Yesterday on my Salem Political Snark blog I wrote “Chernobyl is a HBO miniseries with a lot to say about truth in these Trumpian times.” After noting that authoritarian regimes despise truth-telling, I ended the post with:
Soviet authorities were fine with blaming the people in charge of operating the nuclear plant. But they did all they could to hide the fact of a serious design flaw in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that led to a manageable problem turning into a major disaster. Admitting the existence of the flaw would undermine confidence in the supposedly infallible Soviet system.
In the HBO miniseries, Valery Legasov, a nuclear scientist brought in to aid clean-up efforts, ends up caring more about the truth than preserving his career as the director of the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leader in the research and development of nuclear energy. Near the end of Chernobyl, inspiring words from Legasov appear in a voiceover.
I just wish incessant liar Donald Trump and his Republican cronies would take them to heart.
“To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused in our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants, it doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: What is the cost of lies?”
The cost is high. Just ask those harmed by the lies of politicians like Donald Trump, or the lies of religious organizations like Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) — a faith based in India that I belonged to for 35 years until I decided that pursuing truth was more important than pursuing supernatural fantasies.
I and others who have left the organization for greener pastures of truth often are criticized for taking the easy way out and not persisting with the several hours of meditation each day required of RSSB initiates. Aside from the fact that most initiates don’t meditate nearly that long, if at all, I’d argue that actually the easiest thing is to belong to a religious group that has a “It’s my way or the highway” attitude, which is exactly what the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, has been fond of saying.
Finding truth almost always requires an adversarial, or at least skeptical, approach. Religions abhor this. They are almost always highly hierarchical, with power and control flowing from the top down, not from the bottom up. The RSSB guru, being viewed as God in Human Form, is the supreme leader of the organization, way more so than the leader of Iran, who also has that title.
When there is no way to challenge the statements of the person in charge of a religious organization, lies have to be accepted as fact by its members. Or they won’t be welcome in the organization. By “lies,” I mean not only obvious falsehoods but also statements that are put forward as facts without any demonstrable evidence.
The guru is the son of God. The guru is all-knowing. The guru accompanies his initiates to higher supernatural realms of reality. These claims are a central part of the RSSB teachings, yet they are to be accepted on faith rather than on evidence. If a member of RSSB expresses skepticism about these and other RSSB theological assertions, likely they will be criticized as a heretic, a quitter, a spiritual failure.
Problem is, skepticism and adversarial debate is the hallmark of finding truth. This is how the legal system works. A criminal trial involves a prosecutor and defense attorney arguing their side of a case, using facts and the law in an attempt to sway the jury to support either a guilty or not guilty verdict. A show trial, which was common in the Soviet Union as shown in the Chernobyl miniseries, and is still common in modern day Russia, has the verdict decided in advance.
Just like almost every religious organization. If someone asks for proof that the tenets of a religion are true, they will (figuratively) be laughed out of court.
What’s strange, and hypocritical, is that RSSB often refers to itself as the Science of the Soul. That’s absurd. Science is dedicated to open debate and discussion of claimed findings of fact. Journal articles are peer-reviewed before publication to make sure they pass scientific standards. Research should be described in enough detail to allow others to attempt to replicate the findings. Skepticism about a new discovery is welcomed, not discouraged.
Sure, science frequently gets things wrong. That’s a strength of science, not a weakness. It shows the scientific method is working. The greatest insult a scientist can offer is calling something “not even wrong.”
“Not even wrong” is a phrase used to describe pseudoscience or bad science. It describes an argument or explanation that purports to be scientific but uses faulty reasoning or speculative premises, which can be neither affirmed nor denied and thus cannot be discussed rigorously and scientifically.
Sounds just like the supernatural tenets of religion. They can’t be proven either right or wrong, because they aren’t even potential truths, just fantastical lies.
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I have also left Rssb in 2025 when Gurinder singh made the next heir of the Dera – Jasdeep singh Gill because in Sikhism 10 gurus came and each fulfilled their duties till the last breath without having a 2nd guru by their side and in Radha Soami history also no one made a parallel guru and have placed two chairs on the stage.
It’s just a stupid thing that Gurinder Singh Dhillon did but I think Gill is aware of their scams because he worked in Ranbaxy when their money scams are going on and maybe he wants to become the next guru. Dhillon has no other option to just appoint him beside him .
And one more thing I don’t understand why they start growing their beards only when they are selected to become the next guru. Does their spirituality only kicks in when they are presented to the world why they don’t follow this Spiritual attire right from their teenage years why didn’t they think of growing the beards and hairs. Same scenario was with Gurinder Singh same case was with Jagat Singh and Charan Singh . I think they have to wear a special costume so that they can fool the innocent sangat by making their look more like a saint .
My decision to leave RSSB was hailed Good by my relatives when the news came out of Dhillon visiting the jail and declaring the convicted JAILED political person innocent in front of the media and that too without any court hearing and evidence. This has affected the politics of punjab because dhillon’s sangat started targeting the current CHIEF MINISTER as bad and on the other hand the jailed political person been tagged as a Good person . One of the person from sangat is commenting that “” IF OUR GURU HAD STATED THAT HE IS INNOCENT THEN HE IS INNOCENT EVEN IN JAIL “”
and the very next day he got bail from the jail. From 2007 to 2017 the government worked with Dera and made its relations with dhillon during this period the drugs racket was running rampantly in punjab one of the international drug mastermind when caught and produce before the court stated that Bikram Singh MAJITHIA now relative of Dhillon is majorly involved in drug racket and now Dhillon gave him clean chit and he will now again run for the elections from his seat. I feel pity for the sangat that is blindly following these so called Corporates Babas and don’t even question them.
In beas the Friday and Saturday questions and answer session has turned into a comedy show where all the unnecessary talks will be done
Jokes on Wife’s, jokes on movies jokes on appearances all the vague questions and ultra vague answers
Last Friday someone asked my in laws are very bad I’m thinking of divorce and dhillon answered : That this is kalyug the next family you will go into will be even more bad so try to adjust into the current family only .
Why he is promoting negative aspects world is full of good people too why are you making her scared and changing his mind.
There is no spiritual question that is asked in these questionnaires now it’s all a drama now people go there for vacations and picnics and cheap food and for clean environment these 3 are the main reasons why every Sunday lakhs of people attend the satsang.
One more thing the mediation practise that they give to the people is completely their own origin which is originated from shiv dayal from Agra.
They say that meditate on the face of Guru and guru will help you reach the ultimate God but if you will read the scriptures of Hindus and Sikhs it is said that this body is Maya and whoever will meditate on the Maya cannot attain the ultimate God. Because this body will be either buried or burnt into ashes here only. The only thing that will go is the soul and the soul is invisible to the eye. So if we are meditating on the faces or anything that has a shape, colour, caste, body then we are simply meditating on the maya ( illusion)
And the 5 words that are given are picked up from different sects at that time
Jot niranjan = 2 words picked from Sikhism
Onkar = 1 word picked from Hinduism ( omkar )
Rarankar = 1 word might be from the jogis that were wanderers of mountains again picked from somewhere else
Sohang = 1 word picked from ravidasiya community
Satnam= 1 word again from Sikhism
Actually these are 6 WORDS that are turned mysteriously into 5 words for repetition.
Repeating these 5 words won’t help the soul in any way it’s just a distraction created so that the initiate just can’t able to fulfill the very first level of this meditation that is 2.5 HOURS sitting repeating these names until he/she will get tired and eventually fall asleep and also no one is allowed to discuss the meditation journey with anybody else because the guru had told to not ask or tell anybody about the progress .
There is no progress that is happening.
Last satsang that I have attended in 2024 people were shaking like crazy they are creating problems for their own body. Some of them are to be evacuated out of the pandal on the stretcher no one has any peaceful gain from this meditation. One of my relatives was doing the mediation and screamed like crazy one time . At that moment I thought God will never see their children like this and it’s just a false practise that is turning every body crazy.
Jasdeep gill the new heir of the throne coming every Sunday by reading the same script it’s looks like he has learnt the satsang scripts the night before and performing it infront of the people like a show.
Overall the whole concept is vague they are living the life lavishely with Maybachs ,Private Jets ,Private helicopters , Illegally occupying the river land so that the other side of the people Drown when heavy rains come. And their own children should live comfortably one in London and another in Singapore .
People please become aware they are just wearing the spiritual costumes from outside from inside the are not good people
Amen my friend
Amen
The obvious answer to everyone who follows a religion or religious organisations is to remember that all those who head the religious, spiritual, and numerous guru-led institutions are just people like you and me. They’re not special, not God-ordained, God-realised, or God-appointed, they are just ordinary, normal human beings – except in that many have mental conditions such as delusions of power, sociopathic and even psychopathic tendencies.
It annoys and saddens me to see the wholesale sycophancy many exhibit toward their leaders. A real miracle would be where everyone would realise that they are sufficient in themselves. What if the beliefs, lofty ‘spiritual’ states and levels they are taught to believe and attain are nothing more than normal phenomena that brains with their complexity of neurons, cells and chemistry can manifest.
Our instincts are to protect ourselves, to survive in order to pass on our genes. It seems that humans have taken this protection further to include the illusory, mind-made self-construct (or ego) that invents various beliefs, hopes, and wishes that attempt to tell us we are special and deserve to continue after death in some form or another.
It is pretty obvious that most of our religious beliefs are instilled in us depending on the country and culture we just happen to be born in. A Jewish country produces Jewish children; a Muslim country, Muslim children; a Christian country, Christians – and so on. All indoctrinated when infants are at an age before critical faculties have developed.
And, even where one’s cultural faith is dropped, there often still remains a residue of hope and belief that seeks ‘the truth’ through some other path, often via some charismatic teaching or teacher that tells us they know the truth and we don’t, and if we follow their words, we can attain what they have; as if they are privy to some special knowledge that we ordinary humans lack!
Perhaps the only thing we really need to know, or realise, is that when all our beliefs and assumptions, along with our mental habit of overlaying the reality of just this moment with abstract concepts, are seen, then the reliance on teachers and teachings just drops away.
Yes, Trump lies. But democrats lied too (President Biden is mentally fine and should be next president, the border isn’t open, boys can be girls if they want to, covid requires a police state and spending that jacked “transitory” inflation, we really care about Gaza).
So you see, democrats lied too. That is why democrats lost the election in a landslide. They lied to the public, and they lied to themselves.
And despite all the bad things Trump has done, according to Polymarket, the public STILL doesn’t want a democrat to be the next president! Surely that indicates something about whether the public trusts the veracity of the democrats – – even in the age of Trump gone totally bonkers. Given all of that, it amuses me that you still trot out the trumporn like it’s still 2018.
You take the same approach to religion that you do to politics. You start with the presumption that the world agrees with you 100% when it clearly doesn’t. Or maybe, perhaps more likely, it’s that the world should agree with you. Either way, theism is, in fact, resurging in philosophy and science (see video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx4pDFX_PU4&t=1s
And as for RSSB, you’re not making a strong case there either. “The cost is high. Just ask those harmed by the lies of religious organizations like Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) — ”
Uh, ask what people about what harm from what lies? To whom do you refer? You? In the 20 years of this blog I don’t recall you ever mentioning that RSSB harmed you. If you were a member of RSSB for 35 years, and RSSB harms people, you must have been harmed quite a lot. Why are you keeping mum about the extent and nature of these harms? Surely it’s time to reveal to the world the damage the guru wrought upon you. Or, perhaps you can name people who were harmed by RSSB, and you can objectively detail the harms done. Kidnapping, rape, extortion, slavery, sexual shenanigans, forced marriages?
I’m just kidding, of course, as neither you nor anyone else can cite actual harms done by the RSSB org or any of its gurus to followers of this religion. There’s not one actual event of harm done by RSSB since it was founded over 100 years ago. Literally not one. It’s just a group of people with distinct philosophical ideas. How enraging that must be. People who believe life has a transcendental purpose. How infuriating!
As I’ve written before to the deaf ears (blind eyes?), there are a lot of things to critique in RSSB without making stuff up to amplify one’s message. But of course, the problem with lying is that the amplification is at best short-term, and moreover, when one has to lie to make a point it’s a glaring indication that one didn’t really have all that strong an argument on the basis of actual evidence.
You invariably posit your own views as facts, but call everyone else to question their beliefs as likely untenable. I suggest a bold experiment of someday trying the reverse.
The high IQ Atheist Buster, who posits there has to be God!
https://youtu.be/_yetfDrsFno
“When there is no way to challenge the statements of the person in charge of a religious organization, lies have to be accepted as fact by its members. Or they won’t be welcome in the organization. By “lies,” I mean not only obvious falsehoods but also statements that are put forward as facts without any demonstrable evidence.”
But there is a way to challenge the RSSB org and its guru. Simply stop meditating and going to satsang.
The way you frame your disdain of RSSB is absurd. By “challenge,” what you really mean is that you want to dictate exactly what RSSB teaches, and if they don’t accept your views, it’s somehow unfair.
Either that, or you feel that because you’re now an atheist, RSSB has no right to exist. This is really the true progressive outlook unmasked: Progressives talk endlessly about freedom and truth, but what they’re really about is controlling how others think and live.
I have no doubt but that if you had the power, you’d declare RSSB an illegal organization and forbid its existence, because as a religious organization it tells “lies,” and these “lies” ineleuctably “cause harm” to everyone who joins it. That’s the logical extension of your views on RSSB in this essay. Religious belief is “lies,” lies cause “harm,” therefore, RSSB is nothing but a positive danger to humanity.
One long chant of “from the Beas river to the sea, there should be no RSSB.”
You speak of RSSB as if a gang of the guru’s henchmen shanghaied you and kept you prisoner for 35 years. But you chose RSSB of your own free will. You stayed in RSSB of your own free will. And when you left RSSB, no one came running after you. The guru never laid a curse or fatwah on your head. No one forced you to do anything, to believe anything.
You don’t believe in RSSB anymore, and that’s fine. But lies? Who lied to you?
You were initiated by Charan Singh — do you really think Charan was willfully lying all during his tenure as guru? Come on. Charan didn’t lie to you. None of the RSSB gurus lied to you. They clearly believed in the path. They may have been wrong, but being wrong isn’t the same thing as lying.
I wouldn’t say that religions or other spiritual organisations actually lie; it’s more to do with putting forward beliefs as facts, and in that they are probably sincere, and even feel they are performing a divine purpose.
On the other hand, yes, politicians of all ilk often lie, but Trump is different. He lies continually, and worse, he is blatantly corrupt – and doesn’t seem to mind who knows it. An article in The Guardian newspaper states: “In 2024, the Supreme Court (his appointees) has granted him ‘presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken as part of his executive duties while in office.”
And: “But Trump’s recent deal with the Internal Revenue Service was by far the most flagrant act of corruption yet – perhaps in US presidential history. First, he sued the agency for $10bn for its alleged negligence in guarding his and his companies’ tax returns from being leaked to the press. Then he dropped the suit in return for a $1.776bn slush fund to repay his friends, possibly including the January 6 insurrectionists, for the suffering inflicted by their criminal penalties.”
Corruption is a different ballgame from lying. So, watch out, USA, before Trump turns his government into a regime.
Trump has the IQ of a Harvard Professor!!
https://youtube.com/shorts/4YeAat0-c_s?si=WzkV3JVw2vutYJLY
For the Atheists who think they can convince others of low IQ that God does not exist, here is the Link to the entire interview of the prior Clips I posted above. He has an IQ of 200, so I wouldn’t try to convince him that Gurinder Singh and Hazur Gill are God, ……but he does say that God “expresses” Him Self in each of us, so he does indirectly support RSSB’s teachings.
I only have an IQ of 119, if others here aren’t afraid , or ashamed to compare notes. I was invited by the Founder of a Forum of only high IQ members, called the SWINES forum. The Founder said his IQ was 126, and he was my late friend, Richard Ruquist, Ph.D., a Harvard trained Physicist, who I first met on an another Atheist group, where I was posting Sant Mat and Christian posts, and as can be imagined, was taking heavy assaults from Atheists, of which Richard Ruquist was one. But after I counseled him privately, via Email, for 6 months, he traveled to Bruce, Wisconson from Mass. and was initiated by Dr. Ishwar Puri . Why this back ground is, after Richard invited me to his “Swine’s” forum of Atheists, he introduced me to the group as his “ Spiritual Mentor.”.
The group was a closed group of about 100, which closed after Richard passed away. Only those who were invited by other members were allowed to join, and the guy on the Link was invited quite a few times, but he never joined.
https://youtu.be/9miVG2xT5jY
Having a high lQ is another of life’s fallacies; it does not fully determine intelligence. It measures abilities like logic, reasoning and working memory. It only reveals a narrow slice of being human.
Basically, a high IQ indicates an aptitude for specific types of problem solving. It does not indicate absolute intelligence.
Also. most relevant to this post on religion, Trump and truth telling, it does not measure wisdom common sense, emotional intelligence or rational decision making.
There’s never been any correlation between intelligence and wealth that’s for sure
Gurinder Singh dhillon, the wife murderer, land mafia and drug lord crook of Punjab, in one you tube video clearly says HES NO GOD, (pause and let that sink in) after this he proceeds to say you need to seek the truth.
What he’s saying is that he’s totally fooled all the sangat into believing he is god. This should send massive shock waives to all the Sangat minds, if he’s no god, and not even a perfect saint, then what are they all doing there wasting their lives? What’s more he say seek the truth, implying he’s the lie as only god is the truth.
Gurinder also says he could be the biggest crook on the planet, this is the only truth donkey dhillon has said out his mouth. But ofcourse the brainwashed sangat don’t believe him and give the crook the benefit of the doubt – this is nothing but a sick insane evil relationship of dominance of a narcissist over innocent blind sangat. Gurinder your days are numbered and karma will be served.
He stood there and told them the truth and also said to burn the books. That’s where they get such rubbish about the path from. They believe everything they read. ( Because they want to believe the fantasy of it and the superstition )
Gurinder is on his way to the United States and Texas in July and I don’t know if Goober, Gomer or whatever his name is , is coming with him or exactly who’s coming but I’m not paying to see either one of them. In fact I’d like to stand in one corner and them in the other and see who gets excitement at whose feet and who gets inner flashes of enlightenment from which corner. Because the proof is definitely in the pudding. If this isn’t my coming out party then I’m going inside and just staying in Sach Kand where all Bliss and Oneness resides . I’m not walking into any blind traps . Why would I give him the microphone and me not have one. ( That would be stupid )
Why would I give them an air of legitimacy by my mere presence if I’m not up on that stage with him as well ! I’m many things but hypocrite is not one of them.
When the only one challenging statements has nothing to report, they haven’t done the work to gather evidence of an alternate truth.
They gave up without even a shred of their own evidence, and so they have nothing to report. They didn’t complete even the initial work to set up a clean lab.
They are still living on their own opinions.
It is the practice, and observing results, that is always a superior challenge to opinions. Because then we are seeing things for ourselves, gathering our own evidence, challenging our own assumptions first before we go on opinions of others.
And the only way to really see for oneself the truth of any claim is to go and do the work to get to that place where the claim was made from.
Claiming that someone is making unfounded statements and demanding blind belief may just be an unfounded statement from someone who isn’t doing the work to see for themselves.
The strongest evidence for this is in the complete absence of anything at all to report from their practice.
It’s one thing to say that the sky comes before the stars, or that sound is more like a piano than a mighty bell.
But a report of zero results just says they didn’t do the work.
Rather than demanding blind belief the party demands that we take the journey and see for ourselves.
Evidence of all kinds exists, and early, for anyone serious enough to create a clean lab and to practice as their career.