Why Do I Criticize Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev?

(I am republishing an answer that I wrote on Quora. The question was asked by an anonymous user and here is the complete question in his own words: ” Why are there some opponents of Sadhguru who are dedicated to nitpick something wrong instead of learning or appreciating many correct things that he says?“)

I am pretty sure that I am one of the so called ‘opponents’ who seemingly has a dedication for criticizing him; I also think that the anonymous guy who asked this question is someone that I am aware of; a guy who feels angry and hurt after reading my criticism about Sadhguru.

So let me explain why I criticize him. I hope the poor guy understands why, instead of taking it too personal. I will also narrate the story that happened between this poor guy and me on Quora :). The poor guy is the hero of that story :).

Assume that the poor guy is the one who is in the front of everyone else, in the following image!

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This is a very important answer. So, I suggest you read it word by word without missing anything. Don’ be in a hurry to comment, read the complete answer…

This answer is going to be a long one..Because, I have to cover many things in this answer, to give you a perfect context. If you can’t read it now, just bookmark it and read it later.

Don’t wonder why I am taking my time to write all this. This is a multi-purpose answer. I will also be republishing this in my blog. I enjoy what I do and ideas simply flow like a stream once I sit down and write. So I absolutely have no difficulty in writing such answers…

First of all, I am not an opponent of Sadhguru. I don’t hate him and I am not against him personally.

I have praised Sadhguru many times. When it comes to the clarity in his speech, his wonderful voice, his humor sense, his involvement in life, his expertise in driving, his ability to be open to experience , his interest in architecture and many other things, he is excellent! You can read my review about him here: Shanmugam P’s answer to What is your review of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Indian yogi)?

I don’t care much about legal allegations against him. I have rarely spoken about them, except some questions that were raised regarding his wife’s death. Another blogger explains those questions better than me, I will give you that link: The controversial death of Sadhguru’s wife Vijji . There are some questions which are not addressed by Sadhguru and they are very important.

But when it comes to other allegations, I have listened to both sides of stories and I don’t always cling to one possibility. Also, I know that when a leader is running a huge organization, the leader is usually seen responsible for the fault of some unknown follower.

I don’t want to speak about something that I am not certain about, just to defame someone. But sadly, some people think that it is what I am doing. No, it is not! Defaming him is not my intention…

My Criticism is only about one and one thing only!

There is one thing that I am certain about… And my main criticism about him is related to that one thing alone! It is spiritual enlightenment and it also includes some extraordinary claims made in the name of spiritual enlightenment.

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I know what it is.. But the hardest thing to talk about is that, people already have a lot of ideas about enlightenment.. Many people think that they know what it is, by going by the words of their own gurus, their own scriptures and their own imagination..

I have had my share of wrong assumptions about it too. But it all pretty much ended in 2014..( a few of those wrong assumptions were still remaining which I got clarified three years later). I went through something, a psychological death of the sense of self, an extinction of a limited self that made me realize that I was never separate from the existence and this whole idea of a separate self is an illusion. It ended all my self-referential thinking, all the self-induced suffering, all my seeking and longing and gave me a sense of absolute freedom..

I don’t call it enlightenment because I hate to associate my experience of reality with a word that has been misused from the time immemorial. And, saying ‘I am enlightened’ is actually incorrect because that statement is inherently dualistic.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that those who have declared it were not enlightened. But it is also true that they don’t really talk about it unless there is a compelling reason. Language itself is dualistic, it can neither capture the absolute truth nor can it convey the pure experience of reality. But language can be a useful device to point out where to look and to tell people how to do that. To understand more about spiritual enlightenment, read this answer: Shanmugam P’s answer to What is enlightenment?

Update (10th May, 2021) – I am including a recent video on my channel which gives you an intro on the path to spiritual enlightenment:

I have tried to meditate all my life. I did my first meditation when I was just 7 years old. I thought meditation is just sitting in closed eyes and with crossed legs with no body movement. Later when I was about 10 years old, I learnt and tried to do various asanas, pranayamas etc. But I really didn’t understand what spirituality is all about. The general idea that I had in my mind was that spirituality is all about suppressing my desires, fighting with my own mind, reading all the spiritual books in the world and trying to show extreme devotion to a personal God. It never worked even though I read all the books I could. When I was in the verge of committing suicide, I came across a book which had talks of Osho. And all I could say was ‘wow!’..You can read the full story here: The Journey of a Seeker – My Story.

If you read my short bio in my blog, it will read like this:

I am a blogger and I was a spiritual seeker. I had a tremendous awakening experience in July 12, 2014 on a Gurupurnima day in the presence of Sadhguru but I wouldn’t call that as spiritual enlightenment. But it did free me from many things and changed many things

When people read this and also read my criticism against Sadhguru, their first response is “I kind of feel weird because you say you had an awakening in the presence of Sadhguru and yet you criticize him, lol”. I am pasting a reply that I gave to one person who said this:

Yes.. I have mentioned that it happened during Sadhguru’s satsang on a guru poorinima day because that is exactly what happened. But usually what people do is add their own explanations for it. Human beings have been doing it for ages. What people forget is that correlation is not causation. Probably there is a correlation between full moon days and spiritual awakenings. But when we create our own explanations for it, errors are bound to happen. If you read my bio again, I have never said that Sadhguru’s presence caused my spiritual awakening. I was already doing everything in a focused way during the two months prior to it and it reached a peak during that day. That is all I know!

If you read my blog post regarding my spiritual journey, you will understand the context of it. The only spiritual practice that I did on a regular basis was ‘witnessing’, a meditation suggested by Osho which can be practiced anytime, anywhere.

” My way of meditation is very simple. There are one hundred and twelve methods of meditation. Out of all of those I have chosen the most simple – the most easily done. I call it witnessing.

The moment you witness something you become separate from it, you are the witness, the thing becomes an object – the witnessed.

If you are walking on the road, and you are also witnessing that you are walking – not going along just like a robot, mechanical, everyday habit, the road is known, the legs know it, you can even walk with closed eyes. But walking with absolute alertness every step, every fall of a leaf, every ray of the sun, every bird flying in front of you, fully alert… slowly, slowly, you become aware that you are not the body that is walking, you are something inside which is witnessing.

Once you have witnessed your body, you have got the knack of the method.

Then you start witnessing your thoughts – sitting silently, just watching the rush of thoughts, not interfering, not saying, “This is good. This is bad.” Not justifying, not appreciating, no judgment… non-judgmental witnessing, just like the mirror. Anybody passes by, the mirror reflects it; that’s all, it makes no comment.

Strangely enough, when you stop making comments on the thoughts, they begin to stop; your comments keep them alive. Once you are simply a mirrorlike witness, thoughts disappear, and you become aware of a deeper layer, of emotions, moods, which are very subtle. You are not even aware many times that you are sad. You are often not aware of what your emotional state is – it is very deep, there is a thick layer of thoughts. When thoughts have stopped, then you become aware of a very subtle breeze – and there is a great joy to see it pass. The method remains the same – you remain a witness without judgment.

First body, second mind, third heart. And the fourth happens on its own.

I call my way the fourth way because after the third you cannot do anything.

Once your emotions and moods disappear, suddenly there is a quantum leap – the witness has nothing to witness anymore. It comes home. It witnesses itself. It becomes both the seer and the seen, the object and the subject, and for the first time you have unity. This experience of absolute organic unity of your consciousness has been called by different names – moksha, nirvana, liberation, enlightenment, illumination. Whatever word you choose makes no difference.

But this is the ultimate peak, this is the ultimate goal of human life.

So my method is very simple. You need not even sit to do it. You can do it anywhere – walking on the street, sitting in the bus, sitting in the plane, eating, even sleeping. When you are going to sleep you don’t fall asleep suddenly, it takes a few minutes; just watch how the sleep comes in. Slowly, slowly, you will see sleep coming in, and as your witnessing becomes deeper there comes a moment when you can see that the whole night you are asleep yet still alert.

I have tried almost all one hundred and twelve methods. That list is exhaustive, there is no possibility of adding a single method more. You can make a method of combinations, but those one hundred and twelve are exhaustive.

Out of them all I have chosen witnessing, because most of them are based on this in different ways. ”

– The Last Testament Volume 4: Chapter 15 by Osho

A guy who commented on my spiritual journey in my blog kept advising me to read Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. I told him that I already read that and I also gave him the above excerpt. Then I explained the following:

What Osho called as witnessing is exactly what I practiced. Witnessing, self-inquiry, mindfulness and nididhyasana are all essentially the same, even though described differently and approached differently. It is the most direct approach and extremely powerful.

That is exactly the reason why Ramana Maharshi advocated self-inquiry. It is a deep inquiry of every thought, experience, emotion and sensation that arise moment to moment and recognizing that none of these objects of consciousness is ‘me’ or ‘mine’.

It is negating everything that arises in your consciousness as ‘not me’, ‘not me’ by simple recognition; not by thinking or analyzing or verbalizing it but just noticing for what it is. It is also called as ‘neti-neti’ method, which literally means ‘not this, not this’…

After this transformation, my life was completely different. I forgot all about spirituality, all about future and past and I totally forgot to think about me.. But there were challenges that I faced during the first 3 years because there was a period of integration. There were a lot of old tendencies which had to lose their momentum over a period of these three years. I still had deep reverence for Sadhguru during these three years and I never had a doubt regarding his claims.

In December 2016 I had to change my job. While updating my resume, I was quite surprised… What am I going to say when the interviewer asks ‘Tell me about yourself’?.. I had not thought about myself, the image of me that was derived from my past for the last three years. It has been long since I thought about my strengths and weaknesses, my objectives and all that. So, I had to make some effort to recollect many things about me.

That is when I also started posting in my blog. I had spent about Rs. 22,000 to buy Linga Bhairavi Gudi and Rs.11,000 for Dhyanalinga Yantra because I thought that It will create an energy space in my home, something that may help my family. I spent about a month from September 2016 until the Navarathri festival that year in decorating Linga Bhairavi with flowers, offering sweets and fruits to her, singing, listening and playing the songs from ‘He Devi’, an album released by Sounds of Isha. I kind of created a forced duality to see myself separate from Linga Bhairavi that triggered a lot of forgotten memories and feelings. I used to be very devotional when I was a kid and usually such practicies trigger those memories. The nine days of Navarathri that year was a period of intimate devotion and a roller coaster ride of emotions. It all came to an end on the 10th day, the Dusserah festival which I spent in Kulasekarapattinam, a town famous for Dusserah celebration. I had a permanent tattoo of Linga in my right shoulder that day.

The poor guy who thinks I am an opponent of Sadhguru thinks that the purpose of my whole blog is to criticize and defame Sadhguru. No, it is not! The very first post that I made in my blog was a poem that I wrote about Linga Bhairavi and Dhyanalinga. Here it is: தியானலிங்கமும் லிங்க பைரவியும் – Kural Venba about Isha and Linga Bhairavi

My wife was pregnant and we were expecting a delivery in the month of December. I was expecting a female kid and I wanted to name her ‘Bhairavi’. But it turned out to be a boy and we named him Lingesh. He was born on December 11th, 2016. December 11 is also the birthday of Osho; what a coincidence!

Anyway, this was the time I was slowly regaining my faculty of logical thinking. I literally stepped out of my logical mind during the transformation that happened in 2014 and I had to slowly learn to think logically. I was like a kid for the first two and a half years and I slowly learnt to act like a grown up. This was really like a second birth for me.

And I never seriously considered what happened to me but I found that Sadhguru’s version of spiritual enlightenment was seriously contradicting with many things that happened to me. There was no way that I could match what happened to me with many things Sadhguru is talking about. But still, I could never think that Sadhguru could be wrong. One thing was clear though, my seeking had ended, there was absolutely nothing that was lacking, nothing to gain anymore and nothing to improve upon! There was no solid and consistent self to improve upon or to attain anything. My life was peaceful, fulfilled, joyful and there was absolutely nothing that was lacking. There has been a sense of tremendous freedom, the kind of freedom that I had never experienced in my life. It is only when people taste such a freedom, they could understand how bound and helpless they were before.

That is when I began to interact in an online forum where I had a discussion with a lady. She explained her understanding of spiritual enlightenment as follows and she was very confident in what she was saying:

You will still live a human existence, which has polarity and that includes mental pain, it’s suffering that ends, because you know that your true Self, awareness, is not in the least effected by it and that is your true identity.

Another words, let’s say your enlightened…your mother dies. You will still feel emotional pain and even cry. Being enlightened will put it in perspective, so you won’t suffer, but you will feel mental pain, even if temporary. If you don’t like your mother (lol), then insert in that sentence someone else or your animal. This is just one example of many.

I couldn’t agree with this! We started talking about many things about how the experience of life is after enlightenment. But strangely enough, I didn’t consider myself as enlightened and I also wasn’t seeking enlightenment. I just had no concrete idea of what had happened to me.

She then posted an excerpt of her western teacher called ‘Ted Schmidt’:

Question- Is an enlightened person totally immune and never experiences fear, negative emotions?

Ted: No, as I mentioned in my last response, the enlightened person experiences life just like an unenlightened person except for one fundamental difference: the enlightened person (i.e., the person who has assimilated self-knowledge and “attained” moksha by having apprehended the fact that his or her essential nature is already free) isn’t swept away by the pain and pleasure that he or she experiences. The enlightened person knows that these experiences come and go and don’t really have any effect on the essential nature of the self. Thus, while the pain and pleasure persist, the suffering that ensues from feeling like these experiences are actually enhancing or diminishing, helping or hurting, the self ceases.

I couldn’t agree with this either. In a sense this is kind of true but this is open to many interpretations. He is not speaking about the experiential aspect of enlightenment, a change that I myself had undergone which had changed the way I experienced the reality 24/7. So in my experience, there was and is no duality; I never experientially sense that I am separate from the existence. My way of functioning in the world seemed to be a mystery that doesn’t gel with neither Sadhguru’s version nor this western Guru’s version of enlightenment.

I finally discovered that Ted’s guru was James Swartz, an old American Vedanta teacher. When I went through his website I found that he is extremely critical of Osho and also labels Ramana Maharshi as not a qualified teacher.

Also, I continued my discussion with the American lady on the forum and she also criticized Osho. At this point, I noticed my need to defend Osho and her tendency to defend James Swartz. After exchanging lengthy discussions, I got curious about Traditional Advaita Vedanta expounded by Shankara. James Swartz is a student of Swami Chinmayananda and he was insistent in saying traditional Vedanta is the only way.

One of the main myths that got busted for me is the one that Sadhguru is insisting. He says that more than 90% of the people leave the body (die) during spiritual enlightenment. You can read my answer here to know more about it: Shanmugam P’s answer to How many enlightened persons has Isha Foundation produced through its methods? .

At this time, I also realized my bias towards Osho. I decided to put it aside and began to curiously explore Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta.

That is when I realized that Sadhguru has got this whole idea of ‘90% of people leaving at the time of enlightenment’ from Osho. But Osho himself contradicted this in another discourse. Sadhguru used to say a famous story from the life of Ramakrishna which was actually something Osho made up, to explain how enlightened people create conscious karma after enlightenment. Sadhguru repeats the same story in the same style..

According to Sadhguru, body’s prarabdha karma is over at the time of enlightenment and he has to consciously create karma to keep his body alive. .. This is neither true in my experience nor it is said by anyone else in the whole history… According to advaita, prarabhdha karma can be exhausted only by living the rest of the life. Buddhism also has a similar concept. This resonated with me completely. My own past intentions were driving my life even though I don’t have any sense about future or past (memories exists but the identification is completely broken). And karma is nothing but the web of past intentions. Adhi Shankara says the same in his commentaries and Ramana Maharshi insisted the same.

You can read more about it here: Shanmugam P’s answer to Why is it said that after enlightenment a person may die? If a person is likely to die after enlightenment, then why should I pursue it if I cannot carry it for long? How does one overcome the fear of death on a spiritual path?

But you need to remember that even though prarabhda karma is the one which still runs the activities of the body, we can’t say that the person is actually bound by that karma. Because, the liberated person is no longer identified with his body. He no longer considers the prarabhdha karma of the body as his own karma. It only belongs to the body and it exists as long as the body exists.

Ramana Maharshi explains this paradox very well:

Question: Bhagavan says that when one attains enlightenment all the three karmas [sanchita, prarabdha and agamya] cease to be. But in Kaivalya Navanitam it is stated that the jnani will experience only prarabdha karma [karma being worked out in this lifetime]. Why does it say this?”

Ramana: Prarabdha is the rule prior to the attainment of Self-realisation. As such, even after the attainment of Self-realisation, a jnani appears to be experiencing prarabdha in the sight of onlookers. There are several examples which are commonly used to explain this: an electric fan goes on spinning for some time even after it is switched off; a burnt rope looks like a rope but it cannot be used to tie anything; a tree that has been felled looks just like a living tree but it is no longer alive; peas which are roasted still look like peas but they cannot sprout .

I started asking questions about Vedanta in Quora and I also went through Upanishads, Shankara’s commentaries on Upanishads and Buddhist suttas of Pali Canon. When I read them, I could immediately recognize the truth in them and I could easily separate facts from myths. I didn’t read them to add anything to my knowledge but I read them to make sense of my own experience.

A great eye opener was Shankara’s commentary on Bhagwad Gita. I also read many awakening reports which talk about this integration period. Even Shankara advises a lot of solitude after self-realization to make sure that the realization is completely integrated without any interference from the external world. He advised self-realized people to live with the strength of the Self. When he says ‘living with the strength of Self alone’, I could immediately recognize it. I didn’t do analysis, mental masturbation or research with the scriptures; All that was happening when I read Buddhist and Vedantic scriptures was a simple recognition of what has happened to me.

Let me give you an example. If someone says “I saw a huge black animal yesterday which had large ears, two horn-like organs near its mouth and a long pipe-like organ extending from its nose”, wouldn’t you immediately recognize that he is talking about an elephant? It is the exact recognition which I had when I read Shankara’s commentaries and Buddhist suttas from Pali canon.

In the mean time, I wrote some posts criticizing the views of James Swartz and his way of understating enlightenment. I was verbally abused by one of the followers of James Swartz (just like how Sadhguru’s followers become abusive). I finally decided to start a debate with James Swartz himself. We exchanged a few emails. I told him that his way of understating the experiential side of enlightenment is misleading. Finally, I had to define what I meant by the word ‘experience’. I told him that I am not talking about a special experience or an altered state of consciousness but the natural experience of reality with no duality and with no sense of separate self. He agreed to this view but he still insisted that his talks and books are not misleading; He said that a few people might have misunderstood what he is saying and reminded me that he has thousands of other students who understands him perfectly.

As things settled down, I was able to understand everything that happened in me. Let me include parts of some replies that I posted to a commentator in my blog:

There is a point in seeking where seeking completely ends and the sense of a separate self completely dissolves.. After that there is no more personal journey.. Changes may still happen, the experience of reality may continue to deepen for lifetime, but it is no longer a journey of a person… Because there is no more urge to reach anything or to attain anything. After that, whatever actions that the person does is in complete synchronization with the existence itself. There is no sense of a doership at all.. The speech and action then become the expression of the existence itself. This is my reality now.

The word nirvikalpa means ‘without any distinctions’. It just means the complete absence of duality. If it happens along with the loss of body consciousness, people usually call it ‘nirvikalpa samadhi’… But if a person experiences reality as nirvikalpa without losing body consciousness, it is called as sahaja samadhi. Many people reach sahaja samadhi without going through nirvikalpa samadhi. In sahaja samadhi, the person simple engages in day to day activities just like anybody else. But the big difference is that the person doesn’t sense a separate self or a sense of individuality anymore.. There is a sense of boundlessness and complete fulfilment.. nothing is lacking anymore and there is nothing to seek further… There is nothing to lose and nothing to gain at the absolute level.

Let me state a metaphor. A ball of sugar jumps inside a pot of water and it takes on a journey to absorb as much water as it can. It becomes smaller and smaller as time goes by until it is fully dissolved one day… Once the ball has completely disappeared, is there anymore journey for that ball? The sugar molecules which were in the ball are still there in the water, they may still undergo changes. But do those changes belong to the original sugar ball? The sugar ball is the person you think you are and the water is the existence… In a way, the sugar ball has now become water. But to be more precise and exact, the sugar ball is not there anymore. There are no clear boundaries between the sugar ball and the water. Another way of saying this would be that sugar ball and the water is one and the same now.

It is only after all this, I turned my attention towards Sadhguru again and watched some of his videos again. The first thing that I found was that there is a pretension in him and he is simply parroting the words of Osho. When it comes to spiritual enlightenment, one thing that is destroyed completely is the sense of a separate self. This is not only my own experience but also in agreement with two greatest spiritual schools of the world which is Vedanta and Buddhism.

But Sadhguru doesn’t address this at all. Instead he goes on talking about stuff which reinforce the idea of a separate self and which distracts people from actually walking on the path. He doesn’t address the psychological tendencies or traps in the spiritual paths. On the contrary, he goes on talking about stuff that would actually trap people and stop them from making any progress.

When I was seeking, I couldn’t see this! Because, I was also reading other spiritual books from other gurus, like Ramana Maharshi etc and following the practices they suggested. I couldn’t distinguish between the clarity I got from Sadhguru and the clarity I got from other gurus.

My main practice has always been witnessing that was suggested by Osho. The only reason why I went to Sadhguru satsangs or Isha ashram was because I believed that being in ‘consecrated spaces’ will help me in the path by giving me additional support. I didn’t realize at this point that Sadhguru’s main business was selling consecrated spaces and selling his own energy (For eg, On Shivarathri festival, the seats close to him are extremely expensive because that supposedly gives a chance to feel the energy and vibration of Sadhguru)..

But I know this whole energy business is bullshit because I have Linga bhairavi gudi and Dhyanalinga yantra for the last three years and I know there is no difference between being in the presence of it vs being away from it. The transformation I went through has made me absolutely receptive and there is no resistance at all from my side which will cause me to be not receptive to anything. I feel completely synchronized with the existence.

But people claim that they feel tremendous energy or vibration from Sadhguru. But in reality, it has many reasons. One reason in placebo effect. It has a powerful effect when a person is already a seeker.

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A guy asked me a question regarding this in one of my answers:

Then how would you explain following things:

  1. How sadhguru pushes people into transcendence just by his presence?
  2. why do people go crazy during initiations like shoonya and bhuta shuddhi?
  3. Why does BSP works ?
  4. What is the source of Sadhguru’s crystal clear wisdom? I don’t find that same wisdom in osho’s or ramana’s books?
  5. Why do people experience HUGE benefits by doing shambhavi?

And here is my reply:

  1. How sadhguru pushes people into transcendence just by his presence? Mostly it is placebo. If you don’t know what it is, use Google search. And the placebo effect is hundred times better when a person has already been a seeker and has already progressed to a certain level (and expecting an experience in the presence of someone who claims enlightenment). Also, you can actually see people going crazy and ecstatic watching a Michael Jackson’s stage performance and during church gatherings…I am not sure if you read the complete answer. I am not saying this after knowing him or after being in the path for just 2–3 years. I have encountered many situations which helped me to learn a lot of things. So, I am not the usual kind of skeptic that you might have come across. I even came across a person who claimed enlightenment and who had a special interest in making me his disciple. He arranged a satsang and I felt something deep when he entered the room. But it was caused by my own expectations as well as the way my mind was prepared before the satsang. But after I had a lot of personal one on one interactions with him, I knew he was cheating (I am not talking about Sadhguru here but another self proclaimed Guru). This happened in 2007.
  2. The other questions that you asked boils down to one thing: How come Shambavi and Shoonya meditations work. They will work because they are based on already available techniques. They have the same effect no matter who offers those techniques. These techniques can have a lot of positive effect on your mental health, physical health and can even offer you spiritual experiences.. But you need to have someone who is enlightened to guide you to go beyond and actually get liberated. Sadhguru’s talks don’t offer that guidance at all because he never talks about things which are very important when it comes to spiritual enlightenment.
  3. If you find some clarity in him that you don’t find in Osho and Ramana, there are two reasons. One is purely subjective and depends on what topic you are interested in. Second is his talent. Sadhguru has a degree in English literature and he has also worked on his accent and pronunciation. His accent is neutral and his voice is very clear. But this has got nothing to do with enlightenment. My school principal also spoke more clearly than Ramana Maharshi. That doesn’t make her an enlightened person. Meher Baba didn’t speak at all, that doesn’t make him an unenlightened person.

Also, try to understand the question that is asked here and try to understand the answer I have written. The question is more specific about his claim regarding curing his fracture in an hour. And In my answer, I have explained about the fact that he doesn’t speak the truth all the time. I have found him as an expert in lying, there is no question about it. I have seen enough of him in the last 14 years and I KNOW that he is mostly lying when he talks about himself.

It is also at the same time I discovered and observed many other things. I have written about those things in detail in the following answers:

Shanmugam P’s answer to What do you think of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev?

Shanmugam P’s answer to Is Sadhguru a hoax? How did he heal his asthma and ankle fracture in an hour (09:15)?

Shanmugam P’s answer to Is Sadghuru Jagi Vasudev another scam?

I am still willing to give him the benefit of doubt. But when I observed the behavior of his followers, I was completely shocked. They don’t really know what they are doing. Most of them are verbally abusive, completely biased and can’t even be open to healthy criticism. I understood that these people are completely misled and they are behaving like a parrot, just repeating Sadhguru’s words. They seem to be completely programmed. This is exactly what motivated me to write more about Sadhguru.

The perfect example is the poor guy, the hero of the story that I am going to narrate now, who might have also asked this question.

When I first wrote an answer saying that Sadhguru was simply repeating Osho, many people were not open to the idea and some people even rationalized it. Please understand, I am not complaining him of plagiarism. I am just questioning whether his enlightenment is authentic if he solely relies on borrowed words. A person who is talking from his own experience will absolutely have no need to imitate some one else’e words, terminology, examples and views. This shows a strong influence of one person over another. But when the person doesn’t mention him at all in public, that gives a sign of deliberately hiding it.

(Note, I am not talking about giving credit to Osho, this is how a lot of people misunderstand. He doesn’t even casually mention Osho’s name. But he has talked about all the other gurus. Even when someone sent him a question regarding this similarity, he just gave a clever answer, implying that it is just an imagination of the questioner. This signals a pretension. If you don’t see this obvious fact, then I am sorry; you have to google and read more about ‘Confirmation bias’ )

Since people were not open about it, I tried a different way. It is a psychological technique. I just conveyed the same message in a different way by showing Sadhguru in a positive light. I always try different approaches when it comes to writing answers and blog posts and convey the same message with different connotation. So I wrote an answer in a different style which you can read here:

Shanmugam P’s answer to Osho and Sadhguru should have some special connection. No other masters explicitly are so similar. They both are unidentical, but definitely very similar in a way with practical approach towards spirituality. What do their followers have to say?

I know that the blind followers of Sadhguru only care if a post shows Sadhguru in a positive light or not. They don’t seem to care about spiritual enlightenment but they only care about idealizing and defending Sadhguru. And after I wrote this answer, the poor guy immediately up-voted my answer and also wrote a comment saying that no one can deny what I said, because I have also explained the psychological reasons for why anyone would want to deny it.

But the same guy acted in a different way when I wrote another answer. I will tell you what he did shortly.. There was a question asked in Quora about why Nirmuktha site criticizes Sadhguru. For me the reason was obvious. Sadhguru voluntarily talked about Higgs Boson, which is completely out of his scope and ridiculed scientists. He implied that what science is discovering now has been discovered by our yogis and we knew the whole truth all along. This is completely unnecessary and is bound to invite criticism. How do you think a person who is passionate about science will react to such a comment? Is such a comment really necessary in the first place?

Only after seeing some comments in the Nirmuktha website, I realized that Sadhguru is creating prejudice against Science among his followers.

Science is not in competition to spirituality, it is only complementary. When both are bridged together, a lot can be accomplished. That is my whole effort and that is also the topic of my recent book (The Truth About Spiritual Enlightenment: Bridging Science, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta). This book is the result of my whole life.

The answers to that question were also an attempt to provide some kind of justification to Sadhguru’s comments. For example, they asked questions like ‘Why do you expect Sadhguru to be correct on science’? … But that is not the point. The right question to ask is “why does he ridicule science and voluntarily talks about a scientific topic when he doesn’t know about it?’… Is saying ‘I don’t know’ very difficult for Sadhguru? Does he expect to not to face criticism after publicly ridiculing science?

Not knowing something is not a problem. Nobody knows everything in the world. But pretending to know something that one does not is the problem. Do you understand the difference?

But Sadhguru’s followers were reacting in a blind way. They were only reacting, desperately trying to justify him by saying totally unrelated things. Their comments were about how science is not good enough for certain things.

First of all, whether science is good enough or not is not even something that needs to be mentioned here, it is totally irrelevant. That doesn’t justify what Sadhguru said about Higgs Boson.

Seeing blind reactions, I was totally disappointed to see the kind of prejudice that Sadhguru has created. Have you ever thought that your left hand is in competition with your right hand? Then why the hell do you think science is in competition with spirituality? Why the hell do you have any need to prove that one is superior to other? I clearly see that authentic spirituality is not and cannot be in conflict with science at all!

This poor guy felt totally hurt after seeing the criticism. This is what he did: He immediately cancelled the upvote for my previous answer regarding Osho, deleted his comment and also wrote his own answer for the same question regarding Osho and Sadhguru, explaining that the resemblance between Osho and Sadhguru is merely a coincidence.. How can one of my answer regarding science and sadhguru change his opinion on a totally unrelated answer of mine? It is because he took the criticism personally. The poor guy doesn’t even understand what he is doing and doesn’t recognize this as blindness.

After some days, I wrote another answer: Shanmugam P’s answer to What are scientists’ opinions on Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s IIT Madras talk about water having memory and his abilities to manipulate its taste via telekinesis?

And I said something very valid, something that is not possible to deny, in that answer. I wrote it in a completely neutral way. Sadhguru claims that he was able to change the taste of water in a cup of glass to sweet by holding it in his hands for two minutes.

Let me paste a part of that answer here:

But I have also come across instances where Sadhguru voluntarily talks about science and claims that many things the science is discovered now has been already discovered by yogic methods. He may be probably doing this to create more appeal to yoga and spread it to more people with good intention.

But this is what creates a lot of arguments and questions among people. First, we don’t have any evidence for the fact that any kind of factual knowledge can be obtained through practices like meditation or yoga, even though we have been hearing such stories since ancient days. This claim and claims to do miracles have been misused by many fake spiritual leaders in our country which naturally makes people to be extra cautious and even harshly criticize all spiritual leaders. Until there is a solid evidence that such claims have any scientific basis, such criticism will even continue in the upcoming generations. This will actually make Yoga to become less appealing in the future. There is no way to stop it unless we do something about it in this generation especially when an influential public figure like Sadhguru, who claims to be able to do many things that a normal man cannot do, is alive. I can actually offer a simple solution for that.

As you see, I have first stated an obvious fact. If we don’t prove certain claims, this claims are bound to be rejected in the upcoming generations. So if your beloved leader is making an extraordinary claim, it is always good to ask for a proof.

Won’t a proof shut up the mouths of critics? Tell me yes or no.. Is it too much to ask for? Can you deny that if there is a solid evidence for even one extraordinary claim that Sadhguru has made, it will create a great appeal for yoga and also shut the mouth of critics regarding this once and for all? Touch your heart and tell me if this is true or not.. This is certainly, obviously, with no doubt, a win-win situation for everyone, with no exception.

Now, let me paste the last part of that answer:

Sadhguru has claimed many things which are extraordinary . He has done it indirectly by quoting incidents where he could do things like that. I will quote a claim mentioned in the same article that is given for this question, that can be very easily verified with an experiment.

“So this lady in the house brought water for me and she’s like Kali suddenly, not just kathak, she’s like Kali. I looked at her – she’s a nice lady, today she’s in the Kali form – so I looked at her and she offered water to me and I said, ‘Amma, I don’t need this water. I don’t need to drink this water. You’re like Kali right now, I don’t need Kali’s prasadam right now, I’m fine.’ She said, ‘Why, will I poison it?’ I said, ‘No, you don’t have to poison it, it’s already done.’ Then I told her, ‘You take a sip from this glass.’ She took a sip from the glass, then I said, ‘Give me the glass to me.’ I held in my hands for two minutes and I just gave it to her, ‘You drink it now.’ She drank one sip and burst into tears and started crying, she said, ‘It’s sweet.’ I said, ‘That’s all the difference it is.’”

This is an extraordinary claim! But all he has to do is get a glass of plain water from you, hold it in his hands for two minutes and give it to you. If it tastes sweet, that is all there is to prove.

It can be verified with a scientific experiment very easily. Proving such a thing has many advantages too. Other then getting attention, Sadhguru and Isha foundation will gain more trust. It will stop people from turning way from Isha just because these claims are made. It will stop unnecessary hot criticisms filled with hatred and verbal abuses that we see all over internet. Sadhguru may win a nobel prize and Isha people will love that. He may earn millions of dollars which can be used for social welfare. Because we all know that Isha foundation already needs money for upcoming projects and currently have to rely on donations alone. In fact, many people who oppose him will start to trust that he is doing everything with a genuine interest for people’s well being and willing to donate even more. Tell me one reason why this is not a good idea!

If you understand this and are genuinely interested to make it happen, we can find a way to pass it on to Sadhguru. You can republish this answer anywhere, share this answer, upvote it or directly send an email to Isha. If each missed call can count, each upvote can count too.

Did I say anything wrong or something totally unacceptable?

But look at a comment that I got from someone:

I think, Mr. Dear Shanmugam, you are actually fooling yourself. Because Sadguru already told to everyone that to look inside and first establish in Yoga. This is what Lord Krishn said in Bhagava Geetha already. But Sadguru always insist everyone to look inside and find out yourself. Then only act! You do not know that who you are and you are talking and researching a SADGURU!! And even trying to help him or try to disaprove His Guruship even!! WHO ARE YOU??!! WHAT IS YOUR ELIGIBILITY??!! Ask yourself??!!! What a shame!!You are a shame for India. That you are trying to give Certificate for an Enlightetend Master. I live with another Enlightetend Master Sri Sri Yogananda Saraswathi and I know the full meaning of the word “Guru.” Then when it comes to the word Sadguru, He is more above than the so called Gurus and he can be the Guru of All Gurus. This is pure understanding. So don’t suspect a Sadgur’s words and you don’t have to make a research on what a Sadguru talks and do. Becuse Go and Read Shiva Samhitha and also Guru Charithra. Then you will realise that you are cimmiting a big SIN!! You may call that I a Sadguru supporter or lover! and I am sick !! But I challenge you, Go and read GURU CHARITHRA!!

I will challenge you that if you read three times GURU CHARITHRA all your life will be settled and your mind will change. You will be cured of your jealousy and suspicion!!! You have to read with love and devotion. That is first condition!! Not with Suspicion!! As Swami Vivekananda told “three things are necessary to make every nation great and every person great” I will here only give the first requirement. Other two you read in Swami Vivekananda’s works!! What he said the first important point to become great for anyone is “ Absence of Jealousy and suspicion”’

You have both!!! I feel pity on you and all those argues with a Guru! Can anyone argue with a Guru!! Only fools and egoists will argues with a Guru. But you can ask genuine questions to get genuine answers. When Sadguru answers such questions you have to understand. Remember a Guru can never till a lie. You and me may lie , but never a Guru.

First you have to go Isha and stay there for atleast three months and live a real Sadhaka life, if you want to understand Him. The after tayin ghtre and living with Him, if you still think that He is not a Guru at all, then I shall sayd that is your fte! and You are not fit for spiritual life! So that is why you live a life of a Fmily man and suffer all the prarabdha Karma outside. But there also you can understand a Guru or Sadguru, if you are a good man. But you are jealous and suspicious! You want to challenge a Sadguru and want to Help a Sadguru by giving a CErtificate for Him! My kind advice to you is that, Go and Read GURU CHARITHRA three times, so that your jealousy and suspicion will be cured!! I am sure and Guarantee. Forget about people who are tlking against Sadguru!! Eample is Sri Ramakrishna sadi when a an Elephant walks all dogs bark!! Why they are jealousy of the gaint walk of the elephant!! Same thing with others they are like the same dogs! it is not angry or abuse words! It their qualifiction, that they re only human body with a dogs mind!! Thiis is the answer for you.

Go and read GURU CHARITHRA three times! You will definitely will save your future life. After that talk!! May God save you from future misery!! After reading GURU CHARITHRA and when you understand who is a Guru, then you will feel like even praying to Sadguru Himself! That will be the change positive!! All the best!! Then I can say you life will be safe! Otheewise! Next birth you may become a dog or cat! Chances are there when you take the company of fools who bark at Sadguru!!

Do you see what this guy is saying? Isn’t this guy promoting pure blindness? Not only that, this is totally against what Sadhguru himself says.. Sadhguru says skeptics are the true seekers and I totally agree: Skeptics are True Seekers – The Isha Blog

He goes on to say that Sadhguru can never lie and we are supposed to blindly believe him. But does this random guy even know that Sadhguru himself says he lies whenever necessary?

Guess what, even though this comment is completely against what Sadhguru is saying, the poor guy, the hero of our story still has the guts to upvote that comment! He is simply upvoting the comment because now he gets some peace on seeing that I get personally attacked. But he doesn’t realize that no one can insult me… I can’t take offence from anyone, it is simple ignored. And I hope that he realizes his blindness one day…

Only a few days after that I realized that this guy is not alone. Every single person who comments on Youtube vidoes, blogs and Quora is extremely abusive, intolerant for any kind of criticism and can’t accept even a slight skepticism about Sadhguru. There are few exceptions but most of them are like this..

Just look at the nature of the comments of Sadhguru’s followers that is present in an Youtube video of Sadhguru’s speech:

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After I witnessed a lot of such comments, I am able to see that Sadhguru’s followers are unconsciously developing prejudice against science, westerners (mainly Americans), other religions (especially Christianity) and all skeptics in general. And you need to understand that prejudice is completely incompatible with spirituality.

So I decided to write this answer to make certain things clear to Sadhguru’s followers: Shanmugam P’s answer to What advice would you like to give to the followers of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev?

Only after seeing all this cultish behaviour and blind followings, I really started much of my criticism. And I have already made it very clear in one of my answers that I won’t stop my criticism until this blindness stops.

It is good for you as well to change it right away, because otherwise people will start labeling Isha as cult. So, the criticism is not about defaming Sadhguru, I don’t have the intention to defame him. The only intention I have is to make people aware of their blindness and unconsciousness. My ultimate intention has always been bridging Science with spirituality. I have elaborated it in detail in my book.

Finally, I want to end with my comments on something that the poor guy said:

Remember that sitting in a comfort zone and writing answers upon quora, creating blogs, publishing ebooks either for or against the popular figure is very easy task just like an intellectual masturbation, but to yourself approach him for testing his unproven claims and then declaring your “objective findings” is a different thing. And the latter is always preferrable for a matured mind.

First, the poor guy needs to understand that walking in the spiritual path itself takes someone away from the comfort zone. Spiritual enlightenment is totally destroying the comfort zone called ‘sense of a separate self’.

Many people think that intelligence is the top most quality that is needed in spiritual path. No! Courage is the topmost quality that is needed. You need to risk something that is considered as the most valuable thing in your life, which is what you think as ‘yourself’.. Unless you are willing to go through a psychological death, there is no question of spiritual enlightenment…

But after 2014, I am always in a comfort zone no matter what I do. I cannot leave the comfort zone because liberation is the ultimate and the greatest comfort zone ever. The pain only lies in passing through the bridge between a petty comfort zone of your sense of a separate self and the ultimate comfort zone of liberation.

Second, I see many objections which say ‘why don’t you challenge Sadhguru publicly instead of being an armchair critic? ‘ ‘Why don’t you approach him for testing his claims?’ etc.

Is Sadhguru my next door neighbor to challenge him publicly? Or do you think that I am the CEO of Sun TV? I am just an ordinary guy living an ordinary life. If you are worried about such criticisms, you are the one who should take this to Sadhguru. This is exactly what I addressed in my answer regarding water memory. But I understand where this objection is coming from. Because, this is a very common rebuttal that is taught to Isha followers. So they are just following the herd.

Third, as I mentioned very clearly, I am not really desperate about spoiling the image of a public figure. The only reason I write such things is to create an awareness about various things. I know it makes a difference. I have seen the difference that it has made and changed the way that at least some people think. And I am sure that one day or the other day such questions and criticisms will reach Sadhguru’s attention.

Fourth, I don’t support pseudoskepticism . Pseudoskepticism is different from actual skepticism. One trait of pseudoskepticism is ‘The tendency to discredit rather than investigate’. This is what the poor guy is talking about. I agree with him. But the problem is, nobody who has the power and authority to investigate is trying to investigate. And I am confident that my criticisms will somehow raise a public awareness regarding this. The same theme is present in my answer regarding water memory.

Thank you for taking your time in reading this answer. Here are two more links that I recommend the followers of Sadhguru to read:

  1. Giving and Receiving Criticism
  2. The Sociology of Calling Other People Stupid

Update – Aug 5th, 2018:

As a response to the comments I have been getting from the followers of Sadhguru, I have started a video series. So, watch this series before you comment (4 videos in the playlist so far:

Here is the link to the entire playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyvcEPSjKqOk8Evwhz5tSlm5whxfZswlQ

Update 15th January 2020: If you understand Tamil, please watch this video (ஜக்கியின் பவரைப் பற்றி உங்களுக்குத் தெரியாது! ஒரு லட்சம் ரூபாய் பரிசாகப் பெரும் இந்த அரிய வாய்ப்பை இழக்காதீர்கள். இந்த வீடியோவை முழுதாகப் பார்க்கவும் (கில்மா நினைப்பில் வர வேண்டாம்! இவர் நித்யானந்தா அல்ல; அவரை விட பலே கில்லாடி):

Author: Shanmugam P

I am a blogger and a self-published author. My book "The Truth About Spiritual Enlightenment: Bridging Science, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta" is a guide to the ultimate freedom, bliss and oneness. The book is based on my own experience. My book "Discovering God: Bridging Christianity, Hinduism and Islam" shows how all three major religions of the world lead to the same truth. I am a past student of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal Golden Jubilee Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District.

239 thoughts on “Why Do I Criticize Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev?”

  1. Great post Shanmugam! I agree with you completely. Unfortunate that many Isha devotees think Sadhguru is beyond any criticism. Clearly, there are lot of people hell bent on “defaming” Sadhguru using lies and half-truths. Those guys should be countered and exposed. But genuine criticism from people like you should be welcomed.

    I am actually less concerned with legal issues, Vijji’s death, miraculous claims made by Sadhguru, his remarks on science etc. My biggest disappointment with Sadhguru is that he did not credit the Gurus he benefited from in this life (he only credited a past life Guru, Sri Palani Swami). Just recently, I wrote a post providing a proof that Sadhguru was involved with Rishi Prabhakar – https://ksmphanindra.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/proof-for-sadhgurus-rishi-prabhakar-connection/

    Do read and let me know your comments!

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    1. thanks for the comment.. I read your post on Rishi Prabhakar and Sadhguru two or three days before and I was actually surprised to see the photo.. I will comment more directly on your blog shortly

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      1. Your propoganda is of old type.. hahaha..you can’t make fool to North people..I think your mission of changing religion of Hindu is stopped due to sadhguru jee.

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      2. I never researched Sadguru in addition to the videos that appeared on youtube and even found interesting lectures, until I started to wonder and find some incoherence of your speech in some videos, which led me to research better about who Sadguru is? and I arrived at this site.
        As a human being, a musician and a practitioner of Yoga, I am sad if this Lord really is one of those who says he is enlightened only because he has learned to speak correctly to have a good speech, to study what the people want to hear, to those who are not who says, does not and is not what he employs.
        With all the mistakes and virtues that we can have as human beings, we are all here to learn, but we all have to be careful and I do not even talk about Sadguru, because I do not know, but of all those who pretend to be what they are not , is that worse than a bandit is a false prophet.
        Thank you
        Hug

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    3. don’t care so much if people get angry when arguing against what they take for granted. just say damn it. Because that is what many gurus do. I see good points in some things said by Sadhguru, although many things said are only compilations already said by other personalities. But I see his other ideas disconnected from reality, an illusion sale of we can do anything and we can make any choice. A guru is not a full-time master, often one who sticks his finger in everyone’s life without accepting a touch of his own, often toiling more for his own sake than for those around him. and it could not be different because the metaphysical experience is individual.

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    4. Many blessings to you on your path! Alas, I feel for you. As you have missed the fundamental truth which lies above the witness consciousness. Silence. It is the attainment of consciousness at that peak self realisation sets in and never leaves us. May you experience bliss of life brother.

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    5. Thank you for this wonderful post Shanmugam. I think we both have walked in the same path. I once appreciated Sadguru with all the devotion in the world. I watched all his videos and felt as if God himself has sent him to my rescue. I wouldn’t have minded throwing abuses to anyone who would try and belittle the wonderful image of Sadguru I had in my mind. I realised wasn’t getting anywhere. Then I went seeking. I happened to take up a Vipassana course. It is similar to the witnessing meditation you talk about. We are first told to observe sensations on the body non-judgementally. This builds a foundation to observe the mental contents with equanimity. As I got established in the technique, I felt that I had understood things the way they really are, not as I want it to be. Then it just hit me. There is no enlightenment in devotion to a guru or god or scriptures. A guru can’t just transfer his enlightenment to you. That’ll be called hipnosis. Everyone has to fight out their own liberation. I can understand with your words that you’re a true seeker. Kudos on your journey.
      Darshan

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    6. Kamalhassan copied from many movies n actors… will u say he is not a good actor n guru to upcoming actors…like wise sadguru would have been inspired by many people n books from diff cults… so what, just see whether his speeches gives untold answers to a common man , his gurus n texts might have a fault in their teachings…maybe sadhguru is altering it so that a common man understands it… out of ur blog i could understand u paid a hefty sum in some idols sold in isha… as u felt no power is in them u started hating the person who started isha…. isha is a idea n not a cult…
      Periyar left a legacy n gave common man hope of equality, logic n social being, he struggled to enlighten people about many things…. but today some dont understand what he did for the society but criticize his personal end days…. u say u r a witnesser by practice but without taking in the good only from sadhguru u r finding the faults in him… if sadhguru is sermoning only in one place he can make his speeches perfect…. he is travelling to diff genre of people n countries n spreading knowledge so his speech may slip here n there… to understand that speech without word mistakes search it in some isha blog or magazine… it might be correct there…
      U also said u wanted to be enlightened…. haha … u seem like a person who bullies the movie producers at the time of movie release to extort money…

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      1. Why are you apologizing on his behalf? He is obviously an opportunist, preying on the those who look to gurus to understand themselves, and I you can’t see that, you probably drank the cool-aid too. I understand the psychology of it, that you feel like a fool to admit you fell for his speil.

        There is no compassion in SG, he is proud and boastful, not the qualities of a truly enlightened human being.
        His pathetic laugh gives him away. His response to opposition and criticism is that of a person, who thinks such things are beneath him. I’ve seen him ridicule students who ask honest questions, because he constantly contradicts himself in his drivel.

        And when asked about that wife of his, whose death is not something to make light of, you can tell he is uncomfortable and trying to brush it aside. Again the pathetic laugh.

        Acting and attaining enlightenment cannot be compared, you allegory is false and dumb.
        Like a follower of SG I expect no less. But I pray for you.

        My friend is an avid follower of SG, but he is also a person who does not have the strenght to stand on his own.
        Thinking he needs a guru to get anywhere.

        SG plays into to popularity, using celebrities and politicians, but if he realized the Truth, there would be no need for that.

        Listen to him, with honest discernment, and you will know the truth about him.

        Also know, that when you are teaching to beings who are of a lesser understanding than yourself, kindness and empathy is always the best way to go. Not this pitiful attempt to seem aloof and aware, when really he is just hoping no one will call him out on his bullshit.

        And when they do, he resorts to ad hominem attacks. All very clever psychological tricks.

        Oh yeah, anyone who refers to himself as the Epitome of Truth, is not that.

        Sorry for any spelling errors, I am writing on a fairly new macbook pro that has all the flaws in the world.

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        1. No offense to the blog owner, but yeah Agnus Dei pretty much sums up my feelings. He is like a typical SE Asian boomer uncle/dad lol!! (Again I am SE Asian myself so I can get away with it…)

          I mean he NEVER compliments anyone. Not even the slightest. He even found some defects in Wim Hof with a video titled: Sadhguru gives advice to Wim Hof. (Ironically I actually agree with his advice, but my point is… out of so many millions of people in the world, you can’t find something positive in your devotees to shed light on and focus and highlight their positives? I know he does the whole ‘Namaste’ thing to show sign of humility, but unfortunately that’s not the vibe I got.)

          He is always critical of his devotees and has a slight and subtle shade of cynicism, scoff or patronizing tone. Again we are all humans on earth full of good qualities and negative qualities, but to assume he is beyond reproach is utterly naive.

          Not that there is anything wrong with wealth, but it seems he/his foundation is worth solid 20 million per internet snippet. He routinely guests in podcasts/Youtube shows like Tom Bilyeu, Brian Rose and what not and sometimes it makes me think if he is out there for celebrity hood. Let’s face it these have enormous viewers online. Of course many will point out he is using these platform to spread the gospel..

          And that’s another thing. Why do his devotees get all so worked up lest you criticize him? I thought mind of a true awakened one is like a calm placid lake where you drop a stone it causes no disturbance?

          Again I am not here to defame or slander him, but at the same time I refuse to bow down to anyone who himself doesn’t lead by example. Again Agnus Dei articulated it well about the hallmark of a true enlightened being. People like Alan Watts, Ajahn Brahm… you can FEEL that they have tasted the mead of their own self-realization just from their tone. Even Ram Dass.

          There are lot of awakened individuals who are not Youtube celebrities or Internet hotshots. They are like quiet professionals and may often appear under the guise of a Buddha at a gas station in Vermont or any remote part of the world where you wouldn’t expect them such as Asuncion, Paraguay.

          WE are all divine in nature. A true guru points that out – like finger pointing to the moon- to unveil your true nature. Unfortunately that is not the vibe I got from Sadhguru. And don’t even get me started how he criticizes and praises celibacy… but hey, coming from a guy, let me tell you this… even GOD can’t be fully celibat for 2000 years. 🙂

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    8. Hey man ! I read through ur entire blog and I am doubting ur enlightenment or that which u seem to have experienced. Firstly, because of ur high Hopes on science . And how high you seem to have given authority to science as the last word.
      I am not enlightened but I could intellectually grasp the very essence of scientific methodologies itself is limiting to know life or grasp existence completely. That was my first observation before I landed on spirituality. Unless western sciences value human experience as evidence then there is no scope in understanding existence. But if u include human experience then that is no longer science. According to me current science is like a dog trying to catch it’s own tail. And current scientific methodologies have hit a rock bottom long before. If there must be any improvement ,then it had to value human experience, but if it values y will.i need science. All I have to do is experience it myself and that’s spirituality.
      Moreover just like u feel blindness in sadhgurus followers , I feel great blindness in the science enthusiasts as well. I mean science isnt complete at all . But we use the current scientific conclusions as absolute truths . Science recently has become a religion among people. When u dont have a complete understanding of the existence why will u declare your current understanding as absolute truths . Even though science didnt declare it but people take them as absolutes. They dont realize science can change its views about literally everything.
      So this blind following of science as ultimate authority is definitely a huge killer to a seeker. And it has to be taken away . Just ask a kid who goes to school. He will have conclusions about everything in the universe . He is a flesh , he has organs, he has hormones , and all other things science says. He will say that’s all he is. He thinks he knows himself from the petty scientific conclusions. Not only he has ideas of himself ,he will.also have ideas of the flower the tree the clouds everything. The very eye of amazement is killed by scientific conclusions. The peope domt understand that current science isn’t the complete picture. Hence the seeking is killed .
      And this is why exactly even before I heard sadhguru I was against science . I was a science enthusiast till then .
      And if u cant see this also , then idk man what u claim ur awakening is about . Pretty simple thing about science .
      Maybe u just got glimpse and came back or something. Like it happened with me on LSD. Maybe what u got is what sadhguru calls the distance from self . I am a big fan of osho , even mentioning his name brings laughter to me 😂. One hell of a man . So I understand what u said about witnessing and stuffs. But I haven’t invested my time experimenting them like u have done. I have postponed it for some time soon in future . Maybe then I will see whst u are saying. But right now i intellectually feel that , moment of enlightenment has to be moment of death too. And u have to create a conscious karma to keep up the body . All other experience like urs are glimpses or what my man would call ‘ a satori ‘ 😂😂. I feel u just have created a separation between ur body mind and urself . Or in ramanas words , pulled out the plug to the fan . Now its receding the karmic substance. There must come a point of no karma and maybe that’s what sadhguru or osho call as the moment of enlightenment. And maybe there u will know experientially the trick to conscious karma. Idk man, I am just throwing my intellectual understanding . I may not have articulated well what I wanted to say but just let it come . Didnt edit or reread a single word .

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    9. Bro , maybe he was not his guru at all or probably he isnt much of a significant influence in his life. All we know he was with him and learnt some kriyas . So was he with many occultists he came through his life. He mentions only what those he feels the significant roles in his life . We dont know bro .
      When u look at his previous birth and the imprints he made through out India, I feel he might have felt the influence of rishi prabhakar insignificant to mention . And maybe other reasons too . Because as he said his primary objective is to bring people who have no interest in spirituality to become spiritual. So its better that they feel he is the ultimate. Only then they will come. If they know about rishi prabhakar they will think he is a copycat but in reality maybe he has lot more to offer than what he got from rishi prabhakar.
      So it’s the image bro , that’s needed to maintain otherwise normal herd wont come. That might also be a reason.
      And also maybe rishi prabhakar wasnt much of a guru to him . U never know . Just giving u other possibilities.

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    10. Even Sadhguru said everyone will eventually let you down. Relying on the external will not bring transformation. And yes, that which is not a product of thought always remains untouched by the karmic movie one acts in. No one can awaken for another.No one can breathe for you or me. No one can eat for another. Healthy skepticism is intelligent. If there is such a thing as “enlightenment “, it has never “saved ” the world. Awareness manifest naturally in moments for some people.
      It’s not a product of a religion or philosophy. Labels are always false.

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      1. Thanks for clear my doubts too. Being a beginner listener of Sadhguru, I was confused with so many expressions of him. When I saw him on Astha on the day of Mahashivratri, what Daler Mehndi is doing there to waste our timeq instead of that we were supposed to meditate upon Sadhguru’s New creation Adiyogi. Were we all supposed to be sleepless only or be awaken for spiritual upliftment. The evidences given by you from Upanishads and osho books are really a hard job. I am really thankful to you. Keep it up.best wishes.

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  3. Hey Shanmugam! Just read your article and I’d really say that you write pretty well! I just wanted to mention some points here for this huge article you wrote… But first of all I’d like to clear up that I’m neither a blind follower of Sadhguru or of any Guru or teacher in the world. I love to understand things logically and with pure sense. So please don’t judge me for this… So as I was saying, lemme clear that it’s been just around 1 year or so since I really started listening to Sadhguru… I mean properly understanding what he says and connecting with his logical views… In the beginning you said that you had an experience that you felt was close to enlightenment but was different from the experience Sadhguru personally had himself… So I’d like to make a point here as far as I understood his videos… He said that everyone has their own unique experiences of enlightenment and that’s perfectly fine… He never mentioned anywhere as far as I remember that his own enlightenment experience should happen with each and every one in this world… If he did mention that then please tell me where coz I might have missed it… And if it’s like what he said then how on the earth can you accuse him of something he never said?
    He also mentioned in one of his vids that Enlightenment is not a daily incident in your life that you can miss probably… Whenever it happens, It’ll be the most significant incident ever happened in your life… Now you said in your article that first you felt an enlightening experience and then you read something written by someone and felt confused about your own experience… I just wanna ask you that how can you be so much confused about such an immense experience by reading anyone defining enlightenment in some other way? How can you deviate from your self experiences by reading any kind of shit written by anyone?
    So, it’ll be really appreciable of you if you give proper and logical explanations and clarifications to my queries…
    Regards
    Surya

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    1. First of all, to understand what I said, you need to have a proper understanding of what spiritual enlightenment is all about. But if you depend on Sadhguru as the only authority to understand what it is, then whatever I am going to say now will be fruitless… But still, I will try to explain…

      The version Sadhguru is presenting about spiritual enlightenment is not correct at all.. Experiences may vary but spiritual enlightenment is the same… It is nothing but a complete dissolution of a sense of separate self, which ends duality, the feeling of separation.. And there are some core instructions regarding spiritual enlightenment which Sadhguru never talks about. But as I said, he talks about everything which are actually distractions…

      How do I know this? Because, I have not only listened to Sadhguru, I have also read extensively on Ramana Maharshi’s talks, Nisargadatta Maharaj talks and others.. The only thing was, I was completely distracted after listening to Sadhguru and got a totally different idea about enlightenment. I have to admit that his talks, blog posts, and books influenced my understanding of enlightenment a lot, and as a result, I actually misunderstood what it is… But fortunately, I was always practicing the witnessing meditation suggested by Osho.

      Coming to your second question, there was no doubt that a complete transformation happened and it was very clear. What happened to me was the actual self-realization. And it indeed ended my seeking and gave me complete fulfilment.. I was very clear that my journey was over.. I have stated this in my bio and my book as well.. The only thing was, it did not coincide with the concept of enlightenment that Sadhguru is presenting. But I never bothered about it for more than 2 years, since nothing actually mattered after that.. I didn’t even care about the word ‘enlightenment’ because after all, it is just a word..

      But as I said, only after 2 years, I was able to think as usual about many things that I never thought about in the previous two years.. I have actually explained all this in this post.. You may go through this post once again if you want to..

      There is a difference between wondering ‘Am I enlightened?’ and asking ‘is this enlightenment?’… The first question implies that there is still a sense of separate self which wants to become something. But such a question cannot arise after enlightenment because enlightenment itself is a complete dissolution of the sense of a separate self .. But I have wondered ‘is this enlightenment’, because whatever happened to me did not gel with the concept of enlightenment that I had all along, the one Sadhguru was implying..His talks and books gives a totally different idea of what it is.

      I will give you an analogy. Let us say you have never tasted any fruit in your life. And you don’t understand what sweetness is. Someone tells you ‘a fruit is something which tastes sweet, but after eating a fruit you will fly! I have tasted it and I fly everyday in the evening’… Suddenly one day you get to taste a fruit not knowing that it is a fruit. You taste the sweetness and you are completely convinced that this is the sweetness that you were searching for. But you are surprised because you didn’t fly… Anyway, you don’t bother about it and move on, being satisfied with the sweetness. You eat that fruit everyday and be happy but still think that there is actually something called ‘fruit’ which will make you fly and you haven’t found it yet.. It is not a matter of concern anyway. Suddenly one day, some authoritative guy tells you that nobody flies after tasting a fruit. You then realize that the original guy who told you that misled you. Also assume that the original guy never actually helped you to find the fruit but instead someone else’s guidance helped you. But other than this, there is nothing wrong with the original guy. It is just that he pretended to know about a fruit but he actually did not. In fact, you now remember that a lot of descriptions he gave for a fruit doesn’t match with whatever you are eating. He even said that a fruit has a long tail that is longer than an elephant’s tail and has a diamond seed in it!

      Now, just apply this analogy to enlightenment. This was my situation. If you go through the links I have given in this post, it may make it even clear. Also read this: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/what-is-spiritual-enlightenment/

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      1. Well I agree with you on this and especially that fruit example… You explained it really well through that example! And to be clear enough, I said it before too that I’m not a blind follower of any person or guru and I’m only driven towards seeking the ultimate! I’m not at all interested in debating and defending anyone… But one thing still bothering me is that he said in one of his vids that he and every great spiritual person ever born handled and adviced different sections and groups of people differently according to their present needs and levels… Maybe he sounds contradictory due to that as he advices different individuals differently considering their needs and all? And I agree with that. But I agree with your example too… So what would you like to say on this?

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        1. Yes, gurus offer guidance to people according to the level of seeker and according to the present time and they also offer some general guidance as well… But a guru cannot offer such personal guidance in a public discourse.. The seeker either has to be Guru’s close disciple or at least there should be a two way conversation. If you read the talks of Ramana Maharshi, you may understand this. But that is not what is happening in case of Sadhguru. He is not really offering any guidance to enlightenment at all, in his talks. If you want to attend the programs offered by Isha, that is fine.. They are quite helpful in preparing the ground. But if you listen to his talks, it is not only a distraction but you will get a completely different idea on what enlightenment and spiritual path is all about. That is all I can say. I can see the difference between a personalized guidance and a complete misrepresentation.

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          1. You said that Sadhguru distracts you from the idea of true enlightenment. I’d like to ask you why do you think so and can you mention those incidents where he says such things that are complete distractions cause as far as I’ve understood him, he says the same thing about enlightenment as you i.e. dissolution of the duality… He just expresses it using different words… He also says that most sages generally didn’t spoke about enlightenment cause they had a chance of being misunderstood as says in this vid- https://youtu.be/o7YFWEJyJhg
            I read your article on enlightenment too and I personally didn’t found any distortion in his way of expressing it from the way you do… It’ll be much better if you point out those particular points in his videos or books as they’ll be helpful for everyone to understand the clear differences. And in that video he also mentions that people usually misunderstand him and that’s why he never defines it usually. He just shows you a tool towards it and you can know it yourself… Now I’m not supporting him or so blindly, but I didn’t found anything misleading in it either. So I’ll be grateful to you for pointing them out as there are no clear points in your blog regarding the same.

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            1. Shanmugam, please respond to this, I am also quite interested in knowing how Sadhgurus talks are distracting from a realization. Similar to Surya, I see very little difference in what Sadhguru has said and you have written about enlightenment. Could you clarify those specific places where you found his speeches to be misrepresentations?

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              1. I don’t want to start the topic of Sadhguru again as I no longer respond to the new comments that I get regarding the posts on Sadhguru. But I have indeed written many answers on Quora and you can go through them.

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                1. I want to thank you so much for writing your blogs and creating videos. I wanted to share some of the “unique” behaviors that I have witnessed from some of the Isha volunteers and followers. I have taken Inner Engineering, BSP, and most of the Hatha yoga classes. Needless to say, I have spent a lot of money on Isha Programs and have never regretted it. However, despite what I have learned from Sadhguru and how my life has been transformed, I did have concerns about some of the negative things Sadhguru says about “Westerners”, particularly Californians, and have noticed that there is definitely a cultural prejudice present when you attend Isha events. At first I thought it was all in my head but then I started to notice it more and more as I attended multiple Isha events. I was so disheartened to see such rude and dismissive behaviors from Isha volunteers and followers. My sister and I were pushed and shoved while standing in line and as we entered the convention hall, and my sister is handicapped. During snack time, I asked one of the volunteers if my sister could stay in the hall because she had a hard time walking and the volunteer rudely said absolutely not and then proceeded to follow me to get my sister. Meanwhile I observed that several non-white participants were sitting on their mats eating and no one said anything to them. This type of behavior has been observed at several Isha events. Sadhguru has said that he has no control over his volunteers because they are simply volunteers, but for an institution that claims they have the highest standards for their teachers, they should also think about setting the same level of standards for their staff, regardless of whether they are getting paid or not. Since last year, I have limited the number of Isha events that I attend. I still think Sadhguru is a very intelligent and well spoken individual, but your blogs have helped comfort me in knowing that it’s ok to question and have doubts about people or ideas that you once thought were the ultimate truth. I continue to keep an open mind about spirituality and enlightenment. If there are any books that you can recommend, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you again.

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      2. When it comes to enlightenment, I have actually not found any difference between Sadhguru, Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Gopi Krishna, Yogananda, or anyone else. What they say and do in between can differ. In fact, it is true that Sadhguru speaks about and does a lot about stuff that has nothing to do with enlightenment, those serve other purposes for other people. He has always been candid about it. I for one have been very skeptical about him for 10 years – I did all the research possible, not only about Sadhguru, but about any guru or religion I came across.

        Mostly the internet is full of garbage – blind followers, internet trolls, random theories, fake hallucinations, speculations, and dear god, the forums – they are breeding places for building temples upon ignorance. Such phenomenal complication around something so phenomenally fundamentally simple. And it’s all ignorance!

        Finally, I dropped it all, all the garbage. I abandoned my intellectual traps and decided I was going to experience things for myself – all this accumulation of knowledge was due to fear and doubt in my mind. I had made more progress by simply being with an enlightened friend who made me realize how utterly fundamentally simple it was.

        It was ultimately just getting everything in the way to become transparent and step out of the way. I really never had anything to lose. It was with this in mind I took up Inner Engineering and Shambhavi and I have not regretted. I also do a simple meditation to bring my mind to settle down (when it does it simply settles down into the heart) and then I do a meditation where I observe how it’s like to strip yourself of everything. That is I am, here and now, the ‘naked’ observer experiencing everything. And then comes this — What observes and experiences I am? Do not answer the question with any idea, just listen and be totally receptive, what needs to unfold will unfold. Anyway the first 2 meditation techniques of Inner Engineering also got me here. It’s amazing what it’s like when the mind is totally silent, even if it is for a few seconds.

        All these are tools ultimately – different tools. There are also many tools to explore certain attainments in life across many dimensions. I no longer bother about what gurus eat for breakfast or what dress they wore or much of what they say – all these are irrelevant accumulations. What matters is so plain and simple it’s right in front of you.

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  4. https://youtu.be/kNVywF6q_Gs Here Sadhguru explains about Ramana Maharishi and where do you think he was misleading? In fact he was saying that Who am I is the essential question that you should discover yourself within you if you are courageous enough to do it without any external help. Please reply over this…

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    1. He has quoted not only Ramana Maharshi, but many other people. And he has indeed conveyed many insightful things in certain videos and talks (regarding spiritual enlightenment)…

      But what he says in an individual blog or video is not important.. The overall guidance a person gets by long term association is important.. Anybody can read a book by Ramana Maharshi or Osho, intellectually understand it and convey it to others. You can find many people writing or talking about such things all over the internet.

      But the question is, can that person really guide you towards liberation? The person may say something totally wrong or misleading in another instant, in another article or in another video or in another book. Such misleading information or guidance actually comes from the person’s own ideas, beliefs, conditioning, intentions and understanding, not necessarily from his authentic experience of reality. The biggest challenge that a seeker faces on the spiritual path is separating facts from myths and separating truth from illusions..

      What I am writing is from my overall understanding of what he said, overall impression and influence that he made on me in the last 13-14 years… Only after my own transformation, I clearly understood how misleading his talks and books are when it comes to spiritual enlightenment.. Again, don’t misunderstand, it is not about anything else, but spiritual enlightenment only..

      But if you ask me to make you understand something that I understood over 13-14 years, it may not be possible. The only possibility you have here is just to be open to this and keep what I say in mind. You don’t have to believe or agree with what I am saying. But if you are really seeking liberation and if your seeking is true, then you will somehow find your way.

      If you want my suggestion, then it would be to focus on Ramana Maharshi’s talks and try ‘witnessing’ meditation by Osho. And you can certainly do the programs offered by Isha Yoga. The only thing you have to be careful is to retain your skepticism and not fall in the trap of creating a cult of personality.

      Many people usually say that they don’t believe in anything blindly. But what they don’t realize is, beliefs creep in unconsciously over a long period of time. Usually, nobody believes in anything as soon as they hear something. But when they are exposed to something again and again over a period of time and when they also hear other people saying the same thing, beliefs slowly creep in, grow unconsciously, become stronger and stronger and make you a victim of confirmation bias and motivated reasoning. Then those beliefs will be the authority for you even though you may not realize it.

      Sadhguru himself says that he doesn’t have any teaching, he only has methods.. Even if you are really interested in his guidance, then the best thing to do will be to do the programs and take whatever he says with the pinch of salt. If you ask me, I would say it is better to not listen to his spiritual talks or read his books at all.

      But you always have the right to do whatever you think is right. As long as you keep your open-mindedness and skepticism and as long as you follow your own light, there is no problem.

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      1. Absolutely wonderful! Thanks for your guidance and sharing your invaluable experience of 14 years with everyone! I’ll definitely keep all your advices in my mind and will never stop questioning and seeking… Thank you again for taking out your invaluable time for writing all this! It displays your responsibility towards everyone! Well wishes to you and your family!
        Namaste 🙏
        #skepticforever

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          1. So you’re listening to him for over 14 years? How did you manage it when there was no YouTube? Did you visited at his centers or what?

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            1. I first read his books ‘Mystic Musings’ and ‘Encounter the enlightened’… I read both of those books a couple of times.. Then I read some other small publications and occasionally the magazine published by Isha..

              There are also lot of DVD series and each of them last for about an hour.. I bought a lot of such dvds during initial years. I was also a regular reader of the blogs in Isha.. Once his talks were on Youtube, I listened to many of them as well… I also attended two or three of his satsangs..

              I didn’t actually mean just listening to him alone even though I used the word ‘listening’, but all of the content in both written and spoken form, in books, DVDs, videos etc.

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                1. When I attended his satsangs, I was sitting very close to him, probably in the fourth or fifth row.. But I have never had a direct conversation with him, if that is what you are asking..

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                  1. “Quite an Article”!!! … Pretty much intrigued with “your Conversation with Surya” !!!

                    It would be grateful if you could share or provide Answers for my three Questions…!!!

                    Note : I am seeking for “DARKNESS” … quite fed up with too much LIGHT in my LIFE

                    1) How many Months or Years did you Practice “Witnessing Meditation”?

                    2)How many Months or Years did you Practice “Shambavi Mahamudra”?

                    3)Did you do “Samyama Program”?

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                    1. Thank you…

                      1) I had completely integrated witnessing in my day to day life.. so I was practicing it for about 12 years…

                      2)I practiced Shambavi probably for about two months.. I couldn’t continue because certain rules were completely inconvenient for me.. I was working in night shifts and staying as a bachelor. So, there were many practical difficulties

                      3) I have not done Samyama but I am aware of the contents of the program..

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      2. With due respect to all Spiritual Gurus and Masters,
        We are all seekers in the path of spiritual journey and knowing ourselves is our birth right what ever we can call it enlightenment or self realization or so. Paths are many but destination is same. I consider myself always as student learning in the Divine University of this world where God has appointed so many Gurus and masters who are instrumental to guide us towards reaching our destination. Whatever little I learnt is that we should first shake off this Ego or personal importance by avoiding saying too much I and me in talking with others, this way we can dissolve our Ego otherwise we either react to a situation or feel victimized and try to open up to unconditionally love others. This will make us peaceful and quiet. Silence is the language of Soul. Let us try to stop the internal and external chatter to feel our inner love and express to others with compassion. Then we will feel all equal or same. This is a state of somewhat non-duality. In the next level of consciousness, if you are fortunate enough with grace of God, ur spiritual eyes will open up and you can feel the infinite consciousness in everything. Initially, it may come and go, may last for few hrs but you will burst with joy to observe the world drama/ comedy is going on in front of you but are not affaected or involved in the drama. You have become the screen of world movie theatre, on ur screen of consciousness all drama is going on sometimes, fire, storm or flooding sometimes fear, frustration arising but like screen you are not affected. You are now everpeaceful, joyful, blissful , enlightened forever, no return to duality of life.
        Dolac

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  5. Thanks for this post.

    I’ve been a seeker for many years. I’m a bit unlucky for living in a part of the world where it’s a bit difficult to find a spiritual teacher to sit with. So that’s why I’ve had to settle with reading booksand blogs, watching youtube videos and doing meditation on my own.
    So in my situation someone like Sadhguru has grown to be an huge figure. I first found him through Youtube and got hooked on his videos and talks and soon I also started following the Isha Blog. I really don’t have anything negative to say about him or what he’s saying. Some of it has helped me a lot and made me more open to the possibilities of being a human. Also how all about him is deeply ingrained in Indian culture is very exotic to me.

    At the same time though I’ve also been following other spiritual teachers such as Adyashanti and Rupert Spira who are based in non-dualism. They have a more culturally neutral feel to their way of teaching. I feel that they also are way more willing to share actual ways to awaken yourself whereas Sadhguru always leaves me feeling like I need to attend an Isha meditation or yoga course to get the “whole package”. Nothing really wrong with that, I’ve no doubt that they could be really beneficial.
    That is actually how many Sadhguru videos and Blog posts leave me feeling – Like I’m unable to figure anything out by myself and I have to travel somewhere to get the true knowledge.

    That feeling actually lead me to your post.

    Reading it made me feel a huge inner relief for some reason. Like I’m saying goodbye to a person that has weighed me down – reliefed and a bit sad at the same time.

    Not to say that I believe Sadhguru is a fraud or even wrong at what he’s saying. Just that I don’t really have to believe and follow him and pay an energetic toll whenever I feel like I’m not doing good on my spiritual path.

    Most of my spiritual insights have actually come from other teachers, like the ones I mentioned earlier. Very similar stuff to the Osho witnessing you spoke of.

    I will probably continue to follow what Sadhguru has to say and I might even be interested in attending Inner Engineering or something similar if I get the chance. but I also have gained some trust in my own ability to navigate through my spiritual path.

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    1. Thanks for your comments. You sound very honest, sincere and clear.. 🙂 Just continue with the same attitude.. Nothing else is needed.. Your last line “I also have gained some trust in my own ability to navigate through my spiritual path.” is a good indication that you are on the right track.

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    2. Hii
      I am totally confused now, can anybody guide me whether i should join Isha foundations not for spirituality, just to get over some negative ideas and a very bad habit of over thinking leading to lot of disruption in my studies . Or which book or which spiritual leader should i follow to do the same.

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      1. You can do the programs.. They are great.. I only criticize what he speaks. And criticism is the backbone of Dharma. Also, if you get identified with anything, including being an ‘Isha volunteer’, it misses the whole point of Spirituality.. Go ahead and volunteer for any organization as long as you serve people. But do not get attached to anything, be it an organization, scripture or a Guru. Ramakrishna went to nirvikalpa samadhi only after dropping his attachment with Kali.. Anyway, confusion is better than believing; because confusion makes you pay attention to the conflict you have and helps you to live with uncertainty.. And after finishing the yoga programs in Isha if you spend all your energy in just defending the organization which taught you Yoga to the extent of sounding absurd, you will be wasting your time…Do yoga, surrender to the One and Only who resides in every being and be happy.. 🙂

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  7. Hi, A really nice article with so many details. Thank you for taking your time and writing extensively on this matter. I have observed similar trends with Sadhguru followers on Youtube and honestly wished if someone came up with an article like this. Thank you so much for doing this.

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  8. Pingback: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and Isha: Pride and Prejudice – Shanmugam's Personal Blog

  9. well that was something i have been too ,i too was a skeptic but slowly turned into believing what sadhguru says to be true.i still think that despite many of these things you wrote about none of them has been prooven it can be possible for this to be true or false as i dont know it. but i will not be following sadhguru as what he says to be true.
    There are many but and still one of them is now that citing one of the sayings of his as this is not the thing that is most needed to be done right now ,if list all of those things to be done this seems to me not the highest of all.

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  10. Dear Shanmugam- I am not sure how authentic Sadhguru is. However, I feel that he has tools for Sadhana. What is your opinion of BSP? Any Hypnosis techniques used to control people. Will BSP be helpful in a seeker’s journey?

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  11. No body can really check if he is enlightened or not to call him Fake or etc….At the same time many gurus & mystics just leave their bodies by announcing it like Ragavendra Swamy , may be if he left in the same way we can be very much proud that we lived with a real mystic or Guru ….

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  12. Hi Shanmugam,

    I peeked at your book “The Truth About Spiritual Enlightenment: Bridging Science, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta” on Amazon. There have been a couple of times in my 27 years old life when I have been driven to pre-maturely end this life. The first time, I looked at all the things I could be grateful for, made excuses for the troubles and tried to find reasons for a better life. The second time, all my methods of the past decade fell away like ash, along with it my desire for any kind of worldly fulfillment. I have been trying to tread this path for the past 2 years in which I have visited a Buddhist monastery, read about Swami Vivekanada, Sadhguru, Vipassana, Divine Life Society, Dr. Brian Weiss etc. What I clearly understand is that I know nothing about myself and do not have any passion. All the things that I thought were a core part of me, fell away instantly the second time and they have not returned. I sincerely believe that blindly groping about with different psychological techniques, bhakti, enlightenment procedures will not help me. I feel like a “murkha” who needs a Guru. May be then I will be able to discover the true purpose of this birth. In my desperation to not create any more negative karma, I have been tempted to try out past life regression techniques, suggested consecrated places and take up a present day guru like Sadhguru. Right now, I am considering Sanyasa with Sri Sarada Math which seems the safest for a female. Would you please let me know your thoughts about this place and, also make your book’s paperback version available.
    Thank you!

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    1. Dear seeker,

      From what you are describing I can say that this is a good sign. Most of the time, I only come across people who seek spiritual progress motivated by just curiosity or a desire for self improvement. But you sound like you are genuinely seeking spiritual guidance.

      I would suggest joining a mutt or monastery as the last option and consider it only if you feel like a life of house-holder is impossible for you. But make sure you weigh all the pros and cons.

      I don’t know much about the safety of Saradha math. But just doing a simple Google search for any kind of controversy about this math did not come up with anything bad.

      I also suggest reading this page and the pages linked from this page completely: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/for-seekers-of-liberation/.

      Currently, Amazon kdp doesn’t provide paperback service in India. So, in Amazon.in, only my kindle book is available. It is possible to order my book directly from Amazon.com (instead of amazon.in) but it will be expensive because of the shipping cost.

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  13. You are right. Mutt option is not really an option. Often mutts turn out to be cults and the last thing I need is a traumatic prison-like experience. Though I am quite inspired by Swami Vivekananda, I am not at all convinced by the portrayal of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Sri Sarada Devi. A lot of good things have been done in their name by Swamiji but, I find them to be sketchy characters. I found a handful of remotely controversial stuff regarding the couple and this book ‘Stripping the Gurus’ by Geoffrey D. Falk (although a bit aggressive) does join the dots to explain some eccentricities.

    What is your opinion about Sanskrit mantra recitation? The effect of sounds and vibrations is proven but, do you think reciting specific mantras for protection/vairagya/mukti/shanti etc. really helps?

    I read your ideas about past life regression and hopefully I will be able to contribute once I reach a peaceful state. Do you think that the purpose of this life is to attain this peaceful state? What about karma then that you keep creating as long you have this physical body?

    I have been meditating and do feel vibrations in my chakras sometimes but, I feel my eagerness to get some answers (regarding the mystical experiences) ruins my progress. I have a long way to go. How long did it take you to reach this state from the time you started practicing witnessing? What do you mean by “I was doing all the right things for the past two months to reach this state” when you describe your experience at Sadhguru’s event?

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    1. “What is your opinion about Sanskrit mantra recitation? The effect of sounds and vibrations is proven but, do you think reciting specific mantras for protection/vairagya/mukti/shanti etc. really helps?”

      First of all, many people who recite mantras do not even pronounce it correctly. In the school I studied, our prayer was a set of sanskrit mantras including popular Shanti mantras from upanishads. Also, every week there is a bhajan for one hour in which we had to sing a lot of such songs and mantras. Recently, a few months before I started learning Sanskrit and I realized that most of the slokas that we were chanting were chanted incorrectly by most of us, because there was no written document that we could refer to to make corrections. But I am skeptical about the claim that mantras themselves have some kind of special energy or something that helps you directly in the spiritual path.

      But you can use this as tools and it certainly has some effects. It can be very well explained by a psychological concept called ‘classical conditioning’. I will give you a simple example for classical conditioning. Think about a period in the past when you were really happy. Choose a period that is at least 5 years before and listen to a song that you listened to regularly during those days. As soon as you listen to it, it may immediately trigger those memories and even remind you of certain wonderful experiences. This applies to objects of every sense perception, including touch, smell. sight etc. When you recite a mantra everyday with a good music or even listen to one while meditating, the mantra will get associated with any good experience that you go through while meditating. In the future, the mantra may automatically trigger certain stillness whenever you listen to it. This is probably the reason why some people claim that they find mantras helpful.

      You can also apply this effect to temples too. Regarding temples, it is certainly a fact that I sense a difference between being inside a temple and being outside a temple. This effects is strong in temples which has a pradakshina path. When it comes to temples, a theist has a very strong association with it. The decoration of the murthi, the lamps, the small of camphor, taste of tulsi, smell of flowers used for worship, devotional music or chants, smell of the holy ash etc has always been associated with peace and calmness in our minds. So, being inside it can certainly trigger feelings of peace and surrender. The effect is very strong. But it doesn’t matter whether the source is psychological or some kind of energy. The effect is the same.

      “Do you think that the purpose of this life is to attain this peaceful state? What about karma then that you keep creating as long you have this physical body?”

      Regarding the ‘purpose of life’, read this: http://qr.ae/TUTYZB. Also In general, I would suggest you not worry about anything that you heard only by verbal testimony, such as karma, past life etc. When it comes spiritual path, it is mainly about ending your suffering and ending the sense of separation. Once that happens, you won’t worry about all these things…

      “How long did it take you to reach this state from the time you started practicing witnessing? “

      After I started practicing ‘witnessing’, It took about 12 years. I had tried many things before doing school days but a true understanding about spiritual path was missing.

      “What do you mean by “I was doing all the right things for the past two months to reach this state” when you describe your experience at Sadhguru’s event?”

      During those two months, witnessing had become a 24 hour thing. Even in dreams, it was happening. :). My every step, every thought and every word that I uttered was done with absolute mindfulness.

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      1. After a long search found something sensible, deep and very relevant to spritual seeking. I have been in this path for the last 20 years. Visited the Isha ashram once and found Jaggi Vasudev is a clever man. He has used basis of idol worship ( dhyana linga, linga bhairavi, Adiyogi) which is deep rooted in Hindus to sell the Yoga stuff. I have experienced deeper states in places like Kanda ashram( Thiruvanamalai) and various spaces. I found the ashram as a normal peaceful place. There are many temples which are more powerful that what he claims. If majority of people get influenced only by his yoga and start practicing in life, I am happy.

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  14. Hi Shan,
    Thank you for your time and your words. I came to know about your blog through Phanindra’s. It is really helpful and I hope you continue inspiring seekers to be inquisitive. It seems we do have gurus like Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadutta Maharaj amidst us today. Recently, I found out about Sri Lakshmana Swamy and Mathru Sri Sarada. Guru-shisya relationship will only be formed when it is the right time for both. Have you ever had the opportunity to visit them or, know of anyone who has?

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    1. Yes, I am aware of them.. I have a book that has the life and teachings of both Sri Lakshmana Swamy and Mathru Sri Sarada… I haven’t visited them. They usually don’t meet seekers. To my knowledge, Sri Lakshmana Swamy gives public darshan once in a year. But you may be able to talk to them by waiting near the gate. A few people have met them that way. You can give it a try if you like.

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  15. Hi thanks for your post. If I can allow myself I woul like to comment on a few things:
    A. I personally think discrediting the effect of Sadhguru’s presence & Dhyanalinga’s effect on you is not totally right. Yes true most effort was made by you but I think the above was a support too.
    B. Reading your post, I am rethinking over ny decision of getting a linga Bhairavi yantra consecrated for home or business which would have cost me a couple of thousands of dollars. Maybe I am the lazy one not practicing enough witnessing during my daily life & so hoping that a yantra will push me forward but as Sadhguru himself said somewhere along these lines that the human body itself is a yantra. Would you however recommend any other smaller yantra? Like the Dhyanalinga one?
    C. Personally Sadhguru looks genuine to me but is also some sort of Robin Hood, taking from the well to do & redistributing to destitutes in some form or another.
    D. Isha Yoga Centre’s Dhyanalinga & Sadhguru’s satsang were very beneficial to me. I personally felt it during my visit there. However I feel that the sannyasins (mostly the female ones) are not very happy. They still seem to have repressions inside of them. The Osho people of OIMR seem much happier & a lot more open about Osho critics than Sadhguru followers seem to be. I guess dynamic meditation would help them a lot 🙂
    E. Sadhguru may not be able to be very open like Osho about subjects like sex mainly because of the conservative society he has to operate in. Osho at a point was no more interested to touch millions of people but only those who were genuinely interested.

    Would love to hear your opinions on the above

    Regards

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    1. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your willingness to be open to criticism regarding Sadhguru.

      a) Actually, everything that happens in a person’s life contributes by giving a move, push or insight on the spiritual path. Regarding Isha, I don’t deny the psychological impact it made on me and the inspiration it gave towards my spiritual journey. I certainly admire the architecture in Isha, the kind of music they make through the Sounds of Isha and I do thank Sadhguru and Isha foundation for providing such a serene environment for meditation. My criticism is only towards whatever I have explained in this post.

      b) Yes, Human body itself is an yantra. An yantra is nothing but a map of a mandala which was used in Vajrayana Buddhism, Kashmir Shaivism and many other tantric sects. When you externalize it, it becomes a temple; when you internalize it, it becomes chakras. These chakras are actually aids, not actual entities. If you seem to be dependant on external aids, then you don’t have to buy such costly yantras. Go to a temple that has a pradakshina path with many surrounding deities. A temple is nothing but an externalized mandala and it certainly offers a lot of psychological aids when used in the right way. If you read my recent post here, you will get a better idea: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/a-shamatha-meditation-based-on-symbolism-visualization-mnemonics-and-classical-conditioning/

      c) This is not really much about whether Sadhguru is genuine or not; but this criticism has to do much about misleading nature of what he is saying in many of his speeches. It may or may not be intentional. I think you may be able to understand it better after reading this Quora answer of mine: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-that-after-surfing-through-Quora-my-faith-and-trust-in-Sadhguru-Jaggi-Vasudev-is-gradually-declining-Is-there-any-solution-to-this-uneasiness/answer/Shanmugam-P-12

      d)Yes.. there is much seriousness in Isha. Osho’s way was bringing meditation into one’s daily mundane activities without running away from life or devoting a lot of time in just sitting meditations. He encouraged dancing and celebrating. Such an air of celebration seems to be missing in Isha sometimes. There are lot of brahmacharis there who do not live in the society of a real world. It is not really that necessary and in fact will lead to repression in the modern times.

      e) Sadhguru has actually given a discourse series called ‘sexuality and divine’. Based on my exposure to Isha, I can say that he has tried the complete model which Osho has tried. You won’t find this style in Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna, J.Krishnamurti or any other realized person. Yes it is true that Osho at later point of time actually worked in reducing the number of disciples he had. This is actually done by every guru, not just Osho. There are many instances where some people have to be gotten rid of, because they are not in a position to truly understand what is being communicated. It would be much of a nuisance to keep them near. Also, if a disciple moving away from a guru helps him in some way, guru may choose to do that too. But this is not the same as Sadhguru’s unwillingness to talk about certain topics. In fact, Sadhguru seems to be working on getting more and more people as admirers of Isha.

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  16. Thanks for your response. I don’t think I really need an external yantra in fact. From a very young age, I stopped a lot of dependence on supposedly external spiritual stuffs. And I do feel transformations happening, although very slowly sometimes, in my internal & external world through presence practice that I got mainly during a retreat with Eckhart Tolle and later enhanced by Osho & my visit at Isha. I admit being lazy many times but its not easy to switch off awareness once you know the taste of it..even if you want to Not be aware in certain cases 😊
    Thanks & Regards

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  17. I sort of paused when you said that an enlightened person still experiences a myriad of emotions but doesn’t get swept away by them. That’s dualistic thinking. I hear this a lot and quite honestly it can be confusing. You do get swept away. Thats the whole Idea that you’re one with whatever is going on in your mind. While in fact you sweep yourself away. You’d never feel anything genuinely if you don’t get swept away. Furthermore it contradicts the definition of enlightenment/nirvana as you yourself said the word mean to extinguish. Therefore the death of your mother should not phase you according to that definition. People even say stuff like, I sleep with women but I have no attachments. That’s not true. The attachment it’self made you sleep with them. So for the most part as you can see people just repeat what other people said. It’s the ego snake in the grass talking… Really.

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  18. Your entire blog speaks my thoughts … I have been following Sadhguru since 2014 and have been to his ashram too … You talked about placebo effect and about his degree in English i too think that many will be expert in many different things but can’t explain about their work due to lack of language knowledge take APJ he’s a scientist but he’s poor in English this dsnt mean he knows ntg abt science it’s jus that his focus was never on language or he didn’t personally devoted time nd energy for English but here Sadhguru being a degree holder in English literature he has a great hold over the language nd it’s vacoblary … and yes we in reality don’t at all know if he is enlightened or not only god knows he knows that but yes I can’t even say that for sure that he is not enlightened … Seeing so many of his vdos blogs reading his books nd comparing l that with my spiritual knowledge nd progress it seems he is enlightened but again i say we can’t really say this with surety only he nd god knows …. Lastly u r right it’s better not to follow his vdos nd books …. Do ur own study yes true the biggest trouble in the path of spirituality is ro distinguish myth from reality it needs tremendous dedication … When we are on spiritual path we need not give up on comfort zone it automatically goes away …. I agree with each and everything u wrote in this blog … !!

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  19. In what way does your experience differ from this?

    https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/wisdom/article/samadhi-to-go-beyond-existence

    On the point of oneness, I don’t see any disagreement between any of you…

    The Higgs Boson, ok, can be totally skipped. Lots of people come and get attracted to all the things that are basically the distractions around the most important thing. I was also this type that expected a guru’s every word to be absolutely perfect, only to realize that to expect a human body to be unlimited was the mistake I was making and I was missing the most important thing with all this noise and baggage. I was still identified with the body.

    Sadhguru’s videos on random stuff like Sterlite or particle physics – that’s actually the least important thing about it. Of course, many followers will miss that part, but it’s ok. More poisonous than simple faith are the demons of doubt. I really don’t see even why you bother about his commenting on Sterlite so much. Followers will always come whichever way and build fortresses of concepts around the real thing – they did it for Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Yogananda, etc..etc..etc.. Revelation –> Revolution –> Religion –> Racket. None of the internet trolls are realized — they’re just fanboys.

    The thing is, once some disciples asked Lahiri Mahasaya that whether his body would ever stop feeling sexual urges. His answer was that his (own) body will stop doing what it does only on the day it is placed on the funeral pyre. This caused some others to get disturbed and think that Lahiri Mahasaya was not really enlightened … because their concepts of what they thought enlightenment is had no roots in reality.

    The very first lesson in inner engineering that was taught to me is basically witnessing everything that you’re responding to consciously. This alone made such an impact I have no doubt that this one thing could do the job if taken to its ultimate conclusion.

    In my own experience, I have meditated before Dhyanalinga – it feels like an absolutely steady presence in the silence. I reached a point where I just was, if I had to go further, I would have to ‘surrender’ (which I recognize as dropping the act). A very soothing and intense feeling has been in the meditation room of my house for years now, which only now I realize was because there was a Dhyanalinga yantra there for over a decade.

    Again all this is in one way a big joke too – my friend who I know for years and who has been enlightened finds every piece of the earth as a spiritual unfolding (he has guided me for a while now, got me out of my baggage), but then he is fully out of all stories – the universe is a story for him. Nevertheless this is not something for intellectual understanding. I am still ‘in a story’ so right now I can’t go beyond what I experience. Consecrated places or holy places are a very real joke, but still a joke nevertheless, very useful when you’re in the story, but still part of the story. A humorous thing when you’re out of the story. Even the whole idea of ‘getting enlightened’ is a story.

    Sadhguru himself admitted that if it was just enlightenment, then it is very simple and doesn’t need this. Many of the things he does serve several other needs.

    Now Sadhguru has a lot of stories to say about Adiyogi, Krishna and others, but tell you what – you don’t need to know any of the stories for enlightenment or for the yogic processes to work. Such things down the line only breed doubts for the mind to feed and distract you from the reality of the actual experience. Knowing, believing or not believing these stories has no impact experientially. But I will tell you that if you get caught up in this, you’ll breed doubts and disillusionment and these totally distract from what’s actually happening. These doubts are demons, they send the ego on a path of needless complexity. So I only see this like a child sees a story, not something I believe in, certainly not something I experience.

    And this is where I have to disagree with you in the matter of generating skepticism – skepticism is good, but if the demons of stories and blind following are distracting, ultimately the demons of doubt are paralyzing and they complicate what is fundamentally the simplest thing. Many simple people who give themselves wholly to a process can easily be enlightened, but the intellect can become its own undoing.

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    1. You are putting everything beautifully. The only thing is, you are missing where the focus is…. Sadhguru is just an excuse… Who is Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev anyway? Is it a name and form that arises and passes away or is it the formless and boundless essence that is always there, that which can neither grow nor diminish, that which is neither born and not dies and that which is the only truth there is?

      The focus here is not Sadhguru really.. My intention of writing all these posts is to help people see through their unconscious behavior. And I know that it is actually working. If you read this you may understand: http://qr.ae/TUpzl1

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      1. Internet anonymity is a drug that makes alcohol looks sober.

        Anyway, I will see if I can find my friend’s writing on what guru really is – but the gist is this. When we are no longer in the way, there is only transparency and that means everything is ultimately a guru to everything else. Those who criticize a transparent one are just criticizing the ultimate. Ok, words only carry that so far. So yes, guru is ultimately the great ‘self’. Now followers build and maintain all sorts of concepts of the guru based on what their intellect and emotion knows and until all that is bypassed, you’re not going to see what’s on the other side. The true guru is only seen by the dreamers at the end of their dream, otherwise he goes unnoticed.

        I’m stretching to as far as I have experienced – that feeling you get that sometimes you’re not talking to just a man is unmistakable. If I say more, I’ll be speculating.

        Anyway, my job isn’t here to convince and argue, since there is actually no one there to argue with at your end, except that which is everything and beyond everything. Now the very first 2 meditation techniques of Inner Engineering itself can make you aware of how many things we do compulsively and the solution to that is refining one’s awareness – just this one thing can actually take one to the end. But instead of that, if I create skepticism, I will only create an intellectual and emotional mess in people which could spoil the simplicity of the process for them.

        Most people are emotional – for them faith and love are usually the ways to go. That can’t be stamped out. In one way that also makes things very simple for them, since they do not have the intellectual baggage to carry. You go tell them they are compulsively following, they’ll just get angry.

        In my life experience, certain events have conspired to bring me back to Sadhguru and yoga after many years (I still cannot forget what happened when I first did the Shambhavi with him, and for all the intellectual skepticism, the intellect has never been able to offer me any experience except poisoning my mind with doubts and fears). My enlightened friend is my main guru of course – the meditation he taught me is always there. One thing I’ve learnt is to pay attention to what’s happening experientially to you, many things are no coincidence and the ultimate is right here to the one who can see.

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        1. You may find this comment interesting and useful… Just today I uploaded a video to Youtube in which I recite the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita and it is a wonderful coincidence that I am able to use it for my response to two people including you. 🙂 . Here is the video: https://youtu.be/9DdscqOX2HY

          Regarding Mahabharata, some people see it as an allegory and some people see it as history… Whether it is history or not doesn’t matter. But it is certainly an useful allegory in this situation… I will explain.

          When you are talking about Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, you are actually talking about an image that you have in your mind. I, Shanmugam, as a person is also an image created in your mind. All the unconscious behaviours also exist in the mind. When I use the word ‘mind’, I am talking about what we call as ‘manas’ in Sanskrit, which is not a direct translation of mind. Because manas only refers to a bundle of concepts, images and the attachments and aversions you have towards them. The goal of spiritual path is to kill this mind, which is usually known as manonasha. The field of your body and mind through which you experience the world is Kurukshetra where this war takes place. Krishna, the absolute inside you is actually driving the chariot which is your body.

          In Mahabharata, Bhishma and Drona both are seen as enlightened people. They were also the Gurus of Arjuna. But they are in the side of Kauravas (the troop of manas). Arjuna is completely hurt when he realizes that he may also end up killing Drona and Bhishma. (You also have to overcome the attachment you have with your guru at some point, which is allegorically expressed as killing your Guru).

          Arjuna says in the second chapter:

          कथं भीष्ममहं सङ्ख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन ।
          इषुभिः प्रतियोत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन ॥ २-४॥

          “Madhusudana, How can I fight against Drona and Bhishma, the people who deserved to be worshipped, in the war with my arrows?”

          गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके ।
          हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥ २-५॥

          Here he says that he thinks it is better to beg and eat rather than killing his Gurus. He conveys that he doesn’t want to enjoy any kind of pleasure by killing his own gurus.

          Arjuna’s lamentation and refusal to wage war is described in five slokas. Arjuna seems to be uttering wise words here. You can say that he even sounds enlightened. The very first thing that Krishna says is the following:

          अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
          गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥ २-११॥

          “You are talking like an enlightened man. But at the same time you are also worrying about people who do not need to be mourned. (Because Bhishma and Drona are enlightened. You are only killing an appearance. You cannot kill what really IS.) Enlightened people do not worry about things which arise and pass away. (The word used here is ‘asu’ which means life. But it is meant here to point out the things which comes and goes, the things which are impermanent or maya).

          A criticism on a realized person seems to be killing his image. But in reality, it is not going to affect him even a bit. Because, he is not that image.

          Read the following links. You will get a totally different impression about what I am trying to do in my blog:
          http://qr.ae/TUp62t
          http://qr.ae/TUp62h

          Regarding the programs offered in Isha, I don’t have anything to say against them. I know they work.

          Regarding intellect and skepticism, I think both of us are using the words in different sense or understanding. There seems to be a misunderstanding when it comes to ‘intellect’, especially among the followers of Sadhguru. You may remember a story narrated by him in which karma yogi, jnana yogi, kriya yogi and bhakthi yogi are in one place and suddenly Shiva appears before them. I like that story very much. He explained that only if all four are together, you attain the vision of the absolute. If Jnana yogi gets killed, it is not possible. Here is a long post that I wrote regarding Anekantavada, a Jain doctrine. Go through it fully when you have time: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/logic-and-spiritual-enlightenment-an-overview-of-anekantavada-saptabhangivada-seven-valued-logic-and-syadvada-of-jainism/

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          1. Your pronunciation is excellent. Actually the explanation of the Gita in this manner was first made by Paramahamsa Yogananda – his Gita commentary was his last work, which was unfortunately never published as he passed away within days of completing the work.

            He had a proper description of what each character in the Gita represents. Some excerpts are here.

            http://yogananda.com.au/gita/gita0100.html#i

            Later on two sets of disciples published it as “God Talks with Arjuna” and “The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita”.

            Earlier I have read the Gita only as a philosophical book. I am now aware that in reading any scripture, there is an experiential dimension that can reveal itself to the right person.

            Anyway, I found my friend’s short note on the guru — “….We all come in contact with religion and spirituality via others. However the question what was earlier ‘the chicken or the egg?’ is a ridiculous one. The obvious answer is that chickens come from eggs and eggs come from chicken. To separate cause and effect is irrelevant to real understanding. The effect always points to a cause and the cause is known by its effect. A cause without an effect simply can’t be perceived. The simplest understanding of truth is when subject and object are identical however; they must be different in order to be perceived. Perception is completely dependent on the object; when there is no object there is nothing to be perceived.

            Why such abstract philosophical talk? Because when you understand the above, you understand the guru principle. God and the knower of God exist simultaneously. There is no separate embodiment that doesn’t know God to be Himself. In a dream we may confuse a shadow for a monster but awake it’s a joke. Our inherent identity is pure and untouched by any confusion or contradiction. That means that anybody who is transparent to what is pure, untouched, and original, is a guru.

            The doctrine guru is a ‘guru’ of a dream and he has not the slightest spiritual value. Such a pseudo guru only manifests because of his followers’ perception. Followers create and maintain the dream of the doctrine guru. The real transparent guru can only be recognized by somebody who is transparent himself. A doctrine disciple attracts a doctrine guru. A transparent disciple attracts a transparent guru in which the traditional role of leading and following has been dissolved. Who is guru and who is disciple in the transparency of being? Only God and God alone is the leading principle.

            The guru trauma is the widespread dream of the collective following of a doctrine under the banner of faith and unalloyed surrender. It is the absolute epitome of the blind following the blind. It is a dream within a dream that makes the grip of illusion even tighter and the separation with the pure Source greater. The true guru is the living principle of realized transparency and that is the inherited pure reality of all beings. The true guru vibrates pure spiritual reality and his teaching is his very being and his vibration acts as a virus that resonates with the deepest core of all beings.

            Most people are so entranced with the dream of doctrine that they don’t dare to think outside of its box. They loyally chew what is chewed before them confining themselves in the familiar safety of the collective dream. From them you only hear what is heard for millennia of cultural refinement. They miss out on the excitement of the real spiritual revolution of the flow of divine unfolding. They can’t see God and their doctrine will confirm that God is invisible and is only a feasible reality somewhere in the future.

            The true guru is transparent and knows that the chicken and the egg is a simultaneous reality without separation. The true guru seems to act as an ordinary person but he comes from the authentic spiritual experience of his pure being. He awakens others by his very presence but only when they are at the end of their dream. Otherwise he goes unnoticed by the dreamers…”

            He’s no philosopher though. He stopped writing after giving a few pointers as to the nature of his enlightenment and that’s that.

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            1. Last one, this is what my enlightened friend gave me – a pointer to his experience : “….“I” as in the awareness of “I am,” is not an idea, concept or belief. It is the direct experience of consciousness that is conscious of itself. It is pure consciousness because it doesn’t attach itself to anything except itself. Even this awareness is transcended when we continue our journey. Pure consciousness is embraced by Supreme Consciousness. Of course we can declare that this consciousness is ‘I am’ as well since “I am’ cannot go deeper than observing itself. To notice the Supreme Observer “I am” has to transcend itself and surrender giving up its own observing. That’s a big leap for many of us. It is like dying where “I” is given up as an offering in the fire of Supreme Consciousness. It’s giving up being the doer and the transition of being the witness of what is ‘done’ in the flow of divine unfolding. Many of us want to cling on to a mantra, at least, in order to have a straw of familiarity in our hands. Really giving up the ‘vehicle’ and going further by foot is not for everyone. It is leaving everything behind that is familiar and stepping into the unknown territory of anticipation with the unpredictable unfolding. This is super adventurous and by every twist and turn there is a fresh new world to be experienced. Who is observing this? “I am?” If “I am” is transcended there is only the Divine Observer using “I am” as an expression of Itself. When “I am” is completely transparent the Divine shines through in all aspects. Again who observes this? Don’t answer that. Just experience it….”

              Everyone says the same thing. hatha yoga, kriya yoga, karma yoga, jnana, awareness, bhakti, self enquiry – they are all vehicles to get the ‘clothes’ to align and become transparent.

              Ok, I am done.

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                1. Let me see. In the past I’ve tried to introduce a lot of people to him – but they talk to him online, look at his Facebook, try to discuss what they know of spirituality with him, don’t notice anything other than an ordinary man and don’t stay with him for long, after some time they simply leave – those who go to analyze him never get hold of anything or get totally confused. So I completely stopped doing that.

                  These writings are old and are no longer on any media, I preserved it. Maybe I crossed a line thinking I can share this in public.

                  How I stumbled upon him itself is a mystery and I would never do that (or be able to do that) logically. I have been with him for a long time, first as a friend and then I noticed there was much more to him. It is more like I was meant to be found. I can link to his Facebook, but I cannot introduce him to anyone at all — the guru aspect is a very subjective and personal experience. It will happen to you if it has to and you need it.

                  But Ok, just this once. https://www.facebook.com/hvanlatenstein

                  It was great to read your blog. My job here is done.

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  20. Hi Shanmugam,

    First off, congratulations on your awakening! We should all be so lucky to be able to achieve a higher level of consciousness before we die. I discovered Sadhguru about half a year ago through his YouTube videos, and his approach towards spirituality resonated with me enough to where I felt compelled to sit through his online Inner Engineering courses and attended his Completion program at the Long Beach Convention Center back in May. I probably have quite a long ways to go before I’ll be pure enough in body and spirit to experience my own awakening, if ever…LOL.

    From scanning through your posts, I can appreciate your intellectual and logical criticisms of Sadhguru and some of his followers. It sounds like your biggest qualm is that your own awakening experience didn’t line up with your understanding of his version of enlightenment.

    From my limited understanding of his teachings, this awakening experience he is selling through the use of his modified Shambhavi practice is merely one level of “enlightenment.” It’s supposed to significantly ease your mental suffering as you go through life so that you’ll have a chance to experience a more blissful existence of complete and utter “freedom” as you so nicely described. But Sadhguru has always maintained there are higher levels of enlightenment for those who are willing to travel a more arduous path to obtain deeper answers that you seem to be seeking. So the answers are there, but maybe you just haven’t gotten there yet.

    Also from my limited understanding of Sadhguru’s teachings, I’ve grown to accept that each person’s spiritual journey is their own unique experience, which is highly subjective to their karmic make-up. So it’s pointless to go around comparing your experience of enlightenment with other awakened individuals. There is no perfect process, no right or wrong way to experience the process; it’s just a deeply personal experience that doesn’t need to be intellectualized to be appreciated. If you can let go of your preoccupation with seeking perfect answers from imperfect beings (yes, Sadhguru included), I think you’ll be much more at ease with this inner conflict.

    My humble advice for you is to stop listening to and caring about what everyone else is doing with their spirituality, and just focus on your own inward journey. Let everyone else hear what they want/need to hear from Sadhguru, Osho and all the other gurus. Just be thankful that your intelligence, your period of devotion to Sadhguru, and your spiritual perseverance all led you to where you are today: You get to live an existence that so many others (like me) can only dream of experiencing!

    Namaskaram

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  21. Dear Shanmugam..my friend has suggested to read this blog post..i have read it and i see that you do not have a problem with sadhgurus enlightenment but you think he is being an impediment for others to get enlightened because you think his methods and approach are taking them farther from enlightenment rather than closer..
    But i find ur claims false..because i too like you (though not with the same intensity and degree) have read and heard a lot of spiritual stuff starting from my intermediate days..i started with swamy vivekananda and went on to read online on a range of spiritual masters like rama krishna param hamsa..yoganada..ramana maharshi..adi sankara.buddha..zen teachings..some sufi stories about enlightenment…kanchi paramacharya chandra sekharendra saraswati…swami nityananda…rupert spira…ecchrt tolle…osho..jiddu krishnamurti and sadhguru…i very much relate to what you write and agree with most of it..but i wanted to say a few things..the witness practice that you attribute to osho is actually an age old technique mentioned by many sages and also mentioned in many scripures…though i have personally not read any scripture..i am saying this confidantly because i listen to the discourses of sri chaganti koteswar rao where he cites quite a few examples of being sakshi or witnessing from the scriptures .while you find fault with sadhguru that he picks up from what osho says..i was surprised you did not find fault with osho..because do you believe osho talked what all he talked just by magic without reading from nowhere?..probably you do not know from where he picked how many lines because you may not have read the ppl who he might have read .. ..i wonder if you have pondered why osho did not give any proofs to the claims that he made.. like once he says.. right now ,buddha who made a prediction that he wud be back after 2500 years as maitreya is now residing in him..later he says that buddha got angry because osho is not listening to him..i wonder why he was not able to see what maa anand sheela was upto with all his claims that he cud see others aura their past etc etc..did you ever see how ppl used to go hysterical in some of his videos
    ..do you consider them as placebo effects too?. ..did you see his video leaks where he conducts naked sessions..?did you ever think why were all these necessary ? because for enlightenment all one needed was a psychological death..and i wonder whether your enlightenment experience matches with that of osho..because i read him say that he experienced light worth a thousand suns during his enlightenment experience .. i can go on saying things like these because i read a lot of osho..i know the names of tens of enlightened masters all of who i have picked from the teachings of osho..and i know that you know too that osho makes up lot of stories..i used to spend a lot of time trying to find references to what osho says but to no avail..osho was so contradicting in wht he says that there is also a video whre a disciple asks why is he so contradictive and osho replies it is a sign of progress ..and you know the cult he created,an idea which i see that you clearly despize.. .what surpizes me and makes me skeptical about ur post is that you were not bothered about all these things about osho but got enlightened by just doing what he said about witnessing…as a practitioner of that method myself ..i can say and you must know that sadhguru too very firmly talks about this witnessing though he uses the term awarness..he says pretty much same thing what the scriptures said what sankara said..what maharshi mahesh yogi said. What rishi prabakar said ..what osho said. What jiddu said. What ramana maharshi said..why are you finding faults with sadhguru when you had no issues with others?..lets us assume that his method and approach is stopping ppl from getting enlightened. ..so your method which is nothing but criticizing others methods which you think are not correct is actually helping ppl to get enlightened? ..you have only succeeded in proving ppl as blind and foolish and also published their replys to prove ur point..how is this going to make those blind and foolish ppl experience real spirituality? Does ur method change them?..i feel your method towards enlightenment is gnyana yoga..the way through the mind..you feel the only way to enlightenment is the way through the mind because i think that you think mind is the first thing to analyse as it is through the prism of the mind that perception of everything happens including the mind itself…… you are concerned how can ppl be so unconscious of what of what is happening in their own minds..how they are constantly fooling themselves…i say all this because i can see that you have gone to some deepest layers of the mind …i also see that you speak in very similar terms with sam harris ..when you say can all gurus give a scientific proof to all the miracles they talk about?..sam harris ,a spiritual atheist..mentions a similar statement..he says that he studied many yogis in his past 20 yeras ..while he accepts that they experienced deep meditative states he says they have absolutely no idea about how the brain works..about the neural netwoks about even simple things..so he says that enlightened ppl who claim they can do anything or any miracle are making false statements..he too like you has gone through a deep experience first time when he was on psychedelics and later achived same state through meditation..i find his version of describing liberation from the separate self quite similar to what you have gone through ..and i wud say he too is a gyana yogi …but i heard sadhguru say that gyana yoga is just one way to get der..there are other ways like bhakthi yoga..kriya yoga etc and the followers of each path do not accept the process of other paths.. i simply see that is wat is happening here..if you did not feel energy..you did not feel energy..try to find out why..becuse the scriptures talk about it ..dont just assume you cant be not receptive.. gotta try until you get hit..

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    1. You have come to many conclusions too quickly and you didn’t get my point.. Kindly go through the following posts and your conclusions will change:

      1. http://qr.ae/TU1Bef

      (Let me quote a part of that answer here:

      “Something that is often overlooked is this, even though I have stressed it in many occasions:

      Osho has said that he has read thousands of books. Osho has quoted from thousands of people starting from Buddha to Bertrand Russell. He has named them all. Nothing wrong in quoting other people and nobody can talk about various topics without first gaining knowledge on them by reading or listening (besides getting enlightened). In fact, there is a whole series of Osho’s talks which is about the books he loved. The book is titled ‘The Books I have Loved’. Osho was a very avid reader. He read thousands of books throughout his life.

      On the other hand, Sadhguru has stated that he has not read any books on spirituality at all. According to him, whatever he knows comes from a mystical transmission that occurred between his guru and him during his previous birth. Once his guru during his previous birth touched him with his walking stick, he knew everything: including the stories from Chandogya Upanishad, Bhagwad Gita, Shiva Purana etc. And he mysteriously gained knowledge about masters like Gurdjieff, Rumi, J.Krishnamurti and so on. But surprisingly, this content is verbatim from Osho’s books.”)

      2. I do have a detailed outline of the spiritual path written as a guide to the seekers:
      https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/for-seekers-of-liberation/

      3. Have some Youtube videos too. Here are some of the important ones :
      a)

      b)

      4) I have very strong reasons to why I point out the blind behavior of many people who follow Sadhguru:

      People come to quick conclusions regarding everything. You yourself might see that your conclusions are wrong after going through the links I have given and also going through much of my blog posts. Because I have addressed the questions you have raised several times in various posts and videos…

      Take your time… You will see what I mean.. Also, go through the comments for this post.

      If you still don’t get it after going through all, then wait until you realize your true nature.. You will understand 🙂

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  22. Dear shanmuga..i have went through one of the videos that you have suggested above..after watching it i hope you dint consider me as typical isha follower (i am an isha follower btw)…first of all i agree with what you say about the reactions of isha ppl on internet..but hope you know that to have this kind of behaviour you dont have to be an isha follower..any person who is identified with something and has invested a lot of emotion to that entity would behave in the same way..even a Manchester united fan behaves in the same way.. internet is a very good tool to analyse ppls minds..i have not watched your videos before and this post was the only thing i read ..but i felt good that i was correct in guessing you might be a gyana yogi..or ur path is gyana yoga ..i hope you do not consider what ever i am writing as adhominum because though i am a isha follower i never felt unpleasant for whatever you said because most of it is true..but i wanted to say a few things..sadhguru only said he has never read any scriptures..but he said and i read in that arudhati subramanian book that he spent an entire year in library just reading books day and night after his formal education..no doubt he was influenced by osho and even borrowed his meditation techniques from others like rishi prabahakar..but sadhguru mentions in that same book that he wnet to various yoga classes to see what they are offering and just made minor adjustments to them adding the missing ingredients..from what you must have seen from sadhguru you must know that he very cleverly avoids controversial things which he thinks will have unwanted consequences. He answers it but not in the way you expect ..i dont know where but i read him saying that osho was very bold in his approach but it failed, We are going to take different approach.. … ..he is a person who does what he thinks works on the current situation..

    I dont agree with you on another thing…that you say sadhguru is not enlightened and not authentic..because if you apply the same reasons to osho then osho too is not authentic and enlightened

    Osho satifies all your observations on sadguru

    He lies
    He talks pseudo science
    Created a cult
    His followers too just parotted his words and were abusive (you can see the videos)

    So on one hand you connected to osho but criticize sadguru for other reasons

    Please dont consider this adhominum..i am only trying to understand

    I very genuinely think that sadhguru is enlightened inspite of agreeing with most of what you said..

    And im interested to see more of your videos mentioning about your observations on the nature of the mind..

    I also had these Questions

    You sounded like you dont believe in all this energy business..but do support sankara when he performed a consecration process in ujjain where he thought the energy from the main deity was very powerful and he had to ease it and put the extra enegy in ammas nose ring..do you support how he established sringeri where he experienced tremendous energy and found that it was that of vrishya sringa maharshi?

    So do you accept only the gnyana yogi sankara or even the kriya yogi and karma yogi sankara?

    Thanks

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    1. 1) As Sadhguru himself says, Jnana yoga, karma yoga, kriya yoga and bhakthi yoga are not four different paths… So, much of your reply is in the false assumption that jnana yoga is something that many people do not need, while my emphasis on the video is to not to kill jnana yogi. Each person has all these four.

      2) This is not really about Osho vs Sadhguru. Anyway, I have already explained in many of my posts that Osho did say many times that he was not infallible and he can be factually wrong. He also went ahead and said that most of what he talks was nonsense… Still, the overall message of Osho was the essence of the spiritual path.

      I already told you to take your time to read many of my posts.. Take your time and go through all the comments too. Also go through all the links in this page: http://bit.ly/ishacult

      There is no hurry in reading them. Read them when you are free and feel ok to spare a few minutes. It may take a month or two to go through all of them. You will totally get a different picture after reading everything.

      I thought of replying to this comment by using a video. But I think it may not be necessary. Don’t be hurry in making conclusions; just go through the links and all my videos… You will eventually understand

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  24. u don’t accept him as a guru and it is fine ….and by your writings i feel that u haven’t find your guru in this life yet…if you would have found your true guru you wouldn’t care if sadhguru is misleading others or not…and it takes a lot to reach where he is right now…(only expressing my opinion)

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      1. (Please read my comment till end)

        Well I just wish to say one thing: You have read too much from everywhere, and now it has become a bad soup. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that in order to attain the Truth, you have to forget all that you have learned till now.

        The way you are writing itself shows how much thought-activity is in your mind. For receptivity, one has to uncloud his thought and just sit still, as if he doesn’t exist. And the something truly great explodes!

        You drop all this mind-boggling terminology, who-said-what, etc. From one having stability of mind, neither any disturbance arises, nor can he be ever disturbed; for his stillness is so Absolute…and the definite borders of his being fades and mixes with the Truth that already Is, and feels Himself Oceanic!

        Had you been so much complete and whatever have you written, you wouldn’t have probably not written all of this, for then you would seen it to be a sheer waste of time when you can otherwise be just fantastic just by sitting alone.

        Regarding Vijiji’s Mahasamadhi…I went to Isha Yoga Center…I was in a hurry so I randomly took an auto and and he dropped near the Samadhi. I didnt know what the place is all about…and why there is so much of greenery and water sprinklers…I just went in without having a clue where I’m….And as I reached, my mind suddenly became blank, I felt like Air and literally myself spreading and merging with everything around!…SO joyful I became that I started dancing!…people started looking at me and after sometime the Bliss subsided. And that was the power of Vijii’s Mahasamadhi!!

        Without having the necessary receptivity please do not misguide people. I solemnly request you with my hands folded.
        Chitransh

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        1. First, I think all these Isha followers should stop making assumptions about other people and stop trying to act like gurus. These words do not translate how I experience life; just because there are too many words here, that doesn’t mean I am lost in words and information. But almost 95% of blind Isha followers cherry pick such spiritual statements and mindlessly repeat them as parrots… I have found my liberation and I am just sharing my experiences and guidelines in my blog. The truth I have found is the authority for me.

          Stop shaming your own guru. First, find your own liberation. Until you realize your own nature and find your own ultimate bliss, you have no business to act like a guru and try to teach other people. So, throw away your spiritual ego and mind your own business.

          The funny thing is, I wrote this article many months before. I would have completely forgotten about it. But at least once in a week, some blind Sadhguru follower comes and comments here and reminds me about it. As soon as I witness their blind behavior of mindlessly parroting Sadhguru’s words without understanding the context, I become concerned. Because this is dangerous for the society.

          If you have patience, go through all the videos in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyvcEPSjKqOk8Evwhz5tSlm5whxfZswlQ

          If you really think that Sadhguru is very helpful towards your spiritual growth, then focus on what you have to do to attain your own liberation. That will be the justice you do to your own guru. I do what I do and write what I write for certain reasons.. People who are still seeking can never fully understand my intentions and actions.

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          2. I don’t believe in Sadhguru’s claims. He himself says not to believe these nonsense till you experience this yourself. And by the way you’re not the only one common man who claims of achieving enlightenment. I’m not on a spiritual path neither I’m interested in getting liberated because that never really happens. The Kaal Chakra has been moving the same way since eternity & it will move this way till eternity. There’s no end to it. The Jeevatmas are bound to take birth. There’s no other option. You may’ve heard about Deja Vu. It happens because of this only. It sounds absurd but the body which we’ve taken right now this we’ve done in previous kaal chakras too. The life which we’re living at present that we’ve done in previous kaal chakras too. That’s why Deja Vu happens. There’s no need to read philosophies of Dvaitadvaita or Vashithadvaita or the Vedas. Yogic culture is different from Vedic culture. Vedic culture talks about right & wrong but Yogic culture sees nothing right or wrong. There have been enlightened Aghoris in India & as we know the saadhna of Aghoris is about attaining Siddhi or control over five elements not about liberation. No Vedic scholar was ever an enlightened being except Shankaracharya because he was a mystic. Buddha never belived in God he just focused on the existence. But the Sikh gurus & the most enlightened of all Sikh Gurus Guru Nanak Dev believed in God. He referred God as Wahe Guru or Ek Onkara. He was a mystic himself. He learnt Yoga from great mystics of that time. Sadhguru said that when enlightened beings decide to leave their body then they either just vapourize the body by the making the life force of their body totally intense or they let the life force of the body to be less intense & their body slowly cools down & they leave their body. The first method was used by Guru Nanak dev that’s why no one knows where his body disappeared. The second one was used by max of enlightened beings like Ramkrishna, Vivekananda & many other great mystics.You thought every enlightened being thinks the same way. It’s wrong. The only thing which is common among every enlightened being is experiencing bliss 24/7. And from nowhere I feel that you’re enlightened being. I’m sorry if that hurts you.

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            1. You never thought why miracles happened around Shri Krishna. How he was able to speak words of the eternal. Same happened with Jesus Christ. You can find it in Book of Revelation. There’re many things you need to know. Still you need to know many things.

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              1. Trillions of miracles are happening every second. The question is whether people have the eyes to see it! Nothing stands before me and God and he is showing himself to me in every way, in every form, in every second. He is commenting through you and replying to the same comment through me. I don’t see your face, yet you are probabaly thousands of miles away! Is this not a miracle? 🙂 I am bathing in the ocean of wisdom, Vidyasagar, and you are that!

                Everything that I asked in this Tamil poem came true: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/%e0%ae%9a%e0%ae%bf%e0%ae%b5%e0%ae%9a%e0%ae%95%e0%af%8d%e0%ae%a4%e0%ae%bf-%e0%ae%85%e0%ae%95%e0%ae%b5%e0%ae%b2%e0%af%8d/ .. Do you know that it is a miracle?

                There are miracles everywhere.. What is the big deal about it? Life is a miracle

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                2. One day you must write about “Followers’ disease” – the thing that turns revelation into a religion, and then into a racket. Followers act like they know but they really don’t. They just believe or have some intellectual realization, but zero experience. This becomes dangerous because anything that seems to threaten their (not) knowledge is treated like a threat.

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  25. I just came back reading the story of Sadhguru Sri Brahma. He was a very powerful yogi, but while the power of knowing is one thing, the power of ignorance and emotion should not be understimated – and that was one reason why he couldn’t fulfill his goal in that life.

    Also on a side note, did you read Eckhart Tolle?

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  26. One of the most important traits of enlightened masters were they were never respected or regarded by the masses or contemporaries or politicians. There are have been several enlightened mystics but very few masters. There is a sea of difference between both. You can understand the distinction from Buddhist sources (Arhatas vs Bodistavas). Though, Osho spoke about historical traditions, masters, books (Upanishads, etc) and sages, if you see the meditations he devised like Dynamic, his version of Kundalini, nadha bhrama, mystic rose, Gorishankar etc were his unique meditations which he developed for modern man based on current state of men coupled with oshos understating of knack of truth. Most of his meditations are compounded forms which include active and passive stages. They dont have any backing from any traditional systems. But however, he is used patterns of patterns to devise the same. What i have see is most of us Indians only read his books and have never tried or practiced the same. They are very useful for modern man and his doubting mind. The other new age gurus have only repackaged yogic breathing and exercises with new names. In that way Osho was unique when you compare with the Gurus. I my view listing to his discourses are a great form of mediation and his voice and the gaps will take you to depths which can also come through other process. Once you are in tune with Osho, its very difficult to go any where as he is like eating in ones home vs eating in a fives star hotel. You can go for a change to Taj, Marriot etc but if you have eaten there for say 2-3 meals, you will miss your home food and will long for that.

    Mystics are not very helpful for your transformation but masters are……. Masters are never respected as they dont carve for respect and keep out of political company. They dont give u solace, and tell u that u can win, have energy, power etc…

    It is for each one to understand who a master is and who is not……

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  27. Shanmugam – One of the points which we need to understand is in a spiritual process you need to dig deep in one place. This process is not for the logical reasoning human being. The process of spiritual progress needs two things 1. courage and 2. commitment. So if ones energies fit with Sadguru or Nithyanada or any master one needs to work irrespective of the world thinks of his master, whether it is a cult or group or brain washing etc. If you read the Mahamudra sutras of Tilopa, his master would have asked him to be a caretaker of a prostitute and he would have done the same without questioning. Now how do you think pimping and spirituality have connection. Logical reasoning and spirituality have no connection and if you have gone to master because he satisfies your intellect then you are no sooner going to leave. So master cant be chosen with logic. You need to check if some thing is stired by the presence of the master and can you be in tune with him. Else its better to go and find another master. Logic is a small part of the mind. There are other parts which need to be burnt and if we cant even drop logic whats the quality of search then….
    Death is the real master- lets think of our lives which we lived for the past …. years. Is it tangible and can you hold it or was it a like dream on a screen. Whats the proof the renaming part of our life is going to be substantial. You can enter the path of spirituality only if you are aware of ones own mortality. Then intensity is created to work out ones own soul and salvation. Other wise spirituality is like lions club or madras club. Its only an association of like minded people who mentally masturbate.

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  28. Dear Shanmugam,

    With all due respect, my feel is that many points you are raising is valid indeed. But if you are enlightened as you believes, you shouldn’t be focusing on Sadguru or anyone else for that matter, kianda picking a fight and spoil your inner journey (you can have all kind of justifications, but still..). If you truly believe and compelled to make corrections, you can just state what you think is right, for that you don’t need to bring someone else into a controversy. (The letter from Rajivji can be a guide for you.)

    Good to know that you have attained certain stage, with or without help of someone. Please do intensely focus on your path and show the world what is the best someone can achieve in this life.

    You can’t blame if someone suspect that, you are kind of trying to attract followers through short cut. ie, by attacking a popular figure in retention you are not, then prove he is wrong and you are right!

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  29. This jaggi vasudev is a false guru. He is speaking all nonsense. Sat guru means one should speak about the science of spirit soul and GOD. In the name of sat guru he is propogating atheism which is very dangerous to the society. If the whole population becomes atheist there will be no morality and order in the society. He is just speaking on the material platform. Bagavadgita is the standard spiritual book for all humanity. He says there is no need to follow the instructions of bagavadgita. He says that one should live a life of Lord.Krishna. this is rascaldom if yhe wants to live a life of Krishna then let him perform super human acts of Krishna. Lord Krishna lifted the govardan hill when he was 7 years with his left little finger. Krishna devoured the forest fire. Lord Krishna displayed uncommon unlimited powers. Krishna never took birth like an ordinary human being and he never got old and died. What authority he has to touch the holy scriptures and give his comments?

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  31. Mr.shanmugam you are misleading the people towards false philosophy. Philosophy without science is is centiment and science without philosophy is mental speculation. You say there is no GOD that’s all right, how can you deny the existence of a supreme controller?. For a state president or prime minister is supreme. among the courts supreme court is supreme. In the family head of the family is important. Everything is controlled by government or head of the state. How can you say this idea of supreme controller is false?. Let us analyse according to your idea let us assume that there is no controller what will happen to the nation?. Everything will be ind chaos. Similarly the cosmic manifestation consists of millions and millions of galaxies, sun, moon, planets, clusters, super clusters etc. everything is functioning smoothly in an perfect order for millions and millions of years. Do you say it is chance?. This is absolutely nonsense.

    If there is laws of nature then there must be law maker, If there is creation there must be a creator this is a straight factual logic. Do you know about the second law of thermo dynamics. This is a universally accepted natural law by all the great scientists and is a perfect science. All the theories and laws of so called scientists are subjected to changes but this second law is not subjected to any change till now. According to second law of thermo dynamics everything goes from order to disorder this is the law. Unless there is an intelligent directional force to sustain the matter everything rapidly collapses or becomes more disorderly. Darwins warm pond theory is “from disorder or chaos comes life or order”. This is totally against the second law of thermo dynamics. This has been proved to be false when modern scientists again tried the uri millers experiment in their labs trying to mimic primitive atmosphere. This uri millers experiment is proved to be a failure and no building blocks of proteins except alanine is found in his sample. Remaining are just a poisonous junk which will destroy remaining molecules.

    Any honest chemist and molefcular biologist shall admit this fact that, peptide bonds and protein synthesis cannot take place in the water in an reducing atmosphere. If there is no oxygen UV rays destroys molecules if there is oxygen everything will get oxidized and and oxygen also destroys any molecules. This is catch 22 situation for scientists. Therefore brothers this oshos process of meditation is not a spiritual meditation this is simply body and mind relaxation methods. Spirit or soul is beyond the layers of gross body or mind and intelligence. What you experience is nothing but tricking your mind from external miseries for some time. As soon as your meditation is over again you have to experience distressful conditions of life in this material world. It is just like some people are too much engrossed in watching serial or movie in a TV they are totally ignorant what is happening around them.

    Therefore my humble submission for all brothers who are seeking to find the absolute truth is try to analyse GOD scientifically and not whimcycley. Enjoyment is different from realization. some People enjoy seeing cinema, some people enjoy reading fairy tales, some people enjoy reading poems, some people enjoy reading various philosophies, some people enjoy fighting, some people enjoy music. But one who is realized will live a life as per the instructions of GOD.

    Yours spiritual well wisher

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  32. namo namah. if you are awake.. as u claim, why waste energy by commenting on every question on quora about sadhguru or writing blogs and making videos about him and his followers, the fact is u are simply obsessed with him and for all i knw obsessions is not a good virtue to have when one is a seeker.

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  34. Let’s get it straight out of the horse’s mouth :
    http://www.awaken.com/2018/08/enlightenment-is-never-far-away/

    “…Enlightenment is not something that happens. It is always there. The sadhana, or yogic practices that one does on the spiritual path enable you to see that it is there.

    Awaken

    You are not doing sadhana to construct divinity within you. Many people talk about self-development, but self is one thing you cannot develop. You can develop the mind, you can develop the ego, but how can you develop the self, which is absolute and boundless?

    Only that which is incomplete can be developed. If something is already all-pervading and eternal, how can you develop it? So, sadhana is not about building something. It is not about creating divinity within you or becoming enlightened. The source of creation is already there within you. Sadhana is just a way of opening your eyes. Sadhana is like an alarm bell. The whole thing is just a process of waking you up, waking you up to another level of reality.

    There is no such thing as self-knowledge. There is just self. That is all. Jesus made this clear. He talked about himself and his father in heaven, but at one point he said, “I and my father are one.” The you that is beyond all limitations and that which you are referring to as the almighty are the same.

    To experience this, you must become willing to transcend your limitations. This willingness is surrender. The only barrier to it is your identity with the limited nature of your body and mind. If you are willing, who can stop you? The sadhana is just to make you willing. Enlightenment is never far away, but to make a person completely willing takes time because there are layers and layers of resistance. It takes time to work through the resistance, to become absolutely willing. It need not necessarily take time, but generally people do take time.

    India is a very ancient culture that has produced many enlightened beings. This is a culture that has always said that the only way to transform oneself is to turn into a god. Yoga is a scientific tool to realize and experience this. In yoga we have no incarnations of God. We see the possibility that even you can become godlike, blissful and all-seeing.

    Let this be clear. Yoga is a technology, so there is no question of it working for one person and not working for another. Your telephone, television and computer work for everyone — even though most people do not have a clue as to how they work. You just have to learn how to use them. Similarly, most people will never understand how yoga works. Factors such as age, attitude, or karmic situations can decide how quickly it works, but it definitely works whether you can immediately notice it or not. Some people will catch fire like gasoline, some will burn like paper, others will burn like wet wood, but yoga can definitely hasten everyone’s evolution.

    If enlightenment is the one and only purpose of your life and all your energies are focused in this direction, it is not far away. The problem is that people have so many other priorities, so spirituality is kept on the side. What you are seeking is within you. If it is the only priority of your life, nothing can stop you. If you are willing, what is within you cannot be denied to you even for a moment.

    Right now, you are the divine but unaware of it. Whatever you are unaware of, does not exist for you; you must understand that. If you are sitting down and an elephant is standing right behind you and you are unaware of it, it does not exist for you. Only when you become aware of it does it exist for you. Similarly, although God is within you, as long as you are unaware of your God-like nature, it doesn’t exist for you. When someone becomes aware, he also becomes aware that everybody carries the same potential.

    Life as you know it is not a barrier. If realizing your ultimate nature is the only priority in your life, everything you do will naturally orient itself toward that. Your work, relationships, love, money — even your very life’s breath — will orient themselves toward your ultimate nature. The experience of every little thing you do becomes extremely fulfilling and joyful when it is done in the light of great purpose. Once your ultimate nature is your only priority, the life process will become a joyful and fulfilling process….” – Sadhguru

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  35. We are living in a period where great divine souls like Shri Ramakrishna or Shri Ramana Maharshi have ceased to exist as well as their teachings. The void is filled now like how six blind men described an elephant. Youtube and endless internet content has taken the onus of learning while sadguru Ramdev etc have become the modern day gurus. Best part is everyone seems to be competing in claiming to be enlightened… With followers too becoming obsessed and fanatic about their own spiritual development…. But it’s not that hard when we verify from Bhagwad Gita the true traits of an enlightened being and compare with Ramana or Ramakrishna and apply same to modern day gurus as well as their disciples. A Ramakrishna alone can produce a disciple like Vivekananda while Osho can almost have a drug-porn hub setup like he did at Oregon. True masters do not display miracles or claim any. The Paramhansa Upanishad clearly explains the mark of a realized soul. From scripture point of view be it Osho or Sadguru or Ramdev or Ravi Shankar etc are everything but not a realized soul. But people are free to worship them… We worship trees stones and what not….if true bhakti is there then even false gurus do not matter….

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  37. Hello Shanmugam,
    I read your intire post and can’t help, but agree with a big chunk of it. It is very strange to me that no enlightened people ever descide to prove their extraordinary abilities so that the appeal towards yogic practices would rise up in the world. However I must ask. Your own claim of being withing a certain sinhronisation with life seems strange to me. I do many things on daily basis. And simple practices like witnesing has brought me so much awarnes towards ways how anything can be done. Now I realise what it trully takes to build certain steps and form results. It is very obvious to me that becoming a critic is not the formost solution towards rasing awarness on a problem in the sphere of yoga and yougic practices. Since if I’m not missing anything this is a method of trying to form one type of logic over the other. What I’m trying to say is that in my understanding being completley liberated would form a result in wich you would consciously form development in all areas of your being. It would certanley form first and formost apeal towards what you say. Now as smart as your words sound and even if I say I believe you about your experiance. Your awarness should not form an unfair perspective of blindness of Sadhgurus folowers. If it does, it might be possible that in truth, you are still are unaware that you are forming a conflict. Wich you are, with this website and your videos.

    Now please hear me correctly. I’m not contradicting your words. For what you said mostlikly has merit. And is very VERY logical. But in a sense it is freagmnented. For I see no reason for a person who claims to be in sync with life to form such a result. This process that you are undergoing by making this website and forming disputes and conflict is, as i belive your understanding would be, to get rid of blindess. But conflict and disute in itself only can be formed with a certain need for being right, rather then the capability of seeng how other trully is and asking the qestions that form mutual clarity towards a subject. Now I can’t say I am the one to talk… This all statement is the best clarity that I am capable of presenting. I am not claiming to be enlightened or even awake (whatever that means). But learning to see things as they are is a practic that is simple to understand for anyone if learned properley. And to anyone it should become apparent after even a short time of practice that the amount of things we are constantly unaware of is virtualy infinate. This should give grounds to anyone in seeking mode to make witnesing and becoming more and more conscious a practice of there own capabilty rather then a need to fix something. Whatever you are experiancing as a synchronisation with everyting, please make not of what I am sharing. The importance of an experiance might easily form an identification with th importance of self. That is a perfect ground of need for dispute and conflict sprout. If any of this points make sense to you, please answe me. If I am unaware of something I will definetley take note and accept what is true.

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    1. You can’t really be sure about what another human being thinks or how he feels about something. You can only infer his intentions or attitudes based on their behaviour. But whenever you witness the behaviour of any person, the only choice you have is to attribute an intention or a state of mind that you are already familiar with or have gone through.

      My every post about Sadhguru is linked to something that happened a little before that. There are reasons why I wrote them and I know they also made differences in many people. That is all matters.

      My life moves without any direction. Just like there is no up or down once you leave the earth’s atmosphere, there is no progress or regress once the sense of self disappears. I have never had any inner conflict in the last four years.

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      1. Is there a possibility for you to help me sort ot some things about my current experiances? I cannot approach anything with belief, in this situation as well, but I am always trying to see all sades of any given situation. I tried to find and read a lot of different things, but not much of it is helping me to become what I’ve learned. And as I look at gurus whenever I do even a small amount of reaserch there brings out just so many confusing information. My only option is to maintain things that I trully understand and can practicly imply. Otherwise its just a massive amount of phylosphies that are useless. Is there antything I could use to move towards what say you are experiancing? Something that will not ask blief and a chance of forming a boubble of ignorace, but would actually creat a viable path, howaver difficult. doesn’t matter. As long as it is rooted in truth. I’m a bit beat from trying to find it on my own…

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  39. Dear brothers,

    I appreciate your seeking effort of finding the truth, but there are two aspects of truth.

    1. Relative truth of this world: what it feels or appears to be true for us in this world is not the actual truth. For eg: if we are walking in a dessert we can see with our material eyes as if there is a water pond but when we walk closer there is no water. So according to you which is the truth?
    2. Absolute truth: that is which is beyond the capacity of our senses. How can we ascertain or know this absolute truth? Things which is beyond the reach of our gross material senses cannot be known by our material efforts.
    3. Great scientists like instein, newton and AE.Wilder smith who are seekers of truth all tried their hands and concluded that there is a supreme controller who is in full control of the entire cosmic manifestation and only thing we can do is to surrender to that infallible supreme knowledgebel person and act according to his instructions for an happy, peaceful life.
    4. My humble submission to your brothers please don’t waste your time in taxing your brains in finding the absolute truth. Nobody can say which is right and wrong by his experience.
    5. Vedas are axiomatic truth and self evident and therefore we have no option to accept the words of GOD as it is.
    6. The most misfortunate thing is that so called gurus like jaggi vasudev and other similar bogus gurus inorder to become popular in this world are misleading the thoughtful persons like yourselves for their selfish gains. They are powerful in presenting false philosophy in flowery words so that people will become attracted to them and accept them as authority.
    7. My dear brothers atheistic life is dogish life and you cannot be happy by adopting atheistic principles. What happened to karl marx, joseph stallin, mussouleni, hitler and their followers.
    8. Regulated activities or purified activities or samskaras should be followed by every human being irrespective of castes, color and gender according to their natures. If our activities are not regulated or purified then we are no better than a dog.
    9. Human life is responsible life therefore our every actions done by body, mind and words are accountable and we are liable for our own actions whether such activities are pious or sinful.
    10. Happiness and suffering is caused by our resultant actions
    11. therefore any guru who is teaching us to enjoy in this material world without the sanction of scriptures is a rascal.
    12. Any guru who gives his own interpretation on Vedas, sastras, bible and kuran is a rascal.

    Kindly consider these points and give your reply. I am here to help you brothers from false bogus gurus and philosophers. . object of any meditation is to know about the absolute truth and not for enjoyment, relaxation or acquiring mystic powers.

    This kundiline meditation is simply to enhance our subtle energy for effectively performing our material activities and to attain success in material activities. All these procedures are purely material and not spiritual. It is just like when we fall sick doctors prescribe some vitamin supplements to boost our immunity that does not mean simply by following doctors instructions we can stop our death.

    Conclusion:

    This osho, jaggi vasudev and persons similar to them are dangerous to the society they cannot change the sufferings of society by their invented procedures of meditation. So think and decide what you should be to remain as animal or human being.

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    1. Hello Shanmugam, here are two cents from Golokabrindavan. Look, everyone in this world is a spiritual being in a thick layer of material and desires. It is so simple to make anyone understand what he/she is in reality. All the governments in the world must mandate the true education along with the modern one (This also needs a tremendous transformation to suit what exactly people do to earn a living). Make people realize their true selves (Spiritual Atmans and part of that UNiversal Consciousness or Supreme Soul) through real education, inculcate that they see that divine being in everyone, share what all they have, work honestly in prescribed professions, make them understand the ultimate goal of uniting with the Universal Consciousness to experience that peace and bliss. There never arises the need of Gurus/Babas/Sadgurus/…and what not….This got to be in the regular curriculum and all walks of life until it gets established as in the Satya Yug. Just make all Yous into Stya You. That is it, folks. It is doable. Did this so-called Sadguru ever suggest a government head to do what I suggest? Why not? I asked for an appointment with the current PM in India. I got no reply and I have also sought an appointment with POTUS, no permission, and tried to get into an OPED, again no response to publish my advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you do it, I mean publish in INDIA, this piece?

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  40. shanmugam just tell me if sadhguru is enlightened or not? Yes or no? if you are an enlightened person I think you can sense an enlightened being.

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    1. Indeed you can, those who have truly experienced liberation don’t create empires, they destroy that illusion. Saduguru is trapped in his own awakening. A sleepwalker.

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  46. Very interesting and I am convinced.
    However I would challenge you on the sweet water case. If you were to give me a decent hypnotic subject I could have him eat an onion and taste and see a sweet apple as he does so.
    The taste of sweetness is constructed by the brain and not part of the objective reality, assuming such a thing exists. It is perfectly possible that one can taste sweetness in water if she has a reason to do so.

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  47. Hello. Thank you for sharing your ideas about Sadhguru. I’m not an Indian. I don’t know anything about gurus or even meditation! Very recently, I came across Sadhguru’s videos and application on the Internet. Having been struggling with some personal problems and unable to solve them, I was desperately searching the Net for some help. I found his talks really really helpful.
    I have done his Isha Kriya meditation which involves repeating “I’m not the body”, “I’m not even the mind” a couple of times. I must admit that even though I have done it only a couple of times, I have seen good results in very short time. I got really interested in how immediately his talk and meditation helped me. I bought his inner engineering book (just started reading it), and I started searching about him on the Net. That was how I came across your blog.
    I’d appreciate it if you could answer my question about his Isha Kriya meditation. These two phrases “I’m not the body, I’m not even the mind” scares me. I don’t know why when I say these two phrases, I feel scared, but as I said earlier, after the mediation I feel wonderfully focused. I read about your meditation here, but it does not give any instructions (I didn’t read your whole text, sorry if I missed any step by step instruction). Would you advise whether Isha Kriya is harmful? Where can I find a better substitute? I find his talks really informative. There are plenty of them on the Net and about almost anything. I saw that you talked about Osho. For me, Osho’s talks are a bit difficult to follow. Do you have anyone else in mind who I can listen to on Youtube?
    I am a beginner. I have meditated only a couple of times on my own. And I need someone’s talking me through the whole process not only for meditation, but also for life. So I need some real help.
    Thank you for your time.

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  48. Truly a striking and researched post Shanmugam. I think see a dangerous cult in the making in Isha filled with brainwashed followers, who ironically are generally well educated and intelligent otherwise. His shameless plagiarization is nauseating. Literally no one talks about his real guru, Rishi Prabhakar. Originally, he was sent to open a branch of Rishi Prabhakars SSY yoga in Coimbatore, but Jaggi seized the oppurtunity and opened his own yoga center and called it Isha.

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  49. Hi
    Spiritual science fascinates me….that brought me here.
    I am Sikh. Follower of one (GOD) ..
    I just want to suggest you to go through preachings of Guru Nanak Dev ji…
    I know m no one to suggest you… still … You should to get new insights…

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  52. As i was reading your piece, my higher self, which some call intuition or inner voice, wanted this vessel to contact you. I decided to put that thought aside and continue reading as I was only in the first few paragraphs. Then I reached to the story of your son’s birth (may the whole protect him) and this time my higher self whispered “if the son is born on the same day you were then It’s a sign and you better contact the writer” So here I am contacting you. I too was born on Dec 11…and on Jan 11 2015 i was liberated from the bondage of a self, and it didn’t stop there…I would appreciate if you let me know how I can reach you. Email? Or whatever means you prefer. You have my email from the required field on here.

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    2. You said you were liberated from the bondage of a self. Can you further elaborate on that. Also out of curiosity I want to ask you, are you completely untouched by suffering or whatever life throws at you?

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  53. a Small side note. I am not a fan of osho nor sadhguru or a fan of the many so called gurus out there. There is only one guru I know and it’s called life and it’s in all of us.

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  54. I have lost interest in any vested religion organisation because I was raised as a Christian . I found out that every time I tried to use my logical mind to understand what this spiritual process is all about i got more confused than before. But my clarity begin to unfol immediately I stumbled upon eastern philosophy which seems logica to me than all this western literature . I am a seeker of truth, I have read many of oshos’ book and commentary on many topics and also listening to sadhguru. My latest consumption of him is his innerengineering . I hope I am on the right track and soon I wld be free of all my psychological drama.

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  55. I attended Inner Engineering with a friend. Doing the upayoga practices does being in a newfound energy in the body. I agree. But so does every other kind of Yoga. I can say this because I had been practising Yoga daily for about 2 years before I went for inner engineering. I was disappointed because Isha only seems to promote their Hatha Yoga program and does not encourage the seekers to explore the Yoga tradition on their own at all.

    Also I do find Sadhguru’s talks though provoking but the principles that they ask you to follow without any explanation about them seem force the seeker to make a quantum leap to a stage in the spiritual journey that most of us are far away from. There is no effort to guide the seeker starting from where he/she currently is. For me having to believe these principles because they were told to us by Sadhguru felt like I could not reach the Oneness or Universe or whatever you call it on my own and so had to go through Sadhguru and Isha for this. Maybe this is part of the duality you talk about.

    I am glad that there is someone willing to talk about this critically rather than just through blind faith. Thanks a lot. Would love to know your thoughts on this.

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  56. You talk about enlightenment through experience. I want to ask you, are you completely untouched by suffering or whatever life throws at you?

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  57. dear shanmugam,peace be with you, i salute you, i would like to talk to you, my email is yoginineetu@gmail.com, my name is neetu , i attained yogini level 3 years back, please write me your phone number or how i communicate with you directly,

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  58. Hello Shanmugam,

    I do not have any experience in yoga and all. You can say I am like an infant in spiritual process. Actually I did not even considered spiritual process. I was trying get better health by doing yoga. I have started watching sadhguru’s youtube videos. Kind of got interested and started doing upa yoga(a free videos from isha website). Felt really good. I am not promoting a brand of ISHA. I would have felt the same if I got those yoga practices from any other means. Then I got a promotion for free inner engineering online program. I did that and it did brought lot of changes in me. But I still have question about sadhguru as I am typing this comment. Is he really enlightened or did he cooked the whole thing up. I do not care if he is enlightened being or not. But it’s just that if the future if he turned out to be a fraud or something I would be disappointed. Most of his followers would be crushed. I would disbelief the whole spiritual process itself. I can’t help it because I am in my initial days itself. Actually I almost did after reading a post in quora about his wife’s death. And also a post by his close one back in the days said about him that it’s just they wanted to start an ashram and sadhguru ditched him or something and started ISHA. He may be right but the post was anonymous. So I kind of set that a side. I did not disregarded. If we ever find that he is fraud I could reference to this and console myself that I didn’t believed him completely….LOL….

    There are lot of things that he said made me ask a lot of questions. For example he said “there is no good or bad. there is no right or wrong. there is not good thing or bad thing. there is no good being or bad being it is just that the person in different state of experience in his life.” (Those may not be the exact words but I hope you got the gist). I don’t comprehend that. How can’t there be a good thing or bad thing? Even if you are realized being you do stuff that is good for your body right. You don’t do bad things to others right. Maybe I am not understanding it right. Anyhoooooo….. Like you mentioned why can’t he prove it what he is claiming. I would totally become devotee if he would. But on the other hand I was like why does he have to? why is it only if you prove it scientifically then it becomes true. Can you prove what you are scientifically? If you are not the body and not the mind who are you? Can it be proven scientifically that who you are? Then the answer probably would be “you need to experience it”. This mess me up. So as being an kindergarten of spiritual process I wouldn’t know what to follow. So should I go from guru to guru to find out if he is right or wrong? I ask all these questions but I would keep this in a distance. I don’t want to mess my current exprience of life whether it is a psychological drama or whatever. I am just feeling better about doing basic yoga and meditation.

    Can the enlightenment be in different ways. I mean not the process but actual experience of being enlightened be different from person to person? All the enlightened beings have the same experience? It’s hard for me to believe that. The names that you referred (Osho and etc) and sadhguru referred they all may have different experiences. Even your experience(if you at all enlightened) from sadhguru’s(if he at all enlightened). I am I wrong? Buddha wouldn’t agree with lot of things that Indian Yogi’s believe or experienced or whatever. Even you are defending Osho because you felt the way he did or something to that effect. And some others may not have. I don’t disagree but would not agree with you either.

    I have some questions for you.(these may be silly)

    After enlightenment would you be able to move socially as you were before. I mean would you go to parties and stuff? I wouldn’t expect you to enjoy anything other than yourself. But you would be a weirdo if you stop doing all the things you do before and start saying spiritual things. I know that you wouldn’t care what other think about you at that point. But someone wants to continue with their life even after enlightenment.

    Would you feel pain? Would you cry? I learned that they would still have feeling and emotions but it wouldn’t touch the self. Does it mean they would act like they have feelings and emotions or would that naturally happen?

    After enlightenment do you see a need of doing meditation or yoga ?

    Does enlightened being know how and what to eat and keep the body healthy?
    My actual question from all this is would that person lose interest everything?

    Finally about you
    At the start of this post I felt like you are on to something interesting. I felt like you might actually prove that sadhguru is misleading his followers. But after reading the whole thing I was like why would you have to do this? You are fulfilled you are enlightened. I thought enlightened beings/realized beings would have no discrimination. You said some followers of sadhguru took your views personally. I felt you also took it personally. If you didn’t wouldn’t mention them at all. why does it matter to you? And about science. There are lot of things that you cannot prove scientifically(at least now). Science is just a language. You call hydrogen, oxygen all these are words. Yeah yeah you mix somethings you get colors you do few things they burst. But it’s just for our convenience. There are things happening in the universe. Humans tried to figure out what it is and for the sake of discussing with other we named them this and that. But not the other way around. This is just my opinion. If said people are blindly believing sadhguru or any other guru and you started writing about them to straight things up. If you want to straight things up I would seriously suggest you start showing the correct path for spiritual process. I would be the first disciple. But before you start I need proof. Don’t get me wrong. I am seriously saying. I am doing something that is working for me. If I have to follow you I need proof.

    Anyway. All this a side I would like to appreciate you to introducing me to the witnessing. I have been doing this couple of months now. But I didn’t know there is something called witnessing method in those 112 methods. I would also like to make a clarification. It’s not intentional that I questioned your comments. I would like debate before I actually believe something. I could write a book full of questions to sadhguru about his methods and views. But there is no communication path directly to him.

    Finally I want to say this

    I am wishing that Sadhguru wouldn’t turn out to be a fraud. I hope he is enlightened. Because I want all the projects he started to complete successfully. I wish UN will listen to him and stop producing firearms and start working on human race and take care of this planet. And I apologize to you if sadhguru ever turn out to be a fraud. I may have talked this way because I don’t the depth of spiritual process and what to expect from it or maybe I am understanding it wrong.

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  59. I admit I didn’t read the whole article with the detail need to form any answers or arguments. I plan to when I get off work, but you seem to be confusing Samadhi with Mukti (or Mahasamadhi) when you are discussing about enlightenment and leaving the body. As someone who first got initiated into sadgurus practices 18 years ago and have a little bit of insight (or at least I think I do)I can say that you are getting a little too hung up on his words. You are trying to piece together a tapestry of knowledge using various sources to create an understanding of the “spiritual universe” and to give insight into your profound experiences. And to try to figure out who is right and who is wrong. But your world view (and you admit this) is built with Osho as the foundation of that construct. There are several places where I think you are miscontruing what sadguru is saying. I could give you some examples but I don’t have the time at this moment. I will answer when I get a chance to delve deeper into this post. I can give you one example. Witnessing is one of sadgurus first teaching in inner engineering. That is the first day of homework he gives people and consecrated spaces play very little into his teachings, they are an enhancement they are to create an ambiance but he will tell you himself that they are unneeded. You have to understand in Tamil Nadu where his center is and his flavor of yoga comes from there are 30k plus concecrated temples some of which are thousands of years old. This plays a big role. The Linga was his sole mission. Before he became sadguru as such he was just traveling around teaching yoga and after the Dhyanalinga was consecrated he was doing his various yoga programs but for a decade years he didn’t offer or sell any consecrated spaces. Also his whole discussion on his enlightenment is his discussion about not bowing the separation of what is him and what is not him. Have you taken BSP? That is the whole idea behind BSP…also I don’t get where you think that he creates prejudice amongst his followers against science. Many of his followers are engineers and doctors (I myself am one). He is just using scientific topics to try to help people understand yogic concepts. He’s always been a big proponent of science. Again I will have to read this blog in more depth but I really don’t understand where you are coming from on a lot of your criticisms. It’s like you are projecting your beliefs about him on him. A lot of the things I’m thinking “he must be talking about someone else as sadguru doesn’t take this point of view at all”

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    1. Thanks.. I have addressed many things in many of my posts. So take your own time to go through them. I know how attached I myself was with Sadhguru and I know it is hard for Sadhguru fans to see the truth of what I am saying right away.

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      1. I am not just a sadguru fan. I first saw him speak 19 years ago when things were much different and took my first program 18 years ago with him and about 100 people. I have a natural enquiring mind and have had many “spiritual experiences” before him with him and away from him. I too have spent a lot of time with Osho teachings……..Like I said earlier I don’t understand your criticisms. Like one you reached samadhi in the presence of him on guru purnima I get you had done countless hours of sadhana, but you don’t think that it is totally a coincidence that something as big as that would happen at that momemt and at that place. To me that is madness that someone with such strong spiritual belief with that much sadhana would think that an event that is such a grand attainment would just randomly happen. You are extremely blessed, what you have achieved is nothing small. I’m not saying you couldn’t have done it anywhere but how can you discount the auspiciousness of it? ..also when you brought the Yantras into your home these things started deepening. Again how could it be? I know you have done a lot of probing and questioning and you state you have not felt any difference with or without the yantras but you definitely have felt the difference before and after the yantras. And now you are the ocean and saying you don’t feel wet. I get it the experiences are vast and profound beyond belief. And the mind wants to discount them because it feels like it will die otherwise, but I feel you are really hung up on the trivial. Yes many of his followers are emotional, they come from many walks of life, different types of education and have many limitations which as you know take a tremendous amount of work to overcome. But it seems like you are throwing the baby away with the bath water……let me ask you this, your post suggest that sadguru has hindered your spiritual growth. How can it be? Maybe he emptied your wallet of a few thousand Rupees but what you achieved can both be bought for 100 times as much. Maybe there was no causality but you can’t say that they hindered your path because these attainments happened almost instantaneously….sadguru has talked a lot about spiritual pitfalls, one is achieving certain levels of Samhadhi (of oneness) and staying at that level. It seems like instead of pushing farther….you went the other way and started reading and out things together with your mind. There is nothing wrong with that because these states can become very fearful but and on the other side they can be very pleasureful. But at some point you are going to have to push forward to the next step and a million spiritual books or teachings (including sadgurus words) will not get you one step closer.

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        1. I no longer actively respond to comments and articles regarding Sadhguru or write about him. but I have already addressed many things you said in my other posts. I chose to respond to you only because you engaged in an actual conversation and didn’t fight with me like other people who defend Sadhguru do. But I have certainly asked very valid questions and personally there has been a breech of trust. Take your time to explore my other posts if you want.

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          1. I can understand that. It is not my interest to get in an argument. For instance I can refute a lot of what you are saying and show evidence that many of the things you are saying is wrong about Sadguru and then you can come back and refute what I’m saying about Sadguru and then prove that what you are saying is right showing evidence. I do have one main argument though and that is the reason that I was compelled to comment in the first place and it goes back to enlightenment and how you have framed and characterized his views on enlightenment. Like I said earlier what you are calling enlightenment and how you are describing it if we want to make a label out of it can be called Samadhi. This is different than moksha or mukti or Nirvana. Samadhi states are not uncommon with those heavily involved with Isha especially amongst those that have gone into deeper meditation processes with him….you obviously had the discipline and determination to do it on your own (I would argue that you had a little help at the end, this is neither here nor there) but Isha has created a systematic process to create those types of states for many people that have the right sense of commitment. Which brings me to my main point. You keep bringing up the whole 90-99% leaving body argument and how he keeps his followers or Sanyasis from attaining. I’m saying that they have attained those levels of samadhi and even more..it’s just not talked about by them as talking about experiences like that especially to the general public is not advisable as Isha is already a circus as it is, if hundreds or even thousands of people are coming and talking about the crazy experiences it will be looked at as a crazy cult even more than it already is. So what you are saying about him holding people back from enlightenment is way off base. He’s trying to hold them back from death. If more people were to leave their bodies at his ashram do you think people will say oh he didn’t hold them back he let them be free, no he would be accused of murders. Mahasamadhi Or Nirvana is totally different than what you are describing it might be along the same path but it is way farther down…….

            the people that are arguing with you are for the most part simple minded Bhaktas. Nothing wrong with that Any big moving will have but you can’t base your opinions on what they are saying . Osho had that almost any big name will. Look at it this way Osho had almost 100 rolls Royces at a time. And private jets. This is the man who you speak so glowingly about. I bet you can easily justify it. I’m not trying to put him down but I’m pointing out that you were able to see something that was deeper under the surface that was truly profound that you were able to see past this huge imperfection on the surface yet with Sadguru you are going over the surface looking for any little speck real or imagined. And that is your right I just don’t get it. Like I said earlier you got your first taste of samadhi in his presence…..the Gautam the Buddha achieved Moksha under a Bodhi tree and that tree is still revered as sacred whether or not it had anything to do with his enlightenment. I guess I just don’t understand the disdain and irreverence.

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            1. Let me remind you of some quotes of Sadhguru himself (I am paraphrasing it):

              “Do not talk about anything that is not in your experience”

              That is actually a beautiful quote. A seeker’s job is to seek and find the ultimate truth himself first and realize his true nature. When you find it, you will know. As Sadhguru himself said in a video, that will be clear as a daylight.

              Whether it is Sadhguru’s own words or he is simply repeating someone’s words doesn’t matter here. As long as it is true, I won’t bother. I know what my karma is and what role I have to play. So I am just doing what I am supposed to do.

              Sadhguru also said, ‘truth is the authority, but authority is not the truth’; Even though it is a quote from Gerald Massey’s lectures and not something that Sadhguru came up with himself, still I am glad he said it because it is true. And it allows me to take advantage of it now and remind you about the message of your own guru.

              Do you know what that quote means? I know I have found the truth, it is clear as daylight and it is my authority now. I only speak what I see directly in front of my vision.

              Do not get misled by the word ‘truth’.. It is not any objective truth that you can frame as a sentence. In other words, there is really no way you can talk about it,

              There are many people who waste time like you in giving certificate for my realization. Spiritual seeking is about minding your own business. Once the seeking ends, you can mind everyone’s business, not literally but caring about other people’s growth and giving back something to the world.

              What you call as spiritual enlightenment ends the temporal aspect of your mind. Which means, future doesn’t make sense anymore as it did before and past doesn’t make sense as it did before. Because the psychological time ends there. So, you cannot talk about it when you are within the psychological time. And when this temporal aspect ends, there is no more seeking. In fact, it is like there is no separate entity to seek anymore.

              You begin by saying you are not a Sadhguru fan/follower. Do you know what? This is one indicator that I use to identify Sadhguru followers.. And do you know why you people say this? Because, Sadhguru himself said not to follow him. He used to say I don’t have any followers. But still, your previous comment is full of Sadhguru’s vocabulary. I know how to identify it. A guy in Quora said exactly what you said, and still he had written about 80 answers defending Sadhguru.

              Finally, you are not realizing that it is comments like this which makes me to talk about him again. I told you very clearly that I am not engaging in any discussion about Sadhguru much in the last two years. And I told you to take your time to check my other posts where I have clarified many things a hundred times.

              And you did exactly what a Sadhguru follower used to do; still persisting and wasting your time, instead of minding about your own spiritual growth. But I am not wasting my time. You gave me an opportunity to remind someone about some messages of his own guru.

              If you still persist on talking about my spiritual path and insist on being my guru here, you are just proving many things I have said about Sadhguru’s followers. You are unknowingly degrading the worth of your own guru by forgetting certain important things that he said.

              You talked about blind followers. What makes you to think your behaviour is not blind?

              Anyway, if you have respect to your Guru, I suggest you respect his teachings. Do not worry about me.

              The reason I took the time to respond this time is just out of a concern for your own growth.

              Anyway, I will give you a chance if you still want to waste your time. Sadhguru has mentioned this in mystic musings: It is mentioned in Rig Veda that only a Grihastha yogi can consecrate Dhyanalinga. So that is one of the reasons why he married. — Just prove that this is true and I will donate 1 lakh to Cauvery calling. This is a promise.

              But kindly note:

              1) If you say “Kindly give me that money instead of donating because I want to spend that money for my own spiritual growth,. In fact, I love to go with Sadhguru on Kailash yatra” then I will be happy to give you that as a gift.

              2 But this challenge is valid only if you choose to ignore the words of Sadhguru which is minding your own business. I completely understand. People cannot mind their own business that easily. Sadhguru himself used to narrate a story about a tea master. (this tea master is in no way related to anyone who is in power now). So yeah, if you tell me, “I can’t mind my own business but will take that challenge”, then please go ahead.

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              1. I looked into that quote of Rig Veda. Actually this was not said by Sadhguru originally, but when he mentioned Dhyanalinga as a project for the first time some of his disciples involved consulted many people. Among them one priest of a temple in Trichy when he heard Dhyanalinga was the one who said this and this information must have been passed on back up the chain. I don’t think anyone of the disciples studied Vedas as such (Isha is yogic, not Vedic) so they just believed that. Besides, it was the 90s, no internet or easy info at the click of a button. You had to make do with what you heard.

                In fact Sadhguru isn’t any Vedic scholar either – he’s read just enough to get his message across and a lot of that has come from interacting with many meditators and volunteers and people from different fields and his own experience – I believe many of them have done other schools like Yogananda’s (including Arundhati Subramaniam btw) or Osho’s. I wonder if Sadhguru spent anytime at Osho’s organization. Some of the bramhacharies and sannyasis have also learnt stuff from other school’s before. In fact I have heard from inside info that sometimes it is the team that supplies Sadhguru with some of the stories in his speeches. Others who knows when and where he gets the time to pick them from, maybe he really does pull it out of people’s heads. His USP is his ability to make you know what stillness is, and the consecrated stuff and the yoga. Beyond that I know, and I know this without doubt, there is a much greater intelligence acting beyond the man that just guides you personally to what you really need.

                For example, Sadhguru’s statement on the 4 Yugas and the theory of the sun being a double star – he definitely got that from Sri Yukteshwar’s Holy Science, but I don’t think he has read the full book. Someone must have shared it with him and he picked that up. No doubt about it, Yukteshwar was the first person to talk of a literally 24000 year cycle. Not that Yukteshwar was right about the double star theory either, there is no scientific evidence anywhere that the sun has any double star and the 25800 year cycle is actually the precession of the earth’s axis. Planet 9 was a hypothesis, but evidence is not convincing enough. Does that take away from Yukteshwar’s or Yogananda’s greatness as a spiritual being? Or is this even something that is relevant in the presence of a master? Lots of things have happened to me which is so far beyond digested knowledge.

                Ramana Maharshi also knew nothing when he had his awakening. Much later when scholars came and discussed stuff from the scriptures, he understood what must have happened and he gained a lot of knowledge interacting with the people who came to be with him. So that shows there’s a difference between knowing and being. You can read all the masters and religions you want, and still ultimately you realize that you really know nothing that is beyond except what has happened to you. That is humbling.

                Dhyanalinga isn’t there in any scripture. In fact I don’t know of any passages in the Rig Veda that talk of any sort of temple deity worship – that whole Rig Vedic tradition is based on mantras for 33 chief Vedic deities and some abstract truths within those hymns – in fact it is Upanishads and Vedanta that gets closest to the actual matter of enlightenment and then the Gita. Anyway, is that the most important thing whether it is mentioned in some scripture or the impact it makes in meditation and life??

                Then again, lots of things aren’t there in any scripture. Doesn’t mean they aren’t legit.

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          2. wow and I thought I was trying to be nice. I would hate to see how you would respond to the angry commenters :)……so where did I say that Sadhguru was my guru? Where did I say that I wasn’t a simple minded Bhakti? Where did I say that I wasn’t a fan (I said I wasn’t ONLY a fan) . And where did I say that I’m talking about things that are not in my experience? These are a lot of assumptions which could or couldn’t be correct….one thing is clear though I’m not so caught up in Sadhgurus words (Or anyone else’s for that matter) that I would take them as law. Words can be misspoke, misunderstood, misinterpreted, misconstrued, etc…… That was my one of my first arguments on my first comment, that I felt you were too hung up on his words. Why would I get hung up on them as well? So it makes no sense using his words against me. If you look back I haven’t quoted him once…..my whole argument has been about experience. Why would some one curse the house in which he had a wonderful experience in, even if it was only to provide him shade so he could enjoy it? You say mind my business. You are throwing all of this out into the world but you get upset when the world responds in ways that you don’t like. You are claiming to perceive oneness, am I not also part of this oneness. Am I or anyone the disagrees with you outside of that perception?

            As for calvaury challenge if you feel like that is a good cause then donate what you feel as right. Why would you waste your money donating in something you don’t believe in on some battle of egos. I wouldn’t do such a thing. And I would never take someone’s money even to go to heaven if it wasn’t done with good intentions. Addressing Sadguru and his comments on the Rg Veda, I wouldn’t know I wasn’t there obviously it is put in his book and it seems to be wrong. I don’t know the background I mean in his book “more than a life”he says one of his followers told him that a priest in Trichy told her that. Whether that story is true or not is not of my concern….what I am saying in my experience especially being around him so much in the early “Jaggi“ days I can say his prowess at setting the ambiance to have people go beyond their daily perception (in myself as well as others) is something I’ve never witnessed In anyone else in my two decades of seeking…..and I honor that…simple as that. All I’ve asked is why the disdain and anger? I never said that you must follow or you must believe in him or believe every word. I can tell this is irritating you I just want to say my peace. I will go on to as you say “minding my business”

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            1. Anger? You seriously thought so? All right then.. let us end it here. (You still do not realize that everything you said is based (not even completely) on this one article. So I said take your time to explore, because I can’t repeat everything that I have said in other articles here. Do you know what Sadhguru is doing now and what kind of comments he is making about public issues?

              Anyway, If you have time, go through this: https://www.quora.com/Can-anyone-tell-about-their-experiences-with-Jaggi-Vasudev-aka-Sadhguru/answer/Shanmugam-P-12?ch=10&share=8885e917&srid=hJCJi This is my entire story (But remember, it is still very old and also very long)

              Right now there is no actual communication happening between you and me. A lot of things happened in the last two years which confirmed many things. It is such a long story.

              So whatever you are saying right now is based on insufficient premises. You are still commenting on this one article that I wrote two years before, as if it reflects the stance that I have now. And I am not sure if you even really paid attention to this one article fully.

              Anyway, I am actually more surprised. Probably I am not good at being sarcastic. Your comment and my reply was a topic of fun with some fb friends and my response was not in anyway close to an angry or hateful response.

              I am more willing to have a conversation with you if you are willing to cooperate. Asking you to mind your own business is not a personal insult.. It is the most practical advice one can give to a seeker.

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            2. Dear Vernon,

              I decided to take some extra-time and address many things you have said right from your first comment. And since you talked about assumptions, I am going to talk about how many assumptions you have made too. But I require open-mindedness and receptivity. You need to see this reply as an attempt to help you, rather than thinking that it is something against you.

              You started your comment by saying that you didn’t read the complete article. The first problem is there..But I appreciate your honesty in admitting it. Still, you need to look into yourself and see what tempted you to comment without fully reading it. Because, that is usually a sign of unconscious behaviour. Your first comment is in fact, full of assumptions.

              You said you have a little bit of insight (or you think you do) after getting initiated by Sadhguru 18 years ago and still decided to talk about ‘spiritual enlightenment’, which is too far away far anyone who has just a little bit of insight. Anyone who is not enlightened to talk about spiritual enlightenment can only do that based on what he has heard, read or assumed based on any little insight or spiritual experience he has had. You never really know what it is unless and until your seeking completely stops. This is true. If you are going to argue on this, trust me, it is a waste of time.

              I have listened to Sadhguru many times and he is very clear in what he has been saying. No, I am not confused between spiritual enlightenment and leaving the body at will. I know what he said and what he meant. But still, you assumed that I am confused. The problem with many people who defend Sadhguru is, they do not even know Sadhguru and his message as much as I know him and what he said. Please read the link I gave you so that you first understand my close association with Isha.

              Sadhguru is indeed a pseudoscience peddler. Because he really doesn’t understand how science works. Understanding how science works is not the same as having knowledge in a certain scientific field. When Higgs Boson was discovered, he ridiculed science. He said that science books seemed dumb to him in school and the explanation he gave for that completely exposed that he doesn’t have any idea about scientific method. But I was indeed perfectly convinced just like you on everything. Again, this is a huge topic in itself. I have a few links that I will give you later.. But let us first see if you are able to see where you are going wrong in general.

              What happened to me on guru purnima was not a coincidence really. Because I had gone to Velliangiri hills just a month or two before that and that is what triggered something. My witnessing got deeper and deeper. And what I call witnessing meditation is not something that Osho invented. It is actually a part of any spiritual practice and the basis of both Buddhist and Vedantic practices. It is again a deep topic in itself.

              I also reminded you that I know the role I have to play and I am simply playing the role. Maybe it doesn’t mean much to you. But I will give you an idea. Whatever I do and speak in a way is similar to acting. I am just playing my role. I completely understood my purpose and role in the world. But you cannot understand that unless you are really familiar with my work and what I have been doing recently. Because, that is a huge topic in itself. But let us go bit by bit.
              The experience keeps deepening after enlightenment. It is like a new beginning in a timeless dimension. It has got nothing to do with any yantras that you buy after that. I have gone on length on this topic. I have even created my own modern yantra and I have explained in a couple of videos on how my own experiences in life guided me all the way to create that. It was indeed a miracle.

              What Sadhguru said before 18 years was actually indeed closer to enlightenment than what he is talking about these days. The reason why I say that Sadhguru’s talks are being a hindrance is because he keeps talking about things which can bind you. A guru himself is a bondage if people become too attached. Sadhguru these days seems to be a puppet of the BJP. His talks increase attachments instead of breaking them. In fact, if he stops talking and just focuses on training people to do their Sadhana, it will do more good. He clearly comes off as a nationalist, a person who himself is attached too much to the idea of a nation and its pride. This is again another huge topic.

              You said, ‘at some point, I have to push forward to the next step”… Read my reply again on the temporal aspect and psychological time. There is no urge to push forward and there is no seeking for me now. When someone talks about my next step, you have no idea how funny it is for me. Not only funny, but any discussion after that becomes impossible.

              After your reply, I again reminded you what I said in the beginning, to take your time to go through other posts. I also said that there has been a “breach of trust”. When you trust someone so deeply and then you discover that he is not what he is claiming to be, you would know what I am talking about. Sadhguru has made many extraordinary claims that no one has ever made. And later, it was quite obvious that he was lying. To understand this, you have to read many posts I have written.

              The reply I gave you which made you say ‘wow’ is the most compassionate reply; not anywhere close to a hateful or angry reply.. If I have said something that is useful for your own spiritual journey, then it is in the comments where I have quoted Sadhguru. Whether Sadhguru said that or someone said that doesn’t matter; the quotes I mentioned are the most important things that many spiritual seekers tend to miss. If you are talking about Moksha, then it means it should be in your experience.

              I admit that I didn’t notice that you said ‘I am not just Sadhguru fan’. I missed the ‘just’. I just wanted you to focus on yourself because that is exactly what helped me. Until your own realization happens and the seeking naturally ends for you, talking about other’s progress and giving them advice is indeed like a blind man leading another blind man. Do not take it as an insult,. This is a perfect metaphor; not an insult. Just to let you know, the blind guy that I have talked about in this article is not only my friend now, he totally agreed with what I said a few months later. Now he is convinced that Sadhguru is misleading people as much as I am.

              How do I respond to angry comments? You have to see them for yourself. I will post a few screenshots later if you want. What I comment has nothing to do with whether the commentator was angry or nice. You will see that yourself if you explore. But these days, I ignore angry commentators. And that’s exactly why I said I replied to you because you seemed to be willing to have a discussion.

              Well, yes, you didn’t say Sadhguru was your guru. But I hope I didn’t commit any big sin by assuming that you consider him as a guru. 🙂 But that’s not really the point. I did mention that it doesn’t matter whose quote it is. If you go to a different guru and if he is authentic he will also insist you to focus on your own liberation. People easily get carried away in judging other people, giving spiritual advice to them and engaging in pointless debates.

              You also should notice that until this comment, I wasn’t really saying anything about the authenticity of Sadhguru. I kept reminding you that whatever you say is pointless until you don’t have the complete picture and that first you should go through my other articles. Any other critique would have responded immediately by elaborating how Sadhguru is not authentic. But my only intention is to clear misconceptions and help seekers. In fact, the only reason I even brought up Sadhguru’s quotes is because, rather than me giving you advice, I thought that it is better to quote Sadhguru himself, because you admire him or hold him in a high regard.

              There was a man who advertised that he was going to have his Bentley car buried along with his body once he dies. This caused a huge outrage. Everyone started cursing him, because he could donate that Bentley car instead of burying it. Once he got famous because of this negative publicity, he said, ‘I said that only to raise awareness for organ donation. People who are mad about burying a Bentley car do not understand how valuable and expensive their own organs are. But still they choose to bury them instead of donating it. Have you wondered what a man would do with 100 rolls royces? Osho’s message was clear, “We have been doing a lot of meditations here and no one talked about it. But now the whole world is talking about my Rolls Royces. This shows what the world is interested in”. What he did was negative publicity to create awareness regarding spiritual path. Osho was brutally honest. He was not perfect or infallible and no one is. And he himself says that. So this is not about Sadhguru’s perfection or imperfection. It is about the impact that creates on people. I am not saying that Isha courses are not creating a good impact. They do! And I myself still recommend people to attend the courses in Isha. He is doing a business and I am asking people to take advantage of it. But I warn people that they should take what he says with a pinch of salt. You need to first understand the motivation or intention behind this article. This is not to put him down. This is just to help sincere seekers on the path. So this post is more about a seeker like you rather than Sadhguru himself.

              Yes,, Words are misinterpreted, and misunderstood.. I myself pay very close attention to the words that I use and define them as clearly as possible. But what he said was very clear. I am not really that dumb. In my own book, I have an entire chapter called ‘The problem with words’ which addresses this in great detail.

              I am not cursing any house. And I didn’t use his words against you but for you. Those quotes have a clear message and there isn’t really much room for misinterpretation. ‘Mind your own business’ in everyday conversation indeed sounds insulting. But you seem to have misinterpreted it; Sadhguru also asks you to mind your own business. It simply means first you have to be enlightened yourself before looking at others. This is a serious trap that people fall into.

              The path of Yoga can trap people more than anything else. People can get carried away by mystical experiences, siddhis etc. Let us say someone claims to have a healing power and it indeed heals you. I know that the world would hold such people in high regard. But that doesn’t mean that the person who heals is genuine and wouldn’t mislead you. What he claims to have is some power. That doesn’t make his intentions genuine. Look up ‘santatagamana’. He is a Kriya yogi but he prefers to stay anonymous. No one knows what his real name is and where he is. But he has written a few books that will probably shock you. He is my friend too and he actually designed the cover for a couple of my books. You can email him with your questions if you want if you have any just try it.

              This is not a battle of ego. But I have taken my time to type all this, hoping that it will make some difference. Let us see how you take it.

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              1. I read your story on your last post and it was wonderful I was going to write you back that I appreciate what you are doing even though I don’t agree with a lot (and that ok) and thank you for your words. I appreciate the time you took to write them. I think it’s hard for you to understand where I’m at because I’m not putting it all out, not I wouldn’t mind to do so. I do get what you are saying about Sadguru and I actually don’t agree with some of the things he’s speaking on right now and the way he’s going about things but I’m not here to judge we all have our own methods. I would like to discuss more in the future because I do look at you as someone who is extremely intelligent. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time at this moment but I will possibly in the weeks ahead. That’s probably why I wrote that quick response in the first place…..I’ll say this I have a lot more to offer than a little bit of insight (I’m not just going to introduce myself as some one who is all knowing 🙂) ….in the meantime I will do some more looking into your videos and blogs. Maybe we can have a more meaningful discussion.

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  60. Have you ever seen anywhere that Sadguru has done some yogic poses or kriya ?????????????? He has accumulated his knowledge reading tons of books and watching every single YouTube videos, but he himself does not have any PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE like Ramdev and many others for example.

    He is a FAKE SADGURU. Sadguru is defined as a teacher/instructor/speaker who teaches others with the practices what he HAS GONE THROUGH ALL OF THOSE.
    I think, so called Sadguru is MISUSED this word. Sadguru is not a real sadguru, but only theoretical Sadguru like Dipak Chopra.

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  61. Shanmugan, I want to add, we all go to school and university for a few years and graduate at sometime. Think that is what happenend to you at Isha. Your soul got what it could from Sadhguru, now it is time to move on with gratitude. Kicking and screaming tells me a lot about your state of mind and your soul’s evolution and nothing about Sadhguru. Sadhguru is just reflecting back to you your own inner state. That is always the case in the world. The world reflects back your state. Written with a lot of love and compassion for you.

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  62. Hi Shanmugan, I feel really sorry for you. I don’t know what your were looking for when you joined ISHA, but if it was self enlightenment, know that it takes many life times of seeking and doing the practices. The Ramana Maharshi’s of the world who attained it at age 15, without doing any practices, are rare and even he would have done sadhana over many lifetimes. So for you to say ‘nothing happened’ is not giving it time. The rest of your criticisms are just nit-picking. You said the powerful Bhairavi yantra broke and then got lost. That says so much. Goddess Bhairavi did not want to stay in your home but is still in the ISHA YOGA centres in Coimbatore and Tennessee.

    Sadhguru blessed you with stay, food and knowledge in such a spiritually charged surroundings, I feel very badly for you that you are throwing it all away out of ignorance. Where is your gratitude? The Bhagavad Gita says when your mind goes astray, bring it back immediately and make it focus on the Lord within. I hope you are able to do what Lord Krishna taught. I wish you much peace and happiness.

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    1. Govindan – I am saying this very respectfully. Don’t waste your time on earth. Don’t waste this human birth. Do the spiritual practices and the answers you are asking unknown people on the internet will reveal themselves to you inside of you.

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  64. You know what really triggred me, his telling own stories in the name of shiv puran out of context. Like, he was making up stuff. Watch his ardhnarishwar vedio, he just plainly narrating how parvati is stupid and only shiv know the truth about this world, and how he included parvati with her just to clearify her doubts. I never heard this story anywhere. Even if his intentions are good, his followers now blatently call women less intelligent. They react so aggressively if you question satguru as if their life depends on it.

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  65. Mira madam, that’s not the proper answer from you. if you can’t explain what is GOD and our relationship with him theoritically then how you can engage yourself in spiritual practises?. first of all we should know where we are going then we can decide whether we can travel by train or bus or aeroplane is it not?

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  66. If you don’t like Sadhguru, that is fine. Move on, instead of wasting your time on earth. You seem soooo disturbed. May the good Lord bless you with peace.

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  68. To Vernon:- dear sir, I appreciate your seeking appetite for spirituality but I am sorry to say that in spite of being attached to isha and doing sadhanas for about 18 years still you did not understand the ultimate goal of satguru’s philosophy. so, first of before practicing any sadhana naturally one should understand the object of yoga philosophically. The sad thing is that most of the disciples of Satguru are totally ignorant about the ultimate philosophy of yoga of satguru. It is like this for Eg: if you desire to drive a car then you must know what are the provisions of driving, where is the clutch, brake and accelerator and how many gears and how to handle those options. Then you can practice those provisions under the guidance of expert driver. Even though you manage to drive with or without guidance if you don’t know your destination then what is the use of driving the car?.

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  69. The ultimate goal of Sathguru’s yoga is attaining a state of emptiness or zero. If the goal of yoga is nothingness then how he could have experienced ecstasy in the platform of nothingness?. Further, according to Sathguru’s philosophy if reality is nothingness then this world has no existence and to attain success in this world by practice of yoga becomes meaningless.

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  70. Therefore Jaggi vasudev philosophy is self contradictory when he speaks about increasing the potential energy within ourself. Oh, what a pity that followers of Jaggi vasudev were enchanted by his foolish talks which has no substance and meaning. He speaks all nonsense about Ramayana, Mahabharatha which he had not read or understood in a spiritual perspective in his entire life and yet he spouts his ignorant ranting in a brilliant way.

    Even though he confesses that he has not read any spiritual books the followers are so dumb that they cannot even think that he is zero about the spiritual subject matter. I am asking to the followers of Jaggi vasudev of Isha that can you point any mystics in puranas who has not gone to gurukula for vedic studies still they possess mystic powers or whatever magic they can do?.

    The great Saint Viswamithra after initiated by his spiritual master possess mystic powers according to the direction of Vedas he acquired such powers after 50,000 years after executing difficult austerities as per the rules and regulations of vedic scriptures. One of the difficult austerities is to maintain celibacy throughout his entire life and to sacrifice ones bodily enjoyments, luxuries and to meditate on impersonal brahman in a sacred secluded place in a forest which is free from all human disturbances. This is the actual bonafied process recommended in the 6th Chapter of Srimat Bagavat Gita yet this Rascal is saying I possess such mystic powers without any access to vedic knowledge or without following its directions. Further he hasno present Guru who has initiated in such yogic process. Even Lord Ramachandra and Lord Krishna went to gurukula got is siksha from his guru and learned the perfection of yoga and marshal arts as per the Vedas. This Rascal is telling that he has been initiated in his previous life by his guru by a walking stick and got his mystic powers without performing any austerities. Lol, what a hallucination. Further he gives assurance to people like you that you can also possess such mystic powers or experience ecstasy just by practicing yoga in your AC room. Ludicrous!

    In Puranas all mystics acquired powers as per the direction of Vedas and how you people believe in the words of Jaggi vasudev who acquired mystic powers without knowing ABCD of Vedas?.

    Further, according to his realization there is nothing but the gross material elements or panchabhutha and this world is nothing but the manifestation of Pancha bhutha in different forms. So, according to him there is no such thing like Siva or forms of Demi Gods. This dyanalinga yantra is nothing but his intention to attract people to make good business of it.

    So, the followers of Jaggi vasudev are so ignorant and that hey are being easily cheated by bogus Guru’s like Jaggi vasudev by his jugglery of attractive words and foolishly thinks him as god. That fool by his experty of deceptive speech can confuse people but he cannot conquer his death by his deceptive speech and actions. Moreover, in this age of Kali Bakthi yoga is only recommended by all the vedic scriptures the process of ashtanga yoga or meditation is applicable only in the age of sathya yuga where people used to have long life spans of several thousands of years to practice meditation.

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  71. A simple question for you people had you ever asked Jaggi vasudev about the origins of life? if we are something beyond this body or consciousness then what is the origin of our consciousness? What will happen to the consciousness after the death of this body?

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  75. Ok, because you wrote all this, I bought Mystic’s Musings and read it. Well, this to me is the most important sentence in the whole book.
    “Only that person who does not carry the previous moment to this moment, only that person is free from everything, and that quality will be felt everywhere”.
    It is also said there that one thing they never talk about was the thing they refer to as “beyond”. Also Sadhguru has a habit of making fun of people’s ideas on enlightenment as all ideas are ultimately wrong.
    Sometimes he gets very moved :


    Then there’s that story of the vegetable vendor and what happened to him.
    Last Shivaratri (2018), when I was there, at that time the Power of Now had just come into my hands and it felt unbelievable to read it (later on the mind usually comes up with its usual walls of interpretation, but that feeling hasn’t left since). Interestingly after the meditation was over, the talk was exactly about the dimension of Shiva as stillness. Coincidence? Well such things have happened to me so many times, I never dismiss them anymore — life has a mind of its own in guiding you. It was doubly interesting because going to Isha Yoga indirectly brought me closer to feeling the presence of my own guru and friend, and it was a bit of a strange thing when he told me the same thing ! He told me “The person was, is and will be dead”.
    In fact my friend (I have shared his quote earlier) told me that even after awakening, it’s necessary to keep meditating as the experience deepens continuously into Divine Unfolding (his words). Of course I won’t know anything beyond the words, but ok, I told him I would.
    In my own experience it was so much easier to meditate in the few days afterward, after being around Dhyanalinga as my mind would become unbelievably still (I could be functional fully). What I could not do in days and days of meditation at home, happens effortlessly there. This is something that happens to me only around certain people by itself. There’s a point where I was meditating before Dhyanalinga where suddenly I realized any more technique or trying wasn’t going to work as I did everything I could for that meditation and I should now stop and let grace descend with no expectation. Since then that’s the end of my meditation no matter what technique I start with, simply sitting and being.
    Why this incident is important to me is because for a long time I did not understand Yogananda’s instructions for developing intuition. https://www.ananda.org/ask/unanswered-question-3/ — Santatatagamana also mentioned about this (the post kriya after effect state). But suddenly that day, when I was meditating, I understood that after a point in meditation, all technique has to be let go and you can only be and allow grace to come. Any person’s enlightenment moment ultimately is a moment of grace. Although we “did” everything, it was only grace that facilitated it all the whole time.
    These tiny coincidences in life are sometimes far more transforming than the blogs or videos (I seldom watch them anyway, I just feel there’s no need that it’s not relevant to what I need. I in fact prefer to read his poetry, a lot of depth in them that few people realize). There are several incidences where things just “resonate” – as though exactly what you need comes into your experience at that moment.
    There are plenty of awareness practices in Inner Engineering itself. In fact the post kriya after effect is there at the end of every practice. Also there is an unbelievable feeling at the end of a programme with Sadhguru — I can’t put it in words, it just melts me down. I can’t really recreate it no matter what I do, I can just be in it.

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  76. Sk sir, the idea is you just want to counter my comments and you are not using your common sense to understand about the philosophy of Jaggi vasudev. What you had quoted is a vvague statement written by materialistic person who is not a real mystic. Real yogi or a mystic means one should know who GOD is and he should know about the science of GOD and the process of creation of this entire material universe.
    Jaggi vasudev says that “all ideas are ultimately wrong” this is against all logic and if he says like that then it implies that his ideas were also wrong. This is an attractive statement to enchant people to accept his ideology as right. An idea is a thought process of the mind which evolves from knowledge. So, ones idea depends on assimilation of right knowledge. If the knowledge is not received from right spiritual source then such ideas were illusory and not complete. The right source of receiving spiritual knowledge is from GOD himself and through bonafide disciplic succession such knowledge has been delineated by self realized saints from time immemorial. Jaggi vasudev is an atheist as he denies the existence of GOD and gives his own stupid meaning of god. Anybody who denies the existence of GOD is an atheist so how a person who denies the existence of GOD can become a mystic or a yogi?.
    I also listened to Jaggi vasudev’s speech he tole that “ when I closed my eyes within some moments I experienced waves of ecstasy and suddenly I lost everything (lost my identity) when I went to my home I felt no meaning with my family relationship and now I am here standing before you”. so in the state of emptiness if he had experienced ecstasy then what is the need for him to start isha institution and have social relationship with the people?. Why he encourages people to engage in increasing ones inner potential energy and social welfair activities?. There is no meaning in social responsibility and love as everything is sunya or zero.
    If his goal of ecstasy is state of losing ones identity then where from Lord Siva ccame into picture?. How this atheist can speak about Lord Siva who doesn’t exist according to him?.
    Further you said that you had experienced some vivrations during shivarathri that power or vibrations can be experienced by everybody including myself. Generally temple has good vibrations or positive energy by performance of vedic manthras and rituals. These vedic manthraswhen properly recited gives us positive energy and rejuvenates our body and mind. Our mind is influenced by so many negative vibrations and impressions. Vedic manthra recited by qualified bramanas has the power to calm down the agitation of mind and enable us to understand about the spiritual subject matter easily. It not only calms down but purifies our anarthas in our heart like lust, anger and greed and helps us to understand spiritual subject matter easily. In those days in siva temple and in Vishnu temples saintly people or sanyasis narrate the past times of GOD and recite Bagavadgita and from puranas. This makes the people attracted to the eternal past times of GOD and follows the path shown by GOD. Therefore what you had experienced which coincided with the words of Jaggi is nothing new but it was experienced by everybody.
    The stillness which you ar speaking is nothing but the mind control. Vedas says that the mind can only be controlled only if we are detached from our materialistic desires. (Bg 6.2)
    yaṁ sannyāsam iti prāhur
    yogaṁ taṁ viddhi pāṇḍava
    na hy asannyasta-saṅkalpo
    yogī bhavati kaścana
    What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pāṇḍu, for one can never become a yogī
    unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.
    Lord Krishna says that unless we give up our materialistic desires there is no scope of becoming yogi. How you people can meditate on something vague by remaining yourself in a comfort zone?. Therefore, what you are experiencing is nothing but the material effect derived on account of diverting your mind from your material thoughts by artificial methods and techniques manufactured by jaggi vasudev.
    Everybody in this quarrelsome world wants peace and want to be freed from all anxieties. Ignorant people like jaggi vasudev and yourself doesn’t know that goal of meditation is to focus on supreme GOD and engage ourself in devotional service to GOD.If you don’t know the goal of meditation how will you fix your mind on something which is formless?. Therefore jaggi vasudev uses the form of dyana linga and calls it as machine.
    A machine or yantra is adead matter and has no life. we are living entities, who want to have relationship with other living entities. Yoga means to link with supreme living entity in relationship with a personal GOD. Is it possible for us to have relationship with a dead machine?.
    Therefore what you had experienced or experiencing is nothing but the temporary peace and happiness on account of diverting your mind and is not a spiritual ecstasy. Even atheistic people experience peace and happiness by diverting their mind in engaging in singing, games and adventures. . Jaggi vasudev doesn’t speak about the nature of spirit soul and GOD. Spirit soul is the life which is eternal in nature and is situated within our region of the heart. enlightened person means one who has understood his eternal nature and act in such a platform and real ecstasy comes only when we associate with the eternal past times of GOD after our heart is clensed from all material desires.

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    1. It’s very clear you don’t know anything – neither have you been there, nor done any yoga and you are simply arguing some logic. You are talking God, soul, spirit, relationships, but you do not know ANYTHING about God, soul or whatever. Nothing but bookish knowledge.

      Actually to be honest with you, I have read virtually all the world’s major scriptures and it’s now very clear that despite all the information, I have really never known anything other than what has touched me. So both of us are very ignorant, but I don’t mind admitting it. Are you honest enough with this? If so, then you will know what surrender is. The Gita ends with surrender, and you cannot know what surrender is unless you have been thoroughly defeated. Most egos, especially spiritual egos, will never admit defeat. Scripture is a powerful tool to keep you arrogant and most people know all the words by heart and believe whatever they think is written in it and yet they don’t have the courage to admit they really don’t know anything in the end.

      I know where you come from, Vaishnavaism, and what they say – I have been there, I know all they say and do – it is part of my own journey, and I have gone deep into it and come out also by God’s will. My own guru went through that at one point in his life. I have a friend in a world famous Vaishnava society too. Lots of things about their practices are very great, but in all of them I have found an utter lack of humility in admitting their ignorance because they are very puffed up on scriptural arrogance. This has spoiled what is extremely simple and powerful.

      Often you will see that those who see things from the Absolute viewpoint are in fact the ones who are most engaged in transformative work. This is not an irony. There is a lot you have not read then in your own scriptures, go read them. Give up all these religions and just surrender to me, that should be the last step of all practices. If you are not willing to surrender your mental knowledge, real knowledge cannot descend.

      You may go your way, I don’t want to disturb your path, what has come to me is what I need at that moment. But do add this one thing – after you have finished chanting, sit for a long time allowing your mantra to become more subtle and take you deeper. Then let even that technique go and just stay in the peace and blissful feeling that comes at the end of your practice. Let go and Let God. A lot of mantra chanters chant a lot, but they go nowhere because they never allow for rest and receptivity. After some mantra japa, be quiet and listen, LISTEN deeply. That is opening the door. Grace is not a technique. There is no technique for that. You called God, now listen, really listen.

      If you’re too full of yourself, how can the Divine enter? You are doing everything to make yourself empty, that’s it.

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    2. In fact I did not reply my original comment to you at all. I was replying to Shanmugam.

      If you want to know what the Self in the heart is, the last step at the end of all practice where you simply sit and be, that will take you straight to the heart. If you have not yet found what that is, you have read the book, but know nothing still.

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  77. Sk sir, the idea is you just want to counter my comments and you are not using your common sense to understand about the philosophy of Jaggi vasudev. What you had quoted is a vvague statement written by materialistic person who is not a real mystic. Real yogi or a mystic means one should know who GOD is and he should know about the science of GOD and the process of creation of this entire material universe.

    Jaggi vasudev says that “all ideas are ultimately wrong” this is against all logic and if he says like that then it implies that his ideas were also wrong. This is an attractive statement to enchant people to accept his ideology as right. An idea is a thought process of the mind which evolves from knowledge. So, ones idea depends on assimilation of right knowledge. If the knowledge is not received from right spiritual source then such ideas were illusory and not complete. The right source of receiving spiritual knowledge is from GOD himself and through bonafide disciplic succession such knowledge has been delineated by self realized saints from time immemorial. Jaggi vasudev is an atheist as he denies the existence of GOD and gives his own stupid meaning of god. Anybody who denies the existence of GOD is an atheist so how a person who denies the existence of GOD can become a mystic or a yogi?.

    I also listened to Jaggi vasudev’s speech he tole that “ when I closed my eyes within some moments I experienced waves of ecstasy and suddenly I lost everything (lost my identity) when I went to my home I felt no meaning with my family relationship and now I am here standing before you”. so in the state of emptiness if he had experienced ecstasy then what is the need for him to start isha institution and have social relationship with the people?. Why he encourages people to engage in increasing ones inner potential energy and social welfair activities?. There is no meaning in social responsibility and love as everything is sunya or zero.

    If his goal of ecstasy is state of losing ones identity then where from Lord Siva ccame into picture?. How this atheist can speak about Lord Siva who doesn’t exist according to him?.

    Further you said that you had experienced some vivrations during shivarathri that power or vibrations can be experienced by everybody including myself. Generally temple has good vibrations or positive energy by performance of vedic manthras and rituals. These vedic manthraswhen properly recited gives us positive energy and rejuvenates our body and mind. Our mind is influenced by so many negative vibrations and impressions. Vedic manthra recited by qualified bramanas has the power to calm down the agitation of mind and enable us to understand about the spiritual subject matter easily. It not only calms down but purifies our anarthas in our heart like lust, anger and greed and helps us to understand spiritual subject matter easily. In those days in siva temple and in Vishnu temples saintly people or sanyasis narrate the past times of GOD and recite Bagavadgita and from puranas. This makes the people attracted to the eternal past times of GOD and follows the path shown by GOD. Therefore what you had experienced which coincided with the words of Jaggi is nothing new but it was experienced by everybody.

    The stillness which you ar speaking is nothing but the mind control. Vedas says that the mind can only be controlled only if we are detached from our materialistic desires. (Bg 6.2)
    yaṁ sannyāsam iti prāhur
    yogaṁ taṁ viddhi pāṇḍava
    na hy asannyasta-saṅkalpo
    yogī bhavati kaścana

    What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pāṇḍu, for one can never become a yogī
    unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.

    Lord Krishna says that unless we give up our materialistic desires there is no scope of becoming yogi. How you people can meditate on something vague by remaining yourself in a comfort zone?. Therefore, what you are experiencing is nothing but the material effect derived on account of diverting your mind from your material thoughts by artificial methods and techniques manufactured by jaggi vasudev.

    Everybody in this quarrelsome world wants peace and want to be freed from all anxieties. Ignorant people like jaggi vasudev and yourself doesn’t know that goal of meditation is to focus on supreme GOD and engage ourself in devotional service to GOD.If you don’t know the goal of meditation how will you fix your mind on something which is formless?. Therefore jaggi vasudev uses the form of dyana linga and calls it as machine.

    A machine or yantra is adead matter and has no life. we are living entities, who want to have relationship with other living entities. Yoga means to link with supreme living entity in relationship with a personal GOD. Is it possible for us to have relationship with a dead machine?.

    Therefore what you had experienced or experiencing is nothing but the temporary peace and happiness on account of diverting your mind and is not a spiritual ecstasy. Even atheistic people experience peace and happiness by diverting their mind in engaging in singing, games and adventures. . Jaggi vasudev doesn’t speak about the nature of spirit soul and GOD. Spirit soul is the life which is eternal in nature and is situated within our region of the heart. enlightened person means one who has understood his eternal nature and act in such a platform and real ecstasy comes only when we associate with the eternal past times of GOD after our heart is clensed from all material desires. Further a mystic should speak from sastras or Vedas. He should not manufacture is own method of yogic practices.

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  78. Sk sir, you tactfully deviate from my point we are discussing about the philosophy adopted by Jaggi vasudev and not to prove our intelligence or knowledge. let me address the points again.

    1. I asked you how an atheist can become an yogi?
    2. If according to Jaggi vasudev’s philosophy nothingness or emptiness is the goal of yoga why he is keeping dyana linga for meditation?
    3. Without an idea or knowledge who GOD is is it possible to contemplate on something beyond your senses and coming to a blind conclusion as “Divine experience”?
    4. You speak about emptiness suppose imagine if I put you in an empty and dark space can you be happy for ever?
    5. Is there anything in this world you can have idea about a thing without its knowledge?

    Kindly answer to the above questions

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  79. Sk sir, what you had spoken is nothing but the expert training given by Jaggi vasudev to cover his defects. how to stop others from asking questions to which he has no answers. So, he taught you how to respond to those questions by taking a gentle and humble position. Therefore whenever you are in trouble answering to spiritual related questions and its philosophy you falsely admit that you are ignorant and then proceed to say that others too are ignorant. In this way you try to establish your supremacy by taking a submissive stand. This is what it is called as hypocrisy. If you really admit that you are ignorant then naturally you would have tried to understand what I am trying to say and would have discussed philosophical points with reference to scriptures with gravity but instead of discussing sound philosophy with me, you initially declare others were ignorant and then establish your stand as right.

    You people say that bookish knowledge is insufficient to know about GOD and divine aspects. This reply is not practical. Any knowledge could only be received from reading books and hearing from authorities but (just not books written by any materialistic persons). Whenever we want to know any science or mundane knowledge we receive the knowledge from bonafide teachers who are authorized by experts in this world. Similarly, any knowledge related to divinity or GOD should be received from bonafide sampradayas like Sri, Brahma madva gaudia, rudra and kumara sampradaya which are coming from eternal divine personalities and not from mortal human beings. Therefore, whatever philosophy or ideology or practices should be in consonance to these authorities. Any idea or practice which is not compatible with the divine instructions and knowledge of Vedas are bogus. So what I am telling is not my own opinion or idea. what I say are the words of GOD expressed through bonafide acharyas like Sri Ramanujacharya and other powerful vaishnavas saints who are undisputed in their character, activities and philosophy from time immemorial.

    Jaggi vasudev intention is to manufacture a new religion and to become GOD. Only way to become God is to defy GOD and vedic scriptures. So, he followed Buddhist philosophy but he did not want to become buddhist monk and accept Lord Buddha as the authority. Rather, he created his own religion by coupling some Buddhist principles with hindu rituals and mystic meditation to his convenience. To become GOD means wanting glorification and respect from people for his words. He want to be a authority at the same time he does not want to admit that he had obtained such knowledge by reading scriptures.

    Jaggi vasudev’s notion that experience gained through our senses is real knowledge is wrong. Without understanding what is divine experience theoretically one shall misunderstand material experience to be divine experience. We can experience worldly happiness through our senses, we also experience suffering through our senses. So one time we experience happiness and other time we experience distress. We experience pains and pleasures of our body so how we can trust our defective senses in experiencing divine ecstasy which is beyond our capacity of our sense perception?. So, anything which is beyond our sense perception cannot be experienced by our own endevours and efforts. Such experiences are subject to the jurisdiction of activity of mind and one cannot go beyond such barrier unless one understand his real constitutional position from Vedas through bonafide spiritual master coming from disciplic succession. For eg: one cannot relish the taste of food unless one who learns the art of cooking from experts. If he tries to cook food on his own without proper knowledge and without expert guidance. Surely he will end up in spoiling the ingridents and he will be frustrated in his labour.

    It is surprising that your quoting “Surrender” from Bagavadgita but you fail to understand remaining 699 slokas. Quoting is not a big thing but understanding its real purport can only be possible only if we follow bonafied guru parampara system. I am also little surprised from you people that you speak about practical experience but how you people believe extraordinary claims made by jaggi vasudev?.

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    1. I could spend all my time discussing everything from Vedas to Gita to Bhagavatam to Vedanta and any other realization anywhere in this world with you, if you want I will discuss it entirely from a Vaishnava perspective itself. This blog is not the right place, maybe elsewhere. But I really doubt if you would listen — you are too deep into Vaishnavaism in belief, their lingo and what they say, but there’s no real awakening yet. I have been where you are many years ago — thinking I knew this and that, being very proud of it. Since then God has brought me down to being a bit more humble. I can tell you things in Vaishnavaism itself about awakening that you will have huge issues accepting as it will go against some things people would have told you. You are accepting this authority thinking that they know God, but do they? Do you know or simply believe?

      First of all you have so many problems in your understanding of Vaishnavaism itself, forget about how many wrong ideas you have about others. You don’t know a damn thing in the Gita, or anything about what is God, or soul or self or creation, but the difference is you act like you do and don’t want to admit it. I suppose somehow your digested knowledge of Vedas in your memory is somehow not mental? What is this real purport you talk about? Just words in your head, or something a little more powerful? You too are believing someone who claims he has THE knowledge of God, aren’t you? The difference between you and me is I’m more open now.

      You haven’t come to the point where you really know how little the value of your bookish philosophical knowledge is. You are intellectual but ignorant.

      This happened to my guru as well. A stage comes where the bookish ones could not follow him – the religious ones tried to see him with their religious understandings and they failed. You bookish followers are puffed up with the arrogance of the ignorant – your theories cannot tell you how to taste or smell even a simple piece of food – you have to eat it. I used to be that arrogant guy once you know.

      You please don’t try to tell me that religion has any kind of scientific approach. Please. They are totally anti science, make you a follower who believes, never someone who really knows. Religions give you lots of tuition but God gives you intuition, which no religion will ever bother to cultivate because they don’t use it themselves. They keep you trapped in their own limits. By your own argument you do not consider the possibility that the Creator knows how to deal with your imperfect senses for e.g. If divine ecstasy is unexperienceable, it only means you are forever stuck at the level of belief.

      Personally the things that have happened in my life are my only real experience. If anyone else makes an extraordinary claim, I can believe it or not, but I cannot do more than that. It is not for that reason I have come across Isha and Sadhguru, rather it is they who have been walking in to my life. I did not find my guru, my guru found me.

      That’s all I will say. This blog isn’t the space to share more.

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  80. Smiles, you are just proving your hypocrisy sir, you did not answer to any of the philosophical questions about jaggi vasudev and you are simply ansering to your dictations of false ego.

    You defied the formost authorities of Vedas and thereby you have proven your arrogance in this blog. I appreciate Mr.Shanmugam for his honesty.

    Further, I did not ask you to debate with me as I know very well about the nature of people like you. Because the first qualification to hear about scriptures is one should be humble and submissive. Do you remember sir, you had adviced me that “If you’re too full of yourself, how can the Divine enter? You are doing everything to make yourself empty, that’s it”. Now you say that “I could spend all my time discussing everything from Vedas to Gita to Bhagavatam to Vedanta and any other realization anywhere in this world with you”. This highlights that you are under illusion that you know better than these formost authorities who are coming from bonafide sampradayas. This is what is called as False EGO.

    You defied these authorities thinking that you are greater than them therefore commited offence against GOD. Moreover, this also shows your restless nature of not hearing to what others try to convey about the spiritual subject matter. All these are the qualities of demonic person who wants to establish his conception and ideas aare only right. I came to this blog not to prove my sastric knowledge but to show the people what is real spiritual life according to the version of Vedas and GOD as per bonafide guru parampara.

    Further you said that I read all Vedas, puranas, and Bagavadgita and I know about vaishnavism. I am sorry to say that that no one in this world can say such words of extravagance like that. There are for Vedas Rig, yajur, sama and atharveda it is said that it will take minimum 12 years to read and recite one veda and what you speak of analyzing and understanding each and every words of Vedas even 100 years is not sufficient for us to understand one veda.

    So it is clear from your impulsive statements that you want to defend your ignorance and practise irreligion in the name of new religion manufactured by Jaggi vasudev. Now, I am asking you a simple question if you have some intelligence you try to answer this question.

    Whether your senses are limited and defective?.

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    1. This blog isn’t the place for any debate sir – I am only replying to you at all because you addressed me, and honestly, you are very interested in challenging me. To talk of what you know, it is better you have your own space than to be on Shanmugam’s space. If you wish to go by the way of the gurus, I could tell you to talk to my guru instead – but would you recognize him? Instead I’d just let God send you whoever you need at this time.

      Since you asked me this question, I will tell you that yes, I know the limitations of my mind, and more importantly I am willing to admit them. I have come to the point where my accumulated knowledge is so small before the vastness of the Divine that I admit my defeat. Every day I am humbled and defeated more and more. The beginner knows nothing and is humble, the one who is really experienced realizes how small his knowledge is and is humble. It is the guy in between that has a lot of ego. I do not know what your religion is trying to do by getting people like you to preach at this point — as a Vaishnava, you should probably let the name of Krishna do that job, and I am telling you from my experience that that will do the job in ways you cannot even imagine – life itself contains a much greater intelligence acting behind it and you cannot fathom the ways in which can guide you. This is the only reason I am even discussing with you.

      It is up to you to answer the next and more important question whether you know what God is or not – it’s not for me. You are not the first one like this. If you simply quote someone else, a phone recorder or a book can do that job better than you. Don’t lie to yourself by saying you know God when you don’t. I have been where you were, and it has been well over 15 years since – God has set me free in his own way and the truth will unfold in its own way in your life – I will not be so arrogant as to play the guru, that isn’t my job. The only thing I can say is that a religious follower knows little but has no idea just how little he really knows – that is why he is very fond of arguments. He doesn’t know anything, so in the absence of experience he has to rely on arguing his way. About 20 years of doing this, and one fine day he might end up realizing he still really doesn’t know anything — that is when he’ll open up and surrender. Maybe one day you will also be fortunate to see this and be truly humbled.

      I will not further spend time talking with you on this blog. I came here to share something else, now I leave. The Divine is ever with you.

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  81. Sir, I just want to point out you people the fact that, with our limited and defective senses we cannot ascertain the inconceivable aspect of GOD nor we cannot understand the essence of scriptures by our own endeavors and efforts nor we cannot try to know about GOD or divine aspect by our intelligence or by any artificial methods of meditation.

    If you say that reality is that what we perceive through our senses is fact then how you people could able to accept the extraordinary claims proposed by Jaggi vasudev which shanmugam had pointed in this blog?.

    Now after understanding your position you say that let Lord Krishna take care of all these things. Indeed, he is taking care of all of us according to our degree of faith in him. the fact is you are brainwashed by the words of Jaggi vasudev that “All ideas were ultimately wrong”. This is an illusory words and you fail to contemplate it’s real meaning. The idea that all ideas were ultimately wrong itself is a wonderful idea told by Jaggi vasudev and you believe blindly in his words to be true without proper introspection.

    Faith or belief is a inherent part of our life. An atheist foolishly believes that by his strength he can conquer his death. People believe that death will not come upon them in their life and they are busily engaged in their day to day materialistic plans to increase their comfortable position in this world. Faith should not be blind rather it should be substantiated with evidence. when it comes to understanding GOD and the science of GOD. First step in understanding GOD is to understand the cause of workings of material nature in a scientific perspective and then after due deliberations and observation come to a conclusion about the existence or non existence of GOD. I developed faith in the existence of GOD in this way and not by blind believes or centiments.

    I analyzed the verses in the Bagavadgita in an scientific perspective and after referring to various conclusions by modern scientists in an bio chemical and physical level, understood that there is no contradictions or incompatibility with the statements of honest scientists like Newton, Dr.AE.wilder smith and Michal Behe, I accepted the words of Lord Krishna as it is. This material nature is the best evidence for us to prove that GOD exists.

    This is the first step in understanding the divine aspect of GOD. This is what you call it as enlightenment. This is called as sankya philosophy which was mentioned in the 2nd chapter of Bagavadgita. This Jaggi vasudev blindly says that there is no GOD or supreme controller without any iota of scientific knowledge. Divinity or divine experience starts only when you accept supreme controller behind everything and follow HIS spiritual instructions as per bonafide guru parampara system. You would have understood scriptures according to your conception of life experience and there are so many duplicate versions of Bagavadgita in the market written by unqualified persons who are addicted to wine, wealth and women. For eg: poet Kannadasa also had written many philosophical songs although his songs seem to attract the hearts of many people still he was a drunkered.

    These bonafide acharyas are divine personalities and they were not influenced by materialistic desires and were not attracted to wealth, women and wine. They were 24 hours engaged in the service of Lord and they do not criticize other bonafide religions. They know who is GOD and about the destination of life after death. You said that I read scriptures but it does not touch me. this is a wrong argument it is like saying that “ suppose you are sick you go to a doctor, Doctor diagnosis and he says, you have diabetes and therefore you should give up your favorite food stuffs and take medicines prescribed by me. You say, give up my favorite food? And I have to take these bitter medicines? This is not good for me better I find another doctor who can satisfy my desires”. This is what acharyas says in order to understand spiritual life you have to give up sinful activities, follow the rules and regulations of scriptures, purify your heart and then you can understand what is divinity. Within yourself.

    Therefore this Jaggi vasudev is a bogus guru and is propagating atheism in the name of new religion which is not authorized by the divine sampradayas. He is simply making business by his self manufactured religion by pointing faults in other bonafide religions. As a vaishnava my duty is to point out bogus religions to the innocent people and to save them from ignorance.

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  82. Sk sir, your humble ego shines brilliantly. You admit that you are limited and how can you point faults on great acharyas like Ramanujacharya and madvacharya who are the foremost exponents of Vedas? These acharyas has been accepted as authentic by all the bonafide religions over a period of time. As a vaishnava we know clearly who GOD is but if I ask you people you who GOD is can you able to say?

    A person who is really humble does not say that he is humble. In order to avoid my questions you adopted a deceptive strategy to make others feel guilty by proclaiming yourself as humbled. When we are discussing about the validity of Jaggi vasudev’s philosophy you never touched on such aspects of philosophy and you point that we are not humble. If somebody asks you a question then it’s your primary duty to clear up his or her doubts without considering his or her intentions . It is not a valid argument on your side that scriptures makes ones puffed up. One who has really understood the essence of scriptures shall not be puffed up. What you have seen may be those person who did not understand the essence of scriptures. Vedas or scriptures shows us path for spiritual salvation or liberation from this material world and shows us who GOD is and what is our relationship with him. You cannot blame the Vedas or scriptures to be wrong for someone who has not understood the essence of scriptures. Further you cannot generalize the meaning of arrogance what you perceive to be arrogant nature can also be the determination and love for GOD by the vaishnavas.

    I am speaking what Lord Krishna says in the Bagavadgita and your are speaking what you think is right. I asked you a simple question for you people but you are not bold to accept the fact. I asked how an atheist like Jaggi vasudev can become an Sath guru?.

    I put this question before all the people of Isha and SK sir you may not answer to my questions.

    .

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  83. The hypocrisy of Jaggi vasudev and his followers is they deny GOD but they speak about surrender. Surrender means following the instructions of GOD and act in such a manner. Bagavadgita is the standard spiritual book for everybody and it instructs about 5 main subject matters by GOD himself.

    If jaggi vasudev says that by knowing these scriptures one becomes puffed up by his scriptural knowledge then Lord Krishna would not have given this knowledge to us. Scriptural knowledge shows us the right direction where we are going.

    Lord Krishna says
    Bg 16.23
    yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
    vartate kāma-kārataḥ
    na sa siddhim avāpnoti
    na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim

    He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.

    Bg 16.24
    tasmāc chāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te
    kāryākārya-vyavasthitau
    jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṁ
    karma kartum ihārhasi

    One should therefore understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should
    act so that he may gradually be elevated.

    So it is a fallacious accusation to say that one who reads the scriptures becomes puffed up by scriptural knowledge. Real humility comes onely when we realize that GOD is great and I am insignificant and therefore I am dependent upon GOD at all circumstances. Where is the scope of humility if GOD does not exist according to jaggi vasudev? To whom such surrender takes place?.

    These are simply fallacious arguments made by such bogus gurus to attract a section of people to follow on his foot steps and to make a good business of it and to earn unique fame in the society.

    I am asking to you people again. Jaggi vasudev denies GOD. Everybody knows that one who denies the existence of god is an atheist. So, how an atheist can claim himself as Sathguru?

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    1. Listen Kangana Interview with Jaggi Sadguru.
      Thats truth. Jaggi denies existence of God, Ridicule the concept of Aatma, I mean they will ridicule every belief that you have , questioning it being correct. They ask you to be a seeker and start from ground 0. Well accepted. But they why the Hell the very same followers don’t Question and SEEK from Sadhguru, Dear Sadhguru ” From where you get this knowledge that Shiva was the Adidev, First human being on Earth” Dear Sadguru, Which Book you studied to get this Knowledge. DEAR sadguru, WE seek this from you, Please enlighten us. But these Blind Followers just ACCEPT everything as TRUTH, WHY NOT RAISE QUESTION there?

      He built it a statue of Lord Shiva, BECAUSE, He knew HE can SELL it.
      HE is selling STONEs on the Name of DEVI at 10 LAKHS, WHY, because he know that HE CAN SELL IT.
      HE IS a business man(Superb MARKETING) and his only asset is logic/logic and non-sensible logics.

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  84. I was talking to one of the top course teacher of ISHA. In one of the Videos( while attending ISHA Kriya course), it says that, do this Kriya, through this, Sadguru will help to make you meet with the SOURCE OF CREATION. Now what the hell is this “SOURCE OF CREATION” means? Isn’t this in other words, GOD ? Then why Sadguru ridicules the concept of God.

    ISHA is nothing but selling the very same ( Yoga/Meditation ) things with a different Name and PACKING.

    ANYONE lets come back to main topic, I asked question to this lady ( TOP most course trainer in US), What is this meaning of ‘SOURCE OF CREATION”. How many in ISHA has met SOURCE OF CREATION till now. SHE HAD no answer. Did you meet SOURCE OF creation? “WELL I am into this for only 6 Years, still Searching.

    I asked “Do you have any idea on How many has met SOURCE OF CREATION”? Well again no ANSWER.

    Then I asked, WHY it is CLAIMED in your VIDEO that”Sadguru will make you meet with SOURCE OF CREATION”. ARE you really sure that Sadguru knows OR met “SOURCE OF CREATION”… NOW THERE COMES THE REAL Disturbing sentence from HER, YOU KNOW, SADHGURU in HIMSELF is SOURCE OF CREATION.

    DID you Listen ???

    SADHGURU in HIMSELF is SOURCE OF CREATION.

    Thereafter I discontinued my conversation with her, I understood, What is AndhVishwas, what is Pitfall of considering a HUMAN being as Sadguru. You become Blind-Folded. What is means to be Blind BHAKHAT.

    TODAY I want to ask Question from Every Follower of Sadhguru. IF SADHGURU is the Source of Creation, Then what the heck Sadguru is doing to fight Corona Virus. THINK THINK THINK..

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  85. Jaggi sadguru is nothing but a Tantric in reality. He and his followers ridicule any belief system and existing norms and then establish their non-sensible logics in force. The followers are just crazy to be in vicinity of Sadguru, just like the OSHO followers were crazy.

    NOTHING is free there. You are charged for everything. Who want to sit near to Jaggi will have to pay more. What a Non-Sense.

    So how do these people make money… BY SELLING STONES in the name of source of ENERGY. Can you believe, that Stone costs 10 Lakh Rs. People are fooled and asked to carry on their Kriyas in mornings/Evening/daytime and it is impossible for anyone to do it. And then people ultimately feel that WHY not find easy way and that is BUY these Costly Stones. I knew one of my very close relative who did this blunder.

    The logic given by Jaggi is ABSURD, Very cleverly he built the Idol of SHIVA. WHat he said in interview to Kangana was that Shiva was existenet 60-70 Thousand Years back and Some non-sense story citing some books and people beliefs. How can Jaggi followers be such a non-sense and don’t question “what the hell is He telling”, This is called BLIND BHAKHATs.

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  86. The masses are gullible. If anyone has some spiritual knowledge this whole tantric cult will be a ridicule. Listening to his YouTube’s I had some respect, but after reading some books anyone can answer basic questions about life, we can go on saying mindfulness, live in the moment, what matters is how you react to your situation etc etc. And everyone is wowed. And apparently he does social service! Well, he better do some service with all the money he is charging for each and everything!
    Then you go deeper and immediately realize there is nothing here. What you see deeper is a person who has no Bhakti, no love for divinity, arrogant claims he can dissolve your karma just by some ‘process’ and guarantee no more rebirth, talks as if attaining mahasamadhi is a technical thing, and the great gurus who have chosen jivasamadhi did not know the technical know-how of exiting the body consciously. The arrogance of his delusional mind becomes clear even to a casual seeker. What blows my mind is the people who get sucked into this nonsense. People can cheat you only as long as you are willing to be cheated. If his followers just sit home and meditate they will progress much farther on their spiritual path. Spiritual path is not easy, but he is making it more difficult by deviating the masses.

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  88. That Jaggi is such a rascal that he collects money from elite class and does social service to others. This is not real social service this is doing the job of government. Just like government collect taxes from rich persons and utilize the money for helping poor.

    The duty of spiritual master or a yogi is to elevate the people to spiritual platform and not to encourage people to engage in mundane social welfare activities or to attain material success which bonds them to the cycle of birth and death. The purpose of spiritual practice is to liberate oneself from all karmic activities and engage in spiritual activities.

    Unless one knows what are spiritual activities through bonafide sampradayas all his concocted artificial methods for attaining liberation shall be frustrated.

    There are four yugas just like we have four seasons. This yuga cycle is ordained by supreme God. The first yuga cycle is sathya yuga or the golden age where all the people were truthful and pious. They follow the religious principle strictly and follows the four pillars of dharma. Truthfulness, austerities, purity and compassion. The second of yuga cycle is thretha yuga where dharma was reduced to one third. In the Dvapar yuga dharma got reduced to half and in this kali yuga dharma got reduced to three fourths. In sathya yuga people have long lifes and since they follow four pillars of dharma they lived for one lakh years. In that yuga meditation is the spiritual process recommended in the Vedas for attaining mukthi. People used to meditate in the forest detaching from their families and nation and do severe austerities and tapasya by controlling their senses. In thretha yuga since dharma is reduced to one third people lived up to ten thousand years and the spiritual practice prescribed in that yuga is fire sacrifice and yajya. In dvapar yuga dharma is further reduced to half and deity worship is recommended as spiritual practice and people lived up to thousand years. In this kali yuga since dharma is almost lostpeople are untruthful, unclean and merciless only process recommended by GOD is congregational chanting of holy names of GOD or bakthi yoga. People have a life span of at most hundred years.

    So, if anyone says to meditate in this kali yuga for mukthi first of all there are four things to be followed by him.
    1. He should give up all material comforts and should go to a sacred secluded place and live their in forest.
    2. He should give up all family and national attachments.
    3. He should not eat any cooked foods and whatever food is available for him he should accept it as the gift of god.
    4. He should practice celibacy throughout is life.
    This is the standard rules for practicing meditation prescribed by Lord Krishna in the Bagavatgita 6th chapter.

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  89. I just want to say thank you. I am very happy that I was naturally skeptical and came across your writing. I believe all your writings are very important on this subject.

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  90. Hi Bro,
    This is something I liked to share:
    Hope it helps.

    Becoming free from basic structures of body and mind, becoming free from the very process of life and birth and death.This is the contents of Book titled – Death written by Sadhguru. See the contents in the above comment without fail.

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    1. What is DEATH?

      Death is a taboo in most societies in the world. But what if we have got this completely wrong? What if death was not the catastrophe it is made out to be but an essential aspect of life, rife with spiritual possibilities for transcendence? For the first time, someone is saying just that.

      In this unique treatise-like exposition, Sadhguru dwells extensively upon his inner experience as he expounds on the more profound aspects of death that are rarely spoken about. From a practical standpoint, he elaborates on what preparations one can make for one’s death, how best we can assist someone who is dying and how we can continue to support their journey even after death.

      Whether a believer or not, a devotee or an agnostic, an accomplished seeker or a simpleton, this is truly a book for all those who shall die!

      Contents

      Death Blow: An introduction

      Part 1: Life and Death in One Breath
      Death

      Chapter 1: What is death
      Death: The most fundamental question
      Mortal Nature
      Exploring Death
      Is Death a Calamity
      Stop Inviting Death

      Chapter 2: The Process of Death

      What makes us Tick
      A Bubble of Life and Death
      Understanding Life and Death
      Pancha Pranas: The Five Vital Energies
      The sequence of Death
      Chakras: The gateway of Exit

      Chapter3: The quality of death

      Types of death
      Prediction of death
      Negative energies
      Suicide: A perspective
      Succour for the suicidal
      The consequence of suicide

      Chapter4: Can Death be Hacked

      Cheating Death
      The dance of death
      Transmigration
      Seeking Immortality
      Seeking the next dimensions

      Chapter5: Mahasamadhi

      Samadhi and Death
      Enlightenment and Death
      Mukti and Mahasamadhi
      A Few Mahasamadhis

      Part2: The gracefulness of Death

      Chapter6: Preparing for good death

      Does death need preparation
      Sleep, OJas and death
      Why do people fear death
      How to deal with fear of death
      How to live one’s old age
      The wisdom of Vanaprastha Ashrama
      The practice of Sallelkhana
      The significance of dying in Kashi

      Chapter7: Assistance for dying

      The importance of of the last moments of life
      Helping suffering people die
      About dying at Home
      Rituals from death to the disposal of the body
      Is it all right to donate organs
      Dematerializing the body

      Chapter8: Assistance for the Disembodied

      Why are after-death rituals needed
      Runanubandha – The web of debt
      Kalabhairava Karma – An after death ritual at Isha
      The scope of Kalabhairava Karma
      Training people for death rituals
      The death of Infants
      The Parent-Offspring connection in the Afterlife
      The importance of Death Anniversaries
      Ancestor Worship
      Of heaven and hell

      Chapter9: Of Grief and Mourning

      The essential nature of Grief
      Going beyond grief
      Articles of the dead
      Empathetic death
      Large-scale death and its consequences
      Mourning period
      Memorials, Samadhis and Pyramids

      Part3: Life after death

      Chapter10: The life of a ghost
      What are ghosts
      Ghost Troubles
      Ghost solutions
      Dissolving frozen beings
      Nirmanakaya
      Downloading beings

      Chapter11: The Riddle of Reincarnation
      Taking on a New Body
      The Arithmetic of Reincarnation
      Past life recollection in children
      Exploring past lives
      Baby Hitler
      Couples for lifetimes
      The only enduring relationship
      Life beyond a thousand moons
      Birth: Always a beginning
      The rebirth of Lamas
      My past lifetimes
      Will i come back

      Chapter12: Final Round
      One Drop Spirituality
      Once you made a mistake of …

      Regards.
      Ashok

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  91. How to Make This Your Last Lifetime? Sadhguru on Creating a Supportive Situation for Growth

    Meditator: Sadhguru, you said that if we have a certain seeking within us, we do not necessarily have to come to the ashram. How far does your connection with seekers like us go? And how to make sure that this is our last birth?

    Sadhguru: So the question is, “Will you guarantee my liberation?”

    This brings me to a very nasty joke. A man got a notice from the IRS that he has to come to the office for some enquiry. IRS agents are trained to turn your brain inside out; it is like an inquisition. He was very nervous. He went to his accountant and asked, “What do you think, how should I go?” The accountant advised him, “Go to the Salvation Army counter, buy a really old suit that is frayed at the collar and crumpled, to make you look poor. Also get a pair of old shoes with different colored laces. Don’t take your Mercedes; take a taxi; then walk up. When they see you so poor, they will for sure know that you are not a rich guy dodging taxes, and let you go.” He got the frayed suit. He got old shoes and changed the laces. He prepared everything.

    Still he was nervous. So he went to his lawyer and said, “My accountant gave me this advice. Do you think this is the appropriate way for me to go?” The lawyer said, “If you listen to that guy, you are finished. Get yourself the most expensive suit, and see that the brand, Armani or something, is visible. Rent a Ferrari; park it in style, and go there. Only money begets money, and if you show that you are really well to do, the wealthiest are the ones who are freed from taxes. This is the way of the world. Just do that.”

    Now he got confused. From a frayed coat and worn out shoes to an Armani suit and a Ferrari. Not knowing what to do, he went to his rabbi and said, “I went to my accountant; this is what he told me. I went to my lawyer; this is what he told me. I just don’t know how to go now.” The rabbi said, “Listen to me. There was a nice Catholic girl. Her name was Mary. Mary was getting married and her mother advised her that for the wedding night, she must buy a nighty that is all buttoned up, full sleeved, puffs on the shoulder, well below the ankle; because she must present herself as a good wife to her new husband. But her school time friend came and gave her a red-colored negligee. That means it is negligible; the kind of thing where the neckline is below the navel. Mary got confused and came to me.”

    The man said, “Why are you telling me about this Catholic girl? I have to go to the IRS; I am not getting married.” “Just listen. So I told Mary, ‘It doesn’t matter what the hell you wear; on day one, anyway you are going to get the works.’” So if you go to the IRS, anyway you will get the works, no matter what you wear; whether you drive a Ferrari or you go there walking.

    Liberation does not require physical proximity; it can be done in so many ways. Physical proximity is for constant guidance to go deeper. This does not mean I am sitting with the ashram residents every day and guiding them to do this or that. Why people live in a certain energy space is, what they cannot get with their minds, they want their epithelial cells to get. Right now, if I ask you what the temperature is, you will open your phone and check. But your epithelial cells know what the temperature is and they are doing what is necessary for that; even just the surface cells may be a little more intelligent than you. The cells that are deeper down know too many things.

    People who live in such energy spaces are trying to mature into a situation where they don’t have to be anxious about what will happen, because that is not the way to approach it. Even if the end is assured, don’t you want the journey to be beautiful and miraculous? If you want the journey to be magical, you have to be in a certain space that allows magic – in terms of social structures, energy structures, and people around. Unfortunately, most places were not created for something beyond the logical to happen. If you do something which is not logical, you will have flashing lights and sirens in front of your house – this is generally the situation in today’s world. But if you go to places like Nepal, Bali, or Kashi, the whole space is geared for the magical. If you walk in Bhaktapur, every two steps, there is a temple; every two steps, there is a deity reminding you of something of the beyond.

    Today, people are walking around there like tourists, but there was a time where for every step, there was a mantra; there was a certain kind of worship; there was a certain attitude. In India, inside a temple complex, apart from the main temple, there will be ten other temples. When people go to the main deity – let’s say it is Shiva – they will be one way. Outside, there is Ganapati; they will be in a different way. Their mantra is different; their attitude is different; their emotions are different. When they move on, there is Devi, and for her again, everything is different. It is incredible to see how these simple people come and change from place to place, from god to god. How they approach them is so inbuilt into their systems that it simply happens.

    This malleability is needed within a human being. This is the reason why all these things were created – so that you become a completely different person from place to place. When you are able to consciously become a different person within a few minutes, when everything is changing within you for a particular purpose, when you can alter from this to that, from that to this, you become emotionally very stable. When your emotions are stable, you are always looking for the magical, the unfamiliar. Magical means unfamiliar. But now you are only looking for the logical, because the

    society is structured based on the familiar. If there is anything unfamiliar, they want to shoot it.

    In that context, living in a space that supports you is good. But you do not necessarily have to go to a certain place; you can create such a space in your home. You can be a little unreasonable. You can create a situation in your home that is not based on the familiar, where people need not be the way you expect them to be. They can be whichever way, but you go about your way. If anyone in my home – either my parents or later on my wife and my daughter – had expected the familiar, they would have gone bonkers. I could be completely different from moment to moment, from day to day. It is very difficult to live with a person who is wonderful at one moment; next moment, you don’t even know who the hell he is. But if they had tried to restrict the unfamiliar, I wouldn’t have been there – as simple as that. It is simply not possible for me to be just one way.

    It is not that intentionally, you are being unreasonable. It is like the weather. It depends on what I am doing within myself on that day. It is not that I ever announce, “Today, I am in silence. Today, I am doing mantra. Today, I am preparing for something. Today, I am working something up within me.” There are days when I am extremely talkative; we talk, we discuss, we do things, we play, we dance, we sing. Next day, you may expect the same thing, but that is not going to happen. Not that I am trying to freak you out. If I am doing something else within myself, I may not utter a word for the next three days. I may not look at you. I may not be interested in you. I may not even recognize your existence. Hats off to my wife who managed all this. Without that support, either I would have walked out, or I should have given up what I was doing, which was simply not possible.

    So create a home where the familiar is not the basis of your family. Create a home where people can be the way they want to be and it is not considered wrong. Just try and see. It’s a challenge.

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  92. No Return – Sadhguru on How to Make this Your Last Lifetime

    Question: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. In your book “Of Mystics & Mistakes,” you mentioned that you helped the participants of the Anaadhi program to burn their Sanchita Karma. They are left only with the Prarabhda Karma, which means this will be their last lifetime. Would you help other Ishas too, who are really desperate for this life to be their last?

    Sadhguru: They printed all this in the book? [Laughter].

    Shankaran Pillai went on a picnic with his family. You know, when people go to picnic, most of the time, they end up spending a lot of time and energy trying to find an ideal picnic spot. Driving from here to there, there to here, eventually, the car stopped. The driver said, “We can’t go any further. We’ve run out of petrol.” Shankaran Pillai said, “That’s okay.

    Let’s go back home.” [Laughter] It doesn’t work like that. Once you run out of gas, it’s over. I avoid saying certain things because I am afraid that you may turn lazy tomorrow morning. If you have really been with me for one moment, this is your last life. [Applause] But I don’t want you to turn lazy because of this assurance. Your last life should also be the most wonderful one. So you must get up in the morning and do your sadhana because we can make this the last one, but we cannot make this the most wonderful one – that only you have to do. For that, you must do sadhana.

    Now that I have said this to you, you must ensure that until you fall dead, even on the day you die, in the morning you must do your sadhana.

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  93. “So create a home where the familiar is not the basis of your family. Create a home where people can be the way they want to be and it is not considered
    Wrong”. This is what is called as demonism or atheism. whimsical life is atheism.

    If this is the conception of isha followers then there is no need for jaggi vasudev to guide them also. Anyway everything depends upon ones seeking appetite for attaining divine experience. If karma is the driving force of ones thoughts and actions then If jaggi vasudev claims himself that he is not a GOD then what power he has to nullify our karmas and give liberation to us?

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  94. What Becomes Of The Soul After Death

    https://www.dlshq.org/download/afterdeath.htm  
    Kindly SEE the contents….**Do not believe anything, anyone.Try to SEEK, know the truth**NOT TELLING YOU TO BELIEVE THIS, but do not ignore it as wellWhat Is Death?
    Rebirth And Evolution Of Man
    The Phenomenon Of Death
    Death Is Not The End Of Life
    Process Of Death
    Signs Of Death
    Dissolution Of Elements At Death
    Function Of Udana Vayu
    What Is Soul?
    Philosophy Of Flesh
    Swoon, Sleep, Death
    Soul’s Journey After Death
    The Third Place
    Karma And Reincarnation (i)
    How Soul Departs After Death
    The Departing Soul Compared To A King
    Process Of Detachment
    How The Self Departs
    Soul’s Journey After Death
    The Two Paths—Devayana And Pitriyana
    Resurrection And Judgement
    Resurrection
    The Day Of Judgement
    Soul After Death
    Soul After Death
    What Does The Gita Say On Life After Death
    Death And After
    Schopenhauer’s Views On The ‘After-Death State’
    Last Thought Forms
    Personality And Individuality
    Belief Of The Ancient Egyptians
    Doctrine Of Reincarnation
    Karma And Reincarnation (ii)
    Reincarnation Is Quite True (i)
    Transmigration Of Souls
    Theory Of Rebirth
    Reincarnation Is Quite True (ii)
    Reincarnation In Lower Births
    Development Of The Child
    Lokas Or Planes
    Preta Loka
    Experience Of Pretas
    Pitri Loka
    Heaven Or Svarga
    Hell Or Naraka
    Karmas And Hells
    Asurya Loka
    The Way To Yama Loka
    The City Of Justice
    Yama Sabha
    Indra Loka
    Varuna Loka
    Kubera Loka
    Goloka
    Vaikuntha Loka
    The Seven Planes
    The Stay In Supra-Physical Planes
    Spiritualism
    Sraaddha And Prayer For The Dead
    Importance Of Sraaddha Ceremony
    Prayer And Kirtan For The Dead
    Why Scriptures Are Read To A Dying Man?
    Conquest Of Death
    What Is Death And How To Conquer It
    Seek The Immortal
    Stories
    Story Of A Worm
    Story Of Nachiketas
    Story Of Markandeya
    Letters
    Where Is My Husband’s Soul?
    Where Is Heaven?
    What About My Child?
    Prasnottari
    Appendix
    Sojourn In Heaven
    Jnani After Death
    Retrogression Into Animal Births
    Linga-Sarira Survives Death Of Physical Body
    Nature Of The Next Birth
    Vedantic View Of Heaven And Hell
    Rebirth
    Strange Case Of Transmigration Of A Soul
    A Well-Known Case Of Rebirth—Shanti Devi
    Philosophy Of Death
    Mridula’s Revelations Of Her Last Birth
    Immediate Return After Death
    Dead Wife Came Back As A Child
    A Statement Of Faith
    What Do Westerners Say On Death
    Certain Superphysical Experiences

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  95. You are deviating from the point friend. Moreover i did not ask anything about the soul or transmigration of the soul or karma as mentioned by you. The discussion is about the Jaggi vasudev’s false propaganda and not about the subject matter as mentioned by you.

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  96. Dear isha followers, first of all you people are confused within yourself. You don’t know what you are talking about. The subject matter of our discussion is about the extraordinary claims made by Jaggi vasudev as pointed by shanmugam in this blog.

    You people say that one should not accept authorities and say that anything should be accepted based on our personal experiences. For example Suppose you have some problem with your body. You go to your friends house and tell about your bodily problem. Your friend says I know about this problem and gives his opinion and medicinal remedy for your problem. You tried the remedy given by your friend but it did not work. You become disappointed and started to think since my friend is uneducated may be his remedy doesn’t work therefore better I ask about my problem to a person who is educated.

    When you are searching for educated person you happened to meet a person who is an engineer. You told him about your problem engineer thinking of helping you gave some remedy to your problem. Believing in his words you tried the remedy given by the engineer but again it did not work. Disappointed again this time you thought may be this person is not qualified enough to treat me better I should find a person who is more qualified than him so, this time you decided to find a person who is more qualified and knowledgeable than him. you chose a supreme court judge and told him about your problem. Judge gave his opinion and solution for your problem believing his words you tried his remedy but again it doesn’t work. Disappointed and frustrated you thought of solving your problem by your intelligence and efforts and thought of trying to find a remedy for yourself. Pondering in this way you walked in a garden suddenly you saw a person who appeared like a saintly person so you approached him and told him about your bodily problem. The saint laughed and replied saying that, the remedy is within yourself and you have to seek and treat your problem yourself. I shall facilitate for your seeking mission only and don’t approach other persons for remedy as they will only aggravate your problem as you had experienced earlier. Hearing saints words you are astonished and struck with wonder how this man can able to say exactly what I had thought in my mind. Therefore he is not a ordinary person he is extraordinary person and he is a sathguru.

    Foolishly accepting the words of saint with full faith you started to seek remedy for your bodily problem. saint gave you nice entertaining lecture, nice clothes, nice food and nice shelter. Whenever you suffer out of your bodily problem saint encourages you to tolerate your pain by giving some tools to distract and forget your pain temporarily and appreciates before others your tolerating capacity. saint treats you like a royal person and you think that I am happy and my problem is gone.

    There is authority and expertise for each and every branch of subject matters in this world. There is expertise in medicine, expertise in engineering, expertise in law, expertise in administration, expertise in cooking, expertise in marshal arts, singing, dance etc. one who is expert is an authority in that particular subject matter as he is properly trained and accepted by bonafide teachers who are authorized by law and government. If you want to know any one of the subject matter you have to approach a qualified person who is knowledgeable in that particular field who is authorized by his previous teachers.

    In the above analogy the person who is suffering from bodily problem did not approach a qualified doctor who can able to give proper remedy for his problem. Rather he foolishly thought of curing his problem with his own intelligence and efforts. When he approached the saint the saint instead of directing him to approach a qualified doctor mislead him by supporting his ignorance and ideas.

    This analogy is to describe about the blind faith of isha followers which they have on jaggi vasudev. This is the way the isha followers are illusioned and mislead by bogus gurus like Jaggi vasudev to know about the spirituality or liberation.

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  97. If you use your intelligence to reach your ultimate nature, we call this Gnana Yoga. If you use your emotion to reach it, we call this Bhakti Yoga. If you use your physical body or action, we call this Karma Yoga. If you use your inner energies, we call this Kriya Yoga. There are four paths: the yoga of intelligence, yoga of devotion, yoga of action, and yoga of transforming energies.

    Everyone is a unique combination of the head, heart, hands and energy. You need to handle all of them together. Only then you will progress. It is like driving a car. If you align your four wheels in one direction, you move ahead. Otherwise, you are in trouble.

    The reason why this tradition has laid so much stress on the presence of a living master is only this: he will mix these four dimensions in a proper concoction for you. The yoga that I give to one person will not work for another. Everyone needs a unique mixture because everyone is a unique combination of these four ingredients.

    Most people do not know what it means to have an intense body or intense energies.

    Once you believe something that you do not know just because a book or someone says so – with all due respect to all the books and the great men of the past – still, suppose I tell you something that you do not know and which is not in your experience, the only choice you have is either to believe me or disbelieve me. If you believe me you do not get any closer to reality. If you disbelieve me you still do not get any closer to reality. If you want to get somewhere you have to be in touch with reality. Otherwise you will not get anywhere, you will just hallucinate that you know things.

    There is enough intellect in the world today to cultivate a certain level of awareness in people to see: what they know, they know and what they do not know, they do not know. This is a simple way to exist. If you cannot be straight with anyone in the world, that’s a social issue – it’s up to you. But if you want to progress spiritually, at least take one.
    single step in your life: be absolutely straight with yourself.

    I am saying see what, who, with guru, without a guru, see what works for you. Hell with Jaggi..

    Spirituality exists, it can be felt but we need to be receptive. For me this receptivity happened accidentally. I was just a usual happy go normal guy.

    So may be dhyanalinga could be fake but deities, lingas, idols, temples or certain PLACES have POWERS. I was never a seeker consciously, but there are certain places, gurus who can give you the experience of SPIRITUAL REALM.

    My only wish, now that you have come so far in spiritual journey, be it Sadhguru or anyone else or just with yourself, go BEYOND the 5 senses. There is SOMETHING that EXISTS & its ETERNAL TRUTH.

    Still not convinced forget everything, find if Rebirth exists. Just Google it. You will neither be able to prove it fully fake or fully true.

    If You will know humans can be reborn (SO I SHARED about death, rebirth etc.), then that nature of universe, cosmos, including you, me, God, get it, where its going…All are one and same..So go beyond your intelligence, i mean TRANSCEND your intelligence, (not become dull or icognito, never) get the experience.

    Like jets cross the sound barrier, intelligence has a barrier (boundary), cross it, Transcend it…you will experience the unlimited.

    Thank you once again.

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  98. Sorry brother again you are deviating from your point. How do you know the process of yoga which you are following is right?. Simply because it gives you some sort of pleasure for you does it mean you are going on a right path. A diabetic person thinks what will some sweets going to do with my health?. He foolishly thinks since sweets tastes good for my tongue it is good for me.

    Now,kindly answer to this question.

    1. Jaggi vasudev denies the existence of GOD is it not?. He did not even speak about brahma jodhi, jiva athma and param athma like swamy sivanandha spoke.
    2. You are good in speaking about karma yoga, gyanana yoga, ashtanga yoga and bakthi yoga but you missed one major point infact in the vedas it is said one should approach a bonafide spiritual master coming from the disciplic sucdcession who speaks from the vedas and lives according to scriptures.
    3. Whether this jaggi speaks from the scriptures and vedas and follows scriptural injunctions?

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  99. Mr.Bestashok divinity is not a sensual experience just like you derive some thrilling experience while driving a suffisticated car or riding on aero plane. It is a realization based on receiving right spiritual knowledge from right source. It is realization of understanding ones original position and act in such a platform. you are giving your understanding about karma yoga, jyanana yoga, astanga yoga and bakthi yoga but it is not according to the understanding of vedas. It is quite true there are different level of peoples in different capacities. There is a section of people who are intelligent class of men who are rational. There are some section of people who are emotional and there are some section of people who are introspective and they were interested to know the reality of the nature of this world by experience. The intelligent class of men use their intelligence by accumulating knowledge from various sources to know about the ultimate truth, people who are emotional are interested in relationships, love and affection, people who are introspective try to understand the world by their experience and people who are interested to work wwork for his family and nation.

    The first three category of persons try to find the ultimate truth or knowledge on the basis of their own efforts and labor. The problem here is when they want to find the truth depending on their efforts and experience alone such intelligent class of person don’t know whether the information which he is receiving is from the right source, people who are emotional they don’t know how and to whom they should repose their love and affection, one who is introspective doesn’t know what to seek for and one who wants to become a mystic doesn’t know how to utilize his energies. the fourth category of persons who are interested to work doesn’t know what kind of work they should do and for whom they should work.

    Vedas are axiomatic truth coming from GOD . God is full and complete in himself and therefore the knowledge in the vedas is also full and complete and it is not subject to change at all times. There are Vedanta sutras which means end of the knowledge and therefore one has to accept the words of GOD as it is. There is no need for research work as everything has been completely presented by GOD himself in the vedas. A spiritual master is a representative of GOD and he just repeats the words of GOD in the vedas and lives in a way what he actually preaches. He is called as acharya one who lives what he preaches to others.

    So disciplic succession means discipline just repeating the words of GOD in the vedas. These people do not indulge in research work, manufacture new theories and doctrines and gives their opinion. This is what is called as guru parampara system. Exalted personalities like Sri Ramanujacharya, Sri Madva charya, Vishnu swamy, Nimbarka and Sri Chaitainya Mahaprabhu followed the foot steps of their previous predecessors or acharyas. They simply propagate the message of GOD to all living entities according to time, place and circumstances. It is only when we accept Vedas and guru parampara we can properly understand about GOD, liberation from material bondage, soul in the right sense. Otherwise it is impossible and simply we will be confused and frustrated in our attempts .

    Therefore anyone who denies GOD, defies vedas or scriptures, gives his own meaning of GOD or spirituality and acts or encourages others to act independently is an atheist. One who wants to independently seek the absolute truth according to his whim is an atheist.

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  100. Let me make it even more simple.

    (P.S: I have already raised this on an other post as well.)

    Just find if REBIRTH, Reincarnation is possible.

    What are the possibilities if such a thing can happen?

    I shouldn’t be putting these things on public and I know where it leads.

    Find if you can be born in a particular womb?

    Find if you can choose your date of birth and time to be born?

    If nothing, find if you can quit your body with practice. Not saying fasting, or dying slowly with disease.

    Just few months of Sadhana, can you be completely healthy, happy, successful, be in normal life but just sit there and quit your body when you want.

    I can go on…

    Rest I leave to your imagination, what is possible and not possible.

    It doesn’t matter Shiva existed or he is not what people think.

    Hi I see where this is leading.

    All I am saying is please don’t BELIEVE me.

    Hell with Jaggi as well.

    But all I am saying do not disbelieve what I am saying.

    I am saying you find out if these things exist.

    You will know.

    If you still think these things are fake, I completely respect your reasons.

    But try to find out… Don’t believe anyone, not even your self.

    Either you know these things are true or you do not know.

    Try, just spend 2-3 months atleast to find if REBIRTH, reincarnation exists, can you be reborn at will, can you die at will without any illness, pain or fear.

    Explore you will know.

    I personally still follow only vedic methods of Spirituality – chant mantras, visit only temples built as per Agama Shastras, do homas at home, Krishna is my family deity.

    I REPEAT I personally stick to only the Vedic traditions and Gods.

    But I explored these Siddhas, Avadhoothas, Satgurus ( Self Learned Gurus or Unlearned Gurus), Yogis, Non Vedic Avatars like Jesus, TRAILANGA, THIRUMOOLAR, visited JIVASAMADHIS of many many Siddhars etc.

    These place reverberate with Spirituality. I did not mean to say sensual experience or pleasure but how else can I say I experience Spirituality in words.

    Just read about Trailanga and Thirumoolar. These avatars have no whatsoever mention in any Hindu Scriptures.

    Explore about the many, many Siddhars. Most of them have zero rituals, zero scriptural knowledge.

    Just spend 2-3 months. Just explore if Spirituality exists in the same PROWESS or Quality or Authenticity beyond the realm of Vedas and our traditional Sanatan Dharma.

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  101. Alright brother, I will do when you can able to do following acts with your senses.

    1. Find if you can able to see objects in the dark with your eyes
    2. Find if you can able to hear radio waves without a radio with your ears
    3. Find if you can able to see corona virus with your naked eyes
    4. Find if you can able to hear what your neighbors are speaking in their homes from your house in your room
    5. Find if you can able to count all the stars in the sky
    6. Find if you can able to see things which is very far
    7. Find if you can able to remember what food you had eaten one month before exactly on that particular date.
    8. Find if you can able to lift a car with your hands
    9. Find if you can able to remember who are the people who came to see you when you are one- year- old child
    10. Find if you can able to see the mind
    11. Find if you can able to judge person at first instance that he is good or bad

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    2. Ha, ha, nice one you almost got me.
      I agree I can’t do any of what you said.

      Hope this helps.

      Here see the 100s of folks who have done it.

      https://soonyata.home.xs4all.nl/jeevasamadhi.htm

      Even after reading this you say what I am saying is fake, I respect your opinions.

      But I know there are ways, people, gurus, yogis, Sadhana, methods, temples, Gods, Deities etc. beyond the REALM of Vedic scriptures to attain the same Spirituality that is possible with Santana Vedic Dharma.

      Finally it’s not about who is wrong.

      I am saying what works for me and whole of lot other people.

      You have shared about Vedas which works for a whole of people.

      I am happy Vedas, authentic gurus, God is working for you.

      I repeat I respect your opinion that you are correct about Vedic valour.

      I am fine that you don’t agree with what I am saying.

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  102. Dear brothers, It is nice that you people due to your past pious activities in your previous life can able to understand and speak about some spiritual related topics. My intention is not to win arguments with you. I say that your personal opinions and experiences and my personal opinions and experiences are wrong as we are limited and imperfect. What I spoke to you is not my opinion or my understanding but the conclusions of bonafide acharyas from guru parampara. I can still continue my arguments with you but what is the point in continuing discussion with you if you don’t admit the simple straight fact that we are limited and imperfect.

    The fact is that one cannot be teacher for himself. Lord Jesus Christ said one cannot judge himself whether he is right or wrong. I don’t know about The siddhas which you had mentioned. Sastras says one has to practice such ashtanga yoga under the instruction and guidance of his guru. It is a simple fact only a qualified teacher can correct students and trains them to advance in their education. Similarly, the same is applicable for spiritual advancement also.

    For example suppose you desire to drive car but you don’t know how to drive the car. You theoretically know about the car and its functions. Based on such knowledge you decided to drive the car . tell me brother is this an intelligent decision made by you?

    If you are not accepting this plain fact then there is no point in continuing discussion with you.

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    1. Hmmm..nice talking to you. Siddhas, Naga Sadhus, Nath Yogis, Aghoris and many, many other SPIRITUAL SECTS do have a parampara. Their methods, ways may be non-vedic or crude. But they have a parampara of their own which does not fall under the ambit of Vedas.

      There are traditions in them but it is not like our Vedas.

      Hope this helps.

      Siddhas, Siddhar, Sittar and Cittar

      The words variously used in English by the Western and as well as Indian scholars are Siddhas, Siddhar, Sittar and Cittar. Siddhar means perfected or realized saints.

      Cit = the principle of universal intelligence or consciousness

      Citta = mind-stuff; sub-conscious mind.

      Siddh = realised, perfected, thus, Siddha is a perfected yogi.

      Siddhi = perfection, attainment, psychic power.

      Siddhanta = established tenet or doctrine.

      I repeat Spirituality is beyond the realm of Vedas, scriptures, parampara as well is all i am saying.
      Here not trying to argue with you.
      All i am saying is spiritual destination is same for everyone.
      There is NO YOUR SOUL & MY SOUL.
      Tell me after you die and I die, we do not have a mind, how can their be your soul or my soul.
      The SOUL will just have tendencies based on its Karma.

      So anyway point is spiritually have you realized whatever there is to be.
      It does not matter whether you did with Vedas or Paramparas or beyond the realm of Vedas.

      Try to explore is all i can, without exploring you saying they do not have parampara is wrong.

      I am comfortable with Vedic tradition which i personally follow. I already REPEATED i follow only the vedic routine – chant mantras, do homas and goto temples. My guru teaches me only VEDIC TRADITIONS.

      But i know that Siddhas, Avadhootas, Naga Sadhus, Aghoris, Satgurus(Uneducated gurus, Uncoventional gurus) etc. exist and their ways of spiritually is equal to the VEDAS, BONAFIDE, and have a their own Parampara.

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    2. Here these are my views of a guru.

      Not saying they are perfect as Vedas or scriptures but point is does my (with all reverence and absolute respect) GURU WORK for me.

      The job of a Guru is not to JUST to interpret the scriptures but to take you to another dimension of life.

      If human beings blossom into their ultimate nature, this is the MAIN job of a guru.

      A Guru can influence every aspect if you are willing. If you want the guru to only influence your spiritual life, that is fine too.

      But depending upon how much openness you create, that much of an active role the GURU should play. If you allow the GURU, he should be even able to decide what you should eat for breakfast. – not as an imposition but as a natural choice.

      I don’t want my guru just to be a good teacher or morality preacher.

      I do NOT want my Guru to be contained within certain limitations or structure. I will not go anywhere near that man because he will be of no help to me as i am able to grasp that person capability. He will solace me, he will comfort me, and even become a bondage. Such a guru is not liberation.

      The Guru is someone who has transcended his personality and then he carefully crafts a personality as it is necessary for the kind of role that he wants to play.

      To take a person from one dimension of experience to another dimension of experience, you need a device which is of a higher level of intensity and energy. Such person is a Guru. The Guru-shishya relationship is on an energy basis ultimately. A Guru is touching you in a dimension where no one else can touch you. There are many ways to move your energies to Ajna. But from Ajna to Sahasrar, there is no particular way to do anything. It is just a jump. It is because of this that the Guru-shishya relationship has been held as the most sacred relationship in this culture. If you have to take this jump, you need deep trust – otherwise, it is not possible.

      The Guru should be beyond all your intellectual capability.
      He should THREATEN my very existence everyday.
      In short I should in reality feel threatened by my guru but still i cannot RESIST being with my guru at all costs.

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      1. Ok i think if you experience what i am saying is true then you may be you will know what i am trying to say about spirituality beyond the realm of Vedas, Parampara and authentic or bonafide guru.

        JEEVA SAMADHI energies- how to EXPERIENCE?

        Visiting Jeeva Samadhi is not like visiting temples where you offer your prayer and puja to the deity. Here in Jeeva samadhi it is not a temple. It is a very holy and divine sanctum sanctorum where the saint consciously inverted all his senses, feelings and being in to a submerged state where only the awareness will be so total that it will reflect only the, ‘IT’ ness remains. This flame of consciousness will guide all the seekers in to their reality in the long course of time. Jeeva Samadhi are the holy places where we can go in to the past and know all the spiritual secrets of the past and the saint’s vision of human evolution in consciousnes. Many a time meditating at the Jeeva Samadhi shrine will open many doors in our consciousness. These subtle doors can’t be opened even with our life long sadhana of Tapas, chanting mantras or following traditions.

        http://www.aathmanawarenesscentre.com/jeevasamadhisearch.php

        IMPACT ON A MEDITATIVE PERSON ON VISITING A JEEVA SAMADHI
        If a meditative person visits the Jeeva Samadhi of the saints, and starts meditating then if he is really open enough in his being, then he can feel the divine energy emanating from the jeeva Samadhi of the saint. This divine energy slowly engulfs him from outside and then slowly it will enter in to his physical body and this energy will be stored in the chakra in which he practices meditation. When the meditator goes back to his home, he can feel the divine energy stored in his body, but this energy will be dissipated when he moves with other family members and their bodies will suck this energy without his knowing.

        POINTS TO BE AWARE BEFORE ENTERING JEEVA SAMADHI
        A person when he enters in to the Jeeva Samadhi should first see the shiva linga and he should offer his prayers with his attention in ajna chakra. The person should bring a packet of good agarbathi and flowers to Jeeva Samadhi, first should light the packet of agarbathi and hold it in the hands and pray to the saint. Soon fragrance of the agarbathi lingers the sanctum santorum. Then one should put the flowers or the mala on top of the shiva lingam. If pujari is there, then he should ask the pujari to do this. After that, he should find a calm place to sit, where he cannot be a disturbance to anyone. Then he can start his meditation. Before starting meditation, one should close his eyes and get his body and mind get accustomed to this divine place which means he should be ready and open enough to receive the divine energy from the Jeeva Samadhi. Now, he can slowly start his meditation in the chakra. The energy will accumulate in his chakra and he will feel a tightness and heaviness in the chakra.

        Just do not get arrogant or proud or miuse what you benefit from JeevaSamadhis. It will hit you back if you misuse the spiritual benefits gained from JivaSamadhi. Like you know, KARMA.

        Hope this helps you see the spiritual experience beyond the realm of vedic traditions. They too exist is all i am saying. Not saying you are wrong.

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  103. HI Arun,

    She did all the things you asked for and more than that.

    She never read the Vedas.
    She never had any guru.
    She did not come from a Parampara.
    She did not have a bonafide tag.

    I repeat you never know how spirituality works, its ways are both by the scriptures and beyond the realm of Scriptures as well.

    Who is divine Mayammaa? Not much information is available on her earlier life and birth. It is generally believed that she had manifested as Goddess Parasakti in Kamakya temple in Assam and came to Kanyakumari in human form. It is mystery again as to how and when did she arrive in Kanyakumari. None has any clue. Some of the spiritual masters opine that divine Mayammaa was a great saint in previous births, penanced in places like Kasi, Tibet and Nepal etc and came to Kanyakumari to fulfill her desire to do penance here in her last birth. The general belief is that she must have come here sometime during 1920s.

    https://santhipriya.com/2018/10/mayammaa.html

    Initially none knew she was greatest avathooth or divine incarnate since she was seen wearing torn clothes, uncouth in appearance and wandered by the sides of seashore in the district of Kanyakumari. She was always seen resting, walking or sleeping on the sand bed of the seashore, unmindful of heat, rain or even inclement weather, but always found surrounded by pack of dogs. It is always said that those followed by the pack of dogs are in the lineage of Lord Kala Bhairava as pack of dogs always accompanied the Lord. The dogs by the sides of Lord Bhairava represents mankind who are guarded by the Lord. When some one offered food she ate it after sharing with the dogs around her, else remained uncared for food even if food is unavailable to her for many days. Water, food or other eatable were no matter to her as she had not shown interest on them or even displayed tiredness when she remained without food and water for several days.

    People have seen her sitting over the rocks of the seashore or even rocks inside the sea. Suddenly she would jump into the ocean, collect sea moss, filth and waste, pile them on seashore, lit fire to them and sat before it for hours. It was strange sight to see her collecting sea moss and debris and lit them to fire without match sticks. But those who follow the rituals in spiritual field have always seen the Sidha Purush or sanyasi and sages in penance lit fire and perform yagna for some cause. It could be that Mayammaa too was engaged in one such an act for some unknown reason only known to her.

    Can a divine incarnate look so ugly and uncouth? There is a story behind her appearing so. She was reportedly beautiful when first landed in Kanyakumari and wandered by the side of the seashore. However due to the menace of rogues who stalked her with ulterior motives, one day she turned herself into an uncouth ugly woman. Some may argue whether it is possible to change the basic appearance of their own in matter of seconds? Those who have read the story of Lord Dattathreya will know that he used to deliberately appear as drunkard beggar, some times walking biting meat, mutton or wine bottles in hand etc, and when some one went near him, he spat and abused them in filth language. But those who had understood him well, believed that Lord Dattathreya in disguise of such postures deliberately attempted to test their faith. Therefore unmindful of insults heaped on them by Lord Dattathreya in disguise in different appearances, when they continued to follow him wherever he went seeking blessings, the Lord would finally appear in his true form to bless them. Similar could be the case of Mayammaa who even though changed her outwardly appearance as uncouth beggar, appeared as Goddess Kanyakumari and Goddess Mahalakshmi to some of her pious devotees who continued to offer worship to her unmindful of her uncouth appearance. Both Goddess Kanyakumari and Goddess Mahalakshmi have manifested from the divine energies of Goddess Parasakthi only.

    Every one in Kanyakumari who initially saw her wandering in seashore in such appearance believed her to be a beggar. If she went near some one, they used to avoid even walking nearer to her because none knew she was greatest Avadoot and divine incarnate. She was first spotted sometime in 1920 by few fishermen who lived by seashore. However her divinity came to light only in the year 1925 through an incident that happened on road side.

    One day one of the tourist buses ran over a dog and sped away. The dog lay almost dead, blood splashed and intestines gushed out from the body. The gory scene horrified everyone who squired with the offensive, nauseating smell and stayed away from looking at the awkward site. Mayammaa who happened to pass by the side saw the ghastly scene, walked coolly towards the dog, showed no expression on her face, took her up the dog on her lap, pushed the intestines inside her body, pulled the skin tightly, inserted few thin wooden sticks picked up from the road side piercing them into the skin as though she was stitching a cut wound, applied mud over the cut areas and walked away leaving the dog by the side of the road. Next morning to everyone’s shock and surprise, the dog slowly came to senses, opened her eyes and in a few minutes stood up and ran away as if nothing had happened the previous day. Even scar was not visible over her body from where the intestines gushed out after the accident. How did it happen was the sole question that reverberated in the minds of curious onlookers.

    This incident made everyone realize that Mayammaa was not an ordinary soul and she must be possessing some extraordinary divine power. Thereafter people began to respect her and continued to watch her activities closely. Many have seen her going to the seashore quite often, enter into the sea, disappear and come back after many hours. Some had even seen her walking over the sea as if she was walking on land. All those strengthened the feeling that she was sure to be a divine incarnate and not an ordinary soul. They offered her some place to stay, but Mayammaa never accepted them and instead preferred to sleep outside Lord Vinayaga temple in the midst of busy street side. Slowly people used to meet her seeking her blessings which Mayammaa did without uttering a word. None have seen her talking but her answers to their queries would be in the form of signs of strange sounds and gestures.

    Mayammaa would suddenly enter into some eateries and take out eatables directly or ask the shop keeper to give her some food, collect everything and distribute them to those around her, mainly to the dogs that followed here wherever she went. The sale in those shops from where she took eatables would skyrocket from then on. So every one of the shop keepers used to anxiously await the visit of Mayammaa to pick up something from their shop. With food collected thus, sometimes she would herself feed the food into the mouth of those around after feeding the dogs. Some used to avoid accepting such food fed into their mouth without washing her hand after feeding the dogs while others rushed to accept it since they considered her to be divine. Not that Mayammaa did it every day, but spontaneously on occasions.

    Since Mayammaa was always found wandering in seashore, most of the people interacted with Mayammaa were the fishermen who ventured into the sea for livelihood. The sudden occurrences of rip tides and rip currents in midway in ocean during fishing used to be terrifying because they catch one off guard. When the fishermen gets caught up in such situations, they are thrown into the sea from their boats by strong winds and had to swim to the shore to save themselves. Unable to swim directly against the strong flow of water, some get exhausted and drowned loosing their lives. But Mayammaa the savior used to appear in mid ocean from no where and saved them from drowning and bring them back to the seashore. Every one will remain stunned not knowing how they were dragged to the shore along with their boats by Mayammaa. Sometimes the fishermen had seen Mayammaa swimming in casual manner in the mid sea, 20 to 30 kilometers deep inside ocean. While returning back after fishing, if they request her to board in their boats she would refuse and instead continued to swim along by the side of the boats and suddenly vanish into the ocean. The terrified fishermen unable to find her when reach the shore would find Mayammaa sitting there laughing awaiting their return. When such experiences with Mayammaa were shared with others, everyone began to realize that Mayammaa was indeed divine.

    As time passed, people began to worship Mayammaa as divine incarnate though she mixed with everyone as if she was one amongst them. Problems and incurable diseases of many have ended when they took blessings from Mayammaa who would simply touch their head or caress their hair and soon they found that their long pending problems got automatically sorted out to their satisfaction. Mayammaa reportedly never spoke except gesturing or making unique sounds towards the answers. Many when reach Mayammaa seeking blessings, she would simply bless them in actions and sounds .

    In the later part of her life, Mayammaa was assisted by one Shri.Rajendran whose experience with her was unique before he became her full fledged disciple. In the early stage of his life, Shri. Rajendran was deeply devoted to Vadalur Vallalaar Swamigal who was one of the most famous Tamil Saints and also one of the greatest Tamil poets of the 19th century. Initially called Ramalinga swami, the saint advocated the concept of worshiping the flame of lighted lamp as a symbol of the eternal Power. He gained spiritual experience when the priest of a temple was offering aradana (adoration with lighted lamp before the statues of divines in the temple) with a lighted lamp. Vadalur Vallalaar Swamigal’s life came to an end when he vanished in to the thin air from a locked room where he entered last. Shri. Rajendran who was employed in some private firm initially remained devotee of Vallalar swamigal and took up spiritual path getting detached from family life. Once he heard through some conversations that a spiritual master was in Kanyakumari and their comments kept on reverberating in his subtle mind unknowingly when he was searching for a spiritual master. One fine morning he accidentally got a job in Kanyakumari and went there some time in the year 1970. In the evening hours while walking in seashore, he used to see uncouth Mayammaa, wandering there surrounded by pack of dogs and initially thought her to be a beggar. In few days he felt that he was unknowingly getting attracted towards her and kept on watching her movements in his leisure time. Curious Shri. Rajendran was amazed to see her sleeping in seashore unmindful of inclement weather conditions, under hot sun, rain, in pitch dark in the night etc. As days passed, he noticed that whatever food she got, she was sharing with the dogs and those around her before she ate handful of food. He also noticed people coming to her seeking blessings. He began to think that Mayammaa must be different soul, may be possessed with some divine energy and thus be able to live in such an erratic life style….may be she was the guru he was searching for so long. Slowly he began to spend much of his time staying around her and at times attempted to even serve her. As Mayammaa accepted his services in silence, his attachment towards her grew day by day and at one point of time he became her disciple staying with her all through after quitting his job. Spending 13 years with her gave several unique experiences to Shri.Rajendran who had actually slept with her in seashore, in open spaces, staying in dingy and dirty places, wearing same dirty clothes for several days, eating whatever was available to both etc. He was instrumental in bringing Mayammaa to Salem district of Tamilnadu where she attained Samadhi. Shri. Rajendran raised an Samadhi temple with the aid of others and still continue to stay there.

    When Mayammaa was staying in Kanyakumari her fame spread spread far and wide as more and more people including intellectuals from different corners of the land reached out to Mayammaa seeking her grace. There were dignitaries of many levels like the then Prime Minister, President, State Ministers, VIPs and even great Spiritual Masters like Poondi Swamigal, Pollachi Koti Swamigal, Gnananantha Giri Swamigal, Marunthuvaazh Naina Swamigal, Kasavanappatti Mouna Swamigal and host of such spiritual masters. Of course spiritual masters such as Poondi Swamigal, Pollachi Koti Swamigal, Gnananantha Giri Swamigal, Marunthuvaazh Naina Swamigal, Kasavanappatti Mouna Swamigal played key role in spreading her fame as divine incarnate through the devotees who reached to them. They used to direct their devotees to go to Kanyakumari and seek her blessings addressing her as Goddess of Kanyakumari. There is controversy on the age of Mayammaa. Though it is generally belied that she must have crossed the age of 300, His holiness Poondi Mahan once expressed her age to be around 470 to 485 years.

    For reasons unknown, the fame of Mayammaa remained in closed circles without getting wide publicity. She was visited by persons only on hearsay versions and it was widely believed that Mayammaa herself did not wish her fame be given publicity. She had been revered as ambulant Goddess of Kanyakumari. Once to everyone’s dismay in Kanyakumari, Mayammaa was found missing along with Shri. Rajendran. Later they found that Mayammaa had left Kanyakumari to settle in Salem where she wished to attain Jeeva Samadhi. In spite of the fact that Mayammaa had shifted to Salem, she was often seen on the seashore of Kanyakumari where several have witnessed her miracle cure and been blessed on other issues.

    Once a female disciple of His Holiness Gnanaananda Giri expressed her desire to have the vision (appearance) of Goddess Parasakthi in her life. Immediately swaamigal asked her go to to Kanyakumari and visit temples there and in the midst of the said tour she would be blessed with the vision of Goddess Parasakthi, if destiny would be kind to her.

    The lady went to Kanyakumari, stayed there for few days and visited almost all the temples, but she could not get the vision of Goddess Parasakthi anywhere. Disappointed she returned back home and met His Holiness Gnanaananda Giri Swamigal to express her disappointment when the swamigal pointed out that she had the vision of Goddess Parasakthi who fed her with her own hand, but she failed to realize the fact due to her misfortune.

    Initially the lady was bit shocked to hear him say so, but when she sat alone and calmed down, she recollected one incident when the lady was walking by the side of the seashore. She saw Mayammaa feeding few dogs and others standing around her. When the lady too stood there curiously watching, after feeding the dogs, Mayammaa without washing her hands took out some food and tried to feed it into the mouth of the lady. Averse with her act the lady declined to accept the food and moved away. She regretted to swamigal that she had indeed missed the once in life time luck of getting fed by a living divine due to her misfortune. Swamigal told her that Mayammaa was indeed Goddess of Kanyakumari in human form, another version of Goddess Parasakthi.

    One Tapasvini called Pon Kamaraj lives even today in a place called Kani Nilam in Kanyakumari district administering the affairs of a trust of the enlightened soul Yogi Ram Surat Kumar another popular and great spiritual guru from Thiruvannaamalai. Once he had an acute problem in his thigh by way of a big boil which could not be cured by the doctors. At one point of time he was given seven days deadline for his life and doctors sent him back to home unable to cure the boil. But on the insistence of some one, he met Mayammaa. She made him lie flat on the seabed shore, inserted a red hot thin iron rod through the boil much against his agonized loud cry. In few moments, he lost his senses. Later some time when he woke up, he found that the boil had disappeared showing no visible scars in his thigh. Mayammaa sent him to Yogi Ram Surat Kumar in Thiruvannaamalai for adoption of Spiritual Intelligence instead of practicing legal profession as spirituality is what everyone is concerned about that awards internal peace and strength which is due to perceived relationship with God as an infinite power. Today the spiritual Guru Pon Kamaraj is administering the affairs of the ashram of the enlightened soul and a spiritual Guru Yogi Ram Surat Kumar in Kani Nilam in Kanyakumari district. Mayammaa has on occasions displayed to Spiritual Guru Pon Kamaraj her true vision as Goddess Parasakthi.

    One Shri Sundaram is a practicing Lawyer in the Supreme Court. He attends to the Guru Pooja of Mayammaa in Salem every year without fail. He reaches Salem a day before the Guru Pooja and next day in meditation in the temple of Mayammaa, he gets the guidance of her by way of mystic sounds and gestures understandable to him. Shri Sundaram admits that he was earlier leading a life full of disgrace and today is a different personality after he surrendered to Mayammaa. Similar is the case of another person namely Shri. Sabarinathan who led a life of confusion for several years and from the day he began visiting the samadhi temple he gets clear directions of Mayammaa through mystic lights and sounds. Today he leads a peaceful life, claims Shri Sabarinathan.

    Once six members group came from Pondicherry to meet Mayammaa and one of them, female was afflicted with some serious health issue. When the doctors expressed their helplessness in curing her incurable ailment, and on the advice of some devotees of Mayammaa, they traveled from Pondicherry to Salem to meet her. When they met Mayammaa she blessed every one by caressing their head while completely ignoring the lady with ailment. Suddenly the lady fell at the feet of Mayammaa and wept uncontrollably. There was no change of facial expression on Mayammaa for some time even as the sick lady kept crying digging her face on the lap of Mayammaa. All of a sudden Mayammaa shouted strangely for few seconds and then turned calm and cool smiling and caressing the hair of the lady. Thereafter none spoke anything and went back. In a few days people confirmed that the sickness of the lady had vanished.

    In our lifetime, we have only heard Shirdi Sai Baba performing the most difficult Yoga called Khanda Yoga in which the parts of self body are extracted separately, kept outside for some time in different places before reassembling them again as one body of his own. This yoga is believed to be done to abolish the love for body, that is absolute and permanent destruction and internal cleansing of false personality, accumulated desires, tastes, aversions, and everything that keep coming attached with the soul of several births in smaller magnitude. Shirdi Sai Baba is believed to be incarnation of Lord Dattathreya and Lord Dattathreya is considered to be the first guru of Yoga that includes Khanda Yoga practiced it regularly. Curiously, it is stated by some that few have seen Mayammaa also performing same act of Khanda Yoga. In Dasa Maha Vidya one of the Goddesses Chinnamastha represents the same in different fashion. This confirms the belief that Mayammaa was indeed divine incarnate of Goddess Parasakthi.

    Why did Shri Rajendran bring Mayammaa to Salem? It is stated that Mayammaa informed him in the year 1986 itself that she wanted to take samadhi in a particular location and therefore he brought her the the same place as identified by her which was of course the present site where her ashram temple exist in Salem. Initially when they reached the place earmarked by Mayammaa, it was a barren land and they stayed under a tree after erecting a small hut. Her devotees continued to visit her when she was residing in that hut. But the locals resented her being projected as divine incarnate because the never failed rain in Salem failed to appear that year after the settlement of Mayammaa in Salem. Everyone felt that the failure of the rain was due to Mayammaa’s presence in Salem and that she should be driven out from there next day. The news reached the years of Shri. Rajendran, who became jittery and reported the displeasure and anger of the locals to Mayammaa. She smiled and said nothing else. That night sudden rains splashed Salem so heavily that the water shortage not only immediately vanished, but the overnight rain ensured that all water beds were filled to full capacity to the extent that the water accumulated in different reservoirs and waterbeds lasted till next rains . Those locals who spew venom on Mayammaa regretted for their act and sought pardon from her. Thus Mayammaa’s fame and belief on her divine power spread in Salem too.

    After Mayammaa settled in Salem, few of her devotees too came down to Salem to serve her. One such devotee was Mrs Latha Mangeshkar, a lady teacher from Tiruchy district of Tamilnadu. She reportedly stayed the whole night by the side of Mayammaa’s body after Mayammaa took Samadhi. She told a reporter that when she stayed by the side of Mayammaa’s body the whole night, she noticed the dead body sweating and she continued to wipe the body through the night as the sweat increased. While wiping, she could freely move the hands and legs of the dead body of Mayammaa as though Mayammaa was alive. Normally the parts of body of those death remains stiff and unmovable and Mrs Latha Mangeshkar still believe that Mayammaa would have been alive and took Samadhi in the same state. Before Mayammaa was placed in the pit she gave vision to her in the form of a big flash of light which could be noticed only by Mrs Latha Mangeshkar. Mayammaa took Samadhi on 09-02-1992.

    Mayammaa Temple,
    5/184, Santhi Nagar,
    Chinnakollapatti,
    Salem-636008.

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  105. Sorry brother, you said that those siddhas are non vedic but they too has their own parampara. You did not actually understand what guru parampara is. Guru parampara should come from devotees of God who knows who GOD is and who serves GOD in a favorable way to please God.

    Further there is a common misconception among you people that you think vedas are limited. The word Veda means knowledge to know God. The vedas not only speak about spiritual path but also cover all material subject matters such as Ayurveda (knowledge of medicine), danur veda (knowledge of military science) varna ashrama dharma (duties of natural social class of people) and also gives us knowledge of God in three aspects (Brahman (formless aspect of GOD), Paramathma (the localized aspect of God) and ultimately Bagavan (the personal aspect of GOD). According to the different faith and capacity of people who want to seek absolute truth the vedas prescribes various process according to time, place and circumstances to the people.

    You did not understand what I said earlier I told you that vedas is given by God himself and it is passed on from time immemorial through bonafide deisciplic succession as I had mentiond above. Therefore vedas are eternal and complete in itself. The various process recommended in the vedas is prescribed by God himself.

    You say that you want to merge with God for ultimate blis. If you want to experience ultimate blis then you should follow the instructions and process given by God in the vedas. How could you attain ultimate blis by defying the vedas and try to merge with brahman in a non vedic way?. You are showing examples of siddhas who attained such a state in a non vedic way. Devotee of GOD means one who abides God’s instructions and act in such a manner to please him. If those persons say that they attained jiva Samadhi or liberation in a non vedic way this means that they merged with God by disobeying God’s instruction is it not?.

    How one can achieve liberation by insulting and disrespecting GOD?. Therefore the siddhas which you had mentioned belongs to false parampara (manufactured by themselves) and were not authorized. A good child is that child who follows the instruction of his Father to please his father.

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  106. Ashok, you don’t know the difference between yogi and siddha. A yogi strives for liberation from material world by merging in to brahman a siddha does not strive for liberation rather he strives for obtaining mystic powers to become famous in this material world. The essence of all bonafide religion is to love and serve GOD and not to be God. So any religion which encourages people to be God is bogus.

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  107. I really appreciate your concern for me.

    I know you are saying this coz you think I m going wrong way.

    I already told personally I follow strictly only vedic traditions, which you seem to ignore.

    But I explored beyond realm of Vedas, Spirituality, moksha exists in ways beyond scriptures.

    **The subtle doors can’t be opened even with our life long sadhana of Tapas, chanting mantras or following traditions.** can be done JIVASAMADHIS.

    Test it, then comment.

    See Nerur SADASIV BRAHMENDRA.
    He was a Brahmin.
    He was strictly vedic.
    But after winning all his nemesis in vedic arguments, one day his guru told him to shut up.

    From then on he suddenly became enlightened, became Avadhootha, roamed naked.

    See miracles he committed.
    See his Samadhi.

    I repeat He was a Brahmin, see who is guru was, but later became a Avadhootha and roamed naked.

    I will be happy to be proved wrong that there are no ways to Spirituality except scriptures or vedic ways.

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  108. Ha, Ha. No Brother it is not vedic traditions it is vedic rituals. Now it is only caste Brahmins based on birth and not as per varna ashrama brahmins. The divine varna ashrama does not exist today. Now there is no qualified Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Everybody has become sudras by profession.

    Today everybody is working for money and for livelihood that is not the actual occupation of a Brahmin. You said to explore spirituality out of the realm of vedas.

    If you really know what vedas are? you would not said the word “explore”. There is no question of exploring. it is simply the question of accepting the authority of vedas and follow in the foot steps of bonafide guru parampara.

    Anyway brother if you desire to explore then you can very well carry on with your efforts. It is just like a child who want to catch moon with his hands.

    Good bye.

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    1. Rishis Siddhas A Comparison

      Some Rishis have been advisers to Kings, like Vasishta, no Siddha is associated as an adviser to King.

      All Siddhas have been Rishis while not all Rishis were Siddhas.

      The Yoga system by the Siddhas is slightly different from the one By Patanjali in Sanskrit, though Patanjali is from South and a Siddha.

      Siddhas have developed alternate system of medicine based on hers found in the South, the Rishis , based on the herbs found in the North.

      The similarities and differences between the Rishis and the Siddhars are very striking and also very difficult to notice, though this sounds paradoxical.

      Both are Realized souls.

      Both have recorded their experiences with Godhood in the form of Mantras by the Rishis and by Poems by the Siddhars.

      The 18 siddhas
      Both have established Guru Sishya Lineage.

      Both have their Idols installed in temples, though they are limited in Number.

      Both were devoted to the welfare of the Mankind.

      Both transcend Time and Space.

      Differences.

      While only seven Rishis are reported to be be beyond Space , Time and live forever, all the Siddhars are Timeless.

      All Siddhars were/are followers of Sanatna Dharma Vedas and a unique system developed by them, The Siddha system, while the Rishis followed on only Sanatna Dharma.

      Vasishta, Viswamitra, Agastya are some exceptions.

      Siddhars seem to have worshiped only shiva while the Rishis all the Gods.

      Though some siddhars like Bhogar worshiped Goddess Bhuvaneswari, Agastya Ganesha, Subrahmanya.

      The Siddhars worshiped reality, Nirguna Brahman as sound.light and as Saguna Brahman Lord Shiva.

      Most of the Siddhars are from the South of Vindhyas though there are references that the North Indian Guru Parampara came from the Siddhas.

      The Siddhas expressed themselves in Tamil while the Rishis in Sanskrit.

      Some Rishis have been advisers to Kings, like Vasishta, no Siddha is associated as an adviser to King.

      All Siddhas have been Rishis while not all Rishis were Siddhas.

      The Yoga system by the Siddhas is slightly different from the one By Patanjali in Sanskrit, though Patanjali is from South and a Siddha.

      Siddhas have developed alternate system of medicine based on hers found in the South, the Rishis , based on the herbs found in the North.

      As i said, Vedas are the not only way to the ultimate. Ways are many. Nobody is saying you are wrong or Vedas are wrong or other traditions are right. Both have the same goal. Neither is superior nor inferior.

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  110. About the Siddhars
    About Siddhars (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhar) (Tamil: சித்தர்): are saints in India, mostly of the Saivaite denomination in Tamil Nadu, who professed and practiced an unorthodox type of Sadhana, or spiritual practice, to attain liberation. Yogic powers called Siddhis are acquired by constant practice of certain yogic disciplines. Those who acquire these Siddhis are called Siddhas. These Siddhars can be compared to Mystics of the western civilization. Siddhars are people who are believed to control and transcend the barriers of time and space by meditation (Yoga) and herbs that transform the body to make it potentially deathless, and a particular breathing-practice, a type of Pranayama. Through their practices they are believed to have reached stages of insight which enabled them to tune into the powers hidden in various material substances and practices, useful for suffering and ignorant mankind. Typically Siddhars were saints, doctors, alchemists and mystics all at once. They wrote their findings, in the form of poems in Tamil language, on palm leaves which are collected and stored in what are known today as Palm leaf manuscript, today still owned by private families in Tamil Nadu and handed down through the generations, as well as public institutions such as Universities all over the world.

    Siddhars from Nandhi’s perspective:

    After years of inner journeying, meeting and absorbing the Siddhar wisdom, being consumed in the Siddhar mantras while living the life of the Siddhar, it is inspiring to write about the “Siddhars” from this experience.

    The term Siddhar has always drawn intrigue, curiosity, interest and respect in India. The little known aspect about them other than from their divine poetry and literature has always created mystery while revealing the secrets of this yogic path to those who are spiritually mature seekers. In Tamilnadu and as in rest of India, it is common for an enlightened being to be called a Siddha or a Siddhar. When Gautama Buddha was born, the astrologers identified his star of birth to be powerful in all aspects, as a higher being- so he was named Siddhartha- the one who is a Siddhar. Siddhartha later left his home to seek ‘nirvana’, the attainment of liberation of the mind, to then be called Gautama Buddha.

    Siddhars are Sages who journey beyond enlightenment as the ‘liberated’ yogis. In this journey within consciousness, the Siddhars abandon beliefs for experience. Connecting to the ancient lineage of Gurus who pave way for guidance, protection and grace, their’s is a process of ‘unlearning’. The inner journey of the Siddhars is based on tapas (to light the fire within of perpetual Source union). The Siddhars follow the path of oneness that embodies ahimsa (ahimsa is the life message of Mahatma Gandhi. Ahimsa means- non-violence, non-killing, tolerance and love for not only all of humanity but for all creatures as well). For the Siddhars, external knowledge especially from a book is hardly relevant as much of their knowing, practice and teachings is based on self-knowledge, the wisdom from within. With depth of silence, meditation and mantra japa (recitation of mantras) as tapas, the Siddhars examine the human realities from cosmic consciousness. Those who chose the path of the Siddhars are often not from the Brahmin caste (priests, the upper hierarchy of the Indian society) and the Brahmins who take to the path of the Siddhars often renounce their caste as a Brahmin to be able to tread this ego free wisdom. The Siddhar tradition is devoid of castes, traditions, beliefs and written teachings. Instead, the ancient wisdom was conveyed through resonance, the mantra deeksha (initiation) and the guru’s grace- with much of evolving transformation happening from one’s own effort- tapas (inner fire) and sadhana (daily discipline). For a Siddhar Sage, divinity is in form and formlessness, with the worship centered more towards a simple fire lamp as a symbolic focus of their own inner lamp. Siddhars prefer to call God, Source as to free wisdom from stagnancy of dogma. The South Indian Siddhar’s teachings of Tantiram are the roots to the term ‘tantra’, where the awakened roots of the human as in the mode of survival, sexual and primal needs unite with cosmic consciousness to transcend a normal human into an angelic yogi. Siddhars worship the Divine Feminine as the essence to wholeness.

    Siddhars from the practical sense:-

    In the pathway of the Siddhars, as we journey through consciousness, we realize our mind being empowered by the extra abilities such as envisioning the future, seeing the past of another person, reading the thoughts of others etc. Due to the absence of ego, the Siddhar Sages do not succumb to these extra powers of the mind and the super-normal abilities that awaken with the mind connecting with Source/God. However, the Siddhars, realizing their vastness of being Spirit/Source in their ability to transcend the mind and the limits of the mind, bring this blessing to benefit humanity. The Siddhars bless humanity by way of deepening their tapas and flowing as the guiding wisdom to all who meditate, as Guru Ayya did while he meditated in his cave for over 18 years. There are other Siddhars who are in humanity as healers, scientists, visionaries and other professions who utilize the states of higher consciousness to effect changes in real terms. Some of the notable nature of the Siddhars are- absence of ego, total love for God/Source as bhakti (devotion), lack of organization and followers around them. To a Siddhar Sage living in the midst of humanity with a life of purpose and focus, multidimensional talents as genius are brought to fore. The path of the Siddhars is attuned, aligned and suited to the current modern day society as it is a journey to seek being whole due to understanding the power of now and the colossal vastness of the human as in basic nature of goodness.

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  111. There is a debate as to who was the first Siddhar. Some legends talk about Sri Pathanjali , who was considered to be an incarnation of Adiseshan, the celestial five-headed snake associated with God Vishnu. But the prevailing tradition refers to Agasthya (or Agasthyar) as the first Siddhar, one of the seven sages (or Saptarshis) as mentioned in the Vedic texts, and he was the son of the god Brahma of the Hindu creation story.

    In the Rig Veda, the Maruts appear to be the Siddhas, representing the symbolic Vedic tradition of Yoga, whereas the Brahmins represented the more ritualistic traditions.

    Both (Vedas & Siddha texts) were two sides of the same continuous culture from the same source, except it appears the more Brahmanical side, which pervaded the whole of India, not simply the North (as the Bhargava Rishis such as Ushanas Kavya, Jamadagni and Rama Bhargava are famous and lived in southern India), used the Sanskrit.

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  112. Ashok, siddha means perfection. There are two goals of siddha. Material perfection and spiritual perfection. Rishi’s are yogi siddhas who practice austerities to control there senses for God realization. It can be impersonal or personal aspect. This is spiritual perfection. These people their goal of practicing austerities is not attaining mystic powers. Even though they possess mystic powers they will not use those powers to change the destiny of a person or any living entities in this world. They will simply distribute the message of God head and vebedic instructions to the people.
    Material perfection is also called siddha just like we have siddha medicine, ayurveda medicine. Those people who want other subtle material perfections like manipulating the cosmic energies are called mystic yogi’s or siddhas. There aim of practicing austerities to aquire mystic powers and to become great in this material world. Just like for Example: eranyakashipu worshiped Lord Brahma to become immortal similarly ravana worshiped Lord Siva to become immortal. Even though they are demons they followed the vedic instruction from asura guru sukracharya. Therefore even to obtain mystic powers one has to follow vedic instructions in the karma kanda portion of the Vedas.
    There are about 18 mystic perfection’s the first 8 perfections such as anima, lagima, prapthi, and so on can only be obtained by meditating the universal form of Lord Vishnu. For aquiring such powers one has to specifically focus on the particular form of lord Vishnu and its elements. This has to be done under the guidance of guru who follows vedic instructions. For example this 8 mystic perfection is naturally found in hanumanji who is the pure devotee of Lord Ram. Hanumanji did not specifically practice any austerities to get those mystic powers he is a pure devotee of Lord Ram and his desire is to serve Lord Ram only.
    Therefore one who possess some mystic powers and who tries to change the destiny of any living entity in this world is not a real yogi, rishi, siddha or God. He is a mystic who wants to become God in this world by misusing the powers to become famous in this world.

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  113. Great work first of all, congrats! I see we have been on similar paths by following Osho, doing witnessing meditation throughout day and then following Sadhguru. I was also confused with Sadhguru’s statements about enlightenment, mahasamadhi and karma. I had similar experience as you had, having a paradigm shift in consciousness from separation to unity. And that happened after BSP. At the same time I was very confused with Sadhguru’s statements regarding liberation. All seeking dropped after that paradigm shift and bliss became natural. At the same time I had the same question “Is this Awakening?” Because Sadhguru and to be honest Osho too exaggerate how enlightenment is. And I was just waiting to die as all my desires dropped. Dark side of awakening overwhelmed me for long time. I was expecting to leave body one day as Sadhguru mentioned while I was concerned to leave body suddenly in a deep meditation. I decided to dig deeper this phenomena and meditate upon it. I realised Sadhguru’s claims are not accurate regarding enlightenment, leaving body and mahamsamadhi. I can say thank you towards him for making the beautiful tools like IE and BSP, while I criticise him to distort authentic seekers by giving inaccurate information. I am sure many people believe in what he says as I did because we are innocently trusting spiritual masters. However, once we believe them whatever they say go into our subconsciousness which affects us in long-term. I am not concerned with if he is an awakened true master But I am concerned with misinformation he gives as a spiritual authority. That can jeopardise and sabotage many seekers in a negative way.
    Intuitively, I was feeling what Sadhguru says doesn’t reflect truth. And the same belief people have in religions applies to spirituality as well. Discarding all beliefs is the way. Your posts confirmed my intuitions and insights. Thanks again brother 🙏

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  114. Hello,
    Thank you for sharing your story.
    Why do you feel a need to explain your self?
    I’ve gone to see Sadhguru when I first awakened. Then I think a person evolves. Kind of pointless to follow anyone other than yourself, right? You are your own Witness/ guru.

    Do you fast? If you do, how long?
    Thanks!

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  115. Christy, you are just a fenatic idiot. Read the above comments and then give your comments ON Jaggi.

    That rascal is a cheater and you like to be cheated by him. I already raised this question Jaggi denies the existence of God is it not?. How an atheist can awaken you?

    I had never heard of an atheist who awakens others spiritually. That’s right you want to become a guru kindly explain us what kind of guru you want to be please?. .

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    1. Well no one can explain something to u, which u don’t care about. If u truly wanted to know what Jaggi said u would’ve just went and heard his words on simple youtube videos.
      Jaggi has clearly explained that he doesn’t believe god as a person or some creature, but as a state of mind, “shivam oru nilai” shiva is a part/state of mind which is hidden inside all of us. Sort of like, godliness rather than god.

      It’s not just Sadhguru, others have also spoken about how there is no such a god creature person.
      All religions wanted to teach people, on how to attain that godly state of mind. Hence they created their paths, certain cultures, certain prayers, certain habits, certain idols, etc.
      It’s like telling a child to go practice maths. No child will like maths. But try to teach it in a fun way, maybe using candy pieces to teach them addition/subtraction, they will learn faster as they are interested.
      All the religions and spiritual concepts are like that candy. Not the main point, just ONE of the ROADS to reach that point.
      I guarantee u, atheists will all reach godliness. None of u blind people focusing on candy will reach it.
      I’m not even huge follower of Sadguru or anything. I’m just open minded person who opens ears and sees what anyone has to say. I took only 30 minutes to know what Jaggi explained about god. I wanted to truly find his opinion, so I found it. U didn’t want to. So u just blindly say things like “oh jaggi said no god so jaggi is rascal”. Sounds like teenage kids fighting in classroom.

      Once you’ve already decided that someone is some way, it doesn’t matter whether that person really is good or bad. Bcuz too much love or hatred are both blind.
      I don’t meditate, I willingly decided that I want rebirths, not moksha or enlightenment.
      So I just take some time to see Jaggi’s true thoughts. Then I’m going on my way. Just bcuz Jaggi path and my path are different doesn’t mean I should blindly hate him. World isn’t black and white. So much in-between.

      The person who finds shivam nilai (mindset/state of shiva) inside them, only they reach peace.
      Atheists can get that peace. Cannibals can get that peace.
      Even king Ashoka who killed so many people in his war, with his bloody hands, later attained that peace through Buddhism.
      None of that “do u know god name or put viputhi on head or u know shiva” is important.
      These are all the candy pieces used to teach people the important message.
      U can say Shiva’s name, not say it, just a choice.
      It is just one of the routes. Not the only route.

      But funnily, people started assuming that candy is the message itself.
      This is why I just hope no one finds the complete cure to covid. Humans are better off dead.

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  116. Hey, you fool is jaggi authority for you?. Whatever he speaks you people blindly believe in his words without any authentic reference from Bagavadgita. Bagavadgita is spoken by God which is accepted by all the bonafide religions from time immemorial. That rascal did not even touch Bagavadgita in his life and he is speaking something nonsense about spirituality and you people are such fool’s that you blindly accept whatever he believes.

    Who says God is formless if you take 11th chapter of Bagavadgita from the very sloka you can understand God has form.

    Bg. 11.3

    evam etad yathāttha tvam
    ātmānaṁ parameśvara
    draṣṭum icchāmi te rūpam
    aiśvaraṁ puruṣottama

    Here, if you casually read the slokas you can notice the words “rupam” or form. .
    Translation

    Arjuna asked: Oh, greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see You here before me in Your actual position, as You have described Yourself, I wish to see
    how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation. I want to see that form of Yours.

    Bg. 11.5

    śrī-bhagavān uvāca
    paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi
    śataśo ’tha sahasraśaḥ
    nānā-vidhāni divyāni
    nānā-varṇākṛtīni ca

    Synonyms

    śrī-
    bhagavān
    uvāca
    — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said;
    paśya
    — just see;
    me
    — My;
    pārtha
    — O son of Pṛthā;
    rūpāṇi
    — forms;
    śataśaḥ
    — hundreds;
    atha
    — also;
    sahasraśaḥ
    — thousands;
    nānā-
    vidhāni
    — variegated;
    divyāni
    — divine;
    nānā
    — variegated;
    varṇa
    — colors;
    ākṛtīni
    — forms;
    ca
    — also.

    Translation

    The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, O son of Pṛthā, see now My opulences, hundreds of thousands of varied divine and multicolored
    forms.

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  117. Hey, you fool is jaggi authority for you?. Whatever he speaks you people blindly believe in his words without any authentic reference from Bagavadgita. Bagavadgita is spoken by God which is accepted by all the bonafide religions from time immemorial. That rascal did not even touch Bagavadgita in his life and he is speaking something nonsense about spirituality and you people are such fool’s that you blindly accept whatever he believes to be true.

    You told that other’s has also spoken that there is no Personality GOD or creature where you got such information? Can you please mention the religionist who told like that??. If Jaggi says that siva is a state of mind then it means that anybody who is peaceful is siva or God am I right?. We everybody have mind so assuming if everybody becomes peaceful then everybody becomes God is that the rascal’s indirect message?.

    First of all you people are totally brainwashed by the word jugglery of that rascal. That rascal believes that religions are the opiate of people and it is nothing but false ideas and superstition of a sectorial community of people. First of all that rascal fail to understand himself that whatever he is experiencing is subject to the jurisdiction of his mind and is a sensual experience only. Let me give you one tacit example. Jaggi says state of mind is siva or peace then you can also see happy and peaceful persons who are mentally retarded. If we notice them actually they are happier than everybody. So, can we say that they attained such Godly state of mind?.

    You also said that in order to teach people religions created there own path, prayers, etc. Is this your idea or that rascal’s idea?. All Bonafide religions speaks about spirit soul or jiva athma which is eternal in nature. The point is if religion is a creation of a man who is limited and defective how he could have experienced a thing which is unlimited or eternal in nature?. If the state of mind is siva then why that rascal is keeping the image of siva which according to him doesn’t exist?. Yeah, that’s true that false religion’s create there own ideas, way, path’s and prayers just like that jaggi is doing to become a famous bogus religionist. Why he is selling idol’s of siva in lakh’s if siva is in our mind?. Why he is charging people to hear his so called spiritual discourses?.

    You said to attain the state of godliness is the whole purpose of religion’s. You fail to understand a crucial point here if you want to become a doctor do you blindly go and join any college and study any books as you like, and hear from any person as you like?. No sane man will do like that we look for bonafide college, bonafide professor’s and take lessons from them in a procedural manner. similarly in order to attain state of godliness we must know who is God from bonafide sampradayas like Sri, Brahma madva gaudia, rudra and kumara sampradaya accept a bonafide acharya who doesn’t charge you or sell idol’s as a business. If you don’t know who is God or what is God then how you can attain such a state of Godlyness.

    Lol, if you are not a huge follower of Jaggi then why you are defending him like a jerk?. You ar such a fool that you compare bonafide religions with teaching maths to a child. If you are not following any religion then you should not misuse our candy pieces as a tool to propogate your ideas. Thanks for graciously admitting that Jaggi and yourself are atheist. If you like to be atheist Don’t touch any bonafide religion’s message and ritual’s. A real atheist will not keep a idol of siva or other idol’s and try to be peaceful.

    Hey, you fool is jaggi authority for you?. Whatever he speaks you people blindly believe in his words without any authentic reference from Bagavadgita. Bagavadgita is spoken by God which is accepted by all the bonafide religions from time immemorial. That rascal did not even touch Bagavadgita in his life and he is speaking something nonsense about spirituality and you people are such fool’s that you blindly accept whatever he believes to be true.

    You told that other’s has also spoken that there is no Personality GOD or creature where you got such information? Can you please mention the religionist who told like that??. If Jaggi says that siva is a state of mind then it means that anybody who is peaceful is siva or God am I right?. We everybody have mind so assuming if everybody becomes peaceful then everybody becomes God is that the rascal’s indirect message?.

    First of all you people are totally brainwashed by the word jugglery of that rascal. That rascal believes that religions are the opiate of people and it is nothing but false ideas and superstition of a sectorial community of people. First of all that rascal fail to understand himself that whatever he is experiencing is subject to the jurisdiction of his mind and is a sensual experience only. Let me give you one tacit example. Jaggi says state of mind is siva or peace then you can also see happy and peaceful persons who are mentally retarded. If we notice them actually they are happier than everybody. So, can we say that they attained such Godly state of mind?.

    You also said that in order to teach people religions created there own path, prayers, etc. Is this your idea or that rascal’s idea?. All Bonafide religions speaks about spirit soul or jiva athma which is eternal in nature. The point is if religion is a creation of a man who is limited and defective how he could have experienced a thing which is unlimited or eternal in nature?. If the state of mind is siva then why that rascal is keeping the image of siva which according to him doesn’t exist?. Yeah, that’s true that false religion’s create there own ideas, way, path’s and prayers just like that jaggi is doing to become a famous bogus religionist. Why he is selling idol’s of siva in lakh’s if siva is in our mind?. Why he is charging people to hear his so called spiritual discourses?.

    You said to attain the state of godliness is the whole purpose of religion’s. You fail to understand a crucial point here if you want to become a doctor do you blindly go and join any college and study any books as you like, and hear from any person as you like?. No sane man will do like that we look for bonafide college, bonafide professor’s and take lessons from them in a procedural manner. similarly in order to attain state of godliness we must know who is God from bonafide sampradayas like Sri, Brahma madva gaudia, rudra and kumara sampradaya accept a bonafide acharya who doesn’t charge you or sell idol’s as a business. If you don’t know who is God or what is God then how you can attain such a state of Godlyness.

    Lol, if you are not a huge follower of Jaggi then why you are defending him like a jerk?. You ar such a fool that you compare bonafide religions with teaching maths to a child. If you are not following any religion then you should not misuse our candy pieces as a tool to propogate your ideas. Thanks for graciously admitting that Jaggi and yourself are atheist. If you like to be atheist Don’t touch any bonafide religion’s message and ritual’s. A real atheist will not keep a idol of siva or other idol’s and try to be peaceful.

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  118. Hey ,
    I just started reading the book : inner engineering by sadhguuru after watching through a lot of his videos on YouTube …I was half way there …and knowingly or unknowingly I ended up here at this blog ..I’m not here to comment on his post nor here to comment on sadhguru…when I finished reading the article ..I knew one thing …I definitely got no time to research on all of this stuff….so I’m no where near to comment on his blog nor I’m no way near to comment on whether what sadhguru preaches is real or not …
    What I want to put up here is or what I realized is ….everyone are thrown into a society or let’s say thrown into an environment that’s never in their control , and then they will all be bombarded with numerous activities ..strtng from how u have to grow , behave , act , how u have to be and lot of stuff which u definitely know …this part we all know ….but what I realized is that most people reach a situation where they don’t know what they should be doing in their life bcz of the constant bombardment from around and lack of knowledge or clarity of things…and I was one such person …right now I’m perusing myself to be a doctor ….and I never decided to be there and when I look back I don’t even know if this is what I need ….but the only thing I can say is u have got ur own set of abilities that u felt ur good at it…all u have to do is u just have to get them together( all so called u think that intrests u and u think ur good at ) and make life intresting and be consistent at what ur doing …and one day u will be successful than many out there …the success can be varying but all I can say is u will be successful from within …u will be happy from within
    U might be wondering why I am saying all of this …if u look closely the person who wrote this blog ….must have written numerous articles by now …and also he spent most of his time in spirituality and gained knowledge from lot of books ….whatever it is , he used them for his purpose and he is definitely better than many out there …unlike us !!
    And if u notice sadhguru the same thing applies with him ..he used his knowledge of architecture to build Isha foundation ,also he mastered in English which is the most used language thats used now all over the world …he even rides motrocycles from his school days and continues to implement them in his life even now , also he used to read lot of books from the library which would give him lot of insight on numerous topics …when he clubbed all of this to his favour …and things worked out after lot of years of consistency in doing the same and finding happiness in it…he is here …after many many years , he became popular …
    So what I want to say is u get to take what that helps u and makes u a better individual from these persons ..nothing more than that …if u want to be like shanmugam and if u want to be like sadhgurur and follow these people foot steps ur not going anywhere ….to me I have learnt the gist from these two ..I found what’s needed from these people I’m not gonna dig deep and find myself lost and find myself going nowhere !!
    We never know even this guy with his knowledge he gained and the way he puts things down to understanding , his luck my turn his way and maybe one day he might be true and he may gain lot of success too ..that he wished or never wished for …so jus do what intrests u …put ur heart there ….and move forward …and u will love it to be u !!

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  119. Lokesh, you need not keep proving that you are an atheist. History shows that atheistic principle’s destroy oneself and the world. Just like Late russian leader Joseph stalin and adolf hitler did.

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  120. Sadhguru is 101℅ a fake and a con-man.
    He talks about not being our body or our mind and yet he is still so attached with being an indian and the past. He cannot live in the moment and dis-identity with the past. What’s with all the idols, shiva stuff, mantras and chants? He may be a good *guru but not a master, a buddha. What is the difference between him and the countless other gurus in india? The mindset is still indian not universal. Yoga is good for the body but obviously it does not change the mindset or conditioning. He reads a lot of osho’s book and quote him but he does not have the balls to speak the truth about all the falshood and blind beliefs since he is also still a part of this. A buddha can create a energy field with his presence and yet he creates a dyanalinga with all kinds of mumbo-jumbo? How can he not see that other enlightened people will appear on the earth so he wants to create a temple that will last for 5,000 years (according to you). When will he realize that nobody is born indian or american, hindu or christian. When will he see that we all die as human beings? A fake and scammer guru cannot see any of this. He needs lots of blind disciples who will blindly follow him and donate money. *

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  121. Hello Shanmugam! You touched upon a question very personal to me and very deeply relevant to spiritual awakening – Is an enlightened person totally immune and never experiences fear, negative emotions?

    Now you said you do not agree with Swartz’s etc. answer to that. What is your answer? What would happen when someone who means the world to you dies?

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    1. An enlightened person still experiences sufficient fear, sadness, anger etc which is necessary for his social survival .. But it doesn’t touch his core and they can be very quickly seen through.. 98% of the impact of these emotions is lost. This can vary from person to person. In fact, I experienced a total loss of all emotions in the beginning.. But as I adapted to the new transformation to ensure social functioning, I developed the ability to show the emotions to some extent… Some situations can actually trigger certain parts of the old conceptual self, especially those which touch the deep wounds from the past; this can actually cause an enlightened person very emotional.

      My main concern has always been this. There is a tendency to downplay spiritual enlightenment so that it fits to a person’s current experience. A person modifies the definition of it so that he can call himself as enlightened. Swartz’s definition of how an enlightened person is will probably fit to someone who has glimpsed non-duality and has a slight shift in the experience..

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      1. Thanks a ton for replying.

        I hear what you’re saying, A couple of years ago, I underwent a major personal loss which had me questioning the very meaning and purpose of life and my existence in it. After the suicidal thoughts subsided a bit, I turned to finding some answers.

        Bhagwad Gita is what started my journey on this spiritual quest. Since then, I have noticed that without my explicit seeking new sources, I keep stumbling upon the works various ‘influencers’ (I don’t know if all of them are ‘enlightened’ or not). This stumbling upon has only made my seeking deeper and more urgent. Attending Inner Engineering in 2019 was also one of those ‘stumbles’ :).

        Last year, again by sheer chance, I laid my hands on Maharaj Nisargdatta’s ‘I AM THAT’ book which is a compilation of his discourses in QnA format. His disciples recorded the sessions and compiled the book out of them. ((I am actually surprised to not find a mention of him in your writings. But, then I only ‘stumbled upon’ your blog yesterday, less than 24 hrs ago))

        That book has had a major impact on me. I am nowhere near enlightened or awakened but your journey blog resonated with me so much, that I could pinpoint one of your phases with what I experienced in Oct 2020. I suddenly became very calm and peaceful. Nothing seemed to perturb me. I was not sulking over the past, not anxious about the future. Not raising my voice in anger. it was very serene, and nothing like I had ever experienced before – at least not for weeks on end.

        That ended when something personal happened, and I was back to my usual self – even suffering. Suffering not so much because of my situation then, but because I WAS at such a beautiful place and i could not go back there, even if I tried. I had seen the promise, had the glimpse of it and now lost it – literally in a moment.

        Now, I find myself somewhere in between suffering and ‘that’ bliss but not quite there yet. I am continuing to seek though, (I also practice witnessing BTW). As someone in whom I’m sensing truthfulness, I ask you – can you help me? You can direct email me if you’d like.

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          1. Shanmugan, i just read your response to my question again and feel like theres still some clarity needed. You said you did not agree with westerner response to how does an enlightened person deal with fear, loss, paim etc.

            I just realized your answer is the same as what you said you do not agree with. That there is pain bit it does not touch.

            Can you please clarify the difference for my understanding?

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            1. What is ignored in some people’s definition or view of enlightenment is (like James Swartz’s) the extremely wonderful shift in one’s experience, that is way beyond words and imagination. This experiential shift is not even mentioned. There is tremendous freedom, a feeling of being unlimited and more.. Personally you feel like the journey is over.. The human side that I talked about is less than 2%.. It doesn’t affect you at all.

              I said ‘sufficient fear, sadness that is necessary for social survival’… It is a bare minimum of the human side that you need to relate to another human being socially. That is different from the definition that says ‘an enlightened person is just like everyone else except that he knows that he is not limited to body and mind’ or something like that…

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  122. “An enlightened person still experiences sufficient fear, sadness, anger etc which is necessary for his social survival “. Shanmugam please stop giving your own version for the meaning of enlightened person.

    @Dee: Sir, please give up this false conception that all spiritual masters are bogus. If there is something called bogus in this world, then there is also bonafide in this world. Right?. The problem with you people is without accepting the fact that we got defective senses and our knowledge and experiences are limited you want to experience spiritual enlightenment out of your own endeavour and efforts.

    Spiritual knowledge should be received from Vedas, puranas and edhikasas. Spiritual master coming from disciplic succession learnt this knowledge by serving his spiritual master with humility and submissiveness. So service to spiritual master is the only way to receive spiritual knowledge. Without serving guru there is no scope of understanding the real essence of Vedas. There are six stages of spiritual practice in general.

    1. understanding the essence of Vedas through bonafide spiritual master
    2. Practicing are doing sadhnas as per the guidance of Vedas and spiritual master
    3. Serving the spiritual master with love and devotion
    4. when the spiritual sadhana becomes mature then only God will become pleased
    5. It is only when God becomes pleased by our humility and submissiveness to spiritual master he will reveal himself.
    6. It is only in that state of having the darshan of lord we can experience ecstasy.

    An enlightened person is that person who understood the essence of Vedas through bonafide guru parampara and acts accordingly as per the instructions of Guru, sadhu and sastra. He is not affected by any mundane incidences and calamities of this world. If he is affected then he is not enlightened person.

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    1. You are missing the point. What I am talking about is 0.001 %.. Some amount of maya is necessary for an enlightened person to survive.. This doesn’t affect him at all.. Only an onlooker may feel like an enlightened person goes through any suffering.

      In fact, even Ramakrishna Paramahamsa have said this. A person who is devoid of maya will shed his body in 21 days according to what he says.

      Didn’t Rama shed tears when he found Sita to be absent? But did he really suffer? Feeling a slight tinge of an emotion is not the same as being subjectively affected by the emotion or even trying to avoid it…

      An enlightened person simply lives his remaining prarabhda karma which can only be extinguished by living it.

      Please note: You can’t tell me to stop doing what I am doing. I have the freedom to write about my own experience and how my transformed experience and bliss is helping me to live a better life. It is also inspiring other people. I don’t deny the enormous contribution of the grace of Almighty in this.

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  123. Hey bro , Ignore my comments that I doubted ur awakening. After reading through each one of ur comments I see that u have seen it and living it . I cannot know but still. What you are doing here is really valuable. Just reading u reflected a large parts of my ego within me . Looks like I immediately went on a ego when I started reading u and made my first comment.
    But I stand the same with what I said about science. And I can see what sadhguru is trying to do by defaming science. And I feel that is very much necessary. Just like u feel its necessary to comment as soon as u see a blind isha follower , I feel it’s necessary to break the blind trust in science . Otherwise science becomes more like a belief system . There is nothing more unscientific than assuming scientific conclusions as facts . Science is not facts and I want to make it clear and I will dedicate my life whether I get enlightened or not, in breaking the trust people have for science. I see it more dangerous than anything.
    I cant know if sadhgurus claims are true or not but I dont see any point in him making up stuffs . That too what he makes up are on random stuffs . Looks to me like he is speaking about his experience. I feel sadhguru is more of a occultist than a guru . Most of the realized beings like mooji and others too find there is no explanation with lot of occult stuffs they have seen. There have been lot of miracles , like trilangaswami walking on water and lot more in India. So definitely there is something beyond science. Stuffs that looks like pseudoscience need not be immediately false. We dont know bro .
    So all that sadhguru did to me is this , dont believe anything including science. And I think that’s great. And I stand the same. Osho also said once that realization is different but this occult is different. Maybe that’s a separate exploration? Idk , you are in a better place to explore these things as a realized being . Let me know if u find any of these occult stuffs to be true anyday.

    Regarding Osho witnessing , I would like to be more honest with u to be most benefited. I have been initiated to shambhavi , but I am not getting interested to do it . Because i cant do something without knowing why or understanding it. To me , methods look like I need to put effort . And I feel realization has to be effortless. Without trying to be something.
    So I felt two methods will work for me . One is oshos witnessing and other is introspection like jiddu krishnamurti.
    I tried both and both scared me . That’s when I knew they are my path.
    When I tried oshos witnessing first time , I was scared at some point that I am losing myself and backed off . It happened multiple times. And what u said is absolutely true . Courage is most important than intelligence. The only thing that’s stopping me is lack of courage or presence of fears . I am more of removing my fears kind rather than taking a courageous jump . So I decided to look at my fears. And some of it had basis on what I had read about kundalini on the internet that it will result in crazy psychotic effects and also sadhgurus statement that one might die . And now when the witnessing kicked in , and I felt something happening to me , I cease to be a witnesser and become filled with fears. It seems to be deep rooted and I decided not to introspect them further and left it. What might happen to me ? Will I die ? Or the ideas of me evaporating. All these seemed to be the root fears in me.
    So that’s why I went with sadhguru to prepare my mind and body and remove these blockages slowly as I concentrate in my worldly life . I have postponed witnessing for some time later . I thought I will prepare my mind and body like sadhguru says so that I dont leave my body when the moment comes. That’s what I am thinking. What do u think about this ? What would u like to say me as a person who crossed the shore ?

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  124. Thank you for the post dude.

    I have been a follower of Sadhguru for about a year now and along with Eckhart Tolle I have received significant help from them both.

    But one thing I struggle with is their charging for spiritual teaching goes against everything I feel is right and it adds an element of doubt that has caused a slowing of progress and adds doubt to everything I now hear them say. I have even come to see Sadhguru more as a for profit business more than a spiritual teacher.

    Now I have moved onto Ramana Maharshi and I feel the progress is starting again and it is probably time for me to let go of the apron strings attached to these two teachers.

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  125. The effort you put into this blog is worth commending. It is a different matter if one agrees or disagrees to the content and opinions here. What is important is that this person (Shanmugam) has looked inside himself and dissected, understood and interpreted the words of Jaggie Vasudev better than most blind followers I know. The worry with Jaggie is that educated, young and powerful people are following blindly – this is dangerous for the society as well as for the individual. If people take deeper efforts to really look into the meaning of life, enlightenment and spirituality it will not matter if Jaggie is a good man or con man or business man or a great youtuber.

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  126. Lot of what Jaggi does is actually the Basic Yoga stuff which is beneficial to a lot of people! The rest of the stuff is Bullshit and Cheating! He has so intelligently mixed up truth and bullshit, that it is difficult to distinguish the two. He starts with the truth and and gradually introduces bullshit! Sadly, by that time, people are hooked to the truth and begin to color everything with the same brush and think that the bullshit is also true!

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  127. It is beautiful that your post has inspired such discussion and deeper introspection for each individual whether or not we agree is not the point. Thank you!

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