Monday, February 26, 2007

Analysing the Spiritual and Material Mess of SRCMtm

An Attempt at analysis by Alexis on Elodie' s Blog called "the Desperate Abhyasi" or in French: "Pour Que Vive le Sahaj Marg"
http://pourquevivelesahajmarg.blogspot.com/

More info available on:
Navneet Kumar (Babuji's Grandson) site:

http://www.srcmshahjahanpur.org.in/successor.html

Michael, Preceptor, who was in Paris (in the same builiding and rooms) when the allegations are said to have taken place. (see his perspective on)

http://innercircleofsrcm.blogspot.com/

Alexis said…

Let us try to recapitulate all these testimonials a little where the conditional tense is the setting:

In 1974, Babuji would have written a letter naming Chari chair of the SRCM. KC Narayana recognizes the authenticity of this letter but insists on the absence of the term “spiritual representative”. Umeshchandra Saxena says that it is a counterfeit, sheets with the heading of the SRCM would have been stolen and they would have been used to carry out this false document.

In 1980-82, Babuji would have removed Chari of all his functions and named his own son Umeshchandra Saxena chair and spiritual representative in 1982. KC Narayana says that this letter is a forgery. Babuji would have also written a “private and confidential” letter to MD Jahagirdar where it alleges that Chari to have tried on several occasions to make an attempt on “his days” during the 8 last years. He also announces there that he has named his successor (he does not specify who) and a committee of 4 people: SP Srivastava, Kashik RAM Agarwal, KC Narayana and Nasib Chand.

Babuji dies in 1983. Umeshchandra says that Chari poisoned him during his return trip from Paris to India. Chari takes out his letter proving that he is the successor of Babuji and claims to have undergone a poisonning attempt during his stay at Shahjahanpur. Umeshchandra Saxena also shows his own letter. The committee of work rejects Chari’s letter (what does he say of Umeshchandra’s letter?).

SP Srivastava is named president of the Working Committee. Chari creates his own SRCMtm, a society registered in (San Lui Obispo) California. What does Umeshchandra do during this time? Chari, develops his SRCMtm primarily in the west.

KC Narayana leaves it in 1991 to create the ISRC. SP Srivastava, at the head of the SRCM Shahjahanpur, publishes the 2nd part of the autobiography of Babuji. In 1994, SP Srivastava leaves his place to Umeshchandra Saxena. One of its preceptors left in the USA creates a website “sahajmarg.org” where he publishes the two letters of nomination. A legal battle ensues between the 2 SRCM’s. The commission for attribution of domain names gives reason to Umeshchandra in 2000. But faced with the legal proceedings of Chari, he lowers his arms (gives up).

Umeshchandra dies of “un-natural causes” in 2003. His son Navneet KUMAR Saxena succeeds to him. In March-April 2006, Chari’s SRCMtm seizes the ashram of Shahjahanpur. Navneet creates a new website in Janurary 2007, where he reopens the hostilities.

The continuation in the next episodes!

In parallel, Smt Kasturi Chaturvedi propagates the teaching of Babuji, without making any noise and without denying anything…

Attempt at analysis

Among all the facts which are described, are there any truths in them? Are there false ones? We do not have any means of knowing and we will never know with certainty. It will be the same for all new testimonials, and all the precisions of details which will be provided. That will enable us to supplement a historical table with the conditional one. It is thus finally without much interest, because each one will have to formulate his/her own opinion…

More interesting is the quarrel in itself and the various protagonists whom it clarifies little by little. One saw emerging from the shadows SP Srivastava, Umeshchandra Saxena. One could add Kashik RAM Agarwal, KC Narayana and Nasib Chand, or even MD Jahagirdar, Raghavendra Rao and Ramachandra Reddy…

The certainty is that there are at least two clans as Michael says, and that they accuse one another of the most heinous crimes. Their various testimonials or that of their closest relations will enable us to specify the contours of these clans, their points of confrontation. But the main lesson of all this matter, in a few words: how can a great Master like Babuji and his supposedly marvellous teaching - Sahaj Marg - could generate such decrepid individuals, who not being simple abhyasis, but people who claim the succession of the Master? Only one answer: the great Master and/or the method were already rotten! But it is also that there were some “damned” interests at play there since 1974-82 that such individuals with such behaviors would appear: money? power???

5 comments:

Michael said...

Hi Don,

I think you've put it all together here nicely on your Blog. Between Madeline's research, as well as Alexis' and Elodie's research, all of which you've reposted here, it is clear that Babuji's Sahaj Marg surgically removed all safegards from an otherwise sustainable spiritual culture that has managed to exist for centuries without significant corruption.

By instituting a singlular spiritual lineage and a monolithic organization, he eliminated any peers for spiritual leaders, and created a single organization that focused all it's disciples attention on one Master, one Mission, and as a result, one Cult.

The traditions that came before Sahaj Marg established a loose affiliation of seekers and encouraged them to associate with multiple teachers, as Madeline points out in her research. It did not require an organization to bleed wealth from its disciples to create an organization to pass the lineage on to the next generation. This created diverse choices for seekers, and through diversity comes strength.

Sadly, Babuji removed precisely what is needed to keep a spiritual system honest, a peer structure for teachers.

Chari has pushed the envelope even further, by turning potential spiritual lions into unquestioning sheep with his Mission that requires unquestioned obedience. By doing so he insures the only "lion" is the Master, who feeds on the absolute obedience of his disciples and has no peers to question his motives or provide alternative sources of information to his unquestioning disciples.

This is the spiritual equivalent of a bee hive. The Queen processes all food given to other bees in the hive and places a hormone that prevents another Queen from evolving. When the Queen dies, new queens emerge due to the absence of this hormone, and proceed to fight for the hive or create new ones.

We know that Chari's efforts were planned and calculated. We will never know if Babuji's intentions were misguided but sincere, devious, or if he was simply delusional. At this point in time, it really doesn't matter. The damage has been done.

The Sufi lineage is not about Islam. It came from an ancient spiritual brotherhood that extends to Vedic times. The Magi were part of this influential spiritual brotherhood. They influenced spiritual and philisophical though in Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern cultures. The Gnostics continued the tradition as yet another loosely affiliated group of spiritual seekers. Elements of this spiritual thread influenced and was embraced by Islam and called Sufism.

What is sad is that this rich tradition that spans Vedic Traditions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, has been trampled upon by this one organization!


Michael

4d-Don said...

Hi Michael...

Yes I agree that a picture is emerging that confirms that one can't egoistically "mess around" with other disciplines such as Raja Yoga, or Sufism "willy-nilly" without the confronting the danger of unleashing some pretty severe consequences.
The safeguards in those disciplines( such as the austerities in Raja Yoga) are there for a reason and were probably put in place after some extensive research and forthought and/or "inspiration". The have survived the test of time and still "feel" right.

What was done in Sahaj Marg byt the Masters (Babuji and Chariji) is the equivalent of removing the "love message" from the rest of the message of Jesus, the Christ. I call it the MacDonald-ization of Spirituality and Dr Varadachari called the "commercialization" of the MARG. It would leave a structural shell of the Christ Movement that would have become even more corrupt faster, without much of the "good" that was done by those "outside" the hierarchy but at the outskirts of the structure as it (the Holy Roman Catholic Church) was the only one allowed (in Europe) at that time by the "power base". Some "saints" did their best from the "periphery" of the corruption and performed true miracles.

Thank you for you comments, I always appreciate your input as it is always very "deep" and thought provoking. And you know me, I don't need prodding to "ramble on"...lol

You have to laugh because it's not funny...(old Acadian saying)

Or the American version...

You gotta laugh b'cause it ain't funny...lol

Go in peace my friend...

Don

Shashwat said...

hi, Don, Micheal,

We all should remember that a thousand fake cannot deny one truth, thruth is there and a way is also there to reach that truth, all these cults are simply playing on our inner urge to find that truth, not only SRCM but any cult for that matter. they all are strong because we are weak. we don't realize that truth is inside our own self and it cannot be known by any external support. I can feel the intensity of pain which somehow we all share, it is same pain which has joined us togather, but we must look inside also, we were fools to start-with, we were unaware of the truth and it was us only who accepted to become fool and allowed external people to manipulate us. this is happening since thousands of years, there is nothing new in it, inspite of all our effort we must also know that there is no cure to this world, i am sure we will ultimatly expose SRCM and it will become part of bad history, but it will then be replaced with another Sahaj... something new, there is no end to misaries of this world, now this does not mean that we should not resist the evil, we must, and this is what we are doing, only things is we should not expect any result out of it, i can see the begning of the end of SRCM Chari group. There are noticable changes in India at least.

4d-don said...

Hi Sashwat...

I agree that the search for perfection which would indicate a state of "no motion" is not a reality for a "universe" that is in MOTION and is ETERNALLY in MOTION... Perfection would meant that no more motion is "needed" so is "undesireable" as that "un-needed" motion would lead to "imperfection".

It has been, is and will be an on-going process that we should be grateful to be a part of and to be "conscious" of. A state of gratitude to me is more important that the illusion that if I follow one path or another, I will attain the "GOAL" of perfection, that Sahaj Marg claims is so important.

I guess the preceptors and the Masters are "perfect" so can teach it and "pass it on" to others through "transmission" and "cheat" the laws of "action and reaction" that is Karma. NOT!!

Nice hearing your comments from the school of Vivekananda and Ramakrishna, his Master...

4d-don...

Anonymous said...

In my last Blog posted please make the following correction

Errata
Read 2nd line of 2nd last para as Year 2006 not 2003.