I have been speaking at length about the partialities in the Butler group on the thread dedicated to him and the cult.
However because it is such an important subject, I feel it is important I make a post about it.
People think that because of what has been said here, that group is absolutely hellish for everybody.
First of all I must say that after researching other cult leaders I believe that I could have landed in a much worse place. I still cannot minimize the damage that was done to me because some groups or gurus are 100 times worse or dangerous.
To this day what makes me sick about SoI the most is the partialities.
Of course Butler, the wife and her kids from the first marriage are the British Royal family of the cult. The DEMIgods. SoI is very much a cult of personalitieS.
The so called devotees just love to gush over those “very advanced” disciples.
Those who have it real good are the ones that have been around since the early days. Especially the heavy weight teachers aka Brahmans.
They are the ones people revere after Butler. We go to them for advice because it is very difficult to contact Butler directly.
People trust them with everything. Who should I marry? is this job OK for me? and all other spiritual concerns.
After those big guns, the disciples that have been around for a very long time, feel quite safe and untouchable too.
Of course their kids and the in laws are also under the protective umbrella of the spiritual mafia system.
I will try and give a few exemples:
In this practice, there is a very strict rule when it comes to relating to the opposite sex.
A guy from my city was secretely calling a fairly new person to flirt with her. When they found out, he was heavily chastised. Banned for a few months.
Then the 30 year old son of some old time disciples lured a 15 year old girl into having intimate relations with him. No big deal!
He returns to his country and marries a young woman shortly after as if nothing had happened.
If any of the “nobodys” did that, they would be banned for life.
When it comes to marriage also, priorority goes to the kids of the Elite disciples. Those who are approached cannot easily say no to such personalities when they ask them to marry their kids.
They always say you should marry a serious “devotee”. Someone who is interested in spiritual life... Then they will marry very nice, serious devotees to their kids who have left the path to engage in material life and have zero interest in the process. It usualy leads to miserable marriages. This is a quite selfish act.
Another thing: LOOKS DO MATTER in that so called “you are not the body” cult.
Wherever the teachers travel, people give them the best treatement. Everybody wants to relate to them, serve them... While devotees treat each other like dirt at times, those big guns are ALWAYS treated like gold.
I have seen very nasty kids of disciples act in dispecable ways toward other devotees. Nothing happens of course. They still roam around.
A regular person lashes at someone. Banned for 3 years from all gatherings and associations.
One of those Elite people gets sick everybody will run to the rescue. A regular devotee gets into an accident. Almost no help whatsoever.
These are just a few exemples to give you an idea.
Why would those people complain or would ever want to leave? Noone abuses them.
But they can abuse everybody else if they wanted. They do not live in fear like many of us who were afraid to get kicked out for good if we did or said the wrong thing.
So when you look at a Tulsi Gabbard and see how she is glowing and praises Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa guruji, it is because she is part of the SoI Elite. Not only because she is the daughter of Gabbard aka Krishna Katha das, but because she has to some extent made a name for herself in politics.
After the Elite, you have the super talented, USEFUL people. The top slaves. Or those who are good at preaching and doing outreach to attract newcomers.They are also respected more both by the guru and other members. However nothing close to the Elite and their families.
This path is supposed to be one of equality and yet in that group people are for sure treated differently.
The partialities are easily accepted by the brainwashed members who think it is normal.
So there are 3 separate universes within the Butler cult: Heaven, Hell and purgatory.
Those who somehow suffer (walk on eggshells all day long) and those who thrive and Jetset around different centers and countries.
If they could step back and see how ugly this all is, I hope they will feel at least a bit ashamed.
I am more than happy I no longer am hostage to that group and can openly call them out on their BS.
I trust that higher “divine” authorities are also taking notes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2021 10:23AM by Truth wins.

I think this very closely mirrors my experience in my own group. Some people are definitely treated as more equal than others. Long term members who manage to remain on the guru's good side are able to get away with much more--including themselves being abusive to others--than the less favored members.

In case of interest, this article relates to parental favouritism, which is not the same as the guru / adherent situation however (in my own, personal view) does share the same dynamic overall.

Quote
What are the effects of favoritism on the children?

According to Mallory Williams, LCSW, there are serious long-term effects to growing up in a household of parental favoritism. “The biggest long-term dangers are depression, anxiety, unstable or even traumatic reactions in personal relationships, and performance anxiety for both the favored and non-favored children,” says Williams. She also discusses self-esteem issues and feelings of rejection following the child into adulthood.

“The non-favored child will experience low self-worth and value, feelings of rejection and inadequacy, and a sort of “giving up” due to feeling like they can never be worthy of the same attention, love, and affection that the favored child receives. This often has long-term implications on their performance on jobs, in school, and in interpersonal relationships, as the parenting relationship sets the foundation and expectations of future relationships,” says Williams.

A surprising effect of parental favoritism is that feeling neglected can lead to a very independent outlook on life. They don’t need their parents. They don’t need anyone. While a bit of independence is usually good, this kind of outlook usually leads to isolation.

While being the favored child may sound like a walk in the park, it’s far from it. Being favored means almost always being resented by the other children. The parents’ unequal attention poisons sibling relationships without even trying.

Williams says that she’s consistently seen problems arise for favored children. Parents are often surprised, because it seems they should have no reason to be affected. “Because of the praise and favoritism they experience, they often have difficulty with failure of any kind,” says Williams. “They often feel so much pressure to keep up their star performance that they feel that there is no room for mistakes.

They also are prone to rejection or a tense relationship, at the very least, with the non-favored sibling, and find it hard to repair such a relationship, considering that they did nothing to create the situation.”

Link

The dynamic here, it is written in the case of children and siblings, but when looking at how the cult and cult like groups etc are formed and running, maybe it will be easier to see how these disharmonious results are so alike situationally.