Wednesday, August 11, 2010

READ AN EXCERPT: Chapter Twenty Eight ~ ON THE DEFENSE

One morning I was called into a very special meeting. I knew from the location that only the most elite members of the ashram would be present. I slipped into the confidential conference room that very few people knew about though it was just a few steps away from the room I shared with Helen. About twenty of the usual faces were gathered, sitting on the carpeted floor – secretaries, swamis, some department heads, people who just seemed, for whatever reason, to have won Gurumayi's favor over the years.

I noticed many of them had left colorful plastic sandals at the door. The sandals were pretty and good for the monsoon rains. Anything except plastic rotted and molded, never drying out. Gurumayi must have given the bright sandals out recently to some group in which I hadn't been included. Of course, no one mentioned them. They were just suddenly there, lined up at the door.

Katy Parsons welcomed us into the meeting and led us in the opening mantras. She had been around for a few years now, one of the most popular people in Siddha Yoga. Gurumayi seemed to love her and always wanted her around. And everyone else liked her too.

Katy was friendly to everyone, not just the elite. When she gave talks it sounded like a real person speaking. When Katy had first come to the ashram with her chubby, amiable husband and her seven-year-old daughter, her hair had been short and prematurely gray. She'd been some kind of non-profit executive out in the corporate world. Now she wore punjabis and her hair had grown long and become blonde.

Katy had a self-deprecating humor and was highly respected. Even though she was so new, Gurumayi had put her in all sorts of top executive positions – working with trustees and the board of directors -- the kind of positions that landed people in perpetual meetings and stress. But here in Ganeshpuri I saw Katy sometimes just walking around with Gurumayi as if she had plenty of leisure time. Katy was allowed to carry a small camera in the ashram and take pictures of anything she wanted. Snapshots. It was a strange sight. No one else – outside the official photography department -- was allowed to photograph anything, another new rule. Like everyone else, I liked and trusted Katy for her unaffected ways, and she always expressed a sincere warmth for me.

This morning Katy said that Gurumayi had asked her to come and give us an update on the New Yorker magazine article. We already knew something about the New Yorker article. It had started back in South Fallsburg the year before, just before I left. A journalist from the New Yorker magazine – one of the oldest and most prominent magazines in the country -- had begun visiting the South Fallsburg ashram and preparing an article about Siddha Yoga. Right from the start the journalist had raised alarm. She asked questions. The standard answers did not satisfy her. Instead of taking in all that the ashram had to offer, accepting our explanations for everything, she kept wanting to know what went on behind the scenes.

Since I was one of the heads of Registration back then, I had been put on alert. “Page Magdalena the moment the New Yorker journalist arrives,” I had been told, and there was a big flashing message in the journalist's computer record so that we wouldn't forget. The journalist was not to leave the lobby or go anywhere in the ashram without someone going with her.

By the time I was in India the New Yorker article was looming. The journalist wanted to print all sorts of rumors about Baba. We had been told the rumors, whatever they were, weren't true. The journalist was writing an article about the ashram, but I knew she couldn’t understand our practices or teachings at all. She was an outsider looking in. There was no way she could do justice to the greatness of Gurumayi and Baba. She would demean them, misrepresent them. The ashram had asked the magazine repeatedly not to print the article, but plans for publication, Katy said, were going strong.

"We have to stop this article from coming out," said Katy. "That's why you're here this morning,"...

261 comments:

1 – 200 of 261   Newer›   Newest»
Sara said...

Ho Marta,Go girl, go. Sara Miot

Anonymous said...

Well, isn't this one of the creepiest organizations one could ever read about.

The Reiki should have been aimed at SY, maybe it would have had some impact in healing, even a fraction of an inch.

Marta, they must be freaking out at the ashram as you publish this. I see the legal language types have placed a call. Highly expected that to begin.

Hang in there. If push comes to shove, unload all of the chapters at once.

What's up said...

I am LOVING this book more and more with each chapter. The story you tell is compelling.

I admire your courage and resolve.

Anonymous said...

I, too, admire your courage and resolve. Thank you for sharing your life with us in such an intimate manner. Thank you for revealing to us what the inner core of the ashram was like and how it functioned. It was/is appalling!

I know that SY did everything in their power to get the New Yorker article shelved. Despite having journalists on staff, they forgot that such antics means that the story is pretty juicy and makes publication a certainty.

However, I did not know that the antics also included psychic warfare! Reiki aimed at Tina Brown goes against the principles of Reiki and no legitimate Reiki Master would have initiated you let only colluded in such nonsense.

Creepy indeed!

What is even creepier is that the ashram could have a select group aiming at Marta! Fortunately these tactics are ineffective. Tina Brown is still editor of the New Yorker and just had a book out. The New Yorker article was published. As someone said on the LSY group, it was only the tip of iceberg.

Again, Marta, thank you!

Anonymous said...

So SYDA is threatening Marta with a lawsuit if she doesn't take her memoir off the internet.

Wait till they see the memoir of one of the women Muktananda sexually abused in Ganeshpuri - she's a good writer and I expect she'll get a publisher; she's been working on it for about a year now. And no, it isn't Joan Radha Bridges, it's one of Muktananda's many other victims.

Siddha Yoga can run, but it can't hide. The truth will out.

Good luck Marta, you're the new David for the SYDA Goliath. Your work is terrific.

Anonymous said...

That threatening call is just what one would expect from such a mob-like,bullying organization. A stupid organization, too. This call on behalf of the mob boss will do for Marta's book what the threats to the New Yorker did to increase that issue's sales -- especially among horrified cult members!

Anonymous said...

SY loves to threaten people but reluctant to actually go to Court unless they can have the documents sealed. Once in Court there is a public record.

The truth is that they will do anything to avoid a documented record of Muktananda's pedophilia. Once that happens it is all over.

It is so nice to see new cracks in their armor. They are all cowards.

ZEe

Anonymous said...

Can't pass up commenting on this. During the time described in this chapter, I was part of a team caring for a good friend (a well-known poet who was dying of lung cancer). This poet was close friend of Lis Harris and, at one point, she warned me that a very unflattering article about siddha yoga was about to be published in the New Yorker. She told me that the syda foundation was harassing Lis both directly (through lawyers) and indirectly...phone calls in the night, etc. Of course, I found this impossible to believe. How could the GURU countenance this kind of thing? Later on, after the article came out, swamis were sent to Boston for "damage control"..and to lie about the allegations contained in the article...some "higher-ups" in Boston were told by Swami Durgananda (now writing a column for Yoga Journal on ethics and spirituality!!!!!)that the allegations were true; the rest of us were told (by a different swami) that they were false.I got both stories: one of the dopier swamis (the guy with the big ears..can't remember his name) told me (and all the other sheep) that the article was "nothing but lies" told by "NY intellectuals" (snort and laugh). Then, on the other side of the swinging pendulum: an "important person" (who was a friend and who knew I had survived the Chogyam Trungpa scandals)...told me the allegations about muktananda were true...and "everyone" had known about them for years. Among the people who left siddha yoga at that time was Lester Strong's boss. I spoke to him and to his wife later and heard the whole sordid story of how gurumayi had sent a swami (Ishwarananda) to try and persuade him to stay...but this man knew Lis Harris and, once he read the article, that was it for him...no more siddha yoga. Apparently, he confronted the damage control swami very directly about the dishonesty of the situation and his disgust at how the community was being lied to . Also leaving siddha yoga at the time in Boston: a very well known former Buddhist writer who was a frequent contributer to Darshan magazine and an important "voice" for the yoga. Lester, of course, stayed on to eventually become "CEO".
I wish I had been one of those who left during the New Yorker debacle..but, no, being fairly new to the mysterious "guru path", I stayed on for several more years....waiting and longing for the promised "Gurukula"...and
"serving" the guru 24/7. It's sad for me to look back and understand my own "acceptance" of lying as "ok" (in the service of the guru) and to remember that awful "special" feeling that I hadn't deserted the ship; I had passed "the guru's test" (just like in those teaching stories) and now I would become a REAL disciple. It's difficult to remember how we were "played" by the guru, swamis and staff at that time..with unfulfilled promises of a real yoga, a yoga of "austerity" and "purity". And how the New Yorker article was, eventually, "co-opted" by gurumayi as a "teaching device" that separated the "true disciples" from those who "hadn't passed the guru's test". I still remember the excitement in Fallsburg and those small gatherings in Atma Nidhi for the "survivors". All of the sheep got to taste being "special consideration" for a month or so. It's so clear, in retrospect, how my own ignorance and confusion about guru yoga not to mention my addiction to mystical "visions" (as what gurumayi termed "signs of being on the right path") clouded my ability to think straight..turning me into someone i can barely recognize now. Sigh! I am tremendously grateful for the painful experience of siddha yoga...I never in a million years imagined that I could be someone who accepted what I accepted when I was a devotee. It has been a REAL lesson for me! Marta, thank you for bringing this all back with such force. The ability you have to re-create the full sensory aspect of siddha yoga is what makes this blog such a powerful vehicle for healing...the yoga can "leave" the way it first "attached itself" (in the deepest layers of experience.. in the way we first "experience"..through the senses). Thank you. Hang as tough as you can with those syda bozos. best luck toyou,
sadhvi

Anonymous said...

A good place to start to understand your legal rights.

http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/

ZEe

Anonymous said...

However, I did not know that the antics also included psychic warfare! Reiki aimed at Tina Brown goes against the principles of Reiki and no legitimate Reiki Master would have initiated you let only colluded in such nonsense.

Creepy indeed!

"Reiki aimed at Tina Brown goes against the principles of Reiki and no legitimate Reiki Master would have initiated you let only colluded in such nonsense. "




It seems that SY corrupts just about everything it touches. Now its misuse of Reiki, and whoever they had to help initiate this corrupt use of its principles.

SY, aka, Gurumayi had the SY scholars sit with their cells phones on, open and on their laps at the Religious Academic Conference, where the SY scholars were questioned by their academic peers about Durgananda's pages regarding Muktananda's sexual abuse, which were deleted before publication of SY's book, "Meditation Revolution".

All kinds of chanting and other deeply creepy ritual garbage was being directed through those cell phones, to try to "stop" the revelation of yet another SY debacle at that "public" conference.

Gurumayi had hoped that "Meditation Revolution" and her cadre of scholars she ensnared in SY, would help rescue her and "lift her up" to a point of being respected again, after the New Yorker article caused the damages it did in telling the truth.

Well, this woman just keeps stepping in one pile of shit after another, doesn't she.

With all of the creepy antics employed at that conference, she couldn't stop the truth from coming out there either.

Marta, let the community know if you need funds for any legal threats. I believe there are more than you might expect, who would contribute.

SY, Gurumayi, when are you going to grow up, come clean and get the help you so have desperately needed for so long?

Anonymous said...

Lis Harris' wonderful, fully fact-checked article from the New Yorker, is online at

www.leavingsiddhayoga.net/o_guru_english.htm

Anonymous said...

Dear Marta:

Ditto Francois on his offer to provide funding for your legal defense. I will e-mail you privately and make a similar offer.

SYDA needs to understand that you will NOT be silenced. Many people have already copied and saved all 28 chapters thus far to offsite files. If you are legally forced to take this site down SYDA can not stop the "bootleg" versions that will circulate among thousands of people. One way or the other, your story must be told and will be told, whether via public website or via e-mails of bootleg files circulating privately.

One would only hope that you fully anticipated SYDA using the law to try and strong-arm you and silence this story and were thus ready financially and legally in terms of the resources you have readied to help you. Please know that others will rush to your defense.

I don't know if you have the book fully written to its conclusion but it might be worth considering, given SYDA's having launched its legal salvo, posting the entire book on the website ahead of your originally planned schedule, in hopes that your work can be preserved one way or the other and communicated to those in the public who truly wish to read it.
Prayers and blessings for your success,
A fan

Anonymous said...

Dear Marta:

Ditto Francois on his offer to provide funding for your legal defense. I will e-mail you privately and make a similar offer.

SYDA needs to understand that you will NOT be silenced. Many people have already copied and saved all 28 chapters thus far to offsite files. If you are legally forced to take this site down SYDA can not stop the "bootleg" versions that will circulate among thousands of people. One way or the other, your story must be told and will be told, whether via public website or via e-mails of bootleg files circulating privately.

One would only hope that you fully anticipated SYDA using the law to try and strong-arm you and silence this story and were thus ready financially and legally in terms of the resources you have readied to help you. Please know that others will rush to your defense.

I don't know if you have the book fully written to its conclusion but it might be worth considering, given SYDA's having launched its legal salvo, posting the entire book on the website ahead of your originally planned schedule, in hopes that your work can be preserved one way or the other and communicated to those in the public who truly wish to read it.
Prayers and blessings for your success,
A fan

Anonymous said...

Now isn't this amazing? Both Lis Harris and Tina Brown were known to have experienced tremendous relief from back pain at exactly the time Marta was doing Reiki in Baba's house! This should really be in Ripley's Believe it or Not!

Anonymous said...

all i can say is WOW! go marta go!

Pendragon said...

Marta, thanks again for your writings. I appreciate your style as much as the content.

When LSY went up, I became aware that there were people who's seva was to read the site. (Every now and then I'd wright something directed to them).

It's very creepy that SY used "psychic warfare" against Liz. She told me years later that there were meetings with SY before it was published when they tried to talk and bully the article out of existence. Someone was even found wandering around in restriced areas of the building late at night.

This just shows how sick and desperate they were / are.

If things get tight you might want, as someone suggested, to put it all up at once....that will be the signal for folks to copy it all and put it up anonymously at different sites with links from LSY and other places. Then, if you have to, you can take your's down.

Keep the faith,

Pendragon

Anonymous said...

It's very creepy that SY used "psychic warfare" against Liz. She told me years later that there were meetings with SY before it was published when they tried to talk and bully the article out of existence. Someone was even found wandering around in restriced areas of the building late at night.

This just shows how sick and desperate they were / are.


With reports that they were actually going to try to steal the article's publication plates, as all their other attempts to stop it had failed. This is how "down to the wire" their frantic deeds indicate they went.

Sick and desperate indeed!

harlemgrrl said...

way to go, ganapati! your attempt to strong-arm marta into taking down the blog seems to have inspired extra chapters being posted with a brief account of your conversation. would love to be a fly on the wall for that update meeting...

similar to sadhvi, i look back on my decision while in siddha yoga to accept the lies and deception as a test or for a greater good, and could cringe at what i regard as a serious ethical lapse on my part. it took a few years to look at myself from that time with compassion. if for no other reason, i'm happy with the person i am now and it took going through siddha yoga to get here. siddha yoga gave me a clear example of the things i DON'T want from a spiritual path or myself.

although i knew about lawyers going after the new yorker and the "seva" of harassing lis harris, secret meditation groups and double secret reiki is an interesting twist. it's certainly desperate and also so small that honesty is not even a consideration. not with and among themselves. not with the devotees. not even today as mr. buga tries the threat of legal action to keep one person's account from being told.

i wonder where siddha yoga would be today if instead of the extraordinary effort to bury the truth, they followed kripalu's example and cut their losses with muktanada and created a new spiritual community starting with gurumayi. that seems to be what they're trying to do now, far too late in the game with john friend's anusara and douglas brooks' rajanaka yoga way ahead of them and fishing the same yogi ponds.

thanks again marta for your continuing to share YOUR story, siddha boogeymen and detractors be damned!

Anonymous said...

Ganapati Buga:

The key question you have to ask yourself AND ask Gurumayi to ask herself is:

"Do I really want to be forced into to US Federal Prison?"

Consider this your warning to leave Marta alone and let the truth be published. It will be your ONLY warning.

Anonymous said...

Marta,
please do let me know to where I could send a notarized letter which outlines the WITNESSED (no hear-say)activities and operations of sy. (until Dec 1999)

Working on smuggled sound equipment was the least of it.
Intimidations and meddling into private matters was another.
Falsifying account of death yet another.

(And numerous other incidences that I will not disclose at this moment.)

I used to work in police departments and superior courts and am versed on how to write documents intended for hearings/court.
If ever some support of this nature is required or requested, I am happy to comply. Deposition and all.
Please let me know if that ever would be helpful.(Have send an e-mail to you this morning which states my contact info.)
And perhaps it would be helpful to document everything and anything that could serve as a supporting document if ever needed.
As in "Just the facts' Ma'm".
What happened, when, where, who was present.
We all have the collective witness power.
It's not to assign blame or make emotional pleas.
Just to state the facts.
I am just envisoning cartloads of notarized letters piling up on some judges desk in some court, bearing witness to incident after incident in plain, simple narations of harassments, threats and worse.

I am not afraid of the works of goons.


And on a side-note:
A friend of mine came home one morning (that was mid 80's) to his home near the ashram and found a crew of males about to enter his home, with tools in hands...to do their noted work on plumbing-tampering, courtesy of gm.
so, just a reminder in case that they still apply those tactics...
but perhaps they have graduated to more subtle tactics??

Please just continue to publish.

regards,
Claudia

Anonymous said...

And on a side-note:
A friend of mine came home one morning (that was mid 80's) to his home near the ashram and found a crew of males about to enter his home, with tools in hands...to do their noted work on plumbing-tampering, courtesy of gm.
so, just a reminder in case that they still apply those tactics...
but perhaps they have graduated to more subtle tactics??

Please just continue to publish.

regards,
Claudia



Hi Claudia,

They seem to employ hacking computers, not hesitating to crash and burn systems if necessary.

Some questioning home invasion type procedures have been noticed in recent times.

For anyone with anything stored on your computers, please have back up copies outside of your computer.

-----------

Smuggling documentation has been called for on eXSY. cjl871 @hotmail.com is volunteering to take and all documentation anyone may have.

------------

Steven W., a former hired security guard at SMA, is talking to Sullivan County. Any documentation with SY publications asking for money for projects which never materialized, and a personal story on how anyone was taken in may be e-mailed to Steven. He has left his address at the eXSY Yahoo Groups site.

----------------

All of this together, could also be compiled to support any more movement SYDA would carelessly attempt to take with Marta and this story.

-----------

Anyone having any of the above, please come forward and provide it. Notarized statements appearing in a legal affadavit format would be top notch.


Thank you, Claudia, for this discussion here.

Anonymous said...

Any attempt by SYDA to suppress public discussion will be laughed out of court. SYDA doesn't have enough money to buy a judge who would hold in their favor.

Anonymous said...

Paraphrasing Geo. W. Bush:

Siddha Yoga hates our freedom.

Anonymous said...

Who told SYDA to let the lawyers out? Have they started smoking the kum kum up there?

Bad advice. Keep the lawyers out of it and ignore public discussion. Keep your trolls off the boards, too.

All you succeed in doing is stirring up your own s**t.

Anonymous said...

Claudia:

One reader of this board has high level contacts at US Customs Service (which covers smuggling to evade customs duties) and at IRS (which would cover a religious not-for-profit 501(3)(c) actually profiting from operations and pocketing the proceeds into the religious leader's personal offshore accounts).

IF anyone is willing to share copies of hardcopy evidence of either type of federal crime, please contact EXSY. The connections to these US Federal Agencies can be made VERY easily.

Anonymous said...

However, I did not know that the antics also included psychic warfare! "

well...then there's the "special puja"/homa done by the brahmin priests at GSP (at gurumayi's request)...to prevent Sarah Caldwell from presenting her paper at the scholar's conference....didn't work, apparently...
s.

Anonymous said...

It all seems so silly, casting spells and what not...

Enlightenment is not the escape of reality.

Anonymous said...

SYDA just doesn't GET IT. By threatening Marta this way, all they do is confirm what the LSY and EXSY people talk about.

And set the stage for even more people to leave.

Anonymous said...

Marta and others:
If you do receive a copy of that darned confidentiality agreement, could you post it somewhere for us--ex-sy or LSY? I remember being in a staff meeting years ago where we signed something like that, but it was said to just be standard and routine and we didn't receive a copy of it. So we don't know what we signed! If we could see a copy of it, maybe some legal types could let us know how water-tight it is.

We also signed one when we left, but I think that they didn't start that till after you were gone. Anyone have a copy? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hello Guys,
Its nice to see emmotional, physical and financial support given to martha, i am from India, though currently in the US i will be returning shortly.. Let me know if you need anything about this organisation from India, i will be glad to help.

Anonymous said...

Martha we are all with you..!! SY has to stop all the nonsense it has been doing.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the person leaving to India can try to contact customs official on that end?

The Minister President of Maharashtra (late 80's early 90's) used to visit gsp a lot. Perhaps to current elected official is not so much in the shirt-pocket of sy as the previous ones and would take some stern look into their dealings. For e.g. how gsp had constructed buildings without permits etc.

c.

Anonymous said...

Martha, if the sy goons harass you, give the story to the media. Let the news helicopters hover over the ashram and spread the news further.

Anonymous said...

When is a class action suit going to be filed against Siddha Yoga for the pedophilia that occured in the ashram? A suit of this nature would resemble the ones now being successfully litigated against the Catholic Church in the United States. Isn't the pedophilia that occured and the subsequent threats and conspiracy to cover it up a form of terrorism? Maybe some ex Siddha Yoga member should anonymously tip off the US Department of Homeland Security since Gurumayi is a foreign national and she and the organization she helms, with its world headquarters in India, are guilty of terrorizing Americans on US soil with harassment and threats of physical violence and baseless legal actions. Siddha Yoga isn't the only organization with access to high powered lawyers. There are other high powered law firms in the United States that would be more than happy to go after Siddha in hopes of a big payday. This is bound to happen sooner or later, and when it does it could bring down the entire organization in the United States. Any suit has a better than 50-50 chance of resulting in a huge settlement that could affect Siddha's assests in off shore accounts. The US has the ability to seize those assets if a class action judgement is successfully brought against Siddha or if some kind of domestic terrorism charges are proven in court related to the pedophilia cover up. It is much easier for the US to seize organizational assest based on terrorism gounds with all the new laws recently passed in the United States. The climate is ripe for that type of seizure and the US government is certainly in need of the money. And Siddha Yoga has lots of that. If someone drops a dime to the Department of Homeland Security and they investigate the pedophilia charges and their subsequent cover up by the ashram and this criminal activity is proven in court, Gurumayi may even be denied entry into the United States. Siddha Yoga has made far too many enemies. It's bound to backfire on them sooner or later. They should cease and desist at once from making any further threats against Americans exercising their first amendment freedoms, especially against those that have been victimized by the SYDA pedophilia cover up, which could spawn a major class action suit against them seeking compensation for personal injury. One ad in USA Today could result in alot of victims and witnesses from around the country coming forward to testify and take part in the suit. It would get the ball rolling and Siddha victims would finally get some justice.

Let's start posting these blog chapters on digg.com so they'll get maximum exposure and shame Gurumayi for her adharmic behavior, and punish her and her organization for the persecution of Americans who exercise their constitutional rights of free speech.

A link to this blog should also be forwarded to the Department of Homeland Security with hyperlinks to posts by victims of Siddha pedophilia and subsequent harassment from the organization. The are plenty of bureaucratic wonks within the Department of Homeland Security who I'm sure would like to secure a promotion for themselves by breaking the Siddha pedophilia cover up wide open and seizing some funds for he government. If they can do it to the DC madam, they can do it to Gurumayi. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guru.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said "The US has the ability to seize those assets if a class action judgement is successfully brought".

Let it be known that yet another avid reader of this blog has a close friend at the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). These are the people that have successfully shut down banks supporting North Korean missile and nuclear technology sales, Iranian and other Middle Eastern banks through which terrorist funding flows, and have shut down Latin American cocaine and other narcotics cartels. It would be extremely simple for this reader to simply call this friend and set OFAC on SY's trail.

But...doesn't formation of a class action lawsuit require a class of people to come together and levy the suit in court?

Perhaps NOW is the time for those of us harmed by SYDA and by Malti to actually come together PUBLICLY to press such a suit. If somebody DOES place such an ad in USA Today, please make sure to post announcement of such HERE so it is not missed. There are those among the readers here who are now ready to step up to the plate and risk EVERYTHING to see justice done.

Anonymous said...

Hey Siddha Management,

I'm posting these blog entries on digg.com. And there's nothing you can do about it. I'll sue you for violating my constitutional rights if you try to curb my first amendment freedoms AND I'll WIN because I am within my rights and I love to sue those that violate them AND I happen to have an excellent lawyer who is favored by judges for his righteousness (unlike your corrupt guru). In fact my lawyer would jump at the chance to sue a big bucks organization like Malti's. I'm also screen shoting these blog posts AND keeping a catalog of them by posting them on libertarian web forums. What are you going to do about it? Nada thing ! You don't control cyber space Malti, so get over it now. You are BUSTED and your pay day is nearing.

I would definitely drop a dime to close friends at OFAC. Its time to go after Siddha and run Malti out of the good old US of A on a rail. Lets send this blog viral.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous who's asking us to "drop a dime":

For OFAC to act, it must be actionable to go after the assets. To make it actionable, either the executive branch or the judicial branch (or I suppose the legislative branch also but who can count on anything from them!) has to find that the assets must be recovered. And for the judicial branch to do that, it involves a court case.

Are you willing to step up to the plate? Are you willing to contact your righteous attorney who'd salivate over the winnings from an entity like SYDA? Are you willing to put your mouth and your money where your typing fingers are, and ask your attorney to openly solicit plaintiffs to pursue a class action suit against SYDA and Malti?

I challenge you to step up to the plate. I will fall in line to support it. Not only OFAC, but IRS and Customs can potentially be brought into this for tax and customs duties evasion. The connections are being worked even as this is being typed, this work began today once notice of Ganapati's call to Marta became public knowledge.

Have your attorney figure out a way to solicit plaintiffs. Particularly if there's a way for the plaintiffs to remain anonymous for their own physical safety. I'm wagering if that were possible, you'd get a LOT of people to sign on. Even without that, there are a few of us now willing to push SYDA over and collapse it and send Malti packing home somewhere...or at least overseas somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Hey Marta,

Don't listen to Ganapati. Chances are you didn't sign any confidentiality agreement. They are simply trying to fake you out. It will be easy to verify the authenticity of such an agreement with a savvy computer geek too. Dan Rather was toppled in afew days when he got scammed with doctored documents. And any jury in the United States would side with you in a dispute over questionable documents that claim to provide confidentialy to an ashram accused of pedophilia headed by a Guru that wears Prada, especially if that jury is chock full of Christians. If I were you I'd retain a good lawyer and go after Siddha for harassment if they continue to call you. I doubt they have authentic documents with regard to confidentiality, but if Siddha continues to claim they have authentic documents in an effort to silence you, I would have your lawyer contact Siddha's lawyers and demand the original document so it can be examined by an expert and authenticated. And if the document they provide proves to be a fake, I would pursue a fraud action against Siddha, in addition to a criminal complaint on harassment charges if they don't cease and desist their threatening calls. It should also warm your heart to know that a credible expert can be found in the US that would cast doubt on the authenticity of ANY document. That's what I love about this country.

Put a pay pal button on your blog if necessary so anyone can donate to your legal defense fund to fight Siddha and its thugs.

Be brave Marta. The constitution protects you and the right lawyer will defend your constitutional freedoms, and leave Siddha footing the bill for any frivolous suits. That leave Siddha with less money to buy Gurumayi those expensive french hats that look so ridiculous on her.

Anonymous said...

Tina Brown ruined THE NEW YORKER. It was trashy and celebrity driven under her hand. She is no longer the editor as an earlier commentor mentioned. She is known, however to be a very nice woman.

Anonymous said...

"Put a pay pal button on your blog if necessary so anyone can donate to your legal defense fund to fight Siddha and its thugs."

YESSSSS!!!!! ABSOLUTELY!!!!

Marta, Please PLEASE consider this. I'd jump at the chance to help fund your legal defense!!!

Anonymous said...

Let's be very careful.Of course we want to go after the wrong-doers, and we can. These people are vulnerable. But I feel the presence of trolls in our midst advocating courses of action designed to fail.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I'm not sure my lawyer would be a good choice to go after Siddha, since he is in such big demand to represent criminal defendants, but he has won one suit I brought against a major US corporation for fraud and he also won a malpractice case for me. So he's crackerjack and would be ready, willing and able to file another suit if I was targeted by a corrupt ashram operating in violation of the US constitution in the homeland. He will however go after Siddha on my behalf if they try to silence me by taking unlawful action to violate my first amendment freedoms.

Having said that, I will call him and ask him to recommend some high powered firms that are looking to cash in on a class action suit against SIDDHA for the pedophilia cover up ex siddha yogis have been talking about for twenty five years. One guy told me he actually made the table that the guru used to conduct his underage activities. He used to be in charge of the crew and left in horror and disgust. He was also harassed after leaving Siddha yoga. I can't believe it hasn't happened yet since I've seen these abuses covered in major publications. I have a feeling some hush money is being paid out. That is why a case has probably not been initiated thus far. The first thing I would do is line up a firm, then have that firm take out a full page ad in the NY Times and USA Today soliciting plantiffs to come forward to take part in a class action suit against Siddha for alleged pedophilia. That ad alone would damage Siddha, put them under the glare of the meida spotlight, and draw scrutiny from the department of homeland security. It only takes two plantiffs to launch a class action suit, then others can join in as they come forward. I'll research this and report back on the comments on the latest blog posts of Marta's. I'm a big fan of her writing, AND I am fed up with Malti's scam. I would like to send her packing as well. She is very hateful and the acitons of her organization are dangerous.

I encourage everyone who reads this blog to post it far and wide on the internet. Post it on your own blog, on yoga forums, on political forums, online diaries that are part of communities like MYSPace and to digg.com. If you post it on digg, use a salacious title that will draw readers attention to it.

On another note, Marta should be careful because I've seen Siddha thugs physically attack people and do bodiy harm on orders from the asharm. These activities on the part of the ashram amount to racketeering. Their are plenty of witnesses that will testify that certain incidence took place if a case goes to trial in the US against Siddha. Any law firm that takes on this case against Siddha is going to have a big payday. Its time to find that law firm, and with all the sharks in the water these days, that shouldn't be hard.

Anonymous said...

"On another note, Marta should be careful because I've seen Siddha thugs physically attack people and do bodiy harm on orders from the asharm. These activities on the part of the ashram amount to racketeering. Their are plenty of witnesses that will testify that certain incidence took place if a case goes to trial in the US against Siddha. Any law firm that takes on this case against Siddha is going to have a big payday. Its time to find that law firm, and with all the sharks in the water these days, that shouldn't be hard."

I have only one response: LET'S DO IT. PLEASE FIND THAT LAW FIRM. IT'S TIME TO LINE PEOPLE UP.

And as for physical violence and racketeering: You can add a less recent (yet still usable) connection I have at FBI to that list of federal connections.

Malti very likely had no idea what she just stepped into by having Ganapati harass Marta. The genie is being let out of the bottle. I'm tired of playing Mr. Nice Guy satisfied to just bitch about all of it on exSY anymore. It's time for serious federal action.

Anonymous said...

I e-mailed news-tips@nytimes.com
regarding this blog, asking them to please publish an article about SYDA, what was done to Liz Harris and her editor, and the threats they are making to close down this blog.

harlemgrrl said...

without giving the foundation more of a current rep than it deserves, i'd like to see them produce the confidentiality agreement they claim marta signed. the world has changed since ganapati's old seva assignments, especially with the web (see http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/SYDA-Yoga/aol-syda-discussion-4 for one of many examples).

in the past, a phone call threatening lawsuits might have made an issue go away but this is 2007. within one day that call has been made public, rallied support on marta's behalf, gave wider exposure of her story through the guruphiliac blog and inspired a tip to the ny times. at this point i’d put my money on that old chestnut of he-was-acting-on-his-own-without-our-knowledge before fallsburg goes to the mattresses.

siddhayogis® when will you learn? it ain't always the crime that gets you, it's the cover-up.

Anonymous said...

wow, bravo to marta for continuing to publish, and bravo to the wise person who just sent the 'tip" to the ny times!

i was there in fallsburg the summer the fateful new yorker article came out and remember well the dire warnings to NOT read it under any circumstances.

I was being a good sheep at first and dutifully choosing to not read the article. But then, some wonderful infiltrator started leaving xeroxed copies of the article all over the ashram. Everywhere! I'd go into the bathroom and a copy would be rolled inside the toilet paper roll...i'd go into the bookstore and someone had shoved a copy inside a Darshan. I'd go into the phone booth to make a call and there it was tucked in the NY yellow pages. i was so freaked at the time, and so busy being a good little brainless devotee, i took all the copies i kept finding and went to report the incident to Security, if you can imagine.

And what was priceless was the woman in security, a pretty gruff older lady, was unfazed. She said, "hey, we're not gonna track all these contraband copies down. Maybe you're finding these cuz the shaki wants you to finally read it? It's all TRUE you know!"

And so, that's how i came to read the damn thing and how the long, long process of letting the scales fall from my eyes began...

But it worked well....maybe the answer is to get copies everywhere we can, just as the other poster suggested...Except now we've got the internet, so much more efficient.

Anonymous said...

Having said that, I will call him and ask him to recommend some high powered firms that are looking to cash in on a class action suit against SIDDHA for the pedophilia cover up ex siddha yogis have been talking about for twenty five years. One guy told me he actually made the table that the guru used to conduct his underage activities. He used to be in charge of the crew and left in horror and disgust. He was also harassed after leaving Siddha yoga. I can't believe it hasn't happened yet since I've seen these abuses covered in major publications. I have a feeling some hush money is being paid out. That is why a case has probably not been initiated thus far. The first thing I would do is line up a firm, then have that firm take out a full page ad in the NY Times and USA Today soliciting plantiffs to come forward to take part in a class action suit against Siddha for alleged pedophilia. That ad alone would damage Siddha, put them under the glare of the meida spotlight, and draw scrutiny from the department of homeland security. It only takes two plantiffs to launch a class action suit, then others can join in as they come forward. I'll research this and report back on the comments on the latest blog posts of Marta's. I'm a big fan of her writing, AND I am fed up with Malti's scam. I would like to send her packing as well. She is very hateful and the acitons of her organization are dangerous.



It's one thing to place a full page ad in the NYTs and USA, but please don't put former children raped by Muktananda in the frey of this, unless they are fully ready to come forward of their own accord.

Imo, it will be much easier to go after SYDA's shady financial and smuggling history.

Steven W., former security guard at SMA is talking to Sullivan County officials. Steven saw alot. Lets see people put together packages to send to Steven, and he will carry them with him to Sullivan County. Include publications which SYDA advertised to take in money for projects which never took place. SYDA kept the money. Write your story about how you were taken for a ride in these scams.

Any info re: smuggling and SY has people ready and waiting to sift through it, to see what can be used to begin to go after SYDA. Submit it to eXSY.

Two tangible avenues ready and waiting for people to step forward and put the paperwork in place to begin to have County and Federal officials look into these matters.

Steven W. has threatened to call a Sullivan County Town Hall meeting. If he does, anyone in the area can pack the venue, tell first hand of SYDA's corruption and join Steven's voice in demanding action.

Unless those abused are ready to come forward, leave it please. Focus on these other readily available avenues of recourse. People are on it.


Thank you.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of sick fucks to turn Marta’s honest sharing into an occasion for such hatred and efforts to destroy what you once loved and cherished.

If you are examples of the outcome of Siddha Yoga, then I agree that Baba made a BIG mistake by opening the door to all without qualification, against the injunction of the scriptures.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of sick fucks to turn Marta’s honest sharing into an occasion for such hatred and efforts to destroy what you once loved and cherished.

If you are examples of the outcome of Siddha Yoga, then I agree that Baba made a BIG mistake by opening the door to all without qualification, against the injunction of the scriptures.


Actually, it would be your baaabaaaaaaa who was the *sick fuck*. He gave countless females high fevers and infections from his *sick fuck*.

I'll have to say:
baba made a BIG mistake by opening the door without qualification (lineage, Nithyananda certainly didn't leave him one), and going against the injunction of the scriptures.

SICK DARK (black magic) left handed tantric he was.

Sick fuck muktananda... not that's one for a T-shirt line.

Maybe they could rename sma to SFM! Think the sick bitch of DeVille would go for it?

Anonymous said...

"Now isn't this amazing? Both Lis Harris and Tina Brown were known to have experienced tremendous relief from back pain at exactly the time Marta was doing Reiki in Baba's house!"

--No kidding? Where did you hear that?

cn

Anonymous said...

Amen to all the comments here!

Many have remained skeptical about the abuses because this kind of legal action was so notably missing over the years. This should certainly clarify matters.

Only leave out the terrorism charges mentioned by someone. That's not the issue here.

Anonymous said...

"Now isn't this amazing? Both Lis Harris and Tina Brown were known to have experienced tremendous relief from back pain at exactly the time Marta was doing Reiki in Baba's house!"

--No kidding? Where did you hear that?

cn


CN: Yes. Kidding.

Anonymous said...

"Think the sick bitch of DeVille would go for it?"

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Cruella Deville!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Anonymous said...

SYDA's mistake was to attempt to use the Reiki to hurt Lis Harris or Tina Brown or the New Yorker "O Guru Guru Guru" article's publication.

Everyone in Reiki knows it will not flow for use to harm others.
Otherwise it's not Reiki, it's something else. Reiki only heals.

If anything, doing all that probably helped to ENSURE the article's publication and a much higher energy level for Lis and Tina!!!!

Anonymous said...

Morning, So. Fallsburg. Gurumayi has called for a special darshan of all the people who used to do reiki and yagnas and so on to stop critical publications. Current managers and other important sevites are there as well.

"Whose idea was it to do reiki against Tina Brown and Lis Harris?", Gurumayi asks, as all assembled tremble. No one answers.


"It wasn't MY idea! I wouldn't ever have suggested something that ridiculous. Would I? So who suggested it?" Gurumayi waits for an answer. "Was it you, _____ (fill in the name).? Was it?"

"No Gurumayi," says ________.

"Yes it was, it was you. Look how you've exposed Gurumayi to ridicule. Who told you to create a reiki group and do something so stupid? Who told you?"

"It was my idea, Gurumayi," says _______.

"Go. You all make me sick. You've never done anything for Siddha Yoga. You just eat my food and waste my money. Go, you think you all work so hard, but you give nothing, you accomplish nothing. You only think of yourselves, you have no devotion, no love. Go."

The assembled managers and secretaries and other sevites pranam deeply, and leave, hoping Gurumayi will soon call them back and show them that she really does love them. None of them dare to admit what they all know: it was Gurumayi's idea.

Anonymous said...

I got a couple of dozen calls from "restricted" yesterday, and a whole bunch at my home while I was away on vacation. No messages were left.

Is SYDA trying to reach me? If so, don't waste your time or mine.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

To: Morning, So. Fallsburg. Gurumayi has called for a special darshan

Most excellent writing. Herman Wouk's Caine Mutiny comes to mind. Group behavior study par excellance.

I believe the vignette you posted may have really happened. Saw many such insanities. Wasn't it all that Milarepa thing? Repeat, repeat, repeat. Many times the guru's order was to, 'do it again'.

I remember the hardest, toughest guys in sy blazed through the repeat, repeat repeat like they were on fire. They thought, like Mila, they would become realized somehow.

Many from sy have gone on to become teachers in their own right. Yes, with people (that's 'sheeple' in eXSY speak), willing to pay for the priviledge to hear these folks speak.

Haven't you heard? Getting paid for speaking is BIG BUSINESS in America. Especially about God. It's our specialty. Selling. Anything.

To: S.Wormuth and the other hate enfused folks ready to imagine horrible things happening to other people. examine your posts here. Not the approach to take to get what you want. Or is it?

The posts here have gone to flames. Uncivilized, violent. It's sick. When I got angry folks called me back. I appreciated the help. I am angry about what went down in sy and in a lot of other places also.

The eXSY culture someone referred to in Marta's Chapter 27 comments section as being 'too frothy' I would add the word 'turgid'. I looked it up even, fits perfectly:

Inflated, overblown, or pompous; bombastic: turgid language.

Mr. Wormuth, never practiced sy. That could be an advantage in some cases, in other's not so much. I think it leaves a big blank in his being able to navigate these waters. Also if you read his posts carefully you will hear language that clearly indicates his motivation. Class action suit yadda yadda yadda. He's totally amateur, as most sy yoga blowhards always were. Remember GA? Fall again for this kind of guy
dontcha?

There are better ways. Think of the work of Kofi Annan, Peter Senge. There's a thing called 'Appreciate Inguiry' gaining ground in solving the insolvable.

Let's not be stupid immature creeps in the world we live in any more. Useless lawsuits, There are other options, unless you suffer from litigiousness like many do here in America. Sue the bastards!

It hasn't even been clearly stated what it is eXSY is looking for. Reread the posts here. The frenzy is incredible. No clarity. Just violent, murderous even, language. Terrible. Sick. First before the lawsuit, get some help with the vengeful rage you all feel.

Please. I am working on mine, as I was asked, on this blog.

BTW Fred Pooles, Authentic Writing Blog is worth a visit. Here's his introductory post. Fred called families 'cults'. http://fredpooleonwriting.blogspot.com/2007/02/call-to-arms.html

Very interesting idea.

MC

Anonymous said...

MC:

An eye for an eye.
A tooth for a tooth.

Period.

Anonymous said...

MC:

An eye for an eye.
A tooth for a tooth.

Period.

Anonymous said...

Hey MC - you are right on. Some of this ex-SY hysteria even seems to me to be posted by trolls pretending to be in exSY.

All this burn them, sue them, blah blah blah is a waste of time, in my view. Eventually, law breakers and criminals get justice; in the meantime, Siddha Yoga, like many other cults, has spawned an anti-SY movement which has helped warn off lots of people, helped teach many people how to grow into freedom and out of cult situations. That's plenty productive, in my view, without all the "revenge revenge" rhetoric.

MC, I'm with you.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

Yep. All of this sue 'em stuff is ridiculous. For starters, the chief culprit is dead and buried. As for GM trying to hush things up - that's technically not a crime. Afif is probably fair game and could be pursued. But he can only be sued by the people he raped and not a whole class. Imo, it's best to drop the litigious rhetoric and focus more on making sure that GM's henchmen don't succeed in getting this blog off the air.

Anonymous said...

It's so ironic...but I feel that all of this is inevitable and, not only that, but that it's "the guru's wish" (unexpressed)....egad! that the organization be brought to its knees, disembowled and handed to her brother in useless shreds. She can then leave and go back to "civilian life" as she seems to have been longing to do for many years...and without "losing" anything she really cares about or accepting responsibility..it's "so gurumayi"...put the blame on others and play the "innocent victim"...back all aching from too many darshans, so put upon by selfish devotees...blah blah blah. Someone mentioned the hatred and feeding frenzy arising as the result of ganapati's threats to marta...I don't see it that way....I see, beneath this whole charade, the revenge fantasies of gurumayi...finally she can destroy something that has held her "prisoner" for so long, something built by "her baba"...she can get back at her brother, her mother and father and ,most of all, baba...and "move on" to a nice life of her choice.
and, no matter what "we" do, we will help her realize her dream...that's the irony of it. Does anyone remember the particulars of Rashneesh at the end of his life? Was he, eventually, deported? can't remember.

Anonymous said...

Might any of you have thought about the fact that the reason for the hysteria, the reason for wanting the revenge, is to push the organization down and crush it so beloved family members can FINALLY break free of the cult?

Despite ALL the information presented to the cult's wrongdoings, some of our family members still patently refuse to see it, accept it, read about it, hear about it, or take it in. And the ONLY way at this point that they can be freed is if SY is crushed permanently.

We want our family OUT of the cult.

Might this explain the hysteria?

Anonymous said...

Re: Typo in MC post

That's Appreicative Inquiry,

the rapidly growing discipline of positive change

http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/

Re: Post by Suffering family member:

Quote:
"the so beloved family members can FINALLY break free of the cult....
And the ONLY way at this point that they can be freed is if SY is crushed permanently."

End Quote

If this line of thought would get you what you want, I'd say go for it. But it's not likely.

We don't ever control our families, except through cooercive means. We can only love them. Try that. Let them believe in fairy tales. Life is hard enough. If they are looking for the truth they will find it, without your harrassment. You will feel better too.

Sorry you are suffering this way. Been there.

Besides, is there anything left of SY? Only in our memories.

MC

Anonymous said...

Not to mention those family members still giving your OWN hard-earned money (not theirs) to SYDA when we really wish they wouldn't...but they won't listen to us?

It's like one can never fully escape. No matter what - - I have to hear screechy Malti's voice or Rapist Muk's voice on CD's nearly every day, put up with having my money given to Malti when I don't want it going there, surrounded by their pictures when I really don't want to see them, smell the incense when I really don't want to smell it anymore, have my family member ring a danged bell every danged morning to all of these pictures, always have candles burning all the time.

Drives me INSANE. I'd rather try to use my connections to try and push SYDA over and collapse it.

And NO I can't escape the relationship there are CHILDREN involved.

Bark at me all you want, folks. I've made a decision. The holy war has begun.

At this point the only thing that would persuade me to put my guns back in their holsters are for MALTI HERSELF to DIRECTLY tell my family member to leave SY and find a new spiritual avenue.

Until that point, I'm going to use every single federal connection I have to bring the house down.

I want my beloved free of the cult. And I want my children away from its influence. This is the sum of it. Plain and simple. And if I bring my own house down...well, I'm willing to risk it now. I'm done not standing up for my principles.

Anonymous said...

MC you said: "We don't ever control our families, except through cooercive means. We can only love them. Try that."

I recognize I can't control my family member. And I don't try any direct coercion, I know that won't work. And I do love them. And I offer that love every day, with sweetness, with kindness.

I cannot directly interfere with my family's participation in SY nor will I. But if behind the scenes I can leverage connections, resources, and influence to finally shine the light of day on darkness, and bring the organization to its knees, I feel compelled to try and free my family that way.

Sorry folks have a problem with that. I'm trying to protect my family and get them back.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone remember the particulars of Rashneesh at the end of his life? Was he, eventually, deported? can't remember.



Yes, he was. He died a sick and crazy man in India. (From some readings done by those who knew him, crazy as in insane).

Add one more to the list of guru types who go insane during the course of their lifetime.

Anonymous said...

I recognize I can't control my family member. And I don't try any direct coercion, I know that won't work. And I do love them. And I offer that love every day, with sweetness, with kindness.

I cannot directly interfere with my family's participation in SY nor will I. But if behind the scenes I can leverage connections, resources, and influence to finally shine the light of day on darkness, and bring the organization to its knees, I feel compelled to try and free my family that way.

Sorry folks have a problem with that. I'm trying to protect my family and get them back.



Now is the time for anyone with any information, documentation, stories, to come forward and offer them to help make this a thorough Federal investigation. The threshold has been presented, it is here, and anyone who wants to participate to open the doors further and further, this is for real.

A network of Federal investigators is being put in place. You can mail any information, story to the owner of eXSY. It will be passed on to the contact info which has been provided at a Federal level. It will not be read by anyone other than the Feds (the owner of eXSY, for security and safety purposes, will not be involved in any purusing of anything submitted).

Once your information has been screened at a Federal level, and if it is deemed valuable information, a Federal agent will most likely be contacting you, so leave contact information (e-mail address), or something.

In future times, don't let it be said that no one stepped up to the plate. The courageous and intelligent persons who have contacted the Feds, have truly stepped up to the plate, here, now, in real time.

The rest is up to the community to make the choice to participate and offer whatever you've got stored in regard to this organization and its leadership.

Anonymous said...

I got a couple of dozen calls from "restricted" yesterday, and a whole bunch at my home while I was away on vacation. No messages were left.

Is SYDA trying to reach me? If so, don't waste your time or mine.

Dan Shaw




Dan,

Isn't it just like SYDA, "private", "restricted", hiding behind even phone numbers.

When I read Marta's description of "private" showing on her caller ID, I thought, how SYDA, hide your phone number. Get Marta's number, but hide yours.

Cowards!

Anonymous said...

alright ladies and gentlemen, for what it's worth, here is the contact info to the DA (District Attorney) Office of Sullivan County and further below the contact info for the NY State Attorney General.
ain't the internet something??

ganipati and consorts are still operating under the 80's and 90's model of intimidation and threat...which did work in most instances, but sir, those times are over ...wake up and hear those keyboards clicking and typing.


http://www.co.sullivan.ny.us/orgMain.asp?orgId=371&sId=

County Office Address (Except where noted):
Sullivan County Government Center,
100 North Street,
P.O. Box 5012, Monticello,
NY 12701-5192
(845) 794-3000 FAX: (845) 794-3459


DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Courthouse, Monticello, NY 1270
(845) 794-3344 FAX: (845) 794-3646
District Attorney: Stephen F. Lungen
Executive Asst. District Attorney: Kenneth C. Garn
Executive Asst. District Attorney: Bonnie M. Mitzner
3rd Asst. District Attorney: Joey Z. Drillings
4th Asst. District Attorney: James R. Farrell
5th Asst. District Attorney: Karen Mannino
6th Asst. District Attorney: Robert L. Zangla
7th Asst. District Attorney: Tania Manners
8th Asst. District Attorney: Robin J. Deubler
Investigators: Paul Hans and Robert Rowan



http://www.oag.state.ny.us/home.html
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/


i remembered that (and pardon that comparison) al capone also wasn't booked or convicted of his murders etc, but on something like mail fraud and tax evation, right?

I heard great things about the previous Attorney General (Spitzer) dunno how this current one is, but it's worth a try.

Just keep those letters sober, concise and factual.
I'll be sending one off shortly (snail-mail AND e-mail)...

and regarding those donations (in the early 90's I have good amounts of money to the Oakland Temple as did many many other people in the bay area. Last thing I heard was that the proposed temple-site is still a weedgrown, fenced-in emptly lot next to a barbershop or so...
anyone has those 'dakshina pamphlets? I threw them out ages ago...Oakland is in Alameda County, and they also have a DA's office of course.

at any rate, we don't need to find law-firms and such and interact with sharky-personalities in 1000$ suits.
Just write those letters to the DA's and Attorney Generals...they are the lawyers of the people, or so I hear.

claudia

Anonymous said...

at any rate, we don't need to find law-firms and such and interact with sharky-personalities in 1000$ suits.
Just write those letters to the DA's and Attorney Generals...they are the lawyers of the people, or so I hear.

claudia



Correct. Investigations at a County and Federal level will soon enough begin to interlink.

Great contact info.

Anyone have PR material from SYDA on the Capital Improvement Campaign (was that its title?) Took in alot of money for improvements at SMA. Sadhana Kutir was showcased as being in particular need of these funds. Sadhana Kutir is now sold.

The Boston community also has alot of stories of how they were swindled out of alot of money. SYDA is based in NY, so the buck stops there.

Think people, please think about anything which you could have stored. Write it up and send it in.

Anonymous said...

The outcry and response is incredible. Probably way beyond what GM and SYDA mgmt ever expected.

Makes me wonder if seeing all this response has them shitting in their pants yet?

Anonymous said...

Makes me wonder if seeing all this response has them shitting in their pants yet?


Gurumayi may want to consider taking out stocks with the corporation who makes and sells "Depends"

She's going to need them

Anonymous said...

Don't be fooled. Reiki can be used to accelerate 'Magick' and/or 'thought forms'. There are (a very small minority) of legitimate reiki masters who teach and initiate people into reiki who are so corrupt and misuse/abuse what they have.
Reiki can be used for spiritual warfare! It may not have worked for gurumayi but it can work. The aim is to not let the sender physically touch you or come near you.

Anonymous said...

For the sick bitch of DeVille from Tukaram:
They call themselves saints, but no one sees it in their actions; who would put faith in such men? Their purity vanishes with the hour of trouble. In the rains, brooks look like rivers; when the flood passes, not a drop remains. A pebble, says Tuka, may look like a diamond afar, but it cannot stand the anvil.

Christian from Germany

Anonymous said...

Yes the people who bring us such wonderful moments like the Hurricane Katrina mess or Iraq. They will fix everything. Sure.

Go ahead Anonymous Protecting His Family. Mel Gibson and you make a great pair. Seen Apocalyto yet? You should. Simplistic. Suits your kind of thinking.

Your doing A Heck of a Job Anonymous. You'll be landing on an air craft carrier soon. Mission Accomplished!

Unbelievable megalomaniac! Worse than the folks you are criticizing. Hateful.

Eye for an Eye. Seriously you will love Apocolyto. The Mayan's are right up your alley.

Enjoy this rush of adrenalin hateful sensations now. No matter what 'victories' you think you will accomplish, you will continue blacker than ever. Guaranteed.

Horrible. This is the kind of person who is going to destroy this world. "protecting his family" BS. Ego Ego maniac.

MC

Anonymous said...

danke christian fur diese quote von tukaram. sehr passend und zutreffend.
c

Anonymous said...

Someone posted on ex-SY that they witnessed G. Afif instruct several crew members to dump barrels of highly toxic waste into the wetlands behind the So. Fallsburg ashram. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) might be very interested in following up on any credible information.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/

“Violations of environmental law, lost or injured persons on state land, wildland fires and other emergencies should be reported to the DEC dispatch at 877-457-5680”

Anonymous said...

Horrible. This is the kind of person who is going to destroy this world. "protecting his family" BS. Ego Ego maniac.

MC



Don't take the bait in responding to this hate writing SY junkie.

Walk on by.

Anonymous said...

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

And just what the heck is wrong with an aircraft carrier or the fighter plane that lands on it?

So, NOT wanting my beloved free from the cult wouldn't be megalomaniacal?

MC, clearly you're still in SY. Clearly you think Malti is God and a pure and clear channel to the divine.

Fine. You stick by your principles. I'll stick by mine.
What's the matter? Afraid my actions will take your precious guru away? Good. That's exactly my intent.

One can choose to stand up to evil and stop it or one can choose to leave it alone and enable it. Are you choosing the latter?

Anonymous said...

Hurray for Free Speech!! Great job Marta!! If and when SY sends you a copy of the confidentiality agreement, please post it so all the legal professionals like me who read your blog can rip it apart and give you tips on how to fight it. And if it's money you need for a defense, count me in.

Anonymous said...

" First before the lawsuit, get some help with the vengeful rage you all feel.

Please. I am working on mine, as I was asked, on this blog." ...MC

"Unbelievable megalomaniac! Worse than the folks you are criticizing. Hateful.

Eye for an Eye. Seriously you will love Apocolyto. The Mayan's are right up your alley."...MC


Ummmm...I think you've got your work cut out for you...good luck with that, buddy.

Anonymous said...

Sent to the New Yorker...

Voodoo at Work: Follow-up with the SYDA

To Whom It May Concern:

An FYI to the New Yorker staff regarding the 1994 Liz Harris “O Guru, Guru, Guru” expose of the dubious spiritual organization known as Siddha Yoga. It seems that the after-shock of that landmark article continues to ripple through the organization even to present day. One of the true insiders of that group (Marta Szabo) has just revealed in her online memoirs that she participated in several nefarious occult practices designed to halt publication of that Liz Harris article. The most secretively practiced devises were targeted specifically against then editor Tina Brown and author Liz Harris.

It should come as no surprise that a representative of Siddha Yoga has recently threatened the author of these revealing memoirs with legal action if she does take down her website immediately.

Please see chapter 28 of “The Guru Looked Good” by Marta Szabo at:
http://the-guru-looked-good.blogspot.com/2007/07/chapter-twenty-eight-on-defense.html

Anonymous Reader

Anonymous said...

Mr. Eye for an Eye,

Re:

"And just what the heck is wrong with an aircraft carrier or the fighter plane that lands on it?"

I'll tell you what's wrong with it. Such actions destroy life for anyone involved. My brother was on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietname War. He weighed 125lbs and was 6'2. My other brother was not far away in a jungle loading a bazooka.

Don't even try to talk to me about being anti-military. Where were you during Vietnam?

You are an irresponsible rabble rouser, with no good intentions at all for anyone. Destructive to the hilt.

Just massaging your own stuff.

MC

Anonymous said...

"Don't even try to talk to me about being anti-military. Where were you during Vietnam? "

Hey MC,
one of my brothers died in vietnam...drafted against his will...does that make it ok for me to tell you that you really need to focus on your OWN shit and stop worrying about the rest of us?
anon.

stuartresnick said...

There's some amazing irony here. The attempt by SYDA to silence Marta's blog does much much more to demonstrate the craziness of that organization than anything Marta could write herself. If there's anything untrue in this blog, why doesn't SYDA just offer an opposing view? If all they can do is try to make the blog disappear, it's strong evidence that they've got no counter to the stories revealed here.

I'm confident that SYDA's attempt to "cover-up" what Marta is sharing will result in much more publicity than this blog would otherwise every get.

I left SYDA in 1984, long before all this took place. The Reiki story is completely news to me. Did those folks really believe that Reiki could stop the publication of a New Yorker article?? If so, then the guru and her circle clearly aren't a cabal of evil geniuses. They're sadly disconnected from reality.

Maybe they're now just trying to hide their embarassment in believing in such silly voodoo?

Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

stuartresnick said...

There are other high powered law firms in the United States that would be more than happy to go after Siddha in hopes of a big payday. This is bound to happen sooner or later, and when it does it could bring down the entire organization in the United States.

SYDA is a weak and discreditted organization. There's no need to try to "bring it down." Everyone already knows to check the internet before signing there money and time away to SYDA or any "spiritual" group. Thanks to Martas blog, LSY, Yahoo groups, etc, anyone can get all the information they need about SYDA already.

There will be no more "innocent victims" of SYDA. Anyone foolish enough to ignore the info freely available on the net is being willfully ignorant. There's no problem at all with the SYDA organization continuing to exist. People can decide for themselves whether it's the type of movement they want to support.

Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Re:
"Hey MC, one of my brothers died in vietnam...drafted against his will...does that make it ok for me to tell you that you really need to focus on your OWN shit and stop worrying about the rest of us?
anon."

Really sorry about your brother. War is the ultimate evil in this age when it has become totally unneccesary Completely barbaric. Nothing civilized.

Again sorry about your family who was devasted I know. Especially your mother.

******************************


Something else we maybe could consider. A concept an idea, yeah sorry, I like ideas.


Prisoner's Dilemma" a non zero sum game that confounds us humans.

http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PRISDIL.html


The problem with the prisoner's dilemma is that if both decision-makers were purely rational, they would never cooperate.

Rational decision-making means that you make the decision which is best for you whatever the other actor chooses.

If both would "irrationally" decide to cooperate, both would gain 5 points.

See also Evolution, Selfishness and Cooperation

Francis HEYLIGHEN*

ftp://ftp.vub.ac.be/pub/projects/Principia_Cybernetica/Papers_Heylighen/Memes&Cooperation.txt

Death and Destruction. You ain't had enough yet? Lord Have Mercy.

MC

Pendragon said...

stuart said:

"There will be no more "innocent victims" of SYDA. Anyone foolish enough to ignore the info freely available on the net is being willfully ignorant."

That may be so for some people, but what about the children who are brought in by their parents?

Pendragon

Anonymous said...

MC
Not meant to be harshing on you, but I think you'd want to have pointed out to you that your comment re: Mayans is racist. Apoctolypto is an extremely racist movie and that the Mayans are not portrayed even remotely reasonably. The Mayan community finds the portrayal very offensive.

Just an FYI.

Anonymous said...

"You are an irresponsible rabble rouser, with no good intentions at all for anyone. Destructive to the hilt."

OK, I'm a rabble-rouser. I disagree that I'm being an IRresponsile rabble-rouser. Standing up to fight back against harrassment of a long blogger trying to tell her story looks like REsponsibility rather than IRresponsibility to me.

No good intentions at all for anyone? I suppose leaving people alone to remain addicted to their harmful cult must translate as good intentions to you, MC. Doing my part to take down that cult seems to me to be an intention aimed at doing good for many.

Destructive to the hilt? Hopefully, only to SYDA and Malti.

OH, and by the way, Aircraft carriers and fighter planes are double-edged: Yes, they are built to destroy people. On a level of national strategy, they also PROTECT people. Without them we'd be speaking either German or Russian or Japanese. Frankly, even with them, I'm convinced that in 200 years time we'll all be speaking Arabic, Farsi or Urdu if folks who think like you get their way.

Anonymous said...

That was supposed to be "lone blogger" not "long" blogger.

Anonymous said...

Just sent 2 page typed FAX to District Attorney in Sullivan County.

stuartresnick said...

Pendragon said...
what about the children who are brought in by their parents?

If we want (as I do) a tolerant, live-and-let-live society, then we've got to let other people do all sorts of stupid things. Hell, I think it's awful whenever a kid is brought up Catholic or Jewish. But for the sake of a tolerant society, I ought to give parents very wide range in making decisions for their kids.

Anonymous said...
I suppose leaving people alone to remain addicted to their harmful cult must translate as good intentions

Yes, absolutely! Everyone ought to be free to remain addicted to whatever harmful cult that they like. Anyone who tries to stop them is a hindrance to a tolerant society.

Sure, the inner intentions may be good. But when you force your values on others, the results are terrible... even when if you're doing it "for the children"!

Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Re:

MC
Not meant to be harshing on you, but I think you'd want to have pointed out to you that your comment re: Mayans is racist. Apoctolypto is an extremely racist movie and that the Mayans are not portrayed even remotely reasonably. The Mayan community finds the portrayal very offensive.

Just an FYI."

Thanks very much for that. Mel Gibson had a little bit right perhaps with Braveheart. I got his message. With this last flick, the portrayal was very childish.

Kind of like the way eXSY portrays sy. Like a cartoon. No dimension, depth. Hard lines only for them. I can't live that way. Things die like that. Spiral is more natural.

Understanding this s**t is not linear.

Are there any patient wise people reading that could please start posting? Please!

This flaming environment is usually turned off by the moderator. No mom at home here.

I am going on vacation. Please don't wreck the house while I am gone! Flamers! ;-)

MC



We are still evolving all of us here, there everywhere.

Thank you for the comment.

MC

Anonymous said...

So now reiki is used for warfare as you tell it? You did not specifcy actually. But my expereince is that reiki is used to send blessings. But in the chapter we have today we get a implied link between not liking the article over to the people involved. I do not see a necessary connection there warfare wise. Jesus said pray for your enemies even if they want to harm you. But from the nature of these types of articles I would say an omission of a quote about malice speaks volumns.

Anonymous said...

I got a couple of dozen calls from "restricted" yesterday, and a whole bunch at my home while I was away on vacation. No messages were left.

Is SYDA trying to reach me? If so, don't waste your time or mine.

Dan Shaw


Could be bill collectors. The rest of the world couldn't care as much that you (or the rest of us) exist.

Anonymous said...

Let me also point out, with SY receding from public view some of us do not feel any constraint of spiritual decorum and can speak honestly from the heart publically, sticking up for something we believe in without waiting for the slap on the other cheek. My goal is still to live in touch with the Self, Siddha Yoga or no Siddha Yoga the philosophy is 5000 years old.

Anonymous said...

Re the reiki:

I'm betting that they were using it to try to "heal" Ms. Harris and Brown, turn them from their "wayward ways", rather than use it as a hex. As Stuart says, just shows how disconnected from reality they were. Not necessarily how evil they were.

Anonymous said...

Your quotation marks make your message convey sarcasm. As if someone praying for someone else would pepper it with an "or else" or something. I do not consider that type of prayer to be a constructive practice and have never seen it practiced in siddha yoga.

Anonymous said...

You signed a confidentiality agreement, just as many people in jobs do, and your employer has decided to hold you to your word. BOO FUCKING HOO. This doesn't make SYDA evil, vicious, cruel, etc etc etc etc. Drop the paranoid victim stance for a nano-second. They are doing what any organization would do. I personally don't find any of what Marta is talking about to be evil or even abusive. She signed on for a spiritual experience, to be a disciple, to be tested in the fire of yoga and ....she was. She had great access to "the one" and is quite enamoured of her own status. Sorry kids but some one who is supposed to be "removing your limitations" is not going to make you feel all warm and fuzzy. And ...without SY Dan Schweid wouldn't have a career to speak of so he can thank GM for that as well as his surgery, etc
Is prayer a nefarious occult practice" as well? I'm sorry -- but most of you folks on here are drama queens of a high order. Yes, some people have suffered, but most of you weren't given access to what you thought you deserved and just co-opt stories of people with real troubles to justify how pissed off you are about it.

Anonymous said...

MC, I've just gotta thank you. You've given me an entirely new nickname to adopt.

Oh, and by the way: A close friend of mine who works at FBI is now starting to get involved in looking into all of this to determine if there's anything investigable.

Eye-4N-Eye

Anonymous said...

The quotation marks are there simply to try to convey this likely scenario:

that Amanda et al confused investigative journalism with wayward ways/disease

and thinking this, tried to heal the journalists. (A futile effort, of course, because they did not need to be healed. Well, maybe Tina Brown, but that's another story...)

Anonymous said...

To this anonymous who said:
"And ...without SY Dan Schweid wouldn't have a career to speak of so he can thank GM for that as well as his surgery, etc
Is prayer a nefarious occult practice" as well? I'm sorry -- but most of you folks on here are drama queens of a high order."

Let's set the record straight, and correct the lies you tell above.

Schweid is no longer my last name, I legally changed it to Shaw when I got married.

When Gurumayi had me leave the ashram, she told me to pay her back for the surgery she had told me to get. I was sending her monthly payments while working for $8 an hour for a devotee in NYC.

Then I went and got a master's degree in social work, even though Gurumayi didn't fully approve of that idea. However, I insisted and I pursued my own desire. Gurumayi never paid a cent to me after I left the ashram. Once I started grad school, I left Siddha Yoga. After completing my graduate degree in 2 years, I then was accepted as a psychoanalytic candidate at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, and received certification as a psychoanalyst after 4 years. Gurumayi did not pay for it.

For the six years I went back to school, I worked in outpatient mental health, 3 different clinics, while going to school full time, and I also worked as a legal temp. I got married and had my first child. I slowly developed a private practice in psychotherapy.

I did not receive referrals from anyone in Siddha Yoga. I've always had about 30 clinical hours in my private practice per week - over the years, I've seen about a dozen people who left cults professionally. 98% of my therapy practice is not in any way cult related, and it has always been like that.


I do not owe Gurumayi anything - not one thing. Nothing. Nothing she gave me can compare to the work I did to enrich her. I gave my heart and my soul, and I worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week in that ashram, for years and years, thinking I was supporting an honest person. I was not, I was supporting a liar, and a selfish, destructive con artist.

Guruamyi is a parasite, a leech, and a vampire. She sucks the life out of people and then throws them aside like trash.

So now I've corrected your malicious lies. Go ahead and tell some more, that's what people in Siddha Yoga are taught to do.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

"You signed a confidentiality agreement, just as many people in jobs do, and your EMPLOYER has decided to hold you to your word. BOO FUCKING HOO.....She (Marta) signed on for a spiritual experience, TO BE A DISCIPLE, to be tested in the fire of yoga"

Uh...do we see a bit of a "disconnect" here? Seems very typical of one of syda's most obvious problems: confusing the "ends justifies the means" ethos as practiced in corporate America with spiritual practice....CEOs, business planners, capital improvement funds, daybooks,confidentiality agreements...hey, can't you just see Ramana Maharshi asking Annamali Swami to sign a "confidentiality agreement"? or, by the way...did Bhagavan Nityananda ask muktananda to sign a "confidentiality agreement"? do all gurus ask their disciples to sign confidentiality agreements? or is that just one of those "syda things"? well, I know if you work for Barbra Streisand, you have to sign one...so maybe I get the connection.

Anonymous said...

I know if you work for Barbra Streisand, you have to sign one...so maybe I get the connection.


How dare you! Barbara Streisand sings beautifully. Gurumayi sings like a goat.

Anonymous said...

Dan Shaw said: "So now I've corrected your malicious lies. Go ahead and tell some more, that's what people in Siddha Yoga are taught to do.

Dan Shaw"

Being able to lie like a rug is what qualifies you to be a truly loyal devotee of Gurumayi's. Not only are you taught to lie in Siddha Yoga, but you are taught to ignore the truth and to attack the truth. Lying is what Siddha Yoga devotees do best, because their Guru is so good at it.

Anonymous said...

Are SY followers stupid, too, and not just liars? Every time they attack Marta, or Dan Shaw, or other SY critics, they expose how hateful they are, and how willing to lie they are. And then, defenders of SY critics speak out more, and more of the ugly truth about SY gets exposed. Wouldn't they do a better job of protecting SY if they just kept their mouths shut?

Anonymous said...

Based on the tone of Marta’s memoir, there is no provision for any intention that brings a “healing” of any sort to these two women. The very choice of words completely lacks the beneficent quality characteristic of a healing. It would appear that if Ms. Brown or Ms. Harris was suddenly hit by a bus, the secret inner circles of practitioners would be congratulating themselves on a job well done. In Marta's own words…

"We have to stop this article from coming out," said Katy. "That's why you're here this morning."…“Meditation with intention,” this was our new seva, to take precedence over everything else we were doing.

I met Amanda as scheduled, once again in the hidden conference room.

I would be able to affect people who were in other cities, other countries, even people on the other side of the world.

A group of about eight of us met every evening after dinner, when it was dark, slipping quietly into the inner courtyard…

performing our Reiki exercises silently as we had been taught…we were to aim them at a woman called Tina Brown…

I did my new seva with determination…every night into Baba’s Samadhi Shrine like this, alone, in secret…ushered into some inner circle. And of course we were not to breathe a word of this to anyone, even the larger group with which we meditated every afternoon for the same purpose.

Patsy Flemming, cheering us on… the woman whose job it was to persuade the New Yorker not to publish

The New Yorker article had been published, Katy told us. My heart sank. We had failed.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why this memoir of Marta's written so subtly almost lyricaly - only telling of her consistent search for truth and enlightenment in everything that happens in her SY journey has caused me to wait impatiently for each new installment and caused such an uproar in the comments deparment. Marta is only telling of her story she is not overtly exposing the machinations of a dysfunctional system with an objective heavy hand like the Lis Harris article but telling subjectively of her tenacious hold towards truth seeking.
But boy does it all come to light in the comment section! And why am I drawn to it all like a moth to a flame? gifted writing I'd say - which is probably as or more spiritual than most paths to enlightenment. My humble opinion. Love, Marian

Anonymous said...

Marta, your memoir is really interesting. I feel like I'm in India again when I'm reading it, and some of the comments are so eloquently written its astonishing.

As far as MC's comments go, he should stop projecting his rage onto others. An eye for an eye has every right to pursue federal channels to shut down SY. I hope he succeeds. Its high time they were held accountable for fraudulent activities like raising funds for building that never went up, etc. It is legal for those that donated to these bogus projects to demand their money back on a complaint of fraud, and they can sue to get it back since SY won't comply.

And FYI, Malti's organization can still be held responsible for the sexual crimes committed by her teacher, and SY can be forced to pay damages to the victims if they decide to pursue a case against the organization in order to obtain justice and secure compensation for their pain and suffering. If they do decide to go that route, they should consider legal strategies and go for as large a financial settlement as possible. I know at least two girls who were victimized in this way. One of them told me that they thought that GM was also on the receiving end of Muktananda's lingam. It could be true, and that might be the reason why GM is so messed up.

An old devotee who had been around Ganeshpuri in the early days told me that Bhagawan Nityananda once told Baba that he would fall to Maya if his ashram got bigger than three rooms. I don't know if its true, but it wouldn't surpirse me.

I have a video of an attack that took place once in my town against Malti's brother. It was carried out by SY thugs on direct orders from the ashram. Maybe the feds would be interested in seeing it and use it as evidence of racketeering or terrorism.

Why is Malti so hateful? She hated her brother from the moment baba put them both on the chair together. IMO, she should book an appointment with Dan Shaw asap. She is in need of psychoanalysis. I could never treat my brother the way GM treats hers. GM's brother once told me that GM and George tried to have him killed in Bombay, but the mafia there didn't go through with the assassination because they had associations with the Shetty family. George had his car stoned once though.

I wonder who GM is sleeping with these days? Maybe her and Ganapati are getting it on. Why else would he be shilling for her? Ganapati certainly has big shoes to fill if that's the case. No one could be as evil as George. What a psycho! Not even Dan Shaw could help him.

Anonymous said...

Hello all,

I think it's important to say if we disagree with Mr. Stuart's most recent opinion. I believe it is irresponsible to suggest that the correct way to deal with SYDA and Malti is to just 'leave it alone' and just let her go on using and abusing people, longtimers and newcomers.

Hey, if WE can't help with this, please can you tell me WHO CAN? We're the ones with all the info that I believe could KICK HER OUT OF THE U.S. PERMANENTLY. You know what? She earned it, she deserves it entirely, and it's about time she starts "running for her life...style"!

And for all the people who aren't as educated as Stuart as to be able to get out of the grip of this Cult by themselves, hey, we CAN help them! I believe we have the means together to take down the high walls that their 'guru' patiently built around them.

Thanks Marta for your great contribution - you give people the will to finally get rid of that abusive Cult leader.

Hey, Gurumayi! Don't worry, you'll get through this: just "repeat the mantra"!

Love to all, François

Anonymous said...

"How dare you! Barbara Streisand sings beautifully. Gurumayi sings like a goat."


I resemble that remark, I sing much better than Gurumayi!

Anonymous said...

*eyes popping*

reiki and meditation sessions to stop the new yorker article from being published?

that... I mean. Wow. I am. Speechless.

Anonymous said...

*eyes popping*

reiki and meditation sessions to stop the new yorker article from being published?

that... I mean. Wow. I am. Speechless.




Not just the New Yorker article, Gurumayi had her tantric staff, doing mojo, to try to stop Sarah Caldwell from presenting the fatefaul and damaging info at the Academic Religious Scholars Conference, where the SY scholars were put front and center, and asked why the Durgananda (SY) pages regarding Muktananda's sexual abuse had been deleted before SY's book "Meditation Revolution" was published.

Beyond the Reiki for the New Yorker article, Gurumayi had her "owned and paid for" Brahmin priests, doing full puja/incantations/tantra (not of a postitive outcoming), to try to stop Lis Harris and the New Yorker article.

Do people realize that the New Yorker had to hire a body guard for Lis during this juncture in her life?

The New Yorker is a publication which comes across some heavy opposition (think Seymour Hersch and all he has written).

When Lis's article came out in the New Yorker, regarding SY, the New Yorker management said they had never seen anythink like it. Meaning (my words now): the street fighting, corruption and lack of moral syda and its legal types literally shoved in the face of the New Yorker, its journalists and management,

Thank GOD, New Yorker management held firm, and the article was published.


The Academic Religious Scholars Conference provided one more glimpse into how Gurumayi directs tantric (not of a positive nature) into this world.

Gurumayi had hoped that the SY scholars she managed to ensare (some still involved, ask them why, no need to be non public in asking this valid question), would help lift her up to a point of being respectable again. The New Yorker article torpedoed her PR image (and to a "terminal" narcissist (Google term to get info), public image counts for just about everything.

Gurumayi was sunk once again at the Academic Religious Scholars conference. Her misplaced tantric attempts to "beam in" and stop Sarah's presentation (via SYDA/Gurumayi fully weird and creepy manipulative tantric practices), via the scholars on and open on their lap cell phones.


Second example of STRANGE tantric manipulations Syda/Gurumayi employed.

If real research is done in conjunction with this bried revelation, it will be noted that eXSY has provided, over the past number of years, that Muktananda was indeed a dark seated/black left handed tantric.

NONE of this is to be taken casually. India has a history of schools who perpetuate this course of study. In the areas Muktanda wandered in his younger years, he would have had ample opportunity to study these undharmic practicesm, and perfect them, given enough time; which he had, due the countless Amma's who served him.

The day is over Gurumayi, for Amma's to serve Muktananda, or you. People are waking up in leaps and bounds.

The manipulatiive tantric ways of Muktanda, and some passed on from Muk to you and some spin offs, is over.

The New Yorker article, the Academic Religious Scholars Conference, whatever, it''s time to take a seat, and NOT on the plexi glass throne.

Word has it: "the devil wears Prada"

The question: Will US Federal Prisons allow the wearing of Prada?

Sarah Caldwell, thank you for your incredibly courage stance at that conference, to bring the "truth" to public view.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and by the way: A close friend of mine who works at FBI is now starting to get involved in looking into all of this to determine if there's anything investigable.

Eye-4N-Eye

August 1, 2007 5:50 PM


Someone on the blog mentioned having sent in, FAXed pages to Sullivan County, Thank you, and may many more follow.

The Federal level of investigation is also, now, going into full swing,

If you've got anything on Syda's finacial corruption and abuse (cove up), send any real if=nformation or documentation to the owner of eXSY, It will be forwarded to the Feds.


Thank you, as this is your story

Anonymous said...

Anon said "Are SY followers stupid, too, and not just liars? Every time they attack Marta, or Dan Shaw, or other SY critics, they expose how hateful they are, and how willing to lie they are. And then, defenders of SY critics speak out more, and more of the ugly truth about SY gets exposed. Wouldn't they do a better job of protecting SY if they just kept their mouths shut?"

As a rank outsider to both groups watching the fun I'd have to say that the defectors have done a brilliant job of shooting themselves in the foot. I'm disgusted. I thought you'd at least want to appear as sane and be taken seriously but your behaviour displays exactly what you are critisizing. Is that what they call the mirror effect? The attitudes and language on this blog is beyond childish... more like psychotic - an unbiased psychoanalyst would have a field day. Perhaps you guys should look to yourselves first! As for Marta - well the writing is evocative but why is she so sorry for herself all the time? Is that what anorexics are like. Interesting insight into her wierd relationship with her father too, and abusive mother. But everyone is skipping over that bit. She displays seriously disfunctional behaviour from well before her entree into the organisation. Read the blog again and you notice more about her attitudes and what has shaped them. The blog is really about Marta and her projections not the organisation.

In most civilised countries people are considered innocent until proven guilty and stories are not accepted as fact until proven without reasonable doubt. Just because a few people say something is so does not make it so however many people want to believe in it. Nor does filing a report necessarily mean that what has been said is true. You are all behaving like a kangaroo court. This is not civilised behaviour.

Another point.
Most of the blogs are anonymous so they could easily be the work of one or two individual trolls trrying to make it look like there are many protesters. The tone and style from nearly all of them appears identical. Watch out now for a rash of posts in very different styles????

Right now I would not want to be involved in either side and certainly won't be visiting this blog again.

Anonymous said...

Dan Shaw here:

I want to correct myself and further explain something. If you don't care about Dan Shaw matters, please don't read further.

The Eye4 Eye - MC conflict: I misspoke earlier on this, my apologies. I do not oppose anyone's effort to take legal action against SY. I've just never seen anyone have any success trying - and I don't know how successful current efforts will be, so I hope those trying do succeed, but I hope they know it is not easy and that they may be disappointed. That said, I really do wish you good luck with your efforts.

I also think there's a complicated problem about "bringing SY down so you can get your family out of it." Once your family knows how deeply you oppose their chosen religion, will that create a breach between you and them? How will you deal with that breach?. I've seen parents of SY devotess desperately try to get their child out (I worked for a while - totally pro bono - with a woman desperate to get her daughter out of SY) - when she finally got the daughter into an exit counseling situation, with a very experienced exit counselor (which I am not), the daughter ended up never speaking to her again, to this day (this was more than 10 years ago).

I guess I'm just saying that some times opposing SY when your family member is into it means losing your family member - and I think people in this kind of situation should know that up front. If you decide you are willing to let the chips fall where they may with family members into SY as you proceed with actions against SY, that's a choice you have every right to make - just know that it can be a really hard choice, it could lead to long or permanent breaches with family members. I'm advising that you recognize all the risks you are taking as you take them. A big risk is that family members in SY never speak to you again. If you take that risk, I guess I'm saying take it with your eyes wide open, be prepared.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

Sorry, again, if you could care less about Dan Shaw matters, stop reading now.

I do want to say a bit more about the claim, which I've heard several times, that I owe my living to Gurumayi. A big NY devotee who recently left SY and then contacted me to talk (we had lunch, no money was exchanged, we went Dutch), also seemed to have the impression that I make my living by charging former members of SY for therapy.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As I said in an earlier post, I entered the mental health profession with the intention of having a private psychotherapy and psychoanalysis practice - not a cult counseling practice. I trained extensively in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and that's what I do. The amount of money I've earned working with people on cult issues is much less than 1% of my total income since I left SY in 1994.

And as I've said earlier, I've only tried working with people who left SY a few times, briefly, and I've concluded that it is usually best that I refer those people to other therapists. That's not to say that I never would work with an ex-SY person - I might; but I would be very careful about making that choice.

I'm happy to say, again, that Gurumayi did nothing, directly or indirectly, to help me make a living. When she had me leave the ashram and helped me get a job with a devotee for $8 an hour, she also demanded that I pay her back for the elective surgery she had told me to have, totally her own idea, not mine. I do not and never have made my living off of former SY members.

Getting Gurumayi's cruel voice out of my head, and getting myself to stop believing the cruel, destructive things she had said to me, was the only legacy I had from her. It helped me understand what abuse is, and what pathological narcissism is. If you want to say that that's how GM gave me my career, by demonstrating to me what an abusive pathological narcissist is so that I could better understand how to help people who have been traumatized and abused - fine, I'll take that.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

Marta was one of those stiff self important secretaries (the inner elite) that she so despises. B-I-G egos. I remember the drop dead looks from them as I walked down the corridor smiling and being frozen out of conversations if I, as a humble staff member, went to sit on their tables. That was YOU Martha. How did Gurumayi ever put up with the people directly around her? No, you can't blame it all on her, she really got saddled with a dumb bunch who did not want to change and saw SY as a career.

The grass roots people were fantastic to be around and so were the children. Well they were actually doing some sadhana and living the teachings and were very sweet to be around. You can't diss a whole group for the actions of a few, of which Marta was a key protagonist.

Anonymous said...

to the person who says that Marta was one of those nasty bitch secretary types:

i knew Marta. I remember her from S. Fallsburg and from India. She was very different from the other secretaries. She never had an "attitude." she was always warm and friendly. people liked her. she was very easy to talk to.

just had to set the record straight on that one.

Anonymous said...

"Why is Malti so hateful? She hated her brother from the moment baba put them both on the chair together."

Actually, those of us who were there know that Baba ONLY put Nit Jr on the chair ALONE at first. Malti was not the one publicly named as successor in (July? August?) 1981 at Fallsburg. Somehow, a few months later, word simply filtered down that Malti was a successor too. No public announcments or ceremonies of that, word just sort of informally leaked out. I distinctly remember thinking "Oh...Malti's going to be a successor too? When was that announced?"

Word has it she blackmailed Muk to go public with the details of his sexual abuse if he didn't make her a successor also.

Anonymous said...

to the person who says that I described Marta as one of those nasty bitch secretary types:

I never described her as a nasty bitch type. Those are your words and this is typical of the LSY and other trolls attitudes to whip up reaction.

I just described as accurately as I could exactly what I and others like me, received from them.

Perhaps you were a favoured one. Yes, highly likely. That is how it was, all dressed in their smart grace and favour saris, jewelry and suits.

They all looked down their noses at everyone else and she was, sorry, just one of the bunch. My personal experience and that of many of us grass roots folks. WE did not even exist for her.

Just to put the record straight on that one.

Anonymous said...

"If you've got anything on Syda's finacial corruption and abuse (cove up), send any real if=nformation or documentation to the owner of eXSY, It will be forwarded to the Feds."

Eye-4-Eye here. An update for folks now that I've had a little time to begin my reaching out to other federal officials.

I need to offer the readership some clarification: What I AM doing is identifying who the direct contacts at these agencies are (names, phone numbers, e-mails) so that IF people in the former SY devotee community wish to report things about SYDA, they will be able to do so and also avoid a great deal of typical federal red tape they would otherwise have to sort through.

In other words, I'm going to make the process faster for interested parties to report SYDA to the feds by cutting through red tape. As a fed myself, I've been asked by an attorney at high-level in the IRS Counsel General's office to avoid any direct launching of an investigation myself due to career conflict of interest issues. I do NOT believe, however, that this prevents me from finding out and clarifying for the following for the rest of you:

1) What kind of evidence or testimony would be acceptable enough to warrant federal investigation?

and

2) List the appropriate contacts at each of the concerned federal agencies, the names, titles, phone numbers, e-mails.

and then

3) Let nature take its course. If other people with evidence or direct witness testimony want to join in an effort to get the feds involved in investigating SYDA, I will have at least clarified whom you need to contact for faster consideration, and what info you need to bring to the table.

I've been warned internally that getting TOO involved can put my career in jeopardy. So there's unfortunately only so far I can go. I'm unfortunately several years off from planned retirement. But I'm committed to going as far as I can while still remaining ethically sound, and I shall.

Personally, I only have one instance of being asked to get inventory past customs when we went to GSP, and I said "no" at the time because I was too worried about managing my own luggage to have to deal with someone else's.

But I'm up on many of the RUMORED other activities of interest, financial fraud, harassment (which we're seeing with Marta's blog), bullying, etc. And I'm not beyond sharing that hearsay with other federal officials to pique interest by the feds to look into something. After all, if I know something MAY be true, it's my responsibility as a public servant to pass it on to the appropriate enforcement authorities.

I'll get back to the readership when I have something more concrete, say, a list of federal contacts. It may take a week or two to get this list together and post it. Keep watching.

Eye-4-Eye

Anonymous said...

No, I was never any kind of siddha yogi who was elevated in any way. I was just one of those "grassroots" invisible people who washed the dishes and scrubbed the floors. So when I say that Marta was never one of those "secretary types" I say it as a "regular" person, not an insider.

Anonymous said...

Well of course it may be true that this is just one of those nasty fcussed campaigns for those with grudges to pile on the lies, so typical of internet campaigns. Be careful with the FBI, they'll investigate you guys too.

Oh but of course you can't jeopardise your career for the "truth" can you. Let's hide behind that excuse. You lot are so transparent.

Anonymous said...

Anon said "No, I was never any kind of siddha yogi who was elevated in any way. I was just one of those "grassroots" invisible people who washed the dishes and scrubbed the floors. So when I say that Marta was never one of those "secretary types" I say it as a "regular" person, not an insider. "

Dear, did you read the blog? Does Marta actually like people? Did she even notice the nice people around her. Not very often. I'm glad she was nice to you and not mean. Most of the time she seems locked in her own envies and jealousies about others getting things like plastic sandals or invites to meetings! And yet supposed to be there for her sadhana? OMG!

Anonymous said...

To the anon who said: "Dear, did you read the blog? Does Marta actually like people? Did she even notice the nice people around her. Not very often. I'm glad she was nice to you and not mean. Most of the time she seems locked in her own envies and jealousies about others getting things like plastic sandals or invites to meetings! And yet supposed to be there for her sadhana? OMG!"


Is what you wrote above supposed to suggest that YOU are someone who does sadhana the RIGHT way? You sound like a malicious blog troll with bad grammar and bad spelling. Were you seeing the blue pearl when you wrote your latest nasty, hostile, provocative post? You're a mindless hypocrite zombie, without even the intelligence to be able to put a proper sentence together.

Anonymous said...

"Be careful with the FBI, they'll investigate you guys too.

Oh but of course you can't jeopardise your career for the "truth" can you."

Eye-4-Eye here again. To address your points:

1. I know they'll investigate me. I have nothing to hide. Oh, and by the way, they've investigated me already. I had to have that happen to get my federal job. Use your brain, please.

2. You missed my point. I can still get federal wheels moving without pressing an investigation myself. As a fed myself, I have an ethical line I must tread. Informing other feds about possible items of interest, and identifying precisely whom people can contact and how, is absolutely something I can do without getting into conflicts of interest.

As for jeapordizing the truth, you need to differentiate between my prior state of simply being willing to let live and bitch about SY on other sites, versus now wanting to make sure I do whatever I CAN responsibly do to make sure the doors to federal investigation are blown wide open. Previously, I chose not to bother leveraging my federal contacts. Now, after seeing Marta threatened, the final straw hit the camel's back. I'm tired of hearing about the bullying tactics SY employs. It's high time somebody bigger and stronger bullied back. No, I'm NOT jeapordizing the truth. I' ABSOLUTELY telling what truth I know, clearly identifying fact from hearsay or rumor when I meet my federal law enforcement colleagues, but being clear to point out areas where red flags exist.

Make no mistake: The doors through which the truth can walk easily for all to share are in process of getting blasted wide open.

Eye-4-Eye

Anonymous said...

Re; Posted by Dan Shaw:
"The Eye4 Eye - MC conflict: I misspoke earlier on this, my apologies. I do not oppose anyone's effort to take legal action against SY. I've just never seen anyone have any success trying - and I don't know how successful current efforts will be, so I hope those trying do succeed, but I hope they know it is not easy and that they may be disappointed. That said, I really do wish you good luck with your efforts."

End quote

Dan,

Maybe you noted that Albert Ellis died last week at 93. He's someone more valuable to you than all the cult hunters. Because your thinking about sy can sometimes be ‘crooked’ as Elllis calls Irrational Beliefs

For example You should not be setting up an opposition between me an any any person posting a comment. There is no MC vs. anyone here. My only argument with you as a practitioner is that you are keeping yourself and those you counsel locked in a go no where dead end line of thinking.
Plus for the more fragile it just causes them more anxiety.

NY Times quoted Ellis last week, from “How to Makey Youself Happy and Remarkably Less Disturbable”

“The people who abused me are completely rotten! I’m going to spend the rest of my life hating them and getting even with them if it’s the last thing I do!”

These Irrational Beliefs will keep your original upsetness vividly alive. Insteady of letting it dies a natural death, as disturbance gradually does if you don’t dwlell on it and reinforce it by continual crooked thinking”.


The Poor Mr. Eye 4N Eye! I gave him that name? What? Rather I wish I could get him a job far away from DC which is making him go completely off his rocker. Anyone with any thoughts about helping anyone, help him. Read his posts on eXSY about his state of mind about his job and life. Break your heart for the guy. So now he has the feds after sy.

What could help is if his family understood something from the lexicon of sy. In every case when asked about family member that did not like it that a partner was practicing sy the answer was GIVE UP SIDDHA YOGA!

It is very bad form according to the sy I knew for your family to be playing the chants in your presence and carrying on with things that bother you so much. Put away the pictures and give you a break. It’s wrong what they are doing. Tell them Baba said so.

MC

Anonymous said...

Tell them Baba said so.

MC



Oh lord, more baaaaaabaaaaaaa quoting. baaaaabaaaaaa's sheep are too much. Quoting and still hanging on to a twisted dead man's words.

Anonymous said...

Tell them Baba said so.

MC



Oh lord, more baaaaaabaaaaaaa quoting. baaaaabaaaaaa's sheep are too much. Quoting and still hanging on to a twisted dead man's words.




I thought MC informed us that s/he was going on vacation yesterday. Was that a true accounting? Why still posting then?

Anonymous said...

OK MC, you just offficially stopped making any sense whatsoever.

And boy was Albert Ellis a crazy, narcissist cult leader in his own right - so, he's most definitely not one of my role models.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

Gee, MC, I wish you could get me a nice job outside of DC, too. It's not like I enjoy living here. Too expensive, too crowded, horrendous long commutes in order to live affordably, outrageously stressful.

Hey, if you can find me some nice gig in, say, Oregon or Seattle, I'd leave right now in a NEW YORK MINUTE.

And believe me, NOTHING would make me happier than for my partner to fully, totally, and forever quit SY. Then I could just leave here and go away, leaving you in peaceful devotion to a rapist. Obviously, you still beleive in him and still love him.

But remember: I loved him too. Yes, I also met him and got his touch. On more than one occasion.
To find out, and years later fully accept, the things he did, crushed me.

But my partner's not leaving SY of their own will and accord, so I'm still here, needing to fight the good fight.

Sorry my approach offends and angers you. But I guess I have to ask, since you yourself also seem so angered and outraged by me: What's it to you? What's got a bug so far up your OWN Ass? I guess I'm just trying to understand what it is that motivates you to be the way you are?

Anonymous said...

MC: "It is very bad form according to the sy I knew for your family to be playing the chants in your presence and carrying on with things that bother you so much. Put away the pictures and give you a break. It’s wrong what they are doing. Tell them Baba said so."

Very much to my displeasure I have to support MC on this. I know GM said in a reaction to a case like this "Don't beat people with your Siddha yoga." Maybe not her exact words but the meaning was exactly this.
D

Anonymous said...

Tell them Baba said so.

MC

Oh lord, more baaaaaabaaaaaaa quoting. baaaaabaaaaaa's sheep are too much. Quoting and still hanging on to a twisted dead man's words.

WAIT a minute. I thought MC was offering a suggestion here for what would work for your family who are believers in SY to get them to relate different around you? Not stating her own position. Did you miss the point?

Anonymous said...

"How did Gurumayi ever put up with the people directly around her? No, you can't blame it all on her, she really got saddled with a dumb bunch who did not want to change and saw SY as a career. "

Hi Anon,
You might want to ask yourself why gurumayi surrounded herself with such folks? her darshan girls were especially awful. With all those thousands of people to choose from, why choose the ones she did? It used to be "explained" by saying, "oh, the guru has to keep the WORST people close to her so they won't do damage to others..." Hmmm...really? I think it's more like she chose those who reflected her back to herself the most clearly. She is a "snob" of the kind you see everywhere in Mumbai if you spend some time there...a social-climber and a snob...harder to do in India because of the caste system legacy.

"The grass roots people were fantastic to be around and so were the children. Well they were actually doing some sadhana and living the teachings and were very sweet to be around. "

Well, we sure had a real different experience of syda! My center, which was a big one, close to Fallsburg, had an awful lot of liars, manipulators and narcissists (mostly in
"power" positions)...and the ashram where I did alot of seva was a hotbed of dysfunctional control-freaks.The REALLY wonderful folks were the ones cleaning the toilets, cooking the Amrit food, making the beds, picking up after the "important" folks and swallowing the lies fed to us at community meetings. What a beautiful group of sweet souls....trying so hard to understand the lies and make sense of them...so sad.
I made a conscious choice, around 4 years into syda, NOT to accept any position higher than department head....so I wouldn't have to "hold confidential secrets". One "leadership conference" in Fallsburg was enough for me!
you sound like someone who actually took the "teachings" seriously and practiced them....thank you!!

Anonymous said...

Very much to my displeasure I have to support MC on this. I know GM said in a reaction to a case like this "Don't beat people with your Siddha yoga." Maybe not her exact words but the meaning was exactly this.
D



That's another example of SY's twisted logic. They brainwash people, they get people hooked into the image and sounds of their cult, and then they tell them to ignore the very impulses people use in a rote manner to continue to feed their end of the loop, sy feeding from its end.

It's like the crazy making wisdom to tell people to just say no.

Obviously this person is still addicted to sy and its crazy leader. Telling to just say no, is out of the question. Sy's got them too deeply hooked into these very cult practices they promote... sy photos, sy chants.

Anonymous said...

"Obviously this person is still addicted to sy and its crazy leader. Telling to just say no, is out of the question. Sy's got them too deeply hooked into these very cult practices they promote... sy photos, sy chants."

What? So if I am allergic to cats, you think I shouldn't let my family know they shouldn't bring cats into my house?

Anonymous said...

"If you want to say that that's how GM gave me my career, by demonstrating to me what an abusive pathological narcissist is so that I could better understand how to help people who have been traumatized and abused - fine, I'll take that.

Dan Shaw "

Can I paraphrase this? "If you want to say that's how GM 'gave me' awakeness and freedom from 'guru-addiction', by demonstrating what a false guru is so that I could better understand how to avoid them-fine. I'll take that.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to know what the reactions to Marta's blog and to the comments are in the rest of the world. Maybe some of the anglophone non native speakers do comment here (myself - Claudia?) and I know some post in exSY but the main body seems to be restricted to the States, not even Great Britain or Australia or Canada seem to be represented here. This is quite natural cause SY's main activities were there and the biggest support was (and is) in the States, too. Very little media coverage in Europe as far as I know. And SY has never been that important here. About Asia and Africa I don't know.
Nevertheless - a retreat like those
in Montreux (Switzerland), Heidelberg (Germany) attracted about 2000 people. But as I am completely out of touch I don't know what's happening nowadays in Europe. But there have to be repercussions of the blog and comments I am sure.
D

Anonymous said...

What? So if I am allergic to cats, you think I shouldn't let my family know they shouldn't bring cats into my house?


An allergy is a condition outside of a cult mindset. It's one a family can look at and get their minds around. A cult and its persuasive practices is not rational, and the mind and emotions become too deeply hooked, given enough time and depth of involvement.

Anonymous said...

Hope you all find your peace without causing yourselves lasting harm.

Anonymous said...

Hope you all find your peace without causing yourselves lasting harm.



Hope you find your peace without causing yourselves lasting harm in trying to project and tell people what to do, and trying to imagine what someone is or is not doing.

High strangeness of the virtual world.

Anonymous said...

"However, I did not know that the antics also included psychic warfare!
OH YES IT DOES.

Reiki aimed at Tina Brown goes against the principles of Reiki
HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS WHEN THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE "NO" PRINCIPLES IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHAT PRINCIPLES! JUST BECAUSE THE PRINCIPLES ARE TAUGHT IT DOESN'T MEAN "THAT THEY ARE FOLLOWED".

and no legitimate Reiki Master would have initiated you let only colluded in such nonsense.
THIS NONSENSE IS REAL. YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE IT BECAUSE "IT DOESN'T FIT INTO YOUR PROJECTION" BUT "IT IS REAL". GREAT HARM CAN BE DONE USING REIKI.

Creepy indeed!"
YES VERY CREEPY

WELCOME TO SY.

Anonymous said...

You know bad folks are getting bothered when they start using the keyboard equivalent of radio jamming with zzzzzzzzzzzz....

It's still stalinist censorship.

Anonymous said...

It also is an attempt to crash the blog's server by data overload. Look at system speed now.

Anonymous said...

Very well written Marta. Definitely an interesting read.
Thank you. Blessings to you.

Anonymous said...

Wow! gives new meaning to "catch me some zzzzz's"
anyway:

"As a rank outsider to both groups watching the fun I'd have to say that the defectors have done a brilliant job of shooting themselves in the foot. I'm disgusted. I thought you'd at least want to appear as sane and be taken seriously but your behaviour displays exactly what you are critisizing. Is that what they call the mirror effect? The attitudes and language on this blog is (sic) beyond childish... more like psychotic - an unbiased psychoanalyst would have a field day."

Hello,
It's kind of like showing up at a family picnic where Uncle Bill (who molested little Anne and ran off with Grandpa's estate) is sitting over in the corner holding court with Aunt Alice, who NEVER believed those awful things about her dear hubby! Some family members are still holding on to the image of Uncle Bill as an "ok guy", others are furious that his integrity is even questioned, others (including little Anne, people whose inheritance was stolen,other little Annes, etc.) are mad as wet hens! And you show up expecting a nice family gathering with mature, reasonable people. Sorry...it's just one of those "human things" not an intellectual discourse...messy, just like life. For someone who had no experience of any of this, you seem to be awfully judgemental...is that what they call the "mirror effect"?

Anonymous said...

I guess you must have to meet "Gurumayi" in person to understand what this is all about, I have never heard of any of these folks until now. But, having looked at a picture of her, she just looks like some kooky Indian woman, not like a God or even a real Guru. Same for Mukutundanada sp?

Am I missing something? How in the world could anyone see these people as enlightened beings?

Anonymous said...

MC,

OK, so you figured out my handle on exSY. Whoopie. Am I supposed to be intimidated?

While I'm flattered that you took the time to go through my posts there and find out my life story, you're making the mistake of thinking I'm actually asking for sympathy when basically what I was doing was just venting to blow off steam. Just like many of us human beings tend to do. You mean you DON'T????

Whatever.

Eye-4-Eye

Anonymous said...

TI guess you must have to meet "Gurumayi" in person to understand what this is all about, I have never heard of any of these folks until now. But, having looked at a picture of her, she just looks like some kooky Indian woman, not like a God or even a real Guru. Same for Mukutundanada sp?

Am I missing something? How in the world could anyone see these people as enlightened beings?


I LOVED THIS QUOTE! I think it's the sticky nature of black-magic/left-handed tantra that we all thought we were in the arms of an enlightened master. The bliss and energy many of us felt is what held us captive. Certainly for me, I'm an intellectually savvy person yet i was willing and eager to give it all for my next shakti hit.

Much of that shakti no longer transmits thru her pictures because she's lost most of her "powers". but at her height, there was an enormous capacity to capture thousands in her psychic web. And oh how naive I was to confuse that with enlightenment! But how would we have known the difference??

Learning that she had developed with baba's guidance a common siddhi ("to control others thru one's shakti")in left-handed tantra finally let me make sense of this mess.

Anonymous said...

The rank outsider sounds far too emotionally involved to be an “outsider”. Probably a “sockpuppet”…

Anonymous said...

So we are supposed to conclude from these enlightened discussions that every anti contributor is a super squeaky clean truthful being. Of course everything they say is the truth.
Can't you tell from their reasonable and sensible comments?

Anonymous said...

To the anon who said: "Am I missing something? How in the world could anyone see these people as enlightened beings?"


I'm 54 years old; most people I meet have gone down some wrong paths in their lives - they got seduced by someone or something, stayed with someone or something longer thatn they should and later regretted it.

So, that's the answer to your question, I think.

Anonymous said...

Much of that shakti no longer transmits thru her pictures because she's lost most of her "powers". but at her height, there was an enormous capacity to capture thousands in her psychic web. And oh how naive I was to confuse that with enlightenment! But how would we have known the difference
Learning that she had developed with baba's guidance a common siddhi ("to control others thru one's shakti")in left-handed tantra finally let me make sense of this mess.

****************
I agree that she doesn't have that power that she used to. Why do you think that is? Karma catching up?

Didn't know about Baba teaching her about left-handed tantra. Where did you hear this?

Anonymous said...

Sockpuppet???
Meaning, like Sifl & Ollie?

Anonymous said...

"Am I missing something? How in the world could anyone see these people as enlightened beings?

August 2, 2007 9:27 AM "

Hi,
It was the same for me as others have described....more than 25 years of spiritual practice under my belt, I thought I would be "immune" to spiritual manipulation...but my first darshan with gurumayi was so powerful and such a textbook case of "classical mysticism" that I was a goner. I had made the very common mistake of confusing spiritual "experiences" with spiritual "truth". And I also did not understand at that time that being able to generate these experiences in others was no sign of "enlightenment"...a couple of trips to India (etc.) made that abundantly clear eventually. As smart as I thought I was at the time, in actuality I was very naive and pretty much of a fool. My former teachers had been careful not to use these tricks of the trade...at the time, I thought they must not be "enlightened"...what can I say? I guess you had to be there...

Anonymous said...

I agree with the above. In mid-2004 I stood RIGHT next to GM and normally, this would have had me swooning in a "shakti" induced meditative bliss haze that would last for hours, except THIS time, what did I feel from her? Answer: Absolutely NOTHING. No shakti hit.

It seemed strange. Stranger still were the ways she was talking and gesturing...seemed like an inexperienced actor way overplaying their part. She was just overly dramatic for the situation and it just didn't fit the moment. Experiencing that, coupled with the absolute lack of a shakti hit of any kind, truly, truly weirded me out and was frankly the beginning of my realizing it was time to leave SY.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the above. In mid-2004 I stood RIGHT next to GM and normally, this would have had me swooning in a "shakti" induced meditative bliss haze that would last for hours, except THIS time, what did I feel from her? Answer: Absolutely NOTHING. No shakti hit.

It seemed strange. Stranger still were the ways she was talking and gesturing...seemed like an inexperienced actor way overplaying their part. She was just overly dramatic for the situation and it just didn't fit the moment. Experiencing that, coupled with the absolute lack of a shakti hit of any kind, truly, truly weirded me out and was frankly the beginning of my realizing it was time to leave SY.

********

Ditto, only for me in the summer of 2003 during the Oakland tour. Felt nothing while right next to her, and also was rather perplexed at some of the things she was talking about. Felt like she had lost her presense as a guru.

Also, someone commented somewhere about being in the NY Msg talk in 2004 and having a similar experience. Wonder what was going on? Seems like this is a common pattern for some of us--as if the source ran dry right around 2003-04. Maybe it started sooner, in 2000. Remember the Ontario retreat and how apparently theer was a flu epidemic that had its epicenter in Ontario? Also, right after that retreat, Cynthia Oti, well-known devotee from the Bay Area died in an airplane crash.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate everyone explaining to me the attraction of SY, I think you are right "You had to be there" and please I don't want to come off as judging or criticising anyone. I just have been reading this blog that I somehow found online and this is so bewildering to me.

Agian, I had never heard of SY or "Gurumayi" until now.

I really do like Martha's cousin...

Anonymous said...

"I appreciate everyone explaining to me the attraction of SY, I think you are right "You had to be there" and please I don't want to come off as judging or criticising anyone. I just have been reading this blog that I somehow found online and this is so bewildering to me.

Agian, I had never heard of SY or "Gurumayi" until now."

Actually, it's not surprising you'd be bewildered. Unless you experienced SY...particularly in its earlier heyday from mid-70's to late '90's...it would truly be hard to appreciate not only what we're all talking about, but also the ferocity of the arguments and the feelings behind them.

Anonymous said...

"Ditto, only for me in the summer of 2003 during the Oakland tour. Felt nothing while right next to her, and also was rather perplexed at some of the things she was talking about. Felt like she had lost her presense as a guru."

Oakland was 2002.

Anonymous said...

For the person who was asking, "how did she lose her power?" here's my understanding on this, in part from reading books on left-handed tantra by George Feurstein and other scholars. Left handed tantra is a tantra of manipulation for the fulfillment of desires. One can become accomplished in this manipulation and clearly baba was up to a point. So was Gurumayi, and where would she have learned this tantric skills but from her "teacher" baba.

But the problem with this tantra (beyond of course the karmic consequences of spending a lifetime manipulating others) is that we're not talking enlightenment here, we're talking sophisticated manipulation techniques.

I think there's a couple reasons the power can lessen. One is eventually all your horrible karma just catches up with you. Period. I think in part this started to happen to GM.

Also, once your power lessens, YOU NEED A SOURCE TO FEED OFF OF. This reminds me of the movie the Matrix. Not to get too macabre here, but I sometimes imagine all of us sitting on our little white asanas in intensives, being the shakti-tubes for GM's sucking. Quite the opposite of what we were imagining at the time, no? But it explains why so many people i knew got more and more drained as the years wore on Syda. It wasn't just all the seva.

This also explains why Baba had to start feeding sexually off of younger and younger shakti sources. His own was running dry.

And then you compare this to a true enlightened master! Can you imagine Bhagwan Nityananda needing a source to suck from? Or Ramana Maharshi?

Anonymous said...

"Agian, I had never heard of SY or "Gurumayi" until now.

I really do like Martha's cousin...

August 2, 2007 12:43 PM "


Me too! (I'm the "fool" from a few posts back). When I read about him, I thought, "see; he was genuine and somehow managed to keep his sense of self intact...and look what a great experience he had" (as opposed to what happened to most artists who wound up in syda). When I was in Ganeshpuri, I got a real earful from the villagers, the pilgrims and some of the temple officials. I was shocked awake, in alot of ways, by just how much syda was hated in Ganeshpuri. It got me thinking....finally.
You don't really come off as judgemental or critical, by the way...just understandably flabbergasted and curious..lol!

Anonymous said...

To keep going on this topic cuz it's one I'm mildly obsessed with, this idea of these shakti-cords explains also why it was so damn hard to leave! Here's an event that really set off my alarm bells big-time even toward the end. I was doing seva in Santa Clara at another one of those messy, awful retreats and I was so exhausted from three weeks of full-time seva by the end I could hardly move. Yet there was a rumor GM was going to come and give a darshan at the end and I remember just being glued to the center waiting for her to come.

It was the creepiest feeling. It was not a good high feeling. LIke I could not have left even if i wanted to. And even tho I did have that darshan I was so freaked to notice that my autonomous ability to LEAVE WHEN EXHAUSTED had been overridden in a way. It was as if it was HER will I stay so I had to stay. It wasn't until I started learning how to rip the damn tantric-shakti-ropes off that began to get my freedom. No one can lasso you this way without your permission.

Anonymous said...

What's that they say? An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind...

Anonymous said...

"Ditto, only for me in the summer of 2003 during the Oakland tour. Felt nothing while right next to her, and also was rather perplexed at some of the things she was talking about. Felt like she had lost her presense as a guru."

Oakland was 2002.

***********

Right you are. It's just one big blur for me at this point!

Also--thanks to the Feuerstein reader for the explanation about GM's power loss. Makes sense. Really did feel that hook in my heart. Can't say that it was all bad, but certainly will be more cautious in the future!

Anonymous said...

"It wasn't until I started learning how to rip the damn tantric-shakti-ropes off that began to get my freedom. No one can lasso you this way without your permission."

August 2, 2007 1:21 PM

Just a observation. Not trying to start anything.

I guess none of us are completely free as yet. If it were so we wouldn't be here.

Anonymous said...

Actually that was Mahatma Gandhi who said "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind..."

And previously I would have agreed with it. My thinking has obviously changed.

I'm neither Hindu, Christian, nor Buddhist. Thus,

Eye-4-Eye

Anonymous said...

this anon says: "I guess none of us are completely free as yet. If it were so we wouldn't be here."

Well, maybe being "completely free" isn't all it's cracked up to be. Gurumayi thinks she's "completely free", doesn't she? Yeah, right. She's utterly dependent, on her devotees, on being top dog, on her silks and hats and fancy cosmetics.

NO one is completely free, it's a false standard to try to live up to, like being perfect.

If SY was an intensely important part of your life for a long time, then learning that it is a false and corrupt path is profoundly meaningful - no need to ever be "completely free" from feeelings about it. Feelings are what makes us human.

stuartresnick said...

François wrote:
And for all the people who aren't as educated as Stuart as to be able to get out of the grip of this Cult by themselves, hey, we CAN help them!

It's not like less educated people are like children or idiots who need your care-taking. Even if someone has very little education, then can and should decide for themselves how to live their lives.

When you speak of "helping" these poor, inferior, under educated souls... you mean you want to force your values on them, right? So even if someone wants to worship Gurumayi, you want to take that choice away from them?

Don't get me wrong... when someone ASKS for your help and you give it, that's wonderful. But what you're talking about here is tearing down SYDA to "help" the devotees... people who never asked for your help, and don't want your help!

What this world needs is a whole lot less of this kind of "help," and a whole lot more of "mind your own business"!

Take a look at what Marta's doing here. Sharing her own truth with everyone, without one word of trying to *force* her conclusions on anyone. That's what we can do: share our truth, and leave others to decide for themselves.

Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Sorry if this sounds crude, but reading Marta's blog, I realize that Gurumayi was bred by Baba to be his bitch. And then to turn around and make everyone her bitch.

And the higher up you are as one of her bitches, the more you get to make people below you your bitch.

It's a dog's world in Siddha Yoga, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

It takes one to know one.

stuartresnick said...

Anonymous said...
Am I missing something? How in the world could anyone see these people as enlightened beings?

What your missing is the whole atmosphere around the guru. Human beings are herding animals. The guru-group gets started, with a core group of people all supporting the belief in the special power of the guru. And other people will tend to follow the crowd and it snowballs.

It's not surprising that you don't see anything special by looking at the guru's photos, because none of this has much to do with the guru's personal powers. It's more about group dynamics, and also the whole scene. That is, there are programs set up with incense and tinkly music and nice words and smiles and dark still silence and instructions to look within... all of this has the power to induce experiences, and then the power of group-think makes SOME people think the power is from the guru.

Much of that shakti no longer transmits thru her pictures because she's lost most of her "powers".

The guru never had any powers to lose. Maybe years ago, we had faith, and there was a whole group dynamic surrounding the guru of people with blind faith. Because of that, people felt "powers."

Now, you've got all these internet stories, so everyone knows that Malti is just an ordinary flawed person, and the people around her are only pretending to believe she's God because they sure as hell don't want to have to get real jobs!

Several people have posted about Malti "losing her powers," but it's not like that at all. The power was always in our own belief, supported and encouraged by the ashram atmosphere and group-think. The left-handed Tantra magical Shakti power stories are complete fairy tales. The power of our own minds, on the other hand, will never cease to amaze.

Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Re:

Post from Dan Shaw

“OK MC, you just offficially stopped making any sense whatsoever.

And boy was Albert Ellis a crazy, narcissist cult leader in his own right - so, he's most definitely not one of my role models.”

August 2, 2007 7:26 AM
******************************
End Quote

Dan

This is from obituary for Ellis in the July 25 07 Washington Post:

“In 2003, a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association named Dr. Ellis the second-most influential psychological thinker in history, ahead of Freud, B.F. Skinner and Carl Jung. (Carl Rogers placed first.)

According to a survey funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and published this year, more than two-thirds of therapists follow a model first outlined by Dr. Ellis.”

Let’s give the dog his due. Ellis’s ideas have a lot to contribute to those suffering in eXSY. It fits like a puzzle piece that you would denigrate the “second most influential psychological thinker in history”. His ideas are threatening to the whole eXSY schtick. Naturally you would not want to accept his valid thinking. Come on more than two thirds of therapists follow his model and you are trashing him?

It’s back to my very first post here. It’s the dichotomous thinking in eXSY that has you all trapped. You don’t have to approve or like Ellis to acknowledge his contribution.

MC

Anonymous said...

Did anyone attend the LAST (thankfully) retreat thing in Ontario? THe elements spoke forcefully that gm would not be able to pull off anymore of these fake money ventures (sy retreats)
The convention center was a few blocks away from a cow slaughterhouse. There was an inauspicious and foul smell in the air. The smell of death, and when we inquired what it was we all cringed because cows are sacred and sy. couldn't be in any way associated with that right?
(this was one of Ganapati Bugga's brillainbt ideas!)

Then one of the evenings there was a bizzare wind storm. It was blowing hard and you could lean into it and not fall down. The wind had the cow death smell.
Over the next few days, everyone like 70-90% of the retreat participants got deathly ill. Everyone in our rented condo got really sick. gm didn't come out for a few days, she was sick too.
Then when she came out for a program, the previous evening the janitors cleaned the carpet with heavy duty toxic chemicals. We sat with our "master" in the toxic air. She said not to let it bother us. To go beyond the toxic air or something. That folks was the end of those big retreats. The "Shakti" was not supporting her lies anymore. Now that i am a little wiser i see there were many "occurrences" like that. I just have had to get out of "devotee" sheep mode to see it.
g

Anonymous said...

Tangent alert:

Ellis was smart, but also crazy and abusive. His model is beloved of insurance companies who like to rip people off of adequate mental health benefits, because he made ridiculous claims of effectiveness, and the insurance companies supported the research and cooked up inflated conclusions.

Ellis has plenty of smart ideas, but half the people I see are people who did tons of cognitive behavioral work and experienced only temporary change or relief of symptoms.

There are many excellent critiques of Ellis' work, the Times of course doesn't want to go into all that in the guy's obituary.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

Bravo MC.

Anonymous said...

RE:

Post by Dan Shaw "the Times of course doesn't want to go into all that in the guy's obituary."

End quote******************

Dan,

You misread my post. It was yet another major newspaper talking about Ellis, The Wahsington Post, that I quoted.

Additionally it is not the journalist I quoted but The American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Mental Health who have accorded Ellis the highest recognition. What they don't get your respect either? Are they cults too?

Despite criticism, his contribution was real.

This issue is not tangent to discussion here. He was a seeker of the truth. Typical eXSY tactic to describe it as 'tangent alert'.

Look for the connection a little harder. You are a smart guy. You can find the connection between Ellis and eXSY and how cognitive theory might help. Yes, granted it does cut down on the number of appointments for therapists.

MC

Anonymous said...

To g of August 2, 2007 2:50 PM

The Ontario retreat was actually the last sy event I attended, ever, and one of the few retreats I actually did NOT get sick/violently ill.
It was after that gathering that I took the pics down and ripped‘em to shreds and so forth.

What I’ve witnessed there really took the bisquit.

A friend (met in India) was seriously threatened by security staff because of not complying to an ‘order’ of that sy-gestapo. My friend was a person who gm actually visited in private residence during travels. And I thought if that’s done to a person like this, something has gone faaaaaaaar faaaaaaaar off balance. It was then crushing to realize that the only devotion to be had was in hearts of people attending. And NONE in the hearts of the people behind that bust, least of all perhaps gm.
dunno..but the behaviour certainly testified otherwise.
All bursted somehow out of the seams and I felt as if being in a very very bad woody allan movie with Hitchcock components.

It was there when it hit me that no matter what I will do, pray, donate, work…I will never ever get closer to what I wanted (TRUTH) on that sort of ‘path’.
It was sooo surreal, defying all descriptions.
If one of those dead cows would have floated through the hallways, I suppose no one would have been much surprised.

The wizard behind the curtain just turned out to be that lil twinky ol’ man, eh, woman.

After that, time was invested into my well-being, money stayed with me for my well-being, and guru-gitas …. my foot…

claudia

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone. Om Shanti and all that. I'll continue to post under anonymous, but from now on will refer to myself as kalidas.

Eye-4N-Eye,

Thanks for doing your part to try to break down the doors so the feds can rush in and hopefully run GM out of this country - the sooner the better. She has gotten away with walking all over Americans in their own country for too long. Indians get away with that in India - but not here if I have anything to say about it (and unfortunately for GM - I do).

I feel so outraged by how GM has treated her devotees, that if I ever ran into her on the street, I'd smack her upside the head, and kick her in the ass. She may not know how to pray to get the results she wants, but I sure do, and I intend to do just that to see that she is punished for what's she's done to abuse so many of us here in our own country.

The ashram should be investigated by the feds on terrorism charges, since SY has been terrorizing US citizens for decades. At one event I attended, GM's thugs conducted a home invasion, kicking in the door of the house and attacking those gathered to have satsang with her brother. One guy was kicked in the chest, and nearly rendered unconscious. A devotee by the name of Ganesh was one of the assailants. He entered the house wearing a woman's wig, and him and his cohorts also terrorized a videographer who was filming the event. They followed her home, threatened her with bodily harm and vandalized her property. I have a video of the attack if the feds are interested in seeing it. Do you think there's any chance this guy Ganesh could be transferred to Gitmo or Syria as part of a renditon program and waterboarded for information about SY? No one deserves it more.

Terrorism and smuggling are the best strategies to use right now to get SY shut down. The feds are being hyper vigilant these days when it comes to security, and have a no tolerance policy which could work in our favor. With this being the case, it wouldn't take much effort to topple the SY empire on terrorism grounds.

Violation of the first amendment right to free speech is also a good way to open the door to legal action against SY. All those SY has tried (or is trying to silence - including Marta) should seriously consider retaining a Constitutional lawyer to sue SY on constitutional grounds I can't understand why those who've been effected by this haven't done it already. Especially since SY has continually violated the constitutional rights of US citizens for decades. Marta should record anymore calls she receives from that psycho Ganapati and use them against SY in a court of law.

What do you think of these strategies Eye-4N-Eye?

I agree with the others that say GM has lost her shakti. However, I feel it was lost in the early to mid 90's as opposed to 2002. GM has a siddhi to transmit Bhagawan Nityananda's shakti, but the flow of that shakti is adversely affected by GM's own vasanas. GM never had any power of her own. However she seemed to be more powerful when George Afif was banging her. When I went to the ashram for a visit in the mid nineties, I noticed that the energy of S. Fallsburg was completely static. It was totally stagnant, like a cesspool and I couldn't wait to flee the place. GM has ruined herself, along with the people she has abused through the years. She is an absolute disgrace.

Anonymous said...

regarding left-handed tantra as a "fairy tale"...

Sorry Stuart, but you are not the final word on this matter. Left-handed tantra exists and there are countless scholarly texts on the topic. Many like Feurstein are invaluable in unravelling the syda mess. As the earlier poster mentioned, left-handed tantra can be learned all over India, it's not a fantasy.

My experience of being in the grip of GM's powers (albeit manipulative tantric ones) and then experiencing her losing her shakti was tangible to me. It was not groupthink. It did not emanate from how much incense was in the air.

It's difficult when you put out your own beliefs as "the-truth-from-on-yonder-high-mountain." I would say, it's simply your belief. And I am happy to claim my own experience and of left-handed tantric manipulations.

Didn't we have enough dismissive condescension in Syda?

Anonymous said...

MC said:
It’s back to my very first post here. It’s the dichotomous thinking in eXSY that has you all trapped. You don’t have to approve or like Ellis to acknowledge his contribution.

MC
********

MC, you make a gross generalization when you talk about "you all" being trapped. There are as many ways of understanding and talking about their years in SY among eXSY people as there are people on that list (919, last I looked). Over the years of that list's existence, some have been loud and insistent, some more nuanced and quiet. There are abrasive and dogmatic people in SY, and outside of it. It takes all kinds.

And I think everyone who spent any significant length of time in SY is going to take almost as much time to figure out what it all meant (with our without cognitive or other therapy). And sometimes during that process they might get a little noisy, a little dogmatic, a little suspicious, and also pretty angry. It seems similar to the grieving process. There are stages, and they don't arrive in any particular order, either.

A few chapters ago you quoted Jack Kornfield's list of things to look out for in "problem" groups. He has also spoken of spiritual betrayal as one of the most challenging kinds of betrayal to heal from. In A Path With Heart he addresses it in the chapter titled "The Emperor's New Clothes." Lots of wise insight in that chapter. One thing he says is this:

"To be disillusioned is to be stripped of our hopes, imaginings, and expectations. But while it opens our eyes, the resulting pain all too often closes our hearts. The great challenge of disillusionment is to keep our eyes open and still remain connected with the great heart of compassion. Whether our heart is torn open in the dark night of our inner practice or the dark night of community difficulties, we can use this experience to learn a deeper consciousness and a wiser love."

I think--to make my own glittering generalization--that "all of us" who have left SY because of its myriad problems share the intention to "learn a deeper consciousness and a wiser love." And each has to go about it in our own way, and in our own time. I think we "all" need to give each other some slack. Siddha Yoga broke my heart. At this point I'm actually grateful for that, but it took years to get to this point, and I know there are many out there who feel so much pain they can't see around it to what's beyond. "Yelling" and pointing fingers doesn't help anyone.

older but wiser

Anonymous said...

In his Aghora series Svoboda has described a ritual that allows one jump temporarily into a higher stage of consciousness. The effects last for about twelve years and then the recipient gradually sides back to their former self. Further spiritual progress becomes impossible in that lifetime. The technique gives the recipient all sorts of guru type powers to assist them in gathering students – the reason the ordeal is undertaken in the first place. It does not however, promote any moral, ethical, or personal growth toward understanding of spiritual truth. In fact it tends to corrupt their vision of humanity.

Sound like a familiar theme? There are probably several variations.

Anonymous said...

" The left-handed Tantra magical Shakti power stories are complete fairy tales. The power of our own minds, on the other hand, will never cease to amaze.

Stuart"

Stuart,
I admire your ability to cut through but you have a real blind spot when it comes to many things...being human, after all. You have no working knowledge of or experience of left-handed tantra (as you, yourself, have said many times) and yet you are quick to make pronouncements...saying that it's all just "complete fairy tales"...fine, that's your opinion. Others of us, who have spent more time within these systems might have a different opinion.

Anonymous said...

You should not be intimidated by these threats. As I understand Siddha Yoga has already been exposed - perhaps the leaving Siddha Yoga site would give you hosting? If you believe in the value of what you are saying then you should definitely keep on saying it, I am sure that you are helping a lot of people. If you look at the website www.cultofbutler.com or www.gaiaguys.net or xenu.net those authors have been threatened for exposing cults and they are and are still going. You have an important story to tell and you tell it very well - best of luck to you.

Anonymous said...

To Kalidas:

"... One guy was kicked in the chest, and nearly rendered unconscious. A devotee by the name of Ganesh was one of the assailants. He entered the house wearing a woman's wig, and him and his cohorts also terrorized a videographer who was filming the event... I have a video of the attack if the feds are interested in seeing it."

Kalidas - CAN YOU POST THIS ON U-TUBE AND SEND US THE LINK? WHY NOT MAKE IT PUBLIC FOR ALL TO SEE?

Anonymous said...

Kalidas,

I'm reluctant to comment on the relative effectiveness or non-effectiveness of strategies at this point. I've only just begun reaching out to various law enforcement contacts/friends I have at several agencies. Unfortunately work has been NUTS lately and I just haven't had much time to close on this. But it's in the works.

The terrorism angle is least likely since the federal definition of "terrorism" may not fit what you describe. Other areas are more likely...depending on whether eyewitness testimony will be sufficient or hard, physical evidence is required. Of course, the former is far easier to come up with in this case than the latter.

The other thing people will have to recognize is, the feds are SO busy trying to keep track of people like Al-Qaw'ada (much closer to the actual Arabic pronunciation than ALKAYDA!), Hizballah, and other jihadis as well as Iranian, Chinese, Russian, and North Korean agents running around here that by default a large, formerly active but now defunct Hindu-offshoot abusive cult, becomes a back-burner issue. I was afraid this might be the case when I began, and initial conversation indicates to me that it might still be the case. It's not lack of willingness, it's lack of resources. Enforcement and Intel agencies are SWAMPED and manpower is quite strained.

I'm still willing to fight the good fight and try and call attention to this. But frankly, the greatest attention would be called by a large public outcry and submission of whatever testimony and, preferably, hard physical evidence that could be obtained, from as many people as possible. In short, if this is going to work, it must evolve into something greater than a one-man show. I'll need folks help for nature and the universe to make this happen.

Stay tuned, I'm still working on finding the right people for folks to call.

Eye-4-Eye

Anonymous said...

Re: Post from Older But Wiser

Quoting Jack Kornfield

"To be disillusioned ......opens our eyes ....the resulting pain all too often closes our hearts....yet we can use this experience to learn a deeper consciousness and a wiser love."

OBW said:

"I think--"all of us" who have left SY .....share the intention to "learn a deeper consciousness and a wiser love."

And each has to go about it in our own way, and in our own time. I think we "all" need to give each other some slack.

End quote *******************

Thank you OBW for your comment. Apologies for the generalization about eXSY, but it is my impression that the majority of viewpoints are predictable and don't lead me to any opening in my understanding. It's like a party platform that requires complete agreement.

Yes, it would be great to give each other some slack.Then again perhaps we will arrive at some synthesis through the sturm und drang of these posts.

MC

Anonymous said...

Referring to people who discuss leaving SY on exSY, MC said: "It's like a party platform that requires complete agreement."

If you look more closely at your own statements, you seem determined to polarize people on exSY from people like you - you hold your view as the ultimate truth, and view exSY as all wrong.

Maybe your polarization is not necessary, or accurate. Maybe you just think exSY people are wrong, and you are right.

Instead of telling exSY people how wrong they are, you might explain your point of view. Are you only here to point out how wrong exSY people are? Or do you have a point of view of your own you'd like to share?

On another note: I'm a member of the Amer. Psychological Assoc. Lots of us have different ideas, it's not monolithic. Some of us don't like that psychologists have contributed techniques of torture to Guantanamo, e.g., while others defend this as proper use of the psychology profession. The organization is quite diverse. so with Ellis, while many revere him, many others find his work shallow and specious. Different strokes for different folks.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

I would add that the claim that exSY is like a cult and only has one point of view is as accurate as the claim that Dan Shaw makes his living off of Gurumayi's former members.

Both are false propaganda claims, meant to discredit people who criticize SY. Those who make these claims always say they are out of SY, but that they are disgusted with how exSY people comport themselves.

In fact, their only purpose in posting is to try to discredit people who speak out against SY.

Anonymous said...

"Stand back dear I am going to Reiki this s.o.b.!"

"oh you gonna use you left handed tantra reiki hun?"

"You got it!"

:)

Anonymous said...

I'm still willing to fight the good fight and try and call attention to this. But frankly, the greatest attention would be called by a large public outcry and submission of whatever testimony and, preferably, hard physical evidence that could be obtained, from as many people as possible. In short, if this is going to work, it must evolve into something greater than a one-man show. I'll need folks help for nature and the universe to make this happen.

Stay tuned, I'm still working on finding the right people for folks to call.

To the person with the video who was present at this violent attack. My heart goes out to you and to each person who was there. The evidence you have will contribute in significant measure, to show a consistent pattern of violence used by SY over the years.

Thank you to the person putting together Federal contacts. Your efforts are so amazing.

To people sending in evidence to Sullivan County and New York State, way to go. I'll submit mine, and when Federal contacts are ready, I'll resubmit it to them.

Marta, great story.

Anonymous said...

THE FEDERAL CONNECTION - by NI4NI
(Eye-4-Eye)

PREFACE

OK, folks. With Marta's permission, I'd like to finally start putting your tax money where my mouth is (err...typing fingers are) and begin posting a "microblog" of sorts, about ways to contact various federal law enforcement authorities, JUST IN CASE anyone out there in cyberspace happens to know of ANY instances, or better yet, is in possession of any actual physical evidence, that might JUST POSSIBLY IMPLICATE any large, quasi-religious allegedly charitable tax-exempt and not-for-profit organization which might be suspected of tax fraud (intentionally profiting as a tax-exempt organization), tax evasion (same thing), customs duties evasion, or even CRIMINAL activity.

Marta: May I have your permission to post this information here? Please let me know if you prefer that I announce such information elsewhere? I can just as easily do this on exSY but my expectation is that I'll reach a wider audience here. Would it be possible for you to briefly respond here with a "yes, go ahead Eye" or "No, Eye, I'd rather it go elsewhere." I now have someinformation rolling in, and am ready to begin contributing it.
Thanks, and stay tuned, folks.

NI4NI

Anonymous said...

This just in: Albert Ellis' last wife was SY devotee, and former resident of the GSP Princess Dorm (where girls who put out got baubles in their post-coital goodie bags), Debbie Joffe.

Read all about Ellis and Joffee at http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14947/index2.html

As previously stated, Ellis was a notoriously abusive, authoritarian therapist.

Dan Shaw

Anonymous said...

THE FEDERAL CONNECTION - by NI4NI
(Eye-4-Eye)

PREFACE

OK, folks. With Marta's permission, I'd like to finally start putting your tax money where my mouth is (err...typing fingers are) and begin posting a "microblog" of sorts, about ways to contact various federal law enforcement authorities, JUST IN CASE anyone out there in cyberspace happens to know of ANY instances, or better yet, is in possession of any actual physical evidence, that might JUST POSSIBLY IMPLICATE any large, quasi-religious allegedly charitable tax-exempt and not-for-profit organization which might be suspected of tax fraud (intentionally profiting as a tax-exempt organization), tax evasion (same thing), customs duties evasion, or even CRIMINAL activity.

Marta: May I have your permission to post this information here? Please let me know if you prefer that I announce such information elsewhere? I can just as easily do this on exSY but my expectation is that I'll reach a wider audience here. Would it be possible for you to briefly respond here with a "yes, go ahead Eye" or "No, Eye, I'd rather it go elsewhere." I now have someinformation rolling in, and am ready to begin contributing it.
Thanks, and stay tuned, folks.

NI4NI




Are you Eye for Eye? Please coordinate with Eye for Eye if not. This person is putting alot of effort into the Federal aspects and connections.

Don't spread the community in too many directions, as getting the information to directed sources will yield the best results.

Posting by here and on eXSY, once firm soures and links are in place, will reach alot of people.

Thank you

Anonymous said...

This just in: Albert Ellis' last wife was SY devotee, and former resident of the GSP Princess Dorm (where girls who put out got baubles in their post-coital goodie bags), Debbie Joffe.

Read all about Ellis and Joffee at http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14947/index2.html

As previously stated, Ellis was a notoriously abusive, authoritarian therapist.

Dan Shaw



Dear Dan,

Thank you for this link. I'll read it.

Going from one abusive situation to another, huh? Would not be the first time those abused by Muktananda and Gurumayi ended up in future unhealthy relationships.

Thankfully many have gotten help to heal the wound which created this cycle, and much healthier and vibrant lives are being enjoyed.

Anonymous said...

Re: Ellis New York Magazine Article

Dan,

You didn't read the New York article very well. Ellis comes off as quite sympathetic, with others taking advantage of him.

Your faulty reading comes because your mind is always made up ahead of time about everything. Do you ever question yourself?

Bringing up inconsistencies in Ellis actually proves the point I have been trying to make. Nothing is either/or, black or white.

You can't seem to get away from that kind of thinking. Very simplistic.

What bothers me most about your posts is that many who read it will take your word at face value. You carry great authority with the eXSY community. They won't read the article themselves. Heck they never read your thesis either as they admit on eXSY. Such things are too long. They rather run with the half truths you put out for them.

You speak in half truths because it serves your purpose. It is not the whole story and your know it. A behavioral scientist should know better.

I hope people read the article for themselves, as well as other assessments of Ellis.

Ellis is still widely admired by his peers for his contribution to psychology, regardless of your opinion.

MC

Anonymous said...

"Are you Eye for Eye? Please coordinate with Eye for Eye if not. This person is putting alot of effort into the Federal aspects and connections."

Yes, that was me.

NI4NI (AKA Eye-4-Eye)

Stay tuned. I'm waiting for Marta to provide permission first. I don't want to either step on her toes OR rain on her parade by posting a microblog-within-a-blog without her permission first. She DOES happen to be this blog's owner.

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