text:
Samsung leads NAND flash market in Q3
The popularity of gadgets from digital cameras to iPods has been a boon for NAND flash memory producers like Samsung.
Dan Nystedt (IDG News Service) 18 November, 2005 07:58
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Users' appetites for gadgets like digital cameras and iPod music players has sent sales of NAND flash memory chips soaring, along with the fortunes of major producers like Samsung Electronics.
The South Korean technology titan had more than a 50 percent share of the NAND flash memory market as of the end of the third quarter, according to market researcher iSuppli Corp., a quarter in which it sold US$1.5 billion worth of the chips.
Japan's Toshiba one of the major developers of NAND, came in second on iSuppli's third quarter global rankings with a 22.8 percent share of the NAND flash memory market, iSuppli said.
Although the two companies hold a comfortable lead over everyone else in the sector, rivals are coming on strong, particularly Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor, iSuppli said.
Micron only held 3.4 percent of the global market share in NAND during the third quarter, but its revenue during the three month period increased four-fold over the second quarter. Hynix, which runs a distant third in the NAND race with a 13.2 percent share of the market in the third quarter, increased its revenue during the quarter by nearly 59 percent over the second quarter, according to iSuppli.
Revenue in the global NAND flash memory market rose to US$2.97 billion in the third quarter, up 30.2 percent from US$2.28 billion in the second quarter, iSuppli said.
NAND has been a hot product over the past few years because of its use in a slew of consumer electronics products. One of the top sellers has been Apple Computer's iPods, which use NAND chips to store songs. Apple said it sold 6.45 million iPods during its most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 24, marking the tenth consecutive quarter of sequential increases in iPod shipments. For the first nine months of this year, Apple sold around 17.91 million iPods.
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I am hoping to resume proper art-related blogging on Monday but today let's have some fun.
This post luckily hasn't ruined my childhood memories and is very funny. Also Melanie is quite something and her version of Ruby Tuesday is also a favourite. I like it better than the Rolling Stones original.
For some reason it got me thinking of Marianne Faithful who has been on my radar quite a bit lately (and I am hoping to watch Irina Palm tonight). I had an unusual experience this morning with a woman who reminded me of Marianne and who fervently exclaimed "NO! NO! NO! NO!" when I was contemplating buying Samsara and put me on to something more suitable.
This has been such a weird week. I have been wandering around in a post operative fog (thanks M. for making me feel better about that) and trying to get some logistical things moving on the relocation front – trying too hard maybe. It does concern me when relocation companies lose emails and have impossible telephone systems. This is where I need a very patient PA who can make these arrangements for me (and find a decent house to go to as well).
On the 'art' front and the interests of trying to de-stress, I've been reading about Dylan Thomas after seeing the movie "The Edge of Love" in the weekend. The film had good and bad points, but I kept thinking the female leads were horribly miscast. I have no basis for this opinion though but Sienna Miller didn't seem "weighty" enough to play Caitlin in many respects. When hunting around with google there were lots of opinions from people who knew the Thomas's which were an interesting read, including this great piece by Nicholas Monson. I've also just got Caitlin Thomas' sober autobiography "Double Drink Story" to read – sobering in itself – and read some yesterday while listening to my favourite album – Cannonball Adderley featuring Miles Davis "Somethin' Else" (1958) – Autumn Leaves is sublime.
As for Thomas himself and his work – this is good and I thank him for some words yesterday which resonated for me "The close and holy darkness" .


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Michałki may refer to:

Michałki, Brodnica County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-central Poland)
Michałki, Wąbrzeźno County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-central Poland)
Michałki, Lublin Voivodeship (east Poland)
Michałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship (north-east Poland)
Michałki, Masovian Voivodeship (east-central Poland)
Michałki, Nidzica County in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (north Poland)
Michałki, Szczytno County in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (north Poland)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


IM applications have revolutionized communication between people and their rise has reached such a dimension and so quickly, that is ahead of our ability to determine their proper use.
There are many applications that allow us instant messaging, but the most successful nowadays is WhatsApp, even to his name with the word Guasapear or Whastappear have spoken..
The phenomenon is so new that there are hardly any serious studies that have determined the possible harmful consequences of its continued use.
The benefits for its low cost, immediacy, group interaction and maintaining relationships make these tools very useful and attractive for communication between people.
But therapy is increasingly seeing that are emerging problems associated with their abuse, especially in relationships. It is necessary a review of these tools by professionals, in order to be able to establish educational guidelines on the prevention of addictive behaviors and interrelational conflict.
Do not misunderstand, do not argue. Shallow conversations.
This tool is great for short, immediate, and as a way to keep in touch with people without making too much effort messaging. But it is important to note that as a means of communication it has obvious limitations related to the lack of nonverbal communication.
Some studies show that when people communicate in the verbal content it only represents about 10% of the impact of the message leaving a 50% non-verbal communication and another 40% to the key members accompanying message (paraverbal communication) . If we consider that in our messages the elements that represent "how" we communicate are emoticons or capitalization, the chances of "mistakes" in the interpretation of the message are very high, especially if we found in altered emotional states or situations of conflict.
Therefore, in the times when you want to address an important issue of some significance for the relationship we have with the person to contact, the messages should be restricted to approach a conversation in person whenever possible.
There is no specific number or any reference that allows us to establish a proper limit for everyone, and we each have our particular circumstances of use. Now, when we realize that we are constantly alert to the mobile, we review it all the time so we start worrying about the dependence generated.
It is curious to observe how the number of zombies are increasing alarmingly in the streets… people who are able to walk without looking ahead, with his hands while writing while they smile, cry or worry without ever bumping into anything (usually). It seems as though these people could not miss a second communication, since for them only walk is to move. With the intention of leaving this alienated state, you should not write walking, lifting his head to watch the road and people, allowing a break of connection and focus on external stimuli and sensations.
With the use of the technologies we are used to maintain our relations "virtually". We must not forget that the essence of social relations is in the live matches live, where we can capture all the richness of the messages of others and allowing us to enjoy the emotional connection through mirror neurons.
If in general we find it difficult to encourage in-person meetings, it is desirable leave aside the constant reviewing of our mobile phone. This does not mean we have to turn off the phone every time we meet with others, but it is true that to pay attention to the conversation and convey to the other person that we are talking with, it may be advisable to keep the phone silent.
It is very important to keep all our social networks proper configuration of the different privacy options. We must choose what we want to people to see of our states, our pictures and our connections. WhatsApp is a program used by a great number of people, which means that an incorrect setting may allow third parties to spy on us without us knowing.
In the latest versions of WhatsApp they have been added 3 privacy options in great demand by users. The first one to hide our last connection (possible appearance until now only third-party applications), the second allows us to hide our image from state to unwanted people and the third one allows us to hide our state sentence.
Once in WhatsApp select the option "Settings" to enter the program settings.
Once the configuration will press on "Account Info".
And there select the option "Privacy". Then we will see a window similar to the following.
We set this function according to our needs. A good configuration will block the view of our photograph to everybody but your contacts, let everyone see our state and the view of last connection depending on whether we want to let others know when we connect or not. We should note that, for example, if we block our last connection we can not see the latest connections others.
With this we can already have our a little more privacy on our WhatsApp.


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Economy and the City
Economic History and Geography
Customs and tariffs
Story: Customs and tariffs
Tariffs for revenue, 1840–1940
Encouraging local industry
Border controls and economic management
Tariffs and the GATT
Petition of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, 1865
Much customs revenue derived from duties on alcohol and tobacco, which were seen as unnecessary luxuries and therefore legitimate objects of taxation. But when alcohol and tobacco duties were raised in 1864 and new duties levied on other goods, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce expressed its strong displeasure in this petition to Parliament (PDF, 80 KB). While the chamber insisted that customs levies should be imposed purely for revenue purposes and not to protect local manufacturing, they did suggest that all raw materials which assisted the development of New Zealand industry should be free of duty. The belief in free trade was firmly established in both Britain and the colonies by the 1860s.
Download attachment (PDF file, 76.15 KB)
Reference: Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1865, G-1.
Government revenue, 1840–1890
Illicit whisky still
Tony Simpson, 'Customs and tariffs - Tariffs for revenue, 1840–1940', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/22568/petition-of-the-auckland-chamber-of-commerce-1865 (accessed 19 January 2020)
Story by Tony Simpson, published 11 Mar 2010

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I don't think you will get evidence of "disappearance" in any literal sense, artsquiggle. She has disappeared from the public eye, not given public talks in the past 5-6 years. Maybe one exception, a "New Year's message" that she gave--but it was prerecorded, not given in a public program, then shown in centers and ashrams via DVD for $100--and shown again the following year for another $100. Intensives are one-day DVD affairs now, with talks by swamis and bits of old talks by GM or Muk spliced in, $500. There is one Intensive per year, in October. They showed the same DVD in 2008 and 2009--exactly the same intensive, two years in a row. I don't know if this year's was a "3-peat".
Many people who go for short-term seva assignments have reported seeing GM in Fallsburg over these past 5-6 years, at different seasons. It is not publicly reported where she is, but that was always held pretty tightly. People have seen her offsite, in Italy especially, occasionally. She has been to India at least once in the past few years.
GM has always lived as high on the hog as was possible given her public persona. People in the "ex" community who were once her personal shopping sevites in Manhattan can attest to that. If you were ever involved in buying an official gift for her, you would have seen it. All her silks had to be of a certain quality, preferably purchased in Hong Kong from a particular merchant. All her robes crafted just for her, finest cloth. No mere 14 carat gold, that is way too plebeian. Silver?? Don't even think about it (except to drink from). Diamonds. Right down to the best chocolates, specific ice creams. Only the best.
Hope that's helpful. I'd direct you to the archives of eXSY, but apparently that list is no longer accepting new members.
Artsquiggle, you asked "Are visitors allowed in Ganeshpuri?"
If you mean "the village of Ganeshpuri and the Nityananda temple and historical buildings in the village", the answer is "yes, anyone can go".
If you mean "Gurudev Siddha Peeth", the "mother ashram in India" (pardon me while I gag) the answer is "No, absolutely not without pre-clearance, pre-approval, and pre-payment". At least, that's the way it was in 2004 when I visited GSP for a couple of weeks. Can't imagine it's any easier to get in there now. There are security guards at the gate in front of the GSP Nityananda temple and in front of the gate of the dorm area across the street. They didn't carry guns on their person (at least not overtly in plain view) but I did hear that they had them at the ready in the guardhouse at the gate just in case they became necessary.
The guards let the public come in for Arati in the mornings and evenings at the Nityananda temple at GSP, and for any chants held there or what used to be named Guru Chowk hall or for a visit to Muk's Samadhi Shrine. But guards prevented those without clearance from getting any farther than the "upper garden".
So, the answer is "no, you can't go to GSP to stay there, not unless they've cleared you first".
Wonder which ashram Gilbert went to.
Here's a new website advertising a documentary, Shadow of the Guru, where people can post their cult abuse stories. It seems to be linked to Gurumayi, which is why I posted it here.
"I had bought the book Eat, Pray, Love a week ago and today looked through the part about the ashram, and found references to the hamsa and Om Namah Shivaya mantras, which are part of Siddha Yoga. This morning I had to push away unwanted memories of lines from the Guru Gita."
Thank you for that link to Joan Radha Bridges current project, arundasi.
Joan Radha Bridges joined Swami Muktananda's world tour and this was the guru who, years later, selected Nityananda and Gurumayi (aka Malti Shetty) as his co-successors.
Later, Gurumayi took action to shove Nityananda to a very marginal position, and she can be said to have taken over most of the deceased Muktananda's ashrams, assets and became the public face and devotional focus of Siddya Yoga, renamed SYDA yoga during her tenure.
Joan "Radha" Bridges' story has many details that can and will be revealed as time goes by.
After the sudden death of her father on the night she was crowned May Queen of her High School Prom, it wasn't too long before Joan "Radha" joined the Swami Muktananda world tour in 1975, the year she graduated from college and got married. During that time she was subjected to a grueling physical, mental, and emotional schedule 24/7. In the eight years she was on tour with Muktananda, there were no vacations ever and working for him was 10 to 12 hours daily.
Does anyone know the name of Elizabeth's guru and the name of the Ashram she went to in India. I know she's keeping it hush hush.
If you go to her web site, you will read that the ashram is no longer taking student visitors. However, if you read between the lines of her book and do a little "math" on Google, it is pretty easy to figure out who the female guru is. But it doesn't really matter, and there are lots of paths, gurus, and ashrams, here and in India.
Liz Gilbert studied at the Ganeshpuri ashram of Muktananda and Chidvilasananda's Siddha Yoga.
*** Siddha Yoga, one of many quasi Hindu/yoga movements to come to the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s, has an interesting and controversial history. Its first spiritual head or "Guru", the charismatic Muktananda, attracted a number of luminous, highly successful adherents, from American astronauts to movie stars to world famous musicians. His successor, the radiantly beautiful "Gurumayi" had her own cadre of accomplished and beautiful people as well as what was at one time an ever expanding global movement it liked to call its Meditation Revolution.
*** In 1983, 1993 and 1994, a series of magazine articles explored the darker side of the Siddha Yoga movement - one that involved credible stories of Muktananda's sexual behavior with his devotees, the ardent, even violent attempts made by his closest associates to silence this story, and a handful of other incidents that cast a shadow on SYDA's otherwise glowing story about itself.
*** Since the publication of the article in the New Yorker on Nov 13 1994, an internet movement has emerged among devotees and ex devotees who wish to discuss their experiences in Siddha Yoga. In January of 2003, Joan (Radha) Bridges published a story in the Leaving Siddha Yoga website about her personal sexual encounter with Muktananda. No one from SYDA has openly argued with her account, though representatives from the South Fallsburg ashram in upstate NY did visit her and did ask after her personal welfare.
*** Most serious yoga students either take the story about Muktananda at face value or know people who can confirm its truth. SYDA's continuing effort to stonewall on this matter has lost it countless adherents though new people show an interest in Siddha Yoga every day.
*** SYDA's charter states clearly that it cannot exist without a "living Guru" as it central operating principle. Gurumayi/Chidvilasananda continues to play this nearly godlike role for her adherents in absentia, though her books and other writings seem to be readily available via the Siddha Yoga website and many other outlets like Amazon.com. Small, private SYDA "study circles" continue to support people who choose to pursue thus path to "awakening" the awareness of spiritual energy ("kundalini shakti") in themselves.
*** Last year Gurumayi celebrated her 25th Jubilee as the head of Siddha Yoga without making an appearance at any major Siddha Yoga event. She opened this year with a pre-recorded New Year talk (once a staple of the SYDA path after the article was published in 1994) exhorting her "students" to "study" Muktananda's widely read though currently disputed spiritual autobiography Play of Consciousness.
*** Since the summer of last year, in addition to the Leaving Siddha Yoga website which has been in existence since the mid 1990s, two additional websites emerged on blogger: The Guru Looked Good, hosted by a former SYDA staffer, and Rituals of Disenchantment. Both host discussion sites that are active on a daily basis. The first is mostly sympathetic to those who question Siddha Yoga, the second is open to a wider population.
*** There are two yahoogroups associated with Siddha Yoga - SGMKJ, for devotees, and exSY, for those who have left Siddha Yoga.
*** The website for Siddha Yoga and the Ganeshpuri ashram where Gilbert spent time in India can be found by a simple Google search, as can the numerous websites established by people who have left the movement.
*** Liz Gilbert probably keeps this information from her readers because she wants to see them focus on the book and its story, not Siddha Yoga or its Gurus and their stories. She may also want to avoid giving the appearance of being a media representative for SYDA.
Good for you, Joan! Keep speaking up about the deceptive practices of SYDA and Gurumayi!
How unfortunate that Ms. Gilbert seems unaware of the problems with SYDA.
How sad to demean the beautiful practice as SYDA. I have attended many get togethers....they helped me through the death of my mother which was devistating, I was so depressed, withdrawn, scared and empty. The community of SYDA embrased me with lots of open arms and love. I thank them in my heart every day.
It was one of the most moving, spiritual,educating and soul-replenishing experience of my adult life. Bless the Gurumayi and Siddha Yoga Meditation.
Elizabeth Gilbert is a highly respected, award-winning writer who has no reason to hide anything. Muktananda was NEVER charged with any crimes and the media smear campaign against him was started a year after his death in 1982. Elizabeth was only about 13 years old at that time.
The smear campaign against Indian gurus was started in the early 70s by an evangelical Christian named Tal Brooke whose father (Edgar Duffield Brooke) was appointed the Director of Media Content for the United States Information Agency in 1961 by Edward R Murrow. This was during the time Martin Luther King was being harassed by U.S. government in a covert campaign later investigated by the Church Committee. Tal Brooke was also friends with Ram Dass aka Richard Alpert and toured with Muktananda, according to his book Riders of the Cosmic Circuit. His buddy, Surya Das also had an ex girlfriend who started making allegations against Muktananda. None of these stories have ever been corroborated and only seem to come from white westerners who have very idiotic ideas about Hinduism and Tantra. The common theme is they are only propagated by media and people who believe anything negative they hear about Indian gurus, incuding atheists.
How much courage does it take it smear a dead man who cannot defend himself?
If the Indian people were not the non-violent practitioners they profess to be, I believe these closeted "white supremacist" provocateurs would have been sued by now and lost.
In Joan Radha's case, ask her why she donated thousands to the Siddha Yoga org and then began to make claims in 2003 she was molested by Muktananda.
I have never been a follower of Muktananda but I have investigated the allegations regarding Sathya Sai Baba since 2002.
The allegations regarding Sai Baba are even more contradictory and unbelievable than the ones against Muktananda.
Several accusers claim Sai Baba's genitalia supernaturally morphed from male to female. At the same time they claim he is a fraud/magician.
I'm glad a fellow message board member posted indepth information about Elizabeth Gilbert's ashram and their unspiritual doings.
As an ex-Siddha yogi with that exact ashram and guru and lineage, I see how they are continuing to use media people, in this case Gilbert, to rehabilitate their image. In fact, Gilbert's section on her thoughts about meditation/spirituality, almost all of it, is a paraphrase (or seemed at times to me, allegedly verbatim) from the old Siddha Path magazines promulgating all their concerns. People were hurt by this Ashram, financially, emotionally, even investigative reporting about physical abuse. Yoga Journal, The Los Angeles Times, etc. all did reports on the scandals. There are even ex-Siddha Yoga support groups. I left on time before things got truly ugly. In fact Gurumayi's brother was the chosen heir and in a battle for power, she forced the previous guru to appoint her co-heir then she banished the brother (no angel himself). These things need to be told -- at least you'll know the background if you or anyone decides to join this group or follow their teachings. Forewarned is forearmed. Hope the word gets out.
Elizabeth Gilbert needed to be forthcoming. All she has to say is, well I don't believe the reports or they have changed -- but give the world SOME truth, not the fairy tale the book presented.
THANK you! I just posted a similar observation.
Thank you Joan. It's hard to believe that Eat Pray Love could be so major a hit without any of this feedback before now.
I am writing a book on my yoga experiences, including a section based on my life that same ashram and guru and it is quite different from Elizabeth Gilbert's experience.
I don't know where you are getting your information from but Gurumayi did NOT force Muktananda to appoint her as successor over her brother. He appointed them BOTH as successors. What happened after that is known only to those wo experienced it firsthand. Please be more responsible if you are going to pass yourself off as an authority. It is very hypocritical to bash gurus and then to "play guru" yourself and do a very poor job of it.
I do wonder why so many of you feel that adults need your help to make their own decisions about spirituality and the path they want to follow. To me it looks like Mary Garden, Joan Radha et all have a "blame the guru" mentality. And now they are trying to cash in on their moral shortcomings and become famous at others expense. Anyone with an educated brain, who actually STUDIED Hinduism (which most of you apparently have not) knows Sannyasis are supposed to be celibate and would not follow a person who claims to be and is not celibate.
I don't understand the bitterness of some people who tries to hurt the ashram. I know it must feel good to you to let go of your frustrations talking about things that did not please you. It is so easy to be angry and it is so hard to be loving. I started going to the ashram more than 20 years ago and never I saw the Guru being nothing else but love. She always teached the same thing : That the path is about love. It is probably too simple to understand. The mind always want to fight but truly, everyone in the end wants peace and love.
To all those wiith bad feelings, I urge you to contemplate where your anger comes from.
Trashing others will never be the way to find serenity.
When I had hard times living in the ashram, it was never because of the Guru, but because of my attitude.
I am very grateful to have learn to go deep within myself to find the capacity to change and be a better human being.
And all of that, I learned from this wonderful ashram and I will be eternally thankful !
Please don't quote the Dalai Lama in your video, I completely doubt he would condone your work.
Ok. I will state my bias right away, but I was introduced to Siddha Yoga at the age of 4 and was definitely raised in the tradition. It's a huge part of my life and as a result the negativity raised in these posts is incredibly frustrating to me. One of the things that Siddha Yoga has taught me, is to look at everything with an open mind so I want to do everything I can to address Siddha Yoga how I experienced it.
Siddha Yoga at the very base level is a path to enlightenment...to find your own inner happiness. Yes, it's evolved into an organization, with a spirtual leader named Gurumayi, but the organization, the guru and the practices reccommended are simply tools for you to find your own happiness. There is no ulterior motives...there is no rule saying you must believe a certain way....it's a way of living your life with happiness and to face some of the issues that we deal with as we go through our life.
Let me tell you a bit about my experience. Some of my earliest memories are falling asleep on my mother's lap during mediation. Now, that's a scary term to those unfamiliar with it...so let me explain it as best I can. Meditation is the process of quieting your mind and allowing you to focus on how to grow and learn about how to move closer to your own inner peace. It's NOT something to be feared! It's not a weapon! It's important to remember that people fear what they don't understand. So if you experience fear...don't look to criticize it, but seek to understand it. You might find yourself becoming less afraid.
Now to tell you about my experience with the ashram in the States....every summer from the ages of 6-15 or so I was lucky enough to attend the ashram for a week, a month or even the summer. This was a tremendous opportunity for me as I got the chance to meet people from all over the world, learning about other cultures and sharing experiences with people going through the same spiritual journey. As a young child, you don't understand the metaphysical energy, but looking back as a young adult, I understand what lessons I was given. I now have an appreciation for the energy of the ashram....it's hard to describe....but the best way I can think of it is that each person is connected to each other through this thread of energy. Again, this is something that I know can scare people and cause them to write it off...but I ask you to think about it like this. If you've ever had played on a team...you know the feeling of working together towards a common goal...but as an individual athlete, you're still always growing, and improving. The connection I'm talking about is like the connection between teammates working towards a common goal, even though you're there working towards your own happiness.
This community is one of the amazing things about Siddha Yoga. Whether you're at an ashram with thousands of people...or at your local center or even meditating by yourself. You know that you have the support of the entire community, and they support you and have gone through similar challenges. This provides you an incredible resource to turn to in times of difficulty.
Now, I could go on and on...but the message I want you to take from this post is this. I don't know for sure what happened many years ago....and truthfully no one does other then the people directly involved, however my experience with Siddha Yoga has been nothing but positive and I'm thankful every day that I have the community and the tools needed to move through life.
If you would like to hear more, please don't hesitate to email me and I'll be happy to communicate my experiences.
I just saw the movie Eat Pray Love yesterday, and hadn't read the book. As I watched the ashram scenes I recognized them as Siddha Yoga because I had stayed there in India for 3+ months in late 1977- early 1978, and lived in the Ann Arbor Ashram for a couple of years, all when Muktananda was the guru. In the movie, the photo on the throne, the slogan 'God dwells within you as you', the seva, the getting up early to chant the Guru Gita, brought back memories that made me cringe. I had bought the book Eat, Pray, Love a week ago and today looked through the part about the ashram, and found references to the hamsa and Om Namah Shivaya mantras, which are part of Siddha Yoga. This morning I had to push away unwanted memories of lines from the Guru Gita.
Back then Siddha devotees were often unkind to each other, making fun of, criticizing, and competing with others. Once while living in the Ann Arbor ashram I answered the phone and it was Malti (who is now the 'guru'). When I told her the person she wanted to speak to was out, she yelled at me, then hung up on me. The crazy thing is, when I told the person Malti had wanted to speak to about the call (and there were others in the Ann Arbor ashram who heard what happened) everyone (myself included) thought I was 'blessed' for having had that experience. How sad. How warped. Women were very concerned about their makeup and clothes, and there was a lot of competition. Devotees were overly concerned about food and recipes and desserts (had to feed the shakti). So many people from around the world worshipped Muktanada, and adored Malti. There was such a LACK of humility, kindness, purity, restraint.
Although I hadn't actively practiced Siddha meditation since the mid-1980s, I somehow continued to feel a connection. Many years later I realized that the experiences and teachings had negatively effected my thinking and outlook, and several years ago I made a conscious break from the organization, discarding everything I still owned from that period: my beads, chanting book, other Siddha publications, photos, meditation blanket, everything.
I really enjoyed the movie and want to read the book, but I am truly disappointed that the ashram Liz went to was Siddha Yoga. I had spiritual experiences while there and afterward, such as spontaneous pranayama, visions, and deep meditations, but, as X stated, these happen everywhere. I'm sure my inner devotion and dedication to divine spirit and meditation at the time was a major factor to my having those experiences. More important than having unusual experiences though is how we treat each other and live our lives. Simple patience, kindness, humility, inner joy and peace, self-control and restraint, these are true measures of spiritual growth.
"I promise to write a check in the amount of $1,000 to the (SYDA Yoga) Foundation if it can produce one written piece of evidence that Gurumayi is still actively teaching.
'One invitation to an open public program in which Gurumayi (and not her disembodied, pre-recorded voice) has actually appeared and spoken in the past year. Not a private gathering for a few rich devotees who paid exorbitant amounts for a chance to coax Gurumayi back into her saffron robes for a few hours. A program open to your rank and file Siddha Yoga students.
If you go online and read the SYDA Foundation's response to the Salon article on Gurumayi and Siddha Yoga, you'll doubtless notice that the Trustees have organized a letter writing campaign by their inner circle to flood the comments page with positive testimonials.
But, regardless of how many lovely stories they share about the wondrous impact Siddha Yoga has had on their lives, one thing is missing from every one of these letters.
No one has claimed to have seen Gurumayi in years.
As always, SYDA speaks out of both sides of its mouth. Currently, its obsessively repeated talking point is that "the Siddha Yoga Foundation's main purpose is to disseminate Siddha Yoga teachings." After decades of promoting the most slavish (and ultra lucrative) worship of the physical Guru in the persons of Muktananda and Gurumayi, SYDA would now like you to believe that the Guru equals the teachings, nothing more.
Of course, what is left unsaid is that THE main teaching of Siddha Yoga is the absolute necessity of the aspirant to forge a personal relationship with the Siddha Guru in order to attain liberation--the goal of all spiritual seeking.
It's a neat sleight of hand, designed to distract the eye from the terrible paradox that Siddha Yoga has become: Siddha Yoga teaches that you need the physical Guru to attain enlightenment; the Guru is no longer physically present but always available to students in the form of her teachings; the teachings state that the student needs the physical Guru.
What is particularly cruel about this shell game is how dismissive it is to those who are still trying to practice Siddha Yoga. The comments on this blog alone are rife with the pain of those who cling to the practices, enduring empty satsangs at their local centers, canned New Year's "teachings" that repeat verbatim year after year with depressing monotony, expensive Intensives that are dry of Shakti and conducted by exhausted swamis who run from the attendees lest they be asked yet again for any news of Gurumayi's whereabouts. And, after putting up with all this, and still remaining attached (in a now wholly-inconvenient parlance) to the Guru's feet, these seekers have to listen to SYDA insisting that "for almost three decades, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, the spiritual head of the Siddha Yoga path, has guided students through her teachings."
Well, it's time to put up or shut up, SYDA. I promise to write a check in the amount of $1,000 to the Foundation if it can produce one written piece of evidence that Gurumayi is still actively teaching. One invitation to an open public program in which Gurumayi (and not her disembodied, pre-recorded voice) has actually appeared and spoken in the past year. Not a private gathering for a few rich devotees who paid exorbitant amounts for a chance to coax Gurumayi back into her saffron robes for a few hours. A program open to your rank and file Siddha Yoga students.
Siddha yoga is everything that is wrong with Indian Guru-centered traditions come to the West. Muktananda was a charismatic renunciate who clearly had a pwoerful way about him, but became involved in sexual conduct, had temper tantrums, visions of grandeur, and spawned 2 equally suspicious lineage heirs - Nityananda and Gurumayi - the latter kicking the former out forcefully and continuing on with the questionable Guruship of the ashram. Many have left Siddha Yoga including long-time swamis and students. This Eat Pray Love book/movie is right in line with the empty glitz of the ashram - a flaky naiive account by a flaky naiive dramatist. Don't be suckered in to this ashram by the bells and whistles. You will be sorry for it if you do. So many cult indicators it's hard to keep count.
Some interesting rumors and observations from the comments section this past August on the Rituals of Disenchantment blog.
I have seen a good number of copies of EPL marked down in the books section at Goodwill.
She's Back in the Ashram giving Darshan to her inner circle.
As Dana Carvey's former SNL Church Lady character would say, "Well, isn't that special."
Too long a story but last week a text came out of the blue to a friend from a former (or perhaps still current) inner-circler, mentioning little more than, surprise!, they were in South Fallsberg, and that it was nice to be back in their old home.
Now the entry above about Darshan clarifies.
Re: the slideshow at the SY site to of the recent celebration: makes me wonder how those still hanging on to the edge outer circle feel when they receive such things. Seems to me it rubs in their faces "she's here" and "the party's still going on -- without you."
"She's Back in the Ashram giving Darshan to her inner circle."
Why just the inner circle? I just don't get her game. Is she not willing to give it all up? Is she waiting for something. She's disappeared from public view to all but the select view. She never was a hard worker and the more devotees she had, the more effort she had to put in, but I'm still not sure what her game now is.
6:38 your comments just do not reflect realilty.
Gurumayi may be a nrccisistic leader of a destructive cult , but saying she never worked hard is just off. Worked extremely hard. Inner circle people were expected to keep up the grueling pace.
No surprise you don't know what her game is now, you don't have a handle on what it was. No offense please, but obvious you did not know her.
Hi 4.07, 6.38 here (feel like I'm in a Sci Fi movie with these numbers:):)). No offense taken.
I did know her actually, but I knew her in comparison to Muk and it was lazy language on my part to say she wasn't a hard worker. I'll explain in a moment.
What I should have said is that she wasn't committed to her people like Muk was (that's what I meant when I said she didn't work hard). I remember her leaving darshan several times on one of the tours even though there were people in the line still waiting, because it was late and she had had enough. This was when she was visiting another country and there were people there who only saw her once a year or so. They were craving a connection to her, but she just stood up and left, she retired to her luxury mansion down the road (hired for the week at a monstrous cost) to presumably keep harassing her "inner circle" with more "guru commands" to keep them on their toes and sleep deprived.
She was always more into her glamor (witness the glamorous people around her), her luxuries, the games she played with the people around her and quite frankly, her power than anything else.
In Muk's day - and I don't negate the evil he perpatrated - he very much gave the impression that he was there because the love of his devotees kept him there. It was as if he had no choice, they were his magnet and it seemed genuine, not contrived like Gummy. Again, I'm not deifying Muk. We're all over that. But it was different.
I should add 4.07 that you are probably right and I shouldn't have posted, only because she was never my guru and she was the guru for everyone else here. I read these boards because I'm still to some extent working through my own experience, but I should keep out and leave it to those who more rightly belong in this space.
At least Muk stayed in the ashram when he visited this particular country. There was plenty of room, just five years after his passing for her stay there. Rather, she hired a mansion that an insider told me cost $15,000 per week. I remember the street and it is Zillionaire territory. $15,000 was then an average annual salary in lower-middle management. Three times that amount would buy you a two bedroom apartment in those years. Gummy stayed in an outrageously expensive house, while Muk stayed with his people. So yes, perhaps "she was never a hard worker" was not quite the right way of saying it.
Thanks for response. Saw the type of things you saw many times.
Lazy not an adjective I would use for the woman. Lover of luxury yes.
Well now, can it be? The photos of gurumayi at southfallsburgh for the 8/8/celebration? Isn't somebody paying somebody some money when someone verifies seeing gurumayi. To tell the truth, the photo looks like gm 20 years ago. Although the bracelet looks new. See how skeptical and synical I've become. It's a job requirement for me. A job of social service in a violent city setting. I'm daily thankful for mantra.
I was also around in Muk's time and GM's time and the comments above about Muk staying with his devotees while GM rented expensive places to stay tend to be correct from my own observation.
Except when Muk stayed "with his devotees" they typically had to move out of their own place so he and his staff could live there.
The diff? Muk's way saved the foundation a LOT of money. GM's way spent a lot of the foundation's money. Which, largely, had previously been the devotees' money.
So who was the better steward of the donations that had been offered?
Except when Muk stayed "with his devotees" they typically had to move out of their own place so he and his staff could live there."
Oh yes, like Boston all those years ago. I had forgotten about that.
Muktananda has been dead almost 30 years. SY has been dead almost 10, by any reckoning other than that of the zombies who remain. Comparing Muk's dedication to SY to GM's seems pretty pointless at this point. It was once a small club, then it became a big club, then for a while it became a kind of franchise, then it became a small club again, and now it's more like a book group. We are not invited to the meetings, though we are welcome to pay dues, with the hope that one day the invitation will come to attend. I would guess that most of us who read this blog have long stopped paying dues, and are now actually choosing our own reading material, maybe even joining other book groups. Bravo for us, I say.
checked back on the supposed new pictures of GM at the ashram, and of course the slides are now down -- you're redirected to a different homage. Were the photos real, and was this just a cynical ploy? In the photos she looked younger than other photos shown in the bookstore. As usual, we'll never know.
Was glad to recently be directed by a post here to that slide show. Hadn't clicked on siddha yoga website in long time.
Found it really quite a meditation to spend time watching the very generic slide show, with but one swami in attendance, and the backs of some heads in chairs and maybe a shot of young pujari and a darshan girl, one family darshan in front of SMA. then and the murti and ganesh choked with garish display of flowers. "In this Economy!" and the obligatory shot of the full moon.
Whether faked or not, what came to me was that Gurumayi is stunted and has grown not at all. After all that has gone down there wasn't a hint of the reality of her former devotees experience with her. Like she is still sitting on a chair expecting to be worshipped.
Get out the chair and off that pedestal for God's sake! Offer something authentic to the world.
Some of those "zombies" appear to be quite alive and kicking, per my very recent observation just this past weekend.
There are simply a LOT fewer of them than there used to be.
From what I could see, those that remain are simply "continuing on as before" with no real sign of further personal growth.
"Autopilot" would be a good way to describe it.
Except they were all just a lot older-looking than the last time I saw them.
I was happy to not feel compelled to follow the herd anymore. The hardest parts was keeping myself from wanting to bolt when those I used to know invited me to participate, and politely just say "not today, if it's OK", and keeping myself from laughing out loud at hearing old ideas and concepts I simply just don't believe in anymore, dutifully repeated by the herd. I didn't want to insult them. But I recognized just how far I had moved on by comparison with them.
I am intrigued by the photos of gm on syda website 8/8/11. Swami A waving arati lamp also looks like he did 2 decades ago. I guess this is the place where no one is surprised at subterfuge. I am.
I'm happy for the person who is feeling good about not being part of the pack. Although, not being part of the GM pack IS being part of the populace at large pack. That's the whole thing about being "in" or "out". It's subjective. Where have all the Siddha Yogis and Yoginis gone? Other Guru's, Buddhism, Like me. Or secular happiness.
An old timer told me Swami M held satsang at schools in Honolulu. There was a general unhappiness when GM insisted on programs at an expensive Waikiki resort. We adapted, not with out some being yelled at from the big chair.
Back to in or out. I actually was an insider. I'm proud to say I was excommunicated by the "real insider" staff when I expressed a contradictory opinion. I say proud because, although it hurt and was perplexing, I thought it was hilarious. Saw through it. My siddha friends and I were "in". Later some of us "quit in protest." GM was "out".
If Siddha Yoga taught me anything important, it's that my own experience of life still matters and guides me. Yet, ironically, this is exactly where Siddha Yoga failed, and was bound to fail. I could never see this at the time—during my 20 year hiatus from real life, because I was too addicted to the panacea dour jour—the "perfect" Guru pill that was to rid one of all their ills. Siddha Yoga failed because it refused to embrace the HUMAN experience, instead offering a person temporary transcendence from one's human foibles, negative feelings and thoughts. It preferred and sustained a structure for only inviting and nurturing the positive pole of existence, while striving to ignore, less hide, the polar opposite—that of the dark side of being human. In fact, it used punitive, in some or many cases, damaging measures to insure this sort of lopped sided existence continue. Ironically, though it prided itself on championing great compassion, I look back and can see that during that time, I probably had the least compassion for others and this planet as did many of my friends, swamis, leaders—the people I knew within this community. There was little tolerance for human suffering which created an uncomfortable undertone of resentment towards people's normal and difficult problems. It was though, while one floated above in the blissful heavens, a toxic river of human pathology ran below. How could a human being then avoid an eventual manic stretch in their life? I sure didn't. Actually, this is not unlike many organized religions, even though I refused to see my venture in Siddha Yoga as belonging to a "cult" or an organized religion. I bought that it was the "perfect" spiritual path to enlightenment.
Now, I even question if "enlightenment" exists, especially within the ridiculous circus of a spiritual goose chase. Going after it rather bankrupted me in different ways, especially on the practical level of life. Yet, what I cannot deny is that I do not regret having experienced Siddha Yoga, and I still miss the community, friends and even Gurumayi who I had and shared such passion and bliss with.
Why? Because, I'm only human and human beings are social animals who need community—we need our friends, family, teachers, mentors, leaders and absorbing rituals that help to identify some meaning and order in our lives. We crave some happiness to balance out the difficult, messy, conflicting and painful experience of human evolution. And for many years, during many times, I did feel very happy in Siddha Yoga and loved participating in many of the ceremonies and rituals. Who wouldn't miss fun, good times with good friends while celebrating exotic, beautiful, ENCHANTING, cultural events full of inner and outer fire works?
People like you and others on this blog have validated for me that SY was like a dangerous drug addiction.
Even then, at the peak of my involvement, and while standing right there in the epicenter at South Fallsburg, I still had the wherewithal to question, How can they be offering a course like this on family when Gurumayi has no relationship with her own?
I kept that thought tightly to myself and no doubt it was shortly thereafter engulfed in the noon chant, evening program or whatever.
Going back for a moment to artsquiggle's Why Siddha Yoga Failed, I want to take a highlighter and run it over the word "temporary". With the distance of time and sober perspective it is so clear that Siddha Yoga was a high you had to sustain, and that Siddha Yoga did provide/"sell" everything you needed to sustain it.
Funny in retrospect to think of how Gurumayi herself, without any reserve and in the most public of talks, used the words "drunk", "intoxicated", and "high" to describe the experience of the practices.
Back to "family" for a moment: I think two things were going on. One, the Shetty family was exceptionally dysfunctional (and I've expressed here and elsewhere the sympathy I feel for anyone thrust by their parents into the arms of their abuser) and Two, a big part of what perpetuated the "mystery of the guru" around Gurumayi was the absence of anything that made her like us. From basic day to day bodily functions (i.e. the fact that she sat in programs + darshan for hours without food or bathroom breaks) to any basic visible human support systems (i.e. no public mention of her parents, or siblings, and she is one of four, or even knowledge of a close confidant or friend . . . and sorry, George doesn't count in this instance as I am referring to how she was perceived by the "newly intiated" – I myself was involved for four+ years, with family who'd been in much longer, before I caught my first whiff of "the rumors" -- and that is something SY had mastered: keeping their secrets until you were in too deep, but I digress . . . ).
By concealing, at least from the eyes of the larger flock, things that would make Gurumayi one of us, SY made her into a guru. We all know this now; it's all been said before.
Several years ago, as I was making my exit, I read on a blog somewhere that both of Gurumayi's parents had died and within a year of each other (I believe this was shortly after she turned 50, in the early years of her disappearance). I checked her brother's website and found tributes to them both, as well as descriptions of the events that honored their passing. From what I could gather, both were active, revered figures in his community. And rightly so, it occurred to me, because after all, from Subash's devottees' perspective, they did produce "the heir(s) to the throne".
Anyway, for a moment I was suddenly struck by the very human life passages impacting Gurumayi, her own aging, her loss. Especially if her relationship with her parents had been strained to the point of nonexistent. I could understand her rage towards them but also suddenly had this sense of her standing at that moment in her life, with those two relationships unresolved, and them now dead.
I felt the regret and this sense of her broken. As broken as many or any of us would be faced with the same. I saw her standing somewhere alone, privately defeated, asking herself the "What have I done with my life?" question . . .
Shortly after the above, I wrote to an old friend who was once as close to the inside of SY as anyone I know, someone for a time as close as anyone can get, someone to this day involved. I mentioned I'd heard about the passing of Gurumayi's parents and wondered what the reaction had been within the SY community.
Her response was a one-sentence door slam that made clear in no uncertain terms the topic was not up for discussion.
Her response was also the last confirmation I needed that leaving Siddha Yoga was the right decision.
"With the distance of time and sober perspective it is so clear that Siddha Yoga was a high you had to sustain, and that Siddha Yoga did provide/"sell" everything you needed to sustain it.
Good points! Whether it was for business, power, and good intentions indicative of the times…whether it has or did yield some good things for a period, I agree, that Siddha Yoga was built around the premise of doing everything you could to sustain that drunken high. For me, there will always remain a part that is pure mystery. Some things I experienced just could not be explained away by ordinary circumstances. Like my experience of taking the Month Long Course on the little Mt. Kailas. It was another beautiful world that may forever impact my life: It just blew me away. I can't feel angry with Gurumayi. In fact, I seem to keep this soft spot in my heart for her because I think she is a tragic, lonely figure.
But, I digress—so to get back to my point: What I started to find, that with all my immense "trying" (constant, continual investment into Siddha Yoga practices, etc.), I wasn't staying in those high places so much, but plunging deeper into frightening caverns of pain, illness, despair—feeling plain lost. When I sought some advice or at least comfort, I got more and more cold responses back from GM and all of her entourage peeps. Some of my close SY friends, not all, were also less than sympathetic or kind. They seemed repulsed by my "negativity" and if I wasn't receiving zombie-like prescriptions of Darshan quotes, I then got some pretty snotty lectures about how I had "no shakti" or was just plain allowing my mind to run amok. Obviously, something just wasn't working anymore and a lot of anger, objection, and questioning set in.
Then, around the end of the 90's, into the new millennium, came a procession of new spiritual teachers who addressed "embodiment"— a descending back down the mountain, if you will, to face and clean up all the dirty laundry that had been neglected and piled up for years. For me, sitting with the embodiment teachings for a couple of years was like rehab for the soul. These teachings welcomed all of me—the good, the bad, the messy and the ugly. They helped shake me loose, helped me put things into perspective; allowed me to slowly wean myself off of the Siddha sugar and make a new re-entry into my own ordinary humanness. The residual, even now, is still a kind of knee-jerk little tug on my heart that I think I want to find a new satsang group, for the sake of sharing a very special, meaningful community. But, I find no impetus to look into one. Instead, my time is filled with perpetual practical life and family. I also do not subscribe to "enlightenment", while even suspicious of it. To me, it's a different animal than wanting to know what's authentic and true for me in life by challenging my own fears and myths. I like this blog, because it is another venue for me to do just that. Thanks, friends, for letting me process & ramble.
I wrote a post which doesn't seem to have been published. Perhaps a hiccup in the system. In short it simply said that I find more compassion and "welcome with love and respect" on these boards than I did most of the time that I was in SY.
Your recent posts have been very validating for me.
I leapt heart & soul into SY in 1981. I was in my third year of college and was a member of a fraternity house, where there was immense peer pressure to do drugs. It was ruining my life and I knew it, and wanted some way to go cold turkey and escape that world.
I was taking hatha yoga and my teacher and her husband were Muktananada devotees who ran a satsang once a week. I attended and came away with my mind so clear and calm, there was no mental chatter or nervous tension at all and in the course of 3 hours got done what normally would have been 8 to 9 hours' worth of homework. Later, I found out that Muk was giving people "shaktipat" by touch, awaken their kundalini, and through it took away their addictions. Even before I met him, at the local satsangs my third-eye chakra was tingling fiercely like thousands of tiny pin pricks, whenever we chanted the ONS mantra. I knew SY was for me and met Muk at Fallsburg in spring 1981. With one intensive, all my drug addictions literally fell away.
I was incredibly grateful, and loved Muk at the time, and stayed with SY out of loyalty to him for 24 more years.
Later, after re-reading the New Yorker article that came out in '94(I was in total denial about it after reading it in '94), and even more so, when Radha Bridges went public about her abuse by Muk and about GM's/SYDA's attempts to pressure into silence, in othe words trying to launch a cover-up, suddenly lots of little things about SY that had just not added up over the years suddenly became very clear for me. I realized that in fact I was always chasing that "high" I experienced around Muk and that what had happened to me so many years ago was that one set of addictions was merely replaced by another. A drug addiction was replaced with a cult addiction. I do believe I received "something" from Muk when he gave me shaktipat but I no longer unquestioningly believe that it was a positive thing. I felt very guilty about all those women Muk supposedly abused and my own strong sense of personal integrity, moroals, and ethics meant that to maintain that integrity, I had to step away from SY and be totally apart from it. Suddenly the oft repeated retort of "But that wasn't MY experience" rang hollow for me and smacked of people not wanting to face the hard, ugly truth and choosing to remain in denial. Except that even remaining in SY meant that some degree of tacit support for that abuse existed on some level, whether people were fully conscious of that tacit support or not. To me it reeked of irresponsibility for one's own spiritual and personal growth, and irresponsibility to the welfare of people. It became a dichotomy that I simply could no longer reconcile in my mind. So, in 2006 I completely quit SY.
I tried getting involved in a couple of other guru-based groups, but it all seemed like more of the same. I could no longer really "get into it" anymore.
And now I just enjoy being me for me without a whole lot of pseudo-religiousity or even real religiousity, needed for me to respect my own integrity.
Thanks again for sharing your perspective. I've really enjoyed your posts.
Thanks for your kind words and wishes. When I met Baba and was introduced to SY I too experienced that burning pin prick in the third eye. Sometimes I saw, and could have sworn I heard the crackling of flames between my eyes. It's still mysterious to me how Baba and Gurumayi could wrench my heart so much that I'd find myself casting everything else aside to only want to be near them, serve them and follow them.
And, like you, I was finding that for the first time in my entire life, I could sweep through many activities in little time and effort. That dazzled me since nothing had ever come easy to me in life. I always had to struggle, work extra hard if I wanted to achieve something. But, meeting Baba changed all that. Now I was flying with super powers! And nothing would stop me while on fire with Siddha Yoga…until… the eventual train wreck with reality.
People like you and others on this blog have validated for me that SY was like a dangerous drug addiction. I felt so great in the beginning, but then, I found myself taking more and more "hits" while feeling less and less intoxicated with my "Inner Bliss".
Finally, I just drained my poor body and got very ill before I was able to enter a phase of self repair. And it started with a harsh focus on survival, putting the shattered ego back together and growing it some thick skin.
So, AMPA, I'm so glad to hear you now feel a wholesome sense of enjoying your own self integrity. That is priceless in the most human sense. Sure beats standing in a sweaty mile-long line, wrapped in an itchy, wool shawl, clutching a $10 coconut while awaiting the swat of a peacock feather.
SeekHer, it does not take much digging to find that a person who is spiritually searching may apply to offer seva at Shree Muktananda Ashram as a short or long term retreat participant(see Siddha Yoga Website). This would be one way for you to discover whether or not Swami Chidvilasananda is teaching.
The conclusions that you draw, that Gurumayi is no longer teaching or are around are brazenly speculative, seem not to be based on personal interviews, conversations or personal experience of any kind. Although you are articulate, your conclusions are lazy. Strictly speaking from the art of reason, you have missed a number of possibilities in your conjecture. The best investigative reporters (which is what you seem to be pursuing, though the biased emotional connection you seem to have on this topic of Siddha Yoga helps you make leaps in causation and correlation), have in their deepest intent, to find the truth. They go to great ends to be objective, and to present fact.
I do not know any person, or organization that would like to share information about themselves to someone, or someones, whom 1) seem to have a blatant disregard for the integrity of who they are and 2)whose intention is purely self satisfying. You want to be right as opposed to truthful.
If there was some greater reason in your heart of hearts you wanted to know if Gurumayi was still around and teaching, you wouldn't emotionally spew on a blog page, you would take great action and find a way to figure this out. Your mind seems to be in a place where it wants to be 'right' instead of truthful.
It is easy to shout, when no one responds.
If you had a deeper connection to a pure intention, one that was filled with true concern of finding out whether or not Swami Chidvilasananda was teaching because you thought people were being deeply hurt, you would make sure you found out the truth. Right now you are not serving, or helping anyone who may be practicing who has not seen Swami Chidvilasananda and has some doubts. You are justifying a self righteousness, and it's not okay, because it may be causing more hurt and confusion.
Please, go to greater lengths to find out the truth, before you stake your claim to it's irreproachable existence.
So basically SeekHer has no other alternative but to apply to become a long-term slavite in order to justify the existence of this blog.
Your comment is ludicrous. The fact that So Falls needs sevites to keep the walls from falling down in no way means that G is there or teaching. Even before Gurumayi disappeared, you could spend months at the So Falls ashram and never see her, as anyone who has spent any time there knows.
No where else in your long comment do you attempt to claim that Gurumayi is currently in So Fallsburg, or that she has been there at all in recent years. Sorry, but the kind of circular reasoning you're trying to use just won't fly here. We've regained our capacity to think rationally; you are way out of your depth.
"Right now you are not serving, or helping anyone who may be practicing who has not seen Swami Chidvilasananda and has some doubts. You are justifying a self righteousness, and it's not okay, because it may be causing more hurt and confusion.Please, go to greater lengths to find out the truth, before you stake your claim to it's irreproachable existence."
I understand now. You are this someone who 'may be practicing' and who has some doubts. I am sorry to have been curt with you. I am more sorry that Gurumayi has gone missing, and there is nothing anyone can do to track her down. I don't have to prove that she is gone; it is your lived experience as a Siddha Yoga student. When did you last see or hear her? The New Year's Day message of 2008, right? Since then nothing but vague claims that she is still teaching at Fallsburg. No one has details, no one will come forward and say, I saw her, she was at a program and she said this or that. May I ask, why do you accept this idea that some students are worthier than you and that they still see her when you cannot?
If SYDA cared about you and the thousands of other students they claim to represent, they would issue some specific news about Gurumayi,even if it is to say that she has gone into retirement. But they don't care, so long as the donations keep flowing in.
Again, I can't say I'm sorry to bring you the news of Gurumayi's disappearance, because it is not news to you. I am sorry to ask you to look at that fact and come to terms with it.
"Her experience of a deep, personal soul connection with a living Guru may be"
Are you kidding? How many sy devotees had a "deep, personal connection? Sweet F**k all! Is that what bowing in darshan every night was? Every person here, think about just how many words they ever had IN PERSON with GM or Muk? Deep and personal in your dreams. They did not let the ordinary folks have a personal realationship because they were not the least bit interested in their devotees, the interest was in Money. If GM was to come back on stage today ,who could have a personal relationship with her? Who would have her number in their mobile, her email, an invitation to dinner now and then? Deep and personal in the devotees IMAGINATION, a conceptual relationship, what an absolute farce the SY student /master relationship was.
I am strictly a "Baba Said" person. [only half-way tongue-in-cheek].
My memory of what he said is quite good. I don't need SYDA documentation, which can surely be falsified and/or mis-construed.
You *do need an actual teacher. The "Letter on the Page" is usually not enough to "get it?"
At the last time Baba left Fallsburg for India, he put together legal documentation as to what defined "Siddha Yoga." He announced to us that it became an official, legal religion and entity.
"Siddha Yoga is the Guru."
That is the beginning, middle and end of the description.
That is the good news and the bad.
Without a Guru, you cannot have Siddha Yoga.
Not to repeat myself, (since I know I've said this before): I find it ironic that Gurumayi went to so much trouble to wrest the organization from her brother.
To abandon it later as a further demonstration of her "own free will?"
I really think there is more to this story. And maybe someday I will know it.
Best to you lovely writers, my SY "sisters,"
And to Marta:(Marta Szabo, author of The Guru Looked Good--a former member of Gurumayi's inner circle) You rocked on that morning show. How cool was that?


The coral reef is beautiful near the Captain Cook Monument at Kealakekua Bay (Kona, Hawaii). Parts of Finding Nemo were inspired by the seascape there (mainly the large drop-off). One of the most beautiful snorkeling sites in the world. You can read the detailed account here.


Legends are getting harder to find!
Re: I KNEW I should have booked for the TT last year!
Yeah... Just found the link to the India trip last night. We get to watch British TV through all sorts of links, mostly the Canadian CBC network or PBS from the States. SQMBO has full control of the PVR and the remote, so I get to watch all sorts of British Mysteries, even some Aussie ones... 'Foyle's War', 'Miss Fisher', 'Grantchester', etc... On the subject of Guy though, I had an inkling he may have been considering greener pastures than the job at the truck depot. I watched the Spitfire build, and the Pike's Peak episode, and thought "Unh-hunh... He may be a guest host on 'Top Gear' pretty soon!"
Of course, you'd need some sort of universal translator hooked up for us North Americans to be able to understand the whole conversation!
Guess I've got mixed feelings. He was a great ambassador to the sport, and I would have really liked to have seen him win a TT race (or even be there).
But that said, I remember sitting on the bank up at the Creg in 2010 for hours thinking that Guy had died in a fiery crash, so kinda glad he's bailing out (mostly) in one piece.
There's other great riders to follow, but Guy will be missed in the bike world. Hope he does show up somewhere doing a bike TV show or some-such.
Oh wait... should have read more carefully. He still has a chance in 2015 to get that TT win. Good luck Guy!
I've been able to catch pretty much all of his TV stuff, one way or another. Folks send me stuff, some of it is on YouTube, and I do have my ways of watching the occasional British show in it's native land.
I know exactly what you mean Smilo, by sitting there thinking he was a goner at that crash. I only found out about it an hour or two later catching up with events listening to Radio Manx. There was still a lot of confusion about how bad the injuries were, and the thought that he had run out of luck kept coming up. Then again, I worry about them all! Funny how you get personal with the riders even though I've only met a few. Ian Lougher was here for a promo for the ill fated Cape Breton TT. I knew very little about the race then. I remember being incredibly impressed with his enthusiasm and skills.
I'll be listening again this year I guess, we have a cruise scheduled with the family in early July. No way finances or time lines will allow for both.
It'll be interesting seeing if Guy gets a BMW!
I remember you posting on the old FS about your bad TT experience that year. Funny how people thousands of miles away can have the same wretched gut feeling at near the same time. I vividly remember that feeling when our great F1 driver, Gilles Villeneuve, was killed in 1982. I was amazed at the tributes coming in that day from Italy to Argentina!
It's supposed to be a miserable snow day tomorrow! I spent the whole bloody day today blowing out the driveway and paths around the house. If I get snowed-in again tomorrow, I think I will get out my nice new bottle of Captain Morgan, stoke up the fire, and watch the Youtube version of Guy's Indian 'Adventure'!
There is a couple that have been riding BMW's half-way around the world. I've been following their adventures on SportsTouring and ADV Rider for almost 3 years now. They are currently riding in Spain, headed for the TT at some point. I'll post a link tomorrow. They also rode two Royal Enfields through India to the Himalayas several years ago. Quite the 'adventure'. Not something I would have on the top of my 'to-do' list. It will be interesting seeing the comparison, if any, in the rides!
As I've said before, Joey's death was the thing that finally got me to take the trip to the TT. Kind of odd, but he was the TT to me (from my limited vantage point), and I even thought he lived there.
Yeah, I've tried to analyze the attraction, but I can't figure it out to be honest.
The trip for me isn't easy or cheap. But I've not found anything else in regards to visiting a place that is as addictive.
I miss every year I don't go, I wonder if I'm going to get to go again, I miss people I see only there, I wonder if it is going to happen again, etc., etc.
I don't get that attachment to other places/events I've been to. It's an odd deal and it bites so many who visit.
Anyways... The whole thing has rekindled my interest in East Coast motorcycle trips. I was going to head for the Great Plains out west, but logically, funding trips nearer to home is much more likely. Several bikers I know are interested in a Newfoundland trip and the ferry embarks about 1/2 hour from my front door.
Yeah, I have to figure I'll eventually get over the house thing, and will be able to consider another big trip again. I want to do the TT again, but it may be a while.
Short-term plans include a trip to vintage races at Barber motorsports park in Alabama (maybe take the toy-hauler). And maybe some trip to Circuit of the Americas in Austin TX.
I'm glad I at least had that Montreal trip before the fire, so I am not going too crazy for lack of riding.
Ye that not getting enough bum on seat is a teriblee thing it bites you every now and again and no warning when it is going to bite , not like a Rattler that you can hear the warning sounds as you approach it just sneaks up and whacks you , last year I was that busy building the M11 Bugilow then getting on with the marshaling that I just did not realize how little riding I had done , and then one dark cold night I opened the Garage door stood there and looked at 3 bikes and 2 projects and wondered what had I done ? where had the time gone ? and its been nagging me ever since , I love the marshaling but I am still a rider at heart and need to get the balance sorted it has tipped the wrong way at the moment , trouble with me is its all or nowt I get somthing in my head and thats it , like a dog with a bone , lol, will have to be careful though don't want a divorce for the 50th wedding anniversary !!
Well... it does if you're on a coast.
...and no! That's not concrete. It's solid ice, and yes, it IS uphill.
Blehhh... I am starting to get the bike jitters even so. I just bought a small ratchet set and some screwdrivers to build a new toolkit for the KLR. It can't be that much more winter, can it?
I must make plans. Time is wasting!
The last few days have been extra-tough, and I was feeling it. At the wife's insistence, We took the bike out yesterday and went for a nice ride. It helped a lot.
Weather is wonderful here, but looking for a bit of rain (the non-frozen version of snow for those who forget) during the week.
Well, better to choose a change than get forced into it. That's one way to look at it. I can nearly guarantee that some riding will help with the "old grumpy" syndrome.
Being around all the biking stuff, like your marshaling surely helps too, but never found anything like riding to put me in a better mood.
Oh yeah, meant to comment on J.P.'s pictures as well, but frankly, as a Florida-ite, I'm just stunned!


text:
Home > Blog > World Congress Postpone 2021
World Congress Postpone 2021
Dear ISRRT members,
We are writing to each of you to give an update on the 21st ISRRT World Congress scheduled to be held this August 26-29, 2020 in Dublin Ireland.
As you will all be aware, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting most of our countries around the world today in an unprecedented manner. The ISRRT is aware that many of its members are engaged in the battle of the COVID-19 as frontline health professionals. The ISRRT also acknowledges that most countries have implemented travel ban for health care workers which may be extended beyond the end of this year. It remains unknown when the COVID-19 pandemic will end, and when international travel restrictions will be lifted.
The ISRRT has now had several meetings with the Irish Institute of Radiography and Radiation Therapy organizing committee to find a viable solution for the World Congress. As organizations, it is with heavy heart that the ISRRT Board of Management and the Irish society planning committee must announce that the 21st ISRRT World Congress will be postponed to August 17-21, 2021 Dublin Ireland.
For those, people that have already registered for the 2020 World Congress, please be reassured that your registration fee will be moved forward and applied to the August 17-21, 2021 meeting dates. Hence, they are considered registered for the Congress in 2021. If you have additional questions relating to your registration please contact the planning committee at ISRRT2020@advantagegroup.ie.
The approved abstracts for the 21st World Congress in 2020 will be automatically upheld for the 17-21 August 2021 dates. A new email will be sent to all abstract writers, in order to RSVP and reaffirm plans for attending the 2021 meeting. Please note, that a new abstract section for COVID 19 is being developed and thus the opportunity to submit an abstract with the pandemic experiences to be accepted for next year's meeting track as well. Visit the ISRRT website for related information.
Hotels agreements are being renegotiated for next year's dates by the PCO and the Irish planning committee. The PCO and/or the hotel you have originally booked will be in contact with you to move you're booking if you have already booked accommodation. There is no need for you to take any action until they have been in contact with you.
Although we need to postpone, we are all very excited to host our ISRRT 21st World Congress on August 17-21st, 2021. Furthermore, be assured that the postponement of the World congress to Dublin, 2021 will not impact the dates and year of the scheduled 22nd ISRRT World Congress which will still be held in Bangkok, Thailand, 2022.
ISRRT members, we appreciate your knowledge, skills, expertise and care as frontline health professionals in the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us all continue our efforts for every patient's well-being, stay safe and know that the ISRRT is always here to support you.
Donna Newman, ISRRT President and Dean Harper IIRRT President


text:
objective('Relay', function() {

  before(function() {
    mock('GroupConfig',  require('./_group_config').config);
    mock('PersonConfig', require('./_person_config').config);
    mock('Promise', require('bluebird'));
    mock('expect', require('chai').expect);
    mock('request', require('bluebird').promisifyAll(require('request')))
  });

  context('calls server.createRelayConnected() if datalayer connectable', function() {

    before(function(done, Promise, happner, GroupConfig, PersonConfig) {
      this.timeout(20000);
      Promise.all([
        happner.create(GroupConfig(1)),
        happner.create(PersonConfig(1, 1)),
        happner.create(PersonConfig(2, 1)),
        happner.create(PersonConfig(3, 1)),
      ])
      .spread(function(group1, person1, person2, person3) {
        mock('group1', group1);
        mock('person1', person1);
        mock('person2', person2);
        mock('person3', person3);
        mock('relay1', group1._mesh.elements.relay.module.instance);
      })
      .then(done)./*catch(done)*/catch(function(e) {
        if (! e instanceof Error) {
          console.log('ERROR1', e); // <----------------------------------- TODO: getting errors that are not instanceof Error out of happn/happner, eradicate this behaviour.
          return done(new Error());
        }
        done(e);
      });
    });

    after(function(done, Promise, group1, person1, person2, person3) {
      Promise.all([
        group1.stop(),
        person1.stop(),
        person2.stop(),
        person3.stop(),
      ]).then(done).catch(done);
    });

    it('makes new connection',

      function(done, /* Relay, */ Server, relay1, group1, person1, expect) {

        // var relay;
        // mock(Relay.prototype).spy(
        //   function createServer($happn) { // TODO: objective_dev: can't mock on function using injection
        //     relay = this;
        //   }
        // );

        var $happn = person1._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance; // as injected

        var relaySpec1 = {
          target: $happn.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person1_thing1',
            description: $happn.description,
          }
        }

        // expect 1 call the createRelayConnected()

        mock(Server.prototype).does(function createRelayConnected(happn, connection, relaySpec, callback) {callback()});

        // expect 1 call to addConnection

        relay1.does(
          function addConnection() {
            mock.original.apply(this, arguments);
          }
        );

        // person initiates relay of his/her private thing

        person1.exchange.group1.relay.createServer(relaySpec1)

        .then(function() {
          expect(Object.keys(   relay1.connections   )).to.eql(['127.0.0.1:20001']);
        })

        .then(done).catch(done);
      }
    );

    it('makes two relays with one connection on concurrent call to relay',

      function(done, Promise, Server, relay1, group1, person2) {

        var $happn1 = person2._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;
        var $happn2 = person2._mesh.elements.thing2.component.instance;

        var relaySpec1 = {
          target: $happn1.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person2_thing1',
            description: $happn1.description,
          }
        };
        var relaySpec2 = {
          target: $happn2.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person2_thing2',
            description: $happn2.description,
          }
        };

        // expect 2 calls to createRelayConnected()

        mock(Server.prototype).does(
          function createRelayConnected(happn, connection, relaySpec, callback) {callback()},
          function createRelayConnected(happn, connection, relaySpec, callback) {callback()}
        );

        // expect 1 call to addConnection

        relay1.does(
          function addConnection() {
            mock.original.apply(this, arguments);
          }
        );

        Promise.all([
          person2.exchange.group1.relay.createServer(relaySpec1),
          person2.exchange.group1.relay.createServer(relaySpec2),
        ])

        .then(done).catch(done);
      }
    );

    it('uses existing connection',

      function(done, Server, relay1, group1, person3) {

        var $happn1 = person3._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;
        var $happn2 = person3._mesh.elements.thing2.component.instance;

        var relaySpec1 = {
          target: $happn1.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person3_thing1',
            description: $happn1.description,
          }
        };
        var relaySpec2 = {
          target: $happn2.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person3_thing2',
            description: $happn2.description,
          }
        };

        // expect 1 call to createRelayConnected

        mock(Server.prototype).does(
          function createRelayConnected(happn, connection, relaySpec, callback) {callback()}
        );

        person3.exchange.group1.relay.createServer(relaySpec1)

        .then(function() {

          // expect 1 call to createRelayConnected

          mock(Server.prototype).does(
            function createRelayConnected(happn, connection, relaySpec, callback) {callback()}
          );

          // expct no calls to addConnection

          relay1.spy(
            function addConnection() {
              throw new Error('called addConnection');
            }
          );

          return person3.exchange.group1.relay.createServer(relaySpec2)

        })

        .then(done).catch(done);
      }
    );

    it('uses existing endpoint');

    it('► Create and use a relayed component over datalayer connection',

      function(done, happner, GroupConfig, PersonConfig, expect, request) {

        this.timeout(5000);

        var group0;
        var person0;
        var $happn;

        var createdKey;

        happner.create(GroupConfig(0)) // Create mesh node called group0

        .then(function(group) {
          group0 = group;
          return happner.create(PersonConfig(0, 0)); // Create mesh node called person0
        })

        .then(function(person) {
          person0 = person;
          $happn = person0._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;
          return person0.exchange.group0.relay.createServer({
            target: $happn.info.datalayer.address,
            component: {
              name: 'relay_person0_thing1', // <--------------------------
              description: $happn.description
            }
          });
        })

        .then(function(key) {

          createdKey = key; // for destroying

          // Call through relay to person0/thing1/exchangeMethod()

          return group0.exchange.relay_person0_thing1.exchangeMethod({opt:'ions'});

        })

        .then(function(result) {

          expect(result).to.eql({
            opt: 'ions',
            ReplyFrom: 'person0.thing1'
          });

        })

        .then(function() {

          // call to webmethod (only fully supports GET for now)

          return request.getAsync('http://localhost:10000/relay_person0_thing1/method/moo/ook')

        })

        .then(function(result) {

          expect(result[0].body).to.equal('reply for GET from person0.thing1.webMethod() with /moo/ook');

        })

        .then(function() {

          // test for relayed events from remote

          return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {

            var results = [];

            Promise.all([

              // subscribe to multiple on the 'relaying' component, including wildcarders

              group0.event.relay_person0_thing1.onAsync('event1', function(data, meta) {
                results.push({
                  path: meta.path,
                  data: data.data
                });
              }),
              group0.event.relay_person0_thing1.onAsync('event2/1', function(data, meta) {
                results.push({
                  path: meta.path,
                  data: data.data
                });
              }),
              group0.event.relay_person0_thing1.onAsync('event2/2', function(data, meta) {
                results.push({
                  path: meta.path,
                  data: data.data
                });
              }),
              group0.event.relay_person0_thing1.onAsync('event2/*', function(data, meta) {
                results.push({
                  path: meta.path,
                  data: data.data
                });
              }),
              group0.event.relay_person0_thing1.onAsync('done', function(data, meta) {
                results.push({
                  path: meta.path,
                  data: data.data
                });
                try {
                  expect(results).to.eql([
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/event1",
                      "data": "EVENT1"
                    },
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/event2/1",
                      "data": "EVENT2/1"
                    },
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/event2/1",
                      "data": "EVENT2/1"
                    },
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/event2/2",
                      "data": "EVENT2/2"
                    },
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/event2/2",
                      "data": "EVENT2/2"
                    },
                    {
                      "path": "/events/group0/relay_person0_thing1/done",
                      "data": "DONE"
                    }
                  ]);
                } catch (e) {
                  return reject(e);
                }
                resolve();
              }),

            ])

            .then(function(){

              // Ready for events, emit from the 'relayed' component

              var $happn = person0._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;

              $happn.emit('event1', {data: 'EVENT1'});
              $happn.emit('event2/1', {data: 'EVENT2/1'});
              $happn.emit('event2/2', {data: 'EVENT2/2'});
              $happn.emit('done', {data: 'DONE'});

            })

            .catch(reject)
          })

        })

        .then(function() {

          // remove the relay

          return person0.exchange.group0.relay.destroyServer(createdKey)

        })

        .then(done).catch(done);
      }
    );

  });

  context('calls server.createRelayEvented() if no connection is possible/available', function() {

    before(function(done, Promise, happner, GroupConfig, PersonConfig) {
      this.timeout(2000);
      Promise.all([
        happner.create(GroupConfig(2)),
        happner.create(PersonConfig(4, 2)),
        happner.create(PersonConfig(5, 2)),
        // happner.create(PersonConfig(6, 2)),
      ])
      .spread(function(group2, person4, person5, person6) {
        mock('group2', group2);
        mock('person4', person4);
        mock('person5', person5);
        mock('person6', person6);
        mock('relay2', group2._mesh.elements.relay.module.instance);
      })
      .then(done)./*catch(done)*/catch(function(e) {
        if (! e instanceof Error) {
          console.log('ERROR1', e);
          return done(new Error());
        }
        done(e);
      });
    });

    after(function(done, Promise, group2, person4, person5, person6) {
      Promise.all([
        group2.stop(),
        person4.stop(),
        person5.stop(),
        // person6.stop(),
      ]).then(done).catch(done);
    });

    it('first attempts connection if target provided',

      function(done, Server, relay2, group2, person4) {

        var $happn = person4._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;

        var unaccessable = $happn.info.datalayer.address;
        unaccessable.port = 44444; // not listening

        var relaySpec = {
          target: unaccessable,
          component: {
            name: 'person4_thing1',
            description: $happn.description,
          }
        };

        mock(Server.prototype).does(
          function createRelayEvented(happn, relaySpec, callback) {callback()}
        );

        person4.exchange.group2.relay.createServer(relaySpec)

        .then(done).catch(done);

      }
    );

    it('attempts no connection if no target provided',

      function(done, Server, relay2, group2, person5) {

        var $happn = person5._mesh.elements.thing1.component.instance;

        var relaySpec = {
          // target: $happn.info.datalayer.address,
          component: {
            name: 'person5_thing1',
            description: $happn.description,
          }
        };

        mock(Server.prototype).does(
          function createRelayEvented(happn, relaySpec, callback) {callback()}
        );

        person5.exchange.group2.relay.createServer(relaySpec)

        .then(done).catch(done);

      }
    );

    xit('► Create and use a relayed component over "reverse" event api', function() {
      throw Pending;
    });

  });

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub