Trolls and Stalkers Options

[Ananda]

Yea, it's the same old everywhere, in different flavors. It incidentally also happened to me in Gaudiya Math. Wherever there are absolute beliefs and fundamental values, this response pattern seems to be integral.

Mind you, and I always meant to ask, much of the criticism you received after leaving TGV came from IGM-types, did they not? If not from some Western-oriented TGVs themselves. How did the Vaishnava community at Radhakund itself treat you or react to your leaving?

Well I have never formally stated my departure from GV to them so I wouldn't know exactly what people are thinking (insider news don't seem to be reaching me), but you'll remember the response I received at Vilasa Kunja from the fundamentalist wing. I received an ultimatum from a small coalition of members and was booted out of my own forum. (I built the forum and own the domain.) Prior to that I had communicated my desire to see it continue in some shape regardless of my personal decisions, and even offered to do a software upgrade to have it stable for the future. You have an account, go there and read for yourself.

You may or may not have heard of the reaction from Sanatana Das Babaji after I closed my ties with him individually as a guru in a frank face to face conversation. He told me how my offensive attitude towards him would destroy my creeper of devotion, and that I had no idea how much damage I was doing to myself by looking at him in a negative light and observing faults in him. Throw in the resulting divorce and the resulting complications with our house project and all, and I'd say it's a decent level of repercussion there, even if not from a large audience.

And you'll remember my exit from Bhakticharan Das Babaji's hospices (parts two and three). I have no idea what he or his cronies are talking about me, I'm only too glad to have never encountered the man again after slipping his worshipable lotus photo back to him through a crack in the door on demand, as I refused to give him more money for payback of the loan scam loop he was running with me, and as I wasn't too interested in seeing the man's face by opening the door. (And I was on my way out to take the first leak of the morning when he showed up and parked outside my closed door for a fair half an hour.) The general advice from friendly devotees is to not criticize the guru. Should you attempt to explain the situation, you are in effect criticizing the guru, so it's a dead end there.

Trust me, it's every bit as black and white there. You're dealing with people who are conditioned to this absolute theologized outlook since their decades, and many since their childhood here. Add in a large spoonful of Bengali emotional fervor and mix with near-ecclesiastic belief in the guru's absolute nature, deal with the absence of rational ingredients from a Western education, and it's overall about as accommodating and flexible as a stone wall.

[Ananda]

Latest in awe of the trolls.

Mary Had a Little Lamb who Met a Little Troll

[zvs]

I swear that in all my years I have never seen anything like the reaction people continue to have to your changes in life. How on earth does posting about the Pet Shop Boys result in 60+ comments and criticisms about your spiritual decisions? The psychologies of these people are surely astounding. I think you should notify your nearest University and have the Psych and Sociology heads organize a study. The findings would surely be fascinating.

[zvs]

Question: Do you think Ksama's recent comments to you are sincere?

[Ananda]

I swear that in all my years I have never seen anything like the reaction people continue to have to your changes in life. How on earth does posting about the Pet Shop Boys result in 60+ comments and criticisms about your spiritual decisions? The psychologies of these people are surely astounding. I think you should notify your nearest University and have the Psych and Sociology heads organize a study. The findings would surely be fascinating.

I've been reconsidering the renaming of my blog to Psychology Live. I would post all sorts of random content, we could all observe the reactions in the comments. The challenge would be keeping it from being too obvious so as to not alienate the test subjects, though on the other hand it's questionable whether they could desist even if it were overtly stated that medical records were being sketched on the basis the blog's commentaries.

Question: Do you think Ksama's recent comments to you are sincere?

We have a love-hate sort of relationship. He has his ups and downs, times when he hates me, and times when he loves me, and hates me again. It has usually come in steady 6-8 month cycles, he goes away hating me, he comes back loving me (or otherwise hating me), and goes again hating me. It's been going on since 2003 and the good old Gaudiya Discussions times. That name, it still holds its magic in my ear!

[Tapati]

I swear that in all my years I have never seen anything like the reaction people continue to have to your changes in life. How on earth does posting about the Pet Shop Boys result in 60+ comments and criticisms about your spiritual decisions? The psychologies of these people are surely astounding. I think you should notify your nearest University and have the Psych and Sociology heads organize a study. The findings would surely be fascinating.

There's definitely a thesis in there for somebody! I should suggest it to my therapist who teaches psychology.

[0Egill Skallagrímsson0]

Yea, it's the same old everywhere, in different flavors. It incidentally also happened to me in Gaudiya Math. Wherever there are absolute beliefs and fundamental values, this response pattern seems to be integral.

Mind you, and I always meant to ask, much of the criticism you received after leaving TGV came from IGM-types, did they not? If not from some Western-oriented TGVs themselves. How did the Vaishnava community at Radhakund itself treat you or react to your leaving?

Well I have never formally stated my departure from GV to them so I wouldn't know exactly what people are thinking (insider news don't seem to be reaching me), but you'll remember the response I received at Vilasa Kunja from the fundamentalist wing. I received an ultimatum from a small coalition of members and was booted out of my own forum. (I built the forum and own the domain.) Prior to that I had communicated my desire to see it continue in some shape regardless of my personal decisions, and even offered to do a software upgrade to have it stable for the future. You have an account, go there and read for yourself.

You may or may not have heard of the reaction from Sanatana Das Babaji after I closed my ties with him individually as a guru in a frank face to face conversation. He told me how my offensive attitude towards him would destroy my creeper of devotion, and that I had no idea how much damage I was doing to myself by looking at him in a negative light and observing faults in him. Throw in the resulting divorce and the resulting complications with our house project and all, and I'd say it's a decent level of repercussion there, even if not from a large audience.

And you'll remember my exit from Bhakticharan Das Babaji's hospices (parts two and three). I have no idea what he or his cronies are talking about me, I'm only too glad to have never encountered the man again after slipping his worshipable lotus photo back to him through a crack in the door on demand, as I refused to give him more money for payback of the loan scam loop he was running with me, and as I wasn't too interested in seeing the man's face by opening the door. (And I was on my way out to take the first leak of the morning when he showed up and parked outside my closed door for a fair half an hour.) The general advice from friendly devotees is to not criticize the guru. Should you attempt to explain the situation, you are in effect criticizing the guru, so it's a dead end there.

Trust me, it's every bit as black and white there. You're dealing with people who are conditioned to this absolute theologized outlook since their decades, and many since their childhood here. Add in a large spoonful of Bengali emotional fervor and mix with near-ecclesiastic belief in the guru's absolute nature, deal with the absence of rational ingredients from a Western education, and it's overall about as accommodating and flexible as a stone wall.

Anandaji,
I saw that in 2002 by visiting India and experiencing some of local devotees who are organized in a way of , you know which kind of organizations. I did talk with you over the phone at some point about that but i decided not to go further into details.
When i have heard that you are going to India, i knew what will happen in a long run.
Therefore i said to my wife in 2003 that we will never go back there. My wife isn't devotee anymore for years and i still consider Sri Ananta Das Babaji my Gurumaharaja regarding all matters Traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism, but i don't consider myself just Traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava anymore at all. I am out of that lifestyle as well for years now.
I think that it is a normal how things go in life if you wish to pursue personal over organizational spirituality and religion. I don't like organized religion at all anyway. I think that because i didn't have background in organized religion from my own family was actually a good thing.

[ras]

I swear that in all my years I have never seen anything like the reaction people continue to have to your changes in life. How on earth does posting about the Pet Shop Boys result in 60+ comments and criticisms about your spiritual decisions? The psychologies of these people are surely astounding. I think you should notify your nearest University and have the Psych and Sociology heads organize a study. The findings would surely be fascinating.

I've been reconsidering the renaming of my blog to Psychology Live. I would post all sorts of random content, we could all observe the reactions in the comments. The challenge would be keeping it from being too obvious so as to not alienate the test subjects, though on the other hand it's questionable whether they could desist even if it were overtly stated that medical records were being sketched on the basis the blog's commentaries.

Now that the Audarya Fellowship is read-only you might end up with quite a few who believe they are beyond observation and just as strongly as Miley Cyrus believes she has talent.

I have to say I'd better recommend Hannah Montana as a lighter form of entertainment.