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premdas
Registered User
(12/5/01 5:04 pm)
Reply 		Michael Flynn, Lawyer
Who is he? Outside hire? Legal Reputation? Personal Reputation? Who knows what about him? Does he attend/participate in Services? A SRF student/devotee/Kriyaban; how long? How much influence has he? Who does he interact with on the Board? Who seems to be in charge of him? Does he operate independently, set directions, or does he take direction, and from whom? Any idea as to how he is compensated by the org.?

Edited by: premdas at: 12/5/01 5:10:36 pm
witness
Unregistered User
(12/5/01 7:53 pm)
Reply 		Flynn the Eskimo
Michael Flynn is a wealthy, powerful attorney based in the Encinitas area who has represented the likes of Barbra Streisand and Deepak Chopra. It has been alleged that SRF secretly brought him in to help prosecute Kriyananda during the Bertollucci sexual misconduct trial when it looked as though Ford Greene, a cult-busting lawyer who was handling the case, might not nail Walters.
At that time Flynn, who was asked by the press if he had any SRF affiliation, denied it. When presenting material during the trial, he reportedly fumbled the the pronunciation of "Daya Mata" and professed not to know whether it was the name of a man or a woman. Faye Wright also emphatically denied any personal connection with him in a meeting with Kriyananda and others. When the New Times was researching its original 1999 article, their reporter tried to get proof of Flynn's affiliation with SRF (it's not a secret to some members) but was assured there was no connection. However, Board member Vishwananda spilled the beans and admitted Flynn had a long-time acquaintance with Daya Mata.
He is very aggressive in his tactics, as evidenced when he once went after a website that expressed some negative views of Deepak Chopra. And at the end of the day, he won the case against J. Donald Walters, resulting in a settlement of over a milliion dollars and the departure of Walters to Italy.

Raja Begum
Unregistered User
(12/6/01 12:22 am)
Reply 		RE: Legal Attacks
To the members of this message board. With concern to fear and the right of privacy, I've drafted a statement to ward off SRF legal intrusion. Your comments appreciated....

Many members of this message board have felt the need to vent their feelings without censorship. One of the privileges not afforded to members of SRF is the right to discuss abuses of bad faith committed by the management of SRF. Therefore, the members of this board declare neutrality to any torts of defamation of character which might be leveled against the anonymous members of this message board.

Should the SRF management initiate an investigative search into the identities of participating members of this anonymous and private message board and then pursue legal action in the form of libel, the members of this board may consider such an investigation as an invasion of privacy.

The assumption of the risk of individuals reading posts on this website is exposure to possibly offensive or controversial material. If members of SRF management peruse this website and deem it defamatory or untruthful, they do so without legal recourse. The members of this message board hold no resposibility for the factuality of information posted malicious or otherwise. It is advised that all who read these posts use their own discretion and measure what is said against the facts they know to be true. This forum claims itself as a neutral zone for the exploration and testing of ideas related to the SRF experience.

It is of growing opinion that SRF is an agency bent on utilizing malicious prosecution and abuse of process in order to attain an unfair advantage over members who have been psychologically, emotionally, and possibly financially damaged by them. This advantage is manifested in the climate of fear of litigation it engenders. SRF has unlimited financial assets with which it can launch a destructive campaign against an individual of modest income. The tactics SRF has been known to take to quell criticism are legion.

Some members have made admissions to being coerced to sign pledges that restrict them from making critical judgements about SRF. Besides being a violation of the 1st ammendment of the U.S. Constitution, it is morally enslaving and debilitating to the individual.

There are two articles within the body of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which defend the freedoms of the members of this board to speak freely, daringly, and even controversially on the issues surrounding their membership with the organization called Self-Realization Fellowhip plus the members of management which include its Board of Directors and acting President. These articles are excerpted:

from Article 12
"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence..."

Article 19
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Any legal actions initiated by SRF against members of this site for their postings shall be considered an act of malicious prosecution and violation of their right of privacy.

It is recommended that, should SRF harrass any message board contributer, a class action be filed for proveable abuses.

KS
Registered User
(12/6/01 8:04 am)
Reply 		Disclaimer?
It is fairly cheap for Mr. Flynn start to threaten us and write letters. Most people are afraid of a mean letter from a lawyer. When someone gets one, or hears of one, please let the rest of us know. The above sounds good. His first attempt will be quick and dirty in the hopes that we scare off.

;) He won’t like his name here much! Being criticised could cause SRF to drop him to avoid that criticism and he would lose a lot of money!

Is there a disclaimer we should have posted on the board title line or something? Who knows about that stuff?

Eagle Eye Brow
Unregistered User
(12/7/01 11:33 pm)
Reply 		Mr. Flynn
He is in SRF and is, I'm sure, a Kriyaban. He has represented big clients and one of the organizations he pursued in court was Scientology. I think they tried to kill him twice. He has L Ron Hubbards personal diaries and knows the history of Scientology and how it was conceived. He is very good at what he does. There is some info here:

www.lisatrust.net/Media/legal-flynn.htm

There's more stuff. You can search google for "Michael Flynn attorney" or "Michael Flynn lawyer" and view the links.

I don't know whether or not he is being paid for the SRF case against @#%$. I think he volunteered. He usually specializes in federal cases. I think the judge even asked him why he was on the case but I'm not sure. He's probably being paid now since it seems everything has spiraled out of control but I'm not sure about this either.

CD
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 8:24 am)
Reply 		Mr. Flynn
A little Napoleon past due for his Waterloo.

Crog
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 9:36 am)
Reply 		Lisa Trust
I listened to some of the audio clips about Flynn. That situation surely did get out of hand! Wow. Really serious stuff. The clips are of Flynn's problems with Scientology lawsuits. They sure were after him!

I hope things don't get that serious here.

Crog
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 9:43 am)
Reply 		Weird
How did Flynn end up on the other side of this issue?

Crog
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 10:05 am)
Reply 		Listening to audios
I am trying to listen to some of the audios on the above FLYNN site. He is speaking before a bunch of scientologists forming a class action suit against scientology. Scientology has been harassing him for years.
Quote from: 209.241.48.234/legal/flyn...ape1-2.ram
He says to the people:

Quote:
Flynn says members of Scientology have a duty to correct the problems caused by the organization they supported. Quoting Flynn:

“You have a duty to tell everybody. Now that the hidden data line is gone, it is your responsibility to audit management. It will no longer suffice that this is [God’s] will. The only will you will see is the will of the private investor. lawyers. and those in control to continue to control and manipulate. It is your responsibility to audit those people. To seek an accounting.”

“It is very important that you don’t fail in doing that duty. Because if you don’t, the monster will grow. The power will get bigger.”

We should hire this guy ourselves!

AumBoy
Registered User
(12/8/01 1:45 pm)
Reply 		Re: Flynn the Eskimo
Quote:
When the New Times was researching its original 1999 article, their reporter tried to get proof of Flynn's affiliation with SRF (it's not a secret to some members) but was assured there was no connection. However, Board member Vishwananda spilled the beans and admitted Flynn had a long-time acquaintance with Daya Mata.


Why would Flynn keep his asociation with SRF a secret? Why would SRF keep this a secret? Conflict of interest? Personal vendetta? Some other obscure reason? He plays basketball at Hidden Valley when time permits and joins meditations there. What's the big deal? Or maybe everything is supposed to be a secret?

Here's an idea: SRF vs NTLA in a full court basketball game. Best of seven.

KS
Registered User
(12/8/01 2:12 pm)
Reply 		Re: Flynn the Eskimo
That is strange. Why is everything a secret? They talk about George Harrison as if he was a member (he was not) and deny that their lawyer is? Is there some legal reason? He was suing to help SRF and not on the cases merits or not for money? Is it better to take a case for money than to help your friends? Weird.

Witness
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 3:49 pm)
Reply 		Wake Up And Smell The Buried Bodies
Some people seem mystified about why Michael Flynn would lie about his SRF connection, if he had in fact collaborated with the usual suspects atop the mountain to help ensure @#%$ was finally brought down.
Maybe if some of you devoted a little time to checking out, say, the Washington Post, instead of obeying the ministerial fiats not to read newspapers, you would get it. This is political hardball, folks, and "follow the money" is always good advice when trying to get to the bottom line in a power struggle. The name Yogananda is worth big bucks, power (and, apparently, sometimes free @#%$) to whomever can convince those "sincere truth seekers everywhere" that they represent him.
SRF has continually denied trying to destroy their only serious rival. So of course Flynn claimed no association with SRF when questioned by the press on what was essentially @#%$'s turf (where they already suspected a heavy hitter like Flynn would only be involved only at SRF's behest). It could hardly be clearer -- when you are caught in the act, you lie. When the truth is discovered and you're questioned again, you lie (Lauren Landress, take a bow). Lying is a way of life in SRF; it starts at the top and trickles right on down. With Savitri, Cindy Davis, Lauren Landress, Faye & Co.on the job, I’m amazed they even need lawyers.
Of course, sometimes the truth emerges under extreme duress-- like that pompous little statement about Faye Wright's private residence that appeared on the SRF website shortly after repeated denials that such a residence existed were proven to be lies in the New Times. That was sooo SRF – the spinners even had the nerve to link the Big Lie to Yogananda:
“Just as the Guru himself spent the latter years of his life in semi-seclusion at Encinitas and later at an SRF ashram in the Mojave Desert, beginning in the late 1960’s Daya Mataji was encouraged to make use of a property SRF had acquired, to enable her to have periods of uninterrupted seclusion in which to concentrate exclusively on those essential projects. (Two years ago SRF purchased a second residential building adjacent to it, as there was a need to house nuns who could assist Daya Mata with her projects and other work.) The Mother Center at Mt. Washington has always been "home" to her…”
Yes, there we have it, nearly forty years after Faye was arm-twisted into consenting to live in one of LA’s primo neighborhoods (and I, for one, have seen both the residences, and you wouldn’t have to twist my arm) there’s a sudden, oh-so-dignified proclamation that unlike the other renunciants – or for that matterYogananda, whose home, sans quotation marks, truly was Mt. Washington – Faye and her sis have actually been residing in genteel luxury far away from those stifling little nuns’ rooms. So if that’s where she spends all her time working her fingers to the bone, where are the results of her labor?
My suspicion: big-screen TV and a lot of Oprah.

Witness
Unregistered User
(12/8/01 4:06 pm)
Reply 		Dirty Words (As Opposed to Dirty Laundry)
Dear Walrus,
I can vaguely understand the rationale behind turning all references to That Other Yogananda-Following Organization into gobbledygook symbols which are more typically used to denote curse words, but why turn the perfectly innocuous word for -- well, for "doing it" -- into same?
Let's see if I can slip it into this message, O Master ScreenerOuter: S and E and X.

(SRFWalrus: You are correct. We had an adult language filter on which excluded the "s" word. I have removed that word from the list so use it if you like. Sorry if it made the wrong impression. Most of the list is automatic, but I have added a few words unique to this generation. :) )

Edited by: srfwalrus at: 12/9/01 1:53:23 pm
premdas
Registered User
(12/9/01 12:10 am)
Reply 		Flynn Redux & Karma too!
"Ye shall know them by their fruits." Could it be by blind (or knowledgable) association with the likes of Flynn that Karma has come home to roost in all its delusionary forms, such as the grossness of the articles in NTLA? Do ends justify the means? Are people more important than things or image? This a reflection of greater symptoms within the org. So sad. Where is clarity? Truth? The channel is cursed by what it has chosen to flow through it. (I have to believe a lawyer would love to work near SRF's deep pockets; would it not be in that lawyer's interest to look for issues/conflicts and then to exploit them? An "insider" pointing out more problems/potential legal issues = more work = more $.) I wonder how someone like this reaches joy when they're exploiting others? Is the BOD playing with the devil? Blessings in Om.

Witness
Unregistered User
(12/9/01 5:35 pm)
Reply 		It Only Gets Uglier
"I have to believe a lawyer would love to work near SRF's deep pockets; would it not be in that lawyer's interest to look for issues/conflicts and then to exploit them? An "insider" pointing out more problems/potential legal issues = more work = more $." --- Premdas

You have perhaps unwittingly (perhaps not?) exactly described a scenario that unfolded in February 1998. It featured The Usual Suspects (including that busy, busy,behind-the-scenes lady Cindy Davis) and the lawyer representing Patricia Lyons, the woman who -- in response to being "erased" by SRF after Jim Rapp (aka Br. Henry, aka Bro. Arjunananda) indulged in a few months of romantic R&R with her -- finally decided to sue. Having one's entire life, and faith, shattered by this organization can do that to even the most loyal devotee, which she certainly was. Or should I say most gullible? Walrus board contributers seem divided on that issue.
She agreed to settle out of court (for a figure considerably lower than that published in the New Times) ONLY on condition that she be allowed to resume her former total involvment with SRF, including working for them (as she had for years on a full-time volunteer basis), and to help find ways to improve some of the obvious problems within the organization.
One of those problems, obviously, was the fact that some monks were knowingly permitted to have sexual relationships with worshipful devotees if the monk was considered "too valuable to lose." (Just as the present head of That-Other-Yogananda-Following-Organization was permitted to while he was Vice President of SRF. Plus ca change, plus que la meme.)
Some of you reading this won't believe the above statement, but there are ex-monks (and at least one ex-nun) who can confirm that it's absolutely true.
Lyons' lawyer was present on the day the settlement was signed. Before the end of that day, he and the SRF "bad ladies" were in bed together (this time I'm speaking metaphorically). His agreement was to work for SRF (yes, he had noticed how deep those pockets were, and how millions were flowing from the coffers to pricey lawyers). But that agreement was contingent ON HIS CLIENT BEING INVOLVED IN THE WORK FOR SRF -- which was to include setting up some form of legitimate psychological counseling for monastics.
Almost immediately he began working for SRF and continued to draw large fees for months afterward (just so you'll know how all those dollars we've put in the collection plate get spent). However, there had been one small alteration in the agreement he made to get his foot in the Mother Center door -- soon after he started invoicing SRF, he was told that to keep "working" for the organization he must totally sever his connection with that pesky Lyons woman who, rather ironically, had brought him to them in the first place. (As many of the visitors to this site have painfully noted, erasing people is the SRF version of putting out a contract on someone. Only it's more painful for the victim because it lasts longer.)
Eventually, however, the lawyer was forced to stop driving up the hill in his brand-new white Jaguar for those lucrative visits to Mother Center when a Richmond devotee "in the know" complained bitterly to Savitri and Cindy Davis. The sight of her friend getting the door slammed in her face one final time led to her, too, to give up on SRF and experience her own deep crisis of faith.
Here's one for Premdas:
Q.: "What's black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?"
A.: "A Doberman."






Raja Begum
Unregistered User
(12/9/01 6:04 pm)
Reply 		Sexie Sadie SRF Style
Your comment about some monks being permiited to have sexual relations with worshipful devotees really blew my mind. Say it ain't so, Joe! :\

My question to you is "How high up are these monks?" Between the Erskine drama and what I'm hearing about SRF's Heavenly Hankey Pankey... I'm wondering if I should have joined a tantric cult where at least I could have had more fun being brainwashed!!

Good lawyer joke! Here's some more... Lawyers Jokes

AumBoy
Registered User
(12/9/01 6:15 pm)
Reply 		Re: It Only Gets Uglier
Gosh, and to think back when I first entered the ashram, a conversation with my father went something like this:

Me: I'm going to live in an ashram and devote my life to seeking God.
Dad: What will you do there?
Me: Well, meditate and serve the church and endeavor to realize God.
Dad: Are there any women there?
Me: No, only men.
Dad: Do the guys go into town on Friday nights?

witness
Unregistered User
(12/9/01 6:19 pm)
Reply 		Tantra To the People
Raja Begum, the answer to your question should be obvious, given that Rapp (oh, excuse me, Your Holiness
-- I mean "Arjunananda") was a Brother who had taken final vows, was running the SRF Publications Center, was the head minister at Richmond Temple, and had just completed a speaking tour of Europe before embarking on his Excellent Adventure. And, as the New Times correctly pointed out, he was indeed a popular, attractive "rising star" who some considered a likely candidate for BOD status when the old crones finally start toppling.
Fairly senior, no?
Now start going over your list of likely candidates for the "too valuable to lose" category. If you guess correctly, I'll let you know.

Witness
Unregistered User
(12/9/01 6:26 pm)
Reply 		Friday Night Fever
Aumboy, tell your dad that those who can, do. Usually, though, it's just for dinner and a movie, because that's all they can afford. Hanging around the Glendale Galleria was quite popular, too, "checking out the teenage girls" as one of the spunkier (and most honest) monks once admitted. (He's out now, and may he live long and prosper.)

witness
Unregistered User
(12/10/01 5:11 pm)
Reply 		Blurred, Broken, Bent & Twisted
"SRF might even have someone at Flynn’s law office doing it [checking out this site]. The line between that law office and the “bad ladies” is getting a little blurred."

I just noticed this in a post from last September, about SRF's monitoring of this board. As far as I can tell, no one has commented about Sister Savitri working in Michael Flynn's office after she took her so-called "leave of absence." The joke is, there was (is?) still an answering machine with Savitri's voice message at Mt. Washington, but to reach her you had to call her evil twin Heidi Hall, who was -- get ready for it -- hard at work answering incoming calls at Flynn's law office.
Maybe it's the beginning of a new trend: reverse volunteer service.

Musicman
Unregistered User
(12/12/01 12:52 pm)
Reply 		Fawning adulation
I'm not one for fawning adulation, especially in these days when my native cynicism is running a high fever. But I simply must say that Witness is nothing short of spectacular. I hang on every word, sheer manna to me. I quaff the ambrosial nectar of bliss emanating from his/her fingers at the keyboard, like oil from the cask. I bathe in the living waters of wisdom flowing from the wellspring of his/her infinite awareness. I saturate myself with the perfume of his/her faultless insight. I . . . well, you get the idea. Thank Ahura Mazda I still have something to believe in--like, you know, the TRUTH. Bravo/a! Encore, Witness, encore! Fear not the scourge of philistinism lurking on this board, for we, your devoted followers, will ever leap into the fray to defend you (though you obviously don't need much help).

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