Satyoga Exposed: Robert Shubow & $100ph "love donations"

A new website is focusing attention on ex-BK Robert Shubow who it seems is now charging $120 to $120 per hour plus for mandatory one-on-one sessions including eye-to-eye staring dhristi, & taking multi-$10,000s of "love donations" off followers who claim it costs up to $600 per week to stay at this retreat.

For a long time we've been critical about how Robert was re-marketing BKism, while hiding his own involvement with it in the past, & some of the ethics of his activities from both a BK and an ex-BK point of view.

Chilling testimonies from ex-members read so similarly to abuses that have happened within BKs that it is shocking. It seems that Robert did more than just take "The Knowledge" from the BKs to turn into his own spiritual business, but has also adapted many of their method of manipulation too.

The apple does not fall far from The Tree. See: Satyoga Exposed

Wow, had read of a few pages. Yes you can easily substitute the words Brahma Kumaris for every time it says Shunyamurti or Robert Shubow.

It's really sad when you criticise and leave something behind then become that yourself. It's something that happens with many who were seduced/groomed and abused. Some survive the abuse but are permanently damaged, some heal and move on, some go on to become seducers and abusers themselves.

Thanks.

We've discussed this before on the forum. but do you remember Robert? I am trying to work out what's going there.

Like you say, beyond a little window dressing, e.g. I found it interesting that one of his ex-devotees pulled him up for claiming to be a follower of Ramana Maharishi (rather than the BKs) when he clearly wasn't, it is almost as if he is mirroring what goes on in BKism.

But, yet, I thought he was a critic of & left because of the politics? Or was it just because they held him back because he was mail and promoted females to lead the centres, as is their habit? Or was it personality clashes with, e.g. Denise and/or Big Mohini?

I notice also that he's still using the term Shiva for god. Is that the BKs' Shiva or the Hindu version?

I see the Ramana Maharishi reference as a deliberately misleading fudge there, i.e. Ramana came from a Shaivite tradition. I'd put that in the category of using his knowledge to deceive.

When we first discussed Sat Yoga ashram, I think the general conclusion was that he was running an independent BK retreat according to how he thought it should be run. "Atmanology" just mean "knowledge of the soul", which is pure BKism.

For sure, he's read a lot & picked up a few additional non-BK skills but, personally, my experience of all that psychotherapy stuff is that it is tools that can also be used to control or harm. In short, to **** with people's minds as well as help them.

I've been watching a few of India's latest pop star guru, Sadhguru and interesting with some of his followers, & it's a joke how easily people are conned by a few poetic, meaningly, circular aphorism. And how their defence systems kick in if you start to question them.

I only knew him a little. I remember his character and personality more than I remember any particular discussions.

I think the reason he left BKs was probably what you state. There's little room for a capable male to be in the spotlight much in the BKs. If they get into it, they're meant to turn it back onto the "Sisters". Maybe he did not do that?

I remember a number of the San Francisco BK men in the 1980s were upset about their talents and abilities being taken advantage of without proper application or recognition. That is, most of them were highly intelligent people who were basically treated as muscle and sources of funds. (As per the BK business model!!!)

Even though he was more "celebrated" than most, given quite a lot of regard in the global; BK community, it probably wasn't enough for him. As the BK system of evaluating a person's worth is based on a quantifiable status, a "number-wise spiritual hierarchy", it will only encourage ambition for status to be validated by explicit recognition.

And being an intelligent person (I am pretty sure he was a lawyer), he was obviously thinking a lot, spotting anomalies within the BK teachings and structure, and working stuff out for himself. I don't think he went straight from BKs into becoming a religion monger himself, but it must have one day occurred to him that he shouldn't deprive the world of his unique wisdom. Just like Baba - bapsaman haha!!.

Then of course the imperatives of making a living and sustaining an ashram begin and become part of the play. So it all becomes more mercenary and personality cultish.

(As one of the essays of one of the many kundalini Yoga masters named Satyananda was titled - "Don't build ashrams!")