Monday 15 June 2009

GREENWICH NATIVE'S CALL 'CHINMOY'S MINISTRY' A " CULT "


When the late guru Sri Chinmoy came to Greenwich to lift an elephant in a circus-like street spectacle in 1984, former resident Jayanti Tamm, then 14, knew her secret was out.
"The next day, the newspaper had these breathless quotes from my parents, praising their spiritual leader (Chinmoy) for this feat (of strength)," Tamm said. "I was outed to the entire town."
A graduate of Greenwich Academy, Tamm says she spent many years in Greenwich leading a double life. By day, she was a typical teenager, she said, attending class and playing sports at the all-girls private school.
At home, however, she led a secret life as Chinmoy's so-called chosen disciple, along with her brother and parents, who were assigned by the guru to recruit disciples for his Queens-based spiritual ministry.
Growing more disillusioned with Chinmoy's teachings as a teenager, Tamm eventually rebelled against him and, at age 25, was kicked out of his ministry for disobedience.
Now a professor in Toms River, N.J., Tamm, 39, has chronicled her life growing up as a Chinmoy devotee in her book, "Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult," released in April.
Unlike many other accounts, Tamm's book casts a sharply critical eye on Chinmoy.
An India native who emigrated to New York City in 1964, Chinmoy founded a popular ministry that would eventually attract thousands of current and former members, including celebrities Carlos Santana and Roberta Flack. Prior to suffering a fatal heart attack at age 76 in 2007, he also set up hundreds of meditation centers nationwide to spread his message of enlightenment through practices like celibacy and vegetarianism.
Today, his ministry remains active, promoting cultural and athletic initiatives that he founded, such as the annual World Harmony Run USA, an 11,000-mile race that, in 2005, passed through Greenwich.
But while Chinmoy has drawn praise across the globe for such efforts, Tamm reveals in her book a far darker side to his ministry -- which she calls a cult, led by a charismatic con man.
"He had this amazing capacity to work a room and to change people's minds," Tamm said in a recent interview. "Oftentimes, the whole thing was a sham."
Proclaiming himself "the last avatar" and "God's direct representative on earth" after forming his spiritual group in the 1970s, Chinmoy began dictating his followers' lives, she said, deciding everything from what they could eat to what time they slept.
While dating and marriage were prohibited, the guru made occasional exceptions, such as when he commanded her parents to wed shortly after they had met at a meditation session in Manhattan in the late 1960s.
When the couple violated his decree of abstaining from sex, and conceived Jayanti, Chinmoy was at first enraged -- only later approving the pregnancy after claiming that he had contacted a divine spirit who had given its blessing to the unborn child, according to Tamm.
Upon Tamm's birth in fall 1970, Chinmoy named her "Jayanti," meaning "the absolute victory of the highest Supreme," before declaring her as his "chosen" or "greatest" disciple, she said.
The family soon became loyal servants to Chinmoy, who ordered them in the early 1970s to move to Norwalk to serve as missionaries, recruiting "seekers" from across Connecticut.
Despite their desire to live closer to Chinmoy in Queens, the Tamms obeyed -- spending the next decade in Norwalk before moving to Wilton in 1981 and, a year later, to Greenwich. There, the family bought a home near the Port Chester border in hopes of being as close as possible, geographically, to New York.
"For my parents, Greenwich was always a disappointing substitute for Jamaica, (Queens)," said Tamm, whose father worked as Chinmoy's personal lawyer in town during the mid-1980s.
Once the family was settled here, Chinmoy soon ordered Tamm to enroll at Greenwich Academy, she said, because he wanted to "keep me away from boys," who would "poison your inner life, your spiritual life."
By that point, however, Tamm said she had reason to doubt Chinmoy. For years, she had seen him tour the country performing concerts and strongman feats. However, it became increasingly clear to her that these acts were a charade, the author recalled.
For one, she said, Chinmoy was embarrassingly inept as a musician, sometimes prompting audience members to walk out of his shows midway. And his seemingly super-human feats of strength -- on display, for instance, when he "lifted" an elephant in Greenwich during a promotional stunt -- were achieved by sleight of hand, she said, through a special apparatus designed to boost his leverage.
Having been forbidden from attending college, Tamm moved to Queens to worship at Chinmoy's side after graduating from Greenwich Academy. However, the doubts that had begun to take hold during her teenage years in town continued to mount during her early 20's in Queens, said Tamm, who was eventually expelled from Chinmoy's group after she attempted suicide.
Her parents left the group five years later, and got separated. Her mother still lives in Greenwich. Her brother, Ketan, 42, however, remains an active member of the group to this day.
Since then, the emotional recovery has required many hours of therapy, she said.
Still, Tamm does not blame her parents for choosing their former lifestyle, nor does she begrudge her brother for staying in Chinmoy's group following his death.
"They were doing what they believe was the best," she said. "If you've indeed invested 30 years of your life, it's hard to leave and finally admit that what you put your whole life into is something that isn't really true."
"That is so immense," she continued, "you can either make a huge break, or just keep plodding along."

CHRISTIANS IN INDIA " REJOICING " UNDER NEW GOVERNMENT

India - Hopeful excitement is building in India as the new government, which has already taken steps to protect Christians from persecution, begins its administration.
"Everyone is now anticipating five years not only of political stability, but also 5 years of having a government that wants to protect minorities," said Dave Stravers, president of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India.
Parliament passed new directives for law enforcement about a week ago for the protection of minorities, Stravers said.
"You can substitute the word 'Christians' there for 'minorities,' because it was a direct response to what happened last year in the state of Orissa and other places where Christians are being attacked," he explained. "So this is really a very significant transition."
Many believe the transition is occurring not only in the political world but also among the people of India.
"Even the secular and Hindu pundits in India are saying that this election shows a cultural shift happening," Stravers said. "People are tired of the politics of hate; they're tired of the religious extremism; they're tired of what they call 'casteism.' They don't want this kind of politics anymore. So this is very good news for the Gospel."
The Gospel has been spreading rapidly throughout India, and religious tolerance could open even more doors.
"India is so responsive to the Gospel right now," Stravers said. "We are hearing from virtually all the corners of India about openness, response, people being baptized by the thousands, even the tens of thousands...It just appears to us that all the conditions are right for a wonderful, massive, movement to Christ in India.
"Keep your eyes open, because you're going to be reading and hearing a lot more stories of what's happening in India."
On his last trip to India, Stravers learned one such story from a young man who had grown up as a very devout Hindu. A Christian had brought Scripture for his family, but later his family moved away.
"He said that from the age of 9, he felt the Lord had been pursuing him, and he had been resisting it," Stravers said. "Finally, God started giving him dreams, and these dreams in the night directed him to talk to certain people that he knew; he didn't know they were Christians."
Stravers met the man a few weeks after he and his wife were baptized.
"Even though the result was he lost his job and his family is opposing him, he's just very happy and telling everyone his story," Stravers said. He compared the way God pursued this young man to the way God is working in the nation of India.
"In this case He decided to pursue this man...for 20 years, till he came to Christ through a dream and a witnessing friend," he said. "From my perspective, God has decided to pursue India. And when God is pursuing you, something remarkable is going to happen."
The election could also benefit the lowest, most oppressed caste in Indian society -- the Dalits. Many Christians are Dalits, and Mission India is working hard to provide support and training for them.
"The Christians in India are among the poorest people in the country...the kind of people you saw in Slumdog Millionaire" Stravers said. "Those are the people who are coming to Christ in great numbers."
Stravers encouraged Christians to pray that God will provide for poor Christians, and that the government will continue to protect minority populations.
"Pray that it's really true that there will be some peace, some stability, and the doors will stay open," he said. "Also pray that extremists, whether they're Hindus or Muslims, will not be successful in intimidating or creating fear among believers."

A FIFTH GRADER BRINGS AN ENTIRE FAMILY TO FAITH

Nicaragua ― One night Chema Lopez, a JESUS Film team leader, was sitting outside his home in Nicaragua with his daughter. A young man approached them, introducing himself as Gabriel Antonio Madrigal. Gabriel explained that he was a Christian because of a presentation Chema did at his school seven years ago when he was in fifth grade.
Gabriel and his class watched "Jesus for Children," and then Gabriel prayed to become a Christian. When he got home, he told his parents that he had seen the presentation, that he'd become a Christian, and brought home the small book that Chema had given each student.
Gabriel was the oldest of four boys. His father drank very heavily and abused his mother very badly. After hearing of Gabriel's commitment to Christ, his father did not change. However, a month later, in 2002, Gabriel found his father in their living room reading the small book and crying. He became a Christian that day, and life changed drastically for Gabriel's family. The drinking and abuse stopped, and his father began conversing with and giving advice to his sons. Today, every member of his family is a believer.
JESUS Film has been considered one of the most successful evangelistic projects ever. However, they believe that the true success isn't the number of people who have already seen it, but the number who will follow Christ after seeing it. They seek to share the Gospel with people in their heart language via media.
Praise God for the courage of young Gabriel and the change that he initiated in his family. Praise God for His perfect timing and the impact that JESUS Film Project is having around the world.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND TRIES TO BROADEN APPEAL WITH SONGS BY U2 AND PRAYERS FOR GOOGLE

The ideas for alternative-style worship are part of an initiative launched by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appeal to the younger generation.
They are set out in a new book compiled by the Church's Fresh Expressions programme, which aims to boost church attendance with more relevant and exciting services.
However, traditionalists have criticised the unorthodox services as "pointless" and "shallow", and have warned that experimenting with Church tradition would do more harm than good.
One Holy Communion service promoted in the book, called Ancient Faith, Future Mission, begins with the congregation being shown a video clip from the YouTube website about a United Nations anti-poverty campaign.
Worshippers are told that "our planet is messed up" and that "things are not right".
They are then asked to approach the altar and rub sea salt on their fingers to represent tears, before walking around and meditating at eight "prayer stations" representing themes such as "gender equality" and "environmental sustainability".
A psalm is recited in "beat poetry" style to the accompaniment of African Djembe drums, and prayers are said "for the corporate world, for influential CEOs who oversee billion-dollar industries".
The prayers continue: "We pray for John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Dr Eric Schmidt of Google Inc, H Lee Scott Jr of Wal-Mart Stores and others who have already made commitments to justice."
Among the alternative services explored in the book, which is co-edited by the Rt Rev Steven Croft, the new Bishop of Sheffield, are so-called "U2charists", services in which the congregation receives communion but sings the songs of the Irish rock band U2 instead of traditional hymns.
The services, which include such songs as "Mysterious Ways", "One", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", have been pioneered at St Swithin's church in Lincoln.
The book also features Transcendence, an event held in York Minister in which traditional Latin chant is set by DJs to hip hop or ambient dance music and video images are projected onto the walls.
The Rev Sue Wallace, who has pioneered the event by blending modern technology with ancient prayers, says that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Many of the services promoted in the book feature physical activity and symbols alongside traditional sermons.
In chapter of the book, Archbishop Williams says: "The Bible is full of stories about God communicating through act and sign as well as language ... Far from being bound to communication through clear information economically expressed in words, our society is still deeply sensitive to symbols and inclined to express important feelings and perceptions in this way."
The Fresh Expressions initiative was launched by the Archbishop in 2004 to combat the significant drop in churchgoing that has been seen in Britian over recent decades. In the past few years the decline appears to have steadied.
Church leaders are particularly concerned about the loss of younger people, who are abandoning the pews at a greater rate than their older counterparts.
The Rt Rev Graham Cray, who heads the Fresh Expressions initiative, said that it was vital that the Church explored new ways of engaging with modern culture.
"We have to reconnect with a very large percentage of the population that has no contact or interest in traditional church," he said.
"It is important to offer spirituality to people who are offered a multi-choice lifestyle and who think that the last place they'll find it is in church."
He said that the new services were carefully designed for specific communities and stressed they was not supposed to challenge traditional worship.
However, the Rev David Houlding, prebendary at St Paul's Cathedral, bemoaned the Church's attempt to widen its appeal.
"All this is tosh. It's just a passing fad, irrelevant, shallow and pointless," he said.
"There's no depth to it and it's embarrassing because it'll make people think that we're eccentric and silly."
The Fresh Expressions initiative has spawned churches for surfers as well as commissioning priests to work in night clubs and skateboard parks.