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india
The doomsday apocalyptic scenario aligns with just about every religion at its inception through mystic visions of their saints, so also no issue there, its really only a question as to when, how it will unfold, and whether the timeline of it has been sped up. i tend to believe him when he says there is no time to waste, humanity is in peril, the planet is going through a mass extinction, technology is making us much more materialistic, we have obliterated God from our daily lives.

Shunyamurti has said again and again that the acopalypse will happen soon and that it will come in the form of nuclear war. This is not your typical environmental talk. It does not "align with just about every religion at its inception", as you say. It does appear to align with the inception of Christianity, though.

From [www.pbs.org]

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Did Jesus himself believe the ending was near?
There are certainly passages in the Gospels that make it clear that Jesus is anticipating an imminent moment of apocalypse. That the end is very near. Certainly the earliest Christians took away from his message the belief that his return would occur in their own life time

Obviously, Jesus was wrong or misinterpreted, because the apocalypse didn't happen in the time frame he predicted. There are countless other doomsday cults whose predicted apocalypse date came and went without anything happening. Often they just pick a new date, simple enough. One of those doomsday cults is Brahma Kumaris.

Here's Wikipedia's list of predicted apocalyptic events (BK is included): [en.wikipedia.org]

Shunyamurti's apocalypse predictions are lifted straight from BK, which isn't surprising, because that's the cult his beliefs were formed by.

In a post on page 3 of this thread, I explained why the following sentences spoken by Shunyamurti in one of his videos make it evident his apocalypse teaching comes from the BK apocalypse teaching:

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They say only eight make it totally at the end, who will actually be able to maintain that perfection of consciousness that
doesn't fall any longer. And 108 are able to maintain it sufficiently to to be able to to manifest the transition without
suffering and to be able to bring the energy field into Sat Yuga.

In case you're interested what the new end date of the world is according to BK , it's somewhere in 2036.

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india
But I find a lot of the comments to misunderstand what is on offer, which is a very lucid exposition of advaita vedanta from a western perspective. In my view, its invaluable.

What I noticed is that in much of what Shunyamurti says, he echoes Brahma Kumaris more so than Advaita Vedanta.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2021 11:51PM by zizlz.

I know nothing about Brahma Kumaris, but I know a great deal about Indian ashrams, whose bramhamacharya's with little exception, are encouraged to have as little to do with their birth family as possible to separate them from their psychological and emotional ties that would limit their spiritual progress.

Better not to jump to conclusions, just state the facts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2021 10:39PM by india.

Thanks India. I have no experience with Indian ashrams, so I'll take your word for it until I have more information. Would you say the amount of ex-students who have come to the conclusion that Shunyamurti is narcissistic and manipulative is out of the ordinary, compared to Indian gurus, or is this just par for the course?

Here's some more interesting testimony from someone who's been there:

From [www.actualized.org]

About being pressured to cut family ties:

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So lastly the topic of family and friends. Oh man that's a biggie. You better believe that Shunyamurti and his wife Radha Ma manipulate the shit out of your family situation. Some people living there haven't talked to their families in years but most receive money from them. How do you think the regular members finance themselves? In a session Shunya told me that to my parents I was just a piece of shit actually knowing little about my past. Almost everybody cut off all their ties to friends and to most to their family. It is encouraged and in some way demanded. A guy I know was asked to leave because he refused to cut his family out of his life. They told him he was to attached.

About the apocalyptic fear mongering:

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The Apocalypse is coming soon no doubt so just hand them all your money. You can build a house and live of bananas and broccoli no problem. Somebody I talked to in my research asked me the very good question: If Shunya really believes in the apocalypse why did he build himself a villa which approximately cost at least 500k instead of building himself a small wooden house like most other houses there putting the remaining money into building more greenhouses? By the time he built his house they had zero greenhouses. Only a couple of years later through donations they build their first two big ones. People are made to believe the apocalypse is coming. One of the highest member once told me for example that she is to paranoid to leave Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a protected place you have to know. When Russia/China have their nuclear war with the US the wind currents will transport the nuclear outflow away I imagine. I asked him about Nuclear Winter. He handwaved it away. That won't happen and changed the topic. On an other occation he said that aliens will help clean the earth and that the contaminated landmasses will crush in the sea and new landmasses will come up very quickly. I'm not bullshitting you. You can consider that one a quote. I actually have an audio file with what students call a Dharma Talk.

I'm reading some more of the testimonials at [www.satyoga.exposed]

There are many shocking things in there, but not surprising at all, to people who have first-hand experience with cults. The specifics differ from cult to cult, but the basic principles are always the same.

When I was in a cult, the leader tried to manipulate me into hating my parents, much like the person describes in the first quote in my previous post.

Trying to get members to break off their marriage/relationship is another tactic typical of cult leaders. Apparently, Shunyamurti is no exception.

From [www.satyoga.exposed]

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Part of Robert’s modus operandi was to get women of a certain age or vulnerability to divorce their husbands. He counseled them to get as much money as they could out of a divorce and then to give all of the proceeds from their divorce to Robert, to support the community ashram. Robert wooed women in this way. He let them know that he and the “community” were the “real family” who would always take care of them. The only caveat, they had to surrender everything to him. They could pay to build a house at the ashram, but they could not own any title to the house and could be expelled at any time from the community for any reason.



Robert attempted this type of manipulation with me and was ultimately unsuccessful. It did, however, put a cruel and unnecessary strain on my marriage and caused my partner deep pain. It is the one thing I truly regret in my life, this causing of pain to someone I love dearly. Robert is adept at this type of manipulation, which is subtle at first. He begins by telling you that your unhappiness, suffering, etc., is rooted in your relationship with your partner. Then over a period of sessions, he finally recommends you consider divorce and moving to the “ashram” where your “real family” is waiting for you with open arms. This, of course, is all a lie presented to get you to part with whatever resources you have in your pocket or bank account.



Over the course of my time at SYI, I “donated” at least $70,000+. In one of my mandatory “sessions” with Robert, he flat out asked me for money. This was not the first time. It was becoming a common theme in our “sessions.” I refused. He became furious, and asked me “What am I going to do with my stuff if you don’t pay the rent!!” So much for being an enlightened being without any attachment to the material world. Robert was very attached to his “things” such as books, maintaining a certain “look,” living in a luxurious manner, having his students literally wait on him hand and foot, etc. He believes he merits such treatment by others as he is the “embodiment of the void.” He has no need to earn an income, except by demanding payment from his students for his very being.

Hi India,

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My experience of spiritual teachers and the people that support them is that there is always a lack of integrity somewhere, which is the human side, but the energetic and spiritual side which brings so much joy, and meaning that one has to always balance the world and its shadow, and the spirit and its purity. One has to be compassionate afterall.

This is true, and I resonate with everything that you mention. There is no reason for any criticism to be taken into account from a guru perspective, there is just no need.

Many will cut off the familial ties as attachments, there are many reasons given to it but if looking at it from the rational point of view it is very similar to the unhealthy relationship entered where only that person is focused upon and all friends fall away.. it might be co-dependence but my memory is not so clear on that please be aware it is not solid.

It is my problem, and my problem entirely that sometimes people are not treating others in a way that is what I deem sufficient behaviour toward another living being, and since everybody is responsible for themselves I leave the rest upon the creators there, and the attendees.

I just feel blessed that I got to skip what would probably have been a very tough time and yet another recovery, one of which I would not be sure I’d make it through.

There’s no saving anyone, and no stopping anyone from partaking in behaviour that isn’t beneficial to others.

It is the norm to behave in those abusive ways for many, and there are those attendees who will either walk away smelling something wrong, or suck it all in (internalizing) and become the same themselves.

Abuse is normal for many.

Robert shubow, aka shunyamurti, has named himself as the prophet, to his SAT yoga institute followers, he is their teacher and their father. He has manipulated them to separate themselves from their families, extorted millions of dollars from them, hypnotized them with additional use of illegal drugs, such As LSD, mushrooms, and ketamine. He is involved in illegal immigration-having passports collected and taken out of the country to get stamped. With all of his donations, he is currently purchasing more and more land, now valued at 50 million dollars. He is spying on his followers and using the information for blackmail. Robert shubow’s teachings are frequently twisted and incorrect. He has his followers working 40 plus hours, including manual hard labor, with no benefits. Those who have built houses in his ashram, had to give a “love donation”, which means, the follower does not own this land he just built on. There have been minors as part of his group, but they have managed to leave. He preaches celibacy, but there are rumors of sexual abuse. His followers are so controlled using deprivation of food and sleep to control their minds, causing them to be so paranoid of the outside world. He claims god will provide for them and there is no need for medical assistance. Information about members that have left was given to the members as a lie. They were told the person left because he or she was seeking further spiritual growth by other means. Robert encourages married women to leave their husbands and move to the ashram, then encouraging turning over great sums of money for support of the ashram. There are so many illegal activities, and most of the members are clueless of this deceit, the mind control, the manipulation, hypnosis, etc. I was lucky to escape. I wish my fellow brothers and sisters could wake up to this doomsday cult, realize that the end of the world is NOT coming soon, and get as far away as possible from this criminal. I urge anyone to try and contact authorities or anyone else that could help these innocent people, who are prisoners of shunyamurti. If you know any of them, please encourage them to leave, and do the research-questioning and doubting robert and his committee members. Finally, encourage the Brahma Kumaris to press charges against Robert Shubow. He was one of the leaders and teachers and is guilty of many crimes.

Has this been shared?
[www.satyoga.exposed]

Haley, have you ever considered going public about it? Like on some cult podcats?
I got really bad vibes from him on youtube. One thing he totally lacks is charisma.
Even if the world ends, we do not need gurus.
Glad you escaped. It is very hard to wake up those who stay.

Truth wins, yes I would definitely speak on one of the podcasts. Put me in touch, the more that come forward, the sooner we can help those not able to leave.