Last Update: Feb 11, 2008
Adepts of Sahaj Marg are fragile personalities, who live in a dehumanized society. Chari never ceases to move the track wherever they take refuge, galvanizing his troops, guilting the preceptors because of their lack of results. First drawn by the clientelle of the "psy's", his methods of recruiting are refine and he is now in search of recognition and respectability through the establishment of windows to the outside world.
Adepts of Sahaj Marg
1. The Profile Of The Abhyasis
A psychiatrist, a prominent preceptor of Sahaj Marg, summarizes the main characteristics of the abhyasis: almost three quarters are women, with a maximum between 35 and 50 years, an over-representation of health care workers, teachers and artists. Many are in a "mid-life" crisis, are unstructured (borderline) personalities, or have already undergone some form of psychotherapy.
Western civilization has greatly expanded the values of individualism, materialism, atheism or competitiveness. This society where man is relegated to a variable of adjustment is often hard and frustrating. The lack of human projects and the loss of meaning of that society makes a larger number of people more vulnerable.
Without necessarily totally rejecting this new culture, the seekers also have spiritual or other more humane aspirations and are seeking shelters. They seek a new psychological balance and they expect to find it by listening to the spiritual messages that their receive.
2. Family and Social Impact
"The Sahaj Marg (…) allows people who aspire to achieve union with the divine source within them, as part of a family and professional life normal." That was the message repeated ad infinitum by the SRCM. But the facts are not in agreement with this statement…
The need for "constant remembrance" of the Master leads to a detachment, if not a disinterest, vis-à-vis the daily, which remains liveable when the whole family adheres to the same spiritual goal, but it quickly turns to hell otherwise. Babuji even spoke of the "living dead"!
The accession of a person to Sahaj Marg offers little choice to other members of his family. The alternative lies in his/her full and complete alignment or misunderstanding, and hence the ensuing distance to the progressive breakdown of the family. The pre-existing social relations slowly crumble because of the permanent proselytism that is difficult to bear by the entourage, but also by the lack of other subjects of common interest.
So divorce becomes common among new abhyasis, Chari then organizes meetings and blesses new arranged marriages. And abhyasis try to regroup themselves in the same living places (around the ashrams) …
Recruitement Methods
1. Small Soldiers Of Sahaj Marg
Officially, the preceptor is the channel between the Master and the abhyasi, so he/she is someone spiritually advanced. In practice, this is a foot soldier and a recruiter of the Army of Sahaj Marg, assigned to numbers and the numbers only. He/she must account for his/her activities every month, including data on the number of new recruits (introductions). A zone administrator control the results and refers himself to the next higher level. And so on until Chari. The pyramid is well organized, and very seriously controlled…
As if that were not enough, large gatherings of preceptors are regularly organized by the SRCM. After lengthy "guiltings" on their poor performance, Chari galvanizes his troops before sending them back on the ground. The Mission manages its preceptors as a marketing company treats its Sales Reps, or as the agents of its sales force.
To please Chari (or not to displease), all means are good. And it is not so easy to recruit new followers month after month. Using one's business relations to cover a wider range of recruitment becomes an inevitable drift. Although Chari never formally prompted the preceptors to do so…
2. From Psychotherapies to "Personal Development"
Finding personalities that are psychologically fragile and easy to recruit is a specialty of the Preceptors of Sahaj Marg. Who has not been approached at a difficult moment (unemployment, divorce, bereavement or depression)? But there is a group that is particularly favoured in this type of recruitment, the "psychologists." Taking advantage of the absence of a clear definition of the professional psychotherapist, preceptors of Sahaj Marg have plunged into the breach thus opened. The number of so-called "therapists" has exploded (gestalt, psycho-genealogy, kinesiology, and so on.). And the expected results have followed…
So much so that Chari finally sounded the alarm in a speech on December 31, 1992: "(...) our preceptors must be very careful when they accept new abhyasis, in order to ensure that it did not here people who can not be helped. I am referring especially to people with mental disorders, and who underwent therapy in hospitals or psychiatric firms. Cases of this kind are becoming more frequent (...). "
This did not prevent Chari from attending a conference of the International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry in May 1997 in Israel, following the theoretical contributions of a psychiatrist who was trying to explain the spiritual evolution of Sahaj Marg in the form of 'a new stage in the psychological evolution. (Chari apparently offered the Association of Spiritual Psychiatry his Ashram in India for their next meeting)
But in "Whispers", in a new warning dated April 10, 2001, Babuji reportedly said these words from beyond the grave: "Be wary of the confusion that is being made between the workings of our spiritual method and all psychoanalytical practices that are currently springing up. It is not desirable to make connections between them. Criticisms currently made by the media against Sahaj Marg in France, allude to leaders who manipulate our candidates by involving them in both disciplines. It would be necessary to stop mixing it all up by considering abhyasis as potential clients and vice versa. Therapist preceptors are not serious enough on this point, hence numerous problems are already caused by this lack of vigilance."
The "psy" connection is of course too gross and difficult to maintain in the face of criticism. Backed to the wall, SRCM must retreat. He refines his methods of recruitment, abandons medicine and turns to professional training and the "personal development" movement. Failing to sell spiritual "psy", he turns to stress management, coaching, which is much more subtle. They lead to the same results while broadening the customer base, under the the guise of respectability…
Towards Recognition & Respectability?
Chari wants to improve the image of SRCM vis-à-vis the outside. Personal development is interesting, but not enough. He then invests himself in the "spiritual values" that he will dessiminate in the education of children in particular, but also in humanitarianism, and to the gates of the UN.
1. SMRTI, VBSE and LMOS
Founded in 1967 by K.C. Varadachari, Sahaj Marg Research Institute (now called SMRTI as "Training" was added) is incorporated and operated by Chari in the goal of spreading Sahaj Marg to the outside world, not only to spiritual seekers, but also in other communities, scientific and others.
The Institute for Research and Training first published the works of its most prominent members on spiritual psychiatry, yoga or education, etc. still in close contact with the Sahaj Marg.
Approximately in 2000, Santosh Khanjee annexes the SMRTI to the Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation in order to better organize, and the results are quick to come. Shortly thereafter, in fact, the SMRTI produces the Spiritual Value Based Education (VBSE), a sort of guide of a so-called spiritual education, to the educators, teachers and parents for children and youth.
This VBSE is rapidly used in the education and training by the followers of Sahaj Marg. It is used today by over a hundred schools in India, according to the SRCM. But that is still not enough for Chari, looking for recognition and respectability…
Getting closer to teachers, in 2005 he founded a school close to the Babuji Memorial Ashram to educate, according to the principles of Sahaj Marg and its VBSE, the children of his Indian followers as well as those of the westerners who come to him.
The Omega Lalaji Memorial International School (LMOS) then develops to build this showcase that Chari called for in all his vows, in the field of education. He is forging links with business, government and education officials from all sides…
2. From Humanitarianism to the gates of the UN
Many followers of Sahaj Marg are involved in NGOs, but the SRCM is indifferent, more concerned with spirituality (or money?) than the misery of the world. Yet mass poverty in India does not leave all the western abhyasis completely indifferent. Then comes the earthquake in Gujarat in January 2001, which claimed more than 20,000 victims. The Indian migrant communities around the world are mobilizing…
Backed to the wall, SRCM reversed and organizes its first fundraisers specifically to collect donations from its members, though Chari gives himself the right to use that money for other purposes. And the success of the operation is such that, henceforth, for every new cataclysm in the world, SRCM canvasses for campaign donations. Then the greatest centers of the Indian Missions open their doors to the poor, providing them with food, and free health care, thanks to its volunteer caregiver followers. New showcase for respectability, the "Centres of light" were born.
Finally, taking advantage of the profession of some of its members who work in various UN agencies, SRCM attempts a phased approach. In 2005 it became an NGO associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations (UNDPI) , by virtue of his expertise in the fields of education and religion.
Chari is rubbing his hands! The SRCM finally has its windows. Respectability and recognition should follow…
More in depth ...
The Adepts
The profile of the abhyasis
The causes of the spiritual search
Chari arrange marriages
Augerans or how SRCM is implanted ...
The Recruitment
Spiritual Psychiatry
Testimonies of former adepts
The hellish life of the Preceptors
Respectability
SRCM - UN: to a partnership?
The Epoch of the LMOS School
Monday, March 3, 2008
Frenetic Proselytism (updated Feb. 11, 2008)
Adepts of Sahaj Marg are fragile personalities, who live in a dehumanized society. Chari never ceases to move the track wherever they take refuge, galvanizing his troops, guilting the preceptors because of their lack of results. First drawn by the clientelle of the "psy's", his methods of recruiting are refine and he is now in search of recognition and respectability through the establishment of windows to the outside world.
Adepts of Sahaj Marg
1. The Profile Of The Abhyasis
A psychiatrist, a prominent preceptor of Sahaj Marg, summarizes the main characteristics of the abhyasis: almost three quarters are women, with a maximum between 35 and 50 years, an over-representation of health care workers, teachers and artists. Many are in a "mid-life" crisis, are unstructured (borderline) personalities, or have already undergone some form of psychotherapy.
Western civilization has greatly expanded the values of individualism, materialism, atheism or competitiveness. This society where man is relegated to a variable of adjustment is often hard and frustrating. The lack of human projects and the loss of meaning of that society makes a larger number of people more vulnerable.
Without necessarily totally rejecting this new culture, the seekers also have spiritual or other more humane aspirations and are seeking shelters. They seek a new psychological balance and they expect to find it by listening to the spiritual messages that their receive.
2. Family and Social Impact
"The Sahaj Marg (…) allows people who aspire to achieve union with the divine source within them, as part of a family and professional life normal." That was the message repeated ad infinitum by the SRCM. But the facts are not in agreement with this statement…
The need for "constant remembrance" of the Master leads to a detachment, if not a disinterest, vis-à-vis the daily, which remains liveable when the whole family adheres to the same spiritual goal, but it quickly turns to hell otherwise. Babuji even spoke of the "living dead"!
The accession of a person to Sahaj Marg offers little choice to other members of his family. The alternative lies in his/her full and complete alignment or misunderstanding, and hence the ensuing distance to the progressive breakdown of the family. The pre-existing social relations slowly crumble because of the permanent proselytism that is difficult to bear by the entourage, but also by the lack of other subjects of common interest.
So divorce becomes common among new abhyasis, Chari then organizes meetings and blesses new arranged marriages. And abhyasis try to regroup themselves in the same living places (around the ashrams) …
Recruitement Methods
1. Small Soldiers Of Sahaj Marg
Officially, the preceptor is the channel between the Master and the abhyasi, so he/she is someone spiritually advanced. In practice, this is a foot soldier and a recruiter of the Army of Sahaj Marg, assigned to numbers and the numbers only. He/she must account for his/her activities every month, including data on the number of new recruits (introductions). A zone administrator control the results and refers himself to the next higher level. And so on until Chari. The pyramid is well organized, and very seriously controlled…
As if that were not enough, large gatherings of preceptors are regularly organized by the SRCM. After lengthy "guiltings" on their poor performance, Chari galvanizes his troops before sending them back on the ground. The Mission manages its preceptors as a marketing company treats its Sales Reps, or as the agents of its sales force.
To please Chari (or not to displease), all means are good. And it is not so easy to recruit new followers month after month. Using one's business relations to cover a wider range of recruitment becomes an inevitable drift. Although Chari never formally prompted the preceptors to do so…
2. From Psychotherapies to "Personal Development"
Finding personalities that are psychologically fragile and easy to recruit is a specialty of the Preceptors of Sahaj Marg. Who has not been approached at a difficult moment (unemployment, divorce, bereavement or depression)? But there is a group that is particularly favoured in this type of recruitment, the "psychologists." Taking advantage of the absence of a clear definition of the professional psychotherapist, preceptors of Sahaj Marg have plunged into the breach thus opened. The number of so-called "therapists" has exploded (gestalt, psycho-genealogy, kinesiology, and so on.). And the expected results have followed…
So much so that Chari finally sounded the alarm in a speech on December 31, 1992: "(...) our preceptors must be very careful when they accept new abhyasis, in order to ensure that it did not here people who can not be helped. I am referring especially to people with mental disorders, and who underwent therapy in hospitals or psychiatric firms. Cases of this kind are becoming more frequent (...). "
This did not prevent Chari from attending a conference of the International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry in May 1997 in Israel, following the theoretical contributions of a psychiatrist who was trying to explain the spiritual evolution of Sahaj Marg in the form of 'a new stage in the psychological evolution. (Chari apparently offered the Association of Spiritual Psychiatry his Ashram in India for their next meeting)
But in "Whispers", in a new warning dated April 10, 2001, Babuji reportedly said these words from beyond the grave: "Be wary of the confusion that is being made between the workings of our spiritual method and all psychoanalytical practices that are currently springing up. It is not desirable to make connections between them. Criticisms currently made by the media against Sahaj Marg in France, allude to leaders who manipulate our candidates by involving them in both disciplines. It would be necessary to stop mixing it all up by considering abhyasis as potential clients and vice versa. Therapist preceptors are not serious enough on this point, hence numerous problems are already caused by this lack of vigilance."
The "psy" connection is of course too gross and difficult to maintain in the face of criticism. Backed to the wall, SRCM must retreat. He refines his methods of recruitment, abandons medicine and turns to professional training and the "personal development" movement. Failing to sell spiritual "psy", he turns to stress management, coaching, which is much more subtle. They lead to the same results while broadening the customer base, under the the guise of respectability…
Towards Recognition & Respectability?
Chari wants to improve the image of SRCM vis-à-vis the outside. Personal development is interesting, but not enough. He then invests himself in the "spiritual values" that he will dessiminate in the education of children in particular, but also in humanitarianism, and to the gates of the UN.
1. SMRTI, VBSE and LMOS
Founded in 1967 by K.C. Varadachari, Sahaj Marg Research Institute (now called SMRTI as "Training" was added) is incorporated and operated by Chari in the goal of spreading Sahaj Marg to the outside world, not only to spiritual seekers, but also in other communities, scientific and others.
The Institute for Research and Training first published the works of its most prominent members on spiritual psychiatry, yoga or education, etc. still in close contact with the Sahaj Marg.
Approximately in 2000, Santosh Khanjee annexes the SMRTI to the Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation in order to better organize, and the results are quick to come. Shortly thereafter, in fact, the SMRTI produces the Spiritual Value Based Education (VBSE), a sort of guide of a so-called spiritual education, to the educators, teachers and parents for children and youth.
This VBSE is rapidly used in the education and training by the followers of Sahaj Marg. It is used today by over a hundred schools in India, according to the SRCM. But that is still not enough for Chari, looking for recognition and respectability…
Getting closer to teachers, in 2005 he founded a school close to the Babuji Memorial Ashram to educate, according to the principles of Sahaj Marg and its VBSE, the children of his Indian followers as well as those of the westerners who come to him.
The Omega Lalaji Memorial International School (LMOS) then develops to build this showcase that Chari called for in all his vows, in the field of education. He is forging links with business, government and education officials from all sides…
2. From Humanitarianism to the gates of the UN
Many followers of Sahaj Marg are involved in NGOs, but the SRCM is indifferent, more concerned with spirituality (or money?) than the misery of the world. Yet mass poverty in India does not leave all the western abhyasis completely indifferent. Then comes the earthquake in Gujarat in January 2001, which claimed more than 20,000 victims. The Indian migrant communities around the world are mobilizing…
Backed to the wall, SRCM reversed and organizes its first fundraisers specifically to collect donations from its members, though Chari gives himself the right to use that money for other purposes. And the success of the operation is such that, henceforth, for every new cataclysm in the world, SRCM canvasses for campaign donations. Then the greatest centers of the Indian Missions open their doors to the poor, providing them with food, and free health care, thanks to its volunteer caregiver followers. New showcase for respectability, the "Centres of light" were born.
Finally, taking advantage of the profession of some of its members who work in various UN agencies, SRCM attempts a phased approach. In 2005 it became an NGO associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations (UNDPI) , by virtue of his expertise in the fields of education and religion.
Chari is rubbing his hands! The SRCM finally has its windows. Respectability and recognition should follow…
More in depth ...
The Adepts
The profile of the abhyasis
The causes of the spiritual search
Chari arrange marriages
Augerans or how SRCM is implanted ...
The Recruitment
Spiritual Psychiatry
Testimonies of former adepts
The hellish life of the Preceptors
Respectability
SRCM - UN: to a partnership?
The Epoch of the LMOS School
Adepts of Sahaj Marg
1. The Profile Of The Abhyasis
A psychiatrist, a prominent preceptor of Sahaj Marg, summarizes the main characteristics of the abhyasis: almost three quarters are women, with a maximum between 35 and 50 years, an over-representation of health care workers, teachers and artists. Many are in a "mid-life" crisis, are unstructured (borderline) personalities, or have already undergone some form of psychotherapy.
Western civilization has greatly expanded the values of individualism, materialism, atheism or competitiveness. This society where man is relegated to a variable of adjustment is often hard and frustrating. The lack of human projects and the loss of meaning of that society makes a larger number of people more vulnerable.
Without necessarily totally rejecting this new culture, the seekers also have spiritual or other more humane aspirations and are seeking shelters. They seek a new psychological balance and they expect to find it by listening to the spiritual messages that their receive.
2. Family and Social Impact
"The Sahaj Marg (…) allows people who aspire to achieve union with the divine source within them, as part of a family and professional life normal." That was the message repeated ad infinitum by the SRCM. But the facts are not in agreement with this statement…
The need for "constant remembrance" of the Master leads to a detachment, if not a disinterest, vis-à-vis the daily, which remains liveable when the whole family adheres to the same spiritual goal, but it quickly turns to hell otherwise. Babuji even spoke of the "living dead"!
The accession of a person to Sahaj Marg offers little choice to other members of his family. The alternative lies in his/her full and complete alignment or misunderstanding, and hence the ensuing distance to the progressive breakdown of the family. The pre-existing social relations slowly crumble because of the permanent proselytism that is difficult to bear by the entourage, but also by the lack of other subjects of common interest.
So divorce becomes common among new abhyasis, Chari then organizes meetings and blesses new arranged marriages. And abhyasis try to regroup themselves in the same living places (around the ashrams) …
Recruitement Methods
1. Small Soldiers Of Sahaj Marg
Officially, the preceptor is the channel between the Master and the abhyasi, so he/she is someone spiritually advanced. In practice, this is a foot soldier and a recruiter of the Army of Sahaj Marg, assigned to numbers and the numbers only. He/she must account for his/her activities every month, including data on the number of new recruits (introductions). A zone administrator control the results and refers himself to the next higher level. And so on until Chari. The pyramid is well organized, and very seriously controlled…
As if that were not enough, large gatherings of preceptors are regularly organized by the SRCM. After lengthy "guiltings" on their poor performance, Chari galvanizes his troops before sending them back on the ground. The Mission manages its preceptors as a marketing company treats its Sales Reps, or as the agents of its sales force.
To please Chari (or not to displease), all means are good. And it is not so easy to recruit new followers month after month. Using one's business relations to cover a wider range of recruitment becomes an inevitable drift. Although Chari never formally prompted the preceptors to do so…
2. From Psychotherapies to "Personal Development"
Finding personalities that are psychologically fragile and easy to recruit is a specialty of the Preceptors of Sahaj Marg. Who has not been approached at a difficult moment (unemployment, divorce, bereavement or depression)? But there is a group that is particularly favoured in this type of recruitment, the "psychologists." Taking advantage of the absence of a clear definition of the professional psychotherapist, preceptors of Sahaj Marg have plunged into the breach thus opened. The number of so-called "therapists" has exploded (gestalt, psycho-genealogy, kinesiology, and so on.). And the expected results have followed…
So much so that Chari finally sounded the alarm in a speech on December 31, 1992: "(...) our preceptors must be very careful when they accept new abhyasis, in order to ensure that it did not here people who can not be helped. I am referring especially to people with mental disorders, and who underwent therapy in hospitals or psychiatric firms. Cases of this kind are becoming more frequent (...). "
This did not prevent Chari from attending a conference of the International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry in May 1997 in Israel, following the theoretical contributions of a psychiatrist who was trying to explain the spiritual evolution of Sahaj Marg in the form of 'a new stage in the psychological evolution. (Chari apparently offered the Association of Spiritual Psychiatry his Ashram in India for their next meeting)
But in "Whispers", in a new warning dated April 10, 2001, Babuji reportedly said these words from beyond the grave: "Be wary of the confusion that is being made between the workings of our spiritual method and all psychoanalytical practices that are currently springing up. It is not desirable to make connections between them. Criticisms currently made by the media against Sahaj Marg in France, allude to leaders who manipulate our candidates by involving them in both disciplines. It would be necessary to stop mixing it all up by considering abhyasis as potential clients and vice versa. Therapist preceptors are not serious enough on this point, hence numerous problems are already caused by this lack of vigilance."
The "psy" connection is of course too gross and difficult to maintain in the face of criticism. Backed to the wall, SRCM must retreat. He refines his methods of recruitment, abandons medicine and turns to professional training and the "personal development" movement. Failing to sell spiritual "psy", he turns to stress management, coaching, which is much more subtle. They lead to the same results while broadening the customer base, under the the guise of respectability…
Towards Recognition & Respectability?
Chari wants to improve the image of SRCM vis-à-vis the outside. Personal development is interesting, but not enough. He then invests himself in the "spiritual values" that he will dessiminate in the education of children in particular, but also in humanitarianism, and to the gates of the UN.
1. SMRTI, VBSE and LMOS
Founded in 1967 by K.C. Varadachari, Sahaj Marg Research Institute (now called SMRTI as "Training" was added) is incorporated and operated by Chari in the goal of spreading Sahaj Marg to the outside world, not only to spiritual seekers, but also in other communities, scientific and others.
The Institute for Research and Training first published the works of its most prominent members on spiritual psychiatry, yoga or education, etc. still in close contact with the Sahaj Marg.
Approximately in 2000, Santosh Khanjee annexes the SMRTI to the Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation in order to better organize, and the results are quick to come. Shortly thereafter, in fact, the SMRTI produces the Spiritual Value Based Education (VBSE), a sort of guide of a so-called spiritual education, to the educators, teachers and parents for children and youth.
This VBSE is rapidly used in the education and training by the followers of Sahaj Marg. It is used today by over a hundred schools in India, according to the SRCM. But that is still not enough for Chari, looking for recognition and respectability…
Getting closer to teachers, in 2005 he founded a school close to the Babuji Memorial Ashram to educate, according to the principles of Sahaj Marg and its VBSE, the children of his Indian followers as well as those of the westerners who come to him.
The Omega Lalaji Memorial International School (LMOS) then develops to build this showcase that Chari called for in all his vows, in the field of education. He is forging links with business, government and education officials from all sides…
2. From Humanitarianism to the gates of the UN
Many followers of Sahaj Marg are involved in NGOs, but the SRCM is indifferent, more concerned with spirituality (or money?) than the misery of the world. Yet mass poverty in India does not leave all the western abhyasis completely indifferent. Then comes the earthquake in Gujarat in January 2001, which claimed more than 20,000 victims. The Indian migrant communities around the world are mobilizing…
Backed to the wall, SRCM reversed and organizes its first fundraisers specifically to collect donations from its members, though Chari gives himself the right to use that money for other purposes. And the success of the operation is such that, henceforth, for every new cataclysm in the world, SRCM canvasses for campaign donations. Then the greatest centers of the Indian Missions open their doors to the poor, providing them with food, and free health care, thanks to its volunteer caregiver followers. New showcase for respectability, the "Centres of light" were born.
Finally, taking advantage of the profession of some of its members who work in various UN agencies, SRCM attempts a phased approach. In 2005 it became an NGO associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations (UNDPI) , by virtue of his expertise in the fields of education and religion.
Chari is rubbing his hands! The SRCM finally has its windows. Respectability and recognition should follow…
More in depth ...
The Adepts
The profile of the abhyasis
The causes of the spiritual search
Chari arrange marriages
Augerans or how SRCM is implanted ...
The Recruitment
Spiritual Psychiatry
Testimonies of former adepts
The hellish life of the Preceptors
Respectability
SRCM - UN: to a partnership?
The Epoch of the LMOS School
The Profile of Abhyasis
The Profile of Abhyasis
(Updated: February 11, 2008)
Give the floor to SRCMtm preceptor Wulliemier Ferdinand, one of the best representatives of SRCM and the SMSF. It is presented itself during a conference on "Medicine of the Third Millennium" organized by Strategic (19/01/97 Conference in Paris):
"My name is Ferdinand Wulliemier, I am established as a psychiatrist in private practice in Lausanne, (Switzerland) I teach at the Faculty of Medicine of Lausanne and the Centre for the Study of Families, which operates under the Department of Adult Psychiatry. I organize seminars and participated in the conference as a member of IASP [International Association of Psychiatry Spiritual]. I practice meditation since about 12 years and I try to incorporate my spiritual practice in my daily life, among other professional . "
At the conference, he reported the results of a study he conducted: "it covers a population of 54 people, over a period of 8 years, between 1988 and 1996. These 54 persons were patients that I I personally followed as a psychotherapist and that began to meditate or already meditating on the basis of Sahaj Marg yoga (...) there are no psychological problem or notorious somatic problems when people do psychotherapy before doing meditation."
"(...) Who are the people who are involved in a spiritual practice from a sociological point of view? Almost three-quarters are women. They are between 18 and 80 years, more rarely, with a maximum between 35 and 50. This allows us to make a link with the "the mid-life crisis" mentioned by CG Jung, that is around 35 years. What are their socio-cultural and professional backgrounds? Almost all seem represented, but it include an over representation of caregivers, teachers, but also to a lesser extent perhaps artists. "
"What is their evolutionary level, ie at what level of psychological functioning can we link them when they begin to meditate? Say at the outset that, according to this estimate, almost a quarter have done a psychotherapy before beginning a spiritual practice. A proper minority among them, about 30%, are the so-called "unstructured" If I take the psychiatric classification usual there include borderline personalities, borderline neurotic-and pre-borderline psychotic ( ...)".
(Updated: February 11, 2008)
Give the floor to SRCMtm preceptor Wulliemier Ferdinand, one of the best representatives of SRCM and the SMSF. It is presented itself during a conference on "Medicine of the Third Millennium" organized by Strategic (19/01/97 Conference in Paris):
"My name is Ferdinand Wulliemier, I am established as a psychiatrist in private practice in Lausanne, (Switzerland) I teach at the Faculty of Medicine of Lausanne and the Centre for the Study of Families, which operates under the Department of Adult Psychiatry. I organize seminars and participated in the conference as a member of IASP [International Association of Psychiatry Spiritual]. I practice meditation since about 12 years and I try to incorporate my spiritual practice in my daily life, among other professional . "
At the conference, he reported the results of a study he conducted: "it covers a population of 54 people, over a period of 8 years, between 1988 and 1996. These 54 persons were patients that I I personally followed as a psychotherapist and that began to meditate or already meditating on the basis of Sahaj Marg yoga (...) there are no psychological problem or notorious somatic problems when people do psychotherapy before doing meditation."
"(...) Who are the people who are involved in a spiritual practice from a sociological point of view? Almost three-quarters are women. They are between 18 and 80 years, more rarely, with a maximum between 35 and 50. This allows us to make a link with the "the mid-life crisis" mentioned by CG Jung, that is around 35 years. What are their socio-cultural and professional backgrounds? Almost all seem represented, but it include an over representation of caregivers, teachers, but also to a lesser extent perhaps artists. "
"What is their evolutionary level, ie at what level of psychological functioning can we link them when they begin to meditate? Say at the outset that, according to this estimate, almost a quarter have done a psychotherapy before beginning a spiritual practice. A proper minority among them, about 30%, are the so-called "unstructured" If I take the psychiatric classification usual there include borderline personalities, borderline neurotic-and pre-borderline psychotic ( ...)".
Anthropological Analysis
Anthropological Analysis
Excerpts of a paper by anthropologist Sergei Tarkovsky, published on September 14, 2004, to read full article (in French): SRCM on Sahaj Marg Decoding.
An anthropological analysis and critique of the Teachings of SRCM
(...) This is to show to the adept that any criticism of the teachers, the tutors and the organization can only be an issue of the lowly ego, and is to be eliminate. This is one way to ensure that it is the disciples themselves who are doing their end of the blocking of their unconscious, and hence their subjugation. Instead of imposing an abrasion of self of the disciples (they called it "brainwashing" in paramilitary operations), the teacher suggests that the disciple is to do this work. The disciples will persuade themselves (and one another) and continue in this way, by their own effort. They become themselves their own Master, but also their own jailer, in the name of a worthy cause. Is this a sign of social control exercised cleverly from above by the leaders? One should know the institution to find out.
Are adepts (...of SRCM) thought to be naive enough so as to keep the organization trying to transform this group of conscious Westerners, idealistic and spiritual in a family of abhyasis, "obedient" to the finger and the eye of their "master" .
The Master surfs on his success, his growth, and does not renounce the ways of the world:
First sign that we might have to make a "plan": exploring the Web, I found that the current representatives of that organization travel all over the world, has a home and an international life, meet followers, and a castle they had bought for his "cause". But, in these texts, they encouraged, however, to abandon these from their followers! The Master is entitled to VIP treatment and a daily gratification of the ego, crowds of followers filled with devotion. But he invites his disciples, however, to sacrifice of their own volition their will to achieve in the world and with others.
He preaches renunciation, and himself accumulates prestige, success, as a "star" of spirituality.
He is not really accountable to his followers: he does not receive any instructions from them, but they are given by him to all, and especially to their preceptors, with a supplement of authority that leaves one thinking ...
Already, we are, it seems, in the presence of an ideological, asymmetrical plan where the instructions benefits the one who gives them and not so much to those who carry them out. In this authority that goes top-down, there is no equality, and therefore perhaps not true brotherhood, even though the words may be attractive also, as we shall see now:
A speech or advertising:
"The Sahaj Marg or the Natural Way, is a new method of spiritual training, specifically designed to meet the needs of today's life. It allows people who aspire to it, to achieve union with the divine source in themselves, as part of a normal family and professional life. Like all true spiritual paths, Sahaj Marg says that the Divine, the source of all things, whatever name we may well want to give it, can only be found at the bottom of one's own heart, by going beyond the limits of the ego. Sahaj Marg stems from the essence of-raja yoga: The King of Yoga of ancient India. This yoga is called the "King of Yoga" because it uses the mind or spirit which is the royal instrument in us, as it creates our happiness and our suffering, depending on how we use it. Lacking any ritual and ceremony, the practice is very simple and entirely focused on the heart of the aspirant. Through meditation and purification of the heart, all the mental activities of the aspirant are regulated and gradually redirected to its divine source. Then a state of calm and inner peace is installed in the adept, the first stage of spiritual development. The transmission of divine energy (pranahuti) is a revolution in the history of spirituality. It awakens the soul of the practitioner, transforms his whole being and leads to the divine. "
Speaking only of sacrifice would not be appealing. It is not sufficient to attract followers. There is also the "honey" that according to the popular adage that says: "one does not catch flies with vinegar".
This is a "new method" of personal development!
There is here all that it takes. It is a compendium of advertising for the "new age", courses for personal development, but also dietary products or food supplements "new method of spiritual training, specifically designed to meet the needs of today's life. " It is there in the advertising speech. He has not mentioned content, it can be applied to all, and by the effect it produces, pleasant for the reader.
"Through meditation and purification of the heart, all the mental activities of the aspirant are regulated and gradually reoriented." This could be taken from a leaflet or a press release for an antidepressant! It is therefore more of a gloubi-goulba advertising where verbal tricks and shrewdness are in the form of editorials, "to talk about revolution in the history of spirituality" with superlatives that holds no person accountable for the results: "yoga" or "royal" the "power transmission" Let us notice "psy"terms sprinkled here and there, we are not very far from the world of psychiatry and there is a relationship at the vocabulary level.
Second sign that we are dealing with a "construct" on the part of decision makers: the use of advertising as a language. Un-biased researchers, practicing without an agenda to proselytize a specific path of wisdom would not have the bad taste to inflict upon us this kind of convenient language.
The simplicity, the modesty: Where are they in this display? The truth, the economy and the correctness of the words: where are they? It seems that these, our contemporaries, are used to this kind of "advertising brochure" language that serves them here again, as if it was self-evident also in the area of spirituality.
And on their promises: "a state of calm and inner peace, the first stage of spiritual development." The well-being, inner peace is a widespread spiritual marketing promise, the more attractive perhaps because we know that our contemporaries aspire to this. Even the marketing services brands of yoghurts use them!
To promise, is not to give. The words are not the thing. It is not enough to talk about this to be true, or even possible in the proposed context. That is the whole question posed by these texts and excerpts.
It is a Possible Lever:
Using one's aspiration for well-being to subject a significant number of individuals and monitor them by structuring the message so that it is the victims themselves who exercise the capture and the manipulation of their own psychological, vocational and relational schemes, for the benefit of the Guru, his Mission and his hierarchy.
There should be elements of testimony from former followers, to know the real effects. Their contribution would be very helpful.
The speech, it's Social and Mind Control Engineering:
The question then is, how is it that some can be taken in by this rhetoric? The string seems obvious. How can sophisticated and educated people join this initiative?
The proposal, as it is in these brief quotations, seems to be the following: 'return to the child's condition, reclaim the child. " This invitation to regress to the years of innocence, placidness, of contentment, of openness, and obedience is well understood in these words:
"[The teacher] is the father, mother, son, Professor, Dr.…"
The person is thus invited to rid oneself of its adult personality that is so contradictory and burdonsome et de fing paradise again of a younger age where one will only have to adore one's father and one's mother who is incarnated into one person, the Guru and to which one should submit as docile as a child during a consultation with the doctor, so obedient that in the face of the teacher...
There is no doubt that this return to the earlier stages of life seduces practitioners of psychoanalysis and can exercise in psychiatric circles who are familiar with it, a certain seduction.
The quotes offered are an invitation to forget the worries and frustrations of a man or adult woman, and as a shortcut, offer a regression brought about by devotion to the teacher, so as to find the freshness and carefree existence of a little boy or a little girl in oneself. One forgets (or ignores) in these passages, to say that at the same time the follower may abandon his plan of life for the benefit of the Master's projects, or even for one of his organizations.
The child ignores things in life, so justly, in the grips of the Master:
"Knowledge is no longer necessary […] We are abandoning knowledge […] it is time for her to leave the scene. "
And in doing so, the follower abandons its critical spirit that could enable it to emerge from this, "meta-communicating" about his new place set by a mental hierarchy!
So why put forward with such insistence that the follower must become a "living dead"?
This is a fairly standard technique (framing) of persuasion to reverse the goal and the actual experience. It is found also in other fields of activity. In some behavioural therapies and some paradoxical psychotherapy this technique is familiar ( "re-framing"). It suggests the anticipation by the patient of the inevitable experiences ahead and their re-qualification.
An analogy to this point will serve our purposes. Those who guide group relaxations know to include in the instructions given orally, elements that each person can check so as to relax. For example, if a door opens in the room and someone comes in unexpectedly, that might disturb the group, the practitioner who leads the group of people lying on mats will announce: "noises are more noticeable, stronger, and we become aware of the comings and goings, noise of doors and footsteps in the hall, our senses awake while we relax increasingly "
The fact of saying what is happening confirms, and the fact to announce what will happen (which is known to anyone who sets) reassures everyone.
But back to our subject.
Becoming a "living death" is probably not a long-term goal for the follower, but a reality he feels no doubt soon enough ...
That experience of being exposed to a predatory practice of its energy and the integrity of its sensitivity diverts any disciple, normally, this sacrifice to the Master. But the fact of presenting the inconvenience as an ideal, a distant goal to achieve remarkable and is of great skill.
In doing so, the disciple is reassured: yes, he/she feels more spiritually diminished, yes, his strength of character dying! But it is a sign that the path of the Master works! The teacher announced it: it is the great project of this teaching: become like a corpse in the hands of a funeral dresser. The disciple is told that he/she arrived at the end of the track and even faster than expected!
This system of rhetoric would thus bring about an acceptance of an attack on the psyche or the spiritual integrity of the person, by presenting it not as a setback, as in suffering a setback, but as the goal of this approach! And obviously it works, the facts corroborate their ad! If the adept is declining rapidly at the psychological level, it persuades the adept that the method is great, it works great: he/she has already arrived at the goal of the path: in a short time he/she has become a "living dead", without considering oneself as a poor adept, with a washed psyche and/or subtle resources levied.
The words from the excerpts quoted speak for themselves. Hopefully people will be reasonable and will work their minds as adults.
One hypothesis finally, even if it is not apparent in the brief text that was submitted to us. It is not impossible that we in the West feel the need to revive that spirit of childhood, to which we are committed by our personal history, our memories. It seems that, according to these excerpts chosen, this system of manipulation uses this need, especially for the benefit of the Master and his own projects, as well as those of his organization.
Community in India
The East is still a little in the undifferentiated state of the child, even in adulthood. It remained until recent years in Asia a little of this undifferentiated psychological space, this sub-conscious communication of "good child" between human beings, and in this connection (connectedness) between people and between people and nature.
In Asia, adulthood extends the experience of the child, without being totally cut off from him, or his imagination. The ability to smile, for example, to rejoice is obvious when one travels in Asia, and not only among the young.
Sociological surveys of Hofstede show that the peoples of Asia are more community minded (collectivism factor), and the peoples of the industrialized countries of the West, are more individualized (individualism factor). For this reason a group of raja yoga or community in an Ashram are not synonymous in India or in other traditional countries in Asia, of predators of the integrity of the person or of cult claims. People are naturally more open, more in touch with their own subconscious lives, more interdependent with others, and more in touch with their intuitive feelings, they can take this type of journey without knowing psychological predatory, in the best case, ie the status of people who value and experience in this field.
It is often pointed out, and rightly so that the West, industrial and comfortable, experienced a individualization, and has fostered a structure of the psyche more focused on the "me" and less on "us". The philosophy, technique, but also agnosticism and atheism are probably the fruits of this education when we must give up certain subtle subconscious links that we establish perhaps during childhood with our environment and with each other.
In the West, the shock therapy of a regression toward spiritual childhood, meeting a clever and ambitious guru are of a questionable safety for human beings, who are usually organized around the "I" rather than "we ".
It is not surprising that this ideology of a "natural" way is trying to wake up, in the West, and to mobilize and use that sense of sincerity, purity, commitment and unconditional affection, this part of childhood us, which is probably more available than it is generally accepted, even if the state is a kind of spiritual atavism.
By allowing followers to experience the child in themselves, this heart communicative, spontaneous and warm sympathy of this without any bad feelings, executives of the organizations are probably educated in the art and how to grasp what wakes up and (this opening, this enthusiasm, this love, this faith, this desire to do) and use the potential of disciple for the growth of their unlimited international structure.
The disciples would then be ready to defend tooth and nail this system and its representatives who exploit them, but who "love", ie they show a little attention and respond to some of their domestic needs and spiritual nature. This system has become a little themselves, they nourish and give the best of themselves to. As for those who enjoy some benefits, privileges or honors through this organization, they can do with the contradictions they learn more and more as they stand in the hierarchy. These are hypotheses that here, and field research would be needed to examine them in light of the facts.
Let us not scapegoat:
The problem is therefore no doubt in our civilization: an educational short summary of the affect an urban culture, materialistic and competitive which is often frustrating. Anything that has a loneliness, isolation and possible spiritual closure probably attracts new disciples, and new "vocation" to its school of natural path.
Take the case of health care workers, hospital staff and nurses who work in psychiatric institutions. They must be highly vulnerable to the invisible or visible misery they witness daily. That they are turning in significant numbers to this new "organization" in the USA, Canada or Europe is not surprising. They receive special attention and listening. Could this be a sign that in their own communities, particularly professional, listening and openness is lacking? We will not respond, because we do not know these issues, which are perhaps contradictory. And we leave to the experts of these socioprofessional milieus to comment.
It may well be that the "spiritual" messages like the one to which we have just comment in the form of excerpts here are a symptom at the bottom of our collective history and a vision of humanity itself reduced.
What the followers of this movement from the world of the professions of psychiatry are in response to the culture of the internment and practices sometimes almost medieval "(notice the quotes and the word" almost ") is an invitation to ponder not so much on these caregivers, as the official institution and its methods which appear no longer satisfy them.
One should therefore not seek in these experiencers some new scapegoats, nor engage in a witch hunt, and thus comfortably overshadow a responsibility in the established systems and in the deep crisis of education, medicine, psychiatry, care and research ... Needless to victimize a third time people, sometimes generous and committed to a world weary of institutional bureaucracy sometimes heartbreaking, used by a "spiritual" organization, and who do not know how to get out of a double constraint (double bind) to which they see no end.
Excerpts of a paper by anthropologist Sergei Tarkovsky, published on September 14, 2004, to read full article (in French): SRCM on Sahaj Marg Decoding.
An anthropological analysis and critique of the Teachings of SRCM
(...) This is to show to the adept that any criticism of the teachers, the tutors and the organization can only be an issue of the lowly ego, and is to be eliminate. This is one way to ensure that it is the disciples themselves who are doing their end of the blocking of their unconscious, and hence their subjugation. Instead of imposing an abrasion of self of the disciples (they called it "brainwashing" in paramilitary operations), the teacher suggests that the disciple is to do this work. The disciples will persuade themselves (and one another) and continue in this way, by their own effort. They become themselves their own Master, but also their own jailer, in the name of a worthy cause. Is this a sign of social control exercised cleverly from above by the leaders? One should know the institution to find out.
Are adepts (...of SRCM) thought to be naive enough so as to keep the organization trying to transform this group of conscious Westerners, idealistic and spiritual in a family of abhyasis, "obedient" to the finger and the eye of their "master" .
The Master surfs on his success, his growth, and does not renounce the ways of the world:
First sign that we might have to make a "plan": exploring the Web, I found that the current representatives of that organization travel all over the world, has a home and an international life, meet followers, and a castle they had bought for his "cause". But, in these texts, they encouraged, however, to abandon these from their followers! The Master is entitled to VIP treatment and a daily gratification of the ego, crowds of followers filled with devotion. But he invites his disciples, however, to sacrifice of their own volition their will to achieve in the world and with others.
He preaches renunciation, and himself accumulates prestige, success, as a "star" of spirituality.
He is not really accountable to his followers: he does not receive any instructions from them, but they are given by him to all, and especially to their preceptors, with a supplement of authority that leaves one thinking ...
Already, we are, it seems, in the presence of an ideological, asymmetrical plan where the instructions benefits the one who gives them and not so much to those who carry them out. In this authority that goes top-down, there is no equality, and therefore perhaps not true brotherhood, even though the words may be attractive also, as we shall see now:
A speech or advertising:
"The Sahaj Marg or the Natural Way, is a new method of spiritual training, specifically designed to meet the needs of today's life. It allows people who aspire to it, to achieve union with the divine source in themselves, as part of a normal family and professional life. Like all true spiritual paths, Sahaj Marg says that the Divine, the source of all things, whatever name we may well want to give it, can only be found at the bottom of one's own heart, by going beyond the limits of the ego. Sahaj Marg stems from the essence of-raja yoga: The King of Yoga of ancient India. This yoga is called the "King of Yoga" because it uses the mind or spirit which is the royal instrument in us, as it creates our happiness and our suffering, depending on how we use it. Lacking any ritual and ceremony, the practice is very simple and entirely focused on the heart of the aspirant. Through meditation and purification of the heart, all the mental activities of the aspirant are regulated and gradually redirected to its divine source. Then a state of calm and inner peace is installed in the adept, the first stage of spiritual development. The transmission of divine energy (pranahuti) is a revolution in the history of spirituality. It awakens the soul of the practitioner, transforms his whole being and leads to the divine. "
Speaking only of sacrifice would not be appealing. It is not sufficient to attract followers. There is also the "honey" that according to the popular adage that says: "one does not catch flies with vinegar".
This is a "new method" of personal development!
There is here all that it takes. It is a compendium of advertising for the "new age", courses for personal development, but also dietary products or food supplements "new method of spiritual training, specifically designed to meet the needs of today's life. " It is there in the advertising speech. He has not mentioned content, it can be applied to all, and by the effect it produces, pleasant for the reader.
"Through meditation and purification of the heart, all the mental activities of the aspirant are regulated and gradually reoriented." This could be taken from a leaflet or a press release for an antidepressant! It is therefore more of a gloubi-goulba advertising where verbal tricks and shrewdness are in the form of editorials, "to talk about revolution in the history of spirituality" with superlatives that holds no person accountable for the results: "yoga" or "royal" the "power transmission" Let us notice "psy"terms sprinkled here and there, we are not very far from the world of psychiatry and there is a relationship at the vocabulary level.
Second sign that we are dealing with a "construct" on the part of decision makers: the use of advertising as a language. Un-biased researchers, practicing without an agenda to proselytize a specific path of wisdom would not have the bad taste to inflict upon us this kind of convenient language.
The simplicity, the modesty: Where are they in this display? The truth, the economy and the correctness of the words: where are they? It seems that these, our contemporaries, are used to this kind of "advertising brochure" language that serves them here again, as if it was self-evident also in the area of spirituality.
And on their promises: "a state of calm and inner peace, the first stage of spiritual development." The well-being, inner peace is a widespread spiritual marketing promise, the more attractive perhaps because we know that our contemporaries aspire to this. Even the marketing services brands of yoghurts use them!
To promise, is not to give. The words are not the thing. It is not enough to talk about this to be true, or even possible in the proposed context. That is the whole question posed by these texts and excerpts.
It is a Possible Lever:
Using one's aspiration for well-being to subject a significant number of individuals and monitor them by structuring the message so that it is the victims themselves who exercise the capture and the manipulation of their own psychological, vocational and relational schemes, for the benefit of the Guru, his Mission and his hierarchy.
There should be elements of testimony from former followers, to know the real effects. Their contribution would be very helpful.
The speech, it's Social and Mind Control Engineering:
The question then is, how is it that some can be taken in by this rhetoric? The string seems obvious. How can sophisticated and educated people join this initiative?
The proposal, as it is in these brief quotations, seems to be the following: 'return to the child's condition, reclaim the child. " This invitation to regress to the years of innocence, placidness, of contentment, of openness, and obedience is well understood in these words:
"[The teacher] is the father, mother, son, Professor, Dr.…"
The person is thus invited to rid oneself of its adult personality that is so contradictory and burdonsome et de fing paradise again of a younger age where one will only have to adore one's father and one's mother who is incarnated into one person, the Guru and to which one should submit as docile as a child during a consultation with the doctor, so obedient that in the face of the teacher...
There is no doubt that this return to the earlier stages of life seduces practitioners of psychoanalysis and can exercise in psychiatric circles who are familiar with it, a certain seduction.
The quotes offered are an invitation to forget the worries and frustrations of a man or adult woman, and as a shortcut, offer a regression brought about by devotion to the teacher, so as to find the freshness and carefree existence of a little boy or a little girl in oneself. One forgets (or ignores) in these passages, to say that at the same time the follower may abandon his plan of life for the benefit of the Master's projects, or even for one of his organizations.
The child ignores things in life, so justly, in the grips of the Master:
"Knowledge is no longer necessary […] We are abandoning knowledge […] it is time for her to leave the scene. "
And in doing so, the follower abandons its critical spirit that could enable it to emerge from this, "meta-communicating" about his new place set by a mental hierarchy!
So why put forward with such insistence that the follower must become a "living dead"?
This is a fairly standard technique (framing) of persuasion to reverse the goal and the actual experience. It is found also in other fields of activity. In some behavioural therapies and some paradoxical psychotherapy this technique is familiar ( "re-framing"). It suggests the anticipation by the patient of the inevitable experiences ahead and their re-qualification.
An analogy to this point will serve our purposes. Those who guide group relaxations know to include in the instructions given orally, elements that each person can check so as to relax. For example, if a door opens in the room and someone comes in unexpectedly, that might disturb the group, the practitioner who leads the group of people lying on mats will announce: "noises are more noticeable, stronger, and we become aware of the comings and goings, noise of doors and footsteps in the hall, our senses awake while we relax increasingly "
The fact of saying what is happening confirms, and the fact to announce what will happen (which is known to anyone who sets) reassures everyone.
But back to our subject.
Becoming a "living death" is probably not a long-term goal for the follower, but a reality he feels no doubt soon enough ...
That experience of being exposed to a predatory practice of its energy and the integrity of its sensitivity diverts any disciple, normally, this sacrifice to the Master. But the fact of presenting the inconvenience as an ideal, a distant goal to achieve remarkable and is of great skill.
In doing so, the disciple is reassured: yes, he/she feels more spiritually diminished, yes, his strength of character dying! But it is a sign that the path of the Master works! The teacher announced it: it is the great project of this teaching: become like a corpse in the hands of a funeral dresser. The disciple is told that he/she arrived at the end of the track and even faster than expected!
This system of rhetoric would thus bring about an acceptance of an attack on the psyche or the spiritual integrity of the person, by presenting it not as a setback, as in suffering a setback, but as the goal of this approach! And obviously it works, the facts corroborate their ad! If the adept is declining rapidly at the psychological level, it persuades the adept that the method is great, it works great: he/she has already arrived at the goal of the path: in a short time he/she has become a "living dead", without considering oneself as a poor adept, with a washed psyche and/or subtle resources levied.
The words from the excerpts quoted speak for themselves. Hopefully people will be reasonable and will work their minds as adults.
One hypothesis finally, even if it is not apparent in the brief text that was submitted to us. It is not impossible that we in the West feel the need to revive that spirit of childhood, to which we are committed by our personal history, our memories. It seems that, according to these excerpts chosen, this system of manipulation uses this need, especially for the benefit of the Master and his own projects, as well as those of his organization.
Community in India
The East is still a little in the undifferentiated state of the child, even in adulthood. It remained until recent years in Asia a little of this undifferentiated psychological space, this sub-conscious communication of "good child" between human beings, and in this connection (connectedness) between people and between people and nature.
In Asia, adulthood extends the experience of the child, without being totally cut off from him, or his imagination. The ability to smile, for example, to rejoice is obvious when one travels in Asia, and not only among the young.
Sociological surveys of Hofstede show that the peoples of Asia are more community minded (collectivism factor), and the peoples of the industrialized countries of the West, are more individualized (individualism factor). For this reason a group of raja yoga or community in an Ashram are not synonymous in India or in other traditional countries in Asia, of predators of the integrity of the person or of cult claims. People are naturally more open, more in touch with their own subconscious lives, more interdependent with others, and more in touch with their intuitive feelings, they can take this type of journey without knowing psychological predatory, in the best case, ie the status of people who value and experience in this field.
It is often pointed out, and rightly so that the West, industrial and comfortable, experienced a individualization, and has fostered a structure of the psyche more focused on the "me" and less on "us". The philosophy, technique, but also agnosticism and atheism are probably the fruits of this education when we must give up certain subtle subconscious links that we establish perhaps during childhood with our environment and with each other.
In the West, the shock therapy of a regression toward spiritual childhood, meeting a clever and ambitious guru are of a questionable safety for human beings, who are usually organized around the "I" rather than "we ".
It is not surprising that this ideology of a "natural" way is trying to wake up, in the West, and to mobilize and use that sense of sincerity, purity, commitment and unconditional affection, this part of childhood us, which is probably more available than it is generally accepted, even if the state is a kind of spiritual atavism.
By allowing followers to experience the child in themselves, this heart communicative, spontaneous and warm sympathy of this without any bad feelings, executives of the organizations are probably educated in the art and how to grasp what wakes up and (this opening, this enthusiasm, this love, this faith, this desire to do) and use the potential of disciple for the growth of their unlimited international structure.
The disciples would then be ready to defend tooth and nail this system and its representatives who exploit them, but who "love", ie they show a little attention and respond to some of their domestic needs and spiritual nature. This system has become a little themselves, they nourish and give the best of themselves to. As for those who enjoy some benefits, privileges or honors through this organization, they can do with the contradictions they learn more and more as they stand in the hierarchy. These are hypotheses that here, and field research would be needed to examine them in light of the facts.
Let us not scapegoat:
The problem is therefore no doubt in our civilization: an educational short summary of the affect an urban culture, materialistic and competitive which is often frustrating. Anything that has a loneliness, isolation and possible spiritual closure probably attracts new disciples, and new "vocation" to its school of natural path.
Take the case of health care workers, hospital staff and nurses who work in psychiatric institutions. They must be highly vulnerable to the invisible or visible misery they witness daily. That they are turning in significant numbers to this new "organization" in the USA, Canada or Europe is not surprising. They receive special attention and listening. Could this be a sign that in their own communities, particularly professional, listening and openness is lacking? We will not respond, because we do not know these issues, which are perhaps contradictory. And we leave to the experts of these socioprofessional milieus to comment.
It may well be that the "spiritual" messages like the one to which we have just comment in the form of excerpts here are a symptom at the bottom of our collective history and a vision of humanity itself reduced.
What the followers of this movement from the world of the professions of psychiatry are in response to the culture of the internment and practices sometimes almost medieval "(notice the quotes and the word" almost ") is an invitation to ponder not so much on these caregivers, as the official institution and its methods which appear no longer satisfy them.
One should therefore not seek in these experiencers some new scapegoats, nor engage in a witch hunt, and thus comfortably overshadow a responsibility in the established systems and in the deep crisis of education, medicine, psychiatry, care and research ... Needless to victimize a third time people, sometimes generous and committed to a world weary of institutional bureaucracy sometimes heartbreaking, used by a "spiritual" organization, and who do not know how to get out of a double constraint (double bind) to which they see no end.
Chari Arranges Marriages
Chari Arrange Marriages
Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari arrange marriages
The journalist Seema Sharma gives us confirmation in the Fiji Times on Sept. 14, 2005: John Joseph Smith met Chari in May 1987. He became the first abhyasi then almost immediately Australian preceptor. "In November, 1994, during his first visit to Australia, Mr Smith's Master asked if he was interested in marriage, and told him about a girl who had accompanied the master on the trip." (Sic) Let us now call on John: "He introduced us and said we should discuss it and if we felt it appropriate he would arrange our marriage date. After going on a walk together we both came back in agreement and after a group meditation that evening Master announced our engagement. " (Re-sic). His wife Danielle also became preceptor during their stay in Chennai for their marriage in 1995.
In fact, Chari does not really marry abhyasi couples, he proposes meetings or gives his opinion on proposed unions then conducts spiritual blessings (spiritual blessing). But it is quite difficult to go against the advice of the Master, and his last trend is to arrange unions between Indians and Westerners!
Max, American backpacker on a changeover Manapakkam for 13 days, tells us about how Chari marries his followers: "Quite Impressive today to watch the president of the Mission marry 6 couples in 15 mins. Talk about ... getting the job done . Chariji is the man. " Nov. 30, 2005, on his blog.
Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari arrange marriages
The journalist Seema Sharma gives us confirmation in the Fiji Times on Sept. 14, 2005: John Joseph Smith met Chari in May 1987. He became the first abhyasi then almost immediately Australian preceptor. "In November, 1994, during his first visit to Australia, Mr Smith's Master asked if he was interested in marriage, and told him about a girl who had accompanied the master on the trip." (Sic) Let us now call on John: "He introduced us and said we should discuss it and if we felt it appropriate he would arrange our marriage date. After going on a walk together we both came back in agreement and after a group meditation that evening Master announced our engagement. " (Re-sic). His wife Danielle also became preceptor during their stay in Chennai for their marriage in 1995.
In fact, Chari does not really marry abhyasi couples, he proposes meetings or gives his opinion on proposed unions then conducts spiritual blessings (spiritual blessing). But it is quite difficult to go against the advice of the Master, and his last trend is to arrange unions between Indians and Westerners!
Max, American backpacker on a changeover Manapakkam for 13 days, tells us about how Chari marries his followers: "Quite Impressive today to watch the president of the Mission marry 6 couples in 15 mins. Talk about ... getting the job done . Chariji is the man. " Nov. 30, 2005, on his blog.
Augerans...or How the SRCM Infiltrates a Community
Augerans...or How the SRCM Infiltrates a Community ...
In September 1988, the Mission buys Augerans Castle, 10 km from Dole, from the Peugeot group (automobiles) for nearly two million francs. This 10-hectare property which holds a pond and some woods, has over 3,400 sq.m. of living space on 6 floors. It was inaugurated with great pomp on Oct. 9 of that year.
"The Ashram of Val d'Amour, the future name of the Augerans castle that Mr. Lorrain Poirson, an engineer living in Hérault, leaves today for life (…), we read in the Dispatches from the Jura (Depeches du Jura) of 25/09/88. The engineer pointed in passing of "benevolence of the jurisdictions that have helped us to expedite the usual procedures for this type of creations (projects)…"
Later, on can still read: "requests for building permits have been filed at the town hall for an extension on the buildings." It is anyway not for tomorrow, "says Poirson, because buying the castle paid entirely by donations from our members has greatly strained our finances, and that it also seems to adhere to the land-use plan of the town. "
Some residents of this small town of less than 150 inhabitants, who do not yet know what actually the Mission is, want to be re-assured. But soon the sect changes its attitude. Chari wants Augerans to become the true European headquarters of the Mission. And after a moment thought of purchasing the nearby castle of Mont-sous-Vaudrey, he prefers to challenge the land-use plan for the town in June, 1990.
Indeed, the POS (land-use plan) provides for only a limited extension of the buildings to 500 square metres, the rest of the area being a protected area. But Mireille Humbert, deputy secretary of the mission, said that the European Center for yoga - new name of the place - must be "a windfall for the village that have no more than 5 or 6 children" (Estocade - Nov. 90) .
Thus, many actions poison the relations of the sect with the municipality at that time. They built without permission a collective hygiene and parking block for 150 cars, refuses to pay the tax for its participation in the community water. Finally, in 1993, the SRCMtm sets up a meditation hall at the edge of the wood, thus prohibiting any further expansion under the POS.
Then came 1994 and the municipal elections of 95. The sect takes advantage of the elections, reveals Jura Magazine (May 96): "Gerard Pélissier was mayor for six years (…) During his tenure, he wished to limit the spread of the sect by applying the land-use plan to regulate the capacity of the castle. In retaliation, the SRCM closed the account it had at the bank employing the former mayor, explaining to the director that the fault lay with the employee. "
On the eve of the elections, many followers are bused in and move into the castle and are registered to vote. They did not stay very long, but just the time required: (…) the weight of 15 voters of the sect has been decisive on the ballot, which was played as on a pocket handkerchief, "Jura Magazine. "Anyway, there is no doubt that since the last elections, the concerns of the sect have evaporated."
The new Mayor Alain Déjeux, does not like the press who came to interrogate him about the mission. "I will not use the word 'cult' for this association" he releases. He deletes the order prohibiting camping in the area and demands the removal of security stipulations during the visits and seminars. And soon a new marquee of more than 600 sq.m. is attached to the castle…
This is the right time for the Mission. It organizes multiple seminars, home to more than 1500 people. "The establishment of the association Créajoie in 1995 attests to the desire of the sect to proselytize" reads an article in the magazine Depeches du Jura. "Although its chairman, Xavier DEWEZ, says it has nothing to do with the SRCM, and is general information, Creajoie confirms that several members of the association belong to the sect. This" subsidiary ", one of whose goals is to" foster the development of the individual… ", has offered its services to the municipality of Val d'Amour, among others to teach."
Proselyte, the sect is therefore quietly attracting new followers to the region, possibly in privileged positions: one can always serve! And, we learn in June 2000 that the wife of Albert Picquet (secretary of the section of the PS for the village of Dole, and top of the list for the Socialist municipal election) is a member of the Mission. Scandal which leads him to withdraw his nomination at the request of the Departmental Federation of the party.
Unhappy at the welcome extended to him in France, Chari is considering once again to move the European headquarters of the Mission (this is only the third time!). And the village mayor himself, announced the news of the sale of the castle at the municipal council meeting of January 4, 2001 and it is announced by posters on billboards.
In 2003, the castle was the subject of a sales agreement between the SRCM and SAS S'Space Engineering based in Mulhouse. The latter would create 21 apartments at the castle. That leaves the surrounding property: the town would be acquiring the pond and call upon the community of the Commons of Val d'Amour to buy the small meditation hall…
In July, Castle Augerans was finally abandoned by the Mission!
In September 1988, the Mission buys Augerans Castle, 10 km from Dole, from the Peugeot group (automobiles) for nearly two million francs. This 10-hectare property which holds a pond and some woods, has over 3,400 sq.m. of living space on 6 floors. It was inaugurated with great pomp on Oct. 9 of that year.
"The Ashram of Val d'Amour, the future name of the Augerans castle that Mr. Lorrain Poirson, an engineer living in Hérault, leaves today for life (…), we read in the Dispatches from the Jura (Depeches du Jura) of 25/09/88. The engineer pointed in passing of "benevolence of the jurisdictions that have helped us to expedite the usual procedures for this type of creations (projects)…"
Later, on can still read: "requests for building permits have been filed at the town hall for an extension on the buildings." It is anyway not for tomorrow, "says Poirson, because buying the castle paid entirely by donations from our members has greatly strained our finances, and that it also seems to adhere to the land-use plan of the town. "
Some residents of this small town of less than 150 inhabitants, who do not yet know what actually the Mission is, want to be re-assured. But soon the sect changes its attitude. Chari wants Augerans to become the true European headquarters of the Mission. And after a moment thought of purchasing the nearby castle of Mont-sous-Vaudrey, he prefers to challenge the land-use plan for the town in June, 1990.
Indeed, the POS (land-use plan) provides for only a limited extension of the buildings to 500 square metres, the rest of the area being a protected area. But Mireille Humbert, deputy secretary of the mission, said that the European Center for yoga - new name of the place - must be "a windfall for the village that have no more than 5 or 6 children" (Estocade - Nov. 90) .
Thus, many actions poison the relations of the sect with the municipality at that time. They built without permission a collective hygiene and parking block for 150 cars, refuses to pay the tax for its participation in the community water. Finally, in 1993, the SRCMtm sets up a meditation hall at the edge of the wood, thus prohibiting any further expansion under the POS.
Then came 1994 and the municipal elections of 95. The sect takes advantage of the elections, reveals Jura Magazine (May 96): "Gerard Pélissier was mayor for six years (…) During his tenure, he wished to limit the spread of the sect by applying the land-use plan to regulate the capacity of the castle. In retaliation, the SRCM closed the account it had at the bank employing the former mayor, explaining to the director that the fault lay with the employee. "
On the eve of the elections, many followers are bused in and move into the castle and are registered to vote. They did not stay very long, but just the time required: (…) the weight of 15 voters of the sect has been decisive on the ballot, which was played as on a pocket handkerchief, "Jura Magazine. "Anyway, there is no doubt that since the last elections, the concerns of the sect have evaporated."
The new Mayor Alain Déjeux, does not like the press who came to interrogate him about the mission. "I will not use the word 'cult' for this association" he releases. He deletes the order prohibiting camping in the area and demands the removal of security stipulations during the visits and seminars. And soon a new marquee of more than 600 sq.m. is attached to the castle…
This is the right time for the Mission. It organizes multiple seminars, home to more than 1500 people. "The establishment of the association Créajoie in 1995 attests to the desire of the sect to proselytize" reads an article in the magazine Depeches du Jura. "Although its chairman, Xavier DEWEZ, says it has nothing to do with the SRCM, and is general information, Creajoie confirms that several members of the association belong to the sect. This" subsidiary ", one of whose goals is to" foster the development of the individual… ", has offered its services to the municipality of Val d'Amour, among others to teach."
Proselyte, the sect is therefore quietly attracting new followers to the region, possibly in privileged positions: one can always serve! And, we learn in June 2000 that the wife of Albert Picquet (secretary of the section of the PS for the village of Dole, and top of the list for the Socialist municipal election) is a member of the Mission. Scandal which leads him to withdraw his nomination at the request of the Departmental Federation of the party.
Unhappy at the welcome extended to him in France, Chari is considering once again to move the European headquarters of the Mission (this is only the third time!). And the village mayor himself, announced the news of the sale of the castle at the municipal council meeting of January 4, 2001 and it is announced by posters on billboards.
In 2003, the castle was the subject of a sales agreement between the SRCM and SAS S'Space Engineering based in Mulhouse. The latter would create 21 apartments at the castle. That leaves the surrounding property: the town would be acquiring the pond and call upon the community of the Commons of Val d'Amour to buy the small meditation hall…
In July, Castle Augerans was finally abandoned by the Mission!
Spiritual Psychiatry
Spiritual Psychiatry
(Updated: February 11, 2008)
The International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry (PSIA) was founded by Dr. Jean-Marc Mantel in 1994. By 1999, it was hosted by the association Essence, created by the same author (www.essence-euro.org/iasp). Since the end of 2002, following the dissolution of Essence, due to attacks against its founder. We find the spirit of these attacks on the personal site of Mantel (http://www.jmmantel.net/) and in the magazine Soupir ( http://www.soupir.org/).
Ferdinand Wulliemier, abhyasi since 1985, participated for the first time in the magazine of the IASP in 1995. In 1997, he wrote an article with JM Mantel "The impact of meditation in medicine, psychology and psychiatry." Then, the same year he took part with Chari and a hundred abhyasis in a conference of the IASP in Israel.
In this connection, JM Mantel said: "Sri Rajagopalachari offered the IASP the opportunity to set up such a meeting for professionals in his ashram in Delhi. There will also be an opportunity to prepare something in the area of Boston, where their mission is strongly developed "and the SMRTI adds:" (…) conjointly seminar has been organised by the IRMS and the IASP (International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry) in Israel in May 1997. "
Ferdinand Wulliemier teaches us that the spiritual path is what may be better for humanity, and that the dependent and naive behaviour of the spiritual aspirant is simply a misleading appearance, as is the amorality, or aberrant behavior of the spiritual Master is nothing more than an expression of wisdom that eludes us (excerpts from "Our evolution or involution invertendo of our growth" - IASP, Vol.3, 1995).
"When we have reached the stage of development called existential or "centaurique "(...), but what is called here" involutive evolution "has already begun to manifest itself. (...) It can be considered in good conditions to grow to speak spiritual (…). At first glance, the observer might therefore think that this is a be dependent, naive, unable to say no. If one knew that person before his successful transition to a transpersonal state, one might conclude that there has been a regression mode of infantile functionality. We know that this is not the case because it is a pseudo-regression, an involutive evolution of my divisive self , allowing the spiritualized being to live non-separated, to live the true brotherhood ( ...).»
"For trans-personal stages, the observer will sometimes be shocked by certain behaviors of a Saint or a spiritual Master, which may seem amoral, and thus correspond to a psychological regression. But at this stage it is in fact a trans-morality, which of course is based on impeccable morals: Incarnate Masters may deliberately (and not impulsivelyt) get angry, do something incongruous, be impolite, and even destructive: unexpected behaviour, apparently aberrant, the need or wisdom of which we often see (as good) later. "
Any sectarian logic is thus psychologically justified, from the "regression to an infantile mode of operation" of the abhyasis to the worst acts of Master ...
Later, he said: "(…) at trans-personal [one ends up] at a pseudo-naive innocence or due to an attitude of total abandon towards the interior teacher (…) The method of Sahaj Marg is a meditation on the heart (…) that the "nothing" or "nothingness" (…) To link it all together, we have the constant remembrance (called "constant remembrance"), first occasionally, then frequently, and increasingly frequent, of the Interior Master, the presence of the interior teacher, until this divine presence becomes permanent. "
At a congress on "Medicine of the Third Millennium", he commented that "An American psychiatrist Jack Engler, a man who meditates also said something which I think is appropriate at this stage, which is considered ideal for a departure to the field of spiritual consciousness: "you must be somebody before you become nobody" (…) is a state of "active passivity."
(Updated: February 11, 2008)
The International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry (PSIA) was founded by Dr. Jean-Marc Mantel in 1994. By 1999, it was hosted by the association Essence, created by the same author (www.essence-euro.org/iasp). Since the end of 2002, following the dissolution of Essence, due to attacks against its founder. We find the spirit of these attacks on the personal site of Mantel (http://www.jmmantel.net/) and in the magazine Soupir ( http://www.soupir.org/).
Ferdinand Wulliemier, abhyasi since 1985, participated for the first time in the magazine of the IASP in 1995. In 1997, he wrote an article with JM Mantel "The impact of meditation in medicine, psychology and psychiatry." Then, the same year he took part with Chari and a hundred abhyasis in a conference of the IASP in Israel.
In this connection, JM Mantel said: "Sri Rajagopalachari offered the IASP the opportunity to set up such a meeting for professionals in his ashram in Delhi. There will also be an opportunity to prepare something in the area of Boston, where their mission is strongly developed "and the SMRTI adds:" (…) conjointly seminar has been organised by the IRMS and the IASP (International Association of Spiritual Psychiatry) in Israel in May 1997. "
Ferdinand Wulliemier teaches us that the spiritual path is what may be better for humanity, and that the dependent and naive behaviour of the spiritual aspirant is simply a misleading appearance, as is the amorality, or aberrant behavior of the spiritual Master is nothing more than an expression of wisdom that eludes us (excerpts from "Our evolution or involution invertendo of our growth" - IASP, Vol.3, 1995).
"When we have reached the stage of development called existential or "centaurique "(...), but what is called here" involutive evolution "has already begun to manifest itself. (...) It can be considered in good conditions to grow to speak spiritual (…). At first glance, the observer might therefore think that this is a be dependent, naive, unable to say no. If one knew that person before his successful transition to a transpersonal state, one might conclude that there has been a regression mode of infantile functionality. We know that this is not the case because it is a pseudo-regression, an involutive evolution of my divisive self , allowing the spiritualized being to live non-separated, to live the true brotherhood ( ...).»
"For trans-personal stages, the observer will sometimes be shocked by certain behaviors of a Saint or a spiritual Master, which may seem amoral, and thus correspond to a psychological regression. But at this stage it is in fact a trans-morality, which of course is based on impeccable morals: Incarnate Masters may deliberately (and not impulsivelyt) get angry, do something incongruous, be impolite, and even destructive: unexpected behaviour, apparently aberrant, the need or wisdom of which we often see (as good) later. "
Any sectarian logic is thus psychologically justified, from the "regression to an infantile mode of operation" of the abhyasis to the worst acts of Master ...
Later, he said: "(…) at trans-personal [one ends up] at a pseudo-naive innocence or due to an attitude of total abandon towards the interior teacher (…) The method of Sahaj Marg is a meditation on the heart (…) that the "nothing" or "nothingness" (…) To link it all together, we have the constant remembrance (called "constant remembrance"), first occasionally, then frequently, and increasingly frequent, of the Interior Master, the presence of the interior teacher, until this divine presence becomes permanent. "
At a congress on "Medicine of the Third Millennium", he commented that "An American psychiatrist Jack Engler, a man who meditates also said something which I think is appropriate at this stage, which is considered ideal for a departure to the field of spiritual consciousness: "you must be somebody before you become nobody" (…) is a state of "active passivity."
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