Hi Facet, I agree, he's a public figure and anybody's free to share his opinions about him. I mean, he even went on Oprah, for god sake :) It's just that this forum is usually about what's wrong with cult leaders, cultish practices/abuse and harmful teachings (and the topic of this thread is "I'm convinced Adyashanti is a cult leader"), so I'm trying
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Maybe it could help this discussion if we can imagine what feedback we would have for Adya if we could have a one on one conversation with him. What can he do better? So far, we have - not have dead fish eyes - not write responses to election results that are anemic because they plea for mutual understanding instead of fighting - eat more salmon and mashed potatoes (I know he loves a goo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet Noting what Corboy says about the eyes too, both Adya and his wife show the distinct physical presentation of being involved in life long practices that have done the physical body absolutely no good whatsoever. Anyone involved in such things will do well do get a whole side of salmon down them (albeit gradually, don’t damage yourself in this way either), with a big pile of buttery mas
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja As I remember, one girl on one of his satsangs was complaining about her boyfriend is not interested with sex as much as she does, even though the relationship is amazing, loving, and all oh, and ah. And moo told her, if she is able to go deep with meditation, this is not going to be a problem anymore. She is not going to need sex...I'm not sure really, this was long time ago, when
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja If they do not have any desires, then why all gurus are having their main servant to be a girl, much younger girl and attractive girl ? Check out : Osho, Maharishi, Mooji, well Papaji got married with one of his devotees and had baby with her. The rest I have not give much of observation. Exactly. Whatever "full enlightenment" is, it's pretty obvious to me that those p
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sure, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. Maybe it's just the compulsory aspect of the sex drive that disappears. But since we were talking about bliss and the identification with separation (i.e. ego) that keeps the bliss away, I'm interested in looking at the extreme side of it, what happens when ego-identification has diminished so much that bliss is (almost) per
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

BTW, sorry for calling you Raja, Gaja!
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sounds like we pretty much have the same attitude towards spirituality, Raja. So naturally, I think you have the right attitude ;) About fully enlightened people having sex, I'm not so sure. Of course, there's no clear definition of enlightenment but if you take for example Theravada Buddhism's map of enlightenment, they map out four stages and in the third stage, the sex drive
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Gaja, I think that bliss comes with recognition of not being separate. If you think about it, it's really silly that we believe in some kind of entity sitting in the head, being the doer of the body's actions and the observer of its experience. This common fallacy is known as the Cartesian theater. We're programmed by society and biological instinct to identify with this ill
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I came across this article which describes what I think is a promising new way for science to understand the mind and the importance of social connections for mental health:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja Oh, no, is big progress right now. Yet some years ago I suffered like hell within. But I wasn't all good, and there was bad world outside, no no, I knew my insanity was taking over me. I use to deal with fear, or anger by giving often sarcastic or ironic comments, I thought this is smart, I had no idea, I was expressing pain. Sometimes I thought of my self, as being psychopath havi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteShamrock Well, again I would argue that just because awareness of awareness seems like a direct experience of reality doesn't means that it actually is a direct experience of reality. But apart from that, I think we're on the same page. These regressive states of consciousness can be therapeutic. Which is great. But I don't take their achievement to be the ultimate goal of lif
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja Thank You, for this open, and honest letter. And also it is hard to not blame parents,or grandmother, or uncle who were sometimes verbally agressive toward me, when I was a child. I do not know if I had a choice to not be afraid of them...now I can see more, that this was just their stressed reactive ego. I was also having no good youth,because of my own insane programming, but I learn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja and what was this self-concept you were mistaken to believe to be you? Was it some concept - I'm perfect, or I'm bad, or I'm good, and then living life by improving yourself, your self-concept ? or it was just some sense of self? And now, how do you know you exist, if you are not little self anymore? How can you function in the world, make money, go to work, so on, if yo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja how did you felt this deep psychological suffering ? Were you shivering from fear or crying from loss, or ? Do you remember ? It's very personal but I'm anonymous here so I feel I can share it. I suffered from pretty bad social anxiety, and as a result I was very lonely. At that point, I had been in therapy (psychoanalysis) for a year. During the therapy, I had to verbalize
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Gaja, I think concentration power is needed first in order to be able to keep attention focused on awareness itself. So yes, I think practicing mindfulness helps as preparation. In my case, it was years of daily meditation focusing on the breath. But that wasn't enough for me. Only when I encountered very deep psychological suffering did a moment come that I could let go of attachment to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quoteshamrock It's true that, as we settle into quietness, the state of consciousness we encounter seems more real than our fading thoughts and emotions. But just because it seems more real doesn't mean that it actually is more real. I see no justification for the value judgement that these deep and silent layers of consciousness are somehow more praiseworthy than ordinary consciousness
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotevalma Here below another perspective to ponder over: "Why seek to deny or annihilate “self” (which is ultimately an individuation of a level of Divine Intelligence)? How are such teachings about human “self” consistent with the existence of uniqueness of individuations at larger cosmic levels? Soul beings? Nascent creator beings? And what of the collective “uniquenesses” (“self-aware
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I like the metaphor of a whirlpool in a river. It's nothing other than the river, yet it's a seemingly separate locus of flow. This separation can seem definitively real, until there's a moment of realization of being non-separate from the river. Then (at first) the pendulum tends to swing the other way: a belief takes hold that "I am the river, not the whirlpool." Some p
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quoteouttheotherside Having said that I do think the whole prospect of enlightenment is just a con. Some time back I realised if the only person who I could be sure was enlightened was Ramana then what was the point as he is just one person from millions and why did i want it anyway? Unfortunately everyone who's making money off people's desire to be enlightened is financially incent
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Gaja. If his criticism was as personal as you took it, I agree that's very inappropriate behavior. And it's disappointing that he doesn't see a problem with Mooji. And Corboy thanks for sharing the article, though I think it's a shame that apparently the only way for Remski to make sense of so many people voting for Trump is to see them
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The price of his retreats is prohibitive for me so I haven't encountered him in real life. I only know him from his talks and books and those are often very insightful IMO. He doesn't seem concerned with anyone's personality so I don't get the criticism that "he will point you to the qualities he doesn't like about your personality." Nor do I see any tell-tale s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I only speak a little German and the audio quality is horrendous, but this is what I think I could make out in the first minute: Renz: Er verspricht viel aber kann es nicht halten. Audience member: Aber[?] dann, Ramana und Nisargadatta... Renz: Ramana hat nie etwas versprochen. Translation: Renz: He promises a lot but can't keep his promises. Audience member: But then, Ramana and N
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

> But I have to say, that since I respect myself, I avoid company of people who make me feel not well. If I can remove myself from situation that doesn't feel well, then why not. That seems wise! The thought-made pain you refer to is only a part of a more generalized "field of pain" that seems to apply to every living creature, even plant life. I think it comes with being
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja You know what, I do not even like thoughts. I love reality, being in the moment. I will go for a walk in the forest. I feel like - thinking is not so much fun. Have a nice day, much of noticing the moment and miracle of life, and love yourself people. You have a nice day too! I probably don't need to tell you this but just as a public service announcement: be careful with negati
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm glad that Eckhart Tolle has a positive effect on you. Some people, like Andy (who wrote the opening post), seem to get ego-phobia or mind-phobia from listening to Tolle, which IMO is linked to shortcomings in his teachings. But of course there are more aspects to his teachings, some of which may be helpful for some people. I guess just like a vest, a teacher can fit one person and not an
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

...just wanted to add: of course a post-thought humanity could only function if (a large part of) humanity has transcended egotism, as I think would be the case if they collectively achieve awakening stage 2 (embodiment), a state in which people are naturally compassionate (see one of my earlier posts in this thread). After all, a society of uncontrollable people could only function if they don&#
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

>How is it possible, that when thought is believed is causing people pain, or so much trouble ? When thought is believed, that means the conceptual content of the thought is experienced as reality itself, to a large extent. It's like looking at a map and believing the map to be the territory, forgetting almost completely that there's a greater reality outside of the map. It makes
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A friend of mine once tried to 'live in the > now' for a period of several weeks and > everyone quickly became frustrated with her > because nothing was done and everyone else had to > pick up the slack and it was as annoying as hell. > I suppose Tolle would say "let other > peopl
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This Guardian article is interesting for understanding Mooji's psychological wounds that made him take such an escapist approach of spirituality: In two posts in a thread about Eckhart Tolle, I've expanded on the mechanism behind this escapist approach of spirituality, which I've suffered from myself (first post, second post). Writing about it here over the last few years has b
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"