Hindus: Swami Vishwananda criticism and controversy?

[Sirona]

I have started a Vishwananda thread before, but I wasn't satisfied with the results. So, I'm trying again. Next Saturday, there will be the Swami Vishwananda darshan im my region, and I really feel torn between attending and not attending it. So I literally "browsed" the internet for background information. Information is sparse and hard to find, but because I haven't yet made up my mind to go to to the darshan, I decided to put my findings here from memory. I leave it to someone else to verify whether they are true or not. In detail, I found claims/allegations

• that Swami Vishwananda allegedly is gay (which is okay) and marched on the 2007 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade (which is okay) and that he allegedly had sexual relations with 16 brahmacharis who partly felt "abused", "raped" or like "having received special treatment from the master" due to the dynamics of the master-disciple relationship (which is definitely NOT okay)
• that Swami Vishwananda allegedly left the U.S. because of those allegations of sexual misconduct, and is now active in Europe (his HQ is in Germany) because in Europe those allegations are much less known
• that S. V. allegedly stole relics from a church in Switzerland disguised as an Eastern Orthodox priest, that he allegedly was convicted and was allegedly in a jail in Switzerland
• that S.V. allegedly has no guru-disciple lineage from Mahavatar Babaji, who according to opinions on Wikipedia is "a legendary person, rather than a real sadhu that was seen by numerous witnesses from 1861 to 1935."
• That S.V. rather is a disciple of Sai Baba (1926–2011), that he uses the same "alll religions are one" approach Sai Baba did.
• That S.V.'s miracles of "materializing" golden eggs (lingams) and jewellery are in fact sleights of hand S.V. had learned from Sai Baba, who used the same tricks during his lifetime
• That S.V. in his youth allegedly went to Sai Baba centers and later allegedly tried to convert Sai Baba disciples to himself.
• That S.V. allegedly separated couples in his ashram in order to tie them closer to himself
• That S.V. allegedly is a con-man, that his happy face is a façade, that in private he is prone to things like whims and anger (okay, the last part is just human, but anyway.)
• The usual cult survivor claim that S.V. wants ultimate surrender and that he is into squeezing his disciples dry for money
• The claim that a "genuine" guru wouldn't demand money for darshan as S.V. does and that the practice of doing so would help to discern a con-man from a "true" master (Well, this part I don't know because I wasn't born as a Hindu)

My two cents:

From the darshans I have seen on Youtube, I subjectively feel that S.V. uses the gods and Mahavatar Babaji as "decoration", that the "real god" in fact is he himself.
Okay, I think I did my homework. Maybe nobody needs these notes but me, but I'll post them here for the potential benefit of others.
Maybe it would be easier if Swami Vishwananda was ugly. Maybe I'm just falling for that pretty face.

 

[SomeRandom]

Well the last one is legit. A Guru should never ask for money. Donations for a local charity maybe, or donations freely given for like restorations to the property or something like that, but no Guru charges disciples for anything. That is greed and giving into earthly desires. Why would a master need such things?
People can do what they want with their own money however.
I cannot comment one way or another about the other allegations.

 

[Sirona]

Thanks for your comment!

 

[Sharmaji]

His ashram is an hour away from where I live and believe me it’s mostly people with no background in Hinduism who attend his gatherings. They’re super strict about clothing rules and stress a lot upon having enough money for Darshan and Dan which to me is outrageous. The whole ashram is situated on a quiet little countryside and I assume all that money is necessary to maintain it.

 

[The Great Wanderer]

His ashram is an hour away from where I live and believe me it’s mostly people with no background in Hinduism who attend his gatherings. They’re super strict about clothing rules and stress a lot upon having enough money for Darshan and Dan which to me is outrageous. The whole ashram is situated on a quiet little countryside and I assume all that money is necessary to maintain it.

I don't know why such a thing is made about for clothes. I mean if we really want to practice Hinduism in proper form, look at my profile pic. Clothing rules - no one can wear a short - seriously? I've been to one Sadhugru foundation practice, and shoes were frowned upon. I mean it was the Asian Intellectuals of the 20th century studying in London and Paris abandoned their traditional ideology and accepted Western clothing, ideology and thought. I should be wearing a Rishi's clothes if that makes sense.

 

[Sharmaji]

I don't know why such a thing is made about for clothes. I mean if we really want to practice Hinduism in proper form, look at my profile pic. Clothing rules - no one can wear a short - seriously? I've been to one Sadhugru foundation practice, and shoes were frowned upon. I mean it was the Asian Intellectuals of the 20th century studying in London and Paris abandoned their traditional ideology and accepted Western clothing, ideology and thought. I should be wearing a Rishi's clothes if that makes sense.

Hinduism doesn’t have any clothing rules as far as I’m concerned though I read several times loose clothing was preferred as it made you feel more relaxed and therefore easier to be self aware.

 

[The Great Wanderer]

Hinduism doesn’t have any clothing rules as far as I’m concerned though I read several times loose clothing was preferred as it made you feel more relaxed and therefore easier to be self aware.

Exactly!

 

[Sirona]

In the meantime, I read one of his books, Just Love 3, and I must say I found it quite pressurizing. It's all about "If you want to see God, you must really really want it", and "Just Love". The first statement generates pressure and and the second is nonsense. Either you do love someone/something or you don't. You can't force yourself to love. I think Vishwananda may be a spoiled individual who during his life may have been receiving a lot of "love" and admiration because of his charisma. I also noted him making no references to classical Hindu texts in said book.

I also watched several videos of him, one was entitled "Being Strong Within Oneself". In this video he essentially said to break away from one's family if they criticize you for your affiliation to him and to surrender to him instead. I don't think this is a sign of "being strong within oneself" but in fact, the very opposite, as it is quite manipulative.

 

[Vinayaka]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to see auras, and interpret the colours? The frauds would be so obvious then. That said, i still think some swamis have gotten a bad rap from some crazy followers seeking revenge. So it's hard to tell, and there is a range of stuff.

 

[Francesco Pietra]

Hello everyone,

I can confirm what truth12 has written, similar things have happened to me as well. Vishwananda is a homosexual guru who is seducing male Brahmacharis. The problem of these boys/ monks is, they are controlled energetically by Vishwananada and would not speak up.

This is still happening in 2018, 10 years after many hundreds of Brahmacharis (this includes some Swamis) have left Vishwananda because of his homosexuality and abuse of them. Please have a read through this article and be cautious with gurus as such!

Review a guru

 

[truthcity]

I have one problem with what you have said - in 2008 Swami Vishwananda was still relatively unknown - there is no way that he had 'hundreds of Brahmacaris' following him, I have seen as many as 800 Brahmacaris being spoken of in other articles and 600 in your 'review a guru' article. In 2006 he could hardly fill a decent sized hall and if the video of his 2014 visit to the Uk is anything to go by he could hardly fill a hall at all and people were coming in off the street to fill the seats. Even now in 2018 I doubt he has attracted such large numbers of Brahmacaris to follow him. To me this sounds like disinformation. These are serious claims that people are making and if they are to be believed they need to be backed up by sound facts rather than hearsay so that we all know where we stand.

 

[Vinayaka]

I have one problem with what you have said - in 2008 Swami Vishwananda was still relatively unknown - there is no way that he had 'hundreds of Brahmacaris' following him, I have seen as many as 800 Brahmacaris being spoken of in other articles and 600 in your 'review a guru' article. In 2006 he could hardly fill a decent sized hall and if the video of his 2014 visit to the Uk is anything to go by he could hardly fill a hall at all and people were coming in off the street to fill the seats. Even now in 2018 I doubt he has attracted such large numbers of Brahmacaris to follow him. To me this sounds like disinformation. These are serious claims that people are making and if they are to be believed they need to be backed up by sound facts rather than hearsay so that we all know where we stand.

You're right. Many swami groups, religions, churches, and other religious organisations of all varieties exaggerate their claims. We need to always dig a little deeper and change that optimism or pessimism into realism.

The reason exaggeration takes place is insecurity. Boasting reeks of insecurity. Fortunately. lots of us aren't buying the snake-oil claims.

 

[truthcity]

That is a very interesting observation. From the human/emotional perspective I find something very formulaic about some of these accounts. If this Swami had betrayed and abused as many spiritually vulnerable people as they say he has he would be dead by now because one or other of these 'ex-lovers' would surely have murdered him. Passions and jealousies run high in these kinds of highly charged emotional situations. When people get attached to a guru in an spiritual/emotional way, they will do anything to secure his favours once they think those favours have been granted. Open the floodgates in that way and you've got yourself a tsunami. Truly he would be dead by now if he had really done what they say he has.

 

[Vinayaka]

That is a very interesting observation. From the human/emotional perspective I find something very formulaic about some of these accounts. If this Swami had betrayed and abused as many spiritually vulnerable people as they say he has he would be dead by now because one or other of these 'ex-lovers' would surely have murdered him. Passions and jealousies run high in these kinds of highly charged emotional situations. When people get attached to a guru in an spiritual/emotional way, they will do anything to secure his favours once they think those favours have been granted. Open the floodgates in that way and you've got yourself a tsunami. Truly he would be dead by now if he had really done what they say he has.

I prefer an externally not so dynamic Guru for this very purpose. Far too many people get attached to a personality, rather than the Tiruvadi, and what that (the realised Divinity) represents. Tougher for those looking for a replacement prophet figure.

 

[truthcity]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to see auras, and interpret the colours? The frauds would be so obvious then. That said, i still think some swamis have gotten a bad rap from some crazy followers seeking revenge. So it's hard to tell, and there is a range of stuff.

You're right. Many swami groups, religions, churches, and other religious organisations of all varieties exaggerate their claims. We need to always dig a little deeper and change that optimism or pessimism into realism.

The reason exaggeration takes place is insecurity. Boasting reeks of insecurity. Fortunatel. lots of us aren't buying the snake-oil claims.

The other thing that comes to mind is that up until recently Swami Vishwananda was travelling everywhere giving teachings and darshans, a truly exhausting schedule over a number of years. So we are forced to the conclusion that he is teaching people all day and seducing people all night. Is this really credible? If someone is living at the low level of vibration that people are suggesting he would not be able to maintain the high level of atunement that he obviously has. Energetically it is not possible to do both, if what they say of him is true he would be evolving into some kind of hell being and would rapidly be losing his spiritual connection. This has not happened. The man works incredibly hard on behalf of others and as was said earlier it sounds more like disgruntled ex-devotees trying to discredit him. I have also noticed that all the 'gossip' seems to be coming from just one or two sources and as said earlier, a lot of it sounds formulaic.

 

[truthcity]

I prefer an externally not so dynamic Guru for this very purpose. Far too many people get attached to a personality, rather than the Tiruvadi, and what that (the realised Divinity) represents. Tougher for those looking for a replacement prophet figure.

I think what happens is that people look at these teachers and think, quite mistakenly, that there is some glamour there that they can relate to and use to adorn themselves. Have you ever heard of the phrase 'pet guru'? Many people are deluded into thinking they are seeking spirituality and doing spiritual practice but in reality they chose to do it as a kind of hobby or self-indulgence which is something else.

 

[truthcity]

I don't know why such a thing is made about for clothes. I mean if we really want to practice Hinduism in proper form, look at my profile pic. Clothing rules - no one can wear a short - seriously? I've been to one Sadhugru foundation practice, and shoes were frowned upon. I mean it was the Asian Intellectuals of the 20th century studying in London and Paris abandoned their traditional ideology and accepted Western clothing, ideology and thought. I should be wearing a Rishi's clothes if that makes sense.

I have read some of the 'instructions' from Bhakti Marga about clothing when a friend of mine went on one of their pilgrimages - I was offended not only by what they said but by the way it was said. They sounded like a bunch of Nazis. While accepting that a modicum of decency and respect goes with the territory my feeling is that what I choose to wear is my business. The absurdity of not being able to wear bright colours and having to keep ones head covered beggars belief. However, what you have to realise is that Bhakti Marga is a law unto itself and seems to see itself as being totally separate and outside the Guru's jurisdiction. They make the rules, not Vishwananda. For reasons of his own he chooses not to rein them in. Personally I think they are dangerous because at times they seem out of control. I thought it was very telling that in the BM shop they differentiate between SV publications and BM publications, I can't see why they would have the need to do that. You also see some devotees getting pushed around and even SV has talked about this. You notice in some darshans that the over-officious stewardesses cannot stop putting their hands on people to move ppl forward when it really is not necessary, looking ridiculous in matching blue saris and commercial name tags - in the circumstances truly unspeakable! You never put your hands on someone like that and definitely not at a darshan.

 

[truthcity]

In the meantime, I read one of his books, Just Love 3, and I must say I found it quite pressurizing. It's all about "If you want to see God, you must really really want it", and "Just Love". The first statement generates pressure and and the second is nonsense. Either you do love someone/something or you don't. You can't force yourself to love. I think Vishwananda may be a spoiled individual who during his life may have been receiving a lot of "love" and admiration because of his charisma. I also noted him making no references to classical Hindu texts in said book.

I also watched several videos of him, one was entitled "Being Strong Within Oneself". In this video he essentially said to break away from one's family if they criticize you for your affiliation to him and to surrender to him instead. I don't think this is a sign of "being strong within oneself" but in fact, the very opposite, as it is quite manipulative.

You have to realise that these books, apparently by SV, are actually verbatim transcriptions of his talks by so-called 'devotees', they have not been edited or authorised by him because BM 'devotees' do not work like that. Therefore you cannot ascribe much credibility to them. Anyone who knows about publishing is well aware that the spoken word comes across very differently to the written word and that informal talks delivered to a specific group of people at a certain time and place, when transcribed word for word, rarely come across well. They need to be edited and reworked to make them suitable for the general public and would-be devotees to read in their own environment with additions and subtractions made where required. Similarly with the YouTube videos. My understanding is that for the most part these are excerpts from much longer talks aimed at a specific audience of followers which have not been authorised for release to the public so it is easy to get the wrong impression. The teacher may need to talk to a group in a certain way to make a certain point which may not be relevant to you personally as you are not part of that group. A really good teacher knows the group both collectively and as individuals and will know exactly what he wants and needs to say to them. If you and others were part of that group at that time he may well have modified what he said to suit your needs as well or even delivered a totally different talk. We live in a relative world!

 

[truthcity]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to see auras, and interpret the colours? The frauds would be so obvious then. That said, i still think some swamis have gotten a bad rap from some crazy followers seeking revenge. So it's hard to tell, and there is a range of stuff.

I lived there at the Ashram, Shree Peetha Nilaya for some time. I was in the organization completely. from my experience I realized the truth about the organization's foundation, which is bound to collapse. I would like to post my blog for further information and also confirms his sexual behavior. if any others want to join/share their personal stories and report to an investigational journalist or the local German police, please email me:
[email protected]
here is my blog link:
bhaktimargadown

Truth12, why have you got 2 accounts of experiences with Vishwananda, apparently by 2 different people, but repeating the same 'experience' paragraph word for word. As it happens I am just about to speak with 2 Bhakti Marga teachers and I will ask them if initiation includes being branded on both shoulders. I also do not find this a credible account of a sexual experience with one's guru or with anyone really, it sounds like a fantasy rather than actual fact. Whatever the case it sounds as though it was consensual in which case what is the author complaining about? That he regrets a mistake or that it didn't happen again?

 

[Vinayaka]

The other thing that comes to mind is that up until recently Swami Vishwananda was travelling everywhere giving teachings and darshans, a truly exhausting schedule over a number of years. So we are forced to the conclusion that he is teaching people all day and seducing people all night. Is this really credible? If someone is living at the low level of vibration that people are suggesting he would not be able to maintain the high level of atunement that he obviously has. Energetically it is not possible to do both, if what they say of him is true he would be evolving into some kind of hell being and would rapidly be losing his spiritual connection. This has not happened. The man works incredibly hard on behalf of others and as was said earlier it sounds more like disgruntled ex-devotees trying to discredit him. I have also noticed that all the 'gossip' seems to be coming from just one or two sources and as said earlier, a lot of it sounds formulaic.

I can only speak in generalities of all swamis, not specifics. Before this thread, I'd never heard of this Guru. Good to keep an open mind all around.