It is possible that Poonja gained a reputation as a person who could bestow
instant guru credentials on someone ambitious and give them a backstory.
Andrew Cohen appears to have been Poonja's first lab rat. Now Tiruvannamalai
is full of them.
Poonja may not have ever intended to start out this way, but it appears
he continued to do his "magic zap" long after P's first known protege
turned into a bully.
IMO, Poonja misused his own charisma. I doubt it was magic. P probably learned
guru language and some trance induction techniques.
Years back, when Luna Tarlo's Mother of God, was the only disciple memoir
available on Andrew Cohen, I remember feeling as puzzled as Tarlo was.
Tarlo, as Andrew's mother described how her son struggled with shyness
and inferiority, constantly attaching himself to spiritual mentors.
When Cohen excitedly sent a letter (this was the 1980s) telling Tarlo
that he'd become enlightened, join him in India, she arrived to find
that her son had undergone what seemed a magical transformation.
Formerly awkward and unsure of himself, Andrew Cohen claimed to have
been enlightened by Poonja, and was now charismatic, eloquent, invincible
in argument.
It seemed that magic was real and that Poonja had worked a magic cure.
But, it soon turned out that Andrew Cohen was now domineering, unpredicable and
cruel, vandalizing the minds and hearts of all who trusted him.
What Tarlo did not know at that time was that prior to India, and prior to meeting Poonja, Cohen was already ambitious to become a guru. He had the ambition, he visited other gurus.
One of the gurus he visited was Adi Dam,
[forum.culteducation.com]
instant guru credentials on someone ambitious and give them a backstory.
Andrew Cohen appears to have been Poonja's first lab rat. Now Tiruvannamalai
is full of them.
Poonja may not have ever intended to start out this way, but it appears
he continued to do his "magic zap" long after P's first known protege
turned into a bully.
IMO, Poonja misused his own charisma. I doubt it was magic. P probably learned
guru language and some trance induction techniques.
Years back, when Luna Tarlo's Mother of God, was the only disciple memoir
available on Andrew Cohen, I remember feeling as puzzled as Tarlo was.
Tarlo, as Andrew's mother described how her son struggled with shyness
and inferiority, constantly attaching himself to spiritual mentors.
When Cohen excitedly sent a letter (this was the 1980s) telling Tarlo
that he'd become enlightened, join him in India, she arrived to find
that her son had undergone what seemed a magical transformation.
Formerly awkward and unsure of himself, Andrew Cohen claimed to have
been enlightened by Poonja, and was now charismatic, eloquent, invincible
in argument.
It seemed that magic was real and that Poonja had worked a magic cure.
But, it soon turned out that Andrew Cohen was now domineering, unpredicable and
cruel, vandalizing the minds and hearts of all who trusted him.
What Tarlo did not know at that time was that prior to India, and prior to meeting Poonja, Cohen was already ambitious to become a guru. He had the ambition, he visited other gurus.
One of the gurus he visited was Adi Dam,
[forum.culteducation.com]