Monday, October 29, 2012

Babuji (of Sahaj Marg) Claimed to Modernize Spirituality

Taken and translated from an article by Élodie: "Babuji Prétendait Modernizer la Spiritualité", on her blog: Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg



October 26, 2012 

Babuji Claimed to Modernize Spirituality

 Once again, reading the latest article by Michael really made me think. His extensive knowledge of Sahaj Marg and the quality of his analysis command respect. At my humble level, I give you here some of the ideas that inspired me. Do not hesitate to come and discuss with me. 

Babuji took advantage of all the experience accumulated by the ancient spiritual wisdom when he created the Sahaj Marg.  This spiritual method was to be the fruit of modernity and of an Indian culture which opens on the outside world.

Babuji describes the Sahaj Marg as a system that allows everyone in their everyday life to a quick access to spiritual realization.  In other words, this was to be the only method which was supposed to allow fusion with the divine during the spiritual seeker's lifetime, without giving up his daily life.Sufis, Buddhist monks or Hindu sanyasins withdraw from the ordinary world to devote their lives to the spiritual quest.  They adopt an austere and reclusive lifestyle, a monastic, hermetic and ascetic  lifestyle.  They give up everything to devote their lives to spirituality, it is a full-time commitment.  Contrarily, Babuji claims that there is no need to renounce anything, Grihasta (householder's lifestyle) can achieve the goal without changing one's daily lives.


For Sufis, Buddhist monks or Hindu sanyasins, time does not exists. The quest is infinite, it transcends their lives, and continue to reappear in subsequent reincarnated lives. Instead, Babuji insists on the urgency of spiritual realization, demonstrating (showing proof to)  not only his linear conception of time, but its modernist acceleration.


For Sufis, Buddhist monks or Hindu sanyasins, what is important is the spiritual quest, the journey, the spiritual journey.  Instead, Babuji says there is nothing more important than the goal of attaining  divine fusion.  The only thing that counts is the goal and of little importance are the means to achieve it, while in conventional wisdom, the means are the end. 


A goal readily available to all,  three un-natural ideas which have an appeal to seduce to modern minds:

* where the ancient spiritual wisdom focuses on the spiritual path, Sahaj Marg offers a goal, to result to achieve

* where the ancient spiritual wisdom is in an infinite time, Sahaj Marg counters with the urgency of achieving
* where ancient spiritual wisdom reserves the spiritual quest to those who devote their time and their lives, Sahaj Marg claims the speed of reaching the goal, for all. 

Forgotten are the values ​​of renunciation, asceticism, the slow and contemplative journey,  Babuji offers a modern method, the only valid one.  How does he do it?  He accelerates the slow process of Raja-Yoga obscuring the first six steps thanks to the intervention of an outside and intrusive All Powerful Master.  (or more often a preceptor).

We now know the unfortunate consequences of this (r)evolution. They are terrible and have done a lot of damage.  Had Babuji ever imagined?  Was he aware of everything it engendered?  To Chari and Patel, the question does not arise, they know.


Remember the letter of Babuji in 1963 where he denigrates and denies totally the Sufism of Lalaji (published by Dinaysh, the grandson of Lalaji)

“The Mohamadan systems have all breathed their last and this, 'The Sahaj Marga' the only ONE has now emerged out in their place. Its teachings and methods widely differ from those of the old systems in many respects.”

One feels there suddenly emerging all the self-sufficiency of a somewhat arrogant and presumptuous Babuji.


Babuji claimed to modernize spirituality, he popularized (vulgarized) it, but he also weakened it and atrophied it. 


Élodie

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 Comment on Elodie's blog (Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg

Anonymous Said....

This grihasta life recommended by Babuji... is it not a life of denial if remembering the Divine Master has to be constant?

Who can claim to be with his wife and children as a grihastha when his heart, mind, attention, focus, desire, aspiration, is constantly away and permanently busy with someone/thing else? Only a corpse would remain.

Therefore, renouncing the world is there too in Babuji's Sahaj Marg, but this fact is hidden behind the smokescreen of the family life standard.

Renouncing the world is the universal path of self-sacrifice, which can't be avoided when full dedication to God is targeted. This is true whatever the culture, country, historical period, people, and method.

If Babuji's teaching is followed absolutely, it will result in renouncing the world for constant remembrance, service and dedication, while the corpse, being the slave of desires in a social network, will continue to play whatever others want it to play.


Saturday, October 27, 2012

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9 comments:

4d-Don said...

Comments taken and translated from Élodie's blog in Europe.

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20689467&postID=8618209952761241088

Anonymous said ...


Babuji was neither pretentious nor arrogant - and all those who knew him have testified, including this blog - After his method has been perverted, misunderstood or made unsuitable for some, it is a fact

- he did not force anyone to follow him -

A look at all the deviations that have been made ​​in all the spiritual methods of mankind shows that it is unfortunately commonplace - That is the fate of all great Masters who have launched a spiritual path -

To understand and to report deviations is possible, but it does not take away the purity of the source - and, once again, the testimonials of those who knew him are consistent in this regard -

So, beware of excesses in the other direction ...

Saturday, October 27, 2012


Élodie Said...

Hello to everyone,

Dear anonymous

The letter of Babuji relegating the previous Sufi experiences, especially that of his master Lalaji, gives me a sense of pretension. But I will not go further regarding his arrogance.

I also think that he was not aware of the implications that the changes of his method engendered.

Concerning the renunciation and the Grihasta-lifestyle, it is one of the major impostures of Sahaj Marg, it seems to me. To argue that this method is accessible to everyone in everyday life is a deception. As stated so well above by "other anonymous" one must give up many things, and the dependence on the Master as described by Michael is only one aspect among many others.

Affectionately,

Élodie

Monday, October 29, 2012

Anonymous said...

Hi Don!

I just woke from a dream...has the old man died yet?

Do let us know!

Thanks.

-- Triple Gem

4d-Don said...

Hi Triple Gem...

Haven't heard about it, if it did happen in this reality ...

I will let you know if I hear anything ... I don't hold back any information ...

Go back to sleep ... 4d-don will be "on guard" for THEE!! ;-))

Thanks for sharing...

Don

Anonymous said...

Don, Thanks!

Hahaha!

I am certain there are other people who are tuning in for that very reason.

What a disappointing "leader" Parthasarathi has been. More like the man hiding behind the curtain.

Pathetic organization too but I am not saying anything new.

I agree with the fact that has been stated by Michael, Babuji started this mess.

I pray others will wake up to the facts and come out of their delusional states.

Thanks for all your good work!

Enjoying my freedom!

--Triple Gem


4d-Don said...

Hi Triple Gem...

To quote the Charles Dickens character, Tiny Tim in "A Christmas Carol":

"ONE's (Creator or Creative) blessing on all of US!!

or, in the vernacular of those times:

"God bless us, everyone"!!

We are truly blessed.

Don ...

4d-Don said...

Taken and Translated from Elodie's French blog in Europe: Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg.

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20689467&postID=8618209952761241088


Alexis said ...

Obviously, Chari's success in recruiting new abhyasis, and thus the numerical expansion of the SRCM somewhat disturbs Sharad & Kishore and puts them in an awkward position.

Hence their latest posts to try to justify why the Mission has not grown as much under Babuji.

Their explanation: Babuji renovated / updated / modernized Patanjali's method to create abhyasis and provide a method for future generations that will free the world in 10,000 years. But it requires such sacrifices to abhyasis that few people are capable of doing it today.

Babuji quickly stopped making new abhyasis, the others (for whom the truth is not accessible) are only members. He also limited the number of preceptors, because they did not understand and strayed dangerously. This is also why he forbade others after him to appoint new preceptors.

Chari does not create new abhyasis, he multiplies members only. Chari's sheep rather than Babuji's lions. Chari is a good publicist for Babuji's Sahaj Marg, but nothing more than that, a publicist ...

That is the explanation of the Society for Babuji's Mission. Babuji was the "Special Personality", and he remains so, he targeted quality and has voluntarily limited the number of his recruits. Chari is the numbers man, but nothing else, he is nothing but a publicist ...

In a turn of a phrase, Kishore yet recognizes Babuji's failure: he failed to form reliable preceptors, they skidded and diverted to ends of personal power, he had to dismiss many of their functions. An admission of weakness not explained, inadvertently dropped? Strange (Bizarre?) ...

Elodie PS: I love your analysis very interesting after that of Michael. In Depth unedited.

About Babuji, it is high time to demystify him. To address all the complaints to Chari and totally clear Babuji would be too easy. One should also know how to clean up one's own back yard, whatever the reaction of one's lion cubs ...

Monday, October 29, 2012



Anonymous said...

Which Master could have predicted what would become of his teachings?

Monday, October 29, 2012


Elodie said...

Hello one and all,

"Who could have predicted...?"

Obviously, to criticize after the fact is easy. But no one imagined such evolutions BEFORE the fact.

It is a little more disturbing when one presents Babuji as THE "special personality", a being so close to God that some imagined him to be "all powerfull" and in the end then, irreproachable, in the image of, or equal with God.

Therefore, his is nothing of the sort. He modernized spirituality
without imagining the consequences, he made mistakes like everybody else, and his life is not a model also.

Babuji is not, nor has he ever been the "Special Personality". He is just the inventor of an nth spiritual method, not exceptional or un-equalled (unique?), but like so many others, with its qualities and its flaws.

Affectionately,

Elodie

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Bob said...

Lewellyn Vaughan Lee is a 59 year old contemporary Sufi teacher living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has help spread the Sufi path in the west, especially in North America.

Below is an article on the lineage of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujadidiyya Order, an Indian branch of the Naqshbandi order.

The article gives a clear explanation of the status of this path today - and it's approach for the western mind.

Lewellyn's teacher's teacher was a direct student of Lalaji's newphew, Radha Mohan Lal (Bhai Sahib).

http://www.goldensufi.org/article_eastwest.html

Bob

4d-Don said...

Hi Bob...

Thanks for the info.

Don

Michael said...

The problem Babuji created with Sahaj Marg is his destruction of the tradition in Sufism that allows a spiritual teacher to have peers. His claims of "Special Personalities" and dependence on a single human being for spiritual wisdom only serves to demean aspirants and put whoever is the reining Master of SRCM in a position of absolute power, which of course results in absolute corruption - as we have seen.

I studied Sufism for a while when I left SRCM. In fact I corresponded with and met Lewellyn Vaughan Lee. I spend some time with a 100 year old Sufi who was a direct disciple of Lalaji's.

I've subsequently lost interest in Sufism as there is far too much male based hierarchy imposed upon it. Other than Irina Tweedie, name one widely acknowledged female Sufi teacher...

What I found intriguing about Sufism, however was Sufism's roots which pre-date Islam. Mohammed embraced these wandering mystics as his own and they became a part of Islam. It is likely that these mystics were of the same tradition as the Magi who visited Jesus at his birth. Prophet Daniel of the old testament was of the Magi tradition. The Magi were far closer to Shamans than any formal religion or spiritual practice.

These ancient mystics touched literally every religious movement if not inspired them. Pieces of this ancient knowledge still exists. Pieces of it can be found scattered in Shaman traditions whic can be found in every culture in some form or another.

I have found little or none of the remnants of this ancient wisdom in the established religious and spiritual practices. It simply cannot exist there as this knowledge empowers the individual and these organizations seek to dominate and control the masses.

Babuji was correct in stating that a spiritual path can be found in the life of a householder. He failed to offer a practical and meaningful system that empowers a householder to be on that path however as what he established was yet another hierarchical system that forces the "masses" to forgo their own journey and rely on spiritual blessings bestowed upon them by an exclusive and singular master.

Michael