Bias, lies and more lies in the Stuff article

Two of the former FiTs/volunteers organized a paid article in New Zealand's online publication Stuff.co.nz. Clearly this is part of their attempt to malign and slander Kosmic Fusion and Sree Maa Shri Ji. If you want to understand why some people would go to such great lengths to run a smear campaign, please read this article about smear campaigns.

Below you can find my point to point response to the article that was published on Stuff's website. As the article wasn't gaining any traction (guess people can see through lies), Irene/Joy/Tzu-Ling Kuo (she now calls herself Joy Vottus) set up various fake Facebook id's and started sending the link to anyone she could find, Pulsars, people on our friend lists and even to people whom she could see were positively commenting to Sree Maa's Facebook posts. This shows the level of ethics, or rather lack thereof this person carries. Hope these two so-called journalists wake up quick to the fact they have been used as flying monkeys in the smear campaign of two people who completely lack conscience and ethics.

My response to the Stuff's article:

It really breaks my heart to read how beloved Sree Maa Shri Ji and Kosmic Fusion are being made fun of and slandered in this article, whereas the Truth is so very different. This is a grave injustice and i will not remain silent. Have never met anyone more loving, kind, compassionate, selfless and giving as Sree Maa Shri Ji and feel most blessed and fortunate Sree Maa Shri Ji have come into my life. 

Find this article extremely biased, it’s filled with incorrect facts and suggestive comments and the journalists did not interview KEY people in the story, namely the other FiTs. At least they should have interviewed Jeeya who also lived in the Ashram and the Sydney FiTs who had to deal with Joy. Quotes are very selective, and there are many suggestive comments about the QVSWPP and Sree Maa Shri Ji, clearly not coming from someone with an open mind, a neutral reporter but from someone with bias. The journalists have written it in such a way that to a novice eye it may seem balanced at first sight, but the positive quotes are very selective and key information about other points is purposefully left out. They have given Iphigenie and Joy a big unchecked platform to spread their lies but minimized the voice of Sree Maa Shri Ji and completely ignored the voice of the FiT (except Nandini).

My feedback to the Stuff article in bullet points:

•  No respect shown towards Bhagwan Swaminarayan nor to people who hold Bhagwan dear. Journalists may not believe in this, but they do know this is sacred to us and still they photoshopped the photo of the Murtis in Sree Maa Shri Ji’s Mandir and put the Murtis and a big sign of Bad vibrations as the opening image.
• Shows suggestive comments such as “She is short for a living God”, “the long dead Swaminarayan Bhagwan”. No one would say the long dead Jesus.
• Sree Maa never asked us to worship Sree Maa, it was always about Bhagwan Swaminarayan. The journalists completely ignored the point made that it is Sree Maa’s purest ultimate Devotion to Bhagwan Swaminarayan that we are receiving as the Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse. This is what Sree Maa was teaching, Sree Maa was teaching how to be a non-doer and showing the FiT the precious path of Bhakti. This is followed by millions but for people born and raised in a western culture like me it is extremely rare if not impossible to find your way to this. i feel incredibly fortunate that Sree Maa has guided me onto this path. Every day i wake up in gratitude and can’t belief my luck.    
• It is clear that the journalists want to paint a certain picture of Sree Maa whereas the Truth is completely different. i have had the great fortune to know Sree Maa since Feb 2012 and can can honestly say that Sree Maa is the most loving, kind, giving, compassionate person you would ever come across, beyond human understanding actually. Countless personal sacrifices Sree Maa has made to train a small group of people of diverse backgrounds, levels of understanding and ego issues, giving of herself non-stop. It really breaks my heart to see such false claims being made and such false allegations against Sree Maa who has the biggest heart and with unconditional love embraced anyone who wrote their letter and said they wanted to join the FiT Programme, no matter what severe personality issues they brought with them.
• Very selective cut of the long interview with Sree Maa Shri Ji, clearly for the purpose of mockery.
• Why is Shri Ji brought into this, when it was only Sree Maa giving the teachings? Shri Ji never spoke or gave any teachings. He was head of administration. They also picked the least flattering photo of Shri Ji on purpose i feel.
• Sree Maa has always held high the principles of transparency, honesty, integrity and authenticity. These were the principles on which the FiT Programme were based. It was clear from the start the Teachings in the FiT Training were based on Sanatana Dharma principles, which is not a religion at all (it's a way of life and complete spiritual democracy). We were always encouraged to do our own research, always free to ask questions. Iphigenie feigning she did not know what this was about is complete nonsense. How come everybody else was clear about this?
  
  
• Gazing at the photo of Sree Maa Shri Ji’s photo was at the FiT’s request and because we were still very much learning how to offer bhakti bhaav, Sree Maa agreed. Sree Maa Shri Ji didn’t feel very comfortable giving out their picture but knew we needed training wheels so to speak. This crucial information of course these two didn’t give.
• The journalists keep Ritu’s (Nandini) comment about narcissist in there but they don’t deepen into this. They did no research into narcissism, whereas this is such an essential part of the whole story. They approached a cult expert but no psychologist or psychiatrist. If they had taken their investigative journalism seriously, they would have looked into this.
• “Believers pay money to attend workshops where Bhavsaar supposedly uses the energy force to upgrade them to a “fifth dimensional grid” where they are cleared of electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones, computers and wifi, leaving them cleansed and healed of various ailments. “ No mention of Soul anywhere in the article, this is the crux of the Teachings, it is about the true Soul’s liberation. When they describe the Awakenin Transformation workshop, they missed the point. In this workshop Sree Maa awakens your true Soul and after removal of a lot of old slush (to put it in simple language), you receive the live long gift of 24/7 connection with the most benevolent Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse, Supreme Signature of the Source/Void, the Swaminarayan Mahamantra. This is not about being cleared of electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones, though when immersed in the Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse electromagnetic radiation clearing will happen naturally.
• Being touched by the Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse is a tangible experience, so many testimonials by so many people, why not mention this in the article? This is something beyond science, but they only chose to quote some professor of physics. They should talk to the other FiT and read the testimonials of all the Pulsars who have been profoundly touched by the Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse and continue to be daily.
•         They have not spoken to all the FiT involved, or at least a better representation of the FiTs, including nobody from Sydney who had to interface with and were victimized by Joy for many years. That does not seem balanced to me.
•          Yet they give these two a lengthy platform to vent their lies and their victim stories and giving them the space to portray themselves as honest, hardworking and innocent. These two are twisting literally everything. Had they talked to the other FiT, at least there would have been some balance in the stories.
•          Tied in with the above point, they never asked, what could be the reason that Joy Kuo/Joy Vottus and Iphigenie Amoutsias were voted out or asked to leave? What could they have done? 
  Fact is that where Joy and Iphigenie were the representative of Kosmic Fusion, people they interacted with kept leaving. Numbers have plummeted where they were the face of Kosmic Fusion, i.e. NZ and Australia. Numerous people i have personally introduced to Kosmic Fusion and who were happily coming to gatherings and volunteering, started leaving after i moved from Sydney to Europe and they had to interface with Joy. Plus, if they had spoken to the other 9 FiTs, they would have found out about the highly unethical and abusive behaviour Joy and Iphigenie have displayed consistently for 5 years. They would not have been able to ignore to mention this in the article.
•          “the core of the movement was a group of around 12 mostly Auckland-based people who were called Facilitators-in-Training (or FiTs).” Factually incorrect. Most FiTs are based OUTSIDE of New Zealand. There were only 2 FiTs who lived in the Ashram with Sree Maa Shri Ji. Iphigenie and another FiT forced their way into the Ashram without invitation in fact Iphigenie was most lovingly told she was not yet ready to move into the Ashram (as she had severe jealousy issues and money issues, once she cleared those she could come and move in). The journalists only mention the money part of this message not the other part. Selective quoting again.
•          They make the confessional sessions sound like interrogations, but they were voice dialoging sessions combined with teachings about spiritual bypass and cognitive dissonance to help us move past the false self/ego and tap into the true Soul, these sessions were not just for Ritu (Nandini) but also for the rest of us as the shades of the ego are in everyone. The way these sessions are portrayed is completely twisted and wrong, absolutely not the way they were conducted at all. While most of us were looking at our shades throughout the FiT Programme, these two were failing to reflect and instead pursued their selfish goals. Unfortunately, i assumed Joy and Iphigenie were in this with the same intention as i was and was not aware of the games they were playing until everything came out in the open in 2017.
•         If only Iphigenie was sincere in wanting to overcome the ego as she claims and not resort to this favourite tactic of a narcissist, running a smear campaign. Joy has set up several fake ids on Facebook and sent the article to Pulsars and even friends of the FiT. Clearly, this is not some normal behaviour. They are not the innocent people they portray themselves to be in this article, quite the opposite. Joy and Iphigenie are masters of twisting things, they have done this while they were on the FiT Training and they are still doing this.
•         Irene is the one who has made unwanted advances to the only male FiT in the group even though she is married. She has abused this person’s kindness, trust and dedication to Kosmic Fusion by grooming him and exploiting him for 5 years, literally treating him as her slave, until he began to see through the narcissistic abuse. Interestingly, she made him hide from her husband for a very long time as she didn’t want her husband to find out about him. All this of course she conveniently forgets to mention to the journalist when she talks about her family. It is obvious why she doesn’t want anyone to talk to her family.
•          “Kuo and Amoutsias were in this inner cadre, with the idea that they would eventually be able to run their own sessions using their guru’s teachings.” -> It has always been clear to me that this was not about being able to run your own sessions using Sree Maa’s Teachings. They are completely twisting the whole purpose of the FiT Programme. This is about non-doing and selfless service.
•          “Those who signed up were initially invited to one-hour classes, then three-day residential retreats, with each phase taking them slowly up the hierarchy.”
•       Not sure what hierarchy they are talking about. There was never any hierarchy. FiTs are no more special than anybody else or higher than anyone. This is about the true Soul growth and liberation, where does hierarchy even come into this? The only two who made this into a pyramid is Joy and Iphigenie who wanted to be on the top (typical behaviour of a narcissist). Dallia very cleverly shoves the blame of her bullying behaviour to Sree Maa Shri Ji, but of course we were never told to bully other FiT, instead Sree Maa Shri Ji emphasized again and again to work as one team, to work in oneness (that’s why the FiTs personal whatsapp group was called Interactive FiT as One/Working towards Oneness/Bonding FiT). Dallia and Irene were bullying others straight from day 1 in Kosmic Fusion, before there ever was a FiT Programme, because it is their nature.
•          Sree Maa’s messages from whatsapp are completely taken out of context, why no mention of the 1000s of messages with the most precious Teachings of Absolute Truth from the sacred scriptures? If a teacher has to deal with a group of people each with their own limitations and challenges and multiple personalities, how is Sree Maa going to make sure we stay on track and not lose focus? Those genuine in their spiritual seeking and on this path of liberation understand where Sree Maa Shri Ji is coming from and to which aspect of the self Sree Maa is talking, all to allow the True Soul to blossom. This is intricate spiritual coaching. The journalists should read up on the Vachanamrut, the key scripture of the Swaminarayan Sampraday and they would see that Sree Maa followed these Teachings to the T in the way and what Sree Maa teaches. This Scripture is highly respected and followed by millions around the world (Bhakts of Bhagwan Swaminarayan).
•          So, if the journalists would have talked to the FiT who spent some time in “quarantine”, they would learned it was a time-out given, space and time given to do deep reflection on your own to move beyond whatever limitation was bothering you. The FiTs who were given this break all have had big break throughs. Why did Joy and Iphigenie not mention anything about this?
•          I have never felt cut off from friends or family, never been warned to not have sex with outsiders and i have been with Kosmic Fusion since early 2012. No idea what this Katie is talking about (and why is she anonymous, who is she?).
•          I have never been spat at, struck or whatever other nonsense Joy and Iphigenie are saying. i have only ever received non-stop unconditional Love, Grace, Guidance and Compassion and the most precious Teachings of Absolute Truth possible on this planet from beloved Sree Maa Shri Ji.
•          About stealing IP – fact is when you look at all Joy’s materials it’s all for her own business, promoting herself, she even falsely claims herself to be a Facilitator. Fact is that Iphigenie had printed a brochure that contained incorrect and misleading information and which was of course not approved by Sree Maa Shri Ji but she still went ahead and used it at the BMS expo in Christchurch in 2016. Fact is that Joy has run a fake Awakenin Transformation workshop and gave an interview without anyone knowing about it including Sree Maa Shri Ji about a topic she didn’t understand at all as we were only just learning about it. It would be like a toddler in daycare going on television to give an interview about university level maths, plus the entire 50-minute interview is all about herself and her greatness and how she shares the QVSWPP. Sree Maa Shri Ji are completely left out in her interview but for a 10-word mention in the start as a fake homage. Not to mention all the other events Joy would run without anyone knowing about it, including Sree Maa Shri Ji, all for her financial gain. This is the 'sincere service' these two were giving to Kosmic Fusion….
•          “Kosmic Fusion appeared to have a heavy influence on their followers, he says, including their diet, lots of scheduled group activities, extensive rules, sleep deprivation and supervision of group communications.” -> What nonsense is this? Sree Maa Shri Ji have been the least interfering. We regularly had calls by ourselves, run projects by ourselves, many whatsapp group chats where Sree Maa Shri Ji are not a member, i am free to sleep whenever i want and eat whatever i want but understand the importance of being a pure vegetarian for my soul’s growth, the choice is up to me whether i follow it. It would defeat the whole purpose of the Training if Sree Maa has to enforce anything, it has to come from within to make the right decisions for your Soul.
•          “If what they’ve [Kuo and Amoutsias] said is true, I don’t think that anyone would say what has happened is okay.”  Here is the catch line…. What Joy and Iphigenie are saying is not true!! Sneaky way of including this in the article so they can get out of any libel charges.
•          “Kuo estimates that Kosmic Fusion cost her $100,000 in time, money and the loss of income from quitting her job as a university librarian to volunteer full-time.” Nobody asked her to. This is all her own decision. ALL the other FiTs have jobs and earn their own income. Volunteering itself means no remuneration… it's a selfless contribution. If you can’t afford it then don’t do it, nobody is asking her to. And the volunteering she did ended up in disaster as most people have left when Joy was the representative of Kosmic Fusion in Australia.
• The way the cult expert is quoted is very biased: “According to Lineham, all this is not unusual. Expelling former senior figures is often a key strategy to promote loyalty among other members.” There are no senior figures…. There was no hierarchy. These two were asked to leave after having consistently shown UNETHICAL behaviour for YEARS non-stop without any willingness to change even though they had been given countless chances. Of course, they did it in such a covert fashion, it took us while to put the pieces of the puzzle together and after intense research on the topic of narcissism.
•          “A classic and extreme example was the Heavensgate cult, where the 39 members freely agreed to take poison, so they could follow leader Marshall Applewhite into outer space.”
  Such a wrong example to quote for this article and very suggestive… If anything, Kosmic Fusion is the complete opposite.
•          Kosmic Fusion is not a cult and never was a cult. What Kosmic Fusion offers is a true Gift of Utmost Grace, a 24/7 connection to the Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse, and anyone is welcomed with unconditional Love by Sree Maa Shri Ji to receive it if they wish no matter their background. Such Compassion and Kindness is a rare find in today’s world.

Please also read the facts pointed out by other FiTsin response to the Stuff article stuffed with bias and nonsense:

https://atmanivedi.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-feedback-on-duff-stuff-article-paid.html

https://blissfulseekers.blogspot.com/2018/08/stuff-article-response.html

https://souljoyful.blogspot.com/2018/08/my-feedback-to-paid-article.html

https://transformationofnarcissist.blogspot.com/2018/09/reply-to-smear-campaginarticle.html

http://souljournaling1.blogspot.com/2018/09/questionable-stuff-journalists.html

Jai Shree Swaminarayan