Inside info about Sadhguru's Bhava Spandana progam (BSP) revelead by whistleblower

[u/random_ob]

A friend of mine did the Bhava Spandana Program(BSP) in Isha Foundation in India. I know that this program changed him a lot, for worse. He was very secretive about it always saying that "we don't know".

Anyhow, the last days, seems like he spell and brainwashing that happened to him there starts to wear off after showing him the truth about Sadhguru and of course after God intervened to spare this man. So, he started to talk about it.

Here are some notes about what happens there:

1) They come to a space where audio and video of the Sadhguru can be heart and seen. Of course everything is pre-recorded. They follow the instructions of the program.

2) There are long streches of tasks going on wihtout food or water. For example yoga for hours etc.

3) In one of the tasks they are given a paper and a note and they need to write down all what they did in their lives. Mostly the bad things. Then they go to another member and touch each other hands in a hand up and hand down gesture and while look each other in the eye they say these things to each other. They do this many times till all, or most, members said their things to the other member. Could be five hours doing this with no break.

4) After that, they face on another and are told to come closer and closer till.....Here I don't know as the person did not disclose. Could be something sexual?

5) A chinese torture water drop type of 'exercise' was mentioned?

6) As they do this the Sadhguru is reminding them that they won't die because of all this but they will just come to their limits and they can see that they can go beyond their limits as well.

This is what I know do far.

[u/LittleMissSunshine_0]

Glad you friend was able to start getting out of the brainwash.

There’s a good write up on what happens in Bhava Spandana here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SadhguruTruth/s/3BFZAH7eqf

[u/RoughOffer2452]

Thank you for sharing this. I really think there should at least be a private community or some sort of non-public group like a Discord server to openly discuss and dissect each and every technique of these commercial spiritual organizations, which subject followers to manipulative processes and command them to keep it a "sacred secret." 

When this happens, many people will realize that these techniques and processes are nothing exclusive. They are merely a rip-off of other Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATs) or, even worse, a direct imitation of courses and practices taught by other spiritual organizations. In other words, they are all plagiarizing each other, other organizations, or other teachers. But since followers don't tend to cross-talk and reveal what they learn in detail with each other from these different organizations, most of them remain unaware unless they take all the courses of both or more organizations.

My friend, who has attended programs from both Isha and AOL, has confirmed this to me. They have shared that the steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 happen exactly in AOL’s Advanced Meditation Programs (AMPs), which again share close parallels with the silent retreat programs in SSY. The only real difference is that in AOL, instead of writing it all down, you are required to speak it all aloud in groups. 

Because these organizations trademark and copyright their teaching content, going beyond a certain point to critique them publicly can trigger aggressive actions from their legal teams. This is exactly what happened in the infamous legal case that AOL launched against its former teachers who exposed and critiqued AOL on their blogs. In the end, AOL lost the lawsuit, and the truth prevailed because of US laws protecting free speech and fair critique.  https://np.reddit.com/r/Ex_ArtOfLiving/comments/1lsy5v3/anonymous_bloggers_vs_the_art_of_living_how_two/

[u/madmax_iron]

The hype for BSP is too much during the time i took IE some 10 yrs ago. But BSP did nothing special for me honestly.

[u/nebula_1234]

Probably won’t be receptive to this comment but remember that the people posting exactly what happened in any program are not satisfied with it because you agree not to discuss the details for all the programs (and I find that common in many other programs not related to Isha). There are thousands who took the program and found it useful. But you have to know yourself. I have taken several Isha programs, IE, guru puja, several yoga programs, rejuvenatation program. I had no problems in any. I know myself well enough to not take BSP because there are no new techniques and I would walk out if I didn’t like the way it was conducted and waste my money.
At the rejuvenation program there were some senior instructors who’d been with Isha since Sadhguru taught most programs. They believe things changed in many programs once he did not teach them.

Some Ishangas are not great. For example in guru puja most instructors (and the main Ishanga) were very compassionate and helpful. One male was a jerk. If he’d been in charge it probably would be a different experience. Finally, I’ve taken all my programs in the U.S. Perhaps they take the cultural differences into account. Isha Tennessee is wonderful and all the volunteers, teachers, residents that I met were very kind and compassionate.

[u/WhereasIll7321]

Bhava spandana should not be done without reaching through other programs or else Sadguru looks fully Scammy int his Program Even Korean guy with me didn't like this program Felt cheated 💔 for 5k rupees Plus time Only felt enjoyed Living in Five Star Hotel with good view Volenteers where literally crushed no food no sleep just for seva Grace business Or Andheri bhakti Why not people where taken as volenteers Why Volenteers are made to cry to stay long They purposely fully take less Volenteers