A warning about the 'Yoga in Daily Life' school.
Posted by:
freerange
()
Date: May 26, 2011 08:19PM
A warning about the 'Yoga in Daily Life' school.
Yoga and meditation are wonderful things, but this school seems to be using them to channel people into service to a 'guru', swami maheshwarananda. When I started yoga classes here, we were told 'yoga is all about your happiness'. But a few years later it is not about your happiness at all - it is all about the 'guru' - don't question him, just do what he says. A cult of personality.
At the beginning we were told yoga is not about religion. But soon enough it is all about hinduism. The deeper you get in to this organisation, the worse it gets. Lies, manipulation... There are some good people working here, but it seems to be rotten at the core.
The 'guru' is also accused of sexually abusing several of his devotees. Their stories are here: www.sexualabuseyidl.net
Yoga and meditation are wonderful things, but this school seems to be using them to channel people into service to a 'guru', swami maheshwarananda. When I started yoga classes here, we were told 'yoga is all about your happiness'. But a few years later it is not about your happiness at all - it is all about the 'guru' - don't question him, just do what he says. A cult of personality.
At the beginning we were told yoga is not about religion. But soon enough it is all about hinduism. The deeper you get in to this organisation, the worse it gets. Lies, manipulation... There are some good people working here, but it seems to be rotten at the core.
The 'guru' is also accused of sexually abusing several of his devotees. Their stories are here: www.sexualabuseyidl.net
Re: Meditation and Yoga Classes
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: May 26, 2011 09:26PM
[www.google.com]
The term for what you have described is 'bait and switch' -- make it seem that things are one way. Then, after people become emotionally and socially involved, slip the religion in and then, ever so gradually, scoot the guru in.
IMO (and I say this is someone with a years long avid interest in Indian history (the real unsanitized version) and a love of the northern Indian arts--IMO what you get in the guru set up, is you're slowly trained how to behave toward the guru, not as a citizen of a participatory democracy, but as a serf, a serf who retains the ability to generate income in a post modern global society.
In Hinduism and Indian culture, you dont have any way to regard power in an objective and analytical manner. Power equals divinity, period, and you bow and grovel.
And in India and many of the traditional cultures like it, power and prestige are measured by making people wait, while the guru runs late and then saunters in at his (or her own convenience).
If you want to know why all these types are showing up here, go to the currency conversion website on www.xe.com and look up the current exchange rate of your nations currency vs Indian rupees.
The Waiting Game
[forum.culteducation.com]
Western Converts as Trophies
[forum.culteducation.com]
In Karma Cola, Gita Mehta wrote that often Indian gurus took care to keep their Indian disciples separate from their Western disciples. And that often the Indians would find it amusing to watch the Westerners grovelling and submitting.
If by any chance Mahaswarananda has any ties or ashrams in Mumbai/Bombay, for a very unsentimental look at the social set up in which he actually functions and will not tell you about, get and read Suketu Mehta's book on Bombay "Maximum City:Bombay Lost and Found"
His descriptions of power and influence in India are chilling. You may get some ideas of whom Maha has had to pay off if he has any dealings in Mumbai
Gita Mehta wrote about the situation in the 1970s, but her book with a new preface, Karma Cola is still current and worth reading.
Many people start by reading stuff like Autobiography of a Yogi, which is a romanticized view of the spiritual wonders of India.
Any guru on the make will know exactly what your expectations are if you've read that book and take it for an inspiration. And have no doubts about it, these guys (and girls) know what we have been reading and fantasizing about. We are a cash rich market for them and they know that yoga is 'hot' and we are ripe for the picking.
You can do yoga and not be trained to function as a serf and cash producing unit for some petty monarch.
And watch out for the Bhagavad Gita. It is a text that can be used to justify anything. When Suketu Mehta interviewed assassins who worked for gangs, they used arguments from the Gita to calm their well justified anxieties. These assassins were all, whether Hindu or Muslim, very pious men.
The B Gita has become a badge of pride and identity for India. But I will repeat, its a text that can be used to justify any kind of rationalization that supports violence. It can be used to justify why the poor should stay poor and why power and its use should not be questioned. Just act.
The Bhagavad Gita is a popular text for everyone precisely because it can be used to justify everything.
Suketu Mehta wrote that Indian society is based on patronage and power and influence networks. Gurus are merely part of that network. Maha is looking for more serfs and money so he can acquire power and prestige. The more people he has waiting on him, the bigger a player he becomes in his own scene--a scene he and the gurus like him will not tell you about, but pull you into.
The term for what you have described is 'bait and switch' -- make it seem that things are one way. Then, after people become emotionally and socially involved, slip the religion in and then, ever so gradually, scoot the guru in.
IMO (and I say this is someone with a years long avid interest in Indian history (the real unsanitized version) and a love of the northern Indian arts--IMO what you get in the guru set up, is you're slowly trained how to behave toward the guru, not as a citizen of a participatory democracy, but as a serf, a serf who retains the ability to generate income in a post modern global society.
In Hinduism and Indian culture, you dont have any way to regard power in an objective and analytical manner. Power equals divinity, period, and you bow and grovel.
And in India and many of the traditional cultures like it, power and prestige are measured by making people wait, while the guru runs late and then saunters in at his (or her own convenience).
If you want to know why all these types are showing up here, go to the currency conversion website on www.xe.com and look up the current exchange rate of your nations currency vs Indian rupees.
The Waiting Game
[forum.culteducation.com]
Western Converts as Trophies
[forum.culteducation.com]
In Karma Cola, Gita Mehta wrote that often Indian gurus took care to keep their Indian disciples separate from their Western disciples. And that often the Indians would find it amusing to watch the Westerners grovelling and submitting.
If by any chance Mahaswarananda has any ties or ashrams in Mumbai/Bombay, for a very unsentimental look at the social set up in which he actually functions and will not tell you about, get and read Suketu Mehta's book on Bombay "Maximum City:Bombay Lost and Found"
His descriptions of power and influence in India are chilling. You may get some ideas of whom Maha has had to pay off if he has any dealings in Mumbai
Gita Mehta wrote about the situation in the 1970s, but her book with a new preface, Karma Cola is still current and worth reading.
Many people start by reading stuff like Autobiography of a Yogi, which is a romanticized view of the spiritual wonders of India.
Any guru on the make will know exactly what your expectations are if you've read that book and take it for an inspiration. And have no doubts about it, these guys (and girls) know what we have been reading and fantasizing about. We are a cash rich market for them and they know that yoga is 'hot' and we are ripe for the picking.
You can do yoga and not be trained to function as a serf and cash producing unit for some petty monarch.
And watch out for the Bhagavad Gita. It is a text that can be used to justify anything. When Suketu Mehta interviewed assassins who worked for gangs, they used arguments from the Gita to calm their well justified anxieties. These assassins were all, whether Hindu or Muslim, very pious men.
The B Gita has become a badge of pride and identity for India. But I will repeat, its a text that can be used to justify any kind of rationalization that supports violence. It can be used to justify why the poor should stay poor and why power and its use should not be questioned. Just act.
The Bhagavad Gita is a popular text for everyone precisely because it can be used to justify everything.
Suketu Mehta wrote that Indian society is based on patronage and power and influence networks. Gurus are merely part of that network. Maha is looking for more serfs and money so he can acquire power and prestige. The more people he has waiting on him, the bigger a player he becomes in his own scene--a scene he and the gurus like him will not tell you about, but pull you into.
Re: Meditation and Yoga Classes
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: May 28, 2011 10:13PM
Watch out for 'Export Gurus'--the kind who go after Westerners.
. In the old days, an enterprising guru would learn a lot by reading the kinds of books that people on the Hippie Trail habitually read--Search for Secret India by Brunton, Autobiography of a Yogi, Alexandra David-Neel, Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Lobsang Rampas The Third Eye, Castaneda's early books, the old bandit Gurdjieff's Meetings With Remarkable Men.
A guru who wanted to recruit Westerners could read these books (most of the gurus who targeted Westerners were fluent in English and often had some education in English schools in India)--and by reading what these young people read, the guru would find ways to appear to be 'an extraordinary man' and conform to their expectations, be the figure of their dreams, as formed by those books.
These days, its even easier. Yoga is fashionable and lucrative.
An enterprising guru-on-the-make can study internet discussions. That same guru could easily spend time reading discussions here and on various groups and blogs set up by people trying to RECOVER from guru abuse and learn what methods were used on them at various abusive ashrams and thus know exactly how alumni from a particular ashram were diddled with.
By doing this kind of filthy 'market research' an enterprising trust bandit can learn to hack into our minds.
As for guru Maha, he seems to have spent a lot of time in Europe--a strange pattern for someone who was allegedly on the legitimate sanyassi/sadhu trail and who attended Kumbmelas and supposedly was tied to an Akhera and one of the Dasnami lineages. Most strict Brahmins will not cross the 'black waters' for fear of losing caste. Or if they do travel, do it to serve their own emigre Indian communities.
And if Maha is putting all this energy into attracting non Indian westerners--watch out.
Go to the currency conversion site www.xe.com and see what the current exchange rate is for the number of Indian rupees per US dollar or Euro. That why the little darlings are swarming here to woo us. Westerners grovelling on the floor boost the prestige these gurus enjoy at home in India. Turns them into power brokers.
And all you yoga students, face the grim truth. The core of all the various Hindu practices is is--power. Power equals divinity. No distinction is made between power legitimately acquired and power dishonestly acquired.
Power equals divinity. Action is all that counts. Doenst matter if like Arjunda doing your dharma duty means killing your relatives and teachers. (Bhagavad Gita).
You will be trained by your guru to think like a peasant, bow like a peasant but keep the outside appearance and earning power of a citizen in a participatory democracy-but inside, you'll become a peasant bringing tribute.
We are the ones who will not know what is normal and abnormal protocol for gurus and disciples. So..why target us, eh? Maharishi Mahesh Yogi also in his early days made a point of targeting white affluent Westerners. He didnt spend his early days ministering to the emigre Hindu community in London--he tried to worm his way into Cole House, a group left bereft after its leader Ouspensky had died.
Am going to warn you that according Australian author Sarah Macdonald, attended a Kumbmela in Allahabad. She saw how it as a point of prestige for sadhus to attract as many eager Westerners as possible to sit in with them. She was urged to join some such groups and she decided she didnt want to be some sadhu's trophy and declined, choosing to rejoin the news correspondants their tent.
Her book, Holy Cow:An Indian Adventure is well worth reading. Macdonald spent about two years living in India and visited a myriad of holy cities and also got advice from some savvy girlfriends in Delhi on how to make sense of night clubs.
. In the old days, an enterprising guru would learn a lot by reading the kinds of books that people on the Hippie Trail habitually read--Search for Secret India by Brunton, Autobiography of a Yogi, Alexandra David-Neel, Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Lobsang Rampas The Third Eye, Castaneda's early books, the old bandit Gurdjieff's Meetings With Remarkable Men.
A guru who wanted to recruit Westerners could read these books (most of the gurus who targeted Westerners were fluent in English and often had some education in English schools in India)--and by reading what these young people read, the guru would find ways to appear to be 'an extraordinary man' and conform to their expectations, be the figure of their dreams, as formed by those books.
These days, its even easier. Yoga is fashionable and lucrative.
An enterprising guru-on-the-make can study internet discussions. That same guru could easily spend time reading discussions here and on various groups and blogs set up by people trying to RECOVER from guru abuse and learn what methods were used on them at various abusive ashrams and thus know exactly how alumni from a particular ashram were diddled with.
By doing this kind of filthy 'market research' an enterprising trust bandit can learn to hack into our minds.
As for guru Maha, he seems to have spent a lot of time in Europe--a strange pattern for someone who was allegedly on the legitimate sanyassi/sadhu trail and who attended Kumbmelas and supposedly was tied to an Akhera and one of the Dasnami lineages. Most strict Brahmins will not cross the 'black waters' for fear of losing caste. Or if they do travel, do it to serve their own emigre Indian communities.
And if Maha is putting all this energy into attracting non Indian westerners--watch out.
Go to the currency conversion site www.xe.com and see what the current exchange rate is for the number of Indian rupees per US dollar or Euro. That why the little darlings are swarming here to woo us. Westerners grovelling on the floor boost the prestige these gurus enjoy at home in India. Turns them into power brokers.
And all you yoga students, face the grim truth. The core of all the various Hindu practices is is--power. Power equals divinity. No distinction is made between power legitimately acquired and power dishonestly acquired.
Power equals divinity. Action is all that counts. Doenst matter if like Arjunda doing your dharma duty means killing your relatives and teachers. (Bhagavad Gita).
You will be trained by your guru to think like a peasant, bow like a peasant but keep the outside appearance and earning power of a citizen in a participatory democracy-but inside, you'll become a peasant bringing tribute.
We are the ones who will not know what is normal and abnormal protocol for gurus and disciples. So..why target us, eh? Maharishi Mahesh Yogi also in his early days made a point of targeting white affluent Westerners. He didnt spend his early days ministering to the emigre Hindu community in London--he tried to worm his way into Cole House, a group left bereft after its leader Ouspensky had died.
Am going to warn you that according Australian author Sarah Macdonald, attended a Kumbmela in Allahabad. She saw how it as a point of prestige for sadhus to attract as many eager Westerners as possible to sit in with them. She was urged to join some such groups and she decided she didnt want to be some sadhu's trophy and declined, choosing to rejoin the news correspondants their tent.
Her book, Holy Cow:An Indian Adventure is well worth reading. Macdonald spent about two years living in India and visited a myriad of holy cities and also got advice from some savvy girlfriends in Delhi on how to make sense of night clubs.
Yoga in Daily Life Cult
Posted by:
elisabeth111
()
Date: May 31, 2012 02:31PM
Yoga in Daily Life: My site about the Yoga School's founder is here: [sites.google.com]
Allegations of sexual misconduct came to my attention last year and were published here in 2011: [sites.google.com]
It's slightly frustrating, but hardly surprising, that the big Guru travels the world, yet again, and he is in the USA right now, in Washington somewhere this very weekend. Even if people don't believe the Sex Abuse allegations, there is a video of him kicking a young girl's Yogamat out of her hand, grabbing her arm, swinging her around, her mobile phone falls to the ground, and he then lightly slaps her on the head. The video is here: (dead link) Originally, it was on Youtube, but Swamiji's lawyers got it removed. It had 5000 hits in 4 days. Be patient with the video, it does take a while to upload, on my computer anyhow.
I started a YouTube channel now, in the hope to reach more people, but I'm getting a bit sad right now: The victims of the sexual abuse don't want to go public on YouTube, some of them went to the police, but it can't be that effective, if the USA, the Czech Republic, and Australia still gives the Guru a visitor's visa? What is one supposed to do to get the message across?
Signing off,.....slightly frustrated....Elisabeth
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2021 08:05PM by corboy.
Allegations of sexual misconduct came to my attention last year and were published here in 2011: [sites.google.com]
It's slightly frustrating, but hardly surprising, that the big Guru travels the world, yet again, and he is in the USA right now, in Washington somewhere this very weekend. Even if people don't believe the Sex Abuse allegations, there is a video of him kicking a young girl's Yogamat out of her hand, grabbing her arm, swinging her around, her mobile phone falls to the ground, and he then lightly slaps her on the head. The video is here: (dead link) Originally, it was on Youtube, but Swamiji's lawyers got it removed. It had 5000 hits in 4 days. Be patient with the video, it does take a while to upload, on my computer anyhow.
I started a YouTube channel now, in the hope to reach more people, but I'm getting a bit sad right now: The victims of the sexual abuse don't want to go public on YouTube, some of them went to the police, but it can't be that effective, if the USA, the Czech Republic, and Australia still gives the Guru a visitor's visa? What is one supposed to do to get the message across?
Signing off,.....slightly frustrated....Elisabeth
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2021 08:05PM by corboy.
Re: Meditation and Yoga Classes
Posted by:
Resilient
()
Date: September 20, 2021 09:14PM
Moderator, please take a look at this thread and its links. If the links are not dead, they are leading readers to cultic sites.
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