Why do you think Sahaja Meditation has occasionally been attacked by critics?
Well to start with, it's a bit difficult to get a full and clear understanding of spirituality and especially how it differs from a conventional religion. On the surface, they may seem similar but in reality, there are significant differences. Some of these people tend to view spirituality through the lens of a religion. And sometimes, even Sahaja practitioners tend to fall into this trap. Fundamentally, spirituality gives you complete control over yourself and full independence - it's the typical "eliminate the middleman" to get your own Inner Self to realize divinity. However, it is common even in spirituality to have a guide or Guru and use that person as a guide. In Eastern practices, this can go very deep sometimes.
Secondly, some of the critics jumped to conclusions about Eastern yoga and meditation practices, which are well, just different. Many subtle aspects in life need to be experienced over a long period of time to draw appropriate conclusions and understanding. A completely analytical approach may not work very well. Some aspects are not even rational at all times.
But it's also true that compared to the vast majority of people that practice Sahaja to successfully to improve their lives, there's only a handful of people who're messed up due to their own misinterpretations. And I'm not talking just about the critics when I say this, there are easily practitioners who continue to live on with inadequate or incorrect understanding of what Sahaja is. No one is perfect. Sometimes, some people are very eager to pursue spirituality, but can really struggle with it.
And then, amonst the handful of critics that there have been, there were those who just couldn't get along in Sahaja with others. They had fights, arguments, bitterness, ill will and eventually even hatred. Unfortunately, Sahaja has no membership nor fees to be paid and everyone is welcome. That can sometimes bring in different personalities and clashes are very much possible. When it gets extreme, there's no choice but to ask troublesome people to stay away from collective gatherings. That's what hurts and annoys people the most. They begin to turn their hatred and disappointment towards the practice. There's an inevitable feeling that months or sometimes years of their practice has been ended and come to nothing.
Still further, there have been a few people indulging in downright bad stuff - mishandling money, having illicit affiars that went against the ideals of the practice and so on. While these were easy and straight cases for exclusion from the collective practice of Sahaja, some of them took the Founder and the organization to task.
Incidents of disgruntled employees indulging in hate speech are very common. Getting onto the internet and trying to malign reputation of people or organizations they hate is the easiest recourse one has. Free speech is truly free.
A handful of such incidents over the 45 odd years of the Sahaja practice's existence have opened the Sahaja organization and even the founder to attacks from some. All of the above factors are reasons for this. But the good thing also is that 100% of these incidents happened more than 20 or 25 years ago - these were the days of growing pains for the Sahaja organization. It's a fact that over the years, these attacks and critics have just moved on with their lives, but their hate speech legacy remains, thanks to the Internet (that was their goal, you'd think!).
Despite these stray incidents, there's no doubt and hard statistics to show that Sahaja has been a successfully growing practice in over 90 countries of the world, practiced by thousands. The most impressive achievement perhaps is how it's been univerally used across nationalities, cultures and faiths. It's practiced by families, people of multiple professions and ages. For something as deep and subtle as spirituality and the extent of diversity in cultures and views that exists worldwide, this should be seen almost as a miracle.
The best strategy is always to look at the vast majority of people that practice Sahaja, their backgrounds, views and then try it out for yourself.
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Secondly, some of the critics jumped to conclusions about Eastern yoga and meditation practices, which are well, just different. Many subtle aspects in life need to be experienced over a long period of time to draw appropriate conclusions and understanding. A completely analytical approach may not work very well. Some aspects are not even rational at all times.
But it's also true that compared to the vast majority of people that practice Sahaja to successfully to improve their lives, there's only a handful of people who're messed up due to their own misinterpretations. And I'm not talking just about the critics when I say this, there are easily practitioners who continue to live on with inadequate or incorrect understanding of what Sahaja is. No one is perfect. Sometimes, some people are very eager to pursue spirituality, but can really struggle with it.
And then, amonst the handful of critics that there have been, there were those who just couldn't get along in Sahaja with others. They had fights, arguments, bitterness, ill will and eventually even hatred. Unfortunately, Sahaja has no membership nor fees to be paid and everyone is welcome. That can sometimes bring in different personalities and clashes are very much possible. When it gets extreme, there's no choice but to ask troublesome people to stay away from collective gatherings. That's what hurts and annoys people the most. They begin to turn their hatred and disappointment towards the practice. There's an inevitable feeling that months or sometimes years of their practice has been ended and come to nothing.
Still further, there have been a few people indulging in downright bad stuff - mishandling money, having illicit affiars that went against the ideals of the practice and so on. While these were easy and straight cases for exclusion from the collective practice of Sahaja, some of them took the Founder and the organization to task.
Incidents of disgruntled employees indulging in hate speech are very common. Getting onto the internet and trying to malign reputation of people or organizations they hate is the easiest recourse one has. Free speech is truly free.
A handful of such incidents over the 45 odd years of the Sahaja practice's existence have opened the Sahaja organization and even the founder to attacks from some. All of the above factors are reasons for this. But the good thing also is that 100% of these incidents happened more than 20 or 25 years ago - these were the days of growing pains for the Sahaja organization. It's a fact that over the years, these attacks and critics have just moved on with their lives, but their hate speech legacy remains, thanks to the Internet (that was their goal, you'd think!).
Despite these stray incidents, there's no doubt and hard statistics to show that Sahaja has been a successfully growing practice in over 90 countries of the world, practiced by thousands. The most impressive achievement perhaps is how it's been univerally used across nationalities, cultures and faiths. It's practiced by families, people of multiple professions and ages. For something as deep and subtle as spirituality and the extent of diversity in cultures and views that exists worldwide, this should be seen almost as a miracle.
The best strategy is always to look at the vast majority of people that practice Sahaja, their backgrounds, views and then try it out for yourself.
Next Topic All topics