As mentioned elsewhere, I like Mooji. I consider him to be one of my teachers. But being a Scorpio, I had to skulk around the internet to see if anything negative had been written about him. The fact is, on one hand, there was a lot of disparaging websites and comments. On the other hand, all of these websites link back to one and only one source: https://gurumag.com/becoming-god-inside-moojis-portugal-cult/
Now, there is plenty of negative information there. It’s pretty compelling and very damning. The problems I find with it are as follows:
1: The writers seem to be some kind of “ministry” whose mission is to expose cults and cult leaders.
2: As is usual, the article begins with references to sexual activity. This is Xtianity at it’s worse. It’s only the cult of Xtianity that disparages sexuality so thoroughly. Because the Xtian mindset is so dominant, especially in the United States, anyone participating or promoting any kind of unconventional sexual activity is immediately condemned as a pervert or a “witch.” Ceridwen and I experienced this ourselves when she was “fired” from her job with Pathfinders Bookstore. You can read about the resulting bullcrap here. But we were accused, as Mooji has been accused, of inappropriate sexual behavior. Why? Well we had given a book, Pagan Polyamory to a young couple when one of them was celebrating a birthday. It was also well known, and still is, that Ceridwen and I, under the auspices of the Reformed Druids of Gaia promoted polyfidelity (essentially group marriage) and naturism (which is not sexual at all, except that Xtians seem to believe it is, because, you know, public nudity). Bottom line: you cannot use Christian moral values to evaluate or judge non-Christians.
3: There are lots of places to read about Mooji’s alleged sins. But they all reference the same article noted above. One article does not prove anything.
4: A total misunderstanding of how Hindus are taught to respect elders and holy persons. In his book, Hinduism for Dummies, Dr. Amrutur V. Srinivasan states: “Although every culture, every faith, and every society teaches its young to have respect for their elders, Hindus have made an art of this value. The outward signs are clear: In orthodox families, youngsters prostrate before elders, touching their feet. Men and women of any age prostrate this same way in front of holy men (and sometimes wash their feet). Even strangers who are elders are greeted by everyone, young and old, with the familiar sign of bringing palms together and bowing heads down. Standing aside and making way for older people is common.” So the honors given Mooji by his followers are totally normal, This is not cult behavior. This is just common respect. You cannot apply Western Values to non-Western cultures.
One of the articles, “Inside the Mooji Cult”, simply restates the information from the first referenced article, rearranges it, and then claims it as the author’s own research (that’s called plagiarism). At the end of the article it references the Guroumag article, citing it as “further proof” when in fact it is the exact same proof, so therefore it is no proof whatsoever.
Contrast this with the information one can find out about another famous teacher, Osho (AKA, Bhagwhan Shree Rajneesh). Now, there is a ton of stuff about Osho, and most of it is different and exposes a multitude of sins. So I tend to take that as authoritative. On the other hand, when I lived in Ashland OR there was a friend of mine, Bodhi, who had lived at Rajneshpuram, and was kind of in mourning over being separated from that. This was in 1999, so it was many years after the dispersal of Rajnesshpuram.
The biggest “sin” of Mooji’s? He teaches, as Ceridwen and I also do, that we are all, collectively, God. Except, as happens all the time with me, some of his followers (and therefore some of his disparagers), believe he is saying that HE is God. Alone. Which is a gross misinterpretation of his actual teaching. Some of his followers buy into this it seems, so among the bhajans of Mooi Mala, there are plenty of phrases like “Mooji is the answer, Master is the way.” The thing is that you can insert any teacher you wish into that. It does not make them God alone.
