Hello to all and in particular, Lucid. To say I've been having problems posting here would be a massive understatement. Work has been off the hook busy,
and the new gmail account I set up to receive submissions to RoD responds to no password I can remember,
and Blogger just instituted one of those periodic "upgrades" that changes all the behind-the-scenes stuff about how this website works, with no explanation on how to navigate. As a result, when I do find a half hour or so to try to get caught up and post the new stories that have come in, I just chase my tail in a circle and nothing gets accomplished.
It's enuff to make me think all that Reiki that G had her peeps doing to scuttle the New Yorker article didn't go away--it just revolved in that atmosphere looking for a target and finally landed here.
Please be patient and accept my sincere apologies! SeekHer
258 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 258 of 258In the styled and art-directed to the nth recent videos on the SY site, nothing about GM's appearance, what's left of the ashram or for that matter the devotees would appear to smack of the word "destitute".
SY was always opulent to the point of ostentation, and bells and whistles, vs. authenticity, cost. Even in its latest scaled down incarnation SY doesn't seem to scrimping on what it has always held most important: its public appearance.
As panhandlers go, I'd say GM's still doing better than most. That said, at this point you do sort of want to cover your ears and avert your eyes whenever you pass by.
-Lucid
Well, one difference is that she's selling something. Or appears to be selling something....hmmm....sort of like a panhandler on the street who makes cheesy jewelry that people buy just to be nice. I think people buy GM's children's books just to be nice. They're extravagantly ordinary and unimaginative.
I spent easily $80000 in my 20 years. I wouldn't begrudge it if I felt it had been used to benefit others, but I don't believe that was the case. So much waste. The "Directors Capital Campaign", for example. The pedestrian bridge project. The over-the-top remodel of the halls in Anugraha. The illegal landscaping creating the "Shiva mountain" and adjacent areas. The Mandap, completely unused now. So much waste, unconscionable.
OBW
that's funny, OBW, the image of the panhandler and the bad jewelry. I remember the "Directors Capital Campaign". 3 dakshina baskets: one for the local center, one for Capital Campaign, one for Fallsburg...to support "our guru". Nope! they all went into one big trough for the piggies to eat.
yuck
Re the dakshina stories: Those of us old enough to remember will tell you that never in Muk's day was the fundraising so obvious and crass. People who had the means to do so gave huge amounts (including their entire inheritance, very valuable properties, etc, etc), but it was quiet, behind the scenes, behind the curtains, etc. The lowly minions (most of us) knew nothing of it. We just paid (large amounts by local standards) to stay in Ganeshpuri and the western ashrams and what little we had left over went to cover the exorbitant prices in Amrit (a very necessary indulgence if you ate only the ashram kitchen food).
August 30, 2012 10:28 PM here again
Musn't forget the bookshop - $100 items like rudrakshas and shawls which could be bought in India for a tenth of the price! Every spare penny went there to top up the "inner shakti"! We somehow felt that if we bought it, read it, wore it, had it on our puja, it would deepen the experience. Well it certainly deepened the SYF coffers.
Same dynamics in Amma's camp: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-hugging-saint-20120816
thanks,
that was an interesting article..easy to slip away from reality and wake up 20 years later wondering what happened.
God and Guru as one. Big mistake. Fell for it.
Thanks for forum SeekHer. My issues still have issues it seems. Nice to have company here. Thanks all. Safe travels.
God and Guru as one. Big mistake. Fell for it.
Thanks for company here. Safe travels.
Gail's own personal (and harrowing) story here: http://blogdesinfideles.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/lombre-damma-fait-surface-gayatri-et.html Scroll down for the English
After reading the Amma articles, I walked away with the two following thoughts:
1. Are all "spiritual" organization so messed up? (including Scientology, the Catholic church,certain Buddhist groups, etc.
2. Sounds like Siddha Yoga was elementary school compared to Amma's group of merry masochists.
Anon
Thanks for link to Amma article.
I felt nauseated to remember being played. I pray for anyone encumbered in their soul to throw the freeloaders out of your mind and heart.
From the link:
"In other words, as in any system of belief, the moment you lose faith is the moment when structures that once seemed sensible suddenly seem questionable, even senseless."
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-hugging-saint-20120816#ixzz25EPGa5Cq
Really good article thank you. I did not relize that I still has some contemplation to do on this. A kind of closet I did not want to clear out. This article is helpful for that.
I experience the same kinds of intense states now at times, both in and out of meditation, unrelated to the presence of obvious "channels" for the energy like a supposed sadguru.
Say you go to a Lady Gaga concert, and have an ultra-blissful experience. You don't tell your friends "Lady Gaga is a channel for transmission energy." You recognize that Gaga has a talent for setting up situations in which lots of people get big, special feelings. It doesn't mean that Gaga is special or higher than anyone else... aside from her talent for orchestrating those situations.
Why treat the ultra-blissful experiences that appear in meditation, or in ashrams, or in the presence of a guru/teacher, differently than that?
Stuart
Are all "spiritual" organization so messed up?
There's inherent suffering in all human endeavors; no need to pretend otherwise. Rather than expending too much energy despairing over the state of "spiritual" or other organizations, it's possible to focus more on how we as individuals keep our own minds and actions. To the extent that your own mind is clear, then messed-up organizations are no problem. If you find yourself encountering a messed-up organization, it's just an opportunity to try your best to help all the messed-up people you meet there.
Stuart
Thanks Stuart. Perhaps the best advice ever given here. Translated I got, "Stop being a cry-baby, get your act together and try to make your part of the world a better place.
I don't mean to denigrate anyone's comments here, but one of the most abusive things told repeatedly is to 'get over it' or 'stop being a cry baby'.
Yes that is good advice generally to keep moving on, do your best in the present, but some have suffered a lot of abuse and are traumatized. Trauma takes time to heal.
Anon 8:37 Stuart's advice was taken for its merits. Your translation was not. Why bother reading here at all if you think we are cry babies? Do you have a horse in this race? Some of us invested tremendously. You are over it. Good for you.
Hi Stuart!
Rage, fear, pain are basic parts of life. They must be endured sometimes and cannot be simply dropped. Anyone making it seem like the anguish experienced in life is due to spiritual immaturity is dead wrong. Life is suffering and quite a bit of it. Simple solutions are for simpletons.
My apologies to anyone who thought the rephrasing of Stuart's wise words was directed toward them. The rephrasing was to myself and no one else. My intent was to thank Stuart for his brilliant post. For some reason, those words got through to me in a way that nothing else has in years. They were a catalyst, an "ah ha" moment. For that I am grateful! There was no intention of judgement or downplaying of the importance of anyone suffering and experience.
My "self talk" translated Stuart's words into a healing statement to myself that exploded years of stuck thinking.
Sorry I didn't explain more clearly. I was so excited about the break through that I lacked sensitivity regarding to how others might interpret my words.
Much love,
Anonymous said...
My "self talk" translated Stuart's words into a healing statement to myself that exploded years of stuck thinking.
People suffer from different sicknesses, so we need different medicines. If someone is deceived by the way Gurumayi misrepresented the truth of SYDA's history and inner workings, then they certain can benefit from the criticism that appears in forums like this one.
There's another powerful medicine available, which is to focus more on how I handle my own thinking and actions, and less on judging anyone else. I'm saying that this medicine is always available, but not criticizing those who use different medicines. And maybe Anony was posting in the same spirit.
Stuart
Fly above the fray I never have. Cool minded never been. That's me. I indulge in it now and again and it is nice, but at stasis I seek passion. I find an oulet in art now that gives me great peace.
Never been very mellow. Different strokes for different folks Glad to be out of a one size fits all philosophy of any kind. Stuart I really like you but you bore me silly! Same damn refrain all the time. :-) <3 ha ha...teasing!
Saw you took moderation caretaking of the lsy archives. Thank you. Interesting history for many. Appreciate you maintaining. How to thank you? Just did. Ha.
Freedom feels wonderful though I still cry a lot. Peace everyone.
Hi Stuart,
Wanted to let you know again how important your "There's inherent suffering" quote has been to me and my friends. It is circulating around a group of us who have issues about organizations and keeping the focus within.
My "Path of Service" has been to through organizations (professional, spiritual, healing arts). Other folks may have a learning Path through family or creative arts.Mine has always been through organizations.
In my case, you hit the nail on the head!
Thank you,
Anon (now known as Anon Anon)
...'There's another powerful medicine available, which is to focus more on how I handle my own thinking and actions"<<<
sometimes people teach what they, themselves, really need to learn.
Folks, you could go to the source (Seung Sahn/Kwan Um School of Zen..Korean). The stilted language and imprecations make alot more sense in the context of a complete methodology and not so much sense outside of it.
Or, if it's the "inherent suffering" ...errrrr, didn't that guy, Buddha, say something about it back in the day?
just sayin'
"...If someone is deceived by the way Gurumayi misrepresented the truth of SYDA's history and inner workings..."
Dear Stuart,
You give honor to your views by expressing them honestly. I trust you and respect you.
I would like to comment on the quote above. I am someone still processing my sy history.
My grief with Gurumayi is not about her deceiving me about SY history. I knew it, lived it and rationalized it. I am pained by her betrayal of my most inner soul. Gurumayi and others know what I am talking about. Gurumayi has no right to what she takes from her devotees.
I did recover, but it took a long time to expel her presence from my psyche.
Gurumayi and those like her seek to occupy a place in your inner self that is only for you. This is the evil at the center of SY and anything like it.
Peace and Freedom to all the seekers.
New story on Siddha Yoga website. Eknath looking for a single coin.
Money money money. Does Gurumayi ever stop thinking about it? Got a call not so long ago, it maybe was a friendly call, but it felt like a fundraising call. Go away!
Jeez, did you ever get a call that WASN'T a fundraising call? Unless it was a seva call. Or, towards the end, maybe a call that was subtly trying to figure out, in the nicest possible way, if you were going to tell tales out of school?
Reading the Ecknath story on SYP stirred up several reactions.
First, I was furious!
Question: GM how dare you imply through transference that your devotees also might attain enlightenment through one pointed service and devotion? It is a "come on" and you know it. You aren't the same league as Eknath's Guru.
Instead GM , I suggest you publish a Siddha Yoga version (s) of the story.
The "story" might go like this:
Version 1 -Devotee served with one pointedness for (blank) years,told to leave with no pension, the Guru said she was too busy to talk with him/her but had a"secretary" convey the Guru's expectations of future financial arrangements and donations.
Version 2. Devotee served, etc.....Guru says, "You are too old, leave, hope your family that I demanded you abandon will take care of you. The Foundation sure won't."
Version 3. Devotee served....GM says, "I don't feel like giving enlightenment anymore, too busy writing children's stories."
After the initial rage about the baloney still being fed to the masses,I remembered how gullible, sincere and generous I was.
The comments after the story from devotees sound like "shares" I might have written in my fervent response to such hogwash.
My oh my, what a big joke! It was the game I wanted to play. I thought it was leading to enlightenment. In reality, it was just my personal plan for playing out my vasanas and karmas. Shucks, I was so serious about it all. Too bad I learned the "rules of the game" in hindsight.
So it goes, the Guru writes stories like Eknath to hook the next generation, etc, etc.
Gurumayi, it is manipulation to raise folks' expectations when you have no intention of delivering "the goods".
Tut! Tut!
I appreciate seeing how the system works (for thousands of years). Who knew?
Anon 2:58
Your comment. I sometimes experience fury also while healing for the gullible way I believed. What is particularly galling is that Gurumsyi still puts herself in the same league with real saints and also God himself.
Hello Chidvilas,
Perhaps this will help you understand
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD
New story on SY website about an old tired donkey getting sold by Nasrudin. Ha! Someone is reading this thread!
That's a good story, I've told that story many times myself. But reading it today, I can feel into the intention behind this particular telling of it, and it feels icky to me.
One way of looking at the story is that it's about how we'll pay a huge amount for something we already own, something that was ours to begin with, that we don't recognize the value of. Our own inner potential for awakening for instance.
Another way of looking at it is that if others praise something, we give it value even if we know better--that it's just an old worn out donkey.
But I would guess that from GM's perspective it's about not valuing SY until you see that others want it or hear others praise it. There seems to be a kind of guilt trip on offer in it, which is very familiar.
OBW
Q: Why was SY so successful for so long?
A: "We'll pay a huge amount for something we already own, something that was ours to begin with, that we don't recognize the value of. Our own inner potential for awakening for instance. If others praise something, we give it value even if we know better."
Thanks OBW. Says it all.
ITA Anon 6:48
OBW thank you for articulating:
"our own inner potential for awakening"
This is where my spiritual life resides now. Feeling that potential and it brings me joy even if I don't succeed. A priest said a compassionate thing to me. He said God looks to see if we tried. Of course in Siddha Yoga we could never try enough. Never enough, always the guilt.
Once I asked for grace at darshan to do this thing sadhana with more focus and will power. No matter how much I did there was always a lingering ache, not enough! This came directly from Gurumayi's remarks and talks. Though we had a philosophy that told us we were gods, the underlying truth Siddha Yoga spreads is that you are never good enough.
When I put my request, "Gurumayi, I would like the grace to try harder'" she responded with a cheeky "dry harder?"
Ha ha. She was such a card wasn't she?
My current practices give me a state of presence without this judgement. My God loves me. Gurumayi played me.
Someone asked:
Q: Why was SY so successful for so long?
I suspect you'd get very different answers from Muk people than GM people.
For those of us who started in Muk's time, all of know the intense energy of inward suction into meditative bliss you'd get around him. You'd simply get sucked in...the pull was so palpable, you'd just close your eyes, your mind would stop and the most incredible bliss would just fill you. You didn't need direct contact with him...just being in the same room was enough.
For a short period, a year or two or three or five after Muk's passing, GM had that energy too. Over time, however, something changed, something shifted. Whatever "meditative shakti ju-ju" Muk had, clearly, she lost it.
It would be interesting to see whether, like myself, others reading or commenting here experienced the same "shakti diminishment" over time around her.
After that, as to whatever attracted people to GM after she lost her "mojo", I can't speak to it. What I can say is that the kind of people attracted to Muk and the kind of people attracted to GM, particularly in the later period from the late '90's to the end of the "public period" shortly after the 2004 New Year's message, were very, very different sort of folks indeed.
Someone else said "Though we had a philosophy that told us we were gods, the underlying truth Siddha Yoga spreads is that you are never good enough."
This is 100% true. It was true in Muk's time as well as GM's time, but it definitely grew in intensity and emphasis the longer she was on the chair. At least, that is my experience.
Just for fun:
"From the supremely useful to the breathtakingly inane, there's a cell phone application out there to fulfill all your needs -- even the ones you didn't know you had. Now, an ordained minister with a sense of humor is adding to the bottomless app pit with a bizarre one of his own. Called 'Ordain Thyself,' the app promises ordination on the go."
Ordain Thyself App: Become A Religious Leader With The Swipe Of A Finger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/ordain-thyself-app-religious-leader-tony-jones_n_1875522.html?ir=Technology&ref=topbar
I think SY was successful because it gave people the experience of the joy inside themselves. In my experience in Baba’s time the ashram was so joyful, happy, stimulating and fun. We worked very, very hard but we had enthusiasm and enjoyment. We cared about each other; we helped each other. After we worked we stayed up and talked about our experiences, philosophy and spirituality and then we just laughed and laughed. We meditated in bliss every morning. I learned a lot of things about myself I really think I could never have learned (or even imagined) in any other context. Mostly it is that even in really hard, difficult work there can be great, ecstatic joy. I learned how to bend and not to break; how to be wrong, really wrong, and still be happy. I learned that what I did could be undone, reshaped or revised and I would be fine...just fine.
Under GM things started out pretty much the same (remember those great ‘Chipvilasandas’ baked just for Amrit?); but as the numbers grew and the taste for ever grander halls and buildings grew something changed. SY began to evidence its growing corporate mentality. Baba envisioned, I think, a pretty simple structure daily meditation, some food, some housing and some programs. He relied on the ‘business’ devotees for financial advice and got plenty of sophisticated stuff including the Swiss bank accounts. But the numbers were pretty small until GM started to really fill the house in the late 80’s early 90’s. All of a sudden Dakshina became a spiritual practice, absolutely everything became a secret, and hierarchy, blame and ‘Departments’ became our new yoga.
I am not arguing that there has not always been a fundamental disconnect between ‘God dwells within you as you’ and ‘the Guru is God’; but that in Baba’s time the tension between these two aphorisms was softened by an atmosphere of ignited meditation, real love and respect among the ashramites, and general ignorance about Baba’s dalliances. In GM’s time this could not hold, even as she sought to be separated from the ‘decisions’ made by ‘The Foundation’ or ‘SYDA Board’ or ‘the Managers’. Being God fits the corporate model for CEO, but there is little room in that model for a whole company/world full of Gods.
So what happened? The internet exposed, forever, the ethical/moral stance of SY. The corporate model of praise/blame practically destroyed the camaraderie and fun in the ashram and many ugly issues were made evident (see Marta’s book, etc.). I certainly agree that the atmosphere of meditation diminished in that time, too. Notably GM stopped giving the ‘touch’ in intensives, then stopped attending during one day, then she stopped coming to intensives altogether. I don’t know but it feels like she just got tired of it, like a corporate CEO (too many problems, too many cranky people, too little money, too much work, and no life). I remember at one very long holiday darshan, a couple with a crabby baby told GM that they had waited more than an hour in the line. She had been in the chair for about 6 hours by then and she screamed at them. After that time there were fewer and fewer darshans, until they too disappeared.
I think SY was successful because it gave people the experience of the joy inside themselves. In my experience in Baba’s time the ashram was so joyful, happy, stimulating and fun. We worked very, very hard but we had enthusiasm and enjoyment. We cared about each other; we helped each other. After we worked we stayed up and talked about our experiences, philosophy and spirituality and then we just laughed and laughed. We meditated in bliss every morning. I learned a lot of things about myself I really think I could never have learned (or even imagined) in any other context. Mostly it is that even in really hard, difficult work there can be great, ecstatic joy. I learned how to bend and not to break; how to be wrong, really wrong, and still be happy. I learned that what I did could be undone, reshaped or revised and I would be fine...just fine.
Under GM things started out pretty much the same (remember those great ‘Chipvilasandas’ baked just for Amrit?); but as the numbers grew and the taste for ever grander halls and buildings grew something changed. SY began to evidence its growing corporate mentality. Baba envisioned, I think, a pretty simple structure daily meditation, some food, some housing and some programs. He relied on the ‘business’ devotees for financial advice and got plenty of sophisticated stuff including the Swiss bank accounts. But the numbers were pretty small until GM started to really fill the house in the late 80’s early 90’s. All of a sudden Dakshina became a spiritual practice, absolutely everything became a secret, and hierarchy, blame and ‘Departments’ became our new yoga.
I am not arguing that there has not always been a fundamental disconnect between ‘God dwells within you as you’ and ‘the Guru is God’; but that in Baba’s time the tension between these two aphorisms was softened by an atmosphere of ignited meditation, real love and respect among the ashramites, and general ignorance about Baba’s dalliances. In GM’s time this could not hold, even as she sought to be separated from the ‘decisions’ made by ‘The Foundation’ or ‘SYDA Board’ or ‘the Managers’. Being God fits the corporate model for CEO, but there is little room in that model for a whole company/world full of Gods.
So what happened? The internet exposed, forever, the ethical/moral stance of SY. The corporate model of praise/blame practically destroyed the camaraderie and fun in the ashram and many ugly issues were made evident (see Marta’s book, etc.). I certainly agree that the atmosphere of meditation diminished in that time, too. Notably GM stopped giving the ‘touch’ in intensives, then stopped attending during one day, then she stopped coming to intensives altogether. I don’t know but it feels like she just got tired of it, like a corporate CEO (too many problems, too many cranky people, too little money, too much work, and no life). I remember at one very long holiday darshan, a couple with a crabby baby told GM that they had waited more than an hour in the line. She had been in the chair for about 6 hours by then and she screamed at them. After that time there were fewer and fewer darshans, until they too disappeared.
"For those of us who started in Muk's time, all of know the intense energy of inward suction into meditative bliss you'd get around him. You'd simply get sucked in...the pull was so palpable, you'd just close your eyes, your mind would stop and the most incredible bliss would just fill you. You didn't need direct contact with him...just being in the same room was enough."
Yes, I remember the day. For me, there has never been anything like it since. That energy seemed to remain strong for a while post 1982, perhaps a few years, but I feel it was energy in the ashrams and in the organization and it slowly dissipated.
I still wonder why he left successors - really. What a mess.
Anon September 12, 2012 3:13 PM
Hang on to your asana now Anon, many in the 'shram have done just this type of thing. Narrudins to the left of us! Narrudins to the right! :-0
Right, there's all the SY alumni who went for the Kalki Bhagwan shtick. Many giving "shaktipat". Hey, why not?
"I think SY was successful because it gave people the experience of the joy inside themselves. In my experience in Baba’s time the ashram was so joyful, happy, stimulating and fun. We worked very, very hard but we had enthusiasm and enjoyment. We cared about each other; we helped each other. …
"Under GM things started out pretty much the same ...; but as the numbers grew and the taste for ever grander halls and buildings grew something changed. SY began to evidence its growing corporate mentality."
Anon 4:02 pm,
When I started Siddha Yoga in 1989, what I first noticed was the joy in other people and myself, both at a small center in a house and a nearby ashram. But things gradually changed. A year or two later, we suddenly had to start paying $1 for amrit at the small center. That was too much for some people (who were already paying for flowers and food they brought as part of seva), and the friendly social interactions after satsangs declined. Little did I know that the purpose was to send a few dollars to SYDA. And it never occurred to me that we suddenly started having department heads because of SYDA. For a few people working very well together in an informal way, it was suddenly decided that one of them was the "best" and would be in charge of things.
After I moved and my new center started renting a place, the seva became atrocious. There was a change from caring for others and helping others, as Anon mentioned, to a lot of criticism and false accusations and talking behind people's backs.
Yes, I think the joy of seva and working together pulled some of us in around 1989, and by 2002 to 2005 seva, or the "corporate mentality" behind seva even in small centers, had become intolerable. As for the term "corporate mentality," our center may have been structured like a corporation but I have personally not experienced the same type of behavior in corporations that I have worked in.
Anon, I appreciated your letter and observations. While I started SY later than you, the joy of people (including local leadership) pulled me in. And while I never saw much of GM, the rudeness and insecurity of local leadership is what came across to me when I left the center. I have not been in leadership positions and have spent relatively little time in South Fallsburg, so it's nice to have your larger perspective on this.
"All of a sudden Dakshina became a spiritual practice, absolutely everything became a secret, and hierarchy, blame and ‘Departments’ became our new yoga."
If I remember correctly, in Muk's time donations weren't even called "dakshina". They were just called "donations" and they weren't much mentioned.
Even though Muk was likely no less a money grubber than GM, my sense is that he at least had some desire to not APPEAR to be a money-grubber quite so openly.
GM has been much more unabashed about it.
"If I remember correctly, in Muk's time donations weren't even called "dakshina". They were just called "donations" and they weren't much mentioned."
I remember it well, I met Muk in 78. There was NO overt call for donations and dakshina was rarely talked about. It was all very discreet.
Anon 9/14/2012 9:44pm:
I was there during that time also.
You're right. Not much overt mention of donations was made in Muk's time. "Discreet" is definitely the way they preferred to ask for money then.
Malti has been much more "in your face" about begging.
new story posted, one we have heard before. Arrogance the theme, need for utter humility before the teacher, and with the student gains 'ultimate knowledge' that decends magically with this subjugation to another human being. well I have no need for such bondage and aint buying it. already spent too much time chasing it.
what I have now I treasure above everything as it makes my real daily life, warts an all so bearable even joyful when it is clearly not, because all it asks of me is to not turn away.
it is odd chidvials would lecture on the subject of humility. sure she showed it to muktananda, but never saw her demonstrate the quality after. just pretend. ego ego ego beat her just like it does all of us.
with all expended by all, here's wishing chidvilas well on her path and that she be redeemed there. spiritual satisfaction is attainable and I hope everyone finds it. defintely cannot get it in sy.
thank you seek her for maintaining.
"When you've been in a controversial group and then left, you are in the unique position of viewing it with both an insider's knowledge and the distance of objectivity. Once away long enough to reclaim your thinking, reject the jargon, and consider things without the fuzzy filter of "true believer," you realize, amongst many other things, that you now have the inside skinny on how one ends up enraptured, enticed, ensnared in some cases. Hindsight is always instructive . . . "
The Very Masterful Master
by Lorraine Devon Wilke
Huffington Post Movie Review
09/26/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-devon-wilke/the-very-masterful-master_b_1900872.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment
Anonymous said...
For a short period, a year or two or three or five after Muk's passing, GM had that energy too. Over time, however, something changed, something shifted. Whatever "meditative shakti ju-ju" Muk had, clearly, she lost it.
In SYDA, we believed that we needed to get something from outside. So we looked for it: from a Guru, from a Holy Place, from magical energy in the air.
When we felt bliss, we believed it came from an external cause (Muktananda's or Gurumayi's "meditative shakti ju-ju" or whatever). When we lost the bliss, we blamed it on the magical ju-ju disappearing.
We can look inside and connect with our own experience. Or we can look outside, believing that we need to get magical ju-ju from someone or something else.
Stuart
FYI John Friend is back already with a website of his own name as a Hatha yoga teacher. Unlike previous bios, NO mention of SY or GM
My uncle told me the other day that he had bought an (expensive) apartment at SMA as a "donation" with a verbal agreement that it was theirs (he and his wife) for life and for their family. Now that they are old that verbal agreement was broken and the apt taken back. That was the point when his illusions disappeared. His wife is ill with alzheimers and has no recollection of SY.
I find it ironic that with all the teachings about the "heart" that SYDA is so heartless.
"Anonymous said...
My uncle told me the other day that he had bought an (expensive) apartment at SMA as a "donation" with a verbal agreement that it was theirs (he and his wife) for life and for their family. Now that they are old that verbal agreement was broken and the apt taken back. That was the point when his illusions disappeared. His wife is ill with alzheimers and has no recollection of SY. "
THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY. Is this for real (and I'm not doubting the poster - that's an expression of utter incredulity). I knew it was bad, with old sevites being shown the door after many years of service and with no life any longer of their own, but is this for real??!!
Wow. I'm speechless - this from a "yoga" that purports to open our hearts.
Get outraged people. This is outrageous!
I'm Anon 11:11 (wow) and it's for real.
Anon 11:11 sorry to hear about your uncle and wife. They are much better off away from the lies.
Did your uncle and his wife get their money back from the Foundation? If not, how much did the lose?
No. Money not returned. Remember, it was a "donation". Rather not disclose details but many thousands. My uncle is now aware that I read these blogs and that they exist and people talk. How the secrecy has become transparent. I want to be an ally while his illusions are bursting. My personal psychic boot out was the letting go of those doing seva for decades with no real skills and without pensions, etc. What a racket SYDA!
Anon 11:11
Got my email for the webcast one day global intensive for $500.00.
I was a center leader in the early to mid90s. Our center had a years long search for a new building to buy, and that of course included dakshina from the community to buy it. Over the years we had numerous meetings and events and campaigns to raise more money for this new center. All that money was sent to the Foundation to invest for us until we needed it. For years every time we would find a place we liked, it had to be approved by Fallsburg, and, of course, it never was. Keep looking, keep sending the money, was the constant response. Until one day, we were told, the money sent was not being invested for us, there must have been wrong understanding on all of our parts. It was a gift to the guru. Understandably, this caused MUCH concern, anger, confusion in the center community. Some had given great sums, tens if thousands. There was a huge uproar, and Fallsburg threw me to the wolves, forcing me to lie to the community, just minutes before a community meeting to discuss the whole thing, they told me I could not tell the community anything at all, except everything was fine, your money safe, yada yada yada. Totally did not fly with the community. And that was the beginning of the end for me, but that is not my point here.
There was such an uproar, that Fallsburg's Dakshina department (Shree Kari what a fing b) finally agreed that if people were so inclined to ask for their dakshina back, it would be returned. Few did ask, but some major donors did, and got it back, and never gave again. A short time later the Liz Harris article came out and people left in droves.
I have been gone since 96. Reading this stuff just tells me it got much worse after I left.
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