Re: Uma Inder , Umaa

Quote

Uma (Inder) tried to cut off members from
> outside influence:
>
> “Use of Facebook was shamed and for certain
> members Uma prohibited it. Cult members were
> encouraged to spend time largely with each other.
> Outside connections were labeled by Uma as ‘leaks
> in the shared container’ of practice. Over time
> cult members became more and more isolated within
> the cult.”
>

Quote

>
> While some members lived in Bali, others would
> travel to Bali several times a year to study with
> her. Some would go to Bali for several months out
> of the year or just a few weeks during a retreat.
> But members report it was easy for others to get
> sucked in regardless of how long they stayed. Uma
> then used an online forum to keep control over
> members.
>
> ....
>
> The online Google message board forum is “what
> tied things together internationally.” This
> digital platform allowed Uma to have active cult
> members in the “US, UK, Canada, Scandanavia,
> Russia, Mexico, Japan and elsewhere.”
>
> Participation in the online forum was required of
> members regardless of where they were. The online
> chats consisted of in-fighting, sharing
> compromising information, discussing
> consciousness, in-depth descriptions of sex and
> Uma’s controlling dictates. All of this was used
> to control and even blackmail devotees. As one
> describes, “Members often spend the entire day
> verbally abusing others, confessing, and in group
> processing.”
>
> One former member reflects about the time in the
> forums and spent in discussion groups in Bali:
>
> “The sheer amount of time we stayed involved in
> them created isolation from other people. The
> environment was deliberately creating extreme
> psychological pressure (“break down”), and there
> have been sporadic instances of physical violence
> as well, as well as explicit and implicit threats
> of violence.”
> The message board was how Uma kept her controlling
> influence over members:
>
> “The forum was a place for us to pour our deepest
> thoughts and feelings out, and to receive Uma’s
> ever-poetic reflection on where we are “in False
> ID,” so that we can liberate the true self.
> Ultimately, the goal was dying, while alive. Dying
> into God.”
>