Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. What Anon describes about the demands put upon RSSB initiates seems particularly true for Indian members of the organization, whether or not they live in India. The pressure to be viewed as an exemplary RSSB member seems greater when a person's culture and family connections encourages this.…

It's a pleasure to share a guest blog post critical of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) from a different person than Anon, who has written quite a few guest blog posts that I've shared here on the Church of the Churchless. Below you can read this person's description of how the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon (GSD), treats women in an insulting and misogynistic way. After the message, I'll share links to blog posts I've written that point in the same direction: the RSSB guru is a misogynist who insults women. Keep in mind that according to the RSSB teachings,…

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Well, based on what you'll read below, the other posts Anon has shared, what many other RSSB initiates have told me since I started this blog in 2004, and my own experience with RSSB, there's good reason to say that RSSB isn't so much a faith, as…

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Things I don't miss about RSSB Initially when I joined RSSB it was all "light and love" but things changed. I did end up running for the door and I could never seem to get out. It reminds me of that song "Hotel California" by The Eagles.…

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon had sent me "RSSB manipulation tactics" and "RSSB culture" as separate guest blog posts. But they seemed fairly closely related, so I decided to combine them. RSSB manipulation tactics Lovebombing: Showering you with praise, acceptance, attention, validation, warmth at first in order to win you over,…

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon makes some perceptive points about RSSB. Based on my experience, RSSB is like other religions in that after someone has embraced it for a while, they absorb the culture of RSSB without realizing how different it is from normal non-religious everyday life. Some RSSB members are…

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. I used to give frequent talks at RSSB meetings (satsangs). Having an iconoclastic slant even when I was an active member of RSSB, I'd do my best to keep people awake during my talk, even though sometimes this was a losing battle. Humor, quotes from non-RSSB sources,…

It's been a couple of months, but they're back! Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. RSSB teachings since 1890 speak about meditation (through books, gurus, sermons, satsangs). RSSB meditation is the way to burn your karmas, the way to escape reincarnation and future rebirths, the path to enlightenment, requirement for salvation, way to…

Truth-telling is contagious. Not always, but often. When we hear someone speak the truth -- not only their own personal truth, but also an objective truth insofar as objectivity is possible -- we can be inspired to follow in their truth-telling footsteps. That's how I felt after reading the guest blog posts from Anon, someone I've never met and have no idea what their real name is or where they live. This person, like me, is an ex-initiate of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization headquartered in India that is headed up by a guru who is believed…

Below is another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. GSD stands for Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current RSSB guru. I'm really impressed with what Anon has shared. It's a brilliant look at some of the alternative futures for RSSB. A must read. What is next for RSSB? RSSB is genuinely facing an identity crisis. Originally it started among humble rural…

Below is another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. This is a follow-up to Anon's previous guest blog post, "Life after RSSB." If you're interested in the linguistic history of "hoovering," check out this link. Anon uses a few terms that won't be familiar to everybody. Satsang is a spiritual meeting. Seva is volunteering. Sevadar is a volunteer. Satsangis are…

Below is another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon makes some great points about what life after leaving a religion someone has been deeply involved with can be like. To me, this bears a lot of resemblance to a divorce after a long-term marriage. I experienced this in 1989 when my first wife and I divorced after 18 years…

Here’s another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. This post strikes me as being less of a criticism of RSSB, and more as a history lesson that illustrates how RSSB grew out of longstanding Sikh tradition, rather than being a unique mystical faith. Of course, this is obvious to most RSSB initiates, since passages from the Sikh scripture (Adi Granth,…

Here’s another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Gurinder Singh Dhillon is the current RSSB guru. The theme of Anon's post echoes the changes in RSSB that I've written about in "Sant Mat, version 2.0," "Has Gurinder Singh revised Sant Mat to v. 3.0?," and "Gurinder Singh completely upends Sant Mat dogma." When I was a member of RSSB, it…

Here's another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. GSD stands for Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current RSSB guru. S*** stands for shit (but I'm sure you could have guessed that). I really enjoyed what Anon wrote. Both humorous and sad. Here's a list of s*** I heard at RSSB during my time there. It stuck with me for a reason…