Friday, August 24, 2007

Sadhguru/Isha Yoga experience: A Deception?

As I move along the spiritual path with Master, I sometimes stray to smell the roses along the way. Yesterday, on the urging of another friend, I decided to go for the inauguration of an Isha Yoga centre in Mehrauli, and also to check out this new spiritual master I hear a lot about.

It was like being in Hell for 2 hours! Now, I am all for free choice, meditations of many different paths, and all that. But this yogi, and that is what he was, was just a tantric awakening the basic and sex chakra of the 400 odd people who had come...

There was no love there. Just money. There was no feeling of welcoming. Just hostility. No heart chakra or crown chakra. Just lower basic chakras.

As I sat there, right in front, as I had gone to check out and understand the magic behind Isha, I came to a sad realisation. People think of spirituality like this. People come to religous discourses just to have their kundalini energies awakened, and all they can think about bliss is when the energy reaches the sex chakra... I felt so sad, and my heart was filled with healing and love for all these people...

So, I am not condemning Isha Yoga, Sadhguru, or his message. I just believe that if you become a true tantric yogi, and you can play with energy, like he was obviously doing, why not use it for love, or healing?

And then the answer came to me. Crystal Clear. All Masters are not Equal. Just like Master Choa is love itself, some Masters are not.

Thank you, Master! And today in my GMKS calendar, he is saying:
"The Spiritual Path is more complicated than the Amazon. The Guru has already been through the "forest". Follow the guidance of the Teacher to avoid getting hurt."

Like he is talking just to me this morning as I struggle to bless Sadhguru and Isha Yoga.

Like he is sitting right by my shoulder.

Pure Guru. Pure Love. Pure Bliss!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey there,
Sorry i haven't gotten your name.
I happened to read your blog, and i feel a bit disappointed. With all do respect to you and your Guru, I am a disciple of Sadhguru and reading what you wrote is so chocking to me.
I have been with Isha for the last 6 years and you talking about Sadhguru activating the sex Chakra seems the funniest and most inaccurate thing.
I don't know what was your experience, and i know each seeker has a different path, but i think it is a very prejudiced statement from your side to make such a huge conclusion about something which you don't really understand.
Maybe you didn't have a clue what Sadhguru was doing or what happened with all the people sitting there in his presence. I won't even bother to explain right now.
Millions of people around the world have been transformed into wonderful human beings after being touched by Isha and what Sadhguru is offering.
I am not writing to attack you, But i wish you would consider before writing something like this about another Guru. Just imagine how you would feel if somebody so blatantly attacked your Guru. Especially when what you're saying has nothing to do with truth.

Pranams,
Namath

Unknown said...

Hello Pal,

I am also a follower of Sadhguru.
I would like to share it with you that it is very simple to make statement on something that we are not fully aware of or have a very little knowledge about that.I am not saying that you are wrong or or I am saying right. Just want to request you that please take out a seven days time from your busy schedule and experience this possibility that Isha is offering to the world. Then after the programme you experience for some days and write back your comment and whatever you have to say that it will be justified.
But you went there and sat for two hours without any experience you are making such comments will not be justifiable.
This is a request from my side to you that you please do it and then comment on this.
I dont want to share here what i have got from Isha or Sadhguru, But i only wish that all the people in the earth must get to see it.
It is my wish that someday you get to see this experience.
I would love to listen back from you once you have experienced it.
Please take it in good spirit and have no hard feeling for anybody coz it will not do any harm to anyone but you yourself will be harmed by it.
Take care,
Pranams
Rajendra

Unknown said...

Dear self,
I pity you, May your destiny take you to the right path to look in to yourself.

suganthi

Seeker said...

Hi,

If he/she is not your GURU, dont critise him/her. The basic quality for healing is Ahimsa(Non-violence)dont hurt anyone with thought ,actions or words, you need to learn that if you want to claim yourself a great healing practioner. You are hurting yourself in the process of hurting others. May GOD Bless you with more wisdom,patience.

Thanks,
AB

redpanda said...

Hello Jhilmil-- I have also been practicing Isha Yoga for over 6 years and have spent ample time at both of Sadhguru's ashrams--in the US and in India. My experience is exactly the opposite of what you're claiming. My longing to transcend has almost completely supplanted any sexual desire I ever had. Only because of Sadhguru's yogic practice have I risen to a level of experience where my body does not drive me as such, and even my mind, to some extent, does not hold me as its slave.

Becky Jain said...

I did the beginner's pranic healing course just before Inner Engineering. I feel that Isha yoga is much more powerful than pranic healing because it is happening from within. Thanks to the practices, my health has dramatically improved: I no longer suffer from chronic stomach ailments, asthma, allergies/sinusitis and exhaustion. My levels of energy and calm have never been so high. I feel incredibly balanced and at ease in myself and the situations that I face. Without any conscious effort on my part, my reaction to things that would normally have bothered me has simply shifted.

Here's what Sadhguru has said about pranic healing (this excerpt is originally from the book "Mystic's Musings", see here for an online portion http://www.kavitachhibber.com/main/main.jsp?id=sadhguru-Feb2008):

"Now with something like pranic healing – or any kind of healing for that matter – you are only appeasing the effect. In a way, what you are doing is that, with a little control or mastery over your own energies, you are able to put a screen between the cause and the effect. So the effect dies out, but the cause stays buried.

As far as nature is concerned, as far as life energy is concerned, the effect was only its way of telling you that there is a cause inside of you. What we call as ‘cause’, the disturbance of energy, is trying to manifest itself in a certain way.

Let us say you have asthma and I just remove your asthma today. Without asthma in you, when you still have the same kind of energy in you, you may become some other calamity in a moment. The disease may not be there, but you could get into an accident.

Your asthma was only an indication of a deeper disturbance.
If we take away your asthma, it may manifest in some other way, as some other calamity. This is because your energies are still in the same situation, but the effect of it was taken away. So, it will take effect in a deeper or more acute form to inform you again. Instead, if you bring awareness to your disease, you get connected to the cause of it."

Unknown said...

A seeker never makes a judgment. He has become a seeker because he knows he is ignorant.

Unknown said...

You are really so mistaken Dude!!! I have no clue what you have understood. You seem to be a very negative and weird person.
I am also a follower of Sadhguru and Isha is my life. Please do not write if you have not understood about it. You have no right to write about any Guru.

prakash said...

hello there,
i hav been in both pranic healing and isha and not only this i even try to learn every guru like laotzu, bodhidharma, thiloba, buddha, jesus, osho...i hav seen no problem within them.. its our own limitations that could stop us as said by choa kok sui. i love all from love of sadhguru.

Spiritual1 said...

When I met Sadhguru I had a similar experience to both the poster and the respondents. I did feel that there was something very money oriented. Someone asked him the question "How can I afford to be spiritual when your programs are so expensive?" And he responded "I like to squeeze you a bit..." and then I forget the ending of that statement where he describes why. He then told the questioner and the rest of us that she could contact his people and they could arrange a price concession. I tried it once, as his foreigner prices in his Indian programs were beyond my means, and all I got was resistance for his people.
So, I understand that the writer was pointing to something less than fully or exclusively from the heart, that there clearly was some strategizing and ideas that weren't all about love and oneness.
And, like the other commenters have written, I experience some profoundly awakened vibes in Sadhguru, and he was clearly swimming in some highly actualized space of grace and light.
So, is it fair to say that even awakened ones are not perfect? That as long as we are in the body and identified with the body even subtly that we aren't as pure as our ideal of purity? Might we need to relax our ideas and identifications to welcome a teacher in our life? And, if we do think our guru is perfect, then maybe their imperfections are just hidden from our site, in our "blind spots."
It seems complex and complicated, and not black and white as I hear it so far discussed as.

Lakshmi said...

Isha yoga has been a transforming power in my life! It has taken away my need for junk food! And it has brought so much peace within me!

Your statements are incorrect, unsubstantiated and baseless. Sadhguru shows you practices that initially strengthen your lower chakras so that the foundation is strong enough to take it when kundalini raises. The Kundalini will eventually raise if you continue the regular practices he shows you (but that's not the aim...the aim is well-being). It has been my experience. So, this is the real matter!

You please get your facts straight and then talk!

Lakshmi said...

Isha yoga has been a transforming power in my life! It has taken away my need for junk food! And it has brought so much peace within me!

Your statements are incorrect, unsubstantiated and baseless. Sadhguru shows you practices that initially strengthen your lower chakras so that the foundation is strong enough to take it when kundalini raises. The Kundalini will eventually raise if you continue the regular practices he shows you (but that's not the aim...the aim is well-being). It has been my experience. So, this is the real matter!

You please get your facts straight and then talk!

Lakshmi said...

Isha yoga has been a transforming power in my life! It has taken away my need for junk food! And it has brought so much peace within me!

Your statements are incorrect, unsubstantiated and baseless. Sadhguru shows you practices that initially strengthen your lower chakras so that the foundation is strong enough to take it when kundalini raises. The Kundalini will eventually raise if you continue the regular practices he shows you (but that's not the aim...the aim is well-being). It has been my experience. So, this is the real matter!

You please get your facts straight and then talk!

Sudhan said...

Every person have a right to their opinions. The comments show that they had the opinion that Isha Yoga works. If they work for so many people but do not work for a few does that mean the few are deluded ? That is simply a biased argument. The few among us consider what you go through at Isha as a simply a Placebo effect. You think it is good so it is good. Thoughts matter for anything to be good or not good. Isha is one form of spirituality. Spirituality lies in each of us. If the people who commented wanted to know what spirituality is all about then they will find that reading the vedas and the gita as a good start. This is similar to getting a license by paying some broker a few thousands because we are unaware of the process. We pay the broker because we do not want the hassle. But without the difficulties one does not become spiritual or a Gnani. Isha is an easy way out because people feel that Sadhguru is enlightened.If he is enlightened then he did his own hard work.Not by following every spiritual leader the world has to offer. Tread your own paths.Everyone is entitled to their views. A hundred wrong statements will not make a wrong thing right.

Akshay prince said...

Don't talk about anyone.without knowing firm knowledge about them..