t the real money was made in his weekend "Intensives" attended by 300 people paying $300 each, and from
additional donations received when a thousand people came up for Darshan at the end of the program.
Every couple of weeks we would hold a "Dancing Supta," where instead of the usual chanting and long boring Muktananda talk, 800 people (That is all that would fit in the tent.) would circle around the "band" in the center, usually led by his eventual successor,
Nityananda, who now has a small ashram in Walden, New York.
Some of the circling dancers (us), allegedly would go into deep states of bliss. At this time, his
attendant would "freeze" in the middle of a step and stand motionless in an impossible-to-maintain position. During these Suptas, instead of working security, since Baba was not there, I worked the sound board, which controlled the volume and mix of sounds throughout the tent, balancing instruments and voice.
To me, these events had much more a rock concert atmosphere than spiritual "upliftment," which was the term the swamis used.
The purported whole deal about Siddha Yoga was to awaken the Kundalini energy, which, through its subtle
"upliftment," caused a gradual purification and eventual recognition that the self is everything, that is, unitary consciousness. One had the energy
awakened during Baba's Darshan.
The mark of one's "progress" was the number and depth of "experiences" one had, such as seeing lights or feeling ecstatic bliss during meditation, or seeing Baba coming as a vision in a dream and imparting some special something. In fact, it was a lot like charismatic Christianity. One night a week, one of his devotees would give a talk about how much
Muktananda meant to him/her and what experiences the devotee had.
I thought this all rather funny, but enjoyed the juice of a thousand people chanting and working together. It cured my human loneliness,
and left a background of a "sweetness" in my consciousness.
The ashram he left behind was just as sweet. On some nights 300-400 people would come with the same sweet chanting.
One major part of the ashram's operation and income was the Amrit, or restaurant, that had
exquisite cuisine. Still feeling the need to bathe in this sweetness, I
continued to hang around. On the second floor of the ashram, was an open air patio where overflow from the restaurant would go to eat. The patio was surrounded by residents' rooms. This was my hangout.
Sometimes over 110 people would be living there, including the
administrators, swamis, and those who came to study Siddha Yoga. As you can plainly see, I was making great spiritual progress at the time,
hanging around the ashram essentially doing nothing. Thankfully, Robert rescued me a few years after my long flirtation with Siddha yoga.
In about 1982, Muktananda died. The worlds of 100,000 Siddha people all over the
world were darkened. Just a few months before he died, he named his successor, whom he called "Nityananda." Everyone knew he would be his successor, because Muktananda's teacher, whom he absolutely worshipped, was so named. It was clear that Muktananda knew he was gong to die soon. There were a hundred or so very disappointed swamis who had hoped for that position themselves.
Nityananda's sister, was so upset and cried and moaned until he also ordained her, giving her the name Chidvilasananda. A video was made of the ceremony when they were both ordained. It was called "The passage of Power." I still have a copy.
A few months later, after Baba died, the brother/sister team took over. They appeared quite taken aback and lost in their new roles.
A couple of times they came as a couple to the Santa Monica ashram. I was made head of security including the bodyguards because of my previous experience. I enjoyed this even more than being one of many around Muktananda. As head of security, people actually listened to me for instructions, as opposed to the Zen centers and monasteries, where, as a junior monk, only the mountains listened to me, and then not well.
As you can plainly see, I was getting nowhere during this time. I was feeding off the energy of the crowd, but at least it was warmer than Zen. I had come in out of the cold.
Then Chidvilasananda and Nityananda had a falling-out. The battle became brutal. She accused him of sexual
indiscretions. I didn't see why that was a problem, because it was no secret that
Muktananda was doing exactly that for years. From my point of view, sex has
nothing to do with awakening. Abstention form sex does not help spiritual
"progress" at all. Other swamis accused her of wanting it all.
In any event, I heard from my good friend
Swami Shankarananda, who had just opened an ashram in Santa Monica, and who was at the center of all this, that he and Nityananda were temporarily "restrained" from leaving the Ganeshpuri Ashram in India. Nityananda was questioned about his behaviors and browbeat by a few of Chidvilasananda's henchman, and forced, by physical intimidation, to renounce his further role in Siddha Yoga. He and the swami I mentioned escaped in the middle of the night.
Both were later to establish their own ashrams.
Siddha yogis all over the world were devastated by the feud and forced to take sides. She had gained control of all the administrative and financial assets of Siddha yoga, while he was a refugee with his
muxh smaller following
After she became boss, when she came to the Santa Monica ashram,
initially I was still made head of security. This happened three or four times.
During Darshan, she would do the same guru-thing as Muktananda did. As her chief of security and bodyguard, I sat on her left at her feet, and watched every person that came up to her for her blessing. Actually, she paid more attention to the devotees than Baba had ever done. Of course I loved this role even better, because I was the one who protected her and sat by her feet while 500-600 people came up. Now that was heady.
I remember one incident where a "devotee," came up to maybe six feet away, and instead of moving forward and prostrating himself, stood and looked at her and she at him. He then tossed a tangerine at her underhanded, as in softball, but rather gently, as she was able to catch it. Everyone of us up front froze. I didn't know how to react as he clearly was not a danger and I also wanted to see what she would do next. She did not react either. I guess she was just waiting herself to see what happened next, a lot like George Bush continued to read to kindergarteners for seven minutes after the World Trade Towers were blown up.
Shankarananda, sitting next to me did react and shouted, "Get him out." At that time I felt obliged to react. Some of the bodyguards were very loyal devotees and took the job of taking the man out very seriously.
About a year later, I was fired as a volunteer head of security because one of the swamis, Durgananda, ratted on me to Chidvilasananda that I was not the greatest devotee in the world and was
telling devotees not to go to India. I guess in this way I was like Robert with Yogananda; I didn't see the point of all the practices, the chaos and the patent guru worship. I came for the food and the chanting.
This led me to become head of Nityananda's vastly smaller security force as well as a bodyguard at times
the few times he was in town.
Sometimes Nityananda would come to Santa Monica for his own Satsang, set up in a different location by his own devotees. These were very interesting times for me, as the whole situation came very close to violence on several occasions. Nityananda and
Shankarananda were followed by some of her henchmen and threatened. I know, I was with
Shankarananda when it happened.
At several of Nityananda's Satsangs, groups of Chidvilasananda's followers would circle the site where it would be held. Several had clubs. Several would videotape us while we set things up. Police were called and incident reports were filed. Later, Nityananda's people were calling for police presence to protect us.
Later, Chidvilasanda would go so far as to deny that she even had a brother whom Muktananda also named a successor. The videotape "The Passage of Power" became very popular at the time.
I may even post it on this site.
As one can clearly see, Siddha Yoga was full of spiritually advanced people. The main practices were chanting, repeating mantras, doing volunteer work around the ashram, and trying to follow Muktananda's advice, "Love thyself." Of course, that was the rub; what self was he talking about and how do you love that which you do not know?
Nityananda, unlike Chid, was/is very quiet and unassuming,
much closer to true spiritual maturity. He is a fantastic drummer/chanter and I highly recommend his chanting tapes. They are better than anything else out there. Nothing touches them. If you want bliss, the tapes will give it to you. I have not seen him in maybe 20 years, so I have no idea how or what he is like now.
