Church of the Churchless

RSSB guru and his family played large role in Singh brothers' downfall

Indian journalists continue to do an excellent job of reporting on the complex, Bollywood'ish drama of how Malvinder and Shivinder Singh's business empire disintegrated, in part because of their ties to a guru relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who heads up the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) spiritual organization.

Here's some excerpts from a well-researched Outlook story. I've focused on the passages that mention Dhillon and his family, which are boldfaced. Keep in mind that Sunil Godhwani was the guru's right hand man, personal treasurer, and reportedly once managed the finances of RSSB.
Download Riches To Rags: How Billionaire Ranbaxy Brothers Malvinder And Shivinder Singh Landed In Jail

Of course, it is about money. But in the case of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the two Ranbaxy brothers and billionaire scions who ended up in jail, the narrative goes beyond a simplistic explanation. The sub-plots, which emerge larger than the main one, include personal tussles between family members—father-­son and sibling rivalries—besides ­intense friendships that led to ­greater animosities. Add to this the mysterious veil of spiritual power—both the quest for it, and efforts to retain it.

The story spans three decades, starting when the two brothers were quite young, and their father, Parvinder Singh, and grandfather, Bhai Mohan Singh, were alive. It takes numerous twists and turns, curls and loops, and one can lose track of the critical markers along the journey. It comprises hundreds of dubious deals—money transfers from listed companies to sha­dowy private firms. Each tran­saction includes dozens of sub-deals so there is minimal connection between the points at which it originates and where it ends.

Even the mastermind, if there is only one, is difficult to pinpoint. Sometimes, the needle of suspicion points at Malvinder, the elder Singh, who took the key decisions. At other times, Shivinder appears to be the perpetrator, given his aggression and ambition. In some cases, Sunil ‘Sunny’ Godhwani, who handled the personal wealth of the two Singh brothers, looks guilty. The cast of characters also includes several faceless bankers, senior corporate managers, company auditors and fin­ancial experts.

However, there is a big shadow lurking sometimes in the forefront, and sometimes in the background. This is the towering personality of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), which boasts of more than four million followers across the world. Gurinder Singh’s family members are allegedly active participants in the various firms inv­olved in the fraudulent deals—wife Shabnam, and two sons, Gurpreet and Gurkeerat. RSSB forms a common link between the various actors.

The cases against the Ranbaxy brothers are simple to understand. They all­egedly sip­honed off huge sums—one estimate puts it at Rs 10,000 crore—from the listed groups such as Ranbaxy, Fortis and Religare. They funnelled the money to their closely-held private firms. They retained a part of it, and shifted the bulk of the funds to other firms that were owned by Sunil Godhwani, Gurinder Singh and Shab­nam Dhillon, and Gurpreet and Gur­keerat Singh. Most of the money was used to buy real estate.

The loot was systemic, deliberate, in connivance with the bankers, financiers, and auditors, and against the interests of the investors in the listed companies. It was done over 12-13 years. The money was squandered as the values of the properties fell sharply during the ongoing crisis in real estate. When the scandals became public, each actor blamed the others. Malvinder found faults with Shivinder, Godhwani and the Dhillons; Shivinder with Malvinder and Godh­wani; the Dhillons with Godhwani; and Godhwani with the others.

“The notorious saga of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh seems to be at a conclusive stage and investigating agencies are tightening their grip on the pending cases,” says Sandeep Grover, partner, Ortis Law Offices. “At the same time, in a case filed by Japan’s Daiichi-Sankyo, which bought Ranbaxy in 2008, the Delhi High Court has asked the Singh brothers to reveal details of the assets transferred by them (from Ranbaxy, as alleged by the Japanese buyer).” The court has sought information from the other pla­yers like Gurinder Singh of RSSB.

...The two brothers sought ways to sell the company to a global player. In 2008, during the height of the global recession, Daiichi purchased the Singh family’s stake for $2 billion. It was a corporate coup. The brothers had found the perfect way to tide over a global financial crisis. They had emerged as the Kings of Cash. Finally, to bolster their personal wealth, the Ranbaxy brothers, according to a complaint by the Japanese buyer, illegally transferred Rs 2,900 crore from Ranbaxy to their private concerns.

By this time, the Singh siblings were close to RSSB, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and Godh­wani. The RSSB-Singh family proximity was decades-­old. Accor­ding to members of the sect, when Babaji, as Gurinder Singh is popularly known, shifted to Beas from Spain in 1990 to take over as the new head, the situation was complex. He was inexperienced, and there were int­ernal power struggles. Parvin­der, father of Mal­vinder and Shivinder, ­became Dhillon’s “biggest source of support”.

After Parvinder’s death, his two sons, who were deprived of their legitimate corporate power because of Brar, sought refuge and solace at Babaji’s feet. Sources contend it was the RSSB head, who caj­oled them to sell Ranbaxy. Godh­wani, a key member of the sect, became friends with the Singhs, or at least Shivinder, and emerged as their ­personal financial advisor. He helped them in moving the money out of Ranbaxy to personally owned ­companies, and take important ­inv­estment decisions.

The extent of proximity among these three families was evident in 2006. Malvinder and Shivinder transferred 13.5 million shares of a group firm, Religare Enterprises, to the two sons of Gurinder Singh, Gurpreet (6.25 million) and Gurkeerat (6.25 million), and Godhwani (1 million) at the face value of Rs 10 each. During the company’s IPO in 2007, these shares were allotted to public shareholders at Rs 185. The combined paper profits of the trio: a whopping Rs 227.5 crore. Godhwani was the head of Religare.

After the 2008 sale of Ranbaxy, three strands grew simultaneously. Publicly, the Singh siblings seemed like smart ent­repreneurs, who judiciously used the $2 billion from the Daiichi deal to grow their operations in hospitals (Fortis), and fin­ance (Religare). They had huge ambitions—they wished to build the largest hospital chain in the country, and open a bank. They became the darlings of the media and shareholders. Corporate obs­ervers felt they could do no wrong.

In private, away from prying eyes, the shenanigans continued. Massive amo­unts, raised as loans, were allegedly funnelled out of Religare and Fortis groups, and found their way to the private firms owned by the Ranbaxy brothers, Godhwani, and Gurinder Singh and his family members. One estimate is that Rs 2,300-2,700 crore was looted to buy commercial properties in various cities, including in Saket, New Delhi. Shabnam Dhillon, wife of the RSSB guru, was a dir­ector in some of the largest recipients.

...Malvinder, who claimed he got a death threat, said Shivinder, who wished to be RSSB’s next spiritual head, “bribed” the Dhillons. This was done by the transfer of loans raised by the three listed groups, Ranbaxy, Religare and Fortis, to the private firms owned by the Dhillons. Shiv­inder maintained that Godhwani had ­misused his powers as the manager of the Singhs’ personal wealth. The Dhillon family told the Delhi High Court that it had not ­received any money from the Singhs.

“These are meaningless allegations,” says a RSSB member. “There is no case of money laundering of the sect’s funds. RSSB’s money and assets are handled by a trust, and there can be no manipulation. Babaji’s name is being dragged into corporate scandals masterminded by others such as Godhwani, who bec­ame quite close to the Singhs in 2011.” Godhwani has largely been silent.

The courts will decide the destinies of these characters. The fall of the Ranbaxy brothers is a classic case of how hubris, conceit, hunger for money and over-­confidence can lead to a house of frauds. As quickly as it was built, it can fall ­instantly like a house of cards.

Read Malvinder's messages to the RSSB guru about repaying money

Given recent developments in the financial fraud scandal involving the Singh brothers (Malvinder and Shivinder), Gurinder Singh Dhillon, their relative, who is the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and some other people, I thought it'd be good to point out my June 2019 post, "Malvinder Singh's message to the RSSB guru is moving."

(See here, here, here, and here for those developments. Malvinder, Shivinder, and the guru's right hand man, Sunil Godhwani, have been arrested. Dhillon, his family, the Singh brothers, Godhwani, and others have been ordered to appear before the High Court of Delhi on November 14.)

Actually I should have said "messages" in the blog post title, because I shared several messages from Malvinder to Dhillon that were attachments to the criminal complaint filed against the RSSB guru by Malvinder. (Scroll to nearly the end of the PDF file to find them.)

I'm re-sharing the previous blog post because some commenters on this blog have said that they doubt the RSSB guru actually owes money to Malvinder Singh and the companies that Malvinder and his brother once controlled. Malvinder's criminal complaint contains ledger entries showing what Dhillon and his family owe, and the messages in the complaint are further evidence that the Dhillons owe a lot a money.

Here's my commentary in that June blog post about the messages. 

At the end of the attachments to the criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh against his cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon (the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas), there's some messages that are both moving and enlightening -- as they cast light on the complicated financial scandal involving the Singh brothers, the Dhillon family, and others.

I'd looked at these quickly when I wrote a blog post about the criminal complaint. Today I read them more thoroughly. I've made screenshots of several messages from Malvinder to make it easier for other people to read them.

To begin with, in May 2018 Dhillon agreed to settle his debts if Malvinder and Shivinder (Malvinder's brother) would submit an accounting of what is owned to them by the guru and his family.

...Then, below is a letter addressed to the RSSB guru, whom Malvinder ("Malav") refers to with the honorofic, Babaji. This alone is interesting, since Malvinder is both a relative of Dhillon and also an initiate of his. 

You can read how Malvinder addresses Gurinder Singh Dhillon with the utmost respect, even capitalizing You and Your, seemingly in the same way "God" is capitalized by religious believers.

Malvinder is desperate to resolve the financial difficulties that are causing him so much distress. In response to Dhillon's request for the liabilities owed, Malvinder describes what Dhillon and his family need to pay.

(Two other messages I've shared that follow describe the problems involving Dhillon and his family in more detail, as does the criminal complaint itself, of course.)

Presciently, Malvinder recognizes that various investigations into financial wrongdoing have the potential to be very dangerous to the Singh brothers, the Dhillon family, and others involved with shady loans. 

He presents a way forward that, in his view, would resolve the problems. Perhaps not completely, but largely. Here's the message to Dhillon.

...Later, Malvinder turns his attention to the three companies named in a SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) report detailing fraudulent transactions, after apparently failing to get a response from Dhillon to his July 12 message. 

What's significant here is that Malvinder draws a connection between (1) the fraudulent money diverted from RHC (Religare) and Fortis to the three companies named in the SEBI report (Best, Fern, Modland), and (2) who ended up with the fraudulent money -- Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family.

Several commenters on this blog have been trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the first SEBI report didn't mention Dhillon, his family, and close associates as being involved in the fraud.

However, Malvinder's criminal complaint names Dhillon, et.al., as does his messages below, where he makes it clear that the Dhillon family owes money to the three companies, and those companies owe money to Religare and Fortis. Thus this establishes a clear link between the fraud described in the SEBI report and the ultimate beneficiaries of that fraud.

...A second message was sent on November 28. Malvinder is even more desperate now to be paid the money owed him by the guru and his family, which totals $158 million just for funds diverted from the Best Group of companies.

...What's disturbing in all this is how Malvinder's relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who he also considered to be his father figure and spiritual advisor, was so uncaring and unresponsive to Malvinder's entreaties.

Not exactly how one would expect a guru who is considered by devotees to be God in human form should act. In fact, it isn't even anywhere close to how a decent human being should act.

It must have been difficult for Malvinder to decide to file a criminal complaint against Dhillon, given how close they once were and how much trust Malvinder once had in the RSSB guru. But Gurinder Singh Dhillon ignored Malvinder's repeated requests for the guru to pay back the money that was owed to him and the companies he once controlled.

So whatever befalls Dhillon, he deserves it. At the moment the Dhillon family has gotten their assets frozen by the High Court of Delhi, which then will be sold by the Court. Whether they also will face criminal punishment remains to be seen.

RSSB guru ordered to appear before Delhi High Court on Nov. 14

UPDATE: A commenter shared a link to another story by Business Today on this subject that contains more information. There's a Delhi High Court order for all those involved in the financial fraud investigation to appear on November 14.

Daiichi case: Delhi HC orders RSSB chief Dhillon & family, Singh brothers, Ghodhwanis to be present in court on November 14

BusinessToday.In on March 12 reported Singh brothers could only pay the $500 million order against them to compensate Daiichi, provided the money owed to them by RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is recovered

BusinessToday.In

Delhi High Court has asked RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family members, former Religare promoters Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, former Religare chief Sunil Godhwani and his brother Sanjay Godhwani to be present at the court hearing in the Daiichi Sankyo case on November 14. The court has asked all accused to remain present in the court, along with all the documents relating to the dealings. "The garnishees shall also remain present in the Court on the next date of hearing along with all the documents relating to the dealings/transactions with the judgment debtors as well as their related companies on the next date of hearing," says the court order dated October 11.

Daiichi had earlier enforced an arbitration order in Singapore that ordered the brothers to pay Daiichi $500 million towards alleged non-disclosure of crucial information during the sale of Ranbaxy Laboratories to Daiichi in 2008.

Also read: Recover money from RSSB chief Dhillon & family to pay Singh brothers' dues to Daiichi: Delhi HC

Expanding the scope of people from whom the money could be recovered, the court in June had named 56 entities, including Dhillon, his wife Shabnam Dhillon and other family members, and Godhwanis.

BusinessToday.In had reported on March 12 that Singh brothers can only pay the $500 million order against them to compensate Daiichi, provided the money owed to them by RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is recovered. In his submission, Malvinder has maintained that he can pay Daiichi provided he recovered the money owed to him.

Also read: SC take note! Singh brothers can pay off $500 million to Daiichi, provided the money is recovered

Besides the Dhillon family, the Delhi HC had also issued 'garnishee orders' -- an order that's issued against a third party to recover money to settle a debt or dues -- against several Dhillon and RSSB associates' companies, including Prius Real Estate, Addon Realty, Payne Realtors SGGD Projects, Luminous Holding.

BusinessToday.In had earlier reported the flow of money from Singh brothers to entities owned and controlled by Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family and RSSB associates. RoC filings and terms sheets say between 2011 and 2014, Rs 1,107.5 crore from the Rs 9,576 crore sale proceeds of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo was paid through various RHC group firms. Thereafter, this money was transferred to Prius Real Estate Private Limited controlled by Dhillon family associates and RSSB functionaries through optionally convertible debentures (OCD).

Today The Economic Times of India ran this story concerning the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.
Download Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head 54 others to deposit Rs 6 000 crore

It doesn't appear to be good news for Dhillon and his family, who reportedly were the beneficiaries of hundreds of millions of dollars fraudulently siphoned from RHC Holding, a public company.

Delhi HC orders RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon to appear in court on Nov 14

The RSSB chief is among 55 individuals and entities ordered by the court to pay over Rs 6000 crore owed to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd in connection with the settlement of a dispute to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy laboratories.

Teena Thacker

The Delhi High Court has ordered Gurinder Singh Dhillon, chief of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) to be personally present in the court on November 14.

The order comes after he and his family members told the court that they do not owe any money to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The Dhillon had filed an application following the court’s direction to deposit the amount owed to RHC holdings pvt Ltd in connection with the execution of Rs 3500 crore arbitration award won by Japanese form Daiichi Sankyoagainst former Ranbaxy promoters. In his plea Dhillon had told the court that RHC Holding has made false claims.

Thereafter, in an order dated October 11 the court ordered Dhillon along with his wife Shabnam, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter in law Nayan Tara to “remain present in the court with relevant documents related to their dealings and transactions with the garnishees and their related companies,” the order said. ET has accessed a copy of the order.

The Dhillon are among 55 individuals and entities ordered by the court to pay over Rs 6000 crore owed to RHC holding in connection with the settlement of a dispute to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy laboratoriesNSE 5.63 %.

Justice JR Midha in his earlier order had also stated that these entities cannot “dispose of, alienate, encumber directly or indirectly, part with the possession of any assets, except in the ordinary course of business like payment of salary and statutory dues, till the next date of hearing.”

According to an affidavit filed by RHC Holding in April, entities including those controlled by the RSSB chief, his family and close associates, owed over Rs 6,000 crore to the company and other group entities of the Singh brothers. Malvinder Singh, one of the directors of RHC, had maintained that payment of an arbitration award related to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy could be made only if the money owed was recovered.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Delhi police following money trail that could lead to RSSB guru and his family

Here's some fresh news on the Singh brothrers/RSSB guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon) financial scandal saga.

A commenter on this blog just left a link to an Economic Times story that shows authorities are having success in tracing where the money ultimately went that was siphoned out of companies once controlled by the Singh brothers, and into companies that were partly or mostly controlled by the Dhillon family and their close associates.

Here's what the story says. I've boldfaced the mention of the RSSB guru.

A district court in Delhi extended the police custody of businessmen Malvinder and Shivinder Singh by two days in connection with fund diversion and misappropriation of funds pegged at about Rs 2,400 crore. The court will hear the case on October 17.

Claiming that they have found the “money trail” to some extent and wanted the custody be extended, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police filed a remand application in which it claimed that “during the police investigation the accused persons disclosed that the amount to the tune of Rs 1000 crore approximately was transferred from entities linked to corporate loan book”. ET has seen the copy. These entities are Modland Wears Pvt Ltd, Devara Developers Pvt Ltd, Fern Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Best Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Adept Lifespaces Pvt Ltd, Rosestar Marketing Pvt Ltd,” the application said.

“The amount has been transferred to various persons which has been transferred from the complainant company to these shell entities and finally the said amount was misappropriated/siphoned,” it further goes on to say.

The EOW said that they wanted the custody to be extended to “identify the persons to whom the amount was disbursed and to ascertain the purpose of giving the said amount”.

While the police custody has been extended for Singhs along with former REL chairman and managing director Sunil Godhwani, ex-Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL). Former CEO Kavi Arora and former REL CFO Anil Saxena were sent to judicial custody.

All five were arrested last week following a complaint by Religare Finvest Ltd. They were produced in a court in Saket on Tuesday afternoon.

The EOW has alleged that the accused “wilfully defaulted in repayments and caused wrongful loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore,” in its application filed in the court on 11 October. It also said that the funds were diverted to promoter related companies.

The police investigative agency sought extension of judicial remand for “sustained interrogation,” to find the trail of “cheated money” to ascertain the purpose of cheating, to confront the directors of shell entities and to ascertain the role of co-conspirators.

Malvinder Singh’s lawyer Manu Sharma said he was happy to note that the investigative agencies are heading in a right direction. He has been saying that the investigative agency should recover the money from the head Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

According to the FIR filed by the EOW, internal inquiries showed that the poor condition of the complainant company was to a large extent on account of wilful defaults on significant unsecured loans, defined for internal purposes as CLBs by borrower entities either related, controlled or associated with the promoters.

Malvinder's criminal complaint casts light on RSSB guru's alleged role in financial fraud

Given that the High Court of Delhi has ordered Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family to pay back money they owe to Religare, a company once controlled by the Singh brothers and Sunil Godhwani, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint against the Dhillon family, Godhwani, and others.

That complaint was filed in February of this year, I believe. I wrote about it in a February 20, 2019 blog post, "Legal filing against Gurinder Singh Dhillon is fascinating reading." 

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that anyone who doubts that Dhillon and his family received lots of money from shell companies should scroll to the attachments in Malvinder's criminal complaint. There you'll find a detailed accounting of the funds that went into the pockets of the Dhillon family, along with a signed message from the RSSB guru acknowledging his liabilities and the need to "work to settle the accounts." 

Recent stories in the Indian financial press have said that authorities are investigating possible co-conspirators in the massive financial fraud that has led to the arrest of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, plus Godhwani and a few others.

Naturally it is impossible to say how that investigation will play out.

But here's how I summarized parts of Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint, since it presents a persuasive argument for the culpability of the Gurinder Singh Dhillon in this financial mess. Read my original blog post for more details. 

Someone sent me a copy of the legal brief filed by Malvinder Singh against his cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas; the guru's wife and children; Malvinder's brother, Shivinder; and several cronies of the guru.

...This complaint has formed the basis for a number of stories in the Indian financial press (see here, here, and here). Now, obviously Gurinder Singh and the other people named in the complaint will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations of illegality. 

But the complaint is very much in line with comments left on this blog from 2010 to 2014 by someone in the know. I shared their 27,000 words in "Devastating criticism of Gurinder Singh Dhillon by a RSSB insider." So this is independent confirmation that the general tenor of what Malvinder Singh alleges in his complaint is true.

I strongly recommend reading the criminal complaint in full. Though the stories in the Indian financial press accurately reflect what is in the complaint, there's additional details in the complaint. And it is well-written in what I assume is the style of Indian legal documents of this sort.

...Sunil Godhwani was the guru's right-hand-man/close advisor for many years. Control of companies owned by the Singh brothers passed to Godhwani at the request of Gurinder Singh. This is the first mention of how Malvinder Singh viewed the guru as a spiritual guide, father figure, and mentor. Malvinder and Shivinder are initiates of Gurinder Singh, I'm pretty sure.

...This excerpt talks about how Godhwani wasn't running the companies on his own, but was in "consultation and conspiracy" with Gurinder Singh to cheat Malvinder.

...To understand this excerpt, we need to remember that the RSSB guru is considered by devotees to be God in human form. Hence, his advice and guidance can be trusted as divine. Malvinder says that he trusted Gurinder as his spiritual guru and believed "he can do no wrong." Almost certainly he can, though, as we'll see in the next sections of the complaint. 

...Shivinder is alleged to have spent a lot of time at the Dera (RSSB headquarters) working on a conspiracy to take money from RHC (a holding company formed by the Singh brothers with many subsidiaries) and shift the money to the guru, his relatives, and others -- leaving RHC with no assets but only liabilities, which obviously hurts Malvinder and other RHC shareholders.

...Via an audit, Malvinder learns that RHC is debt-ridden and wasn't a "going concern." This leads him to investigate what happened. He learns that his brother, Shivinder, hasn't engaged in any sort of normal business practices, which the complaint argues shows the fraudulent intent of acquiring various companies held by RHC.

...The complaint says that Malvinder learned that the RHC companies had loaned 1006 crores, which seems to be about $142 million US dollars, to Gurinder Singh, the guru's family, and other close associates of the guru.

...After listing the exact amounts of RHC loans that total to the $142 million, the complaint alleges that Godhwani, in collusion with Shivinder and Gurinder Singh, "intrinsically intertwined" the finances of the Dhillon family with the finances of the companies -- which, as noted above, had shareholders whose interests weren't served by taking money from RHC to give to the Dhillon's.

...Here's one of the motives (maybe the main motive) of Shivinder going to such lengths to funnel money into the pockets of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family. The guru had promised to make Shivinder the head of RSSB, taking Gurinder Singh's place, in exchange for forgiveness of the debts owed to RHC by the guru.

...This part of the complaint says that Shivinder, in connivance with Gurinder Singh, his family, and close associates fraudulently acquired six companies in order to hide from RHC shareholders what was going on, and to shield the people who had gotten loans from RHC from having to repay the money.

...Shivinder agrees to sign a "family settlement" that absolves Gurinder Singh Dhillon of wrongdoing or criminality. But Malvinder has objections to this, as detailed in some emails included in an appendix to the complaint. Again, Malvinder alleges that his brother, Shivinder, agreed to this "in his greed to become the next spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas."

...When Malvinder refuses to sign the settlement agreement, things get really nasty. Malvinder says that Gurinder Singh threatened that he would be eliminated by people from the Radha Soami Satsang, and warned him that the guru is a powerful person who has friends in high places.

...Malvinder states that he has recordings of the death threats made by Gurinder Singh and can make them available as and when desired. He also has received "veiled innuendos and threats" from other members of RSSB. Not surprisingly, this has put Malvinder "under immense mental pressure and trauma."

He's fearful for his life, saying that if anything happens to him this will be at the "behest of Sh. Gurinder Singh Dhillon and the other accused and those working under his influence."

...Here the complaint says that Shivinder Singh has refused to try to recover the loan money as part of "his evil design to effectively  try and write off the debt of the Dhillon Family."

...This isn't a victimless crime, because Fortis Healthcare will be affected, diluting the value of shares owned by investors, defrauding the public, and adversely impacting public confidence.

Malvinder's lawyer calls for arrest of RSSB guru

Following the arrest of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh by Delhi police for questioning about the diversion of funds from companies they once controlled,(see here and here), and the High Court of Delhi giving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, along with others, 30 days to pay back $842 million to the Religare corporation, there's more fascinating news.

Likely reflecting what his client is telling authorities, Malvinder Singh's attorney had some harsh words for Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru. At one time the Singh brothers treated Dhillon, their relative, as both a father figure and trusted spiritual adviser on matters both financial and religious.

But now, according to a story in the Indian Express, things are very different. I've boldfaced the mentions of the RSSB guru and co-conspirators.

A day after they were arrested for alleged diversion of funds and causing a loss of Rs 2,397 crore to Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, former promoters of Religare Enterprises Ltd, were remanded in four-day police custody Friday.

Before they were led away with three others arrested with them, Malvinder’s counsel Manu Sharma told a Delhi court that his client did not have a “single penny” and that investigators were not arresting a “a person to whose doorstep the money leads as he is heading a great religious organisation”.

“This gentleman runs an entity called Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) trust. He’s a very powerful man and has high political relevance,” Sharma told the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat at the Saket courts complex in south Delhi.

At one stage, the Singh brothers were followers of the RSSB.

He said the FIR against Malvinder is an offshoot of a September 27 order of the Delhi High Court which ordered 55 entities and individuals, including RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family members and various companies owned by them or by RSSB associates, to pay dues of over Rs 3,000 to the Singh brothers.

“\After this (High Court) order was reported two days back, my client was detained on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday and arrested before his wife and daughter, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ludhiana,” Sharma told the court.

Besides Malvinder and Shivinder, the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police Thursday arrested Sunil Godhwani, former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena who held “important managerial positions in REL and RFL” for alleged diversion of public money “in clandestine manner for their own benefit.

Noting that “the offence is of very serious nature involving huge amount of siphoning of money”, CMM Sherawat ordered their police custody since it is “necessary to trace the trail of the cheated amount and find out the role of other persons who might have participated in conspiracy, and confrontation with other officials of RFL and REL”. He directed that the accused be produced in court again on October 15.

The court granted four-day police custody though the EOW had sought six days, saying they also needed to ascertain the role of co-conspirators.

Godhwani and Saxena did not oppose the police remand while Shivinder told the court that he himself was a victim of the fraud and would cooperate with the investigation in every possible manner.

Malvinder’s lawyer Sharma told the court that he had given an affidavit in the High Court saying the money was not with him. Maintaining that his client had been cooperating, he said: “I am a defenceless and a penniless man. The agency should arrest the RSSB chief who has not even been touched.”

Meanwhile, the RSSB chief and his family members moved the High Court Friday, saying they do not owe any money to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder.

Malvinder Singh arrested by Delhi police. RSSB guru appeals High Court order.

The drama surrounding the financial fraud saga involving the Singh brothers, Sunil Godhwani, and a guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, has taken another turn with the arrest of Malvinder Singh (his brother, Shivinder, and Godhwani were arrested previously).

A LiveMint story describes the arrest.

New Delhi: In late night drama on Thursday, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi police arrested former co-promoter of Religare Enterprises, Malvinder Mohan Singh, in Ludhiana (Punjab) for allegedly causing wrongful loss worth ₹2,397 crore to Religare Finvest Ltd, a senior Delhi police official said.

“He was nabbed in Punjab, and we are getting him to Delhi," a senior Delhi police official said about Malvinder Singh

An official statement from the Delhi Police will be available on Friday morning.

Malvinder Singh’s arrest comes hours after his younger brother Shivinder Singh, former Religare Enterprises chairman and managing director Sunil Godhwani, as well as two other officials from the companies were also arrested in the same case.

“The alleged persons, having absolute control of Religare Enterprises Ltd and its subsidiaries, put Religare Finvest Ltd in poor financial condition by way of disbursing loans to the companies having no financial standing and controlled by the alleged persons," the Delhi Police had said in the statement earlier on Thursday.

The accused, the Delhi police said, were arrested under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, banker, merchant or agent) and section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

The financial irregularities were flagged during independent audits by the Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Delhi Police said.

The arrests were made based on a complaint filed by Religare Enterprises arm Religare Finvest in December, when they alleged that the three had misappropriated funds of Religare Finvest to the tune of around ₹740 crore through loans to entities that were related to them or their associates.

Religare Finvest had also named N.K. Ghoshal, a long-time associate of promoters, along with directors of the promoter companies.

What strikes me about this sordid mess is what it reveals about the Singh brothers connection with their cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Following the death of Malvinder and Shivinder's father, Dhillon is reported to have become a father figure to them, acting of both a trusted financial advisor and spiritual guide. Shivinder even had hopes of becoming the next RSSB guru and became a sevadar (volunteer) for the organization.

Well, that didn't work out very well for them.

Stories in the Indian financial press show that Dhillon and his family were the prime beneficiaries of the money that was fraudulently taken from companies controlled by the Singh brothers.

So the big question now is whether Indian authorities will continue their investigation into how the financial manipulations were orchestrated and who benefitted from the illegally gotten funds.

The RSSB guru and his family have been ordered to repay within 30 days up to $842 million that doesn't belong to them.  

It's hard to believe, almost impossible, in fact, that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his wife, and sons simply looked at hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into their bank accounts and didn't ask, "Gosh, how is this happening?" Almost certainly, they were willing participants in the financial fraud.

After all, Dhillon is supposed to be God in Human Form, a Perfect Living Master, who I've heard is fond of saying "my way or the highway." Yet in this case defenders of the guru are claiming that he was a passive recipient of vast amounts of money and had nothing to do with how it was obtained.

Yeah, right. I don't believe this. I suspect that Indian authorities don't believe it either. 

UPDATE: The RSSB guru is claiming that he and his family don't owe any money to Religare. Well, as noted above, good luck with that argument. It'll be interesting to see if the High Court of Delhi buys it. The attorneys for RHC Holding, Singh brothers, and Daichi likely are already busy doing their best to refute that contention.

Probably Gurinder Singh Dhlllon had to take this step because he isn't able to repay what he and his family owe.

But the downside is that it puts a spotlight on the ultimate beneficiaries of the fraudulently-obtained money, and that could end up turning out badly for the Dhillons. Of course, it's impossible to predict how this Bollywood'ish drama will play out. Here's the Economic Times story.

NEW DELHI: Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) head Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family members Friday approached the Delhi High Court saying they do not owe any money to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The Dhillons filed the application following the court's direction to deposit the amount due to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd in connection with the execution of Rs 3,500-crore arbitral award won by Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo against former promoters of Ranbaxy LaboratoriesNSE 5.63 %Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

Dhillons told the court that RHC Holding has made false claims that they owe money to the company.

Justice J R Midha sought response of RHC Holding, Singh brothers and Daiichi on the plea of Dhillons.

The court, in its September order, said the amount which 55 garnishees, including Dhillon family, owe to RHC Holdings should be deposited with the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court within 30 days. A garnishee order is an order against a third party for the recovery of debt or dues.

 

ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like there could be even worse news for the Dhillon family, or at least for so-far unindicted co-conspirators. I've boldfaced some pertinent passages in this The Tribune story.

Former Fortis promoters Malvinder, Shivinder sent to police custody

New Delhi, October 11

A Delhi court on Friday granted the police four-day custody of former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh, his brother Shivinder and three others, arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), causing it losses of Rs 2,397 crore.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat allowed custodial interrogation of the five people who were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

Malvinder (46) was arrested on Friday morning, while Shivinder (44), Sunil Godhwani (58), the former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), Kavi Arora (48) and Anil Saxena, who occupied important positions in REL and RFL, were arrested on Thursday by the EOW for allegedly diverting the money and investing in other companies.

The police sought the custodial interrogation of the accused saying it was necessary as they were allegedly involved in diversion of public money which needs to be tracked.

It further said that a lot of people are involved in the alleged cheating and misappropriation of the fund.

The police sought their custodial interrogation saying the accused have to be confronted with other officials to ascertain the role of co-conspirators and said that the money trail was to be found in the case which was at an initial stage of probe.

The counsel representing the accused opposed the Delhi police plea and said their custody was not required as the evidence is documentary.

The counsel for Malvinder said in the court that he has joined the probe and answered all the questions for which his custody was not required.

Malvinder told the court that he has given an affidavit before the high court saying the money was not with him.

Malvinder opposed the police plea claiming that he was being made a soft target, however, his brother Shivinder, representing himself, did not oppose the plea.

Shivinder told the court that he was himself a victim and was ready to help and cooperate in the investigation.

RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Malvinder and Shivinder were earlier the promoters of REL.

The police had said that a look out circular (LOC) had been issued against Malvinder as he was absconding.

He was detained on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in Ludhiana and was formally arrested on Friday morning after he was brought here by the EOW team, Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) O P Mishra earlier told reporters.

The EOW had registered an FIR in March after it received a complaint from Manpreet Singh Suri of the RFL against Shivinder, Godhwani and others alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.

According to the police, the complainant stated that the four had absolute control on REL and its subsidiaries.

“They put RFL in poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies having no financial standing and being controlled by them. The companies to which loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore,” Mishra alleged. PTI 

Here's a Bar & Bench story that contains the High Court order. It appears to be an enforcement of a May order against the same 55 garnishee parties, with the difference being that now they have to pay up within 30 days and provide a detailed description of all of their assets and income.

 

 

Singh Brothers and RSSB insider arrested. Bad news for RSSB guru.

Indian authorities are starting to arrest people involved with the financial scandal that has embroiled Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Sunil Godhwani, and Gurinder Singh Dhillon, plus the Dhillon family, in a tangled web of fraud.

Here's how the Economic Times story starts out.
Download Shivinder Mohan Singh | Ranbaxy ex-promoter Shivinder Singh Sunil Godhwani arrested in fraud case

Shivinder Mohan Singh, the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) was on Thursday arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi police, along with Sunil Godhwani, former chief of REL, among others following a complaint of misappropriation of funds of Religare Finvest Ltd, the lending arm of REL.

Malvinder Mohan Singh, the elder brother was not in Delhi and could not be arrested. It is learnt that a lookout notice has been issued against him. Both Malvinder and Shivinder were raided by the Enforcement Directorate in August this year. The brothers have been accused by Religare Finvest of fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 740 crore.

In December, a criminal complaint was filed by RFL with EoW against the Singh brothers, following which a case was filed against the brothers in May this year.

The Singh brothers are relatives of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Malvinder has alleged that Dhillon and Godhwani conspired to siphon funds out of companies the Singh brothers controlled at the time along with Godhwani -- who reportedly was the guru's right hand man and managed the finances of RSSB. (The "Dera" is RSSB headquarters in the Punjab.)

Here's a description of his role from a Bloomberg story posted on the RSSB web site:

• Sunil Godhwani: The money man. Said to have been friends with the Dhillon family since childhood and to have grown up in the dera itself, Godhwani was managing the finances of the dera.

Further, the fraudulent funds apparently ended up in the pockets of Dhillon, his family, and close associates. In a separate legal matter, the Dhillon family and others have been ordered to pay back $842 million that, obviously, they aren't entitled to.

What happens next is unclear, but it's interesting to speculate. It's well known that authorities typically work their way up a fraudulent/criminal "food chain" by arresting and interrogating lower level people first, the goal being to get these people to implicate higher-ups.

There's no way to know if that is what is happening in this case. It sure seems possible, though. So in my opinion, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family should be more worried today than they were yesterday about their legal culpability. 

RSSB guru and his family ordered to repay up to $842 million

Thanks to a comment left on a post today by a blog visitor, I learned that a financial noose is tightening around the necks of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family, who, along with others, have been ordered to pay 6,000 crore rupees to RHC Holding -- which equals $842 million.

UPDATE: Someone just sent me a photo of the print version of the story. 

Here's how an Economic Times story, "Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head, 54 others to deposit Rs 6,000 crore," starts out (HC refers to the High Court of Delhi in India).

Download Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head 54 others to deposit Rs 6 000 crore

NEW DELHI: Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), his family members and associates are among 55 individuals and entities ordered by a court to pay over Rs 6,000 crore owed to RHC Holding in connection with the settlement of a dispute related to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories.

The Delhi high court ordered Dhillonʼs wife Shabnam, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter-in-law Nayan Tara, among others, to pay up the amount due to RHC Holding, the flagship holding company of the Singh brothers who formerly owned Ranbaxy. Money will also be recovered from former Religare Enterprises chief Sunil Godhwani and his brother Sanjay Godhwani. The non-banking financial services conglomerate was formerly promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The amount should be deposited with the courtʼs registrar general within 30 days, according to the order dated September 27. Any party disputing the claim should file an affidavit to place their contention on record, Justice JR Midha said in the order, which ET reviewed. The entities cannot “dispose of, alienate, encumber directly or indirectly, part with the possession of any assets, except in the ordinary course of business like payment of salary and statutory dues, till the next date of hearing.”

Back in March I wrote a blog post based on reporting in the Indian financial press, "RSSB guru now faced with repaying $909 million in allegedly fraudulent loans." Excerpt:

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."

Well, it looks increasingly likely that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and close associates are going to have to come up with as much as $842 million by the end of October.

The exact amount to be gotten from these sources is a bit unsure, even though it seems clear that most (or all) of the 55 entities mentioned in the Economic Times story are connected to the RSSB guru in some fashion.

The big remaining question, after this huge amount of money is paid to RHC holding, is whether Dhillon, his family, and close associates got the money by fraudulent means, as has been alleged by Malvinder Singh. 

What we do know at this point is that the RSSB guru and his family have failed to repay money that they obtained through dubious "loans" (more like money siphoning) from the coffers of RHC Holding. So this demolishes the guru's undeserved reputation of being a Perfect Living Master, since his behavior doesn't even rise to the level of an average moral human who pays their bills on time.

Sunil Godhwani, by the way, used to be the guru's right-hand-man and managed financial affairs at the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Here's a description of his role from a Bloomberg story posted on the RSSB web site:

• Sunil Godhwani: The money man. Said to have been friends with the Dhillon family since childhood and to have grown up in the dera itself, Godhwani was managing the finances of the dera.

Godhwani has been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy. Godhwai became head of Religare Enterprises at the behest of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, after which Godhwani is alleged to have funneled money into the pockets of the guru and his family.  

Don't look within for inner peace. Look without.

This Pearls Before Swine comic humorously sums up my evolving approach to meditation. Which, as you can read below, also is the approach favored by my new favorite mindfulness teacher, Amit Sood, M.D.


Now, actually I'm more of a blend of Rat and Pig. I still enjoy closed-eyed meditation, but I no longer am devoted to what the spiritual organization I belonged to for 35 years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, referred to as "going within."

That notion was based on religious assumptions I've come to reject.

Namely, that supernatural realms of reality exist, and it is possible to experience them through meditation aimed at bringing every bit of conscious attention away from one's body and the outside world through concentration on what lies within one's head.

I have no problem with focusing attention on what lies within -- thoughts, emotions, imaginings, visions, inner speech, and such -- but this is a one-sided approach to meditation and mindfulness. 

At its worst, and I experienced this during my time as an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, avid devotees of "going within" can become seriously damaged psychologically. They lose interest in work, family, and other normal human pursuits, having become fanatically committed to detaching from the world and entering imagined non-physical domains of existence.

Not good. Meditation should make us a better person, not a worse one. If we aren't becoming a more loving, caring, and compassionate friend, relative, spouse, employee, volunteer, or parent, meditation isn't working for us.

After all, what makes us feel better when we're listless, lacking energy, down in the dumps, sad? (1) Sitting by ourselves in a room with eyes closed, focused on the contents of our mind, or (2) Getting out and doing something like walking in nature, talking with friends, patting our dog or cat?

I don't know about you, but I find #2 much more appealing.

Here's some quotes from Amit Sood's book, Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-First Century, along these lines. I shared Sood's seven tenets in my previous post. The third tenet is: Intentional attention, external or internal, engages the same brain network. Focus your meditation on the world if you struggle with the mind.

In the third tenet, we explored ways to develop meditative attention by cultivating curiosity and focusing on meaning in the outside world. This helps us with engagement and flow.

These externally oriented practices are not only easier but also more effective than trying to see the light in an inwardly focused meditative stance.

The pursuit also makes you a more engaged spouse, parent, employee, and citizen. Attention so strengthened loses its rigidity, It becomes supple and flexible. Flexibility gives you freedom. In most situations, flexibility is a sign of health.

...An important aspect of the brain is that thinking about an activity engages similar brain areas to those engaged in actually practicing the activity. Thus research shows that imagining playing piano or violin or imagining dancing can help you improve your piano, violin, or dance performance.

When I read all this research, I speculated that the same networks should be engaged whether you focus externally or internally (playing piano versus thinking about playing piano). Thus meditation with eyes closed (internally directed) or eyes open (externally directed) should engage the same or similar parts of the brain. I was excited to see that an interesting study supported precisely this speculation.

In this study, investigators evaluated which brain areas activate based on two variables: external versus internal focus, and intense versus low-grade attention. Researchers found that the intensity of focus had much greater effect on the activation than did the direction of focus.

Thus, very similar areas were activated when the participants were intensely focusing, whether looking out at an object externally or thinking about the details of the object internally. An additional research team has recently corroborated these findings.

Realizing this has freed me. I meet so many colleagues who find the internally focused meditation practice very difficult. I have similarly struggled with sitting meditation. I feel comfortable now in suggesting externally focused meditation, in which you experience your world with full attention.

Because from the brain's perspective it doesn't matter whether you are focusing externally or internally. Therefore, in addition to or in lieu of sitting with the eyes closed, you could meditate immersed in the world, with your eyes open. It will activate the same or similar areas of the brain.

Since we spend most of the day in the world and not sitting on a cushion, we could get ten thousand hours of training (which some but not all experts suggest is needed to become really good at anything) in just a few years.

The third tenet builds on intentionality and emerging research, offering you a different way to meditate: instead of meditating with eyes closes, you meditate with eyes open by intentionally projecting your attention externally. 

...A few thousand years ago, when our threats were mostly external, training attention would have meant pushing it toward the depths of the mind, the basis of most meditation practices. A lot has changed since then, such that the definition of escape isn't escaping into the mind but escaping from the mind.

Ten reasons why Radha Soami Satsang Beas is a cult

For 35 years I was a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization with headquarters in India. Back then I believed that RSSB taught a semi-scientific approach of uniting one's personal consciousness, soul, with universal consciousness, God. 

But now that I've been able to look upon RSSB more objectively, I view it as a cult. Here's how a knowledgeable person defined a cult. I've boldfaced certain parts for emphasis.

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who once taught at Harvard Medical School, wrote a paper titled Cult Formation in the early 1980s. He delineated three primary characteristics, which are the most common features shared by destructive cults.

1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.

2. A process [of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion or thought reform [commonly called "brainwashing"].

The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of the group and its leader.

Lifton's seminal book Thought Reform and Psychology of Totalism explains this process in considerable detail.

3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

So based on my extensive personal experience with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which encompasses many communications with people associated with RSSB, including the current guru of the organization, here's ten reasons why RSSB is a cult.

(1) The guru is viewed by the RSSB teachings as God in Human Form. As a supposed Perfect Living Master, the guru is considered to be infallible. His commands are to be carried out without question.

(2) Volunteer service to the guru, or seva, is viewed as highly important. RSSB devotees commit vast amounts of time, energy, and money to the organization, which operates as a strict top-down hierarchy. 

(3) Doubts about the RSSB teachings are strongly discouraged. Thinking for oneself is a no-no, as the human mind is considered  to be the agent of a negative power, much as the Devil is viewed in Christianity.

(4) The current RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, has garnered hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and his family through shady financial transactions orchestrated by his close associates, some of whom are being investigated by authorities in India.

(5) Dhillon has been accused of making death threats through RSSB devotees who do his bidding.

(6) There is no independent board or other entity that serves as a check on the RSSB guru's power. The group's finances are largely a secret, though RSSB owns expensive properties all around the world, including private residences for the guru.

(7) Credible reports show that RSSB has allowed volunteers to act violently toward someone who attended a meeting of the group, and the guru has ignored sexual harassment at the RSSB headquarters.

(8) Most RSSB devotees consider that the guru can do no wrong, even in the face of evidence that he has indeed acted wrongly.

(9) The RSSB guru enjoys a lavish lifestyle while preaching that the central purpose of human life is to return to God, not make huge amounts of money.

(10) Well-off people, political leaders, and RSSB insiders receive favored treatment at gatherings of the organization, while ordinary Indians receive second-class treatment.

There are more reasons why RSSB is a cult, so feel free to share your own in a comment, if you're familiar with this group. For example, the current RSSB guru forbids people to photograph him without his consent, and has issued an edict against taking notes at his talks.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru

Shocking tale of a punch in the face at a RSSB meeting

Here's Part 2 of Osho Robbins' (not his real name) tale of what happened to him at a meeting of Radha Soami Satsang Beas devotees at the RSSB Haynes Park center in England.

Part 1 can be read in "Osho Robbins' 'Crime of the Century' at a RSSB Haynes Park satsang."

Part 2 is long, so you'll need to click on the continuation link to read the full account. Here's some definitions of a few words Robbins uses in his report. "Satsang" is a spiritual talk. "Baba Ji" refers to the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. "Sevadar" is a volunteer.

I'm sharing this story because it illustrates the hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness of religious people, whether of the East or West. When volunteer devotees act much worse than ordinary human beings, and apparently no higher-ups care about their bad behavior, this reflects badly on their religious organization -- in this case Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

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

17 August 2019 Haynes Park
Seven sevadars attack one satsangi,
completely unprovoked and without reason

This account from Saturday 17^th August 2019, describes how I was peacefully walking towards the exit of Haynes Park to leave, and was stopped and held by seven people and dragged to a private spot and then intimidated and punched in the face and then later pushed into the back of a pitch black van to intimidate me further. Further threats were also made.

You can make up your own mind as to whether the actions of those seven people were reasonable. What I can guarantee is that this account is accurate. Furthermore I have no reason to lie because I am not seeking any specific outcome. I am simply presenting the facts of what happened. Beyond that it is not of my concern. I don’t even care about being “re-instated.”

So, I got banned from satsang. How the heck did that happen?

Oh yes, now I remember: it was because I took a mobile phone into satsang and recorded 5 minutes of an English speaker.

But wait a minute… LOTS of people do much much much more than that.

A quick search on YouTube shows there are MANY satsangs / Q&A of BabaJi already online. I stopped counting at 200. Clearly its not a big issue, otherwise RSSB would have done something about it.

Here’s a few examples: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPsz5Z2JvpA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXX6t1F9ZBA&t=113s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2E86eQPNwU

Now contrast this with what the sevadars did:

1. Took my phone, lied about where it was, refused to return it for approx. 5 hours. 
2. Sent a lower sevadar to officially take responsibility for it – if it got lost.
3. Fabricated a story about me threating to “kick a sevadar in the nuts” : something I can prove 100% to be a lie because it’s simply out of character.
4. Forced another sevadar to lie 
5. Banned me without authority because it was based on a lie.

Now I know that sevadars are not perfect, but give me a break.

We’re not talking about perfect here. 

We’re talking about NORMAL, DECENT human beings.

If this is the result of following RSSB for maybe 30+ years, then clearly it’s not working.

“By their fruits Ye shall know them.” Says the Bible. 

But no matter…  Let’s carry on…because the show must go on…

Now we get onto Day 2: the Saturday satsang. There was simply no way the ban was real as it was based on a lie. I also did not think that the person who banned me had any authority to ban me. He also gave me nothing in writing, giving me even more reason to question its validity.

And to add to it all, I had a dream that night. In the dream, I was on the mic, and it was a Q&A session, and BabaJi was saying “Absolutely, the master loves every disciple like his own child.”

I can only guess, my subconscious mind created the dream from the words of the old satsangi I had met that day who had moved me to tears by saying “Does anyone ever forget his own son?” when I had asked him if he recognised me.

Anyway, I took that to mean that BabaJi wants me to attend satsang that day and if he wants me to attend, who am I to fight against that? I am not saying it was some inner revelation – just what I took the dream to mean.

So I decided I would attend satsang that day (Saturday). nThis time I took my own car because I did not want to inconvenience anyone else. I drove into Haynes Park and nobody paid any special attention to me. So clearly I was not banned, because if I was banned, at least some sevadar would have recognized me. 

If I was banned, they would all have a photo of me. So I parked up and walked to the satsang tent. Once again, nobody paid any special attention to me. Even more evidence the ban was a lie.

As I walked along, I saw the same guy who I had met the previous day: Sevadar #2. The one with the short term memory problem. This time he did not ask me “do you know who I am?” so his memory may have improved. A good sign I guess.

He asked me to step to the side of the main walkway, but after the previous day’s experience, I decided to ignore his request. After all, it was only a request, and it was a free country.

I said “No thank you. I am going to attend satsang. I have no mobile phone with me. You can check.”

Then something happened that frankly shocked me.

He started physically pulling me to the side, by grabbing my arm. This was uncalled for.

“Please let go of me, this is assault” I said as I tried to get free of his grip.

Next thing I know, another guy grabs my other arm. 

Now I was getting a little concerned as this was not normal behaviour. If they had an issue, all they had to do was get one guy to watch where I sit and phone the police to get me removed. That would be the legal and proper procedure to follow. Physically grabbing me was going beyond the call of duty.

“Let go of me, and I will leave” I said. Still they held onto me as if I was some criminal, which I guess in their mind I was.

Osho Robbins' "Crime of the Century" at a RSSB Haynes Park satsang

Following is a report Osho Robbins sent to me of what happened after he used his phone to record five minutes of audio at a meeting of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in RSSB's Haynes Park center in England.

It's long, so you'll need to click on the continuation link to read the full tale. Here's some definitions of a few words Robbins uses in his report. "Satsang" is a spiritual talk. "Baba Ji" refers to the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. "Sevadar" is a volunteer. "Seva" means volunteer service.

What I find most interesting about this saga is how it illustrates the dangers of religious rigidity and dogmatism. The problem with Robbins using his phone to record part of a talk could have been handled smoothly in a few minutes if the Radha Soami Satsang Beas volunteers had acted like normal human beings rather than religious robots.

Instead, their fanaticism led them to believe that a rule against audio recordings was an edict from God, since the RSSB guru is believed by devotees to be God in Human Form. So RSSB volunteers (sevadars) often become irrationally fanatic about carrying out their assigned tasks.

As weird as this may sound to non-religious people, it's much as if Jesus returned to Earth and asked some devout Christians to serve him in certain ways. Is there any doubt that they'd obey with gusto, viewing this as service to God?

The downside, of course, is that since it's virtually certain God doesn't exist, bad things are done in the name of religion for purely human reasons. As you will read below, the RSSB volunteers Robbins encountered were willing to lie, cheat, and steal in the name of service to their guru.

This makes it wholly believable that other volunteer sevadars were willing to do even nastier stuff, as has been alleged by two people who claim that associates of the RSSB guru made death threats against them (see here and here). Thus I find what happened to Osho Robbins consistent with the attitude of a disturbingly large number of RSSB devotees.

Whatever I'm asked to do, if the order comes from the guru, or flows from the guru's directives, I'll do it, whether or not I have to act unethically or wrongly.

Read on...

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

"Crime of the Century"

Osho Robbins caught red handed recording 5 minutes of satsang of the English speaker before the Q&A session. Charged with two offences: bringing phone into the tent and recording 5 minutes of audio. Case heard informally and further evidence fabricated to add another offence: threatening to kick a sevadar in the “nuts”.

Result: made to wait 3+ hours for his phone to be returned

Sentence: Unlimited Ban from ALL satsangs worldwide until further notice.

It’s an ordinary Friday morning at Haynes Park. It's the start of the National satsang programme. Osho Robbins is about to discover what happens when you “break the rules” at RSSB. 

It started with a crime - that Osho Robbins committed. Let's call it "The Crime of the Century".

He recorded the english speaker before Baba Ji's satsang for 5 minutes.

Well technically it was two crimes:
1. Taking the phone in to the satsang hall (many do it - but it's against the rules)
2. Recording the English speaker for 5 minutes. Not sure why this was an issue as it was not even Baba Ji’s voice that was recorded

A quick perusal of You Tube will show that  Baba Ji’s satsangs have not only been previously recorded by others but also been uploaded onto You Tube. So this was really a “non-offence” compared to the actions of those who uploaded all those audios of the satsangs.

Let's start at the beginning.

Osho Robbins arrived for the Friday satsang. He went to the back of the tent. Mobile phones are not allowed, but no big deal is made of the matter and there are no sevadars searching or even caring if anyone takes their phone in. 

There must literally be hundreds of them in the tent. Not a single person asked Osho Robbins if he had a phone on his person.

Osho Robbins had his mobile phone with him, turned into airplane mode. The purpose was to be able to stay in contact with various people at the end of the satsang.

As it happens, the English speaker was saying some interesting things, so Osho Robbins decided to press the “record” button, not knowing that all hell was about to break loose.

So pause for a moment and use a little logic.

What is so horrendous about that? He decided to record it so he could listen back to it later. How exactly is that going to be a problem for anyone else on the planet? 

Seriously, why would it be anyone’s concern? Did anyone get hurt? Is it a security risk? It's not even the voice of Baba Ji, but the speaker before the satsang, and it's for his own private listening after the satsang. By no stretch of the imagination can this be considered a major issue.

Yes, technically “the rules” were broken – but no harm was done to anyone. As you will see later, the sevadars will commit much bigger crimes as the events unfold. To name a few: 

Lying, deceit, forcing another sevadar to lie, stealing the phone and illegally keeping hold of it for approximately 5 hours.

As Osho Robbins was recording, the phone fell on the floor and a sevadar pounced on him, "Ah - you have a mobile phone”. He asked Osho Robbins to step outside the tent while he went to get “backup". 

So Osho Robbins stepped outside. What happened next was more like what you might see in a movie, than in a spiritual satsang. The sevadars seem to think it was a major crime to break the rules. Osho Robbins said "I will delete the files in front of you".

"No - give us the phone and WE will delete them, we have to make sure we delete them all."

Saying that, they snatched the phone from Osho Robbins and deleted the files. Not satisfied, they wanted to know if the files had been uploaded to the cloud.

"What cloud?" Osho Robbins asked, wondering why they are taking things so far over 5 minutes of audio recording that was not even of Baba Ji. They checked and decided it had not been uploaded, but kept hold of the phone, despite Osho Robbins asking for his phone back.

By then a more senior sevadar turned up and asked the classic question:  "Do you know who I am?" Osho Robbins replied quite honestly, "I have no idea."

Obviously the "sevadar" had delusions of grandeur, the exact opposite of what seva should be about. And he obviously had a short-term memory problem, and kept forgetting his own name, hence the question, "Do YOU perhaps know who I am?"

Osho Robbins resisted the temptation to tell him "You are the ONE" or "Best to ask Baba Ji”.

The sevadar handed the phone to the senior sevadar. For clarity, we will call this senior sevadar, sevadar #2. Remember this is the one with delusions of grandeur who keeps forgetting “Who he is”.

Osho Robbins calmly asked for his phone back.

The ego-filled sevadar #2 refused to return the phone, saying it would go to the "IT Dept" to get checked. and be returned at the end of the satsang. This was ridiculous behaviour and also illegal. There was no audio of Baba Ji so why the big drama? 

Osho Robbins explained that he was there with his cousin who also had a child with him as well as his wife. And since he did not want to waste their time, he (Osho Robbins) would leave Haynes Park immediately if that is what it would take to get his phone back.

For some reason the sevadar #2 would not agree to this reasonable request. That would have been the most reasonable way to resolve the matter.

"It's my personal property. I would like it back now please and if you want me to leave, I will leave Haynes Park immediately." said Osho Robbins, clarifying his position.

"You will get it back after the satsang." insisted the sevadar with delusions of grandeur.

"No - I want my phone back now, please" insisted Osho Robbins "and I will leave Haynes Park. It's my property and you have no legal basis to keep it or tamper with it”.

There was no raising of voices, no threats by anyone. However, Osho Robbins was simply firm in his request to be given his phone back, which was a very reasonable request, especially as he was offering to leave the site and wait outside Haynes Park. 

"I do have the right to retain your phone" replied the sevadar, "You broke the rules and recorded the satsang and now your phone will be examined”.

It is indeed unfortunate that Osho Robbins had to resort to the legal position to ask for his legal rights to be upheld, but it seemed there was no other alternative. The sevadar #2 clearly had no respect for his legal rights.

The sevadar #2 put the phone in his pocket and now the lies began.

RSSB volunteers punch someone in the face at Haynes Park

Hypocrisy is rampant in every religion. When love is preached from the pulpit, hate often is in the minds of believers. When humility is set forth as a virtue, egotism frequently is on actual display.

Here's an example from Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an Indian religious organization led by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years before I saw the light and deconverted.

What follows is the tale of a frequent commenter on this blog, Osho Robbins. He's a bit of an iconoclast, since he enjoys going to RSSB meetings, including those where the current RSSB guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon) is speaking, where sometimes Robbins engages the guru in a spirited question and answer session.

But Robbins doesn't subscribe to the traditional RSSB teachings. At any rate, recently he went to the RSSB center in England, Haynes Park, where he was treated in a decidedly un-loving fashion by a bunch of RSSB volunteers, or sevadars. 

In fact, he got punched in the face by one of them, as you can read below. 

What I find interesting about Robbins' Haynes Park adventure is what it says about Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Where did these volunteers/sevadars get the idea that it was OK to act like jerks? From higher-up in the organization, of course. 

The RSSB guru has been accused of making death threats, either directly or through RSSB associates, not once, but twice (see here and here). So I guess punching someone in the face is mild, by comparison. Still, this episode makes me glad I'm no longer involved with RSSB.

Robbins alludes to the fact that devotees of the RSSB guru are absurdly attached to their seva, volunteer work.

Because the guru is considered to be God in human form by the RSSB teachings, service to the guru is viewed as service to God. So members of RSSB take great pride in being allowed to perform volunteer work, often becoming inordinately rigid and dogmatic about their assigned task.

Here's three recent comments from Osho Robbins. I've separated them by dashes. "Baba Ji" refers to the RSSB guru. "Satsang" is a spiritual talk.

BIG news coming up about Haynes Park satsang. I attended Friday and Saturday. In two days I managed to hear exactly zero minutes of Baba Ji's words.

On the Friday it was because certain sevadars took my phone and refused to return it.  I specifically said "I wish to leave Haynes Park immediately and would like my property returned to me immediately."

They said I could have it after the satsang. I explained that I am not staying, but am leaving immediately. Still they refused. So I said I would calk the police as this was theft of my phone.

I did in fact call the police exactly as promised. The police explained to them that they have no right to hold onto my phone without my permission.

Anyway, finally got my phone back at 3pm and was told that I am "banned" from Haynes Park and all satsangs. As far as I know, nobody is banned from attending public satsangs. But I guess there is always going to be a first.

Oh I forgot to mention the most important part. I did take the phone into the tent despite the notices. Guilty as charged.

I did also record about 5 minutes of the English speaker who did the satsang before the Q&A.  Because he seemed to say some interesting things. Once again, guilty as charged.

Two major crimes that gave the sevadars permission, in their mind, to keep hold of my phone despite my request to have my phone back as I wish to leave Haynes.

One sevadar was forced to tell a lie in order to keep his seva. The sevadars don't care about what is "legal". They have their own rules that are above the law. Why? Because they said so.

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

The sevadar who originally “clocked me” was asked what happened.

Now the thing was, I’d spoken to him while I was waiting for my phone and he was an okay guy. In fact he started feeling bad for taking the phone and wished he hadn’t. He was very fearful of losing his seva.

So when asked to say what had happened, I was surprised when he said  “I don’t want to say it.... “ I naturally asked “ what exactly don’t you want to say, just say it.”

He then said that I had threatened to “kick him in the nuts”.

Not a phrase I would ever use. Naturally I denied it. The sevadar then said “I would rather believe my sevadar than you”.

Of course it was just too obvious what was going on. I had seen the sevadar have a meeting with this higher up sevadar just a few minutes earlier. So he had obviously told him to tell this lie when asked if he wishes to keep his seva.

So that sevadar said it hesitatingly because he was clearly having a conflict about if he should lie in order to save his seva.

If it was me, I would have simply spoken the truth and handed the sevadar my badge and walked away with a clear conscience. To me, that would be the only course of action possible. But that’s because I would not be desperate to keep my seva.

Someone who is desperate to keep his seva can be bribed. Of course if I was desperate, I too could be bribed.

So the sevadar lied to save his seva, and that was predictable and there was a brief moment when he could break out, that would change his life. Stand for truth instead of lying.

It’s not “wrong” as such. He only did what he was programmed to do. Neither is the higher up sevadar “wrong” as he too was only doing what he was programmed to do.

Liars lie. Thieves steal. It’s the way their life has programmed them. So even in the midst of all this happening against me I am saying it was all inevitable and unavoidable. Each person is acting according to the way they are programmed including me.

So all this was all happening perfectly, despite the fact that at that moment it was not in my favour.

Or was it? It was only against me if I am desperate to step this “calamity” from happening

But it’s seriously not a calamity. I was actually quite happy watching all this unfold. It was entertaining watching how it all happens. Only if I have no agenda. In this case I have no agenda, because I don’t care in the slightest about being “banned” as such.

I can’t be hurt by banning me. The sevadar picked on the wrong guy. I just find the whole thing entertaining. Gives me something to write about.

Of course I am not going to “stay banned”. I am going to test this to see what happens next. I am going to see how far this corruption at the top goes.

Obviously the higher up sevadar has a hold on the lower down sevadar that enables him to force him to lie. So the lower sevadar chose that path because he was desperate to save his seva.

There is no free will here. Nobody can break free unless he stops caring to save his seva. The higher up sevadar is just as bound because he wants me to be banned at any cost. Each is doing whatever they are doing to get the outcome they want.

Drop the outcome and it becomes a game. That’s why I found the whole thing entertaining and laughable. Including “me”. I am also part of the entertainment. If I stop, the entertainment stops.

That too is an option. I can stay banned. I am not desperate to go to satsang. My spiritual future is not in satsang. If it was I would be begging him not to ban me.

And that is what is getting to that sevadar. He wants power over everyone. He has it over the Sevadars because they want their seva. He thinks he got “a result”. But he has no idea what that result is yet. Neither do I.

That’s the only thing that makes it worth playing. Because in reality nobody including me is doing anything here of any real significance. It’s all a divine joke that we all take our personal agenda so seriously.

As I walked away from Haynes Park, I was with my cousin. He had patiently waited two hours after satsang for me. I had made it clear to the sevadars that I had a lift with someone to come to Haynes and he has a child with him. I don’t want to put him out.

They probably thought I was lying. But I wasn’t. I have told the truth from beginning to end. I have no reason to lie. I confessed my “big sin” openly from the start. I lied about nothing.

That’s what gives this whole thing credence. I have no agenda that would make me lie. I won’t lie for any outcome because I am not desperate for any outcome.

Am I bothered about “being banned”? Not in the slightest. Just as I had no care in the world when I was banned as a speaker,

My cousin asked me if I was upset about being banned from satsang. “Upset? Do I look upset?” I am about as upset as when I was banned from being a speaker.

In fact I will be the only person who has been banned from both giving satsang and attending satsang.

This “satsang” thing clearly “has it in for me” or so it seems. I hope you all find it as entertaining as I do. Because it’s about to be upped up a notch. I don’t let sleeping dogs lie.

I like a little entertainment. Hey maybe the baba is doing exactly the same, just a thought.

Stay tuned as the next episode unfolds. This was Friday. Saturday was a whole new day with a whole new adventure. Just like every episode of batman I watched as a child ( the one with Adam playing Batman).

“ Tune in tomorrow to see what happens. Same bat-time same bat-channel”. But don’t take it literally as “tomorrow” and call me a liar when it doesn’t happen tomorrow.

Till next time,. Over and out from “The ONE”.

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

The full story is coming soon. It gets much much more interesting. Ends up in premeditated assault. Instigated by the sevadars.

And when I am saying I want to leave Haynes Park, six people grab me physically and take me where nobody can see and physically assault me by punching me in the face.

They think nobody will find out but don’t realise the power of truth. I am known by many of the old satsangis. I don’t tell lies. If I say it - it’s the truth regardless of if it works against me. And people who know me know this

I am not a violent person. Okay I did accept anami’s challenge to combat in jest . That’s about the extent of any violence in me. Whereas the sevadars in question might have a history of violence, who knows.

The matter will go all the way to the top to the guru himself. I have more than enough support to do this from satsangis who know me and my father and family.

Don’t forget, my father was one of the early uk satsangis from 1963.

-------------------------
UPDATE: New comments from Osho Robbins. "Hukam" means divine order or command.

RSSB is meant to be a spiritual organisation and is also called Science of the Soul. I for one have always seen it that way right up to this incident.

Last Sunday, before the national satsang, Babaji said to me in the Q&A that everything always happens “in hukam” and I agree.

This too is in hukam. Nothing happens outside of hukam. Not even this. It was hukam that I get punched in the face. Obviously “The ONENESS” wants to stir things up for me. The Oneness is welcome. Let’s see what unfolds.

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

There was zero resistance and zero retaliation from me during the entire two day episode. When the punching in the face incident happened I was on the way leaving Haynes Park, and my brother in law saw me leaving.

But the volunteers in question stopped me from leaving and then carried out the premeditated attack.

If anything they will be shocked at my level of nonviolence because apart from asking them to let me go, there was no other resistance from me. Six or seven guys onto one defenceless member of the sangat.

There was no reason for the attack as I was on the way out of Haynes Park. Hardly a sign of great bravery to attack a defenceless person who already wants to leave.

Of course if questioned they may lie but I can prove my position, that I was already leaving. This was a totally unprovoked attack to show me that the sevadars in question had the power to ban me. “Egos on steroids” is all I can say.

Fortis files suit to get money that reportedly went into Dhillon family pockets

Today a commenter on this blog shared a link to a Business Standard story that can only be read in its entirety by subscribers.

But since it deals with a subject that's I've written about frequently -- the financial scandal involving the Singh brothers and their relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas -- I'm sharing a screenshot of the abbreviated story.

Scroll down for my take on it. Rs 520 crore is about $72 million, with Rs 403 crore being about $56 million.
This action by Fortis was anticipated back in May, as discussed in a LiveMint story, though the current amount Fortis wants to recover is higher now. 

The impact on the RSSB guru and the rest of the Dhillon family is unknown at this point.

What should concern them is that theyve been named as the ultimate beneficiaries of the money that flowed in a fraudulent fashion from Fortis into shell companies, then reportedly into the pockets of the Dhillon family.

Here's a flow chart from a Business Today story that shows this.

Though Fortis has filed a civil suit, if recovering the money that went into the shell companies, then apparently to the Dhillon family, results in evidence of wrongdoing by the Dhillon family and their associates, it seems there's a decent chance of criminal charges being filed at some point.

Osho Robbins talks with Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Osho Robbins is a frequent commenter on this blog who enjoys asking the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Gurinder Singh Dhillon, probing questions.

Me, I'm not into gurus anymore. But I realize that many people who visit this blog are interested in what Dhillon has to say. So below is what Robbins shared in several email messages.

Since I was a member of RSSB for thirty-five years, I'm familiar with the organization's traditional teachings and books. Thus I was struck by a seeming contradiction in what Robbins says below.

On the one hand, Dhillon told Robbins that what's important is what the previous RSSB gurus said and what the scriptures say. On the other hand, Dhillon said the guru is only a guide and a teacher.

But that isn't what the traditional RSSB teachings proclaim, including the "scriptures" -- if that is taken to mean the books describing the teachings of the preceding gurus.

Those teachings say that the guru is greater than God, because the guru takes souls back to God, being God in Human Form. The radiant form of the guru (meaning, a supernatural form) guides the disciple through higher regions of reality all the way to Sach Khand, or "heaven."

So it seems to me that the current RSSB guru is trying to have it both ways.

He doesn't claim to be any sort of divine being, yet he refers people to the traditional RSSB teachings -- which DO say that the guru is divine. Even more, those teachings speak of the Perfect Living Master, Dhillon being the current occupant of that title.

I'd find Dhillon to be more believable if he simply said that the traditional teachings are wrong. Anyway, read on for the most recent interchange between Osho Robbins and the RSSB guru.

Today I went to Haynes Park. It’s a week before the national satsang. It was a great opportunity to openly discuss various points without being rushed. I had a very interesting dialogue that answers a lot of points raised by participants in the discussions at Churchless. 

 

Firstly, the notion that “He claims this and that” has to be quashed. If you all wish to validate a claim, ask the person directly, instead of conjecture. 

 

At one point, I said “but YOU say ..........” and he interrupted me. “No, it’s not what I say. I am nobody to say anything. Just see what the previous gurus said and what the scriptures say.”

 

He also said “Please, let’s be clear. I cannot erase your karmas, I cannot do anything for you. I can only guide you and the rest is up to you. The guru is only a guide and a teacher.”

 

Clearly he doesn’t claim to be a “perfect living master” with all the notions that go with that title. 

 

He is making his position clear. If anyone wants to project their beliefs and notions onto that, it’s okay as long as they realise they are making that contribution. It’s their notion, not his. 

 

He also spoke a lot about “going beyond good and bad” and that it has to be your own experience, not something you heard or read. 

 

So the conclusion from this is clear: GSD [Gurinder Singh Dhillon] claims to be a human being. His position is a guide and a teacher. He makes no other personal claims of grandiose. He claims no special powers. He doesn’t claim to be “God in Human Form”.

 

Of course anyone can project anything they choose. It’s a free world. However I am reporting what I heard first hand from the man himself. 

 

Regarding the issue of the money transactions. My view (and it’s just my view as I was not there) is that he is a human being. When did he ever say “I cannot do any wrong”?

 

Wrong and Right are human made up concepts. One society considers the same thing to be “wrong” that another society says is “right". One obvious example is “halal meat.” Sikhs specifically consider it “wrong”.

 

As a human being, if we happen to be in business, not everything is going to be above board. There is corruption inherent in all of society. Anyone who says there isn’t is living in an ideal world that doesn’t exist. 

 

We have a president with serious corruption allegations against him. Doesn’t make him an “evil” person. 

 

All this only becomes an issue if you first project the status of “perfection” onto the guru. And when he fails, he is now condemned for not being perfect. 

 

Reminds me of a conversation I had with David Lane in London long ago about Charan Singh in the video “Satguru”. 

He feels sleepy, probably jetlag, while giving darshan at Wembley. The sangat thinks “Wow, the Surat is being pulled up by the shabd”.

 

David said “He is just jet lagged and feels sleepy. I can’t lose my faith in him as I only consider him a human being”. First you project perfection onto a person then complain when he shows he is not “perfect”. Nobody is.

 

I also addressed the topic of the master coming at death

 

Me: You ask people to meditate but then take away the reward (guru coming at time of death) so now it becomes nishkaam because no reward.

 

GSD: Forget about me. The previous gurus and the scriptures say that the creator will come and take care of his souls, but will we recognise him?

 

Me: But no god can come because there is only the ONE.

 

GSD: Yes that is true, again its words. No god will come because he has already come. He is ever present. He doesn’t come and go. But at our level we cannot understand this, so scriptures and gurus use the language we understand. In reality no guru comes or goes, it’s a figure of speech.

 

Me: Kabir says, Jab hum hoti tab him nahin. So the meeting never happens. Either I am or god is, never together. No meeting

 

GSD:  Yes, that is true once you realise that it is all the play of the ONE. We don’t do anything, he is the doer. But at this level, and until we realise for ourselves, we continue to act

 

His perspective is that although the ONE is the truth, we have to start with where we are, otherwise we cannot understand.

 

Hence the reason he says “meditate” and also says the meditation is just to tire you out until you surrender. He says the meditation will not get you there, but do it without any desire for reward. Nishkaam.

 

Which is impossible to do because we always seek the reward. So it’s a method to take you beyond the ego. 

 

Osho Robbins

 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

RSSB guru appears to have lied about his financial problems

A few days ago, in a blog post I shared a report of what Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas who has been accused of financial fraud and death threats, said in a talk in Petaluma, California recently.

This is part of what I was told:

A woman asked at the end of her questions, "Will you pay for your nephews 5 million" (something like that, I don't have a reference for that and I may not have heard clearly.) 

Baba Ji [the guru] said (as I heard it) "I have some money from my parents and have not taken anything else from anyone." Then he said my life is open (or something like that).

If Dhillon actually said that he has not taken any money from anyone but his parents, and I haven't seen anyone deny this who was at his Petaluma talk, then the RSSB guru lied to his devotees.

There's plenty of evidence to support this, as I shared in a comment where I replied to someone who said she believed what Dhillon said. 

Nancy, to put it bluntly, Gurinder Singh Dhillon lied at the Petaluma bhandara. He definitely has gotten money from sources other than his parents. Lots of it. Here's some links that prove me right, and the RSSB guru wrong. You're very trusting. Also, gullible.

Here's part of the truth about how Dhillon got so much money.

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2019/05/fortis-seeking-money-that-ended-up-with-the-dhillon-family.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2019/03/rssb-guru-owes-almost-800-million-in-fraudulent-loans.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2018/12/singh-brothers-get-into-fight-over-loans-to-rssb-guru-and-his-family.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2019/06/delhi-high-court-orders-recovery-of-money-from-rssb-guru-and-his-family.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2019/06/malvinder-singhs-message-to-the-rssb-guru-is-moving.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2018/08/bloomberg-story-shows-gurinder-singh-dhillons-shady-business-dealings.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2019/06/rssb-guru-identified-as-beneficiary-of-fraudulent-funds.html

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2010/12/radha-soami-satsang-beas-guru-makes-250-million.html

If anyone needs more convincing that the RSSB guru lied, read this June 11, 2019 Medical Dialogues story

New Delhi: Bringing in a third party, the Delhi High Court has directed Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family along with other 56 entities to pay the recovery amount owed by Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh (Singh Brothers) to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo. According to a recent media report, the court has also ordered to recover the dues from ex Religare chief Sunil Godhwani and brother Sanjay Godhwani, besides, RSSB chief and the Dhillon family including wife Shabnam Dhillon, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter-in-law Nayan Tara Dhillon.

The order comes following Malvinder Singh compliance that he can only reimburse $500 million (Rs 3472 crore) arbitration order against them, provided he can recover the money owed to him by RSSB chief and family. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the long dispute between the former Fortis Healthcare Ltd promoters, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh had turned dramatic with allegations one after the other. Elder brother  Malvinder Singh had alleged that parts of the proceeds from the stake sale in Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd were used by the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon to purchase real estate.

Also Read: Malvinder Singh alleges spiritual guru invested Ranbaxy stake sale proceeds to buy real estate

The court is reportedly issuing ‘garnishee orders’ against several Dhillon and RSSB associates’ companies, including Prius Real Estate, Addon Realty, Payne Realtors SGGD Projects, Luminous Holding. A garnishee order is an order against a third party to recover money to settle a debt or dues. Garnishee order prevents these entities from alienating any assets. The dues will now be paid to Delhi high court instead of Singh brothers and their entities to whom it is owed.

With the present order issued on June 10, the court has increased the scope of people from whom the money owed by Singh brothers to Daiichi can be recovered to honour the arbitration award.

According to a report in Business Today, Daiichi has enforced an arbitration order in Singapore that directed the Singh brothers to shell out Daiichi $500 million towards alleged non-disclosure of crucial information during the sale of Ranbaxy Laboratories to Daiichi in 2008.

The flow of money from Singh brothers to entities were owned and controlled by RSSB chief, his family and associates. RoC filings and terms sheets say in a span of four years, Rs 1107.5 crore from the Rs 9,576 crore sale proceeds of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo was paid through RHC group firms RHC Holding Private Limited, Oscar Investment Limited, RHC Finance Private Limited and FHL into two group entities ANR Securities Private Limited and Ranchem Private Limited.

Afterwards, this money was transferred to Prius Real Estate Private Limited controlled by Dhillon family associates and RSSB functionaries through optionally convertible debentures (OCD). The money invested 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, reports Business Today.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) is an organization dedicated to a process of inner development under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. 

Raids of Indian authorities circle closer to RSSB guru

Following up on my post earlier today about raids by the Enforcement Directorate, which enforces economic laws and fights economic crime in India,  a new story in the Indian financial press indicates that the raids are not only on Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, but on others.

One of those others is Sunil Godhwani, a close associate of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Dhillon had Godhwani installed as the Managing Director and then Chairman of Religare, a company once controlled by the Singh brothers, who are related to the guru.

A criminal complaint filed by Malvinder alleges that Godhwani then conspired to fraudulently funnel money from Religare into the pockets of the RSSB guru, his family, and close associates. Separately, the new board of Religare filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police.

I shared a link to that complaint in "Family of RSSB guru at risk of charges of criminal conspiracy." That possibility looks more likely in light of today's Business Standard story that somebody shared a link to in a comment. Here's the start of the story.
Download ED raids multiple locations linked to ex-Religare promoters in PMLA case | Business Standard News

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided multiple premises linked to erstwhile Religare promoters, brothers Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh, and others in connection with a money laundering case, agency officials said.

They said the raids were conducted at seven locations in Delhi including those connected to the Singh brothers, ex-CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) Sunil Godhwani, REL executives N K Ghoshal, Hemant Dhingra after an Enforcement Case Information Case (ECIR), the police equivalent of a case, was filed by the agency.

The ECIR has been filed under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) complaint filed in December last year.

REL's subsidiary Religare Finvest (RFL) had filed the complaint with the EoW, alleging fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune ofRs740 crore and had named the Singh brothers and others.

On their part, the Singh brothers had blamed Godhwani for the troubles faced by the group.

Seemingly one of the questions Indian authorities are seeking answers to is why Godhwani funneled money to shell companies controlled at the time by members of the Dhillon family and their associates, which apparently then was used to buy real estate by the Dhillons.

See my March blog post, "RSSB insider Sunil Godhwani charged with criminal conspiracy." Here's the last paragraph of that post.

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.

 

Singh brothers in more legal hot water. RSSB guru mentioned.

Thanks to those who have shared links to stories in the Indian financial press about new developments in the financial fraud involving Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, along with Gurinder Singh Dhillon,  the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and the guru's close associate Sunil Godhwani.

Here's a Business Today story. They say it's a developing story, so it's short at the moment.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday conducted raids at the residences of former Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder Singh. The probe agency carried out the searches in connection with a money-laundering case.

According to ED officials, the raids were conducted after a case was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The move comes amid the charges of alleged financial irregularities against the Singh brothers and the subsequent downfall of their businesses.

NDTV has a longer story. Excerpts:

NEW DELHI: 

Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder Singh, ex-promoters of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy, were raided today by the Enforcement Directorate in a Rs. 740-crore fraud case. 

"Two places were raided in Delhi including Malvinder Singh's home," an official said. The searches were carried out as part of a case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the official added.

The brothers have been accused by Religare Finvest of fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 740 crore.

In December, a criminal complaint was filed by Religare Finvest Limited with the Economic Offence Wing of the Delhi Police against the Singh brothers. A case was filed against the brothers in May.

The Indian Express had a story on a different Singh brothers issue about a week ago. Excerpt below. I've boldfaced the part about the RSSB guru and Godhwani.

Using a web of offshore companies, funds were allegedly diverted from Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), a company listed in India, into a Jersey firm that was solely owned by Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh. REL, which earned consolidated profits of Rs 92 crore on revenues of Rs 748 crore in 2007-08 turned into a loss-making firm in subsequent years with losses mounting to Rs 1,350 crore on revenues of Rs 2,586 crore in 2017-18.

The Singh brothers had a fallout with Sunil Godhwani, who was appointed by the brothers to lead their family office after Ranbaxy sale in addition to his role in Religare (of which he had become the CEO in 2001). Godhwani quit as Chairman and Managing Director of REL in July 2016, and stepped down as whole-time director in September 2017.

Later on, the two brothers fought, blaming each other and Godhwani for fraud. Malvinder alleged that loans were given to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, to buy real estate.

It seems virtually indisputable that the last sentence is true. Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family did indeed use allegedly fraudulent loans to buy large amounts of real estate holdings, which later apparently lost value.

Yesterday in a biog post I shared something Dhillon is reported to have said at a talk he gave in Petaluma, California this week.

A woman asked at the end of her questions, "Will you pay for your nephews 5 million" (something like that, I don't have a reference for that and I may not have heard clearly.) 

Baba Ji [the guru] said (as I heard it) "I have some money from my parents and have not taken anything else from anyone." Then he said my life is open (or something like that).

That statement from the guru almost certainly is false. Dhillon and his family have taken lots of money from other people. The Indian financial press has written numerous stories containing evidence to support this. 

RSSB guru mentions me in answering a question

Well, I guess this is a compliment, more or less, from Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas who is speaking this week in Petaluma, California at the RSSB center there. 

This afternoon I heard from someone who attended one of Dhillon's satsangs (talks) in Petaluma. This person wrote:

A woman asked at the end of her questions, "Will you pay for your nephews 5 million" (something like that, I don't have a reference for that and I may not have heard clearly.) 

Baba Ji [the guru] said (as I heard it) "I have some money from my parents and have not taken anything else from anyone." Then he said my life is open (or something like that).

Then what really caught my attention was "if you want to know more read Brian Hines." 

If you hear from or talk with anyone else who was there they might remember it differently, but I definitely remember the words "if you want to know more, read Brian Hines." 

How's that for the surprise of the year?

It is indeed a surprise, though not totally unexpected. (Note: I suspect the woman said "500 million," since this is the amount in dollars Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the guru's relatives, first cousins actually, owe in a court settlement.)

This fits with a comment someone left a little while ago on a recent blog post.

I'm pleased that Gurinder Singh Dhillon is encouraging people to visit this blog. However, since I moderate and approve comments, I'm really not interested in RSSB devotees using comments to wish the guru Happy Birthday, or HBD.

Yes, Google tells me the guru is 65 tomorrow, August 1.

But please wish him Happy Birthday in your meditation. If Dhillon truly is God in Human Form, as his devotees believe him to be, he'll receive your thoughts that way. And if he isn't GIHF, as seems virtually certain, maybe he doesn't deserve your birthday greetings.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Dairy diet causes RSSB initiate to become an ex-satsangi

Since 1970 I've been a vegetarian who eats some dairy products. But over the years I've eaten less and less. Currently I use soy milk and basically only consume dairy in the form of a daily serving of yogurt and half-and-half creamer, plus some occasional cheese.

But I admire people who stick to a vegan diet (vegetarian, with no dairy products). So my admiration extends to the person who calls themselves "ex-satsangi" in the message below that I got via email, and was allowed to share on this blog.

They rightfully point out that dairy animals almost always are treated cruelly. Feeling that eating dairy products isn't compatible with a truly spiritual life, they wrote a letter to the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

The answer they got wasn't acceptable, so they became an ex-satsangi. Here's their message. It's well-written and moving. I corrected a few typos and added descriptions of some abbreviations, in brackets

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

Hi Brian, I was initiated on the path back in 2000. Since then I’ve done my meditation off and on and have enjoyed it and don’t regret it.

I’ve always scrutinized RSSB [Radha Soami Satsang Beas]  and GSD [Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru] along the way to test the teachings and the man they referred to as Master. I would ask a lot of questions to other satsangis and visit your website for a balanced view of things.

I’ve been to Dera [headquarters of RSSB in India] twice and seen him multiple times at other places around the world. After collecting all the data, I would usually come to the conclusion that I didn’t know if he was a PLM [Perfect Living Master] but that there was enough there to continue on the Radha Soami path.

Even the financial scandal was something that made me raise my eyebrow of course but I didn’t have direct experience with the accusations and didn’t want to be swayed by the nay sayers so I kept an open mind that GSD could be innocent.

Usually, it seemed that sexual scandals were the downfall of other gurus in other paths and were the defining moments exemplifying that gurus are just men with faults like everyone else, so it caught me by surprise when I came across a video from the dairy industry in India. This video was the deal breaker and proved (at least to myself) GSD is not a saint or PLM.

Here is the video on YouTube that I came across entitled "Infiltrating India’s Dairy Industry."

I recommend watching it to the end so you know where I’m coming from. This video shows the exploitation and abuse of sentient beings that not only happens in India but all around the world.

After watching the video, the first thing that came to mind is “does GSD consume dairy and if so how can he justify it and be considered a PLM”. I immediately contacted someone who has traveled with him around the world and asked, “does Baba Ji take dairy?” and the answer was yes but that he gets it from his approved dairies that he inspects himself.

They came up with all kinds of excuses as to why he would partake in this, excuses such as “Well if satsangis in India noticed he wasn’t taking dairy then they would stop taking dairy and those people are so poor that they would become malnourished and the karma from supporting the dairy industry can just be meditated away anyway as nobody is killed in the milking of a cow."

But as you can see in the video and the many more like it from around the world, lives ARE being taken.

Baby male calves are waste products and killed routinely for veal. The dairy cows themselves all end up as beef long before their normal lives would have ended. Breast feeding from another species is not natural and not something we need to do for health and sustenance.

Therefore, if one partakes in it, it is due to ignorance or pleasure. For God in human form to take pleasure in the suffering of other souls is immoral and breaking the 4th vow of a satsangi: to live a moral life. GSD must not know about this abuse therefore he is not a PLM. He’s just another human caught up in tradition and sensory pleasure.

I decided to write him a letter as I’ve always been told, the guru is there for you if you ever have questions. I had to send him a snail mail letter as they don’t take emails. WTF! It’s 2019, come on. Anyway, here is my letter to GSD. I wanted to give him the chance to make this right and defend himself.

Dear Baba Ji,

I am an initiate of yours since 2000. I suspect you already know this as any perfect living master would know who his disciples are.

I’ve also come across some information that any perfect living master should know but apparently you don’t by your participation in it.

That information is the violence, rape and murder in the dairy industry around the world. I have been a vegan for around 12 years with a 3 month revisit of dairy when I went to the Dera and other parts of India 4 and a half years ago.

You see, I figured since the cow is seen as holy and sacred in India, surely it would be fine to take dairy, particularly at the Dera. If Master says it’s fine than who am I to argue. Well I watched this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyV7PLwjZFo

Searching YouTube with the words “Infiltrating India's Dairy Industry” will get the same video as well.

It’s a YouTube video on the dairy industry in India. Anyone who watches this video will be scarred. It is not something that my master would condone let alone participate in.

I immediately reached out to some other satsangis that have spent some time in close quarters with you and they confirmed that you do take dairy but that it’s from your approved Dera farms that only supply to Dera.

Regardless of whether the Dera dairy is the cleanest dairy farm, where none of the cows are forcibly impregnated, where the baby calves are allowed to drink the milk that’s meant for them, where the babies are not ripped away from their mothers and are allowed to bond, where the boy calves are not sent away to become veal, where all the cattle graze in green pastures until the end of their natural lives after they can no longer produce milk, where the cows are not living in their own feces and they don’t suffer from mastitis from over milking...regardless of any of this, people outside the Dera don’t have this luxury and go home supporting an industry of violence, rape and murder around the world.

It only takes a little math and common sense to figure out that the Dera cows have to give birth to produce milk and that 50% of the babies will be male. In a herd of 100 cows, 50 male calves will be born per year.

In 5 years there will be 250 more bulls to feed in addition to 250 new cows. 500 offspring to the original 100 herd that are now too spent to produce any more milk. So now there are 600 head of cattle on this dairy farm and only 250 of those cows are producing milk.

That’s a lot of cattle to feed and shelter for no economic return. Baba Ji, what happens to those non-dairy producing cattle? Are they living the good retired life on some green Dera pastures or are they part of the statistics that make India the largest exporter of beef in the world!! Holy Cow!!!

Baba Ji, why not just exclude dairy from the satsangi diet? Why would a perfect living master partake in this? I can’t believe meditation can burn this kind of unnecessary karma.

We don’t need dairy to survive and it actually isn’t even healthy for us. We weaned off our mother’s breast milk at 2 years old. Why are we drinking the breast milk of another species? We would be grossed out at the thought of drinking our mother’s breast milk or the milk of our wives, daughters. Why do we think it’s natural to drink the milk of a cow or sheep. Perhaps dog milk is fine? Why not dog’s milk? (I’m being facetious obviously).

Anyway, I guess I’m writing to you because this is a deal breaker for me in regards to finding a perfect living master. This might be a break up letter depending on your reply. 

As satsangis there are 4 vows:

1. Meditate
2. Vegetarian diet, no eggs
3. No alcohol
4. Live a moral life

Baba Ji, how are we supposed to get the last one if you can’t even do it?  If you watch the video in this letter you surely agree that there is nothing “moral” about partaking and condoning and paying someone to do this to animals, our fellow souls.

Most people don’t know about this and so it’s understandable that they don’t have a problem taking dairy but a perfect living master should just know this stuff!! He has a different vantage point than the rest of us.

It is because of our dollar that this goes on. It’s also a human rights issue for the poor people who have to do this to animals because they can’t get a different job. What kind of ptsd [post-traumatic stress disorder] must these executioners have after bludgeoning an animal with a sledgehammer???!!

How do they get the cries of a mother cow, pining for her baby that they’ve taken away from her, out of their heads? How do they get the visuals of the blood and gore out of their heads? How do they recover from this in their lives?

What can you say about this Baba Ji? Maybe it’s time to transition your dairies into farm animal sanctuaries. Now that’s seva worth doing!

Thanks for your time

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

You’re probably interested in the reply I got from him. Well as I suspected he never replied directly. One of his sevadars replied to me on his behalf with a generic “what do we say about dairy” response. Here it is:

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

Dear Brother Radha Soami. Your letter of _____ has been received. Baba Ji has gone through your letter. Regarding your concern about the dairy industry, please know that Saints give us general guidelines to live our life within the framework of Sant Mat principles to help us on the path but ultimately leave it to us to decide the most practical way out to implement them.

The four vows form the foundation on which the Sant Mat philosophy stands. One should avoid hair splitting and maintain a balanced approach to all things in life. Every action that we do is karma. We can't take a step without karma in this world. Even when we breathe, we are committing karmas by inhaling so many germs that are present in the air.

Too much hair splitting becomes counter-productive and often distracts us from our real concern. We must take a practical approach while at the same time find our own comfort level in such matters. Basically we are allowed to take dairy products as in general terms there is no taking of life in obtaining milk from the animal and hence there are limited karmas involved and those can be taken care of by our daily meditation.

It is good to be compassionate to the plight of others. However, you can share with others only what you have. Baba Ji says that if I have $100 in my pocket, I can definitely give $99 to someone. But if I do not have anything in my own pocket what can I give to others?

If we truly want to help others we should first help ourselves. Unless we have happiness within ourselves, how can we share it with others? Most of the time, instead of sharing our happiness with others, we start sharing their sorrows and make ourselves miserable.

It is therefore essential for us to get access to the real happiness which is within our own body through our regular meditation. We should always maintain our balance while being compassionate to others. We need to be practical because ultimately everybody is paying for their karmas.

The purpose of Saints is very different from that of the social reformers. They come here to take us back to the Father. Baba Ji generally gives an example of a toddler who slips into the dirty drain. One fellow comes and cleanses the drain but leaves the child in the drain itself. Another fellow doesn't care much about the drain but picks up the child and cleanses him and ultimately restores him to his parents.

The purpose of the Mystic is to attach us with the Holy Ghost and to free us from the cage of this body, the prison of this world. In Saint Matthew, Christ said, I have not come to create peace. Don't think that by following my teaching you will find this place a paradise for you to live in. This place will remain as wretched and miseable as it is. My purpose is to detach you from this world and take you back to the Father.

Never forget your daily meditation that the Master has assigned to all of us because that alone will help us in experiencing as to who the Master is. Our meditation alone will help us in attaining the tranquillity and happiness in life.

When, after initiation, living in the will of the Master, we perform our devotional exercises regularly as advised at the time of initiation we become receptive to the grace of the Master which is constantly flowing from him to all his disciples. Meditation alone will give us the grace and understanding to go through our life in a happy and grateful attitude. Keep mind in simran during the day and try to transform your restless worldly thoughts into loving Holy Names.

With kind regards,

Yours affectionately,

Sevadar in-charge Correspondence

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

If we have all this karma to burn off, what kind of master would condone an unnecessary and unhealthy industry that exploits, enslaves, rapes and ultimately kills animals and their male offspring? That seems like karma that can just be avoided the same way satsangis are told not to eat meat and eggs.

Oh but hang on a second, Indians would hate giving up dairy. Chai tho, paneer tho, lassies tho, raita tho!. So delicious! So the master appeals to culture and tradition instead of truth. Well not my master... anymore!

Thanks for your time Brian…just thought I’d share this with you.

Ex Satsangi

Report on a Haynes Park Q & A with the RSSB guru

Here's a message I got today from a regular Church of the Churchless visitor, Osho Robbins. Since Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD) refers to the One in the message, this gives me an opportunity to plug my book, "Return to the One: Plotinus's Guide to God-Realization."

I wrote it back when I was still an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the organization headed up by Dhillon. The RSSB guru wanted a book about a Western mystic. He gave me some suggestions to choose from, and I chose Plotinus, a Neoplatonist Greek philosopher.

The book got close to being published by RSSB, but I ended up publishing it myself.

Anyway, I'm still a fan of the One, though according to Plotinus there is nothing we can really say about the unity that underlies existence, because it is, well, One. And descriptions require a quality that can be described. which makes two. At least.

Osho emailed me this:

Hi Brian

 

I went to Haynes Park today (Sunday). GSD invited questions. I asked one. 

 

My question (Dialogue):

 

The first word or gurbani is “ek” (one).

Whereas our first word is usually “me”.

Gurbani says there is no “me” or individual soul, yet that is all we focus on. 

It’s like we are trying to navigate with the wrong map. Every step we take is wrong. 

 

His reply:

 

It’s true there is only the ONE but that is not our experience. So we need to meditate to experience the merging into the ONE then we will truly understand.  Otherwise it’s jyst intellectual knowledge. From knowledge we experience and that leads to understanding. 

 

So one thing became clear. He does advocate meditation. I previously said he did not and was obviously mistaken. Meditation is the means to experience the ONE, according to his teaching. We are already merged but through meditation we go through the experience of it. 

 

It was business as usual at Haynes. Packed hall. He was his usual jovial self. Nobody would imagine he has just lost 500 million dollars. If anything, he was more jovial than usual. Cracking jokes st every opportunity. 

 

No question was asked about any financial matter. The sangat was either oblivious about the financial scandal or really did not care. Judging by how the day went, RSSB will not be affected at all by the financial scandal.  

 

Feel free to share 

Osho Robbins 

 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Excellent letter to the editor about RSSB guru's financial scandal

Great comments from Church of the Churchless visitors keep on coming to this blog.

Here's one by "j" that consists of a letter to the editor about Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) who is deeply involved in a financial scandal involving many hundreds of millions of dollars.

It's a great idea, sharing a letter to the editor that can be used by people in other cities where RSSB has a large meeting center that the guru visits.

This is a great example of the hypocrisy of religious leaders, since Dhillon preaches in his talks about living an honest, simple life, yet has been busily engaged in vastly enriching himself and his family through decidedly shady practices.

About the only quibble I have with this letter, and it's a small one, is that the siphoning of money also involved close associates of the guru such as his right hand man, Sunil Godhwani, who was installed as the head of Religare at the guru's urging, then proceeded to funnel money into the pockets of the Dhillon family and other people associated with the guru.

So instead of saying "run by the guru's family members" in the Here's the gist paragraph, it'd be a bit more accurate to say "run by the guru's family members and close associates."

Anyway, here's the comment.

Here's a copy of an email I just sent to the Executive Editor of the Press Democrat, Petaluma's newspaper. I invite others to use it (or write a better one, which shouldn't be hard) and send it to other newspaper editors, eg Fayetteville or other RSSB locales, or even the New York Times.

Dear (Executive Editor)

As you may know, Science of the Soul is one of Petaluma's largest religious centers. At the end of this month it will host their guru, Baba Gurinder Singh, who is one of the most popular religious leaders in India. Many thousands of people will attend.
https://petalumaprogram.org/

This organization prides itself on its high ideals, and attracts many members based on its apparent integrity. But many people don't know that the guru and his family are embroiled in a huge financial scandal.

Here's the gist: Roughly 500 million dollars was siphoned from corporations that were run by the guru's family members, and then distributed to other members of the guru's family, and to the guru himself. A court has ruled that the money must be paid back to the corporations, but so far no restitution has been made. The guru has also borrowed large sums of money from individuals for his personal use (and opulent lifestyle) and likewise has so far refused to pay it back.

I bring this matter to your attention in hopes that the Press Democrat can do a story about it. So far, no American newspaper has published anything on this matter.

Here are a few websites that explain the scandal in more detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaAjtRZ1S5E

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/radha_soami_satsang_beas/

https://www.businesstoday.in/buzztop/buzztop-corporate/delhi-hc-orders-recovery-from-rssb-chief-gurinder-dhillon-wife-and-sons-to-pay-singh-brothers-due-to-daiichi/story/354797.html

https://www.firstpost.com/business/malvinder-singh-alleges-spiritual-leader-gurinder-singh-dhillon-used-money-from-ranbaxy-stake-sale-to-buy-properties-6207121.html

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/malvinder-for-spiritual-seat-shivinder-allowed-dhillon-to-siphon-off-8646-crore/article26297796.ece

If you have any questions please let me know,

Regards,

Your Name

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

RSSB guru (and me!) appear in animation about Singh brothers scandal

Thanks to Amar, a regular commenter on this blog, I learned about this amazingly creative, well-done, and generally accurate animated depiction of the financial scandals involving the Singh brothers (Malvinder and Shivinder), Gurinder Singh Dhillon (the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and a bunch of other characters.

I make an appearance near the end of the video.

Sadly, the animators used a rendering of one of the worst photographs of me that can be found on Google images. Oh, well, such is life. At least I didn't cause relatives of mine to lose billions of dollars, as this video describes in an entertaining fashion -- how the Singh brothers' faith in Gurinder Singh Dhillon, "Babaji," led them to lose their wealth.

My only quibble with the video is that it fails to mention that, so far as I know, the criminal complaint filed by Malvinder against Dhillon, his family, and close associates remains active. And the board of directors of Religare has filed a separate complaint urging investigators to track the money that was siphoned into shell companies controlled by the RSSB guru, his family, and associates.

Enjoy. The video is less than seven minutes long. Well worth your time to watch it. By the way, I caused Shahid Kapoor, the Bollywood actor mentioned near the beginning of the video, to become a vegetarian. Check out "I changed a Bollywood actor's life...turning him vegetarian."

 

Don't lie to yourself about the RSSB guru

A well-written, thoughtful, truthful, and provocative recent comment deserves to be made into its own blog post.

Here's what Amar said. "HC" refers to High Court of Delhi, which has frozen the assets of the RSSB guru and his family, and garnished those assets. "RSSB" refers to Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the organization headed up by a guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Tushar, you wrote, "One who has experienced the truth it's all useless and rubbish for them."

Who is this one who has experienced this Truth? You? Certainly not me. According to almost all of the satsangs I've heard, the guru is the one who has experienced the Truth. So if he behaves in this way, then why would I want to follow that.

There is an undercurrent of arrogance in your wording that I find obnoxious. The law has proven that the guru, his family and close RSSB friends are required by law to return funds back to the HC and frozen their assets. This is fact, in the court register. If they were innocent, why would they be required to pay it back?

Why wait for the courts to order you to pay it back? Has nothing to do with faith, it has to do with common sense and using that brain between our ears to see what is in front of our eyes. Sometimes, the obvious is not so obvious because our faith blinds us.

I've been privy to a lot of conversations with RSSB satsangis who talk trash about followers of other faiths who were duped by nasty gurus who stole, cheated, and molested their followers. RSSB satsangis also have contempt for the Agra lineage of saints. Same teachings, different gurus, same contempt. Go figure.

That is the arrogance I'm talking about. I used to do it also. Makes me feel like throwing up. RSSB followers are no better off than anyone else who tries to live a good, honest and clean moral life. It's not the copyright of RSSB on this.

Learn to take a dispassionate look at the news, the court findings, the financial ties and score of business entities being run by the guru, his family, and close friends. Don't just ignore it or think it is fake news. If you do, you're probably afraid it might actually be true.

That's what you're afraid of, deep down. and that's normal, but to just ignore it and to continue on like it never happened, you're only lying to yourself. On the one hand he says don't run after money. Just make enough to take care of your family and obligations, and let the guru handle the rest.

I guess he didn't want to leave the rest to his guru, so he went after the money like a fat kid in a candy store. The teachings apply to all and everyone, including the guru. Do your homework.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (from RSSB official photo of the guru)

"Gurinder Singh Dhillon" search results feature...me!

Today Sonya, a regular commenter on this blog, noted that the "scary," "evil" photo of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, actually is an official photograph that can be downloaded from the RSSB web site. 

But as shown above, in the lower right corner, that photograph shows the guru at a considerable distance. Zooming in on the high resolution screen of my much-beloved MacBook Pro  we get the scary, evil look of Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

In the course of searching for this photo, I found that Google Images has another search result for the RSSB guru that makes him look remarkably akin to someone I know quite well. Me!

Then I wondered what the regular Google search results for "Gurinder Singh Dhillon" would turn up. Interestingly, two of the five top hits featured...me! Or more accurately, my blog posts.

It's telling that aside from the Wikipedia article, the other four top search results all concern wrongdoing by Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Kind of weird that someone who is considered by his devotees to be God in Human Form would be notorious for decidedly non-divine reasons. But it makes sense if you take another look at the "evil" photo.

Fans of The Rocky and Bullwinkle show, an animated series I watched as a kid, will remember their arch enemy, Snidely Whiplash. Here's an image of him. Does his mustache look familiar?

RSSB guru gets some well-deserved criticism

Today I got an email from someone who didn't want me to quote them directly regarding their view of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the Indian religious organization headed up by a guru that I was a member of for 35 years. 

But this person was fine with me summarizing their take on RSSB. So here goes. I'll refer to the person as "they" from now on.

Pleasingly, they read everything on this blog, but don't leave any comments. They said I'm doing a very good job, and was asked to continue doing so -- which naturally is my intention.

Like me, they are an initiate of Charan Singh, the guru who preceded the current RSSB leader, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Dhillon is embroiled in a financial fraud saga, which they call a "fiasco." Apt term.

They never were as avid a RSSB devotee as many are, choosing not to leave their children alone to attend satsang or follow the guru wherever he went. Nor did they obsess over the RSSB vegetarian diet, which even called for not eating unfertilized eggs for difficult-to-comprehend reasons.

Slowly they came to an understanding of what the world is about that freed them from the guilt that was such a big part of RSSB talks, a.k.a. satsangs. They felt happy, realizing that no one suffers from not following the RSSB teachings.

Being told that this was the only true path back to God was a turnoff. And they never felt an attraction to the current guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. They consider Dhillon to be running a "circus." 

I've been sharing reports in the Indian financial press about the involvement of the guru and the rest of the Dhillon family in financial fraud, death threats, criminal conspiracy, and other unsavory goings-on. They consider that all of this is true, but it's just a fraction of the whole story.

The RSSB guru thinks he's covered his tracks. However, they believe there's more stones to be turned over, revealing more of the mess that Dhillon is part of in Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, Gibraltar, China, and maybe other places. India also, of course, I'd add.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon always wanted to be a rich man. Now his dream has come true.

Or perhaps more accurately, was true, since the High Court of Delhi has garnished the assets of the Dhillon family. Dhillon believes no one can touch him, perhaps because he's surrounded by devotees who think he is God in human form.

They like what I'm doing on this blog: putting the truth in "every stupid satsangis face." (Satsangi means a RSSB initiate.) Because those satsangis can't handle the truth, most will continue trying to excuse the inexcusable things Dhillon has done, and is accused of doing.

It's well known to this person that satsangis refuse to talk about the guru's legal and ethical problems. They make up stories about how rumors are being spread by jealous individuals. Of course, that ignores the fact of the many stories written by members of the Indian financial press, who couldn't be viewed as jealous of the guru.

They liked what they remember reading on this blog: that if someone was shopping for a guru, and saw the profile of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, they never would pick him.

Don't bother about all the Radha Soami haters who try to prove my blog posts wrong, they advised. I'm poking their beehive, so they are bound to attack the truth-teller. Somewhere deep down, though, they know the allegations against the RSSB guru are true.

After all, if they had total faith in Dhillon, they wouldn't be visiting this blog. So they're afraid the cover they're hiding under will be taken away, exposing them to the light, which makes them attack me and this blog.

So said this person.

 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

 

Straight talk about RSSB guru and dogma

It's great when I start out my morning by reading a comment that makes me smile with delight -- because it is honest, true, well written, and makes fun of religious blind belief.

In this case, the blind belief of defenders of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, who is deeply embroiled in financial fraud, death threats, criminal complaints, and garnishment of his assets by the High Court of Delhi.

But, hey, everything is going according to God's plan in the eyes of RSSB true believers, who refuse to see the facts yelling Look at me! right in front of their faces. 

Here's the wonderful comment from Amar. GSD refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Dungeness, you wrote:

"But, GSD is RSSB "CEO" so to speak. It's an enormous job that reportedly would bring much younger men/women to their knees within a matter of weeks. He may well have delegated financial details to others within his family, already one of the wealthier ones in India, I presume. He may have received continual updates andassurances from wife/sons/associates, glanced at cooked books briefly, and assumed all was well."

If this is as you say, then they all betrayed him and lied to him? That's the biggest load of shit I've heard yet.

You're dumping the blame on everyone else, but him. If he did charge others to do what he asked, then he's still responsible for their actions. To say his his own sons and wife all colluded together without his knowledge is laughable. So on the one hand he's all knowing and the guru, and the next he's duped by everyone, including his own family. Ya, right.

Sumit, you wrote:

"They get small insignificant thing and they start barking. Now days the trend is spoil the image of gurus and earn money."

Are $100's of millions of dollars no small thing? These guru's have themselves spoiled their own image by running after wealth and coddling the politicians and wealthy people. Do you think he would say the same thing to you if you were involved in this kind of mess?

He'd probably say avoid the company of people who cheat and lie. Think on that...

Again, don't look at guilt right now, that will flush out eventually, against GSD or not, have to wait and see. I've said this on previous posts, would you, not knowing anything about this path, doing your homework and finding these court rulings and fraudulent money loans to the guru, his immediate family, and close friends, would you still join and follow a guru embroiled in this mess?

If you say yes, then that's why people get sucked in by dogma and bull shit. Your acceptance and denial of these events only emboldens these people to keep doing what they're doing.

They amass huge personal wealth, and hide behind it by doing charity work, and people like you, including me until recently, get googoo eyed and fall for it because the teachings sound great, but the leader is involved and connected to these nefarious things.

UPDATE: Here's another right-on comment from Amar that deserves to be read. Baba Ji  refers to the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD).

Arjuna and One Initiated, you see the Baba Ji which is trotted out to the masses. You see the image we all want to see. White clothes, white beard, sarcastic answers to play to the sangat.

You have no idea what he does in the background, the people he really associates with. The scheming and money being dealt back and forth and the solicitation of politicians. You see what the Dera managers and handlers want you to see. If you had greater access to him, like the wealthy people do, you'd see something totally different.

So Amy's Food owner decides he's going to buy the land for the Petaluma Study Centre. Now, for the last 10 years, every North American Study Centre has to purchase their nasty vegan burritos for every GSD official visit. It's actually written into the official visit guidelines provided by the Dera.

I guess if you "donate" the land or property, you get a customer for life. Makes sense, right? Not.

Money and religion don't mix, but invariably, they do mix, sometimes as give and take, or land for sustaining a prominent satsangi's business. Must be nice to keep your business going with a spiritual organization's demand for your product, spelled out in a list of directives from the Dera.

But I guess you'll have an answer for that also. I bet if GSD announced on the stage that he was guilty of taking the money, you all would probably say, naahh, he was testing us to see if we'd still follow him. Keep following, my friends.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Good overview of RSSB guru's financial fraud involvement

It's difficult to follow the twists and turns in the Bollywood'ish drama involving Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in India.

About a billion dollars is at stake here, much of it in the form of fraudulent loans that ended up in the pockets of Dhillon, his family, and close associates.

Add in criminal complaints, death threats, squabbles with his relatives Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, investigations by Indian financial authorities, and court rulings -- yes,  it gets tough to keep track of what's going on.

Today Spence Tepper left a comment on a recent blog post that does a good job of providing an overview of the guru's legal and financial problems. I've added some links and made a few corrections that I think are accurate. Like, changing "High Court" to "Supreme Court" in the fourth paragraph. 

Because defenders of the guru often fail to see the big picture, choosing to focus on a few facts that put Gurinder Singh Dhillon in a more-or-less positive light, I wanted to share Tepper's comment in a blog post.

What follows isn't the whole picture, for sure, but a good summary of some key "plot points" in this drama.

Hi Osho. You wrote, "I don’t think it’s a matter of 'guilty or not guilty' but more a matter of recovery of the money."

Logically that makes little sense nor does it reflect the High Court of Delhi order. The court determined responsibility, and therfore guilt, and on that basis moved guilt away from Malvinder and onto Gurinder and company.

The Singh brothers held the legal responsibility to pay the Daiichi FDA penalty against Ranbaxy. But the High Court transferred that to Gurinder and company in June.

Malvinder claimed that he and Shivinder had loaned money to Gurinder, his family and associates, amounting to more than enough to cover the penalty. At first the Supreme Court indicated that they didn't care about the Singh's other business dealings, and held them directly responsible for repayment.

But when Malvinder was unable to pay up he filed a criminal complaint with the EOW (Economic Offences Wing) of the Delhi Police pleading his case that Gurinder, his wife, sons and associates owed hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and interest and hadn't repaid for years. These were the monies he needed to pay the Daiichi penalty.

Malvinder went further to document his efforts, pleading repeatedly in writing with Gurinder to help, but with no response from Gurinder.

Even before Malvinder filed his complaint the SEBI and the Fortis board had conducted separate audits that showed fraudulent loans being siphoned through shell companies.

Business journals had conducted their own audits and found that Gurinder and his family were the recipients of nearly a billion dollars in loans through a variety of shell companies. And some of Gurinder's family were involved in the creation and maintenance of the frauds.

All the participants and recipients of the fraudulent loans are satsangis who pledged vows of loyalty to the Master, in this case Gurinder.

By June various additional detailed and indiependent audits had been conducted by the Serious Crimes Division of the Delhi police, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the new board at Religare (who filed their own complaint directly implicating the loan recipients and claiming this was all a big scheme involving several people who had knowingly participated in the construction and execution of several frauds).

Then in June, after much deliberation, the High Court of Delhi rendered a judgment that Gurinder, his family and associates, among others, were directly responsible for repayment of their delinquent loans, in full.

The High Court, essentially, verified what Malvinder claimed, and placed responsibility, and therefore culpability, directly onto Gurinder et al's shoulders. The High Court further froze Gurinder et al's assets as they were delinquent over several years in payment.

Guilt, culpability and responsibility have already been determined and payment ordered. For the funds Gurinder et al took, Malvinder is no longer responsible to repay that portion of the Daiichi penalty. The full responsibility is now directly upon Gurinder and company's shoulders, by judgment and order of the High Court of Delhi.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

RSSB involved in controversial land deal

Someone sent me a link to an Indian Express story, "Mystery deepens over Pune land deal as Chandrakant Patil defends his actions." 

It mentions Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization in India that quite a few visitors to this blog are interested in for various reasons. 

Just as Patil claimed that the temple trust had obtained the charity commissioner’s permission to convey the land to the Radha Saomi Satsang Beas (RSSB), a non-profit organisation, in 1998, Jayant submitted official papers in the House to show that in 1963, a local tribunal had ruled that this land wasn’t a private land. Incidentally, records show that the Pune collector had disallowed the transaction, objecting to the charity commissioner’s permission as well.

On February 19, 1998, the temple trust, through its power of attorney holder N S Chhabria, has assigned the land to RSSB, which later approached the collector and the divisional commissioner for regularisation after officials objected to it.

Patil admitted that on August 22, 2008, then divisional commissioner Nitin Kareer, who is now the principal secretary (Urban Development), had argued that the trust had violated terms of allotment, and had ordered the regularisation on the condition that the Nazrana (fee) levied by the government is paid. His order stated that RSSB had then submitted an indemnity bond declaring willingness to pay the fee.

But Patil claimed that this had been submitted “under protest”. On December 15, 2018, when the RSSB approached the collector’s office for permitting non-agricultural activity and issuing the NA (non agriculture) certificate for the land, this was turned down, with the collector’s office pointing that the Nazrana for the regularisation of the original breaches was yet to paid.

l find all this difficult to comprehend. Maybe someone who is more familiar than I am with land use law in India (in other words, just about anyone) can figure out what's going on here, and why such a fuss is being made of it.

RSSB and other religions play on peoples' egos

Below is an interesting comment from Ned that he just left on my recent post, "The arrogance of believing you're a chosen one, RSSB variety or otherwise." 

I agree with Ned. We all want to feel worthy. But religions preach about how fallen and sinful their devotees are, then boost their ego by telling them they are "chosen people."

He's absolutely correct when he says that a core teaching of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the Indian religious organization led by a guru I once belonged to, is how special and chosen RSSB initiates are.

This isn't something devotees make up. They're told it over and over in books and talks.

For example, a children's book that I once owned (believe it is called Journey of the Soul) shares the RSSB teaching that souls used to reside with God, but were sent to this lower region of creation for some reason. Nine-tenths of the souls were happy to go.

One tenth weren't, because they wanted to stay with God.

That one tenth supposedly now is being brought back to God through initiation by a Perfect Living Master, or God in Human Form -- which is how the RSSB guru is described.

Can't get more special than that, though I'm sure Jews, Christians, Muslims, and members of other religions would disagree. Here's Ned's comment.

Georgy wrote: "Some ppl have more of an ego than others - some think they are better and special - but that’s precisely what the guru is trying to help you overcome. The Nazis also thought they were special, as have most of the biggest c**nts in history, that’s the one thing they all have in common."

The Masters teach that they have come to bring certain souls back to Sach Khand. Not everyone; only those who are tired of this world and ready to go home. That means that initiates are separate from the rest of humanity. They are special because everyone else is still happy stuck in the cycle of re-birth, but the initiate has this realization that there is a better world and they know the Way.

You can find this statement over and over in Sant Mat. So the idea of being special and chosen is not due to egotism. It is part of the teachings of Sant Mat. It actually plays on that person's ego.

What spirituality and religion is selling is self-worth and belonging. As social animals, we all need that. The problem with most paths is that they start with the premise that you are somehow inferior and alienated.

You need to believe something, do something, or know something in order to become worthy. Religious leaders and spiritual teachers play to the most vulnerable in our society because of their backgrounds-- people who already feel like nobody cares and nothing they do matters.

And the "worst c*nts in history"-- authoritarian regimes-- all played that game. The Dear Leader is perfect and beyond reproach, to be worshiped, loved, feared. They gave everything to the party and the movement, and so should you.

Self-interest gets put down a lot in spiritual circles, but I think we all are running on it-- even the most altruistic. It feels good to help others; there is this idea that you are a good person.

People who suggest you eradicate your ego only see that as a better way you can serve their interests. If you follow self-interest far enough, though, you see that we are all interdependent on each other. So then acting in a way that only serves you and harms others isn't in your best interest. "A rising tide lifts all ships."

The arrogance of believing you're a chosen one, RSSB variety or otherwise

Not long after I started this churchless blog, I wrote a post called "Bursting belief bubbles."

In it I talked about feeling really special when I still belonged to Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) and believed I'd been chosen by God and the guru for a spiritual journey only available to a few.

I used to believe in belief. It felt good to believe that my religious beliefs were better than other peoples’. I recall standing in line at a movie theatre, feeling exactly like someone standing in line at a movie theatre, when I remembered to do my guru-given mantra.

Instantly I thought to myself, “I’m special. I’m unique. I’ve got a spiritual practice known to only a few.”

I stood straighter. I looked at the spiritually impoverished human beings around me with proudly compassionate eyes. “Ah, I have something they don’t. How fortunate I am not to be them.”

Now I pray, “God, whatever or whoever the hell you are, burst my belief bubbles and lead me not into self-righteousness. Blessed be reality.”

Several recent comments left on this blog by Amar reminded me of how I felt back then. He makes some similar points about his involvement with RSSB. 

Here's one of Amar's comments.

GSD refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current guru of RSSB, who is enmeshed in a massive financial fraud scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars (the rupee equivalent, since the guru lives in India). Seva means volunteer work or service. So a sevadar is a volunteer. 

To everyone who has opinions on this, it's great that we can all communicate on a platform Brian has provided. We don't all agree on each other's perspectives, which is okay. Let's just remember to be open to all possibilities if we can.

Here's what I've been thinking on today, and it helped bring back into focus why I feel the way I do.

I do feel betrayed on the one hand. I feel taken aback at the comments here also, because I used to think the same way. Very humbling to view my own arrogance and pride in being included as one of the chosen ones.

So, it's not the fraud, the court orders, the filings by Malvinder on the scale of the money distributed apparently without his knowledge, or the complete silence from GSD. It's that he is involved in it. Doesn't matter how much complicity/money involved: it's the fact that he's involved in it.

It looks like it's become an obsession to build properties and purchase land for the sake of putting up buildings, for the purpose of doing seva. Gives him an excuse to get out of India and travel. Why not build one large complex in each continent and be done with it? Why have so many?

It's like an addiction to being a massive landholder. But that's just my take on it.

The inaccessibility, the arrogance, the expectation of having lavish accommodations not only in renovating his own place at the Dera (which only a handful of people can actually go into, and is apparently really over the top), but at all the other locations around the world.

While most of the sangat sleep on the ground or in the large metal sheds at the Dera, while he and his good friends sleep in air conditioned upscale bungalows, eat separately, and have everything done for them. Sevadars are sevadars, regardless of their position. Right?

There's a saying that goes,"Sometimes you get too big for your own britches." Maybe RSSB has gotten too big for it's intended task.

Another comment by Amar delves into some specifics of how the RSSB seva system works. It's indeed strange that a practice intended to inculcate humility leads to so many inflated egos.

There are many people who have stood guard during GSD's official visits abroad, including me. There's nothing humiliating about it. At the time you feel privileged for the honor. Writing books or giving satsangs, or any other seva is considered a privilege. With this privilege comes arrogance, entitlement and ego.

I found myself doing it or becoming aware of it and it made me sick. A lot of people have it, and a few don't.

One example of this is that all sevadars have to park away from the main hall. But hey, if you're in the "Management Team", you can park right next to the main doors. Some even have the balls to park in the handicap spots because they don't want to have to walk the extra 20 feet.

Once you understand the behind the scenes antics of the senior sevadars at these RSSB locations, you find nepotism.

Majority of these individuals don't get rotated in the seva rotation. It's created a a kind of class system within the sevadars. If you have a degree or high education, you certainly can't put them out in the scorching heat to park cars or do pat downs.

What nonsense! When they can't find any higher educated individuals to man the "cushy" seva's they go down the totem pole to the next group of people. Kind of like the Hindu caste system... Brahmins, the Khatriya's an so on.

If you've been coming for seva for years but don't meet the invisible criteria, then you get called next. Of course they deny this, but when you get up close and hear the discussions and see it in action, it's there. Believe me or not. Just putting it out there.

Here's a third comment from Amar that starts off with some great advice.

Everyone's gonna die one die. That's the only guarantee. We don't need a mystic to tell anyone that.

Live a good, honest, happy life. Be active and engaged with an open mind, and the world becomes a fascinating place to explore.

Those that feel they are better than the rest or entitled to special treatment because of their job title or seva position, even the guru, are not acting in good faith with their own Self.

When there are "senior" sevadars visiting an RSSB site, they are put up in the "guest" quarters, given special lunches and dinners and special treatment. If all sevadars are equal, why the special treatment? If a sevadar travels from across the country, he doesn't get a special breakfast, or lunch, he eats with the rest of the sevadars at the common eating location. These others don't.

If everyone is equal, then why special parking, special eating, special lodging?

This permeates all the locations RSSB is located. It starts with the guru getting specially built, sound proof houses on the sites, with special meals, and driven in fancy cars. Only those trusted to be in the near vicinity are allowed. So this trickles down to the board members, Reps and Chairman of the board across North America.

The entire sangat sees this, but these "higher ups" are oblivious to the perception this creates. This is that RSSB caste system I mentioned before.

UPDATE: Amar just left this comment on his comments. Naturally I had to share it. But otherwise I'm not commenting on his comment about his comments. But if you want to comment on either his comments, his comment about his comments, or my decision to not comment on his comment about his comments, comment away.

Just to follow up on Brian's compilation, that this is what I've experienced and seen myself. If you're lucky and in an area that doesn't have this vibe around it, consider yourself blessed and move along with your journey. I've been exposed to all sorts of people over the years from different places of different seva rank, and they're all the same.

Ego is tough nut to crack.

Where there are humans, there will be the mind and the mind is a bitch to control. We all fall prey to it at some point. I've seen GSD get pissed and get angry at his accommodations. They weren't set up properly. We all get angry. We all get disappointed, and egos will be bruised. But if we choose to follow a perfect living master, then the bar gets set high. That's where we can get into trouble.

GSD says this often, don't put me on a pedestal.

Everyone thinks he's trying to be humble, but I think he's being honest. He's trying to tell everyone he's not what they think he is. He's just like us, in a seva that he probably wished he never took on. But I guess when you get dealt with a mind blowing ego swelling seva like that, you have to play along and maybe it just consumed him.

At any rate, I'm moving on and there is no hatred from me on GSD, just disappointment.

Malvinder Singh's message to the RSSB guru is moving

At the end of the attachments to the criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh against his cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon (the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas), there's some messages that are both moving and enlightening -- as they cast light on the complicated financial scandal involving the Singh brothers, the Dhillon family, and others.

I'd looked at these quickly when I wrote a blog post about the criminal complaint. Today I read them more thoroughly. I've made screenshots of several messages from Malvinder to make it easier for other people to read them.

To begin with, in May 2018 Dhillon agreed to settle his debts if Malvinder and Shivinder (Malvinder's brother) would submit an accounting of what is owned to them by the guru and his family.

Then, below is a letter addressed to the RSSB guru, whom Malvinder ("Malav") refers to with the honorofic, Babaji. This alone is interesting, since Malvinder is both a relative of Dhillon and also an initiate of his. 

You can read how Malvinder addresses Gurinder Singh Dhillon with the utmost respect, even capitalizing You and Your, seemingly in the same way "God" is capitalized by religious believers.

Malvinder is desperate to resolve the financial difficulties that are causing him so much distress. In response to Dhillon's request for the liabilities owed, Malvinder describes what Dhillon and his family need to pay.

(Two other messages I've shared that follow describe the problems involving Dhillon and his family in more detail, as does the criminal complaint itself, of course.)

Presciently, Malvinder recognizes that various investigations into financial wrongdoing have the potential to be very dangerous to the Singh brothers, the Dhillon family, and others involved with shady loans. 

He presents a way forward that, in his view, would resolve the problems. Perhaps not completely, but largely. Here's the message to Dhillon.

Later, Malvinder turns his attention to the three companies named in a SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) report detailing fraudulent transactions, after apparently failing to get a response from Dhillon to his July 12 message. 

What's significant here is that Malvinder draws a connection between (1) the fraudulent money diverted from RHC (Religare) and Fortis to the three companies named in the SEBI report (Best, Fern, Modland), and (2) who ended up with the fraudulent money -- Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family.

Several commenters on this blog have been trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the first SEBI report didn't mention Dhillon, his family, and close associates as being involved in the fraud.

However, Malvinder's criminal complaint names Dhillon, et.al., as does his messages below, where he makes it clear that the Dhillon family owes money to the three companies, and those companies owe money to Religare and Fortis. Thus this establishes a clear link between the fraud described in the SEBI report and the ultimate beneficiaries of that fraud.

Pankaj apparently was in charge of Best Health Care, based on his email address.

A second message was sent on November 28. Malvinder is even more desperate now to be paid the money owed him by the guru and his family, which totals $158 million just for funds diverted from the Best Group of companies.

What's disturbing in all this is how Malvinder's relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who he also considered to be his father figure and spiritual advisor, was so uncaring and unresponsive to Malvinder's entreaties.

Not exactly how one would expect a guru who is considered by devotees to be God in human form should act. In fact, it isn't even anywhere close to how a decent human being should act.

It must have been difficult for Malvinder to decide to file a criminal complaint against Dhillon, given how close they once were and how much trust Malvinder once had in the RSSB guru. But Gurinder Singh Dhillon ignored Malvinder's repeated requests for the guru to pay back the money that was owed to him and the companies he once controlled.

So whatever befalls Dhillon, he deserves it. At the moment the Dhillon family has gotten their assets frozen by the High Court of Delhi, which then will be sold by the Court. Whether they also will face criminal punishment remains to be seen.

RSSB sells NYC building for $26 million

For a change of pace on this blog from news about the massive financial scandal the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, is involved with, here's some news about a massive real estate sale of property owned by RSSB in New York City. 

Maybe Radha Soami Satsang Beas has started to raise cash to keep their guru in the lavish lifestyle that he's become accustomed to.

After all, reports in the Indian financial press indicate that in recent years Dhillon and his family were the beneficiaries of up to a billion dollars in shadowy and sometimes fraudulent unsecured loans.

But now the High Court of Delhi has frozen the assets of Dhillon, his wife, and children, with the intent of garnishing those assets (forcibly selling them) so his cousin, Malvinder Singh, can recover the money owed to him -- which Malvinder needs to pay a $500 million settlement to a company that successfully sued Malvinder and his brother.

It's a tough life, being a spiritual guru in India these days. Sure, in the days of the Buddha all you needed was a loincloth and begging bowl. Now private jets and expensive homes all over the world are necessities for Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Hopefully the $26 million will keep him happy. For a little while.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru who doesn't pay his debts unless a court forces him to

 

Blind faith prevents defenders of RSSB guru from seeing reality

It's not surprising that devotees of a guru who is considered by them to be God in human form, despite any evidence he possesses any divine qualities, are unable to recognize the reality of the massive financial fraud Gurinder Singh Dhillon is deeply enmeshed in.

Reading irrational comments on this blog from people afflicted with blind faith, I feel like I'm viewing a murder trial where a defense attorney repeats over and over, "Members of the jury, his fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon, so you must find my client not guilty."

OK. That one fact is true.

But the DNA of the accused was found next to the bloody body of the murder victim. Video evidence shows the accused entering the victims's home at the time of the murder, and leaving soon after. Witnesses in neighboring homes heard the victim shout the accused person's name, "Derek, stop, put the knife down!" 

In any important situation, reasonable people want to look at all the evidence, all the facts, when trying to understand what's going on.

However, religious believers and others with rigid minds start with a conclusion -- like "The guru is innocent of any wrongdoing" -- then desperately search for any information, no matter how feeble, that supports their desired conclusion.

Case in point, a commenter on this blog who doesn't have the courage to use her actual name in comments, but goes by "Anon." She's been frantically trying to excuse Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD), the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in India, from the wrongdoing he's been accused of. 

Here's a recent example of Anon's refusal to look at facts that don't support her blind faith that the guru is a Perfect Living Master, so couldn't have committed financial fraud.

Spence I don’t need to reply to your livemint article as dungerees just did. Like he said it’s based on anonymity and an email they received. I have the most recent Sebi report on fortis which came out after this article was written and it makes no Mention of master. End of story.
https://www.sebi.gov.in/enforcement/orders/mar-2019/order-in-the-matter-of-fortis-healthcare-limited_42418.html

Another commenter, Amar, demolished Anon's twisted thinking in his own comment.

Anon, you explained away the court's decision. Typical and what I would expect. Keep on keeping on, you have just proven exactly what most people here have determined. Doesn't matter if it slapped you in the face, the truth is meaningless. You don't get brownie points for writing what you're writing.

Anyone with an ounce of selectivity and impartiality would recognize that hmm, there might be something there, might I'm going to have to wait and see what comes next. You can't even do that. So that makes your analysis irrelevant.

In science, you look at all the inputs, make observations, analyze, then conclusions and recommendations.

So we're at the inputs, observations and analysis stage. Conclusions will be forth coming and we can speculate. That's how a normal person evaluates and responds to input. We do it when shopping for the family, to voting in the next leader of our nation. You're doing it selectively.

Again, I'm not trying to change your mind. You're just dismissing everyone except GSD. You're even throwing his own wife and kids and daughter in law under the bus to exclude GSD. That doesn't help your defense of GSD because you're showing extreme bias by not even considering anything.

That's dangerous. It's not about me or anyone else trying to be right. It's about you admitting that it could be. Even if it's just a 5% percent chance, you won't admit it. That's where you lose credibility. You think everything can be explained away.

When the next shoe drops for these people, we'll all wait for your brilliant explanation as to why it doesn't apply to GSD. Spencer has elaborately explained in great detail for anyone to understand. Your bias and blind faith won't allow you to see what's in front of your face. Not even one, single piece of report or finding.

You epitomize the mindset of anyone steeped in blind faith and dogma. Good luck to you, this back and forth with you is futile. Have a nice life and deep down, I wish it were as you say, but most of us live in the real world and we have to look at the facts and rule of law. What you describe goes against that.

The first investigative report of SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, came out in October 2018. Another report came out in March 2019. 

Yet somehow "Anon" considers this the "end of the story" because the reports didn't mention the name of the RSSB guru, just the names of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the guru's cousins, along with the names of shell companies. Well...

(1) Malvinder has filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police against his brother (Shivinder), Gurinder Singh Dhillon, other members of the Dhillon family, and their close associates. The complaint alleges conspiracy to commit financial fraud and a death threat made by the guru's attorney. (Click here for a blog post I wrote about the complaint.)

(2) Sheetal Talwar, a filmmaker, has filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police alleging that associates of the RSSB guru made a death threat against him after he sought repayment of a million dollar loan he'd made to Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

(3) Religare, a public company that lost money in the financial fraud, has filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police against Sunil Godhwani, the guru's right hand man, and others. The complaint seeks tracing and restitution of the fraudulently siphoned money that went into shell companies, and then into the pockets of the Dhillon family and their associates.

(4) One of the shell companies cited in the Religare complaint is Prius Real Estate. A story in the Indian financial press based on several credible sources shows that the Dhillon family were directors of Prius Real Estate at the time the fraud occurred. 

Subsidiaries of RHC Holding had lent funds to Prius Real Estate Pvt. Ltd, previously owned by Dhillon’s wife, Shabnam Dhillon, and his close associate Yuvraj Narain Gorwaney, two people familiar with the developments said. The same entity was later owned by Dhillon’s confidants—Rajveer Singh and Gurpreet Sodhi. However, the entity has now moved to two trusts, Jamuntree and Grace Trust.

“When the money went from RHC to Prius Real Estate, it was owned and controlled by the Dhillon family and these decisions were directly taken by Sunil Godhwani as he was running RHC," one of the two people close to Malvinder Singh and his brother said on condition of anonymity.

(5) Sunil Godhwani, who to my understanding has served as the treasurer or financial officer of Radha Soami Satsang Beas and has close ties to the RSSB guru, has been charged with criminal conspiracy by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police, along with the Singh brothers and others.

(6) The High Court of Delhi has ordered that money be recovered from Dhillon and his family members, along with about 50 other people and entities, many of which had been controlled by the RSSB guru, his family, and close associates.

(7) Sheetal Talwar, through his attorneys, has informed the Securities and Exchange Board of India that Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family were both the major beneficiaries of the fraudulent funds, and involved in the conspiracy to illegally siphon the funds from public companies. 

Talwar has told Sebi that even though its Religare investigation via forensic audit firm MSA concluded fund diversion and large scale irregularities and illegalities, the probe did not lift the corporate veil to disclose the ultimate beneficiaries of the diversion.

Advocates & Solicitors Kartikeya & Associates-representing Talwar-have submitted to Sebi on 29 May, 2019 that, "...the persons who have benefitted the most and/or on whose instance the said illegalities and irregularities were and/or have been committed have yet not been identified. Please note that the persons and/or the shadow promoters of REL, RFL and their other group companies is one Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD/Babaji) and his family".

This blog is all about truth. The truth about God. The truth about religions. The truth about gurus. The truth about science. In the largest sense, the truth about reality. 

Some sources of truth are more valid than others.

When it comes to the truth about the RSSB guru's involvement in financial fraud, it makes sense to trust these sources more than devotees of the guru who are desperate to excuse his wrongdoing: official investigators in India, journalists with Indian financial publications, court rulings, insiders with direct knowledge of the fraud.

Usually, understanding the truth about a complex situation requires the broadest possible perspective. Facts should be collected from a broad spectrum of sources. But as noted above, not all sources are equally valid. So assessing the trustworthiness of where information about a subject you're interested comes from is all-important.

Keep this in mind when you read comments on this blog about any subject. Some commenters, like Amar, are sincerely dedicated to truth. Others, like Anon, are dedicated only to defending their personal views.

Thus trust those who base their conclusions on a wide collection of facts, not on those who present a narrow set of facts designed to support their pre-determined conclusions.

Religious faith explains illogical devotion to RSSB guru

Why do otherwise intelligent and reasonable people lose touch with reality when religion is involved?

I've been wondering about this whenever I read comments on this blog from fervent defenders of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas who is deeply involved in financial fraud totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

They ignore obvious facts. They offer up ridiculous excuses for inexcusable behavior. They keep repeating falsehoods even after the truth has been repeatedly pointed out to them.

Today I read further in Martin Hägglund's excellent book, "This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom."  (Which I wrote about here recently.)

In his Responsibility chapter, Hägglund discusses at length Soren Kierkegaard's discussion in his "Fear and Trembling" of the Old Testament story of Abraham and his son, Issac. Somehow Abraham was willing to kill his beloved son because God wanted him to.

Basically, Hägglund argues that Abraham was motivated by religious faith, not secular faith. In my previous post I included some quotes from his book that explain the central difference between these kinds of faith. 

Secular faith is committed to persons and projects that may be lost: to make them live on for the future. Far from being resigned to death, a secular faith seeks to postpone death and improve the conditions of life. As we will see, living on should not be conflated with eternity.

...The object of religious faith, by contrast, is taken to be independent of the fidelity of finite beings. The object of religious faith --  whether God or any other form of infinite being -- is ultimately regarded as separable from the practice of faith, since it does not depend on any form of finite life.

So it seems clear that those who attempt to excuse the RSSB guru of all wrongdoing, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, are acting much like Abraham.

Because the guru is considered by devotees to be God in human form, their religious faith  is separable from any and all actions in this finite world that Gurinder Singh Dhillon might take, no matter how wrong those actions might be. These devotees have blind faith in the godliness of the guru.

Here in the United States, President Trump famously said during his election campaign, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."

This sounds a lot like religious faith. It also sounds a lot like the RSSB devotees who apparently would forgive any actions of their guru, no matter how despicable.

Here's some additional excerpts from Hägglund's book that I read today. They cast additional light on the distinction between religious and secular faith.

Religious faith, by definition, doesn't care about other people, or anything else on Earth. Like Abraham, those in the grip of religious faith are willing to sacrifice anyone and anything, including their own secular sense of right and wrong, in the name of an imagined eternity.

Thus religious faith is dangerous. It leads people to kill, torture, maim, hurt, do anything that they envision their God or godlike human commands. Caring, love, compassion -- these are characteristics of secular faith, which I'm proud to embrace.

Hägglund describes these two sorts of faith:

Religious faith: 

Moreover, the inwardness of religious faith disarms the real risks of objective uncertainty.

A marriage is objectively uncertain in the sense that it can actually break and leave me shattered. Eternal happiness, however, is objectively uncertain in the sense that it can neither be proved nor disproved.

As long as I keep faith in eternal happiness, it cannot be taken away from me, since the only criterion for its existence is my own faith that it will be given to me. 

No external criteria can refute my hope for eternal happiness, and nothing external to my own will can force me to give it up. Eternal happiness cannot be given to me by the finite, but for the same reason it cannot be taken away from me by the finite. 

It has nothing to do with anything in the external world, but is entirely a matter of my inward relation to my absolute telos. [ultimate object or aim]

Secular faith:

In contrast, secular faith necessarily remains vulnerable.

As long as you keep secular faith, you can be defeated by loss. Affirming your life-defining commitment as a parent -- and loving your child wholeheartedly -- does not protect you from the pain of conflict, the bereavement of broken hopes, or the possible devastation of losing your child.

On the contrary, it is because you are keeping faith with your child -- and holding on to your life-defining commitment as a parent -- that you are all the more vulnerable to these experiences.

Such vulnerability is the condition for any form of responsiveness to -- and responsibility for -- what happens to the one you love. By being devoted to someone who is finite, I have to be responsive to what befalls him or her, even if the events are adverse to my own hopes and desires.

I am committed to fight for him or her to live on and flourish, but also bound to recognize if and when there is defeat.

...Given that your relation to the past and the future depends on faith, you may be deceived by what you think is certain, mistaken by what you take for granted, and shattered by what you never expected. 

Your vulnerability to those risks is due to the existential commitment of secular faith. Because you are existentially committed to someone or something, you can feel the pain of being deceived, mistaken, or shattered.

What's next for the RSSB guru and Singh brothers scandal?

The massive financial scandal involving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas and the Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder, has been likened to a Bollywood movie -- albeit one whose ending hasn't been written yet.

If you browse through the posts in the Radha Soami Satsang Beas category of this blog, focusing on the posts related to this scandal, it'll soon become evident that this subject is complex. There are many actors in this drama, each playing their own unique role.

There's no way to accurately predict what will happen next.

I've summarized the broad scope of the scandal in recent posts, including this one. Because I enjoy legal intrigue, spy novels, and captivating mini-series on TV, I can't resist making some observations about how things could go from here. 

To do this, I need to envision the state of mind of the various parties involved in this scandal. What follows are my own views, obviously. Feel free to share your own perspective in a comment, if you like.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon. The RSSB guru is notoriously private. He hasn't made any meaningful public announcements about this scandal yet. He doesn't like photographs taken of him.

Yet the High Court of Delhi recently ordered that the financial assets of Dhillon and his family be frozen in anticipation of those assets being sold to recover money that ended up in the Dhillon family pockets through either fraudulent or decidedly irregular means.

I'm not familiar with how garnishment works in India.

But since the recovered money is going to help pay for a $500 million settlement that the Singh brothers owe to Daiichi (a Japanese corporation), it sure seems that both the High Court and lawyers for Daiichi are going to want to be sure that the Dhillon family reveal all of their financial assets: cash, homes, real estate holdings, etc.

Since Dhillon is viewed as God in human form by his devotees, this is quite a comedown for a supposed divine being. I've never heard of God being subject to a High Court ruling, but there's a first time for everything.

Singh brothers. They're first cousins once removed of the RSSB guru, but appear to consider him as "uncle." Previously Dhillon was a trusted elder advisor after their father died. Now their relationship with Dhillon is decidedly shaky, especially when it comes to Malvinder.

He's filed a criminal complaint against Dhillon, alleging conspiracy to siphon funds from companies once controlled by the Singh brothers, and also a death threat by the guru through his attorney. Malvinder also alleges that Dhillon tried to essentially sell his position as RSSB guru to Shivinder, if Shivinder forgave the shady loans Dhillon and his family got.

It's unclear what the status of the criminal complaint is, which is being investigated by the Delhi Police. I used to think that Malvinder might withdraw the complaint if Dhillon cooperated in returning his ill-gotten money, which totals hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now that the RSSB guru is being forced to liquidate assets by the High Court of Delhi, my suspicion is that Malvinder won't be willing to play nice with his cousin, even if he calls him uncle. 

Sunil Godhwani. He was the guru's right hand man and head of RSSB finances, to my understanding. Dhillon used his influence with the Singh brothers to get Godwahni installed as CEO of Religare, a company the brothers controlled at the time. In that position Godhwani orchestrated the fraudulent transfers of money to the Dhillon family and their close associates through shell companies controlled by those recipients of the money.

Godhwani was detained at the Delhi airport when he tried to leave the country shortly after he was charged with criminal conspiracy by the Delhi Police.

No one seems to know whether he is cooperating with authorities. If he chooses to talk, perhaps with the hope of getting lesser charges, this could implicate others in the conspiracy, possibly including the RSSB guru and his family. 

Since Godhwani is so close to the guru, he may choose not to say much. Of course, other people in Religare and the shell companies that participated in the fraudulent transactions may come forward who don't have any "spiritual" connection with the guru.

Board of Religare. What complicates things is that the High Court of Delhi has ordered that up to $500 million is to be recovered from over 50 entities, including the Dhillon family, their close associates, and the above-mentioned shell companies. As already noted, that money is earmarked to pay the settlement owed by the Singh brothers to Daiichi. 

But the new board of Religare, which doesn't include anyone associated with the guru or the Singh brothers, is behind the criminal complaint against Godhwani and others. Religare wants to get back the money that was siphoned out of its coffers.

Now, since reports in the Indian financial press indicated that as much as a billion dollars went into the pockets of Dhillon and his family, perhaps liquidation of their assets, along with the assets of others who got fraudulent money, would produce enough to both pay the $500 million to Daiichi and repay funds that Religare considers it has lost (not sure how much that is).

If that isn't possible, seemingly Religare would be more motivated to have those responsible for the fraudulent activity to be legally punished. Which could include the RSSB guru and his family, given that they were directors of the shell companies that participated in the fraudulent loan transactions.

Indian courts and government. It may not be a coincidence that the High Court of Delhi issued its garnishment order against the RSSB guru, his family, and others after the Indian nationwide elections were over. Religion plays a big role in Indian politics, so perhaps this is why the order came when it did.

Regardless, it appears that the Indian government and courts are taking this financial scandal more seriously than some thought it would, given the country's lengthy history of corporate sleaze. After all, India wants to attract more foreign investment.

News that a guru and his family were able to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars out of public companies without facing the consequences wouldn't be a good sales pitch to individuals or corporations thinking of investing in India. Thus I'm quite a bit more confident now that the wrongdoers in this scandal will be identified by authorities and receive whatever consequences they deserve.

Sheetal Talwar. Talwar is an Indian filmmaker who first came to notice in this scandal when he alleged that a death threat was made against him from the RSSB satsang office in Delhi after he tried to recover $1.25 million he'd loaned to Gurinder Singh Dhillon. 

Then Talwar popped up again in the news when he informed the Securities and Exchange Board of India that the guru and his family were the primary beneficiaries of about $329 million siphoned out of Religare via the above-mentioned fraudulent loans.

So Talwar is another actor in this drama, as is befitting his role as a filmmaker.

Would you buy the RSSB guru again?

There's an adage about buying and selling stocks that fits with buying into spiritual or religious teachings, especially those where the leader or guru is an integral aspect of those teachings.

If you wouldn't buy a stock at this price, you probably should sell it.

Here's another way of putting this: given everything you know about a company right now, would you still choose to buy the stock that you paid money for some time ago? If the answer is "No," you probably should sell the stock, even at a loss.

One reason buying and selling decisions with stocks are difficult is the same reason deciding whether to stick with a religion or spiritual path is difficult. Once we've bought into something, we get emotionally attached to it.

It hurts to admit that what we bought into no longer looks as attractive.

So we rationalize away the problems we're having with the religion or spiritual path, just as someone who buys a stock irrationally hopes that the price will go up, even though solid evidence shows it'd be best to sell the stock.

A recent comment on this blog by Amar makes some great points along this line in regard to the financial and other scandals involving Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of an Indian religious organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Sumit, Kartik, and Kush, you have no idea what you're talking about. Would you, before following RSSB, have followed another guru who was embroiled in this type of a financial fraud scandal? I highly doubt it.

Please, look at this from a perspective as an outsider, like a spectator: clear glasses. Would you join a religion or philosophy if you did your homework and found this out about the leader, or his immediate family and high ranking sevadars? I think if you honestly use your sense of discrimination, you know what your answer would be.

I'm not saying the teachings are false or untrue, quite the contrary, I think they are good ideals and important ideals to live by. The individual professing and teaching these ideals should hold themselves accountable to the same standards, whether philosophically, or to the law of the land.

Now, though I like this comment a lot, I disagree with Amar's contention that the guru's scandals have no bearing on whether the RSSB teachings are true.

This would be the case if, like Christianity, the religious teachings were separable from the character and actions of any Christian alive today. To believers, Jesus saves regardless of the failings of Christian leaders. Which, of course, are many.

With the Sant Mat teachings of RSSB though, the guru is considered to be God in human form. The guru is the Jesus figure, the person responsible for returning a devotee's soul to heavenly regions from which it supposedly descended many lifetimes ago. The guru is the exemplar, the living truth of the RSSB teachings. No living guru, no teachings. 

Previously there were few scandals involving the lineage of RSSB gurus. Charan Singh, Gurinder Singh's predecessor, reportedly smuggled watches into India. That's nothing compared to what Gurinder Singh has done and been accused of.

Would initiates of Gurinder Singh Dhillon have bought into him and his teachings if they knew then, what is known now?

(1) The Delhi High Court has ordered the assets of the guru and his family to be frozen, so money (likely hundreds of millions of dollars) can be recovered from zero-interest loans they received.

(2) The Securities and Exchange Board of India has determined that those funds that ended up in the pockets of the RSSB guru and his family were fraudulently siphoned out of a public company into shell companies. 

(3) Those illegal money transfers involved "round trip" transactions that required the collusion of conspirators at both the public company and the shell companies.

(4) The RSSB guru, his family, and close associates controlled the shell companies that received the fraudulent funds. 

(5) Malvinder Singh, a relative of the guru, and Sheetal Talwar, a filmmaker, have accused the guru and his associates of making death threats against them. 

Does all this sound like something a God in human form would do? I guess it depends on someone's conception of God. To me, Gurinder Singh Dhillon seems like a deeply flawed person, not someone divine. 

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

 

 

RSSB deletes financial fraud stories from website

So much for openness and transparency. Here's a comment that was just left on this blog. GSD refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Has anyone noticed that all the links to the news articles about the Singh brothers saga on RSSB website have been removed ....https://www.rssb.org/articles.html The question is Why ? Only a few weeks ago GSD had said in reply to a Q that RSSB is not involved and all the news articles are posted on their website.

This person is correct. The Bloomberg story is gone. Can't remember if there were others related to the RSSB guru's financial fraud involvement. And I'm not completely sure the story was from Bloomberg. 

UPDATE: Here's a screenshot of the RSSB articles page as it looked last night. The articles are shown with the most recent first,  so the Bloomberg story used to be on top, or near the top.

But here's a link to a Bloomberg story I wrote about that describes the guru's shady business dealings that now have caused the High Court of Delhi to seize assets owned by Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family. Quite a downfall for a guru whose organization publishes a book called "Honest Living."

Note: I believe the Bloomberg story was written before investigators in India (SEBI) wrote a report showing that the money loaned at zero interest to the Dhillons came from fraudulent loans, with the money siphoned from public companies.

Why the RSSB guru is responsible for financial fraud

We're conducting a psychological experiment on this blog. How is it possible that devotees of an Indian guru are unable to recognize the facts about his involvement in financial fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars?

Comments on numerous blog posts based on reports in the Indian financial press show that denial is alive and well in the minds of those who want to believe that the guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, is a "perfect living master" rather than a money-hungry Indian guy who has been using his position as head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in enrich himself and his family.

Some core facts are clear:

(1) The Securities and Exchange Board of India has determined that funds were fraudulently siphoned out of  a public company into shell companies. 

(2) Those illegal money transfers involved "round trip" transactions that required the collusion of conspirators at both the public company and the shell companies.

(3) The RSSB guru, his family, and close associates controlled the shell companies that received the fraudulent funds. 

(4) The Dhillon family and their close associates used the fraudulently-obtained money, in large part or entirely, to buy real estate and the High Court of Delhi has ordered that this money be recovered from the RSSB guru, his family, and other entities.

There's additional disturbing evidence, including a criminal complaint filed against Gurinder Singh Dhillon, and allegations of death threats involving Dhillon (see here and here). 

So how is that people associated with RSSB are having so much difficulty recognizing these facts? A couple of excellent comments on a recent blog post help explain why.

Here's what Amar wrote. GSD refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

For you Westerners that are having trouble understanding the Eastern/Indian mindset, let me fill you all in.

GSD's sons and wife, are not only his family, but they consider him their guru first, family relation second. There is a double bond there that we can never understand.

They will do as he asks. Gurpreet and Gurkirat only have the money because the two Singh brothers dispersed shares of the company in their names, convenient since it would look bad if they put it in GSD's names. This was probably the only legal thing they did in all this.

Other high ranking satsangis that were on the boards of these shell companies had to sign off on the fund transfers because that's all these companies were setup for. So they were complicit in it.

To imply that GSD was caught up in it and didn't know what he was getting into because his sons, wife, or other high ranking board of directors in these 50 plus companies were doing things behind his back is laughable. If you know anything about GSD, you will know that he has his hands on this type of stuff. To imply he wasn't aware of this is insulting to anyone's intelligence.

Someone/some people had to come and say to him, "I've got a plan...an idea." None of this can happen to this level of involvement without his input. It's impossible. His own sons and wife would not have acted without his knowledge. It's not something that happens to this scale in an Indian family. Especially this one.

So get your heads out of the sand and look at the High Court orders, the SEBI Findings. And It's not over yet.

The High Court Garnishee order clearly states that all 56 entities must repay the monies back to the High Court to cover the $500 million dollars.

GSD's name is in the list. His son's names are on the list. His wife's name is on the list. The other names mentioned on the list are RSSB high ranking people. The companies mentioned on this list are shell companies which have all or some of these people as directors.

Legally they are all culpable. Fraud was committed and that has been proven. This was not a business. It was money laundering/siphoning from a publicly traded company.

There is more to come on this for sure. We can only speculate on that, but what has transpired here is legally processed and matter of history. The only question I still have and doesn't make sense to me is why the Singh brothers would do this to their own company.

And here's what Mr. Curious wrote:

Hi Dungeness,

As the head honcho, Gurinder's ultimately accountable for the illegal siphoning of funds to RSSB and his family (whether or not he knew about/ordered it). That's why he is among those implicated.

That said, it's extremely difficult to believe he knew nothing about this.

Long-time initiates, however, will have a much easier time with this. They've spent years/decades cultivating more far-fetched beliefs (Master will claim me at death, he is planted at 3rd eye center, he flies through [supernatural] regions at will, etc.), and are well-practiced in suspending critical thinking. I don't think any amount of evidence will change their hearts over night; it will take time.

That said, I can't understand how initiates who claim "GIHF" is an all-knowing being can now claim he doesn't even know what's going on in his own family. No doubt, some family secrets can be kept a long time (an affair years ago, etc.) but hundreds of millions of dollars are a hard thing to hide.

As a former initiate (different teacher), I can empathize with those who are having their faith shaken here.

I don't have any glee at the expense of the initiates. However, I am always gleeful when a hypocrite/abuser of power is brought down. Especially in India where justice has historically not been served. And yes, Gurinder is a hypocrite of the highest order. Per the RSSB literature, he supposedly lives off the fruit of his own labor.

OK, if your labor is fraud, that may be true.

My own former teacher was similarly a hypocrite. He taught the virtue of celibacy (except for reproduction), but he himself was accused of sexual misbehavior with several female initiates (and admitted to transgressions in 1984). I didn't stop being an initiate because he had sexual urges, but because he proved himself to be a hypocrite/liar (while claiming to be the keeper of truth).

It's important to believe in something, but one should never give up their power to another fallible human being (except the wife, I guess).

What pisses me off is not that Gurinder is fallible (we all are), but that he goes around giving sermons/lessons on values he knows nothing about and takes advantage of people who are in a vulnerable state. It's no secret that most initiates come to the path in a sorry state.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Delhi High Court orders recovery of money from RSSB guru

BIG NEWS regarding the financial fraud saga involving the Singh brothers and Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a religious sect in India with millions of followers.

The High Court of Delhi has ordered that money be recovered from Dhillon and his family members, along with about 50 other people and entities, many of which had been controlled by the RSSB guru, his family, and close associates. You can read the order via this PDF file:
Download Order 28-05-2019132578_2019

I'll make some "I told you so" comments following the Business Today story.

RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon, wife Shabnam Dhillon, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter-in-law Nayan Tara Dhillon are among the 56 entities from whom Delhi HC has ordered recovery of monies Singh brothers-Malvinder & Shivinder-owe to Daiichi. Money will also be recovered from former Religare chief Sunil Godhwani and brother Sanjay Godhwani, according to the Delhi HC order.

BusinessToday.In had reported on March 12 that Singh brothers can only pay the $500 million order against them to compensate Daiichi, provided the money owed to them by RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is recovered. In his submission, Malvinder has maintained that he can pay the arbitration order provided he can recover the money owed to him.

Also read: SC take note! Singh brothers can pay off $500 million to Daiichi, provided the money is recovered

Daiichi has enfored an arbitration order in Singapore that ordered the brothers to pay Daiichi $500 million towards alleged non-disclosure of crucial information during the sale of Ranbaxy Laboratories to Daiichi in 2008.

With this order, the Delhi HC has expanded the scope of people from whom the money owed by Singh brothers to Daiichi can be recovered to honour the arbitration award.

Besides the Dhillon family, the Delhi HC is issuing 'garnishee orders' against several Dhillon and RSSB associates' companies, including Prius Real Estate, Addon Realty, Payne Realtors SGGD Projects, Luminous Holding. A garnishee order is an order against a third party to recover money to settle a debt or dues.

Garnishee order prevents these entities from alienating any assets. The dues will now be paid to Delhi HC instead of Singh brothers and their entities to whom it is owed.

BusinessToday.In has reported 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 assocites of RSSB. RoC filings and terms sheets say between 2011 and 2014, Rs 1107.5 crore from the Rs 9,576 crore sale proceeds of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo was paid 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.

Thereafter, this money was transferred to Prius Real Estate Private Limited controlled by Dhillon family associates and RSSB functionaries through optionally convertible debentures (OCD). The money invested 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.

Delhi HC had concluded the hearing on May 28. The written order was issued on June 10.

Also read: RSSB chief Baba Gurinder Dhillon's associates threatened me with life, alleges filmmaker Sheetal Talwar

Also read: RSSB chief Dhillon beneficiary behind corporate veil in Religare fund diversion: Filmmaker Sheetal Talwar tells Sebi

Now, this story doesn't point out that the flow of money into the pockets of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family occurred fraudulently through a conspiracy involving people both at the sending end (public companies) and receiving end (shell companies cited in the story).

The story does note that those shell companies were controlled by Dhillon family members and RSSB functionaries. So likely the RSSB guru and his family face additional legal problems.

I'm pleased that justice is being done in India. No one should be above the law, even if a person is considered to be God in Human Form, as the RSSB teachings proclaim Gurinder Singh Dhillon to be. 

It's also pleasing to be able to say I told you so to the many religious devotees who have been leaving comments on my blog posts about this financial fraud saga along the lines of "The guru can do no wrong" and "You're rushing to judgement."

Well, actually the guru has done wrong, and it isn't a rush to judgement to analyze stories in the Indian financial press.

It's been clear for many months that the fraudulent loans ended up in the pockets of the RSSB guru and his family, so it was only a matter of time before the Indian legal system would force the Dhillon family to repay the illegally-obtained money.

This shows the power of critical thinking.

I and others (such as Spence Tepper, a frequent commenter on this blog) could see clearly what was happening because our viewpoint wasn't clouded by religious fundamentalism. On the other hand, ardent devotees of the RSSB guru failed to recognize facts because what they believed about the guru was at odds with facts about the guru.

Lesson: be a devotee of truth, not of religion.

RSSB guru identified as beneficiary of fraudulent funds

As has been evident to those of us who have been following the saga of the Singh brothers and Gurinder Singh Dhillon (the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas), the trail of money that was fraudulently siphoned out of public companies is leading right to Dhillon's pockets.

Here's a Business Today story that someone told me about today. It's short, so I've copied it in below. I couldn't resist boldfacing the parts that point to Dhillon's legal culpability in this financial mess. 

I've been wondering how long it would take until investigators in India would focus on the ultimate beneficiaries of the massive amount of money (about $332 million) this story says was diverted from Religare.

It's been widely reported that the Dhillon family used that money to invest in real estate deals that went bad, but so far the focus has been on Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Sunil Godhwani, and others who orchestrated the fraudulent loans that ended up in shell companies controlled by Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and close associates.

So it's good to see that Sheetal Talwar and his attorneys are telling SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, that the RSSB guru was the beneficiary of most of the illegally diverted $332 million, which means, almost certainly, that Dhillon also was part of the conspiracy to siphon off those funds from Religare.

Read on.

NRI film producer Sheetal Vinod Talwar has submitted to Sebi that Radha Soami Satsang chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family allegedly benefited the most from Religare's Rs 2,300 crore fund diversion. Sebi's forensic audit via probe agency MSA Probe Consulting had identified diversion worth Rs 2,315.09 crore.

Talwar's Vistaar Entertainment and Religare Enterprises were partners in India's first SEBI-registered film fund - Vistaar Religare. Earlier, in March, Talwar had approached the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai alleging he was threatened with life after his lawyers pursued repayment of $1.25 million paid supposedly towards Dhillon's treatment abroad.

Talwar has told Sebi that even though its Religare investigation via forensic audit firm MSA concluded fund diversion and large scale irregularities and illegalities, the probe did not lift the corporate veil to disclose the ultimate beneficiaries of the diversion.

Advocates & Solicitors Kartikeya & Associates-representing Talwar-have submitted to Sebi on 29 May, 2019 that, "...the persons who have benefitted the most and/or on whose instance the said illegalities and irregularities were and/or have been committed have yet not been identified. Please note that the persons and/or the shadow promoters of REL, RFL and their other group companies is one Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD/Babaji) and his family".

Sebi's original investigation against alleged fund diversion at Religare Enterprises & Religare Finvest was triggered by Talwar's primary complaint to RBI (later forwarded to Sebi) dated 12 April, 2017. In his complaint, Talwar had informed RBI about alleged "irregularities and illegalities committed by the promoters and/or board of directors" of the two companies. RBI forwarded the complaint to Sebi which ordered the probe via MSA.

Talwar's complaint to Sebi has also levelled a grave charge of a serious conflict of interest among Religare's then board  members. "...the fact that the companies shared common directors to the GSD family as well as were all run by GSD followers eg. Just a quick review would point to the fact that during the diversion of funds, Vitoba, Platinum and Devera entities to which fund were diverted would reveal that Yuvraj Narain Gorwaney alias Mithu is on the board of these companies-not only is Yuvraj...the secretary of RSSB, he also sits on the board of Logos Holding along with GSD and Shabnam Dhillon. Many such associations exist between the entities named and GSD family."

Talwar is a National Film Award winning global film producer and angel investor. His first feature film 'Dharm' secured 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.

Religious believers aren't happier than everybody else

Hard on the heels of a great blog post comment I shared a few days ago in a post of its own, here's another great comment that was left on that post. 

Nice! We've got a Great Comment Breeding Ground.

I heartily agree with everything "J" says below. This matches with my 35 years of going to meetings of Radha Soami Satsang Beas devotees, and talking with countless (almost) RSSB believers during that time.

As a wise RSSB representative used to say -- recall it was Roland deVries -- satsangis, meaning RSSB initiates, are just ordinary people. For sure. 

Here's J's comment. Sant Mat refers to the RSSB belief system.  Satsangs are RSSB meetings.

Hi Jen. I didn't mean to say that people in Sant Mat are unhappy, or that Sant Mat doesn't provide a relative sense of fulfillment to those who take it up. No doubt, people find meaning in Sant Mat, and right living, and meditation, and community.

These are all undeniably positive things.

But in nearly 40 years of going to satsangs of various Sant Mat groups, I haven't seen evidence that any group of satsangis are happier than people who follow other religions, or even happier than people who follow no religion.

Sant Mat makes the grandest claims for its meditation and masters, and yet we don't see sangats made up of people who exemplify truly exceptional serenity. They seem no more or less content than congregants at a Mormon worship service or a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"Happiness" in respect to religious belief is admittedly hard to quantify.

While many people find a relative advantage in being believers in whatever path, there are many accounts of people who were ardent believers in this or that guru or religion, who lived the tenents of that path fully for decades, who felt they completely believed that their path or guru was the summit of the highest Truth, said they were fortunate to have found it, etc...and then one day, these ardent believers leave that particular faith, and say that they are much happier apart from it. And they never go back.

There are many such stories in all religions, including Sant Mat.

These former ardent believers found that their happiness wasn't genuine happiness, and that's because they ultimately discovered that their belief and devotion to their guru of path was actually slavery to an attractive but unrealistic ideal that conflicted with their deeper nature.

Ideals that conflict with our deeper beliefs always compromise our happiness.

What they took for happiness was the payoff they got from being true believers. Human nature is such that there's a huge pull to be yoked with an attractive ideal. We get a certain measure of satisfaction from fulfilling that instinct, but it's questionable whether that fulfillment is genuine happiness.

Many years ago a satsangi made an astute observation of his experience with his fellow RSSBers -- "satsangis often go around like they have this huge problem."

I concur, and would add that the typical satsang is really little more than a lament of  huge problems that Sant Mat theology puts upon its believers. Every RSSB satsang is an ode to how we are all failures but must keep trying to find a victory that no one dares speak of attaining.

Satsangis are sold on trying to realize an impossible ideal. The ideal is no doubt very attractive, wholesome, and "logical," but the ultimate unrealizability of that ideal has to create frustration.

Thoughtful criticisms of Sant Mat

Ned just left a comment on a recent post that was so thoughtful and well-written, I wanted to share his criticisms of Sant Mat right away.

Thanks, Ned. You expressed yourself beautifully. I heartily agree with the three conclusions in your comment:

I was initiated when I was a kid and hadn't had much to do with Sant Mat for a long time (decades).

I spent the last month doing an experiment, doing Surat Shabd Yoga meditation for long periods of time, reading the old literature, and so on. I also went to one of Ishwar Puri's talks. I really liked the talk and I liked him. What led to that experiment is another story.

For the most part, however, my conclusions about the Path haven't really changed. I could sum them up in three points:

(1) Creating levels of mystic experience is a block.

About 20 years ago, I had set aside all the stuff I had learned about inner planes from Sant Mat and Theosophy and started practicing Zen. I kept it real simple, just counting my breaths.

What I found surprising was that I had what I would consider my first legit spiritual experience.

And I think it was because I wasn't expecting anything. I wasn't waiting to see the Master or to fly around the astral plane. I also wasn't beating myself up for not having those experiences. The expectation and guilt go hand-in-hand.

(2) Believing in Perfect Living Masters is a form of spiritual authoritarianism.

There is an emotional and intellectual dependency that is quite damaging to a person. It is something that I still struggle with.

There are extreme examples of people being abused by gurus, but there are subtler problems. Like the belief itself that there are perfect people and you're not perfect, and no matter how hard you try you can't become perfect; the belief creates a neurosis that can show up in all sorts of weird and unhealthy ways.

The demand in Sant Mat, as with many religions, is that you need more faith. Master or God or Jesus will make you perfect if you just submit and obey. It is your selfishness and disobedience, that's the problem.

You don't become more perfect, just more dependent. This might be the oldest game in the book.

(3) Subjective experience is not proof of anything.

The atheist position is that they will not believe something unless there is empirical proof, which automatically eliminates most if not all subjective experience as a premise for belief.

This seems pretty simple and obvious, but for a person like myself who has been stooped in this kind of spiritual woo for most of my life, the idea is revolutionary. Not only does subjective experience not justify belief, it doesn't justify authority either.

Humility in spiritual and religious circles is about thinking less of yourself and more of God or Guru or whatever, but I think this is a false humility.

The scientist or secularist who reviews the facts and comes to the conclusion of what is probably true, with the understanding that their information and ability to analyze data is limited, comes to what I think is a sincere form of humility.

Which is that there is a lot more that we don't know than we do, and of what we do know is continuously up for revision. I don't know how much this has to do with Faqir Chand, but I've been wanting to say this for awhile.

Sunil Godhwani, close associate of RSSB guru, detained at Delhi airport

Interesting news in the financial fraud case involving the Singh brothers and the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Sunil Godhwani, who has been described by a RSSB insider as the personal treasurer and right-hand man of the Guru, was detained at the New Delhi airport by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police.

Here's the CNBC TV18 story:

Former Religare Enterprises chief Sunil Godhwani was stopped at Delhi Airport from flying overseas on Thursday. Godhwani has been taken into custody by Economic Offences Wing.

It is learnt that Godhwani was flying to the US to visit his son.

Sources aware of the developments told CNBC-TV18 that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had issued a look out circular (LOC) against him.

A complaint was filed against Godhwani in the case of Religare Enterprises, which is under the scanner for alleged financial irregularities. Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) and Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) had filed a complaint against him.

In his submission to the MCA, Godhwani had claimed that the complaint is part of a conspiracy hatched by the current management out of their ulterior motive to cover up their nexus between the erstwhile promoters and the majority shareholder of the company.

In his petition filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh had alleged that elder brother Malvinder Mohan Singh and Godhwani together conspired to divert Rs 750 crore from Religare Finvest Ltd, Religare’s wholly owned subsidiary, and Rs 473 crore from Fortis Healthcare to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd.

Last week, founder of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal were stopped from leaving the country by the immigration officials at the Mumbai Airport. It is learnt that Goyals were travelling for London via Dubai. From Mumbai, they were to board an Emirates flight EK 507, which was going to Dubai.

The MCA had issued a look out circular (LOC) against Goyal and his wife after a fraud was detected at the airline, sourced told CNBC-TV18 on Monday.

The government has decided to tighten the noose around companies, promoters, directors involved in serious fraud and irregular transactions, said the sources.

The MCA will continue to issue more look out circulars to curb potential flight risk, added the sources, who did not want to be named.

This story fails to note that Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint names Godhwani as a co-conspirator with Gurinder Singh Dhillon and others in orchestrating the financial fraud that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars being siphoned into the pockets of the Dhillon family from public companies once controlled by Godhwani and the Singh brothers.

Earlier this year it was reported that the Delhi police were investigating that criminal complaint, which, again, accused the RSSB guru and Sunil Godhwani of financial fraud (also, a death threat by Dhillon).

It looks like the Indian authorities are taking the various complaints in this saga quite seriously, since Godhwani has been stopped from leaving the country and apparently is being questioned.

It'll be interesting to see how all this unfolds. An Economic Times video about Godhwani's detainment describes this as a "Bollywood potboiler" involving a spiritual guru, among others.

For sure.

More details surface about financial fraud involving RSSB guru

I readily admit that it's difficult to keep track of the complex web of  financial wrongdoing that ended up with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rupees being funneled into the pockets of Gurinder Singh Dhillon (guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas), his family, and close associates.

But those interested in this Bollywood'ish saga  -- filled with tales of greed, a gurudom up for sale, death threats, family bickering, and much more besides -- will want to read a Bloomberg Quint story someone emailed me today.
Download Bloomberg Quint Story

The story provides more details  about the complaint filed by executives of Religare against the Singh brothers,  Malvinder and Shivinder, who are cousins of the RSSB guru.

Also, against  Sunil Godhwani, the guru's close associate, who was installed as head of Religare by Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- after which Godhwani orchestrated massive financial fraud that enriched the guy who put him in charge, Dhillon.

Here's a screenshot of part of the Bloomberg story that echoes what I've pointed out in other posts.  Religare is seeking an investigation into where the money they lost went, with the goal of getting the money back. 

Since it appears that the Dhillon family got most of the money, but lost it in bad real estate deals, it sure seems like there will be more twists and turns in this saga.

Anyone who considers that all this is just a simple tale of the Singh brothers making loans to a relative, who has failed to pay them back, needs to read the Bloomberg Quint story.
Download Bloomberg Quint Story

It restates what already was discovered by investigators in India: the money that was funneled into shell companies controlled at the time by Dhillon family members and their associates resulted from highly suspicious, and likely illegal, accounting tricks.

Below is a screenshot of part of the criminal complaint filed against Gurinder Singh Dhillon, Godhwani, and others by Malvinder Singh. It mentions Religare Finvest, which is the centerpiece of the Bloomberg Quint story. Keep in mind that Godhwani was in charge of finances at Radha Soami Satsang Beas before the guru made him a Religare executive.

And here's a Business Today graphic that illustrates some of the money flows into the Dhillon family pockets.

 

Devotion to RSSB guru is less important than seeking truth of his wrongdoing

So if a religious leader you're devoted to is acting illegally, or at least unethically, should you pretend that behavior doesn't exist?  No, of course not. 

Seeking truth is much more important than religious loyalty. Bad things happen when True Believers turn a blind eye to wrongdoing by supposedly "spiritual" leaders. 

Child abuse by Catholic priests is a notable example. So is Jonestown, where devotees died by drinking poisoned kool-aid, their devotion to a crazed leader was so extreme. And there's plenty of examples of gurus acting badly in India, yet sometimes their followers riot after they've been convicted of serious crimes.

On this blog I've been reporting regularly on massive financial fraud involving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- who has been accused in a criminal complaint of conspiring to commit fraud and making death threats.

Yet devotees of the guru are amazingly adept at ignoring those facts. They consider that he can do wrong, so obviously he must be innocent of wrongdoing. 

That sort of circular argument is laughable. However, the dangers of religious fanaticism aren't funny. History teaches us that.

Below are two recent comments by Spence Tepper on posts I've written. Tepper is a good example of a spiritual seeker who is also committed to recognizing wrongdoing by the RSSB guru. 

His first paragraph below is ironic, by the way. Tepper is illustrating the head-in-the-sand mentality of many Radha Soami Satsang Beas initiates, who are known as "satsangis." "Baba Ji" refers to Gurinder  Singh Dhillon.

Here's the first comment.

Hi Dungeness, every Satsangi sincerely interested in rising above attachment, and living for spirituality, must now tell themselves they don't really know what happened, that Baba Ji is a mystery.

Whatever you think of Baba Ji, stuff is going on with fraud on an international scale. And he and his family were recipients of most of those fraudulent loans.

The fact that you believe you don't have enough information to conclude he was involved in stuff no Satsangi should go near is very sad.

Truth invites inspection.

Baba Ji has a duty to model for us how to live. And that never includes privileges afforded to the rich, powerful and 'perfect'.

Yet today, in order to defend Baba Ji, Satsangis must every day make excuses to themselves, with justifications for why he would be the central recipient of fraudulent monies year after year, and why he 'doesn't need to repay, since he's god and it all belongs to him anyway.'

Too close to the excuses Christians in Germany gave to Hitler, and to themselves for turning a blind eye.

The Lord comes as one of us, to our level. They act as though they are responsible for their children, and not the other way around.

What you and others are doing is demonstrating why religion rarely leads the way and often becomes an obstacle that allows harm to innocent people, even exploitation of them.

I'm afraid Dungeness you have no idea of the harm that is actually being done even now.

But when do the disciples of a fake Guru figure it out?

Almost always they are the last, after so much damage has been done.

Baba Ji, pay your bills.

And here's the second comment.

Ahimsa, there are few if any conspiracy theories here.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ruled that fraud and falsification had been committed by the Singh brothers, both Malvinder and Shivinder, in their efforts to provide loans largely to the Dhillon family and other RSSB associates.

The new Religare board also conducted their own audits and went further in their EOW to the Delhi police and the court, stating that their information proved the recipients of the loans knew and participated in fraud.

The unpaid loans at Fortis threw that healthcare company into financial distress leading to efforts to gain a buyer.

Further, it is a matter of legal court documented testimony that RSSB transferred a new 200 bed charitable hospital mid-construction to Fortis.

If the Dhillon family would simply pay their debts, that would be a step towards living up to the vows.

It is not unusual for Gurus and others, charismatic and loved by many, to have human failings and flawed character.

But it is also the case that this is psychologically near impossible for their loving followers to consider.

And that is understandable.

However, from a psychological and spiritual perspective, the excuses we make for the Guru do not help them in the least. They are actually excuses for our own weaknesses and nothing more.

We only enable our own addictions and shortcomings making claims of spiritual perfection for others when we are unqualified to make such assertions, nor would a true teacher of the highest truth ever allow such claims.

And the reason is simple. The Truth is greater than any individual personality, and should be regarded above any individual.

A person merged in that truth is not magnified, but perfectly humbled, law abiding in every sense, and near invisible socially.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru who accepts fraudulently-obtained money and makes death threats

Fortis seeking money that ended up with the Dhillon family

It's been a while since the Indian financial press has reported on the financial fraud saga involving the Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder, along with their cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, whose family reportedly ended up with  close to a billion dollars worth of ill-gotten rupees.

But recently someone emailed me a link to a LiveMint story,  "Fortis plans moving court to recover ₹403 cr from Singh brothers and promoters."
Download Fortis plans moving court to recover ₹403 cr from Singh brothers and promoters

Here's how the story starts out:

Fortis healthcare Ltd is likely to approach the Delhi High court seeking to recover ₹403 crore, which was allegedly siphoned off from Fortis by its former promoters, two people aware of the matter said.

The move follows an order dated 17 October by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that directed Fortis to take necessary action to recover ₹403 crore along with due interest from the former promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, and various promoter companies within 90 days. With the deadline being missed, Fortis is likely to approach the court in an ongoing case by Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Inc.

Daiichi had moved the high court here seeking direction to the brothers to take steps towards paying its ₹3,500 crore arbitration award, including depositing the amount. It had also urged the court to attach their assets, which may be used to recover the award.

In its plea, Fortis is likely to urge the court that if any direction related to payment of the award is taken, Fortis funds and the Sebi order should be kept in mind. The case is likely to be taken up on May 10.

The amount Fortis is seeking, 403 crore rupees, is about $58 million.

That's how much SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, had determined was siphoned off into shell companies, some of which (maybe all) were controlled at the time by members of the Dhillon family and close associates. These excerpts from the story should worry Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family.

Apart from the brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, the Sebi order named RHC holdings, Shivi Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Malav Holdings Pvt Ltd, Religare Finvest Ltd, Best Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, Fern healthcare Pvt. Ltd and Modland Wears Pvt. Ltd. 

...In its 13 February petition, Fortis asked the regulator to invoke the law under which a person can be arrested and held in prison. Under the same provision, properties can be attached from defaulted entities, including bank accounts of their heirs, successors, legal representatives to the extent of the full loan accounts and interest thereupon.

Now, I'm not sure what "entities" refers to. Is it the shell companies alone, or is it also the people who were the recipients of the money that was fraudulently diverted to the shell companies?

This graphic from a February LiveMint story, "Fortis fraud may exceed ₹2,000 crore, says SFIO," illustrates the situation.

Note that three of the Fortis companies named in the SEBI order are shown as having funneled money into the pockets of the Dhillon family. So it will be interesting to see whether the companies have the $58 million being sought by Fortis, or whether that money needs to be recovered from the Dhillon family if Fortis is to be paid.

A Money Control story was brought to my attention, "Digging Deeper: the Singh brothers and the saga of Fortis." It doesn't have any new information, so far as I could tell, but rather is an overview of previous stories about this subject.
Download Digging Deeper: The Singh brothers and the saga of Fortis

Here's excerpts where the RSSB guru and his family are mentioned. If you get confused, don't worry. This is a highly complex financial fraud saga with many moving parts and numerous  actors.

Quartz, in early 2019 carried a piece about one of the many feuds the two brothers were embroiled in where the elder of the duo, Malvinder Singh, reportedly filed a criminal complaint against brother Shivinder, with whom he once, yes, as we all know, ran the pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy Laboratories.

The piece spoke among other things about the complaint registered with the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police where Malvinder claimed that Shivinder, Gurinder Singh Dhillon—the spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang—and others committed financial fraud and sent him death threats. He also sought Rs8,742 crore ($1.2 billion) as compensation.

The complaint also claimed that Shivinder had manipulated finances because he aspired to the status of a spiritual head within Dhillon’s organisation.

...The unexpected thread in this story is that nearly Rs 2,700 crore from the Ranbaxy proceeds have been allegedly routed to entities owned by Gurinder Singh Dhillon's family. Dhillon is the spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas and the money was routed allegedly to companies associated with senior Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) functionaries over three years. Of that, Rs 2,000 crore was invested in two firms, Prius Real Estate and Prius Commercial Projects.

Separately, says the piece, Rs 1,750 crore wad 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.

We quote, "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."

...In February 2019, Malvinder, narrates the piece, filed  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.

...In his 2018 statement and the NCLT filing, Shivinder said he took “public retirement” in 2015 to serve in spiritual organisation Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) and that, until October 2017, he was “not involved in the strategic operations” of companies like Religare or RHC.

Yet,  says Prabha, it is Shivinder’s involvement with RSSB that Malvinder alleges is the main cause of the depletion of the Singhs’ wealth.

Shabnam Dhillon, Gurinder Singh Dhillon’s (the 'Baba') 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.

We quote, "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”. In October last, Daiichi rushed to the Delhi High Court asking it to attach properties of several companies currently not a party to its ongoing case against the Singhs. Its lawyers alleged in court that the siblings, via companies controlled by them, were routing funds to downstream companies that further used the funds to settle debts of land-owning companies. Over Rs 2,500 crore was diverted this way, they alleged.

...In a Live Mint piece, former minister Kapil Sibal said something interesting and we quote, "Their nearly ₹6,300 crore has been siphoned off by some 'baba'. These children have been duped.''

However as multiple news sources have implied, there was nothing innocent about any of the players.

...As Forbes' Megha Bahree reported, the ongoing sibling slugfest between Malvinder and Shivinder Singh has returned yet again with a new round of allegations.

We quote, "Malvinder Singh, former chairman and managing director of Fortis Healthcare, has filed a criminal complaint against Shivinder, among others, alleging they had made death threats and committed fraud. Apart from his younger brother, Malvinder has leveled his accusations at Gurinder Singh Dhillion, a spiritual guru they follow, and a few of his family members as well as the former chairman of Religare Enterprises, Sunil Godhwani.

In the complaint, Dhillon stands accused of threatening to kill Malvinder if he failed to agree to his demands, as per the news report. It was not clear exactly what those demands were. This is the first time that Malvinder has publicly accused the family's spiritual guru of impropriety. The rift between the brothers became public when Shivinder formally disassociated himself from his brother who he blamed, along with Godhwani, for problems at the group."

Hard to remember, isn't it that the brothers once helmed a fortune once valued in excess of $2 billion and could have built the kind of  legacy that the founders had envisaged when they first founded a small but ambitious company.

Faqir Chand believed in removing people from church

Faqir Chand is my kind of guru.

Though he started off with traditional ideas of what being a guru was all about, Chand came to realize that the mystical powers devotees attribute to gurus are merely manifestations of their own mind.

And as you can read below, Faqir Chand favored removing people from church, rather than bringing people into a church. Exactly how I feel! Churchlessness is the way to go.

This is my third post about Chand's philosophy, the previous posts being here and here. 

I've been focusing on Faqir Chand recently because I know that quite a few visitors to this blog are interested in the "guru game."  I stopped playing it about 15 years ago, but I realize how alluring it can be, and how difficult to give up.

Chand is sort of like a halfway house for those addicted to guru devotion. His teachings contain both some praise for gurus and also a lot of criticism.

In my current churchless frame of mind, I don't need any convincing that supernatural visions and mystical powers don't exist, being the product of delusions, illusions, or outright fraud. However, in my true believing days I would have benefitted from Chand's philosophy, since he ended up as a guru who exposed how gurus deceive devotees. 

I much appreciate the numerous comments David Lane has been leaving on my blog posts about Faqir Chand, since he is an expert on Chand. Other people who have a stake in the guru game have written some comments about Chand that are untrue, so I'm glad Lane has been correcting the Chand'ian record.

Here's some comments from David Lane that I found especially interesting. I've boldfaced portions that struck me as deserving of emphasis. 

Several years ago we had long discussions on Faqir Chand on RS [Radha Soami] studies and what he taught. I have long tended to favor the later Faqir writings and his most iconoclastic views, especially when he pointed out how little we actually know.

However, MBW and others pointed out that a close reading of Faqir shows he had a multi-leveled approach. Where for those in the beginning stages would indeed do dhyan, simran, and bhajan, and even have deep devotional feelings towards their chosen Istha-deva/guru.

But after this was achieved, Faqir would then stress realizing that the whole game was a projection of one's own mind and that we should let it go. I know this from personal experience as Faqir knew when he first met me that I was attached to Charan Singh and was in a very devotional frame of mind.

He then predicted the following (direct quote from the book published by Manavta Mandir called The Master Speaks to the Foreigners):

"There are two schools of thought. The aim of one school is to bring people into its circle. They bring people into their church. But I remove the people from the church also. To be in a Church is a blessing but to die in a Church is a curse. You cannot understand my views as yet, because you have to do a lot of work in your worldly life as yet. The present devotional ideas which you have now, will change after some years and then in the old age you will come to this line. This is my prophecy about you."

I think, of course, Faqir was right.

One begins to see through the "dogma" of RS and realize that much of what we believe is our own projection, our own desires. We think at first the guru is perfect or all knowing. Later, we mature a bit and see the humanness of it all. Which I think is a healthy and altogether wise thing to realize.

Now, at one end of Faqir's writings there is the advocacy of more typical Sant related ideas and then at the other, more radical end, there is a realization to go beyond it. This one can see in Faqir's classic HANGING ON THE GALLOWS metaphor:

"So, when did I realize the element? Since I have come to understand that I do not go anywhere. So, who goes in their inner visions? It’s their own mind, their own faith. So what do I do now? Because I was searching for my final abode or source, I leave the mind. When I go within and meditate, I leave the shapes, forms and colors. There is no form of the guru, no shape, nothing else. Only light and sound remain.

The entity that is inside me listens to the sound within and sees the light, that entity is something else entirely. The sound is something else. The light is something else. You listen to the sound within – you are separate from the sound. You see sun or moon inside, see light within. Light is separate from the one witnessing the light. When I search for that entity or witness, I CEASE TO EXIST."

Now, it should be acknowledged that Faqir was also quite traditional in some ways, especially on his views relating to sex. I have a couple of great stories relating to this that I should share one day. I will say this, however. Only someone like Faqir would say in open satsang at the age of 89 or so that the night before he had a "wet" dream and said that even at his age such things happened.

I can well imagine how the sangat "heard" that one! It was Faqir's transparency on his humanness that makes him so valuable, not whether he was enlightened or not (since that it is a theological question and open to endless debate).

In my conversations with Darshan Singh, for instance, I noticed he told me things in private that he would most likely NEVER say in public. So I am not in the least surprised that these gurus (from Charan to Kirpal to Darshan to whatever) would confess honestly about not knowing of their respective appearances.

We even have Charan on record saying he was unaware of appearing to a woman in her prayers. Sawan in Spiritual Gems saying something similar as well. Faqir's point is an obvious one and we have overwhelming proof that these gurus know much less than is advertised.

No need to mention a current guru losing 700 million dollars (jk)! I think of Faqir as an existential guru. As Faqir said near the end, "In the process of evolution, I appeared or manifested. Similarly, you also appeared. I did not exist before, and I won’t exist again."

Or, more poetically, "In that place there is no happiness or unhappiness, no truth or untruth, neither sin nor virtue. There is no day or night, no moon or sun, There is Radiance without Light." P.S. if you wish to understand the "humanity" of Faqir, his last letter from the hospital before he died is remarkable for its utmost honesty..... will post that later.

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

Dear Dogribb, Faqir even criticized his own guru as not being as forthcoming as he should. While Faqir acknowledges that there are various levels of instructions, the most radical part of Faqir is when he wishes to question why these gurus were not as forthcoming as they should be. Here is a quote from a 1980 satsang in London,

"Today’s gurus – they don’t tell us anything. They keep repeating – Shabad, Shabad, Shabad, Guru, Guru, Guru. Look at the lives of Gurus. Nirankari guru died and gave his throne to his son. The Beas ones put their grandson on the throne. Hansa established his son as a successor. In this world, may Paramatma or supreme lord save us from these gurus. These gurus have fooled us and looted us. They did not tell the truth."

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

Since Ishwar Puri is fond of making stuff up about Faqir Chand that is completely not true, I think it is important to set the record straight.

(1) Faqir Chand did not appoint anyone of his family as successors. Instead he appointed several of his disciples to carry on his teaching, including Dr. I.C. Sharma (whom I have met on several occasions), Yogini Mataji (Tripta Devi), and Bhagat Munshi Ram.

(2) As for Faqir's son, Faqir told Mark Juergensmeyer this: "My own son is well placed. He draws about Rupees 2500 per month. He is a big metallurgist, Russia returned." He never worked as a guru. Ishwar simply made that story up.

(3) As for Yogini Mataji, she refused to continue being a guru and wouldn't initiate anyone and went into relative seclusion. Here is the only movie I know that has film of her....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NYQXjIRBfs

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

What may look like a miracle (and I am sure it seems like such to the person who has such experiences) is, according to Faqir, isn't due to any guru as such, but rather the intense faith and devotion which (using Faqir's own words) becomes "creative" and produces the desired effect.

Faqir gives a number of quotes relating to this. Here is just one:

"The individual worships, adores and makes offerings to some living guru, image, god, or goddess according to his own faith, belief and devotion; in return he gets the fruit of his own devotion and faith. The guru, of the worshipped, gets credit and involves himself in the false prestige and fame. While the worshipper achieves his end, or motive due to his own faith and belief. In fact, the guru or the worshipped does nothing to fulfill the desires of the devotee; it is all the faith of the latter."

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

I don't think visions of Faqir or related incidents are miracles at all. Rather, they are merely projections by various individuals who then ATTRIBUTE such things to Faqir or to other gurus. The mind is a great conjurer and it is us (usually after the fact) that then attribute this or that apparition to one guru or another.

A good example of how this works is provided by Faqir Chand himself, where to his great credit he tries to see if he could come up with a rational explanation for why he had a vision of his guru Shiv Brat Lal before ever meeting him and even then getting the "correct" address of his ashram.

Here is Faqir's narrative:

"In the meantime I got a permanent job in the Indian railways and was posted as Assistant Station Master at Baganwala. But my craving to see the Lord did not diminish; rather, during this time it reached its peak. Once I wept for twenty-four hours continuously for a glimpse of the Lord. Doctors were called in. They administered medicine to me. At about five o'clock in the morning I saw in a vision the form of Maharishi Shiv Brat Lal. He drew water from a nearby well and helped me take a bath, and then told me his address in Lahore."

Now on the surface that seems somewhat remarkable given that Faqir consciously wasn't aware of Shiv Brat Lal (he was then a relatively obscure guru) and got his address correct.

But later Faqir reasoned that because Shiv Brat Lal was a prolific writer, then he may have come across one of his writings or magazines and in so doing got a picture of what he looked like and also the address which was listed in one of those writings.

These two things (picture of Shiv Brat Lal and the address)--though not consciously remembered--manifested in his dream-vision and Faqir took that as a wondrous sign. Faqir deflated the miracle.

I suggest that what seems paranormal looks less paranormal the more information we get about what really happened. I know from my own life that this is true, since I have written extensively about how my own Teaching Assistant, Michelle Lopez, had a vision of Charan Singh dying almost exactly at the time he died.

It is a remarkable story, no doubt, but one that I believe can be explained rationally without having to invoke miracles and the like.

I also got a chance to go through much of Faqir's correspondence which he shared with me back in 1978 where there were many letters about him appearing to so and so and how it was amazing. Faqir would at each turn tell me that he knew nothing about it.

Thus, these stories about Faqir are not miracles, though the disciples may believe such. They are what the mind can produce under stressful circumstances.

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

Dear S, Concerning Charan Singh and not knowing about him "appearing" to a woman in her prayers. It is an interesting story. Here is what happened.

Back in 1984 I published a two part article entitled "The Enchanted Land" for FATE Magazine. It described my visit with several shabd yoga gurus, including Charan Singh, Partap Singh (Tarn Taran), Yogini Mataji (Tripta Devi), Faqir Chand, etc.

Well, the chief editor of FATE magazine wrote me an urgent letter and said that a Catholic woman from Oklahoma was trying to [get] in contact with me. They asked for my permission for her to call me. I said yes, not knowing exactly what all the fuss was about.

It turns out this woman, who was deeply Catholic, was praying one morning when she had an unexpected vision of a spiritual being with a turban and a long beard who told her that she would learn more about him the next day. She then reads the current issue of FATE magazine (I think she looked through it at the magazine store) and in it she saw a picture of Charan Singh that was embedded in my article.

She was wonderstruck since she claimed that it was the same person she had a vision of in her prayers. She wanted to talk to me about it so we had a long chat on the phone. She knew absolutely nothing about Radhasoami or Sant Mat or even eastern philosophy.

I wasn't sure what to make of it (being skeptical by nature), so I suggested she write Charan Singh directly about it and see what he said concerning it. She did and Charan wrote a 4 page letter back to her (a bit unusual, given that his letters were not more than a page or two).

She then contacted me and we went over the letter line by line. In that letter and in no uncertain terms Charan explained that he was UNAWARE of appearing to her or to others who claimed such things. He suggested that it was a product of her own mind and he had nothing to do with it. Hope this helps.

Faqir Chand

More straight talk from Faqir Chand about inner visions

Here's a follow-up to yesterday's post, "Faqir Chand was a guru who exposed how gurus deceive devotees." That post stimulated some comments in which questions about Chand were raised.

Pleasingly, David Lane responded with some highly informative comments.

Lane is responsible for a book about Chand's life and philosophy, after asking the guru if he would write his story before he left this world.  So Lane is deeply knowledgeable about all things Chand'ian.

Lane's comments are shared below.

Naturally they will be of most interest to those interested in the Indian spiritual paths of Sant Mat and surat shabd yoga. But since Faqir Chand doubted the validity of inner visions, which figure prominently in traditional Sant Mat, Chand's views on this subject are of general spiritual interest also.

Here's the first comment from David Lane. I've corrected a few typos in the comments.

Dear Spence, you write the following: "Further, he was pressed to assume the role of true Master when he knew he hadn't attained that. But as his teacher assigned it, he had no other choice but to accept it. From that he presumed the other gurus hadn't attained anything either"

Actually, this is not what transpired.

Rather, Faqir talked directly with Charan, Kirpal, and many other shabd yoga gurus and asked them in private whether they too were "unaware" of their appearances to their respective disciples.

Each of them also acknowledged that they did NOT know. It was from such experiences that Faqir formed a larger hypothesis.

But even here, to Faqir's great credit, he asked other gurus to correct him if he was wrong. But they never did on this point. Here is a direct quote from the Essence of Truth by Faqir on this point:

"Sh. Jagan Nath is present here. He offered me Rs 403/- for the Manavta Mandir. He told that I awakened him at 1:30 A.M a day before. But I did not go to awake him nor do I know any things about it. Possibly, other mahatmas and Gurus might have the knowledge of such instances of manifestations of their forms. At least I remain unaware. Many of the present Gurus have admitted before me that they remain unaware about such instance."

You also write, "his projection on what other people have experienced is also just his projection."

This is not entirely accurate since Faqir sought out what other gurus had experienced and it was from their own confessions to him in private and elsewhere that Faqir formed a more general view. In addition, even to the very end of his life Faqir pointed out that he could be wrong and welcomed others to correct him.

It was a very refreshing quality of his.

A few little tidbits that are not widely known:

1. After Faqir was appointed by Shiv Brat Lal to be his successor and a guru, he went to Sawan Singh since he didn't feel right about doing it, since he would speak the truth about what he knew. Sawan Singh then garlanded him and backed him in his ministry. However, after 1942 Faqir stopped initiating anyone and instead gave satsangs about his realizations.

2. In the 1940s Faqir even gave satsangs at the Dera when Sawan was alive.

3. Jagat Singh and Faqir Chand were friends. Faqir also knew Charan and Charan would visit Faqir whenever he came to Hoshiarpur.

4. Faqir refused to live at his own ashram since he didn't feel it was right for him to get free room and board. Instead he lived a number of blocks away and would take a bicycle rickshaw to the ashram in the morning.

5. One time when Faqir was sick and had to stay over at his own ashram, he paid for his stay.

Faqir Chand was so forthcoming and so disarmingly honest that it would make even his closest followers uncomfortable.

Hope this helps a bit.

And here's the second comment from David Lane.

Dear Brian, thanks for blogging about Faqir Chand. He is a very interesting subject.

Before I go on, I think it is important to realize that all these gurus (of whatever stripe) are human beings, with all the different quirks and distinctive personality traits that go with it.

Having met lots of shabd yoga gurus during the past forty years, I found Faqir Chand unique.

You could ask him any question and he would never shy away from it. Moreover, Faqir (to his great credit) consistently said that he could be wrong and that his point of view was not final. That was entirely refreshing to me.

I say this because one can see a progressive quality in Faqir's writings from the earlier days to near his death.

So here are some answers to the questions that both Spence and Brian posed:

1. First, Faqir came to believe that all the inner regions were ultimately illusory and that even the inner sounds were illusory. As Faqir said in London in 1980:

"Like I said yesterday, I have realized that all these stages of Sahasraradala Kamal, Trikuti, Sunn, Maha-sunn are the play of this mind. Visions are based on the thoughts one keeps. This play of whatever one sees within (i.e. visions) is based on samskaras (impressions and suggestions). They are not the same for everyone. Visions or images vary from person to person."

2. Faqir was appointed a guru by Shiv Brat Lal some 21 years before his guru's death. As he himself confessed:

"Hazur Data Dayal Ji called me in his room. I was already waiting for the moment. I went inside. Lo! His Holiness with a strange blend of affection placed in my hands one coconut, five [coins], made a frontal mark on my forehead and bowed himself to my feet saying, 

'Faqir, you are yourself the Supreme Master of your time. Start delivering spiritual discourses to the seekers and initiate them into the path of Sant Mat. In due course of time, your own satsangis will prove to be your True Guru,' and it is through your experiences with them that the desired secret of Sant Mat will be revealed to you.'

Touched by these words, I experienced both joy and sorrow within me. Hazur noted both expressions on my face and asked for clarification.

I humbly said, 'Your Holiness, I am myself ignorant of the Truth, how can I lead others on this sublime path? And when the thought that I have become a degree holder and would deliver discourses and initiate people flashed within my mind, I felt that I had become something and thus a spark of joy.'

Hazur then said, "Faqir, you may be suffering from ninety-nine shortcomings, but one sure virtue of Truth which is within you will lead you to your goal in life. You will not only redeem yourself but will help many others to attain release."

In 1981, Faqir said,

"Further R. S. Dayal writes that he heard the conch-shell sound and the omkar vibration inside. I have explained in a book why a meditator hears inside him sounds of bell, conch, omkar, flute and sitar. All these are manifestations of the mental plane.

Since this knowledge came to me, I ceased to be caught up in the whirlpool of the mind and transcended it. Now, I took upon all these manifestations as mere maya. Therefore, now, even if I try to catch these sounds, I do not get them, because their value, as something real, has vanished for me who has transcended the mind."

3. Faqir stopped initiating anyone formally after 1942, but he continued to give satsang and tried to argue that we should go beyond the mind, even beyond light and sound, and find the source from which all this appears.

Faqir explained his own way of speaking:

"I believe that the intensified faith of these devout persons becomes creative and produces these results. Many so-called gurus misappropriate the credit for similar happenings, which take place in their disciples, whose own true faith should be held responsible for those results.

By the lack of moral, courage and honesty on the part of pseudo-gurus, credulous disciples are kept in the dark and fleeced under fake pretenses.

I alert the faithful but simple minded satsangis, to beware of such sneaks and their false claims. I had been commanded by my Gurudev [Shiv Brat Lal] to introduce plain speaking into religion, so I am duty bound to proclaim the truth behind these miracles, and to save the simpletons from exploitation.

If I do not reveal the truth, I can, by keeping satsangis in the dark, extract from them large sums of money by claiming fake credit, for the miracles that no doubt do happen."

Brian is correct to ascertain that Faqir argued for something beyond light and sound, and in this way dovetailed with the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

He called it hanging on the gallows.

Here is a quote:

"What conclusion did I reach? When I found out that I do not manifest or appear within anybody, then I also leave the mind (and all its appearances). Then remains light and sound. Every two or three months or sometimes every three days, when I go and search for that entity that listens to the sound, then my being disappears.

What remains? Nothing.

Now I think to myself – if I have become something by reaching that place, if I can do something, then I should be able to remove all the problems that the world is facing right now.

If they could, the ancestors from the past would have removed their problems or difficulties. Baba Sawan Singh would have removed his troubles. Swamiji would have alleviated his disease. Kabir had kidney problems for ten years in the old age.

So what did I understand? What is my realization of this supreme element (Tatva)?

I am a bubble of the supermost consciousness. In the process of evolution, I appeared or manifested. Similarly, you also appeared. I did not exist before, and I won’t exist again. Only one element will remain from which this bubble came into existence.

That element is Sound. It’s name is Naam.

That Naam is not the sound of bells or conch. It’s not the sound of Veena. It is the principle sound (Saar Shabad). This is what the bani of saints mentions – Saar Shabad.

So after reaching this, what happened to me? What did I gain? I found peace. What did I gain at this age of ninety-four? Peace."

Will write more tonight..... particularly in response to Jay (hi Jay, always good to read your ideas!).

Faqir Chand