One of the latest photo's from Mooji's trip to India, published on the official Mooji website:

[photos.mooji.org]

To me, this photo says it all.... a new, young devotee of Mooji kneels on the floor in front of him (I thought they were going to try to ban all the servile behavior in the cult?) while Krishnabai and Lakshmi look on. Both women have those tight-lipped smiles plastered on their faces, the kind of smiles you have when you feel obliged to smile, but really you's prefer not to smile. You can tell they're uncomfortable. (But make up your own mind.)

Krishnabai looks so thin now that she is almost unrecognizable from the young woman she used to be when she first entered the cult. People who used to know Mooji say that this weight loss is caused by Moo "sucking all the psychic energy" out of his victims, but I tend to disagree. I think the weight loss is more likely due to the anxiety of being around a pathological narcissist. (Anxiety causes appetite suppression.) Also, the anxiety of having to hide her relationship with the Moo.

Another photo of a servile woman groveling before the great Moo:

[photos.mooji.org]

What is she doing on the floor? Is that really necessary? Old habits die hard, I guess.

A photo of a good shirt ruined by the 'rock-star' Moo's autograph:

[photos.mooji.org]

That stain will be hard to get out.

Please Don't Shoot the Messenger:

Some words about Mooji,
including a bit about Be Scofield's critique,
in response to the question
"Why do thousands still go to Mooji?"

With all of the stuff about Mooji, a friend reports that he still has many people showing up to his satsangs.

I asked friends in India, and elsewhere, to examine "Why?"

One replied, "The whole suicide thing is overplayed. Face it, a large percentage of persons who go on the 'spiritual path' are wounded, and that a few of the many thousands who have gone to Mooji would end their own lives is tragic, but not, sadly, surprising. Is there any evidence he encouraged them to do so? Could have stopped it from happening? I haven't heard anything like that at all."

Another replied:

Quote
From a "beutral" Person's assessment of Mooji
I do remember about the accusation that Be wrote that Mooji was sleeping with all three women who were living in adjacent quarters to him. A friend who had been
at Monte Sahaja for long periods of time, and who left Mooji and the sangha feeling very hurt, said that Mooji definitely was not sleeping with all three of those women, as one of them, who she knew very well, was a hard-core lesbian, who had a regular woman lover, and my friend felt absolutely certain that this woman would not sleep with Mooji, even though she adored Mooji as her Guru. She was emphatic about it. Mooji was in a physical (and almost certainly sexual) relationship with Krishnabai, who is seen the most by his side. There were no rules about how to conduct oneself sexually at Monte Sahaja, (unlike most ashrams). Krishnabai is in her mid-30's, approximately 30 years younger than Mooji, who just turned 66 a few days ago. She met Mooji when she was in her mid-20's (it's apparently not true that she was in her late teens when she met Mooji). My friend said that at first, it was a big secret that Mooji and her were sleeping together. The story my friend told me was that somebody had walked into Mooji's bedroom, and found Mooji and Krishnabai in bed together, and they told people, and it created an uproar, as it was secret. Then, other people who were close to Mooji went around, interrogating those who had heard the story, and told others, trying to find out who originally told people that Mooji and Krishnabai were in the same bed. My friend was interrogated by 2 or 3 close disciples of Mooji, and she refused to say who told her, and who she told (as she told a few others, that's how it was found out). Some people got into trouble over this. And then, at some point, Mooji and Krishnabai admitted they were in a physical relationshp. This was one instance that led this friend to lose her trust in Mooji, and there were other instances. This friend left and later got connected with other ex-Moojites. She said there were a lot of trips going on, particularly in the latter period when she was there. I asked her if it was true if the three women all simultaneously dressed and undressed Mooji, and she said she didn't know, she never heard of that when she was there. It could be, she thought, if Mooji was so frail, that he needed it, but she was doubtful. She couldn't say that it was definitely not true. She said she wouldn't know if Mooji was sexually promiscuous or not, as there were so many secrets, but she doubted that women were sneaking in and out of his bedroom in the middle of the night. The problem is that when some things are kept secret, one doesn't really know what is going on, and trust is broken. And around Mooji, people were worshipping him - big time. He's not just a dude who has girlfriends, he is seen to be like God by his students, who are devotees. I had spoken to another friend who was there during an exorcism that Mooji performed, that didn't work, and the woman who was supposedly possessed, flipped out and was taken to an insane asylum in Portugal. This friend visited her there. For her, that was also the last straw. The story about Mooji killing the heron was true.

One thing that I recall mentioning was where Be had written that Mooji eats meat, yet is a Hindu, and Hindus are vegetarians, and don't eat meat. I don't recall exactly how Be phrased it. I said that it wasn't true that Hindus are vegetarians, and in fact most Hindus in India eat meat and/or fish. I think I gave links to websites that showed that. Also, Be had written something about Mooji had two Hindu wedding ceremonies officiated by Hindu priests, but never got a Hindu divorce after the marriages broke up, and I wrote that it is completely unnecessary, that Hindu weddings have no legal status, and one doesn't need to get a Hindu divorce - and anyways, traditionally (until rather recently), Hindus didn't even get divorces. And that I know many Westerners who, while in India, would pay some money to a Hindu priest to get a Hindu marriage to their boyfriend or girlfriend, and there would be a big ceremony, and some time later - even soon after - they'd break up. There would be no rule, law, or compunction to have the Hindu marriage annulled. Papaji, Mooji's guru, often encouraged his Western disciples who were boyfriend-girlfriend to get a Hindu wedding. Often they would break up later.

Some of the more outrageous things about Mooji and his ashram may have changed since Be's article. That could be something to investigate. For one thing, they stopped publicly advertising on their website malas and pendents "blessed by Mooji" (though they still sell malas that are "blessed" - those in the know would assume they were blessed by Mooji.) They took down audios and videos of the Guru Aarti being sung, which are verses praising Mooji as the highest of the high, as the Supreme Himself. Also now removed from the internet are the lyrics to the Guru Aarti. I hear from someone who was at Monte Sahaja a few months ago, that the Guru Aarti is still being sung, It's now very, very hard to visit Monte Sahaja, if you're not already a committed devotee.

A lot of the criticism of Mooji is by people who can't relate to Hindu devotional forms, either because they never were exposed to them, and it just looks weird, and looks as if people are idolizing someone, and giving their power away to an external parental figure, or by people who followed Indian gurus who were presented as being divine incarnations, as perfect masters, and were worshipped, sung to, bowed down to, etc., and the guru ended up taking advantage of their adoring disciples, and so these people got badly burned, and so are justifiably suspicious of any human being who is being worshipped, and treated like God. By Mooji having photos of himself put up everywhere - including being worn around the neck in a locket, and Mooji also having photos of his face and his feet being sold, it will trigger a lot of responses from people.

Again, please don't shoot the Messenger here.

I'm certain persons out there will take aim at these assertions and do their best to shred them.

It's only strange to me that so many still go to him if he's so bad. However, people still follow Adi-da, too, and some still attend meetings with James Swartz, believe the lies of Aaravindha Himadra, and... so, should this really surprise me?

It has been Mooji’s plan to go in India sooner and arranged open satsang tour in Bangalore, Triruvannamalai, and later in Rishikesh. He rented large halls there to attract a local Hindi population, curious tourists, a local spiritual community members. Mooji wants to regain some popularity again and fish for new naïve followers. In Rishikesh 02/12/2020: [www.youtube.com], I guess there are mostly local people, I did not watch so many young western followers like the last year. Be’s article and discussion online has created some protection wall against Mooji for sane people.
What is happening in India around Gurus is a part of their culture: Moojibaba visits Amritanandamayi (Amma) at 0:50, watch the crowds of people there around corrupt Amma. [www.youtube.com]
Amma's reference here: Fb guruphiliac: The fraudsters gots to stick together.
[www.facebook.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2020 04:09AM by Horowitz.

Hi Traveler99,

thanks for sharing what your friends think of Moo.
The most pertinent sentence from your friend, for me, is this one:


"The problem is that when some things are kept secret, one doesn't really know what is going on, and trust is broken."

Why is there so much secrecy in the Moo compound? Why was the relationship between Moo and Krishnabai kept secret in the first place? If it is a legitimate relationship - there would be no need for secrecy. People keep things secret when they feel they are doing something wrong. Or when they feel other people might perceive their actions as wrong.

If Moo is an enlightened being, he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, so therefore he wouldn't need to be secretive about anything.

So I guess this whole scenario shows that Moo is not an enlightened being; he is just some average Joe, who feels the need to deceive people, the very people who pay his way, by donating money and services.

Isn't this just plain fraud?

Another sentence from your friend's testimony that interests me is this one:

"I had spoken to another friend who was there during an exorcism that Mooji performed, that didn't work, and the woman who was supposedly possessed, flipped out and was taken to an insane asylum in Portugal. This friend visited her there. For her, that was also the last straw."

So; the woman's treatment for metal illness was delayed in order to perform some black magic voo-doo ceremony, for the purposes of what? To entertain the adoring crowds? It didn't work. Jesus, really? Of course it freaking didn't work! Meanwhile, the woman is suffering mental illness - and not receiving any treatment.

So, yes, you may say that suicides happen 'everywhere' and can't be predicted. Sure, but when they happen against a backdrop of gross negligence on behalf of a registered charity, then I think this is a concern.

What also interests me is this:

"Some of the more outrageous things about Mooji and his ashram may have changed since Be (Scofield's) article. That could be something to investigate."

If the Moo group were legitimate, why would they feel the need to change anything due to some criticism from a few ex-members? It doesn't make a lot of sense. If singing devotional hymns to Old Moo like he is some avatar or God fitted into their belief system, they why change it now? They believe he is an enlightened being - so they treat him as such. At the first sign of criticism, they suddenly pack up that belief and no longer hold it? Why?

I think we all know why- because it's a freaking cult.

Quote
Sahara71
If Moo is an enlightened being, he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, so therefore he wouldn't need to be secretive about anything.

So I guess this whole scenario shows that Moo is not an enlightened being; he is just some average Joe, who feels the need to deceive people, the very people who pay his way, by donating money and services.

With all respect, I think this kind of thinking is part of the problem. There is this myth that there's a phenomenon called enlightenment that elevates someone forever beyond human weakness. Many of my posts here have been about the fact that the reality of the awakening process is much more complex and subtle (and lately I've been writing about the neural correlates of this awakening process that are being discovered). When we caricature the awakening process as the mythical phenomenon of perfect enlightenment, you can either (seemingly reasonably) dismiss its reality, or (irrationally) believe in it and attribute it to certain people, such as self-proclaimed enlightened gurus, and be tempted to abdicate your authority to them.

But it's not reasonable in the first place to distort the reality of the phenomenon by caricaturing it, and it doesn't do anyone any good.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2020 06:54AM by zizlz.

Yes, I agree Zizlz,

probably God is also imperfect - making him of course "not-God", rather than "God". And probably most of the people we think of a 'good people' are just people, being neither good nor bad.

And the concept of 'Goodness' is also questionable in itself - being that you can only define it in relation to other good things, or by using synonyms of the word "good". Looking at it this way, there is no good nor bad and everything is up for grabs.

But I do think in the vast majority of cases, an enlightened being would be held up to certain ethical standards... not that they are technically above ever doing anything "wrong". They are certainly capable of wrong-doing, it's just that they wouldn't want to anything wrong (assuming things can indeed be 'wrong' in the first place!)

If someone sustains a deceitful position over a long period of time - and relies on that deceit in order to earn a living.... and allows people to treat them as though they are 'God', worshiping their 'person'.... then I think we have a problem.

But of course, many people don't see a problem, they are perfectly happy with the situation and all this doesn't bother them one iota. Yes, I understand.

Quote
Sahara71
If someone sustains a deceitful position over a long period of time - and relies on that deceit in order to earn a living.... and allows people to treat them as though they are 'God', worshiping their 'person'.... then I think we have a problem.

But of course, many people don't see a problem, they are perfectly happy with the situation and all this doesn't bother them one iota.

Agreed, that's a very important point! It reminds me of what the person asking critical questions at Mooji's recent satsang said (at 1:06):
[www.youtube.com]

Quote

I want to ask you if you are aware of the fact that unconsciously many people coming to you are actually trying to replicate an image of you, not the reality of you, because they don't perceive the totality of you. They don't perceive you as a human being also, and I feel this is a missing component in your teaching, a very very missing component in your teaching, because they can not be complete unless they see you as a human also—with your emotions, with your screaming, with your shouting, with everything that you are, as a human.

It would be great if Mooji could learn from this kind of feedback, but of course he can't. I think the problem is that he believes the same enlightenment myth that his students believe in and he sees himself narcissistically through this mythical lens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2020 06:53PM by zizlz.

An interesting video about "The Collapsed Narcissist"
[www.youtube.com]

This “Open Letter” was written in good Faith.
Mooji deserves to Respond,
And it could well be weakness
on the part of his inner circle
that has prevented him from ding so up until now.

The thing is,
a true Jnani can “take it.”

His response will show a lot.



Open Letter to Mooji—

Mooji, as a Jnani,
Respond Appropriately, Please.
Your Helpers , In Trying To Protect You and to Promote Your Satsangs,
Are Hurting You.

Have an Interview with a Fair, Respected Person
Who Asks You All The Hard Questions.
Resolve this “Stuff” Once and For All

As this letter to you is begun, there are going on 2100 Posts on the “Mooji a Cult?” topic at www.culteducationforum.com. This topic, which is actually, “Are you, Mooji, really a worthwhile spiritual teacher, or not?”, is at least 90% negative in its reports, opinions, beliefs, and experiences related to you. These posts as of this late February 2020 evening have been viewed over 380,000 times.

Certainly you are aware of this, and of almost all of the other negative articles, blogs, YouTube clips, Instagram postings, and more.

Until now, a few of the “complaints” people have regarding you and some of what has happened around you have been semi-addressed in your satsangs, but never fully, adequately, or well.

Mooji, as a Jnani you are one who is inherently fearless regarding matters in Samsara, in Maya. Until now, though, your responses to these “attacks” have seemed weak and virtually “guilty.” (Hence, to your detractors, you are proving you are not a true spiritual teacher, or at least a worthy one.)

Please, do not let poor advice from your inner circle make things worse. Make a strong stand for (your) Truth. Publicly go over these accusations. If regarding some of them you made mistakes, say so. If only a wrong, negative perspective on some matters have been heard until now, say so! Give the real story. Whatever the case is, give your account, and then “rest your case.” Say the full truth once, and let that be it.

This list of your alleged various “high crimes and misdemeanors” seemto be summarizable as the following, although there will certainly be others that show up.

Mostly in the last five years or so, but in some cases earlier, you, Mooji stand accused of:

1. Ordering the execution by gunshot of a beautiful heron for the crime of eating his beloved carp- ‘koi’ - from5 the pond in his ashram. This seems indisputable, but is the full story out there? What steps were taken to save the crane? Couldn’t this be compared to a fox being shot to save the chickens? If so, why not say so? If not, explain why?

2. Not doing enough to prevent the suicides of at least three persons who had attended his satsangs, and who also apparently visited or lived at his ashram. Did you ever advocate suicide to anyone? Encourage it? In fact, considering the number of people who have come to you, three suicides, to many, is regrettable but not a large number. Go into this. Stop calling people liars and avoiding the topic.

3. Treating a number of people with mental disturbances inappropriately, including doing weird exorcism ceremonies for some. At least some of these ceremonies produced no apparent beneficial result and the recipients of some of these later needed serious clinical care. Strong questions have been asked about why anAdvaita Jnani is doing exorcisms. What was your reasoning? Did some of them do a lot of good for people? Did you ever stop people from seeking clinical orprofessional medical help? Are you still doing exorcisms? Why or why not?

4.(Two things here) Being a profound sexual athlete, misusing your guru status to leap from one young woman’s bed to another’s like Errol Flynn swinging on ropes in a pirate movie (well, actually, mostly they were all supposed to have come to his bed). All of this, as arranged by his upper echelon who in some accounts have groomed attractive young women for their session(s) with the Master. This, after having told his sangha that he didn’t need sex anymore. AND, Breaking one Senior Disciple’s heart by publicly breaking up with her and shifting sexual energy and time to another.
There’s a lot here to cover. Obviously, some of the accusations against you are mutually contradictory. How is it that upper level people are arranging trysts for you while at least one of the upper level people is your current lover? And if you broke up publicly with one upper echelon lover, how are your sexual goings on secret to begin with? Go into this in a big, fully honest way.

5. Allowing ashram conditions to be terrible. It was written that naive persons showed up to Mooji’s ashram and were forced to pay $1000 a month for the privilege of working their butts off seven days a week 12 hours a day while being yelled at by senior staff and an abusive Mooji
I won’t even go into this one in great detail because I’ve interviewed enough people who’ve come from your ashram to know that this is largely poppycock. Many people lived there for $10 a day and were given a tent to sleep in and three square meals a day. Not bad for 300 bucks a month. Couples got a hut for 900 a month and three square meals a day. Not bad for 15 bucks each a day. People report they never had to work more than six days a week, eight hours a day, and could always take a break when they needed to. There were emergency projects in which people put in some superhuman effort, but that was voluntary, too. Why don’t you say so?
.
6. Being mean, and even abusive, to many, not just persons doing ‘seva.’ The fact was, it was asserted, that in truth Mooji’s happy and friendly public persona is nonsense, and that in truth he’s a sinister, calculating fellow who uses his fake reputation to amass more sex, money, fame, and power over many.
I personally know people who you were hard on and who were crushed for a few days, but then came out stronger and better than ever as a result of you being hard on them. It could also be that you are very human and sometimes have bad days or moments.
The hair cutting apparently forced on some women some years back might be harder to explain, except perhaps as a not-to-be-repeated mistake.
Whatever the case, to share it publicly and fully will have a better long-term response then to hide whatever the truth really is.

7. Allowing, and encouraging, a wide range of traditional Indian “bhakti’ behaviors in his followers. Singing songs about him, touching his feet, calling him ‘Lord’ and ‘Master,’ and the full gamut. The ashram even raises (still?) money by selling pictures of his feet and vials of dirt upon which his Wonderfulness might have tread.
Here, to my mind, is where your helpers really mess you up. In the videos of your satsangs and on YouTube you can see multiple instances of bhakti type people singing songs to you, touching your feet, and all of this. Yes, your upper people love to see you be adored and to show how loved you are, but this just makes you look very strange to an audience looking for a Advaita teacher. It looks to some like you have a need for adulation, and a large egoic preoccupation with needing to be loved and adored. Is that what’s really going on? Or is it really just a small percentage of people who act this way, even after directions have been given to please not hug you?

8. Permitting his upper echelon folks to smuggle large amounts of cash into Portugal to help with the foundation and growth of the ashram.

9. Parroting the words of his teacher and others, and being ignorant of some spiritual matters, like Kundalini practices.
I personally believe that almost all good teaching consists of repeating in various ways the wisdom of our predecessors. I also personally believe that Advaita teachers need have no knowledge of things like kundalini practices, which in a way are like siddhis, in that they are a detour, a hindrance, and possibly a danger rather than something worthwhile for a person on the path of jnana. However, my thoughts don’t matter to m@ny. Yours, Mooji, do. Whatdo you think? That’s what’s important. Tell us, please.

10. Acting[and accepting adulation as if a fully enlightened being, when events seemed to prove otherwise.

Plus, there is the Be Scofield article. This had a large impact, most certainly. Her usually accurate articles about such sad cases as Aaravindha Himadra, Bentinho Massaro, and Swami Vivekananda of Agama Yoga have earned her a large following. However, she did apparently make many obvious mistakes in her attack piece regarding you. These include facts about celibacy, Hindu eating practices, Hindu marriages, and claiming you had sex with a confirmed, lifelong lesbian.

Mooji, if you’re truly a Jnani and therefore not worried about anything in the Maya (especially something so paltry is whether you wind up in a hut by a river by yourself meditating like Siddhartha in Herman Hesse’s book or with a huge Ashtam and a wonderful following), Help Us.

Clear the Air!

“Noble Silence” in this situation doesn’t exist.
As much as there can be truth in the duality, in the relative, please help those who would like to have you as a teacher they can respect and recommend people to in doing so. State your truths fully on these matters,

And with someone who won’t go easy on you. If someone goes easy on you the detractors will not be satisfied. Someone needs to demand and to get full responses. Otherwise many will want interview two and then interview three. One, covering these issues fully, should be enough.

Thanks for reading this. I look forward to your response.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2020 10:38PM by Traveler99.

Corboy will add another item to the list of accusations:

Failure to maintain safe conditions at Monte Sahaja work stations which may have resulted in a dangerous fire that necessitated evacuation of the Monte Sahaja community.

A fire cannot spontaneously happen. What were the conditions like>

**Following the fire, was there ever a proper inspection by a professional?**

Corboy wants to ask if there are safety trainings at the ashram for fire prevention and food handling. This is a large community living and working in close conditions.

We have reports that people are spied on. If this micromanaging exists, is similar care taken to prevent fires, maintain safe work conditions, safe living conditions (proper poop disposal) and safe food handling, eh?

Quote


[www.reddit.com]

Subreddit icon
Mooji
•Posted byu/kissedxgrace
2 years ago
Fire at Monte Sahaja - Mooji's ashram
Everything is fine. Everyone is safe.
"A large fire broke out unexpectedly in Monte Sahaja at approximately 3pm today. Most residents had to evacuate the land but no one was hurt. Many stayed behind to assist the fire teams. The fire seemed to have started in the work station room where most structures and furniture are built for the community. It is not yet confirmed how the fire started. The fire was so fierce that all of the work stations were burnt to the ground. Fire fighters, known as Bombeiros, came from various stations in the Alentejo region to help put out the fire. They arrived on the land with fire engines and helicopter. Together with Monte Sahaja’s own fire team they fought the flames until the fire came under control. The mayor of Sao Martinho das Amoreiras, Nuno Duarte, ensured that Sahaja residents were cared for by providing shelter, blankets and food at the local community hall in the village. Many villagers came forward to offer shelter, food and love to the sangha. The residents of Monte Sahaja thank the Bombeiros for their prompt response and selfless service. We also thank the mayor, the police, Sandra from Zmar, Mario the former mayor and the local community for their care and support. When Moojibaba was approached for a response he said, “We are indebted to God’s grace continuously. Things could have been much worse as we have seen in this season’s series of wildfires here in Portugal. This could have resulted in a huge tragedy. Grace kept the wind from blowing. We are in gratitude.” We will keep you informed as more information becomes available."