The new “hype” in spirituality seems to be DEEKSHA (Diksha). I will try to explain in short for those who have never heard about that.
There is a men called Bhagavan in India. His wife is called Amma.He claims to be an Avatar whose mission is to enlight whole of mankind until the year 2012.[LOL] So he really seems to be megalomaniac. Because the world is changing since some years and we passed kali yuga and entered into satya yuga (the golden age)it’s possible to get enlightement easy and fast. He is producing hundreds of “enlighted” people per week. It can best be described as a neuro-biological shift in the brain. So we become detached or de-clutched from our mind.
Bhagavan says that you cannot attain a full state of enlightenment through your own efforts, although you can get close. Full enlightenment is a state that must be given to you! It’s divine grace! 
You can pass a 21-day retreat in India. Then you can give Dikshas too to other people to enlighten them step by step. There is a critical mass of 64,000 people in the world who should be enlighted in order that all others can get enlightment too without even searching for it themselves. The costs for the 21-Day retreat is for american and european 5000 Dollar. For africans or other poor people it’s free. So you kind of pay for them because the network must be all over the world.
There is a lot more to say about that but better inform yourself on other pages.
http://www.onenessuniversity.org/
http://www.trueawakening.org/
http://www.livinginjoy.com/en/avatars
Isn’t that crazy? You pay 5000 Dollar for enlightement! Or is it just stupid if you do that? 
In the Ashram I’m living at the moment we have this Deeksha-Hype. One person has done this 21-day retreat and is living here. Some others sometimes come here to give Dikshas as well. It really polarizes.
These are the objective facts claimed by Bhagavan and his disciple!
Now my story. I could make it very long but I make it short:
I was a big doubter. How can you pay for enlightement? I found Yogani-Yoga and I’m practicing it. That is all I need ( I “throw” away all other Kundalini and Kriya Yoga practices I was practicing since years step by step). Several weeks I didn’t join the Deekshas. Then I joined once. What the person did is she hold her hands on my head - for about 1 Minute. The meditation was nice. That was it for the moment.
Some hours later I got sick, VERY sick. 
I laid in bed for 30 hours. A lot of pain. I dont list the symtoms, just believe me. Then within 3 hours I was well up again. Ok, nice… but I could not believe it. So I immediately took another Diksha to proof it.
The Deeksha was nice… just nice not more.
The next day was completely different. I was changed. Just Happiness. Why? No idea! Causeless! The only “mantra” I had on my lips was “What is going on with me is NOT POSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE”. But the experience was completely different.
In my practices I now come much deeper. Things which were difficult for me to do are now just happening automatically. I will take some more Deekshas the next days and see what is going on.
That is in very simple words my story. But others have similar storys.
oli
Evaluate again six months from now.
Hari Om
Namaste Mumukshu,
All Progress is welcomed.
Pranams,
Ekam Sad Viprah Bahudha Vadanti - Truth is ONE; Sages call it variously.
I think this is very interesting and it would be nice to hear from braunvier if anything more has happened.
Diksha is very big in Sweden right now. I have been in a room where they gave diksha and my crown just went crazy and I felt a bit sick. But I have never heard of anyone reporting permanent changes from it.
On the contrary, most of my (former) informers in spirituality have just sighed and said “same old stuff people have tried for ages, but with another name”. Though, I haven’t really understood what it is. Is it “loading down high frequenze energy” to feel boosted for a while? One can play rather much with energies and create a lot of different moods or conditions. But they seldom bring more awareness - only a moments relief.
Does anyone now more about this? Have any opinions?
hmmmmmmmmm guys
thanks again for this post…Now I know why used to put my han over certain people heads and also why I used to feel those strange winds and energy movements…
I know understand another power…
The resultant from this is that most people feel blissful for about 2weeks …
This is my observation from myself and devotees that attend
I do hope brauniver keep us updated
Goodday
Diksha isn’t full enlightenment. These people are paying 5000 dollars for something that can be given for free from the “inner guru”.
What about us poor Westerners? We may all be well of because we live in “fat” countries but some of us struggle with a few thousand a year. Need more reports on this. I’m sceptical. If this were true and needed by 2012 then it would be given out free, post-haste. Pay back would be the manifestation of God-consciousness and a new world. If the money is upgrading living situations for the poor that’s wonderful. But if all became “enlightened” whether or not they could pay, then they would naturally want to support such social service, don’t you think? Wouldn’t that type of awakening bring about radical shifts in social consciousness and roles of governments & etc.? This sounds like a scheme of some with siddhis who are using the date of 2012 to promote their own agenda. On the other hand, if it’s true, then hallelujia, we’re saved, that is if enough can come up with the cash 
Smmmummmm, goofffffmmmm, mmm nngggg, bshhhhnngggg! bngnnnnn, shmmmmmmmmng, brrnnnnnnnnnnnngg, knnnnnn!!
[That was the sound of Obsidian being muffled because this is not the place to speak what he wants to say. ]
HA HA HA 
…
Sorry Guys… couldn’t help it…
Me being telepathic, I think he wanted to say something like:
mmgjkjd ddkd ddd dkjdjkdh swowoopw
(oops, Wolfgang got muffled and bashed 
)
Well Unfotunately I have read some horror stories about this ‘diksha’ that is going about and one of their closest followers who is from Sweden(Freddie Neilsen) has left them.Lot of controversy here also about people giving all their money up and ending up with nothing.If you need to pay large sums of money???As the saying goes ’ if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably isn’t’
L&L
Dave
Ah-ha! Just as i thought Watson, we’re being duped! Uh, can I get a refund?
5000 dollars singles out who gets to be enlightened. The majority in this planet does not have that much money to risk, so they are really marketing a product for the minority upper class.
If they were true masters they would enlighten all the mothers in the world, for free.
When people have less attachment to their money, after being enlightened, they’d have no problem donating the appropriate sum.
We cannot forget the powerful of belief, how it hinders and how it enables.
In Sweden you can get diksha for free or for a low donation. The question remains… what is it? Play with energies?
David,
I’m curious to hear what you wanted to say.
Diksha is when a guru initiates you into spirituality and gives you a guru mantra. The mantra is supposed to be what your system needs in this life time to move ahead in your path. Different people get different mantras… depending on how far they have travelled in this journey(based on life times). I am not sure if any kind of “play of energy” is involved in this… I don’t think so… its not like shaktipath… but I may be wrong. Yes, diksha is supposed to be given for free… you are supposed to give your guru, guru dakshina… a form of payment… could be anything from money, gold, rice, fruits, other items of food, clothing, cows, and or anything else your guru asks for… which could be $5000 I guess… 
Fair enough. I suppose I can make this general enough to be admissable.
When spiritual groups start charging exhorbitantly for services, there is usually one of the following going on:
- They are unscrupulous, greedy and sociopathic abusers.
- If not sociopathic, they are greedy, and don’t necessarily realize it.
- They are deluded; they have become enormously inflated about their powers and role in life.
- (Actually most common of all) Some combination of the above.
The client to such groups is often deceived by an attractive veneer of sacropiety, and enlightenment. On exposure to the guru, they get some perhaps profound spiritual experience, and they get the guru-goo-goos.
It is important to understand the following: if exposure to a particular person initiates a strong, positive, enlightenment experience in you, that in itself implies nothing good about that person; that person could have any level of badness about them; they could even still be an evil sociopath. Dark, twisted evil people, can charm your bhakti up, just as a prostitute can charm you into sexual arousal. And like prostitutes, they make a business out of it and get very good at it.
Genuine, profound spiritual experience does not imply that the person who caused it in you is pure and truthful.
And yet, that assumption always gets made. And it’s a deadly assumption. That purity, that love you feel on exposure to a person, does not mean that that love is theirs. It means it is yours. It means it’s inside you, and available.
It’s also important to understand that, even if they are not extremely unscrupulous abusers of the kind of 1. above, they can still be gray-area abusers of the kind of 2. 3. and 4.
It’s also important to understand that greed is not at all necessarily confined to keeping money for your personal self. Some apologists for certain cults, for example, made a big thing that ‘All their founder owned, he could carry in a suitcase’. This means absolutely nothing; this gets no-one off the hook – you can be greedy for your mission or your group. Various Abbots before the Reformation were notorious for being focused on gaining riches and power for their abbeys, even though they may have personally owned even less of it than you could carry in a suitcase. That was greed, plain and simple.
And if the delusion is there, the greed is almost certain to follow. When you are on a mission from God, grabbing all you can to make that mission bigger seems to be the right thing to do.
So watch out for exhorbitant fees!
Great reply, David. You have a knack for putting things in quite clear terms.
You’ve posted a couple of times that not many people appreciate the skeptic…well I am one of the ones who do appreciate it. If yoga were a team sport I’d definitely want to be on your side.
me2 
Thanks guys. I appreciate it!