The Sraddhalu Ranade – Govind Nishar nexus of fraud

Sraddhalu Ranade’s fraudulent activities have been exposed again. Click here, and here for full details.

Little did the followers of Sraddhalu Ranade know that he could stoop so low, so as to hide behind aliases and fake email ids, to promote his agenda and propaganda of hate towards the Trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Ambition has been known to poison and blind even the wisest of men. Imagine then what it can do to an impostor!

The same venomous ambition did not spare Sraddhalu’s close aide and associate, Govind Nishar, Vice President of the Sri Aurobindo Yoga Foundation of North America (SAYFNA) having the alternate internet domain name “www.deviceinternational.com.” From henceforth, Govind Nishar must be advised to call himself President of Vices at Deceive International.

Sraddhalu’s and Govind’s pathetic attempts to dupe people by trying to make them believe that they were the two most sincere devotees of their Master and always at the service of Truth has failed once again… and forever. Sraddhalu’s desire to supplant the Ashram trustees in order to pave the way for a new power structure within the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in which he would find a central role is falling apart. Govind who had seen a ray hope in trying to establish his American center at the epicenter of the business of integral yoga and other related money-making activities such as his million dollar pool must also be realizing that banking on Sraddhalu Ranade must not have been a good idea.

The Sraddhalu Ranade-Govind Nishar duo must be realizing that empires that are built on fraud have a short, troubled life, after all.

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Editors

Pope Vijay’s Proclamations

We reproduce here, an article that was posted on the website “auroleaks.wordpress.com” which reveals that Vijay Poddar is unable to hide the integral yoga impostor that he really is.

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Pope Vijay’s Proclamations

Recently we have been posting a lot about the Sri Aurobindo Society, and some of our posts were rather serious. It’s time for some comic relief. Today is the fourth anniversary of Vijay Poddar’s immortal letter to Manoj Das Gupta about The Lives of Sri Aurobindo.

There is general agreement among students of Integral Yoga Fundamentalism that this is the most ridiculous document ever written by a hardcore IY fundamentalist. Sraddhalu Ranade is unparalleled for his inspirational impudence, Alok Pandey for his self-assured stupidity, but Vijay Poddar (a.k.a. Vijay bhai) beats them both by his ability to combine infantile irrationality with hysterical self-righteousness.

Vijay’s letter was written at a time when he still enjoyed some respect for his mental and moral qualities, and as a result some people took it seriously at the time. Four years of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and the occasional prophetic utterance have so lowered him in public esteem that few people take him seriously any more. As the smokescreen of his rhetoric has dissipated, the matter under study has become more and more clear. So it is a good time to look at Vijay’s famous letter again.

Our friends at IY Fundamentalism have published the text of the letter along with the warning, “Readers are cautioned that this unannotated document contains false assertions.” Our purpose here is not to disclose all the distortions, half-truths and sheer lies that are crowded into Vijay’s letter, but simply to dissipate the haze a little more so that people will be able see the letter for what it is, and perhaps have a few laughs along the way.

Vija Poddar begins by saying that yet another letter on the subject is uncalled for but decides to write one anyhow because he has thought “a long time” (a week? a month? – it could not have been more than that) about the issues involved. He then asks whether the Mother would be happy to receive (whatever that might mean) the book “with all that has been written in it about Sri Aurobindo and Her.” He does not give an example of what has been written, and does not seem to know himself. He has, he admits, just read “some of the things which are written” (in other words he had read Raman Reddy’s distorted Selections). Nevertheless, he considers himself illumined enough to answer on the Mother’s behalf. The answer (of course) is No. He then tells the Trustees to follow his example. If it turns out they aren’t worried about the book they haven’t read, they should put his letter aside. But if they are ignorant enough to form an opinion about something they haven’t read on the basis of gossip and fragments, they should go ahead and read the rest of his 2700-word letter.

There follows a rigid logical demonstration: Columbia University Press (on the jacket flap, Vijay bhai!) asserts that the book is by a competent author, therefore (!!) the Ashram is responsible for the book. Therefore the Ashram must publicly disown the book, stop the printing of the Indian edition, and stop the distribution of the American edition!!! The book (which, again, neither Vijay nor the trustees had at that point read) cannot  be revised. It has to be banned completely and banned immediately!!!! This ridiculous conclusion is the one that Vijay has been repeating, like a broken record, for the last four years – but nobody has listened to him!

(Well, somebody did, namely Gopal Bhattacharjee, Jayant Bhattacharjee, and Geetanjali Jain Bhattacharjee. Question: At whose instructions did these people initiate legal proceedings in various parts of India against a book the Trustees were not bothered about but Vijay was definitely bothered about. Perhaps only Vijay knows.)

Vijay Poddar then puts on the robe of the Prophet: the book, he says, is a product of “a very hostile and evil force.” What can be done? Well, pass that idea along to the ashram’s licensed expert in hostile forces, Dr. Pandey-monium (a.k.a. the Doctor of Demonology), and let him rave about it for four years.

Vijay’s logical demonstration then continues: (1) Sri Aurobindo cannot be harmed by a book, (2) nothing we human beings can do can help or hinder things, (3) therefore the Trustees (all of whom are human beings) must act and act now now now ­– certainly before anyone has had a chance to read the book.

The problem, Vijay bhai, is that in the intervening four years, hundreds of people have read the book and, guess what, the vast majority of them were not bothered by it at all. Scholars, professors, writers, government ministers, ashramites, ex-students – all found the book to be wonderful, or okay, or at any rate not “denigratory.” What then, Vijay bhai?

Well, of course, Vijay asks the Trustees to hold a meeting where Vijay (who has still not read the book) can tell everyone that they should publicly disown it. And when the Trustees say no, Vijay himself, as de facto head of the SAS, declares that the SAS “strongly disapproves of the book”. But alas, nobody gives a damn.

Poor Vijay bhai! What can he do now? What can his henchmen Gopal Bhattacharjee, Jayant Bhattacharjee, Geetanjali Jain Bhattacharjee do? They have tried the High Court of Orissa, they have tried the High Court of Madras, they have tried the Lieutenant-Governor, now they are trying the Asst. Collector of Puducherry. And still nobody is doing what Vijay wants them to do!!! Poor Vijay bhai!!!!

We said we were writing this to provide a little comic relief and we hope that our readers have been amused. But now we have to introduce a little bit of seriousness into this post. Vijay will recall that the Supreme Court of India instructed the Sri Aurobindo Society in 1984 that the work of Sri Aurobindo was not and could never be a religion, and therefore the SAS had not right to claim the constitutional rights granted to religious bodies, as it was trying to do. That was more than thirty years ago, Vijay bhai. Surely you have read the Supreme Court judgment.

It would appear that he has not. One does not have to be a graduate of Knowledge to realize that Vijay’s letter and Vijay’s Statement are nothing but religious proclamations. Yes, Vijay considers himself a Shankaracharya, a Mullah, a Pope! But nobody is paying attention!!! Better be careful, Vijay bhai, if you go on with your religious babbling, the Supreme Court of India might have to step in again.

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Editors

Ananda Reddy – Auroville’s “Director”???

In the year 2009 a lot of noise was still being made about Columbia University Press’s (CUP) statement which described Peter Heehs as a “co-founder” of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram archives department.

Those like Ananda Reddy who sought  to malign Peter Heehs called him a liar, a traitor, someone who used deception and self-promotion; because they alleged that Peter Heehs was never assigned such a designation by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; that he used the “co-founder” designation merely to prop his credibility and increase the sales of his book. They sought to discredit Peter Heehs’ work, making the most absurd attempts to discontinue the publication of his book “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” because of CUP’s statement – which as a matter of fact happens to be a rather accurate description of Peter Heehs’ role and work at the S.A.A.T.

But while Ananda Reddy and his ilk were drawing all their ire and attention on Peter Heehs, not many noticed that on the sly the real impostors like Ananda Reddy himself were not satisfied with calling themselves “Scholars”; they needed more, much more.

This is when, in the year 2009, Ananda Reddy appointed himself as the “Director” of the renowned, futuristic and Universal township of Auroville [Click here].

While Ananda Reddy is understandably grinning in front of the camera of a naive, ignorant but well-meaning Spanish cameraman and writer, the question is, do the Aurovillians know that since the year 2009 they and Auroville have been under the “direction” of Ananda Reddy?

Introducing the Integral Yoga Impostor

im·pos·tor,  noun \im-ˈpäs-tər\

Definition:

: one that assumes false identity or title for the purpose of deception.

Synonyms: charlatan, fake, faker, fakir, fraud, hoaxer, humbug, mountebank, phony (also phoney), pretender, quack, quacksalver, ringer, sham.

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in·te·gral yo·ga im·pos·tor

Definition:

: one who publicly postures and professes to be a practitioner of Integral Yoga for the purpose of self-promotion especially by deception, while contradicting and undermining the core values of the Integral Yoga.

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This website identifies and documents those who have publicly demonstrated themselves to be Integral Yoga Impostors; i.e. those who in the name of Sri Aurobindo and his Integral Yoga have publicly, actively and deliberately gone contrary to the values and principles of the Integral Yoga in order to pursue, promote or enforce their personal, exclusive and limited aims.

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Background:

During the last decades, several Integral Yoga Impostors gradually but systematically entrenched themselves in the business of Integral Yoga. They painstakingly cultured and nurtured a following, expanding their reach or demarcating their territories, either in the form of Integral Yoga centers, websites, blogs or mailing groups.

In spite of their differences, the Integral Yoga Impostors found it convenient to form a cartel of sorts that would allow each of them to trade their common merchandise of shaded interpretations, miracles, myths and fantasies in order to concoct a new formula of “Integral Yoga” which they could control and use as their personal commodity.

There were however a few thorns that remained irritatingly stuck in the fragile sides of these Integral Yoga Impostors. First and foremost, the exclusive approach and pursuit of the Integral Yoga that they professed was antithetical to the Integral Yoga as laid out by Sri Aurobindo, the founder of this yogic approach.  Secondly, the seats of Integral Yoga, viz. the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville would not tow the line of these Integral Yoga Impostors or participate in or endorse their games of deceit or personal ambition.

Moreover, many of those who privately practiced the Integral Yoga felt that the increasingly rigid grip of the Integral Yoga Impostors over the Integral Yoga was becoming stifling and oppressive. Instead of a vibrant integration of yogas, the Integral Yoga Impostors were turning the rich spiritual landscape of Integral Yoga into the dull uniformity of a monotonous and organized devotion, religion or sect.

While it is acknowledged and accepted that there is nothing wrong in the use of devotion and religiosity in the practice of Integral Yoga, the rejection of all other forms of practices or approaches by the Integral Yoga Impostors was not only antithetical and contrary but also detrimental to the very basis of Integral Yoga.

That the veil of deceit of the Integarl Yoga Impostors was bound to be fragile became obvious when just one book – Peter Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo shook and shattered their deceitful facade as well as exposed their entirely un-integral approach to yoga and spirituality.

This publication firmly rocked the fragile base of the Integral Yoga Impostors as it deconstructed the merchandise of myths, fantasies and miracles with which these impostors conducted their trade. Additionally, the biography meticulously attempted to reconstruct and strengthen the foundation of the Integral Yoga as chronicled in Sri Aurobindo’s life.

One by one, but in rapid succession, the true character of each of the Integral Yoga Impostors got revealed as they scrambled to protect their trade by launching assaults on Peter Heehs, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. Agitated demands for banning Peter Heehs’ book, the orchestration of campaigns for misinformation, slander and personal attacks, the staging of violent protests on the streets, inciting members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville to create an environment of hate, distrust and division, legal actions towards attempts of a hostile take-over of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville and much more have all been and still are on offer by the Integral Yoga Impostors.

In so doing, the Integral Yoga Impostors did not hesitate for a second to contradict and undermine the very principles of the Integral Yoga that they were pretending to profess all this while. It soon became obvious that the brand of “Integral Yoga” that was being peddled by the Integral Yoga Impostors had instead all the worst flavors of Fundamentalism and Extremism.

But their acts of deceit are now exposed for all times to come.

This website therefore chronicles and documents how each of these Integral Yoga Impostors took an active part in the abuse of the principles of Integral Yoga for their own personal gains, while in effect contradicting and undermining the values that they are posturing to profess.

Editors