The Blogs Respond To PrakashakaBoomBoom
File under: Gurus Doin' Time and Hands Where They Don't Belong
A couple of readers tip us off to some blog reactions to "love guru" Swami PrakashakaBoomBoom's (Prakashanand Saraswati) recent arrest for child molestation:
And these words from Swami’s website may help put the charges against him in some context: “…in the The warmth of Shree Swamiji’s love melts the hearts of those who listen to him and drawing close to him opens the path to God…” The Swami, however will probably be in trouble if the Hays county authorities in Texas are able to prove that Swamiji’s love melted a couple of underage hearts that he managed to draw close to him.We doubt those hearts were "melted." They were probably more or less blasted to pieces by an old man's lust.
Another blogger offers up the experience of a friend who was molested by PrakashakaBoomBoom's guru, Kripalu Maharaj, or just plain old Kreepalu to us:
Seems that the sexual rot is infesting Kripalu's whole organisation, now that a 79-year-old codger is at it too. This is what happens when you spend all day meditating on the sexual lilas of Radha and Krishna while being celibate, you need to have an outlet somehow.Indeed. This summer is sure to be the season of the Love Guru in many more ways than a mere movie release.
The friend who was molested by Kripalu also told me how his followers explained ("rationalised") it away as an instance of divine love. The same thing occurs in other Hindu cults as well. Disgusting and sickening.
posted by guruphiliac @ 1:31 PM
23 Comments:
Don't you realized that the action of a godman guru is beyond our limited rational mind? Don't you know that a godman's action is ALWAYS in accordance with the cosmic dharma even if it is against our conventional morality?
An enligthened godman can do no wrong, as he is without ego and his body is an instrutment of the divine parashakti.
What a godman does is all part of the cosmic play or divine leela. Our mind is too limited to understand this.
This is what I learned from an enlightened parahamsa. Enlightened beings cannot do anything adharmic (immoral), even if he kills, it is in accordance to dharma.
On another occasion, this same paramhamsa asserted that he could easily give enlightenment to anyone who wants it, he is not giving it to some of his *senior disciples* only because of his concern for their becoming adharmic afterwards. Once given, he cannot take back their enlightenment, so he is very selective on whom he gives enlightenment to.
Due my limited rational mind, I am confused by the apparent contradiction in all this.
Would anyone help clarify this?
If any of you still don't think JKP is a corrupt cult and its gurus big fat fakers, then take in this disturbing new development. The Austin American Statesman blog (that accompanies the article about the mini swami being arrested) just deleted all comments from anyone saying anything critical of the organization. Now there is only a string of insipid comment from mindless, kool-aid drunkards -- most likely words put into the mouths of the poor brainwashed souls by the organization's "leadership" (a term I'm using very loosley).
I can't say that I am surprised though. I think we'll soon see the true nature of this organization revealed in many ways. Brace yourself if you are going to follow this story, you'll be in for a bumpy ride as the "TRUE history and 'religion'" of JKP is revealed to the world through its own nasty actions. They've had an eight-foot high fence to protect them in Austin for the past two decades. But the truly enlightened will have ways to realize what this organization really is and what it really is not.
If they are willing to squash American's rights to Freedom of speech, imagine what other laws they'll break.
Here is one of the comments deleted from the Austin newspaper's blog (probably by jkp's brainwashed minions). I'll try to find the rest and post them here:
I was an insider! A real, real insider! Everything said in criticism of Kripalu and Prashahanand is (sadly) true.
The organization is corrupt. Children do live there (God bless them). There is beautiful bhakti and some sincere souls for sure, but they are just badly exploited. This is NOT an attack on Hinduism. This is the anguished cry for truth and justice.
If you care for truth and justice, please don’t go there. By going there you just support them and perpetuate the wrong-doing.
God is not separate from truth, and Barsana Dham does not have the truth. It is a fanatical cult, and fanatism is not the Hindu way which seeks truth and truth alone. That is why Hinduism never had a name. It is and was fundamentally, just the search for truth.
Posted by: Satya Dharma | May 03, 2008 at 09:24 PM
BD has hired a PR firm to handle the public view of this investigation. They probably have bought off the AAS and maybe other "journalistic" organizations. I would expect more of this sort of thing to happen.
the original post said...The same thing occurs in other Hindu cults as well.
Just to remind everyone that these same sad things take place in Christian cults, Christian churches and in private homes all around the world where incest is often portrayed as "love".
Two critical comments just made it onto the Statesman website. I'm documenting here for posterity, as they might not last long when JKP's strong-arm PR tactics get them removed as well.
jeffreysikes wrote:
BD has hired a PR firm to handle the public view of this investigation. They probably have bought off the AAS and maybe other "journalistic" organizations. I would expect more of this sort of thing to happen.
5/6/2008 2:47 AM CDT on Statesman
jeffreysikes wrote:
On the same note, there are lots of pro-BD sites popping up all over the internet in the past couple of days. This is most likely the result of PR efforts. With the massive flux of negative-BD news reports, blogs and user supplied commentary slapping the web these days, they are attempting to counter-balance it with positive PR. This same process happened when JKP was arrested last year. Unfortunately for them, the large focus on Prakashanand's arrest will prove this a fruitless cause. Not to mention there is always google cache. :]
5/6/2008 2:53 AM CDT on Statesman
Toedancing --
Yeah! It's a great congame isn't it? Fool-proof -- literally. Only fools fall for the trap of false gurus. The enlightened ones see through the darkness. Many started as fools in this organization, but by God's grace, one day had their eyes opened and realized the cultish-tactics.
Here's hoping that all deluded souls finally see the truth of jkp -- and emerge from the confusion, pain, and manipulation.
The sad thing is that the honest yogis and straight swamis are too polite or too timid to speak against evil. They play the three monkeys:
*See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.*
The there monkeys ideal guarantees the perpetrators go unpunished and evil continues. When victims dare to speak out, they are silenced, ignored, cast out and harrashed. Remember, it is assumed that these godmen gurus can do no wrong. They are God on earth!
Betty is right in stating that these same sad things take place in Christian cults, Christian churches and in private homes all around the world.
The difference here is that, at least in America, we don't consider priests or parents gods, at least no more god than you and me. In Guruism, the disciples are supposed to see the guru as divine, and all his actions perfect.
If a disciple/devotee perceives anything bad in the guru, the fault is in himself, in his own limited perception and his limited mind. A disciple can get so trap in the system. The guru is God & King, to be obeyed without questioning.
Read the Guru Papers by Kramer & Alstad is you want a better understanding of the tradition and its psychodynamics.
Fredomwriter, have you been associated with this group in any way? sounds like you have personal knowledge.
when you have a big group like this BD , that has lots of resources, members , amassed property and funds, you betcha there will be damage control and restructuring. a lot of lives and livelihoods revolve around a community like this. We've seen it all before with Hare Krishna , SF Zen Center, Shambla..etc..when people realize that their leaders are putting the group in jeopardy , they see the light! i think gurus serve a function just like anyone else, when their extra curricular activities interfere with that function it's time for them to go, in some cases to jail!
Freedumb writer, you seem to be quite pissed off. Whats the matter with you? Why dont you tell us whatever is your personal mishmash with JKP? Mr Boom is too old and should have diddled generations together. Were you one of them ?
Toe dancing, its obvious that Parmaconsa did not hand out enlightenment to you. Perhaps you would have started a blog and said many holy things about him, if he had certified that you are eligible to con to your heart's content henceforth ?
Taodancing, you asked someone to explain the gurus contradictions. These godmen and their (well trained faciliators) will tell you anything they want, to get what they want, at any cost, for their guru. They will even contradict themselves to achieve their own ends. Here's a true example: one time you are told you are a "divine" craftsman , then a few years later you are told you're insane and crazy, or a "demom". Well now I ask you, how can a divine being become worldly once they've become divine? That's an example of a true contradiction right there.
To confuse it even more, you're suddenly not one of those demons when they want a special favor from you. You are now elevated back to the status of being "a very close devotee to the top two gurus." But if the bribe doesn't work for them, you are back in disfavor to being one of the crazy insane demons again. Its enough to make anyone go "crazy" and confused. I think they've lost their way.
Now if you dont understand the actions of a divine guru which "can look more wordly than the most worldly", that's because you have only a material mind, which is limited, and can never understand their divine actions. But, dont dare make the mistake of judging or criticising the guru, because you will be committing grave transgressions. As a result, you will be told you will suffer unimaginable hells, after which of course, you have to be reincarnated--maybe as a bug or animal for millions of lifetimes. That's enough to scare anyone to death.
That's meant to oppress you from acting in accordance with the conventional morality in the land which you live. But looking at all these blogs here and in SAJAforum and in SABAsearch blog Houston, it looks like some might have snapped out of their confusion and gotten out where its easy to see you've been confused (before) and conned.
"What a godman does is all part of the cosmic play or divine leela. Our mind is too limited to understand this."
Let's say this is true for arguments sake. Then of course one has to judge in one way or another whether a particular person is a "godman" or not...
Let's see... there's a guy who PROCLAIMS himself as a godman; a guy who builds a fortune for himself out of the FREE workforce provided by his followers and by donations from them; a guy who does actions similar to those of a control freak; and there is a person who would want me to believe that he's DIVINE and I would have to accept and condone all his seemingly abusive behaviours on this basis?
Not for me, thanks! These guys are psychopaths - run away from them!
Love! François
"What a godman does is all part of the cosmic play or divine leela. Our mind is too limited to understand this."
***what each of us "does" is all a part of the cosmic play or "divine leela"...it's ALL part of the cosmic play (also known as "life"). The mind is a valuable and limited instrument.
This is what I learned from an enlightened parahamsa. Enlightened beings cannot do anything adharmic (immoral), even if he kills, it is in accordance to dharma.
****everything is part of the whole...that's what "the whole" is: "everything" (i.e. "god"). If it isn't "everything", it isn't "the whole". So, if you are thinking in those terms, then ANYTHING that happens is "part of the whole" and is "according to the highest dharma". HOWEVER, we live in relative time and space (most of us anyway)where the concept of morality is relevant. On the "highest level", there are no opposites of "good and evil" ; on the relative level, these exist in relation to each other...your "enlightened paramahamsa" may have described the world "arising in the pair of opposites". There is no morality without immorality, no dharma without adharma. They exist as a pair;they define each other by "comparision" (generally how human beings learn). I, personally, would really mistrust anyone who claims to be "elightened", living beyond the relative world. The track record for these folks is pretty dismal.
"On another occasion, this same paramhamsa asserted that he could easily give enlightenment to anyone who wants it, he is not giving it to some of his *senior disciples* only because of his concern for their becoming adharmic afterwards. Once given, he cannot take back their enlightenment, so he is very selective on whom he gives enlightenment to."
***pardon me, but this is really stupid! no human being can "give" enlightenment to another and anyone who thinks this is possible is setting him/herself up for alot of suffering. Sounds to me like your "paramahamsa" is using the usual "carrot of 'enlightenment'" to get what he wants from his "senior disciples".
I will have to lean towards Stuart's philosophy here....what's important is how one is "keeping one's mind" in the present moment or, I guess I would say..."who IS this 'one' anyway?" who or what? what is this "mind" and who thinks they are "keeping it"... right here, right now..man, that seems like enough to chew on without worrying about some state called "enlightenment"...especially as presented by various bogus "paramahamsas" (hey, maybe your guy is the real deal, who knows? but how many years are you prepared to "serve" in order to become a "senior disciple"? and then how many more until you qualify as "fit for enlightenment"? and how many adharmic actions do you think you'll perform ..."serving the guru" (because, hey, he's "enlightened" so he wouldn't ask you do do anything "wrong"...before you figure out..."hey, this guy is bogus"?).
seen too much
Call me a fool is you like. I do believe that the said paramahamsa is capable of bestowing enlightenment, or at least give some glimpse of it.
This does not mean that I shall work day and night, doing whatever I am told to do without question, not knowing when, if ever, I shall ever be considered "surrendered" enough to be given the grace of enlightenment.
The paramahamsa gives great discourse. Despite some occasional contradictions my limited mind perceives, I found great inspiration in his talks and energy in his presence. For this I travel long distance to attend his programs.
If enlightenment happens or given as a result of my sincere aspirations and practice, I shall be delighted.
Jodi,
Here is more news on the JKP-squashing Freedom of Speech saga. One blog, Sajaforum.org, has an article on Prakashaboom getting arrested for molesting two underage girls. One of jkp's "informants" complained that non-pro-people were commenting using various names (naturally no complains about pro-jkpers using multiple fake names). So the editor gave a commenters a scolding with this statement:
Folks, Any time someone is arrested--especially on charges like this--we expect heated comments on both sides of the aisle. We'll try to root out the unsubstantiated rumors, but will often miss them at first glance, so feel free to point them out.
As Himani pointed out, Double Trouble has been posting under other names here: Sanjay and Ashton. We point this out because it's somewhat dishonest, and we hope others won't do the same, either here or in other discussions. Also, we're deleting Double Trouble's comment because it simply offers 'whispers' of sexual misconduct of another religious figure. If you want to quote from another source, at least make sure it's a credible source. Posted by: SAJAForum Editor | May 05, 2008 at 09:09 PM
And guess what? Today the blog reported that "The comments to this entry are closed."
I'm sure JKP is smuggly happy that is has successfully shut down yet another forum for people to reveal their secrets.
Read it all at http://www.sajaforum.org/2008/04/arrested-barsan.html?cid=113117428#comment-113117428
Yommama said: "when you have a big group like this BD , that has lots of resources, members, amassed property and funds, you betcha there will be damage control and restructuring."
You are SO wise! I think you and I have both seen too much in our lives.
Here is another of the comments deleted from the Statesman blog (Austin newspaper), but luckily alive and kick (guru-but) over on www.sulekha.com:
JO wrote:
There are many who did and do not want to believe that ANY of our political and religious leaders would act sexually out of line. But facts are facts. I was a follower of, and intimately involved with, Prakashanand Saraswati for over 7 years. The inside workings of the organization speaks a different story than the outer gloss. MANY people have left his "darshan" over the years after abuse and deep hurt drove them away. The Sunday morning and Festival visitors only see a facade, and give freely of their money in order to enjoy a place of worship. But the insiders are in denial of what they might see or even experience as abuse on many levels. There is an unspoken law to NEVER OPPOSE the Guru, even when things might appear shady. I respect the women for having the courage to finally come forth after, I am sure, years of healing and coming to terms with their deep hurts and feelings of betrayal. I have not been as brave. It is shocking that his devotees cover up for him, and don't even realize it. This is the result of the subtle mind control techniques that this organization uses. I pray for those remaining inside the ashram, and those who are lured by the promises of peace. I hope that the truth will be heard.
see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.*
I hate this saying, and i hate the idiocy that it engenders, no wonder the monkeys generally end up as bad souvenirs.dumb ideas lend themselves to chochkihood.
It seems ludicrous that higher consciousness would occupy itself molesting children or withholding or bestowing enlightenment , hasn't it got better things to do?
Mr. Pramhamsa is participating in a belief system, he believes what he says and if he's a half way decent guy, he probably won't hurt you. but remember he can't do his thing without you, so it seems to me he has needs like anyone else.He is creating a need by selling you on the idea of enlightenment as something to attain. his gig seems self centered to me. I think it just blows people away that anyone could be so audacious so they want to support that, they want to believe someone can do it.
taodancing, you said on 5/05/2008 2:09 PM "This is what I learned from an enlightened parahamsa. Enlightened beings cannot do anything adharmic (immoral), even if he kills, it is in accordance to dharma."
That's a loaded comment. Did Swami Prakashanand Sarawati say this to you? Is it written anywhere in his books? The indictments and the arrest for indecent assault of minors is adharmic (immoral). Do you think "in accordance with dharma" he or his helpers could follow through with the rest of your comment above?
To victims advocates
No, I didn't hear this from Scami Prakashanand Sarawati. I heard this *truth* from an enlightened paramahamsa and apply it to the case of Scami Prakashanand Sarawati.
Though his assertion gives justification for criminal activities of sicko godmen, the paramahamsa who said this is not any low-life criminal. I don't believe that he would ever harm little children.
toedancing SAID...I don't believe that he would ever harm little children.
Thus spake every self blinded devotee of this Swami, his own guru, sai baba, muktananda and on and on.
Oh my God! I just saw the trailer for "The Love Guru": How could Mike Meyers have nailed the stereotypical fraud guru so amazingly accurately (he even looks like a few of the fake gurus and their deluded devotees)?
He's got so many of the relevant fraud-guru points down to a tee:
- a large ostentatious temple
- a crowd of blind-faith, koolaid-drunk followers
- the guru's endless string of trite "spiritual insights"
- a spiritual organization with far more PR and marketing skills than religious insight
- a guru filled with more self-love than Godly bliss
I can't wait to see the movie. I hope it makes more than a few fake gurus and their braintrashed disciples crapp in their pants. (You know who I'm talking about!)
I forgot to say that the only thing missing from Mike M's movie about fake gurus is child abuse. But then it wouldn't have been a comedy: It would have been a tragedy; not unlike the one that abused victims are actually living with today. This is the dark side of the "enlightenment" spiritual train wreck that is rearing its ugly head (or multiple heads) across America today.
If we can learn anything from these tragedies and Mike's comedy, let's learn to stay far away from molesters, conmen, and abusers posing as Hindu gurus.
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