Expensive TherapyWebmaster's Note: This letter is from the Mr E referred to by Shri Mataji in her Lettre Subtile . This letter was received on 15 December 1999, three months after the Lettre Subtile was written. Shri Mataji's first version: She refused Mr E's money. Shri Mataji again refers to Mr E in her document to all the leaders of the world written in November 2000. She claims that Mr E. 'brought money to be given to Sahaja Yoga but, since Shri Mataji has never taken money from individuals like that, she refused that money'. Sahaja Yogis investigation, May 23, 2003 . Sahaja Yogis response is clear: Shri Mataji accepted the money. One of them states that 'Shri Mataji even asked some of us to consider paying him back if he carried on complaining about his donation to Sahaja Yoga.' In other words, Shri Mataji's letter to 'all the leaders of the world' was spreading a lie that was soon to be exposed by her own devotees. Dear Fellow Ex-Sahaja Yogis, My brother has been pestering me to give you my testimonial and the rather embarrassing details of how I had a large sum of money taken from me by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - the guru and self-proclaimed Goddess of Sahaja Yoga. Early in July 1991 Mathias (the leader of Sahaja Yoga in Switzerland) informed Shri Mataji that I had a sum of money that could be used for the Sahaja Yoga school in Dharamsala, India. My eldest son and other children from the Swiss Sahaja Yoga collective were to go to this school so I wanted it to have the best possible conditions. As revealed in the French press at the time of the 'Yohann affair', the children at the school lived in squalor with, for example, rats feeding off their mattresses. On the week of the 8th of July I received a phone call from Alganesh (Shri Mataji's personal secretary and escort) in Italy telling me that Shri Mataji wanted to borrow this money to help purchase the Palazzo Doria in Cabella Ligure, Italy. Although I had intended the money to benefit the children rather than finance a residence for Shri Mataji, I surrendered to her will as was expected of a Sahaja Yogi. Shri Mataji gave instructions for me to come to Italy with 200 million lira as soon as possible. As the Italian lira hadn't yet been devalued, an extra 30,000 Swiss francs was needed to make a round figure of 200 million lira. Arneau de Kalbermatten, the previous Swiss leader, volunteered that amount. At the time he was working for the Hentsch private bank in Geneva where he got the Swiss francs changed into lira. This transaction can be confirmed because I still have the change slip from the bank dated 11 July 1991 which indicates that 234,500 Swiss francs were changed into 200,000,000 lira. See change slip The following day I took the train from Geneva to Milan. In the afternoon I reached the Milan leader's apartment at 29, via Bocaccio, where Shri Mataji was staying. As well as Shri Mataji and the Milan leader, Javier Valderrama and Alganesh were also present. Shri Mataji was extremely grateful for the loan, thanks to which, she was able to purchase the Palazzo Doria in Cabella. A few months later, before one of the first pujas held at Shri Mataji's new property in Cabella, she again thanked me for the loan in the presence of my brother and Mathias. She mentioned that her husband, Sir C.P. Srivastava, was insisting that she return the money to me quickly. A year and a half later, in Spring 1993, I left Sahaja Yoga. To cut a long story short, I had fallen in love with a Sahaja Yogini living in the same ashram (she is my wife today). Shri Mataji gave me the choice of either giving up this adulterous relationship or leaving Sahaja Yoga. I knew Shri Mataji was extremely hostile to our relationship as she had called my wife-to-be a prostitute and a maidservant (the two epithets being equally derisory from Shri Mataji's socially elitist perspective). I chose to leave the organisation - while my relationship with my future wife was proving both magical and meaningful, Sahaja Yoga was being revealed as financially-oriented and false. I was familiar with other aspects of Sahaja Yoga's finances as, on certain occasions, I acted as Shri Mataji's treasurer eg advancing money for her self-chosen puja presents and recovering it from Sahaja Yoga centres worldwide. Furthermore, I couldn't help feeling perplexed by Shri Mataji having personally benefitted at the expense of the children in Dharamsala. Months passed and at the beginning of October 1993 I wrote to Arneau de Kalbermatten (who was re-appointed Swiss leader on Mathias' untimely death) to tell him I needed his help in recovering the money we had lent to Shri Mataji. He was reluctant, even hostile to the idea, but agreed to bring the matter before Shri Mataji. Arneau phoned me a few days later, suggesting we meet for lunch. He greeted me with a radiant smiling face and told me he had wonderful news for me - Shri Mataji had agreed to my returning to Sahaja Yoga with my girlfriend. He even said that there was a chance that our union would be blessed by Shri Mataji personally at the mass wedding in India at the end of the year. My request for the money seemed to have coincided with a sudden softening of Shri Mataji's moral position. I asked Arneau, "But what about the money?" Arneau then told me, "First you must come back to Sahaja Yoga, then we will find a solution to the money problem." After that meeting, on 7 October 1993, I wrote to Arneau thanking him for the unexpected proposition but politely insisting on getting some news of the money before considering anything else. A little more than a week later, Arneau told me that Shri Mataji hadn't received any money from me, and that he had nothing more to tell me. I told Arneau that he more than anyone knew that the money had been given to Shri Mataji as his own 30,000 Swiss francs were included. He insisted dryly that he had nothing further to tell me. If I needed to know more I had to talk with Shri Mataji in person. Over the following days, I repeatedly rang Cabella where Shri Mataji was staying nearly twice a week. Each time I would get the same answers: Shri Mataji is sleeping, Shri Mataji has gone out shopping, etc. I spoke with Alganesh once, with Javier another time, and they all repeated the same story: Shri Mataji didn't receive any money that wasn't a donation. I insisted I wanted to meet with Shri Mataji or to talk with her on the phone, as she had requested. The final verdict was then given: "Shri Mataji doesn't want to talk with you." Arneau would never have referred a hostile party directly to Shri Mataji unless she had instructed him to do so. In hindsight I can see that Shri Mataji had only suggested the meeting as a bluff - she falsely assumed I would not dare to ask for my money. On 10 November 1993 I wrote a letter to Shri Mataji explaining the situation. She never replied. On 14 September 1994 I wrote a letter to Sir C.P. Srivastava, Shri Mataji's husband. He never replied. By then, you may well imagine, I finally knew what kind of people I was dealing with. The therapy to get out of Sahaja Yoga had been expensive, but most effective.
José E
Webmaster's Note: It may be useful for the reader to relate the above letter to the following historical context:
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