by the absence, in a totalist
environment, of any distinction between the sacred and the profane:
there is no thought or action which cannot be related to the sacred
science. To be sure, one can usually find areas of experience outside
its immediate authority; but during periods of maximum totalist
activity (like thought reform) any such areas are cut off, and there
is virtually no escape from the milieu's ever-pressing edicts and
demands. Whatever combination of continued adherence, inner
resistance, or compromise co-existence the individual person adopts
toward this blend of counterfeit science and back-door religion, it
represents another continuous pressure toward personal closure, toward
avoiding, rather than grappling with, the kinds of knowledge and
experience necessary for genuine self-expression and for creative
development.
Loading the Language
The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the
thought-terminating clich9. The most far-reaching and complex of human
problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-
sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become
the start and finish of any ideological analysis. In [Chinese
Communist] thought reform, for instance, the phrase "bourgeois
mentality" is used to encompass and critically dismiss ordinarily
troublesome concerns like the quest for individual expression, the
exploration of alternative ideas, and the search for perspective and
balance in political judgments. And in addition to their function as
interpretive shortcuts, these cliches become what Richard Weaver has
called "ultimate terms" : either "god terms," representative of
ultimate good; or "devil terms," representative of ultimate evil. In
[Chinese Communist] thought reform, "progress," "progressive,"
"liberation," "proletarian standpoints" and "the dialectic of history"
fall into the former category; "capitalist," "imperialist,"
"exploiting classes," and "bourgeois" (mentality, liberalism,
morality, superstition, greed) of course fall into the latter.
Totalist language then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing
jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly
judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in
Lionel Trilling's phrase, "the language of nonthought."
To be sure, this kind of language exists to some degree within any
cultural or organizational group, and all systems of belief depend
upon it. It is in part an expression of unity and exclusiveness: as
Edward Sapir put it, "'He talks like us' is equivalent to saying 'He
is one of us.'" The loading is much more extreme in ideological
totalism, however, since the jargon expresses the claimed certitudes
of the sacred science. Also involved is an underlying assumption that
language - like all other human products - can be owned and operated
by the Movement. No compunctions are felt about manipulating or
loading it in any fashion; the only consideration is its usefulness to
the cause.
For an individual person, the effect of the language of ideological
totalism can be summed up in one word: constriction. He is, so to
speak, linguistically deprived; and since language is so central to
all human experience, his capacities for thinking and feeling are
immensely narrowed. This is what Hu meant when he said, "using the
same pattern of words for so long5you feel chained." Actually, not
everyone exposed feels chained, but in effect everyone is profoundly
confined by these verbal fetters. As in other aspects of totalism,
this loading may provide an initial sense of insight and security,
eventually followed by uneasiness. This uneasiness may result in a
retreat into a rigid orthodoxy in which an individual shouts the
ideological jargon all the louder in order to demonstrate his
conformity, hide his own dilemma and his despair, and protect himself
from the fear and guilt he would feel should he attempt to use words
and phrases other than the correct ones. Or else he may adapt a
complex pattern of inner division, and dutifully produce the expected
clich9's in public performances while in his private moments he
searches for more meaningful avenues of expression. Either way, his
imagination becomes increasingly dissociated from his actual life
experiences and may tend to atrophy from disuse.
Doctrine Over Person
This sterile language reflects characteristic feature of ideological
totalism: the subordination of human experience to the claims of
doctrine. This primacy of doctrine over person is evident in the
continual shift between experience itself and the highly abstract
interpretation of such experience - between genuine feelings and
spurious cataloguing of feelings. It has much to do with the peculiar
aura of half-reality which totalist environment seems, at least to the
outsider, to possess.
The inspiriting force of such myths cannot be denied; nor can one
ignore their capacity for mischief. For when the myth becomes fused
with the totalist sacred science, the resulting "logic" can be so
compelling and coercive that it simply replaces the realities of
individual experience. Consequently, past historical events are
retrospectively altered, wholly rewritten, or ignored, to make them
consistent with the doctrinal logic. This alteration becomes
especially malignant when its distortions are imposed upon individual
memory as occurred in the false confession extracted during thought
reform.
The same doctrinal primacy prevails in the totalist approach to
changing people: the demand that character and identity be reshaped,
not in accordance with one's special nature or potentialities, but
rather to fit the rigid contours of the doctrinal mold. The human is
thus subjected to the ahuman. And in this manner, the totalists, as
Camus phrases it, "put an abstract idea above human life, even if they
call
11.03.2010 - 09:22
"Ripped Off by a Religious Fraud"
3HO Discussion e-Group
Abundant Life Church, Hillsborough, NC
"Corruption in the Church"
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Parent Watch
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Pokrov
Student Safety: Violence, Hazing and Other Campus Crimes
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Assemblies of God
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Avatar
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Simpos/Avatar--Harry Palmer
Bob Jones University
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Brahma Kumaris
Brahma Kumaris and so-called Raja Yoga: The Real Story (critical)
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William Branham
William Branham biography by Eric Pement
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Find Ben
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Chabad Lubavitch
Can the Rebbe be Moshiach?
Failed Messiah.com
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"A Note of Caution"
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New Jersey
Is Your Student Group Destructive? - Johns Hopkins University Campus
Ministries,
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Juan Pablo Delgado
Alfredo Prado and Juan Pablo Delgado Web blog
Discipleship
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Divine Light Mission (aka Elan Vital) founded
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Without the Guru by Michael Finch
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Eckankar
Surviving the Cult Eckankar
Emin Foundation
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Endeavor Academy
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Back to Top
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targetD"_blank"The Public Eye
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Cupp
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Iglesia ni Cristo (Filipino Church of Christ)
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Impact Trainings
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Influence and Persuasion
Stillpoint Press
A Practical Guide to Ultra-Authority
Primer of Practical Persuasion
Interaction Dynamics Systems/
James D. Brennan and Patrick McNally Group
The Brennan Cult of Hawaii Exposed
Kip McKean's "International Church of Christ"
(formerly known as both the "Boston Church of Christ" or "The Boston
Movement"
- not to be confused with either the United Church of Christ or
independent churches of Christ)
KipMcKean.com
Bewitchment, Tim and Carla Williams
ICOC Investigations.com
Leadership Lifestyles--New Covenant Ministries
Reclaim
Triumphing Over London Cults (Graham Cluley)
Reveal by Catherine Hampton
International Church Of Christ Vs. The Bible
Freedom's Ring
The International Churches Of Christ/Boston Movement: A Preliminary
Bibliography
CultsOnCampus.com
Isis Holistic Center
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Doc Bob's Jehovah's Witness Website
Women Awake, support group
Ex-JW/Reunited (United Kingdom)
Out of the Cocoon, Brenda Lee
Jesus Army
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JPUSA Diaspora site for critical thinking
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Used for Jesus
Ex-"Jews for Jesus" blog
"Keepers of the Covenant"
Their Hollow Inheritance
A Jewish Response to the Messianic Movement
Hawking God: A Young Jewish Woman's Ordeal in Jews for Jesus
Jews for Judaism
A Toxic Faith (about Stan Telchin)
Outreach Judaism, Tovia Singer
Jonestown--the People's Temple and Jim Jones
Jonestown Memorial
Remembering Jonestown, NPR
Michael Reid Ministries
Michael Reid Ministries, critical Web site
Kashi Ashram, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati
Ma Jaya and Kashi Ashram Revealed
Krishna/ISKCON
ISKCON Revival Movement discussion board
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The Truth about Human Potential Seminars
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Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, by Dennis King (book
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Legionaries of Christ
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Unity Publishing/Legionaries of Christ
REGAIN
Mahikari
Goseigen - a book of Revelations
Jesus Christ is Buried in Japan?
Manmin Joong-ang Church, Manmin World
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Critical information about Lee Jae-Rock & Manmin
Maranatha
Every Nation Exposed
Maranatha and Champions for Christ
Millennialism
Center for Millennial Studies
Miracle of Love
Miracle of Love - A Critical Response
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Momentus (aka Association for Christian Character
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Problems in Momentus--Messiah Lutheran Church
MonaVie
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Mormons
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20 Truths About Mormonism
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ex-Morninglanders
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Legal Principles of Multi Level Marketing
Multi Level Marketing: What it was, what it became, what it is today
The Mirage of Multi-Level Marketing
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Narconon
Narconon Exposed
Nation of Islam
Examining the Black Muslim Movement
New Acropolis
New Acropolis
New Alliance Party, NAP, CUIP, Social Therapy
--Fred Newman and Leonora Fulani
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Ex-IWP.org
Political Research Associates, Public Eye
A Cult By Any Other Name: The New Alliance
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The New Party Alliance: Dr. Fulani's Snake-Oil Show
New American Wing - James Vincent Randazzo - Fourth Way School
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New Covenant Church of God -- Arvika, Sweden -- Christopher Warren
New Covenant Church of God
New Frontiers International
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New Kadampa Tradition (NKT)
Western Shugden Society - unlocked
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Ontopsychology - Tonino Meneghetti
Ontopsychology--a critical page
Opus Dei
Forums on Opus Dei (English and Spanish)
Guide on Preventing Opus Dei Infiltration
"Opus Dei Awareness Network"
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The Ordo Templi Orientis
The Ordo Templi Orientis Phenomenon
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)
Paradise Springs Community Church
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ETC Ministries, Ken Parks
Ministry Warning
Pentecostal
Ex-Pentecostals.org
Origins of the Pentecostal Movement, ORU
20th Century Tongues: Faith or Fake?
People of Hope
The People of Hope N.J.
Perverted Justice, Xavier Von Erck (a.k.a. Phillip John Eide) founder
Corrupted Justice
Mike Peters -- "Indianapolis Cult"
Mike Peters -- "Indianapolis Cult"
Polygamists
Photos of FLDS compound in Texas
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The Process, Geis Process, Wayne Geis
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Radhasoami, Sant Mat and Shabd Yoga
Radhasoami Beas Secret History
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ExSatsangi Support Group
Raelians
Rael Free
Raelian Religion
Swami Rama - Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and
Philosophy
Son of Swami, A Website Dedicated to the Truth
Brahma Kumaris and Raja Yoga
Former members of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and Raja
Yoga
Ramtha/J.Z. Knight
Enlighten me Free -- former students of Ramtha
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Wellspring Retreat & Resource Center
Bill and Lorna Goldberg--Support Group
Daniel Shaw, CSW, New York City
Borderline Personality Disorder
The Therapist Locator
Ex-Cult Archive
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Reevaluation Co-Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling Resources Site (critical)
Religious Studies
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Religous Worlds
Revival Centers International
RC.cult.net
Sahaj Marg
Pitfalls of Spirituality
Sahaja Yoga
Sahaja Yoga:Facts and Warnings from Ex-Members
The Facts About Sahaja Yoga
Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba in Word and Action
Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed
Concerned former devotees of Sathya Sai Baba
Sai Baba Expose'
Barry Pittard blog about Sai Baba
Santeria
The Believers
Satanism?
Seeking Justice for Peter Ellis
Scientology
Cult Insider
Blown for Good, Marc Headley
My Billion Year Contract, Memoir of a former Scientologist
"Scientology Cult"
Ex-Scientologists Message Board
Ex-Scientology Kids
Buffalo Scientology Information
Jeremy Perkins: A Scientology Family Tragedy
Stop-Narconon.org
Suppressive Person Defense League
Study Tech--Scientology vs. Education
Narconon Exposed
ARS Week in Review, by Rod Keller
Lerma net.com: "Exposing the con"
The Fishman Affadavit
Reed Slatkin Financial Fraud
FACTNet
The Church of Scientology vs. the Net (Ron Newman)
Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz (David S.
Touretzky)
Operation Clambake
The Fishman Papers
Jeff Jacobsen's information about Scientology.
Lisa McPherson Memorial Page
"The Secret Library of Scientology"
Yahoo - "Scientology critics" page
The Secret Library of Scientology
Italian Scientology Critics Page
Secrets of Scientology: The E-Meter
Gooseberry Frauds (Scientology vs. William Jordan)
Self-Realization Fellowship
Is Self-Realization Fellowship a cult?
Walking Away from Self Realization Fellowship
SRF Walrus Discussion Board
Shepherd's Chapel and Arnold Murray
Watchman Fellowship Profile--Arnold Murray
Jesus People study of Arnold Murray
Siddha Yoga
Leaving Siddha Yoga
Skeptics
Skeptics Information Links
Miracle Mongers and their Methods, by Harry Houdini
Bay Area Skeptics
Skeptics Annotated Bibliography
Skeptics Society Web
Skeptic Dictionary
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Paranormal
The Skeptic
The Secular Web
James Randi
UFO Hoax
Urban Legends Archive
The Straight Dope Archives
Society of St. Pius The Tenth--SSPX
Sean O' Lachtnain"s Page
Agenda SSPX
Soka Gakkai (formerly known
as NSA or Nichirin Shoshu of America)
Toride--Victims of Soka Gakkai
Spirit of Truth and the Institute of Applied Ontology
Missing Deerfield, MST and IAO
Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy discussion group
R.G. Stair Ministries
The Net Team
Watchman Fellowship article
Straight Inc.
The Straights.com
Anonymity Anonymous
Suma Ching Hai
Opposing Views about Suma Ching Hai
Swami Shyam
Shyam Shadows: The dark side of Swami Shyam
Synanon
Synanon page by Paul Morantz
The Light on Synanon
Synergy Yoga
Truth about Synergy Yoga
Teen Boot Camps
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Free Youth
Teen Challenge
Teen Challenge Exposed
Investigating Teen Challenge
Telepathy
Uri Geller
Televangelists
Trinity Foundation Inc.
Terrorism
Violence Policy Center
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ANSER Institute
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Terrorism
US State Department, Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism
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Terrorism Research Center
Theosophy
Theosophy
Alice Bailey/Lucis Trust
Tilton, Robert - Fund and Games
Robert Tilton Fund and Games
Tony Alamo Ministries
Tony Alamo News (critical)
Totalitarianism
The Rise of Hitler and Nazism
Stalin Era Research and Archives Project
Totalitarianism Source Page
Transcendental Meditation
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New Book By Ex-Amma Devotee Exposes The Dark Side Of Amma
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
A newly released book by ex-Amma devotee Jovan Jones sheds light on
the dark side of the hugging saint. Chasing The Avatar is the true
story of one woman who spent two years living in the ashram, teetered
on the edge of sanity, and went head to head with darkness. Through
grace, she managed to get out of the ashram alive and with the
strength to share her story with the world. There is little doubt that
this book will be a blessing to ex-devotees, families of devotees
struggling with their loved ones involvement with the group, and
devotees who find themselves trapped in psychological, emotional, and
spiritual darkness. Several ex-devotees are currently reading this new
book and will return back with a full review. In the meantime, on
behalf of everyone who has suffered due to direct or indirect
involvement with the Amma group5.THANK YOU JOVAN for finally giving a
voice to those who live in fear of coming forward from the shadows.
BUY THE BOOK
Jovan reads Chapter 11, 3A House Swept Clean4
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Amma As A Darker Force-A New Visitors Opinion
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep2s clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. -Matthew 7:15
3The reason why people feel Amma has so much spiritual power is
precisely because she takes it from all the people worshiping her. She
makes you feel good when you hug her, because you are feeling all that
stolen life force emanating off of her.4 says a recent visitor to one
of the Amma programs who gained insight into the darker aspects of the
3hugging saint4.
Click Here For Full Article And Discussion by Stephanie Brail
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amma miracles, ammachi, ammaji, amritapuri, bhajans, charity, cult,
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Amma Relevant Excerpts From 1The Guru Papers2
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Excerpted from:
The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad
The following quotes are taken from Part One of the Guru Papers
and are deemed by ex-members to be strikingly accurate in describing
the dynamics of a cult guru.
3If an authority not only expects to be obeyed without
question, but either punishes or refuses to deal with those who
do not, that authority is authoritarian.4 (p.15)
3Gurus can arouse intense emotions as there is extraordinary
passion in surrendering to what one perceives as a living God.4
(p.33)
3In spiritual realms fear and desire can become
as extreme as they get.. When a living person becomes the focus
of such emotions, the possibility of manipulation is correspondingly
extreme.4 (p.41)
3In the East a guru is more than a teacher. He is a doorway
that supposedly allows one to enter into a more profound relationship
with the spiritual. A necessary step becomes acknowledging the
gurus specialness and mastery over that which one wishes
to attain. The message is that to be a really serious student,
spiritual realization must be the primary concern. Therefore,
one2s relationship with the guru must, in time, become one2s
prime emotional bond, with all others viewed as secondary. In
fact, typically other relationships are pejoratively referred
to as attachments.(p..49)
3So although most gurus preach detachment, disciples become
attached to having the guru as their center, whereas the guru
becomes attached to having the power of being others center.4
(p.50)
3The ways people deny and justify are similar: Since
supposedly no one who is not enlightened can truly understand
the motives of one who is, any criticism can be discounted as
a limited perspective. Also, any behavior on the part of the guru,
no matter how base, can be imputed to be some secret teaching
or message that needs deciphering.4
By holding gurus as perfect and thus beyond ordinary explanations,
their presumed specialness can be used to justify anything. Some
deeper, occult reason can always be ascribed to anything a guru
does: The guru is said to take on the karma of others, and that
is why his body has whatever problems it has. The guru is obese
or unhealthy because he is too kind to turn down offerings: besides,
he gives so much that a little excess is understandable. He punishes
those who disobey him not out of anger but out of necessity, as
a good father would. He uses sex to teach about energy and detachment.
He lives an opulent life to break people2s simplistic preconceptions
of what ego-loss should look like; it also shows how detached
and unconcerned he is about what others think. For after all,
Once enlightened, one can do anything. Believing
this dictum makes any action justifiable.4
People justify and rationalize in gurus what in others would
be considered unacceptable because they have a huge emotional
investment in believing their guru is both pure and right.4
(p.52)
3That interest in one2s own salvation is totally
self-centered is a conundrum rarely explored.4 (p.54)
3So disciples believe they are loved unconditionally, even
though this love is conditional on continued surrender. Disciples
in the throes of surrender feel they have given up their past,
and do not, consciously at least, fear the future. . . Feeling
totally cared for and accepted, at the universe2s center,
powerful, and seemingly unafraid of the future are all achieved
at the price of giving one2s power to another, thus remaining
essentially a child.4 (p56)
3It is not at all unusual to be in an authoritarian relationship
and not know it. In fact, knowing it can interfere with surrender..
Any of the following are strong indications of belonging to an
authoritarian group:
1. No deviation from the party line is allowed. Anyone who has
thoughts or feelings contrary to the accepted perspective is made
to feel wrong or bad for having them.
2. Whatever the authority does is regarded as perfect or right.
Thus behaviors that would be questioned in others are made to
seem different and proper.
3. One trusts that the leader or others in the group know what2s
best.
4. It is difficult to communicate with anyone not in the group..
5. One finds oneself defending actions of the leader (or other
members) without having firsthand knowledge of what occurred.
6. At times one is confused and fearful without knowing why. This
is a sign that doubts are being repressed.4 (p.57)
3The power of conversion experiences lies in the psychological
shift from confusion to certainty.4 (p.65)
3People whose power is based on the surrender of others
develop a repertoire of techniques for deflecting and undermining
anything that questions or challenges their status, behavior,
or beliefs. They ridicule or try to confuse people who ask challenging
questions.4 (p.66)
3Is experiencing intense energy a sign of spirituality,
or is the experience in the same vein as young ladies who swoon
in the presence of rock stars?4 (p.68)
3To be thought enlightened, one must appear not only certain
that one is, but certain about most everything else, too.4
(p.70)
3Gurus undercut reason as a path to understanding. When
they do allow discursive inquiry, they often place the highest
value on paradox. Paradox easily lends itself to mental manipulation.
No matter what position you take, you are always shown to be missing
the point; the point being that the guru knows something you do
not.4 (p.74)
3Their stance toward outsiders is of benign superiority.4
(p77)
3As long as the guru still sees the possibility of realizing
his ambitions, the way he exercises power is through rewarding
the enthusiasms of his followers with praise and positions in
his hierarchy. He also whets and manipulates desire by offering
carrots,and promising that through him the disciples
desires will be realized, possibly even in this lifetime. The
group itself becomes an echo of the guru, with the members filling
each other2s needs. Within the community there is a sense
of both intimacy and potency, and a celebratory, party-like atmosphere
often reigns. Everything seems perfect; everyone is moving along
the appropriate spiritual path. The guru is relatively accessible,
charming, even fun. All dreams are realizable-even wonderful
possibilities
beyond one2s ken.4 (p.78)
3People are especially vulnerable to charismatic leaders
during times of crisis or major life change.4 (p.87)
3People don2t want a second-rate guru; they want the
one who seems the best. Since purity is the standard measurement
of the gold or Greenwich meridian time of the guru world
each guru has to claim the most superlative traits. This
is naturally a breeding ground for hypocrisy, lies, and the
cultivation
of false images of purity. Gurus are thus forced to assume the
role of the highest, best, the most enlightened, the most loving,
the most selfless, the purest representative of the most profound
truths; for if they did not, people would go to one who does.
Consequently, it is largely impossible for a guru to permit himself
real intimacy, which in adults requires a context of equality..
All his relationships must be hierarchical, since that is the
foundation of his attraction and power.4 (p.88)
3Since adulation from any one person eventually becomes
boring, gurus do not need any specific disciple they need
lots of them. Gurus do give special attention to those with wealth
and power.4 (p.89)
3Gurus likewise do many things to ensure that their disciples
prime emotional allegiance is toward them. In the realm of sexuality,
the two prevalent ways control is exerted are through promulgating
either celibacy or promiscuity. Although seemingly opposite, both
serve the same function: they minimize the possibilities of people
bonding deeply with each other, thus reducing factors that compete
with the guru for attention.4 (p.92)
3Many gurus and spiritual authorities negate, make light
of, or even ridicule the use and value of Western psychotherapy
because its concepts of the unconscious undermine their authority
and power. To acknowledge that unconscious factors may be operative
in oneself means that one cannot be totally sure one is selfless.4
(p.102)
3A primary goal in therapy is to free clients from their
need to transfer unresolved issues onto others. This need makes
people particularly susceptible to authoritarian control. Good
therapists aim at being very conscious of how they deal with
transference.4
Because of the nature of the relationship which demands total
surrender, gurus do exactly the opposite. They cultivate and reward
transference, for a parental type of authority is at the very
core of the gurus power over disciples. The power to name,
arrange marriages, and dictate duties and behavior are ultimates
in parental authority, especially in traditional societies like
the East. To give someone the power to name or marry you is to
profoundly accept their parental role in defining who you are.
The ostensible motivation behind this has to do with an attempt
to break the ties of the past so the person can become new.
A deeper reason is that this aids the guru in becoming the center
of the persons emotional life, which facilitates surrender.4
(p.105)
3Successful gurus, rock stars, charismatic leaders of any
sort, experience the intensity of adulation amplified beyond most
peoples ken. This can make ordinary relationships pale
by comparison. Being the recipient of such adulation and devotion
is exceedingly addictive. Here addiction is used in its loose
sense to mean mechanically needing an on-going fix
of adulation to where it becomes the central focus of one2s
life. Adulation has powerful emotions for the sender as well,
and can be easily mistaken for love. It is likewise addicting
for the sender, as it is an easy route to feelings of passion.
Since adulation is totally a function of image, should the images
crack, adulation disappears, demonstrating that it is essentially
empty of real care.4 (p.112)
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: amma, amma criticism, amma doll,
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1Amma the Hugging Saint2: Mother-Cult Leader, U.N. Globalist
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
1Amma the Hugging Saint2: Mother-Cult Leader, U.N. Globalist
BY BRONTE BAXTER, AUG 25, 2008
What do stuffed dolls have to do with enlightenment? Lots, if you2re
into the cult of Amma, known also as Ammachi, Mata Amritanandamayi,
and 3the hugging saint.4
Amma2s devotees talk to dolls made in her image that are sold on Amma
retreats. They tell the doll their problems, seek its comfort, and
listen in their minds for its advice. Amma calls the devotees her
children, and clucks syllables like baby talk into their ear in her
trademark ritual of lining people up, watching them kneel before her,
then embracing them.
She tells them she is their mother and that she hears their prayers.
She says she2d no more charge them for her darshan (i.e., being in her
presence) than a mother would charge an infant for breast milk. Yet
insiders have estimated Amma rakes in upwards of 3 million dollars in
a 7-week tour, through donations and sales of items like her
toothbrush, fragments of a garment she has sat on, Amma dolls, Amma
posters, and books by devotees extolling her divinity.
Devotees believe Amma is a living incarnation of the being they
consider the supreme God: Kali in Hindu religion, who is depicted in
Indian art wearing a bloody necklace of human skulls but who somehow
translates to devotees as a loving maternal figure. Amma events
consist of childlike lectures on Hindu doctrines, Amma blessing water
which devotees then drink, hymn singing, worship ceremonies, and the
hugs. At some events, Amma wears a two-foot-high sparkling crown.
Amma marries people on stage, gives babies their first taste of solid
food, tells couples to break up or to stay together, and ordains some
of the faithful to abandon their family and live as monks in her
ashram. Amma teaches that love is all we need, and it is her divine
love that will save us.
In Seattle a couple of months ago, she predicted nuclear war and that
no child younger than 5 will live to adulthood after the year 2012.
After spreading fear and despair through such prophecies, she
announced that only meditation and self-effacing acts of charity can
possibly mitigate the sentence for humanity. 3Meditation4 means mantra/
obeisance meditation to the divine mother. Self-effacing charity means
donations to her organization and service to her cause.
At public sessions, devotees chant hymns to Amma that grow in volume
and frenetic intensity, gesticulating in unison with their arms in the
shape of an arc, from their midsection up and out towards Amma, who
sits on a dais in front of them. The words of the chant are 3Aum
Parashaktyai Namah.4 That translates to 3I bow down/ pay homage to the
Supreme Mother of the Universe.4 The arm gesture is body language for
surrendering one2s soul to Kali in the form Amma, her living
embodiment.
I am one of the moderators of the Ex-Amma Forum, a place where people
who2ve left the Amma cult come together to help each other heal from
their ordeal. The group is open to ex-followers, questioning devotees,
concerned family and friends of devotees, and people seeking more
information. I became involved with the forum when I watched a close
friend of mine grow farther and farther away from the person he once
was, the deeper he sank into Amma2s hypnotic embrace. On the forum,
I2ve read hundreds of first-person accounts of what people experience
with Amma, the side of her no one wants to talk about.
I2ve seen an email from her former joint-secretary alleging she cooks
the books, that the money she gathers for charity doesn2t go to the
charities she claims. I2ve read accounts by her former monks of the
unexplained wealth of Amma2s family, how her charity hospitals won2t
take the very poor because the poor don2t have money enough for
treatment. I2ve read about 3suicides4 and unexplained deaths of ashra=
m
devotees. So many dead bodies have appeared in the waters outside the
ashram that The Indian Express, New Delhi2s daily newspaper, printed
an account of local citizens demanding a police investigation into the
matter.
I2ve read of organ selling and beatings. I saw a video of Amma
performing a puja (worship ceremony) to a portrait of Sai Baba, the
guru who gives penis massages to his favorite boy disciples. I read a
letter from a former Amma monk alleging he was told by an Indian holy
man not to share what he knows about Amma if he values his safety.
Amma2s website sells pujas performed on behalf of the paying devotee
for prices ranging from $30 to $250. We read there an explanation of
what happens in Kali puja, which is performed 3on Amma2s birthstar4:
3The puja is offered to a lamp representing the Goddess5 The puja
starts with a worship of the Guru5 The central aspect of the puja is
the symbolic offering of the five elements of creation to God. Our
body is composed from these five elements5 The puja symbolizes the
surrender of the devotee to God5 Each element is represented by a
material symbol, such as flowers, or fire5 These are offered at the
foot of the lighted lamp. The desire of the devotee to offer his or
her surrender is effected by these symbolic offerings. During the
entire puja the temple resonates with the continuous chanting of the
holy names of Kali.4 (emphasis mine)
Amma2s PR is impeccable. She presents as 3the hugging saint,4 a
portrait of sweetness and universal love, and the media promotes her
unquestioningly as such. There has never been an investigation into
her movement, the dead bodies, where the money goes, or what is really
happening in her hospitals and orphanages in India.
In July, 2005, the United Nations awarded Amma with 3Special U.N.
Consultative Status,4 according to her website. She is one of 25 core
leaders in the United Nations Parliament of World Religions. Her
website contains over a dozen pages extolling the humanitarian work of
the U.N. One page compares the U.N.2s 3Millenium Goals4 with Amma2s
goals, which are word-for-word identical. (Click here to view both
documents.)
The ashram is among 30 Indian NGO2s to receive formal U.N.
affiliation, according to Amma2s website. 3This will provide
opportunities for joint collaboration4 between the U.N. and her
organization, it goes on to state. Amma2s website openly extols the
U.N. for its advances toward global government:
3The United Nations has been in the forefront of tackling problems as
they take on an international dimension, providing the legal framework
for regulating the use of the oceans, protecting the environment,
regulating migrant labor, curbing drug trafficking and combating
terrorism, to mention a few. This work continues today, with the
United Nations providing input into the trend towards a greater
centrality of international law in governing interaction across a wide
spectrum of issues.4 (emphasis mine)
Pulling all this together, what are we seeing here? Amma is a
globalist, working intimately with the U.N. to bring about its agenda.
That agenda is world regulation and control 6 a wolf that hides in the
sheep2s clothing of humanitarian ideals. The U.N.2s aim is a global
Orweillian state held in place by a world bank, a centrally controlled
media, a world 3peace-keeping unit4 (world army), technological
surveillance, and control of the world2s water, food and other
essential resources.
As one of the 25 core leaders in the U.N.2s religion parliament, Amma
supports and promotes these 3Big Brother4 goals. For anyone wondering
if the global conspiracy has a spiritual component, Amma provides
strong evidence.
My earlier articles in the 3Blowing the Whistle on Enlightenment4
series expose the real meaning of the kind of surrender that Amma and
other Indian gurus promote among their followers. It is surrender of
the personal self to the gods, whom Amma calls 3the Lord.4 Amma2s
hugs, her relics, her blessed water and food, are ways of infusing her
energy signature and that of the beings that possess her into the
bodies and minds of those who visit her, be they devotees or
unsuspecting guests.
Such an energy transfer helps devotees entrain with her vibration and
meld their minds and souls with the godhead 6 in other words, to
become assimilated, or possessed, by the same 3cosmic4 forces that
possess and work through Amma. This is called 3attaining
enlightenment4 or 3liberation4 6 a state where one no longer functi=
ons
as an independent individual but as a unit or tentacle of 3the Lord,4
the astral entities posing as gods who live off the energy of mankind.
What makes Amma both so successful and so sinister is the loving image
she hides behind. The media uses it to promote her far and wide. If it
seems remarkable that no investigative reporting has been done, that
no one from the mainstream media has questioned Amma2s PR, the mystery
evaporates when we recall who the mainstream media is run by these
days.
Large corporations have bought and own our press and television, and
dictate the 3news4 that journalists are permitted to report. Behind
the corporations, as behind our governments, lurk the ruling elite,
controlling world events from the sidelines by means of the puppets
they2ve put into power.
Why do I single out Amma among the dozens of gurus I could write
about? Because she is so popular, and so unquestioned. Even that guru-
busting website, Guruphiliac, seems to miss the shadiness of Amma,
voting her the 3least bad4 of the gurus. But Amma is one of the worst.
Powerful and successful, she ropes in new recruits by the thousands on
her yearly worldwide tours. Amma2s movement claims that the 3saint4
has hugged over 26-million people 6 people who often return as
devotees, singing her praises and donating to her coffers.
Amma2s brand of religion is a return to the infantile. She makes
babies of grown men and women, giving them dolls to babble to and
telling them she2s their mother. While speaking fine words about 3the
God within each of us,4 her actions teach something different.
Allowing people to pray to you, kneel to you, and worship you as God
Incarnate is not the behavior of someone who wants people to recognize
themselves as magnificent, powerful, incarnate expressions of God.
Amma2s disciples get their power from hugs, dolls, mantra obeisance,
and the group euphoria of retreats, not from the core of their own
being. They2re conditioned to believe that their inner self is less
than the glorious entity before them. They2re told, in fact, that
their inner self is flawed, selfish, proud, and must be destroyed.
Every time they bow down to Amma and the gods who live in her, they
close the door more tightly on the Infinite within themselves.
But then, that2s the whole idea now, isn2t it?
Bronte Baxter
9 Bronte Baxter 2008
Anyone may republish this article on another website as long as they
include the copyright and a back link to this site.
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Amma2s Magazine Bashes Gandhi
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
EXCERPTED FROM AMMACHI2S MAGAZINE, IMMORTAL BLISS
1ST QUARTER 2007, VOL 3, NO.1
FROM THE ARTICLE 3SECRETS OF DHARMA4 BY BR. SIVAMRITA CHAITANYA.
People like Carl Marx, Mahatma Ghandi, Leo Tolstoy and Albert Einstein
attained great goals in life but not peace within. Some of them were
theists, others were not. But what was common to them was that they
could not develop total faith in another human being, surrender their
egos, and seek a Masters advice in critical situations. Take the case
of Gandhi. He was totally committed to truth and non-violence
throughout his life and finally achieved his life mission of political
freedom for India from the British. During the freedom struggle he had
publicly declared that Britian could divide India into two countries
only over his dead body. But a sect of Muslims who wanted a separate
Islamic Nation instigated riots in some areas at the cost of many
innocent lives. Gandhi was in a great dilemma. If he upheld his
pledge, more people would be killed in riots, and his unyielding
principle of attaining freedom through non-violence would be a farce.
But if he consented to those Muslims, he would have to swallow his
words and give up truth for the sake of preventing a spread of
violence and death.
Gandhi was genuinely devoted to God. He led a pious life and inspired
millions to follow his path without ever holding any official post in
a political party, having no army or cadre under his command, not even
a permanent office structure or place of stay. He never assumed he had
any special or divine powers. He sought answers to problems in deep
prayer and meditation. But sadly, he failed to grasp the great
significance of seeking the guidance of a Self-Realized Master,
especially in a matter that would affect the lives of millions.
Though Gandhii used to read the Gita every day and had even penned a
commentary on it, he missed the fact that Arujna had, in a critical
situation, sought advice not from his consciousness but from his
brother-in-law and bosom friend.. He approached Krishna for the first
time as a disciple, and with all humility agrees to follow his advice
explicitly. Krishna convinces him to fight the war to maintain dharma
as an instrument in the hands of the Almighty, without hatred for or
attachment to anyone.
Gandhi, on the other hand, took the momentous decision to give up
truth for the sake of saving the innocent lives of a few, heeding the
small voice of his consciousness. But, when he consented to divide the
country, contrary to his wishes of gaining independence for India
through non-violent means, what happened surpassed any massacre in the
known history of the nation.. The tragic story did not end there. Even
today, the killing spree that started then goes on unchecked in the
form of wars and skirmishes between India and Pakistan, as
extermination of Hindus in Kashmir by militant groups, and as threats
of an atomic war loom ominously over the horizon..
Just imagine what would have been the course of history had Gandhi
consulted one of the contemporary Mahatmas who could have foreseen the
outcome of the historic decision. There were many, like Anandamayi
Ma, Maharshi, Nityananda, Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swami, Yogananda
and Mahayogi Aurobindo. He had met most of them and had great respect
for all of them.
The life of Gandhi is a clear example that however high a level of
morality we may maintain, or however sincerely we pray, the inner
voice can be the voice of the ego passing itself as God2s voice. The
knowledge that God is all-pervading cannot save us from sure sorrow
and death unless we drink from the fountain of wisdom5God2s living
human form, which is grace and compassion condensed.
(Article goes on to praise Amma and how blessed we are to have God in
a human body in the form of Amma)
Some questions this article raises:
#1: How do these views reflect in light of Amma having accepted the
Gandhi-King award for non-violence, for which there was much media
acclaim?
#2 The RSS was implicated in the assassination of Gandhi it has been
suggested that Ammas
ashram may have ties to the RSS. Is there a connection?
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: amma, amma criticism, amma doll,
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AIMS Hospital Horrors
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
The following has been excerpted from a post on the Ex-Amma forums. If
the original author is available and willing to update us as to how
this situation progressed and/or resolved itself please contact us
using the link in the right navigation bar. We make no claims as to
the legitimacy or accuracy of these allegations, but believe the
authors story deserves to be considered.
I am extremely disturbed by what I read. No
parent should have to go through such a nightmare. I
hope you are successful in convincing your daughter to
leave this cult. Recently, I had an experience which
was much worse. This god woman runs a hospital in
Kochi in India which is yet another scam. The
following is a brief description of the course of
events 5
My dad walked in for a routine health check
up on July 7,2007 at their health clinic and ended up
being convinced by their so called experts that he had
blocked arteries. The cult methodically isolated my
parents from myself and my sister who lives in Chicago
and much against our wishes my dad went in for an
angiogram and they screwed it up royally causing his
kidneys to go in to a shock. A routine test which
nearly proved fatal in his case. The doctor did not
perform a check to see whether he was allergic to the
dye used in the test. They covered this up and kept
telling my mother that it was his age (which was 70 by
the way). After he recovered from this my Dad wanted
to get out of there, but they would not release him
citing his purported heart condition.
Over the next week and half they systematically brainwashed my
mother into getting him to undergo the angioplasty on
August 2, 2007. His operation was scheduled for 2 AM
in the morning on Aug 2. At 10 PM in the night on Aug
5, my mother was urgently called in to the
administrator2s office to discuss my dad2s condition.
She is told he has a leaky valve and they need a
security deposit from her for $3500 to arrange for the
valve and a triple bypass. She was in no state to make
an informed decision, so she handed them the money.
The operation was completed as per schedule and then
the surgeon told her that everything was 1o.k.2 and
that my dad should be awake in the next 24 to 48 hrs.
She asked him about the valve, and the surgeon
expressed surprise and said there was nothing wrong
with his valves, and went on state that my dad had
20%, 30% and 15% blockage in 3 arteries which did not
actually merit a bypass. An angioplasty would have
sufficed, but they performed a bypass anyway.
My mother then confronted him with the security deposit
bill she was charged for the heart valve replacement
and the surgeon got irritated and told her to pick up
the matter with the hospital accounts department in
the morning. She went their first thing in the morning
and was told that they figured out the error but she
would not get the refund as it had been donated to the
amrita hospital trust which performs free surgery for
needy patients. My mother says it is a noble cause but
does agree the manner in which the donation was made
on her behalf and that too by deceit. They told her
they will look into it once the final bill is settled.
In the meanwhile my dad2s condition worsened and he
died due to post surgical complications.
My sister and i were enroute to Kochi from San Jose and Chicago
respectively when the death occured. My sister had a
GSM phone with her so she got the news while in
transit in Gatwick airport, so she immediately
starting pressing the hospital for a post mortem. She
was told it would be done. They embalmed the body
instead of performing the postportem. My sister
expressed dismay that the post mortem was conveniently
skipped. I was oblivious of all this since i was
boarding a flight out of Singapore while all of this
transpired. My sister wanted to visually inspect the
body but found it impossible since the whole body was
covered in a tape, like a mummy. Due to Hindu
religious beliefs she could not convince our family
members to undo the covering. My sister was alerted by
a colleague of hers at Smalley Bearings in Chicago
about organ donation racket that was associated with
this cult2s hospital. Her colleague wanted her to
visually inspect his back for any signs of kidney
removal. We have been trying to uncover what actually
transpired which a sent a man visiting a health clinic
to his death. At every step of the way we are
continuously being stonewalled by this cult and the
hospital. The hospital staff is totally uncooperative.
We are yet to see the refund for the heart valve which
was never replaced. We did not even get a breakdown of
the procedures done and none of the medical records
have been made available to either to us till date.
We are planning to take legal action here in California
and Illinois since Amrita hospital trust has an arm
here in Pleasanton California. Again my sympathies are
with you and sincerely hope that you get your daughter
back soon where she belongs. I know how difficult it
is to cope with a loved one2s loss.
Sincerely,
S. R. Nathan
San Jose, California
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A Critical Look At The Biography Of Amma Part I
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
I would like to bring to your kind attention the biography of Mata
Amritanadamayi written by swami Amritasvarupanada. This book was
published by: Mata Amritanadamayi Mission Trust, Amritapuri P.O.
Kollam, 690525, Kerala, India and printed by: Amrita Offset Printers,
Amritapuri. These companies are affiliated with Amma2s spiritual
organization and stated as Mata Amritanadaayi Mission Trust,
Amritapuri, Kollam in the book. Unfortunately there is no ISBN, this
being the nature of many books printed in India. 1988 was the first
edition, 3000 copies are stated to be sold or made (i2m unsure). 1989
another 3000, 1992 6 2000 copies, 1993 6 3000, 1995 6 3000, 1996
-6000, 1997 6 6000, 1998 6 3900, 1999 6 5000, 2000 6 5000, 2001 -
5000.
I2m not aware if this book is still around. I have read this book and
upon closer inspection have concluded some findings about Amma which I
would like to pose to the readers. It is up to you to judge.
I am also aware of mayi2s marketing technique which shows her
materializing water from milk. Apparently she is against doing
miracles and does this to show her powers, that was back when she was
still young. But the funny part is that she lets this marketing
gimmick to be done by allowing a 1remake documentary2 of this episode.
Can she demonstrate this power today under scientific scrutiny?
Anyway, there2s also another cheap gizmo which makes her to be the
hinted as the mother of the universe.
Both of these videos can be seen at
Indians deify people who help out or who have done good towards them.
This is a tendency in the people. Many also have revered siddhars and
souls who have realized god. But many do not understand that realizing
god/brahman is just a state, it is not becoming a god or a superman.
Let us now see what is written in her biography.
a) Sudhmani aka Ammachi2s parents are said to be initially non
understanding of the divine child2s spiritual fervour and said to
continually beat and torture the child.
But, in the autobiography though the above is presented there is
serious contradictions. For example, both of Sudhamani2s parents are
said to be highly spiritual nature. In page 20, chapter 1: From life
itself, it is written -
4 Many pious souls had been born in the Idamannel family. Sri
Velayudham was such a man. He was a very compassionate, truthful and
generous person, who firmly held the ideal of ahimsa. He would not
allow even a little rat to be killed. Velayudhan was married to
Srimathi Mathavi, a chaste and pious woman, whose habit was to get up
early in the morning before dawn in order to make flower garlands for
all the deities in the family shrine room55.
Sugunandan was their eldest sone of five children. Inspired by the
devotional atmosphere of his family, he became an ardent devotee of
lord krishna. When he was nine or ten years old, he began studying
Kathakali, a classical dance drama of Kerala, which depicts games and
playful diversion of gods and goddesses. While the actors present the
story through dance and mudras, singers narrate the story through
songs.
The character Sugunanadan most loved to portray was Sri Krishna. Once
during a Kathakali performance he became so identified with his role
of Krishna that he fell unconscious on the stage4.
From here we know that both Sudhamani2s (future amritanandamayi)
paternal grandparents were pious, the grandpa would have been taken
in by gandhi2s ahimsa preaching.
Sugunandan, Sudhamani2s dad is also portrayed as pious. But there is
also a interesting twist here. Ramakrishna was a saint from bengal.
He was from the 19th century and his advent was much much earlier, he
was also quite popularized due to Vivekananda who sailed to the west
and opened up Hindu thought to the curious west. Ramakrishna2s
biography is well known, it was recorded by many people, but the most
famous was by Mahendra gupta, also known as M. In it the child
Ramakrishna is said to be fond of theaterics, much like Sugunandan
also. In one of these, Ramakrishna becomes so absorbed with the role
of Shiva that he becomes unconscious. Here this unconsciousness to
the external environment is due to samadhi. The samadhi is
Ramakrishna2s total absorption on Shiva. The crowd is said to be
overcome with awe and a feeling that Ramakrishna is Shiva himself.
Sugunandan also like Ramakrishna acts in one of this form of theatre
acting out puranas like Kathakali. Like Ramakrishna he also becomes
absorbed on Sri Krishna and becomes unconscious. It should be noted
that Sugunandan was also a child like Ramakrishna when this is said
to have occured.
However, the author stops short of calling Sugunanda2s absorption
samathi and we also do not know how the crowd reacted to this. No
reason is given for sugunanda2s unconsciousness, though this is said
to have occured due to becoming very identified with his role of Sri
Krishna.
It is not difficult to see that the child Sudhamani would have
learned this antics from her father and later on also portrays
herself to be Sri Krishna. However so unlike her father, she goes a
step further by saying she herself is the divine incarnation.
Let us now look at a description of her mother Damayananti. In page
21 of the same chapter:
35.Damayananti came from a devout family, which performed religious
practices daily without fail. Her family even had its own temple.
From childhood, Damayananti had led a virtuos life. Her father,
Punyan, and mother, Karutta Kunya, were exemplary devotees of god.
The whole family atmospehre supported her in leading a religious
life. Damayanti was so pious that she was reverently called by the
villagers, 1pattathi amma2, or the 1brahmana lady. As devotion to god
was her focus in life, she would observe various religious vows
almost every day of the weeek. She frequently undertook fasting and
would break her fast by drinking the water of tender coconuts which
mysteriously feel from the trees.4
So here too Damayananti, Sudhamani2s mother and paternal grandparents
are portrayed as being very pious and spiritual. Damayananti, though
belonging to the fisher-caste clan, even earns the nickname -
brahmana lady due to this. The family even has their own temple.
As such it is not difficult to see that Sudhamani is exposed to
religion from very young.
Let us see Damayanti2s reaction when Sudhamani was born, from page 23
of the same chapter:
4 The babe had a beaming smile on her tiny face! The gaze of the
child penetrated Damayanti2s innermost heart and was never
forgotten.4
From here we can know that the child has had such an impact on
Damayananti from the day she was born. It pierced her innermost heart
and was never forgotten 6 these are very emotional claims. She
definitely remembered this long enough to be passed on.
In fact both parents have had visions of gods and goddesses before
Sudhamani was born, just like Ramakrishna2s parents too.
Page 22, Chapter 1:
4 During her pregnancy, Damayanti began having strange visions.
Sometimes she had wonderful dreams of Lord Krishna; at other she
beheld the divine play of Lord Shiva and Devi, the Divine Mother. One
night Damayanti dreamt that a mysterious figure came to entrust her
with an idol of Sri Krishna cast in pure gold. Around the same time
Sugunandan had a dream of the divine mother. As he was a devotee of
Lord krishna, he was unable to understand why devi should suddenly
appear to him. Upon relating his story to damayanti, he found that
she had recently had may strange visions also5..
One night Damayanti had a wonderful dream that she had given birth to
Krishna, and he was lying on her lap drinking her breast milk. 3
It is very rare that people dream of gods and goddesses during their
pregnancies and for their spouses to have likewise dream also. It is
surprising that Damayanti and Sugunandan couldn2t draw a conclusion
that the child might be divine. Unlike Ramakrishna2s parents,
Sudhamani2s parents however become barbaric later on.
It is said that the child had a dark blue color, due to this, it is
said in page 24 (chapter 1):
35.ironically, it was because of her blue-black complexion, that
Damayanti and the other family members would look upon the child with
great disdain. Their aversion for the dark child eventually led them
to treat her as the thankless servant of the family and relatives.4
The family is said to have consulted the doctors for this ailment of
dark skin when this child was born. Let us see what is written. In
page 23 & 24 of the chapter: 4 The parents were puzzled by the babe2s
dark blue complexion and the fact that the child lay in padmasana
(lotus posture), holding her fingers in chinmudra (the mudra
symbolizing oneness with godhood). They feared this dark blue shade
might be a symptom of some strange disease and that the peculiar
posture might be due to abnormal bone structure. Various doctors were
consulted. The fear of bone abnormality was allayed when the doctors
confirmed that there was no such handicap. As for the skin color, it
could not be attributed to heredity, since both damayanti and
sugunanadan were light tan in skin tone. Hence the parents were
advised not to bathe the child for six months in the hope that the
mysterious ailment would disappear.4
This is quite strange that both parents were not aware of padmasana2s
and chinmudra, being from quite a religious and spiritual background.
Moreover, if it was true that the baby was dark blue, how did the
parents didn2t know of the color being associated with Krishna?
It also adds further doubt to the above story when doctors are
actually said to advise the parents to not bathe the child for six
months. I am not aware if this is the standard remedy practiced by
Keralite doctors for 1mysterious skin ailments2. In fact this is
dubious only. By not bathing the child might most probably get skin
diseases like rashes, fungal infections and maybe other bacterial
infecions also.
Moreover, Sugunandan and Damayanti are both from the fishermen-caste.
These people go out in the sun to catch fish. We know that via
evolution, humans exposed to hot sun will finally assume a dark skin
color. This is because melanin which gives the tan blocks out harmful
sunrays. As such, most of these clanspeople are bound to be brown or
black only. In fact, there are many Indians who are pitch black. This
is not a rarity.Damayanti2s mom is known as Karutta Kunya which
translates to 1black child2. Please do not misunderstand my intention
as being color discriminatory. No, it is not my intention. Nature has
made melanin to block out sun2s rays. In humans near the equator,
they have over a very large period of time acquire characteristics
which help them survive in their surroundings. This is basic
evolution. As such it is difficult to imagine Sugunanda2s uproar
seeing his daughter2s skin. There are many dark skinned woman in the
village also. Sugunandan, his wife, his elder son and some relatives
are portrayed as quite barbarous in their treatment of Sudhamani.
This is hard to believe for one who is entrenched in religious
virtue, has a wife of religious virtue, has family background of
religiousity and also attains samadhi while nine years old. It is
said that samadhi changes one2s perception towards things
permanently. Yet Sugunandan has reverted (or portrayed) to become a
monster.
Let us look at further contradicitions in the book. In chapter 25 of
the same chapter, it is written;
4 The parents gave the name Sudhamani, 3Ambriosal Jewel4, to their
remarkable baby daughter.4 This hardly depicts someone who hates the
blue black baby.
Let us now look at the barbarous treatment of Sudhamani as given in
the book: 4 At ten, Sudhamani was fored to abandon her schooling..
From early morning before dawn until late at night she labored5.
(last paraghraph, page 37, chapter 2 6 the divine servant)
5..sudhamani toiled from three o2clock in the morning, as she set
to work cleaning the house, sweeping the compoung, fetching water,
cooking the food, tending the cows, milking them, washing the clothes
and scrubbing the cooking vessels.4 (2nd paragraph, page 37, chapter
2).
5.when her crying continued, Sugunandan eventually lost his
patience and flung (the baby Sudhamani) on the cot. Page 28, chapter
1.
It is difficult to understand the reason for the parents stopping the
brilliant child Sudhamani compared to their other children. This is
illustrated in page 27 6 chapter 1: 4 Her older classmates, including
her brother and sister, sometimes received harsh punishment from the
teacher for being unable to learn verses of poetry by heart.
Meanwhile, little Sudhamani, who was studying in the lower grade,
would melodiously sing the peoems and dance to the melody like a
delicate butterfly. all the teachers admired her and were amazed by
Kunju2s (sudhamani) astonishing memory. She scored full marks in all
subjects and was ranked first in class, despite the fact that she was
often absent because of household responsibilities. 3
In fact so harsh is the treatment that the child says the mother
treats her like a daughter-in-law and not a daughter. Traditionally
in some families, daughter-in-laws are maltreated for heavy dowry and
not bearing a male heir, this treatment passed on to generations just
like the 1ragging2 tradition in the universities in the past.
Apart from this Sudhamani also claims many things which cannot be
observed now, nor which she has demonstrated. These include:
1) animals tendering her body during tapas, etc the garudas which
bring fish for her food.
2) miraculously lighting lamps without oil and with use of water.
3) changing water into milk.
4) giving endless supply of food from a small vessel, more like Jesus
Christ.
Apart from this Sudhamani has also caused griveous hurt to her cousin
by her own words. Let us look at the unfolding of events as it is
given.. Subhagan is Sudhamani2s cousin. He and another cousin are
irked with Sudhamani2s claims of being god. Apart from them there are
also others. These have formed a commitee called 1Rationalist
movement2 and 1commitee to stop blind beliefs2. We do not get any
account from this group, just swami amritasvarupananda2s comments as
recorded in the book. As such a honest look of events cannot be had
in this book. However so Subhagan and his cousin one day will try to
scare Sudhamani and which will end disastrously for the cousin.
Page 144 6 chapter 8- dazzling like a million suns: 4 One day,
subhagan and a few of his cousins called the Mother to a relative2s
house under a false pretext. When she arrived, they locked her in a
room and one cousins began threatening her, sudenly pulling out a
knife which he had hidden in his clothing. Subhagan announced, 3This
behavior of yours has gone too far! You are bound to spoil the family
name. Since you cannot stop mixing freely with all sorts of people
and persist in your sining and dancing, it is better you die.4 He was
enraged to hear the Mother laugh and retort, 3I am not afraid of
death.The body must meet its end sooner or later, but it is
impossible for you to kill the Self. Now that you are determined to
kill me, let me meditate a while, then you can kill me4. 3
The last utterance of Sudhamani is similar to Shankara2s when he
faces death at the hands of bandits. Seeing Sudhamani2s past in which
she would have been exposed to much of hindu literature, it is not
difficult to assume how she would have arrived to such a concoction
of a story, passed on by the faithful swami amrita, tsk!
What conspires later, (page 144, chapter 8): 35though they verbally
threatened the holy mother (sudhamani), none of them was courageous
enough to do anything to her after hearing her bold reply and seeing
her unperturbed. Suddenly the cousin who had brandished the knife
jumped forward and pressed the kinfe against her chest as if to stab
her. But he could not make another move, as he was immediately
stricken by an excruciating pain in his own chest at the exact point
where he pressed the knife against Holy Mother2s. He himself fell to
the floor in agony. Seeing this, the others in the room became filled
with dread. At this moment Damayanti arrived, having seen Sudhamani
leaving with Subhagan and his cousins. Hearing the uproar, she began
pounding on th door, shouting. When the door was opened, Damayanti
took the Holy Mother by the hand and led her home, taking the path by
the shore. On tbe way back, the Mother told Damayanti, 3your people
dishonored me. This ocean is my mother as well. She will accept me
happily with outstretched arms. I am going to her lap4. Hearing this
Damayanti became mentally unbalanced and began screaming, 4 don2t say
that, daughter!455..succeeding in dissuading the Holy Mother, she
took her back to Idamannel. 3
It is hard to imagine that for one who has claimed to cross the stage
of non-duality and attaining oneness with god (as stated throughout
the book), Sudhamani becomes angry at humiliation. This shows her
attachment to the body. She has not realized that which is not
destructible. It is false where she shouts she is not the body.
Actually, Shankara who said this thing after being confronted by the
bandits and saved by his disciple will not show any aversion to the
bandits. This is different to Sudhamnani2s reaction. This is because
the cousin brother who dared to point the knife to her mysteriously
dies. Though his death is not known to us, let us read Sudhamani2s
version via swami amrita.. Page 145, Chapter 8: 4 The episode doesn2t
end here. The cousin who had raised the knife against the Mother to
stab her was taken in pain to the hospital. Though provided with
excellent medical treatment, he finally died, continuously vomiting
blood. As his disease was in its acute stages, the Holy Mother
visited him in the hospital. She lovingly consoled him and fed him
with her own hands. He was deeply repentant toward her for his grave
mistake, and burst into tears experiencing her compassion and
forgiveness.
The holy mother had no enmity toward her cousin who had attempted to
murder her, nor had she made any resolve to avenge his evil act. He
simply suffered the fruit of his action. The Mother explained, 4 Just
as human beings have intense love for Mother, numerous subtle beings
love her as well. If somebody attempts to harm Mother, Mother does
not react. Mother faces such a person without any excitement and does
not even think any harmful thought regarding him who acts out of
ignorance. But these subtle beings get angry and take revenge. Do you
understand how this is? Suppose someone2s mother is attacked by a
man. Do the children sit back indifferent? Even if their mother tries
to stop them, they find that man and take revenge.4 6 page 145,
chapter 8.
Now let us pause and think. What is Sudhamani implying here. First of
all she claims to not react. Yet she initially wanted to drown
herself due to humiliation. Then she talks about visiting the cousin
who is also repentant. She forgives him and he wallows due to her
compassionate and forgiving nature. So this means that he has
repented and deeply regrets his actions. So why does this man has to
suffer anyway? He has not caused any hurt to Sudhamani except for
threatening.. For this has he got to die? Sudhamani cites karma or
divine retribution for this. But she does have weird ideas of how
karma works. She says that 2subtle beings2 have exacted their
revenge. We do not know who these are nor does she elaborate. We are
to assume that these are divine beings. Even as a human being I will
not punish somebody who has repented as seriously as these subtle
beings have done, here I mean in the context of the act that the
cousin brother carried out against Sudhamani. On top of this she even
claims that this subtle beings are likened to the children which seek
out revenge if someone slights their mom, even if the mother tries to
stop them. Quite disturbing conclusions can be made from here. First
of all even though Sudhamani has forgiven, the subtle beings killed
her cousin. Is Sudhamani implying that she has no control over these
subtle beings? I mean if god forgives, it can even override karma.
Even companies overwrite bad debts. That is the true meaning of
forgiving, don2t you think so? If I were to suffer my actions
regardless of being forgiven by god, what is the need of this? On top
of that, these subtle beings attacked him due to anger. This is
unbecoming of Sudhamani2s subtle children whom she has no control of,
they even don2t give a damn even though she has forgiven the cousin
and she was actually unhurt. Moreover the cousin repents and regrets
his actions.
Let me ask, if these 2subtle beings2 were in fact true human beings
and Sudhamani also acknowledges likewise, what would have happened?
If I go and kill a guy who threatens my mom with a knife, but who
couldn2t or didn2t do any harm, and also who was eventually forgiven
by my mother, what do you think will happen to me? I will go behind
bars only. What will happen to my mother who claims the grand law of
karma, thus justifying my act? At the same time she also acts
forgiving by saying that she has no anger towards the killed man.
This whole episode and Sudhamani2s response to it sounds like a big
drama only. Or is there any hidden truth? It also teaches false
paradoxes.. She acts humane, forgiving etc. She quotes Karma. She lets
subtle beings kill someone who has repented and who she has forgiven,
quoting the divine dispensation of Karma. She also says these subtle
beings reacted out of anger and she has no control over them. Aren2t
subtle beings supposed to have subtlety, I mean more forgiving than
human?
My dear readers, ponder on these truths for a while..I will get back
to you in my part two of my rendition of a critical look at mata
amritandamayi.
To be continued..
-Sashi
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: amma, amma criticism, amma doll,
ammachi, ammaji, amritapuri, charity, cult, cult indocrintation, cult
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A Critical Look At The Biography Of Amma Part II
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Dear Readers,
Kindly read my previous post, titled as above- part 1. This
is a continuation of it.
Okay,let us now look at the mysterious death of Subhagan. In page 152,
chapter 9, Sudhamani aka Holy Mother says,4 It seems that brother
Subhagan is nearing the end of his life span. As a solution you can
take a vow of silence, but certain obstacles can be seen which will
try
to break your vow. Therefore be careful when you take the vow.4
Let us look at how Damayanti breaks the vow, in page 157 of the same
chapter:
4 Damayanti observed a vow of silence one day. However, when it was
halfway over, it so happened that a cow broke its rope and started
running from their cowshed. Damayanti started running from their
cowshed. Damayanti completely forgot her vow and shouted, 3There goes
the cow! Catch it!455.
The family took this as a bad omen, especially as forewarned by
Mother.
This auspicious event filled the family with fear and anxiety.4
So there we have it5 Sudhamani initially warns Damayanti of impending
death of Subhagan. Maybe we can say this is Karma. But the funny part
is- it is linked with observing a vow of silence. I don2t understand
the reason as how a vow of silence helps to appease Karma. So does
this
mean the mute will escape death or law of Karma? This sounds more like
religious superstition and proves the fact that Sudhamani is basically
a girl steeped in religious superstition without much thought.
Damayanti just shouts after a cow which escapes from the cowshed. This
is just the most logical thing to do. Does death gets hastened due to
this? Without thinking what the factors which affect death are, we get
the superstitious Sudhamani dishing out irrational things to equally
superstitious family members.
However so, Subhagan2s death is directly proclaimed by Sudhamani
herself. Let us look at what is written in the page 153, chapter 9:
4 One day Subhagan, in a fit of fury, severely harassed a Muslim woman
who had come to Idamannel for the Bhava Darshan. Unable to bear
Subhagan2s vicious remarks, the lady rushed to the temple, burst into
tears and began beating her head against the threshold of the shine
room. She was crying out, 3O Mother..O Mother5is this the fate of
those who come to see You?4
Hearing the Muslim woman2s distraught cries, the Mother2s radiant and
smiling face underwent an immediate transformation. With a terrifying
appearance, she stood up from the sacred seat holding a trident in one
hand and a sword in the other. In a solemn and deep tone the Mother
said, 3Whoever has caused this undue grief to this devotee will die
within seven days.4
When the Mother2s prediction reached the ears of Sugunanadaan, he
rushed to the temple seeking forgiveness for his son2s grievous
behavior. He pleaded to the Mother to spare Subhagan2s life and take
his instead. Mother calmly told, 3I never punish anybody. If I am
abused or harassed I don2t care at all. But when a devotee suffers
such
abuse even God will not forgive. Each one must enjoy the fruit of
one2s
actions. There is no other way.4
Seven days had passed. It was nearly midinight on June 2, 1978 when
Subhagan, who had been informed of the Mother2s predicition, committed
suicide by hanging. He had written a suicide note giving the reason as
unbearable stress caused by his incurable disease (elephantitis).
Subhagan2s suicide created chaos and distress at Idammanel house. 3
From the above we can see the utter stupidity of the whole story.
Harassing a devotee does not incur such a punishment as death. In
today2s standards, harassing and taunting a person does not amount to
punishment by death. Is god so stupid as to warrant this punishment to
someone who taunts his devotees? The muslim lady was not physically
hurt nor any of her belongings stolen. She did see the so called Holy
Mother and lamented Subhagan2s 3vicious remarks4 only. This 3viciou=
s
remarks4 cannot be justified as warranting death punishment by god or
anyone else for that matter. Moreover hypersensitive people can even
classify a normal criticism as 3vicious remarks4.
Sudhamani now actively interferes in the death of Subhagan by
proclaiming his forthcoming death due to the taunting of a devotee.
Though pleaded to by her dad, she does not lift this curse. Previously
it could be avoided by just following a vow of silence. That too got
destroyed due to the old lady2s shouting at a mere straying cow. Now
it
is the 1vicious remarks2 which justifies the death punishment to
Subhagan. If we look at the story it seems Subhangan was informed of
his sister2s predicition. He was said to hang himself. Was he forced
to
hang himself to make his sister2s prediction come true or was he also
too superstitious to believe this prediction, thereby due to utmost
stress of this disturbing prediction hanged himself? In the book, his
disease -elephantitis, is quoted. But many people in India have lived
and are living with elephantitis without killing themselves. It is not
a psychotic or fatal disease as made out in the book; moreover the
medication diethylcarbamazine was available in India at that time,
even
the generic.
In this chapter 9- the sword of truth, we have swami amrita mention
about the rationalists and how they tried to discredit mighty
Sudhamani. From what he has written, it seems that there were a group
of poor villagers who came to the bhava darshan. Sugunandan eventually
helps his daughter in carrying out these activities. Sudhamani becomes
the deity Krsna and Shakti in this bhava darshans. But there is also
another group which seeks actively to stop this activity of Sudhamani
-
they are classified as the rationalists by Swami amrita. But we do not
know the real reason that they have done this. From what I can gather
through reading the book, they are portrayed as mere trouble makers
who
try to become obstacles to Sudhamani and her quest without any
apparent
reason. It is just out of hate. That is as stated by the swami. But I
think it is deeper than that.
Let us now shift our attention on Sudhamani2s bhavas. This bhavas are
also observed in devotional common Hindus during Thaipusam and other
events. It is more like trances or the Christian2s descending of holy
spirit in which some speak in tongues. Whatever it is we can only say
it is yet fully understood by science. There are also small scale
priests who also have this visitation of spirits and who are sought
out
for healing and other purposes. The shamans of the pagans and the
priest of organized religion claim this divine power to be able to
heal
and prophesize. However so let us look at Sudhamani2s explanation of
this bhavas as recorded by swami amrita.
Page 197 & 198, chapter eleven 6 The meaning of Divine Bhavas:
4 The Great Masters of India have classified Divine Incarnations in
three main categories: 1) Purna Avatara (full or perfect), 2) Amsa
Avatara (partial manifestation) and 3) Avesa Avatara (temporary
overshadowing by divine powers)5
A purna avatara is the descent of the nameless, formless and immutable
supreme energy, assuming a human form and manifesting infinite power
without any limitations.
The incarnation of Vishnu as Vamana and Narashima are examples of Amsa
Avatara. Parasurama, as depicted by Srimad Bhagawatam is avesa avatar.
3
Let us now see the elaboration of the purna avatar in the book. It is
said that Hanuman wanted to visit Krishna but insisted to only see the
form of Rama. Hanuman was a ardent devotee of Rama who is but an
incarnation of Vishnu just like Krishna. Yet Hanuman wishes to see
Rama
alone. Only Krishna could assume the form of Rama for Hanuman since he
is a purna avatar. Let us read as stated in page 199, Chapter 11:
4 While Garuda was fetching Hanuman, certain events were taking place
in Dwaraka. Lord Krishna, by His mere Will, assumed the form of Lord
Rama, who had lived ma
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
A newly released book by ex-Amma devotee Jovan Jones sheds light on
the dark side of the hugging saint. Chasing The Avatar is the true
story of one woman who spent two years living in the ashram, teetered
on the edge of sanity, and went head to head with darkness. Through
grace, she managed to get out of the ashram alive and with the
strength to share her story with the world. There is little doubt that
this book will be a blessing to ex-devotees, families of devotees
struggling with their loved ones involvement with the group, and
devotees who find themselves trapped in psychological, emotional, and
spiritual darkness. Several ex-devotees are currently reading this new
book and will return back with a full review. In the meantime, on
behalf of everyone who has suffered due to direct or indirect
involvement with the Amma group5.THANK YOU JOVAN for finally giving a
voice to those who live in fear of coming forward from the shadows.
BUY THE BOOK
Jovan reads Chapter 11, 3A House Swept Clean4
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Amma As A Darker Force-A New Visitors Opinion
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep2s clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. -Matthew 7:15
3The reason why people feel Amma has so much spiritual power is
precisely because she takes it from all the people worshiping her. She
makes you feel good when you hug her, because you are feeling all that
stolen life force emanating off of her.4 says a recent visitor to one
of the Amma programs who gained insight into the darker aspects of the
3hugging saint4.
Click Here For Full Article And Discussion by Stephanie Brail
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Amma Relevant Excerpts From 1The Guru Papers2
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Excerpted from:
The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad
The following quotes are taken from Part One of the Guru Papers
and are deemed by ex-members to be strikingly accurate in describing
the dynamics of a cult guru.
3If an authority not only expects to be obeyed without
question, but either punishes or refuses to deal with those who
do not, that authority is authoritarian.4 (p.15)
3Gurus can arouse intense emotions as there is extraordinary
passion in surrendering to what one perceives as a living God.4
(p.33)
3In spiritual realms fear and desire can become
as extreme as they get.. When a living person becomes the focus
of such emotions, the possibility of manipulation is correspondingly
extreme.4 (p.41)
3In the East a guru is more than a teacher. He is a doorway
that supposedly allows one to enter into a more profound relationship
with the spiritual. A necessary step becomes acknowledging the
gurus specialness and mastery over that which one wishes
to attain. The message is that to be a really serious student,
spiritual realization must be the primary concern. Therefore,
one2s relationship with the guru must, in time, become one2s
prime emotional bond, with all others viewed as secondary. In
fact, typically other relationships are pejoratively referred
to as attachments.(p..49)
3So although most gurus preach detachment, disciples become
attached to having the guru as their center, whereas the guru
becomes attached to having the power of being others center.4
(p.50)
3The ways people deny and justify are similar: Since
supposedly no one who is not enlightened can truly understand
the motives of one who is, any criticism can be discounted as
a limited perspective. Also, any behavior on the part of the guru,
no matter how base, can be imputed to be some secret teaching
or message that needs deciphering.4
By holding gurus as perfect and thus beyond ordinary explanations,
their presumed specialness can be used to justify anything. Some
deeper, occult reason can always be ascribed to anything a guru
does: The guru is said to take on the karma of others, and that
is why his body has whatever problems it has. The guru is obese
or unhealthy because he is too kind to turn down offerings: besides,
he gives so much that a little excess is understandable. He punishes
those who disobey him not out of anger but out of necessity, as
a good father would. He uses sex to teach about energy and detachment.
He lives an opulent life to break people2s simplistic preconceptions
of what ego-loss should look like; it also shows how detached
and unconcerned he is about what others think. For after all,
Once enlightened, one can do anything. Believing
this dictum makes any action justifiable.4
People justify and rationalize in gurus what in others would
be considered unacceptable because they have a huge emotional
investment in believing their guru is both pure and right.4
(p.52)
3That interest in one2s own salvation is totally
self-centered is a conundrum rarely explored.4 (p.54)
3So disciples believe they are loved unconditionally, even
though this love is conditional on continued surrender. Disciples
in the throes of surrender feel they have given up their past,
and do not, consciously at least, fear the future. . . Feeling
totally cared for and accepted, at the universe2s center,
powerful, and seemingly unafraid of the future are all achieved
at the price of giving one2s power to another, thus remaining
essentially a child.4 (p56)
3It is not at all unusual to be in an authoritarian relationship
and not know it. In fact, knowing it can interfere with surrender..
Any of the following are strong indications of belonging to an
authoritarian group:
1. No deviation from the party line is allowed. Anyone who has
thoughts or feelings contrary to the accepted perspective is made
to feel wrong or bad for having them.
2. Whatever the authority does is regarded as perfect or right.
Thus behaviors that would be questioned in others are made to
seem different and proper.
3. One trusts that the leader or others in the group know what2s
best.
4. It is difficult to communicate with anyone not in the group..
5. One finds oneself defending actions of the leader (or other
members) without having firsthand knowledge of what occurred.
6. At times one is confused and fearful without knowing why. This
is a sign that doubts are being repressed.4 (p.57)
3The power of conversion experiences lies in the psychological
shift from confusion to certainty.4 (p.65)
3People whose power is based on the surrender of others
develop a repertoire of techniques for deflecting and undermining
anything that questions or challenges their status, behavior,
or beliefs. They ridicule or try to confuse people who ask challenging
questions.4 (p.66)
3Is experiencing intense energy a sign of spirituality,
or is the experience in the same vein as young ladies who swoon
in the presence of rock stars?4 (p.68)
3To be thought enlightened, one must appear not only certain
that one is, but certain about most everything else, too.4
(p.70)
3Gurus undercut reason as a path to understanding. When
they do allow discursive inquiry, they often place the highest
value on paradox. Paradox easily lends itself to mental manipulation.
No matter what position you take, you are always shown to be missing
the point; the point being that the guru knows something you do
not.4 (p.74)
3Their stance toward outsiders is of benign superiority.4
(p77)
3As long as the guru still sees the possibility of realizing
his ambitions, the way he exercises power is through rewarding
the enthusiasms of his followers with praise and positions in
his hierarchy. He also whets and manipulates desire by offering
carrots,and promising that through him the disciples
desires will be realized, possibly even in this lifetime. The
group itself becomes an echo of the guru, with the members filling
each other2s needs. Within the community there is a sense
of both intimacy and potency, and a celebratory, party-like atmosphere
often reigns. Everything seems perfect; everyone is moving along
the appropriate spiritual path. The guru is relatively accessible,
charming, even fun. All dreams are realizable-even wonderful
possibilities
beyond one2s ken.4 (p.78)
3People are especially vulnerable to charismatic leaders
during times of crisis or major life change.4 (p.87)
3People don2t want a second-rate guru; they want the
one who seems the best. Since purity is the standard measurement
of the gold or Greenwich meridian time of the guru world
each guru has to claim the most superlative traits. This
is naturally a breeding ground for hypocrisy, lies, and the
cultivation
of false images of purity. Gurus are thus forced to assume the
role of the highest, best, the most enlightened, the most loving,
the most selfless, the purest representative of the most profound
truths; for if they did not, people would go to one who does.
Consequently, it is largely impossible for a guru to permit himself
real intimacy, which in adults requires a context of equality..
All his relationships must be hierarchical, since that is the
foundation of his attraction and power.4 (p.88)
3Since adulation from any one person eventually becomes
boring, gurus do not need any specific disciple they need
lots of them. Gurus do give special attention to those with wealth
and power.4 (p.89)
3Gurus likewise do many things to ensure that their disciples
prime emotional allegiance is toward them. In the realm of sexuality,
the two prevalent ways control is exerted are through promulgating
either celibacy or promiscuity. Although seemingly opposite, both
serve the same function: they minimize the possibilities of people
bonding deeply with each other, thus reducing factors that compete
with the guru for attention.4 (p.92)
3Many gurus and spiritual authorities negate, make light
of, or even ridicule the use and value of Western psychotherapy
because its concepts of the unconscious undermine their authority
and power. To acknowledge that unconscious factors may be operative
in oneself means that one cannot be totally sure one is selfless.4
(p.102)
3A primary goal in therapy is to free clients from their
need to transfer unresolved issues onto others. This need makes
people particularly susceptible to authoritarian control. Good
therapists aim at being very conscious of how they deal with
transference.4
Because of the nature of the relationship which demands total
surrender, gurus do exactly the opposite. They cultivate and reward
transference, for a parental type of authority is at the very
core of the gurus power over disciples. The power to name,
arrange marriages, and dictate duties and behavior are ultimates
in parental authority, especially in traditional societies like
the East. To give someone the power to name or marry you is to
profoundly accept their parental role in defining who you are.
The ostensible motivation behind this has to do with an attempt
to break the ties of the past so the person can become new.
A deeper reason is that this aids the guru in becoming the center
of the persons emotional life, which facilitates surrender.4
(p.105)
3Successful gurus, rock stars, charismatic leaders of any
sort, experience the intensity of adulation amplified beyond most
peoples ken. This can make ordinary relationships pale
by comparison. Being the recipient of such adulation and devotion
is exceedingly addictive. Here addiction is used in its loose
sense to mean mechanically needing an on-going fix
of adulation to where it becomes the central focus of one2s
life. Adulation has powerful emotions for the sender as well,
and can be easily mistaken for love. It is likewise addicting
for the sender, as it is an easy route to feelings of passion.
Since adulation is totally a function of image, should the images
crack, adulation disappears, demonstrating that it is essentially
empty of real care.4 (p.112)
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1Amma the Hugging Saint2: Mother-Cult Leader, U.N. Globalist
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
1Amma the Hugging Saint2: Mother-Cult Leader, U.N. Globalist
BY BRONTE BAXTER, AUG 25, 2008
What do stuffed dolls have to do with enlightenment? Lots, if you2re
into the cult of Amma, known also as Ammachi, Mata Amritanandamayi,
and 3the hugging saint.4
Amma2s devotees talk to dolls made in her image that are sold on Amma
retreats. They tell the doll their problems, seek its comfort, and
listen in their minds for its advice. Amma calls the devotees her
children, and clucks syllables like baby talk into their ear in her
trademark ritual of lining people up, watching them kneel before her,
then embracing them.
She tells them she is their mother and that she hears their prayers.
She says she2d no more charge them for her darshan (i.e., being in her
presence) than a mother would charge an infant for breast milk. Yet
insiders have estimated Amma rakes in upwards of 3 million dollars in
a 7-week tour, through donations and sales of items like her
toothbrush, fragments of a garment she has sat on, Amma dolls, Amma
posters, and books by devotees extolling her divinity.
Devotees believe Amma is a living incarnation of the being they
consider the supreme God: Kali in Hindu religion, who is depicted in
Indian art wearing a bloody necklace of human skulls but who somehow
translates to devotees as a loving maternal figure. Amma events
consist of childlike lectures on Hindu doctrines, Amma blessing water
which devotees then drink, hymn singing, worship ceremonies, and the
hugs. At some events, Amma wears a two-foot-high sparkling crown.
Amma marries people on stage, gives babies their first taste of solid
food, tells couples to break up or to stay together, and ordains some
of the faithful to abandon their family and live as monks in her
ashram. Amma teaches that love is all we need, and it is her divine
love that will save us.
In Seattle a couple of months ago, she predicted nuclear war and that
no child younger than 5 will live to adulthood after the year 2012.
After spreading fear and despair through such prophecies, she
announced that only meditation and self-effacing acts of charity can
possibly mitigate the sentence for humanity. 3Meditation4 means mantra/
obeisance meditation to the divine mother. Self-effacing charity means
donations to her organization and service to her cause.
At public sessions, devotees chant hymns to Amma that grow in volume
and frenetic intensity, gesticulating in unison with their arms in the
shape of an arc, from their midsection up and out towards Amma, who
sits on a dais in front of them. The words of the chant are 3Aum
Parashaktyai Namah.4 That translates to 3I bow down/ pay homage to the
Supreme Mother of the Universe.4 The arm gesture is body language for
surrendering one2s soul to Kali in the form Amma, her living
embodiment.
I am one of the moderators of the Ex-Amma Forum, a place where people
who2ve left the Amma cult come together to help each other heal from
their ordeal. The group is open to ex-followers, questioning devotees,
concerned family and friends of devotees, and people seeking more
information. I became involved with the forum when I watched a close
friend of mine grow farther and farther away from the person he once
was, the deeper he sank into Amma2s hypnotic embrace. On the forum,
I2ve read hundreds of first-person accounts of what people experience
with Amma, the side of her no one wants to talk about.
I2ve seen an email from her former joint-secretary alleging she cooks
the books, that the money she gathers for charity doesn2t go to the
charities she claims. I2ve read accounts by her former monks of the
unexplained wealth of Amma2s family, how her charity hospitals won2t
take the very poor because the poor don2t have money enough for
treatment. I2ve read about 3suicides4 and unexplained deaths of ashra=
m
devotees. So many dead bodies have appeared in the waters outside the
ashram that The Indian Express, New Delhi2s daily newspaper, printed
an account of local citizens demanding a police investigation into the
matter.
I2ve read of organ selling and beatings. I saw a video of Amma
performing a puja (worship ceremony) to a portrait of Sai Baba, the
guru who gives penis massages to his favorite boy disciples. I read a
letter from a former Amma monk alleging he was told by an Indian holy
man not to share what he knows about Amma if he values his safety.
Amma2s website sells pujas performed on behalf of the paying devotee
for prices ranging from $30 to $250. We read there an explanation of
what happens in Kali puja, which is performed 3on Amma2s birthstar4:
3The puja is offered to a lamp representing the Goddess5 The puja
starts with a worship of the Guru5 The central aspect of the puja is
the symbolic offering of the five elements of creation to God. Our
body is composed from these five elements5 The puja symbolizes the
surrender of the devotee to God5 Each element is represented by a
material symbol, such as flowers, or fire5 These are offered at the
foot of the lighted lamp. The desire of the devotee to offer his or
her surrender is effected by these symbolic offerings. During the
entire puja the temple resonates with the continuous chanting of the
holy names of Kali.4 (emphasis mine)
Amma2s PR is impeccable. She presents as 3the hugging saint,4 a
portrait of sweetness and universal love, and the media promotes her
unquestioningly as such. There has never been an investigation into
her movement, the dead bodies, where the money goes, or what is really
happening in her hospitals and orphanages in India.
In July, 2005, the United Nations awarded Amma with 3Special U.N.
Consultative Status,4 according to her website. She is one of 25 core
leaders in the United Nations Parliament of World Religions. Her
website contains over a dozen pages extolling the humanitarian work of
the U.N. One page compares the U.N.2s 3Millenium Goals4 with Amma2s
goals, which are word-for-word identical. (Click here to view both
documents.)
The ashram is among 30 Indian NGO2s to receive formal U.N.
affiliation, according to Amma2s website. 3This will provide
opportunities for joint collaboration4 between the U.N. and her
organization, it goes on to state. Amma2s website openly extols the
U.N. for its advances toward global government:
3The United Nations has been in the forefront of tackling problems as
they take on an international dimension, providing the legal framework
for regulating the use of the oceans, protecting the environment,
regulating migrant labor, curbing drug trafficking and combating
terrorism, to mention a few. This work continues today, with the
United Nations providing input into the trend towards a greater
centrality of international law in governing interaction across a wide
spectrum of issues.4 (emphasis mine)
Pulling all this together, what are we seeing here? Amma is a
globalist, working intimately with the U.N. to bring about its agenda.
That agenda is world regulation and control 6 a wolf that hides in the
sheep2s clothing of humanitarian ideals. The U.N.2s aim is a global
Orweillian state held in place by a world bank, a centrally controlled
media, a world 3peace-keeping unit4 (world army), technological
surveillance, and control of the world2s water, food and other
essential resources.
As one of the 25 core leaders in the U.N.2s religion parliament, Amma
supports and promotes these 3Big Brother4 goals. For anyone wondering
if the global conspiracy has a spiritual component, Amma provides
strong evidence.
My earlier articles in the 3Blowing the Whistle on Enlightenment4
series expose the real meaning of the kind of surrender that Amma and
other Indian gurus promote among their followers. It is surrender of
the personal self to the gods, whom Amma calls 3the Lord.4 Amma2s
hugs, her relics, her blessed water and food, are ways of infusing her
energy signature and that of the beings that possess her into the
bodies and minds of those who visit her, be they devotees or
unsuspecting guests.
Such an energy transfer helps devotees entrain with her vibration and
meld their minds and souls with the godhead 6 in other words, to
become assimilated, or possessed, by the same 3cosmic4 forces that
possess and work through Amma. This is called 3attaining
enlightenment4 or 3liberation4 6 a state where one no longer functi=
ons
as an independent individual but as a unit or tentacle of 3the Lord,4
the astral entities posing as gods who live off the energy of mankind.
What makes Amma both so successful and so sinister is the loving image
she hides behind. The media uses it to promote her far and wide. If it
seems remarkable that no investigative reporting has been done, that
no one from the mainstream media has questioned Amma2s PR, the mystery
evaporates when we recall who the mainstream media is run by these
days.
Large corporations have bought and own our press and television, and
dictate the 3news4 that journalists are permitted to report. Behind
the corporations, as behind our governments, lurk the ruling elite,
controlling world events from the sidelines by means of the puppets
they2ve put into power.
Why do I single out Amma among the dozens of gurus I could write
about? Because she is so popular, and so unquestioned. Even that guru-
busting website, Guruphiliac, seems to miss the shadiness of Amma,
voting her the 3least bad4 of the gurus. But Amma is one of the worst.
Powerful and successful, she ropes in new recruits by the thousands on
her yearly worldwide tours. Amma2s movement claims that the 3saint4
has hugged over 26-million people 6 people who often return as
devotees, singing her praises and donating to her coffers.
Amma2s brand of religion is a return to the infantile. She makes
babies of grown men and women, giving them dolls to babble to and
telling them she2s their mother. While speaking fine words about 3the
God within each of us,4 her actions teach something different.
Allowing people to pray to you, kneel to you, and worship you as God
Incarnate is not the behavior of someone who wants people to recognize
themselves as magnificent, powerful, incarnate expressions of God.
Amma2s disciples get their power from hugs, dolls, mantra obeisance,
and the group euphoria of retreats, not from the core of their own
being. They2re conditioned to believe that their inner self is less
than the glorious entity before them. They2re told, in fact, that
their inner self is flawed, selfish, proud, and must be destroyed.
Every time they bow down to Amma and the gods who live in her, they
close the door more tightly on the Infinite within themselves.
But then, that2s the whole idea now, isn2t it?
Bronte Baxter
9 Bronte Baxter 2008
Anyone may republish this article on another website as long as they
include the copyright and a back link to this site.
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Amma2s Magazine Bashes Gandhi
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
EXCERPTED FROM AMMACHI2S MAGAZINE, IMMORTAL BLISS
1ST QUARTER 2007, VOL 3, NO.1
FROM THE ARTICLE 3SECRETS OF DHARMA4 BY BR. SIVAMRITA CHAITANYA.
People like Carl Marx, Mahatma Ghandi, Leo Tolstoy and Albert Einstein
attained great goals in life but not peace within. Some of them were
theists, others were not. But what was common to them was that they
could not develop total faith in another human being, surrender their
egos, and seek a Masters advice in critical situations. Take the case
of Gandhi. He was totally committed to truth and non-violence
throughout his life and finally achieved his life mission of political
freedom for India from the British. During the freedom struggle he had
publicly declared that Britian could divide India into two countries
only over his dead body. But a sect of Muslims who wanted a separate
Islamic Nation instigated riots in some areas at the cost of many
innocent lives. Gandhi was in a great dilemma. If he upheld his
pledge, more people would be killed in riots, and his unyielding
principle of attaining freedom through non-violence would be a farce.
But if he consented to those Muslims, he would have to swallow his
words and give up truth for the sake of preventing a spread of
violence and death.
Gandhi was genuinely devoted to God. He led a pious life and inspired
millions to follow his path without ever holding any official post in
a political party, having no army or cadre under his command, not even
a permanent office structure or place of stay. He never assumed he had
any special or divine powers. He sought answers to problems in deep
prayer and meditation. But sadly, he failed to grasp the great
significance of seeking the guidance of a Self-Realized Master,
especially in a matter that would affect the lives of millions.
Though Gandhii used to read the Gita every day and had even penned a
commentary on it, he missed the fact that Arujna had, in a critical
situation, sought advice not from his consciousness but from his
brother-in-law and bosom friend.. He approached Krishna for the first
time as a disciple, and with all humility agrees to follow his advice
explicitly. Krishna convinces him to fight the war to maintain dharma
as an instrument in the hands of the Almighty, without hatred for or
attachment to anyone.
Gandhi, on the other hand, took the momentous decision to give up
truth for the sake of saving the innocent lives of a few, heeding the
small voice of his consciousness. But, when he consented to divide the
country, contrary to his wishes of gaining independence for India
through non-violent means, what happened surpassed any massacre in the
known history of the nation.. The tragic story did not end there. Even
today, the killing spree that started then goes on unchecked in the
form of wars and skirmishes between India and Pakistan, as
extermination of Hindus in Kashmir by militant groups, and as threats
of an atomic war loom ominously over the horizon..
Just imagine what would have been the course of history had Gandhi
consulted one of the contemporary Mahatmas who could have foreseen the
outcome of the historic decision. There were many, like Anandamayi
Ma, Maharshi, Nityananda, Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swami, Yogananda
and Mahayogi Aurobindo. He had met most of them and had great respect
for all of them.
The life of Gandhi is a clear example that however high a level of
morality we may maintain, or however sincerely we pray, the inner
voice can be the voice of the ego passing itself as God2s voice. The
knowledge that God is all-pervading cannot save us from sure sorrow
and death unless we drink from the fountain of wisdom5God2s living
human form, which is grace and compassion condensed.
(Article goes on to praise Amma and how blessed we are to have God in
a human body in the form of Amma)
Some questions this article raises:
#1: How do these views reflect in light of Amma having accepted the
Gandhi-King award for non-violence, for which there was much media
acclaim?
#2 The RSS was implicated in the assassination of Gandhi it has been
suggested that Ammas
ashram may have ties to the RSS. Is there a connection?
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AIMS Hospital Horrors
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
The following has been excerpted from a post on the Ex-Amma forums. If
the original author is available and willing to update us as to how
this situation progressed and/or resolved itself please contact us
using the link in the right navigation bar. We make no claims as to
the legitimacy or accuracy of these allegations, but believe the
authors story deserves to be considered.
I am extremely disturbed by what I read. No
parent should have to go through such a nightmare. I
hope you are successful in convincing your daughter to
leave this cult. Recently, I had an experience which
was much worse. This god woman runs a hospital in
Kochi in India which is yet another scam. The
following is a brief description of the course of
events 5
My dad walked in for a routine health check
up on July 7,2007 at their health clinic and ended up
being convinced by their so called experts that he had
blocked arteries. The cult methodically isolated my
parents from myself and my sister who lives in Chicago
and much against our wishes my dad went in for an
angiogram and they screwed it up royally causing his
kidneys to go in to a shock. A routine test which
nearly proved fatal in his case. The doctor did not
perform a check to see whether he was allergic to the
dye used in the test. They covered this up and kept
telling my mother that it was his age (which was 70 by
the way). After he recovered from this my Dad wanted
to get out of there, but they would not release him
citing his purported heart condition.
Over the next week and half they systematically brainwashed my
mother into getting him to undergo the angioplasty on
August 2, 2007. His operation was scheduled for 2 AM
in the morning on Aug 2. At 10 PM in the night on Aug
5, my mother was urgently called in to the
administrator2s office to discuss my dad2s condition.
She is told he has a leaky valve and they need a
security deposit from her for $3500 to arrange for the
valve and a triple bypass. She was in no state to make
an informed decision, so she handed them the money.
The operation was completed as per schedule and then
the surgeon told her that everything was 1o.k.2 and
that my dad should be awake in the next 24 to 48 hrs.
She asked him about the valve, and the surgeon
expressed surprise and said there was nothing wrong
with his valves, and went on state that my dad had
20%, 30% and 15% blockage in 3 arteries which did not
actually merit a bypass. An angioplasty would have
sufficed, but they performed a bypass anyway.
My mother then confronted him with the security deposit
bill she was charged for the heart valve replacement
and the surgeon got irritated and told her to pick up
the matter with the hospital accounts department in
the morning. She went their first thing in the morning
and was told that they figured out the error but she
would not get the refund as it had been donated to the
amrita hospital trust which performs free surgery for
needy patients. My mother says it is a noble cause but
does agree the manner in which the donation was made
on her behalf and that too by deceit. They told her
they will look into it once the final bill is settled.
In the meanwhile my dad2s condition worsened and he
died due to post surgical complications.
My sister and i were enroute to Kochi from San Jose and Chicago
respectively when the death occured. My sister had a
GSM phone with her so she got the news while in
transit in Gatwick airport, so she immediately
starting pressing the hospital for a post mortem. She
was told it would be done. They embalmed the body
instead of performing the postportem. My sister
expressed dismay that the post mortem was conveniently
skipped. I was oblivious of all this since i was
boarding a flight out of Singapore while all of this
transpired. My sister wanted to visually inspect the
body but found it impossible since the whole body was
covered in a tape, like a mummy. Due to Hindu
religious beliefs she could not convince our family
members to undo the covering. My sister was alerted by
a colleague of hers at Smalley Bearings in Chicago
about organ donation racket that was associated with
this cult2s hospital. Her colleague wanted her to
visually inspect his back for any signs of kidney
removal. We have been trying to uncover what actually
transpired which a sent a man visiting a health clinic
to his death. At every step of the way we are
continuously being stonewalled by this cult and the
hospital. The hospital staff is totally uncooperative.
We are yet to see the refund for the heart valve which
was never replaced. We did not even get a breakdown of
the procedures done and none of the medical records
have been made available to either to us till date.
We are planning to take legal action here in California
and Illinois since Amrita hospital trust has an arm
here in Pleasanton California. Again my sympathies are
with you and sincerely hope that you get your daughter
back soon where she belongs. I know how difficult it
is to cope with a loved one2s loss.
Sincerely,
S. R. Nathan
San Jose, California
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A Critical Look At The Biography Of Amma Part I
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
I would like to bring to your kind attention the biography of Mata
Amritanadamayi written by swami Amritasvarupanada. This book was
published by: Mata Amritanadamayi Mission Trust, Amritapuri P.O.
Kollam, 690525, Kerala, India and printed by: Amrita Offset Printers,
Amritapuri. These companies are affiliated with Amma2s spiritual
organization and stated as Mata Amritanadaayi Mission Trust,
Amritapuri, Kollam in the book. Unfortunately there is no ISBN, this
being the nature of many books printed in India. 1988 was the first
edition, 3000 copies are stated to be sold or made (i2m unsure). 1989
another 3000, 1992 6 2000 copies, 1993 6 3000, 1995 6 3000, 1996
-6000, 1997 6 6000, 1998 6 3900, 1999 6 5000, 2000 6 5000, 2001 -
5000.
I2m not aware if this book is still around. I have read this book and
upon closer inspection have concluded some findings about Amma which I
would like to pose to the readers. It is up to you to judge.
I am also aware of mayi2s marketing technique which shows her
materializing water from milk. Apparently she is against doing
miracles and does this to show her powers, that was back when she was
still young. But the funny part is that she lets this marketing
gimmick to be done by allowing a 1remake documentary2 of this episode.
Can she demonstrate this power today under scientific scrutiny?
Anyway, there2s also another cheap gizmo which makes her to be the
hinted as the mother of the universe.
Both of these videos can be seen at
Indians deify people who help out or who have done good towards them.
This is a tendency in the people. Many also have revered siddhars and
souls who have realized god. But many do not understand that realizing
god/brahman is just a state, it is not becoming a god or a superman.
Let us now see what is written in her biography.
a) Sudhmani aka Ammachi2s parents are said to be initially non
understanding of the divine child2s spiritual fervour and said to
continually beat and torture the child.
But, in the autobiography though the above is presented there is
serious contradictions. For example, both of Sudhamani2s parents are
said to be highly spiritual nature. In page 20, chapter 1: From life
itself, it is written -
4 Many pious souls had been born in the Idamannel family. Sri
Velayudham was such a man. He was a very compassionate, truthful and
generous person, who firmly held the ideal of ahimsa. He would not
allow even a little rat to be killed. Velayudhan was married to
Srimathi Mathavi, a chaste and pious woman, whose habit was to get up
early in the morning before dawn in order to make flower garlands for
all the deities in the family shrine room55.
Sugunandan was their eldest sone of five children. Inspired by the
devotional atmosphere of his family, he became an ardent devotee of
lord krishna. When he was nine or ten years old, he began studying
Kathakali, a classical dance drama of Kerala, which depicts games and
playful diversion of gods and goddesses. While the actors present the
story through dance and mudras, singers narrate the story through
songs.
The character Sugunanadan most loved to portray was Sri Krishna. Once
during a Kathakali performance he became so identified with his role
of Krishna that he fell unconscious on the stage4.
From here we know that both Sudhamani2s (future amritanandamayi)
paternal grandparents were pious, the grandpa would have been taken
in by gandhi2s ahimsa preaching.
Sugunandan, Sudhamani2s dad is also portrayed as pious. But there is
also a interesting twist here. Ramakrishna was a saint from bengal.
He was from the 19th century and his advent was much much earlier, he
was also quite popularized due to Vivekananda who sailed to the west
and opened up Hindu thought to the curious west. Ramakrishna2s
biography is well known, it was recorded by many people, but the most
famous was by Mahendra gupta, also known as M. In it the child
Ramakrishna is said to be fond of theaterics, much like Sugunandan
also. In one of these, Ramakrishna becomes so absorbed with the role
of Shiva that he becomes unconscious. Here this unconsciousness to
the external environment is due to samadhi. The samadhi is
Ramakrishna2s total absorption on Shiva. The crowd is said to be
overcome with awe and a feeling that Ramakrishna is Shiva himself.
Sugunandan also like Ramakrishna acts in one of this form of theatre
acting out puranas like Kathakali. Like Ramakrishna he also becomes
absorbed on Sri Krishna and becomes unconscious. It should be noted
that Sugunandan was also a child like Ramakrishna when this is said
to have occured.
However, the author stops short of calling Sugunanda2s absorption
samathi and we also do not know how the crowd reacted to this. No
reason is given for sugunanda2s unconsciousness, though this is said
to have occured due to becoming very identified with his role of Sri
Krishna.
It is not difficult to see that the child Sudhamani would have
learned this antics from her father and later on also portrays
herself to be Sri Krishna. However so unlike her father, she goes a
step further by saying she herself is the divine incarnation.
Let us now look at a description of her mother Damayananti. In page
21 of the same chapter:
35.Damayananti came from a devout family, which performed religious
practices daily without fail. Her family even had its own temple.
From childhood, Damayananti had led a virtuos life. Her father,
Punyan, and mother, Karutta Kunya, were exemplary devotees of god.
The whole family atmospehre supported her in leading a religious
life. Damayanti was so pious that she was reverently called by the
villagers, 1pattathi amma2, or the 1brahmana lady. As devotion to god
was her focus in life, she would observe various religious vows
almost every day of the weeek. She frequently undertook fasting and
would break her fast by drinking the water of tender coconuts which
mysteriously feel from the trees.4
So here too Damayananti, Sudhamani2s mother and paternal grandparents
are portrayed as being very pious and spiritual. Damayananti, though
belonging to the fisher-caste clan, even earns the nickname -
brahmana lady due to this. The family even has their own temple.
As such it is not difficult to see that Sudhamani is exposed to
religion from very young.
Let us see Damayanti2s reaction when Sudhamani was born, from page 23
of the same chapter:
4 The babe had a beaming smile on her tiny face! The gaze of the
child penetrated Damayanti2s innermost heart and was never
forgotten.4
From here we can know that the child has had such an impact on
Damayananti from the day she was born. It pierced her innermost heart
and was never forgotten 6 these are very emotional claims. She
definitely remembered this long enough to be passed on.
In fact both parents have had visions of gods and goddesses before
Sudhamani was born, just like Ramakrishna2s parents too.
Page 22, Chapter 1:
4 During her pregnancy, Damayanti began having strange visions.
Sometimes she had wonderful dreams of Lord Krishna; at other she
beheld the divine play of Lord Shiva and Devi, the Divine Mother. One
night Damayanti dreamt that a mysterious figure came to entrust her
with an idol of Sri Krishna cast in pure gold. Around the same time
Sugunandan had a dream of the divine mother. As he was a devotee of
Lord krishna, he was unable to understand why devi should suddenly
appear to him. Upon relating his story to damayanti, he found that
she had recently had may strange visions also5..
One night Damayanti had a wonderful dream that she had given birth to
Krishna, and he was lying on her lap drinking her breast milk. 3
It is very rare that people dream of gods and goddesses during their
pregnancies and for their spouses to have likewise dream also. It is
surprising that Damayanti and Sugunandan couldn2t draw a conclusion
that the child might be divine. Unlike Ramakrishna2s parents,
Sudhamani2s parents however become barbaric later on.
It is said that the child had a dark blue color, due to this, it is
said in page 24 (chapter 1):
35.ironically, it was because of her blue-black complexion, that
Damayanti and the other family members would look upon the child with
great disdain. Their aversion for the dark child eventually led them
to treat her as the thankless servant of the family and relatives.4
The family is said to have consulted the doctors for this ailment of
dark skin when this child was born. Let us see what is written. In
page 23 & 24 of the chapter: 4 The parents were puzzled by the babe2s
dark blue complexion and the fact that the child lay in padmasana
(lotus posture), holding her fingers in chinmudra (the mudra
symbolizing oneness with godhood). They feared this dark blue shade
might be a symptom of some strange disease and that the peculiar
posture might be due to abnormal bone structure. Various doctors were
consulted. The fear of bone abnormality was allayed when the doctors
confirmed that there was no such handicap. As for the skin color, it
could not be attributed to heredity, since both damayanti and
sugunanadan were light tan in skin tone. Hence the parents were
advised not to bathe the child for six months in the hope that the
mysterious ailment would disappear.4
This is quite strange that both parents were not aware of padmasana2s
and chinmudra, being from quite a religious and spiritual background.
Moreover, if it was true that the baby was dark blue, how did the
parents didn2t know of the color being associated with Krishna?
It also adds further doubt to the above story when doctors are
actually said to advise the parents to not bathe the child for six
months. I am not aware if this is the standard remedy practiced by
Keralite doctors for 1mysterious skin ailments2. In fact this is
dubious only. By not bathing the child might most probably get skin
diseases like rashes, fungal infections and maybe other bacterial
infecions also.
Moreover, Sugunandan and Damayanti are both from the fishermen-caste.
These people go out in the sun to catch fish. We know that via
evolution, humans exposed to hot sun will finally assume a dark skin
color. This is because melanin which gives the tan blocks out harmful
sunrays. As such, most of these clanspeople are bound to be brown or
black only. In fact, there are many Indians who are pitch black. This
is not a rarity.Damayanti2s mom is known as Karutta Kunya which
translates to 1black child2. Please do not misunderstand my intention
as being color discriminatory. No, it is not my intention. Nature has
made melanin to block out sun2s rays. In humans near the equator,
they have over a very large period of time acquire characteristics
which help them survive in their surroundings. This is basic
evolution. As such it is difficult to imagine Sugunanda2s uproar
seeing his daughter2s skin. There are many dark skinned woman in the
village also. Sugunandan, his wife, his elder son and some relatives
are portrayed as quite barbarous in their treatment of Sudhamani.
This is hard to believe for one who is entrenched in religious
virtue, has a wife of religious virtue, has family background of
religiousity and also attains samadhi while nine years old. It is
said that samadhi changes one2s perception towards things
permanently. Yet Sugunandan has reverted (or portrayed) to become a
monster.
Let us look at further contradicitions in the book. In chapter 25 of
the same chapter, it is written;
4 The parents gave the name Sudhamani, 3Ambriosal Jewel4, to their
remarkable baby daughter.4 This hardly depicts someone who hates the
blue black baby.
Let us now look at the barbarous treatment of Sudhamani as given in
the book: 4 At ten, Sudhamani was fored to abandon her schooling..
From early morning before dawn until late at night she labored5.
(last paraghraph, page 37, chapter 2 6 the divine servant)
5..sudhamani toiled from three o2clock in the morning, as she set
to work cleaning the house, sweeping the compoung, fetching water,
cooking the food, tending the cows, milking them, washing the clothes
and scrubbing the cooking vessels.4 (2nd paragraph, page 37, chapter
2).
5.when her crying continued, Sugunandan eventually lost his
patience and flung (the baby Sudhamani) on the cot. Page 28, chapter
1.
It is difficult to understand the reason for the parents stopping the
brilliant child Sudhamani compared to their other children. This is
illustrated in page 27 6 chapter 1: 4 Her older classmates, including
her brother and sister, sometimes received harsh punishment from the
teacher for being unable to learn verses of poetry by heart.
Meanwhile, little Sudhamani, who was studying in the lower grade,
would melodiously sing the peoems and dance to the melody like a
delicate butterfly. all the teachers admired her and were amazed by
Kunju2s (sudhamani) astonishing memory. She scored full marks in all
subjects and was ranked first in class, despite the fact that she was
often absent because of household responsibilities. 3
In fact so harsh is the treatment that the child says the mother
treats her like a daughter-in-law and not a daughter. Traditionally
in some families, daughter-in-laws are maltreated for heavy dowry and
not bearing a male heir, this treatment passed on to generations just
like the 1ragging2 tradition in the universities in the past.
Apart from this Sudhamani also claims many things which cannot be
observed now, nor which she has demonstrated. These include:
1) animals tendering her body during tapas, etc the garudas which
bring fish for her food.
2) miraculously lighting lamps without oil and with use of water.
3) changing water into milk.
4) giving endless supply of food from a small vessel, more like Jesus
Christ.
Apart from this Sudhamani has also caused griveous hurt to her cousin
by her own words. Let us look at the unfolding of events as it is
given.. Subhagan is Sudhamani2s cousin. He and another cousin are
irked with Sudhamani2s claims of being god. Apart from them there are
also others. These have formed a commitee called 1Rationalist
movement2 and 1commitee to stop blind beliefs2. We do not get any
account from this group, just swami amritasvarupananda2s comments as
recorded in the book. As such a honest look of events cannot be had
in this book. However so Subhagan and his cousin one day will try to
scare Sudhamani and which will end disastrously for the cousin.
Page 144 6 chapter 8- dazzling like a million suns: 4 One day,
subhagan and a few of his cousins called the Mother to a relative2s
house under a false pretext. When she arrived, they locked her in a
room and one cousins began threatening her, sudenly pulling out a
knife which he had hidden in his clothing. Subhagan announced, 3This
behavior of yours has gone too far! You are bound to spoil the family
name. Since you cannot stop mixing freely with all sorts of people
and persist in your sining and dancing, it is better you die.4 He was
enraged to hear the Mother laugh and retort, 3I am not afraid of
death.The body must meet its end sooner or later, but it is
impossible for you to kill the Self. Now that you are determined to
kill me, let me meditate a while, then you can kill me4. 3
The last utterance of Sudhamani is similar to Shankara2s when he
faces death at the hands of bandits. Seeing Sudhamani2s past in which
she would have been exposed to much of hindu literature, it is not
difficult to assume how she would have arrived to such a concoction
of a story, passed on by the faithful swami amrita, tsk!
What conspires later, (page 144, chapter 8): 35though they verbally
threatened the holy mother (sudhamani), none of them was courageous
enough to do anything to her after hearing her bold reply and seeing
her unperturbed. Suddenly the cousin who had brandished the knife
jumped forward and pressed the kinfe against her chest as if to stab
her. But he could not make another move, as he was immediately
stricken by an excruciating pain in his own chest at the exact point
where he pressed the knife against Holy Mother2s. He himself fell to
the floor in agony. Seeing this, the others in the room became filled
with dread. At this moment Damayanti arrived, having seen Sudhamani
leaving with Subhagan and his cousins. Hearing the uproar, she began
pounding on th door, shouting. When the door was opened, Damayanti
took the Holy Mother by the hand and led her home, taking the path by
the shore. On tbe way back, the Mother told Damayanti, 3your people
dishonored me. This ocean is my mother as well. She will accept me
happily with outstretched arms. I am going to her lap4. Hearing this
Damayanti became mentally unbalanced and began screaming, 4 don2t say
that, daughter!455..succeeding in dissuading the Holy Mother, she
took her back to Idamannel. 3
It is hard to imagine that for one who has claimed to cross the stage
of non-duality and attaining oneness with god (as stated throughout
the book), Sudhamani becomes angry at humiliation. This shows her
attachment to the body. She has not realized that which is not
destructible. It is false where she shouts she is not the body.
Actually, Shankara who said this thing after being confronted by the
bandits and saved by his disciple will not show any aversion to the
bandits. This is different to Sudhamnani2s reaction. This is because
the cousin brother who dared to point the knife to her mysteriously
dies. Though his death is not known to us, let us read Sudhamani2s
version via swami amrita.. Page 145, Chapter 8: 4 The episode doesn2t
end here. The cousin who had raised the knife against the Mother to
stab her was taken in pain to the hospital. Though provided with
excellent medical treatment, he finally died, continuously vomiting
blood. As his disease was in its acute stages, the Holy Mother
visited him in the hospital. She lovingly consoled him and fed him
with her own hands. He was deeply repentant toward her for his grave
mistake, and burst into tears experiencing her compassion and
forgiveness.
The holy mother had no enmity toward her cousin who had attempted to
murder her, nor had she made any resolve to avenge his evil act. He
simply suffered the fruit of his action. The Mother explained, 4 Just
as human beings have intense love for Mother, numerous subtle beings
love her as well. If somebody attempts to harm Mother, Mother does
not react. Mother faces such a person without any excitement and does
not even think any harmful thought regarding him who acts out of
ignorance. But these subtle beings get angry and take revenge. Do you
understand how this is? Suppose someone2s mother is attacked by a
man. Do the children sit back indifferent? Even if their mother tries
to stop them, they find that man and take revenge.4 6 page 145,
chapter 8.
Now let us pause and think. What is Sudhamani implying here. First of
all she claims to not react. Yet she initially wanted to drown
herself due to humiliation. Then she talks about visiting the cousin
who is also repentant. She forgives him and he wallows due to her
compassionate and forgiving nature. So this means that he has
repented and deeply regrets his actions. So why does this man has to
suffer anyway? He has not caused any hurt to Sudhamani except for
threatening.. For this has he got to die? Sudhamani cites karma or
divine retribution for this. But she does have weird ideas of how
karma works. She says that 2subtle beings2 have exacted their
revenge. We do not know who these are nor does she elaborate. We are
to assume that these are divine beings. Even as a human being I will
not punish somebody who has repented as seriously as these subtle
beings have done, here I mean in the context of the act that the
cousin brother carried out against Sudhamani. On top of this she even
claims that this subtle beings are likened to the children which seek
out revenge if someone slights their mom, even if the mother tries to
stop them. Quite disturbing conclusions can be made from here. First
of all even though Sudhamani has forgiven, the subtle beings killed
her cousin. Is Sudhamani implying that she has no control over these
subtle beings? I mean if god forgives, it can even override karma.
Even companies overwrite bad debts. That is the true meaning of
forgiving, don2t you think so? If I were to suffer my actions
regardless of being forgiven by god, what is the need of this? On top
of that, these subtle beings attacked him due to anger. This is
unbecoming of Sudhamani2s subtle children whom she has no control of,
they even don2t give a damn even though she has forgiven the cousin
and she was actually unhurt. Moreover the cousin repents and regrets
his actions.
Let me ask, if these 2subtle beings2 were in fact true human beings
and Sudhamani also acknowledges likewise, what would have happened?
If I go and kill a guy who threatens my mom with a knife, but who
couldn2t or didn2t do any harm, and also who was eventually forgiven
by my mother, what do you think will happen to me? I will go behind
bars only. What will happen to my mother who claims the grand law of
karma, thus justifying my act? At the same time she also acts
forgiving by saying that she has no anger towards the killed man.
This whole episode and Sudhamani2s response to it sounds like a big
drama only. Or is there any hidden truth? It also teaches false
paradoxes.. She acts humane, forgiving etc. She quotes Karma. She lets
subtle beings kill someone who has repented and who she has forgiven,
quoting the divine dispensation of Karma. She also says these subtle
beings reacted out of anger and she has no control over them. Aren2t
subtle beings supposed to have subtlety, I mean more forgiving than
human?
My dear readers, ponder on these truths for a while..I will get back
to you in my part two of my rendition of a critical look at mata
amritandamayi.
To be continued..
-Sashi
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A Critical Look At The Biography Of Amma Part II
Posted by cultofhuggingsaintamma on June 30, 2009
Dear Readers,
Kindly read my previous post, titled as above- part 1. This
is a continuation of it.
Okay,let us now look at the mysterious death of Subhagan. In page 152,
chapter 9, Sudhamani aka Holy Mother says,4 It seems that brother
Subhagan is nearing the end of his life span. As a solution you can
take a vow of silence, but certain obstacles can be seen which will
try
to break your vow. Therefore be careful when you take the vow.4
Let us look at how Damayanti breaks the vow, in page 157 of the same
chapter:
4 Damayanti observed a vow of silence one day. However, when it was
halfway over, it so happened that a cow broke its rope and started
running from their cowshed. Damayanti started running from their
cowshed. Damayanti completely forgot her vow and shouted, 3There goes
the cow! Catch it!455.
The family took this as a bad omen, especially as forewarned by
Mother.
This auspicious event filled the family with fear and anxiety.4
So there we have it5 Sudhamani initially warns Damayanti of impending
death of Subhagan. Maybe we can say this is Karma. But the funny part
is- it is linked with observing a vow of silence. I don2t understand
the reason as how a vow of silence helps to appease Karma. So does
this
mean the mute will escape death or law of Karma? This sounds more like
religious superstition and proves the fact that Sudhamani is basically
a girl steeped in religious superstition without much thought.
Damayanti just shouts after a cow which escapes from the cowshed. This
is just the most logical thing to do. Does death gets hastened due to
this? Without thinking what the factors which affect death are, we get
the superstitious Sudhamani dishing out irrational things to equally
superstitious family members.
However so, Subhagan2s death is directly proclaimed by Sudhamani
herself. Let us look at what is written in the page 153, chapter 9:
4 One day Subhagan, in a fit of fury, severely harassed a Muslim woman
who had come to Idamannel for the Bhava Darshan. Unable to bear
Subhagan2s vicious remarks, the lady rushed to the temple, burst into
tears and began beating her head against the threshold of the shine
room. She was crying out, 3O Mother..O Mother5is this the fate of
those who come to see You?4
Hearing the Muslim woman2s distraught cries, the Mother2s radiant and
smiling face underwent an immediate transformation. With a terrifying
appearance, she stood up from the sacred seat holding a trident in one
hand and a sword in the other. In a solemn and deep tone the Mother
said, 3Whoever has caused this undue grief to this devotee will die
within seven days.4
When the Mother2s prediction reached the ears of Sugunanadaan, he
rushed to the temple seeking forgiveness for his son2s grievous
behavior. He pleaded to the Mother to spare Subhagan2s life and take
his instead. Mother calmly told, 3I never punish anybody. If I am
abused or harassed I don2t care at all. But when a devotee suffers
such
abuse even God will not forgive. Each one must enjoy the fruit of
one2s
actions. There is no other way.4
Seven days had passed. It was nearly midinight on June 2, 1978 when
Subhagan, who had been informed of the Mother2s predicition, committed
suicide by hanging. He had written a suicide note giving the reason as
unbearable stress caused by his incurable disease (elephantitis).
Subhagan2s suicide created chaos and distress at Idammanel house. 3
From the above we can see the utter stupidity of the whole story.
Harassing a devotee does not incur such a punishment as death. In
today2s standards, harassing and taunting a person does not amount to
punishment by death. Is god so stupid as to warrant this punishment to
someone who taunts his devotees? The muslim lady was not physically
hurt nor any of her belongings stolen. She did see the so called Holy
Mother and lamented Subhagan2s 3vicious remarks4 only. This 3viciou=
s
remarks4 cannot be justified as warranting death punishment by god or
anyone else for that matter. Moreover hypersensitive people can even
classify a normal criticism as 3vicious remarks4.
Sudhamani now actively interferes in the death of Subhagan by
proclaiming his forthcoming death due to the taunting of a devotee.
Though pleaded to by her dad, she does not lift this curse. Previously
it could be avoided by just following a vow of silence. That too got
destroyed due to the old lady2s shouting at a mere straying cow. Now
it
is the 1vicious remarks2 which justifies the death punishment to
Subhagan. If we look at the story it seems Subhangan was informed of
his sister2s predicition. He was said to hang himself. Was he forced
to
hang himself to make his sister2s prediction come true or was he also
too superstitious to believe this prediction, thereby due to utmost
stress of this disturbing prediction hanged himself? In the book, his
disease -elephantitis, is quoted. But many people in India have lived
and are living with elephantitis without killing themselves. It is not
a psychotic or fatal disease as made out in the book; moreover the
medication diethylcarbamazine was available in India at that time,
even
the generic.
In this chapter 9- the sword of truth, we have swami amrita mention
about the rationalists and how they tried to discredit mighty
Sudhamani. From what he has written, it seems that there were a group
of poor villagers who came to the bhava darshan. Sugunandan eventually
helps his daughter in carrying out these activities. Sudhamani becomes
the deity Krsna and Shakti in this bhava darshans. But there is also
another group which seeks actively to stop this activity of Sudhamani
-
they are classified as the rationalists by Swami amrita. But we do not
know the real reason that they have done this. From what I can gather
through reading the book, they are portrayed as mere trouble makers
who
try to become obstacles to Sudhamani and her quest without any
apparent
reason. It is just out of hate. That is as stated by the swami. But I
think it is deeper than that.
Let us now shift our attention on Sudhamani2s bhavas. This bhavas are
also observed in devotional common Hindus during Thaipusam and other
events. It is more like trances or the Christian2s descending of holy
spirit in which some speak in tongues. Whatever it is we can only say
it is yet fully understood by science. There are also small scale
priests who also have this visitation of spirits and who are sought
out
for healing and other purposes. The shamans of the pagans and the
priest of organized religion claim this divine power to be able to
heal
and prophesize. However so let us look at Sudhamani2s explanation of
this bhavas as recorded by swami amrita.
Page 197 & 198, chapter eleven 6 The meaning of Divine Bhavas:
4 The Great Masters of India have classified Divine Incarnations in
three main categories: 1) Purna Avatara (full or perfect), 2) Amsa
Avatara (partial manifestation) and 3) Avesa Avatara (temporary
overshadowing by divine powers)5
A purna avatara is the descent of the nameless, formless and immutable
supreme energy, assuming a human form and manifesting infinite power
without any limitations.
The incarnation of Vishnu as Vamana and Narashima are examples of Amsa
Avatara. Parasurama, as depicted by Srimad Bhagawatam is avesa avatar.
3
Let us now see the elaboration of the purna avatar in the book. It is
said that Hanuman wanted to visit Krishna but insisted to only see the
form of Rama. Hanuman was a ardent devotee of Rama who is but an
incarnation of Vishnu just like Krishna. Yet Hanuman wishes to see
Rama
alone. Only Krishna could assume the form of Rama for Hanuman since he
is a purna avatar. Let us read as stated in page 199, Chapter 11:
4 While Garuda was fetching Hanuman, certain events were taking place
in Dwaraka. Lord Krishna, by His mere Will, assumed the form of Lord
Rama, who had lived ma
11.03.2010 - 09:53
This man publicly preaches the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda
dressed of ochre as a monk, that introduces himself as the only direct
disciple living in Europe of Paramahansa Yogananda,
J.Donald Walters alias "Swami" Kriyananda, for his same admission has
renounced the votes taken with his Guru many years ago, therefore he
is not a " Swami " anymore, as his two marriages confirm. It is not
anymore a monk in the monastic order founded by Paramahansa Yogananda,
for his dismissal in 1962.
His personal project to create "colonies of world brotherhood" pursues
stubbornly for more than thirty years, has stranded on the sands of
the trial Bertolucci, bringing the community and the people that had
believed in him and to his promises to bankruptcy.
In this site written by former members to provide answers for the many
questions, you will find articles, documents and testimonies that
explain the reasons for this failure and how an idea of life in
community may become the cult of a single personality.
To open files .pdf you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
From prison: Shivani starts ritual fasting
Download here the Acrobat file with latest news (in italian)
Arrested nine members of Ananda Assisi community, pending call for
arrest also for James Donald Walters aka Kriyananda, still retired in
India.
We publish these links to the latest news, also released in the second
national italian TV channel RAI TG2 of March 13th. Articles in
italian
Link al Corriere di Foligno di Foligno
Link a Il Messaggero Caltanet Altri articoli su Ananda da Il
Messaggero
Link a Perugia News
Link al sito di SRS
Ananda Assisi assists unbelieving for a new blitz of police read more
here (in italian)
Ananda press comunicate and translation from italian Newspapers
From Il Messaggero del 16/01/2004 (In italian)
From Corriere di Foligno (In italian)
More information at this link (In italian)
More from the forums
Posts and articles extracted from the groups and forums. Focused on
Ananda, his founder and community lifestyle with new detailed issues
and opened claims. This collection, wrote by many different person
shows the way they felt and mind about Ananda, helping us to
understand more the lesson behind. download it here
Table of authorities
A walk in the money relationship between Ananda and his founder. How
they managed money, bank accounts, transferts, loans and tithes. An
extract from table of authorities, very detailed and rich of
informations. download it here
The demand for a trial - Bertolucci deposition
What really has happened in Ananda to stir up Bertolucci against
Walters and some his ministers in a trial? Find here enclosed the
original demand for a trial Bertolucci legals have begun with. The
document reports about circumstances and facts as recalled by
A.M.Bertolucci. It is useful to better understand what has happened
that time. download it here
J. Donald Walters 6 The deposition book
Finally available for all the readers, the complete book reporting all
the sessions that the Court carried out gathering the deposition of
Mr. J. Donald Walters in the Bertolucci trial.
A book that includes precious information and declarations useful for
better understanding the story of Mr. Walters and of his Ananda world
brotherhood community.
A book dictated by his author under oath, and that objectively tells
from his founder2s point of view the true story, the raise and the
growth of Ananda.
Finally collected and arranged in a fluent reading format, which
allows the search for names, dates, and key words thanks to the
computer advanced search functions. A necessary format for those who
want to learn point by point Kriyananda2s objective version on the
action brought by Mrs. A. M. Bertolucci against the Ananda Church of
God Realization.
Download it directly here
Who is entitled to initiate on Kriya?
If everyone shouldn't initiate others into Kriya, then who should?
Perhaps we should look to the Master's explicit and written
instructions in this regards instead of relying on our limited and
egocentric understanding:
"Do not discuss, or divulge, any technique without first consulting
with SRF headquarters, which reserves the sole right to give Kriya
instruction, or to appoint a qualified SRF member to give such
instruction. If you know of someone who you should have the benefit of
certain SRF techniques, encourage him to become an SRF student, that
he may receive the full benefits of study. If some difficulty stands
in the way of his becoming a member, advise him to write directly to
Self-Realization Fellowship, explaining his situation and affirming
his sincere desire to receive instruction in specific SRF
techniques."
SRF Praeceptum Lessons, 1938 copyright, K-7, pg. 3.
Or perhaps we should listen to the counsel Kriyananda gave while he
was working in the SRF center department:
"It is our policy to permit only ordained ministers to give the Kriya
Yoga initiation. Master said that after his passing he wanted only ---
SRF renunciates to be ordained as ministers, and at that only after a
minimun of seven years in one of our colonies..."
Donald Walters, 1957
DISCLAIMER
This site is born in service and is the collaboration of the work of
many devotees. It springs from the need to provide information
concerning issues surrounding Ananda and Kriyananda. We report on a
variety of subjects including the several lawsuits that J.Donald
Walters, aka Swami Kriyananda,* and Ananda, the community he founded,
have been involved with.
This work is intended to provide background information and support
for those people searching into Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings who
may have heard or been involved to some degree with Ananda. Here
you'll find many documents: articles from devotees, former Ananda
members, legal trial documents, and open letters from world-wide
sources that may help to show how Ananda became a personality cult of
Donald Walters, and not an extension of the vision of Paramahansa
Yogananda.
Paramahansa Yogananda founded his organization, Self-Realization
Fellowship (SRF) in 1920, in Los Angeles. He dedicated SRF as the
organization authorized to spread world-wide these teachings.
Paramahansa Yogananda revered and respected all true religions, but he
linked his particular teachings to the church he founded, Self-
Realization Fellowship.
He one day told:
3These are my happiest days, I am happy for two reasons: I have been
able to please God, and I have been able to fulfill the pledge that I
gave to my guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, to build this work of Yogoda
Satsanga/Self-Realization to spread the message of Kriya Yoga...4
To understand the array of topics covered here, navigation has been
provided by 3cards4, you can proceed reading card by card by clicking
above in the "next card" buttons. If you wish to proceed directly in
the Archives-Downloads areas click here.
* The readers should be informed that in this site we refer all the
informations to "Swami Kriyananda" alias James Donald Walters, the
Ananda Village founder and Spiritual Director of the Ananda Church of
Self Realization (see a picture). Every other having the same name are
not involved anyway with the subject of this site.
Yogananda and SRF
Paramahansa Yogananda's sacred mission had been prophesied from birth
by the Himalayan master Mahavatar Babaji, and by his chief disciple
Lahiri Mahasaya. As a spiritual engine he will carry many souls to
God's kingdom.Paramahansa Yogananda's vivid childhood memories of
being a yogi during previous lifetimes in the Himalayas are well
substantiated by his own life. When as a youth of 17, he met his
Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, the recognition, joy, and empathy between
Master and disciple was immediate and enlightening. For the next
several years he quickly grew towards Self-Realization under the wise
and compassionate direction of his God-realized master.
Following a prophetic vision and a letter inviting him to speak at the
upcoming Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, USA (Sept 1920), he
carefully accepted this major new career direction as God's will. It
was soon confirmed by a personal visit from Mahavatar Babaji that the
young Swami Yogananda had been sent years earlier to His Master for
training to eventually spread the timeless knowledge of the science of
Kriya yoga meditation in the West. When Paramahansa Yogananda arrived
in America Sept 20, 1920, the "New World" was ready to receive these
advanced teachings that had previously been reserved for monastics and
chelas in ashrams. Without any personal ambitions, he came to serve
and save those who wanted to learn and grow, and help raise the
consciousness of humanity.
Paramahansa Yogananda quickly adjusted to his newly adopted homeland,
he soon became a prominent and successful speaker on America's
spiritual scene. His main lecture tours were conducted between 1925
and 1936 to overflowing audiences, and during this time his
organization called SRF, was steadily growing. It was Paramahansa
Yogananda who succeeded in giving the world outside of India a full,
effective and clear exposition to the Science of Kriya Yoga
meditation. His main mission in all of this was to build a lasting
bridge of World Brotherhood based on raising the spiritual awareness
between the East and West.
On the Master's return visit to India in 1935-36, his Guru expressed
approval for his work by giving him India's high spiritual title,
"Paramahansa". It was also during this historic trip, when Mahatma
Gandhi asked that Yogananda initiate himself and his staff into the
sacred science of Kriya Yoga. The outstanding success of his world
mission was mainly the result of various factors; including his God-
centered life and service to humanity, and the divine love and power
many persons say they felt in his presence and in his writings. With a
number of competent,spiritually attuned staff through His divine
influence and presence millions of lives are being changed for the
better, and inspired towards a more harmonious way of living
spiritually centered lives.
All this spiritual success gave his followers and successors a solid
foundation named Self Realization Fellowship with which to carry on
with this mission. In the 140+ years since it's quiet beginnings in
India (1861), when Kriya yoga was introduced to the masses by Lahiri
Mahasaya, this divine lineage has produced an impressive record of
great souls and public service. Including many of those who stayed on
to aid Yogananda's work through SRF. Yogananda carried out his mission
par excellence, not requiring Babaji to send any others to duplicate
or confuse this work. His reputation was impeccable, and he always
kept his word. Many readers claim that the vibrations of his ever-
living presence can still be felt through his writings and recordings,
as he spiritually touches and guides their lives.
Yogananda's best known work, "Autobiography of a Yogi", was first
published in 1946, and has appeared on best-seller lists as recently
as 1997. This spiritual classic of the 20th century gives the reader
new insights and inspiration to seek Truth, to experience deeper
awareness and love. Just reading this book is in itself a powerful
consciousness-raising experience. Beginning with the beautiful
portrait of a devout Hindu family, the author continues with living
presentations of the lives of many modern yogis and saints whom he met
during his own spiritual quest. Thus describing as never before the
full significance and function of the Master-disciple relationship,
and it's importance as the vital key in one's search for Self-
Realization and salvation.
Yogananda's vivid and detailed descriptions of his experiences in
Samadhi (cosmic- consciousness) are no doubt the most believable and
articulate in the history of spiritual literature. This was the first
time the profound teachings of the Kriya yoga were written about in
such detail in English, by a fully accomplished Yogi. After the
publication of the original edition of the Autobiography of a Yogi,
the author Paramahansa Yogananda made many major changes to this book.
such as the addition of the 49th chapter, the removal of 80% of a page
on world brotherhood colonies, the addition of many new and important
footnotes, as well as a number of other grammatical and spelling
corrections.
He also appointed an Editor-in-chief and her successor (monastics whom
he personal trained for this task, and both of whom had been in
spiritual training with the Guru for many years, and were well aware
of His wishes for the future of His work), to carry the editing and
publication of all His writings, which he bequeathed solely to the
Self-Realization Fellowship.
Further changes since 1952, have made the most recent editions more
fully reflect the deepest intentions and truest teachings of the
Author, which give more reliable direction to all readers and serious
devotees.Paramhansaji clearly stated that after his departure the Self-
Realization Fellowship Teachings would be the Guru, and through these
teachings others would be in tune with Him and the great Gurus who had
sent Him. Also stating that the SRF would always be headed by a leader
of deep spiritual realization. His comment about the teachings does
not diminish the importance of the personal Guru-disciple
relationship, which is an eternal relationship and integral to success
on the spiritual path.
The Self-Realization Fellowship lessons, an extremely comprehensive
and complete course in its field, are sent to interested seekers at a
cost that barely covers printing and mailing, and are accompanied by
excellent ongoing personal guidance and counseling.Personal
instruction of the Kriya yoga and other meditation techniques are
given by monastics who make frequent visits to major centers around
the world. One of the mater's final declarations about his mission
was,
"If you follow the Self-Realization teachings I have brought to you
from the masters of India, you can find God in this life."
Who is Kriyananda?
Swami Kriyananda is the charismatic founder of the Ananda communities
and the Ananda Church of Self-realization. As the spiritual leader of
his church, he claims to represent the great avatar Paramahansa
Yogananda. This claim is based on private discussions that Kriyananda
says he had with the Master during the three and half years he spent
with him prior to Yogananda's passing in 1952.
But there are no witnesses to these discussions, and all of
Yogananda's closest and most advanced disciples dispute Kriyananda's
claim, saying that he is just trading on Yogananda's good name to
further his own personal ambitions. After Yogananda's passing,
Kriyananda quickly rose through the ranks of his Guru's society, Self-
Realization Fellowship (SRF). Within eight years Kriyananda was
promoted to second vice-president. His rise to power ended abruptly,
though, just two years later in 1962 when he was expelled from SRF by
the Board of Directors.
Although claiming that his dismissal was "unfair", during his
deposition Kriyananda admitted that he had not kept his vow of
celibacy-even while a monastic in SRF. Kriyananda also stated that
while in India he "was attempting to form an organization, a park and
ashram, in the center of the city where the greenbelt area comes in
close to the center." He fails to mention, however, that these actions
were in direct violation of SRF's express orders to cease and desist.
Had Kriyananda not been quickly ordered back to the U.S. and forced to
"resign," India was preparing to expel not only Kriyananda but the
whole SRF organization from the country.
SRF's senior vice-president, Tara Mata, a close disciple of the Master
since 1924, called Kriyananda immoral, a Judas and prophetically, an
egotistical Machiavellian schemer who was trying to divide the work
and set himself up as the Master's true representative and spiritual
heir. Daya Mata, now the president of SRF and one of the Master's
closest disciples, was trained by Yogananda for over twenty years to
assume the responsibilities of carrying on the work after he was gone.
Yogananda assures us:
"Follow her. She has followed me with one hundred percent devotion,
one hundred percent obedience, one hundred percent loyalty. She is in
tune with me. I can work through her."
Kriyananda repeatedly chose to not follow her, feeling that he
understood Master's intentions better than she. Opposing her on many
issues and with the incidents in India as the final straw, Kriyananda
was eventually forced out. Kriyananda never recovered from the shame
and rejection of his dismissal, complaining bitterly to this day how
he was mistreated and misunderstood. Unable to forgive or forget, he
has worked for fifty years to prove that he is the innocent victim of
a heartless and corrupt SRF leadership. Saying whatever he can to
discredit his fellow disciples for fifty years he has been obsessed
with proving that he really is a great and worthy disciple, fit to
lead his Master's mission, and that SRF is wrong not to recognize his
superior wisdom and attunement with Yogananda.
Years earlier, though,Kriyananda wrote that he would never start an
organization that would be opposed to SRF because it would be
"treachery" to do so. Some believe Kriyananda is an advanced yogi who
has acquired certain spiritual powers through his practice of
meditation. They believe these powers give him the ability to transfer
shakti (spiritual energy) to others and to be aware of their deepest
feelings. Some feel very blissful and uplifted and become convinced
that Kriyananda must be a saint. Yoga teaches, though, that these
powers mean nothing in themselves, and can be used for good or ill--to
bless people or to control and manipulate them.
Kriyananda is a man of calculating intelligence, but his intellect is
underminded by his narcissitic immaturity and pride. Narcissists
usually have normal, even superior intellectual development while
remaining emotionally and morally immature. They unfortunately have
difficulty learning from and taking responsibilities for their past
mistakes. Kriyananda is a prolific writer, poet, musician, with
prodigious energy and volcanic creativity. Typically, however, his
followers are the ones left to pay for and manifest his "visions". To
those who follow him he is an inspired speaker. Seen as a keen student
of human nature, he is adored by hundreds worldwide.
His initial sweetness, lovable personality and professed high ideals
inspire fanatical loyalty. His ministers work tirelessly to build and
promote what Kriyananda often refers o as his "great work"--his
mission to disseminate Yogananda's teachings to the world. Kriyananda
constantly reminds us of his Guru's words to him, "You have a great
work to do," as though to convince us (and himself?) that Ananda is
the great work Yogananda commissioned him to undertake. Many of the
Master's other close disciples have another interpretation, based on
what Yogananda told them about Kriyananda.
They believe the Master was referring not to an outer work, but to
Kriyananda's inner work to achieve enlightenment. They say that the
word "great" refers not to "important and wonderful," as Kriyananda
wishes to believe, but to the herculean task of overcoming his
spiritual pride. Yogananda told some of his close disciples that this
was a pivotal life for Kriyananda-that he would either find God or
fall for many more lives.
Other disciples of Master, liken Kriyananda to Brother Elias, a monk
in St. Francis' order, who had desires to reform the order but fell
due to pride. Kriyananda has privately admitted that Master did warn
him- "do not be my Brother Elias". Ananda is Kriyananda's "proof" that
he is not only destined for enlightenment but that Yogananda"s mantle
has passed to him. As he proclaims, "Ananda could not have come into
existence and flourished without the blessings of Paramahansa
Yogananda on my life and work. But why not? Many far greater works are
flourishing, after all, such as L. Ron Hubbard' s Church of
Scientology, without the benefit of Divine blessings.
Brother Anandamoy, one of Yogananda's close disciples, and
Kriyananda's best friend when he was in SRF, has said that for those
who are drawn to Ananda, it will be their greatest test of
discrimination in this life. This is because Kriyananda is very
convincing. He seems so humble, loving and magnetic--people just want
to believe in him. But Yogananda warned against following those who
set themselves up as teachers in his name, claiming to be his
channel.
This is what Kriyananda has done, urging that Ananda members should go
through him in order to reach Yogananda: "Yes, you can go straight to
Master, or to any other master in our line of gurus. Try it, please,
if you like. See if they will accept you. Others have done so,
however, and I have yet to see one of them flourish" (Ananda
Directions, 1999).
Who, then, is Swami Kriyananda? For those who are seeking the truth
and value their spiritual welfare, it would be wise to carefully check
him out for yourself. There are many who knew him well when he was in
SRF, and there are hundreds of former Ananda members who have their
own stories to tell--many who have been severely harmed by him. Is
Kriyananda a great spiritual teacher, as his followers claim, or a
blind guide leading his blind followers into the ditch of ignorance
and pride?
As Swami Vivekananda, the eminent disciple of the great master
Ramakrishna, once said:
3Of one hundred persons who take up the spiritual life, eighty turn
out to be charlatans, fifteen insane, and only five, maybe, get a
glimpse of the real truth. Therefore beware.4
Kriyananda and Rosanna when were married
What is Ananda?
What is Ananda? Ananda is many different things at the same time. It
is an idyllic spiritual community filled with smiling, loving
devotees; it is a thorn in the side of its neighbors on the San Juan
Ridge; it is a business that markets the spiritual experience; it is a
long-term employer of long-term leadership figures; it is a place of
dishonesty, deception, and denial, a village patterned after the
consciousness of its founder and another layer of defense in
Kriyananda2s formidable psychological armor; it is a graduate school
for developing discrimination and destroying one2s delusions; and it
is a political entity like any other town in the country, but this is
a very authoritarian political entity.
The present US Ananda consists of a seclusion retreat of approximately
70 acres and a village of more than 400 acres in the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California. Ananda Assisi is a
much smaller group of persons, gathered around a building named "Il
Rifugio". This group includes Walters faithful and most of these have
come from the America. Other nationalities, mostly Italians, comprise
the rest of the community. Some leave the community after a few days,
others after a few years, but yet the nucleus in Assisi remain the
original American imports.
Ananda had its beginning in 1968, when Kriyananda joined a few other
men to buy and divide up a large parcel of land outside of Nevada
City. Several years later he bought a farm a few miles away from the
seclusion retreat, and this land, which includes more than 400 acres,
is now Ananda Village. The land is quite beautiful, with forests of
pine, cedar, oak, and madrone. A couple of years ago Ananda turned the
trees into money by having it logged.
Over the years many people have moved to Ananda, and a small core of
original residents is still there, most of whom serve as the Ananda
leadership. Most of the others who moved to Ananda have left, and many
of them still live nearby. Though it may seem strange, the majority of
them want nothing to do with Ananda. Having seen through the surface
layer of spiritual identity to the reality underneath--the process of
discrimination--and having learned the lesson, they graduate.
Ananda advertises itself as following the teachings of Paramahansa
Yogananda, helping people learn meditation, yoga postures, and how to
live life according to the classic yogic teachings. Kriyananda was a
Self Realization Monk for 14 years, about 3 1/2 of these while
Yogananda was still alive. He therefore is considered a direct link
with the Guru, and this is Ananda2s foremost claim to being a part of
Yogananda2s work.
When one first comes to Ananda, everything is beautiful. The setting
is peaceful, and there are many scheduled spiritual events--kirtans,
meditations, services, ceremonies, kriya initiations, plays, concerts,
and other things. But newcomers are expected to let go of all their
own ideas of what is right and accept the new ways of doing things
without question. After becoming members, they find somehow their
previous personal life goals and ambitions have been put 3on hold4.
But, after all, with such a great Master as Yogananda guiding the
place, how could they go wrong? The newcomer soon learns how he is to
regard Self Realization Fellowship--as an outdated rigid, entity that
hates and wants to destroy Kriyananda and Ananda.
It can take quite a long time to realize that Ananda is not primarily
Master2s or God2s place, though their names are mentioned often.
Ananda is Kriyananda2s place, and he comes first there. The Ananda
leaders are unconditionally loyal to Kriyananda, with God and Master
coming lower on the list. This loyalty requires them to adopt, as
their own, his view of the world and especially his own history.
Almost as soon as Kriyananda established Ananda on the San Juan Ridge,
he began making sexual advances on the local women. Consequently he
got a bad name with his neighbors, who knew from the beginning what he
was like. Ananda people, therefore, are not encouraged to be friendly
with their neighbors. Ridge people are against them, they are told,
and are too worldly and unspiritual. They also know too much about
Kriyananda.
The Ananda leadership knows about Kriyananda, too, but their duty is
to keep this information quiet so that Ananda can maintain its public
relations image as a model spiritual community in which only love,
peace, and seeking God happen. They also have given decades of their
lives to this company, and it may be impossible for them to admit they
were wrong. And where else could they find employment now?
Some of the real story came out during a recent lawsuit, in which
Kriyananda, the Ananda Church, and one of the ministers were found
guilty of sexual harrassment. (Kriyananda left it to Ananda people to
pay his $1,000,000 plus fine.)
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Kriyananda decided to make Italy his
full time home. A new fold of devotees needed his spiritual guidance
and presence in Europe, he said. Many residents, as well, departed the
community at this time. Some were in considerable shock because they
had lived there for nearly 20 years without knowing of Kriyananda2s
sexual activities. They had thought that such dishonesty and deception
could not exist at Ananda.
Their places were soon taken by new residents from the Ananda centers
in Palo Alto (California), Portland (Oregon), and Seattle
(Washington). Now Ananda is carrying on as usual, as though nothing
happened and everything is the same as before.
The ordinary citizens of Ananda are, with few exceptions, the
spiritual core of the community. They try to know and follow
Yogananda2s teachings. They are the ones who give Ananda its spiritual
identity, and they are the ones who do the most to maintain it. They
are kept under tight control by vows of obedience to Kriyananda and
all community leaders. Some are stuck because their only assets are in
Ananda housing, making it difficult for them to leave even if they
want to.
Kriyananda has had ongoing plans for Ananda, such as the constant
expansion of the population, and ongoing acquisition of adjoining land
for this purpose. Because Ananda is in a rural area, the neighbors do
not welcome these goals, and it creates a lot of tension at times.
Kriyananda does not care how the neighbors feel. Anyone who does not
support whatever he wants is his enemy. He wants what he wants without
consideration of other people, and what he wants has little or nothing
to do with the spiritual development of Ananda citizens.
Ananda is many things to many people. For visitors it is a miracle of
serenity and love. For new residents it is the challenge of living the
spiritual life and handing their lives over to what they believe is a
high cause. For longer-term residents it is the place where they made
many dear friends, and perhaps the place where they began to question
what Ananda really is. For many graduates, leaving there is the
beginning of their real lives--Ananda was the extreme that blew their
delusions sky high. For psychologists, Ananda is a fascinating study
in what happens when a charismatic but mentally twisted man attracts a
following of people who accept his twisted worldview.
Inside Ananda Assisi:
The core community, settled by members that have fully accepted the
pledge to Walters (including the obedience pledge), is comprised of
less than thirty persons. The rest, as Ananda Assisi2s marketing
confirms, is about fifty persons, including those who have NOT signed
any pledge to Ananda or to Walters and who live in their own homes in
the neighbouring community. These people tend to see Ananda more in
the light of a community rather than a spiritual path to which they
can devote their energy. In fact, many are people who have left the
city to gain a different perspective on life, desiring to experience
peace living in the hills. So while they live alone they still need
the contact of neighbours, and Ananda gives them the opportunity to
socialize. While this is not a sharing of a spiritual pursuits, but
more a convenience, Ananda is pleased to call them 3members4.
Since the beginning, Ananda Assisi has had limited growth, not many
new members, not much money. The historic estate is 3Il Rifugio,4 an
old flat three-story building bought with American donations and a
large loan, not yet paid back. The loan was made by several Italian
disciples that supported the birth of Ananda Assisi. Years later, in
the tradition of Ananda America, they are still waiting for their
money to be paid back.
Ananda2s pattern is to create a debt with a person and, as is the
case, for some of the first contributors this acts as a magnetic force
to keep them in Ananda2s orbit as they wait to recover their loan
monies. The banks and the homeowners of many homes and buildings,
which Ananda uses to accomodate vistors, are knocking at the door
trying to collect their debts and threatening to cease their financial
largess to the community.
The community2s activities are based on the Guru2s name, history, and
are creatively exploited. Ananda has a commercial section called Inner
Life to sell various objects everywhere: articles, pictures, books
based on a spiritual subjects. A second activity is the guests2
accomodation, bed & breakfast, restaurant, tour guidance to Assisi,
lessons and techniques on yoga, counseling and psychological support
are all the services included in the package. Naturally the bulk of
Ananda2s income is generated by donations, that people give when
asked, thinking that it will be used for the spreading of the Guru2s
teachings. The main focus of attraction for this channel of funding is
Swami Kriyananda, presented as a living guide, in perfect attunement
with Guru2s will.
Inside the Ananda Assisi grounds, nearby the old structure, CIl
RifugioE, was built the Temple of Light, an example of how it is
possible to 3make a miracle4 with devotee2s donations. This new
building was built in a very short time, arising on the ground
surrounding the old shelter. The manpower was recruited from devotees,
using the karma yoga time they must give during their stay. As the
3Rule4 prescribes, 3Work is service4.
The money was gathered by continous requests, by phone calls, by
letters, during visitors2 stays, or using the more charming members to
obtain the goal.
Even the designer, a Swiss named Ramatou Wintsch, was not payed for
his work, since he felt blessed (by Yogananda) when he first
envisioned the project in meditation. Much of the materials for the
base, filling and the tools were recycled from discard or payed for at
very low prices from different manufacturers. The temple is proof of
effectiveness of marketing strategies, using the name of Yogananda.
For a long time in the Ananda Assisi2s mailed fund raising appeals,
the need for a Temple to spread Master2s teachings was emphasized.
The rest of the community2s activities are supported by rent from
homes. Villa Gioia, Villa Pace and the old temple (where the member2s
rooms are) are owned by local townspeople. It is sometimes necessary
to remove the altar and other furnishings because the owners hold
banquets and meetings for the Hunter2s Association of Perugia-what
should be a sacred place becomes, effectively, a pub.
The other cabins (about 320/430 square feet each) are built nearby the
3Il Rifugio4, and serve as the American members2 homes. They have bee=
n
built illegally, so have been placed out of sight. The community arose
on a natural (preserved) area, so the areas in which new housing can
be built is very limited.
Looking from the outside, members appear to be happy. They give their
hearts to everyone and are always smiling. This kind of behavior is
felt as a very welcomed message, which impresses town people strained
from hard living and needing to recover in that heavenly site.
Unfortunately this is clearly a forced attitude. In private, members
are not so disposed and open. Some confess discomfort in the way
things are managed and organized.
The reader should try to venture out of the standard routes made for
guests, to understand the behind scenes2 realities- When one is
3parked4 in the boutique, in the temple, or in the lunch room all the
members may target him with their 3love bombing4. But just go out and
try to enter into the inner activity and you may discover iron rules
which are hard to accept.
The recent lawsuits filed in America have left a scar, and the
residents2 old disagreements about the leadership have resurfaced. In
fact, in Italy, the leadership makes up 4/5ths of the Assisi
residents. They are faithfully confident of Walters and, until a few
years ago, were spending a fortune in trans-oceanic phone calls to
receive guidance and instructions from 3Swami4. For those who remain,
an enormous amount of daily work is rewarded only by their personal
love for Master and, while they will occasionally will call a meeting
to 3ask residents their opinions4 on certain matters, the final
decision has almost always made with regard only to Kriyanda2s
wishes.
There Ds no democracy in all this, only an implicit agreement that
goes like this: If you stay here is because we permit, work to gain
the right to remain and do not discuss what we are doing, because it
is being done in the best interest of the community.
This doesn2t mix well, however, with Italian tradition. In Italy there
is less enthusiasm than in America about social experiments like
Ananda2s, 3world brotherhood colonies4. Here in this country,
tradition is strongly tied to family, to home, to wife and children,
and it isn2t as easy to choose a new style of life such as community
living.
Individuals who have had contacts with Ananda Assisi has been
repeatedly called to join the community, especially those having
property and money, but for Ananda the results has been disappointing.
The few who have joined are young, relatively free from commitments
and with a little or no money in the bank. They are the spine of the
community, their hard work continuosly feeds the furnace of Ananda2s
existence. Without this huge commitment in exchange for token pay, a
bed, and something to eat Ananda Assisi will be just a remnant of 702s
ideology.
The real value of Ananda Assisi is stated in their promotional
advertisements-a nice place to recharge the batteries and recover from
the chaotic life of the city. This is the same offer that any holiday
agency can arrange (and we find the prices are quite comparable!). But
the spiritual promises of closeness to Guru and other disciples of
Ananda are false. Those who wish to go further in the Kriya path of
Babaji can grant themselves a 3spiritual holiday4 to any one of
Assisi2s many other monasteries or ashrams for reflective
contemplation. The spiritual aspirant should never feel the need to
live in a Walters2 3world brotherhood colony4 to obtain enlightment o=
f
the Guru2s guidance.4
Remember Master2s saying:
3Solitude is the price of greatness.4
Those who wants receive more informations, or feel the need to help
our work are welcomed, go to our mail page to contact us
What's Ananda's teachings?
This is an important document. It shows clearly how many ceremonies
and teachings are currently observed in the community. We only marked
in red those ceremonies have been replaced by one's Master.
What teachings are actually studied at Ananda?
If one is associating with Ananda primarily because of a desire to
study Yogananda's teachings, one should know that at the current time,
all of Yogananda's ceremonies, written lessons and most of the books
recomended or required for study at Ananda have been replaced by those
created by J. Donald Walters: Former members have stated that of the
total material officially used at ceremonies and religious services,
including quotes from books, yoga lessons, poems and songs, as much as
70 to 80% comes from that created by J. Donald Walters, 10 to 15% is
of generic Hindu or Christian sources. Only 5 to 10% is taken from
Paramahansa Yogananda.
Ceremonies and religious services studied at Ananda
Superconscious Attunement Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters.
Purification Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters.
Ananda Wedding Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters. (replaces
Yogananda's)
Kriya Yoga ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters. (replaces
Yogananda's format)
Rules of Conduct for Members, (known as "The Rule") "The rule" was
created by J. Donald Walters. Includes directives that members should
seek permission from a special comittee of community leaders before
marrying, changing jobs, or even having children.
Membership Vows, created by J. Donald Walters. (includes vow of
"coopertive obedience and loyalty, above all" to the spiritual
director of Ananda. (J. Donald Walters)
Discipleship ceremonies (Does not include Kriya Yoga, the traditional
discipleship initiation taught by Paramahansa Yogananda) Created by J.
Donald Walters
Vows taking ceremonies; village member, monastic training, postulant,
novice, renunciant and final vows; (most membership vows include vow
of "coopertive obedience and loyalty, above all, to the spiritual
director of Ananda church; J. Donald Walters) Created by J. Donald
Walters.
Ministers pledge ceremonies, for ministers and lightbearers. (senior
ministers) Created by J. Donald Walters
Astral ascenscion ceremony; Format created by J. Donald Walters,
(replaces Yogananda's. Christening ceremony) Format created by J.
Donald Walters, replaces Yogananda's.
Shiva Ratri ceremony; traditional Hindu ceremony
Other community ceremonies or holidays
Two day (weekend) celebration of J. Donald Walter's birthday.
Theme; gratitude to Mr.Walters. Open house, people come up from
centers. Some classes about Mr.Walters, Musical show of Mr.Walters
music, Usually the Sunday Service for this weekend also follows this
theme.
Easter, Combination of Walters and Christ; Example; includes walk from
market to Expanding Light temple singing Walters Christian style
chants and songs.
Christmass, Includes musical evening of J.Donald Walters music.Usually
2 or 3 Christmass parties at J.Donald Walters house by invitation only
Music, Mr.Walters discourages music other than his own.
Spiritual renewal week, created by J. Donald Walters. (Created as
substitute for Yogananda's yearly Convocation)
County wide open house, focus on what Ananda and J. Donald Walters
have accomplished.
Schools, An article in the Palo Alto Weekly reported that; "The Ananda
School uses the education techniques of J. Donald Walters" (Swami
Kriyananda)
Written teachings required or recomended for membership at Ananda:
Ananda Course in Self-Realization, created by J. Donald Walters.
(replaces Yogananda's "SRF Lessons")
Over 60 books written by J. Donald Walters.
Early, incomplete version of Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi, and
other books.
by a member of the community
A slip isn't a fall?
This piece compares Walters veiws with Yogananda and other spiritual
leaders on the issue of a swami falling from his vows. It shows how
Walters makes up his own "teachings" to suit his own desires and to
cover up his failings.
What if a swami "slips"? Is a "slip not a fall"?
J. Donald Walters:
"A swami is a man or woman vowed to renunciation. In this sense a
swami is like a Catholic monastic or preist. Has a person failed in
renunciation if he or she is ever tempted, or, worse still, if he or
she succumbs to the temptation? To carry this thought further, has a
person failed as a renunciate if he or she slips in any of the aspects
of renunciation? ....We may speak of error, but why define error as
failure? Indeed, why define it as sin? A slip is not a fall.
"J. Donald Walters, Article, Yoga International magazine, July/August
1995, "Gurus and the Inner Eperience of Truth" Page 42.
Paramahansa Yogananda:
"Even the outer donning of the swami's robe or the monk's habit is not
proper (lest worldly people lose respect for the religious orders)
until one is a monk at heart, has renounced all worldly desires, and
is immersed in God. There is no meaning in monasticism without the
inward joy of God."
Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF magazine, May, 1951, pg. 30, "Spiritual
Interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita," Chapter 5, Stanza 2 and
"God talks with Arjuna," Bhagavad Gita translation, pg. 533, 534.
"Mental weakness is never wisdom, but a sign of deep subconscious
attachment to the ego and its delusive pleasures. He who cannot stand
firm in righteous behavior before a test of the Almighty loses the
right to speak as a wise man."
The Bhagavad Gita, translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, "God Talks
With Arjuna", p. 195.
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri and Lahiri Mahasaya:
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in his autobiography:
"On several occasions Sri Yukteswar, like Lahiri Mahasaya, discouraged
"unripe" students who wished to join the Swami Order: "To wear the
ochre robe when one lacks God- Realization is misleading to society",
the two masters said. "Forget the outward symbols of renunciation
which may injure you by inducing a false pride."
Paramahansa Yogananda quoting Sri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya in the
Autobiography of a Yogi, pg. 130, 1981, pg. 138, 1959 edition.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa:
"No lie of any sort is good. A false garb, even though a holy one, is
not good. If the outer garb does not correspond to the inner thought,
it gradually brings ruin. Uttering false words or doing false deeds,
one gradually loses all fear. Far better is the white cloth of a
householder...
...Attachment to worldliness, occasional lapses from the ideal, and an
outer garb of gerrua (ocher cloth of a monk) - how dreadful!"
From page 195 of "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna", by Master Mahasaya.
The author, a brother disciple of the renowned Swami Vivekananda, is
the saint Paramahansa Yogananda meets in his "Autobiography of a
Yogi", in the chapter "The Blissful Devotee and His Cosmic Romance."
Swami Vivekananda:
"Now, please do not make religion pander to the vanity of the present
day! Let us all, mark you, be honest. If we cannot follow the ideal,
let us confess our weakness, but let us not degrade it. Let us not try
to pull it down."
Commentary:
Mr. Walters idea expressed here may have some relevence for the
ordinary devotee, struggling sincerely to better themselves and gain
strength over time. But for one who has taken vows and presents
themselves to the world as a swami, a completely different standard
applies. A medical student tries, but one who has been awarded the
formal title "MD", must be able to be trusted by the public as one who
has acheived a higher standard of knowledge. Imagine a doctor injuring
or even killing patients out of incompetence saying, "Well, I'm trying
my best, a slip is not a fall". The Vedanta Society states that a
swami who "slips" is expelled immediately from the Order.
Interview with a member of the Jury
This one is an interveiw with an actual member of the jury that
convicted Walters. The trial went on for 4 months. Many hours of
testimony were heard from both sides. And in the end, ordinary people
saw clearly that Walters was a liar and guilty.
An Interview with a Member of the Jury
What were the real reasons J. Donald Walters and his church were found
guilty of fraud and fined over 1.6 million dollars? Ananda has offered
many excuses for their defeat; Do any of them match what the jury
actually experienced and felt?
March, 1998
Post-trial quotes and excerpts from interview
'Juror A:' is the 'Member of the Jury, letter A''I' is the Interviewer
EXCERPTS FROM
INTERVIEW:
Interveiwer: What was your experience with the other jurors; were you
pretty cohesive? Juror A: ....It was a cohesive group. When we were
able to communicate with each other [about the case], we didn't have
some really disparaging points of view. Everybody was pretty much on
the same wavelength....
Interveiwer: What was your impression of Swami Kriyananda?
Juror A: To put it into a very few words, kind of a "holier than thou"
type of attitude. That "She's full of it" and, you know, kind of some
head-shaking kinds of things. I just really got the sense that he was
kind of pooh-poohing the testimony, like, "How could anybody believe
that of me?" And I wasn't particularly impressed with his testimony,
because there was a certain amount of arrogance in it, again. "Even
though [he] made a few mistakes, so what?" was kind of the attitude I
was getting from that. I noticed his lack of sympathy for the women.
Interveiwer: Did you hear there was another court case brought against
Ananda by SRF earlier, and that Ananda said SRF might be staging this
whole thing?
Juror A: ....I didn't believe that it was an SRF thing at all.
Interveiwer: Do you think that meditation itself and chanting always
lead to "brainwashing"?
Juror A: Oh, I don't think so, un-un....I'm probably not a strong
believer in brainwashing. I think that people are vulnerable to powers
of suggestion, and wanting to be part of a group, and having group-
think, as it was termed a couple of times. I think that that happens,
and I think because she was vulnerable and looking and seeking some
civility and something to hang onto in her life, it just made her
susceptible to falling into that group-think. And follow the crowd. I
mean, it's human nature.
Interveiwer: So it wasn't so much meditation and chanting, it was more
suggestions from everyone?
Juror A: That's right. That's right. And those messages, that this is
-- The light and the darkness, I guess is what I'm trying to get to.
If you're doing THESE things, you're increasing your chances of being
closer to God, and if you're doing THOSE things, you're putting up
barriers. And so that kind of thing could really push you to a certain
direction. So those messages -- you see, I can't call that
brainwashing. It's the coercion of the group.
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #1]?
Juror A: She looked like she led a fairly simple home life, and had a
demeanor about her, a mellowness, and an innocence....I wanted to
smack the guy [Swami Kriyananda].
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #15]?
Juror A: Okay. Yeah. She was one of the ones who realized right away
that something was wrong, and got the hell out of there, as I recall.
I thought that it was a good indicator that there were varying levels
of what was going on. And then someplace later on in testimony, it
came out...that there was this kind of ethic project: you [Swami
Kriyananda] kind of see how far you can go, and if that works out
without any red flags, then you move to the next level, and the next,
until you get to a [Woman #1] or a [Woman #2] kind of situation. She
[Woman #15] put up the red flag.And the community seems to have
protections all around it....it seems like all of these protections
are built around the community. You know, take care of Swami....And
this, ugh, this poverty issue. That really slayed me. I'd like to be
as poor as that. And have somebody taking care of my yard, and
somebody cleaning my house, and doing -- You know, I pay a lot of
money to get my house cleaned. But I have to pay for it myself.
Somebody that does my secretarial kinds of stuff, and "Gee, I think
I'll go to Italy next week," and someone making arrangements for me, I
go to the airport, hop on a plane, and I'm there. I mean, this is not
a life of poverty....I'm going to France this summer, and I know how
much money it costs....I would surmise that all of those people in the
quote "inner circle," as it was described a couple of times -- I
suspect that they all make a good living, or have a lot of things
being taken care of for them under the guises of "church visits,"
"church goings," and they live a life of luxury. Granted, it's a more
simple life, because they live in a rural community. But, it's what
they want. And they get everything they want. And that's the bottom
line. They're getting everything that they want, in my eyes. That's
the picture that I saw.
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #3] and her
testimony? Juror A: It was a boundary issue. I
can't imagine, myself, you know, "Oh, come on in. Take your clothes
off. Lay on top of me." It just takes something just a little bit -- I
don't know what -- what brings a person to say something like that to
another person, you know? It's way over the boundary. Way
over....Because of the illusion that he has given about his own
superiority, he oversteps everyone else's boundaries.
Interveiwer: Did you ever see the plaintiff's lawyers treating it like
a case of religious persecution?
Juror A: Not at all, no. I think that was very clear, that it was not
religious persecution, in my mind. It was not about that at all. And I
never got the feeling that I was judging Ananda as a church. I feel
sorry for members of Ananda Church. Here they are in a community where
they want to practice something that they really believe in. I can
understand why they would do that. I can embrace their right to do
that. There's aspects of it that sound ideal, in many ways, to me. And
yet they're being bamboozled by this group of people, with Swami at
the top. The leadership crew. I have no doubt at all.
Interveiwer: What did you think of the punitive damages testimony?
Juror A: I was absolutely appalled at their bookkeeping....I know
there have got to be checks and balances and such, and when money is
going in and out, in and out, money laundering -- I mean, that's what
it sounded like to me....
And just the money going to and from Crystal Hermitage -- just to pay
Swami out of this? Padma has some ability just to write checks that
nobody knew about, nobody cared, it just happened. It doesn't seem
like a good way to run a corporation whether it's non-profit or
otherwise.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Swami Kriyananda's testimony?
Juror A: His demeanor was such that he was above all of this....He
really presented himself as being just as special sitting there on the
witness stand as he is sitting in front of his community. And I think
he needed to be slapped up the side of the head....I think the overall
-- to put it incredibly eloquently -- Overall, we thought Swami was a
scumbag. That was the bottom line.
Interveiwer: Do you know that every day when the trial was over for
the day, Ananda would have a hotline update, where they'd talk about
the trial?
Juror A: Yes, we did hear about that. The one thing that did come out
in the trial -- I remember comments that the jury looked upon Swami's
testimony favorably. Fool!
Interveiwer: What was your opinion on the use in the trial of the word
"cult"?
Juror A: They didn't stress the word "cult."
Interveiwer: Here's a quote from Ananda since the trial ended: "Ananda
does not condone or tolerate sexual harassment or sexual abuse in any
form by any of its members or leaders." Do you have any comments on
that?
Juror A: Well, that's a matter of semantics. They can easily say that
they don't condone it, but do they turn their backs and close their
eyes if they know it's happening? I mean, what are you going to do?
Put up a big sign that says, "Come to Ananda Village. We approve of
sexual harassment." But by turning their backs, it's the same thing
[as condoning it]. You can SAY that you don't condone it, but if you
aren't doing anything about it, then it's -- what's that phrase? --
kind of like lying by omission, essentially. It's kind of that same
idea.
Interveiwer: Here's another quote from Ananda since the trial ended:
"Mike Flynn and Ford Greene repeatedly compared Ananda to groups like
Waco and Jonestown in a calculated attempt to engender fear and anger
in the jury." Did you ever feel fear and anger during the trial?
Juror A: ....I don't think Mike or Ford ever tried to engender fear or
anger in the jury, absolutely not....
Interveiwer: Ananda says the other side's case was full of "terrible
lies" about them; did you feel that one side or the other was lying?
Juror A: I think probably some lies were told, but I think that the
foundation of the case wasn't based on lies.
A bunch of lies, no. Well, disguising the truth is what was happening
on Ananda's side. I think that elements of the truth were behind what
they were saying, but out of protection, they weren't straight-forward
about all of the
pieces.
Interveiwer: What did you think when people from Ananda said that they
had no idea that Swami had been doing this for years?
Juror A: I believed them.
Interveiwer: Even, like, Jyotish?
Juror A: No. Not Jyotish, no. I didn't believe Jyotish on anything on
that.
Interveiwer: That he didn't know what a swami was?
Juror A: That was a crock. I mean, that was ludicrous, when he said
that. How can you be in a position you're in, first of all, not
knowing what the Swami's doing, and secondly, not knowing what Swami
is. I mean, that was ludicrous testimony, in my eyes -- I think in a
lot of our eyes, the jury.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Vidura?
Juror A: Vidura, for some reason, I felt a little sorry for. Somehow,
and I don't know why, there was just something about him. I think
Vidura is -- I saw him as a victim. I think he's been involved in the
organization for a long, long time, and because of his association for
a long time with Swami and Jyotish and the group, he's kind of gotten
himself into a position that -- you know, this is just my own opinion,
but -- where he's become a victim of this. He doesn't really want
anything to be wrong with Ananda, so he's being protective of it. But
I get the feeling it wouldn't be his choice to
deceive anybody. And that's just kind of an intuition that I got out
of his testimony. And I kind of felt sorry for him, because it's like,
"Oh my God, I'm losing something that I've spent my life on, and I
didn't mean to do
anything wrong, but --" Much more so from him than from either Jyotish
or Devi, who got this wall that they put up and this defense that
'we've done nothing wrong.' Totally different demeanor and attitude
with them.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Asha?
Juror A: She had a real attitude kind of thing. In her presence.
Interveiwer: An attitude of -- ?
Juror A: Arrogance. Protective of her position. "Everybody else is
wrong, we're right."
Interveiwer: When Devi showed that film about Ananda, what did you
think of that?
Juror A: I thought I was at one of those properties that have sales
pitches kind of thing. I expected to walk out with a set of luggage or
something. I felt like we'd all be walking out with our sets of
luggage -- sign on the dotted line.
Interveiwer: Do you think Swami Kriyananda told any truth? Do you
think he was lying, covering up?
Juror A: I think he was covering up. I think he was lying. I think he
stretched the truth. I think there were aspects that were truthful in
there that he stretched to make himself look -- to present himself in
a different way. And I think the bottom line is that it's a lie. I
think his whole life is a lie. And I think that came across to me as I
listened to him.
Interveiwer: Do you think he should apologize, to the women or to
Ananda? Juror A: I think if he apologized, it wouldn't
mean a damn thing. Because I don't think he could be sincere about
apologizing. What good would that do? Everything else he's done --
He's manipulated with words. He is so good with words, that an apology
would be worth s---. And you can quote me on that one.
Interveiwer: Do you think the leadership should apologize?
Juror A: Yes. I think the leadership should apologize to the
community, but more importantly, the leadership should change. Not
necessarily the players -- that might be good, if the players changed.
But certainly the behavior of those players should change. If they
want their community to continue, they better shape up, or else --
they run the risk of losing it. Who's going to want to join something
like that?
Interveiwer: What changes do you think Ananda should make?
Juror A: I think, first of all, clean up the books. Have a little bit
more equity in the kinds of employment and positions. Treating people
like human beings instead of slaves. Taking the Swami out of the
picture.
Interveiwer: Do you think the ministers should develop a code of
ethics?
Juror A: Oh, absolutely. I think there should be a clear set of steps.
If anything should happen, I think it should be talked about in the
community. I think it should be something that -- People should have
an awareness of inappropriate behaviors....Not to punish, but to stop.
That's the bottom line. It's not the punishment. It's the stopping of
those behaviors.
Interveiwer: On the Ananda phone hotline, Ananda leadership would say,
"Our witnesses were very powerful."
Juror A: I found very little power in their witnesses. Very little.
And I think they were deceiving the community. I think they've got all
these people living in a delusional world. And they're fostering it.
Interveiwer: Do you think there is anything that Ananda should do or
say for the other women who were abused by Swami Kriyananda?
Juror A: I think it would be nice if something could come towards
these other women, especially the ones who risked, by coming out and
being on the stand. It would be nice if something came toward them.
Some sort of compensation. Some sort of damage compensation....As for
the women who have come forward, I think that was only the tip of the
iceberg. That's what I feel, definitely. I think it was definitely a
problem that [Swami Kriyananda] has, and was probably a carry-through
for most of his adult life...
Interveiwer: Do you think some of the Ananda leaders should be removed
from their positions?
Juror A: Yeah, I do. I think changing the leadership would be a good
thing, periodically. ...Having a democracy where you voted people in
periodically, like a presidency -- every four years you have an
opportunity for change, and no longer than eight years. Something to
that effect. It seems to me it would provide more balance and more
room for other people to dance.
Interveiwer: If you were an Ananda member, what would you do about the
present situation? Leave? Stay and fight?
Juror A: ....If you've been there a while, and this is your life, it's
your home, then maybe fighting would be the best alternative....
Interveiwer: Was there anything that most struck you about Ananda's
presentation?
Juror A: Well, there were some bizarre things, and I think it had
something to do with their behavior around Swami, the fact that they
protected him so much. It was kind of off-center, as far as norms go
in my mind. They just looked like some normal folks. And I think that
many of them really are very normal, average folks. Living a life,
making a living. Running true to their religious beliefs.
Interveiwer: Any last thoughts on Swami Kriyananda? Janice Moreno had
said that he opened up to her unlike he did to anyone else.
Juror A: Yeah, right. Right. I don't think we saw that at all. I think
we saw the leader, the special one, somebody that was up on a
pedestal. I think that's all we saw. I don't think we saw a human side
to him at all. In my opinion. And I think -- I had a hard time with
that. If any time would be the time to come down off your pedestal and
approach a group of people as a human being, this would be it. And I
didn't see that.
[Juror A: confirmed that she thinks Swami Kriyananda is a narcissist,
and can't feel empathy for others.]
Interveiwer: What would you like to say to Swami?
Juror A: "Where do you get off thinking that you're so special?"
Interveiwer: What message did you hope to communicate to Ananda by
your verdict?
Juror A: "Shape up."
Interveiwer: What message did you hope to communicate to the larger
society?
Juror A: "Watch out for people in positions of power, and
inappropriate behaviors of people in positions of power." The Pamela
Cooper-White message [imbalance of power between clergy and
parishioners; Swami is a narcissist and a patterned sexual predator]
probably is the message [of the trial], what people need to be aware
of.
OTHER QUOTES:
"I felt no bias against the religious group. It wouldn't have been my
choice [of religious group] but if somebody else wants to do that with
their life, fine."
"I think that people [on the jury] felt very strongly about the fact
that these [Ananda] people had a right to their religion, and that
this was not up to us. But the taking advantage of individuals was
inappropriate."
"I didn't believe that it [the trial] was an SRF thing at all."
"They [the attorneys] didn't stress the word 'cult.'"
"Because of the illusion that he [Swami Kriyananda] has given about
his own superiority, he oversteps everyone else's boundaries."
"They [Ananda people] can easily say that they don't condone it
[sexual harassment or sexual abuse], but do they turn their backs and
close their eyes if they know it's happening?....You can SAY that you
don't condone it, but if you aren't doing anything about it, then
it's...kind of like lying by omission."
"The only women who were powerful were married to men who were also in
leadership positions...And I think about the rest of you, who were
just a bunch of...you're like scullery maids running around, to serve
Swami and the
powers that be, in my opinion."
Woman #100
This letter was sent to Ananda leaders years ago but which did no
good in getting Kriyananda to admit his mistakes but instead pushed
into a further hiding. It is a heartbreaking account.
January 18,1998
Dear Friends,
We are writing to you at this time because we once lived at Ananda
Village and still deeply care about our former home. We feel Ananda is
now in crisis and at a turning point. How this crisis is handled will
determine the very nature of the Ananda community.
We want to reflect on this situation by focusing on the experience of
woman #10 as a representative of each woman who felt hurt and damaged
by sexual interaction with Swami Kriyananda. Why woman #100? We think
woman #100 has a sweet vulnerable nature and our sympathy naturally
goes out to her. Since she harbors no motive of retaliation or
revenge, woman #100 is exceptionally believable.We have talked to
woman #100 many hours about her experiences.
Here are her recollections:
Woman #100 was 22 years old when she came to Ananda in May, 1980.
Swami Kriyananda was 54 years old. Like all new Ananda residents, she
learned that it was a privilege to live in close proximity to Swami
Kriyananda- a direct disciple of Yogananda. Being near to Swami
Kriyananda, "tuning in" to him in love and service, was a way to be
closer to Yogananda. Feeling great enthusiasm for the spiritual path,
woman #100 joined the Ananda convent in October '80 and remained there
as a nun until February '82. So far, so good.
During June 1981, Kriyananda asked woman #100 to massage his sore
shoulder. After about three months of massages, Kriyananda asked if it
would embarrass woman #100 if he didn't use a towel to cover himself
during massage sessions. Shortly after Thanksgiving 1981, Kriyananda
began placing woman #100's hand on his genitals and directing her to
masturbate him and and also initiated her in oral sex. Although it
appears obviously inappropriate now, woman #100 considered these
sexual acts as a continuation of her service and devotion to the
spiritual leader of Ananda. Kriyananda advised woman #100 to take
advantage of this special opportunity for spiritual advancement.
Woman #100 did not have a reciprocal romantic relationship with
Kriyananda-an affair.
dressed of ochre as a monk, that introduces himself as the only direct
disciple living in Europe of Paramahansa Yogananda,
J.Donald Walters alias "Swami" Kriyananda, for his same admission has
renounced the votes taken with his Guru many years ago, therefore he
is not a " Swami " anymore, as his two marriages confirm. It is not
anymore a monk in the monastic order founded by Paramahansa Yogananda,
for his dismissal in 1962.
His personal project to create "colonies of world brotherhood" pursues
stubbornly for more than thirty years, has stranded on the sands of
the trial Bertolucci, bringing the community and the people that had
believed in him and to his promises to bankruptcy.
In this site written by former members to provide answers for the many
questions, you will find articles, documents and testimonies that
explain the reasons for this failure and how an idea of life in
community may become the cult of a single personality.
To open files .pdf you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
From prison: Shivani starts ritual fasting
Download here the Acrobat file with latest news (in italian)
Arrested nine members of Ananda Assisi community, pending call for
arrest also for James Donald Walters aka Kriyananda, still retired in
India.
We publish these links to the latest news, also released in the second
national italian TV channel RAI TG2 of March 13th. Articles in
italian
Link al Corriere di Foligno di Foligno
Link a Il Messaggero Caltanet Altri articoli su Ananda da Il
Messaggero
Link a Perugia News
Link al sito di SRS
Ananda Assisi assists unbelieving for a new blitz of police read more
here (in italian)
Ananda press comunicate and translation from italian Newspapers
From Il Messaggero del 16/01/2004 (In italian)
From Corriere di Foligno (In italian)
More information at this link (In italian)
More from the forums
Posts and articles extracted from the groups and forums. Focused on
Ananda, his founder and community lifestyle with new detailed issues
and opened claims. This collection, wrote by many different person
shows the way they felt and mind about Ananda, helping us to
understand more the lesson behind. download it here
Table of authorities
A walk in the money relationship between Ananda and his founder. How
they managed money, bank accounts, transferts, loans and tithes. An
extract from table of authorities, very detailed and rich of
informations. download it here
The demand for a trial - Bertolucci deposition
What really has happened in Ananda to stir up Bertolucci against
Walters and some his ministers in a trial? Find here enclosed the
original demand for a trial Bertolucci legals have begun with. The
document reports about circumstances and facts as recalled by
A.M.Bertolucci. It is useful to better understand what has happened
that time. download it here
J. Donald Walters 6 The deposition book
Finally available for all the readers, the complete book reporting all
the sessions that the Court carried out gathering the deposition of
Mr. J. Donald Walters in the Bertolucci trial.
A book that includes precious information and declarations useful for
better understanding the story of Mr. Walters and of his Ananda world
brotherhood community.
A book dictated by his author under oath, and that objectively tells
from his founder2s point of view the true story, the raise and the
growth of Ananda.
Finally collected and arranged in a fluent reading format, which
allows the search for names, dates, and key words thanks to the
computer advanced search functions. A necessary format for those who
want to learn point by point Kriyananda2s objective version on the
action brought by Mrs. A. M. Bertolucci against the Ananda Church of
God Realization.
Download it directly here
Who is entitled to initiate on Kriya?
If everyone shouldn't initiate others into Kriya, then who should?
Perhaps we should look to the Master's explicit and written
instructions in this regards instead of relying on our limited and
egocentric understanding:
"Do not discuss, or divulge, any technique without first consulting
with SRF headquarters, which reserves the sole right to give Kriya
instruction, or to appoint a qualified SRF member to give such
instruction. If you know of someone who you should have the benefit of
certain SRF techniques, encourage him to become an SRF student, that
he may receive the full benefits of study. If some difficulty stands
in the way of his becoming a member, advise him to write directly to
Self-Realization Fellowship, explaining his situation and affirming
his sincere desire to receive instruction in specific SRF
techniques."
SRF Praeceptum Lessons, 1938 copyright, K-7, pg. 3.
Or perhaps we should listen to the counsel Kriyananda gave while he
was working in the SRF center department:
"It is our policy to permit only ordained ministers to give the Kriya
Yoga initiation. Master said that after his passing he wanted only ---
SRF renunciates to be ordained as ministers, and at that only after a
minimun of seven years in one of our colonies..."
Donald Walters, 1957
DISCLAIMER
This site is born in service and is the collaboration of the work of
many devotees. It springs from the need to provide information
concerning issues surrounding Ananda and Kriyananda. We report on a
variety of subjects including the several lawsuits that J.Donald
Walters, aka Swami Kriyananda,* and Ananda, the community he founded,
have been involved with.
This work is intended to provide background information and support
for those people searching into Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings who
may have heard or been involved to some degree with Ananda. Here
you'll find many documents: articles from devotees, former Ananda
members, legal trial documents, and open letters from world-wide
sources that may help to show how Ananda became a personality cult of
Donald Walters, and not an extension of the vision of Paramahansa
Yogananda.
Paramahansa Yogananda founded his organization, Self-Realization
Fellowship (SRF) in 1920, in Los Angeles. He dedicated SRF as the
organization authorized to spread world-wide these teachings.
Paramahansa Yogananda revered and respected all true religions, but he
linked his particular teachings to the church he founded, Self-
Realization Fellowship.
He one day told:
3These are my happiest days, I am happy for two reasons: I have been
able to please God, and I have been able to fulfill the pledge that I
gave to my guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, to build this work of Yogoda
Satsanga/Self-Realization to spread the message of Kriya Yoga...4
To understand the array of topics covered here, navigation has been
provided by 3cards4, you can proceed reading card by card by clicking
above in the "next card" buttons. If you wish to proceed directly in
the Archives-Downloads areas click here.
* The readers should be informed that in this site we refer all the
informations to "Swami Kriyananda" alias James Donald Walters, the
Ananda Village founder and Spiritual Director of the Ananda Church of
Self Realization (see a picture). Every other having the same name are
not involved anyway with the subject of this site.
Yogananda and SRF
Paramahansa Yogananda's sacred mission had been prophesied from birth
by the Himalayan master Mahavatar Babaji, and by his chief disciple
Lahiri Mahasaya. As a spiritual engine he will carry many souls to
God's kingdom.Paramahansa Yogananda's vivid childhood memories of
being a yogi during previous lifetimes in the Himalayas are well
substantiated by his own life. When as a youth of 17, he met his
Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, the recognition, joy, and empathy between
Master and disciple was immediate and enlightening. For the next
several years he quickly grew towards Self-Realization under the wise
and compassionate direction of his God-realized master.
Following a prophetic vision and a letter inviting him to speak at the
upcoming Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, USA (Sept 1920), he
carefully accepted this major new career direction as God's will. It
was soon confirmed by a personal visit from Mahavatar Babaji that the
young Swami Yogananda had been sent years earlier to His Master for
training to eventually spread the timeless knowledge of the science of
Kriya yoga meditation in the West. When Paramahansa Yogananda arrived
in America Sept 20, 1920, the "New World" was ready to receive these
advanced teachings that had previously been reserved for monastics and
chelas in ashrams. Without any personal ambitions, he came to serve
and save those who wanted to learn and grow, and help raise the
consciousness of humanity.
Paramahansa Yogananda quickly adjusted to his newly adopted homeland,
he soon became a prominent and successful speaker on America's
spiritual scene. His main lecture tours were conducted between 1925
and 1936 to overflowing audiences, and during this time his
organization called SRF, was steadily growing. It was Paramahansa
Yogananda who succeeded in giving the world outside of India a full,
effective and clear exposition to the Science of Kriya Yoga
meditation. His main mission in all of this was to build a lasting
bridge of World Brotherhood based on raising the spiritual awareness
between the East and West.
On the Master's return visit to India in 1935-36, his Guru expressed
approval for his work by giving him India's high spiritual title,
"Paramahansa". It was also during this historic trip, when Mahatma
Gandhi asked that Yogananda initiate himself and his staff into the
sacred science of Kriya Yoga. The outstanding success of his world
mission was mainly the result of various factors; including his God-
centered life and service to humanity, and the divine love and power
many persons say they felt in his presence and in his writings. With a
number of competent,spiritually attuned staff through His divine
influence and presence millions of lives are being changed for the
better, and inspired towards a more harmonious way of living
spiritually centered lives.
All this spiritual success gave his followers and successors a solid
foundation named Self Realization Fellowship with which to carry on
with this mission. In the 140+ years since it's quiet beginnings in
India (1861), when Kriya yoga was introduced to the masses by Lahiri
Mahasaya, this divine lineage has produced an impressive record of
great souls and public service. Including many of those who stayed on
to aid Yogananda's work through SRF. Yogananda carried out his mission
par excellence, not requiring Babaji to send any others to duplicate
or confuse this work. His reputation was impeccable, and he always
kept his word. Many readers claim that the vibrations of his ever-
living presence can still be felt through his writings and recordings,
as he spiritually touches and guides their lives.
Yogananda's best known work, "Autobiography of a Yogi", was first
published in 1946, and has appeared on best-seller lists as recently
as 1997. This spiritual classic of the 20th century gives the reader
new insights and inspiration to seek Truth, to experience deeper
awareness and love. Just reading this book is in itself a powerful
consciousness-raising experience. Beginning with the beautiful
portrait of a devout Hindu family, the author continues with living
presentations of the lives of many modern yogis and saints whom he met
during his own spiritual quest. Thus describing as never before the
full significance and function of the Master-disciple relationship,
and it's importance as the vital key in one's search for Self-
Realization and salvation.
Yogananda's vivid and detailed descriptions of his experiences in
Samadhi (cosmic- consciousness) are no doubt the most believable and
articulate in the history of spiritual literature. This was the first
time the profound teachings of the Kriya yoga were written about in
such detail in English, by a fully accomplished Yogi. After the
publication of the original edition of the Autobiography of a Yogi,
the author Paramahansa Yogananda made many major changes to this book.
such as the addition of the 49th chapter, the removal of 80% of a page
on world brotherhood colonies, the addition of many new and important
footnotes, as well as a number of other grammatical and spelling
corrections.
He also appointed an Editor-in-chief and her successor (monastics whom
he personal trained for this task, and both of whom had been in
spiritual training with the Guru for many years, and were well aware
of His wishes for the future of His work), to carry the editing and
publication of all His writings, which he bequeathed solely to the
Self-Realization Fellowship.
Further changes since 1952, have made the most recent editions more
fully reflect the deepest intentions and truest teachings of the
Author, which give more reliable direction to all readers and serious
devotees.Paramhansaji clearly stated that after his departure the Self-
Realization Fellowship Teachings would be the Guru, and through these
teachings others would be in tune with Him and the great Gurus who had
sent Him. Also stating that the SRF would always be headed by a leader
of deep spiritual realization. His comment about the teachings does
not diminish the importance of the personal Guru-disciple
relationship, which is an eternal relationship and integral to success
on the spiritual path.
The Self-Realization Fellowship lessons, an extremely comprehensive
and complete course in its field, are sent to interested seekers at a
cost that barely covers printing and mailing, and are accompanied by
excellent ongoing personal guidance and counseling.Personal
instruction of the Kriya yoga and other meditation techniques are
given by monastics who make frequent visits to major centers around
the world. One of the mater's final declarations about his mission
was,
"If you follow the Self-Realization teachings I have brought to you
from the masters of India, you can find God in this life."
Who is Kriyananda?
Swami Kriyananda is the charismatic founder of the Ananda communities
and the Ananda Church of Self-realization. As the spiritual leader of
his church, he claims to represent the great avatar Paramahansa
Yogananda. This claim is based on private discussions that Kriyananda
says he had with the Master during the three and half years he spent
with him prior to Yogananda's passing in 1952.
But there are no witnesses to these discussions, and all of
Yogananda's closest and most advanced disciples dispute Kriyananda's
claim, saying that he is just trading on Yogananda's good name to
further his own personal ambitions. After Yogananda's passing,
Kriyananda quickly rose through the ranks of his Guru's society, Self-
Realization Fellowship (SRF). Within eight years Kriyananda was
promoted to second vice-president. His rise to power ended abruptly,
though, just two years later in 1962 when he was expelled from SRF by
the Board of Directors.
Although claiming that his dismissal was "unfair", during his
deposition Kriyananda admitted that he had not kept his vow of
celibacy-even while a monastic in SRF. Kriyananda also stated that
while in India he "was attempting to form an organization, a park and
ashram, in the center of the city where the greenbelt area comes in
close to the center." He fails to mention, however, that these actions
were in direct violation of SRF's express orders to cease and desist.
Had Kriyananda not been quickly ordered back to the U.S. and forced to
"resign," India was preparing to expel not only Kriyananda but the
whole SRF organization from the country.
SRF's senior vice-president, Tara Mata, a close disciple of the Master
since 1924, called Kriyananda immoral, a Judas and prophetically, an
egotistical Machiavellian schemer who was trying to divide the work
and set himself up as the Master's true representative and spiritual
heir. Daya Mata, now the president of SRF and one of the Master's
closest disciples, was trained by Yogananda for over twenty years to
assume the responsibilities of carrying on the work after he was gone.
Yogananda assures us:
"Follow her. She has followed me with one hundred percent devotion,
one hundred percent obedience, one hundred percent loyalty. She is in
tune with me. I can work through her."
Kriyananda repeatedly chose to not follow her, feeling that he
understood Master's intentions better than she. Opposing her on many
issues and with the incidents in India as the final straw, Kriyananda
was eventually forced out. Kriyananda never recovered from the shame
and rejection of his dismissal, complaining bitterly to this day how
he was mistreated and misunderstood. Unable to forgive or forget, he
has worked for fifty years to prove that he is the innocent victim of
a heartless and corrupt SRF leadership. Saying whatever he can to
discredit his fellow disciples for fifty years he has been obsessed
with proving that he really is a great and worthy disciple, fit to
lead his Master's mission, and that SRF is wrong not to recognize his
superior wisdom and attunement with Yogananda.
Years earlier, though,Kriyananda wrote that he would never start an
organization that would be opposed to SRF because it would be
"treachery" to do so. Some believe Kriyananda is an advanced yogi who
has acquired certain spiritual powers through his practice of
meditation. They believe these powers give him the ability to transfer
shakti (spiritual energy) to others and to be aware of their deepest
feelings. Some feel very blissful and uplifted and become convinced
that Kriyananda must be a saint. Yoga teaches, though, that these
powers mean nothing in themselves, and can be used for good or ill--to
bless people or to control and manipulate them.
Kriyananda is a man of calculating intelligence, but his intellect is
underminded by his narcissitic immaturity and pride. Narcissists
usually have normal, even superior intellectual development while
remaining emotionally and morally immature. They unfortunately have
difficulty learning from and taking responsibilities for their past
mistakes. Kriyananda is a prolific writer, poet, musician, with
prodigious energy and volcanic creativity. Typically, however, his
followers are the ones left to pay for and manifest his "visions". To
those who follow him he is an inspired speaker. Seen as a keen student
of human nature, he is adored by hundreds worldwide.
His initial sweetness, lovable personality and professed high ideals
inspire fanatical loyalty. His ministers work tirelessly to build and
promote what Kriyananda often refers o as his "great work"--his
mission to disseminate Yogananda's teachings to the world. Kriyananda
constantly reminds us of his Guru's words to him, "You have a great
work to do," as though to convince us (and himself?) that Ananda is
the great work Yogananda commissioned him to undertake. Many of the
Master's other close disciples have another interpretation, based on
what Yogananda told them about Kriyananda.
They believe the Master was referring not to an outer work, but to
Kriyananda's inner work to achieve enlightenment. They say that the
word "great" refers not to "important and wonderful," as Kriyananda
wishes to believe, but to the herculean task of overcoming his
spiritual pride. Yogananda told some of his close disciples that this
was a pivotal life for Kriyananda-that he would either find God or
fall for many more lives.
Other disciples of Master, liken Kriyananda to Brother Elias, a monk
in St. Francis' order, who had desires to reform the order but fell
due to pride. Kriyananda has privately admitted that Master did warn
him- "do not be my Brother Elias". Ananda is Kriyananda's "proof" that
he is not only destined for enlightenment but that Yogananda"s mantle
has passed to him. As he proclaims, "Ananda could not have come into
existence and flourished without the blessings of Paramahansa
Yogananda on my life and work. But why not? Many far greater works are
flourishing, after all, such as L. Ron Hubbard' s Church of
Scientology, without the benefit of Divine blessings.
Brother Anandamoy, one of Yogananda's close disciples, and
Kriyananda's best friend when he was in SRF, has said that for those
who are drawn to Ananda, it will be their greatest test of
discrimination in this life. This is because Kriyananda is very
convincing. He seems so humble, loving and magnetic--people just want
to believe in him. But Yogananda warned against following those who
set themselves up as teachers in his name, claiming to be his
channel.
This is what Kriyananda has done, urging that Ananda members should go
through him in order to reach Yogananda: "Yes, you can go straight to
Master, or to any other master in our line of gurus. Try it, please,
if you like. See if they will accept you. Others have done so,
however, and I have yet to see one of them flourish" (Ananda
Directions, 1999).
Who, then, is Swami Kriyananda? For those who are seeking the truth
and value their spiritual welfare, it would be wise to carefully check
him out for yourself. There are many who knew him well when he was in
SRF, and there are hundreds of former Ananda members who have their
own stories to tell--many who have been severely harmed by him. Is
Kriyananda a great spiritual teacher, as his followers claim, or a
blind guide leading his blind followers into the ditch of ignorance
and pride?
As Swami Vivekananda, the eminent disciple of the great master
Ramakrishna, once said:
3Of one hundred persons who take up the spiritual life, eighty turn
out to be charlatans, fifteen insane, and only five, maybe, get a
glimpse of the real truth. Therefore beware.4
Kriyananda and Rosanna when were married
What is Ananda?
What is Ananda? Ananda is many different things at the same time. It
is an idyllic spiritual community filled with smiling, loving
devotees; it is a thorn in the side of its neighbors on the San Juan
Ridge; it is a business that markets the spiritual experience; it is a
long-term employer of long-term leadership figures; it is a place of
dishonesty, deception, and denial, a village patterned after the
consciousness of its founder and another layer of defense in
Kriyananda2s formidable psychological armor; it is a graduate school
for developing discrimination and destroying one2s delusions; and it
is a political entity like any other town in the country, but this is
a very authoritarian political entity.
The present US Ananda consists of a seclusion retreat of approximately
70 acres and a village of more than 400 acres in the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California. Ananda Assisi is a
much smaller group of persons, gathered around a building named "Il
Rifugio". This group includes Walters faithful and most of these have
come from the America. Other nationalities, mostly Italians, comprise
the rest of the community. Some leave the community after a few days,
others after a few years, but yet the nucleus in Assisi remain the
original American imports.
Ananda had its beginning in 1968, when Kriyananda joined a few other
men to buy and divide up a large parcel of land outside of Nevada
City. Several years later he bought a farm a few miles away from the
seclusion retreat, and this land, which includes more than 400 acres,
is now Ananda Village. The land is quite beautiful, with forests of
pine, cedar, oak, and madrone. A couple of years ago Ananda turned the
trees into money by having it logged.
Over the years many people have moved to Ananda, and a small core of
original residents is still there, most of whom serve as the Ananda
leadership. Most of the others who moved to Ananda have left, and many
of them still live nearby. Though it may seem strange, the majority of
them want nothing to do with Ananda. Having seen through the surface
layer of spiritual identity to the reality underneath--the process of
discrimination--and having learned the lesson, they graduate.
Ananda advertises itself as following the teachings of Paramahansa
Yogananda, helping people learn meditation, yoga postures, and how to
live life according to the classic yogic teachings. Kriyananda was a
Self Realization Monk for 14 years, about 3 1/2 of these while
Yogananda was still alive. He therefore is considered a direct link
with the Guru, and this is Ananda2s foremost claim to being a part of
Yogananda2s work.
When one first comes to Ananda, everything is beautiful. The setting
is peaceful, and there are many scheduled spiritual events--kirtans,
meditations, services, ceremonies, kriya initiations, plays, concerts,
and other things. But newcomers are expected to let go of all their
own ideas of what is right and accept the new ways of doing things
without question. After becoming members, they find somehow their
previous personal life goals and ambitions have been put 3on hold4.
But, after all, with such a great Master as Yogananda guiding the
place, how could they go wrong? The newcomer soon learns how he is to
regard Self Realization Fellowship--as an outdated rigid, entity that
hates and wants to destroy Kriyananda and Ananda.
It can take quite a long time to realize that Ananda is not primarily
Master2s or God2s place, though their names are mentioned often.
Ananda is Kriyananda2s place, and he comes first there. The Ananda
leaders are unconditionally loyal to Kriyananda, with God and Master
coming lower on the list. This loyalty requires them to adopt, as
their own, his view of the world and especially his own history.
Almost as soon as Kriyananda established Ananda on the San Juan Ridge,
he began making sexual advances on the local women. Consequently he
got a bad name with his neighbors, who knew from the beginning what he
was like. Ananda people, therefore, are not encouraged to be friendly
with their neighbors. Ridge people are against them, they are told,
and are too worldly and unspiritual. They also know too much about
Kriyananda.
The Ananda leadership knows about Kriyananda, too, but their duty is
to keep this information quiet so that Ananda can maintain its public
relations image as a model spiritual community in which only love,
peace, and seeking God happen. They also have given decades of their
lives to this company, and it may be impossible for them to admit they
were wrong. And where else could they find employment now?
Some of the real story came out during a recent lawsuit, in which
Kriyananda, the Ananda Church, and one of the ministers were found
guilty of sexual harrassment. (Kriyananda left it to Ananda people to
pay his $1,000,000 plus fine.)
In the aftermath of this lawsuit, Kriyananda decided to make Italy his
full time home. A new fold of devotees needed his spiritual guidance
and presence in Europe, he said. Many residents, as well, departed the
community at this time. Some were in considerable shock because they
had lived there for nearly 20 years without knowing of Kriyananda2s
sexual activities. They had thought that such dishonesty and deception
could not exist at Ananda.
Their places were soon taken by new residents from the Ananda centers
in Palo Alto (California), Portland (Oregon), and Seattle
(Washington). Now Ananda is carrying on as usual, as though nothing
happened and everything is the same as before.
The ordinary citizens of Ananda are, with few exceptions, the
spiritual core of the community. They try to know and follow
Yogananda2s teachings. They are the ones who give Ananda its spiritual
identity, and they are the ones who do the most to maintain it. They
are kept under tight control by vows of obedience to Kriyananda and
all community leaders. Some are stuck because their only assets are in
Ananda housing, making it difficult for them to leave even if they
want to.
Kriyananda has had ongoing plans for Ananda, such as the constant
expansion of the population, and ongoing acquisition of adjoining land
for this purpose. Because Ananda is in a rural area, the neighbors do
not welcome these goals, and it creates a lot of tension at times.
Kriyananda does not care how the neighbors feel. Anyone who does not
support whatever he wants is his enemy. He wants what he wants without
consideration of other people, and what he wants has little or nothing
to do with the spiritual development of Ananda citizens.
Ananda is many things to many people. For visitors it is a miracle of
serenity and love. For new residents it is the challenge of living the
spiritual life and handing their lives over to what they believe is a
high cause. For longer-term residents it is the place where they made
many dear friends, and perhaps the place where they began to question
what Ananda really is. For many graduates, leaving there is the
beginning of their real lives--Ananda was the extreme that blew their
delusions sky high. For psychologists, Ananda is a fascinating study
in what happens when a charismatic but mentally twisted man attracts a
following of people who accept his twisted worldview.
Inside Ananda Assisi:
The core community, settled by members that have fully accepted the
pledge to Walters (including the obedience pledge), is comprised of
less than thirty persons. The rest, as Ananda Assisi2s marketing
confirms, is about fifty persons, including those who have NOT signed
any pledge to Ananda or to Walters and who live in their own homes in
the neighbouring community. These people tend to see Ananda more in
the light of a community rather than a spiritual path to which they
can devote their energy. In fact, many are people who have left the
city to gain a different perspective on life, desiring to experience
peace living in the hills. So while they live alone they still need
the contact of neighbours, and Ananda gives them the opportunity to
socialize. While this is not a sharing of a spiritual pursuits, but
more a convenience, Ananda is pleased to call them 3members4.
Since the beginning, Ananda Assisi has had limited growth, not many
new members, not much money. The historic estate is 3Il Rifugio,4 an
old flat three-story building bought with American donations and a
large loan, not yet paid back. The loan was made by several Italian
disciples that supported the birth of Ananda Assisi. Years later, in
the tradition of Ananda America, they are still waiting for their
money to be paid back.
Ananda2s pattern is to create a debt with a person and, as is the
case, for some of the first contributors this acts as a magnetic force
to keep them in Ananda2s orbit as they wait to recover their loan
monies. The banks and the homeowners of many homes and buildings,
which Ananda uses to accomodate vistors, are knocking at the door
trying to collect their debts and threatening to cease their financial
largess to the community.
The community2s activities are based on the Guru2s name, history, and
are creatively exploited. Ananda has a commercial section called Inner
Life to sell various objects everywhere: articles, pictures, books
based on a spiritual subjects. A second activity is the guests2
accomodation, bed & breakfast, restaurant, tour guidance to Assisi,
lessons and techniques on yoga, counseling and psychological support
are all the services included in the package. Naturally the bulk of
Ananda2s income is generated by donations, that people give when
asked, thinking that it will be used for the spreading of the Guru2s
teachings. The main focus of attraction for this channel of funding is
Swami Kriyananda, presented as a living guide, in perfect attunement
with Guru2s will.
Inside the Ananda Assisi grounds, nearby the old structure, CIl
RifugioE, was built the Temple of Light, an example of how it is
possible to 3make a miracle4 with devotee2s donations. This new
building was built in a very short time, arising on the ground
surrounding the old shelter. The manpower was recruited from devotees,
using the karma yoga time they must give during their stay. As the
3Rule4 prescribes, 3Work is service4.
The money was gathered by continous requests, by phone calls, by
letters, during visitors2 stays, or using the more charming members to
obtain the goal.
Even the designer, a Swiss named Ramatou Wintsch, was not payed for
his work, since he felt blessed (by Yogananda) when he first
envisioned the project in meditation. Much of the materials for the
base, filling and the tools were recycled from discard or payed for at
very low prices from different manufacturers. The temple is proof of
effectiveness of marketing strategies, using the name of Yogananda.
For a long time in the Ananda Assisi2s mailed fund raising appeals,
the need for a Temple to spread Master2s teachings was emphasized.
The rest of the community2s activities are supported by rent from
homes. Villa Gioia, Villa Pace and the old temple (where the member2s
rooms are) are owned by local townspeople. It is sometimes necessary
to remove the altar and other furnishings because the owners hold
banquets and meetings for the Hunter2s Association of Perugia-what
should be a sacred place becomes, effectively, a pub.
The other cabins (about 320/430 square feet each) are built nearby the
3Il Rifugio4, and serve as the American members2 homes. They have bee=
n
built illegally, so have been placed out of sight. The community arose
on a natural (preserved) area, so the areas in which new housing can
be built is very limited.
Looking from the outside, members appear to be happy. They give their
hearts to everyone and are always smiling. This kind of behavior is
felt as a very welcomed message, which impresses town people strained
from hard living and needing to recover in that heavenly site.
Unfortunately this is clearly a forced attitude. In private, members
are not so disposed and open. Some confess discomfort in the way
things are managed and organized.
The reader should try to venture out of the standard routes made for
guests, to understand the behind scenes2 realities- When one is
3parked4 in the boutique, in the temple, or in the lunch room all the
members may target him with their 3love bombing4. But just go out and
try to enter into the inner activity and you may discover iron rules
which are hard to accept.
The recent lawsuits filed in America have left a scar, and the
residents2 old disagreements about the leadership have resurfaced. In
fact, in Italy, the leadership makes up 4/5ths of the Assisi
residents. They are faithfully confident of Walters and, until a few
years ago, were spending a fortune in trans-oceanic phone calls to
receive guidance and instructions from 3Swami4. For those who remain,
an enormous amount of daily work is rewarded only by their personal
love for Master and, while they will occasionally will call a meeting
to 3ask residents their opinions4 on certain matters, the final
decision has almost always made with regard only to Kriyanda2s
wishes.
There Ds no democracy in all this, only an implicit agreement that
goes like this: If you stay here is because we permit, work to gain
the right to remain and do not discuss what we are doing, because it
is being done in the best interest of the community.
This doesn2t mix well, however, with Italian tradition. In Italy there
is less enthusiasm than in America about social experiments like
Ananda2s, 3world brotherhood colonies4. Here in this country,
tradition is strongly tied to family, to home, to wife and children,
and it isn2t as easy to choose a new style of life such as community
living.
Individuals who have had contacts with Ananda Assisi has been
repeatedly called to join the community, especially those having
property and money, but for Ananda the results has been disappointing.
The few who have joined are young, relatively free from commitments
and with a little or no money in the bank. They are the spine of the
community, their hard work continuosly feeds the furnace of Ananda2s
existence. Without this huge commitment in exchange for token pay, a
bed, and something to eat Ananda Assisi will be just a remnant of 702s
ideology.
The real value of Ananda Assisi is stated in their promotional
advertisements-a nice place to recharge the batteries and recover from
the chaotic life of the city. This is the same offer that any holiday
agency can arrange (and we find the prices are quite comparable!). But
the spiritual promises of closeness to Guru and other disciples of
Ananda are false. Those who wish to go further in the Kriya path of
Babaji can grant themselves a 3spiritual holiday4 to any one of
Assisi2s many other monasteries or ashrams for reflective
contemplation. The spiritual aspirant should never feel the need to
live in a Walters2 3world brotherhood colony4 to obtain enlightment o=
f
the Guru2s guidance.4
Remember Master2s saying:
3Solitude is the price of greatness.4
Those who wants receive more informations, or feel the need to help
our work are welcomed, go to our mail page to contact us
What's Ananda's teachings?
This is an important document. It shows clearly how many ceremonies
and teachings are currently observed in the community. We only marked
in red those ceremonies have been replaced by one's Master.
What teachings are actually studied at Ananda?
If one is associating with Ananda primarily because of a desire to
study Yogananda's teachings, one should know that at the current time,
all of Yogananda's ceremonies, written lessons and most of the books
recomended or required for study at Ananda have been replaced by those
created by J. Donald Walters: Former members have stated that of the
total material officially used at ceremonies and religious services,
including quotes from books, yoga lessons, poems and songs, as much as
70 to 80% comes from that created by J. Donald Walters, 10 to 15% is
of generic Hindu or Christian sources. Only 5 to 10% is taken from
Paramahansa Yogananda.
Ceremonies and religious services studied at Ananda
Superconscious Attunement Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters.
Purification Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters.
Ananda Wedding Ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters. (replaces
Yogananda's)
Kriya Yoga ceremony, created by J. Donald Walters. (replaces
Yogananda's format)
Rules of Conduct for Members, (known as "The Rule") "The rule" was
created by J. Donald Walters. Includes directives that members should
seek permission from a special comittee of community leaders before
marrying, changing jobs, or even having children.
Membership Vows, created by J. Donald Walters. (includes vow of
"coopertive obedience and loyalty, above all" to the spiritual
director of Ananda. (J. Donald Walters)
Discipleship ceremonies (Does not include Kriya Yoga, the traditional
discipleship initiation taught by Paramahansa Yogananda) Created by J.
Donald Walters
Vows taking ceremonies; village member, monastic training, postulant,
novice, renunciant and final vows; (most membership vows include vow
of "coopertive obedience and loyalty, above all, to the spiritual
director of Ananda church; J. Donald Walters) Created by J. Donald
Walters.
Ministers pledge ceremonies, for ministers and lightbearers. (senior
ministers) Created by J. Donald Walters
Astral ascenscion ceremony; Format created by J. Donald Walters,
(replaces Yogananda's. Christening ceremony) Format created by J.
Donald Walters, replaces Yogananda's.
Shiva Ratri ceremony; traditional Hindu ceremony
Other community ceremonies or holidays
Two day (weekend) celebration of J. Donald Walter's birthday.
Theme; gratitude to Mr.Walters. Open house, people come up from
centers. Some classes about Mr.Walters, Musical show of Mr.Walters
music, Usually the Sunday Service for this weekend also follows this
theme.
Easter, Combination of Walters and Christ; Example; includes walk from
market to Expanding Light temple singing Walters Christian style
chants and songs.
Christmass, Includes musical evening of J.Donald Walters music.Usually
2 or 3 Christmass parties at J.Donald Walters house by invitation only
Music, Mr.Walters discourages music other than his own.
Spiritual renewal week, created by J. Donald Walters. (Created as
substitute for Yogananda's yearly Convocation)
County wide open house, focus on what Ananda and J. Donald Walters
have accomplished.
Schools, An article in the Palo Alto Weekly reported that; "The Ananda
School uses the education techniques of J. Donald Walters" (Swami
Kriyananda)
Written teachings required or recomended for membership at Ananda:
Ananda Course in Self-Realization, created by J. Donald Walters.
(replaces Yogananda's "SRF Lessons")
Over 60 books written by J. Donald Walters.
Early, incomplete version of Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi, and
other books.
by a member of the community
A slip isn't a fall?
This piece compares Walters veiws with Yogananda and other spiritual
leaders on the issue of a swami falling from his vows. It shows how
Walters makes up his own "teachings" to suit his own desires and to
cover up his failings.
What if a swami "slips"? Is a "slip not a fall"?
J. Donald Walters:
"A swami is a man or woman vowed to renunciation. In this sense a
swami is like a Catholic monastic or preist. Has a person failed in
renunciation if he or she is ever tempted, or, worse still, if he or
she succumbs to the temptation? To carry this thought further, has a
person failed as a renunciate if he or she slips in any of the aspects
of renunciation? ....We may speak of error, but why define error as
failure? Indeed, why define it as sin? A slip is not a fall.
"J. Donald Walters, Article, Yoga International magazine, July/August
1995, "Gurus and the Inner Eperience of Truth" Page 42.
Paramahansa Yogananda:
"Even the outer donning of the swami's robe or the monk's habit is not
proper (lest worldly people lose respect for the religious orders)
until one is a monk at heart, has renounced all worldly desires, and
is immersed in God. There is no meaning in monasticism without the
inward joy of God."
Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF magazine, May, 1951, pg. 30, "Spiritual
Interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita," Chapter 5, Stanza 2 and
"God talks with Arjuna," Bhagavad Gita translation, pg. 533, 534.
"Mental weakness is never wisdom, but a sign of deep subconscious
attachment to the ego and its delusive pleasures. He who cannot stand
firm in righteous behavior before a test of the Almighty loses the
right to speak as a wise man."
The Bhagavad Gita, translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, "God Talks
With Arjuna", p. 195.
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri and Lahiri Mahasaya:
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in his autobiography:
"On several occasions Sri Yukteswar, like Lahiri Mahasaya, discouraged
"unripe" students who wished to join the Swami Order: "To wear the
ochre robe when one lacks God- Realization is misleading to society",
the two masters said. "Forget the outward symbols of renunciation
which may injure you by inducing a false pride."
Paramahansa Yogananda quoting Sri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya in the
Autobiography of a Yogi, pg. 130, 1981, pg. 138, 1959 edition.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa:
"No lie of any sort is good. A false garb, even though a holy one, is
not good. If the outer garb does not correspond to the inner thought,
it gradually brings ruin. Uttering false words or doing false deeds,
one gradually loses all fear. Far better is the white cloth of a
householder...
...Attachment to worldliness, occasional lapses from the ideal, and an
outer garb of gerrua (ocher cloth of a monk) - how dreadful!"
From page 195 of "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna", by Master Mahasaya.
The author, a brother disciple of the renowned Swami Vivekananda, is
the saint Paramahansa Yogananda meets in his "Autobiography of a
Yogi", in the chapter "The Blissful Devotee and His Cosmic Romance."
Swami Vivekananda:
"Now, please do not make religion pander to the vanity of the present
day! Let us all, mark you, be honest. If we cannot follow the ideal,
let us confess our weakness, but let us not degrade it. Let us not try
to pull it down."
Commentary:
Mr. Walters idea expressed here may have some relevence for the
ordinary devotee, struggling sincerely to better themselves and gain
strength over time. But for one who has taken vows and presents
themselves to the world as a swami, a completely different standard
applies. A medical student tries, but one who has been awarded the
formal title "MD", must be able to be trusted by the public as one who
has acheived a higher standard of knowledge. Imagine a doctor injuring
or even killing patients out of incompetence saying, "Well, I'm trying
my best, a slip is not a fall". The Vedanta Society states that a
swami who "slips" is expelled immediately from the Order.
Interview with a member of the Jury
This one is an interveiw with an actual member of the jury that
convicted Walters. The trial went on for 4 months. Many hours of
testimony were heard from both sides. And in the end, ordinary people
saw clearly that Walters was a liar and guilty.
An Interview with a Member of the Jury
What were the real reasons J. Donald Walters and his church were found
guilty of fraud and fined over 1.6 million dollars? Ananda has offered
many excuses for their defeat; Do any of them match what the jury
actually experienced and felt?
March, 1998
Post-trial quotes and excerpts from interview
'Juror A:' is the 'Member of the Jury, letter A''I' is the Interviewer
EXCERPTS FROM
INTERVIEW:
Interveiwer: What was your experience with the other jurors; were you
pretty cohesive? Juror A: ....It was a cohesive group. When we were
able to communicate with each other [about the case], we didn't have
some really disparaging points of view. Everybody was pretty much on
the same wavelength....
Interveiwer: What was your impression of Swami Kriyananda?
Juror A: To put it into a very few words, kind of a "holier than thou"
type of attitude. That "She's full of it" and, you know, kind of some
head-shaking kinds of things. I just really got the sense that he was
kind of pooh-poohing the testimony, like, "How could anybody believe
that of me?" And I wasn't particularly impressed with his testimony,
because there was a certain amount of arrogance in it, again. "Even
though [he] made a few mistakes, so what?" was kind of the attitude I
was getting from that. I noticed his lack of sympathy for the women.
Interveiwer: Did you hear there was another court case brought against
Ananda by SRF earlier, and that Ananda said SRF might be staging this
whole thing?
Juror A: ....I didn't believe that it was an SRF thing at all.
Interveiwer: Do you think that meditation itself and chanting always
lead to "brainwashing"?
Juror A: Oh, I don't think so, un-un....I'm probably not a strong
believer in brainwashing. I think that people are vulnerable to powers
of suggestion, and wanting to be part of a group, and having group-
think, as it was termed a couple of times. I think that that happens,
and I think because she was vulnerable and looking and seeking some
civility and something to hang onto in her life, it just made her
susceptible to falling into that group-think. And follow the crowd. I
mean, it's human nature.
Interveiwer: So it wasn't so much meditation and chanting, it was more
suggestions from everyone?
Juror A: That's right. That's right. And those messages, that this is
-- The light and the darkness, I guess is what I'm trying to get to.
If you're doing THESE things, you're increasing your chances of being
closer to God, and if you're doing THOSE things, you're putting up
barriers. And so that kind of thing could really push you to a certain
direction. So those messages -- you see, I can't call that
brainwashing. It's the coercion of the group.
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #1]?
Juror A: She looked like she led a fairly simple home life, and had a
demeanor about her, a mellowness, and an innocence....I wanted to
smack the guy [Swami Kriyananda].
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #15]?
Juror A: Okay. Yeah. She was one of the ones who realized right away
that something was wrong, and got the hell out of there, as I recall.
I thought that it was a good indicator that there were varying levels
of what was going on. And then someplace later on in testimony, it
came out...that there was this kind of ethic project: you [Swami
Kriyananda] kind of see how far you can go, and if that works out
without any red flags, then you move to the next level, and the next,
until you get to a [Woman #1] or a [Woman #2] kind of situation. She
[Woman #15] put up the red flag.And the community seems to have
protections all around it....it seems like all of these protections
are built around the community. You know, take care of Swami....And
this, ugh, this poverty issue. That really slayed me. I'd like to be
as poor as that. And have somebody taking care of my yard, and
somebody cleaning my house, and doing -- You know, I pay a lot of
money to get my house cleaned. But I have to pay for it myself.
Somebody that does my secretarial kinds of stuff, and "Gee, I think
I'll go to Italy next week," and someone making arrangements for me, I
go to the airport, hop on a plane, and I'm there. I mean, this is not
a life of poverty....I'm going to France this summer, and I know how
much money it costs....I would surmise that all of those people in the
quote "inner circle," as it was described a couple of times -- I
suspect that they all make a good living, or have a lot of things
being taken care of for them under the guises of "church visits,"
"church goings," and they live a life of luxury. Granted, it's a more
simple life, because they live in a rural community. But, it's what
they want. And they get everything they want. And that's the bottom
line. They're getting everything that they want, in my eyes. That's
the picture that I saw.
Interveiwer: What did you think of [Woman #3] and her
testimony? Juror A: It was a boundary issue. I
can't imagine, myself, you know, "Oh, come on in. Take your clothes
off. Lay on top of me." It just takes something just a little bit -- I
don't know what -- what brings a person to say something like that to
another person, you know? It's way over the boundary. Way
over....Because of the illusion that he has given about his own
superiority, he oversteps everyone else's boundaries.
Interveiwer: Did you ever see the plaintiff's lawyers treating it like
a case of religious persecution?
Juror A: Not at all, no. I think that was very clear, that it was not
religious persecution, in my mind. It was not about that at all. And I
never got the feeling that I was judging Ananda as a church. I feel
sorry for members of Ananda Church. Here they are in a community where
they want to practice something that they really believe in. I can
understand why they would do that. I can embrace their right to do
that. There's aspects of it that sound ideal, in many ways, to me. And
yet they're being bamboozled by this group of people, with Swami at
the top. The leadership crew. I have no doubt at all.
Interveiwer: What did you think of the punitive damages testimony?
Juror A: I was absolutely appalled at their bookkeeping....I know
there have got to be checks and balances and such, and when money is
going in and out, in and out, money laundering -- I mean, that's what
it sounded like to me....
And just the money going to and from Crystal Hermitage -- just to pay
Swami out of this? Padma has some ability just to write checks that
nobody knew about, nobody cared, it just happened. It doesn't seem
like a good way to run a corporation whether it's non-profit or
otherwise.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Swami Kriyananda's testimony?
Juror A: His demeanor was such that he was above all of this....He
really presented himself as being just as special sitting there on the
witness stand as he is sitting in front of his community. And I think
he needed to be slapped up the side of the head....I think the overall
-- to put it incredibly eloquently -- Overall, we thought Swami was a
scumbag. That was the bottom line.
Interveiwer: Do you know that every day when the trial was over for
the day, Ananda would have a hotline update, where they'd talk about
the trial?
Juror A: Yes, we did hear about that. The one thing that did come out
in the trial -- I remember comments that the jury looked upon Swami's
testimony favorably. Fool!
Interveiwer: What was your opinion on the use in the trial of the word
"cult"?
Juror A: They didn't stress the word "cult."
Interveiwer: Here's a quote from Ananda since the trial ended: "Ananda
does not condone or tolerate sexual harassment or sexual abuse in any
form by any of its members or leaders." Do you have any comments on
that?
Juror A: Well, that's a matter of semantics. They can easily say that
they don't condone it, but do they turn their backs and close their
eyes if they know it's happening? I mean, what are you going to do?
Put up a big sign that says, "Come to Ananda Village. We approve of
sexual harassment." But by turning their backs, it's the same thing
[as condoning it]. You can SAY that you don't condone it, but if you
aren't doing anything about it, then it's -- what's that phrase? --
kind of like lying by omission, essentially. It's kind of that same
idea.
Interveiwer: Here's another quote from Ananda since the trial ended:
"Mike Flynn and Ford Greene repeatedly compared Ananda to groups like
Waco and Jonestown in a calculated attempt to engender fear and anger
in the jury." Did you ever feel fear and anger during the trial?
Juror A: ....I don't think Mike or Ford ever tried to engender fear or
anger in the jury, absolutely not....
Interveiwer: Ananda says the other side's case was full of "terrible
lies" about them; did you feel that one side or the other was lying?
Juror A: I think probably some lies were told, but I think that the
foundation of the case wasn't based on lies.
A bunch of lies, no. Well, disguising the truth is what was happening
on Ananda's side. I think that elements of the truth were behind what
they were saying, but out of protection, they weren't straight-forward
about all of the
pieces.
Interveiwer: What did you think when people from Ananda said that they
had no idea that Swami had been doing this for years?
Juror A: I believed them.
Interveiwer: Even, like, Jyotish?
Juror A: No. Not Jyotish, no. I didn't believe Jyotish on anything on
that.
Interveiwer: That he didn't know what a swami was?
Juror A: That was a crock. I mean, that was ludicrous, when he said
that. How can you be in a position you're in, first of all, not
knowing what the Swami's doing, and secondly, not knowing what Swami
is. I mean, that was ludicrous testimony, in my eyes -- I think in a
lot of our eyes, the jury.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Vidura?
Juror A: Vidura, for some reason, I felt a little sorry for. Somehow,
and I don't know why, there was just something about him. I think
Vidura is -- I saw him as a victim. I think he's been involved in the
organization for a long, long time, and because of his association for
a long time with Swami and Jyotish and the group, he's kind of gotten
himself into a position that -- you know, this is just my own opinion,
but -- where he's become a victim of this. He doesn't really want
anything to be wrong with Ananda, so he's being protective of it. But
I get the feeling it wouldn't be his choice to
deceive anybody. And that's just kind of an intuition that I got out
of his testimony. And I kind of felt sorry for him, because it's like,
"Oh my God, I'm losing something that I've spent my life on, and I
didn't mean to do
anything wrong, but --" Much more so from him than from either Jyotish
or Devi, who got this wall that they put up and this defense that
'we've done nothing wrong.' Totally different demeanor and attitude
with them.
Interveiwer: What did you think of Asha?
Juror A: She had a real attitude kind of thing. In her presence.
Interveiwer: An attitude of -- ?
Juror A: Arrogance. Protective of her position. "Everybody else is
wrong, we're right."
Interveiwer: When Devi showed that film about Ananda, what did you
think of that?
Juror A: I thought I was at one of those properties that have sales
pitches kind of thing. I expected to walk out with a set of luggage or
something. I felt like we'd all be walking out with our sets of
luggage -- sign on the dotted line.
Interveiwer: Do you think Swami Kriyananda told any truth? Do you
think he was lying, covering up?
Juror A: I think he was covering up. I think he was lying. I think he
stretched the truth. I think there were aspects that were truthful in
there that he stretched to make himself look -- to present himself in
a different way. And I think the bottom line is that it's a lie. I
think his whole life is a lie. And I think that came across to me as I
listened to him.
Interveiwer: Do you think he should apologize, to the women or to
Ananda? Juror A: I think if he apologized, it wouldn't
mean a damn thing. Because I don't think he could be sincere about
apologizing. What good would that do? Everything else he's done --
He's manipulated with words. He is so good with words, that an apology
would be worth s---. And you can quote me on that one.
Interveiwer: Do you think the leadership should apologize?
Juror A: Yes. I think the leadership should apologize to the
community, but more importantly, the leadership should change. Not
necessarily the players -- that might be good, if the players changed.
But certainly the behavior of those players should change. If they
want their community to continue, they better shape up, or else --
they run the risk of losing it. Who's going to want to join something
like that?
Interveiwer: What changes do you think Ananda should make?
Juror A: I think, first of all, clean up the books. Have a little bit
more equity in the kinds of employment and positions. Treating people
like human beings instead of slaves. Taking the Swami out of the
picture.
Interveiwer: Do you think the ministers should develop a code of
ethics?
Juror A: Oh, absolutely. I think there should be a clear set of steps.
If anything should happen, I think it should be talked about in the
community. I think it should be something that -- People should have
an awareness of inappropriate behaviors....Not to punish, but to stop.
That's the bottom line. It's not the punishment. It's the stopping of
those behaviors.
Interveiwer: On the Ananda phone hotline, Ananda leadership would say,
"Our witnesses were very powerful."
Juror A: I found very little power in their witnesses. Very little.
And I think they were deceiving the community. I think they've got all
these people living in a delusional world. And they're fostering it.
Interveiwer: Do you think there is anything that Ananda should do or
say for the other women who were abused by Swami Kriyananda?
Juror A: I think it would be nice if something could come towards
these other women, especially the ones who risked, by coming out and
being on the stand. It would be nice if something came toward them.
Some sort of compensation. Some sort of damage compensation....As for
the women who have come forward, I think that was only the tip of the
iceberg. That's what I feel, definitely. I think it was definitely a
problem that [Swami Kriyananda] has, and was probably a carry-through
for most of his adult life...
Interveiwer: Do you think some of the Ananda leaders should be removed
from their positions?
Juror A: Yeah, I do. I think changing the leadership would be a good
thing, periodically. ...Having a democracy where you voted people in
periodically, like a presidency -- every four years you have an
opportunity for change, and no longer than eight years. Something to
that effect. It seems to me it would provide more balance and more
room for other people to dance.
Interveiwer: If you were an Ananda member, what would you do about the
present situation? Leave? Stay and fight?
Juror A: ....If you've been there a while, and this is your life, it's
your home, then maybe fighting would be the best alternative....
Interveiwer: Was there anything that most struck you about Ananda's
presentation?
Juror A: Well, there were some bizarre things, and I think it had
something to do with their behavior around Swami, the fact that they
protected him so much. It was kind of off-center, as far as norms go
in my mind. They just looked like some normal folks. And I think that
many of them really are very normal, average folks. Living a life,
making a living. Running true to their religious beliefs.
Interveiwer: Any last thoughts on Swami Kriyananda? Janice Moreno had
said that he opened up to her unlike he did to anyone else.
Juror A: Yeah, right. Right. I don't think we saw that at all. I think
we saw the leader, the special one, somebody that was up on a
pedestal. I think that's all we saw. I don't think we saw a human side
to him at all. In my opinion. And I think -- I had a hard time with
that. If any time would be the time to come down off your pedestal and
approach a group of people as a human being, this would be it. And I
didn't see that.
[Juror A: confirmed that she thinks Swami Kriyananda is a narcissist,
and can't feel empathy for others.]
Interveiwer: What would you like to say to Swami?
Juror A: "Where do you get off thinking that you're so special?"
Interveiwer: What message did you hope to communicate to Ananda by
your verdict?
Juror A: "Shape up."
Interveiwer: What message did you hope to communicate to the larger
society?
Juror A: "Watch out for people in positions of power, and
inappropriate behaviors of people in positions of power." The Pamela
Cooper-White message [imbalance of power between clergy and
parishioners; Swami is a narcissist and a patterned sexual predator]
probably is the message [of the trial], what people need to be aware
of.
OTHER QUOTES:
"I felt no bias against the religious group. It wouldn't have been my
choice [of religious group] but if somebody else wants to do that with
their life, fine."
"I think that people [on the jury] felt very strongly about the fact
that these [Ananda] people had a right to their religion, and that
this was not up to us. But the taking advantage of individuals was
inappropriate."
"I didn't believe that it [the trial] was an SRF thing at all."
"They [the attorneys] didn't stress the word 'cult.'"
"Because of the illusion that he [Swami Kriyananda] has given about
his own superiority, he oversteps everyone else's boundaries."
"They [Ananda people] can easily say that they don't condone it
[sexual harassment or sexual abuse], but do they turn their backs and
close their eyes if they know it's happening?....You can SAY that you
don't condone it, but if you aren't doing anything about it, then
it's...kind of like lying by omission."
"The only women who were powerful were married to men who were also in
leadership positions...And I think about the rest of you, who were
just a bunch of...you're like scullery maids running around, to serve
Swami and the
powers that be, in my opinion."
Woman #100
This letter was sent to Ananda leaders years ago but which did no
good in getting Kriyananda to admit his mistakes but instead pushed
into a further hiding. It is a heartbreaking account.
January 18,1998
Dear Friends,
We are writing to you at this time because we once lived at Ananda
Village and still deeply care about our former home. We feel Ananda is
now in crisis and at a turning point. How this crisis is handled will
determine the very nature of the Ananda community.
We want to reflect on this situation by focusing on the experience of
woman #10 as a representative of each woman who felt hurt and damaged
by sexual interaction with Swami Kriyananda. Why woman #100? We think
woman #100 has a sweet vulnerable nature and our sympathy naturally
goes out to her. Since she harbors no motive of retaliation or
revenge, woman #100 is exceptionally believable.We have talked to
woman #100 many hours about her experiences.
Here are her recollections:
Woman #100 was 22 years old when she came to Ananda in May, 1980.
Swami Kriyananda was 54 years old. Like all new Ananda residents, she
learned that it was a privilege to live in close proximity to Swami
Kriyananda- a direct disciple of Yogananda. Being near to Swami
Kriyananda, "tuning in" to him in love and service, was a way to be
closer to Yogananda. Feeling great enthusiasm for the spiritual path,
woman #100 joined the Ananda convent in October '80 and remained there
as a nun until February '82. So far, so good.
During June 1981, Kriyananda asked woman #100 to massage his sore
shoulder. After about three months of massages, Kriyananda asked if it
would embarrass woman #100 if he didn't use a towel to cover himself
during massage sessions. Shortly after Thanksgiving 1981, Kriyananda
began placing woman #100's hand on his genitals and directing her to
masturbate him and and also initiated her in oral sex. Although it
appears obviously inappropriate now, woman #100 considered these
sexual acts as a continuation of her service and devotion to the
spiritual leader of Ananda. Kriyananda advised woman #100 to take
advantage of this special opportunity for spiritual advancement.
Woman #100 did not have a reciprocal romantic relationship with
Kriyananda-an affair.
11.03.2010 - 10:09
Brahma Kumaris so-called Raja Yoga: The Real Story
Remembering those who have taken their lives as a result of
associating with the BKWSU
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a large international
cult that teaches a philosophy that is unique unto itself whilst
maintaining an appearance of traditional eastern schools of thought.
The message is one of love and peace, of purifying one2s karma and of
helping the souls of the world achieve happiness. What they actually
believe is extreme and unrelated to any scripture. Their
organisational practises are deceptive if not fraudulent. The result
has been traumatic for many.
The growth of the Brahma Kumaris over 70 years has been the result of
the dedicated efforts of those who have come and gone during that
time. They believed in spirituality but trusted people they shouldn2t
have. Many people have given many years of their lives, all their
effort, money, and other resources while they were manipulated by
their desire to be better people than they believed they were. When
they were exhausted they were abandoned by an organisation that has no
duty of care policy or practise and that shows no concern for the
people whose lives it has impacted.
We respect all the members (students) of the BKWSU because they are
genuine and sincere. Primarily we wish to address the problems that
lay with the leadership of the organisation 6 namely it2s widely
demonstrated inability to address critical duty of care issues as well
as its increasingly deceptive practises.
This site is dedicated to minimising trauma and saving lives by
pressuring the Brahma Kumaris Leadership to implement a meaningful
duty of care program to protect its members. We also want the BK
Leadership to be upfront and honest about its beliefs and practises
and stop hiding behind carefully crafted disguises. Until the BKWSU
leadership take it upon themselves to be honest with everyone and tell
the truth to the public about what they really believe and are really
trying to achieve it becomes the burden of the authors of this site to
do so 6 to warn the public of the very real potential dangers of
becoming involved with this organisation.
The following pages will allow you to understand The Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University and how it operates, demonstrate that the
BKWSU is a cult, and provide evidence of deception and tax fraud. It
will help you to understand how people become trapped in its ranks.
And how members and former members reach such desperation that they
take their own lives.
Please note that the authors of this site are former long term members
of the BKWSU with a great deal of experience, long term relationships
with senior leadership and have a lot of genuine inside information.
We left the organisation after witnessing leadership lose direction
and authenticity and with that become increasingly hypocritical,
deceptive and arrogant
Identifying the BKWSU as a Cult
Rather than reinvent the wheel or limit this discussion to a perhaps
subjective point of view this discussion has been cross referenced
with other sites that are exploring cult issues. Here we look at 1cult
identifiers2 and see how they relate to the BKWSU. Typically these
identifiers include: totalitarian control of members, elitist
perspective, ownership of a revelation, psychological manipulation and
abuse of members, exploitation of members, and the willingness of
members to blindly support the organisation to the point of personal
crisis.
These descriptions or identifiers of a cult are provided by www.culthelp.in=
fo
(For more from them please click on the link to go through to their
site).
A Universal Definition CULT 6 Any group which has a pyramid type
authoritarian leadership structure with all teaching and guidance
coming from the person/persons at the top. The group will claim to be
the only way to God; Nirvana; Paradise; Ultimate Reality; Full
Potential, Way to Happiness etc, and will use thought reform or mind
control techniques to gain control and keep their members.This
definition covers cults within all major world religions, along with
those cults which have no OBVIOUS religious base such as commercial,
educational and psychological cults. Others may define these a little
differently, but this is the simplest to work from.
The BKWSU have a hierarchical management system with a clearly defined
lineage. At the very top are God Shiva and Brahma Baba (the spirit of
the late Dada Lehkraj) who are channelled by Dadi Gulzar. The senior
most people in management are referred to individually as
3Dadi4 (meaning Senior Sister). The Dadis then direct the
organisationand its members through a network of preferred members. To
be a preferred member one must be worthy, that is, co-operative,
obedient and totally support the Dadis and the system. Dissenters are
marginalised by default and considered to be lacking in realisation
and struggling in their relationship with God.There is also a powerful
committee that has a high level of control. This committee includes a
number of Senior Brothers. The exact role of the committee and its
influence is not made public but its members were not elected nor are
they accountable to the general membership.Like all religions, sects
and cults, the BKWSU base their lifestyle and practises on a belief
system that is the basis of their reality. This reality is formed in
the minds of members through constant study and hours of daily
meditation. The members believe that they are the true children of
God, who is teaching them directly and exclusively. They believe that
through their relationship with God Shiva they will become pure and
achieve Nirvana. They will then reincarnate into the new world (Golden
Age) as deities and rule that world as divine kings 6 the product of
the pure karma they accumulated at this time through their
renunciation (of money and personal resources) and service (expansion
of the organisation).The main method for becoming pure is meditation,
which means to concentrate on the love and purity of Shiva and Brahma
and the 2spiritual knowledge2 to the exclusion of all 1worldly
thoughts2 6 a very effective system of indoctrination and mind
control.
A Secular Definition CULT 6 From the Latin 1cultis2 which denotes all
that is involved in worship, ritual, emotion, liturgy and attitude.
This definition actually denotes what we call denominations and sects
and would make all religious movements a cult.
A Christian Definition CULT 6 Any group which deviates from Biblical,
orthodox, historical Christianity, i.e. They deny the Deity of Christ;
His physical resurrection; His personal and physical return to earth
and salvation by FAITH alone.This definition only covers those groups
which are cults within the Christian religion. It does not cover cults
within other world religions such as Islam and Hinduism. Nor does it
cover Psychological, Commercial or Educational cults which do not
recognize the Bible as a source of reality. The Orthodox Bible-Based
Cult
A group is called a cult because of their behaviour 6 not their
doctrines. Doctrine is an issue in the area of Apologetics and Heresy.
Most religious cults do teach what the Christian church would declare
to be heresy but some do not. Some cults teach the basics of the
Christian faith but have behavioural patterns that are abusive,
controlling and cultic.This occurs in both Non-Charismatic and
Charismatic churches. These groups teach the central doctrines of the
Christian faith and then add the extra authority of leadership or
someone2s particular writings. They centre around the interpretations
of the leadership and submissive and unquestioning acceptance of these
is essential to be a member of good standing. This acceptance includes
what we consider non-essential doctrines e.i. not salvation issues
(such as the Person and Work of Christ.) The key is that they will be
using mind control or undue influence on their members.
Other Identification Marks:
(a) The group will have an ELITIST view of itself in relation to
others, and a UNIQUE CAUSE. i.e. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES RIGHT 6
everyone else is wrong. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES DOING GOD2S WILL 6
everyone else is in apostasy.
Integral to the Brahma Kumaris philosophy is the notion that they are
a special group of souls, those whose good fortune brings them
eternally back to God. They are the souls who will achieve the highest
state of purity and spiritual power. They will uplift all the souls of
the world and bring about the new Golden Age of humanity 6 which they
will rule as divine kings and queens.The BKWSU consider themselves the
most fortunate souls of the world for all of time. They are the only
ones who know God, the Truth or who can save the world from sorrow.
They are by default the ones who are right and that all other
religions, sects etc are the domains of partial truth and exist for
weak souls who need that type of limited support. They typically
counter accusations of elitism by claiming that as anyone can become a
member they are not so. It is an argument that only works for them.
(b) They will promote their cause actively, and in doing so, abuse
personal rights and freedoms. This abuse can be THEOLOGICAL,
SPIRITUAL, SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL.
Promoting themselves as a great spiritual organisation that makes a
unique and critical contribution to humanity is a major preoccupation.
They hold courses, seminars and conferences etc. and they have
meditations centres to run. They are a very busy group of people. The
members take on this workload as a way of creating good karma and
purifying themselves.
They start with meditation at 4.00am and are occupied from then until
the end of their day. To not participate is a sign of weakness, lack
of innate 1fortune2, lack of recognition of God or their inherent
responsibility as a child of God. Failure to cooperate with the
heirachy in the fulfilment of the 1elevated purpose2 of the BKWSU
carries guilt and implications of being a lesser, weaker and poorer
soul. Obedience is seen as a sign of strength, disobedience is bad
karma. To leave is eternal damnation, eternal loss. The fear of
failing is referred to as a 3sweet fear4 and therefore a good thing.
Throughout their time as a member they will have been promised rewards
of purity, peace, bliss and a kingdom in heaven whilst being
patronised with lessons on failure and loss. The heirachy take
ownership of the individuals self esteem and manipulate them with
concepts of reward and loss. Members must confess their weakness and
doubts to the Seniors, ostensibly in order to overcome them.
Ultimately the Heirachy exerts influence on everything a member will
think, say or do, and how they spend their time and with who. They are
told to renounce all past relationships, attachments and money and
belong only to 1Baba2 (God Shiva).The BKWSU practise all the types of
abuse mentioned, but because it is not violent, or loud, but carried
out from behind a facade of pity and benevolence no one sees it for
what it is.
How They Do This?
1. Their leader/s may claim a special, exclusive ministry, revelation
or position of authority given by God.
The bureaucracy of the BKWSU is a hierarchy of 1exceptional souls2 who
are the dispensers of 3Shrimat4 6 the divine directions of god 6 to
the general membership. Ones2 seniority within the organisation is
seen as an indication of one2s past good karma and current good
efforts, and of ones overall 1fortune2. It would also suggest that
one2s 3yoga4 or connection with God, is of a higher quality and
therefore one is able to receive 3touchings4 from God and would also
have a clearer understanding of what God wanted or expected of his
3beloved children4 at any given moment. Thus the senior is worthy to
dispense shrimat and, effectively, control the lives of members under
their 1care2.
2. They believe they are the only true path and take a critical stance
regarding the Christian church while at the same time praising and
exalting their own group, leader/s and work.
The BKWSU believe that God has incarnated directly into the body of
their founder, Dada Lehkraj, and is teaching them personally and
exclusively. From 1936 to 1969 BKWSU religious philosophy was
1chanelled2 in daily sermons known as Murlis. As there is only one God
and they are the only ones who know him or the Truth, then definitely
they are the only one true path. The Senior members (known as Dadis)
are praised as angels, and as the highest and purest souls of all
time. Everyone else is patronised as good souls but without the power
of purity or greatness that the Seniors have.
3. They use intimidation (albeit subtle) or psychological manipulation
to keep members loyal to their ranks. This could be in the form of
threats of dire calamity if they leave; certain death at Armageddon;
being shunned by their family and friends etc. This is a vital part of
the mind control process.
Members are continuously reminded that the world is to end soon and to
leave would be the greatest misfortune and lead to 3a thousand years
of suffering in a second4 as a result. They are told to break their
attachments to the 1old world2 (family, friends, career, money etc)
because that is only bondage to a life of suffering. They are
instructed by Seniors, on behalf of God, to dedicate themselves to
their new spiritual life exclusively. Their self-respect is based
entirely upon being a committed child of God Shiva who is obedient to
Seniors. The Seniors are very much in control of the minds and hearts
of the members.
A simple example of group manipulation is one of Dadi Janki, now head
of the BKWSU. In 2006 it was known to many that the then head of the
BKWSU 6 Dadi Prakashmani 6 was seriously ill with Alzheimers. Dadi2s
Alzheimers was creating some confusion in the ranks for a variety of
reasons. Typically Dadi Janki used the philosophy to pull members back
into line. In 2006 Dadi Janki, in a typically moving and emotive
lecture, told everyone that 3the time is close4 (meaning that the
world is about to end) and that as sick as Dadi Prakashmani is, she
would be there with all of them until the end. Suddenly all the
doubters are 1inspired2 to refocus on their personal efforts for
purity. If they do not become pure in time, they will have to suffer
judgement, punishment and a lower status in the new world. In fact,
Dadi Prakashmani died in early 2007. Dadi Janki has been made head of
the organisation, and everyone has forgotten the guarantee that she
gave in that lecture.
4. Members will be expected to give substantial financial support to
the group. This could be compulsory tithing (which is checked);
signing over all their property on entering the group; coercive
methods of instilling guilt on those who have not contributed; selling
magazines, flowers or other goods for the group as part of their
ministry. At the same time bible-based cults may ridicule churches
that take up free-will offerings by passing collection plates and/or
sell literature and tapes. They usually brag that they don2t do this.
This gives outsiders the intimation that they are not interested in
money.
The BKWSU is a very wealthy organisation. Vast sums of money,
property, jewellery and other assets have been 1donated2 to the
organisation. Hapless members who are convinced of the truth of the
BKWSU teachings believe that the world is soon to be destroyed and
that they will reincarnate in paradise in the very near future. A new
member who is experiencing the 1honeymoon stage2 of their 1new life=
2
will be encouraged to give all they can in this context. In some cases
this can be houses, cars and bank accounts. Ultimately all funds and
assets received by the BKWSU have been solicited 6 BKWSU are lectured
on the good karma of giving and are reminded regularly of the need to
1donate2 to the Godly purpose.
It was uncommon for any new person to be asked for money. The public
or interested parties were always told that all services of the BKWSU
are free and that the organisation is funded entirely by donations.
The general perception of 1outsiders2 is that the BKWSU are not
interested in money and that the property they do have is really a
sign of the integrity of the organisation and the donations they have
received as a result.
5. There will be great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its
teachings. The lives of members will be totally absorbed into the
group2s activities. They will have little or no time to think for
themselves because of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is also
a vital part of the mind control process.
A member2s day begins with meditation at 4.00am. It is known as 3Amrit
Vela4 and is one of several ["Mariadas"]. Mariadas are the basic rules
by which a good member should live their lives. In reality someone is
only considered a true or real member/student/child of god if they are
following these rules. The list of mariadas includes celibacy,
vegetarian diet (with no eggs, onions or garlic) and daily morning
class (Murli class).
There is a real if unspoken pressure to conform to these Maryadas (and
thereby demonstrate one2s loyalty) if one is to be taken seriously by
the group, especially the seniors. Additional to Mariadas is Shrimat
(the supposed directions of God). Shrimat coerces members to think and
behave according to the directions spoken by god in the murli, and
directions given by seniors. Supposedly mariadas and shrimat are to
ensure the 1child2 receives maximum benefit from god their true
father. The main benefit is to be purity of the soul. To not follow
Maryadas and Shrimat is a great sin 6 very bad karma.
Shrimat requires obedience, submission and compliance from the member.
The member who follows Mariadas and Shrimat will start their day at
4.00am and will be busy until they sleep at night. If they are not
busy meditating or earning an income they will be kept busy doing
3service4. There is no room for free will, only loyalty, obedience and
3cooperation4. The net effect is an almost permanent state of
tiredness or exhaustion.
6. There will be total control over almost all aspects of the private
lives of members. This control can be direct through communal living,
or constant and repetitious teaching on how to be a true Christian (or
member) or being obedient to leadership.
Members will look to their seniors for guidance in everything they do.
A good student will follow Shrimat. They will not make a decision
about their lives without consulting seniors in order to get shrimat.
Their lives are heavily influenced by seniors in this way, and in the
process the seniors will come to know the detail of the member2s life.
A good student would not risk making a mistake and accumulate even
more bad karma by either not consulting a senior or by disobeying
shrimat.
Shrimat will commonly include instructions to donate money, to
dissociate from family and friends, to give up ones career, to only
eat food cooked by other members, to not watch television and movies
or read books and magazines, and to give up all 3worldly interest4.
7. Any dissent or questioning of the group2s teachings is discouraged.
Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion. There will be an emphasis
on authority, unquestioning obedience and submission. This is
vigilantly maintained.
Questioning or doubts are the sign of a weak intellect. Dissent means
the soul is under the influence of past bad karma and is the proof of
past sin. The senior sisters especially are to never be challenged. To
do so is proof of ignorance. Any member who continues to dissent will
be excommunicated.
9. Members are required to demonstrate their loyalty to the group in
some way. This could be in the form of informing on fellow members
(including family) under the guise of looking out for their 2spiritual
welfare2. They may be required to deliberately lie (heavenly
deception) or give up their lives by refusing some form of medical
treatment.
In the BKWSU members would demonstrate their loyalty through their
financial support, commitment to service and obedience. They would
follow the party line publicly and talk the talk. They adopt the view
that they are one family 6 a divine family of future deities and act
according to the rules of the family 6 [Maryadas].
10. Attempts to leave or reveal embarrassing facts about the group may
be met with threats. Some may have taken oaths of loyalty that involve
their lives or have signed a covenant and feel threatened by this.
Ranjana and Sharad both demonstrated the state of mind one experiences
when leaving the BKWSU. They were indoctrinated into the belief that
any form of dissent is a mortal sin that they will be burdened with it
for all eternity. Therefore the system is never challenged and the
status quo within the organisation is not interrupted. People leave,
are crushed by the belief system that they had been manipulated by
during their membership, and will suffer severe depression and may
suicide. But they do not dissent.
The BKWSU have generally maintained a 2softly softly2 approach in
public to all issues. They have no concern for those who leave 6 hence
this website. Former members may be encouraged to return, but BKWSU
teachings recommend leaving ex-members alone in case existing members
become 1trapped2 trying to help them and leave as well.
Ex-members are so affected by guilt that they rarely become dissenters
even after they leave.
BKWSU Watch
10 Comments By LIz Bywater, January 16, 2009 @ 9:58 am
I need to say that this is very shocking reading 6 I 1joined2 in 1985
6 have deep concerns and would like to discuss further if poss
By editor, January 17, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
Yes, as a BK this information is very disturbing. When one puts ones
heart and soul into their spiritual life it is a matter of grief to
even think that one may have been misled or deceived. This is why
typically exBks feel so betrayed and let down. The reality that the
organisation that you have committed everything to is a cult is
overwhelming.
However, denial is not any kind of protection against reality. Facts
are facts and these are different to beliefs that pass as facts to a
believer.
Our wish is that the BKWSU management would overcome its own
egocentric agendas and just practise openness and transparency. Is it
right that so many secrets are kept from the students? For example,
why is it not okay to know what happens to the money you put in the
donation box?
Is it right that there is no duty of care?
TS Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
good point editor..!
By Thomas, April 29, 2009 @ 9:56 am
Once, when I was very young, I was taken from my home and sent to a
place surrounded by high fences and guards. I was forced to have my
head shaved, forced to wear the same clothes as all the others in the
camp, deprived of sleep, forced to work long 14 hour days, and made to
watch indoctrination filmss depicting those who took me away as the
only right-and-good way while vilifying all other groups.
I was, of course, drafted into the Army. If this isn2t the definition
of a cult, I don2t know what is.
I say this because I2ve spent my entire life looking into various
religious groups 6 some classified as cults, and have read a lot of
liturature by anti-cult groups. In addition to this I2ve completed a
masters degree in Education where my thesis2 focus was on why we learn
what we learn 6 not on what we learn, but why. The conclusion of my
thesis was that we2re all brainwashed from birth to think a certain
way 6 first by our parents and immediate family, then our extended
family, then community, then religious leaders, then our country and
it2s leaders.
Very few of us ever begin to think for ourselves. Most of us just go
along with the herd mentality 6 doing and saying what we2ve heard
others say and do. That, too, is a cult.
So take care how you define a cult. Asking anti-cult groups to define
appropriate religion is a little like asking the KKK to define
humanity. Their opinion is based on a predisposed point of view.
Just my thoughts.
editor Reply:
April 30th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Yes 6 the sociologists quest for objectivity rings clearly here. I
agree with you. The purpose of this site is to put an argument out
into the public domain in order to create a counter point of view to
the singularly one sided, subjective position that exists at the
moment. Hopefully this will get people to think more for themselves or
at least be a little better informed.
another one suckered Reply:
May 1st, 2009 at 4:28 am
Thomas, were you 3taken4 or did you sign up for a wage?
There is two big difference between the Army and basically all cults;
5 Firstly, you get paid 5 if you are lucky, they will even throw in a
professional or university education and a pension.
5 Secondly, what it says on the label you get what 5 you know what you
are in for before you do.
One specific difference between the US Army and the Shiv Shakti Army
(BKWSU), is at least in the Army you a day a week off, paid holidays
and some R&R. With the BKWSU, its 24/7/365 5 and no 3love you long
time4 or the rest of your life!!!
But, my friend, your 1edukashun2 is kind of incomplete. There are a
lot more sides to the debate than 3culties4 versus 3anti-culties4 =
5
and one set of excesses do not excuse another.
Equally, there are a number of 3cult apologists4 who try and put down
and discredit ex-members for being 1apostates2 when, in fact, the
apologists know Jack Shit about the religion in question that they are
sucking up to, nor cares 2 cents for any of the families that are torn
to pieces by these groups. The likes of Eileen Barker rings out as
being one of them.
So, take care what tar you are throwing around at the end of that
broad brush of yours 5 it might be someone in your family next.
Thomas Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am
What is so difficult to understand about the phrase: 3I was5
drafted54?
Granted, I received benefits from my time serving my rich uncle, but
it2s the criteria anti-cultists use to define a group as a cult that I
was commenting on. If they apply, then they apply, simple and straight-
forward. If they don2t apply to certain organizations (Army, etc),
then maybe the anti-cultists are in error in applying them to groups
they deem are cults. It could be a personal proclivity of the examiner
and nothing more.
re: 3nor cares 2 cents for any of the families that are torn to
pieces4. Family dynamics being what they are, chances are that if the
family in question wasn2t 3torn to pieces4 by the 3cult4, then it
would have been torn to pieces by some other arrangement of life. The
3cult4 may just be a convenient scapegoat for their own inadequacies.
A person2s destructive tendencies follow a person no matter where he/
she goes in life. It2s always easy to blame others for our failures.
I2ve spent my entire life fighting against prejudice and bigotry. I2ve
seen it in both camps: religious and secular.
When I ask side 3A4 a serious and potentially damaging question, they
think I belong to side 3B4. When I ask the same question to side 3B=
4
they think I2m part of side 3A4. If by some miracle I convince both
sides I2m not a plant for the other side, then they think I2m part of
some covert operation of some side 3C4. Sort of like a damned-if-you-
do-damned-if-you-don2t situation.
Lastly5 I knew 3Jack Shit4. He was an asshole.
editor Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Yes it is very possible that the damage done to families and
individuals through their association with the BKs may have happened
somewhere else and at some other time. As it is human nature to
believe whatever they need or want to believe it can be a case of 3if
not this cult then that cult/religion/society/association/whatever.
BUT, the fact is that in these cases it did happen at the BKWSU and
the BKs did nothing to help 6 which is contrary to their core promises
of peace, love and happiness 6 putting it politely. Again and again it
comes back to duty of care. The BKWSU is responsible to have a
reasonable duty of care policy and practise that does look out for the
people that come to them. But they deny their share of responsibility
in these matters and that is the core of the problem.
By Wayne, December 23, 2009 @ 4:38 am
I stumbled on this web site, after watching Dada Janki on U Tube. And,
yes, I was impressed. She seemed to embody an authetic relaxation into
the self. Rather than the apparent constant opposites, bangs and
clash. Sometimes there seems no end to this, prehaps there lies my
gulibilty to beleive she is true. I put forward my own case as
example, can be sure! Conflict in my mind and the fixing of it is my
central occupation.
Sad to see this site. My blessing to all of You!
Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult - But Yoga Alliance? |
namasteph yoga blog 7 December 2, 2008 @
namasteph yoga blog
B Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the KGB
Distracted Gym Yoga Teachers5and iPods B
Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult 6 But Yoga Alliance?
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:44am |
I recently saw an ad on Craigslist for free meditation classes. They
did not include a link to their website, but I gleaned from the email
address provided that the organization was Brahma Kumaris, an
organization that describes itself as a 3spiritual university4
teaching Raja Yoga. (Raja Yoga, i.e., 3royal yoga,4 is the yoga of
meditation as originally described by Pantanjali in the Yoga Sutras.)
I always like to know what I2m getting into and a quick search on the
Internet reveals that Brahma Kumaris is considered a cult by many.
Brahma Kumaris has some heavy duty critics. It2s apparently not just
your usual yoga cult 6 this one is a 3doomsday cult,4 where the belie=
f
is that the world will end soon and those who participate in Brahma
Kumaris will ascend to become deities in the new Golden Age.
The doomsday stuff was enough to convince me that the free meditation
classes probably weren2t worth my time. I also shy away from
organizations that rely on guilt-trip donations and do a heavy sell on
tithing.
But I2m not automatically scared off by cult charges. I regularly take
kundalini yoga classes even though the kundalini yoga organization,
3HO, has been considered a cult for a long time. In both organizations
you2ll find vegetarians who get up at 4 am for meditation, wear all
white, and follow other strict rules for living.
Most of the kundalini yoga teachers I go to actually do seem to be
3Happy Healthy and Holy4 as the 3HO name suggests. These are fantastic
spiritual teachers who really do seem to walk the talk. I can tell
you, however, from the stories that these folks tell, that I would
have never gotten along with Yogi Bhajan. I am too independent by
nature. Regular life in an ashram wouldn2t sit well with me. As I
mentioned in my last blog post, I believe there are some people who
want direction and authority in their lives, and that makes them
happy. As long as they aren2t harmed by it, it2s fine with me. If they
want to wear all white and wake up at 4 am to take a cold shower every
morning, then more power to them. No 3HO member has ever given me a
high pressure sell in any kundalini yoga class, ever. I2ve never been
asked to tithe away my live savings, though I suppose yoga classes can
add up.
I do think, though, that it2s good to be skeptical of charismatic
leaders and rigid authority, whether it2s yoga or not. I know of a
teacher (not a yoga teacher) who has such tight control of her little
community that her students are emotional prisoners. Rather than
encouraging the students to leave the nest for bigger and better
things, the teacher has emotionally crippled the students so they are
dependent on her.
From observing that, I don2t think it2s meditation or yoga that
creates a cult, but psychological manipulation, which can occur
without these things. People are drawn to yoga-specific cults because
meditation and yoga does bring such tremendous benefits.
So some cult watchers go a bit too far, perhaps, when they bash
spiritual organizations simply for being weird, or having problem
people in it. (Yes, apparently some guy at 3HO was growing marijuana
but what does that have to do with the rest of the sincere members?)
Leading anti-cult guru (irony intended) Rick Ross has actually gone so
far as to warn people against Yoga Alliance, simply because some board
members were involved in 3HO and other yoga organizations he deems
cults. He wrote back in 2003:
3Anyone considering yoga classes with teachers and/or schools
registered by the Yoga Alliance might want to exercise a bit of
caution, before beginning any of their exercises.4
A bit over the top, I think. Well, maybe he was unaware that Yoga
Alliance is pretty much the de facto yoga certifying organization in
America, and that almost all mainstream yoga teachers in the US have
their certification through them now.
At any rate, I personally like to keep my toe into organizations
without jumping full in to the point where an organization takes over
my life. I enjoy the exercises and meditations I have learned in
kundalini yoga, but I do not need to go full on American Sikh in white
clothes and a turban to benefit. If it works for you, great, but it2s
not for me. But I think the key here is that kundalini yoga people
allow you to be who you are 6 on the other hand, those strict
organizations that are the cults to be wary of do not.
Posted in Gurus and Celebrity Yogis, Kundalini Yoga
Comment 5 Responses to 3Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult 6
But Yoga Alliance?4
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am Rick
You say you aren2t put off by accusations of organisations being cults
6 but only refer to an example where you have got to know the
organisation yourself. Shouldn2t you give this organisation the same
consideration before making harmful accusations based on what appears
to be zero personal experience of them?
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm Stephanie
I started taking kundalini yoga classes at Golden Bridge from a
recommendation from a friend. It2s a pretty well-known yoga center
here in Los Angeles and as such there2s a context for me, whereas
Brahmas Kumaris is an unknown organization that is actively recruiting
through Craigslist.
Of course I2m going to be more suspicious of the organization I2ve
never heard of that has been identified as a 3doomsday cult.4 I had
also done homework on 3HO and knew of the Yoga Bhajan controversies.
My take on kundalini yoga is that it2s a useful practice and whether
or not Bhajan was a sincere guru doesn2t really matter to me at this
point. He did not create kundalini yoga 6 he just brought it with him
from India. I2m not interested in getting deeper and giving up my
normal clothes and make-up to become a Sikh however5but the point is,
the 3HO people don2t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like
other 3cults4 appear to be.
December 20th, 2008 at 8:41 pm Yogi
One of the beefs that I have with the Brahma Kumaris is that they have
sucked up practically every Hindu deities name you could imagine 5 AND
the classical term 3Raja Yoga4 5 to describe their own practises whic=
h
are specifically mediumistic rather than yogic.
The Brahma Kumaris DO NOT teach Raja Yoga. They teach their own
practise. Raja Yoga has a 2,000 year tradition. The BK2s practise only
goes back as far as the 1950s. The focus of their 3yoga4 is a
channeled spirit entity or entities which speaks and acts through the
sect2s mediums at its headquarters. They believe this entity to be
3the god of all religions4, their religion to be the supreme one,
themselves to be becoming angels 5 all other religions and all the and
Hind dieties to be only poor or partial 3memories4 of their religion.
Any spiritual master worth their salt would encourage students to do
their homework first and check out their would be master2s lineage.
That requires people to dig a little bit deeper than the
organization2s own PR and the wide eyed 3intoxication4 of its neophyt=
e
devotees.
The big problem with the Brahma Kumaris is 5 why all the secrecy? Why
do they expect people to initiated into a relationships with this
spirit entity BEFORE they know 1the big picture2.
In the BKs case, the big picture included an imminent and desirable
nuclear holocaust and the death of 6 billion human being to 3purify4
the world in order that they leadership can rule a 3golden age4 on
earth as Emperors and Empresses for 2,500 years starting off with only
900,000 of their faithful followers. All of time fitting into one
single, identically repeating 5,000 Year Cycle.
The downside with the BKs is that getting to the truth is difficult.
They are steeped into their own historical revisionism. The reports of
multiple suicides amongst their followers and the leaderships handling
of the child sex abuse cases at their headquarters are abysmal.
In this case, starting with the critics and gauging the organization2s
response to those criticism, might be the best way of learning about
the reality before you surrender your life to them.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:53 am Daljit
I agree with Stephaine, there are lot of people promoting yoga, but
yoga is a philosophy in itself and nobody can claim its ownership.
People start yoga practice for getting fit and very few for spiritual
upliftment. Anybody can do yoga, it will certainly help you to
progress in your spiritual progress irrespective of the religion you
follow.
I am from India and here people of all religions do yoga and never
feel about shedding their religious beliefs. Those who seriously
become real yogis, they are above religion.
33HO people don2t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like other
3cults4 appear to be.4 This seems to be a better philosophy, yoga is
not for recruiting people to your way of life but to help people to
live better.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:40 pm TS
I quite agree that yoga is really nice, and keeps you active and
healthy 6 so refreshed
http://namasteph.com/gurus-and-celebrity-yogis/brahma-kumaris-raja-yoga-is-=
probably-a-cult-but-yoga-alliance/
http://bkwsuwatch.com/about/identifying-a-cult/
Deception, Disguises and Fronts
The BKWSU engage in many forms of deception. To this end they disguise
who they really are and engage with the world wearing a variety of
masks, using a variety of methods, and includes tax fraud and
pretending to be a charity. This is covered in the next few pages.
The BKWSU has an agenda. They want to fill their ranks to 900,000
dedicated members. According to their teachings that is the number at
which the world will be destroyed. Soon after that paradise will arise
from the radioactive ashes of hell and they will live as deities.
However, there is a dilemma: how to openly and honestly reveal such an
agenda and still be taken seriously? Clearly they have realized they
can2t and have opted to be taken seriously 6 even if they have to
engage in a process of deception to achieve this.
It is also a consideration that the collective ego of BKWSU management
simply cannot cope with any accusation that they are nutters. But what
else would you think if they told you that God is teaching them
directly and exclusively, that the world was supposed to end in 1976
but that they are still waiting, that time repeats identically every
5000 years (yes you read all of this 5000 years ago and will do again
in another 5000 years)?
Senior management is deeply concerned with the public persona of the
BKWSU. It has been determinedly managed and is protected with
ferocity. They do not tolerate dissent within their ranks and are
especially sensitive to public dissent. They simply don2t want the
public to know what they truly believe or what their true motives are.
The irony appears to be lost on them, but their primary effort is to
hide what they truly believe 6 their very reason for existing in the
first place. This is evidenced by the fact that nowhere in the BKWSU
websites, advertising material, or anywhere in their public presence
will you find any reference to what they truly believe.
Instead they hide behind a deception of concern for you and the world.
This is the cynical type of deception for which Pol Pot was noted.
This is only the beginning however. The nature and form of deception
continues to evolve. It begins with the claim to be teaching Raja
Yoga.
Raja Yoga. One of the most prominent and effective marketing tools the
BKWSU has employed for decades is its false claim to be teaching Raja
Yoga. Patanjali is regarded in India as the creator of Raja Yoga,
which is well respected in India and considered one of the highest
paths to enlightenment by many. Patanjali created Raja Yoga before
Christ. The BKWSU do not teach anything resembling Patanjalis Raja
Yoga or anything from the Yoga Sutras. Quite the opposite 6 the BKWSU
teach that all knowledge created by humans 6 including Patanjali 6 is
impure and flawed.
Cynically they advertise that they teach 3ancient Raja Yoga4 playing
on peoples2 interest in the genuine Raja Yoga. A gullible general
membership will say that it is ancient because they taught it 5,000
years ago.
The meditation centres in Australia and other countries went under the
banner of 3Raja Yoga Centres4 for many years before switching cover
and referring to themselves as a university. It is still the favourite
marketing tool however and a search on the internet will take you to
many sites labelled Raja Yoga that are BK fronts.
A University. The use of the term 1university2 is not only misleading
but in most countries illegal. It is certainly not a university. There
are no publicly accredited courses, qualifications or even a basic
structure that might identify it as a place of learning at all. One
has to be a cult member to even attend regular classes 6 which are
nothing other than a process of mind control anyway.
Fronts. The BKWSU have more fronts and disguises than can be counted.
They also present public programs, projects, conferences, services and
the like under a variety of banners as well. The latest is a program,
initiated in Wembley and transported around the world, called 3Just a
Minute4. The program is typically innocuous and encourages people to
take just one minute at a time to meditate and be calm. Nice idea. In
reality it is just an exersize in working their VIPs2 6 giving them a
stage and an audience, making them feel all warm and fuzzy and a bit
closer to the final entrapment. They are also casting their nets as
they look to increase their numbers and to replace the devastated
people they have left behind.
Oxford Leadership Academy and Relax7. These two programs are run by
long term senior 1brothers2 who have refined the art of entrapment to
a high degree and manage to turn a profit at the same time. Relaxkids
is a business operated by a 2sister2 who was indoctrinated as a child
and who allows the BKWSU to exploit her business for the recruitment
of children.
To read more on these click on the relevant link: Relax7, Oxford
Leadership Academy, Relaxkids
convert this post to pdf.
BKWSU Watch
3 Comments By Ed, June 15, 2009 @ 7:15 am
I notice also that they teach empowerment and confidence building
classes thus lining themselves up with New Age and Personal Growth
themes already common in society.This is the way that they infiltrate
into society by presenting quite a legitimate and acceptable front.
By citizen smith, January 19, 2010 @ 9:25 pm
Ive just lost my soulmate best friend and my wife to a 61yr old frank
wylie, He says he a buddhist a member of the sheff green party and
really into brahma kumaris and has now got her reading all bowt brahma
and im worried bowt her, she intelligent in her own field but really
not in others, she very addictive person, Im worried big time she
gonna get hurt !!!! She got loadsa good mates away from me but they
aswell are worried bowt the hold this frank wylie has on her
By TS, February 2, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
JUST TELL HER PLEASE THAT THEY ARE A WASTE OF TIME AND WILL RUIN YOUR
HEART MORE THAN GOOD THAT THEY SEEM TO CLAIM. I HOPE YOU GET YOUR
FRIEND BACK SOON.
http://bkwsuwatch.com/deception-disguises-and-fronts/
Tax Fraud & False Claims
The BKWSU is a well organised, well run fiefdom. The acceptance of
what is effectively a monarchy by the general membership and the
closed door policy of the ruling inner circle has resulted in a
complete lack of transparency. This in turn has given sufficient
opportunity for BKWSU management to employ whatever means it deems
necessary to advance it2s financial agenda. Given the propensity for
deception as discussed in previous pages, deception in financial
dealings would not then come as a surprise. The principle
consideration here is the deception for financial gain of the British
Charities Commission by the BKWSU.
Included on this page are the Financial Reports submitted to the
British Charities Commission as required by law. They reveal both the
significant amount of money the Brahma Kumaris are dealing with in the
UK and the highly questionable nature of their claim to be a charity.
The deception begins with the withholding of financial information
from the general membership. No member will have any information about
what happens to donations they give, or any idea of the financial
status of their BK centre. Once the funds have been transferred to
higher levels there is no idea what goes on 6 there is no transparency
at all. As the BKWSU deal mostly in cash there is no way of saying how
much of their true income is actually declared.
Whilst the bulk of donations to the organisation is cash, donations
come in a variety of forms. Members are indoctrinated into giving
everything they possibly can in any way they can. This may include
gold and jewellery (the BKWSU has a high number of Indian members who
will give in this way), property, cars and inheritances. The BKWSU
hold funds in networks of private bank accounts and trusts. it has
been reported that they have also moved undeclared cash and jewellery
internationally, and hold property in individual names.
In the United Kingdom alone The Brahma Kumaris have successfully
avoided paying tax on over 318,000,000 (including 33,000,000 cash in
the bank). Evidence provided below demonstrates that they have mislead
the Charities Commission in order to claim charitable status. As a
registered charity they are not required to pay tax and also gain an
entitlement to tax refunds.
In order to get charitable status in the UK an organisation has to
comply with the requirements of the Statute of Elizabeth. This statute
requires that a charity fulfils certain basic criteria. The Brahma
Kumaris fulfil none of these however they have falsely stated that
they do.
This is page 3 from their 2006 Financial Report to the British
Charities Commission:
False Claim
Firstly they claim that they 3PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE HINDU
RELIGION AND OTHER RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD.4 An examination of BK
beliefs reveals that their teachings state that they are not Hindus,
that they teach a conflicting philosophy to Hinduism (notably in their
interpretation of God, soul and reincarnation) and that they preach
that all religions are impure and theirs is the only true religion.
The Brahma Kumaris often exploit the title 3Raja Yoga4 or 3the Ancien=
t
Raja Yoga4 appearing to make reference to Hinduism. But they preach
that God Shiva teaches them directly and exclusively a form of
meditation that is unique to them and which they have chosen to call
Raja Yoga because it is the Supreme Yoga, or Highest Yoga.
Their participation in Hindu festivals etc is only as a front in order
to fish for new members. They have no involvement with traditional
religion. In reality the only religion they promote is their own.
Senior BKWSU management know that this claim is false.
Secondly they claim 3TO PROMOTE STUDIES OF AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD
OF HINDU RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY, YOGA (VARIOUS TECHNIQUES OF
CONCENTRATION AS DEFINED AND DISCUSSED IN HINDU SCRIPTURES) AND TO
MAKE KNOWN THE RESULTS OF SUCH STUDIES AND RESEARCH. This claim is
very far from any activity of the BKWSU past or present. No general
member of the Brahma Kumaris will be aware that this is a declared
intention of the organisation or will have participated in such an
activity. No research or study has ever been done and so naturally no
results have been made known. They do not have the personnel or
infrastructure to do so. A review of their balance sheets will confirm
this.
This claim is also false.
Thirdly they claim 3TO RELIEVE POVERTY, MENTAL AND PHYSICAL SICKNESS
AND DISTRESS.4 For the BKWSU to make this claim is cynical and
deplorable. They have no agenda for this at all.
Members are strongly discouraged from helping others in any material
way at all, and it is strictly against the organizations policy to
utilise resources in that way. The Brahma Kumaris preach that material
poverty and suffering is the result of bad karma and to help such a
person materially is only to support that bad karma or weaknesses.
They believe that the only way you can help them, ultimately, is by
making them a member.
Importantly the Brahma Kumaris do not consult, employ or engage mental
health practitioners or health professionals. How is it they intend to
relieve mental or physical sickness when they have zero capacity to do
so? It is also clear from the following financial reports that there
is zero expenditure in this regard. There is simply no intention to
fulfill this stated aim.
Given that this site is dedicated to the trauma and suffering of BKWSU
membership past and present and to those who have committed suicide as
a result, the only valid claim is that they cause mental illness and
distress. Their claim to relieve mental and physical sickness and
distress is an appalling abuse of the right to claim charitable
status.
The Financial Reports:
Public disclosure of the Financial Reports of charities has enabled us
to draw to public attention the contradictions revealed by those
reports against claims made by the BKWSU management. We have the
reports for 2005 and 2006, which are the latest submitted.
Below is page one of a legally required report submitted by the BKWSU
Trustees to the Charities Commission:
As we have already highlighted, none of what they claim above is true.
A survey of the general membership would establish this beyond doubt.
Below is page two of the report:
There are two parts to this statement 6 to identify suitable
properties and to further 1primary objectives2. As previously
discussed, the primary objectives are false claims to promote religion
and relieve poverty etc. To 1identify suitable properties2 is BK talk
for accumulating properties. This they have been very good at. In
later reports you will see that they have accumulated well over 310
million pounds in free hold property 6 all with untaxed money.
And page three reveals how relaxed the Charities Commission is:
The answer the Brahma Kumaris give to the question of success is vague
and unsupported by any data 6 it is the response of amateurs not of an
organisation that is responsible for millions of pounds of
3charitable4 funds and assets. This is just form filling with no
intention for the answer to be taken seriously by anyone.
The fact is the BKWSU management have no mechanism to determine the
success of its2 strategy beyond the value of properties accumulated,
the number of people who attended their courses, or the number of
1recruitment2 programs they instigated and the number of attendees. In
reality the success of any zone is determined by the number of
problems they are, or are not, dealing with. Senior management have no
idea about the 3general happiness, lack of stress, esteem or positive
outlook4 of its students/members because no study or research is done,
nor is there anyone professionally qualified to have an opinion on
these matters.
And lastly, perhaps to highlight the obvious, how does 3general
happiness, lack of stress, high esteem and general positive outlook of
the Brahma Kumaris own students4, as their own measure of success,
relate to their stated aim of 3promoting of religion, religious
education and relief of poverty4? It just doesn2t. They also certainly
demonstrate zero consideration for anyone outside their own fold,
which is also contrary to their stated aim.
The next page of the report they state that 3the charity played a
great role not only in financial assistance to the Tsunami victims but
also that of spiritual help which involves meditation and positive
thinking4. However, looking closer one can see an income of 31,586,000
and an expenditure of 31,041,000 leaving a profit of 3545,000. Most of
this profit they later state that they used to buy a new retreat
centre. It makes a mockery of the 369,000 in financial assistance they
gave and then claim as a 3great role4. Even more questionable is the
claim that they (in the U.K.), also claiming to be a Hindu
organisation, taught the traumatised survivors of the Tsunami 6 who
were mostly Indonesian Muslims 6 meditation and positive thinking!
This may be considered cynical or dishonourable.
In question 5b the BKWSU states that its2 most charitable act of the
year was in giving 369,000 in Tsunami relief. This was out of the
31,586,000 available to them and with a 3545,000 cash surplus for the
year. You can also see in 5c that this 369,000 was actually raised
from their membership as an extra and was in fact not part of their
regular 3charitable4 activities. In reality, the most significant
charitable act of the year was an anomaly. It would also be the only
actual charitable financial donation the BKWSU has ever given.
The next page of the report reveals further how confused Brahma
Kumaris management is about their purpose. On one hand they believe
that God is teaching them directly and exclusively, that they are the
only true children of God and that salvation for any person lies only
in becoming a student / member of the BKWSU. On the other hand they
teach self management and self leadership courses that are designed
and licensed to them by a corporate consultant 6 Brian Bacon. How do
these 3enable a greater understanding of the self and supreme soul4?
Again, The Brahma Kumaris have created a fa7ade to hide who they
really are, what they really believe, and what their true intentions
and purpose are.
And they finish with a Freudian slip 6 3the charity2s trustees ensure
that it co-opts proffessional individuals and sets up management
committees to run every department of its charity to ensure aa
proffessional and accurate running of the charity.4 (The italics are
ours). They can neither spell nor write a grammatically correct
sentence. We are reassured to see that they are employing
professionals!
The 2006 report is also quite revealing of false claims and dodgy
dealings, notably including BKIS 6 a publishing company owned by the
BKWSU but which conflicts with charity tax laws. According to BK
preachings the organisations entire income must be derived from within
the 3Divine Family4 i.e.: those who have recognised that Shiva is God
and that He is teaching through Brahma. However, in order to propagate
their teachings, and turn a profit (also against their preachings),
they have established a publishing capacity. However, due to governing
charity laws, they cannot engage in business. So they sell books and
DVDs which make a profit, but how to get the profit out and back into
their own coffers? Simple, charge a 3management fee4. This is walking
a fine line, but as we have seen the BKWSU management are very good at
this. This is evidenced in the following graphics:
In (1) you can see the list of products for sale. In (2) is
demonstrated the clear link between the BKWSU and BKIS. And in (3) it
becomes clear that the beloved leader, Dadi Janki, is both a common
denominator and willing participant in this deception. The 3management
fee4 is highlighted here:
The BKWSU management is deceiving its2 own members by practising
hypocrisy. They are also lying to both the Charities Commission and
the Tax Commissioner 6 there is absolutely nothing independent or
professional about this. They are extracting the profits from BKIS
before the Tax Commissioner gets his bit with a phoney management fee.
And the BKWSU gets its2 profit without declaring it as such to the
Charity Commission.
How do the BKWSU get away with all this? It is a case of chronic
nepotism and manipulating contacts 6 notably the use of its2 own
membership as Financial Auditor 6 a significant conflict of interest.
Firstly we see that trustees serve until they resign and that new
members are appointed by the existing board 6 guaranteed to keep
things in house and away from prying, untrustworthy eyes.
As for the 3chief executive4 6 in reality there is no such thing. The
Brahma Kumaris are effectively ruled by a monarch, that being Dadi
Janki. She holds absolute control and has, in reality, the power to
appoint or terminate trustees. The assistance given by trustees is
really the help provided by sicophants at her grace. As she has total
control over the organisation the available cash becomes, in effect,
her discretionary income. According to the 2006 Financial Statement
this sits at over 33,000,000.
An email was sent to the auditor of the BKWSU financial reports Jay
and Co requesting information about the relationship between the
auditor and the Brahma Kumaris. The following reply was received:
3I have been a BK was some 15 yeas and folow maryadas as much as
possible as being in the family who cooperate but are not BKs one has
to balance and cannot be complete4.
The author is Jayanti (not Jayanti the senior BK manager) who, in his
grammatically challenged statement, has stated that he has been
closely associated with the BKWSU for 15 years. His reference to
3being complete4 reflects his guilt in not following all the mariadas.
It is also a reflection of his indoctrination into the BK teachings.
This makes him available to manipulation by BKWSU management. This
type of manipulation and use and abuse of 3cooperative souls4 is
typical of the Brahma Kumaris throughout the world.
The Charity Commissions report can be viewed at:
www.charitiesdirect.com/CharityDetail.asp?orgidD5965
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Also Known As : World Renewal Spiritual Trust (UK)
Address : Global Co-operation House
65 Pound LaneLondonNW10 2HH
Tel : 020 8727 3350
Charity Registration Number : 269971
Founded : 1975
Constitution : Trust
http://bkwsuwatch.com/deception-disguises-and-fronts/financial-deception/
Welcome to the Brahma Kumaris Info website, a forum for exiting-BKs
and Friends & Family of BK adherents ... we currently have 983 active
members (more than 1139 in accounts total).
Latest global announcements
How much money does the BKWSU have? How much yearly income?
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Countdown to 1,000 members ... 983
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One Million page views ... (Forum statistics) - Updated
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Another BK suicide - open letter to Jayanti
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Request for more classic post recommendations
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BK VIP Funder Fathers Child to Asian Housekeeper
comments: 1 views: 1270 22 Feb 2009
Latest news
Brahma Kumaris join Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
comments: 0 views: 141 22 Feb 2010
Locals Complain, BKWSU Property Portfolio Suffers.
comments: 4 views: 651 11 Sep 2009
Your Taxes, their Golden Age: funding the end of the World
comments: 1 views: 706 21 Jun 2009
France declares war on Sect influence in the United Nation
comments: 0 views: 643 26 May 2009
BKWSU frontman shares stage with Scientology at UK Seminar
comments: 1 views: 525 12 May 2009
BKWSO Lose Immigration Appeal for "Priest" Earning $70,000
comments: 1 views: 699 16 Mar 2009
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...and I am Sid Harth
Remembering those who have taken their lives as a result of
associating with the BKWSU
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a large international
cult that teaches a philosophy that is unique unto itself whilst
maintaining an appearance of traditional eastern schools of thought.
The message is one of love and peace, of purifying one2s karma and of
helping the souls of the world achieve happiness. What they actually
believe is extreme and unrelated to any scripture. Their
organisational practises are deceptive if not fraudulent. The result
has been traumatic for many.
The growth of the Brahma Kumaris over 70 years has been the result of
the dedicated efforts of those who have come and gone during that
time. They believed in spirituality but trusted people they shouldn2t
have. Many people have given many years of their lives, all their
effort, money, and other resources while they were manipulated by
their desire to be better people than they believed they were. When
they were exhausted they were abandoned by an organisation that has no
duty of care policy or practise and that shows no concern for the
people whose lives it has impacted.
We respect all the members (students) of the BKWSU because they are
genuine and sincere. Primarily we wish to address the problems that
lay with the leadership of the organisation 6 namely it2s widely
demonstrated inability to address critical duty of care issues as well
as its increasingly deceptive practises.
This site is dedicated to minimising trauma and saving lives by
pressuring the Brahma Kumaris Leadership to implement a meaningful
duty of care program to protect its members. We also want the BK
Leadership to be upfront and honest about its beliefs and practises
and stop hiding behind carefully crafted disguises. Until the BKWSU
leadership take it upon themselves to be honest with everyone and tell
the truth to the public about what they really believe and are really
trying to achieve it becomes the burden of the authors of this site to
do so 6 to warn the public of the very real potential dangers of
becoming involved with this organisation.
The following pages will allow you to understand The Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University and how it operates, demonstrate that the
BKWSU is a cult, and provide evidence of deception and tax fraud. It
will help you to understand how people become trapped in its ranks.
And how members and former members reach such desperation that they
take their own lives.
Please note that the authors of this site are former long term members
of the BKWSU with a great deal of experience, long term relationships
with senior leadership and have a lot of genuine inside information.
We left the organisation after witnessing leadership lose direction
and authenticity and with that become increasingly hypocritical,
deceptive and arrogant
Identifying the BKWSU as a Cult
Rather than reinvent the wheel or limit this discussion to a perhaps
subjective point of view this discussion has been cross referenced
with other sites that are exploring cult issues. Here we look at 1cult
identifiers2 and see how they relate to the BKWSU. Typically these
identifiers include: totalitarian control of members, elitist
perspective, ownership of a revelation, psychological manipulation and
abuse of members, exploitation of members, and the willingness of
members to blindly support the organisation to the point of personal
crisis.
These descriptions or identifiers of a cult are provided by www.culthelp.in=
fo
(For more from them please click on the link to go through to their
site).
A Universal Definition CULT 6 Any group which has a pyramid type
authoritarian leadership structure with all teaching and guidance
coming from the person/persons at the top. The group will claim to be
the only way to God; Nirvana; Paradise; Ultimate Reality; Full
Potential, Way to Happiness etc, and will use thought reform or mind
control techniques to gain control and keep their members.This
definition covers cults within all major world religions, along with
those cults which have no OBVIOUS religious base such as commercial,
educational and psychological cults. Others may define these a little
differently, but this is the simplest to work from.
The BKWSU have a hierarchical management system with a clearly defined
lineage. At the very top are God Shiva and Brahma Baba (the spirit of
the late Dada Lehkraj) who are channelled by Dadi Gulzar. The senior
most people in management are referred to individually as
3Dadi4 (meaning Senior Sister). The Dadis then direct the
organisationand its members through a network of preferred members. To
be a preferred member one must be worthy, that is, co-operative,
obedient and totally support the Dadis and the system. Dissenters are
marginalised by default and considered to be lacking in realisation
and struggling in their relationship with God.There is also a powerful
committee that has a high level of control. This committee includes a
number of Senior Brothers. The exact role of the committee and its
influence is not made public but its members were not elected nor are
they accountable to the general membership.Like all religions, sects
and cults, the BKWSU base their lifestyle and practises on a belief
system that is the basis of their reality. This reality is formed in
the minds of members through constant study and hours of daily
meditation. The members believe that they are the true children of
God, who is teaching them directly and exclusively. They believe that
through their relationship with God Shiva they will become pure and
achieve Nirvana. They will then reincarnate into the new world (Golden
Age) as deities and rule that world as divine kings 6 the product of
the pure karma they accumulated at this time through their
renunciation (of money and personal resources) and service (expansion
of the organisation).The main method for becoming pure is meditation,
which means to concentrate on the love and purity of Shiva and Brahma
and the 2spiritual knowledge2 to the exclusion of all 1worldly
thoughts2 6 a very effective system of indoctrination and mind
control.
A Secular Definition CULT 6 From the Latin 1cultis2 which denotes all
that is involved in worship, ritual, emotion, liturgy and attitude.
This definition actually denotes what we call denominations and sects
and would make all religious movements a cult.
A Christian Definition CULT 6 Any group which deviates from Biblical,
orthodox, historical Christianity, i.e. They deny the Deity of Christ;
His physical resurrection; His personal and physical return to earth
and salvation by FAITH alone.This definition only covers those groups
which are cults within the Christian religion. It does not cover cults
within other world religions such as Islam and Hinduism. Nor does it
cover Psychological, Commercial or Educational cults which do not
recognize the Bible as a source of reality. The Orthodox Bible-Based
Cult
A group is called a cult because of their behaviour 6 not their
doctrines. Doctrine is an issue in the area of Apologetics and Heresy.
Most religious cults do teach what the Christian church would declare
to be heresy but some do not. Some cults teach the basics of the
Christian faith but have behavioural patterns that are abusive,
controlling and cultic.This occurs in both Non-Charismatic and
Charismatic churches. These groups teach the central doctrines of the
Christian faith and then add the extra authority of leadership or
someone2s particular writings. They centre around the interpretations
of the leadership and submissive and unquestioning acceptance of these
is essential to be a member of good standing. This acceptance includes
what we consider non-essential doctrines e.i. not salvation issues
(such as the Person and Work of Christ.) The key is that they will be
using mind control or undue influence on their members.
Other Identification Marks:
(a) The group will have an ELITIST view of itself in relation to
others, and a UNIQUE CAUSE. i.e. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES RIGHT 6
everyone else is wrong. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES DOING GOD2S WILL 6
everyone else is in apostasy.
Integral to the Brahma Kumaris philosophy is the notion that they are
a special group of souls, those whose good fortune brings them
eternally back to God. They are the souls who will achieve the highest
state of purity and spiritual power. They will uplift all the souls of
the world and bring about the new Golden Age of humanity 6 which they
will rule as divine kings and queens.The BKWSU consider themselves the
most fortunate souls of the world for all of time. They are the only
ones who know God, the Truth or who can save the world from sorrow.
They are by default the ones who are right and that all other
religions, sects etc are the domains of partial truth and exist for
weak souls who need that type of limited support. They typically
counter accusations of elitism by claiming that as anyone can become a
member they are not so. It is an argument that only works for them.
(b) They will promote their cause actively, and in doing so, abuse
personal rights and freedoms. This abuse can be THEOLOGICAL,
SPIRITUAL, SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL.
Promoting themselves as a great spiritual organisation that makes a
unique and critical contribution to humanity is a major preoccupation.
They hold courses, seminars and conferences etc. and they have
meditations centres to run. They are a very busy group of people. The
members take on this workload as a way of creating good karma and
purifying themselves.
They start with meditation at 4.00am and are occupied from then until
the end of their day. To not participate is a sign of weakness, lack
of innate 1fortune2, lack of recognition of God or their inherent
responsibility as a child of God. Failure to cooperate with the
heirachy in the fulfilment of the 1elevated purpose2 of the BKWSU
carries guilt and implications of being a lesser, weaker and poorer
soul. Obedience is seen as a sign of strength, disobedience is bad
karma. To leave is eternal damnation, eternal loss. The fear of
failing is referred to as a 3sweet fear4 and therefore a good thing.
Throughout their time as a member they will have been promised rewards
of purity, peace, bliss and a kingdom in heaven whilst being
patronised with lessons on failure and loss. The heirachy take
ownership of the individuals self esteem and manipulate them with
concepts of reward and loss. Members must confess their weakness and
doubts to the Seniors, ostensibly in order to overcome them.
Ultimately the Heirachy exerts influence on everything a member will
think, say or do, and how they spend their time and with who. They are
told to renounce all past relationships, attachments and money and
belong only to 1Baba2 (God Shiva).The BKWSU practise all the types of
abuse mentioned, but because it is not violent, or loud, but carried
out from behind a facade of pity and benevolence no one sees it for
what it is.
How They Do This?
1. Their leader/s may claim a special, exclusive ministry, revelation
or position of authority given by God.
The bureaucracy of the BKWSU is a hierarchy of 1exceptional souls2 who
are the dispensers of 3Shrimat4 6 the divine directions of god 6 to
the general membership. Ones2 seniority within the organisation is
seen as an indication of one2s past good karma and current good
efforts, and of ones overall 1fortune2. It would also suggest that
one2s 3yoga4 or connection with God, is of a higher quality and
therefore one is able to receive 3touchings4 from God and would also
have a clearer understanding of what God wanted or expected of his
3beloved children4 at any given moment. Thus the senior is worthy to
dispense shrimat and, effectively, control the lives of members under
their 1care2.
2. They believe they are the only true path and take a critical stance
regarding the Christian church while at the same time praising and
exalting their own group, leader/s and work.
The BKWSU believe that God has incarnated directly into the body of
their founder, Dada Lehkraj, and is teaching them personally and
exclusively. From 1936 to 1969 BKWSU religious philosophy was
1chanelled2 in daily sermons known as Murlis. As there is only one God
and they are the only ones who know him or the Truth, then definitely
they are the only one true path. The Senior members (known as Dadis)
are praised as angels, and as the highest and purest souls of all
time. Everyone else is patronised as good souls but without the power
of purity or greatness that the Seniors have.
3. They use intimidation (albeit subtle) or psychological manipulation
to keep members loyal to their ranks. This could be in the form of
threats of dire calamity if they leave; certain death at Armageddon;
being shunned by their family and friends etc. This is a vital part of
the mind control process.
Members are continuously reminded that the world is to end soon and to
leave would be the greatest misfortune and lead to 3a thousand years
of suffering in a second4 as a result. They are told to break their
attachments to the 1old world2 (family, friends, career, money etc)
because that is only bondage to a life of suffering. They are
instructed by Seniors, on behalf of God, to dedicate themselves to
their new spiritual life exclusively. Their self-respect is based
entirely upon being a committed child of God Shiva who is obedient to
Seniors. The Seniors are very much in control of the minds and hearts
of the members.
A simple example of group manipulation is one of Dadi Janki, now head
of the BKWSU. In 2006 it was known to many that the then head of the
BKWSU 6 Dadi Prakashmani 6 was seriously ill with Alzheimers. Dadi2s
Alzheimers was creating some confusion in the ranks for a variety of
reasons. Typically Dadi Janki used the philosophy to pull members back
into line. In 2006 Dadi Janki, in a typically moving and emotive
lecture, told everyone that 3the time is close4 (meaning that the
world is about to end) and that as sick as Dadi Prakashmani is, she
would be there with all of them until the end. Suddenly all the
doubters are 1inspired2 to refocus on their personal efforts for
purity. If they do not become pure in time, they will have to suffer
judgement, punishment and a lower status in the new world. In fact,
Dadi Prakashmani died in early 2007. Dadi Janki has been made head of
the organisation, and everyone has forgotten the guarantee that she
gave in that lecture.
4. Members will be expected to give substantial financial support to
the group. This could be compulsory tithing (which is checked);
signing over all their property on entering the group; coercive
methods of instilling guilt on those who have not contributed; selling
magazines, flowers or other goods for the group as part of their
ministry. At the same time bible-based cults may ridicule churches
that take up free-will offerings by passing collection plates and/or
sell literature and tapes. They usually brag that they don2t do this.
This gives outsiders the intimation that they are not interested in
money.
The BKWSU is a very wealthy organisation. Vast sums of money,
property, jewellery and other assets have been 1donated2 to the
organisation. Hapless members who are convinced of the truth of the
BKWSU teachings believe that the world is soon to be destroyed and
that they will reincarnate in paradise in the very near future. A new
member who is experiencing the 1honeymoon stage2 of their 1new life=
2
will be encouraged to give all they can in this context. In some cases
this can be houses, cars and bank accounts. Ultimately all funds and
assets received by the BKWSU have been solicited 6 BKWSU are lectured
on the good karma of giving and are reminded regularly of the need to
1donate2 to the Godly purpose.
It was uncommon for any new person to be asked for money. The public
or interested parties were always told that all services of the BKWSU
are free and that the organisation is funded entirely by donations.
The general perception of 1outsiders2 is that the BKWSU are not
interested in money and that the property they do have is really a
sign of the integrity of the organisation and the donations they have
received as a result.
5. There will be great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its
teachings. The lives of members will be totally absorbed into the
group2s activities. They will have little or no time to think for
themselves because of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is also
a vital part of the mind control process.
A member2s day begins with meditation at 4.00am. It is known as 3Amrit
Vela4 and is one of several ["Mariadas"]. Mariadas are the basic rules
by which a good member should live their lives. In reality someone is
only considered a true or real member/student/child of god if they are
following these rules. The list of mariadas includes celibacy,
vegetarian diet (with no eggs, onions or garlic) and daily morning
class (Murli class).
There is a real if unspoken pressure to conform to these Maryadas (and
thereby demonstrate one2s loyalty) if one is to be taken seriously by
the group, especially the seniors. Additional to Mariadas is Shrimat
(the supposed directions of God). Shrimat coerces members to think and
behave according to the directions spoken by god in the murli, and
directions given by seniors. Supposedly mariadas and shrimat are to
ensure the 1child2 receives maximum benefit from god their true
father. The main benefit is to be purity of the soul. To not follow
Maryadas and Shrimat is a great sin 6 very bad karma.
Shrimat requires obedience, submission and compliance from the member.
The member who follows Mariadas and Shrimat will start their day at
4.00am and will be busy until they sleep at night. If they are not
busy meditating or earning an income they will be kept busy doing
3service4. There is no room for free will, only loyalty, obedience and
3cooperation4. The net effect is an almost permanent state of
tiredness or exhaustion.
6. There will be total control over almost all aspects of the private
lives of members. This control can be direct through communal living,
or constant and repetitious teaching on how to be a true Christian (or
member) or being obedient to leadership.
Members will look to their seniors for guidance in everything they do.
A good student will follow Shrimat. They will not make a decision
about their lives without consulting seniors in order to get shrimat.
Their lives are heavily influenced by seniors in this way, and in the
process the seniors will come to know the detail of the member2s life.
A good student would not risk making a mistake and accumulate even
more bad karma by either not consulting a senior or by disobeying
shrimat.
Shrimat will commonly include instructions to donate money, to
dissociate from family and friends, to give up ones career, to only
eat food cooked by other members, to not watch television and movies
or read books and magazines, and to give up all 3worldly interest4.
7. Any dissent or questioning of the group2s teachings is discouraged.
Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion. There will be an emphasis
on authority, unquestioning obedience and submission. This is
vigilantly maintained.
Questioning or doubts are the sign of a weak intellect. Dissent means
the soul is under the influence of past bad karma and is the proof of
past sin. The senior sisters especially are to never be challenged. To
do so is proof of ignorance. Any member who continues to dissent will
be excommunicated.
9. Members are required to demonstrate their loyalty to the group in
some way. This could be in the form of informing on fellow members
(including family) under the guise of looking out for their 2spiritual
welfare2. They may be required to deliberately lie (heavenly
deception) or give up their lives by refusing some form of medical
treatment.
In the BKWSU members would demonstrate their loyalty through their
financial support, commitment to service and obedience. They would
follow the party line publicly and talk the talk. They adopt the view
that they are one family 6 a divine family of future deities and act
according to the rules of the family 6 [Maryadas].
10. Attempts to leave or reveal embarrassing facts about the group may
be met with threats. Some may have taken oaths of loyalty that involve
their lives or have signed a covenant and feel threatened by this.
Ranjana and Sharad both demonstrated the state of mind one experiences
when leaving the BKWSU. They were indoctrinated into the belief that
any form of dissent is a mortal sin that they will be burdened with it
for all eternity. Therefore the system is never challenged and the
status quo within the organisation is not interrupted. People leave,
are crushed by the belief system that they had been manipulated by
during their membership, and will suffer severe depression and may
suicide. But they do not dissent.
The BKWSU have generally maintained a 2softly softly2 approach in
public to all issues. They have no concern for those who leave 6 hence
this website. Former members may be encouraged to return, but BKWSU
teachings recommend leaving ex-members alone in case existing members
become 1trapped2 trying to help them and leave as well.
Ex-members are so affected by guilt that they rarely become dissenters
even after they leave.
BKWSU Watch
10 Comments By LIz Bywater, January 16, 2009 @ 9:58 am
I need to say that this is very shocking reading 6 I 1joined2 in 1985
6 have deep concerns and would like to discuss further if poss
By editor, January 17, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
Yes, as a BK this information is very disturbing. When one puts ones
heart and soul into their spiritual life it is a matter of grief to
even think that one may have been misled or deceived. This is why
typically exBks feel so betrayed and let down. The reality that the
organisation that you have committed everything to is a cult is
overwhelming.
However, denial is not any kind of protection against reality. Facts
are facts and these are different to beliefs that pass as facts to a
believer.
Our wish is that the BKWSU management would overcome its own
egocentric agendas and just practise openness and transparency. Is it
right that so many secrets are kept from the students? For example,
why is it not okay to know what happens to the money you put in the
donation box?
Is it right that there is no duty of care?
TS Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
good point editor..!
By Thomas, April 29, 2009 @ 9:56 am
Once, when I was very young, I was taken from my home and sent to a
place surrounded by high fences and guards. I was forced to have my
head shaved, forced to wear the same clothes as all the others in the
camp, deprived of sleep, forced to work long 14 hour days, and made to
watch indoctrination filmss depicting those who took me away as the
only right-and-good way while vilifying all other groups.
I was, of course, drafted into the Army. If this isn2t the definition
of a cult, I don2t know what is.
I say this because I2ve spent my entire life looking into various
religious groups 6 some classified as cults, and have read a lot of
liturature by anti-cult groups. In addition to this I2ve completed a
masters degree in Education where my thesis2 focus was on why we learn
what we learn 6 not on what we learn, but why. The conclusion of my
thesis was that we2re all brainwashed from birth to think a certain
way 6 first by our parents and immediate family, then our extended
family, then community, then religious leaders, then our country and
it2s leaders.
Very few of us ever begin to think for ourselves. Most of us just go
along with the herd mentality 6 doing and saying what we2ve heard
others say and do. That, too, is a cult.
So take care how you define a cult. Asking anti-cult groups to define
appropriate religion is a little like asking the KKK to define
humanity. Their opinion is based on a predisposed point of view.
Just my thoughts.
editor Reply:
April 30th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Yes 6 the sociologists quest for objectivity rings clearly here. I
agree with you. The purpose of this site is to put an argument out
into the public domain in order to create a counter point of view to
the singularly one sided, subjective position that exists at the
moment. Hopefully this will get people to think more for themselves or
at least be a little better informed.
another one suckered Reply:
May 1st, 2009 at 4:28 am
Thomas, were you 3taken4 or did you sign up for a wage?
There is two big difference between the Army and basically all cults;
5 Firstly, you get paid 5 if you are lucky, they will even throw in a
professional or university education and a pension.
5 Secondly, what it says on the label you get what 5 you know what you
are in for before you do.
One specific difference between the US Army and the Shiv Shakti Army
(BKWSU), is at least in the Army you a day a week off, paid holidays
and some R&R. With the BKWSU, its 24/7/365 5 and no 3love you long
time4 or the rest of your life!!!
But, my friend, your 1edukashun2 is kind of incomplete. There are a
lot more sides to the debate than 3culties4 versus 3anti-culties4 =
5
and one set of excesses do not excuse another.
Equally, there are a number of 3cult apologists4 who try and put down
and discredit ex-members for being 1apostates2 when, in fact, the
apologists know Jack Shit about the religion in question that they are
sucking up to, nor cares 2 cents for any of the families that are torn
to pieces by these groups. The likes of Eileen Barker rings out as
being one of them.
So, take care what tar you are throwing around at the end of that
broad brush of yours 5 it might be someone in your family next.
Thomas Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am
What is so difficult to understand about the phrase: 3I was5
drafted54?
Granted, I received benefits from my time serving my rich uncle, but
it2s the criteria anti-cultists use to define a group as a cult that I
was commenting on. If they apply, then they apply, simple and straight-
forward. If they don2t apply to certain organizations (Army, etc),
then maybe the anti-cultists are in error in applying them to groups
they deem are cults. It could be a personal proclivity of the examiner
and nothing more.
re: 3nor cares 2 cents for any of the families that are torn to
pieces4. Family dynamics being what they are, chances are that if the
family in question wasn2t 3torn to pieces4 by the 3cult4, then it
would have been torn to pieces by some other arrangement of life. The
3cult4 may just be a convenient scapegoat for their own inadequacies.
A person2s destructive tendencies follow a person no matter where he/
she goes in life. It2s always easy to blame others for our failures.
I2ve spent my entire life fighting against prejudice and bigotry. I2ve
seen it in both camps: religious and secular.
When I ask side 3A4 a serious and potentially damaging question, they
think I belong to side 3B4. When I ask the same question to side 3B=
4
they think I2m part of side 3A4. If by some miracle I convince both
sides I2m not a plant for the other side, then they think I2m part of
some covert operation of some side 3C4. Sort of like a damned-if-you-
do-damned-if-you-don2t situation.
Lastly5 I knew 3Jack Shit4. He was an asshole.
editor Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Yes it is very possible that the damage done to families and
individuals through their association with the BKs may have happened
somewhere else and at some other time. As it is human nature to
believe whatever they need or want to believe it can be a case of 3if
not this cult then that cult/religion/society/association/whatever.
BUT, the fact is that in these cases it did happen at the BKWSU and
the BKs did nothing to help 6 which is contrary to their core promises
of peace, love and happiness 6 putting it politely. Again and again it
comes back to duty of care. The BKWSU is responsible to have a
reasonable duty of care policy and practise that does look out for the
people that come to them. But they deny their share of responsibility
in these matters and that is the core of the problem.
By Wayne, December 23, 2009 @ 4:38 am
I stumbled on this web site, after watching Dada Janki on U Tube. And,
yes, I was impressed. She seemed to embody an authetic relaxation into
the self. Rather than the apparent constant opposites, bangs and
clash. Sometimes there seems no end to this, prehaps there lies my
gulibilty to beleive she is true. I put forward my own case as
example, can be sure! Conflict in my mind and the fixing of it is my
central occupation.
Sad to see this site. My blessing to all of You!
Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult - But Yoga Alliance? |
namasteph yoga blog 7 December 2, 2008 @
namasteph yoga blog
B Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the KGB
Distracted Gym Yoga Teachers5and iPods B
Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult 6 But Yoga Alliance?
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:44am |
I recently saw an ad on Craigslist for free meditation classes. They
did not include a link to their website, but I gleaned from the email
address provided that the organization was Brahma Kumaris, an
organization that describes itself as a 3spiritual university4
teaching Raja Yoga. (Raja Yoga, i.e., 3royal yoga,4 is the yoga of
meditation as originally described by Pantanjali in the Yoga Sutras.)
I always like to know what I2m getting into and a quick search on the
Internet reveals that Brahma Kumaris is considered a cult by many.
Brahma Kumaris has some heavy duty critics. It2s apparently not just
your usual yoga cult 6 this one is a 3doomsday cult,4 where the belie=
f
is that the world will end soon and those who participate in Brahma
Kumaris will ascend to become deities in the new Golden Age.
The doomsday stuff was enough to convince me that the free meditation
classes probably weren2t worth my time. I also shy away from
organizations that rely on guilt-trip donations and do a heavy sell on
tithing.
But I2m not automatically scared off by cult charges. I regularly take
kundalini yoga classes even though the kundalini yoga organization,
3HO, has been considered a cult for a long time. In both organizations
you2ll find vegetarians who get up at 4 am for meditation, wear all
white, and follow other strict rules for living.
Most of the kundalini yoga teachers I go to actually do seem to be
3Happy Healthy and Holy4 as the 3HO name suggests. These are fantastic
spiritual teachers who really do seem to walk the talk. I can tell
you, however, from the stories that these folks tell, that I would
have never gotten along with Yogi Bhajan. I am too independent by
nature. Regular life in an ashram wouldn2t sit well with me. As I
mentioned in my last blog post, I believe there are some people who
want direction and authority in their lives, and that makes them
happy. As long as they aren2t harmed by it, it2s fine with me. If they
want to wear all white and wake up at 4 am to take a cold shower every
morning, then more power to them. No 3HO member has ever given me a
high pressure sell in any kundalini yoga class, ever. I2ve never been
asked to tithe away my live savings, though I suppose yoga classes can
add up.
I do think, though, that it2s good to be skeptical of charismatic
leaders and rigid authority, whether it2s yoga or not. I know of a
teacher (not a yoga teacher) who has such tight control of her little
community that her students are emotional prisoners. Rather than
encouraging the students to leave the nest for bigger and better
things, the teacher has emotionally crippled the students so they are
dependent on her.
From observing that, I don2t think it2s meditation or yoga that
creates a cult, but psychological manipulation, which can occur
without these things. People are drawn to yoga-specific cults because
meditation and yoga does bring such tremendous benefits.
So some cult watchers go a bit too far, perhaps, when they bash
spiritual organizations simply for being weird, or having problem
people in it. (Yes, apparently some guy at 3HO was growing marijuana
but what does that have to do with the rest of the sincere members?)
Leading anti-cult guru (irony intended) Rick Ross has actually gone so
far as to warn people against Yoga Alliance, simply because some board
members were involved in 3HO and other yoga organizations he deems
cults. He wrote back in 2003:
3Anyone considering yoga classes with teachers and/or schools
registered by the Yoga Alliance might want to exercise a bit of
caution, before beginning any of their exercises.4
A bit over the top, I think. Well, maybe he was unaware that Yoga
Alliance is pretty much the de facto yoga certifying organization in
America, and that almost all mainstream yoga teachers in the US have
their certification through them now.
At any rate, I personally like to keep my toe into organizations
without jumping full in to the point where an organization takes over
my life. I enjoy the exercises and meditations I have learned in
kundalini yoga, but I do not need to go full on American Sikh in white
clothes and a turban to benefit. If it works for you, great, but it2s
not for me. But I think the key here is that kundalini yoga people
allow you to be who you are 6 on the other hand, those strict
organizations that are the cults to be wary of do not.
Posted in Gurus and Celebrity Yogis, Kundalini Yoga
Comment 5 Responses to 3Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult 6
But Yoga Alliance?4
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am Rick
You say you aren2t put off by accusations of organisations being cults
6 but only refer to an example where you have got to know the
organisation yourself. Shouldn2t you give this organisation the same
consideration before making harmful accusations based on what appears
to be zero personal experience of them?
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm Stephanie
I started taking kundalini yoga classes at Golden Bridge from a
recommendation from a friend. It2s a pretty well-known yoga center
here in Los Angeles and as such there2s a context for me, whereas
Brahmas Kumaris is an unknown organization that is actively recruiting
through Craigslist.
Of course I2m going to be more suspicious of the organization I2ve
never heard of that has been identified as a 3doomsday cult.4 I had
also done homework on 3HO and knew of the Yoga Bhajan controversies.
My take on kundalini yoga is that it2s a useful practice and whether
or not Bhajan was a sincere guru doesn2t really matter to me at this
point. He did not create kundalini yoga 6 he just brought it with him
from India. I2m not interested in getting deeper and giving up my
normal clothes and make-up to become a Sikh however5but the point is,
the 3HO people don2t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like
other 3cults4 appear to be.
December 20th, 2008 at 8:41 pm Yogi
One of the beefs that I have with the Brahma Kumaris is that they have
sucked up practically every Hindu deities name you could imagine 5 AND
the classical term 3Raja Yoga4 5 to describe their own practises whic=
h
are specifically mediumistic rather than yogic.
The Brahma Kumaris DO NOT teach Raja Yoga. They teach their own
practise. Raja Yoga has a 2,000 year tradition. The BK2s practise only
goes back as far as the 1950s. The focus of their 3yoga4 is a
channeled spirit entity or entities which speaks and acts through the
sect2s mediums at its headquarters. They believe this entity to be
3the god of all religions4, their religion to be the supreme one,
themselves to be becoming angels 5 all other religions and all the and
Hind dieties to be only poor or partial 3memories4 of their religion.
Any spiritual master worth their salt would encourage students to do
their homework first and check out their would be master2s lineage.
That requires people to dig a little bit deeper than the
organization2s own PR and the wide eyed 3intoxication4 of its neophyt=
e
devotees.
The big problem with the Brahma Kumaris is 5 why all the secrecy? Why
do they expect people to initiated into a relationships with this
spirit entity BEFORE they know 1the big picture2.
In the BKs case, the big picture included an imminent and desirable
nuclear holocaust and the death of 6 billion human being to 3purify4
the world in order that they leadership can rule a 3golden age4 on
earth as Emperors and Empresses for 2,500 years starting off with only
900,000 of their faithful followers. All of time fitting into one
single, identically repeating 5,000 Year Cycle.
The downside with the BKs is that getting to the truth is difficult.
They are steeped into their own historical revisionism. The reports of
multiple suicides amongst their followers and the leaderships handling
of the child sex abuse cases at their headquarters are abysmal.
In this case, starting with the critics and gauging the organization2s
response to those criticism, might be the best way of learning about
the reality before you surrender your life to them.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:53 am Daljit
I agree with Stephaine, there are lot of people promoting yoga, but
yoga is a philosophy in itself and nobody can claim its ownership.
People start yoga practice for getting fit and very few for spiritual
upliftment. Anybody can do yoga, it will certainly help you to
progress in your spiritual progress irrespective of the religion you
follow.
I am from India and here people of all religions do yoga and never
feel about shedding their religious beliefs. Those who seriously
become real yogis, they are above religion.
33HO people don2t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like other
3cults4 appear to be.4 This seems to be a better philosophy, yoga is
not for recruiting people to your way of life but to help people to
live better.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:40 pm TS
I quite agree that yoga is really nice, and keeps you active and
healthy 6 so refreshed
http://namasteph.com/gurus-and-celebrity-yogis/brahma-kumaris-raja-yoga-is-=
probably-a-cult-but-yoga-alliance/
http://bkwsuwatch.com/about/identifying-a-cult/
Deception, Disguises and Fronts
The BKWSU engage in many forms of deception. To this end they disguise
who they really are and engage with the world wearing a variety of
masks, using a variety of methods, and includes tax fraud and
pretending to be a charity. This is covered in the next few pages.
The BKWSU has an agenda. They want to fill their ranks to 900,000
dedicated members. According to their teachings that is the number at
which the world will be destroyed. Soon after that paradise will arise
from the radioactive ashes of hell and they will live as deities.
However, there is a dilemma: how to openly and honestly reveal such an
agenda and still be taken seriously? Clearly they have realized they
can2t and have opted to be taken seriously 6 even if they have to
engage in a process of deception to achieve this.
It is also a consideration that the collective ego of BKWSU management
simply cannot cope with any accusation that they are nutters. But what
else would you think if they told you that God is teaching them
directly and exclusively, that the world was supposed to end in 1976
but that they are still waiting, that time repeats identically every
5000 years (yes you read all of this 5000 years ago and will do again
in another 5000 years)?
Senior management is deeply concerned with the public persona of the
BKWSU. It has been determinedly managed and is protected with
ferocity. They do not tolerate dissent within their ranks and are
especially sensitive to public dissent. They simply don2t want the
public to know what they truly believe or what their true motives are.
The irony appears to be lost on them, but their primary effort is to
hide what they truly believe 6 their very reason for existing in the
first place. This is evidenced by the fact that nowhere in the BKWSU
websites, advertising material, or anywhere in their public presence
will you find any reference to what they truly believe.
Instead they hide behind a deception of concern for you and the world.
This is the cynical type of deception for which Pol Pot was noted.
This is only the beginning however. The nature and form of deception
continues to evolve. It begins with the claim to be teaching Raja
Yoga.
Raja Yoga. One of the most prominent and effective marketing tools the
BKWSU has employed for decades is its false claim to be teaching Raja
Yoga. Patanjali is regarded in India as the creator of Raja Yoga,
which is well respected in India and considered one of the highest
paths to enlightenment by many. Patanjali created Raja Yoga before
Christ. The BKWSU do not teach anything resembling Patanjalis Raja
Yoga or anything from the Yoga Sutras. Quite the opposite 6 the BKWSU
teach that all knowledge created by humans 6 including Patanjali 6 is
impure and flawed.
Cynically they advertise that they teach 3ancient Raja Yoga4 playing
on peoples2 interest in the genuine Raja Yoga. A gullible general
membership will say that it is ancient because they taught it 5,000
years ago.
The meditation centres in Australia and other countries went under the
banner of 3Raja Yoga Centres4 for many years before switching cover
and referring to themselves as a university. It is still the favourite
marketing tool however and a search on the internet will take you to
many sites labelled Raja Yoga that are BK fronts.
A University. The use of the term 1university2 is not only misleading
but in most countries illegal. It is certainly not a university. There
are no publicly accredited courses, qualifications or even a basic
structure that might identify it as a place of learning at all. One
has to be a cult member to even attend regular classes 6 which are
nothing other than a process of mind control anyway.
Fronts. The BKWSU have more fronts and disguises than can be counted.
They also present public programs, projects, conferences, services and
the like under a variety of banners as well. The latest is a program,
initiated in Wembley and transported around the world, called 3Just a
Minute4. The program is typically innocuous and encourages people to
take just one minute at a time to meditate and be calm. Nice idea. In
reality it is just an exersize in working their VIPs2 6 giving them a
stage and an audience, making them feel all warm and fuzzy and a bit
closer to the final entrapment. They are also casting their nets as
they look to increase their numbers and to replace the devastated
people they have left behind.
Oxford Leadership Academy and Relax7. These two programs are run by
long term senior 1brothers2 who have refined the art of entrapment to
a high degree and manage to turn a profit at the same time. Relaxkids
is a business operated by a 2sister2 who was indoctrinated as a child
and who allows the BKWSU to exploit her business for the recruitment
of children.
To read more on these click on the relevant link: Relax7, Oxford
Leadership Academy, Relaxkids
convert this post to pdf.
BKWSU Watch
3 Comments By Ed, June 15, 2009 @ 7:15 am
I notice also that they teach empowerment and confidence building
classes thus lining themselves up with New Age and Personal Growth
themes already common in society.This is the way that they infiltrate
into society by presenting quite a legitimate and acceptable front.
By citizen smith, January 19, 2010 @ 9:25 pm
Ive just lost my soulmate best friend and my wife to a 61yr old frank
wylie, He says he a buddhist a member of the sheff green party and
really into brahma kumaris and has now got her reading all bowt brahma
and im worried bowt her, she intelligent in her own field but really
not in others, she very addictive person, Im worried big time she
gonna get hurt !!!! She got loadsa good mates away from me but they
aswell are worried bowt the hold this frank wylie has on her
By TS, February 2, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
JUST TELL HER PLEASE THAT THEY ARE A WASTE OF TIME AND WILL RUIN YOUR
HEART MORE THAN GOOD THAT THEY SEEM TO CLAIM. I HOPE YOU GET YOUR
FRIEND BACK SOON.
http://bkwsuwatch.com/deception-disguises-and-fronts/
Tax Fraud & False Claims
The BKWSU is a well organised, well run fiefdom. The acceptance of
what is effectively a monarchy by the general membership and the
closed door policy of the ruling inner circle has resulted in a
complete lack of transparency. This in turn has given sufficient
opportunity for BKWSU management to employ whatever means it deems
necessary to advance it2s financial agenda. Given the propensity for
deception as discussed in previous pages, deception in financial
dealings would not then come as a surprise. The principle
consideration here is the deception for financial gain of the British
Charities Commission by the BKWSU.
Included on this page are the Financial Reports submitted to the
British Charities Commission as required by law. They reveal both the
significant amount of money the Brahma Kumaris are dealing with in the
UK and the highly questionable nature of their claim to be a charity.
The deception begins with the withholding of financial information
from the general membership. No member will have any information about
what happens to donations they give, or any idea of the financial
status of their BK centre. Once the funds have been transferred to
higher levels there is no idea what goes on 6 there is no transparency
at all. As the BKWSU deal mostly in cash there is no way of saying how
much of their true income is actually declared.
Whilst the bulk of donations to the organisation is cash, donations
come in a variety of forms. Members are indoctrinated into giving
everything they possibly can in any way they can. This may include
gold and jewellery (the BKWSU has a high number of Indian members who
will give in this way), property, cars and inheritances. The BKWSU
hold funds in networks of private bank accounts and trusts. it has
been reported that they have also moved undeclared cash and jewellery
internationally, and hold property in individual names.
In the United Kingdom alone The Brahma Kumaris have successfully
avoided paying tax on over 318,000,000 (including 33,000,000 cash in
the bank). Evidence provided below demonstrates that they have mislead
the Charities Commission in order to claim charitable status. As a
registered charity they are not required to pay tax and also gain an
entitlement to tax refunds.
In order to get charitable status in the UK an organisation has to
comply with the requirements of the Statute of Elizabeth. This statute
requires that a charity fulfils certain basic criteria. The Brahma
Kumaris fulfil none of these however they have falsely stated that
they do.
This is page 3 from their 2006 Financial Report to the British
Charities Commission:
False Claim
Firstly they claim that they 3PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE HINDU
RELIGION AND OTHER RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD.4 An examination of BK
beliefs reveals that their teachings state that they are not Hindus,
that they teach a conflicting philosophy to Hinduism (notably in their
interpretation of God, soul and reincarnation) and that they preach
that all religions are impure and theirs is the only true religion.
The Brahma Kumaris often exploit the title 3Raja Yoga4 or 3the Ancien=
t
Raja Yoga4 appearing to make reference to Hinduism. But they preach
that God Shiva teaches them directly and exclusively a form of
meditation that is unique to them and which they have chosen to call
Raja Yoga because it is the Supreme Yoga, or Highest Yoga.
Their participation in Hindu festivals etc is only as a front in order
to fish for new members. They have no involvement with traditional
religion. In reality the only religion they promote is their own.
Senior BKWSU management know that this claim is false.
Secondly they claim 3TO PROMOTE STUDIES OF AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD
OF HINDU RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY, YOGA (VARIOUS TECHNIQUES OF
CONCENTRATION AS DEFINED AND DISCUSSED IN HINDU SCRIPTURES) AND TO
MAKE KNOWN THE RESULTS OF SUCH STUDIES AND RESEARCH. This claim is
very far from any activity of the BKWSU past or present. No general
member of the Brahma Kumaris will be aware that this is a declared
intention of the organisation or will have participated in such an
activity. No research or study has ever been done and so naturally no
results have been made known. They do not have the personnel or
infrastructure to do so. A review of their balance sheets will confirm
this.
This claim is also false.
Thirdly they claim 3TO RELIEVE POVERTY, MENTAL AND PHYSICAL SICKNESS
AND DISTRESS.4 For the BKWSU to make this claim is cynical and
deplorable. They have no agenda for this at all.
Members are strongly discouraged from helping others in any material
way at all, and it is strictly against the organizations policy to
utilise resources in that way. The Brahma Kumaris preach that material
poverty and suffering is the result of bad karma and to help such a
person materially is only to support that bad karma or weaknesses.
They believe that the only way you can help them, ultimately, is by
making them a member.
Importantly the Brahma Kumaris do not consult, employ or engage mental
health practitioners or health professionals. How is it they intend to
relieve mental or physical sickness when they have zero capacity to do
so? It is also clear from the following financial reports that there
is zero expenditure in this regard. There is simply no intention to
fulfill this stated aim.
Given that this site is dedicated to the trauma and suffering of BKWSU
membership past and present and to those who have committed suicide as
a result, the only valid claim is that they cause mental illness and
distress. Their claim to relieve mental and physical sickness and
distress is an appalling abuse of the right to claim charitable
status.
The Financial Reports:
Public disclosure of the Financial Reports of charities has enabled us
to draw to public attention the contradictions revealed by those
reports against claims made by the BKWSU management. We have the
reports for 2005 and 2006, which are the latest submitted.
Below is page one of a legally required report submitted by the BKWSU
Trustees to the Charities Commission:
As we have already highlighted, none of what they claim above is true.
A survey of the general membership would establish this beyond doubt.
Below is page two of the report:
There are two parts to this statement 6 to identify suitable
properties and to further 1primary objectives2. As previously
discussed, the primary objectives are false claims to promote religion
and relieve poverty etc. To 1identify suitable properties2 is BK talk
for accumulating properties. This they have been very good at. In
later reports you will see that they have accumulated well over 310
million pounds in free hold property 6 all with untaxed money.
And page three reveals how relaxed the Charities Commission is:
The answer the Brahma Kumaris give to the question of success is vague
and unsupported by any data 6 it is the response of amateurs not of an
organisation that is responsible for millions of pounds of
3charitable4 funds and assets. This is just form filling with no
intention for the answer to be taken seriously by anyone.
The fact is the BKWSU management have no mechanism to determine the
success of its2 strategy beyond the value of properties accumulated,
the number of people who attended their courses, or the number of
1recruitment2 programs they instigated and the number of attendees. In
reality the success of any zone is determined by the number of
problems they are, or are not, dealing with. Senior management have no
idea about the 3general happiness, lack of stress, esteem or positive
outlook4 of its students/members because no study or research is done,
nor is there anyone professionally qualified to have an opinion on
these matters.
And lastly, perhaps to highlight the obvious, how does 3general
happiness, lack of stress, high esteem and general positive outlook of
the Brahma Kumaris own students4, as their own measure of success,
relate to their stated aim of 3promoting of religion, religious
education and relief of poverty4? It just doesn2t. They also certainly
demonstrate zero consideration for anyone outside their own fold,
which is also contrary to their stated aim.
The next page of the report they state that 3the charity played a
great role not only in financial assistance to the Tsunami victims but
also that of spiritual help which involves meditation and positive
thinking4. However, looking closer one can see an income of 31,586,000
and an expenditure of 31,041,000 leaving a profit of 3545,000. Most of
this profit they later state that they used to buy a new retreat
centre. It makes a mockery of the 369,000 in financial assistance they
gave and then claim as a 3great role4. Even more questionable is the
claim that they (in the U.K.), also claiming to be a Hindu
organisation, taught the traumatised survivors of the Tsunami 6 who
were mostly Indonesian Muslims 6 meditation and positive thinking!
This may be considered cynical or dishonourable.
In question 5b the BKWSU states that its2 most charitable act of the
year was in giving 369,000 in Tsunami relief. This was out of the
31,586,000 available to them and with a 3545,000 cash surplus for the
year. You can also see in 5c that this 369,000 was actually raised
from their membership as an extra and was in fact not part of their
regular 3charitable4 activities. In reality, the most significant
charitable act of the year was an anomaly. It would also be the only
actual charitable financial donation the BKWSU has ever given.
The next page of the report reveals further how confused Brahma
Kumaris management is about their purpose. On one hand they believe
that God is teaching them directly and exclusively, that they are the
only true children of God and that salvation for any person lies only
in becoming a student / member of the BKWSU. On the other hand they
teach self management and self leadership courses that are designed
and licensed to them by a corporate consultant 6 Brian Bacon. How do
these 3enable a greater understanding of the self and supreme soul4?
Again, The Brahma Kumaris have created a fa7ade to hide who they
really are, what they really believe, and what their true intentions
and purpose are.
And they finish with a Freudian slip 6 3the charity2s trustees ensure
that it co-opts proffessional individuals and sets up management
committees to run every department of its charity to ensure aa
proffessional and accurate running of the charity.4 (The italics are
ours). They can neither spell nor write a grammatically correct
sentence. We are reassured to see that they are employing
professionals!
The 2006 report is also quite revealing of false claims and dodgy
dealings, notably including BKIS 6 a publishing company owned by the
BKWSU but which conflicts with charity tax laws. According to BK
preachings the organisations entire income must be derived from within
the 3Divine Family4 i.e.: those who have recognised that Shiva is God
and that He is teaching through Brahma. However, in order to propagate
their teachings, and turn a profit (also against their preachings),
they have established a publishing capacity. However, due to governing
charity laws, they cannot engage in business. So they sell books and
DVDs which make a profit, but how to get the profit out and back into
their own coffers? Simple, charge a 3management fee4. This is walking
a fine line, but as we have seen the BKWSU management are very good at
this. This is evidenced in the following graphics:
In (1) you can see the list of products for sale. In (2) is
demonstrated the clear link between the BKWSU and BKIS. And in (3) it
becomes clear that the beloved leader, Dadi Janki, is both a common
denominator and willing participant in this deception. The 3management
fee4 is highlighted here:
The BKWSU management is deceiving its2 own members by practising
hypocrisy. They are also lying to both the Charities Commission and
the Tax Commissioner 6 there is absolutely nothing independent or
professional about this. They are extracting the profits from BKIS
before the Tax Commissioner gets his bit with a phoney management fee.
And the BKWSU gets its2 profit without declaring it as such to the
Charity Commission.
How do the BKWSU get away with all this? It is a case of chronic
nepotism and manipulating contacts 6 notably the use of its2 own
membership as Financial Auditor 6 a significant conflict of interest.
Firstly we see that trustees serve until they resign and that new
members are appointed by the existing board 6 guaranteed to keep
things in house and away from prying, untrustworthy eyes.
As for the 3chief executive4 6 in reality there is no such thing. The
Brahma Kumaris are effectively ruled by a monarch, that being Dadi
Janki. She holds absolute control and has, in reality, the power to
appoint or terminate trustees. The assistance given by trustees is
really the help provided by sicophants at her grace. As she has total
control over the organisation the available cash becomes, in effect,
her discretionary income. According to the 2006 Financial Statement
this sits at over 33,000,000.
An email was sent to the auditor of the BKWSU financial reports Jay
and Co requesting information about the relationship between the
auditor and the Brahma Kumaris. The following reply was received:
3I have been a BK was some 15 yeas and folow maryadas as much as
possible as being in the family who cooperate but are not BKs one has
to balance and cannot be complete4.
The author is Jayanti (not Jayanti the senior BK manager) who, in his
grammatically challenged statement, has stated that he has been
closely associated with the BKWSU for 15 years. His reference to
3being complete4 reflects his guilt in not following all the mariadas.
It is also a reflection of his indoctrination into the BK teachings.
This makes him available to manipulation by BKWSU management. This
type of manipulation and use and abuse of 3cooperative souls4 is
typical of the Brahma Kumaris throughout the world.
The Charity Commissions report can be viewed at:
www.charitiesdirect.com/CharityDetail.asp?orgidD5965
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Also Known As : World Renewal Spiritual Trust (UK)
Address : Global Co-operation House
65 Pound LaneLondonNW10 2HH
Tel : 020 8727 3350
Charity Registration Number : 269971
Founded : 1975
Constitution : Trust
http://bkwsuwatch.com/deception-disguises-and-fronts/financial-deception/
Welcome to the Brahma Kumaris Info website, a forum for exiting-BKs
and Friends & Family of BK adherents ... we currently have 983 active
members (more than 1139 in accounts total).
Latest global announcements
How much money does the BKWSU have? How much yearly income?
comments: 1 views: 323 20 Feb 2010
Countdown to 1,000 members ... 983
comments: 2 views: 464 11 Jan 2010
One Million page views ... (Forum statistics) - Updated
comments: 10 views: 816 13 Oct 2009
Another BK suicide - open letter to Jayanti
comments: 65 views: 7007 08 Mar 2009
Request for more classic post recommendations
comments: 2 views: 446 23 Feb 2009
BK VIP Funder Fathers Child to Asian Housekeeper
comments: 1 views: 1270 22 Feb 2009
Latest news
Brahma Kumaris join Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
comments: 0 views: 141 22 Feb 2010
Locals Complain, BKWSU Property Portfolio Suffers.
comments: 4 views: 651 11 Sep 2009
Your Taxes, their Golden Age: funding the end of the World
comments: 1 views: 706 21 Jun 2009
France declares war on Sect influence in the United Nation
comments: 0 views: 643 26 May 2009
BKWSU frontman shares stage with Scientology at UK Seminar
comments: 1 views: 525 12 May 2009
BKWSO Lose Immigration Appeal for "Priest" Earning $70,000
comments: 1 views: 699 16 Mar 2009
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Brahma Kumaris join Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
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...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 10:24
Publication Details
ISBN: 1-4392-4504-5
ISBN-13: 9781439245040
Library of Congress: 2009909311
Published By: Babbling Brook Press
Copyright 9 2001 - 2009 Michael R Finch
All Rights Reserved
Back Cover Text
For thirty-one years I gave my total allegiance, my energy, my
devotion, my dreams, my time, and my love to Guru Maharaji (the Lord
of the Universe, Prem Rawat). I also gave him and his organizations
two inheritances, a house, and hundreds of thousands of dollars. As
Maharaji2s former chauffeur I was close to him personally; I lived as
a renunciate in his ashrams, and was later authorized and empowered to
reveal his secret teachings (the 1Knowledge2).
1Without The Guru2 is a narrative of my time with Maharaji, and my
struggle to surrender my life to him and to achieve the liberation
that he promised. It is a story of being confined within a rigid
belief system, realizing it, and discovering how to break out from it.
It is a story of how I came to live, think, feel, behave, and love,
without 1the Guru2, meaning both Maharaji, as the actual guru in my
own life; and in a more general sense of learning to face myself and
the world without any intermediary or negotiator, of any kind, in
between.
Mike, you have grown a great deal through the ordeal of leaving
Maharaji, so he helped you flourish after all, though probably not in
the way that he intended.
6 Larry Rosenberg, author 1Breath by Breath2 and 1Living in the Lig=
ht
of Death2; founder and guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight
Meditation Center and senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society
in Barre MA, USA.
Contents and Sample Chapter
You can see the front pages, contents, and chapter one, in this PDF.
Publication Details
ISBN: 1-4392-4504-5
ISBN-13: 9781439245040
Library of Congress: 2009909311
Published By: Babbling Brook Press
Press Release
On December 07 2009, this press release went out in the USA.
http://www.mikefinch.com/img/wtg_sample.pdf
Former disciple and chauffeur of Guru Maharaji Ji, Prem Rawat, reveals
how and why he left the cult to reclaim his life
Without the Guru by Michael Finch explores how to face life2s
questions without the control of a guru
December 7, 2009 6 Without the Guru: How I Took my Life Back After
Thirty Years by Michael Finch narrates how he broke free of what he
felt was a suffocating, rigid belief system and learned to think for
himself.
Many people are dissatisfied by the religious aspects of spirituality,
yet science alone fails to fill that need, claims author Finch. These
individuals sometime turn to gurus, as Finch did, with the potentially
negative results he chronicles in Without the Guru.
In the book, Finch reveals how he gave his total allegiance, love and
money to Guru Maharaji Ji as well as to the guru2s organizations,
Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital. This included two inheritances, a
house and thousands of dollars. As the guru2s former chauffeur, he
lived for several years as a renunciate in the ashram and later was
authorized to reveal the secret teachings. But gradually, he began to
feel more and more trapped, and struggled to find his way out and
discover a life of his own making.
Both a memoir and a narrative of Finch2s time with the guru, Without
the Guru explores the importance of thinking for oneself rather than
adhering to anyone else2s belief system. While it examines the
popularity of cults and the seductive atmosphere they generate, Finch
also champions how to find answers within the context of one2s own
life and details the process that led Finch to face life2s main issues
on his own terms7and his own two feet.
Without the Guru: How I Took my Life Back After Thirty Years is
available for sale online at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, BookSurge.com,
and through additional wholesale and retail channels worldwide.
About the Author
Michael Finch received his doctorate in mathematics and theoretical
physics. After a year in a Buddhist monastery, he became a dedicated
follower of Guru Maharaji Ji in 1970, and left the guru in 2001.
Awarded a fellowship from the International Society for Philosophers,
he now explores how philosophy meets meditation.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Michael Finch
Email: mrf@sent.com
Phone:
Web: www.mikefinch.com
www.babblingBrookPress.net
REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
http://www.mikefinch.com/img/pressRelease.pdf
Welcome to the Prem Rawat aka Maharaji Information Resource
Please refer to news.
This web site has been developed by ex followers of Prem Pal Singh
Rawat, otherwise known as Maharaji, Guru Maharaj Ji or Balyogeshwar.
While other online sources of information about Prem Rawat exist,
their content is often not easily accessible to outsiders of the
movement. The purpose of this website is to provide an information
resource for the media and those interested in the character and
history of Prem Rawat and the organizations that support and promote
him.
Please refer to the Prem Rawat Critique website for a commentary (May
31st, 2007) on the Lord Mayor's Appeal.
This website should in no way be construed as an official publication
of either Prem Rawat, also called Maharaji, or the organizations that
promote him, which include Elan Vital, the Prem Rawat Foundation and
Raj Vidya Kender. On the contrary, it stands as a counterpoint to the
statements of the official Prem Rawat organs.
The authors of this website have gone to great efforts to create an
objective and broad-ranging account of Prem Rawat and his movement. It
is not our intention to attack him or his followers, or in any way
restrict their right of religious freedom. Rather these pages provide
a point of reference for both journalists and those who are interested
in the activities and philosophy of Mr. Rawat and the organizations
that support and promote him.
In the past several years people who have chosen to publicly criticise
Prem Rawat and his supporting organizations have been met with threats
and harassment from his followers; as a result the authors of this
website feel forced to remain anonymous. On the contact page is an e-
mail address where journalists and researchers can make direct contact
for further information and copies of documentary evidence.
One of the challenges presented in making any appraisal of the history
of Prem Rawat is the variety of names applied to both Rawat and his
supporting organizations. Throughout the pages of this website the
names used are those that are most chronologically appropriate. When
Prem Rawat first came to the West in the seventies, he was referred to
as Guru Maharaj Ji or Guru Maharaji. In India he was also called
Balyogeshwar. His first organizations were called Divine Light Mission
(DLM) and Divine United Organization (DUO). Later in the eighties he
started referring to himself as Maharaji and the various Divine Light
Mission organizations were gradually replaced by entities with the
name Elan Vital. Today he typically uses his given name, Prem Rawat,
and his newest organization is called The Prem Rawat Foundation. In
1974 a legal battle saw him lose control of the Divine Light Mission
in India to his mother and elder brother. With the loss of the Indian
DLM, the promotional organization for Prem Rawat in India became
Divine United Organization, which has now been renamed Raj Vidya
Kender.
All attempts have been made to present a truthful account of events
depicted. The authors welcome corrections to any inaccuracies that may
have inadvertently been applied to the website's content. Whether you
are a journalist, someone who is interested in Prem Rawat's message, a
current or ex-follower, or simply curious; we hope you will find the
information on this website helpful in your quest to learn more about
Prem Rawat AKA Maharaji.
Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji, aka Guru Maharaj Ji) dressed in traditional
Indian garb giving "Satsang" (discourse) to his followers.
http://www.prem-rawat-maharaji.info/index.php?idD4
unofficial) Homepage of Maharaji
Hello, my name is Maharaji. I used to be called Guru Maharaj Ji or the
Lord of the Universe but I've decided to stop calling myself that and
pretend I never made such claims.
I used to have a lot of devotees who believed me when I said I was God
in human form or the Lord and they gave their lives to me lock, stock
and barrel and lived in my ashrams. In these ashrams they had to work
all day in the world in ordinary jobs and then give all their wages to
me so that I could live a luxurious lifestyle.
I did very well out of the ashrams in the seventies. People who lived
in ashrams were forbidden to have sex, have any money or posessions
and were only allowed to do what I decreed they should do. Meanwhile,
I had a beautiful wife and also had a string of affairs with other
women. I've always enjoyed a drink and am quite fond of some good
hashish.
When the ashrams became unprofitable, I closed them all down and threw
my loyal devotees out on the streets. Some of these ashrams had
incurred huge debts but I made my devotees pick up the tab and you
know what - the suckers agreed! Well you know what they say don't you?
There's one born every minute. Some of these devotees were devastated
about leaving the shelter of my ashrams where they could serve me all
the time. They didn't know what to do with themselves and some of them
had mental breakdowns. A few also comitted suicide.
I have a good life. I own my own private jet and have numerous large
houses all over the world which are maintained by my devotees for
free. I am a multi-millionaire and own land and property in many
countries. All this has been financed by my loyal devotees who still
believe that I am the Lord! Well I did say there's one born every
minute. I still have enough of these old, sincere devotees left to
keep me in clover for life. Who says life isn't a wonderful thing?
Some people believe I am the Lord because I reveal a secret divine
knowledge to them if they promise to become my devotees. This secret
knowledge is just four old meditation techniques which are actually
quite well known but they don't know that until it's too late. You see
I make them promise never to reveal these techniques to anyone. This
means that the fact that I am conning people is kept a secret.
To be honest, I think meditation is a waste of time. I'd much rather
be driving my private plane or one of my luxury cars. And a good
bottle of Cognac beats meditation hands down! I have learned that if I
just make vague references to meditation in my speeches, people
believe that I actually know about it and not only that but they
believe I am the embodiment of truth! It's a good scam and it works
for me.
Some of you may be wondering how I convinced my devotees that I was
God. It was EASY. Just read how I dressed up as God to get the full
story.
I have never had a problem attracting the most beautiful women or
keeping them in line. Just read how I do it and you'll see that even
the improbable becomes possible.
Naturally, I haven't achieved all of my success without there being
some opposition. I just ignore any opposition and when people point
out my faults or criticize my complete disregard for my devotees then
I just tell them to "take a walk". Why don't you read what my enemies
are saying about me and then judge for yourself.
When all's said and done, it's all about love, isn't it. And I know
what love is because I am "rich in love", as I used to tell the press.
Read how I tap the source of love and you'll see what I mean.
Family ties mean a lot to me and that is why I haven't seen my eldest
brother for several decades. See what my own brother thinks of me and
see if you can spot the family resemblences.
You may not know this but my coming was prophesised by a great writer
over one hundred years ago. Click here to read the prophesy and you'll
see that his story was a remarkably accurate fortelling of my life and
its possibilities.
Thank you for visiting my web site and please come back soon because
I'll have some more pictures of myself up plus some more of my
thoughts. In the meantime, have a look at Incarnations of God and see
some other God imposters.
http://realmaharaji.bravepages.com/
http://realmaharaji.bravepages.com/Links/homepage.htm
Presented by
ex-followers of Prem Rawat, a.k.a. Maharaji,
The ex-"Lord of the Universe"
"The chances are you've never seen the other side of me. You've seen
the event side of me when I'm on stage. But there is another side of
me. If you evoke that side, you won't like it. It's a nasty side. You
don't want to see that side. You're not missing anything by not seeing
it." - Prem Rawat, Arundel England, 23rd July 1999.
Webmaster's note (2009). Welcome to the ex-premie website, the first
comprehensive information resource on the internet covering Prem
Rawat, also known as Maharaji, and his work. The primary purpose of
this website is to provide information to current and prospective
followers of Prem Rawat, that is not made available on his official
sites.
This website has been in existence since 1997. Since I took over in
2001, the home page has included a request for Prem Rawat or Elan
Vital to correct any inaccuracies on this site. They have yet to do
so. Elan Vital did claim copyright on quotes by Prem Rawat in which he
likened himself to Jesus, and pictures of Mr. Rawat dressed as
Krishna, but so far they have made no attempt to rebut any of the
first-hand testimonies published on this site. Personally, I think it
is obvious that Rawat has nothing to offer except lifetime dependence
on him, and is grossly incompetent at communicating what he does claim
to offer. Even though he specifically instructs his followers to
attend his speaking engagements when possible, the numbers attending
go down each year (to premies - look around you, where are all the new
people?). For people who have recently heard about Rawat, he does not
have any secret wisdom, nor a way to achieve peace. All he teaches are
four ways to meditate, and 70 hours of videos of him speaking to make
you think you need him. You don't.
After eight years of being responsible for this site, I actually have
very little interest in updating it. I value this site, and will do
what it takes to keep it available for new readers, but it, and
Maharaji, play a very small role in my life. I welcome, and will add,
new Journeys, as and when former followers tell their stories, and
when more of those former followers who were close to Rawat finally
have the courage to share what they know (you know who you are!), then
I will feature them alongside Mishler, Dettmers, Donner, Finch and
others.
Speaking of Mike Finch, his recently published book about his
experiences as a follower of Rawat and his time since, entitled
'Without the Guru', is recommended for anyone who wants to uncover the
truth about Prem Rawat. Further details are here.
Prem Rawat - The Person
Testimonies of those with first hand experience of Prem Rawat,
including those who ran his organisations.
An Open Letter to Current Followers of Prem Rawat
Summary of the major grievances of Maharaji's former followers.
An Open Letter to Maharaji
After 30 years as a loyal student of Prem Rawat, Mike Finch has
written this letter to his former teacher.
Prem Rawat - His Wealth
Admire Rawat's house and read about his wealth, and one way he 'earns'
it.
NEW! - Videos featuring Prem Rawat
An anthology of videos from 1973 to the present day, where the star,
as always, is Prem Rawat
The Elan Vital/DLM Gallery
Now hosted on this site - Scans of original Divine Light Mission/Elan
Vital publications.
Harboring a Paedophile
Mahatma Jagdeo, one of Prem Rawat's closest lieutenants, raped and
abused children of Prem Rawat's followers.
Since this site was created, several other sites with similar
purposes have been independently created. Here are a few that are
recommended:-
prem-rawat-maharaji.info - Contains much of the information on this
site, but presented in a more structured, professional way. Intended
primarily for researchers and the media.
prem-rawat-critique.org - Contains commentary on promotional
activities of Prem Rawat's supporters and organisations.
www.prem-rawat-bio.org - An incredibly detailed and well researched
study of Rawat's life.
gurumaharaji.info - Includes original audio and video files from the
period when Rawat demanded devotion from his followers.
mikefinch.com - Mike Finch's website which includes a section on Prem
Rawat with some excellent articles by Mike.
Those unfamiliar with the history of Prem Rawat, and some of the terms
we use here, are recommended to read this introduction, and the links
from that page.
While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the
content of this site; which is based on first hand accounts (usually
corroborated), Elan Vital/Divine Light Mission/DUO publications, and
other sources; we are grateful for any factual corrections.
The significant information on this site, including the personal
stories of former followers from the Journeys section, is now
available as a dowloadable book in Word format. Download here, and
distribute freely!
Corrections, comments, criticisms and thanks are all welcome, and
should be sent to the webmaster, John Brauns, at
epowebmaster@yahoo.co.uk
So, once again, welcome
http://www.ex-premie.org/
...and I am Sid Harth
ISBN: 1-4392-4504-5
ISBN-13: 9781439245040
Library of Congress: 2009909311
Published By: Babbling Brook Press
Copyright 9 2001 - 2009 Michael R Finch
All Rights Reserved
Back Cover Text
For thirty-one years I gave my total allegiance, my energy, my
devotion, my dreams, my time, and my love to Guru Maharaji (the Lord
of the Universe, Prem Rawat). I also gave him and his organizations
two inheritances, a house, and hundreds of thousands of dollars. As
Maharaji2s former chauffeur I was close to him personally; I lived as
a renunciate in his ashrams, and was later authorized and empowered to
reveal his secret teachings (the 1Knowledge2).
1Without The Guru2 is a narrative of my time with Maharaji, and my
struggle to surrender my life to him and to achieve the liberation
that he promised. It is a story of being confined within a rigid
belief system, realizing it, and discovering how to break out from it.
It is a story of how I came to live, think, feel, behave, and love,
without 1the Guru2, meaning both Maharaji, as the actual guru in my
own life; and in a more general sense of learning to face myself and
the world without any intermediary or negotiator, of any kind, in
between.
Mike, you have grown a great deal through the ordeal of leaving
Maharaji, so he helped you flourish after all, though probably not in
the way that he intended.
6 Larry Rosenberg, author 1Breath by Breath2 and 1Living in the Lig=
ht
of Death2; founder and guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight
Meditation Center and senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society
in Barre MA, USA.
Contents and Sample Chapter
You can see the front pages, contents, and chapter one, in this PDF.
Publication Details
ISBN: 1-4392-4504-5
ISBN-13: 9781439245040
Library of Congress: 2009909311
Published By: Babbling Brook Press
Press Release
On December 07 2009, this press release went out in the USA.
http://www.mikefinch.com/img/wtg_sample.pdf
Former disciple and chauffeur of Guru Maharaji Ji, Prem Rawat, reveals
how and why he left the cult to reclaim his life
Without the Guru by Michael Finch explores how to face life2s
questions without the control of a guru
December 7, 2009 6 Without the Guru: How I Took my Life Back After
Thirty Years by Michael Finch narrates how he broke free of what he
felt was a suffocating, rigid belief system and learned to think for
himself.
Many people are dissatisfied by the religious aspects of spirituality,
yet science alone fails to fill that need, claims author Finch. These
individuals sometime turn to gurus, as Finch did, with the potentially
negative results he chronicles in Without the Guru.
In the book, Finch reveals how he gave his total allegiance, love and
money to Guru Maharaji Ji as well as to the guru2s organizations,
Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital. This included two inheritances, a
house and thousands of dollars. As the guru2s former chauffeur, he
lived for several years as a renunciate in the ashram and later was
authorized to reveal the secret teachings. But gradually, he began to
feel more and more trapped, and struggled to find his way out and
discover a life of his own making.
Both a memoir and a narrative of Finch2s time with the guru, Without
the Guru explores the importance of thinking for oneself rather than
adhering to anyone else2s belief system. While it examines the
popularity of cults and the seductive atmosphere they generate, Finch
also champions how to find answers within the context of one2s own
life and details the process that led Finch to face life2s main issues
on his own terms7and his own two feet.
Without the Guru: How I Took my Life Back After Thirty Years is
available for sale online at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, BookSurge.com,
and through additional wholesale and retail channels worldwide.
About the Author
Michael Finch received his doctorate in mathematics and theoretical
physics. After a year in a Buddhist monastery, he became a dedicated
follower of Guru Maharaji Ji in 1970, and left the guru in 2001.
Awarded a fellowship from the International Society for Philosophers,
he now explores how philosophy meets meditation.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Michael Finch
Email: mrf@sent.com
Phone:
Web: www.mikefinch.com
www.babblingBrookPress.net
REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
http://www.mikefinch.com/img/pressRelease.pdf
Welcome to the Prem Rawat aka Maharaji Information Resource
Please refer to news.
This web site has been developed by ex followers of Prem Pal Singh
Rawat, otherwise known as Maharaji, Guru Maharaj Ji or Balyogeshwar.
While other online sources of information about Prem Rawat exist,
their content is often not easily accessible to outsiders of the
movement. The purpose of this website is to provide an information
resource for the media and those interested in the character and
history of Prem Rawat and the organizations that support and promote
him.
Please refer to the Prem Rawat Critique website for a commentary (May
31st, 2007) on the Lord Mayor's Appeal.
This website should in no way be construed as an official publication
of either Prem Rawat, also called Maharaji, or the organizations that
promote him, which include Elan Vital, the Prem Rawat Foundation and
Raj Vidya Kender. On the contrary, it stands as a counterpoint to the
statements of the official Prem Rawat organs.
The authors of this website have gone to great efforts to create an
objective and broad-ranging account of Prem Rawat and his movement. It
is not our intention to attack him or his followers, or in any way
restrict their right of religious freedom. Rather these pages provide
a point of reference for both journalists and those who are interested
in the activities and philosophy of Mr. Rawat and the organizations
that support and promote him.
In the past several years people who have chosen to publicly criticise
Prem Rawat and his supporting organizations have been met with threats
and harassment from his followers; as a result the authors of this
website feel forced to remain anonymous. On the contact page is an e-
mail address where journalists and researchers can make direct contact
for further information and copies of documentary evidence.
One of the challenges presented in making any appraisal of the history
of Prem Rawat is the variety of names applied to both Rawat and his
supporting organizations. Throughout the pages of this website the
names used are those that are most chronologically appropriate. When
Prem Rawat first came to the West in the seventies, he was referred to
as Guru Maharaj Ji or Guru Maharaji. In India he was also called
Balyogeshwar. His first organizations were called Divine Light Mission
(DLM) and Divine United Organization (DUO). Later in the eighties he
started referring to himself as Maharaji and the various Divine Light
Mission organizations were gradually replaced by entities with the
name Elan Vital. Today he typically uses his given name, Prem Rawat,
and his newest organization is called The Prem Rawat Foundation. In
1974 a legal battle saw him lose control of the Divine Light Mission
in India to his mother and elder brother. With the loss of the Indian
DLM, the promotional organization for Prem Rawat in India became
Divine United Organization, which has now been renamed Raj Vidya
Kender.
All attempts have been made to present a truthful account of events
depicted. The authors welcome corrections to any inaccuracies that may
have inadvertently been applied to the website's content. Whether you
are a journalist, someone who is interested in Prem Rawat's message, a
current or ex-follower, or simply curious; we hope you will find the
information on this website helpful in your quest to learn more about
Prem Rawat AKA Maharaji.
Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji, aka Guru Maharaj Ji) dressed in traditional
Indian garb giving "Satsang" (discourse) to his followers.
http://www.prem-rawat-maharaji.info/index.php?idD4
unofficial) Homepage of Maharaji
Hello, my name is Maharaji. I used to be called Guru Maharaj Ji or the
Lord of the Universe but I've decided to stop calling myself that and
pretend I never made such claims.
I used to have a lot of devotees who believed me when I said I was God
in human form or the Lord and they gave their lives to me lock, stock
and barrel and lived in my ashrams. In these ashrams they had to work
all day in the world in ordinary jobs and then give all their wages to
me so that I could live a luxurious lifestyle.
I did very well out of the ashrams in the seventies. People who lived
in ashrams were forbidden to have sex, have any money or posessions
and were only allowed to do what I decreed they should do. Meanwhile,
I had a beautiful wife and also had a string of affairs with other
women. I've always enjoyed a drink and am quite fond of some good
hashish.
When the ashrams became unprofitable, I closed them all down and threw
my loyal devotees out on the streets. Some of these ashrams had
incurred huge debts but I made my devotees pick up the tab and you
know what - the suckers agreed! Well you know what they say don't you?
There's one born every minute. Some of these devotees were devastated
about leaving the shelter of my ashrams where they could serve me all
the time. They didn't know what to do with themselves and some of them
had mental breakdowns. A few also comitted suicide.
I have a good life. I own my own private jet and have numerous large
houses all over the world which are maintained by my devotees for
free. I am a multi-millionaire and own land and property in many
countries. All this has been financed by my loyal devotees who still
believe that I am the Lord! Well I did say there's one born every
minute. I still have enough of these old, sincere devotees left to
keep me in clover for life. Who says life isn't a wonderful thing?
Some people believe I am the Lord because I reveal a secret divine
knowledge to them if they promise to become my devotees. This secret
knowledge is just four old meditation techniques which are actually
quite well known but they don't know that until it's too late. You see
I make them promise never to reveal these techniques to anyone. This
means that the fact that I am conning people is kept a secret.
To be honest, I think meditation is a waste of time. I'd much rather
be driving my private plane or one of my luxury cars. And a good
bottle of Cognac beats meditation hands down! I have learned that if I
just make vague references to meditation in my speeches, people
believe that I actually know about it and not only that but they
believe I am the embodiment of truth! It's a good scam and it works
for me.
Some of you may be wondering how I convinced my devotees that I was
God. It was EASY. Just read how I dressed up as God to get the full
story.
I have never had a problem attracting the most beautiful women or
keeping them in line. Just read how I do it and you'll see that even
the improbable becomes possible.
Naturally, I haven't achieved all of my success without there being
some opposition. I just ignore any opposition and when people point
out my faults or criticize my complete disregard for my devotees then
I just tell them to "take a walk". Why don't you read what my enemies
are saying about me and then judge for yourself.
When all's said and done, it's all about love, isn't it. And I know
what love is because I am "rich in love", as I used to tell the press.
Read how I tap the source of love and you'll see what I mean.
Family ties mean a lot to me and that is why I haven't seen my eldest
brother for several decades. See what my own brother thinks of me and
see if you can spot the family resemblences.
You may not know this but my coming was prophesised by a great writer
over one hundred years ago. Click here to read the prophesy and you'll
see that his story was a remarkably accurate fortelling of my life and
its possibilities.
Thank you for visiting my web site and please come back soon because
I'll have some more pictures of myself up plus some more of my
thoughts. In the meantime, have a look at Incarnations of God and see
some other God imposters.
http://realmaharaji.bravepages.com/
http://realmaharaji.bravepages.com/Links/homepage.htm
Presented by
ex-followers of Prem Rawat, a.k.a. Maharaji,
The ex-"Lord of the Universe"
"The chances are you've never seen the other side of me. You've seen
the event side of me when I'm on stage. But there is another side of
me. If you evoke that side, you won't like it. It's a nasty side. You
don't want to see that side. You're not missing anything by not seeing
it." - Prem Rawat, Arundel England, 23rd July 1999.
Webmaster's note (2009). Welcome to the ex-premie website, the first
comprehensive information resource on the internet covering Prem
Rawat, also known as Maharaji, and his work. The primary purpose of
this website is to provide information to current and prospective
followers of Prem Rawat, that is not made available on his official
sites.
This website has been in existence since 1997. Since I took over in
2001, the home page has included a request for Prem Rawat or Elan
Vital to correct any inaccuracies on this site. They have yet to do
so. Elan Vital did claim copyright on quotes by Prem Rawat in which he
likened himself to Jesus, and pictures of Mr. Rawat dressed as
Krishna, but so far they have made no attempt to rebut any of the
first-hand testimonies published on this site. Personally, I think it
is obvious that Rawat has nothing to offer except lifetime dependence
on him, and is grossly incompetent at communicating what he does claim
to offer. Even though he specifically instructs his followers to
attend his speaking engagements when possible, the numbers attending
go down each year (to premies - look around you, where are all the new
people?). For people who have recently heard about Rawat, he does not
have any secret wisdom, nor a way to achieve peace. All he teaches are
four ways to meditate, and 70 hours of videos of him speaking to make
you think you need him. You don't.
After eight years of being responsible for this site, I actually have
very little interest in updating it. I value this site, and will do
what it takes to keep it available for new readers, but it, and
Maharaji, play a very small role in my life. I welcome, and will add,
new Journeys, as and when former followers tell their stories, and
when more of those former followers who were close to Rawat finally
have the courage to share what they know (you know who you are!), then
I will feature them alongside Mishler, Dettmers, Donner, Finch and
others.
Speaking of Mike Finch, his recently published book about his
experiences as a follower of Rawat and his time since, entitled
'Without the Guru', is recommended for anyone who wants to uncover the
truth about Prem Rawat. Further details are here.
Prem Rawat - The Person
Testimonies of those with first hand experience of Prem Rawat,
including those who ran his organisations.
An Open Letter to Current Followers of Prem Rawat
Summary of the major grievances of Maharaji's former followers.
An Open Letter to Maharaji
After 30 years as a loyal student of Prem Rawat, Mike Finch has
written this letter to his former teacher.
Prem Rawat - His Wealth
Admire Rawat's house and read about his wealth, and one way he 'earns'
it.
NEW! - Videos featuring Prem Rawat
An anthology of videos from 1973 to the present day, where the star,
as always, is Prem Rawat
The Elan Vital/DLM Gallery
Now hosted on this site - Scans of original Divine Light Mission/Elan
Vital publications.
Harboring a Paedophile
Mahatma Jagdeo, one of Prem Rawat's closest lieutenants, raped and
abused children of Prem Rawat's followers.
Since this site was created, several other sites with similar
purposes have been independently created. Here are a few that are
recommended:-
prem-rawat-maharaji.info - Contains much of the information on this
site, but presented in a more structured, professional way. Intended
primarily for researchers and the media.
prem-rawat-critique.org - Contains commentary on promotional
activities of Prem Rawat's supporters and organisations.
www.prem-rawat-bio.org - An incredibly detailed and well researched
study of Rawat's life.
gurumaharaji.info - Includes original audio and video files from the
period when Rawat demanded devotion from his followers.
mikefinch.com - Mike Finch's website which includes a section on Prem
Rawat with some excellent articles by Mike.
Those unfamiliar with the history of Prem Rawat, and some of the terms
we use here, are recommended to read this introduction, and the links
from that page.
While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the
content of this site; which is based on first hand accounts (usually
corroborated), Elan Vital/Divine Light Mission/DUO publications, and
other sources; we are grateful for any factual corrections.
The significant information on this site, including the personal
stories of former followers from the Journeys section, is now
available as a dowloadable book in Word format. Download here, and
distribute freely!
Corrections, comments, criticisms and thanks are all welcome, and
should be sent to the webmaster, John Brauns, at
epowebmaster@yahoo.co.uk
So, once again, welcome
http://www.ex-premie.org/
...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 10:42
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SURVIVING THE CULT ECKANKAR
You *Can* and *Will* Recover. . .
Hints to Help You Heal - We've Been There - You'll Get Through It!
Lies You'll Need To Recognize and Banish!
May your day be filled with the blessings and joys of all the ages.
May you conquer your every fear in this day by being filled
with the love that is Eternal.
May you smile more and bring more smiles
to those you meet and greet on this day.
May happiness permeate your being and
may you glow in your own glorious radiance
that is God.
Remember that we are all connected together
and that what you think is what shall be
and in so doing
may you think more and more positive thoughts
with each and every passing day.
As it harmeth none, blessed be.
Gratitude, happiness, strength and love.
May courage of heart, clarity of mind, and
peace of spirit be with you
now and always, my friend.
~ Shawn Pyle ~
Leaving a cult isn't as easy as just sleeping late on Sunday mornings
and deciding not to go to church. I, personally, was very surprised at
some of the very unpleasant psychological effects of leaving
Eckankar.
One thing that helped was discovering information on the internet
which helped me to realize that what I was experiencing wasn't
unusual. I've listed some helpful links below.
And it helped to know that I wasn't alone. Other former cult members
reassured me that yes, I'd be fine and recover.
To be honest, I wished I'd known ahead of time what to expect. On the
other hand, experiencing it first, without outside influences,
certainly convinced me that it was "real" and not just imagination.
I, and thousands of other ex-eckists, have gotten through it. You
will, too.
Hugs,
Sharon
A Letter From a Staff Member at the American Family Federation:
Sharon,
It's pretty much universal when it comes to cult involvement. Everyone
thinks no one else will understand - if you ever attend an ex-member
workshop - you will be totally amazed that people involved in
psychologically controlling groups all have the same experiences -
different but the same.
My daughter was in a Bible-based group for five years - got out last
year - and has the same psychological problems as a person who has
been in TM or new age or etc. - In my daughter's case - she suffered
depression and confusion because she knew what she was before and she
knew what she was told in the group and came to believe - but the real
person had a mind fight with the new "enlightenment" and the struggles
are very painful.
I would recommend an ex-member workshop if you can manage it.
Best to you,
AFF Information Service
Bonita Springs, FL 34133
941-514-3081; fax 941-514-3451
AFF@csj.org
Visit our award-winning Website: http://www.csj.org
* * * * * * *
Feel free to write to me personally at
brighttigress@yahoo.com
* * * * *
(March 2005 Update - Hi everyone, please excuse the mess, I wasn't
able to access this site for updating for several years while Lycos
was taking over Angelfire, but their great tech support finally helped
solve the problem. Now I just need the time & motivation to get the
work done. In the meantime, I hope what's here now is helpful - please
check out all the links!)
NEW!!!!
Update: March 2001
The Night Twitch Died, and More
Albert, John, and Connie's Stories
THE CENTER FOR TWITCHELLIAN PLAGIARISM
There have been new plagiarism discoveries since David Lane's original
findings many years ago. This site, a work in progress, will be an
excellent resource for all seekers of truth.
UNDOING THE DAMAGE OF ROGUE LIGHT & SOUND GURUS -- DEVIATIONS FROM THE
PATH
By a Former Member of Eckankar
To go directly to Professor David Lane's "Eckankar" pages, click here!
(And be sure to look for Raphael's Critiques of Klemp's Discourses)
Suggested Websites.....Under Construction!!
Former Eckists Tell Their Side...
NEW--Intro & Overview--My
My Delphi Page---Some Good Links There
Partial Reconstruction of old Eckankartruth Website
Up-to-date (2005) e-kult related links
Current David Lane Webpage Index
Cult Awareness & Information Center
A Former Cult Member's Critique
Another Cult Information Site
The Psychology of Spiritual Movements
EckankarHistory Discussion Club at Yahoo
EckankarTruth--a new Forum, safe for former cult members, info for
seekers
An Honest Guru's Website - Join Now!!!
German Translation of Lane's
The Unofficial Eckankar (tm) Page - complete text
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/
Why Ex-Eckists Left Eckankar
Forum: alt.religion.eckankar
Thread: Message To The Seeker Looking At Eckankar For The First Time;
Or, Why Does Ben Post On ARE?
Date:1999/03/11
Author:bendouglass
I was an Eckist from 1972-84, but then summarily excommunicated for
not only asking certain delicate questions, but asking them over and
over again, but never receiving adequate answers. Mostly SILENCE!
Since that time I have gained much significant insight, emotional
detachment, objectivity, and supplimental experiences and information,
to offer certain teleogical, historical, epistemological, and
scientific criticisms about Eckankar.
It has become my personal conclusion that Eckankar is a psychological,
socio- spiritual, mythic con-game invented by a little man called Paul
Twitchell, who yearned for money, glory, and power of people--nothing
more! It is also my opinion that the "massive ancedotal evidence"
gathered by others, alone points in this direction. And because of
this I consider it my duty and responsibility as a citizen and former
Eckist to offer "another perspective on Eckankar," so that any new
seeker or student can make a more fully informed choice.
I have a right( and a responsibilty that goes with that right) to
offer any criticisms about Eckankar if I choose to do so. The only
right I do not have is to threaten and denigrate an individual with
malicious intent. There will always be those Eckists who will
consistently argue that ANY criticism leveled at Eckankar is invalid.
Often they will take these criticisms as personal attacks. The reason
is that their personal life has become irrevocably enmeshed with the
ECK and the Corporation. One becomes the other! We see these kind of
unreasonable, irrational, fearful, sheeplike people zealots in all
spiritual paths--they are called "fundamentalists."
So it all comes down to the pressing question: Can anybody ask
critical and sensitive questions about Eckankar and freely come to
their own conclusions without being "labelled" and their "personal
lives" paraded on a website without their express permission? If
alt.religion.eckankar is any barometer of this, I would say NO!
Whether it is college professors, skeptical humanists, or former
Eckists, the message from Eckists and their beloved Master is ANY
criticisms of their holy chalice is wrong, hateful, angry, etc.
More often than not, when an Eckist is vigorously challenged about
Eckankar tenets they can't defend on a purely philosophical level,
they retreat into their closed fantasy-prone system which, by it's
very nature, deadens and denies the spirit of open intellectual
inquiry among people. To the ARE Eckists 400 years of the Age of
Enlightenment, and its seasoned tools and processes of verification
and accountability are rejected enmasse.
The reason for this might be that their "HOUSE THAT TWITCHELL BUILT"
could very well violently implode from within, when examined with the
same tools of rational inquiry taht any other system is subject to.
When Eckist are given the chance (and tools & processes) to critically
examine the very foundation of their faith they act like the ostrich.
Heads in sand, singing hu while their but feathers quiver with rage
and fear.It takes courage to listen to an opponent of your chosen
path. It even takes greater courage to question your path.
If Eckankar as a system of convictions and practices is a legitimate
path to truth and happiness, then any amount of open debate can only
strengthen it. Therefore, the role of the so-called "detractor" on ARE
becomes a positive role, a community service, a consumer advocate for
spiritual seekers.
Ben Douglass-SA #961
Agitate, Educate, Liberate!
Deja Community Started by Ben
The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: Data , None
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 12:05:58 -0500
Eckists have said that detractors (critics of Eckankar) are people who
quit Eckankar because it didn't work for them, or because they failed
at the path, and thus can't be taken seriously. In other words, we're
hopelessly biased against Eckankar, largely because we're angry that
we didn't make the grade.
Au contraire, mon frere.
I was not a failure at the path- I was given a leadership position in
my Eckankar community! Eckists there marveled at how "spiritually
advanced" I was.
I was one of the darlings of the community- active in public outreach,
volunteering regularly at the Eckankar center, giving money, providing
entertainment at worship services, and on and on...
Eckankar did work for me, mainly because its spiritual exercises, like
using the mantra OM or HU and focusing on the third eye, are
legitimate and used by similar religions that predate Eckankar.
The reason I turned my back on Eckankar for good was discovering the
plagiarism in their bible, which other Eckists told me was divinely
inspired.
I still miss my Eckankar friends, and the feeling of belonging I had
as a member, but I won't go back because I cannot compromise my moral
principles for the sake of personal gratification or spiritual
entertainment.
The Eckist argument in the first paragraph is both specious and
fallacious, and illustrates how desperate Eckists are to discredit
former members who have come forward and revealed the truth about
Eckankar.
If the Eckists who use this argument were ever to admit that the
detractors were on an equal footing with them as far as spiritual
development is concerned, they would be faced with the painful fact
that a detractor is simply an Eckist who is no longer willing to
tolerate being deceived nor participate in the process of deceiving
others.
The Eckists I am referring to above are those who know about the
plagiarism and other deceptions Professor David Lane has found within
Eckankar's spiritual literature, and turn a blind eye to harm Eckankar
causes.
These Eckists have no legitimate means of countering Lane's
revelations, so instead, they attack the credibility of those who bear
witness to the irrefutable facts found in his research. They label the
detractors "unbalanced", "nuts", "needs help", "satanically
influenced", etc., etc., twist their words or draw illogical
conclusions from them, and even lie when absolutely all else fails in
their efforts to silence the truth-tellers. These are the same
rhetorical tricks and tactics that nearly every false religion uses to
defend itself against legitimate, factual criticism.
Unfortunately, for these Eckists, the truth is impervious to these
assaults, and will stand for all time in relentless defiance of their
attempts to make it go away.
It is sadly ironic that people who profess to be on a path of truth
cannot tolerate the truth when it undermines what they believe in.
Data
Subject: Re: The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: zephyr@connectexpress.com
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 02:10:18 GMT
In article <372C85F6.54602B56@b.com>,
Data wrote: (snip)
This whole post applies to me as well.
Kate
Newsgroup: alt.religion.eckankar
Re: The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: Harry , Clam Lovers (Lodge #4)
Date: 3 May 1999 00:52:45 GMT
*bow*
I, Dances with Clams, found myself smiling as I read this post, since
I believe it captures the true spirit of those called "detractors".
They number in the tens of thousands, I'm told, and most are very well
balanced, ethical people. eckankar most likely did work for them to a
point. But, eventually, we all reach an invisible line, where we each
have to decide for ourselves who we hang around with. A truly ethical
person would have quite a struggle within themselves to remain with
this organization, in light of all the blatant lies and deceptions.
Although I know they will never listen, I would suggest that all
eckists face themselves in the mirror and evaluate their own ethics in
a clear, unmuddled way. Look closely to your own ethics and answer as
truthfully as you can why you continue to support an organization that
was conceived in theft and fiction. A thing to ponder, also, is the
fact that almost all detractors have been where you are now
- but you haven't yet been where the detractors have reached. :-)
-Dances with Clams-
Author: Zuma
Date: 1997/04/17
Forum: alt.religion.eckankar
> I was once a hibernating Roman Catholic and found Eckankar too. I start=
ed reading some books, meeting some folks, going to Satsangs, subscribing t=
o the discourses, and finally keeping a dream log that is full of wonderful=
experiences with meeting Masters and flying through glorious landscapes of=
unspeakable beauty. I enjoyed falling asleep at night so that I may once a=
gain hear the Light And Sound. All of this in the course of two years. I kn=
ew that religion by any other name paled in comparison with the unfathomabl=
e Truth known as Eckankar. Then, a Christian friend told me that I had bett=
er take a good look at what I left for Eckankar; that I owed it to myself t=
o know for sure that what I found was the real thing. I too started "feelin=
g" something wasn't right with it. Once the honeymoon was over, I started r=
eading Twitchell's long-winded fragmented books again. I became suspicious =
that the original lure of Eckankar and its promise "why wait, now you can t=
ouch the hem of God" wasn't what is is cracked up to be. I read Brad Steige=
r's biography of Twitchell and for a time became enamoured with Eckankar ag=
ain, but it was short lived when I came to my senses. My good Christian fri=
ends were warning me that perhaps all these things I felt and saw were real=
, but that does not mean it came from the God I grew up with. Maybe these v=
isions were the work of the Evil One. After all, long before Paul landed on=
Earth, the Bible speaks on numerous occasions about false prophets and the=
wicked treachery of Satan and how he will do everything in his power to pu=
ll you away from God.
It all became clear at that point that I had fallen into the trappings
of a full blown CULT!!! It's leader wooing me and dazzling me, and
promising me the keys to heaven, like all good cult leaders
do...telling its followers what they want to hear!! Suddenly the
Internet explodes and lo and behold I see an army of Ex-Eckists
battling it out with the chelas.
David Lane's exhaustive research on Paul Twitchell's plagiarism and
his incessant lying just sealed the fate for me and Eckankar. The
reason everyone hates what Lane says, is because he shakes the very
foundation of their spiritual investments, and no one likes to be told
they are wrong. He is lucid, scholarly and extrememly convincing,
sooooo, that's why I have become the monster we all know today as
Zuma. Even Twitchell's ex-wife Gail has said that Eckankar was
concocted under false pretenses...she was there, she oughtta know!!
> In case anyone is interested, I've also read most of the David Lane > a=
nd David Rife stuff, and, frankly, I'm not impressed with either of > their=
attitudes. I've seen more open minds than those from most people > I've me=
t.
You don't have to like their attitudes, Observer...look closely at
what they are saying. They are constantly removing the bastion of
Eckankar stone by stone, and the people inside are feeling helpless.
Time will tell for sure, and I'll bet my last dollar that this little
"Light And Sound" club doesn't make it through through another decade.
Zuma
(Following is my original resignation letter. To see what led up to
this, click on: "Harold's Deceptive Editing" For some unknown reason,
I went running back a few days later...and sent them a check! I left
forever a month or two later.)
Whatever. . .
Author: Sharon V Comstock
Date: 1998/09/12
Forum: 1alt.religion.eckankar
" Now all this philosophy won't help you, nor will the reading of any
book, nor the practice of any spiritual exercise, unless the desire
for truth and God is absolutely pure."
Harold Klemp
"By their fruits ye shall know them. . ."
The Bible, I forget where
I have carefully read the disputed response from Harold to the
questionably edited question, as well as Lurk's commentary, and done
my best to look at it from many different viewpoints, on many levels.
As an Eckist, I have no problem with the editing, answer, or
commentary.
Perhaps it's just a very unspiritual & unhealthy attachment to my own
personal integrity. . .well that's not important really. . .but as of
right now I am no longer a card-carrying member of Eckankar the
organization. The letter will be in the mail shortly.
I will, however, continue as an Eckist on the inner. . .the Mahanta
will be with me, as always. He brought me here to see & learn certain
things, and now it really is time to take it back to the inner.
And before anyone makes any assumptions. . .I just want to make it
clear that a major factor in this is when I see another "Eckist"
attack spiritual truths because they're not clearly stamped with the
Eckankar copyright. Even though both truths, it turned out, according
to the outer teachings, were indeed from the Eck.
I've been having a lot of truths thrown in my face lately, and a lot
of illusions cleared away. . .this one was such a biggie it's just
impossible to rationalize in any way.
This is where the Mahanta has led me. . .
In Eck,
Sharon
P.S. Lurk, thank you --- although I must say if I were hanging around
I could really get into a lively debate on this one!
And Windy, by the way, no snide remarks. Stay the hell out of my
space. I've got the book around here somewhere but can't find
it. . .but I know there are laws about both psychic attack, which I
feel you are very close to doing although of course I can't really
judge. At the very least, there are things about taking on another's
karma by judging their particular learning experiences. If you have
something to say, I would suggest you put it where the sun don't
shine.
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/data.html
Overview & Intro to Eckankar, The Cult
About This Page
This page will be, basically, a "handout" file I compiled from my
postings at alt.religion.eckankar, for people who wrote to me
requesting more information. The "attach" function hasn't been working
too well for me, so I decided to simply post my "handout" here and
send out the URL to inquirers.
This information will be repeated on and expanded elsewhere. This is
just, basically, an overview.
Eckankar paints a very rosy picture of itself, naturally. It ignores
and tries to whitewash and even eradicate the facts of its past and
present, and its members tend to deny the possibility that there's
something wrong with their "religion."
For balance, well...I may seem a bit extreme. Truth is usually found
somewhere in the middle. I ask people to look at both sides of this
cult, think about it, consider all the possibilities.....and make up
their own minds.
Just look at the world, past and present, and think about where
extremes in beliefs, and fanatic fundamentalism, has brought about.
Just two examples....the Inquisition, and the bombing of the World
Trade Center. However, we must be careful and not be too extreme in
tolerating lies and deception. For example, for much of my life, when
I'd hear people around me making racist remarks, I wouldn't say
anything, just to be polite. I stopped doing that years ago. I speak
up, and tell them that sorry, I cannot condone their racist beliefs by
my silence.>
By the way, please ignore the language....the newsgroup can be a bit
rough sometimes.
Newsgroup: alt.religion.eckankar
Subject: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: "JT" , Bell Solutions
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 23:32:49 GMT
I am still fascinated by all the posts on this newsgroup. Some posts
are definitely entertaining. Just one question for each of the warring
camps-
for the happy members of Eckankar:
Why do members of Eckankar refuse to acknowledge the errors of the
past? Why not give regular contributors like Sharon, Lurk, and others,
some credit for having the courage to voice their views and share
these views with others? Why to members feel the need to defend
against these former Eckists? Why question their motives and
character? The anti-Eckankar forces have simply decided that they
cannot support the formal organization of Eckankar and have chosen to
support some other path. They have not completely abandoned the
principles of Eckankar which are universal and common to many paths.
This does not make them bad people. Now they seek to warn other like
minded individuals of the mistakes they made because certain
information that would have helped them was unknown to them at the
time. They now wish to share with others their new found knowledge. Do
we really need to classify dissidents as enemies? Think about it...
for the anti-Eckankar forces:
Why do opponents of Eckankar harass otherwise happy members of a
peaceful group. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet does it
not? Regardless of the origins of the beliefs shared by today's
Eckists, if the teaching is common to other paths as well, why is it
any less true if proclaimed by Eckankar? Does truth really require a
religious label? If I am an outlaw and a scoundrel but I preach about
peace and brotherhood is my message any less valid? If Eckandar is the
science of soul travel whose express purpose is to help individual
souls back to their original home - what does it matter if the founder
was a bum? If Eckists are happy in their belief system, why should
anyone put them down? Think about it...
I suppose however, that we must do what we must do. The forces for and
against will continue to duke it out... I suppose that's all part of
being human. I suppose there's many reasons to explain the motivations
on both side of the fence. Good luck to both sides. I suppose pro or
con we are all doing what we feel we must. Maybe expressing ones view
is the important thing. Maybe the war helps both sides progress.
Without opposing viewpoints their would be no posts and no insights
for either side. In that case let me congratulate all sides to the
conflict. Your're all doing one heck of job....
JT
Intro & Overview -- Part 2
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
F From: Sharon
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 05:40:16 GMT
In article , "JT" wrote:
I am still fascinated by all the posts on this newsgroup. Some posts >are=
definitely entertaining. Just one question for each of the warring >camps-=
for the happy members of Eckankar:
And yes, they SHOULD be happy!! After all:
"No man merely in the state of human consciousness can judge the
ECKist any more than an animal having simple consciousness can judge
the human conscious state of man. The ECKist is in fact the new
species of the human race, not understood by men. When in this state
the ECKist has developed an intellectual illumination of the most
pronounced character, and a strongly marked sense of moral exaltation.
He has also the conviction, the sense of immortality, the extinction
of the sense of wrong doing and the extinction of the fear of physical
death." Paul Twitchell, Illuminated Way Letters, pg. 247
> Why do members of Eckankar refuse to acknowledge the errors of the past=
?
Errors? What errors? How could there be errors? After all...
"Only the living ECK Master. . . is the pure instrument of God on
Earth." SKS 1 pg. 19
"ECKANKAR teaches that ECK is the source of all life. All life,
religions, philosophies, and metaphysical systems spring out of the
fountainhead which is ECK. Therefore, we cannot find anything which is
greater than the stream of life except the MAHANTA, the Living ECK
Master." Paul Twitchell, "Letters to a Chela," page 107.
"Each living ECK Master has become the Mahanta, which is God made
flesh on Earth. Therefore, we look to the Mahanta for he is the
representative of the SUGMAD in our midst today." Paul Twitchell,
Spiritual Notebook, pg. 197
"The living ECK Master is the only manifestation of the Sugmad on
Earth." Spiritual Notebook pg.198
"The living ECK Master is the perfect instrument of the SUGMAD on this
plane, often he is the Mahanta." Spiritual Notebook, pg. 198
The SUGMAD never appears in the flesh except as the MAHANTA, the
Living ECK Master. . ." Paul Twitchell, Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad II, pg.
146
GOD don't make no mistakes!!! Excuse me for quoting those
"meaningless" books, but, well...I used to be an eckist, you know. But
I missed the part that said "It's ALL on the inner!"
"When the sacred teachings of the ECK have been put into printed
books, such as the SHARIYAT-KI-SUGMAD, all ECK chelas can go forth and
by using it as reference can give all the holy scriptures of it to the
world. There is none greater than this magnificent scripture and we as
the chelas of ECK must use it as the source book, the living Bible of
our beliefs and faith." Illuminated Way Letters, page 216
"Each month, read a chapter of The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Book One. Do it
at your leisure. You can read a few sentences or a couple of
paragraphs at a time. Pay particular attention to the chapter title.
How does the chapter relate to the title. And how does it all relate
back to you. You can use this as an ongoing casual spiritual exercise.
It is a way to spiritualize yourself, to keep close to the Mahanta,
the ECK, and the SUGMAD." page 91, "The Eternal Dreamer," Harold
Klemp
And darn, you know...right before I left eckankult, whoops I mean
eckankar...I was going to sign up for that new service...automatic
shipments of eckbooks hot off the presses, with that handy little form
headquarters sent...you could either fill in your credit card number,
or authorize automatic deductions from your checking account!!!
Why not give regular contributors like Sharon, Lurk, and others, some cre=
dit for having the courage to voice their views and share these views with =
others? Why to members feel the need to defend against these former Eckists=
? Why question their motives and character? The anti- Eckankar forces have =
simply decided that they cannot support the formal organization of Eckankar=
and have chosen to support some other path.
I support freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom to worship
as I please.
"I have sworn eternal hostility to all forms of tyranny over the mind
of man." Thomas Jefferson
They have not completely abandoned the principles of Eckankar which are u=
niversal and common to many paths.
I take exception to your wording here. We have rejected the lies,
plagiarism, and mind-control messages of Paul Twitchell. The
"principles of Eckankar" were STOLEN and MISUSED by Paul Twitchell.
These truths are freely available elsewhere. Twitchell used them to
create a cult, and set himself up as God.
Basically, IMHO "Eckankar sucks." Lurk suggested this one, but I sort
of take it out of context. Wish I'd thought of it first!!!
This does not make them bad people.
Au contraire, JT! I am vile, vicious, venomous, and...worst of all...
ravaged by MENOPAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well...it's better than being an.....ASSWIPE!!! IMHO, of course.
(You know, the whole purpose of this long post was just so I could use
my favorite word! I've sort of missed it....)
Now they seek to warn other like minded individuals of the mistakes they =
made because certain
information that would have helped them was unknown to them at the time.
They now wish to share with others their new found knowledge. Do we reall=
y
need to classify dissidents as enemies? Think about it...
You asked why? Perhaps the answers are in the teachings of eckankar:
"We find that the only way to the heavenly world is via the path of
ECK. At this point, we must become intolerant of all other ideas which
try to creep into our consciousness." Paul Twitchell, The Secret Way,
L. 12 (members-only discourse)
"The chela must be a person of heroic spirit and mold in order to
carry out the responsibilities of being1 a divine instrument for the
MAHANTA [...] He must rely on his heroic spirit to triumph over all
the attacks made upon him by the Kal force through others [...] the
chela carries on a strategy of contradictions which will become
powerful in his hands [...]" PT, Satsang II, L. 6 (members- only
discourse)
"Those who have become recruited into ECK must realize this from the
beginning. Because of this power of the ECK, these persons must show
initiative, resourcefulness, and a fanatical loyalty to ECK." PT,
Satsang III, L. 3 (discourse)
"If the chela is not possessed of this quality of dedication and
loyalty to the path of ECK, his incarnations are lengthened in this
world, and he shall not be able to enter into the next worlds at the
end of this present life." PT, Shariyat 1, Chapter 6 1
" . . . the mission of the Mahanta on this earth is to stir the
millions of non-initiated into revolt against all orthodox religions.
It also means that anyone who opposes the Mahanta in any of the worlds
is foolish for the ECK will work swiftly in retribution." SKS I, p.
181
And of course, two of my personal favorites from "GODMAN" ...
"Those who are without the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master, are pagans,
little better than those life forms just below that of man." PT, SKS
II, page 173
" . . . each of those who are ECKists must come to the realization
that they each, belong to the chosen race of the superior being. All
others are aliens, that is those who have not yet voluntarily taken up
the path of ECK. These aliens, as we speak of them, are, in a way,
heathens or pagans who have not yet found truth. They are the agents
of the Kal, and the enemy of those who are the followers of ECK." PT,
IWL, pg. 168
> for the anti-Eckankar forces: >
Why do opponents of Eckankar harass otherwise happy members of a peaceful=
group. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet does it not?
I like REAL roses, not phony ones.
A pile of bullshit that claims "There is no way to God except through
the path of ECKANKAR, and there can be no denying of this." (IWL pg.
80) is still a pile of bullshit.
Regardless of the origins of the beliefs shared by today's Eckists, if th=
e
teaching is common to other paths as well, why is it any less true if pro=
claimed by Eckankar?
Quite simply, because of all the LIES in eckankar. As the ORIGINAL
Cliffhanger wrote:
"Hundreds of shrewd fakirs and holy men hit the jackpot simply by
announcing they are an incarnate god." John A. Keel, "Jadoo"
Does truth really require a religious label?
Evidently, since eckankar copyrighted its eckwords, and Twitchell
wrote copiously on the necessity for a new language in IWL. But of
course, eckankar is "evolving" ....to win new members and influence
zoning boards!
Klemp in Ask the Master, Book 2: "Now, however, with the Temple of ECK
as the center post of the missionary effort in ECK (. . .) When giving
service to others in the name of Sugmad, is it really necessary to
tell them we have another name for God?"
And this:
"So, in talking with those in orthodox religions about the spiritual
exercises, you may sometimes want to use the word *prayer*. At least
they'll understand it. Later, you can tell them our name for it: the
Spiritual Exercises of ECK, or contemplation. We need to change the
way we talk if we are to bring the message of ECK to others." Klemp,
The Living Word, Book 2: pg. 177
sounds a lot better than this ....
"If many of the people today understood the true purpose of prayer,
they would be very shocked to find that under the spiritual law, they
are coming under the label of black magicians. They would be
astounded."
But...not to worry!! After all...
"The Master is absolutely honest in his dealings with everyone."
The Precepts of Eckankar, by Paul Twitchell..."secret members-only
discourses" ... "reviewed, updated, and published under the
supervision of the Living ECK Master, Sr. Harold Klemp. It is the Word
of Eck."
If I am an outlaw and a scoundrel but I preach about peace and brotherhoo=
d is my message any less valid?
Outlaws and scoundrels wouldn't preach about peace and brotherhood
without ulterior motives.
twitchell also wrote:
"The universes are the vineyard of the living ECK Master and he will
colonize all in the name of the SUGMAD." Spiritual Notebook, pg. 159
" . . . the mission of the Mahanta on this earth is to stir the
millions of non-initiated into revolt against all orthodox religions.
It also means that anyone who opposes the Mahanta in any of the worlds
is foolish for the ECK will work swiftly in retribution." SKS I, p.
181
"Therefore, as you can readily see, my greatest task is not to gather
disciples for ECK, but to create a corps of "true believers." This
corps must convince itself that it's the only moral position in the
universe. Their moral absolution gives them the right to dissolve what
they judge to be amoral according to the conditions of the world and
its higher spheres. The breaking up of the old traditional religions
and reestablishing of the rightful beliefs under the banner of ECK is
the way of the right [...] Indeed such attitudes are not only felt to
be right, but it's an obligation to those who belong to the ECK Truth
Corps. This truth corps is often known as "the Mahanta's children."
PT, Satsang III, L. 2
Oh!! Just for the heck of it, guess who wrote this lovely poem?
YOUR HOME IS WHERE YOU'RE HAPPY
Your home is where you're happy
It's not where you're not free
Your home is where you can be what you are
'Cause you were just born to be
Now they'll show you their castles And diamonds for all to see
But they'll never show you that peace of mind
'Cause they don't know how to be free So burn all your bridges
Leave your old life behind You can do what you want to do
'Cause you're strong in your mind
And anywhere you might wander
You can make that your home
And as long as you got love in your heart
You'll never be alone
Just as long as you got love in your heart
You'll never be alone
You'll never be alone
Happens to be someone who also claims to be Jesus Christ....
Oh, more cuties from Twitchell:
"the living ECK Master is timeless in the Atma Sarup. He is the Alpha
and Omega, immaculately conceived, raised in the physical form. . ."
Spiritual Notebook, pg. 163
"The ECK enters into the womb of a virgin, the queen of heaven, who
has submitted to the true spirit of the universe.1 The consciousness
of the Mahanta state (the spiritual form of the human Eckankar leader)
is planted as the seed, and carefully nurtured in the womb.1 When the
embodiment of flesh is brought into this world, a man-child is born.1
It starts its unfoldment over a period of years until the state of
perfection is reached, in adulthood.1 Then the chosen one learns that
he is the Living ECK Master of his times."1SKS 1, pg. 111-112, 2nd
ed., 10th printing, 1987
The poem's author was Charles Manson, by the way. He's got quite a
following...saw a news show recently, quite a few teenagers think he's
"cool." (or whatever word they use!)
Gee, speaking of Manson, I just remembered those swastikas his
"chelas" inscribed on their foreheads...Manson's interesting, he used
mental telepathy too, you know. Anyway...I wonder about this one:
"Many of the ECK children look to the Living ECK Master, not as an
idol, but as a person to look up to and to be like when they grow up.
They want to have the spiritual understanding and the awareness to
make their way in this world. It's a known fact that Hitler started
his daydreaming at a very young age to become a conqueror, after he
entered the German army in World War I; he began this way back in
childhood." pg. 176, The Eck Ynari, Paul Twitchell
If Eckandar is the science of soul travel whose > express purpose is to h=
elp individual souls back to their original >home - what does it matter if =
the founder was a bum?
Because...it didn't stop with the founder!
(Pssst...it's "Eckankar!")
If Eckists are happy in their > belief system, why should anyone put them=
down? Think about it...
For the same reason that it's attempted murder if someone who knows
they have AIDS screws around with as many people as possible
anyway...
I think twitchell's "express purpose" was quite clear in "Letters to a
Chela" (see http://www.delphi.com/eckankartruth), where he wrote:
"So ECK of ITSELF must find those who are willing to *plant*
themselves in church groups, of every nature, and act as the ones to
*spread the message* of ECK. These are commonly called *cells* in
political jargon, but we know them as *cadres.* This is to *get a
foothold* in any group, any institution and to be able to quietly but
effectively *give out the message of ECK*, and act as *reformers*
within these groups ****so that their members will come over to the
works of ECK.**** This is one of the efficient ways of educating
others to *become sympathetic with the ECK and ITS works.* (...)
***But we can find ways of entering into the middle stream of life
everywhere, in social clubs, on civic boards, in groups of people who
are *seemingly without anything in their lives*. You can get
invitations to talk to public groups on ECK, have your own festivals,
such as an ECK festival, or go on radio and television programs
wherever available. *You can visit old folks homes and help cheer them
up; visit hospitals and help with people who are not able to help
themselves. Become readers who will talk to people who are
handicapped, or read to them *from the works, the books of ECK.*** You
can also ******infiltrate***** young people groups and tell them about
ECK. You can make talks to high school groups and to university and
college classes.
There are a hundred ways in which you can make yourself available to
do work for passing out the message of ECK. Everyone of them is a part
of your training for ECK leadership."
I suppose however, that we must do what we must do. The forces for and ag=
ainst will continue
to duke it out... I suppose that's all part of being human. I suppose ther=
e's many reasons to
explain the motivations on both side of the fence. Good luck to both side=
s. I suppose pro or con
we are all doing what we feel we must. Maybe expressing ones view is the =
important
thing. Maybe the war helps both sides progress.
"Eckankar may not merely condone war, as it does, but often might
employ war if necessary to protect Itself . . . It must be remembered
that all complaints and all arguments against the ECK which are
directed at the Mahanta are the works of the Kal." SKS 2, pg. 27-28
"Those who are faint of heart do not win missionary or military
campaigns. (...) How will ECK and ECKANKAR become household words?
Only by our efforts. It will not happen on its own." Harold Klemp,
"Ask The Master, Book 2"
Without opposing viewpoints their would be no posts and no insights for e=
ither side.
In that case let me congratulate all sides to the conflict. Your're all d=
oing one > heck of job.... >
And let me tell you, it ain't easy for us alien heathen pagan subhuman
veggie enemies of the ECK!!!! Especially me...I've got to deal with
these pesky maggots infesting my rotting flesh...they make a mess of
the keyboard!!!!
Not to mention...I also have to deal with:
"The ignorant and the naive will never understand, nor shall they
learn except by experiencing the slow death brought about by their own
overt acts against the Mahanta and the ECK. This is actually creating
overt acts against the SUGMAD." pg. 91, SKS I
Anyway...Nice post, JT!
And don't forget:
"Be thankful that you have earned the right to come to ECK in this
lifetime, for life without ECK is a living hell..." "The Book of ECK
Wisdom," quoted in "Letters of Light" ... youth newsletter...
I bet they study LL at those special youth satsangs they're having
such a wonderful response from, or maybe they just stick to the
special youth discourses, starting with the really cute coloring books
for the littlest ones...and in one of my "Mystic Worlds" there's an
absolutely ADORABLE picture of some little eckchildren singing
ecksongs at a nursing home.....
Hugs,
Sharon
http://www.delphi.com/eckankartruth
"Happy Happy Joy Joy!!" --Ren & Stimpy
Intro & Overview -- Part 3
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: "JT" , Bell Solutions
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 12:43:49 GMT
Whew!!!
One heck of a response Sharon. No one can say you don't have your
reasons. Great post. Very much appreciated. I was not aware that
Twitchell was so intolerant of other religious paths.
I can't wait for the other shoe to fall. I wonder if an Eckist
(hopefully someone without Nathan's venom) can take an apposing view
and show through Eck writings how Eckankar is tolerant and generous
with non-Eckists. I must admit I see little evidence in this NG of
Eckankar's tolerance.
Thinking back, I was attracted to the works of Eck because of the
simple message - i.e. soul travel, total consciousness, finding your
way back home in this lifetime. Now I see other messages have taken
its place - such as deny, misdirect, convert, and repress, all in the
name of furthering a contemporary organization. How is that otherwise
kind people get 'sucked' into supporting an organization that wishes
to change the social order?
I suppose its a question of values. I suppose we lose sight of our
goal and get sucked into the method. I suppose we buy into the big
lie. And, I suppose if the big lie is repeated often enough in a
newsgroup enough people will buy into it thus perpetuating the group.
I suppose some people feel a greater allegiance to the group than to
their inner self. I guess I just don't know. Still, as long as these
groups are non-violent I suppose they have every right to pursue their
goals as they wish. For the rest of us I suppose we need to remain
ever vigilant.
Now I know this makes it sound like I am siding with the anti-Eckankar
forces. I suppose in a way I am. I believe in life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. Therefore any person or organization that seeks
to exercize control over others by pertuating falsehoods or by using
misdirection ( a little truth and deception cleverly mixed together)
should expect to be criticized and and can expect to engage its
membership in a psychological war with outsiders. I sure wouldn't want
to be part of any organization that felt a need to defend its precepts
or its past. Above all else truth and liberty should be cherished by
us all. Any organization that diminishes these qualities in us should
be viewed with serious suspicion...
Finally, I would like to say that I am not necessarily condemning
Eckankar, its teachings or its adherents. I think Eckists and non-
Eckists alike should thoughtfully examine the written works of
Eckankar and decide for themselves. I think that the writings should
be freely discussed and debated. It would be nice if we could keep the
mud slinging to a minimum. There is no need to demean anyone for their
views. If you have looked at the facts and have decided that on
balance that Eckankar has something to offer you - then GO FOR IT!. No
need to put down others who decide otherwise. I suppose we can debate
certain interpretations, but I hope we can agree on the facts. As to
the anti-Eckankar forces, I think we owe them our grattitude for
attempting to set the record straight. Lieing or cheating is not nice
however, let's all try to minimize the exaggeration. I know it can be
fun in a newsgroup to rattle the other guy's cage from time to time.
JT
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: Sharon
Date: 19 Jul 1999 00:23:52 GMT
"JT" writes:
Whew!!!
Tell me about it! Had no idea where that one would go when I started!
> One heck of a response Sharon. No one can say you don't have your reaso=
ns.
Great post. Very much appreciated. I was not aware that Twitchell was
so
intolerant of other religious paths.
Haven't you read the Shariyat? Or haven't you been in Eckankar long?
Or maybe....you're the kind of eckist I was. I heard what I wanted to
hear...and disregarded the rest.
I can't wait for the other shoe to fall. I wonder if an Eckist (hopefully
someone without Nathan's venom) can take an apposing view and show throug=
h
Eck writings how Eckankar is tolerant and generous with non-Eckists. I mu=
st
admit I see little evidence in this NG of Eckankar's tolerance.
You know....I could do the same thing with the "positive"
eckstuff...the stuff I believed in. But...the other things, the things
I'd somehow glossed over and ignored, well...they're important too.
I've posted before...I had funny feelings all through my eckanyears.
In fact, I'm sure I posted here last summer, when I was an eckist...I
believe I may have been talking to Lurk...that word "infiltrate"
stuck. But...I didn't remember where I'd read it.
Anyway...I spent quite awhile composing a long response to this in
"write," as well as a short response to David H.'s post in this
thread, which I just posted from Deja...and the computer froze up when
I was about to copy the long response to this one. I ended up having
to reboot. So I lost it.
Which is okay. It's nothing I haven't said before. As I was writing, I
kept thinking, good grief...I feel like a broken record.
I mean, I know many people aren't thrilled about all my posts here.
Hey, if you think reading and/or not-reading them is rough, you should
have been here on my end!!!
I've been here a bit over a year, JT, and recently, more or less 99%
retired. I've been pretty busy...and I'd really like to work on my
websites. I've said just about everything already, you know....
But...you know, I liked my "whew" post!! I found it sort of neat how
it grew & where it went...often, well...what I post sort of,
well...takes on a life of its own. Thanks for giving me the
opportunity to write it!
The one I just lost, well...it was just the same old, same
old...except for a brief "ramble" after I had a laughing half-hour
chat with two Mormon missionaries! Fun, actually...one of them, poor
guy, was one of those "true believer" types. I found him offensive,
actually. The cute red-headed guy was fun, though...he was laughing
too. Actually covered his mouth a few times, because, well...he could
see clearly too. And yes!! They do yardwork!! The "tb" couldn't
understand that yes, I'd read their book, yes I prayed a lot, yes I
liked their book and perhaps it's true, but no, I did not have any
need or desire to get "saved" ....
Anyway, the cute red-head agreed that God probably had a sense of
humor (just look at the duck-billed platypus, or puppies playing!)...
the tb was annoyed that I wasn't going along with the programmed
salespitch he wanted to stick to...he didn't find my remark that yes,
I loved Jesus--- after all, he was a party animal, funny! That
changing water into wine stuff, you know...anyway, I think the red-
head understood about God having no limitations, and how could we put
either ourselves or God into one little book or one little box...
I'll betcha, though, if tb wasn't there, the redhead would have told
me more about Mormon underwear...he said yes, it was sacred and holy,
but he was laughing. TB just looked horrified...
Anyway...as they walked away, I noticed the redhead had *such* a cute
butt! A bit too young for me, though...and too old for my
granddaughter! I'm spayed, anyway. It would be sort of neat,
though...I mean, technically, if I died before the little baby red-
head came along, I could be my own grandmother!!
Anyway, JT...you know, you seem like a nice person, but...well, I've
served my time here...
Have a nice weekend, everyone!! Oh...any eckseminars scheduled here on
the East Coast? We could use some rain...lots of it!!
Hugs,
Sharon
http://members.delphi.com/sharon2000
"Happy Happy Joy Joy" -- Ren & Stimpy
Overview & Intro of Eckankar, The Cult -- Part 4
(This is an "introductory handout" file I send to people who are
requesting more information. Some of it, of course, is a bit
repetitious if you've looked at my other webpages....but this section
of this website will be used to direct people who aren't yet familiar
with "The Other Side of Eckankar -- What The Cult Doesn't Want People
to Know.")
To Whom It May Concern:
I was a member of Eckankar, a pseudo-religion with headquarters in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and a "Temple" in Chanhassen, for almost
15 years.
In July of 1998, I went to the newsgroup alt.religion.eckankar as a
"missionary" to help spread the "Light and Sound." I didn't think of
myself as a "missionary" .... cultic programming had convinced me that
Eckankar wasn't out to get new members; I was simply sharing the love
and joy in my heart, and "The Mahanta" would take care of the rest.
After a short time at the newsgroup, I became aware that a funny
feeling I'd had inside me for many, many years -- that there was
something wrong about Eckankar -- wasn't the "Kal" (Satan) as I'd been
told in Eckankar, or a "doubt" planted by the "Master" to test &
strengthen me spiritually. I learned that Eckankar was, basically, a
lie. When I first "left," it was a matter of personal integrity, and
not being able to remain associated with a "religion" whose leaders
lied, refused to answer legitimate questions, and indeed, spiritually
abused members who refused to follow the "party line." In the months
after I left, I went back over the "holy scriptures" and for the first
time, saw so many things that I had somehow missed.
I believe it was in October 1998 that I formally resigned. Through all
this time, I remained at the newsgroup....and went through things I
never believed possible. I learned first-hand that yes, Eckankar does
use subtle mind-control techniques which over the years,
well....basically, you end up brainwashed. I can't begin to describe
the clarity of mind, heart, and soul since leaving the cult...every
day gets better and better!
Because I was a secretary to a local Lutheran parish for 10 months
that year, and because eckists at the newsgroup had gone so far as to
post the website of the Catholic Church I now attend, well....I told
the Lutheran pastor as well as my parish priest a bit about my cult
experience. As a result, because Pastor Eric knows me personally and
knows that I'm a basically normal, well-balanced person, I was even
asked to speak to a group of pastors to tell them about the cult. And
I must say....if anyone has *experiences* they don't understand,
please, never hesitate to talk to a Christian clergyman about them.
When I was an eckist, I was asked to be a member of a "Group of Online
Eckists" whose purpose, I soon learned, was to silence those who spoke
out against Eckankar and tried to give people the information that I
wish I had known before I was caught in it. And I was told by an HI
that I should not engage in "conversation" with those who spoke
against Eckankar, especially Professor David Lane. I saw first-hand
how Eckankar's "clergy" and "High Initiates" plotted and manipulated
and discussed specific "strategies" against specific "detractors." In
this group, I was shocked to see the hatred toward those who spoke
against Eckankar, and the strategies used to silence them. I thought
Eckankar was about "divine unconditional love for all souls." I was
wrong. Eckankar lied. While many people leave Eckankar when they
discover the expose published by Professor David Lane, my experience
was different. I left because as an Eckist, I could see first-hand
that Eckankar lied and manipulated, and did not follow its own
teachings... the teachings it emphasizes in its public messages. When
I left Eckankar, at first I still "believed" ... it took months for me
to really break free of it inside, and to really understand and be
able to separate the stolen "truths" I believed in (which actually,
are from other great & valid spiritual traditions and teachings) from
the cultic lies and mind-control.
I learned that Harold Klemp regularly broadcasts on TV in Minneapolis,
and that there is much advertising in various media all over the
country; in the summer of 1998, Eckankar also had a full-page
advertisement in TV guide. Eckankar also uses expensive marketing
consultants in their efforts to gain new converts. Basically, it's a
form of spiritual "protection racket," with multi-level marketing
techniques thrown in. Eckankar, like most cults, does not want either
the general public or its members to know anything about its "hidden"
side. When Professor David Lane's research was mailed to Eckankar
centers years ago, eckists were told to destroy it without reading it.
And this is what many "higher initiates" actually did. Thousands of
other eckists, however, read the information...and left Eckankar.
While Eckankar claims to respect all religions and see everyone as
soul....it doesn't.
I am attaching a file with further information which you may find
interesting. Eckankar lures people in with subtle messages in what I
call the "newbie freebie book" you can get by calling 1-800- LOVEGOD.
From there....it's a road into a deep, dark hole that isn't easy to
escape.
Since I have been speaking out at the newsgroup, I have heard from so
many ex-eckists about the trauma they've suffered through leaving this
cult. The psychological effects of spiritual abuse in some cases is
still there for as long as 15-20 years. It doesn't have to be that
way....but because of many fear & threat messages interwoven with
stolen & plagiarized ancient truths in Eckankar's "teachings,"
well....people are afraid to speak out, and blame themselves....
When Paul Twitchell created this cult, he also considered how to
silence those who left. Fear and threats were one method. Another was
the "teaching" that people weren't "ready" for the high truth of
Eckankar, and needed to learn lessons in "other paths" ... but that
eventually, they would have to return to the "Mahanta" in order to
reach "heaven."
I hope you find the enclosed information will perhaps let more people
know the truth about Eckankar and its false and deceptive "teachings,"
so that this cult perhaps can be prevented from doing to others what
it did to me, and many other ex-eckists. If people do truly want to
join this cult, well....they should be able to know ALL the
information about it. To be honest, I don't know how anyone could
possibly look at it objectively and still want to be a part of it.
Thank you very much. Please feel free to contact me anytime for more
information.
Sincerely,
Sharon
email: sharon2000@myremarq.com
Intro & Overview - Part 5
An example of Eckankar's "Protection Racket" methods to get & keep
members---
Read carefully -- note the subtle technique. First, promises of an
easy way to heaven . . . revelations of "ancient secret
knowledge" . . . the "LivingECKMaster" stuff . . .invitation to
membership . . . then the threats and scary stuff!!
Author: Sharon
Date: 1999/02/28
From "The Living Word, Book 2" by Harold Klemp, 1996, compiled by Mary
Carroll Moore,
edited by Joan Klemp & Anthony Moore.
(...a collection of articles by Sri Harold from 1989 to 1995 . . . 28
from "Mystic World", 8 from the Eckankar Journal . . . Note: "Mystic
World" contains a notice that it is for eckmembers only, not to be
available to the public...)
DREAMS, YOUR ROAD TO HEAVEN
"Our dreams are the forgotten road to heaven. This was once a nearly
absolute truth. That is, until the teachings of ECK surfaced in 1965
to encourage people to look for the lost doorway between heaven and
earth: their dreams."
(Note: Paul Twitchell "created" Eckankar in 1965, claiming to have
received "dictation" from spiritual "eckmasters." There is much
documented plagiarism from the works of Julian Johnson's "Path of the
Masters" and Scientology...Twitchell was a Scientologist for awhile.)
" Dreams are the starting point for many who wish to begin the
spiritual journey to God and do it in the easiest possible way. There
simply is no better way to start than with our dreams. Good works may
carry us far along this holy journey, and prayer is indeed a boon, but
generally we can learn more about the true nature of God through the
secret knowledge of dreams.
(Dream your way to God...the easy way! Mother Teresa, of course, will
have to reincarnate as an eckist if she wants to know God...)
Daydreams, night dreams, contemplation, Soul Travel--all are steps in
the pursuit of heaven. In Eckankar, the student is under the
protection of a spiritual guide known as the Mahanta. This is the
Spiritual Traveler. As the Mahanta, he is the Inner Master, the one
who comes on the inner planes to impart knowledge, truth, and wisdom.
But he also has an outer side. Here is is known as the Living ECK
Master. Thus, the spiritual leader of Eckankar can work both inwardly
and outwardly with all who come to learn of God and life.
Those who want his spiritual direction may choose to become members of
Eckankar. As part of their first year of study, they may receive The
ECK Dream I Discourses.
Each month, the individual is sent a six-page discourse that explores
the spiritual world of dreams. This study is different from any other
study he may have made in the past, for it deals entirely with Soul.
What is Soul's responsibility to God and all living things? Key to
this dream knowledge is divine love: where and how do you find
it?" (note: Eckankar has recently switched to sending out discourses a
year at a time... in one big batch...probably to save on postage
expenses...) "A person who travels in his dream worlds is assured of
the Mahanta's protection, because heaven is a place of many
dimensions. To learn about them, read Paul Twitchell's The Tiger's
Fang."
(Note on "The Tiger's Fang" -- this book allegedly contains
plagiarism, and was originally written using the name of Kirpal Singh,
a real-life "guru" who initiated Twitchell...Singh rejected the
book....and Twitchell replaced "Kirpal Singh" with a fictional "Sudar
Singh" and "Rebazar Tarz." This information is available from David
Lane's "Making of a Spiritual Movement" and from the Spiritual
Counterfeit Project's SCP Journal #0301.)
" In those lower heavens that lie between earth and the true worlds of
God, there are shady people who like nothing better than to cheat or
harm innocent victims. In Africa, for instance, the power of black
magic is very strong. An African man reported a dream in which a group
of men and women took him to a high place. Unknown to him, these
people were warlocks and witches. When they reached the top of this
place, which was a towering seawall, a woman in the group told him to
jump into the sea. But he knew that all who jumped from that height
never came back."
"Jump" she urged. As if hypnotized, he began to move toward the edge
of the wall. At that moment, the Mahanta appeared. The group vanished.
The master smiled and patted the dreamer on his shoulder; then the
dreamer awoke."
"What few would recognize is that the Mahanta prevented the dreamer's
death. It often happens that a dreamer, who does not have the
protection of the Mahanta, simply dies in his sleep. The doctor writes
off the cause as heart failure or some other physical condition. Often
as not, however, the dreamer had wandered beyond the safe limits of
his inner world and met a psychic criminal, who was responsible for
his death. An experience that did not have to be, had he known of the
Mahanta, the Living ECK Master."
"Dreams are one road to heaven. Another way to enter is through
contemplation: a few minutes each day of spiritual relaxation in which
the individual sits with his eyes closed and sings the holy name of
God. This word is HU. The Master comes, in time, to take him into the
worlds of heaven, the Far Country. With the Master along, what may
otherwise have been a nightmare turns out to have a spiritual end."
This "protection" and "connection" with the "Living ECK Master, the
Mahanta," is dependent upon the "chela" maintaining membership in the
organization, and paying the annual "donation" . . . when membership
is dropped, the "connection" with the "Mahanta," as well as the
supposedly- spiritual "initiations," no longer exists . . .
"initiations" (indicators of "spiritual progress") are lost.
Overview & Intro -- Page 6
Why Harold Klemp moved the Temple Site from Arizona to Minnesota
From "Be the Hu," the initiates-only book, compiled from Harold
Klemp's seminar talks to initiates of the second circle and above...
"I'm moving it for several reasons. In the past there have been a
number of psychic forces hovering around the site. We've also had to
consider the political situation in South America which is going to
push people north into overpopulated Mexico, then into the
southwestern United States."
From The Living Word, Book 2: "Why Build a Seat of Power for
Eckankar?
"We need a place from which the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master can
speak to the world about the Light and Sound of God. The Temple of ECK
will become the chief destination of spiritual pilgrims the world
over. For now, the Seat of Power for Eckankar is in Minnesota. At the
crossroads of humanity's quest for spiritual freedom, it is the
spiritual center of the world."
From Letters to a Chela by Paul Twitchell---page 34 For more chapters
of this "secret initiates-only book" see http://www.delphi.com/eckankartrut=
h
For Initiates Only---the discourse series that Harold Klemp and long-
time Eckists (including some here on ARE) studied & were brainwashed
with--this discourse series was reprinted in book form by Darwin, and
continued being sold for many years under Harold Klemp. (Please note
the words I've * *)
"So ECK of ITSELF must find those who are willing to *plant*
themselves in church groups, of every nature, and act as the ones to
*spread the message* of ECK. These are commonly called *cells* in
political jargon, but we know them as *cadres.* This is to *get a
foothold* in any group, any institution and to be able to quietly but
effectively *give out the message of ECK*, and act as *reformers*
within these groups ****so that their members will come over to the
works of ECK.**** This is one of the efficient ways of educating
others to *become sympathetic with the ECK and ITS works.*
Since Christianity is only an aspect of the ECK there is no need of
viewing it or any other religion with awe. All religions and
philosophies spring out of the fountainhead of ECK. Therefore we must
look upon each with a sympathetic view that every group is
respectively struggling to find the Godhead.
***Since every ECKist knows that the Godhead is that which is
available only through the path of ECK then he must be warm,
sympathetic and helpful to those in religions, occultism and
philosophies for they are all the subordinates of ECKANKAR.******
There is no need to fight them, no need to have arguments with them or
try to give them truth when none are ready for it.
***But we can find ways of entering into the middle stream of life
everywhere, in social clubs, on civic boards, in groups of people who
are *seemingly without anything in their lives*. You can get
invitations to talk to public groups on ECK, have your own festivals,
such as an ECK festival, or go on radio and television programs
wherever available. *******
*****You can visit old folks homes and help cheer them up; visit
hospitals and help with people who are not able to help themselves.
Become readers who will talk to people who are handicapped, or read to
them *from the works, the books of ECK.*
****** You can also ******infiltrate***** young people groups and tell
them about ECK. You can make talks to high school groups and to
university and college classes.
There are a hundred ways in which you can make yourself available to
do work for passing out the message of ECK. Everyone of them is a part
of your training for ECK leadership."
Under Klemp's leadership, Eckankar has been implementing the message
of "Letters to a Chela" and subtly reinforcing this message in its
"chelas" .... Klemp has recently instructed all eckists to speak to
one new person a week about Eckankar. . .
Klemp in The Living Word, Book 2: "The entire ECK spiritual heirarchy
is working on the ECK missions project."
"The truth about ECK Initiates is that some are good Vahanas, or
missionaries, and some are not. (...) The first ECKist, the
unsuccessful one, uses old techniques from ten and twenty years ago.
He or she frightens people. (...) Such topics put new people off
today. It's OK to mention them---they are, after all, a part of the
ECK teachings-- but why dwell on them?
"...the successful one, shows a very different pattern. He or she is
willing to try new ways of reaching the millions of willing Souls, and
works closely with the ECK initiates at the Eckankar Spiritual Center.
This approach works. Its success lies in having the focus on the
spiritual needs of the seeker instead of what a great teaching *we*
represent." (pages 200-201)
Klemp in Ask the Master, Book 2: "Now, however, with the Temple of ECK
as the center post of the missionary effort
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SURVIVING THE CULT ECKANKAR
You *Can* and *Will* Recover. . .
Hints to Help You Heal - We've Been There - You'll Get Through It!
Lies You'll Need To Recognize and Banish!
May your day be filled with the blessings and joys of all the ages.
May you conquer your every fear in this day by being filled
with the love that is Eternal.
May you smile more and bring more smiles
to those you meet and greet on this day.
May happiness permeate your being and
may you glow in your own glorious radiance
that is God.
Remember that we are all connected together
and that what you think is what shall be
and in so doing
may you think more and more positive thoughts
with each and every passing day.
As it harmeth none, blessed be.
Gratitude, happiness, strength and love.
May courage of heart, clarity of mind, and
peace of spirit be with you
now and always, my friend.
~ Shawn Pyle ~
Leaving a cult isn't as easy as just sleeping late on Sunday mornings
and deciding not to go to church. I, personally, was very surprised at
some of the very unpleasant psychological effects of leaving
Eckankar.
One thing that helped was discovering information on the internet
which helped me to realize that what I was experiencing wasn't
unusual. I've listed some helpful links below.
And it helped to know that I wasn't alone. Other former cult members
reassured me that yes, I'd be fine and recover.
To be honest, I wished I'd known ahead of time what to expect. On the
other hand, experiencing it first, without outside influences,
certainly convinced me that it was "real" and not just imagination.
I, and thousands of other ex-eckists, have gotten through it. You
will, too.
Hugs,
Sharon
A Letter From a Staff Member at the American Family Federation:
Sharon,
It's pretty much universal when it comes to cult involvement. Everyone
thinks no one else will understand - if you ever attend an ex-member
workshop - you will be totally amazed that people involved in
psychologically controlling groups all have the same experiences -
different but the same.
My daughter was in a Bible-based group for five years - got out last
year - and has the same psychological problems as a person who has
been in TM or new age or etc. - In my daughter's case - she suffered
depression and confusion because she knew what she was before and she
knew what she was told in the group and came to believe - but the real
person had a mind fight with the new "enlightenment" and the struggles
are very painful.
I would recommend an ex-member workshop if you can manage it.
Best to you,
AFF Information Service
Bonita Springs, FL 34133
941-514-3081; fax 941-514-3451
AFF@csj.org
Visit our award-winning Website: http://www.csj.org
* * * * * * *
Feel free to write to me personally at
brighttigress@yahoo.com
* * * * *
(March 2005 Update - Hi everyone, please excuse the mess, I wasn't
able to access this site for updating for several years while Lycos
was taking over Angelfire, but their great tech support finally helped
solve the problem. Now I just need the time & motivation to get the
work done. In the meantime, I hope what's here now is helpful - please
check out all the links!)
NEW!!!!
Update: March 2001
The Night Twitch Died, and More
Albert, John, and Connie's Stories
THE CENTER FOR TWITCHELLIAN PLAGIARISM
There have been new plagiarism discoveries since David Lane's original
findings many years ago. This site, a work in progress, will be an
excellent resource for all seekers of truth.
UNDOING THE DAMAGE OF ROGUE LIGHT & SOUND GURUS -- DEVIATIONS FROM THE
PATH
By a Former Member of Eckankar
To go directly to Professor David Lane's "Eckankar" pages, click here!
(And be sure to look for Raphael's Critiques of Klemp's Discourses)
Suggested Websites.....Under Construction!!
Former Eckists Tell Their Side...
NEW--Intro & Overview--My
My Delphi Page---Some Good Links There
Partial Reconstruction of old Eckankartruth Website
Up-to-date (2005) e-kult related links
Current David Lane Webpage Index
Cult Awareness & Information Center
A Former Cult Member's Critique
Another Cult Information Site
The Psychology of Spiritual Movements
EckankarHistory Discussion Club at Yahoo
EckankarTruth--a new Forum, safe for former cult members, info for
seekers
An Honest Guru's Website - Join Now!!!
German Translation of Lane's
The Unofficial Eckankar (tm) Page - complete text
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/
Why Ex-Eckists Left Eckankar
Forum: alt.religion.eckankar
Thread: Message To The Seeker Looking At Eckankar For The First Time;
Or, Why Does Ben Post On ARE?
Date:1999/03/11
Author:bendouglass
I was an Eckist from 1972-84, but then summarily excommunicated for
not only asking certain delicate questions, but asking them over and
over again, but never receiving adequate answers. Mostly SILENCE!
Since that time I have gained much significant insight, emotional
detachment, objectivity, and supplimental experiences and information,
to offer certain teleogical, historical, epistemological, and
scientific criticisms about Eckankar.
It has become my personal conclusion that Eckankar is a psychological,
socio- spiritual, mythic con-game invented by a little man called Paul
Twitchell, who yearned for money, glory, and power of people--nothing
more! It is also my opinion that the "massive ancedotal evidence"
gathered by others, alone points in this direction. And because of
this I consider it my duty and responsibility as a citizen and former
Eckist to offer "another perspective on Eckankar," so that any new
seeker or student can make a more fully informed choice.
I have a right( and a responsibilty that goes with that right) to
offer any criticisms about Eckankar if I choose to do so. The only
right I do not have is to threaten and denigrate an individual with
malicious intent. There will always be those Eckists who will
consistently argue that ANY criticism leveled at Eckankar is invalid.
Often they will take these criticisms as personal attacks. The reason
is that their personal life has become irrevocably enmeshed with the
ECK and the Corporation. One becomes the other! We see these kind of
unreasonable, irrational, fearful, sheeplike people zealots in all
spiritual paths--they are called "fundamentalists."
So it all comes down to the pressing question: Can anybody ask
critical and sensitive questions about Eckankar and freely come to
their own conclusions without being "labelled" and their "personal
lives" paraded on a website without their express permission? If
alt.religion.eckankar is any barometer of this, I would say NO!
Whether it is college professors, skeptical humanists, or former
Eckists, the message from Eckists and their beloved Master is ANY
criticisms of their holy chalice is wrong, hateful, angry, etc.
More often than not, when an Eckist is vigorously challenged about
Eckankar tenets they can't defend on a purely philosophical level,
they retreat into their closed fantasy-prone system which, by it's
very nature, deadens and denies the spirit of open intellectual
inquiry among people. To the ARE Eckists 400 years of the Age of
Enlightenment, and its seasoned tools and processes of verification
and accountability are rejected enmasse.
The reason for this might be that their "HOUSE THAT TWITCHELL BUILT"
could very well violently implode from within, when examined with the
same tools of rational inquiry taht any other system is subject to.
When Eckist are given the chance (and tools & processes) to critically
examine the very foundation of their faith they act like the ostrich.
Heads in sand, singing hu while their but feathers quiver with rage
and fear.It takes courage to listen to an opponent of your chosen
path. It even takes greater courage to question your path.
If Eckankar as a system of convictions and practices is a legitimate
path to truth and happiness, then any amount of open debate can only
strengthen it. Therefore, the role of the so-called "detractor" on ARE
becomes a positive role, a community service, a consumer advocate for
spiritual seekers.
Ben Douglass-SA #961
Agitate, Educate, Liberate!
Deja Community Started by Ben
The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: Data , None
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 12:05:58 -0500
Eckists have said that detractors (critics of Eckankar) are people who
quit Eckankar because it didn't work for them, or because they failed
at the path, and thus can't be taken seriously. In other words, we're
hopelessly biased against Eckankar, largely because we're angry that
we didn't make the grade.
Au contraire, mon frere.
I was not a failure at the path- I was given a leadership position in
my Eckankar community! Eckists there marveled at how "spiritually
advanced" I was.
I was one of the darlings of the community- active in public outreach,
volunteering regularly at the Eckankar center, giving money, providing
entertainment at worship services, and on and on...
Eckankar did work for me, mainly because its spiritual exercises, like
using the mantra OM or HU and focusing on the third eye, are
legitimate and used by similar religions that predate Eckankar.
The reason I turned my back on Eckankar for good was discovering the
plagiarism in their bible, which other Eckists told me was divinely
inspired.
I still miss my Eckankar friends, and the feeling of belonging I had
as a member, but I won't go back because I cannot compromise my moral
principles for the sake of personal gratification or spiritual
entertainment.
The Eckist argument in the first paragraph is both specious and
fallacious, and illustrates how desperate Eckists are to discredit
former members who have come forward and revealed the truth about
Eckankar.
If the Eckists who use this argument were ever to admit that the
detractors were on an equal footing with them as far as spiritual
development is concerned, they would be faced with the painful fact
that a detractor is simply an Eckist who is no longer willing to
tolerate being deceived nor participate in the process of deceiving
others.
The Eckists I am referring to above are those who know about the
plagiarism and other deceptions Professor David Lane has found within
Eckankar's spiritual literature, and turn a blind eye to harm Eckankar
causes.
These Eckists have no legitimate means of countering Lane's
revelations, so instead, they attack the credibility of those who bear
witness to the irrefutable facts found in his research. They label the
detractors "unbalanced", "nuts", "needs help", "satanically
influenced", etc., etc., twist their words or draw illogical
conclusions from them, and even lie when absolutely all else fails in
their efforts to silence the truth-tellers. These are the same
rhetorical tricks and tactics that nearly every false religion uses to
defend itself against legitimate, factual criticism.
Unfortunately, for these Eckists, the truth is impervious to these
assaults, and will stand for all time in relentless defiance of their
attempts to make it go away.
It is sadly ironic that people who profess to be on a path of truth
cannot tolerate the truth when it undermines what they believe in.
Data
Subject: Re: The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: zephyr@connectexpress.com
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 02:10:18 GMT
In article <372C85F6.54602B56@b.com>,
Data wrote: (snip)
This whole post applies to me as well.
Kate
Newsgroup: alt.religion.eckankar
Re: The Eckist argument: "It didn't work for you"
From: Harry , Clam Lovers (Lodge #4)
Date: 3 May 1999 00:52:45 GMT
*bow*
I, Dances with Clams, found myself smiling as I read this post, since
I believe it captures the true spirit of those called "detractors".
They number in the tens of thousands, I'm told, and most are very well
balanced, ethical people. eckankar most likely did work for them to a
point. But, eventually, we all reach an invisible line, where we each
have to decide for ourselves who we hang around with. A truly ethical
person would have quite a struggle within themselves to remain with
this organization, in light of all the blatant lies and deceptions.
Although I know they will never listen, I would suggest that all
eckists face themselves in the mirror and evaluate their own ethics in
a clear, unmuddled way. Look closely to your own ethics and answer as
truthfully as you can why you continue to support an organization that
was conceived in theft and fiction. A thing to ponder, also, is the
fact that almost all detractors have been where you are now
- but you haven't yet been where the detractors have reached. :-)
-Dances with Clams-
Author: Zuma
Date: 1997/04/17
Forum: alt.religion.eckankar
> I was once a hibernating Roman Catholic and found Eckankar too. I start=
ed reading some books, meeting some folks, going to Satsangs, subscribing t=
o the discourses, and finally keeping a dream log that is full of wonderful=
experiences with meeting Masters and flying through glorious landscapes of=
unspeakable beauty. I enjoyed falling asleep at night so that I may once a=
gain hear the Light And Sound. All of this in the course of two years. I kn=
ew that religion by any other name paled in comparison with the unfathomabl=
e Truth known as Eckankar. Then, a Christian friend told me that I had bett=
er take a good look at what I left for Eckankar; that I owed it to myself t=
o know for sure that what I found was the real thing. I too started "feelin=
g" something wasn't right with it. Once the honeymoon was over, I started r=
eading Twitchell's long-winded fragmented books again. I became suspicious =
that the original lure of Eckankar and its promise "why wait, now you can t=
ouch the hem of God" wasn't what is is cracked up to be. I read Brad Steige=
r's biography of Twitchell and for a time became enamoured with Eckankar ag=
ain, but it was short lived when I came to my senses. My good Christian fri=
ends were warning me that perhaps all these things I felt and saw were real=
, but that does not mean it came from the God I grew up with. Maybe these v=
isions were the work of the Evil One. After all, long before Paul landed on=
Earth, the Bible speaks on numerous occasions about false prophets and the=
wicked treachery of Satan and how he will do everything in his power to pu=
ll you away from God.
It all became clear at that point that I had fallen into the trappings
of a full blown CULT!!! It's leader wooing me and dazzling me, and
promising me the keys to heaven, like all good cult leaders
do...telling its followers what they want to hear!! Suddenly the
Internet explodes and lo and behold I see an army of Ex-Eckists
battling it out with the chelas.
David Lane's exhaustive research on Paul Twitchell's plagiarism and
his incessant lying just sealed the fate for me and Eckankar. The
reason everyone hates what Lane says, is because he shakes the very
foundation of their spiritual investments, and no one likes to be told
they are wrong. He is lucid, scholarly and extrememly convincing,
sooooo, that's why I have become the monster we all know today as
Zuma. Even Twitchell's ex-wife Gail has said that Eckankar was
concocted under false pretenses...she was there, she oughtta know!!
> In case anyone is interested, I've also read most of the David Lane > a=
nd David Rife stuff, and, frankly, I'm not impressed with either of > their=
attitudes. I've seen more open minds than those from most people > I've me=
t.
You don't have to like their attitudes, Observer...look closely at
what they are saying. They are constantly removing the bastion of
Eckankar stone by stone, and the people inside are feeling helpless.
Time will tell for sure, and I'll bet my last dollar that this little
"Light And Sound" club doesn't make it through through another decade.
Zuma
(Following is my original resignation letter. To see what led up to
this, click on: "Harold's Deceptive Editing" For some unknown reason,
I went running back a few days later...and sent them a check! I left
forever a month or two later.)
Whatever. . .
Author: Sharon V Comstock
Date: 1998/09/12
Forum: 1alt.religion.eckankar
" Now all this philosophy won't help you, nor will the reading of any
book, nor the practice of any spiritual exercise, unless the desire
for truth and God is absolutely pure."
Harold Klemp
"By their fruits ye shall know them. . ."
The Bible, I forget where
I have carefully read the disputed response from Harold to the
questionably edited question, as well as Lurk's commentary, and done
my best to look at it from many different viewpoints, on many levels.
As an Eckist, I have no problem with the editing, answer, or
commentary.
Perhaps it's just a very unspiritual & unhealthy attachment to my own
personal integrity. . .well that's not important really. . .but as of
right now I am no longer a card-carrying member of Eckankar the
organization. The letter will be in the mail shortly.
I will, however, continue as an Eckist on the inner. . .the Mahanta
will be with me, as always. He brought me here to see & learn certain
things, and now it really is time to take it back to the inner.
And before anyone makes any assumptions. . .I just want to make it
clear that a major factor in this is when I see another "Eckist"
attack spiritual truths because they're not clearly stamped with the
Eckankar copyright. Even though both truths, it turned out, according
to the outer teachings, were indeed from the Eck.
I've been having a lot of truths thrown in my face lately, and a lot
of illusions cleared away. . .this one was such a biggie it's just
impossible to rationalize in any way.
This is where the Mahanta has led me. . .
In Eck,
Sharon
P.S. Lurk, thank you --- although I must say if I were hanging around
I could really get into a lively debate on this one!
And Windy, by the way, no snide remarks. Stay the hell out of my
space. I've got the book around here somewhere but can't find
it. . .but I know there are laws about both psychic attack, which I
feel you are very close to doing although of course I can't really
judge. At the very least, there are things about taking on another's
karma by judging their particular learning experiences. If you have
something to say, I would suggest you put it where the sun don't
shine.
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/data.html
Overview & Intro to Eckankar, The Cult
About This Page
This page will be, basically, a "handout" file I compiled from my
postings at alt.religion.eckankar, for people who wrote to me
requesting more information. The "attach" function hasn't been working
too well for me, so I decided to simply post my "handout" here and
send out the URL to inquirers.
This information will be repeated on and expanded elsewhere. This is
just, basically, an overview.
Eckankar paints a very rosy picture of itself, naturally. It ignores
and tries to whitewash and even eradicate the facts of its past and
present, and its members tend to deny the possibility that there's
something wrong with their "religion."
For balance, well...I may seem a bit extreme. Truth is usually found
somewhere in the middle. I ask people to look at both sides of this
cult, think about it, consider all the possibilities.....and make up
their own minds.
Just look at the world, past and present, and think about where
extremes in beliefs, and fanatic fundamentalism, has brought about.
Just two examples....the Inquisition, and the bombing of the World
Trade Center. However, we must be careful and not be too extreme in
tolerating lies and deception. For example, for much of my life, when
I'd hear people around me making racist remarks, I wouldn't say
anything, just to be polite. I stopped doing that years ago. I speak
up, and tell them that sorry, I cannot condone their racist beliefs by
my silence.>
By the way, please ignore the language....the newsgroup can be a bit
rough sometimes.
Newsgroup: alt.religion.eckankar
Subject: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: "JT" , Bell Solutions
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 23:32:49 GMT
I am still fascinated by all the posts on this newsgroup. Some posts
are definitely entertaining. Just one question for each of the warring
camps-
for the happy members of Eckankar:
Why do members of Eckankar refuse to acknowledge the errors of the
past? Why not give regular contributors like Sharon, Lurk, and others,
some credit for having the courage to voice their views and share
these views with others? Why to members feel the need to defend
against these former Eckists? Why question their motives and
character? The anti-Eckankar forces have simply decided that they
cannot support the formal organization of Eckankar and have chosen to
support some other path. They have not completely abandoned the
principles of Eckankar which are universal and common to many paths.
This does not make them bad people. Now they seek to warn other like
minded individuals of the mistakes they made because certain
information that would have helped them was unknown to them at the
time. They now wish to share with others their new found knowledge. Do
we really need to classify dissidents as enemies? Think about it...
for the anti-Eckankar forces:
Why do opponents of Eckankar harass otherwise happy members of a
peaceful group. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet does it
not? Regardless of the origins of the beliefs shared by today's
Eckists, if the teaching is common to other paths as well, why is it
any less true if proclaimed by Eckankar? Does truth really require a
religious label? If I am an outlaw and a scoundrel but I preach about
peace and brotherhood is my message any less valid? If Eckandar is the
science of soul travel whose express purpose is to help individual
souls back to their original home - what does it matter if the founder
was a bum? If Eckists are happy in their belief system, why should
anyone put them down? Think about it...
I suppose however, that we must do what we must do. The forces for and
against will continue to duke it out... I suppose that's all part of
being human. I suppose there's many reasons to explain the motivations
on both side of the fence. Good luck to both sides. I suppose pro or
con we are all doing what we feel we must. Maybe expressing ones view
is the important thing. Maybe the war helps both sides progress.
Without opposing viewpoints their would be no posts and no insights
for either side. In that case let me congratulate all sides to the
conflict. Your're all doing one heck of job....
JT
Intro & Overview -- Part 2
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
F From: Sharon
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 05:40:16 GMT
In article , "JT" wrote:
I am still fascinated by all the posts on this newsgroup. Some posts >are=
definitely entertaining. Just one question for each of the warring >camps-=
for the happy members of Eckankar:
And yes, they SHOULD be happy!! After all:
"No man merely in the state of human consciousness can judge the
ECKist any more than an animal having simple consciousness can judge
the human conscious state of man. The ECKist is in fact the new
species of the human race, not understood by men. When in this state
the ECKist has developed an intellectual illumination of the most
pronounced character, and a strongly marked sense of moral exaltation.
He has also the conviction, the sense of immortality, the extinction
of the sense of wrong doing and the extinction of the fear of physical
death." Paul Twitchell, Illuminated Way Letters, pg. 247
> Why do members of Eckankar refuse to acknowledge the errors of the past=
?
Errors? What errors? How could there be errors? After all...
"Only the living ECK Master. . . is the pure instrument of God on
Earth." SKS 1 pg. 19
"ECKANKAR teaches that ECK is the source of all life. All life,
religions, philosophies, and metaphysical systems spring out of the
fountainhead which is ECK. Therefore, we cannot find anything which is
greater than the stream of life except the MAHANTA, the Living ECK
Master." Paul Twitchell, "Letters to a Chela," page 107.
"Each living ECK Master has become the Mahanta, which is God made
flesh on Earth. Therefore, we look to the Mahanta for he is the
representative of the SUGMAD in our midst today." Paul Twitchell,
Spiritual Notebook, pg. 197
"The living ECK Master is the only manifestation of the Sugmad on
Earth." Spiritual Notebook pg.198
"The living ECK Master is the perfect instrument of the SUGMAD on this
plane, often he is the Mahanta." Spiritual Notebook, pg. 198
The SUGMAD never appears in the flesh except as the MAHANTA, the
Living ECK Master. . ." Paul Twitchell, Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad II, pg.
146
GOD don't make no mistakes!!! Excuse me for quoting those
"meaningless" books, but, well...I used to be an eckist, you know. But
I missed the part that said "It's ALL on the inner!"
"When the sacred teachings of the ECK have been put into printed
books, such as the SHARIYAT-KI-SUGMAD, all ECK chelas can go forth and
by using it as reference can give all the holy scriptures of it to the
world. There is none greater than this magnificent scripture and we as
the chelas of ECK must use it as the source book, the living Bible of
our beliefs and faith." Illuminated Way Letters, page 216
"Each month, read a chapter of The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Book One. Do it
at your leisure. You can read a few sentences or a couple of
paragraphs at a time. Pay particular attention to the chapter title.
How does the chapter relate to the title. And how does it all relate
back to you. You can use this as an ongoing casual spiritual exercise.
It is a way to spiritualize yourself, to keep close to the Mahanta,
the ECK, and the SUGMAD." page 91, "The Eternal Dreamer," Harold
Klemp
And darn, you know...right before I left eckankult, whoops I mean
eckankar...I was going to sign up for that new service...automatic
shipments of eckbooks hot off the presses, with that handy little form
headquarters sent...you could either fill in your credit card number,
or authorize automatic deductions from your checking account!!!
Why not give regular contributors like Sharon, Lurk, and others, some cre=
dit for having the courage to voice their views and share these views with =
others? Why to members feel the need to defend against these former Eckists=
? Why question their motives and character? The anti- Eckankar forces have =
simply decided that they cannot support the formal organization of Eckankar=
and have chosen to support some other path.
I support freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom to worship
as I please.
"I have sworn eternal hostility to all forms of tyranny over the mind
of man." Thomas Jefferson
They have not completely abandoned the principles of Eckankar which are u=
niversal and common to many paths.
I take exception to your wording here. We have rejected the lies,
plagiarism, and mind-control messages of Paul Twitchell. The
"principles of Eckankar" were STOLEN and MISUSED by Paul Twitchell.
These truths are freely available elsewhere. Twitchell used them to
create a cult, and set himself up as God.
Basically, IMHO "Eckankar sucks." Lurk suggested this one, but I sort
of take it out of context. Wish I'd thought of it first!!!
This does not make them bad people.
Au contraire, JT! I am vile, vicious, venomous, and...worst of all...
ravaged by MENOPAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well...it's better than being an.....ASSWIPE!!! IMHO, of course.
(You know, the whole purpose of this long post was just so I could use
my favorite word! I've sort of missed it....)
Now they seek to warn other like minded individuals of the mistakes they =
made because certain
information that would have helped them was unknown to them at the time.
They now wish to share with others their new found knowledge. Do we reall=
y
need to classify dissidents as enemies? Think about it...
You asked why? Perhaps the answers are in the teachings of eckankar:
"We find that the only way to the heavenly world is via the path of
ECK. At this point, we must become intolerant of all other ideas which
try to creep into our consciousness." Paul Twitchell, The Secret Way,
L. 12 (members-only discourse)
"The chela must be a person of heroic spirit and mold in order to
carry out the responsibilities of being1 a divine instrument for the
MAHANTA [...] He must rely on his heroic spirit to triumph over all
the attacks made upon him by the Kal force through others [...] the
chela carries on a strategy of contradictions which will become
powerful in his hands [...]" PT, Satsang II, L. 6 (members- only
discourse)
"Those who have become recruited into ECK must realize this from the
beginning. Because of this power of the ECK, these persons must show
initiative, resourcefulness, and a fanatical loyalty to ECK." PT,
Satsang III, L. 3 (discourse)
"If the chela is not possessed of this quality of dedication and
loyalty to the path of ECK, his incarnations are lengthened in this
world, and he shall not be able to enter into the next worlds at the
end of this present life." PT, Shariyat 1, Chapter 6 1
" . . . the mission of the Mahanta on this earth is to stir the
millions of non-initiated into revolt against all orthodox religions.
It also means that anyone who opposes the Mahanta in any of the worlds
is foolish for the ECK will work swiftly in retribution." SKS I, p.
181
And of course, two of my personal favorites from "GODMAN" ...
"Those who are without the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master, are pagans,
little better than those life forms just below that of man." PT, SKS
II, page 173
" . . . each of those who are ECKists must come to the realization
that they each, belong to the chosen race of the superior being. All
others are aliens, that is those who have not yet voluntarily taken up
the path of ECK. These aliens, as we speak of them, are, in a way,
heathens or pagans who have not yet found truth. They are the agents
of the Kal, and the enemy of those who are the followers of ECK." PT,
IWL, pg. 168
> for the anti-Eckankar forces: >
Why do opponents of Eckankar harass otherwise happy members of a peaceful=
group. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet does it not?
I like REAL roses, not phony ones.
A pile of bullshit that claims "There is no way to God except through
the path of ECKANKAR, and there can be no denying of this." (IWL pg.
80) is still a pile of bullshit.
Regardless of the origins of the beliefs shared by today's Eckists, if th=
e
teaching is common to other paths as well, why is it any less true if pro=
claimed by Eckankar?
Quite simply, because of all the LIES in eckankar. As the ORIGINAL
Cliffhanger wrote:
"Hundreds of shrewd fakirs and holy men hit the jackpot simply by
announcing they are an incarnate god." John A. Keel, "Jadoo"
Does truth really require a religious label?
Evidently, since eckankar copyrighted its eckwords, and Twitchell
wrote copiously on the necessity for a new language in IWL. But of
course, eckankar is "evolving" ....to win new members and influence
zoning boards!
Klemp in Ask the Master, Book 2: "Now, however, with the Temple of ECK
as the center post of the missionary effort in ECK (. . .) When giving
service to others in the name of Sugmad, is it really necessary to
tell them we have another name for God?"
And this:
"So, in talking with those in orthodox religions about the spiritual
exercises, you may sometimes want to use the word *prayer*. At least
they'll understand it. Later, you can tell them our name for it: the
Spiritual Exercises of ECK, or contemplation. We need to change the
way we talk if we are to bring the message of ECK to others." Klemp,
The Living Word, Book 2: pg. 177
sounds a lot better than this ....
"If many of the people today understood the true purpose of prayer,
they would be very shocked to find that under the spiritual law, they
are coming under the label of black magicians. They would be
astounded."
But...not to worry!! After all...
"The Master is absolutely honest in his dealings with everyone."
The Precepts of Eckankar, by Paul Twitchell..."secret members-only
discourses" ... "reviewed, updated, and published under the
supervision of the Living ECK Master, Sr. Harold Klemp. It is the Word
of Eck."
If I am an outlaw and a scoundrel but I preach about peace and brotherhoo=
d is my message any less valid?
Outlaws and scoundrels wouldn't preach about peace and brotherhood
without ulterior motives.
twitchell also wrote:
"The universes are the vineyard of the living ECK Master and he will
colonize all in the name of the SUGMAD." Spiritual Notebook, pg. 159
" . . . the mission of the Mahanta on this earth is to stir the
millions of non-initiated into revolt against all orthodox religions.
It also means that anyone who opposes the Mahanta in any of the worlds
is foolish for the ECK will work swiftly in retribution." SKS I, p.
181
"Therefore, as you can readily see, my greatest task is not to gather
disciples for ECK, but to create a corps of "true believers." This
corps must convince itself that it's the only moral position in the
universe. Their moral absolution gives them the right to dissolve what
they judge to be amoral according to the conditions of the world and
its higher spheres. The breaking up of the old traditional religions
and reestablishing of the rightful beliefs under the banner of ECK is
the way of the right [...] Indeed such attitudes are not only felt to
be right, but it's an obligation to those who belong to the ECK Truth
Corps. This truth corps is often known as "the Mahanta's children."
PT, Satsang III, L. 2
Oh!! Just for the heck of it, guess who wrote this lovely poem?
YOUR HOME IS WHERE YOU'RE HAPPY
Your home is where you're happy
It's not where you're not free
Your home is where you can be what you are
'Cause you were just born to be
Now they'll show you their castles And diamonds for all to see
But they'll never show you that peace of mind
'Cause they don't know how to be free So burn all your bridges
Leave your old life behind You can do what you want to do
'Cause you're strong in your mind
And anywhere you might wander
You can make that your home
And as long as you got love in your heart
You'll never be alone
Just as long as you got love in your heart
You'll never be alone
You'll never be alone
Happens to be someone who also claims to be Jesus Christ....
Oh, more cuties from Twitchell:
"the living ECK Master is timeless in the Atma Sarup. He is the Alpha
and Omega, immaculately conceived, raised in the physical form. . ."
Spiritual Notebook, pg. 163
"The ECK enters into the womb of a virgin, the queen of heaven, who
has submitted to the true spirit of the universe.1 The consciousness
of the Mahanta state (the spiritual form of the human Eckankar leader)
is planted as the seed, and carefully nurtured in the womb.1 When the
embodiment of flesh is brought into this world, a man-child is born.1
It starts its unfoldment over a period of years until the state of
perfection is reached, in adulthood.1 Then the chosen one learns that
he is the Living ECK Master of his times."1SKS 1, pg. 111-112, 2nd
ed., 10th printing, 1987
The poem's author was Charles Manson, by the way. He's got quite a
following...saw a news show recently, quite a few teenagers think he's
"cool." (or whatever word they use!)
Gee, speaking of Manson, I just remembered those swastikas his
"chelas" inscribed on their foreheads...Manson's interesting, he used
mental telepathy too, you know. Anyway...I wonder about this one:
"Many of the ECK children look to the Living ECK Master, not as an
idol, but as a person to look up to and to be like when they grow up.
They want to have the spiritual understanding and the awareness to
make their way in this world. It's a known fact that Hitler started
his daydreaming at a very young age to become a conqueror, after he
entered the German army in World War I; he began this way back in
childhood." pg. 176, The Eck Ynari, Paul Twitchell
If Eckandar is the science of soul travel whose > express purpose is to h=
elp individual souls back to their original >home - what does it matter if =
the founder was a bum?
Because...it didn't stop with the founder!
(Pssst...it's "Eckankar!")
If Eckists are happy in their > belief system, why should anyone put them=
down? Think about it...
For the same reason that it's attempted murder if someone who knows
they have AIDS screws around with as many people as possible
anyway...
I think twitchell's "express purpose" was quite clear in "Letters to a
Chela" (see http://www.delphi.com/eckankartruth), where he wrote:
"So ECK of ITSELF must find those who are willing to *plant*
themselves in church groups, of every nature, and act as the ones to
*spread the message* of ECK. These are commonly called *cells* in
political jargon, but we know them as *cadres.* This is to *get a
foothold* in any group, any institution and to be able to quietly but
effectively *give out the message of ECK*, and act as *reformers*
within these groups ****so that their members will come over to the
works of ECK.**** This is one of the efficient ways of educating
others to *become sympathetic with the ECK and ITS works.* (...)
***But we can find ways of entering into the middle stream of life
everywhere, in social clubs, on civic boards, in groups of people who
are *seemingly without anything in their lives*. You can get
invitations to talk to public groups on ECK, have your own festivals,
such as an ECK festival, or go on radio and television programs
wherever available. *You can visit old folks homes and help cheer them
up; visit hospitals and help with people who are not able to help
themselves. Become readers who will talk to people who are
handicapped, or read to them *from the works, the books of ECK.*** You
can also ******infiltrate***** young people groups and tell them about
ECK. You can make talks to high school groups and to university and
college classes.
There are a hundred ways in which you can make yourself available to
do work for passing out the message of ECK. Everyone of them is a part
of your training for ECK leadership."
I suppose however, that we must do what we must do. The forces for and ag=
ainst will continue
to duke it out... I suppose that's all part of being human. I suppose ther=
e's many reasons to
explain the motivations on both side of the fence. Good luck to both side=
s. I suppose pro or con
we are all doing what we feel we must. Maybe expressing ones view is the =
important
thing. Maybe the war helps both sides progress.
"Eckankar may not merely condone war, as it does, but often might
employ war if necessary to protect Itself . . . It must be remembered
that all complaints and all arguments against the ECK which are
directed at the Mahanta are the works of the Kal." SKS 2, pg. 27-28
"Those who are faint of heart do not win missionary or military
campaigns. (...) How will ECK and ECKANKAR become household words?
Only by our efforts. It will not happen on its own." Harold Klemp,
"Ask The Master, Book 2"
Without opposing viewpoints their would be no posts and no insights for e=
ither side.
In that case let me congratulate all sides to the conflict. Your're all d=
oing one > heck of job.... >
And let me tell you, it ain't easy for us alien heathen pagan subhuman
veggie enemies of the ECK!!!! Especially me...I've got to deal with
these pesky maggots infesting my rotting flesh...they make a mess of
the keyboard!!!!
Not to mention...I also have to deal with:
"The ignorant and the naive will never understand, nor shall they
learn except by experiencing the slow death brought about by their own
overt acts against the Mahanta and the ECK. This is actually creating
overt acts against the SUGMAD." pg. 91, SKS I
Anyway...Nice post, JT!
And don't forget:
"Be thankful that you have earned the right to come to ECK in this
lifetime, for life without ECK is a living hell..." "The Book of ECK
Wisdom," quoted in "Letters of Light" ... youth newsletter...
I bet they study LL at those special youth satsangs they're having
such a wonderful response from, or maybe they just stick to the
special youth discourses, starting with the really cute coloring books
for the littlest ones...and in one of my "Mystic Worlds" there's an
absolutely ADORABLE picture of some little eckchildren singing
ecksongs at a nursing home.....
Hugs,
Sharon
http://www.delphi.com/eckankartruth
"Happy Happy Joy Joy!!" --Ren & Stimpy
Intro & Overview -- Part 3
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: "JT" , Bell Solutions
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 12:43:49 GMT
Whew!!!
One heck of a response Sharon. No one can say you don't have your
reasons. Great post. Very much appreciated. I was not aware that
Twitchell was so intolerant of other religious paths.
I can't wait for the other shoe to fall. I wonder if an Eckist
(hopefully someone without Nathan's venom) can take an apposing view
and show through Eck writings how Eckankar is tolerant and generous
with non-Eckists. I must admit I see little evidence in this NG of
Eckankar's tolerance.
Thinking back, I was attracted to the works of Eck because of the
simple message - i.e. soul travel, total consciousness, finding your
way back home in this lifetime. Now I see other messages have taken
its place - such as deny, misdirect, convert, and repress, all in the
name of furthering a contemporary organization. How is that otherwise
kind people get 'sucked' into supporting an organization that wishes
to change the social order?
I suppose its a question of values. I suppose we lose sight of our
goal and get sucked into the method. I suppose we buy into the big
lie. And, I suppose if the big lie is repeated often enough in a
newsgroup enough people will buy into it thus perpetuating the group.
I suppose some people feel a greater allegiance to the group than to
their inner self. I guess I just don't know. Still, as long as these
groups are non-violent I suppose they have every right to pursue their
goals as they wish. For the rest of us I suppose we need to remain
ever vigilant.
Now I know this makes it sound like I am siding with the anti-Eckankar
forces. I suppose in a way I am. I believe in life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. Therefore any person or organization that seeks
to exercize control over others by pertuating falsehoods or by using
misdirection ( a little truth and deception cleverly mixed together)
should expect to be criticized and and can expect to engage its
membership in a psychological war with outsiders. I sure wouldn't want
to be part of any organization that felt a need to defend its precepts
or its past. Above all else truth and liberty should be cherished by
us all. Any organization that diminishes these qualities in us should
be viewed with serious suspicion...
Finally, I would like to say that I am not necessarily condemning
Eckankar, its teachings or its adherents. I think Eckists and non-
Eckists alike should thoughtfully examine the written works of
Eckankar and decide for themselves. I think that the writings should
be freely discussed and debated. It would be nice if we could keep the
mud slinging to a minimum. There is no need to demean anyone for their
views. If you have looked at the facts and have decided that on
balance that Eckankar has something to offer you - then GO FOR IT!. No
need to put down others who decide otherwise. I suppose we can debate
certain interpretations, but I hope we can agree on the facts. As to
the anti-Eckankar forces, I think we owe them our grattitude for
attempting to set the record straight. Lieing or cheating is not nice
however, let's all try to minimize the exaggeration. I know it can be
fun in a newsgroup to rattle the other guy's cage from time to time.
JT
Subject: Re: The Other Side of Eckankar, the Cult!
From: Sharon
Date: 19 Jul 1999 00:23:52 GMT
"JT" writes:
Whew!!!
Tell me about it! Had no idea where that one would go when I started!
> One heck of a response Sharon. No one can say you don't have your reaso=
ns.
Great post. Very much appreciated. I was not aware that Twitchell was
so
intolerant of other religious paths.
Haven't you read the Shariyat? Or haven't you been in Eckankar long?
Or maybe....you're the kind of eckist I was. I heard what I wanted to
hear...and disregarded the rest.
I can't wait for the other shoe to fall. I wonder if an Eckist (hopefully
someone without Nathan's venom) can take an apposing view and show throug=
h
Eck writings how Eckankar is tolerant and generous with non-Eckists. I mu=
st
admit I see little evidence in this NG of Eckankar's tolerance.
You know....I could do the same thing with the "positive"
eckstuff...the stuff I believed in. But...the other things, the things
I'd somehow glossed over and ignored, well...they're important too.
I've posted before...I had funny feelings all through my eckanyears.
In fact, I'm sure I posted here last summer, when I was an eckist...I
believe I may have been talking to Lurk...that word "infiltrate"
stuck. But...I didn't remember where I'd read it.
Anyway...I spent quite awhile composing a long response to this in
"write," as well as a short response to David H.'s post in this
thread, which I just posted from Deja...and the computer froze up when
I was about to copy the long response to this one. I ended up having
to reboot. So I lost it.
Which is okay. It's nothing I haven't said before. As I was writing, I
kept thinking, good grief...I feel like a broken record.
I mean, I know many people aren't thrilled about all my posts here.
Hey, if you think reading and/or not-reading them is rough, you should
have been here on my end!!!
I've been here a bit over a year, JT, and recently, more or less 99%
retired. I've been pretty busy...and I'd really like to work on my
websites. I've said just about everything already, you know....
But...you know, I liked my "whew" post!! I found it sort of neat how
it grew & where it went...often, well...what I post sort of,
well...takes on a life of its own. Thanks for giving me the
opportunity to write it!
The one I just lost, well...it was just the same old, same
old...except for a brief "ramble" after I had a laughing half-hour
chat with two Mormon missionaries! Fun, actually...one of them, poor
guy, was one of those "true believer" types. I found him offensive,
actually. The cute red-headed guy was fun, though...he was laughing
too. Actually covered his mouth a few times, because, well...he could
see clearly too. And yes!! They do yardwork!! The "tb" couldn't
understand that yes, I'd read their book, yes I prayed a lot, yes I
liked their book and perhaps it's true, but no, I did not have any
need or desire to get "saved" ....
Anyway, the cute red-head agreed that God probably had a sense of
humor (just look at the duck-billed platypus, or puppies playing!)...
the tb was annoyed that I wasn't going along with the programmed
salespitch he wanted to stick to...he didn't find my remark that yes,
I loved Jesus--- after all, he was a party animal, funny! That
changing water into wine stuff, you know...anyway, I think the red-
head understood about God having no limitations, and how could we put
either ourselves or God into one little book or one little box...
I'll betcha, though, if tb wasn't there, the redhead would have told
me more about Mormon underwear...he said yes, it was sacred and holy,
but he was laughing. TB just looked horrified...
Anyway...as they walked away, I noticed the redhead had *such* a cute
butt! A bit too young for me, though...and too old for my
granddaughter! I'm spayed, anyway. It would be sort of neat,
though...I mean, technically, if I died before the little baby red-
head came along, I could be my own grandmother!!
Anyway, JT...you know, you seem like a nice person, but...well, I've
served my time here...
Have a nice weekend, everyone!! Oh...any eckseminars scheduled here on
the East Coast? We could use some rain...lots of it!!
Hugs,
Sharon
http://members.delphi.com/sharon2000
"Happy Happy Joy Joy" -- Ren & Stimpy
Overview & Intro of Eckankar, The Cult -- Part 4
(This is an "introductory handout" file I send to people who are
requesting more information. Some of it, of course, is a bit
repetitious if you've looked at my other webpages....but this section
of this website will be used to direct people who aren't yet familiar
with "The Other Side of Eckankar -- What The Cult Doesn't Want People
to Know.")
To Whom It May Concern:
I was a member of Eckankar, a pseudo-religion with headquarters in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and a "Temple" in Chanhassen, for almost
15 years.
In July of 1998, I went to the newsgroup alt.religion.eckankar as a
"missionary" to help spread the "Light and Sound." I didn't think of
myself as a "missionary" .... cultic programming had convinced me that
Eckankar wasn't out to get new members; I was simply sharing the love
and joy in my heart, and "The Mahanta" would take care of the rest.
After a short time at the newsgroup, I became aware that a funny
feeling I'd had inside me for many, many years -- that there was
something wrong about Eckankar -- wasn't the "Kal" (Satan) as I'd been
told in Eckankar, or a "doubt" planted by the "Master" to test &
strengthen me spiritually. I learned that Eckankar was, basically, a
lie. When I first "left," it was a matter of personal integrity, and
not being able to remain associated with a "religion" whose leaders
lied, refused to answer legitimate questions, and indeed, spiritually
abused members who refused to follow the "party line." In the months
after I left, I went back over the "holy scriptures" and for the first
time, saw so many things that I had somehow missed.
I believe it was in October 1998 that I formally resigned. Through all
this time, I remained at the newsgroup....and went through things I
never believed possible. I learned first-hand that yes, Eckankar does
use subtle mind-control techniques which over the years,
well....basically, you end up brainwashed. I can't begin to describe
the clarity of mind, heart, and soul since leaving the cult...every
day gets better and better!
Because I was a secretary to a local Lutheran parish for 10 months
that year, and because eckists at the newsgroup had gone so far as to
post the website of the Catholic Church I now attend, well....I told
the Lutheran pastor as well as my parish priest a bit about my cult
experience. As a result, because Pastor Eric knows me personally and
knows that I'm a basically normal, well-balanced person, I was even
asked to speak to a group of pastors to tell them about the cult. And
I must say....if anyone has *experiences* they don't understand,
please, never hesitate to talk to a Christian clergyman about them.
When I was an eckist, I was asked to be a member of a "Group of Online
Eckists" whose purpose, I soon learned, was to silence those who spoke
out against Eckankar and tried to give people the information that I
wish I had known before I was caught in it. And I was told by an HI
that I should not engage in "conversation" with those who spoke
against Eckankar, especially Professor David Lane. I saw first-hand
how Eckankar's "clergy" and "High Initiates" plotted and manipulated
and discussed specific "strategies" against specific "detractors." In
this group, I was shocked to see the hatred toward those who spoke
against Eckankar, and the strategies used to silence them. I thought
Eckankar was about "divine unconditional love for all souls." I was
wrong. Eckankar lied. While many people leave Eckankar when they
discover the expose published by Professor David Lane, my experience
was different. I left because as an Eckist, I could see first-hand
that Eckankar lied and manipulated, and did not follow its own
teachings... the teachings it emphasizes in its public messages. When
I left Eckankar, at first I still "believed" ... it took months for me
to really break free of it inside, and to really understand and be
able to separate the stolen "truths" I believed in (which actually,
are from other great & valid spiritual traditions and teachings) from
the cultic lies and mind-control.
I learned that Harold Klemp regularly broadcasts on TV in Minneapolis,
and that there is much advertising in various media all over the
country; in the summer of 1998, Eckankar also had a full-page
advertisement in TV guide. Eckankar also uses expensive marketing
consultants in their efforts to gain new converts. Basically, it's a
form of spiritual "protection racket," with multi-level marketing
techniques thrown in. Eckankar, like most cults, does not want either
the general public or its members to know anything about its "hidden"
side. When Professor David Lane's research was mailed to Eckankar
centers years ago, eckists were told to destroy it without reading it.
And this is what many "higher initiates" actually did. Thousands of
other eckists, however, read the information...and left Eckankar.
While Eckankar claims to respect all religions and see everyone as
soul....it doesn't.
I am attaching a file with further information which you may find
interesting. Eckankar lures people in with subtle messages in what I
call the "newbie freebie book" you can get by calling 1-800- LOVEGOD.
From there....it's a road into a deep, dark hole that isn't easy to
escape.
Since I have been speaking out at the newsgroup, I have heard from so
many ex-eckists about the trauma they've suffered through leaving this
cult. The psychological effects of spiritual abuse in some cases is
still there for as long as 15-20 years. It doesn't have to be that
way....but because of many fear & threat messages interwoven with
stolen & plagiarized ancient truths in Eckankar's "teachings,"
well....people are afraid to speak out, and blame themselves....
When Paul Twitchell created this cult, he also considered how to
silence those who left. Fear and threats were one method. Another was
the "teaching" that people weren't "ready" for the high truth of
Eckankar, and needed to learn lessons in "other paths" ... but that
eventually, they would have to return to the "Mahanta" in order to
reach "heaven."
I hope you find the enclosed information will perhaps let more people
know the truth about Eckankar and its false and deceptive "teachings,"
so that this cult perhaps can be prevented from doing to others what
it did to me, and many other ex-eckists. If people do truly want to
join this cult, well....they should be able to know ALL the
information about it. To be honest, I don't know how anyone could
possibly look at it objectively and still want to be a part of it.
Thank you very much. Please feel free to contact me anytime for more
information.
Sincerely,
Sharon
email: sharon2000@myremarq.com
Intro & Overview - Part 5
An example of Eckankar's "Protection Racket" methods to get & keep
members---
Read carefully -- note the subtle technique. First, promises of an
easy way to heaven . . . revelations of "ancient secret
knowledge" . . . the "LivingECKMaster" stuff . . .invitation to
membership . . . then the threats and scary stuff!!
Author: Sharon
Date: 1999/02/28
From "The Living Word, Book 2" by Harold Klemp, 1996, compiled by Mary
Carroll Moore,
edited by Joan Klemp & Anthony Moore.
(...a collection of articles by Sri Harold from 1989 to 1995 . . . 28
from "Mystic World", 8 from the Eckankar Journal . . . Note: "Mystic
World" contains a notice that it is for eckmembers only, not to be
available to the public...)
DREAMS, YOUR ROAD TO HEAVEN
"Our dreams are the forgotten road to heaven. This was once a nearly
absolute truth. That is, until the teachings of ECK surfaced in 1965
to encourage people to look for the lost doorway between heaven and
earth: their dreams."
(Note: Paul Twitchell "created" Eckankar in 1965, claiming to have
received "dictation" from spiritual "eckmasters." There is much
documented plagiarism from the works of Julian Johnson's "Path of the
Masters" and Scientology...Twitchell was a Scientologist for awhile.)
" Dreams are the starting point for many who wish to begin the
spiritual journey to God and do it in the easiest possible way. There
simply is no better way to start than with our dreams. Good works may
carry us far along this holy journey, and prayer is indeed a boon, but
generally we can learn more about the true nature of God through the
secret knowledge of dreams.
(Dream your way to God...the easy way! Mother Teresa, of course, will
have to reincarnate as an eckist if she wants to know God...)
Daydreams, night dreams, contemplation, Soul Travel--all are steps in
the pursuit of heaven. In Eckankar, the student is under the
protection of a spiritual guide known as the Mahanta. This is the
Spiritual Traveler. As the Mahanta, he is the Inner Master, the one
who comes on the inner planes to impart knowledge, truth, and wisdom.
But he also has an outer side. Here is is known as the Living ECK
Master. Thus, the spiritual leader of Eckankar can work both inwardly
and outwardly with all who come to learn of God and life.
Those who want his spiritual direction may choose to become members of
Eckankar. As part of their first year of study, they may receive The
ECK Dream I Discourses.
Each month, the individual is sent a six-page discourse that explores
the spiritual world of dreams. This study is different from any other
study he may have made in the past, for it deals entirely with Soul.
What is Soul's responsibility to God and all living things? Key to
this dream knowledge is divine love: where and how do you find
it?" (note: Eckankar has recently switched to sending out discourses a
year at a time... in one big batch...probably to save on postage
expenses...) "A person who travels in his dream worlds is assured of
the Mahanta's protection, because heaven is a place of many
dimensions. To learn about them, read Paul Twitchell's The Tiger's
Fang."
(Note on "The Tiger's Fang" -- this book allegedly contains
plagiarism, and was originally written using the name of Kirpal Singh,
a real-life "guru" who initiated Twitchell...Singh rejected the
book....and Twitchell replaced "Kirpal Singh" with a fictional "Sudar
Singh" and "Rebazar Tarz." This information is available from David
Lane's "Making of a Spiritual Movement" and from the Spiritual
Counterfeit Project's SCP Journal #0301.)
" In those lower heavens that lie between earth and the true worlds of
God, there are shady people who like nothing better than to cheat or
harm innocent victims. In Africa, for instance, the power of black
magic is very strong. An African man reported a dream in which a group
of men and women took him to a high place. Unknown to him, these
people were warlocks and witches. When they reached the top of this
place, which was a towering seawall, a woman in the group told him to
jump into the sea. But he knew that all who jumped from that height
never came back."
"Jump" she urged. As if hypnotized, he began to move toward the edge
of the wall. At that moment, the Mahanta appeared. The group vanished.
The master smiled and patted the dreamer on his shoulder; then the
dreamer awoke."
"What few would recognize is that the Mahanta prevented the dreamer's
death. It often happens that a dreamer, who does not have the
protection of the Mahanta, simply dies in his sleep. The doctor writes
off the cause as heart failure or some other physical condition. Often
as not, however, the dreamer had wandered beyond the safe limits of
his inner world and met a psychic criminal, who was responsible for
his death. An experience that did not have to be, had he known of the
Mahanta, the Living ECK Master."
"Dreams are one road to heaven. Another way to enter is through
contemplation: a few minutes each day of spiritual relaxation in which
the individual sits with his eyes closed and sings the holy name of
God. This word is HU. The Master comes, in time, to take him into the
worlds of heaven, the Far Country. With the Master along, what may
otherwise have been a nightmare turns out to have a spiritual end."
This "protection" and "connection" with the "Living ECK Master, the
Mahanta," is dependent upon the "chela" maintaining membership in the
organization, and paying the annual "donation" . . . when membership
is dropped, the "connection" with the "Mahanta," as well as the
supposedly- spiritual "initiations," no longer exists . . .
"initiations" (indicators of "spiritual progress") are lost.
Overview & Intro -- Page 6
Why Harold Klemp moved the Temple Site from Arizona to Minnesota
From "Be the Hu," the initiates-only book, compiled from Harold
Klemp's seminar talks to initiates of the second circle and above...
"I'm moving it for several reasons. In the past there have been a
number of psychic forces hovering around the site. We've also had to
consider the political situation in South America which is going to
push people north into overpopulated Mexico, then into the
southwestern United States."
From The Living Word, Book 2: "Why Build a Seat of Power for
Eckankar?
"We need a place from which the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master can
speak to the world about the Light and Sound of God. The Temple of ECK
will become the chief destination of spiritual pilgrims the world
over. For now, the Seat of Power for Eckankar is in Minnesota. At the
crossroads of humanity's quest for spiritual freedom, it is the
spiritual center of the world."
From Letters to a Chela by Paul Twitchell---page 34 For more chapters
of this "secret initiates-only book" see http://www.delphi.com/eckankartrut=
h
For Initiates Only---the discourse series that Harold Klemp and long-
time Eckists (including some here on ARE) studied & were brainwashed
with--this discourse series was reprinted in book form by Darwin, and
continued being sold for many years under Harold Klemp. (Please note
the words I've * *)
"So ECK of ITSELF must find those who are willing to *plant*
themselves in church groups, of every nature, and act as the ones to
*spread the message* of ECK. These are commonly called *cells* in
political jargon, but we know them as *cadres.* This is to *get a
foothold* in any group, any institution and to be able to quietly but
effectively *give out the message of ECK*, and act as *reformers*
within these groups ****so that their members will come over to the
works of ECK.**** This is one of the efficient ways of educating
others to *become sympathetic with the ECK and ITS works.*
Since Christianity is only an aspect of the ECK there is no need of
viewing it or any other religion with awe. All religions and
philosophies spring out of the fountainhead of ECK. Therefore we must
look upon each with a sympathetic view that every group is
respectively struggling to find the Godhead.
***Since every ECKist knows that the Godhead is that which is
available only through the path of ECK then he must be warm,
sympathetic and helpful to those in religions, occultism and
philosophies for they are all the subordinates of ECKANKAR.******
There is no need to fight them, no need to have arguments with them or
try to give them truth when none are ready for it.
***But we can find ways of entering into the middle stream of life
everywhere, in social clubs, on civic boards, in groups of people who
are *seemingly without anything in their lives*. You can get
invitations to talk to public groups on ECK, have your own festivals,
such as an ECK festival, or go on radio and television programs
wherever available. *******
*****You can visit old folks homes and help cheer them up; visit
hospitals and help with people who are not able to help themselves.
Become readers who will talk to people who are handicapped, or read to
them *from the works, the books of ECK.*
****** You can also ******infiltrate***** young people groups and tell
them about ECK. You can make talks to high school groups and to
university and college classes.
There are a hundred ways in which you can make yourself available to
do work for passing out the message of ECK. Everyone of them is a part
of your training for ECK leadership."
Under Klemp's leadership, Eckankar has been implementing the message
of "Letters to a Chela" and subtly reinforcing this message in its
"chelas" .... Klemp has recently instructed all eckists to speak to
one new person a week about Eckankar. . .
Klemp in The Living Word, Book 2: "The entire ECK spiritual heirarchy
is working on the ECK missions project."
"The truth about ECK Initiates is that some are good Vahanas, or
missionaries, and some are not. (...) The first ECKist, the
unsuccessful one, uses old techniques from ten and twenty years ago.
He or she frightens people. (...) Such topics put new people off
today. It's OK to mention them---they are, after all, a part of the
ECK teachings-- but why dwell on them?
"...the successful one, shows a very different pattern. He or she is
willing to try new ways of reaching the millions of willing Souls, and
works closely with the ECK initiates at the Eckankar Spiritual Center.
This approach works. Its success lies in having the focus on the
spiritual needs of the seeker instead of what a great teaching *we*
represent." (pages 200-201)
Klemp in Ask the Master, Book 2: "Now, however, with the Temple of ECK
as the center post of the missionary effort
11.03.2010 - 10:56
Eckankar: The Truth About A Deceptive Cult
Welcome Friends!
My name is Sharon. I was a member of Eckankar, the "Religion of Light
and Sound", for almost 15 years. I was a "good" eckist, and always
trying to be a better one...
Eckankar is not what is claims to be. Eckankar is a pseudo-religion
created by Paul Twitchell, an intelligent man who could have perhaps
done some good in the world if he'd truly had any kind of connection
with Spirit. Unfortunately, he was an amoral megalomaniac con-man who
wanted to destroy all world religions, and even God, and replace them
with himself and his cult.
Thousands of people have left Eckankar. Some ex-eckists are speaking
out on the internet and in the "real" world, but many are silent,
still trying to heal from the spiritual and psychological damage
inflicted on the minds, hearts, and souls by Eckankar.
Leaving a cult is not as simple as not going to church on Sunday.
Eckankar's subtle mind-control methods are effective. Only someone
who's been through it really can understand. When we were eckists, we
seemed to be thinking clearly and in control of our lives. Only after
leaving Eckankar did our minds begin to clear, and it doesn't happen
overnight. For some ex-eckists, the lingering effects of mind-control
can hang like a shadow over your heart and mind for over twenty
years.
Don't be lured into this cult until you've investigated the whole
truth from both ex-eckists and cult experts, and use the mind your
Creator gave you to make a rational decision.
The teachings of Eckankar are stolen truths, which are freely given
elsewhere, with no strings attached, by TRUE spiritual giants.
Eckankar may tell you that it is the original, primal religion...but
beware...Eckankar lies.
Please follow the links below...your personal relationship with Spirit
is too important to buy into something blindly... You don't need a
connection with any kind of "master," especially the imaginary and/or
evil self-proclaimed "masters" of Eckankar.
God is in your heart, and God's love and grace are given freely to all
who desire it.
Hugs.....from Sharon
P.S. Thank you for your patience...I'm still under construction, and
learning a little about HTML...it's not that hard, really!!!
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/eckankartruth.html
The Neural Surfer UPDATES
Riding Information Waves in the Cerebral Hemispheres
Eckankar History
Ex-Satsangi Support Group: Founded by Tainst to encourage critical
thinking about Shabd Yoga and Radhasoami
http://kahanalu.tripod.com/
Activity within 7 days:2 New Members - 108 New Messages - 1 New Photo
- New Questions
Description
This forum is designed to encourage an open and free discussion of
Radhasoami history. Any view is welcome provided that the writer is
willing to take responsibility for what he or she posts. The founder
has no desire to moderate the proceedings, but hopes that each writer
will moderate (as in think over, take into consideration, be
responsible for) what he or she contributes. In that spirit, wide and
far ranging discussions can be fruitful. Please limit your total
number of individual posts to 15 per day. Picture Info: MSAC Magazines
for the Mind, http://sites.google.com/site/msacmagazines/
Most Recent Messages (View All)
Re: Peace
Rah I did not know that.hmmm
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:11 am dcemfield
The Lovers
The Lovers will drink wine night and day. They will drink until they
can tear away the veils of intellect and melt away the layers of shame
and modesty. When
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:50 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: To Wes
Shatner always looks to me like a tippler so maybe tiddly winks is
just his speed? ;oP
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:39 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: Symphony of Science
... DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD=
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD=
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Went to go link them and BBC apparently pulled the old 'copyright'
claim so they are now
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:39 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: Peace
... Feh! Don't you know that peace only comes when the mind is in tune
with YOUR FAVORITE RELIGION HERE and is looking at YOUR FAVORITE GURU/
RELIGIOUS LEADER
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:49 am
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radhasoamistudies/
Activity within 7 days:1 New Message - New Questions
Description
Baba Faqir Chand is perhaps the most radical guru in the history of
Radhasoami. This site is dedicated to discussing his life and work
Most Recent Messages (View All)
My Newbie Clip
Hello group. I'm Isabel , and I just now made my short first erotic
video. Is it normal? http://griseldalurl.dreamstation.com
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 3:31 pm hornaday8ejpw17d
hornaday8ejp...
Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Message!
Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Message!
http://www.ourlivespace.com/HotGirl/photos.htm
Posted - Wed Mar 3, 2010 1:47 am fjhoddsff
Click here to check out my new photos!
Click here to check out my new photos! http://www.ourlivespace.com/hotlady/=
photo.htm
Posted - Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:24 pm carliqkhfriends
Drunk Politics
Have You Seen? Big compilation of short fun vids with sotted political
leaders. Its really fun! http://www.cacturl.net/hv
Posted - Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:51 pm hornaday8ejpw17d
hornaday8ejp...
Shocking Celebs Clips (some nudity)
Entirely free SHOKING video clips collected and posted from users all
over the Net. Rebecca Corry, Whitney Cummings, Katie Gill, and more!
http://tpal.us/t4
Posted - Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:46 pm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chandianexperiment/
Activity within 7 days:3 New Messages - New Questions
Description
Rare photograph of Paul Twitchell with Kirpal Singh during the guru's
1955 USA tour. Twitchell is to Kirpal's right, squatting with head
down.
Most Recent Messages (View All)
You have received an important Message!
You have received an important Message! Check your message here:
http://adsilasim.zoomshare.com/files/chicks.htm
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:10 pm newfjfriend
My Newbie Clip
Hi group. I am Alice and I just now create new movie with me . Is it
OK? http://griseldalurl.dreamstation.com
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:19 pm weimercinu17dl
Einstein's Biggest Blunder - - Wasn't??
Einstein's Biggest Blunder - - Wasn't?? a bit more light about it
(click link) http://www.amperefitz.com/einsteins.blunder.htm
Posted - Mon Mar 8, 2010 6:26 am Fitz
zeusrdx
Not Quite Everything for a Theory of Everything
Not Quite Everything for a Theory of Everything (click link)
http://www.amperefitz.com/not.quite.everything.for.a.theory.of.everythin\
g.htm
Posted - Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:58 pm Fitz
zeusrdx
Flame photometry, gas discharge and absurdities of modern science
Flame photometry, gas discharge and absurdities of modern science The
coloration of flame due to a specific salt presence is a well known
phenomenon. But, is
Posted - Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:41 pm
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/eckankarhistory/
Activity within 7 days:11 New Messages - New Questions
Description
Eckankar currently markets itself as the "Religion of the Light and
Sound." Don't be deceived. Eckankar is a cult created by Paul
Twitchell, who plagiarized from many authors and sources including
Scientology, Sant Mat, and the Bible. In spite of attempts to conceal
the truth by its current "leader", more and more ex-eckists are
speaking out, to help innocent seekers avoid the cult-trap we found
ourselves in. Look before you leap into a dark hole of spiritual
blindness...learn what Eckankar doesn't want either current members or
"newbies" to know!
"Each student must be encouraged to take responsible measures to
confront teachers with unethical aspects of their conduct. If the
teacher shows no sign of reform, students should not hesitate to
publicize any unethical behavior of which there is irrefutable
evidence. This should be done irrespective of other beneficial aspects
of his or her work and of one's spiritual commitment to that
teacher." ...the Dalai Lama
This is a "public" newsgroup, and "guests" can access the message
archives and links, which I recommend you do *before* you start
posting and asking questions. There's also some very good info which
isn't available elsewhere on the internet in the "files" section, but
Yahoo only lets members access the files. You don't need to "join"
unless you want to post or read the "files". Posting is usually
restricted to former members. No one here is the least bit interested
in "discussions" with current eckcultists; we've been there, done
that.
Joining is fast easy, no pre-approval required; if you just want to
read the "files" you can quickly "unjoin" when you're done. New
members' posts are moderated until I see you're not a cult "vahana".
Most Recent Messages (View All)
Re: Life
Zoey; I think your questions have a lot of merit. They are thought-
provoking. I suppose when I look back, even many of my darkest days
can't be counted as a
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:45 pm harrisonferrel
Self contradictory rhetoric
You wrote: "A good teacher will instead teach the student how to find
true personal and spiritual validation that is real and not dependent
on anything outside
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:34 pm harrisonferrel
Hi All! Two things: 1. I'm a great-grandmother!!! He's 21", 9 lbs. 8
ozs., dark hair, very strong & alert, very healthy lungs (cries really
loud!!), and he
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:03 am Sharon
brighttigress
Re: A question for Colleen
Hi Leaf, 2 2 2 2 I live in SoCal now, but I'm not a native
Californian.2 I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and was raised all over the
world.2 I'm glad you liked
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:41 am David Osborn
panfluteman2000
Re: A question for Colleen
Hi David, I visited your website. I notice you're a fellow
acupuncturist. Nice website. I haven't tried to classify myself
according to the Greek humors, yet.
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 5:40 am
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eckankartruth/
...and I am Sid Harth
Welcome Friends!
My name is Sharon. I was a member of Eckankar, the "Religion of Light
and Sound", for almost 15 years. I was a "good" eckist, and always
trying to be a better one...
Eckankar is not what is claims to be. Eckankar is a pseudo-religion
created by Paul Twitchell, an intelligent man who could have perhaps
done some good in the world if he'd truly had any kind of connection
with Spirit. Unfortunately, he was an amoral megalomaniac con-man who
wanted to destroy all world religions, and even God, and replace them
with himself and his cult.
Thousands of people have left Eckankar. Some ex-eckists are speaking
out on the internet and in the "real" world, but many are silent,
still trying to heal from the spiritual and psychological damage
inflicted on the minds, hearts, and souls by Eckankar.
Leaving a cult is not as simple as not going to church on Sunday.
Eckankar's subtle mind-control methods are effective. Only someone
who's been through it really can understand. When we were eckists, we
seemed to be thinking clearly and in control of our lives. Only after
leaving Eckankar did our minds begin to clear, and it doesn't happen
overnight. For some ex-eckists, the lingering effects of mind-control
can hang like a shadow over your heart and mind for over twenty
years.
Don't be lured into this cult until you've investigated the whole
truth from both ex-eckists and cult experts, and use the mind your
Creator gave you to make a rational decision.
The teachings of Eckankar are stolen truths, which are freely given
elsewhere, with no strings attached, by TRUE spiritual giants.
Eckankar may tell you that it is the original, primal religion...but
beware...Eckankar lies.
Please follow the links below...your personal relationship with Spirit
is too important to buy into something blindly... You don't need a
connection with any kind of "master," especially the imaginary and/or
evil self-proclaimed "masters" of Eckankar.
God is in your heart, and God's love and grace are given freely to all
who desire it.
Hugs.....from Sharon
P.S. Thank you for your patience...I'm still under construction, and
learning a little about HTML...it's not that hard, really!!!
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/eckankartruth.html
The Neural Surfer UPDATES
Riding Information Waves in the Cerebral Hemispheres
Eckankar History
Ex-Satsangi Support Group: Founded by Tainst to encourage critical
thinking about Shabd Yoga and Radhasoami
http://kahanalu.tripod.com/
Activity within 7 days:2 New Members - 108 New Messages - 1 New Photo
- New Questions
Description
This forum is designed to encourage an open and free discussion of
Radhasoami history. Any view is welcome provided that the writer is
willing to take responsibility for what he or she posts. The founder
has no desire to moderate the proceedings, but hopes that each writer
will moderate (as in think over, take into consideration, be
responsible for) what he or she contributes. In that spirit, wide and
far ranging discussions can be fruitful. Please limit your total
number of individual posts to 15 per day. Picture Info: MSAC Magazines
for the Mind, http://sites.google.com/site/msacmagazines/
Most Recent Messages (View All)
Re: Peace
Rah I did not know that.hmmm
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:11 am dcemfield
The Lovers
The Lovers will drink wine night and day. They will drink until they
can tear away the veils of intellect and melt away the layers of shame
and modesty. When
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:50 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: To Wes
Shatner always looks to me like a tippler so maybe tiddly winks is
just his speed? ;oP
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:39 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: Symphony of Science
... DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD=
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD=
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Went to go link them and BBC apparently pulled the old 'copyright'
claim so they are now
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:39 am *Taz*
triestestudent
Re: Peace
... Feh! Don't you know that peace only comes when the mind is in tune
with YOUR FAVORITE RELIGION HERE and is looking at YOUR FAVORITE GURU/
RELIGIOUS LEADER
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:49 am
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radhasoamistudies/
Activity within 7 days:1 New Message - New Questions
Description
Baba Faqir Chand is perhaps the most radical guru in the history of
Radhasoami. This site is dedicated to discussing his life and work
Most Recent Messages (View All)
My Newbie Clip
Hello group. I'm Isabel , and I just now made my short first erotic
video. Is it normal? http://griseldalurl.dreamstation.com
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 3:31 pm hornaday8ejpw17d
hornaday8ejp...
Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Message!
Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Message!
http://www.ourlivespace.com/HotGirl/photos.htm
Posted - Wed Mar 3, 2010 1:47 am fjhoddsff
Click here to check out my new photos!
Click here to check out my new photos! http://www.ourlivespace.com/hotlady/=
photo.htm
Posted - Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:24 pm carliqkhfriends
Drunk Politics
Have You Seen? Big compilation of short fun vids with sotted political
leaders. Its really fun! http://www.cacturl.net/hv
Posted - Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:51 pm hornaday8ejpw17d
hornaday8ejp...
Shocking Celebs Clips (some nudity)
Entirely free SHOKING video clips collected and posted from users all
over the Net. Rebecca Corry, Whitney Cummings, Katie Gill, and more!
http://tpal.us/t4
Posted - Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:46 pm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chandianexperiment/
Activity within 7 days:3 New Messages - New Questions
Description
Rare photograph of Paul Twitchell with Kirpal Singh during the guru's
1955 USA tour. Twitchell is to Kirpal's right, squatting with head
down.
Most Recent Messages (View All)
You have received an important Message!
You have received an important Message! Check your message here:
http://adsilasim.zoomshare.com/files/chicks.htm
Posted - Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:10 pm newfjfriend
My Newbie Clip
Hi group. I am Alice and I just now create new movie with me . Is it
OK? http://griseldalurl.dreamstation.com
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:19 pm weimercinu17dl
Einstein's Biggest Blunder - - Wasn't??
Einstein's Biggest Blunder - - Wasn't?? a bit more light about it
(click link) http://www.amperefitz.com/einsteins.blunder.htm
Posted - Mon Mar 8, 2010 6:26 am Fitz
zeusrdx
Not Quite Everything for a Theory of Everything
Not Quite Everything for a Theory of Everything (click link)
http://www.amperefitz.com/not.quite.everything.for.a.theory.of.everythin\
g.htm
Posted - Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:58 pm Fitz
zeusrdx
Flame photometry, gas discharge and absurdities of modern science
Flame photometry, gas discharge and absurdities of modern science The
coloration of flame due to a specific salt presence is a well known
phenomenon. But, is
Posted - Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:41 pm
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/eckankarhistory/
Activity within 7 days:11 New Messages - New Questions
Description
Eckankar currently markets itself as the "Religion of the Light and
Sound." Don't be deceived. Eckankar is a cult created by Paul
Twitchell, who plagiarized from many authors and sources including
Scientology, Sant Mat, and the Bible. In spite of attempts to conceal
the truth by its current "leader", more and more ex-eckists are
speaking out, to help innocent seekers avoid the cult-trap we found
ourselves in. Look before you leap into a dark hole of spiritual
blindness...learn what Eckankar doesn't want either current members or
"newbies" to know!
"Each student must be encouraged to take responsible measures to
confront teachers with unethical aspects of their conduct. If the
teacher shows no sign of reform, students should not hesitate to
publicize any unethical behavior of which there is irrefutable
evidence. This should be done irrespective of other beneficial aspects
of his or her work and of one's spiritual commitment to that
teacher." ...the Dalai Lama
This is a "public" newsgroup, and "guests" can access the message
archives and links, which I recommend you do *before* you start
posting and asking questions. There's also some very good info which
isn't available elsewhere on the internet in the "files" section, but
Yahoo only lets members access the files. You don't need to "join"
unless you want to post or read the "files". Posting is usually
restricted to former members. No one here is the least bit interested
in "discussions" with current eckcultists; we've been there, done
that.
Joining is fast easy, no pre-approval required; if you just want to
read the "files" you can quickly "unjoin" when you're done. New
members' posts are moderated until I see you're not a cult "vahana".
Most Recent Messages (View All)
Re: Life
Zoey; I think your questions have a lot of merit. They are thought-
provoking. I suppose when I look back, even many of my darkest days
can't be counted as a
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:45 pm harrisonferrel
Self contradictory rhetoric
You wrote: "A good teacher will instead teach the student how to find
true personal and spiritual validation that is real and not dependent
on anything outside
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:34 pm harrisonferrel
Hi All! Two things: 1. I'm a great-grandmother!!! He's 21", 9 lbs. 8
ozs., dark hair, very strong & alert, very healthy lungs (cries really
loud!!), and he
Posted - Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:03 am Sharon
brighttigress
Re: A question for Colleen
Hi Leaf, 2 2 2 2 I live in SoCal now, but I'm not a native
Californian.2 I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and was raised all over the
world.2 I'm glad you liked
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:41 am David Osborn
panfluteman2000
Re: A question for Colleen
Hi David, I visited your website. I notice you're a fellow
acupuncturist. Nice website. I haven't tried to classify myself
according to the Greek humors, yet.
Posted - Tue Mar 9, 2010 5:40 am
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eckankartruth/
...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 13:57
Cult News from Rick Ross
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
Archive for Aum Sect
06.01.06
Heinous cult leader will be hung
Posted in Aum Sect at 3:20 pm by Rick Ross
Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as 20CShoko Asahara20D led his fol=
lowers to a
day of reckoning, but it wasn209t the one he predicted, instead it wa=
s
the beginning of the end for him and the cult he created called 20DAu=
m
Supreme Truth.20D
Asahara was sentenced to death in February 2004 for the poison gas
attack he ordered in Tokyo, which claimed of lives of twelve people
and injured 5,500. Including the murder of a lawyer and his family and
other related crimes, 27 lives were lost in the wake of Matsumoto209s
madness.
Japanese justice moves slowly and after 11 years and with all his
appeals exhausted the cult leader may soon be executed by hanging on
the gallows.
In the past decade Aum has disintegrated and splintered into factions
as its founder, who was once regarded as divine, lapsed into silence.
Today the man that once ruled the sect like a king languishes in a
jail cell alone wearing diapers, apparently unwilling or unable to
communicate or even use a toilet.
One of the guru209s lieutenants also convicted of cult crimes and
sentenced to death says that Matsumoto might remain a symbol to some
of his remaining followers after his death.
20CIf Matsumoto is to be executed without testifying, he will become =
a
martyr,20D Kenichi Hirose, 41 wrote in a letter, reports Yomiuri
Shimbun.
20CIf Matsumoto is going to have his death sentence finalized without
testifying, fails to atone for his actions and maintains a barrier of
self-containment, I209ve nothing to say to him,20D Hirose also =
said.
Throughout the years since his arrest the once talkative guru has been
mute. He did not speak coherently during his court trial, though at
times he has demonstrated the ability to masturbate in front of his
jailers.
Regardless of whether Matsumoto is faking, or has unraveled without
the power he once held, the murderous cult leader will not be
protected by an insanity defense.
Tokyo High Court on Monday rejected an objection filed his lawyers and
nothing remains between the heinous cult leader and the hangman.
02.20.06
Japanese cult leader can209t face the real world
Posted at 5:53 am by Rick Ross
Ever wonder what happened to the Japanese cult leader responsible for
gassing thousands of Tokyo subway riders in 1994?
Well it has been more than a decade and Shoko Asahara, convicted of
murder and sentenced to death, is still taking up cell space in his
own very special quiet way.
The once all-powerful and outspoken cult leader now just mumbles
incoherently, makes bizarre gestures and wets himself.
His lawyers say Asahara was 20Cunfit for trial20D and they keep=
demanding
more definitive psychiatric tests.
However, the Japanese courts have ruled otherwise and declared the
guru 20Cfit for trial20D reports Ireland On-line.
20CHe209s incapable of any form of communication whatsoever,2=
0D says a
psychopathology expert that visited Asahara in prison.
Apparently he suffers from 20Cstress20D brought on by 20C=
confinement.20D
His lawyers shouldn209t expect any sympathy though from the Japanese
courts or the public. Asahara is responsible for the murder of twelve
subway riders and the injuries of thousands rushed to hospitals for
emergency care.
Once the grand master that controlled a financial empire and ruled as
a tyrant over an estimated 40,000 followers this self-proclaimed
messiah can209t seem to adjust to the reality of life as a mere morta=
l
supervised by prison authorities.
It209s no great shock though that Asahara has ultimately proven to be=
as
crazy as other cult leaders from the past.
However, unlike Jim Jones, David Koresh, Luc Joret, Marshall
Applewhite, or Joseph Kibwetere, Asahara decided not to do himself in
when his luck ran out.
Instead he hid hoping to somehow get away with his crimes.
Now forced to face a life without the trappings of his former glory
Asahara has shut down and shut out the world around him.
In the end a living example of what makes cult leaders tick and often
ultimately unwind.
06.28.05
Tom Cruise and Scientology garner interesting defenders
Posted at 3:44 pm by Rick Ross
Salon calls Scientology Dianetics 20Cstranger than fiction20D
Academics often called 20Ccult apologists20D have come to the r=
escue and
defended both Tom Cruise and Scientology in the press lately.
J. Gordon Melton and David G. Bromley were both quoted in a recent
article run within the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bromley is an old friend of Scientology and has been officially
recommended by the controversial church as a 20Creligious resource.=
20D
The so-called 20Cnew Cult Awareness Network20D reportedly run b=
y
Scientology also once recommended both Bromley and Melton for 20Cfact=
ual
information on new religions,20D in the wake of a California cult
(20DHeaven209s Gate20C) mass suicide in 1997.
David Bromley209s frequent writing partner Anson Shupe made a bundle
working for Scientology lawyers. He helped Scientology knock off its
perceived nemesis the 20Cold Cult Awareness Network20D enabling=
a
Scientologist attorney to eventually buy its name and files through a
bankruptcy proceeding.
The files of Scientology209s former foe were later handed over to J.
Gordon Melton.
Melton and Bromley can almost always be counted on to defend virtually
any group called a 20Ccult20D no matter how heinous or harmful.
Bromley told the Chicago Sun-Times, 20CCult is a four-letter word for=
a
religion you don209t like.20D
It seems Time Magazine must have got it wrong when it called
Scientology the 20CCult of Greed,20D despite the fact that a su=
bsequent
libel suit filed against the publication by the purported 20Ccult2=
0D
sputtered to a dismissal without ever going to trial.
Mr. Melton has raked in quite a nest egg working for groups like the
Children of God and the International Church of Christ. He was paid by
J.Z. Knight (known as Ramtha) to write a book, not to mention his all
expenses paid trip to Japan courtesy of the infamous cult known as
20CAum Supreme Truth.20D
Melton arrived in Japan in 1995 and promptly pronounced that Aum was
the victim of 20Cpersecution,20D despite the fact that the cult=
had gassed
the Tokyo Subway system sending thousands of Japanese to hospitals and
killing twelve.
Melton told the Chicago Sun-Times that 20Cnew religions,20D his=
supposedly
politically correct euphemism to describe 20Ccults,20D put peop=
le off
because of their 20Cnewness.20D
However, it appears that what puts people off most about Tom Cruise20=
9s
behavior and his strange Scientology banter is the bizarre nature of
it all.
Today the London Free Press asked, 20CHas Cruise Cracked?20D
Meanwhile Salon Magazine published a critique of Scientology and its
founder titled 20CStranger than Fiction.20D
How convenient is the timing that these two alleged academics Melton
and Bromley are now helping out Scientology209s 20Cposter boy=
20D Tom Cruise.
But the news media should know that such specious scholars cannot be
counted upon for any meaningful objectivity, they are politically if
not literally invested in their positions.
Benjamin Zablocki, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University put
it succinctly when he said, 20CThe sociology of religion can no longe=
r
avoid the unpleasant ethical question of how to deal with the large
sums of money being pumped into the field by the religious groups
being studied206This is an issue that is slowly but surely building
toward a public scandal.20D
Stephen Kent, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta in
Canada concluded, 20CScholars who compromise objectivity or academic
integrity threaten to diminish the reputation of social science.20D
Rich religious groups like Scientology can easily afford to pump cash
into the pockets of quite a few professors and assorted academics.
Perhaps the press should scrutinize more carefully the likes of
sources such as David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton.
01.26.05
20CCult20D payoff for 20Cscholar20D?
Posted at 12:16 pm by Rick Ross
J. Gordon Melton, a somewhat specious 20Cscholar20D of what he =
refers to
as 20Cnew religious movements20D received a rather questionable=
gift from
a foundation linked to a purported 20Ccult,20D reports Moving O=
n.org.
Moving On.org is a Web site created by and for young adults with
parents who joined the notorious 20CChildren of God20D (COG).
The Web site recently made public a portion of a 2000 IRS disclosure
document that lists a $10,000.00 gift given to the so-called
20CInternational Religious Directory,20D which is a pet project=
of Mr.
Melton.
The gift-giver is the Family Care Foundation, an organization founded
by COG leaders.
Infamous sexual predator 20CMoses20D David Berg who died in 199=
4 once
defined COG as its absolute leader.
The group taught members to sexualize their minor children and
encouraged its women to become 20Chookers for Christ.20D
COG is now known as 20CThe Family20D and has been in the news l=
ately due
to a grizzly murder-suicide.
Ricky Rodriquez the son of its current leader Karen Zerby, Berg209s
widow known as 20CMama Maria20D to her followers, committed sui=
cide after
murdering his former nanny Angela Smith. The young man who left COG
about five years ago claimed she had molested him as a child.
Ms. Smith at the time of her death was listed as a director of the
Family Care Foundation, which is reportedly 20Can arm of The Family.=
20D
J. Gordon Melton has often been labeled a 20Ccult apologist20D =
because of
his friendly relationships with such groups, but until now no one knew
exactly how lucrative his COG connection was through the Family Care
Foundation.
Mr. Melton seems to have made something of a career out of selling his
scholarly services to various fringe groups, often called 20Ccults.=
20D His
list of sponsors and/or clients has included JZ Knight or 20CRamtha,=
20D a
new age guru that funded a Melton book project. And also Aum the
terrorist Japanese cult, which paid the peripatetic apologist209s
expenses to come to Tokyo after they gassed that city209s subways
sending thousands to hospitals.
Mr. Melton209s motto seems to be, 20Chave apologies will travel=
,20D
apparently that is when some substantial funding is made available.
Note: Supposedly objective academic papers by J. Gordon Melton and
others often called 20Ccult apologists20D have recently been li=
nked on-
line through a Web site database. Many of the authors listed such as
Dick Anthony & Thomas Robbins, David Bromley, Jeffrey Hadden, James
Lewis, James T. Richardson and James Tabor have been recommended
either by Scientology or the Scientology-linked 20Cnew Cult Awareness
Network20D as 20Cresources.20D Anson Shupe who is listed =
once worked for
lawyers linked to Scientology. Another listed author Eileen Barker has
received funding from Rev. Moon. Scholar Rocheford E. Burke cashed
some checks from Krishna/ISCKON while Professor Susan Palmer worked
closely with the Raelians. Cult apology appears to be a meaningful
source of income for some within the academic community. The Web site
CESNUR, which is home for many of the papers listed is run by Massimo
Introvigne, a controversial man that works closely with many groups
called 20Ccults.20D
01.05.05
Has the Tsunami washed 20Ccults20D ashore?
Posted at 6:26 pm by Rick Ross
The old adage 20CBeware of Greeks bearing gifts20D may be usefu=
l to
Tsunami survivors receiving attention from some specious sects and
groups called 20Ccults.20D
Just like in the movie Troy something sinister and/or self-serving can
be concealed in a 20Cgift horse,20D and it209s probably n=
ot Brad Pitt.
In recent days a growing array of controversial religious
organizations, gurus and self-styled healers have launched efforts for
Tsunami relief, but who are they really focused upon helping?
Do their programs reflect a genuine desire to assist the victims of
the most horrific catastrophe of the 21st Century, or are they just
there to play the disaster for publicity and possibly some new
recruits?
South African Scientologists are using church branches as drop-off
points for clothes and other goods targeted for relief reports IOL.
And Scientologists flying in from all over.
Scientology has sent volunteers from Australia to identify bodies
reported the AAP.
English Scientologists and even a voluteer from Utah funded by an
anonymous businessman are being flown in to somehow help reports
Surrey On Line and the and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Scientology volunteers are known for their bright yellow jackets
emblazoned with 20CScientology Volunteer Ministers20D worn when=
doing
their charitable chores.
Scientology says that over 200 20Cvolunteer ministers20D are he=
lping in
tsunami-hit countries.
In a strange twist Scientology has trained Tibetan monks to help
tsunami survivors through so-called 20Ctouch assists,20D which =
seems to be
Scientology209s version of the popular Pentecostal practice known as
20Claying on of hands20D for healing. Scientology volunteers an=
d the
Buddhist monks using their method will touch survivors to help heal
their trauma reports the AFP.
Another controversial group concerned about the trauma of tsunami
survivors is the 20CGentle Wind Project.20D This organization i=
s sending
its so-called 20Ctrauma cards20D to Sumatra, which supposedly h=
ave 20Cthe
ability to forgive and [help users] move forward in life20D according=
to
one testimonial featured on the group209s Web site. But critics have
dismissed the cards as 20Cquackery20D and a doctor warned that =
groups
pushing such products often find 20Cpeople who are desperate206=
and then
take advantage of them.20D
Madonna209s much-hyped 20CKabbalah Centre20D is shipping =
10,000 bottles of
its touted 20CKabbalah Water,20D which the pop diva seems to be=
lieve has
spiritual properties reported MSNBC.
Wouldn209t regular bottled tap water be just as effective and much
cheaper? But then that couldn209t afford a photo op with glitzy
20CKabbalah Centre20D labeling would it?
And then there is the so-called 20CArt of Living20D organizatio=
n led by a
former associate of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 20CSri Sri Ravi Shankar.2=
0D He
has dispatched his disciples to teach tsunami victims 20Cyoga20=
D and
20Cmeditation.20D
Hey Sri Sri how about funding some conventional classrooms for
children rather than pushing your 20Cyoga20D?
Another pitch comes from Guru Sri Chinmoy of New York. His followers
are collecting for something called 20CThe Oneness-Heart-Tears and
Smiles20D organization and say they are now 20Cengaged in an ur=
gent global
effort to bring desperately needed relief to the survivors.20D
But Chinmoy, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and called a
20Csleazy swami,20D doesn209t seem to fit the 20Cwo=
rld harmony leader20D title
claimed at the group209s fund-raising Web site.
20CMata20D the hugging mama guru has reportedly laid down some =
hard cash
reported one news service.
But will she want a photo op hugging her check like 20CSumma Ching Ha=
i20D
when she dropped some dough on the Red Cross for September 11th
victims?
Meanwhile hate preacher Fred Phelps from Kansas wants everyone to know
that he is 20Cthankful20D God killed Swedish citizens through t=
his
particular disaster, something about their collective sexual sins
reported Raw Print.
Is that Fred smiling over there for the cameras with his 20CGod Hates
Fags20D sign?
Who will land next with the next wave of volunteers?
Maybe some Falun Gongers will show up to teach exercise classes and
pass out flyers, or will it be Sai baba the guru philanthropist and
alleged pedophile?
Nothing new about such activities by specious groups after a disaster
except the size and depth of this terrible tragedy.
Scientology volunteers were seen at Ground Zero not long after the
Twin Towers collapsed. And John Travolta seemed anxious for his photo-
op when he visited the site.
Then Tom Cruise launched the Scientology-linked 20CDowntown Medical,=
20D
located in lower Manhattan, which provided the so-called 20Cpurificat=
ion
rundown20D for the detoxification of FDNY firemen and others that wor=
ked
at Ground Zero.
People are the most vulnerable to undue influence and recruitment
efforts by groups called 20Ccults20D when experiencing a person=
al crisis,
loss and/or going through a difficult transition. When people are
isolated from family, friends, their community and familiar support
systems they are likely to be weakened and more susceptible.
Sound like Tsunami victims?
Meanwhile mainstream religious and relief organizations and government
agencies are focused upon providing practical help to the massive
numbers of survivors such as potable not magical water, medical care
and the restoration of basic services through the rebuilding of
infrastructure.
CNN reports that this is the largest humanitarian effort in recorded
history.
Let209s hope that that these practical efforts reach the tsunami vict=
ims
before any so-called 20Ccults20D exploit their vulnerabilities =
or use them
as backdrops for some photo-op.
12.21.04
Scientology goes underground shilling 20Cstress tests20D at NYC=
subways
Posted at 1:48 pm by Rick Ross
Scientology must be getting pretty desperate for recruits. The
organization that boasts celebrity supporters such as Tom Cruise and
John Travolta has literally gone underground in an apparent effort to
dig up new members.
Devotees of the controversial church, which has been called a 20Ccult=
,20D
set up shop working shifts with their E-meters shilling 20Cstress tes=
ts20D
to passer-byes in New York209s Grand Central Station.
A concerned passenger also told CultNews that Scientologists could be
seen doing the same around access points to the PATH trains, which
links New Jersey residents to Manhattan.
Scientology209s 20Cstress test20D often utilizes an 2=
0CE-meter.20D This
contraption involves holding metal cans connected to a box with a
moving needle that supposedly measures the mind, or at least that what
Scientologists believe as an article of faith.
The founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard reportedly claimed that the
E-meter could register mental aberrations or 20Cengrams20D caus=
ed by
traumas.
Counseling or 20Cauditing20D sessions within Scientology use th=
e E-meter
to help knock out those nasty engrams.
Hubbard once reportedly claimed this process could cure blindness and
even improve a person209s intelligence and appearance.
Maybe that209s what makes Tom Cruise so smart and gave John Travolta =
his
good looks?
However, it doesn209t seem to be working so well for Kirstie Alley
lately. The star of the new show 20CFat Actress20D now weighs i=
n at over
200.
For more details about Scientology and its wares see Time Magazine209=
s
20CScientology the Cult of Greed.20D
But now back to the Scientologists working NYC subways for fresh
recruits.
A concerned passenger told CultNews that the MTA transit authority was
contacted to find out if it209s legal for these religious recruiters =
to
go underground in Manhattan.
It turns out that Scientology may be breaking some rules.
20CWe regret if you experienced difficulty while using our subway
system,20D MTA responded. 20CPlease be aware that the Transit B=
ureau of
the New York City Police Department is vigilant in thwarting illegal
activity in the subway system, and maintains an extensive police
presence with officers patrolling our facilities at all times, both in
uniform and undercover,20D the official advised.
MTA also said, 20CSupervision in the Transit Bureau has been alerted =
to
the conditions you reported at the 42nd Street-Grand Central Station,
and will take steps to deploy their officers accordingly. In addition,
personnel in our Division of Station Operations will monitor the
location in question and any illegal activity observed will be
reported immediately to field supervision.20D
But why is Scientology so desperate that its devotees are working
underground?
Can it be that its aging stars are no longer the draw they once were?
Maybe Madonna and her Kabbalah Centre 20Ccult,20D which include=
s Britney
Spears, Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher and other younger stars, has
effectively bumped the old Hollywood 20Ccult20D favorite.
Perhaps the subways may soon replace Scientology209s 20CCelebri=
ty Centers20D
and the tabloids as the most common venue to learn about the
controversial church.
05.12.04
NPR 20Chears, speaks and sees no evil20D about 20Ccults=
20D
Posted at 2:52 pm by Rick Ross
Cult apology is a trade for some, but it may be a 20Cpolitically
correct20D calling for others.
This week National Public Radio (NPR) 20CAll Things Considered20=
D
apparently was on a mission, the program featured well-known 20Ccult
apologists20D in a broadcast about 20CNew Religions.20D
The two-part series hosted by Barbara Bradley Hagerty discussed the
history of so-called 20Cnew religious movements (NRMs),20D whic=
h is a
politically correct euphemism for groups commonly called 20Ccults.2=
0D
Feigning academic objectivity was J. Gordon Melton and James Lewis.
Both men have long been closely associated with well-known 20Ccults,=
20D
such as the notorious 20CCult of Greed20D (Time Magazine May 19=
91)
Scientology, which has recommended the two as 20Creligious resources.=
20D
Melton frequently hires himself out to 20Ccults.20D
Melton, the founder of the 20CInstitute for the Study of American
Religion,20D has worked for the likes of J.Z. Knight, a woman who cla=
ims
to channel a 35,000-year-old spirit named 20CRamtha.20D
20CMa Jaya Sati Bhagavati20D a former Brooklyn housewife and th=
e leader of
the Kashi Ashram in Florida also has retained Melton.
Melton209s professional 20Cresearch,20D which frequently =
flatters 20Ccult
leaders,20D seems to provide them with academic cover, but for a pric=
e.
The peripatetic apologists Lewis and Melton were once flown to Japan
all expenses paid by the notorious cult Aum, just after its leader and
many members were arrested for gassing Tokyo209s subways.
Lewis claimed at a press conference after conducting an
20Cinvestigation20D based upon photos and documents provided by=
the cult,
that Aum could not have produced the poison gas used to murder 12
Japanese and send thousands to hospitals.
Not to be left out Melton chimed in that the Japanese authorities
20Cwere threatening the group209s religious freedom.20D
For those that don209t already know, Aum209s leader Shoko Asaha=
ra and his
key subordinates were found guilty and sentenced to death through a
court process that included overwhelming evidence.
Apparently Lewis and Melton overlooked and/or ignored such factual
information.
Another 20Cscholar20D featured on the NPR program was Catherine
Wessinger.
This academic once described the suicide cult 20CHeaven209s Gat=
e20D led by
lunatic Marshall Applewhite as 20Cdefinitely Gnostic206very sim=
ilar to
Hinduism (and also Buddhism).20D She concluded, 20CThe outcome =
with
Heaven209s Gate certainly calls into question traditional Hindu belie=
fs
and practices.20D
Huh?
What about the more obvious explanation that Applewhite was crazy?
After all, the cult leader did once sign himself into a mental
hospital, wasn209t his psychological instability a factor?
Wessinger says, 20CI209m not trained in psychology so I don2=
09t articulate
those opinions20620D
Wessinger also engages in something like revisionist history regarding
Jonestown led by another madman Jim Jones. This cult tragedy claimed
the lives of more than 900 Americans in 1978. According to Wessinger
20Cthey would still be here. But due to the attacks and investigation=
s
they endured20620D
Melton, Lewis and Wessinger might be the cult version of the 20CThree
Stooges,20D or maybe more like the proverbial monkeys that 20Ch=
ear no
evil, speak no evil and see no evil20D when it comes to cults.
Whatever they are NPR appears to be just plain dumb, for either not
doing its own research, or simply ignoring the facts in favor of some
sort of 20Cpolitical correctness.20D
Here are some glaring examples:
NPR discussed Krishna without even mentioning that the 20Ccult20=
D is
currently embroiled in a $400 million dollar class action lawsuit
filed by its childhood victims.
The Waco Davidians were labeled as a 20Cnew religious movement (NRM),=
20D
even though they are commonly called a 20Ccult.20D No mention w=
as made
about David Koresh209s bizarre claim that he was 20CThe Lamb of=
God20D or
how the cult leader exploited and abused his followers, including the
rape of a 10-year-old.
Another 20CNRM20D mentioned was the Raelians, but again nothing=
about the
sordid history of leader Claude Vorilhon (20DRael20D) or the co=
ntext of
the group209s clone claim, within an endless series of self-serving
publicity stunts.
Instead, all these groups were essentially whitewashed under the
politically correct rubric of 20Cnew religious movements.20D
And the word 20Ccult20D was never even used once throughout the=
entire
program.
After all, according to the NPR 20Cscholars20D any meaningful d=
iscussion
of 20Ccult20D bad behavior may be characterized as 20Cper=
secution20D and/or an
20Cattack20D upon 20Creligious freedom.20D
Note: In its second installment yesterday NPR featured yet another
20Ccult apologist20D Lorne L. Dawson. This program discussed th=
e 20CToronto
Blessing,20D an aberration on the fringes of the Charismatic Movement=
.
However, in what can easily be seen as misleading, the report focused
on the bizarre aspects of this Canadian group as if it offered
listeners a pivotal understanding of Pentecostal Christianity.
02.05.04
20CCult brainwashing20D defense
Posted at 12:41 pm by Rick Ross
Karen Robidoux was found not guilty of second-degree murder, in the
1999 death of her infant child this week, reported the Taunton
Gazette.
The Massachusetts mother was accused of starving her baby son Samuel
to death.
Robidoux209s husband Jacques was convicted for Samuel209s murde=
r in 2002
and is now serving a life sentence.
But the mother209s attorney, Joseph Krowski, offered the defense that
cult 20Cbrainwashing20D coerced Karen Robidoux209s behavi=
or
The attorney argued that his client was victimized, abused and
ultimately controlled by an obscure religious sect led by her father-
in-law Roland Robidoux called 20CThe Body.20D
20CThere were two victims here, Karen and Samuel,20D Robidoux=
209s older
sister told the press.
And after seven hours of deliberation the jury agreed with the defense
and its witnesses, acquitting the 20Ccult20D mom of murder, but=
finding
her guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery.
20CBecause a child died, it may be an unpopular verdict, but we felt
Karen Robidoux209s intent was not to kill her baby,20D the jury=
foreman
told the Boston Herald.
He later added, 20CI do believe she was psychologically held prisoner=
,20D
and concluded 20Cshe has suffered enough20D reported NBC News.
Private journals kept by a 20Ccult20D member were made public a=
fter the
verdict and they offered further proof of Roland Robidoux209s total
control over his followers reported the Boston Herald.
20CDad [Roland Robidoux] feels that the end is coming soon206Ou=
r prayers
should not be for Samuel to be healed but for God209s purposes to be
fulfilled206What can we do for Samuel? Nothing206God is the mas=
ter. We are
his servants,20D wrote the 20Ccult20D member.
The mother of four was sentenced to time served and walked out of the
Bristol courthouse a free woman reported the Boston Globe.
20CI209m just glad the nightmare door is shut,20D she tol=
d reporters on the
courthouse steps.
20CIt was a trail-blazing case that will affect all cult cases
nationally. It209s now been proven what can happen when someone is
brainwashed,20D said nationally known forensic pathologist Dr. Millar=
d
Bass.
In Virginia late last year another jury came to a similar conclusion
regarding the sentencing of 20CD.C. sniper20D Lee Malvo. His la=
wyers also
claimed their client was 20Cbrainwashed.20D
The teenager209s defense team contended that he was dominated and
controlled by his mentor John Mohammed.
Mohammed was sentenced to death, but Malvo was sent to prison for
life.
In a noteworthy child custody case in North Carolina this fall a judge
ruled that the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) exerted 20Ccomplete
control over the mind, body and spirit of its members, both adults and
children.20D
WOFF led by Jane Whaley has been called a 20Ccult.20D
The Carolina judge concluded, 20CThe environment created at WOFF has =
an
adverse effect on the health, safety and welfare of children,20D and =
he
subsequently ordered them to be removed from the group.
In a tacit acknowledgement of cult 20Cbrainwashing20D another j=
udge in
California granted the release last year of a woman charged with the
death of her small child to receive 20Cdeprogramming.20D
Later that same judge sentenced the cult leader to 16 years in prison,
while charges were dismissed against two of his followers.
The mother charged received an eleven-year sentence and told the
court, 20CMind control is a reality.20D
CultNews reported that professional cult apologist Dick Anthony was
involved in both the California and Carolina cases. Anthony is a
psychologist and well paid for his work, but he failed his clients
abysmally.
Judging from the prosecution209s arguments in the Robidoux case, they
apparently were receiving input from someone like Anthony.
But the Robidoux verdict may be the most colossal setback for cults
and their apologists to date. And will likely be cited in the future
as proof of 20Cbrainwashing.20D
Overall, 2003 was possibly the worst year ever for cults and their
apologists.
They even attempted fruitlessly to dismiss the 20Cbrainwashing20=
D of
kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart.
But brainwashing has become understandable to the public after
Jonestown, Waco and the 20CHeaven209s Gate20D suicides. I=
t is no longer the
mystery it once was when Charles Manson and his followers entered the
California judicial system.
Europeans likewise came to acutely understand the cult brainwashing
phenomenon through the Solar Temple suicides in Switzerland. And the
Japanese were forced to confront this reality by the cult Aum, when it
attacked Tokyo209s subways.
Joseph Kibwetere sent shockwaves through Africa when he led hundreds
of his followers to death in Uganda shortly after the Millenium, once
again demonstrating the power of cult mind control.
And isn209t 20Cbrainwashing20D something Osama bin Laden =
has used to
transform his followers into tools of terror?
Cults and their apologists will have increasing difficulty convincing
anyone that 20Cbrainwashing20D is only a 20Ctheory.20=
D
The Robidoux verdict is evidence of that.
11.19.0320CInsanity20D plea unlikely to save D.C. sniperPosted =
in
Jonestown, Solar Temple, Symbionese Liberation Army, Ten Commandments,
Heaven's Gate, Elizabeth Smart Abduction, Aum Sect, Brainwashing,
Charles Manson, Waco Davidians, Amma at 12:32 pm by Rick Ross
Lee Boyd Malvo, the teenager known as the D.C. sniper is now on trial
for murder.
At 17 he and his mentor/father figure John Muhammad went on a killing
spree that left ten dead in its wake and terrified a nation.
Now 18 Malvo is literally fighting for his own life in a Virginia
courtroom. His attorney209s hope that an 20Cinsanity20D d=
efense based upon a
20Cbrainwashing20D claim will explain the boy killer209s =
behavior and
somehow ameliorate the outcome of the trial.
John Allen Muhammad the man that allegedly 20Cbrainwashed20D Ma=
lvo has
already been convicted and is almost certain to receive the death
penalty. If his surrogate son and accomplice is found guilty, it is
likely that he will receive the same sentence.
Opinions in the press vary, but some are calling the 20Cinsanity
defense20D in this case 20Ccrazy20D reports Slate.
And the Washington Post points out those witnesses, who observed
Muhammad and Malvo together, differ in their assessment of the
relationship.
Some see Muhammad as a controlling and dominant figure that molded the
boy into a 20Ckilling machine.20D
Others say the two appeared more like friends, without readily seen
evidence of a dominant/submissive relationship.
Malvo209s taped confession is chilling. The teenager admits, 20=
CI intended
to kill them all.20D And when asked if he personally pulled the trigg=
er
in the shootings the boy answers, 20CIn all of them20D reports =
Associated
Press.
With such testimony, not to mention the physical evidence piled up by
the prosecution, Malvo really has no other meaningful option than to
plead insanity.
But was the boy 20Cbrainwashed20D by John Muhammad or is this s=
ome clever
lawyer209s contrived defense?
The 20Cbrainwashing20D defense did not work for Patty Hearst, w=
ho was
kidnapped by a political cult in the 1970s.
Hearst an heir to a newspaper fortune was coerced into becoming the
pawn of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), but was nevertheless
ultimately convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to prison.
President Jimmy Carter later commuted her sentence and Bill Clinton
pardoned Hearst before leaving the White House.
Public awareness regarding 20Cbrainwashing20D has evolved consi=
derably
since the Manson murders in 1969 and Patty Hearst209s conviction duri=
ng
1976.
The Jonestown mass suicide/murder of 1978, which claimed the lives of
almost 1,000 followers of cult leader Jim Jones in the jungles of
South America, shocked the public and created an acute awareness of
the power of coercive persuasion.
The image of parents giving their children cyanide was certainly
compelling proof of the power of Jim Jones209 brainwashing.
After Jonestown Americans suddenly seemed to see the destructive cults
that existed throughout the country and began to more readily
recognize their methods of gaining undue influence. In repeated news
stories cult 20Cbrainwashing20D was discussed during the 1980s =
and 1990s.
Then came Waco in 1993, the second longest standoff in US history,
between the cult known as the Branch Davidians and federal law
enforcement. The end would once again be tragedy, when David Koresh
and his followers chose death for themselves and their children.
In a succession of similar tragedies one cult after another would
demonstrate the effectiveness of its own brand of brainwashing.
1994 the Solar Temple suicide in Switzerland.
1995 204 the Aum gas attack of Tokyo subways that killed 12.
1997 204 39 members of 20CHeaven209s Gate20D commit=
suicide near San Diego.
2000 204 the horrific mass murder/suicide of the doomsday group known=
as
the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments in Uganda,
which may have claimed more lives than Jonestown.
9-11-2001 204 the senseless murder of 3,000 people in the World Trade
Center attack, once again perpetrated by the seemingly 20Cbrainwashed=
20D
followers of a madman, Osama bin Laden.
Self-proclaimed 20Cprophet20D Brian Mitchell was able to brainw=
ash
Elizabeth Smart from a dutiful family member into his seemingly
willing follower in approximately 60 days. Smart subsequently denied
her identity to police and did not attempt to escape the lunatic that
abducted her at knifepoint.
Muhammad apparently controlled Malvo209s associations, environment an=
d
dominated his thinking in a nomadic lifestyle similar to the one
Mitchell constructed around Elizabeth Smart.
How have madmen from Manson to Mitchell persuaded normal people to act
insane?
The process of thought reform, commonly called 20Cbrainwashing20=
D has
probably been used in various forms throughout human history. Its
mechanics have been explained in detail by psychiatrist Robert Jay
Lifton in his seminal book Thought Reform and the Psychology of
Totalism.
Lifton, who once taught at Harvard Medical School, identified the
features of 20Cbrainwashing20D through eight specific criteria;=
Milieu
Control, Mystical Manipulation, the Demand for Purity, the Cult of
Confession, the Sacred Science, Loading the Language, Doctrine over
Person and the Dispensing of Existence (see Thought Reform and the
Psychology of Totalism).
Essentially what Lifton observed is that if an environment displays at
least six of these characteristics simultaneously, it doesn209t matte=
r
what you call it, it is thought reform or 20Cbrainwashing.20D
But can this work when only two people are involved?
The phenomenon of an abused spouse, often caught within what has been
called a 20Ccultic relationship,20D also displays many of the s=
ame
features described by Lifton. Experts have frequently labeled this the
20Cbattered woman209s syndrome.20D
Was Malvo caught within the web of a 20Ccultic relationship20D?
Based upon some of the accounts that have surfaced from his family and
witnesses he may have been.
But unlike Patty Hearst, who was eventually pardoned for her
brainwashed behavior, Malvo209s deeds under the influence of his lead=
er
have included murder.
Perhaps the teenager was a victim of John Muhammad, but what about the
victims of their rampage?
Ten people died as a direct result of Malvo209s 20Cinsanity,2=
0D and even
though Muhammad may have been the master-planner of this killing
spree, his puppet still pulled the trigger.
Society seems willing to forgive the misdeeds of 20Cbrainwashing2=
0D
victims, but such forgiveness is far less likely if they have
committed violent crimes.
The followers of Charles Manson murdered for him. Manson was later
convicted like Muhammad, through a prosecution largely based upon
undue influence. However, his followers were also convicted and
sentenced to death.
Later the death sentences of the Manson Family were changed to life in
prison. But despite their impassioned pleas that they were essentially
20Cbrainwashed,20D Manson209s former followers such as Su=
san Atkins and
Leslie Van Houten have repeatedly been denied parole.
As the Virginia jury weighs its verdict they are more likely to
consider those caught within the sniper209s sights than the boy captu=
red
within the web of a madman209s undue influence.
Malvo209s only hope may come after his conviction, when his alleged
20Cinsanity20D might mitigate sentencing.
At that point the claim of 20Cbrainwashing20D might provide the=
basis for
a sentence of life in prison, rather than the death penalty.
07.30.03
Scientology209s Hollywood hype comes to St. Louis
Posted in Scientology, Cult Apologist?, Aum Sect at 9:07 am by Rick
Ross
After a seemingly contrived media blitz about Tom Cruise209s dyslexia=
,
the other shoe finally dropped.
20CApplied Scholastics International20D opened its doors last w=
eek in St.
Louis, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The program is closely related to Scientology and was founded, is
largely staffed and coordinated by its practitioners.
A spokesperson for the program says it209s 20Csecular,20D=
but it is
admittedly based upon the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of
Scientology.
Cult apologist J. Gordon Melton, was apparently flown in to assure
anyone interested that this effort 20Chas to be separate, or it would
just be too controversial,20D reported The News Tribune.
Melton previously offered apologies for the terroist cult Aum in Japan
after the group gassed Tokyo subways. Cult members paid for his travel
expenses.
Tom Cruise, actresses Jenna Elfman and Anne Archer and musician Isaac
Hayes, all Scientologists, were there for the grand opening reported
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cruise, the featured speaker proclaimed, 20CStudy Technology works.=
20D
But the former 20CTop Gun20D offered no proof other than an ane=
cdotal
story.
For that matter, there is no meaningful independent peer-reviewed and
published scientific study proving the effectiveness of any of
Hubbard209s touted 20Ctechnology,20D to cure anything.
Even Cruise209s alleged cure from dyslexia has never been independent=
ly
verified.
No one seems to care about such facts though in an increasingly
celebrity-driven pop culture. If a movie star says something is true,
it must be. And there are always those photo ops.
The Hollywood TV show Extra ran a clip about the opening of the St.
Louis center without even mentioning the Scientology connection.
Scientology certainly is expert at managing and milking its
celebrities for its maximum benefit through carefully coordinated
media events in an ongoing effort to plug pet projects.
Cruise and other Hollywood types that showed up in St. Louis are just
one more example of Scientology209s slick publicity machine.
Isaac Hayes even cut the opening ribbon for yet another staged photo
op.
Disclaimer
This news page is about groups, organizations or movements, which may
have been called "cults" and/or "cult-like" in some way, shape or
form. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are
harmful. Instead, they may be benign and generally defined as simply
people intensely devoted to a person, place or thing. Therefore, the
discussion or mention of a group, organization or person on this page,
is not necessarily meant pejoratively.
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Unless otherwise noted, all material on this site is Copyright 29 Rick
Ross.
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Cult News from Rick Ross
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
Archive for Brainwashing
03.10.0620CDeprogramming20D used for 20Ccults20D be=
comes tool to fight
terroismPosted in Deprogramming, Brainwashing at 10:25 am by Rick Ross
Indonesia has been 20Cdeprogramming20D terrorists successfully,=
and such
efforts have yielded meaningful results, as formerly 20Cbrainwashed=
20D
fanatics provide helpful inside information about their organizations.
Some 20Ccivil libertarians20D insist upon labeling this process=
20Ctorture.20D
However, deprogramming typically consists of discussion between the
designated 20Cdeprogrammer20D and the 20Cbrainwashed2=
0D member of a 20Ccult20D or
as reported within Indonesia a radical Islamic group linked to
terrorist attacks.
Indonesia has used a former member to do its deprogramming of
convicted terrorists. The man is also a Moslem cleric and has
effectively turned extremists to a more moderate faith. Subsequently,
those turned have reportedly provided information on terrorist
operations to authorities.
The same deprogramming process has been used in Singapore, the United
Kingdom, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. And the Australian government is
currently considering using deprogramming tactics too reports The Age.
20CIn many parts of the world, in Europe, in the Middle East and
certainly in Indonesia, those governments have made an attempt to
persuade extremists and terrorists who209ve been held in prison to
change their point of view and to understand that it209s not the Isla=
mic
way to kill, it209s not the Islamic way to murder. And in some cases
that process has been successful. It209s something that we will give
thought to,20D said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
The word 20Cdeprogramming20D was demonized by groups called 2=
0Ccults20D in the
United Stated beginning in the 1970s as part of an ongoing propaganda
campaign to end the practice. Groups called 20Ccults20D such as=
the
Unification Church led by Rev. Sun Myung Moon lost many members
through such interventions.
Cults despised deprogramming because it worked.
Seemingly in response to the cult propaganda campaign new terms and
descriptions were coined to describe essentially the same practice
such as 20Cexit-counseling,20D 20Cthought reform consulta=
tion,20D 20Dstrategic
intervention therapy20D and 20Ccult intervention.20D
Psychologist Margaret Singer, the preeminent cult expert of the 20th
Century, defined 20Cdeprogramming20D as simply 20Cprovidi=
ng members with
information about the cult and showing them how their own decision-
making power had been taken away from them.20D
Noted psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton defined the process
often used to compromise 20Cdecision-making power20D as 20=
Cthought reform.20D
His lauded book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism became a
seminal classic and the guide used by deprogrammers to define and
determine 20Ccult brainwashing20D techniques.
The first cult deprogrammer was Ted Patrick, often called 20CBlack
Lightening20D by the cults he opposed.
Some of those deprogrammed during the 1970s and later subsequently
became deprogrammers themselves.
Now the families of terrorists, such as the followers Osama bin Laden,
say their loved ones are also the victims of 20Cbrainwashing20D=
and thus
became terrorist pawns. An article recounting such stories and
reviewing the parallels that can be seen between terrorist training
and thought reform has been archived for some time at Cult
Education.com.
It is interesting to observe that Islamic countries are now largely
leading the way in an effort to effectively adapt deprogramming as a
response to terrorist indoctrination.
Waleed Kadous, spokesman for the Australian Muslim Civil Rights
Advocacy Network, does not oppose deprogramming if it209s voluntary.
20CIt209s important to highlight that already many respected sc=
holars in
the Muslim community are informally deconstructing terrorism and
condemning terrorism to their congregations20D reported Al Jazeera.
Understanding the process of thought reform and how to unravel its
effects is an important step in the fight against global terrorism.
Rather than simply blaming culture, religion or politics for the
increase of terrorist attacks this response recognizes the reality
that almost every nation or region around the world has been affected
by 20Ccult brainwashing20D and related tragedies.
As deprogrammers have proven in the past and as they are proving
within Islamic nations like Indonesia today, those programmed by
radical and extremist groups can be helped and that destructive
mindset unraveled
Permalink 1 Comment
12.07.0520C208Sleazy209 Sri20D Chinmoy has new book=
about his 20Cwisdom20DPosted
in Sri Chinmoy, Brainwashing at 3:48 pm by Rick Ross
According to an obscure guru some call a 20Ccult leader20D livi=
ng in
Jamaica Queens, New York, saying his name can get you to a 20Cvery go=
od
higher world.20D This sage advice and other supposed gems can be foun=
d
in the book titled 20CThe Wisdom of Sri Chinmoy20D reports the =
Queens
Chronicle.
Here is another example of the guru209s so-called 20Cwisdom.2=
0D
Guru Sri Chinmoy writes, 20CA young wife was terribly afraid of stayi=
ng
alone at night, so the Master said to the husband206I shall take care=
of
her. That night she saw the Master in a corner of the room, not the
Master209s physical body but his luminous subtle body.20D
Hmmm.
Chinmoy claims to be celibate, but persistent allegations have arisen
that his 20Cphysical body20D has wandered about a bit and it2=
09s not so
20Csubtle.20D The guru apparently has a penchant for pursuing s=
exual
favors from his female followers.
The New York Post once named him 20C208Sleazy209 Sri.2=
0D
The now 74-year-old guru still has about 2,000 seriously committed
followers. A core group composed of some of his most devoted believers
has clustered around his house in Queens. They are known for
frequently working long and hard hours at the guru209s businesses, at
times for little more than subsistence wages.
New York businesses associated with Sri Chinmoy include the Smile of
the Beyond luncheonette in Jamaica Queens and the Oneness-Fountain-
Heart restaurant in Flushing.
Chinmoy has a long history of staging self-serving publicity stunts,
which include everything from 20CPeace Runs20D to his followers=
performing
feats in their guru209s name to get him into the Guinness Book of Wor=
ld
Records.
One devotee Ashrita Furman has held more than 86 Guinness records for
such feats as pogo stick jumping, juggling while running 50 miles and
playing the most games of hopscotch.
Last year Chinmoy had his faithful gather more than 1,000 roses to
commemorate his 73rd birthday, no doubt hoping to set another record.
The guru teaches that overcoming ego is a spiritual goal, but
apparently this doesn209t include his own, which requires constant
feeding.
Such staged theater took a dark turn when one of his disciples died
apparently practicing a trick to please the guru.
In his latest book of 20Cwisdom20D Sri Chinmoy holds forth on t=
he topics
of 20Cbelief,20D 20Cdoubt20D and 20Cworry.2=
0D
But Chinmoy doesn209t have much to 20Cworry20D about with=
all his followers
taking such good care of him. He lives a life of relative ease often
leaving New York in the winter for balmy weather elsewhere.
Beyond 20Cbelief20D though are Chinmoy209s persistent cla=
ims that he can
reportedly lift 7,064 pounds with his right arm and 7,040 with his
left.
More amazing than this claim is that his followers don209t seem to
20Cdoubt20D such preposterous nonsense.
Anyone interested enough to scrutinize the guru209s weightlifting wil=
l
find out that he relies more upon machines to do the job for him
rather than his muscles. But like so many devices used by this guru it
seemingly serves to pumps up his ego.
20CIf one enters secret domains where the inherent powers of the cosm=
ic
realities exist, one can get the capacity to do anything,20D says Sri
Chinmoy.
But it209s hard to understand how the followers of this bizarre man
continue to devote their lives to his various schemes and scams204is
there some 20Ccosmic20D reason they seem willing 20Cto do=
anything20D?
Some say that Chinmoy209s 20Cinherent powers20D are a for=
m of
20Cbrainwashing.20D And that this is accomplished in part throu=
gh a form
of self-hypnosis, which renders them more suggestible and compliant,
achieved through what the guru calls 20Cmeditation.20D Then the=
re is also
the so-called 20Ccult20D lifestyle, largely dependent upon livi=
ng within
what can be seen as a controlled environment dominated and defined by
Chinmoy.
Maybe his disciples have bought into the proposition that their
rewards from the guru won209t be realized in this world, but rather i=
n
the next one?
In his book Chinmoy appears to cultivates this notion telling readers
that as a teenager he followed his sister209s soul 20Cfor about=
three
hours in the world of death.20D
The guru also says he was once busy 20Cfighting with three death forc=
es
that wanted to snatch away three of my close disciples20620D
Hmmm.
Would those 20Cforces20D be families, old friends or maybe actu=
ally an
attack of doubt and/or critical thinking?
Chinmoy wants readers to know that his 20Cteaching is not a kind of
miracle-mongering.20D Instead, his 20Cbusiness is to help the a=
spirant to
reach God.20D
Perhaps it is a 20Cbusiness.20D
Famed musician Carlos Santana followed Sri Chinmoy for almost a decade
and then left that 20Cbusiness20D behind him.
20CThis shit is not for me203I don209t care how enlighten=
ing it is,20D he told
Rolling Stone.
Maybe that209s a mantra that might help Sri Chinmoy209s discipl=
es 20Creach
God.20D According to Deborah Santana, it didn209t hurt her life=
, or her
husband209s life to get away from 20CChinmoy209s controll=
ing ways.20D
Permalink Comments
02.25.05Abusive controlling relationships like cult brainwashingPosted
in Brainwashing at 12:25 pm by Rick Ross
The 20CBattered Woman Syndrome20D often cited in court and by h=
elping
professionals assisting those victimized within abusive and
controlling relationships parallels many of the same features
identified within destructive cults.
In this sense abusive and controlling relationships, though seemingly
romantic, can be seen as a type of 20Ccult20D with a dictatoria=
l leader,
usually a man, dominating a single follower as his victim.
This has been called the 20Ccultic relationship20D and/or a 2=
0Cone-on-one
cult.20D
Over the years cult intervention professionals have been called upon
to apply the same expertise developed to free cult victims as an
approach to free those caught within the web of abusive controlling
relationships.
The Ross Institute of New Jersey has recently released an educational
DVD/video titled In the Name of Love: Abusive Controlling
Relationships, which shares the body of knowledge developed around
this subject in an easy to follow format.
This educational tool makes an otherwise often confusing situation
more easily understood.
The DVD/video offers a synthesis of what is known about brainwashing
and how this process directly applies to both the Battered Woman
Syndrome and most specifically to the dynamics and personalities most
often involved in abusive controlling relationships.
In the Name of Love also recounts personal stories, such as the
experience of singer Tina Turner and the tragic circumstances that led
up to the death of Nicole Brown Simpson. Such compelling examples are
helpful to better understand the personal cost, internal turmoil and
dangers of such relationships.
What are the warning signs?
What can someone concerned do?
What type of individual fits the profile of an abuser?
Why don209t those abused leave a bad relationship?
These and other important questions are answered within the DVD.
Darla Boughton the manager for a popular forum related to this subject
says, 20CThis DVD is a magnificent breakthrough203a must-have f=
or every
classroom, women209s shelter, and abuse Web sites everywhere.20=
D
Much too often society blames the victim rather than attempting to
understand the disturbing dynamics within abusive controlling
relationships.
One third of American women reportedly have been abused under such
circumstances, and millions more are potentially at risk.
Permalink Comments
01.05.05Has the Tsunami washed 20Ccults20D ashore?Posted in Sci=
entology,
Sri Chinmoy, Westboro Baptist Church, Sai Baba, Kabbalah Centre, Aum
Sect, Brainwashing, Ching Hai, Amma at 6:26 pm by Rick Ross
The old adage 20CBeware of Greeks bearing gifts20D may be usefu=
l to
Tsunami survivors receiving attention from some specious sects and
groups called 20Ccults.20D
Just like in the movie Troy something sinister and/or self-serving can
be concealed in a 20Cgift horse,20D and it209s probably n=
ot Brad Pitt.
In recent days a growing array of controversial religious
organizations, gurus and self-styled healers have launched efforts for
Tsunami relief, but who are they really focused upon helping?
Do their programs reflect a genuine desire to assist the victims of
the most horrific catastrophe of the 21st Century, or are they just
there to play the disaster for publicity and possibly some new
recruits?
South African Scientologists are using church branches as drop-off
points for clothes and other goods targeted for relief reports IOL.
And Scientologists flying in from all over.
Scientology has sent volunteers from Australia to identify bodies
reported the AAP.
English Scientologists and even a voluteer from Utah funded by an
anonymous businessman are being flown in to somehow help reports
Surrey On Line and the and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Scientology volunteers are known for their bright yellow jackets
emblazoned with 20CScientology Volunteer Ministers20D worn when=
doing
their charitable chores.
Scientology says that over 200 20Cvolunteer ministers20D are he=
lping in
tsunami-hit countries.
In a strange twist Scientology has trained Tibetan monks to help
tsunami survivors through so-called 20Ctouch assists,20D which =
seems to be
Scientology209s version of the popular Pentecostal practice known as
20Claying on of hands20D for healing. Scientology volunteers an=
d the
Buddhist monks using their method will touch survivors to help heal
their trauma reports the AFP.
Another controversial group concerned about the trauma of tsunami
survivors is the 20CGentle Wind Project.20D This organization i=
s sending
its so-called 20Ctrauma cards20D to Sumatra, which supposedly h=
ave 20Cthe
ability to forgive and [help users] move forward in life20D according=
to
one testimonial featured on the group209s Web site. But critics have
dismissed the cards as 20Cquackery20D and a doctor warned that =
groups
pushing such products often find 20Cpeople who are desperate206=
and then
take advantage of them.20D
Madonna209s much-hyped 20CKabbalah Centre20D is shipping =
10,000 bottles of
its touted 20CKabbalah Water,20D which the pop diva seems to be=
lieve has
spiritual properties reported MSNBC.
Wouldn209t regular bottled tap water be just as effective and much
cheaper? But then that couldn209t afford a photo op with glitzy
20CKabbalah Centre20D labeling would it?
And then there is the so-called 20CArt of Living20D organizatio=
n led by a
former associate of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 20CSri Sri Ravi Shankar.2=
0D He
has dispatched his disciples to teach tsunami victims 20Cyoga20=
D and
20Cmeditation.20D
Hey Sri Sri how about funding some conventional classrooms for
children rather than pushing your 20Cyoga20D?
Another pitch comes from Guru Sri Chinmoy of New York. His followers
are collecting for something called 20CThe Oneness-Heart-Tears and
Smiles20D organization and say they are now 20Cengaged in an ur=
gent global
effort to bring desperately needed relief to the survivors.20D
But Chinmoy, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and called a
20Csleazy swami,20D doesn209t seem to fit the 20Cwo=
rld harmony leader20D title
claimed at the group209s fund-raising Web site.
20CMata20D the hugging mama guru has reportedly laid down some =
hard cash
reported one news service.
But will she want a photo op hugging her check like 20CSumma Ching Ha=
i20D
when she dropped some dough on the Red Cross for September 11th
victims?
Meanwhile hate preacher Fred Phelps from Kansas wants everyone to know
that he is 20Cthankful20D God killed Swedish citizens through t=
his
particular disaster, something about their collective sexual sins
reported Raw Print.
Is that Fred smiling over there for the cameras with his 20CGod Hates
Fags20D sign?
Who will land next with the next wave of volunteers?
Maybe some Falun Gongers will show up to teach exercise classes and
pass out flyers, or will it be Sai baba the guru philanthropist and
alleged pedophile?
Nothing new about such activities by specious groups after a disaster
except the size and depth of this terrible tragedy.
Scientology volunteers were seen at Ground Zero not long after the
Twin Towers collapsed. And John Travolta seemed anxious for his photo-
op when he visited the site.
Then Tom Cruise launched the Scientology-linked 20CDowntown Medical,=
20D
located in lower Manhattan, which provided the so-called 20Cpurificat=
ion
rundown20D for the detoxification of FDNY firemen and others that wor=
ked
at Ground Zero.
People are the most vulnerable to undue influence and recruitment
efforts by groups called 20Ccults20D when experiencing a person=
al crisis,
loss and/or going through a difficult transition. When people are
isolated from family, friends, their community and familiar support
systems they are likely to be weakened and more susceptible.
Sound like Tsunami victims?
Meanwhile mainstream religious and relief organizations and government
agencies are focused upon providing practical help to the massive
numbers of survivors such as potable not magical water, medical care
and the restoration of basic services through the rebuilding of
infrastructure.
CNN reports that this is the largest humanitarian effort in recorded
history.
Let209s hope that that these practical efforts reach the tsunami vict=
ims
before any so-called 20Ccults20D exploit their vulnerabilities =
or use them
as backdrops for some photo-op.
Permalink Comments
11.01.04Landmark Education defendant in wrongful death lawsuitPosted
in Landmark Education, Brainwashing at 10:17 am by Rick Ross
On December 12, 2001 Jason Weed murdered Oklahoma mailman Robert
Jenkins. He shot Jenkins in the back while the mailman was performing
his job as a postal carrier.
Mr. Jenkins wife and a stepdaughter survive the 30-year-old US Postal
Service employee.
The court found that Weed was 20Clegally insane.20D
However, according to the court claim made against Landmark (Been v.
Weed), 20CWeed was free of abnormal psychological manifestations(s) a=
nd/
or disorder(s) prior to his attending the Defendant Landmark209s
classes.20D
Moreover, the plaintiff claims that through Landmark Education classes
Weed 20Cwas subjected to extreme emotional and psychological stress
which caused his mental disorders, and which resulted in the death of20=
D
Robert Jenkins.
The lawsuit further states that 20CLandmark knew, because of their pr=
ior
experiences, that this type of disorder206was a likely and foreseeabl=
e
result of attendance of their classes.20D
The plaintiff209s attorneys specifically cite a 20Cscreening pr=
ocess and
test
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
Archive for Aum Sect
06.01.06
Heinous cult leader will be hung
Posted in Aum Sect at 3:20 pm by Rick Ross
Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as 20CShoko Asahara20D led his fol=
lowers to a
day of reckoning, but it wasn209t the one he predicted, instead it wa=
s
the beginning of the end for him and the cult he created called 20DAu=
m
Supreme Truth.20D
Asahara was sentenced to death in February 2004 for the poison gas
attack he ordered in Tokyo, which claimed of lives of twelve people
and injured 5,500. Including the murder of a lawyer and his family and
other related crimes, 27 lives were lost in the wake of Matsumoto209s
madness.
Japanese justice moves slowly and after 11 years and with all his
appeals exhausted the cult leader may soon be executed by hanging on
the gallows.
In the past decade Aum has disintegrated and splintered into factions
as its founder, who was once regarded as divine, lapsed into silence.
Today the man that once ruled the sect like a king languishes in a
jail cell alone wearing diapers, apparently unwilling or unable to
communicate or even use a toilet.
One of the guru209s lieutenants also convicted of cult crimes and
sentenced to death says that Matsumoto might remain a symbol to some
of his remaining followers after his death.
20CIf Matsumoto is to be executed without testifying, he will become =
a
martyr,20D Kenichi Hirose, 41 wrote in a letter, reports Yomiuri
Shimbun.
20CIf Matsumoto is going to have his death sentence finalized without
testifying, fails to atone for his actions and maintains a barrier of
self-containment, I209ve nothing to say to him,20D Hirose also =
said.
Throughout the years since his arrest the once talkative guru has been
mute. He did not speak coherently during his court trial, though at
times he has demonstrated the ability to masturbate in front of his
jailers.
Regardless of whether Matsumoto is faking, or has unraveled without
the power he once held, the murderous cult leader will not be
protected by an insanity defense.
Tokyo High Court on Monday rejected an objection filed his lawyers and
nothing remains between the heinous cult leader and the hangman.
02.20.06
Japanese cult leader can209t face the real world
Posted at 5:53 am by Rick Ross
Ever wonder what happened to the Japanese cult leader responsible for
gassing thousands of Tokyo subway riders in 1994?
Well it has been more than a decade and Shoko Asahara, convicted of
murder and sentenced to death, is still taking up cell space in his
own very special quiet way.
The once all-powerful and outspoken cult leader now just mumbles
incoherently, makes bizarre gestures and wets himself.
His lawyers say Asahara was 20Cunfit for trial20D and they keep=
demanding
more definitive psychiatric tests.
However, the Japanese courts have ruled otherwise and declared the
guru 20Cfit for trial20D reports Ireland On-line.
20CHe209s incapable of any form of communication whatsoever,2=
0D says a
psychopathology expert that visited Asahara in prison.
Apparently he suffers from 20Cstress20D brought on by 20C=
confinement.20D
His lawyers shouldn209t expect any sympathy though from the Japanese
courts or the public. Asahara is responsible for the murder of twelve
subway riders and the injuries of thousands rushed to hospitals for
emergency care.
Once the grand master that controlled a financial empire and ruled as
a tyrant over an estimated 40,000 followers this self-proclaimed
messiah can209t seem to adjust to the reality of life as a mere morta=
l
supervised by prison authorities.
It209s no great shock though that Asahara has ultimately proven to be=
as
crazy as other cult leaders from the past.
However, unlike Jim Jones, David Koresh, Luc Joret, Marshall
Applewhite, or Joseph Kibwetere, Asahara decided not to do himself in
when his luck ran out.
Instead he hid hoping to somehow get away with his crimes.
Now forced to face a life without the trappings of his former glory
Asahara has shut down and shut out the world around him.
In the end a living example of what makes cult leaders tick and often
ultimately unwind.
06.28.05
Tom Cruise and Scientology garner interesting defenders
Posted at 3:44 pm by Rick Ross
Salon calls Scientology Dianetics 20Cstranger than fiction20D
Academics often called 20Ccult apologists20D have come to the r=
escue and
defended both Tom Cruise and Scientology in the press lately.
J. Gordon Melton and David G. Bromley were both quoted in a recent
article run within the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bromley is an old friend of Scientology and has been officially
recommended by the controversial church as a 20Creligious resource.=
20D
The so-called 20Cnew Cult Awareness Network20D reportedly run b=
y
Scientology also once recommended both Bromley and Melton for 20Cfact=
ual
information on new religions,20D in the wake of a California cult
(20DHeaven209s Gate20C) mass suicide in 1997.
David Bromley209s frequent writing partner Anson Shupe made a bundle
working for Scientology lawyers. He helped Scientology knock off its
perceived nemesis the 20Cold Cult Awareness Network20D enabling=
a
Scientologist attorney to eventually buy its name and files through a
bankruptcy proceeding.
The files of Scientology209s former foe were later handed over to J.
Gordon Melton.
Melton and Bromley can almost always be counted on to defend virtually
any group called a 20Ccult20D no matter how heinous or harmful.
Bromley told the Chicago Sun-Times, 20CCult is a four-letter word for=
a
religion you don209t like.20D
It seems Time Magazine must have got it wrong when it called
Scientology the 20CCult of Greed,20D despite the fact that a su=
bsequent
libel suit filed against the publication by the purported 20Ccult2=
0D
sputtered to a dismissal without ever going to trial.
Mr. Melton has raked in quite a nest egg working for groups like the
Children of God and the International Church of Christ. He was paid by
J.Z. Knight (known as Ramtha) to write a book, not to mention his all
expenses paid trip to Japan courtesy of the infamous cult known as
20CAum Supreme Truth.20D
Melton arrived in Japan in 1995 and promptly pronounced that Aum was
the victim of 20Cpersecution,20D despite the fact that the cult=
had gassed
the Tokyo Subway system sending thousands of Japanese to hospitals and
killing twelve.
Melton told the Chicago Sun-Times that 20Cnew religions,20D his=
supposedly
politically correct euphemism to describe 20Ccults,20D put peop=
le off
because of their 20Cnewness.20D
However, it appears that what puts people off most about Tom Cruise20=
9s
behavior and his strange Scientology banter is the bizarre nature of
it all.
Today the London Free Press asked, 20CHas Cruise Cracked?20D
Meanwhile Salon Magazine published a critique of Scientology and its
founder titled 20CStranger than Fiction.20D
How convenient is the timing that these two alleged academics Melton
and Bromley are now helping out Scientology209s 20Cposter boy=
20D Tom Cruise.
But the news media should know that such specious scholars cannot be
counted upon for any meaningful objectivity, they are politically if
not literally invested in their positions.
Benjamin Zablocki, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University put
it succinctly when he said, 20CThe sociology of religion can no longe=
r
avoid the unpleasant ethical question of how to deal with the large
sums of money being pumped into the field by the religious groups
being studied206This is an issue that is slowly but surely building
toward a public scandal.20D
Stephen Kent, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta in
Canada concluded, 20CScholars who compromise objectivity or academic
integrity threaten to diminish the reputation of social science.20D
Rich religious groups like Scientology can easily afford to pump cash
into the pockets of quite a few professors and assorted academics.
Perhaps the press should scrutinize more carefully the likes of
sources such as David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton.
01.26.05
20CCult20D payoff for 20Cscholar20D?
Posted at 12:16 pm by Rick Ross
J. Gordon Melton, a somewhat specious 20Cscholar20D of what he =
refers to
as 20Cnew religious movements20D received a rather questionable=
gift from
a foundation linked to a purported 20Ccult,20D reports Moving O=
n.org.
Moving On.org is a Web site created by and for young adults with
parents who joined the notorious 20CChildren of God20D (COG).
The Web site recently made public a portion of a 2000 IRS disclosure
document that lists a $10,000.00 gift given to the so-called
20CInternational Religious Directory,20D which is a pet project=
of Mr.
Melton.
The gift-giver is the Family Care Foundation, an organization founded
by COG leaders.
Infamous sexual predator 20CMoses20D David Berg who died in 199=
4 once
defined COG as its absolute leader.
The group taught members to sexualize their minor children and
encouraged its women to become 20Chookers for Christ.20D
COG is now known as 20CThe Family20D and has been in the news l=
ately due
to a grizzly murder-suicide.
Ricky Rodriquez the son of its current leader Karen Zerby, Berg209s
widow known as 20CMama Maria20D to her followers, committed sui=
cide after
murdering his former nanny Angela Smith. The young man who left COG
about five years ago claimed she had molested him as a child.
Ms. Smith at the time of her death was listed as a director of the
Family Care Foundation, which is reportedly 20Can arm of The Family.=
20D
J. Gordon Melton has often been labeled a 20Ccult apologist20D =
because of
his friendly relationships with such groups, but until now no one knew
exactly how lucrative his COG connection was through the Family Care
Foundation.
Mr. Melton seems to have made something of a career out of selling his
scholarly services to various fringe groups, often called 20Ccults.=
20D His
list of sponsors and/or clients has included JZ Knight or 20CRamtha,=
20D a
new age guru that funded a Melton book project. And also Aum the
terrorist Japanese cult, which paid the peripatetic apologist209s
expenses to come to Tokyo after they gassed that city209s subways
sending thousands to hospitals.
Mr. Melton209s motto seems to be, 20Chave apologies will travel=
,20D
apparently that is when some substantial funding is made available.
Note: Supposedly objective academic papers by J. Gordon Melton and
others often called 20Ccult apologists20D have recently been li=
nked on-
line through a Web site database. Many of the authors listed such as
Dick Anthony & Thomas Robbins, David Bromley, Jeffrey Hadden, James
Lewis, James T. Richardson and James Tabor have been recommended
either by Scientology or the Scientology-linked 20Cnew Cult Awareness
Network20D as 20Cresources.20D Anson Shupe who is listed =
once worked for
lawyers linked to Scientology. Another listed author Eileen Barker has
received funding from Rev. Moon. Scholar Rocheford E. Burke cashed
some checks from Krishna/ISCKON while Professor Susan Palmer worked
closely with the Raelians. Cult apology appears to be a meaningful
source of income for some within the academic community. The Web site
CESNUR, which is home for many of the papers listed is run by Massimo
Introvigne, a controversial man that works closely with many groups
called 20Ccults.20D
01.05.05
Has the Tsunami washed 20Ccults20D ashore?
Posted at 6:26 pm by Rick Ross
The old adage 20CBeware of Greeks bearing gifts20D may be usefu=
l to
Tsunami survivors receiving attention from some specious sects and
groups called 20Ccults.20D
Just like in the movie Troy something sinister and/or self-serving can
be concealed in a 20Cgift horse,20D and it209s probably n=
ot Brad Pitt.
In recent days a growing array of controversial religious
organizations, gurus and self-styled healers have launched efforts for
Tsunami relief, but who are they really focused upon helping?
Do their programs reflect a genuine desire to assist the victims of
the most horrific catastrophe of the 21st Century, or are they just
there to play the disaster for publicity and possibly some new
recruits?
South African Scientologists are using church branches as drop-off
points for clothes and other goods targeted for relief reports IOL.
And Scientologists flying in from all over.
Scientology has sent volunteers from Australia to identify bodies
reported the AAP.
English Scientologists and even a voluteer from Utah funded by an
anonymous businessman are being flown in to somehow help reports
Surrey On Line and the and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Scientology volunteers are known for their bright yellow jackets
emblazoned with 20CScientology Volunteer Ministers20D worn when=
doing
their charitable chores.
Scientology says that over 200 20Cvolunteer ministers20D are he=
lping in
tsunami-hit countries.
In a strange twist Scientology has trained Tibetan monks to help
tsunami survivors through so-called 20Ctouch assists,20D which =
seems to be
Scientology209s version of the popular Pentecostal practice known as
20Claying on of hands20D for healing. Scientology volunteers an=
d the
Buddhist monks using their method will touch survivors to help heal
their trauma reports the AFP.
Another controversial group concerned about the trauma of tsunami
survivors is the 20CGentle Wind Project.20D This organization i=
s sending
its so-called 20Ctrauma cards20D to Sumatra, which supposedly h=
ave 20Cthe
ability to forgive and [help users] move forward in life20D according=
to
one testimonial featured on the group209s Web site. But critics have
dismissed the cards as 20Cquackery20D and a doctor warned that =
groups
pushing such products often find 20Cpeople who are desperate206=
and then
take advantage of them.20D
Madonna209s much-hyped 20CKabbalah Centre20D is shipping =
10,000 bottles of
its touted 20CKabbalah Water,20D which the pop diva seems to be=
lieve has
spiritual properties reported MSNBC.
Wouldn209t regular bottled tap water be just as effective and much
cheaper? But then that couldn209t afford a photo op with glitzy
20CKabbalah Centre20D labeling would it?
And then there is the so-called 20CArt of Living20D organizatio=
n led by a
former associate of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 20CSri Sri Ravi Shankar.2=
0D He
has dispatched his disciples to teach tsunami victims 20Cyoga20=
D and
20Cmeditation.20D
Hey Sri Sri how about funding some conventional classrooms for
children rather than pushing your 20Cyoga20D?
Another pitch comes from Guru Sri Chinmoy of New York. His followers
are collecting for something called 20CThe Oneness-Heart-Tears and
Smiles20D organization and say they are now 20Cengaged in an ur=
gent global
effort to bring desperately needed relief to the survivors.20D
But Chinmoy, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and called a
20Csleazy swami,20D doesn209t seem to fit the 20Cwo=
rld harmony leader20D title
claimed at the group209s fund-raising Web site.
20CMata20D the hugging mama guru has reportedly laid down some =
hard cash
reported one news service.
But will she want a photo op hugging her check like 20CSumma Ching Ha=
i20D
when she dropped some dough on the Red Cross for September 11th
victims?
Meanwhile hate preacher Fred Phelps from Kansas wants everyone to know
that he is 20Cthankful20D God killed Swedish citizens through t=
his
particular disaster, something about their collective sexual sins
reported Raw Print.
Is that Fred smiling over there for the cameras with his 20CGod Hates
Fags20D sign?
Who will land next with the next wave of volunteers?
Maybe some Falun Gongers will show up to teach exercise classes and
pass out flyers, or will it be Sai baba the guru philanthropist and
alleged pedophile?
Nothing new about such activities by specious groups after a disaster
except the size and depth of this terrible tragedy.
Scientology volunteers were seen at Ground Zero not long after the
Twin Towers collapsed. And John Travolta seemed anxious for his photo-
op when he visited the site.
Then Tom Cruise launched the Scientology-linked 20CDowntown Medical,=
20D
located in lower Manhattan, which provided the so-called 20Cpurificat=
ion
rundown20D for the detoxification of FDNY firemen and others that wor=
ked
at Ground Zero.
People are the most vulnerable to undue influence and recruitment
efforts by groups called 20Ccults20D when experiencing a person=
al crisis,
loss and/or going through a difficult transition. When people are
isolated from family, friends, their community and familiar support
systems they are likely to be weakened and more susceptible.
Sound like Tsunami victims?
Meanwhile mainstream religious and relief organizations and government
agencies are focused upon providing practical help to the massive
numbers of survivors such as potable not magical water, medical care
and the restoration of basic services through the rebuilding of
infrastructure.
CNN reports that this is the largest humanitarian effort in recorded
history.
Let209s hope that that these practical efforts reach the tsunami vict=
ims
before any so-called 20Ccults20D exploit their vulnerabilities =
or use them
as backdrops for some photo-op.
12.21.04
Scientology goes underground shilling 20Cstress tests20D at NYC=
subways
Posted at 1:48 pm by Rick Ross
Scientology must be getting pretty desperate for recruits. The
organization that boasts celebrity supporters such as Tom Cruise and
John Travolta has literally gone underground in an apparent effort to
dig up new members.
Devotees of the controversial church, which has been called a 20Ccult=
,20D
set up shop working shifts with their E-meters shilling 20Cstress tes=
ts20D
to passer-byes in New York209s Grand Central Station.
A concerned passenger also told CultNews that Scientologists could be
seen doing the same around access points to the PATH trains, which
links New Jersey residents to Manhattan.
Scientology209s 20Cstress test20D often utilizes an 2=
0CE-meter.20D This
contraption involves holding metal cans connected to a box with a
moving needle that supposedly measures the mind, or at least that what
Scientologists believe as an article of faith.
The founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard reportedly claimed that the
E-meter could register mental aberrations or 20Cengrams20D caus=
ed by
traumas.
Counseling or 20Cauditing20D sessions within Scientology use th=
e E-meter
to help knock out those nasty engrams.
Hubbard once reportedly claimed this process could cure blindness and
even improve a person209s intelligence and appearance.
Maybe that209s what makes Tom Cruise so smart and gave John Travolta =
his
good looks?
However, it doesn209t seem to be working so well for Kirstie Alley
lately. The star of the new show 20CFat Actress20D now weighs i=
n at over
200.
For more details about Scientology and its wares see Time Magazine209=
s
20CScientology the Cult of Greed.20D
But now back to the Scientologists working NYC subways for fresh
recruits.
A concerned passenger told CultNews that the MTA transit authority was
contacted to find out if it209s legal for these religious recruiters =
to
go underground in Manhattan.
It turns out that Scientology may be breaking some rules.
20CWe regret if you experienced difficulty while using our subway
system,20D MTA responded. 20CPlease be aware that the Transit B=
ureau of
the New York City Police Department is vigilant in thwarting illegal
activity in the subway system, and maintains an extensive police
presence with officers patrolling our facilities at all times, both in
uniform and undercover,20D the official advised.
MTA also said, 20CSupervision in the Transit Bureau has been alerted =
to
the conditions you reported at the 42nd Street-Grand Central Station,
and will take steps to deploy their officers accordingly. In addition,
personnel in our Division of Station Operations will monitor the
location in question and any illegal activity observed will be
reported immediately to field supervision.20D
But why is Scientology so desperate that its devotees are working
underground?
Can it be that its aging stars are no longer the draw they once were?
Maybe Madonna and her Kabbalah Centre 20Ccult,20D which include=
s Britney
Spears, Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher and other younger stars, has
effectively bumped the old Hollywood 20Ccult20D favorite.
Perhaps the subways may soon replace Scientology209s 20CCelebri=
ty Centers20D
and the tabloids as the most common venue to learn about the
controversial church.
05.12.04
NPR 20Chears, speaks and sees no evil20D about 20Ccults=
20D
Posted at 2:52 pm by Rick Ross
Cult apology is a trade for some, but it may be a 20Cpolitically
correct20D calling for others.
This week National Public Radio (NPR) 20CAll Things Considered20=
D
apparently was on a mission, the program featured well-known 20Ccult
apologists20D in a broadcast about 20CNew Religions.20D
The two-part series hosted by Barbara Bradley Hagerty discussed the
history of so-called 20Cnew religious movements (NRMs),20D whic=
h is a
politically correct euphemism for groups commonly called 20Ccults.2=
0D
Feigning academic objectivity was J. Gordon Melton and James Lewis.
Both men have long been closely associated with well-known 20Ccults,=
20D
such as the notorious 20CCult of Greed20D (Time Magazine May 19=
91)
Scientology, which has recommended the two as 20Creligious resources.=
20D
Melton frequently hires himself out to 20Ccults.20D
Melton, the founder of the 20CInstitute for the Study of American
Religion,20D has worked for the likes of J.Z. Knight, a woman who cla=
ims
to channel a 35,000-year-old spirit named 20CRamtha.20D
20CMa Jaya Sati Bhagavati20D a former Brooklyn housewife and th=
e leader of
the Kashi Ashram in Florida also has retained Melton.
Melton209s professional 20Cresearch,20D which frequently =
flatters 20Ccult
leaders,20D seems to provide them with academic cover, but for a pric=
e.
The peripatetic apologists Lewis and Melton were once flown to Japan
all expenses paid by the notorious cult Aum, just after its leader and
many members were arrested for gassing Tokyo209s subways.
Lewis claimed at a press conference after conducting an
20Cinvestigation20D based upon photos and documents provided by=
the cult,
that Aum could not have produced the poison gas used to murder 12
Japanese and send thousands to hospitals.
Not to be left out Melton chimed in that the Japanese authorities
20Cwere threatening the group209s religious freedom.20D
For those that don209t already know, Aum209s leader Shoko Asaha=
ra and his
key subordinates were found guilty and sentenced to death through a
court process that included overwhelming evidence.
Apparently Lewis and Melton overlooked and/or ignored such factual
information.
Another 20Cscholar20D featured on the NPR program was Catherine
Wessinger.
This academic once described the suicide cult 20CHeaven209s Gat=
e20D led by
lunatic Marshall Applewhite as 20Cdefinitely Gnostic206very sim=
ilar to
Hinduism (and also Buddhism).20D She concluded, 20CThe outcome =
with
Heaven209s Gate certainly calls into question traditional Hindu belie=
fs
and practices.20D
Huh?
What about the more obvious explanation that Applewhite was crazy?
After all, the cult leader did once sign himself into a mental
hospital, wasn209t his psychological instability a factor?
Wessinger says, 20CI209m not trained in psychology so I don2=
09t articulate
those opinions20620D
Wessinger also engages in something like revisionist history regarding
Jonestown led by another madman Jim Jones. This cult tragedy claimed
the lives of more than 900 Americans in 1978. According to Wessinger
20Cthey would still be here. But due to the attacks and investigation=
s
they endured20620D
Melton, Lewis and Wessinger might be the cult version of the 20CThree
Stooges,20D or maybe more like the proverbial monkeys that 20Ch=
ear no
evil, speak no evil and see no evil20D when it comes to cults.
Whatever they are NPR appears to be just plain dumb, for either not
doing its own research, or simply ignoring the facts in favor of some
sort of 20Cpolitical correctness.20D
Here are some glaring examples:
NPR discussed Krishna without even mentioning that the 20Ccult20=
D is
currently embroiled in a $400 million dollar class action lawsuit
filed by its childhood victims.
The Waco Davidians were labeled as a 20Cnew religious movement (NRM),=
20D
even though they are commonly called a 20Ccult.20D No mention w=
as made
about David Koresh209s bizarre claim that he was 20CThe Lamb of=
God20D or
how the cult leader exploited and abused his followers, including the
rape of a 10-year-old.
Another 20CNRM20D mentioned was the Raelians, but again nothing=
about the
sordid history of leader Claude Vorilhon (20DRael20D) or the co=
ntext of
the group209s clone claim, within an endless series of self-serving
publicity stunts.
Instead, all these groups were essentially whitewashed under the
politically correct rubric of 20Cnew religious movements.20D
And the word 20Ccult20D was never even used once throughout the=
entire
program.
After all, according to the NPR 20Cscholars20D any meaningful d=
iscussion
of 20Ccult20D bad behavior may be characterized as 20Cper=
secution20D and/or an
20Cattack20D upon 20Creligious freedom.20D
Note: In its second installment yesterday NPR featured yet another
20Ccult apologist20D Lorne L. Dawson. This program discussed th=
e 20CToronto
Blessing,20D an aberration on the fringes of the Charismatic Movement=
.
However, in what can easily be seen as misleading, the report focused
on the bizarre aspects of this Canadian group as if it offered
listeners a pivotal understanding of Pentecostal Christianity.
02.05.04
20CCult brainwashing20D defense
Posted at 12:41 pm by Rick Ross
Karen Robidoux was found not guilty of second-degree murder, in the
1999 death of her infant child this week, reported the Taunton
Gazette.
The Massachusetts mother was accused of starving her baby son Samuel
to death.
Robidoux209s husband Jacques was convicted for Samuel209s murde=
r in 2002
and is now serving a life sentence.
But the mother209s attorney, Joseph Krowski, offered the defense that
cult 20Cbrainwashing20D coerced Karen Robidoux209s behavi=
or
The attorney argued that his client was victimized, abused and
ultimately controlled by an obscure religious sect led by her father-
in-law Roland Robidoux called 20CThe Body.20D
20CThere were two victims here, Karen and Samuel,20D Robidoux=
209s older
sister told the press.
And after seven hours of deliberation the jury agreed with the defense
and its witnesses, acquitting the 20Ccult20D mom of murder, but=
finding
her guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery.
20CBecause a child died, it may be an unpopular verdict, but we felt
Karen Robidoux209s intent was not to kill her baby,20D the jury=
foreman
told the Boston Herald.
He later added, 20CI do believe she was psychologically held prisoner=
,20D
and concluded 20Cshe has suffered enough20D reported NBC News.
Private journals kept by a 20Ccult20D member were made public a=
fter the
verdict and they offered further proof of Roland Robidoux209s total
control over his followers reported the Boston Herald.
20CDad [Roland Robidoux] feels that the end is coming soon206Ou=
r prayers
should not be for Samuel to be healed but for God209s purposes to be
fulfilled206What can we do for Samuel? Nothing206God is the mas=
ter. We are
his servants,20D wrote the 20Ccult20D member.
The mother of four was sentenced to time served and walked out of the
Bristol courthouse a free woman reported the Boston Globe.
20CI209m just glad the nightmare door is shut,20D she tol=
d reporters on the
courthouse steps.
20CIt was a trail-blazing case that will affect all cult cases
nationally. It209s now been proven what can happen when someone is
brainwashed,20D said nationally known forensic pathologist Dr. Millar=
d
Bass.
In Virginia late last year another jury came to a similar conclusion
regarding the sentencing of 20CD.C. sniper20D Lee Malvo. His la=
wyers also
claimed their client was 20Cbrainwashed.20D
The teenager209s defense team contended that he was dominated and
controlled by his mentor John Mohammed.
Mohammed was sentenced to death, but Malvo was sent to prison for
life.
In a noteworthy child custody case in North Carolina this fall a judge
ruled that the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) exerted 20Ccomplete
control over the mind, body and spirit of its members, both adults and
children.20D
WOFF led by Jane Whaley has been called a 20Ccult.20D
The Carolina judge concluded, 20CThe environment created at WOFF has =
an
adverse effect on the health, safety and welfare of children,20D and =
he
subsequently ordered them to be removed from the group.
In a tacit acknowledgement of cult 20Cbrainwashing20D another j=
udge in
California granted the release last year of a woman charged with the
death of her small child to receive 20Cdeprogramming.20D
Later that same judge sentenced the cult leader to 16 years in prison,
while charges were dismissed against two of his followers.
The mother charged received an eleven-year sentence and told the
court, 20CMind control is a reality.20D
CultNews reported that professional cult apologist Dick Anthony was
involved in both the California and Carolina cases. Anthony is a
psychologist and well paid for his work, but he failed his clients
abysmally.
Judging from the prosecution209s arguments in the Robidoux case, they
apparently were receiving input from someone like Anthony.
But the Robidoux verdict may be the most colossal setback for cults
and their apologists to date. And will likely be cited in the future
as proof of 20Cbrainwashing.20D
Overall, 2003 was possibly the worst year ever for cults and their
apologists.
They even attempted fruitlessly to dismiss the 20Cbrainwashing20=
D of
kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart.
But brainwashing has become understandable to the public after
Jonestown, Waco and the 20CHeaven209s Gate20D suicides. I=
t is no longer the
mystery it once was when Charles Manson and his followers entered the
California judicial system.
Europeans likewise came to acutely understand the cult brainwashing
phenomenon through the Solar Temple suicides in Switzerland. And the
Japanese were forced to confront this reality by the cult Aum, when it
attacked Tokyo209s subways.
Joseph Kibwetere sent shockwaves through Africa when he led hundreds
of his followers to death in Uganda shortly after the Millenium, once
again demonstrating the power of cult mind control.
And isn209t 20Cbrainwashing20D something Osama bin Laden =
has used to
transform his followers into tools of terror?
Cults and their apologists will have increasing difficulty convincing
anyone that 20Cbrainwashing20D is only a 20Ctheory.20=
D
The Robidoux verdict is evidence of that.
11.19.0320CInsanity20D plea unlikely to save D.C. sniperPosted =
in
Jonestown, Solar Temple, Symbionese Liberation Army, Ten Commandments,
Heaven's Gate, Elizabeth Smart Abduction, Aum Sect, Brainwashing,
Charles Manson, Waco Davidians, Amma at 12:32 pm by Rick Ross
Lee Boyd Malvo, the teenager known as the D.C. sniper is now on trial
for murder.
At 17 he and his mentor/father figure John Muhammad went on a killing
spree that left ten dead in its wake and terrified a nation.
Now 18 Malvo is literally fighting for his own life in a Virginia
courtroom. His attorney209s hope that an 20Cinsanity20D d=
efense based upon a
20Cbrainwashing20D claim will explain the boy killer209s =
behavior and
somehow ameliorate the outcome of the trial.
John Allen Muhammad the man that allegedly 20Cbrainwashed20D Ma=
lvo has
already been convicted and is almost certain to receive the death
penalty. If his surrogate son and accomplice is found guilty, it is
likely that he will receive the same sentence.
Opinions in the press vary, but some are calling the 20Cinsanity
defense20D in this case 20Ccrazy20D reports Slate.
And the Washington Post points out those witnesses, who observed
Muhammad and Malvo together, differ in their assessment of the
relationship.
Some see Muhammad as a controlling and dominant figure that molded the
boy into a 20Ckilling machine.20D
Others say the two appeared more like friends, without readily seen
evidence of a dominant/submissive relationship.
Malvo209s taped confession is chilling. The teenager admits, 20=
CI intended
to kill them all.20D And when asked if he personally pulled the trigg=
er
in the shootings the boy answers, 20CIn all of them20D reports =
Associated
Press.
With such testimony, not to mention the physical evidence piled up by
the prosecution, Malvo really has no other meaningful option than to
plead insanity.
But was the boy 20Cbrainwashed20D by John Muhammad or is this s=
ome clever
lawyer209s contrived defense?
The 20Cbrainwashing20D defense did not work for Patty Hearst, w=
ho was
kidnapped by a political cult in the 1970s.
Hearst an heir to a newspaper fortune was coerced into becoming the
pawn of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), but was nevertheless
ultimately convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to prison.
President Jimmy Carter later commuted her sentence and Bill Clinton
pardoned Hearst before leaving the White House.
Public awareness regarding 20Cbrainwashing20D has evolved consi=
derably
since the Manson murders in 1969 and Patty Hearst209s conviction duri=
ng
1976.
The Jonestown mass suicide/murder of 1978, which claimed the lives of
almost 1,000 followers of cult leader Jim Jones in the jungles of
South America, shocked the public and created an acute awareness of
the power of coercive persuasion.
The image of parents giving their children cyanide was certainly
compelling proof of the power of Jim Jones209 brainwashing.
After Jonestown Americans suddenly seemed to see the destructive cults
that existed throughout the country and began to more readily
recognize their methods of gaining undue influence. In repeated news
stories cult 20Cbrainwashing20D was discussed during the 1980s =
and 1990s.
Then came Waco in 1993, the second longest standoff in US history,
between the cult known as the Branch Davidians and federal law
enforcement. The end would once again be tragedy, when David Koresh
and his followers chose death for themselves and their children.
In a succession of similar tragedies one cult after another would
demonstrate the effectiveness of its own brand of brainwashing.
1994 the Solar Temple suicide in Switzerland.
1995 204 the Aum gas attack of Tokyo subways that killed 12.
1997 204 39 members of 20CHeaven209s Gate20D commit=
suicide near San Diego.
2000 204 the horrific mass murder/suicide of the doomsday group known=
as
the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments in Uganda,
which may have claimed more lives than Jonestown.
9-11-2001 204 the senseless murder of 3,000 people in the World Trade
Center attack, once again perpetrated by the seemingly 20Cbrainwashed=
20D
followers of a madman, Osama bin Laden.
Self-proclaimed 20Cprophet20D Brian Mitchell was able to brainw=
ash
Elizabeth Smart from a dutiful family member into his seemingly
willing follower in approximately 60 days. Smart subsequently denied
her identity to police and did not attempt to escape the lunatic that
abducted her at knifepoint.
Muhammad apparently controlled Malvo209s associations, environment an=
d
dominated his thinking in a nomadic lifestyle similar to the one
Mitchell constructed around Elizabeth Smart.
How have madmen from Manson to Mitchell persuaded normal people to act
insane?
The process of thought reform, commonly called 20Cbrainwashing20=
D has
probably been used in various forms throughout human history. Its
mechanics have been explained in detail by psychiatrist Robert Jay
Lifton in his seminal book Thought Reform and the Psychology of
Totalism.
Lifton, who once taught at Harvard Medical School, identified the
features of 20Cbrainwashing20D through eight specific criteria;=
Milieu
Control, Mystical Manipulation, the Demand for Purity, the Cult of
Confession, the Sacred Science, Loading the Language, Doctrine over
Person and the Dispensing of Existence (see Thought Reform and the
Psychology of Totalism).
Essentially what Lifton observed is that if an environment displays at
least six of these characteristics simultaneously, it doesn209t matte=
r
what you call it, it is thought reform or 20Cbrainwashing.20D
But can this work when only two people are involved?
The phenomenon of an abused spouse, often caught within what has been
called a 20Ccultic relationship,20D also displays many of the s=
ame
features described by Lifton. Experts have frequently labeled this the
20Cbattered woman209s syndrome.20D
Was Malvo caught within the web of a 20Ccultic relationship20D?
Based upon some of the accounts that have surfaced from his family and
witnesses he may have been.
But unlike Patty Hearst, who was eventually pardoned for her
brainwashed behavior, Malvo209s deeds under the influence of his lead=
er
have included murder.
Perhaps the teenager was a victim of John Muhammad, but what about the
victims of their rampage?
Ten people died as a direct result of Malvo209s 20Cinsanity,2=
0D and even
though Muhammad may have been the master-planner of this killing
spree, his puppet still pulled the trigger.
Society seems willing to forgive the misdeeds of 20Cbrainwashing2=
0D
victims, but such forgiveness is far less likely if they have
committed violent crimes.
The followers of Charles Manson murdered for him. Manson was later
convicted like Muhammad, through a prosecution largely based upon
undue influence. However, his followers were also convicted and
sentenced to death.
Later the death sentences of the Manson Family were changed to life in
prison. But despite their impassioned pleas that they were essentially
20Cbrainwashed,20D Manson209s former followers such as Su=
san Atkins and
Leslie Van Houten have repeatedly been denied parole.
As the Virginia jury weighs its verdict they are more likely to
consider those caught within the sniper209s sights than the boy captu=
red
within the web of a madman209s undue influence.
Malvo209s only hope may come after his conviction, when his alleged
20Cinsanity20D might mitigate sentencing.
At that point the claim of 20Cbrainwashing20D might provide the=
basis for
a sentence of life in prison, rather than the death penalty.
07.30.03
Scientology209s Hollywood hype comes to St. Louis
Posted in Scientology, Cult Apologist?, Aum Sect at 9:07 am by Rick
Ross
After a seemingly contrived media blitz about Tom Cruise209s dyslexia=
,
the other shoe finally dropped.
20CApplied Scholastics International20D opened its doors last w=
eek in St.
Louis, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The program is closely related to Scientology and was founded, is
largely staffed and coordinated by its practitioners.
A spokesperson for the program says it209s 20Csecular,20D=
but it is
admittedly based upon the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of
Scientology.
Cult apologist J. Gordon Melton, was apparently flown in to assure
anyone interested that this effort 20Chas to be separate, or it would
just be too controversial,20D reported The News Tribune.
Melton previously offered apologies for the terroist cult Aum in Japan
after the group gassed Tokyo subways. Cult members paid for his travel
expenses.
Tom Cruise, actresses Jenna Elfman and Anne Archer and musician Isaac
Hayes, all Scientologists, were there for the grand opening reported
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cruise, the featured speaker proclaimed, 20CStudy Technology works.=
20D
But the former 20CTop Gun20D offered no proof other than an ane=
cdotal
story.
For that matter, there is no meaningful independent peer-reviewed and
published scientific study proving the effectiveness of any of
Hubbard209s touted 20Ctechnology,20D to cure anything.
Even Cruise209s alleged cure from dyslexia has never been independent=
ly
verified.
No one seems to care about such facts though in an increasingly
celebrity-driven pop culture. If a movie star says something is true,
it must be. And there are always those photo ops.
The Hollywood TV show Extra ran a clip about the opening of the St.
Louis center without even mentioning the Scientology connection.
Scientology certainly is expert at managing and milking its
celebrities for its maximum benefit through carefully coordinated
media events in an ongoing effort to plug pet projects.
Cruise and other Hollywood types that showed up in St. Louis are just
one more example of Scientology209s slick publicity machine.
Isaac Hayes even cut the opening ribbon for yet another staged photo
op.
Disclaimer
This news page is about groups, organizations or movements, which may
have been called "cults" and/or "cult-like" in some way, shape or
form. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are
harmful. Instead, they may be benign and generally defined as simply
people intensely devoted to a person, place or thing. Therefore, the
discussion or mention of a group, organization or person on this page,
is not necessarily meant pejoratively.
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http://www.cultnews.com/?catD14
Cult News from Rick Ross
A news perspective with analysis from cult expert Rick Ross
Archive for Brainwashing
03.10.0620CDeprogramming20D used for 20Ccults20D be=
comes tool to fight
terroismPosted in Deprogramming, Brainwashing at 10:25 am by Rick Ross
Indonesia has been 20Cdeprogramming20D terrorists successfully,=
and such
efforts have yielded meaningful results, as formerly 20Cbrainwashed=
20D
fanatics provide helpful inside information about their organizations.
Some 20Ccivil libertarians20D insist upon labeling this process=
20Ctorture.20D
However, deprogramming typically consists of discussion between the
designated 20Cdeprogrammer20D and the 20Cbrainwashed2=
0D member of a 20Ccult20D or
as reported within Indonesia a radical Islamic group linked to
terrorist attacks.
Indonesia has used a former member to do its deprogramming of
convicted terrorists. The man is also a Moslem cleric and has
effectively turned extremists to a more moderate faith. Subsequently,
those turned have reportedly provided information on terrorist
operations to authorities.
The same deprogramming process has been used in Singapore, the United
Kingdom, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. And the Australian government is
currently considering using deprogramming tactics too reports The Age.
20CIn many parts of the world, in Europe, in the Middle East and
certainly in Indonesia, those governments have made an attempt to
persuade extremists and terrorists who209ve been held in prison to
change their point of view and to understand that it209s not the Isla=
mic
way to kill, it209s not the Islamic way to murder. And in some cases
that process has been successful. It209s something that we will give
thought to,20D said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
The word 20Cdeprogramming20D was demonized by groups called 2=
0Ccults20D in the
United Stated beginning in the 1970s as part of an ongoing propaganda
campaign to end the practice. Groups called 20Ccults20D such as=
the
Unification Church led by Rev. Sun Myung Moon lost many members
through such interventions.
Cults despised deprogramming because it worked.
Seemingly in response to the cult propaganda campaign new terms and
descriptions were coined to describe essentially the same practice
such as 20Cexit-counseling,20D 20Cthought reform consulta=
tion,20D 20Dstrategic
intervention therapy20D and 20Ccult intervention.20D
Psychologist Margaret Singer, the preeminent cult expert of the 20th
Century, defined 20Cdeprogramming20D as simply 20Cprovidi=
ng members with
information about the cult and showing them how their own decision-
making power had been taken away from them.20D
Noted psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton defined the process
often used to compromise 20Cdecision-making power20D as 20=
Cthought reform.20D
His lauded book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism became a
seminal classic and the guide used by deprogrammers to define and
determine 20Ccult brainwashing20D techniques.
The first cult deprogrammer was Ted Patrick, often called 20CBlack
Lightening20D by the cults he opposed.
Some of those deprogrammed during the 1970s and later subsequently
became deprogrammers themselves.
Now the families of terrorists, such as the followers Osama bin Laden,
say their loved ones are also the victims of 20Cbrainwashing20D=
and thus
became terrorist pawns. An article recounting such stories and
reviewing the parallels that can be seen between terrorist training
and thought reform has been archived for some time at Cult
Education.com.
It is interesting to observe that Islamic countries are now largely
leading the way in an effort to effectively adapt deprogramming as a
response to terrorist indoctrination.
Waleed Kadous, spokesman for the Australian Muslim Civil Rights
Advocacy Network, does not oppose deprogramming if it209s voluntary.
20CIt209s important to highlight that already many respected sc=
holars in
the Muslim community are informally deconstructing terrorism and
condemning terrorism to their congregations20D reported Al Jazeera.
Understanding the process of thought reform and how to unravel its
effects is an important step in the fight against global terrorism.
Rather than simply blaming culture, religion or politics for the
increase of terrorist attacks this response recognizes the reality
that almost every nation or region around the world has been affected
by 20Ccult brainwashing20D and related tragedies.
As deprogrammers have proven in the past and as they are proving
within Islamic nations like Indonesia today, those programmed by
radical and extremist groups can be helped and that destructive
mindset unraveled
Permalink 1 Comment
12.07.0520C208Sleazy209 Sri20D Chinmoy has new book=
about his 20Cwisdom20DPosted
in Sri Chinmoy, Brainwashing at 3:48 pm by Rick Ross
According to an obscure guru some call a 20Ccult leader20D livi=
ng in
Jamaica Queens, New York, saying his name can get you to a 20Cvery go=
od
higher world.20D This sage advice and other supposed gems can be foun=
d
in the book titled 20CThe Wisdom of Sri Chinmoy20D reports the =
Queens
Chronicle.
Here is another example of the guru209s so-called 20Cwisdom.2=
0D
Guru Sri Chinmoy writes, 20CA young wife was terribly afraid of stayi=
ng
alone at night, so the Master said to the husband206I shall take care=
of
her. That night she saw the Master in a corner of the room, not the
Master209s physical body but his luminous subtle body.20D
Hmmm.
Chinmoy claims to be celibate, but persistent allegations have arisen
that his 20Cphysical body20D has wandered about a bit and it2=
09s not so
20Csubtle.20D The guru apparently has a penchant for pursuing s=
exual
favors from his female followers.
The New York Post once named him 20C208Sleazy209 Sri.2=
0D
The now 74-year-old guru still has about 2,000 seriously committed
followers. A core group composed of some of his most devoted believers
has clustered around his house in Queens. They are known for
frequently working long and hard hours at the guru209s businesses, at
times for little more than subsistence wages.
New York businesses associated with Sri Chinmoy include the Smile of
the Beyond luncheonette in Jamaica Queens and the Oneness-Fountain-
Heart restaurant in Flushing.
Chinmoy has a long history of staging self-serving publicity stunts,
which include everything from 20CPeace Runs20D to his followers=
performing
feats in their guru209s name to get him into the Guinness Book of Wor=
ld
Records.
One devotee Ashrita Furman has held more than 86 Guinness records for
such feats as pogo stick jumping, juggling while running 50 miles and
playing the most games of hopscotch.
Last year Chinmoy had his faithful gather more than 1,000 roses to
commemorate his 73rd birthday, no doubt hoping to set another record.
The guru teaches that overcoming ego is a spiritual goal, but
apparently this doesn209t include his own, which requires constant
feeding.
Such staged theater took a dark turn when one of his disciples died
apparently practicing a trick to please the guru.
In his latest book of 20Cwisdom20D Sri Chinmoy holds forth on t=
he topics
of 20Cbelief,20D 20Cdoubt20D and 20Cworry.2=
0D
But Chinmoy doesn209t have much to 20Cworry20D about with=
all his followers
taking such good care of him. He lives a life of relative ease often
leaving New York in the winter for balmy weather elsewhere.
Beyond 20Cbelief20D though are Chinmoy209s persistent cla=
ims that he can
reportedly lift 7,064 pounds with his right arm and 7,040 with his
left.
More amazing than this claim is that his followers don209t seem to
20Cdoubt20D such preposterous nonsense.
Anyone interested enough to scrutinize the guru209s weightlifting wil=
l
find out that he relies more upon machines to do the job for him
rather than his muscles. But like so many devices used by this guru it
seemingly serves to pumps up his ego.
20CIf one enters secret domains where the inherent powers of the cosm=
ic
realities exist, one can get the capacity to do anything,20D says Sri
Chinmoy.
But it209s hard to understand how the followers of this bizarre man
continue to devote their lives to his various schemes and scams204is
there some 20Ccosmic20D reason they seem willing 20Cto do=
anything20D?
Some say that Chinmoy209s 20Cinherent powers20D are a for=
m of
20Cbrainwashing.20D And that this is accomplished in part throu=
gh a form
of self-hypnosis, which renders them more suggestible and compliant,
achieved through what the guru calls 20Cmeditation.20D Then the=
re is also
the so-called 20Ccult20D lifestyle, largely dependent upon livi=
ng within
what can be seen as a controlled environment dominated and defined by
Chinmoy.
Maybe his disciples have bought into the proposition that their
rewards from the guru won209t be realized in this world, but rather i=
n
the next one?
In his book Chinmoy appears to cultivates this notion telling readers
that as a teenager he followed his sister209s soul 20Cfor about=
three
hours in the world of death.20D
The guru also says he was once busy 20Cfighting with three death forc=
es
that wanted to snatch away three of my close disciples20620D
Hmmm.
Would those 20Cforces20D be families, old friends or maybe actu=
ally an
attack of doubt and/or critical thinking?
Chinmoy wants readers to know that his 20Cteaching is not a kind of
miracle-mongering.20D Instead, his 20Cbusiness is to help the a=
spirant to
reach God.20D
Perhaps it is a 20Cbusiness.20D
Famed musician Carlos Santana followed Sri Chinmoy for almost a decade
and then left that 20Cbusiness20D behind him.
20CThis shit is not for me203I don209t care how enlighten=
ing it is,20D he told
Rolling Stone.
Maybe that209s a mantra that might help Sri Chinmoy209s discipl=
es 20Creach
God.20D According to Deborah Santana, it didn209t hurt her life=
, or her
husband209s life to get away from 20CChinmoy209s controll=
ing ways.20D
Permalink Comments
02.25.05Abusive controlling relationships like cult brainwashingPosted
in Brainwashing at 12:25 pm by Rick Ross
The 20CBattered Woman Syndrome20D often cited in court and by h=
elping
professionals assisting those victimized within abusive and
controlling relationships parallels many of the same features
identified within destructive cults.
In this sense abusive and controlling relationships, though seemingly
romantic, can be seen as a type of 20Ccult20D with a dictatoria=
l leader,
usually a man, dominating a single follower as his victim.
This has been called the 20Ccultic relationship20D and/or a 2=
0Cone-on-one
cult.20D
Over the years cult intervention professionals have been called upon
to apply the same expertise developed to free cult victims as an
approach to free those caught within the web of abusive controlling
relationships.
The Ross Institute of New Jersey has recently released an educational
DVD/video titled In the Name of Love: Abusive Controlling
Relationships, which shares the body of knowledge developed around
this subject in an easy to follow format.
This educational tool makes an otherwise often confusing situation
more easily understood.
The DVD/video offers a synthesis of what is known about brainwashing
and how this process directly applies to both the Battered Woman
Syndrome and most specifically to the dynamics and personalities most
often involved in abusive controlling relationships.
In the Name of Love also recounts personal stories, such as the
experience of singer Tina Turner and the tragic circumstances that led
up to the death of Nicole Brown Simpson. Such compelling examples are
helpful to better understand the personal cost, internal turmoil and
dangers of such relationships.
What are the warning signs?
What can someone concerned do?
What type of individual fits the profile of an abuser?
Why don209t those abused leave a bad relationship?
These and other important questions are answered within the DVD.
Darla Boughton the manager for a popular forum related to this subject
says, 20CThis DVD is a magnificent breakthrough203a must-have f=
or every
classroom, women209s shelter, and abuse Web sites everywhere.20=
D
Much too often society blames the victim rather than attempting to
understand the disturbing dynamics within abusive controlling
relationships.
One third of American women reportedly have been abused under such
circumstances, and millions more are potentially at risk.
Permalink Comments
01.05.05Has the Tsunami washed 20Ccults20D ashore?Posted in Sci=
entology,
Sri Chinmoy, Westboro Baptist Church, Sai Baba, Kabbalah Centre, Aum
Sect, Brainwashing, Ching Hai, Amma at 6:26 pm by Rick Ross
The old adage 20CBeware of Greeks bearing gifts20D may be usefu=
l to
Tsunami survivors receiving attention from some specious sects and
groups called 20Ccults.20D
Just like in the movie Troy something sinister and/or self-serving can
be concealed in a 20Cgift horse,20D and it209s probably n=
ot Brad Pitt.
In recent days a growing array of controversial religious
organizations, gurus and self-styled healers have launched efforts for
Tsunami relief, but who are they really focused upon helping?
Do their programs reflect a genuine desire to assist the victims of
the most horrific catastrophe of the 21st Century, or are they just
there to play the disaster for publicity and possibly some new
recruits?
South African Scientologists are using church branches as drop-off
points for clothes and other goods targeted for relief reports IOL.
And Scientologists flying in from all over.
Scientology has sent volunteers from Australia to identify bodies
reported the AAP.
English Scientologists and even a voluteer from Utah funded by an
anonymous businessman are being flown in to somehow help reports
Surrey On Line and the and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Scientology volunteers are known for their bright yellow jackets
emblazoned with 20CScientology Volunteer Ministers20D worn when=
doing
their charitable chores.
Scientology says that over 200 20Cvolunteer ministers20D are he=
lping in
tsunami-hit countries.
In a strange twist Scientology has trained Tibetan monks to help
tsunami survivors through so-called 20Ctouch assists,20D which =
seems to be
Scientology209s version of the popular Pentecostal practice known as
20Claying on of hands20D for healing. Scientology volunteers an=
d the
Buddhist monks using their method will touch survivors to help heal
their trauma reports the AFP.
Another controversial group concerned about the trauma of tsunami
survivors is the 20CGentle Wind Project.20D This organization i=
s sending
its so-called 20Ctrauma cards20D to Sumatra, which supposedly h=
ave 20Cthe
ability to forgive and [help users] move forward in life20D according=
to
one testimonial featured on the group209s Web site. But critics have
dismissed the cards as 20Cquackery20D and a doctor warned that =
groups
pushing such products often find 20Cpeople who are desperate206=
and then
take advantage of them.20D
Madonna209s much-hyped 20CKabbalah Centre20D is shipping =
10,000 bottles of
its touted 20CKabbalah Water,20D which the pop diva seems to be=
lieve has
spiritual properties reported MSNBC.
Wouldn209t regular bottled tap water be just as effective and much
cheaper? But then that couldn209t afford a photo op with glitzy
20CKabbalah Centre20D labeling would it?
And then there is the so-called 20CArt of Living20D organizatio=
n led by a
former associate of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 20CSri Sri Ravi Shankar.2=
0D He
has dispatched his disciples to teach tsunami victims 20Cyoga20=
D and
20Cmeditation.20D
Hey Sri Sri how about funding some conventional classrooms for
children rather than pushing your 20Cyoga20D?
Another pitch comes from Guru Sri Chinmoy of New York. His followers
are collecting for something called 20CThe Oneness-Heart-Tears and
Smiles20D organization and say they are now 20Cengaged in an ur=
gent global
effort to bring desperately needed relief to the survivors.20D
But Chinmoy, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and called a
20Csleazy swami,20D doesn209t seem to fit the 20Cwo=
rld harmony leader20D title
claimed at the group209s fund-raising Web site.
20CMata20D the hugging mama guru has reportedly laid down some =
hard cash
reported one news service.
But will she want a photo op hugging her check like 20CSumma Ching Ha=
i20D
when she dropped some dough on the Red Cross for September 11th
victims?
Meanwhile hate preacher Fred Phelps from Kansas wants everyone to know
that he is 20Cthankful20D God killed Swedish citizens through t=
his
particular disaster, something about their collective sexual sins
reported Raw Print.
Is that Fred smiling over there for the cameras with his 20CGod Hates
Fags20D sign?
Who will land next with the next wave of volunteers?
Maybe some Falun Gongers will show up to teach exercise classes and
pass out flyers, or will it be Sai baba the guru philanthropist and
alleged pedophile?
Nothing new about such activities by specious groups after a disaster
except the size and depth of this terrible tragedy.
Scientology volunteers were seen at Ground Zero not long after the
Twin Towers collapsed. And John Travolta seemed anxious for his photo-
op when he visited the site.
Then Tom Cruise launched the Scientology-linked 20CDowntown Medical,=
20D
located in lower Manhattan, which provided the so-called 20Cpurificat=
ion
rundown20D for the detoxification of FDNY firemen and others that wor=
ked
at Ground Zero.
People are the most vulnerable to undue influence and recruitment
efforts by groups called 20Ccults20D when experiencing a person=
al crisis,
loss and/or going through a difficult transition. When people are
isolated from family, friends, their community and familiar support
systems they are likely to be weakened and more susceptible.
Sound like Tsunami victims?
Meanwhile mainstream religious and relief organizations and government
agencies are focused upon providing practical help to the massive
numbers of survivors such as potable not magical water, medical care
and the restoration of basic services through the rebuilding of
infrastructure.
CNN reports that this is the largest humanitarian effort in recorded
history.
Let209s hope that that these practical efforts reach the tsunami vict=
ims
before any so-called 20Ccults20D exploit their vulnerabilities =
or use them
as backdrops for some photo-op.
Permalink Comments
11.01.04Landmark Education defendant in wrongful death lawsuitPosted
in Landmark Education, Brainwashing at 10:17 am by Rick Ross
On December 12, 2001 Jason Weed murdered Oklahoma mailman Robert
Jenkins. He shot Jenkins in the back while the mailman was performing
his job as a postal carrier.
Mr. Jenkins wife and a stepdaughter survive the 30-year-old US Postal
Service employee.
The court found that Weed was 20Clegally insane.20D
However, according to the court claim made against Landmark (Been v.
Weed), 20CWeed was free of abnormal psychological manifestations(s) a=
nd/
or disorder(s) prior to his attending the Defendant Landmark209s
classes.20D
Moreover, the plaintiff claims that through Landmark Education classes
Weed 20Cwas subjected to extreme emotional and psychological stress
which caused his mental disorders, and which resulted in the death of20=
D
Robert Jenkins.
The lawsuit further states that 20CLandmark knew, because of their pr=
ior
experiences, that this type of disorder206was a likely and foreseeabl=
e
result of attendance of their classes.20D
The plaintiff209s attorneys specifically cite a 20Cscreening pr=
ocess and
test
11.03.2010 - 14:07
Need 450 acres near Disney? Get ready to fork over $150M
Orlando Sentinel/September 8, 2008
By Mark Pino
One of Osceola County's grandest tourism visions remains an illusion.
A 450-acre tract planned for a theme park mixing magic and
Transcendental Meditation remains vacant in the tourism corridor.
Almost two decades later, the two men behind the project are dead, and
the land has a $150 million price tag.
"It's a great piece of property," said Hector Lizasuain, who oversees
a tax district created to beautify West U.S. Highway 192. "It's funny
-- over the years, they'll put [for sale] signs up and take them down
again. People call it one of the prettiest sections, maybe because
there are no buildings. But it is prime real estate."
The former plant farm has remained a swatch of green foliage and
wetlands that runs for nearly three-quarters of a mile among U.S.
192's glitz and kitsch, flanked by Old Town and a Cracker Barrel.
Vedaland, which means land of knowledge, was announced with much
fanfare in 1989 by magician Doug Henning and the Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, a guru to The Beatles who introduced the West to Transcendental
Meditation. Henning died of cancer in 2000, and the Maharishi died at
his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop this year.
A Maharishi subsidiary closed on the property in 1990 for $20 million
in cash. In 1996, it was on the market for $60 million after the group
shifted efforts to a site in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The park plan originally included a building seemingly suspended above
water without supports, a "magic flying chariot" that took riders
inside the molecular structure of a rose, and robots that would fly
through the air, performing magic tricks.
The development was projected to cost $1 billion.
The backers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning the
project and getting government approvals, which expired years ago.
It is hard to analyze the current asking price by the Maharishi Global
Development Fund, said Linda Goodwin-Nichols, a Realtor who is not
involved with the listing but is a member of the West U.S. 192
Redevelopment Advisory Board.
"That property has been for sale for 25 years," she said. "In today's
marketplace, you don't know if it is a good price because no
commercial property has sold in a long time."
The listing averages about $330,000 an acre, which Goodwin-Nichols
said is "not bad for usable property," but the tract includes wetlands
that would not be worth as much.
While the property is listed on tax rolls as agricultural land because
of a tree-farming operation, an Internet sales listing cites a study
that "suggests potential development scenarios up to 800,000 square
feet of commercial space and as many as 4,300 multifamily residential
units."
While the tract is zoned for a planned development, the original
approvals expired in 2005. A new owner would have to start the process
from the beginning, county officials said.
Goodwin-Nichols said the property might appeal to a buyer with a plan
for a resort with a hotel, condos and a golf course who could acquire
it for the right price and time the process so the project was ready
when the economy improves.
"Now would be the perfect time," she said. "But you don't see a lot of
people doing that. The stuff that is coming out of the ground now has
been on the drawing table and in the process for a long time."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm177.html
Smith Center residents balk at Peace Palaces
NBC KHAS News, Kansas/May 20, 2008
By Robert Price
Two years ago an international peace group chose Smith County, Kansas
for its world capital of peace. Since then, the number of people
against the project has grown larger and more vocal.
Main Street, Smith Center, Kanas - among the restaurants, banks, and
churches, sits the office for Global Country of World Peace.
They are an international organization created to eliminate violence,
disease and poverty through transcendental meditation. But many here
view them in a different light.
"I look at it as a cult," said Helen Hooper.
"I believe they are a cult, yes," Hi Lambert said.
"I think they are a cult," said Stanley Hooper.
"A typical cult, basically," Charlene Lambert said.
Charlene and Hi Lambert have spent the last year or so doing extensive
research on the group. From newspaper clippings to financial records
to conversations with former members.
"Just all of a sudden got a passion to know more about the group.
Learning about the deceitfulness and the scam stuff, that just...I
just wanted people in our community to know what the organization is
really about," said
Global Country of World Peace says it is a non6partisan, non6religious
group. But the people of Smith Center are not so convinced.
"I do feel like it is a religion because there is a temple, they call
it a temple, and they worship the sun," said Tony Peterson.
"They do have religious undertones, the have religious roots. We feel
there are only two spirits represented in this world: the spirit of
God and the spirit of Satan. They are not being of the spirit of God.
We feel the spirit they represent would be Satan - in opposition to
the spirit we represent," said Pastor Dennis Lambert.
"And from a Christian point of view, when I think of young people that
could become involved in this, it is just so contrary to what we as
Christians believe," Helen Hooper said.
"I see a clash ahead of us," said Stan Hooper.
Global Country of World Peace leaders say these structures to the
north of town are for a $60 million college: Maharishi Central
University.
It will combine traditional academic principles with their techniques
of transcendental meditation.
They say they are anything but a cult.
"Well, the people are never taught what to think," Kay Michener said.
Gary Weisenberger has practiced transcendental meditation for 33
years.
"Transcendental Meditation is a relaxation technique that allows you
to get rid of stress, develop your full potential as a human being,"
said Weisenberger.
Three decades later, he remains a firm believer.
"Gotten out of it what I wanted and much more - more than I thought it
would be," Weisenberger said.
But Charlene Lambert said she has talked to countless others who have
left the group with a less favorable opinion.
"I have had several people involved in the organization say they
believe they are a cult," said Charlene. "Quite frankly it is pretty
scary for most of them and just the thought of having that kind of
cult in our area is a concern."
Many in Smith Center have been against the peace project since the
beginning.
"We have always been opposed to them being in our county," Hi said.
Others remained neutral or openly supported the project. Two years
later, finding these people is a lot harder.
"They came in with a real rosey picture of what was going on, and you
look at what is going on, and I do not see it myself," Stanley said.
"Some of the people that were the firmest supporters at first have
kind of backed off a little bit."
And those who have opposed it from the start are only more
passionate.
"We would like to have them abandon the situation and go away, but
that may not happen. Someday it would be nice to see some other
organization get into the buildings and bring something to our
community that would be good for it," said Hi.
Global Country for World Peace leaders told News 5 they are
disappointed they do not have the support of Smith Center.
But they said the group has plenty of resources and support across the
world and they plan to move forward with their college.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm176.html
More pandits arrive, with goal of hosting 1,050
Fairfield Ledger, Iowa/May 18, 2008
In order to foster peace in the world by establishing a large,
coherence-creating group of Yogic flyers on the Maharishi University
of Management campus and in Maharishi Vedic City, 85 more Vedic
pandits arrived in March, bringing the total to 600, and 450 more are
ready to come and will begin arriving later this month.
Those who arrived in March are being temporarily housed on campus, and
construction of modular buildings is beginning on the Vedic pandit
campus in Vedic City in order to house all of the pandits there.
According to M.U.M. officials, the immediate goal is to have a total
of 1,050 Vedic pandits in order to have a total of 2,500 Yogic flyers
in the community.
Studies have shown that group practice of the Transcendental
Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, can foster
harmony in society and reduce crime, war and other negative tendencies
[sic]. In order to have the influence, research has shown the size of
the group needs to exceed the square root of 1 percent of the
population of a given area. That figure for the United States is
1,743.
Currently funds are being raised to cover the costs of transportation
and personal supplies, as well as the additional housing.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm175.html
Maharishi group faces building fines
Dutch News/May 6, 2008
The Maharishi commune in the Limburg village of Vlodrop faces fines of
up to 010,000 a time for breaking building regulations on its estate,
NOS tv reports on Tuesday.
The former convent occupied by the transcendental meditation group was
raided by building inspectors last autumn, who found 13
infringements.
Now the council says 164 flagpoles surrounding the convent have to be
removed, numerous floodlights taken out of the woods, and illegal
sleeping quarters demolished.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lived in the Netherlands from 1990 until his
death in February this year.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm174.html
Vedic City woman charges herbs caused lead poisoning
The Gazette, Iowa City/March 8, 2008
By Erika Binegar
Des Moines - A woman who claims she contracted lead poisoning after
taking an herbal preparation marketed as a Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
product is suing Maharishi corporations in federal court.
Frances Gaskell, who lives in Maharishi Vedic City north of Fairfield,
filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of Iowa.
In the lawsuit, she alleges the respondents - Maharishi Vedic
Education Development Corp., Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation and
Maharishi Ayurveda Products Ltd. - are guilty of defective product
design, breach of implied warranties and failure to warn.
Gaskell also charges that those three entities plus a clinic in Delhi,
India, called the Maharishi Ayurveda Arogyadham, and Dr. J.R. Raju, a
master Ayurvedic physician and healer, are guilty of intentional
misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and conspiracy.
Robert Roth, spokesman for the Maharishi Vedic Education Development
Corp., said this week that the company is not involved in the
manufacture, prescription or sale of Ayurveda remedies or herbs.
Ayurveda is a form of alternative health care from India marketed by
the Maharishi and his followers.
"We have no knowledge concerning the preparations Mrs. Gaskell
allegedly obtained directly from India, apparently from another
source," Roth said.
He said the corporation's only role is teaching the Transcendental
Meditation to people in the United States.
Gaskell alleges Raju in December 2006 prescribed the herb Garbhapal
Ras for her when she was four months pregnant. After taking the herb,
Gaskell claims she began to feel lethargic, that her hands and feet
went numb and that she suffered severe back and abdominal pain.
Tests on April 16, 2007, showed she had a blood lead level of 102
micrograms per deciliter - more than 20 times the level considered
safe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gaskell
underwent chelation therapy while pregnant, but her child was born
with an elevated blood lead level of 60 micrograms per deciliter.
Tests by the Iowa Department of Public Health found the herb Garbhapal
Ras was comprised of nearly 3 percent lead. Maharishi Ayurveda
Products Ltd. is identified on the product bottle as the manufacturer,
the lawsuit states.
Health risks associated with ingesting lead have been known at least
since 1978, when lead paint was banned in the United States.
Roth said numerous companies sell Maharishi Ayurveda herbs and
treatments in the United States and that he understands the
preparations are subject to testing, inspection and quality control to
ensure they are free of toxins.
"These products have been on the market for 30 years, and it's the
first time I've heard of anything like this," added Steve Yellin,
media spokesman for the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield.
Gaskell, who is being represented by the Cedar Rapids legal firm Brady
& O'Shea, is asking for a jury trial.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm173.html
Sites for 'Maharishi Effect' (Welcome to Parma) Spread Across U.S.
The New York Times/February 22, 2008
By Sean D. Hamill
Parma, Ohio - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the "giggling guru" who founded
the Transcendental Meditation movement, proclaimed throughout his 50-
year career that he knew the secret to worldwide peace. And now, this
Cleveland suburb is poised to play a role.
The Maharishi promised that if just 1 percent of the world practiced
TM, as it is known, then "the Maharishi effect" would take over and
there would be increased coherence in the collective unconsciousness,
and peace would prevail.
But for decades he struggled to reach enough people, even though he
lowered the necessary figure to the square root of 1 percent. So, in
2000 he created the Global Country of World Peace, a "country without
borders," to build at least one so-called peace palace in or near the
3,000 largest cities in the world as places to train people in TM.
One of the palaces could be completed later this year in Parma, a town
of 83,000 people, where officials were more than a little surprised
when TM leaders outlined the proposal.
"The nature of it was a little unusual," said Brian Higgins, the
city's director of public service. "What do you mean a 'Maharishi
Peace Palace?' We're Parma, Ohio. We eat pirogis and drink draft beer.
We don't get operations like this all the time."
Getting towns like Parma to welcome the palaces - $3 million to $5
million buildings with dormitories, classrooms and shops - has become
even more important to the TM organization in the wake of the
Maharishi's death on Feb. 5. The peace-palace project will continue,
movement leaders say, despite the multimillion-dollar costs and the
limited success so far.
"There will be no change," Robert Roth, a spokesman for the
organization based in the Netherlands, said from Allahabad, India,
where he attended a funeral for the Maharishi on Feb. 11. "It has
always been a top priority of Maharishi, and all the leaders of TM
recognize that."
Some critics, however, have called the palaces nothing more than a way
for the Maharishi's followers to raise money to buy more land for the
group's considerable coffers.
At least three palaces - in Austin, Tex.; Houston; and Lexington, Ky.
- have already been built by private individuals.
At least five others have been built, or are being built, thanks to
donations to various offshoots of the TM organization in Bethesda,
Md., and in towns in Iowa.
Nine more are being built by Global Country itself: three in
Cleveland's suburbs; two in Sullivan County, N.Y.; and one each in
Charlottesville, Va.; Colorado Springs; Smith Center, Kan.; and St.
Paul. Zoning and other issues have prevented the organization from
building right away in at least 18 other cities where it has already
bought land, organization officials said.
After originally hoping to build 2,400 palaces in the United States
alone, the organization now says it hopes to build 100 to 200 here.
Though the movement is admired for its finances, many independent
critics question its belief that large groups of people meditating or
practicing yogic flying - where people meditate and hop while sitting
cross-legged in the lotus position - can spread peace.
The organization cites studies that it says found that large groups of
yogic fliers helped temporarily lower crime in Washington, D.C., end
the cold war and briefly reduce hostilities in the Middle East.
"To the best of my knowledge, it has never been studied truly
independently," said Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the
Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General
Hospital, and a TM practitioner himself. "It's been hypothesized for
many years, but never proven."
The peace palaces are intended to be gleaming white, two-story
buildings, 10,000- to 12,000-square-feet, and to replace the typical
rented space where TM is now taught at more than 200 locations in the
United States.
Each is designed to be large enough to have dormitories, retail space
to sell TM's health products and clothing, and, most importantly,
space for TM classes that currently cost $2,500. (Instruction in yogic
flying costs an additional $2,000.)
They are being built to follow the Vedic architectural guidelines,
which, among other requirements, mean each building faces east to
greet the energizing morning sun.
The result is something like an Indian temple crossed with a Southern
plantation mansion, a look the organization hopes will become a visual
brand, much like the golden arches signify McDonald's the world over.
"The upside to it is in the recognition. In every town where there's a
peace palace, people will realize this is what it looks like," said
Richard Quinn, director of project finance for the Maharishi Vedic
Education Development Corporation, which oversees palace development
in the United States.
The nine palaces being built by Global Country are being financed by
$40 million worth of tax-free bonds backed by the Colorado Health
Facilities Authority - thanks to the asserted individual health
benefits of TM - and secured by some of the more than $250 million in
land TM owns in the United States.
Despite its spiritual leanings, and promises of peace, Global Country
does not make that part of its pitch to towns when it seeks permission
to build a palace, which would be tax-exempt. Instead, it focuses on
the retail and health benefits it would bring.
"My feeling is they're trying to downplay" the world peace goal, said
Mayor Gregory S. Costabile of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, where a palace
may be built this year.
Even when towns do learn about the movement's larger aspirations, it
usually comes down to whether a development fits a site and complies
with zoning.
And despite their skepticism, city and town officials concede, it is
hard not to want what TM offers.
"They're interested in peace and harmony and good vibes, and we're
interested in that," said Robert M. Parry, director of planning for
Westlake, Ohio, where a third palace is planned for the Cleveland
area. "Who isn't?"
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm172.html
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru and tycoon, died on February 5th, aged 91
(probably)
The Economist/February 14, 2008
Visitors entering the World Bank in Washington one sweaty day in 1987
might have been surprised to come upon a team of smiling young men,
legs neatly folded into the lotus position, hopping like frogs. In
fact, most visitors were probably not surprised at all. Like many
happenings connected with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, this display of
"yogic flying" had been well advertised. The only surprise was that
the bank, usually cast as a bastion of hard-headed rationality, should
provide such a ready audience for an event whose aim was not physical
fitness but world peace.
Thirty years earlier the maharishi, who had studied maths and physics
at Allahabad University, had calculated that one person practising the
transcendental meditation he promoted could induce virtuous behaviour
among 99 non-meditators. He had already, in 1944, helped to get 2,000
Vedic pandits, learned followers of one of the four holy books of the
Hindus, to chant mantras in an effort to bring the second world war to
an end. He had again assembled meditators in 1963 to solve the Cuban
missile crisis. But his ambitions were bigger-world peace, no less-and
by the 1980s he had come to realise that to bring harmony to a world
of 5 billion people, he would need 50m meditators.
Undaunted, he did the arithmetic again, this time factoring in
meditation of deep purity and concentration (including yogic flying),
and happily found he needed a number no greater than the square root
of 1%-a mere 7,000 or so. Accordingly, 7,000 flyers were assembled
during the Taste of Utopia conference in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1984.
Annoyingly, though, the "wide range of positive effects worldwide"
ended with the conference. Something similar happened after 7,000
students gathered for yogic flying and Vedic chanting near Delhi in
1988. The Berlin Wall came down all right and the cold war ended, but
the money needed to keep the group airborne ran out and, dammit, "new
tensions" started to arise in the world.
If only the maharishi had had the necessary funds. Actually, he had.
He may not have known how to make peace, but he certainly knew how to
make money. After years studying under a Hindu divine in the late
1950s, he had pronounced himself a maharishi (great seer) and set up
the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. This took transcendental
meditation, which he had trademarked, to the world, with Hollywood one
of the first stops. Disciples paid $2,500 for a five-day course,
learning how to reach a "deeper level" of consciousness by inwardly
repeating a mantra twice a day for 20 minutes.
Real fame came when the Beatles beat a path to his door, seeking
enlightenment and spirituality through good vibrations. George
Harrison had already fallen under the spell of the sitar and the
maharishi's message appealed to John Lennon's angry pacifism. Before
long the Fab Four were ensconced in the maharishi's ashram in the
foothills of the Himalayas. Their stay was only a modified success,
though, with Lennon and Ringo Starr complaining about the food, and
all of them, perhaps, beginning to resent their host's transcendental
interest in using them for publicity, if not an outright percentage of
their earnings.
No matter. Plenty of others were ready to step forward for a dose of
spiritual bliss, and not all were celebrities. In America meditation
was judged to be just the tonic for a variety of people ranging from
underperforming executives to recidivist prisoners. An army general
even joined the board of Maharishi International University, set up in
Fairfield in 1974. All in all, some 5m people are said to have been
taught the maharishi's techniques since 1955.
His other ventures blossomed, too. A property empire was valued at
over $3 billion ten years ago. A television station offered meditation
courses to subscribers in 144 countries. Companies sold unguents,
books, videos and Ayurvedic treatment. His political movement, the
Natural Law Party, which in the 1990s pursued the goal of world
government by fighting elections in America, Britain and several other
countries, was less successful, and eventually folded. This, however,
did not stop the maharishi then launching the raam, a global currency
intended to foster development. Imagine (all the things he didn't do)
Crank? Crackpot? Charlatan? Maybe all three. Yet the maharishi was
generally benign. He did not use his money for sinister ends. He
neither drank, nor smoked, nor took drugs. Indeed, he is credited with
weaning the Beatles off dope (for a while). He did not accumulate
scores of Rolls-Royces, like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; his biggest self-
indulgence was a helicopter. Nor was he ever accused of molesting
choirboys; his greatest sexual impropriety, it was said, was to make a
pass at Mia Farrow. He giggled a lot, and plainly had no lack of self-
esteem. But his egotism did not mean he was always wringing his hands
at pop concerts or blethering at Davos; after the 1960s he seldom
appeared in public.
Moreover, his message was entirely laudable. He did not promote a cult
[sic] or even a mainstream religion preaching original sin, purgatory
and the likelihood of eternal damnation. He just wanted to end
poverty, teach people how to achieve personal fulfilment and help them
to discover "Heaven on Earth in this generation" [sic]. And yogic
flying, of course.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm171.html
Maharishi's ashes immersed in Sangam
IANS, India/February 12, 2008
Allahabad, India - The ashes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced
the world to the Transcendental Meditation, were immersed in the
Sangam, the confluence of three rivers near his ashram Tuesday
afternoon.
The ashes and funeral flowers, gathered in brass urns and wrapped in
white muslin cloth and garlands of roses, were carried to the Sangam,
where the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Swaraswati meet, in an
elaborate procession led by Vedic pundits from the Jyotirmath of the
Shankaracharya, the spiritual order to which the seer belonged.
They were followed by the 35 'rajas' or kings who are nation heads for
the Maharishi's TM organisation, including his nominated heir Maharaja
Tony Nader or Adi Ram, the name by which he is now known.
Thousands of devotees and local residents accompanied the procession
that set off at 12.30 p.m. from the Shanti Sthal, where the funeral
pyre was lit Monday.
Girish Verma, the seer's kin and a functionary in the organization in
India, and members of the seers' family presided over the ceremony
along with the priests.
Around 1.30 p.m. the ashes were released into the waters of the
Sangam, near his ashram at Arail, 15 km from the city, according to
Vedic rituals.
"The Sangam was beautiful. There were 30 boats, people went on those
boats and the seer's family on one of the boats performed the final
rituals before scattering the ashes all over into the river," said Bob
Roth, in-charge of global publicity at the ashram.
"They were spread out evenly into the water and some of our devotees
took holy dips as part of the final cleansing ritual, integral to
Vedic immersion rites."
The Maharishi died Feb 5 at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop in
the Netherlands and was believed to be in his 90s.
Organisation sources said a part of his ashes would be distributed and
preserved in 192 nations across the globe where the seer set up
centres of meditation and Vedic learning.
Since 10 a.m., the Maharishi's abode on the banks of the Ganga was a
hive of activity.
Though the Maharishi Vidya Mandir in the front quarters of the
complex, where the body was kept in state from Sunday to Monday, wore
a deserted look, the action was on in full swing at the cremation
ground a kilometre away.
Priests chanted mantras as they collected in urns the ashes and the
charred remains.
Clad in white Indian-style kurtas and payjamas, all the 35 kings, wore
their ceremonial golden crowns, the heavy gold medallions and white
shawls, and sat around the pyre in a semi-circle.
They performed the ceremonial circumambulation after the ashes were
collected.
The Global Country of World Peace Tuesday opened its doors to women,
who were there in large numbers to witness the immersion rites.
Barring members of the Mother Divine sect, all women attached to the
TM movement were present.
Unlike Monday, when all of them had decked up in their royal regalia
of heavy Benarasi brocade saris and jewellery, Tuesday found the women
in chiffons, cotton and light silk saris.
"We are happy to be able to see a part of the last rites. I am glad
that Maharishi has been freed of his physical remains, but he will
always remain within us," said Christina Schulze Bradshaw, Maharishi
disciple from Germany.
The Maharishi was a monk as well as an entrepreneur, a visionary, who
was often dismissed as a hippie mystic. The Maharishi started his TM
movement in 1957, though it formally took after a discourse in Madras
(now Chennai) in 1958 and brought it to the US in 1959. At one point,
his disciples included the Beatles among other celebrities.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm170.html
Maharishi inspired Beatles but died leaving 32b and rape rumours
The Mirror, UK/February 7, 2008
By Nick Webster
He inspired the Beatles and promised world peace but died leaving 32
billion amid rumours of rape and murder
He was the Sixth Beatle, a spiritual force with the potential to
create world peace and end famine.
Or he was an avaricious old man with a penchant for young girls who
ruined the greatest pop group in history.
It rather depends on your point of view, but one thing is certain
about the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who died this week aged somewhere
between 91 and 97 - he was one of the richest religious leaders in
history.
The 'giggling guru' - so called because of his high-pitched laugh -
lived in an opulent 200-room mansion, with helicopters and dozens of
cars at his disposal, and was worth an estimated 32billion.
He was the head of a movement with five million followers worldwide,
all seeking a higher consciousness through transcendental meditation.
But while the Maharishi promised world peace, and cynics laughed at
his wacky teachings and yogic flying, sinister stories of sex,
debauchery, and even murder cast dark shadows over his life.
All but one of the Beatles cut their ties with their apparently
celibate guru after it emerged he'd made a pass at Mia Farrow. The
Maharishi's people, on the other hand, insist they simply fell out
when he discovered the band were using LSD.
Later another British disciple, Linda Pearce claimed the Maharishi had
seduced her when he was in his 60s.
"He was a brilliant manipulator," said Mrs Pearce. "I just couldn't
see that he was a dirty old man. We made love regularly. At one stage
I even thought I was pregnant by him. And I don't think I was the only
girl. There was a lot of talk that he'd tried to rape Mia Farrow."
And there was worse scandal to come. In 1987, when the Maharishi was
living in a high security complex on the outskirts of Delhi, India,
the Telegraph newspaper of Calcutta alleged five boys had died after
being used as guinea pigs in the ashram's "medical institute"
searching for cures for cancer, heart ailments and Aids. Nothing was
ever proved.
At the same time the fabulously wealthy guru's employees went on
strike to increase their 310-a-month wages. The Maharishi simply moved
into a five-star hotel in New Delhi until it was over.
Mahesh Prasad Varma (or Mahesh Srivastava, depending on your source)
was born in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, sometime between 1911
and 1918.
The son of a government tax inspector, he initially studied physics
but then trained with a Vedic spiritual mentor, undertaking two years
of silence in the Himalayas where he developed his ideas on
transcendental meditation.
The movement the Maharishi leaves behind, after his death at his
luxurious retreat in Vlodrop in the Netherlands, has been called the
world's richest cult. Yet when he began his first world tour as a
spiritual leader in Burma in 1958, the Maharishi was praised for his
austerity.
One commentator wrote: "He asks for nothing. His worldly possessions
can be carried in one hand."
Meeting the Beatles a decade later changed all that. The band had been
encouraged to attend a lecture by George Harrison's wife Patti, and
were impressed enough by what they heard to accompany him to a weekend
retreat in to North Wales.
Along with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, they took the train to
Bangor - where the Maharishi assumed the mob of screaming fans were
there for him.
Only a day into the retreat the news broke that the Beatles
influential manager Brian Epstein had died from a suspected drugs
overdose.
Rather than let them grieve for their friend and first mentor, the
Maharishi told them their tears would cause "vibrations" which could
trap Epstein's spirit on this spiritual plane rather than let it
travel to the next. And he instructed them to be joyful and laugh.
Months later all four Beatles, their partners and 60s stars Donovan,
Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence
headed off for a three-month retreat to the Maharishi's centre on the
banks of the Ganges.
Funded by a tithe of one week's wages from each of its students, the
bank balance of the ashram received a massive boost from the world's
biggest pop stars.
They expected to find spiritual enlightenment, but what they actually
found was what Ringo called "a bit like Butlins." He and his then wife
Maureen left after a fortnight, desperate for "egg and chips." Paul
McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher quit too.
Then came the stories of the Maharishi's attempt to have sex with Mia
Farrow. John Lennon said later: "There was a hullabaloo about him
trying to rape Mia and a few other women. The whole gang charged down
to his hut and I said: 'We're leaving!' He asked why and I said: 'If
you're so cosmic, you'll know why.' The Maharishi gave me a look that
said: 'I'll kill you, you bastard!'"
But none of this dented the Maharishi's growing global popularity.
Travelling the world in a pink aeroplane, his fame and his movement
grew and he featured on the front cover of Time magazine in 1975. His
transcendental meditation technique involved silently repeating a
Sanskrit mantra for 20 minutes twice a day. And since scientific
studies have now concluded it has some real health benefits, it is
never short of new adherents
And at 31,300 per person for a standard introduction course, it's easy
to see where the Maharishi's cash came from. But there were times when
the guru's ego got the better of him... He once told an audience in
New York that if just one per cent of the world's population adopted
his teaching it would "neutralize the power of war for thousands of
years".
Consequently, he claimed credit for peace in the Lebanon and
Mozambique, and for reducing crime in Washington and Merseyside.
And after the terrorist outrages of September 11, 2001 the Maharishi
claimed ifany government gave him a billion dollars he could end
terrorism and create peace.
His claims were ridiculed - as were his 40,000yogic fliers who, as the
Natural Law Party, promised that levitating while in the Lotus
position would bring peace and enlightenment. In the end it brought
just 0.4 per cent of the votes in the election.
Last month the guru, who lately communicated through a video link,
announced his retirement. His spokesman Bob Roth says:"He'd done what
he set out to do."
Apart from world peace.
Gurus: Good, Bad & Ugly
Osho: The "Rolls-Royce guru" - his followers wanted to buy him one for
every day of the year.
Charles Manson: Serving life after Manson Family killed Sharon Tate,
pregnant wife of Roman Polanski in LA in 1969.
Timothy Leary: Former Harvard professor of psychology championed
psychedelic drugs.
Amma: Mata Amritanandamayi - the Hugging Saint - gives her services
free to all religions. May have given out 26 million hugs.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm169.html
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader, Dies
New York Times/February 6, 2008
By Lily Koppel
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced transcendental meditation to the
West and gained fame in the 1960s as the spiritual guru to the
Beatles, died Tuesday at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop, the
Netherlands. He is believed to have been in his 90s. Steven Yellin, a
spokesman for the organization, confirmed the Maharishi's death but
did not give a cause.
On Jan. 11, the Maharishi announced that his public work was finished
and that he would use his remaining time to complete a long-running
series of published commentaries on the Veda, the oldest sacred Hindu
text.
The Maharishi was both an entrepreneur and a monk, a spiritual man who
sought a world stage from which to espouse the joys of inner
happiness. His critics called his organization a cult business
enterprise. And in the press, in the 1960s and '70s, he was often
dismissed as a hippie mystic, the "Giggling Guru," recognizable in the
familiar image of him laughing, sitting cross-legged in a lotus
position on a deerskin, wearing a white silk dhoti with a garland of
flowers around his neck beneath an oily, scraggly beard.
In Hindi, "maha" means great, and "rishi" means seer. "Maharishi" is a
title traditionally bestowed on Brahmins. Critics of the yogi say he
presented himself with the name, which he was ineligible for because
he was from a lower caste.
The Maharishi originated the transcendental meditation movement in
1957 and brought it to the United States in 1959. Known as TM, a
trademark, the technique consists of closing one's eyes twice a day
for 20 minutes while silently repeating a mantra to gain deep
relaxation, eliminate stress, promote good health and attain clear
thinking and inner fulfillment. Classes now cost $2,500 for a five-day
session.
The TM movement was a founding influence on what has grown into a
multibillion-dollar self-help industry, and many people practice
similar forms of meditation that have no connection to the Maharishi's
movement.
Over the years since TM became popular, many scientists have found
physical and mental benefits from mediation in general and
transcendental meditation in particular, especially in reducing stress-
related ailments.
Since the technique's inception in 1955, the organization says, it has
been used to train more than 40,000 teachers, taught more than five
million people, opened thousands of teaching centers and founded
hundreds of schools, colleges and universities.
In the United States, the organization values its assets at about $300
million, with its base in Fairfield, Iowa, where it operates a
university, the Maharishi University of Management. In 2001, disciples
of the movement incorporated their own town, Maharishi Vedic City, a
few miles north of Fairfield.
Last March, a branch of the organization, Global Financial Capital of
New York, moved into new headquarters it bought in Lower Manhattan.
The visibility and popularity of the organization can largely be
attributed to the Beatles. In 1968, the band, with great publicity,
began studying with the Maharishi at his Himalayan retreat, or ashram,
in Rishikesh, in northern India. They went with their wives, the folk
singer Donovan, the singer Mike Love, of the Beach Boys, the actress
Mia Farrow and Ms. Farrow's sister Prudence.
They left in the wake of rumors of sexual improprieties by the
Maharishi, an avowed celibate, though no sexual-misconduct suits were
filed and some of the participants later denied that anything untoward
had occurred.
Nevertheless, public interest in the movement had been aroused in the
West, and it continued to grow in the 1970s as the Maharishi took his
movement around the world and as its techniques gained respectability
in the medical world.
Later in life, the Maharishi refused to discuss the Beatles. Another
one of his disciples was the Indian spiritualist Deepak Chopra, who
was a friend of the former Beatle George Harrison and who promotes his
own teachings based on traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and
meditation.
The Maharishi's movement began losing followers the late 1970s, as
people were put off by the organization's promotion of a more advanced
form of TM called Yogic Flying, in which practitioners try to summon a
surge of energy to physically lift themselves off the ground. They
have never gone beyond the initial stage of flying, described as "frog
hops."
Mahesh Prasad Varma was born near the central Indian town of Jabalpur,
into a scribe caste family. Called Mahesh, he studied physics at
Allahabad University and for the next 13 years became a student and
secretary to a holy man, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, who the young
disciple Mahesh called Guru Dev.
"Right from the beginning the whole purpose was to breathe in his
breath," the Maharishi wrote in his "Thirty Years Around the World:
Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment," published in 1986. "This was my
ideal. The whole purpose was just to assume myself with Guru Dev."
After the death of his master in 1953, Mahesh went into seclusion in
the Himalayan foothills. He emerged two years later and began teaching
a system of belief, which grew into the worldwide TM movement.
"It would appear that Maharishi cobbled together his teaching after
his master died, when he found himself unemployed and out-of-grace
with the ashram," said Paul Mason, a critic of the Maharishi and the
author of a biography, "The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who
Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World." "He reinvented himself
and became a 'maharishi' and wanted to be seen as a messiah."
Since 1990, the Maharishi had lived in Vlodrop with about 50 of his
adherents, including his "minister of science and technology," John
Hagelin, a Harvard-educated physicist, who is expected to oversee the
organization in the United States.
Late in life, the Maharishi tried to breathe new life into TM,
establishing in 2000 his "Global Country of World Peace," with the
goals of preventing war, eradicating poverty and promoting
environmental sustainability. One effort tried to reach young people
across the United States with the support of celebrities like Donovan
and the filmmaker David Lynch, who went on a speaking tour of colleges
to promote the cause.
The Maharishi also sought to rebuild the world according to Vedic
principals. He called for the demolition of all toxic buildings and
unhealthy urban environments, even the demolition of historic
landmarks if they were not built according to "Vedic architecture in
harmony with Natural Law." The Maharishi contended that the White
House was wrongly situated. He said that a more suitable location for
the capital of the United States was the small town of Smith Center,
Kan.
In the last years of his life he rarely met with anyone, even his
ministers, face-to-face, preferring to speak with followers almost
exclusively by closed-circuit television.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies
Associated Press/February 5, 2008
By Mike Corder
The Hague, Netherlands - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles
who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at
his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was
thought to be 91 years old.
"He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for
the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He
said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."
Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control
that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually
gained medical respectability.
He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United
States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles
visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling
out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his
Himalayan retreat.
With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi - a Hindi-language
title for Great Seer - parlayed his interpretations of ancient
scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire.
After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with
grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world
peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth.
Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to
Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra.
Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at
college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more
than 30 years of practicing transcendental meditation.
Some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening
reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their
consciousness.
"Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear,"
Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras.
Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of
Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the
world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India.
In 1971, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that
taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and
served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias.
Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that
meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves
concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.
Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by
sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They
scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic
shock troops, can end conflict.
"To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach,"
he said.
In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S.
by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and
intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to
award punitive damages.
Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils
who claim he failed to teach them to fly. "Yogic flying," showcased as
the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything
more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and
bouncing across spongy mats.
Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on
Jan. 12, 1917 - though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his
early life.
He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary
to a well known Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher,
Maharishi went into a nomadic two-year retreat of silence in the
Himalayan foothills of northern India.
With his background in physics, he brought his message to the West in
a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of
college campuses. He described TM as "the unified field of all the
laws of nature."
Maharishi's trademark flowing beard and long, graying hair appeared on
the cover of the leading news magazines of the day.
But aides say Maharishi became disillusioned that TM had become
identified with the counterculture, and he spent more time at his
ashram in Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills to run his global
affairs.
In 1990 he moved onto the wooded grounds of a historic Franciscan
monastery in the southern Dutch village of Vlodrop, about 125 miles
southeast of Amsterdam.
Concerned about his fragile health, he secluded himself in two rooms
of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound, speaking only by
video to aides around the world and even to his closest advisers in
the same building.
John Hagelin, a theoretical physicist who ran for the U.S. presidency
three times on the Maharishi-backed Natural Law Party, said that from
the Dutch location Maharishi had daylong access to followers in India,
Europe and the Americas.
"He runs several shifts of us into the ground," said Hagelin,
Maharishi's closest aid, speaking in Vlodrop about his then-89-year-
old mentor. "He is a fountainhead of innovation and new ideas - far
too many than you can ever follow up."
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steps down as head of meditation empire
Reuters/January 28, 2008
By Emma Thomasson
Amsterdam - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who became a guru to the Beatles,
stepped down this month as the head of the organisation that brought
transcendental meditation to the West, an aide said on Monday.
"His work is done and now he'll be concentrating on the field of
silence and dedicating himself more to pure knowledge rather than
administrative matters," Benjamin Feldman, finance minister for the
Global Country of World Peace, told Reuters.
After teaching the Beatles and other 1960s and 70s icons to meditate,
the Indian mystic gained a worldwide following with six million people
taking his courses. He moved his headquarters to the small southern
Dutch village of Vlodrop in 1990.
Transcendental meditation, known as TM by its followers, involves
reciting a mantra that practitioners say helps the mind stay calm even
under pressure.
The reclusive guru with a flowing white beard has periodically
reemerged to appeal for funds to promote world peace, building a
business empire ranging from real estate dealing to a company selling
ayurvedic medicine and cosmetics.
Yogic flying
He has set up universities and schools all over the world and his
Natural Law Party -- which promotes yogic flying, a practice that
involves sitting in the lotus position and bouncing into the air --
has campaigned in dozens of countries.
Reported to be 91, the Maharishi is "fairly well", Feldman said and
plans to stay in the Netherlands for the time being. Maharaja Nader
Raam, a Lebanese doctor who has studied with the Maharishi for 25
years, will take over the organisation.
Feldman said the Maharishi's work would live on because he has trained
tens of thousands of teachers over the years.
His followers broke the ground in Vlodrop on Monday for a "tower of
invincibility" memorial to the Maharishi that will be replicated in 48
countries, Feldman said.
He said the Maharishi was not disappointed that his promotion of group
meditation had not yet achieved its aim of creating universal peace
and prosperity.
"Sometimes it takes time for the world to catch up. The Maharishi is
very, very satisfied that the influence has been created and it will
only expand and become stronger and better known and more widely
applied," Feldman said.
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...and I am Sid Harth
Orlando Sentinel/September 8, 2008
By Mark Pino
One of Osceola County's grandest tourism visions remains an illusion.
A 450-acre tract planned for a theme park mixing magic and
Transcendental Meditation remains vacant in the tourism corridor.
Almost two decades later, the two men behind the project are dead, and
the land has a $150 million price tag.
"It's a great piece of property," said Hector Lizasuain, who oversees
a tax district created to beautify West U.S. Highway 192. "It's funny
-- over the years, they'll put [for sale] signs up and take them down
again. People call it one of the prettiest sections, maybe because
there are no buildings. But it is prime real estate."
The former plant farm has remained a swatch of green foliage and
wetlands that runs for nearly three-quarters of a mile among U.S.
192's glitz and kitsch, flanked by Old Town and a Cracker Barrel.
Vedaland, which means land of knowledge, was announced with much
fanfare in 1989 by magician Doug Henning and the Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, a guru to The Beatles who introduced the West to Transcendental
Meditation. Henning died of cancer in 2000, and the Maharishi died at
his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop this year.
A Maharishi subsidiary closed on the property in 1990 for $20 million
in cash. In 1996, it was on the market for $60 million after the group
shifted efforts to a site in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The park plan originally included a building seemingly suspended above
water without supports, a "magic flying chariot" that took riders
inside the molecular structure of a rose, and robots that would fly
through the air, performing magic tricks.
The development was projected to cost $1 billion.
The backers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning the
project and getting government approvals, which expired years ago.
It is hard to analyze the current asking price by the Maharishi Global
Development Fund, said Linda Goodwin-Nichols, a Realtor who is not
involved with the listing but is a member of the West U.S. 192
Redevelopment Advisory Board.
"That property has been for sale for 25 years," she said. "In today's
marketplace, you don't know if it is a good price because no
commercial property has sold in a long time."
The listing averages about $330,000 an acre, which Goodwin-Nichols
said is "not bad for usable property," but the tract includes wetlands
that would not be worth as much.
While the property is listed on tax rolls as agricultural land because
of a tree-farming operation, an Internet sales listing cites a study
that "suggests potential development scenarios up to 800,000 square
feet of commercial space and as many as 4,300 multifamily residential
units."
While the tract is zoned for a planned development, the original
approvals expired in 2005. A new owner would have to start the process
from the beginning, county officials said.
Goodwin-Nichols said the property might appeal to a buyer with a plan
for a resort with a hotel, condos and a golf course who could acquire
it for the right price and time the process so the project was ready
when the economy improves.
"Now would be the perfect time," she said. "But you don't see a lot of
people doing that. The stuff that is coming out of the ground now has
been on the drawing table and in the process for a long time."
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Smith Center residents balk at Peace Palaces
NBC KHAS News, Kansas/May 20, 2008
By Robert Price
Two years ago an international peace group chose Smith County, Kansas
for its world capital of peace. Since then, the number of people
against the project has grown larger and more vocal.
Main Street, Smith Center, Kanas - among the restaurants, banks, and
churches, sits the office for Global Country of World Peace.
They are an international organization created to eliminate violence,
disease and poverty through transcendental meditation. But many here
view them in a different light.
"I look at it as a cult," said Helen Hooper.
"I believe they are a cult, yes," Hi Lambert said.
"I think they are a cult," said Stanley Hooper.
"A typical cult, basically," Charlene Lambert said.
Charlene and Hi Lambert have spent the last year or so doing extensive
research on the group. From newspaper clippings to financial records
to conversations with former members.
"Just all of a sudden got a passion to know more about the group.
Learning about the deceitfulness and the scam stuff, that just...I
just wanted people in our community to know what the organization is
really about," said
Global Country of World Peace says it is a non6partisan, non6religious
group. But the people of Smith Center are not so convinced.
"I do feel like it is a religion because there is a temple, they call
it a temple, and they worship the sun," said Tony Peterson.
"They do have religious undertones, the have religious roots. We feel
there are only two spirits represented in this world: the spirit of
God and the spirit of Satan. They are not being of the spirit of God.
We feel the spirit they represent would be Satan - in opposition to
the spirit we represent," said Pastor Dennis Lambert.
"And from a Christian point of view, when I think of young people that
could become involved in this, it is just so contrary to what we as
Christians believe," Helen Hooper said.
"I see a clash ahead of us," said Stan Hooper.
Global Country of World Peace leaders say these structures to the
north of town are for a $60 million college: Maharishi Central
University.
It will combine traditional academic principles with their techniques
of transcendental meditation.
They say they are anything but a cult.
"Well, the people are never taught what to think," Kay Michener said.
Gary Weisenberger has practiced transcendental meditation for 33
years.
"Transcendental Meditation is a relaxation technique that allows you
to get rid of stress, develop your full potential as a human being,"
said Weisenberger.
Three decades later, he remains a firm believer.
"Gotten out of it what I wanted and much more - more than I thought it
would be," Weisenberger said.
But Charlene Lambert said she has talked to countless others who have
left the group with a less favorable opinion.
"I have had several people involved in the organization say they
believe they are a cult," said Charlene. "Quite frankly it is pretty
scary for most of them and just the thought of having that kind of
cult in our area is a concern."
Many in Smith Center have been against the peace project since the
beginning.
"We have always been opposed to them being in our county," Hi said.
Others remained neutral or openly supported the project. Two years
later, finding these people is a lot harder.
"They came in with a real rosey picture of what was going on, and you
look at what is going on, and I do not see it myself," Stanley said.
"Some of the people that were the firmest supporters at first have
kind of backed off a little bit."
And those who have opposed it from the start are only more
passionate.
"We would like to have them abandon the situation and go away, but
that may not happen. Someday it would be nice to see some other
organization get into the buildings and bring something to our
community that would be good for it," said Hi.
Global Country for World Peace leaders told News 5 they are
disappointed they do not have the support of Smith Center.
But they said the group has plenty of resources and support across the
world and they plan to move forward with their college.
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More pandits arrive, with goal of hosting 1,050
Fairfield Ledger, Iowa/May 18, 2008
In order to foster peace in the world by establishing a large,
coherence-creating group of Yogic flyers on the Maharishi University
of Management campus and in Maharishi Vedic City, 85 more Vedic
pandits arrived in March, bringing the total to 600, and 450 more are
ready to come and will begin arriving later this month.
Those who arrived in March are being temporarily housed on campus, and
construction of modular buildings is beginning on the Vedic pandit
campus in Vedic City in order to house all of the pandits there.
According to M.U.M. officials, the immediate goal is to have a total
of 1,050 Vedic pandits in order to have a total of 2,500 Yogic flyers
in the community.
Studies have shown that group practice of the Transcendental
Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, can foster
harmony in society and reduce crime, war and other negative tendencies
[sic]. In order to have the influence, research has shown the size of
the group needs to exceed the square root of 1 percent of the
population of a given area. That figure for the United States is
1,743.
Currently funds are being raised to cover the costs of transportation
and personal supplies, as well as the additional housing.
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Maharishi group faces building fines
Dutch News/May 6, 2008
The Maharishi commune in the Limburg village of Vlodrop faces fines of
up to 010,000 a time for breaking building regulations on its estate,
NOS tv reports on Tuesday.
The former convent occupied by the transcendental meditation group was
raided by building inspectors last autumn, who found 13
infringements.
Now the council says 164 flagpoles surrounding the convent have to be
removed, numerous floodlights taken out of the woods, and illegal
sleeping quarters demolished.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lived in the Netherlands from 1990 until his
death in February this year.
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Vedic City woman charges herbs caused lead poisoning
The Gazette, Iowa City/March 8, 2008
By Erika Binegar
Des Moines - A woman who claims she contracted lead poisoning after
taking an herbal preparation marketed as a Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
product is suing Maharishi corporations in federal court.
Frances Gaskell, who lives in Maharishi Vedic City north of Fairfield,
filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of Iowa.
In the lawsuit, she alleges the respondents - Maharishi Vedic
Education Development Corp., Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation and
Maharishi Ayurveda Products Ltd. - are guilty of defective product
design, breach of implied warranties and failure to warn.
Gaskell also charges that those three entities plus a clinic in Delhi,
India, called the Maharishi Ayurveda Arogyadham, and Dr. J.R. Raju, a
master Ayurvedic physician and healer, are guilty of intentional
misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and conspiracy.
Robert Roth, spokesman for the Maharishi Vedic Education Development
Corp., said this week that the company is not involved in the
manufacture, prescription or sale of Ayurveda remedies or herbs.
Ayurveda is a form of alternative health care from India marketed by
the Maharishi and his followers.
"We have no knowledge concerning the preparations Mrs. Gaskell
allegedly obtained directly from India, apparently from another
source," Roth said.
He said the corporation's only role is teaching the Transcendental
Meditation to people in the United States.
Gaskell alleges Raju in December 2006 prescribed the herb Garbhapal
Ras for her when she was four months pregnant. After taking the herb,
Gaskell claims she began to feel lethargic, that her hands and feet
went numb and that she suffered severe back and abdominal pain.
Tests on April 16, 2007, showed she had a blood lead level of 102
micrograms per deciliter - more than 20 times the level considered
safe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gaskell
underwent chelation therapy while pregnant, but her child was born
with an elevated blood lead level of 60 micrograms per deciliter.
Tests by the Iowa Department of Public Health found the herb Garbhapal
Ras was comprised of nearly 3 percent lead. Maharishi Ayurveda
Products Ltd. is identified on the product bottle as the manufacturer,
the lawsuit states.
Health risks associated with ingesting lead have been known at least
since 1978, when lead paint was banned in the United States.
Roth said numerous companies sell Maharishi Ayurveda herbs and
treatments in the United States and that he understands the
preparations are subject to testing, inspection and quality control to
ensure they are free of toxins.
"These products have been on the market for 30 years, and it's the
first time I've heard of anything like this," added Steve Yellin,
media spokesman for the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield.
Gaskell, who is being represented by the Cedar Rapids legal firm Brady
& O'Shea, is asking for a jury trial.
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Sites for 'Maharishi Effect' (Welcome to Parma) Spread Across U.S.
The New York Times/February 22, 2008
By Sean D. Hamill
Parma, Ohio - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the "giggling guru" who founded
the Transcendental Meditation movement, proclaimed throughout his 50-
year career that he knew the secret to worldwide peace. And now, this
Cleveland suburb is poised to play a role.
The Maharishi promised that if just 1 percent of the world practiced
TM, as it is known, then "the Maharishi effect" would take over and
there would be increased coherence in the collective unconsciousness,
and peace would prevail.
But for decades he struggled to reach enough people, even though he
lowered the necessary figure to the square root of 1 percent. So, in
2000 he created the Global Country of World Peace, a "country without
borders," to build at least one so-called peace palace in or near the
3,000 largest cities in the world as places to train people in TM.
One of the palaces could be completed later this year in Parma, a town
of 83,000 people, where officials were more than a little surprised
when TM leaders outlined the proposal.
"The nature of it was a little unusual," said Brian Higgins, the
city's director of public service. "What do you mean a 'Maharishi
Peace Palace?' We're Parma, Ohio. We eat pirogis and drink draft beer.
We don't get operations like this all the time."
Getting towns like Parma to welcome the palaces - $3 million to $5
million buildings with dormitories, classrooms and shops - has become
even more important to the TM organization in the wake of the
Maharishi's death on Feb. 5. The peace-palace project will continue,
movement leaders say, despite the multimillion-dollar costs and the
limited success so far.
"There will be no change," Robert Roth, a spokesman for the
organization based in the Netherlands, said from Allahabad, India,
where he attended a funeral for the Maharishi on Feb. 11. "It has
always been a top priority of Maharishi, and all the leaders of TM
recognize that."
Some critics, however, have called the palaces nothing more than a way
for the Maharishi's followers to raise money to buy more land for the
group's considerable coffers.
At least three palaces - in Austin, Tex.; Houston; and Lexington, Ky.
- have already been built by private individuals.
At least five others have been built, or are being built, thanks to
donations to various offshoots of the TM organization in Bethesda,
Md., and in towns in Iowa.
Nine more are being built by Global Country itself: three in
Cleveland's suburbs; two in Sullivan County, N.Y.; and one each in
Charlottesville, Va.; Colorado Springs; Smith Center, Kan.; and St.
Paul. Zoning and other issues have prevented the organization from
building right away in at least 18 other cities where it has already
bought land, organization officials said.
After originally hoping to build 2,400 palaces in the United States
alone, the organization now says it hopes to build 100 to 200 here.
Though the movement is admired for its finances, many independent
critics question its belief that large groups of people meditating or
practicing yogic flying - where people meditate and hop while sitting
cross-legged in the lotus position - can spread peace.
The organization cites studies that it says found that large groups of
yogic fliers helped temporarily lower crime in Washington, D.C., end
the cold war and briefly reduce hostilities in the Middle East.
"To the best of my knowledge, it has never been studied truly
independently," said Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the
Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General
Hospital, and a TM practitioner himself. "It's been hypothesized for
many years, but never proven."
The peace palaces are intended to be gleaming white, two-story
buildings, 10,000- to 12,000-square-feet, and to replace the typical
rented space where TM is now taught at more than 200 locations in the
United States.
Each is designed to be large enough to have dormitories, retail space
to sell TM's health products and clothing, and, most importantly,
space for TM classes that currently cost $2,500. (Instruction in yogic
flying costs an additional $2,000.)
They are being built to follow the Vedic architectural guidelines,
which, among other requirements, mean each building faces east to
greet the energizing morning sun.
The result is something like an Indian temple crossed with a Southern
plantation mansion, a look the organization hopes will become a visual
brand, much like the golden arches signify McDonald's the world over.
"The upside to it is in the recognition. In every town where there's a
peace palace, people will realize this is what it looks like," said
Richard Quinn, director of project finance for the Maharishi Vedic
Education Development Corporation, which oversees palace development
in the United States.
The nine palaces being built by Global Country are being financed by
$40 million worth of tax-free bonds backed by the Colorado Health
Facilities Authority - thanks to the asserted individual health
benefits of TM - and secured by some of the more than $250 million in
land TM owns in the United States.
Despite its spiritual leanings, and promises of peace, Global Country
does not make that part of its pitch to towns when it seeks permission
to build a palace, which would be tax-exempt. Instead, it focuses on
the retail and health benefits it would bring.
"My feeling is they're trying to downplay" the world peace goal, said
Mayor Gregory S. Costabile of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, where a palace
may be built this year.
Even when towns do learn about the movement's larger aspirations, it
usually comes down to whether a development fits a site and complies
with zoning.
And despite their skepticism, city and town officials concede, it is
hard not to want what TM offers.
"They're interested in peace and harmony and good vibes, and we're
interested in that," said Robert M. Parry, director of planning for
Westlake, Ohio, where a third palace is planned for the Cleveland
area. "Who isn't?"
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru and tycoon, died on February 5th, aged 91
(probably)
The Economist/February 14, 2008
Visitors entering the World Bank in Washington one sweaty day in 1987
might have been surprised to come upon a team of smiling young men,
legs neatly folded into the lotus position, hopping like frogs. In
fact, most visitors were probably not surprised at all. Like many
happenings connected with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, this display of
"yogic flying" had been well advertised. The only surprise was that
the bank, usually cast as a bastion of hard-headed rationality, should
provide such a ready audience for an event whose aim was not physical
fitness but world peace.
Thirty years earlier the maharishi, who had studied maths and physics
at Allahabad University, had calculated that one person practising the
transcendental meditation he promoted could induce virtuous behaviour
among 99 non-meditators. He had already, in 1944, helped to get 2,000
Vedic pandits, learned followers of one of the four holy books of the
Hindus, to chant mantras in an effort to bring the second world war to
an end. He had again assembled meditators in 1963 to solve the Cuban
missile crisis. But his ambitions were bigger-world peace, no less-and
by the 1980s he had come to realise that to bring harmony to a world
of 5 billion people, he would need 50m meditators.
Undaunted, he did the arithmetic again, this time factoring in
meditation of deep purity and concentration (including yogic flying),
and happily found he needed a number no greater than the square root
of 1%-a mere 7,000 or so. Accordingly, 7,000 flyers were assembled
during the Taste of Utopia conference in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1984.
Annoyingly, though, the "wide range of positive effects worldwide"
ended with the conference. Something similar happened after 7,000
students gathered for yogic flying and Vedic chanting near Delhi in
1988. The Berlin Wall came down all right and the cold war ended, but
the money needed to keep the group airborne ran out and, dammit, "new
tensions" started to arise in the world.
If only the maharishi had had the necessary funds. Actually, he had.
He may not have known how to make peace, but he certainly knew how to
make money. After years studying under a Hindu divine in the late
1950s, he had pronounced himself a maharishi (great seer) and set up
the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. This took transcendental
meditation, which he had trademarked, to the world, with Hollywood one
of the first stops. Disciples paid $2,500 for a five-day course,
learning how to reach a "deeper level" of consciousness by inwardly
repeating a mantra twice a day for 20 minutes.
Real fame came when the Beatles beat a path to his door, seeking
enlightenment and spirituality through good vibrations. George
Harrison had already fallen under the spell of the sitar and the
maharishi's message appealed to John Lennon's angry pacifism. Before
long the Fab Four were ensconced in the maharishi's ashram in the
foothills of the Himalayas. Their stay was only a modified success,
though, with Lennon and Ringo Starr complaining about the food, and
all of them, perhaps, beginning to resent their host's transcendental
interest in using them for publicity, if not an outright percentage of
their earnings.
No matter. Plenty of others were ready to step forward for a dose of
spiritual bliss, and not all were celebrities. In America meditation
was judged to be just the tonic for a variety of people ranging from
underperforming executives to recidivist prisoners. An army general
even joined the board of Maharishi International University, set up in
Fairfield in 1974. All in all, some 5m people are said to have been
taught the maharishi's techniques since 1955.
His other ventures blossomed, too. A property empire was valued at
over $3 billion ten years ago. A television station offered meditation
courses to subscribers in 144 countries. Companies sold unguents,
books, videos and Ayurvedic treatment. His political movement, the
Natural Law Party, which in the 1990s pursued the goal of world
government by fighting elections in America, Britain and several other
countries, was less successful, and eventually folded. This, however,
did not stop the maharishi then launching the raam, a global currency
intended to foster development. Imagine (all the things he didn't do)
Crank? Crackpot? Charlatan? Maybe all three. Yet the maharishi was
generally benign. He did not use his money for sinister ends. He
neither drank, nor smoked, nor took drugs. Indeed, he is credited with
weaning the Beatles off dope (for a while). He did not accumulate
scores of Rolls-Royces, like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; his biggest self-
indulgence was a helicopter. Nor was he ever accused of molesting
choirboys; his greatest sexual impropriety, it was said, was to make a
pass at Mia Farrow. He giggled a lot, and plainly had no lack of self-
esteem. But his egotism did not mean he was always wringing his hands
at pop concerts or blethering at Davos; after the 1960s he seldom
appeared in public.
Moreover, his message was entirely laudable. He did not promote a cult
[sic] or even a mainstream religion preaching original sin, purgatory
and the likelihood of eternal damnation. He just wanted to end
poverty, teach people how to achieve personal fulfilment and help them
to discover "Heaven on Earth in this generation" [sic]. And yogic
flying, of course.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm171.html
Maharishi's ashes immersed in Sangam
IANS, India/February 12, 2008
Allahabad, India - The ashes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced
the world to the Transcendental Meditation, were immersed in the
Sangam, the confluence of three rivers near his ashram Tuesday
afternoon.
The ashes and funeral flowers, gathered in brass urns and wrapped in
white muslin cloth and garlands of roses, were carried to the Sangam,
where the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Swaraswati meet, in an
elaborate procession led by Vedic pundits from the Jyotirmath of the
Shankaracharya, the spiritual order to which the seer belonged.
They were followed by the 35 'rajas' or kings who are nation heads for
the Maharishi's TM organisation, including his nominated heir Maharaja
Tony Nader or Adi Ram, the name by which he is now known.
Thousands of devotees and local residents accompanied the procession
that set off at 12.30 p.m. from the Shanti Sthal, where the funeral
pyre was lit Monday.
Girish Verma, the seer's kin and a functionary in the organization in
India, and members of the seers' family presided over the ceremony
along with the priests.
Around 1.30 p.m. the ashes were released into the waters of the
Sangam, near his ashram at Arail, 15 km from the city, according to
Vedic rituals.
"The Sangam was beautiful. There were 30 boats, people went on those
boats and the seer's family on one of the boats performed the final
rituals before scattering the ashes all over into the river," said Bob
Roth, in-charge of global publicity at the ashram.
"They were spread out evenly into the water and some of our devotees
took holy dips as part of the final cleansing ritual, integral to
Vedic immersion rites."
The Maharishi died Feb 5 at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop in
the Netherlands and was believed to be in his 90s.
Organisation sources said a part of his ashes would be distributed and
preserved in 192 nations across the globe where the seer set up
centres of meditation and Vedic learning.
Since 10 a.m., the Maharishi's abode on the banks of the Ganga was a
hive of activity.
Though the Maharishi Vidya Mandir in the front quarters of the
complex, where the body was kept in state from Sunday to Monday, wore
a deserted look, the action was on in full swing at the cremation
ground a kilometre away.
Priests chanted mantras as they collected in urns the ashes and the
charred remains.
Clad in white Indian-style kurtas and payjamas, all the 35 kings, wore
their ceremonial golden crowns, the heavy gold medallions and white
shawls, and sat around the pyre in a semi-circle.
They performed the ceremonial circumambulation after the ashes were
collected.
The Global Country of World Peace Tuesday opened its doors to women,
who were there in large numbers to witness the immersion rites.
Barring members of the Mother Divine sect, all women attached to the
TM movement were present.
Unlike Monday, when all of them had decked up in their royal regalia
of heavy Benarasi brocade saris and jewellery, Tuesday found the women
in chiffons, cotton and light silk saris.
"We are happy to be able to see a part of the last rites. I am glad
that Maharishi has been freed of his physical remains, but he will
always remain within us," said Christina Schulze Bradshaw, Maharishi
disciple from Germany.
The Maharishi was a monk as well as an entrepreneur, a visionary, who
was often dismissed as a hippie mystic. The Maharishi started his TM
movement in 1957, though it formally took after a discourse in Madras
(now Chennai) in 1958 and brought it to the US in 1959. At one point,
his disciples included the Beatles among other celebrities.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm170.html
Maharishi inspired Beatles but died leaving 32b and rape rumours
The Mirror, UK/February 7, 2008
By Nick Webster
He inspired the Beatles and promised world peace but died leaving 32
billion amid rumours of rape and murder
He was the Sixth Beatle, a spiritual force with the potential to
create world peace and end famine.
Or he was an avaricious old man with a penchant for young girls who
ruined the greatest pop group in history.
It rather depends on your point of view, but one thing is certain
about the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who died this week aged somewhere
between 91 and 97 - he was one of the richest religious leaders in
history.
The 'giggling guru' - so called because of his high-pitched laugh -
lived in an opulent 200-room mansion, with helicopters and dozens of
cars at his disposal, and was worth an estimated 32billion.
He was the head of a movement with five million followers worldwide,
all seeking a higher consciousness through transcendental meditation.
But while the Maharishi promised world peace, and cynics laughed at
his wacky teachings and yogic flying, sinister stories of sex,
debauchery, and even murder cast dark shadows over his life.
All but one of the Beatles cut their ties with their apparently
celibate guru after it emerged he'd made a pass at Mia Farrow. The
Maharishi's people, on the other hand, insist they simply fell out
when he discovered the band were using LSD.
Later another British disciple, Linda Pearce claimed the Maharishi had
seduced her when he was in his 60s.
"He was a brilliant manipulator," said Mrs Pearce. "I just couldn't
see that he was a dirty old man. We made love regularly. At one stage
I even thought I was pregnant by him. And I don't think I was the only
girl. There was a lot of talk that he'd tried to rape Mia Farrow."
And there was worse scandal to come. In 1987, when the Maharishi was
living in a high security complex on the outskirts of Delhi, India,
the Telegraph newspaper of Calcutta alleged five boys had died after
being used as guinea pigs in the ashram's "medical institute"
searching for cures for cancer, heart ailments and Aids. Nothing was
ever proved.
At the same time the fabulously wealthy guru's employees went on
strike to increase their 310-a-month wages. The Maharishi simply moved
into a five-star hotel in New Delhi until it was over.
Mahesh Prasad Varma (or Mahesh Srivastava, depending on your source)
was born in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, sometime between 1911
and 1918.
The son of a government tax inspector, he initially studied physics
but then trained with a Vedic spiritual mentor, undertaking two years
of silence in the Himalayas where he developed his ideas on
transcendental meditation.
The movement the Maharishi leaves behind, after his death at his
luxurious retreat in Vlodrop in the Netherlands, has been called the
world's richest cult. Yet when he began his first world tour as a
spiritual leader in Burma in 1958, the Maharishi was praised for his
austerity.
One commentator wrote: "He asks for nothing. His worldly possessions
can be carried in one hand."
Meeting the Beatles a decade later changed all that. The band had been
encouraged to attend a lecture by George Harrison's wife Patti, and
were impressed enough by what they heard to accompany him to a weekend
retreat in to North Wales.
Along with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, they took the train to
Bangor - where the Maharishi assumed the mob of screaming fans were
there for him.
Only a day into the retreat the news broke that the Beatles
influential manager Brian Epstein had died from a suspected drugs
overdose.
Rather than let them grieve for their friend and first mentor, the
Maharishi told them their tears would cause "vibrations" which could
trap Epstein's spirit on this spiritual plane rather than let it
travel to the next. And he instructed them to be joyful and laugh.
Months later all four Beatles, their partners and 60s stars Donovan,
Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence
headed off for a three-month retreat to the Maharishi's centre on the
banks of the Ganges.
Funded by a tithe of one week's wages from each of its students, the
bank balance of the ashram received a massive boost from the world's
biggest pop stars.
They expected to find spiritual enlightenment, but what they actually
found was what Ringo called "a bit like Butlins." He and his then wife
Maureen left after a fortnight, desperate for "egg and chips." Paul
McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher quit too.
Then came the stories of the Maharishi's attempt to have sex with Mia
Farrow. John Lennon said later: "There was a hullabaloo about him
trying to rape Mia and a few other women. The whole gang charged down
to his hut and I said: 'We're leaving!' He asked why and I said: 'If
you're so cosmic, you'll know why.' The Maharishi gave me a look that
said: 'I'll kill you, you bastard!'"
But none of this dented the Maharishi's growing global popularity.
Travelling the world in a pink aeroplane, his fame and his movement
grew and he featured on the front cover of Time magazine in 1975. His
transcendental meditation technique involved silently repeating a
Sanskrit mantra for 20 minutes twice a day. And since scientific
studies have now concluded it has some real health benefits, it is
never short of new adherents
And at 31,300 per person for a standard introduction course, it's easy
to see where the Maharishi's cash came from. But there were times when
the guru's ego got the better of him... He once told an audience in
New York that if just one per cent of the world's population adopted
his teaching it would "neutralize the power of war for thousands of
years".
Consequently, he claimed credit for peace in the Lebanon and
Mozambique, and for reducing crime in Washington and Merseyside.
And after the terrorist outrages of September 11, 2001 the Maharishi
claimed ifany government gave him a billion dollars he could end
terrorism and create peace.
His claims were ridiculed - as were his 40,000yogic fliers who, as the
Natural Law Party, promised that levitating while in the Lotus
position would bring peace and enlightenment. In the end it brought
just 0.4 per cent of the votes in the election.
Last month the guru, who lately communicated through a video link,
announced his retirement. His spokesman Bob Roth says:"He'd done what
he set out to do."
Apart from world peace.
Gurus: Good, Bad & Ugly
Osho: The "Rolls-Royce guru" - his followers wanted to buy him one for
every day of the year.
Charles Manson: Serving life after Manson Family killed Sharon Tate,
pregnant wife of Roman Polanski in LA in 1969.
Timothy Leary: Former Harvard professor of psychology championed
psychedelic drugs.
Amma: Mata Amritanandamayi - the Hugging Saint - gives her services
free to all religions. May have given out 26 million hugs.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm169.html
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader, Dies
New York Times/February 6, 2008
By Lily Koppel
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced transcendental meditation to the
West and gained fame in the 1960s as the spiritual guru to the
Beatles, died Tuesday at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop, the
Netherlands. He is believed to have been in his 90s. Steven Yellin, a
spokesman for the organization, confirmed the Maharishi's death but
did not give a cause.
On Jan. 11, the Maharishi announced that his public work was finished
and that he would use his remaining time to complete a long-running
series of published commentaries on the Veda, the oldest sacred Hindu
text.
The Maharishi was both an entrepreneur and a monk, a spiritual man who
sought a world stage from which to espouse the joys of inner
happiness. His critics called his organization a cult business
enterprise. And in the press, in the 1960s and '70s, he was often
dismissed as a hippie mystic, the "Giggling Guru," recognizable in the
familiar image of him laughing, sitting cross-legged in a lotus
position on a deerskin, wearing a white silk dhoti with a garland of
flowers around his neck beneath an oily, scraggly beard.
In Hindi, "maha" means great, and "rishi" means seer. "Maharishi" is a
title traditionally bestowed on Brahmins. Critics of the yogi say he
presented himself with the name, which he was ineligible for because
he was from a lower caste.
The Maharishi originated the transcendental meditation movement in
1957 and brought it to the United States in 1959. Known as TM, a
trademark, the technique consists of closing one's eyes twice a day
for 20 minutes while silently repeating a mantra to gain deep
relaxation, eliminate stress, promote good health and attain clear
thinking and inner fulfillment. Classes now cost $2,500 for a five-day
session.
The TM movement was a founding influence on what has grown into a
multibillion-dollar self-help industry, and many people practice
similar forms of meditation that have no connection to the Maharishi's
movement.
Over the years since TM became popular, many scientists have found
physical and mental benefits from mediation in general and
transcendental meditation in particular, especially in reducing stress-
related ailments.
Since the technique's inception in 1955, the organization says, it has
been used to train more than 40,000 teachers, taught more than five
million people, opened thousands of teaching centers and founded
hundreds of schools, colleges and universities.
In the United States, the organization values its assets at about $300
million, with its base in Fairfield, Iowa, where it operates a
university, the Maharishi University of Management. In 2001, disciples
of the movement incorporated their own town, Maharishi Vedic City, a
few miles north of Fairfield.
Last March, a branch of the organization, Global Financial Capital of
New York, moved into new headquarters it bought in Lower Manhattan.
The visibility and popularity of the organization can largely be
attributed to the Beatles. In 1968, the band, with great publicity,
began studying with the Maharishi at his Himalayan retreat, or ashram,
in Rishikesh, in northern India. They went with their wives, the folk
singer Donovan, the singer Mike Love, of the Beach Boys, the actress
Mia Farrow and Ms. Farrow's sister Prudence.
They left in the wake of rumors of sexual improprieties by the
Maharishi, an avowed celibate, though no sexual-misconduct suits were
filed and some of the participants later denied that anything untoward
had occurred.
Nevertheless, public interest in the movement had been aroused in the
West, and it continued to grow in the 1970s as the Maharishi took his
movement around the world and as its techniques gained respectability
in the medical world.
Later in life, the Maharishi refused to discuss the Beatles. Another
one of his disciples was the Indian spiritualist Deepak Chopra, who
was a friend of the former Beatle George Harrison and who promotes his
own teachings based on traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and
meditation.
The Maharishi's movement began losing followers the late 1970s, as
people were put off by the organization's promotion of a more advanced
form of TM called Yogic Flying, in which practitioners try to summon a
surge of energy to physically lift themselves off the ground. They
have never gone beyond the initial stage of flying, described as "frog
hops."
Mahesh Prasad Varma was born near the central Indian town of Jabalpur,
into a scribe caste family. Called Mahesh, he studied physics at
Allahabad University and for the next 13 years became a student and
secretary to a holy man, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, who the young
disciple Mahesh called Guru Dev.
"Right from the beginning the whole purpose was to breathe in his
breath," the Maharishi wrote in his "Thirty Years Around the World:
Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment," published in 1986. "This was my
ideal. The whole purpose was just to assume myself with Guru Dev."
After the death of his master in 1953, Mahesh went into seclusion in
the Himalayan foothills. He emerged two years later and began teaching
a system of belief, which grew into the worldwide TM movement.
"It would appear that Maharishi cobbled together his teaching after
his master died, when he found himself unemployed and out-of-grace
with the ashram," said Paul Mason, a critic of the Maharishi and the
author of a biography, "The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who
Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World." "He reinvented himself
and became a 'maharishi' and wanted to be seen as a messiah."
Since 1990, the Maharishi had lived in Vlodrop with about 50 of his
adherents, including his "minister of science and technology," John
Hagelin, a Harvard-educated physicist, who is expected to oversee the
organization in the United States.
Late in life, the Maharishi tried to breathe new life into TM,
establishing in 2000 his "Global Country of World Peace," with the
goals of preventing war, eradicating poverty and promoting
environmental sustainability. One effort tried to reach young people
across the United States with the support of celebrities like Donovan
and the filmmaker David Lynch, who went on a speaking tour of colleges
to promote the cause.
The Maharishi also sought to rebuild the world according to Vedic
principals. He called for the demolition of all toxic buildings and
unhealthy urban environments, even the demolition of historic
landmarks if they were not built according to "Vedic architecture in
harmony with Natural Law." The Maharishi contended that the White
House was wrongly situated. He said that a more suitable location for
the capital of the United States was the small town of Smith Center,
Kan.
In the last years of his life he rarely met with anyone, even his
ministers, face-to-face, preferring to speak with followers almost
exclusively by closed-circuit television.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm168.html
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies
Associated Press/February 5, 2008
By Mike Corder
The Hague, Netherlands - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles
who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at
his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was
thought to be 91 years old.
"He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for
the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He
said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."
Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control
that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually
gained medical respectability.
He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United
States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles
visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling
out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his
Himalayan retreat.
With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi - a Hindi-language
title for Great Seer - parlayed his interpretations of ancient
scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire.
After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with
grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world
peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth.
Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to
Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra.
Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at
college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more
than 30 years of practicing transcendental meditation.
Some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening
reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their
consciousness.
"Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear,"
Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras.
Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of
Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the
world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India.
In 1971, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that
taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and
served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias.
Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that
meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves
concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.
Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by
sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They
scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic
shock troops, can end conflict.
"To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach,"
he said.
In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S.
by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and
intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to
award punitive damages.
Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils
who claim he failed to teach them to fly. "Yogic flying," showcased as
the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything
more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and
bouncing across spongy mats.
Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on
Jan. 12, 1917 - though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his
early life.
He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary
to a well known Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher,
Maharishi went into a nomadic two-year retreat of silence in the
Himalayan foothills of northern India.
With his background in physics, he brought his message to the West in
a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of
college campuses. He described TM as "the unified field of all the
laws of nature."
Maharishi's trademark flowing beard and long, graying hair appeared on
the cover of the leading news magazines of the day.
But aides say Maharishi became disillusioned that TM had become
identified with the counterculture, and he spent more time at his
ashram in Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills to run his global
affairs.
In 1990 he moved onto the wooded grounds of a historic Franciscan
monastery in the southern Dutch village of Vlodrop, about 125 miles
southeast of Amsterdam.
Concerned about his fragile health, he secluded himself in two rooms
of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound, speaking only by
video to aides around the world and even to his closest advisers in
the same building.
John Hagelin, a theoretical physicist who ran for the U.S. presidency
three times on the Maharishi-backed Natural Law Party, said that from
the Dutch location Maharishi had daylong access to followers in India,
Europe and the Americas.
"He runs several shifts of us into the ground," said Hagelin,
Maharishi's closest aid, speaking in Vlodrop about his then-89-year-
old mentor. "He is a fountainhead of innovation and new ideas - far
too many than you can ever follow up."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm167.html
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steps down as head of meditation empire
Reuters/January 28, 2008
By Emma Thomasson
Amsterdam - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who became a guru to the Beatles,
stepped down this month as the head of the organisation that brought
transcendental meditation to the West, an aide said on Monday.
"His work is done and now he'll be concentrating on the field of
silence and dedicating himself more to pure knowledge rather than
administrative matters," Benjamin Feldman, finance minister for the
Global Country of World Peace, told Reuters.
After teaching the Beatles and other 1960s and 70s icons to meditate,
the Indian mystic gained a worldwide following with six million people
taking his courses. He moved his headquarters to the small southern
Dutch village of Vlodrop in 1990.
Transcendental meditation, known as TM by its followers, involves
reciting a mantra that practitioners say helps the mind stay calm even
under pressure.
The reclusive guru with a flowing white beard has periodically
reemerged to appeal for funds to promote world peace, building a
business empire ranging from real estate dealing to a company selling
ayurvedic medicine and cosmetics.
Yogic flying
He has set up universities and schools all over the world and his
Natural Law Party -- which promotes yogic flying, a practice that
involves sitting in the lotus position and bouncing into the air --
has campaigned in dozens of countries.
Reported to be 91, the Maharishi is "fairly well", Feldman said and
plans to stay in the Netherlands for the time being. Maharaja Nader
Raam, a Lebanese doctor who has studied with the Maharishi for 25
years, will take over the organisation.
Feldman said the Maharishi's work would live on because he has trained
tens of thousands of teachers over the years.
His followers broke the ground in Vlodrop on Monday for a "tower of
invincibility" memorial to the Maharishi that will be replicated in 48
countries, Feldman said.
He said the Maharishi was not disappointed that his promotion of group
meditation had not yet achieved its aim of creating universal peace
and prosperity.
"Sometimes it takes time for the world to catch up. The Maharishi is
very, very satisfied that the influence has been created and it will
only expand and become stronger and better known and more widely
applied," Feldman said.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm166.html
...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 14:19
Gurus Transcend Party Politics
Candidates Meet and Greet Fairfield's Meditators; Yogic Flyers Gather
Tonight
The Wall Street Journal/January 3, 2008
By Christopher Cooper
Fairfield, Iowa -- In the run-up to today's caucuses in Iowa,
candidates have had to scrutinize the issues that move voters here. In
this town, many care less about immigration than meditation.
"Are you familiar with Transcendental Meditation?" Craig Berg, a
bearded man in a faded parka, said as he buttonholed Republican
candidate Fred Thompson during a recent campaign stop here.
Candidates typically arrive here prepared for that question. The
campaign of Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware has let it be
known here that his former chief of staff is an adherent of
Transcendental Meditation. During an outdoor rally here last summer,
Sen. Barack Obama turned his podium east out of respect for the
Transcendental Meditation view that east is the natural direction of
energy flow.
Iowa is widely perceived as a homogenous state of meat-eating corn-
growing white Protestants. But exceptions to the American Gothic
stereotype abound, from the sushi halls of Iowa City and grape
trellises of the Amana Colonies to the ultra-orthodox Jews from
Brooklyn who run a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville. Here in
Fairfield, about 1,700 residents gather each afternoon in a pair of
gold domes for a session of group meditation known as Yogic Flying.
Ahead of today's Iowa caucus, in which even a few dozen votes could
tilt the race in many voting precincts, candidates have been making
special pitches to demographics as small and eccentric as Fairfield's
Transcendental Meditation community. Of this hamlet's 10,000
residents, barely a third of them are transcendental devotees. But
their political influence is outsized. For the past six years the town
has chosen as its mayor a Transcendental Meditation devotee named Ed
Malloy. And for 12 years ending in 2004, Fairfield was home to a peace
party, called the Natural Law Party, which hoped to elect a
Transcendental Meditation practitioner as president.
Fairfield was a typical Iowa farming community until 1973, when the
Maharishi University of Management purchased the bankrupt and
discredited Parsons College, once dubbed "FlunkOut U" by a national
magazine. Some locals regarded with skepticism the construction of two
gold domes wherein Maharishi followers gathered daily for mass
meditations. Natives lived uneasily with the outsiders, dubbing them
"Rus" (pronounced "rooz") -- a shorthand for "Gurus.''
But the election of Mr. Malloy, a silver-haired and personable oil
broker transplanted from Long Island, helped ease those tensions. Also
helpful was that the Maharishi high school began turning out scores of
national merit scholars who played a role in turning Fairfield into
"Silicorn Valley," as it became known around here, home to more than
40 software development and telecom companies.
For politicians, a challenge here is to respect the community's faith
in Yogic Flying, or mass meditation. Derived from a combination of
quantum physics and the proven benefits of meditation, Yogic Flying
occurs each afternoon at 5 p.m. when about 1,700 adherents gather in
the gold domes. Supporters say the number 1,700 roughly represents 1%
of the nation's population divided by its square root. Supporters
believe that when meditation is performed in groups, it confers
benefits not only to its individual practitioners but to society at
large.
On Mr. Thompson's drive into town, neither the Quantum Mechanic
service station nor Utopia trailer park alerted him to the challenges
ahead. And he was initially caught off guard by Mr. Berg's reference
to Transcendental Meditation. [map]
Recovering quickly, however, Mr. Thompson managed to name the founder
of Transcendental Meditation - Maharishi Mahesh - and praise its
benefits. "Rested mind and body, huh?" he said. "I could have used
that a year ago."
Politically, Fairfield leans left. It belongs to the only county in
Iowa that in 2004 placed deep-blue candidate Howard Dean atop the
Democratic field, just ahead of Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose vow
to create a federal "Department of Peace" resonated with voters here.
Given those propensities, it's not surprising that barely a handful of
supporters showed up to meet the bus of Republican hawk Mr. Thompson.
But that doesn't mean Republicans aren't welcome here. The town square
is host to several large billboards touting Republican pacifist Ron
Paul, and many residents believe his Libertarian views will propel him
to a win in this county in today's caucuses. Mayor Malloy and his wife
even held a political open house last summer for Mr. Paul, prior to a
large rally staged in the town.
But Mr. Paul, perhaps stung by allegations that his campaign has
already attracted its share of political eccentrics, is making no to-
do of his popularity here. Mr. Paul's deputy campaign manager, Joe
Seehusen, carefully emphasizes that the congressman is only "politely
intrigued'' by the Transcendental Meditation philosophy.
In response, Mayor Malloy - who never actually endorsed Mr. Paul -
says, "Only about 50% of what he says resonates with me.''
Democrats, having the most votes to gain here, are trying hardest to
win them. In a community where factory hog farms are widely criticized
as environmentally hazardous, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson took
special pains to bone up on them before attending a town meeting here.
"I'd regulate the hell out of them,'' Mr. Richardson vowed.
John Edwards visited the town this week, as did Mr. Richardson.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has scheduled - and canceled - three stops
here, according to Mayor Malloy. The Clinton campaign didn't respond
to a request for comment.
5Page One: Populist Message Gets Louder as Iowa Kicks Off Race
5Washington Wire: Updates from the campaign trail
5Complete Coverage: Campaign 2008
That seems to have helped Sen. Obama gain an edge. During his visit
here last summer, Sen. Obama assured Mayor Malloy of the candidate's
respect for Transcendental Meditation and the philosophy behind it.
"He said he felt that if there was any candidate in the race to
embrace this technique, he was that candidate,'' says Mayor Malloy.
The real Obama weapon, however, may be his wife, Michelle Obama.
During a visit to Fairfield last month, she had several long
conversations with the mayor's wife. "I think she and my wife are both
very spiritual people,'' the mayor says.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm165.html
How close are the local followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leader of
the Transcendental Meditation movement, to building three proposed
peace palaces in Northeast Ohio?
Cleveland Plain Dealer/December 21, 2007
By Stan Donaldson
Members of the Global Country of World Peace said they are getting
closer to their goal of starting a $13 million project building peace
palaces in Strongsville, Parma and Mayfield Heights.
Since losing a court battle this year with Mayfield Heights over the
city's refusal to approve variances to build a peace palace on a
commercial development site, the group's followers revised and
submitted another plan. They expect to meet with the city, said Thomas
Murach, director of the Maharishi Invincibility Center in Rocky
River.
Murach said the group hopes to get the green light from the city's
Planning Commission to build a 10,000-square-foot rest and wellness
center where they plan to educate people about Vedic principles and
transcendental meditation.
Maharishi and his followers want to build 3,000 peace palaces across
the globe where participants will be taught about nutrition, yoga and
the cosmic universe.
Murach said the organization has 10,000 to 15,000 followers in Ohio.
It is awaiting approval for site plans and permits to build offices
and educational centers in Strongsville and Parma.
Officials in the municipalities where the group wants to build have
received site planning proposals. Murach said the group hopes to break
ground in the spring or early summer.
Mayfield Heights Mayor Gregory Costabile said he has heard very little
from the organization since it filed a lawsuit against the city.
Costabile said he doesn't mind if the group builds a peace center as
long as it complies with the city's rules.
"We've never had a problem with their plan or their beliefs," the
mayor said. "It's always been because the building they wanted to
build would have been too close to the street and a neighboring lot."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm164.html
Mini Santiniketan, Scotland-style
The Telegraph, UK/November 26, 2007
By Amit Roy
The legendary 1960s singer-songwriter Donovan has announced plans to
set up a new university in his native Scotland where all students will
be taught Indian-style transcendental meditation as part of their
normal curriculum.
He made it sound almost like a new kind of Santiniketan though the
university will be traditional in most respects.
The 61-year-old singer, best known for his debut single Catch the
Wind, now believes he has caught the mood of the moment.
In an emotional aside, he confessed that the Invincible Donovan
University had been "a dream of mine for nearly 34 years".
Donovan, who was born Donovan Philips Leitch on May 10, 1946, in
Glasgow, and whose singing style has been compared with that of Bob
Dylan, has had a genuine interest in meditation since he spent some
very formative weeks with The Beatles and their Indian guru, Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, in Rishikesh in 1968.
Donovan, whose hit songs include Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman,
Happiness Runs and Hurdy Gurdy Man, was one of the top artists of his
day, producing a series of hit albums and singles between 1965 and
1970. He became a friend of Joan Baez, Brian Jones and The Beatles,
and was one of the few artists to collaborate on songs with the band.
According to reports, he influenced both John Lennon and Paul
McCartney when he taught them his finger-picking guitar style in
1968.
Last month, at a hotel in Edinburgh, Donovan was flanked by three
distinguished personalities with an equally firm belief in Indian-
style meditation and who are supporting his university venture -
filmmaker David Lynch, whose own meditation foundation has brought
programmes to schools across the US and Europe, quantum physicist John
Hagelin and Bevan Morris, the president of the Maharishi University of
Management in the US.
Donovan has shortlisted possible sites along the waterfront at the
Firth of Forth and an area between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
He said the university would focus on consciousness-based learning and
the arts. "It will be a normal university but will also be very, very
different because of its potential that will be unfolding because of
an extraordinary technique which I learnt when I was in India with The
Beatles in 1968.
"It's called transcendental meditation."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm163.html
Vedic City's annexation plan approved by state
The Associated Press/October 26, 2007
Fairfield -- The state has approved the annexation of 84 acres into
Maharishi Vedic City, despite urgings against the move from Jefferson
County officials.
The County Board of Supervisors asked the state in September to
prevent the annexation until the city provides municipal services to
its residents.
The state's City Development Board sided with the city last week,
calling the issues raised by the county "growing pains," said City
Development Board Administrator Steven McCann. He said Vedic City
appears to be trying to offer services.
Maharishi Vedic City was established six years ago north of Fairfield
by followers of Transcendental Meditation.
County officials have argued the city should not be allowed to grow
because it has not fulfilled an agreement with the state to organize a
volunteer fire department or establish public streets, among other
projects.
However, Vedic City officials said the annexation should have been
routine because it was voluntary, said Vedic City attorney Maureen
Wynne.
The city of 420 is considered a spiritual center of the Transcendental
Meditation movement in the United States.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm162.html
Songwriter expresses anger over eminent domain issue
The Roady Less Traveled
The Ottumwa Courier/July 29, 2007
By Jeff Hutton
He and his wife were reading some news accounts when they saw the
story about the Maharishi Vedic City eminent domain controversy.
"My wife and I were absolutely appalled," Arnold told the Courier.
"We've seen other similar stories about eminent domain; the idea of
this family's farm having been here for so long and being threatened
by [Vedic City] kept me up at night."
Arnold did some more research on the issue and said he "kept stewing"
about.
But instead of writing a letter to the editor or venting his
frustration at folks he did not know, Arnold wrote a song.
Arnold penned "The Maharishi Vedic City Blues" and the song is part of
his band's most recent album.
"I just wrote the lyrics at my home studio and started messing around
with it," he said.
The song, he said, is representative of of a "textbook example of how
these types of powers can be abused ..."
Part of the song goes like this:
"A hundred years before the Maharishis came to town/One family's farm
began to feed its neighbors from the ground/They're trying to run the
family off/... and we'll pay you for your pain/but if you don't sell,
we'll steal it/ It's called eminent domain."
The song could be interpreted as a protest song, and in some ways, it
has that feel.
Arnold could hardly be called a troublemaker or anti-establishment.
He's a former law enforcement official whose music is a sideline to
his ownership of a book shop in small-town Georgia.
And while the song is featured on his band's newest CD, Arnold said
he's not trying to make money. In fact, the cost of the CD barely
covers production expenses.
He said the song is simply an expression of his frustration at one
local Iowa municipality and support for a Century Farm in Iowa.
"There's too much history, too much at stake/The farmer needs a
living, the farmer needs a break/There's no consideration, no common
sense/Just too much fiber, too much incense."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm161.html
$3.5m city tower
The Advertiser/July 30, 2007
A multi-storey "tower of knowledge" may be built at 190 Greenhill Rd
in honour of Dr Bevan Morris, a leader of the Transcendental
Meditation movement.
His mother, Mrs Dulcie Morris, 94, will turn the sod of what could be
a tower without residents, pending Unley Council consent. No one will
live in the tower and it will be a permanent exhibition of the
scientific research on the Maharishi Transcendental Meditation
program.
David Seymour, director of Maharishi's Global Administration through
Natural Law, said it would not be a temple.
Dr Morris is now the "prime minister" of the Global Country of World
Peace. It is estimated the tower would cost about $3.5 million.
The Iowa, U.S.-based movement has made sketches of the tower and had
preliminary discussions with the council. "We are confident enough to
hold a sod-turning ceremony," Mr Seymour said.
Unley Council mayor Richard Thorne said his meeting with Mr Seymour
was to discuss preliminary plans.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm160.html
Top researchers criticize new meditation and health study
Rush PR News/July 26, 2007
Scientists stated, "A controversial new government-funded report,
which found that meditation does not improve health, is
methodologically flawed, incomplete, and should be retracted. "
New York, NY (rushprnews) July 26, 2007 - This is the consensus of a
growing number of researchers in the U.S. and abroad who have reviewed
the report and are critical of its conclusions.
"Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research" was a health
technology assessment report conducted at the University of Alberta
and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and
the NIH-National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
The report was released earlier this month.
Respected reviewer urged authors to withhold publication7"Analytical
strategy looked haphazard and ad hoc"
Professor Harald Walach of the University of Northampton and School of
Social Sciences and the Samueli Institute for information Biology in
England reviewed the paper before its release and strongly urged the
authors to withhold publication. "When I looked carefully into the
details of the study, the whole analytical strategy looked rather
haphazard and ad hoc," Walach said.
Relevant studies excluded from AHRQ findings
Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., is one of the leading researchers on
the health effects of meditation in the nation. Dr. Schneider has been
the recipient of more than $22 million in grants from the National
Institutes of Health over the past 20 years for his research on the
effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique and natural
medicine on cardiovascular disease. He says that relevant findings
were excluded from the report, including peer-reviewed studies on the
effects of this meditation technique on hypertension, cardiovascular
disease, myocardial ischemia, atherosclerosis, changes to physiology,
and improvements to mental and physical health.
Dr. Schneider cited two studies published in the American Journal of
Cardiology in 2005, which demonstrated that individuals with high
blood pressure who were randomly assigned to TM groups had a 30% lower
risk for mortality than controls. These studies should have been
included in the AHRQ report, Dr. Schneider said, but were inexplicably
excluded. In addition, 75 published studies were overlooked, even
though these were sent to the authors by one of the reviewers.
Dr. Schneider said the AHRQ report incorrectly analyzed studies and
incorrectly rated the quality of the studies while applying
statistical methods poorly, arbitrarily, and unsystematically. The
report also included errors in collecting data from research studies,
in recording data from papers, and in classifying studies. Several
peer-reviewers pointed out major errors and inadequacies in the report
prior to publication. However, these critiques by outside reviewers
were largely ignored. (For critiques of the report, see
http://www.mum.edu/inmp/welcome.html)
Dr. Schneider also cited a study published in the American medical
Association's journal Archives of Internal Medicine in 20067one year
after the AHRQ review ended in 20057which confirmed that the
Transcendental Meditation technique lowers high blood pressure in
heart disease patients. The study was conducted at Cedars Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles and was funded by a $1.2 million grant
from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Schneider directs the Institute for Natural Medicine and
Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa,
which was supported by an $8 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health as a specialized center of research in
complementary and alternative medicine and cardiovascular disease.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm159.html
Maharishi's Minions Come to Wall Street
New York Times/July 2, 2007
By Maria Aspan
When the Beatles sought guidance from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968,
they traveled to India. Now that the "giggling guru," as he has been
called, is seeking investors, a branch of his organization has come to
the New York financial district.
In March, Maharishi's Global Financial Capital of New York quietly
opened a headquarters at 70 Broad Street, close to the New York Stock
Exchange. The organization had purchased the five-story, 20,000-square-
foot building in May 2004 from Goldman Properties for $5.5 million.
The group was drawn to the building, the former home of the American
Bank Note Company and its first Manhattan property, for reasons both
spiritual and practical.
"It's one of the very few buildings in all of New York City that's
oriented due east," said Paul Potter, the director of Global Financial
Capital, referring to the Maharishi's principles of "Vedic
architecture" that hold that east-facing buildings are spiritually
healthy.
But, Mr. Potter added, the other incentive was the financial district
location and access to the world's moneymakers.
"We've been offering our programs for 50 years," he said, "and now is
the time that we want to create financial support for these programs.
We want to offer a chance for the investment bankers to steer the
finances of the world in this positive direction."
The building required extensive renovations, which continue, and will
cost about $4.9 million, according to the organization, which took out
a mortgage in 2005 to cover them. In addition to donations and income
from real estate assets, the Maharishi's worldwide network is financed
primarily by classes in transcendental meditation, which cost $2,500
for a one-time, five-day session.
The new building's first floor is open for business, with meeting
rooms to welcome the investment bankers and hold videoconferences. The
Maharishi, who is at least 90, conducts many of these Webcasts from a
Dutch village, Vlodrop, where he has established his Global Country of
World Peace.
The building purchase was a canny one considering the financial
district's resurgence, the broker, David N. Lebenstein, director of
the nonprofit division at Colliers ABR, said. "Building prices are at
least 30 to 50 percent more than in 2004 and in some cases 100 percent
more," he said, adding that the Maharishi's choice to buy an entire
building is unusual for nonprofits downtown. Most prefer to avoid
overhead costs by purchasing commercial condos or leasing long-term
office space, he said.
Those overhead costs may yet prove to be a challenge for the
Maharishi, who has had decidedly mixed success in the real estate
business. While he established the Maharishi University of Management
in Fairfield, Iowa, he has stumbled in developing properties including
a Chicago hotel that was eventually sold and a proposed S3o Paulo
skyscraper that was abandoned after Brazil stalled on approval.
Plans for 3,000 worldwide "peace palaces," which will teach
transcendental meditation and the elusive art of "yogic flying," have
also had mixed reactions. (Four of the projected 200 palaces in the
United States have been completed, while land for 52 others has been
acquired.)
In January, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland published an article
reviewing the Maharishi's history in developing two local properties
that were later sold and questioning whether his palace proposals
would ever come to fruition. And in March, the Maharishi's
organization sued the city of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, saying it
refused to allow a proposed peace palace setback variances given to
local corporate offices.
When asked about these earthly roadblocks, Mr. Potter seemed, well,
serene. "The pursuit of money hasn't really brought real happiness,
real fulfillment," he said. "We hope to be able to rebuild the whole
world to be fortune-oriented buildings, to be heaven on earth."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm158.html
Vedic City considers eminent domain to seize farmer's land
Associated Press/June 26, 2007
Des Moines --- A southeast Iowa city established six years ago by the
followers of Transcendental Meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is
considering a plan to seize a farmer's land to prevent him from
building a hog operation next to the city.
Maharishi Vedic City officials told farmer Bob Palm that they'd like
to buy his 149-acre farm after they heard a few months ago about
Palm's plans to build a hog confinement operation on the land.
City officials drafted a proposal to buy the land and said if that
plan fails, they expect to use eminent domain to force the sale of
Palm's land in the name of public improvement.
On Sunday, Maharishi Vedic City's governing council decided to table a
controversial vote on the property. The council could have chosen to
take the first steps toward buying Palm's farm.
City Attorney Maureen Wynne, who is the wife of Mayor Bob Wynne, said
the proposal is about expansion and ideals.
"It would be a very difficult situation for the city if a hog
confinement is built on its boundaries," Wynne said.
She said a hog confinement operation would be a nuisance to the city
that has declared itself all-organic and bans the sale of anything not
grown organically.
An appraiser for the city valued Palm's land at $2,675 per acre.
Palm, 57, remained steadfast in his refusal to sell.
"It's everything to us," Palm said about the farm on which he grows
corn and soybeans with his brothers Lou and Ron.
Ron Palm said he and his brothers have dropped the idea of a hog
confinement and they said city officials jumped the gun when they
threatened to use eminent domain.
"About all we had done was research into a hog confinement," Ron Palm
said. He said the brothers also considered raising cattle or growing a
vineyard.
The vote on the park plan will be delayed indefinitely while the city
negotiates with the family and with Jefferson County officials.
Sunday's meeting -- held under a tent at Wynne's house -- drew about
200 people, said Jefferson County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman
Dick Reed, adding that most of them were against the proposed
expansion.
"It's a little shady," Reed said. "When you have a local government
talking about doing condemnation on a farm when they have excess land
themselves is ludicrous. Being able to own land is one of the rights
in this country."
Wynne said adding a hog confinement to the town's border would be akin
to building a landfill.
The proposed park included in the city's plan would include windmills,
soccer fields, a swimming pool and a place to charge electric cars.
Considered a spiritual center of the Transcendental Meditation
movement in the United States, the city of 420 practitioners of TM was
incorporated in 2001. The city has designated Sanskrit, an ancient
language of India, as its official language and adopted a new
currency.
The meditating community has met with resistance and sometimes
hostility from the farmers, residents and business owners of
Fairfield, where Yogi and his TM organizations bought the defunct
Parsons College campus in 1974.
In 2001, a group of the meditators decided to establish their own city
a few miles north of Fairfield. Since its inception, Maharishi Vedic
City has generated local controversy.
In April 2004, city officials hatched a plan to house 500 pandits, or
special meditators, using city money. But Jefferson County residents
opposed the plan on the grounds that the public money from a local-
option sales tax would be used for a religious purpose.
The pandits made it to Maharishi Vedic City in the fall of 2006, but
without the use of public money, Wynne said.
In 2005, the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors unanimously
rejected the city's request for help to get a $132,000 grant from the
state's Community Attractions and Tourism Fund to build a new
visitors' center and make improvements to an astronomical
observatory.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm157.html
Maharishi, Mayfield Hts. head to court
City sued for denying peace-palace plan
Cleveland Plain Dealer/March 19, 2007
By Maggi Martin
Mayfield Heights -- City officials may want to breathe deep and exhale
slowly.
And ponder, perhaps, the merits of heading back to a courtroom again
to fight a developer, this one steeped in the ways of peaceful
meditation.
The Global Country of World Peace wants to build a peace palace and a
private high school on Lander Road in Mayfield Heights. Owned by the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the palace would teach transcendental
meditation and peaceful enlightenment.
But the pacifists say their Mayfield Heights reception has been
anything but peaceful.
The Maharishi people are heading into Cuyahoga County Common Pleas
Court after filing a lawsuit saying the city is refusing to allow them
setback variances that other neighboring corporate offices were
allowed. Both sides have to file briefs by March 31.
The city is still reeling from a 14-year court battle over zoning that
cost residents $3 million to settle last year. Developers of property
near Mayfield Road that later became a Costco warehouse sued the city
when it refused to rezone the land, delaying the store for nine
years.
Mayor Gregory Costabile said the squabble with the Maharishi's
followers is a different issue.
"The city is concerned about safety issues," Costabile said. "They
want a setback variance that will put them too close to neighbors and
too close to the street. And that becomes a fire and safety issue."
Thomas Murach, director of the Maharishi Enlightenment Center in
Cleveland, said that officials in Parma have been very accommodating
about the project the group has proposed in that city and that a
meeting is planned next week to discuss the Parma facilities. But he
said Mayfield Heights has delayed hearings repeatedly since the group
first sought approval last September.
Costabile said the decision has been delayed because the variance for
an 85-foot setback has not been approved. Planning officials denied
the variance, saying the group did not demonstrate an inherent
hardship in complying with zoning rules.
The Mayfield Heights palace is planned on a 4.6-acre lot in a
corporate park where neighboring office complexes have similar
variances, Murach said. The 85-foot setback the group is seeking would
allow it to build 140 feet from the street. Murach said if the group
follows the city's required 200-foot setback, it would shave a
significant chunk off the property, creating an almost worthless
building site. The Maharishi's followers also want to place the school
35 feet away from a residence, rather than follow the city's 100-foot
restriction.
One resident, Yolanda Geraci, complained the 35-foot clearance was too
close to her residential property and would create noise and
disruptions during the school day.
Costabile said that while there may have been some variances granted
elsewhere, the city could not give them out freely without
justification.
The Maharishi's plans call for 3,000 peace palaces, including ones in
Parma and Strongsville and others in Cleveland and Columbus.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm155.html
Ok, kids, chill out: Children as young as 10 are picking up
Transcendental Meditation, and they're not the only ones feeling good
about it
Educators in the U.S. are bringing "ohm" to home room, and some
Montreal schools want to, too
Montreal Gazette/January 13, 2007
By Stephanie Whittaker
Every morning, as soon as she awakens, 13-year-old Joelle Cazeault
sits up in her bed, closes her eyes and performs a ritual unknown to
most children. She spends 10 minutes doing Transcendental Meditation.
"I repeat my mantra and it slows my breathing," says the student at
College St. Maurice in Ste. Hyacinthe.
Ditto for the afternoon. Joelle meditates when she gets home from
school and, she says, it gives her the alertness and focus she needs
to do her homework.
Meditation is a ritual she began three years ago when her parents, who
have meditated since the 1970s, enrolled her in a Transcendental
Meditation course: "They think it's important for my life and that it
can help me become enlightened."
Perhaps it is inevitable that baby boomers, the generation that
learned to chill out in heightened states of consciousness, want their
offspring to experience the same.
Children as young as 10 are learning Transcendental Meditation and are
reaping the rewards at school. "I always had good marks but they got
even better after I learned to meditate," says Joelle.
She's at the forefront of a coming trend. There is a growing push in
the U.S. to put "ohm" in schools by making Transcendental Meditation
part of the curriculum. The movement is poised to take Canada with
it.
A U.S.-based group called Stress-Free Schools has helped set up T.M.
programs in 50 schools south of the border and has piqued the interest
of educators in Canada.
Six Montreal-area schools want the program.
"My students deserve to have this, and it will transform the whole
school," says Marielle Mayers, an elementary school principal in Ville
d'Anjou.
Michele Beausoleil, a Montreal teacher of T.M., is keen to get
started: "We're ready to teach the children, teachers and principals
and I'll work to help the schools find funding from foundations."
Stress-Free Schools was founded in 2004 by a group of meditating
parents in New York City, who were concerned about social problems in
their schools.
Two months ago, the organization held a conference at Montreal's Ritz-
Carlton Hotel to explain to educators how teaching T.M. to children as
young as 10 can benefit their schools.
How Transcendental Meditation is taught in schools:
"It's a seven-step program," says Michele Beausoleil, a teacher of
Transcendental Meditation, which is so specific that it is a
trademarked practice. First comes a lecture on the benefits of T.M.,
then a second lecture to prepare students for the process. Then each
student gets to ask the teacher questions. Next up are 60-minute
lessons, one a day for the next four days. Each student is given a
mantra. It all takes about a week, and there's follow-up by the T.M.
teacher to ensure proper technique.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm154.html
Pandits come for peace
Indian scholars move to Iowa and join hundreds more in meditating for
prosperity and to heal conflict.
Des Moines Register/January 7, 2007
By Mile Kilen
Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa 7 Only in this southeastern Iowa community
will you see hundreds of men in traditional white garb step off tour
buses and line up to trek across the muddy fields.
The 385 pandits from India were inspecting their new modular homes,
hooked up to utilities just last week and almost ready to occupy.
This is where they will live for two years or more as part of a mass
movement to create world peace and prosperity through meditation.
These Indian pandits - scholars of Transcendental Meditation with
three-year visas - are among 600 advanced-level meditators who began
to arrive in late summer. Another 200 are expected to arrive in the
next month.
They responded to a call from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of a
Transcendental Meditation movement, as well as a university in
Fairfield, Ia., that bears his name.
The maharishi invited all advanced meditators - so-called yogic flyers
- to move to Iowa and meditate eight hours each day, a program he has
developed to reduce conflict and aggression in a war-torn world.
He calls it Invincible America Assembly, his new-age shield against
violence.
The arrival of the pandits has spurred a mini building boom in
Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa's newest city north of Fairfield and the
first city incorporated in 20 years.
Dozens of the Vedic pandits from India will move into 30 pre-
fabricated modular rental units in the next three weeks, once the
final touches are put on a community meditation center and kitchen
nearby.
Three more low-income neighborhoods of rental homes and apartments
await federal and state low-income housing funding.
Each modular unit has about the same space - 800 square feet - as a
double-wide mobile home, but with more sunlight.
All Maharishi Vedic City homes, including the low-income and modular
structures, are required by city code to follow strict rules derived
from ancient principles rediscovered by Maharishi.
The homes are built with nontoxic chemicals and energy-efficient
materials. They face east to take advantage of the sun's power.
Beds, kitchens and gathering areas are all placed in designated
areas.
In the middle of each home is a Brahmastahn, or central core, which is
designed to be undisturbed by foot traffic.
"The environment creates coherence within yourself," said the city's
lead architect, Jonathan Lipman.
Thriving city
Maharishi Vedic City officials say the current population boom goes a
long way toward its goal of generating 2,000 residents by 2008.
Four years after incorporation, the city appears thriving and
prosperous.
It has grown in acreage (1,200 to 2,200) and population (85 to 400-
plus, not counting the new growth).
The settlement of pandits into the housing units is the latest marker
in the 32-year evolution of Maharishi's vision of achieving inner
peace, personal health, world peace and a thriving stock market.
The Invincible America meditators, now totaling 1,900 recruits -
students, longtime practitioners from Fairfield and other states and
the new residents from India - spend eight hours in daily meditation
under the golden-topped dome on the Maharishi University campus.
The number is very near the goal of 2,000 meditators, crucial for a
formula (the square root of one percent of the U.S. population)
calculated to alter the physical reality and create positive forces,
said Ken Chawkin, media relations at the university.
They call it the "Maharishi Effect."
In November, Maharishi spokesmen claimed the mass meditation was
responsible for a surge in the stock market, low unemployment and
dropping oil prices.
They also predict a 20 percent drop in violence in coming months.
The correlation between meditation and positive events has been
dismissed by some skeptics.
Frank Trumpy, a retired physics professor at Des Moines Area Community
College, has researched the group for years.
He says the claims of influencing everything from the lack of
hurricanes this season to economic prosperity are without scientific
support.
"They do what I call painting the bull's-eyes around the arrows," he
said. "Notice they always take credit for events after they happen."
Business sense
But meditators have always tempered a new-age lifestyle and their own
scientific theory with practical business sense.
Maharishi Vedic City and four private developers got the ball rolling
four years ago by purchasing former farm ground north of Fairfield.
Later, much of the land was sold to the nonprofit Global Country of
World Peace.
The organization soon realized that not everyone could afford the
homes, which range from $300,000 to $1 million.
Hada and Hadani of Oregon, advanced meditators who arrived in August
and don't use a last name, didn't have that kind of money.
They had listened to the maharishi's message, uprooted and moved to
Iowa.
"The call came out," said Hada, 70, a noted sculptor of metals who
legally changed his name from Don Potts. "It was irresistible. We had
to come."
It wasn't easy. Hada said he cried standing before the beauty of the
foothills near Ashland, Ore., where he lived on a serene 90 acres.
Now, he says, he gathers even greater positive feelings inside the
gold dome.
"I'm here to be in the middle of this power," he said.
The couple stayed for two weeks before heading home. In Colorado, they
stopped and had a sudden realization: They had to return.
Like many of the advanced meditators who have gathered, they are paid
a small amount to take part in Invincible America.
Quite a few have been assisted by wealthy benefactors who support the
program.
Howard and Alice Settle of Texas, who made their fortune in oil, have
donated $12 million for scholarships toward meditation training for
the Invincible America program.
It costs $2,500 to take the initial TM course and an additional $5,000
for advanced training in what officials call the Sidhis program. That
fee is now being waived to attract more meditators.
In 1983, the couple was part of the Taste of Utopia Assembly
Fairfield, where nearly 8,000 people met for three weeks to meditate
for "global transformation."
Low-income housing
The difference this time is that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his
organization want to make the assembly permanent - thus the flurry of
home construction.
Should the low-income housing grants through the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the Iowa Finance Authority come through, dwellings
ranging from one-bedroom to three-bedroom homes and apartments will be
available for $450 to $550 a month, said Kent Boyum, director of
economic development for Maharishi Vedic City.
Because they are public housing programs, the dwellings will be
available for anyone to rent.
The addition of low-income housing among $1 million homes is not
causing a stir in the city, said Fred Gratzon, who owns an elegant
place in Maharishi Vedic City.
"The opposite is true," he said. "The proximity of these pandits
exponentially increases the value of the homes here.
"Fairfield and Maharishi Vedic City now form the epicenter of peace
and enlightenment for the entire world."
Other mass-meditation efforts are occurring on a smaller scale across
the world, most notably in the Netherlands, the maharishi's home
country.
But the Fairfield area is clearly the showpiece.
Fairfield officials claim harmony among meditators and the community's
many business ventures and retail outlets has created a vitality in
the town of 9,602 people.
They also say the latest influx hasn't yet created a measurable
economic impact.
The pandits from India speak little English and rarely leave the
university campus.
"You won't see them roaming around Wal-Mart," said Boyum.
"They lead a very simple life," said Tom Siegel, who provides the food
service for Invincible America at Maharishi University.
"They are very sweet and very happy people."
During a recent sleet storm, one pandit with limited English didn't
complain, Siegel recalled.
Instead, the man declared joyfully: "Good for health. Good digestion.
Makes strong."
Now, that's inner peace.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm152.html
Maharishi sees Peace Palaces; others see pipe dreams
Past failures raise questions about local development plans
Cleveland Plain Dealer/January 7, 2007
By Amanda Garrett
When the Maharishi bought a fading Avon Lake resort in 1993, his
people promised not only to revive the former hot spot but also to
reduce area crime by meditating.
Two months later, when Maharishi bought a shuttered Holiday Inn in the
shadow of Thistledown race track, his people said they wanted to
reopen the 10-story tower as a class hotel catering to nonsmoking, non
drinking vegetarians. Neither plan ever materialized.
The Maharishi's company let both properties languish for years,
racking up building code violations and back taxes. At the Avon Lake
site, not only didn't the tenants prevent crimes, they often committed
them. Ultimately, the properties were sold, but only after frustrated
officials threatened to take both sites via eminent domain.
Now Maharishi - undaunted by his past failures, both to his own
enterprise and to the community - is again asking Greater Clevelanders
to have faith.
Maharishi wants to open 3,000 so-called Peace Palaces around the
world, including three in our area. His organization already has paid
millions for property in Mayfield Heights and Parma and is firming up
deals on parcels in Strongsville and Brecksville.
What's the giggling guru up to?
Maharishi has shrewdly shaped and reshaped his message since the
Beatles embraced him as their spiritual leader four decades ago.
Among other things, he opened an accredited university in Iowa,
promised tantalizing superhuman powers, vowed to bring world peace and
launched a political party, which in 2004 endorsed Cleveland
Congressman Dennis Kucinich's bid for the presidency. He also amassed
a fortune estimated between $5 billion and $9 billion with his web of
businesses and charities.
His latest strategy is to do for yogic flying what Starbucks has done
for a cup of coffee. His chain of Peace Palaces will sell $2,500
classes to study Maharishi's trademarked Transcendental Meditation, a
myriad of his health remedies, and Maharishi-driven architectural
consultation aimed at lassoing all of Earth's powers.
Two local palaces -- in Mayfield Heights and Parma -- also include
plans for private high schools, each teaching 160 teens everything
from algebra to inner consciousness.
And in Brecksville, where the group is negotiating to buy a 48-acre
parcel across from the VA hospital, Maharishi hopes to teach medical
doctors ancient forms of alternative health care because he believes
modern medicine has failed.
So is Maharishi selling religion? A cult? A pile of rubbish?
People have been trying to figure that out for a long time.
The 1960s: Beatles' spiritual guide
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born in central India some time between 1911
and 1918. The precise date -- as with so many parts of Maharishi's
life -- has never been clear. He graduated with a physics degree from
an Indian university and then moved into the Himalayas where he
studied with a guru.
What happened next is murky, but Maharishi emerged in the West during
the late 1950s and later found rock-star fame in the mid-1960s as the
spiritual guide of the Beatles.
The Fab Four later renounced Maharishi as a fraud, but it didn't
matter. The surging counterculture had already embraced Maharishi and
an earlier appearance on "The Tonight Show" had cemented his place in
pop culture.
Maharishi's message was inspirational:
"Life is bliss."
"Man is born to enjoy."
"Within everyone is an unlimited reservoir of energy, intelligence,
and happiness."
Transcendental Meditation -- or TM -- was the key, Maharishi said.
The TM technique was so simple anyone could do it, Maharishi said. But
to learn, you had to take classes from a certified TM teacher. In the
late 1960s, an introductory course cost less than $100. Thousands
signed up.
And Maharishi's spiritual and financial empire was born.
The '70s and '80s: Is TM a religion?
TM was so popular, even parts of the U.S. government bought in, said
the Rev. J. Gordon Melton, who directs the Institute for the Study of
American Religion in California.
During TM's peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Maharishi was
awash in government grants to teach TM in the Army and many schools,
Melton said.
Then someone asked the inevitable: Is TM a religion?
A U.S. federal court said it was in a tax case ruling. U.S. government
funding suddenly dried up. "It was a major blow to TM," Melton said.
Maharishi knew he needed something else to make TM work in the United
States. In the early 1980s, he tweaked his message.
The guru re-introduced TM as a hybrid cross between spirituality and
science -- some would say pseudo-science. And for the first time,
Maharishi promised TM could not only bring peace, but also unleash
super powers.
Human brain-wave physiology was the computer hardware of the cosmic
computer, he said. If programmed correctly -- through the advance
study of TM -- humans could fly like birds, become invisible and
harness the strength of elephants.
Skeptics clamored.
But John Hagelin -- a respected physicist who earned his doctorate at
Harvard -- wasn't among them. Hagelin signed on to chair the physics
program at a university Maharishi had established in a tiny Iowa farm
town.
"Really significant shifts in paradigm, such as those associated
with . . . this more universal view of consciousness, have often
required a new generation of scientists," Hagelin told the Chicago
Tribune in 1985.
Hoping to prove TM worked, Maharishi believers took a very public
stance -- and chance. Legions of TM experts -- called yogic fliers --
moved to the nation's capital, claiming their twice-daily meditation
would lower the city's soaring crime rate.
It obviously didn't work.
About the same time, a few disappointed TM students sued and won after
studying yogic flying but never taking flight.
"It wasn't substantial money," religious scholar Melton said, "but all
of the sudden, TM's credibility in the U.S. was called into account."
The 1990s: Foray into politics
TM next emerged in the United States in the early 1990s with a new
strategy -- politics.
Maharishi's followers formed the Natural Law Party and 800 delegates
held their first convention in April 1992 in Washington, D.C.,
selecting Hagelin, the Harvard-trained physicist, as the party's
presidential candidate.
Hagelin was pummeled, but the Natural Law Party grew, running hundreds
of candidates across the nation, including 53 in Ohio in 1996 alone.
Maharishi made new financial moves, too. In the early 1990s, he began
buying up hotels and resorts across the United States, from Denver to
Hartford, Conn.
Locally, he bought the Aqua Marine Resort -- a once-swanky hotel,
restaurant and 18-hole golf course in Avon Lake -- for $1.5 million in
August 1993. Two months later, he picked up the former Holiday Inn in
North Randall for $1.4 million.
Both properties had seen better days. But Maharishi's representatives
said they planned renovations at both sites. They envisioned first-
class hotels that would cater to TM students.
Officials in Avon Lake and North Randall soon realized that was
unlikely to happen.
Aqua Marine lost its liquor license and couldn't keep up with building
code violations.
In North Randall, the story was much the same. No one even mowed the
grass, recalled Chuck Horvath, the city's building commissioner. The
city considered citing the Maharishi people with fire code violations,
Horvath said, but the owners were scattered in eight different
countries beyond legal reach.
In 1996, North Randall launched an effort to seize the hotel by
eminent domain. Before the case reached court, the village settled
with Maharishi's people, buying the building. The village hoped to
tear it down and build a new village hall on the site. A downturn in
the economy delayed those plans. The vacant hotel still sits, boarded
up.
Officials in Avon Lake also considered seizing the Aqua Marine, but a
developer ultimately moved in, bought the resort and razed it. Luxury
condos are now rising in its place, Mayor Robert Berner said last
month.
If a Maharishi-connected business wanted to do business in Avon Lake
again, Berner said he would be leery. "They basically didn't do
anything they said they were going to do," Berner said.
The 21st century: An emerging religion
In recent years, Maharishi -- now in his late 80s or early 90s -- has
continued to remake his movement. In 2002, he launched the Global
Country of World Peace, a borderless, imaginary land he said was
designed for peace-loving people everywhere.
Two years later, the Natural Law Party closed its U.S. headquarters
and Hagelin opened a branch of Maharishi's mythical country called the
U.S. Peace Government.
Hagelin based the capital on 480 acres in Kansas near the geographic
center of the United States -- a location selected according to
Maharishi teachings to maximize effectiveness.
According to the group's Web site -- uspeacegovernment.org -- the TM
group doesn't compete with the existing U.S. government. Instead, it
works as a complement, promoting peace and TM philosophies
nationwide.
Part of that promotion is launching Peace Palaces -- 2,400 in the
United States. So far, at least four have opened: In Fairfield, Iowa;
Lexington, Ky.; Bethesda, Md.; and Houston. And Maharishi has bought
dozens of building sites.
But his harshest critics doubt many of the palaces will be built.
Rick Ross, who describes himself as a cult researcher, said that once
the aging guru's name is seared into the minds of a whole new
generation and he has brought in lots of money -- Maharishi is in the
midst of a $1 billion fund drive to build the Peace Palaces --
Maharishi will likely change course.
"My guess is in Cleveland . . . maybe you'll see one out of the three
Peace Palaces," said Ross, who believes this is just a money-making
scheme.
Thomas Murach, longtime director of the Maharishi Enlightenment Center
in Rocky River, insists Ross and other skeptics are mistaken.
"Maharishi always has a huge plan that's nearly incomprehensible,"
Murach said. When the Maharishi bought the old Holiday Inn and Aqua
Marine Resort he was merely investing, said Murach, who managed the
local sites.
Now Maharishi is using the money he made from the sale of those
properties and many others to bankroll his new $10 trillion project,
Murach said.
In addition to building Peace Palaces, Murach said Maharishi has
leased "hundreds of millions of acres" of land in Brazil and plans to
hire poor people to grow food there using his farming techniques.
All of this -- the Brazil plantings, the Peace Palaces -- are a
culmination of everything Maharishi has worked for, said religious
scholar Melton.
"Maharishi wants to establish TM as dominant cultural force around the
world," Melton said, comparing it to what Evangelical Christians have
done in the United States.
Evangelicals run bookstores that sell everything from jewelry to CDs;
they have psychologists operating on a Christian platform;
creationists serve on school boards; and the religious right emerged
as a powerful lobbying force in Washington, D.C.
Maharishi wants to do the same thing with TM, Melton said. But about
80 percent of Americans are Christians. And there are 1,000 religious
groups fighting for the remaining 20 percent, Melton said.
Maharishi believes TM will win them over. Melton and others doubt it.
Most people who study TM end up abandoning it. Some followers believe
they learned something. And others, like the Beatles, leave
disillusioned.
As John Lennon wrote after changing the name of a song he originally
called "Maharishi":
Sexy Sadie what have you done/You made a fool of everyone.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm151.html
Transcendental Life
January 2007
By Gina Catena
"John Lennon was shot because he began recording music again, despite
Maharishi2s instructions to maintain a private life." Randy explained
on the morning of December 9, 1980, following Lennon2s murder, while I
aligned spiritual necklaces of brown rudraksha beads, coral and
gemstones in our store2s golden display case. Randy2s devotion to
Maharishi made him a reliable source of "higher knowledge." Bizarre as
that sounds to me now, in 1980 divine retribution for ignoring
Maharishi2s vision seemed perfectly plausible.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, giggling guru to the Beatles was my parents2
spiritual Master. He and his Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement
influenced my family through three generations over four decades.
Secret initiation ceremonies honor Maharishi2s Master, Guru Dev, with
chants of obeisance to a holy tradition mythically originating in
Northern India. A new "Initiate" carries an offering of fruit, a white
handkerchief, and fresh flowers for ritualized placement upon an altar
during private meditation instruction. When teaching this "non
religious method for rest and release of stress," my parents
explained, "Maharishi teaches this spiritual practice in scientific
terms because we live in a scientific age. People will accept it that
way. Through TM we connect with God inside ourselves in pursuit of
Cosmic Consciousness."
Devotees meditate together for four to eight hours daily inside
Maharishi Enlightenment Centers around the globe and in Iowa's
hallowed Golden Domes, practicing secretive techniques for levitation,
invincibility, and friendliness. Maharishi inspires personal
enlightenment and world peace for all time, beginning with today2s
introductory fee of $2500.00.
In padded white rooms devotees sit cross-legged upon sheets of high-
density foam, provided for protection when falling earthward after
failed levitation attempts. When pressed down, the special foam
rebounds upward.
Maharishi always favored the wealthiest amongst us for their
contributions. The Beatles, Beach Boys, Donovan, Gore Family (of Gore-
TexR), Deepak Chopra, Zimmermans, Kaplans, Settles, and other wealthy
devotees generated global enlightenment partially through financing
real estate for Maharishi Universities, Peace Palaces, herbal products
and Peace Assemblies with thousands of meditators.
TM instructors are "Governors" or "Ministers" of the Age of
Enlightenment, because "they govern in the real of consciousness."
Lofty golden-crowned Rajas are spiritually responsible for large
geographic regions, having paid one million dollars for their "raja
training." TM2s spiritual communities exchange the "Raam" as legal
tender for purchased goods, to avoiding the use of tainted currency
from the outside "world of ignorance." They claim not to be a cult.
Believing with my well-intentioned loved ones, I watched devotees
donate entire trust funds, become psychotic, and decline needed
medical treatment in favor of Maharishi Ayur-Ved (R) medicinals. A few
committed suicide. Our leaders taught us that hardships were brought
upon ourselves. No one blamed over indulgence in trance-like
meditation or a circuitous theology. After all, no one drank Kool-
Aid(R).
"The world is as you visualize it. Meditate to perform spontaneous
right action. You will do less and accomplish more until eventually
you do nothing and accomplish everything from the source of unbounded
pure awareness within."
In 1998 my children and I left our mediation community to enter the
real world, where parents are held accountable for child negligence
and suicide motives are questioned. In the real world, no supreme
authority holds the key to the universe.
Young adults raised in the TM Movement continue to arrive to my San
Rafael home as they struggle to function outside their controlled Ayur-
Vedic lifestyle. We alternately laugh and cry over shared histories,
incomprehensible to outsiders.
One recent October evening in San Rafael, my heart raced with a quiet
rapt audience in the auditorium, listening to a sophisticated
presentation for a pilot stress reduction program. The David Lynch
Foundation selected Terra Linda High School to grant $175,000 for a
Transcendental Meditation(TM) club. I wished they had chosen a school
elsewhere, so I would not have to come forth. My only thought was,
"They cannot have these kids."
Onstage before me, my former cult community unfolded in promotional
film clips of Iowa's TM community. I gasped to watch my old friend
teaching at the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. Marilyn
is my son2s godmother; I was her maid of honor. Marilyn's Maharishi
teaching job offers no medical benefits; she cannot survive on their
stipend. She had confided fears about speaking her mind, lest her
beloved community ostracize her. Her son had only recently spent a
weekend with me, preparing to enter the outside world. He had
previously learned to fear outsiders who "live in ignorance." Not
surprisingly, San Francisco's warm accepting folks shocked him.
At the high school presentation, David Lynch foundation presenters
failed to mention that twenty-minutes-twice-per-day may create an
addictive state, leading to dependence upon prolonged meditation, or
that increased group involvement may potentially become a suffocating
group dynamic. They explained, "Transcendental Meditation(TM) is not a
religion."
Did the secretive initiation ceremony, higher teachings of God
Consciousness, or mantras derived from Hindu deities cause the New
Jersey Circuit Court of appeals to declare TM a religion in 1979?
After educated objections, legal threats and my letter to the school
board, the Lynch Foundation withdrew from my children's high school.
Now David Lynch promotes his book, "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation,
Consciousness and Creativity," explaining that creative ideas come
during his daily TM sessions. The famed producer fails to mention
proper Transcendental Meditation(TM) instruction, "Pay no heed to
arising thoughts. Gently return attention to the mantra, allowing the
thoughts to leave. You will transcend beyond thought to pure Being,
the source of all thought and creativity." Since Lynch heeds thoughts
in meditation, he practices TM improperly. Does he quietly brainstorm
twice daily, while receiving spiritual accolades for large donations
to spread Maharishi's teachings?
I cannot help but wonder, between creative film endeavors, if Lynch
experienced the lifestyle of those committed to the method he
promotes.
copyright 2007 Gina Catena.
Gina Catena is an early "Child of the Age of Enlightenment," raised in
the Transcendental Meditation organization. She and her children left
the Transcendental Meditation Movement twenty years ago and quietly
recreated their lives in San Rafael, California.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm153.html
...and I am Sid Harth
Candidates Meet and Greet Fairfield's Meditators; Yogic Flyers Gather
Tonight
The Wall Street Journal/January 3, 2008
By Christopher Cooper
Fairfield, Iowa -- In the run-up to today's caucuses in Iowa,
candidates have had to scrutinize the issues that move voters here. In
this town, many care less about immigration than meditation.
"Are you familiar with Transcendental Meditation?" Craig Berg, a
bearded man in a faded parka, said as he buttonholed Republican
candidate Fred Thompson during a recent campaign stop here.
Candidates typically arrive here prepared for that question. The
campaign of Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware has let it be
known here that his former chief of staff is an adherent of
Transcendental Meditation. During an outdoor rally here last summer,
Sen. Barack Obama turned his podium east out of respect for the
Transcendental Meditation view that east is the natural direction of
energy flow.
Iowa is widely perceived as a homogenous state of meat-eating corn-
growing white Protestants. But exceptions to the American Gothic
stereotype abound, from the sushi halls of Iowa City and grape
trellises of the Amana Colonies to the ultra-orthodox Jews from
Brooklyn who run a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville. Here in
Fairfield, about 1,700 residents gather each afternoon in a pair of
gold domes for a session of group meditation known as Yogic Flying.
Ahead of today's Iowa caucus, in which even a few dozen votes could
tilt the race in many voting precincts, candidates have been making
special pitches to demographics as small and eccentric as Fairfield's
Transcendental Meditation community. Of this hamlet's 10,000
residents, barely a third of them are transcendental devotees. But
their political influence is outsized. For the past six years the town
has chosen as its mayor a Transcendental Meditation devotee named Ed
Malloy. And for 12 years ending in 2004, Fairfield was home to a peace
party, called the Natural Law Party, which hoped to elect a
Transcendental Meditation practitioner as president.
Fairfield was a typical Iowa farming community until 1973, when the
Maharishi University of Management purchased the bankrupt and
discredited Parsons College, once dubbed "FlunkOut U" by a national
magazine. Some locals regarded with skepticism the construction of two
gold domes wherein Maharishi followers gathered daily for mass
meditations. Natives lived uneasily with the outsiders, dubbing them
"Rus" (pronounced "rooz") -- a shorthand for "Gurus.''
But the election of Mr. Malloy, a silver-haired and personable oil
broker transplanted from Long Island, helped ease those tensions. Also
helpful was that the Maharishi high school began turning out scores of
national merit scholars who played a role in turning Fairfield into
"Silicorn Valley," as it became known around here, home to more than
40 software development and telecom companies.
For politicians, a challenge here is to respect the community's faith
in Yogic Flying, or mass meditation. Derived from a combination of
quantum physics and the proven benefits of meditation, Yogic Flying
occurs each afternoon at 5 p.m. when about 1,700 adherents gather in
the gold domes. Supporters say the number 1,700 roughly represents 1%
of the nation's population divided by its square root. Supporters
believe that when meditation is performed in groups, it confers
benefits not only to its individual practitioners but to society at
large.
On Mr. Thompson's drive into town, neither the Quantum Mechanic
service station nor Utopia trailer park alerted him to the challenges
ahead. And he was initially caught off guard by Mr. Berg's reference
to Transcendental Meditation. [map]
Recovering quickly, however, Mr. Thompson managed to name the founder
of Transcendental Meditation - Maharishi Mahesh - and praise its
benefits. "Rested mind and body, huh?" he said. "I could have used
that a year ago."
Politically, Fairfield leans left. It belongs to the only county in
Iowa that in 2004 placed deep-blue candidate Howard Dean atop the
Democratic field, just ahead of Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose vow
to create a federal "Department of Peace" resonated with voters here.
Given those propensities, it's not surprising that barely a handful of
supporters showed up to meet the bus of Republican hawk Mr. Thompson.
But that doesn't mean Republicans aren't welcome here. The town square
is host to several large billboards touting Republican pacifist Ron
Paul, and many residents believe his Libertarian views will propel him
to a win in this county in today's caucuses. Mayor Malloy and his wife
even held a political open house last summer for Mr. Paul, prior to a
large rally staged in the town.
But Mr. Paul, perhaps stung by allegations that his campaign has
already attracted its share of political eccentrics, is making no to-
do of his popularity here. Mr. Paul's deputy campaign manager, Joe
Seehusen, carefully emphasizes that the congressman is only "politely
intrigued'' by the Transcendental Meditation philosophy.
In response, Mayor Malloy - who never actually endorsed Mr. Paul -
says, "Only about 50% of what he says resonates with me.''
Democrats, having the most votes to gain here, are trying hardest to
win them. In a community where factory hog farms are widely criticized
as environmentally hazardous, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson took
special pains to bone up on them before attending a town meeting here.
"I'd regulate the hell out of them,'' Mr. Richardson vowed.
John Edwards visited the town this week, as did Mr. Richardson.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has scheduled - and canceled - three stops
here, according to Mayor Malloy. The Clinton campaign didn't respond
to a request for comment.
5Page One: Populist Message Gets Louder as Iowa Kicks Off Race
5Washington Wire: Updates from the campaign trail
5Complete Coverage: Campaign 2008
That seems to have helped Sen. Obama gain an edge. During his visit
here last summer, Sen. Obama assured Mayor Malloy of the candidate's
respect for Transcendental Meditation and the philosophy behind it.
"He said he felt that if there was any candidate in the race to
embrace this technique, he was that candidate,'' says Mayor Malloy.
The real Obama weapon, however, may be his wife, Michelle Obama.
During a visit to Fairfield last month, she had several long
conversations with the mayor's wife. "I think she and my wife are both
very spiritual people,'' the mayor says.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm165.html
How close are the local followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leader of
the Transcendental Meditation movement, to building three proposed
peace palaces in Northeast Ohio?
Cleveland Plain Dealer/December 21, 2007
By Stan Donaldson
Members of the Global Country of World Peace said they are getting
closer to their goal of starting a $13 million project building peace
palaces in Strongsville, Parma and Mayfield Heights.
Since losing a court battle this year with Mayfield Heights over the
city's refusal to approve variances to build a peace palace on a
commercial development site, the group's followers revised and
submitted another plan. They expect to meet with the city, said Thomas
Murach, director of the Maharishi Invincibility Center in Rocky
River.
Murach said the group hopes to get the green light from the city's
Planning Commission to build a 10,000-square-foot rest and wellness
center where they plan to educate people about Vedic principles and
transcendental meditation.
Maharishi and his followers want to build 3,000 peace palaces across
the globe where participants will be taught about nutrition, yoga and
the cosmic universe.
Murach said the organization has 10,000 to 15,000 followers in Ohio.
It is awaiting approval for site plans and permits to build offices
and educational centers in Strongsville and Parma.
Officials in the municipalities where the group wants to build have
received site planning proposals. Murach said the group hopes to break
ground in the spring or early summer.
Mayfield Heights Mayor Gregory Costabile said he has heard very little
from the organization since it filed a lawsuit against the city.
Costabile said he doesn't mind if the group builds a peace center as
long as it complies with the city's rules.
"We've never had a problem with their plan or their beliefs," the
mayor said. "It's always been because the building they wanted to
build would have been too close to the street and a neighboring lot."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm164.html
Mini Santiniketan, Scotland-style
The Telegraph, UK/November 26, 2007
By Amit Roy
The legendary 1960s singer-songwriter Donovan has announced plans to
set up a new university in his native Scotland where all students will
be taught Indian-style transcendental meditation as part of their
normal curriculum.
He made it sound almost like a new kind of Santiniketan though the
university will be traditional in most respects.
The 61-year-old singer, best known for his debut single Catch the
Wind, now believes he has caught the mood of the moment.
In an emotional aside, he confessed that the Invincible Donovan
University had been "a dream of mine for nearly 34 years".
Donovan, who was born Donovan Philips Leitch on May 10, 1946, in
Glasgow, and whose singing style has been compared with that of Bob
Dylan, has had a genuine interest in meditation since he spent some
very formative weeks with The Beatles and their Indian guru, Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, in Rishikesh in 1968.
Donovan, whose hit songs include Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman,
Happiness Runs and Hurdy Gurdy Man, was one of the top artists of his
day, producing a series of hit albums and singles between 1965 and
1970. He became a friend of Joan Baez, Brian Jones and The Beatles,
and was one of the few artists to collaborate on songs with the band.
According to reports, he influenced both John Lennon and Paul
McCartney when he taught them his finger-picking guitar style in
1968.
Last month, at a hotel in Edinburgh, Donovan was flanked by three
distinguished personalities with an equally firm belief in Indian-
style meditation and who are supporting his university venture -
filmmaker David Lynch, whose own meditation foundation has brought
programmes to schools across the US and Europe, quantum physicist John
Hagelin and Bevan Morris, the president of the Maharishi University of
Management in the US.
Donovan has shortlisted possible sites along the waterfront at the
Firth of Forth and an area between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
He said the university would focus on consciousness-based learning and
the arts. "It will be a normal university but will also be very, very
different because of its potential that will be unfolding because of
an extraordinary technique which I learnt when I was in India with The
Beatles in 1968.
"It's called transcendental meditation."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm163.html
Vedic City's annexation plan approved by state
The Associated Press/October 26, 2007
Fairfield -- The state has approved the annexation of 84 acres into
Maharishi Vedic City, despite urgings against the move from Jefferson
County officials.
The County Board of Supervisors asked the state in September to
prevent the annexation until the city provides municipal services to
its residents.
The state's City Development Board sided with the city last week,
calling the issues raised by the county "growing pains," said City
Development Board Administrator Steven McCann. He said Vedic City
appears to be trying to offer services.
Maharishi Vedic City was established six years ago north of Fairfield
by followers of Transcendental Meditation.
County officials have argued the city should not be allowed to grow
because it has not fulfilled an agreement with the state to organize a
volunteer fire department or establish public streets, among other
projects.
However, Vedic City officials said the annexation should have been
routine because it was voluntary, said Vedic City attorney Maureen
Wynne.
The city of 420 is considered a spiritual center of the Transcendental
Meditation movement in the United States.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm162.html
Songwriter expresses anger over eminent domain issue
The Roady Less Traveled
The Ottumwa Courier/July 29, 2007
By Jeff Hutton
He and his wife were reading some news accounts when they saw the
story about the Maharishi Vedic City eminent domain controversy.
"My wife and I were absolutely appalled," Arnold told the Courier.
"We've seen other similar stories about eminent domain; the idea of
this family's farm having been here for so long and being threatened
by [Vedic City] kept me up at night."
Arnold did some more research on the issue and said he "kept stewing"
about.
But instead of writing a letter to the editor or venting his
frustration at folks he did not know, Arnold wrote a song.
Arnold penned "The Maharishi Vedic City Blues" and the song is part of
his band's most recent album.
"I just wrote the lyrics at my home studio and started messing around
with it," he said.
The song, he said, is representative of of a "textbook example of how
these types of powers can be abused ..."
Part of the song goes like this:
"A hundred years before the Maharishis came to town/One family's farm
began to feed its neighbors from the ground/They're trying to run the
family off/... and we'll pay you for your pain/but if you don't sell,
we'll steal it/ It's called eminent domain."
The song could be interpreted as a protest song, and in some ways, it
has that feel.
Arnold could hardly be called a troublemaker or anti-establishment.
He's a former law enforcement official whose music is a sideline to
his ownership of a book shop in small-town Georgia.
And while the song is featured on his band's newest CD, Arnold said
he's not trying to make money. In fact, the cost of the CD barely
covers production expenses.
He said the song is simply an expression of his frustration at one
local Iowa municipality and support for a Century Farm in Iowa.
"There's too much history, too much at stake/The farmer needs a
living, the farmer needs a break/There's no consideration, no common
sense/Just too much fiber, too much incense."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm161.html
$3.5m city tower
The Advertiser/July 30, 2007
A multi-storey "tower of knowledge" may be built at 190 Greenhill Rd
in honour of Dr Bevan Morris, a leader of the Transcendental
Meditation movement.
His mother, Mrs Dulcie Morris, 94, will turn the sod of what could be
a tower without residents, pending Unley Council consent. No one will
live in the tower and it will be a permanent exhibition of the
scientific research on the Maharishi Transcendental Meditation
program.
David Seymour, director of Maharishi's Global Administration through
Natural Law, said it would not be a temple.
Dr Morris is now the "prime minister" of the Global Country of World
Peace. It is estimated the tower would cost about $3.5 million.
The Iowa, U.S.-based movement has made sketches of the tower and had
preliminary discussions with the council. "We are confident enough to
hold a sod-turning ceremony," Mr Seymour said.
Unley Council mayor Richard Thorne said his meeting with Mr Seymour
was to discuss preliminary plans.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm160.html
Top researchers criticize new meditation and health study
Rush PR News/July 26, 2007
Scientists stated, "A controversial new government-funded report,
which found that meditation does not improve health, is
methodologically flawed, incomplete, and should be retracted. "
New York, NY (rushprnews) July 26, 2007 - This is the consensus of a
growing number of researchers in the U.S. and abroad who have reviewed
the report and are critical of its conclusions.
"Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research" was a health
technology assessment report conducted at the University of Alberta
and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and
the NIH-National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
The report was released earlier this month.
Respected reviewer urged authors to withhold publication7"Analytical
strategy looked haphazard and ad hoc"
Professor Harald Walach of the University of Northampton and School of
Social Sciences and the Samueli Institute for information Biology in
England reviewed the paper before its release and strongly urged the
authors to withhold publication. "When I looked carefully into the
details of the study, the whole analytical strategy looked rather
haphazard and ad hoc," Walach said.
Relevant studies excluded from AHRQ findings
Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., is one of the leading researchers on
the health effects of meditation in the nation. Dr. Schneider has been
the recipient of more than $22 million in grants from the National
Institutes of Health over the past 20 years for his research on the
effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique and natural
medicine on cardiovascular disease. He says that relevant findings
were excluded from the report, including peer-reviewed studies on the
effects of this meditation technique on hypertension, cardiovascular
disease, myocardial ischemia, atherosclerosis, changes to physiology,
and improvements to mental and physical health.
Dr. Schneider cited two studies published in the American Journal of
Cardiology in 2005, which demonstrated that individuals with high
blood pressure who were randomly assigned to TM groups had a 30% lower
risk for mortality than controls. These studies should have been
included in the AHRQ report, Dr. Schneider said, but were inexplicably
excluded. In addition, 75 published studies were overlooked, even
though these were sent to the authors by one of the reviewers.
Dr. Schneider said the AHRQ report incorrectly analyzed studies and
incorrectly rated the quality of the studies while applying
statistical methods poorly, arbitrarily, and unsystematically. The
report also included errors in collecting data from research studies,
in recording data from papers, and in classifying studies. Several
peer-reviewers pointed out major errors and inadequacies in the report
prior to publication. However, these critiques by outside reviewers
were largely ignored. (For critiques of the report, see
http://www.mum.edu/inmp/welcome.html)
Dr. Schneider also cited a study published in the American medical
Association's journal Archives of Internal Medicine in 20067one year
after the AHRQ review ended in 20057which confirmed that the
Transcendental Meditation technique lowers high blood pressure in
heart disease patients. The study was conducted at Cedars Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles and was funded by a $1.2 million grant
from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Schneider directs the Institute for Natural Medicine and
Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa,
which was supported by an $8 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health as a specialized center of research in
complementary and alternative medicine and cardiovascular disease.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm159.html
Maharishi's Minions Come to Wall Street
New York Times/July 2, 2007
By Maria Aspan
When the Beatles sought guidance from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968,
they traveled to India. Now that the "giggling guru," as he has been
called, is seeking investors, a branch of his organization has come to
the New York financial district.
In March, Maharishi's Global Financial Capital of New York quietly
opened a headquarters at 70 Broad Street, close to the New York Stock
Exchange. The organization had purchased the five-story, 20,000-square-
foot building in May 2004 from Goldman Properties for $5.5 million.
The group was drawn to the building, the former home of the American
Bank Note Company and its first Manhattan property, for reasons both
spiritual and practical.
"It's one of the very few buildings in all of New York City that's
oriented due east," said Paul Potter, the director of Global Financial
Capital, referring to the Maharishi's principles of "Vedic
architecture" that hold that east-facing buildings are spiritually
healthy.
But, Mr. Potter added, the other incentive was the financial district
location and access to the world's moneymakers.
"We've been offering our programs for 50 years," he said, "and now is
the time that we want to create financial support for these programs.
We want to offer a chance for the investment bankers to steer the
finances of the world in this positive direction."
The building required extensive renovations, which continue, and will
cost about $4.9 million, according to the organization, which took out
a mortgage in 2005 to cover them. In addition to donations and income
from real estate assets, the Maharishi's worldwide network is financed
primarily by classes in transcendental meditation, which cost $2,500
for a one-time, five-day session.
The new building's first floor is open for business, with meeting
rooms to welcome the investment bankers and hold videoconferences. The
Maharishi, who is at least 90, conducts many of these Webcasts from a
Dutch village, Vlodrop, where he has established his Global Country of
World Peace.
The building purchase was a canny one considering the financial
district's resurgence, the broker, David N. Lebenstein, director of
the nonprofit division at Colliers ABR, said. "Building prices are at
least 30 to 50 percent more than in 2004 and in some cases 100 percent
more," he said, adding that the Maharishi's choice to buy an entire
building is unusual for nonprofits downtown. Most prefer to avoid
overhead costs by purchasing commercial condos or leasing long-term
office space, he said.
Those overhead costs may yet prove to be a challenge for the
Maharishi, who has had decidedly mixed success in the real estate
business. While he established the Maharishi University of Management
in Fairfield, Iowa, he has stumbled in developing properties including
a Chicago hotel that was eventually sold and a proposed S3o Paulo
skyscraper that was abandoned after Brazil stalled on approval.
Plans for 3,000 worldwide "peace palaces," which will teach
transcendental meditation and the elusive art of "yogic flying," have
also had mixed reactions. (Four of the projected 200 palaces in the
United States have been completed, while land for 52 others has been
acquired.)
In January, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland published an article
reviewing the Maharishi's history in developing two local properties
that were later sold and questioning whether his palace proposals
would ever come to fruition. And in March, the Maharishi's
organization sued the city of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, saying it
refused to allow a proposed peace palace setback variances given to
local corporate offices.
When asked about these earthly roadblocks, Mr. Potter seemed, well,
serene. "The pursuit of money hasn't really brought real happiness,
real fulfillment," he said. "We hope to be able to rebuild the whole
world to be fortune-oriented buildings, to be heaven on earth."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm158.html
Vedic City considers eminent domain to seize farmer's land
Associated Press/June 26, 2007
Des Moines --- A southeast Iowa city established six years ago by the
followers of Transcendental Meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is
considering a plan to seize a farmer's land to prevent him from
building a hog operation next to the city.
Maharishi Vedic City officials told farmer Bob Palm that they'd like
to buy his 149-acre farm after they heard a few months ago about
Palm's plans to build a hog confinement operation on the land.
City officials drafted a proposal to buy the land and said if that
plan fails, they expect to use eminent domain to force the sale of
Palm's land in the name of public improvement.
On Sunday, Maharishi Vedic City's governing council decided to table a
controversial vote on the property. The council could have chosen to
take the first steps toward buying Palm's farm.
City Attorney Maureen Wynne, who is the wife of Mayor Bob Wynne, said
the proposal is about expansion and ideals.
"It would be a very difficult situation for the city if a hog
confinement is built on its boundaries," Wynne said.
She said a hog confinement operation would be a nuisance to the city
that has declared itself all-organic and bans the sale of anything not
grown organically.
An appraiser for the city valued Palm's land at $2,675 per acre.
Palm, 57, remained steadfast in his refusal to sell.
"It's everything to us," Palm said about the farm on which he grows
corn and soybeans with his brothers Lou and Ron.
Ron Palm said he and his brothers have dropped the idea of a hog
confinement and they said city officials jumped the gun when they
threatened to use eminent domain.
"About all we had done was research into a hog confinement," Ron Palm
said. He said the brothers also considered raising cattle or growing a
vineyard.
The vote on the park plan will be delayed indefinitely while the city
negotiates with the family and with Jefferson County officials.
Sunday's meeting -- held under a tent at Wynne's house -- drew about
200 people, said Jefferson County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman
Dick Reed, adding that most of them were against the proposed
expansion.
"It's a little shady," Reed said. "When you have a local government
talking about doing condemnation on a farm when they have excess land
themselves is ludicrous. Being able to own land is one of the rights
in this country."
Wynne said adding a hog confinement to the town's border would be akin
to building a landfill.
The proposed park included in the city's plan would include windmills,
soccer fields, a swimming pool and a place to charge electric cars.
Considered a spiritual center of the Transcendental Meditation
movement in the United States, the city of 420 practitioners of TM was
incorporated in 2001. The city has designated Sanskrit, an ancient
language of India, as its official language and adopted a new
currency.
The meditating community has met with resistance and sometimes
hostility from the farmers, residents and business owners of
Fairfield, where Yogi and his TM organizations bought the defunct
Parsons College campus in 1974.
In 2001, a group of the meditators decided to establish their own city
a few miles north of Fairfield. Since its inception, Maharishi Vedic
City has generated local controversy.
In April 2004, city officials hatched a plan to house 500 pandits, or
special meditators, using city money. But Jefferson County residents
opposed the plan on the grounds that the public money from a local-
option sales tax would be used for a religious purpose.
The pandits made it to Maharishi Vedic City in the fall of 2006, but
without the use of public money, Wynne said.
In 2005, the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors unanimously
rejected the city's request for help to get a $132,000 grant from the
state's Community Attractions and Tourism Fund to build a new
visitors' center and make improvements to an astronomical
observatory.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm157.html
Maharishi, Mayfield Hts. head to court
City sued for denying peace-palace plan
Cleveland Plain Dealer/March 19, 2007
By Maggi Martin
Mayfield Heights -- City officials may want to breathe deep and exhale
slowly.
And ponder, perhaps, the merits of heading back to a courtroom again
to fight a developer, this one steeped in the ways of peaceful
meditation.
The Global Country of World Peace wants to build a peace palace and a
private high school on Lander Road in Mayfield Heights. Owned by the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the palace would teach transcendental
meditation and peaceful enlightenment.
But the pacifists say their Mayfield Heights reception has been
anything but peaceful.
The Maharishi people are heading into Cuyahoga County Common Pleas
Court after filing a lawsuit saying the city is refusing to allow them
setback variances that other neighboring corporate offices were
allowed. Both sides have to file briefs by March 31.
The city is still reeling from a 14-year court battle over zoning that
cost residents $3 million to settle last year. Developers of property
near Mayfield Road that later became a Costco warehouse sued the city
when it refused to rezone the land, delaying the store for nine
years.
Mayor Gregory Costabile said the squabble with the Maharishi's
followers is a different issue.
"The city is concerned about safety issues," Costabile said. "They
want a setback variance that will put them too close to neighbors and
too close to the street. And that becomes a fire and safety issue."
Thomas Murach, director of the Maharishi Enlightenment Center in
Cleveland, said that officials in Parma have been very accommodating
about the project the group has proposed in that city and that a
meeting is planned next week to discuss the Parma facilities. But he
said Mayfield Heights has delayed hearings repeatedly since the group
first sought approval last September.
Costabile said the decision has been delayed because the variance for
an 85-foot setback has not been approved. Planning officials denied
the variance, saying the group did not demonstrate an inherent
hardship in complying with zoning rules.
The Mayfield Heights palace is planned on a 4.6-acre lot in a
corporate park where neighboring office complexes have similar
variances, Murach said. The 85-foot setback the group is seeking would
allow it to build 140 feet from the street. Murach said if the group
follows the city's required 200-foot setback, it would shave a
significant chunk off the property, creating an almost worthless
building site. The Maharishi's followers also want to place the school
35 feet away from a residence, rather than follow the city's 100-foot
restriction.
One resident, Yolanda Geraci, complained the 35-foot clearance was too
close to her residential property and would create noise and
disruptions during the school day.
Costabile said that while there may have been some variances granted
elsewhere, the city could not give them out freely without
justification.
The Maharishi's plans call for 3,000 peace palaces, including ones in
Parma and Strongsville and others in Cleveland and Columbus.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm155.html
Ok, kids, chill out: Children as young as 10 are picking up
Transcendental Meditation, and they're not the only ones feeling good
about it
Educators in the U.S. are bringing "ohm" to home room, and some
Montreal schools want to, too
Montreal Gazette/January 13, 2007
By Stephanie Whittaker
Every morning, as soon as she awakens, 13-year-old Joelle Cazeault
sits up in her bed, closes her eyes and performs a ritual unknown to
most children. She spends 10 minutes doing Transcendental Meditation.
"I repeat my mantra and it slows my breathing," says the student at
College St. Maurice in Ste. Hyacinthe.
Ditto for the afternoon. Joelle meditates when she gets home from
school and, she says, it gives her the alertness and focus she needs
to do her homework.
Meditation is a ritual she began three years ago when her parents, who
have meditated since the 1970s, enrolled her in a Transcendental
Meditation course: "They think it's important for my life and that it
can help me become enlightened."
Perhaps it is inevitable that baby boomers, the generation that
learned to chill out in heightened states of consciousness, want their
offspring to experience the same.
Children as young as 10 are learning Transcendental Meditation and are
reaping the rewards at school. "I always had good marks but they got
even better after I learned to meditate," says Joelle.
She's at the forefront of a coming trend. There is a growing push in
the U.S. to put "ohm" in schools by making Transcendental Meditation
part of the curriculum. The movement is poised to take Canada with
it.
A U.S.-based group called Stress-Free Schools has helped set up T.M.
programs in 50 schools south of the border and has piqued the interest
of educators in Canada.
Six Montreal-area schools want the program.
"My students deserve to have this, and it will transform the whole
school," says Marielle Mayers, an elementary school principal in Ville
d'Anjou.
Michele Beausoleil, a Montreal teacher of T.M., is keen to get
started: "We're ready to teach the children, teachers and principals
and I'll work to help the schools find funding from foundations."
Stress-Free Schools was founded in 2004 by a group of meditating
parents in New York City, who were concerned about social problems in
their schools.
Two months ago, the organization held a conference at Montreal's Ritz-
Carlton Hotel to explain to educators how teaching T.M. to children as
young as 10 can benefit their schools.
How Transcendental Meditation is taught in schools:
"It's a seven-step program," says Michele Beausoleil, a teacher of
Transcendental Meditation, which is so specific that it is a
trademarked practice. First comes a lecture on the benefits of T.M.,
then a second lecture to prepare students for the process. Then each
student gets to ask the teacher questions. Next up are 60-minute
lessons, one a day for the next four days. Each student is given a
mantra. It all takes about a week, and there's follow-up by the T.M.
teacher to ensure proper technique.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm154.html
Pandits come for peace
Indian scholars move to Iowa and join hundreds more in meditating for
prosperity and to heal conflict.
Des Moines Register/January 7, 2007
By Mile Kilen
Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa 7 Only in this southeastern Iowa community
will you see hundreds of men in traditional white garb step off tour
buses and line up to trek across the muddy fields.
The 385 pandits from India were inspecting their new modular homes,
hooked up to utilities just last week and almost ready to occupy.
This is where they will live for two years or more as part of a mass
movement to create world peace and prosperity through meditation.
These Indian pandits - scholars of Transcendental Meditation with
three-year visas - are among 600 advanced-level meditators who began
to arrive in late summer. Another 200 are expected to arrive in the
next month.
They responded to a call from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of a
Transcendental Meditation movement, as well as a university in
Fairfield, Ia., that bears his name.
The maharishi invited all advanced meditators - so-called yogic flyers
- to move to Iowa and meditate eight hours each day, a program he has
developed to reduce conflict and aggression in a war-torn world.
He calls it Invincible America Assembly, his new-age shield against
violence.
The arrival of the pandits has spurred a mini building boom in
Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa's newest city north of Fairfield and the
first city incorporated in 20 years.
Dozens of the Vedic pandits from India will move into 30 pre-
fabricated modular rental units in the next three weeks, once the
final touches are put on a community meditation center and kitchen
nearby.
Three more low-income neighborhoods of rental homes and apartments
await federal and state low-income housing funding.
Each modular unit has about the same space - 800 square feet - as a
double-wide mobile home, but with more sunlight.
All Maharishi Vedic City homes, including the low-income and modular
structures, are required by city code to follow strict rules derived
from ancient principles rediscovered by Maharishi.
The homes are built with nontoxic chemicals and energy-efficient
materials. They face east to take advantage of the sun's power.
Beds, kitchens and gathering areas are all placed in designated
areas.
In the middle of each home is a Brahmastahn, or central core, which is
designed to be undisturbed by foot traffic.
"The environment creates coherence within yourself," said the city's
lead architect, Jonathan Lipman.
Thriving city
Maharishi Vedic City officials say the current population boom goes a
long way toward its goal of generating 2,000 residents by 2008.
Four years after incorporation, the city appears thriving and
prosperous.
It has grown in acreage (1,200 to 2,200) and population (85 to 400-
plus, not counting the new growth).
The settlement of pandits into the housing units is the latest marker
in the 32-year evolution of Maharishi's vision of achieving inner
peace, personal health, world peace and a thriving stock market.
The Invincible America meditators, now totaling 1,900 recruits -
students, longtime practitioners from Fairfield and other states and
the new residents from India - spend eight hours in daily meditation
under the golden-topped dome on the Maharishi University campus.
The number is very near the goal of 2,000 meditators, crucial for a
formula (the square root of one percent of the U.S. population)
calculated to alter the physical reality and create positive forces,
said Ken Chawkin, media relations at the university.
They call it the "Maharishi Effect."
In November, Maharishi spokesmen claimed the mass meditation was
responsible for a surge in the stock market, low unemployment and
dropping oil prices.
They also predict a 20 percent drop in violence in coming months.
The correlation between meditation and positive events has been
dismissed by some skeptics.
Frank Trumpy, a retired physics professor at Des Moines Area Community
College, has researched the group for years.
He says the claims of influencing everything from the lack of
hurricanes this season to economic prosperity are without scientific
support.
"They do what I call painting the bull's-eyes around the arrows," he
said. "Notice they always take credit for events after they happen."
Business sense
But meditators have always tempered a new-age lifestyle and their own
scientific theory with practical business sense.
Maharishi Vedic City and four private developers got the ball rolling
four years ago by purchasing former farm ground north of Fairfield.
Later, much of the land was sold to the nonprofit Global Country of
World Peace.
The organization soon realized that not everyone could afford the
homes, which range from $300,000 to $1 million.
Hada and Hadani of Oregon, advanced meditators who arrived in August
and don't use a last name, didn't have that kind of money.
They had listened to the maharishi's message, uprooted and moved to
Iowa.
"The call came out," said Hada, 70, a noted sculptor of metals who
legally changed his name from Don Potts. "It was irresistible. We had
to come."
It wasn't easy. Hada said he cried standing before the beauty of the
foothills near Ashland, Ore., where he lived on a serene 90 acres.
Now, he says, he gathers even greater positive feelings inside the
gold dome.
"I'm here to be in the middle of this power," he said.
The couple stayed for two weeks before heading home. In Colorado, they
stopped and had a sudden realization: They had to return.
Like many of the advanced meditators who have gathered, they are paid
a small amount to take part in Invincible America.
Quite a few have been assisted by wealthy benefactors who support the
program.
Howard and Alice Settle of Texas, who made their fortune in oil, have
donated $12 million for scholarships toward meditation training for
the Invincible America program.
It costs $2,500 to take the initial TM course and an additional $5,000
for advanced training in what officials call the Sidhis program. That
fee is now being waived to attract more meditators.
In 1983, the couple was part of the Taste of Utopia Assembly
Fairfield, where nearly 8,000 people met for three weeks to meditate
for "global transformation."
Low-income housing
The difference this time is that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his
organization want to make the assembly permanent - thus the flurry of
home construction.
Should the low-income housing grants through the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the Iowa Finance Authority come through, dwellings
ranging from one-bedroom to three-bedroom homes and apartments will be
available for $450 to $550 a month, said Kent Boyum, director of
economic development for Maharishi Vedic City.
Because they are public housing programs, the dwellings will be
available for anyone to rent.
The addition of low-income housing among $1 million homes is not
causing a stir in the city, said Fred Gratzon, who owns an elegant
place in Maharishi Vedic City.
"The opposite is true," he said. "The proximity of these pandits
exponentially increases the value of the homes here.
"Fairfield and Maharishi Vedic City now form the epicenter of peace
and enlightenment for the entire world."
Other mass-meditation efforts are occurring on a smaller scale across
the world, most notably in the Netherlands, the maharishi's home
country.
But the Fairfield area is clearly the showpiece.
Fairfield officials claim harmony among meditators and the community's
many business ventures and retail outlets has created a vitality in
the town of 9,602 people.
They also say the latest influx hasn't yet created a measurable
economic impact.
The pandits from India speak little English and rarely leave the
university campus.
"You won't see them roaming around Wal-Mart," said Boyum.
"They lead a very simple life," said Tom Siegel, who provides the food
service for Invincible America at Maharishi University.
"They are very sweet and very happy people."
During a recent sleet storm, one pandit with limited English didn't
complain, Siegel recalled.
Instead, the man declared joyfully: "Good for health. Good digestion.
Makes strong."
Now, that's inner peace.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm152.html
Maharishi sees Peace Palaces; others see pipe dreams
Past failures raise questions about local development plans
Cleveland Plain Dealer/January 7, 2007
By Amanda Garrett
When the Maharishi bought a fading Avon Lake resort in 1993, his
people promised not only to revive the former hot spot but also to
reduce area crime by meditating.
Two months later, when Maharishi bought a shuttered Holiday Inn in the
shadow of Thistledown race track, his people said they wanted to
reopen the 10-story tower as a class hotel catering to nonsmoking, non
drinking vegetarians. Neither plan ever materialized.
The Maharishi's company let both properties languish for years,
racking up building code violations and back taxes. At the Avon Lake
site, not only didn't the tenants prevent crimes, they often committed
them. Ultimately, the properties were sold, but only after frustrated
officials threatened to take both sites via eminent domain.
Now Maharishi - undaunted by his past failures, both to his own
enterprise and to the community - is again asking Greater Clevelanders
to have faith.
Maharishi wants to open 3,000 so-called Peace Palaces around the
world, including three in our area. His organization already has paid
millions for property in Mayfield Heights and Parma and is firming up
deals on parcels in Strongsville and Brecksville.
What's the giggling guru up to?
Maharishi has shrewdly shaped and reshaped his message since the
Beatles embraced him as their spiritual leader four decades ago.
Among other things, he opened an accredited university in Iowa,
promised tantalizing superhuman powers, vowed to bring world peace and
launched a political party, which in 2004 endorsed Cleveland
Congressman Dennis Kucinich's bid for the presidency. He also amassed
a fortune estimated between $5 billion and $9 billion with his web of
businesses and charities.
His latest strategy is to do for yogic flying what Starbucks has done
for a cup of coffee. His chain of Peace Palaces will sell $2,500
classes to study Maharishi's trademarked Transcendental Meditation, a
myriad of his health remedies, and Maharishi-driven architectural
consultation aimed at lassoing all of Earth's powers.
Two local palaces -- in Mayfield Heights and Parma -- also include
plans for private high schools, each teaching 160 teens everything
from algebra to inner consciousness.
And in Brecksville, where the group is negotiating to buy a 48-acre
parcel across from the VA hospital, Maharishi hopes to teach medical
doctors ancient forms of alternative health care because he believes
modern medicine has failed.
So is Maharishi selling religion? A cult? A pile of rubbish?
People have been trying to figure that out for a long time.
The 1960s: Beatles' spiritual guide
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born in central India some time between 1911
and 1918. The precise date -- as with so many parts of Maharishi's
life -- has never been clear. He graduated with a physics degree from
an Indian university and then moved into the Himalayas where he
studied with a guru.
What happened next is murky, but Maharishi emerged in the West during
the late 1950s and later found rock-star fame in the mid-1960s as the
spiritual guide of the Beatles.
The Fab Four later renounced Maharishi as a fraud, but it didn't
matter. The surging counterculture had already embraced Maharishi and
an earlier appearance on "The Tonight Show" had cemented his place in
pop culture.
Maharishi's message was inspirational:
"Life is bliss."
"Man is born to enjoy."
"Within everyone is an unlimited reservoir of energy, intelligence,
and happiness."
Transcendental Meditation -- or TM -- was the key, Maharishi said.
The TM technique was so simple anyone could do it, Maharishi said. But
to learn, you had to take classes from a certified TM teacher. In the
late 1960s, an introductory course cost less than $100. Thousands
signed up.
And Maharishi's spiritual and financial empire was born.
The '70s and '80s: Is TM a religion?
TM was so popular, even parts of the U.S. government bought in, said
the Rev. J. Gordon Melton, who directs the Institute for the Study of
American Religion in California.
During TM's peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Maharishi was
awash in government grants to teach TM in the Army and many schools,
Melton said.
Then someone asked the inevitable: Is TM a religion?
A U.S. federal court said it was in a tax case ruling. U.S. government
funding suddenly dried up. "It was a major blow to TM," Melton said.
Maharishi knew he needed something else to make TM work in the United
States. In the early 1980s, he tweaked his message.
The guru re-introduced TM as a hybrid cross between spirituality and
science -- some would say pseudo-science. And for the first time,
Maharishi promised TM could not only bring peace, but also unleash
super powers.
Human brain-wave physiology was the computer hardware of the cosmic
computer, he said. If programmed correctly -- through the advance
study of TM -- humans could fly like birds, become invisible and
harness the strength of elephants.
Skeptics clamored.
But John Hagelin -- a respected physicist who earned his doctorate at
Harvard -- wasn't among them. Hagelin signed on to chair the physics
program at a university Maharishi had established in a tiny Iowa farm
town.
"Really significant shifts in paradigm, such as those associated
with . . . this more universal view of consciousness, have often
required a new generation of scientists," Hagelin told the Chicago
Tribune in 1985.
Hoping to prove TM worked, Maharishi believers took a very public
stance -- and chance. Legions of TM experts -- called yogic fliers --
moved to the nation's capital, claiming their twice-daily meditation
would lower the city's soaring crime rate.
It obviously didn't work.
About the same time, a few disappointed TM students sued and won after
studying yogic flying but never taking flight.
"It wasn't substantial money," religious scholar Melton said, "but all
of the sudden, TM's credibility in the U.S. was called into account."
The 1990s: Foray into politics
TM next emerged in the United States in the early 1990s with a new
strategy -- politics.
Maharishi's followers formed the Natural Law Party and 800 delegates
held their first convention in April 1992 in Washington, D.C.,
selecting Hagelin, the Harvard-trained physicist, as the party's
presidential candidate.
Hagelin was pummeled, but the Natural Law Party grew, running hundreds
of candidates across the nation, including 53 in Ohio in 1996 alone.
Maharishi made new financial moves, too. In the early 1990s, he began
buying up hotels and resorts across the United States, from Denver to
Hartford, Conn.
Locally, he bought the Aqua Marine Resort -- a once-swanky hotel,
restaurant and 18-hole golf course in Avon Lake -- for $1.5 million in
August 1993. Two months later, he picked up the former Holiday Inn in
North Randall for $1.4 million.
Both properties had seen better days. But Maharishi's representatives
said they planned renovations at both sites. They envisioned first-
class hotels that would cater to TM students.
Officials in Avon Lake and North Randall soon realized that was
unlikely to happen.
Aqua Marine lost its liquor license and couldn't keep up with building
code violations.
In North Randall, the story was much the same. No one even mowed the
grass, recalled Chuck Horvath, the city's building commissioner. The
city considered citing the Maharishi people with fire code violations,
Horvath said, but the owners were scattered in eight different
countries beyond legal reach.
In 1996, North Randall launched an effort to seize the hotel by
eminent domain. Before the case reached court, the village settled
with Maharishi's people, buying the building. The village hoped to
tear it down and build a new village hall on the site. A downturn in
the economy delayed those plans. The vacant hotel still sits, boarded
up.
Officials in Avon Lake also considered seizing the Aqua Marine, but a
developer ultimately moved in, bought the resort and razed it. Luxury
condos are now rising in its place, Mayor Robert Berner said last
month.
If a Maharishi-connected business wanted to do business in Avon Lake
again, Berner said he would be leery. "They basically didn't do
anything they said they were going to do," Berner said.
The 21st century: An emerging religion
In recent years, Maharishi -- now in his late 80s or early 90s -- has
continued to remake his movement. In 2002, he launched the Global
Country of World Peace, a borderless, imaginary land he said was
designed for peace-loving people everywhere.
Two years later, the Natural Law Party closed its U.S. headquarters
and Hagelin opened a branch of Maharishi's mythical country called the
U.S. Peace Government.
Hagelin based the capital on 480 acres in Kansas near the geographic
center of the United States -- a location selected according to
Maharishi teachings to maximize effectiveness.
According to the group's Web site -- uspeacegovernment.org -- the TM
group doesn't compete with the existing U.S. government. Instead, it
works as a complement, promoting peace and TM philosophies
nationwide.
Part of that promotion is launching Peace Palaces -- 2,400 in the
United States. So far, at least four have opened: In Fairfield, Iowa;
Lexington, Ky.; Bethesda, Md.; and Houston. And Maharishi has bought
dozens of building sites.
But his harshest critics doubt many of the palaces will be built.
Rick Ross, who describes himself as a cult researcher, said that once
the aging guru's name is seared into the minds of a whole new
generation and he has brought in lots of money -- Maharishi is in the
midst of a $1 billion fund drive to build the Peace Palaces --
Maharishi will likely change course.
"My guess is in Cleveland . . . maybe you'll see one out of the three
Peace Palaces," said Ross, who believes this is just a money-making
scheme.
Thomas Murach, longtime director of the Maharishi Enlightenment Center
in Rocky River, insists Ross and other skeptics are mistaken.
"Maharishi always has a huge plan that's nearly incomprehensible,"
Murach said. When the Maharishi bought the old Holiday Inn and Aqua
Marine Resort he was merely investing, said Murach, who managed the
local sites.
Now Maharishi is using the money he made from the sale of those
properties and many others to bankroll his new $10 trillion project,
Murach said.
In addition to building Peace Palaces, Murach said Maharishi has
leased "hundreds of millions of acres" of land in Brazil and plans to
hire poor people to grow food there using his farming techniques.
All of this -- the Brazil plantings, the Peace Palaces -- are a
culmination of everything Maharishi has worked for, said religious
scholar Melton.
"Maharishi wants to establish TM as dominant cultural force around the
world," Melton said, comparing it to what Evangelical Christians have
done in the United States.
Evangelicals run bookstores that sell everything from jewelry to CDs;
they have psychologists operating on a Christian platform;
creationists serve on school boards; and the religious right emerged
as a powerful lobbying force in Washington, D.C.
Maharishi wants to do the same thing with TM, Melton said. But about
80 percent of Americans are Christians. And there are 1,000 religious
groups fighting for the remaining 20 percent, Melton said.
Maharishi believes TM will win them over. Melton and others doubt it.
Most people who study TM end up abandoning it. Some followers believe
they learned something. And others, like the Beatles, leave
disillusioned.
As John Lennon wrote after changing the name of a song he originally
called "Maharishi":
Sexy Sadie what have you done/You made a fool of everyone.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm151.html
Transcendental Life
January 2007
By Gina Catena
"John Lennon was shot because he began recording music again, despite
Maharishi2s instructions to maintain a private life." Randy explained
on the morning of December 9, 1980, following Lennon2s murder, while I
aligned spiritual necklaces of brown rudraksha beads, coral and
gemstones in our store2s golden display case. Randy2s devotion to
Maharishi made him a reliable source of "higher knowledge." Bizarre as
that sounds to me now, in 1980 divine retribution for ignoring
Maharishi2s vision seemed perfectly plausible.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, giggling guru to the Beatles was my parents2
spiritual Master. He and his Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement
influenced my family through three generations over four decades.
Secret initiation ceremonies honor Maharishi2s Master, Guru Dev, with
chants of obeisance to a holy tradition mythically originating in
Northern India. A new "Initiate" carries an offering of fruit, a white
handkerchief, and fresh flowers for ritualized placement upon an altar
during private meditation instruction. When teaching this "non
religious method for rest and release of stress," my parents
explained, "Maharishi teaches this spiritual practice in scientific
terms because we live in a scientific age. People will accept it that
way. Through TM we connect with God inside ourselves in pursuit of
Cosmic Consciousness."
Devotees meditate together for four to eight hours daily inside
Maharishi Enlightenment Centers around the globe and in Iowa's
hallowed Golden Domes, practicing secretive techniques for levitation,
invincibility, and friendliness. Maharishi inspires personal
enlightenment and world peace for all time, beginning with today2s
introductory fee of $2500.00.
In padded white rooms devotees sit cross-legged upon sheets of high-
density foam, provided for protection when falling earthward after
failed levitation attempts. When pressed down, the special foam
rebounds upward.
Maharishi always favored the wealthiest amongst us for their
contributions. The Beatles, Beach Boys, Donovan, Gore Family (of Gore-
TexR), Deepak Chopra, Zimmermans, Kaplans, Settles, and other wealthy
devotees generated global enlightenment partially through financing
real estate for Maharishi Universities, Peace Palaces, herbal products
and Peace Assemblies with thousands of meditators.
TM instructors are "Governors" or "Ministers" of the Age of
Enlightenment, because "they govern in the real of consciousness."
Lofty golden-crowned Rajas are spiritually responsible for large
geographic regions, having paid one million dollars for their "raja
training." TM2s spiritual communities exchange the "Raam" as legal
tender for purchased goods, to avoiding the use of tainted currency
from the outside "world of ignorance." They claim not to be a cult.
Believing with my well-intentioned loved ones, I watched devotees
donate entire trust funds, become psychotic, and decline needed
medical treatment in favor of Maharishi Ayur-Ved (R) medicinals. A few
committed suicide. Our leaders taught us that hardships were brought
upon ourselves. No one blamed over indulgence in trance-like
meditation or a circuitous theology. After all, no one drank Kool-
Aid(R).
"The world is as you visualize it. Meditate to perform spontaneous
right action. You will do less and accomplish more until eventually
you do nothing and accomplish everything from the source of unbounded
pure awareness within."
In 1998 my children and I left our mediation community to enter the
real world, where parents are held accountable for child negligence
and suicide motives are questioned. In the real world, no supreme
authority holds the key to the universe.
Young adults raised in the TM Movement continue to arrive to my San
Rafael home as they struggle to function outside their controlled Ayur-
Vedic lifestyle. We alternately laugh and cry over shared histories,
incomprehensible to outsiders.
One recent October evening in San Rafael, my heart raced with a quiet
rapt audience in the auditorium, listening to a sophisticated
presentation for a pilot stress reduction program. The David Lynch
Foundation selected Terra Linda High School to grant $175,000 for a
Transcendental Meditation(TM) club. I wished they had chosen a school
elsewhere, so I would not have to come forth. My only thought was,
"They cannot have these kids."
Onstage before me, my former cult community unfolded in promotional
film clips of Iowa's TM community. I gasped to watch my old friend
teaching at the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. Marilyn
is my son2s godmother; I was her maid of honor. Marilyn's Maharishi
teaching job offers no medical benefits; she cannot survive on their
stipend. She had confided fears about speaking her mind, lest her
beloved community ostracize her. Her son had only recently spent a
weekend with me, preparing to enter the outside world. He had
previously learned to fear outsiders who "live in ignorance." Not
surprisingly, San Francisco's warm accepting folks shocked him.
At the high school presentation, David Lynch foundation presenters
failed to mention that twenty-minutes-twice-per-day may create an
addictive state, leading to dependence upon prolonged meditation, or
that increased group involvement may potentially become a suffocating
group dynamic. They explained, "Transcendental Meditation(TM) is not a
religion."
Did the secretive initiation ceremony, higher teachings of God
Consciousness, or mantras derived from Hindu deities cause the New
Jersey Circuit Court of appeals to declare TM a religion in 1979?
After educated objections, legal threats and my letter to the school
board, the Lynch Foundation withdrew from my children's high school.
Now David Lynch promotes his book, "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation,
Consciousness and Creativity," explaining that creative ideas come
during his daily TM sessions. The famed producer fails to mention
proper Transcendental Meditation(TM) instruction, "Pay no heed to
arising thoughts. Gently return attention to the mantra, allowing the
thoughts to leave. You will transcend beyond thought to pure Being,
the source of all thought and creativity." Since Lynch heeds thoughts
in meditation, he practices TM improperly. Does he quietly brainstorm
twice daily, while receiving spiritual accolades for large donations
to spread Maharishi's teachings?
I cannot help but wonder, between creative film endeavors, if Lynch
experienced the lifestyle of those committed to the method he
promotes.
copyright 2007 Gina Catena.
Gina Catena is an early "Child of the Age of Enlightenment," raised in
the Transcendental Meditation organization. She and her children left
the Transcendental Meditation Movement twenty years ago and quietly
recreated their lives in San Rafael, California.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm153.html
...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 14:29
David Lynch2s Shockingly Peaceful Inner Life
New York Times/December 31, 2007
By Alex Williams
If you were looking for a Tom Cruise to preach to a new generation the
gospel of Transcendental Meditation, a hippie-era spiritual practice
espousing inner harmony, David Lynch would be one of the least likely
candidates.
As the director who conjured the reptilian mutant baby of 3Eraserhead4
and the dancing dwarf of 3Twin Peaks,4 Mr. Lynch has built his career
by imposing his nightmares on the rest of us.
The idea of the inscrutable David Lynch, Hollywood2s leading
surrealist and eccentric, reborn as the guru of bliss seems a little
odd even to Mr. Lynch himself.
Now 60, he remembers how he recoiled from the concept when he heard
about it in the late 1960s, when the movement 7 founded by the Indian
spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 7 was experiencing its first
wave of popularity among young people in the West thanks to
proselytizing by pop stars like the Beatles and Donovan.
3The word 1harmony2 would make me want to puke,4 recalled Mr. Lynch=
,
speaking on a clear, chilly afternoon in the glassed-in painting
studio atop his Modernist concrete-walled house in the Hollywood
Hills. Even as an Eagle Scout and a popular student at a public high
school in Alexandria, Va., he composed paintings, influenced by the
grotesqueries of Francis Bacon, in a studio with walls that he and a
friend painted black.
3Meditation would be a sickening thing to consider, because you want
that edge to create,4 he said, wearing worn khaki trousers and a
tattered black sports jacket with a hole in the right elbow the size
of a saucer. 3I don2t want to be a namby-pamby.4
Besides, he added, 3you would get chicks when you2re angry.4
That all changed in 1973, when the future filmmaker discovered
meditation, which he believes allowed him to quiet 7 and exploit 7 his
inner demons. He said that he has not missed a day since.
And now, the low-key auteur is emerging as the most visible, even
fiery, proponent of the resurgent practice, which is being used
increasingly in schools and in the workplace, as well as by a new
generation of stars, including Heather Graham, Laura Dern and the
record executive Rick Rubin.
In July 2005, Mr. Lynch began the David Lynch Foundation, which
finances Transcendental Meditation scholarships for students in middle
schools and high schools to study the practice. Later that year, he
embarked on a series of lectures on college campuses that attracted
significant attention in the news media.
This winter, Mr. Lynch is taking the message to the masses. His
autobiography-cum-self-help book, 3Catching the Big Fish: Meditation,
Consciousness, and Creativity4 (Tarcher/Penguin), will be released
this week. Next month, he will preside over a series of readings and
discussions, in tandem with concerts by Donovan, at Lincoln Center in
New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Kodak Theater in
Los Angeles.
3It2s weird,4 said Mr. Lynch, in the flat folksy accent of his native
Missoula, Mont., speaking of his increasing involvement. 3I guess it2s
as simple as this: I wish I had heard it earlier.4
The idea of David Lynch serving as the spokesman for anything is a bit
of a stretch. Mr. Lynch suffers from a lifelong fear of public speaking
7 3I still hate it,4 he said 7 and will happily recount how he has
tape-recorded speeches at home for awards ceremonies, then played them
into the microphone at the podium.
3I call him 1the reluctant yogi,2 4 said Robert Roth, a spokesman f=
or
the Transcendental Meditation organization and the vice president of
the foundation. It was Mr. Roth who initially nudged Mr. Lynch onto
the college lecture circuit. He added: 3If I didn2t say, 1Please ask
questions,2 David would just stand up there. He doesn2t care how
awkward anyone else feels.4
Transcendental Meditation is a trademarked mental technique introduced
by Maharishi in 1958 based on the proposition that a practitioner, by
repeating a private mantra throughout two 20-minute sessions a day,
can achieve a state of 3restful alertness47 and, theoretically, tap
into a 3unified field4 of energy. The training process involves
working with personal instructors over five days at one of about 1,000
Transcendental Meditation centers worldwide, and it costs about
$2,500.
In the 260s, adherents posed Transcendental Meditation as a natural
alternative to mind-expanding drugs like LSD. Now, proponents,
including Mr. Lynch, argue that it can serve as an antidote to a
stress-filled world, particularly for adolescents. Mr. Lynch cites his
increasing concern for young people as the primary reason he launched
his crusade.
3David has become a huge promoter of T.M.,4 said Donovan, whose real
name is Donovan Leitch. Mr. Leitch learned the practice from Maharishi
himself, along with the Beatles, Mia Farrow and Mike Love of the Beach
Boys, in Rishikesh, India, in 1968. Mr. Leitch added that Mr. Lynch
has been able to 3capitalize4 on his fame and 3redirect meditation
back where it belongs, with the students.4
Transcendental Meditation faded from the pop culture landscape after
the 270s. Before Mr. Lynch, a marquee celebrity advocate was the
illusionist Doug Henning, who died in 2000. But it hardly disappeared.
Maharishi, now believed to be 90, still directs the movement, which
claims more than 6 million adherents, from a log house on a 65-acre
compound in the Dutch village of Vlodrop. The organization operates
the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa; its own
incorporated town, Vedic City (population 325), is nearby.
Over the years, the practice has been the subject of numerous
scientific studies, including one by the University of Michigan Health
System in 2003, which indicated that sixth graders who were practicing
such meditation appeared to score significantly higher on tests of
self-esteem and emotional competence.
But critics allege that it can inspire an unhealthy devotion. Rick A.
Ross, who operates a nonprofit research organization in Jersey City
called the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults,
Controversial Groups and Movements, said that the evidence he has
studied indicates that Transcendental Meditation can be relaxing when
not practiced excessively. But the movement fits some criteria he uses
to define cults. It is 3a personality-driven group, with Maharishi as
its totalitarian leader,4 Mr. Ross said, which at its extremes 3can be
seen as one in which people lose much of their ability for critical
thinking.4
But Mr. Lynch, who was raised Presbyterian, insisted that
Transcendental Meditation is neither a cult nor a theology, but simply
a practice one learns, then pursues in private.
As an artist, Mr. Lynch said, it has allowed him to unleash his
imagination and be, in a word, weirder. He said that many of his ideas
7 the 3big fish4 of his book2s title 7 come to him during meditat=
ion.
Among these big fish are the sitcom-starring rabbits and the Greek
chorus of prostitutes in his fantastical three-hour new film, 3Inland
Empire,4 now showing in limited release.
Of course, artists are allowed their quirks, and Mr. Lynch revels in
his. Last month, to campaign for an Academy Award nomination for Laura
Dern, the star of his new movie, Mr. Lynch sat on the corner of
Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea with a cow and a giant poster of Ms.
Dern2s face.
Early in his career, while other Hollywood hopefuls were losing
themselves to cocaine, Mr. Lynch got strung out on milkshakes,
visiting a Los Angeles Bob2s Big Boy almost daily for seven years. Now
more health conscious, he favors the veggie burgers at Astro Burger.
3To be a grown-up and to do what you want to do is the most beautiful
thing,4 he said, his gray-flecked hair pomaded into what looked like a
tangle of swaying prairie grass. 3But this doesn2t happen for most
people. Sadly, they have to make ends meet.4
For these people, Mr. Lynch argues in the book, meditation can be a
way out. For example, an unhappy insurance salesman who learns to
3dive within4 will find his soul-crushing commutes and stale
breakfasts enlivened by ideas. Little by little, Mr. Lynch said, the
salesman will find his weekdays 3becoming more like Saturday morning 7
the sun is coming out, this beautiful warmth, with his favorite
breakfast, birds chirping.4
3If you were a burglar, you2d become a much better burglar,4 he added=
.
3But after a while, you would probably say, well, wait a minute. You
would probably have compassion for people you were burglarizing. You
might even bring some stuff back.4
The director2s goal is to raise $7 billion to help open seven 3peace
universities4 around the world. He also endorses Maharishi2s belief
that a mass demonstration of 3yogic flying4 7 a so-called 3advanced
technique4 in which meditators, seated in the lotus position, begin
hopping in unison and theoretically start to hover 7 can radiate
peaceful energy out to the world. (Asked if he had tried this, he
responded: 3Yes.4 Did it work? 3No.4)
Mr. Lynch writes in his book that he began meditating on the
recommendation of his sister, Martha. At the time, Mr. Lynch was a
year into a torturous five-year quest to complete his first feature
film, 3Eraserhead,4 which was released in 1977, and was separating
from his first of three wives, Peggy Lentz.
3There was a hollowness inside,4 he recalled. 3I thought, something i=
s
drastically wrong.4
He dropped in on a Transcendental Meditation center. After 20 minutes,
he felt a weight lifted.
3The side effect of growing that consciousness,4 he explained, 3is,
negative things start going away. Like fear. It2s like the suffocating
rubber clown suit begins to dissolve.4 Certainly, the teachings of
gentle-voiced Maharishi never made Mr. Lynch go soft. 3You don2t have
to suffer to show suffering,4 he said of the violence in his movies.
The filmmaker sees no contradiction between inner harmony and external
edginess.
3I heard Charles Bukowski started meditation late in his life,4 Mr.
Lynch said, referring to the poet laureate of Skid Row, who died in
1994. 3He was an angry, angry guy, but he apparently loved
meditation.4
Of course, just as meditation never got Mr. Lynch over a taste for the
macabre, it never quenched Mr. Bukowski2s famous thirst for whiskey.
3Well, maybe in time, it would have,4 Mr. Lynch said with a smile. 3I=
n
the meantime 7 just more enjoyment of the whiskey.4
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm150.html
Filmmaker David Lynch is leading a meditation revival
St. Louis Post-Dispatch/December 29, 2006
By Brooke Sopelsa
David Lynch, the filmmaker whose darkly inspired works have included
"Eraserhead," "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive," is unsettling
viewers once again with the release of his newest film, "Inland
Empire," which stars Laura Dern as an actress in trouble.
But what's really on the director's mind is not the movie but his new
book, "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and
Creativity." Much of this autobiographical work, due out in January,
is about Lynch's life as a devotee of Transcendental Meditation.
Lynch says the turbulent, bizarrely off-kilter world he creates in his
films owes much to his daily meditation practice.
"The artist doesn't have to suffer to show suffering," Lynch said.
With meditation, "you enjoy things more, and ideas flow, and you catch
them at a deeper level."
A half-century after the practice was brought to the United States by
an Indian spiritual leader and popularized by the Beatles,
Transcendental Meditation is undergoing a revival of sorts. And in a
twist stranger than one of his own plot lines, Lynch is at the center
of TM's resurgence.
Lynch, 60, has practiced TM for half of his life but has been speaking
out in public to promote it for only the past year.
He's hoping that his book and a foundation he formed last year to
promote TM in schools will bring the practice to others. But there are
critics of his efforts, and some are going so far as to call TM a
cult.
Lynch had been looking into different meditation techniques in 1973
when he got a phone call from his sister. She said she had been
practicing Transcendental Meditation, and Lynch noticed a quality of
happiness in her voice. Shortly thereafter, he went to a TM center in
Los Angeles, where he was taught the technique by a woman he thought
looked like Doris Day. Since then, he claims to have not missed a
meditation in 30 years.
TM practitioners meditate for 20 minutes twice a day, sitting down
with eyes closed and repeating a personalized mantra. Practitioners
say the focused meditation reduces stress levels, increases
intelligence and promotes a deep sense of restfulness. And some
believe that if enough people participated in TM, it could lead to
world peace.
Lynch got the idea for his foundation in early 2005. At a TM
conference, he heard a principal at an inner-city school in Washington
speak about how a program to teach students TM helped reduce violence
and increase academic performance.
That got Lynch thinking: TM could relieve the stress plaguing young
people. He decided to use his name and money to promote and subsidize
the technique he had found so valuable in his own life.
Four months later, in July 2005, he formed the David Lynch Foundation
to get the word out about TM to middle school and high school
students. According to Bob Roth, the vice president of Lynch's
foundation, the organization has already financed TM programs in 30
schools, with roughly 100 more schools waiting for help. About $3
million 7 including $200,000 of Lynch's money 7 has been spent on the
programs, and the proceeds of Lynch's book will go to the programs.
"Education today is fact-based, how many facts a teacher can cram into
a kid's brain," Roth said. The foundation strives to complement this
fact-based education by expanding a student's capacity for information
so he or she can learn more with less stress and less pressure, he
said.
Without the foundation's support, learning the TM technique would be a
pricy undertaking for a student. A typical introductory course at one
of the more than 100 TM centers around the country costs $2,500. The
introductory course includes four one-hour sessions, which cover the
history of the practice, first introduced in the United States by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and how to perform the meditation technique
correctly.
Those associated with TM say the price is relatively high because it
includes a lifetime of follow-up and support, but critics see it
differently. Rick Ross of the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of
Destructive Cults and Controversial Groups and Movements claims much
of the cash is going to the Maharishi.
"The guru controls a financial empire now reportedly worth between $5
billion and $8 billion," Ross said. "This would make him the richest
purported cult leader of the 21st century."
Roth responded that the Maharishi lives modestly and that TM, a
trademarked form of meditation, is a subsidiary of a nonprofit
organization called Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corp. and
must account for every penny it receives from its courses. He also
said the National Institutes of Health had given grant money to
research the effects of TM.
Despite the controversy, some schools are welcoming TM and the David
Lynch Foundation. At the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit, a
public charter school for kindergarten through eighth grade, more than
100 pupils practice TM twice a day in the school gym.
"I did it because I think it's the healthy thing to do," said
principal Carmen N'Namdi, a longtime TM practitioner. "The students
really have enjoyed it. They like it, and they say they feel more
rested and calmed down."
But other schools have taken a pass on the free program. The Terra
Linda High School in San Rafael, Calif., backed out after a parent
accused the TM group of being a cult.
"The actual meditation itself is absolutely nothing but sitting down,
closing your eyes and counting Hindu sheep," said Susan Crittenden,
the parent who made the charges. But "it's also a philosophy of life,
and that's what you're not told about."
Crittenden should know. After being introduced to TM in the 1970s by a
college professor, her life changed dramatically, and not for the
better. Her increasing involvement in the TM philosophy "really
distracted me from my goals, and I became distant from my family," she
recalled. She dropped out of college to become a TM teacher.
She stopped practicing TM in 1978 after the Jonestown Massacre.
"I knew if the Maharishi passed around Kool-Aid and told us to drink
it, I knew I would have taken it," she said.
But while TM has its critics, Lynch has given the meditation technique
two thumbs up, saying it helps his creativity flow.
" 'Catching the Big Fish' refers to catching ideas," Lynch said.
His book describes how he comes up with ideas for his films, how he
puts his thoughts into action and how consistent meditation has helped
him become one of the world's most famous film directors.
"A side effect of transcending is negativity starts to recede," Lynch
said. "Energy, understanding and appreciation grow and you can get
deeper in a story."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm149.html
A Guru And A Vacant Hotel
With 1 Building Empty, Concern Over Another
Hartford Courant/December 25, 2006
By Kenneth R. Gosselin
At its opening, the hotel on Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford
was described as almost too luxurious for the city.
Today, its owner is marketing the vacant, decaying structure as worth
$10 million - but there are no takers. Hartford's mayor says the
building should be torn down.
The 12-story hotel, empty for a dozen years, has been a troubling
obstacle for those who see the building as part of a crucial gateway
to the city. The sale price set by the Maharishi School of Vedic
Sciences Inc., its owner since 1995, has been too high to make any
redevelopment, hotel or otherwise, financially possible, observers
say.
And now, as WFSB, Channel 3, next door on the plaza prepares to sell
its studios - known as Broadcast House - and move to the suburbs,
there is the concern that yet another building in the same high-
visibility location could go dark.
The two buildings - or at least the land they occupy - are seen as
vital to enhancing riverfront development around Columbus Boulevard.
With both buildings vacant, visitors entering the city would be
greeted with an even more desolate streetscape at the end of the
Founders Bridge.
Mayor Eddie A. Perez said he probably will propose a redevelopment
zone encompassing the two buildings. Rezoning the property would allow
the city to work with whoever buys the WFSB building - and it would
give the city the option of acquiring the hotel by eminent domain, a
highly controversial practice.
In the hotel's place, Perez envisions a 15-story residential tower,
either apartments or condominiums. He's not bothered by slow condo
sales and apartment rentals at new downtown residential developments.
He said that momentum will build, and that any construction on
Constitution Plaza would be a few years away anyway.
Demolition of the 42-year-old hotel figures prominently in those plans
and development could include the Broadcast House property - just
yards away.
Although Perez would prefer that private developers take the lead, he
said the city may have no choice but to take over the hotel site. The
city would then seek development proposals.
"There is the real unpredictability of the owner's desire to sell,"
Perez said. "You're not dealing with a traditional real estate
investor."
`Impossible To Deal With'
The hotel - most recently a Clarion - was bought for $1.5 million by
the school for transcendental meditation, founded by the guru to the
Beatles. Now on the market for $10 million, according to a listing on
the Internet, the price breaks down to about $50 a square foot for the
200,000-square-foot structure.
Similar vacant buildings in the central business district might sell
for about $20 a square foot, according to local architects and
commercial real estate brokers.
Based on that average, the old hotel should be priced closer to $4
million.
Doors along the plaza level of the building are chained shut. Some
graffiti - "SANTA IS REAL," for instance - was evident last week, but
the structure appears to be intact. The ravages of time can be seen
through the windows: Wallboard is crumbling and radiator covers are
falling off.
And now, when the plaza is host to the Festival of Lights, the hotel
is a dark, hulking presence.
Developers have made several attempts to acquire the hotel, which
opened in 1964 as the Hotel America, and was later a Sonesta, then a
Summit. Deals collapsed over the asking price for the property, which
has bounced between $5 and $17 million, according to city officials.
"The Maharishi is impossible to deal with," said David Ong, president
of Acquest Realty Advisors Inc., of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., which
wanted to resurrect the building as a hotel in 2000. "We were never
able to make a deal that made economic sense."
"At the end of the day," Ong said, "they are land speculators."
A representative of the Maharishi did not return several calls seeking
comment.
The Maharishi may be holding out for rising commercial real estate
values in downtown Hartford, but the building is increasingly standing
out as a gaping hole in an area that has been abuzz with
redevelopment.
The air is filled with the sound of construction nearby. Cranes strain
under the weight of steel structural beams at the science center site
across Columbus Boulevard. And, to the west, workers swing hammers as
student housing and apartments rise at the old Sage-Allen department
store site.
Ong, who studied the hotel extensively, said the structure would
require a gutting if it were to remain a hotel, particularly because
the rooms are much smaller than those today.
The renovation of older buildings, particularly vacant ones, are more
expensive than simply erecting a new structure. That's why getting the
lowest sales price is key to making the projects work financially.
Architect Anthony Amenta, of Amenta/Emma in Hartford, said sellers
"practically [would] have to give the building away" for a project to
be viable.
The city saw that earlier this year, when two real estate partners
paid $7 million for the historic Connecticut Mutual headquarters in
Asylum Hill in Hartford, well below the original $13 million asking
price. That 11.2-acre facility features 450,000 square feet of office
space and a 662-space parking garage. The developers plan to spend up
to $30 million on that property.
Some say the hotel site on Constitution Plaza has potential for use as
a hotel or perhaps as a hotel combined with condominiums. The latter
arrangement is gaining high-profile popularity in larger cities such
as New York, where the famed Plaza Hotel is undergoing such a
makeover.
Two Key Parcels
Perez said he believes a fresh start at the hotel site, however, would
benefit the riverfront area, and views from residential units to the
river would be "spectacular."
Demolition would cost about $2 million and would include removing
asbestos believed to be in the building, Amenta said. Without the
building, the land - less than an acre - could be worth between $1.5
and $2 million, according to Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut, the
commercial real estate firm.
The city also views Broadcast House as just as key as the hotel,
particularly since it is at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and State
Street. The city had sought to acquire the property when it was
negotiating to keep the television station in downtown Hartford.
The city would have gained control of Broadcast House, essentially
swapping it for a city-owned parcel near Main and Trumbull, where WFSB
had considered building a new facility.
WFSB, a CBS affiliate, decided to build a new facility in Rocky Hill,
which is expected to be ready in late spring or early fall.
The station now has a contract with a prospective buyer, and expects
to know in early January if the sale will go through. If that doesn't
happen, the station's general manager said WFSB would consider
restarting talks with the city.
"We would absolutely consider it, with them or anyone else," station
general manager Klarn DePalma said.
The city would be very receptive to those discussions, said John
Palmieri, the city's director of development services.
The success of redevelopment efforts involving Broadcast House and the
hotel are critical not only to the riverfront but to Constitution
Plaza itself, which is starting to put behind it a legacy of failed
1960s urban renewal, observers say.
The two prominent office towers on the plaza have been renovated by
owner Capital Properties of New York. One tower - One Constitution
Plaza - is now 90 percent leased, and the other - 100 Constitution
Plaza - is 65 percent leased, with a major tenant, the insurer XL
America, according to Cushman & Wakefield broker Jonathan K. Putnam,
the leasing agent.
A restaurant - Spris - has been open for six years.
If hurdles over the sale of the hotel could be cleared, Ong said, he
would still be interested in the site.
"I'd be back in a heartbeat," he said. "It's a marvelous location."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm148.html
Montgomery to Maharishi: Thanks but no thanks
Planning Board panel meditates only briefly before rejecting request
to build Global Country of World Peace facility on Cherry Valley
Road.
Princeton Packet/December 5, 2006
By Jake Uitti
Montgomery 7 Representatives of Global Country of World Peace 7 an
organization started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of
Transcendental Meditation, a movement that advocates world peace
through meditation in schools, vedic architecture and herbal remedies
7 came before the Montgomery Township Master Plan Committee on Monday
with a request to open a facility off Cherry Valley Road.
Montgomery officials said thanks, but no thanks.
The township's Master Plan Committee unanimously found that the
request violates both the township's zoning and its Master Plan.
"It is an institutional use in a residential zone," said Steven Sacks-
Wilner, chairman of the Master Plan Committee. "And not just any
residential zone 7 it is an environmentally sensitive, very preserved,
important part of the town and it's our edge with Princeton."
The location of the proposed College of Vedic Medicine is a 60-acre
tract at the corner of Cherry Valley and Mountain View roads.
The practice of Vedic medicine espouses therapeutic measures relating
to physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony. Former students of
the Maharishi include the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Clint Eastwood.
The proposed development was for a college-like facility with students
focusing on transcendental meditation, massage therapy and
preventative healing, among other techniques.
Officials from the organization said the facility would be a research
university for students to meditate, explore the human consciousness
and apply their findings from the meditation to research to better the
world.
The facility would include a spa, an administration building, parking
lots, classroom facilities and housing and dining.
Although the site would be used as an "educational facility," said
Paul Potter, regional director for the New York-based group, it would
not be the type of college with loud parties and other aspects of
college life that often come to mind. Instead, it would be mostly
older people meditating, he said.
Officials from Global Country of World Peace said they liked the site
off Cherry Valley Road because it was quiet, peaceful and embedded in
nature.
They said they were seeking a site in the Princeton area because it
would connect with Albert Einstein's idea of "unified field" 7 or an
attempt to unify the world's fundamental forces and interactions.
"It would be a very powerful influence of peace to the whole world,"
said Mr. Potter. "We are here to offer that opportunity."
The proposed site includes wetlands and stream corridors, Mr. Sacks-
Wilner said, and it is an area of the township with unpaved roads and
extensive open-space holdings.
Mayor Louise Wilson said she encouraged the organization to look at
other parts of the township that were not zoned residential that may
be more suitable.
Officials from Global Country of World Peace can make an application
before the township's Zoning Board of Adjustment if they wish to
request permission to build on the site, or they can go to the
Township Committee and request a zoning change.
They can seek zoning variances based on special reasons, township
Planner Richard Coppola said, but they would have to demonstrate that
their application does not violate township zoning or the Master
Plan.
Global Country of World Peace officials would have to demonstrate that
the tract is particularly well suited for what they want to do, more
so than other tracts, and that the proposed facility does not have any
adverse impact on the public good, and that it is compatible with
zoning and the Master Plan.
Dozens of Montgomery residents came to Monday's meeting and expressed
concern about the proposed facility, claiming it would take up too
much land and, as a nonprofit organization, would not pay property
taxes.
Global Country of World Peace also recently met with Princeton
officials to informally talk about a location on Bunn Drive in
Princeton Township for an 18-acre facility between Poor Farm Road and
Herrontown Woods.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm147.html
'Peace palace' planned for Springs
Colorado Springs Gazette/December 1, 2006
By Debbie Kelley
3Peace palaces4 promoting holistic health programs will be built in
Colorado Springs and 20 other cities across the nation if the Colorado
Health Facilities Authority approves a request for $51 million in
revenue bonds Monday.
A nonprofit headquartered in Fairfield, Iowa, the Global Country of
World Peace, will construct and operate the centers.
The local palace will cost up to $4.5 million and be located on 3
acres adjacent to Maharishi Ayurveda Products International Inc., a
research, manufacturing and distribution center on Elkton Drive off
Garden of the Gods Road. The privately held corporation produces a
holistic health care line of Indian herbal supplements, teas, gourmet
foods and beauty products. It also operates the Maharishi
Enlightenment Center where Transcendental Meditation techniques and
stress-relief programs are available.
Each peace center will be a 12,000 square foot, two-story building
covered in white marble and will feature exhibition and lecture halls,
offices, residential rooms and a dining hall. Health and wellness
classes in the Ayurveda tradition of ancient health-care teachings and
practices that originated in India will be offered. Ayurveda is
Sanskrit for 3science of life.4
Some of the other cities that will get peace palaces include St. Paul,
Minn., Long Island, N.Y., Charlottesville, Va. and Mayfield Heights,
Ohio. Three states, New York, Kansas and Texas, will have regional
peace palaces.
Proceeds from the bonds also will be used to finance an 816-acre
organic farm in Goshen, N.Y.
The bonds should be issued by the end of this year, said Jennifer
Dunn, an independent financial advisor with Ponder & Co. in Chicago.
3We2ve done a financial review of the project and model and feel
comfortable with it,4 said Dunn, who is advising the authority.
The Colorado Health Facilities Authority, a Denver nonprofit that has
a governor-appointed board but is not a government agency, issues more
than $200 million in revenue bonds each year to health-related
nonprofits, including nursing homes, assisted living centers and
hospitals, according to executive director Corinne Johnson.
Because Colorado is a multi-state issuer of revenue bonds, the
authority can approve bonds to out-of-state borrowers, Dunn said.
3When some of the bond proceeds will be spent on projects in Colorado,
the authority will step up and help finance the whole thing. It2s a
huge benefit to the borrower 7 otherwise they2d have to go through the
process of issuing smaller bonds.4
Global Country of World Peace will be responsible for paying out the
interest on the debt.
The organization plans to build a total of 3,000 peace centers in
cities around the world.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm146.html
Developer gets OK for Delta expansion
Rutland Herald/November 29, 2006
By Daniel Barlow
Brattleboro -- The owner of the Delta Campus, a 130-acre property on
the edge of town that will combine businesses and homes side by side,
is moving forward with expansion plans, but has temporarily dropped a
controversial plan to develop some open lands.
Delta Campus founder Robert Johnson, who also owns Brattleboro's Omega
Optical, received approval last week amending the site's planned unit
development, allowing him to proceed with plans next year to build new
homes and commercial properties.
The approval from Brattleboro's Development Review Board last week
switches one lot from housing to commercial and splits up another lot
into two parcels. Gordon Bristol, a former state legislator who is
representing Johnson for this project, said Tuesday that it will allow
for further development plans next year.
"With the first phase of the project finished, I would call this phase
1.5," Bristol said. "Phase 2 will include the construction of new
homes at the top of the hill, but we are moving slowly now as we gauge
the conditions of the housing market."
One of the likely tenants at Delta Campus is the Maharishi Peace
Palace, a school that teaches transcendental meditation. The group
recently opened a center in downtown Brattleboro. The Maharishi Peace
Palace is formed around the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a
spiritual leader who captivated the attention of 1960s rock bands such
as The Beatles.
Shirley Boncheff, the director of the local Maharishi school, said she
hopes to break ground in spring 2007 on a two-story, 6,000 square foot
"peace palace" at the Delta Campus.
She said the building will be constructed according to Maharishi
standards, including rooms laid out according to the cardinal points
to create a "harmonizing and peaceful feel."
"We love the location," Boncheff said of the Delta Campus. "We also
love the people involved. And the idea of mixing commercial with
residential properties is very exciting."
Johnson did drop the third part of his PUD change proposal last week
which would have allowed him to develop 25 of the 90 acres of land
that he had previously dedicated as open space. If that part of the
plan was approved, as many as 80 new homes could be built there.
Craig Miskovich, the chairman of Brattleboro's Development Review
Board, said Tuesday that the board had some concerns about that part
of Johnson's plan and requested more information on it before making a
decision.
Instead, the developer returned on Nov. 20 and announced it would
withdraw that request.
"Open space is a valuable element of PUDs," Miskovich said. "So the
board wanted to try and balance the social good of having open space
with the social good of new affordable housing."
Bristol said that proposed development is still being considered and
Delta Campus may return soon to the DRB with that request. He said the
DRB had some questions concerning that part of the plan which he and
others didn't yet have answers for.
"We decided that now was not the time," Bristol said.
Johnson, a graduate of Brattleboro Union High School, founded Omega
Optical nearly 40 years ago in his garage with electronic equipment
salvaged from junkyards. The $10 million company now employs about 125
people and recently moved out of a converted church in downtown
Brattleboro to a 32,000 square foot headquarters at the Delta Campus.
The unique Delta Campus, along the south end of Brattleboro near the
Guilford border at a former automobile dump, combines green building
techniques with state-of-the-art technology, including producing its
own electricity with two biodiesel generators.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm145.html
Guru wants to build peace palace
Arlington: City to decide if holistic institute can be built with tax-
exempt bonds
Dallas Morning News/November 22, 2006
By Jeff Mosier
Arlington 6 The New Age movement that tried to erect the world's
tallest skyscraper in Denton County and claims to teach its followers
the secrets of levitation and invisibility now wants to construct a
palace in Arlington.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation and one-
time guru to the Beatles, plans to build 3,000 Peace Palaces
worldwide. One of the first is expected to be built on vacant land
that was once home to Arlington's poshest inn and later became a
magnet for drug addicts, prostitutes and arsonists.
Richard Quinn, a representative of Global Country of World Peace, said
people could study transcendental meditation and "Yogic Flying" as
well as receive spa treatments and "Vedic" health care at the palace.
He said the closest comprehensive facility of its type is in Iowa.
"It's the most thoroughly researched program of natural health care in
the world," said Mr. Quinn, a resident of Bay Shore, N.Y. Movement
leaders insist that it's a science, not a religion, although it does
blend elements of ancient Hindu writing and mind-bending quantum
physics.
Ultimately, the group's Web site explains, it expects the Peace Palace
to help reduce crime, make countries invulnerable to attack and create
heaven on Earth.
The Arlington City Council must decide whether to allow the Global
Country of World Peace, which has its own sovereign rule, to construct
the 12,000-square-foot palace with tax-exempt bonds. Arlington
wouldn't be financially liable for the bonds, but federal law requires
the city, county or state to hold a public hearing before the bonds
could be issued.
Rejecting the bonds could make the Peace Palace more costly but
wouldn't necessarily stop it.
Medical concerns
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said he would vote against the project
and hopes the palace doesn't come to his city. As a physician, he's
concerned about their medical claims, especially regarding treatments
for cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases.
"If you have a chronic life-threatening disease, you need to receive
medical attention," Dr. Cluck said. "If you go to alternative
medicine, it's my opinion that you are wasting time. And when you have
a serious illness, time is health."
Supporters point to hundreds of studies, many by mainstream
institutions, that show the benefits of Transcendental Meditation.
Those studies have often said the TM 6 as it's commonly called 6 is
beneficial for reducing stress that can play a part in high blood
pressure and other medical problems. However, some research has
disputed the more elaborate claims, and there has been no scientific
proof of claims that advanced mediators can fly, become invisible or
affect world events through mass meditation.
Some accounts of the "Yogic Flyers" describe them as young men,
sitting in the lotus position and bouncing up in the air 6 "glorified
bum-hopping" as one skeptic called the practice.
At least one Arlington City Council member is concerned about whether
the property would be tax exempt since its owner is a nonprofit.
Maharishi representatives said they would pay property taxes, although
some city officials insist on written assurances.
Easy access
The 19.4 acres on Avenue H East, book-ended by a world-renowned spa
and a Shell gas station, would be considered a desirable location for
a hotel or industrial business because of its easy highway access and
proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Also, a new
interchange at State Highway 360 and Interstate 30 could also make for
easier access and an even bigger bump in property tax payments.
The site has been owned by several different Maharishi companies since
1993 and is valued at $1.27 million by the Tarrant Appraisal
District.
Mel LeBlanc, a City Council member whose district includes the Peace
Palace land, said he needs more information and assurances. He's
concerned about how the organization ran the former Hotel Santa Fe in
Dallas.
For decades, it was the fancy Hilton Inn, with its equally famous
Trader Vic's tiki-themed bar, at Mockingbird Lane and North Central
Expressway. Later, under the management of a Maharishi company, it was
mostly a derelict high-rise with cheap rates and few customers that
once served as a way station for a murderer planning to flee the
country.
The property didn't start turning around until the new owners bought
it for the Hotel Palomar project, with hotel rooms starting at $289
per night, and condos selling for as much as $1.75 million.
"I know there were concerns raised in the past in Dallas," Mr. LeBlanc
said. "I want to make sure they are a good corporate citizen."
The Maharishi Global Development Fund, another business arm of the
Maharishi, was also a high-profile failure in the local real estate
market.
First, the fund vowed to build the world's tallest skyscraper in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, but that failed. Shortly afterward, in 2000, it
proposed constructing a building just as tall in The Colony, a town of
nearly 40,000 that had no skyscrapers.
That failed project also led to an FBI investigation and accusations
of conflict of interest on the part of the former mayor of The Colony,
who was hired by the Maharishi's company as a real estate consultant.
The organization, however, has successfully built a Peace Palace in
the Houston suburbs and a sprawling national headquarters in rural
Iowa. The Raj, an Iowa spa, has received national acclaim.
Now, the group wants to bring a little life and peace to a troubled
area of Arlington.
The site on Avenue H East, in the Great Southwest Industrial District,
sprang to life in 1962 as the Inn at Six Flags.
Once a swanky place
Known as one of the ritziest hotels in town, the occasional celebrity
would stay in one of the VIP villas. President Ronald Reagan, during
his acting days, spoke at an event, and John Wayne moseyed through at
least once.
Its Crystal Palace room was used for formal events and banquets for
Arlington's movers and shakers, but the inn deteriorated over the
years.
In 1993, then called the Flagship Inn, it was purchased by one of the
Maharishi's companies. Later, arson damaged the building and it sat
mostly vacant for years. By the late 1990s, it closed and became a
draw for teens, vagrants, drug users and prostitutes.
Another fire, also arson, gutted part of the hotel in 2001, and it was
torn down the following year.
Now, a couple of tall signs 6 one proclaims "Flagship Inn
Registration" 6 stand guard over the empty, wooded field.
Mr. Quinn said he fully expects the palace to be built. He said to
ignore the for sale sign that's still on the property 6 it's not on
the market anymore.
He also said the existence of the Watson Cemetery across the street
wouldn't block the development. The group's guidelines prohibit
palaces from being constructed on land where a graveyard is visible
from the land or prominently visible when approaching the land.
The Global Country of World Peace Web site says: "If the land does not
meet all the following criteria please do not consider this land as a
possibility."
"People don't need to be thinking about death when they come to a
place to enhance their life," Mr. Quinn said.
But in this case, he explained, it's not a hard and fast rule.
Requirements for peace palace site
The main entrance to the building must be facing east or north.
There is no prominent body of water 6 river, lake or ocean 6 near the
land to the south or west. If there is a prominent body of water it
must be to the north or east.
The land is flat or slopes east or north or can be made flat.
There can be no sunrise delay of more than 12 minutes caused by
mountains.
No high-tension power lines may be on the land or near the land.
No graveyards may be visible from the land or prominently visible when
approaching the land.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm144.html
Yogi's group chooses 3 Cuyahoga sites for 'Peace Palaces'
Cleveland Plain Dealer/November 17, 2006
By Joan Mazzolini
The movement founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi plans to build what
it calls Peace Palaces in Parma, Strongsville and Mayfield Heights,
hoping to further its goal of world peace by "unifying all nations in
happiness, prosperity, invincibility and perfect health."
The group, Global Country of World Peace, plans 3,000 such peace
palaces worldwide but chooses sites carefully, based on "harmony with
Natural Law." The sites can't be near graveyards or high-tension
electric lines. They can't be on hills that block the sunrise.
The nearly identical 12,000-square-foot palaces became fodder on
Thursday for an unusual discussion by Cuyahoga County commissioners,
whose approval was needed for the group to get a loan.
The group wants to borrow $51 million to build peace palaces, through
the sale of bonds by the Colorado Health Facilities Authority.
Cuyahoga County is not responsible for the tax-exempt financing.
Global Country of World Peace has already bought four to five acres
each in Parma and Mayfield Heights and is arranging for a site in
Strongsville.
The group is headquartered in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, which was
incorporated in 2001 and is near Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa.
Both the town and school were developed as centers for transcendental
meditation, which gained renown when the Beatles became students of
the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The peace palaces are expected to cost $13 million.
The rest of the $51 million might be used to build palaces elsewhere.
In an advertisement about the bond sale, the group mentioned 13 other
locations, including Arlington, Texas, and St. Paul, Minn., according
to bond attorney Susan Price of Peck, Shaffer & Williams in Columbus.
It's not clear how many of the palaces have opened.
Fifteen people likely would work at each of the centers, which would
focus on helping people with chronic disorders and stress relief.
"The natural health facilities will offer a broad range of 52
programs," Richard Quinn, Global Country representative, said.
Transcendental meditation and other programs would be available, as
would day spa activities. Quinn told the commissioners, who had
numerous questions, that the group isn't a religion and follows
ayurveda, an ancient Indian healing system.
The group bought land on Huffman Road in Parma earlier this year for
$1.025 million, according the Cuyahoga County Auditor's Web site. It
also bought land on Lander Road in Mayfield Heights for $1.3 million.
No Strongsville property is listed. Price said she did not know if the
sale there had been completed.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm143.html
Om on the Grange
They're Seriously Meditating In Fairfield, Iowa
Washington Post/November 12, 2006
By Gary Lee
It was late afternoon in Fairfield, Iowa, and townsfolk were preparing
for the daily ritual.
Marie-Helene Tourenne, who serves up sublime French fare at the Petit
Paris restaurant, removed her apron, left the coq au vin to simmer and
exited the kitchen. Lonica Halley, co-owner of Natural Selections, a
shop offering organic goods, left the store in the care of her
assistant. Even Ed Malloy, the amiable silver-haired mayor, ended a
meeting and strode out of his conference room.
The three joined a flow of more than a thousand people headed about a
mile north of town to the Maharishi University of Management (MUM) and
its pair of golden domes, 25,000-square-foot structures that rise
above the rolling farmland's barns and silos. There, the pilgrims sat
on mats, chairs or the hardwood floor with their backs to a massive
altar, facing eastward toward a blank wall. For 20 minutes they
remained motionless, in silence.
Five o'clock is meditation time in this town of 9,500, about 100 miles
southeast of Des Moines.
While other '70s-era spiritual movements are fading, Transcendental
Meditation -- or TM, a relaxation and awareness technique using
carefully calibrated breathing methods -- is thriving here. Besides
the MUM campus, practitioners can pore over meditation literature at
21st Century Books. They can visit Maharishi Vedic City, a model town
founded by TM followers just outside Fairfield. Or they can shop at
Thymely Solutions, which specializes in homeopathic remedies, and
other boutiques started by meditators.
Fairfielders on different sides of the meditation divide, uneasy with
one another in the early years, now appear to commingle easily. TM
followers point to the ascendance of Malloy -- now serving his third
mayoral term -- as a sign of their acceptance. Most non-meditators
agree.
By Malloy's account, TM disciples make up a quarter of Fairfield's
population. While some prefer to stay in their homes or offices for
the exercise, a growing number take part in the group sessions, which
are also held at 7:30 each morning. (Iowans aren't alone: According to
TM spokesman Bob Roth, the number of those who practice it nationwide
is about 5 million and rising.)
Whatever venue they use for their focused relaxation, Fairfield's
meditators insist that this town should be near the top of every
traveler's destination list, above all for the sense of peace and
positive spirit that meditation brings it.
Camille Jorgenson echoed the kind of endearment most locals hold
toward the place. A 40-something meditator who moved here in the early
'90s, Jorgenson co-owns a company that imports gourmet organic
products from Italy and elsewhere. "The power of group meditation
makes this one of the most positive-spirited places I know," she said.
"Everybody should have the opportunity to see it."
I made a trip to Fairfield and Vedic City last month to do just that.
Although not a meditator, I wanted to see how these two tiny dots on
the Midwest map became a center of meditation. The answer, it turns
out, was simple.
The movement's Iowa roots go back to 1973, when TM founder Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi started a university in Fairfield. Though many questioned
whether it could survive, today MUM (where mediation is a required
subject) is a thriving campus, 850 students strong and best known for
its computer science and sustainable development programs.
In 2001, Vedic City was founded by meditators four miles north of
Fairfield; it now attracts several thousand curious travelers a year,
according to Fairfield tourism officials. "City" is a bit of an
overstatement: Organized around 10 circles, it's a scattering of New
Age wooden buildings that extends across a bit more than a square
mile. Rooms at the Raj, a health spa, and the Rukmapura Park Hotel
have been set aside for meditation.
The town applies Vedic principles, traditions dating to ancient India
that are designed to bring peace, prosperity and spiritual well-being
to those who practice them. TM is one of the best known Vedic
traditions. But it also pertains to a style of architecture in which
the placement of a building and its rooms are oriented in relation to
the sun's movement. All of Vedic City's 200 or so buildings, including
office buildings and homes for its 200 to 300 residents, were built
using those guidelines. Food growing, education and other aspects of
life also have been aligned with the principles of Veda, the holy
scripture of Hinduism.
To an outsider, TM seemed intangible and a bit cultish at first. After
observing the group meditation session at MUM, I met on campus with
Roth and Norman Zierold, another spokesman for the TM movement.
"[It's] not hard or complicated," Roth said. "It's a deep-breathing
technique that helps relax the body and mind. When people really get
engaged in it, many of them want to change other aspects of their
lives, such as diet. But TM doesn't require that." It calls only for
practitioners to meditate for 20 minutes twice a day, he explained.
The training can be received from specialists in almost any American
city and costs $2,500, including four days of lessons and follow-up
consultations.
As I explored the area, the odd marriage of TM culture and folksy
Midwestern mores made for some amusing scenes. In a breakfast stop at
Revelations, a popular cafe in Fairfield, a couple of farmhands sipped
black coffee and discussed plans to repair a broken tractor. At the
next table, two women debated whether reiki therapy might deepen their
meditation experience.
But the alluring aspects of this place eclipsed the quirkiness.
Fairfield, whose low-rise buildings are concentrated around a
sprawling green square, was easy enough to explore on foot. The town's
galleries (there are more than two dozen) and boutiques drew me in and
kept me occupied for hours.
The most accessible venue for viewing the gamut of visual art offered
is 1st Fridays Arts Walk, an open-air display of paintings, live music
and street theater staged around the town square every month. Even the
brisk winters don't stop the show.
Unable to visit during that event, I picked up the flavor of it pretty
easily during a hop through some of the galleries. The best: the
Fairfield Arts Association, a gigantic space that regularly exhibits
shows from the most accomplished painters and sculptors in the area;
Americus Gallery, featuring Monet-like landscapes of France and Italy
by the owner, Christopher Edward Kufner; and Icon Gallery, run by
local art aficionado Bill Teeple, which hosts shows of big names from
across the country and abroad.
Later, in a makeshift theater near downtown, I caught a performance of
the Encore Players' "Musical of Musicals," which cleverly riffed
"Oklahoma!," "Mame" and other well-known Broadway shows. Between the
paintings and the show, the artistic talent here was impressive, high-
spirited -- and a happy surprise.
To see Vedic City, which is ungated and open to the public, you can
book a guided tour in Fairfield or pick up a map and do it yourself.
When Roth offered to show me around, I jumped in his Jeep for a
firsthand look.
It was a Sunday, so we stopped for the weekly brunch offered by Dean
and Christine Goodale on the hilly lawn of their Vedic City organic
farm. The all-you-can-eat gourmet spread, including stuffed crepes and
house-made fruit tarts, is served, weather permitting, on picnic
tables for $15 a head. There I met architect Jonathan Lipman, who
moved from Washington and now designs buildings in Vedic style here
and in other parts of the country. He walked me through the basic idea
behind Sthapatya Ved, the Vedic components of building design.
The key is to align all rooms to take full advantage of the sun as it
moves overhead, he explained. The kitchen is usually best in the
southeast corner; the living room should face west; and the master
bedroom should be in the southwest corner.
Interested to see these rules applied, I was delighted when Jorgenson
and her husband, Chris, invited me to visit their home, a spacious one-
story structure with sweeping ceilings and vast open areas. "It sounds
like a cliche," Chris Jorgenson said, "but living in a place like this
makes you feel healthier and more balanced."
Beyond their living spaces, Vedic City residents are big on healthful
foods. A Vedic City ordinance bans the use of chemicals in plant
production; most of the produce is grown by a few organic farms.
I visited one, a 12-acre sprawl of vegetables perched on a hillside,
and Steve McClaskey, the horticulturalist who runs the farm, guided me
around. In the outdoor garden and adjacent greenhouse, there were
vines hanging heavy with cherry tomatoes, clusters of broccoli and
rows of Swiss chard. With this heavy accent on healthy living, it's no
wonder that Mother Jones magazine, the bible for the ecologically
minded, earlier this year named Fairfield among the dozen best places
to live that you've never heard of.
Back in Fairfield, I met with Malloy and asked how his town had
merited such a distinction. He cited the unusual mood of tolerance for
diversity, the heavy support for the arts and the myriad small
businesses. "If small-town America has a future," he said, "it's going
to look something like this."
It sounded like the kind of thing a mayor would say.
But as the day wound down, I paused to look at the town square with
its gazebo, at a nearby row of ethnic restaurants, at a woman dressed
in a bright blue sari walking past. Perhaps there was something in the
mayor's words, I thought.
And then, suddenly, a parade of cars started moving past in the
direction of the golden domes. It was meditation time again.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm142.html
Another Cult Classic from David Lynch
Radar Magazine/November 9, 2006
By Allison Mooney
If you thought David Lynch was out there, wait until you read his
book. In recent months, the oddball auteur behind Mulholland Drive and
Blue Velvet has been stumping for his spiritual discipline of choice,
Transcendental Meditation. In January, he'll issue a book on the
practice, which critics deride as an Eastern-flavored cousin to
Scientology and Kabbalah.
Lynch makes no secret that Catching the Big Fish is a tool to win
converts. "The book is about his commitment to Transcendental
Meditation and his wish to spread his beliefs in what it can
accomplish," says his editor, Mitch Horowitz. The filmmaker, who
learned the method from His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (who was
famously dismissed as a fraud by his onetime pupil John Lennon), has
said he practices TM for 20 minutes every day.
Of course, for readers to embrace Lynch's convictions, they'll first
have to understand them. Catching the Big Fish's 85 un-numbered
chapters cover such abstruse topics as "The Unified Field" ("It's
there, within, within, within"), "The Fourth State" ("you get a little
jolt of bliss"), and "The Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit" (of
depression and anger, natch). The entire text of one chapter, "The Box
and the Key," consists of this statement: "I have no idea what those
are." Thanks, Dave!
If these musings seem disconnected, it could be because the chapters
are merely transcriptions of comments Lynch made during a speaking
tour of colleges last fall. (At least that's the speculation on some
blogs). Proceeds from the book will go to his foundation, which
promotes "consciousness-based education," and to which Lynch has
already donated over $400,000 of his own money. The David Lynch
Foundation offers scholarships to junior high and high school students
to study TM, and Bob Roth, the foundation's vice president, says it
also plans to establish "universities of world peace" in the next few
years.
Not everybody wants their kids' consciousness tampered with, however.
Parents at a high school in Marin County, California, protested plans
for an intramural meditation club, calling it a form of religion and a
cult. The blowback ultimately forced the foundation to withdraw the
$175,000 it had pledged, which would have provided funds for 250
students and 25 staffers to practice TM.
Readers who buy Catching the Big Fish seeking enlightenment on Lynch's
inscrutable plots (as opposed to the nature of existence) are bound to
be disappointed. In a chapter about his newest film, Inland Empire
(whose release will coincide with the publication of the book), Lynch
writes, "I really had this feeling that if there's a Unified Field,
there must be a unity between a Christmas tree bulb and this man from
Poland who came in wearing these strange glasses." And if you're
wondering what that means, you'll find the answer within, within,
within.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm141.html
Hansen: Iowa meditators shield Lebanon, rally stocks
Des Moines Register/October 24, 2006
By Marc Hansen
If you follow the news, you might have noticed two seemingly unrelated
developments.
One, the hurricane season has been a dud. Last year, it was one killer
tropical storm after another. This year, we're still waiting for the
big one to crash onto the shoreline.
The forecasts were frightening. This hurricane season was supposed to
be worse than the last, when Katrina and her friends led to more than
2,000 deaths and billions of dollars in destruction.
Two, the stock market has moved into record territory, with the Dow
Jones industrial average closing at 12,116.91, its best historical
close.
A coincidence? No, the Maharishi Effect.
It's the 1,200 advanced Transcendental meditators who are camping out
for six hours a day in Fairfield and elsewhere, "creating coherence in
national consciousness" and changing the national mood.
Granted, it sounds flaky. One physicist called similar research on
falling crime rates in Washington, D.C., "voodoo science."
But since the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi himself predicted this would
happen back in July, who are we to argue?
It's important to challenge mainstream thinking. You don't want to be
the guy who told Guglielmo Marconi there was no future in wireless
communications.
The man in charge of the "Invincible America Course" is John Hagelin,
a quantum physicist who graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth,
earned a doctorate from Harvard and was a researcher at Stanford
before moving to Fairfield and becoming the director of the Institute
of Science, Technology and Public Policy at the Maharishi University
of Management.
He also ran for president three times as a third-party candidate and
collected lots of votes in Jefferson County.
He isn't running this time, mostly because he's busy making sure the
United States is surrounded with a protective shield of collective
consciousness.
This isn't something a person does in a regular 40-hour work week, so
it took a while to catch up with him. When I did, he was in the
Netherlands on a European speaking tour.
The original idea, he said, was to restore peace in Lebanon.
I wasn't sure how a group of 1,200 "yogic flyers" in Iowa and another
200 in Washington, D.C., could stop the bombing in the Middle East.
But Hagelin is convinced it did. He answers the skeptics by referring
to field-tested, peer-reviewed documentation in 600 studies and 250
independent research institutes around the world.
"We are not disconnected from each other," he said. "We influence each
other. Wars are nothing other than the outburst of pent-up societal
stress in critical hot spots."
Get a large group of hard-core meditators together for six hours at a
time, things happen. The mind settles down, awareness expands ... and
expands ... until it permeates the collective consciousness. The
stress level goes down, people stop shooting each other.
"We weren't using the leverage we have in that part of the world,"
Hagelin said. "We weren't encouraging moderation on Israel's part. We
started this course principally to provide a cooling influence and
sanity in our foreign policy."
It wasn't long before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was
changing her plans and flying to Lebanon. A few days later, the United
States was helping craft a cease-fire.
"It was quite an amazing turnabout," he said.
The good feelings spill over into the economy. Consumer confidence
picks up, which leads to more optimism, a better economy and higher
stock prices.
"The stock market," Hagelin said, "was a side effect, an expression of
the collective mood."
Stocks up, gas prices down. Consumer confidence rises, unemployment
drops.
Stocks won't grow straight to the sky, Hagelin warned. There will be
burps and corrections and mini-panics. But the swings won't be so
extreme.
I asked Hagelin if he made a killing with this really inside
information.
No.
"If we were smart," he said with a laugh, "we would have scraped
together some money and invested it. My limited resources were
invested already outside the market."
All right, then. If meditation works so well in Lebanon, why not
Iraq?
"Lebanon was easier to quell," Hagelin said, "because the political
solutions were easy. Iraq is an entrenched mess. The mistakes that
have been made will take time to unwind. Iraq is a victim of intense
social stress of its own. Saddam was a great contributor to that. It's
there in spades, but it can be unwound. We have to give the Iraqis and
their geographical neighbors a big dose of this stress-reducing
technology. At some point, when tensions are less acute, an act of
violence no longer results in a retaliatory act. Then you suddenly tip
the equation into a state of de-escalating violence."
Iraq won't be as easy, he said, but the union of modern science and
ancient wisdom can be a wonderful thing.
Don't rule it out. Don't be the guy who doubted Marconi.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm140.html
...and I am Sid Harth
New York Times/December 31, 2007
By Alex Williams
If you were looking for a Tom Cruise to preach to a new generation the
gospel of Transcendental Meditation, a hippie-era spiritual practice
espousing inner harmony, David Lynch would be one of the least likely
candidates.
As the director who conjured the reptilian mutant baby of 3Eraserhead4
and the dancing dwarf of 3Twin Peaks,4 Mr. Lynch has built his career
by imposing his nightmares on the rest of us.
The idea of the inscrutable David Lynch, Hollywood2s leading
surrealist and eccentric, reborn as the guru of bliss seems a little
odd even to Mr. Lynch himself.
Now 60, he remembers how he recoiled from the concept when he heard
about it in the late 1960s, when the movement 7 founded by the Indian
spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 7 was experiencing its first
wave of popularity among young people in the West thanks to
proselytizing by pop stars like the Beatles and Donovan.
3The word 1harmony2 would make me want to puke,4 recalled Mr. Lynch=
,
speaking on a clear, chilly afternoon in the glassed-in painting
studio atop his Modernist concrete-walled house in the Hollywood
Hills. Even as an Eagle Scout and a popular student at a public high
school in Alexandria, Va., he composed paintings, influenced by the
grotesqueries of Francis Bacon, in a studio with walls that he and a
friend painted black.
3Meditation would be a sickening thing to consider, because you want
that edge to create,4 he said, wearing worn khaki trousers and a
tattered black sports jacket with a hole in the right elbow the size
of a saucer. 3I don2t want to be a namby-pamby.4
Besides, he added, 3you would get chicks when you2re angry.4
That all changed in 1973, when the future filmmaker discovered
meditation, which he believes allowed him to quiet 7 and exploit 7 his
inner demons. He said that he has not missed a day since.
And now, the low-key auteur is emerging as the most visible, even
fiery, proponent of the resurgent practice, which is being used
increasingly in schools and in the workplace, as well as by a new
generation of stars, including Heather Graham, Laura Dern and the
record executive Rick Rubin.
In July 2005, Mr. Lynch began the David Lynch Foundation, which
finances Transcendental Meditation scholarships for students in middle
schools and high schools to study the practice. Later that year, he
embarked on a series of lectures on college campuses that attracted
significant attention in the news media.
This winter, Mr. Lynch is taking the message to the masses. His
autobiography-cum-self-help book, 3Catching the Big Fish: Meditation,
Consciousness, and Creativity4 (Tarcher/Penguin), will be released
this week. Next month, he will preside over a series of readings and
discussions, in tandem with concerts by Donovan, at Lincoln Center in
New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Kodak Theater in
Los Angeles.
3It2s weird,4 said Mr. Lynch, in the flat folksy accent of his native
Missoula, Mont., speaking of his increasing involvement. 3I guess it2s
as simple as this: I wish I had heard it earlier.4
The idea of David Lynch serving as the spokesman for anything is a bit
of a stretch. Mr. Lynch suffers from a lifelong fear of public speaking
7 3I still hate it,4 he said 7 and will happily recount how he has
tape-recorded speeches at home for awards ceremonies, then played them
into the microphone at the podium.
3I call him 1the reluctant yogi,2 4 said Robert Roth, a spokesman f=
or
the Transcendental Meditation organization and the vice president of
the foundation. It was Mr. Roth who initially nudged Mr. Lynch onto
the college lecture circuit. He added: 3If I didn2t say, 1Please ask
questions,2 David would just stand up there. He doesn2t care how
awkward anyone else feels.4
Transcendental Meditation is a trademarked mental technique introduced
by Maharishi in 1958 based on the proposition that a practitioner, by
repeating a private mantra throughout two 20-minute sessions a day,
can achieve a state of 3restful alertness47 and, theoretically, tap
into a 3unified field4 of energy. The training process involves
working with personal instructors over five days at one of about 1,000
Transcendental Meditation centers worldwide, and it costs about
$2,500.
In the 260s, adherents posed Transcendental Meditation as a natural
alternative to mind-expanding drugs like LSD. Now, proponents,
including Mr. Lynch, argue that it can serve as an antidote to a
stress-filled world, particularly for adolescents. Mr. Lynch cites his
increasing concern for young people as the primary reason he launched
his crusade.
3David has become a huge promoter of T.M.,4 said Donovan, whose real
name is Donovan Leitch. Mr. Leitch learned the practice from Maharishi
himself, along with the Beatles, Mia Farrow and Mike Love of the Beach
Boys, in Rishikesh, India, in 1968. Mr. Leitch added that Mr. Lynch
has been able to 3capitalize4 on his fame and 3redirect meditation
back where it belongs, with the students.4
Transcendental Meditation faded from the pop culture landscape after
the 270s. Before Mr. Lynch, a marquee celebrity advocate was the
illusionist Doug Henning, who died in 2000. But it hardly disappeared.
Maharishi, now believed to be 90, still directs the movement, which
claims more than 6 million adherents, from a log house on a 65-acre
compound in the Dutch village of Vlodrop. The organization operates
the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa; its own
incorporated town, Vedic City (population 325), is nearby.
Over the years, the practice has been the subject of numerous
scientific studies, including one by the University of Michigan Health
System in 2003, which indicated that sixth graders who were practicing
such meditation appeared to score significantly higher on tests of
self-esteem and emotional competence.
But critics allege that it can inspire an unhealthy devotion. Rick A.
Ross, who operates a nonprofit research organization in Jersey City
called the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults,
Controversial Groups and Movements, said that the evidence he has
studied indicates that Transcendental Meditation can be relaxing when
not practiced excessively. But the movement fits some criteria he uses
to define cults. It is 3a personality-driven group, with Maharishi as
its totalitarian leader,4 Mr. Ross said, which at its extremes 3can be
seen as one in which people lose much of their ability for critical
thinking.4
But Mr. Lynch, who was raised Presbyterian, insisted that
Transcendental Meditation is neither a cult nor a theology, but simply
a practice one learns, then pursues in private.
As an artist, Mr. Lynch said, it has allowed him to unleash his
imagination and be, in a word, weirder. He said that many of his ideas
7 the 3big fish4 of his book2s title 7 come to him during meditat=
ion.
Among these big fish are the sitcom-starring rabbits and the Greek
chorus of prostitutes in his fantastical three-hour new film, 3Inland
Empire,4 now showing in limited release.
Of course, artists are allowed their quirks, and Mr. Lynch revels in
his. Last month, to campaign for an Academy Award nomination for Laura
Dern, the star of his new movie, Mr. Lynch sat on the corner of
Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea with a cow and a giant poster of Ms.
Dern2s face.
Early in his career, while other Hollywood hopefuls were losing
themselves to cocaine, Mr. Lynch got strung out on milkshakes,
visiting a Los Angeles Bob2s Big Boy almost daily for seven years. Now
more health conscious, he favors the veggie burgers at Astro Burger.
3To be a grown-up and to do what you want to do is the most beautiful
thing,4 he said, his gray-flecked hair pomaded into what looked like a
tangle of swaying prairie grass. 3But this doesn2t happen for most
people. Sadly, they have to make ends meet.4
For these people, Mr. Lynch argues in the book, meditation can be a
way out. For example, an unhappy insurance salesman who learns to
3dive within4 will find his soul-crushing commutes and stale
breakfasts enlivened by ideas. Little by little, Mr. Lynch said, the
salesman will find his weekdays 3becoming more like Saturday morning 7
the sun is coming out, this beautiful warmth, with his favorite
breakfast, birds chirping.4
3If you were a burglar, you2d become a much better burglar,4 he added=
.
3But after a while, you would probably say, well, wait a minute. You
would probably have compassion for people you were burglarizing. You
might even bring some stuff back.4
The director2s goal is to raise $7 billion to help open seven 3peace
universities4 around the world. He also endorses Maharishi2s belief
that a mass demonstration of 3yogic flying4 7 a so-called 3advanced
technique4 in which meditators, seated in the lotus position, begin
hopping in unison and theoretically start to hover 7 can radiate
peaceful energy out to the world. (Asked if he had tried this, he
responded: 3Yes.4 Did it work? 3No.4)
Mr. Lynch writes in his book that he began meditating on the
recommendation of his sister, Martha. At the time, Mr. Lynch was a
year into a torturous five-year quest to complete his first feature
film, 3Eraserhead,4 which was released in 1977, and was separating
from his first of three wives, Peggy Lentz.
3There was a hollowness inside,4 he recalled. 3I thought, something i=
s
drastically wrong.4
He dropped in on a Transcendental Meditation center. After 20 minutes,
he felt a weight lifted.
3The side effect of growing that consciousness,4 he explained, 3is,
negative things start going away. Like fear. It2s like the suffocating
rubber clown suit begins to dissolve.4 Certainly, the teachings of
gentle-voiced Maharishi never made Mr. Lynch go soft. 3You don2t have
to suffer to show suffering,4 he said of the violence in his movies.
The filmmaker sees no contradiction between inner harmony and external
edginess.
3I heard Charles Bukowski started meditation late in his life,4 Mr.
Lynch said, referring to the poet laureate of Skid Row, who died in
1994. 3He was an angry, angry guy, but he apparently loved
meditation.4
Of course, just as meditation never got Mr. Lynch over a taste for the
macabre, it never quenched Mr. Bukowski2s famous thirst for whiskey.
3Well, maybe in time, it would have,4 Mr. Lynch said with a smile. 3I=
n
the meantime 7 just more enjoyment of the whiskey.4
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm150.html
Filmmaker David Lynch is leading a meditation revival
St. Louis Post-Dispatch/December 29, 2006
By Brooke Sopelsa
David Lynch, the filmmaker whose darkly inspired works have included
"Eraserhead," "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive," is unsettling
viewers once again with the release of his newest film, "Inland
Empire," which stars Laura Dern as an actress in trouble.
But what's really on the director's mind is not the movie but his new
book, "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and
Creativity." Much of this autobiographical work, due out in January,
is about Lynch's life as a devotee of Transcendental Meditation.
Lynch says the turbulent, bizarrely off-kilter world he creates in his
films owes much to his daily meditation practice.
"The artist doesn't have to suffer to show suffering," Lynch said.
With meditation, "you enjoy things more, and ideas flow, and you catch
them at a deeper level."
A half-century after the practice was brought to the United States by
an Indian spiritual leader and popularized by the Beatles,
Transcendental Meditation is undergoing a revival of sorts. And in a
twist stranger than one of his own plot lines, Lynch is at the center
of TM's resurgence.
Lynch, 60, has practiced TM for half of his life but has been speaking
out in public to promote it for only the past year.
He's hoping that his book and a foundation he formed last year to
promote TM in schools will bring the practice to others. But there are
critics of his efforts, and some are going so far as to call TM a
cult.
Lynch had been looking into different meditation techniques in 1973
when he got a phone call from his sister. She said she had been
practicing Transcendental Meditation, and Lynch noticed a quality of
happiness in her voice. Shortly thereafter, he went to a TM center in
Los Angeles, where he was taught the technique by a woman he thought
looked like Doris Day. Since then, he claims to have not missed a
meditation in 30 years.
TM practitioners meditate for 20 minutes twice a day, sitting down
with eyes closed and repeating a personalized mantra. Practitioners
say the focused meditation reduces stress levels, increases
intelligence and promotes a deep sense of restfulness. And some
believe that if enough people participated in TM, it could lead to
world peace.
Lynch got the idea for his foundation in early 2005. At a TM
conference, he heard a principal at an inner-city school in Washington
speak about how a program to teach students TM helped reduce violence
and increase academic performance.
That got Lynch thinking: TM could relieve the stress plaguing young
people. He decided to use his name and money to promote and subsidize
the technique he had found so valuable in his own life.
Four months later, in July 2005, he formed the David Lynch Foundation
to get the word out about TM to middle school and high school
students. According to Bob Roth, the vice president of Lynch's
foundation, the organization has already financed TM programs in 30
schools, with roughly 100 more schools waiting for help. About $3
million 7 including $200,000 of Lynch's money 7 has been spent on the
programs, and the proceeds of Lynch's book will go to the programs.
"Education today is fact-based, how many facts a teacher can cram into
a kid's brain," Roth said. The foundation strives to complement this
fact-based education by expanding a student's capacity for information
so he or she can learn more with less stress and less pressure, he
said.
Without the foundation's support, learning the TM technique would be a
pricy undertaking for a student. A typical introductory course at one
of the more than 100 TM centers around the country costs $2,500. The
introductory course includes four one-hour sessions, which cover the
history of the practice, first introduced in the United States by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and how to perform the meditation technique
correctly.
Those associated with TM say the price is relatively high because it
includes a lifetime of follow-up and support, but critics see it
differently. Rick Ross of the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of
Destructive Cults and Controversial Groups and Movements claims much
of the cash is going to the Maharishi.
"The guru controls a financial empire now reportedly worth between $5
billion and $8 billion," Ross said. "This would make him the richest
purported cult leader of the 21st century."
Roth responded that the Maharishi lives modestly and that TM, a
trademarked form of meditation, is a subsidiary of a nonprofit
organization called Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corp. and
must account for every penny it receives from its courses. He also
said the National Institutes of Health had given grant money to
research the effects of TM.
Despite the controversy, some schools are welcoming TM and the David
Lynch Foundation. At the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit, a
public charter school for kindergarten through eighth grade, more than
100 pupils practice TM twice a day in the school gym.
"I did it because I think it's the healthy thing to do," said
principal Carmen N'Namdi, a longtime TM practitioner. "The students
really have enjoyed it. They like it, and they say they feel more
rested and calmed down."
But other schools have taken a pass on the free program. The Terra
Linda High School in San Rafael, Calif., backed out after a parent
accused the TM group of being a cult.
"The actual meditation itself is absolutely nothing but sitting down,
closing your eyes and counting Hindu sheep," said Susan Crittenden,
the parent who made the charges. But "it's also a philosophy of life,
and that's what you're not told about."
Crittenden should know. After being introduced to TM in the 1970s by a
college professor, her life changed dramatically, and not for the
better. Her increasing involvement in the TM philosophy "really
distracted me from my goals, and I became distant from my family," she
recalled. She dropped out of college to become a TM teacher.
She stopped practicing TM in 1978 after the Jonestown Massacre.
"I knew if the Maharishi passed around Kool-Aid and told us to drink
it, I knew I would have taken it," she said.
But while TM has its critics, Lynch has given the meditation technique
two thumbs up, saying it helps his creativity flow.
" 'Catching the Big Fish' refers to catching ideas," Lynch said.
His book describes how he comes up with ideas for his films, how he
puts his thoughts into action and how consistent meditation has helped
him become one of the world's most famous film directors.
"A side effect of transcending is negativity starts to recede," Lynch
said. "Energy, understanding and appreciation grow and you can get
deeper in a story."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm149.html
A Guru And A Vacant Hotel
With 1 Building Empty, Concern Over Another
Hartford Courant/December 25, 2006
By Kenneth R. Gosselin
At its opening, the hotel on Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford
was described as almost too luxurious for the city.
Today, its owner is marketing the vacant, decaying structure as worth
$10 million - but there are no takers. Hartford's mayor says the
building should be torn down.
The 12-story hotel, empty for a dozen years, has been a troubling
obstacle for those who see the building as part of a crucial gateway
to the city. The sale price set by the Maharishi School of Vedic
Sciences Inc., its owner since 1995, has been too high to make any
redevelopment, hotel or otherwise, financially possible, observers
say.
And now, as WFSB, Channel 3, next door on the plaza prepares to sell
its studios - known as Broadcast House - and move to the suburbs,
there is the concern that yet another building in the same high-
visibility location could go dark.
The two buildings - or at least the land they occupy - are seen as
vital to enhancing riverfront development around Columbus Boulevard.
With both buildings vacant, visitors entering the city would be
greeted with an even more desolate streetscape at the end of the
Founders Bridge.
Mayor Eddie A. Perez said he probably will propose a redevelopment
zone encompassing the two buildings. Rezoning the property would allow
the city to work with whoever buys the WFSB building - and it would
give the city the option of acquiring the hotel by eminent domain, a
highly controversial practice.
In the hotel's place, Perez envisions a 15-story residential tower,
either apartments or condominiums. He's not bothered by slow condo
sales and apartment rentals at new downtown residential developments.
He said that momentum will build, and that any construction on
Constitution Plaza would be a few years away anyway.
Demolition of the 42-year-old hotel figures prominently in those plans
and development could include the Broadcast House property - just
yards away.
Although Perez would prefer that private developers take the lead, he
said the city may have no choice but to take over the hotel site. The
city would then seek development proposals.
"There is the real unpredictability of the owner's desire to sell,"
Perez said. "You're not dealing with a traditional real estate
investor."
`Impossible To Deal With'
The hotel - most recently a Clarion - was bought for $1.5 million by
the school for transcendental meditation, founded by the guru to the
Beatles. Now on the market for $10 million, according to a listing on
the Internet, the price breaks down to about $50 a square foot for the
200,000-square-foot structure.
Similar vacant buildings in the central business district might sell
for about $20 a square foot, according to local architects and
commercial real estate brokers.
Based on that average, the old hotel should be priced closer to $4
million.
Doors along the plaza level of the building are chained shut. Some
graffiti - "SANTA IS REAL," for instance - was evident last week, but
the structure appears to be intact. The ravages of time can be seen
through the windows: Wallboard is crumbling and radiator covers are
falling off.
And now, when the plaza is host to the Festival of Lights, the hotel
is a dark, hulking presence.
Developers have made several attempts to acquire the hotel, which
opened in 1964 as the Hotel America, and was later a Sonesta, then a
Summit. Deals collapsed over the asking price for the property, which
has bounced between $5 and $17 million, according to city officials.
"The Maharishi is impossible to deal with," said David Ong, president
of Acquest Realty Advisors Inc., of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., which
wanted to resurrect the building as a hotel in 2000. "We were never
able to make a deal that made economic sense."
"At the end of the day," Ong said, "they are land speculators."
A representative of the Maharishi did not return several calls seeking
comment.
The Maharishi may be holding out for rising commercial real estate
values in downtown Hartford, but the building is increasingly standing
out as a gaping hole in an area that has been abuzz with
redevelopment.
The air is filled with the sound of construction nearby. Cranes strain
under the weight of steel structural beams at the science center site
across Columbus Boulevard. And, to the west, workers swing hammers as
student housing and apartments rise at the old Sage-Allen department
store site.
Ong, who studied the hotel extensively, said the structure would
require a gutting if it were to remain a hotel, particularly because
the rooms are much smaller than those today.
The renovation of older buildings, particularly vacant ones, are more
expensive than simply erecting a new structure. That's why getting the
lowest sales price is key to making the projects work financially.
Architect Anthony Amenta, of Amenta/Emma in Hartford, said sellers
"practically [would] have to give the building away" for a project to
be viable.
The city saw that earlier this year, when two real estate partners
paid $7 million for the historic Connecticut Mutual headquarters in
Asylum Hill in Hartford, well below the original $13 million asking
price. That 11.2-acre facility features 450,000 square feet of office
space and a 662-space parking garage. The developers plan to spend up
to $30 million on that property.
Some say the hotel site on Constitution Plaza has potential for use as
a hotel or perhaps as a hotel combined with condominiums. The latter
arrangement is gaining high-profile popularity in larger cities such
as New York, where the famed Plaza Hotel is undergoing such a
makeover.
Two Key Parcels
Perez said he believes a fresh start at the hotel site, however, would
benefit the riverfront area, and views from residential units to the
river would be "spectacular."
Demolition would cost about $2 million and would include removing
asbestos believed to be in the building, Amenta said. Without the
building, the land - less than an acre - could be worth between $1.5
and $2 million, according to Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut, the
commercial real estate firm.
The city also views Broadcast House as just as key as the hotel,
particularly since it is at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and State
Street. The city had sought to acquire the property when it was
negotiating to keep the television station in downtown Hartford.
The city would have gained control of Broadcast House, essentially
swapping it for a city-owned parcel near Main and Trumbull, where WFSB
had considered building a new facility.
WFSB, a CBS affiliate, decided to build a new facility in Rocky Hill,
which is expected to be ready in late spring or early fall.
The station now has a contract with a prospective buyer, and expects
to know in early January if the sale will go through. If that doesn't
happen, the station's general manager said WFSB would consider
restarting talks with the city.
"We would absolutely consider it, with them or anyone else," station
general manager Klarn DePalma said.
The city would be very receptive to those discussions, said John
Palmieri, the city's director of development services.
The success of redevelopment efforts involving Broadcast House and the
hotel are critical not only to the riverfront but to Constitution
Plaza itself, which is starting to put behind it a legacy of failed
1960s urban renewal, observers say.
The two prominent office towers on the plaza have been renovated by
owner Capital Properties of New York. One tower - One Constitution
Plaza - is now 90 percent leased, and the other - 100 Constitution
Plaza - is 65 percent leased, with a major tenant, the insurer XL
America, according to Cushman & Wakefield broker Jonathan K. Putnam,
the leasing agent.
A restaurant - Spris - has been open for six years.
If hurdles over the sale of the hotel could be cleared, Ong said, he
would still be interested in the site.
"I'd be back in a heartbeat," he said. "It's a marvelous location."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm148.html
Montgomery to Maharishi: Thanks but no thanks
Planning Board panel meditates only briefly before rejecting request
to build Global Country of World Peace facility on Cherry Valley
Road.
Princeton Packet/December 5, 2006
By Jake Uitti
Montgomery 7 Representatives of Global Country of World Peace 7 an
organization started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of
Transcendental Meditation, a movement that advocates world peace
through meditation in schools, vedic architecture and herbal remedies
7 came before the Montgomery Township Master Plan Committee on Monday
with a request to open a facility off Cherry Valley Road.
Montgomery officials said thanks, but no thanks.
The township's Master Plan Committee unanimously found that the
request violates both the township's zoning and its Master Plan.
"It is an institutional use in a residential zone," said Steven Sacks-
Wilner, chairman of the Master Plan Committee. "And not just any
residential zone 7 it is an environmentally sensitive, very preserved,
important part of the town and it's our edge with Princeton."
The location of the proposed College of Vedic Medicine is a 60-acre
tract at the corner of Cherry Valley and Mountain View roads.
The practice of Vedic medicine espouses therapeutic measures relating
to physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony. Former students of
the Maharishi include the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Clint Eastwood.
The proposed development was for a college-like facility with students
focusing on transcendental meditation, massage therapy and
preventative healing, among other techniques.
Officials from the organization said the facility would be a research
university for students to meditate, explore the human consciousness
and apply their findings from the meditation to research to better the
world.
The facility would include a spa, an administration building, parking
lots, classroom facilities and housing and dining.
Although the site would be used as an "educational facility," said
Paul Potter, regional director for the New York-based group, it would
not be the type of college with loud parties and other aspects of
college life that often come to mind. Instead, it would be mostly
older people meditating, he said.
Officials from Global Country of World Peace said they liked the site
off Cherry Valley Road because it was quiet, peaceful and embedded in
nature.
They said they were seeking a site in the Princeton area because it
would connect with Albert Einstein's idea of "unified field" 7 or an
attempt to unify the world's fundamental forces and interactions.
"It would be a very powerful influence of peace to the whole world,"
said Mr. Potter. "We are here to offer that opportunity."
The proposed site includes wetlands and stream corridors, Mr. Sacks-
Wilner said, and it is an area of the township with unpaved roads and
extensive open-space holdings.
Mayor Louise Wilson said she encouraged the organization to look at
other parts of the township that were not zoned residential that may
be more suitable.
Officials from Global Country of World Peace can make an application
before the township's Zoning Board of Adjustment if they wish to
request permission to build on the site, or they can go to the
Township Committee and request a zoning change.
They can seek zoning variances based on special reasons, township
Planner Richard Coppola said, but they would have to demonstrate that
their application does not violate township zoning or the Master
Plan.
Global Country of World Peace officials would have to demonstrate that
the tract is particularly well suited for what they want to do, more
so than other tracts, and that the proposed facility does not have any
adverse impact on the public good, and that it is compatible with
zoning and the Master Plan.
Dozens of Montgomery residents came to Monday's meeting and expressed
concern about the proposed facility, claiming it would take up too
much land and, as a nonprofit organization, would not pay property
taxes.
Global Country of World Peace also recently met with Princeton
officials to informally talk about a location on Bunn Drive in
Princeton Township for an 18-acre facility between Poor Farm Road and
Herrontown Woods.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm147.html
'Peace palace' planned for Springs
Colorado Springs Gazette/December 1, 2006
By Debbie Kelley
3Peace palaces4 promoting holistic health programs will be built in
Colorado Springs and 20 other cities across the nation if the Colorado
Health Facilities Authority approves a request for $51 million in
revenue bonds Monday.
A nonprofit headquartered in Fairfield, Iowa, the Global Country of
World Peace, will construct and operate the centers.
The local palace will cost up to $4.5 million and be located on 3
acres adjacent to Maharishi Ayurveda Products International Inc., a
research, manufacturing and distribution center on Elkton Drive off
Garden of the Gods Road. The privately held corporation produces a
holistic health care line of Indian herbal supplements, teas, gourmet
foods and beauty products. It also operates the Maharishi
Enlightenment Center where Transcendental Meditation techniques and
stress-relief programs are available.
Each peace center will be a 12,000 square foot, two-story building
covered in white marble and will feature exhibition and lecture halls,
offices, residential rooms and a dining hall. Health and wellness
classes in the Ayurveda tradition of ancient health-care teachings and
practices that originated in India will be offered. Ayurveda is
Sanskrit for 3science of life.4
Some of the other cities that will get peace palaces include St. Paul,
Minn., Long Island, N.Y., Charlottesville, Va. and Mayfield Heights,
Ohio. Three states, New York, Kansas and Texas, will have regional
peace palaces.
Proceeds from the bonds also will be used to finance an 816-acre
organic farm in Goshen, N.Y.
The bonds should be issued by the end of this year, said Jennifer
Dunn, an independent financial advisor with Ponder & Co. in Chicago.
3We2ve done a financial review of the project and model and feel
comfortable with it,4 said Dunn, who is advising the authority.
The Colorado Health Facilities Authority, a Denver nonprofit that has
a governor-appointed board but is not a government agency, issues more
than $200 million in revenue bonds each year to health-related
nonprofits, including nursing homes, assisted living centers and
hospitals, according to executive director Corinne Johnson.
Because Colorado is a multi-state issuer of revenue bonds, the
authority can approve bonds to out-of-state borrowers, Dunn said.
3When some of the bond proceeds will be spent on projects in Colorado,
the authority will step up and help finance the whole thing. It2s a
huge benefit to the borrower 7 otherwise they2d have to go through the
process of issuing smaller bonds.4
Global Country of World Peace will be responsible for paying out the
interest on the debt.
The organization plans to build a total of 3,000 peace centers in
cities around the world.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm146.html
Developer gets OK for Delta expansion
Rutland Herald/November 29, 2006
By Daniel Barlow
Brattleboro -- The owner of the Delta Campus, a 130-acre property on
the edge of town that will combine businesses and homes side by side,
is moving forward with expansion plans, but has temporarily dropped a
controversial plan to develop some open lands.
Delta Campus founder Robert Johnson, who also owns Brattleboro's Omega
Optical, received approval last week amending the site's planned unit
development, allowing him to proceed with plans next year to build new
homes and commercial properties.
The approval from Brattleboro's Development Review Board last week
switches one lot from housing to commercial and splits up another lot
into two parcels. Gordon Bristol, a former state legislator who is
representing Johnson for this project, said Tuesday that it will allow
for further development plans next year.
"With the first phase of the project finished, I would call this phase
1.5," Bristol said. "Phase 2 will include the construction of new
homes at the top of the hill, but we are moving slowly now as we gauge
the conditions of the housing market."
One of the likely tenants at Delta Campus is the Maharishi Peace
Palace, a school that teaches transcendental meditation. The group
recently opened a center in downtown Brattleboro. The Maharishi Peace
Palace is formed around the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a
spiritual leader who captivated the attention of 1960s rock bands such
as The Beatles.
Shirley Boncheff, the director of the local Maharishi school, said she
hopes to break ground in spring 2007 on a two-story, 6,000 square foot
"peace palace" at the Delta Campus.
She said the building will be constructed according to Maharishi
standards, including rooms laid out according to the cardinal points
to create a "harmonizing and peaceful feel."
"We love the location," Boncheff said of the Delta Campus. "We also
love the people involved. And the idea of mixing commercial with
residential properties is very exciting."
Johnson did drop the third part of his PUD change proposal last week
which would have allowed him to develop 25 of the 90 acres of land
that he had previously dedicated as open space. If that part of the
plan was approved, as many as 80 new homes could be built there.
Craig Miskovich, the chairman of Brattleboro's Development Review
Board, said Tuesday that the board had some concerns about that part
of Johnson's plan and requested more information on it before making a
decision.
Instead, the developer returned on Nov. 20 and announced it would
withdraw that request.
"Open space is a valuable element of PUDs," Miskovich said. "So the
board wanted to try and balance the social good of having open space
with the social good of new affordable housing."
Bristol said that proposed development is still being considered and
Delta Campus may return soon to the DRB with that request. He said the
DRB had some questions concerning that part of the plan which he and
others didn't yet have answers for.
"We decided that now was not the time," Bristol said.
Johnson, a graduate of Brattleboro Union High School, founded Omega
Optical nearly 40 years ago in his garage with electronic equipment
salvaged from junkyards. The $10 million company now employs about 125
people and recently moved out of a converted church in downtown
Brattleboro to a 32,000 square foot headquarters at the Delta Campus.
The unique Delta Campus, along the south end of Brattleboro near the
Guilford border at a former automobile dump, combines green building
techniques with state-of-the-art technology, including producing its
own electricity with two biodiesel generators.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm145.html
Guru wants to build peace palace
Arlington: City to decide if holistic institute can be built with tax-
exempt bonds
Dallas Morning News/November 22, 2006
By Jeff Mosier
Arlington 6 The New Age movement that tried to erect the world's
tallest skyscraper in Denton County and claims to teach its followers
the secrets of levitation and invisibility now wants to construct a
palace in Arlington.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation and one-
time guru to the Beatles, plans to build 3,000 Peace Palaces
worldwide. One of the first is expected to be built on vacant land
that was once home to Arlington's poshest inn and later became a
magnet for drug addicts, prostitutes and arsonists.
Richard Quinn, a representative of Global Country of World Peace, said
people could study transcendental meditation and "Yogic Flying" as
well as receive spa treatments and "Vedic" health care at the palace.
He said the closest comprehensive facility of its type is in Iowa.
"It's the most thoroughly researched program of natural health care in
the world," said Mr. Quinn, a resident of Bay Shore, N.Y. Movement
leaders insist that it's a science, not a religion, although it does
blend elements of ancient Hindu writing and mind-bending quantum
physics.
Ultimately, the group's Web site explains, it expects the Peace Palace
to help reduce crime, make countries invulnerable to attack and create
heaven on Earth.
The Arlington City Council must decide whether to allow the Global
Country of World Peace, which has its own sovereign rule, to construct
the 12,000-square-foot palace with tax-exempt bonds. Arlington
wouldn't be financially liable for the bonds, but federal law requires
the city, county or state to hold a public hearing before the bonds
could be issued.
Rejecting the bonds could make the Peace Palace more costly but
wouldn't necessarily stop it.
Medical concerns
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said he would vote against the project
and hopes the palace doesn't come to his city. As a physician, he's
concerned about their medical claims, especially regarding treatments
for cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases.
"If you have a chronic life-threatening disease, you need to receive
medical attention," Dr. Cluck said. "If you go to alternative
medicine, it's my opinion that you are wasting time. And when you have
a serious illness, time is health."
Supporters point to hundreds of studies, many by mainstream
institutions, that show the benefits of Transcendental Meditation.
Those studies have often said the TM 6 as it's commonly called 6 is
beneficial for reducing stress that can play a part in high blood
pressure and other medical problems. However, some research has
disputed the more elaborate claims, and there has been no scientific
proof of claims that advanced mediators can fly, become invisible or
affect world events through mass meditation.
Some accounts of the "Yogic Flyers" describe them as young men,
sitting in the lotus position and bouncing up in the air 6 "glorified
bum-hopping" as one skeptic called the practice.
At least one Arlington City Council member is concerned about whether
the property would be tax exempt since its owner is a nonprofit.
Maharishi representatives said they would pay property taxes, although
some city officials insist on written assurances.
Easy access
The 19.4 acres on Avenue H East, book-ended by a world-renowned spa
and a Shell gas station, would be considered a desirable location for
a hotel or industrial business because of its easy highway access and
proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Also, a new
interchange at State Highway 360 and Interstate 30 could also make for
easier access and an even bigger bump in property tax payments.
The site has been owned by several different Maharishi companies since
1993 and is valued at $1.27 million by the Tarrant Appraisal
District.
Mel LeBlanc, a City Council member whose district includes the Peace
Palace land, said he needs more information and assurances. He's
concerned about how the organization ran the former Hotel Santa Fe in
Dallas.
For decades, it was the fancy Hilton Inn, with its equally famous
Trader Vic's tiki-themed bar, at Mockingbird Lane and North Central
Expressway. Later, under the management of a Maharishi company, it was
mostly a derelict high-rise with cheap rates and few customers that
once served as a way station for a murderer planning to flee the
country.
The property didn't start turning around until the new owners bought
it for the Hotel Palomar project, with hotel rooms starting at $289
per night, and condos selling for as much as $1.75 million.
"I know there were concerns raised in the past in Dallas," Mr. LeBlanc
said. "I want to make sure they are a good corporate citizen."
The Maharishi Global Development Fund, another business arm of the
Maharishi, was also a high-profile failure in the local real estate
market.
First, the fund vowed to build the world's tallest skyscraper in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, but that failed. Shortly afterward, in 2000, it
proposed constructing a building just as tall in The Colony, a town of
nearly 40,000 that had no skyscrapers.
That failed project also led to an FBI investigation and accusations
of conflict of interest on the part of the former mayor of The Colony,
who was hired by the Maharishi's company as a real estate consultant.
The organization, however, has successfully built a Peace Palace in
the Houston suburbs and a sprawling national headquarters in rural
Iowa. The Raj, an Iowa spa, has received national acclaim.
Now, the group wants to bring a little life and peace to a troubled
area of Arlington.
The site on Avenue H East, in the Great Southwest Industrial District,
sprang to life in 1962 as the Inn at Six Flags.
Once a swanky place
Known as one of the ritziest hotels in town, the occasional celebrity
would stay in one of the VIP villas. President Ronald Reagan, during
his acting days, spoke at an event, and John Wayne moseyed through at
least once.
Its Crystal Palace room was used for formal events and banquets for
Arlington's movers and shakers, but the inn deteriorated over the
years.
In 1993, then called the Flagship Inn, it was purchased by one of the
Maharishi's companies. Later, arson damaged the building and it sat
mostly vacant for years. By the late 1990s, it closed and became a
draw for teens, vagrants, drug users and prostitutes.
Another fire, also arson, gutted part of the hotel in 2001, and it was
torn down the following year.
Now, a couple of tall signs 6 one proclaims "Flagship Inn
Registration" 6 stand guard over the empty, wooded field.
Mr. Quinn said he fully expects the palace to be built. He said to
ignore the for sale sign that's still on the property 6 it's not on
the market anymore.
He also said the existence of the Watson Cemetery across the street
wouldn't block the development. The group's guidelines prohibit
palaces from being constructed on land where a graveyard is visible
from the land or prominently visible when approaching the land.
The Global Country of World Peace Web site says: "If the land does not
meet all the following criteria please do not consider this land as a
possibility."
"People don't need to be thinking about death when they come to a
place to enhance their life," Mr. Quinn said.
But in this case, he explained, it's not a hard and fast rule.
Requirements for peace palace site
The main entrance to the building must be facing east or north.
There is no prominent body of water 6 river, lake or ocean 6 near the
land to the south or west. If there is a prominent body of water it
must be to the north or east.
The land is flat or slopes east or north or can be made flat.
There can be no sunrise delay of more than 12 minutes caused by
mountains.
No high-tension power lines may be on the land or near the land.
No graveyards may be visible from the land or prominently visible when
approaching the land.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm144.html
Yogi's group chooses 3 Cuyahoga sites for 'Peace Palaces'
Cleveland Plain Dealer/November 17, 2006
By Joan Mazzolini
The movement founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi plans to build what
it calls Peace Palaces in Parma, Strongsville and Mayfield Heights,
hoping to further its goal of world peace by "unifying all nations in
happiness, prosperity, invincibility and perfect health."
The group, Global Country of World Peace, plans 3,000 such peace
palaces worldwide but chooses sites carefully, based on "harmony with
Natural Law." The sites can't be near graveyards or high-tension
electric lines. They can't be on hills that block the sunrise.
The nearly identical 12,000-square-foot palaces became fodder on
Thursday for an unusual discussion by Cuyahoga County commissioners,
whose approval was needed for the group to get a loan.
The group wants to borrow $51 million to build peace palaces, through
the sale of bonds by the Colorado Health Facilities Authority.
Cuyahoga County is not responsible for the tax-exempt financing.
Global Country of World Peace has already bought four to five acres
each in Parma and Mayfield Heights and is arranging for a site in
Strongsville.
The group is headquartered in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, which was
incorporated in 2001 and is near Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa.
Both the town and school were developed as centers for transcendental
meditation, which gained renown when the Beatles became students of
the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The peace palaces are expected to cost $13 million.
The rest of the $51 million might be used to build palaces elsewhere.
In an advertisement about the bond sale, the group mentioned 13 other
locations, including Arlington, Texas, and St. Paul, Minn., according
to bond attorney Susan Price of Peck, Shaffer & Williams in Columbus.
It's not clear how many of the palaces have opened.
Fifteen people likely would work at each of the centers, which would
focus on helping people with chronic disorders and stress relief.
"The natural health facilities will offer a broad range of 52
programs," Richard Quinn, Global Country representative, said.
Transcendental meditation and other programs would be available, as
would day spa activities. Quinn told the commissioners, who had
numerous questions, that the group isn't a religion and follows
ayurveda, an ancient Indian healing system.
The group bought land on Huffman Road in Parma earlier this year for
$1.025 million, according the Cuyahoga County Auditor's Web site. It
also bought land on Lander Road in Mayfield Heights for $1.3 million.
No Strongsville property is listed. Price said she did not know if the
sale there had been completed.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm143.html
Om on the Grange
They're Seriously Meditating In Fairfield, Iowa
Washington Post/November 12, 2006
By Gary Lee
It was late afternoon in Fairfield, Iowa, and townsfolk were preparing
for the daily ritual.
Marie-Helene Tourenne, who serves up sublime French fare at the Petit
Paris restaurant, removed her apron, left the coq au vin to simmer and
exited the kitchen. Lonica Halley, co-owner of Natural Selections, a
shop offering organic goods, left the store in the care of her
assistant. Even Ed Malloy, the amiable silver-haired mayor, ended a
meeting and strode out of his conference room.
The three joined a flow of more than a thousand people headed about a
mile north of town to the Maharishi University of Management (MUM) and
its pair of golden domes, 25,000-square-foot structures that rise
above the rolling farmland's barns and silos. There, the pilgrims sat
on mats, chairs or the hardwood floor with their backs to a massive
altar, facing eastward toward a blank wall. For 20 minutes they
remained motionless, in silence.
Five o'clock is meditation time in this town of 9,500, about 100 miles
southeast of Des Moines.
While other '70s-era spiritual movements are fading, Transcendental
Meditation -- or TM, a relaxation and awareness technique using
carefully calibrated breathing methods -- is thriving here. Besides
the MUM campus, practitioners can pore over meditation literature at
21st Century Books. They can visit Maharishi Vedic City, a model town
founded by TM followers just outside Fairfield. Or they can shop at
Thymely Solutions, which specializes in homeopathic remedies, and
other boutiques started by meditators.
Fairfielders on different sides of the meditation divide, uneasy with
one another in the early years, now appear to commingle easily. TM
followers point to the ascendance of Malloy -- now serving his third
mayoral term -- as a sign of their acceptance. Most non-meditators
agree.
By Malloy's account, TM disciples make up a quarter of Fairfield's
population. While some prefer to stay in their homes or offices for
the exercise, a growing number take part in the group sessions, which
are also held at 7:30 each morning. (Iowans aren't alone: According to
TM spokesman Bob Roth, the number of those who practice it nationwide
is about 5 million and rising.)
Whatever venue they use for their focused relaxation, Fairfield's
meditators insist that this town should be near the top of every
traveler's destination list, above all for the sense of peace and
positive spirit that meditation brings it.
Camille Jorgenson echoed the kind of endearment most locals hold
toward the place. A 40-something meditator who moved here in the early
'90s, Jorgenson co-owns a company that imports gourmet organic
products from Italy and elsewhere. "The power of group meditation
makes this one of the most positive-spirited places I know," she said.
"Everybody should have the opportunity to see it."
I made a trip to Fairfield and Vedic City last month to do just that.
Although not a meditator, I wanted to see how these two tiny dots on
the Midwest map became a center of meditation. The answer, it turns
out, was simple.
The movement's Iowa roots go back to 1973, when TM founder Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi started a university in Fairfield. Though many questioned
whether it could survive, today MUM (where mediation is a required
subject) is a thriving campus, 850 students strong and best known for
its computer science and sustainable development programs.
In 2001, Vedic City was founded by meditators four miles north of
Fairfield; it now attracts several thousand curious travelers a year,
according to Fairfield tourism officials. "City" is a bit of an
overstatement: Organized around 10 circles, it's a scattering of New
Age wooden buildings that extends across a bit more than a square
mile. Rooms at the Raj, a health spa, and the Rukmapura Park Hotel
have been set aside for meditation.
The town applies Vedic principles, traditions dating to ancient India
that are designed to bring peace, prosperity and spiritual well-being
to those who practice them. TM is one of the best known Vedic
traditions. But it also pertains to a style of architecture in which
the placement of a building and its rooms are oriented in relation to
the sun's movement. All of Vedic City's 200 or so buildings, including
office buildings and homes for its 200 to 300 residents, were built
using those guidelines. Food growing, education and other aspects of
life also have been aligned with the principles of Veda, the holy
scripture of Hinduism.
To an outsider, TM seemed intangible and a bit cultish at first. After
observing the group meditation session at MUM, I met on campus with
Roth and Norman Zierold, another spokesman for the TM movement.
"[It's] not hard or complicated," Roth said. "It's a deep-breathing
technique that helps relax the body and mind. When people really get
engaged in it, many of them want to change other aspects of their
lives, such as diet. But TM doesn't require that." It calls only for
practitioners to meditate for 20 minutes twice a day, he explained.
The training can be received from specialists in almost any American
city and costs $2,500, including four days of lessons and follow-up
consultations.
As I explored the area, the odd marriage of TM culture and folksy
Midwestern mores made for some amusing scenes. In a breakfast stop at
Revelations, a popular cafe in Fairfield, a couple of farmhands sipped
black coffee and discussed plans to repair a broken tractor. At the
next table, two women debated whether reiki therapy might deepen their
meditation experience.
But the alluring aspects of this place eclipsed the quirkiness.
Fairfield, whose low-rise buildings are concentrated around a
sprawling green square, was easy enough to explore on foot. The town's
galleries (there are more than two dozen) and boutiques drew me in and
kept me occupied for hours.
The most accessible venue for viewing the gamut of visual art offered
is 1st Fridays Arts Walk, an open-air display of paintings, live music
and street theater staged around the town square every month. Even the
brisk winters don't stop the show.
Unable to visit during that event, I picked up the flavor of it pretty
easily during a hop through some of the galleries. The best: the
Fairfield Arts Association, a gigantic space that regularly exhibits
shows from the most accomplished painters and sculptors in the area;
Americus Gallery, featuring Monet-like landscapes of France and Italy
by the owner, Christopher Edward Kufner; and Icon Gallery, run by
local art aficionado Bill Teeple, which hosts shows of big names from
across the country and abroad.
Later, in a makeshift theater near downtown, I caught a performance of
the Encore Players' "Musical of Musicals," which cleverly riffed
"Oklahoma!," "Mame" and other well-known Broadway shows. Between the
paintings and the show, the artistic talent here was impressive, high-
spirited -- and a happy surprise.
To see Vedic City, which is ungated and open to the public, you can
book a guided tour in Fairfield or pick up a map and do it yourself.
When Roth offered to show me around, I jumped in his Jeep for a
firsthand look.
It was a Sunday, so we stopped for the weekly brunch offered by Dean
and Christine Goodale on the hilly lawn of their Vedic City organic
farm. The all-you-can-eat gourmet spread, including stuffed crepes and
house-made fruit tarts, is served, weather permitting, on picnic
tables for $15 a head. There I met architect Jonathan Lipman, who
moved from Washington and now designs buildings in Vedic style here
and in other parts of the country. He walked me through the basic idea
behind Sthapatya Ved, the Vedic components of building design.
The key is to align all rooms to take full advantage of the sun as it
moves overhead, he explained. The kitchen is usually best in the
southeast corner; the living room should face west; and the master
bedroom should be in the southwest corner.
Interested to see these rules applied, I was delighted when Jorgenson
and her husband, Chris, invited me to visit their home, a spacious one-
story structure with sweeping ceilings and vast open areas. "It sounds
like a cliche," Chris Jorgenson said, "but living in a place like this
makes you feel healthier and more balanced."
Beyond their living spaces, Vedic City residents are big on healthful
foods. A Vedic City ordinance bans the use of chemicals in plant
production; most of the produce is grown by a few organic farms.
I visited one, a 12-acre sprawl of vegetables perched on a hillside,
and Steve McClaskey, the horticulturalist who runs the farm, guided me
around. In the outdoor garden and adjacent greenhouse, there were
vines hanging heavy with cherry tomatoes, clusters of broccoli and
rows of Swiss chard. With this heavy accent on healthy living, it's no
wonder that Mother Jones magazine, the bible for the ecologically
minded, earlier this year named Fairfield among the dozen best places
to live that you've never heard of.
Back in Fairfield, I met with Malloy and asked how his town had
merited such a distinction. He cited the unusual mood of tolerance for
diversity, the heavy support for the arts and the myriad small
businesses. "If small-town America has a future," he said, "it's going
to look something like this."
It sounded like the kind of thing a mayor would say.
But as the day wound down, I paused to look at the town square with
its gazebo, at a nearby row of ethnic restaurants, at a woman dressed
in a bright blue sari walking past. Perhaps there was something in the
mayor's words, I thought.
And then, suddenly, a parade of cars started moving past in the
direction of the golden domes. It was meditation time again.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm142.html
Another Cult Classic from David Lynch
Radar Magazine/November 9, 2006
By Allison Mooney
If you thought David Lynch was out there, wait until you read his
book. In recent months, the oddball auteur behind Mulholland Drive and
Blue Velvet has been stumping for his spiritual discipline of choice,
Transcendental Meditation. In January, he'll issue a book on the
practice, which critics deride as an Eastern-flavored cousin to
Scientology and Kabbalah.
Lynch makes no secret that Catching the Big Fish is a tool to win
converts. "The book is about his commitment to Transcendental
Meditation and his wish to spread his beliefs in what it can
accomplish," says his editor, Mitch Horowitz. The filmmaker, who
learned the method from His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (who was
famously dismissed as a fraud by his onetime pupil John Lennon), has
said he practices TM for 20 minutes every day.
Of course, for readers to embrace Lynch's convictions, they'll first
have to understand them. Catching the Big Fish's 85 un-numbered
chapters cover such abstruse topics as "The Unified Field" ("It's
there, within, within, within"), "The Fourth State" ("you get a little
jolt of bliss"), and "The Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit" (of
depression and anger, natch). The entire text of one chapter, "The Box
and the Key," consists of this statement: "I have no idea what those
are." Thanks, Dave!
If these musings seem disconnected, it could be because the chapters
are merely transcriptions of comments Lynch made during a speaking
tour of colleges last fall. (At least that's the speculation on some
blogs). Proceeds from the book will go to his foundation, which
promotes "consciousness-based education," and to which Lynch has
already donated over $400,000 of his own money. The David Lynch
Foundation offers scholarships to junior high and high school students
to study TM, and Bob Roth, the foundation's vice president, says it
also plans to establish "universities of world peace" in the next few
years.
Not everybody wants their kids' consciousness tampered with, however.
Parents at a high school in Marin County, California, protested plans
for an intramural meditation club, calling it a form of religion and a
cult. The blowback ultimately forced the foundation to withdraw the
$175,000 it had pledged, which would have provided funds for 250
students and 25 staffers to practice TM.
Readers who buy Catching the Big Fish seeking enlightenment on Lynch's
inscrutable plots (as opposed to the nature of existence) are bound to
be disappointed. In a chapter about his newest film, Inland Empire
(whose release will coincide with the publication of the book), Lynch
writes, "I really had this feeling that if there's a Unified Field,
there must be a unity between a Christmas tree bulb and this man from
Poland who came in wearing these strange glasses." And if you're
wondering what that means, you'll find the answer within, within,
within.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm141.html
Hansen: Iowa meditators shield Lebanon, rally stocks
Des Moines Register/October 24, 2006
By Marc Hansen
If you follow the news, you might have noticed two seemingly unrelated
developments.
One, the hurricane season has been a dud. Last year, it was one killer
tropical storm after another. This year, we're still waiting for the
big one to crash onto the shoreline.
The forecasts were frightening. This hurricane season was supposed to
be worse than the last, when Katrina and her friends led to more than
2,000 deaths and billions of dollars in destruction.
Two, the stock market has moved into record territory, with the Dow
Jones industrial average closing at 12,116.91, its best historical
close.
A coincidence? No, the Maharishi Effect.
It's the 1,200 advanced Transcendental meditators who are camping out
for six hours a day in Fairfield and elsewhere, "creating coherence in
national consciousness" and changing the national mood.
Granted, it sounds flaky. One physicist called similar research on
falling crime rates in Washington, D.C., "voodoo science."
But since the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi himself predicted this would
happen back in July, who are we to argue?
It's important to challenge mainstream thinking. You don't want to be
the guy who told Guglielmo Marconi there was no future in wireless
communications.
The man in charge of the "Invincible America Course" is John Hagelin,
a quantum physicist who graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth,
earned a doctorate from Harvard and was a researcher at Stanford
before moving to Fairfield and becoming the director of the Institute
of Science, Technology and Public Policy at the Maharishi University
of Management.
He also ran for president three times as a third-party candidate and
collected lots of votes in Jefferson County.
He isn't running this time, mostly because he's busy making sure the
United States is surrounded with a protective shield of collective
consciousness.
This isn't something a person does in a regular 40-hour work week, so
it took a while to catch up with him. When I did, he was in the
Netherlands on a European speaking tour.
The original idea, he said, was to restore peace in Lebanon.
I wasn't sure how a group of 1,200 "yogic flyers" in Iowa and another
200 in Washington, D.C., could stop the bombing in the Middle East.
But Hagelin is convinced it did. He answers the skeptics by referring
to field-tested, peer-reviewed documentation in 600 studies and 250
independent research institutes around the world.
"We are not disconnected from each other," he said. "We influence each
other. Wars are nothing other than the outburst of pent-up societal
stress in critical hot spots."
Get a large group of hard-core meditators together for six hours at a
time, things happen. The mind settles down, awareness expands ... and
expands ... until it permeates the collective consciousness. The
stress level goes down, people stop shooting each other.
"We weren't using the leverage we have in that part of the world,"
Hagelin said. "We weren't encouraging moderation on Israel's part. We
started this course principally to provide a cooling influence and
sanity in our foreign policy."
It wasn't long before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was
changing her plans and flying to Lebanon. A few days later, the United
States was helping craft a cease-fire.
"It was quite an amazing turnabout," he said.
The good feelings spill over into the economy. Consumer confidence
picks up, which leads to more optimism, a better economy and higher
stock prices.
"The stock market," Hagelin said, "was a side effect, an expression of
the collective mood."
Stocks up, gas prices down. Consumer confidence rises, unemployment
drops.
Stocks won't grow straight to the sky, Hagelin warned. There will be
burps and corrections and mini-panics. But the swings won't be so
extreme.
I asked Hagelin if he made a killing with this really inside
information.
No.
"If we were smart," he said with a laugh, "we would have scraped
together some money and invested it. My limited resources were
invested already outside the market."
All right, then. If meditation works so well in Lebanon, why not
Iraq?
"Lebanon was easier to quell," Hagelin said, "because the political
solutions were easy. Iraq is an entrenched mess. The mistakes that
have been made will take time to unwind. Iraq is a victim of intense
social stress of its own. Saddam was a great contributor to that. It's
there in spades, but it can be unwound. We have to give the Iraqis and
their geographical neighbors a big dose of this stress-reducing
technology. At some point, when tensions are less acute, an act of
violence no longer results in a retaliatory act. Then you suddenly tip
the equation into a state of de-escalating violence."
Iraq won't be as easy, he said, but the union of modern science and
ancient wisdom can be a wonderful thing.
Don't rule it out. Don't be the guy who doubted Marconi.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm140.html
...and I am Sid Harth
11.03.2010 - 19:10
Marin school drops meditation club
Foundation withdraws grant after religious connection emerges
Marin Independent Journal/October 19, 2006
By Tad Whitaker
San Rafael -- A controversial proposal to start a transcendental
meditation program at a Marin County high school was dropped Wednesday
after the David Lynch Foundation withdrew a $175,000 grant.
Terra Linda High School Principal Carole Ramsey said a few people
created such a stir over the issue that it became a distraction.
Nonetheless, she is encouraging students to pursue their interests in
meditation because it remains an effective way to reduce stress.
"I don't regret bringing it (to students) at all," she said. Ramsey
recently announced the school would start a transcendental meditation
club as part of a new wellness program that also encouraged students
to eat better and exercise more. But she abruptly ended an
informational meeting for about 75 parents last week when opponents
raised a ruckus over claims the program is linked to a religious
movement.
Transcendental meditation was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to
improve mental and physical health. Maharishi is perhaps most famous
as a spiritual adviser to the Beatles in the 1960s.
It is not, supporters claim, a religion or philosophy, and
practitioners do not change their lifestyles or experience any type of
mind control even though the founder, Maharishi, is referred to as
"His Holiness." Ramsey attended a lecture by Lynch, an Oscar-nominated
filmmaker who established a nonprofit organization to spread
transcendental meditation in schools, after more than 60 students
expressed interest in a meditation program.
Shortly thereafter, she applied for and received the $175,000 grant,
which would have been the organization's first program in California.
Participants would have taken several workshops, including 90-minute
periods for four consecutive days.
The goal is to sit silently for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day with eyes
closed.
A consultant with the state Department of Education did not see a
problem with the program in a public school.Bob Roth, a 1968 graduate
of Redwood High School who is a spokesman for the Lynch Foundation,
said pulling back was the best thing for his organization and the
school following the outcry. He said the grant will go to another
school."There's a long waiting list," he said.Ramsey said that, aside
from a few opponents, most parents either supported the program or
were open-minded. But the deep-seated beliefs held by critics
threatened to overshadow what she set out to accomplish."This is a
program that was supposed to reduce stress," she noted.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm139.html
California school loses funds over meditation controversy
Associated Press/October 18, 2006
By Marcus Wohlsen
San Francisco -- Marin County may be etched in the public imagination
as a liberal land of hot tubs, aging hippies and free thinkers, but
even a bastion of alternative spirituality apparently has its limits.
Plans for a high school meditation club funded by filmmaker David
Lynch evaporated this week after parents caught wind that students
would be taught Transcendental Meditation, the method developed by a
one-time spiritual teacher to The Beatles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Amid protests that TM was a form of religious practice and therefore
inappropriate for a public school, the David Lynch Foundation on
Tuesday withdrew the $175,000 it had pledged to Terra Linda High
School in San Rafael.
The grant would have provided funds for 250 students and 25 staffers
to practice TM, a meditation style past adherents claimed allowed them
to levitate. Lynch, best known as the director of dark, surreal films
like "Eraserhead" and "Blue Velvet," has meditated for more than 30
years and credits TM for nourishing his creativity.
"Not only does it reduce stress in the body, but the research shows it
wakes up the brain. So the child is actually able to absorb more
knowledge and do better on exams," said Bob Roth, the Lynch
foundation's vice president. "Also, the child is happier."
But an information meeting for Terra Linda parents about the program
last week turned chaotic, with one parent rushing the stage to
denounce TM as a cult.
Others said they felt TM was too close to a religion and therefore
should not be promoted as a student activity, leading a conservative
legal organization to consider suing the school for violating the
separation of church and state.
Alternative forms of spiritual expression are nothing new in Marin,
just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Flower children
of the 1960s flocked to the county's coastal bluffs and rolling hills
after they decided to settle down and raise families.
In more recent years, Marin County has become one of the most affluent
in the country. That wealth has brought with it the kind of high-
pressure academic environments common to schools in prosperous
communities.
Still, Terra Linda, located in the town of San Rafael, was one of the
last places the Lynch Foundation expected to find resistance.
Since last year, the foundation has given more than $3 million to fund
TM programs at 20 public, private and charter schools from Detroit to
Washington, D.C., without causing a stir, according to Roth.
Terra Linda Principal Carole Ramsey said interest in meditation had
grown recently at the high school. A club started by a school health
instructor there last year attracted 60 students.
"I think it helps them to calm their minds so that they are able to
focus," Ramsey said.
Ramsey blamed "a few individuals" for creating "an environment that
has led to the withdrawal of this grant" and said the school would
encourage students who remain interested in meditation to investigate
alternative programs.
A federal appeals court in 1979 called TM a form of religious teaching
and ruled the practice could not be taught in New Jersey public
schools. The decision is often cited as a precedent in religion-in-
public-schools cases.
Detractors who say TM has religious overtones usually point to an
initiation ceremony where teachers invoke Hindu deities. But
practitioners describe TM as a relaxation technique used by 6 million
Americans of every religious persuasion.
Whether TM is religious or not, state education officials said that
religion clubs are allowed in California public schools under certain
conditions.
"You can have a religious club on campus as long as its student-run
and there's no church affiliation," said Pam Slater, a spokeswoman for
the California Department of Education.
Ramsey said the Terra Linda TM club would have met those criteria.
Students would meditate twice a day - once before school, and once
after school - and not during school hours, and participation was
voluntary, she said. Religious clubs, including a Christian club, have
existed at the school without stirring debate, she said.
Sharing the chagrin of some Terra Linda parents over the TM club was
the Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal group that often
advocates for religion to play a greater role in public life. In this
case, though, the group threatened to sue the high school over church-
state boundaries.
"If it's religious in nature and it involves faculty, then you would
have a problem," said Kevin Snider, chief counsel for the institute.
Still, some parents said they fully supported TM at Terra Linda, as
did their kids.
Suzanne Rush of San Rafael has two daughters at Terra Linda, one a
sophomore and the other a junior. She said one daughter planned to
sign up for the TM club, and the other was considering it. Rush, who
tutors elementary school students, had no problem with it
"I work with kids every day that are stressed out," she said. "If can
offer our kids something to help them de-stress and work up to their
potential, then that's what we want."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm138.html
High School's Club Called 'Religion,' 'Cult' By Parents
NBC 11, California/October 13, 2006
Saulsalito, California -- A new club that some are calling a cult or
religion is coming to a Bay Area high school and bringing plenty of
controversy with it, NBC11's Stacey Ciauri reported.
Terra Linda High School principal Carole Ramsey brought Transcendental
Meditation to the school after she saw a film about the meditation
made by David Lynch.
"It's about quieting your mind ... It's actually very good for your
brain," Ramsey said.
Ramsey said TM helps students de-stress.
Supporters of the group and parents met Thursday night at the
Sausalito school to discuss the club.
The meeting ended when a parent denounced the group and refused to
leave the school's stage.
The Department of Education said they have no problem with the club.
Parent Susan Crittendon said the group has raised some concerns.
"Its the beginning of a whole new philosophy of life. They work by
putting people in trances, and when you're in a trance you're more
suggestible," parent Susan Crittendon.
Multiple teachers and 60 students have shown interest in the group.
Some parents have complained that TM is a religion.
"It isn't a religion," Ramsey said. "It's just like people who
practice yoga -- it comes form Hindu tradition."
According to TM.org, the Transcendental Meditation technique is not a
religion.
"The Transcendental Meditation technique is a simple, natural
technique practiced by millions of people of all religions, including
clergy. Practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique does not
require or involve faith or any particular set of beliefs," according
to the site.
Lynch, the filmmaker known for Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and the
television series Twin Peaks, gave the school a $175,000 grant for
starting the club.
"TM really helps. When you2re stressed out from school, it makes you
fresher and brighter. At the end of a long day, I meditate and can
still focus on my homework," said first year college student, Nalina
Loiselle, on TM.org.
"I notice that I get support of nature from meditating. Meditating
regularly just seems to make things work out in school, family, and
every day life. This makes life easier and more enjoyable," said 16-
year-old high school student George Beichert, on TM.org.
TM was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was a spiritual advisor
to The Beatles in the 1960s.
According to the group's Web site, the Transcendental Meditation
technique "expands the consciousness of each student, significantly
increasing their intelligence, creativity, confidence, inner calm, and
motivation."
Participating students would use the meditation technique for 20
minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably with their eyes closed.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm137.html
Plans for meditation at Terra Linda High don't soothe everyone
Marin-Independent Journal/October 11, 2006
By Ted Whitaker
Terra Linda High School plans to launch a Transcendental Meditation
program with the help of a $175,000 grant from noted filmmaker David
Lynch.
Lynch established a foundation in his name to spread Transcendental
Meditation to schools as a method of stress management. The Terra
Linda program would be the David Lynch Foundation's first in
California, although others operate in Washington, D.C., and Detroit.
Principal Carole Ramsey became an enthusiastic supporter after hearing
Lynch speak, but some say Transcendental Meditation is rooted in a
religious movement that is inappropriate for public school.
"There's no doubt in my mind that it's religious," said opponent Paul
Powell, whose daughter is a senior at the school.
Lynda Nichols, a history-social science consultant with the state
Department of Education, does not see a problem with the program. She
said it is voluntary, not part of the curriculum required for
graduation, and another way to engage students.
"The parents that are concerned should just not let their children
attend," she said. "The district is certainly within their right to
offer it."
Ramsey will host an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the
school library for parents who want to know more about it.
Transcendental Meditation is one part of a new three-part Terra Linda
High School wellness program; the other parts involve encouraging
students to eat more fruits and vegetables instead of refined and
processed foods, and increasing physical education.
Practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, founded by Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, use it as a way to improve mental and physical health.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is perhaps most famous for being associated with
The Beatles when the group experimented with Eastern religion.
According to Lynch's Web site, students sit silently for 15-20 minutes
twice a day with their eyes closed to settle their minds and
experience different levels of thought until arriving at the source of
their thoughts. It is not, according to the foundation, a religion or
philosophy and practitioners do not change their lifestyles or
experience any types of mind control.
"In today's world of fear and uncertainty," Lynch wrote on the
foundation's Web site, "every child should have one class period a day
to dive within himself and experience the field of silence - bliss -
the enormous reservoir of energy and intelligence that is deep within
all of us. This is the way to save the coming generation."
According to the school, informational meetings for faculty will begin
this month and students will begin meetings in November. The program
has space for 250 students and 25 teachers.
Anyone who enrolls would take 90-minute classes for four days in a
row, followed by about 25, 30-minute sessions during the next couple
years.
Participants would be tested before and after the program to assess
how it affects their grades, blood pressure, discipline and several
other issues. It is not part of the curriculum and would be offered
either before or after school or during breaks.
Ramsey said the proposed program is in response to students who
requested a meditation club at school. Along with physical education
teacher David Garcia, she attended a speech by Lynch at the University
of California at Berkeley in which he explained how Transcendental
Meditation helps students reduce stress and improve their health.
Ramsey said the proposed program would not have any religious or
spiritual elements and is widely respected for reducing anxiety,
depression, behavior problems, insomnia and other problems.
"It's a technique, not a belief system," Ramsey said.
Suzanne Rush, a parent whose daughter plans to enroll, said she
supports Ramsey and the program because children of all ages need to
know how to deal with stress. She is familiar with the program and
thinks the religious issue is unfounded.
"I look at it as another tool to help our children," she said.
Powell, who in addition to being a parent is a certified sport yoga
instructor and stress management specialist, said he applauds the diet
and exercise aspects of the school's wellness program. But, he added,
there are better stress management methods that are not associated
with any religion.
He said Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism. He said he
supports students who participate in Transcendental Meditation or any
other religion on their own, but not when school administrators get
behind it.
"I don't see how that's appropriate," he said.
Bob Ross, a 1968 Redwood High School graduate who is vice president of
the Lynch foundation, said the program is voluntary and completely non-
religious. He said it is nonsense for anyone to believe the program
has a religious component.
"Some people think we still haven't landed on the moon," he said.
He said the American Medical Association published a study that
concluded the program reduces risk factors for hypertension, diabetes
and obesity.
"There's an enormous amount of research that documents the effect," he
said.
Dr. Edward Oklan, a San Anselmo child and adult psychiatrist whose
children attended Terra Linda High School, said he wasn't too familiar
with Transcendental Meditation.
"Options for relaxation training are good, in general," said Oklan,
who has recommended children deal with stress by participating in
youth groups at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
He said the proposed program is probably fine as long as it is limited
to education and doesn't involve any church-like elements.
"There are a lot of kids under stress and it's good for them to deal
with it," he said.
Filmmaker's devotion
Filmmaker David Lynch is famous for writing and directing feature
films with unusual, surreal plots such the 2001 psychological thriller
"Mulholland Drive," which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Others include films "Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet," "Lost Highway" and
"Wild at Heart," and the television hit "Twin Peaks."
Lynch has practiced Transcendental Meditation for more than 30 years.
He established his foundation to teach Transcendental Meditation to
any child who wants to learn.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm136.html
Outer Peace
New York Times Magazine/October 10, 2006
By Lily Koppel
Encounter
In the 1960's, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - called the giggling guru by the
press - gained a measure of celebrity for promoting his mantra-
repetition technique of Transcendental Meditation around the world and
for serving a brief stint as spiritual adviser to the Beatles. His
message was that with the proper techniques, each individual could
find peace, as one of his disciples, George Harrison, sang, "within."
Today, his organization claims to hold U.S. assets of $300 million and
to have taught six million adherents (training now costs $2,500) in
T.M. centers around the world. It also operates a university in
Fairfield, Iowa.
Maharishi, who is believed to be 89, now confines himself to two rooms
in his golden-hued log house in the small Dutch village of Vlodrop.
Although he has emerged only a few times in the past year - for fresh
air on a chauffeured drive - he contends that his most important work
lies ahead of him. His first 50 years, he says, were merely a "warm-
up" for his goal of creating world peace by, among other things,
rebuilding national capitals according to his harmony-producing
precepts. Inner peace, it turns out, is not enough.
When I visited Vlodrop this spring, Maharishi agreed to a rare
interview. I was permitted in his house but was not allowed into his
upstairs quarters. His followers told me that seclusion preserves his
energy and that he talks in person to only a small circle of
attendants. I spoke to Maharishi by videoconference from a downstairs
room where his red velvet gilded throne sat empty.
Framed in a flat-screen monitor, he appeared more than ever a mystical
creature, his thin face sketched with a white beard. He was dressed in
his customary white silk dhoti, a fresh necklace of yellow petals
around his neck. His aim, he explained in English, is to create
coherence in a world undone by our stressed brains, artificial
national borders, terrorism and irrational violence. "My coherence-
creating groups are going to put out all this mischief-mongership in
the world," he said in a high-pitched voice, holding President Bush up
as the greatest mischief-monger of all. "The world is going to come
out to be a neat and clean world. All these countries will fade
away."
Maharishi regards his own 65-acre enclave as the capital of a Global
Country of World Peace; it even has its own currency, the raam. He
lives here with 50 of his adherents - including his "minister of
science and technology," John Hagelin, a Harvard-educated physicist,
but sees little of the bearded Westerners who come for long meditation
retreats or research projects. The compound is in a parallel universe
to Vlodrop, with its 2,000 locals. One of the few who has crossed over
is the town florist, who practices T.M. and each day removes all the
thorns from the yogi's daily order of bushels of organic roses.
Maharishi is not content to promote peace just inside his compound.
Hagelin has run for president of the United States three times, and
recently, Maharishi chose 40 countries in which to support corps of
"yogic fliers." The human fliers supposedly use surges of energy to
physically lift themselves off the ground. Like a number of aspiring
religious thinkers these days, the Maharishi and Hagelin say they
believe that the physics of quantum mechanics, with its leaping
particles and abundant paradoxes, can be combined with ancient
traditions into a new philosophy that stresses the world-changing
potential of a "transcendental consciousness." Maharishi argues, for
instance, that when the square root of 1 percent of the earth's
population - that is, 8,000 people - meditate all at once, the result
will be the diffusion of a higher state of consciousness into the
atmosphere.
Another element of his vision is to rebuild the world according to
Vedic principles. He has called for the demolition of "improperly
oriented" buildings, believing them to be toxic, and includes among
them the United Nations and the White House. There are proposals for
New York and Paris to be cleared to make way for 3,000 marble peace
palaces. (His organization operates such palaces in Bethesda, Md.,
Lexington, Ky., Houston and Fairfield.) Maharishi is also convinced
that every country's capital is wrongly located. In India and America,
his organization has bought land near what it calls each country's
"brahmastan" - or the geographical and energy center. The future
capital of the United States would be Smith Center, Kan., population
1,931.
Despite the support of celebrities from David Lynch to Donovan,
Maharishi has been disappointed in his efforts to recreate the world.
Hagelin's poor showing in the 2000 presidential race did not lift his
spirits. Locked in legal battles, his organization has not gained
permission to raze a Franciscan monastery on its property in Vlodrop.
It was also unable to establish sovereignty on 100 acres of Rota, an
island in the Pacific. But even so, he has managed to transform, if
not the world, then at least his gated utopia into an eerily peaceful
place. At nightfall, the lawn, mowed by robots, lights up with
decorative deer.
Lily Koppel is on the staff of the magazine.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm135.html
A lotus amid the Iowa corn
A new Midwestern town has the teachings of a well-known maharishi at
its heart.
The Los Angeles Times/September 10, 2006
By Carina Chocano
When I booked my trip last April to attend a conference on
Transcendental Meditation at the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa, I had no idea I would be visiting another country. My
airline ticket clearly indicated Cedar Rapids, and from there I would
rent a car and drive about two hours to a small town 50 miles from the
Mississippi River. I was a longtime fan of filmmaker David Lynch, one
of the conference's keynote speakers, and I was interested in
meditation, occasionally popping in for a guided meditation at a
neighborhood Buddhist temple.
By the time I had made the travel arrangements, I knew I would be
spending two nights at the improbably named Raj, an ayurvedic spa-
hotel improbably located in the middle of a cornfield. I knew I would
be attending a conference entitled "Consciousness, Creativity and the
Brain," where John Hagelin, the onetime Natural Law Party presidential
candidate would also speak. Hagelin once offered to deploy 400 "yogic
fliers" to Kosovo to meditate for peace (then-Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright declined).
What I didn't know is that the Raj is not in Fairfield but just
outside of it, in a brand-new town called Maharishi Vedic City, which
happens to be the North American capital of the Global Country of
World Peace.
So to say that Maharishi Vedic City exists on a plane of its own is
not quite to speak metaphorically. The town, which consists of several
still-sprouting residential developments, is surrounded by cornfields
dotted with barns and gloomy Victorians. The area is no stranger to
sectarian lifestyle experiments: Not far away is the Mennonite
community of Kalona, where bearded men and bonneted women drive around
in buggies.
When I arrived, the sky looked as though it had been carpeted in a
gray Stainmaster Berber. Fairfield proper looked as though it had seen
better days 7 specifically 1854, when it hosted the first Iowa State
Fair. It has the stately but melancholy air of a once-prosperous
Midwestern town in decline.
By contrast, M.V.C. displays all the architectural characteristics of
a new exurban development: gaudy, oversize construction that has no
stylistic relation to its environment but instead vaguely alludes to a
theme-park version someplace sort of magical and far away.
The first thing that alerted me to the existence of the Global Country
of World Peace was a bright yellow flag with an orange sunburst
design, which I took at first to be an expression of meditator pride,
the TM equivalent of a rainbow flag. Checking in at the Raj, I noticed
a display of the Global Country's paper money, "the ideal currency of
the city" (though they did take my American Express).
Think pink
Steve Yellin, my guide and PR liaison for the weekend, met me at my
room, which was bright and plush, done in a smoothed-over rustic style
I decided to call Santa Barbara Proven7al. He was wearing a radiant
pure pink cashmere sweater, which I initially took for a fashion
statement. But it turned out pink was everywhere. It was the color of
the media room at the Raj, where pastel Barcaloungers faced a TV
permanently tuned to the Maharishi Channel. And it was the color of
the private plane that first delivered the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to
rural Iowa in 1971.
Over a vegetarian buffet lunch, I got a brief history of the town. The
maharishi (now an octogenarian billionaire living in the Netherlands)
introduced TM to the West in the 1950s. He founded the Maharishi
University of Management in 1971, around the time he became one in the
long line of "fifth Beatles." (John Lennon would go on to write the
none-too-flattering "Sexy Sadie.")
Vedic City grew around the school, incorporating in 2001. "Vedic"
refers to "Veda," the Sanskrit word for "knowledge," which the
maharishi claims to have distilled into a comprehensive system for
living. TM is just the beginning. The "complete Vedic science of
consciousness" encompasses architecture, education, health,
agriculture, administration, economy and defense.
There are, according to the TM organization, more than 6 million
practitioners worldwide. Fairfield/M.V.C. is home to a few thousand of
them and offers, beyond individual daily practice, an all-inclusive
lifestyle.
After lunch, my guide took me on a tour of the town. All of the
structures in M.V.C. are built in strict adherence to Maharishi
Sthapatya Veda technique, which requires that all buildings face east,
include a central "quiet space," and be adorned with a golden dollop
called a kalash.
The houses cost $200,000 to $800,000, including consultation fees and
royalties, which sounded like a lot for rural Iowa, but I was told
that "people who live and work in these buildings report that they
think more clearly, make better decisions, feel happier and healthier,
feel more alert and refreshed throughout the day, have more restful
and refreshing sleep, have more energy and less fatigue and experience
less stress and greater peace of mind." (Blurting, "Oh, like feng
shui," in response to an initial explanation of how it all works is
the wrong thing to do.)
I came to Iowa on a lark 7 or as close to a lark as you can come while
on assignment for a major newspaper. The TM organization courts the
press with an interest that borders on ardor and, as a result,
throughout the weekend, I felt less like a fly on the wall than the
elephant in the room.
Because Vedic City wants you to visit. It believes in the creativity-
enhancing, stress-reducing, intelligence-increasing, health-promoting
and world-peace-increasing properties of TM, and it really, really
wants you to believe in them too.
Vedic City also wants you to know that Vedic City is for foodies. It
wants you to sample its desultory smattering of ethnic restaurants and
conclude that here you'll want for nothing. The town of 285 has big
plans for expansion, for attracting tourists and potential meditators.
Mayor Bob Wynne (a longtime meditator) has said that the idea is to
expand to 1,200 residents by 2010, and eventually reach up to 10,000.
Since it incorporated, the city has purchased more than 100 acres of
farmland, which someday will be the site of a theme park, a golf
course and botanical gardens.
There was something about Vedic City's architecture, not to mention
the mammoth vehicles parked in the driveways, that was disconcerting
yet familiar; it was exoticism snugly tucked into a marketable
lifestyle brand. Vedic McMansions, Vedic lodges, Vedic Cape Cod
bungalows and Vedic condos commingled within a short distance of giant
his-and-hers Golden Domes of Pure Knowledge where the yogic fliers
congregate. On the way back to the hotel, I passed a mobile home park
called Utopia Park ("The Homes by the Domes"), which is just off
Heaven and Taste of Utopia streets.
The organic grocery was like the hippie co-op in every college or
lefty town 7 except the bulletin board was disproportionally dedicated
to guru services and the "for-rent" fliers list Eastern orientation as
an amenity.
After the tour, I went back to the Raj to rest before the weekend's
welcome reception. I wandered around the calming lobby, stopping to
check out the scale model of the Vedic Observatory on my way to the
gift shop. I hung out in the media room for a bit. The maharishi was
on TV, talking about the unified field. (You couldn't spit without
hitting a portrait of the maharishi around here.)
In the gift store, I bought some beautiful Indian-themed notecards.
The woman at the register was very edgy and stressed out for someone
working in a shop where, at that moment, there was only one customer
standing there without so much as a pricing question. When a colleague
came in with a technical problem, she melted down. I went back to my
room, clutching my relaxing bath salts, feeling sort of jittery
myself.
A few hours later, I joined Steve and his wife for dinner at a now-
closed restaurant called Regina's. I ordered the salmon on a plank of
flaming cedar, which, I was surprised to discover, actually came on a
plank of flaming cedar. My fish was on a wood chip that was on fire.
When the flames failed to subside, I smothered them discreetly with
mashed potatoes. It was delicious.
The bulk of the weekend, though, I spent in a big room 7 something
very much like a hangar, in fact 7 attending a conference on
"Creativity, Consciousness and the Brain," listening to talks on the
relationship between quantum physics and peace-creating energy fields,
and watching the brain waves of a young student of meditation hooked
up to an EEG as a group of bald men stood around beaming.
The conference constituted the last leg of a 12-campus tour
introducing college students to TM and promoting Lynch's new
scholarship program, "The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-
Based Education and World Peace." If the need for meditation
scholarships sounds strange, considering the ease with which
meditation instruction can be obtained, you should know that the
formal four-day TM instruction and a personal mantra (plus future
adjustments) will run you $2,500.
Early on Saturday morning, Lynch graciously took questions from the
conference-goers, who were encouraged to ask him about anything,
whether it be meditation or movie-making. Judging from the questions,
what many of the young attendees sought were grand unifying answers.
They worried, perhaps prematurely, about how to retain their integrity
and creativity in Hollywood, an industry known for its bone-headedness
and venality. They wanted to know should they shoot on film or digital
video? They wanted to understand what releases creativity, what its
limits are.
"The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi talks about an ocean of creativity and
consciousness," Lynch replied. "Then modern science says it's true 7
everything that is emerges from this thing. Quantum physics and the
unified field."
So, what's the secret?
The questions were much like those aspiring filmmakers ask directors
during a Q&A at a film festival. In those sessions, it's generally
been my experience that directors are rarely asked about aesthetics or
ideas.
What people want to know 7 and sometimes they ask this cleverly,
sometimes clumsily 7 is how they can stop being themselves and start
being the actor/director/famous person. They want answers, in other
words, on how to transform their lives. They want the secret formula,
the treasure map, the magic phrase, the secret mantra.
There's something indescribably alluring about a "simple, effortless"
daily practice that purports to alleviate everything that ails the
21st century brain. And like most indescribably alluring things,
there's something unsettling about it too. TM sells itself very
aggressively as the one true meditation practice, a practice unlike
other practices that require contemplation or analysis or some other
form of effort.
And here, in southwestern Iowa, just in time for the baby boomers'
twilight years, is their Eastern-philosophy utopia. What 40 years ago
might have been an "alternative lifestyle" is now a marketable
lifestyle product; an entropic mix of spirituality and materialism;
self-betterment and self-absorption as a cure for all of humanity's
ills; consciousness-expansion as a way to building wealth and saving
the world. For the not-so-low price of $2,500, you're offered inner
peace, world peace, reduced blood pressure and the sense of yourself
as a maverick pioneer, a "cultural creative."
Meanwhile, neither the square footage of the average house (in an non-
temperate year-round climate) nor the size of the gas tank of the
average car seems to factor into the peace equation.
As Fred Travis, director of the Psychophysiology Center at MUM, softly
droned on about "the delightful flow of fine feeling and soft
thinking" brought on in the college brain by TM, I wandered off. I
think I was suffering from severe scientific proof fatigue. From the
moment of my arrival, I had been regaled with tales of millions of
dollars in research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the
findings published in prestigious medical journals, the studies
conducted in partnership with major university hospitals. Nearly every
conversation, whether it concerned elementary-school academic
performance or cholesterol or crime-rate reduction, at some point
included the phrase "There was this study5. "
Maybe someday we'll look back on these early years of the 21st century
as the moment when it became clear that money, competent PR and, above
all, frank and unabashed banality have the power to normalize
anything. When life itself transformed into a mall of "lifestyle
choices," laid out end to end on a flat, infinite plane of
possibility.
I wandered into the student union bookstore, which carried no books
except for the maharishi's. In the admissions building, I perused a
display detailing the maharishi's blueprints for an "ideal city." It
is grid-like and built around gardens. Examples of bad cities include
Paris and New York.
Later, another journalist asked one of the PR guys whether the
maharishi would really prefer to see a big square suburb where Paris
is. I mean, it's Paris, she said.
He considered this and then replied, "Well, it might be nice for us to
visit, but think about the people who have to live there."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm134.html
Group's Plan Causes Tension in Kansas Town
Associated Press/June 7, 2006
By Carl Manning
Smith Center, Kansas 7 Supporters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi see his
Transcendental Meditation movement as fostering world harmony. But in
this farm town in the heart of the heartland, the movement's plans to
build its "World Capital of Peace" here are creating more tension than
tranquility.
Folks became alarmed when the outsiders bought up large tracts of
land. Nine local pastors warned the movement that it is encroaching on
their spiritual turf. And when a TM representative started throwing
around terms at a meeting like "waves of coherence" and "silent zero
point," the farmers just shook their heads.
"It hasn't split the community, but it has caused a lot of tension,"
said Mayor Randy Archer. "We're an older community, and new things
that come to town are scary for some people."
The TM movement _ whose founder, the Maharishi, was the Beatles' guru
_ has announced plans to spend $15 million to build a dozen marble
"peace palaces" facing east in Smith County. Because TM's
practitioners want to disperse "waves of coherence" as widely as
possible to influence others, they chose a spot just 10 miles west of
the geographic center of the Lower 48 states.
Eric Michener, who works as project coordinator out of a storefront
office on Main Street, conceded his group, the nonprofit Maharishi-
affiliated Global Country of World Peace, probably could have made a
better first impression.
"I don't think we've run into this vibrant level of misunderstanding
before," he said.
Altogether, the Maharishi wants to build 2,400 peace palaces in 250
U.S. cities and has opened ones in Houston, Bethesda, Md., Lexington,
Ky., and Fairfield, Iowa, where his group also has operated the
Maharishi University of Management for three decades.
In Smith County, initial plans call for about 300 people to live in
the two-story palaces, but that could increase to 2,000 over the next
three years, said Kent Boyum, the group's director of governmental
affairs. He said the palaces also could be open to tourists. Work is
expected to begin this summer and be completed by year's end.
TM traces its roots to India. The movement began in the 1950s and is
best known for its celebrity disciples, who have included Clint
Eastwood and the comedian Andy Kaufman. Practitioners repeat a thought
_ a mantra _ over and over to achieve relaxation, typically for 15 or
20 minutes every morning and evening.
Supporters say that TM is a technique, not a religion _ that people
can meditate and still be of any faith they want.
But Pastor Greg Hubbard of the Evangelical Free Church, countered,
"They say they aren't a religion, and I say baloney." In April, he and
other pastors signed a letter to the local newspaper saying: "They are
welcome, but they must understand we are competing for the eternal
souls of people."
Hubbard said freedom of religion or the right to own property aren't
issues here. "The thing that bothers us is what we perceive to be
their blatant dishonesty about who they are. The bottom line is,
dishonest neighbors aren't good neighbors," he said.
Others in Smith Center _ a dwindling town of 1,800 with an aging
population _ are withholding judgment.
"I'm not for them. I'm not against them. You've got to wait and see,"
the mayor said. "If it helps the community, that'll be great, and I
hope it does help the community."
Boyum held out the possibility of an economic boost for the town,
where folks raise wheat, corn, soybeans and cattle about 175 miles
from Topeka, near the Nebraska line: "Our intention is to funnel as
much finances and work through the local community as we can. We all
are consumers and will bring resources into the county."
The Global Country of World Peace bought about 1,100 acres this spring
to erect build the palaces and farm organic produce. Because land is
prized here above just about everything except family and faith,
people sat up and took notice.
"They came in and, boom, here we are," the mayor said. "People thought
they were sneaking in."
David Stortz, who farms near the site of the planned palaces, said he
has "no reason to believe that what they are going to do will hurt us,
but on the other hand what are they going to do to help us?"
Recently, a dozen people showed up at Michener's office for a question-
and-answer session. Some were curious about TM. Others were a little
upset. They wanted to know why Michener didn't show up the night
before for a public meeting, the usual means of hashing out problems
around here.
Michener said there had been some miscommunication and his superiors
had not authorized him to speak to a large gathering. He started using
terms like "silent zero point."
"It's just like they are pulling stories out of the sky," farmer Mark
Overmiller said after the meeting. "Baby, this will split this town
wide open."
Not everyone opposes the new neighbors. The Rev. Sharon Patton of the
First Christian Church grew up near Fairfield, Iowa, and recalled the
same concerns there when the Maharishi opened the university and
supporters moved into town.
"Those who are secure in their faith aren't worried about these people
coming," she said. "We are going through the same thing as the folks
in Fairfield and that passed. In time, it will die out."
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Transcendental Meditation: Bliss! Hippy days are here again
The Times (UK)/May 13, 2006
Sixties survivor Donovan is back but this time, he tells John Naish,
he really is going to change the world with transcendental meditation
Donovan is so sure that the enlightened consciousness of the Sixties
is coming back (and him along with it) that he starts singing "This is
the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" at me. The Scots-born troubadour
of hippy anthems such as Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, and Hurdy-
Gurdy Man is planning a world tour to reawaken us to the mind-
expanding wonders of what he calls the " real flower of those times" -
meditation.
And not just any meditation: Donovan, now still oddly boyish at 60,
travelled along with the Beatles, the actor Mia Farrow and Beach Boy
Mike Love in 1968 to spend a legendary sojourn at Rishikesh in India,
to study transcendental meditation (TM) under the movement's leader,
the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. John Lennon fell out with the Maharishi and
wrote Sexy Sadie, about his allegedly materialistic ways. But Donovan
remains a firm devotee.
Indeed, the singer-songwriter, who first hit the charts in 1965 at the
age of 18, appears to have kept staunchly faithful to the whole rag-
bag of that era's counter-cultural ideals of peace, love and flower
power, even to the point of becoming a little fossilised. But perhaps
we should allow that of a surviving pioneer of today's New Age passion
for self-exploration.
"My interest in alternative healing originated when I left school. It
was primed by my father, a working-class bohemian factory worker, with
elevated thoughts of poetry and great poets," he says. "At 15 I was
reading Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, which led me to
discover alternative health and living through Zen meditation. Yet
there were no teachers in the West. They were all in the East."
The Fab Four got there first. George Harrison had become fascinated by
a sitar he'd seen on the set of the Beatles' film Help! He flew to
India to learn to play it from the master, Ravi Shankar. While there
his wife Patti learnt of the Maharishi's work. "When the Maharishi
arrived in Britain to teach TM in Bangor, I saw my friends the Beatles
on the television going down to see him," says Donovan. "I made a note
to look into it."
In fact, the Maharishi came to him, having learnt how pop star
converts could help his crusade to alter the world's consciousness. "I
was in LA doing a concert and two of the Maharishi's aides came to
invite me to see him. He initiated me a few days later. The guys after
me in the queue were the Grateful Dead."
So what did TM do for Donovan? "I had all the Western troubles of the
psyche: anxiety, anger, stress and fear, which all cause illness. Over
the past 40 years I have experienced the way this system has absolute
healing benefits," he says. "Maharishi calls me his 'transcendental
musician'. It's true that I'm unique. I'm a Celtic musician, poet and
actor. My music is rooted in that and was putting people into a
meditative state long before I learnt about meditation. I realised
that you could transcend the world into bliss through music, through
concerts, but it was not sustainable beyond the duration of the
concert. True permanent immersion has to be found through meditation.
I'm surrounded by healers - my wife is a reiki master and a
reflexologist - but I find TM is a supreme healing system. When you
transcend, all the solutions to your problems appear. You dive into
pure consciousness. It's amazing."
Well, hmm. I've practised TM for the past ten years and while I'm
certain it's done good things for my stress levels and helped to
foster my pursuit of things spiritual, Donovan's huge claims have me
thinking: "Eeek!" It's fair to say, too, that TM did not offer a
complete panacea for Donovan either. He admits that his life fell
apart at the end of the Sixties. "I felt displaced and I kind of had a
breakdown. It was just getting ridiculous, too big; the Beatles had
stopped playing in public but I was still out there," he says. "The
tension had increased considerably. There was a slow panic caused by
the question: 'What else is there to do?' I realised it was done. The
Sixties mission was complete. It was an extraordinary experience to
decide that that was it. My father smiled and my agent went crazy."
In fact, he continued to record throughout the Seventies and Eighties,
with albums such as HMS Donovan and Essence to Essence achieving ever-
diminishing sales. He even dabbled in glam rock. But the Seventies
also reunited him with his "wife and muse" Linda Lawrence (who already
had a son by the Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones), and they raised
their own daughters, Astrella Celeste and Oriole Nebula. Now he feels
we are ready for his return. "My comeback is scheduled for the time
when Linda and I feel that the world's consciousness is high enough
again," he declares. "Our bohemian ideas in the Sixties have taken
years to be accepted into the mainstream. Now I have an enormous
amount of festivals to play in the summer."
These include Montrose and two Celtic festivals in France, as well as
two nights at the Jazz Cafe' in northwest London this weekend. But his
renaissance has also been spurred by him licensing his Sixties hits
Mellow Yellow, Catch the Wind and Happiness Runs to be used in TV
adverts for The Gap, Volvo and Delta Airlines. Doesn't he worry about
promoting a globalised clothes chain and gas-guzzling companies?
Absolutely not, he says: "Adverts are now the way that millions of
people encounter my music. I asked myself: 'Should I be selling out?'
And I thought: 'No, I'm selling in.' The enormous number of people who
see Gap commercials (Mellow Yellow) are turned on to my music, and
that turns people on to my message. I don't have to agree with the
product. I agree with the media exposure.
The enormous amount of money that makes for us is put to good
causes."
Indeed, he oversees the Drukpa Trust, which supports Tibetan monks.
Donovan and Linda have just returned from visiting Tibet, Bhutan and
Nepal. "We are supporting a school being made in Ladakh, where the
Dalai Lama and Drukpa Lama have homes," he says. And he is still in
touch with the increasingly reclusive Maharishi. "I went with Linda to
see him four years ago in his converted monastery in Holland. His
retreat there is built on Vedic principles. We didn't realise that
George Harrison had been there a little earlier, before he dropped his
earthly body."
Donovan is not ready to drop his own earthly body yet. "My physical
health is perfect," he beams. "Linda keeps me on a mostly vegetarian
diet, though I eat fish. My wife does yoga but I don't much. I like
swimming, cycling and walking. I've not done TM every day for 40
years. But it permeates your life. At times I would do other types of
meditation such as Tibetan, Buddhist and visualisation. Giving up was
not really changing, it was applying it in different ways and then
returning to TM."
His boundless optimism and immunity to self-doubt belie the fact that
he contracted polio through a childhood vaccination and has had a
withered leg ever since. "Polio made one introspective," he says. "I
still swam and won competitions. Football may not have been my forte
but it never stopped me doing normal dance steps and getting the girls
to come round the back of the school for a snog. It helped in a way
because, when I was ill for a few years, my father read me poetry."
After the summer festivals, he plans a meditation-promoting tour of
universities in America and possibly Britain, alongside fellow high-
profile proponents of TM, the film director David Lynch and the
quantum physicist John Hagelin.
"It's the start of a world tour to reconnect and establish ties with
TM groups in Australia and South Africa," he says. "Last year saw the
release of my autobiography and this year the accent will be on the
jewel of the bohemian Sixties ideas - meditation. Its time is now."
Donovan appears at the Jazz Cafe' on May 18 and 19
(www.jazzcafe.co.uk). The paperback edition of his autobiography The
Hurdy Gurdy Man (Arrow, 37.99) is available from Times Books First at
37.59 (p&p free). Call 0870 1608080 or visit www.timesonline.co.uk/booksf=
irstbuy
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm132.html
Dissociative bliss becomes addictive
'A house of cards'
Edmonton Sun, Canada/April 17, 2006
Joe Kellet knows gurus. He says he was one.
For years, Kellett was a disciple of the transcendental meditation
movement, then a teacher. He now runs an anti-TM webpage.
His problem is complicated by the fact that TM is based on - but does
not mirror - 2,000-year-old ayurvedic health rituals from India. That
gives it credibility, as do studies showing it can be good for your
health.
"When TMers say 'TM is not a religion' they are talking about the
purely mechanical mental technique," says Kellett. "However, 'TM the
technique' is never taught without introducing recruits to 'TM the
religion' during three days of instruction following initiation.
"Mahesh initially came out of India openly as a teacher of
spirituality. Then in the early '70s he abandoned that approach and
began disguising his message in the language of scientific analogy.
But the core message is still the same under the semantic covers: do
TM for long enough and you will become 'enlightened.' "
You might also have negative consequences. A compendium of 75 studies
of TM technique in 2000 found that 63% of practitioners suffered long-
term negative mental health consequences from the repeated
dissociation - or disconnection - with reality caused by going into a
trance-like state.
TM counters that by pointing out it can produce 600 studies showing
the benefits to everything from high-blood pressure and stress
reduction to slowing the aging of cells, reducing mental fatigue and
improving clarity of thought.
Health benefits or drawbacks notwithstanding, Kellett argues, TM
teachers were tasked with withholding information from students until
they were susceptible enough to accept dogmatic positions related to
the maharishi's own Vedic Hindu background.
"Dissociative 'bliss' is often an easily produced substitute for true
personal growth," says Kellett.
"As teachers we memorize almost everything we are to tell students. We
were very careful not to tell them too much less they become
'confused' by things that they 'couldn't yet understand'.
"Only after they had the 'experience,' could we start very gradually
revealing TM dogma in easy, bite-sized chunks, always after they had
just finished meditation and were therefore likely to be still in a
dissociative state."
When he left the group, Kellett took direction from cult deprogrammer
Steve Hassan, who established a technique for what he calls "re-
establishing reality testing" - taking people who've been addicted to
the sensation of dissociative bliss and making them critical thinkers
again.
"I realized that everything I had believed and experienced was based
on the premise that Mahesh was truly an enlightened man with the
highest spiritual teaching on the planet," he says.
"When I abandoned that assumption, the whole thing fell like a house
of cards."
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Maharishi to build World Capital of Peace in Kansas
Associated Press/April 4, 2006
Smith Center, Kansas - Followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, known for
founding the transcendental meditation movement, recently broke ground
on a complex they are calling the World Capital of Peace.
The $14 million project will sit on 480 acres of land in north-central
Kansas, near the Nebraska border and close to the geographical center
of the continental United States.
"I really felt good about it," said Smith Center Mayor Randy Archer,
whose initial reservations about the Maharishi moving to the region
were put to rest at the groundbreaking last week.
"I think they will blend and mesh with the community and the county.
But any time a change comes in, usually it's scary."
The transcendental meditation movement began in India in the 1950s and
is best-known for celebrity disciples that included the Beatles,
comedian Andy Kaufman and actor and director Clint Eastwood.
The Maharishi-affiliated groups at work in Smith Center are nonprofit
organizations known as the U.S. Peace Government and the Global
Country of World Peace. Officials said they chose Smith Center because
of its quiet, rural setting in middle America.
"It's not a closed community that won't let anybody else be a part of
what we are doing," Kent Boyum, an ecologist and the director of
government relations for the Global Country of World Peace, said of
the Maharishi.
Boyum said the Smith Center complex will include 12 to 15 buildings,
each about 12,000 square feet, with living quarters and meeting space.
He said people living in the community will focus on practicing
transcendental meditation and organic farming, but the site also will
be open to tourists.
Smith Center is the centerpiece of a number of "Peace Palaces" the
group intends to build across the Midwest, Boyum said. Two such single
buildings are planned for Lawrence and the Kansas City area.
"The people who practice are all kinds of people - all shapes, all
colors. Some have religion. Some don't," Boyum said. "It isn't an
absolute way of life. Some people just add to their normal way of life
and have less stress."
Like Archer, some people in the area had initial reservations about a
new group of people moving to the area. They point to the lack of
local water and wonder whether there will be enough to support such a
massive increase in development.
But most trepidation is due to a number of misconceptions that
accompany Maharishi.
"The rumors are it's a cult and they are going to make underground
bunkers and build nuclear weapons," said Archer, who estimates about
95 percent of the population is on board for the project. "That's not
what they are about."
While Boyum said the buildings for the World Capital of Peace will be
built mostly in a factory, then erected on site, the economic windfall
for a town with an aging population of about 1,800 is enticing.
"I feel very positive about it. The thought of people coming in and
spending money is very positive," said Charles Sellens, an
administrative assistant for the Smith County Commissioners. "They not
only sound professional, they are professional."
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Mind Medicine: What Proof?
Washington Post/March 21, 2006
By January W. Payne
A research review published in 2002 in an Australian medical journal
linked transcendental meditation (TM) to decreased hypertension. The
authors concluded that the technique was promising for prevention and
treatment of heart disease.
A similar review published last year in the Journal of Hypertension
found insufficient evidence to conclude whether TM lowers blood
pressure.
Inconsistent results like these leave people understandably baffled
about the value of so-called mind-body treatments, a branch of
alternative and complementary therapy that includes meditation,
hypnosis, imagery and mindfulness-based stress reduction. Each of
these techniques assumes that altering one's mental state can affect
bodily health. Enthusiastic testimonials and gripping media reports
notwithstanding, the research record on mind-body medicine remains
thin and inconclusive.
Still, these techniques are used, both with and without standard
medical treatments, by millions of people seeking relief from
conditions ranging from stress to heart disease. Many users report
benefits; risks are low. The chart below examines the uses and
research findings for several mind-body approaches. Scientific
investigation continues.
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Maharishi sued for not protecting students
Associated Press/February 28, 2006
Two federal lawsuits claim the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield doesn2t protect its students.
The lawsuits were filed separately in U.S. District Court by John
Killian, 23, a former student, and the family of Levi Butler, a
student who was killed in a stabbing on campus in 2004.
Butler was stabbed several times in the chest with a paring knife on
March 1, 2004 in the campus dining hall. The attack came several hours
after Killian was stabbed in the face with a ball point pen.
Shuvender Sem, 26, of Lancaster, Pa., was found not guilty by reason
of insanity in the attacks and committed to the Iowa Medical and
Classification Center at Oakdale.
The lawsuits, filed last Friday, claim the required twice-daily
regimen of meditation was dangerous for a mentally ill student.
11In particular, transcendental meditation can magnify psychological
problems, including the likelihood and severity of aggressive and
violent behavior,22 the lawsuits said.
The lawsuits say university employees ignored the first attack,
resuming classes and blaming the attack on Sem2s improper meditation.
Sem was placed in the custody of Joel Wynsong, the university2s dean
of men, and taken to Wynsong2s apartment on campus, where he stole a
paring knife, court documents said.
He then fled the apartment and went to the dining hall where he
stabbed Butler, records show.
The lawsuits allege the university was negligent for failing to
recognize the threat Sem posed to students, reporting the initial
attack to authorities and keeping Sem away from other students after
he attacked Killian.
11We are very much looking forward to have the opportunity to bring to
light the events that lead to Levi Butler2s death,22 said Stephen
Eckley, the Butler family2s attorney.
Bill Goldstein, a lawyer for the school, said he was unaware of the
lawsuits and would have to review them before commenting.
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Maharishi's group announces plans for university, school in Lancaster
Worcester Telegram & Gazette/February 16, 2006
By Jason Feifer
Lancaster7 Followers of a transcendental meditation movement plan to
open a grade school and university in town, expanding upon a health
center they2ve operated there since 1985.
When complete, the current Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center will be
joined by 13 new buildings. They would serve between 30 and 50
students from kindergarten to Grade 12, up to 500 students working on
degrees, and about 100 staff members, according to Gregory Spitzfaden,
director of the Maharishi group2s New England Reconstruction Office.
The health center sits on 217 acres of land off George Hill Road. The
new buildings would use about 40 acres, Mr. Spitzfaden said.
3All the staff and students would live in these buildings, which are
designed to enhance the creativity and good fortune and mental clarity
of the people who are living and working and studying in them,4 Mr.
Spitzfaden said.
The organization is made up of followers of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
a controversial guru who promotes a wide range of healing and
meditation practices. His group claims the methods are scientifically
tested, but many critics claim otherwise.
The group has two universities in Iowa, as well as a full town devoted
to its teachings there. The proposed university in Lancaster would be
the group2s first American school site outside of Iowa.
The Lancaster project is part of a larger expansion plan for the
Maharishi2s followers, according to Mr. Spitzfaden. The group also
wants to build a university on property it owns in Antrim, N.H., as
well as 28 3Peace Palaces4 across New England. The palaces would be
buildings dedicated to practicing the Maharishi2s teachings.
The group has not run into any opposition in town, according to
Lancaster Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco. It has met the initial
zoning requirements, he said.
Mr. Spitzfaden said he hopes construction will begin by the spring.
But the announced plan doesn2t guarantee the new school will ever be
built, according to Rick A. Ross of the New Jersey-based Rick A. Ross
Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and
Movements. He said the Maharishi2s companies have a long history of
announcing grandiose plans and not following through, or simply buying
land in order to sell it for profit.
3Because of so many announced plans that never come to fruition, I2m
deeply skeptical of what they say they2re going to do,4 he said.
The Lancaster site was going to be sold in 2000 for a reported $14
million, but the deal eventually fell through.
The Maharishi2s movement has taken many forms since its inception in
the 1950s, and has been bolstered by its affiliation with celebrities
such as The Beatles. It began by promoting basic relaxation
techniques, but has since grown to own and operate facilities across
the world.
It has promoted its teachings as an antidote to the world2s ills, and
claims to have decreased crime and terrorism. At its Web site, www.tm.org,
it offers charts such as one claiming a correlation between three
assemblies of followers and a reduction in global conflict.
Mr. Spitzfaden said the claims are all scientifically sound, but Mr.
Ross believes otherwise.
3It2s a religious belief system,4 Mr. Ross said. 3It2s based on f=
aith,
not on facts.4
The Lancaster project is expected to cost about $30 million, according
to Mr. Spitzfaden. He said his organization is lining up funding now.
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Maharishi: All you need is love ... and cash
Maharishi's solutions for today's troubled world
Associated Press/February 15, 2006
By Arthur Max
Vlodrop, Netherlands (AP) -- The wizened sage sits alone upstairs in
his secluded wooden house, massaging his temples in fatigue as he
speaks to the camera.
It's late afternoon, and he has been at it since 3 a.m., conducting
his business by video linkup around the world: new schools in India,
new meditation centers in Europe, a new medical curriculum for his
university in Iowa.
At his age -- believed to be 89 -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has no
interest in dwelling on the halcyon days of the 1960s and 1970s when
he was guru to Beatles and Beach Boys and his Transcendental
Meditation movement was the new buzz on college campuses.
Sleeping only two or three hours a day, he is grappling with weightier
problems, his aides say -- translating the theory of meditative power
into a blueprint for feeding the hungry and bringing peace to the
world.
In his metaphysical world, Maharishi -- a Hindi-language title for
Great Seer -- believes the unifying field that Albert Einstein sought
has been within us all the time, in the "unbounded consciousness" of
the mind.
"There is one unity, unified wholeness, total natural law, in the
transcendental unified consciousness," he intones to the camera that
broadcasts his image to a reporter downstairs and to his weekly global
audience by Webcast.
Dressed in white, the elderly man on the screen has lost all but a
fringe of the long hair that once flowed over his shoulders. His full
beard and mustache are still bushy, but have turned silvery.
Physically isolated from all but a handful of attendants, Maharishi
contemplates the lessons of the Vedas, the vast Sanskrit canon
compiled some 3,500 years ago. From it, he evolves solutions for
today's troubled world:
5 Tear down major structures -- the White House and the United Nations
among them -- and rebuild them according to Vedic architectural plans
that harmonize construction with nature.
5 Send meditation groups to world hot spots as psychic shock troops
whose combined positive energy will dispel negativity, reduce crime,
ease conflict and promote world peace.
5 And his latest project: a $10 trillion plan to eradicate poverty
from the Earth.
A prominently displayed advertisement has run daily since mid-December
in the International Herald Tribune seeking investors of a minimum
$60,000 for a World Peace Bond, promising a 10 to 15 percent annual
return.
His idea is to buy 5 billion acres (2 billion hectares) in 100
developing countries for labor-intensive farming, providing employment
and income for the world's poorest people by feeding the First-Wo
Foundation withdraws grant after religious connection emerges
Marin Independent Journal/October 19, 2006
By Tad Whitaker
San Rafael -- A controversial proposal to start a transcendental
meditation program at a Marin County high school was dropped Wednesday
after the David Lynch Foundation withdrew a $175,000 grant.
Terra Linda High School Principal Carole Ramsey said a few people
created such a stir over the issue that it became a distraction.
Nonetheless, she is encouraging students to pursue their interests in
meditation because it remains an effective way to reduce stress.
"I don't regret bringing it (to students) at all," she said. Ramsey
recently announced the school would start a transcendental meditation
club as part of a new wellness program that also encouraged students
to eat better and exercise more. But she abruptly ended an
informational meeting for about 75 parents last week when opponents
raised a ruckus over claims the program is linked to a religious
movement.
Transcendental meditation was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to
improve mental and physical health. Maharishi is perhaps most famous
as a spiritual adviser to the Beatles in the 1960s.
It is not, supporters claim, a religion or philosophy, and
practitioners do not change their lifestyles or experience any type of
mind control even though the founder, Maharishi, is referred to as
"His Holiness." Ramsey attended a lecture by Lynch, an Oscar-nominated
filmmaker who established a nonprofit organization to spread
transcendental meditation in schools, after more than 60 students
expressed interest in a meditation program.
Shortly thereafter, she applied for and received the $175,000 grant,
which would have been the organization's first program in California.
Participants would have taken several workshops, including 90-minute
periods for four consecutive days.
The goal is to sit silently for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day with eyes
closed.
A consultant with the state Department of Education did not see a
problem with the program in a public school.Bob Roth, a 1968 graduate
of Redwood High School who is a spokesman for the Lynch Foundation,
said pulling back was the best thing for his organization and the
school following the outcry. He said the grant will go to another
school."There's a long waiting list," he said.Ramsey said that, aside
from a few opponents, most parents either supported the program or
were open-minded. But the deep-seated beliefs held by critics
threatened to overshadow what she set out to accomplish."This is a
program that was supposed to reduce stress," she noted.
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California school loses funds over meditation controversy
Associated Press/October 18, 2006
By Marcus Wohlsen
San Francisco -- Marin County may be etched in the public imagination
as a liberal land of hot tubs, aging hippies and free thinkers, but
even a bastion of alternative spirituality apparently has its limits.
Plans for a high school meditation club funded by filmmaker David
Lynch evaporated this week after parents caught wind that students
would be taught Transcendental Meditation, the method developed by a
one-time spiritual teacher to The Beatles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Amid protests that TM was a form of religious practice and therefore
inappropriate for a public school, the David Lynch Foundation on
Tuesday withdrew the $175,000 it had pledged to Terra Linda High
School in San Rafael.
The grant would have provided funds for 250 students and 25 staffers
to practice TM, a meditation style past adherents claimed allowed them
to levitate. Lynch, best known as the director of dark, surreal films
like "Eraserhead" and "Blue Velvet," has meditated for more than 30
years and credits TM for nourishing his creativity.
"Not only does it reduce stress in the body, but the research shows it
wakes up the brain. So the child is actually able to absorb more
knowledge and do better on exams," said Bob Roth, the Lynch
foundation's vice president. "Also, the child is happier."
But an information meeting for Terra Linda parents about the program
last week turned chaotic, with one parent rushing the stage to
denounce TM as a cult.
Others said they felt TM was too close to a religion and therefore
should not be promoted as a student activity, leading a conservative
legal organization to consider suing the school for violating the
separation of church and state.
Alternative forms of spiritual expression are nothing new in Marin,
just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Flower children
of the 1960s flocked to the county's coastal bluffs and rolling hills
after they decided to settle down and raise families.
In more recent years, Marin County has become one of the most affluent
in the country. That wealth has brought with it the kind of high-
pressure academic environments common to schools in prosperous
communities.
Still, Terra Linda, located in the town of San Rafael, was one of the
last places the Lynch Foundation expected to find resistance.
Since last year, the foundation has given more than $3 million to fund
TM programs at 20 public, private and charter schools from Detroit to
Washington, D.C., without causing a stir, according to Roth.
Terra Linda Principal Carole Ramsey said interest in meditation had
grown recently at the high school. A club started by a school health
instructor there last year attracted 60 students.
"I think it helps them to calm their minds so that they are able to
focus," Ramsey said.
Ramsey blamed "a few individuals" for creating "an environment that
has led to the withdrawal of this grant" and said the school would
encourage students who remain interested in meditation to investigate
alternative programs.
A federal appeals court in 1979 called TM a form of religious teaching
and ruled the practice could not be taught in New Jersey public
schools. The decision is often cited as a precedent in religion-in-
public-schools cases.
Detractors who say TM has religious overtones usually point to an
initiation ceremony where teachers invoke Hindu deities. But
practitioners describe TM as a relaxation technique used by 6 million
Americans of every religious persuasion.
Whether TM is religious or not, state education officials said that
religion clubs are allowed in California public schools under certain
conditions.
"You can have a religious club on campus as long as its student-run
and there's no church affiliation," said Pam Slater, a spokeswoman for
the California Department of Education.
Ramsey said the Terra Linda TM club would have met those criteria.
Students would meditate twice a day - once before school, and once
after school - and not during school hours, and participation was
voluntary, she said. Religious clubs, including a Christian club, have
existed at the school without stirring debate, she said.
Sharing the chagrin of some Terra Linda parents over the TM club was
the Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal group that often
advocates for religion to play a greater role in public life. In this
case, though, the group threatened to sue the high school over church-
state boundaries.
"If it's religious in nature and it involves faculty, then you would
have a problem," said Kevin Snider, chief counsel for the institute.
Still, some parents said they fully supported TM at Terra Linda, as
did their kids.
Suzanne Rush of San Rafael has two daughters at Terra Linda, one a
sophomore and the other a junior. She said one daughter planned to
sign up for the TM club, and the other was considering it. Rush, who
tutors elementary school students, had no problem with it
"I work with kids every day that are stressed out," she said. "If can
offer our kids something to help them de-stress and work up to their
potential, then that's what we want."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm138.html
High School's Club Called 'Religion,' 'Cult' By Parents
NBC 11, California/October 13, 2006
Saulsalito, California -- A new club that some are calling a cult or
religion is coming to a Bay Area high school and bringing plenty of
controversy with it, NBC11's Stacey Ciauri reported.
Terra Linda High School principal Carole Ramsey brought Transcendental
Meditation to the school after she saw a film about the meditation
made by David Lynch.
"It's about quieting your mind ... It's actually very good for your
brain," Ramsey said.
Ramsey said TM helps students de-stress.
Supporters of the group and parents met Thursday night at the
Sausalito school to discuss the club.
The meeting ended when a parent denounced the group and refused to
leave the school's stage.
The Department of Education said they have no problem with the club.
Parent Susan Crittendon said the group has raised some concerns.
"Its the beginning of a whole new philosophy of life. They work by
putting people in trances, and when you're in a trance you're more
suggestible," parent Susan Crittendon.
Multiple teachers and 60 students have shown interest in the group.
Some parents have complained that TM is a religion.
"It isn't a religion," Ramsey said. "It's just like people who
practice yoga -- it comes form Hindu tradition."
According to TM.org, the Transcendental Meditation technique is not a
religion.
"The Transcendental Meditation technique is a simple, natural
technique practiced by millions of people of all religions, including
clergy. Practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique does not
require or involve faith or any particular set of beliefs," according
to the site.
Lynch, the filmmaker known for Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and the
television series Twin Peaks, gave the school a $175,000 grant for
starting the club.
"TM really helps. When you2re stressed out from school, it makes you
fresher and brighter. At the end of a long day, I meditate and can
still focus on my homework," said first year college student, Nalina
Loiselle, on TM.org.
"I notice that I get support of nature from meditating. Meditating
regularly just seems to make things work out in school, family, and
every day life. This makes life easier and more enjoyable," said 16-
year-old high school student George Beichert, on TM.org.
TM was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was a spiritual advisor
to The Beatles in the 1960s.
According to the group's Web site, the Transcendental Meditation
technique "expands the consciousness of each student, significantly
increasing their intelligence, creativity, confidence, inner calm, and
motivation."
Participating students would use the meditation technique for 20
minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably with their eyes closed.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm137.html
Plans for meditation at Terra Linda High don't soothe everyone
Marin-Independent Journal/October 11, 2006
By Ted Whitaker
Terra Linda High School plans to launch a Transcendental Meditation
program with the help of a $175,000 grant from noted filmmaker David
Lynch.
Lynch established a foundation in his name to spread Transcendental
Meditation to schools as a method of stress management. The Terra
Linda program would be the David Lynch Foundation's first in
California, although others operate in Washington, D.C., and Detroit.
Principal Carole Ramsey became an enthusiastic supporter after hearing
Lynch speak, but some say Transcendental Meditation is rooted in a
religious movement that is inappropriate for public school.
"There's no doubt in my mind that it's religious," said opponent Paul
Powell, whose daughter is a senior at the school.
Lynda Nichols, a history-social science consultant with the state
Department of Education, does not see a problem with the program. She
said it is voluntary, not part of the curriculum required for
graduation, and another way to engage students.
"The parents that are concerned should just not let their children
attend," she said. "The district is certainly within their right to
offer it."
Ramsey will host an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the
school library for parents who want to know more about it.
Transcendental Meditation is one part of a new three-part Terra Linda
High School wellness program; the other parts involve encouraging
students to eat more fruits and vegetables instead of refined and
processed foods, and increasing physical education.
Practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, founded by Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, use it as a way to improve mental and physical health.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is perhaps most famous for being associated with
The Beatles when the group experimented with Eastern religion.
According to Lynch's Web site, students sit silently for 15-20 minutes
twice a day with their eyes closed to settle their minds and
experience different levels of thought until arriving at the source of
their thoughts. It is not, according to the foundation, a religion or
philosophy and practitioners do not change their lifestyles or
experience any types of mind control.
"In today's world of fear and uncertainty," Lynch wrote on the
foundation's Web site, "every child should have one class period a day
to dive within himself and experience the field of silence - bliss -
the enormous reservoir of energy and intelligence that is deep within
all of us. This is the way to save the coming generation."
According to the school, informational meetings for faculty will begin
this month and students will begin meetings in November. The program
has space for 250 students and 25 teachers.
Anyone who enrolls would take 90-minute classes for four days in a
row, followed by about 25, 30-minute sessions during the next couple
years.
Participants would be tested before and after the program to assess
how it affects their grades, blood pressure, discipline and several
other issues. It is not part of the curriculum and would be offered
either before or after school or during breaks.
Ramsey said the proposed program is in response to students who
requested a meditation club at school. Along with physical education
teacher David Garcia, she attended a speech by Lynch at the University
of California at Berkeley in which he explained how Transcendental
Meditation helps students reduce stress and improve their health.
Ramsey said the proposed program would not have any religious or
spiritual elements and is widely respected for reducing anxiety,
depression, behavior problems, insomnia and other problems.
"It's a technique, not a belief system," Ramsey said.
Suzanne Rush, a parent whose daughter plans to enroll, said she
supports Ramsey and the program because children of all ages need to
know how to deal with stress. She is familiar with the program and
thinks the religious issue is unfounded.
"I look at it as another tool to help our children," she said.
Powell, who in addition to being a parent is a certified sport yoga
instructor and stress management specialist, said he applauds the diet
and exercise aspects of the school's wellness program. But, he added,
there are better stress management methods that are not associated
with any religion.
He said Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism. He said he
supports students who participate in Transcendental Meditation or any
other religion on their own, but not when school administrators get
behind it.
"I don't see how that's appropriate," he said.
Bob Ross, a 1968 Redwood High School graduate who is vice president of
the Lynch foundation, said the program is voluntary and completely non-
religious. He said it is nonsense for anyone to believe the program
has a religious component.
"Some people think we still haven't landed on the moon," he said.
He said the American Medical Association published a study that
concluded the program reduces risk factors for hypertension, diabetes
and obesity.
"There's an enormous amount of research that documents the effect," he
said.
Dr. Edward Oklan, a San Anselmo child and adult psychiatrist whose
children attended Terra Linda High School, said he wasn't too familiar
with Transcendental Meditation.
"Options for relaxation training are good, in general," said Oklan,
who has recommended children deal with stress by participating in
youth groups at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
He said the proposed program is probably fine as long as it is limited
to education and doesn't involve any church-like elements.
"There are a lot of kids under stress and it's good for them to deal
with it," he said.
Filmmaker's devotion
Filmmaker David Lynch is famous for writing and directing feature
films with unusual, surreal plots such the 2001 psychological thriller
"Mulholland Drive," which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Others include films "Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet," "Lost Highway" and
"Wild at Heart," and the television hit "Twin Peaks."
Lynch has practiced Transcendental Meditation for more than 30 years.
He established his foundation to teach Transcendental Meditation to
any child who wants to learn.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm136.html
Outer Peace
New York Times Magazine/October 10, 2006
By Lily Koppel
Encounter
In the 1960's, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - called the giggling guru by the
press - gained a measure of celebrity for promoting his mantra-
repetition technique of Transcendental Meditation around the world and
for serving a brief stint as spiritual adviser to the Beatles. His
message was that with the proper techniques, each individual could
find peace, as one of his disciples, George Harrison, sang, "within."
Today, his organization claims to hold U.S. assets of $300 million and
to have taught six million adherents (training now costs $2,500) in
T.M. centers around the world. It also operates a university in
Fairfield, Iowa.
Maharishi, who is believed to be 89, now confines himself to two rooms
in his golden-hued log house in the small Dutch village of Vlodrop.
Although he has emerged only a few times in the past year - for fresh
air on a chauffeured drive - he contends that his most important work
lies ahead of him. His first 50 years, he says, were merely a "warm-
up" for his goal of creating world peace by, among other things,
rebuilding national capitals according to his harmony-producing
precepts. Inner peace, it turns out, is not enough.
When I visited Vlodrop this spring, Maharishi agreed to a rare
interview. I was permitted in his house but was not allowed into his
upstairs quarters. His followers told me that seclusion preserves his
energy and that he talks in person to only a small circle of
attendants. I spoke to Maharishi by videoconference from a downstairs
room where his red velvet gilded throne sat empty.
Framed in a flat-screen monitor, he appeared more than ever a mystical
creature, his thin face sketched with a white beard. He was dressed in
his customary white silk dhoti, a fresh necklace of yellow petals
around his neck. His aim, he explained in English, is to create
coherence in a world undone by our stressed brains, artificial
national borders, terrorism and irrational violence. "My coherence-
creating groups are going to put out all this mischief-mongership in
the world," he said in a high-pitched voice, holding President Bush up
as the greatest mischief-monger of all. "The world is going to come
out to be a neat and clean world. All these countries will fade
away."
Maharishi regards his own 65-acre enclave as the capital of a Global
Country of World Peace; it even has its own currency, the raam. He
lives here with 50 of his adherents - including his "minister of
science and technology," John Hagelin, a Harvard-educated physicist,
but sees little of the bearded Westerners who come for long meditation
retreats or research projects. The compound is in a parallel universe
to Vlodrop, with its 2,000 locals. One of the few who has crossed over
is the town florist, who practices T.M. and each day removes all the
thorns from the yogi's daily order of bushels of organic roses.
Maharishi is not content to promote peace just inside his compound.
Hagelin has run for president of the United States three times, and
recently, Maharishi chose 40 countries in which to support corps of
"yogic fliers." The human fliers supposedly use surges of energy to
physically lift themselves off the ground. Like a number of aspiring
religious thinkers these days, the Maharishi and Hagelin say they
believe that the physics of quantum mechanics, with its leaping
particles and abundant paradoxes, can be combined with ancient
traditions into a new philosophy that stresses the world-changing
potential of a "transcendental consciousness." Maharishi argues, for
instance, that when the square root of 1 percent of the earth's
population - that is, 8,000 people - meditate all at once, the result
will be the diffusion of a higher state of consciousness into the
atmosphere.
Another element of his vision is to rebuild the world according to
Vedic principles. He has called for the demolition of "improperly
oriented" buildings, believing them to be toxic, and includes among
them the United Nations and the White House. There are proposals for
New York and Paris to be cleared to make way for 3,000 marble peace
palaces. (His organization operates such palaces in Bethesda, Md.,
Lexington, Ky., Houston and Fairfield.) Maharishi is also convinced
that every country's capital is wrongly located. In India and America,
his organization has bought land near what it calls each country's
"brahmastan" - or the geographical and energy center. The future
capital of the United States would be Smith Center, Kan., population
1,931.
Despite the support of celebrities from David Lynch to Donovan,
Maharishi has been disappointed in his efforts to recreate the world.
Hagelin's poor showing in the 2000 presidential race did not lift his
spirits. Locked in legal battles, his organization has not gained
permission to raze a Franciscan monastery on its property in Vlodrop.
It was also unable to establish sovereignty on 100 acres of Rota, an
island in the Pacific. But even so, he has managed to transform, if
not the world, then at least his gated utopia into an eerily peaceful
place. At nightfall, the lawn, mowed by robots, lights up with
decorative deer.
Lily Koppel is on the staff of the magazine.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm135.html
A lotus amid the Iowa corn
A new Midwestern town has the teachings of a well-known maharishi at
its heart.
The Los Angeles Times/September 10, 2006
By Carina Chocano
When I booked my trip last April to attend a conference on
Transcendental Meditation at the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa, I had no idea I would be visiting another country. My
airline ticket clearly indicated Cedar Rapids, and from there I would
rent a car and drive about two hours to a small town 50 miles from the
Mississippi River. I was a longtime fan of filmmaker David Lynch, one
of the conference's keynote speakers, and I was interested in
meditation, occasionally popping in for a guided meditation at a
neighborhood Buddhist temple.
By the time I had made the travel arrangements, I knew I would be
spending two nights at the improbably named Raj, an ayurvedic spa-
hotel improbably located in the middle of a cornfield. I knew I would
be attending a conference entitled "Consciousness, Creativity and the
Brain," where John Hagelin, the onetime Natural Law Party presidential
candidate would also speak. Hagelin once offered to deploy 400 "yogic
fliers" to Kosovo to meditate for peace (then-Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright declined).
What I didn't know is that the Raj is not in Fairfield but just
outside of it, in a brand-new town called Maharishi Vedic City, which
happens to be the North American capital of the Global Country of
World Peace.
So to say that Maharishi Vedic City exists on a plane of its own is
not quite to speak metaphorically. The town, which consists of several
still-sprouting residential developments, is surrounded by cornfields
dotted with barns and gloomy Victorians. The area is no stranger to
sectarian lifestyle experiments: Not far away is the Mennonite
community of Kalona, where bearded men and bonneted women drive around
in buggies.
When I arrived, the sky looked as though it had been carpeted in a
gray Stainmaster Berber. Fairfield proper looked as though it had seen
better days 7 specifically 1854, when it hosted the first Iowa State
Fair. It has the stately but melancholy air of a once-prosperous
Midwestern town in decline.
By contrast, M.V.C. displays all the architectural characteristics of
a new exurban development: gaudy, oversize construction that has no
stylistic relation to its environment but instead vaguely alludes to a
theme-park version someplace sort of magical and far away.
The first thing that alerted me to the existence of the Global Country
of World Peace was a bright yellow flag with an orange sunburst
design, which I took at first to be an expression of meditator pride,
the TM equivalent of a rainbow flag. Checking in at the Raj, I noticed
a display of the Global Country's paper money, "the ideal currency of
the city" (though they did take my American Express).
Think pink
Steve Yellin, my guide and PR liaison for the weekend, met me at my
room, which was bright and plush, done in a smoothed-over rustic style
I decided to call Santa Barbara Proven7al. He was wearing a radiant
pure pink cashmere sweater, which I initially took for a fashion
statement. But it turned out pink was everywhere. It was the color of
the media room at the Raj, where pastel Barcaloungers faced a TV
permanently tuned to the Maharishi Channel. And it was the color of
the private plane that first delivered the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to
rural Iowa in 1971.
Over a vegetarian buffet lunch, I got a brief history of the town. The
maharishi (now an octogenarian billionaire living in the Netherlands)
introduced TM to the West in the 1950s. He founded the Maharishi
University of Management in 1971, around the time he became one in the
long line of "fifth Beatles." (John Lennon would go on to write the
none-too-flattering "Sexy Sadie.")
Vedic City grew around the school, incorporating in 2001. "Vedic"
refers to "Veda," the Sanskrit word for "knowledge," which the
maharishi claims to have distilled into a comprehensive system for
living. TM is just the beginning. The "complete Vedic science of
consciousness" encompasses architecture, education, health,
agriculture, administration, economy and defense.
There are, according to the TM organization, more than 6 million
practitioners worldwide. Fairfield/M.V.C. is home to a few thousand of
them and offers, beyond individual daily practice, an all-inclusive
lifestyle.
After lunch, my guide took me on a tour of the town. All of the
structures in M.V.C. are built in strict adherence to Maharishi
Sthapatya Veda technique, which requires that all buildings face east,
include a central "quiet space," and be adorned with a golden dollop
called a kalash.
The houses cost $200,000 to $800,000, including consultation fees and
royalties, which sounded like a lot for rural Iowa, but I was told
that "people who live and work in these buildings report that they
think more clearly, make better decisions, feel happier and healthier,
feel more alert and refreshed throughout the day, have more restful
and refreshing sleep, have more energy and less fatigue and experience
less stress and greater peace of mind." (Blurting, "Oh, like feng
shui," in response to an initial explanation of how it all works is
the wrong thing to do.)
I came to Iowa on a lark 7 or as close to a lark as you can come while
on assignment for a major newspaper. The TM organization courts the
press with an interest that borders on ardor and, as a result,
throughout the weekend, I felt less like a fly on the wall than the
elephant in the room.
Because Vedic City wants you to visit. It believes in the creativity-
enhancing, stress-reducing, intelligence-increasing, health-promoting
and world-peace-increasing properties of TM, and it really, really
wants you to believe in them too.
Vedic City also wants you to know that Vedic City is for foodies. It
wants you to sample its desultory smattering of ethnic restaurants and
conclude that here you'll want for nothing. The town of 285 has big
plans for expansion, for attracting tourists and potential meditators.
Mayor Bob Wynne (a longtime meditator) has said that the idea is to
expand to 1,200 residents by 2010, and eventually reach up to 10,000.
Since it incorporated, the city has purchased more than 100 acres of
farmland, which someday will be the site of a theme park, a golf
course and botanical gardens.
There was something about Vedic City's architecture, not to mention
the mammoth vehicles parked in the driveways, that was disconcerting
yet familiar; it was exoticism snugly tucked into a marketable
lifestyle brand. Vedic McMansions, Vedic lodges, Vedic Cape Cod
bungalows and Vedic condos commingled within a short distance of giant
his-and-hers Golden Domes of Pure Knowledge where the yogic fliers
congregate. On the way back to the hotel, I passed a mobile home park
called Utopia Park ("The Homes by the Domes"), which is just off
Heaven and Taste of Utopia streets.
The organic grocery was like the hippie co-op in every college or
lefty town 7 except the bulletin board was disproportionally dedicated
to guru services and the "for-rent" fliers list Eastern orientation as
an amenity.
After the tour, I went back to the Raj to rest before the weekend's
welcome reception. I wandered around the calming lobby, stopping to
check out the scale model of the Vedic Observatory on my way to the
gift shop. I hung out in the media room for a bit. The maharishi was
on TV, talking about the unified field. (You couldn't spit without
hitting a portrait of the maharishi around here.)
In the gift store, I bought some beautiful Indian-themed notecards.
The woman at the register was very edgy and stressed out for someone
working in a shop where, at that moment, there was only one customer
standing there without so much as a pricing question. When a colleague
came in with a technical problem, she melted down. I went back to my
room, clutching my relaxing bath salts, feeling sort of jittery
myself.
A few hours later, I joined Steve and his wife for dinner at a now-
closed restaurant called Regina's. I ordered the salmon on a plank of
flaming cedar, which, I was surprised to discover, actually came on a
plank of flaming cedar. My fish was on a wood chip that was on fire.
When the flames failed to subside, I smothered them discreetly with
mashed potatoes. It was delicious.
The bulk of the weekend, though, I spent in a big room 7 something
very much like a hangar, in fact 7 attending a conference on
"Creativity, Consciousness and the Brain," listening to talks on the
relationship between quantum physics and peace-creating energy fields,
and watching the brain waves of a young student of meditation hooked
up to an EEG as a group of bald men stood around beaming.
The conference constituted the last leg of a 12-campus tour
introducing college students to TM and promoting Lynch's new
scholarship program, "The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-
Based Education and World Peace." If the need for meditation
scholarships sounds strange, considering the ease with which
meditation instruction can be obtained, you should know that the
formal four-day TM instruction and a personal mantra (plus future
adjustments) will run you $2,500.
Early on Saturday morning, Lynch graciously took questions from the
conference-goers, who were encouraged to ask him about anything,
whether it be meditation or movie-making. Judging from the questions,
what many of the young attendees sought were grand unifying answers.
They worried, perhaps prematurely, about how to retain their integrity
and creativity in Hollywood, an industry known for its bone-headedness
and venality. They wanted to know should they shoot on film or digital
video? They wanted to understand what releases creativity, what its
limits are.
"The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi talks about an ocean of creativity and
consciousness," Lynch replied. "Then modern science says it's true 7
everything that is emerges from this thing. Quantum physics and the
unified field."
So, what's the secret?
The questions were much like those aspiring filmmakers ask directors
during a Q&A at a film festival. In those sessions, it's generally
been my experience that directors are rarely asked about aesthetics or
ideas.
What people want to know 7 and sometimes they ask this cleverly,
sometimes clumsily 7 is how they can stop being themselves and start
being the actor/director/famous person. They want answers, in other
words, on how to transform their lives. They want the secret formula,
the treasure map, the magic phrase, the secret mantra.
There's something indescribably alluring about a "simple, effortless"
daily practice that purports to alleviate everything that ails the
21st century brain. And like most indescribably alluring things,
there's something unsettling about it too. TM sells itself very
aggressively as the one true meditation practice, a practice unlike
other practices that require contemplation or analysis or some other
form of effort.
And here, in southwestern Iowa, just in time for the baby boomers'
twilight years, is their Eastern-philosophy utopia. What 40 years ago
might have been an "alternative lifestyle" is now a marketable
lifestyle product; an entropic mix of spirituality and materialism;
self-betterment and self-absorption as a cure for all of humanity's
ills; consciousness-expansion as a way to building wealth and saving
the world. For the not-so-low price of $2,500, you're offered inner
peace, world peace, reduced blood pressure and the sense of yourself
as a maverick pioneer, a "cultural creative."
Meanwhile, neither the square footage of the average house (in an non-
temperate year-round climate) nor the size of the gas tank of the
average car seems to factor into the peace equation.
As Fred Travis, director of the Psychophysiology Center at MUM, softly
droned on about "the delightful flow of fine feeling and soft
thinking" brought on in the college brain by TM, I wandered off. I
think I was suffering from severe scientific proof fatigue. From the
moment of my arrival, I had been regaled with tales of millions of
dollars in research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the
findings published in prestigious medical journals, the studies
conducted in partnership with major university hospitals. Nearly every
conversation, whether it concerned elementary-school academic
performance or cholesterol or crime-rate reduction, at some point
included the phrase "There was this study5. "
Maybe someday we'll look back on these early years of the 21st century
as the moment when it became clear that money, competent PR and, above
all, frank and unabashed banality have the power to normalize
anything. When life itself transformed into a mall of "lifestyle
choices," laid out end to end on a flat, infinite plane of
possibility.
I wandered into the student union bookstore, which carried no books
except for the maharishi's. In the admissions building, I perused a
display detailing the maharishi's blueprints for an "ideal city." It
is grid-like and built around gardens. Examples of bad cities include
Paris and New York.
Later, another journalist asked one of the PR guys whether the
maharishi would really prefer to see a big square suburb where Paris
is. I mean, it's Paris, she said.
He considered this and then replied, "Well, it might be nice for us to
visit, but think about the people who have to live there."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm134.html
Group's Plan Causes Tension in Kansas Town
Associated Press/June 7, 2006
By Carl Manning
Smith Center, Kansas 7 Supporters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi see his
Transcendental Meditation movement as fostering world harmony. But in
this farm town in the heart of the heartland, the movement's plans to
build its "World Capital of Peace" here are creating more tension than
tranquility.
Folks became alarmed when the outsiders bought up large tracts of
land. Nine local pastors warned the movement that it is encroaching on
their spiritual turf. And when a TM representative started throwing
around terms at a meeting like "waves of coherence" and "silent zero
point," the farmers just shook their heads.
"It hasn't split the community, but it has caused a lot of tension,"
said Mayor Randy Archer. "We're an older community, and new things
that come to town are scary for some people."
The TM movement _ whose founder, the Maharishi, was the Beatles' guru
_ has announced plans to spend $15 million to build a dozen marble
"peace palaces" facing east in Smith County. Because TM's
practitioners want to disperse "waves of coherence" as widely as
possible to influence others, they chose a spot just 10 miles west of
the geographic center of the Lower 48 states.
Eric Michener, who works as project coordinator out of a storefront
office on Main Street, conceded his group, the nonprofit Maharishi-
affiliated Global Country of World Peace, probably could have made a
better first impression.
"I don't think we've run into this vibrant level of misunderstanding
before," he said.
Altogether, the Maharishi wants to build 2,400 peace palaces in 250
U.S. cities and has opened ones in Houston, Bethesda, Md., Lexington,
Ky., and Fairfield, Iowa, where his group also has operated the
Maharishi University of Management for three decades.
In Smith County, initial plans call for about 300 people to live in
the two-story palaces, but that could increase to 2,000 over the next
three years, said Kent Boyum, the group's director of governmental
affairs. He said the palaces also could be open to tourists. Work is
expected to begin this summer and be completed by year's end.
TM traces its roots to India. The movement began in the 1950s and is
best known for its celebrity disciples, who have included Clint
Eastwood and the comedian Andy Kaufman. Practitioners repeat a thought
_ a mantra _ over and over to achieve relaxation, typically for 15 or
20 minutes every morning and evening.
Supporters say that TM is a technique, not a religion _ that people
can meditate and still be of any faith they want.
But Pastor Greg Hubbard of the Evangelical Free Church, countered,
"They say they aren't a religion, and I say baloney." In April, he and
other pastors signed a letter to the local newspaper saying: "They are
welcome, but they must understand we are competing for the eternal
souls of people."
Hubbard said freedom of religion or the right to own property aren't
issues here. "The thing that bothers us is what we perceive to be
their blatant dishonesty about who they are. The bottom line is,
dishonest neighbors aren't good neighbors," he said.
Others in Smith Center _ a dwindling town of 1,800 with an aging
population _ are withholding judgment.
"I'm not for them. I'm not against them. You've got to wait and see,"
the mayor said. "If it helps the community, that'll be great, and I
hope it does help the community."
Boyum held out the possibility of an economic boost for the town,
where folks raise wheat, corn, soybeans and cattle about 175 miles
from Topeka, near the Nebraska line: "Our intention is to funnel as
much finances and work through the local community as we can. We all
are consumers and will bring resources into the county."
The Global Country of World Peace bought about 1,100 acres this spring
to erect build the palaces and farm organic produce. Because land is
prized here above just about everything except family and faith,
people sat up and took notice.
"They came in and, boom, here we are," the mayor said. "People thought
they were sneaking in."
David Stortz, who farms near the site of the planned palaces, said he
has "no reason to believe that what they are going to do will hurt us,
but on the other hand what are they going to do to help us?"
Recently, a dozen people showed up at Michener's office for a question-
and-answer session. Some were curious about TM. Others were a little
upset. They wanted to know why Michener didn't show up the night
before for a public meeting, the usual means of hashing out problems
around here.
Michener said there had been some miscommunication and his superiors
had not authorized him to speak to a large gathering. He started using
terms like "silent zero point."
"It's just like they are pulling stories out of the sky," farmer Mark
Overmiller said after the meeting. "Baby, this will split this town
wide open."
Not everyone opposes the new neighbors. The Rev. Sharon Patton of the
First Christian Church grew up near Fairfield, Iowa, and recalled the
same concerns there when the Maharishi opened the university and
supporters moved into town.
"Those who are secure in their faith aren't worried about these people
coming," she said. "We are going through the same thing as the folks
in Fairfield and that passed. In time, it will die out."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm133.html
Transcendental Meditation: Bliss! Hippy days are here again
The Times (UK)/May 13, 2006
Sixties survivor Donovan is back but this time, he tells John Naish,
he really is going to change the world with transcendental meditation
Donovan is so sure that the enlightened consciousness of the Sixties
is coming back (and him along with it) that he starts singing "This is
the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" at me. The Scots-born troubadour
of hippy anthems such as Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, and Hurdy-
Gurdy Man is planning a world tour to reawaken us to the mind-
expanding wonders of what he calls the " real flower of those times" -
meditation.
And not just any meditation: Donovan, now still oddly boyish at 60,
travelled along with the Beatles, the actor Mia Farrow and Beach Boy
Mike Love in 1968 to spend a legendary sojourn at Rishikesh in India,
to study transcendental meditation (TM) under the movement's leader,
the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. John Lennon fell out with the Maharishi and
wrote Sexy Sadie, about his allegedly materialistic ways. But Donovan
remains a firm devotee.
Indeed, the singer-songwriter, who first hit the charts in 1965 at the
age of 18, appears to have kept staunchly faithful to the whole rag-
bag of that era's counter-cultural ideals of peace, love and flower
power, even to the point of becoming a little fossilised. But perhaps
we should allow that of a surviving pioneer of today's New Age passion
for self-exploration.
"My interest in alternative healing originated when I left school. It
was primed by my father, a working-class bohemian factory worker, with
elevated thoughts of poetry and great poets," he says. "At 15 I was
reading Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, which led me to
discover alternative health and living through Zen meditation. Yet
there were no teachers in the West. They were all in the East."
The Fab Four got there first. George Harrison had become fascinated by
a sitar he'd seen on the set of the Beatles' film Help! He flew to
India to learn to play it from the master, Ravi Shankar. While there
his wife Patti learnt of the Maharishi's work. "When the Maharishi
arrived in Britain to teach TM in Bangor, I saw my friends the Beatles
on the television going down to see him," says Donovan. "I made a note
to look into it."
In fact, the Maharishi came to him, having learnt how pop star
converts could help his crusade to alter the world's consciousness. "I
was in LA doing a concert and two of the Maharishi's aides came to
invite me to see him. He initiated me a few days later. The guys after
me in the queue were the Grateful Dead."
So what did TM do for Donovan? "I had all the Western troubles of the
psyche: anxiety, anger, stress and fear, which all cause illness. Over
the past 40 years I have experienced the way this system has absolute
healing benefits," he says. "Maharishi calls me his 'transcendental
musician'. It's true that I'm unique. I'm a Celtic musician, poet and
actor. My music is rooted in that and was putting people into a
meditative state long before I learnt about meditation. I realised
that you could transcend the world into bliss through music, through
concerts, but it was not sustainable beyond the duration of the
concert. True permanent immersion has to be found through meditation.
I'm surrounded by healers - my wife is a reiki master and a
reflexologist - but I find TM is a supreme healing system. When you
transcend, all the solutions to your problems appear. You dive into
pure consciousness. It's amazing."
Well, hmm. I've practised TM for the past ten years and while I'm
certain it's done good things for my stress levels and helped to
foster my pursuit of things spiritual, Donovan's huge claims have me
thinking: "Eeek!" It's fair to say, too, that TM did not offer a
complete panacea for Donovan either. He admits that his life fell
apart at the end of the Sixties. "I felt displaced and I kind of had a
breakdown. It was just getting ridiculous, too big; the Beatles had
stopped playing in public but I was still out there," he says. "The
tension had increased considerably. There was a slow panic caused by
the question: 'What else is there to do?' I realised it was done. The
Sixties mission was complete. It was an extraordinary experience to
decide that that was it. My father smiled and my agent went crazy."
In fact, he continued to record throughout the Seventies and Eighties,
with albums such as HMS Donovan and Essence to Essence achieving ever-
diminishing sales. He even dabbled in glam rock. But the Seventies
also reunited him with his "wife and muse" Linda Lawrence (who already
had a son by the Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones), and they raised
their own daughters, Astrella Celeste and Oriole Nebula. Now he feels
we are ready for his return. "My comeback is scheduled for the time
when Linda and I feel that the world's consciousness is high enough
again," he declares. "Our bohemian ideas in the Sixties have taken
years to be accepted into the mainstream. Now I have an enormous
amount of festivals to play in the summer."
These include Montrose and two Celtic festivals in France, as well as
two nights at the Jazz Cafe' in northwest London this weekend. But his
renaissance has also been spurred by him licensing his Sixties hits
Mellow Yellow, Catch the Wind and Happiness Runs to be used in TV
adverts for The Gap, Volvo and Delta Airlines. Doesn't he worry about
promoting a globalised clothes chain and gas-guzzling companies?
Absolutely not, he says: "Adverts are now the way that millions of
people encounter my music. I asked myself: 'Should I be selling out?'
And I thought: 'No, I'm selling in.' The enormous number of people who
see Gap commercials (Mellow Yellow) are turned on to my music, and
that turns people on to my message. I don't have to agree with the
product. I agree with the media exposure.
The enormous amount of money that makes for us is put to good
causes."
Indeed, he oversees the Drukpa Trust, which supports Tibetan monks.
Donovan and Linda have just returned from visiting Tibet, Bhutan and
Nepal. "We are supporting a school being made in Ladakh, where the
Dalai Lama and Drukpa Lama have homes," he says. And he is still in
touch with the increasingly reclusive Maharishi. "I went with Linda to
see him four years ago in his converted monastery in Holland. His
retreat there is built on Vedic principles. We didn't realise that
George Harrison had been there a little earlier, before he dropped his
earthly body."
Donovan is not ready to drop his own earthly body yet. "My physical
health is perfect," he beams. "Linda keeps me on a mostly vegetarian
diet, though I eat fish. My wife does yoga but I don't much. I like
swimming, cycling and walking. I've not done TM every day for 40
years. But it permeates your life. At times I would do other types of
meditation such as Tibetan, Buddhist and visualisation. Giving up was
not really changing, it was applying it in different ways and then
returning to TM."
His boundless optimism and immunity to self-doubt belie the fact that
he contracted polio through a childhood vaccination and has had a
withered leg ever since. "Polio made one introspective," he says. "I
still swam and won competitions. Football may not have been my forte
but it never stopped me doing normal dance steps and getting the girls
to come round the back of the school for a snog. It helped in a way
because, when I was ill for a few years, my father read me poetry."
After the summer festivals, he plans a meditation-promoting tour of
universities in America and possibly Britain, alongside fellow high-
profile proponents of TM, the film director David Lynch and the
quantum physicist John Hagelin.
"It's the start of a world tour to reconnect and establish ties with
TM groups in Australia and South Africa," he says. "Last year saw the
release of my autobiography and this year the accent will be on the
jewel of the bohemian Sixties ideas - meditation. Its time is now."
Donovan appears at the Jazz Cafe' on May 18 and 19
(www.jazzcafe.co.uk). The paperback edition of his autobiography The
Hurdy Gurdy Man (Arrow, 37.99) is available from Times Books First at
37.59 (p&p free). Call 0870 1608080 or visit www.timesonline.co.uk/booksf=
irstbuy
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm132.html
Dissociative bliss becomes addictive
'A house of cards'
Edmonton Sun, Canada/April 17, 2006
Joe Kellet knows gurus. He says he was one.
For years, Kellett was a disciple of the transcendental meditation
movement, then a teacher. He now runs an anti-TM webpage.
His problem is complicated by the fact that TM is based on - but does
not mirror - 2,000-year-old ayurvedic health rituals from India. That
gives it credibility, as do studies showing it can be good for your
health.
"When TMers say 'TM is not a religion' they are talking about the
purely mechanical mental technique," says Kellett. "However, 'TM the
technique' is never taught without introducing recruits to 'TM the
religion' during three days of instruction following initiation.
"Mahesh initially came out of India openly as a teacher of
spirituality. Then in the early '70s he abandoned that approach and
began disguising his message in the language of scientific analogy.
But the core message is still the same under the semantic covers: do
TM for long enough and you will become 'enlightened.' "
You might also have negative consequences. A compendium of 75 studies
of TM technique in 2000 found that 63% of practitioners suffered long-
term negative mental health consequences from the repeated
dissociation - or disconnection - with reality caused by going into a
trance-like state.
TM counters that by pointing out it can produce 600 studies showing
the benefits to everything from high-blood pressure and stress
reduction to slowing the aging of cells, reducing mental fatigue and
improving clarity of thought.
Health benefits or drawbacks notwithstanding, Kellett argues, TM
teachers were tasked with withholding information from students until
they were susceptible enough to accept dogmatic positions related to
the maharishi's own Vedic Hindu background.
"Dissociative 'bliss' is often an easily produced substitute for true
personal growth," says Kellett.
"As teachers we memorize almost everything we are to tell students. We
were very careful not to tell them too much less they become
'confused' by things that they 'couldn't yet understand'.
"Only after they had the 'experience,' could we start very gradually
revealing TM dogma in easy, bite-sized chunks, always after they had
just finished meditation and were therefore likely to be still in a
dissociative state."
When he left the group, Kellett took direction from cult deprogrammer
Steve Hassan, who established a technique for what he calls "re-
establishing reality testing" - taking people who've been addicted to
the sensation of dissociative bliss and making them critical thinkers
again.
"I realized that everything I had believed and experienced was based
on the premise that Mahesh was truly an enlightened man with the
highest spiritual teaching on the planet," he says.
"When I abandoned that assumption, the whole thing fell like a house
of cards."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm131.html
Maharishi to build World Capital of Peace in Kansas
Associated Press/April 4, 2006
Smith Center, Kansas - Followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, known for
founding the transcendental meditation movement, recently broke ground
on a complex they are calling the World Capital of Peace.
The $14 million project will sit on 480 acres of land in north-central
Kansas, near the Nebraska border and close to the geographical center
of the continental United States.
"I really felt good about it," said Smith Center Mayor Randy Archer,
whose initial reservations about the Maharishi moving to the region
were put to rest at the groundbreaking last week.
"I think they will blend and mesh with the community and the county.
But any time a change comes in, usually it's scary."
The transcendental meditation movement began in India in the 1950s and
is best-known for celebrity disciples that included the Beatles,
comedian Andy Kaufman and actor and director Clint Eastwood.
The Maharishi-affiliated groups at work in Smith Center are nonprofit
organizations known as the U.S. Peace Government and the Global
Country of World Peace. Officials said they chose Smith Center because
of its quiet, rural setting in middle America.
"It's not a closed community that won't let anybody else be a part of
what we are doing," Kent Boyum, an ecologist and the director of
government relations for the Global Country of World Peace, said of
the Maharishi.
Boyum said the Smith Center complex will include 12 to 15 buildings,
each about 12,000 square feet, with living quarters and meeting space.
He said people living in the community will focus on practicing
transcendental meditation and organic farming, but the site also will
be open to tourists.
Smith Center is the centerpiece of a number of "Peace Palaces" the
group intends to build across the Midwest, Boyum said. Two such single
buildings are planned for Lawrence and the Kansas City area.
"The people who practice are all kinds of people - all shapes, all
colors. Some have religion. Some don't," Boyum said. "It isn't an
absolute way of life. Some people just add to their normal way of life
and have less stress."
Like Archer, some people in the area had initial reservations about a
new group of people moving to the area. They point to the lack of
local water and wonder whether there will be enough to support such a
massive increase in development.
But most trepidation is due to a number of misconceptions that
accompany Maharishi.
"The rumors are it's a cult and they are going to make underground
bunkers and build nuclear weapons," said Archer, who estimates about
95 percent of the population is on board for the project. "That's not
what they are about."
While Boyum said the buildings for the World Capital of Peace will be
built mostly in a factory, then erected on site, the economic windfall
for a town with an aging population of about 1,800 is enticing.
"I feel very positive about it. The thought of people coming in and
spending money is very positive," said Charles Sellens, an
administrative assistant for the Smith County Commissioners. "They not
only sound professional, they are professional."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm130.html
Mind Medicine: What Proof?
Washington Post/March 21, 2006
By January W. Payne
A research review published in 2002 in an Australian medical journal
linked transcendental meditation (TM) to decreased hypertension. The
authors concluded that the technique was promising for prevention and
treatment of heart disease.
A similar review published last year in the Journal of Hypertension
found insufficient evidence to conclude whether TM lowers blood
pressure.
Inconsistent results like these leave people understandably baffled
about the value of so-called mind-body treatments, a branch of
alternative and complementary therapy that includes meditation,
hypnosis, imagery and mindfulness-based stress reduction. Each of
these techniques assumes that altering one's mental state can affect
bodily health. Enthusiastic testimonials and gripping media reports
notwithstanding, the research record on mind-body medicine remains
thin and inconclusive.
Still, these techniques are used, both with and without standard
medical treatments, by millions of people seeking relief from
conditions ranging from stress to heart disease. Many users report
benefits; risks are low. The chart below examines the uses and
research findings for several mind-body approaches. Scientific
investigation continues.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm129.html
Maharishi sued for not protecting students
Associated Press/February 28, 2006
Two federal lawsuits claim the Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield doesn2t protect its students.
The lawsuits were filed separately in U.S. District Court by John
Killian, 23, a former student, and the family of Levi Butler, a
student who was killed in a stabbing on campus in 2004.
Butler was stabbed several times in the chest with a paring knife on
March 1, 2004 in the campus dining hall. The attack came several hours
after Killian was stabbed in the face with a ball point pen.
Shuvender Sem, 26, of Lancaster, Pa., was found not guilty by reason
of insanity in the attacks and committed to the Iowa Medical and
Classification Center at Oakdale.
The lawsuits, filed last Friday, claim the required twice-daily
regimen of meditation was dangerous for a mentally ill student.
11In particular, transcendental meditation can magnify psychological
problems, including the likelihood and severity of aggressive and
violent behavior,22 the lawsuits said.
The lawsuits say university employees ignored the first attack,
resuming classes and blaming the attack on Sem2s improper meditation.
Sem was placed in the custody of Joel Wynsong, the university2s dean
of men, and taken to Wynsong2s apartment on campus, where he stole a
paring knife, court documents said.
He then fled the apartment and went to the dining hall where he
stabbed Butler, records show.
The lawsuits allege the university was negligent for failing to
recognize the threat Sem posed to students, reporting the initial
attack to authorities and keeping Sem away from other students after
he attacked Killian.
11We are very much looking forward to have the opportunity to bring to
light the events that lead to Levi Butler2s death,22 said Stephen
Eckley, the Butler family2s attorney.
Bill Goldstein, a lawyer for the school, said he was unaware of the
lawsuits and would have to review them before commenting.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm128.html
Maharishi's group announces plans for university, school in Lancaster
Worcester Telegram & Gazette/February 16, 2006
By Jason Feifer
Lancaster7 Followers of a transcendental meditation movement plan to
open a grade school and university in town, expanding upon a health
center they2ve operated there since 1985.
When complete, the current Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center will be
joined by 13 new buildings. They would serve between 30 and 50
students from kindergarten to Grade 12, up to 500 students working on
degrees, and about 100 staff members, according to Gregory Spitzfaden,
director of the Maharishi group2s New England Reconstruction Office.
The health center sits on 217 acres of land off George Hill Road. The
new buildings would use about 40 acres, Mr. Spitzfaden said.
3All the staff and students would live in these buildings, which are
designed to enhance the creativity and good fortune and mental clarity
of the people who are living and working and studying in them,4 Mr.
Spitzfaden said.
The organization is made up of followers of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
a controversial guru who promotes a wide range of healing and
meditation practices. His group claims the methods are scientifically
tested, but many critics claim otherwise.
The group has two universities in Iowa, as well as a full town devoted
to its teachings there. The proposed university in Lancaster would be
the group2s first American school site outside of Iowa.
The Lancaster project is part of a larger expansion plan for the
Maharishi2s followers, according to Mr. Spitzfaden. The group also
wants to build a university on property it owns in Antrim, N.H., as
well as 28 3Peace Palaces4 across New England. The palaces would be
buildings dedicated to practicing the Maharishi2s teachings.
The group has not run into any opposition in town, according to
Lancaster Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco. It has met the initial
zoning requirements, he said.
Mr. Spitzfaden said he hopes construction will begin by the spring.
But the announced plan doesn2t guarantee the new school will ever be
built, according to Rick A. Ross of the New Jersey-based Rick A. Ross
Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and
Movements. He said the Maharishi2s companies have a long history of
announcing grandiose plans and not following through, or simply buying
land in order to sell it for profit.
3Because of so many announced plans that never come to fruition, I2m
deeply skeptical of what they say they2re going to do,4 he said.
The Lancaster site was going to be sold in 2000 for a reported $14
million, but the deal eventually fell through.
The Maharishi2s movement has taken many forms since its inception in
the 1950s, and has been bolstered by its affiliation with celebrities
such as The Beatles. It began by promoting basic relaxation
techniques, but has since grown to own and operate facilities across
the world.
It has promoted its teachings as an antidote to the world2s ills, and
claims to have decreased crime and terrorism. At its Web site, www.tm.org,
it offers charts such as one claiming a correlation between three
assemblies of followers and a reduction in global conflict.
Mr. Spitzfaden said the claims are all scientifically sound, but Mr.
Ross believes otherwise.
3It2s a religious belief system,4 Mr. Ross said. 3It2s based on f=
aith,
not on facts.4
The Lancaster project is expected to cost about $30 million, according
to Mr. Spitzfaden. He said his organization is lining up funding now.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm126.html
Maharishi: All you need is love ... and cash
Maharishi's solutions for today's troubled world
Associated Press/February 15, 2006
By Arthur Max
Vlodrop, Netherlands (AP) -- The wizened sage sits alone upstairs in
his secluded wooden house, massaging his temples in fatigue as he
speaks to the camera.
It's late afternoon, and he has been at it since 3 a.m., conducting
his business by video linkup around the world: new schools in India,
new meditation centers in Europe, a new medical curriculum for his
university in Iowa.
At his age -- believed to be 89 -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has no
interest in dwelling on the halcyon days of the 1960s and 1970s when
he was guru to Beatles and Beach Boys and his Transcendental
Meditation movement was the new buzz on college campuses.
Sleeping only two or three hours a day, he is grappling with weightier
problems, his aides say -- translating the theory of meditative power
into a blueprint for feeding the hungry and bringing peace to the
world.
In his metaphysical world, Maharishi -- a Hindi-language title for
Great Seer -- believes the unifying field that Albert Einstein sought
has been within us all the time, in the "unbounded consciousness" of
the mind.
"There is one unity, unified wholeness, total natural law, in the
transcendental unified consciousness," he intones to the camera that
broadcasts his image to a reporter downstairs and to his weekly global
audience by Webcast.
Dressed in white, the elderly man on the screen has lost all but a
fringe of the long hair that once flowed over his shoulders. His full
beard and mustache are still bushy, but have turned silvery.
Physically isolated from all but a handful of attendants, Maharishi
contemplates the lessons of the Vedas, the vast Sanskrit canon
compiled some 3,500 years ago. From it, he evolves solutions for
today's troubled world:
5 Tear down major structures -- the White House and the United Nations
among them -- and rebuild them according to Vedic architectural plans
that harmonize construction with nature.
5 Send meditation groups to world hot spots as psychic shock troops
whose combined positive energy will dispel negativity, reduce crime,
ease conflict and promote world peace.
5 And his latest project: a $10 trillion plan to eradicate poverty
from the Earth.
A prominently displayed advertisement has run daily since mid-December
in the International Herald Tribune seeking investors of a minimum
$60,000 for a World Peace Bond, promising a 10 to 15 percent annual
return.
His idea is to buy 5 billion acres (2 billion hectares) in 100
developing countries for labor-intensive farming, providing employment
and income for the world's poorest people by feeding the First-Wo
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