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Master Path - Gary Olsen

Zeeker

Truth Seeker
List of responsibilities for the “ Area Supervisor”
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3. The supervisors will help all those who are struggling with finding a new seeker. If a new chela is having difficulty in talking to someone, the supervisor should be contacted. Either the supervisor or somebody they recommend, can talk to the new seeker on behalf of the new chela. Eventually this new chela with this help, will be able to do it for himself. This will be invaluable. Also, if a new chela can’t find a new seeker, then the supervisor will find an extra new seeker, and line this new seeker up with the chela who initially could not find one. If there is a chela with some personal problems, like feeling inadequate about channeling, the supervisor will line up a new seeker, and instruct and guide the new chela in the proper ways of channeling. This will slowly but effectively, build up the new chela’s confidence, and put into motion this One on One, bringing ultimately, everything that the new chela needs. If there was no one to help the new chela to understand one on one, then this would not be fair.
4. The supervisor will be acting according to my wishes. If they handle something incorrectly, or to coarsely, they have me to deal with. This supervisor position is one of love, caring, help and assistance. It will be a big job and be completely separate from satsangs, or the like. I expect each supervisor to hold regular meetings with ALL chelas individually, keeping an account on each chela and his/ her results concerning new seekers.
5. ..................

:yes: A revealing post by SoulPatriot. Thank you.

I was initially under the impression that MasterPath was everything about working on yourself, with a discourse and tape in hand, in the private sanctum of your bedroom (or such) with the virtual emissary: garji. It is becoming apparent that it is much more of a social discourse, interactions with other members, which explains much better to me how one can be led to become “involved”.

I will reflect on my stint of living with the Moonies: I was invited to a “seekers” meeting in WashingtonDC, which was a presentation program. To persuade those who came, after having been approached in the street, to attend a camp retreat and learn about all the great wonderful things that will give a whole new meaning to life etc. etc. At the end of the meeting I paid for my stay at the weekend camp and was shuttled away in the middle of the night with 4 others to an out-of-season summer camp in the wooded backblocks of West Virginia, more than a 100 miles away. Ten days later I managed to get through to them that I wanted to leave, after having already accepted two requests to extend my stay. I had to put up with a barrage of discussion, for two days, with just about everyone at the camp (40-50 participants), before a return shuttle van became available. I can only add: I was never physically forced to do anything against my own free will.

Leaving the Moony camp was actually the easy part. The hard part was not to go back. Over the following weeks and months I was continually haunted by longing to go back to stay (I knew they were all praying for me). I do have good memories of my time there. How uplifting the singing inspirational pop songs can become, and how cold and distant everyone else in our everyday society is in comparison, after you’ve encountered such a place. I still sign my letters with “love” in front of my name because of my experience in there. However, it was not the place I wanted to be. My freedom was far too precious! Looking back, I made absolutely the right decisions for myself during that time. No regrets!

I did attend a second “seekers” meeting, at the same venue, about a week after leaving the camp. That helped me see things more clearly. I now recognized a lot of the people there, who were the active members I knew from the retreat. I noticed that each of them was there with a partner: a new prospective recruit they would try to convince to accompany them back to the camp by the end of the meeting. That a “buddy system” was a part of the process, leading the potential convert into membership. The whole atmosphere at these meeting was overly friendly, giving the impression everything there is so joyous and fulfilling: to entice the visitors present to look into things further. “Love-bombing” is the word. There was a slide show presentation, as part of the evening’s proceedings. One of the slides had been placed in the projector upside-down, which brought a commentary from the presenter about it being an accident followed by a remark that brought a chorus of laughter from the audience. Seeing this done with the exact same slide for a second time made me realize that it was no accident at all, but a pre-meditated (okay, pre-contemplated) act. Next I began to notice how the audience laughed at the same points in the commentary I had heard before, right on queue. I started to see that the whole meeting was an orchestrated program designed to “seduce” any newcomer into accepting the message given, and want to join in. That it was all a plot of working to a predisposed agenda with the established members being actively instrumental in the process of converting “outsiders” into the group.

From SoulPatriot’s post, it is apparent that in MasterPath there is a whole “Regime” of chela recruitment and supervision in place. That the “one-on-one” extends into a “buddy system” where chelas are asked (expected) to bring a new seeker to join them at each of the various meetings they attend over the West during the year, acting as their personal chaperone.

:confused: More questions: Who becomes an Area Supervisor? Is a certain initiation level a requirement? Will a Supervisor outrank (in terms of initiation level) those he supervises, and will their rank determines how many chelas they can be responsible for? Hence, there is a “chain-of-command” hierarchy is in place, just like in the military? How is a chela’s initiation level known: word of mouth, designated on a lookup “register” somewhere, recognize it by the colors in a chela’s “aura” or such, garji tells you? In the Moonies the member who brings you to the fold is regarded as you god-parent: the one you owe for showing you to your salvation. Does a chela gain progress steps towards their next initiation with every new convert they bring to MasterPath? What is meant by Channeling; a chela consciously allowing garji to direct their decisions?

Also reminds me of Scientology where you have the more trusted (and more deeply “hypnotized”) “higher-ups” feeling more important and taking on more responsibility to direct those below them. So that the “figurehead” has the time to effectively take on his ordained tasks (in the counting house and on the putting green?).
 

Fandango

Member
It all makes sense from an organizational structure...after all Gary was in the military at one point, was he not?

Just another variation on the ol' pyramid scheme, really.
 
Greetings to Everyone. I'm another "refugee" who is here to join in with the discussion and learn about MasterPath.

I gather that the MP idea of lifetimes is along the same lines as those of Hindus and Buddhists: that we are caught up in a cyclic existence of human reincarnation in order to progress on our individual course of evolving perfection etc.

Yes, it's called the Wheel of 84. Not original to MasterPath, since the foundation of MasterPath was 'borrowed' (plagiarized) from Radha Soami and Eckankar (and Twitchell plagiarized Radha). Seems Gary followed his predecessors footsteps.

What happens: Does a chela search out Gary once again upon the termination of their present life? Do they carry on from where they left off this time round, at their last attained level of initiation? What happens when Gary is superseded by a successor: will everybody (past and present) have to worship the new contemporary Living Master, or are those previous bound to Gary because of their vows to Him? How will you recognize “The Master” in your future incarnations (I gather that the soul will experience birth, and everything else in life, and occupy a physical, but unrecognizably different body)? Are these lifetimes restricted to planet Earth, the rest of the universe being out-of-bounds? I gather god-realization means receiving the 12th Initiation. What becomes of the chela when they have reached their destination of god-realization? Are such questions at all considered, or is the chela relegated to undertake a raft of other tasks and is predisposed to circumvent any forethought to what the answers may uncover?

In thinking about your questions, I racked my brain trying to recall any wisdom-filled, profound, or definitive articulation by Gary regarding a chela's prospective lifetimes. Nada.

IMNSHO, the audible word of Gary Olsen is nothing more than a relaying of information inflated by the billows of a messianic complex. Of course, his 'chelas' swoon in ecstatic joy that they are in the Presence of the Lord God.

Rational thought, critical thinking, and questions are shunned as negative activities of the mind.

yes, he teaches that the 'soul' will search out the 'master' in future lifetimes.

"the master" is recognized on the 'inner' because he looks exactly the same as he does on the 'outer.' :thud:

yes, he says that the student will pick up where they left off... of course, he is utterly clueless about the innermost being of anyone! That's what many of us who have left MP realize... the man is a C+ movie actor, but not a Saint or Sat Guru. Of course, in today's world I guess playing the 'great guru' is a messianic dream for ex-Eckankar initiates....real life imitating bad art.

Yes, he says the student should always stay with the 'master that initiated them.' It begs the question: why didn't he stay with Darwin Gross.

I used to ask him why he would tell students to stay with the guru if the guru was false. And if the guru was false, how could the initiation be true? He never answered the question, and in the end, became visibly annoyed by and demeaning of the innocence of the question.

I do not honor the initiation by Gary Olsen/MasterPath. It's nothing more than a ritual and ceremony much like water on the forehead. It means nothing.

My personal opinion is that MP is just another cheap version of thousands of man-made religions selling faith to those willing to buy it.
 
One of the very first things that I remember being taught and trained to think on the MP is: no questions. Gary teaches that questions are a form of death, and a product of the mind. The mind is the enemy on MP. It is the agent for Kal, the negative overlord of the lower worlds (equivalent to Satan in Christianity).

In the beginning years he would also tell us not to read any materials outside of MasterPath works....since we did not have the 'discrimination' to perceive the 'Truth' between the lines. :rolleyes:
 
yes, he teaches that the 'soul' will search out the 'master' in future lifetimes.

"the master" is recognized on the 'inner' because he looks exactly the same as he does on the 'outer.' :thud:

yes, he says that the student will pick up where they left off... of course, he is utterly clueless about the innermost being of anyone! That's what many of us who have left MP realize... the man is a C+ movie actor, but not a Saint or Sat Guru. Of course, in today's world I guess playing the 'great guru' is a messianic dream for ex-Eckankar initiates....real life imitating bad art.

Yes, he says the student should always stay with the 'master that initiated them.' It begs the question: why didn't he stay with Darwin Gross.

I used to ask him why he would tell students to stay with the guru if the guru was false. And if the guru was false, how could the initiation be true? He never answered the question, and in the end, became visibly annoyed by and demeaning of the innocence of the question.

The logistics of this eternal master/chela connection were probably not explained articulately by Gary either, but I'm curious. I understand that when souls get reincarnated after death, they will search out the "master" who initiated them. But then wouldn't these souls - in most cases - be searching out a "dead master"? :confused: I don't get it. Because according to Gary, isn't the problem with Jesus that he's dead and therefore he "can't help you"? Yet Gary himself will be dead when his chelas get to their next life...and he (in the form of Garji) will still be the one they're seeking?! :facepalm:

Even if the rationale is that once you're initiated by a true "master", you can then seek out your own personal "dead master" in future lives...that still wouldn't explain why dead Jesus can't help anybody. Jesus could very well have initiated many souls in their past lives, in which case he would never be useless to those whose souls were initiated by him. And how would one know for sure that he didn't? Particularly if they feel "drawn" to dead Jesus?

Or maybe Gary would just say that he'll be reincarnated into the next great "master" and not to worry because his chelas will find him in his new form that isn't Gary/Garji...and will no longer resemble Gary/Garji on the inner? And what about the overlap years? And why am I bothering to try and make sense of this anyway?!?! :help:

The mind would almost HAVE to be the enemy with Gary Olsen as the "master". That's the only way he could get away with not making any sense, not answering any questions, and being an all-around dick.
 
Even if the rationale is that once you're initiated by a true "master", you can then seek out your own personal "dead master" in future lives...that still wouldn't explain why dead Jesus can't help anybody. Jesus could very well have initiated many souls in their past lives, in which case he would never be useless to those whose souls were initiated by him. And how would one know for sure that he didn't? Particularly if they feel "drawn" to dead Jesus?

Common reference to why a dead master cannot help anybody in the MP books (which was lifted from Radha Soami writings) is that 'a dead mother cannot nurse a baby.' Likewise, a dead master cannot initiate the soul into the Sound Current (the Word, Tao, Logos, Audible Life Stream, etc.). Hence, the need and requirement to worship and surrender to a Living Master as opposed to an ascended master (Jesus). After all, the 'living guru' is the "one" who helps the student decipher the 'true teachings' as well as the Source of those 'teachings.'

Gary and his most devoted servants see him as the 'historical' master, and Garji (Gary's inner twin) as the eternal master. So, the rationale is that though the physical forms change over time, the essence remains the same throughout eternity.

yea, it's all a bunch of tripe. If his students actually studied the historical genesis of their self-proclaimed master and the origin of the outer teachings, including Eckankar and Radha Soami, perhaps they would see the 'real truth that is not taught but caught!'

A number of Gary's 'devotees' are ex-students of MSIA, Eckankar, and Radha. Now that I am free of the elitist MP indoctrination membership program, I do not understand how a person can realize a guru is false and then seek to replace him/her with another version of the same nonsense. :shrug:
 
I came across this on Sarlo's Guru Ratings, and thought it would provide an interesting purview into a 'chela's' thought process and rationale on the MP.
Note: I've taken the liberty to bold particular sentences.

More on Sri Gary Olsen

I’m a student of Sri Gary Olson, and I’d like to address your evaluation. The introductory information on the Master Path web site would not entice me either, but what can you say on an introductory site? It must address the mind and the mind is not the issue. When I became a student, the introductory material was in the form of a little booklet, and it too said very little. What could be said? For me, I simply knew this man had a spiritual power and that his teaching could benefit me. I have been his student for fifteen years now, and the balance he maintains between the contradictory need for our own effort and for our surrender and acceptance of divine aid is pitch perfect. The same balance is maintained between his own modesty and his understanding that he represents transformative power.

As for plagiarism, yes there is plagiarism. He doesn’t deny it. His plagiarism doesn’t bother me as much as Martin Luther King’s did, for King’s occurred in an academic setting, where the rules against plagiarism represent the essence of the activity, of that kind of research. Yet MLK was the greatest public figure of the last century and did more to evolve the collective consciousness than any one else. In the realm of spiritual truth, where the individual consciousness is the issue, the game is different. Sri Gary’s newer books open with an “acknowledgement” that shows he is sensitive to the charges and also reveals he doesn’t have a distinct understanding of, or is indifferent to, the academic standards for acknowledgement. Who owns the statement, “God is love?” I don’t recall where it occurs in the “Bible” but I am certain that the Bible is by far not the first occurrence of the statement and god help us if it is the last. Must the prophet in the field, in the moment of urgent delivery of his vision, pause and say, “Oh, yes, this was said before me by . . . .” You know better. It is not the essence of this kind of research. There are areas of teachings—Pythagorean, Christian, Sufi, Hindu, and, over the ages, many others--that the spiritual teacher had better “plagiarize” or at least had better repeat, for they contain enduring truth that out wears religion. A complete scholarship of these sources would be an enthralling human activity but it is not needed by a living representative.

Thanks for doing this website. It is of great interest. But you have, in my opinion, given your lowest rating to the greatest teacher.

~ DoDalDiddy

[Sarlo: The author of the above has added some further thoughts:]


On the issue of plagiarism and Sri Gary Olsen, I have come to doubt that any plagiarism has occurred.
A few former chelas have made the accusation but, I am thinking, the idea was planted back in Fargo, North Dakota, around 1990 when parents of some students brought in "deprogrammers." This was before I became a chela of Sri Gary's, but I have heard some accounts from both students of Sri Gary's and from those who have called MasterPath a cult. I heard that one of the "anti-cult experts" who came in made the statement that she was amazed that the Hare Krishna movement had not sued Master Path for plagiarism. From this I deduce that the majority of the claims of plagiarism comes from people who have no knowledge of terms from the Upanishads and Vedas. I am not at all familiar with literature of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness but I would be astonished if it does not include terms and concepts found in the ancient texts of Hinduism. How could it not? This would not be plagiarism on their part anymore than mention of "sin" or "grace" is plagiarism of Christian sources. I don't think it's possible that Gary Olsen learned of the gunas or the wheel of 84, for example, from the Hare Krishnas. Wherever he first heard these concepts, probably in Eckankar, such fundamental concepts cannot be copyrighted. The ultimate source is not some document, however old it may be. So a lot of the talk of plagiarism simply comes from people who first hear of ideas from Sri Gary and later learn that they are older than Sri Gary. As for me, I would be more wary of a teacher who came up whole cloth with a system that claims no truth ever came before him.

Rick Ross makes the statement, "Much of Olsen's writings were plagiarized from the earlier works of Eckankar founder Paul Twitchell." And again, "Gary Olsen essentially plagiarized his teachings/material from the writings of Paul Twitchell the founder of Eckankar--another group, which has been called a cult." I think it is true that Twitchell was one of Sri Gary's teachers. There is no question of plagiarism when a concept much older than Eckankar occurs in anyone's writings, including Gary Olsen's. Now, if an early MasterPath document was simply lifted from Paul Twitchell's work, with a few words changed here and there, and used as a teaching tool, that would be plagiarism. Show me that that happened and I will agree, this is plagiarism. If you can't do that, stop throwing the word around irresponsibly.

Even if this plagiarism exists, even if there is a MasterPath document somewhere put together for the early chelas from the exact words of Paul Twitchell, I would defend it. "Teachings" cannot be copyrighted or plagiarized. If a teaching represents the truth and it is formulated in an original way, then it is a well founded courtesy to name the source, under leisurely enough circumstances. But our need for truth is urgent, not leisurely. If anyone be speaking or writing truth deep enough to transform us, her concern is surely not with recognition. "Materials," on the other hand, can be copyrighted and can be plagiarized. If Sri Gary did plagiarize Paul Twitchell or anyone else in an effort to get his teaching up and running, good for him.
~ DoDalDiddy


Yes, the rules of ethics are certainly different in the imaginary spiritual realms of MP versus the academic field.
 
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Common reference to why a dead master cannot help anybody in the MP books (which was lifted from Radha Soami writings) is that 'a dead mother cannot nurse a baby.' Likewise, a dead master cannot initiate the soul into the Sound Current (the Word, Tao, Logos, Audible Life Stream, etc.). Hence, the need and requirement to worship and surrender to a Living Master as opposed to an ascended master (Jesus). After all, the 'living guru' is the "one" who helps the student decipher the 'true teachings' as well as the Source of those 'teachings.'

Gary and his most devoted servants see him as the 'historical' master, and Garji (Gary's inner twin) as the eternal master. So, the rationale is that though the physical forms change over time, the essence remains the same throughout eternity.

yea, it's all a bunch of tripe. If his students actually studied the historical genesis of their self-proclaimed master and the origin of the outer teachings, including Eckankar and Radha Soami, perhaps they would see the 'real truth that is not taught but caught!'

A number of Gary's 'devotees' are ex-students of MSIA, Eckankar, and Radha. Now that I am free of the elitist MP indoctrination membership program, I do not understand how a person can realize a guru is false and then seek to replace him/her with another version of the same nonsense. :shrug:

Thank you for your thoughtful explanation, e_o_f. :) So it seems in the MP chela's next life, Gary Olsen/Garji will be a non-factor, since some other person will be the "master" of the same essence... and will re-initiate them again I assume. I wonder how the "master" in the next life will know that Chela "A" was a 4th initiate and Chela "B" was a 9th initiate of "Sri" Gary Olsen? Similarly, did Gary recognize any of his current chelas as 4th initiates in their past lives, thus starting them off as a 4th in MP? Whatever the case, these bogus initiate levels seem awfully contrived to me, for that reason and many others.

The chela who posted on Sarlo's Guru Ratings sounds like some of the chelas we dealt with on the City-Data MasterPath thread. There's always a twisted (and sometimes desperate) rationale for explaining away their "guru's" behaviors and inconsistencies. :areyoucra Detailed examples of Gary Olsen's plagiarism can be found online in Andrea Diem Lane's book "The Guru In America - The Influence of Radha Soami on New Religions" - Chapter 5. There's a place to read it online for free, but I'm too new to this forum to post a link.

The blatant plagiarism found in Gary Olsen's earliest "works" is just another indicator of what a fraud he is, in my opinion. A "master" would not have presented those materials as his own of course. Maybe Gary figured his chelas wouldn't know any better...especially if he could convince them not to read anything except his materials. It seems clear he did not foresee the existence of the internet. "WOOPS!" ;)
 
So it seems in the MP chela's next life, Gary Olsen/Garji will be a non-factor, since some other person will be the "master" of the same essence... and will re-initiate them again I assume. I wonder how the "master" in the next life will know that Chela "A" was a 4th initiate and Chela "B" was a 9th initiate of "Sri" Gary Olsen? Similarly, did Gary recognize any of his current chelas as 4th initiates in their past lives, thus starting them off as a 4th in MP? Whatever the case, these bogus initiate levels seem awfully contrived to me, for that reason and many others.

Yup, the entire concept makes a person wonder why droves of RSSB initiates aren't defecting and running to receive initiation by the reincarnated Sawan Singh in the physical form of Gary Olsen, doesn't it? Or, why Christians aren't knocking on "the Word made Flesh" door for salvation and liberation. Or Buddhists or Hindus.

Gary doesn't recognize any current chelas from past lives. It is such a joke. Yes, I've seen him start his wife and Dennis as 9th initiates on MP. I've also seen him start a defector/ex-student from John-Roger as a 4th.

I couldn't agree more about the bogus initiate levels as being contrived. In fact, there's very little about MP that I consider authentic, except for the fact that it is a heaping pile of holy smoke and mirrors.
 
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Fandango

Member
It'd be great to see some screenshots of the MP 'chela website' for a better look at what goes on...I'm hopeful that some of the others will find this site and share (within what is legal, of course).

I'm hoping for an advertised 'seeker meeting' within an hour or so drive from where I live, so I can attend to stir it up....this area is ripe for the picking of spiritual seekers....I'd be proud to deny Tan Man a few souls if possible.
 

remembering you

New Member
"If Sri Gary did plagiarize Paul Twitchell or anyone else in an effort to get his teaching up and running, good for him."
~ DoDalDiddy

Really? So, it's okay to cheat, which is what plagiarism is, if it furthers your cause? Given this mind-set, "good for Gary," can we also say then good for Bernie Madoff who cheated to create profits; and good for Barry Bonds for taking steriods to improve his game? Hey, if it furthers the cause, why should cheating matter? Is what you are saying?

Plagiarism/cheating are black and white issues. If Gary had something to say, he could have written it himself to get his little group started. When you copy down other people's words and then put your name on it as the author...that is a lie. It is cheating. It is not a gray area. If you know the difference between right and wrong but think that it does not apply to you, because you are somehow special, that my friend defines a sociopath. So is it really "good for Gary" that you want to convey in your defense of this so-called spiritual leader?

If you think for yourself and are truly concerned with being a decent human being, then I would gently suggest that your character may need some attention with regard to how you hold the idea of "cheating." Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of really good people who join the MasterPath in hopes of becoming better human beings and instead end up compromising their own integrity in the defense of Gary Olsen.

And a point of historical accuracy in all of this: Gary Olsen himself admited to plagiarism with a gentle nudge from David Lane who gave Gary the choice of self-admission or exposure by Mr. Lane. Gary chose the former, as it provided better damage control. And if you do a little research on the magic of the Internet, you will see that the plagiarism that Gary was initially accused of was a blatent and overt "copying" of someone elses words. Since then, Gary has become much more slick in what and how he copies from others.

Cheating matters. It is indicitive of one's character and personal values. You can dress it up any way you like, but cheating is still cheating. It is still a lie. In the schools that I attended the rule was: copying from someone elses paper will get you thrown out of the classroom.

Where please, is the spiritual principle that says it is right and good to deceive others in order to get your "teachings" out there?
 

Anticult7

Member
Well said Remembering You,

Just looking at the picture of this guy on masterpath.org, where he claims that he is the "Living Master" gives me the creeps. Master of BS me thinks. These shysters are a dime a dozen. They dupe their followers into thinking they are following the "highest" person or path. Pretty much like the ancient nomad charletons. You go into their tent and are told, "give me your sheep and camel and I will usher you into heaven, refuse my offer and you go to h*ll." Yuk!
 

remembering you

New Member
You bring up a good point, Anticult7, and that is "what is Gary the master of?" What exactly is it that he has mastered that is so valuable to the rest of the world? Does my truth or your truth or anyone's for that matter lie within Gary Olsen? That seems like it would be sort of a mess! I wish I had thought to ask these questions over a decade ago, but I romanticized instead the whole idea of having a guru, and as a result lost a decade of my life and my income to MP. Now I post on some of these blogs; a warning, just like you find on the side of the cigarette box: "may cause cancer."

Cults and groups like MP can be a type of cancer that strip away the ability think for oneself, let alone have confidence in one's self. I know there are chelas who would argue that that is not so, however what gives Gary and people like him power is the acqueisence one's self confidence and one's ability to think for one'e self. On MP one begins to believe that they are having all kinds of inner experiences with the master, but honestly if you focus on your dog...you'll have dreams and experiences about that too.

Repairing self-confidence has been the most difficult work for me since I left the path. That being said, I am getting much better at trusting my own "seeing", without apology. If you are a current or former chela reading this now, please know that there is life in abundance after MP. Yes, you will lose your MP friends who will shake their heads and click their tongues and tell themselves that you now belong to Kal (the MP version of the devil), but life on your own terms can contain a great deal of love, beauty and the sheer releif of being out from under Gary Olsen.

My heart goes out to anyone still in that con-man's cult. I understand that good people can be deceived. And I understand that when you have invested so much emotional energy, money, time and defense of Gary...it can be difficult to admit the deepest fear of being dupd and leave a group like this...but it can be done!
 
Great points. Yes, why is Gary the "master" and when was that decided? Who decided it? Any independent verification or recognition?

This is something I found on a website devoted to Eckankar survivors and I thought it was appropriate here, especially since the writer seems to be referencing Gary Olsen:
"Another thing to watch out for is the "reincarnated dead guru technique." Occasionally pseudo gurus desirous of creating legitimacy for themselves will imply that they are the reincarnation of a past Saint. They argue, "You accepted him, so why not accept me, too?"

A few years back someone was claiming to be the reincarnation of Huzar Baba Sawan Singh. I don't believe the claim is genuine since their teachings are dramatically different from Sawan Singh's and the Sant tradition on a number of fundamental points. Does the master have a multiple personality disorder? Would a Perfect Master need to argue with himself? In any event, in the classic Sant Mat tradition self-proclaimed gurus aren't recognized as legitimate. One cannot simply become a Master by self-proclamation, declaring oneself to be the supreme master of the Western Spiral Arm of the Milky Way. In this Path there's one Master at a time serving as the Spiritual Head of a specific Community or Mission. When the current Living Master is about to leave the body, they will usually recognize and apoint the new Master. The current Master appoints the next one. This approach of Sat Gurus recognizing Sat Gurus (Truth recognizing Truth) is part of a system of "checks and balances," so that the torch of spirituality gets passed only to a worthy recipient, or recipients if there is to be more than one successor. (Occasionally a Master, thinking about the future of the Path, will appoint someone to start a new Mission in a different location. For instance, Baba Jaimal Singh went to the Punjab.) This approach, despite human nature, has served the Sant tradition amazingly well over the years.

The Sufi Mystic Sultan Bahu once said, "There are few genuine disciples. People purporting to be masters perpetuate themselves with false promises. They exploit their followers to satisfy their greed." Bahu also warned his students to watch out for false teachers who want to be masters over others even though they've never been faithful and loyal disciples themselves.

Being chosen to be a Master is just about the rarest event in human history that one could wish for! So ambitious leader-types bent on appropriating various aspects of the Path that they find attractive, come to feel that they need to reinvent themselves. After all, this is the only way available to them to become a guru of shabda yoga! So they attempt to create for their followers the myth that they somehow have become "a living master of the Light and Sound." If the teacher's past associations were made public, it might prove embarrassing and undermine his or her authority as a "spiritual" leader. The awful truth could be revealed that one's teachings were stolen from someone (or someplace) else, that there are other competing Masters and Paths out there which the faithful could start checking out. Troubled or disgruntled followers might even decide to defect to the original Light and Sound group of the teacher. Indeed, they sometimes do just that! Can you imagine how upsetting it must be to learn that your guru, instead of being master of the cosmos, is actually a dropout disciple of some other path? Rogue groups have desperately tried to cover their tracks. But in the end, the Truth always wins."
 

remembering you

New Member
Gary was a disciple of Ek and then left, starting MP. It wasn't long before he claimed to be the reincarnation of Sawan Singh. The now infamous portrait of Gary visable on the old CD thread also shows him as part of a lineage which include Lao Tzu, Jesus and Sawan among others. It seems like he just made up what sounded good to him and then claimed that it was the "truth." A little like Washington DC these days and nonetheless shameful. To my knowldege, Violet, there is no verification other than Gary's own that supports him as a spiritual master...and once again I beg the question: master of what exactly?
 

Anticult7

Member
Violet- Your below quote does seem to capture the "essence" of Sri Creepy. Don't know how this guy lives with himself. Lots of references to him being a long-term pothead on citi-data. Wouldn't doubt it.

The mind would almost HAVE to be the enemy with Gary Olsen as the "master". That's the only way he could get away with not making any sense, not answering any questions, and being an all-around dick.
 

Anticult7

Member
Wow...just read through a lot of pages on this gary olsen creep and his wife on citi-data. The scams they are running are amazingly brazen. They are bound to be caught. The IRS scam, lies, nastiness, drug use, are incredible!

A lot of heartfelt and very intelligent posts from former members that the Olsen's lied to, ripped off and then slandered when they left.

Isn't it so predictable that people who falsely claim that thery are "higher" (better marijuana?) than everyone else and really ARE on "Messianic Trips" always accuse others of doing the sleezy stuff they are doing themselves in attempts to convince their "flock" that they are the ones being persecuted?

And a bunch of really wacky sounding defensiveness from seeming Masterpath Moonies and trolls that are so full of cult double speak they sound like real wing nuts! The later are great examples of why NOT to be in a cult. Yikes!!!

The citi-data stuff is like trying not to look at a bad car accident. You don't want to see the damage done but you can't quite avert your eyes.

The citi-data URL is listed on page one or two of this thread. Hope someone throttles this despicable a-h*le
 
Since I can't post links on this forum yet, you can copy and paste this with a "www" in front:

angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/rogue1.html

Evidently a Sant Mat follower wrote the part I quoted. I think he/she is being careful about naming anyone because Paul Twitchell seems to be referenced as a "metaphysical/science fiction writer" and initiate of Kirpal Singh.

Anticult7, I totally agree about the City-Data forum. It really pulled me in when I read the stories of the former members. Surprising, because I had only been looking for an anecdotal update about the MasterPath cult. And here two years later I'm some kind of wannabe cult-buster. ;)

Remembering you, I definitely have no idea what Gary is the "master" of - except manipulation. And maybe tanning.
 
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