The dangers of XYZ country's president getting into Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

This post is copy-pasted from https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-dangers-of-xyz-countrys-president.html on 17-Jul-2017.

Note: XYZ refers to a particular country which I do not want to name.

I would say that XYZ country's president seems to be getting into Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) which seems to be getting HUGELY ENABLED by a support base that wants an Emperor to rule the country as per their wishes & agenda (as against a democratic President accountable to democratic checks & balances institutions of the country).

My traumatic experience of NPD type people whose NPD got into full blown mode after they found themselves in UNACCOUNTABLE positions of power in the Sathya Sai ashram system (based in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India) including the Sathya Sai university (Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning), after Sathya Sai's passing away (in April 2011), is that these NPD types think they have a god-given right to dominate over and impose their rule (and their views) upon their subordinates. The ex warden elder and the vice-chancellor of the Sai university both got into full blown NPD cases, in my considered opinion. That encouraged some lower level officers like the Registrar, university campus director(s) and the Maths & Comp. Sc department head to also get into NPD behaviour. And, to my utter astonishment, the vast majority of staff and the alumni of the Sai university gladly accepted their dominance (sweetened for paid staff by significant salary raises or plum positions with good salary, with money coming from the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust (and associated sister trusts') corpus donated by Sathya Sai devotees over the years and NOT the money of either the ex warden or the vice-chancellor). The few naysayers were brutally but non-violently, I repeat brutally but non-violently, marginalized leading to them either accepting their rule or getting out/being thrown out (like me). The effective HIJACK of the Sai university (supported by co-operative officers like the Registrar, university campus director(s) and some HOD(s)) and its powerful alumni group by the ex warden and vice-chancellor and some of their supporters/followers, lasted nearly three and a half years (Jul 2011 to Nov. 2014 when the VC stepped down)!!! The damage done will take decades, I repeat decades, for the Sai university as well as its alumni group to recover from.

Now XYZ President is doing something similar in XYZ. What took me by great surprise and astonishment was how most of his party representatives in XYZ top legislative body have accepted this dominance by XYZ President which seems to have made him even more dominant and into full NPD type behaviour. Frankly, I expected more spine from his party representatives in XYZ top legislative body. I have been very sorely disappointed by their lack of spine to protect XYZ democracy from being dominated over by this man who is behaving like a dictator, especially in his atrocious behaviour towards the mainstream media in XYZ.

I did a lot of study about NPD in the past few years to understand how people who had behaved in one way before Sathya Sai passed away (out of fear of Sathya Sai who was accessible to be offered a complaint letter by any staff of the ashram system during his daily presence (sort-of holding court) at the main hall of the ashram), got transformed into Hitler-Stalin type monsters after they found themselves in positions of power where they were no longer accountable to almost anybody or accountable to just one or two persons whom they kept happy, one way or another.

Now in 2017 over 6 years after the passing away of Sathya Sai, slowly and steadily fear of Indian govt. agencies including district level police and courts of law, is replacing the fear of Sathya Sai (physical form). So, in most institutions of the ashram, it seems to me that abuse of power, and mental harassment and humiliation of subordinates by NPD types is coming down from the absolutely crazy levels seen in the year or two after Sathya Sai passed away in April 2011. However, a recent suicide by a lady ex-employee of an ashram project/dept. in the office where she had worked, and which case's police investigation is yet to be completed, raises concerns about workplace harassment's role in the suicide. So more needs to be done in terms of making ashram bosses and department heads accountable to the devotee fraternity, donors, and also to the govt. agencies of India.

But who will control XYZ President??? The XYZ constitution gives extraordinary protection to the position of president for the term that he has been elected for. And then the president gets extraordinary power to bring in a large team of people of his choosing (not elected representatives), including his relatives, into top positions of his administration. Now most of his party representatives in XYZ top legislative body, barring just a very few, seem to have become devoted followers (devotees) of the Emperor-President! And he is using his social media following and his support base to immense effect in ensuring this devotion from his party representatives. I mean, these party representatives seem to be afraid of attracting the displeasure and wrath of the Emperor-President as then he may publicly (verbally) attack them which may then lead to his (Emperor-President's) support base in the representatives' constituencies, opposing them (representatives) and seeking to unseat them!

What an extraordinary state of affairs in a wealthy and militarily powerful country (XYZ) in the world today, that (country XYZ) is a democracy!
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Given below is a comment exchange from my Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1939622989587602, associated with this blog post:

In response to comment, "Well written post ( NPD ). We find such people everywhere now-a-days. Must be cautious. And it seems like you are still very hurt over the treatment meted out to you at your workplace. Years have passed by but your wounded heart hasn't healed. I do understand you. Take Care.", I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):

Thanks. About the "still very hurt": Well, now for me it is more of a matter of documenting my experience, and keeping it alive, as that would help deter such harassment and humiliation of others. That deterrence part is one key reason why I keep mentioning it, from time to time. In this particular case, I felt it appropriate to refer to those experiences as I am sharing my learning from that experience in the context of country XYZ president.

Also, emotional closure of such matters comes when the wrongdoers apologize and seek forgiveness. I have not received any such apology or seeking of forgiveness request from then vice-chancellor, Registrar, then Director campus and then HOD of Maths & Comp. Sc. dept. They think that they can bully and bluff their way through the matter. I want to keep this alive as a way to counter their efforts to bluff and bully their way through their wrongdoings.
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--Name-snipped-- responded:
Yes, i get your point of view. You see, we live in Kali Yuga, so we encounter many such problems in our daily life. These wrongdoers never apologise because they are too egoistic. Let me tell you, such people are very well aware of their flaws. They may be highly educated, but do not have basic manners to say "Sorry" I am saying this based on my personal experiences.
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Ravi S. Iyer responded (slightly edited):
Thanks for your valuable response.

See sister --Name-snipped--, I did not write about these matters publicly from June/July 2012 by which time I had terminated my association with the Sai university and also let the bosses know in a polite but not public way that they should follow Sathya & Dharma, till sometime in the year 2015! Around three years!!! After July 2012 I had taken the approach of just walking away from Asathya-Adharma and focusing on my spiritual journey in outside ashram Puttaparthi.

But what happened? Did these fellows show remorse for their bad behaviour? No. Instead the vice-chancellor and ex warden continued their dominance over Sai university till Nov. 2014!!! The Registrar, Director PN campus and HOD Maths & Comp. Sc. dept acted as if they were pure as Ganges water and had done nothing wrong in my case!!!

It is in March 2015 that I realized in a more comprehensive way than earlier how much damage was being done worldwide due to DIVISION created by ex warden supported by vice-chancellor and others including many in the alumni community.

Some people had to publicly challenge and expose these fellows. That was the only way to reverse the HIJACK and reduce the number of people these fellows were misguiding by misusing the HOLY NAME of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Unless these fellows were exposed they would hide their misdeeds and bully their way out of any situation!!

So I publicly wrote, and continue to write from time to time, about the misdeeds they did in the Sai university in the crucial period of a year or so after Mahasamadhi which resulted in HIJACK of Sai university from Jul 2011 till Nov. 2014 by ex warden and then vice-chancellor.

Look at the example of Gangadhara Bhat sir of Alike school. Did he not make a public confession about him making a big mistake by following Narasimhamurthy after Mahasamadhi? He even apologized, I am told.

Should not these fellows from Sai university follow Gangadhara Bhat sir's footsteps? If they are genuine spiritual people instead of Dhongis (hypocrites), that is what they will do. But so far they prefer to hide their misdeeds and act as if they are all pure Ganges water fellows! These fellows should be forced to accept their mistakes PUBLICLY and made to apologize to Sathya Sai fraternity and seek forgiveness from Sathya Sai fraternity for their misdeeds.

That is the intent of me continuing to write from time to time about the misdeeds of some administrators of the Sai university in the crucial year or two after Mahasamadhi. Further, it is my view that the spiritual glory of the Sai university can be regained ONLY AFTER these administrators make such a confession and show GENUINE remorse. Otherwise the spiritual glory of the Sai university will continue to be eclipsed by mere UGC and NAAC related pure academic efforts with only some hypocritical show of spirituality.
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--Name-snipped-- responded (slightly edited):
Exactly brother, i agree with you.
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Comments

  1. Om Sri Sairam

    Narcissist is one of the truest forms of evil. Scott Peck, in his book, “People of The Lie”, supports this view.

    Narcissists are disconnected from the soul and they cannot feel the love and oneness inherent in the soul. As a result, the emotional aspect of their psyche is severely fragmented and paralyzed. The aftermath of this psychic state is a woefully inadequate ability to feel compassion or empathy for any other human being. This drives them to pathologically and almost non-volitionally inflict severe pain and suffering upon those around them. Emotional vampirism is their strategy to sustain their own life and they do by drawing proxy energy from hurt and suffering of others to fill in for the absence of life force energy that any human would otherwise obtain from their own soul. Ironically, this lack of love morphs into a malignant form of self-love where every thought word and deed of theirs is nothing but a manifestation of selfishness and self-centeredness.

    Why do we attract a Narcissist in the spiritual path? My own view is that it reveals of the last vestiges and remains of narcissism hidden deep within our won psyche. A Narcissist reveals our Narcissism. A Narcissist is Reflection, Reaction, Resound of the residues of evil within us.

    Encountering a narcissist in our spiritually journey in an indication that we are at the cusp or threshold of leaving the doors of human-ness and entering the doors of divinity. By inflicting unbearable hurt and suffering to us a narcissist takes away a lot of karma (provided we do not retaliate) and in turn prepares us to learn and practice the lessons of unconditional love and forgiveness.

    A choiceless state is a state of Divine Grace. A Narcissist has no choice but to hurt. He is a pathological emotional predator. And if our life choicelessly crosses the path of a narcissist it is a state of Grace. My own personal view!

    If we go to a forest and face a lion, we a prey of a predatorial lion. We are not victims of a villainous lion. In the Spiritual journey likewise, we often become a prey for a predatorial narcissist- we are not victims of a villainous narcissist. This experience with a narcissist qualifies our divinity. Swamy would say- I do not call the qualified. I qualify the called. Divinity is one of the qualification we are subject to!

    If our life has crossed the path of a narcissist AND we have endured and survived-we are indeed among a blessed chosen few, in spiritual terms. We become a prey of a narcissist only because we have been seen by the Divine as being ready to become Divine!

    “It is the test of fire that makes fine steel”- said Abraham Lincoln. Having an experience with a narcissist in a spiritual journey is that test of fire that qualificatory purgatory process to become Divine : )

    Om Sri Sairam

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    Replies
    1. Interesting view Shankar Ramaswamy. Thanks.

      From a more layman point of view, I would like to say that jealousy is a very big factor in some conflicts in ashram systems. I wonder how much jealousy plays a role in narcissism.

      I have heard or read Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba himself speak about Viswamitra's jealousy against Vasishta as Vasishta was referred to as BrahmaRishi whereas Viswamitra was referred to by Vasishta as RajaRishi and NOT BrahmaRishi. Viswamitra had got so infuriated that he was prepared to kill Vasishta for that! But some incident happened which showed Viswamitra the light and he changed.

      I have read that Shirdi Sai Baba as a young man, was himself the target of jealousy inspired hatred from other disciples of Shirdi Sai Baba's guru (Venkusa, if I recall correctly). The brick that Shirdi Sai Baba used to keep with him, whose accidental breaking led to Shirdi Baba remarking, if I recall correctly, 'Sobat sutli' in Marathi ('lost my company'in English) in a sorrowful way and which is viewed by some as a foreboding of Shirdi Sai Baba's bodily passing away a short time after the incident, is said to be the brick with which he was attacked by jealous followers of his Guru, Venkusa!

      In my nearly decade long stint in Puttaparthi ashram system, I have seen many, many cases of jealousy being the root cause for some horrendous abuse of power, and mental harassment and humiliation of juniors/others by those in positions of power. One of the greatest things that I fear today in my outside ashram Puttaparthi life, is jealousy! Such, in my considered opinion, is the scary destructive power of jealousy in ashram systems and ashram towns.

      Delete
  2. Om Sri Sairam

    At the root of all evil and negativity in a human being is the thought, belief and feeling, which comes from lifetimes of conditioning, that we are a separate body mind entity.

    In a narcissist, this body mind consciousness or ego is frozen. Even a selfless act of a narcissist is done only selfishly. This frozen ego gives rise to other negativities- first jealousy, then envy and then hatred…

    Swamy said “ …A really virtuous human being will see divinity in himself and also in others. Human life is nothing but a reflection of Divinity. It is ignorance to consider God as living
    elsewhere in a remote place. When you are yourself the embodiment of Divinity, of what avail is
    it to seek the Divine elsewhere? You are the Supreme Brahman. Forgetting the truth of man's inherent Divinity, worrying themselves about what is happening somewhere, people lose their
    moorings….” SSS 26 -25

    On Jealousy, Swamy said “Everyone should strive to rid himself of egoism, jealousy and hatred. This elimination cannot be achieved by mere study of books. Constant effort is required. By cultivating love and dedicating all actions to God, these evil traits have to be got rid of. As long as jealousy remains, to the slightest extent, it will destroy every good quality in us. That is why the Geetha teaches that the total elimination of jealousy is a primary requisite for the spiritual aspirant.” SSS 17-19

    A Narcissist is a mirror that reflects our own body mind consciousness, our egoism to us. He is driver for us to cultivate unconditional love and to offer all our actions- good, bad and ugly to God. We may then qualify for His Grace. Only through His Grace the final frontier, the “last mile” of egoism and concomitant negativities like jealousy, hatred etc may be crossed

    Om Sri Sairam

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Shankar Ramaswamy for your response. The Swami quotes you shared are interesting.

      Delete

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