stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

AFTER THE ORDEAL 449
The present book is, of course, exactly an attempt to provide a relatively
comprehensive disclosure about what reportedly goes on “behind
the ashram gates.” That is, it is a cataloging of the alleged
actions which one would not “comprehend correctly” if one were to
find out about them too soon in one’s involvement with any group.
Informed decisions may then be made regarding one’s participation
in our world’s nontraditional and traditional spiritual organizations.
Of course, each new approach which comes along may be the
“one clean spiritual path” whose guru-figure is everything he or
she claims to be, with an inner circle of disciples who care nothing
for their own power or respect, and simply want to make the world
a better place by first changing themselves.
And if you buy that, I’ve got an ashram in Florida I’d like to
sell you ... because that’s exactly what I once thought SRF was.
And yet, even the holy Tara Mata’s attitude toward other, lower
members of that compassionate and “God-guided” society embraced
the totalitarian ideal:
In an organization, no one has a right even to think except
the members of the Board of Directors (in Walters, 2002).
Comparably, as Thomas Doyle (2002) observed, with regard to
the Catholic Church:
There is a solid principle in political science that says the
governing elite of an organization will eventually think it is
the organization.
No surprise, then, that exactly the same principle would apply
to our world’s nontraditional religious organizations, in their ashrams
and otherwise. How could it not? ‘Tis simply human nature.
Interestingly, devotees who tire of SRF and Yogananda frequently
end up following Sai Baba, Chinmoy, or the “hugging avatar”
Mata Amritanandamayi (Ammachi).
Many people have called Amma[chi] a saint or sage and believe
that she is a great master, a reincarnation of Divine
Mother, Krishna, Christ, Buddha, or Ramakrishna.... When
asked if she believes this about herself, she responded that
she basically did not want to claim anything or that she was
any particular incarnation of a god or goddess (Cornell,
2001).