For a start, he and several of his disciples met the moron who I blog about in my signature, and the Swami himself was reportedly cured of a back affliction by the moron. Oh and hey posed for photos as well. I am unsure if Sivananda thinks that the moron is God though, but it's quite possible that a disciple like Chidananda did so.

Hmmm, maybe I should go ahead and blog about this. If only I can find that picture....

Looks like Sarlo doesn't know any of this. Maybe I should inform Guruphiliac of the connection.

I find myself a bit sad over your obsession with Sai Baba. Reading the above rather reminds me of PADA's writings and the line of thought where Sridhar, Narayan and the rest are cheerleaders of child molesting bogus gurus and the rest. Don't let that consume you.

For a context, the meeting was in 1957 – over four decades before the first scandal gossips started doing their rounds. Even his first declarations of being "the embodiment of Shiva and Shakti" were to come only six years after that.



Is that supposed to be a scandal? I know it's easy to start labeling people on the basis of something one doesn't agree, but I don't think name-calling is very edifying, even if quoted in the words of a respected figure. If people are recommended to keep diaries on their success and failure in celibacy as a means for working towards the better, what possibly is the problem in that?

For reference, the source. The worst one seems to find of him is that someone once caught him eating pickles.

It doesn't really make much of a difference to me who Sivanananda was or wasn't, but I find it sad to see that people, like Agehananda above, or some anti-guru advocates, try to make others look bad merely because of practices they find absurd.

I am myself also sad over my obsession with the fellow but, as you will know, my involvement in that is deeper than that what I make obvious. I consider my blog, while reporting news, views and innovative research, to be a form of self-therapy. I have tried walking away from it at least twice and plunging myself into the deep ocean of you-know-Who, but I have found that I simply cannot move on unless that chapter of my life is completely closed. It is sad and I long for it to be over, but I can do nothing about it unless it is itself over. The recent political developments are very worrying, not to mention the legal developments. I'm very surprised that you would liken me to Pada as I wouldn't consider my writings anywhere near that category.


That link, although good for it's general description, is overdosed hagiography. But for the record, the first declaration of being "somebody" occurred in 1940. Even that date is in dispute according to the extremely fascinating research that I am undertaking. Anyhow we may be getting off-topic here...

--------

About Sivananda, I have one of his books called "Japa Yoga". I thought it was interesting to read and I rather liked it, but I felt put off by his "all paths to reach one goal" approach. He is descended from the Ramakrishna lineage. From what I've read I wouldn't have thought that his philosophy was high-end, but rather simple A-B-C kind of stuff.

Also, I am a fan of religious movies and my favourites are "Sita Swayamvar" (starring Rayi Kumar) and "Gopal Krishna" (starring Sachin). I once read in a Sivananda book (can't remember which, sorry) where he said that even religious movies were unsuitable since one could not be assured of the spirituality of the actors. I thought that was a good point.

Aghedananda Bharati, I have heard that name before, but I can't remember where..

What is it that worries you, Azra`iL? Developments in India, or in the UK, elsewhere? Just trying to understand.

Though I have not had the pleasure to acquaint myself with your anti-Sai writings in to any extensive degree, I understand that PADA stands in his own league, unchallenged. What prompted me to draw a parallel from your post was:

1. The need to repeatedly refer to a particular person with a derogative term, which I believe can only serve to hurt your credibility (e.g. "that moron"), and

2. That there seems to be a need to tarnish others over their connection, no matter how innocent, with the object of your despise. (E.g. contact someone concerning Sivananda.)

These two can really only serve to harm your case and your own credibility, and thereby prolong your mission. I cannot see how maintaining such attitudes can do anything but consume you, and eventually to transform you to something akin to the object of your persistent meditation. How many years of your precious life are you going to invest in fighting ghosts of the past? A decade? Three decades, or five?



Yes, a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai. I wouldn't think of that as something to stunning and radical in the Indian religious scene. Certainly nothing that would have caused Sivananda to not extend to him the courtesy of hosting him.

If a man with a wild afro hairdo and clad in saffron robes, came over and cured my back ache and on top of that mainfest a gold-embedded mala out of his ethereal jacket, I would probably think he's a cool enough figure, even if he said he was the reincarnation of the non-manifest Narayana Maharaja or the new chrystalization of the 26th 2nd avenue ocean of bliss.

Do you think there's a possibly that story is embellished a bit for PR purposes?

I for one do not accept Sai baba as being able to cure backs, manifest vibuti, watches or afro picks for that matter...

there IS on the other hand PLENTY of testimonials of misconduct of Sai Baba, thats a fact!

The moron comment was directed to Mr. SB himself, and there a number of far worse names that he can be called, and which he frankly deserves.


For the record, that comment was made in jest since there was mention of Sarlo. Sarlo and Guruphiliac work together and this is evident from Guruphiliac's writings. Other than that, I have no interest with Sivananda's connection with Mr. SB as such. Except, of course, if I come across information giving a very different view of their meeting. I am in no mood to accept the hagiographies of a documented liar that were written by a documented liar.


As long as it takes. Perhaps the only reason you can get away with talk like that is because, despite your own bad experiences with gurus, you have had the luxury of remaining in the same religious schema. I haven't, and I have finally come to the realisation that it is a trauma from which I may never fully recover. As I said earlier, I have found that I cannot move on unless the matter is completely closed. I have tried twice already and failed. On the other hand, some people are weird enough to think that standing up for truth and justice is an honourable thing to do. And anyway, things have moved on to a much more serious level than my own individual self-therapy.


Well that is because you are not acquainted well enough with the exegeses of the movement and the deception of this fella. I have recently come across information, through innovative research, that throws considerable doubt on this claim. That may not raise your eyebrows as such, but it is guaranteed to raise the eyebrows (and possibly their hackles) of thousands and millions of other people who have staked their entire lives on this claim.


As far as I am concerned, Sivananda was a "nice guy" who just provided hospitality when the fella felt like dropping in. I wonder what Sivananda made of his "materialisations", did he consider the fella to be a siddha-yogi of sorts or an avatar? An innovative essay that I wrote way back in 2001 indicates the former possibility.


My only advice would be to keep the kids away.

I personaly don't know if Sai can cure blacks, boobees, witches or afro picks, but I really think to uphold the integrety of gr we need a Saibaba thread to explore the claims of Azra 'il, and Madhava, who may secretly like the Sai for all we know.

Sai be manifestin my man madhava a fro-pick

Madhava-

Maybe Brainiac has a reason he is on his thing about Sai Baba that you just don't get or understand.

Brainiac does not need to be demeaned here publicaly by you, saying he is like pada etc, you sound like you did when you were top gun at GD..!

I agree. at any rate, I don't think brain is advocating ritvik gurus in place of the Saister. We all have our reasons for being irritated with this or that incarnation.

But I say, does anyone here know for a fact that Saibaba is indeed not god? Let him come fourth now

According to Babu no one is not god.

yea but with a fro...?

"even that which is not god is god" babuamrta

Speaking as an ex-devotee, I can say that he is not God.
I'd just like to say that in spite of the (shameless, haha!) advertising of my blog by virtue of my signature, I have never spoken even once about SB here to my knowledge. Even my recent post about Shashi Tharoor's nomination for the UN Sec-Gen post was given more in the context of "Indian news". Funnily enough, I have noticed mentions of SB by two other members here at GR, but I never rose to the occasion to make a comment when I have plenty. That is because I respected the boundaries of this board which predominantly discuss GV and ex-GV topics and I didn't want to post here with an agenda. I think that my participation here so far has been more or les on the subject of GV topics. So I'd like that to be acknowledged and understood please.
I'll also admit that my shyness in discussing this topic here (as indicated in my last post) is because my work is not without critics. I and my colleagues have been the subject of malicious slander and defamation campaigns where attempts have been made to ruin my life. I do have my stalkers and the mods of the board have been made aware of the problem, since I know for a fact that my stalkers are watching my every move. This has happened before in other Vaishnava forums too. I am a "hunted man". Still, I'm not scared but I'm just apprising the facts here. In any case I'm still not entirely keen on discussing this guy here but, like I said, if there is substantial interest then I'd be happy to contribute.

In answer to angrezi's question, I must admit that I took my cue from none other than Prabhupada himself. I paid attention when he said that an avatar must be predicted in the scriptures in order to be genuine. In actual fact I knew that already with my studies into Christianity but it was nice to hear it again with more forcefulness. And so indeed, one of the things that solidified my faith in SB's divinity were the profusion of "prophecies" all supposedly describing his advent on earth. Not only does this supposedly occur in Hindu scriptures, but in the scriptures of other religions too (Revelations 19, etc)! My research into this is still ongoing, but I have largely found these "prophecies" to be either complete fakes or gross distortions of the original. A good example of this would be the Islamic prophecy of the Mahdi, the Shia texts are almost completely unlike the info passed around in the SB community.

There are many other things that prove he is not God. For example, in my last post I mentioned that I had written a seminal essay in 2002 (corrected) that brought forward previously unknown (and highly scandalous!) information into the public eye, and which shed new light on his already-dubious origins. I'm pleased to say that my amateurish effort brought forth no less than three supporting essays from a scholarly figure. The basic premise of this essay was my presentation of the idea that SB may have acquired his powers through yogic practices or other similar methods, instead of being born with them as he claims and as millions believe as typical of an avatar. Believe it or not, this is a truly revolutionary and faith-breaking idea for SB devotees to contemplate. Four years later (2006) I have come across new information that supports and further confirms my original idea, which will soon be published among a host of other imminent exposés. There are many, many reasons why he is not God. Just for a laugh you can put "Krishna" in the search box at the top-right of my blog and read away, most notably my exposé of the "SK Picture Imbroglio".

In answer to Epitau's question, the concern I expressed primarily relates to Tharoor's nomination by the Indian Govt. for the position of the UN Sec-Gen. This is a guy who, if he gets the job, will take over from Kofi Annan. His mother is a devotee of SB and, although I haven't found a place where he directly states his "devoteehood", he has penned a gushing article in favour of SB for the International Herald Tribune, completely ignoring the resulting protests. His nomination is supported by Indian ex-Premier AB Vajpayee, who is also a devotee of SB and visited him on many occasions for SB's consultation on matters of national policy and government.
SB has a long and sordid history of having court justices, state governors, prime ministers, chiefs of police, presidents, and other dignitaries, in his pocket. His previous attempt to gain worldwide recognition by UNESCO (in 1999) failed miserably thanks to the efforts of protesting ex-devotees from all around the world. If Tharoor gets the position, is this time for SB's big break onto the world stage? He has predicting worldwide fame for himself since he was barely 7 years old. Of course I have spoken everything here in a nutshell, as there is much more to say and be said. There have been some legal developments also but I cannot speak about them pending an imminent official statement to be published on our website.

Oh there have been some developments here in the UK too, and plenty more on the way. Did you see the BBC documentary? I was personally involved with that.

I'll expect my stalker(s) to come in and hack me to death now. Hopefully the mods will be on guard.

What does all this have to do with GV? I found that I will always appreciate Prabhupada's influence in my life for a time, as I feel that his exegesis of Vaishnava philosophy completely reorganised my way of thinking about things, and helped me to understand things in an entirely new light. It has helped me to make spiritual commentary on many fundamental areas of disagreement between SB's theology and philosophy as compared to traditional "Hindu" exegeses of Vedantic thought. Recently I have found that SB devotees are posting links and bhajan mp3s from the RadioKrishnaCentrale site. Specifically they were listening to Damodarastaka and 'Sri Rupa-manjari Pada' by Narayana Maharaja. Some SB devotees now study Prabhupada's books and incorporate his ideas into their daily lives, even if it is mixed up with other crap SB stuff. One SB devotee published a book praising SB as the "Supreme Personality of Godhead". Considering the longtime hostility between ISKCON and SB Org., I think that these are encouraging developments and perhaps the time is ripe for them to receive enlightenment.

Sounds good to me .
To rescue whatever seems to be useful from paths or schools of thought that otherwise pose great problems in terms of coherence and "bona-fidity" .

Thank you Brainji. My question was spoken only to give opppertunity for such discussion here, as I noticed your reluctance. As a former mod, founding member-acarya, and future financial patron to this site, I think I can say that GR is really not for GV discussions per se, but repercussions of those discussions as it were, whether it be SB, LSD or S&M.

I for one know very little about SB, seeing his influence only in Hrishikesh, and pockets in S. India, but I think the guy warrants a discussion here by folks who know about him. I will indeed read your essay, thanks

I sure find Brainiac a whole hell of a lot more articulate in his anti-sai presentation than that pada dude thats for sure...

Madhava your wrong !

The June 2010 of 'Caravan' magazine (India) had a cover story on the Sathya Sai Baba expose. I've been wanting to post it here for some time; it is a very good article, more interesting because it gives insight into how devotees have dealt with the development of more recent scandals occurring there: The Land of Illusion: A journey into Sai Baba’s smalltown fiefdom, where decades-old allegations of sex abuse, murder and deception continue to linger.

I know a Chinese family that worships this guy. They believe that if one keeps a photograph of their master in their bedroom then one can be cured of any illness. They tried this on my late wife, which caused me to avoid them.

No amount of scandal will dissuade these devotee from worshipping this man who they believe is literally god.

It is indeed very sad. You may know that I was deeply involved with Sb for a number of years, and after my exit I felt crushed, humiliated, deceived, hurt, any emotion you like. I expressed a little bit of rage on a blog which later gave way to commentary and investigative reports, many of which were the product of my own researches and released on the Internet for the first time. I was on the verge of systematically unravelling the depths of his deception and the modern-day perpetuation of myths when I was forced to stop by fanatical pro-Sb forces attempting to attack me personally and ruin my life. And I haven't written anything since.

To be honest, I've lately been pondering that whole experience in the context of my own life. I've been wondering certain things like: What reasons made me believe that SB was a living incarnation of God? What reasons make anyone believe that Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Ramana Maharishi, or any other prominent guru and teacher, are who they say they are? What made me think Gaudiya Vaishnavism was worth following? What is in the psychology of individuals that make them believe in anything religious, and feel a need to express themselves religiously? What is it that makes me convinced of God's non-existence? And so on..

I was especially thinking how ISKCON can actually learn from other schools instead of ritually denigrating them all the time. Given that there were some dealings between Iskcon and SB in the late 70s, it seemed to me that Sb is actually far, far more successful than Iskcon could ever be. He continues to have devotees in the millions, for whatever reason, and Iskcon gurus have only a few thousand at most and if they're lucky. The experience of religiosity was far more positive and of a higher level than I ever experienced in an Iskcon setting; there were people who genuinely cared about you for your own sake instead of their self-interest. His devotees are, overall, a very nice bunch of people. His teachings, while sometimes confused and contradictory in places on matters of theology, end up being compelling oratories on the virtues of loving your fellow man and the importance of social service to the needy, so it is hard to find something really objectionable in his message. And then of course, fer godssakes , you just can't get away from the constant mentions of the huge welfare projects he's done, how I'm sick of constantly hearing about it. Whatever he's got is keeping people hooked on him in their millions, so I was thinking of how organisations like Iskcon can learn a few things instead of being belligerent and snooty.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not warming to SB or his organisation or anything. I'm as critical of him as before, perhaps even more so, but I'm just saying that it was important for me to reflect on my experiences in the context of the overall effect it had on my life. My exposure to Sb resulted in my getting exposed to a wider experience of spirituality such as that represented by other gurus such as Ramakrishna, Ramana, Nisargadatta, Yogananda, Neem Karoli, Swami Rama, etc., and all that was left was for GV (the "highest") to complete it, before I finally realised it all led nowhere productive and to dispense with it all. But at least I can say I have been there and seen it all, and feel the better for it.

The End.

24 April 2011 Last updated at 06:59

Indian guru Satya Sai Baba dies

Nietzche finally got it right - god is dead.

A nice summary of your dealings and experience with Sai Baba reflected through ISKCON Brainiac, strange how we naturally are drawn to recount and deconstruct the experience even more once the death of a once followed teacher takes place. But you have not seen it all yet young friend, for with your scientific penchant for evidence and trial experience, you've got to try on Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Baha'i, Jainism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism, Neo-Paganism, Rastafarianism and last by not least Scientology before coming to any conclusions .... or .... create your own .... hmmm ... then perhaps, ... just being a member here is all one needs?

Oh yes, I didn't mean "all" literally... who has been through the entiregamut of spirituality? I simply meant that the view of other religions and traditions as perceived within Iskcon is entirely narrow-minded (as if we didn't know ), in which they almost seem to enjoy compartmentalising others into a system in which 'their' vision comes out on top. It's a sore understatement that Iskcon is not a good place to learn about other traditions. The teachers I mentioned above would be blanket-statement'ed as "mayavadis", a complete mischaracterisation of their particular schools of thought and the peculiarities that made them individual and distinct. So much for GV 'personalism'!

By the way, you reminded me that of 'other' religions I have spent the most time with Christianity and Islam. I attended church services for three years, and also studied Islam up to the point of considering conversion. My specific ethnic background means I am very close to the Sikhs and have attended Gurdwaras for a number of years, still do sometimes. Maybe that was another benefit of being associated with Sai Baba; although my own interfaith tendencies (church attendance, etc.) were present before coming into contact with him, the experience only expanded due to a concept he taught called 'sarvadharma' which meant literally 'all religions' and broadly 'respect all religions', so it was a good life experience as we regularly mingled with people of other faiths (SB devotees or not), had long conversations with them and studied their spiritual paths. We were taught to ignore the differences between these faiths and strive hard to see the (positive) commonalities. One of his most popular sayings: "Let the different faiths exist, let them flourish. Let the glory of God be sung in all languages and in a variety of tunes. That should be the ideal. Respect the differences between the faiths and recognize them as valid so far as they do not extinguish the flame of unity."

Been feeling a bit odd today over the stunning news. I've felt a profound sense of loss just as if the death of someone close to me would feel. Didn't realise it would affect me this much. Perhaps an old chapter of my life is finally closed? Or at least close to completion, I hope ...

How different from the Vaisnava verse ACBS cites in his Gita intro: "Let there be one dharma, one teaching, one book."


Maybe he -- or what he stood for -- was close to you. Your contact with him was motivated by genuine search. Our identity is relational. When the other part of a relation disappears, we lose a part of ourselves.

(Said confidently by one who hasn't lost anyone important yet...)

What about Satya Sai Baba's last words?
I would like to know what his last words were.
Couldn't find anything on the Net.

You lost ISKCON. Your involvement with ISKCON must have been relational.

Yes, that's true. But there was an element of choice. ISKCON is still there, it hasn't died and left me. And I think it is more acute when a person passes away.

I've noticed that when a person passes on, we tend to keep them in some form; by way of a mannerism, an attitude towards a given subject, a certain way we begin to pronounce a particular word...

I have observed this, not only in myself, but also in others.

This longing for Eternity...

ISKCON itself as an institutional entity was always a distant mysterious organization that never seemed all that attractive to me, it was the people I met and friends that I made that were devotees which held meaning and was the reason I was attracted to the lifestyle and culture. If I had not run into slightly older Prabhupada devotees who where artists and craftsmen working on the developing F.A.T.E. museum in Detroit, I do have to wonder if I would have joined at all? It was their maturity in life, their independence from the local temple political scene that made the faith seem much more liberal and filled with spiritual possibility to my personality at that time. It was a world not preoccupied with distributing books and preaching to people on the streets, for the art that was being created was the vehicle for that expression. It was until those devotees left Detroit when the project was over and I moved to Washington DC, that I became involved with the foundational ISKCON institution, trying hard to hang on to the creative artistic idealism that I learned from my mentors in the Motor City. Those relationships meant everything for me, and not having them anymore put me in a quandary, only made up by seeking a relationship with a Guru like SDG, who was an artist at heart also. I found a new home and relationships with the press people surrounding him, not to mention some friendships with the BTG crew in Philadelphia, many of whom where his disciples also. So looking back, for me anyway, my relationship with ISKCON was very relational, but mainly with a certain subset of devotees who were also artists, writers and designers ... and when those relations became frayed and dismantled with SDG's downfall, I lost the remaining links that made me feel at home in Krsna Consciousness.

This is an interesting realization, somehow feels like an important one, so glad this topic and issue came up. I can understand Brainiac's feelings and thoughts in looking back upon his involvement with his Sai Baba sphere of friends, most likely going through similar thoughts that I had when I heard the Maharishi died not that long ago, having spent time in that organization before leaving it for KC. Any shared ideas and beliefs with other individuals creates relationships that can have deep bonds contained within it, creating friendships and even love toward another individual, it all becoming a part of our sense of self. To lose those relationships can create a sense of loosing a part of ones self, a part of our history. I know I have experienced that in loosing loved ones to death or leaving a faith or practice due to a change in belief. All those people and experiences become thought DNA wrapped in memories that keeps informing me along the road of life ... grist for mill that is each and every one of us. It's hard to make that cut, that departure from something or somebody who had deep meaning in our life at one point, and that is a good sign I would think, for it is a shared emotion that most of us feel, it's something that makes us uniquely human and compassionate toward one another.

Even with Satya Sai manifestations being slight of hand, he was still God cuz only God could have been such a perfect fake.

No idea. He was hospitalised with heart problems on March 28, also diagnosed with pneumonia, and operated on to fit a pacemaker. Over the next three weeks he was said to be "critical but stable" due to other problems that cropped up, the main ones being recurrent low blood pressure, fluid in the lungs, and liver jaundice. Finally he died of multi-organ failure. (There are suspicious circumstances around the death but that is another story.) Through of all of this he was reported to be drifting in and out of consciousness. Family members and other aides who were allowed to visit him reported gestures of acknowledgement, but he was unable to say anything due to feeding tubes down his his throat.

His last conscious gesture was said to be a joining of the hands in the 'namaskar' way, and was retrospectively taken to mean 'I am leaving now', which is most likely to be embellishment. Even before Mar. 28, he was too ill to give public speeches and was barely audible when he tried. He has been in a state of decline since 2005. So, no last words really.

Edit: I checked sathyasai.org and his last speech was 22 Nov 2010. Only one speech in the whole of 2010.

Oh no, not another one of these! To me it all sounded like another old person dying simply because of old age.

Yes, another person is being blamed for the death of their god.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/sai-baba-s-a...le1-689790.aspx

"The late Sathya Sai Baba's trusted aide Satyajit has been given police protection following intelligence inputs that he may be facing a threat to his life. Satyajit, a native of Tamil Nadu, had been the Baba's main "caretaker" for many years. He, however, had been facing a lot of allegations ever s ince the Baba was hospitalised on March 28. The main allegation was that Satyajit did not feed the Baba proper food and gave him lot of sedative drugs, resulting in deterioration of the latter's health, police sources said..."

Satyajit isn't even the half of it. I don't believe the allegations about being fed insufficient food because it's well known that SB ate very simple food anyway (thin rice gruel with chutney, mostly). Even while he was in hospital fighting for his life, allegations were being levelled at the Trust members (who control the ashram and all operations). Sai Baba is was the chairman of his own Trust, but there were allegations of financial misconduct which haven't been properly answered and likely never will. It's estimated to be a 9-12 billion dollar operation, but it was revealed that the Trust enjoys 100% tax exemption and is also exempt from filing financial reports with the government every year since 1980, which is more or less exclusive privilege for them. The main controversies were raging about who will succeed Sai Baba after his death? Satyajit is not a Trust member although reports are that SB indicated last year that Satyajit should be made a member of the Trust. The Trust are keen to make Satyajit a member of their club if he wills, but the main rivals to the Trust are SB's own blood family. Sb's nephew, Ratnakar, is a member of the Trust, but it is clear that factions are going to develop with some siding with the family while others siding with the Trust. It's very murky and details are still coming in.

What interests me are the details of SB's declining physical condition. We have suspected for years that he might have something like Parkinson's Disease as he was starting to display tremor-like behaviour, and the condition is degenerative. When SB was in the hospital there was intense media scrutiny about his health and what might have led to this hospitalisation. Some interesting and juicy tidbits popped up: it turns out that the Trust on two separate occasions had SECRETLY brought in specialists to examine SB and perhaps make a diagnosis. My guess is that they did diagnose something, very likely a degenerative condition like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, and this would account for SB's increasingly poor state in his last couple of years. The media kept cycling old pictures and video of SB in a better state of health and rarely showed footage from the last few years because anyone who sees pics/videos would immediately understand his debilitating condition. Now, if he was diagnosed with something degenerative, it is obvious that he is going to get a lot worse. There remained no chance of living up to the age of 95 or 96 like he predicted (which was BS anyway). And secret means, they kept even SB's family in the dark. So there is great annoyance between these two parties.

Even in the intervening days between the death and the funeral, there were reports of trucks loaded with gold being moved out of the ashram and transported to "undisclosed location". Clearly the Trust are taking advantage of the grief and confusion and thinking of how to stash their loot, especially since the media and public are calling for greater transparency over its financial affairs in the wake of SB's death.

Even all of this isn't the half of it. I can only guess at the amount of shi- they've keeping under the lid for so many years and I hope it blows up into a big expose for them.

I watched the live web streaming of the funeral this morning.

It is so very much difficult to keep up any kind of myth in this world. Sooner or later it all evaporates (is that a word?). But some do their utmost to keep their myths alive. That is sort of sad. All that denial for what?

I had wondered why you never commented on the Maharishi's passing or shared any thoughts or experiences you might have had about him, his organisation, or the way it is running now in his absence. If you wanted to do so, I would be very interested to hear. TM and SSSO are both organisations that interacted with ISKCON in some ways, so it is interesting to hear these things.

By the way I would like to mention that after SB's death I also feel a certain kind of relief, not least because of the gag order I had imposed on myself to keep silent about my own contributions to the SB expose. Since he has now died I no longer need to fear any repercussions from him or his organisation, and in any case I feel that I am free to talk about the full extent of my involvement in the worldwide exposure of SB's misdeeds. What started as a self-therapy blog filled with rage and dripping sarcasm started turning into hard-hitting investigations where I was confidently able to unravel the many layers of hyperbole that made up the myth of SB. Eye-opening stuff where, if given the right publicity, had the capability to make serious dents in his credibility especially among his own devotees. Blowing all the myths wide apart. It grew to such a level that I was receiving requests for comment from newspaper journalists who planned to run articles on him, and I helped the BBC research team when they were filming their awesome documentary. People will hardly ever know the extent to which we went in order to secure a criminal investigation on SB; we were in direct communication with various police forces and High Court judiciaries all over the world. I even ran stories over the SSO's attempt to brown-nose Buckingham Palace and endear themselves to the Duke of Edinburgh (the Queen's husband). At one point there was serious talk about my bringing out a book about SB that put forward all of those revelations and discoveries. It all came crashing to a halt when SB devotees of the more malicious variety started attacking me personally and trying to ruin my life by making up false lies about me, trying to report me to the police for nonsensical reasons, and also tried to get me kicked out of university. I couldn't risk them trying to ruin my life, so I was forced to 'go underground'.

Anyhow I would just like to extend special thanks to Dhyana, Kalisurfer, Tapati, Epitau, Ananda, and others who were informed of the situation when malicious SB devotees attempted to infiltrate this forum several times and attempt to attack and harass me here. You have done great work and some of you, for your trouble, were also viciously attacked. I regret this deeply.

Even though I'm no longer in a vulnerable position I don't think I will return to my SB investigations anytime soon. It's been 5 years since I last wrote anything and my former colleagues are still doing a great job. Maybe at some point I might consider it because so much remains to be told, but I'd rather wait it out and see where the land lies. There's enough post-samadhi controversy going on right now.

You are welcome Brainiac, glad to play a small hand in keeping a member safe from trolls and people with vendettas.

I will write to you at some point about my experiences concerning the passing of the Maharishi, thanks for asking.