The Abode of Yoga

It's not a perfect example. The cancer eating away at the Catholic Church isn't the same as that corroding the Center. But it's instructive. Particularly in how the organization is now cooperating -- perhaps reluctantly -- with independent investigators to bring the truth to light. According to this New York Times article , after decades of turning a blind eye, the Vatican appointed a veteran clerical diplomat to address the scandal in Ireland. An Irish governmental Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was then established and the Irish Archbishop then began to cooperate. The full Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin can be found here . The report is long, but it's worth a few minutes to scroll through the first section and skim through the commission's mandate and its broad findings, some of which seem particularly apropos to the situation now facing the Center's leadership. Of particular interest is the organizational ...

Have you ever heard of the Alipore bomb case? On April 30, 1908, two Indian revolutionaries tried to kill a British magistrate known for handing down harsh sentences against other freedom fighters. They missed their target. The bomb they threw landed in the wrong carriage, killing the wife and daughter of an English barrister. Within just a couple of days, the British arrested 33 suspects, including the suspected ring leader, Aurobindo Ghosh . Aurobindo, who was educated at King's College, Cambridge University, retained the pro bono services of the hitherto unknown defense lawyer Chittaranjan Das. C.R. Das, pictured, faced an uphill battle. The trial lasted a year, included more than 200 witnesses, and more than 5,000 exhibits. On top of it all, he had a client who was his intellectual equal. You might think that having a smart client would be an asset to the trial lawyer. Oftentimes, however, the client thinks he knows best and can't resist being a backseat driver at the tria...

If you haven't yet taken the time to view Karen Armstrong's presentation below, I'd encourage you to do so. It's about 25 minutes long and touches on many of the important issues facing us all. (Hat tip to my sister Liz for suggesting the video, and to this anonymous commenter for suggesting Ms. Armstrong's work more generally.) In her talk, Ms. Armstrong uses a story from the Iliad to underscore the importance of sympathy and compassion. It just so happens that I watched the movie Troy last night and was moved very much by that very scene as dramatized by Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitt . If you're not already familiar with the story or have not already watched the movie, the setup for the scene below is that the great Greek hero Achilles (Pitt) has just killed the great Trojan hero Hector in battle. After killing Hector, Achilles drags Hector's body behind his chariot and back to the Greek camp. Under the dead of night, the king of Troy, Priam (O...

The time for former women disciples to come together, "in numbers too big to ignore" as Helen Reddy sings in her famous song, is now. With the huge exception of Jayanti Tamm -- and her book Cartwheels in a Sari -- there have been precious few examples of what the disciple life was like from a woman's perspective. That should change. There are now scores of women who spent significant time in the Center leading extremely disciplined lives, who are now living outside the shadow of the Center, standing on their own, each of whom have distinct and unique voices. I'd really like to hear from them (you all know who you are). And I don't mean just in guest posts here (though I love them). What I'm really advocating is a site for women, by women. Something like a spiritual Double X site . I take inspiration again from Jayanti, who is perhaps laying the foundation for such a site at her blog -- read the latest lion's roar here . That's Helen Reddy in the pho...

We've already discussed the Oliver Sipple principle . The principle being that I have no intention of disclosing the names of women currently in the Center (or out of the Center for that matter) who have been implicated in Guru's sex ring. Like most rules, however, the Sipple principle admits an exception. In the gay rights context, it seems that most people don't have a big problem " outing " a person's private sexual orientation when hypocrisy is involved. The cleanest example of this would be a right-wing, "family values" politician who actively works against the interests of gays, but in private is a closeted homosexual. That's hypocritical. In cases like that, there doesn't appear to be a groundswell of sympathy for keeping the hypocritical politician's private life private. Better to out him. The exception applies here, too. It's one thing for our sister disciples to be going about the tough business of trying to lead a life i...

Here's a disturbing blog post by Jayanti. If you haven't yet read her wonderful memoir, Cartwheels in a Sari , please go out and do so. It's a wonderful and moving read. And if you haven't yet read my own early history with Jayanti, you can look back here . Thanks for the post, Jayanti.