Kabbalah Centre to close U.S. branch of children's charity

Harriet Ryan
Los Angeles Times
May 21, 2011

Success for Kids, in which Madonna was a board member and donor, will close at school year's end due to cost of translating lessons into nondenominational curriculum. Foreign branches will continue.

The Kabbalah Centre, a Westside spiritual organization that is the focus of a tax evasion investigation, is shutting down the U.S. operations of a global children's charity that has raised millions from celebrity followers and more recently drawn the scrutiny of IRS investigators.

SFK or Success for Kids, a 10-year-old nonprofit based at the center, will close its programs in American public schools at the end of the academic year, the charity's president, Michal Berg, announced in a letter Wednesday to supporters. Berg wrote that the decision was prompted by larger than expected overhead costs associated with translating the religious organization's lessons into a nondenominational curriculum.http://articles.latimes.com/images/pixel.gif

"The reality is that the current public school expansion strategy is not cost-effective and it is difficult to scale the program to impact more children," she wrote.

The letter made no mention of a federal grand jury in New York that has issued subpoenas seeking information about the center, the charity and the Berg family, which controls the center. A spokesman for the center said there was no connection.

"It was completely unrelated," the spokesman, Mark Fabiani, said.

SFK, formerly known as Spirituality for Kids, ran classes in about 40 schools in the U.S., including several in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The programs had been criticized by some officials and parents, who said they were quasi-religious. In her letter, Berg, the daughter-in-law of Kabbalah Centre founder Philip Berg, said that as an alternative to the classes, SFK was planning to present its curriculum on a free website.

The charity, which listed assets of $7.5 million in its 2008 tax filings, the most recent available, will continue running programs in Brazil, Costa Rica, England, Panama and Malawi, but about 20 staffers have been laid off.

The nonprofit began as a kabbalah-focused private grade school next to the center's Robertson Boulevard headquarters, but soon grew to include other programs, including an initiative for African children that became a separate charity led by Madonna, the center's most famous adherent. The finances of that charity, Raising Malawi, are also being examined by agents of the IRS' criminal division.

Madonna headed SFK's board and has been a major donor, as have several other celebrities, including Barbra Streisand and fashion designer Donna Karan, who gave $2 million in recent years.

Kabbalah, the study of mystical Jewish texts said to hold the secrets of the universe, was little known outside of Orthodox Jewish circles until about 15 years ago, when Madonna began studying at the center. Other high-profile entertainers, including Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, followed and the center experienced enormous growth.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/21/local/la-me-0521-kabbalah-charity-20110521

IRS Stirs The Kabbalah Pot

Robert W. Wood
Forbes
MAY 12, 2011

I focus on taxes and litigation.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Kabbalah is not a new way to make risotto, a new Gordon Ramsey restaurant, or a gourd-like vessel for carrying water across the desert. It is a new-old religion, popularized by Madonna and other A-list celebs who include Ashton Kutcher and the now singing Gwyneth Paltrow. I can't claim to be religious and don't emulate celebrities.

Yet as a tax lawyer for 30 years, I've seen IRS scrutiny on churches wax and wane, especially with Scientology. For years the IRS denied it was a church, but after multiple years of litigation and administrative harangues, the IRS abruptly ruled Scientology was a church after all in 1993. The New York Times claimed the IRS reversed 30 years of precedent to grant Scientology Section 501(c)(3) status when Scientology dropped numerous lawsuits against the IRS.

Now the IRS has leveled its sights on Los Angeles' Kabbalah Centre. Significantly, though, the current query is apparently not whether Kabbalah is a legitimate church entitled to that IRS tax status. Rather, this is a criminal investigation into tax evasion. So says the LA Times.

Kabbalah is a Jewish movement tracing its roots to the Zohar, a holy book allegedly 2,000 years old. Evidently begun in Jerusalem in 1922, Kabbalah claims 4,000 regular participants around the world. Many criticize it for not requiring followers to leave other faiths.

Private Inurement? Although the scope of the IRS questions is not yet clear, the LA Times suggests the IRS is querying whether funds inured to the Berg family, which has controlled the Kabbalah Centre for over 40 years. Tax lawyers know this issue as "private inurement," something that can spell disqualification of church tax benefits. In fact, private inurement can disqualify any charitable organization.

Questions are being asked on both coasts, since the Kabbalah Centre has holdings in New York too. A federal grand jury in Manhattan is gathering evidence, while in Los Angeles, IRS agents are interviewing people connected to the organization. One of Madonna's charities, Raising Malawi, is cooperating with the IRS.

Former Kabbalah Centre Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Vakkur has raised accusations about tax fraud. Vakkur implicates the Centre's Chief Executive Karen Berg, whose husband was appointed head rabbi in 1969. Since his 2004 stroke, Mrs. Berg runs the Kabbalah Centre with two sons, Michael and Yehuda.

Another former CFO, Nicholas Boord Jr., has suggested the Centre had annual revenue of $60 million, a $200-million real estate portfolio and a $60-million investment fund. But as a tax qualified church, the Kabbalah Centre doesn't make public tax filings. Churches and nonprofits usually don't have complex corporate structures.

Yet here the IRS confronts over a dozen nonprofit and business entities leading to the Bergs. A 1993 filing seeking tax-exempt status for the Centre claimed the Bergs don't receive salaries, although they apparently live in Beverly Hills in homes owned by the Kabbalah Centre.

Lawsuits have plagued the Kabbalah Centre and the Berg family. Some of the filings flatly accuse the Bergs of running the organization primarily for their own benefit, something that in the tax-exempt-church world is clearly a no-no.


Robert W. Wood practices law with Wood & Porter, in San Francisco. The author of more than 30 books, including Taxation of Damage Awards & Settlement Payments (4th Ed. 2009, Tax Institute), he can be reached at wood@woodporter.com. This discussion is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of a qualified professional.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2011/05/12/irs-stirs-the-kabbalah-pot/

Spiritual girl: Madonna's shifting beliefs

Michael De Groote
Deseret News
May 10, 2011

Madonna's love/hate relationship with the Roman Catholic Church took a new twist in April when she spent more than an hour at an Opus Dei center  a Catholic organization cast as the villain in "The DaVinci Code."

This recent flirting with her childhood faith is somewhat ironic, considering how the "Material Girl" has never been shy to criticize or intentionally shock Catholic sensibilities. For example, the Daily Mail reported in 2006 that her concert tour that put her in a mock crucifixion complete with a crown of thorns had upset the Vatican. "Cardinal Ersilio Tonino, speaking with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI said: 'This time the limits have really been pushed too far. This concert is a blasphemous challenge to the faith and a profanation of the cross. She should be excommunicated.'"

That same Daily Mail article recounted how Madonna was also called blasphemous for her 1989 video "Like a Prayer," which included statues crying tears of blood.

Back in 1991, the Deseret News' own Chris Hicks reviewed her "Truth or Dare" video as "an amazing example of self-worship."

Her worship habits, however, took another turn when, as Newsweek reports , "she turned to Kabbalah in 1996 when she was pregnant, exhausted from Evita, and looking for an anchor. Since then she has reportedly donated at least $18 million of her personal fortune to the Kabbalah Centre."

The Los Angeles Times explains that the Kabbalah Centre is a "Los Angeles-based spiritual organization that mingles ancient Jewish mysticism with the glamour of its celebrity devotees." The Times said the center "is far and away the most well-known proponent of kabbalah, an esoteric Jewish movement that traces its roots to the Zohar, a holy book followers believe was written by a rabbi 2,000 years ago to explain the mysteries of the universe."

A Deseret News story in June 2004 covered an ABC "20/20" interview in which Madonna bristled at suggestions that her interest in Kabbalah was just a trend: "I'm a little bit irritated that people think that it's like some celebrity band wagon that I've jumped on, or that, say, somebody like Demi (Moore) has jumped on," she said on "20/20." "We don't take it lightly."

But even in her newfound faith  or expanded faith, Madonna still clung on to Christianity to some extent. New York magazine noted that while celebrating Jewish High Holidays and the Shabbat with her Kabbalah friends, "she presents a confusing tableau: Still a Catholic, she often appears with a gigantic cross hanging from her neck, the size of the one in her Desperately Seeking Susan days, and carries her adopted -Malawian son, on whom she's usually placed a yarmulke."

Madonna's connections to Malawi, one of the poorest nations in Africa, set the stage for her alleged disaffection with Kabbalah.

In April 2010, Madonna laid the first brick for a girl's school in Malawi. The $15 million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls was to help approximately 500 orphans and was supposed to open this year.

It won't.

As The Guardian reports "it has turned into a legal quagmire." Construction never began and eight workers are "suing her for unfair dismissal and non-payment of benefits."

But this is just one of the many problems Madonna's charity Raising Malawi is having according to the Newsweek article . Newsweek recounted a multiplicity of alleged unaccounted funds, possible mismanagement and more related to the charity's partner, the Kabbalah Centre.

The Daily Mirror reported most of the money meant to fund the charity "was allegedly spent on the Kabbalah Centre's offices in LA. Madonna has now removed directors of Raising Malawi. Among the axed board members is Michael Berg, a co-director of the Kabbalah Centre. Two other ditched board members, John Larkin and Rachel Almog, also had links to Kabbalah. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing from any board members."

The Daily Mirror quotes an unnamed source as saying, "She has invested so much into Kabbalah so she was devastated by these damning accusations."

As FoxNews said , "So what's a former pop queen to do? Flirt with another religion, of course."

In April, Madonna spent about 90 minutes at the Opus Dei center in Orme Court in Britain, according the Daily Mail. Her spokesman had nothing to say, but the Mail's unnamed source said she "has always been intrigued by Opus Dei."

Opus Dei is not, however, a different religion from Catholicism. According to its own website, it is a Catholic institution that teaches that people can grow closer to God through everyday life. Its profile has been raised again recently by another movie, this one featuring its founder, Saint Josemar�a Escriv�. The film, "There Be Dragons," unlike " The Da Vinci Code," is a more positive about the organization that Dan Brown's conspiratorial fantasy.

Madonna also seems to be positive about the Catholic organization. But it isn't that clear that meeting with Opus Dei means that she has indeed abandoned Kabbalah. She has, however, abandoned or been abandoned by her most recent boyfriend over matters of faith.

The Daily Mail reported May 9 that 24-year-old Brahim Zaibat, a Muslim, has split with the 52-year-old Madonna, supposedly over her devotion to Kabbalah. "Brahim's family had told him they did not want him going to Kabbalah meetings and wanted him to stick to his Muslim beliefs, which caused some rows," a source told the Daily Mail.

EMAIL: mdegroote@desnews.com TWITTER: degroote 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700134135/Spiritual-girl-Madonnas-shifting-beliefs.html?pg=2

Munson: Fairfield an unlikely spot for a hate crime

Des Moines Register
Kyle Munson
March 12, 2011

Fairfield, Ia. - Of all the spots on the map in Iowa, this is the setting for an alleged hate crime in 2011?

Shocking headlines out of Fairfield last week centered on an incident in which Usama Alshaibi, an Arab-American filmmaker, alleges he was repeatedly kicked and beaten and called racial slurs by a group of men at a house party in his neighborhood in the wee hours of Sunday, March 6.

Not to imply that racism respects geography. Hatred and violence can crop up anywhere.

It's just that Fairfield makes a strong case for its status as an enlightened, multicultural oasis on the Midwest prairie. A hate crime seems particularly out of tune with the serene vibe in this town of 9,464. We're talking at least 34 nationalities represented among the work force at large, according to the mayor. And 240 international students are among the 583 that live on campus at Maharishi University of Management, where transcendental meditation (TM) and sustainable living degrees are big draws.

So this is the sort of place where the woman behind the counter at the coffee shop was born in Taiwan, the young professional lunching with his co-workers at the next table is from South America, and you overhear a grandfather talking about moving back west after 13 years in Fairfield.

And that's on a slow day.

The town is rife with vegetarian and ethnic restaurants as well as "the first and only solar-powered radio station in the Midwest."

Fairfield sort of acts like the much larger Iowa City but with meditation domes instead of Kinnick Stadium.

Even Alshaibi, 41, still lauds the town where he and his wife, Kristie, settled in July so she could enroll in Maharishi University.

"I don't believe that my incident is representative of Fairfield," Alshaibi said Friday. "I adore the town, and people have been very generous and open and kind to us, and they still are."

But he wasn't all that eager to talk considering the firestorm that erupted in the wake of initial reports. Alshaibi is in the midst of producing a documentary film, "American Arab," and has refuted claims that he orchestrated some sort of publicity stunt.

"I'm having a hard time kind of functioning right now," he said. "It's a hindrance to the film."

Alshaibi even regrets speaking to the media in the first place: "I wish I would've waited a little bit at least to let the investigation be over."

Jefferson County Attorney Tim Dille is unsure when the police investigation will be complete to reveal more crucial details.

Alshaibi repeatedly has stated that after a night of dining and drinking, he entered the home in question after what he took to be an invitation by a woman standing out front. He alleges that the beatings began immediately after he said, "I'm Usama."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is representing the filmmaker and if necessary will employ attorneys from Chicago or Washington, D.C., said Miriam Amer, the council's executive director in Iowa. The organization also is requesting hate crime charges if a bias motive is found.

"Nobody deserves what happened to (Alshaibi)," Amer said. "If he was a threat, they should've called the police."

The county attorney said that the investigation includes Alshaibi's visit with a friend to the nearby Vivo Restaurant and Bar prior to the alleged beating. Paul Strubell also was at the restaurant that night and said that Alshaibi was intoxicated when he began "verbally assaulting" two of his friends - "started to mouth off to them right as they walked in the door." Police arrived at Vivo later that night after Alshaibi already was gone.

"I don't recall anything like that," Alshaibi said of his visit to Vivo, adding that he "wasn't accosting anyone."

The ultimate answers will have to come from a full account of what occurred that night at the house, regardless of what led up to it.

"I don't normally go out, I don't normally indulge in this way," Alshaibi said. "But, again, I have to emphasize that I don't feel I deserved what I got."

Alshaibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and grew up both in the Middle East (where his family fled the Iran-Iraq war) and Iowa City (where his father studied at the University of Iowa). He most recently lived and worked for 16 years in Chicago. Studs Terkel became a friend and was a supporter of Alshaibi's highest-profile documentary to date, 2006's "Nice Bombs," which chronicled the filmmaker's return trip to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 American invasion.

Alshaibi's family is Muslim, but he describes his own religious beliefs today as "somewhere between agnostic and atheist."

It was Fairfield's influx of TM converts - often disparagingly nicknamed " 'rus" (gurus) or "floaters" - that once defined the cultural divide here, after Maharishi University took over the former Parsons College campus in 1974. But that has long since been hashed out.

Current Maharishi University graduate student and former student council president Baruti KMT-Sisouvong, 46, said that there has been a bridging of the cultural gap in Fairfield, from his generation on down. He meditates twice daily, but he's also a member of the local Masonic Lodge.

Fairfield's mayor for the past decade, Ed Malloy, from suburban Long Island, moved here 30 years ago based on TM and also runs Danaher Oil Co. He touted his city's "management class of people that you are only going to find in urban areas."

It's true that the children of the first TM generation to settle in Fairfield already have grown up, moved away and boomeranged back to launch their own entrepreneurial ventures. The story of Meghan Dowd, 31, is familiar: She grew up in Fairfield after her family relocated from the Chicago suburbs. She left for school at Dartmouth and then work as a TV screenwriter in Los Angeles before returning to found Open Space Studio in 2009, where she teaches spin and yoga classes.

Culturally, Fairfield residents "have had to stretch themselves a little bit more," Dowd said - and that's a good thing.

Last weekend's incident seems to have strained, rather than stretched, the Fairfield community.

Alshaibi added that his wife is pregnant and has dropped out of classes at the university as the couple decides what to do next.

"I wasn't interested in being a victim," he said. "I don't have a victim mentality."

Neither Alshaibi nor Fairfield sought a starring role in this real-life drama. But maybe the unlikely multicultural setting can work in favor of a more constructive outcome.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110313/NEWS03/103130334/Munson-Fairfield-an-unlikely-spot-hate-crime

When Does a Religion Become a Cult?

Wall Street Journal

Mitch Horowitz,  

America has long been a safe harbor for experimental faiths. But the unorthodox can descend into something darker.

America has probably supplied the world with more new religions than any other nation. Since the first half of the 19th century, the country's atmosphere of religious experimentation has produced dozens of movements, from Mormonism to a wide range of nature-based practices grouped under the name Wicca.

By 1970 the religious scholar Jacob Needleman popularized the term "New Religious Movements" (NRM) to classify the new faiths, or variants of old ones, that were being embraced by the Woodstock generation. But how do we tell when a religious movement ceases to be novel or unusual and becomes a cult?

It's a question with a long history in this country. The controversy involving Hollywood writer-director Paul Haggis is only its most recent occurrence. Mr. Haggis left the Church of Scientology and has accused it of abusive practices, including demands that members disconnect from their families, which the church vigorously denies.

To use the term cult too casually risks tarring the merely unconventional, for which America has long been a safe harbor. In the early 19th century, the "Burned-over District" of central New York state—so named for the religious passions of those who settled there following the Revolutionary War—gave rise to a wave of new movements, including Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Spiritualism (or talking to the dead). It was an era, as historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom wrote, when "Farmers became theologians, offbeat village youths became bishops, odd girls became prophets."

When the California Gold Rush of 1849 enticed settlers westward, the nation's passion for religious novelty moved with them. By the early 20th century, sunny California had replaced New York as America's laboratory for avant-garde spirituality. Without the weight of tradition and the ecclesiastical structures that bring some predictability to congregational life, some movements were characterized by a make-it-up-as-you-go approach that ultimately came to redefine people, money and propriety as movable parts intended to benefit the organization.

Many academics and observers of cult phenomena, such as psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford, agree on four criteria to define a cult. The first is behavior control, i.e., monitoring of where you go and what you do. The second is information control, such as discouraging members from reading criticism of the group. The third is thought control, placing sharp limits on doctrinal questioning. The fourth is emotional control—using humiliation or guilt. Yet at times these traits can also be detected within mainstream faiths. So I would add two more categories: financial control and extreme leadership.

Financial control translates into levying ruinous dues or fees, or effectively hiring members and placing them on stipends or sales quotas. Consider the once-familiar image of Hare Krishna devotees selling books in airports. Or a friend of mine—today a respected officer with a nonprofit organization—who recalls how his departure from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church was complicated by the problem of a massive hole in his résumé, reflecting the years he had financially committed himself to the church.

Problems with extremist leadership can be more difficult to spot. The most tragic cult of the last century was the Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, which ended with mass murder and suicide in the jungles of Guyana in 1978. Only a few early observers understood Jones as dangerously erratic. Known for his racially diverse San Francisco congregation, Jones was widely feted on the local political scene in the 1970s. He was not some West Coast New Ager gone bad. He emerged instead from the mainstream Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pulpit, which sometimes lent a reassuringly Middle-American tone to his sermons.

Yet every coercive religious group harbors one telltale trait: untoward secrecy. As opposed to a cult, a religious culture ought to be as simple to enter or exit, for members or observers, as any free nation. Members should experience no impediment to relationships, ideas or travel, and the group's finances should be reasonably transparent. Its doctrine need not be conventional—but it should be knowable to outsiders. Absent those qualities, an unorthodox religion can descend into something darker.

Mr. Horowitz, the editor in chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York and the author of "Occult America" (Bantam), is writing a history of the positive-thinking movement.

How Meditation May Change the Brain

Sindya N. Bhanoo
New York Times
January 28, 2011


Over the December holidays, my husband went on a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Not my idea of fun, but he came back rejuvenated and energetic.

He said the experience was so transformational that he has committed to meditating for two hours daily, one hour in the morning and one in the evening, until the end of March. He’s running an experiment to determine whether and how meditation actually improves the quality of his life.

I’ll admit I’m a skeptic.

But now, scientists say that meditators like my husband may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.


M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.


But how exactly did these study volunteers, all seeking stress reduction in their lives but new to the practice, meditate? So many people talk about meditating these days. Within four miles of our Bay Area home, there are at least six centers that offer some type of meditation class, and I often hear phrases like, “So how was your sit today?”


Britta Hölzel, a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the study’s lead author, said the participants practiced mindfulness meditation, a form of meditation that was introduced in the United States in the late 1970s. It traces its roots to the same ancient Buddhist techniques that my husband follows.


“The main idea is to use different objects to focus one’s attention, and it could be a focus on sensations of breathing, or emotions or thoughts, or observing any type of body sensations,” she said. “But it’s about bringing the mind back to the here and now, as opposed to letting the mind drift.”


Generally the meditators are seated upright on a chair or the floor and in silence, although sometimes there might be a guide leading a session, Dr. Hölzel said.


Of course, it’s important to remember that the human brain is complicated. Understanding what the increased density of gray matter really means is still, well, a gray area.


“The field is very, very young, and we don’t really know enough about it yet,” Dr. Hölzel said. “I would say these are still quite preliminary findings. We see that there is something there, but we have to replicate these findings and find out what they really mean.”


It has been hard to pinpoint the benefits of meditation, but a 2009 study suggests that meditation may reduce blood pressure in patients with coronary heart disease. And a 2007 study found that meditators have longer attention spans.


Previous studies have also shown that there are structural differences between the brains of meditators and those who don’t meditate, although this new study is the first to document changes in gray matter over time through meditation.


Ultimately, Dr. Hölzel said she and her colleagues would like to demonstrate how meditation results in definitive improvements in people’s lives.


“A lot of studies find that it increases well-being, improves quality of life, but it’s always hard to determine how you can objectively test that,” she said. “Relatively little is known about the brain and the psychological mechanisms about how this is being done.”


In a 2008 study published in the journal PloS One, researchers found that when meditators heard the sounds of people suffering, they had stronger activation levels in their temporal parietal junctures, a part of the brain tied to empathy, than people who did not meditate.


“They may be more willing to help when someone suffers, and act more compassionately,” Dr. Hölzel said.


Further study is needed, but that bodes well for me.


For now, I’m more than happy to support my husband’s little experiment, despite the fact that he now rises at 5 a.m. and is exhausted by 10 at night.


An empathetic husband who takes out the trash and puts gas in the car because he knows I don’t like to — I’ll take that.


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/?src=me&ref=general

James Ray's attorneys seek to exclude witnesses

Arizona Family
January 26, 2011

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Defense attorneys for a self-help guru facing manslaughter charges are asking a judge to keep two of the state's witnesses from testifying at trial
.
James Arthur Ray's attorneys say the testimony of a man who studies cult behavior and a corporate risk management expert is irrelevant and would distract the jury.

Ray has pleaded not guilty to three counts of manslaughter stemming from the deaths of three people following a sweat lodge ceremony he led near Sedona in 2009.

Prosecutors say Ross will explain why participants felt they couldn't leave the ceremony, and Steven Pace will speak to safety measures.

If Ross' testimony is allowed, prosecutors want the judge to prohibit the defense from bringing up his criminal history or cult deprogramming practices.
Ray's trial is set to begin Feb. 16.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/James-Rays-attorneys-seek-to-exclude-witnesses-114660289.html

Parents awarded $1 million in suit claiming therapists created false memories of abuse

DOUG ERICKSON

Wisconsin State Journal

January 23, 2011

A Dane County jury has awarded $1 million to a former Madison couple who claimed therapists created in their daughter false memories of childhood sexual and physical abuse.

Jurors early Sunday found two of the three therapists who treated Charlotte Johnson in the early 1990s professionally negligent, said attorney Bill Smoler, who represented her parents, Dr. Charles and Karen Johnson.

The couple, now of St. Louis, had been accused by their daughter of being Satanists and incest perpetrators. Charlotte Johnson had come to believe that her father had raped her at age 3, that her mother had come after her with a knife and tried to drown her, and that the family dabbled in cults and infanticide, said Smoler, who termed the alleged memories "outrageous."

The jury assigned 70 percent of the negligence to therapist Jeff Hollowell, who formerly practiced at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, and 30 percent of the negligence to Madison therapist Kay Phillips, Smoler said.

Therapist Tim Reisenauer, who also practiced at Rogers Memorial Hospital, was found not negligent. Rogers Memorial Hospital, also sued by the parents, settled out of court prior to the verdict, Smoler said.

The verdict, which came at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, followed a two-week trial and 10 hours of deliberations.

"They're delighted. They feel vindicated," Smoler said of the parents.

Smoler blamed recovered memory therapy, a controversial approach in which therapists attempt to help patients reclaim supposedly repressed memories. "Juries have routinely said it's not valid," he said Sunday. "It's wacko stuff."

Attorneys for the defendants said in court their clients did not practice recovered memory therapy. The therapists and their attorneys could not be reached Sunday.

Smoler said Charlotte Johnson lives in Madison but has not had contact with her parents since 1993. She opposed the lawsuit and did not appear in court.

The Johnsons are retired. Dr. Charles Johnson is a former Madison physician who also served as chief of medical staff at a St. Louis hospital. Karen Johnson is a former nurse.

"This case was not about money - they don't need it," Smoler said of the elder Johnsons. "This case was about letting Charlotte know, ‘This wasn't your fault. We still love you.' They want her to come home."

In their closing statements Saturday, attorneys for the defendants argued Charlotte Johnson's memories of sexual and physical abuse predated contact with the therapists being sued.

Before she sought help from any of the providers in the lawsuit, Johnson had been suicidal, contacted the Rape Crisis Center in Madison, received five months of psychiatric care for "family issues" and endured an "extreme flashback" of being abused by her mother that sent her screaming under a desk, said attorney David McFarlane, who represented Phillips.

No one is saying all of Johnson's memories are true, McFarlane told the jury Saturday. Rather, the case hinged on whether therapists met a professional standard of care, he said. Phillips not only didn't suggest any memories to Johnson but probably saved her life, he said.

Attorney Bradway Liddle said Hollowell, far from implanting memories in Johnson, challenged her memory of childhood rape. In general, the therapists sought to get to the bottom of the woman's problems, he said.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/parents-awarded-million-in-suit-claiming-therapists-created-false-memories/article_c5bd497c-2735-11e0-a35e-001cc4c002e0.html

What Do You Say to a Naked Lawyer? Here's a Suit

Tori Richards
AOL News

October 11, 2010

Irvine, California - Attorney Steven Eggleston was suspicious when his boss pressed him to attend a weekend male retreat, but refused to tell him what would be happening there, saying participants were sworn to secrecy.

So he did a Google search and found out why.

Men would be holding hands and walking naked, blindfolded, through a forest. Then they would sit nude in groups of 30 to 50, passing around a wooden dildo and giving lurid details of their sexual history. Eggleston said he found out that the men will grab each other's penises if they wish.

Eggleston didn't like what he read and refused the invitation. Now he's suing the firm and his bosses, saying he was badgered, yelled at and ultimately had his pay slashed to zero for not attending the retreat, held at a Santa Barbara, Calif., mountain campground and sponsored by the ManKind Project, according to a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.

The suit has sparked quite a bit of conversation in Southern California.

"This whole thing is very sick!" exclaimed Los Angeles radio talk show host John Kobylt of KFI640.

Kobylt interviewed one of the organizers of "The New Warrior Training Adventure" this week.

"What's the point of this?" Kobylt asked organizer Marshall Krupp. "I'm a lawyer and I'm trying to settle cases. Why do I have to talk about my sex life, my abuses? Why do I have to sit naked, pass around a wooden dildo? What does that have to do with anything?"

Krupp said the men shouldn't be grabbing one another and are told that sexual activity isn't allowed.

"The weekend is about giving men an opportunity to look at what's not working and working in their lives, to become better men of the world, better men with their families and their children," Krupp said.

"Well, how can you become a better man," Kobylt asked, "sitting naked on a tree stump?"

That's apparently what Eggleston wanted to know.

"I talked to other attorneys who went on the retreat, so it's the real thing," Eggleston, now with a new firm, told AOL News. "After everything I read about this, I didn't want to go."

Approached by Supervisor

Eggleston said he was approached by his supervisor, attorney John Bisnar, shortly after he started his job in July 2009. Bisnar asked if Eggleston would go to an upcoming retreat, saying, "I can't tell you that you have to go as a requirement of your employment, but Steve, you really need to go to this," according to the complaint.

During Eggleston's Google search, he found out that the family of a Texas man sued ManKind Project after the man committed suicide following a similar retreat, the complaint said. The case settled out of court.

"That is what scared me," Eggleston told AOL News.

Eggleston said he was under the impression that Bisnar would be attending the event, and he didn't want to sit naked discussing his sex life with his boss or have any inappropriate touching

"It's a salacious lawsuit, it's bogus. It really is," said Brian Chase, a partner in Eggleston's old law firm, Bisnar Chase, and a defendant in the lawsuit. "I've never gone to this event, I haven't been retaliated against, and now I own half the law firm."

Chase said the retreat is one of many options, such as Tony Robbins seminars or Deepak Chopra books, offered to employees for their personal and professional development.

He said he didn't know any of the details surrounding nudity because he hasn't gone to the event.

"A Modern Male Initiation"

ManKind Project's website says the adventures are "a modern male initiation and self-examination. We believe that this is crucial to the development of a healthy and mature male self, no matter how old a man is. "

It also says, "You will see men mentor other men, support each other, play together and form a safe, authentic container where men are free to be exactly who they are, without defenses or masks.

"During your training you will stand shoulder to shoulder with an immensely rich mix of masculinity, with occupations and ages as wide as masculinity itself."

Eggleston said in the complaint that he was contacted several times by ManKind Project officials who tried to convince him to attend the event. Part of his research revealed that attendees are told to carpool so they would not be able to leave the event once they got there.

Krupp said the men were told to carpool in groups for their "safety." He also confirmed the nude walks and sit-downs with the dildo.

"There is what we call a talking stick," Krupp told KFI640. "It is a representation of a man's penis, and it actually gives a man permission to speak should he want to speak. He can choose to pass it on to the next man and not speak."

The complaint also says that "one Internet report stated that a supervisor told attendees that they could place their hand on the penis of the man next to them," the complaint said

"This sounds creepy," Kobylt said on KFI640.

The men are not required to disrobe and are not forced to stay at the event if they want to leave, according to Krupp.

Lawyer Says His Pay Was Cut

After he refused to attend the first retreat, Eggleston said, his pay was cut. Months later, he refused to attend a second retreat, and his pay was slashed to zero. He quit after eight months, leaving behind cases that should have resulted in commissions, the complaint said.

Instead, commissions have been withheld, essentially giving him zero net pay for his entire tenure, said his lawyer, Kathleen Hartman. The lawsuit, filed Aug. 31, alleges 13 causes of action, including sexual harassment, retaliation, fraudulent concealment and infliction of emotional distress.

Sponsored Links

Defendant Chase told AOL News that Eggleston was not a regular employee per se, but rather given a loan that had to be repaid after six months.

"Because this group has a nudity angle, he filed a lawsuit to extort money out of me," said Chase, who handles personal-injury cases. "At the end of a six-month period, he owed me $50,000. So what did he do? He quit."

As for Kobylt, it's a safe bet he won't be taking Krupp up on his offer to attend the next seminar, on Nov. 5.

"I know if I was in Steven Eggleston's shoes and I know if I read about this cockamamie naked camp up in Santa Barbara, I'm not going," Kobylt yelled. "I don't want to see naked guys, I don't want to see naked guys looking at naked me, I don't want to share my sexual experiences, I don't want to hold the naked dildo!"

Naked Men Search for What Matters Most

Susan Antilla
Bloomberg News

September 28, 2010

Hey guys, if the boss told you to pack up for a weekend seminar of treats like getting naked with a bunch of other men, passing around a wooden phallus, and working toward a more "mature sense of masculinity," you'd get with the program, wouldn't you?

You know, spilling your guts about those childhood traumas and then storming into the sweat lodge with your new pals, agreeing along the way to a lifelong pledge to keep it all secret from the outside world? Kind of like the way it works at the office for some of you.

Fun as it all might sound, a lawyer in California took offense when his boss suggested that it would be a good idea to sign up for the $650 New Warrior Training Adventure, described on the website of a group called the ManKind Project as "a modern male initiation and self-examination."

In a lawsuit filed in a California court on Aug. 31, Steven Eggleston, a chiropractor-turned-negligence lawyer, said he was getting paid $15,000 a month until he refused to go to a secluded warrior weekend in the mountains of Santa Barbara. Before you knew it, Eggleston's compensation was down to zero, according to the complaint, and the boss had gotten so hostile that Eggleston says he had to quit.

Warrior Weekend

Brian Chase, one of Eggleston's former bosses and a partner at Bisnar/Chase LLP in Newport Beach, California, says it's true that the firm's owner, John Bisnar, suggested Eggleston go to the warrior weekend, but it was "not a requirement of employment." The firm had an agreement to pay Eggleston a draw against the business he brought in, and Eggleston owed the firm money by the time he left, Chase said. He said there was no retaliation.

It isn't unheard-of for a company to dispatch employees to so-called boot camps that promise to improve interpersonal skills or even transform their sometimes-miserable lives. One is Vancouver-based Lululemon Athletica Inc., known for its line of athletic wear. It has gone so far as to require franchisees to attend seminars run by a self-help group.

People aren't always gung-ho about signing up for the touchy-felly boot camps, though, as the Eggleston lawsuit illustrates. Objections come up in particular when there's a chance someone's going to suggest you take off your clothes. And if you're Steven Eggleston, and the boss is saying he might be coming along for the sometimes-nudie weekend, it's got to be a real buzz kill to think you could be passing that wooden dildo around the room in front of the guy who signs your paycheck.

Google Search

Eggleston says he learned about what ManKind refers to on its website as "a carved wooden phallus" by doing a Google search that also unearthed reports of the 2005 suicide of a 29- year-old man who shot himself two weeks after attending a warrior weekend outside of Houston.

George Daranyi, chairman of the ManKind Project International, said in an e-mail that a lawsuit brought by the man's parents "was settled confidentially with no admission of wrongdoing or responsibility," and noted that the suit was brought against the local Houston operation, not the international organization.

Eggleston, of course, decided not to attend the warrior weekend, but Chase says that other employees at Bisnar/Chase have made the plunge and "always said it's a great thing."

Clothing Optional

Mankind says it's a great thing, too, and defends its programs.

Its executive director, Carl Griesser, posted a lengthy response on the Web after a Houston newspaper reported that people attending Mankind seminars were -- imagine -- taking their clothes off. Griesser set the record straight on that, pointing out that, well, sometimes people at the seminars do indeed take their clothes off.

The Eggleston complaint doesn't name ManKind as a defendant, but it does say that all that penis-passing and sweat-lodge stuff is the basis of a sexual harassment charge. Chase called the suit a frivolous "shakedown."

Neither side has an easy case in the view of Harvard Law School professor Janet Halley. But if Eggleston prevails, he is likely to have been helped by the argument that his bosses "brought sex into the workplace in a way that was hostile," she says.

There's nothing sexual about the optional nudity that goes on at New Warrior Training Adventures, ManKind insists on its website. Maybe not to the instructors. But it sure didn't sound platonic to a lawyer in California who's launched a whole new genre of harassment suits, in which guys are determined to keep their pants on.

California Lawyer Sues Over Attending All-Male Mountain Retreat

Ray Sanchez
ABC
September 30, 2010

Lawsuit Claims Lawyer Got Pay Cut For Missing Unusual Seminar That Included Nudity

A California lawyer has sued his former employer for allegedly docking his pay after he refused to sign up for a weekend-long "New Warrior" personal-development seminar that included men disrobing and passing around a wooden phallus.

The Orange County Superior Court case seems like a routine labor dispute between a lawyer and his former firm, except for the salacious accusations involving a little-known, somewhat secretive nonprofit known as The ManKind Project, which seeks to "redefine mature masculinity for the 21st century," according to its website.

Plaintiff Steven Eggleston, a chiropractor-turned-negligence lawyer, accuses the Newport Beach, Calif., firm Bisnar/Chase and partners John Bisnar and Brian Chase of sexual harassment and failure to pay wages. Eggleston claims he was paid $15,000 a month until he refused to attend a secluded all-male weekend retreat last February in the mountains overlooking Santa Barbara.

The lawsuit said Eggleston, after reading reports about the seminars, was "understandably concerned" over the possibility of sitting naked in a room with his supervising attorney, who "might decide to touch his penis, or that he might be required to disclose details about his sex life."

Eggleston says in the complaint that after skipping the weekend retreat, which the the ManKind Project website describes as "a modern male initiation and self-examination," his compensation dwindled to nothing and his supervising boss, Bisnar, became so hostile that he had to quit.

According to the complaint, Bisnar told Eggleston that he couldn't require him to attend but repeatedly pressured him to attend. Chase, however, said Bisnar had only suggested it. Chase said there was no retaliation and called the complaint "a shakedown lawsuit by a disgruntled employee who failed miserably at his job." Eggleston was hired on a six-month contract, he said, and let go because of poor performance.

Bisnar, who has attended and spoken at ManKind Project training sessions, routinely encourages the firm's 30 staff members to participate in personal and professional development seminars, according to Chase. Although Bisnar has encouraged him to attend, Chase said he has never participated in New Warrior training.

The personal-injury firm has a distinct New Age feel, Chase said.

"We have yoga on Fridays," Chase said. "Bisnar will encourage people to go to professional seminars for trial lawyers or paralegals. He also encourages people to do personal development. He's passed out Deepak Chopra books. We've had tickets to Anthony Robbins' seminars. He encourages people to better themselves."

Eggleston's lawyer, Kate Hartman, denied that her client had signed a contract and said he brought more than 100 cases to the firm over eight months. He was "freaked out" by what he learned about the ManKind Project over the Internet, she said, and twice refused to attend the seminar, leading to problems with his boss.

"I've talked to many former employees at Bisnar and Chase, and they don't know about any other seminars being offered other than this particular one," Hartman said. "Based on the information that I have, the only seminar they've asked employees to go to -- and they're very hot and heavy on it -- is this New Warrior training. I don't think professional development needs to involve taking off your clothes and discussing your sex life."

Mankind Project Deals With 'Sexual Shame'

Eggleston's lawsuit has brought unwanted attention to the ManKind Project, which some men credit with helping them confront childhood traumas. The complaint said Eggleston learned about what ManKind refers to on its website as a carved wooden phallus by doing a Google search, which also yielded reports of the 2005 suicide of a 29-year-old man who shot himself two weeks after attending a warrior weekend near Houston.

Carl Griesser, executive director of the ManKind Project, said the nudity is optional and comes near the end of the weekend seminar. The exercise is optional as well. There is nothing sexual about the nudity, he said, and sex and masturbation are forbidden.

"The primary reason for using [the wooden phallus] is to help men deal with sexual shame," Griesser said. "In our culture where sex is so charged, the fact that we do this is something that a lot of people are really uncomfortable about. There is so much homophobia in the culture that even the concept of men being nude together in some context other than locker room is seen as really weird, if not crazy."

The 25-year-old project includes 35 nonprofit and charitable organizations in seven countries, Griesser said. It operates 30 centers in the U.S. -- with the 48-hour, $650 New Warrior Training Adventure.

"Our focus is basically on teaching accountability and integrity to men," Griesser said. "In our culture, there aren't too many options for men. They tend to be either extremely macho or kind of bumbling idiots and neither of that is very accurate for most men."

Asked whether there is touching, Griesser said: "A person can but it is absolutely not a part of the program... It's completely nonsexual, and our intention is to give men an opportunity to talk about what their experience of the body, their physicality and their sexuality has been."

Eggleston's complaint refers to the wrongful death lawsuit filed against ManKind's Houston operation by the family of Michael Scinto, a recovering alcoholic who committed suicide in July 2005, about two weeks after attending a seminar.

A Houston Press story about the death quoted a letter Scinto wrote to the sheriff's office before taking his life, in which he wrote of being required to sign a confidentiality agreement, of being blindfolded and taken on tours in the nude, of naked men dancing around candles, and men revealing their sexual histories while passing a wooden phallus. After his death, Scinto's family discovered a list of ManKind members that included prominent local politicians and academics.

Griesser said the lawsuit brought by Scinto parents was settled "with no admission of wrongdoing" by the organization. The family received $75,000, according to Griesser and Scinto's mother Kathy.

"I personally have a lot of sadness that Michael Scinto died the way he did," Griesser said. "It's a tragedy. I don't see his participation [in the seminar] as being contributory in any way."

The men who attend ManKind Project retreats include lawyers, physicians, businessmen and people who have completed alcohol and drug abuse programs, Griesser said. There are two similar groups for women that are not affiliated to the ManKind Project.

Griesser admitted that negative publicity had tarnished the image of the ManKind Project, which was created in 1985 as a male answer to the women's movement. Through responses on the group's website, Griesser is trying to combat the perception of some that the group is a cult.

"It makes us sound and look like a bunch of idiots," he said.

Ayurveda in the quest of recognition in UK

New Nation David Watts August 6, 2010 As Ayurveda, arguably India's greatest gift to the world, is fighting for formal recognition in Britain, its leading practitioners are seeking to raise money to establish a charity to that end. Ironically, just as Ayurveda increases in popularity and modern Western medicine and the pharmaceutical industry are accused of over-reliance on drugs, members of the British Association of Accredited Ayurvedic Practitioners (BAAAP) are striving against bureaucracy and prejudice to put their profession on a more regulated, professional footing. The increased popularity of the Ayurveda system of medicine is resulting in a flood of poorly trained practitioners who are found to have been making erroneous patient assessments and treatments, which are threatening the credibility and reliability of the profession as a whole. But the BAAAP is facing tighter legislative controls, adverse media coverage and opposition from the votaries of conventional medicine in its quest for recognition for Ayurveda as a worthwhile way of life and medical treatment. So, the organisation is now intent on setting up a charity in London to raise the money necessary to have its activities regulated and thereby put the profession on a new and sure footing more equal to its Western counterparts.

Learn about cults from a man who’s seen them from the inside

Commonwealth Club
July 19, 2010

Listen to David Sullivan, Professional Cult Investigator

"Learn about cults from a man who’s seen them from the inside. Professional investigator Sullivan describes the process of identifying and investigating cults, providing an overview of how cults recruit, convert and maintain control of their members through a variety of psychologically coercive techniques. A licensed private investigator for more than 19 years, Sullivan has worked in collaboration with leading authorities in the area of undue influence."

https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/investigating-cults

Boy attempts suicide in Orai,alleges thrashing by class teacher, principal

July 8, 2010 

"A student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Inter College in Orai,Jalaun district,jumped from the third floor of the school building after an alleged thrashing by his Principal and class teacher on Wednesday morning."

A student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Inter College in Orai,Jalaun district,jumped from the third floor of the school building after an alleged thrashing by his Principal and class teacher on Wednesday morning.

Sumit Singh Chauhan (17) is a student of Class XII and is undergoing treatment at the Jalaun district hospital. Both his legs have been fractured.

Sumit’s father Ashok Kumar Chauhan,an engineer with the Public Works Department,held the school authorities responsible for the suicide attempt. “My son could not bear the humiliation before his friends,therefore he tried to end his life,” he said.

He has filed a complaint with the Jalaun Kotwali police station. But the police are yet to lodge an FIR against the school authorities. The charges levelled by Chauhan,they said,are still being investigated.

Sumit told mediapersons: “On Wednesday morning,my class teacher G P Rathod humiliated and thrashed me before my classmates for not paying fees on time.” He was then taken to the office of Principal A N Singh,where he was beaten up and humiliated again.

“Upset over the issue,I went to the third floor of the school building and jumped,” he added.

Superintendent of Police,Jalaun,Prem Gautam,however,said: “Prima facie it appears that the student was not thrashed or humiliated by the school staff.” Sumit’s classmates will be questioned about the incident,he said.

Sumit was poor in academics and had been absent for the past six days,Gautam said. “He had failed in the Class XI final exams and was admitted in Class XII only after a re-exam conducted in May.” Further,though the school re-opened after summer vacation on July 1,Sumit went for his classes only on Wednesday,he added.

On his part,Vice-Principal AK Katiyar denied that the student was thrashed by any staff member.

“Sumit’s school fees were not paid on time and the class teacher reminded him about the issue,but the allegations that he was thrashed are baseless,” Katiyar said.

He also pointed out that Sumit was poor in academics.

“He did not complete the homework assigned to him for the summer vacation and when the class teacher questioned him,he failed to give a satisfactory answer,” Katiyar added.

Following this,Sumit was taken to the office of the Principal. Katiyar maintained that the school administration was willing to bear Sumit’s medical expenses.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/boy-attempts-suicide-in-orai-alleges-thrashing-by-class-teacher-principal/

Flying yogis and flying millions Acolyte David Lynch isn't happy with this exposé of Transcendental Meditation

Brian D. Johnson
Macleans
May 19, 2010

He was the original guru pop star. Made famous by the Beatles in the 1960s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the godfather of the Transcendental Meditation movement, known as TM. He inspired such acolytes as author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker David Lynch, and remained TM's figurehead until his death in 2008 at the age of 94. The Maharishi was once dubbed "the giggling guru." But now it appears he may have been giggling all the way to the bank. David Wants to Fly, [Facebook Page] a new documentary shown last week at Toronto's Hot Docs festival, offers compelling evidence that the Maharishi's empire of enlightenment is more devoted to shaking down its followers and amassing wealth than transcending the material world.

The "David" of David Wants to Fly refers to the film's director, a cheeky 32-year-old German named David Sieveking, and to the dubious feat of "yogic flying" or levitation. It could also refer to David Lynch, who has emerged as TM's most prominent spokesman and is the prime target of Sieveking's obsessive investigation. Sieveking embarked on his documentary as an avid Lynch fan dying to meet the genius behind Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. But by the time he'd completed his film, five years later, it had turned into an exposé. Sieveking told Maclean's that Lynch threatened to sue him and tried to block the film's Berlin premiere. No wonder. It depicts TM as a secretive hierarchy with overtones of Scientology, and portrays Lynch as its Tom Cruise.

Sieveking, who makes himself a character in the documentary-a neurotic man on a mission-is like a cross between a young Werner Herzog and a skinny Michael Moore. He first travels to America to interview Lynch as a star-struck fan, then becomes an eager student of TM. As his odyssey takes him from Manhattan to the headwaters of the Ganges, he never loses faith in the power of meditation, but he becomes deeply skeptical about TM's well-heeled leadership.

He learns that its "rajas" pay $1 million for their exalted rank. At a groundbreaking ceremony for a TM university in Switzerland, we see Lynch introduce Raja Emanuel, TM's "King of Germany," who wears a gold crown and offers a provocative pledge: "I'm a good German who wants to make Germany invincible." Jeers erupt from the crowd and a voice yells, "That's what Adolf Hitler wanted!" Emanuel replies: "Unfortunately, he couldn't do it. He didn't have the right technique." Trying to quell the catcalls, Lynch leaps to the raja's defence, and hails him as "a great human being."

Sieveking interviews several TM defectors, including Colorado publisher Earl Kaplan, who donated over US$150 million toward the construction of a vast meditation centre in India, where 24-7 shifts of 10,000 yogic flyers would create world peace. Visiting the project site, Sieveking finds an abandoned, half-built ghost town. And he shows footage of "yogic flying," which looks more like cross-legged yogic hopping. We also meet the Maharishi's former personal assistant, who says, "He'd use people and discard them when they ran out of money." And although the guru preached celibacy, the ex-aide says one of his jobs was to bring women to the Maharishi's room for sex. Another ex-disciple, Judith Bourque, reminisces about her torrid love affair with the Maharishi, which ended when he found another young woman.

Rumours of the guru's sybaritic lifestyle have been rampant ever since the Beatles heard that he had hit on Mia Farrow in the late '60s. His behaviour provoked John Lennon to write a derisive song called Maharishi, which George Harrison persuaded him to retitle Sexy Sadie ("What have you done? You made a fool of everyone"). The film shows Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr rallying to support TM at Lynch's star-studded 2009 TM benefit. "John Lennon," says Sieveking, "would be rolling in his grave."

As for the analogy between TM and Scientology, the director acknowledges certain parallels, but considers TM less rigid-"you can't be a moderate Scientologist." Sieveking says he became paranoid after the German raja threatened to destroy his film career. Yet Lynch "is still a guru for me as a filmmaker," he maintains, just not as a spiritual figure. "I wanted to be his friend. It's tough for me, because now he sees me as an enemy." But Sieveking may have found a new guru. Apparently Michael Moore, that documentary raja, is anxious to see his film.

https://www.wildmind.org/blogs/news/flying-yogis-and-flying-millions/amp

Pseudoscience, Religion Yogi In Politics: A Rationalist’s Thoughts On Baba Ramdev

by Narendra Nayak
April 22, 2010

The political space in India seems to be as large as the country itself. We have parties advocating everything from communism to capitalism, Hindutva to Islam, though not publicly, since the constitution prohibits it. We have the Manuvadi parties, the Dalit parties, parties of the OBCs, parties proposing an atheistic government and so on. Into this cacophony a new entrant has arrived, throwing his hat into the ring! All beware, the incorruptible, the squeaky clean, unmarried, physically fit superhero is here- step aside all, here is the man for whom the country has been waiting since independence- the messiah has finally arrived on the scene. Ram Kishen Yadav, aka Baba Ramdev who keeps churning his abdominal muscles on the stage, thumbing his nose at people and collecting millions in the name of yoga. If one watches his TV program one can see him jumping about, performing contortions, panting for breath, and as soon as he gets it back, uttering platitudes about everything under the sun,moon and stars!

He has simplistic solutions for all problems. Want to solve the poverty problem? Bring the money stashed in Swiss banks. Homosexuality is a disease and the cure for it is yoga. Its not one or two things that he talks about but, as previously said, he has an encyclopedic knowledge about all matters. He is a text book on medicine, surgery, nutrition, physical exercise, psychiatry and whatever one may need. Do you have a problem? Perform kapalbathi and pranayam. He talks about the good old days, lecturing about the skeleton of a 12 feet tall person discovered at an undisclosed location, and how the good food and clean air back in those days made them grow that big. To hell with medical evidence indicating that a 7 feet tall person can find it difficult to live a normal life because the human body has its logical and mechanical limitations.

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It has been a long climb to the top indeed for a contortionist to develop into a guru with solutions for all the problems facing us. He wants to start with India and make it the healthiest nation in the world. Then he wants to go out and do the same to the rest of the world! When he predicted several years ago that there would soon be a cure for AIDS, obtained from a combination of ayurveda and yoga, Ramdev got into trouble with a Health Minister from the central government who asked him to prove his claims or shut up because such talk could disrupt the campaign for the prevention of AIDS. Ramdev then gave a long-winded explanation for what he actually said, claiming he had been misquoted.

In his TV shows he has patients barging in with so-called ‘medical reports’ which he reads out in a halting manner, mispronouncing many of the medical terminologies. It runs like this: A middle aged lady goes to the stage with a report, which he reads out loud. Then he says- “Well, well what did the doctors say about this?” She answers- “Baba, they told me I would die in six months. Another dose of sarcasm- “Then you had to die”. She- “No Baba, I did not I started doing yoga and now I am fine”. He- “So, this is modern medicine for you, in the grip of the multinationals!” Then another round of contortions, heavy breathing, devotional songs etc. These are called as yog shibirs. On his stage are a few younger people doing the very same poses which he asks all people to do.

He has one more collaborator who goes to gardens, fields or anywhere that has greenery and brings back all sorts of leaves and plants. Ramdev holds lectures on these, listing their botanical names and dishing out advice on what they can heal and/or prevent. Of course, no sort of evidence or clinical trials are needed. You just have to take his word for it. The only proof that is offered is that our ancient texts say these things. When the swine flu epidemic hit the world he had a solution for it- boil a particular root in water and drink its extract to prevent the flu. The prices for that root went through the roof and no one was willing to listen to what we said- that it was like any other type of seasonal flu and would pass off. Now, the statistics has vindicated our stand. Of course, he can claim that it was his combination of yoga and ayurveda that saved India.

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What about his “medicines”? People have to sign an undertaking saying that they knew the “medicines” were not approved, to absolve him of any liability for any possible ill-effects arising from their use! He manufacures them at facilities which employ sweat shop labor. When they went on strike demanding fair wages, he set his goons upon them. When the trade unions of the left parties supported laborers and exposed the formulae of some of Ramdev’s concoctions, he made his usual allegation that they were tools of the multinationals. He was adding human bones to some of the “medicines” after powdering them; he defended this by saying that it was permitted in ayurveda. There are many such controversies about his panaceas, which are very, very expensive. The same allegation of exploitation that he makes against the multinationals is equally applicable to him, if not more! At least their products are based on evidence and clinical trials while his concoctions are marketed on his word alone and the claim that it is a truth found in ancient texts.

Ramdev’s hypocrisy needs to be pointed out here. On stage with a captive audience, he launches into tirades against the ‘corrupt’ politicians. But nothing prevents him from hob-nobbing with them, traveling with them on state helicopters and utilizing millions of rupees given as ‘grants for research’. He conveniently forgets that this money comes from the pocket of the tax payers, 300 million of them being malnourished, poverty stricken and with naturally flat stomachs caused by the years of malnutrition, and hence not impressed by his contortions on stage.

Well, who exactly is Ramdev?

If one looks at the audience at his sessions- for which one has to pay huge donations despite his talk of egalitarianism- the fat cats who pay heftier ‘donations’ are located close to the dais and are given more elbow room to carry out their maneuvering. The others have to lump it out far away from the stage, performing their contortions in cramped conditions. That is equality for you. As George Orwell said, all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. That is applicable to the disciples of Ramdev as well. But, for the over weight middle class with their sagging bellies, Ram Kishan Yadav is fitness personified. They want easy solutions to their problems; they would like to have toned bodies, full hair on their balding pates and, in short, quick and easy solutions for all their problems without having to work hard. His yoga classes look like the easy solution that these people seek. That is why we see the tension-ridden middle classes flocking there. Some exercise may work for some of them and these people shout it from the roof tops. Those for whom the exercises do not work, constituting the larger group, will be silent like they are expected to be – the silent majority! Again, he is very clever when offering advise to patients with serious problems; if they have diseases like cancer they will be told to continue with their therapy but also consume his concoctions and do things like pranayama etc. If they are cured he can take the credit- if not the money grabbing multinationals and the doctors can be blamed! In his much publicized ‘public’ debates with some of the branches of the Indian Medical Association, he cleverly wriggles out of tight situations by uttering cliches like you do your job and I will do mine. I recall a few similar instances, like when the Indian Medical Association branch of Goa ‘collaborated’ with him, having themselves photographed at his feet. When the national secretary of FIRA queried the office bearers as to why they were seen in such a position with a person who is opposed to them, the lame excuse was that they were just joining him for his anti tobacco campaign!

Why does this colorful personality wants to enter politics- or rather, why does he want to embrace the “dirty world of politics” as he says? It isramdev-baba the desire for power on one hand and for safe-guarding his empire on the other? Huge grants have been taken for establishing ‘research institutes’ but nothing useful has come out of them so far. Under the right to information act anyone can ask for the details of this funding and also ask for the results. Once these scandals come out there is going to be trouble. Not everyone in India is fat and middle-class- Ramdev’s constituency! He wants to get at other groups of people, for which he needs a larger net. Another factor is the large amount of black money that he must have amassed marketing his useless concoctions. Despite of all his claims to egalitarianism they are really expensive- more expensive than the concoctions of the multinationals whom he derides, but at least the latter are required to be scientifically tested to do what they claim to! Ramdev has forayed abroad and purchased his own island from where he hopes to market these concoctions without the need to satisfy regulatory bodies about their effectiveness.

Ramdev wants to be the ‘C team’ of the Hindutva gang. The A team- the right wing Bharathiya Janatha Party- has undergone a decline in growth, becoming stagnant. The rabid right wing groups like the Shiv Sena that form the B team are divided and losing their appeal. There is a need for one more team with more appeal to a different constituency, and that is what Ramdev is trying to create! While decrying all politicians as corrupt, he does not mind sharing the stage with the likes of Advani and co. While mocking the Congress party, he is not averse to taking grants from states run by that party. He feels that he has an appeal to his community- though he claims to be a ascetic with no caste, he is a Yadav, a dominant caste in many areas of the cow belt. Again, the saffron robes and the halo of being a renunciate may influence the electorate into voting for his candidates, and he hopes to win seats and worm his way into ruling combinations. No sir, he does not want power. He wants to reform the nation! He will not contest for elections but will put up honest, sincere, dedicated candidates who will do the task of nation building. In other words he wants to be a remote control and play the king maker!

Coming to the great personality himself one wonders why the cure-all yogic and the ayurvedic concoctions that he peddles are unable to cure his ever-present facial tic. What yogic quality makes him dye his hair and beard? The vanity of the renunciate?Is he the Hindu version of Benny Hinn? These questions will be answered soon when he enters electoral politics which has an audience that is not quite as captive and will need contortions of a different kind.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations

http://nirmukta.com/2010/04/22/yogi-in-politics-a-rationalists-thoughts-on-baba-ramdev/