Life After Isha Yoga 2

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Dated:13-Apr-2011

The Bhava Spandana Program[BSP] involves the following, I did this in Sept-2007, at Isha Yoga centre,  Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Program Donation Rs 750/-.

1-Before going for BSP one is asked to do a home work as to how one's life has been till that time, in terms of health, relationships, work etc and asked to note all the high and low points in terms of all these. Some people wrote 8 notebooks. I could only write 2 pages. BSP, is purely created, to make emotional, physical, mental, breakdown of a person, and then re-building you back up and telling you that Sadhguru is there for you.

BSP is designed to remind one and give them a experience of one's own death. Before the BSP, people are told that, even if they have to give up their lives, they should be willing to do so, in order for BSP to become a living experience for them later. But we were all assured that the premises was well protected through spiritual processes. And nobody will die! Volunteers keep a close watch for any untoward incidents.

People have no prior knowledge or any clue what is going to happen. Everyone is asked to sign a waiver against any potential lawsuits. This is against human rights!

BSP involves, intense physical activity for 3 days, the kind of physical activity, a intense laborer, would do in a month. The participants have to have a lot of physical energy and strength to do 'mahadeva meditation' where participants have to literally throw their body bending up and down in a rigorous way continuously and also have to shout and scream 'hara'.

You are supposed to thrust your body forward with your legs where they are. When done repeatedly with intensity, it can cause neck spasms or even back ache or even tightening of hams as some have noticed the next day. About 100+ of these are done to screams and done non-stop. With the intensity, you siphon the blood to your head by this method. So, when you stop to the claaaaaang of the gong, you get to sense some rising of the energy and the blood.

When participants get dizzy or tired and when they're unable to do that, volunteers go near the participants and shout 'Hara'/''Shiva' in their peak voice, some volunteers will shout in participants' ears itself. The participants having closed their eyes, does not have any clue what is happening, and already tired and dizzy, will get more shocked by this ear shouting. Not everybody can do that Mahadeva meditation, and they let participants in hunger, and sleeplessness and too much body work. I saw a couple of people vomit due to the extreme back and forth and up and down movements.

These are all ISHA's techniques to do mental breakdown of oneself during the program in order to awaken one's kundalini and having the experience of all around oneness of existence. Save yourself money and hysteria. Get enlightened by sitting under a tree or reading scripture. This pseudo kundalini awakening is more of the Voodoo witchcraft I am talking about.

2- The dangers are just too many in the Bhava Spandana Program. For 3 days there is no contact with the outside world. The volunteers at the ashram are like Nazi SS Death Heads and they take your mobile phone/car keys in custody, there is no talking to anyone other than program participants, you cannot leave the program also in between. For all the 3 days one has to sleep inside the Spanda hall only as some high-energy experience is going to be created. I was even amused, when I had left my clothes to dry outside, and when I wanted to pick them up, a volunteer closely came with me saying that I should not talk to anybody. This warned me of cults and their brain wash! One is asked to write a letter to one's loved ones with total involvement stating, that in three day’s time they are going to die. This breaks, many people who start crying. As I have, never loved anybody, I could not write anything and was simply enjoying the architecture of the spanda hall.

Then, there is intense, outdoor activity of some sports, like pushing one's legs forward to prevent, the walls on closing in & to crush you, keeping the ball in the air for 60 counts or else one will not get his breakfast. There is intense games like running, and football, where some people got intense knee injury with blood oozing but they were forced to continue, with no concern for their pain and shock, even though medicines and cotton were offered by the Nazi Volunteers.

Then it involves painful sitting,[as after games and intense physical activity one feels that a 100 bullets have been fired in one's leg] for long hours and listening to other people's life experiences, like adultery, pre-marital sex and not being able to marry the person, sexual perversions, inferiority complexes, cheating & allied bull-shit, hearing some special music like prakriti purusha, playing games, suddenly crying, suddenly being happy and joyful and also death meditation. One is made to experience that one's soul has itself come out from the body and that soul is lighting fire to the body it once possessed. After this one is shaken by others violently in order for them to learn as to who they really are. Are they this body or something other than the body.

Then in between breaks, the teacher asks people to undergo teacher training programs saying that the forms are outside the hall. So another way to hook full time free slaves/money.

3-Then after intense physical activity one is made to stand in a line and others are asked to see them and experience them as if they themselves are standing and this leads to intense emotions from both sides. From  the 1^st day, I knew it was a kind of mesmerism, hence, I just kept repeating the vedantic verse "Brahman satyam jagat mithya" Brahman is the truth and this universe is false.

Then after all the hard feelings towards others have disappeared one is asked to burn one's home work in a bonfire and dance happily having accepted everything and everybody as a part of themselves.

4-On the last day as everybody is simply itching for the pain/agony to end and go home, one of the monks of the ashram comes and garlands the 1^st participant and touches his feet and the same is repeated by the others. Then sweet Hare Krishna Mahamantra Music is played and everybody dances so that a new beginning is going to happen in their lives with none of the past bitterness towards anyone/ anybody affecting them in the future.

In my own experience being an intellectual person[Jnana Yogi] possessing a very high level of philosophical thinking and scriptural knowledge the whole thing was a bull shit for me. I got intense fever of 105'c and had to cure myself like Rambo did in Rambo-III movie during my 2 days train/flight travel and returned to my home in a battered state. I spent 15 days in the hospital. I had already become a recluse since 1995 after reading vedanta philosophy and have no friends, family, spouse, children, just sitting in my room whole day and reading vedanta. But BSP was a test from my Guru Maharaj for me to pass. It initiated me into the Hare Krishna Mahamantra and showed me who my real guru was and put me on the track of the correct school of spirituality which was Gaudiya Vaishnavism or ISKCON. Please read my 2009 blog post!

Keep the above warning that you might become mesmerized after doing bhava spandana program and land yourself in the hospital and also give up your family, wealth, job, and join the Isha cult as a full time teacher and become a monk. My respect and adoration for Sadhguru was finished after undergoing BSP. For many days, after BSP, and even now, I wonder, is it the same logical, rational sadhguru, who created and made me do this Bull Shit Spandana.

Read This:

Now The Experience of Isha Hata Yoga, Done in Dec-2007, Program Donation Rs 750/-

I did this outside the ashram. This is again a very strenuous practice which is taught in just three days and twice a day for 3 hours and if done without loosening the body could land one with very high fever. It did for me.And this also when I had full 2 month practice of Hatha Yoga at Sivananda Ashram with completely a loose body.

People over 50 years of age who have never bent their spine even once, need not waste their money and time as it will be of no use for them. In all about 12 asanas and surya namaskaars are taught which can again be seen from the vivekananda kendra yoga book  This book can be also purchased online from Chennai Math Online Shop, Click Here

Isha Guru Pooja, Done May 2008, Outside the Yoga Centre Donation Rs 1500/-.

The Guru Pooja is the most difficult of all Isha Programs, especially for those who have no past knowledge of sanskrit. It is very lengthy and cannot be learnt in 3 days and most people after paying money leave it in a day. However for me it was a breeze because of my past sanskrit knowledge and 2 months training at Sivananda Ashram. I passed the test in one attempt flat. However in my opinion in no way is the Guru pooja going to make the Kriyas more effective as claimed by Isha or the volunteers. This pooja is available in any sanskrit invocation book costing less than $ 2 so spending three days time in learning different postures of hand and keeping 3 cups consisting of water, rice, sandalwood paste, incense holder, camphor holder etc is of no use in my opinion.

You can download the full guru pooja text from and audio can be downloaded from. For Rs 1500/- the pooja was definitely costly. In the ashram they teach it for Rs 500/- which is reasonable and the pooja set costs another Rs 500/- which consists of 3 brass small cups, one brass plate, 1 camphor holder, 1 incense holder, one brass holder for oil/lamp . I did not buy all this as I managed with whatever I had at home.

Experience of Shoonya Meditation and Shakti Chalana Kriya 3 days. I did this in June 2008 at the Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore, India. Program Donation Rs 2000/-

After experiencing the intense BSP/ Hata Yoga, I became at least aware that Sadhguru/Isha were hard task masters and so was much more mentally/physically prepared. The 1^st day, involves, long hours of sitting and doing sukha pranayama for long stretches upto 45 mts and ½ day of doing surya namaskaars. At the end of the day one would feel that their wrist would come out of their hands.

The second day also involves ½ day of surya namskaar and then the shakti chalana kriya is taught. It is a breathing technique which involves sitting in a vajrasana and holding various mudras of hands, and making sound like Dog, Crow, Snake, Making a whistle sound and then while doing breathing concentrating on various body parts like Heart, Lung, Pancreas Liver. Readers can again refer to the Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Book 

The last day is allotted for shoonya meditation where the participants are divided into groups and taken to the initiation room, and one senior lady disciple of sadhguru puts the Beeja[Seed]Mantra into us and the technique of meditation is taught: Just be a witness to your thoughts neither creating them, nor identifying, simply witnessing. This Beeja mantra called Shreeem, Hreeem, Reeeem, can be found in Swami Sivananda's Book "Japa Yoga" which can be purchased online from DLS Books for $ 2.

Again sadhguru in his video kept repeating his un-limited responsibility talk in order to garner free slaves and money in the form of volunteers to expand his Isha Business Empire. He also over hyped about the shoonya, that in the past one Isha meditator from Mangalore India, in competition with muktananda[Another Yoga Instructor like Sadhguru] meditator misused the shoonya and used it for about 3 hours and then found that his weight had suddenly reduced. So after that the duration of shoonya was reduced to 15 mts and the meditation would by itself end in 15-18 mts, otherwise the intensity of the shoonya was so much that people in the past had to be physically carried off from the Initiation room he boasted which was a Lie, I felt. 

So before venturing for shoonya practice sukha pranayama as taught in Inner Engineering for 45 mts and do surya namaskaar for one hour or more daily and practice sitting in vajrasana for upto 2 hrs continuously. If you decide to do Shoonya, please go with complete openness, submissiveness, and with a surrendering attitude towards the Guru and do not create resistance towards the whole process otherwise the Beeja Mantra will not be implanted inside of you. 

So this is it. This was the only practice of Isha which was a overall good experience for me other than Inner Engineering and Guru Pooja, rest were all bad. This Shoonya initiation is a must for those who want to do samyama[8 days silence program] later and has to be done twice before food for 15 mts on hungry stomach.

For a Krishna conscious person who read The Bhagavad Gita "As It Is", it was again not much I felt. But one thing I felt was if Shoonya was practiced regularly a person's intelligence will stagnate for sure and his mental productivity will go down definitely. After a few months, I stopped and felt better. But sometimes I still do it.

Again I suggest If you are above 50 yrs of age having never bent your body or spine even once then please do not go as it would be money wasted and no benefit.

Experience of Isha Samyama, 8 day Silence program as shared by a Isha Meditator with this Blogger. The Blogger has not experienced this himself !

Before Samyama, one is asked, to attend the pre-samyama meet. Here the rules are given for a 40 day preparatory step. In the 40 days that follow after the meet, one is asked, to stop taking alcohol, milk, potatoes, curd, & -ve pranic items, which can cause, too much drowsiness and sleep. Also, one is asked to sit in Ardha siddhasana for long hours. The rules are also given, that, there is no eye contact with people, no watches, no shaving, no mirrors and full silence for 8 days during the program. Even a whisper and one will be sent out of the program. One has to purchase, special white or orange clothing, from Isha shoppe, to be worn, for all the 8 days of the program. So at least, 3 sets, need to be purchased, as, there is no washing of clothes in the 8 days.

The first several days are spent chanting "om namaha shivaya". This chanting is continuous for 3-4 days. There are breaks, but you spend, probably 10 hours per day, chanting that mantra. There are monks, leading the chant, but, when they get tired, they switch off, but you are chanting, it the whole time. There are enforcers, walking among the participants, watching you, to make sure, you are chanting, with "intensity".

The chanting ends, after several days and you are told to focus / meditate on the breath as it enters and exits the nostrils. At the point, on the nostrils, where you first feel it / notice it enter & exit the nostrils. This is done for a couple of days and you are told to always be aware of your breath during the day, during your activities, and to be aware of it as you are going to sleep, and, if you're aware enough, to be aware of it as you sleep. You are told, to always, be aware, of your breath, no matter what you are doing.

Over the last 2 days, or so, you are taught the samyama practice. The samyama practice, consists, of first saying your shoonya beeja mantra 3 times mentally and then being aware of your breath. You should maintain un-interrupted awareness of your breath for a minute or so. After, that is achieved, you bring your thoughts, into your awareness, simultaneously with your breath. After, you can maintain, unwavering awareness, of your breath and thoughts for a minute, you bring the object, of your samyama, into your awareness. The, object of your samyama, can be anything. A tv show, a photograph, the natural scene outside your window, a blade of grass, a stick, a stone, another person, jaggi vasudev - anything.

So, the final stage of the samyama practice is to maintain simultaneous, unwavering awareness of your breath, thoughts and object of your chosen samyama practice. If you lose focus, of your breath, before the first minute, you start the process over, from the beginning, with your shoonya mantra and then breath awareness, etc. If you lose focus, of either your breath, or thoughts during the second minute, you start the process, over again from the beginning with your shoonya mantra, breath awareness, etc. If you lose awareness of either your breath, thoughts or the object of samyama during the third stage, you begin the process, over, again from the beginning with the shoonya mantra, breath awareness, etc.

During the samyama retreat the periods of breath meditation and samyama practice are interspersed with dancing to different types of music and intentionally talking gibberish or making sounds that have no meaning as though the meaningless sounds are words or sentences. You talk this way as though you are angry with another person or arguing with them. (The gibberish talk is a meditation developed by Rajneesh / Osho). The entire 8 days are sprinkled with talks of Jaggi Vasudev. Obviously, there's lot's of screaming, writhing, crying, laughing and other shakti shenanigans going on throughout the entire retreat. It's like a sathsang on exponential steroids.

On the last day, the participants are told not to focus on themselves, their lives or their "interiority." In fact, they are told that in order to "attain", they must mentally BURN all their attachments. SJV, leads a meditation process, to burn these attachments, completely from their mind. These attachments include their kids, spouses, families, parents, home, pets, work, friends, etc. Yes, he says, you must "burn them up" in mental fires, leave them all behind. They are worthless and will prevent you from attaining (whatever it is you're attaining). None of them can go to this unknown spiritual place you are certainly going. (You see, you are special for sitting with SJV.)

So, after all this burning and breaking down, he tells, these hundreds of followers to (instead) attach their breathing, their attention and their energies on a different attachment. The only thing, in their lives, he didn't have them, detach, from or burn up is-SJV himself !

This is the final culmination, of days’ worth, of breaking people, down mentally, psychologically and spiritually. After learning this (not-so-special) Samyama technique, the final goal is an all-encompassing attention on SJV, your master guru.

Unfortunately, followers are all too happy to oblige. And now, he has the adoration of hundreds of devotees willing to (and actually did) burn up their lives for him.

After the samyama retreat, the breath meditation, is to be done, for 40 minutes per day, in one sitting, preferably after pranayama, but not mandatory. The samyama practice / process, is to be done, for an hour a day before going to sleep. That's the ideal time to do it, but, I was told, that it could be broken, up into multiple time, periods totaling an hour per day, for instance 15 minute periods 4 times per day.

So, that's the samyama, in a nutshell. The breath meditation, can be learnt from any number of books or teachers out there. There's nothing special about the Isha method and you don't need to spend 8 days of non-sense to learn it. It is effective, but that's because, the technique is effective, not because of any Isha influence.

I[Blogger] have till date, not done Samyama, nor have plans to do the same, as I have no patience, to sit for 8 days in silence, and it could be another type of mind take over like Bhava Spandana so I played safe.

Final Words:

I M H O, other than, Non SJV Inner Engineering Program of 7 days rest of the programs are not worth the effort. In my own case SJV's discourses have brought more inner growth than the kriyas!

Isha Yoga is mainly meant for those who are operating only with their logical Mind, with Nil Intuition, Nil sanskrit knowledge, Nil Devotion,  or with zero past spiritual life values [100% materialists] and basically for those who are demons/atheists. If you are an overly individualistic, rational, intuitive, free thinker, having quick/deep grasp & contemplation of various philosophies, know scriptures at the back of your hand, freedom loving, having lead life without any controls, then Isha Foundation and It's Yoga is simply a No No for you, like myself. 

Another Red Flag of Isha Yoga is that the "Kriya Yoga" is being offered wholesale for those who can pay, but may not be qualified body wise, energy or mind wise. There are no checks and balances to detect if somebody is ripe enough to receive the "Kriya-Yoga" Process. Unlike other schools of Yoga like Bhakti, Karma, Jnana which don't have reverse effects on it's practitioners Kriya-Yoga can/has seriously back-fired for many.

In my view, SJV offering enlightenment, by simple yogic breathing techniques/kriyas is completely Bogus. At the most the Kriyas can make one physically/mentally more active and productive and sleep quota and sex desire would reduce. This can, become a huge problem, for married people and may lead to divorces, if one spouse is not practicing the Isha Kriyas.

Isha is a very good place, for upwardly wealthy, snobbish, ultra-modern, quality NOC Page-3 type people, to come together, socialize and develop business contacts than any real spiritual benefit. As compared to traditional Spiritual Organizations like Sri Ramakrishna Mission, The Divine Life Society, ISKCON, Jagad Guru Kripalu Parishat I could not find anything of high spiritual substance in Isha considering the hype made in marketing. It is all more Show, Glamour, Self-induced frenzy than real spiritual stuff. A organization intended on robbing rich peter to pay or serve poor paul.

The material side of Isha is 90% and spiritual side is only 10%. In the beginning it was the reverse. A purely good time pass for those people who are born in rich families with neither job commitments, family and willing to spend both their time, money and labor in order to expand the SJV and Isha Empire as a feel good thing of having done something towards their guru and society. 

Not my cup of Tea as I have knowledge of the other world ! I can never accept this one fact that any mortal, conditioned human being, like Sadhguru having the same defects like me; 1-Imperfect Senses,2-Sure to make mistakes,3-propensity to Lie & cheat others, 4-Become Illusioned can be worshipped as "God" whole some, by so many educated people even in this 21^st century. For me Lord "Sri Krishna" is the only Personal God! I rest in peace with my Guru Maharaj Nitya Leela Pravishta Om Vishnupada Astottara Sat 108 His Divine Grace Srila A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's Transcendental Books, Gaudiya Vaishnava Philosophy, Krishna Consciousness and Scriptures.

Swami Aniruddha !

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The above has been written, only to warn new comers, deciding to join the Isha yoga program for the 1^st time so that they can make an informed decision keeping in mind all the truth available beforehand.

Readers are fully welcome to post comments, both pro & anti Isha, without any moderation or word verification.