Classic old shot of Alo

If I won the lottery tonight, I would have $4 million. This got me thinking what I would do with it.
First, of course, the usual… pay the bills, travel, fix up the house, give some to friends and relatives, maybe a good charity, put some in the bank… but what to do with the rest?
I was talking with a person earlier about the stress in people’s lives these days. I realize that what the world needs now.. other than more love.. is a way to relieve stress. Meditation is an excellent tool.
With my million dollars, I would set up meditation centres all over the world, accompanied by a good book of instructions and carefully screened and trained facilitators, set up a website and put out an audio with meditation techniques and accompanying music.
The name of the centres would be Meditation for the Soul. The techniques would be simple and easy so everyone could do it. This would be helpful for all ages, all walks of life, people who work, families, any religion or faith, anyone who has 15 minutes a day to sit down and meditate.
The concept would be centred around the transcendental photo and the teachings of Sri Chinmoy, but they would be adapted to suit the everyday person. We would take his sublime teachings for the soul and re-write them into everyday language, applicable to daily problems and situations. This is designed to be a tool to calm stress and restore the peace of the soul. And by the way, if you keep it up, you could become enlightened!
We could do this. Once you re-write the teachings, there is no copyright. I don’t think there is a copyright on the use of the transcendental. I hope it could not be mis-used or abused. I feel it is absolutely essential to use that particular photograph of guru’s highest state of consciousness to bring the Light into the meditations. Can you imagine people, everyday people, all over the world, pulling out the transcendental on their lunch hour and meditating? Can you imagine how it could change the world? The power of the consciousness is transmitted through that picture. With proper teaching, meditation on the heart, and pure intent, the power behind all guru was trying to do in his lifetime would not be lost, but expanded. Guru’s Light, beyond the Sri Chinmoy Centres, would be magnified. No rules to break. No leaders to follow. Everyone would live their own lifestyle, and benefit immensely. Their souls would bow down in absolute gratitude.
We are not talking about the world suddenly becoming enlightened by this. But each soul, no matter what level of evolution it is at, would benefit, to its own capacity. To bring inner peace in a turbulent world, it would be worth it.
So, tonight let’s hope I win the lottery. Guess I better go buy a ticket.

Kate Everson.

I have been meaning on doing a post on mob mentality for a while after my experiences in Australian Sri Chinmoy centres, and to my amazement after a few clicks on Wikipedia i discovered that there is a whole branch of psychology devoted to mob mentality, group think, conformism etc. Even more amazing is that what i dug up exactly described my experiences being in a tightly controlled meditation group. Here is a few branches of this type of  psychology and how they related to my experience in the centre.

Group Think:

Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by making decisions as a group

Irving Janis, who did extensive work on the subject, defined it as:

A mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.

To make groupthink testable, Irving Janis devised eight symptoms indicative of groupthink (1977).

1. Illusions of invulnerabilitycreating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking .( I remember when i first joined the centre every second word was”infinite”. Infinite light, infinite peace, infinite bliss. That fact is, virtually no one experiences the infinite, they only get glimpses of it. I think it is unrealistic to preach exagerated consciousness as it creates inflated expectations which are more often than not followed by deflations.
2. Rationalizing warnings that might challenge the group’s assumptions.
3. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions. ( the black and white mentality)
4. Stereotypingthose who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.(Stereotyping in the centre is a big one. I chose from day one to stick to my guns and listen only to my soul and not the disciple pack. The end result was that i was labeled a “bad apple” because  i refused to walk in mindless lockstep with the disciple mass)
5. Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of “disloyalty”. ( There was huge mental expectation to conform in Australia. I actually coined a term for it “the disciple mind cult”.In my opinion the “disciple mind cult” works in direct opposition to the inner voice as it refuses to recognize that the individual inner pilot may have a different role to execute) 
6. Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
7. Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.(What amazed me in Australia was the almost total silence of the disciples to the centre leadership. The Centre leadership were regarded as absolute, beyond question and superior to the rank and file. There was never any questioning or decent among rank and file disciples. A sure sign of brainless sheep mentality)
8. Mind guards— self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.( There were no shortage of them in the centre. And needless to say many of them contridicted themselves by leaving the centre)

Scarey is’nt it! I could,nt believe what i was reading when i first opened up this Wiki page, because it exactly described my experience in Australia. I’m going to have a field day with this one!

Preventing groupthink:

According to Irving Janis, decision making groups are not necessarily destined to groupthink. He devised seven ways of preventing groupthink:

1. Leaders should assign each member the role of “critical evaluator”. This allows each member to freely air objections and doubts. ( There was never free airing of opinions in Australian centre. Just blind subservience)
2. Higher-ups should not express an opinion when assigning a task to a group.
3. The organization should set up several independent groups, working on the same problem. ( wouldn’t that open up the centre!) 
4. All effective alternatives should be examined.( This approach was never tolerated as the rank and file disciple opinion was never valued or asked for that matter)
5. Each member should discuss the group’s ideas with trusted people outside of the group. (Wouldn’t that ferment new ideas!)
6. The group should invite outside experts into meetings. Group members should be allowed to discuss with and question the outside experts.
7. At least one group member should be assigned the role of Devil’s advocate. This should be a different person for each meeting.( The devils advocate approach would provide an alternative opinion to the centre leadership)
8. And last but not least my own idea: Annual centre elections. There is no other way to keep power in check.

Sheeple:

Sheeple (a portmanteau of “sheep” and “people”) is a term of disparagement, in which people are likened to sheep.

It is often used to denote persons who voluntarily acquiesce to a perceived authority, or suggestion without sufficient research to understand fully the scope of the ramifications involved in that decision, and thus undermine their own human individuality or in other cases give up certain rights. The implication of sheeple is that as a collective, people believe whatever they are told, especially if told so by a perceived authority figure believed to be trustworthy, without processing it or doing adequate research to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them. The term is generally used in a political and sometimes in a spiritualsense.(Wikipedia)

 I felt whilst in the centre in Australia the “sheeple ” consciousness was forced upon the disciple.You were expected to acquiesce to the centre leadership and thus surrender your individuality and independent thought. Independent thought was completely frowned upon in Australian centres. I actually felt like i was in a wheel chair!

Conformism: 

Conformismis a term used to describe the suspension of an individuals self-determined actions or opinions in favour of obedience to the mandates or conventions of one’s peer-group, or deference to the imposed norms of a supervening authority.

One manifestation of conformism emerges in the practice of “going along and getting along” with people who appear to be more powerful. Conformism holds that individuals and small groups do best by blending in with their surroundings and by doing nothing eccentric or out-of-the-ordinary in any way.

By definition, conformism presents the antithesis both of creativity and of innovative leadership, and hence opposes change and/or progress itself. Authoritarian institutions (such as military organizations) tend to glorify and reinforce conformism within their ranks, as do many large corporations.

One view of innovation stresses the importance of outward or grand-scale conformism. Since open and extreme rebels get incarcerated or killed (or kicked out of the centre..lol), according to this theory, effective change may require minor, incremental acts of a non-conforming nature. (Wikipedia)

By far and away the worst centre attribute i found in the centre is conformism. The centre would have been infinitely more satisfying experience for many seekers if it embraced the individualism. Conformism kills the human spirit and thus human happiness.

The problem with,mob mentality, group think, conformism etc is that it works in direct opposition the the inner voice, the soul. If an individual seeker wish’s to surrender to his soul or “yogify” his being, he must needs detach himself from the group. Look at Guru, like so many spiritual masters, he went to the Himalayan caves to realize God (in a previous life time).

No more than a few years after Guru’s departure from the body we are seeing a new breed of seeker, the independent, the freestyler. Why? Because seekers need satisfaction. If seekers are not happy in the group, then sooner or later they will make the move to independence, which is what is happening in the centre right now.

If you can live
In your oneness-light,
Then God will, without fail,
Grant you His Independence-Delight. CKG.

If you are willing to run the race of oneness-light, then only can you enjoy the prize: The freedom of true independence. Ckg.

Dependence-Division-boat
Will always carry you
To a goalless shore.
Independence in inseparable oneness
Will always lead you
To the Golden Shore. CKG.

Dependence division boat is an instant goalless shore….God knows, i was forced to travel in it for a while…

and finally…..

A twentieth-century seeker needs independence

both inner and outer to become a perfect instrument of God. CKG.

Eamon

 There are not many people on this planet that have captured my imagination but Troilanga Swami is one of them. Imagine a 3oo plus pound spiritual master who spent his whole life walking the streets of Benares butt naked or “sky clad” as they say  “as carefree as a child”.

  A little of his history. Born sometime between 1530 and 1600, he took to the spiritual life at age 40 after his parents died. He decided to do the Shiva thing renouncing the world and lived in a cremation ground( obviously it must have been a peaceful place to meditate)  practicinghis sadhana for 20 years before meeting his Guru, Bhagirathananda Saraswati. He reportedly led a life of extreme austerities, went on a pilgrimage and ended up in Varanasi. According to the biographers he lived nearly 300 years!  While in Varanasi he crossed paths with some of the big shots of the spiritual world, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Mahendranath Gupta, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Bhaskarananda and Vijaykrishna Goswami (his disciple)

 Ramakrishna said that “all Benares was illuminated by his stay there”, he also described him as the moving Shiva.

 There are some classic stories about him that crack me up and have really endeared him to me.

 Troilanga was famed for his spiritual and occult powers. Guru said he had tremendous spiritual and occult power. Once he lobbed into a kings palace, the king and his queen were swimming in his pool, there was a big commotion.When Troilangas disciples arrived they tried to calm the situation but the King decided to put Troilanga on the spot and offered him meat ( Hindu yogis don,t eat meat). Troilanga said yes he would eat the kings meat but first the king must eat his food, the king agreed, Triolanga then proceded to “drop a turd” in front of them. Then, wait for it….He ate it! Evidently the fragrance of Triolangas turd was sandalwood, and there was happiness all round!……Gurus take on that event….

 ”The beauty of a childlike, innocent flower-heart gives off a special fragrance everywhere, not only from what it has within itself, but also from the fragrance it gets from the beauty that it sees all around.

It was not Troilanga Swami’s so-called curiosity that compelled him to go to the swimming pool, but it was his equality-vision which wanted to show to the world the evenness of reality everywhere. Discrimination abolished, equality’s universality reigns”.

Once he went into a Kali temple with Bijoy Krishna Goswami( who would later become his disciple), and urinatedon a statue of Kali to Bijoys shock. This is Guru,s take on the event…….”The Source is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. It is Reality omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. The lover of the Source, the know-er of the Source, the dweller in the Source and the possessor of the Source are all the same. Troilanga Swami as the lover of Kali and the beloved of Kali is the self-same reality”.

Once the police threw him in the slammer for his “skyclad” antics, but they soon found him on the roof in all his “skyclad” glory. They locked him up several more times, he dropped another one his sacred turds in the prison cell and reappeared in the Prison Wardens office and preceded to give him a lesson in spirituality.  The police gave up and let him continue walking the streets of Varanasi naked…..Gurus take on this incident….” A truly God-realised person is he who has the capacity not to be affected by others and, at the same time, not to affect others. He protects himself from the rest of the world and he protects the world from himself. This miraculous achievement of his is due to the inseparable oneness of his body’s divinity with his soul’s supreme universality. The body enjoys the soul’s freedom. The soul enjoys the body’s acceptance of the soul’s reality”.

Troilanga used to levitate on top of the Ganges for days at a time, he would also disappear under the water and reappear unharmed. He also raised a person from the dead according to Guru.

He died on Monday evening, December 26, 1887.

I love radical people. A radical person is someone who follows his faith with complete disregard to what society expects. That was one of the reasons i was attracted to Guru.His radical manifestation, his weight lifting, his art, his music, his writing, his peace concerts…. his whole life… was radical. He followed his spirituality with complete disregard to what society expected. Its the Yogis, the Masters and the Avatars that are the real radicals. That’s why i choose to follow one!…………..and a quote from one.

My Lord Supreme,

I was born to love You only.

I was born to place myself

At Your Feet only.

I was born to please You

In Your own Way only. Sri Chinmoy

…………and not society!

Eamon.