I have a blog that I maintain that deals with exposing gurus, and I find that I am often feeling guilty for doing this. I know that it mostly happens when people come on the board and start shamming me about what I have written. Sometimes I feel that I should take it all down and get on with my life, but at other times I feel that people out there are hurting and need the information. I say this because I was once a Jehovah's Witness, and after being kicked out I was devastated and had no one to talk with. Now there are boards that help these exJWs, and I am grateful for them and feel no guilt about posting. But with the guru situation I know that I have been brainwashed to believe that saying anything negative about a group is supposed to be bad karma. I don't think I worry about karma, but they are able to shame me into feeling guilty over what I write or post. I have had this guilt for maybe 15 years while being on forums that exposed these religions, and I never got over it but just continued.

I have been reading this thread: http://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?12,2579,page=2 and yet I don't quite understand some of it outside of the fact that posters can make us feel guilty. How is this guilt instilled? How do you get over it? Should you even get over it? Can what

Another part of me realizes that when I learned about a certain Hindu group I was very unhappy over learning these things, and I lost my faith in gurus, especially after going to yet another Hindu group to find more disappointment. I hate that I lost my faith and don't wish that on others. I rather wish I were still naive, but even then I was not happy with the people in those religions, with or without learning about the guru.

I have been called all kinds of names over the years, and the gurus I knew all told me to "walk away quietly" if I were leaving. And the disciples wished the same. I was never allowed to even voice my own doubts.

I feel that I am still brainwashed and wish I weren't.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.

@grainne uaile If you are fresh from the Group you will fill that way, What Most Cults do, is they do something called Love Bombing, this is when they surround you with Love and make you feel like a family, what happens is that when it looks like you make others sad, it hurts you, Because they have showed you the appearance of Love,

Just keep going, When i left a Cult i felt like i was doing something wrong, I wanted to warn others but i was not sure what to do, But Jesus helped me alot.

Just put the information out there, Like me, there was a seed in my mind already placed there by someone, Because of some information i read.
The thing is that you cannot change the person and they will find their information on their own, At first they may reject it, but it helps in the end because they ether start to see what you were trying to warn them about, After that, they leave, and also May start putting information about the ground. Thus the process being repeated over and over again.
Stay Strong grainne uaile. God will lead you, Just pray and ask him for help and believe.

the guilt is because your mind has been conditioned like that, it will start to go away.

Just remember this when guilt starts holding you.

" WE DO WHAT WE MUST, BECAUSE WE CAN"

Hi, Thanks so much for your post. I have been out for 15 years. This group never did love bombing; in fact when I joined I was shocked at how distance and unfriendly these meditators were.

I have analyzed it some, but not enough. For one thing, I was in Tibetan Buddhism, and when I learned how corrupt the teachings and lamas were I started a blog. I feel no guilt because I believe it to be NOT what Buddha taught, and to be, well, for lack of a better word, evil. I have no guilt over putting down the Jehovah's Witnesses either because they really harm others; I know, I was one of them.

Self-Realization Fellowship is another matter. I have proof that the guru lied, and have read a letter from a woman who claims he was trying to seduce her, i have court documents, etc. But I was deeply hurt when I learned about the organization and the guru, and so I remember what that feels like. When one person came to the blog to say that I was wrong about Yogananda, I told her that she should not read the board if she is happy in SRF. I admit, SRF has taught me that it is wrong to say anything negative, and yet it is easy when it comes to Tibetan Buddhism and the Jehovah's Witnesses, even the Vedanta Society.

But for the last 15 years I had been exposing SRF and Yogananda on boards, but I never got over the guilt for doing so.