Ma Jaya

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati (May 26, 1940 – April 14, 2012) often referred to as 'Ma Jaya', was a self-styled spiritual teacher, author and leader fringe religion Kashi; born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, United States.[1] She was the founder of many institutions namely: Kashi Ashram, Kashi Church Foundation, The River School, The River Fund, Kashi School of Yoga, the Village of Kashi, and by the River afforable housing for seniors.[2] Ma Jaya devoted most of her life to teaching at Kashi Ashram.[2] Ma Jaya's role in the Kashi Ashram organisation has led her to be identified as a "charismatic leader" of a potentially "destructive cult" by Rick Ross; with the Kashi Ashram described by psychologist with American Family Foundation, Paul Martin, as having "all the markings of a cult" after his interviews with 35 ex-members.[3][4]

Early Life and Childhood

Ma Jaya was born on May 26, 1940, into an impoverished Jewish family in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in a cellar apartment in New York.[5][4] Her birth name was Joyce Green, and she later married Sal DiFiore, becoming Joyce Green DiFiore. The couple had three children, but had a difficult marriage, with Joyce later leaving her husband and her two eldest children Jimmy and Denise behind to start her organisation, taking her youngest daughter with her in 1975.[4] According to her obituary, Ma Jaya is out-lived by her brother, Melvin Green, her daughters, Denise Grogan, Desiree Gaskew, and Kwang Mae Cho, her sons, Soo Se Cho and Wang Chun and her grandchildren, Tony Cho, Christina Amundson, Anthony Randon, and Alexa DiFiore, and her great-grandson Jimmy DiFiore.[2]

Spiritual Enlightenment

In 1972, Ma Jaya enrolled in a Jack LaLanne weight loss class in Brooklyn, New York and encountered her self-proclaimed first simple yogic breath and initiation.[5] She said that she had a spiritual awakening in which she encountered Jesus Christ.[5] According to ex-husband DiFiore, one night he heard a loud crash - finding that Joyce was wandering the house whsipering about experiencing Christ, with red blotches of what appeared to be blood on her pajamas.[4] Ma Jaya claimed that she had experienced stigmata, and she shortly began delivering sermons in Brooklyn Basements to increasingly devoted followers.[4]

Teachings

Founded in Hindu philosophy and integrated with many other faiths, Ma Jaya's teachings focused on the ideas of attaining spiritual fulfillment through "selfless service" to humanity.[6] The Kashi organisation states that "Kashi's values exemplify the ideal that all paths followed with a sincere heart lead to one's own God within, with the philosophy exemplifying values of "kindness and service," envisioning a world where all are treated with kindness, dignity and respect, and people of all backgrounds are welcomed.[7] According to the Kashi organisation, Ma Jaya stated that her teachings were "not a religion" but rather beliefs that could be used by students within their own faiths or traditions, with only kindness as a central practise.[8] Ma Jaya was a supporter of the LGBT community, encouraging believers to serve those living with HIV/AIDS in the 1990s.[8]

Kashi Ashram

In 1976, Ma Jaya moved to Indian River County, Florida to start Kashi Ashram as a non-profit, tax-exempt 510(c)3 charitable organization.[5][6][2] Located on 7 miles along the St. Sebastian River and just west of the city of Sebastian, Kashi Ashram attracted a diverse group of students.[2][9] Ma Jaya taught for 35 years at Kashi Ashram, drawing from her many publications and teaching her students.[2] Later on, Kashi Ashram affiliates were set up in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado, and Santa Fe.[2] The retreat was visited by notable people including Julia Roberts and Arlo Guthrie, with Roberts discovering Jaya's teachings when researching for the 2010 movie Eat, Pray, Love.[4]

The Kashi Ashram community is still active today, and describes itself as an "interfaith spiritual community founded by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati with temples, shrines, retreat center, yoga school and sustainable farm." [10] The Kashi organisation states that "the teachings of Kashi are rooted in the lineage of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and her guru, Neem Karoli Baba." [7] The Kashi Church Foundation still operates "The River Fund," established in 1990 to "coordinate and fund humanitarian activities for the hungry and homeless in Florida, Uganda and India.[11] The Kashi foundation's "Feed Everyone" initiative serves the needy in Gifford and supplies food to local elementary schools for a "backpack buddies" scheme.[11] The Kashi school of Yoga still operates in the Kashi Ashram headquarters in Sebastian and offers daily yoga, breathing, qi gong and meditation classes.[11]

Controversies

In 1993, after a fire destroyed the Branch Davidian compound section of Kashi Ashram, People Magazine included Kashi Ashram under the title, "It's not just Waco--Cults rule by paranoia flourish under America".[9] As well as a Florida Today investigation revealing Kashi Ashram's role in "bitterly dividing families.".[9] Many former employees and executives of Kashi Ashram have come forward such as the former treasurer to describe brainwashing, intimidation through violence, illegal drug use and more to be realities at Ma Jaya's sites.[9] Furthermore, one of Ma Jaya's earliest students and well known author, Richard Alpert (a.k.a Ram Dass) published "Egg on My Beard" in a 1976 Yoga Mysticism journal in which he slams Ma Jaya's teachings and claims that Ma Jaya's energies came from energizing pills as opposed to spirituality.[9] Physician, Harry Brodie, accuses Ma Jaya of drug use, beginning in 1981 he claims Ma Jaya would use cocaine nightly causing panics and energetic swings.[9] In a 1997 autobiography entitled, It's Here Now (Are You?), Bhagavan Das recalls that while he was trying to leave Kashi Ashram, after a spiritual trip, he was violently encountered by Ma Jaya's followers; "I was beaten until I was bruised and bleeding. Fortunately, they didn't break any bones. I . . . thought, 'We have given [Ma Jaya] the power of God. It's time to leave.'".[9] Ex-adherents claim abuses ranging from violent beatings to paedophilia.[4]

In 2013, Ma Jaya's youngest daughter with Sal DiFiore sued the Kashi Church Foundation in a Miami court, claiming that in 1981, aged 14, she was raped by a church member at her mother's orders. Her daughter, whose name was changed to Molly to disguise her identity, claimed on 10 December 1981 that she was "squeezed into a white wedding dress" and married to a 25-year-old church member Kevin Brannon so that Molly could be impregnated to supposedly provide more church members for Ma Jaya.[4] The Kashi Ashram and Brannon deny the molestation ever happened.[4] Ma Jaya is said to have ordered marriages between devotees who "barely knew each other," although most seemed to consent - according to follower Lyn Deadmore writing in her journal in 1981. A spokesperson for Kashi Ashram denies these arranged marriages occurred.[4] Other accusations include parents who claimed, in 1989 and 2001 court filings, that Ma had manipulated them into giving her custody of their children.[12]

Publications

Ma Jaya is an author to many publications, namely: Deep and Simple Wisdom: Spiritual Teachings of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You and The River; as well as numerous podcasts: "Ma's River Poem", "Healing Mantra Practice", and "Shakti and the Ego," in which she speaks about her ideas and reads original poems.[13][14] Ma Jaya also painted paintings depicting gods and goddesses involved in Hindu and Vedic traditions and Kali Natha Yoga; she oftentimes brought these pieces into her teaching.[13]

Death and Memorial

Ma Jaya died on April 13, 2012 at her home in Kashi Ashram due to pancreatic cancer.[2][6] She was surrounded by her family and several of her students who came to see her shortly before she passed away.[5] A memorial service was held in her honor on Kashi Ashram's birthday in 2012 on May 26.[2] Earlier on in her career, when Ma Jaya was asked what she wanted to be remembered by, she replied, "non-judgemental".[6]

Honours and Affiliations

According to the Kashi foundation, Ma Jaya was widely recognized for her work and was a recipient of many awards and honors, including:

  1. Recipient, Interfaith Visionary Award, 2010 from the Temple of Understanding.
  2. Recipient of Humanitarian Service Award 2007 from the Gandhi Foundation.
  3. Recipient of title Mata Maha Mandaleshwar from the Ma Yoga Shakti Mission
  4. Recipient of the Interparliamentary Paradigm of Peace Award.
  5. Recipient of the United Foundation for AIDS Award.
  6. Recipient of the Universal Way Award.
  7. Inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers, Morehouse College.

However, many of these awards are unverifiable.

They state additionally that Ma Jaya had many affiliations with various internation organisations, including:

  1. Trustee Emeritus of the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions
  2. Advisory Board Member of Equal Partners in Faith
  3. Advisory Board Member of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy
  4. Advisory Board Member of the Gardner's Syndrome Association
  5. Delegate to the United Religions Initiative
  6. Member of the Board of Directors of the AIDS care organization Project Response
  7. Member of the Parliament's General Assembly.[15]
gollark: Linux supports FUSE filesystems which allow you to do basically anything whatsoever with FS access, right? I think Windows has something similar.
gollark: There's a simple solution.
gollark: Try not crying in your bed tonight?
gollark: Maybe it should be called mgollark (milligollark) in the style of µgollark (microgollark).
gollark: > .chmodem.from.iter().from().map(x, y)GPT-2 gollark.

References
  1. "Ma Jaya Bhagavati, spiritual leader of Kashi, dead at 71 | Photo Gallery". TCPalm.com. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  2. https://www.strunkfuneralhome.com/obituary/5899972
  3. Hustead, Jayne (15 June 2002). "Psychologist: Kashi has all the makings of a cult". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  4. McCoy, Terrence (2013-05-16). "Kashi Ashram: Claims of Rape, Child Abuse, and Kidnapping". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  5. http://blog.kashiashram.org/ma-jaya/
  6. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/internationally-known-spiritual-leader-ma-jaya-dies-at-71-at-kashi-ashram-148945305.html
  7. "The Mission of Kashi". Visit Sacred Kashi. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  8. "Who is Ma Jaya". Visit Sacred Kashi. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  9. https://wwrn.org/articles/13457/
  10. "Visit Sacred Kashi". Visit Sacred Kashi. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  11. "Kashi Ashram diversifying to ensure its survival | Photos". TCPalm. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  12. "Ma Jaya Bhagavati, spiritual leader of Kashi, dead at 71 | Photo Gallery". www.tcpalm.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  13. http://kashipodcast.libsyn.com/
  14. https://www.kashi.org/
  15. Ashram, Kashi. "Internationally Known Spiritual Leader Ma Jaya Dies at 71 at Kashi Ashram". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
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