Here is a response by James Swartz regarding the "allegations" for anyone's appreciation. Let us hear what he had to say two years ago - published on Facebook:


"It should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of discrimination that the unwillingness of the 'victim' to reveal his or her identity and involve law enforcement in the 'case' indicates that the allegations...which are totally untrue...are an attempt to smear me. I actually have a lot better things to do with my time than think about my fame. There is a great Chinese proverb. "When doing evil, avoid punishment. When doing good, avoid fame." Human nature is such that fame often causes the minds of people with low self esteem to degenerate into envy and schadenfreude. It is sad to think that someone’s only means of feeling good is to try to make someone else feel bad.

I say ‘his or her’ above because as a successful writer I think someone other than the woman, perhaps a man, wrote the original story...and story it is...because of the way it is written. A real victim would be much more emotional and less calculating. And I would think that the writer would show more empathy for the putative ‘victim.’ Again from an analysis of the style of writing it seems that the same person who has written this rubbish has now morphed into a retired ‘detective’ purporting find out the ‘truth.’

Every cloud has a silver lining. Since this nasty stuff has been going on for months now I am starting to conclude that, as they say in the media business, there is no 'bad' publicity because hits to the site have been increasing, donations, sales of books and videos are growing leaps and bounds and attendance at seminars is breaking all records. Support for ShiningWorld has never been higher.

Some people advise me to start a vigorous campaign denying the allegations and others, including Guruphiliac, with whom I tend to agree, suggest that I maintain 'noble silence' as the Buddha called it. I am not complaining; I see it as my karma for being so outspoken about the myths and fraudsters in the spiritual world. I probably rubbed this bottom feeding internet troll wrong when I attacked one of his hero's ideas about enlightenment.

At the same time letting wrong doers carry on is wrong. It encourages other malicious people. So if anyone knows who this person is…he is someone I met in India years ago…it would be very helpful if you contact me. Someone also suggested that I offer a reward for information as to the identity of this person, which I am considering in so far as I have will and the resources to verify the information and to take legal recourse. I grew up in a legal family (my mother was a judge) and I am quite familiar with my rights under then law. I'd be happiest if he actually did a bit of soul searching and came to grips with his issues and/or retracted the allegations in a public forum, which is highly unlikely. Extroverted people like this are famously not self aware. Probably, as it becomes clear that this slanderous program is not bearing fruit, he will tire of it and hopefully get a life or, failing that, move on to something more profitable.

The conventional view is that I should be worried etc. but I am not worried in the slightest. In fact, I think it will have a positive outcome in the fullness of time, as things always do. My success is not due to me. It is totally God's will. The worst that can happen is that it damages my reputation, which is not me. But as Guruphilliac says, these things harden into he said/she said positions and people lose interest, since the truth is never served. In any case I've never been motivated by the beliefs and perceptions of others. I'm am totally confident in the knowledge of who I am and the knowledge that I never laid a hand on this person. And I have the love of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who have benefitted greatly by Vedanta as I explain it. To date no one has ever complained that I treated them unfairly."

I don't find James' arguments against the allegations very convincing. I don't know if the allegations are true, but I'm grateful that they made me take a critical look at JS and his teachings, having attended a weekend seminar of his a few weeks back, and having accepted his teaching a bit too uncritically.

I can now somewhat agree with the comment found here:

[guruphiliac.blogspot.com]

Quote

The teaching is filtered via his personality. The more you read or listen to James Swartz all you do is pick up his cynicism along with some knowledge. So it's up to you, you can either wise up and find a purified teacher who practices what they preach, or you can spend even more years trying to get his diseased ridden interpretations of reality out of your head. Your life

I've read part (the second half) of James's autobiography, looking especially for how it ties in to Heather's story. A few things stood out for me. I won't use quotes because that's a bit of a hassle on my phone (all I have now, on vacation) :
James consistently writes about himself in self-aggrandizing terms. He writes about other people mostly in a cold way, as if they were objects that are either useful or hindering to him. He describes (proudly) how he behaves like a bully at times. All this seems to me to indicate a personality that has a low amount of conscience and empathy.

He describes proudly how he makes money during the various stages of his life. He admires his own business-sense. But the only source of income he describes explicitly for the period he was with his wife Marlene (the same period Heather's story takes place) is her night club dance act (for which he made costumes). Heather's story corresponds with this but also mentions additional income from his teenage disciple Sandy's striptease shows, managed by James (or Jonas, as he's called in the book) and his wife. In the story it's described how Sandy was manipulated into doing these shows.

I don't really doubt (because I could sense it) that James has found some extent of freedom through Vedanta and he might be able to share this with his students. We did a guided meditation and this connected me with pure awareness/existence at a deeper than my usual level.

But I wonder if James' freedom is limited because it's co-opted by a narcissistic ego that prides itself on outsmarting everyone and everything, even life itself. You see, when the ego sees everything as unreal, that means karma is unreal and the person is unreal. So there is no one to blame or be guilty and no need to act morally, or so an ego can think. Vedanta as a life hack or cheat code for the psychopathic ego?

An article on spiritual bypassing.

[forum.culteducation.com]

zizlz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> But I wonder if James' freedom is limited because
> it's co-opted by a narcissistic ego that prides
> itself on outsmarting everyone and everything,
> even life itself. You see, when the ego sees
> everything as unreal, that means karma is unreal
> and the person is unreal. So there is no one to
> blame or be guilty and no need to act morally, or
> so an ego can think. Vedanta as a life hack or
> cheat code for the psychopathic ego?



Yes, your point is valid in relation to Vedanta. Traditional Vedanta does teach that karma and indeed what we see all around us is unreal. But, and this is a major but, that is only part of it. Modern Vedanta tends to stop at this. In fact, this is the easy part of enlightenment.

At no time does Vedanta teach that the utility of what we see around us does not have use.

For the enlightenment to take hold one has to negate that they are the human, and negate that all around is real. That is, unchanging. It doesnt mean that all around does not exist. As the sanskrit term, mithya, is neither real nor unreal. its' in-between.

This means that the first part is to know one is not what they though they were, and to focus on what they are. To do this karma, dharma and samsara is negated. Though only negated as being that which does not change = real. This brings Independence, the first component of enlightenment. but my rhetorical point of - so what, applies here. And it's totally in agreement with the above post.

There is indeed no one to blame or feel guilty for from the perspective of Brahman, and indeed all is the will of Isvara, as all is Isvara. however, if i walk down the street and see someone being attacked I will respond. So, yes, everything is happening according to Isvara, yet that doesnt mean one should be lazy and not work on themselves. :) . The above poster brings and this, and the mooji topic bring out how ridiculous this is.

The purpose for an enlightened person, besides karma not recycling (for that 'soul' I will write, though no technically correct is to benefit the world. This is the vedanta view, so it means that a person, enlightened or not, has a responsibility to resolve anything themselves that is causing unrest for others. To do not is complete bypassing.

I've scanned over the link on by-passing in the mooji forum, this would also be tantamount to the Traditional Vedanta view. Swami's are aware of the huge problem of spiritual by-passing, it is difficult to address simply because tradtional vedanta wont interact with someone unless they ask. And, when they decide they dont want to know, that is respected and supprted, with no judgement.

Great traction in this topic. A joy to read. :)

This message board has barely been up for a week. There are over 40 posts and 1100 views already.

James Swartz cannot be a happy camper. Apparently, truth is coming out about him, and in such a way that he can’t bully or bluster himself out of it for a change. Unlike what allegedly happened back in the 80’s, he can’t brainwash and threaten a drugged teenage girl to stay quiet about brainwashing, drugging, serial rapes, and interstate transportation of a minor for prurient purposes, which is a (no statute of limitations) felony violation of the Mann Act.

Unlike all the other times, such as when (before Heather went public in the winter of 2016-17) he strongly threatened a blogger who termed Swartz an ‘incubus” (a demon that has sex with sleeping women). Now he isn’t able to shut down an individual person’s attempt to expose him as a liar, a fraud, a criminal, and worse.

This time, conclusions regarding the allegations are not just coming from one person at a time. Now, a large and growing number of persons believes that they are seeing the truth, and, as it should be, are largely discovering it in Swartz’s own words.

Yes, people are finally paying closer attention. They are discovering in Swartz’s own writings that he doesn’t understand even the basics of spirituality. For instance, according to one astute analysis, in his own words Swartz tries to describe enlightenment and instead gives a poor description of an awakening, which is a different thing. Related, yes, but very different.

Many people awaken, but with their Vasanas and Samskara still intact, they are hardly ready to be teachers. An enlightened person is capable of teaching well, should he or she so choose. Inherently, enlightened persons are free of attachments to what, in “Guru? The Story Of Heather,” (free to read at www.reallyguru.com), are described as the five destroyers of teachers: the desires for fame, sex, money, power, and drugs.

As Swartz is looked at more closely, many are concluding that his life, his teachings, and everything he has written and done shows him to be a bully,a narcissist, a criminal, and totally unworthy of being a spiritual teacher.

Regarding women...

Swartz allegedly ruined the lives of two underaged teenage girls in the 80’s. He is said to have brainwashed, drugged, and raped them, leaving them fearful and scarred for life. In his own words he is proud of how he broke up quite harshly with at least one girlfriend. At breakfast with buddies in India in the early 2000’s, he delighted in sharing his tales of having sex with multiple widowed street cleaners and sewer cleaners. (This was during the years in which he bragged about poisoning the neighbor’s dog because it worked at night.)

Sandwiched around all these reputed sexual goings-on were two marriages. In the first, he had his wife perform sex acts on stage to support him. Allegedly, he had her do this with a bisexual man who he also publicly degraded for his homosexuality. The story goes that when time with him combined with her own frailties made her behavior even more erratic, and she was starting to lose her sex show stage appeal, he dumped her.
Regarding his second marriage, sources that claim to have been close to Swartz report that he has had a similar negative impact on his second wife. She’s not having sex on stage to get him money, but according to these sources she has helped him in coercing weak and elderly persons to give Swartz large sums of money against their better judgment,and perhaps against their will. These sources mention possible legal investigations of Swartz in Europe due to at lest one of these transactions.

OMG.

What can a person say?

This is a forum designed to find out, “James Swartz — What Is The Truth?”

Have we already found out?

Please do share this site with others.

If something or someone doesn’t come to give a very new perspective about this “teacher” soon, “the jury will be out.”

And if James Swartz is found to be guilty as charged by Heather and others, people should be warned.

Just in response to the 'denial of allegations' statement by Old Jimmy posted by Valma, I wanted to reproduce sections of the unofficial forensic psychologist's report included in the e-book "The Story of Heather".

This is very interesting:

"In conclusion, my unofficial summary of [James Swartz]:

* He has delusions of grandeur. He knows that he is beloved by many, all of whom believe in him. He sees himself as superior, and therefore that whatever he does is all right, and certainly by his mighty mind, all of is actions can be justified.

* He admits he knew the girl, and scoffs at you and her and the others who believe her because you can't prove that rapes actually did take place.

* As to the rapes? He virtually confesses to them here. "The charges have no legs." That is essentially saying, "Can't catch me!"

* Again he tries to pin the allegations on a rouge male, like she, the victim, Heather, doesn't exist. (Sadly, to him, perhaps she really is a lower life form, so in a way she doesn't.)

* ...Any reputable board would not and should not allow a person who thinks in such a way to teach in any school or college. Despite this, Freedom of Religion allows him to teach about spiritual matters to those willing to listen."

Of course, we don't know who the forensic psychologist was who was consulted about Heather's case. But honestly, I don't think you need to be a psychologist to suspect there is something very wrong going on with Old James.

Quote
earthquake
There is indeed no one to blame or feel guilty for from the perspective of Brahman, and indeed all is the will of Isvara, as all is Isvara. however, if i walk down the street and see someone being attacked I will respond. So, yes, everything is happening according to Isvara, yet that doesnt mean one should be lazy and not work on themselves. :) . The above poster brings and this, and the mooji topic bring out how ridiculous this is.

The purpose for an enlightened person, besides karma not recycling (for that 'soul' I will write, though no technically correct is to benefit the world. This is the vedanta view, so it means that a person, enlightened or not, has a responsibility to resolve anything themselves that is causing unrest for others. To do not is complete bypassing

So in Advaita we learn that 1. the world is unreal, yet 2. the purpose of enlightenment is to benefit the world.

I wonder if it's fair to say that there's a boobytrap between 1. and 2. That a certain type of people (e.g. psychopaths/narcissists ) can't escape from.

And I wonder if it's fair to say that students of such stuck teachers tend to get stuck there themselves.

As an illustration of JS's bypassing: at the JS seminar I attended recently he said something along the lines of: "Do you think it matters if Trump gets re-elected and screws things up further? None of this is real!"

There are a lot of various comments on Guruphiliac by people who have known JS.Since zizl mentions a quote with Trump, here is a comment (with also Trump in it) dated 2016:

" I have been practicing Advaita Vedanta for about 35 years now. I have a bunch of friends who are acolytes of James Schwarz. I've seen his videos and have endured 2 week long (~30+ hr) satsang rants (one that ended yesterday). Although his seemingly carefully selected and edited YouTubes are impressive, he comes off as the Donald Trump of the modern guru-world during his satsangs. If your knowledge of Vedanta and other related spiritual philosophies is limited, he sounds great (that's called indoctrination), if you do have background and do know the Sanskrit terminology and ontology regarding Vedanta and other systems, sitting through his stuff quickly becomes appalling. Not only do his redundant and convoluted lectures include constant and unnecessary harping on questionable celebrity gurus, and "the neos," but every other tradition is fair game. This past weekend, he announced that Patanjali's Classical Yoga is nonsense as is the Buddhist boddhisattva tradition. He also blamed Swami Vivekananda for the rise of the "neo" scene and the "misguided" idea of universalism within reformed Vedanta. After the sessions, I could barely hold a non-contentious conversation with anyone because they were busy erroneously throwing around Sanskrit terms, judging other people using those terms, and looking at me as if I were pathetic and an enemy because I knew that the emperor had no clothes. I came home to search the web to find out if I am the only person who feels this way."

On another note, does anyone know how Heather is doing? Is she aware of the existence of this forum thread? If so, how does she feel about it, 2 years after having published first time her story on Media?

This post is in response to, and thanks to, Valma.

First, Heather is okay. She has a wonderful husband and super children, which have made all the difference. As pointed out in the book (“”Guru? The Story Of Heather”, available for free at www.reallyguru.com ) without them surviving the PTSD suffered due to two years under the thrall, as she asserts, of a rapacious manipulative spiritual fraud would not have been easy. In fact, even with them, at times it was horribly difficult

One reason Heather went public in the first place in the winter of 2016 17 was to warn people of the danger of associating with someone that she saw as both dangerous and loathsome. The other reason she wrote her articles,and helped persons Such as me with our research, was to help in her own healing. Happily, it seems as if both goals are being achieved.

The second natter Valma brought up was the quality of the spiritual teachings of James Swartz. In light of the terrible accusations, to which Swartz’s own responses seem to have virtually waved an “I am guilty” banner, it seemed obvious that any discerning person would realize that, “If the accounts of Heather are accurate, or even a quarter true, James Swartz is not a worthy teacher”

If it had not come to Heather’s attention that JS was still teaching, and (to her) inexplicably had sometimes a hundred or more persons coming to his “lessons”, she would not have told her story publicly. When JS was told that Heather would only stop telling her stories of him when he stopped teaching, he tried to spin it as something like, “Someone is jealous of my grandeur as a teacher, and is trying to blackmail me to make me quit,”

Poppycock.

As the contributor to Guruphiliac stated in his or her review of Swartz quoted by Valma above, James Swartz can very readily be called the Donald Trump of spiritual teachers. Among other issues, he has misrepresented his spiritual past and bona fides as a teacher, he apparently deliberately mistranslates and distorts the meanings of essential Sanskrit terms, he misrepresents the teachings of such luminaries as Sri Ramana Maharishi, he uses the teachings to excuse his own reputedly sordid activities, and he attacks better, more real, teachers, out of pure jealousy.

Even without his alleged crimes having taken place, James Swartz in my view is not worthy of the title “spiritual teacher.” Like those who followed Andrew Cohen, it sadly looks likely that his followers are going to need to suck it in, look deep inside, and use their bad experiences and accrued wisdom (knowledge which came despite, not because of, James Swartz) to move ahead “better.”

As asserted in the book about Heather, there are good and real teachers out there. Sad thing is, the evidence as goes teachings is that James Swartz is not one of them. Plus, if Heather’s stories are true, he is actually the antithesis.

Oh my folks, clear the valleys and the fields. Women, men, children jump aside FAST! Look up and you will behold, rolling down the hill rapidly, a gynormous ego, people, which would crush everything in its path and continue to roll obliviously down the hill into its own oblivion. Rejoice that you spotted it in time. Jyzie