Monday, August 25, 2008

Vishwananda – deliberately courting controversy?

Could it be possible that Vishwananda is deliberately courting controversy? The reason I ask this question is that going back to him being generally young in years and reports of malpractice having widened, could he be intentionally shrouding himself in controversy. I am not adverse to the notion of role-playing although it is very difficult to comprehend this adequately. I am also not adverse to the notion that people who have strayed on the spiritual path can become subject to reformation.

When considering someone like Vishwananda, he appeared to have distanced himself from Sathya Sai Baba in recent years according to reports, only to be seen at the Sai Baba ashram, Prashanti Nilayam, in Puttarparthi this year. Is it possible that he could be on the road to reform or could he possibly be playing some kind of role that encourages controversial behaviour or is it just a simple case of being corrupt. There are more than enough reports of malpractice and if you look at this page, there are more questions surrounding how he is guiding his followers:
http://saicopycats.blogspot.com/2006/01/swami-vishwananda.html#c7348519154527047112

If he has been positively received by Sathya Sai Baba, who knows whether it may be a case of role-playing or a case of reform that is evident? The acts of malpractice have sometimes been blatant so surely Vishwananda himself knows that controversy is likely to surface – if so, this raises more questions as to why someone of his age should not be conforming more to general guidelines of those who in positions of spiritual leadership. Is it possible that he is completely aware of his contentious or debatable acts and is deliberately provoking conflict. He must be intelligent enough to understand the repercussions of blatant contradictory behaviour so is there something more to this? Questions still keep surfacing...
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8 comments:

Brenda Brinkley said...

When I started seeing Vishwananda, I also was in love with his
his beautiful singing, dancing and kirtans and at times, his attention
put me into “Samadhi” or ecstatic trances.

However, I began to question some things, namely, an article that was written during Vishwananda's trip to India in March of 2008, "Just like Eklavya.”
In the article, it explains that Eklavya was a devotee who was completely surrendered to his guru, even to the point of self-mutilation…(cutting of his thumbs at the request of his guru.) The article even implied that all of Vishwananda's followers should be as surrendered to this degree.

My question to Vishwananda was, how can we surrender, when we don't even know who you are?
There has been a lot of speculation on who Vishwananda is, including Yogananda...but when I asked the SRF foundation about this they said that Vishwananda could not be Yogananda. Yogananda himself said that he would not be reincarnating for another 250 years. So why do so many believe Vishwananda is Yogananda? It's probably because he's a shape-shifter. Many people have seen him "turn into" Yogananda.

There is a great deal of secrecy around this topic, even within his ranks. I also went to Ammachi and asked about this. She declared that Vishwananda WAS NOT Yogananda.

Vishwananda supporters who brought him into the United States, namely Craig Robinson, knew about the homosexual affairs with young men and youngsters but never said anything to warn anyone about it.
While I was visiting Ammachi, (Mata Amrtianandamayi) several years ago, I happened to room with a woman from Switzerland whose son, 20, began having an affair with Vishwananda. This young man was heterosexual prior to meeting Vishwananda. But somehow, he changed to a homosexual upon Vishwananda's acquaintance. When this woman spoke with Ammachi, she commanded her to “get as many young people away from Vishwananda” as she possibly could.

Vishwananda’s agenda is very hidden, and through his yogic siddhis, he is acquiring more followers, which allows him to appear even more radiant.
The ascended masters have given a teaching on this.
They say fallen yogis and black magicians often become like “movie stars.”
The more innocent people who project their adulation, thoughts and energy onto a fallen yogi, the more they can use this energy for his own vain glory.

Brenda Brinkley said...

There are several other great beings who warn against “Swami” Vishwananda...
Anniruddha, and Dr. Shyam .

In a desperate attempt to validate himself in the eyes of his followers, Vishwananda visited different ashrams and gurus,in India, expecting to gain validation.
But it kind of backfired. He was kicked out of the Satya Sai Baba
ashram and Anniruddha refused to see him. Why he went to the Satya Sai Baba ashram is a mystery to everyone, since everyone knows Vishwananda does not like SAtya Sai Baba. His main staffer said that he does not believe the claims that Satya Sai Baba was the reimbodiment of the original Shirdi Sai Baba, the saint. Also, it is rumored that when Vishwananda was only 8 years old, he slept with Satya Sai Baba and was molested by him. Being that Vishwananda did not come from a bonafide sampradaya, it was necessary that he gain validation from someone.

Being initiated as a bramacharini, of course, I wanted to know who my guru was.
So I asked Vishwananda and asked him. He never answered so I left to question another guru about this question.
Ammachi, (Mata Amrtianandamayi) who is considered the divine mother incarnate upon this earth, her warnings to me and others that Vishwananda was like an "adar" or a viper snake. Indeed, many devotees have seen Vishwananda "turn into" a snake...so perhaps her description of Vishwananda is valid.

He seems to have a disempowering effect on the women who are with him. Many women around Vishwananda, give the impression that they have been stripped of their power or in some way,
suppressed. For example, in India Vishwananda insulted a close bramacharini named Meenakshi in front of a large audience, I asked her about this and she said she “loved” him even though his treatment of her was so horrible.

The Beatles once had a saying…"all you need is love."
Later, John Lennon changed his tune to
"Power to the People." Why?
Because according to the Ascended masters, Love is not "all you need."
In order to become liberated, you need balance of the
threefold flame of love, wisdom and power. Or in Vishwananda's favorite language, French,
You need the flore de lis, the threefold plume of love wisdom and power.
If your only acting or operating on love, or the emotions, they can be seduced or manipulated.

And in the shastras, even demons can love.
For example, Ravana had many wives and concubines, similar to what Vishwananda has.
But none of them were treated fairly by him. In fact, Ravana stole Sita from Ram because he wanted to control Sita, Outwardly, not because he loved her, but because he wanted to add her to his collection of
women.

Brenda Brinkley said...

Why would men who claim to be gurus want to collect devotees and women servants?
Some recent examples of gurus accumulating women around them for the power were Osho and Swami Nityananda. Osho was also very popular in Germany . He collected a lot of women around him and got a few underage pregnant. Swami Nityananda (successor to Muktananda) was ousted by his own board of trustees for having both astral and physical affairs with disciples. And the younger Swami Nityananda was caught on film having sex with a female devotee.
The younger Nityananda is friends with Vishwananda.

Carlos Casteneda says in his book, "The Ring of Power" that male sorcerers derive much of their
power by collecting women around them.

In India there have been many examples of yogis mis-using mystic powers. For example,
In the book the "Seventh Goswami" sold at ISKCON temples, it mentions that there was a very powerful yogi with mystic powers named "Vishwasain" (coincidentally it sounds quite like Vishwananda.) This yogi impersonated Lord Krisna and the Rasa Lila with the
women in his villiage. He called the women "his gopis," which is what Vishwananda calls his female devotees. (His male devotees are gopas).

Consequently, Vishwasena, through using his mystic powers, was able to seduce many of the women in the villiage. He was arrested by Bhakti Vinod Thakur, a spiritual master in the line of the Hare Krisna lineage, and taken to the magistrate. His sentence was to have his hair cut off. It is well known in India , that mystic powers are often stored in a yogi's hair, (aka: Sampson and Delilah) Vishwasena was said to have left in tears...without his hair or his yogic powers.

Similarly, it was reported that Vishwananda was very sorrowful and upset when several of his long hairs were damaged by paint and chemicals while painting his beautiful icons in his ashram. The German bramacharini who mentioned this said that he made a fuss about his hair and was very sad.
So why has Vishwannada ordered his male bramachari's to be "shaved up" while he runs around with long hair?

Perhaps a clue could be found when Vishwananda came out completely "cross-dressed, in a full sari" with make-up, nails, ...everything...according to a bramacharini in America . When I asked a friend who is a Vaisnava about this behavior, he said that it was "sahaja" which means someone trying to impersonate Krisna, as well as enjoy his passtimes with vulnerable followers.

During a retreat Vishwananda openly talked about Krisna and the gopis in the Rasa Lila. According to Vaisnava circles the Rasa Lila can only be discussed once among persons who have studied the Vedas for at least 30 years. But for some reason, Vishwananda was discussing it among new spiritual beginners.

It appeared that Vishwananda was comparing himself to Krisna during the retreat. And even though the emotions were very high there, I questioned if he was really "channeling Krisna" or simply manipulating the emotional bodies of so many people, as did the mystic, VishwaSena.
At a retreat I attended, Vishwananda spoke of Krisna (with strong implications in terms of himself) and how Krisna played the "game of love" and would bring the "gopis close, and then cast them out."

A bramacharini named Upalavati, who accompanied Vishwananda to India characterized Vishwananda's relationship with women as "reeling them in (like fish) then dumping them."
She mentioned that Dasi, a famous Krisna singer, recently joined Vishwananda in India . She was invited to sing. Once she began singing, Vishwananda decided to humiliate her in front of a large audience. Vishwananda and his friend at the time, Hariananda overpowered her singing and began laughing at her during her performance. This inflicted pain upon her emotional body…

Some of us are wondering if he is feeding off the emotional pain of women, which is a technique used by demons.

Brenda Brinkley said...

There are a few woman who have been brave enough to speak to Vishwananda about the way he has
treated women. While in India , a devotee named Chandanni from Los Angeles asked Vishwananda "why it can't be equal between men and women?" In response, Vishwananda took Chandanni aside and threatened to slap Chandanni if she ever asked "a stupid question like that again…"

Why does Vishwananda not want any of his women to speak about important issues like this??

Another bramacharini, Upalavati, who refuses to wear brown asked: Why should we surrender to a guru who "sits up there like a proud peacock wearing every color of the rainbow while we all are forced to wear brown…?" (brown being the lowest color on the vibratory spectrum.)

And another devotee asked, should we surrender to a guru who is only 29, who thinks love is a "game" and reportedly "likes BMW's, Armani suits, and has a girlfriend in Germany ? (Past tense? We don't know. We're not allowed to ask any personal questions about our guru…) But why not?

An older bramacharini, Upalavati, who accompanied Vishwananda to India said that Vishwananda was using mind control on those around him. For example, he played jokes on his waiter in an effort to demonstrate his ability to control the mind of the waiter, making him place the wrong plates at the wrong tables... The bramacharini said she didn't approve.

Using mind control on a waiter may sound childish, and doesn't appear to be so bad… but my concern is that Vishwananda also seems to be using mind control on his
bramacharis... In India he called his male bramacharis using "snake sounds". In turn, these male bramacharis would "turn on their heels" and come to his beck and
call. Is this why Ammachi warned against him using the analogy of a snake?

Could it be, that Vishwananda is so powerful, he is using mind control on all of us??
Could the sexual experiences so many report around Vishwananda also be the result of mind control?

I asked Dr. Shyam Kashyap about this technique. Dr. Shyam is an enlightend Ayurvedic physician who attended to Krisnamurti, Ananda Moyi Ma, Swami Chidananda of the Divine Life Society as well as Swami Nityananda (the original one.)
When I asked Dr. Shyam about Vishwananda, he explained to me that he was simply a
“tantric magician.” A tantric magician is someone who is capable of manipulating and controlling the thoughts and feelings of those around him. And in Maritius, where Vishwananda is from, it’s a fact that there are some low class families who pass these techniques down from generation to generation.
Dr. Shyam’s comments can be verified by going to
www.wisdomwave.org

One woman, a counselor in Sedona whose spiritual name is Amara, was a close devotee of Vishwananda for around two years. She claimed that Vishwananda attempted "etheric sex games" with her. She also said that Vishwananda was a "shape/shifter". She also mentioned that both Vishwananda and his people suffer from "implants of suppression..." (Amara still has a practice in Sedona and Hawaii if anyone would like to understand more from her regarding Vishwananda's abuses.)
A yoga teacher and devotee of Vishwananda from Colorado said that many women have commented to her about Vishwananda directing sexual energy towards them.

Another yoga instructor from the Los Angeles area, mentioned that she
thought it was "very unusual that Vishwananda would
hold her hand for over a half an hour and speak with
her looking directly into her eyes … especially when her boyfriend was sitting right there…" She was surprised when she realized that Vishwananda was a swami…claiming to be a renunciate. She told me recently she will not return to see him.

Brenda Brinkley said...

What happens to those who decide to stay with Vishwananda?
Jyotirananda, in Germany , wrote a letter to all the bramacharis in the US . The letter contained expectations that Vishwananda has for bramacharis including, what to wear, devotional
practices and money. The letter also cited a Mauritian woman, who gave her entire inheritance or life savings to Bhakti Marga and implied that Vishwananda expected all of us to do the same. The
letter even went so far to describe how Vishwananda ignores this poor woman, scolds her, and basically
treats her like a school girl… And somehow we should all want to be as "surrendered" as she is??

And what happens to bramacharis once they give up
their inheritances or life savings to Vishwananda? And several close
friends mention that they’ve lost thousands of dollars to Vishwananda…
and he has not blessed them in return. In fact, many of them are now unemployed and completely disenfranchised of personal power and employment.

A older German bramacharini, whose name I will not
mention, said that when she gave over her life savings
to Vishwananda, she did not receive medical care or
even "her own room" in his ashram. Some bramacharis in Germany say they feel like "worker bees" sponsoring extravagant
trips and excursions for Vishwananda and his friends.
And one bramachari mentioned that she didn't
understand how Vishwananda never seems to be able stay
in one place for more than a few days…even while in
Germany , he's bouncing off to France every couple of
days or making so many trips.

A trip which I went on with Vishwananda
included a jaunt to Las Vegas , Nevada , a city of
gambling and prostitution. Upon entering the Westin
Causarina Hotel, we, his devotees, were greeted with
large billboards of naked women and gambling taking
place in the halls…I was shocked.
Why would a guru want to us to waste our hard earned
money on a place like Las Vegas ??

Many have said they've felt demeaned by Vishwananda. Several more close disciples have said he is "indifferent" and "hard."
Could these behaviors be an indication of an imbalance between the male and female energies within
Vishwananda? Or is it something more difficult to conquer?

There's a saying that one person's pain, can become another person's power. One has to ask themselves
about Vishwananda why is he going out of his way to flatter certain people, then hurt them…women in particular? Is he attempting to"feed off of their pain, as black magicians do?

I wanted to gain an objective picture of Vishwananda, from a professional who did not know him personally. So I enlisted the help of the world's greatest astrologer, Chakrapani. Based upon the time in the evening given to me by his secretary, Pritalananda, Chakrapini revealed that Vishwananda was capable of great extremes of light and dark, almost as if he was two separate people (he is a Gemini). He also said that he was polygamous and ruled by Saturn, the planet of non-love. He said that because of this overbearing Saturn aspect, that practicality and material matters would always take precedence over love.

Evidence of an imbalance of power, according to one bramacharini, could be seen regarding the stealing of relics. She became angry with Vishwananda after he had stolen
relics from a church, and asking bramacharis to steal more for him… Why would anyone do that? If one reads the book, "The Spear of Destiny" it may have the answer. This book describes how Hitler tried to confiscate the relic, or the spear that pierced the side of Christ which contained his blood, to gain the power from that relic. She felt that he craved this power.

Brenda Brinkley said...

Before I even entered my first satsang with Vishwananda, I asked Beata, a staff member, if he had any ties to Satya Sai Baba. I didn't want any ties to this well-known pedophile.
She replied, "no, and he also does not believe that Satya Sai Baba is the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba."

Then later, I discovered, much to my dismay, that Vishwananda was in India consorting with him. And not only that, he grew up with him.
He may have been one of the young boys who Satya Sai Baba molested.
Who is responsible for this gross misinformation?

Satya Sai is a pedophile and a misogynist. According to an Indian woman from Canada who had been his devotee for 27 years, she said that she would never return because she witnessed a murder in his ashram. Other devotees in ISKCON tell stories of how they were lured by Satya Sai in dreams to come to India , and he ended up molesting their sons. Often times, their passports were confiscated and they could not leave with their children. Satya Sai proponents claim that this is a smear campaign by Christian fundamentalists, but these complaints are heard from people from different religions.

Satya Sai Baba's followers also justify his molestation of young boys and young men. They claim that by massaging the genitals, he's trying to relieve them of their sexual karma…But then why isn't he massaging the genitalia of old men?
Krisna saw all things equally, a rock, a plant, and all people. Why would Satya Sai Baba only choose to molest young boys, and say, not old men?

Upon investigating the teachings on pedophelia by the Ascended Masters, I discovered that the reason pedophiles go for children and the youth, is because they “hold the light for the planet.”
They have the most energy retained in their chakras.
Pedophiles try to steal that shakti.
They are sexual vampires.
This is why false gurus focus on children and take their shakti.

In conclusiohn, Shakti is power.
Shakti can be converted and mis-used to display yogic powers or siddhis.

A similar story was relayed by Dharma, Yogi Bhajan's assistant for 15 years.
Yogi Bhajan went to India to confront Satya Sai Baba to his face about the mis-use of siddhis.

Yogi Bhajan said in a commanding tone,
"What are you doing?
Showing off your miniscule yogic powers?
Manifesting objects, a little ash, a little lingam?
All you are doing is stealing objects, and moving them
from one place and another!"

In his youth, Yogi Bhajan developed many yogic powers,
and used them often to change the weather. This he
called, the "power over water", also known as the "water tatva". It is the power where
a yogi can make people cry, make people pee, make it
rain...anything to do with water. (hum…Vishwananda can make anyone cry also.)

One day, Yogi Bhajan was washing the floors of the
Gudwara in Armistar and his guru Ram Das appeared
before him. (Ram Das incarnated physically many
centeries ago and was the enlightened guru for the
Sikhs.) But when he appeared to Yogi Bhajan, he commanded Yogi Bhajan to cease and desist from using his yogic powers. His guru warned him that he would have to
pay for any unauthorized use of powers.
Yogi Bhajan and
his disciples had to make up for their guru's karma
for indulging in yogic powers earlier in life.
According to Yogi Bhajan, both he and his disciples
had to pay for his earlier misuse of powers. During
his lifetime as guru, he was always having plumbing
problems at his ashrams, ladies camp, men's camp, and intensives. A few years ago at his ashram in Espanola there was a severe drought and all of his disciples suffered.

On Vishwananda’s last trip to
India , almost everyone contracted dysentery. (from
eating fecal matter in food.)
One would think that if Vishwananda had healing powers, he could have protected his devotees from this fate…but perhaps it was the other way around.
Perhaps it was his disciples who needed to "hold the balance" for him and "pay" for his unauthorized use of powers….

Brenda Brinkley said...

The ascended masters have said,
"In the economy of the material universe, Nothing is free."

Even Yogi Bajan's disciples had to pay for his unauthorized use of
powers, and he had a much larger following than Vishwananda.

Srila Prabhupada, who also had a huge following and was
leader of the Hare Krisna movement. He also warned his disciples about this and warned them never to go near Satya Sai Baba for the same reason. He said Satya Sai Baba is a "cheater."

But most of Vishwananda's disciples would not know this because according to Sura Das, an ISKCON devotee in Los Angeles , who knows Vishwananda well, most of Vishwananda's people were "neophytes" (spiritual beginners.)

Most spiritual beginners believe that spiritual powers
are an indication of enlightenment. They are not... neophytes should be educated about this.

But what about the stigmata, which appeared on
Vishwananda on "Good Friday?"
Could this have been a display of yogic powers??
Isn’t it Jesus blessing Vishwananda?

Most people do not understand that a yogi can "will" himself to bleed in
any part of his body at any time…
But I wanted to get a clearer perspective on this, so I
asked a friend of mine who is a priest, Monsignor Jerome, about the stigmata…who gets it??

He said that some people can "will" the stigmata, and that it's no sign of devotion to Christ. He also reminded me that the "anti-Christ" will also be so powerful, that he will be able to raise the dead and bring stones to life…He also mentioned what Jesus said:
"not by signs and wonders will you know them…but by their fruits…"

When the guru "shows off" siddhis (powers) is this accruing karma…not just for him, but
for his disciples. This fact is not only supported by Yogi Bajan's comments, but also by Aniruddha's reaction to Vishwananda.
During Vishwananda's trip to India he visited several ashrams.
According to a bramacharini from Northern Europe , he also attempted to visit
Aniruddha, who has millions of followers and is revered as the re-incarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, (which flies right in the face of Satya Sai Baba, who also claims this).

Vishwananda had hoped to visit this grihasta (married) guru, Aniruddha, to gain his darshan and blessings. My guess is that he also wanted validation from Aniruddha regarding his status as a guru.
But this backfired, Aniruddha refused Vishwananda's calls.
The bramacharini from Northern Europe who heard this decided to leave Vishwananda's India tour half way through and visit Aniruddha herself. She asked Aniruddha why he refused Vishwananda. Aniruddha said, Yogis like Vishwananda who misuse their yogic powers, and who are only concerned with “gaining followers, prestige and money, are going to burn in hell for misguiding people….”

This bramacharini from the Netherlands , who heard these words of Aniruddha,
decided never to return to Vishwananda...and they had been very close.

And so, there are long time devotees, noticing these errors which Vishwananda is now making, who are deciding to leave…but of course, he’s still seducing more new ones.

Vishwananda once boasted on his private blog site, "that if you leave, ten more will take your place…" And perhaps this will last for a while…but he’s only running on the shakti of others. It cannot come from God, because God would never sanction the blatant misuse of powers which he is the example of.

It is my prayer that Vishwananda cease misusing his yogic powers and instead, give them back to God. Perhaps a sign of this, would be to cut his hair, as he requests all of his male bramacharis to do.
I am praying that all the bramacharis will wake up to Vishwananda's tactics and I'm also praying for all the lives he's destroyed, through bankrupting people of their energy, their lives and their money.

Sincerely,
Rajesvari
A former bramacharini in the United States

Brenda Brinkley said...

Many years later, after much prayer, it was revealed to me that Vishwananda is the demon of lust, Asmodeus. In the Malleus Maleficarum (1486), Asmodeus was considered the demon of lust.[30] Sebastien Michaelis said that his adversary is St. John.
He has 72 legions of demons under his command. He is one of the Kings of Hell under Lucifer the emperor. He incites gambling, and is the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell. Some Catholic theologians compared him with Abaddon. Yet other authors considered Asmodeus a prince of revenge.
In the Dictionnaire Infernal
In the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Asmodeus is depicted with the breast of a man, a cock leg, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these animals being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge.  The Archbishop of Paris approved his portrait.
In the Lesser Key of Solomon
Asmodai appears as the king 'Asmoday' in the Ars Goetia, where he is said to have a seal in gold and is listed as number thirty-two according to respective rank.
He "is strong, powerful and appears with three heads; the first is like a bull, the second like a man, and the third like a ram; the tail of a serpent, and from his mouth issue flames of fire." Also, he sits upon an infernal dragon, holds a lance with a banner and, amongst the Legions of Amaymon, Asmoday governs seventy two legions of inferior spirits.
The story of Asmodeus and Solomon has a reappearance in Arabian and Islamic lore, however Asmodeus is commonly named Sakhr (rock) probably a reference to his fate, because according to Islamic lore, after Solomon defeated Asmodeus, he imprisoned him inside a box of rock, chained with iron, and threw it into the sea.[37] Tabari linked Asmodeus to Surah 37:106 of the Quran in his work Annals of al-Tabari, therefore Solomon was replaced by Asmodeus over forty days.[38]
Asmodeus' reputation as the personification of lust continued into later writings, as he was known as the "Prince of Lechery" in the 16th century romance Friar Rush.[39] The French Benedictine Augustin Calmet equated his name with fine dress.[39] The 16th century Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer described him as the banker at the baccarat table in hell, and overseer of earthly gambling houses.[40]
In the Testament of Solomon
In the Testament of Solomon, a 1st–3rd century text, the king invokes Asmodeus to aid in the construction of the Temple. The demon appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided (Testament of Solomon, verse 21–25).[29] When Solomon interrogates Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael, as well as by sheatfish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water and birds because both remind him of God. Now I live near the ocean and pray to Archangel Michael regularly to protect me from his influence, which as his associates know, can be very strong at times.