By Kiara Windrider

This is in response to the new rules and requirements that were released by the guides of Oneness University recently, regarding the signing of certificates for deeksha givers, consent forms for deeksha receivers, and rules regarding how to, and how not to, give deekshas.

At first reading I was outraged.  Like most people in the deeksha community, I do not like to feel controlled by external rules.  After Grace and I finished our deeksha training in early 2004, before the 21 day programs were formally installed, Bhagavan had asked us to follow our hearts as we went about the world, trusting the divine spirit within to teach and guide us every step of the way, with no external rules and regulations telling us what we should do or shouldn’t do.  With our backgrounds as psychotherapists, authors, and spiritual teachers, and with many decades of spiritual exploration prior to coming to Golden City, it was only natural that we would bring through the cosmic energies of the deeksha in our own unique way.

We initiated the deeksha movement in Holland, Austria, and Germany, and later helped initiate it in Turkey and South Africa.  Our intent has always been to translate the cosmic energies held within the deeksha to fit with local cultural, spiritual, and psychological traditions, and to be relevant to people’s changing needs. With the publishing of my book, “Fire from Heaven”, many people all around the world were inspired to receive the 21 day training and to help manifest this common vision of the Golden Age.

As any organization gets bigger, there seems to be an increasing need to create forms, structures and hierarchies to manage it.  This is inevitable, but this needs to be a co-creative process.  The old paradigm of top down hierarchies and control is quickly dissolving.  When rules are imposed without explanations, when the creative spark is extinguished by the need to conform, the essence of any organization begins to dissolve.

As I talked with some of the coordinators of the Golden Age movement, it was explained to me that most of these rules came down as a result of legal advice from the US, that they were an attempt to protect deeksha givers from the possibility of being sued.  I can understand this perspective, for we live in a world where many feel threatened by anything new or different.

Yet I have also lived in the US in the aftermath of the September 11 bombings, when fear and paranoia ruled the country, when the same Patriot Act that was signed to “protect” the American people became used to control and spy on them. 

Perhaps if the signing of the annual renewable deeksha certificate were to be explained to deeksha givers as a means for their protection from being sued, it would make more sense to them. I would recommend that this be a voluntary act, and perhaps restricted to those areas of the world such as the US where this might be an issue. I would also recommend that there not be any extra fees attached to this.  People have paid a very significant fee to receive this training, and this should be respected.

I do not understand the logic for gathering the names and contact information of people receiving deekshas to be sent to a central location.  This again comes too close to “Big Brother” for my liking, and infringes on people’s privacy.

I understand the legal implications of consent forms, but since when do people have to sign a form to receive a blessing?  More important than this, in my opinion, is to explain to people what the deeksha is about from a psychological and energetic perspective – that it could bring up physical symptoms and stuck emotions in the process of clearing them – and to provide ongoing support for this process.

A few guidelines on how to give or not to give deekshas is always helpful. But to make this into a rule or requirement feels unnecessary and insulting to the divine spark within.  Grace and I have always complemented the deeksha with our own intuition and training in various psychotherapies and energy systems. We have also found the ‘eye deeksha’ to be extremely useful in making contact with the deep soul.  We have discovered that the longer multi-day workshops are a powerful means to integrate these energies, much more so than someone simply receiving the deeksha and going home without any further energetic or emotional support. We have always sought to translate the essence of the deeksha, which I perceive as a cosmic evolutionary energy, into each person’s personal context.

In our hearts it feels right to continue doing this as guided from within.  Our commitment is to the evolution and transformation of humanity and Mother Earth, and not just to one organization or technique. To be asked not to mix deeksha with anything else or to only present it in a certain format feels unnecessary and constricting, and I would hope that a constructive dialogue can be established between deeksha givers and Oneness University to discuss these issues.  Oneness to me is about being open and inclusive, not increasingly more restrictive.

Let us not wrap a divine gift in the trappings of an old paradigm.  Or to paraphrase the words of Jesus, let us not serve new wine in old wineskins.