Reasons To Leave Ammachi

File under: Amma-All-Over-The-Planet and Satscams

These are the reasons Gail Tredwell, Amritananda Mayi's (Ammachi's) closest personal assistant for 20 years, felt she needed to escape the ashram:

1. Loss of faith
   
2. Not happy for years
   
3. No harmony amongst seniors
   
4. No manners from the seniors
   
5. Too much politics between the seniors
   
6. No love between the seniors
   
7. I felt extremely unloved
   
8. And unsupported
   
9. And untrusted
   
10. Absolutely worn out on every level
    
11. Too much stress
    
12. Routine too gruelling
    
13. Never any concern given for physical well being nor emotions which are also a very important part of spirituality
    
14. Partiality shown between the men and women, east and west, rich and poor
    
15. Swamis arrogance, back stabbing, cruelty, hatred, power struggles.
    
16. Amma's obvious favouritism towards them
    
17. Giving too much money and gold to her family members and at the same time denied Suneeti private hospitalisation.
    
18. Too many secret things going on.
    
19. Too much scheming, plotting, planning and suspicion
    
20. No sweet spiritual feeling of love or compassion from amma behind the scenes only anger, gossip, criticism, revenge, suspicion, business, violence or secret meetings with the swamis.
    
21. Terrorism - in a subtle sense not with guns or anything.
    
22. Violence (mental, emotional, psychological and physical.
    
23. Horrible yelling and shrieking like a demon
    
24. Constant accusing me of being a good for nothing and always angry at me which always would make my guts cringe and constantly putting me down.
    
25. Not allowed to feel happy, if you do you should be guilty
    
26. Guilt if you rest, laugh, take care of your body
    
27. Money, money, money that is the main aim and you are good if you try and make as much as you can for the ashram even if you squeeze. Amma used to praise people for this
    
28. Lying, cheating
    
29. Copying from other writers and books then using amma's name on them and calling it her teachings. Also none of the speeches which were made at U.N. or Chicago were her own, they were Swamijis from some books or possibly his head that I don't know.
    
30. Having to tell untrue miracles in talks, she herself would make them up for us.
    
31. Worn out from heat and crowds and the culture of India, also the jail like lifestyle in the Indian ashram
    
32. Suppressed and oppress and even hit and abused constantly by the swamis.
    
33. Too many institutions and projects but not enough capable people to run them, therefore endless problems which would then fall on my head.
    
34. Never been understood, or acknowledges for any participation which I had in the ashram. Never been considered in any major decisions to be made even if it was which girls should get yellow. Even that swamiji would try and decide, until I would put my foot down.
    
35. Not enough protection given to girls sent to branches. Just go! Whether they have a place to stay or not no problem, whether they are by themselves in a huge school overnight, no problem.
    
36. No questions allowed. Just shut your mouth or you will be considered for treason, betrayal and a cheat, you are unloyal to amma and the ashram.
    
37. Scandalous the way the flats have been built, so much money charged, no maintenance even though the people pay the same. D block has been built right in the face of A and B. The buildings were not even finished properly with cracks everywhere and sloppy cement everywhere. Plumbing stinks and leaks all over the steps. Try and maintain and keep clean the existing ones before starting more skyscrapers.
    
38. The residents i.e. Indian are not fed properly. They are also overworked. Even amma would criticize that some girls were drinking milk, she would tell to sell all the fruit and not to give the residents. I would still give it now and then. They all look so anemic.
    
39. Amma's obvious revenge and hatred towards anybody who has left the ashram. Getting even with them, not allowing them to move on or get a job `let them suffer for a while' her famous quote. Where is understanding and forgiveness, compassion that she teaches so strongly about. Okay, yes she doesn't want to encourage anybody to leave but is keeping them in the ashram by fear of the future or the consequences healthy.
    
40. Only Hinduism is any good, narrow minded attitude of the swamis against Christianity. Only your guru (Ammachi) is any good.
    

As some of you may suspect, we are not surprised by any of this. The org could not have grown as much as it has without a ruthless monster at its head.

Ammachi is no Kali, she is Godzilla.

Fellatio-On-Video-With-A-Movie-Star Is A Bitch For A Guru.

FIle under: Hands Where They Don't Belong, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

Oops! Looks like Swami Nithyananda didn't throw enough money at his fellatio-on-video-with-a-movie-star problem:

For a self-styled ‘godman’ who was himself at the centre of a scandal that revolved around video footage of him allegedly disporting sexually with a Tamil actress … the karmic deeds of a past when kundalini forces—and the hormonal urges to which all men are susceptible—played havoc with a spiritual practice aren’t proving so easy to bury.

The brouhaha this time involves Nithy's infiltration and attempt to usurp a vaunted position in a venerable Hindu order. Seems only the truly celibate qualify:

A controversy has erupted over the appointment of Nityananda as the 293rd pontiff of the spiritual order, with heads of other Saivite spiritual orders taking strenuous objection to his appointment, citing the criminal cases still pending against him.

On Thursday, the Madras High Court ordered notice of admission on a writ petition seeking a direction to the State government to declare Nityananda’s appointment as illegal and to prevent him from acting as the guru.

The petition claimed that Nityananda, who had several cases (including case of sexual abuse) pending against him, was “absolutely incompetent” to hold the post that was venerated by Shiva devotees worldwide.

A second, PIL petition has been filed by M Solaikannan, a local politician, claiming that Nityananda had appointed himself the spiritual head after taking the previous (292nd) pontiff into his illegal custody by deploying “henchmen” from Karnataka. The petition sought a direction to the State government to take control of the Madurai Adheenam.

Solaikannan alleged that Nityananda “does not practice celibacy and is not a sanyasi”—in the sense that he had nor relinquished worldly pleasures—and was therefore ineligible to head the spiritual order.

It's nice to see that not everyone in India has been cowed, steamrolled, and/or hoodwinked into believing the Nithyananda sex tape was a special effects job rather than the plain old blow job it clearly depicts the swami receiving.

Handsy Guru Pukes Gold

File under: Hands Where They Don't Belong and Satscams

Sai Baba copycat fauxru Swami Vishwananda had to dissolve his spiritual organization in 2008 after it was discovered he was using his brahmacharis (novice renunciate monks) as a personal sex slave service. But pretty much like any other guru caught with his hands where they don't belong, he has managed to stay in business, and indeed, seems to be thriving. Because now, he miraculously vomits gold on YouTube.

The Continuing Decline of the United States

File under: Satscams

The evidence:


I sincerely hope this car's driver doesn't step in my lunch, which I was involuntarily compelled to deposit on the curb.

This Is Not Holiness

File under: Satscams



This morning, a particularly astute reader ("you're doing a great job") sent a link to this Tehelka article, revealing that the great scammiji, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is squatting on land he could probably buy with his laundry money (it takes a lot—a WHOLE lot—to keep those robes white):

THE ‘GURU of joy’ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been found guilty of encroaching more than five acres of government land worth Rs 50 crore in Karnataka. The land meant to be distributed to the poor and landless has been illegally acquired by Sri Sri, who has constructed an Art of Living meditation centre on it, violating the law.

The law? What law can guide the behavior of such an exalted holiness like this? A living "god" can choose to take whatever he wants from whomever he wishes. After all, it's all his, right? You know Sri Sri thinks so.

The Little Kracki Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

File under: Satscams

After being lambasted in the Indian press for drugging his devotees and making off with their money, it looks like the discredited Kalki Bhagavan and his Oneness Movement are trying to rebrand themselves as the One World Academy, an organization which appears to be run by his son Krishna and daughter-in-law Preetha. The last time we heard about these two, they were summoned to the court to explain their shady financial dealings:

The [public interest litigation] was filed in the Madras High Court in November 2002 and apart from the ‘godman’ and his wife, several relatives including his son, NKV Krishna and his daugher-in-law Preetha were made respondents…

The report goes on to say that of this sum, Preetha had invested Rs 1.38 crore in the acquisition of shares. The report states that in a list that Krishna gave the Income Tax department, he has admitted that he, his wife and their companies and trusts owned as many as 33 vehicles. Giri also stated in the report that he had received gifts worth [over $1,000,000] and that they were mostly from abroad and “that he could not say exactly that they were for the movement”. The donations were further given as gifts to various persons, as loans to various companies and he had also used a major part.

And now, they have a new enterprise, the One World Academy, and lookie who's the "inspiration" for it all:

One World Academy draws its inspiration from Sri Bhagavan, the founder of the Oneness Movement. Our Faculty forever cherishes and acknowledges the unique blessing of learning directly from Sri Bhagavan over two decades. His wisdom and love have touched our lives and we express deep gratitude to him.

Since the media and authorities came and burned his last pasture, the Kracki and his family have just gone and fenced in a new one, and according to a recent tip, they are looking for more sheeple to fleece in Aspen, Colorado.

Too bad Hunter S. Thomson isn't there to deal with it anymore.

1000th Post! Crooked Christ Still Crooked

File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

[Ed.note: For those who care, this is the 1000th entry on this blog.]

Today, a Kaleshwar insider sent a revealing comment about this notorious satscammer:

Kaleshwar knows little humility himself anymore. Last year he told many of us that he has now achieved greater power than Kali herself.

He's praying upon those who are desperate to believe in something. His teachers will eventually relate to you that he, (or deferentially Shirdi Sai Baba), chose you to become a student through some divine knowledge of your soul's readiness… but really this is psychological warfare against your natural doubt.

You are meant to think... "What if he's right? What if I am special. I will miss something."

…and suddenly, you'll be spending another $1008.00 for a process, or a useless blessed trinket.

Wackadoo guru, scheming flimflam man, or both? Whichever, he's not worth your time, and most definitely not worth your money.

The Kracki Has Crashed

File under: Satscams

Looks like the 2012 apocalypse has come early for the Kracki (Kalki Bhagavan) and his greedy consort and family:

Yet another scam of another godman has come out and this time, it is in our state. Yes, we are talking about the Kalki Bhagawan which arose like a mania and now it has become a haven for the drug mafia. The media channels have been digging each and every detail about the Kalki ashram.

While enough evidence is being shown, it came as a shock to see that some of the politicians are still extending their support to the man who claims to be Bhagawan. Apparently, allegations such as land grabbing, drugs, sexual escapades are making strong rounds in the ashram.

While the politicians are backing Kalki bhagawan, reliable sources say that a nexus has been formed between the godman and the [political] leaders, hence this support.

We guess with the Kracki now spreading his wealth to the local authorities, we shouldn't count on any justice being done here. That would be a shame, for not only did the Oneness Movement take millions of dollars from people to advance the construction of a monument to the Krackster's grandiosity, they have confused every one of their members about the truth of the Atman by way of their "deeksha" scam, which is nothing more than the greatest spiritual pyramid scheme to hit the modern world, something we have been saying for years.

70,000 Miles Of Nothing: Nithyananda Caught In Huge Lie

File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

Nithyananda claimed to wander for 6 years between 1994 and 2000, covering over 70,000 miles of India. It turns out he spent at least 5 of those years as a failed novice monk of the Ramakrishna Order in Chennai and Belur Math:

"Nithyananda probably joined the monastery in Madras (Chennai) in 1994 or 1995... He attended the monastic training college in Belur Math in 1999 (or 2000), and left the Order from there within a few months."

The other shoe just dropped, and it's a size 108. The man is a fraud, it has now been proven. Buyer beware.

Kudos to the folks at The Truth About the Cult of Nithyananda for launching this nuclear fact missle. The cold hard truth of this lie exposes a seamy underbelly to the enterprise of Nithyananda's satsang. Nor does it bode well for what seemed a guaranteed future as a great satguru and possible avatar, unless folks are willing to accept the advent of the Lying Avatar.

And while the spinners have undoubtedly already begun to spin these facts to preserve their personal delusions about their space-daddy, it's now too late to stop the clear light of honest truth from piercing this fraudster's back-story for good.

Another AoL Inner Circle Defection

File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

A few days back, we were notified about this fine work: Confessions of a Guraholic, the stories of an inner circle follower of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who just got fed up being fed horse manure by Sri Sri, in what is apparently an ever-increasingly desperate effort to keep people from leaving him. We'll let these words speak for themselves:

Sri Sri taught one had to transcend the intellect in order to reach the Self. It is in all the Hindu scriptures. However, unlike the scriptures, the AoL regarded the intellect as the cookie monster. If one questioned or doubted anything regarding the movement or the Master, one was accused of being “too intellectual. Drop the intellect!,” or “too in the head.”

For example, if someone raises questions about something that makes no sense, that person is considered to be "too in the head, too intellectual!" The person would be told to drop the mind. "You think too much. You have such a big ego. You will never transcend the ego like that.”

In fact, Ravishankar accused me several times of many things I did not do, not even in my dreams! He even accused me of encouraging a “poor boy” leave the organization when in fact the boy was encouraging me to leave!

In one occasion, I confronted him about these false accusations, without any hold back. He got violently upset (he does not like to be confronted). It became “bloody”. Someone else who was in the room, later confessed he wanted to hide under the table. He could not understand how I could speak to him that way. I gave him a dirty look. He instead laughed and said, “Don’t you see? I know it is all lies! He knows they are lies! Don’t you see? He just wants you to agree with him!”

The Kracki Hive Thrives Despite Clouds

File under: Gurubusting, Gurus Clockin' Dollars, Gurus Doin' Time, Satscams, and The Siddhi of PR

India's best newspaper dishes the dirt on the Bhagavan Kalki's money habits, which are largely about siphoning off donations to buy things like cars, houses, and dummy companies for your progeny in the States:

The report dated January 24, 2003 states that MM Giri alias Acharya Anandagiri, who was a student at the Jeevashram School where the ‘godman’ was earlier employed as the administrator, admitted in his fund flow statement (from 1998 to 2001) “that he had made gifts of Rs 2.53 crore” to Krishna and Preetha, Kalki’s son and daughter-in-law

Of course, the Kracki and his wife/co-conspirator are doing better than ever as a result of this latest brouhaha. There's definitely something to be said for the power of denial as a zeal-inducer in the empty-headed. Apparently, the authorities have been less than anxious to investigate the Krackster. Who is surprised about that?

Whatever, we're bored of the lame huckster and his faux goddess sidekick. Let those who believe, have them. Maybe a glimmer of civil responsibility does exist somewhere within India that can be brought to bear on their operation. It doesn't hurt to hope, as long as you don't expect. The turban is tipped to Tehelka for putting it out there.

The Cult Guru Playbook

File under: Satscams

A commenter named "h" just graced us with what we're calling the cult guru playbook:

1. Have a set of group rules they expect the followers to adopt and self impose
2. Be charismatic leaders who self-proclaim enlightenment
3. Have a drive to recruit as many people (especially westerners) into their organization as possible. Recruitment is often labeled as sadhana, or spiritual practice to help the devotee
4. Enjoy tax-exempt status—hidden behind charitable works without any proof where the donations go
5. Insist upon dropping the mind and ego with full surrender to the leader
6. Brag about their devotees spiritual progress, as if in a marketing campaign for more souls
7. Employ chanting to Hindu deities in their meditation practices
8. Employ questionable breathing techniques, usually some form of hyperventilation, inducing mental foginess mistaken as altered level of consciousness
9. Use contracts, or fear, to ensure their meditation techniques are kept secret from the outside world
10. Charge money for programs while insisting they do charity work for the less fortunate. If someone can not afford to pay for the program, they are not allowed in
11. Encourage followers to share their experiences—a form of group control
12. Have their own group lingo or slang terms
13. Perform rituals, chants and devotional songs to not only deities, but to the guru him/herself
14. Questions regarding the group or leader are not allowed
15. Devotees all insist that their master is the true master and has the only path to enlightenment. These devotees use vague personal experiential stories as proof
16. Devotees believe and accept everything the guru says
17. Donations encouraged. A way of giving back to the guru who has given so much to the devotee
18. Guru quite pleasant and jovial with the newcomers. Yet easily angered and volatile in closed quarters or with the inside group
19. Group meditation practices, clothing styles, food choices, music, books, knick-knacks, etc, gives the group cohesion. Establishes an us vs. them dynamic
20. Fictitious anecdotes of the leader to ensure devotees see him as holier than them. Stories are based in myth and beliefs with no way to prove they are true
21. Have crazed devotees that worship them
22. Encourage (or don't discourage) families to break up to persue spiritual advancement under the guru
23. Instill a form of fear to discourage devotees from abandoning the guru/group. The devotee is basically told that to abandon the group means losing all his/her spiritual progress made under the guru
24. Have some form of meditation on the guru or his photo
25. Start with an affordable entry level form of meditation practice. Benefits of which are usually peace and health
26. Insist on additional meditation levels for spiritual advancement—often with higher costs
27. Volunteerism is considered spiritual practice and often costs money to volunteer
28. Have lots of stories of enlightened devotees, but you never seem to meet one
29. Have ties to politicians, high ranking officials and authorities. Celebrities are a bonus
30. Put followers through intense physical, emotional and mental challenges (i.e., sitting in painful positions for extended time, emotional sharing with strangers, fancy words with quick witted tongue), thereby lowering normal judgment process

That's a fairly comprehensive list that reeks of ex-insidership. Pranams to h for sharing his or her insights here.

The Kracki Is A Killer

File under: Gurus Doin' Time, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

A sharp-eyed reader caught wind of last April's disastrous opening of that hideous monument to one man's monstrous ego, the "Oneness Temple." It was all made possible by the hysteria whipped up by the avaricious avatard in charge there, Kalki Bhagavan.  Not such a good start for the divine savior of the planet:

A day after the stampede which claimed five [now six] lives and left more than 100 persons injured, some of them critically, an eerie calm hangs heavily on the 500-acre campus of the ‘Oneness Temple’ which was due for consecration on April 26.

We find ourselves doubting that had anything to do with any actual remose being shown. As it turns out, the Kracki's ashram was busted for the incident:

The police registered a case under Section 304 A of IPC against the trustees of Sri Amma Bhagavan Deeksha Peetham, which was closed down after the stampede. DIG Sujatha Rao and SP Lakshmi Reddy are camping in the village to oversee the investigation process.

Instead of owning up to their complacency in the tragedy, the Kracki's crack-smoking PR spin squad responds with an attempt at some soothing bullshit:

In the continued interest of safety, all opening events have been postponed and the Temple has been closed to the public until further notice. At this time, only the Oneness Beings are being granted access to the Temple, where they remain meditating and praying for all of us and for the advancement of consciousness in our world.

A lot of good those "Oneness Beings" [Ed.note: Have you ever heard a more ridiculous title? It's like something out of a science fiction video game designed by brain-injured yoga instructors from Malibu, California.] were doing for the six folks who were killed.

To hear the Kracki's side of the story, everyone died quite naturally, almost peacefully:

We were informed by the police later that day that four casualties had been reported in the vicinity, primarily due to exhaustion and other natural causes...

Sure. "Natural causes." Like being crushed to death in a panicked mob:

According to initial investigations, the stampede occurred when the thirsty devotees, in the absence of any proper facility for drinking water, pushed and jostled with each in frenzy at a water point.

In the resultant melee, many persons, including women, aged and infirm were pushed and trampled upon by the surging crowd, leaving five persons dead and more than 100 injured.

He's the greediest big-time guru this planet has ever known. The godfather of all gold-lusting fauxvatars, now that Sai Baba is all shriveled up. Kalki Bhagavan is a pig, his wife is a cow, they are both criminal flimflammers, and now they can add negligent homicide to their resume.

When The Stink Just Stunk

File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

Another former AoL teacher comes forward with some miracle-mongering that failed:

As an AoL teacher, I was told how [Sudarshan Kriya] can cure cancer. So, one time a participant with cancer came to take my course. I contacted the ashram and was given many instructions. That this participant should do SK seperately, not with the rest of the class. That fresh flowers and a bowl of water and SRISRI's picture (all this would absorb the cancer vibrations) should be placed near him while he's doing SK and the teacher (me) should not remain in the room after the SK cassette has been switched on (because the teacher could get the cancer). The ashram also told me that many patients had been cured of cancer. But my student died. When I questioned the ashram, they did not have a logical reply, saying it was the destiny of that man.

It's the fail-safe clause of all miracle-mongering: when it works, it was "Guruji's" grace; when it fails, it was destiny, or the patient's sins. Over here we call that The Secret, the primary engine of ignorance that keeps so many New Age™ gurus' coffers full. Ignorance dressed up as spiritual truth is the only product that we can see produced at AoL.

We Are About To Stink Up The Place

File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

This is a bit like America writing Osama Bin Laden a thank you note for 9/11, but here we go:

Some time back an Art of Living devotee came to me with his astounding healing experience, which I wish to share with you all.

Sri. P.Subramaniam aged 28 years, working in a small-scale engineering Unit. He earns a measly income just sufficient for him and his parents to make ends meet. The nature of the industry in which he is working is unpredictable and there are times when he has to strain himself for long hours to earn adequately to survive, thus resulting in the wear and tear of his health.

About a year and half ago he had persistent fever, body pain and had difficulty in eating and was diagnosed for Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma, a malignant germ cell tumor that occurs mostly in the testes. This type of tumor (cancerous) grows rapidly and spreads to the lungs and liver. He underwent Orchidectomy; an operation to remove the testicle and this was done to slow down the growth and spreading of prostate cancer. After the treatment, he somehow managed to carry on. After about a year, that is during April, 2004, he developed similar symptoms of fever, chest discomfort, multiple swelling in the neck and sleeplessness. He was admitted in a local hospital and on diagnosis it was found to be Testicular Tumor and Lymph Node Metastasis a type of cancer spreading through the blood. He was given chemotherapy first on 20.4.2004 and second on 7.5.2004 and third on 31.5.2004.

For the fourth chemotherapy he did not have sufficient money and therefore he approached Sri. M.Sendhilkumar, an Industrialist and a very devoted volunteer of AOL Coimbatore. Sri.Sendhilkumar not only helped him but also put him in the AOL Part I Course.

He joined the course on 14.6.2004 and on 17th after the first Sudarshan Kriya he experienced shocks and acute pain in the body and was disinclined to go to the course on the subsequent day, but with divine grace prevailing, he did the second Sudarshan Kriya which made him feel relaxed, energized and joyful. As he felt free from all the fears that were tormenting him, he wanted to shout and proclaim his happiness. It was a kind of rebirth for him and after so many months that night he slept very well. With Gurudev’s blessings he experienced deep rest.

Within a week after completion of the course, he took a haemogram test and the results were encouraging. The Doctor asked him to come back after a month and he had another haemogram test on 19.7.2004, which showed vast improvement, and he had become normal. This was further confirmed with another haemogram test on 21.09.2004 and finally he was back to his work with an added smile on his face.

Normally the side effects of chemotherapy are frightening as it leads to loss of hair in the scalp and in other parts of the body. It creates anemia and the patient gets tired easily, there could be difficulty in breathing and overall pain in the body. In the case of Sri.Subramaniam, he was indeed fortunate that his doing the sadhanas regularly two times a day eliminated the side effects. He does not feel tired at all and works with full enthusiasm and last but not the least the hair in his scalp is growing very fast and this is certainly a sign of his returning back to normalcy. He is confident that only because of the AOL Course he has been able to overcome the dreaded disease called cancer and is willing for any scientific study on his amazing healing experience.

While I was listening to the miracle I could feel tears rolling out of my eyes. Gurudev has saved the life of the sole breadwinner of a family. Along with Sri. Subramaniam and his family I am also grateful to my Divine Master for strengthening my confidence in Him.

We call that miracle-mongering, one of the high crimes of gurudom. Lance Armstrong survived metastasized testicular cancer and went on to win seven Tour de France bicycle races, but nobody is blaming a flimflamming guru for that.

And by the way, this was apparently published in an Art of Living newsletter, for those who seek to deny the truth that Sri Sri is playing the godman card every chance he thinks he can get away with.

What Has Made Sri Sri A "Saint?"

File under: Gurubusting and Satscams

Nothing more than his incessantly blowing his own horn.

Fairfield Ass-Bounce-Bo-Ree

File under: Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

The "pandits" are coming to Fairfield, Iowa, and those who are about to bounce, salute... "coherence-creation," which we take to mean creating susceptibility in potential marks for the TM™ movement. At any rate, the dupes who think that bouncing on their asses on a big foam pad all day makes a difference in the world – all by some mysterious supernatural force dubbed the "Maharishi Effect," (naturally named for their spectacularly grandiose late guru) – are gathering in Iowa, just in case you live there and have an ass-bouncing or pandit phobia.

Meanwhile, we began to wonder just how objective is the reportage of the Fairfield Ledger after this bit of TM™ propaganda was offered as a set of established facts:

Studies have shown that group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, can foster harmony in society and reduce crime, war and other negative tendencies. In order to have the influence, research has shown the size of the group needs to exceed the square root of 1 percent of the population of a given area. That figure for the United States is 1,743.

It's quite clear the Ledger is a TM™ propaganda horn, just in case you live there but were under the impression they were a good, down home country newspaper.

Secret Scammer Sued

File under: Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

The Secret author Rhonda Byrne is being sued by one of her producing partners:

The lawsuit alleges that Rhonda Byrne, executive producer of "The Secret," and Robert E. Rainone Jr., a Chicago businessman, conspired to deny [film co-creator Drew] Heriot's rights to co-ownership and profits from the movie and related works. The combined gross revenue from DVD and book sales of "The Secret" currently may exceed $300 million.

The Secret, making greed good for all (except those not willing to be greedy enough to get theirs.)

Sri Sri: A List Of Wrong

File under: Gurubusting and Satscams

Recent commenters have suggested we lack proof to support our critique of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and AoL. But since it's his claims of divinity we're critiquing, the proof is right there in front of us as the culture of guru worship as it exists in AoL.

But then came Yunis, author of the new and excellent Answering AoL blog, who's put together a little list of some of the sins of Sri Sri:

* Saying that the effect of SK has been scientifically proven while it is not (or at least not the effects they mention).

* Not mentioning his guru (Maharishi) and evading questions about him until he is death.

* Writing a book about Islam as a Hindu spiritual figure that is full of mistakes and thus doing something very dangerous in a country like India where tensions are high enough about these topics (and admitting that this book "was written in a hurry" only goes to show how not enlightened he is, 'cause anyone who is the least bit enlightened would never ever write a book about that topic 'in a hurry' when it is to be published in India.)

* Organising NGO summits about that turn out to be complete scams.

* Claiming that "his organisation is working in poor rural communities to promote sustainable growth, and has reached more than 30,000 villages." Although this leads to the hopelessly absurd and impossible fact that in 11 years (or 4015 days) the Association for Human Values would have "reached out" (by which is meant: teaching and promoting organic farming, irrigation techniques, water harvesting development programs, drainage system development, etc.) to an average of more than 7 villages every day.

* A complete lack of transparency in financial dealings although millions of dollars are concerned. (Certainly if they should be able to "reach out" to 7 villages a day.)

* Saying that all the money goes to development courses although a taxfile of 2005 reports total revenues of $3.2M coming from giving courses while none of the money went towards international developmental or humanitarian programs, disaster relief, scientific/medical research or charitable activity. (So apparently they don't need the money of the richest part of the world to "reach out" to the poorest part.)

* Claiming to be in the tradition of Gandhi while his acts and words are (provably) far from it.

Yunis is like us, only researchier.

Also, a word to the TM™ faithful: we predict Sri Sri is coming to take as many devotees from his former mentor as he can muster.

Sri Sri Infects The Internet

File under: Satscams and The Siddhi of PR

Art of Living Kool-Aid distributors are working overtime to make Sri Sri Ravi Shankar more famous in the States with some viral internet popularity scamming. From a message sent on the U.S. AoL mailing list:

If we can have you and the people in your network (local satsang groups and other AOL networks) follow the simple steps below, we will have an EXTREMELY powerful marketing campaign for guruji on the internet.

If we can have a large group of people follow the steps below, we can have the links to articles/blogs on guruji, shoot right up to the homepage of the website of an extremely popular site digg.com. This is a very powerful way of marketing, as lots of people visiting digg.com would see it on the homepage.

But what of those who will see through this blatant gaming? AoL has a plan for that too!

There seem to be a lot of comments on the two articles listed below on digg.com. If you did digg it, then do remember to go back and give a "thumbs up" to the comments that are pro-Art of Living, and a "thumbs down" to those comments that are anti-Art of Living.

Also, it would better if the people who dugg the two articles also dugg a few more (random) articles as well, and made a few random comments on some other random articles as well, so as to camouflage this campaign, otherwise it becomes very transparent, if you read the comments. It should appear that we are just normal users of digg, if you understand what I mean.

Yes we do. You are dishonestly gaming the digg.com system to make a seemingly pathologically narcissistic guru even more pathologically narcissistic.

We hate to break it to you, but AoL's marketing campaigns have always been transparent, as clear as the air above Annapurna.  This attempt at ranking fraud is perfectly compatible with what AoL has been doing all along, which is to create a constant sensation around the rather hapless little man they are calling guru.