From: gaiatravel@aol.com (GAIATRAVEL) Subject: Re: Did Sahaja Yoga kill my brother? Newsgroups: alt.yoga Date: 1 Nov 1995 13:17:53 -0500 Your brother's experience is tragic. A real pity. Yoga, however, has in my opinion nothing to do with it. Your brother, you say, was introverted. He was an educated and obviously profound and sensitive person. He was drawn to Yoga because it seemed to offer solutions. Had it not been yoga it might have been philosophy or Christian mysticism, or art... The fact is, he was, as you say, in conflict with the leader of the local Sahaji group. Perhaps it was this conflict that led him to despair. A failure even in what he most believed in. Others have put an end to their lives for the same reasons: Vincent Van Gogh for example. No group is at fault, no system of Yoga. It's just human nature... conflict, disappointment, extreme sensitivity. He was a good man who never felt he belonged to our cruel world. Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 15:17:11 -0800 From: Camillo Holecek To: vladimir@cs.ualberta.ca Subject: Some answeres... Dear Vlad! I was very sad to hear about your brother and I understand that you are a very honest person, looking for some answers. First of all I should declare myself: Yes, I have followed Sahaja Yoga for the last 14 years and I am still thanking my stars for finding it. Please understand that what I am writing here are just my personal feelings, not a "official statement" of any kind. First of all, I do belive that it is a very sad thing if somebody chooses this way. If you want, one can say I would concider it as serious as a sin. On the other hand I do not belive somebody would be "damned forever" or anything like that. Rather, that now he is without a body and also without others to help him sort out his problems. Well, this is realy a very touching topic and I donīt know if this medium of e-mail is realy a good method for discusssing such personal things. There is to much chance to misunderstand without seeing the other person talking... Second, in Sahaja Yoga it is the most normal thing that people should get married if they want and that one can only enjoy and grow in a large "collective" that should include healthy relations with oneīs parents, family, relatives and also a large "family" of fellow yogis and their families. If somebody claimīs that he can not have sensible contact with his family (although they would respect his religion), just because he is in Sahaja Yoga, then I would concider this a profound misunderstanding. Maybe this person has a big problem to relate to some relatives, like to express his love, or beeing affraid to be rejected, etc, etc. Then it comes very handy to tell oneself that there are "higher" reasons not to talk to them... A pure escape ! If this goes on for years, the person may be somebody who never understood that Sahaja Yoga it carried by love, compassion and also introspection. Also, there is never such a thing like ascetism in Sahaja Yoga. On the contrary! Things like severe fasting, reclusivness or celebacy are regarded as unhealthy extremes that are to be avoided! So, if somebody would go into such extremes and also claim this to be the true path and teach it to others, I would feel I should object. Loudly. Well, so much for a start. Maybe we will have more discussions, e-mail or (more private) s-mail... All the blessings the divine can give, on you. Yours, Camillo Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 15:15:02 -0800 From: Camillo Holecek To: Vladimir Alexiev Subject: Re: Some answeres... > Thank you for your thoughtful writing on Sahaja Yoga. I really appreciated > it. Thanks to hear that. As I said, I am honestly interested to also answer further questions, even by papermail or phone. In short, the titel of your original mail cut very badly through my heart and I would like to help in any way possible to never have to see such a "link" ever again. Sincerely, Camillo Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 10:54:38 -0800 From: Camillo Holecek To: Vladimir Alexiev Subject: Re: Some answeres... Vladimir Alexiev wrote: > > the titel of your original mail cut very badly through my heart > In my opinion Sahaja Yoga was positive for my brother. It calmed him down, > made him feel good. But my parents are convinced it was the primary reason > for his suicide. That's why I posted that message, seeking facts and > opinions about SY. Because there are destructive religions, you know, like > the sect of Coresh, Moon, the Church of Scientology. However, I never > believed SY was one of them, and the responses that I got all confirm that. Yea, exactly my opinion! What I was trying to say was this: I did understand your motivs in the first place. But if you would have titled it something "Did SY cause the suicide of my brother" (Sorry to mention that again) instead of that titel... You see, beeing a new and small comunity, we are facing a lot of people who are not so honest and decent like you. We have a big campain of the catholic church going on, using even police power, directly against our children. We have been accused of all kinds of things by sensation hunting media. Lawsuits did not protect us, courts ruling that it is the right of "critical" journalism to publish unprooven accuses. Judges ruling that our members (all people of respectable, professional standing) are not to be regarded as valid witnesses in proceedings because they belong to a "small religious group" and therefore are prone to have twisted perseption of reality....etc, etc, etc.. Well, I donīt have to load all that on you. But now you may see how I felt when I saw your title the first time... All right, all the best; I feel you are honest and pure-hearted enought that you will find truth in this lifetime. I wish you all Love and Blessings that Heaven can give. Camillo