Posted inMiscellaneous

Other-worldly dance performances on World of Dance

I don't really believe there is a God of Dance. But after watching these other-worldly performances on recent episodes of World of Dance, I'm open to that possibility.  Here's Briar Nolet, The Kings (from India), and Poppin John. I find Nolet the most amazing. She's a gymnast turned dancer who does moves that seem impossible. But they're real.  
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Posted inPolitics

Rabbi Goldstein is wrong. A moment of silence in schools is useless.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who lost a finger in the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue where one person was shot to death yesterday, has a perfect right to be deeply upset by what happened to his congregation. But today I heard Goldstein speak about what he thinks the proper response should be to the attack, and I heartily disagree with him.  Goldstein said that prayer used to be allowed in public schools. Now, it isn't. Instead, the Rabbi wants every school day to begin with a moment of silence. We should know that God created us, he said. There's…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh Dhillon ignores sexual abuse of a child

Below you can read an email message I received yesterday from someone who observed first hand how Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, essentially endorsed a father's sexual abuse of his child -- by telling a tearful wife, "Don't involve the authorities."  Now I'm sure some fundamentalist devotees of the RSSB guru will excuse his disgusting behavior by saying things like "No one can question the wisdom of the guru" and "Gurinder Singh can do no wrong, being a perfect master." That's bullshit. To show why, let's imagine this scenario:  A woman goes to a minister…
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Posted inBuddhism Personal/Stories

My Zen snow globe

BEHOLD... my mystical magical enlightening Zen snow globe! You turn it over to stir things up, then it settles down. Until things get stirred up again, after which they settle down. Just like life.
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Posted inBuddhism Science

Buddhists, the mind isn’t like a mirror. Science knows better.

In my churchless frame of mind, it's rare that I can get very far into a book with some religious overtones before I start using my highlighter to make question marks in the margins. The book I'm reading now, As It Is by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, was bought because I was curious to learn more about one of the Dzogchen/Buddhist teachers mentioned in Sam Harris' Waking Up book -- which I like a lot. (But which also has some question marks in the margins; just a few, though.) I'll write about what appeals to me in As It Is in another…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

I just made this comment

I just made this comment to someone who tried to justify the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas' unfeeling response toward people with suicidal tendencies. See here and here.  I'm curious if anyone disagrees with what I said. It sure makes sense to me. Dungeness, you're presuming that being "spiritual" is something different from being a decent human being. I heartily disagree. Being a decent human being is the foundation of spirituality. Absent that, it's possible to justify lies, deceit, abuse, and other things that gurus sometimes engage in. When someone shares a serious personal problem and seeks support/advice, I've…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

How many people has Gurinder Singh Dhillon indirectly killed?

Yesterday a commenter called "BlackRose" asked the question that I made the title of this blog post. It's impossible to know the answer. All we can be sure of is that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, lacks both normal human compassion and the most basic understanding of how to talk with someone who was, or is, suicidal.  UPDATE: I just made this comment to someone who tried to justify the guru's unfeeling response toward people with suicidal tendencies. I'm curious if anyone disagrees with it. It sure makes sense to me. Dungeness, you're presuming that…
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Posted inUncategorized

Our ordinary life is way more important than our religious life

Looking at the title of this blog post after I wrote it, at first I wondered if "ordinary" is the right word for what I'm talking about here.  Namely, our everyday life. What we do that's personal, intimate, immediate, direct, experiential. How we spend most of our hours. What we honestly describe when someone close to us asks, "How was your day?"  On further reflection, ordinary seems like the right word.  Sure, often people have the notion that being ordinary isn't good enough. But this seems crazy. What's wrong with having an ordinary life that's mostly meaningful, satisfying, pleasurable?  And…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Religare is committed to getting its money back. Bad news for RSSB guru.

Given my goal of bringing readers of this blog all the news in the Indian financial press about the Singh brothers'/RSSB guru's misdeeds that's worth sharing, here's a mildly interesting story in The Economic Times, "New management committed to ensure good governance, says Religare Enterprises." Below are a few excerpts relating to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Dhillon orchestrated the installation of Sunil Godhwani as CEO of Religare, after which Godhwani proceeded to illegally funnel money from Religare into shell companies controlled at the time by the Dhillon family and close associates. Since most of…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Why a guru shouldn’t give mental health advice

There are many reasons to be wary of gurus. An overarching reason is that often, if not usually, devotees of a guru trust them way more than is justified -- since gurus obviously are human beings, flawed and imperfect like we all are. Below you can read the experience of "Sonya," a regular commenter on this blog who shared a comment today that I felt deserved to be featured in a blog post.  Gurinder Singh Dhillon Sonya describes how Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (an Indian religious organization), responded after she courageously asked him about…
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Posted inHumor

Deepak Chopra quote generator shows ridiculousness of New Age’ism

Religions are absurd by definition. They make confident proclamations about God, heaven, life after death, and such, even though there is zero convincing evidence that God, heaven, life after death, or other supernatural phenomena even exist. But there's plenty of absurdity floating around in the sphere of "spiritual but not religious," which includes New Age ideas. Deepak Chopra is a notable purveyor of this sort of crap. I've written about Chopra here, here, here, and here. The blog post linked to in the last "here" is called Deepak Chopra's inanity makes my head explode. OK, not literally. Otherwise I couldn't…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB You Tube channel has exactly zero content from Gurinder Singh

I usually don't publicize social media of religious organizations, but since I used to be a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas before I saw the clear light of atheism, and quite a few visitors to this blog either have been or still are associated with RSSB, here's a link to the organization's recently unveiled Official You Tube Channel. You Tube says the RSSB channel has 882 videos. Clicking on the "Videos" tab, I was curious to see how many videos were from the last four gurus of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. It wasn't possible to tell exactly, since the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Shabnam Dhillon, RSSB guru’s wife, implicated in financial fraud

Well, today there was another story in the Indian financial press about the Singh brothers' fall from riches and how their involvement with Gurinder Singh Dhillon, guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, has contributed a lot to the legal trouble they're in.Download Malvinder and Shivinder Singh and the ‘missing’ funds of a billion-dollar empire | Business News The Indian Express story contains intriguing details about the involvement of the guru's wife, Shabnam Dhillon, in financial dealings that a criminal complaint filed by Malvinder Singh says were fraudulent. Here's an image from the story that shows her connection to several shell companies…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Summary of Singh brothers saga features misdeeds by Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Today someone sent me a link to a The Week story about the saga of the Singh brothers' financial downfall that contains several mentions of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas who has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in this unholy mess.Download Malvinder Shivinder Singh: The boom-to-doom saga of the brothers You can read the entire story below. I've added some comments of my own after several sections in red italics.  One thing I learned from the story is that seemingly Malvinder and Shivinder Singh aren't nephews of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, because the story says that…
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Posted inBuddhism Consciousness Spiritual practice/meditation

Sam Harris shows my meditation is on the right spiritual track

There's many forms of meditation. They all have strengths and weaknesses, pluses and minuses. But only a few forms of meditation lead to an increased knowledge of reality, since most are based on unfounded religious dogma. I'm confident that the meditation I've been practicing for about fifteen years -- after I wisely gave up a religiously-based form of meditation -- has me on the right spiritual track. I explained why in "Real spirituality is realizing you aren't a soul, or self." Here's how that 2014 post starts out. Just as predicted, I'm really enjoying reading Sam Harris' new book, "Waking…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Singh brothers stay out of jail. Malvinder’s attorney says RSSB guru duped them.

Here's the latest news in the saga of the Singh brothers and the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. First, a Business Today story, "Singh brothers get a breather from top court." Here's how it starts out. The Supreme Court (SC) has reserved its order on a contempt plea filed by Japanese pharma company Daiichi Sankyo against the Singh brothers over non-payment of Rs 3,500 crore arbitration award. However, the apex court said it was deciding the issue of 'contempt of court' only. During the hearing, Daiichi told the SC that former Ranbaxy promoter Malvinder Singh had given…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Shivinder Singh lied about becoming a full-time RSSB sevadar

Here's another twist in the oh-so-fascinating big-money drama involving the Singh brothers (Malvinder and Shivinder), the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and a host of supporting characters. A Business Today story says, "Singh brothers case: Shivinder drew Rs. 9 crore salary during 'retirement'; misled SC about 'Sanyaas.'" (9 crore is about $1,300,000; SC refers to the Supreme Court of India)Download Singh brothers case: Shivinder drew Rs 9 crore salary during 'retirement'; misled SC about 'Sanyaas' Here's how the story starts out: Singh brothers Malvinder and Shivinder are on the verge of being thrown behind bars on April 11 when…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

New Delhi police investigating criminal complaint against RSSB guru

Here's a Bloomberg story from February that escaped my notice until a Google search brought it to my attention yesterday. Someone mentioned the story in a March comment, but I didn't read it in full until now.Download Indian Tycoon Accuses Brother and Spiritual Guru of Fraud - Bloomberg Those of us who've been associated with Radha Soami Satsang Beas for many years (35, for me) are marveling at the fact that the current RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, is the subject of a criminal complaint being investigated by the New Delhi police. This is a fact that I don't recall…
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Posted inAtheism Comments Religions

Critical thinking welcome here. Preachiness, not so much.

On this blog I've gone back and forth with moderating comments. After deciding a few weeks ago to return to approving comments before they're published on this blog, I'm feeling good about doing this. I'd rather have just a few -- or even just one -- thoughtful comments on a post than a bunch of irrelevant comments, especially if they're of the "Praise God!" or "Praise Guru!" variety. But for many years my boundless Buddha-like compassion for religiously-minded beings has led me to offer an "open thread" option to those who want to express themselves in a fashion that isn't…
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Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 19 (free speech for comments)

Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. Remember that I'm moderating comments, so it could take a while for your comment to be published. Almost every comment submitted to an Open Thread will be approved. Personal attacks devoid of substantive content are an exception. Though I haven't been doing too well on this, I'll try to remember to always have an Open Thread showing in the Recent Posts section in the right sidebar. If one isn't showing, I've added an Open Threads category in, naturally, the Categories section. You can always find an Open…
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