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stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

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SIXTY MINUTES 121<br />

To aid his world mission in fur<strong>the</strong>ring <strong>the</strong> practice of kundalini<br />

yoga, Muktananda in 1974 established <strong>the</strong> SYDA (Siddha<br />

Yoga) Foundation, with headquarters in South Fallsburg, NY.<br />

SYDA admirers have included Jerry Brown, Carly Simon,<br />

James Taylor, Diana Ross and Isabella Rossellini. Also, Rosanna<br />

Arquette, Meg Ryan, The Cosby Show’s Phylicia Rashad, Miami<br />

Vice’s Don Johnson and his wife Melanie Griffith, and Marsha Mason<br />

(Neil Simon’s ex-wife). Plus, singer Mandy Patinkin, celebrated<br />

songwriter Jimmy Webb—composer of both “MacArthur Park” and<br />

“Up, Up and Away (With My Beautiful, My Beautiful Guru....)”—<br />

and astronaut Edgar Mitchell.<br />

* * *<br />

Whoever has attained spiritual perfection has done so<br />

through his Guru. The Guru grants a life full of grace, complete<br />

freedom, and liberation of <strong>the</strong> Self. The Guru’s favor is<br />

absolutely necessary for lasting attainment. Without a Guru<br />

man is unhappy; with a Guru he is full of joy. So surrender<br />

yourself completely to <strong>the</strong> Guru (Muktananda, 1978; italics<br />

added).<br />

The Guru should possess every virtue.... He cannot be a true<br />

Guru if he ... indulges in sense pleasures....<br />

Without <strong>the</strong> Guru, it is not possible for a person to understand<br />

<strong>the</strong> Truth (Muktananda, 1999).<br />

Muktananda’s specific view toward conjugal relations, fur<strong>the</strong>r,<br />

reportedly took <strong>the</strong> following form:<br />

Muktananda advised his devotees to refrain from sex.... “For<br />

mediation,” he told a South Fallsburg audience in 1972,<br />

“what you need is ... seminal vigor. Therefore I insist on total<br />

celibacy as long as you are staying in <strong>the</strong> ashram” (Harris,<br />

1994).<br />

But <strong>the</strong>n, those rules are obviously <strong>the</strong>re only for <strong>the</strong> benefit of<br />

<strong>the</strong> disciples, not for <strong>the</strong> guru who no longer needs <strong>the</strong>m.<br />

At his Ganeshpuri, India, ashram, “he had a secret passageway<br />

from his house to <strong>the</strong> young girls’ dormitory,” one [exfollower]<br />

reported. “Whoever he was carrying on with, he had<br />

switched to that dorm. [He] had girls marching in and out of<br />

his bedroom all night long” (Rae, 1991).

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