Radha Soami Satsang Beas

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…