From: Vladimir Alexiev Subject: Did Sahaja Yoga kill my brother? Newsgroups: alt.yoga Date: 29 Oct 1995 13:19:21 -0700 Organization: University of Alberta, Computing Science Three years ago my brother committed suicide. He was an ardent follower of Sahaja Yoga for the last 5 years of his life. What I want to know is whether Sahaja Yoga is to blame (in part) for his suicide. I know that there are various destructive cults that sometimes implant suicidal tendencies in their followers (Hubbard, Moon, Koresh). I *do not* deem Sahaja Yoga to be one of them. From the (relatively little) discussions that I had with my brother on his religion, it seemed to me a very humane and spiritually enriching and soothing teaching. I don not think Sahaja Yoga was the major factor for my brother's suicide. But my parents are convinced it was. Especially my mother is very sore about this, because as an Adventist she thinks suicide is an immoral thing to do, and she is convinced that if my brother had followed Christianity, this could not have happened. My brother was 26 when he killed himself. He was emotionally stable. He had had a difficult life in that he had to spend quite a number of years alone (from 16 to 18 years he was in a remote school, then he had 2 hard years in the army, then he spend one year all alone on a job assignment). Otherwise he had a very good profession, a good job and no economic problems. I believe Sahaja Yoga did a positive thing for him. It made him more serene, more stable against life's ups and downs. But it also alienated him from what common people deem important: his family, everyday life chores. A typical remark: when my grandfather told him "We are worried that this religion takes you away from us. We love you and we care about you", he replied "Well, this problem is inside you. As much as I want to help you, I cannot." In his last year, my brother lived in an apartment by himself for no good reason (there was ample space in my father's house; and in Bulgaria it's common for unmarried people to live with their parents). He was all alone there, with his portraits of Sri Mataji Nirmala Devi and his meditations. He lived in a setting of austerity, refusing to even get a folding bed from my father. He made himself difficult to communicate with. He had a very stable relationship with a girlfriend for 4 years. She wanted dearly to marry him, but for some reason he refused. I never understood the reason, even more that it seemed my brother misses her. She is also a Sahaja Yoga, and lives a happy life as far as I know. The immediate cause for his suicide is believed to be some conflict with the leadership of the local Bulgarian Sahaja Yoga organisation. My mother says that the retrograde leader of the organisation was unhappy with my brother's increasing influence in the organisation (he was highly educated, bith generally and in Sahaja Yoga. He had made a trip to India to a Sahaja Yoga convention.) So the leader seeked to isolate and ouster him, which led to his breakdown. I cannot be sure that's how it happened though. I don't expect anyone to be able to tell me the exact cause for this unhappy incident. However I am looking forward to some discussion on the topic, and eventually testimonials of other similar experiences (but I am not interested in discussing "evil cults"). Regards, Vlad