Shanmugam

Oh.. Then does that mean that I want an asshole? (I picked the name 'Mr.Asshole') I already have one; And I don't like anal sex either...

Yes.. Enlightenment is usually either understated or overstated. People in the West tend to understate it and people in the East overstate it. But enlightenment is somewhere in the middle... The overstated version implies that enlightenment gives a complete power or ability to manipulate anything in the world and feel like you are drugged 24/7 and throbbing with some kind of orgasm 24/7.. The gurus who advocate the overstated version are most likely doing it for personal benefits and they take advantage of the temptations of people who are sincerely seeking. The understated version reduces enlightenment to some kind of coping mechanism. They will pretty much say that your life is the same shit, with all those sufferings, painful emotions, anxiety etc but you simply know that none of it is happening to you; and that's the only difference. The problem is, this can be interpreted in every way according to one's convenience. But the gurus who endorse the understated version do so simply because of their misunderstanding or even delusion. It is best to let your own light guide you. Listen to everyone but don't consider one person as a sole authority for everything. Has anyone noticed that people like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Buddha or J.krishnamurti are rarely talked about or quoted in this forum? But the real gem is in the teachings of these people.

@MarkusSweden thank you.. I still feel like I am the happiest person on earth. It was also a comment I received from a couple of my friends quite unexpectedly... I had to become the salesman again but there was a huge difference. I just enjoyed whatever I chose to do, including making sales. But I left my old job because I couldn't pretend anymore that I am also running in a rat race ... . On September 1st, 2016, I left that job. I work in a different company now in my hometown, where I do content writing and chat support. I don't have to talk at work anymore. :). The salary that I am getting now is not even 50% of the salary that I was getting back then. Almost every person that I come across who gets to know about my salary at my previous job can't stop questioning me why I left my old job. According to any typical person, it would be a huge mistake but for me, I know I did the right thing. Just a week before, one complete stranger started talking to me on the bus and was asking questions about my career. When I told him about the difference in salary, he started talking non-stop for 30 minutes until I got off the bus, giving me advice and telling me how I have wasted my life. . He said he was very concerned about me. I just smiled, listened to him for 30 minutes and just said 'ok'. Of course, this is how any typical person who is keen on career, personal development and making money would advise. But there is no way to explain to him that none of that really matters to me. But I know that sometimes people may get freaked out when they hear this. Because, for them, their story is still important to them. And many people who are spiritual seekers initially want to have the cake and also eat it. That is not going to happen. But it is not a matter of worry anyway. Once a person is realized, he would look at his own past and laugh about it. So, if someone asks whether enlightenment is really worth it, I would want to emphasize that it is the only thing which is actually worth it. There is a sense of authenticity, a sense of being free and liberated, being complete and fulfilled, being innocent and guilt-free in the experience of pure non-dual reality, which is the most valuable thing in the world. No wonder Jesus said 'The Kingdom of God is within you'

@MarkusSweden What you are saying does happen but it is not like the way you describe.. I wouldn't say that it is a lowering of the level of consciousness. I will describe what happened to me to explain. I was working in a BPO during 2014. Even two years prior to the year 2014, my life was very simple. I was trekking various hills during that and was mostly spending time in nature and solitude. After April 2014, I started to go deeper in my 'witnessing' practice. For the months April, May and June, I was just going deeper and deeper. In July 2014, I stopped much of my talking and gossips with my friends (not intentionally, it happened automatically) and my friends clearly noticed a difference. Except what I had to talk on the phone, I almost didn't talk to anyone at all. I even didn't give a thought about it because such a thought didn't occur for a long time. I was simply a witness to everything that was happening and I was slowly losing the need to do anything, except doing what I should do in my job and to maintain my body. I almost lost the ability to think logically. My monkey mind stopped and I wasn't bothered by anything at all. It is the peak and I felt like a king of the world. I still remember walking on the road one day, taking each and every step with absolute bliss and a feeling that there is a permanent vacation. But I had to relearn many things. For example, for the next six months, I wasn't worried even a single bit about how much sales I was making with customers. I just enjoyed talking to the customers on the phone, explaining about the product and just had a conversation with them. I didn't have the same desire to convince the customers. If a customer says 'I want to think about', I would say 'sure, take your time'. I even forgot that I was supposed to handle that as an objection and try to convince the customer to buy the product. I didn't even remember to check my performance report for about 5-6 months. One day my team leader asked me to meet him and started scolding me. He spoke for about 30-40 minutes about my poor performance at work. (I used to be a very good performer before that). I couldn't really say anything for all those 40 minutes. I was simply looking at him. There was no feeling of insult or embarrassment. But gradually, I realized that even though things didn't matter to me, they matter to others who are expecting things from me. So, I had to consciously choose a direction that I need to go in life. I chose to perform well at work again. Once my performance drastically improved, my manager looked at me with surprise and asked me with a smile ' why and how this sudden change?'... I smiled and just said 'I am focusing more on getting sales'. There was an integration period for about 2 - 3 years. And during this period, I learned certain things all over again. I am not talking about learning new information but learning certain behaviors. My straight-forwardness, courage, and ability to say anything without any hesitation was actually seen as a threat by many managers and team leaders. It created an impression that I don't respect them any longer. This is just one example. Only after consciously making certain changes, I was able to make sure that everything goes smoothly as my family would expect. Also, there were a lot of old tendencies which took time to die. But whatever changes that happened after 2014 is not something like a self-improvement or reaching another level of enlightenment. The changes just happened without the sense of a person wanting to reach something or somewhere. These changes were necessary to play the role that I am supposed to be playing, but it is not really lowering the level of consciousness. It is pretty much like a rebirth. I was like a kid during July 2014. And I developed many things all over again but it happened consciously and without feeling any duality, lack, incompleteness etc. Spiritual seeking is a longing for becoming complete... There is a sense of lack when a person is seeking. There seems to be something lacking and there is a longing to unite with the whole. The fact that there is a phrase called 'mystical union' in Christian Mysticism and the fact that the word 'yoga' means 'union' is not a coincidence.. Once the union happens, you can't see yourself as a part of the whole anymore.. You realize that you are everything.. Your body may grow old, your mind may get exposed to new things, you may develop certain skills after enlightenment. But these are not the part of a 'self-agenda'.. You don't consider yourself as getting old or learning new things. Those changes just happen in the realm of relative reality. The person is simply 'no more'...

@Monkey-man Yes.. there is a total absence of identification with body or mind...

I have the same question ... By the way, what is Shin?

How did you come to know about rebirth or Mahasamadhi? Aren't those concepts something that you learned on the way? I have no personal reasons to care about rebirth or mahasamadhi. If I want to, it wouldn't take a long time for me to write about something that I learned in a book regarding Mahasamadhi or rebirth. But I don't want to do that. I would always like to separate what I know for certain from what I have read or heard. Have you heard a sufi mystic like Rumi, a practitioner of Kaballah or a Christian mystic talk about either rebirth or mahasamadhi? Are you aware that people like Adhi Shankara, Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta Maharaj didn't give a damn about Mahasamadhi? If you ask Ramana Maharshi about rebirth, he would ask to inquire who is the one that is reborn? I have a hypothesis about Mahasamadhi though, which makes more sense to me. I have heard from people like Osho and some others that a person, especially an enlightened one would come to know about his time of death exactly 9 months before it occurs. According to this, only 9 months before the person's death, he would know he is going to die and he can predict his death. That is Mahasamadhi. So, it is probably not that one could decide at any time to die and just die consciously. Anyway, the above paragraph is just what I have heard. I would know that for sure only 9 months before my death. And it can be confirmed only after my death. You need to keep in mind that Sadhguru predicted twice that he would attain Mahasamadhi. But that never happened. Regarding rebirth, I only know what I have read and heard. I don't remember any past lives myself. But to be honest, after 2014, such concepts no longer personally bothered me. There is a very clear reason for that, but I am in trouble if I try to communicate. But I will try, knowing very well that I am not going to succeed. 'Who am I' or 'what am I' is probably the best question when it comes to spiritual path. Because the whole thing is about an inquiry into the nature of 'I'. It is the starting point. But you can only recognize or explain what you are not. You can never explain what you really are, after enlightenment. The words simply fall back. That is why it is said quite often that truth can never be explained. It is not a joke. Because enlightenment completely changes the perception of this 'self'. You would no longer have the need to mentally define who you are and you can't consider yourself as anything. In other words, you start by trying to solve the mystery of life and finally recognize that You are the mystery. The words 'I' and 'You' no longer have any meaning except the fact that they serve as a convenience or points of reference during communication. After this, you would no longer care about a rebirth or even the death of your body because nothing really matters. One guy once asked me 'what if you are reborn as a devil or monster during your next birth. How are you so sure that something like that won't happen?'... Only when I receive such questions, I think about times when I was a seeker and when I myself used to raise these questions.. Otherwise, I don't care or even think about these things. Mind can create all kinds of problems. To be precise, fear can create thousands of problems which may not exist. I used to tell my friend when I was a seeker that when you fear, you fear about 1000 things that may happen; but in reality, always one among those 1000 things happen. One of the best indications of enlightenment is the absence of anxiety or fear. I can get scared if you suddenly enter my room at 12 AM in the disguise of a devil. It is just a response of my body to make me ready to fight or flee; it is a gift of nature. But I don't have a fear that something like that will ever happen. Do you see the difference between the two? If an earth quake is happening right now, being a little scared actually helps you to give you some energy to act. But if you worry thinking 'what if an earthquake happens tomorrow', then it is a fear created by duality. It is not a helpful trait that nature gave us but it is a disease that people should overcome.

What is the difference between judging and simply sharing someone's observations? What is the difference between arguing and discussing? If you think New York is the capital of Germany and if I wish to correct your opinion, I would want to offer clarifications.. And if you say that some one told you that New York is indeed the capital of Germany, I may wish to state my observations about the person who said that and make you understand that this person has given such misleading information many times. Argument is trying to desperately prove that one is correct, without giving a second thought that he could be possibly wrong. The main intention behind an argument is to feel better and not to understand the truth. Judgement is indulging in discussing how bad others are, with an intention to show oneself in a better light than those others. The reason why it is said to a spiritual seeker to not to judge is because it is obviously a trap. But I am neither arguing nor judging. It may appear to you and other people that way. But you need to realize that you have a very limited information about me and my life, just like I have no idea about who you are and how your life has been. You can either judge me by saying I am being judgemental and arguing or just consider what I say as a possibility and be open to it. Read the talks of Osho. He was a very controversial person but his talks helped me tremendously towards my own liberation (which is popularly called as enlightenment. Yes, I am enlightened and I don't expect anyone to believe it ). Osho has criticized many popular people. Now, how would you interpret Osho's criticisms? Are they 'judgements' or 'his observations'? There is a difference between judging someone and sharing the observations. There is also a difference between arguing and just trying to refute the objections. What did Adhi Shankara do in all his commentaries? He would state an objection and refute that objection. Can you call that as an argument? The difference between the two is usually not obvious to an onlooker. Because, it really depends on the attitude, which is obviously not visible to the onlooker. If I personally know a person for a long term, I may be able to say that he is too judgemental about others. Otherwise, it is not so obvious. The biggest trap many people have is, they quickly assume things about a person with a very limited information. For example, you don't know anything about me and very confidently made a lot of assumptions about me. Now, was I judgemental in my last statement? No, I was simply sharing my observation. It doesn't have to be taken as a personal attack. Because, the only reason why I share my observations is to help people to see through some of the traps. There are many other terms like this which can be interpreted in two different ways. Consider these two terms: Arrogance and truth. I am very intelligent than an Average Joe. It is a genetic trait. No matter where I have lived, worked and studied, I have always earned the name as the most intelligent person. Now, am I being arrogant or simply stating the truth? I am just stating the truth. I am also aware that there may be millions of people who are way more intelligent than me. I am not good at sports. Now, is this a lack of self-confidence, a belief or simply the truth? I don't have any need for 'self-confidence' or a 'belief'.. I am simply stating the truth. A 10 year old boy can win me in most of the outdoor sports. And I think you misunderstood what I said about popularity. I said that the mind of a typical human being has the tendency to give more weight to what a popular and authoritative figure says. It is called authority bias and it is very much real.

This comment comes from the usual tendency of a typical human mind. Of course, he is so popular with millions of followers and I am just a random guy posting something on the internet... So, the natural way of thinking would be 'How could this guy possibly know more than Sadhguru'... Anyway, I hope you agree that spiritual path is not about knowing a lot of information. There are 18 major mythological books in Hindu mythology. One can read all of them and impress people with the knowledge he has on mythology. There is no shortage for information. But that doesn't mean that the bunch of information presented is actually true. It is possible that Sadhguru knows more than me on certain things based on certain books he has read. Anyone could do that, but that doesn't make him a realized person. I also understand the difficulty here. Sadhguru is certainly a little advanced than the majority of population. But if he was not popular, he would be just like another member in actualized.org forum. It is because of his popularity, people have difficulty in accepting that he may not be as genuine as he claims to be. If you personally know me, have interacted with me, and know what my whole life is about, you may not have any problem to consider this possibility right away. The problem here is only this.. "Sadhguru is recognized as an authentic, realized person by thousands of people and a random unknown guy says that it is not true.. I would rather give more weight to the possibility that Sadhguru is indeed a realized person" . But I admit that I would have thought the same way a few years ago. I have read one of your blog posts in which you had listed some of the misconceptions you had in the past which you got corrected later. It was a really good post and very impressive. But if you retain the same 'extraordinary open-mindedness' for the upcoming years, I am sure one day you would realize how wrong you were about Sadhguru. One issue that I have noticed in people is this: They become open-minded only temporarily. For example, a hardcore Catholic needs to have extraordinary open mindedness to understand about spiritual enlightenment. But once he understands it from a guru, he or she will likely become close-minded again, when it comes to certain concepts which were taught by his or her own guru. It is very important to not let this happen.

The misunderstanding has happened again. (I just mentioned about this in one of my posts in this thread This is not about being open to paranormal stuff. Let me give you an example.. Consider the following two statements 1) New York is a city in United States. 2) Jack,my next door neighbor, has been to New York. Do you agree that these two are two different statements? Just because Statement 1 is true, does it make Statement 2 true as well? If someone is saying that Jack did not go to New York, you should not try to convince him by showing evidence for the existence of New York as a city. That is a fallacy... Just because New York exists, does that mean Jack has gone there? Does that exclude all the possibilities which show that Jack might be lying?

I agree! That is exactly what I want to convey. The problem with Sadhguru is, there are certain things which happen in people's minds very slowly and they don't recognize it. They slowly create a cult of personality and take whatever he says as true. I surely agree that you might have learn't a lot from his talks, which he himself repeats from what he has read in Osho's books. I don't see any harm in that. But the problem arises because he mixes truth with myths and the emphasis is more on the myths. This doesn't have to be seen as an argument but a reminder to take everything he says with a pinch of salt. And this is true for any spiritual teacher. Sadhguru started out very well initially. His early talks that were delivered before 2000 were absolutely good. But then he slowly started bringing his own beliefs and started to pretend that he knows everything.

@Speedscarlet I wish I can do that but will be very difficult and almost an impossibility. Because, Sadhguru has certainly made a strong influence in many people and I was also one of them. My posts are longer because I have to give many examples to convince people that he is misleading people for his own benefit. Just consider this one example... People who attain Mahasamadhi are never cremated. They are buried. But Sadhguru's wife was cremated. The worst thing was, she was cremated before her parents could reach the place. They didn't even have a chance to have a last look at their daughter's face, even though they made a prior request.. Why?

Interesting... Looking at the other side of Hitler teaches a lesson... People are conditioned to think in black and white. According to the majority of population, a person is either all good or all bad. But reality is totally different. There are no good and bad people. While his spiritual side of life is impressive, killing millions of innocent people also tells us about tremendous suffering that people went through because of one man. It cannot be justified in anyway. But it is the same man who authorised a euthanasia programme for adults with serious mental and physical disabilities. I would certainly support euthanasia for people who have serious health problems that will result in living in pain for most of their life.

@Leo Gura Do you have the time to read the complete post and actually see certain questions that are raised?... Whenever I say anything about Sadhguru, the discussions suddenly takes a different shape... Whether Mahasamadhi is true or not is different and I don't have any trouble to see anything as a possibility. But the question here is not about whether Mahasamadhi is true or not, but it is about whether Sadhguru is genuine or not? Do you see the difference? And I can bet all my money to say that he just makes up things most of the time and he repeats what he has read the rest of the time... Let me give one other example..Read this carefully: Sadhguru is very keen about controlling population and he has insisted many times that it is not really necessary to become a father of a child if you really don't need a child. I agree with this and it makes perfect sense. But he got married after his enlightenment and his wife was also a yogi. What is the need for a child? But in order to justify the fact that he became a father of his child, he said a very big lie! He said that in Rig veda, it is written that only a grihasta (married) yogi with a child will be able to consecrate Dhyanalinga. And guess what! There is no mention about linga in all the four Vedas. The idea of a linga actually evolved from a concept of an infinite shaft that connects heaven and earth and this is mentioned in a later veda which is Atharva veda. And certainly, there is no mention about Grihasta yogi being capable of consecrating a dhyanalinga. What is more ironical is that he himself has said he never read any scriptures! My concern is, a whole bunch of population who are sincere seekers, are slowly being misled by Sadhguru. He reinforces the illusion. His main business is selling consecrated spaces.. You seem to believe that Sadhguru is a realized person. I used to think this way too. But do you have open-mindedness to question this assumption? Do you see a possibility that Sadhguru's enlightenment is half-baked (he certainly had some experiences though) but distorting and misrepresenting some ancient teachings for his own benefit? Of course, you can dismiss everything by saying 'ordinary people cannot understand this'... But people can't repeat this like a parrot for everything that is said by a famous figure who has a white beard... I know you have been supporting Sadhguru, but do you have the open-mindedness to see that much of your assumptions about him could be wrong? Do you have the open-mindedness to consider that a person who has spent much time in Sadhguru's ashram, attending his satsangs, being a hardcore fan of Sadhguru for over a decade, attending his programs etc may have more chance of being right than you? Sadhguru is the real life 'Kumare'...

Here is another one (from https://sadhgurukilledhiswife.wordpress.com/): Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's wife died on January 23, 1997. The reason for her death has been explained as mahasamadhi. Mahasamadhi is defined as follows: Mahāsamādhi (the great and final samādhi) is the act of consciously and intentionally leaving one's body.[1][2] A realized yogi (male) or yogini (female) who has attained the state of nirvikalpa samādhi, will, at an appropriate time, consciously exit from their body. This is known as mahāsamādhi. This is not the same as the physical death that occurs for an unenlightened person. But did Viji really attain mahasamadhi? Let us first look at her pics. See how she looked during those days and how young she was: People who say that she went to mahasamadhi are just repeating what Jaggi Vasudev said or what others are saying. I have never come across anyone offline or online who was actually present when it happened. It is said that there were hundreds of people who witnessed it, but who knows? Does just saying that over and over again make it true? Even if they were present at the event, what exactly did they witness? Did they actually witness Viji sitting in front of them fully alive, being in meditation and dropping dead finally? Did all this happenbefore their eyes without missing any details or did they hear such a news when Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev just came out of the room and told them that Viji had left her body? This incident happened many years ago and it is easy to convince people that she went to Mahasamadhi by repeating the story over and over again. If someone wants to believe in something, they just have to hear it over and over again. Because, if everyone in Isha maintains the same thing, you would never question it even though you were not present in that place. Very important point: In our country, nobody cremates someone who attains Mahasamadhi. It is a custom to bury people who attained Mahasamadhi. Now, consider the following points: 1.Viji, Sadhguru’s wife, was cremated; not buried. Why? 2. She was cremated immediately and Jaggi Vasudev didn’t wait for his father in law to reach there in spite of the requests. The request made by Viji's own father to wait was ignored. Why? 3. His father in law made a police complaint later that he was suspicious about Viji’s death and that Viji might have been murdered. It is true that anyone can make a police complaint and that doesn’t mean that the allegation is true. But the person who made the complaint was not just anyone, but Viji’s own father. Why? Think about it… 4. Viji was very young and her daughter was too young to lose her mother. Jaggi said Viji had planned her mahasamadhi few months before her death. No mother will do such a thing to her child and leave her child orphan. Why would anyone be in such a hurry to leave their body? 5. She didn’t even wait to see the completion of the consecration of Dhyanalinga. As per Jaggi’s own words, he has been working towards the consecration for three life times. He even decided where and in which womb Viji and others close to him should be born. His sole reason for being born this time was to consecrate Dhyanalinga. Even then, she irresponsibly left her body before the consecration was complete though she knew that she was also playing an important part in the consecration by forming an energy triangle with Jaggi and the other woman Bharti. And Jaggi, who had a lot of control over in which womb Bharti and Viji should be born, had zero control over her mahasamadhi. Why? 6. According to Jaggi, Viji was not an accomplished yogi. So it is a mystery how she learnt the art of leaving the body at will. Because, leaving the body at will is something that cannot be done so easily even by the advanced yogis. How did Viji, a normal householder and not an accomplished yogi was able to leave her body at will? 7. According to Jaggi, he has the power to peg people down if they are about to leave their body because of enlightenment. Still, Jaggi was not able to hold Viji down and stop her from leaving the body. Doesn’t it sound strange? Here is an excerpt from the book "‘Enlightenment - An inside story" and here is what Jaggi Vasudev said in that book: So, Why wasn't Jaggi Vasudev able to stop Viji from leaving her body when he is able to stop everyone else in the ashram from doing so? He goes on to the say that since Viji was no more, he had to play the role of Viji as well and that not only delayed the consecration for another two years but it also caused severe damage to Jaggi's body. According to him, he was almost dead in the process. Why didn't he avoid all this trouble by 'pegging down' Viji? 8. Viji was not happy with Jaggi’s association with Bharti. It is mentioned in the book ‘Sadhguru: More than a Life by Arundhathi Subramaniam’ that the couple actually had quarrels regarding that. 9. Of course, police dismissed the case due to the lack of evidence. But you need to understand that if you give money to police in India, they will do anything. Our police department is not 100% free of corruption yet. A case can be dismissed if the sufficient bribe is paid. 10. Her own daughter Radhe doesn’t seem to like him much. Check her facebook profile (Radhe Jaggi) and check all her posts. Only recently, she posted some pics with the ‘Rally for rivers’ logo. But other than that, she mostly doesn’t talk about him in her posts and she doesn’t even have one picture of Jaggi in her album. No daughter will do something like this especially when her father is very famous, unless the daughter has some hatred towards her father. Of course, there may be instances when she gave performance in Isha yoga centre. And I have seen Jaggi sharing posts regarding Radhe’s dance performance. But Radhe herself mostly doesn’t seem to care about her father or talk about him much. Radhe may know the truth about her mom’s death. Now, considering all the above facts, it is difficult to answer these questions if we accept that she died because of Mahasamadhi. But everything seem to fit very well when we even assume for a minute that Jaggi killed his wife because of his relationship with Bharti , bribed the police to dismiss the case and created a fake story of mahasamadhi. I leave the conclusion to you people who read this answer. If anyone really thinks they can solve the puzzles in the above 10 points properly with valid reasons, let them comment here and explain. ................................................................................................. There was an interesting comment on this blog post which is also worth reading: Sadhguru talks about the special astrological alignment (“That day was a very special day in terms of the way energies were moving for this planet.There was an exceedingly rare and archetypically appropriate planetary alignment, a moment in time expressed in the heavens as a perfect six-pointed star. This pattern comes on the exact day where three outer planets, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are conjoined together for the first time in almost two hundred years. On January 23rd, this cluster of planets centred on the first degree of Aquarius, joined by the Sun with the Full Moon opposite them all. This pattern may also be seen as a symbolic representation of the long-heralded ‘dawning of the Age of Aquarius.’”) but he makes several strange statements. Although these 3 outer planets were conjunct around that time, only Jupiter and Uranus were in Aquarius and Neptune was in Capricorn. They can’t possibly have formed a 6-pointed star with such a tight conjunction/opposition. These aspects are also not considered the beginning of the age of Aquarius – that is some new age nonsense. But more curious still is the fact that his references are to Tropical (Western) astrology, not Sidereal (Indian) astrology, so it makes me wonder why, and who is giving him this information? I know that he is surrounded by Westerners, especially women, who take care of his hair and makeup among other things, so he clearly has a strong influence from non-Indians. This I guess explains the mixture of ancient wisdom and new age nonsense that we hear in his talks.

Here is the excerpt of the blog post I was talking about: Controversies are not new to Isha Foundation or Sadhguru. The bigger the controversy, the brighter Isha seems to shine after it. In the above excerpt from her book, “Sadhguru: more than a life” (referred to hereafter as just the “book”), author Arundhati Subramanian was referring to the aftermath of the death of Sadhguru’s wife Vijji whose death caused the biggest controversy and test of faith in Isha’s history. The Tamil press accused Sadhguru of murdering his wife while Sadhguru maintained that his wife attained “Mahasamadhi” (enlightenment by leaving her body voluntarily). In the end, Isha and Sadhguru triumphed. The police closed the case as they found no evidence after their inquiries and this allegation is now forgotten. But when we pause for a moment and think, we still find lot of unanswered questions. Just keep asking “Why?” and it opens the door. In this article, I look at some of these questions. Sequence of events I first read about Vijji’s death in Sadhguru’s book “Mystic’s musings“. That is the first time I learnt that Sadhguru was married and had a daughter. In this book, Sadhguru gives fascinating details on the consecration of Dhyanalinga, the purpose of his life. Sadhguru, his wife Vijji and his disciple Bharati were involved in intense spiritual practices for the consecration and Vijji suddenly left her body (attained Mahasamadhi) on 23rd Jan 1997. Vijji’s intentions for Mahasamadhi were not a secret. She expressed her strong desire to leave her body in this Yogic way to many people including Sadhguru before. But she was not an accomplished Yogi and Sadhguru did not expect that she could pull it off. Even though Sadhguru’s Dhyanalinga consecration was seriously impacted due to the unexpected exit of Vijji, he was proud of her spiritual achievement as a Guru. In Mystic’s musings, he reveals intricate and mystic details about Vijji’s Mahasamadhi. Among other things, he explains why Vijji chose that day to leave her body – Vijji was cremated the next day in the presence of a thousand people. The samadhi of Vijji is in the current Isha ashram in Coimbatore. It is said to have lot of positive energy vibes and is considered very sacred. A controversy broke out 8 months later when Vijji’s father Ganganna filed a complaint with Bangalore police accusing Sadhguru of murdering his daughter. Why would Sadhguru’s own father-in-law file a complaint on him? Isha’s explanation was that a disgruntled family member of an Isha devotee provoked Sadhguru’s in-laws and influenced Vijji’s father to file a case. As one can imagine, all hell broke loose and the local Tamil media had a field day covering the issue. Sadhguru was on a US tour when this happened, so naturally he was not in the ashram when police visited it for their investigation (Here critics wrongly allege that “Sadhguru ran away to the US” without realizing that he was already in the US when the case was filed). They found no evidence for the allegations after their inquiries. There were many witnesses around when Vijji died and her cremation was also witnessed by many. So the case was closed and Sadhguru was freed of all charges. But, of course, critics still claim that “Sadhguru murdered his wife” when they only have speculation and no proof for their charge. So it is understandable that Sadhguru gets angry when the case is mentioned. He gives a detailed reply about these incidents in his Tehelka interview – Questions remain For Isha devotees, the above facts are enough proof that this case was a malicious attempt to defame Sadhguru and derail his spiritual movement. But if we take a neutral stand and employ the “Why” tool, we see that there are many answered questions. First, let us consider Vijji’s father. Per the details in the “book”, Vijji was a divorcee and had an abusive marriage before meeting Sadhguru. Vijji’s father was very happy when she got married to Sadhguru. The “book” also mentions that Sadhguru healed him and thus he had great faith in Sadhguru. Presumably, he knows about Vijji’s intention of Mahasamadhi too as she told about it to many people including her own daughter. Thus Vijji’s father was happy about her marriage, had trust in Sadhguru and knew about the mystic happenings around her. Yet he filed a complaint accusing Sadhguru of murder. Why? According to the “book”, a disgruntled uncle of a meditator “proceeded to instigate a smear campaign by provoking a family (Vijji’s parents) that was at the time at its most vulnerable. Vijji’s parents were swayed by the man’s outrage”. Wait! Wasn’t Vijji’s father supposed to tell this “uncle” – “Get away from me! I know my son-in-law and I completely trust him! My daughter attained Mahasamadhi, which is a great spiritual achievement.” ? Why did he get “swayed” by this uncle instead? Also how did this “uncle” get the idea of instigating Vijji’s parents in the first place? Were there rumors floating around the ashram after Vijji’s death and he knew that Vijji’s parents were unhappy? It seems that Vijji’s father somehow got disillusioned and lost trust in Sadhguru. We do not know why. One possibility was that something serious must have happened between Vijji and Sadhguru in their marital life. In Isha circles, Vijji and Sadhguru are often portrayed as an “ideal” couple, like Shiva and Parvathi. Per the “book”, there were conflicts between them due to the possessive nature of Vijji but nothing too serious was hinted at. But the reality may have been different. An anonymous blogger commented on director Shekar Kapur’s 2008 article on Sadhguru about their “fights” – Of course, we cannot take a random anonymous blogger’s comment as a proof of anything, especially when the blogger seems to have a dislike and disrespect for Sadhguru. Note the interesting factual details provided in the comment. It seems that Vijji was still married (and did not yet take divorce from her abusive ex-husband) when she fell in love with Sadhguru. We can find multiple people online who knew about these fights and Vijji’s past. So it is possible that there were serious fights (we do not know what these fights were about) between Vijji and Sadhguru and Vijji’s father knew about these. Next, it is puzzling that no doctor was called to examine Vijji after her Mahasamadhi. Yes, there were people around when she died but it seems that her death was confirmed just by Sadhguru and not by any independent medical authority. If a meditator leaves his body tomorrow during an advanced meditation session in Coimbatore Ashram before Sadhguru and Sadhguru proclaims that he attained Mahasamadhi and cremates his body without waiting for his parents, it would surely raise a lot of eyebrows. The exact same thing seems to have happened for Vijji and no one finds it odd. Also it is a general custom to not cremate the body of an enlightened being. Sadhguru himself explained the logic for this once – that the causal body tries to enter back into the body after death and thus it is necessary to burn the body. By implication, an enlightened person’s body need not be cremated as there is no causal body waiting to be reborn again. Thus we find that enlightened beings are generally buried (not cremated), though this is a not a strict rule. So cremating Vijji’s body even before her parents could get a last glimpse and even though it is not a custom does seem very odd. It is also interesting to note the accusation of an “illicit relationship” with an ashram inmate. Many critics think this inmate is Bharati, Sadhguru’s disciple who was part of the Dhyanalinga consecration. This is a very vulgar allegation but let us again remember that the complainant was Vijji’s own father. So did Vijji suspect any “affair” and tell her father? Was Bharati the reason for the fights between Sadhguru and Vijji? The “book” hints at the conflicts between Vijji and Bharati. Both were possessive of Sadhguru in different ways, it says. Vijji could not accept that her dear husband became a Guru for many people. It took a while for her to become part of Sadhguru’s mission. For example, she did not initially join Sadhguru when he was building the ashram in Coimbatore. She was working in Bangalore instead and this irked Bharati. So it can be said that Vijji had a complex relationship with Sadhguru’s Guru role and with Bharati. Sadhguru took notice of this and made specific attempts to reconcile them. In the end, the “book” says that Vijji was very convinced about Sadhguru’s mission and participated very enthusiastically in the Sadhana. But was there more between Vijji and Bharati that the book did not mention? One can also ask the question, “How did Sadhguru, the great mystic, not realize that Vijji may leave her body and stop her?” After all, Dhyanalinga is the purpose of his life and he knows that there were going to be impediments. Vijji was publicly expressing her desire for Mahasamadhi and so Sadhguru should have taken it into consideration. Yet, we see that Sadhguru was very casual about this. In fact, the “book” surprisingly mentions that the Dhyanaligna consecration would have completed on the day of Vijji’s death but Bharati had to attend an event at her daughter’s school and so it did not happen! This sort of casualness is unthinkable for a consecration of such enormous significance. Yet we find this strange mix of casualness amidst the utmost spiritual seriousness of the atmosphere. Thus we are told that Sadhguru did not think that Vijji could attain Mahasamadhi and even if she did, he thought she would plan for it after the consecration! And he did not take any “mystic precautions” to ensure that she did not leave her body (Sadhguru claimed several times that he could stop his disciples from leaving their bodies). So Sadhguru behaved like an ordinary husband and underestimated his wife! Guess fate is mysterious to grasp even to the greatest of the mystics! As they say, what is not revealed often reveals more than what is revealed. We were never told that Sadhguru was a teacher with Rishi Prabhakar’s Siddha Samadhi Yoga (SSY) (Not to be confused with Sadhguru’s own Sahaja Stithi Yoga, the earlier form of Isha, which also acronyms to SSY. See my article about Sadhguru’s Rishi Prabhakar connection here for more details). It seems Vijji was also a teacher with SSY. In fact, according to one blogger, she was a “superstar teacher of SSY while Sadhguru used to be an introvert sweet husband”. It seems that Vijji was with SSY even before Sadhguru joined it. The Gomatagiri camp which started the love story between Sadhguru and Vijji as described in the “book” was apparently an SSY camp. Assuming that at least some of these things are true (I am pretty sure about Sadhguru’s involvement with SSY as a teacher. A very reliable friend told me that he meditated with Sadhguru in SSY back in those old days. I have no reliable sources for the other claims but it is worth noting that multiple people claimed the same things), we can see that Vijji’s past is not entirely revealed. Again, we do not know why Sadhguru never speaks about these things from his past. Finally, let us now consider the Mahasamadhi claim itself. Isha and Sadhguru keep saying that Vijji strongly desired Mahasamadhi and achieved it in the end. They imply that her death is thus very simply explained, as if Mahasamadhi is a common cause of death in India. When Vijji’s own father was not convinced of her Mahasamadhi, how can Isha expect that the whole world would believe it? So it must be recognized that Mahasamadhi is a sufficient explanation for the Isha devotees but not for the rest of the world. For example, had the case went to court, Mahasamadhi explanation would not be considered as a proof. So Isha should get less defensive about Mahasamadhi, explain the sequence of events more clearly and clarify some of the questions discussed above. Suppression of the controversy While the Vijji death controversy was widely covered in the local Tamil media, the English media did not appear to pay much attention. News presence on the internet was almost non-existent in those days. So most of the later Isha followers did not even hear about the controversy even though they knew all the spiritual details surrounding Vijji’s death from “Mystic’s Musings”. When some of them learnt about the controversy later, they were shocked. Here is how user paulpembroke describes it in his Guruphiliac forum post (this forum is possibly the first place on internet where this controversy was widely discussed) – What interests me in this description is the “switch turned off” part. Many people get devoted to Sadhguru not because he is charismatic and speaks very convincingly. These qualities may attract them towards Sadhguru but their faith often develops suddenly and unconsciously. These devotees discover one fine day that “a switch was turned on” deep inside them. It is interesting to see that the same switch can get turned off too! But the switch does not get “turned off” because of any random doubt or controversy. It requires a special discovery, something unacceptable to the devotee. But what is “unacceptable” varies greatly among devotees. For example, paulpembroke’s faith is broken after learning about Vijji’s death controversy. But I was not bothered at all when I first learnt about this controversy through the Guruphiliac forum. After all, one does not expect Sadhguru to say in his “Mystic’s Musings” book, “You know what, they also accused me of murder!”. So acknowledging the controversy does not harm Isha or Sadhguru. After all, they have a very good defense against it. Yet we find that Isha volunteers were unnecessarily defensive about the controversy in the Guruphiliac forum. Many of them were unwilling to consider any questions about Vijji’s death. For them, Mahasamadhi explanation was more than enough and only the spiritually ignorant would doubt Sadhguru. In fact, they did not even like anyone mentioning the controversy. If this is the attitude in a forum, one can imagine how Isha volunteers would guard Sadhguru’s Wiki page. In 2007, 10 years after the controversy broke out, someone posted about the controversy surrounding Vijji’s death on Sadhguru’s Wiki page – The content was not malicious and the reporting was factual. Isha volunteers could have edited it to add more details that show Sadhguru was innocent. This was what user rogermathworks appeared to do but later Isha Foundation removed all traces of this controversy with the comment “Removed lines that are clearly defamatory against Sadhguru”! It did not occur to Isha that Sadhguru’s Wiki page is not Sadhguru’s personal website where they can decide what content to post. Anyone can post any content on Wiki and the job of Isha’s volunteer reviewers is to verify facts and remove malicious content. But here they removed an inconvenient factual detail! It is worth noting that another reviewer objected to this removal and added back the content with the comment “I for one read these reports in the Indian newspapers and Mr. Vasudev had a newspaper response to this controversy. It is better to have the controversy in the open rather than fester in solitude”. This wise suggestion was ignored and the content was removed again! We can understand Isha’s intentions here. They want newcomers who are interested in Sadhguru to not get side-tracked by the controversies surrounding him! It would be unfortunate if people miss to experience a real Guru because of a fake controversy. So they want to control it. Fine! But they should do so by providing strong explanations and not by removing the content itself. It is a disgrace to Isha that they removed the Wiki entry on this controversy in the past. To correct this mistake and to check if Isha volunteers still continue to show this attitude, I did a little experiment several months back. I added a new section on Vijji’s death and provided an explanation which is supportive of Isha and Sadhguru. Even then, my section was removed eventually by an Isha volunteer with the comment, “This content described how a police complaint was filed against the individual discussed in this article but this information is of no relevance as no allegation was proved to be correct. In India, it takes no effort to file a complaint against anyone”. Isha devotee’s faith and commitment towards Sadhguru always amazes me! But I am still hopeful. When I checked Sadhguru’s Wiki page today, I see that someone re-added my content. Now there is a section called “Controversies” which discusses Vijji’s death controversy and the Adiyogi statue controversy. This is the right approach and I hope it stays this way! Conclusion So can we conclude that Sadhguru killed his wife? Not at all! If someone like me who just reads a book and does some research on the net (that too only English sources), thinks that he found the real cause of Vijji’s death, he is gravely mistaken! The only sane position we can have about this incident is to accept Isha’s version, the version verified by the police. It would be ridiculous for anyone to claim that Sadhguru murdered his wife just because there are several unanswered questions. Yet, this is what we repeatedly hear from Sadhguru’s critics. May be I should not even use the word “critics”. These people are just a bunch of folks filled with hatred for Sadhguru and often have a vicious agenda against Isha. They are happy to make grave allegations and are too lazy to consider all possibilities or do any research to dig out the truth. It is sad to see some of the so called “journalists” also doing this. Thus investigative journalism is reduced to bringing out an old clipping of Indian Express and then name-calling. Where is the real journalist who can investigate this matter without an agenda? I also think that Isha devotees should get more inquisitive. Faith is a great thing and Sadhguru is a wonderful Guru. But complete submission to an organization or a Guru is never good for anyone. Faith should not mean just an obligation to prove Sadhguru’s critics wrong. It must be a freedom to question things and a courage to accept mistakes from Isha/Sadhguru’s side too. After all, didn’t Sadhguru say that, “To be on the spiritual path means that you have not made a conclusion about anything, you are seeking. To be a seeker means you want to know. One can seek only when one does not know!”? So in this article, I just tried to establish that there were aspects of Vijji’s Mahasamadhi story that were not sufficiently addressed in the official version from Isha and Sadhguru. The official story from Isha emphasizes the spiritual side of Vijji and downplays her human side. Here, I must give credit to Arundhati Subramaniam for her book. She did a splendid job in exploring Vijji’s personality and her state of mind in a honest way. But she seems to accept Sadhguru’s Mahasamadhi version without asking too many questions. I tried to go beyond the skepticism shown by her in this article. In the end, I was left with a strange feeling about Vijji. It feels like we never knew her fully, even after Arundhati’s great portrayal of her as a mother, wife and Guru-maa (and Sadhguru’s heart-touching anecdotes about her). There is possibly a side of her which is not in public domain (and will never be). So as people bow to her in respect, I find myself asking her, “Vijji-maa, who are you really?” .........................................................................................................................................

It is a long post... But I have made a few things clear about some of the myths that Sadhguru is promoting... In a few minutes, I will also post a blog post regarding his wife's death that was written by another long term follower of Sadhguru..

This forum was doing perfectly fine until Sadhguru entered this forum... Just because he is a famous figure, has a long beard and millions of followers, there is a tendency in people to take everything he says as true. I myself fell for this trap and remained in this trap for many years... And I have seen enough of him to confidently say that he just makes up a lot of what he says...

@Natasha Mr.Asshole... An asshole is very important because it gives relief everyday. If a person's asshole becomes shut one day, that is the greatest tragedy. He can no longer relieve himself and he will die out of the burden and the pressure of shit that accumulates. Just imagine the relief you get at the toilet everyday and the liberation it brings!.. And enlightenment is the greatest relief; a spiritual teacher who guides you to become absolutely relieved is the greatest asshole ever...

@Serotoninluv @Shin Enlightenment is losing the sense of a separate self once and for all.. But there may be progress in terms of how much a person has understood certain things and is aware of his own mind. There is progress in terms of how much conditioning has been lost and how deep has his awareness penetrated through. From 2002 to 2014, there were 12 years of my life as a seeker. I was a seeker even before 2002, trying out all kinds of meditations and techniques without really understanding what I needed. But after 2002, I understood what spiritual path is really about and got my first glimpse too. Over the next 12 years, my understanding deepened, my awareness increased, I stayed for many hours in the state of flow every day and I was becoming more and more peaceful. I was also getting disidentified with my past. I was exploring various gurus and trying to understand what I am supposed to do. But only in 2012, duality completely disappeared. It was a deepening of awareness that continued for about 2-3 months in May, June and July 2014. It was only in July 2014, there was a complete destruction of separation(duality). It was from then that I started to live in a complete oneness, without a sense of an 'other'. Now I can understand very clearly that a person either lives in duality or not. In fact, getting enlightened is really about finding out what enlightenment is. Only after enlightenment, the person really understands what it is about because there is a clear difference between being enlightened and not being enlightened. Enlightenment is the end of the feeling of lack or incompleteness. You now know that there is nothing to achieve to make yourself complete because you are already complete.

I came across a yogi's youtube channel on the internet today. He speaks only in Tamil. He claims to be enlightened. I was listening to some of the videos and I came across a documentary by a TV channel about him. In the documentary, he says that he always had a fear of heights, used to have a feeling like he was falling from somewhere and had many other visions related to a plane. After enlightenment, he started to blabber something in a different language while he was meditating. When he recorded that and asked a friend about it, he said that it is a language spoken in Peru. Eventually, he says that he came to know that he was a pilot in his last birth and the plane crashed. He died in the plane crash. He also says that a lady who tried to save him during his last birth is born as his daughter in this birth. His daughter also has a tendency to cry whenever she hears the sound of a plane. He is able to do astral travel but he doesn't have the power to leave the country. But he is very much interested in doing more research about his previous birth and he is hoping that one day he will be able to travel to Peru. Anyway, I just wanted to share this info that I came across today. Some of you may find this info interesting. Here is the documentary about him but it is in Tamil. You can still watch it and make sense of it, based on the info I gave you.

Try this analogy... The person A is looking himself in the mirror... The person A is consciousness... The mirror is the brain. The image in the mirror is everything that is observed by the consciousness, which includes the mind and the body.. When the person A looks in the mirror, his observation tells him that the image he is seeing is coming from the mirror. But in reality, it is not actually coming from the mirror but from the person A himself. (don't take the analogy too literally though)

Google cares... I was just curious.. Googling for JM doesn't tell me much.. got from Leo's post now that it is Jed McKenna

@Mighty Mouse Who is JM? full form?

@Joseph Maynor I remember a thread started by you where you asked why people think of enlightenment as binary.. Let me tell you.. Enlightenment is binary.. either one can be enlightened or not enlightened. But that doesn't mean enlightenment is the end, it is a new beginning. It is the end of the life as a seeker and the end of the sense of lack or incompleteness.. But it is a beginning of a new life which deepens forever. That is why enlightenment is sometimes called as a rebirth. Also, there is no question that it takes time to get enlightened. It does take time. I am also aware of the teachings which say that enlightenment doesn't require time, but it is just a pointer. It is only said to make sure that people don't think of enlightenment as something that has to be gained.