Church of the Churchless

Gurinder Singh Dhillon should respond to allegations of his criminality

In a recent post, "RSSB guru responds to allegations of criminality (weirdly)," I shared a report of what Gurinder Singh Dhillon said to a questioner who asked the guru what to say to someone who has questions about allegations of Dhillon's financial fraud.

Tell him my baba was getting bored he needed some excitement and he came with a bang. 

OK, that's a response. But not a very good one. About eight months ago Dhillon said he would respond to allegations "at an opportune time." A  time, obviously, that hasn't arrived yet.

Here's two comments on this subject that were shared today on the recent post by "In Search Of." See here and here.

They're pleasingly thoughtful, so I'm sharing them below. "Georgy Porgy" is  another commenter. I've added a few links to the comments that provide further information. 

Georgy Porgy, for someone who knows very little about RSSB, you seem to have a very healthy understanding of what RSSB is. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were an RSSB hack. Until an official comment denouncing any of these allegations is presented by RSSB, then it's open season.

By RSSB not providing even one sentence denying any of this, it automatically creates these speculations. The findings of the SEBI report are indeed factual. No disputing that. The fact that they point directly through shell companies to GSD's immediate family is another fact. All he has to do is release a press release that says: It's all false. DONE. Right?

When there is no response to allegations, you leave it to the general public to surmise, extrapolate, insinuate... you get my point.

Recollections of answers GSD gives during Q&A are left for interpretation. We weren't there. But the one about the child being molested by the father, and GSD's response to that, is unacceptable.

He could have said, in response to her, I will meet with you after the programme and talk directly. This would have let the sangat know it was serious, and a personal direction to her as to what she she should do, ie: call the cops and kick his ass out on the street.

No amount of serious discussion will sway you, or anyone steeped in the RSSB doctrine to have any effect.

Make a statement and move along is what I would recommend to GSD. Maybe you can send him the message though your contacts at Beas.

Cheers!

---------------------------

Those relatives on the board of those shell companies and siphoned monies are his two sons, his wife. The other members of the boards of these companies were high ranking RSSB management types and personal friends of GSD.

Sunil Godhwani is GSD's right hand man in financial decisions and he himself said he takes his orders from the guru. So what's your answer for that?

You actually want to say that all these people were not influenced by GSD and what has transpired? They tried to get away with transferring funds and got caught in the real estate bubble. Why is he involved in accumulating wealth?

Most members of the sangat have an unhealthy relationship with money. It's supposed to be bad and hankering after it is detrimental to your meditation. Really? Do as I say, not as I do.

It seems the closer you get to GSD's inner circle, the more the greediness and running after money you seem to get.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru who needs to answer questions about his alleged criminality

RSSB guru responds to allegations of criminality (weirdly)

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, has been decidedly silent about allegations of criminality (financial fraud, death threats) made against him by his cousin, Malvinder Mohan Singh.

But someone emailed me this exchange that reportedly occurred on April 10, 2019 during a surprise visit by the guru to a meeting of the Singapore RSSB group. I won't even attempt to comment on it, since the guru's responses are so weird.

Q: Babaji:  what do you have to say about the financial scandal?

A: RSSB has nothing to do with it. In case you want to read we have an article on the website. 

 

Q: In case someone asks what should we say?

A: Tell him my baba was getting bored he needed some excitement and he came with a bang. 

 

Q: Are you sure I say this?

A: Yes, it’s up to you whatever you want to believe.

 

Q: How come you have been silent on it and made no comments?  

A:  If I don’t tell you to react then how can I react.

 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Changing your mind is a superpower. Use it.

I have a superpower. But unlike those with superpowers who inhabit the pages of comic books and the screens of movie theaters, my astounding ability is available to everyone.

It's called changing your mind. 

I'm sure you've used it  -- many times. After all, we change our minds about countless things during the course of our lives. For example, I've changed my mind about my...

Politics (Used to be conservative, now I'm a liberal).
Cars (I've gone from a 57' VW bug to a 2017 VW GTI, with many other makes in between). 
Marriage (Got divorced, then remarried).
Profession (Earned a master's in social work, then went into health planning/research).
Eating (Loved meat until I became a vegetarian in 1970).
Residence (Grew up in the country, then lived in cities, now back in the country again).
Religion (Was Catholic for a while as a child, then a believer in an Eastern religion, and now an atheist).

So how is changing your mind a superpower? After all, everybody does this, all the time. True, but since we're so used to changing our minds, it's easy to overlook how marvelous this ability is.

First, to change your mind you need to have one.

Rocks don't have minds. Nor do stars. Living beings, though, have various sorts of minds. We humans have a powerful one. Other primates, ditto, though to a lesser degree. Plants have some sort of cognizance, but probably not a mind. Computers are very adept at certain tasks, yet so far lack what we would call a "mind."

Thus people are able to learn, adapt, modify our thinking, feeling, intuition, and such.

Because very little of human behavior is controlled by instinct, we have the capacity to transmit knowledge between people and across generations. We can read Plato and understand a great mind that lived thousands of years ago, thereby altering our own.

One of the best things about being able to change our mind is how good it feels, and how freeing it is. 

Yesterday I wrote on one of my other blogs about how I struggled to figure out why my DR Field Mower wouldn't start. I changed my mind several times over several days, with a foolish "fried battery" mistake thrown in. But in the end I learned what the problem was, with the aid of a friend who is much more knowledgeable about machines than I am.

I watched him methodically evaluate possible reasons for the mower not starting, with his mind changing about the various possibilities as he went along. This is similar to what a doctor does when arriving at a diagnosis, or a scientist when testing a hypothesis.

If a mind stays stuck, it can't move in a more productive or realistic direction. We have to be willing to give up an idea in order to embrace a better one.

Of course, "better" and "worse" can be difficult to discern in some situations.

When a mower won't start, it's easy to tell which is the better idea. It's the one that, when followed, leads to the mower starting. (In my case, we disabled the neutral switch, which was broken, and the mower started just fine -- so that was a good idea.)

In the examples I gave above about some of the areas in which I've changed my mind during my 70 years of living, most people would agree that in these areas, there aren't objective criteria about which of my mind-changes were better or worse.

Subjectively, though, I can confidently say that my current 2017 VW GTI is a much better car than the 1957 VW bug that I drove in college.

For one thing, the heater works in my GTI, so I don't have to scrape ice from the inside of the windshield while driving along, like I had to at times in college. But if someone is a collector of old cars, a '57 VW bug (or beetle) could be much more attractive to them than the modern car I have now.

Ditto for the other areas.

Though I'm a proud progressive, I'd never say that this is the only valid way of thinking about politics, since conservatives can have equally good reasons for thinking the way they do. And when it comes to marriage, my first wife and I were pleased to be done with each other after 18 years of wedded bliss that eventually turned into non-bliss.

Yet she and I both found other partners with whom we were wonderfully compatible. That's the nature of life: it changes. And as life changes, so does our mind (or, as our mind changes, so does life).

I'm not saying that change is always welcome, or even tolerable.

That isn't what I mean by changing your mind being a superpower. Sure, it is possible to reduce anxiety, fear, suffering, and such by altering one's thoughts and feelings, but I'm not aware of anybody who can remain completely unmoved by severe pain, disappointment, or loss. 

What is possible, though, is altering our psyche to embrace a new reality, even though it may be unwelcome. That's a superpower in and of itself -- the ability to say "This is...," no matter what those three dots stand for.

Here's some examples of what I mean.

On this blog I've been writing quite a bit about the legal, financial, and ethical troubles involving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Gurinder Singh Dhillon. I was a member of RSSB for 35 years, so I like to use this organization as an example of how religions can be wrong, and do wrong, since I'm so familiar with it. 

(If I'd remained a Catholic for 35 years, then became an atheist, likely I'd be using Catholicism as an example of bad religion.)

Fairly frequently commenters on my blog posts about the Dhillon family's alleged criminality will say something like, "Brian, when it turns out that the guru did nothing wrong, you're going to be unable to accept this." 

That really isn't true. 

Because I'm adept at changing my mind, if the Indian legal system ends up exonerating Gurinder Singh Dhillon, I'll accept that reality with very little trouble. In the same fashion, back in November 2016 it took a few days for me to fully accept that Donald Trump had been elected president of the United States.

But it didn't take long for my mind to adjust to a new reality.

Now I'm hoping Trump will be a one-term president. If that doesn't happen, and he is re-elected, I'll be disappointed. However, I won't deny that this happened. (I do worry, though, that Trump won't be able to accept the reality of a 2020 defeat.)

I'll end by noting that even though I'm used to many varieties of religious craziness after 15 years of regularly writing here on the Church of the Churchless, it still surprises me when a commenter expresses extreme surprise at how I could have changed my mind about the validity of the RSSB teachings after being a member of the organization for such a long time.

Often I'll ask them how many things they have changed their mind about during their lifetime. Have you stuck with the same job, same car, same residence, same friends, same political views? Almost certainly not.

There's something about religion that encourages a rigidity of mind that isn't nearly as evident in other areas of life. Members of some religions, like Mormonism or Scientology, will shun people who leave the religion. Yet if someone changes their mind in a way that leads them to join the religion, that's not only fine, it's marvelous. 

For many fundamentalists, mind-changing is a one-way street. It's great if you convert to their religion, yet horrible if you deconvert.

Strange? Yes.

But since just about every religion believes that it, and it alone, is privy to the eternal ultimate truth of the cosmos, this encourages true believers to denigrate anyone who embraces that religion, then chooses to leave it. I guess changing one's mind makes those fundamentalists fearful that their chosen faith really isn't true.

Which, almost certainly, it isn't.

I feel good about having changed my mind to realize this. It's much more pleasurable to accept reality as it is, or at least as it appears, than to cling to a rigid way of thinking that no longer makes sense to me.

Open Thread 20 (free speech for comments)

Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. Remember that I'm moderating comments, so it could take a while for your comment to be published. Almost every comment submitted to an Open Thread will be approved. Personal attacks devoid of substantive content are an exception.

Though I haven't been doing too well on this, I'll try to remember to always have an Open Thread showing in the Recent Posts section in the right sidebar. If one isn't showing, I've added an Open Threads category in, naturally, the Categories section. You can always find an Open Thread that way.

So if you're a believer in some form of religion, mysticism, or spirituality, this is where you can put your "praise God," "praise Guru," or "praise _______" comments.

Mumbai dance team, The Kings, rocked it on World of Dance

OK, got to update my previous post about other-worldly dance performances. 

My wife and I just finished watching the second hour of Sunday's World of Dance show that we'd recorded. Wow!

The Kings, a group from India (Mumbai), won the senior team division and made it into the World of Dance finals next week with an amazingly powerful performance.

It was inspiring that one member of The Kings was injured in practice, yet resolved to compete in the performance. I believe he was the one who ended up in a wheelchair after the Kings performed.

They said the theme was an Indian myth about a half-man, half-lion creature. They sure brought that myth to life. Enjoy.

Other-worldly dance performances on World of Dance

I don't really believe there is a God of Dance. But after watching these other-worldly performances on recent episodes of World of Dance, I'm open to that possibility. 

Here's Briar Nolet, The Kings (from India), and Poppin John. I find Nolet the most amazing. She's a gymnast turned dancer who does moves that seem impossible. But they're real.

 

Rabbi Goldstein is wrong. A moment of silence in schools is useless.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who lost a finger in the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue where one person was shot to death yesterday, has a perfect right to be deeply upset by what happened to his congregation.

But today I heard Goldstein speak about what he thinks the proper response should be to the attack, and I heartily disagree with him. 

Goldstein said that prayer used to be allowed in public schools. Now, it isn't. Instead, the Rabbi wants every school day to begin with a moment of silence. We should know that God created us, he said.

There's a big problem with this -- the separation of church and state. Children shouldn't be subjected to a religiously-motivated moment of silence, which really would be the only reason for such a practice.

The remarks I heard from Rabbi Goldstein made it clear that he wants God to be reintroduced into public schools. He didn't say why he thinks this would prevent mass shootings, probably because there is no reason to think that it would make any difference  in United States gun violence.

Here's part of a transcription on San Diego Jewish World of remarks made by Rabbi Goldstein. These are close to what I heard on my car radio today, but lack the mentions of God and prayer.

Rabbi Goldstein

And I want to take note for other victims who suffered yesterday, physically, emotionally, spiritually. The best we can do to combat is to grow, build, and be stronger, stronger and stronger.  And yes, every single one of us can do that. I look around at the myriad of cameras that are here.

The message needs to be brought out to the public ‘How does a 19-year-old, a teenager, have the audacity, the sickness, the hatred to publicize such anti-Semitism in [h]is manifesto?  How does he come here to a house of worship to do what he did?’ 

Perhaps we have to go back a little earlier and think about what are we teaching our children?  What are we educating our children?  We need to perhaps consider re-introducing in our public-school system a moment of silence when children can start the day with pausing and thinking, ‘Why am I created?  Why am I here? And what am I going to do?’

After listening to Goldstein speak, I heard a MSNBC panel of experts discuss the synagogue attack. They had a very different take on the cause of anti-Semitism. It was pointed out that anti-Semitic attacks rose by 57% in 2017, the year after Trump was elected. Trump's implicit and explicit endorsement of white nationalism is a likely reason.

A panel member also said that the Department of Homeland Security has eliminated a branch that was focused on combatting domestic terrorism. So the truth, this person said, is that the Trump administration isn't doing everything it should to reduce the threat from people who espouse white supremacy and white nationalism. 

A moment of silence in schools seems wholly inadequate to counteract a president who said, after white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville clashed with protesters, "You also had some very fine people on both sides." Here's what the white nationalist "good people" were chanting in August 2017.

They immediately went after the Jews. At their Friday night rally at the University of Virginia, the white nationalists brandished torches and chanted anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans, including “blood and soil” (an English rendering of the Nazi “blut und boden”) and “Jews will not replace us” — all crafted to cast Jews as foreign interlopers who need to be expunged. The attendees proudly displayed giant swastikas and wore shirts emblazoned with quotes from Adolf Hitler. One banner read, “Jews are Satan’s children.”

Yet I heard Rabbi Goldstein speak approvingly of his 15-minute phone conversation with Trump, who reportedly likes the Rabbi's idea for a (useless) moment of silence in public schools.

Our gun culture is the main reason this country has so many gun deaths. 

I've written about this in quite a few blog posts, such as "U.S.A. has more gun deaths because it has more guns." And Rabbi Goldstein should realize that Israel tightly regulates who can own a gun, as I noted in "Australia and Israel tightly regulate guns. Why can't the United States?"

After every mass shooting there's a call for thoughts and prayers. Which, obviously, do exactly nothing to prevent the next mass shooting. 

Rabbi Goldstein would be better off giving up his nonsensical moment of silence idea, and instead study the chart below from a CNN story, "How U.S. gun culture compares with the world in five charts." The United States is one of the most religious of advanced nations, yet we have by far the most gun-related deaths per 1 million people. 

Hmmmm. Could the reason be that we have almost half of all of the guns in the world, but only 4% of the world's population? Answer: YES.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon ignores sexual abuse of a child

Below you can read an email message I received yesterday from someone who observed first hand how Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, essentially endorsed a father's sexual abuse of his child -- by telling a tearful wife, "Don't involve the authorities." 

Now I'm sure some fundamentalist devotees of the RSSB guru will excuse his disgusting behavior by saying things like "No one can question the wisdom of the guru" and "Gurinder Singh can do no wrong, being a perfect master."

That's bullshit. To show why, let's imagine this scenario: 

A woman goes to a minister and tells him that her husband is sexually molesting their daughter. The minister tells her to be more loving and affectionate to her husband, and not to go to the police or a child welfare agency.

Wouldn't you think this was exceedingly bad advice by the minister, likely even criminally bad advice? (Here in Oregon, as in many other states, clergy are required to report child abuse or neglect.)

After all, almost all jurisdictions here in the United States require various professions to report child abuse.  Failure to do this can result in criminal and civil legal liability. So I don't see how anyone can defend the guru's indefensible action, since he is viewed as a trusted advisor by those who believe in him.

Read on for the details. (Here's a link to a recent post alluded to below, "How many people has Gurinder Singh Dhillon indirectly killed?")

Hi Brian,

I’ve been wanting to get back to you. I'm so disturbed by the posts of the last couple of days, I’m going to get this down on paper now. Please publish it if you think it relevant. It’s this:

 

I first came to the path in 1970 during Huzur’s North American tour. [Huzur is a title of respect for Charan Singh Grewal, the RSSB guru who preceded Gurinder Singh Dhillon.]

 

I was a devoted seeker, got initiated by Huzur Maharaji, visited Dera 7 times, was a multi-term secretary, a treasurer and a local & regional speaker, which is where, if you remember, Brian, we were first acquainted.

 

I am heartbroken by the recent revelations of criminal (there’s no other word for it) financial conduct by the Dhillon and Grewal (Charan Singh’s surname) family. Shivinder and Movinder are Huzur’s grandsons; their mother Nimi is Huzur’s daughter, BBJ is Huzur’s sister’s son and therefore 1st cousin once removed to Shivinder and Movinder Singh. 

 

[BBJ stands for Baba ji, an Indian  honorific that means father. Here it refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon.]

 

I, however, wish to relate the incident prior to their fraud, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

 

It was in 2013, at the Haynes Park, UK international satsang weekend.  The audience numbering maybe 1,500-ish people were seated on folding chairs, in a very large tent, on the grounds of the estate.  This is what I observed first hand:

 

A succession of young, pretty Indian girls came to the mic, one after the other, for Q&A. There was Baba ji’s usual, flirty and lame attempts at cleverness, and the giggly, giddy responses from the girls, despite the call for serious, spiritual questions only. 

 

Then came an Indian woman in western dress, mid-to-late 30s.  She was crying.

 

She proceeded to tell BBJ (and all of us) that her husband was sexually molesting their daughter.  The woman couldn’t leave the house to go to work because the daughter feared being left alone in the house with the father.

 

“What shall I do, Baba?” she tearfully asked.  "Should I go to the authorities?”

“No” replied the guru. “These things are better handled by being more loving and affectionate to your husband” (yuck!!) “Don’t involve the authorities in a family matter, blah, blah, blah…”

 

That was it for me.

 

In that moment BBJ made himself an accessory to a crime by advising the mother to remain silent. Needless to say, something Huzur Maharaji would never have said, if for no other reason than he was an attorney.  BBJ also made every person in the room, who heard this disclosure of criminal child abuse, an accessory after the fact.

 

(No, I’m not a lawyer but I was 2nd in my class at law school so not completely uninformed in common law.)

 

What BBJ did was not only heartless and ignorant. It was a crime and advice of the worst sort; as any mental health professional will tell you pedophiles do not quit. Pedophilia is a psychiatric compulsion with an almost non-existent rate of “cure”.

 

This is only one example of the many instances of disastrous advice BBJ is always anxious to espouse.

 

At least Huzur had the humility to preface the common sense advice he’d reluctantly give when asked, with the declaration that he himself was no expert in family matters and can be heard on audio tape admitting to be a poor example of a husband and parent.  

 

BBJ however fancies himself an expert in all things, above the law of man and blithely gives the most jaw-dropping and disastrous advice imaginable. The fact is BBJ's “advice” has caused satsangis I know personally the most painful consequences imaginable. 

 

In Spiritual Perspectives vol. 1, Huzur responds to questions about the end of this line of RS [Radha Soami] gurus by explaining that this institution and this line of masters is just like everything else of this world: impermanent.  

 

He says that one day this line will come to an end, the teachings will be bound into a religion, and a new line of sat gurus will rise up elsewhere to enlighten seekers about meditation according to Sant Mat principles.Most satsangis who have heard Huzur’s satsangs have heard him say as much.

 

It is clear from current events that time is at hand.  BBJ needs to just go home to Singapore, enjoy his ill-gotten gains and await the coming karmic retribution for being such a poor steward of Huzur Maharaji’s legacy.

 

Due to the violent fanaticism of so many readers, please just sign me:

Awake

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru who thinks sexual abuse of a child is no big deal

My Zen snow globe

BEHOLD... my mystical magical enlightening Zen snow globe!

You turn it over to stir things up, then it settles down. Until things get stirred up again, after which they settle down.

Just like life.

Buddhists, the mind isn't like a mirror. Science knows better.

In my churchless frame of mind, it's rare that I can get very far into a book with some religious overtones before I start using my highlighter to make question marks in the margins.

The book I'm reading now, As It Is by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, was bought because I was curious to learn more about one of the Dzogchen/Buddhist teachers mentioned in Sam Harris' Waking Up book -- which I like a lot.

(But which also has some question marks in the margins; just a few, though.)

I'll write about what appeals to me in As It Is in another blog post. Buddhism gets a lot right about reality, so long as the supernatural aspects of Buddhist teachings are stripped out. The doctrine of no-self and no-soul is very much in accord with modern neuroscience, for example.

Since Buddhist philosophy emanates from pre-scientific times, it's surprising that Buddhism gets so much right about how the mind works. However, it also gets quite a bit wrong, as evidenced by these quotations from As It Is that I read this morning.

Better to be like a mirror, letting reflections occur in the state of rigpa [knowledge of original wakefulness] without fixating on anything. That is the state of suchness.

...To reflect the pure development stage, first be a bright mirror. First understand, then experience, then realize. Try first of all to be a good mirror, a mind essence mirror, a rigpa mirror. 

Suchness. I don't like that word. Back in 2010 I wrote "My main gripe with Buddhist meditation." Here's some excerpts that apply to the As It Is book also.

Bare knowing. Actually happening. Just as they are. Inner life naked. As they truly are.

Many Buddhists actually believe this stuff, that through their many hours of meditation they're able to enter into an experience of suchness and thus so'ness -- which supposedly is an awareness of things as they are, not as they seem to be to deluded minds like you and I have (I'm assuming you aren't an enlightened Buddhist practitioner; if you think you are, congratulations).

Every human being, without exception, knows reality through his or her own idiosyncratic brain filters. Experience leads us to see things in a certain way, then our seeing feeds back into our experience in a never-ending cycle.

I do believe that meditation and other forms of mental training can help us become more aware of what's going on in both our inner and outer world. However, these awarenesses are of reality as we know it, not reality as it is nakedly, purely, actually.

Nine years later, I believe what I said above even more strongly. This is basic neuroscience: the mind/brain actively constructs reality; it doesn't passively reflect reality.

Recently my wife and I re-watched the first episode of David Eagleman's PBS series, The Brain. That episode is called "What is Reality?"

The description of the episode on the PBS website shows that Buddhism may be correct about many things regarding the mind, but viewing the mind as a mirror isn't one of them.

Dr. Eagleman takes viewers on an extraordinary journey that explores how the brain, locked in silence and darkness without direct access to the world, conjures up the rich and beautiful world we all take for granted. 

‘What is Reality?’ begins with the astonishing fact that this technicolor multi-sensory experience we are having is a convincing illusion conjured up for us by our brains. 

In the outside world there is no color, no sound, no smell. These are all constructions of the brain. Instead, there is electromagnetic radiation, air compression waves, and aromatic molecules all of which are interpreted by the brain as color, sound and smell.   

Cutting edge graphics show that data from the outside are rendered into electrochemical signals inside the brain, which map meaningfully onto physical reality. Our experience of reality is an electrochemical rendition of the world outside. It is not a faithful rendition.

Visual illusions are reminders that what’s important to the brain is not being faithful to ‘reality’ but being able to perceive just enough so that we can navigate successfully through it. The brain leaves a lot out of its beautiful rendition of the physical world, a fact that Dr Eagleman reveals using experiments, and street demonstrations. 

We meet the men and women whose experiences of reality reveal important clues about how the brain constructs our own reality, including the Alcatraz prisoner who was locked in the notorious ‘Dark Hole’ for 29 days, and yet experienced richly colorful moments of reality.

His experience, along with those who have experienced total sensory deprivation show us that even when sensory input to the brain stops, the show still goes on. Why? Because, amazingly, our senses – eyes, ears, skin, nose - only modulate an internally generated simulation of what the brain expects is out there. This so-called ‘internal model of reality’ allows us to move through the world, recognizing it rather than constructing it anew, moment by moment. 

We meet a man who is blind despite the fact that he has eyes that can see. His story reveals that it’s the brain that sees, not our eyes. A woman with schizophrenia, whose psychotic episodes were her reality, emphasizes the fact that whatever our brains tell us is out there, we believe it.

We have no way to get beyond what our brains allow us to perceive. Like the rest of the animal kingdom, we inhabit a miniscule slice of reality, and yet we believe it to be the whole picture. 

Eagleman also explores time, and takes a look at how – and why - the brain alters its perception of time, depending on the situation we find ourselves in. Time, it turns out, is not an absolute to the brain. 

Each one of our brains is different, and so is the reality it produces. What is reality? It’s whatever your brain tells you it is.

I just made this comment

I just made this comment to someone who tried to justify the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas' unfeeling response toward people with suicidal tendencies. See here and here. 

I'm curious if anyone disagrees with what I said. It sure makes sense to me.

Dungeness, you're presuming that being "spiritual" is something different from being a decent human being. I heartily disagree. Being a decent human being is the foundation of spirituality.

Absent that, it's possible to justify lies, deceit, abuse, and other things that gurus sometimes engage in.

When someone shares a serious personal problem and seeks support/advice, I've never heard a decent human being say, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself" or "That's a sin."

Yet Gurinder Singh Dhillon said those things.

This shows that at least when it comes to talking about mental health issues, including suicide, the RSSB guru doesn't act like a decent human being.

Like I said, spirituality should enhance the qualities of a decent human being, not negate or lessen them.

If the RSSB teachings negate/lessen those supports of positive qualities, obviously someone should run from those teachings as rapidly as possible.

How many people has Gurinder Singh Dhillon indirectly killed?

Yesterday a commenter called "BlackRose" asked the question that I made the title of this blog post.

It's impossible to know the answer.

All we can be sure of is that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, lacks both normal human compassion and the most basic understanding of how to talk with someone who was, or is, suicidal. 

UPDATE: I just made this comment to someone who tried to justify the guru's unfeeling response toward people with suicidal tendencies. I'm curious if anyone disagrees with it. It sure makes sense to me.

Dungeness, you're presuming that being "spiritual" is something different from being a decent human being. I heartily disagree. Being a decent human being is the foundation of spirituality. Absent that, it's possible to justify lies, deceit, abuse, and other things that gurus sometimes engage in.

When someone shares a serious personal problem and seeks support/advice, I've never heard a decent human being say, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself" or "That's a sin."

Yet Gurinder Singh Dhillon said those things. This shows that at least when it comes to talking about mental health issues, including suicide, the RSSB guru doesn't act like a decent human being.

Like I said, spirituality should enhance the qualities of a decent human being, not negate or lessen them. If the RSSB teachings negate/lessen those supports of positive qualities, obviously someone should run from those teachings as rapidly as possible.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the uncaring guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas

BlackRose commented on a post I wrote a few days ago, "Why a guru shouldn't give mental health advice." In it I shared a tale from a woman, Sonya, who told Dhillon about her attempts to commit suicide and got a response from the guru that included these unfeeling words:

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself."

Below you can read about another instance in which the RSSB guru turned a blind eye toward someone who told Dhillon that she was thinking about suicide. 

His reported response: suicide is a sin.

A few years later, this person killed herself. Neither her mother, who accompanied her to the interview with the guru, nor Dhillon, did anything to help the woman.

This is beyond shameful.

It borders on criminal negligence, failing to take the most basic steps to help someone who is thinking of taking their life. If a counselor or teacher had behaved the way the guru did, dismissing someone's cry for help with a curt "suicide is a sin," they'd be guilty of professional malpractice.

A guru should manifest the best of human qualities, not the worst. Rightly or wrongly  (I'd say wrongly), many people trust what a guru says.

After all, why did this woman and her mother ask for an interview with Dhillon? Almost certainly, because they believed the RSSB guru would offer some wise words.

Instead, the suicidal woman got worse than nothing.

Compassion, understanding, empathy -- that's what she needed, along with being told that it was imperative she get professional psychological help as soon as possible. The Mayo Clinic describes what should be done if someone is suicidal.

Dhillon did the exact opposite. He didn't tell the woman to get help. He wasn't compassionate. Instead, he was judgmental. Read on for what BlackRose said:

I really resonate with this post. A few years ago my cousin committed suicide. At first it came as a huge shock as it was very sudden and I thought no one knew she was suffering. Turns out I was wrong.

Both her mother and Gurinder Singh knew and did nothing. After the suicide my cousin's mother revealed that two years prior to the death she had gone with her daughter for a private interview with him where my cousin confessed to him that she was thinking about suicide.

I did not hear this story first hand but he apparently told her that suicide was a sin and her mother yelled at her for saying such things. I do know that no action was taken.

Neither Gurinder nor my aunt told a single soul about this at the time and so no one took action to get my cousin the help she needed. If Gurinder Singh, who my cousin believed was god incarnate, was compassionate to her and encouraged her to get help she may still be alive today.

The surprising thing is that there is another satsangi young person tangentially related to the same family who I have heard is suicidal. I don't know her name or know her personally but I sincerely doubt she is being given the help she needs either because of Gurinder's denial of depression as a real thing people all over the world of any class experience.

How many people has he indirectly killed because of this? I feel deeply sad for my cousin and the other girl.

What's also disgusting is how another commenter, "Grateful one," tried to make it seem like Gurinder Singh Dhillon was blameless in the woman's death. 

Below you can read a confirmation that the RSSB guru said suicide was a sin -- a horrible thing to say to someone contemplating taking their own life. 

The uncaring attitude shown by "Grateful one" makes me exceedingly grateful that I no longer put any faith in gurus. True believers like "Grateful one" are unable to recognize how blind they are to a guru's shortcomings, instead going to great lengths to excuse inexcusable behavior. 

As you can read below, "Grateful one" is deluded enough to argue that a suicidal person wasn't depressed or had any problems. That is flat out insane. Because devotees of the guru believe he is God in human form, they consider that the guru can do no wrong. 

But he did.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon did nothing to help a suicidal woman. Yet somehow "Grateful one" believes he wasn't involved in the situation at all. That's a lie. In a personal interview he told the woman suicide is a sin, and did nothing to help her. So it is entirely appropriate to ask, how many other people has the RSSB guru indirectly killed?

Here's the comment from "Grateful one."

Blackrose, I’m sorry but I know your cousin she was a very good friend of mine and I know the entire family as well. Yes she may have mentioned to her mother that she had these thoughts but her mother did not take it seriously as she never thought she would do it and I also know for a fact that Babaji was very sympathetic to her situation and told her clearly that suicide is the biggest sin and one should not do it.

She even asked this in a q and a and I heard his response myself as I was there. Your cousin(my good friend) was neither depressed nor had any problems. I find it’s very easy to blame someone else(in this case the master) for what she chose to do to herself.

That is very wrong as he was not involved in this situation at all. Your cousin wasn’t initiated or followed the path or any vows so how can this be related to the Master or his teachings? I know first hand because my friend stayed with me and we talked about it. This is the problem with these kind of comments where people write whatever they want which is non factual and only hearsay and many people tend to believe.

Our ordinary life is way more important than our religious life

Looking at the title of this blog post after I wrote it, at first I wondered if "ordinary" is the right word for what I'm talking about here. 

Namely, our everyday life. What we do that's personal, intimate, immediate, direct, experiential. How we spend most of our hours. What we honestly describe when someone close to us asks, "How was your day?" 

On further reflection, ordinary seems like the right word. 

Sure, often people have the notion that being ordinary isn't good enough. But this seems crazy. What's wrong with having an ordinary life that's mostly meaningful, satisfying, pleasurable? 

And when that life entails some suffering, pain, despair -- that too is perfectly fine. An ordinary life is going to have ups and downs, smooth running and rough spots. 

I got to thinking along these lines after sharing a wonderfully honest comment from Sonya in the form of a blog post, "Why a guru shouldn't give mental health advice," because the comment deserved more attention than it would have gotten otherwise.

What struck me about Sonya's description of her suicide attempts, panic attacks, and sorrow at how badly the guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon) treated her was that it seemed way more important and real than the spiritual teachings the guru represented -- which are largely conceptual, not being grounded in everyday reality.

So it makes much more sense to say of someone -- not just Sonya, anyone -- "in addition to being a [fill in the ordinary life details], they also believe in [fill in the religious, spiritual, or philosophical details]."

After all, few people outside of monasteries elevate their religious life above their ordinary life.

When I think about the 35 years I was associated with Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the organization now led by Gurinder Singh Dhillon, what comes mainly to mind is getting married, the birth of my daughter, going to graduate school, getting my first jobs, moving to Oregon, buying houses, some memorable family vacations, surviving my child's teenage years, seeing her mature and form a family of her own, spending time with my granddaughter, getting divorced and then remarried, settling down on ten acres in rural south Salem with Laurel, writing books, becoming an avid blogger, involving myself with Salem politics, dealing with the deaths of my mother and the father I barely knew, and so on.

Yes, during that time I also was very active in RSSB. I meditated every day, as I still do. I went to India twice to the headquarters of RSSB. I served as secretary of our local RSSB group for many years. However, all this wasn't the most important part of my life. 

My ordinary life was.

People engage in some strenuous disagreements on this blog, via comments. Being active on Facebook, I've often wondered what a difference it would make if everyone had to leave comments under their real name. 

Likely it would improve communication, because anonymity tends to lead people to say things that they wouldn't say to someone face to face. 

What Sonya did with her comment -- and I'm deeply grateful to her for this -- was illustrate how what binds us together is ordinary life, not religious life. I've enjoyed reading the reactions to what she shared, which almost universally are supportive. We all know what it is like to suffer, to feel terrible, to face crushing disappointment. 

In comparison, religious dogma seems distant, abstract, detached, unimportant. Sure, I realize some people are willing to die for their religion. But I'm confident hugely more people are willing to die for their child, spouse, or other loved one. 

I'll end by sharing a comment on Sonya's post from Spence Tepper. In it he shared some personal details that gave me a broader perspective on him. Before, I knew what Tepper thought about various spiritual subjects. After reading his personal comment, I had at least a glimpse of what really matters to him in his "ordinary" life.

Depression is a first world problem like obscene greed and corruption are third world Guru problems. Maybe he has something there?

I'm at the Boston Anime Con right now waiting in a line surrounded by a sea of cosplayers (my special needs son and I went yesterday; he was Dante from Devil May Cry 2 and I was Dante from Devil May Cry 4...( I made the props including the guns, and the sword with skulls, it was fun) and for the third year in a row there are transgender bathrooms.

How much pain, real trauma, have people had to go through to first accept themselves, and secondly, to assert their basic human right to be respected?

It is all around me today. The free right to be whatever role they wish to play, in whatever clothes and makeup. The sheer joy of each hand made costume, and the laughter of friends, the selfies of cosplayers, and the mythic anime stories of coming of age, and triumph over ignorance and stupidity, we have all come to see and to hear the journey of the creators to bring their worthy stories to creation, are all around.

You see women dressed as male heroes, men dressed as beautiful Geisha girls, and beautifully indeterminate but happy faces.

This happiness was won. It was earned. It was fought for. This is their heaven.

Gurinder's problems are his world. And no one's fault but his own. We offer to help any way we can. But we are not obliged to live there. We live in our own magical place of our creation.

Sonya, depression is a powerful event. Own it. Be proud of it. Your heart feels deeply, your mind sees something others would rather ignore. You have triumphed.

But if you have been able to establish by your own standards that you, alone, are a world, a worthy place carefully grown by time, nature and circumstance more valuable than anyone else, then, welcome.

You've graduated. You have your super powers. On to the next school.

Religare is committed to getting its money back. Bad news for RSSB guru.

Given my goal of bringing readers of this blog all the news in the Indian financial press about the Singh brothers'/RSSB guru's misdeeds that's worth sharing, here's a mildly interesting story in The Economic Times, "New management committed to ensure good governance, says Religare Enterprises."

Below are a few excerpts relating to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Dhillon orchestrated the installation of Sunil Godhwani as CEO of Religare, after which Godhwani proceeded to illegally funnel money from Religare into shell companies controlled at the time by the Dhillon family and close associates.

Since most of the money reportedly ended up in Dhillon real estate ventures that went bad, it isn't good news for the RSSB guru and his family that Religare is committed to finding out how the fraud took place and getting its money back. The story says:

Religare Enterprises Friday said the new management team is committed to ensure that good governance and accountability are the hallmarks of the group as it dubbed allegations made by its former chief Sunil Godhwani as an attempt to divert attention from fraudulent transactions.

..."The company has the full support of its shareholders to bring to justice the erstwhile promoters and management and recover all the monies siphoned away by them," it added.

It also said that the new management team is committed to ensure that going forward the ethos of good governance, ethics and accountability become the hallmark of the Religare Group.

"Religare Enterprises has suffered over the years on account of unbridled mismanagement and misappropriation of funds orchestrated under the erstwhile promoters (Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh) and Sunil Godhwani," the statement said.

Why a guru shouldn't give mental health advice

There are many reasons to be wary of gurus.

An overarching reason is that often, if not usually, devotees of a guru trust them way more than is justified -- since gurus obviously are human beings, flawed and imperfect like we all are.

Below you can read the experience of "Sonya," a regular commenter on this blog who shared a comment today that I felt deserved to be featured in a blog post. 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Sonya describes how Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (an Indian religious organization), responded after she courageously asked him about suicide. His response was uncaring, factually wrong, and distasteful.

Gurus shouldn't give mental health advice. If you wouldn't trust a guru with no medical expertise with telling you how to deal with a physical health problem, why would you trust what they say about a mental health problem?

I say this as someone who has been married for 29 years to a woman who was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice for quite a few years. My wife counseled people with a wide range of problems. Previously she worked as a school counselor, and before that, at a mental hospital.

(I have a Master's Degree in Social Work also, but I never actually worked as a social worker after graduate school, going into health services research instead.)

Reading Sonya's comment made me simultaneously sad and angry.

Sad, because she was treated so badly by Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Angry, because no one should make light of suicide or depression, especially someone in a position of authority -- like a guru.

The good news is that the experience led to Sonya losing faith in the RSSB guru. I enjoy hearing "deconversion" stories about how people come to the realization that spirituality is best practiced independently, rather than within the confines of a religious organization.

Here's Sonya's story. I've corrected some typos and added some paragraph breaks, but didn't change her comment otherwise. "Satsangi" means an initiate of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. "Dera" refers to the RSSB headquarters. "Sant Mat" is the RSSB philosophy.

Hi Arjuna and Jen, OK, I'm going to attempt to respond to both of you with one very long answer. :)

At the Dera during a Q&A session I asked Gurinder what happens to a soul when it commits suicide because I had tried to commit suicide twice in a 6 month period when I was 26.

I asked him this because I thought maybe my thoughts and actions of self harm during that period of my life and my continual self loathing that existed after that event might be at the root cause of my panic attacks which I had been suffering from for 15 years. They started about a year before I became a satsangi.

I was diagnosed with severe panic disorder because the attacks would last longer than an hour. One attack lasted 8 hours and I had to go to the hospital. It took me 6 months after that to feel like a normal human being again.

It felt like one day I was a normal person, then I had an 8 hour panic attack and the next day I was paraplegic. I wasn't really paraplegic, it's just that's how much my life had changed and permanently changed. I guess having a really long panic attack is like going through battle and then you have PTSD from the panic attack.

BTW, It was a miracle that I lived both times because I was truly very happy that I would never wake up again. I didn't leave a note... it wasn't a cry for help. I tried to make sure no one would find me till it was over.

And if you ask me why I tried to commit suicide (looking back it seems really dumb), I was really depressed after my boyfriend and I broke up. We had a very serious relationship... I was madly in love... He asked me to marry him and then I found out he was seeing someone else.

You know, the usual.

Anyway, yes I am fairly blunt and outspoken and the only reason I shared something this personal was because there was no way for me to get an interview with him [Gurinder Singh Dhillon] and I wasn't sure I'd ever be back at the Dera.

He said "Nothing happens to the soul. It's just the mind. Depression is a first world problem. You don't see poor people getting depressed because they're too busy working. Stop feeling sorry for yourself." That's what he said. Just like that.

The weird thing is that I had really been starting to question Sant Mat and him. However, even then I was very much in awe of him and somewhat "in-love" in a Master/disciple kind of way. I thought he would be the last person on earth that would ever hurt me.

My heart was absolutely broken and if my husband hadn't been with me I guarantee you I would have taken the 3 months supply of sleeping pills that I happened to bring with me. I would have taken them all at once right after that happened.

So, I went from the memory of one betrayal and broken heart to the realization that there isn't really anyone you can totally trust in this world. So, maybe I deserved it.

The reason I think he was so harsh was because I had been talking with some ladies after one meeting about how inappropriate he had behaved. They brought it up and I joined in because we all witnessed the same thing. Basically he was just being super flirtatious with some young women but it's not like he "took them home or anything". It just seemed a bit off-color.

And I think the word got back to him that some people were concerned about it.

Of course, that may not be it at all. He may never have even heard about it. Maybe I just needed someone to tell me that I was a selfish fool for trying to commit suicide twice over some stupid guy (I didn't tell him about the guy - I didn't say exactly why I did it--just told him I had been depressed).

And maybe I needed to realize that a guru isn't going to be there for you either to comfort you. Maybe he wanted me to learn that it's a mean, mean world, and that only the god inside of me can ever comfort me. Maybe he also wanted me to understand that love is bullshit.

He also told me that mental health problems are a first world problem. He made that very clear over and over. During that session someone asked him about people with serious mental health problems (like it was their family member or something) and he just shook his head and said you don't want to know what I think about mental illness.

He said that. Exactly like that.

So, I would never ask him about depression or anxiety if I were you. And God forbid you mention anything more serious like bipolar or schizophrenia. I think besides being born blind at birth, having a serious mental health problem like bipolar or schizophrenia are the only other things that will keep you from being able to be initiated today.

Now all that is very dark. It's hard for me to see how I could have been in such a dark place like that at one time in my life when I'm usually really happy these days. I also don't have panic attacks anymore.

After that experience I left Sant Mat for good and when I left Sant Mat I stopped having panic attacks. The panic attacks were horrific and I no longer have them, nor do I have depression.

So, yes Jen, I think you're right. He gave me exactly what I needed. And what I need is not him.

I shared some other comments by Sonya in another post, "Being worshipped leads Gurinder Singh Dhillon to behave badly." Here's how that post starts out:

I no longer believe that any person deserves to be worshipped. Respected, yes. Everybody is deserving of respect. But worship, no. 

For a long time, though -- some 35 years -- I was a member of an Indian religious organization (Radha Soami Satsang Beas, or RSSB) headed by a guru who is considered to be God in human form.

Just imagine how Christians would act around Jesus if he appeared on Earth. Worshipful, right? Well, that's how RSSB devotees act around Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current guru. 

Recently Dhillon was accused of criminal conduct by his cousin, Malvinder Singh. Defenders of the guru are fond of saying that the death threats and massive financial fraud are just allegations. That's true, but they're believable allegations, given what's been previously reported on this blog about Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

To put it charitably, Dhillon doesn't act like the traditional RSSB guru. Less charitably, Dhillon acts very much like many other powerful men: full of ego, greedy, controlling, using women in less than admirable ways. (The Me Too movement has done a lot to raise awareness of this.)

Below is a comment left by Sonya on a recent post.

She does a good job of explaining why Gurinder Singh Dhillon behaves the way he does, given that he's worshipped everywhere he goes. Of course, other men are worshipped who don't end up behaving badly: the Pope, Dalai Lama, many others. 

The RSSB guru, though, is treated like the god he is believed to be by his devotees, while the Pope and Dalai Lama are just considered to be holy men. Of course, this doesn't excuse Dhillon's behavior -- it just helps to explain it.

Here's the first comment from Sonya. I'll share another one also.

Deepak Chopra quote generator shows ridiculousness of New Age'ism

Religions are absurd by definition.

They make confident proclamations about God, heaven, life after death, and such, even though there is zero convincing evidence that God, heaven, life after death, or other supernatural phenomena even exist.

But there's plenty of absurdity floating around in the sphere of "spiritual but not religious," which includes New Age ideas.

Deepak Chopra is a notable purveyor of this sort of crap. I've written about Chopra here, here, here, and here. The blog post linked to in the last "here" is called Deepak Chopra's inanity makes my head explode.

OK, not literally. Otherwise I couldn't be writing this post. Figuratively, for sure.

Thanks to regular commenter Jesse, I've been turned on to a Deepak Chopra quote generator that allows me, or anyone, to produce Chopra inanities on demand that sound very much like the real thing in Chopra's books.

Here's what Jesse said in an email:

Hey Brian, not sure if you've ever seen this thing, but it's one of those quote generators like hundreds of others, but this one is made up only of words from Deepak Chopra's tweets. http://wisdomofchopra.com

 

"Perceptual reality compliments the light of space time events" 

 

So many of the quotes it makes are indistinguishable from much of the "wisdom" coming out of the Guru scene that it really raises the question about what these guys are even talking about.

 

I've long suspected that many of the adherents of these philosophies and religions hear a lot of words over and over and begin using them without having a firm grasp on the concepts either because they don't have the capacity, or because their teachers are repeating jargon that sounds fancy but never actually forms a coherent point.

 

The newness and exoticness of the terminology is very attractive and can make people feel like they're part of something very secret and special.

 

I wish I could remember more and better examples, but for example Jehovahs Witnesses refer to people as 'ones' quite often, Hare Krishnas often say 'demoniac' or even things like 'plenary expansions' which I think they struggle to translate into a useful concept. There are a bunch of words I remember using a lot when I was in RSSB but I'm not thinking of any now.

 

Anyway, check out that quote generator. Maybe slip one of them into an article some time and see if anyone notices.

Jesse

 

Well, I'll consider doing that, Jesse.

However, I need to remember that the unexplainable fears a symbolic representation of miracles. And it's common knowledge that eternal stillness transforms the door of knowledge. In the end, though, perception quiets exponential self-knowledge.

So likely I'll use the Deepak Chopra quote generator. Just did, in fact. Three times.

It's hard to tell fake Chopra quotes from genuine ones. The one below likely is genuine, because it makes such little sense. I'll keep looking for that place inside myself, though. I really want to be able to run a mile in under four minutes to show people that us 70 year-olds can do anything.

Just need to find the nothing-is-impossible place within me.

RSSB You Tube channel has exactly zero content from Gurinder Singh

I usually don't publicize social media of religious organizations, but since I used to be a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas before I saw the clear light of atheism, and quite a few visitors to this blog either have been or still are associated with RSSB, here's a link to the organization's recently unveiled Official You Tube Channel.

You Tube says the RSSB channel has 882 videos. Clicking on the "Videos" tab, I was curious to see how many videos were from the last four gurus of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

It wasn't possible to tell exactly, since the titles of many of the videos are truncated online, so the person in the video isn't always shown.

Still, this is what resulted from a search of the first names of Gurinder Singh (current guru), Charan Singh (previous guru), Jagat Singh (guru prior to Charan), and Sawan Singh (guru prior to Jagat).

Gurinder... zero
Charan...162
Jagat...12
Sawan...30

It's decidedly weird that Gurinder Singh, who has been the RSSB guru for 29 years, has never, to my knowledge, written anything public, been in any public videos, and does his best to prevent photographs from being taken of him. 

Yet his name is all over the Indian financial press, since he and other members of the Dhillon family reportedly are the recipients of almost a billion dollars in loans that were either fraudulent, or at least decidedly suspicious. Plus, he's been accused of making a death threat against one of his cousins, Malvinder Singh.

So I can understand why Gurinder Singh doesn't want to speak publicly about his financial and legal troubles. It just seems very strange that a guru whose job supposedly is to guide people to knowledge of the highest spiritual realities is so unwilling to say anything on the record.

Maybe it is because Gurinder knows that he doesn't really any possess any special spiritual knowledge. Another theory is that since he appears to have been markedly changing the RSSB teachings, at least in talks to non-Indian audiences, he doesn't want to make it obvious how what he says differs from what is in the RSSB books.

Shabnam Dhillon, RSSB guru's wife, implicated in financial fraud

Well, today there was another story in the Indian financial press about the Singh brothers' fall from riches and how their involvement with Gurinder Singh Dhillon, guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, has contributed a lot to the legal trouble they're in.
Download Malvinder and Shivinder Singh and the ‘missing’ funds of a billion-dollar empire | Business News

The Indian Express story contains intriguing details about the involvement of the guru's wife, Shabnam Dhillon, in financial dealings that a criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh says were fraudulent.

Here's an image from the story that shows her connection to several shell companies that allegedly engaged in illegal transfers of money.

As you can read in the following excerpt from the story, Malvinder says that Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects engaged in a "wrongful loss" to RHC Holding. 

In the image above, the blue boxes indicate companies where Shabnam Dhillon was a director until August 2016. Those include Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects.

It's hard for me to believe that she was the mastermind behind the shady financial transactions. But she could be held legally responsible, unless her husband, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, breaks his silence and admits that he helped orchestrate the fraudulent transfer of funds.

Here's the excerpt from the Indian Express story. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis. Rs 6,000 crore is about $863 million.

The ‘Baba’ Factor

Earlier this year, Malvinder filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), pointing fingers at his younger brother and RSSB spiritual head, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, for causing “wrongful loss” to him and shareholders of RHC Holding.

Malvinder’s affidavit filed in the Supreme Court this year claims over Rs 6,000 crore in loans and advances are to be recovered from “various individuals and entities belonging/controlled/linked to a few major companies and individuals, not a party to the arbitral award”. These include companies like Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects, Sunil Godhwani as well as the RSSB head himself, it alleged.

Shabnam Dhillon, Gurinder Singh Dhillon’s wife, was a director in Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects until August 2016, shows the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

“I say that these loans and advances have become due, however, due to the differences within the family, the recovery process for the same has been blocked… In order to further strengthen the recovery process, I have even initiated criminal proceedings against some of the borrowers who owe money to the judgment debtors before the Economic Offences Wing,” read Malvinder’s affidavit.

His EOW complaint alleges that Shivinder, along with Sunil Godhwani and Dhillon, conspired to “siphon” money from RHC and settle the Dhillon family’s debts and dues by absorbing them in RHC. This includes an alleged plan by the younger Singh to take over six companies, including Modland Wears, Best Healthcare and Fern Healthcare, “without initiating any financials and legal due diligence”. The EoW complaint further alleged that the six companies in question had extended loans exceeding Rs 1,000 crore to the Dhillon and Godhwani family.

Modland, Fern and Best — in which the MCA says Shivinder is a director — were involved in “fictitious and fraudulent” transactions of over Rs 400 crore withdrawn from Fortis through ICDs, according to the Sebi.

Malvinder claimed his younger brother signed a “family settlement” with Dhillon agreeing to “absolve” him of “any wrongdoing whatsoever and agreeing that no liabilities or legal proceedings or criminality would be attributable” to the RSSB chief under any circumstances.

Furthermore, Daiichi in 2018 alleged that the brothers had siphoned funds through a complex “web of companies”, to render its award, now valued over Rs 3,500 crore, a “mere paper decree”.

Summary of Singh brothers saga features misdeeds by Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Today someone sent me a link to a The Week story about the saga of the Singh brothers' financial downfall that contains several mentions of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas who has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in this unholy mess.
Download Malvinder Shivinder Singh: The boom-to-doom saga of the brothers

You can read the entire story below. I've added some comments of my own after several sections in red italics. 

One thing I learned from the story is that seemingly Malvinder and Shivinder Singh aren't nephews of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, because the story says that their mother, Nimmi, is the guru's cousin.

I'm terrible at genealogy, but a person who is more knowledgeable than me emailed me last year, saying that the relationship of the Singh brothers and Dhillon is first cousins once removed. Some news stories say Dhillon is their uncle, and I've gone back and forth between "uncle" and "cousin" in my blog posts.

Now, though, I'm going to stick with cousin. Here's the story. I've boldfaced parts that relate to Dhillon.

LOVE AND VIOLENCE. Faith and betrayal. Goons and gurus. The boom-to-doom saga of brothers Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh is peppered with all these in good measure.

Once the poster boys of India Inc (their pharma company Ranbaxy Laboratories and later ventures Fortis Hospitals and Religare Enterprises had all crossed billion-dollar valuations under their watch), they messed it up big time, as their businesses collapsed in just about a decade.

Yet, as the drama plays out at the highest court of the land, it is clearly symptomatic of the many lacunae in India’s corporate regulatory framework.

It all started with money, lots of it. And greed.

On the face of it, the amount that is making the headlines—Rs 3,500 crore the brothers are ordered by the court to pay Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo—is grave enough. But it is loose change in comparison to the Rs 22,500 crore the brothers are said to have blown up since they sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo in 2008 and ventured into a blitzkrieg of business expansion into multifarious areas.

They lost control of their businesses—some sold to the highest bidder, while some were taken over by lenders. Even their sprawling bungalow in Lutyens Delhi was sold to pay the dues.

“We would now like to fight for our justice and pride... and not for economics,” the brothers said in a joint statement a few months ago. But that was before they turned on each other, even coming to fisticuffs. “He assaulted me. He injured me,” Malvinder alleged in a video he posted online, showing his injuries, last December.

A few months earlier, Shivinder had alleged that Malvinder forged his wife Aditi’s signature in some documents, but they kissed and made up after their mother, Nimmi Singh, intervened.

The seeds of disaster were sown right at the time the brothers sold their family business, Ranbaxy, to Daiichi Sankyo. Ranbaxy had made a killing in the generic drug business to become India’s most valuable pharmaceutical company. At that time, Japan was modifying its drug laws to facilitate generic drugs, and acquiring a company specialising in it seemed like a fast way in for Daiichi Sankyo. Also, Daiichi got a drug maker with access to the lucrative American market.

The brothers got solid cash, nearly Rs 10,000 crore, and they promptly ploughed a chunk of it into their new businesses, Fortis (Rs 2,230 crore) and Religare (Rs 1,750 crore), which then kicked off an ambitious acquisition and expansion spree.

A similar amount of money (one report puts it at Rs 2,700 crore) was transferred to companies owned by the family of Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a Punjab-based spiritual sect that commands lakhs of followers in northern India and abroad.

It was only the beginning of a stream of cash flow from the Singhs to Dhillon, who is Nimmi’s cousin. The brothers say Dhillon was like a father to them, especially after the death of their own, Parvinder Singh, in 1999. On Dhillon’s advice, they appointed Sunil Godhwani as the head of Religare Enterprises.

Along with the Singh brothers, Godhwani has been booked by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. So Gurinder Singh Dhillon's advice hasn't worked out very well, legally and ethically. 

At first, all seemed hunky-dory. Fortis grew rapidly—once even crossing Apollo to become India’s biggest hospital chain—and Religare’s multiple wings performed well. Dhillon, on his part, invested in real estate, cashing in on the spiralling land rates in Delhi’s satellite towns in 2010 and 2011. More money flowed in to the many companies floated by him from the Singhs or through a complex maze of their companies and subsidiaries.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has found that the "complex maze" alluded to above resulted in fraudulent loans made to shell companies controlled at the time by members of the Dhillon family and close associates. A Business Today story gives some details about this.

Then, disaster struck.

As the real estate bubble burst in 2011, Dhillon’s investments came a cropper, leaving him with huge debt. The rapid expansion of Fortis and Religare, all funded by massive loans, suddenly came back to bite the Singhs as the slowdown took hold.

“Appropriate risk, appropriate growth, transparency in financial dealings and having an independent board which could question their actions were all steps that could have contained their greed,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO of the business consultancy TRA Research. A vicious cycle of mortgaging assets and shares to pay off initial debt plunged them deeper into the debt hole. According to information with the Registrar of Companies, assets worth more than Rs 15,000 crore were pledged, many of them possibly to pay off earlier debts.

To make matters worse, Daiichi Sankyo alleged that the brothers did not disclose that the US government was investigating Ranbaxy when it acquired the company in 2008.

A few months after the deal, the Federal Drug Administration, America’s powerful drug regulator, banned medicines from two Ranbaxy plants in India and launched an investigation into the company’s practices. In 2014, Daiichi sold Ranbaxy to Sun Pharma.

In 2016, a Singapore tribunal directed the Singhs to pay about Rs 2,500 crore to Daiichi Sankyo (the total amount now is around Rs 3,500 crore, including interest and legal fees). The brothers, however, delayed the payment, prolonging the wrangling and setting the stage for the denouement at the Supreme Court.

In between, the Singhs lost control of both Religare (taken over by equity investors) and Fortis (bought by Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare last year).

Religare now is seeking to get its money back, which involves tracing the flow of money that ended up in the hands of the Dhillon family.

A month ago, in a complaint to the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police, Malvinder accused his brother, Dhillon and Godhwani of criminal conspiracy, cheating and fraud. He claimed the outstanding from Dhillon was Rs 8,646 crore as of 2016, and that he was threatened by Shivinder every time he asked for it.

Malvinder also has accused Dhillon of making death threats against him.

“Shivinder initiated these actions and permitted siphoning and malfeasance of funds with the ulterior motive of gaining control of the seat of the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which was promised to him by Dhillon in lieu of the financial gains,” he said. Shivinder, however, said the fraud happened while Malvinder was running the company. Shivinder had renounced his corporate posts to join the ashram. He returned in 2015.

This appears to be a lie by Shivinder, though it is possible that Shivinder did join the Radha Soami Satsang Beas ashram at some point prior to when documents show he was actively involved in corporate affairs.

“It is not about individual honour... it doesn’t look good for the country’s honour,” said the Supreme Court while hearing the case against the Singhs. Corporate India’s recent track record when it comes to payments has not been very good.

It begets the question, what needs to be done? “Corporate laws are well formed, but poorly implemented,” said Chandramouli. “It is difficult for those erred against to get justice. In a world which works solely on trust, it is important that transgressors of trust be taken to task.”

Sam Harris shows my meditation is on the right spiritual track

There's many forms of meditation. They all have strengths and weaknesses, pluses and minuses. But only a few forms of meditation lead to an increased knowledge of reality, since most are based on unfounded religious dogma.

I'm confident that the meditation I've been practicing for about fifteen years -- after I wisely gave up a religiously-based form of meditation -- has me on the right spiritual track.

I explained why in "Real spirituality is realizing you aren't a soul, or self." Here's how that 2014 post starts out.

Just as predicted, I'm really enjoying reading Sam Harris' new book, "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion."

I'm about a third of the way through. Which is far enough to have discovered the central theme. Harris writes:

My goal in this chapter and the next is to convince you that the conventional sense of self is an illusion -- and that spirituality largely consists in realizing this, moment to moment.

...Most of us feel that our experience of the world refers back to a self -- not to our bodies precisely but to a center of consciousness that exists somehow interior to the body behind the eyes, inside the head.

The feeling that we call "I" seems to define our point of view in every moment, and it also provides an anchor for popular beliefs about souls and freedom of will.

And yet this feeling, however imperturbable it may appear at present, can be altered, interrupted, or entirely abolished. 

...Subjectively speaking, the only thing that actually exists is consciousness and its contents.

Wow. 

Now, I realize that some people would say "Yeah, makes sense, no big surprise" to the above scientifically- and experientially-persuasive truths.

But I spent decades as a devotee of a mystical philosophy that, like many others, taught that we humans have, or are, an eternal soul. The soul supposedly could return to God through meditation at the "eye center" -- that place behind the eyes and inside the head Harris, a neuroscientist and Buddhist practitioner, says doesn't house a self or soul.

So it sure seems like those who claim that this world is an illusion, with soul-realms being true reality, are the ones who have gotten it wrong. 

There is no enduring soul or self to be liberated. As Harris says in his book, genuine spirituality is realizing this. Thus a belief in the existence of soul leads one farther away from the truth, not closer. This is basic Buddhism, yet even many Buddhists still harbor fantasies of living on after death as... something or other.

Other posts I wrote about my first reading of Harris' "Waking Up" are here, here, and here. I re-read the book in 2016 and wrote another post about it. I had some quibbles about how Harris views consciousness, but upon a closer reading of certain sections I was able to better grasp his viewpoint.

The past few days I've been reading "Waking Up" a third time. I switch highlighter colors with every reading. By now some pages are almost completely highlighted.

This book is my favorite in the spiritual but not religious genre. Harris is famously down on religion, yet decidedly up on understanding the nature of ourselves through Buddhist Vipassana (mindfulness) meditation that's aimed at dissolving the illusion that we are, or have, a self/soul.

Harris writes:

Unlike the doctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the teachings of Buddhism are not considered by their adherents to be the product of infallible revelation. They are, rather, empirical instructions: If you do X, you will experience Y.

Although many Buddhists have a superstitious and cultic attachment to the historical Buddha, the teachings of Buddhism present him as an ordinary  human being who succeeded in understanding the nature of his own mind.

Buddha means "swakened one" -- and Siddhartha Gautama was merely a man who woke up from the dream of being a separate self. 

Compare this with the Christian view of Jesus, who is imagined to be the son of the creator of the universe. This is a very different proposition, and it renders Christianity, no matter how fully divested of metaphysical baggage, all but irrelevant to a scientific discussion about the human condition.

...Although the experience of self-transcendence is, in principle, available to everyone, this possibility is only weakly attested to in the religious and philosophical literature of the West.

Only Buddhists and students of Advaita Vedanta (which appears to have been heavily influenced by Buddhism) have been absolutely clear in asserting that spiritual life consists in overcoming the illusion of the self by paying close attention to our experience in the present moment.

Beautiful. 

What I love about this approach to spirituality is that it's solidly founded in modern neuroscience, which also says that our sense of being a "self" is almost certainly an illusion, so meditation needs to be aimed at realizing what we are not by paying close attention to what we actually are.

Namely, thoughts without a thinker; perceptions without a perceiver; emotions without an emoter; and so on.

Sam Harris writes:

The claim that we can experience consciousness without a conventional sense of self -- that there is no rider on the horse -- seems to be on firm ground neurologically. Whatever causes the brain to produce the false notion that there is a thinker living somewhere inside the head, it makes sense that it could stop doing this. And once it does, our inner lives become more faithful to the facts.

How can we know that the conventional sense of self is an illusion? When we look closely, it vanishes. This is compelling in the same way that the disappearance of any illusion is: You thought something was there, but upon closer inspection, you see that it isn't. What doesn't survive scrutiny cannot be real.

Harris uses this visual illusion as an analogy.

There appears to be a white box in the center of the figure. But, Harris says, "when we study the image, it becomes clear that there are only four partial circles. The square has been imposed by our visual system, whose edge detectors have been fooled."

Try blanking out all but one of the black figures with your hand. That makes it easier to see that what appears to be a white square actually is an absence, not a presence. 

Just like the self, or soul. It appears to be there, but this is an illusion. Look for it, and it's nowhere to be found. If that feeling of nowhere'ness persists, congratulations. You're enlightened! Or, awake.

Singh brothers stay out of jail. Malvinder's attorney says RSSB guru duped them.

Here's the latest news in the saga of the Singh brothers and the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. First, a Business Today story, "Singh brothers get a breather from top court." Here's how it starts out.

The Supreme Court (SC) has reserved its order on a contempt plea filed by Japanese pharma company Daiichi Sankyo against the Singh brothers over non-payment of Rs 3,500 crore arbitration award. However, the apex court said it was deciding the issue of 'contempt of court' only. During the hearing, Daiichi told the SC that former Ranbaxy promoter Malvinder Singh had given undertaking in the Delhi High Court, and that the value of their "unencumbered assets" was only Rs 452 crore.

The top court on March 14 had asked the duo to submit a concrete plan for repaying the Japanese firm as well as consult their accountants and financial/legal advisors and appraise it by April 5. But during the hearing on Friday, the bench was miffed at the responses given by the Singh brothers.

Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal, representing Malvinder, had told the bench that the brothers had been duped and that "nearly Rs 6,300 crore has been siphoned off by some 'baba'", while requesting that properties of the contemnor be sold under the instruction of the court. To this, the bench had responded saying that the court will "only adjudicate on the violation of our orders", adding that they can sell their own properties.

Not being familiar with Indian legal language, which differs some from what's used here in the United States, I'm assuming that "reserved its order' means that for now Malvinder and Shivinder Singh aren't being served with a contempt of court order, even though they haven't paid the Rs 3,500 crore [$507 million] arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo.

So it appears they're being given more time to come up with the money, though the story goes on to say that the Supreme Court justices weren't happy with the progress made by the Singh brothers on this front.

The "baba" who duped the Singh brothers, according to Malvinder Singh's attorney, is Gurinder Sigh Dhillon -- who allegedly siphoned off Rs 6,300 crore from companies once controlled by the brothers. That's $913 million.

It looks to me, from the last paragraph in the excerpt above, that Malvinder wanted the court to order the sale of properties owned by the Dhillon family (and maybe others also) that were bought via the siphoned/fraudulently-obtained Rs 6,300 crore worth of money.

But the court said, "No, you sell the properties on your own."

Much, if not most, of the above-mentioned money went into real estate investments made by the Dhillon family. Another Business Today story, "How Singh brothers got into trouble -- bit by bit," includes mentions of the RSSB guru and his role in the downfall of the Singh brothers business empire. Here's excerpts from the timeline.

June 2008

The Singh brothers sell their family firm, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd - at the time India's largest drugmaker - to Daiichi for $4.6 billion. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cracks down on two of its plants just months later, a development that only snowballs into a bigger mess.

...2009-2012

Nearly Rs 2,700 crore from the Ranbaxy proceeds are routed to entities owned by Gurinder Singh Dhillon's family and companies associated with senior Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) functionaries over three years. Dhillon, better known as 'Babaji', is RSSB's spiritual guru. Of that, Rs 2,000 crore is invested in two firms, Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects.

Separately, Rs 1,750 crore is invested in Religare Enterprises (REL) and about Rs 2,230 crore in Fortis - again from the Ranbaxy proceeds - to fuel their growth. All these turn out to be fatal mistakes.

The money transferred to Dhillon and associates - estimated to be between Rs 4,000-6,000 crore, with interest, depending on who you ask - remains unpaid to the Singhs. The rapid and reckless expansion spree that REL and Fortis embark on lands them in a debt trap when the slowdown hits in 2009. That's the beginning of a vicious cycle of mortgaging assets and equity in group companies to raise loans to pay off their previous liabilities.

...November 2016

Troubles mount at the Singhs' NBFC REL, under the helmsmanship of family confidante Sunil Naraindas Godhwani, who had come on board on Dhillon's recommendation. The promoters, who had not been on REL's board since April 2010, return this month after subsidiary firm Religare Finvest writes off Rs 794 crore due to non-receipt of dues from Strategic Credit Capital associated with ABG Shipyard. The loan and the write-off are under regulatory scrutiny.

...February 2019

On February 5, Malvinder Singh files a criminal complaint against Shivinder, the Dhillon family as well as the Godhwani kin - Sunil and Sanjay (who headed loss-making REL subsidiary Ligare Aviation). In the complaint filed before the Economic Offences Wing he seeks Rs 8,742 crore owed to him by the alleged accused.

Seemingly the Supreme Court is doing its best to insure that the Daiichi award is paid by the Singh brothers. If they could come up with the $507 million on their own, surely they would have done so by now, since a contempt decree and jail time could await them if they don't pay up.

Thus the spotlight is on Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family, since they appear to be the ones who ended up with almost a billion dollars siphoned through fraudulent means from companies once controlled by the Singh brothers. 

Given that Malvinder and Shivinder are nephews of Dhillon, as well as initiates of the guru, there must be a lot of heated discussion among members of the Dhillon family about this unholy mess. Maybe one day we'll learn about what's going on behind the scenes, if only to provide more of a basis for the plot of a Bollywood movie about this scandal.

Shivinder Singh lied about becoming a full-time RSSB sevadar

Here's another twist in the oh-so-fascinating big-money drama involving the Singh brothers (Malvinder and Shivinder), the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and a host of supporting characters.

A Business Today story says, "Singh brothers case: Shivinder drew Rs. 9 crore salary during 'retirement'; misled SC about 'Sanyaas.'" (9 crore is about $1,300,000; SC refers to the Supreme Court of India)
Download Singh brothers case: Shivinder drew Rs 9 crore salary during 'retirement'; misled SC about 'Sanyaas'

Here's how the story starts out:

Singh brothers Malvinder and Shivinder are on the verge of being thrown behind bars on April 11 when the Supreme Court hears contempt proceedings against the two in the $500 million order given in favour of Japanese pharma maker Daiichi Sankyo.

In the run-up to the proceedings, Shivinder's affidavit before the Supreme Court claimed that he had been on a 22-month Sanyaas - a sabbatical devoted to serving at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas - starting January 1, 2016. Hence, the contempt proceedings should not be applied to him as he was not in control of the affairs of the group. "...Deponent is not and at all material times was not in control of the entities against whom any contempt is alleged," he said in his affidavit.

However, fresh evidence available with BusinessToday.In suggests that Shivinder had never dissociated from the group. Instead, he was not only keeping abreast of and directing crucial decisions in the group but was also drawing salary from two group companies.

Hopefully this drama will be made into an Bollywood movie, because the plot lines are so complex and deliciously scandalous. I've hugely enjoyed following the saga for quite a few years. 

In February 2016 I wrote a blog post, "Billionaire Shivinder Singh plans to volunteer for Indian guru." At that time Shivinder reportedly planned to be a full time sevadar/volunteer at the Beas headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, giving up his business responsibilities.

In July 2018 there was a rumor in the Indian financial press about Shivinder becoming the next RSSB guru, succeeding his uncle, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. I wrote about this in "Gurinder Singh's billionaire nephew rumored to succeed him as RSSB guru."

Then, in February 2019, Shivinder's brother, Malvinder Singh, filed a criminal complaint against Shivinder, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, and several others.

Part of the complaint alleged that Dhillon, the RSSB guru, was willing to pass on the leadership of Radha Soami Satsang Beas to Shivinder in return for Shivinder forgiving a massive amount of money that was fraudulently loaned to the Dhillon family.

When Malvinder refused to sign the family settlement, he says a death threat was made against him by Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- which sure doesn't seem like a "spiritual" thing for a guru to do.

So now the Business Today story says that Shivinder Singh, who wanted to succeed Dhillon as RSSB guru, lied about giving up his business responsibilities to devote himself to volunteer work at the Dera.

However, documents in possession of BusinessToday.In suggest that in the period January 1, 2016 to September, 2017 when he said he was not involved with the affairs of the group as he claimed to be in 'full time charitable service', he was in fact drawing a salary from group firms ANR Securities & Ranchem.

Shivinder's Form 16 submitted to the Income Tax Department suggests that he drew a gross salary of Rs 21.75 lakh per month each from the two subsidiaries of RHC Holding - the group holding firm. Together, the two firms paid him Rs 9.12 crore in the period January, 2016 - September, 2017 as gross salary and Rs 5.9 crore as net post-tax salary during the period of 'retirement'.

Besides, multiple documents suggest that, far from retirement, Shivinder was deeply involved in the group's affairs, directing deals, advising board meetings and schedules and often intervening in discussions, even leading them at times.

It's an unholy mess, for sure.

Likely the Supreme Court isn't going to look kindly on Shivinder making false statements to the court -- especially since Shivinder tried to use his supposed stint as a full-time RSSB volunteer to get out of a contempt decree issued by the court.

It's interesting that someone appears to have leaked documents to Business Today regarding Shivinder's ongoing business involvements while he supposedly was on a spiritual sabbatical. It could well be that more leaking/whistle-blowing is going to occur.

People in the know could have various motivations for doing this.

Such as: not approving of what the Singh brothers, the RSSB guru, and others have been doing; wanting to cooperate with authorities to avoid being implicated in the wrongdoing; revenge for having been treated badly by Malvinder, Shivinder, and others involved with this scandal.

It's virtually certain that more twists and turns are going to occur in this drama. Hopefully justice will win out in the end.

New Delhi police investigating criminal complaint against RSSB guru

Here's a Bloomberg story from February that escaped my notice until a Google search brought it to my attention yesterday. Someone mentioned the story in a March comment, but I didn't read it in full until now.
Download Indian Tycoon Accuses Brother and Spiritual Guru of Fraud - Bloomberg

Those of us who've been associated with Radha Soami Satsang Beas for many years (35, for me) are marveling at the fact that the current RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, is the subject of a criminal complaint being investigated by the New Delhi police.

This is a fact that I don't recall seeing in other stories about Malvinder Singh's complaint against his brother (Shivinder), Dhillon, family members of the guru, and several close associates of the guru.

Sure, defenders of the guru like to say that so far he hasn't been convicted of a crime.

But that's a really low ethical standard for a a guru who supposedly is God in Human Form, according to the RSSB teachings. No previous RSSB guru has been accused of massive financial fraud and making a death threat.

Not even close to anything like that.

And part of the criminal complaint alleges that Gurinder Singh Dhillon was willing to sell his position as guru to Shivinder in return for Shivinder forgiving the money owed by the guru.

How anyone can see this guy as a "spiritual" leader baffles me. He's used his position as RSSB guru to enrich himself and his family, while failing to take responsibility for his unethical actions.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with the investigations into financial wrongdoing that benefitted Dhillon and his family. In my opinion, it's likely that Dhillon was involved in the scheming that funneled money into shell companies once controlled by the guru's family and associates.

I could be wrong, though. Just as those who say "The guru can do no wrong" also could be wrong.

Here's a screenshot of the story's headline, and excerpts from it. I've boldfaced parts relating to the guru.

Former Indian billionaire Malvinder Singh has filed a criminal complaint accusing his younger brother of siphoning funds from their family holding company and fraudulently diverting them to a renowned spiritual guru, the latest twist in the unraveling of a $2 billion empire.

Shivinder Singh allegedly directed the holding company to acquire debt-ridden firms which collectively lent 10 billion rupees ($140 million) to the family and associates of their guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, according to a complaint filed to the Economic Offenses Wing of the New Delhi police seen by Bloomberg. In return, the younger Singh was promised he would succeed the guru as head of one of India’s most powerful spiritual sects, according to the document.

The public fight between the former billionaire brothers follows the collapse of one of India’s most storied business families that once controlled the nation’s top drugmaker and second-largest hospital chain. The siblings have lost much of their corporate empire to debt, and are still being chased by creditors. Meanwhile, India’s stock market regulator and fraud office have open investigations into wrongdoing at companies the brothers used to run.

New Delhi police have opened an investigation into the complaint, said a police official. A criminal prosecution would be pursued if the probe establishes criminality, he said. Malvinder and Shivinder have declined to comment on the allegations in the criminal complaint. The brothers have previously denied any wrongdoing at their companies.

Dhillon’s lawyer and the secretary of his spiritual sect did not immediately respond to text messages seeking comment on behalf of the guru and his family members referenced in the allegations.

The criminal complaint alleges that the 43-year-old Shivinder “initiated” as well as “permitted this siphoning and malfeasance of funds entrusted to him with the ulterior motive of gaining ultimate control of the seat of the spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas,” promised to him by Dhillon. The spiritual sect, founded almost 130 years ago and based on a commune in north India, boasts four million followers worldwide.

...In his criminal complaint, Malvinder claims Dhillon had threatened him to sign a settlement absolving the guru of any wrongdoing and abstaining from any legal or criminal action against the spiritual leader. Malvinder alleges Dhillon, through his lawyer, told the tycoon he "would be eliminated by persons from the Radha Soami Satsang Beas," if he did not proceed as demanded, according to the complaint. The elder Singh claims he has recordings of these threats and is "fearful for his life."

Besides Shivinder and Dhillon, the complaint also names as references Dhillon’s wife, his two sons, and four alleged associates in the allegations.

Critical thinking welcome here. Preachiness, not so much.

On this blog I've gone back and forth with moderating comments. After deciding a few weeks ago to return to approving comments before they're published on this blog, I'm feeling good about doing this.

I'd rather have just a few -- or even just one -- thoughtful comments on a post than a bunch of irrelevant comments, especially if they're of the "Praise God!" or "Praise Guru!" variety.

But for many years my boundless Buddha-like compassion for religiously-minded beings has led me to offer an "open thread" option to those who want to express themselves in a fashion that isn't appropriate for comments on regular blog posts. Such as, being preachy.

(Here's the newest Open Thread that I just put up.)

This is a big difference between open-minded atheists like me, and dogmatic religious devotees.

I can pretty much guarantee that few religious web sites or blogs allow commenters to criticize their faith, while most non-believers are fine with open discussion of their viewpoints. 

Critical thinking is key. I love comments that exhibit thoughtfulness, even if the commenter disagrees with me. 

Now, I don't have a definition of "critical thinking," nor do I feel like looking one up. Instead, here's my ideas about what this entails.

I'll start with the most important word, critical, since I think most people understand what thinking means. Critical can mean "important," and that's certainly true with critical thinking. It also connotes a certain skeptical questioning, not taking things on faith.

A critical thinker isn't a blank slate, since all of us have preconceived ideas, assumptions, world views, and such.

However, we need to be willing to hold the attitude "I could be wrong." Many, if not most, religious believers aren't willing to do this. Though they may use critical thinking in other parts of their lives, they put it aside when it comes to their belief in God, heaven, life after death, and so on.

The main goal of critical thinking is to understand reality as clearly, completely, and accurately as possible. A related goal is to enable individuals to have productive discussions of what reality consists of, since without critical thinking as a foundation for such discussions, they'd degenerate into people making claims that stifle open debate.

Let's imagine a group talking about global warming -- it's causes, consequences, and what should be done about it. Then someone chimes in with "Jesus saves!" or "God is in control, so no worries." That would stop the discussion in its tracks.

Critical thinking mainly is directed at objective reality, the world outside of our internal subjectivity. 

If someone says, "I believe in God," or "I like chocolate ice cream," there's little that I'd feel like saying in response except, perhaps, wonderful. However, if that person says "God is real," or "Everybody should like chocolate ice cream the best," I'd want to argue with them.

During the 15 years I've been posting regularly on this blog I've seen countless (almost) examples of religious believers mixing up their subjective faith with objective reality. No reasons need be given for subjective faith, but very good reasons must be provided if a claim is made about objective reality.

Typically, truths about objective reality require an extensive process of review, discussion, debate, and criticism.

No one gets to say "the world is like this: _____" without that claim being put under the microscope of critical thinking. Saying so doesn't make it so. Facts, evidence, sound arguments -- those things make it so.

Look, I'm not saying that every comment on this blog outside of an Open Thread needs to be an intellectual tour de force. I'm simply encouraging visitors to this blog who want to leave a comment on one of my posts to be thoughtful in your arguments. Which doesn't mean serious, necessarily. Humor and thoughtfulness are allies, not enemies.

Each of us should be able to laugh at our mistakes, our tendency to believe that we're correct even in the absence of evidence, our unwillingness to admit I could be wrong.

Again, I see this as a difference between us atheists and religious believers.

I'm not certain that God doesn't exist. I'm open to evidence and arguments that God does exist. All I ask is that religious believers have the same attitude. Admit that you aren't certain God exists. Be open to evidence and arguments that God doesn't exist.

If this happens, we can have a dialogue based on critical thinking. 

Here's a few cartoons about critical thinking.

 

Open Thread 19 (free speech for comments)

Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. Remember that I'm moderating comments, so it could take a while for your comment to be published. Almost every comment submitted to an Open Thread will be approved. Personal attacks devoid of substantive content are an exception.

Though I haven't been doing too well on this, I'll try to remember to always have an Open Thread showing in the Recent Posts section in the right sidebar. If one isn't showing, I've added an Open Threads category in, naturally, the Categories section. You can always find an Open Thread that way.

So if you're a believer in some form of religion, mysticism, or spirituality, this is where you can put your "praise God," "praise Guru," or "praise _______" comments.

Queen's Live Aid performance shows power of Freddy Mercury being himself

Last night my wife and I finished watching Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie. It ends with a re-creation of Queen's famous performance at the 1985 Live Aid event at Wembley Stadium in London.

A New York Times story about the performance says, "Freddie Mercury’s set in July 1985 is often called one of the greatest live performances of all time." For sure.

You can view it via the video below, which has gotten over 211 million views. Mercury performs for about 21 minutes. I found watching him to be both highly entertaining and deeply inspiring.

Mercury was a gay man at a time when homosexuals mostly were expected to stay in the closet. Watching Mercury's struggles with his sexuality in the movie made me appreciative of how far society has evolved in its acceptance of LBGT people, who are, of course, almost certainly born that way.

The New York Times story speaks about how Mercury sent a message to the audience, estimated at 1.9 billion people in 150 countries.

Mercury’s pinnacle bow at “Live Aid” was charged by a poignant sense of subversion. Here was a gay man stuck in a pop culture moment that continued to insist his identity remain shielded in code. But what glorious code he chose! Through his balletic gait and florid presentation, Mercury rubbed the nose of Live Aid’s global audience in a powerful brand of effeminacy, seducing them into adoring something they might otherwise view with contempt.

Such is the power of authenticity, being who you really are.

Freddy Mercury had an amazing amount of talent. But he wouldn't have been able to captivate the 70,000 people in Wembley Stadium, and almost two billion watching on TV, if he hadn't possessed the courage to show the world who he was -- albeit in code, as the NYT story observes, given the backwardness of society in 1985 as regards homosexuality.

Queen's performance was a secular "miracle." Likely few people who saw it live will ever forget the experience. There's so many ways other than religion to be uplifted, transformed, touched by a higher power, feeling one with the world.

Here's one of them.

 

More focus on RSSB guru in Singh brothers financial scandal

Following up on yesterday's post, "Bad karma: Singh brothers may go to jail if RSSB guru doesn't pay up," here's two additional mentions of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, in the Indian financial press.

Someone sent me this image of a Hindustan Times story with the mention of the guru outlined in orange:

"Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing one of the brothers, said 'some babaji' has siphoned off the money of the two brothers and they have been duped."

Babaji clearly refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Kind of strange that the attorney wasn't willing to say his actual name. Sort of reminds me of Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord in the Harry Potter series, who was sometimes called He Who Must Not Be Named.

And I came across a story in The Times of India, "Will send you to jail, SC warns Singhs; to hear contempt plea." Screenshot of excerpt:

The second paragraph fits with what I said in yesterday's post about there being a contest between Daiichi and Religare for money owed to them by the Singh brothers -- which seemingly would include the massive amount of money owed by the RSSB guru. In that post I mentioned various "actors" in this financial scandal drama.

 

It's dawned on me that the relatives of the Singh brothers and their uncle, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, also have a role here. Likely leaders of the family are shocked that Malvinder and Shivinder could go to jail if Uncle Gurinder doesn't pay back the money he got from them via fraudulent means (allegedly).

 

Sure, squabbles happen in every family. But usually they don't lead to prison time. Or death threats, since Malvinder has filed a complaint against the RSSB guru that says this happened after he refused to sign a letter his uncle prepared that appeared to absolve the guru of having to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in shady loans.

 

So the drama continues. It sure seems like the RSSB guru is going to face continued scrutiny by both financial and criminal investigators. After all, the Dhillon family was the recipient of about $900 million in ill-gained money, and it's very unlikely that those who got the money weren't involved in the illegal scheming.

 

If marked money from a bank robbery turned up in someone's bedroom closet, they'd have a lot of explaining to do. It's possible that someone gave them the money and they had no clue about where the money came from, but that would be extremely unlikely. 

And in the case of the Dhillon family, we know that some of them were directors of the shell companies that got the fraudulently obtained money from companies once controlled by the Singh brothers. That makes claims of innocence even less believable, especially since the shell companies were active participants in the fraud.

Bad karma: Singh brothers may go to jail if RSSB guru doesn't pay up

I'd love to be able to listen in on what Malvinder and Shivinder Singh are saying right now about their uncle, Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. 

According to the India Supreme Court, it seems that the only way the Singh brothers are going to stay out of jail is if Dhillon repays a massive amount of money that was loaned to him by Malvinder and Shivinder, seemingly in a fraudulent manner involving the siphoning of funds from companies controlled by the Singh brothers and the guru's right hand man, Sunil Godhwani.

So says a NDTV story, "Will Send You To Jail," Ranbaxy Singh Brothers Told By Court: 10 Points."
Download Ranbaxy Laboratories: Will Send You To Jail Ranbaxy Singh Brothers Told By Supreme Court-10 Points

NEW DELHI:  The former promoters of pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy, Malvinder Mohan Singh and his brother Shivinder Mohan Singh, were told by the Supreme Court today that they could go to jail for disobeying orders to pay dues to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo. "We will go into the issue - why you violated our orders. We will send you to jail. We have given you a chance but you are unable to pay," the court said.

Here's the first three points. I've boldfaced the mention of the RSSB guru.

1. The top court was hearing a petition by Daiichi Sankyo which is seeking to recover Rs. 3,500 crore awarded to it by a Singapore tribunal in its case against the estranged brothers.
2. Last month, the top court had asked the brothers to inform it on how they plan to comply with the order passed against them by the Singapore tribunal.
3. One of the Singh brothers today told the Supreme Court that his assets can be sold and that he is yet to get dues to the tune of Rs. 6,300 crore from Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the head of the Radha Soami Satsang. "You may be owning half of the world but there is no concrete plan as to how the arbitral amount would be realised. You said that somebody owed you Rs. 6,000 crore. But this is neither here nor there," a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.

In US dollars, Rs. 3,500 crore is about $505 million, while Rs. 6,300 crore is about $939 million. So a heck of a lot of money is at stake here.

It's difficult to tell what happens next in the financial drama, or more accurately scandal, involving the Singh brothers, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the Dhillon family, and Sunil Godhwani, the guru's right hand man who was installed as the CEO of a company, Religare, that siphoned vast amounts of money into shell companies controlled by the Dhillons and close associates.

Everybody involved in this unholy mess has a different interest and motivation.

Daiichi Sankyo. The Japanese firm that won the above-mentioned $505 million award from the Singh brothers, after a court ruled that Malvinder and Shivinder covered up problems with adulterated drugs prior to their sale of Ranbaxy to Daiichi, wants to get the money they're legally owed. Likely Daiichi doesn't care how the Singh brothers come up with the money, so long as it is paid. If the Singh brothers go to jail, that means no money for Daiichi.

Malvinder Singh. He has filed a criminal complaint against the RSSB guru, alleging that Gurinder Singh Dhillon orchestrated the fraudulent loans, then made a death threat against Malvinder after his nephew refused to sign a "family settlement letter" that seemingly would have absolved Dhillon of the responsibility to repay the loans. Malvinder doesn't want to go to jail. He wants Dhillon to pay back the $939 million owed him. But...

Religare. The board of a Religare subsidiary has filed a complaint with the Delhi Economic Offences Wing alleging that the Singh brothers, Godhwani, and unnamed other co-conspirators (some of whom appear to be Dhillon family members) engaged in a conspiracy to siphon money from Religare into shell companies.

Religare, like Daiichi, wants to get its money back. And it seems that this will only happen if the RSSB guru pays back the money that was funneled to him and his family. So it looks like Religare and Daiichi are both competing for the same pot of money.

if I'm right, it's an interesting legal tangle.

Leaving Indian law aside, which obviously I'm not familiar with, it seems that Religare has the strongest moral case, since the money that ended up in the hands of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family came from Religare coffers. It doesn't seem right that Daiichi could be paid by the Singh brothers if the RSSB guru somehow was able to come up with the $505 million, since this was money obtained fraudulently, it appears.

Shivinder Singh. Malvinder's complaint says that at one point Shivinder was in line to replace Gurinder Singh Dhillon as the RSSB guru in exchange for Shivinder forgiving the money owed him by the Dhillon family. It's unclear whether Shivinder still has a close relationship with his uncle, the guru. What does seem clear is that Shivinder and Malvinder are at odds. Last year Shivinder filed a complaint against Malvinder that seems to be more or less a mirror image of Malvinder's complaint against Shivinder and others. 

Sheetal Talwar. He's sort of a bit player in this drama, being owed only $1.5 million by Gurinder Singh Dhillon. But he's also filed a criminal complaint alleging that a death threat was made against him by someone associated with RSSB.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon. The RSSB guru is a centerpiece of this scandal, but so far I'm not aware that he has made any public statements. Perhaps his attorneys have advised this. I suspect that he is hoping that even if his nephews go to jail, no one will be able to prove that he was involved, or even the ringleader, of the conspiracy to funnel fraudulent loans into the pockets of the Dhillon family.

Well, good luck with that.

In my opinion the odds are stacked against Dhillon, though there's a chance he could escape at least some of the criminal charges -- especially if he was able to repay the $939 million, or a big chunk of the money. That might be the price of Malvinder requesting that his complaint against the RSSB guru and others be dropped.

But if Dhillon was able to repay the loans, seemingly he would already have done so. Instead, it appears that real estate deals made with the fraudulently-obtained money have gone bad, or bad enough to leave the Dhillon family unable to provide the money the Singh brothers need to satisfy the Supreme Court and Daiichi.

The Religare complaint makes it quite clear that in addition to getting the money back that was siphoned out of this public company, Religare wants to get at the bottom of who orchestrated the massive financial fraud and benefitted from it. That's a finger pointing directly at Gurinder Singh Dhillon, since it is difficult to imagine that Dhillon's wife, his sons, or close associates would have engaged in the fraud on their own.

So my bet is that the bad legal karma currently focused on the Singh brothers will eventually migrate to the RSSB guru. Naturally I could be wrong about this. It's just an educated guess, based on what has been reported in the Indian financial press about Dhillon's involvement in this scandal.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Here's the problem with living: we're going to die

This isn't exactly breaking news, but I'll say it anyway. Each of us is going to die. 


Those seven words are undeniably scary. Life isn't always pleasant. Yet the gulf between having a difficult life and no life at all is more than immense. It's immeasurable. There's no way to compare being alive and being dead, or existence and non-existence.

The worst day anyone can have is on a different dimension than not existing at all.

Understand: I'm not saying that life is always worth living. Suicide and death with dignity testify to the fact that sometimes people prefer to check out of life early, rather than waiting for the involuntary eviction notice.

There are many reasons most people on Earth embrace some form of religiosity. However, a central reason has to be the reassurance almost every religion provides that when the last breath is taken, that doesn't mark the end of their life, but rather the beginning of a new form of existence.

I don't believe this is true.

There's no convincing evidence of life after death. Nor is there convincing evidence that human consciousness can exist without a functioning brain. Comas, anesthesia, being hit on the head with a baseball bat -- there's abundant evidence that consciousness is a product of the brain, though how this happens still isn't fully understood.

Still, each of has to come to grips with the reality of death whether we're an ardent atheist, committed religious believer, or somewhere in-between. 

Leaving aside the option of not thinking about death until it stares us in the face (which can be a good way to live, for those capable of doing this), it seems to me that there's two basic approaches to preparing for the inevitability of our eventual demise.

One is to try to expand our self. The other is to try to shrink our self. 

Almost all religions take the first approach: expanding the self. For example, some religions say that after death there is either bodily resurrection (Christianity) or reincarnation (Hinduism). Mystical aspects of religion proclaim that the soul can merge with God, taking on divine attributes. 

Aside from the fact that self-expansion, or consciousness-expansion, likely isn't possible in any sense that extends beyond the bounds of a single physical life, there's other reasons to shy away from this approach.

It encourages grandiosity.

I see this all the time in comments religious believers leave on my blog posts, notably those who are devotees of an Indian form of spirituality known as Sant Mat, or the Path of the Saints. They're fond of claiming that this is the highest form of religion, supposedly leading as it does to knowledge of an ultimate divine reality.

Of course, just about every religion makes this same claim.

Since there is no evidence of one religion being superior to another, almost certainly because they all are "fake news" (to borrow a phrase from Donald Trump), it seems ridiculous for a member of any faith to say that their way is the only way -- sort of like people arguing about which unicorn color is the most attractive, given that unicorns don't exist except in one's imagination.

So I prefer the other approach to dealing with life and our eventual death: shrinking the self. 

After all, us humans already are pretty damn insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Aside from having a lot of company here on Earth -- the human population is about 7.6 billion -- we are on a planet circling one of about 100 billion stars in our galaxy, which is one of at least 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

And we're very lucky to live 100 years, which is an infinitesimal blip in the 13.7 billion year old universe we inhabit. 

Thus it doesn't take much for us to shrink down to almost nothing, either figuratively or literally (the whole "ashes to ashes' thing). But our egos enjoy pretending that we're way more important than we really are, which goes a long way toward explaining the appeal of religions.

God so loves us, he sent his only son to die for our sins. The soul is destined to return home to its heavenly father. Humans are the pinnacle of creation. 

The myths of religion are innumerable. I much prefer reality:

Each of us is nothing special. We're connected to all other living things through the secular "miracle" of evolution. We live for a while, then we die. Humility is not only a virtue, it's the way things are in a world that is much grander and longer-lived than us.

Of all the world's religions, in my opinion Buddhism and Taoism are the best at offering ways to help us shrink our sense of self. One reason is that neither posits an enduring Self, or Soul. Rather, they teach that life is ever-changing, as are we. Our existence is intimately connected with that of everything else on Earth. We're humble parts of the whole.

He who stands on tiptoe is not steady.
He who strides cannot maintain the pace.
He who makes a show is not enlightened.
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure.
According to followers of the Tao, 
    "These are extra food and unnecessary luggage."
They do not bring happiness.
Therefore followers of the Tao avoid them.
    -- Tao Te Ching

As a concrete example of the difference between grandiose and humble approaches to spirituality, I spend exactly zero time and effort on religious web sites or blogs trying to push my atheist point of view. Sure, I enjoy sharing churchless/atheist ideas here on my own blog, but I don't go out of my way to convince others that they should adopt my perspective.

But ever since I started this blog in 2004, religious believers -- mostly of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas/Sant Mat variety -- have commented in droves on my blog posts. The way I see it, this shows that they're not very confident in their belief system, since when someone presents arguments against what they believe, they take this as a battle cry to fight against.

Thus I'm pleased to be a humble churchless blogger rather than a grandiose believer in religious dogma. It's much more relaxing that way, since my only commitment is to the truth as best I can understand it. Truth doesn't require any attempt to boost it up, since it stands tall on its own.

Regarding death, my bet is that what will happen to me is exactly the same thing that happens to every other person: we die and are gone forever. The way I see it, the more I can reduce my sense of ego and specialness, the easier it will be to let go when the moment of dying comes.

Until then, I'll enjoy life.

Sure, religious believers typically derive comfort from a fantasy that death won't be the end for them. But the price they pay for their belief strikes me as too high -- feeling like they are the special beloveds of God or some other higher power, which leads to a sense of separation from everybody else who won't enjoy such a marvelous afterlife.

I'd rather feel like I'm simply part of the dead-and-gone-forever crowd. If somehow I discover that I'm living on after I die, that'll be great news. I'm not counting on it, though.

I'm an atheist with more faith than any religious believer

A week ago I came up with the title to this blog post.

The next day I wrote a comment in reply to someone who goes by "In Search Of" that ended up being a good start to explaining why I consider that atheist me has more faith than religious believers.

Here it is.

Following my comment you'll find excerpts from one of my first Church of the Churchless blog posts from way back in 2004, "Just have faith." I'm pleased that while I've become more of an atheist over the past fifteen years, my basic faith in reality hasn't changed.

In Search Of, you asked: "Brian, help me out here. Am I being unreasonable? Why can't I get an intelligent response to my question? Are we unable to differentiate between logic and faith? Or are the two at opposite poles? Is this the real question we're trying to answer? And is it an answerable question?"

Great questions. Interestingly, I came up with the title of a future blog post yesterday that I wrote down for future reference: "I'm an atheist with more faith than any religious believer." In brief, here's what came to mind that led to the idea for this blog post.

I have faith in reality.

Not just bits and pieces of reality, but reality as a whole -- the entire unimaginably vast cosmos, including the aspects that we humans currently know about and also the parts that remain a mystery. Sure, I also have faith in discrete entities. My doctors. Scientists. My VW GTI. My MacBook Pro.

But it isn't possible to have 100% faith in anything discrete.

For example, every finding of science is open to revision if new facts are revealed. Ditto for my faith in my car, which has had defects that needed to be fixed. And certainly ditto for religious leaders, even those like Gurinder Singh Dhillon that are supposedly "perfect masters."

Yet even given all that, I believe in a cosmos that operates according to some beautiful laws of cause and effect.

This applies at the quantum level also, though the laws appear to be more probabilistic than deterministic. Still, probability is a law, or quantum mechanics wouldn't be such a precise science that's responsible for much of our modern technology.

So my mantra is: "I open myself to reality, however it may appear." I wrote a blog post about this: "An atheist meditation that pleases God."

Where I went astray during many of my 35 years of being devoted to RSSB and the Sant Mat meditation practice was having undue faith in a particular aspect of reality. Namely, RSSB and the gurus in that tradition. My observation is that many others fall into the same trap.

They ignore evidence that doesn't fit into their mental model of what reality is like.

But reality doesn't give a shit about our mental models. Reality is simply what it is: reality. As another favorite saying of mine from Philip K. Dick puts it, "Reality is that which, when we stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

The guru's financial dealings/wrongdoing aren't a matter of belief. They're well documented. But RSSB devotees are so used to relying on belief, they aren't able to accept that no matter what they believe, reality remains.

So no, I don't believe that faith and reason are opposed.

At least, not in how I view faith: as trust in a reality that exists independent of our beliefs about it. Thus my view is that it's up to us humans to do our best to understand reality, not for reality to comport with our beliefs about it. That latter option leads to magical thinking.

I see it all the time in comments on this blog. RSSB devotees feel that if they only scream loudly enough into cyberspace, "The guru did nothing wrong! The guru is God! Stop criticizing the guru!", somehow this will change the reality of the guru's behavior.

All of our mental models are false to some extent.

However, we get so attached to them, often there is no crack in the mental model armor where greater and more accurate knowledge can enter.

Religious people are especially prone to this, because their need to believe that not only this life, but also their afterlife, is in the hands of a higher power is so strong, so compelling, so desperate, their reluctance to adjust their mental religious model is equally strong.

With my VW GTI, which I like a lot but am not hugely devoted to, I still found it difficult to accept that a creaking in the sunroof really was a major defect. I tried quite a few ways to fix it before it finally dawned on me, and my dealership, that the whole thing needed to be replaced, basically. See: "My VW had a creaky sunroof. Here's the tale of a 5-week repair."  

There's an analogy here.

Sometimes an entire mental model needs major refurbishing, or even replacement. That's what happened with me and the RSSB teachings. Well, looks like I just wrote a good portion of the above-mentioned planned post. Thanks for giving me that head start.

And here's the excerpts from the above-mentioned "Just have faith" post.

Faith is wonderful.
Faith is all we need to be spiritual.
Just faith. Faith alone.
So we shouldn't have faith in anything other than pure, naked, empty faith.

...Here's how to tell the difference between true faith and false faith:

Imagine that you are standing in the middle of a bare windowless room. Two doors lead out of the room. Both are closed, but can be opened with a turn of the doorknob. The doors are marked with signs that describe what awaits on the other side: (A) Reality, (B) Belief

After you open a door, you have to walk through it. The door then will shut and you never will be able to leave the place you have entered.

Choose Reality and you will know things as they really are, from top to bottom of the cosmos.

You will know whether or not God exists and, if so, the nature of this ultimate divinity. You will know whether death is the final end of your existence or if it is the beginning of another form of life. You will know whether there is a meaning to the universe beyond what human beings ascribe to it.

Or, choose Belief and you will know only what lies within the confines of your current suppositions about the nature of the cosmos.

For the rest of your life you will be confident that what you believe to be true, really is. Any evidence to the contrary will not make an impact on your mind. You will remain doubt-free, faithful to the beliefs you now hold about God, creation, life, death, and the purpose of human existence.

Which door would you choose to walk through?

Before answering, consider carefully the potential ramifications of your choice. Reality is an unknown, a mystery. It could be frightening or fabulous, painful or pleasurable, warmly loving or coldly uncaring. Do you want to embrace absolutely real reality? Or would you rather hold on to your beliefs about what is real?

Someone with the type of faith extolled by the Church of the Churchless would unhesitatingly choose Door A and boldly stride into Reality. For their faith is not in anything particular, but is a faith that truth can be known, should be known, and, indeed, must be known.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon isn't adhering to the message of "Honest Living"

Below is a recent comment written by Radh(er Not) Soami that struck me as well worth sharing as a blog post. The comment points to something important that I feel has been overlooked by defenders of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru who are fond of saying, "Innocent until proven guilty!"

(If you're not familiar with what the guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD), has been accused of, it is a conspiracy to commit massive financial fraud and death threats. A criminal complaint filed against the guru is discussed in "Legal filing against Gurinder Singh Dhillon is fascinating reading.")

The important thing being overlooked is how strange it is that a spiritual leader with millions of followers, who is considered to be God in Human Form according to the teachings of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), is at risk of being convicted of engaging in financial fraud and making death threats against people who demanded their money back.

Nothing remotely this scandalous has ever occurred in the lineage of RSSB gurus. And as you can read in the following comment, RSSB has even published a book called "Honest Living" whose message is decidedly at odds with how the guru who leads this organization has been conducting his life.

Read on for what Radh(er Not) Soami says. The family settlement letter mentioned in this comment can be read in this post. 

@jay, you wrote:
"So far no one has disputed the accuracy of the bad news about the RSSB guru"
Brian, this pinpoints where we disagree. Strictly speaking, the facts (a thing that is known or proved to be true) presented have all [been] about the associates of the RSSB guru. But they're not facts about the actions of Gurinder Singh himself.

Does the letter written by GSD talking about the Family Settlement, reversal of properties, and settling of accounts constitute "facts" with some "accuracy of the bad news", or at least admission of some "facts" with some "accuracy" of the news, whether bad or not?

To all RSSB defenders, please help me in putting this scandal in the context of Honest Living. As opposed to the previous RSSB related dramas, this one cuts directly to the heart of what the head himself does in his private life, something 99.99% of the sangat is not privy to, and something that he has not been transparent to us at all, ever.

Not in their books, wikipedia page, or even on their own website. Not even now! And here I thought Saints like Nanak and Kabir show openness and transparency to set themselves up as good role models for the followers.

Most people tend to think that GSD has (or had) business in Spain. And that is all, the end of thinking and discussion.

Honest Living book:
Page 21: Honest living necessitates self-control. It requires that we exercise restraint in all our dealings, that we use our sense of judgement, our God-given gift of discrimination, to shape our lives. Honesty implies being faithful to our spouse, or, if we are not married, being faithful to a chaste life. It implies fairness and justice, openness and transparency, the absence of deceit—in contrast to wealth, power and passion, which lead to oppression, extortion, deception and pain.

Page 34: The extreme subtleties of the law. The law of karma is inexorable and subtle beyond our imagination. For example, even if we are party to someone else’s dishonourable actions, we too are culpable as an accessory to the suffering caused.

The second quote clearly highlights the reason for our moral, ethical, spiritual, and legal dilemma here - allegedly a fraud on such a grand scale, discomfort due to this round of news cycle that is not even remotely in the league of previous RSSB related controversies (and I thought I had heard it all ever since joining this mission), and inability to easily shake it off when put in the context of "spiritual before material wealth", "living within one's means" and "not even a single grain..." mantra of Honest Living.

If one were to say this drama is all his wife's or sons' doing as far as his family involvement is concerned, then they are not the ones writing a signed letter to Singh bros either. And they are not the ones to whom Malav [Malvinder Singh] has addressed his reply letter either. They are also not the ones with whom Shivinder is siding with, and Malav going to court against.

That alone should tell you about who likely pulls all the strings on the Dhillon empire side and the level of involvement.

The language in the GSD letter also does not suggest or say "my wife and my sons or family got a loan and would like to settle with you" or appear to act on their behalf. When asked about being called as the third brother of Singhs, Sunny G [Sunil Godhwani] also says his allegiance is to the guru and guru alone. Perhaps that could also give you some hint.

And then you look at the other RSSB characters involved. A natural question arises about who the fountainhead of all these activities is or the head cooks involved in baking this dish are. Even if only occasional gusts of wind have blown (yet), the picture does not seem to be rosy behind the curtain.

To me, this letter and the "fact" that a coterie of RSSB leaders were installed on most significant and top positions of Singh empire, indicate that the crisis could not have come from and just due to the actions of GSD family members alone on the Dhillon side.

But that he himself was involved to a large extent, even if not in day to day activities (more like a 36,000 ft view than a bird's eye view). But he simply could not have been passively involved as a mentor or business consultant. And if actively involved, should he then not be "culpable as an accessory to the suffering caused" due to "someone else’s dishonourable actions" like in the quote above?

So GSD's involvement for sure is there, what needs to be ascertained is a) how much, and b) whether it was knowingly malign at any point during this saga or simply a cruel fate resulting from vagaries of economic cycle.

Even if that is settled, what needs to be truthfully questioned - as if our soul's fate depended on it, which actually it is if we go by GIHF-moksha formula - is that, as an RSSB Saint, should he have indulged in all these affairs to such a ginormous extent, lest the name of the organization is tainted even by remote association?

This is not to say that you can't run a business. To the best of our knowledge, he already was running a small business. But then when the scale of effort goes from 1X to 1000X or more, then how do you rationalize the involvement in gathering of such large scale material wealth, particularly when you are a spiritual head. What is the objective?

It is one thing to have a cool business idea where you can rationalize you are helping society in some way or bringing something new and along the way a misstep or two inadvertently occured.

But it is totally different when it is simply garden variety real estate hoarding on a massive scale and that too done with questionable practices like Trump family's bankruptcy strategies. Most stable and well-known businesses expand on a 2-3X scale.

Some here are confusing loans with donation! I am sorry, even if these were donations, they were not routed to RSSB. And if it were to him or his family, how could he even accept it as a living honorable Saint?

What happened to those stories that Saints don't take a penny/paisa even if a King comes to their door and leave gold bullions, diamonds, etc? Weren't they supposed to earn their own wages for themselves and their family? And that they live within their means and not covet what belonged to others..

And then how do we square these revelations with the mission: as the spiritual head, who best to show us the way to live within one's means, to set himself up as the best example of what is taught in "Honest Living", and to focus on spiritual gains more than on material wealth?

It's also equally absurd to think that somehow the master is arranging/planning a grand heist to shake us from our beliefs and concepts and see who the true believers are or separate the wheat from chaff. What an aweful way to do it and that too pulled off on a decade and a half long initiative, with suffering of many non-satsangis (yet curiously enrichment of some satsangis).

This kind of reasoning is a cousin to the beliefs of Jesus fanatics thinking Grand Canyon or dinosaurs or fossil records were put by him to mess with our beliefs and test our faith. Is Earth really 6000 years old and really flat? If they have to test it, they can equally walk into a bar or put an alcohol bottle with some chicken tandoori on the satsang dais and see what happens, without this much scandalous pain.

Or is it simply what it appears on surface, the classical mantra: "Do as I say and not as I do"!

Relevant to this critcal question of ethics, morality, and spirituality, which to my mind is even more important than the legality of the situtation, is if the Singhs' direct relatives (Huzur and his family members) did not get involve in business initiatives with Ranbaxy empire - likely a carefully considered position - then why did GSD agree to work with the Singh brothers on such a large scale and not follow the path of his predecessor?

Clearly, it wasn't just mentorship. And it's not like GSD's sons or his wife were India's most successful businessmen or had the experience necessary that led to the fateful decision by the Singhs that parting ways with nearly 1/3rd of their hard earned money (actually their fathers') for a lucrative business, is a no-brainer!

His sons were just in the 20's during this time frame (in 2009, Gary would be 24 and Gurkirat just 18) and had not done any serious venture of any sort to showcase their talent. This would be true of GSD's wife as well. On what grounds were the Religare shares awarded to the two GSD sons in 2006?

Even some in the RSSB inner circles seem to think that GSD's wife lives the life of a sevadar and can't possibly do this on her own. (Was that snippet in the orginial Bloomberg article?)

MMS [Malvinder Mohan Singh] also doesn't seem to be targeting or talking about his sons or wife but rather refer to him being involved as a mentor and allegedly a behind-the-scene business partner, an involvement that has turned into a legal (and unholy) quagmire.

Evidently, the whole conglomeration transpired because of GSD due to his experience in dera activities, real estate dealings as well as the experience of dera head honchos who regularly conducted such dealings.

A degree of youthful naivete and trustfulness of Singhs coupled with the experience of GSD/RSSB honchos likely lured the Singh bros into marrying mentorship with business. The awarded shares in the names of wife and sons were likely a dowry for this marriage. They were not in his own name to present a clean image to sangat and avoid probe. But the timely sale of Rabaxy sealed the fateful path.

One's you ponder over it, you will see why many of us are uncomfortable with these revelations and are seriously questioning not only his pivotal role and the involvement of dubious practices but even the very decision to participate in such a large-scale wealth gathering effort in the first place.

Again, what is the objective? And if his heart was clean, then as a spiritual mentor, why did he not call into question or intervene in the dubious practices by his family, Godhwani, and the Singh bros?

It does not appear that he was not acquainted with issues cropping up, given the settlement plans first discussed in 2013, then in 2016, then 2018 letter, followed by Malav's rebuttal letter. Undeniably, there must have been more discussions involved than what just appears on paper.

I applaud what Brian is doing here. He is surely not a saint and can be rightly biased, but then how else do you reveal the truth than by asking tough questions?

“Truth has nothing to do with the conclusion, and everything to do with the methodology.” ― Stefan Molyneux

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him will believeth in anything. - Hitchens 3:16”
― Christopher Hitchens

“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons.”
― Anaïs Nin

If you care for truth, then I say right now your heart and mind should say: "I want truth and nothing but the complete truth". It is better to die living with an uncomfortable truth than living with "ignorance is bliss". So ask we must, and ask as assiduously as we can to peel behind this curtain. If there is nothing to be seen, well then how lucky will we be!

India's business reputation is at stake in Singh brothers/RSSB financial saga

It's a tale that deserves to be made into a Bollywood movie. But the plot line has some serious consequences for how India is viewed by investors and businesspeople worldwide.

Here's how a potential investor in an India enterprise might view the tangled web of illegal financial dealings involving Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, a.k.a. the Singh brothers, and their uncle (or maybe cousin) -- Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB).

Hey, I like your business plan. But I've been reading about how an Indian guru installed his right hand man as CEO of a company controlled by his billionaire nephews, who also were devotees of the guru. Then the guru's guy, Sunil Godhwani, orchestrated hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal loans to shell companies managed by the guru's family and close associates. They never repaid the loans, and now the company the money was siphoned from, Religare, says Godhwani was part of a criminal conspiracy. This is freaking weird stuff. How do I know that some guru isn't going to take control of your company and rob me of my investment?

A Bloomberg story shared in the Washington Post, "India's Crony Capitalist Edifice is Creaking," helps explain why the Singh brothers/RSSB financial wrongdoing has broader implications. Here's how the story starts out. I've boldfaced the mention of the Singh brothers and their guru.

A smug, entitled business class driven by greed and hubris, but sorely lacking in resources to legitimize their control. I could be describing the India Inc. of today – or 1959. Nothing much has changed.

Jet Airways Ltd., India’s oldest surviving private-sector airline, is about to crash land. Founder Naresh Goyal neither brought in enough new equity of his own to rescue the debt-laden carrier, nor did he allow a timely sale to suitors who wanted the business, albeit without him. Jet may yet survive, but it’s touch-and-go. Or take the country’s second-largest hospital chain, put into the trauma room by its founders’ 4 billion rupee ($56 million) fraud. Fortis Healthcare Ltd. wants brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh arrested. Complicating matters, Malvinder has accused Shivinder of siphoning funds from the family holding company and diverting them to a spiritual guru. The whole thing is an unholy mess.

For at least six decades, scholars and policy makers have been aware of the strain placed by India’s feudal system of corporate governance on capital formation, job creation and growth. Yet the last major reform was in 1969, which ironically was also when India was nationalizing banks and lurching toward a more virulent socialism. Subsequently, globalization caught up with India, the economy opened up and attracted hundreds of billion dollars in foreign capital, but the foundations of corporate structure stayed weak. It’s only now, when the edifice is showing cracks, that it’s becoming clear a fresh coat of paint alone won’t suffice.

This helps explain why the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said this to the Singh brothers recently:

The court, then referring to the foreign tribunal award in the favour of Daiichi, told Singh brothers: "It is not just about Rs 4000 Crore or individual honour It is a question of honour for the country. It doesn't do good for the country. You were once the flag- bearers of this country. Pay your debts and come out of this."

So why are the Singh brothers having so much difficulty coming up with the Rs 4000 crore, which is about $577 million? A big reason is that around $870 million is owed them by guru Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family via illegal loans that haven't been paid back.

Here's a graphic from India's Business Today that I included in a post, "Financial dealings of RSSB guru relate to India Supreme Court hearing."

The good news for India is that investigations are being conducted into the financial fraud with the twin goals of (1) recovering the money that ended up in the pockets of the guru, his family, and associates, and (2) learning who was responsible for the fraud besides Shivinder Mohan Singh (SMS below), Malvinder Mohan Singh (MMS below), Sunil Godhwani (SG below), and N.K. Ghoshal (NKG below).

Here's an excerpt from a complaint filed recently with the Delhi Economic Offences Wing by Religare Finvest Limited (RFL), one of the public companies that lost money when the illegal loans were made to the Dhillon family and others. REL stands for Religare Enterprises Ltd. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

22. In this context it is relevant to mention that RFL is ultimately owned by REL which in turn is largely held by public shareholders. Any loss caused to RFL is a loss to public shareholders. 



It is evident from the replies of the aforesaid 7 entities that they did not intend to return the loan to RFL from inception of the transaction. The MoUs signed were documents created dishonestly to give the colour of genuine transactions to sham transactions the purpose of which was only to siphon away /misappropriate money(s) of the Complainant Company. 



It appears that SMS, MMS, SG, NKG and other unknown persons (being the directors and employees of the 7 entities at the relevant time) colluded to wrongfully gain at the expense of the Complainant Company. 



SMS and MMS breached the trust reposed in them by the Complainant Company, its shareholders, including REL and the public shareholders of REL. 


Since it appears that Dhillon family members at one time were directors of some of the seven entities mentioned above, the guru's wife and sons now could be the target of investigators, as I wrote about in "Family of RSSB guru at risk of charges of criminal conspiracy."

A major remaining question is whether the guru himself will be implicated in the conspiracy. Almost certainly his family and devotees will do their best to protect Gurinder Singh Dhillon, since it would be a huge blow to the reputation of Radha Soami Satsang Beas if the organization's spiritual leader turned out to be a crook. 

But if this happened, it would be good for India as a whole. Like I said, investors and businesspeople throughout the world need reassurance that India isn't a place where gurus, or anybody, can get away with stealing money from public companies.

Family of RSSB guru at risk of charges of criminal conspiracy

Here's a follow-up to yesterday's post, "RSSB insider Sunil Godhwani charged with criminal conspiracy."

In that post I noted that a document I got of the complaint filed by attorneys representing Religare, the company from which funds were fraudulently siphoned, was difficult to read due to the formatting.

But someone sent me the document in Word format, from which I was able to first produce paragraph breaks that made the document much easier to read, and then export the file in a PDF format. Here it is:

Download Religare Complaint PDF

It's more than 20 pages long, yet well worth reading if someone wants to get a close look at how the financial fraud was committed, and what its consequences were to Religare, a public company.

One of the people specifically named in the complaint is Sunil Godhwani, who reportedly was installed as CEO of Religare at the behest of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Godhwani then used his position to illegally funnel money into shell companies, some of which have been reported to be controlled at the time by members of the Dhillon family, including the guru's wife and sons. That money then was used by the Dhillon family, at least in part, to make real estate investments -- according to stories in the Indian financial press. 

What should worry the guru and his family are several references in the Religare complaint to additional people involved in the alleged criminal conspiracy. Following are some excerpts from the complaint. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

ll. The facts mentioned below disclose a well thought out and organized criminal conspiracy by which a financial scam of huge magnitude has been effected by the Accused Persons namely 

(a) the 'promoters' of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), including Mr. Malvinder Mohan Singh (MMS), resident of 'Vistas' - 26, Maulsari Avenue, Westend, Green Farm, Rajokri, New Delhi — 110038; and Mr. Shivinder Mohan Singh (SMS), resident of 1, Southend Lane, New Delhi, 110001;

(b) directors and other officers of entities owned / controlled / associated with the promoters;  [p. 3]

-------------------------------

It appears that SMS, MMS, SG, NKG and other unknown persons (being the directors and employees of the 7 entities at the relevant time) colluded to wrongfully gain at the expense of the Complainant Company. [p.17]

-------------------------------

26. The aforesaid facts appear to disclose commission of the offences of cheating, breach of trust, criminal misappropriation, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and forgery by the persons mentioned in this complaint on account of which the Complainant Company has suffered unlawful losses and such persons and other unknown persons and associates of the accused persons have obtained unlawful gains.

In view of the same, I urge you to kindly register a First Information Report basis this complaint against the accused persons mentioned hereinabove for various criminal offences committed by them, investigate the same and bring to book the perpetrators of such a large scale financial fraud. It is in public interest to investigate the aforesaid facts such that interests of public shareholders are preserved.

Thus if this complaint by Religare is investigated by Indian authorities, and it sure seems like it will be, those "unknown persons and associates of the accused persons" appear to be subject to criminal charges. 

I find it hard to believe that Gurinder Singh Dhillon's wife and sons were ringleaders of this massive financial scam. I also find it hard to believe that Godhwani and the Singh brothers funneled money into the above-mentioned shell companies without the knowledge of the RSSB guru.

Dhillon is noted for frequently saying "It's my way or the highway" in his spiritual talks.

And he was viewed by his inner circle as a trusted advisor, given his supposed status as God in Human Form, according to the RSSB teachings. Yet because his name apparently wasn't listed as a director of any of the shell companies, defenders of the guru like to claim that he was an innocent bystander in the financial fraud that benefited him, his family, and his close associates.

Again, hard to believe. 

It could come down to this: if Dhillon's wife and sons end up being charged with criminal conspiracy, will they speak about the guru's level of involvement in the financial fraud? (Ditto for Sunil Godhwani.) And if this happens, will the guru himself take responsibility for the fraud, which might lead to lesser charges being made against his family members?

Another possibility: Likely people not associated with RSSB were either involved with the fraud, or had knowledge of what was going on. Seemingly they would be motivated to cooperate with investigations into who was responsible for the siphoning of money from Religare, and who ultimately benefitted from the illegal money transfer.

Reading the Religare complaint, it struck me as decidedly odd that the perpetrators of the financial fraud thought they could get away with it. After all, transfers of money usually can be tracked by skilled accountants/investigators, even if criminals attempt to hide those tracks.

It may be that because some of the accused were devotees of the RSSB guru, somehow they assumed that the guru's supposed spiritual protection would extend to their financial wrongdoing. Well, if they made that assumption, it isn't working out very well for them.

 

RSSB insider Sunil Godhwani charged with criminal conspiracy

The wheels of justice in India keep inching closer to the guru who heads up Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. A story in The Economic Times reports, "Delhi Police books Singh brothers & others on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy."

(Scroll down for another blog post I just wrote relating to the RSSB guru, "Sheetal Talwar talks about death threat made from RSSB satsang office.")

One of the "others" charged with criminal conspiracy is Sunil Godhwani, who has been described as Gurinder Singh Dhillon's right-hand man. 

Someone in the know about RSSB goings-on had this to say about Godhwani and a Singh brothers company, Religare, he ran as CEO. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

I hope you know that the Guru and his family are the largest shareholders of the company : Religare. The business model was conceived by Gurinder, and the Singh brothers are just a front-face of the company. In the second quarter of 2009, some members of the Religare top-brass understood that ' orders ' were coming not from the CEO but from a ' higher source ' and that the CEO was nothing but a pawn in the hands of a ' Guru ' who was taking all the decisions - but was actually incognito.

They soon discovered that a shareholder by the name of ' Gurpreet Dhillon ' who was tucked away in the London office was actually the son of the leader of a large spiritual sect. A little more inquiry lead to further details that uncovered Gurinder Singh Dhillon of RSSB as the founder and ' hidden ' head-honcho of Religare. (How the leader of a spiritual sect managed to set up and drive a billion dollar company is another issue, one that I'm not going to talk about at the moment.)

Now, lets talk about Charlie's Angels. The CEO of Religare Enterprises Ltd. is an initiate named Mr. Sunil Godhwani - the personal treasurer and right-hand man of the Guru. He is also the Guru's long-time friend. Closed-door meetings are often held at Mr. Sunil Godhwani's farmhouse in New Delhi and the Guru is constantly in touch with him on the phone when they're apart. (Even the chauffeurs know about this !)

A 2018 Economic Times story had this to say about Godhwani. "Dera" refers to the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which is led by Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

So it's a big deal that Godhwani has been charged with criminal conspiracy, given that the conspiracy illegally siphoned money from companies controlled by Godhwani and the Singh brothers into other companies controlled by the Dhillon family, and thus into the pockets of the RSSB guru and his relatives.

Here's excerpts from the new Economic Times story. REL stands for "Religare Enterprises Ltd.", the company Godhwani was the CEO of. 

The complaint, which forms the part of the FIR — accessed by ET— alleges that Singh brothers, in collusion with the co-accused, had “orchestrated the financial scam in or around 2016”.

It accuses the two brothers of hatching “a well thought out and organised criminal conspiracy by which a financial scam of huge magnitude has been effected (sic)”. The complainant has sought tracing and restitution of its properties. Singh brothers were promoters of REL till February 2018 and, as promoters, they “exercised deep and pervasive control over the management of RFL since it was a subsidiary company”.

The complaint (part of the FIR) further reads “REL is of the belief, also shared by RFL, that Singh brothers and Sunil Godhwani colluded and siphoned off funds from REL and its subsidiaries which include RFL and committed corporate fraud”.

...The complainant has said that despite red flags raised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Singh brothers did not take corrective action and continued with the “financial scam”.

It adds “from records it is apparent that RBI from time-to-time had expressed concerns regarding the CLB portfolio of RFL. But these concerns were not addressed by the promoters. RBI had specifically raised concerns about the promoters using their influence for disbursal of high-value unsecured loans to entities with no financial standing (but controlled or associated with the promoters) and breach of corporate governance norms.”

Now, though Gurinder Singh Dhillon isn't mentioned in the complaint, he and his family should be deeply worried about this new development. 

Let's note a few things in the "Singh Bros in the Soup" image above.

First, "Complainant has sought tracing and restitution of its properties." Thus the reconstituted board of Religare wants to know what happened to the money that was siphoned off by the Singh brothers, Sunil Godhwani, and unnamed other people. The board also wants to get the money back.

Second, "REL and RFL have filed a separate complaint with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for an investigation into the said fraud." So there's going to be more digging into how the criminal conspiracy operated.

Someone sent me a copy of the complaint, but the formatting makes it really hard to read. Here's the PDF file:
Download Religare complaint

I did manage to read enough of it to find a mention of some of the companies that got the fraudulently diverted money from Religare. There are many shell companies mentioned in the criminal complaint. Here's two screenshots.

The screenshot below gives an overall description of the fraud. MMS refers to Malvinder Mohan Singh, SMS to Shivinder Mohan Singh, and SG to Sunil Godhwani. The complaint says that the loans were never intended to be repaid by the shell companies.

This screenshot mentions some of the shell companies. Note that Prius Real Estate and Modland Wears are two of the companies. Also, that Modland admits getting the fraudulent money, which was then disbursed to the "intended recipients."

So let's turn now to a post I wrote in 2018, "Business Today reports about Gurinder Singh Dhillon's suspicious financial dealings." Here's excerpts I shared from the Business Today story. I've boldfaced some parts for emphasis.

Dhillon has headed the [RSSB] sect since inheriting it in 1990 from maternal uncle Charan Singh who was the spiritual guru between 1951 and 1990. Charan Singhs daughter Nimmi Singh is Malvinder & Shivinders mother and wife of Late Parvinder Singh. Thus, Dhillon is the brothers' maternal uncle.

In comes confidante Godhwani, who was recommended and backed by Dhillon to run non-banking finance company Religare Enterprises. The Singhs often referred to him as their third brother but he once said he owed his allegiance to nobody except Dhillon.

...Once the proceeds of the Ranbaxy sale were received, the Singh brothers paid nearly Rs2,000 crore in taxes and previous loan repayments. Of the remaining Rs7,500 crore, Rs1,750 crore were invested in Religare to fund its growth; about Rs2,230 crore was invested in Fortis' growth.

But most importantly, Rs2,700 crore were transferred to companies owned by the Dhillon family, Gurinder Dhillons wife Shabnam Dhillon and companies associated with RSSB's senior functionaries. While Religare and Fortis are examples of reckless expansion and its consequences, the money transferred to Dhillon and associates-which (with interest) is now estimated to be between Rs4000-5,000 crore-remains unpaid to the Singhs.

It isnt clear why this money was never returned. Dhillon and the Singh brothers did not respond to detailed questions on whether this money was owed to Dhillon and associates for any previous transactions or was only loaned to them.

...'Prius Platinum, Ground Floor, D3, District Centre, Saket, New Delhi-110017' could pass off as a nondescript address. Until you notice a striking similarity: Company after company registering it as their official address in the RoC records. At least 16 at last count. Many of them have even declared the same email ID in the RoC records: [email protected]; and are also being audited by the same firm.

Prius Real Estate, Prius Commercial Projects, Best Healthcare, Modland Wears, Fern Healthcare, Addon Realty, Hillgrow Infrastructure, Bestest Developers, Platinum Infrastructure. Even the Singh family's holding companies, RHC Holding and Oscar Investments, have declared it as their address.

Nearly Rs2,700 crore was routed to these Dhillon-RSSB functionaries companies between 2009 and 2012 through a layered and complex web of subsidiaries. Of that, Rs2,000 crore was invested in two firms--Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects.

RoC records say Prius Commercial is 84 per cent owned by Dhillons wife Shabnam and 16 per cent by RSSB Delhi head Yuvraj Narain Gorwaney. Prius Real Estate is 50:50 owned by Dhillons elder son Gurpreet and RSSBs Rajveer Singh.

Thus it sure seems like the Dhillon family is facing some additional legal challenges. They were owners of shell companies mentioned in the Religare criminal conspiracy complaint as having participated in the fraud, and the Dhillons also were recipients of the fraudulently obtained money.

Sheetal Talwar talks about death threat made from RSSB satsang office

I've got a couple of stories from the India press regarding the RSSB/Singh Brothers saga to share today. Scroll up for the story regarding a criminal complaint (once it's written).

The one I'm sharing in this post relates to another criminal complaint alleging a death threat made against filmmaker Sheetal Talwar after he tried to recover a $1.25 million loan he made to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). See yesterday's post, "RSSB guru made death threats, says India filmmaker."

Now, it was associates of the guru who made the death threats, not the guru himself.

This is what also is alleged to have happened after Malvinder Singh refused to sign an agreement that apparently would have absolved the guru of having to repay a much larger amount of money. Read all about this in the other criminal complaint filed against Dhillon, which I wrote about in "Legal filing against Gurinder Singh Dhillon is fascinating reading." 

Here in the United States we've learned a lot from investigations into wrongdoing by our hopefully one-term president, Donald Trump. 

Legal analysts commenting on the investigations frequently point out that organized crime bosses, such as a Mafia boss, often don't give direct orders to their underlings. Instead of saying, "Kill Joe Brown," they'll say something like "It would be best if Joe Brown couldn't cause problems for us anymore."

The bosses' underlings know what he wants them to do: kill Joe Brown. So they do this.

Trump's long-time attorney, Michael Cohen, has testified that Trump would do the same thing. Everyone would know what Trump wanted them to do, even without Trump explicitly saying it. 

It's possible this is what occurred in the two death threats made by people associated with the RSSB guru. Alternatively, the guru could have issued a direct order that the death threats be made. We won't know unless the criminal complaints are thoroughly investigated.

Here's excerpts from a Masala story, "Producer Sheetal Talwar Alleges Death Threats From Godman Followed by Shahid Kapoor and His Family." My comments are in red. 
Download Producer Sheetal Talwar Alleges Death Threats From Godman Followed by Shahid Kapoor and His Family -

What is the nature of the threats you are getting from RSSB chief Baba Gurinder Dhillon and why ?
It was a simple and powerful threat, that if I did NOT stop pursuing my debt and did not withdraw my case against the directors and the company Megabrave (where the money was lent), I would face dire consequences and so would my immediate family.

Of course in my mind, this threat could not have been from Babaji, but would have been from an over-enthusiastic member of his inner circle - which is why I documented it down on e-mail to his team and marked even his assistant. To my surprise, no one even attempted to get to the bottom of it, specifically as the call was from a landline in their satsang office, which would obviously have CCTV cameras.

Well, if the RSSB guru ("Babaji") didn't have anything to do with the death threat, it sure seems like Dhillon would apologize to Talwar and vow to get to the bottom of this, punishing the "over-enthusiastic member of his inner circle" who caused the threat to be made. Instead, nothing was done, which reeks of criminality. It would have to be someone very close to the guru, if not the guru himself, since how many people would know about the loan and Dhillon's refusal to repay the $1.25 million?

...Do you think this incident reflects on the growing criminalizing of religion in our country ?
I think this reflects not on not only the criminalizing of religion, but if you move to the genesis of it, it actually stems from the growing endemic mix of spirituality, politics, business and money. The power in being a guru or then being thought of as God in Human form by millions of followers is absolute - and like in any other field - such belief and power corrupts.

I heartily agree with Talwar. A Mafia boss commands tremendous loyalty from his underlings without them considering the boss to be God in Human Form. Just imagine what would happen if, as Talwar says, they did view the boss in this fashion. This is the case with the RSSB guru, which is why so many of his devotees are willing to do anything for him. Even unethical or criminal things. Yes, belief and power corrupts. 

I'm back to moderating comments

Unfortunately, a few commenters who've been abusing this blog's free speech preference have forced me to start moderating comments for a while.

What this means is that I'll approve comments for publication as soon as I'm able to do this. May take a few hours, so be patient.

Here's how I put it in a recent comment of my own:

Daljit, great point. No, RSSB doesn't have any web sites or blogs where people can freely comment. But I'm pleased to allow this, because unlike RSSB, I believe in free speech and open discussion of ideas -- even, or especially, those I disagree with.

I do have some commenting limits, though. "Trolls" aren't welcome here.

Meaning, people who aren't really interested in open discussion of ideas, but just want to spout their own narrow views, usually religious, with boring repetition. I'll be patient with them for a while, to see if they're really Troll-like, then their comments get deleted.

One commenter in particular has caused me to start moderating comments, ilanovitch. I've deleted all of the comments he's written.

Perhaps it's just an amazing coincidence that he writes in a style that's very similar to "Ashy," who also used other names, as described in a 2009 blog post, "Commenting quandary." And that ilanovitch also lives in Cape Town, South Africa, where Ashy lived.

It's too bad that religious fanatics don't have better things to do than come on this blog and leave so many off-topic, obnoxious, insulting comments I have to moderate comments temporarily. 

Anyway, rest assured that non-troll comments will be published by me if they're mostly on-topic and not overly preachy. Remember: commenting is a privilege, not a right. 

RSSB guru made death threats, says India filmmaker

Looks like a pattern. When Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) is asked to repay money he owes, he doesn't pay up, then makes death threats against the person who wants their money back. 

This is alleged by Malvinder Singh in a criminal complaint filed against the RSSB guru. And now Sheetal Talwar, a filmmaker, is alleging that he also received death threats after trying to recover a $1.25 million loan given to the guru.

A Business Today story tells the sorry tale. I've shared it below. 

Astoundingly, Dhillon requested the money in 2015 to help pay for his cancer treatment. But now this supposed "spiritual" leader not only won't repay the money, his associates are threatening physical harm to Talwar and his family.

I'm baffled by how anybody can consider this guy to be God in Human form, as the RSSB teachings claim. Not only isn't he God, Gurinder Singh Dhillon isn't even as moral as a normal human being.

Most people would be grateful that someone loaned them money for cancer treatment. But Dhillon isn't. While serving as the RSSB guru he and his family have sucked in almost a billion dollars from other fraudulent loans, yet he won't pay back the $1.25 million loaned him by  Talwar. 

What a jerk.

This includes the people who do the guru's bidding without asking themselves, "Is this wrong? Should I really do what the guru wants?" They've surrendered their inherent human morality to a fake guru who cares much more about gaining worldly wealth than doing the right thing. 

Here's the Business Today story. I've boldfaced some especially disturbing parts.

In a curious twist in the ongoing saga of Singh brothers' missing billions, an NRI film producer Sheetal Vinod Talwar has approached the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai alleging he has been threatened with life after his lawyers pursued repayment of $1.25 million paid supposedly towards Radha Soami Satsang chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon's treatment abroad. "I was coaxed into parting with $1.25 million towards Gurinder Singh Dhillon's treatment and allied expenses in 2015. Dhillon spoke to me twice to help with funds," Talwar told BusinessToday.In in a written response. Money was given to Hong Kong-based company Mega Brave Limited run by RSSB's Lakhi Samtani & Manoj Sabnani.

This is the second criminal complaint against the Baba and RSSB associates. Earlier, on Feb 5, Malvinder Singh had approached the Economic Offences Wing in Delhi accusing Baba Dhillon of threatening through lawyer Ferida Chopra that Malvinder would be eliminated. Malvinder had sought payment of Rs 8,742 crore towards money loaned to firms owned by Dhillon, his family and RSSB associates.

Dhillon did not respond to a detailed email seeking response to Talwar's allegations. Sources close to Shivinder have called the allegations "false" and "rubbish".

Talwar though is a National Film Award winning International film producer and angel investor. His first feature film 'Dharm' was acknowledged with the National Film Award. It premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Talwar has produced films such as 'Rann' starring Amitabh Bachchan, 'Mausam' with Shahid Kapoor, 'Rakta Charitra' starring Surya. Among international films, he produced 'The Joneses' starring Demi Moore, the Martin Freeman starrer 'The Eichmann Show', 'Romans' starring Orlando Bloom.

During Sunil Godhwani's tenure at Religare, Talwar launched India's first SEBI-registered film fund - Vistaar Religare.

In his complaint before the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai on 20 November, 2018, Talwar has alleged that in 2015, Sunil Godhwani and RSSB's Sharan Bhojwani introduced him to directors of a Hong Kong based company Mega Brave Limited-Lakhi Samtani & Manoj Sabnani. He was told Samtani and Sabnani were intimately connected to RSSB. When they found him reluctant to lend, Talwar says Dhillon spoke to him to assure that the money repayment should not be a problem as the borrowers were "extremely wealthy in their own right and it was only because of some immediate restrictions and his health that they were unable to transfer the said amount of $1.25 million".

The complaint filed by Talwar's lawyers Probus Legal alleges Dhillon "took advantage of Mr Talwar's faith and respect towards him and lured him into parting with such a huge amount of money". The petition says despite the fact that "the said advance was a short term loan, our client (Talwar) did not receive any money".

In his complaint before EOW, Talwar annexed an email he wrote to RSSB's Sharan Bhojwani on March 20, 2017, detailing the threatening call: "I am shocked at the turn of events. About 30 mins ago I got a call from a Delhi no. threatening me with dire consequences if I pursued the legal option at Hong Kong. I and my family at Delhi were threatened with physical harm if I did anything that troubled Babaji."

"I was told that Sunny (Sunil Godhwani) and Babaji could not make the payments as it (Religare) had hit the LERMS limit. And that I would be reimbursed when the fiscal began. The requests came from Sunil Godhwani, Sharan Bhojwani and Shivinder. However, I have not been paid the full amount till date inspite of repeated reminders. I have received life threats on phone when my lawyers pursued the balance payments," Talwar told BusinessToday.In in a written response.

"My various emails/calls reminding them about repayment fell into deaf ears and were ignored. This forced me to approach the EOW and take appropriate legal action", Talwar adds in his response to BusinessToday.In.

A RSSB believer shares a balanced view of the guru's financial dealings

Ah, it's so refreshing to see the following comment from someone who appears to be an initiate of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, yet is bothered by mindless defenses of the RSSB guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon), who is linked to investigations of massive financial fraud.

The comment was posted by "In Search Of" today.

I like the pen name. We're all in search of something. Hopefully that includes the truth, and willingness to listen to a variety of opinions. Plus, embracing new facts about reality as we learn them, then adjusting our view of the world accordingly.

The only thing I'll note regarding this comment was the reference to the Singh brothers needing about a billion dollars to fulfill their legal obligations.

This is close to the roughly $800 million worth of loans made to the Dhillon family by the Singh brothers through their holding company. (See image at end of this post.) And Malvinder's criminal complaint alleges that at least some of those loans were made in a fraudulent fashion.

Here's the comment. Baba Ji refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Uh oh, looks like the crazy fanatical RSSBers are starting to latch on to the posts here. The reason for this is that these posts are the only information and discussions happening on a live basis. One can immediately see the ones posting with blind faith and regurgitating the same mindless stuff discussed at house parties and so on.

No one knows anything really. Even if there is a response from the Dhillon family, it will be viewed with bias. But the comments displayed on this post and the most recent one by Brian have responses that are nonsensical and don't add anything to the debate/conversation.

Comment by Sorav : "You have got no right to talk against about my god" Baba Ji would not stand for that comment. Nor the other crazy comments on the other posts. Relax folks. Have a normal conversation and discuss the possibilities, view the numerous angles and probe the reasons and morality of the situation.

Just spouting off nonsensical stuff like that above serves no purpose and only intensifies the belief by every other person not associated with RSSB that we are all mindless beings just trolling and not presenting any meaningful insight.

No one knows what Mr. Dhillon was thinking, doing, or what his involvement was in this. Clearly there is something, but what? When your name and family members are on the board of these companies transferring obscene amounts of money back and forth, the board members must be privy to it. There's is no doubt about it.

The daily day to day running of the Dera goes through the management team and so to say Baba Ji has his hands on everything day to day is not true. He handles the exceptions or when he personally sees them. I know for a fact he is more involved in the outside centers being built around the world, than he is in the day to day running of the Dera.

When the media was asking the Secretary at the Dera about Shivinder being the next in line, and his response to it saying that as a Secretary he would know if anything like that was going to happen. I call BS on that. The secretary is not going to be in the loop on that discussion, bet you $1 Billion dollars on that. He'll be in the dark until the last minute.

So everyone just freaking take a deep breath and think it through. Take the RSSB filter off the head and just look at the facts.

Is it 100% for sure that the Dhillons orchestrated this mess? Probably not 100%, but definitely well over 50% chance.

Which for me is quite unsettling and more so disappointing. But the faith in the teachings still holds hope that there is slim chance it's not what it seems. The mounting info and SEBI findings are definitely pointing in the direction of finding fault the Dhillon's actions..

Spence has done a great job in parsing through the data and flow of money.

One thing I have to point out is that the $1 billion dollar amount includes the Daiichi settlement. Which is not part of the Dhillon scenario. The implication is that Malav and Shivi don't have the assets to pay the $500M dollar settlement, UNLESS they can get the money owed back from loans from the Dhillon companies. That's the rub.

Great discussions though, and when we stick to the findings by SEBI and the court orders, we can only use that to find any conclusions.

As for me, I'm just disappointed that it's come to this. I don't discuss this with my elderly mother who's entire life has revolved around satsang and seva, and she would be devastated by the news. She would probably deny it anyways... as most RSSB flamers have proven on this blog.

Just simply disappointed.

UPDATE: here's another thoughtful comment from "In Search Of."

There's a saying in Punjabi. Guru is like a raging fire. One should keep their distance from the Guru. Stand too far away and you won't feel the warmth of the fire. Stand too close and you'll be burned.

For the sangat or followers of RSSB that have never been up close and observed the guru have no idea what his private life is.

He is an enigma to the 95% of followers. That 5% that are close, get a glimpse. Even sometimes that's not the real Gurinder Dhillon. There are a few among that inner circle who know what he does and they are so close and embedded that they can't back out or withdraw. Due to guilt, faith, I'm not sure.

But the real person Gurinder Dhillon is, I believe, a far cry from the persona projected before the masses.

Maybe he's realized the RSSB books have been "cleaned" to such an extent that the reality has been lost in the dogma now permeating the sangat. Not sure, but it looks like he's trying to make a sea change in the thinking process of the followers and realized that the old guard will not change but the younger followers aren't convinced or unwilling to go on blind faith.

Maybe he gave up on it after going thru the cancer treatment, who knows? Perception is sometimes more powerful than the truth. Works both ways sometimes.

Even if Baba Ji comes out of this without any dirt on him or his family, the perception is there. It's been tainted and I don't honestly know where i would go from there. The trust and faith has been tampered with. May be a good opportunity to take the good things from RSSB and mate them with some introspection and exploration. Will have to wait and see.

Why the RSSB guru is alleged to be involved with criminal activity

I'm grateful to commenters on my blog posts for reinforcing my conviction that religiously-minded people often are incapable of recognizing reality. Not always. Often. 

Case in point: some regular commenters, who I assume read my posts before they comment on them, keep on ignoring facts about the scandalous drama concerning financial dealings involving a Bollywood-like cast of characters. Here's an overview of the drama.

-- The once-billionaire Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder, whose business empire has been reduced to almost nothing following a string of poor decisions and fraudulent loans.

-- The Singh brothers are relatives of the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), who came to be both their spiritual guide and father figure.

-- The guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, orchestrated the installation of his right-hand man, Sunil Godhwani, as the leader of some Singh brother business entities. Family members of Dhillon, plus other RSSB insiders, controlled shell companies that got fraudulent loans from Singh brothers' entities.

-- Malvinder Singh has filed a criminal complaint against the guru, Godhwani, and Dhillon family members.

-- SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, has uncovered "fictitious and fraudulent" financial transactions that need to be repaid. Separately, the Supreme Court of India is requiring the Singh brothers to fulfill a legal settlement that can't happen unless the guru and his family repay almost a billion dollars in loans.

Documentation of all this can be found by reading posts in the "Radha Soami Satsang Beas" category of this blog. (See right sidebar.) Of course, that's if you care about facts. If you just want to mindlessly defend the RSSB guru, you're free to remain blissfully ignorant of those facts.

One religious delusion that I find especially amusing is the theory a commenter recently threw out that the RSSB guru is acting so badly because he wants to demolish the belief among RSSB devotees in a "perfect living guru." Um, wouldn't it be easier for the guru to simply state, "I'm not a perfect living guru"? Of course, that way he couldn't rake in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Spence Tepper is a frequent commenter who does pay close attention to facts, and has been doing a good job of sharing information about this massive financial scandal. Here's some recent comments of his where he responds in a recent post to someone who uses the assumed name of "Just The Facts." I've corrected  few typos.

Hi Just The Facts:

You asked
"Is anyone alleging criminal activity by the mafia boss and Guru? not repaying a loan in time is not a crime"

The loans given to Gurinder family members were given under fraudulent circumstances by the Singhs, but with the active participation of the shell companies, which at the time, had Dhillon family and RSSB leaders among their directors.

Not repaying a loan is not a crime, but defaulting on several hundred million loans might be, if it was done with intent.

We don't know that yet, only that several hundred million dollars loaned to the Dhillon family have gone unrepaid, and worse, checks from the shell companies that gave them the loans were written in a circular fashion back and forth to cover for these Dhillon family loans to make it appear they are making loan payments when they actually were not being paid at all.

So, the SEBI has audited and called this "Fraudulent and Fictitious Activity" and ruled that both the Singhs and the shell companies are guilty and must repay these loans immediately. They gave 90 days, and no loans were repaid.

In that duration, Malvinder has made several accusations against Gurinder and [the Dhillon] family regarding their complicity in the fraud. However, since Malvinder is a party to that fraud his accusations are of questionable value. No doubt he is desperate because he can't repay the money. But he can't repay the money because the Dhillon family, whom he helped, albeit fraudulently, hasn't repaid, either.

The Supreme Court of India has also stepped in to order both the Singh Brothers and the Shell companies to repay, and gone further by sending Garnishment orders to those who took the loans, and that would by definition, include Dhillon family members, though that detail is not mentioned in the press. Al we know is that these shell companies gave several hundred millions to Dhillon family and associates in "loans".

The loans themselves were fraudulently given over several years by the Singhs (though Gurinder's son was also an operating executive at Fortis at the time) without any collateral, in violation of both Fortis policy and SEBI law. These were accepted by the Dhillon family throughout the last nine years or so.

The Garnishment orders are to repay Fortis directly, and not the shell companies, nor Malvinder.

This is where we stand today.

----------------------

Hi Again, "Just the Facts"

Here are some links so that you may see the information for yourself, which I have attempted to sumarize:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India's audit and ruling of Fictious and Fraudulent Activity:
https://www.sebi.gov.in/enforcement/orders/oct-2018/order-in-the-matter-of-fortis-healthcare-limited_40755.html

The Supreme Court of India's order for repayment, and identification that the debts were far larger than the initial SEBI audit demonstrated:

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/sc-take-note-singh-brothers-can-pay-off-usd-500-million-to-daiichi-provided-the-money-is-recovered/story/326995.html

And some additional review of the Supreme Court ruling related to payment of the Daiichi fraud settlement.

https://hinessight.blogs.com/files/sc-take-note-singh-brothers-can-pay-off-500-million-to-daiichi-provided-the-money-is-recovered.pdf

And more about the loans given to Gurinder family and Malvinder's claims about their intent:

https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/fortis-fraud-may-exceed-rs-2-000-crore-says-sfio-1550522937932.html

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One more point, "Just The Facts"

While late payment on a loan isn't a crime, and defaulted loans isn't a crime IF you agree to a satisfactory repayment plan, it is a crime to accept such loans if they were fraudulently obtained.

The recipient of the monies obtained from fraud is in fact an accessory to a crime, and subject to criminal prosecution.

This is only one layer removed, but if it happens repeatedly, then it becomes more difficult to prove you "had no idea" the money was obtained in such a way.

When your wife and sons are actively participating in obtaining the monies through fraud it is even more difficult to claim that you knew nothing..

And if you are a perfect Master, even less credible.

So, yes, we are talking about criminal activity and the potential for the biggest recipient of that fraud to be considered an accessory to that fraud.

But all we have now are the garnishment orders and the ongoing criminal investigation by the SEBI crimes wing, and the documented fact that both the Singhs and the Dhillon family were the biggest beneficiaries of that fraud for over a decade.

This Live Mint image gives an overview of the massive amount of money that was siphoned into the pockets of the Dhillon family. 1000 crore rupees is about $145 million.

RSSB guru's shady financial dealings were known on this blog 5-9 years ago

Last year I shared 27,000 words worth of comments left on this blog by "Tara," someone who had an up close and personal view of both Gurinder Singh Dhillon (photo below) and the RSSB organization prior to them becoming disillusioned by what they saw, which led to this person leaving the RSSB fold.

As noted in the post, "Devastating criticism of Gurinder Singh Dhillon by a RSSB insider," the comments were written between 2010 and 2014. That was five to nine years ago, before the RSSB guru's massive questionable loans and alleged criminality came to light in the Indian financial press.

Defenders of the guru go to great lengths to excuse his inexcusable behavior.

In hopes their eyes can be opened by reading what someone wrote about him considerably before the current scandals have come to light, below I've copied in some of the comments from "Tara" that related to Gurinder Singh Dhillon's involvement in companies with ties to the Singh brothers. Other comments in the 2018 post are equally disturbing in various ways.

I've boldfaced passages that struck me as being of particular interest. 

This comment is a reply to the sender of the email that Brian has posted above - July 20, 2010 at 8:00pm. Sender, please excuse me if at any point you find my tone offensive. SENDER says - In your post ' RSSB's ties to Religare mix money and spirituality... ' what proof do you have that the RSSB Guru ( Baba Ji ) literally runs the company ? That he makes all the important decisions and spends a considerable amount of time driving the business ? And if he is making millions for his family and kids, is that such a big crime ? In America we do that, we call it capitalism.

Reply - I hope you know that the Guru and his family are the largest shareholders of the company : Religare. The business model was conceived by Gurinder, and the Singh brothers are just a front-face of the company. In the second quarter of 2009, some members of the Religare top-brass understood that ' orders ' were coming not from the CEO but from a ' higher source ' and that the CEO was nothing but a pawn in the hands of a ' Guru ' who was taking all the decisions - but was actually incognito.

They soon discovered that a shareholder by the name of ' Gurpreet Dhillon ' who was tucked away in the London office was actually the son of the leader of a large spiritual sect. A little more inquiry lead to further details that uncovered Gurinder Singh Dhillon of RSSB as the founder and ' hidden ' head-honcho of Religare. ( How the leader of a spiritual sect managed to set up and drive a billion dollar company is another issue, one that I'm not going to talk about at the moment. )

Now, lets talk about Charlie's Angels. The CEO of Religare Enterprises Ltd. is an initiate named Mr. Sunil Godhwani - the personal treasurer and right-hand man of the Guru. He is also the Guru's long-time friend. Closed-door meetings are often held at Mr. Sunil Godhwani's farmhouse in New Delhi and the Guru is constantly in touch with him on the phone when they're apart. ( Even the chauffeurs know about this ! )

Mr. Godhwani's residence is the Guru's home for all ' unofficial ' visits into the capital. How do I know this ? A close family has a relative who works for Religare, and I'm good friends with people who are well connected with the ' inner circle ' members. This information has also been confirmed by a dozen well known people from the Indian financial sector.

You're talking about capitalism ? This is not capitalism, this is a big guerilla coup ! Usually, there's always something shady when someone is hiding something, and your ' Baba Ji ' clearly has a lot to hide. Otherwise, why hasn't he come out in the open ? Why is this something that needs to be rationalized ?

SENDER says - You've heard of Rev. Joel Osteen, I'm sure, http://www.joelosteen.com or maybe seen his weekly TV programs. He is a Christian minister, and spiritual leader from Houston, Texas. I'm sure he's very savvy when it comes to business and making money, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's a multimillionaire. I'm sure his kids are millionaires too, thanks to Joel. His books have been on the NY Times best selling author list - many times. He's rolling in money !

Reply - I doubt if Joel's bestsellers would be describing him as a GIHF and he probably not handing out ' rennet free cheese ' lists to his faithful.

SENDER says - My question to you is this - Does it spiritually matter that Joel Osteen is making big money for his family and kids and still running a big Church like Lakewood ? I'm sure he has lots of insider trading tips from his Texan buddies and Christian associates too. That's called networking, and we all do it.

Reply - Does it spiritually matter... ? Sorry, but I think your idea of morality can do with some kindergarden basics, seems like you missed ' ethics ' class in school.

SENDER says - Yet, when an eastern Master like Baba Ji does the same thing, we are quick to blast him and criticize him. We think that the eastern Guru should be in sandals, simple, poor, and his family should be poor too. Why the double standards ?

Reply - I do not want my spiritual Master to be poor, but I think I'd expect him to practice what he preaches. Gurinder Singh's business operations are a clear departure from the teachings of RS Sant Mat. I think your ' Baba Ji ' is the one who has double standards - he talks about detachment, but silently runs a billion dollar company.

SENDER says - Anyhow, I'm sure Baba Ji and his family are giving lots of money to help run the Dera, and all the centers he has around the world. Its not cheap to run these places. I know that I stayed at the Dera for a month once and didn't have to pay a dime for the room and board.

Reply - That is totally incorrect. Dera is a self-sustaining economy which is run by the money that comes from donations by the Sangat and all operations are carried out by volunteers. RSSB centers ( in India and around the world ) are built and maintained by volunteers, so it is rather cheap to ' run ' these places. It is all monetary or physical ' Seva ' by the Sangat in every way, but it is the RSSB trust that owns these properties. RSSB has cut back on all charitable activities, so it is not likely that the Guru's family are giving anything at all !

----------------------

Yes, financial oscillations between RSSB and Religare are a very likely scenario. Money going to and fro, borrowing and lending — it may all be happening. That would also help explain why the Singh Brothers gave Religare shareholding to no other relative, other than Gurinder. The RSSB purse-strings are solely in his hands and the RSSB-trust is mega cash-rich, and a tax-free pot of gold.

So, my take is that the Singh Brothers put in their capital and Gurinder was given a preferential allotment of equity based on his three-fold role : One, the promise of the " support of the RSSB-trust " as and when required. Two, Gurinder brought to the Religare table a band of RS loyalists ( like Sunil Godhwani, now Group CEO of Religare ) and RS board members who would keep everything under wraps and unquestionably sign any document.

( I'd like to add here that they're obviously not doing a very good job of keeping their secrets secure — I learnt from a top level employee, on a condition of anonymity, that there was some " backstage Guru " who was taking all the important decisions. This informer eventually quit Religare citing questionable business practices, poor governance and the risk of public exposure. )

----------------------

My additional thoughts are : Gurinder ordered the Ranbaxy sell-out, and as a faith policy, Shivinder and Malvinder do not over-rule anything HE decides. The final " go ahead boys " was given by Gurinder. I know this because the celebratory cheers resounded with a boisterous " Baba-ji does not make any mistakes ! " that came from none other than Sunil Godhwani, Baba-ji's right-hand man.

Before the news hit the press, everyone knew that a chunk of that booty would be pumped into Religare. Of course, Ranbaxy's health was generously inflated, but the sell-out was the best possible move from a financial standpoint — considering that the Singh Brothers made quite a mess of the succession when they inherited the company, which subsequently reflected in the company's performance over the years.

There was a joke in the corporates circles here that Parminder Singh was in a big shock in heaven when he learnt that Gurinder had advised his sons to sell Ranbaxy. His reaction was : " What ? Who the f*** is he ? " ( LOL ) This entire Religare affair that Gurinder's having with the Singh Brothers is in direct conflict with his role as a Guru, whether he's teaching 1.0 or 3.0. His insatiable appetite for wealth is sick, specially when there is no charitable initiative for the poorer sections of the Sangat that make up for ninety-five percent of his following.

IMO, Gurinder wants them to remain hungry and foolish otherwise they will not be interested in the salvation promise, which is why I think that Sant Mat 3.0 will never be introduced to the langar. You are absolutely right about the Mc-Donald's style of operations at Fortis. Also, the services they provide are the Micky-D's equivalent of fries and nuggets. It is all about the money, with little regard for ethical practice and human life.

But, it is interesting to note that post Ranbaxy, none of the Singh Brothers' businesses have been particularly profitable. It is too early to call, but Fortis is struggling. And, going forward, the competition will intensify. Religare is hemorrhaging under the acumen-devoid leadership of Sunil Godhwani and is showing no signs of recovering. Religare continually gets mini bail-outs from the huge cash reserves that the Singh Brothers are currently sitting on, but the well could dry-up in less than a decade if their current run continues.

It is also possible that Gurinder could make some bad ( not-so-GIHF ) decisions. Our comments here are forming a valuable archive for those who will seek to find out more, specially after the radical shift in the Sant Mat teachings.

----------------------

If you look at Page-94 of the Religare Prospectus you will find a board member and initiate named Mr. Deepak Ramchand Sabnani who has the foreign directorship of the ( RSSB ) Science of the Soul Study Centre International Limited which is an RSSB registered charity. What is a non-profit RSSB subsidiary doing on the corporate prospectus of Religare ? This is another link that proves that Religare board members who are initiates have also been given important roles within RSSB. I have learnt that business is preferentially given to the Guru's " inner circle " members who are also his close friends. http://www.sebi.gov.in/dp/reldraft.pdf http://www.scienceofthesoul.org 

----------------------

I met another one of Gurinder's old friends, a gentleman who now lives in Scotland. He told me that he was shocked when he learnt of his Guru-friends' recent wealth !

 

He also added that Moga ( as Gurinder is fondly called by his pre-guru-days friends' circle ) is living on the edge with his growing tide of greed and that land-grabbing has now become a common RSSB practice.

Believers, your " Master " is a fraud — that's as simple as it is. Much exploitation is possible in the name of " spirituality " and for the sake of the millions of followers who bow to his pretentious backside, I wish that this cult comes crashing down and Gurinder has no where to hide.

Singh brothers' staying out of jail linked to $870 million owed by RSSB guru

Another story in the Indian financial press points to the siphoning of funds from companies affiliated with the Singh brothers into the pockets of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family as being key to Malvinder and Shivinder's ability to comply with legal rulings.

This shows that defenders of the guru, some of whom leave comments on my blog posts wrongly claiming that this is just a "family affair" that doesn't harm anyone else, need to recognize how serious the financial wrongdoing involving the RSSB guru is.

Here's some excerpts from "Time may be running out for Singh brothers to pay up, even as the blame game continues." I've boldfaced the part relating to Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his right-hand-man, Sunil Godhwani.
Download Time may be running out for Singh brothers to pay up even as the blame game continues

The Singh brothers may need close to a billion dollars to pay Daiichi Sankyo’s arbitration award and comply with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI’s) order to return funds diverted from Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises, if they want to avoid a possible imprisonment.

The Supreme Court on March 14 asked Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh, referred to as Singh brothers, to consult their legal and financial legal advisers and revert to the Court by March 28 as to how they propose to secure the award, which has been passed against them.

...Not long ago, Singh brothers were on the Forbes richest Indian businessmen list, with a net worth of $1.4 billion in 2016. Now, they have lost most of that wealth. Their shareholding in Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises has now fallen to around a percent,

Given the meltdown of their wealth, it looks a tall order for Singh brothers to arrange those funds.

But a person who knew brothers told Moneycontrol said a significant portion of their wealth is locked in real estate assets. “A large portion of the money the brothers received through sale of Ranbaxy was routed into buying real estate,” said a person who didn’t want to be named.

But there is a problem, says the above person, as “the investments into real estate was made through an intricate web of companies and it’s opaque.”

...Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), his family members and companies controlled by them are said to be in control of some of these properties. Dhillon is a father like figure for the Singh brothers.

Malvinder Singh in his affidavit to the Supreme Court, alleged that Dhillon, his family members and companies controlled by him used funds from the Ranbaxy sale to buy real estate and loaned over Rs 6,000 crore [$870 million].

Singh brothers also blamed former Religare top executive Sunil Godhwani for the group’s troubles. In a joint statement, they earlier said that Godhwani was the architect of the financial structures, including the loans to the Dhillon family and companies, that led to their financial troubles.

I keep writing blog posts about this financial saga because it shows the danger of believing that a guru, or anyone for that matter, can be trusted completely as a "perfect being" -- which is what Gurinder Singh Dhillon is supposed to be, according to the teachings of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, or RSSB.

Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint against the RSSB guru and others associated with him describes a really disturbing pattern of behavior by Gurinder Singh Dhillon. 

Malvinder and Shivinder are relatives of the guru.

After their father's death they viewed Dhillon as a trusted father figure. They also are initiates of the guru, so that was a factor in their trust. The RSSB guru is considered to be God in human form. After initiation, the guru supposedly takes charge of his initiates' karmas, or destiny. 

The guru's commands are viewed as sacred by devotees, not to be questioned. I know this for a fact, because I was a member of RSSB for 35 years and did a lot of volunteer work ("seva"). No one ever wondered if what the guru wanted should be done. It just was done, without question.

So when Gurinder Singh Dhillon put his close associate, Sunil Godhwani, in charge of companies affiliated with the Singh brothers, it isn't at all surprising that Malvinder Singh and his brother trusted that Godhwani and the guru would make wise decisions.

However, this isn't what happened.

As noted in the above-mentioned story, Dhillon and Godhwani, among with others associated with RSSB, siphoned almost a billion dollars into shell companies that made risky real estate deals that now apparently have gone bad. Or at least, semi-bad.

It's an unholy mess. I'm confident the Singh brothers never thought that doing what the guru wanted would leave them in such financial and legal troubles. But this is what can happen when religious leaders are viewed as divine, even godly.

When skepticism departs, fraudulent behavior can walk right through a true-believing door.

Vipassana vs. Surat Shabd Yoga meditation. I pick a winner.

Arguably it doesn't make sense to consider that meditation styles can be classed as winners or losers. But, hey, that's no fun! So in this post I'm going to choose a winner after considering a question I got in an email message recently:

Do you have any opinion as to whether vipassana is more or less equal to RSSB's simran?

Well, of course I have an opinion.

I'm a blogger. Opinionating is what I love to do. I've got opinions on just about everything. Heck, on one of my other two blogs I rated the grocery carts at the three stores in south Salem (Oregon) where I do the weekly shopping for my wife, dog, and myself.

First, let's get some terms defined. Vipassana is a Buddhist meditation practice that is basically what is now called "mindfulness." Sure, there's more to it than that, as discussed in a Tricycle article, "What Exactly is Vipassana Meditation?"

The distinction between Vipassana meditation and other styles of meditation is crucial and needs to be fully understood. Buddhism addresses two major types of meditation. They are different mental skills, modes of functioning or qualities of consciousness. In Pali, the original language of Theravada literature, they are called Vipassana and Samatha.

Vipassana can be translated as “Insight,” a clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens. Samatha can be translated as “concentration” or “tranquility.” It is a state in which the mind is brought to rest, focused only on one item and not allowed to wander. When this is done, a deep calm pervades body and mind, a state of tranquility which must be experienced to be understood.

Most systems of meditation emphasize the Samatha component. The meditator focuses his mind upon some items, such as prayer, a certain type of box, a chant, a candle flame, a religious image or whatever, and excludes all other thoughts and perceptions from his consciousness. The result is a state of rapture which lasts until the meditator ends the session of sitting. It is beautiful, delightful, meaningful and alluring, but only temporary. Vipassana meditation addresses the other component, insight.

Simran is one component of the Surat Shabd Yoga meditation practice taught by Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), along with other sects that fall into the general category of Sant Mat. Simran is the repetition of a mantra, so it falls into the Samatha or concentration category, as noted in the passage quoted above. 

The other components of Surat Shabd Yoga are dhyan, visualization of an image (usually the face of the guru who initiated the practitioner), and bhajan, listening to a supposed celestial or supernatural sound.

The simran part of Surat Shabd Yoga is what I was asked about, but what follows really is a comparison of Vipassana and Surat Shabd Yoga in general.

I practiced Surat Shabd Yoga diligently for about 35 years, meditating every day from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours. For the past 15 years or so my morning meditation has been Vipassana/mindfulness oriented. 

The key difference between Vipassana and Surat Shabd Yoga is the goal.

As noted in the passage above, Vipassana, or mindfulness, aims at being clearly aware of whatever is present within one's consciousness.

It isn't other-worldly, unless sensations of another world are present. Typically awareness of the breath is used to calm the mind, though thoughts and emotions aren't rejected in mindfulness meditation, since they can be another object of awareness.

Surat Shabd Yoga, on the other hand, is very much other-worldly. The goal is to withdraw one's consciousness from the outside world, including sensations of one's own body, and bring awareness completely "inside."

Once there, at the eye center or Third Eye, supposedly one's soul consciousness rises to higher realms of spiritual reality, considered to be five in number. 

Now, I've used supposed and supposedly to describe Surat Shabd Yoga meditation, but not to describe Vipassana or mindfulness meditation. 

This points to the central reason I consider Vipassana to be superior: it deals with what is actually present in consciousness, not with what might be there. Surat Shabd Yoga, on the other hand aims at leaving this world behind in order to gain a supposedly better one.

Even the simran or mantra repetition aspect of Surat Shabd Yoga has an other-worldly connotation, since the Five Holy Names repeated by the practitioner supposedly are associated with characteristics of the aforementioned five higher realms of reality.

So the benefit of Surat Shabd Yoga meditation is much reduced if, as I consider highly likely, the supernatural regions it posits actually don't exist.

Meaning, if there's no supernatural side to reality that human consciousness can become aware of, then Surat Shabd Yoga basically is Samatha or concentration. There's a benefit to being able to concentrate on a mantra or image to the exclusion of other sensations, thoughts, emotions, and such, but otherwise the Surat Shabd Yoga practitioner isn't doing anything special.

Ah, that word, special. 

This points to another reason why I now much prefer Vipassana/mindfulness meditation. There's nothing special about it, nor is there any claim that it's something special. It's simply an attempt to recognize whatever is happening with as clear an awareness as possible.

As I frequently hear on my Daily Calm guided meditation via my iPhone's Calm app, "breathing in, know that you are breathing in; breathing out, know that you are breathing out." (Also, as I've noted in a blog post, when locking my car, know that I am locking the car.)

So mindfulness is a universal approach to living.

In a very real sense, there's nothing higher or lower, better or worse, desirable or undesirable. If we're happy, we know we're happy. If sad, we know we're sad. Judgement is absent from Vipassana meditation, as I understand it.

If the mind wanders, we know our mind is wandering. When the mind is concentrated, we know our mind is concentrating.

By contrast, my experience is that Surat Shabd Yoga practitioners -- at least those in the RSSB organization -- consider themselves to be on a very special path that leads to God-realization. The RSSB teachings claim that those initiated by the guru, who is viewed as God in human form, are "marked souls." 

Marked, that is, by God as deserving of being put on a path that is guaranteed to lead to God-realization within a maximum of four lifetimes (which entails a belief in reincarnation, obviously).

The Surat Shabd Yoga goal of leaving this world behind to find a better one within the depths of one's consciousness also encourages an unhealthy disdain for everyday life among many devotees. The RSSB guru sometimes is adored more than an initiate's own family, in line with Jesus' supposed saying:

"Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37)

Bottom line: I'm enjoying my meditation much more now that I've switched to a Vipassana/mindfulness approach. I feel more in touch both with myself and with other people. I no longer consider that I'm on a special spiritual journey leading to the highest divine realm that people who practice other forms of meditation are unable to reach.

It feels good to simply view myself as an ordinary human being living an ordinary life.

But if God or a supernatural divinity actually does exist, seemingly Vipassana meditation will help me be mindfully aware of it, should that divinity deign to make an appearance in my consciousness.

UPDATE: I neglected to mention another reason I prefer Vipassana/mindfulness meditation now. In accord with Buddhist teachings, Vipassana leads to a realization that there's no "self" inside our head, no enduring essence, nothing separate from ever-changing experience.

Surat Shabd Yoga, on the other hand, assumes we have, or are, a soul that is unchanging and eternal, even though there's no convincing evidence of this. So in addition to assuming that supernatural realms of reality exist, Surat Shabd Yoga also assumes that the soul exists. 

I want to know reality as it is, as clearly and fully as possible. Fantasies about what could be, but isn't, can be fun to engage in (that's why movies and novels are so pleasing), but they shouldn't be taken seriously.

RSSB guru now faced with repaying $909 million in allegedly fraudulent loans

The money Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, is expected to pay back so an arbitration award can be made in accord with an India Supreme Court ruling keeps getting larger.

A few days ago I reported that the guru owed $870 million. Now the amount has risen to $906 million, according to a Times of India story, "Will recover dues from Radha Soami head, others Malvinder tells SC."

The story provides further evidence that defenders of the guru are wrongly claiming that this is just a family affair. (Malvinder Singh is the guru's cousin; some say nephew, but I've been told cousin is the correct relationship.)

As you can read below in the screenshots I made of the story, the massive amount of loans and advances given to Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is preventing payment of the arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo.

Those loans and advances were made fraudulently with the connivance of the guru, his right-hand man Sunil Godhwani, and other RSSB members, according to the criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh. 

I keep writing about this Indian financial saga, which could provide the plot for a great Bollywood movie, because it shows up so clearly the hypocrisy of many religious leaders.

The guru who leads a sect that teaches the goal of life is to purify the soul and mind so they can rise to higher spiritual regions has devoted himself to amassing worldly riches in a highly dubious manner, using his position as the head of RSSB to make himself rich. 

It'll be interesting to see if Malvinder succeeds in getting the money back from the RSSB guru and others. Hopefully he will. Gurus can't hold themselves above the law, even though their devotees often try to excuse their actions with a variety of unconvincing excuses: "It's God's will...this is a test of our faith...gurus work in mysterious ways...blah, blah, blah."

Where there's RSSB financial fraud smoke, there's fire underneath

When someone leaves a thoughtful, lengthy, well-researched comment on this blog, I'm motivated to share it in a blog post so more people see it.

In this case, I also found the commenter's assumed name to be wonderfully creative: Radh(er Not) Soami -- a play on words, since Radha Soami is both a greeting used by members of Radha Soami Satsang Beas and shorthand for the group's philosophy.

Hence, "rather not" becomes Radh(er Not).

Here's this person's comment. I added some explanatory links, a few photos, and corrected some typos. "Shivi" stands for Shivinder Singh. "Malav" stands for Malvinder Singh. And I'm assuming Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD) is the other member of the "top Three."

These type of fraud activities on grand scale go too much in India. Nirav Modi case is another one that some of you folks may have heard about.

Nirav Modi

Somehow the business and cultural environment is such that these activities do not trigger legal alerts, let alone moral and ethical qualms, in anyone... so these folks seem emboldedened to think it as the cost of doing business (or shall I say make even more yuuge amounts of money).

It's not like it does not happen in US either; it is just that the regulatory noose is little tighter in US.

I doubt anyone in the upper echelons of the Dhillon-Singh empire [did] not know what was going on or how the money was being siphoned or how the loans were being payed off just on paper; it was just a normal practice when it was being done in real time.

Until these activities added up and the market downturn squashed the speculative bets to such an extent, with Daiichi-Sankyo playing the violin band on "Nearer, My God, to Thee", that everyone saw the Titanic sinking and no one knew what to do to get out.

It's unfathomable that whoever was writing in those checks and carrying out those transactions didn't alert others about the dark clouds hovering over the near-horizon and that info didn't vaporize all the way to the top Three.

Personally, from the fact that Shivi's announcement on Sep 23rd 2015 to go to dera - to become a "Sadhu" - was closely matched with first murmurs of problems cropping underneath their empire (check the press reports around that time), I think his going to dera may have been as much tied with how to sort this mess out as much as his inner calling.

Perhaps this sorting the mess out is tied to the potential succession plans (whether as part of or apart from the so-called Family Settlement). I don't think Malav is an innocent party either, even if he has gotten full throttle against GSD today (likely not out of honesty but as part of ploy to extract something out of this mess).

He likely (allegedly) fully knew what was going on and the reasons for Shivi's renunciation and pilgrimage to dera. But after s*** quickly hit the fan from there on, he decided to go a different route to reduce his culpability.

If Sunil Godhwani could intertwine Dhillon/Singh finances (something that Singh brothers should have known having created plethora of entities and the reasons to do so), then imagine what could happen if Shivi ended up on RSSB trust or as the head. Perhaps they saw a way to get out of trouble, particularly if the mess took a deadly turn.

Of course, this is conjecture on my part but where there is a smoke, there must be a fire underneath. Something was fishy all along and all this sudden renunciation, leaving the company in capable hands of Malav and Sunny, is just too naive to believe in.

For all those here who are on the fence and so much on the defense, just beginning of this year, I too was defending all these actions (and few others relevant to my life) that somehow this is all divine plan and so on despite my objectivity that seriously questioned it since the Bloomberg story.

So I thought of this way: what if all this was happening to someone else's guru?... say if Kirpal existed today, who otherwise posed as a decent guru, or perhaps Rajinder from his lineage today. Would the same thoughts and defense arguments originate in you, or would you be quick to point out (and likely gloat) that "we told you so... that it is a fake lineage"?

Would you not say "even if this was all legal, why is their guru amassing god-awful amounts of money while preaching Guru Nanak's message: the accumulation of wealth is not possible without sins; nor does it accompany the accumulator after death (Paapan baaj hoi nahi...)."

Would you not say that he should be instructing and hammering all his kins and near ones (particularly the dera elites) to adopt a simple honest living and focus on meditation than putting all the kins and close circle friends to the top positions of the empire?

That doesn't sound like someone acting as mentor to this duo but rather appears to be actively involved in all aspects when the top echelons of dera were recruited to run this empire. Perhaps you should listen to this satsang starting at 6:25 : "... what principles don't we sacrifice to amass this wealth..." indeed! But oh sweat Lord, what an irony!  

[It's in hindi but some of you seem to know it].

Ram Rahim

If you look at some of the comments posted by Ram Rahim followers even today on various forums/apps, you will see the real denial in action despite such clear evidence of his wrong-doing and doing time. It seems for some folks facts and evidences just don't matter.

Or is it just like the classical loss psychology in investments? I still sometimes think that this is all just a Cosmic play and my RS stock will bounce back with full dividends. But I guess this is mind adjusting to the new reality, particularly when you were invested and thought yourself lucky to get a ticket back to Home.

Oh the five stages of grief!

I am the same way with my stocks, I just can't get rid of them when they lose, particulary when you like the company's product but not its management or its policy or its CEO. Tesla anyone? Looks like I need to diversify my spiritual stocks like Brian is doing these days. Any good spiritual mutual fund or ETF, people?

Common sense talk about the RSSB guru and the Singh brothers

When I read the first sentence of a comment by "Hidden Agenda" on a recent blog post of mine, "Malvinder: RSSB guru's loans of over $870 million are due," I strongly suspected I was going to find what this person wrote was interesting.

Let's piece the whole story together using common sense. 

Below is the comment, with a few typos corrected. I consider that everything Hidden Agenda says does indeed make common sense. This person fits together bits of pieces of the Dhillon family/Singh brothers financial saga in a fashion that makes for a coherent tale.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru, could throw light on the saga if he'd ever hold a press conference and answer questions from Indian financial journalists. But he hasn't done this, and may never do this, so that vacuum understandly is being filled with theories such as you'll read below.

Singh brothers and Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Back in 2010 I wrote several blog posts about members of the Dhillon family receiving shares in Religare from the Singh brothers, which is the first part of Hidden Agenda's comment. See:

Religare's money connections with the Radha Soami guru
Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru makes $254 million

As the second post notes, it was a holding company controlled by the Dhillon family that held shares of Religare worth $254 million. It seems entirely reasonable that one of Gurinder Singh's sons was enriched by the same amount, as the comment says. 

The first post says that the guru's sons got Religare stock for 23 cents a share, which is less than the $1 a share price mentioned in the comment. Regardless, the Singh brothers essentially gifted the Dhillon family shares that soon after ballooned in value.

Read on for the common sense talk from "Hidden Agenda."

Let’s piece the whole story together using common sense.

First of all, this began back when Gurinder’s sons received shares in Religare or some company just before they were floated on the stock market.

The Singh brothers sold the shares to them for $1 each and they became worth $100 each after the flotation. This made one of the sons $250,000,000 – a quarter of a billion.

Nobody just gives anyone that kind of money for no reason. This was obviously a business transaction. There was obviously a second part to that deal, whereby Gurinder’s family does something in return that is of more value to the Singh brothers.

What could that be? What could Gurinder give them that would be of more value?

Connections? People who can be trusted? My guess is that this was planned long ago. With key people in place that were not related to the Singh brothers, they could do transactions that would appear to be genuine business transactions. Of course none of this could be in writing – so it would have to be based on trust.

Gurinder would be the perfect partner for the deal. He could appoint a person like Goswami who was not a family member, yet Goswami would never steal from his spiritual guru. And maybe others like him that we may still be unaware of.

Funds could be siphoned into offshore companies that have complete secrecy. Nominee directors and shareholders – so ownership remains anonymous.

But something went wrong. The real estate market took a serious nosedive. Just at the same time the Singh brothers desperately needed funds otherwise they would lose the shares they had pledged to the bank.

Their normal bank accounts were frozen because of the Daiichi Sankyo case. So they could not make the bank payments. They most likely appealed to Gurinder to help them but he was unable to do so because they real estate market had dropped so dramatically.

From there, it all went downhill. The Singh brothers lost their billions – their biggest mistake was to pledge their shares. Obviously they knew at the time that they had plenty of money to make the bank payments – but they did not see the possibility of their bank account being frozen. Nobody could foresee that.

After that – the relationship with Gurinder most likely went sour as they perhaps blamed him for not helping. I doubt very much that the money given to the Dhillon family was theirs to keep – most likely it was an “under the table” deal to give money back to the Singh Brothers.

The Singh brothers would not just give money away for nothing – there was obviously some kickback payments due to them.

When things went wrong – all trust is gone and it’s each for himself. That is where they are now.

If the Singh’s bank accounts had not been frozen – this story would never have come out – even now. It could only be a joint effort by the Singhs and the Dhillons. They both stood to profit.

But business deals can go wrong and this one did.

Malvinder is bitter because he has lost everything and all that remains now is revenge. Shivinder is friends with Gurinder – so he’ll be okay but I doubt he will be the next guru. It would be a PR miracle if RSSB managed to pull that off.

Malvinder: RSSB guru's loans of over $870 million are due

I just made this update to the blog post I wrote yesterday, "RSSB guru had better have a big bank balance."

NEXT DAY UPDATE: A Live Mint story about the Supreme Court hearing reports that Malvinder Singh says the RSSB guru has loans of over ₹6,000 crore, $870 million, that are due. So the graphic above appears to be correct. Excerpt:

Malvinder Singh, in his 30-page affidavit, claimed that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, his family members and companies controlled by him used funds from the Ranbaxy sale to buy real estate, and loans and advances of over ₹6,000 crore made to them were due. Malvinder claimed that though he made all efforts to sell his assets, these were thwarted by Daiichi Sankyo.

Sure wish I could be present when Malvinder Singh talks with Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru, about the money. Maybe Malvinder will say something like this:

Hey, cousin Gurinder, I've got a small favor to ask. No big deal really. I just need you to pay back the money you owe me, so I can comply with a court ruling. A check for $870 million made out to Malvinder Mohan Singh would be great. Well, maybe a bit more just to be sure we cover all your debts. Let's make it a nice round number, $1 billion dollars, but in rupees, naturally, and we'll call it good. 

I realize you might be a bit irritated by me filing a criminal complaint against you, but let's not let that stand in the way of a a little friendly -- OK, sort of friendly -- request to pay what you owe. And you're supposed to be God in human form, right? Can't you just conjure up a billion dollars with your divine powers? Also, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd appreciate your stopping the death threats against me. I've got enough to worry about as it is.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the Scheming Saint of Radha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru had better have a big bank balance

I'm sure defenders of the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas will have a different take on today's news from the Indian financial press, but the way it looks to me, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and associates are going to have to account for the hundreds of millions of dollars they've gotten from fraudulent loans. 

Well, more than account. Because it sure seems like there's going to be a lot of pressure on the Dhillons, et.al., to pay back the approximate US $800 million they've gotten from highly suspicious loans.

No, that isn't a typo. The amount reported by Live Mint was $782 million. With interest and/or penalties, $800 million is a wholly believable figure. 

So let's see why I believe the RSSB guru and others are going to have to come up with that money, much or most of which appears to have been spent on real estate deals, during the next few months.

First piece of evidence: A News18 story, "Since You Aren't a Sadhu Anymore, Start Thinking About Money, SC Tells Former Fortis Promoter." SC refers to the India Supreme Court.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday told former promoter of Fortis Shivinder Singh that since he is no more a sadhu, he should start thinking about the money.

Shivinder and his elder brother Malvinder Singh had been called upon by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in connection with a contempt plea moved by Daiichi Sankyo.

Daiichi has come to the court for securing Rs 4,000 crore of foreign arbitration award in the their favour and had got the stake sale of Fortis Hospital to IHH Healthcare Berhad, Malaysia stopped by way of an interim order of the apex court.

When the sparring brothers showed up on Thursday, senior lawyer Fali S Nariman, representing Daiichi, pointed out that while Malvinder claims is trying to pay off all debts, Shivinder says he has become a sadhu.

Interacting with Shivinder, CJI Gogoi said: "You are telling us that you have nothing to do with business anymore and that your brother is looking after it since you have renounced the world. If you have a debt to pay, your renouncing the world wouldn't matter to us." At this, Shivinder's lawyer PS Patwalia submitted: "Mr Shivinder has come back to the world in December 2017."

"Oh! That's good. Now that your lawyer says you've come back to the world, start thinking about money," retorted the CJI.

The court, then referring to the foreign tribunal award in the favour of Daiichi, told Singh brothers: "It is not just about Rs 4000 Crore or individual honour It is a question of honour for the country. It doesn't do good for the country. You were once the flag- bearers of this country. Pay your debts and come out of this."

It asked Malvinder and Shivinder to sit with their accountants and figure out a way to pay off their debts and honour their commitments. "We believe this was your first time in the court. Let your next appearance be your last. Come back with a plan," CJI told Singh brothers, adjourning the case to March 28.

How much is 4000 crore rupees? About $578 million. Do Malvinder and Shivinder Singh have anywhere near that much money? Almost certainly not.

There have been articles in the Indian financial press about the fall of their business empire. For example, a Forbes story, "How to Lose a $2 Billion Family Inheritance: The Tale of the Singh Brothers of India." Excerpt:

The Singh brothers were heirs to Ranbaxy Laboratories, which was then India’s foremost pharmaceutical company, founded by their grandfather Bhai Mohan Singh and stewarded by their father, Dr. Parvinder Singh, who died in 1999. The brothers, who each inherited one-third of the company, engineered its sale in 2008.

After that, they heavily invested the proceeds into the fast expansion of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises, two other public companies they owned.

They also loaned vast amounts of money to companies owned by a family headed by a spiritual leader whom they followed and who was a relative of theirs — Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Dhillon was a businessman as well, and he and members of his sect were central to investments made with loans from the brothers, including investments in a wide-ranging real-estate portfolio.

A Live Mint graphic that I've shared in other blog posts illustrates how massive the "vast amounts of money" loaned to the Dhillon family was.

The red circles total to 994 crore, or $136 million. The RHC Holding amount, a company controlled by the Singh brothers, is much larger: 5,482 crore, or $792 million. 

NEXT DAY UPDATE: A Live Mint story about the Supreme Court hearing reports that Malvinder Singh says the RSSB guru has loans of over ₹6,000 crore, $870 million, that are due. So the graphic above appears to be correct. Excerpt:

Malvinder Singh, in his 30-page affidavit, claimed that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, his family members and companies controlled by him used funds from the Ranbaxy sale to buy real estate, and loans and advances of over ₹6,000 crore made to them were due. Malvinder claimed that though he made all efforts to sell his assets, these were thwarted by Daiichi Sankyo.

So where do the Singh brothers need to go to come up with the $578 million the Supreme Court of India says they need to pay Daiichi? It sure seems like the money they loaned to Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is a likely source.

Second piece of evidence: a Business Today story, "SEBI directs RFL, REL to recall loans worth over Rs. 2,300 crore from Singh brothers, others."

SEBI Thursday ordered Religare Finvest and Religare Enterprises to recall loans worth over Rs 2,300 crore that were diverted to promoters Shivinder Mohan Singh, Malvinder Mohan Singh and 21 other entities after finding preliminary evidence of fund diversions.

Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) is a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL). At the end of December 2018, the Singh brothers were among the promoters of REL.

"It was observed that funds amounting to Rs 2,315.09 crore had been diverted from the books of RFL for the utilisation of promoters and promoter group entities of REL," the regulator said in an order.

Noting that a detailed investigation of the fund diversion is necessary to find out the role of each entity in the alleged routing of funds, SEBI said remedial action needs to be taken to protect the interest of shareholders.

...The regulator has directed the two companies to "initiate steps to recall all the loans amounting to Rs 2,315.09 crore" along with due interest within three months.

...Apart from the Singh brothers, the loans have to be recalled from 21 other entities. Those include OSPL Infradeal, Bharat Road Network, Platinum Infrastructure, Ad Advertising and Artifice Properties.

The other entities are Best Health Management, Devera Developers, Vitoba Realtors, Fern Healthcare, Modland Wears, Rosestar Marketing, Star Artworks, Tripoli Investment & Trading Co, Volga Management and Consultancy, Zolton Properties, Religare Comtrade, RHC Holding, Ranchem, ANR Securities, Shivi Holdings and Malav Holdings.

The markets regulator had received complaints of alleged financial mismanagement and fund diversions at Religare Finvest for the benefit of promoter group entities of Religare Enterprises.

I've boldfaced the names of three companies SEBI [Securities and Exchange Board of India] is requiring loans to be recalled from that are companies Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family got money from, as shown in the graphic above. 

If the Live Mint graphic is correct, the RSSB guru and his relatives could be required by SEBI to pay back 5,992 crore, or $792 million. That's a heck of a lot of money. I doubt Gurinder Singh Dhillon has it in his checking account. 

So it's going to be an interesting few months. The SEBI order speaks of 2,315 crore being recalled from loans made by the two companies, Religare Finvest and Religare Enterprises. It's unclear whether the loans made by 21 other entities are included in that amount.

I've assumed they aren't, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it appears that the Supreme Court ruling and the SEBI order mean that the RSSB guru, his family, and associates are going to have to account for the vast amounts of money they got from allegedly fraudulent loans.

We humans are stuck in The Matrix of our own brains

Most religions, mystical practices, and spiritual paths assume there's a truer reality than our everyday existence. Few people, though, think deeply about how it is possible to tell whether Reality X is more true than Reality Y -- assuming that both actually exist.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari does think about this sort of stuff, though. Today I read the Science Fiction chapter in his newest book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. 

Harari notes that movies like The Truman Show and The Matrix show people trapped in an illusory reality that they have to struggle to get out of.

However, both movies -- despite their brilliance -- in the end recoil from the full implications of their scenarios. They assume that the humans trapped within the matrix have an authentic self that remains untouched by all the technological manipulations, and that beyond the matrix awaits an authentic reality that the heroes can access if they only try hard enough.

The matrix is just an artificial barrier separating your inner authentic self from the outer authentic world. After many trials and tribulations both heroes -- Neo in The Matrix and Truman in The Truman Show -- manage to transcend and escape the web of manipulations, discover their authentic selves, and reach the authentic promised land.

This is pretty much the basic plot line of the aforementioned religions, mystical practices, and spiritual paths. Something is preventing us from reaching "the authentic promised land." Original sin. Karmas. Maya. Worldly desires. Attachments. Etc. Etc.

What, though, if all of the ways to get out of the constricted box of illusion are just another form of the matrix? What if attempts to get out of the box we think we're trapped in just lead to a different sort of box? Harari goes on to say:

The current technological and scientific revolution implies not that authentic individuals and authentic realities can be manipulated by algorithms and TV cameras but rather than authenticity is a myth. People are afraid of being trapped inside a box, but they don't realize that they're already trapped inside a box -- their brain -- which is locked within the bigger box of human society with its myriad fictions.

When you escape the matrix the only thing you discover is a bigger matrix. 

When the peasants and workers revolted against the tsar in 1917, they ended up with Stalin; when you begin to explore the manifold ways the world manipulates you, in the end you realize that your core identity is a complex illusion created by neural networks.

Then Harari talks about the common assumption that Life Will Be Really Great only if we can get outside of the box that we feel we're trapped in that limits our capacity to be happy, contented, satisfied, at peace. Since I've been to Fiji, and don't remember being much, if any, happier while i was there, I can relate to this passage.

People fear that if they're trapped inside a box, they will miss out on all the wonders of the world. As long as Neo is stuck inside the matrix and Truman is stuck inside the TV studio, they will never visit Fiji, Paris, or Machu Picchu. 

But in truth, everything you will ever experience in life is within your own body and your own mind. Breaking out of the matrix or traveling to Fiji won't make any difference.

It's not that somewhere in your mind there is an iron chest with a big red warning sign that reads OPEN ONLY IN FIJI! and when you finally travel to the South Pacific you get to open the chest, and out come all kinds of special emotions and feelings that you can have only in Fiji.

And if you never visit Fiji in your life, then you missed these special feelings forever. No. Whatever you can feel in Fiji, you can feel anywhere in the world, even inside the matrix.

This is very much in line with what I said in a 2018 blog post, "Keep the feeling of religion, and discard the theology." 

I don't believe in God. But I believe in the feelings that accompany belief. 

So now that I've realized the falsity of religion, I've discarded the theological aspects of my former belief system and kept the positive feelings.

Here's some examples.

I used to enjoy the feeling that God was looking out for me, managing my life in such a way that even bad experiences were aimed at bettering my long-term salvation chances. This made me feel hopeful about the future, since I considered there was a trajectory to my life that would end with me becoming familiar with divinity, and maybe actually merging with it.

Now, I'm simply hopeful. The feeling is the same. I've just eliminated the crazy theological reasons I had for believing that the future would turn out fine.

Serving God (or a guru, for I was a member of an organization that believed the guru was God in human form) was another enjoyable feeling. Back in my true believing days I engaged in a lot of seva, as it was called, which is an Indian term for service, or volunteering.

Well, I still like to feel like what I'm doing is benefitting others.

But I've discarded the notion that there's some sort of special benefit to being of service to a supposedly Godly person or organization. This allows me to enjoy the sensation of "selfless service" without having that feeling rest on an imagined theological foundation.

People cling to religion because they like the good feelings that come with believing. 

What I'm suggesting is that those feelings are separable from the theological framework, rituals, holy books, forms of worship, and other trappings of a religion. 

In the same fashion, happiness is a feeling. But obviously there are many ways for someone to be happy. There isn't a single cause of happiness, just as there isn't a single cause of the good feelings that people enjoy from embracing religious beliefs. 

You can give up religion and keep the feelings. 

Even if those feelings are happening within a box, or matrix. Here's Harari's thoughts about that.

Perhaps we are all living inside a giant computer simulation, Matrix-style. That would contradict all our national, religious, and ideological stories. But our mental experiences would still be real. If it turns out that human history is an elaborate simulation run on a supercomputer by rat scientists from the planet Zircon, that would be rather embarrassing for Karl Marx and the Islamic State.

But those rat scientists would still have to answer for the Armenian genocide and for Auschwitz. How did they get that one past Zircon University's ethics committee? Even if the gas chambers were just electric signals in silicon chips, the experiences of pain, fear, and despair were not one iota less excruciating for that.

Pain is pain, fear is fear, and love is love -- even in the matrix.

It doesn't matter if the fear you feel is inspired by a collection of atoms in the outside world or by electrical signals manipulated by a computer. The fear is still real. So if you want to explore the reality of your mind, you can do that inside the matrix as well as outside it. 

Harari is an ardent practitioner of meditation, Buddhist variety. I wrote about this in "How meditation helped Yuval Harari write 'Sapiens,' a terrific book." 

Financial dealings of RSSB guru relate to India Supreme Court hearing

Well, the financial irregularities surrounding the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, (a criminal complaint has been filed against him) appear to be reaching the Supreme Court of India.

The court has asked Malivinder and Shivinder Singh, cousins of the guru who are enmeshed in his massive monetary dealings, to appear on March 14 to answer questions about what happened to 4,000 crore rupees Fortis Healthcare got from Malaysia's IHH Healthcare. Rs 4000 crore is about $574 million.

India's Business Today has a story about the Supreme Court hearing, "SC take note! Singh brothers can pay off $500 million to Daiichi, provided the money is recovered."

Download SC take note! Singh brothers can pay off $500 million to Daiichi provided the money is recovered

Gurinder Singh Dhillon features prominently in the story. I've boldfaced mentions of him.

Singh brothers are due to appear before the Supreme Court of India this Thursday in a case filed by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo to explain sale of Fortis Healthcare to IHH and possible contempt proceedings. Daiichi is enforcing an arbitration order in Singapore that requires the brothers to compensate Daiichi with $500 million (approximately Rs 3,500 crore) for alleged non-disclosure of crucial information during the sale of Ranbaxy Laboratories to Daiichi.

Days before the hearing, fund transfer details accessed by BusinessToday.In provide the most exact picture of the flow of money from Singh brothers to entities owned and controlled by Gurinder Singh Dhillon - the head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas - his family and RSSB associates. Enforcing a repayment of the outstanding money could easily get Singh brothers off the hook by paying off the liabilities towards Daiichi at least.

RoC filings and terms sheets indicate that between 2011 and 2014, Rs 1107.5 crore worth of proceeds from the Rs 9,576 crore sale of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo made their way through RHC group firms RHC Holding Private Limited, Oscar Investment Limited, RHC Finance Private Limited and Fortis Healthcare Holdings Private Limited into two group entities ANR Securities Private Limited and Ranchem Private Limited.

From there, the money was transferred to Prius Real Estate Private Limited controlled by Dhillon family associates and RSSB functionaries through optionally convertible debentures (OCD). Those proceeds were used to invest in other Prius group entities called Prius Commercial, Payne Realtors, SVIIT Software and Sharan Hospitality whose preference shares worth Rs 875.53 crore were subscribed to by Prius Real Estate. Both the OCDs and preference shares were to be redeemed between August-November, 2018 at a hefty premium.

...Besides, his suit against Baba Gurinder Dhillon, Shivinder and Sunil Godhwani and others before the Economic Offences Wing, Malvinder has claimed that loans worth Rs 1006.3 crore have been given directly to Gurinder Singh Dhillon and family members through their entities Modland Wears, Devera Developers, Fern Healthcare and Best Healthcare, besides Adept Lifespaces and Rosestar Marketing.

Rs 1007 crore is about $145 million. So Business Today is reporting that the guru and his family have gotten a heck of a lot of money through allegedly illegal means, according to the criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh. The Rs 1006 crore in loans cited in Malvinder Singh's lawsuit may be in addition to this. 

SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, has determined that Rs 403 crore of these loans were "fictitious and fraudulent." Now the Business Today story reveals that the RSSB guru is involved to a much greater degree in the Singh brothers financial misdeeds. 

Here's a graphic from the story:

Per usual, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family are unwilling to talk to the Indian financial press. The story says, "Dhillons did not respond to a detailed e-mail Business today.In sent to them." But in September 2018 Dhillon said he would answer questions about his financial dealings, which he has never done.

So this supposedly "spiritual" guru broke his word.

Lastly, someone emailed me today, saying that I've been using an official photo of Gurinder Singh Dhillon that doesn't capture his true personality. Here's a likeness included as an attachment to the email. Reportedly it was taken at a distance by someone close to the guru, then cropped and enlarged. 

 

RSSB devotees need to face facts about the financial fraud

Well, there's been an interesting exchange of opinions following recent posts I've written about the financial fraud involving Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, his family members, and close associates.

In general, RSSB devotees have been guilty of ignoring facts -- which, of course, was one of the points I made in my most recent post on this subject, "Why Gurinder Singh Dhillon is a lot like Donald Trump." 

Spence Tepper, a hospital consultant, has delved deeply into the details of the financial fraud uncovered by SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India. He's been doing a good job of leaving comments on this blog that correct errors made by those who want to deny that the RSSB guru has any connection with the financial fraud.

Here's Tepper's most recent comment, where he responds to someone who doesn't accept the SEBI facts.

All I've done is refer to the information from SEBI. SEBI IS the law, and they have made their ruling. So if you continue to believe that this wasn't fraud, then, I'm sorry, you are not acknowledging the facts nor SEBI. If you acknowledge there has been fraud and fictitious cooking of books, then you are at least acknowledging the facts. You may interpret them as you will.

But claiming these are merely unpaid loans isn't true. And it ignores the SEBI's ruling. You are really working very hard to hide a crime, and why would you do that? I do see your effort to limit the scope, but I think if you understand that the scope includes all the companies involved, even those with RSSB members and Gurinder family members on the board...such as RHC, etc...then we are certainly in agreement.

The fact is someone set up this scheme. We do know that Malvinder and Shivender participated and kept it going. And we know that all the others at the least went along with it. Many other people gained richly from this scheme. Who is to blame? They all share some of the blame. It's very sad when people steal money. That's what happened here.

But it's also sad when people deny it. Who are you to deny justice when people's [health] care is now in jeopardy? Let's not place the blame on any one person. Legally, that hasn't happened yet. But legally, a crime was committed. Several corporate robberies. That should not be dismissed.

Because right now a healthcare system is struggling to survive due to the impact of these robberies. If you can dismiss robbery, what other harmful things can you dismiss? Where is your value system of right and wrong? And if that doesn't exist, how do you expect to be treated fairly? Or do you believe you should be treated special, for some reason? On what grounds?

When others are harmed, do you view them as untouchables? As none of your concern? I can't say how you were raised, but that wasn't how I was raised. The capacity to judge right from wrong is the duty of every adult. And to teach our children how to ascertain right from wrong is the first lesson in teaching them to advocate for the wronged, defend those without voice, the weak, the sick, the crippled.

You and I have a different value system. Very different.

As I noted in a comment of my own, some defenders of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family are pointing out that they and their close associates aren't listed as directors of the three shell companies that SEBI identified as illegally siphoning funds from Fortis: Best Healthcare, Fern Healthcare, Modland Wears. 

Here's Tepper's cogent response. (I've corrected a few typos.)

The SEBI order refers to the Singhs [Malvinder and Shivinder] as well as to the specific shell companies, and RHC where the Singhs and Gurinder share majority holdings. The SEBI made a legal determination that the Singhs and these companies had engaged in fictitious and fraudulent activity.

At the time, those shell companies were run by Dhillon family and RSSB associates leadership. The Singhs had no direct ties to those shell companies at that time, according to the SEBI audit. This precisely served the purpose of laundering money. The Singhs gave loans to these companies that at the time they had no legal ties to.

These were Gurinder family/RSSB leadership owned companies. And these companies have been ordered to pay the money they and the Singhs had fictitiously booked as repaid while under Gurinder family/RSSB leadership control. The judgement of guilt is legal and has already been made.

Since the time of this fraudulent activity, the leadership at these companies has changed hands.

There have been resignations and new directors assigned. This supports Malvinder 's testimony about Shivinder. In late 2018 there were resignations. For example, at Modland Wears, one of the shell companies started in 1991, directors resigned in 2018, and they are no longer listed on any information website.

We only know today that papers of resignation were filed in 2018, from the MCA India website. Malvinder claimed that Shivinder had encouraged Gurinder to sell the shell companies, indicating Gurinder owned them. Malvinder further claims Shivinder had offered to assume Gurinder's liabilities in exchange for something.

Malvinder claimed it was the Guruship that was the exchanged commodity.

This also directly implicated Gurinder as the previous owner of these shell companies. And thereby the source of his liability. It was this period under Gurinder's ownership that these shell companies engaged in what the SEBI has determined legally to be fictitious and fraudulent behavior.

Now we see that Shivinder, over the last 3-5 months, is a new director at least two of the three shell companies that had the legal judgment of being guilty of fictitious and fraudulent behavior. And there have been resignations of the prior leaders, confirmed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India.

Though those documents are not immediately available to view, they are listed as a "resignation of directors" PDF in 2018. We still see RSSB leaders as directors, but Gurinder family members are no longer listed, and Shivinder is now listed as a new director on each.

Last month The Hindu had a story, "Whistle-blower makes fresh charges in Fortis matter." Here's some excerpts relating to where the money went that the SEBI investigation determined was "fictitious and fraudulent."
Download Whistle-blower makes fresh charges in Fortis matter - The Hindu

The Fortis Hospitals matter, in which the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ordered the company to refund over ₹400 crore in December 2018, has taken a new turn, with the regulator receiving a complaint alleging that the real beneficiaries of the money were some of the top officials managing different businesses of the Religare Group. Initially, the money was believed to have moved from the listed entity to a subsidiary and thereafter to three borrower entities.

In a letter submitted to SEBI on January 17, a whistle-blower has named brothers Gurpreet Singh Dhillon and Gurkirat Singh Dhillon, along with Sunil Godhwani and Sanjay Godhwani, among others, as the main beneficiaries of the fund transfer.

Mr. Sanjay Godhwani is the brother of Mr. Sunil Godhwani, the former chairman of Religare Enterprises. Mr. Gurpreet Singh Dhillon is the CEO of Singapore-based Religare Health Trusts. Both, Mr. Gurpreet Singh Dhillon and Mr. Gurkirat Singh Dhillon are sons of Shabnam Dhillon and Gurinder Singh, the head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

This assumes significance as the SEBI probe that was initiated in February 2018 was based on reports that the promoters of Fortis Healthcare took out ₹500 crore from the company.

The SEBI probe further found that Fortis Hospitals had given loans to three borrower entities – Best Healthcare, Fern Healthcare and Modland Wears. The ultimate beneficiaries of the three entities, as per the SEBI probe, were RHC Holding and Religare Finvest, with the former being controlled by Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, the original promoters of Fortis Healthcare.

The whistle-blower, in the letter, alleged that an advance of ₹155 crore that Best Healthcare received was disbursed to the Dhillon brothers. Further, Modland Wears is also alleged to have transferred ₹133.36 crore to a few people, including the Dhillon brothers. Meanwhile, Fern Healthcare, which received ₹114 crore from Fortis, transferred the money to the Godhwani brothers and Dhillon brothers, among others.

So when we follow the money, the money trail leads right to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and his close associates. (Sunil Godhwani has been described as the guru's "right hand man.") A Live Mint graphic that I've shared before makes this clear.

Yet fervent fact-deprived defenders of Gurinder Singh Dhillon say he had no involvement in the SEBI financial fraud that, according to the whistle-blower, funneled money to Dhillon's sons and RSSB associates. 

In September 2018 I wrote a blog post, "RSSB guru agrees to answer questions about his financial dealings." But I'm quite certain he never has. Most stories in the Indian financial press regarding the guru's financial follies say something like Questions directed to Gurinder Singh Dhillon were never responded to.

If Dhillon has nothing to hide, why is he so silent? Usually people who feel they've been accused of wrongdoing unjustly are eager to set the record straight. Maybe the RSSB guru has gotten advice from his lawyer to say nothing. Which makes sense, if he's guilty.

Lastly, the criminal complaint filed against Gurinder Singh Dhillon by Malvinder Singh contains a detailed list of loans extended to Dhillon and his family that appear to be separate from the fraudulent loans described in the SEBI investigation.

It sure seems strange that the RSSB guru keeps popping up in reports of serious financial wrongdoing. The amount involved, 1006 crore rupees, is about $144 million. This is an excerpt from the complaint.