Taken from
the comments on The Finances of Sahaj Marg blog. This blog is linked to the
Sahaj Marg Project blog by Alexis, in Europe:
Frank, according to his own claims, was a "zonal in charge" of SRCM(California) for the Netherlands, and was an abhyasi for 12 years. He has since apparently been "ousted" by the SRCM(California) Management Team (AJ Bhatter?), for questioning their "fund-raising" practices and now tries to show with "generalities" the Pitfalls of entering such a Pyramid scheme as SRCM(California), to which he (probably) consciously or un-consciously, lured others to, during his "volunteer management" tenure as "ZIC". I presume that the people he may have brought into the group (friends and neighbours) would still be members of Chari's SRCM(California).
We appreciate your effort but please...! The "generalities" about such "cults of Personalities", have been known for centuries and revealing them one more time will not expiate or wipe out all responsibility (or guilt) towards those still in the Pyramid scheme and being "milked" for questionable future "purchases of ranches, castles, commercial buildings, travel expenses, retreats, etc... thanks for the general "lecture" about "those" groups, but ...
SPECIFICS PLEASE!! We have other things we would like to do with our TIME ... Like have fun! Or walk in the forest with one's "pet"!! or simply BLISS!
thanx don, i have changed this now.
about the book `whispers from the brighter world' to which you refer (the spiritistic medium messages):
as you will recall it was released on chari's birthday, but only for limited pre-inscribers. in the year beforehand one could pre-inscribe at the cost of €250,- per book.
the book was described as containing unique & essential insights for spiritual progress. also, it would never be available again afterwards, it would not be reprinted.
a classic combination of fear & temptation.
but some abhyasis whom i knew were truly cut up about it, because they really could not afford such a book. and they felt, well you can imagine.
so i gave a talk (on babuji's birthday) in denmark, relating personal experience with a third-world surgeon who gave out his books for free, because he wanted his knowledge to be used by doctors all over, without financial barriers.
but, is said, i understand the wish to finance certain activities. and i so suggested that instead of selling the €250 books piecemeal, it would be better to sell them 10 or 50 at a time to well-off people, who could then give away a remainder to centers all over, so that everyone would have easy access to this valuable spiritual material.
you will not believe how i was reprimanded for this talk. someone was sent over to tell me that as a zonal-in-charge (which i was at the time, but only of the netherlands, so about 50 people...) it was entirely inappropriate for me to say things like that.
other abhyasis, some of them whom i had been friendly with for years, really avoided me and cut off their contact with me.
well, i won't go into all the details, the illustration is clear. but in retrospect, when the book finally came out, i was even more flabbergasted to see that it contained such spiritistic medium garbage.
i have looked at a few of the messages. they do not contain any new insight. they are just advertisements for the method, and especially for chari.
so in essence it was a money scheme. the reason why i mind is that it was not put simply as an open request: we would like to do this and this, for this we need such and such amount, if you feel like helping us, please donate.
it was intricately tied to spiritual progress and morality (we should help master and give money), and people really felt bad about not buying the book.
i will address these issues certainly in posts to come (afterlife, group morality & moral pressure, fear & temptation, money, power).
In Reply to Madhav, Frank replied (see below)
Later on Franks Blog: Pitfalls of Spirituality, Frank removed all my comments.
These are the comments I posted on Frank's blog: The Pitfalls of Spirituality. These comments have since been removed from his blog "for using CAPITALS" and not being "friendly" so I will show them here for all the world to see... frank seems to not use capitals, even at the beginning of sentences...is he ever spiritual?? I guess that leaving your friends and family or "neighbours", in a Pyramid scheme of "obedience" to be further milked, and "saving yourself" (or is that excusing yourself or assuaging your guilt or anger?) is more "FRIENDLY" than using CAPITALS for accent. NO MONOFONT PLEASE...we are Boring!
May the ONE save us from such FRIENDS who don't dare SPEAK OUT in specifics in the face of such "abuse" of POWER as he witnessed, that made him want to start a blog. One does not have to "name names" but this is a "STRUCTURE"... A METHOD and a MISSION. Our friends (women and children) and our neighbours and "co-patriots", are their TARGETS ... the "title holders" are their "foot soldiers". The SRCM(California) management team uses "military and sales jargon" when refering to their MISSION.
Frank was a "zonal in charge" of SRCM(California) for the Netherlands, and was an abhyasi for 12 years. He has since been "ousted" by the SRCM(California) Management Team (AJ Bhatter?), for questioning their "fund-raising" practices and now tries to show with "generalities" the Pitfalls of entering such a Pyramid scheme as SRCM(California), to which he (probably) actively lured others to, during his "volunteer management" tenure as "ZIC". I presume that the people he brought into the group (friends and neighbours) are still in the SRCM(California). The "generalities" about such "cults of Personalities", have been known for centuries and revealing them one more time will not expiate any responsibility (or guilt) towards those still in the Pyramid scheme and being "milked" for questionable future "purchases of ranches, castles, commercial buildings, travel expenses, etc...
It is the "specifics" about the "modus operandi" of this gang that would help alert the abhyasis that have been "brought in" by Frank and other "en-TITLED" volunteers, during his management tenure. We already know the "generalities"... We have known the "generalities" since the medieval days with the advent of the PRINTING PRESS. To hear them again from "dis-enfranchised" managers does not satisfy and does not constitute "new IN-FORMATION". SPECIFICS PLEASE! We appreciate your TIME and EFFORT but there are other things that our "divided" families would like to do with their time also...like walk in NATURE, the Natural Path, and spend time time Friends, and fellow citizens dealing with the "ENVIRONMENT", and now "economic" crisis... TIME TO GET SPECIFIC in LOVE, not anger...(small case letters for anger...not LOVE!!!
There are three steps to "forgiveness of sins". Admission or Confession is only the FIRST. Expiation with "penance" is the SECOND. ATONEMENT (to become ONE with) is the THIRD and the most important one.
There are others...PEOPLE, in Europe who are still in the pyramid TRAP. Be their "FRIEND"... To simply excuse one's collusion in the PYRAMID scheme with "I was simply obeying orders", or " "I was in BLISS", (narcisism, machievellism) is not an acceptable defense in logic, or a valid excuse in international law since "Nuremberg" (Nazi trials).
T
he comments (from Pitfalls of Spirituality... see "cached" in google) start with the latest and go to the earliest posts (starting Sept. 17, 2008) ...to see most recent, read from the top of the page ...
Frank Said: (Frank starts removing the comments by 4d-don...Sept 17, 2008)
Frank said:From archives:
4d-Don said: Hi Frank...
Blogger.com posted me twice by their mistake...
In a medium that does not use SOUND, like our BLOGS, I can assure you that I am heard or more accurately read. Speaking in quiet traditional MONOTONES is not my style and not a style that is recommended in an INFORMATION CULTURE that "scans", and does not read, and that is constantly being fed their information with "sound effects" and "flashing images" and rhythmic changes of picture accompanied by music, so as to hypnotize the reader in being receptive to the message. And that is only TELEVISION and some INTERNET.
Newspapers and Magazines have gone to using "insertions", and different fonts as HEADLINES or CAPTIONS, and even CAPITALIZATION for accent (not loudness), as well as quotation marks, just to name a few techniques to grab the reader's attention and not let them fall asleep or turn the page. I am doing the same and I am being HEARD.
As far as dealing GENTLY with religions and spiritual movements, it's like asking a fireman to just use a "small hose" on the fire, because it might splash the "burning victims"... Maybe you can be "quiet" or "soft spoken", and not "disturb" the predator, but I would PLACE A BELL on those who would ensnare MY PEOPLE, and specially those who target my CHILDREN, my FAMILY and my FRIENDS. Is that too LOUD? And without SOUND? Not in REALITY. It is another "illusion" to divide and quiet the "INFONAUTS" who would expose these abusers.
Those who target me and my family and friends, and/or those who act as "judas goats" for these predators, will HEAR ME.
You, as the "dictator" on your blog, can block me, but you can't QUIET me and you will certainly not CENSOR me with insults such as calling my comments "diatribes".
Which part of that last comment was a "DIATRIBE" against SRCM to you? Is what you write a "DIATRIBE"? Are you still AFRAID to speak your mind? Is it because of your JOB? Are you afraid of going to "HELL"?
In Commercialism, and advertising theory, a message has to reach the target at least three times in different media to produce a "reaction". I.e. (poster, video, audio, news story, internet, etc..). REPETITION, rhythm, meter, rhyme, is what makes a song or a poem "memorable". Would you have our material not be REMEMBERED or READ? Would you "quiet" your art so as to not "DISTURB"?
The readers who can't come and read your blog because of controversial "COMMENTS" are not going to read your blog anyway... So you might as well SPEAK OUT and SPEAK UP.
These religious predators and Televangelists can still roam the world with impunity marketing their OPIATES, because the "victims" are still "soft" and "quiet", even after being TAKEN FOR A proverbial RIDE.
I assure you that I don't stop others from reading the NEW YORK TIMES and/or the WASHINGTON POST with my comments and style. Readers, who want the victims to remain QUIET, have an agenda, they are probably in a "faith-based" RELIGIOUS or SPIRITUAL movement themselves, and do not want to FACE IT or see their GROUP exposed.
Well, welcome to REALITY...If these PREDATORS and their "JUDAS GOATS" are averse to the LOUDNESS of EMOTIONALISM and SUFFERING, then they can start UNITING the world rather than dividing them, specially the FAMILIES in our societies, let alone our SPECIES. Or they can stay in their own homes and meditate and BE Spiritual.
I will SPEAK MY MIND in my style ... THAT IS THE TRUTH! The comments are MINE. You can read them or "block" them! And like the SPIRITUAL movements you write about, you can claim to UNITE the World...but not the REAL world...just an illusion of it.
The so-called "spiritual" people, still marginalize SUFFERING and the victims if they SPEAK out. We can comment on your blog if we don't disturb others! Well, not for LONG! Those castles and IVORY TOWERS are made of clay, and they will come down also. The next generation of VICTIMS may not be so "quiet" or "logical". They may not even use WORDS, or CAPITALIZED words, just SCREAMS and YELLS.
This comment is from my culture:
It's worse that that in WAR! They drop BOMBS and they don't yell: "WATCH OUT!" ;-))
4d-don
September 16, 2008 9:04 PM
4d-Don said: Sept 15, 2008 9:33 PM
4d-Don said: Hi Frank...
Thanks for your clairification.
Christian, who has a blog, and is an ex-abhyasi of 18 years, and is a Phd and research psychologist and linguist is looking into the "god machine" that uses binaural beats to induce the brain into manufacturing alpha waves. And there is, as you mention, research into some self-empowering meditation techniques (not the meditation on a GURU type) that also help the brain produce alpha waves...
I am sure you already know of some of the research in Hungary (eastern Europe) around super memory and improved academics using rhythm in learning (memorizing), specifically memorizing at 60 beats per second. This is also the theory that the producers of the "Baby Einstein" CD's used to sell the "making a genius of your un-born child" sales gimmick by having the pregnant mother listen to "classical music". We all know from listening to classical music that not all "classical music" does what is claimed here. Many modern classical compositions or "tunes" are downright ugly and "dissonant" and "a-rhythmic". What they call "new music" is really a-tonal as well as a-rhytmmic. The original research was on Bach's fugues, many of which are in the same 60 beats per second tempo.
I personally used that theory and technique on my son as he was failing in his second grade. Within 6 months of using "rhythm" at 60 beats per second to memorize, he was a "B" student and remained at a "B" all his student years, until his graduation.
Commercial opportunism quickly morphed that acceptable and working theory into the false "all classical music will make your child a genius". We expect and accept that kind of opportunism from the commercial market place where the caveat is "buyer beware". In our science, which we subsidize, we hope that the objective Mind and its logic and/or reason will be the tools used to de-mystify these subjective and "natural" phenomena that we call "spirituality" or the "mystical experience". That is the "mystical experience" that we all are hard-wired for. Religions and other cultish "sects" want to change that to: the "GOD experience", but that is not accurate or even true. In the Buddhism tradition: the ONE, what some call by the Gothic term "GOD", is defined as: NOT THIS, and NOT THAT.
I adhere to that aphorism also.
It is so typical of the RELIGIONS of Man to call any un-explained experience as "the work of GOD". Universal Films's (Hollywood's Religion... ;-)) ) logo is our planet Earth as seen from the moon and this is the backdrop for "UNIVERSAL"!! How egotistical of them. We even have a beauty pageant called: the Miss Universe Pageant. One has to shake one's head in amazement at our societal "small minds". Thanks the ONE that it's only our boetians and our "salesmen" who are that opportunistic and not all of us... lol ;-))
Thanks for the clarification... Glad to hear that we are still in agreement... "generally".
4d-don
4d-Don said:
August 30, 2008 9:17 PM
Hi Frank...
Some Questions and comments about this post.
Mind over heart, or heart over mind?
Where does this need for a decision about the supposedly competing functions of Heart (a pump) and Brain (nerve center) with it's functions of abstract analysis, and response to stumuli (MIND), come from in the first place?
The religious POWER struggle between these two organs, was not created by the ONE, but is a "man-made" struggle.
To digest food, do I (ME) ask the brain, heart, liver, kidney, deodenum, intestines or bowel? No I (or Me ...my brain or MIND) just looks at the "biology" of all these organs and sees which one is built as the "nerve" center (the brain) and which one is the blood pump (heart), which is for processing air, food, water, etc... and use the proper one "sub-consciously".
This mystical or religious attaching of analysis and decision-making power to the heart, we can surmise, started with early "religious" leaders, shahmans, and/or mystics who, also being the "story tellers, the troubadours, (using fear and temptation, excitement, sadness, grief, etc...), in their search for ways to increase the energy around them, found some SOUND energy in the heart, a thump, that was also very soothing as it was rhythmic and lulled one to sleep if slowed down and excited us if "speeded up" as would happen in a chase, a a dance, a song, an emoting of a happy or a sad feeling (emotion).
Since there was "sound" at the heart, and there was sound in the outside world, it was natural, but "un-enlightened" and false, to surmise that the heart was our sound and rhythm contact to the outside or "SPIRIT" or magical world of SOUND and LIGHT.
Our ancestors also very early found that animals related to our created sound as we did to theirs and to the sound of the outside world, and that with sound and rhythm, we could communicate emotions, feelings, or general information with one another and with the animals, even changing their and our feelings, patterns, and general behaviour. The extension and extrapolation to effecting change in nature with sound and rhythm was also a natural evolution of "THINKING", the bailliwick of the BRAIN.
We, homo sapiens, most likely found very quickly that drumming and song, as it imitates the pumping "HEART", also gave us various emotions, from excitement to calm and serene and even some more "spiritual" feelings. Music, the "sound of the gods" (myth, fantasy), has historically been used by our religious structures to convey EMOTIONS to the followers and to play on or manipulate these emotions for the supposedly good of the tribe but we can also say that it is mostly for the good of the religious structure itself at the detriment of the tribe in many instances. How many tribes have become extinct by following a "false guru" or shahman become mad by ingesting various "poisons" called medicine? We don't know, but we are silly and don't deserve to survive if we don't use all our god-given "THINKING" or brain (grey matter) apparatus with it's "cold logic" and sharp intellect to decide on these issues, and not leave it to the warm "fuzzy feely" "gut feeling", instinct, or "feeling" and emotions attributed to the heart, gut, etc..
The early "religious leaders" were the story tellers, the drummers, the singers, etc...and as today, were not necessarily the more scientific or the "THINKERS" but were the more "artsy" and the "fantasy spinners and weavers" of the clan. They probably were those with the gift of gab to convince others to "obey" and rely or depend on them, hence gaining power and hence survival for themselves and their structure. We could say that they created their tribal culture and then they reflected it, claiming this self-created culture with it's series of myths and fantasies as their "authority". This is much the same as the "self-appointed" Guru, Master, Saviour, etc.. of our religions. Then they create a "succession" with themselves at the top of the PYRAMID.
To continue attaching, in this age of scientific enlightenment, feelings and emotions to the heart is un-scientific to say the least, and very religious, and not spiritual at best. If we FEEL with all our sensory apparatus, it is not with the heart that we analyse and respond to the sensory stimuli, but with the brain.
The brain, we now know, also hums as an "Electrical MOTOR" at 5-8 hz, and it also produces or induces a field (many fields we could say) but it is not an "audible sound" wave as in the case of the heart, but an electromagnetic field. That EM field can induce an "aura" (magnetic field, heat field, sound field, etc..) or participate in and contribute to the aura induced by all fields as fields are "inductive" and interchangeable. An electrical field can induce a "magnetic" field and vice versa. A sound field (drum, song, poetry, etc..) can induce an "emotional" field and a "mental" or a thought or mind field.
Music is an example of this. But it is the BRAIN that analyses and commands the response that we call either a feeling or an emotion as it puts "in motion" through the glandular system, chemicals that illicits a subjective (survival?) response (fight or flight, joy or sadness, etc..)
We can say metaphorically that we love and/or feel emotions in our hearts, or that we have a "gut feeling", or that "joe do-gooder" has a "good heart", but that is a metaphor to express and explain in simple and lay terms, the process of hormones secretion, on the orders of the "nerve center", the brain, that then stimulates a response, a motion, a spasm, in the heart, the throat, the stomach, the kidneys, the liver, the guts, etc... and makes it either tense or relaxed depending on the hormone secreted by the analytical BRAIN. And then, to make it all interesting, the brain, through the hypothalamus gland, gives us a "pleasure or a pain" feeling according to it's analysis of the input/output stimulus and the hormonelike neurotransmitters secreted (dopamine, seratonin, etc..)
PS... Seratonin is now believed to be responsible for the "spiritual" feeling.
I prefer to think in a less religious mode and think that we feel, (collect and transmit data) with all of our sensory apparatus, our whole material and abstract body (including our EM or auric field, our mental field, and more) and that the heart is not more of a analytical or sensory organ than the other "slave" organs. Most of us do not think with our heart, stomach, liver, kidney, etc... Although some women feel that men think with their penis, but that is fantasy also and not to be "mystified" and then believed with the religious HEART... lol ;-))
Those religious followers who are told and obey the instructions of GODMEN to not use the Brain and/or the MIND to THINK, rationalize, or use logic, usually transfer and accept that god-given power in others and ask them to THINK and use the Brain and the MIND for them, as they are told to focus on the HEART and leave the thinking to the GURU, the SYSTEM, the MISSION. Such followers are even instructed to attempt "to still" (stop) the ever-thinking brain or MIND. Beside being an impossible goal, and a fantasy, it's like asking a shark to stop swimming or a dog's tail to stop wagging. You ain't going to do it. Nor is the GURU who asks it of his followers. Control and not elimination of the function of the MIND is what we want, not BY-Passing it and giving our THINKING POWER to others. To control the MIND is difficult but some of us can do it satisfactorily enough so as to keep one functioning in society relatively happy, without the help of RELIGION...
The MIND is not a problem as religiouns would have us believe, CONTROL of the MIND is what we desire naturally, and attempt to do every day, and giving control to another person or to a structure has historically never served the purpose of the religious and impossible goal of STILLING THE MIND. It has instead created abusive and "un-thinking" structures where responsibility for the message or the societal implication of the implementation of this "mustically accessed" message, is never faced or addressed, as an autocratic structure is apt to do.
POWER over one's self is good...POWER over others will not help that "OTHER", the believer, learn to control his own MIND and it will create a MONSTER of the one anointed by us as the THINKING MASTER. One just has to read Chari's speeches and see that his LOGIC is not lofty (if it ever was) or elevate or illumined. Many secular philosophers are more spiritual, intellectual, inspired, and generally competent at THINKING, than the average religious GURU, priest, Master, etc... Someone trained and adept in "engineering" and the MATERIAL will necessarily sometimes struggle with the more abstract or intangible, until they LEARN...and hopefully before they TEACH. Some are more adept at this "thinking" task than others, but all can do it. It is a power that we all can learn to use, and we, as a society, will learn.
The same religious systems also instruct the followers to love the MASTER more than the MATE, the family and the friends also. Then, in tandem, there is the whole "sex" issue that also has to be "controlled", but not subdued and stopped, as most regressive religions attempt to instill in their priests, abhyasis and followers, to the later abuse of the followers, due the the undesirability of subduing, not controlling a "natural" process with man-made religious structures. Spirituality, claiming to be "natural", is suppose to encourage acceptance of the natural REALITY, not to change it and subdue it to suit our HEARTS and/or MINDS. To claim that this sort of RELIGION is healthy and "civilization building" is really pulling the wool over the people's eyes. There are many women's groups in India who are asking us not to give those "old farts club" ("GURU clubs" of which there are over 75,000 in India) a place in our modern society. Let the old men in our societies do good by taking care of the poor, the needy, the sick, the family, the wife, these women ask us, and not spend their time building the STRUCTURES of our STORY TELLERS, our fantasy and myth merchants, who mascarade their crafts and structures as being "SPIRITUALITY" but which are really just more materially concrete RELIGIOUS POWER structures for the yet POWER ADDICTED.
We evolved as a species because we gradually took the decision-making power away from our abusive and "warring" leaders and their religions, and placed this power in our more "secular people structures" such as our western "representative democracy" that will hopefully soon evolve to a more empowering "direct democracy" (voting on issues), and it was "in spite of" religions that we are still here, not because of them.
In recap, let us look at the "created" function of each organ and attach to it a role that is the one attached to it by the the ONE, the REALITY, the CREATOR, not by questionable religious mystics and "dung-eaters" and "cave dewellers" of the un-enlightened past. It is time to throw off the fantasies and fairy-tales and the other religious shackles of the past and to truly reach our "Childhood's End" (Arthur C Clark)
This is not dogma, just another thought to add in FREEDOM to the MIND FIELD.
4d-don...
hi don,
i agree with you on some of your remarks, but also i disagree on others. but i think it doesn't really matter much, as i hope to clarify.
when i say heart and mind, i use these organs mostly as a metaphor for non-rational/intuitive vs rational/analytical.
so there is no need to take these things as literally as that the heart as an organ competes with the brain in the area of deciding. it is not what i was trying to say, i will make that clear in my next posts.
on the other hand, i do believe that recent scientific studies have shown that the heart has an autonomous neural network, which is believed by some very respected scientists to hold its own memories and, more important, which does link back to the brain. this is now conjectured to be a possible basis in science for common folk wisdom as suffering from a broken heart (emotional state which has been shown to lead to real physical heart disease) and other emotions/decisions/... commonly associated with the heart.
i will have to look this up again, i'm not up-to-date with latest developments.
but before we start a scientific dispute over these things, i would like to repeat that for what i consider to be the most important pitfalls, the precise functioning of the heart as an organ is irrelevant.
on the other hand, i'm really an advocate of good science. by which i mean unbiased, well-conducted research in the nature of phenomena. what you say about the brain having an electromagnetic field (and producing brainwaves, classified as you know from alpha to delta)...that is another interesting development in brain science, which goes a long way into offering explanations for phenomena around meditation and such.
so you will find, with some patience, that i intend to give science a nicely balanced (i hope) role.
but, philosophically more fundamental perhaps, science is also an invention of the human brain. it is therefore by its nature limited in what it can grasp and what it can reveal. and there have never been unchanging, absolute scientific truths, as far as i am aware.
many things which are called science today, were mystifying, witchcraft-like in earlier ages. i'm not sure for instance what people thought of magnetism when they first saw it in action.
so that means, to play advocate of the devil ;-) , that things which seem mystical, unfounded today, could obtain a basis in science in the future.
this is why i am always surprised that there is not more scientific research (that i know of at least) in these areas. it would be nice to have myths busted, but it might also reveal that some myths are (maybe only partly) true, meriting further scientific study.
by analytical scientists, not by religiously biased people looking to confirm what they claim.
as an example, i believe it has been researched that zenlike, buddhist etc. meditation is accompanied by a rise in (electromagnetic) alpha waves in the brain. [i'm planning to look this up, but you are a step ahead so i respond from none-too-precise memory].
please have some patience, there is no way that i will renounce science. but i might caution against seeing rationality (mind, in the metaphor))as the only worthy principle to guide my behaviour. if this would even be at all possible!
hope to have cleared some things up, feel free to comment further if not.
Hi Frank...
Thanks for clarifying... I get it now. I had just recognized sections of the "style" as Sahaj Marg but I did not recognize the "names" and the words did not fit exactly...;-))
Don...
hi don,
thanx for your time too. it works differently and better for me having feedback and interest.
about the italics:
*if from a direct source, then i name the source directly.
*the other italics are imaginary quotes. like `How could a Catholic possibly marry an Orthodox Jew? It is unthinkable.'. i don't know of anyone directly saying this, but i'm sure something pretty similar has been said many a time.
the reason for using imaginary quotes [i will make this explicit on the blog, i did not realize that it wasn't clear, thank you for pointing this out] is that i want to illustrate in a general sense. which should give people from many spiritual movements room to fill in their own specific details.
in these `quotes'you will also see a number of imaginary `saints' `prophets' `gurus' etc. i will typically take some semi-mystical name, and attach shree or shri and/or His Holiness.
this gives results like in a previous post
`The Great Saint Bahjamahanuji, affectionately known as Bahji, said: Obedience is the highest form of Realization. Start your day at dawn with a pure Longing in your heart, repeating these words in your mind:
Oh Divine One
Oh Guruji
To be with You
is to liberate our hearts
from the Slavery of Material Existence
You are the Path
and the One to guide us to the Goal
Performing this prayer precisely as prescribed will benefit a practising aspirant in a most effective way. It is very important to use these precise words, since they carry a special spiritual charge. The Prayer was revealed to Shri Bahjamahanuji by his Master , Shri Ram Krasnapolsi, in a Vision.'
of course, you will recognize the style and the undercurrent of the prayer, since it is a direct imitation of the sahaj marg style & prayer.
but i don't want to restrict hese mechanisms to sahaj marg, since they occur in so many spiritual movements. and i am sure that people from other movements than sahaj marg will recognize these patterns and pitfalls.
#####
about power: this is a major pitfall, and i will definitely try to write something incisive about it. but these things take time, i need to find the right approach and the right words. and i would like to show how it ties in with other pitfalls.
to be continued therefore.
Hi Frank...
Thanks for taking the time to air your thoughts to all...
One suggestion: I presume that the "italics" are from another source than your-self (the hyphen is intentional...lol;-)))... I think a link to show the context of the citations is informative and sometimes even "important". I am always interested in reading the context and the originator of a quote... Thanks...
Just one comment:
When one empowers a person or a structure in one's life, then the pressure that could come from that person or structure has been given the power BY US to affect us positively or negatively as the case may be. To empower an un-tested, specially a self-appointed stranger (priest, guru, preceptor) above one's self, one's family or friends is to ask for abuse. We should not do it with doctors, mechanics, or experts of any "ilk". The decision and the responsibility should remain with the individual and the information to help in the decision-making should come from the most "expert" one can find, including non-conventional. In this day and age, I would even say that one should get more than one "source" (I would say at least two or three) of Information, even in "SPIRITULAITY" and religion. Most Masters state that we can and should at times go to others... and to question all the time, not just once and then FOLLOW. Religions are the ones that "curse to hell" those who go elsewhere for their "divine" contact. Spirituality and spiritual people, specially Spiritual Masters, should BLESS one on any path one takes.
We have seen the examples of the "catholic priests". That is not because all who joined the priesthood were born "predators" or pedophiles, but most were good people who entered an "un-balanced" power situation and became "abusers of POWER". Sex was just the "TYPE" of power that the media focusses on because it sells, but there were other forms of TERRORS from the priests. I was there!! I know!!
There are not many, if any, among us who are evolved enough yet to not be fascinated, attracted and even corrupted by POWER, so the onus is on us is to not create such "un-balanced" power structures in our lives, especially our Spiritual lives. To empower others in one's relationship with the DIVINE or the ONE is too silly and childish to even contemplate any more... Why ask a man if one can ask the ONE CREATOR? If one can't talk directly to the ONE, why on earth would we believe that the ONE would talk to our neighbour and not to us?
This SRCM experience, for many of us, should be THE END of our abnegation of our SPIRITUALITY or our SPIRITUAL POWER to another PERSON... what Michael calls our "Spiritual Sovereignty"
I agree with you in general... the details are just matters of "Point of View" (POV) and hence would just clutter your process or your line of thought...so I will stop here and just wait patiently for your next installment...
Thanks for your courage, your honesty and your candor... and your ability to still use your MIND after your 12 yr experience "in the heart" led by one who admits facetiously to having "no heart"
This is a the context from a quote I used from Chari on AIDS. Chari is the Master of SRCM (California) which claims to be a "heart-centered" meditation:
I was with Babuji in Rome, at the Vatican and the former pope was there. An old man very sick, very tired, he blessed the people in three languages, and finally he said something that made many people angry, he said he will offer a special prayer for people who have AIDS.
I was angry, I said why AIDS? Why not diabetes or legs broken,
and not AIDS which is a disease that should not be accepted nor
tolerated in any way. Many abhyasis told me that I have no heart when I say that. I said too bad I have no heart because if I had a heart I could not work. At the beginning of my spiritual life, I gave my heart to my master. And now I can only work with my head.
If he says no sitting I did no sitting, I must obey orders, you know. When I told Babuji what was in the pope's prayer he was also surprised. The religious leaders can pray for a specific group. In India our prayer is "may all be happy and healthy everywhere." One
prays not for whites, African Chinese… this is not
like that. May all be happy people everywhere.
This is loving CHARI, the Master of SRCM, who professes LOVE for ALL, that emanates from a "HEART-centered" meditation. And he tries to say the Babuji, the founder agreed with him...I don't believe him...I think he just makes it up as he goes along...
4d-don
thank you don, your encouragement and comments help me to continue with this blog.
many of the things you say i agree with, although i would probably other words, sometimes less sharp, sometimes sharper perhaps.
the reason why i frequently remain mild is that i do not really know of any large organization which functions in what i consider a spiritual way.
of course, for an organization proclaiming spirituality, it is an oxymoron if the organization itself is based on power, moral pressure, misleading information, money even.
but many if not most large organizations function in that manner.
however, the insistence that other things in life are of no importance, that only the Spiritual Progress offered by the Method has meaning in life (and after life...!), that is to me a danger sign.
especially if coupled with continuous positive `witnessing' or testimonials by movement members, such as in the srcm magazine `constant remembrance'. or such as the talks during meditation seminars.
most large organizations tend to suppress internal criticism, and deny both outside and inside charges of mismanagement or other defects. but this suppression is usually within certain limits, be they too wide usually.
in the case of many spiritual movements (including religions) , the suppression of criticism can take on absurd proportions. historically even to the point where criticizers were branded heretics, excommunicated or killed (!) etc.
but nowadays mostly the suppression of criticism is done through moral pressure and group mechanisms.
i think it is noteworthy that many of a spiritual movement's followers do not like criticism of the movement. this is not moral pressure from above, it has to do with their own need for security, their own need for a sure direction in life and Absolute Truth. one cannot in fairness blame the `leaders' for this. in fact i believe there is something in the view that the leaders are even picked, in a sense, by the group to reinforce the Absolute Truth that most of the group members are looking for.
well, this is just a comment, i need to think about it some more.
Hi Frank...
I read the analyses and comments on your blog with interest...
I offer a few comments and observations in humility, not in dogmatic "knowledge" to be "obeyed" or "surrendered to". ;-))
It is true that we "homo sapiens" (...or not so "sapiens"... but becoming rather than "being" sapiens)... (it is true) that we are a "herding" animal, but we are also a "pioneering" and a "exploring" animal, always looking for the "new land beyond the next hill", the new world, the new habitable planet, the new discovery, etc... The "pioneers" of our species will also have a "herding" instinct but that instinct will be balanced in and by the "lone-wolf", including the societal misfit (by choice), the mustang, of the herd who will usually walk alone and follow his/her own path.
In Christian terms: "The road is narrow and few go with you, on the road to Salvation (or liberation and detachement). (on the other hand)...the road is wide and many go with you on the road that leads to perdition." Any new idea or discovery comes from the few, the "pioneers" and not from the many who walk the beaten path and FOLLOW others. I always thought that SPIRITUALITY meant going ALONE with SPIRIT, not with a (religious) group that historically, develops systemic corruption in the inspiration for its "new" teachings and dogmas, and in the implementation of these teachings. In the case of SRCM (California),some of the teachings to be "believed" come from an anonymous "medium" as in "spiritualism" (contact with deceased spirits). And the morality that develops from the teachings such as the stand on "homosexuality" is not "lofty" or "inspired", but regressive and lowly.
Relating to SPIRIT and to the ONE-ness of SPIRIT (the DIVINE) is SPIRITUALITY, not relating to Matter (concrete, buildings, etc..), to a group, to politics (of a group), emotions (of others), battles (for control), controversies (abuse of power), etc...
It is true that most goups offer a sense of "belonging"...but is that not a trap? From philosophy: "Would you rather be Plato or a well-fed pig?" In other words, would one rather be FREE and THINKING and taking responsibility for one's actions, than OBEY-ing and "Surrendering" to another "self-appointed" MASTER who claims to get inspiration through a FRENCH lady Medium who can't be a "master" herself, because she's a woman. Then they claim that this inspiration is from the DIVINE or other "elevated souls" like the GURU's mother. ;-)) Another one claiming to represent the DIVINE. When do we take responsibility for our "sapiens" actions?
The religious rituals of confession, communion, Meditation on a GURU (in a group), and the goal, bliss, etc... are sensationalistic "feel good" tactics that are the toys of the "religious" manipulators of the masses. The attitudes of those who attempt to reach their invented religious goals resemble the attitudes of the "addicted" who run back to their "dealer" when the effect of their "opiate" have subsided, thus building a "dependency" on the dealer (the preceptor...not the Master who would be the "supplier" of the "illusion" that is "just around the bend" or after the next meditation...they claim). It's as if there was an END and that the addict will reach it...but we know better. In spirituality, THE JOURNEY IS THE THING.... not the goal.
The addiction will be to "belonging" and to the "one-ness" of the religious "family", US...etc... All this as the real family and friends are "rejected" as "THEM"... Like all drugs (including alcohol, and tobacco, and even sugar), it makes friends of strangers and strangers of family and friends, and even pets. For some "really addicted", the family of the Master and the preceptor could become more important and take up more time than one's "GOD GIVEN" family.
Then, since the meditation with a small group gives a sense of "belonging", a regional meeting will give a "bigger" sense of belonging.. a national meeting is even more "spiritual", all the way up the "pyramid of power", to the big events in India...
With that philosophy of "might makes right", the high numbers the Muslims, Christians, the Hindus participating in their own group rituals and "sense of belonging" must make them more "spiritual" than the Native Shahman who lives on the "Indian reserve" and has no church but walks alone in Nature communing with SPIRIT.
It is the "star" syndrome and not the "narrow path" that one journeys alone and that leads to "SALVATION". It is a game of "numbers" and the more the numbers, the more addictive...and the more the cost on the wallet and the environment (carbon footprint)...look at ROCK CONCERTS or Political rallies. Religion, like music, sports, politics, is a "STAR" factory.
You say: (and I concur)
To put it more sharply: one is accepted and cherished as a `spiritual family member' only as long as one is an unquestioning and uncriticizing participant. Because the whole well-being of the spiritual family depends on the Absolute Correctness of the Theory, the Holiness of the Leader, the Efficacy of the Method.
If this SRCM (California) is like most religions, the other "preceptors" will try and promise anything to get the "lost sheep" back into the "herd". But it is the "VATICAN" (the Structure, the Pyramid) that is "off the straight and narrow". The sheep and those who are really the "judas goats" can promise anything they want and many of those are "good people" but a little naive. The PYRAMID does not crumble, nor does it change, because of its GEOMETRY... The information in a religious pyramid comes from the top (the DIVINE) to the MASTER (Pope)...not from the People to the Master. The "spokesmen", without authority or power, are usually the "whitewash" of business and politics and religions. There are many "good people" who sell their souls, their morals, their ethics, so as to "fit in" or "BELONG". That is the dynamics of the GROUP and belonging to the GROUP.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts ...
Bless you...and yours ;-))
4d-don...
thank you don, for your encouragement and tips.
i will change the title link.
you can already see the visitor statistics under `stats' which is somewhere in the sidebar, perhaps you need to scroll down a little. so far there have been 239 visits...not very impressive but all things start out small.
also, i agree with you, i also don't accept all the content of the letter. i meant it only as an illustration that even if one is religious, one can strive to a more loving united humanity. and many religious people do so, and i value their effort. even if i do not subscribe to their views on god, afterlife, and similar attributes.
religions should be by their nature striving for a more loving united humanity...but in practice religions divide, more than they unite.
so the letter can also be seen as some effort to turn this tide a little. i appreciate this effort, even if i'm not religious by inclination nor by conviction.
i will do my best to write here with some regularity, but some things need some thinking, so it will definitely not be as regular as clockwork.
thanx again,
frank
Hi Frank...
The Title of this article links with the Wikipedia articles... It would be useful for those who want to link directly to this article to be able to so... The Link to the Wikipedia article is in some hypertext in the article already...
Thanks...
4d-Don...
thanx don, i have changed this now.
about the book `whispers from the brighter world' to which you refer (the spiritistic medium messages):
as you will recall it was released on chari's birthday, but only for limited pre-inscribers. in the year beforehand one could pre-inscribe at the cost of €250,- per book.
the book was described as containing unique & essential insights for spiritual progress. also, it would never be available again afterwards, it would not be reprinted.
a classic combination of fear & temptation.
but some abhyasis whom i knew were truly cut up about it, because they really could not afford such a book. and they felt, well you can imagine.
so i gave a talk (on babuji's birthday) in denmark, relating personal experience with a third-world surgeon who gave out his books for free, because he wanted his knowledge to be used by doctors all over, without financial barriers.
but, is said, i understand the wish to finance certain activities. and i so suggested that instead of selling the €250 books piecemeal, it would be better to sell them 10 or 50 at a time to well-off people, who could then give away a remainder to centers all over, so that everyone would have easy access to this valuable spiritual material.
you will not believe how i was reprimanded for this talk. someone was sent over to tell me that as a zonal-in-charge (which i was at the time, but only of the netherlands, so about 50 people...) it was entirely inappropriate for me to say things like that.
other abhyasis, some of them whom i had been friendly with for years, really avoided me and cut off their contact with me.
well, i won't go into all the details, the illustration is clear. but in retrospect, when the book finally came out, i was even more flabbergasted to see that it contained such spiritistic medium garbage.
i have looked at a few of the messages. they do not contain any new insight. they are just advertisements for the method, and especially for chari.
so in essence it was a money scheme. the reason why i mind is that it was not put simply as an open request: we would like to do this and this, for this we need such and such amount, if you feel like helping us, please donate.
it was intricately tied to spiritual progress and morality (we should help master and give money), and people really felt bad about not buying the book.
i will address these issues certainly in posts to come (afterlife, group morality & moral pressure, fear & temptation, money, power).
Hi Frank...
Good one also... no comments as I don't accept all the content of the letter but I agree with you that the gist of the content is more spiritual, moral and loving than most "relgions" and most "GODMEN" or self-called spiritual guides or Gurus or Masters, coming out of India or other parts of the world.
There is still a bit of "fantasy" and MYTH, such as "God Rejoices..." etc... that I don't want to propagate anymore...It is not what I see as "THE ONE" or the UNITY. It's time for what Arthur C Clark called: Childhood's End...Time to wake up and become "adults" and leave the myths behind in our childhood.
Just a few technical points. If you put your Title to the articles in the "Title box" of your post, then we who read and link to others can go directly to it and link other directly to it also. Your titles are now linkded to the "religious institute", the Wikipedia article, etc... and there is no way to access a specific article directly.
To do this place your Title in the Title box... There it is "hypertext" ;-))
If you want to see how many hits (readers) your blog gets, there is a "Site Meter" that is available with "blogger" (as well as other hit counters). You can either make the info available to all your readers or to just yourself. I (and Michael) leave it open for all to see how many "seekers" read my blogs (40-50 per day).
Bless you and your "sharp eye" and functionning intellect with its gifts of pattern recognition and/or "LOGIC".
4d-don
Hi Frank...
Good one... (I include only one quote but I agree with others also)
But I can rather safely say that one does not see animals praying, or meditating under the guidance of a guru of the same species (please let me know if you spot something like this in Nature, outside of humanity). Therefore we can safely conclude that it is quite unnatural to meditate and to pray...
This is a nice verbal twist. It is one way to put Pressure on a SYSTEM: to try and get it to adhere to its own "rules and criteria". I try to use THEIR WORDS and THEIR ACTIONS as much as possible rather than my "rants"! Lol ;-)) If Intellect has a value, it is as a "control" and/or a "system over-ride" for our emotions...If spirituality has a value, it is to hone and polish our intellect and our logic and not "pervert" it so, as religious literalists and "dogmatists" tend to do. The GAUGE of SPIRITUALITY should be see the ONE-ness or "UNITING" not DIVISIVE-ness... One can thus logically and spiritually claim that homosexuality is "ab-normal" (i.e. not the "NORM") because homosexuals represent only a small but IMPORTANT percentage of the general population, but to claim that is is "un-natural" and not "intended by the CREATOR" is a show of un-evolved realization of our spirituality and even of an un-refined INTELLECT. And it is simply not TRUE and not even LOGICAL... or at best, a perversion of logic. One can see where a small "desert tribe", wanting to capture a already occupied city (Jericho) would want the population to breed and build up an "army" so as to conquer a "weak" city and ensure the survival of the tribe. However, we now have an "exploding population", and do not need more "numbers" to move to and populate the STARS yet. So homosexuality could be a mechanism to regulate POPULATIONS and could be created by the ONE as other biodiverities.
As usual, Chari, does not claim to be the "Special Personality" (That is reserved for Babuji who only "infered it"), and he (Chari) does not claim to be a "Master of Spirituality" (that is reserved for Babuji (and Lalaji) also), but Chari claims to be a "master of humanity". Now to have contact with the ONE (what some call by the Gothic term, GOD) or with Babuji, he has a French (female) Medium bring down a series of Messages from "deceased souls" (including Babuji), confirming the correctness of Chari's words and actions. To claim authority from the Special Personality through messages from a French Lady Medium is really "un-spiritual" and "un-natural" also and smacks of "spiritualism"...Where is HOUDINI?... who spent much effort and time exposing these "spiritualist charlatans". Specially, remembering that "women" can't be Masters according to Chari (in transcript of speech at Satkohl Airport...I have a copy) as they (women) are not "destructive" enough. He claimed as a response to my questions in a e-mail that this meant on a "COSMIC" scale... so The GURU has a job of destruction on a COSMIC scale?? Is that "apocalyptic" enough for those who reject RELIGIONS and CULTS?
I concur with your understanding of the words used by Chari and SRCM, and their meaning, which the abhyasis now have to defend and become "apologists" for SRCM because of many of the teachings of Chari.
http://www.sahajmarg.org/youth/story92.html
Chari even teaches to children that GOD IS MALE, NATURE IS FEMALE at their site for children. Again we know that NATURE is MALE and FEMALE and more. We can, without much stretching of our little minds and it's imperfect logic, that the ONE would have to include and contain (at the very least) MALE, FEMALE and NEUTER. To say that GOD is MALE is so RELIGIOUS.
Your approach is unique...carry on...looking forward to the next installments...
4d-don
http://www.sahajmarg.org/youth/
story92.html
Yes the mission growing! It needs funds.This post is garbage and I feel it should be ignored totally!
One can see the falacy in the reporting here. None of the fund raising schemes are compulsory. It for those who can afford. People who cannot afford can listen to DVDs and CDs in monthly functions. Books from local chapter are available for reading free of cost. And most of all everyone who contributes is fully aware that he is not getting material return and that he is contributing to the overall functioning of the mission.
i do not think this post is garbage.
perhaps the style is not the most effective. perhaps there is some overemphasizing.
but as an ex-abhyasi with 12yrs of sincere and dedicated participation in srcm, i can without any doubt in my mind state the following.
i have seen from up close the psychological manipulations around `whispers from the brighter world'. this book was presented beforehand as absolutely essential for one's spiritual progress, and it cost €250. make no mistake, such pressure is not defendable under any spiritual flag.
i have witnessed a constant remembrance of the need for funds. i have seen auctions by chari, where an abhyasi who had just started, could finally obtain a book signed by chari for €10,000.
you can say that people do the same silly things over john lennon's guitar...yes you're right but wasn't this supposed to be a spiritual movement instead of a money machine? what guru should allow such idolatry that people would be willing to pay such ridiculous amount for his signature? shouldn't he be concerned that this abhyasi might be under some temporary influence and cannot really miss that money? should he be not concerned that this abhyasi might later regret his impulse?
and these are but some examples.
the funds of the srcm are a complete mystery, there is no public accounting.
if one is honest, about goals and means, then one has nothing to hide. therefore, charities typically publish their year accounts in the public domain. that way, everyone can see that at least the financial side of things is above board.
the very fact that srcm has no public figures AT ALL, forces people like don to create posts like these.
if you disagree, then please rebut using simple accounting numbers.
some vague reply like: `oh you are just so negative, but all is done in good faith and there is no compulsion' just doesn't cut any ice.
the claim in the two comments above that don's information is false...i would be happy to see this claim substantiated, since then finally there would be some real insight into srcm's financial operating.
however, i also know this: smsf was set up along with the specific goal of creating a trust fund large enough that srcm could live off the interest money alone.
so that the srcm would never have any financial worry.
this to me is also a very unspiritual way of hoarding money, completely comparable to what the roman catholic church does. in a world where poor people need direct incentives to better their economic position, a spiritual movement cannot in good faith put the perpetual functioning of its organization above the direct help which is necessary to ameliorate the poor people's economic position.
and so, no this post is not garbage. it is a necessary first step in demanding accountability of an organization which claims to need funds, when in reality what it needs is probably a reality-check. (yes, that is a word pun, some humour might cheer us all up :-) )
Hi Sagi, Madhav, Frank...
Sorry for the delay...my "comment alert" was not activated...It now is.
Frank...
Thanks for your comments and for bringing to my attention the comments on my other blog... I must not have my: "comment alert" on this one... I will rectify that and reply to those comments.
I appreciate your candor and your comments in defense of that blog.
The hard research was not all done by me, so although I understand numbers and financial statements (or lack of in this case), I can't swear to the accuracy of the material presented but I can swear that it was as close as we could come to the TRUTH, and it was presented so as to try and get some honest "rebuttals", along with some concrete "corrections" of anything that may be in error... That has not come and I now don't believe it will ever come. Transparency is not part of their "philosophy" or lack of philosophy...as chari claims for Sahaj Marg... ;-)). It seems that as true capitalists who rely on a "turn-over" in selling products, that the same "turn-over" is practiced with abhyasis...."LOSE one, gain 10". In Pre-internet capitalism, that could work...In the AGE of the INFONAUT, I want to see it EXPOSED and see if the new SPIRITUAL SEEKERS will be as gullible and naive as the previous group, who joined and supported in good FAITH and with open-ness and LOVE their hearts...
TIME WILL TELL if the AGE of the INFONAUT will free us from this type of economic as well as spiritual "manipulation" by the equivalent of our scheming western Religious Televangelists, but from India.... When exposed, they all scream "religious persecution", or "racism"... I care, but for the victims (lambs), not the Predators (lions) ;-))
These are historic times...
When I was much younger, I represented (for 7 years), our city and a neighbouring city on the Board of Governors of a large charity (80+ charities),in Canada, as well as being Vice Chair and "chair of the Management committe" of another consortium of 30 charities, and I was also, "assistant accountant" for a major bank in one of my "previous lives" ;-))
This lack of financial transparency for a "charity" would never fly for secular charities, in Canada. Religious Charities are another thing. The job for the "believers in transparency", is now to expose what our "governments" are insisting is "filed"... Our government will not take them to court, but if made aware, they may refer it to the police, it has to come from the PEOPLE or from US. The "Books" of SRCM Canada and all charities are now "on-line" at:
Simply Google:
Canada Revenue Agency, Charities
enter search as: Shri Ram Chandra Mission,
Location: North York, Ontario
(this site will not remember you id) so you can't "bookmark" and have to re-enter you info every time.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip/srch/sec/SrchLogin-e;jsessionid=L2BpmYCVXqGTGwM30x012
sL9vcpN7TCXP8T2GLJfC75jxTYmQLrQ!20
5909688?searchType=Registered
(you have to put it back together as it is too long for this page)
You will notice, a few years back, that although the Canadian abhyasis claim that all the money raised in one country, stays in that country, when the "LMOS school" was built, $60,000, left Canada and Chari, with his "new loyal" board of directors for SRCM Canada, simply took $60,000.00 off the books. This "change of the Board of Directors" seems to have been part of the "take over" scheme of Chari and his henchman, Santosh, a developper of Hotels and Restaurants in Austin Texas, and in charge of International Affairs for the SRCM (California)...It apparently happened in all countries as Chari took over the organization from the Babuji Family, and SP Srivastava and Umesh (Babuji's son) who were Presidents of SRCM (Shajjahanpur)during this period.
One can go on an on with this religious Mess, but I'm sure that you will see that SRCM(California) is not "transparent" in other countries.... The spiritual and intellectual misuse of power is one thing that one has to "FEEL" intellectually (logically) and emotionally and expose but the "financial" or economic ethics and morality should be "open" in our society. For SRCM (California), it is not...
In SPIRIT...ALL IS ONE...so it does not matter SPIRITUALLY...We can expose misuse and abuse, and still be ONE...
Sagi...
I have left...Now as a true spiritual person, I warn other about this moral and ethical KNOT that I see blocking the "spiritual Path" of those who become snared in the Material SPIDER'S WEB that SRCM(California) has become....
I do this as a DUTY, much as I would if I saw a tree across the road, not because I get paid or because I will go to the "Brighter World" because of it. Hopefully, you will also expose any misuse and abuse if you see it in your intellect (logic) or in your emotions.
SPIRITUALLY, we are all ONE....
MY TIME, sacrifice, dedication, my life, is all I have to GIVE and it is not WASTED, it is my choice to give, and I do it without fear, or expecting of reward or recognition... If others had done it for other "corrupt" RELIGIONS, we may not have had to wait for the INTERNET revolution to finally have hope for finding PEACE as a society.... NOW we can expose all abuse and warn one another... You can do it too...When you do, you will be glad that we are HERE... ;-))
Madhav...
Thanks for taking the time to think about responding to this "false" blog. Where is it false?
Read Frank's comments and his blog: "The Pitfalls of Spirituality" at
http://pitfallsofspirituality.blogspot.com/
and maybe try and learn from the more enlightened than yourself... Chari, trained as an engineer, has not spent much time on "logic, rhetoric, philosophy, spirituality" etc... in his life. He spent most of it making money for a group of "INVESTORS" ... He did not take up the cause of the poor, the "underpaid", etc.. in our society.
At least, religious adherents (adhere means to stick or to be stuck) see their "profession" as a LIFE's occupation, not a hobby or something they do in their "retirement".
How many POOR did you feed today? By how much did you reduce your carbon footprint?
How many ASHRAMS before SRCM is called a "major developper" as Santosh (SRCM's "international Affairs representative") now is?
Is what remains after the ASRAMS are built, NATURAL or Man-made?
BE LIKE NATURE or BE NATURAL...not like SAHAJ MARG, the "easy path". That "easy, natural" commercialized spirituality is similar to the "fast food" from MacDonald's. It does not synchronize with the ONE SPIRIT and hence does not feed the loftier qualities of ethics and morals of its adherents which are hence can not "enhanced" by Sahaj Marg.
4d-don