Bikram Yoga founder sued for sex crimes

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Ben Newman and Karin Weinberg, Nightline (ABC News, "Women Suing Hot Yoga Guru for Alleged Sexual Assault Come Forward," Feb. 26, 2014)

Multi-millionaire "Bikram Yoga" founder Bikram Choudhury accused of sexual assault

ABC Entertainment News|ABC Business News

  

Bikram is a business not a yoga.

The pioneer of "hot yoga" [his first customer being Pres. Richard Nixon] Mr. Bikram Choudhury is now under fire himself, defending his yoga empire against lawsuits brought by women claiming sexual misconduct.

 

In the last year, five women have filed civil lawsuits against Bikram, one of the richest, most successful yoga gurus in the world. All five of them accuse Bikram of sexually assaulting them. Four of the women accuse him of rape.

“He’s a sick man,” plaintiff Sarah Baughn told ABC News' "Nightline" correspondent David Wright. “I hope he gets some help.” 

 

Don't stare at Sofia Vergara

Baughn was the first alleged victim to speak up, recently telling her story to Vanity Fair magazine. Her appearance on "Nightline" along with two other women pursuing lawsuits against Bikram and his Yoga College of India in Los Angeles is the first time the alleged victims have detailed their claims on camera. 

 

Baughn, a former yoga champion, told "Nightline" she met Bikram in 2005 when she attended his teacher training course. The grueling nine-week course, which costs thousands of dollars, is led by Bikram and is the only way to become a Bikram Yoga teacher.

 

Try actual yoga at YogaWorks

Baughn, 20 at the time, said Bikram took an immediate interest in her.

“He told me there was a connection between the two of us that he had never felt before,” Baughn said, adding he claimed to have known her in a past life. More

• VIDEO: Former Bikram Yoga student recalls alleged assault

Heroic Journey: The Bridge of Death (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Monty Python, "Holy Grail"

Avian (Garuda) guards on the temple of Emerald Buddha, Thailand (Zennn/flickr.com)

Monty Python's Flying Circus comes to the Bridge of Death (Holy Grail)

Devi (Travis Charest/michaelmay.us)

When a heroine/hero is on a heroic journey, the road is treacherous. One must stay in possession of one's wits. There are rivers to ford, bridges to cross, and tricky questions to answer.

Every moment is imperiled. We teeter on the edge of ruin. We are staring into the gaping chasm... and loving it, of course. Just so those brave European Crusaders conquering and enslaving the world.

Warrior (cronesmagicalcrafts)

Camelot was comfortable, but not so the forays into the territories of "enemies" the Knights Templar Crusaders made. Their avarice and religious fanaticism, motivated more by greed for personal glory and riches than favor with their tribal Jewish God now co-opted to a nominal "Christian" one in Greco-Roman form.
 
Coming to a bridge at the end of life is not unusual. There is the River Styx to cross, the Cerberus to navigate, and in Asian mythology the idea of a very fragile rope bridge which can bear no extra weight -- and, bad karma being very heavy, it frequently gives way.

Asian deva watcher, Burma (Dondoc-foto/flickr)

What is "bad" karma, then, and how do we avoid accruing it? Any word, thought, or physical deed motivated by greed, hatred/fear, or delusion is demeritorious. Not all desires are ethical issues compromising one's virtue. There are wishes for good, for liberation, for helping others, for wisdom, for compassion, and so on. Not all aversion is misplaced. There is an aversion to harm, to coarse and harsh things, to base and destructive habits. 

All delusion is harmful, though not knowing somethings at some times (and being at peace with that) can be a relief, a respite, an opportunity to strengthen our mettle and grow prior to having to deal with the raw truth, which itself is not bad. Truth is good. But our deluded reactions to it, our misunderstanding of it, lead us to harm. If we knew more, we would hurt less -- in the long run. Every single step does not get easier along the rocky and narrow road.

Garuda guards close up Emerald Buddha temple, Thailand (Zennn/flickr.com)

  

Euro deva (Joe Temmel/flickr)

What is "good" karma that lightens us for "crossing over" at death? The three opposite categories: nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion or, taken at their broadest, the categories of unselfishness, compassion, and wisdom. How can we not be selfish in this selfish world? 

 

Wisdom helps. If we begin to grapple with the idea that things, ultimately, are impersonal, it is easier to let go. Giving externally while clinging internally is painful and likely to strengthen our ego as the "great giver." Giving rooted in wisdom is likely to foster more wisdom and a joy of release, of letting go, of being unburdened. That wisdom is a beginning. It culminates in the first stage of enlightenment with the arising of the insight (vipassana) that the ego -- the essence of any "thing" -- was a flawed view of reality, not a reality.
 

When we begin to see that IT IS NOT REALITY but the illusions, the fantasies, the hallucinations we are enduring that are the problem, we see that the truth is the answer. Let's ESCAPE to reality.

• Escape to Reality (Ananda Pereira, BPS)

The Devil's media on my TV (video)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; BillZebub.com; HALLOWEEN SERIES

Yama (King of the Dead), demon, temple guardian, hell warden (o_0/flickr.com)

(AncientAliensTruth) The real history and legendary exaggeration of "The Devil"

 

I quite like it.

"Black Metal: The Music of Satan" is a no holds barred documentary on the Black Metal scene in Europe and America from the mind of Bill Zebub. [Uh, Pat, we can't show that video. What, why? It's so funny! BANNED by you-know-who for a scene that is too explicit to air. We're going in a different direction, something on the surprising history of the devil. JERRY SPRINGER? No, the Bible guy.]

(MrB) Have we been duped by evil Hollywood moguls again?

Is the "Jerry Springer Show" fake or an exploration of America's

repugnant underbelly? KCAL 9 News, Los Angeles, investigates.

 
Some people think of American and Norwegian church burnings and murders when they hear the term "black metal." This documentary is not for those people. Zebub wanted to prove that a documentary about black metal could be entertaining without sensationalism. Sensationalism? Let's go with that! Will the real Scandinavian "Black Metal" please stand up:

(MVDmusicvideo) "Black Metal Satanica" WARNING: Shocking!

 
"Black Metal Satanica" is an in-depth music documentary. It captures the dark, mystical, and evil history of the genre. Based on Scandinavian Viking lore, it borrows from ancient Viking melodies, lyrics, and mythology dating back to the 11th century. A new wave of musicians give their take on the current state of the music and the extreme, almost inhuman, acts that surround this controversial subculture. Self-mutilation, murder, suicide, church-burning, the desecration of graves and corpses are all covered here in shocking and graphic detail!

 

Tibetan chakrabhava "Wheel of Existence" sacred tapestry (viewzone.com)

 

Hey, man, it's just musick.

See the artists express themselves candidly while, of course, some embarrass themselves with their detachable facades. But that's entertainment! The show must go on, and the masks must fall off.

From the mind of Grimoire Magazine and films like "Death Metal: Are We Watching You Die?," "Metal Retardation," and "Black Metal: Norwegian Legacy."

This documentary features interviews with bands like King Diamond (Mercyful Fate), Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Venom, Darkthrone, Behemoth, Immortal, Enthroned, Enslaved, Satyricon, Marduk, and many more.

• VIDEO: Boys obsessed with porn, girls, and sex (BBC)

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) craze
(The Fine Bros/MyMusicShow.tv) Episode 38: "Raver Madness" (new episodes every Tuesday)

• Does Wisdom Quarterly actually believe in the Christian "devil" or "God" for that matter?

Our True Ghost Story (video)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly HALLOWEEN TEAM

(Dave Symes) Now, kids, obey the nice police. They're only here to protect you from expressing yourselves and saying things you might regret later. This is just like the Battle at Kruger:

(Jason Schlosberg) Now, water buffs, obey the nice lions.

They're only here to eat you alive.

Gary Holt, Tom, Kerry King, Paul (LAW)

One strange (i.e., paranormal) thing did happen at the Slayer concert! It sounds silly to recount it given that one might discuss the societal or interpersonal freak show that most any concert in Hollywood becomes.

Standing, watching the show from the pit -- a sweaty, chaotic mass of humanity pressing in with everyone blocking the view by throwing up "Hang Ten" hand signs -- it was mesmerizing to watch it for a few seconds from the vantage point of a well placed little screen.

The person in front was videotaping through a good quality cellphone with a good size screen. He was holding it up above the fray, so by looking up one had a good vantage point. He was focusing it on Kerry King during a quick guitar solo. We very clearly saw Jeff Hanneman playing guitar with his unmistakeable long blond hair.

 

Not having previously thought much about who else was now playing guitar on tour with Slayer, we were standing stage right in front of the deafening speakers, 20 feet or so away from the stage where the crush of fans is not all-consuming.

Kerry King (right) and Jeff Hanneman (Jesse Davis biography-tribute video, see below)

Hey, Jeff, I've been waiting. - Just one more solo, Mara! (namedtranslation.co.uk)

 

Now when the camera came down, we saw Kerry King playing guitar on our right. We rushed forward to figure out who was stage left. Were there five people up there? No. The Hanneman-replacement (Gary Holt) was on his own side of the stage, and he doesn't look anything like Hanneman. We searched and searched the stage from various angles in case someone had fallen back obstructed by the stacks playing rhythm guitar in addition to the duo, who were not interacting but just keeping to their sides.

When the camera and arm came down, it had clearly been pointing at a bald, head-tattooed Kerry King, not a long-haired blond guitarist. They look nothing alike. We assumed that who had been in the frame must have just stepped aside, but no. The sheen of Hanneman's hair magnified and amplified, glowing as luminescent pixels on the screen, left an even greater impression, in jarring contrast to King's baldness.

• Jeff Hanneman remembered by titans of metal

It is due to karma -- actions willed, carried out, and accumulated -- that one lives.

Flesh eating bacteria destroy a limb (wiki)

Then it dawned on us whose image had been on that camera screen -- that was DEAD Jeff Hanneman! (Hanneman died this year as a result of  liver failure due to years of drug and alcohol abuse and perhaps demons after a mysterious spider bite that led to him contracting a crippling case of necrotizing fasciitis, "flesh-eating disease," which almost led to the amputation of his right arm). His story is told here:

Jeff Hanneman (1964-2013) memorial tribute by Jesse Davis

Did the image appear as a transient interaction between an electronic device and our eyes, the camera capturing and transducing a haint, making visible for a moment what the unaided eye cannot normally see? Or was their a documented intersection of planes: Did Hanneman's image appear on the digital video that person's camera was taking? There was no one on stage who looked anything like Hanneman, certainly no one wielding a guitar. We'll have to go through our messy, poorly lit photos and footage in search of paranormal artifacts.

• Edgar Cayce gave instructions for a device to see human aura  (Maybe some phones can sometimes transpose subtle-ectoplasmic-matter into pixels?)

Edgar Cayce, Sleeping Prophet

But if the person who was filming finds Hanneman on it, please contact us! (Leave a comment in the Comments section with a way to contact you). Up the street at the Magic Castle, private members conduct a seance trying to contact the Great Houdini. It's been almost a century, and they have not reported any success. Here along Sunset Blvd., where a bicyclist once died right in front of the Palladium just before a Slayer show, having been driving without a helmet and being side swiped by a slow moving semi truck (a head is no match for asphalt), a deceased band member steps in, occupies, possesses his erstwhile friend and musical partner for a moment of Hollywood glory on stage together again. 

This really happened, as hokey as it may sound. But "see is believing," and we know what we saw. Without digital evidence there is no sense in others believing. So readers can take comfort in that. Halloween is just a few days away. The Moon is round. And The Veil is thinning in this hemisphere, just as it was a few months ago for Obon in Asia on the other side of the planet. This thinning between the dimensions, the Planes of Existence (as outlined in Buddhist cosmology), allows for the interaction of the worlds here on Earth. We coexist with animals and space-devas ("shining ones") and space-others [asuras, nagas, gandharvas: celestial titans/Annunaki (as explained by Michael "Forbidden Archeologist" Cremo), reptilians/Draconians, and angelic messenger-musicians].

Secret Tibetan Book of the Dead (video)

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; DP (video); BD (art)

Tibetan Book of the Dead Comic (Bardo Thodol/flickriver.com)

  

Tibetan lamas in elaborate ritual (sacbee.com)

What will we do at death? Unless we are guided during the dying process, many of us will react habitually in the liminal intermediate (bardo) world. That world of loud and scary spirits, shapeshifters and oddities (where the wild things are), is not likely to lead us to good choices. A confident guide in this world can lead one to more profitable options for rebirth.

(bardo thodol/flickriver.com)

Of course, this is dependent on cultural norms and assumptions. These instructions would not likely help Finnish Christians or African Buddhists (yes, there are African Buddhists) because they are not steeped in Tibetan lore. Other groups will have other lore that applies. Why? It is because so much of our experience is based on perception, assumptions, and a general paradigm religion introduces us to. We think science is our religion, with white clad priests, a secret language open to all but mastered by only a few in ultra exclusive journals, strict rituals (experimental design), and gatekeepers galore.
 
But even that belief system, far from being "objective" or able to find absolute truth, is full of lore and expectations about postmortem experience. Consciousness persists, form persists (in subtler states of matter), feeling, perception, formation all persist. Death is no obstacle to anything but memory and opportunity. Do what can be done now with a long future in mind. Enjoy what can be enjoyed here because soon it will be forgotten in detail yet traced in our karma. Actions lead to habits, which lead to the formation of our character. But what about doubters? We survive death; we pre-exist life?

Liberation through Hearing

Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

The Bardo Thodol, or Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State, is often referred to in the West by the more casual title, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a name which draws a parallel to another funerary text, The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

The Tibetan text describes experiences the individual consciousness has after death, during the interval in between death and the next rebirth. It is is intended to guide one through safely. The interval is known in Tibetan as the bardo. The text also includes chapters on the signs of death and rituals to undertake when death is closing in, or has taken place. It is internationally famous, the most widespread work of Tibetan Nyingma literature.

Tibetans bow at Chinese confiscated palace

According to Tibetan tradition, the book was composed in the eighth century by Padmasambhava, as written down by his primary student, Yeshe Tsogyal. It was buried in the Gampo hills in central Tibet and subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa, in the 14th century. There were variants of the book among different sects. 

It was first published in 1927 by Oxford University Press. Dr. Walter Y. Evans-Wentz chose this title because of the parallels he found with the Egyptian work. It is recited by Tibetan Buddhist lamas over a dying or recently deceased person, or sometimes over an effigy of the deceased.

• (Saba Jakeman) It doesn't matter where or when someone important is born. That's 99% of the problem right there. Ignorant sheep[ple] believe that it takes a special magical man to save us from ourselves. "Oh, but he was born here, belongs to us...and we're correct." What a bunch of rubbish. We're all equally accountable to one another. We're ALL as important as the Buddha or Jesus. It is WE who must change things. The time is always NOW. And the "savior" is always US.
  
  (Peter Hackman) I don't believe in mystical Sky People or magical Messiahs [like Wisdom Quarterly does]. I'm comfortable with the idea of a complete Void after I die. [Who wouldn't prefer that? Wouldn't it be nice if it all just ended and we could rest without consciousness or karmic consequences?] However, I'm also aware that our brains are alive seven minutes after we die and are completely cut off from external stimuli, which then frees processing speed that is otherwise bound to everyday functioning, rendering time irrelevant and allowing the mind to craft its own reality, yielding an eternity's worth of experience before we finally wink out... [In Buddhism this dangerous, albeit comforting, view is called Annihilationism, the idea that the person is utterly annihilated at death. It is the counterpart to another wrong view called Eternalism. It is a very weighty wrong view, particularly when accompanied by the view that karma has no efficacy after this life.]