Shunyamurti... cult?... probs: Reviews

[Matt23]

Hey. 

So, like many, I've been attracted to SHunyamurti's teachings and style for a while now.  Something just clicks with me and his style.  

Though, the question of "is he running a cult?" has cropped up from time to time, but I haven't paid too much attention to it.

Recently, I found this forum where they discuss cults, and in it they discussed Shunyamurti's community. 

A few people even said they stayed at his retreat for a bit and had some pretty unfavorable and cult-like observations to give about him and how he runs his center.

I'd probably give him a hard pass at the moment and just take his teachings with a grain of salt.  Sure, maybe they're true and I don't doubt he's not super knowledgeable, and I can even go so far as to say he's progressed in spiritual insight.  But that still doesn't mean he's not a sort of sociopath/psychopath or has ill-intentions (even if unconscious).  

So just be mindful of that.  

Leo says he's stage Turquoise, but I dunno.  I'm beginning to doubt Leo's opinions on pegging people (particularly gurus, etc.) and spiral dynamics a bit.  I think spiral dynamics is decent, but I dunno if I trust Leo's pegging of people.  Suspicious anyways.  

I'll link the forum here. https://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?12,148939,page=2.   The reviews I've seen are on pages 3, 4, 5, 6.   There could be more further on. 

Also, feel free to post your opinions or what/how you've seen/interpreted him.  etc.  

I'd be particularly interested in hearing people's reviews if they've gone to his retreat center or had personal experience with him or people who've gone there.

Cheers. 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

44 minutes ago, Matt23 said:

But that still doesn't mean he's not a sort of sociopath/psychopath or has ill-intentions

Lol

He's def not a sociopath/psychopath or ill-intentioned.

I have said before that his apocalyptic videos are not good. And he seems to be ramping them up lately. Trump and Covid have made his apocalyptic message seem more credible, but I say it's an illusion. Ain't no apocalypse coming. And if it is, you're fucked anyway so there's no point preparing for it.

The people who follow him at the ashram are definitely sheep. I can confirm that much. And most/all of them ain't enlightened.

But overall his nondual teachings are solid. Just don't listen to the Kali yuga stuff.

[Preety_India]

His kaliyug rants are extreme. 

otherwise shalom shalom. 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Preety_India

[Hello from Russia]

It's funny how in every spiritual school/group there is a discussion which school are shit and which school are good and everyone has different opinion about them

It's like with Harry Potter's movies. So much focus on this drama and human's shit. And almost none focus is on the witchcraft. 80% of the movie is about teenage relationships, 20% is about witchcraft. We are not that much different here

[Dryas]

“And if it is, you’re fucked anyway so there’s no point preparing for it” 

Lmao

[OctagonOctopus]

Sometiems I wonder if he talks about apocalypse as a means of hooking the vast amount of people freaking out about that into his teachings.

[AtheisticNonduality]

2 hours ago, Hello from Russia said:

It's funny how in every spiritual school/group there is a discussion which school are shit and which school are good and everyone has different opinion about them

It's like with Harry Potter's movies. So much focus on this drama and human's shit. And almost none focus is on the witchcraft. 80% of the movie is about teenage relationships, 20% is about witchcraft. We are not that much different here

Huh, were you expecting Harry Potter to be about real witchcraft?

[tuckerwphotography]

Wow, glad I read this. I was literally just on his website thinking of signing up for a meditation retreat in February...

Will investigate further before booking.

[Leo Gura]

@tuckerwphotography Be careful of the trusting gossip from unknown people.

[hyruga]

13 hours ago, Hello from Russia said:

It's funny how in every spiritual school/group there is a discussion which school are shit and which school are good and everyone has different opinion about them

It's like with Harry Potter's movies. So much focus on this drama and human's shit. And almost none focus is on the witchcraft. 80% of the movie is about teenage relationships, 20% is about witchcraft. We are not that much different here

It's all part of the ego distraction. 

Instead of doing proper inner work, most of us end up doing reviews on various teachings and keep complaining about stuff.

[Matt23]

@Leo Gura 

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Be careful of the trusting gossip from unknown people.

That's fair too.  

I'm curious though, why you don't think he could be manipulating people?  If it's simply because his teachings are valid, I don't think that exactly a great reason since he could simply be using teachings and even his direct experience to manipulate people, etc. (not that I really think that's your reasoning).

Edited December 17, 2020 by Matt23

[herghly]

@Matt23 I agree too. Perhaps Leo has a personal relationship with him and knows him well.

[AtheisticNonduality]

Perhaps Leo does not want people screaming "CULT LEADER" at every nondual teacher, for obvious reasons.

[PurpleTree]

oh this guy

didn't know him by name but now i've looked him up on yt and i remember watching some of his satsang videos yrs ago

the guy's living the lifeee in costa rica

[RedLine]

On 16/12/2020 at 8:06 AM, Leo Gura said:

Lol

He's def not a sociopath/psychopath or ill-intentioned.

I have said before that his apocalyptic videos are not good. And he seems to be ramping them up lately. Trump and Covid have made his apocalyptic message seem more credible, but I say it's an illusion. Ain't no apocalypse coming. And if it is, you're fucked anyway so there's no point preparing for it.

The people who follow him at the ashram are definitely sheep. I can confirm that much. And most/all of them ain't enlightened.

But overall his nondual teachings are solid. Just don't listen to the Kali yuga stuff.

These kind of problems arise when teachers don´t cleary separate direct experience from intellectual theory.

 

The apocalysis stuff is a theory. It is different fromnon-dual teachings, which point out to a personal direct experience.

[tuckerwphotography]

@Leo Gura Yeah, I looked into Mooji's ashram which also has tons of critiques floating around it, but I still want to go If it doesn't feel right when I'm there, I can always leave. That said it's probably healthy to be aware of the shadows before going there, so I'll research Shunya a bit more before making any decisions. 

12 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@tuckerwphotography Be careful of the trusting gossip from unknown people.

 

[Shunyata]

On 16.12.2020 at 4:06 PM, Leo Gura said:

 Ain't no apocalypse coming. And if it is, you're fucked anyway so there's no point preparing for it.

 

Then you might as well prepare yourself for a rude shock ahead.

I think that if you went for meditation as the only means of realization (without any supplements), then you would have been able to get the downloads Shunyamurti got about the future events. And literally anyone on an authentic path gets that we are living in a historic time. And obviously the apocalypse is here to show the futility and fragility of ego consciousness, and the need to ascend.

It's not that the world will end, a new culture of light with all of the saints and great artists souls reincarnared will be reborn. And the party will happen no matter what you believe in. It's like talking to ignorant people about the possibility of God consciousness but now it is the apocalyptic revelation of God on a mass level, that was predicted by the new testament and all sages of different backgrounds. I was actually kinda shocked after having realized you were not in touch with it. I thought you were humble enough to consider other people's opinions and beliefs of spiritual traditions that are way older and wiser than your little all knowing self. Doesn't it all look clearer from the 3rd person perspective?

And calling sat yogis sheep is kinda disrespectful and narcissistic. Are you technically not a yogi? And didn't you say that we should be feeling sorry for not trying to achieve higher consciousness  in one of your life advice for young people videos? Or is there something I didn't get? I actually enjoyed that video a lot btw and it cleared many things on my path. But why do you think they are a sheep? I would love to hear that since I'm young and don't know much. 

And sometimes you seem to have such a narcissistic prejudiced attitude towards others that I think should have been sublimated if one claims to have been in 'states of consciousness no one else can describe'.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Shunyata

[Lyubov]

lol I am not a follower of his besides having seen a few youtube videos of his but I really don't think this guy is running a cult at all. he does liek to go off on his end of days talks. I chalk this up to him being one of those older D&D / star trek nerds (he makes mention of old geek culture in one of his videos) and he likes to run with something fantastic.

Mooji on the other hand....

[Fadl]

Every guru will go bananas at some point, their ego is just too much. 

[abrakamowse]

31 minutes ago, Fadl said:

Every guru will go bananas at some point, their ego is just too much. 

I agree, they said the same of Mooji, Osho, almost any teacher there's at some point some kind of bad review.

I think we have to be careful with any guru and that's it. The teachings speak by themselves and if they teach something that it doesn't resonate just use your common sense.

IMO

Note: This makes me remember a friend of mine who used to say that Jesus was a pimp Lol...

Edited December 17, 2020 by abrakamowse