Sarama Minoli Part 2

Yoga and Sarama were definitely a combination fit for purpose!

A while back I got a very nice e-mail from someone interested in the late great Sarama Minoli, memorialized on my blog in “Sarama – The Hound of Intuition.” So here’s more about Sarama:

She had her own Hatha Yoga studio, and according to her web site:

On July 13, 1977 we received our new name, Yoga-Life Perfection of New York, from Sri Chinmoy in a beautiful and unforgettable evening of meditation, song and recitation at our Manhattan centre. It was especially unforgettable because that was the night that the lights went out all over the city! Of course, with our Guru present we were not left in the dark! Candles were also burning for our evening of meditation and we had plenty of extra ones on hand. We thought the function would keep going until the lights went on, and Sri Chinmoy took advantage of the extra time to compose a few beautiful pieces, which later appeared in Everest-Aspiration, one of the well-over-a-thousand inspiring books he has written.

Here is Sri Chinmoy’s quote on Hatha Yoga, which is the branch of Yoga concerned primarily with the physical:

O Hatha Yoga, you are preparing me for a strong body, a sound vital, an illumining mind and a pure heart. From your valuable gifts I shall receive inspiration to take three long strides toward my life’s integral perfection and my Lord’s complete satisfaction: concentration, meditation and contemplation.

Concentration will penetrate the ignorance-world. Meditation will sit on the snow-capped mountain peak. Contemplation will join the divine lover and the Supreme Beloved in their oneness-dance.

Note: The “lights going out all over the city” part is a reference to the great New York City blackout of 1977.

The False Knight Upon the Road

This traditional song makes a helpful footnote to discussions about deprogramming

I’ve always loved this song ever since I first heard some permutation of Maddy Prior and/or Steeleye Span do a version of it:

The exact lyrics vary from artist to artist, but this is how Maddy Prior sings it on the 1971 album Summer Solstice:

Deprogramming Revisited Part 1

Revisiting a deprogramming complaint and asking how much has really changed. Are religious differences not better solved through acceptance, tolerance, and love? Plus extended historical analysis.

UPDATE 3. Jennifer Jacobs was a member of an American Buddhist group in the 1980s. According to a sworn declaration which she filed in California in 1991, she was subjected to a kidnapping type deprogramming. She names Joe Szimhart as one of the deprogrammers who held her captive and subjected her to psychological abuse. The complaint speaks for itself, and you can read it in full on the CESNUR site here. I want to present some highlights from her declaration which I find relevant to the current deprogramming/exit counseling scene in 2020: