Mooji
Mooji (born Anthony Moo-Young, 1954) is a Jamaican spiritual teacher based in the UK and Portugal. He gives talks (satsang) and retreats.[1][2] He is listed number 37 in the Watkins Review list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People 2019", just behind Ruby Wax.[3] Mooji lives in Portugal, where he runs a 30-hectare ashram called Monte Sahaja.[2][4] Activities at the ashram are funded through the UK-based charity Mooji Foundation Ltd., which reported an income of £464,000 in 2017, as well as through income from its trading subsidiaries Mooji Media Ltd in the UK, and Associação Mooji Sangha in Portugal.[5][6][7][8]
Biography
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Mooji was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica to Euphemia Bartlett and Enos Moo-Young. In 1970, at the age of sixteen, he immigrated to England to live with his mother who had been living in London since he was one year old.[9] In London, he later worked as a street artist, and in other media such as stained glass, ceramics and sculpture,[10][11] and also taught art at a college in Brixton[9][12]
In 1987, Mooji met a young Christian called Michael whom he refers to as a mystic due to the nature of their deep conversations about life, the world, spirituality and God.[9] Mooji says that after one evening where they prayed together, "A deep peace arose inside, and that has remained to this day."[9] This was a life-changing encounter and the start of a deep inner transformation.[10][13][14] Shortly after, Mooji stopped teaching and began a life of 'quiet simplicity'.[10][15]
Little is recorded about these years which Mooji has called "his wilderness years" where he felt "seated on the lap of God."[10][9] Wanting to find out more about what he was experiencing, he entered a bookshop and was drawn to a book with a photo of Sri Ramana Maharshi on the cover. Mooji would later come to appreciate the self-inquiry described in this small book, but finding the text too complicated at the time, he instead bought "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" which touched him deeply.[14][9][16]
In late 1993, the teachings of the Indian saint Ramakrishna drew Mooji to India.[13] While in India he met his master, H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji) in Lucknow. After several months of attending satsang with Papaji, Mooji wrote him a letter that was read aloud in satsang.[9] Mooji says that as Papaji spoke to him, a wave of anger and resistance arose in him, and he only recalls Papaji saying, "If you wish to discover the Truth fully, you must vanish."[9][17] After satsang, Mooji went for a walk and suddenly the turmoil he had been feeling vanished in a single moment. He says, "There was simply no reference or memory of ever being a ‘me’. I could see the body but I knew it wasn’t ‘me’. There was just space."[9][17]
In March 1994, Mooji received the news that his eldest son had died suddenly of viral pneumonia and he returned to London immediately. After some time, he began to sell incense on the street and to give out 'thoughts for the day', small sayings such as, "In whatever situation you may be, right there is a doorway to your innermost Being."[2] People began to approach him with their concerns and in search for Truth, and they in turn brought others until a small crowd began to form.[17] The first formal Satsangs began in 1999.[10][14]
Mooji lives in Portugal and occasionally travels to give satsang in other countries. Many of his followers watch his satsang sessions through YouTube and other online channels.[12][17][18]
Of Mooji's large family, his brother Peter Moo-Young is a national and international table tennis player for Jamaica.[19] His sister Cherry Groce was accidentally shot by the police in 1985, which triggered the 1985 Brixton riot.[19]
Teachings and Satsang
Mooji offers satsang where he invites people to bring forward questions and contemplate or inquire into their real nature based on the advaita vedanta philosophy of nondualism.[10][20][21] Mooji aims to bring people into the direct experience of who or what they are, which he says is not the body, thoughts, emotions or anything that is perceivable, but rather the pure, untouched space in which everything arises.[10][14][22] He teaches that we are already this 'timeless being' or 'pure consciousness' and that it is possible to recognise this and come into a natural harmony,[14] which can also be termed 'awakening' or 'freedom'.[23]
Like his spiritual master, H.W.L. Poonja, Mooji's teachings are simple and accessible[24][25] and he encourages his followers to avoid the psychological mind's influence and abide in the Self, which he says is the untouched witness of all phenomenal existence and therefore before any 'thing', including thoughts and all that is perceived.[12][22]
Mooji teaches self-inquiry, directing his students to the non-dual Self by encouraging them to question who or what they are at the deepest level.[10][13][22] For example, one exercise is to identify the natural feeling "I am" or "I exist" and to stay with this for some time.[22] Another is to come to the recognition that everything (thoughts, emotions, sensations etc.) can be perceived, and then inquiring, "Can the perceiver itself be perceived?"[26] A more recent guidance, 'An Invitation to Freedom', was first given in Mooji’s open satsangs in Rishikesh, India in 2017. It has been described as "one of the most effective aids for true and lasting Self-discovery"[27] and has evolved to become a core teaching of Mooji's. It espouses leaving the past, present and future aside for a short time to experience the true Self.[12]
Criticism
Former members accuse spiritual teacher Mooji of running an abusive cult at his isolated ashram three hours from Lisbon, Portugal. They allege sleeping with students, abuse such as screaming, shouting, shaming and humiliating, controlling behavior, pairing and breaking up couples, brainwashing and mind control, coercing people from leaving and more. Mooji lives in a secluded hilltop gated area of the property with three young female disciples whom insiders say he is sleeping with. They also dress and undress him daily. Mooji has cheated on his past three girlfriends with other students. One longterm female resident of the ashram who left claims to have had sex with Mooji the entire time she was there. There are other women too afraid to speak out. Followers believe Mooji to be God and refer to him as “my Lord,” “my Master” and “my Father.” They regularly kiss his “holy” feet and bow to him. Strange ceremonies and rituals including exorcism type events occur at the center. Mooji has designated an isolation building for members who act out. They will be given one meal a day and learn to “know the self.” Mooji and his team smuggled over €200,000 of unreported cash into Portugal from London and one member got caught. They used this to purchase Monte Sahaja. Two members committed suicide in 2017, one at the ashram in Portugal and another in India.[28][29][30]
Books
- Breath of the Absolute – Dialogues with Mooji. 2010. ISBN 978-81-88479-61-0.
- Writing on Water: Spontaneous Utterances Insights and Drawings. Mooji Media. 2011. ISBN 978-1-908408-00-6.
- Before I Am: The Direct Recognition of Truth – Dialogues with Mooji. Mooji Media; 2nd edition. 2012. ISBN 978-1-908408-13-6.
- White Fire: Spiritual insights and teachings of advaita zen master Mooji. Mooji Media Publications. 2014. ISBN 978-1-908408-19-8.
- The Mala of God. Mooji Media Publications. 2014. ISBN 978-1-908408-21-1.
- Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space. Sounds True. 2016. ISBN 978-1-908408-23-5.
- Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space. Coronet. 2018. ISBN 978-1-473-67466-0.
- An Invitation to Freedom. Mooji Media Publications. 2017. ISBN 978-1-908408-22-8.
See also
References
- ^ Costa, Rita (30 September 2018). "There are more and more people meditating in groups. And they pay for it". Público. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Moorhead, Joanna (9 September 2018). "The Buddha of Brixton whose spiritual quest started when his sister was shot". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ "Watkins' Spiritual 100 List for 2019". Watkins Magazine. April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Last Stop Alentejo". Noticias Magazine. August 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Mooji Foundation". Mooji Foundation. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "UK Charity Commission Report Mooji Foundation". UK Charity Commission. December 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Associação Mooji Sangha". Jornal de Negocios. May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Mooji Media Ltd". UK Companies House. May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i Mooji. 'Before I Am'. Interview by Iain McNay. In, Conversations on non-duality. Twenty-six awakenings. Edited by Eleonora Gilbert. Cherry Red Books, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Singh, Rohini (September 2013). "Meeting Mooji". Life Positive: 14–16.
- ^ Tony Moo Young Paintings + Jamie Reid – Leaving The 20th Century. Brixton 50. Brixton Art Gallery Archive 1983–1986.
- ^ a b c d Rose, Brian (25 February 2018). "An Invitation to Freedom". London Real. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c Premananda (2010). European Masters. London, UK: Open Sky Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780956607003.
- ^ a b c d e Creigh, Brian (January 2013). "Duality vs Non-duality: The Human Struggle with Self Expression". Veritas: 55–61.
- ^ "Sounds True". Sounds True. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Mooji (2018). Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space. London, UK: Coronet. pp. xi–xiii. ISBN 9781473674660.
- ^ a b c d Gethin, Will. (2011)The Buddha from Brixton. Kindred Spirit Interview.
- ^ "Mooji". Stillness Speaks. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b "Mooji – the guru from Jamaica". BBC News. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ Tirpstra, Dirk (November 2013). "Step Into the Fire of Discovery". Om Times: 16–28.
- ^ Pilon, Mary (19 June 2014). "Unplugging in the Unofficial Capital of Yoga". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d Congdon, Paul (Autumn 2014). "Sri Mooji: Direct Experience of 'I am'". Positive Life: 24–26.
- ^ Dominica (2009). Perles de Conscience. Muret, France: Aluna Éditions. p. 98. ISBN 9782919513024.
- ^ "Book Review: Vaster Than Sky Greater Than Space: What You Are Before You Became". Publishers Weekly. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Agarwal, Stuti (11 May 2017). "A Quick Visa to Nirvana". Outlook India.
- ^ Mooji (2018). "Breaking Up with the Ego". Being. Issue 4, 2018: 4–5.
{{cite journal}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ "Author Mooji". New Harbinger. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ https://gurumag.com/becoming-god-inside-moojis-portugal-cult/
- ^ https://medium.com/@expandingessence137/mooji-underbelly-exposed-edac10fb7a65
- ^ https://medium.com/@kateshifman/i-went-to-a-silent-retreat-with-a-guru-and-this-is-what-happened-74854b400fd4
External links
