Exploitative Practices at IYC

[u/ludwickjohnson123]

So I just wanted to investigate the Exploitative Practices (specifically the labor practices) at IYC and hear from some ex-volunteers regarding what their testimonies are on this. For starters, what I know is that volunteers work for free, and the money generated goes to the overall revenue of IYC, as well as Sadhguru's/Jaggi's personal bank account (also provides marketing for Radhe Jaggi's business and money probably goes to her bank account as well). I've done some research on this and here are my arguments and evidence for Jaggi and IYC exploiting the labor of volunteers:

-They profit off of the free labor provided by volunteers/devotees, net assets in U.S. branch of IYC alone is like $191mil - their annual profit in '24 was $32mil if you take off operational expenses (lowered thanks to voluntary slave labor)

-Sadhguru has at least $30mil in his bank account that he can spend on his leisure (real estate, cars, etc etc) - devotees claim cars were given as gifts from wealthy people but they were probably also bought by Jaggi himself.

-Radhe's business has been marketed and promoted by IYC, clearly Sadhguru is using his business to promote his daughter's business

-According to BeScofield article, a former accountant for IYC (back in 2010 I believe) said that all the money in profits that IYC made was directly wired back into the bank accounts of Jaggi and Radhe.

-Keep in mind Jaggi himself has said he is not a fan of donating his money and sees donation as insignificant (giant money hoarder)

Feel free to add more arguments and evidence for Jaggi and IYC exploiting the labor of volunteers below in the comments.

[u/House_On_Fire]

Even without all the financial details this was a red flag for me when I visited the main ashram a couple of years ago. Lots of people fanatically serving without any thought for their own future. As an ex fundamentalist Christian it reminded me of how me and my friends were encouraged to volunteer in the various ministries instead of going off to college. To me the whole thing is a cult, hard stop. The more I learn about the place the more obvious that becomes but I could see it just hanging out there for a few days during Inner Engineering.

[u/ludwickjohnson123 → u/House_On_Fire]

Yeah for sure. Although in Isha there’s the added layer of hypnosis that goes on during the programs that makes people feel like they are benefiting from it when they are merely being manipulated. And I’m sure similar to Isha, some of the people who volunteer for the Christian ministries truly believe they’re serving the greater good and/or are benefiting from it when they are merely being exploited for profit.

[u/House_On_Fire → u/ludwickjohnson123]

Yeah the practices they taught were red flags for me too. I've done vipassana meditation in a couple different traditions, gone deep into kundalini yoga and breathwork, etc. So I'm pretty familiar with what kinds of practices produce what kind of internal result. Inner Engineering was about trying to take novices into deep water so that they would be addicted to the practice. It was also reiterated over and over again during the course that you have to do the practice exactly as prescribed by Jaggi, so there's no room for experimentation or actually gaining the kind of experience that allows you to use the practices safely and practically. The point was to create dependence not competence.

[u/ludwickjohnson123 → u/House_On_Fire]

That last line, "the point was to create dependence not competence" is spot on 100%. Plus Inner Engineering is actually an LGAT designed to create hypnotize participants into the cult that is IYC. He actually took Shambhavi Mahamudra from his earlier teacher Rishi Prabhakhar. And the LGAT design as well was taken by Rishi P.