http://www3.telus.net/public/sarlo/Yeffen.htmIn short, he uses reiki to convince people that he is enlightened and that his belief system is true. Going in, I was a novice to the guru world but had some solid knowledge of religious and spiritual traditions. I was first introduced to his practice through local meditation sessions. (These are held globally by "underlings" while he is based in Australia.) He actually has a very nice method called Open Heart meditation, which is a kind of smiling meditation. These sessions occur weekly and there is very little mention of the organization's hierarchy, Irman the "Grand Master," nor his bonkers belief system. There are also monthly workshops and energy healing sessions and intro courses. I don't have any other reiki courses to compare these to, but they were impressive and, at first, so healing. A hundred dollars here, a hundred dollars there. A few thousand dollars later you go to a week-long retreat with Effendi himself. Here he demonstrates his energy work on you, as you sit receptive in meditation. He is a reiki master for certain, and receiving his energy channeling all day can get you really high. Seriously. I have stories that rival some of my better college moments. This was all very foreign and impressive to me at the time. Then, only after sitting in a room of about 100 people receiving his channeling for about five days, were we casually told about pieces of his belief system. Wait, belief system? I thought this was a meditation retreat. His belief system implies that he is God or he is one with God or that he is enlightened. Other pieces of his religion: His actions are outside the law of Karma; he believes in reincarnation AND heaven AND spirit "patrols" that can pull you down to hell if you weren't pious.
It gets worse, but the main problem is this: He leads people to the edge of consciousness but gives them no solid tools or lessons to return or integrate them into their lives. This practice centers on submitting to him and getting high in return. It is a practice without balance. It is all inhale, no exhale. Throughout he shares little real-world wisdom other than his repetition of "let go." So if you don't trust him, you've got nothing. When I left his retreat I was on Pluto without a map. All I knew was that he knew less about the workings of the universe than I did and I had to get back to normal on my own. The months following his retreat were the scariest of my life. I don't think he means to do harm; I think he actually wants very much to help the world, unfortunately he would benefit from some intensive therapy. Too much ego, too many blind spots, way too many literal interpretations of spiritual ideas, and far too little Truth. His lack of awareness makes him dangerous.
Thank you so much for listening. And for the work you do.
~ Anonymous
And Sarlo adds:
Some material from the website of Mystress Angelique Serpent, a "Fire Serpent" Kundalini teacher based in Vancouver. It is taken from her Serpent Fire Tummo page and has more than the two paras below that i abstracted. She has been a teacher of Effendi's:
Around 1998, Jeanne Garner, a Reiki Master asked to investigate my energy because she felt it was different from other spiritual healers she had met. As a result of this, she received several new Reiki symbols from my higher self. She recognised that the difference she was feeling within me, and the symbols she had received had more in common with the Tibetan gTummo inner fire than reiki, and went on to create a system of tummo reiki she calls Innersun.
She initiated many people into Innersun, including a former student of mine, Irmansyah Effendi, whom she also initiated into Usui Reiki. He refers to her on his page, as his American Reiki Master. He does not mention his initiation into Innersun. He told me that is because because he does not agree with all of Jeanne's teachings. Well, no two masters will agree on everything but I feel it is important that people know he first received tummo initiation from a human source. He later went on to connect with a discarnate Tibetan Tummo master, and create his own tummo system, Tummo Rei ki.
