Hi Wombat,
I'm glad you asked about gaslighting, as it relates to the Mooji group. They use their "Neo-Advaita" or "non-dualism" philosophy to negate any kind of questioning or debate that doesn't suit them.
If you are a genuine spiritual seeker, as indeed I was, this has the effect of making you feel like you might not belong, or you don't believe strongly enough in the "truth", or that you are not evolved enough to understand their answers. It makes you doubt yourself.
Over and over again, Mooji says in his videos "of course some resistance to the truth of who you are will come up". So if you are questioning what he is saying, then you feel validated hearing that statement - you think "that's great, because I am actually questioning some of this stuff".
And then Mooji hits you with "That is just your mind". He says it all the time. It's like a broken record!
The end result is that you begin to see your own mind as the enemy. It's like a subtle form of thought control... You begin not to trust your own mind. If you would like to explore this further, just join the Mooji Sangha Facebook group and ask a lot of questions. You will soon see that you will always get the same answer to every question: always it is a variation along the same theme, "That is just your mind". Every single time.
Try it.
Sadly, this is a very lame perversion of classical Advaita teaching. Traditional Advaita teachings never, ever suggest that you should give up reasoning skills and critical thinking! I do not know of any legitimate religion or spiritual doctrine that suggests you give away critical thinking! The Mooji group take a classical piece of esoteric Hindu philosophy and manipulate it and mis-use it to suit their own needs. Mooji is the master Manipulator. He is dangerous.
For the purposes of brain-washing, as employed by cults, it's very important that you give up critical thinking, become empty of thought, and become compliant. That way they can fill your head with whatever they like. Mooji supporters are very compliant. They are completely empty-headed.
Mooji even says that he does not do a lot of reading himself and does not study the scriptures. This was a big red flag for me. He doesn't want people to read about Advaita, because he doesn't teach it correctly and he doesn't want any questions!!!
This cult can also get you to donate money and work for free on their ashram, building Mooji's house for his comfortable retirement.
I was going through a tough time and I ended up watching Mooji videos, at home alone for several weeks. People like me are the ones in danger of being pulled into this stuff, because it is like a form of escapism. You will see that it is, unfortunately the vulnerable people in society that get attracted to this stuff.
Luckily, I saw something in a Moo video that bothered me and I did further investigations. Now I want to speak out to warn others. Please be very wary of the Mooji group. They are not legitimate.
I'm glad you asked about gaslighting, as it relates to the Mooji group. They use their "Neo-Advaita" or "non-dualism" philosophy to negate any kind of questioning or debate that doesn't suit them.
If you are a genuine spiritual seeker, as indeed I was, this has the effect of making you feel like you might not belong, or you don't believe strongly enough in the "truth", or that you are not evolved enough to understand their answers. It makes you doubt yourself.
Over and over again, Mooji says in his videos "of course some resistance to the truth of who you are will come up". So if you are questioning what he is saying, then you feel validated hearing that statement - you think "that's great, because I am actually questioning some of this stuff".
And then Mooji hits you with "That is just your mind". He says it all the time. It's like a broken record!
The end result is that you begin to see your own mind as the enemy. It's like a subtle form of thought control... You begin not to trust your own mind. If you would like to explore this further, just join the Mooji Sangha Facebook group and ask a lot of questions. You will soon see that you will always get the same answer to every question: always it is a variation along the same theme, "That is just your mind". Every single time.
Try it.
Sadly, this is a very lame perversion of classical Advaita teaching. Traditional Advaita teachings never, ever suggest that you should give up reasoning skills and critical thinking! I do not know of any legitimate religion or spiritual doctrine that suggests you give away critical thinking! The Mooji group take a classical piece of esoteric Hindu philosophy and manipulate it and mis-use it to suit their own needs. Mooji is the master Manipulator. He is dangerous.
For the purposes of brain-washing, as employed by cults, it's very important that you give up critical thinking, become empty of thought, and become compliant. That way they can fill your head with whatever they like. Mooji supporters are very compliant. They are completely empty-headed.
Mooji even says that he does not do a lot of reading himself and does not study the scriptures. This was a big red flag for me. He doesn't want people to read about Advaita, because he doesn't teach it correctly and he doesn't want any questions!!!
This cult can also get you to donate money and work for free on their ashram, building Mooji's house for his comfortable retirement.
I was going through a tough time and I ended up watching Mooji videos, at home alone for several weeks. People like me are the ones in danger of being pulled into this stuff, because it is like a form of escapism. You will see that it is, unfortunately the vulnerable people in society that get attracted to this stuff.
Luckily, I saw something in a Moo video that bothered me and I did further investigations. Now I want to speak out to warn others. Please be very wary of the Mooji group. They are not legitimate.