After the recent events regarding the Bhoga Case there is a lot of debate in our school about the future of Bhoga and also about the attitudes that we were facing in this almost Bhogava-Gita. There were also some posts here on my blog that regarded this issue and i can see that there are some hot spots already here on the blog.

To give more quality fuel to this debate i will post the most interesting letters and posts as a collective article and you are all welcome to contribute with common sense statements and intelligent or heart-full observations. And please don’t bother to write if you just want to spit your poisonous feelings or you want to make a point with “I am the only one who know the truth”. Your comments will not be taken into consideration. This is a post that was received from one of my good friends Hans Hvass, co-founder of Ibis and the talented caricaturist whose drawings i was posting earlier on the blog. Hans was one of the most important characters in this epic of Bhogava-Gita and he was many times the one that took the stand against Kim’s violence.

He created also a great site if you are searching for spiritual music on Ibis. His post is balanced and pertinent regarding the attitude of the Kim Schmock’s team, as a direct participant to the events. In fact soon everyone will read the decision that was taken by the Natha’s team regarding the Bhoga case in this moment.

But before that will come out here is Hans’ letter:

This letter is meant as a reply to one of Karsten Fischer’s posts on our “old friends” blog where he amongst other things says that Advaita should apologize for dragging the school through a long and embarrassing court case and should not make a melodrama out of the verdict amongst his followers. So here is my consideration:

Judging by your (Karsten) and Kim Schmock’s writing on your forum it seems to me that there in a strange way is an underlying tone of guilt seen from the fact that you need to justify your actions and continue your ”shouting” at Advaita despite having won the case.

And yes, if I were you I would also have a creeping sensation of guilt at the back of my mind.

The whole purpose for the acquisition of Bhoga was to create a yoga and retreat center and if you look at the physical design of Bhoga you can see that it indeed is built to serve that purpose. In my view on things, this is the deepest underlying truth of the nature and purpose of Bhoga at its deepest core and the underlying fact of it all (now that you bring up the topic of facts and formalisms). It would never have been acquired if it did not suit the needs of a retreat place.

And it is now obvious for me that the only reason Natha lost this case in this clear-cut fashion, was due to the witnessing of You (Karsten Fischer) and Celia (Clausen) who misbalanced the scales helping Schmock to look like the victim of a sect. In a case where the existence of concrete written documents is minimal, witness statements become very important and carry a lot of weight. We all know that if one side comes with 3 witnesses all saying one thing (Natha) you need not more than one witness on the opposite side to neutralize what the 3 witnesses on the other side are saying. Our case was difficult enough to start with to be able to support the betrayal of you and Celia (But off course since I am a poor member of a sect I cannot say that you betrayed me without being called sectarian).

The Cheap ”Natha as a Sect” Trick

Since you built up such a story about Natha being a sect over the years, both in the case and through the media, you have created a stigma against Natha which of course has an effect on the judge in a modern society where there is such an underlying fear of sects (look at what the example of Waco did to the worlds view on movements). I took careful mental note of your witness declaration Karsten. There was not even one paragraph where you did not vent anger towards Advaita or Natha calling it a sect. This angle was very cleverly mixed into every statement you made as if you had been practicing the lines in front of a mirror for many years. And in fact you did practice these lines (and lies) but in front of every single friend you met and wanted to listen to your story. And of course since you are ”a sociologist” with your consulting company you manipulate the judge into believing your opinion is fueled by intelligent overview (what a nice young intelligent man you are), when it in fact is fueled by emotional imbalance and revenge feelings.

One can never really fully know, but my clear intuition about this case after having sat there for 4 days is that the outcome of the case would have looked significantly different had it not been for the influence of you and Celia in the preparation of Kim’s case and in the case itself.

You Hold the Responsibility
The simple truth as I see it is that you and Celia used the case to vent your suppressed anger on Advaita. Now that you have won their Bhoga case I would feel very unfulfilled if I were you (as your posts in your forum also demonstrate) because the main reason for you joining the case on Kim’s side is not fulfilled. The core of anger is not healed by vengeance. So, just like ghosts, you will continue never knowing fully if you did the right thing or did not do the right thing. Now the weight of the karmic responsibility of your actions will begin to weigh down upon you and questions will start to form at the back of the mind. Did we do the right thing? Did we actually help a man steal a place which in fact was supposed to serve as a temple of the ancient divine teachings of Yoga, Tantra and Meditation? Did we let our feeling of vengeance lead us down a path of destruction? Do I really have the capacity to know what Karma yoga truly is?

Your deposition Karsten Fischer was the turning point of the case to Kim’s favor because you had power in the court room, but your power was not fueled by light. Advaita did not see your witness declaration, but I did, and after seeing it I knew in my heart that the case was lost and I felt sick to the core. We all did, those of us that were there.

The Lost Son

Its funny you speak of melodrama when you play a very central role in this ”drama”. You used the Bhoga case to serve out your own personal vendetta and the need to feel strong in the face of Advaita. This can never make you happy and this is what makes you comparable to Darth Vader in Star Wars – to take the melodrama to its fullest. Darth Vader was a very promising Jedi knight who made great advances on his path but he also made mistakes and he tried to cover up his mistakes and instead of fixing his mistakes he turns against his master to justify his own mistakes, and then afterwards he allows darkness to fuel him. You owe a lot to your ”old master”. Through your work in Natha you gained a lot of overview and experience in societal matters being given and also making concrete tasks and missions. It was also in Natha you met Celia, your ”wife” which I suppose you love, don’t you? So, having such a negative impression of Natha is strange since it seems to me it actually gave you a lot of good things that you have taken with you. Or perhaps you don’t love your wife and it does not fill out your existence enough to have your two kids there? Perhaps you are the one who misses the ”melodrama”?

Regarding Karma Yoga

Detachment in action in Karma yoga is not building a place and letting a person take it away. If I consecrate to build a temple to God and a thief comes and steals the wood I made to build it, I go to the thief and tell him to give me back the wood so I can carry on building the temple. You mix detachment and indifference together and built a whole case on a wrong fundament. Karma yoga has never been and will never be the same with indifference. And you cannot either in any way compare the work that was done in Bhoga with work done in Natha Yogacenter Købmagergade. In Bhoga there was an agreement that Bhoga would be passed to Natha and still if this agreement was based mostly verbally and easy to veer away from, the agreement was still there. It was on this foundation the work in Bhoga was made.

Whether we get humiliated or not, appealing the case or not, is really not the issue here. We fight because the ideal of Bhoga is worth fighting for. We do our best for the divine will to manifest for us and if it doesn’t manifest for us (like it still hasn’t manifested for the Tibetans in the face of Chinese aggression or many other cases in the world where there is injustice) then we have done our best and we move on assimilating with us what we learn on the way, becoming ever better in our dealings with people and the formalistic requirements of modern society. The temple lies within and can be built anywhere, bigger, better and on a more stable fundament.

Regarding Advaita

I do not wish for Advaita’s apology for ”dragging me into an immoral case for so many years”, as it seems to me that I am one of those you refer to in this case. I would prefer to thank him for telling us what things in life are worth fighting for and I would always prioritize to keep a purity in my heart regarding our relation.
But I feel an apology from your side for stabbing me in and Mariah and all your old friends in the back would certainly be in order, and I would also like your apology for helping a man who in fact has acted very violently towards me and Mariah and others. Did you ever want to hear our version of living in Bhoga for so many years being beaten, harassed and chicaned, or were you so busy meeting and planning out your own revenge that it was inconvenient for you to hear this, but only convenient to endorse Kim Schmock’s opinion?
In my opinion you should apologize to Advaita and the rest of us and not the other way around for whatever my opinion would mean to you. I hope you do meet with Advaita so you can appreciate again a very large and gentle side of him, a side full of love, compassion and profound intelligence. A side that can melt your frozen heart if you allow it to. You seem to me to keep Advaita locked in your stereotype of him. I see a man who grows continually greater, deeper and self-aware, learning from mistakes and assimilating them into better judgement and overview, and never afraid of following his ideal/dream where the rest of us fall. But how would you know if you don’t have the guts to come and meet him?

Hans Hvass

More About Hans Hvass And “Ibis”
Hans was born in the kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa and lived in Hong Kong and France before settling down in Denmark as a computer scientist, producer and modern jazz saxophonist. In Denmark he met the Scandinavian Mariah Claiere at the Music Conservatory of Copenhagen. She had spent years in India studying tantra yoga and Indian raga, as well as holding a degree of musicology focusing on classical composition.

IBIS are modern pilgrims and have visited more than 40 countries of the world, focusing on places of spiritual magic, assimilating different arts, cultures, spiritual and musical traditions.

Ibis have made 2 CD’s and are currently working on their third CD called Tara. The CD’s are as follows:

1. Meditative Spaces

With Meditative Spaces, Ibis strives to create a profound textural universe with the beauty and character of a world beyond this one. The music is meant to awaken deeper layers of consciousness, intuition and an experience of timelessness. The past, present and future melt into one and we are taken to a plane where archetypical forms fill us with the profound feeling of being children of the universe.

Songs From This Album “Meditative Spaces”Are Available To Purchase As MP3s

2. Kali

The CD was created at the Bhoga Music Studio and was mixed and mastered by Catalin Truta from Romania. Catalin is a world renowned producer who lately has produced for Edward Maya who has several international top 10 hits on the MTV. His talent has given the sonic landscapes incredible depth and aliveness. The CD displays Kali in all her grandeur, from her terrifying aspects to her gentle motherly aspects. Songs From This Album “Kali” Are Available To Purchase As MP3s