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KS
Registered User
(11/11/02 7:07 pm)
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Spirtual Life Committees
I would like to know more about the Spiritual Life Committees formed inside the ashram. What was their purpose, how were they conducted, why weren’t these goals possible with existing management/structures, who was on them, why did they fail and who killed them?

I have learned that they were composed of a small group of monastics and that the monks side was formed much earlier and was more active. I have also been told that they met for about 3 years without really producing much. That may have been why they died. But why were they born? Who allowed it? Did they ever have any authority over any aspect of monastic life?

I also heard that their concern and goals focused completely on the environment of the monastics and completely ignored the suffering on the employee side. Even to this group the employees were second class citizens.

soulcircle
Registered User
(11/12/02 2:41 am)
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A FEW FACTS FROM A WEEK IN NOV. '96
FRIENDS

THIS IS A VERY LONG STORY AND BEGAN WITH BEING INSPIRED BY DIVINE MOTHER AND COMMUNITY VIA KAMALA...SOME KIND PEOPLE IN RICHMOND

AND ENDS WITH VISHUANANDA, WHEN SITTIN IN A HOME- MADE RICHMOND "SPIRITUAL LIFE COMMITTEE": AND SAYING, "THERE IS ONLY ONE WORD FOR THIS..'FELLOWSHIP'!"

if you will allow me i will tell it in installments over the nov/dec holiday season

the chronicles of power being humbled
________________________________

chapter one .....background

chapter two ..... introducing the week arjunanada left

book two .....vishnuananda's actions split richmond

chapter one .....leadin up too saturday

chapter two....saturday

chapter three..over night

chapter four ...sunday

chapter five ...monday

chapter five...question...did the door open for slc
spiritual life committees

~~~~
seven posts below here there finally exists a first draft, thanks for your patience
~~~~

if you want it all now, email me <heypoet@aol.com>
i will call you

thank goddess,robin hood and peter pan for this "board"

circle

Edited by: soulcircle at: 2/4/03 4:03:34 am
History Buff 2002
Registered User
(11/12/02 8:44 pm)
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Re: A FEW FACTS FROM A WEEK IN NOV. '96
Oh, Walrus ...
Much has been written about these committees elsewhere on the board. Would the search function help us in this??

crogman1
Registered User
(11/26/02 5:46 pm)
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Re: A FEW FACTS FROM A WEEK IN NOV. '96
When is the next chapter???? :)

soulcircle
Registered User
(12/1/02 2:52 am)
Reply
early notes crogman1 in my effort to complete the Nov '97..
crogman and all,
this quote is from history of srf ....vishwananda
at times i can't relive this at all!

i hope to write it out fully when possible

here goes

Quote:
member108,
i clearly sense the correctness in using strong language for strong patterns of control, fear, indoctrination etc....keep on keeping on!!!!!!!

psychdev and anyone,
email me, and hopefully set up a phone call
--while mother center has been passed off as our spiritual home, there needs to be a warning in clear sight, along the lines of member108's concerns at the front gate
--in your contact with me, i will directly tell you of the hour plus in nov. '97 that i spent in the admin building's library with satyananda and vishnuananda. in vishnuananda's rather quiet presence (sinister at the least, cause just over 24 hours previous in a laypeople-led forum.... he had described the process 15 of us established for one day at richmond, as "simply describable in one word..FELLOWSHIP!!";) Now as satya flexed dastardly fearful muscles, tearing my soul with horrific fangs (after i naively said, "vishnu was at richmond these last two days and you, satya, are coming in 5 more days i will describe this richmond forum [spontaneous precursor of spiritual life committees] and be a bridge betwen your two visits!";) , chewing my heart and spitting out scraps of what was once a living happy richmond temple secretary, me....vishnuananda's contribution at the end was, "you can still get back to richmond tonight, southwest has great standby."
my intention, and i followed through on this small personal aspect was to meditate long hours in the chapel in the morning, which i did, before leaving L.A.
In my morning meditation in the admin building's chapel i began the process of recovering, that i am still in, from the ........................[<<<you supply the correct syntax, psychdev for the hour of spiritual brutality, that satya, UNAWARES in some respects, RELISHING every moment in others......that satya dished out to me]
your choice of words is awaited friend psychdev

member108, who is the consultant at vishsuananda's side?

believe me all, reach me via email, with a direct email for you that i can respond to, when i click reply on two emails i have received thru ezboard, the reply goes Nowhere

believe me all, via email and my personal phone we can do much more than in here,

there is a fly in the ointment, and member108 is not wide of the mark

toss semantics (i agree the holocaust is the farthest thing from semantics) nonetheless toss some of the debate aside
______________-

as i repeat one other specific story.....one of the two most completely inspiring, quiet and endearing, serving people that i have seen in over 20 years of very gregarious activity on my part at richmond......

one of the two kindest devotees, dreamlike in their calm and compassionate bearing, entered the l.a. ashram as a nun, and in 12 months came out (this over five years ago)
.....came out destroyed and still is destroyed

***********the travesty************

i sat for an hour in a circle of three that nov '97 at 4PM
in a "circle of travesty," a moment when thousands of you were about other things, but a moment, among many, that colored ALL our lives for now and into the future

the soulcircle is my plea as i beg all of you to email me, to stay in touch with me....to trust....to be a part of my healing ....as i am a part of you

and in the long millenia laying ahead of us as yosemite peers into distant ages

satya and vishnu are a part of any permanent true healing
____________________

for now anyone entering the "holy grounds" of san rafael avenue is in desperate need of warning

you often say, without a doubt, that this board is not for new students or members
think again.....the person first setting foot at 3880 san rafael needs some of the info in here AND more
as the foot, as their soul's journey enter the "circle of travesty!"

soulcircle in recovery

psychdev
Registered User
(12/1/02 9:14 am)
Reply
Re: early notes crogman1 in my effort to complete the Nov '
SOULCIRCLE: I'd suggest posting a chronological account of events, as best you can, rather than phone calls or email. This makes the information public, if you're comfortable with that, and allows others the opportunity to see and comment. Maybe the first part could be a simple, bare-bones description of events; then, after describing the events, you could say how it affected you and what parts were most upsetting and why. FWIW

soulcircle
Registered User
(12/1/02 12:42 pm)
Reply
first fill in the blank
psychdev,

friend, in the early part of the post you are responding to, there is a blank (in the lengthy paragraph) that i await having you fill in

circle

soulcircle
Registered User
(12/1/02 12:50 pm)
Reply
second
psychdev,

could you explain to me what FWIW means?

as public as i am on the board............not all that i have experienced is public

one example is that in phone calls already having occured, there are full discussions of the aspects most pertainent to the two of us, and the conversations have a pirvate aspect and a life of their own

second, the play by play is relived, and the human voice is remarkable and helpful to hear and to share........tears don't travel through our keybards to well......., and in the unfolding of vishwu's richmond visit, my daughter had a part, my neighbor, my daughter's rat, you name it
the lifetime friendship of a richmond devotee's with vishnu had a central part, and that is not something for the public record

you intrigue me to know no end

allow this rather public person to have some private feelings, to ask again for you help in healing as a friend......
and allow me to be very human and very selfish

gosh

circle

Edited by: soulcircle at: 12/1/02 12:54:50 pm
soulcircle
Registered User
(2/4/03 4:09 am)
Reply
The Story
the story
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

setting a poor yigic example, vishwu [lying] had explained in No. '96,
"Brother Arjunanda has taken a "leave of absence, he is free to return."

~~~~
~~~~

an orange awaited

but we are getting ahead of our story.

over seven years ago vishwu came to richmond

his buddy jim rapp had been arjunananda up until about 5 days earlier

folk like me take a little time to grieve, heal etc
there are other folk like me

vishwu got the whip out and said in front on 80 people, some audibly crying, NO

it was saturday and several of those in attendance were going to have a meditation at a private home to come together and begin healing

he said he had spoken before coming up with faye
twice he said faye wouldn't want this

sunday after the service ended, the orange awaited him
yet we are still getting ahead of the story

he and then bri. fred, greeted people outside the chapel some openly sobbing
they spent more than an hour doing greeting devotees, not unusual, this day a bit longer then some sundays due to the departure of jim from the ashram

at the same time 15 people were in a circle in a sunday school room
something set up independently by people, four other folk like me joined now by others

the orange went from hand to hand, only the one with the orange spoke
it wasn't a conversation....it was an opening our of hearts, divine mother tangibly listening, lovingly accepting

70 minutes into it ,two monks enter, vishwu began lecturing/conseling the orange holder....in this case jim rapp's [arjunananda's] wife-to-be in years ahead

i explained to him that the only thing going on was listening, and he could speak when the orange found itself in his hand.
he rolled his eyes up, arms raised, said "never in all my years in srf have..........."
and was silent and became folk, like all in there

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
devotees, empowered equals, with two monks

two monks lowered from elite celebrity-controlling status

a bunch of folk willing to listen......each an equal to her/his kin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

he got caught up in the energy

~~~~~~~~~
the orange found its way to vishwu
he said, "there is only one word...This is FELLOWSHIP."
the orange moved on and divine mother with a tear and a smile.....listened to another
~~~~~~~~

later at great length [the two monks spent over an hour with us people, as people, accepting our leadership, imput and equality]....at great length vishwu spoke personally of his life saying that he hardly ever got sent out from mother center.....that as the autobiography says "Lord, you gave this monk a large family"...vishwu said i feel "terribly isolated" from master's family

24 hours later at mother center ...vishwu, satya and myself...
like it never happened, neither would entertain the reason for my visit [the result of time off from work and an hour plane flight]
to continue on the following weekend...to continue the healing circle
satya was scheduled in richmond the coming fri thru sun and did come

the circle was history for the time being, these now seven plus years
~~~~~~~~
soon monks and nuns were meeting in spiritual life committees as directed by faye who said it came from master
satya resisted this committee too and eventually it came to an end

the pinch for me was that after more than an hour session with these two monks, now elevated,

myself no longer near being their equal.....at the end of satya's "ball control"

vishwu, who had been absolutely silent,
chipped in twice [saying to me] you can get back to richmond tonight, southwest has GREAT standby
they both went over that, pointedly wanting me gone, my plans were to stay in a Pasedena motel and spend tues. morn in the chapel in long meditation, which i did

what until that moment had been my spiritual home [the home i sent score/hundreds of people to, even taking a foreigner there personally]

many of the monastics are personal friends
faye had sat with my family and 8 others for 90 minutes

was now a hostile unwelcoming place frightened/threatened by me.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
folks they are frieghtened by you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~


by the power of folk like me, by people who see people as people and groups as community
by the suggestion from an orange that we are all in this together

thank you for asking for the story.....tell all

circle

Edited by: soulcircle at: 2/4/03 4:12:50 am
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