Hello-

Anyone ever had experiences with the Chinmaya Mission? [www.chinmayamission.org]

After searching this site and the forums, as well as doing a "Google" for keywords "chinmaya cult", I haven't seen anything suspect yet.

Thanks.

Chinmayanda died some years ago. Did you have any direct experience with his group?

(Note: there may be another person named Chinmayananda who is quite alive and is currently active as a politician in India. So if you run a Google, your search may churn up information on two different people. If so, you'll have to find ways to adjust your search terms to focus on the person you're studying.)

There's an out of print book that has some fascinating information on how Chinmayanda got started. You need to find and read [i:de3dac7c2e]The Light at the Center: Context and Pretext of Modern Mysticism [/i:de3dac7c2e]by Aghenhananda Bharati, who was born in Austria, became a Sanskrit scholar, an anthropologist, and took vows in the early 1950s and become a renunciate monk.

There are some references to Chinmayanda scattered through the first part of the book. Bharati then gives a detailed description of Chinmayanda's vulgar commercialization of himself on pages 175-180, but calls him Swami A. You need to read the entire book to appreciate the full significance of Bharati's analysis. (Bharati is very crusty and crabby. Reading him may rub salt in your wounds. But he's an invaluable source if you want to identify when an Indian spiritual teacher is reliable or is playing games)

Note: Aghehananda Bharati was born in Austria, went to India, became a monk, and a Sanskrit scholar, and he met Chinmayanada when C was still quite young. Bharati was impressed by him, intuited that Chinmayanda had genuine spiritual attainments, and he also appreciated C's scholarly attainments and the young man's modest, pleasant personality. This was someone who could have become a genuine spiritual teacher.

Much to Bharati's distress, this very promising young man decided to go commercial and operate a spiritual circus with himself at the center. A real guru dispells illusions. But the spiritual showman create illusions, fosters craving and markets himself as the remedy for the craving. Bharati's regret was that Chinmayanda could have done better, yet chose to sell out.

The analogy would be a great French chef who choses to get rich by operating a junk food empire.

According to Bharati, Swami A/Chinmayanda engaged in vulgar showmanship, preached dumbed down material, played on people's childish superstitions when he could have used his scholarship and spiritual attainments to increase the sophistication of his audiences.

Saddest of all, he lost his pleasant personality, became arrogant, and was even willing to tell racist jokes to get the audience to warm up and laugh. (Bharati saw him pull this when lecturing at an American univerisity. Swami A made a joke at the expense of Sikhs after a Sikh student asked him a challenging question. The Swami's joke offended the Indian students in his audience and they got up and walked out in protest--even the students who were not Sikhs.

Bharati did not mention Chinmayanada by name when he described this guru's vulgar career, but he scattered other clues through the book that make it clear he's describing Chinmayanda.

If you check Swami A's biographical info against Chinmayanda's biographical info, you'll see that the person Bharati calls Swami A (pp 175-180) is actually Chinmayanda. (Bharati said he planned to mail Swami A a copy of his book, so out of courtesy concealed his name. One wonders whether Swami A cleaned up his act after he read Bharati's report on him!)

1) First, Swami A was from Kerela, had been with Sivananda, and then left him. He was studying with Topovamanji Maharaj at Gangotri when Bharati met him.

Chinmayanda was also from Kerela, had been with Sivananda, left him, and studied with Topavamanji Maharaji at Gangotri.

[www.fact-index.com]

2) Chinmayanda called his lectures 'Wisdom Sacrifices' ( Sanskrit--Jnana - Yajana') So did Swami A.

(page 57 of Light at the Center: 'I recall Swami Chinmayanda, who when he was conducting his jnana-yaja "wisdom sacrifice" in and around the salons of New Delhi, had himself propped up by his disciples and carried away from the microphone after his sermon. "Samadi has overpowered him', a civil surgeon in the audience informed me, ''his yoga is so strong, that his body cannt take it without support."

On page 177, Bharati describes Swami A: 'Roughly six years later, I heard from some wealthy patrons that Swami A (A for amazing) was about to arrive in Delhi and be feted, and that he would conduct one of his famous jnana-yajnas "sacrificial ceremony in the form of intuitive knowledge".

Evidently Swami A was exploiting this exotic phrase to make it seem that he had the monopoly on something very special and was taking advantage of the fact that his urban Indian audiences would lack a technical knowledge of Sanskrit needed to know he was merely inflating hmself. For Bharti states, 'The term (jnana-yajna) does occur once in the canonical texts, but it is simply an item on the list of possible sacrifices (that is, rituals) that can and ought to be made by people of have a religious target in mind.'

In short, 'jnana-yajna' did not actually possess the significance that Swami Chinmayanda/Swami A assigned to it. What pissed Bharati off was that Chinmayanda started out as true scholar, had had genuine spiritual experiences and was instead acting like a crook, enhancing his prestige by playing word games that exploited people's ignorance of Sanskrit .)

3) Swami A was famous for swooning during his lectures and, apparently so was Chinmayanda.

The book was first published in 1976, was reprinted in 1982 or so, but it never became a best seller, because Bharati told people what they needed to hear, rather than what they wanted to hear.

Bharati gives detailed information on how people become gurus and yogis in India, the various language games used by gurus, and demonstrates that enlightenment does not make a person infallible or any nicer than before. Much of what people are taught about enlightenment are just fairy tales that enhance the power of the guru by fostering superstition.

Post script

This does not by itself, prove that the Chinmayanda Mission is a cult. We need to get information from persons currently involved with the organization today.

Chinmayanda's franchise apparently did open and run some social service agencies and clinics.In a desperately poor part of the world, all one needs to do is offer some modest social service/charity, and this will immediately make you or your group immune from legal and social accountability if someone in the group misbehaves and others try to complain and launch any inquiries.

But it appears that Chinmayanda, founder of CM was a man who had the spiritual and scholastic qualifications to be a genuine guru--and instead opted to become a showman and go for the easy money.

A real parent helps you move from childhood to adult hood and doesnt keep you in childhood forever.

A real guru doesnt keep you a child in relation to him but will also help you grow up--he should not keep you stuck in a child's fantasy relationship with him.

A genuine guru doesnt pander to people's expectations but creates an evironment where people can become aware of thier illusions and start questioning them.

Genuine gurus are rare. Commercial gurus are common. Its a shame when someone who has the capacity to be a genuine guru becomes a commercial one.

From Bharati's description, Chinmayanda could have been a real teacher who helped people grow up, and instead became the kind of teacher who kept people childish.

Yes, I am a living witness of Chinmaya Mission cult, who escaped all crucification attempts to destroy me, my loved ones, and my entire life. I met Chinmaya in 1987, asked few questions pertinent to Indian women issues, mainly why women were literally trampled by men all around, in support of vested gurus and mothers. As if it was crime to ask, he roared out in laughter with his devotee Gaurang Nanavaty. And said East had the answers, and I need to explore. I took that seriously, and attended all classes, private group sessions, and even taught children, and taking own there.

But, my saga had already started. Immediately after 2 months, I lost my dear and young brother. Chinmaya was brought to my home and hell broke lose all around me and few others too. They were friendly and nice on surface but sarcastic and threatening at individual level (I am sure they did same to others but I speak for myself). They bragged that no one can target them since they play subtle mind games to instigate violence around people at one end and act so sheltering at other end (women were their main targets). Honestly, for longest time, I was suffocated but they could care less. All dialog was ignored, mocked, and twisted around to more tortures. Gaurang Nanavaty (local priest) touted himself to be Krishna incarnate duping women by hook or crook in his sermons. I tried to approach his wife on several occassions but in the end result it was a joint game to overpower one and all. Their consistent effort was to isolate me from people around and surrender to their godhood. And, I desperately struggled for my life and children, beyond words. My ex husband and children totally lost control for 14 long years. And I left no door unknocked, counselling and friends and strangers, going outright crazy. - not quite sure, it was them, until much later, in retrospect.

This institution is made up of fancy fronts (affluent and educated so called high class folks), exquisite temple deities, and absolutely abhorrent vicious games to control people, mainly women and make offerings of them, devis, satis, dasis .... (Hindu tradition) forever to serve male feet in any role where guru is walking god on earth as Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh (creator, sustainer, and destroyer of world at will). If anyone recollects, we went through horrid years in 1990's with domestic violence, parental abuses, and outright suicides and burn alive incidents, specially in Houston where this Nanavaty couple touted themselves as Krishna, supreme godhood agents to take over the ownership of world. Along with that all scientific melodramas and literal end of world fears started surfacing. Here is a link of absotely horrid incident of their prime devotee family, burnt alive, right here in Houston. - question their moves and one is dead!
[www.chron.com]
[www.chron.com]


After that incident, they did let go of me on an implied condition to detach or lose children/family and I had to leave them. Time went on, and I was beginning to settle and then another storm. 2 years down the road, they virtually took over my life. I saw horrid images threatening me to go back to India or else, and threats to surrender 24x7, whereby I did lose mental balance and declared schizophrenic. All incidents surfaced again, and loads of Hindu gurus took over my home as a literal battleground intimidating, instigating, and imposing.

And then, I was left with no choice but to leave for India. My maternal family and 2 friends stood by steadfast, and slowly but surely I recovered.

This institution hates West for freedom of choice, opening their religious practices up, and also resentments rooting back 5000+ years where the real battles between Eastern religions started. In Hinduism Krishna is the ultimate supreme god, ruler, controller of world, humanity, nature, and universe. This is where other religions split off and went own ways. Some leaders reappeared in West, and became unbiased guiding lights of humanity (long story short). And so, they waged holy war of Gita, where Chinmaya and his gang played Krishna team roles to bend humanity, specially women.

They have this absurd logic that since no religious leader claims to be God, Rama and Krishna are gods incarnate in guidance of their guru tradition.

I could go on and on for I was trapped there for long 16 years, and sheer miracle that I escaped by some unknown blessings, but suffice to say this gang network is all over the world and never ever to be trusted. But they do operate successful centers with children education but very very secretive and political, dodging all outsiders or questions.

I have been seeking an outlet for long, and I just bumped here.

Welcome. I wish in cyberspace it were possible to offer chairs, cups of beverages to drink.

Problem with gurus is when they have enough money and devotees, they can influence voting patterns in their areas of India, and that means they get patronage from local politicians who suck up to them. Police can be bribed, journalists can be scared into silence.

THere is also the pattern of hating Westerners who dare to expose the shabby practices of gurus, which meets with an outcry that foreigners are shallow and have no right to say such things about Indian religion, when in the privacy of many homes, quite a few Indians say the same things about these entrepreneur gurus.

From the description given by Agehananda Bharati, it appears that Chinmayananda was one of the very earliest to become an 'entrpreprenuer guru.' Bharati felt this was all the more deplorable because before he was corrupted by the lures of fame and power, Chinmayananda had been a true monk and scholar, and he could have trained his audiences to appreciate the richness, depth and intellectual rigor of the traditions, and instead, chose the road of fame and fed his audiences the same sugar porridge that other gurus did.

Bharati made clear that Chinmayanada gave all the indications that he had gained insight into the Absolute. This shows that one can attain a glimpse of this but it cannot innoculate against the tempations of power and fame unless the aspirant loves bramacharya as well.

The very sad thing is that gurus all too often turn into gangsters and petty rajahs, rather than living free from these shackles. A true guru does not build an empire or hav a retinue of goondas--and he or she will nto have the mentality of a goonda either.

Brother or sister, this is not a new matter. Gurus have been at this game for many years, the internet merely facilitates this. Christians, Jews, Muslim Sufis, Buddhists have all suffered from leaders who succumbed to the lures of fame, tyranny, lust and easy money.

Every generation must rescue its worship from crooks.

thanks so much for these posts on the Chinmaya Mission. I just ran into them on my internet search and thought to come here and am so glad that i did. i am not looking for another guru; had my fill, but i want to study the vedas on my own. any idea? i find that i cannot read material from any guru organization that i had left, which includes vedanta society and self realization, nor tm or muktananda. maybe i need an indian scholar's material who never became a guru. i even thought of ralph waldo emerson.

Read:

The Hindus:Alternative History by Wendy Doninger

And to see the ways living breathing people use this material to make sense of their lives, get and read Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

(Note: Some of the material in Mehta's book is so wrenching that if you are easily spooked, you may not want to read it prior to bedtime)

I am recommending Suketu Mehta's book, because he illustrates again and yet again, exactly how power and influence networks operate in India.

Law and governance are not serving people's needs. So the people get help from a parallel network of social power and influence--gang leaders, politicans in the pay of gang leaders, gurus who are at the head of their own gang networks, etc.

It takes years to get anything done if one follows the legal process. To get something done, one goes to the power broker in one's area. The Bollywood film business is full of this.

And Mehta notes that young men who are educated to support their families are under hideous pressure to repy that investment the family has made in them. Not enough jobs are available, everyone is more desperate than ever to gain power and influence.

So one opts for the bad and easy road--affliation with a power broker, whether its a gang leader or someone who claims the name of guru, but who operates as yet another Big Boss.

And that, in the 1950s, was what Agehanada Bharati observed Chinmayananda do.

Chinmayananda had left the power seeking world. He could have been a real wisdom teacher and scholar.

Instead, despite his genuine qualifications, Chinmayanada returned to the rat race and turned himself into just another rajah/powerbroker using guru-theatre and by exploiting the his audience.

Instead of using what had learned to educate his audiences into wisdom and adult agency, Chinmayananda used his opportunities to keep his audiences in the mindset of serfs while using a prattle that sounded modern but served an ancient and corrupt agenda that had been repeated too many times before.

Chinmayananda got his start in the 1950s/1960s. Unlike the later gurus, he had had genuine qualifications and used his own intellect to keep people stupid and enslaved.

the traditional roles to

thanks corboy.

What did Chinmaya Mission and rest of birds of same feather, do in USA?
Then listen, this cults behind fancy fronts
And I speak here, from Houston - locally what happened, same globally though
To escape own failures, mess in India and pass the buck to West
From very childhood perverted attacks, to present network spies
Not only, they ruined our lives with countless rest
Instigating our spouses, families, neighbors and all around against us
But, brought us to the rim of death or insanity
Pushed us around and out of our own nests
Threatened and mocked every step of the way for 20+ years
Then, reverse accused, challenged, abused, humiliated and
Robbed our kith and kin, turned our own children against us
Made us Fight legal system, sheriff system, insurance system, medical system
and counsellors, A-Z
And above all, they were determined to extinct us from earth
In visible and virtual attacks, taking over our privacy
For no reasons whatsoever except in their idiotic perceptions and godhoods
And revenge attitudes all the way from Ramayana times towards Sitaji
For, not giving one more fire test, to their whims while Rama himself
was the culprit of infidelity
(Sita, Rama's wife appeared in West to nurture abandoned creation globally)
And to date, we have to live with these damages
Broken hearts, human rifts, and un repairable scars
What do they or others’ care, it is not their life
Let go, easy for them to say
Unless they feel same pain, sense will never ever
Walk in rock heads, their insane gurus, and verminous female fare around!
Folks, run for your life and fate, if you can, from this evil!,