The charlatan and his band of minions - Jagadeesh alias Jakki alias Sadhguru
Mr. Jagadeesh, to some Jakki Vasudev and others Sadhguru, was introduced to me by a friend who shared one of his videos with me. It was about Hinduism and we seemed to share some non-mainstream ideas on that topic. Curious, I went ahead and watched some more of his videos on Youtube. I felt the man spoke sensibly, had a way with words, knew when and what to joke about and exuded confidence. After a few videos, he got repetitive to me and I moved on. This must be three or four years ago.
About a year ago (December 2015), when the floods struck Tamil Nadu, some of my friends were looking to ship some relief material to Cuddalore, the town that took the most damage. We were looking for ways to ship the goods and someone suggested Isha. When I approached one of my friends at Isha, he mentioned that anything shipped by Isha will be distributed under the name of Isha. We had no problems with that. Our main concern was to get the things to those who needed them. We did not bother under whose name it was distributed. However, that idea did not gather steam.
About a month ago (First week of Feb 2017), I visited Coimbatore. I had done my college in the city, so I was fond of the place. Visiting it after many years, I was taking in all the sights and one particular advertisement kept catching my eye. The picture of the statue of Shiva was prominent, but I did not have time to read the ads. I let them go.
Then, a couple of days ago, I read that Modi was visiting Coimbatore to unveil the 112 feet statue of Shiva built by the Isha foundation at the foothills of Velliangiri hills. I also read posts on Facebook detailing how Isha had deforested the region to build their ashram. I knew this wasn't right, but I still couldn't blame them. I'm sure all of us have contributed to some kind of exploitation of the natural resources. Our houses are built on lakes. We cut down trees furnish our house. So, I did not feel I was the right person to blame them for deforestation though they were doing it at all larger scale.
I say all of these to show that I did not have any preconceived notion about Isha or its founder, Mr. Jagadeesh. I have no personal enmity or ill-will towards the organization, its founder or its members. Except for the few hours spent watching those videos, I did not spend any time on them in the last four years I have known them.
Defenders of deforestation:
I took notice of the organization only when some of its members offered illogical and religious counters to the criticisms leveled against them.
They were accusing their criticizers as minority appeasers, haters of the Hindu religion and so on. Some of their counters were so aggressive I felt it could trigger a Hindu-Muslim conflict in a sensitive city like Coimbatore. I still did not want to get involved or criticize the Isha members. I did not want to get them even more aggressive. Yet that is what happened. The next day they began defending the deforestation by arguing that Mr. Paul Dinakaran, a Christian televangelist, had deforested even more bigger lands in that area and it was Isha that stopped him from expanding his empire and converting people to Christianity. I dismissed the immature arguments and did not think much about them.
The next set of arguments defending the deforestation targetted the ancient kings of Tamil Nadu. Didn't Karikala Cholan deforest to build a dam (building a dam and a statue are not the same things)? Didn't Raja Raja Cholan deforest to build a temple (No, did not. Read history)? Didn't the ancient kings deforest to build their cities? These arguments irked me. One, they were making immature, illogical comparisons. Two, they were spewing hatred.
Soon, they were comparing Mr. Jagadeesh to the Buddha and Thiruvalluvar. That was the end of the line for me. Buddha and Thiruvalluvar? Really? That's when I decided to investigate a little further. I began reading for one, started recollecting the conversations I had had with my friends before and after they joined the organization. A few things became apparent quickly:
Isha is not what it claims to be.
On their website, Isha claims that it is a volunteer-run, international nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating human potential. It is a human service organization that recognizes the possibility of each person to empower another.
I assume they are trying to say that they are an NGO. However, I don't understand the use of so many words say something so simple. Anyway. . .
Non-profitable?
If Isha is an NGO operating on donations shouldn't it be spending its donations on human welfare rather than constructing statues and temples? Given that these donations are tax exempt, the money that can be used for human welfare is being used for things that have nothing to do with welfare. As an outsider, I feel Isha is stealing a poor man's bread to satisfy a rich man's ego, build thing after thing.
And who pays for Mr. Jagadeesh's lavish lifestyle. He himself confesses that he loves speed. Isha members claim he owns a hummer and other cars and bikes. He also seems to own a helicopter. I've seen him golf. He travels extensively in business class. Who pays for all these? Is it from the tax-exempt donations? Is this morally acceptable? If donations don't pay for his lifestyle, does he have other sources of income? If so what are they?
I also learned that only one of their many courses is offered free and the rest are charged. Are these tax-exempt as well? Furthermore, seats were sold for consecration events for sky-high prices. A front row seat for US citizens cost $22,500 and for Indians, it was sold at Rs 2,50,000. Are these tax-exempt as well?
Isha also runs a school called Isha home school where a one-time deposit of about 10 lakhs is to be paid at the time of admission. So much for free schooling?
And if Isha is a school for spiritual welfare why do these have these human-service projects which do not benefit many? Tax-exemption. Without these projects, Isha cannot masquerade as a non-profit organization.
And if Isha is really a non-profit organization, why are their accounts not online?
Cultivating human-potential?
Once you look up how the new volunteers at Isha are treated you will understand the meaning of cultivating human potential. I will get to that later.
But first, Isha claims to be working towards the spiritual welfare of humans - enlightenment. They achieve this through the practice of yoga and meditation. According to them, each individual is different and needs a different path to enlightenment. The guru is merely a tool to put the individual on the fastest lane towards self-realization and enlightenment.
Well, Isha seems to have forgotten that the most important aspect of self-realization is the ability to question and reason. Without questioning, you get nowhere. Isha doesn't seem to encourage it. If at all anything they seem to dissuade people from questioning and reasoning.
On various forums you find on the internet, you will see the following arguments put forward by Isha members.
"You cannot get there using logic"
"Don't doubt your teachers or Sadhguru, doubt yourself"
"By questioning your teachers, you are drawing negative energy"
Just watch any video of Mr. Jagadeesh interacting with Isha newbies. (You will find many on Youtube). When asked a difficult question, he will turn evasive or use sarcasm. if he realizes the questioner is not satisfied with his answer, he will give a know-it-all laugh and tell the questioner that he/she is not yet ready to receive. He will then use the cliched glass-is-full analogy and blame the newbie. By then the questioner is intimidated and will not come forth with another question. The other newbies observe this and it discourages them to even pose questions during a simple QA session.
This is done at various levels and the newbie is taught to never question anyone, but simply to obey the master and the teachers. The newbies are also told to keep this minds clear and free. So much for self-realization and enlightenment.
An idle mind is the devil's workshop - Proverb.
Mr. Jagadeesh is not who he says he is.
Don't get me wrong. For all I know he might the "enlightened" being he and his followers claim, but he certainly does not want you to be enlightened. He wants you to believe your are problems are bigger than you think. He wants you to believe you are not who you are. Why else would he use so much negative language when he talks about enlightenment?
He says, "You are not your body. You are not your mind. These are accumulations. You are trapped in your body. You are trapped within your mind. You are trapped within your family. You are trapped within the world. You have to lose everything and then everything becomes a part of you. And 99% of you will not attain enlightenment till you leave your body. Maybe a few of you will hold onto your body after death." The caveat is simply to fool his followers that he is one of the rare beings that held onto its body after enlightenment. He is not leading his followers towards enlightenment, he is making them his lifelong customers.
And is this message his own? Oh dear lord, NO. These are the basic messages of southern Shaivism, simply repackaged in rhetoric. Read Tamil Shaivite literature and arrive at your own conclusions.
Yet Mr. Jagadeesh puts forward the claim Isha is not religious in any sense. With an idol of Bhairavi, Linga, Nandi and now Shive installed in his ashram? Once again, repackaging things under different names with no historic or scientific basis.
Ok, does he even stick to his message? Read this and decide for yourself.
Before you get the impression that I'm against Yoga and Hinduism. I'm against neither. The former I have learned in my school and the later is one of my areas of interest, especially Shaivism. Yoga has a lot of health benefits. It relaxes one both mentally and physically and I have seen its benefit on my friends.
Mr. Jagadeesh has built his web of lies around this one truth called Yoga. You can learn the same yoga elsewhere for a lot cheaper. That is your choice, though.
Mr. Jagadeesh is a con artist masquerading as a spiritual teacher. He is not building a spiritual school but a cult. He is not leading his followers to enlightenment, but turning them into bullies and slaves. He maintains a calm exterior, seems friendly and approachable, speaks enticingly and is has a lot of charisma - perfect makeup for a con artist. And that is exactly why only he is presented to the outside world. He has the tricks to lure people in. Once someone is in, the downward spiral will begin, but guess what Mr. Jagadeesh can convince people that this downward spiral is indeed the way upwards. It's the fastest lane to enlightenment.
Jagadeesh and Viji:
For the uninitiated, Vijji was Mr. Jagadeesh's wife. They met, they married, had a daughter and when the daughter was six years old, Vijji decided to leave her body. The last part is how Mr. Jagadeesh puts it. He even tells us that she was preparing for his event, which Isha calls Mahasamadhi, for more than six months. Read his account of the events here:
http://isha.sadhguru.org/man/family-matters/vijji/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hindu2/2016/08/sadhguru-jaggi-vasudevs-wifes-death-controversy-truth/
Now, tell me, if his story makes any sense? If you think it does, please leave this blog. If you can believe that a mother to six-year-old daughter can leave the child and move to wherever of her own accord, she must either be a very bad mother or worse, mentally challenged. You can decide what it is. And what do you call the man who seems to have let this happen?
Anyway, here is the part of the story that is not presented in the links above. Mr. Jagadeesh cremated his wife's body the next day (Samadhi and cremation never go hand in hand, right? Those who attain Samadhi are buried traditionally). It is alleged that Vijji's father could not make it to the cremation in time. Vijji's father also filed a case against Mr. Jagadeesh for the murder of his wife. Mr. Jagadeesh was arrested and locked up for a day before he was released. Given that the body has been cremated, there is no way to ascertain the cause of Vijji's death.
Even if it's not murder, I don't believe all that nonsense written there on those links.
The curious case of solidified mercury:
If you remember you high school chemistry, you will remember that Mercury is only liquid metal. It cannot be solidified at room temperature. It requires external pressure or temperature. However, guess what. Mr. Jagadeesh can and he has done it. In fact, a whole lot of lingas in his premises are made of pure solidified mercury.
The mercury lingas in the Theerthakunds are solidified mercury – 99.2% pure mercury – that 0.8% impurity is because laboratories are not capable of removing it. According to modern chemistry, you cannot solidify mercury at room temperature; you can solidify mercury only if you take it to -38 degrees Centigrade. But I will take it in my hand and solidify and liquefy it at room temperature. (For full text: Click here)
If you read the full article, you will see that Mr. Jagadeesh has used Siddha and Ayurveda as his defense. He also uses phrases like subjective science, logical minds, a mixture of cocktails and poisons to create the perception that he knows more than you do. He even argues that the western world's understanding about Mercury is wrong. I wonder if his understanding of Mercury is right or complete? The article doesn't seem complete.
In Siddha and Ayurveda, pure mercury is not used rather Mercury Sulphide is (Don't trust me on this, just google or Youtube). Mercury by itself is toxic. However, when Mercury reacts with Sulphur, the Mercury Sulphide has medicinal properties. But, Mr. Jagadeesh claims that his lingas are made of pure Mercury solidified at room temperature. He is either lying or ignorant. Decide for yourself.
Here is WHO's publication on the effects of Mercury on health: Mercury and health. WHO clearly states that long exposure to elemental Mercury is very dangerous, especially for fetuses. Is Mr. Jagadeesh aware of this? Decide for yourself.
Dhyanalinga and Auroville engineers:
Who designed the dhyana linga and the dome?
Isha website claims that the entire structure was conceived and designed by Mr. Jagadeesh. While Auroville claims that it designed the structures. Who did it? Furthermore, Isha website claims that 300 bramachari unskilled laborers completed the work with the help of bramachari engineers. Auroville claims that it used over 220 workers and at least 25 of them were masons. I don't think masons are unskilled workers. And Auroville doesn't mention the use of any bramachari workers? What is Isha trying to do here by repeatedly mentioning the use of bramacharis? Make your mind yourself.
http://www.dhyanalinga.org/construction.htm
http://www.earth-auroville.com/dhyanalinga_dome_en.php
Note: When I first visited the dhyana linga website neither Auroville nor Mr. Satprem was mentioned. Since then both have been credited as collaborators. You can confirm this from the links listed at the end of this article(See page 39 and 63 in the guruphilliac forum). They were written a couple of years ago. Why this sudden inclusion? Maybe because people are out there to find the wrongdoings of Isha. I don't know. Once again, you be the judge.
Not my teacher - Rishi Prabhakar:
There are two versions of Mr. Jagadeesh's history.
First version - He was born in Mysuru to Telugu-speaking parents. He read English literature and joined Rishi's Prabhakar's yoga school as a teacher. He met Vijji and married her. He was sent to Hyderabad along with another employee of Rishi Prabhakar to set up a yoga school. From there, he was asked to go to Coimbatore to set up another yoga school Rishi Prabhakar. In Coimbatore, he decided to open a new yoga school by himself and set shop in the early 90's. You will find this one all over the internet except the Isha website. The other employee of Rishi Prabhakar has confirmed this. You can find his statement on the internet.
Second version: http://isha.sadhguru.org/mystic/three-lifetimes/bilva/
To me, the first one seems "logical". He arrives in Coimbatore, sets up a yoga class, decides to exploit the rich mill owners of Coimbatore, denounces Rishi Prabhakar, announces his enlightenment, invents stories about his lifetimes, starts spiritual classes, makes connections with the wealthy businessmen of Coimbatore, partners with them on real estate projects, globalisation opens up doors for him in the USA, sets up shop there too, and the rest is history.
Denouncing Rishi Prabhakar and announcing that he was self-realized was a brilliant move. People. especially Indians, wouldn't have accepted him as much if he had confessed that he had a guru. Self-realization set up him apart from the competition and other humans as well. It moved him one step up the ladder of divinity.
Radhe Jakki:
The man who claims human beings are trapped in families, took great care of his family.
His daughter, Radhe, studied at Rishi Valley, one of the most expensive schools in India. She went to Kalashetra to learn dance and is now married to a wealthy singer. And Mr. Jagadeesh himself has remarked that his daughter is his boss. No matter whatever he meant by that, it becomes apparent his daughter means a lot to him. And he gets on stage and tells his audience that family is a trap. Hypocrisy at its best.
From what we learn from ex-Isha members:
1. She has never been a volunteer.
2. She has never stayed at the ashram.
3. She has never done any chores that other members are forced to do. Example: house-keeping.
From what we learn, she seems to be living a luxurious life. It is also alleged that she may be running a real estate firm independently or with the help of others.
Clueless minions:
When a skeptic tries to have a conversation with a mild-manned minion on spirituality and this is how it will go down.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? Includes the USA too? Anyway, what are you seeking?
Him: Enlightenment.
You: What is enlightenment?
Him: A blissful state in which you don't identify with yourself yet you are fully alert and fully aware.
You: Ever been drunk till the neck? Anyway, how do you plan to achieve enlightenment?
Him: I'm not supposed to tell you that. Attend the classes.
They will repeat only the things Mr. Jagadeesh has ever uttered.
Try to have the same conversation with an aggressive minion and this is how it will go down.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? How about the USA?
Him: Not funny. What do you know about seeking! Idiot!
You: Can you please enlighten me?
Him: How can you attain enlightenment when you make fun of the practices and the Guru himself. You should bow down to him, you lowly thing.
You: Enlightenment? I did not ask you about enlightenment. Anyway, there are allegations that your guru murdered his wife.
Him: Is it relevant to your spiritual growth? Why are you bothered about things that aren't relevant to you? You are supposed to do you practices as instructed and not question things.
You: I have to accept a man who might have killed his wife as my guru? Alright, there are allegations that the Isha premises are built on land acquired through distress sales. People say that the land is a part of Nilagiri biosphere and is an important elephant corridor.
You: It is patta land, you fool. Sadhguru is the only living Guru. Bow to him.
No matter how reasonable your questions are, you will get replies like "this is subjective science", "Don't use logic", "Do not apply your mind", "Sadhguru is living god. Aggressive defenders of anything Mr. Jagadeesh does or says.
Try to have this conversation with a religious minion and it will be even funnier.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? The USA too?
Him: And UK. Christianity has spoiled them. Satan has occupied their minds.
You: Christianity?
Him: Yes, see what Karunya did. They grabbed 1000 acres of land. And began converting people. Only Isha stopped their advances.
You: By grabbing land?
Him: Are you a Christian agent masquerading as a secularist? You want to oppose Modi, don't you? That is your Agenda.
You: I have nothing Modi.
Him: Are you are Muslim or a Christian agent? Tell me what you were you doing when Karunya was grabbing lands?
You: I'm an atheist.
Him: See. I knew. Now, get lost, you asshole.
Try to have this conversation with a foolish minion and it will be even funnier.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really?
Him: Absolutely.
You: Can you explain these? 1) The untimely death of Vijji. 2) Solidifying mercury. 3) Irregularities at Isha. 4) Poor treatment of volunteers. 5) The death of volunteers. 6) Radhe. 7) The lavish lifestyle of Mr. Jagadeesh. 8) Negative side-effects of IE, BSP. 8) Withdrawal/detachment symptoms of volunteers. 9) Exorbitant prices for a seat at consecrations. 10) Inaccessibility to Mr. Jagadeesh.
Him: You did not do all of your practices right. You cannot blames the practices if you did them right. You did not have necessary dedication. You were not seeking. You were not ready. You are a disgrace. I know people who made millions after they met Sadhguru.
Note: These are not fragments of my imagination. These are conversations ex-Isha members and current Isha members had in the guruphilliac forum I have shared at the end of this article. There is much more than what I have written. It's about 150 pages(I read half) and its get more idiotic every page. Read at your leisure.
Other controversies at a glance:
As this article has become longer than I wanted it to, I'm not going to go into the details of the following.
1. There are allegations that Mr. Jagadeesh killed his wife to be with another woman from Coimbatore who he was having an affair with.
2. There are allegations of ill-treatment of school children at Isha home school.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo53j7tNSRA
3. A wealthy businessman in Coimbatore has alleged that Mr. Jagadeesh forced him to make Radhe Jaggi as the GM of his company.
4. A lot of people have alleged that the lands they owned close to the Isha campus at Coimbatore were threatened to sell their lands.
5. Ex-Isha volunteers have alleged that accommodation and other facilities for volunteers at the campus are horrible while Mr. Jagadeesh enjoys a lavish lifestyle. They have also alleged that they have suffered ill-treatment at the hands of their teachers who force them to work for 20 hours a day including Sundays.
6. It is alleged that Isha used fake profiles to win the FB community chase contest for the million dollar prize. See here.
* For 1, 2 and 4 see the savvukuonline link shared at the end of this article.
So, why all this?
The motives:
So, what is Isha?
Isha is not a non-profit organization working towards human welfare. It is a cult for the elites that encourages and demands guru-worship. It is a religious cult that masquerades as a secular organization to multiply its profits. Its volunteer's job is to recruit more people and bring in money and the organization cares the least for the welfare of human beings.
Who is Mr. Jagadeesh?
He is a con-artist who has built an intricate web of lies to exploit the helpless rich. They go to him for their worried. He takes away their identity and money too.
He is a clever businessman who has developed a sustainable faith-based business model. He can sell a pair of ordinary sandals for millions and can convince you that it is Lord Rama's.
Heard of Natwarlal? This man is a billion times worse.
As one ex-Isha member put it brilliantly - I used to like the flute music intro in his videos, but now I'm reminded of the piped piper who led the children to near death.
References and further reading:
Google for Jakki Vasudev or Sadhguru and yow will find millions of links saying glorious things about him, mostly written by Isha members. For the other point of view.
https://www.savukkuonline.com/9223/
https://www.savukkuonline.com/4455/
The following one is the forum where Isha members and ex-Isha members discuss and debate Isha and Mr. Jagadeesh. Decide for yourself who makes more sense. Decide for yourself who behaves and who don't. Decide for yourself who misleads and who don't.
http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation#.WLGeZVV96Uk
PS. I found that a lot of blogs, articles that criticized the organization have been taken down. Look them up and you will find the links, but the content would not be available. Some have alleged that the article has been taken down after Isha threatened them.
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Edit 1 - Feb 27, 2017
The ability, which no one knew about, was his sudden perception at the age of five, of people as unclothes physical forms. The visions were far from lustful. It was simply the ability to see those around him to see those around him as naked bodies. A little while later, he saw them simply as puffs of air (which he learnt much later as the 'energy or karmic bodies', pranamayoksha in yogic terminology). There was nothing odd about these visions as far as he was concerned. He simply assumed everyone else saw the world the same way. It was only in his adulthood that he recognized these flashes of altered perception for what they were.
...
The ability to see things he shouldn't, presented its awkward, if hilarious, moments. When he was in class I, he innocently asked his teacher why she was wearing a red underwear. 'She freaked out,' he recalls simply. And that, no doubt is an understatement.
Later in his adolescence, this heightened sense of perception prompted him to ask on entering a male friend's room. 'Hey man, who's the girl in here?' He had actually been able to sniff out a female presence, despite the fact that there were no obvious traces of anyone else in the room. His friend informed Jaggi somewhat huffily that his sister happened to be visiting him and was in the bathroom. 'He got all worked up just because I had smelt his sister!' laughs Sadhguru.
- More than a life Sadhguru, Arundhati Subramaniam
1. There are allegations that Mr. Jagadeesh had an affair with an another woman and that's what led to his wife's death.
2. In the guruphilliac forum, one of the Isha members mentioned that the first set of yoga teaches at Isha were all women. They were directly trained by Mr. Jagadeesh for 4 years. He adds that Mr. Jagadeesh doesn't train the teachers directly anymore and the training period has been reduced to about 6 months.
3. In the forum, an ex-Isha member claimed that the personal secretaries of Mr. Jagadeesh are usually young women.
I will let you make the connections and arrive at your own conclusions.
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Edit 2 - March 1, 2017
When dreams become true - Here is Mr. Jakki talking about dreams turn into reality by claiming that they are already a reality. To prove the same, he recounts the story of how a rosebud captured on film turned into a flower when the film was developed. He claims that this experiment was done in De la warr laboratory in England. He also claims that "we" already knew it was that way forever, but capturing it on film is something more.
Now, let's look how this claim stands?
De la warr laboratory was founded by George Walter de la Warr in the 1950's. He worked on radionics (alternative medicine using waves similar to radio waves) and had claimed to have developed a radionic camera which can cure diseases. He also seemed to have claimed that the camera can capture images beyond space-time dimension. He also seemed to have performed various experiments with the device - blood sample from a woman captured on film showed a fetus when developed for one. You will find articles about the lab and its experiments, but you will not find the rosebud experiment in any of them.
So where does this come from? Here - Krishna: The man and his philosophy
Published in 1990, Osho's Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy is where you will find this rosebud experiment done at De la warr laboratory.
When De la warr was mistaken for D'labor in the forum (http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation?page=105), the ex-Isha members question the existence of such a lab, here is what one Isha guy had to say.
"Sadhguru himself has said that so many peoples had lied to him and cheated him taking advantage of his true love for humanity.One such cheat would have told him about the D' labor experiment in one casual chat and sadguru would have talked without verifying it.Knowledge is different from wisdom.He may have sparse knowledge in modern science "
Proves that Isha members don't care for facts.
Ps: De la warr lab closed in 1987. The whereabouts of his his devices are unknown. Warr's radionic devices have been criticized by health experts as quackery.
Further reading:
https://www.duncanlaurie.com/writing/radionics/15_george_and_majorie_de_la_warr
https://borderlandsciences.org/journal/vol/26/n03/The_History_and_Development_of_Radionics_IX.html
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19740316&id=AckbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K1UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5369,1198811&hl=en
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Edit 3 - March 1, 2017
Source of Mr. Jakki's knowing:
I do not know anything, but at the same time, I know everything. If you ask me anything concerned with the inner dimensions of a human being, I will come out with the answer, without any hesitation, with absolute clarity. Even if somebody says the Gita is saying something else, I will simply say that maybe Krishna does not know. What can I do about it? It is so crystal-clear within me that it cannot be any other way. It is not that Krishna does not know. It is just that maybe you are not able to see what he is saying.
Crystal clear, isn't it?
Let's break it down - Mr. Jakki does not know anything, but he knows everything. Maybe Krishna does not know, but he does. Maybe Krishna is wrong, but he is not. Mr. Jakki can see things with absolute clarity, but maybe he is not able to see what Krishna is seeing.
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Edit 4 - March 2, 2017
Edit 5 - March 2, 2017
Mr. Jakki and his gang spread only love, not hate. Here is the definitive proof:
"Mark my words, friends.
Mark todays date, 22-07-2011.
People who have been speaking against Sadhguru will regret for how they have lived their life. They feel that they are speaking against Sadhguru and trying to expose his lies. Mark my words here again. You are not speaking against Sadhguru. You are speaking against your own soul. Sadhguru is just a reflection of your own soul. The problem with you all is that you are more connected to the mind, that is feeded on this insane society.
Now the question comes, how can a thing like this will be proven ? Mark my words. If you can die peacefully, at the dying hour, know well that Speaking against Sadhguru was the only right thing you have done in life. But if in the time of death, you are surrounded by fear, know well that you squandered your life in the insane forum like this. This is the only criteria. Everyone of us will be witness to our ownself."
- Some anonymous Isha guy
http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation?page=117
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Edit 6 - March 2, 2017
Mr. Jakki owns a second-hand 2001 Toyota landcruiser valued at 40 Lakhs, a Beta R22 helicopter valued at 1.7 crores and a Hummer H3 SUV valued at 45-50 lakhs. Total tax exemption for just these three items would be around 85-90 Lakhs. He also owns other toys, all of them bought using tax-exempt donations. Tax money that could have been spent towards the welfare of the poor and educating poor students.
Yet he wants you to forego a meal so that you can feel the suffering of the poor. He wants you to forego a meal and donate it to him so that he can educate the poor in his volunteer-run school.
Feel the love, guys.
Edit 7 - March 3, 2017
Isha and human flesh eating meditation:
"We were told to take in short quick breaths through our slightly open mouth, like sipping coffee or a drink and then chew the air we sipped into our mouths and then swallow. When we sipped the air into our mouths we were to imagine that we were taking jaggi’s flesh into our mouths and chewing it. We were to imagine that it was his actual flesh that we were chewing and swallowing. When he gave those instructions everyone went wild. It was at least as crazy as a samyama, maybe more so. We were now part of him and he part of us and this would greatly accelerate our spiritual progress.
Weird, huh?"
- An ex-Isha guy who was with Isha for 9 years
Cult? No cult? You decide.
About a year ago (December 2015), when the floods struck Tamil Nadu, some of my friends were looking to ship some relief material to Cuddalore, the town that took the most damage. We were looking for ways to ship the goods and someone suggested Isha. When I approached one of my friends at Isha, he mentioned that anything shipped by Isha will be distributed under the name of Isha. We had no problems with that. Our main concern was to get the things to those who needed them. We did not bother under whose name it was distributed. However, that idea did not gather steam.
About a month ago (First week of Feb 2017), I visited Coimbatore. I had done my college in the city, so I was fond of the place. Visiting it after many years, I was taking in all the sights and one particular advertisement kept catching my eye. The picture of the statue of Shiva was prominent, but I did not have time to read the ads. I let them go.
Then, a couple of days ago, I read that Modi was visiting Coimbatore to unveil the 112 feet statue of Shiva built by the Isha foundation at the foothills of Velliangiri hills. I also read posts on Facebook detailing how Isha had deforested the region to build their ashram. I knew this wasn't right, but I still couldn't blame them. I'm sure all of us have contributed to some kind of exploitation of the natural resources. Our houses are built on lakes. We cut down trees furnish our house. So, I did not feel I was the right person to blame them for deforestation though they were doing it at all larger scale.
I say all of these to show that I did not have any preconceived notion about Isha or its founder, Mr. Jagadeesh. I have no personal enmity or ill-will towards the organization, its founder or its members. Except for the few hours spent watching those videos, I did not spend any time on them in the last four years I have known them.
Defenders of deforestation:
I took notice of the organization only when some of its members offered illogical and religious counters to the criticisms leveled against them.
They were accusing their criticizers as minority appeasers, haters of the Hindu religion and so on. Some of their counters were so aggressive I felt it could trigger a Hindu-Muslim conflict in a sensitive city like Coimbatore. I still did not want to get involved or criticize the Isha members. I did not want to get them even more aggressive. Yet that is what happened. The next day they began defending the deforestation by arguing that Mr. Paul Dinakaran, a Christian televangelist, had deforested even more bigger lands in that area and it was Isha that stopped him from expanding his empire and converting people to Christianity. I dismissed the immature arguments and did not think much about them.
The next set of arguments defending the deforestation targetted the ancient kings of Tamil Nadu. Didn't Karikala Cholan deforest to build a dam (building a dam and a statue are not the same things)? Didn't Raja Raja Cholan deforest to build a temple (No, did not. Read history)? Didn't the ancient kings deforest to build their cities? These arguments irked me. One, they were making immature, illogical comparisons. Two, they were spewing hatred.
Soon, they were comparing Mr. Jagadeesh to the Buddha and Thiruvalluvar. That was the end of the line for me. Buddha and Thiruvalluvar? Really? That's when I decided to investigate a little further. I began reading for one, started recollecting the conversations I had had with my friends before and after they joined the organization. A few things became apparent quickly:
Isha is not what it claims to be.
On their website, Isha claims that it is a volunteer-run, international nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating human potential. It is a human service organization that recognizes the possibility of each person to empower another.
I assume they are trying to say that they are an NGO. However, I don't understand the use of so many words say something so simple. Anyway. . .
Non-profitable?
If Isha is an NGO operating on donations shouldn't it be spending its donations on human welfare rather than constructing statues and temples? Given that these donations are tax exempt, the money that can be used for human welfare is being used for things that have nothing to do with welfare. As an outsider, I feel Isha is stealing a poor man's bread to satisfy a rich man's ego, build thing after thing.
And who pays for Mr. Jagadeesh's lavish lifestyle. He himself confesses that he loves speed. Isha members claim he owns a hummer and other cars and bikes. He also seems to own a helicopter. I've seen him golf. He travels extensively in business class. Who pays for all these? Is it from the tax-exempt donations? Is this morally acceptable? If donations don't pay for his lifestyle, does he have other sources of income? If so what are they?
I also learned that only one of their many courses is offered free and the rest are charged. Are these tax-exempt as well? Furthermore, seats were sold for consecration events for sky-high prices. A front row seat for US citizens cost $22,500 and for Indians, it was sold at Rs 2,50,000. Are these tax-exempt as well?
Isha also runs a school called Isha home school where a one-time deposit of about 10 lakhs is to be paid at the time of admission. So much for free schooling?
And if Isha is a school for spiritual welfare why do these have these human-service projects which do not benefit many? Tax-exemption. Without these projects, Isha cannot masquerade as a non-profit organization.
And if Isha is really a non-profit organization, why are their accounts not online?
Cultivating human-potential?
Once you look up how the new volunteers at Isha are treated you will understand the meaning of cultivating human potential. I will get to that later.
But first, Isha claims to be working towards the spiritual welfare of humans - enlightenment. They achieve this through the practice of yoga and meditation. According to them, each individual is different and needs a different path to enlightenment. The guru is merely a tool to put the individual on the fastest lane towards self-realization and enlightenment.
Well, Isha seems to have forgotten that the most important aspect of self-realization is the ability to question and reason. Without questioning, you get nowhere. Isha doesn't seem to encourage it. If at all anything they seem to dissuade people from questioning and reasoning.
On various forums you find on the internet, you will see the following arguments put forward by Isha members.
"You cannot get there using logic"
"Don't doubt your teachers or Sadhguru, doubt yourself"
"By questioning your teachers, you are drawing negative energy"
Just watch any video of Mr. Jagadeesh interacting with Isha newbies. (You will find many on Youtube). When asked a difficult question, he will turn evasive or use sarcasm. if he realizes the questioner is not satisfied with his answer, he will give a know-it-all laugh and tell the questioner that he/she is not yet ready to receive. He will then use the cliched glass-is-full analogy and blame the newbie. By then the questioner is intimidated and will not come forth with another question. The other newbies observe this and it discourages them to even pose questions during a simple QA session.
This is done at various levels and the newbie is taught to never question anyone, but simply to obey the master and the teachers. The newbies are also told to keep this minds clear and free. So much for self-realization and enlightenment.
An idle mind is the devil's workshop - Proverb.
Mr. Jagadeesh is not who he says he is.
Don't get me wrong. For all I know he might the "enlightened" being he and his followers claim, but he certainly does not want you to be enlightened. He wants you to believe your are problems are bigger than you think. He wants you to believe you are not who you are. Why else would he use so much negative language when he talks about enlightenment?
He says, "You are not your body. You are not your mind. These are accumulations. You are trapped in your body. You are trapped within your mind. You are trapped within your family. You are trapped within the world. You have to lose everything and then everything becomes a part of you. And 99% of you will not attain enlightenment till you leave your body. Maybe a few of you will hold onto your body after death." The caveat is simply to fool his followers that he is one of the rare beings that held onto its body after enlightenment. He is not leading his followers towards enlightenment, he is making them his lifelong customers.
And is this message his own? Oh dear lord, NO. These are the basic messages of southern Shaivism, simply repackaged in rhetoric. Read Tamil Shaivite literature and arrive at your own conclusions.
Yet Mr. Jagadeesh puts forward the claim Isha is not religious in any sense. With an idol of Bhairavi, Linga, Nandi and now Shive installed in his ashram? Once again, repackaging things under different names with no historic or scientific basis.
Ok, does he even stick to his message? Read this and decide for yourself.
Before you get the impression that I'm against Yoga and Hinduism. I'm against neither. The former I have learned in my school and the later is one of my areas of interest, especially Shaivism. Yoga has a lot of health benefits. It relaxes one both mentally and physically and I have seen its benefit on my friends.
Mr. Jagadeesh has built his web of lies around this one truth called Yoga. You can learn the same yoga elsewhere for a lot cheaper. That is your choice, though.
Mr. Jagadeesh is a con artist masquerading as a spiritual teacher. He is not building a spiritual school but a cult. He is not leading his followers to enlightenment, but turning them into bullies and slaves. He maintains a calm exterior, seems friendly and approachable, speaks enticingly and is has a lot of charisma - perfect makeup for a con artist. And that is exactly why only he is presented to the outside world. He has the tricks to lure people in. Once someone is in, the downward spiral will begin, but guess what Mr. Jagadeesh can convince people that this downward spiral is indeed the way upwards. It's the fastest lane to enlightenment.
Jagadeesh and Viji:
For the uninitiated, Vijji was Mr. Jagadeesh's wife. They met, they married, had a daughter and when the daughter was six years old, Vijji decided to leave her body. The last part is how Mr. Jagadeesh puts it. He even tells us that she was preparing for his event, which Isha calls Mahasamadhi, for more than six months. Read his account of the events here:
http://isha.sadhguru.org/man/family-matters/vijji/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hindu2/2016/08/sadhguru-jaggi-vasudevs-wifes-death-controversy-truth/
Now, tell me, if his story makes any sense? If you think it does, please leave this blog. If you can believe that a mother to six-year-old daughter can leave the child and move to wherever of her own accord, she must either be a very bad mother or worse, mentally challenged. You can decide what it is. And what do you call the man who seems to have let this happen?
Anyway, here is the part of the story that is not presented in the links above. Mr. Jagadeesh cremated his wife's body the next day (Samadhi and cremation never go hand in hand, right? Those who attain Samadhi are buried traditionally). It is alleged that Vijji's father could not make it to the cremation in time. Vijji's father also filed a case against Mr. Jagadeesh for the murder of his wife. Mr. Jagadeesh was arrested and locked up for a day before he was released. Given that the body has been cremated, there is no way to ascertain the cause of Vijji's death.
Even if it's not murder, I don't believe all that nonsense written there on those links.
The curious case of solidified mercury:
If you remember you high school chemistry, you will remember that Mercury is only liquid metal. It cannot be solidified at room temperature. It requires external pressure or temperature. However, guess what. Mr. Jagadeesh can and he has done it. In fact, a whole lot of lingas in his premises are made of pure solidified mercury.
The mercury lingas in the Theerthakunds are solidified mercury – 99.2% pure mercury – that 0.8% impurity is because laboratories are not capable of removing it. According to modern chemistry, you cannot solidify mercury at room temperature; you can solidify mercury only if you take it to -38 degrees Centigrade. But I will take it in my hand and solidify and liquefy it at room temperature. (For full text: Click here)
If you read the full article, you will see that Mr. Jagadeesh has used Siddha and Ayurveda as his defense. He also uses phrases like subjective science, logical minds, a mixture of cocktails and poisons to create the perception that he knows more than you do. He even argues that the western world's understanding about Mercury is wrong. I wonder if his understanding of Mercury is right or complete? The article doesn't seem complete.
In Siddha and Ayurveda, pure mercury is not used rather Mercury Sulphide is (Don't trust me on this, just google or Youtube). Mercury by itself is toxic. However, when Mercury reacts with Sulphur, the Mercury Sulphide has medicinal properties. But, Mr. Jagadeesh claims that his lingas are made of pure Mercury solidified at room temperature. He is either lying or ignorant. Decide for yourself.
Here is WHO's publication on the effects of Mercury on health: Mercury and health. WHO clearly states that long exposure to elemental Mercury is very dangerous, especially for fetuses. Is Mr. Jagadeesh aware of this? Decide for yourself.
Dhyanalinga and Auroville engineers:
Who designed the dhyana linga and the dome?
Isha website claims that the entire structure was conceived and designed by Mr. Jagadeesh. While Auroville claims that it designed the structures. Who did it? Furthermore, Isha website claims that 300 bramachari unskilled laborers completed the work with the help of bramachari engineers. Auroville claims that it used over 220 workers and at least 25 of them were masons. I don't think masons are unskilled workers. And Auroville doesn't mention the use of any bramachari workers? What is Isha trying to do here by repeatedly mentioning the use of bramacharis? Make your mind yourself.
http://www.dhyanalinga.org/construction.htm
http://www.earth-auroville.com/dhyanalinga_dome_en.php
Not my teacher - Rishi Prabhakar:
There are two versions of Mr. Jagadeesh's history.
First version - He was born in Mysuru to Telugu-speaking parents. He read English literature and joined Rishi's Prabhakar's yoga school as a teacher. He met Vijji and married her. He was sent to Hyderabad along with another employee of Rishi Prabhakar to set up a yoga school. From there, he was asked to go to Coimbatore to set up another yoga school Rishi Prabhakar. In Coimbatore, he decided to open a new yoga school by himself and set shop in the early 90's. You will find this one all over the internet except the Isha website. The other employee of Rishi Prabhakar has confirmed this. You can find his statement on the internet.
Second version: http://isha.sadhguru.org/mystic/three-lifetimes/bilva/
To me, the first one seems "logical". He arrives in Coimbatore, sets up a yoga class, decides to exploit the rich mill owners of Coimbatore, denounces Rishi Prabhakar, announces his enlightenment, invents stories about his lifetimes, starts spiritual classes, makes connections with the wealthy businessmen of Coimbatore, partners with them on real estate projects, globalisation opens up doors for him in the USA, sets up shop there too, and the rest is history.
Denouncing Rishi Prabhakar and announcing that he was self-realized was a brilliant move. People. especially Indians, wouldn't have accepted him as much if he had confessed that he had a guru. Self-realization set up him apart from the competition and other humans as well. It moved him one step up the ladder of divinity.
Radhe Jakki:
The man who claims human beings are trapped in families, took great care of his family.
His daughter, Radhe, studied at Rishi Valley, one of the most expensive schools in India. She went to Kalashetra to learn dance and is now married to a wealthy singer. And Mr. Jagadeesh himself has remarked that his daughter is his boss. No matter whatever he meant by that, it becomes apparent his daughter means a lot to him. And he gets on stage and tells his audience that family is a trap. Hypocrisy at its best.
From what we learn from ex-Isha members:
1. She has never been a volunteer.
2. She has never stayed at the ashram.
3. She has never done any chores that other members are forced to do. Example: house-keeping.
From what we learn, she seems to be living a luxurious life. It is also alleged that she may be running a real estate firm independently or with the help of others.
Clueless minions:
When a skeptic tries to have a conversation with a mild-manned minion on spirituality and this is how it will go down.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? Includes the USA too? Anyway, what are you seeking?
Him: Enlightenment.
You: What is enlightenment?
Him: A blissful state in which you don't identify with yourself yet you are fully alert and fully aware.
You: Ever been drunk till the neck? Anyway, how do you plan to achieve enlightenment?
Him: I'm not supposed to tell you that. Attend the classes.
They will repeat only the things Mr. Jagadeesh has ever uttered.
Try to have the same conversation with an aggressive minion and this is how it will go down.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? How about the USA?
Him: Not funny. What do you know about seeking! Idiot!
You: Can you please enlighten me?
Him: How can you attain enlightenment when you make fun of the practices and the Guru himself. You should bow down to him, you lowly thing.
You: Enlightenment? I did not ask you about enlightenment. Anyway, there are allegations that your guru murdered his wife.
Him: Is it relevant to your spiritual growth? Why are you bothered about things that aren't relevant to you? You are supposed to do you practices as instructed and not question things.
You: I have to accept a man who might have killed his wife as my guru? Alright, there are allegations that the Isha premises are built on land acquired through distress sales. People say that the land is a part of Nilagiri biosphere and is an important elephant corridor.
You: It is patta land, you fool. Sadhguru is the only living Guru. Bow to him.
No matter how reasonable your questions are, you will get replies like "this is subjective science", "Don't use logic", "Do not apply your mind", "Sadhguru is living god. Aggressive defenders of anything Mr. Jagadeesh does or says.
Try to have this conversation with a religious minion and it will be even funnier.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really? The USA too?
Him: And UK. Christianity has spoiled them. Satan has occupied their minds.
You: Christianity?
Him: Yes, see what Karunya did. They grabbed 1000 acres of land. And began converting people. Only Isha stopped their advances.
You: By grabbing land?
Him: Are you a Christian agent masquerading as a secularist? You want to oppose Modi, don't you? That is your Agenda.
You: I have nothing Modi.
Him: Are you are Muslim or a Christian agent? Tell me what you were you doing when Karunya was grabbing lands?
You: I'm an atheist.
Him: See. I knew. Now, get lost, you asshole.
Try to have this conversation with a foolish minion and it will be even funnier.
Him: We are a land of seekers.
You: Really?
Him: Absolutely.
You: Can you explain these? 1) The untimely death of Vijji. 2) Solidifying mercury. 3) Irregularities at Isha. 4) Poor treatment of volunteers. 5) The death of volunteers. 6) Radhe. 7) The lavish lifestyle of Mr. Jagadeesh. 8) Negative side-effects of IE, BSP. 8) Withdrawal/detachment symptoms of volunteers. 9) Exorbitant prices for a seat at consecrations. 10) Inaccessibility to Mr. Jagadeesh.
Him: You did not do all of your practices right. You cannot blames the practices if you did them right. You did not have necessary dedication. You were not seeking. You were not ready. You are a disgrace. I know people who made millions after they met Sadhguru.
Note: These are not fragments of my imagination. These are conversations ex-Isha members and current Isha members had in the guruphilliac forum I have shared at the end of this article. There is much more than what I have written. It's about 150 pages(I read half) and its get more idiotic every page. Read at your leisure.
Other controversies at a glance:
As this article has become longer than I wanted it to, I'm not going to go into the details of the following.
1. There are allegations that Mr. Jagadeesh killed his wife to be with another woman from Coimbatore who he was having an affair with.
2. There are allegations of ill-treatment of school children at Isha home school.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo53j7tNSRA
3. A wealthy businessman in Coimbatore has alleged that Mr. Jagadeesh forced him to make Radhe Jaggi as the GM of his company.
4. A lot of people have alleged that the lands they owned close to the Isha campus at Coimbatore were threatened to sell their lands.
5. Ex-Isha volunteers have alleged that accommodation and other facilities for volunteers at the campus are horrible while Mr. Jagadeesh enjoys a lavish lifestyle. They have also alleged that they have suffered ill-treatment at the hands of their teachers who force them to work for 20 hours a day including Sundays.
6. It is alleged that Isha used fake profiles to win the FB community chase contest for the million dollar prize. See here.
* For 1, 2 and 4 see the savvukuonline link shared at the end of this article.
So, why all this?
The motives:
Well, the most obvious one is MONEY. However, I don't think it stops there. The real motive is POWER and CONTROL. If Mr. Jagadeesh were to wish for something, there would be thousands and thousands of people to get it done without questioning him. If he wished the execution of someone, that person would not be alive tomorrow. If he wished the death of all his minions, they would all die for him. The minions are brainwashed beyond belief and they are not coming back, no matter what you try. Isha members are no different from the members of the Nazi party. Many of them live to obey their master. They would do anything and everything for him. And as a collective entity, they feel far superior to the rest of the humanity and right this moment. They are looking down on you.
For his part, Mr. Jagadeesh demands them to DO NOTHING to attain enlightenment. He asks them not to use their minds because their true self is trapped within their minds. By telling them that their identity is not the truth, he is turning them to robots. By telling them that they are trapped by their families, he has intentionally or unintentionally broken families. By telling them that the society is ignorant. He is shaking the foundation of civilization.
The real benefactors of this school of spirituality are the politicians. The people have a distraction and they use it to loot the country more. By breaking the society and turning people against people, Mr. Jagadeesh has ensured a collective voice can never be raised against politicians.
So, what is Isha?
Isha is not a non-profit organization working towards human welfare. It is a cult for the elites that encourages and demands guru-worship. It is a religious cult that masquerades as a secular organization to multiply its profits. Its volunteer's job is to recruit more people and bring in money and the organization cares the least for the welfare of human beings.
Who is Mr. Jagadeesh?
He is a con-artist who has built an intricate web of lies to exploit the helpless rich. They go to him for their worried. He takes away their identity and money too.
He is a clever businessman who has developed a sustainable faith-based business model. He can sell a pair of ordinary sandals for millions and can convince you that it is Lord Rama's.
Heard of Natwarlal? This man is a billion times worse.
As one ex-Isha member put it brilliantly - I used to like the flute music intro in his videos, but now I'm reminded of the piped piper who led the children to near death.
References and further reading:
Google for Jakki Vasudev or Sadhguru and yow will find millions of links saying glorious things about him, mostly written by Isha members. For the other point of view.
https://www.savukkuonline.com/9223/
https://www.savukkuonline.com/4455/
The following one is the forum where Isha members and ex-Isha members discuss and debate Isha and Mr. Jagadeesh. Decide for yourself who makes more sense. Decide for yourself who behaves and who don't. Decide for yourself who misleads and who don't.
http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation#.WLGeZVV96Uk
PS. I found that a lot of blogs, articles that criticized the organization have been taken down. Look them up and you will find the links, but the content would not be available. Some have alleged that the article has been taken down after Isha threatened them.
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Edit 1 - Feb 27, 2017
The ability, which no one knew about, was his sudden perception at the age of five, of people as unclothes physical forms. The visions were far from lustful. It was simply the ability to see those around him to see those around him as naked bodies. A little while later, he saw them simply as puffs of air (which he learnt much later as the 'energy or karmic bodies', pranamayoksha in yogic terminology). There was nothing odd about these visions as far as he was concerned. He simply assumed everyone else saw the world the same way. It was only in his adulthood that he recognized these flashes of altered perception for what they were.
...
The ability to see things he shouldn't, presented its awkward, if hilarious, moments. When he was in class I, he innocently asked his teacher why she was wearing a red underwear. 'She freaked out,' he recalls simply. And that, no doubt is an understatement.
Later in his adolescence, this heightened sense of perception prompted him to ask on entering a male friend's room. 'Hey man, who's the girl in here?' He had actually been able to sniff out a female presence, despite the fact that there were no obvious traces of anyone else in the room. His friend informed Jaggi somewhat huffily that his sister happened to be visiting him and was in the bathroom. 'He got all worked up just because I had smelt his sister!' laughs Sadhguru.
- More than a life Sadhguru, Arundhati Subramaniam
1. There are allegations that Mr. Jagadeesh had an affair with an another woman and that's what led to his wife's death.
2. In the guruphilliac forum, one of the Isha members mentioned that the first set of yoga teaches at Isha were all women. They were directly trained by Mr. Jagadeesh for 4 years. He adds that Mr. Jagadeesh doesn't train the teachers directly anymore and the training period has been reduced to about 6 months.
3. In the forum, an ex-Isha member claimed that the personal secretaries of Mr. Jagadeesh are usually young women.
I will let you make the connections and arrive at your own conclusions.
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Edit 2 - March 1, 2017
Now, let's look how this claim stands?
De la warr laboratory was founded by George Walter de la Warr in the 1950's. He worked on radionics (alternative medicine using waves similar to radio waves) and had claimed to have developed a radionic camera which can cure diseases. He also seemed to have claimed that the camera can capture images beyond space-time dimension. He also seemed to have performed various experiments with the device - blood sample from a woman captured on film showed a fetus when developed for one. You will find articles about the lab and its experiments, but you will not find the rosebud experiment in any of them.
So where does this come from? Here - Krishna: The man and his philosophy
Published in 1990, Osho's Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy is where you will find this rosebud experiment done at De la warr laboratory.
When De la warr was mistaken for D'labor in the forum (http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation?page=105), the ex-Isha members question the existence of such a lab, here is what one Isha guy had to say.
"Sadhguru himself has said that so many peoples had lied to him and cheated him taking advantage of his true love for humanity.One such cheat would have told him about the D' labor experiment in one casual chat and sadguru would have talked without verifying it.Knowledge is different from wisdom.He may have sparse knowledge in modern science "
Proves that Isha members don't care for facts.
Ps: De la warr lab closed in 1987. The whereabouts of his his devices are unknown. Warr's radionic devices have been criticized by health experts as quackery.
Further reading:
https://www.duncanlaurie.com/writing/radionics/15_george_and_majorie_de_la_warr
https://borderlandsciences.org/journal/vol/26/n03/The_History_and_Development_of_Radionics_IX.html
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19740316&id=AckbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K1UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5369,1198811&hl=en
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Edit 3 - March 1, 2017
Source of Mr. Jakki's knowing:
I do not know anything, but at the same time, I know everything. If you ask me anything concerned with the inner dimensions of a human being, I will come out with the answer, without any hesitation, with absolute clarity. Even if somebody says the Gita is saying something else, I will simply say that maybe Krishna does not know. What can I do about it? It is so crystal-clear within me that it cannot be any other way. It is not that Krishna does not know. It is just that maybe you are not able to see what he is saying.
Crystal clear, isn't it?
Let's break it down - Mr. Jakki does not know anything, but he knows everything. Maybe Krishna does not know, but he does. Maybe Krishna is wrong, but he is not. Mr. Jakki can see things with absolute clarity, but maybe he is not able to see what Krishna is seeing.
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Edit 4 - March 2, 2017
Wondering if Mr. Jakki shaped his cult after seeing this video or if the video is based on Mr. Jakki's cult. Spot one difference if you can.
-------------------------------------------Edit 5 - March 2, 2017
Mr. Jakki and his gang spread only love, not hate. Here is the definitive proof:
"Mark my words, friends.
Mark todays date, 22-07-2011.
People who have been speaking against Sadhguru will regret for how they have lived their life. They feel that they are speaking against Sadhguru and trying to expose his lies. Mark my words here again. You are not speaking against Sadhguru. You are speaking against your own soul. Sadhguru is just a reflection of your own soul. The problem with you all is that you are more connected to the mind, that is feeded on this insane society.
Now the question comes, how can a thing like this will be proven ? Mark my words. If you can die peacefully, at the dying hour, know well that Speaking against Sadhguru was the only right thing you have done in life. But if in the time of death, you are surrounded by fear, know well that you squandered your life in the insane forum like this. This is the only criteria. Everyone of us will be witness to our ownself."
- Some anonymous Isha guy
http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation?page=117
Edit 6 - March 2, 2017
Mr. Jakki owns a second-hand 2001 Toyota landcruiser valued at 40 Lakhs, a Beta R22 helicopter valued at 1.7 crores and a Hummer H3 SUV valued at 45-50 lakhs. Total tax exemption for just these three items would be around 85-90 Lakhs. He also owns other toys, all of them bought using tax-exempt donations. Tax money that could have been spent towards the welfare of the poor and educating poor students.
Yet he wants you to forego a meal so that you can feel the suffering of the poor. He wants you to forego a meal and donate it to him so that he can educate the poor in his volunteer-run school.
Feel the love, guys.
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Edit 7 - March 3, 2017
"We were told to take in short quick breaths through our slightly open mouth, like sipping coffee or a drink and then chew the air we sipped into our mouths and then swallow. When we sipped the air into our mouths we were to imagine that we were taking jaggi’s flesh into our mouths and chewing it. We were to imagine that it was his actual flesh that we were chewing and swallowing. When he gave those instructions everyone went wild. It was at least as crazy as a samyama, maybe more so. We were now part of him and he part of us and this would greatly accelerate our spiritual progress.
Weird, huh?"
- An ex-Isha guy who was with Isha for 9 years
Cult? No cult? You decide.
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Edit 8 - March 6, 2017
Why have you taken this decision to renounce this world?
No I have not renounced this world. I have simply gone beyond this world. If you renounce the world you might have a desire to come into the world again when you are tempted, but if you go beyond then there is another new realm opening up to you. Beyond is different from renunciation.
And how does one go beyond? by these stupid wordplays, is it?
But why would you want to go ‘beyond’ within a cult setup, as though spirituality is not available to you within yourself?
No, we are not a cult. Sadguru says clearly in many of his discourses that we are not a cult. we are simply going back to tradition. The culture of sannyasa was always there in our tradition and if you call going back to our ‘tradition’ as cult, then I don’t know what to say.
For your kind information, no spiritual guru has ever stood up and said “Here people, listen carefully, I want to tell you a secret, WHAT I RUN IS A CULT. Now that I have said it, a huge weight is off my chest!! Whew!!!” Neither, Nithyanandha, nor Kalki Bhagawan, nor Jaggi and not even Asaram bapu ever admit to being a cult. Don’t you think you must be thinking here for your own self and not rely on insider information?
Why should I think, I am not relying on thought, Thought is limited. What I am relying on is an inner experience. It is beyond words. And I know that this is not a cult. And as far as my decision is concerned, I have really thought well and decided.
Does it ever strike you that you could have been influenced?
No!! I was not in the least influenced. Sadguru actually tells us not to come. It is we who pester him to take us. He is so magnanimous. There are no words to describe him. You know, he puts thousand confusions inside us and tells us not to come. so I will tell you 1000% that I was not in the least influenced by him or the system.
Then why the heck is he having the system in the first place, if he didn’t want you to come?
Just that he is compassionate. And again lets be very clear that what you see here is not a cult.
Deiii neenga ellaam thirunthave maatteengala?
Ok, could you please be patient and define a computer for me?(She tells me about a monitor, CPU and a keyboard in dubious tones) Me: Yea, exactly! This is how the whole world perceives a computer. What if suddenly one fine day, a bearded man comes up, points to a computer and says, “You guys have been wrong all along, here what I show here is a mango, not a computer?” Your telling that jaggi calls your tonsured heads as tradition and not a cult is exactly the same and you are being foolish enough to buy it! I am saying this with all due respect to you and him. I am not bothered about him but I am definitely concerned about you and thats why I am being blunt.
Ah, You don’t have to be concerned about me. I am a much better internal state than you can ever imagine. I have gone beyond your concern in merging with the divine.
Exactly. I was speaking the same dialogue for a short period of time taken over by the euphoria of spirituality. And I know a friend, exactly like you, who was an ex-sannyasi here at this very same ISHA for 9 years, now out,and struggling to put back his life together.
Silence.
Anyways, How many of you here who are over sixty?
No one. And that is because we are all working for the cause of humanity. I helping him make it happen.
Hmm. What you are helping him make is a huge tourist place with some really attractive deities who seem to be expecting money for every one of their pleasures. And how come you don’t think it is important to help the cause of your parents? And don’t you ever open your eyes and see the possibility that you are an unpaid servant with no free-will, whose unlimited young energy is being made use of by this organisation very selfishly? If he is really interested in the emancipation of souls, then how come he is less considerate to older souls? He is afraid they won’t be able to work?
No. He doesn’t take older people beacuse… because, service is important.
My point! you mean servant is important.
Silence.
Do you really want to live the rest of your life with no free-will, unable to pursue any of your dreams, even if the dreams are for your own soul, bidding someone else’s will?
No, you don’t understand. I am free to do anything I want. Sadguru never prohibits us to do anything.
I see! Tell me something, your guru has purchased a helicopter last week and a seventeen lakh duggatti Bike last year, Do you think you could do the same, or at the least go for a ride in it?
You don’t get it. I am not interested in material wealth. So why would I want to do that?
I give up. All the best Maa Mathi. When you wake up to the real world, When you finally find yourself, I hope it isn’t too late.
I got up and came away with a heavy heart.
That afternoon my colleague received a call from her, demanding that I never ever speak to her.
Source: http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/topic/2073569/Sadhguru-and-the-Isha-Foundation?page=148#.WLz7ZFWGN9P
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Comments
I already wrote some critical articles on Isha. You can read my recent article on Vijji's death here - https://ksmphanindra.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/the-controversial-death-of-sadhgurus-wife-vijji/ . My earlier article on Sadhguru's Rishi Prabhakar connection is here - https://ksmphanindra.wordpress.com/2015/04/14/sadhguru-and-rishi-prabhakar-a-curious-connection/
I disagree with you on two points. First, Isha volunteers I interacted with are very good guys and are not the zombies you mention here (though I have seen such Isha devotees, I do not think they are "typical"). Secondly, while I share all your doubts and agree with your criticism on Sadhguru, I do not think there is conclusive evidence to call Sadhguru a charlatan or a fraud.
I converted to Catholicism a year later. The realisation that we have already been saved by our Lord Jesus Christ and to trust in him is the pinnacle of peace and joy that we can have in our lives. I am grateful that the Lord saved me from this man and showed me another - the way, the truth and the life.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all". Isaiah 53:6
Thanks for the efforts