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July 23, 2009 at 3:37 pm #31965Michael WinnKeymaster
STRIPPING THE GURUS
By Geoffrey D. FalkRead the entire book online:
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/
Ramakrishna was a homoerotic pedophile.
His chief disciple, Vivekananda, visited brothels in India.
Krishnamurti carried on an affair for over twenty years with the wife of a
good friend. Chögyam Trungpa drank himself into an early grave. One of Adi
Da’s nine “wives” was a former Playboy centerfold. Bhagwan Rajneesh sniffed
laughing gas to get high. Andrew Cohen, guru and publisher of What Is
Enlightenment? magazine, by his own reported admission sometimes feels “like
a god.”These are typical of the “wizened sages” to whom otherwise-sensible people
give their devotion and unquestioning obedience, surrendering their
independence, willpower, and life’s savings in the hope of realizing for
themselves the same “enlightenment” as they ascribe to the “perfect,
God-realized” master.Why?
Is it for being emotionally vulnerable and “brainwashed,” as the
“anti-cultists” assert? Or for being “willingly psychologically seduced,” as
the apologists unsympathetically counter, confident that they themselves are
“too smart” to ever fall into the same trap? Or have devotees simply walked,
with naïvely open hearts and thirsty souls, into inherent dynamics of power
and obedience which have showed themselves in classic psychological studies
from Milgram to Zimbardo, and to which each one of us is susceptible every
day of our lives?Like the proud “Rude Boy” Cohen allegedly said, with a laugh, in response to
the nervous breakdown of one of his devoted followers: “It could happen to
any one of you.”Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t get suckered in. Be prepared. Be informed.
Find out what reportedly goes on behind the scenes in even the best of our
world’s spiritual communities.You can start by reading this book:
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/
………….
REVIEWS:
“Armed with wit, insight, and truly astonishing research, Geoffrey Falk
utterly demolishes the notion of the enlightened guru who can lead devotees
to nirvana. This entertaining and yet deadly serious book should be read by
everyone pursuing or thinking of pursuing the path of guru devotion.”— John Horgan, author of Rational Mysticism
“Stripping the Gurus is superb — one of the best books of its kind I have
ever read. The research is meticulous, the writing engaging, and the overall
thesis: devastatingly true. A stellar book.”— Dr. David C. Lane, California State University
“This gripping and disturbing book should be read by anyone who finds
themselves revering a spiritual teacher.”— Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine
“Geoffrey Falk’s delightful but disturbing unmasking of religious prophets
and preachers who command a vast following is a welcome contribution to the
literature on the gurus and god-men of all religions.”— Dr. Narasingha P. Sil, Western Oregon University
“No one involved in contemporary spirituality can afford to ignore this
book. It exposes the darker side of modern spiritual movements, those
embarrassing — sometime vicious or criminal — reports which the leaders of
these movements prefer to hide. With wit and humility, and without
abandoning the verities of religion, Falk has provided a corrective critique
of groups that peddle enlightenment and transcendence. A must!— Len Oakes, author of Prophetic Charisma
July 23, 2009 at 9:39 pm #31966voiceParticipantThe book sounded interesting, so I did some research on him. Here is a link to a page of his blog that he angrily promoted in response to a review of one of his books on Amazon.com
http://www.geoffreyfalk.com/blog/January2009.php#29
His blog clearly shows him to be little different than a Rush Limbaugh – angry at everyone but people like him. His book may have interesting points, but it sounds like it is just him enjoying pulling people down so that he can feel good about himself. Everyone but white, male computer programmers appear to be equally useless in his eyes blacks (including Obama), Muslims, feminists, spiritual leaders etc.
That said, he does create nice music: http://www.myspace.com/geoffreyfalk (picture of him below).
Chris
July 23, 2009 at 10:45 pm #31968Michael WinnKeymasternote: I’m not promoting this book or its author, just the free flow of info. – Michael
FROM “STRIPPING THE GURUS”
By Geoffrey D. Falk.CHAPTER I
SPEAK NO EVILhttp://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/speaknoevil.asp
“The wicked are wicked no doubt, and they go astray, and they fall, and they
come by their desserts. But who can tell the mischief that the very virtuous
do?” — William Makepeace Thackeray………….
ONE WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE that our worlds recognized saints and sages have
the best interests of everyone at heart in their thoughts and actions.One would also like to believe that the same divinely loving and
enlightened figures would never distort truth to suit their own purposes,
and would never use their power to take advantage (sexually or otherwise) of
their followers. They would, that is, be free of the deep psychological
quirks, prejudices, hypocrisy and violence which affect mere mortals.One would further hope that the best of our worlds sages would be able to
distinguish between valid mystical perceptions and mere hallucinations, and
that the miracles and healings which they have claimed to have effected have
all actually occurred.Sadly, none of those hopes stand up to even the most basic rational
scrutiny.Thus, it has come to be that you are holding in your hands an extremely evil
book.It is so, simply because it attempts to expose, to a wider audience, the
worst of the alleged abuses which various god-men have reportedly visited
upon their followers, and on the world at large, over the past century or
more.In tracing that line of degeneracy more or less chronologically, from the
introduction of Eastern philosophy into Western thought and action up to the
present day, we will meet the following saints and sages:* Ramakrishna, whose worship of the Divine Mother did not exclude comparable
ritual veneration for his own penis, or an equal interest in fondling the
genitals of his male followers* The brothel-visiting Vivekananda, Ramakrishnas chief disciple, who first
brought yoga to America via the 1893 Worlds Fair, and thus paved the way
into the West for all following Eastern teachers* Jiddu Krishnamurti, the Theosophical Societys eagerly anticipated World
Teacher, who later broke from that organization, fully repudiating it, and
then embarked on a quarter-century affair with a woman whom he believed to
be the reincarnation of his late mother* Japanese Zen masters and scholars, whose support of the use of Zen
principles in the training of the Japanese military during times of war, and
reported physical abuse of disciples in times of peace, will give us serious
pause* Satchidananda, the Woodstock Swami, who repudiated drugs and rock n
roll, but reportedly retained a fondness for sex with his female disciples* The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, famed for his involvement with the Beatles, his
alleged failed attempt at seducing Mia Farrow, and his efforts at teaching
the real magic of levitation to the late magician Doug Henning, among
others* Swami Rama, renowned for his purported demonstration of parapsychological
abilities under Elmer and Alyce Green in the 1970s, as another holy
celibate who apparently couldnt keep his robes on* Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who reportedly once admitted, while sniffing
laughing gas to get high, that he was so relieved to not have to pretend to
be enlightened any more* Satya Sai Baba, whose claimed miracles have included raising people from
the dead, producing streams of sacred ash from his hands — a feat easily
replicated by secular magicians — and allegedly molesting hundreds of young
boys* Sri Chinmoy, the stunt man of the spiritual world, whose disciples to
this day periodically canvass campuses across North America with flyers
touting the purported benefits of meditation under his guidance* Buddhist monks in Thailand, who have been known to proudly exhibit
expensive collections of antique cars, and to don disguises, sneak out to
local karaoke bars, and be caught with pornography, alcohol, sexual
paraphernalia, and more than one woman at a time* Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, whose FBI files contained the
observation, appears mental* Werner Erhard, originator of est group training, who brought us the
phrase, Thank you for sharing* Yogi Bhajan, the claimed only living master of white tantric yoga in the
world* Chögyam Trungpa, who brought Tibetan Buddhism to America, and proceeded to
drink himself into an early grave* Swami Muktananda, whose ashram living quarters in India reportedly
contained a well-used secret passageway to the adjacent young girls
dormitory* Muktanandas name-changing disciple Adi Da (Da Free John, Da Love-Ananda,
etc.), whose crazy wisdom exploits propelled him to exile in Fiji in the
mid-80s, following allegations of sexual abuse* Andrew Cohen, whose own Jewish mother has regarded his closed,
authoritarian spiritual community as embodying a fascist mind-set, with
its members behaving like Gestapo agents. (Such closed communities are of
homogeneous beliefs, have little exchange of ideas with the outside world,
and possess no option of questioning the leader while still remaining a
member in good standing. Further, to leave the community is typically
claimed to be to throw away ones only chance in this lifetime for
enlightenment [van der Braak, 2003].) She has further rejected Cohens
claims of enlightenment, comparing him instead to the cult leaders Jim
Jones and David Koresh, and even to Adolf Hitler* Ken Wilber, the Einstein of consciousness studies, who has at times
spoken with unbridled enthusiasm for the effects of discipline under both
Adi Da and Cohen* Yogi Amrit Desai, formerly of the Kripalu yoga center, whose followers
there, when news of the claimed sexual activities between the married Desai
and his devotees surfaced, displayed unique discrimination in reportedly
forcing him to leave the center he himself had founded* Assorted sexually active Roman Catholic priests — pedophile, ephebophile
and otherwise* The Findhorn community in Scotland, which actually functions without a
guru-figure, arguably doing more good than harm for exactly that reason* Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a
Yogi, whose troubled ashrams the present author can speak of from first-hand
experienceWith only a few exceptions, the above figures have taught authentic Eastern
philosophy of one variety or another. They have further been widely
recognized and duly advertised as possessing high degrees of spiritual
realization. Indeed, one can easily find loyal followers singing the praises
of each of these individuals and paths, in books and sanctioned websites.
(Both Steven Hassans http://www.freedomofmind.com site and the Rick A. Ross
Institute at http://www.rickross.com have many such links to official websites.)
To find the reported dirt on each of them, however, requires a fair bit
more effort. Nevertheless, it is those alleged worst aspects, not the
often-advertised best, which leave formerly devoted disciples picking up the
pieces of their shattered lives, and wondering aloud how they could ever
have been so blind as to buy into the perfect masters propaganda in the
first place.This is, therefore, a very dirty book. For, it presents not only the
representative (and, after a while, completely unbelievable) claims to
perfection or God-realization of each of the forty or so major and minor
authentic spiritual figures considered herein, but also the alleged
shortcomings of each, as those have affected their followers. Obviously,
then, to cover all of that in a single text requires that only the most
grandiose of the claims, and the worst of the foibles and alleged abuses, of
each sage be mentioned herein.Unless one enjoys seeing other people suffer — or effecting or reliving
ones own process of disillusionment — however, this is not going to be
pretty. For, in probing this lineage, we will find legions of alleged
emotional, physical and sexual abuses perpetrated in the name of God, by
persons neither impotent nor omnipotent, yet claiming to be one with God.By the end of all this unpleasantness, then, at least one thing will
undoubtedly be clear. That is, that with gods like these, we do not need
devils. For, every evil which one might otherwise ascribe to Satan or Maya
has allegedly been perpetrated by one or another God-realized avatar or
ostensibly perfected being.Of course, the forthcoming shocking disclosures will predictably result in a
good amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth among obedient followers.
Indeed, that is to be expected particularly among loyal adherents to each
path for whom the perfection and infallibility of their own leader is not
open to questioning, even if they may allow that none of the other sagely
individuals considered herein are what they claim to be. (Part of the value
of grouping all of these pretenses and alleged abuses together in a single
book is exactly that one can see that the unique claims of ones own path
are also being made, equally untenably, by numerous other paths.)
Nevertheless, if we are really interested in truth, we should still welcome
having the hypocrisies and (alleged) abusive evils of persons in positions
of spiritual authority be laid bare to the world. Exposing them to the
public eye, after all, is the only way to get them to stop.Thus, onward and evil-ward.
Read complete book online:
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/Download a copy (pdf):
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/ebook/download.aspJuly 24, 2009 at 5:52 am #31970russellnParticipantI think what is of most interest is the ongoing process of sorting effective method and understanding from otherwise. IMO the gurus were stripped years ago. I spent time with Swami Muktananda over several years – while his chi field and presence was good it was obvious he had serious limitations. I recall asking a sincere question related to practice (internal pressure and energy overflow) and he was pretty well clueless; I knew it right there and then. In the beginning he seemed a powerful tantric yogi and in the end he seemed just a hindu religion man telling folk stories. After a few years it was all over really. Now from the course offered on this site I understand a lot more. These methods are very powerful and go deep. Independence while continued learning is good. Anything banging on about devotion and love – warning bells. Back to the main point – sorting out good methods is key. There are limitations in Hindu yoga practice which are addresed in the Taoist methods taught here. I recall watching a doco a few years ago about some hindu town and the guru was blessing the villagers – later he was away on his own to recharge – effectively doing chi gung. But he wasn’t offering to teach them the methods. Sermons and stories along with rituals. In the past perhaps they assessed that this was all the common people were up for. It is different now – we have access to good method and explanation. Issues with authority etc – cooking it. Not an easy one. The earth element, true reliable centre. Need that to balance other elements.
July 25, 2009 at 9:04 am #31972DogParticipantIt is interesting to note that these are all male Guru’s. The Guru thing does not really translate well to this culture. I also have heard that most of the Guru’s that came over here would not make it over in India. They where not fully initiated.
The Author also forgot Michael Winn how has been known to enjoy to much chocolate dessert at Heavenly Mountain retreats. The shame! -
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