Thank you, Corboy for the list of interesting analogies. I have long ago noticed that the most successful fake gurus use the same uniform. And as you point out, it is always a version of the classical "Christ-look". Long hair, usually beardless (but sometimes with beard, those are the fans of "Moses-look" maybe?), and always a long and usually white (sometimes other color) robe. They know the human subconsciousness, that collective "memory" where we all indentify this look with sainthood and divinity. Bomjon, even if changing the colors of his robes from originally classical Buddhist dark red to white, then white with indigo undershirt (it reminded a friend of mine of Star Wars dresses), than again white, is carefully following the fashion. His follower monks and nuns got clad in blue robes in 2013 (and in 2017 also his lay women devotees in pink and lay men devotees in violet).
I would say that in a hot country like Nepal's south is, and jungles with many thorny bushes and high grass, long loose hair must be entirely impractical. Also, to wear long white robes, it can entangle one into many plants which grow in the jingles, and make it difficult to climb trees and run... Very bad dress for jungle trekking! So that fairy-tale that he lived in the jungles for years, is not so convincing, especially when his hair looks most of the time combed and his white robe washed in Ariel...
There is a strange phenomenon too, reading their online texts, I have realized that some of his followers apparently came to him after previously worshiping Yogananda, Haidakhan Babaji and/or Mahaavatar Babaji. Some Westerners seem to identify him with Christ (Messiah), because in their eyes probably if he claimed he was Maitreya Buddha, then it was the same as Kalki Avatar and the Messiah. All are told to arrive on a white horse.
Here are 3 images of his white horse when still alive and cared by his followers (Google images)
In fact, I have found on the Internet that his followers even bought him a white horse, to indicate that he was the Maitreya Buddha (Messiah), but the website [www.dharma-sangha.com]]Dharma-sangha.com[/url] (now already closed down, this is the archive)described some terrible neglect or torture which caused that Bomjon's white horse died in bleeding wounds. The site owner was an eye-witness of the death of the white horse. So it is quite obvious that Ram Bomjon is not the awaited Messiah, at least we have never heard about the Messiah's white horse to be tortured to death by him...
The same Dharma-sangha.com website, which used to be one of his official websites, but the owner changed his attitude after seeing more and more controversies, also provides quite a lot of shocking information about Nepal's divinized guru who had been invited even by the ex Prime Minister:
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]About his girlfriends and his strange hobby of sending them to repeated abortions[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Witness account of a Canadian devotee about Bomjon's sword attack[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Attack on press during Puja[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Warning for potential visitors[/url]
Haidakhan Babaji and Mahaavatar Babaji:
I have visited Haidakhan, because I was nearby and I heard a lot about it. But what I have seen there, was just a typical spiritual business in the middle of the jungles in a beautiful pure nature. It is organized by Western followers, and they made a kind of Disney-Land of it, with similar style paintings and "sterile" temples with long sets of rules how to do and what to there. It has zero authenticity, and the local inhabitants are treated as aliens and looked down by the "elite" Westerners.
Then I happened to speak with some locals and visitors about the Haidakhan Babaji, and some told me that he used to have sexual relationships with many Western follower ladies. So again, same story... Temptations, and fall.
Just to clarify: Haidakhan Babaji is a relatively recent person (died in the 20th century), but Mahaavatar Babaji is that mythical Babaji who is supposed to live forever and had been never born etc. That is the one about whom Yogananda writes. And to have it more complicated, in that part of India there are various sects of the Babaji believers
- the Ashram in Haidakhan is led by the Western devotees who believe that their Haidakhan Babaji was an incarnation of Mahaavatar Babaji
- but there is a group who denies this, and claims that they are two separate entities
- then I spoke with an Indian visitor who said that the Haidakhan Babaji is a fake thing, and the only real Babaji was the Mahaavatar Babaji
Not that it would be so important, all these groups, because they all hang in illusions and a worship of some idols and ideals, who themselves either never existed, or when they existed, they failed to prove any moral height and transformative power. In my humble opinion and little bit of experience, apart from keeping people in illusions and taking their money, this group and ashram is not harming bodies and minds, and I have never heard about any victims of this group. It is just a cult where individuals use the opportunity to become authorities above others, (because they had been appointed by Babaji), what induces power-struggles and intrigues, but with limits and a freedom to leave. But that is just my personal impression.
I would say that in a hot country like Nepal's south is, and jungles with many thorny bushes and high grass, long loose hair must be entirely impractical. Also, to wear long white robes, it can entangle one into many plants which grow in the jingles, and make it difficult to climb trees and run... Very bad dress for jungle trekking! So that fairy-tale that he lived in the jungles for years, is not so convincing, especially when his hair looks most of the time combed and his white robe washed in Ariel...
There is a strange phenomenon too, reading their online texts, I have realized that some of his followers apparently came to him after previously worshiping Yogananda, Haidakhan Babaji and/or Mahaavatar Babaji. Some Westerners seem to identify him with Christ (Messiah), because in their eyes probably if he claimed he was Maitreya Buddha, then it was the same as Kalki Avatar and the Messiah. All are told to arrive on a white horse.
Here are 3 images of his white horse when still alive and cared by his followers (Google images)
In fact, I have found on the Internet that his followers even bought him a white horse, to indicate that he was the Maitreya Buddha (Messiah), but the website [www.dharma-sangha.com]]Dharma-sangha.com[/url] (now already closed down, this is the archive)described some terrible neglect or torture which caused that Bomjon's white horse died in bleeding wounds. The site owner was an eye-witness of the death of the white horse. So it is quite obvious that Ram Bomjon is not the awaited Messiah, at least we have never heard about the Messiah's white horse to be tortured to death by him...
The same Dharma-sangha.com website, which used to be one of his official websites, but the owner changed his attitude after seeing more and more controversies, also provides quite a lot of shocking information about Nepal's divinized guru who had been invited even by the ex Prime Minister:
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]About his girlfriends and his strange hobby of sending them to repeated abortions[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Witness account of a Canadian devotee about Bomjon's sword attack[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Attack on press during Puja[/url]
[www.dharma-sangha.com]]Warning for potential visitors[/url]
Haidakhan Babaji and Mahaavatar Babaji:
I have visited Haidakhan, because I was nearby and I heard a lot about it. But what I have seen there, was just a typical spiritual business in the middle of the jungles in a beautiful pure nature. It is organized by Western followers, and they made a kind of Disney-Land of it, with similar style paintings and "sterile" temples with long sets of rules how to do and what to there. It has zero authenticity, and the local inhabitants are treated as aliens and looked down by the "elite" Westerners.
Then I happened to speak with some locals and visitors about the Haidakhan Babaji, and some told me that he used to have sexual relationships with many Western follower ladies. So again, same story... Temptations, and fall.
Just to clarify: Haidakhan Babaji is a relatively recent person (died in the 20th century), but Mahaavatar Babaji is that mythical Babaji who is supposed to live forever and had been never born etc. That is the one about whom Yogananda writes. And to have it more complicated, in that part of India there are various sects of the Babaji believers
- the Ashram in Haidakhan is led by the Western devotees who believe that their Haidakhan Babaji was an incarnation of Mahaavatar Babaji
- but there is a group who denies this, and claims that they are two separate entities
- then I spoke with an Indian visitor who said that the Haidakhan Babaji is a fake thing, and the only real Babaji was the Mahaavatar Babaji
Not that it would be so important, all these groups, because they all hang in illusions and a worship of some idols and ideals, who themselves either never existed, or when they existed, they failed to prove any moral height and transformative power. In my humble opinion and little bit of experience, apart from keeping people in illusions and taking their money, this group and ashram is not harming bodies and minds, and I have never heard about any victims of this group. It is just a cult where individuals use the opportunity to become authorities above others, (because they had been appointed by Babaji), what induces power-struggles and intrigues, but with limits and a freedom to leave. But that is just my personal impression.