Coffee-without-Jody Day
This is one of those awful mornings when you wake up to chirping birds, and a cup of steaming strong coffee but you find that there’s nothing on guruphiliac to read with the coffee! Now i suddenly don’t know whether i need the coffee more, or Jody!
So i clicked absently on some of the links which Jody thankfully provides (avoiding my own). The Chi-Ting Guru Gossip really made my morning. I am quite a regular at Tiruvannamalai (seeker, not Guru) and I am often irritated by the stream of funny-named so-called Gurus who land up in winter like an infestation of some vermin, all claiming spiritual connections with Arunachala or Ramana. I was thrilled to see that "Kevinananda" does a nice take on them. Some excerpts, but you must read the full details on this page.
"… I know a thing or two about fraud! Since I relocated to my winter residence in Tiruvannamalai, I have noticed that seasonal trickle of Guru’s on the make, has become a veritable flood. Like a dose of dysentry flushing out the colon, they linger for a short while and then evacuate themselves to more fiscally rewarding pastures, leaving a rank and pungent stench behind them"
[Ed: Yup, he could not have put it better. And one of the places in India they evacuate themselves to is Dharamshala. The others places are the cooler climes of Europe and Southern California. The next one is about a chap called Florian Tathagatha (haha, hilarious name) who claims connections to Ramana. I too saw him frequently at the Seshadri Cafe making silly gestures with the waiters and children nearby, trying to put on the "enlightened" act. How horrible it must be, having to fake being enlightened! ]
"Apparently he has the finest sound system in Tiruvannamalai, it must be great listening to his own voice in an empty hall. He is often seen outside Sri Seshadri Ashram on the Chengam Road trying to mug (sorry hug!!!) passers by. He possesses an inherently evil smile, which marks him out as another day release from the Nuremburg Nazi hall of fame."
[Now here’s one about the hilariously named Mooji. One can clearly visualize the cow mooing. Saw him going round town on a mobike with a white lady stuck to his back. Posters stuck outside shops and cafes spoke of the "fire of self-enquiry" that he got from Papaji. Westerners must realize that when you visit a place, you respect the culture of that place. Tiru is not the place you enjoy mobike rides wrapped up in women.] Mooji was destined to be another sad case standing outside Brixton tube station, selling 10 pound bags of weed, smack and crack. Unfortunately after a trip to India and a stay with Papaji, he hit on the jolly wheeze of becoming a guru and scamming the stupid.
The purpose of this post was not to make fun of the non-Indians offering satsangs and programs in Tiru. You will find enough posters of smiling indians too, stuck by the sewers on the road side, offering grace and bliss. It’s just that their choice of names is just not funny enough as the above two. So go on and check the side bar on guruphiliac, on a rainy day, when Jody is not slapping Kracki and his wife with a large trout on their ever-widening butt cheeks.
hi , whowwwww, finally someone is really going good on this path, too much guru gossip and nonsense, specially from the papaji marketing people.. goodness great.
people who comes to thiru were truly for arunachala, which includes the great sage sri ramana, but immedieatly all these wierdos become guru, (specially one who even dont know themselves ) becomes guru.
thanks for your work for the public intrest
and keep going. my heartiest support is always with you, even though i lose business because of this letter, i dont care. i care for the truth,longlive jody, longlive arunachala and true sages of arunachala. and not the fakes.
Comment by sathyan — August 11, 2007 @ 6:21 pm