By Kiara Windrider

March 2, 2007

The deeksha movement in its current form emerged just over three years ago when the first public deekshas were given in Golden City, south India.  My wife, Grace, and I happened to be there at the time, and had some powerful life-changing experiences with it. Since then we have been writing and traveling many places teaching and giving deeksha workshops, always within the bigger context of a global evolutionary process.

In recent times we hear more and more people, including many deeksha-givers, questioning the energy and motivations behind this movement. “Is the Golden Age Movement becoming a cult?” is the question that often comes up.  “Why do they sometimes claim that deeksha is the only way or that Bhagavan the only source for enlightenment?” “Why the enormous fees, unnecessary rules, and hierarchies?”   “Will it eventually transcend the guru worship of Amma and Bhagavan”  “Are people actually getting enlightened or is it just a lot of talk?”  

Without trying to answer these questions with a  simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I would like to place all this into a bigger perspective.  In an earlier article referring to the 

‘dark night of the soul’,  I used the analogy of waves pounding on the seashore, the first wave coming in, then retreating forcefully back, then the next wave sweeping in on an ever rising tide. 

Whenever a new movement begins there is always a great enthusiasm and energy that accompanies it.  This is the First Wave.  It is strong and exhilarating. We are caught up in a vision. We feel the power of the universe surging through us, and we are sure we can overcome all obstacles in the fulfillment of this vision.  The ego happily submits itself in service to this exciting new vision.

Then comes the Second Wave, the “backwave”, as the ocean inevitably pulls back towards itself.  There is great turbulence.  It is a time of testing and integration, keeping what is real and trimming away what isn’t.  As we experience the “dark night of the soul” we find ourselves being pounded into the sand.  Shadows surface.  The ego returns full strength and old dysfunctional patterns get re-activated.  

Eventually the Third Wave breaks through this pounding, and as we humbly learn from our mistakes and pain, we enter into a new realm of mastery and service. Another fragment of the ego’s attachment to separation dissolves, and we continue our journey into freedom.

No one on Earth is immune to this process, and the Golden Age Movement is no exception.  In the first wave of the Movement many exciting things were happening and many promises were made. I believe that Bhagavan was truly able to access a very high cosmic frequency, and was instrumental in ‘downloading’ this for the benefit of many.  Many people were receiving this in a powerful way, and some were truly entering the first stages of enlightenment.

Then the shadow side inevitably surfaced.  As long as we are in human bodies, and unless we stay very vigilant, we are all susceptible to the subtle games of the ego, seen or unseen.  We all have blind spots, and much of it has to do with differences in values, culture and tradition.  The important thing is to be aware of this when it happens so we can move into the spiritual and emotional maturity represented by the Third Wave.

It seems to me that certain aspects of the Golden Age Movement have become mired in the Second Wave. How can we help make the transition into the deeper maturity and balance inherent in the Third Wave?  It is in this spirit that I would like to address some of the above questions.  I would like to emphasize here that I have never been a member of Golden Age Foundation, always simply an independent researcher who has been dedicated to the collective awakening of humanity and Mother Earth long before I went to Golden City. I would like to continue to support the aspects of this Movement that I feel are serving humanity, while at the same time respectfully challenging those aspects that I see becoming fixated in an old paradigm of consciousness.

Ultimately, nothing is either right or wrong except as we perceive it, and our perceptions are always based on whether we choose to be victims or creators of the world around us.  Playing the role of a neutral observer, I would like to find a constructive way to deal with these questions that neither minimizes them nor puts anyone in the wrong. I am not interested in creating more dissonance or mistrust on either side, but rather in expanding our perspectives.  It is only in doing so that we can be empowered to touch the divine within ourselves.  

“Is the Golden Age Movement becoming a cult?”  What first attracted me to this Movement so many years ago was Bhagavan’s assertion that the Deeksha was a cosmic evolutionary energy. He spoke of himself as simply a ‘technician’ who had learned how to download it, and affirmed that each of us, as part of a “collective avataric consciousness”, was capable of receiving this gift of divine grace and eventually transmitting it as well.

In the early days of the Movement we were told that the 21 day courses were only temporary, that there would come a time very soon when anyone who had received the deeksha would also be able to transmit it, so that the power of the One could move like wildfire from person to person.  Although I haven’t heard people talking about this lately I still believe this is possible.

As an example, many people in Turkey and Europe have been working with a cosmic evolutionary energy known as Ilahinoor, and have been having virtually the same experiences as with Deeksha. One difference, however, is that as they tap into the rapidly growing morphogenetic field of this energy, each person who has received this can also begin to initiate others into it. That the power is real, and that it works, is undeniable, and I have heard hundreds of testimonies from people regarding the effectiveness of this work, including those who have also been trained as deeksha-givers.  

There are similar systems emerging all over the world.  Alhough the deeksha is a powerful tool for accessing the Divine energies of awakening and transformation, we need to remember that it is not the only way. And although Bhagavan and Amma must be acknowledged for their avataric role in the process of collective awakening, it is dangerous to imply that they are the only Source for this evolutionary energy.  It is when we forget this that we open ourselves to cultish tendencies.  

A New Earth is being born in our midst.  It is being orchestrated on many dimensions through many different traditions through many different people under many different names.  Indeed, it is even happening spontaneously outside any traditions or names. The Hopis refer to this as the Fifth World, the Mayans as the Sixth Sun, and Sri Aurobindo referred to this as the Supramental Descent.  Others refer to it as the Aquarian Age, the New Age, the Golden Age, or Satya Yuga. We are all awakening together within this Collective Dream.

Many geologists, physicists, cosmologists, and biologists are also independently referring to an upcoming Shift of the Ages.  The Russian scientist, Alexey Dmitriev, provides evidence that our solar system is entering a region of space that is far more ‘luminous’ than we have known. Astrophysicist Paul LaViolette refers to a periodic pulse of high frequency cosmic ray particles emanating from the galactic center, soon to enter human and planetary consciousness.  I believe, from a scientific perspective, that these cosmic phenomena are linked with Deeksha, Ilahinoor, the Light Codes, Theta Healing, Reconnection, and other such Divine frequencies. These energies are universal and evolutionary, and cannot be owned or 'copyrighted' by any individual, religion, or organization. 

It is not my place to respond to questions about “enormous fees, unnecessary rules, and hierarchies”.  Although I personally feel uncomfortable with many of these realities, I am not a member of the Golden Age Foundation, and so cannot speak on their behalf.  The deeksha has been a powerful tool in my own experience, but sometimes it is necessary to separate the essence of a gift from the wrapping paper that surrounds it.  

In my experience, unnecessary rules and dogma only begin when a movement has lost its freshness and is starting to get institutionalized.  Still, it is not a question of right or wrong.  Some people may need more structure, while others need to be free to follow their own intuitions and guidance.  I do feel that if Deeksha is to expand into a universal context we need to find ways of conceptualizing and working with these energies in as inclusive a way as possible, unhampered by dogmas, hierarchies, commercialism, or politics.  

Regarding the question of whether people are actually getting enlightened, I am told that the focus has shifted away from the radical awakenings that many people were experiencing in the early days to an emphasis on healing relationships and flowering of the heart.  Consequently, if people are expecting to go to a 21 day program in order to get enlightened, they usually come back disappointed. This must be remembered if people are people are trying to make a decision based on having read my book, or other writings, from the earlier days.

The journey from the Second Wave to the Third Wave can be as smooth or as difficult as we choose it to be.  Rather than taking sides, my desire is to help make this transition as smooth as possible, serving as a bridge-maker from the Second Wave into the Third, whether it has to do with the Golden Age Foundation or with our collective journey of species evolution as we move through these times of environmental, social, political, and spiritual chaos.

Meanwhile, let us also remember that we are mirrors for each other.  Sharing perspectives and providing honest feedback is healthy and necessary, but any criticisms we make, if it causes us to lose our own balance, is a reflection of something unhealed within us as well. This awareness is a crucial step in our journey towards Oneness. We are all in this together.  As the Mayans remind each other when saying goodbye, “In Lak’ech” - I am another You.

In Lak’ech