Waking up in a third-world country with no parental guidance at 4AM every morning for 6+ years and taking cold bucket showers while listening to Butler's angry rants on audio tape... Great fun for children. Looks like Bhaktivedants "shaved heads and dhotis" style of surrender was too "cultish" for Butler. Baseball caps and Khaki shorts, are less culty. Guitars give
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Apparently to modern courts and in the name of "religious" freedom it is fine to raise a kid in a dogmatic religion that asks its followers to "repeat the mantra over and over" and raise kids in a locked-in system of thought that promotes abhorrent and misguided thought patterns that literally augment and shift any chance of normal and healthy free thinking. Now a child
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Nutjobs: Raising kids to believe the universe was created by a 4-headed god growing out of a lotus of some other god. Bravo. And teaching a child barely able to comprehend who they are that they are indeed NOT who they think they are. Then tell them that their feelings, emotions and sense of who they are is "false". I don't know how many times I expressed sadness, fr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, well, he captures the turmoil of growing up in a religious indoctrination school. We were being trained to serve Butler. Plain and simple. We were being taught archaic "vedic" bullshit as fact and "absolute reality". I can attest to the fact that such things make scrambled eggs of your life and brain for a good chunk of your life thereafter. Little kids growing up
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Gotta love Butlers political puppet pawns reputation score: From Acharya das' FB page: The transcendental vibrations of the "Haribol" and "Nitai-Gaur" mantras are not only all-purifying for the heart and mind, they are all-auspicious and can bless one who meditates upon them with full self and God-realization. Since when and where is "haribol" and Nita
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And the saga continues in Hare Krisna schools: In Butler's schools we were shown graphic videos made by Mike Gabbard under the Stop Promoting Homosexuality program Bitler asked him to start that featured gay men having sex in the street and dying of AIDS. Butler gave countless graphic lectures about all manner of sex acts that were heard by kids as young as 6, 9, 12 years of age. Yet
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Why did you buy lemons and put them in your fridge if they don't matter to you? As I've suggested before and will do so for the last time since you're gone for good: Please try to seek psychiatric help. See a therapist regularly. It helps. It helped me. It helps others to get over this cult and the junk they filled your mind with. In the meantime, enjoy your life as much a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Seems the times they are not a changin: What's ironic is that as long as these schools are operated under the legal radar, either in foreign countries or in secluded devotee communities, this type of crap will keep going on. Devotees live in terror of the "outside" world and often send their kids to such "schools" in hopes of the best, but instead, get the worst
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Interesting reads:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Krishna without the guru? What vaishnava path is that? The very scriptures say this is impossible. I assume you trust the scriptures since they are the basis for even the idea of a krishna god. I just think it is silly to claim allegiance to krishna but somehow reject that you need a guru. The very god himself dictates that you need a guru. Anyway, I stand by my word. I am not here to a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

To each thier own.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I think we can all agree to disagree at this point that any substance we attribute to this path is largely based on some level of adherence to faith in its mechanisms. Or which I lack any and see little fruit in cultivation. I mean that, for me, with as much as I read and study and question these ideas, I have not found anything of irrefutable permanence in its expression as "absolute".
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Interesting reads:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

“There is no trustworthy standard by which we can separate the ‘real’ from the ‘unreal’ aspects of phenomena. Such standards as exist are conventional: and correspond to convenience, not to truth. It is no argument to say that most men see the world in much the same way, and that this “way” is the true standard of reality: though for practical purposes we have agreed that sanity consists in shari
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Have you ever watched any contemporary sci-fi flick? It comes from human imagination. Not because some planet exists made of copper for the sole purpose of making shmores out of brahman killers. Oh man, you're funny. Let me guess, the planet where it rains diamonds is for greedy jewelry dealers? Lol. No scientific rigor or even basic study of natural phenomenon is in any way described
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

No veda describes in any scientific detail diamond Rain and copper planets my friend. Sorry. No purana or veda can be accurately dates nor attributed to any single time or source. Gratuitous dating conservatively places most interpolations as recent as 500 to 1500 years ago. Well within the scope of any mentioned and verifiable "science" having already been discovered and in circulat
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's fine to analiyze rasa from an angle of maths and game theory, if one has the appetite. However, any sanyassi worth their salt will tell you that Radha with blonde hair is pure speculation. Any guru who is considered a stalwart approaches this form an angle of pure "surrender" of information transfer form guru to disciple without adding or subtracting or modifying or trying to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Myths arose as a necessary part of human evolution. Storytelling and mythology is how humans conveyed ideas, passed down information about historical events and created mirrors of their social and psychological selves throughout history I don't have a problem with mythology as a vehicle for studying human evolution and archeological, anthropology history. I enjoy mythology. From a symbol
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Great Vedic Pluralism: Some great things to look forward to in India: How will we know when "Krishna wants us to be violent"?: Will Tulsi gabbard tell us? Buteler? Swami Boo Boo? “It is far better to discharge one’s prescribed duties, even though they may be faulty, than another’s duties. Destruction in the course of performing one’s own duty is better than engag
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's called damage control. SIF's PR team needed to put something out there online to cover their tracks as always. These were posted on Medium at the height of Tulsi's political campaign and were 100% developed b their PR team to cover all basis. Tulsi is recorded in a number of places stating she never heard her guru speak a single ill word. What a load of crap. Now she is on
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

All of the above. I felt all of this growing up a hare krishna. In Butler's group it was easier to hide your faith in public, but once you join other gaudiya cults and dress as a devotee, shave your head, brahmin threads, sikha, Tilak, Mala etc, it's impossible not to attract unnecessary attention and try to explain to people the bizarre irrational shit you believe. Thanks for posti
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

More poor children getting quality educations: SB 5.21.13, Translation: The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as Samvatsara. The twelve months are calculated to be its twelve spokes, the six seasons are the sections of its rim, and the three catur-masya periods are its three-sectioned hub. One side of the axle carrying the wheel rests upon the summit of Mount Sumeru
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here we have a shining example of the mind-melting shitshow this cult produces in its followers as a final offering: I've posted other sites on here showing how they have basically desolved their brain in a vat of nonsense. On the surface, you have a "chant and be happy" religion, akin to gospel singing. But underneath it all is something from a psyche ward schizophrenic
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Devotees need to always create a demon/demigod narrative. It helps fortify their weak position. Realty is not black and white. Gabbrad/Butler/SIF and other Gaudiya groups create hysteria the moment they can do it. When Y2K happened, they were some of the first to start spreading misinformation and hoarding cans, water and toilet paper. Same with COVID and now with this war assault on Ukraine.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Gonna leave this here... For those who do not want to read it: Conclusions We describe here that repetitive speech, an easy cognitive task, is sufficient to induce a wide-spread unidirectional reduction in activation in the human cortex even outside the context and training of commonly practiced Mantra. This behavior appears to lead to a wide-spread activity reduction in brain
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yup. That's basically the bottom line. Read this mind-numbing sampling of what religious fanaticism does to the mind. These guys are sitting around claiming authority over myths, dreams, visions, faith, opinions and interpretations. Nothing "absolute" about it. Completely subjective from the ground up by any standard of measure. Well, any rational standard. What's
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Have any of you ever read this book?: Anyway, it's got to be the biggest pile of meandering mind trash I have read in a long time. In fact I have never found any writings of Bhaktisiddhanta to have any coherence or structure. Just an endless meandering stream of consciousness with no resolution or goal in sight. I am on the hunt for some Nadia Prakash articles as well since they have
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"