My deep gratitude to Heather, Traveler, Earthquake, Stan and all those contributing to this thread and to Rick Alan Ross for creating this important platform. No doubt these shares have provided informed consent regarding working with JS and a place for Heather to share her healing journey. I took a break from the thread for a good while but was brought back in when learning of Rod Stryker’s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Wow, that was some powerful trolling/gas lighting by team SW to close out the year and some great defense by the regulars on team Truth. Thank you for your knowledge and effort, I continue to learn a lot. Wishing you all peace of mind, healing, love and clear vision in 2020 :) Happy New Year!
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Earthquake, thank you for taking the time to respond to and bring clarity to Aenes’ muddy water. I understand this dialogue from both sides of the equation, having been inside SW for years, though now I am well outside it. I understand Aenes’ need to defend SW, I was once there too and used those same exact arguments. I also know many former “endorsed” SW teachers who were treated very poorly
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The bottom line for me is that it's important for people who have been traumatized to share their story - in forums like this, with their loved ones, journaling,...anyway they can. There is psychological research that shows that sharing the narrative of past trauma, to the best of our ability, supports the healing process. We'll never know what happened, only Heather and JS know the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

For those who wish to study traditional Vedanta, there are two fantastic living teachers I can recommend. Of course there are others but these teachers are top shelf, in the lineage of Swami Dayananda, via Adi Shankaracharya. Swami Viditatmananda Swami Paramarthananda With regards to Swami P, it can take a bit to get used his Tamil accent but so worth it! Check out his Rama Gita teaching
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you Heather and Sizlz for your exploration of JS’s video and autobiography. Your posts have helped me understand the timeline better. Also thank you to Earthquake and others posting for your insight. An important aspect of the Vedantic teaching methodology and lineage is acting in accordance with dharma. The level of adharmic action (action opposed to dharma) by JS, post “enlightenment”
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Regarding the timeline, in a piece written by JS and shared on ShinningWorld: JS shares that he first met Chinmayananda in 1969. He then goes on to share that he traveled a bit and then spent 2 years with Chinmaya in India before returning to the US to teach. JS also mentions 40 years ago in the article, written in 2014, which by subtraction provides a date of 1974. So his initial tenure
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

For persons holding such knowledge, I think all would benefit greatly from a bullet point timeline beginning with JS’ self proclaimed two years as Swami Chinmayananda’s personal attendant and his resulting self proclaimed moksha. Please include JS’ age and the year of occurrence, information he has shared personally via his seminars, written word and in passing, highlights from Heather’s sharing
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi RF, If you are benefiting from JS, then by all means, continue to do so. No one is sharing otherwise here on this forum. I spent many years with JS and benefited greatly from his teaching but there came a point in time when I realized I needed a new teacher on this wondrous path. This is common for many students. A big part of my need for a change was my perception of JS’ adharmic behav
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Regarding the post about Ted Schmidt from page 1. I know Ted Schmidt well. He is a stand up guy with deep knowledge of Vedanta. He was an endorsed Shining World teacher but that ended under conflictual circumstances between him, JS and Sundari. There have been 5 or 6 Shining World endorsed teachers, that I know of, who were asked to leave SW also under conflictual circumstances. The ones that
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"