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    > Layoffs - The downsizing of SRF has begun
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crogman1
Registered User
(1/9/03 6:07 pm)
Reply 		It started
The layoffs started this week. About a dozen got the axe from the mother of compassion. Some members working there over 15 years got it. It appears the favorites and apple polishers managed to do well or even get promoted and/or relocated. Walrus readers won’t be surprised at any of it.

What is surprising is the reaction from the burned out member-employees. While there was a rush of depression and worry before it happened those that survived seem to have calmed down and are putting it behind them. It reminds me of a bunch of wildebeests out in the wild. They are frantic to escape from the lions but once one of them is killed the rest sort of forget it, and forget their friend.

Their time will come. The lions will get them all. The lions think of wildebeests as food, not valuable resources helping “the work”.

TheHolySinner
Registered User
(1/10/03 9:33 am)
Reply 		Re
(This message was left blank)

Edited by: TheHolySinner at: 6/25/03 9:19 pm
KS
Registered User
(1/11/03 7:20 am)
Reply 		Re: It started
I hear the employee reaction is not over and most are deeply depressed. You are obviously talking to different people. The treatments of a few favorites is just part of the SRF culture. There have always been those in the royal class and the hangers on.

wholetruth
Registered User
(1/11/03 10:41 am)
Reply 		Re: It started
Astral7:

Where are you? Can't you add something nice and inspiring about SRF in this thread?

soulcircle
Registered User
(1/12/03 1:59 am)
Reply 		whole truth....you are wonderful
WOW,

hurry astral 7
there's a problem.....bring in your fire extinguisher
_______________

we got to love you wholetruth

thanks much

KS
Registered User
(1/25/03 6:15 am)
Reply 		Last day
The last day for many good men at SRF was yesterday. Help from SRF to find more work never did materialize.

srfneighbor
Registered User
(1/28/03 2:03 pm)
Reply 		Re: Last day
Hi all, I hope my posting here will be OK. I am not an SRF member but rather a neighbor who lives near the Mother Center in Mt. Washington. I have been a guest reading your posts here for a while and understanding the purposes of the site have up until now remained a silent participant. But the layoff and the SRF's handling of the affected people is very troubling to me and I could not resist commenting by adding the following...

I have been struggling to understand the reasons they are doing this. I remember some posts alluding to financial reasons (lawyer bills, economy, possibly fewer members, etc.) and others to internal power struggles (if that is the right term) and payback for speaking out etc.

As a neighbor here in Mt. Washington who had to suffer the last few years under the SRF leadership's handling of their expansion plans I can understand the point of view that the layoff is motivated in part due to the narrow/closed mindedness of some of the leaders, but because the treatment of the people has been so poor, (if what I read here is even half true then I would say that the SRF has the worse layoff package I have ever heard of), that the major motivation is economic and not personal...but then I found out yesterday that...

The SRF has just purchased the "Old Library" building, a craftsman house across the street and down the block from the Mother Center main gate for $600k. The house needs another $100k-$200k to be habitable (lots of interior work to be done apparently).

So now I do not know what to think. Are my neighbors really just cold hearted or just plain stupid or something else. Is it really as bad as it appears. Comments and thoughts please.

My best wish, thoughts, and prayers to those whose lives have been impacted by these layoffs.

soulcircle
Registered User
(1/29/03 2:10 am)
Reply 		thoughts and best wishes
srfneighbor,

thank you for your kindness in posting
thank you ever so much for the timeliness of your important contribution
better heads than mine will give some thought to the implications of this purchase at this time
i wanted you to hear rather immediately that i for one welcome your post, more than welcome it, i find it fits what i understand as the purpose of this board to a "T."

circle

X Insider
Registered User
(1/29/03 3:00 am)
Reply 		Re: thoughts and best wishes
SRF neighbor,
Many people would like to know just how vast is the extent of SRF's real estate holdings. Certainly those laid off might be curious. Or maybe it is less painful not to know.
But in answer to your question, I would just suggest you start reading some of the earlier entries on this board. This may give you an idea about the thinking and philosphy of the SRF Board of Directors. Some find this quite different from SRF's public persona.

member108
Registered User
(1/29/03 6:31 am)
Reply 		Layoff Reason
Neighbor,
The layoff package is certainly no surprise. Until recently it was zero weeks pay, no benefits and no unemployment insurance. At one point they were just firing people. Effectively no pay/benefits/insurance is firing anyway! In the last 6 months they added a few weeks pay to the deal. What makes the whole layoff situation worse is that many who work at SRF attend the local temple in Hollywood. That temple just spent almost half a million dollars on a new bathroom facility. These people know SRF cares more about bathrooms than about them!

Inside SRF absolutely EVERYTHING is considered a secret. The treatment of people, what they purchase, who is on the Board of Directors, what consultants they hire, how many paper clips are in Fay Wright’s desk and anything else you can think of. The fact that they own many properties around the city is a TOTAL secret. It was only recently that some of the membership found out about the president’s home in Sierra Madre.

The REAL reasons for the layoffs are of course secret. There is some spin and speculation, but compassion is an excuse you won’t hear and a lack of money as a reason just makes people ill when they hear it.

What we do know is that internal conditions for the monastics are so terrible that large numbers of them have left in the last few years. Leaving is a constant situation for the monastics as the environment is far from spiritual, but there was a big bubble in the exodus. SRF management decided to fix the blame for the problems with the organization on “doing too much”. They need to make SRF simpler. This is a lofty goal on the surface so it buys them some time. Of course the problems have nothing to do with being too busy. They need to learn how to behave! There are other more complicated layers to their spin on the problems but that is good enough for this thread.

To provide the appearance that SRF management is doing something about the problems (i.e. SRF is too busy) a few member employees had their jobs sacrificed. Maybe Master will reward them for their sacrifice.

Edited by: member108 at: 1/29/03 6:15:02 pm
srfneighbor
Registered User
(1/31/03 11:39 am)
Reply 		Re: Layoff Reason
Thank you all for you kind replies. I did go back and re-read some sections as well as found replies that I missed...I am only able to get here once or twice a week. Thanks to Member108 for your summary.

It certainly appears that the SRF leadership has lost its way. (or never had it if the information concerning the power struggle and treatment of various people post Daya Mata's coming to power are even half true)

This next bit may not belong in this thread but I am not sure where it should go so....here goes anyway.

The current leadership definitely seems to be a lot different from Yogananda. While I did not have the pleasure or the honor to meet or know him, I have talked to a number of people here in Mt. Washington who did. All relate stories that show him to have been open, giving, accessible, and exhibiting a good sense of humor.

Reading the information on this board has helped me to understand the very bizarre behavior of the SRF leadership and their paid and un-paid mouth pieces concerning the Mother Center development proposal of a few years ago. The Mt. Washington community was left much divided, wounded, and hurt as a result. I can see our treatment was minor in comparison to that practiced upon members and monastics (I still do not think I will ever really understand the treatment of the monastics).

I noted elsewhere on the board a mention or two about Hank Shaeffer. And I can well believe that he is one of the SRF official monitors of this board...he certainly plays/played that role in the Mt. Washington community over the Mother Center development plans. Most people learned not to trust him.

Finally can someone help in identifying who Vishwananda is for me? The monastics introduce themselves to us non-members using their pre-monastic names. So it is difficult for me to follow some of the discussion concerning Vishwananda. Is he some I know or is he higher up and not allowed to interact with people like me. So does anyone know his "other" name? Thanks.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to respond and for the information concerning the SRF and its leadership. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to each of you.

Lobo
Registered User
(1/31/03 10:34 pm)
Reply 		Re: Layoff Reason
Dear Neighbor,

It took some research but Brother Vishwananda's "other" name is, Ronald L. Eisely.

I am grateful to you for writing about your efforts to find out what the neighbors who met him thought about Yogananda. Some people have said on this board that many neighbors viewed him much differently, so again, it was refreshing to have your "research" confirm what most of us already knew, notwithstanding the fact that many of us, like you, never met him.

It is sad that the neighbors on Mt. Washington are still kind of feeling bad about what SRF tried to do to you and your neighborhood, and the apparent hardball tactics that they decided were appropriate to meet your easily understood opposition. As a SRF member who loves Mt. Washington and who visits the headquarters there often I never wanted that plan to be approved, feeling that it would not only destroy the wonderful ambience that exists on Mt. Washington, but perhaps more important (at least to me) it would have destroyed the ashram as it was left by its founder, and as it is loved by SRF member's worldwide. That would have been particularly egregious had it passed; for today, as everyday since his demise, one can visit and walk through the grounds and buildings whilst enjoying the peaceful serene atmosphere created by this little man from India, many years ago.

crogman1
Registered User
(2/1/03 5:46 am)
Reply 		Who are these guys?
Vishwananda is a good man for the most part. People who meet him will find him quiet and kind. His problem is that he was very strongly drawn to Yogananda and determined to devote his life to Yogananda’s service. He happened on an organization run by the bad ladies and has not been able to figure out the loyalty issues. The bad ladies running the place take advantage of people like him to get their work done. Inside himself he knows things are not right but feels loyalty is the highest law (a constant chant by the cult leading bad ladies). His loyalty problem will cause him a great deal of mental problems as he continues to be pulled in several directions.

Mr. Shaeffer is in the same situation. A good man confused by the loyalty issue. SRF did lie on several occasions to the community and he was a public mouth piece. I am sure he feels bad about it. From what I have seen he is a man of high character if you separate him from his role as protector of the bad ladies.

We all hope they both find a good outlet to serve their guru soon.

crogman1
Registered User
(2/1/03 5:58 am)
Reply 		Re: Who are these guys?
I want to point out a different between good loyalty to bad people and selfish loyalty to bad people. Monastics like Satyananda and Bni. Jill/Sr. Preeti are very loyal, but for reasons of attaining power, authority and stroking their own egos. Even the bad ladies can see this and use them but keep them down. Insiders have seen situations time after time where someone with ego based loyalty rises up through the ranks or gets involved in a major project only to be trashed by the bad ladies when they get too much power. It is a sport for insiders to watch.

There are others like Vishwananda and Mr. Shaeffer who come at loyalty and service to the bad ladies from the more spiritual side of loyalty. The impact on them is still terrible since they are pulled in troubling directions and involved in disappointing actions, but if they can pull away before too much physiological damage is done they can survive. At their passing, when they meet Master, he will say, “You couldn’t tell that was not me?”. Don’t put them into the same group as the power and ego loyalty group.

soulcircle
Registered User
(2/1/03 2:04 pm)
Reply 		a touchy issue in the same setting
All,

In some posting I laid out chapters of what I am going to write about Nov. '96 and Vishvu/Vishnu (spelling) and Satya.
It was the three of us at one point in the library at 3880 san rafael for a little longer than an hour, It was as Vishvu was becoming director, and as we know now headed eventually for his present assignment/mischief. It was THE week of Jim Rapp's (Brother Arjunanada's departure).

To portray this enlightening (at least for me) story, I am soon going to call on a few of you better writers to help/coach me in the writing of this.

The time has come for this first hand story to be aired and discussed with some compassion, questioning, grieving, celebration of freedom, insight and revelation.

There are several of the deepest concerns expressed on this board that weave through this experience in '96

The experience of a man and woman living together since '75, married since '79.
A man and woman goin years back.
My wife and I.
She grew up in the 50's and 60's with yogananda being read to her as a small child and through childhood, the autobiography given to her in high school. She is still deeply an active, contributing, loving and serving member in the richmond community a few blocks from the temple [we have lived this close for 23 years]
I received the lessons back in '70
our daughter born in '89, went to her first convocation in '90, before she had her first birthday
she walked for the first time on the carpet of one of the floors in the westin
as a two year old she sat in faye wright's lap and when asked how old she was, actually responded, "Two."
she attended 10 convocations, all seven days each year, before she was 10
our hands, money, health, heads and hearts and souls were in anything we could serve at, including the renovation of the richmond temple


~~~~~~one story
the architect who went on to do the lake shrine construction is a richmond temple devotee
he had been given a one time sum for a few months after years of donated labor as both architect and constrution crew boss at richmond's renovation, but when this story happened, he was again volunteering at richmond
i laid out the need on late summer/early fall to srf [Miles]that srf had to bring him on payroll full-time [their communicaton with him had missed a beat]
he was brought on payroll full-time for years [through end of richmond and lake shrine]
i had the pleasure of telliing him the news first that he was getting the position
and the stories go on and on and on

i did very little in someways, i have always been inspired by Ed and Kamala and wanted to play some small part in continuing what Ed and Kamala began here in the bay area in '49

my wife did more and continues too

so when it crashed down for me in the presence of vishvu and satya at 3880 san rafael in the library

~~~~~~~~~something had happened~~~~~~~~~~

[please those that know how things are moved, PLACE this post in Specific Stories, thank you]

soulcircle

l

Edited by: soulcircle at: 2/1/03 2:09:09 pm
Lobo
Registered User
(2/1/03 9:02 pm)
Reply 		Re: a touchy issue in the same setting
Soulcircle,

Wow that is a very touching post. I can feel the pain that your separation from the organization that you and your wife and beautiful baby daughter have given some much of your very selves too, and the ongoing struggle to understand where all this history fits together today. But truthfully I can't really know how much it hurts, as I was never anywhere near as close to the "movers and shakers" that you were.

I believe that Master knows and loves all that selflessness to further his vision of what the Lineage sent him over here to accomplish. That your service happened with, and near, his direct disciple, his Kamala, a householder (not a small thing at all for us householders in a monastic-dominated organization), is a blessedness that I feel has served you well in coming to grips with what must seem as a betrayal by those who run his organization today. She too suffered, I've heard, from a betrayal, for expressing her deep devotional love for her dear Guru-deva in book form; which I think has helped so many devotee's understand the relationship they shared, his true personality (fun-loving, friendly, enjoying the company of others, spending much time in nature enjoying the sun, sea, mountain); as well as the sweet caring he showered her with during her time of physical suffering. It stands alone as an uplifting testament written by a deeply realized being sharing the goodness with other devotee's and the world.

So coming from all that goodness, and now facing what you've hinted as being rejection, even being told to leave SRF, in light of your years of devotion and service is a bitter pill. The thought comes to me that maybe it is the Love of the Founder opening and broadening you, through this pain (seemingly now), to see the Totality of Whats Really Happening between you and he. In other words, it might be that SRF has done you a favor by showing you the door for you are now free to focus completely upon God, Guru, Ammachi, and the goodness that you impart, through your loving, devoted, attention and service, to your friend who is suffering physically.

Anyway I don't claim to have any insight into your situation (after just spending several paragraphs pretending I do). But from your posts and your open-heartedness and your hope and resolution expressed through your poetry on these pages I felt that it was important to add something now.

We are all brothers and sisters, here for a short while, searching and seeking, whilst all about, hidden well, the End of Suffering, beckons silent, but sure.

Best

KS
Registered User
(2/1/03 9:07 pm)
Reply 		Re: a touchy issue in the same setting
I am sorry but I don't understand the story. What happened in the library with Vish and Satyananda?

soulcircle
Registered User
(2/2/03 12:44 am)
Reply 		the story
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 ;)

soulcircle
Registered User
(2/2/03 12:51 am)
Reply 		thank you Lobo, you are amazing
WOW

chuckle chela
Registered User
(2/2/03 10:26 pm)
Reply 		Re: the story
Thanks for your post, soulcircle. I have to confess, though, that I still don't know what you're talking about. Is there any way you can re-write this is a less poetic fashion so that it will be a bit clearer for people like me who are a bit lost here?

For example, it's not clear why Vishwananda came up to the Richmond Temple. Was it just a regular visit, or did he come up for a very specific reason, or to deal with a certain problem (which seems likely)? If so, what was the problem?

You wrote: "vishwu got the whip out and said in front on 80 people, some audibly crying, NO." What does that mean? I don't have a clue.

You wrote: "he said he had spoken before coming up with faye twice he said faye wouldn't want this." What had Vishwananda talked with Daya Mata about? What was it that she wouldn't want?

Why were people sobbing? Why was there going to be efforts at healing? What was the problem or problems? Did it have something to do with Arjunananda being kicked out of the ashram, and was he your temple minister at the time?

Why did you set up a circle in the Sunday school room? I presume you guys were trying to resolve/work through/discuss a problem or problems? Were you trying to understand Arjuananda's departure or was something larger involved?

Then, in the library at Mother Center, with you, Bro. Satyananda and Bro. Vishwananda: what happened there? It's not clear at all, except that it seems Vishwananda appeared to take back some things he might have said at the temple, perhaps under the sway of Satyananda. It sounds as though you wanted a monastic to come back to Richmond the next week to continue the "healing," but they couldn't/wouldn't agree to this, although Satyananda was scheduled to come the next week to lead services.

In this post and in others where you've described these incidents before, you seem to indicate that the healing efforts you guys made up at Richmond somehow laid the groundwork for the spiritual life committees in the ashram. Can you say anything more about this? What makes you think this was the case?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but there's just too much I can't understand. If you or someone else can shed a little light on all of this, I'd be much obliged. Thanks for your efforts to clarify.




soulcircle
Registered User
(2/3/03 2:00 am)
Reply 		i yield to others
All,

no response from me to chela2020's post
i read only a small part of it

i am able to avoid arguing sometimes
the posts that i write probably aren't written for chela2020

sometimes i still wonder why she posted a nice poem recently, only to see that it disappeared shortly after being posted

back to matters at hand

vishnu also set a poor example as a member of the board of directors, as a yogi

he came up in nov '96 and lied to the folk at richmond temple,
saying that brother arjunanda had taken a leave of absence

instead of saying that for reasons of a rather personal nature he had to leave, and that also his departure was also in the interests of the organization

some learned years later that he was involved with a woman while he was a monk

circle

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