Hey there "Angel108b",
I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to write to tell you how much I appreciate your website.
After reading only a few parts which are dedicated to exposing some ugly truths about the happenings to the ISKCON movement, I am realizing how essential it is for religious groups to sometimes dissolve. My own experience was with a meditation and spirituality Ashram, or what they call a Dera in Panjabi dialect, and a Guru who was part of a lineage of about 125 years.
Many similar problems exist in this Dera though not as extreme as in the ISKCON movement. Part of the relative success in terms of corruption is likely due to the fact that each successive Guru has been determined via the living will of his predecessor thus keeping a strong top-down command system between Guru and Chela. The way around this top-down command has been for Chelas to leave and start their own schools without approval and to author themselves as Gurus.
I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to write to tell you how much I appreciate your website.
After reading only a few parts which are dedicated to exposing some ugly truths about the happenings to the ISKCON movement, I am realizing how essential it is for religious groups to sometimes dissolve. My own experience was with a meditation and spirituality Ashram, or what they call a Dera in Panjabi dialect, and a Guru who was part of a lineage of about 125 years.
Many similar problems exist in this Dera though not as extreme as in the ISKCON movement. Part of the relative success in terms of corruption is likely due to the fact that each successive Guru has been determined via the living will of his predecessor thus keeping a strong top-down command system between Guru and Chela. The way around this top-down command has been for Chelas to leave and start their own schools without approval and to author themselves as Gurus.
But, there is also the fact of secrecy and unknowing. Our Guru has so many disciples and we have no chance to observe him other than at large meetings of minimum thousands and maximum hundreds of thousands of people. Close disciples reveal nothing and are often more wealth than others. Some of these things aren't necessarily bad, but they raise suspicions.
Why do rich Chelas get to be closer to the Guru? Why was it considered to be almost doctrine to not open temples everywhere or buy properties but now it's a priority? Why don't we get serious answers when we ask the Gurus representatives? Why are things which seem to be very un-Guru-like passed off as "things we can't understand at our level of consciousness?" It all seems like a scam.
I'm not sure what is real anymore or who is or isn't corrupt. It's a sad state to be in. To make matters worse I was also pretty closely tied to the Sikh religion which I've found out may be one of the most corrupt and dangerous world religion entities on the planet. The only thing limiting them is numbers, being that Sikhs are such a small minority in the world.
It almost seems like many people in the world are coming to a very similar conclusion, which is to simply do a spiritual practice without affiliation. As I read these portions from Prabhupad's letters in The Guru Business book I'm getting more affirmation that this is the way right now.
Why do rich Chelas get to be closer to the Guru? Why was it considered to be almost doctrine to not open temples everywhere or buy properties but now it's a priority? Why don't we get serious answers when we ask the Gurus representatives? Why are things which seem to be very un-Guru-like passed off as "things we can't understand at our level of consciousness?" It all seems like a scam.
I'm not sure what is real anymore or who is or isn't corrupt. It's a sad state to be in. To make matters worse I was also pretty closely tied to the Sikh religion which I've found out may be one of the most corrupt and dangerous world religion entities on the planet. The only thing limiting them is numbers, being that Sikhs are such a small minority in the world.
It almost seems like many people in the world are coming to a very similar conclusion, which is to simply do a spiritual practice without affiliation. As I read these portions from Prabhupad's letters in The Guru Business book I'm getting more affirmation that this is the way right now.
It's as if there are just quick glimpses of true Gurus on this Earth and we're generally not going to be lucky enough to meet them and be inspired by them. Trying to find anything more than a few like-minded friends to worship with leads to disaster too often. I've heard that it's better to spend a thousand lives searching for a true Guru than to accept a false one. This is something I hope to take to heart and instead of being quick to follow Gurus, I'll simply do meditation or other practices to purify myself.
Most of this email is generally an off topic ramble which has little value, but, I felt like expressing gratitude to the author of the harekrsna.org website since its contents are resonating very closely to my own thoughts at the moment.
Again, thank you for making the site and posting what you post. It's very valuable for seekers to know what can happen to even the best ashrams with the best intentions.
Be well, JD
Most of this email is generally an off topic ramble which has little value, but, I felt like expressing gratitude to the author of the harekrsna.org website since its contents are resonating very closely to my own thoughts at the moment.
Again, thank you for making the site and posting what you post. It's very valuable for seekers to know what can happen to even the best ashrams with the best intentions.
Be well, JD
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