The REAL History of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (Part 2)

Taken and Translated from research article by Alexis on his French blog: Le Projet Sahaj Marg.

(last updated: Feb, 2010)

Comments and Insertions by 4d-don are in "red italics"



Personalities and Trends Related to Sahaj Marg


The linear transmission of spiritual power from Lalaji to Babuji and then to Rajagopalachari is a legend. (or not true, a fiction, a fantasy ... see Epitome of Sahaj Marg by Dinaysh Kumar Saxena, Dean of NaqshMuMRa and grandson of Lalaji) Things are much more complex. Descendants of Lalaji created the Tariqa Ramchandriya, a new Hindu Sufi order from his teaching. His nephews and his main disciples are behind several more or less syncretic movements between Sufism and Santmat, which spread everywhere, from northern India and to the United States. Since 1984, Babuji's children are engaged in a legal battle without mercy with Rajagopalachari, from their stronghold of Shahjahanpur, and recently publicized it on the web. The senior preceptors of Babuji, meanwhile, took their distances from the two parties since 1994. Fewer and fewer, they move from one group to another of the diaspora of the disciples of Babuji, always very present and refusing any compromise with the followers of Rajagopalachari.

Note: The spelling of names have been deliberately simplified, as it sometimes changes with each documents.


Lalaji, His Family And Their Disciples


Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh, aka Lalaji (4/02/1873-14/08/1931) met his master, Hujur in 1891 and spent 16 years in his company. Hujur (1857-1907) gave him full powers on October 11, 1896, but Lalaji only started teaching in 1911, relates his grandson (Dinaysh Kumar Saxena). His works are compiled in two volumes titled: "The Complete Works of Ram Chandra Maharaj Lalaji. The second volume, published in July 2001 with 7,000 copies printed, relates his Sufi and Santmat experience. Exciting but virtually untraceable, is the subject taboo at the Shri Ram Chandra Mission?

The list of movements which came out of his teaching is fairly long. His grandson mentions five of them: NaqshMuMra, Ramashram Satsang, Akhil Bhartiya Santmat Satsang, Golden Sufi Center and of course the Sahaj Marg. To this list we can also add the movements of Saral Hari Marg of Dr. Harnarayan Saxena (1908-2003) or that of Dr. Chandra Gupta, who also claims the legacy of Lalaji. Their relationship with the Sahaj Marg is indirect, only because Babuji said that it was Lalaji who gave him the order to create this movement.

Lalaji had only one hundred to two hundred followers. Among those who have reached the central region or approached it closer, from the spiritual point of view, some have circulated his teaching from the centers of the movement of Ramashram Satsang, mainly in northern India, Sikandrabad, Gazhiabad, Shyam Nagar, Jaipur or even in Mathura. Derived from Lalaji their power is rooted in the Sufi order of Naqshbandiya, but he later re-integrated it with Santmat (or bhaktimat).

Thus, Ranajit Saheb, 101 years old, and probably one of the last contemporary living disciples of Lalaji operates from Shyam Nagar (blog created April 13, 2009 on http://ramashramsatsangshyamnagar.blogspot.com/). Thakur Ram Singhji (3/09/1898-15/01/1971), who also long frequented Lalaji's nephews Lalaji (Radha Mohan), is operating from Jaipur. Dr Chaturbhuj (3/11/1883-24/09/1957), the most famous of them, was charged by Lalaji to help spread his teaching in 1919, initially from Etah in 1923 and then from Mathura in 1951. Dr Krishna Lalji (15/10/1894-18/05/1970) from Sikandrabad was in turn appointed by Lalaji as his successor in 1921. We note in passing that Babuji has attended the Ramashram Satsang at Mathura and Sikandrabad between 1931 and 1944, where he probably created his "competitors and enemies" (see a collection of excerpts from the Autobiography of Ram Chandra, by SP Srivastava which contains 80% of Babuji's Journals, as opposed to SRCM (California-1997)'s version, which contains 20%... literary "cleansing"??).

Today, the Ramashram Satsang of Jaipur is headed by the son of Thakur Ram Singhji, Narayan Singh, who has chosen to use the method of the great Yogi Aurobindo. The Ramashram Satsang Mathura is headed by the son of Dr. Chaturbhuj, Hemendra Kumar. It has long been present on the web (http://www.ramashramsatsang.org/), as is the Ramashram Satsang of Sikandrabad, but only since February 2008 (http://www.spiritual-meditation.org/).

The father of Lalaji, Harbaksh Rai Chaudhary, had a second son, almost as famous. Raghubal Dayal Chachaji (7/10/1875-7/06/1947) also followed the teaching of the Sufi master Hujur. His family is located in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and he has had three son: Brij Mohanlal Dadaji (1898-01, 17, 1955), Radha Mohanlal Guruji (? - 1966) and Jyotendra Mohanlal. Brij Mohan was the favorite of Hujur, who saw him succeding Lalaji as head of the Sufi Brotherhood of Mazhariya, even if eventually, Lalaji preferred (and appointed) his own son.

A disciple of Brij Mohan, Yashpal (5/12/1918-3/04/2000), created the Akhil Bhartiya Santmat Satsang movement in 1969 at Anangpur (ABSS on http://www.abssatsang.org). For his part, Radha Mohan was at the founding of the California Golden Sufi Center of Irina Tweedie and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (http://www.goldensufi.org/). Radha Mohan is the 35th in the lineage of this Sufi order. With his wife Sushila Devi, they had three son, Virendra, Satendra and "Baboo" Narendra Nath Saxena. She named her 2nd son Satendra to succeed his father.

As for Lalaji, he had two son and eight daughters. His eldest son, Harish Chandra, died at two or three months. Only the second, Jagmohan Narain (2/11/01-28/08/44) is known to us, Lalaji having preferred him to his nephew Brij Mohan as his successor to head the new order of Mazhariya Ramchandriya (NaqshMuMRa). Too young to succeed him immediately, his uncle Chachaji which took the reins of NaqshMuMRa before him. Jagmohan himself had two son, Akilesh (28/06/41-15/05/74) and Dinaysh or Dinesh Kumar Saxena (born 28/10/44), who in turn succeeded one another in the order the NaqshMuMRa. Akilesh Kumar was not three years old at the death of his father and died before 33 years, but this did not prevent him from creating a periodical entitled "adhyaatma dhaara.

Dinaysh Kumar Saxena, retired from the railway since 2002, aged 65, is the present dean of NaqshMuMRa still residing at Fatehgarh. With his son, Himanshu Vikram, he created "NaqshMuMRa Nexus", a website where he mentions the movements that he believes are related to the teaching of his grandfather (http://www.laalaajinilayam.googlepages. com /). Included in this list is Sahaj Marg, the same way as Dinaysh is listed as a preceptor of Sahaj Marg. And a blog created by Himanshu Vikram shows us pictures of Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari and Dinaysh gathered together in 2006 (http://www.laalaajinilayam.blogspot.com/).


See Epitome of Sahaj Marg on the NaqshMuMRA Nexus web site

On a website created last February 26, 2009 (http://www.adhyaatmadhaaraa.org/) Dinaysh tells us that he has created a charitable organization, the Charitable Trust Laalaaji Nilayam (LNCT). Its goal is to raise funds to rehabilitate the "holy places" that have marked the life of Lalaji and organize tourism pilgrimages. It is therefore planned to renovate the house of Lalaji (laalaaji Nilayam) and increase its capacity to receive, to erect a life size statue of Lalaji and to acquire many other places of worship.

Although both previous movements seem to have no direct link with the Sahaj Marg, the collusion between the grandson of Lalaji and Rajagopalachari is great. And Dinaysh makes it clear that this is the Shri Ram Chandra Mission of Manapakkam (Chennai) and not that of Shahjahanpur. The link is established between Dinaysh and Rajagopalachari, and in no case with the descendants of Babuji, Umesh Kumar and Navneet Saxena, whom he ignores.

Yet in 2009, Dinaysh publishes a Babuji letter dated February 14, 1963 where he clearly expresses his feeling that the Indian Sufism is completely obsolete and is replaced by the Sahaj Marg. One way to highlight the divide imposed by Babuji between the movements from Lalaji and Sahaj Marg. So what is the connection between Rajagopalachari and Dinaysh? For what purpose did he deliberately chose to publish this letter?

And who will be at the head of NaqshMuMRa and LNCT tomorrow? Apparently, the descendants of the brother of Lalaji are excluded. Then, on the basis of blood ties established by Lalaji, will it be the son of Akilesh, Vinay (born 17/07/65) or Samir Kumar (born 30/07/70)? Or will it be the responsibility of the son of Dinaysh, Himanshu Vikram (born 30/06/80), or one of his two sisters, although, are women excluded a priori?

According Shashwat Pandey, who has interviewed him in 2009, Dinaysh would be in fear. His son, Himanshu Vikram, worked in Chennai for HTC Global Services, headed by a close associate of Rajagopalachari. The Shri Ram Chandra Mission has probably invested funds in the LNCT for shares in the house and the Lalaji Ashram at Fatehgarh. Has Dinaysh become a puppet in the hands of Rajagopalachari? He asserted, however his independence in 2008 before the old disciples of Babuji ...

On September 29, 2009, Dinaysh stated that Sahaj Marg is a schism. All the disciples of Lalaji met the philosophy and principles of his teachings, except for the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, where the emphasis has been placed on the living master, which has degenerated into a "cult of a personality". Also according to him, Babuji dreamed of Lalaji in his sleep, nothing more, and then falsely claimed that Lalaji never had a spiritual master.

Finally, it is perhaps Rajagopalachari who wants to take over the official inheritance of Lalaji so that his Sahaj Marg becomes the head of the NaqshMuMRa.


Babuji, and his Progeny of the SRCM Shahjahanpur


Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur aka Babuji (30/04/1899-19/04/1983) is the son of a senior judge. He contracted typhoid in childhood, studying philosophy and married at 19 years. He met his master Lalaji June 3, 1922, then entered the service of the Court of Justice in 1925. Babuji had six boys and three girls, but three of them died during their childhood. The four surviving boys are named Prakash, Dinesh, Umesh Kumar and Sarvesh Saxena, while his two daughters are named Smt Indira Maya Saxena and Smt Chaya.

His father died in 1933 and one of his uncles decided to manage his property in his place, but Babuji and his brother opposed it and he became their bitter enemy until his death in 1956. He harassesed Babuji, "trying to drag him to court and using the gang to harm him by all means possible," reads the website of the ISRC of Narayana. Babuji had included his young elder son Prakash in the list of founding members of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, when he registered its statutes in 1945. His wife, who was a "constant irritant", died in 1949 and his second son Dinesh committed suicide in 1958.

In 1980 his son Umesh goes on tour in the U.S. with two full preceptors of his father, Raghavendra Rao and Ramachandra Reddy, with no delegation of Babuji. On April 16, 1982, he secretly designates Umesh as his successor in a letter addressed to him. Yet, everyone (many) agrees that the children of Babuji did not participate in weekly group meditations and have never shown any sign of interest in things spiritual until the early 1980's.

Babuji died April 19, 1983. At the Working Committee which meets in July in the stress that follows, his elder son Prakash presents his own son Sharad as successor to Babuji. This request is rejected by the committee which accepts however, Umesh and his secret letter of appointment of February 1984. The family opens a legal battle against Rajagopalachari who also claims the succession, and the Presidency of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission and all the properties that are attached to it.

They recall the statutes of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, which stipulate that its headquarters is to be in Shahjahanpur and the president who will take the position will be in line of succession, what they interpret as "blood ties". They add that the purported letter of appointment of Rajagopalachari is false because it is backdated, makes no reference to Lalaji, which Babuji apparently never would have done, and as well, the phrase "President of the Sahaj Marg system" does not mean anything, and that the Canadian Donald Sabourin, the so-called witness to this appointment, could not attend on that date.

Currently in 1984, the state of Uttar Pradesh introduces the legal requirement for registered organizations such as the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, to have elections to elect their presidents. After the vote, SP Srivastava is elected. According to the son of Umesh Chandra Saxena, Srivastava has been appointed Chairman of of the Working Committee, BD Mahajan and his secretary (the latter held the post of Secretary for Indian Affairs since 1982), to avoid an explosion of the movement, because of Kasturi's statements favorable to Rajagopalachari. The ashram undergoes a first failed attempt at a takeover by force by the clan of Rajagopalachari in 1988 .

In 1994, Umesh Chandra is elected President in place of SP Srivastava, and KV Reddy becomes secretary of the Mission. In 1997, another attempt to take back the power from the ashram fails. Umesh is walking armed in the ashram. In 1998, one of his preceptors, who left for the United States to represent him, opens a website titled 'sahajmarg.org'. This gives rise to an additional quarrel with the Rajagopalachari clan. The American Arbitration Commission on domain names delivers an opinion in favor of the Umesh clan, in 2000, but the site is abandoned due to pressure (legal threats) from the Rajagopalachari clan.

Umesh Chandra Saxena dies, November 3, 2003. (poison??) His son Navneet Kumar Saxena is appointed the next president, KV Reddy is confirmed in his post of secretary. The Rajagopalachari clan tries unsuccessfully to seize the ashram again four days later, November 7. At once, one does not enter easily into the ashram, even with express recommendation, the clinic and the Babuji Memorial Public School is closed. Until the ashram is finally taken on April 2, 2006 by the Rajagopalachari clan, which now places at its head, Sarvesh, brother of Umesh. The trial continues, from appeal to appeal, but Navneet decides also to speak on the web in January 2007, first on the blog (http://srcmshahjahanpur.blogspot.com/) then creating his own website 'srcmshahjahanpur.org'. This time, the Indian arbitration panel ruled in favor of the Rajagopalachari clan, in July.


Today in late 2009, Prakash and Umesh have died. Prakash's wife attends the satsanghs led by Kasturi in Lucknow. Sarvesh, who appears with his wife on the list of preceptors of Rajagopalachari had already joined him in 2005, opens the ashram of Shahjahanpur to all those who wish to attend. Navneet's brother, Puneet and his mother have recorded their testimonies against the methods of the Clan Rajagopalachari in videos shot by Shashwat Pandey (see Youtube: Sahaj Marg) . And we are still waiting for the outcome of the trial ...



The Diaspora of Senior Preceptors



Professor of Philosophy now retired, SP Srivastava taught yogic science at the University of Lakhimpur (Uttar Pradesh, India). His meeting with Babuji dates to 1948-49. He chaired the working committee of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Shahjahanpur for ten years, from 1984 to 1994, taking advantage (of his tenure) to publish the second part of the "memoirs" of Babuji. Then he walked away from the sons of Babuji and the teaching of Sahaj Marg. He wanted to abolish the border between so-called hard sciences, yoga and spirituality. To this end, he created an association who's Belgian branch was called Shri Ram Chandra Memorial International Society Promoting Spirituality As A Science (INSPSAAS).

The Shri Ram Chandra Mission Shahjahanpur quickly becomes an empty shell after his departure. Raghavendra Rao and Ramachandra Reddy had Umesh Chandra Saxena accompanied on his tour of the U.S. in 1982, but it was more in opposition to Rajagopalachari as in loyalty to the son of Babuji. The behavior of Umesh is not pleasant and annoys. Gradually, the senior preceptors take their distance. The real Sahaj Marg is now taught by a galaxy of preceptors spread across the country through such a network without head or structure, traveling from one community to another, including abroad.

Raghavendra Rao gave up his place in the Working Committee which he had held since 1984. This full preceptors now remains at his ashram of Raichur in Karnataka, where he teaches the Sahaj Marg of Babuji to all those who come to see him, until the end of his life in the spring of 2006. With the complicity of the police, some armed thugs of Rajagopalachari immediately grabbed his ashram. Shortly after, Suresh Kumar Makam has created a blog to his memory (http://makamsureshkumar.blogspot.com/). Karnataka is rich in old preceptors: in Gulbarga, the full preceptor Narayan Rao, born around 1922, continues his teaching, while Dr. Rao Shiam steps back for some time. In Bangalore, the former judge of the High Court of Justice, the full preceptor Vital Rao, affectionately nicknamed "Judge", also continues his teaching despite his age (he was born around 1924).

Ramachandra Reddy, meanwhile, also abandons his place at the Working Committee and returns to Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh. The full preceptor creates the Chandraji Shri Ram Maharaj Seva Trust, a separate structure on behalf of the Mission to avoid any legal dispute, and teaches the Sahaj Marg until his death in 2008. This structure is currently headed by lawyer Srinivasa Rao TV. Jogarao a very old preceptor born about 1913, dies the year before at Hyderabad.

In Europe, Poray Andre (born about 1909 and dies at more than 90 years of age) is one of the first Westerners to have met Babuji. First a friend of Rajagopalachari, this full preceptor from Sanary Var (France) took his distance from him in 1980-82, then on tour with Babuji in Munich and Paris. He then established a society under the non-profit society act 1901, called "The Road to Reality" where he taught a Sahaj Marg slightly tinged with Tibetan Buddhism to which he was particularly attached. Rajagopalachari had initially ordered him to join him, before his removal from the office of preceptor, which had given him a good laugh, like other preceptors.

As in India, today there are independent groups in France in Lyon, Tours and Paris, in the south west and the Alps Maritimes, but also in Spain at Barcelona, and even in Switzerland. Each year, a European meeting is held in October in Sanary. These disciples of Babuji receive from time to time the visit of these great preceptors, or attend their meetings in India depending on their whereabouts. In late 2008, Cyrille Roux emerged from the shadows to speak on the Web and make known the existence of their groups. Why?

Narayana and Kasturi, unlike the previous, have always thought that Babuji had prepared Rajagopalachari as his successor as president of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Consequently, they never followed his son Umesh. However, they deny anyone the right to proclaim to be the spiritual representative of Babuji, as today Rajagopalachari.

Kasturi Chaturvedi, full preceptor and "Saint" of Sahaj Marg in the words of Babuji, first meets him in 1949. From Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), she teaches the Sahaj Marg of her timeless master with a certain degree of independence vis-à-vis the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, having always stayed away from its management and administration.

On April 30, 1995, she delivered a memorable speech at Madras (Chennai) before Rajagopalachari and 12,000 of his followers where she first recognized that Babuji prepared Rajagopalachari as his spiritual representative and President of the Mission, adding that Babuji dictated to her his statement of the nomination of Rajagopalachari for the presidency - it is the taking of this position of Kasturi which would have led to the withdrawal by Umesh 1984 and Srivastava was appointed in his place, in order to avoid a possible explosion of the Mission . But after this introduction, all the rest of her speech focused on the fact that she can no longer accept Rajagopalachari as his idol worshipers have made of him with their propaganda.

Interviewed by telephone Shashwat Pandey February 20, 2009, she now says that Rajagopalachari is not the master of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, but only his manager. She now claims she has never seen his letter of appointment and the only master of the Mission is Babuji. (see interview with Kasturi and/or transcript) She then denounces in very guarded and yet acerbic tone, everything that Rajagopalachari (celebrations of weddings, large ashrams, calls for donations, the publication of Whispers, etc..). She also says she knows about all the ashrams established at time of Babuji that were taken by force by supporters of Rajagopalachari, that a trial opposes him to the descendants of Babuji, all because there is a lot of money involved, hence the current evolution of the Mission which she regrets, and that she has left. Despite this, Kasturi is an authoritative figure in the movement of Sahaj Marg, Rajagopalachari has kept her on his list of preceptors. She also adds that Lalaji has nothing to do with Sahaj Marg, one of her disciples adding that Lalaji is Santmat.

Her disciples, Akshat Gupta Somesh and Pandit Ji have created a blog devoted to her in November 2006 (http://kasturibhenji.blogspot.com/), reserved for its own members since the spring 2009. You can find a presentation of her books on http://kasturibhenjibooks.blogspot.com/ and some of her speeches on http://kasturibhenjitalks.blogspot.com/. In France, after Cyril Roux are also Denise and Jean-François Minceta, from Tours and exiled to Canada in Victoria, British Columbia, in late 2008 who suggest that some groups are linked to her, and who translate some of her texts, etc.. Why do they come from the shadows now after 25 years of silence?

After Babuji and Kasturi, Dr. KC Varadachari (14/08/1902-30/01/1971) is probably one of the greatest historical figures of Sahaj Marg. The meeting between Babuji and Dr. Varadachari dates from 1955 and rapidly turned into a deep friendship. Holder of the famous Vivekananda Chair at the University of Madras (Chennai) , and professor of Philosophy at Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) he created the Sahaj Marg Research Institute in 1965 and contributed to the spread of Sahaj Marg to the general public and its re-anchoring around the Hindu Raja Yoga. But in 1970, he warns Babuji about the risks of the drifting of the teachings of Sahaj Marg due to its rapid expansion.

Karumbur Chakravarthy Narayana is his third child, born June 11, 1939. He met Babuji at home for the first time in 1955 and was introduced to Sahaj Marg in December, 1956 at the age of 17. Babuji asked him in 1979 to assist Rajagopalachari after his death in his duties as president of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, which he performed up to 1991. He has even taken the lead in 1989 of the Sahaj Marg Research Institute founded by his father. But he eventually quit to found the ISRC (Institute of Sri Ramchandra Consciousness) in Hyderabad in August 1991. He complains of his developing an unhealthy "cult of a personality" through the concept of the living master and spiritual representative of Babuji, which he is not.

With the ISRC (http://www.sriramchandra.org/), KC Narayana Sahaj Marg teaches ideas heavily borrowed from his father Varadachari, the Pranahuti Aided Meditation. The ISRC has approximately 150 instructors, mostly in India and the USA, two of them reside in France. It has also created its own research and training center called Imperience (http://www.imperience.org/) and its own Sahaj Seva Foundation samsthdna (http://www.sahajsevasamsthan.org/), which manages a hospital, schools and the manufacturing of various products.

Present on the web for a long time, the ISRC and Narayana have also created a website dedicated exclusively to Doctor Varadachari (http://drkcv.org/), which can be easily understood because of his reputation. But on June 23, 2008, a self promotional website of Narayana is born (http://www.kcnarayana.org/), contradicting by the facts a teaching supposedly focused on Babuji and totally depersonalized. So he does not hesitate to list for us his qualities, by quoting Babuji's words of praise towards him, as supporting evidence, then he talks about his career and his family ... In short, all the ingredients to customize and to personalize the ISRC spirituality are now in place!

Recap. Today, with the disappearance of one (senior preceptor) and the other over time, there remains little more than the grand-sons of Babuji, Navneet and Puneet Kumar Saxena, head of a mission that has become virtual since the taking over of the ashram at Shahjahanpur, in lawsuits against the California Mission of Rajagopalachari. Besides the diaspora of senior preceptors, are also the aging full preceptors Kasturi in Lucknow, Narayan Rao in Gulbarga and Vital Rao in Bangalore, with many scattered communities in India and abroad, not forgetting the very structured ISRC of KC Narayana . For his part, Rajagopalachari seems more or less to be manipulating the last surviving son of Babuji at Shahjahanpur, Sarvesh, and the grandson of Lalaji, Dinaysh Kumar Saxena, at Fatehgarh.

(See Epitome of Sahaj Marg by Dinaysh Kumar Saxena)



Rajagopalachari and His "Clan"


Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari was born July 24, 1927 near Madras (Chennai) in southern India. He met Babuji in 1964, became secretary of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1970 and entices him in various travels around the world at 1972. Removed from office in 1982, he brings together a dissenting Working Committee in Hyderabad after the death of Babuji and has himself appointed president. He retires in 1985 at the age of 58 years old.

Rajagopalachari has the unanimously the senior preceptors against him. While the children of Babuji accuse him of trying to poison their father several times and call him a usurper, Kasturi calls him a manager and complains of what his idol worshipers have made of him, Narayana rejects the cult of personality that he has helped shape around himself.

When Babuji said about Kasturi that she was a saint, he immediately added that Rajagopalachari was a bachelor of science. " Indeed, the smoker of American cigarettes holds a bachelor of science degree and worked in chemical engineering before heading a subsidiary of the Indian industrial conglomerate TTK & Co of Krishnamachari. Very westernized, this man of the south has traveled the world multiple times in the course of his work, spending two years serving in Yugoslavia or in international technical committees.

Clever entrepreneur, Rajagopalachari knows how to lead men and manage his affairs. He develops valuable relationships with prominent Indian heavyweights and integrates them into his Committee representative of justice, police officers and entrepreneurs. He selects his lieutenants by their ambition and pushiness.

On April 29, 2005, Rajagopalachari chooses to write the letter of appointment of his successor, Ajay Kumar Bhatter, a young businessman from West Bengal and Member of the President's Executive Committee since 2003, chosen by Babuji and confirmed by the hierarchy of Sahaj Marg, signed and ratified by sixteen other personalities. Rajagopalachari announces it publicly the following day at Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu), on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Mission and the day of the 106th anniversary of the birth of Babuji, in a speech entitled "Securing the Future of the Mission" as he reaches his 78th year.

While the organization is required to manage all this little world, the danger is great to focus too much on the organization. Therefore, the Mission is guided in its work by a single person, both President and the spiritual representative of the Grand Master Babuji. This person must be chosen carefully to address both the physical work and the spiritual work, as well as his own spiritual growth. AK Bhatter has been chosen by Babuji, he was trained for it for years and will be even throughout the life of Rajagopalachari. He then will succeed him as Babuji's spiritual representative and President of the Mission throughout the world.

Reaching the zenith of his power, Rajagopalachari has named his successor in 2005. The following year he took over almost all the Indian ashrams which were not subservient to him, by cunning or by force, using his henchmen. He seems to manipulate at will the grandchildren of Lalaji and Babuji that are Dinaysh and Sarvesh. He has included on his list of preceptors, Kasturi despite her disagreement.

Uma Shankar Bajpai and Arokiasamy P Durai, retired policemen, are his henchmen, often at the forefront of the force taken in the ashram takeovers and all the dirty tricks. His only son PR Krishna, the wealthy heir and grand "bagman" of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, manages the land and the buildings of the Mission as his own. Santosh Khanjee, the eminence grise, organizes and manages the mission.

Besides these, there are also the historical faithful, those who went to join him in India and the other international leaders of the mission ...

All these people are his close circle. Some of them are also contenders to succeed him. He has appointed AK Bhatter in 2005 to better calm things down, but he is only a puppet. His legitimacy will extinguish itself at the death of Rajagopalachari. Legitimacy is acquired, it can not be decreed. Besides Rajagopalachari himself worries about it, and reveals it in January 2009. He said a cancer was eating away at the Sahaj Marg from the inside, and that the organization is threatened with disintegration. He has nightmares where he sees the Shri Ram Chandra Mission disintegrating into 240 small missions.

In the succession race, his only son PR Krishna, with his grandson Bhargava and his granddaughter Madhuri are well placed. But his "eminence grise", (power behind the throne) Santosh Khanjee who knows all his secrets and keeps an iron grip throughout the organization and its foundations also has his opportunities. As for the outsiders, the best positioned is obviously the grandson of Babuji, Navneet Kumar Saxena. But the recent media exposure of the son of Dr. Varadachari, KC Narayana, suggesting he intends to pull his piece from the game.

And if Kasturi remains outside the power play, this is perhaps not the case with her staff. And what about Srinivasa Rao as head of the Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj Seva Trust Cuddapah? As for the grandson of Lalaji, Dinaysh Kumar Saxena, what is he seeking by completely exposing himself the way he does?

Rajagopalachari has accumulated such a financial power and domination over men that the greed has became almost too large for his succession to go smoothly. The share market of Sahaj Marg™ and the SRCM ™ make it more of a dream. And in those circumstances, Ajay Kumar Bhatter can be swept away like a common straw ...

The REAL History of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (Part 3)

Taken and Translated from a research article by Alexis on his French blog: Le Projet Sahaj Marg

(Last updated: Feb. 2010)


Comments and Insertions by 4d-don are in "red italics"



The Totalitarian Temptation


Sahaj Marg is a concept that has much evolved over time, whether because of the individuals who have inspired it or the techniques that were implemented. Now reduced to its simplest form, this is hardly a meditation technique. Proponents are often single women, weakened by life, and therefore easy prey for a guru whose hold on their lives is impressive, almost limitless, whether it be their family's most intimate affairs or their social and professional life. This does not prevent the followers to mix Sahaj Marg with every possible techniques that have come out of the nebulous New Age.



The Sahaj Marg, a Terribly Evolutionary Concept


The legend currently in place at the Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM California-1997) states that Sahaj Marg has three masters, Lalaji, the original source, Babuji, the founder and Rajagopalachari, the currently living master. It also tells us that Sahaj Marg is a spiritual method unique and unmatched anywhere else, an exclusive specificity.

The real history tells us a very different story. Hujur, (or Hujoor) last Muslim master of the Sufi brotherhood of Naqsbandiya (before the founding of the NaqshMuMRa lineage of Lalaji as a sub-branch of the Naqshbandia Sufi Order), initiated the Hindu, Lalaji, into the secrets of his teaching. Together they built a syncretic teaching from Sufism and the Hindu Santmat.

The current Satsang resulting therefrom tells us that Lalaji dubbed (baptised) this teaching with the name: "Naveen Sadhana". Lalaji's grandson, Dinaysh Kumar Saxena, tells us that Lalaji became the first Sufi master not converted to Islam from the branch of NaqshMuMRa, and he did so with the blessing of Hujur. Kasturi, the "Saint" of Sahaj Marg according to Babuji, says that Lalaji is Santmat.

See: Naqsh MuMRa Stream of Sufis, by Dr. RK Gupta

Be that as it may, Lalaji sent his disciples to spread his teachings through the current of Ramashram Satsang. He named his son Jag Mohan Narain to succeed him as head of the Sufi order of NaqshMuMRa and appointed his nephews Brij Mohan Lal and Radha Mohan Lal as his seconds.

Therefore, Babuji was never promoted to anything by Lalaji in his lifetime (see why here) . Except that between 1944 and 45, (13 years after the death of Lalaji, and after having attended the Satsangh of some of Lalaji's legitimate appointees) he made a decision to base the Sahaj Marga and to create the Shri Ram Chandra Mission following the (alleged) instructions received by him during his dreams. But Lalaji is hardly the only one to have haunted his dreams. In his dreams were also Muhammad, Jesus and Ramakrishna, no less, but also other Sufi masters and Kabir and Swami Vivekananda ...

In 1963, Babuji takes his distance from the Sufis, a denigration that borders on denial. (see letter from Babuji in 1963) Meanwhile, Dr KC Varadachari, his best friend and most faithful disciple, is spreading the idea that Sahaj Marga is nothing but an adaptation of Raja Yoga, a simplified method accessible to everyone. By then, it's already been a long time and Babuji no longer speaks of Krishna, Kabir or Vivekananda.

On the website of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Dr. KS Balasubramaniam recognizes that the transmission of divine energy (??? calling an experience of energy "divine" because it is "transmitted" by a Guru via a preceptor, both humans, is not a given and should remain questionable), the so-called exclusivity of Sahaj Marg, existed well before him, and not only among the Hindus but also among the Sufis, the Buddhists and in Saivism. It (apparently) took place a long time ago between Saint Vasishtha and Lord Rama, but it was even used recently between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, in the nineteenth century. (One could venture that many religions have, or have had at some time or other, some sort of "transmission" of some form of "divine energy" as part of their mythology. Maybe except Buddhism?? Any other religion??)

Rajagopalachari retains only the legend of the three masters and ignores all the roots previous to Sahaj Marg, to assert the exclusive nature of this meditation technique which focuses on the heart. His followers focus on the only living master, maintaining an exclusive relationship with him which he encourages by creating confusion between the master and the Divine. The cultural integration of Sahaj Marg has then reached its peak, it is total.

First a spiritual teaching, Sahaj Marga has become a method of meditation, (claiming to be) an adapted and simplified Raja Yoga in the hands of Babuji. Intoxicated with his power over men, Rajagopalachari has totally de-cultured it and completely emptied it of its meaning to refocus it on the all-powerful master to whom all owe obedience. His followers have completed the work by building a cult around his personality where Sahaj Marg is nothing but a simple tool of personal development, a technique for well-being, a trademarked "Sahaj Marg ™" as there are so many others .

This (Sahaj Marg) is nothing other than the product of the interaction between Rajagopalachari and his followers, from the total surrender to the master and the cult of the personality, which his followers have erected. Totally decultured and just slightly impregnated with what it takes of "Indian-ness" and esotericism so as to attract Westerners in search of an exotic orientalism, it is erected as the spiritual "holy grail", a unique technique of Sahaj Marg™ which can now be spread to the whole planet without holding back.



The Groupies, Fans of the Star


Ferdinand Wulliemier*, preceptor of Sahaj Marg and Swiss psychiatrist, conducted a study that he related to the Symposium on Medicine in the Third Millennium of January 19, 1997:

"It covers a population of 54 persons for a period of 8 years between 1988 and 1996. These 54 persons were patients that I took personally as a psychotherapist and who either began to think about or meditated already under the system of Sahaj Marg Yoga (...)

Who are the people who are involved in a spiritual practice from a sociological perspective? Almost three quarters are women. They are between 18 and 80 years, rarely more, with a maximum between 35 and 50 years. This allows a link with the "mid-life crisis" spoken of by CG Jung, which he placed around 35 years of age. What is their backgrounds and professions? Almost all seems represented, but there is an over-representation of care-givers, teachers, but also to a lesser extent, and perhaps artists.

What is their evolutionary level, that is to say, what level of psychological functioning can connect them when they start to meditate? Let me say first that according to that estimate, almost a quarter have had psychotherapy before beginning a spiritual practice. A sizable minority of them, about 30% are people called "unstructured" If I take the usual psychiatric classification they include "borderline personality", borderline-neurotic borderline pre-psychotic (...)".

Almost three quarters of the followers are women, says Wulliemier. After verification, this is the case in Europe. The proportion decreases gradually as one climbs the hierarchy: two thirds of the preceptors and only half of the vice presidents (...of the national SRCM societies ... positions without power where in Canada, at SRCM (Canada), the majority of members of the Board of Birectors are male "non-residents", versus two "resident" women, chosen by Chari, of course. Who can disobey or oppose the Master without risking "lifetimes" without "liberation", or simply shunning? What has happened to "democracy" in the non-profit, foreign "charities", sector? Is "dictatorship" the norm now among religious charities?) are women, the committee of the President is 100% male, and a master or president can never be a woman, dixit (says) Rajagopalachari. In contrast, in India, the proportion is reversed and there are more than a quarter of preceptors who are women.

The divorce between India and the West is flagrant, the population of Sahaj Marg is clearly divided in two, both socially and psychologically. On one side is a world that is still very patriarchal with Indian preceptors attracted by the lights of power and money, where to approach Rajagopalachari is to integrate into a network of well placed individuals in the political and financial circles, hitherto inaccessible, in the hope of enjoying personal providential benefits. On the other side, is a Western world largely dominated by women of middle age, often single, separated or divorced, spinsters or single mothers in a very egocentric quest for emotional balance.

Ferdinand Wulliemier* tells us that all the professions are represented, although some are more frequent. There are actually almost no labourers and/or farmer. Spirituality (it seems) does not motivate the primary sector of production, as it invades the services or the creative sectors, especially the personal services. The medical and para-medical, education as well as training and teaching, personal development, welfare or artistic creative sectors swarm with the followers of Sahaj Marg. A quick explanation, perhaps a simplistic one, they are more than others in direct contact with anything that produces human (physical, emotional) misery, and therefore are more likely to succumb to the lure of a spiritual well-being.

Ferdinand Wulliemier* also tells us that nearly one third of the followers are "unstructured personalities", or "borderline" in the psychiatric language, and have had psychotherapy. So much so that Rajagopalachari already expressed concern in December 1992: "(...) our preceptors must be very careful when accepting new abhyasis to ensure they do not have people here who can not be helped. I 'm especially referring to people who have mental problems, and have undergone treatment in psychiatric hospitals or offices. Cases like this are becoming more frequent (...)."


In 2008, Ajay Kumar Bhatter also notices it, and is surprised because he states: "many European preceptors have problems with depression". So things are not fixed yet. And yet, the training manual for preceptors said that "(...) the transmission can exacerbate mental problems of such persons and in some cases lead to suicidal tendencies." Indian followers confirm (See blog by Sameer or testimonial by Rajan) that the meditation by Sahaj Marg has caused them hallucinations, manic-depression and even madness.

On May 14, 2009, Ferdinand Wulliemier intervenes before the 20th Congress of GRAAP (Groupe Romand d'Acceuil et d'Action Psychiatrique) in Lausanne, saying essentially that depression is an opportunity to transcend the evolutionary stages and to merge with the divine .

Clearly, supporters recruited by the Shri Ram Chandra Mission are often psychologically fragile people, and meditation can exacerbate their psychological problems, even to madness or suicide, but it is now said to offer an opportunity to better achieve the ultimate goal of Sahaj Marg and thus to cure the depression. In other words, one enters Sahaj Marg depressed, meditation increases the depression, but if you follow the instruction to the letter, it cures the depression. (that's the "fantasy" claim ... not proof. Some (most religions) claim that prayer will also cure "all that ails you"!! How long have the "good people" prayed for PEACE??)

Countless followers have sent letters to the master, and they show their incredible emotional family and societal distress. In this sense they are a good sample of the collateral damage caused by the modern world. Rather than seeking solutions to their discomfort in the defects of society itself, and struggling to make changes, they turn to the inner spiritual solution promised by Rajagopalachari, definitely secluding themselves from the outside world.

Sahaj Marg sets the ultimate goal in merging with the divine, providing one obeys and serves the master in everything and for everything. That's what they call "evolutive evolution", or their "invertendo", where the master becomes the father, the mother, (the doctor, the financial advisor, ) etc... Solely focused on their troubles, the followers focus exclusively on their relationship with the master. The way to achieve the ultimate goal becomes more important than the merger with the divine. This (allegedly) helps to forget one's worries and the daily frustrations of everyday adult life, and to find the freshness and worry-free life of childhood, a regression to the years of innocence where the practitioner has only to adore her/his dad. The means have replaced the end.

Proponents have therefore transformed Sahaj Marg into a solution to their egocentric malaise, a delicate balance where Rajagopalachari serves as a psychological crutch. Sahaj Marg has nothing to do with spirituality, it has became a simple technique of interior well-being, based on the total surrender to a master who asks only that.

* See also: SRCM, Astrology and (New Age) Therapies of All Kinds



The Totalitarian Guru


Proponents seeking an exclusive relationship with their guru, much as the bimbo groupies, fans of a star draw up a cult around his/her personality. Intoxicated with his power, Rajagopalachari stresses that they increasingly abandon themselves to their master by maintaining an unhealthy confusion between the master and the Divine. He puts them to the test and, having fun at their expense, pushes ever further the limits of his growing power.

Generally, they must obey and serve their guru in everything and everywhere, instantly, without using their knowledge and critical thinking, in a word without thinking. Specifically, he interferes little by little in their most intimate family's life, breaking up couples to impose mates on others, he destroys their social life by diverting their responsibilities and imposing his will in the place of theirs and he also succumbs to the lure of money. A power that has no limits?

Rajagopalachari took a liking to the money and his thirst, quite recently, is insatiable. The attitude of his followers confirms their total dependence. They do not rebel, and are not even offended by his remarks. Conversely, they are happy to have approached him, no matter what it has cost them. Here's what in November 18, 2007 one follower reported on the celebrations of the 80th birthday celebration of his guru:

"Master led the satsangh until 9:50 am (9 am to 9:50 am). After satsangh, the head of the center of Tiruppur said that Master was stopped by very young children as he went to the meditation hall. They held out a small (plastic) jar filled with coins and they told Master "Use this money to develop your ashram." Then Master said: "Our children know exactly where their duty is. Here also, we need to contribute to the development." Immediately Master took the microphone and declared: "I'm glad this is happening here and I am happy to be there. In many missions, it is customary to give a weight equal to that of the guru, in gold and sometimes even in diamonds. The guru can weigh 150 kg. A corresponding amount can unfortunately be spent, without counting, in the company of the film artists which he likes etc... But here I hope you all can give like this (pointing to the pot that should weigh approximately 5 kg). So do not weigh me, please give the equivalent of the 5 kg - but only if there are only bills of 1,000 Rs (rupees). I want the whole surface of this park at Tiruppur DJ to become a paradise: those who fly (by plane) above this site should be able to see this paradise from above.

Will you help me develop it? "

All abhyasis said "Yes, Master"

Master: "Okay, now let us turn to the donation itself. "All abhyasis rushed to Master with bills of 1,000 rupees. Brothers and sisters at once formed a long queue, completely filled the hall and made a personal donation to Master. Master took the money from each of them, saying, "Thank you. "

All abhyasis had a great opportunity to meet Master in person while giving money. Several couples met Master to bless them on their wedding day, so that he name their child, etc.. This also happened down the queue. Master joked with the children and gave chocolates to each of them and said: "It's very expensive chocolate because it now costs 1,000 rupees here," he joked with all while collecting the money.

Master sat more than two hours. Once all abhyasis had given Master said: "When I made the Sarovar (water pool) here at this site, many have asked me why they called it thus. It is a Kripa SAROVAR (Bollywood song) because today I have pulled hundreds of fish from it. I am extremely pleased to receive you all and to meet all of you. I can not say thank you, but I bless you all. "

It was a moment of great joy and Master left us after that. All abhyasis rejoiced and they had the great opportunity to talk face to face, and Master took the trouble to sit more than two hours, to make our happiness.

Rajagopalachari, as stated above, interferes within the most intimate family life of his followers. He destroys couples who did not suit him and fabricates others. A couple where one partner discovers Sahaj Marg is a household with a "triangle" begins. Rajagopalachari and Sahaj Marg quickly becomes invasive and the outcome is always the same. If the other partner does not join the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, the breakdown of the family, separation and divorce are down the road.

But Rajagopalachari does not only destroy couples, he also arranges marriages between his followers. He may well have already celebrated the marriage of more than 4,000 of them. He marries according to the whim of his desires, having fun in mixing nationalities and social backgrounds. It is he who arranges the meetings. He can always ask the opinion of his followers, but they are too afraid of offending him by contradicting him and they are often delighted that he will finally take care of them. The master, in his infinite goodness, has chosen them a partner. Who can ask for anything more?

For example, Rajagopalachari asks a young European adept if she would marry an Indian adept, and thus, live in India. She replies that he knows best what she needs. The same evening, the teacher introduces them to an Indian much older than she. She marries and a few days later, wrote her mother saying that Rajagopalachari was kind enough to have decided what was good for her ...

The tragedy is that the troubles are only beginning. For a believer, calling into question their union is to question the choice of his/her guru. But this is impossible, one must live with it, or begin to doubt the acts of the master, calling into question his infallibility, thus to reject him. It is not only a conjugal relationship that collapses, but all of one's beliefs. The psychological trap is terrible ...


So here's what Rajagopalachari said October 12, 2008:

"(...) So, seeing this happening in our own satsangh - Increasingly weddings are getting troublesome. People get married here by the grace of my Guru, my Master, and they run into trouble. Some of them, fortunately only a few, the marriage is finished on the day of the wedding itself. So far We have had three cases. But it is a tragedy for me because, as Babuji said, even one drop of poison in a big vessel of milk means a big vessel full of poison. Here we do not judge success by spiritual progress, we judge it by failure. And in that sense our marriages have failed too often for my comfort. Though my boys tell me, "Only three, saab [Sir]." Should not have even been one. So you see, when our people do not appreciate the sanctity of a spiritual marriage, do not understand why they are marrying in a spiritual assembly under a spiritual atmosphere, with a spiritual purpose, somewhere the teaching has been lost (... ).


Obey and serve are more important than the practice, Rajagopalachari said in Salient Features No. 4. Excerpts:

"(...) The best disciple is one who is most obedient.

(...) Success is not the teachings, or the application or practice, it is only obedience that finally today remains in my mind as the first and only factor in our spiritual development.

(...) In obeying and following the instructions of the Master, not only in spiritual sadhana but also in all aspects of life, we come to realize that the Lord is not only the master of the spiritual life, but a Master infiltrating everything with a right in all the human functions of someone. The development of this attitude reinforces the commitment to the Master and begins to develop in the pupil a sense of total dependency to the Master.

(...) if you think about what the Master says, you're already on the path of destruction. Do not think, because if you think you place your mental process in opposition to his.

(...) Beware of any freedom, because freedom is an illusory concept. It does not exist. There is only one freedom and that is to obey the Master.

(...) When we're with the Master, we should not have desires - not even for a sitting, not even for a counsel, not even for questions and answers, nothing! "We should be like the dog which is just happy to be at the feet of the master and watch his face!

(...) The perfect dog eats only when the master feeds it. If a stranger comes and gives him something it does not take it. If the Master says, "sit", and leaves three days later, it is still sitting there. When he says, "come", it goes with him. He does not ask, "Where are you going? Why are you going? "When are we going home?"

(...) Obedience means the service of the Master. The way to serve means to obey. I can not choose how I serve my Master. I serve the way He says.

(...) Who are we to judge what the master wants, why he wants? The abhyasis who claim to be dedicated must realize that obedience is the first sign of devotion and where obedience is lacking, devotion can not be there. And where there is no devotion, I do not think there is a chance or a great opportunity to rise to spiritual heights.

(...) Friendship should not interfere with a preceptor doing his duty to an abhyasis. Where friendship interferes with spiritual growth, then such a friendship should be sacrificed in the interest of one's own development.

(... ) Obedience in the beginning is a very difficult thing because it means servility, submission of our ego to a superior person. Therefore, the ego rebels. Disobedience always derives from a rebellion of the ego. But people forget that when you're obedient, you have no more responsibility for what you do or do not do, under his command.

(...) We will not follow someone we can not love . We can obey the people who force us to obey, but there is always an internal rebellion.

(...) But in an obedience oriented in love, there is no rebellion, no anguish, no submission of the ego because we've transferred it to him

(...) Love him, obey Him, follow Him and be discharged of all else.

(...) It is not easy to love, but it is easy to obey. And it is my experience that if you obey, and just go on and on, it's easier than trying to love someone.

(...) And when we absolutely love, we obey him absolutely. Also a reliable indicator of your love for the Master is the degree of your obedience, there must be an absolute love behind it. With absolute love, there is absolute dependence. With the absolute dependence, there is absolute abandonment.

(...) Obedience leads to abandonment.

(...) When a person surrenders to a Master, this means it has abandoned completely in every way. It has become simply an instrument in the hands of the Master.

(...) When we accept and obey Him and work for Him, and become like Him, He is happy. Thus obedience, love and abandonment are the three sides of the same thing (...). "


Obey and serve the master, that is what Rajagopalachari demands from his followers. Do not think or believe, be in an attitude of submission and absolute dependence. Proponents maintain the freedom only to accept total servility or not, without any liability, on the path of total abandonment.

Sahaj Marg does not advocate only subservience and total surrender to the guru from its followers. This attitude also extends beyond the everyday social life. Thus, to the legitimate revolt against the imperfections of the world outside, Rajagopalachari favors the interior solution at the expense of social engagement. To change one's self becomes more important than changing the world. The message is that we will participate in the universal evolution only through our individual inner development.

Thus, Sunday, December 26, 2005, two hours after a major earthquake, a unprecedented tsunami is sweeping down on Madras (Chennai) and South-East Asia. More than 150,000 deaths including 10% in India and five million survivors homeless. Western followers of Sahaj Marg, present at Babuji Memorial Ashram, send messages to their families back home to reassure them, and return to their meditation. They are in their bubble. The next day, the Shri Ram Chandra Mission publishes a special issue of Sahaj Sandesh to announce that the ashram has suffered "no injuries or damage.

Rajagopalachari talks about the tsunami in his speech on the following January 1st: "The Art of Listening to Nature". Some revealing passages:

"(...) And when we charge the Earth with our grossness, and it accumulates it, Nature will dismiss all this grossness, and you have events like earthquakes, tsunamis as we had a few days ago (...) So brothers and sisters, everything depends on you (...) Whatever you do, good or bad, affects the entire universe. In this awareness, if you continue to work and struggle in your spiritual life, the world will automatically become a better place. "

In short, the tsunami is our fault, and if we meditate more there will be no more tsunamis. Then, let's go back and meditate, while others are dying. The Christian religion promises paradise after death, failing to promise it on earth, thus legitimizing all their abuses. Sahaj Marg helps the followers to live in an imperfect society, by replacing the legitimate revolt against the outside world with an interior pseudo-solution. To change oneself becomes more important than changing or improving the world. It goes without saying, Sahaj Marg helps in its way to legitimize the abuses of our world. Religion has been called the opium of the people, and Sahaj Marg and Rajagopalachari are also.

Rajagopalachari joins in his way, the partisans of the New Age, where the world around us is a vast field of holistic consciousness of which we are an intimate part, and where it is solely by changing ourselves that society will change. So it is thus thanks to our interior individual evolution that we will participate in the universal cosmic evolution. An individual evolution which passes necessarily through personal transformation, including meditation, one of the altered states of trans-personal consciousness.

The individual and his individual consciousness will thus (allegedly) merge into the divine. It is a lightheaded-ness of individual dissolution of the interior "me" (the ego) drowning in the All.



Is The New Age, an Extension of Sahaj Marg?


The (French) Guyard report on cults in 1996 said that the New Age is "the first conqueror of the sectarian competition". Opposed to the materialism of the consumer society, it draws its inspiration from the counterculture of the California hippie movement, mysticism and environmentalism. A real laboratory for ideological cults, they borrow from its language, its themes and techniques.

Rajagopalachari is inspired largely by it, his speeches are packed with themes dear to the New Agers. But many of his supporters also advocate "New Age" techniques, or are campaigning in "new age" organizations, in which they try to spread Sahaj Marg.

The Age of Aquarius which is supposed to mark the transition towards a new and more harmonious and spiritual civilization, takes shape in the new age concept of Gaia, a planet constituting a single living system, thinking and conscious. New age themes found in part in Eileen Caddy, the precursor of this nebulous ideology from the sixties, founder of the "wonderful Findhorn Garden" in Scotland, an earthly paradise where today some members of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission organize meditation session according to Sahaj Marg.

In a very similar movement in Denmark, a preceptor of Sahaj Marg and her husband founded a charity in 1987 to promote a sustainable and more spiritual world. In April 1993, thanks to financial support, was born the first national network of eco-villages in the world, Los (Landsforeningen for Økosamfund: http://europe.ecovillage.org/denmark/network/index.html) where the followers of Sahaj Marg of Vrad Sande are very well represented. The first international meeting of the Ecovillage is held in Denmark in 1994 with the participation of LOS and the Findhorn Foundation (www.ecovillagefindhorn.com). The second meeting was held at Findhorn in 1995, when it formally established the international GEN (Global Ecovillage Network: http://gen.ecovillage.org).

The New Age is not limited to the concept of Gaia, it also offers many new alternative therapies to western allopathic medicine and psychiatry, to assist with the transformation of the individual, this state is called transpersonal and of non-separation, and is a merger into the All or and altered states of consciousness.

In Ohio, the followers of Sahaj Marg are very interested in Gestalt therapy, especially in Cleveland, the historic stronghold of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission since 1972.

"Gestalt therapy focuses on awareness of what is happening in the moment at the physical, the emotional and the mental, the indivisible. The here and now is a complete and present experience, for the person in his whole and its relationship with its surroundings. This experience also includes memories, past experiences, fantasies, unfinished situations, expectations and plans. "

"The present moment is fundamentally an experience of contact with others or with the environment. The psycho-therapeutic process develops awareness of how the subject can distort this experience, to ignore or deny its needs and desires, to lock itself in repetition of prior situations, to inhibit a contact of creative adjustment to the environment. This awareness enables new experiences of contact, from a knowledge and ability of choice re-found in the already-there of clearly identified aspirations. "


A vast network of followers of Sahaj Marg are interested in Psycho-genealogy. It is a therapeutic approach based on the principle that our choices, and more so our diseases, are influenced by what our ancestors have lived. Hence the idea of treating all diseases in a family psychology is the approach. Nothing like having a pretense to go and look for family secrets where there were none, so as to further weaken an individual. In this same vein, Dr. Hamer has allegedly developed a method for curing cancer, that is to stop all those unpleasant and unnecessary treatments and to enter psychotherapy. He was sentenced in October 2001 for complicity in the unlicensed practice of medicine and complicity to commit fraud.

The followers of Sahaj Marg have surpassed the teacher in the implementation of techniques from the New Age. From meditation, Gaia or various techniques of care-giving, and personal transformation, they are there on all fronts.