Why quash social contacts and reduce friendships?
Understanding and accepting the many and various unspoken customs and restrictions on public behaviour that may offend local sensibilities is a trial and error affair. One attraction to the uninitiated lies in hearing testimonies to SB’s mysterious powers from people from other parts of the world. However, SB has spoken out frequently against developing social contacts or friendships at the ashrams, and especially intimate relationships (not surprisingly, considering his extremely traditional views on the relations between the sexes). But some normal contact is almost inevitable with both Indians and people from all other parts of the world. There are, it seems more and more likely, unspoken reasons for SB’s trying to reduce social contacts to a minimum and enforce silence whenever possible and repeatedly warn people against talking unless strictly necessary! For a deeper investigation of this, see my article ‘Surveillance, security, secrecy – in SB’s ashram, institutions and organisat
