Nithyananda's Bloggers Claim Cyber La-La Land
Wow, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, do you believe in parallel universes? You know, Sri Nithyananda, just like the sci-fi horror movies where something is truthful exists in the real world but in a parallel plane it becomes lies? Where something that express dharma (righteousness) becomes adharma (unrighteousness)? Where something is based on reality becomes garnished in La-La Land fantasy? Where something that was light and humorous becomes heavy and dull? Where something is written respectfully becomes caste as 'filthy'? "You should never question an 'enlightened' healing master. We work on a different plane." Yes, we agree, with you Sri Nithyananda. You work on different planes. In fact, here's the proof. As everyone knows, our blog is:
nithyananda-cult.blogspot.comand your new parallel universe blog is:
Wow, Sri Nithyananda, looks like you must have admired our friend, Jody Radzik's blog of Guruphiliac. Same skin and everything. Will you be advertising some energy drinks on it too? That might help you collect some money for your charity work and those the free samples of those energy drinks will come in handy when all your sleep deprived ashramites need a pick-me-up.
OK, Sri Nithyananda, we accept that copying is the most sincere form of flattery, and we now officially feel flattered that you took the time and resources to help counter the influences that our blogs have caused and officially recognized that we have some serious questions and they need to be answered. Thanks for the clarity. (On a side note, is Clarity one of your new room-service girls? Did you name your blog after her?)
Sorry, Sri Nithyananda, for the distraction. So, could you, Sri Nithyananda, please answer these simple questions on your parallel universe blog so that we all have a very good idea where you stand and we no longer can guess or speculate? Don't worry, there just simple chronological questions with no tricks up our sleeves, promise. Can you, Sri Nithyananda, and your dedicated blogging team answer these questions:
- What was the exact day, time, and year you, Sri Nithyananda, were born?
- When did you finish your public education, e.g. Senior Secondary School (i.w. high school), Standards IX to XII? What year, what grade level, and how old were you?
- What years (from when to when) did you attend the three-year polytechnic in Engineering? Did you graduate?
- When did you leave home to start your nine-years of wandering? How old were you and what year was that?
- Where (exact place) did you reach your final stage of enlightenment that you claimed happened on January 1, 2000?
And, Sri Nithyananda, could you please include the exact time of your birth? We're a bit confused. In your book, The Formless in Form, page 5, you wrote that you were born on 12:32 a.m., January 1, 1978. But in your other book, Glimpses of My Master, Nithyananda, first 'first' (original) edition December 2005 on pages 87-91 that you were born on January 1, 1978 at 0:30 (12:30 a.m.). I know, Sri Nithyananda, we're splitting hairs over just two measly minutes. But, why we really want to know the exact time of your birthday is that we can replicate that astrology chart that you said was done when the astrologers refunded all that cash to your family because they predicted that you would be a bona-fide sanyasi (monk). Since you didn't display this chart anywhere, like the Ramakrishna Mission displays Paramahamsa Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda's astrological chart, we thought we could do the same. That way if anyone had any questions, you could just add a link to our blog and then all their answers about whether or not you were 'the real McCoy' of a Paramahamas would be answered.
OK, Sri Nithyananda, we wait for your replies. In the meantime, we thought we would do a trans-cultural exchange and comment on your commentaries. Don't worry, Sri Nithyananda, we'll give you lots of back links that will help you in your search engine ratings.
Your post: Work IS meditation. Some don't get it!
Our reply: Well, we see that your blogger dude didn't add quote marks around his "a***"stericks, so we accept that we never said anything in that way. Well, thanks for letting us all know how you sell the fact that your slaves are really meditating and not just working all the time. You said that "I am surprised you call yourself an insider and are not aware of the daily meditation, yoga, puja/homa, chanting that all ashramites do." Yes, we are aware. In your LA ashram, not much happening except for work, work, work, and the person that had to start the sparsely attended 'guru pooja' in the morning. In the evening, some will make time (or actually have enough time in their busy schedule) to catch the Nithyananda version of arti at the Montclair Vedic Temple. Our insider experience in Bidadi Ashram, the morning version is usually well attended since there were coupons handed out for attendance. If someone missed the morning Nithya Dhyan Meditation in the morning, then that person got no lunch. Kind of reminded us of pigeons pecking for pellets in an animal experiment. We don't know if this practice is still continued or not.
And, yes, we agree, coming to the Ashram as an ashramite is hard work. Don't expect much sleep. We personally know people who didn't sleep for days at the ashram and one contact even fell asleep while driving the big Nithyananda commercial truck. Luckily, there were not accidents. That could have been the ultimate samadhi for many people.
Your concept of "Work is Meditation" (which we assume you also communicate that work brings 'enlightenment') reminded us of this statement:
Arbeit macht frei
Anyway, I'm glad your blogger was able to write some nice things about getting rid of the fatigue layer by lack of sleep and working, working, working away. I just wander if all that work really is meditation and if they are really doing all of those other things, then why did so many of the ashramites get so bulky? We also have accounts of 'enlightened' followers threatening suicide. That doesn't sound very good to me. But, we're open to your points.
Your post: Incorrect information about Sanyasis on nithyananda-cult.blogspot.com
Our reply: Yes, we took an educated guess of the total of people who were ordained 'sanyasi - first level', you know, the folks wearing orange kavi (strip of holy cloth) cloth. We know that through the years there's been a lot of followers who were ordained on this level and then thought that Sri Nithyananda's brand of 'enlightenment' wasn't for them, so they left. This was particularly true in Nithyananda’s Bidadi Ashram. At one point, Sri Nithyananda got tired of the defection rate, so he made those 'ordained' sanysin (monk) go through a trial basis where they wore yellow (not saffron) kavi (strip of holy cloth) until they were officially 'ordained' and looked like they would stick around.
Some orders like the Ramakrishna Mission usually waits six to eight years before initiating someone into sanyasi (monk), for they want to make sure what person they get. Sri Nithyananda, a man in a hurry, ordained many, and some have actually stayed. Since we don't have access to the Nithyananda Foundation's statistics, we'll gladly post the number of people you want to give us as those who were officially ordained as 'sanysis' (monks). We honestly don't care. Our point then and our point now is that most of these people who were ordained were not qualified due to being married and other society obligations. In LA, there were several married couples that have been separated due to sanyasi (monk) initiation. Some seem very happy with the arrangements, others do not. In one occasion in July 2006, Sri Nithyananda pitted off one spouse against the other during the sanyasi initiation. One spouse wanted to become a senyasi (monk) the other wanted to remain a family life. In front of everyone, Sri Nithyananda constantly questioned the 'hold out' person whether it was 'Yes' or 'No' for that person's spouse to become a sanyasi (monk). If that person answered with 'Yes' there went the family. If that person answered with 'No' then the spouse would be non-forgiving. It was the most 'unspiritual' manipulation demonstration that Sri Nithyananda was abusing his powers and breaking up families. Regardless, we feel that it is wrong to break up families, but we cannot stop you. We'll just point it out, and express our opinion.
Your post: One common question: Why are the courses so highly priced?
Our reply: Your prices seem to be a bit distorted. We don't know how much your charging for the Life Bliss Program these days. At one point, it was $250.00 for the two-day program. Now, you say, "$100.00". OK, we'll accept that. We knew that in 2008 that in the Montclair Vedic Temple that Life Bliss Programs that charged $250.00 were only receiving a few (average around seven) participants. The market did not support the Life Bliss Program at $250.00, so if you dropped the price to $100.00 for the two-day program, that makes sense. After all, this is your 'feeder' introduction program, so it makes sense to do it at a lower costs. The most recent offering of the one-day Kalpataru Program in the U.S. was at $250.00 up from $150.00 which you quoted. That's a huge distortion. Will you then be offering a $100 refund to everyone who paid $250 for this program? That seems fair for over charging the participants. Your figures for accommodations of $60.00 per day is slightly out-of-alignment. If that was a decent hotel room, that would be fair. In actuality, a hanger-sized room of wall-to-wall bunk beds is a human fire hazard masquerading as a 'dorm'. Overcrowded prisons are not that bad. We hope that there are no casualties. The other cost-break-down seems just as distorted. Sri Nithyananda is not operating these courses at a loss. The big pay-off comes when people pledge a yearly 'donation' of ten percent of their gross income. We know that there's a lot of pressure to commit to that at the end of the program. And, the tours conducted, does that include the world famous 'graveyard' tour? We still feel that this is overpriced and just shows the lack of transparency that Nithyananda's organization has.
Your post: Nithyananda Cult Blog - Total Nonsense!
Our reply: My, oh, my. There is a tone on this post. Yikes. That blogger must have not had enough work, we mean meditation, that day. You say that we use 'filthy' language, but we see the 'cr@p' word. Perhaps you meant to write 'carp'? Because something sure smells fishy with Sri Nithyananda's operations. We guess when all else fails, try to discredit the Truths by character assault. Holy red herring. (Another fishy aspect.)
The blooger dude's comments show the commitment to this cult, and we'll respect that as much as we can. We just want to say that we have several contributors who were 'insiders' and know refute these claims. Could we please ask where are the funds for the Shiva Lingams that were promised and people contributed real money towards? And, yes, there's all kinds of pressure to change someone's name to the Nithyananda name especially if someone lives in the ashram. We have in our inbox the ultimatum that anyone receiving a Nithyananda name must change it legally within three months and show proof of this legal change or else the Nithyananda Foundation will take away the name. Just a reminder, six of the original twenty-five 'enlightened' followers have left Sri Nithyananda and no longer think his 'enlightenment' is worthy of his certification. We do give credit to Sri Nithyananda's marketing arm making something so horrible look almost attractive on paper. Bill Gates would be jealous. Oh, yes, the blogger dude wrote, "What's your problem whether he sits on a 24K gold throne or a diamond studded one? What do you know about the rich Vedic tradition...?" Yes, we all know which one of the two words "rich Vedic" Sri Nithyananda has emphasized.
Your Post: Perspectives on cults and the Nithyananda blissful cult-ure
Our reply: Well, it is interesting that you can bring up images of followers under Sri Nithyananda's leadership back to a more simpler and happier lifestyle of people like the Sherpas in Nepal, and the Inuit in Greenland and the Northern Canada. I admit that I do not know much about the Sherpas in Nepal, but I do know that the Divine Mother is big in Nepal, so perhaps She is looking after them and that they are genuinely happy. Perhaps it might be helpful if the blogger talked to Sri Nithyananda Dheera, who we have a lot of respect for. Sri Nithyananda Dheera lived with the Inuit and has some great stories of Inuit domestic violence and alcoholism. Sri Dheera witnessed one the son chasing the elderly parents with a knife in a slow motion-drunken-stupor while threatening to kill them. Regardless, anytime an organization tries to 'bring back' the values of a ‘golden age’ or an utopian society, we smell cult. This is exactly what Jonestown claimed to be doing, and we all know how that ended. Regardless, we appreciate your engaging tone, and we feel that we could better explain why Nithyananda and his organizations is a cult. We look forward to debating this with more depth.
Your post: The futile exercise of judging masters
Our reply: Yes, we are in agreement. It is a futile exercise of judging True masters, and true dharmic practice to expose fake maters who are not only diluting / hijacking the work of True masters, but causing so much pain of breaking up families, robbing people of their idenities, ending careers, causing divorces and separations, swindling people of their savings, etc., and offering preciously little in return, e.g. fake promise for enlightenment. Understand, this is not spirituality. This is fraud. Although there are current masters that we don't agree with 100 percent, we don't allow comments that judge these spiritual people. We see that these masters are offering good to society, and we'll just 'let them be'. But those that operate out of deceit and cheat people, we will expose. Just like calling out a wolf in sheep's clothing, Sri Nithyananda and his cult practices need to be exposed. Innocent sheep are being slaughtered and scattered. The work of Sri Nithyananda is not Divine and awareness needs to proliferate before more victims fall into his trap.
Follow your dharma. Use your common sense. Listen to your inner-conscience, and follow the Truth. Come out of this trap, and escape from this fraudulent cult.
Day 21: Twenty-one days have passed since Sri Nithyananda and his organizations have threatened a baseless lawsuit against us. We'll keep on counting.
