stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

SEX, BLISS, AND ROCK ‘N’ ROLL 45
I am very happy to see that we are all gathered to create
some “making” sounds, to find that peace and joy through
the celestial music. I am honored for having been given the
opportunity of opening this great, great music festival (Satchidananda,
in [Wiener, 1972]).
Even prior to Woodstock, Satchidananda had sold out Carnegie
Hall, being viewed as one of the “class acts” in the spiritual
marketplace.
His views on nutrition were solicited by the Pillsbury Corporation.
By the beginning of the 1970s, thousands of Integral Yoga
devotees studied at fifteen centers around the United States. By
the late ’70s, Satchidananda’s (1977) followers numbered in the
hundreds of thousands. Included in that group have been the
health and diet expert Dr. Dean Ornish, model Lauren Hutton,
Jeff “The Fly” Goldblum, and Carol “You’ve Got a Friend” King,
who donated Connecticut land to the yogi’s organization.
Having acquired other, warmer property for Yogaville in Virginia,
Sivananda Hall was built there, complete with a wooden
throne for the guru, set atop a large stage at one end of the hall.
Life for the poorer “subjects” within that 600-acre spiritual kingdom,
however, was apparently less than regal:
The ritual abnegations of the sannyasin [monks] included a
pledge to “dedicate my entire life and renounce all the things
which I call mine at the feet of Sri Gurudev [i.e., Satchidananda].
This includes my body, mind, emotions, intellect,
and all the material goods in my possession.” Though they
weren’t expected to pay for basics like food and lodging, they
were relegated to rickety trailers sometimes infested with
mice or lice (Katz, 1992).
In the midst of his followers’ reported poverty, Satchidananda
himself nevertheless acquired an antique Cadillac and a cherry red
Rolls-Royce.
Further, and somewhat oddly given Satchidananda’s Woodstock
background, in the ashram itself
dozens of onetime children of rock ‘n’ roll sat down to make
lists of “offensive” songs and television shows to be banned
within Yogaville’s borders. Soon after, dating between ashram
children was banned through the end of high school.