Sadhguru Jagi Vasu

[Kam1825]

Just to let sangat know if you do listen to the sermons of great teachers of other faiths that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasu is coming to Leicester and London this week. If you know of him or knot he is well spoken from what i have seen on astha he does his sermons in english and are very good. if you have a chance check out the programs.

In leicester at Gurdwara Panth Prakash on Thursday the 14th at 1200 to 1345 hours

see the following link

http://ishachennai.43sixty.com/Intro_Leice...4_Sep_2006.html

in london at the millenium mayfair hotel all details can be found on the following link

http://ishachennai.43sixty.com/IE_London_10_Sept.html

more information about this spiritual man can be found on

www.ishafoundation.com

[tSingh]

I'm going to sound very cynical here!

I'm not convinced myself, back in 1976 Swami Agehanada Bharati totally hammered this sort of middle class oriented post colonial 'neo renaissance' hinduism stuff. he had it down as nothing more than a bit of charisma, little learning (apart from a few occasional choice sanskrit phrases) and instead a lot of terms like 'logical, modern, new age, scientific' giving highly reductionist english spoken Vedanta (realise nyour true self) with highly organised and highly marketed 'courses' for educated Hindus who don't like the thought of old smelly ashrams with older smellier sadhus randomly talking hard graft! So for me this stuff is the bridge between capitalist modernism and a cosmetic spirituality understood through the assumption that post-enlightenment science is the real touchstone.

I was recently spending time with my gran and met her friends who are middle class Mumbai-ites who are pretty obsessive about the Paramhansa Yogananda stuff as recent converts, and their speak made me shudder a few times. Big posh house, purpose built cottage for the swami with them who spoke perfect english, in a himalayan foothill village. I ended up being ever so slightly disrespectful to him in conversation by challenging a few of the predictable things he said (his use of the word 'science' for example), his stuff was all upside down. He started with this 'one god is the same in all religions' but everything he said came back to 'ours is the best'.

A few days later I was sat in a Tibetan cafe in a Tibetan village with a famous monastery, I was quietly eavesdroppping on a conversation by a few italian hippies. They'd just spoken to this tibetan monk for about 30 minutes who was explaining the intense and long term training he'd gone through and was looking forward to. Years of linguistic and scriptural study. After he left, one piped up saying 'if i want to go to that town, I could walk, I could run, I could bus it, I could get a helicopter, he is walking and I will catch a helicopter with this kriya yog stuff..we're going to same place, only I will be there in two months and him in 30 years, so why bother'. Not a religious thing to do but I muttered an expletive and chuckled. Now when I was talking to my gran a few days later she said that the swami had told her that 'waheguru mantra' is good, but its a bit like walking to a town...!! I couldn't believe it! Swami Bharati explains that he came across a few people who had literally become mentally ill as a consequence of this kind of reductionist inresponsible teaching.

Its quite possible this one may say some nice and helpful things too...but I bet you have to pay a hell of a lot for them!

There was a nice article in India Today about a year or so ago talking about all these new age Hindu 'World Teachers' and Gurus who are making a lot of money very quicly using media and marketing. If I'm not mistaken this one's the same one who sometimes wheres a doti sometimes jeans.

[Kam1825]

good points. i have only seen what he speaks about on astha. will try to make it down and see what his talks are about. cheers john

[Guest]

Swami Bharati explains that he came across a few people who had literally become mentally ill as a consequence of this kind of reductionist inresponsible teaching

veer tsingh, is this is same swami bharati ved who was very close associate of sant baba waryam singh ji ratwara sahib? Loads of his articles are on volumes of "Discourses on beyond".

[tSingh]

Bharati is one of the four traditional surnames (linking to regional lineages) given to dasnami samprdaya swamis. Swami Ved Bharati who you mention is pretty good, at least based on the commentaries he's written on the Patanjali Yogsutras, which are the best I've seen in english. The Bharati I mentioned earlier was originally an austrian, a prodigy by the sounds of things, who later became a tantric but remained a swami in maryada until he died a couple of decades ago. He's known as much for sociological and anthropological work as he is for his spirituality. His writings are superb, brutally frank at times.

[Niranjana]

tsingh - great post.

For those interested in reading more about the impact of Orientalists, Capitalists, Middle-Class neo-Victorian sentiments amongst the urban and village centres of India etc etc upon various Indian religious and social practices have a look at the e-scholarship website, there are some good studies on Kali and Tantra and its analysis, use and adaption by the aforementioned and then mass-marketing in the west and return to India with the all singing all dancing glossed over 'spirituality for the busy executive' style mumbo jumbo.