Indeed Horowitz, probably 95% of us here belonged to this "vulnerable demography" which drew us into guruland whether it be Mooji, Bentinho or another. Myself was introduced/pressed to listen to Mr Moo's videos by a friend of mine who had many issues in life. She found him great for a while, but having found neither a lasting solution to her psychological issues nor the spiritua
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I think this interview mentioned by Horowitz and Sahara71 is in Romanian language. I recall there were quite a few Moo's devotees in Romania, so maybe someone from Romania may come along and translate a few more passages..
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

To come back to an issue raised by Sahara71; the problem is that very few people go looking for a lot of information about a group when they first become interested in it. This is what happened to me. I briefly became involved with a guru and his followers and it all looked very innocent from the outside. I didn't have any prior experience with cults, wasn't aware of cult dynamics
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The mistreatment of Heather by James is one terrible aspect of this case. You could say, that happened in the past, the man has changed, apologized, recognized the harm he did. But no, the second aspect is: to this day he denies any of it! And third but not least, this is someone who is still functioning as a spiritual teacher who keeps on publishing an abundance of e-satsangs as if to cove
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It has been clearly seen that some of the teaching « methods » used by JS give more information about his character than about quality teaching methods of Vedanta. Those people who stumble on the Shiningworld website have usually only vague ideas about Vedanta and/or have been conditioned by other teachers and methodologies found in the modern spiritual supermarket. If you were never taught prope
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hello namey123, I thought there was already a thread on Bentinho Massaro here but i could not find any. Here is an article about him: I do hope that you will find the local help you need whichever country you live in. I followed him for a couple of months online some time ago, saw how seductive he can be, heard about suicide issues; Be Scofield wrote an article about him too as sh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

zizlz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Right you are, Heather! It's unhealthy to battle > trolls. And there's no need to. Their own words > confirm and reveal the problematic influence JS > has on his students, and the attacks give people > (like me) a renewed interest in this topic. > > QuoteMynameisHeather > However I do
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

i came up to this old post from Sahara71: "I did find this anonymous comment from back in 2008: "I am so glad to be able to tell you about James Swartz, aka Sunny Jim, or as we all knew him—Rama. I lived in a communal situation, (ashram?) with this man for two years and knew him for two years prior to this. Let’s be clear, like other false gurus, Jim is very charming and charisma
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you Earthquake for your time and patience in your last post to say things that i would have said myself from my own understanding and observations. On another thread about another glorious guru, a member wrote in the same line of thoughts that has been discussed here: I have noticed these opinions in many discussions, that people (followers) do not care about allegations or improper beha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As BeTrue writes, we see clearly that whoever is behind the name Aenas is defending SW with a specific language and arguments that are speaking for themselves. A murderer or child abuser might become a saint or a teacher in that same lifetime, but not before he has recognized the evil he has done in the past, expressed his sincere regret and did what he could to repair the wrong which was don
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Aenas Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Earthquake, > > Thank you for your lengthy reply. > > You wrote: > > "We want the attention. [...] approaching 18,000 > views now." > > Am I correct to assume that your goal of replying > to my emails is to increase the views of this > thread with the final goal
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hello everyone, Time to wish everyone a Happy End of Year even if it looks gloomy in many ways in terms of justice and Truth on the planet. Thanks to this Forum opportunity to discuss the challenges we face when we enter the world of modern spirituality. Thank you for everyone here with whom i could share views, private messages, educate myself and finally move towards saner fields. Happ
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

On the topic of Moo's worldwide satsang groups: During the time i had been following Moo and a few Moo's groups, i recall very well that donations were encouraged, not for the the sake of local groups but for Moo's organization. How this was handled and appeared in their financial accounts, i have no idea. This point was not mentioned in janetD's response. Has this chang
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I Please note and read below what was already stated in an earlier post by Ananas to which we can now add to category 1. those people who are part of an international sangha group "12. Levels of closeness in Moojis cult: Always have in mind that there are many levels of closeness. And it might be very well so that if you are in level 1-5 that you will not see the abuse, manipulation
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If this proves to be true, watch out for the "communication campaign" to make this news more palatable for those devotees who may still have doubts swirling in their mind and dont buy entirely the "love and light show". It has already started in my view and we will see it unfold in front of our eyes as the show must go on if the money has to come in.. Meanwhile i recalled t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As a Western seeker i was interested in the song called Bhagavad Gita. You may find on sale on James Swartz’s website his commentaries/explanations on this text. A commentator of this Gita stated: “It takes one no less than Krishna to explain what the Gita means and it takes one no less than an Arjuna to understand what it could mean”. With this in mind, I asked myself who is really fit to ex
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Colibri or under whatever past and new name will come here to defend Mooji and his organization, did you hear or read what Joyfree and John Dollop just said? If not, you are showing in plain sight why you are here for whether you do it on command or out of your own unchecked motivations. When one of your strategy does not work, you try another angle of attack, and i wonder what will be the nex
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I recently saw via this website an article titled « the haters are still at it » written by someone who passionately defends their teacher who has been put under scrutiny following serious claims by former students about his unethical behaviour in past and present. It is an easy way to call « haters » those who have been victims in the hands of a so-called spiritual teacher. You immediately hope
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Indeed, corboy, you are absolutely right. If Moo claims to be a spiritual teacher and is making so much income with his organization, the finance should be clear and available to all to see with no room for any hidden penny.That is pure clear integrity. If he doesn't, then he should take away the picture of Ramana that is always standing at his side at his satsangs because Moo does not
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

For the record, here below one of the messages (found on a thread about Mooji) sent by someone who had an interaction with JS this year, not 40 years ago: Posted by: AnnetteChappelle () Date: May 08, 2019 11:02PM I have an UPDATE to share, I ended up writing to James Swartz and asking him to please take the article down as I didn’t realize that he would be using my emails and personal
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

REPORT OF A SUICIDE IN A MOOJI SANGHA IN 2017 Posted by: Chrissy () Date: May 13, 2019 10:50PM Hi there, I thought I should share with you some info, since I am researching the mooji "cult" myself and questioning things. In 2016 I first heard of Mooji and started watching his videos. I joined an official Sangha in Johannesburg (South Africa). I never met him personally, and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Heather, thank you for sharing your story. I know how important it is for anyone who has been abused at whichever level by an authority figure, especially a charismatic spiritual teacher to speak out and share what they went through. It is part of the healing journey to be simply listened to and heard in a safe place. I am no film director but your story is so dramatic that it could very w
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As a response to Russian Fatima, though I understand the concern, my take is that it is up to Heather to decide whether to go to court or not. I would NEVER ask her to do so in order for me to know for sure whether the allegations made by her are true or not. There are other ways to know the sincerity or truthfulness of someone’s words though such is indeed not recognized by human laws. The re
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks Sahara71 for this interesting satsang report. I only watched part of the sequence with that young man. I have seen multiple times this young man at Moo's satsangs; i am sure he has stayed or is staying in Monte Sahaja, just like the lady who was struggling her way in vain at understanding what the master is saying. Years after years they keep coming, sitting, struggling and coming
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Traveler99, > > please be careful about jumping to conclusions on > the basis of evidence set out by one suspicious > website. > > The tirade against Be Scofield written by a > supposed 'clinical psychologist' on 'Culture or > cult' reads more like an opinion pie
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Take a look at the Moo team's latest offering: > > > > From 38.00 to 58.00 there is an interesting > encounter between Moo and a astute middle-aged > woman. She is not buying what Moo is selling her- > far from it! > > From what I could gather, she does not live at > Mon
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Joyfree Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello everyone! > > I haven’t been posting anything for a while now, > but I followed reading. > I‘m very happy that I could distance myself > completely from the Moo crap, physically and > emotionally and also the fury and disappointment > ceased. Now it just seems as a bad dream, long ago
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Taking into full account and knowing well that the wheels of karma turn sometimes slowly but surely as any Vedanta student knows, why would James Swartz have waited to write a long letter to Heather recognizing whatever happened between them and her other friend, asking sincerely deeply for forgiveness for the harm caused in their life, asking what can be done to amend and help overcome the traum
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Great points Sahara71! Following the reasoning, if we have to let go of our identities, if the mind is the number one enemy for a spiritual speaker to the point that people in satsangs speak of themselves in the 3rd person to presumably make a point they are not the person, why then does the Master have at his side in public satsangs a picture of his father and mother? Is that not bringing the p
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Indeed Sahara71, it is a business with all the features and downward spiral of a spiritual impulse that became over time a business. When a fire broke out in Monte Sahaja some time ago, my first thought was: will Mr Mooji take heed and get the message? Perhaps it was time to reconsider his whole project and what it had become. But no, there was no questioning whatsoever, rather reinforcing
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"