I don't think my story is unique in my experience. I do think my own life experience kept me from becoming entangled as I have seen so many. Several years ago now I was invited to participate in a new form of meditation called the Oneness Blessing. I enjoy meditation and I shy away from heavy religious overtones to most of the meditation places I had attended. There was a promise of being none denominational and without a doctrine. I was relieved to find a place to meditate with others. I have always found it easier to do in a group and I stay committed. From the first day I had a couple of questions, but found the experience non threatening so I went again and again for a while.

The first thing that had me question the experience was the presentation. We were in a non lead group, but the guy who brought us together was going to now lead us and only he was allowed to do the blessing. The blessing is a laying on of hands and then an exchange of energy that is God is passed through the blessing giver the the person receiving. 

This was all good to me because I believe we are one with God and duality does not exist. This falls away when you think about the language that God will be passing through the giver to the receiver. (you will find that it depends on who is telling the story as to whether we are dealing with duality or not. Bhagwan does not write things down beyond one of his crazy insights so it is easy to go with the flow, so to speak.)This speaks of duality to me. Even though I found flaws with the message I found the whole experience quite enjoyable. The benefits of meditation are well documented and this is what I was after not a man to worship. 

I noticed that the tone of the message started to change in early 2010. It was the first I really learned of the man that created the Oneness Blessing formally known as Deeksha. I also noticed the story was changing. It was the first I would learn Bhagwan and his teachings. The university in India had come up with a new process. They has shortened the 21 day course to three days. In that three days, one could become enlightened, but the real draw was to get the ability to now give deeksha to others. For two hundred and fifty dollars this could be yours. 

I was game for this. I thought I would be able to deepen my practice and since I enjoyed energy work with people it would be nice to do this with others. More like a group giving rather than one person passing around all the good stuff. There was also the introduction of the pyramid scheme. The more deeksha you give the more you get just for you. So, I signed up and I went.

It was everything they promised it to be and more. I had a great time. I found the deepening processes to be great. I was in it full bore. But.... there was something about the weekend that started to eat at me. It was the sudden introduction of Bhagwan and his large wife Amma into everything we were doing. We were told to pray to a god. It did not matter which god. It had to be a god and if you wanted to you could pray directly to Bhagwan. He did not mind, because in his tradition he and his wife are God, avatars to exact. I still wonder why God chose to be bald and his wife quite plain and overweight, see his picture to understand this statement. After all he is God, why not have a knock out? 

As the weekend progressed this kept being pushed more and more at us. It is simple, pretend God is someone you would sit down and have coffee with. This flew into two directions; is deeksha the act of sharing Gods energy or is about believing Bhagwan was really God and his wife happened to be God too.. This would mean there are two Gods. I was getting very confused and a little pissed. 

The final evening came around and we had all done the 64 deeksha, which was very powerful. This did not surprise me, in that when you get large groups together doing anything the energy builds even if it a football game. The final part of the ceremony was to kneel at an alter and prey to the God of choice. The amusing part was they gave us three to choose from. Budda, Jesus and there they were in all their glory, Bhagwan and Amma. We were to take padukas(Indian sandals) to the alter and pray. You got to pick from the God of your choice. 

After that weekend, the Oneness group changed. WE we constantly talking about Bhagwan. Secret videos were being sent to the new blessing givers that no one else could view. Private lists were being made. We were being told to bring people. The once a week couple of hours had turned into weekends and additional nights. Invitations were pouring in from all over the country inviting me to this deepening weekend and that deepening weekend. 

I tried to ignore it. I found that the energy work had become distracting to me. It felt like and irritation and no longer enjoyable. I pulled away from the energy and started grounding my own energy. It took a couple of weeks to be free of the feeling. In the mean time I as hearing from others that they were feeling very depressed. Some had gotten physically sick and were taking longer to recover. They were reaching out the people who formed the Oneness and were told that was all part of the "process". Come and get more deekshah, you will feel fine soon. 

I started trying to find information the internet and found nothing negative. It was the first I would learn of Tony Robins connection to Oneness. Try to find it now... Good luck. He distanced himself very quickly after Bhagwan was accused of everything from murder to tax evasion. 

Then there came another Oneness training weekend. I decided to go again for some of it. I was curious because of the people that were becoming involved. The celebrity names were being passes around. There was not hiding the ties of Bhagwan and the expectation of those leading the groups that the whole thing was focused on the worship of Bhagwan and his wife Amma. People were going in droves after these training to do even more in India at something called Oneness University. The classes were given free and the reason was the preparation for the end of the world in 2012. That is right...... This whole thing was to prepare 6400 people for enlightenment so they could then enlighten the world when it ended in 2012. The classes in India were free to Americans. All they had to do was pay a few thousand for room and board to attain enlightenment. Lets say all but two or three came home just as the left except a few thousand dollars.

Here is where the cult part comes in. None of these that I know of walked away from Oneness shaking their heads at falling for it. Instead they are more energized than ever to bring even more people to this thing. The tone has changed and so has the mission. Looks like 2012 is not going to be the end of the world and they are charging for deeksha training again. Looks like they have added more "processes" to the pyramid. 

There have been enough people looking at this whole thing with a little suspicious that I have been able to piece a picture together of this group and I did not like what I found. I am sharing it with you and you decide for yourself. Around the time Tony Robins became involved there were of the long time followers that broke away. I will put their links up in the links area. I think most people get involved for the right reasons. They are as the Oneness people like to remind us, suffering.. but aren't me all and to feel relief should not come at the cost of what they are asking for. You decide what that means to you. For me it was an invasion of my soul and my energy field. I did not sign up for that.