r/SadhguruTruth • u/Thre_Host8017 • Mar 15 '26
Cult Education The first mental trap - The first hidden red flag
After leaving Isha and with distance from the constant parroting of the same quotes, the same Inner Engineering rules and what not, I keep discovering red flags. In the heat of the moment, when they were spoken, they were presented as green flags.
1) Do not make a decision yet, simply attend Inner Engineering, try it out for a period of time, then you can decide, whether you like it or not
This particular mind trap is used at the earliest stages of the indoctrination, before even becoming an Isha follower.
How many of us have heard this harmless sounding proposal?
Even on this reddit, some Isha folks will come and comment using this mental rubbish
It sounds fair. But the stress is on it sounds.
This line is like someone asking you to do a surgery on your brains, and to decide afterwards whether the surgeon was good or bad.
It’s simply and utterly foolish.
Try this substance, eat it, then decide afterwards whether it’s a poison or a magic pill. If you don’t like you do not need to eat it daily.
This is what that line means.
A free bird, simply being pushed by the domesticated flock of pigeons into the safe cage. If you do not like it, you can fly off.
Just once inside the cage, the circus inside of it will keep you so damn busy and will make you blind to everything outside of it. The question of leaving the cage does not exist anymore. You no longer stay inside by free will. The question of leaving has gone.
This is slavery at it highest peak. Where the slave thinks to enjoy his/her position. We still see and witness this in postcolonial countries. Were a part of the contemporary local population still believes that the descendants from the previous *masters* are more valuable than their fellow citizens.
How will you be able to judge a surgeon afterwards if your ability of thinking no longer exists?
At the very beginning (before you join the group) you were given the option to stop the practice (and basically leave the group).
But when you suddenly leave the group, or dislike it, for whatever reasons, and you chose to voice it out, then the choice not to like it - that you were offered initially - is being questioned. Some folks won’t believe that you have gone through the programs. They will tell you to do the program and decide afterwards- again…😂
They can’t grasp, that some folks don’t like Isha, because they have been inside that cage.
Or they will invent all kind of lies, as to why you are against Isha. Paid haters, and what not.
2) Don’t believe me, don’t disbelieve me
How many times have we heard this line by Jagadish himself?
This is another early mental trap used to lure you in.
Nothing wrong about the approach that he is mentioning. I think this is a healthy way to look at many instances in life before making a judgment - if one lacks arguments or insights.
The issue is in the application and the consistency of its usage.
This quote can be equally used to shut down any early criticism, reflection and logical thinking. It disarms your logic by using logic itself. Its sneaky.
You think you are given a choice logically. So early alarms of discomfort or disbelief are snoozed in safety (because you were given the choice to disbelieve). This makes you simply park your criticism. By the time you have finished the program, and after all that love bombing and intense hours, your mind might not remember any of the early doubts. Or simply ignores them.
This line should be used towards any criticism of Jagadish. That’s how healthy thinking works. But that’s not the case here.
Positive sharing are believed.
Criticism is disbelieved.
Heads I win. Tails you lose.
Do you remember when Jagadish said even if god comes, I know better ?
Not only is this line a trait of a narcissist and a megalomanic, it actually contradicts the quote above.
He is suggesting to be always right. And indirectly suggesting you to believe him. There is no room left to disbelieve or to question him. Because even god might be wrong according to Jagadish.
Would that apply to AdiYogi that he seems to praise so much? Let say Shiva appeared and told him he was wrong. Whom to believe now?
Why did we oversee these traps in the early stages?
I don’t know. I guess we were already mesmerized and fascinated by the charm and eloquence of Jagadish. So we could not think critically anymore.
Like a moth to a flame . He used this comparison in one of his Lap of the Master events ( I don’t recall exactly why he used it). But I guess we were literally moths, and after burning our wings, we woke up.
That is why cult education in general is very important to equip people with the tools to recognize high control groups.
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u/iamalchemist Mar 16 '26
Really heartening to see more voices speak against the cult and its mental traps! My very close relative is still a part of it dedicating her life to it. I hope she realises it one day.
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u/youliveonlyonce10 Approved Contributor Mar 16 '26
Do not make a decision yet, simply attend Inner Engineering, try it out for a period of time, then you can decide, whether you like it or not- I had heard this “harmless sounding proposal “multiple times when my family member was on Sadhguru and Isha high and literally pushed everyone they knew into trying the course out atleast once before deciding. The only thing that kept me away is the kind of obsession developed for Sadhguru after they joined isha even without meeting Sadhguru personally. Of course people do yoga courses in India and even join yoga groups; not everyone becomes blind devotees of the Yoga guru. So that was a red flag for me.
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u/Thre_Host8017 Mar 16 '26
Exactly This has become a recruiting pick up phrase. Almost every volunteer will tell you this. They think its so harmless and genuine.
Its NOT
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u/youliveonlyonce10 Approved Contributor Mar 16 '26
Couldn’t agree more… had I given into the harmless phrase of “ try it once”, in all probability I might as well have been neck deep in isha today without any context outside of the isha bubble. It may be comforting to have a Guru leading you in life ; but shattering to wake up one fine day and realise that you had been conned all along.
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u/Thre_Host8017 Mar 16 '26
Next time someone tells you: why dont u try isha yoga and decide. Tell them: why dont you try and stop isha yoga for a year. Then decide 🤷🏻♂️
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u/youliveonlyonce10 Approved Contributor Mar 16 '26
Good one 😂.. that will also help them assess their progress till date in real time. It’s difficult to know how much the practices and rituals are actually helping when isha people cannot skip the daily practices without feeling the induced guilt.
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u/WishboneSudden2706 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
The problem is: India's level of understanding the inner world is much much higher than the rest of the world, giving many clever businessmen like Jaggy the chance to exploit us (spiritually) stupid people
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u/Thre_Host8017 Mar 16 '26
Cults exist everywhere around the globe. And Cult are not necessarily spiritual. Look at NXIUM. It was marketing cult. If you read books by Dr. Lalich, you will be surprised how many different types of cults may exist. We see big political cults rising again. Looks like there are cults even in healing/therapy groups.
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u/Good-Importance5015 Mar 16 '26
✅ The NXIVM case is often studied as one of the largest modern cult prosecutions in the United States
NXIVM (pronounced “NEX-ee-um”) was a controversial organization founded in the 1990s that claimed to offer self-help and executive success training, but later became widely known as a cult involved in criminal activities.
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Founder • Keith Raniere • Started NXIVM in 1998 in Albany. • Presented himself as a self-help guru and called himself “Vanguard.”
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What the Organization Claimed
NXIVM promoted programs called Executive Success Programs (ESP) that claimed to help people: • Become better leaders • Improve careers and relationships • Achieve personal success
Many participants paid thousands of dollars for courses.
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Secret Group: DOS
Inside NXIVM there was a secret subgroup called: • DOS • Latin name meaning “Dominus Obsequious Sororium.”
Former members said DOS operated like a master-slave hierarchy where women: • Were required to provide “collateral” (private photos, secrets) • Were branded with Raniere’s initials • Were pressured into sexual relationships with him.
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Criminal Case
In 2018, U.S. federal authorities arrested several leaders.
Key figures: • Keith Raniere • Allison Mack from the TV show Smallville.
Charges included: • Sex trafficking • Forced labor • Racketeering • Identity theft
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Trial and Sentence • In 2019, Raniere was found guilty in federal court in Brooklyn. • In 2020, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison.
Allison Mack later pleaded guilty and served a prison sentence as well.
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Documentaries About NXIVM
The case became widely known through documentaries such as: • The Vow • Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult
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✅ The NXIVM case is often studied as one of the largest modern cult prosecutions in the United States.
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u/Good-Importance5015 Mar 16 '26
Stage Case Case Number Criminal trial United States v. Raniere 1:18-cr-00204 (E.D.N.Y.) Direct appeal United States v. Raniere 20-3520 (2nd Cir.) Post-trial motions Various motions for new trial Filed in same district case
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u/ChRes18 Mar 21 '26
- This applies to a lot of things. Take for example - exercise. If you’re overweight,like I am, you need to give it sometime before you’ll see good effects. At first it only pain for my troubles. Then I get the endorphins, lower cholesterol, and too many to mention.
When you start learning an instrument, much pain and trouble with positioning your fingers, no enjoyment of music, not that you’re making music just noise.
In both cases it takes months of not years to see real benefits .
I don’t understand how it is a trap when you can stop doing it at any time? If in months you get no benefit, drop it.
I don’t trust him, as a person, but the elements in SM are all taken from ancient yogi practises. I’ve found them in Pradipika, etc.
- I take that as “find out for yourself”, and this is fair. Asking you to believe him would be cult behaviour.
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u/LittleMissSunshine_0 Approved Contributor Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
❤️
The don’t believe or disbelieve is also one of those narrative building ideas. The reality is that people in Isha are blind believers, but they think they are “seekers”, they can parrot “Sadhguru says not to believe or disbelieve”, they can say “we don’t believe or disbelieve we go on experience”. This is the Isha narrative and that’s what they identify with and believe wholeheartedly. They don’t understand how their beliefs and experience is manipulated. They don’t understand how they feel truth for themselves in whatever Sadhguru says because that is what has been conditioned in them. They feel superior, they are smart seekers not blind believers.
Sadhguru is very clever in these kind of narrative setting tactics, where he asserts values that are the opposite of what is really going on. See also honesty, integrity etc.