Posted inMystics Reality

Reality requires a broad scientific look, not narrow mystic visions

Put on your philosophical wading boots. I'm about to jump into the deep end of some interesting, but sort of complex, questions about the nature of reality as seen through the eyes of quantum physics. But rest assured that, in accord with the focus of this Church of the Churchless blog, I'll be drawing some inferences about what makes sense, and what doesn't, when it comes to religious, mystical, and spiritual claims about reality. This might take a few blog posts, so I'll do my best to keep this initial post as short and simple as possible. (Which means, it…
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Posted inIndia

Roles of Indian women reflected in Singh brothers saga

I readily admit that, not suprisingly, I'm much more familiar with the roles of women here in the United States than in India, a country I've only visited twice for brief periods.  My impression (and please correct me if I'm wrong, something many commenters on my posts love to do) is that just as India is transitioning to a modern advanced economy, Indian women are likewise moving from traditional roles to more empowered and co-equal roles in relation to men. A couple of stories in the Indian business press caught my eye in this regard. Here's excerpts from a September…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions Spiritual practice/meditation

Advice for RSSB believers about how to deal with news about their guru

Yesterday this comment was left on a Church of the Churchless post, "Great BusinessToday video about RSSB guru and Singh brothers." The commenter wondered how to break the news about Gurinder Singh Dhillon's financial misdeeds to Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) devotees who had put a lot of faith in their guru. Dear Brian Thanks for your blog and exposing the truths!! It is really sad to learn all the truths of recent events. I had a feeling somethiing is corrupt but it still came as a shock when my intuition was confirmed with facts. I am not part of…
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Posted inReality

It hurts to argue with reality

This is a great simple explanation of why it makes sense to love science, to love truth, to love reasoned fact-based discussions of what is happening in the world. Fantasies can be fun, but reality has a way of biting us in the butt when we ignore what is.
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Posted inGod Reality

“Atheist Experience” guys demolish arguments of a supernatural believer

I've come to the conclusion that a big part of being a spiritual person is thinking clearly. (When I say "spiritual," I don't mean religious or supernatural; I mean finding meaning in life, the underlying spirit of one's life, so to speak.) If we don't think clearly, there's a danger that our emotions, feelings, desires, intuitions, and such will lead us astray. I'm certainly not saying that thoughts are more important than other aspects of our psyche -- just that we need to find a balance between the rational and non-rational parts of ourselves. Case in point: this You Tube…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Great BusinessToday video about RSSB guru and Singh brothers

Here's a clear and compelling video that's based on a Business Today (India) story, "The Baba, Singh Brothers, and the Squandered Rs 225,00,00,00,000," which is $3.2 billion in U.S. dollars. I've read numerous complicated stories about the problematic financial dealings of the RSSB guru, Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and the Singh brothers. But this video keeps things clear and simple in just a bit over 6 minutes. This is the You Tube description: "An influential 'Baba' and his family with a weakness for materialism; two young businessmen loaded with nearly Rs 10,000 crore from an asset sale; and…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Another story about the Singh brothers, RSSB, and the Dhillon family

Going through some fairly old email messages, I came across an July 23, 2018 ET Prime story that someone sent to me, "How the Singh brothers became victims of a realty play." It takes a subscription to read the full story, so my correspondent sent a file that I converted to PDF. Here it is:Download Singh brothers story Like other stories about the Singh brothers and their relationship with the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the details are astoundingly complex.  Here's some easy to understand excerpts from the beginning of the story. ET Prime pieced together…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Here’s the truth about when I started criticizing RSSB

Falsehoods bother me. Including falsehoods about me. Like the completely unfounded rumor that I started criticizing Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the Indian spiritual group I belonged to for 35 years, after I was fired as a speaker at meetings of the group. I've noticed this falsehood popping up in recent comments on this blog, most recently from "manjit." Like so many religious believers, "manjit" is repeating a conjecture that isn't correct, but since it feels good to spout it, it gets spouted. Well, here's some truth-telling. I've shared it before in comments, but I wanted to write a blog…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Demolition of illegal construction by Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Someone sent me this video, along with a description: "An illegal encroachment by Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Fatehpur Beri in Delhi that is being demolished by the Forest Department today. News reporting is by Punjab Kesari. They are breaking the shed, the building and the road. RSSB had been given several notices to vacate. Several acres of the forest land had been illegally purchased and the reporter is saying that it would be interesting to see how the government justifies this." Some commenters on this blog like to claim that Radha Soami Satsang Beas never does anything wrong, since…
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Posted inMorality Religions

Everything can be reduced to the survival instinct

One of the benefits of having this blog is getting intelligent, provocative, thoughtful emails about some churchless topic. Often I'll enjoy the message so much, I'll ask if I can share it in a blog post. Such is the case with what you'll read below. The premise of this mini-essay is that survival is the central concern of us human beings.  I think the author gets this pretty much right. For sure, almost all religious belief includes a focus on survival after death. Having and raising children provides some immortality of sorts. Altruism, as noted in the essay, contributes to…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Good summary of Gurinder Singh Dhillon financial issues

Here's a good overview of why it makes sense to raise questions about the financial affairs involving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.  It was written by Spence Tepper, who left the following comment on a recent blog post. I like the logical, reasonable way Tepper laid out the reasons concerns have been raised about those financial affairs in the Indian business press.  As he says, other people might draw different conclusions from the facts known to date. That's fine. And as more facts come out, other conclusions can be reached.  Here's links to some of…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB calls 1500-2000 secretaries to Dera. Something is up.

UPDATE ON SEPT. 25: Juan just left this comment, indicating that the September 17 meeting of Indian secretaries was indeed scheduled, then cancelled. I've also heard that Gurinder Singh Dhillon's scheduled initiation ceremony in New Delhi, which was last weekend, I believe, was cancelled. So it still seems to me that something is up. We just don't know what. UPDATE ON SEPT. 11: I've heard from someone with close ties to RSSB that actually there isn't a meeting of Indian secretaries happening on September 17. If Juan reads this, I'm curious to know how he learned of the meeting, and whether…
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Posted inComments Personal/Stories

Nasty criticisms of me from some “spiritual” RSSB defenders

I find it entertaining to see how supposedly "spiritual" followers of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the Indian organization headed up by a guru that I was a member of for 35 years, can write such wonderfully insulting comments about me. I'm sharing some recent comments below, along with my response in italics. These are great comments -- don't get me wrong about that -- but they pale in vehemence, profanity, and stream of consciousness verbosity to comments I've received previously and published on my I Hate Church of the Churchless blog. ------------------------------------------ Believer in Humanity said: Brian Hines is the most…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Investigations of financial wrongdoing circle closer to RSSB

I'd like to get back to writing about other subjects on this blog, but news about the Singh brothers, RSSB, and Gurinder Singh Dhillon (RSSB guru) keeps coming in from links people send to me.  And it's a fascinating story -- this tale of how a supposedly spiritual sect, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, has gotten deeply entangled in some highly suspicious financial dealings. Today the DNA India site reports, "SFIO may expand Singh brothers' probe to Ranbaxy sale." Excerpts: Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is looking for a deeper investigation of all associated firms related to brothers Malvinder and Shivinder…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru agrees to answer questions about his financial dealings

Well, this is a bit of progress. The guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, says that he will answer questions about the seemingly shady financial dealings he, his family, and possibly RSSB itself (a charitable organization) have been involved in. Today someone sent me a link to a story in The Indian Express, "Upcoming payouts a possible trigger for Singh brothers feud." Excerpt: According to a source privy to the development, some senior members of the sect recently asked Dhillon about his reaction to various news reports regarding the Singh brothers. The source said that Dhillon told…
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Posted inGay rights

India legalizes gay rights. Only took 150 years.

Way to go, India. Your Supreme Court has given gays in India the same rights as anyone else. Here's a screenshot of a video on the New York Times story about this that shows people in India celebrating. The New York Times points out, in "India's Gay Sex Ban, a Colonial Vesige, Is Struck Down," that the archaic rule against consensual gay sex was a holdover from the puritanical days of British rule. In a groundbreaking victory for gay rights, India’s Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down one of the world’s oldest bans on consensual gay sex, putting to…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

I’m part of a CNBC TV 18 program about RSSB and the Singh brothers

Last night I spent a pleasant half hour on the phone talking with Ekta Batra, a reporter with India's CNBC TV 18. She asked if I'd be OK with getting up at 5 am, my time, to be part of a live 20-minute program about Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) and a recent lawsuit filed by Shivinder Singh (cousin of the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh) against his brother, Malvinder Singh and an RSSB insider, Sunil Godhwani, who used to run a company founded by the Singh brothers. No, I said, 5 am is way too early for me. So we…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Shivinder Singh sues his brother and RSSB insider

Breaking news from the world of Indian financial misdeeds. The Indian Standard reports, "Shivinder Mohan Singh drags elder brother Malvinder Singh to NCLT." Former Ranbaxy promoter and founder of Fortis Healthcare, Shivinder Singh, said that he has filed a case against his brother Malvinder and former head of Religare Sunil Godhwani in the NCLT court for oppression and mismanagement of RHC Holding, Religare and Fortis. Shivinder Singh said in a press release issued on Tuesday that the action was long overdue but got delayed in the hope that "better sense shall eventually prevail and another ugly chapter of family feud…
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Posted inAtheism God

Oneness is like the Hotel California: you can’t leave it

I'm a big fan of spontaneous, well-written, heartfelt descriptions of how someone realized that atheism is the way to go. And if they've got a bunch of profanity in them, even fucking better! So when I read a comment by regular Church of the Churchless visitor Osho Robbins that met those criteria, I knew the comment should be elevated into a blog post. There's references to Indian words in the comment, but it can be understood just fine without knowing Indian philosophy. Briefly, Sach Khand is roughly equivalent to heaven. Sat Purush is God. And the lyrics to Hotel California…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Reality

Religious believers ignore reality, while making up fantasies

After fourteen years of blogging here on the Church of the Churchless, I'm not surprised anymore by this evident fact about most religious believers: They make two mistakes. They ignore aspects of this evident physical reality that conflict with their chosen religious dogma. And they embrace fantasies about supernatural realms that almost certainly don't exist.  Thus religious believers close their eyes to what can actually be known, while making up stories about what is unknown -- such as what, if anything, lies outside the bounds of our universe. Here's some examples of what I'm talking about.  I've written several posts…
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