Seeking The Old TM™ Master Raghvendra

File under: Lost and Found Gurus

Today we received this email:

Hello,

I'm a fan of your website, and was wondering whether you could assist me with a search as outlined in this article.

I met Paul Saltzman when he was in Rishikesh, and I'm keen to help him if I can. As that journalist notes, there's no trace of Raghvendra here - as he apparently fell out with the Maharishi's people and left town.

Might someone among your network still remember where he went, or is there someone who might know someone who might know something?

I've attached a few lines of context, which refer to a second guy whom Paul is trying to trace - an American called Al Bragg, who'd be roughly 70 by now. Any pointers on either of them would be gratefully received.

Thanks for your help. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,
Daniel Simpson

This passage describes Paul Saltzman's first meeting with the man he and Daniel are seeking, Raghvendra:

As I hung around New Delhi, not knowing what to do, I was desperate for relief. A new American acquaintance, Al Bragg, asked me if I wanted to come along to hear the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi give a talk on transcendental meditation. "I'll try anything." I said, jumping at the chance. That night, the large auditorium at New Delhi University was jam-packed, overflowing with foreigners and Indians as we squeezed in against the wall at the back. On stage, a low dais was festooned with flowers. After ten or fifteen minutes, a short, curious little man draped in white cotton, with long scraggly graying hair and beard, entered at the rear of the hall and walked down the center aisle. Close behind, twenty Westerners followed, each of them wearing colorful Indian clothes and garlands of red, white, and orange flowers around their necks. They were, it turned out, part of a group of meditators on their way to At the entrance stood a faded, yellow, wood picket-fence gate. It was locked and a man in a slightly tattered, dark blue Nehru jacket stood guard. He spoke no English but motioned to someone inside and a short young man in his early thirties, with a lovely light-brown complexion and a short, dark, trim beard came to talk to me. He introduced himself in a quiet, warm voice as Raghvendra, a disciple of the Maharishi, and asked if he could help me. I told him I had seen the Maharishi speak at Delhi University a few days before and that I'd come to learn meditation. Raghvendra was kind, but firm, "I'm very sorry but the ashram is closed because the Beatles and their wives are here, and were doing a meditation teacher's course." I had nothing to lose: "You have to teach me." I said, " I'm in a lot of emotional pain." He considered this for a moment, then said, "I will ask the Maharishi. I will send you a cup of chai, but I may not be back for two or three hours."

I thanked him, dropped my backpack to the ground, and plunked myself down. I had no idea the Beatles would be there and, at that moment, it was not good news. I spent the afternoon resting there by the gate and wrote a letter to my parents and one to my girlfriend, hoping she would reconsider. A few hours later, Raghvendra returned. Again, he was soft-spoken and kind.

"I'm sorry," he said, "the Maharishi says 'Not at the present time'."

Apparently, at some later point, Raghvendra did in fact admit Saltzman and teach him meditation. While y'all know what we think of TM™ (a laughable global domination pyramid scheme that has folks selling sand at the beach to other folks), we'd like to see Saltzman contact his guru, Raghvendra, if he is in fact still alive.

If anybody has any clues, either about Raghvendra or the American, Al Bragg, please leave a comment or contact Daniel Simpson here.

Another Sleight-Of-Hand Scammiji

File under: Satscams

Another flimflamming Hindu guru, riding along on the Sai Babaster bandwagon along with Swami Vishwananda, has been exposed by a sharp-eyed observer who didn't let the wool be pulled over his eyes. The new scammiji on the block is one Swami Atmachaithanya, who is duping unsuspecting marks with the usual boatload of superstitious Hindu guru shtick. Behold:


According to our eyewitness:

this guy is a total fake...he goes around the world collecting donations for his so called charity projects.. why i call him a fake...i caught him palming a small locket and than later "materialise" it....obviously inspired by sai baba...

Needless to say, we are inclined to agree.

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.

Ammachi Thinks You're A Bug

File under: Amma-All-Over-The-Planet and The Siddhi of PR

There's a great article in Rolling Stone about Ammachi. As it turns out, if you don't care to believe she is God, she thinks you're a mosquito or beetle:

"A mosquito will never get milk from the udder of a cow, only blood. The bee draws honey from the flower, but the beetle only drubs through the dirt."

Cult psych-ops, in our opinion, right out of the cow's (or flower's) mouth.

Mckayla Does Not Approve

File under: Gurubusting

Oh Rajiv!

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Today a member of the Guruphiliac Facebook page turned up with this:

It was also reported that an American devotee who had fallen out of the ashram was working in association with Jody Razdik who specializes in guru bashing at a prominent web site. He was being helped by an Indian based in San Diego, who was once very deeply involved inside the Nithyananda organization but had turned malicious.

It's in an article by Rajiv Malhotra, who's been trying to be the pope of American Hinduism for like, forever.

Well, Mr. Malhotra, we'd like to offer a few corrections. While it's true that I know a former member of Nithyananda's inner circle, he was not from San Diego, although he was in California while Nithyananda was in Los Angeles. What is absolutely untrue is any accusation of maliciousness on the part of this former devotee. He never spoke ill of Nithyananda to me, not once. He was, however, acutely disappointed to see his former hero and mentor turn into such a showman. In fact, his refusal to speak any ill about his former master was a considerable display of honor and dignity, considering the circumstances.

Also, just to make it clear, I bash gurus who use they idea they have magic powers to make themselves famous. Nithyananda is a completely clear and pure example of this. It is this fact, and only this fact, that has been the impetus for my writing about him as I have.

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.

Mohan Singh's Sex Racket Screwed Him

File under: Gurus Doin' Time, Hands Where They Don't Belong and The Siddhi of PR

Mohan Singh, of the "I can empower you with some tantric energy transfer, Baby" school of enlightenment, (see Swami Nithyananda, Swami Muktananda, and so many others), is going to remain in jail for the misdeed.

The court heard Lyons, who adopted the name Mohan Singh, preyed on women who came to him for spiritual guidance. He had created a tight-knit group, described as a ‘cult’, made up predominantly of female followers …

New women were invited to Lyons’ gatherings with offers of communal food and enlightenment. There, they would be given treatments and assaulted …

Lord Justice Toulson dismissed the application for permission to appeal against conviction…

It looks like Mr. Singh will now have a lot more time to devote to his meditation.

She's Not Perfect, World Still Turns

File under Amma All-Over-The-Planet, Hands Where They Don't Belong, and The Siddhi of PR

You didn't know this, because Amma's little helpers are very efficient at disappearing the truth:

Rishi Taavi Kassila, top promoter, tour organizer, meditation instructor and ashram resident of the Amma Mata Amritanandamayi Devi Hugging Saint cult [in Finland] has been accused of sex addiction, abuse and dishonesty. Embarrassing testimony, posted by authenticated witnesses, challenged Kassila to defend himself in court. Publicly, the Amma cult responded with a single online statement denying their connection to the accused, Taavi Kassila. Secretly, Amma's helpers were scrubbing their internet servers, erasing all evidence of Taavi Kassila's long history of public service within the Amma cult.

While it maybe not be the fault of the hugging devi herself that her org's leader in Finland allegedly got handsy with the devotees, it's certainly her fault to order a coverup. What does this prove? That Amma is a businesswoman first and foremost, and that she and her org went into high gear to protect their source of revenue. The truth, meanwhile, gets hacked to death and left in a ditch to die.

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.

Sri Sri Called Out As RSS

File under: The Siddhi of PR

The RSS is the Indian equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan; its founder admired Adoph Hitler and emulated the methods of the Nazi party of WWII Germany. Now, guess which popular guru in India has been called out as a prominent supporter… [Ed.note: correct answer: pretty much all of them.]

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday fired a fresh salvo at Art of Living guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, saying the spiritual guru is the "C grade worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)".

While we realize this is just politics, let us point out that this is just politics, not spirituality in any form that we care to recognize. It's just another par on the course for the famous fauxru on his seemingly insatiable charge for more money, power, and influence in Bharat.

Very Little Enlightening, A Lot More Mad

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Andrew Cohen's "truth," by a kind and talented reader. (click to enlarge)

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.

On Ammachi

File under: Amma All-Over-The-Planet

Amma is a symbol of the Shakti, but she herself is nothing more than a woman who seemingly cares about others and found a way to do that. The idea that she has special powers is what draws the most people to her; their faith is based on the belief that being in her presence is being in God's presence, and that their problems might be solved as a result. It's on her website. You could call it a crass manipulation, but even if she honestly cares about these people, their folk ideas of enlightenment—endorsed and enjoyed by Amma—translate into occluding notions that kill understanding rather than promote it.

The fact that she hugs so much is no proof of her divinity. There are folks who can run a hundred miles in a day. Amma's talents as a hugger are comparable to those of any leading athlete. We may treat them as gods, but nobody in sports is actually thought of as God. Is a simple white dress, good endurance, and a smile for most all it takes for a talented human being to be seen as God? It actually takes much less … just look at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. ;)

The Highest Loka An American Criminal Can Hope For

File under: Hands Where They Don't Belong and Gurus Doin' Time

Swami Prakashanand Saraswati is still on the run, but we have a feeling the U.S. marshalls are closing in. Enjoy it while you can, Swamiji. You are now one of America's Most Wanted.

PrakashakaBOOM Is On The Lam

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and Hands Where They Don't Belong

Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, recently convicted of 20 counts of child molestation, didn't show up at his sentencing hearing this morning:

A warrant has been issued for the 82-year-old Hindu guru convicted on all 20 counts of indecency with a child after he didn't show up for the punishment phase of the trial Monday morning.

Hays County sheriff's officials believe he is in the company of a woman named Vishwambhari Devi.

While PrakashakaBOOM is off playing Bonnie and Clyde, we wonder how Peter Spiegel is feeling. He's the sucker devotee who put up 10-million dollars in bail money for the slimy swami. The infomercial king made most of his money suckering folks with cheap products on TV. Whiplash karma, ye retribution is swift and deep.

Swami PrakashakaBOOM Will Fondle No More

File under: Gurus Doin' Time

Justice took the scenic route, but finally arrived for the victims of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati of Barsana Dham ashram in Austin, TX:

Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Shree Swamiji, was convicted of all 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact…

The jury of eight men and four women returned its guilty verdict after deliberating for less than two hours. The announcement by District Court Judge Charles Ramsay was met with muffled sobs by the women, who exchanged hugs. Beyond saying they were pleased with the verdict, they declined to comment…

Jurors will reconvene on Monday to decide on a sentence. Each of the 20 charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the creepy guru's even more creepy guru, Kripalu (Kreepalu) Maharaj, himself accused several times of the same sin, sits free somewhere in the world, thanking his lucky stars he's been able to get away with it so far.

We've Moved to Facebook

Same great insightful critique about gurus and the selling of nondual awareness (or load of rubbish, YMMV), new venue on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guruphiliac/170255186340026

Whacking "The Work"

File under: Gurus Clockin' Dollars

We don't know who this person is, but we're all about this analysis of Byron "Big Bucks" Katie's "The Work":

There is a subtle nuance in the language of the facilitators of "the work" which reveals a deep, internal contradiction between what is practiced and what is preached.

Ostensibly, the work began as an "I" realization, one where Katie saw her own thoughts as projections and the outside world as a reflection of those projections.

From all accounts I have heard of people who experienced some sort of enlightenment, that experience came about from and inward collapsing of something that was blocking perception, and an emerging clarity. This seems to occur spontaneously after a period of disturbance. I have never heard of anyone having an enlightenment experience from performing some method (other than pure meditative concentration/contemplation), especially not from one that involves making noise inside the mind with more words and questions. Words and thoughts are forms of mind activity. The pain of mental activity is not resolved with more mental activity. It is resolved with listening and feeling, which lead into inner silence, stillness, and clarity.

In the application of attempting to teach "the work", a facilitator is immediately violating one of its own principles, namely, to "stay in one's own business." By now, how many other people's business has Byron Katie gotten into? It's difficult to take her preaching seriously when she herself is doing precisely what she recommends to her students not to do.

Furthermore, the moment I try to teach you that your thoughts are a projection of your mind, the idea that you need to learn this, and that I need to teach you, are projections of my mind. If I'm saying to you, "it's all about you", I have stepped outside of the circle of what is true about me, the circle in which I have a real say. It would seem disrespectful and presumptuous for me to delve into your inner dialogue and try to get you to see something about yourself, when my job is to listen and respond from my own truth. I see Byron Katie attempting to impose her own views over and over again in the conversations in her books. It is as though when you are expressing a judgement, it is a projection, but when she is expressing a judgment, she's seeing and telling it like it is. The idea that I know something you need to learn, and that I need to teach you, is a projection of my mind. There is no humility or respect in trying to teach you the "truth", since everyone is born from the truth, dies and returns to the truth, and is the truth. No special courses are required to learn honesty. Life experience and just saying what is on the heart is enough!

We realize that some folks are helped by the Work. Others only lose lots of money. Caveat emptor.